Cassie's Cuddles

I finally sent off my Friends swap, and my buddy has recieved it yay! But silly me forgot to include the letter that told her what the letters stood for! Sorry about that, some were not that obvious. F was for fabric, R was for roses, I was for inspirational, E was for essential girly stuff, N was for nibbles, D was for dolls and S was for stamps. Will I show you what was inside?and..I also joined a Christmas in July swap, this one was sent a couple of days ago, and it has to go to America, so I won’t show it yet 😀We went to a Chinese church the other week. One of the ladies wanted a photo of herself with the kiddies, so we let her, and I took one of her 😀 It was a very friendly church, they pretty much dragged us into the  luncheon. I went away thinking that I would like to learn chinese. I went to the library and checked out some chinese books, I think it might be too hard to do it on my own. I discovered a blog this week where a lady passes on handmade toys to children in hospitals in South Australia. I sent her the above, Steph made the crocheted one. Maybe if you have some toys that you have made or will make, you could send her some too? Check it out here:http://stitchselection.blogspot.com.au/

Wow, another month gone? Phew! What have I been up too? Well, I’m still being a good girl ;D. I have lost 16 kilos now, I am pretty happy with that, but I know I have such a long way to go. If you are a chubs, let me give you some advice..”start today, don’t leave it until you can’t fit through doors without going sideways”. It really isn’t so hard, at least not at this stage. I have discovered yummy hot chocolates (thanks to Jared). Jared has decided to check out all the hot chocolate places in Melb!! He asked me to join him, how could I say no? They are so yummy ( and yet, I have to include 300 calories) to make sure I don’t go over my limit. I actually took the kiddies to “indulge” while Jared was at work, I sent him a text…nom nom nom..I have also been getting ready for the next Dayspring Day. I have decided to do a “Masters Chef” day. I will making 100 chef hats. I have nearly made 20.How do you think it looks?Stephanie received her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award last week. The funny thing was that Lachlan came home with one too! He got one without realising just by doing his Army Cadets at school. Stephanie on the other hand, had to volunteer at the local library for 3 months, run up and down the 1000 steps every week, go on two big hikes, and practice her violin for 6 months…Congrats Stephanie (and Lachlan).Meanwhile Camden has tried to be a Zombie..don’t ask.He tried to eat my brains..He went away hungry, lol.The girls and I have done a bit of Naan cooking. So yummy. We found this super easy recipe here:http://titlisbusykitchen.com/archives/naan-without-ovenCassandra lost her first tooth this week. I gave her $5. All of the kiddies have recieved $5 for the first tooth, and then it goes down to 50c per tooth after that. I have done a bit of op shopping and have found a few cute bags…And..Stephanie has been doing more driving, as you can see from this pic she is driving in the van behind me (we were coming home from Church in two cars).Stephanie has also been crocheting for a friend. Her friend loves Dr who, so here he is with a darlek.I bought Alycia a pattern of her choice yesterday to start work on. A hedgehog! Alycia loves hedgehogs. It wasn’t a cheap pattern, but once she can make one, she can make many. I love the fact that my children want to create.We traced the pattern and cut out the material this morning. We were blessed during the month by a 4 year old. He knocked on our door and said ” I want to share my cupcakes with you”. How sweet is that? I really love seeing little children directed to think of others. Thank you to his mummy Narelle for making and sharing such cute cupcakes.My friends and I have been able to be part  of wonderful idea. A place near me asked people to donate new baby things for single mums. Normally young girls who find themselves pregnant with no one to turn to. This group provides a wonderful alternative to abortion. I thank God for them. Check this out if you want to know more.http://www.facebook.com/thebabesproject

On a less serious note, I will leave you with a picture of my physco collection.

We didn’t go to the Anzac service, we didn’t even make Anzac biscuits, but we do remember them. Thank you.

