feet

i wore my cosy bamboo socks todayand there was a moment when i was standing on the new green mat that i had to capture -

billthedog and i were in the right place at the right time.

mended

i tripped and fell and tore a hole in my jeans last weekend (and a hole in me - but that's more easily fixed)
i begrudge spending money on jeans and buy them at op shops or savers but over the last few weeks i haven't been able to find the right pair.

and i wasn't ready to say goodbye to these ones so it was out with the interfacing and a bundle of fabric i bought from pippijoe during the etsy bushfire fundraising appeal and found just the right piece of screen printed linen

feline blogsurfing

toby is a keen student of both the interwebs and crafting (although he has developed an unfortunate fondness for removing pins from my pincushion)

as i was taking a stroll around the blogosphere this morning toby's eye was caught
and then galvanised
by pip's blog

salt

alerted by laura at sorrow at sill's bend i rushed over to see what the uk publisher salt had to offer.

in a word - treasure.

if you want to do something to save a stunning publisher from the fallout of the horrible gfc go and buy a book from salt.

i bought this

and this

we need to support companies like salt if we don't want to end up with dreary airport novels or factory churned out diy books as our only choices. i walked around dymocks at lunchtime today - they were having a 20% off sale (just as salt is at the moment) and i couldn't find anything i wanted to buy. their 'history' section was full of world war two or lightweight social histories, their so-called 'literature' section was awash with pot boilers and the australian fiction section was dominated by bryce courtenay.

it was a horrid glimpse into the future if we don't support independent publishers and booksellers.

so go straight to salt and buy a book. or two books. and then go to the hill of content, or readings or their equivalent wherever you live and do your bit to see they stay in business. how dreadful if the cheap greed that caused the gfc meant that we were condemned to battery books....

sunday evening

sunday can be summed up in the word - tired....

we kept will quiet and warm - occupied by making chocolate chip bikkies from this fabulous book i bought em for her birthday. the easiest biscuits i think i have ever made - and i am a regular biscuiteer.

i also made myself a couple of haramaki - see some gorgeous ones here and a tutorial here (because i baulked at paying $US25 for a cotton jersey tube i could make myself) i made a purple and a brown one.

yesterday i painted the connections quilt to deepen the indigo with some ultraviolet and black. i have plans for the next stage.....

but for the moment, early dinner and early bed - and hopefully no more croup

sitrep sunday

well we're back to normal chez seascrump after a scary night.

william was well looked after at the children's hospital - apparently it was a big night for croup and they were packed to the gunwales with barking infants. they gave him some steroids and he watched the wiggles and wallace and grommit* and was allowed to come home.

so this morning william, the scrumpster and i looked rather hollow eyed and pale but are all much better. it was lovely having will snuggled back in the big bed, breathing a bit raggedly but not that bug eyed panic and fighting for every breath.

and i owe bthed an apology - he was put outside for his pre-bedtime pee and i forgot to let him back in! so he spent the night outside, being the little matchgirl and missed all the fuss. he does have a doona and a beanbag to sleep on in the laundry so he wasn't huddled into a snowdrift but all the same...

*memorably known as 'grollis and robert' when emily was small

anxious of thornbury writes...

i am feeling rather strung out - the usual maternal mix of anxiety and guilt. poor william woke us up just before 2am with an awful croupy cough, struggling for breath and very upset.

after ventolin and calming didn't work we phoned for an ambulance - the paramedics arrived within 10 minutes, were wonderful and calm and gave w some oxygen which helped to calm him down. then he and the scrumpster were loaded into the ambulance and taken off to hospital.

as the ambulance pulled away i had that awful 'will i see you again' strickenness and felt like the world's worst mother in not being the parent in the ambulance.

but someone has to stay behind to care for the other kids, the scrumpster was ready and had w's jacket and slippers, i did the last hospital run etc etc all the rationality and reasonableness in the world can't sweep away the anxiety of not knowing what is happening, of not being there with my boy.

and that slack-arsed bthed slept through the whole thing!! wouldn't have noticed legions of paramedics taking over the house. miss molly moth conducted a thorough inspection of the equipment and had to be reminded not to climb up the younger paramedic's back - she and toby have gone back to bed.

which is where i should go now and try and get some sleep. will keep you posted