Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Saturday, March 2, 2019
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Nostalgic for crafts
More on the nostalgic front, because we are what we were as children, are we not?
I've been feeling crafty lately - actually, ever since I was pregnant, when I started making a collage alphabet frieze for my daughter's bedroom. Each letter is a 6" square.
All three of us girls were given for Christmas one year a plastic doll in a kit where you glued together (ewww) a felt historical outfit. My doll's outfit was lime green, which was apparently all the rage in the year seventeen-hundred-and-something. Speaking of felt, I've been making felt food for my daughter. So far I've made a chocolate cake (below), some fondant fancies, and a slice of Battenberg cake (delicious marzipan/cake treats from my childhood).
I've been feeling crafty lately - actually, ever since I was pregnant, when I started making a collage alphabet frieze for my daughter's bedroom. Each letter is a 6" square.
My retired school-teacher-mum made me change A for alien and O for owl because those words start with the letter name, not the letter sound, if that means anything to you. Far be it from me to corrupt my daughter's early education with improper alphabet lessons, so I've now redone them as apple and octopus. (My mum rates those baby alphabet books by whether they include giraffe and icecream (baaaaad) or goat and igloo (good).)
We kids were very crafty - we drew fanatically, and loved making models and stuffed animals - whether from kits or found parts. We made doll house furniture out of card, and peg dolls with pipecleaner arms. We knitted and crocheted. We traced pictures from books and meticulously painted them, and cut them out to make stickers for our bedroom walls. My sister had a kit to make a 1:12 scale plastic Airfix model of none other than Henry VIII.
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| Image of vintage 1970s kit found on eBay |
Thursday, November 10, 2011
What's wrong with this picture?
From the picture book Shopping Day (c) 1974, found on my mum's bookshelf. Click to enlarge, for it must be seen in all its glory.
And I haven't even taken it out of context.
Ah, the seventies! They were so awesome.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Nostalgic for toys
Been feeling nostalgic lately - perhaps brought on by Christmas shopping for my 16-month-old (she'll be 18 months at Christmas). Wow, have toys changed since I was a child! The best toy I ever had was a xylophone made from blocks of plastic. You could stack them with the metal xylophone keys in any order, then drop marbles down the middle of the tower. The marbles bounced back and forth as they went down, playing the keys.
I played with that toy from a young age until I was about 12. I can't find it anywhere now. My nieces and nephews have marble runs, which are always fun, and I've found you can get (expensive) wooden marble runs that incorporate xylophone keys, but not in the same way.
To console myself on behalf of my daughter (who is too young for marbles anyway), yesterday I bought her a wooden kitchen on eBay for Christmas. Today I opened the box to check all the pieces were there... and what the hey, I decided to put it together 8 weeks early. It took two hours but I did almost the entire thing by myself (MCP helped out with the hinges and a few tricky attachments). I ache all over from crouching on the floor. But it's the cutest thing in the world. My baby is obsessed with all things housework, which I suppose means I must be finding time to do some chores around the house, or she wouldn't have the role model to copy. She loves putting things in and out of the washing machine (including things that were never meant to be washed), mopping the floors and windows with her special cut-down mop, cooking Cheerios in her tiny pots and pans and serving pretend food at her teddy bear tea parties. So the kitchen was a must.
I played with that toy from a young age until I was about 12. I can't find it anywhere now. My nieces and nephews have marble runs, which are always fun, and I've found you can get (expensive) wooden marble runs that incorporate xylophone keys, but not in the same way.
To console myself on behalf of my daughter (who is too young for marbles anyway), yesterday I bought her a wooden kitchen on eBay for Christmas. Today I opened the box to check all the pieces were there... and what the hey, I decided to put it together 8 weeks early. It took two hours but I did almost the entire thing by myself (MCP helped out with the hinges and a few tricky attachments). I ache all over from crouching on the floor. But it's the cutest thing in the world. My baby is obsessed with all things housework, which I suppose means I must be finding time to do some chores around the house, or she wouldn't have the role model to copy. She loves putting things in and out of the washing machine (including things that were never meant to be washed), mopping the floors and windows with her special cut-down mop, cooking Cheerios in her tiny pots and pans and serving pretend food at her teddy bear tea parties. So the kitchen was a must.
