Tales From the Box

I’ve written previously about the amazing gingerbread cookies that we had at the Widg’s birthday party. And I promised to give more details about them, so here it is.

PassionCookie is the wonderful creation of my good friend Bryer. She has always been an absolute genius baker, so when she started up her own business, it was a no-brainer that she could do great things.

PassionCookie creates delicious handmade gingerbread cookies for special occasions and events, as well as selling direct to the public through the Eltham Valley Pantry, Macadamia Castle and local markets. They can also create special occasion and novelty cakes, as well as the great photo cookies, by special order, through their website. And they can deliver Australia wide.

And because their cakes and cookies are made to order, they can cater to just about anything you could possibly want. They are especially good at catering to particular dietary needs (Bryer and her clan are the actual stereotype of an allergy-blessed family, so they know all about that).

Basically, they’re really yummy cakes and cookies, and you should check them out.

Note: We’re not being paid to write nice things about PassionCookie. Although Bryer is our dear friend, we genuinely love her stuff, and we wouldn’t say nice things about her if we didn’t truly believe them. Just ask her, she’ll tell you.

Our beautiful, sweet, hilarious little boy celebrated his first birthday last weekend. Unfortunately, he was a little under the weather for the festivities (stupid teeth) and slept through most of it. But he did manage to participate in the most important parts, and the grown-ups had fun.

I put up some decorations (which I was asked to leave up for the State of Origin match).

This is his sweet little face when he spied the cake coming out:

His lovely Gran made the cake. Yes, it is the Number 1 cake from the Woman’s Weekly birthday cake book. It was chocolate cake with an awesome bright blue/aqua icing, smarties and sprinkles. We are still eating it for dessert every night. (Thanks Gran!)

I should mention that we have been very intentional in teaching the Widg to eat neatly. He isn’t allowed to touch food with his own hands, unless we put it in his hands for him. Sounds very strict, I know, but otherwise he would stick his hands in his mouth with every mouthful, and then smear them all over anything within arms reach. We do, of course, let him eat certain less-messy foods with his own hands, so that he develops good dexterity. Don’t worry, the boy has mad fine motor skills.

So this is him, being very cautious when we gave him some birthday cake. It took him a while to believe us when we said it was ok for him to pick it up and eat it himself. He enjoyed himself quite thoroughly, and dropped only a few crumbs on the floor. Brilliant child.

One of the Widg’s favourite toys at the moment is a balloon on a stick that Grandma and Pop scored for him when out shopping one day. So you can imagine his joy when presented with a room full of balloons.

Yes, this is him rubbing his face on a balloon. Crazy kid.

Finally it was time to open all of his wonderful presents. Although he normally loves to rip paper (catalogues, napkins, tissues, mama’s fancy magazines), he had a touch of stage fright in front of all of his family, so we gave him some help with the wrapping paper.

He was very excited about the big green ball (he has been chasing it around the kitchen ever since).

He needed a little help learning how the trumpet worked. He kept trying to eat it. We’re still working on that one.

The tambourine, however, was a no brainer. Anything that makes noise is a hit.

He also got a great activity table (it’s been helping him learn to pull up to stand), a walker trolley, a very cool horse-on-a-stick (you know those old fashioned ones that you ride like a broomstick?), a tiny little basketball hoop (thanks Uncle Boo and Aunty Nat – he’s getting quite good!), some awesome stacking blocks (they are actually the same ones that Gran bought for her boys many moons ago), a lovely little outfit, and the most awesome Noah’s Ark toy set in the world (it’s so cute: he pulls each animal out, holds it up to show me, then when he gets to the little Noah, he just chews on him).

We had lots of yummy food (sausage rolls, party pies, lollies and chips), and the coolest cookies ever. Our lovely friend B made them and sent them to us in time for the big day. They are gingerbread, and yes, the photo is done in icing and is edible. It’s weird eating your son’s face, but very tasty. I’ll do another post about them soon, I promise.

All in all it was a lovely day, and we know each birthday is going to be better and better as the Widg becomes more aware of what’s going on, and is able to really get into it.

We have a new chair! Well, it’s an old chair, but it’s new to us. Our lovely friends, the Fox’s, were cleaning out some furniture that they no longer needed and graciously gave us this beauty.

I had joked to them previously that if they were ever thinking of getting rid of it, I would be more than thrilled to take it off their hands. I didn’t actually think they were going to do it.

At first I assumed I would want to recover it in a fabric that more closely matches our current home decor. But several people have commented that they quite like it’s current state. I think we will live with it for a while and see how we feel.

It’s in amazing condition, and very comfortable to sit in. And I think it’s very pretty. Still working out where it’s going to live, but we think it will go where the big black and white rocker currently is (the rocker might go upstairs).

I am notorious for having stacks of magazines piled around the house.

I love to pull out a stack every now and then, and flip through them to get a regular dose of inspiration. It’s really just an excuse to look at pretty things.

So far the Widg has been pretty good with “no touching” the ones within his reach. Considering he quite enjoys tearing paper.

However, a lot of my inspiration these days is online. I follow a lot of blogs – everything from interiors and decorating, photography and typography, to sewing and crafts. But how do you “store” the images you find online, so that you can peruse them again and again when the mood strikes? I have gone through various phases of bookmarking, even saving the links onto a google doc. Now, finally, some interwebby genius has come up with the answer. Pinterest. And it’s not just for fancy-pants home decorating ideas. You can pin anything to your boards, whatever you are interested in. For example, if you were interested in collecting rare and unique spoons, well, you could pin pictures of them to your boards. You could have different boards for different types of spoons. A board for wooden spoons, one for ladles, one for teaspoons.

