After Miss K had been in school only a couple of weeks it became apparent that she was at a different level of reading to the other kids. In fact, she couldn’t read at all and the other kids were getting ‘put this in a sentence’ type homework. I must admit I felt a bit panicked about that. This was followed by guilt. It seems that the NSW system of reading is quite different to WA and we needed to catch her up.

I’m not a teacher, in fact I usually run out of ideas when it comes to teaching something other than art but after a meeting with her teacher and a few great tips from some teacher friends we have come up with a bit of a strategy. All of a sudden everything is about reading. I have sight words up in two different rooms, we talk about sounds and spell out words and instead of getting DVDs out of the library we are getting extra readers and talking books.

I think its working, she seems to be picking it up a bit and passing her spelling tests. Her teacher is only giving her three words a week to learn as opposed to the 12 the rest of the class has. She is doing ABC’s reading eggs and I’ve ordered her some books.

The pic at the top shows a little flash-card set I made up with sight words. Its a good thing Miss K is, as her teacher put it ‘a trier’. She tries hard, participates and gives answers in class. She loves to learn although she does get frustrated at times. Poor Miss K. I know she will get there eventually but for now this house is all about the ABC’s and three letter words!

Two years ago Miss K and I completed a little doll’s house renovation. It took us months to get to the end of it. We wallpapered, laid flooring, made curtains, painted and put together furniture. It was a lot of fun and they both play with the little doll’s house still. Trouble is, its small, even Little L has to bend down to get into it. My friend found it on the side of the road (thanks Karen) and we had a great time making it pretty.

History has repeated itself two years later. A friend recently found the above Barbie doll’s house on the side of the road and set it aside for us (thank you Linley). This doll’s house was in a bit more of a state of disrepair than the first, mainly due to water damage but both she and I could see potential in it. Considering the price of a new Barbie doll’s house I had to have a go at improving its state.

Here’s a couple of shots of how it was before:

With Miss K in school now it was up to Little L and I to work on the doll’s house. At first she helped a fair bit but soon lost interest or wanted to do things that, well, were better left to an adult. She did enjoy joining in though:

We started with the floors, papering them with pretty paper and a glue stick, sticking on shiny contact paper and glueing and stapling on some ‘carpet’.

Just like a few weeks back when we made and painted a big cubby house, we used some left over house paint for this doll’s house. I did all of it except for a tiny bit where Little L wanted to have a go (above).

I removed one of the sides (left) as it was too far gone with moisture and replaced it with another piece of wood. The roof was removed (see the top shot) and this is how it looked after the whole thing had two coats of paint. It was a lot of fun!

Finally, once the paint was dry I looked in my fabric stash and found this gorgeous piece. I stapled it to the roof beams as tightly as I could. I think it finished it off nicely, matches the ‘lift’.

It came out looking lovely and Miss K was very surprised when she got home from school. Gone are the water damage marks, mould and yucky wood and these have been replaced with years of play once again! I should add, Linley also gave us a big box of accessories, furniture, barbies (and one Ken) and clothes. We appreciated this generosity and praise God each day for the special ways he provides for our family.

Here are a few of the images I’ve taken in the last month or so:

I might add, a very good friend has since sent me one of her old digital cameras and its wonderful! I appreciate that so much, now I can snap shots as per always and in the meantime I’ve gained a new appreciation for Instagram!

As I mentioned in a previous post we recently added a little kitten to our family. For the record, this is first cat I’ve ever owned although I have vague memories of a cat having kittens when I was about 6 but I’m not sure she lasted very long. We’ve always been dog people and for those who know me well know we had a sausage dog called Shana for around 15 years. I miss my sausage dog but this is not about her its about George.

Yes George. George is what we called the kitten after much contemplation. You see we found him on the day before ANZAC Day here in Sydney. How is that connected to his name? I’ll get to that shortly.

On that day we were having new blinds installed at the manse so I went out the back to get the washing off the line to keep out of the way. I was standing there for a minute when I heard mewing. I though it was strange as we hadn’t seen any cats around at all and the people next door definitely don’t have one so I made my way towards the side fence to see if there was a cat stuck up a tree or something. I didn’t get more than a few steps and the mewing was louder.

I looked down and there was our birdbath upside down, well the top of it anyway (which is terracotta) and I thought ‘no way!’ and flipped the top over. It had been raining the day before quite hard but had been sunny on that day so underneath was a scraggly, very muddy (dry mud!) and quite weak little kitten. Not being a cat person at all I picked it up and quickly found an old towel and did the first big no no for a cat. I gave him a saucer of milk. If you’re a cat person you will know that they are lactose intolerant. We found this out later when the vet practically sighed and rolled her eyes at us and again much later when the results of being lactose free were evident.