Let's call it a Halloween present. In Australia there is no trick-or-treating, so she doesn't get to wear a cute costume. She gets a kitchen instead. In this pic she's peering through the curtains over the sink. This thing also has a stovetop, oven, microwave, fridge, freezer, washing machine, pegs for pans, knobs that turn and click - even a chalkboard and phone.
With her birthday being in June, I get to shop for cute things every six months. I can't wait! (Seriously, I have not been able to wait - I already have half her presents for the next three birthdays and Christmases.)
But back to nostalgia: when I was four, the girl next door had a penguin slide. These things are rare as hen's teeth in Australia, unless you're prepared to pay exorbitantly. It's actually cheaper to order one from the UK and pay the shipping. Then last week I walked into Sam's Warehouse to buy $2 gardening gloves and found a penguin slide for $8!
This is rather too advanced and confusing for a baby, much as she loved it - she kept "helping" the penguins up the steps, to their detriment. But I have fulfilled my childhood need for a penguin slide.
Just wish it didn't play such godawful music.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
An octogenarian
This weekend was my dad's 80th birthday. We four children put together a little booklet with 80 things in it -- our childhood memories of him (like the huge bonfires he built every year on Guy Fawkes Night), his pearls of wisdom ("Never leave a wingnut in the gutter"; "Hamsters don't go to heaven"), and his little quirks (such as his obsession with logging every penny and cent spent on petrol, and charting the fuel efficiency of his vehicles over the years).
He's a retired chemical engineer, able to build and fix anything. In fact he spent yesterday afternoon re-engineering croquet hoops with a blow torch and sander so the grandchildren could play a game when they came over for his party. He's put up more shelving and cup hooks for us than any man should have to in a lifetime. He dug up and leveled our entire quarter-acre lawn at the house in England. I do not know why, but I'm sure his engineer brain drove him to it.
I dedicated my first book to him because of his willingness to answer any question -- a child's curiosity and a parent's patient indulgence help imaginations to grow. If he didn't know the answer, he took a stab anyway using logic (working it out from first principles) and common sense (drawing on his vast engineering knowledge).
He's had a huge influence on my life, which becomes more and more apparent to me as I get older.
Happy birthday, daddy!
He's a retired chemical engineer, able to build and fix anything. In fact he spent yesterday afternoon re-engineering croquet hoops with a blow torch and sander so the grandchildren could play a game when they came over for his party. He's put up more shelving and cup hooks for us than any man should have to in a lifetime. He dug up and leveled our entire quarter-acre lawn at the house in England. I do not know why, but I'm sure his engineer brain drove him to it.
The above photo of the half-completed job was taken (in the late 70s) from the roof, which he was wont to climb on occasion to fix the tiling. No small task on a three-storey home. He climbed all the way up on a very long, narrow, scary ladder.
He's also an artist, lately expressed through photography, but he sculpted and painted when he was younger. When my sister, at a very young age, painted a face on the bathroom chair, he had to be angry, of course, but took a photo of it for posterity.
He's had a huge influence on my life, which becomes more and more apparent to me as I get older.
Happy birthday, daddy!
Me and my dad, on a beach in England with "Black Cindy"
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Edward's second chance
And now for something completely different.
The other day I was at my sister's place. She lives in the country with her 6 children, 2 goats, 2 cats, squillions of chickens, 1 husband and a rusty old dog. I was surprised - nay, shocked - to see someone she once loved lying on top of a pile of junk that was headed for the rubbish tip. It was Edward the giant teddy bear. He was a gift from our parents on her 7th birthday. He was hiding in the cloakroom when she came home from school. She went to hang up her coat and there he was in the dark corner, waiting for her.
Edward is - was - a bright yellow bear about 4 feet tall. My parents bought him second-hand for five pounds sterling, so he's of unknown vintage but is in his mid-thirties, at the very least. His seams are coming apart, his stuffing is leaking out, his nose has gone completely flat, his ear is half ripped off... But he's Edward! And my sister was just throwing him out! No room, she said. Too many toys filling up the house already, and she didn't have time to repair him.
