Growing Family

Creative Overdrive

Back in Nashville we owned a tidy little two bedroom post-war bungalow. It was the first house we bought together in a little run-down street, within sight of a gas station. I loved that house.

When Small Sun entered the picture, my sister-in-law and I threw ladders up in the tiny second bedroom to paint a blue ceiling with fluffy white clouds. I upcycled nearly all the furniture in the house, and one crowning piece we still treasure today is an eight foot long desk The Captain and I designed together and an arborist/welder friend of ours built for us. The top is about four inches thick of some gorgeous wood, and the bottom is a steel frame. It weighs three million tons (or kilos!), and will outlast us for sure.

Living in rental properties since moving to Sydney was really hard for me. I am a creative person and I get the itch to change things...often. My whole life growing up, my family was knocking down walls to open up views, and bringing spontaneous creativity to liven up drab spaces. I am pretty sure my dad did knock out one wall one night, after we sat at the dinner table talking about how the room could look better if it was more open plan.

Hide sledgehammers and power tools when my lot is around. We have no respect for building codes or blueprints when the creative juices start to flow. 

We've been in this house nearly a year and I have tackled projects slowly and cautiously. I suppose the investment this house represents makes me cautious to maintain its resale value, not to mention I've been up to my eyeballs in caring for really young kids this year. Staple guns and toddlers do not mix.

With four and a half short weeks to get two rooms made over, my brain has gone into creative overdrive, with no real respect to budgetary constraints or...reality.

We are moving our office into an open plan room downstairs that acts as a glorified hallway. I end up folding laundry on a spare bed that has landed in the space, there is a toy kitchen, and some random bookshelves that didn't fit anywhere else. The room is a bit cold and gloomy unless the abundant down lights are on, using precious electricity. 

To that alluring space we will move our gargantuan desk, and the current office will be fitted out as a nursery/spare room for foster care and guests. 

I keep telling myself "this is really as simple as moving some furniture on a Saturday", but the project has grown in my mind.

Before we do the switch we want to paint our first really bold move in the house. We are going to do a feature wall in this style with a Yellow and White stripe! Except we are going to continue a stripe at one level extending to the right into a reading nook, and one at a second level to the left to pull the eye down and along the corridor to the boys' room.

Striped walls require a lot of prep work and I've been watching tutorial videos and trying to find a chalk line to borrow. I have the room mostly emptied so we are just waiting for the weekend, as it is a two person job!

Yellow is my happy color (could it be anything but?), and I know they are super-trendy, but chevrons make me happy too. Here is the picture I'm drawing inspiration from in the new office. I plan to hang several gold-leaf antique mirrors on top of the yellow stripe, in addition to what I call my "command central" pin board and calendar that currently hang above my desk. 

I love the juxtaposition of strong color and modern lines, with the delicate and timeless beauty of well-made antiques, and I can't walk past industrial antiques either. 

Upstairs, I want to paint the nursery with a grey feature wall so I can style it in a more feminine esthetic (this may be my favorite EVER girl's nursery space), or neutral (a space like this could go either gender just by switching out a couple soft furnishings). 

Upstairs in our house reads more traditional, with burgundy, gold, and neutral tones dictated by a large traditional rug, and my many found treasures (shells, stones, and pieces of nature). Downstairs is where we are experimenting with bold colors mixed with antiques.

Having the freedom to dream and create in a space is something I love, love, love. If only I had a team of tradespeople and an unlimited budget at my beck and call! Anyway, I am having lots of fun, if not making myself a little crazy with the possibilities.

It is just moving furniture around, after all, but in my mind it has become

painting elaborate designs

sourcing strong rugs and crib bedding at bargain prices

hanging rods and curtains (should I make them by hand?)

putting up a crib (should I repaint mine, since I can't justify buying a new one just because it is gorgeous

repainting the file cabinet

sewing slipcovers for a loaned glider with forest green plaid cushions

etc, etc, etc...

What do you get carried away with?

PS- Sorry for all the links. I'm not sure what the web ettiquette is when it comes to sharing others' pictures so I thought it best to link rather than snag and tag. That is a real internet-thing by the way - snag and tag.

A Great Day

I am not on twitter or instagram, but I have gotten totally hooked on Pinterest (an online pin-board that provides hours of eye candy covering just about anything you could be interested in). I am the kind of girl who used to have 503 tabs open in my browser because I wanted to come back and look at something again. 

I love Pinterest because beauty makes me happy, and it instantly gets my creative juices flowing. Also, I read a few design blogs and am constantly noting things I want to revisit.

One problem, however, with my new found inspiration, is that it seems like MOST of the world is blogging/pinning/posting from the northern hemisphere (can I get a witness Down Under!?). 