The poor thing was mewing away but as soon as it had some food in its belly and I let his paws out of the towel it started purring and tapping my face. I must admit, it grew on me a little.

We rang the RSPCA who recommended a local vet and off we went. We were told they were obligated to take him but the first words out of the vets mouth were ‘we don’t take in strays’. This kitten was obviously not a feral cat, its just too placid and laid back. I’d say it ran out the door and flipped our birdbath over and got trapped. Someone was missing it. It was then that the vet said it was in fact a he. We had to decide quite quickly whether we were going to keep him or not. If not we had to phone the ranger/pound, if so, we had to pay the bill for an examination. Michael decided yes and that was that. We paid for an examination, a vaccination and worming tablet. There was nothing more wrong with him than some worms (very quickly fixed) and a couple of fleas (also quickly fixed). Oh and I had to give him a bath!

Much happier and cleaner!

So, we had to figure out what to do with a kitten, what to buy, what to feed him etc…I must say, Miss K was very excited when she got home from school.

George. George was my Grandad and he was an ANZAC. I thought it was quite appropriate to remember him in this way. It turns out that my Grandad was a cat person and he had two Moggy’s just like George (although he called them Tinky and Tinky 2!!). Each year at ANZAC day we will remember how George came to live with us and he will remind us of my Grandad.

I really do think that little George was sent by God, after all he has a sense of humour. Besides, its amazing how relaxing having a pet around you can be, just what we needed!

Sydney is not a new place to us. In fact I was born in NSW when my parents were studying at Bible College back in the 70s but I consider myself Western Australian through and through. In the early 90s we went to Bible College ourselves here in Sydney (at New Tribes Mission Bible College) for two years. We came straight from high school and got engaged at the end of it. Here’s how we looked back then:

Yep, typical 1990′s outfits and do-s.

So, we visited the city including all the sights on a regular basis. Our grad dinner was on a boat floating around the harbour past the Opera House and Bridge. Nothing much has changed with those two icons however, looking at them through our kids eyes is a new experience.

Last weekend we went into the city because I got to go to the Archibald Prize Exhibition! I can hardly believe that myself, in my naivety I didn’t even realise the public could go in and see it! It was a great day out. Of course you can’t take photos inside the exhibition so here’s a shot of the girls on the front steps of the gallery of NSW:

The last time I visited the gallery would have been around 1993 and this is one of the only shots I have of that visit:

I have no idea who the artist was but I do remember being very excited to visit. My passion for art was only just starting at that point so unbelievably I only visited the once!

We walked through the botanical gardens too and if you know me you will know that any gardens like that are my favourite place to visit (and take a billion photos). Again, the girls had never been there so they were fascinated with everything including these giant cacti at the entrance:

They were even interested in the flying foxes which brought back all manner of memories from our days of picking fruit in Glen Orie (they used to shoot the bats of course). There are hundreds in the botanical gardens and I can’t say I’m a fan.

We walked all the way around to the Opera House and the girls were very excited to walk up the steps and go inside. You can go into the foyer entrance and that seems to be enough for them. Might keep my eye out for a reasonably priced show in there, that would be a real experience for them (and us!).

At the end of the day we caught the train home (which for them is equally as exciting) and we all got to enjoy something. There was even a plant sale on in the gardens so Michael got some bulbs and I got a succulent. We were all very tired and sore from all that walking at the end of the day but it was worth it.

And the Archibald? Oh yes, it was thrilling!! Loved it and can’t wait to go again next year (I still can’t believe I can do that!).

I’m sure a lot of people who read this post will be familiar with the old hymn ‘Count Your Blessings’. The words of the chorus go like this:

I read the words of this hymn somewhere recently (can’t remember where) and I decided it was time to take stock. Time to get out the old calculator and count those blessings.

bless·ing
[bles-ing] noun
1.the act or words of a person who blesses.
2.a special favor, mercy, or benefit: the blessings of liberty.
3.a favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness.
4.the invoking of God’s favor upon a person: The son was denied his father’s blessing.

I’m pretty sure if I list all the blessings God has given us over these last few months, this post would be very long indeed. You’d probably lose interest pretty quickly but seeing as I’m writing this as a personal record I’m going to go ahead and see how many I can think of. So. Here goes.