When I was little, every stuffed animal I owned was a person with a soul. I loved them to bits, sometimes literally. I remember walking to school one day with my sister and seeing a garbage bin on the street overflowing with old stuffed toys that the local children's home was throwing out. We were devastated. We wanted to rescue them but didn't dare raid someone else's bins.
So I rescued Edward. I'm going to pull him apart, wash him and patch him, refill him with new stuffing (nice clean polyester from Lincraft instead of nasty foam chips) and stitch him up like new. Edward the giant teddy bear has suffered (in a good way, mostly) at the hands of my sister and her six children. Now he will be my baby's giant teddy bear so she can love him to bits all over again.
The other day I was at my sister's place. She lives in the country with her 6 children, 2 goats, 2 cats, squillions of chickens, 1 husband and a rusty old dog. I was surprised - nay, shocked - to see someone she once loved lying on top of a pile of junk that was headed for the rubbish tip. It was Edward the giant teddy bear. He was a gift from our parents on her 7th birthday. He was hiding in the cloakroom when she came home from school. She went to hang up her coat and there he was in the dark corner, waiting for her.
Edward is - was - a bright yellow bear about 4 feet tall. My parents bought him second-hand for five pounds sterling, so he's of unknown vintage but is in his mid-thirties, at the very least. His seams are coming apart, his stuffing is leaking out, his nose has gone completely flat, his ear is half ripped off... But he's Edward! And my sister was just throwing him out! No room, she said. Too many toys filling up the house already, and she didn't have time to repair him.
When I was little, every stuffed animal I owned was a person with a soul. I loved them to bits, sometimes literally. I remember walking to school one day with my sister and seeing a garbage bin on the street overflowing with old stuffed toys that the local children's home was throwing out. We were devastated. We wanted to rescue them but didn't dare raid someone else's bins.
So I rescued Edward. I'm going to pull him apart, wash him and patch him, refill him with new stuffing (nice clean polyester from Lincraft instead of nasty foam chips) and stitch him up like new. Edward the giant teddy bear has suffered (in a good way, mostly) at the hands of my sister and her six children. Now he will be my baby's giant teddy bear so she can love him to bits all over again.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Ask me anything!
With the release of Children of Scarabaeus less than three weeks away, my publicist at HarperCollins has been helping me line up some guest blogs and Q&As. I already have a few in the works, but if anyone would like me to appear on their blog, go ahead and ask me: saracreasy@gmail.com. I prefer Q&As/interviews or specific ideas for guest blogs, because truly I'm all out of creative juices when it comes to thinking up topics, but I'll give it a shot if you can't think of anything.
The creative juices for my book(s) on the other hand are flowing freely. New mothers are advised to "sleep when the baby sleeps", and I certainly need to do that, with exhaustion a constant battle these days (make that these past 18 months). But instead of napping I find myself thinking up more weird and wacky plot lines for my WIPs.
Anyway, don't forget you can read the first chapter of Children on my website!
Or you could just look at this cutie, who was 9 months old this week and is cutting her first top tooth. Hard to write with this clinging to your knee.
The creative juices for my book(s) on the other hand are flowing freely. New mothers are advised to "sleep when the baby sleeps", and I certainly need to do that, with exhaustion a constant battle these days (make that these past 18 months). But instead of napping I find myself thinking up more weird and wacky plot lines for my WIPs.
Anyway, don't forget you can read the first chapter of Children on my website!
Or you could just look at this cutie, who was 9 months old this week and is cutting her first top tooth. Hard to write with this clinging to your knee.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Family obligations?
My sister is reading my book. This may not sound so very amazing to you, but it's pretty phenomenal. She doesn't read much of anything, but she's reading my book! Now, my dad, he doesn't read fiction at all either and he read my book, but he was kind of obliged to seeing as how it's dedicated to him. But my sister?!
