What’s Hot + What’s Not
Back for another run down of the good and the bad around here.
And don’t forget the game plan:
To play along, it’s as easy as writing up your own hot/not list on your blog and then linking back to me here at loobylu.com and then adding your url to the widget below.
Hot
The Dover Design Sampler: Free royalty free images to download for your personal use every week. I am slowly building up a folder of great and highly diverse images including this great samurai guy.
Christmas tree decorating day! It all started with croissants and high excitement. I did lots of deep breathing and letting go of my control-freak nature and let the kids decorate the tree in the way they saw fit. It has big empty patches and highly intense clusters but the kids had a lot of fun. Ok… so I might do a bit of sneaking about at night and rearranging… I just can’t help myself.
Finishing Nanowrimo and starting new work. My manuscript got very earnest by the last week so as a antidote to earnestness I am writing a zombie book … for now. Because, well, why not?
Sloppy Joes – this is my all time favourite “can’t be bothered” dinner. It’s pretty yum – Phil calls it Candied Meat because there’s a lot of sugar in it and it’s sweet as sweet. We use red capsicum instead of green and I use my mum’s totally delicious tomato sauce so it’s kind of “healthy” and a dash of worcestershire sauce is mandatory.
Hanging art work. Oh my goodness. Phil hung our Timba piece and any guilt about buying art has been completely overpowered by how flipping good the artwork looks hanging in our rather odd lounge room. It makes us feel a lot happier about where we live.
Dan Zanes and friends – always pretty hot, but they’ve made a little resurgence in our house this week. They make me happy and the kids are doing a lot of dancing. Oh look, you can follow Dan Zanes on twitter.
Christina’s prints: I know they were on my Hot list last week, but after dropping in to visit on Saturday afternoon and scoring a couple of my very own prints, I am so impressed with how they came out. The printer and the paper she is using seem to bring out the oil paint quality so well. She’s put even more up this week. So many good ones to choose from.
Cleaning the studio: I am pulling fabric out of cupboards and folding, sorting and purging. My paper recycling bin is stacked full. Dust bunnies have been captured and tamed. My big goal is to get the room ready for a new year of work. I think it may take the rest of December to get there. Studio inspiration at share some candy.
Not
Head lice – blerg.
Lily’s asthma – but getting better again. There haven’t been so many nights of lying awake listening to her cough this time around.
And that’s it! What’s happening with you?
I think it was you who put us on to Dan Zanes a few years ago. His CD’s are now a staple in this household.Thanks also for the dover design link!
I just love it that there are all these mums who sneak over to the tree in the middle of the night and ‘tweak’ the decorations. No, we just can’t help ourselves, but how nice is it seeing the tree up and the joy and excitement on the kids faces 🙂 x
Feeling for you with the head lice. This time last year we were in that boat. Had to laugh about the tweaking. Over the years i have loosened up alot but yes i still do step in at night to get just the right balance. However it is becoming almost a nightly ritual because two little people seem to do some rearranging of their own when no one is around!!
Congratulations on finishing NaNoWriMo!
wow, the dover design samples sound like an eeeeeeexcellent thing! thanks for the link.congrats on finishing nanowrimo!
dan zanes rules our house too! i call him the indie-dad-steve martin-a-like
dont feel alone with lice battle! im becoming an expert about that! your blog is an inspiration for me in so many ways. i always find great resources and you make me think i can be a wonderful mom and try to develop my professional goals. ive been reading your blog for three years now and you keep it interesting in every post! congratulations on the anniversary.
I love getting my Dover sample each week!, loving Christina’s work, and how therapeutic is cleaning your studio out! I’ve been doing the same ready to start new projects it’s a great feeling, and sorry ’bout the head lice, Skyla gets ‘head pets’ as we like to call them all the time, they love her hair! it’s Disney land for nits! we’ve got them under control with tea tree conditioner it works a treat!
Sloppy Joes is a staple in our home too! I use Martha Stewart’s recipe. I bet your house is so lovely with art all around! AND a clean craft space~~Tee Hee!!
You have to love art that makes you happy! I have never had Sloppy Joes, thats not hot at all, best fix that I think!
Two plugs! You are very good to me : ) Not sure if Sloppy Joes sound like the best thing ever, or awful, will have to eat some to decide.
Congratulations on finishing! That’s really impressive. Writing is my passion but having kids has kinda doused it over the last couple of years. My hub has been at me to get back to it and seeing you working so hard at it I think I’ll give it a go! Thanks for being such an inspiration. 🙂
Good luck with the head lice!!
I love, love, love Christmas tree decorating day! I remember as a child breaking a few decorations on the way….but it’s all good fun!
yep, that’s just about how the tree decorating goes at our place too. It takes superhuman levels of self control on my part NOT to interfere and ‘style’ the tree while the kids are at work. I can be seen doing my tweaking when they are in bed, however!A massive clean is on the agenda here too.
Oh, thanks so much for sharing the link to these fabulous free images. Squee! Both free artwork and good art make me happy. Hooray for loving your house. And, aah, a zombie book! How fun. (Rubbing my hand together in anticipation of all the good fun you are going to be having. Wait. Maybe I should do something fun like that. In the meantime, maybe I’ll eat some sloppy joes.)
Thanks for sharing the Sloppy Joe recipe – I’m going to try them for the first time tonight! Always glad to find another lazy / tasty dinner recipe
ooo, share some candy is awesome! so are sloppy joes, mmmmmmm…
Loved your post Claire, so much inspiration – as usual, always great to read. Not nice you have met head lice, we are waiting for the day – Maeve’s hair must not be clean enough? Dan Zanes is SO great – you put us on to him…please do post LOUD if he comes out to Australia again!! Chele – I am in again xx
yay me. I got my hot and not done actually ON a wednesday. love your links Claire…it’s great being able to dip in with someone else pointing you in the right direction. Have to check out Dan Zanes…
Oh, cool free stuff – thanks for the tip! And thanks to Qld being an hour behind the rest of the civilised world, I got my hot and not done on a Wednesday too! 🙂
Yea for zombies! Good on you!
Sloppy Joes are good and easy. Stick to the ribs. Side of mac&cheese and it is heaven.
Shared mine again as well. And thanks for the link to share some candy. Let me to Apak Studio right here in my hometown of Portland. Love them!
Lice – eww. No fun for anyone. But happy blog birthday – you’re an inspiration and delight to me. Only wish I’d discovered you years ago. Thanks for all your hard work and supporting all us little bloggers.
Aww, headlice and asthma are no fun – hope that sorts itself out soon!And congratulations on the anniversary!
Thanks for reminding me how much I love Dover. What a fabulous link. And congrats on finishing NaNoWriMo!
Congratulations on the anniversary. It totally counts!
I signed up for the Dover sampler thanks to you! ^-^ How cool is it?! Reminds me of going into the cool little design shops off the Seven Dials in London and browsing their books – there were always a few Dover source books.