Saturday 30 June 2012

Around here lately

I've been making more of an effort with lunch. Taboulleh here we come. Still struggling to get the Tiny One to eat though - why does a mother who loves to eat and cook all sorts of fancy and unusual things get stuck with a baby who will eat very little? He doesn't even like bread. Grrr.


Said baby discovered my confetti stash and confettied everywhere. Still, it kept him busy and happy. Congratulations on your wedding, Tiny One.


And what keeps the Little One happy? Some cream on his sore fingers apparently (he picks his nails). Only he did it himself and it turned into some sort of game. Oh dear. Congratulations on your very soft hands, Little One. They stayed soft all day.



What keeps their mama happy? Their confetti and nappy cream messes, definitely. And sewing, obviously. I've been working on the Little One's 'cars & diggers' birthday quilt (it's past his birthday, but at least I actually started it beforehand. Progress, my friends).

And here is progress on my first ever paid sewing. Woo hoo! It's complete now, though of course I didn't get a photograph. I do love a bit of bunting. I don't care that everyone else does now. Popularity doesn't diminish loveliness in my opinion.

I'd love to say I'm off to sew some more now. But I'm off to clean the house before a 10am birthday party. My mother-in-law's coming.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Catching up

There's about a month missing isn't there? I thought I'd write a quick post to show you (to coin a phrase) a few things I made earlier...




I made a mobile. Gosh it took a long time. But I'm happy with how it turned out. My favourite bit is the felt circles. You've got to love a bit of felt.

I want to make something similar for my boys but you know what it's like - there's never the time to make things for your own family and home. I'll add it to the 'one day' list!


The Little One had a party. Builder-inspired - he's nothing if not consistent, that one. So I made him a builder's cake (chocolate on the outside, yellow on the inside as specified) using Nigella's custard birthday cake recipe.

I also made some snack-time cheese biscuits in the shape of crane hooks (hooks are a big thing round here lately), a long rocky road for the builders to drive on (a big success; broken up for the 'grown ups' to eat), builder biscuits and rice krispie chocolate boulders. It was a morning-only party as the village Jubilee street party picnic was calling on us all at lunchtime. I wish the Jubilee happened every year - it's a lot less stressful having a shorter party with no meal to provide!
I have more to show you, but that's for another time!

Monday 18 June 2012

In which I tell the truth

It has been very quiet around here lately...
Too much to do, too much mess. Random, metaphorical messy straw photo above to illustrate this.

Are any of you still out there? I have a few truths to tell you...
  • My husband has been on crutches for several weeks. It has been like having another child to look after, only worse as I've had no one to help with the real children. Things are getting better now, but it was such a full-time job that the blogging experienced an emergency stop.
  • I hated it at first. I missed the writing for the creativity and for the moments it gave me to feel so truly myself. I missed the reading of everyone else's blogs to feel inspired and to feel in touch with a community of like-minded crafters and writers out there.
  • But then something changed. I had been feeling so overwrought with things to do each day. I had been feeling that each role in my life was hitting a ceiling of 80% success and I didn't have the time to devote to anything to do better. I hate feeling unsuccessful. I hate not feeling on top of things.
  • I think that maybe, with showing you the best of me and my life on the blog, I neglected to tell you the truth of the neglect in my real life. Maybe that's a bit of a calamitous way to put it. But some days I was fighting so hard just to get the breakfast things washed and tidied up before dinner time. I'm not kidding. And it wasn't rare. Don't even get me started on the ironing mountain, the dust graveyard on all the shelves, the dinner I didn't defrost in time, and the constant, constant forgetfulness and breaking of promises.
  • Without the reading and writing in the blogosphere, suddenly I've been having some really good days. Some on-top-of-things days. Some 90% days. It's been so good.
  • One day I made a banana cake, gardened with the boys, tidied the house, made time for my friends, and made a batch of chutney. In one day! I suddenly felt like I fitted into my skin. I had stopped drowning in all the things I had to do and could never catch up with. I started to swim. Heck, some days I even started to surf!
  • But I do still miss it, this writing. In an ideal world, I would be able to do it all. I think that ideal world might come into being once the Little One is at nursery part-time. And then, knowing me, I'll probably wish I didn't have time to do it all and instead had him at home with me all the time, living back in the chaotic glory of having two darling little ones around.
So here's what I propose... no more posting most days, or even every other day. How about once or twice a week, a big newsletter-style catch-up? It's only a few months until the Little One goes to nursery and then we'll reassess. What do you think?

And as to the reading of all the other blogs... well I'll get back to that at some point. I like to read them for their own sake.

Obviously reading and commenting around the blogosphere helps generate readers here. But I don't want to be a salesman any more. If you happen to find me and like what you read, please do read on, please do come again. I will try to be good to you; I will certainly be welcoming. And I can promise you I prefer the quality of faithful reader-friends to the quantity of capricious reader-acquaintances.

Things are changing around here. That 80% ceiling is coming crashing down.