Cassie's Cuddles

Ok, so the gardennis a bit of a mess right now but we are working on it. Ive offered our 14 year old Camden $20 an hour to work in the garden ( yes, we are that desperate). Older son does not want money even though he had the same offer. Camden will be rich soon. I have gone out for about an hour a day as well. I dont get outside enough, it really is quite lovely. We have a bush full of cumquats. We wont eat them so I offered them for free on a facebook site, they were snapped up within minutes.
I made a book cover this morning. I really like this one. I also experimented with sewjng some rope. I had some extra rope left over from operation christmas child. I put rope in for the older girls for a clothes line and some in for the older boys for whatever. Anyway, the one length of rope that was $2.95 made these two bowls. Cool, eh? I tried putting some bias tape on one of them to see how it would look.
Back to gardening. I think we need to harvest the tadpoles from our pool. yeah, you heard me, tadpoles. Time to buy some chlorine.

Jared and I are at the age where we can leave an adult child to be caring for the rest of his siblings. So, Jared and I stayed a few days in the city while the Church had their annual event. It was so nice just to hang out. I was left alone inbetween different events which was lovely. I dont really like the city, but I loved the room we were staying in. There was a spa bath, I had one about two in the afternoon. Yes, it was a lazy but enjoyable holiday. The children came in on the final day for a meeting and then they came back to the motel and went for a swim in the motel pool. I felt so naught smuggling them in. We then went out for tea. Here is a picture of Jared, I love it. He looks so relaxed. Those are bottles hanging from the ceiling, but plastic ones

On that  weekend we went to the March for the Babies. Did you know that is legal to abort right up until birth? Victoria has the worst laws. I went to parliment on another occassion where a femal politician said that an unborn child did not have personhood, therefore we could kill them. True story. I would rather support a scared, broke, raped mother, than to yell full force that it is a womens right to do what she wants wjth her own body ( cause we all know its not her body,but a seperate body), perhaps even not the same sex as her. Yes, I have lost friends over my opinion, but I believe that a mother and baby are as valuable as each other. There are some great organisations such as The Babes Project that you donate time or money to. It is also local.

Have you heard of Share the dignity? Every Christmas and June, they collect sanitary pads for women who are homeless. You get a handbag new or second hand and then fill it up with essential items. I am a bit nutty. I have collected bags through the year and have realised that I actually have 30 bags to fill! So far I have filled 21. I enjoy doing practical things and it helps me to realise that so many people just need to be shown kindness and love.

This last week I  have been sewing again. Another tutorial on You tube. They are fairly simple to make. You dont have to be specific on the size, you just use whatever material you have a around.

Stephanie got her haircut this week. She looks lovely. Suddenly she looks older. She is such a busy mumma with all her study, work and housework.. Meanwhile here is a picture of Lachlan with little Grace ( his neice) on the trampoline. It does look like a wilderness, we need to garden. At the moment we even have tadpoles in our pool. The kids love fishing in our pool. Gross!

Yesterday I bought 15 dozen eggs. I do this sometimes. ThennI got the kiddies to go andntake some to allmour immediate neighbours. Now I have to cook. Speakjng of cooking, look what Cassandra made for me. She is only 10. Not too shabby eh?

Dont you love these lillies? Jared bought them for me last week. He loves the fragrance, it reminds him of the smell at Cabrini hospital where we have had all our children. They always had lillies. The smell doesnt remind me of the hospital, but of my Mum. Mum loved lillies, she often had them in her house. She wanted them on her coffin when she passed away, but she died when they werent in season…..memories

On a happier note, because of it being Saturday, Jared dragged me off to check out shops for a new matteress. I hate doing this especially when you have an eager salesperson staring at you lyjng on the bed. As you can see, Jared didnt have a problem with it, lol. When we came home I did some cookjng ready for our church lunch tomorrow and then I finished my gingerbread ornaments. I also made some hair bands that are reversible. Alycia my 16 year old just told me that they are not “in” any more. Um.. Well, Im ready for an early night now. We have put our clocks forward ready for the end of Days light’s saving. The neighbours are having a party, so Im guessing we might be awake for a while yet. They normally finish up around 1am. I dont mind the music, it reminds me of the parties that my parents use to have. They often ended in Mum singing to a bunch of friends and Dad tearing up while singing Love Boat. Yep, a great song choice. Haha.

Tomorrow my Dad will be arriving home with Barbara after having traveled around China, Mongolia and a few other countires for 5 weeks. It will be good to speak to him agian.