I'm Crafty!

I have a new addiction.

So there I was, looking in a book store for a birthday present for my dear friend Esme.  I found myself in the crafting aisle, and this book caught my eye:

I thought, "Hey, I could do that!"

(For the record, this book did not completely distract me from my original purpose of shopping, and Esme did in fact get a present.  No, it was not a soft toy.  That will be for Christmas.)

So I bought the book and anxiously awaited my trip to the craft store.  At the craft store, I bought some fabric, felt, thread, embroidery floss and stuffing.  A few hours later, I had this wee cat!  According to the book, his name is Arno Cat.

 

I couldn't stop!  I just had to make this little monkey.  I was getting along fine with hand sewing these little guys.  I was happy with the results!  Here, meet Mabel Monkey.

 She has a button on her tail.  My flatmate Sam's mom was visiting and she is a crafter from way back when.  She helped me cover the button in fabric.  Too cute!

I was plodding along just fine with the hand sewing, and I was pretty happy with my results.  Sure, it took a little while, but it was fun!

Then, the most awesomest thing EVER happened.  I was talking to one of my co-workers about my new found passion and she offered to lend me her SEWING MACHINE!!!!

This is the first softie I made using the sewing machine.  Meet Blossom Bunny

Once I finish one softie, I can't resist starting another one!  Here is Mama Bear, using denim from an old pair of jeans.  Recycling is cool!

 I was getting pretty confident, so I tried my hand at making my own patterns.  Here are the results!  Let me introduce you to Clover Cow...

...And Truffles Pig 

 

I even worked out how to give Truffles Pig a curly tail!

My friend Sarah T. made a special request after looking through my book.  She thought life would be much more fun if she had this creature hanging around.  So for Sarah, I made Lucy's Monster. 

In other news, spring is most certainly here in New Zealand!  Bob was away this weekend, so I was a Weekend Starfish Widow.  I miss him, but I get the bed all to myself!   

 He will be pleasantly surprised when he gets home to find that Sam and I have spruced up the back yard.  This little garden is multifunctional:  It has herbs for food and flowers for pretty.  It will (in theory anyway) ward off mosquitoes too!  Apparently the little f#$*&!%s don't like marigolds and rosemary.  We'll see what happens!

We're also growing corn, potatoes, strawberries and tomatoes. 

And finally, a picture of the lemon tree, because it makes me happy.

Farewell to Wheturangi

I haven't moved house in three years. This is the longest stretch of time I've spent in the same place since I was in high school. As I started boxing up things today, I got a bit nostalgic. Three years! This was the first home Bob and I shared together. I've had three birthdays and one Christmas here. Bob hid the engagement ring from me in this house before proposing. We've had an ever changing revolving door of flatmates, we've grown veggies in the garden, we've cooked hundreds of meals...all the things that go along with living life. And the parties we've had! Yes, some great times have been had in this house. We've had some tough times too, but mostly, it's been good. Here is a little snapshot of our time on Wheturangi Road.

On this cold Saturday morning...

So it's been a while. I've had writer's block, I guess. Or maybe it's that I haven't had anything interesting to say.

I just had a good little Facebook messenger chat with my lovely friend Colleen. Colleen remembers me when I was a crazy scary angry hippy in high school, and still loves me. Now she is going to design the flowers for my wedding! I love Colleen! She reminded me that sometimes I am funny and when I write blogs, she enjoys them. So here's to you, Colleen!

It's winter here in New Zealand and I would be flat out lying if I said I was okay with that. I hate NZ winters, especially in Auckland. It is cold and wet. No snow, no fun things that go along with snow (snow men, snow angels, snow FORTS!!!! Snow forts are the BEST EVER!!!! Especially when Dad builds them. My dear old dad has a tremendous ability when it comes to constructing snow forts). Along with winter comes sickness, and I have been afflicted far moreso than usual this year. First, it was a nasty head cold about a month ago, and now it's bronchitis. I've been in this house since Wednesday night and I'm OVER IT. Also I'm feeling better, so I'm ready to go do something other than wear my jammies, read books in bed and drink tea. When I am well, nothing sounds better than to do these things...but somehow, coughing, sneezing, wheezing and having to get up every few hours to take more medicine and go to the loo doesn't make it all that much fun. Now my dearly beloved Bob is sick as well, and so is Mr. Isaac. Nothing on this earth is more miserable than a man with Man Flu. I'm blessed enough to have two such creatures in my home at the moment, which is why I've renamed my house "The Wheturangi Ward."