I’m finding it very useful. There’s more information about it here (and they explain it better than me).

I made these pants for Noah using a new pattern, but they ended up being too small. They fit him around the bum and thighs, but they’re a bit too short.

I miscalculated the measurements and forgot to add length for hems and waistbands. Rookie mistake.

These ones (above) are actually a black and white seersucker fabric that I found in Vinnies for 50 cents. I was hoping to replicate something like this. I will try again another time.

These ones (above) are actually a really fine corduroy that I got from Spotlight. Love the monkey heads. And (below) a super soft flannelette with bicycles. Very cute.

I have gifted them all to a friend from mothers group who’s little boy is younger and smaller than the Widg. I have plenty of the fabric left, so I plan to re-draw the pattern and try again. I know the print on the fabrics is a little kitchy, but I figure there’s only a very small window in a little boy’s life where he can get away with wearing monkeys and bicycles on his pants. I intend to make the most of that window.

UPDATE: I have since re-made the pattern and the pants. I can report that they fit very nicely indeed.

My first project when Olga came into our lives was to make runners for the dressing tables in our bedroom. And I had one main reason for wanting runners: I was sick of dusting. Yes, you heard me. I’m confessing my complete laziness right here in public.

I love our Malm dressers, I love the crisp white furniture. But I hate the fact that you can see the dust quite clearly just 2 days after cleaning them. So I figure if I make 2 sets of runners, I can just swap them out every week or so, have one on the dressing tables and one in the wash.

No, my husband’s dressing table does not usually look like this. He is human after all.

To make the runners I simply measured up the fabric and overlocked the edges. That’s it. Took me all of 10 minutes. Awesome. Of course they look home made. But I don’t care – they ARE home made.

My dressing table occasionally looks like this. It usually has a hairbrush and hairdryer on it. Some random jewellery that I haven’t put away. Some of the Widg’s toys.

Here is a detail shot of the fabric. I still need to find some different fabric to make a second set. I’m looking for something with geometric shapes in colours that will match our various doona covers, and overall, something cheap. I am anticipating getting bored with looking at the same pattern all the time, so if I have 2 options, I can change them when the mood strikes.

Just a quick one to show you the bamboo we have growing down the side of the house. Yes, bamboo. And no, it’s not THAT type of bamboo. It won’t spread like wildfire. There’s this new-fangled clumping bamboo that stays where you plant it.

We planted ours some time in May 2009, and it was about 2 feet tall then (or about 50-60cm). It’s now 8-9 metres tall. Very fast growing. Our plan is to grow it up and then trim and shape it like giant bonsai so that it becomes a screen from the neighbours to give us a bit more privacy (we can see right onto their deck, and they onto ours) and to soften the summer sun. Oh, and for reference, the Box is the building on the right.

There are so many things I love about this image.

(from Two Little Dicky Birds)

The casualness of hanging a picture on your wall with tape – so what if the tape leaves marks? They’re YOUR walls. Paint them.

Using gumboots as a vase for flowers. Why not?

That knitted blanket, so neatly folded, so cozy looking, such a pretty blue-grey. And the fabric on that pillow, lovely. I think my friend Jen has a dress in a very similar print.

And then finally, that bright, sunny, yellow chair. Makes me want to paint everything around me in bright, happy colours. So cheerful.

Last Christmas we decorated the Box with multi-coloured paper lanterns hung from the deck. I had bought the lanterns throughout the year from various places and just collected them as I found them.

Well, this photo was taken last week. Yep. They’re still up. They’re a bit rain soaked, the colour is running and fading, and they’ve become home to various spiders and bugs. But I haven’t had the time or the inclination to take them down yet. They still look kind of cool at night with the fairy lights on. And the Widg loves to stare at the giant “balls” blowing in the breeze.

When the Widg was just a wee fella (ok, so he’s still wee, but slightly chubbier wee. I’ll stop talking about wee.) When the Widg was younger, he didn’t really require much stuff, in terms of entertainment. Pretty much the ceiling was incredibly entertaining for him for days on end. So his collection of toys and related objects was as you see below – an activity playmat, a rocker and a small basket of toys. Since there wasn’t much to it, it was pretty easy to keep it all neat and tidy and out of the way.

Now that he’s much more advanced (ok, so he can sit up by himself) he is able to play with a lot more stuff. Below is what his little play area looks like now: 3 baskets of toys, plus the overflow. He also has a few small boxes of toys in his bedroom, but lots of them are too old for him yet, and I try to rotate the toys every few weeks, so he isn’t playing with the same things over and over. And also so that he doesn’t have 400 toys that he plays with all at once.

I find that giving him just 3 or 4 at a time is plenty to keep him entertained and interested, without getting too overstimulated or frustrated. I find he is better able to focus for longer periods of time with a smaller amount of toys, and isn’t bouncing his attention all over the place every 5 seconds. Some of these toys are a little bit old for him yet, but he enjoys chewing on them, or banging them. He likes the different textures and sounds. He actually went for a whole week where his favourite toy was a mixing bowl.

This is his basket of books (below) that I also rotate a few books in and out of every few weeks – he has quite the library upstairs. It’s a bit difficult reading to him at the moment, as he much prefers chewing the books than sitting quietly and listening to me reading or looking at the pictures. I have even tried giving him one book to chew on while I read him another book. But no, the one I am holding always seems tastier.

I assume he’ll get better at reading as he gets older. Otherwise school could be difficult.