Run, run as fast as you can...

...you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man, actually, gingerbread farm animal!
After a long week at home with my two cherubs and but a wee bit of buntyandsars time wedged into gaps made by some super fast, hyper housework I was a touch rattled. Top this with a cold, wet weekend and the prospect of more bad weather on the way and I'm a donkey on the edge!
This stay at home Mum spiral in to misery happens a bit around here. It generally starts with a bit too much whingy, clingy, screamy, I-wanty, fighty kid action at which point all I can see is that gosh darned, half empty glass. Then I become a touch whingy, clingy, screamy, I-wanty (SOME FLUFFING SPACE) and fighty too. This inevitably makes everyone else even more whingy, clingy, screamy...you get the idea.
It's really difficult to break the cycle so I'm on a constant quest to avoid getting on that particular bike. Currently, I'm an advocate of the simple, good things. Those stop and smell the roses kind of things that poke their heads in between the other challenging frustrating, mind-numbingness of being a stay at home Mum.  By the way, can someone give me a better term than 'stay at home Mum?' I hate it, it sounds so humble and unworthy of all we do. Like all we do is drink milk and build things with lego. As I was saying, a simple thing like bundling up one of your cherished offspring (or demanding tyrant, depending on the situation) and giving them the tickle of all time does wonders in avoiding that bike ride into Crapsville. Or try a longeroom picnic of what we call 'sundaes on a Monday' (or Tuesday, or Wednesday). It's just a fancy glass filled with chopped banana, yoghurt and honey. See? simple, but good.
Investing a little more effort into the simple but good theory pays off, too. A fine weather traipse around the garden does wonders. Especially at this time of year when even the plants are growing like weeds. Just yesterday I got the kiddies gumbooted up, then I shunted them out the door where they got into some quality swing and slide time while I got sidetracked with weeding a grotty stretch of fence line alongside our shed. Before I knew it we were all wound up in the weed yanking (note to self, children under four can't tell a weed from a rare and unique horticultural specimen. Lucky we don't have any). It's the bit by bitness of gardening that soothes. Everyday there is something changing and a new job to tend to. At the end of the day we sprinkled some seeds in the hope we'll get some pretties, so for now we shall wait and see.
 The prospect of a sorry weekend staring once again at these same four walls while the rain came down outside prompted a foray in to a family activity we occasionally embark on when the chips are down. It's a real cheer upper. I've been pondering a name for it and I think I'll settle on the "Big Shop, Big Shop". Now, most of my humble existence revolves around my desire to avoid the mass produced, commercial and tasteless. I bake my own bread, I cook meals from scratch and I don't dress my kids in exclusive Bob the Builder or Dora the Explorer. As a family we grow our own vegies and keep a few chooks. We don't even watch commercial telly. It's ABC all the way with a sprinkling of SBS for variety. However, these self imposed rules were made to be broken. Enter Big Shop, Big Shop, I highly recommend it. Start by forcing the whole family into the car and head to your nearest large, department style shop. This weekend the lucky one was Big W, but it would work equally well in Target (pronounced Tarjaye, of course), Kmart, or if you're flush with cash, Myer. On your way there decide on a limit for each person. We did $25. Park the car, head on in and go to town, because you all get whatever you want! For me it was a copy of Poh's new book, yes another cook book, but may I say it IS very cool. My boy child got some Transformers (uber commercial, with a touch of nostalgia). My girl child scored a hot pink Barbie car complete with a super tarty Barbie and my husband managed some I-tunes money. All in all great, meaningless, land fill purchasing fun followed by lots of playing indoors with our new goodies when we arrived home. That's how you chase the rainy day blues away!

In my miniscule buntyandsars time I did manage to do some making. I've been fluffing around with some one off illustrations/wall hangings and I think they may well be a winner. I've just got to spend a little more quality time on them and I should have some ready for the Daylesford Makers Market on Saturday. The first one has a teensy bit of pink glitter and some layered water colour just for special sake. A little extra fluffing has allowed me to source some lovely, old school brown paper card for the covers of my books onto which I will print some new, slightly more illustrative labels.
In the meantime I've been feeling a growing hankering for a spot of op-shopping, all I need to do now is wedge it in to a gap somewhere...