She texted me some questions about it, like "What happened to the boy who never got his lunch?" If you'd read the first three chapters of Song that got axed (written before I learned that a story should start where the story starts), you'd know what that meant. Which reminds me, she must've read a very early draft of at least the first chapter about 10 years ago.
Anyway, my sister is reading my book! She wants to know what happens in the sequel and will there be more books and will Finn and Edie get it on?
She texted me some questions about it, like "What happened to the boy who never got his lunch?" If you'd read the first three chapters of Song that got axed (written before I learned that a story should start where the story starts), you'd know what that meant. Which reminds me, she must've read a very early draft of at least the first chapter about 10 years ago.
Anyway, my sister is reading my book! She wants to know what happens in the sequel and will there be more books and will Finn and Edie get it on?
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Chicken Licken was right
It was a dark and stormy night... Well, afternoon, and neither dark nor stormy but what we English call "close" - overcast, humid, drizzling on and off, too cool to be classified as "muggy". Baby and dad were playing together and all was right with the world (except for the weather).
The sky fell in.
Scary stuff for any parent. That chunk of wet plasterboard on the left flew across the room and it was heavy. Now we have a 2 x 3-foot hole in the ceiling, a laundry full of washed-up toys and teddies, and a Man coming tomorrow to assess the damage. (MCP has a pic of the hole itself on his blog.)
(She's always trying to walk but at 6 months old it's not quite working out yet.)
Just half an hour later, when they were still in almost the same spot...
The sky fell in.
Scary stuff for any parent. That chunk of wet plasterboard on the left flew across the room and it was heavy. Now we have a 2 x 3-foot hole in the ceiling, a laundry full of washed-up toys and teddies, and a Man coming tomorrow to assess the damage. (MCP has a pic of the hole itself on his blog.)
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The younger generation
My husband's nephew and his wife, a couple in their early 20s, are staying with us for a few days. While browsing through some Netflix options we discovered that, despite being SF&F fans, they've never seen Blade Runner or Aliens. I'm speechless!
We watched Aliens with them, followed by... Zardoz. MCP assured us this is a cult classic. I'm not sure when that phrase has ever been a recommendation. Well, all I can say is that it has Sean Connery in it...in a red diaper.
At one point he appears in a lacy wedding dress, but I suspect most viewers today will never get that far into the viewing experience.
Hard to believe that this movie is only 12 years older than Aliens and is so dated it's almost unwatchable. On the other hand, the only thing about Aliens that's dated badly is Paul Reiser's hair.
We watched Aliens with them, followed by... Zardoz. MCP assured us this is a cult classic. I'm not sure when that phrase has ever been a recommendation. Well, all I can say is that it has Sean Connery in it...in a red diaper.
At one point he appears in a lacy wedding dress, but I suspect most viewers today will never get that far into the viewing experience.
Hard to believe that this movie is only 12 years older than Aliens and is so dated it's almost unwatchable. On the other hand, the only thing about Aliens that's dated badly is Paul Reiser's hair.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The price of a cute accent
We are moving to Australia. Back to Australia, in my case.
Organizing this momentous event has been a time-consuming and sometimes stressful production. Put house on the market, clear out clutter, hold garage sale, keep house spotless for viewings by potential buyers, vacate house for three hours every other weekend during open house. Fill out numerous and repetitive forms for MCP's visa, get additional paperwork such as fingerprints, certified copies of everything, and notorized statements from friends as evidence that we have a "genuine and continuing relationship". Get baby Sophie's US passport and Australian citizenship, and book a day-trip to the embassy in LA for her Australian passport. Get shipping quotes. Hold BBQ/pool parties for the friends we're leaving behind. Entertain another visitor who's come to see baby. Make lists, endless lists, about all the things we still have to do. Over the next five weeks we have ten house guests visiting in five batches staying for a total of 22 days.
And there's more! Somewhere in there I had a baby, so... Recover from c-section, shop for baby, take baby to appointments (first injections on Monday and I'm dreading it), feed and change baby, try to spend at least a bit of time playing with baby.
And finish book 2 rewrites.
