Mixed bag - birthdays and swine flu

I can't believe that my beautiful girl is going to be 3 on Sunday!! It have been a very full on 3 years and Emily is growing into a real little person more and more every day!

We have had to postpone her birthday party which was supposed to be tomorrow because we are all sick :( Last thing we want is to pass our germs around to all our closest friends and family lol Fairly sure it is just the garden variety cold but Em did have a fever last nigh so we are keeping an eye on things.

GMIL will be able to come now too because she wasn't going to b off quarantine for this Saturday. Yep she was on the cruise that had swine flu on board!! After havong to go to the hospital for further testing (only a cold!) she is now back at home on quarantine until Monday.

I'm in two minds about this whole swine flu thing. In one way, it freaks me out, but in another isn't it just another strain of flu?? The 'normal' flu kills up to 3000 Australians every year . . . yes that is a horrible statistic, but people don't freak out hugely about it?? I have also read that swine flu has a much higher contamination rate, which I guess is cause for concern in itself.

But what degree do you take it to?? I know that prior to postponing Em's party because WE are all sick, we were excluding anyone who had first or secondhand contact with GMIL just to be safe . . . but MIL continued working (what else could she do) and I guess things like this are going on all over the country. For example, the schools that are being closed because of one student with swine flu . . . all those children are kept on home quarantine, but what about their families that are still working, and then their co-workers . . . 6 degrees of separation and all that???

One figure I read said that 'experts' are predicting 1 in 5 will have swine flu this season!!! 1 in 5!! In that case do you just go on business as usual?? Or crack out the antibacterial hand sanitiser (which I have mixed feelings about)? Or hibernate all winter, never leaving the house unless absolutely neccessary??

One thing is for sure, I can see the Brisbane Ekka being a flop this year!

Blog Giveaway

Yay - my first blog giveaway!!

As mentioned here I was the very lucky recipient of a whole stack of Grassroots and Earth Garden magazines. Upon going through them and adding them to the few that I already had, I have discovered a few double ups, so I want to pass them on to someone who reads my blog :)

The magazines on offer are:

Grass Roots #170 (Aug - Sept 2005) - Ex Library Edition
Grass Roots #168 (Jun - Jul 2005)
Earth Garden #81 (Sept - Nov 1992)

Simply place a comment in my blog under this post and they are all yours :D

Hooray for sewing mojo!!

What is the best thing for getting your sewing mojo back?? Moving near your sister who only just been bitten by the sewing bug!!! Although a big chunk of my time was originally spent fixing things (if I never have to replace elastic in another itti I'll be a happy girl!!) but I have also made extra PJ pants and a nice warm fleece jacket for Em :D I used a sz 4 pattern but it was still quite short (and the arms were HUGE) I plan on making it again with a few modifications. It is See and Sew pattern # 3947
The pattern called for a 30cm separating zip, but the smallest I could find was 40cm so I used buttons instead.
I'll use a zipper on the next one.

Family news

We are in for a doozy of a year this year!! We have recently found out that my BIL and SIL (Clive and Tellie) are expecting their 3rd baby at the end of the year. Their ID twin girls Jessica and Arabella will be turning 2 5 days after Tellie is due. Congratulations guys and I wish you the very best for an healthy and uneventful 6 and a bit months :D

We have also been let in on a little secret that I will share here since none of my ILs know this blog exists . . . BIL Kyle and his girlfriend, Ashleigh, are getting married!! They have it planned for the end of July when Ashleigh will be 7 months pregnant but they haven't told pretty much anybody yet. Kyle has asked Nn to be his best man, so we are in the loop . . . boy there are going to be fireworks when MIL finds out. One day she'll realise that he is a big boy now and he has to live his life how HE wants to, not how it will best please her!

So with these latest revelations we now have FOUR babies and TWO weddings before the end of this year!!! Babies due May, August, September and December and wedding in July and November (shame they aren't in the same season so we can save on outfits . . .lol)

I love seeing our family grow *wub*

Freecycle goodness, I am in heaven!!

What does any self respecting simple living greenie do when they move house?? Sign up to their local FreeCycle as soon as possible of course!! :D After off loading our moving boxes and some other bits and pieces we found while unpacking that really shouldn't have wasted space in the truck, I posted a wanted ad for books or magzines on gardening/self sufficiency. I had a response from a lovely lady saying that she had some old mags that I was welcome to.

So off I toddle, hoping that the 25 minute journey wasn't going to be a waste and when I arrive she has 3 green bags FULL of mags and books for me!!

Included was 76 copies of Grass Roots, 32 copies of Earth Garden and 3 books on green living!!! She also included packet of snake beans for me :D I am so thankful to receive this lovely gift and can see myself spending hours ouring over these mags!

The earliest one is a Grass Roots (#27) that was printed in 1981 - before I was even born!

If you haven't already joined your local FreeCycle, give it a go! You never know - somebody's trash might be your treasure!!

I'm baaaaaaaaaack . . .

Okay, I know it has been a while . . . life has a funny knack of getting in the way sometimes! Well we are, for the most part, moved in and settling in nicely. We have been here 3.5 weeks now and today is the first Emily free day I have had, I big change from her going to kindy twice a week!! She is at my MILs today so that I could get the first bit of study done in nearly 6 weeks!! Let me tell you, Anatomy and Physiology is not a good subject to stop for so long . . . I have pretty much had to go back over everything because I had forgotten so much!!

Since it has been so long, I think I'm better off breaking this post up into a couple for ease of reading . . .