When life gives you lemons...

or, when your husband picks them off the tree in the backyard, you make lemonade. Well, you make something. I'm happily  pondering what that something might be. I've got a whole box of lemons and a lemon dessert book from the library so it looks like we might be having some lemon tart, perhaps some lemon bikkies and this other chilled, milky, custardy thing I liked the sound of. I'll see what I can manage and report on the results. It's only taken eight-ish years for our lemon tree to have fruit and this year it's loaded. The box is just the beginning of the current harvest and I'm mightily pleased. I love lemons.  They are one of my favourite ingredients, alongside eggs. I'm becoming quite the self sufficient hippie in my old age and it feels a bit cool.
Next on the list of providing good stuff to eat is a herb garden. I used to be very committed to an ornamental garden that I could sit in and enjoy, but I've started to realise that this requires work and maintenence and gives little back. So, bit by bit we're filling up all the gaps with food plants. Hmmmmm, parsley, sage rosemary and thyme...and some other kooky ones I haven't used much, like lovage (great name!) tarragon, chervil and whatever else I stumble across when I start looking for herbs.
I'm not generally the outdoorsy type. If it's cold, windy or muddy I prefer to park my caboose next to the heater or fluff around in the kitchen. But the last week or so has seen me held hostage by a couple of snot wielding bandits. Not to mention the old fashioned (without the charm) winter we've been subjected to. I wouldn't dare complain about the rain, in fact I'm awfully enthused about standing idly, hose in hand, watering the garden or exposing my children to their first encounter with running under the sprinkler, now that restrictions are being eased. Yay for rain. BUT, if I don't get some serious levels of vitamin D into my ailing system I'm frightened my head will explode. That's where the gardening groove has come from. Too much time stuck at home looking at the backyard mess, desperate to get out into nature and to give the children a good run around.
The weather man and I are usually on good terms but we've had a falling out over my desperation for sunshine. He repeatedly told me throughout the last week that Sunday would hold nothing but sunshine. Now, Mr Weather, Sir, there was not a cloud or raindrop on that little picture of Sunday. Nope, not one all week and yet...Bravely I bundled my family into the pusher for a sunlit meander to the local market to buy plants for an afternoon of sundreched garden fun but, no. All the way there I looked to the sky, certain he wouldn't let me down. Certain that at any moment a golden ray would break through that thick grey muck. It didn't. So I consoled myself with a 6 for 5 deal of jam donuts ( or as they're known around here, damn jonuts) and they did go some way to easing the disappointment. Especially the bit where I got to see my one year old daughter devour her first deep fried, luminous red gack filled delight. She had it from ear to ear and top to toe. By the time she was finished she was very pleased with herself and crystallized in sugar. Worth every one of the 62 wipes it took to clean her up.
It's officially September tomorrow to here's hoping all this rain and cold may begin to be interspersed with some days of glorious sunshine and, dare I say it, T shirt weather...afterall, daylight savings starts in but a few short weeks (yipee!)
With all this springy-ness around the corner come a whole lot of markets about which I'm getting rather exited. The first of these is in Daylesford on Saturday and I am still pulling together aload of new goodies. I've got quite a pile of cards sitting idly, waiting to be bagged up and lots of colouring books. This afternoon I made up ten new pencil tins and they look great. Over the next few days I'm hoping to come up with a colouring bundle containing a few lovely bits and pieces including these...

They're just perfect and remind me of being seven and I think they're a bit lolly like. Very cute. I'm also pondering some new ideas for setting up my stall to make it inviting and interesting for people to have a sticky at, so I'd love some suggestions.
In the meantime, if you are itching to see some buntyandsars goodies or can't be in Daylesford on Saturday click over to Madeit (link up the top) or schedule in a Sunday drive to Woodend for the Sugar and Spice market on the 12th of September. What better way to celebrate this lovely weather (always the optimist!).