Time has been getting on, as it tends to. I know that I'm stuffed at the end of each day, but I can't remember all the stuff that's been happening.

My band had its first gig last Wednesday. It was super fun. We played at a music camp that has been going on for yonks (I went in grades 6 and 7) which is open to all Gold Coast state school students who play an instrument. There were about 200 of them there, plus about 10-15 teachers (3 of whom are in the band). The kids went berserk for us, even though we didn't play our best.
We've only been rehearsing every 4 weeks but we've stepped it up to fortnightly now.


That's me in the middle :)

Things with my stepdaughter have been ridiculously bad this week. I gave my husband an ultimatum when I was hormonal and very upset. Thankfully I felt better at the end of the day. Then T had a massive meltdown last night which resulted in DH taking her to her Gran's and trying to run off when they got there. She spent the night there and has cooled down. I'm seriously doubting my ability to cope much longer- 12 psychologist sessions for me and 18 for her haven't seemed to have made any difference.

Today I did a spot of op shopping. I was looking for jeans as the bargain pair I found the other day (Huntingbird [RRP $99] new with tags for $12!) are slightly too big for my non-existent ass.
I didn't find any jeans today, but I did find an awesome denim blazer, which I've been searching out for ages, for $9, and a super cute hand knit with adorable buttons. I just love the colour.



I've been keeping up with my sewing resolution of one project a week. Next week is MIL's birthday, and I'm making the Dapper Day Bag from the Sew Liberated book. I've been reading Meg's blog for almost three years, and I recently purchased both of her books. They are awesome. I'd better get a move on, though- all I've done is cut everything out and spend about an hour trying to make the cording before realising it was sheer folly with the narrow binding I had, so I have to start again.

I'm a porker!

Oh yeah, that's right! I've put on 3.5 kilograms! Woot!
I'm actually only 50.9, but I had to take a photo of this weight because I've never been over 50kg except during pregnancy. I think I must have needed to do a big poo when I took this photo. Haha!

The thing is, I have absolutely no idea how I managed to gain weight. I haven't been eating any more, exercising any more or less, or eating different foods. In any case, I'm just glad to have some junk in my trunk!

The bad part is that most of the weight has gone to my stomach. It looks the same as it did when I was early in my 2nd trimester! A fair bit has gone to my butt which is good. It feels firmer and not like two deflated balloons.

I have to buy some new jeans. My skinny jeans are ridiculously tight- I wore them last week and couldn't bend over. My favourite jeans, which have a fair bit of stretch in them, are a real struggle to zip up. I decided to buy some $10 Kmart jeans last week and the fit is sooooo bad- loose around the waist, crotch too low, thighs too tight. But I just have to deal with it for now until I can scour some op shops for a more suitable pair.

I never was hideously skinny, and I'm not/ never have been anorexic or bulimic, for those of you who don't know me well. I've always liked my body, but I just wanted to put on a few kilos.

Now I need to do some exercise to try and build up some muscle tone.

What to do, what to do?

I had always planned to go back to work one or two days a week in 2012. Lately, however, I've been itching to get back into some kind of paid work.

Don't get me wrong- I love being at home with the kids, but Elizabeth is such hard work mentally and I really feel that one day a week at work would do me a world of good. Sending her to day care is completely out of the question right now because she hates strangers, so I'm very lucky to have my mother in law around, who is more than happy to look after her (and Jimmy too, if another day of day care isn't an option).

This year I made myself a promise that I was going to rediscover the musician in me (ie. actually practise regularly, not just before a gig). I have (mostly) stuck to my resolution and the more I play, the more I want to play, and teach others to play and love music as I do.

I've been toying with the idea of registering as a teacher with the Queensland Government. As I have no education qualifications, I would only be able to teach on a temporary basis- covering for teachers who are on sick/ maternity/ long service leave. The work would possibly be sporadic, therefore with an unpredictable level of income, but I think it would be interesting to teach in lots of different schools. The one downfall is that any contracts I get will almost certainly be 3-5 days a week, which I don't want to do.

My other option is to try to get into a private school, which is the kind of work I've always done. The pay is very good (I think it's $65/hr now) and teaching one-on-one can be very rewarding. However, I'm kind of over spoilt private school kids and their attitudes, even if the snooty ones only make up a small percentage of the students I've taught.

Since I've started up my band, Funk Factory, I've been chatting to a lot of teachers in the public system (7 of the band members are public teachers) and it seems that they are so much more enthusiastic about teaching compared to the private school teachers I know. One of the band members, who was my high school band teacher, says he loves his job more and more every year- this is after more than 20 years on the job!

I think I need to chat to a few more people from both sides of the fence.