You know what the hardest thing was? Getting a photograph of a two-week-old for her US passport. I snapped 200 shots over the course of several days to get one suitable photo. All were adorable, but the US passport office doesn't want adorable. They want subject looking directly at the camera, eyes open, mouth closed. Two-week-old babies don't do that much.
And then... MCP's visa arrives earlier than expected. Everything moves up a month. Scramble!
It will all be worth it because Sophie will grow up with an Aussie accent, which her Daddy thinks will make her even cuter than she already is. He said so on his visa application. Seriously.
Organizing this momentous event has been a time-consuming and sometimes stressful production. Put house on the market, clear out clutter, hold garage sale, keep house spotless for viewings by potential buyers, vacate house for three hours every other weekend during open house. Fill out numerous and repetitive forms for MCP's visa, get additional paperwork such as fingerprints, certified copies of everything, and notorized statements from friends as evidence that we have a "genuine and continuing relationship". Get baby Sophie's US passport and Australian citizenship, and book a day-trip to the embassy in LA for her Australian passport. Get shipping quotes. Hold BBQ/pool parties for the friends we're leaving behind. Entertain another visitor who's come to see baby. Make lists, endless lists, about all the things we still have to do. Over the next five weeks we have ten house guests visiting in five batches staying for a total of 22 days.
And there's more! Somewhere in there I had a baby, so... Recover from c-section, shop for baby, take baby to appointments (first injections on Monday and I'm dreading it), feed and change baby, try to spend at least a bit of time playing with baby.
And finish book 2 rewrites.
You know what the hardest thing was? Getting a photograph of a two-week-old for her US passport. I snapped 200 shots over the course of several days to get one suitable photo. All were adorable, but the US passport office doesn't want adorable. They want subject looking directly at the camera, eyes open, mouth closed. Two-week-old babies don't do that much.
And then... MCP's visa arrives earlier than expected. Everything moves up a month. Scramble!
It will all be worth it because Sophie will grow up with an Aussie accent, which her Daddy thinks will make her even cuter than she already is. He said so on his visa application. Seriously.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
MCP's agent
All can now be revealed. Actually, MCP has already revealed it on his blog yesterday and I couldn't steal his thunder. But this is relevant to me in more ways than one. Firstly, he's my husband so I have as much interest in his career as in my own!
Secondly, his new agent is... none other than my agent, Kristin Nelson. She offered him representation after reading a science fiction book that he actually wrote for yours truly a couple of years ago. Prior to that he was (and still is) working on a fantasy trilogy. He's extremely widely read in both SF and F, about a hundred times more so than me (literally) and he's an amazing writer. His first drafts are more polished than my seventh and take half the time to write. So expect copious and fascinating works of speculative fiction from MC Planck in the future.
We are Kristin's first husband-and-wife client pair. Interesting times!
Secondly, his new agent is... none other than my agent, Kristin Nelson. She offered him representation after reading a science fiction book that he actually wrote for yours truly a couple of years ago. Prior to that he was (and still is) working on a fantasy trilogy. He's extremely widely read in both SF and F, about a hundred times more so than me (literally) and he's an amazing writer. His first drafts are more polished than my seventh and take half the time to write. So expect copious and fascinating works of speculative fiction from MC Planck in the future.
We are Kristin's first husband-and-wife client pair. Interesting times!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Conundrum
Must write. Macy's has baby clothes clearance sale. Must write. Macy's has baby clothes clearance sale. Must... must... must...?
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Wonderful end to the week
Woohoo! An fantastic agent has offered my hubby representation for his SF novel - I'm so thrilled for him. He has amazing talent as a writer (not to mention as a plotting partner, editor, and cheerleading squad when I've needed him, which is lots) and truly deserves success.
Keep your eye out for MC Planck! More info when i's are dotted and t's crossed.
And now I must think about making him a website...
Keep your eye out for MC Planck! More info when i's are dotted and t's crossed.
And now I must think about making him a website...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Baby pics... just because
Busy busy busy writing... Meanwhile, I miss my newborn! Fortunately I have a gorgeous, contented, very well behaved 5-week-old to make up for it.
(I don't think green is her color)
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