Everyone is chattering about spring florals, and summer vegetable gardens, and the swimsuit for their summer holiday. The mommy bloggers are talking about summer vacation ideas for the kids, and the food bloggers are whisking up perfect warm-weather concoctions.

Here, in Sydney, we are layering up our clothes. We are raking fallen leaves in the garden. We are piling an extra quilt on top of the doona at night. We are pulling out the scraggly, ragged remains of the summer garden to prepare for the winter crop. We are getting chestnuts in our weekly veggie boxes, and cooking hearty soups served up with dense breads.

At the shift of the seasons, there tends to be a bit of a disconnect from the rest of the online world, and it is in full effect by the time we have winter opposite summer. 

No matter, today I had the best day.

Hours in the garden, tearing out shrivelled cucumber vines, and pruning all the fruit trees in my back garden were extremely satisfying. Three apples, two citrus, and two stone fruit. If you could see the size of my garden, you would be scratching your head as to how they all fit...they don't. Hopefully the hard pruning I gave them today will boost their health and keep their size in check. 

The Captain helped me out after spending some time sleeping on the trampoline (an ultimate weekend indulgence he earned by taking Small Sun to his 7:45 AFL game, 45 minutes away!). He climbed up into the stone fruit trees with lopper and a saw and took care of what I couldn't reach on my bright yellow two step stool (we really need a ladder).

We cleared all the cuttings out, raked the lawn, and dug out some other non-essentials. Now the back garden looks perfect for our autumn schemings: a fire pit for regular sausage and marshmallow sizzling. We may not be flitting into springtime, but we're having jolly good fun Down Under!

Foster Care, Placement 2

Taking care of a baby is bad for my blogging mojo, obviously. Or is it taking care of five children? Either way, I seem incapable of maintaining my blog when there are extra little people in the house.

The girls left yesterday, and we have our second foster care placement under our belt.

Last night I was sitting on Sprout's bed, tucking her in. "Does it bother you to be sleeping without Blossom in your room?" I asked. "No. She always wants to talk to me! She kept saying 'uh-oh' and then wanted me to say 'a-o-u' back to her. She woke me up in the morning and kept talking!" was her quick response. "But will you miss the girls?" I wonder, aloud. "Yes," she answers.

That is pretty much the sum of it. We are happy to have our tight family unit back, and to be free of the responsibility of two little people who need lots-lots-lots of special care, AND we will miss them.

At about the two week mark, Blossom, who is two, finally relaxed with me and started spontaneously running to me for hugs, kisses, and affirmation. She kept calling me "mama", and clung to me when she was hurt or upset.

Letting kids go is the worst part of all. Not because I want to keep them for myself, but because I am afraid of being another person in the list that is too long, a person that they began to trust and love, who then passed them on. For Blossom and her baby sister, Bud, I was the fourth in their very young lives.

I don't know that there is much more to say than that.

Did You Hear Me Fall Off the Planet?

After my flurry of February photos it might have been noticeable when I suddenly went silent. Or maybe not? Here's what happened:

The phone company sent a letter about our line to THE WRONG ADDRESS (for the third time in the last 8 months), and when they received no response (Because we didn't receive it because we don't live at THE WRONG ADDRESS), they disconnected our phone line, and thus, our internet.

Then, when we had that sorted out, the internet provider said they would charge us a $90 switch on fee for activating a new service for us.

It took about a week and a half for them to get it all sorted out before our internet was restored.

You may have discovered that I am not a blogger who writes from her iPhone or takes her laptop to a cafe, or accepts creative offers of wifi genius from her husband. I don't have an iPhone or a laptop and if I could write a blog with a Bic pen on the back of a used envelope, that would be my preferred method of writing. Ahem.

So, moving on, here's the recent news:

1. The dog got another haircut and again resembles and overgrown mouse.

2. There are currently three children sleeping simultaneously downstairs. We are still working to transition two little girls to our place before they come to stay for three weeks of respite care starting next week. 

3. I have the most amazing friends in the universe, everyone is assembling with offers of help while we have the girls with us. Maybe because I look like I am about to LOSE MY MIND every time I talk about the logistics of adding two more (little) kids who have five (now four) days of recurring appointments scheduled every week.

4. My husband is good at talking me down when I get into the panic stratosphere. I am working at being good at talking myself down.

5. Things have been up and down with adoption lately. Bad news, bad news, good news! Local adoption (through foster care) seems to be out for sure, the wait in international has been mentioned to be 6-8 YEARS, but I think we qualify to apply for that luxurious process.

6. Some of our very best, best, bestest friends are coming from Nashville to Sydney, to play at the big country festival happening in The Hunter next weekend. I can't wait to see them!

7. Colour Conference is on the 15-17th and 22-24th. I won't get to attend very much of it this year, but I am still excited to be part of the community that supports the conference.