Frugal fashion

It's funny how much my attitude towards shopping has changed in the past few years. I used to think nothing of going out and buying whatever I wanted, but now I stop and think, "Can I make it? If not, can I borrow it, or buy it second hand?"

When buying clothes for myself, the only new purchases I make are underwear and basics like leggings, t shirts and jeans. Although I do love to make clothes for myself, it's hard to find styles that suit me. This tunic is really cool but the shape doesn't really do much for my figure- doesn't stop me wearing it at least once a week, though!

I really love this one. It's a knit one so has some shape in it. I've had this fabric sitting in my stash since I first started sewing 3 years ago, and never knew what to make with it. It was very difficult to work with and I need to do a lot more stretch sewing to improve my skills.



Every time I'm in the car, I've got one eye on the road and the other one scouring the sidewalk for op shops. Here is a skirt I bought at the end of summer from Thrift Chic Shop for $8. I love the colours and the print.



Oops- I don't know why this is sideways. This is a Portmans skirt, again from Thrift Chic, and $8. It is simply stunning. I can see myself wearing it with my lacy black top when I play at weddings.


Funky green retro shoes. I was stoked when I looked at these and they were my size! How many times do you spot something rad in an oppy then have your hopes crushed when you look at the size?
These were $5 from St Vinnies.



Okay, I know it's not clothing, but it's vintage Tupperware and it was 50 cents! Groovy, baby! This is from the Trinity Anglican Mission oppy in Robina. I went there today.




From the Trinity oppy. This one was $2.50. It looks awesome on!




From the Trinity one again. The photo simply does not do this dress any justice! It is stunning. When you put it on, it puffs out from under the high waistband and sits beautifully, like a 1950s frock. It also has a bubble skirt. This one was $10.

Just ploddin' along

Sorry I've been neglecting you, dear blog. I don't really have any excuse, other than I don't have much to say, and if I do, I find it hard to put into words.

The weeks just fly by in a blur of playdates, errands, cooking, playing outside in the winter sun, school runs, laundry, sleeping, waking (more and more often at night), laughter, tears, arguments, and loving moments. I just cannot believe how quickly the passage of time sneaks up on you. It seems like yesterday that my GP told me there was a problem with my unborn baby, and now she's a toddler!

Our girl started taking a few steps about a month ago, and is walking a lot now, although crawling is still her favoured method of transport. She eats anything and everything in sight, loves baths with her brother, whacking Jasper the dog, playing at the park or on our swing set, her dummy and Pinky, pulling all the Tupperware out of the drawer, and jumping on her brother's bed.



She is still a very difficult child compared to Jimmy. She has tantrums at the drop of a hat- I'm talking smashing her head against the wall, rolling around on the floor, screaming and throwing things. I find them quite comical.
She has started waking up a lot more at night, usually needing a bottle and nappy change at some stage, which is a bit of a pain considering she slept through the night until a couple of months ago. Oh well, if that's what she needs, that's what she gets. I cannot and will not use controlled crying as a method of teaching my children to sleep.
She still isn't talking much. She says mama, dada (very rarely), MimMim (Jimmy), Wappa (Jasper), ball, baby, mum-mum (dummy), and bah (bath).



Jimmy is starting to assert himself a lot more. Every so often, requests are met with a firm 'No!'. His appetite has been terrible for the past few days, even though he isn't sick. I guess he's just going through a phase. We don't hassle our kids to eat- they can choose to eat what they are given, or not. We don't offer any alternative food if the meal is refused.
Apart from that, he is still the most awesomely rad little dude on the face of the planet. He is SO funny. He is so well spoken, sweet and affectionate. All of the teachers at Montessori gush about how lovely he is. They are currently testing out moving him up to the next room but are taking it very slowly as last time ended up being a disaster.



His favourites at the moment are his trains, which he is asking to bring out every day lately; his Duplo (he and Lizzie love playing it together); playing outside with his dump truck and on the swing set; stories; ABC 2; play dough; and going to the park.
He does not seem the slightest bit interested in learning to recognise numbers or letters, but I'm not worried.



DH and I have been great. I'm so glad we have a strong relationship, otherwise I think I would have left because things with T have been really crap lately. However, after DH and I had a joint session with the psychologist last week, I have a better understanding of why T is acting the way she is, as well as a bit more compassion for her.

My band, Funk Factory, has its first performance in two weeks! How scary!!! It's just a 45 minute gig at the annual Gold Coast state schools' music camp, to entertain the kids and teachers. A few of the guys in the band teach at the camp every year, and one of them suggested we play there to practise performing before we do the scary public gigs. I can't wait! I must confess that I'm a little anxious....I am, after all, just a classical flute player with very little jazz experience, and absolutely no experience running a band! Oh well, I guess you've got to learn somehow!