The other week my great Aunt gave me box of vintage fabric and it included a piece of super shiny satin in a gorgeous green colour. I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it, it was shouting superhero cape very loudly! So when I got my machine out to do some other hems and little bags for my cousin’s new twins, K mentioned the fabric. It took about 2 mins to edge it and sew along the top and then insert the string. Here she is running around in it;

Here it is flat:

And then she told me she needed a mask so here she is with both;

Of course the funniest thing was when I first put the cape on and she jumped up on the spot then said sounding disappointed ‘it didn’t work’, meaning the cape didn’t help her fly. I said that perhaps her super power is going faster (mistake) after which she spent the next half an hour racing around the room in circles saying ’super K’. So much fun, don’t cha love dressups!

I believe that there are some wonderful things that have come out of the current environmentalist movement. Things such as a relearning of old skills (baking, fixing things instead of throwing them away, growing your own veggies), recycling, upcycling and taking better care of the world God created. I quite like the idea of organic food (although can’t afford to buy it exclusively), love living in a house that has a grey water system and enjoy watching my daughter collect eggs from our chooks. However. I prefer to see myself sitting in the frugal living category more than the environmentalist category.

I agree that we are to look after this planet as best as we can. As a Christian who believes that God created the world I can see how much he wanted us to look after it when he made Adam the first gardener:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.
Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.
They will be yours for food.
And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. Genesis 1: 27-30

At the same time however I believe that God is in control of this planet. Whether global warming is real or not and whether the icecaps are melting or not I believe that he is in charge. He knows what he’s doing, after all, he made this planet we live on. I know many people don’t believe 1. In God and 2. That the world was created by him so I do understand if you don’t agree that we can go too far with our environmentalism.

Frugal Living. Now this is something I can relate to;

fru?gal
??/?frug?l/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [froo-guhl]
–adjective
1. economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful: a frugal manager.
2. entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty: a frugal meal.

I grew up in a household where op shopping (thrift) was a normal part of life, waste was frowned upon and fixing things was also the usual practice. Now there are some things that we just can’t fix ourselves or that are too expensive to fix but there are so many other things we can patch up. Clothes for example, where is the age old tradition of having a mending pile? Would we take the time to do so or is it just too much of a hassle? How much would we save if we actually patched up our clothes?

What about cooking instead of dashing to the shops for a packet of bikkies (cookies)? Its not too hard and takes about the same amount of time that the shop run would have done (and they taste better). Hands up who knows how to make a lemon meringue pie these days (not me) or bake your own bread (minus the machine)? Not many of us. Our lives are so fast paced and so ‘action packed’ that we find these things such a waste of time. The thing is….time I have, money I do not. Which is more worth wasting?

My grandmother’s house was full of things that she and my grandad had reused (the current buzz word is upcycled). Tins and bottles were used for plants and storage, old clothes were used for rags, tea towels or making bedspreads, buttons were cut off first and kept before the clothes were reused and stockings (pantyhose) were used to tie up plants. Everything had 2-4 different uses in its lifetime. I love this concept, how many times can we reuse something and become a less wasteful society.

I said to my Mum a while ago that I was thinking of sewing my old fraying bathroom towels into bath mats and she said ‘no, surely not!’. I haven’t done it yet but why not! Who cares what the bathmats we use every day look like and who wants to pay $6-$20 for a new one when I can use the old towels. I think I might just do it.

So, this is our new household challenge, frugal living. What can we do to be better stewards of the money and possessions God has given us? I think I prefer to look at living environmentally consciously from this frugal/stewardship perspective, to me its close to how God wants us to be and for us that is important.

Last weekend we had an open house birthday party for little L. We did this for K as well when she turned one as we figured its more for the adults at this age and I want to save the fancy food and games for when they are able to remember it. I was amazed, we had 42 people in our teeny house including ourselves and babies. My prayer was answered and it did not rain until 20 mins after the last guests left (ok, I prayed that it wouldn’t rain, not anything that specific) so the kids all could play out the front (with our gates shut) and the blokes went out on the deck for some of it (to escape the purple party prettiness I’m sure).

I made a teddy bear shaped cake for her and some fancy cupcakes but the rest of the food was easy things like fruit, dips, popcorn and sandwiches. All finger food! The theme was purple, she’s a purple kind of girl somehow (whereas K is more a pink girl) so we had bits of purple around the place. We even got to do a video link to Cairns where my family all live so they could see the happenings.

Thanks to those who came, it was so much fun, I was overwhelmed at how many of you wanted to come (some from a distance) to help us celebrate. She got such wonderful gifts and most of them did not double up at all to what we already had. Below are some pics:

Cupcakes

Opening presents

Me and the birthday girl

The cake


The crowd

Her sister

With her presents

What comes to mind when you hear the term ‘Pastor’s Wife’? Someone who is confident, a little bossy, organised, can play the piano (or organ), perhaps someone who is great with hospitality or kids or someone who is very religious. I’m a Pastor’s wife. I don’t know how many of those traits really (truly) fit me (I definitely can’t play a musical instrument). I know that those who have known me in the past and even some who know me now consider me a ‘nice/good/religious person’ (I was labeled ‘good Amanda’ the other day). Ok, ok, so I’m a bit bossy, I’m reasonably organised and I’m ok with hospitality (don’t inspect my cooking too closely) and I’ve even run lots of kids programs in the past but I’m not confident in many areas and I’m no where near as ‘religious’ as some might think.

