How to spend a stinking hot New Year's Eve... or not.

It was forty degrees* with a hot north-westerly wind.... the kind of weather that turns me into a cranky madwoman who draws blinds and fears the great outdoors (which is like a fan-forced oven).

It's the kind of weather that makes me cancel errands and appointments that were planned for the day, opting for water-based activities with the smallest person in the house.

*104 degrees farenheit, for my American friends.

We started with an overhaul of the hair-tie drawer in the bathroom (yes, she really DOES have a drawer full!).

Nothing like free rein with a pump pack of soft soap to engage the girls enthusiasm..... she washed them all. We brightened up buttons, washed and re-shaped yo-yo's, then quick-dried them in the outdoor oven (read: outside on the cement footpath).

We snipped off broken old elastics and then couldn't find a needle and thread to stitch on the new.... thus, inventing a job for another day...
On to felting...... and the wee one remembered that she'd seen slippers in a felting book, and was DETERMINED. TO. MAKE. SLIPPERS.

I insisted that my felting skills were not good enough for that, and that we'd need support materials and all sorts of things and skills that I don't have... blah, blah.

She insisted that she knew how to needle-felt slippers and set to it, determinedly..... I just watched ...like a hawke (the kind that reminds kids to keep their fingers out of the way of sharp, jabbing needles).
She refused all guidance as she snipped sole-shapes from felted wool fabric and started to shape fleece around one of them. It was at the point where it was actually wearable, that she accepted a bit of help to fine-tune the shaping.

There was lots of trying on, with me holding bits together and saying, "Ok... get that bit now..."
...and only one unfortunate collision of finger and needle (mine, thankfully, and only one needle instead of all 5).
(BTW.... that picture of Hoot in the background is a whole other story.... a blutack-and-paper collage... blutacked to the kitchen wall. I smile every time I pass it).

Eventually we had some (somewhat rustic) needle-felted slippers!

Ahem.... perfect for a forty-degree day.

We made nori rolls for dinner (the girl and I). Now I sit, listening to the distant thump of city fireworks, the loud crackles and pops of (illegal) local fireworks and the soft snores from the couch (man of the house started snoozing around an hour ago). I've watched the end of Braveheart, drunk wine, eaten ice-cream and done some knitting.

I've thought about how lucky I am to have mis-spent my youth on all sorts of wild-child New Year's Eve parties, adventures and misadventures....and to know that - without a doubt - if I had my choice of ways to spend this day, I wouldn't have it any other way than the way it was today.

I believe it's 2011. Happy New Year to you all!