…getting caught in the rain…

It’s become a bit of a tradition, once Sunday afternoon hits, and all the jobs have been done for the weekend. Or as many of the jobs as are going to get done, anyway. Mr Barefoot blows in through the front door, does a cursory check that I’m not knee deep in parenting or housewife or otherwise occupied with something requiring my active concentration, before asking “wanna grab a drink and come for a cruise on the tractor?”. And so that’s what we do. We grab a drink, we do the rounds, we have a chat, its a nice chill way to close out the weekend.

Until of course, he hits a stupid rock and half my wine is now on the ground. When my mum asked what I wanted for my birthday last month, I knew exactly what I wanted – a travel wine tumbler. The folks came through with the goods, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do to customise it with my cricut.

I don’t actually drink a lot of wine these days, unless it’s a special occasion – don’t even really keep it in the house any more. What I do drink, instead, is a fun little mocktail, known in our house as a peanut koala. Back at the beginning of the year, we had a fabulous weekend at the coast, with lots of pool time for the kids, and reading on the daybed as I supervised for me. May or may not have declared happy hour at the poolside bar enough of a special occasion to treat myself to a cocktail or two. One of my favourites was the Pina colada, which little Mr8 misheard the name of. For the rest of the afternoon he asked me if I was enjoying my “peanut koala”.

When we got home, I discovered Bundaberg do a pineapple and coconut soft drink that tastes almost exactly the same as the actual cocktail. I tend to mix it with mineral water as well, so it’s not so sweet, and it has become my weekend tipple of choice. As the PG-rated version of the cocktail, it’s become known as, you guessed it – the peanut koala. It has become so pervasive that even Mr Barefoot’s preferred soft drink is now known as “mango koalas”.

So when I had a cute tumbler and a spare roll of shimmer vinyl, well, what else could I do but bust out some mixed up karaoke and keep the joke running…

I do love it muchly, even if it took me a couple of goes to get it right – who knew glitter vinyl and shimmer vinyl were so different that to choose the wrong one in Design Space would lead to a dodgy cut? Once I go that sorted though, it worked like a charm. A dear friend who has had a rough year commented on my instagram of the first attempt how much she liked it, so I ended up making a second one, and posted it off yesterday as a little Christmas pick me up. I had to go with black shimmer for hers as I could only get a pale tumbler, but I think it looks cute anyway!

I thought that was the end of my cricutting for the week, and went so far as to pack it away…and then inspiration struck and I dragged it out again today. We are in full swing of decoration making. The children have made felt ball wreaths and are busy prepping pompoms even as I type. I’ve made a little felt caravan and a humbug “wreath” for the husband who is being particularly humbuggy and refusing to take it to work. Even my mum is joining the fun and dropped in this morning to deliver us six very cute little handmade pottery decorations. This afternoon’s job is to find somewhere to put them that the stinkin’ cat can’t reach them and break them. First though, we are off to town to buy something for the toy drive, and top up the bookworms at the library. You wouldn’t think I bought them a new book each on Monday. I need to hit the fabric shop as well, for waistcoat lining and swimmer thread and gnome floss. Oh, and blank cards for the children to make up greetings for their homeschool friends ready for tomorrow’s party! That one I am super excited for, we haven’t had a group event for months. Ten sleeps until Christmas!! Heaps of time to make all the things…right?