To make winter all the more unbearable, the neighbor's cat has taken a liking to us. He is a beautiful kitty with soft white and gray fur, big blue eyes, and an intoxicating purr. He sits at the top of our driveway and follows us to our front door, hoping to sneak in. He sits on our back porch and looks up at us with his enchanting eyes and bids us to pick him up and take him inside. He purrs and rubs up against our legs. Why, you may ask, does this make winter more unbearable? Because I think there would be nothing better than to be curled up on the couch with a nice warm kitty in my lap on a cold day. I miss having pets. We have two lovely fish, Pirate and Wench, but they are not exactly cuddly. Holding a cold goldfish in your lap while watching TV on a rainy Auckland Saturday just doesn't have the same appeal as cuddling a kitty. No, not at all. Plus, were I to try that, I would kill the fish, and then I would have guilt. Not cool.

The other thing that has been occupying my mind at present is, of course, the weddings. My battle at the moment is with gift registries. Because the cost of shipping things from the US to NZ is quite prohibitive, we will not be registering at Target. Yes, this makes me infinitely sad, but alas. We had plans to register at Briscoes here in NZ. Briscoes is kind of like...um...Bed, Bath and Beyond? Sort of. It has everything you need for your home, at reasonable prices. To my horror and dismay, they don't offer an online registry! You actually have to go instore to buy gifts. This is all well and good for the NZers because there are Briscoes stores scattered everywhere across the country. But what about the US guests? So, I went to the websites for some other shops and found that they had online registries. The trouble is that these shops are very expensive. I'm not kidding...$499 for a toaster! It had better be a magic, intuitive toaster that can accurately predict when I am likely to want toast, will go to the shop to get bread, butter and jam, and will have the toast all buttered and jammed for me exactly when I want it. Now we do need a toaster, but I can't imagine asking someone to fork out $499 for one as a wedding gift. That's just plain crazy if you ask me! NZ is a great place, but sometimes compared to the States, it lags behind a bit. I know, I moved to another country and I need to accept that it is not going to be the same as my homeland, but seriously...NZ has internet! NZers have the ability to purchase things online! NZers have weddings! How hard is it to set up an online wedding gift registry?????

That's about all I have to rant about at the moment. Winter, Cats, Wedding Registries. Random enough for you?

Why? Why Not?

It's been a tough day emotionally. My heart goes out to several families who have had some devastating blows. Confidentiality prohibits me from saying much. After nearly four years in the Heart Clinic, I've watched some of these kids grow up from birth. As a fellow human being, I can't help but to feel emotion when I see and hear some of what goes on every day. Why? Why didn't their hearts form properly? Why is this previously healthy child now on death's door? Why, when the parents have so much love for these children? Why, when their hopes were raised so high after surgery, do they come to find that it wasn't successful and there's not much more that can be done? Why?

There's no answer. There's only a counter-question: Why not? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? Because these things happen. Simple as that.

Because bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people, too. You can hypothesize and pontificate all day, to no avail. It's just the way it is.

But still, to see the hope on their faces before seeing the doctor, and see the tears after...it's not fair. But life isn't fair. Life happens to all of us, good or bad. Good AND bad.

So I will keep smiling, keep cooing over the gorgeous babies and keep chatting with the families about whatever they want to chat about. That's what I can do to help them. I can offer a empathetic ear, maybe even a hand on a shoulder or a hug. Or I can tell them all about my wedding plans and how I came to be in New Zealand to keep their minds off of the overwhelming sense of impending doom that they fear may await them at the end of their consultation.

I wish I had a magic wand and an endless supply of happy fairy dust. I would use them to fix all the broken hearts in all the families who walk through my doors. I would sprinkle magic fairy dust everywhere and everyone would feel at peace, no matter what good or bad might happen.