We had a quiet day home with everyone, so nice. We did a bit of a clean up.dishes done.Bins emptied.Oh man! While I was on the treadmill up stairs, Jared gave Cassandra permission to have her first shower by herself. Well, she sat over the plug hole, thus flooding the floor again!! This carpet is doomed!In the afternoon, Jared took myself and the three youngest children to Eastland so he could buy his “special” hot chocolate. I didn’t want one, after all I’m trying to loose weight, but he really wanted me to. So…One dark chocolate milkshake (didn’t much like that one), the other one was a hot, cold chocolate, yummo. Of course these two were shared between the five of us. When we got home, I made up some badges. I got this tiny toy badge set from the op shop, so I had a little play.I made some tiny badges.I got out an old Cath Kidston catalogue and cut out some of the designs and made these up. Then I got out the real badge maker and made up some bigger ones. I also made two American girls badges too.I have also made up some yoyo hairclips for a friend’s daughter. I cut out some extra circles so that she could learn to do some too. They are super easy.I have also bought 80 of these little cupcake container ready for Dayspring Day. I need another 3 sets of 8 though. I hope I can get them tomorrow.Today I have done two lots of burning 500 calories on the treadmill. I did this yesterday too. I am eating 1300 calories, so I had better burn some weight this week, seriously, or those scales will be thrown out of the window.

Can you believe it, two weeks of holidays nearly over?  How can two weeks go so fast? What have I done? Of course we had Easter in the middle, so it was busy with Church on Good Friday and  and two church services on Sunday. We also had a friend and her daughter stay for one night. It was lovely to catch up. My friend gave us a very generous gift too, which was much appreciated. Thank you Sandy. I also had time to catch up with some other friends.The girls have done some crafts. This is what Alycia made for her American Girl doll, Josefina.We also went to the Resource Rescue centre to buy a heap of junk to make other bits of junk. If you are a local, you can find it here:http://discountcraftsupplies.com.au/ I have been getting to know my camera. I have been using the treadmill that Jared bought me about 2 years ago. I would rather walk outside, but it is very handy when you have half an hour to spare or it is raining outside. This treadmill was a bargain, it was less than $200 from Kmart.It is very wizz bang. It takes your pulse, tells you how many calories you have burn’t and has a cup holder for my nifty bottle 😀I made a couple of bunny bags. The pattern is from Melly and Me. You can find her site here:http://mellyandme.typepad.com/ I bought the pattern for $4.50 at a local craft store, Keith Fagg. The second one was a lot better than the first. Today I also made another Peg Bear.I also made a Melly and Me bee.Those wings were a killer to turn considering I had stuffed them with some wadding.I drove over to Sunbury the other night for the children to watch Courageous with some friends. It was a long drive. I got Stephanie to do the driving on her L’s. She did such a good job. I drove home though. They are a lovely group of teens, I was there the whole time with one of their mums, and it was a lovely time of fellowship.I found some good books in the opp shop. Another Church history book. An old Pilgrims Progress and some Latin books. I also found a Holly Hobby doll for $1.50. It is very worn, but still sweet.My three youngest took to cupcake making while I sewed upstairs. Jared was downstairs so if there was a fire, he would save the day ;D  They ended up taking some over for the neighbors, the ones who made our house catch fire. All is forgiven eh?This is Cassandra in a cool mask, I love the way the nose sticks out. This came out of a book of masks. It kept her very busy.

I have been a good girl, I have lost 4 kg in two weeks. Now if I could just keep going. I now have just over $1000 in sponsership, yay! I seriously would like to aim for $5000, so keep the sponsers coming…please? Remember that I will not keep a penny of it, it will all go to the home in India.

What have I been doing? I get up and go for a walk. It’s not very far, but it still gets my heart pumping. I always take a child because I walk through a reserve, and it can get scary by yourself. I try and be more active during the day too. More importantly  I am counting calories. I found this great website where you type in your weight, age, and height, and level of activity, then it will tell you how many calories to eat to get to the weight that you want in the given time. Take a look.http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/ I met a man last week who lost 50kg without exercising, he just counted his calories! He says that he regrets not doing it with exercise, but it does show it is what goes into your mouth that makes you a fatty.Do you like Alycia’s bag? She went off and made it, with no help from me. I am impressed. She took it to her auntie’s for a sleep over, and it stood up to the rough and tumble, I am impressed. Have I said that I am impressed? Speaking of the sleepover, this is the picture my sister sent to me.It looks pretty cozy don’t you think?Alycia is very creative, she drew this picture too. She has also been knitting. I love the fact that she doesn’t waste her time.We have some testosterone flying around here. Jared can still show Lachlan who the man of the house is. Life is hard for a 6 year old eh? She has a light up glass (from Nicky), filled with ice blocks. Where did I get her from? Lol.Do you know what Camden is holding? Its a container of doggie do bags. My parents gave it to him thinking it was a coat stuffed into a cute container. I am still laughing over this.The biggest drama this week is that I asked a certain boy to put on the bath, and then he forgot about it. So the floor, hall and three bedrooms got quite a bit of water damage. The carpet in the boy’s room has been ruined. Every towel has been used at least twice (that’s nearly 40 towels!). It is getting better, but now it is stained. Here is a page from a book I found in an opp shop, I thought you might enjoy it.