1. Privilege – we lead very privileged lives, we have so much and have each other. This is not something we deserve but something we are blessed with, God given.
2. Family – both sides of our family have been so supportive to us this year in packing, preparing for moving and unpacking.
3. Friends – we are blessed to have friends who support us, who care for us, who ask how we are, who visit us, who send us little gifts and who listen.
4. New Friends – we have already made some new friends over here in Sydney!
5. Protection – Traffic is awful here, thank you Lord for protecting us.
6. This house, here’s the list of things that I am amazed at:
- Its size
- Storage
- New Blinds
- Having a separate laundry, bathroom and Toilet
- High Ceilings
- A Dishwasher
- Air conditioning that heats and cools
- Newly painted walls
- A big kitchen
- Beautiful ceilings
- Little shelves above the doors and windows!
- A full pantry
- A green front door (in my favourite shade)
- An old house (love love love the character)
- Beautiful hallway light fittings
- A big backyard
- Two sheds
- A big art studio
- Built in Robes
- A sweet front verandah
- Rose Bushes
- A beautiful bathroom
7. Finding a good school and Little L being able to start Preschool (and there being no problems)
8. The Church here beings so caring, receptive, patient, generous and the fact that they consider us worthy to be here!
9. Our New Kitten – look above, see the mud, we found him like that. Pretty sure he’s counting his blessings. I might blog about that later.
10. Living near so many interesting places.
11. An improvement in my health and the fact that its not too serious.
12. Weather. I’m not a hot weather person, good thing Sydney isn’t a hot weather person either.

I’m sure there are many more but these are enough to be overwhelmed by in themselves. Yes we miss Perth and family and friends. Lots. Yes we miss Perth beaches and Fremantle and and less traffic. Yes Miss K has had a few initial problems with literacy and yes the noise outside this house is LOUD but, we are thankful to be here. We are grateful for the little things that I know the Lord has gone before and set in place. I am thankful that he loves me so much that he has given lots of little gifts to me, some of which only I will know that they are from him. I love how he loves his children the same way that we love our own and as much as we discipline we also love to do nice things for them. Have you counted your blessings lately?

As you may know I have had a few on-line stores. Over the last 6 or so years I’ve had stores with Etsy (Polylarific, KeLu and Beadpile), Mintd (Polyclarific), Wahmania (Polyclarific) and MadeIt (Polyclarific and KeLu combo). Some of them were more successful than others as each of these sites have different customers. Some were Australia only, some overseas.

Polyclarific is still on Etsy but to be honest, I haven’t made anything new for the store in quite a while. I still love polymer clay and hope to sit down and have a play with it again in the near future but in-between life in general, travel, a bout of depression and moving states its fallen to the wayside.

KeLu on Etsy is still there but its full of cards that I have either hand painted, carved my own stamps for and stamped or used my Gocco printer for. That version of KeLu was one step away from being where I really want to be with my artwork.

All the other stores are closed (I am no longer on MadeIt, Mintd or Wahmania and BeadPile has closed on Etsy). That leaves me with a store for Polymer Clay items and a store for Printed and hand painted items.

The final step for me is having my artwork printed on to posters and prints and also cards and RedBubble allows me to do that without having to actually find a printer myself. They handle the packaging, orders and printing so its a lot easier!

My RedBubble store is also called KeLu as its another arm of the Etsy version. I expect that the Etsy version may disappear after a while but I haven’t decided yet. The work you will see in the RedBubble store is quite different from the Etsy one, it includes original art in watercolour, pen, acrylic and more with a range of topics from nature to travel. At the moment there are 20 images but as soon as our internet is sorted properly I will be adding images almost daily. All images can be ordered as cards, most as prints and posters.

So to give you some idea, here is a slideshow from my new RedBubble store!

First I built the house using packing tape and boxes. The front two boxes where the circle windows are are actually little rooms as I used two boxes taped up and then once it was all constructed I cut out two doors inside the house. I tell ya, it was great fun coming up with a good plan!

The girls wanted to paint it and to be honest, I’m a bit tired of looking at packing boxes so I got out some sealer/primer from the shed and rolled the whole thing. It covered up most of the tape making it look a bit like a shed!

The girls and I got to painting the flowers onto the house. Daddy even helped with the painting of the front door.

The finished house. The door is in fact a flap (as seen in the previous pic) so we prop it up with a chair and it serves as an veranda type entrance. The roof isn’t taped down on the sides so I can lift it up and see if I need to get anything out of there easily. There is bubble wrap on the floor inside and they have been putting a cushion each or a rug in there too.

One day we want to build them a proper cubby house out of wood but its on the long list. This will have to do for now!

In the midst of that there were a few little highlights. Firstly I found a new chiropractor nearby who was excellent. My chiro in Perth was brilliant so it was sad to have to change (if anyone needs a chiro, look up Dr Calvert at Hilton Chiropractic). After 3 months of packing, unpacking, sorting etc… she got about 10 ‘adjustments’ (cracks) out of my back from neck to hips!! Yep, stress, hard work and tension all built up.