8. As usual with the change of seasons, I am homesick. It has been flooding all over NSW, but today is a sunny day with a crisp sky, and the morning was cool. One apple is starting to turn from rusty green to mauve on my tree.

More to come another day, internet permitting...

February Photo Challenge 23

23. My shoes

No, I did not stage this, my life is just this serendipitous.

February Photo Challenge 21-22

21. In our first hours as a family after adopting Small Sun. In one of four hotels we stayed in while waiting for permission to travel across state lines to bring him home. Those fancy pants are pajamas.

 

22. The start of a small studio space for me to create. The desk drawer holds notions and the built in cupboard has fabrics. On the bookcase are design magazines and books, garden books, patterns, my collected collage books, and sketch books. Finally I don't have to pack and unpack as much when I sew. I have some big ideas for this little corner...one step at a time.

 

February Photo Challenge 17-20

17. Time

My friends' reactions to my newsprint nails "did you just have tons of free time today?" Do you know anyone who has tons of free time?

18. Drink

I was busy prepping dinner for guests Saturday night when my energy just flat-lined. A good cuppa put me right again.

19. Something I hate to do

 

I don't really hate it, but after dinner when it is clean-up time, bedtime, and lunch making time, I'm just ready to put my feet up already. Oftentimes The Captain does it all. I know I'm the luckiest woman alive.

20. Handwriting

I used to really like my handwriting. The older I get the messier and rounder it becomes (I have to be careful not to follow the same pattern!). This is a card from my darling sister. Her handwriting looks like mine did before it began to sag.

Happy Valentines

14. I heart my family.

A couple years ago when we moved to Sydney, we couldn't find a babysitter to watch our kids on Valentines Day so at the last minute we decided to go, as a family, to our favorite local Indian restaurant. They made the restaurant extra special at Valentines with flowers, candles, and decorations. Our children loved it so much we went back the following year and would have continued the tradition, had they not closed down.

We actually had an offer to babysit this year, but when I thought about it, I realized that I love celebrating as a family. It was a busy day (isn't it always?) and I just had to make do with what I had in the fridge, and multi-tasked making dinner and talking to our caseworker who asked to come by for a visit. 

I spread the table with my Grandmother's cloth, and put out some special pieces, with red dahlias in red glasses. We enjoyed our little celebration of love, and maybe it was the wine, or maybe it wasn't, but my eyes turned into puddles.

Never trust a caseworker who comes over just to "check in".

We don't have our names down on the foster care list right now because we have a trip to Holland planned in just a few months and aren't sure we are comfortable moving a child to respite care again, while we are gone. We did say we were open to being respite carers for other foster families in the interim.

Our caseworker asks, as casually as she can, while I roll out pie crust, and read over a recipe, "well, there is something I wanted to ask you about while I'm here..."

The long and short is there are two sisters, 2 years old and 9 months old, that need respite care for 2.5 weeks, and could we take them? My brain started spinning calculating car seats and sleeping arrangements and, and, and...

At suppertime we told the kids what our caseworker had mentioned, and asked them what they thought. They immediately began working on us to convince us that we should take these girls. I explained that they were very little and that along with Finch, I would be very, very busy and it might be kind of hard for the big kids. 

Small Sun and Sprout proceeded to explain their detailed plans of how they would help me so much! They could hold the babies until they got tired! They could carry them to the car and put them in their car seats! They could take care of all their school things on their own! Please, please, please, can we take care of the baby girls?

Our family is still young, with our oldest only being six, and we are still new to the world of foster care, but already our children's hearts are completely sold out to helping little kids who need some extra loving care. I wasn't sure if I felt that I could manage five kids, with three of them being two and under, even for a short period, but my kids really, really want to say yes. That just melted my heart.

I love my family.

Happy Valentines Day. Whether you are alone or surrounded, coupled or separate, with children or without, you are loved.

February Photo Challenge 12,13

12. Inside your closet

13. Blue

February Photo Challenge 11

11. Makes me Happy

I'd say today was probably about 40/60 happy/sad. We went to visit the baby today. He is doing well. Afterwards the idea of going home was suffocating. Somehow we need the wind and the waves and the sky to clear out all the intense emotions surrounding this transition. 

We started driving and stopped at a nature reserve and took a walk. We saw a wallaby (like a small kangaroo)! Then Sprout got stuck with a leech. I felt faint. I'm so glad The Captain kept his cool and picked it off of her while I got Sprout to look away.

We got back in the car and kept driving until we met the sea, and took a long walk on the beach. Finally we went to a pizza restaurant and ate our fill, then added gelato on top. All three kids fell asleep during the drive home in the darkening sky. I'm not far behind them.