our reading commitment begins...

this morning we went to the library to give "rhyme time" another try. our last attempt, in january, saw us leave before the session was finished, with missy shouting over the librarian and appearing to be completely disinterested in the songs and rhymes. but today, able to sit unaided, missy seemed to take much more notice of what was happening, and appeared to enjoy herself. she certainly enjoyed having other (flirty) babies to interact with.

and before we left, we picked up 2 books to kick off my commitment to reading together every day ( i'll let you know how we go.) here's missy exploring our choices:


take care,
em

whoops, i did it again...

today's post is not at all a thing of beauty - in fact, it's quite the opposite. below is a picture that encapsulates the consequences of my distracted nature:


(they're burned prunes, in case you can't tell...)

the thing that frustrates me most is that this isn't the first time i've done this. it's not even the first time i've done this in the past fortnight - i did it 9 days ago. that time was worse, admittedly - shoo-ing smoke out of your house at 9:30pm on a chilly night is not fun.

however, repeating such a mistake does bring an added curse - i've had britney spears' song, "whoops, i did it again..." cycling through my head all afternoon! hopefully that will be punishment enough to keep me more attentive to my next batch of stewed prunes...

take care,
em

destruction of blocks...

yesterday, husband introduced missy to blocks. in particular, to destroying towers of blocks. missy is yet to enact destruction with a gleeful look in her eye, but i imagine that will come in time. at the moment, blocks are just colourful things to grab and munch.



take care,
em

the wonder of winter woollies...

the wonder of winter woollies continued this cold but lovely weekend...



i pulled my beautiful, woollen poncho out of our cupboard, where it had been banished about 2 years ago, for a friend's party on sunday, and i really appreciated its toasty warmness in the drizzle! (and i discovered that it need no longer be hidden away in the cupboard - i thought i was doing husband a favour by not wearing this clothing he objected to, but it turns out he's changed his mind - hooray!)

take care,
em

yummy shortbread...

below is the egg-dairy-gluten-free shortbread i made to have during morning tea for our mums' group first aid training today. the fork-prints around the edge are the influence of my nanna and masterchef on me, and despite being everything-free, it is surprisingly delicious - even dairy and gluten-loving people think so!



take care,
em

treasures of the street...

this week is hard-rubbish collection in our area, so the streets are littered with broken furniture, discarded pieces of wood and plastic, etc (but nothing metal - that gets picked up by non-council metal collectors very quickly!)

at the beginning of the week, i was in our kitchen when i noticed a car pull up at the front of our place. its occupants got out and began to paw through our rubbish pile, and i thought to myself, in a smug kind of way, "good on me for not using hard rubbish as an excuse for acquiring more things." i was quite proud of myself.

but later that afternoon, i took missy out for a calming walk in the sunshine, and discovered something, in my neighbour's rubbish, that i could not resist... (doh!)



it's so good! there's nothing wrong with it at all - and i didn't even realise until husband pointed it out that i actually had both halves of the clam - i thought i just had one, so having two was a lovely bonus.

i think missy likes her hard rubbish present:



take care,
em

earth day...

so it turns out today is "earth day" - i did not know this until i went to bible study this morning (at which i was able to focus and contribute and learn so refreshingly much, now that missy's sitting prowess allows her to be looked after in the church creche. huzzah!)

and during this study, we looked at genesis chapters 1 and 2 - the accounts of how God created the earth and everything in it, including humankind, whom he made in his own image, and to whom he gave dominion over the creation. dominion - what does that even mean? we ran out of time to discuss it in depth, but with earth day conveniently falling today as well, i am currently thinking about what it really looks like to have dominion over God's world, under God. hmmmm...

and i'm thanking God for these daffodils-to-be, which sprung up unexpectedly near our driveway:



take care,
em

we like thunderstorms...

last night, around dinner time, lightening began to flash through the sky. and it reminded me of a conversation i recently had with my mum - "we like thunderstorms."



take care,
em

from this, grew this...

early in march, inspired by the garden of a fellow new mum, i decided to try growing a couple of things. and i'm pleased to report that the death toll only stands at 2 - 2 spinach seedlings that both drowned and fried (i didn't know that was possible!)

here is my proudest achievement:

from this...



grew this...



i'm looking forward to eating them when the beets get a bit bigger.

take care,
em

brought to you by the letter d....

yesterday, missy learned to say the letter d. i've got to admit, it really does sound like she's saying dad, and even dad-dy, at times. husband is thrilled, of course!

the picture below is from a week or so ago, but i think it captures the essence of those first "d-d-dad" moments...



(please excuse the belly...)

take care,
em

the stillness of morning...

after a rubbish night's sleep on friday, i was ready to snuggle up in my freshly-flanneletted bed by 9pm last night. so now i am up early, full of beans, and ready to finish that uni assignment while my house is still quiet. here is this morning's sky from our driveway:



i love being up this early, when the world is so still.

take care,
em

rainbows everywhere...

i love rainbows. i look for them everywhere. and, yesterday, i found one on my washing line!



(cut me some slack here, people!)

i don't know if this makes me a little strange, but back in the day when my clothing actually made it into my cupboard (rather than just being worn straight from the washing basket or pile of folded clothes) i used to arrange my hanging clothes in rainbow order. i must have had plenty of time on my hands...

in the daisies...

we snatched a little time in the sunshine yesterday, between the cloudy greyness. after a walk to mail beppe's birthday card, missy enjoyed running her fingers through the daisies.



take care,
em

a box of goodness...

yesterday was a stay-at-home-and-not-go-anywhere kind of day. but look what came to us!



i love our weekly box of victorian vegie goodness.

the perfume of procrastination...

the wintry weather inspired a roast vegie dinner last night, complete with herbs from our very own garden. i showered the potatoes with thyme leaves that i'd picked and dried about a fortnight ago, which left my fingers smelling delicious - something i relished as i later sat with my head in my hands, staring at our computer, trying to figure out what on earth to write next for my current uni assignment.

all of a sudden...

yesterday, as if all of a sudden, melbourne got cold. which means it's time to break out the flannelette sheets, the slippers and the beanies...



i think missy is quite happy to welcome the change of season.

take care,
em

it begins...

so, a blog, eh? i've always been a facebook-refuser, but of late i have come to appreciate the benefits of being able to document parts of your life online, particularly when so many of your loved ones live far away, or when the busyness of life keeps you from seeing your local treasured friends as often as you would like.

hence, the ambiguous teapot blog. here, i will attempt to share with you some beautiful things from my everyday life. i pray that the act of sharing will teach me to cherish these things more and more.

and here is the very first one, made (well, mosaic-ed) with my own two hands:



the fact that i've included this picture today means that i can't tell my in-laws about this blog until next monday, as this bowl is a gift for my mother-in-law's birthday. but i am just so excited about how this turned out that i wanted to share it today...

and now i'm off to let some people know that my blog exists!

take care,
em