We had a lovely baby shower. The ladies were very quiet, I felt like a hyped up toddler. Jared said that all he heard from up stair was me..opps.Do you like our decorations? We also made a baby from fruit salad. Sounds weird huh, but it looks cute don’t you think?I got the idea from Tip junkie. Straight after the baby shower we went to Clifton Hill for their carol  service. Sunday we went to Broadford Church, where Jared preached. I love Jared’s preaching. After Church we shared lunch with everyone, they do that every week. I love this idea, too bad more churches don’t do it, it’s great for fellowship. Cassandra discovered many fruit trees, so she started to collect them, and now we have some in a brown bag waiting to ripen.We went and watched Sleeping Beauty, a ballet, staring Ellie, our next door neighbour. Ellie is such a lovely dancer. We also went and bought me a bike, cool!! They didn’t have any in the Bayswater store of Anaconda, so I called the DFO at Sth Wharf and they did, so we went in and bought it. I was sooooooooo excited, it is my dream bike. Jared went in to put it into the car, but it didn’t fit, ugh! Jared said I should catch the train home with it, noooooo. That freaked me out, after all I wouldn’t get home until 9pm. I went back and begged them to send it to the Bayswater store, and they kindly offered to send a boxed one to Bayswater, so now I am waiting for my call. Here is a picture of Jared with my bike.We had a lovely walk around the city as well. Camden looks a little like a ballerina here. He jumps with grace 😀Of course we had to get slurpees.This why I don’t like going shopping with Jared. I love him, but boy does he rev the kiddies up. The whole time they are tripping each other over and punching  each other. Keeps life interesting huh?I made a few gingerbread men. I gave one to a friend last night when we went to their house for a carols night. It was a lovely night.Yesterday I made a skirt for Alycia and then a matching rose for a plain T-shirt. This is such a simple skirt. You are just sewing selvage to selvage, then you turn down the waist to make an elastic casing, then do the same with a smaller amount of fabric, and join it on, simple!! The rose was from a Tilda pattern book.I nearly forgot the cookies!!! I joined it on  a cookie swap. /We all made 6 dozen cookies of the same type, wrapped them up, and then went to someones house, and did a major swap. It was such a fun swap. People dressed up, we played some games, and then took 6 different lots of cookies home.Today we went to Broadford again today, then to Essendon for a carols service. We finished this evening by finding this visitor in our shower.I don’t like these visitors, in fact, I want them dead.

Today is the 7th of November, so what did we do? Well, Alycia was ill on Sat, so you guessed it, Lachlan was sick today. So he got a day off. I did school with Camden, Steph did her own school, and Alycia and Lachlan slept. In the afternoon when people were feeling a little bit brighter we went to 7-11 to get a free slurpee each. Everyone seemed to really enjoy them. Later in the afternoon I also found this recipe, so I whipped some up. It was so yummy. I gave some to everyone.I think that they liked it. You can find this recipe and others here:http://www.mhcmag.com/On the weekend we bought a trampoline from Aldi for Camden and Cassandra as an early Christmas present.I did a bit of sewing on the weekend. Do you like my mermaid?and some Tilda birds.They are friends.Look at my wall. I think we have a problem.Our house is sinking, ugh!

Look at my vintage girl. My sister gave her this top. I had a track suit like this as a child…..I didn’t like it. But, hey, it suits her. It will have to grow on me.Ok, so here is my psycho secret. I am collecting smurfs. Perhaps I have enough now? I saw this bag in the op shop which now houses them. A perfect match don’t you think?