A friend from Perth sent over this gorgeous package for the girls this week, they loved it (thanks AJ!).

It was really nice to have a new friend and Pastor’s wife drop in on Monday. We get along really well and its nice to have visitors! Her boys and my girls get along really well and had a great time together.

Also we had some new friends come over. Was really great to meet another fellow Pastor’s wife (and her fam) after chatting only via Facebook and the net for ages. She brought me tulips. Very nice. I made her choccy slice. Yummo! Forgot to take a pic though but there was this lovely collaborative work by all of our kids:

I have been trying to get a bit organised for school returning next week, especially when it comes to some resemblance of a routine. This is what I came up with for a job chart. As they do each thing on their side of the chart they move the picture to the bottom. If at the end of the day all their pictures are at the bottom they get a star on their rewards chart. I got my rewards chart from my Phoenix Trading store here.

The girls wanted to do some cooking this week too so I thought we’d get some things in the freezer ready for school.

GF Banana Bread

Shaped bikkies (choc-chip and plain)

Banana Muffins

Vanilla Cake with Pink Icing (made for guests who couldn’t make it so we put it in the freezer along with everything else)

Other good things that happened were that I did get to visit an art store this week (bad thing, my paper got squished on the way home BUT I think I’ve been pouting about that too much when its not really important). We also heard that we have a tenant in our house in WA so thats good news.

Sadly my camera got knocked off the bench this week and is damaged. Sad for me really not anyone else. We have been trying to revive one of our old cameras for now but I do have my iphone camera too (the above pics were taken with that).

There was a lot of rain in Sydney this week and the girls had a great ol’ time testing out their new umbrellas:

Phonecalls from family, encouragement from people at the church (and via my hubby’s message on Philippians and remembering to bring Christ into our circumstances) and a bit of humbling via family too (that I needed) were all good things. Opening my RedBubble store was a good thing (that was born out of a bit of a bad thing, more of my work was rejected after submitting it this week). You can find the store here but I’ll try to do a separate post about that later in the week.

So, how was your week? I really do think that the Grandma in Parenthood was right, the roller-coaster is more interesting! (see below if you don’t know what I mean):

The photo above shows my hubby doing the first mow of the lawn here in this new house. There have of course been many, many firsts already from the first night sleeping in the house to the first time we drove out the driveway to do the shopping.

Such as:

The first time we used the dishwasher (or any dishwasher!)
The first time the girls slept in their new room
The first time I hung the washing on this line
The first time I used the oven
The first time I met people from our new church
The first time we experienced a real Sydney downpour
The first time we visited specific shopping centres
The first time I mopped this floor
The first time we rode on a Sydney train/ferry
The first time the girls saw the bridge/opera house/luna park
The first time hubby preached as Pastor of this church

You get the idea, there are always firsts. Some things seem more significant than others, obviously the first time Michael preached in the new church as Pastor was higher on the ladder than mopping the floor but each thing sets us off on this new journey.

There is one first that I am yet to have, the first time I have become emotionally overwhelmed by our new situation. There are so many things to be grateful for and be amazed at. Internally I am, mentally I am amazed but this isn’t showing much on the surface. I am very tired, very worn out and I’m finding a few of my old symptoms are returning. I suppose I’m not surprised about this, I have in fact been more surprised that I haven’t had some sort of collapse or gotten very sick.

Why would I think that? Well for one thing I’m not really physically recovered from the bouts of stress we had about a year and a half ago. The wonderful Doctor I had in Perth put me on a lot of supplements to balance out the deficiencies and I’m fairly sure these are a big part of why I am physically not sick. I do think that I have quite bad adrenal fatigue right now. I have all the classic symptoms (fatigue no matter how much rest, ‘waking up’ and feeling my best after 6pm, irritability, salt cravings and sometimes sugar, emotional flat-lining etc… actually I have pretty much the entire list) and my previous Dr told me I have AF.

How do you fix it? From what I know of AF its not a quick fix. It took a long time for my body to get out of whack and it takes that long and more to recover (as long as you aren’t putting extra stress on yourself, hence my going backwards with an interstate move). Elimination of gluten (I’m already gluten-free), sugar, processed foods, refined carbs and caffeine (and alcohol if you drink it) is the first adjustment. Light, non-aerobic exercise seems to be the next step (hopefully once things have settled I can join a gym or circuit program) and finally rest.

I do know however that things have NOT returned to the level of physical symptoms that I had a year ago, its no where near as bad as it was so I can praise the Lord for that.

So, in the long list of firsts I must say that I am looking forward to the day that I can sit and take in where I’m living and get all overwhelmed and have a good cry. After-all, a good cry does you the world of good don’t you think?