Being a Pastor’s Wife has good points and bad (like most things). For one thing, my hubby’s office is only about 5 minutes away so he leaves me to sleep each morning and gets up with the girls (I do the whole night shift every night). It does however involve a few things which I’ve found hard to get used to. Sunday mornings are work days for him, he can’t really help control the kids after church (or often during church) because he needs to be free to talk to people. He has higher demands on his time outside work hours than he would in a 9-5 job. There are other things that I find hard but would rather not go on about.

When he was appointed in his position I must admit I was not that overjoyed. Let me explain, I was really happy for him, glad he got a position after four long years of studying but selfishly I just did not want to be given the stereotype of a Pastor’s Wife. A year and a half later and I can say that the things I thought would be hard to get used to…don’t exist. No one at our church expected great things of me when we started, I thought I would have to be involved in everything from the hand shaking to running a kids group. Instead people have been so gracious and given us time to adjust (in particular because of having such a young family).

Finally, the ‘religious’ side of things. I actually don’t believe that I’m religious. I believe religion involves a lot of rules and demands, things you must do or must not do and I don’t feel these at all. I CHOOSE to follow the Bible, I CHOOSE to follow what God has mapped out in there and I don’t feel the need to do or not do anything. There are certain things I won’t do but these are mostly common sense or to keep healthy. I know however that there are a lot of people in different churches who are very forceful (legalistic) in their view of things and this makes most other people feel as if they have to live up to some sort of standard. I say thats rubbish. I’m all for standards but to be honest, we’re human, how could any of us ever keep it up? So, the same applies to myself, after a year and a half I have ‘let myself off the hook’, put my feet on the floor and accepted that being a Pastor’s wife is not quite what I thought it would be. I have lowered my own expectations and am just getting on with being myself.

I saw this mag on-line last week and thought it looked interesting then the other day I was wandering through Borders and saw it on the shelf. I decided to buy a copy as it seems just down my alley (I rarely buy magazines). I’m loving the content, its all about eco friendly creativity and although I’m not the sort of person to have a huge eco friendly leaning I really love the indie market that it focuses on. Indie being independent. Etsy and MadeIt (where I have on-line stores) are all about Indie markets, pretty much everything handmade and non commercial (which I’m all for). I’m not a fan of brand names and love the individual uniqueness that comes out of the handmade movement. I really love to create things which are one off (or ooak) which are more mini art pieces than mass produced craft items. This magazine suits me, I may have to ask for a subscription for my birthday later this year!

This coming weekend my Polyclarific work will be for sale at the next Made On The Left market which is this weekend . I won’t actually be there myself but a friend is manning my mini stall for me on commission. I’ve been working on my stall presentation with the initial aim of making it as easy as possible for her to set it up but I quite like the new look. In the future I might have some backing cards printed up but this time I made my own stickers and cards. Here’s the new look display:

No photos yet (to follow) but I wanted to wish my little bubby a happy first birthday!! I can’t believe that we were sitting in our hospital room this time a year ago recovering. She is so gorgeous and has grown and changed so much lately. Walking isn’t far off I think! Happy birthday little L.

I love op shopping but its not something I get to do very often these days. I’d love to have an op shopping day with a couple of friends where we mark out a map of them and just op-shop-hop all day (kid free!). Anyway, I did get to visit one the other day and headed to my favourite sections, wool, books, needles, fabric and kids clothes. I did manage to score one ball of wool, brand new with the label still attached for 50c as well as this little book. I love the old fashioned feel that it has and hopefully I’ll get to try out some of the patterns at some stage (my list of knitting projects to try is very long):

Ponchos are really impractical but so cute!

I like the ‘t-shirt’ in this one

K had been pretending the space between our bedrooms was a lift (elevator) so I added some features. She has spent a few days ‘riding’ her very own lift complete with up and down buttons, doors, a light and floor gauge. The paper doors were her idea. All thats missing is the music!

Elevator buttons and light

My 3.7 yr old has a great imagination. I’m sure most kids that age do and its so much fun to see what she comes up with each day. Last week there were quite a few rainy days one after the other but she happily made up games and entertained herself. An all time favourite of most little girls I’m sure is playing tea parties with their dollies.

First of she baked her dollies something to eat (using pink playdough):

Here’s our improvised home made oven, complete with little ‘buttons’ on the base:

Then she set up the little table with chairs and plates etc:

And made sure all her toys had something to eat (looks appetizing hey!):

The funny thing is that it reminds me of a photo of myself at a similar age!