I’m back, did you miss me? This is a random night when I am actually at home. This when I usually blog, so that is why I have trailed off a bit.  I have so much to tell you, but perhaps I will just start off with today, seeing as it is fresh in my memory.Today we headed off to visit my sister in Rosebud. Stephanie drove to Keysborough where we met mum, and then we drove on together. We got to my sisters, and then looked at the garden, her house (she is having some renos done), patted her pets and then went shopping! I bought this nice jug at an antique shop. I liked it, and when mum said that it was a bargain, it convinced me.When I bought it home, Jared looked at me in a weird way, but as soon as I said “mum says it’s great value, and that it is the real deal”, he perked up a bit ( he knows my mum has great taste). I also found a dress for Cassandra which my sister bought for her, and tucked away near the ground I found a old dear friend, Snoopy!I had one just like this when I was younger. Now, I know that this looks like some kind of freaky Pixie photo, but isn’t he cute? My sister bought that for me too. Yeah, we made her broke. I also found two books that I was excited to find.Alycia saw this cushion that she would like to copy. We also went into a lovely craft shop, and my mumma found me a lovely little Chrissy present ( I will have to be patient, and put it out of my memory), yeah right!

Overall we had a lovely day. We also had lunch, and my sister gave me a bunch of smurfs (yeah, I know I sound nutty). Stephanie said today that I will be a nutty old lady who has to have a separate house to put all her toys in..(what does she mean old?). I will show you my collection soon.

This long weekend I also did some sewing.I made a mini banner which I think is sweet, and a couple of bears (from the Tilda Christmas book).I also made some bibs for a pressie, and posted off my Tilda swap. I will show pictures once my buddy has the gift. On a side note, I now understand why Jared keeps turning this picture away, or putting it elsewhere. It does look a little like a funeral notice. He should know, he had to make a lot of funeral notices for all the funerals he has officiated over. He always put the picture in an oval frame. I will now need to go shopping for a square frame, pff!

The last couple of days  we have tried a few different activities inbetween breaks at school. The first thing we tried was some puff paint, super easy.Once in the microwave, the paint pops up. You can find the recipe here:http://www.melissagoodsell.typepad.com/day_to_day/2008/01/holiday-activit.html

Then we tried to make a modeling clay with the lint from the dryer.collect some of this..and then do this…personally I thought that this was really gross, considering I even had my hair in it. We did mold some, but I ended up throwing it out, after all, how desperate am I to not buy the real deal?Alycia and I both made a batch of hot cross buns today. They looked ok, but the texture wasn’t right. Fail!!I am making more of these, since posting a couple of samples to someone from the church who is taking some to Malawi for the women to have a look at. First thing you do is just trace around an existing pad. Cut out a front like above in flannel or cotton, and a bottom in fleece. Inside we will cut four layers of just the central shape, two of fleece, and two of thin flannel.Sew the middle layers under the top layer. Once this is done, sew the top and bottom together right sides together, remember to leave a gap, so you can flip the material the right way. Sew the wings so they sit well, and then put press studs on the wings, then you are done. Now make 5, ooo of them.:D

https://cassiescuddles.hoodfamily.org.au/?p=3395

Last week when I dropped Steph off to one of her music get togethers, I went off to do a bit of shopping to fill in time before picking her up. I went into an op shop and found this book.I learn’t alot about Cambodia. The lady Geraldine Cox  certainly has a sordid past,  but she developed a real love for the children of Cambodia. Reading this makes me want to do something. You can see her website here:http://www.scv.org.au/ I only hope that she will know Christ in her work too. What a difference one person can do with their life.

Did I tell you that Jared gave Steph an apad ( a knock off of an ipod), and android tablet. It is so cool. Steph was given it for Christmas, she made a cover for it. I was really impressed considering that she didn’t have a pattern.We had a working bee at Church yesterday, it was such a lovely day. I couldn’t believe how many people turned up for it, nearly the entire church! I love the fact that everyone of my children grabbed a cloth or a tool, and did their bit. I could hear laughs and joyful conversation too, so nice. We had a BBQ for lunch.Lachlan went around and took a few pictures of everyone at work.

At the moment I am watching “The Killing Fields”, it just makes you want to cry. There are so many sad things that have happened in this world.

I have always wanted to help little children, especially little girls, since I was a young girl myself. I hope that I can think of a way to do this.

On a brighter note, I saw these pillows on Cluck Cluck Sew. It is a free pattern, and they look really cute, take a look here:http://www.cluckclucksew.com/2011/03/tutorial-sprocket-pillows.html