The Death of Craft

I believe in hands-on discoveries, and worry that a neat home smacks of boxed-in expression.

When my kids were younger we did a lot of gluing and sticking and painting. 
Gathering leaves, creating montages, creating cities and empires of sticks. 

Wishing the same joy for every child, I used to gift art and craft items ..

I gave gifts of meaning.  Of mind & creativity.







I hoped they were appreciated, but I sometimes gnawed on nails and wondered, as I do,
why I can't conform?  Birthdays are fraught for me, any gift-giving occasion really. 

I think too hard and then wonder if I screwed up.  And I don't like to give a gift that isn't
loved - I find it hard to gift and forget - I like to know how that gift is going .. and perhaps,
if you hate it, can you like, give it back? 

Because I freaking loved it and I wanted you to love it too.

We all know I have ishews with gifts.





Anyway, when the youngest went to kinder last year, I happily donated all the things
we didn't do anymore but had lots of life left in them - stamp sets, all our pretty papers
( leftovers from a job in the paper industry, oh, you know, a DECADE ago?! ), and I got
GREAT joy when I saw some of those distinctive offcuts used in the children's take-home craft.

An Easter chicken hatching from a Stardream Metallic egg is not a vision easily forgotten.

That's the gift I like to give.

 ❤


So then, why was I so inwardly shitty this year when the kids got an annoying artbox for
Christmas in the family Kris-Kringle?  Isn't that the very gift I would give?






The drive home, where they nagged from the backseat to get into their new present as
SOON as they got home, PLEASE MUMMY.  And I was grumpy and said no - "tomorrow".

I'd spent like 3 days cleaning my house so it resembled my dream of Magazine Feature. 
It's never this pretty.  And my kids are freaking animals.  I knew the paint would be
acrylic ( and it was, it always is ) and I just didn't want.to.deal.with.that.crap. 

I just wanted my pretty house for one more day. 

It was my gift to me.  I didn't want to ruin it.



Cranky Mummy, boo.  Grinch.
Is that how others felt when they received my well-intentioned gifts?

(  ^  Note: this is a recent art smock/ paint set purchase I made from IKEA.  Because I am a sucker :) )

Anyway, I did let them, but outside, and I couldn't even karcher off the stains off the deck
later on.  The fancy new Christmas clothes that weren't changed out of first are now daggy
around-the-house-clothes.  Stained.

But I dont like being an ogre, so normally my house is a Lego pit, and there's stuff everywhere.
I still believe in imaginative play and my house suffers for it.

And so it was today that I made Play-doh.



But oh, not the normal kind, this was a fancy-schmancy new kind - no cook -
just cornflour and HAIR CONDITIONER.  I had to try that, didn't I?

It made my hands smell like apples :)


And much joy was had.

And to tell the truth, cleanup was better than regular playdoh .. the cornflour turns to
powder and so all the mess picured involved no chisels or swearing .. just a wipe and a brush up.



#winning


No-Cook Cornflour Playdoh:

1 cup hair conditioner ( I used a no-name variety, it cost a dollar )
Pop that in a bowl
Add a few drops of food colouring
Mix
Start adding cornflour a cup at a time.

The recipe I used said i'd only need two cups, but to add more if the mix was sticky.
I seriously used about 4 cups in the end - which was almost the entire contents of a
brand-new 500g bag.

Apparently it wont last very long, but to be honest, you want that stuff out of your house
before long anyway, right?  I am predicting it will last as long as my patience, and that's
a win for everybody :)


Enjoy! x

Today, I Be Cleaning..

As I mentioned earlier, 2013 was a whirlwind. 
We moved into a tiny flat during a heatwave and I think I fried off several thousand
braincells.  We renovated, we moved back.

The plan was to take the year off work, and I did for the 6 months we were out of the house,
but there were splashbacks to investigate and lighting to buy, and return, and buy more of. 
Paint samples to obsess over. 

On top of this the regular kiddy-party-playdates / kindy-drop-off-pick-up routine that
just about did my head in ( long daycare had spoiled me I think ) and everything else,
we kinda moved back in and got busy working again to pay for what we had spent.

Thus it is only now, in these Summer holidays, that I feel I am finally home,
and discovered I had a "junk drawer" already. 

The builders started it. 

We got new doorhandles, so they popped the old ones in the 2nd drawer down. 
Excess screws and warranties, 2nd drawer down. 
A caulking gun, and some weird bits of metal with stickers on them warning me
not to throw them out.  Err, ok, weird excess bit of metal.  You can stay for now. 

In the 2nd drawer down.

So today I be cleaning, and tomorrow we be getting a skip to sort out the garage
( where all the bigger post-reno junk went ).  We love a good clean out.

So when Dettol's people called my people ( err, that would be me, I dont have people )
and asked if i'd like to trial some new cleaning stuff, I was all 'um hello, yes please'.





 Also, Dettol is really into a green theme atm, and so am I.  Call me vain ( i'm ok with that )
but I like the pretty, even with my cleaning products.  Dettol matches my house. 
I only buy the Dettol handwash in my bathroom because it's a pretty Lime colour/scent
( I used to decant into refillable fancy containers, but have never found one of those suckers
that ever worked properly, so have given up )






Also, I have two boys.  One was born nice and clean and tidy.  I could take him anywhere
and people used to remark how I ever got around without a nappy bag, or really, any bag at all. 
He just never made a mess.  Other babies were always gooby and ikky, but not mine.

But then I birthed the other baby and this one was the Anti-Clean. 

Seriously, even now at 5 1/2 yrs old, he's still perpetually grotty.  He will eat one tiny little
thing and manage to smear it all over his face.  No-one wants to sit at his place at the
kitchen counter as there is food EVERYWHERE .. spills, splatters, crumbs. 
The floor beneath his seat is usually repulsive and as I type I find my nostrils flared and
my mouth pursed in disgust.

Lucky he's also very cute and witty and fun and cheeky, but By God I hope he learns
where his mouth is soon.. or at least has the good grace to clean up after himself.  Ugh.





So the new Dettol Floor Cleaning System is perfect for me.  I find mops rather gross
to be honest .. especially those string ones.  I have a sponge-mop, but I always end up doing
most of the work on my hands and knees with an old towel anyway as they always seem
to leave streaks - or dull my floors.  I hate dull floors.

Floor Wipes are easy, hygienic and clean really well without leaving residue. 
Pop one on, and once done, pop it in the bin and admire the mess-free result.






Mmm ... fresh Lime & Mint!
Especially fresh for around the toilet  ( boys remember.. I have boys .. )








Are you cleaning the house too for the fresh New Year?

I have another pack to give away that includes:

1x Dettol Floor Cleaning System ( plus refills )
1x bottle Dettol Power & Pure Kitchen Spray
1x bottle of Dettol Power & Pure bathroom Spray
1x Dettol Power & Pure Surface Wipes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good Luck and Good Cleaning! x

Smashy Smashy

A little update montage..





I'm posting these as we go on my facebook page, so feel free to join the conversation and add your 2¢ in realtime :)

This is all our own work ATM.  AB is there every night after work, and I pop in during the day.
Tradies are still a couple of weeks away.

( We have no asbestos, btw.. )