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This is the kids’ art gallery that started happening soon after we moved into this house. Asha sticks things up and takes things down and Milla likes to pull people over and show them her pieces. We mean to paint the bricks one day, but til then the gallery cheers it up.

Life with an almost two-year-old and a five-year-old is intense. It wasn’t until they went for a sleep-over at my parents’ last weekend that I realised how thick the silence in house was without them. They are noisy. And the negotiations with Milla over every single thing would test the patience of the UN. Plus school life is busy. There are notes to sign, readers to track, lunches to be made, drink bottles to be found, school dresses to be washed, hair-dos to be done. Every day! You develop tactics to escape for a few minutes – hanging out a load of washing can take quite some time … And how long has Ben been feeding the chooks for?! Living is a blur.

Lectures have finished, just got to squeeze out another couple of assignments, and then I’m done with that for the year. So I’m thinking I should just keep up the momentum and do a couple of pre-Christmas market stalls - there’d be hats like this one. And it’s hat weather. We don’t do hot in Adelaide, we like to go the whole heatwave hog.

Inspired by the lovely Scout, this is a list of things I’ve given up trying to explain/worrying about.

1. Milla, at 21 months, has never slept through the night. She wakes at least once, much more if she isn’t sleeping next to me. This has led to much tiredness. But I love her just the way she is.

2. Feeling self-conscious about wearing the clothes I make. Either people are too polite to comment, or they don’t notice at all. Either way, I’m fine with that.

3. Being a little bit hurt when strangers tell me that my blue-eyed, blonde daughters look nothing like me. Hey! Ouch! But I take their point.

4. Preferring to read adolescent fiction over adult fiction. This started as legitimate research and professional interest but is now a genuine love. I just re-read Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park, a brilliant Australian author, and it still made me cry.

5. Why our cat is called Miew. Because it’s pretty obvious. Doesn’t make it any less embarrassing though.

Pic by Ben

Back in my office days Friday afternoon was always, always time for champagne and chips. Not a combination I’d recommend - but drinking champagne Just Because I never had an argument with. Today my felt flower brooch from Melissa is giving me a little bit of that sought-after friday feeling. It improves my home-based-mother outfit one hundred per cent.

Some details of the new place, because the big picture is too scary. See here for the full disaster.

This video is perfection and makes me happy, and that is a tall order at this moment.

Real estate. Need I say more?

Our first camping trip with two kids was attempted and hailed a success - despite the ute’s air conditioning breaking own, the baby getting sick on the first day, almost getting blown away in gale force winds and a post-camping tummy bug that wasn’t pretty. Uh uh. I combed all the op shops (three) in delightful Port Fairy and came up with a couple of fabric gems. We beached, we picnicked, we Cheeseworld-ed (we needed petrol), we drove back with the windows down and the kids quiet in the back.

And one of my favourite musicians has started a blog and revived my nautical obsession in one go. Sarah Blasko rocks, in an alt folk pop kind of way.

Will the fairy of lost things kindly return Asha’s excellent stripy cardigan, a brand new pair of ballet tights not even removed from their packet, my favourite babies pants pattern, and my diary! My diary! Please. I’d be really grateful.

Cute fairy art by Jasmine Becket-Griffith.

These cheater patchwork prints, all for sale on etsy. I just love their cheesy cuteness. I can feel a summer skirt coming on. Like this one from Sportsgirl I think.

Sometimes sewing clothes just doesn’t work out. I have been admiring sweet round collars lately (like this one) and thought the op-shopped dotty fabric I found the other day would be perfect for a top. But it just wasn’t. Too sheer, my breast-feeding bust too ample, the collar too large and dorky in an I-can’t-pull-it-off-even-on-a-good-day kind of way. Just wrong. Maybe I can salvage it. Unpick the collar and make it narrower perhaps. Try it on again post baby-feeding.