nomoredisco

Oh my days

Yeah yeah they look pretty cute here don't they?

Pffft.
Not so cute when they're kicking up a fuss about what position they'll sit in when they get into a car. Head against the lamp-post mock crying. Defeated, because you are adamant moving everything else that is already in the car around them is not happening.

Not when they hit hysterics about having a wee in the perfectly acceptable portable potty you have with you in the woods. And by hysterics I mean a total inability to acknowledge your initially calm and reasonable arguments. Just screaming. When you follow that with basically screaming at them back to snap out of it, strangely enough you are met with a similar, although more amplified lack of regard.

He obviously wet himself in the end and I had to carry him back to the car. But I did get a new waterproof coat for Christmas. Oh happy day!

Not great when they whinge about every food choice you present them from sun rise to sun set. 'I want peanut butter on toast'. Presented. 'No, I don't want toast, I want porridge.'

'I don't want sandwiches (that you prepared with little time to spare, you ungrateful little....) I want sausage rolls'.

'I want the pink cup', they get the pink cup, followed by screams of 'Nooooo, THAT pink cup' and following the point to what is in fact a grey cup.

By the end of today, once my food was ready (a wheat free homity pie since you ask) a full half hour after their pizza, I made the executive decision to take time out. I set aside a whole 10 minutes and put them on one episode of Octonauts whilst I walked into the kitchen. I had some peace and quiet. Watching George peel off each slice of pizza from the board, pull away a part of the cheese from each bit and then stab each slice with his index finger followed by then trying to hang it off the edge of the table apparently oblivious to its edible qualities was enough. I. had. had. enough.

10 minutes, on the money they were back again. 'Can we watch another episode of Octonauts?' said Ruby standing on a chair facing her reflection in the patio doors. 'No that's it,' I replied, 'bathtime now.' And then she replied as she so often does, using the word promise incongruously. 'Just one more, I promise mummy.' 

I think I sighed then. A full on, I am one step away from going up to the bedroom and screaming into the pillow. Alone. Don't follow me. 'No, no more TV.' And there it came, the false gutteral wracking sobs, the bottom lip protruding and then I watch her make complete, total, locking eye contact with herself and there it is, she precedes to pretend to cry, to wail. At herself.

ARGH.

I ran the bath and walked back into the kitchen to find hundreds (I am honestly not exaggerating there) of tiny pieces of moondough scattered over the table and the floor. Thankyou George.

Do you know one of the highlights of my day was having George poo in his pants and pulling them down and having the thought, 'oh good! This one is peelable! phew!' and I was able to just pop it into a bag rather than deal with any mess. I was inordinately happy and relieved. Ridiculous.

I do love them. 

I do.

Any there were beautiful moments. They were simply FEW.

Finished Friday

I finished this blanket just before Christmas for a friend to give her friend when she has her baby. It's always very flattering to be asked to crochet something so I was happy to oblige.

In the spirit of the 'Johanna' Blanket we'll call this the 'Julie'.

It's crocheted from Rowan Cotton in Slick, Pacific, Raspberry, Atlantic and Seafoam.

As you can see my photography has improved none.

I am thinking hard at the moment about my future craft room in the new house. It won't be long until we move now, just a couple of months. There will be white walls and white surfaces for taking pictures of my crochet and we've chosen a window that has no panes so I get maximum amounts of light. There is nowhere to photography things properly in the house that we rent at the moment. I really can't wait to move all the rubbish (sorry, that should read AMAZING CRAFT SUPPLIES) from my bedroom into another room. I have lots of exciting ideas and I reckon having more space to pursue them may make me a little bit more productive!

But I also need to work on my *ahem* 'styling.'

All the same, I am really pleased with the way I picked out the colours, photographing in the house was making the pink (shade: slick, now sadly discontinued I think) too bright and indistinct, like the colour was bleeding into the others.

This was an entirely bespoke blanket, the recipient chose all the colours and I think they make a wonderfully retro, unique blanket for a little girl. A refreshing change - I loved crocheting it and that pink POPS. It's great.

In the end I opted for a simple border, I tried out a couple of fancy ones from the crochet corner book but in the end I didn't like the way they were turning out. Simple is usually best.

I hope they like it!

For more links to works of yarny art, or to join in, click the image below.

 

The most wonderful time of the year

Who had a good time at Christmas?! I can't believe the Eve, Day and Boxing day are gone and now Gwyn is back at work. Up until the weekend it was all feeling very frenzied and disorganised what with the wind up of school and the lack of present buying and wrapping. We didn't even get all the decorations up this year. We also never got round to making the paperchains and crocheting something for the tree was never going to happen, which is a bit disappointing. 

So in order to keep things blissful and festive we (read: I) made the executive decision to start potty training George. I'm not childminding, I could have the washing machine on constant and it wouldn't be too stressful with him going to preschool. 

We got through around 8/9 changes a day for 3 days, with alot of mopping and FINALLY he got the idea. Happy Christmas!

So to reward him, we of course let him eat chocolate instead of Christmas dinner. No arguments here. 

Gwyn excelled at the food, everyone was indulged with gifts and we watched films and spent some quality downtime together. We've had friends to stay and I've even finished reading a book! I feel really lucky.

This morning as Gwyn left in the dark, I heard a crack of thunder followed by a torrential downpour, I got to roll over and have another half hour before the children woke up. I made glitter pictures with the children and spent the rest of the day on the sofa, watching TV and cuddling the little man who's at that wonderful stage where they constantly say, 'come here, give me cuddle.' I even had a bath, DURING THE DAY! Ruby got a bit demanding about the TV scheduling at one point, favouring the Simpsons over any formulaic childrens rubbish but aside from that it was a pretty good way to spend a day.

I must go out tomorrow though, it's time to make the most of the holidays.

And I've got lots of crochet done the past couple of evenings. I'd really missed it after quite a number of days off. Only 20 more squares to go for the second granny a day blanket! I'll be bordering it in January at the latest. So much for one granny a day for 2012! 

Anyway, Happy Christmas Time X

Finding Time

I read this post by Pip Lincolne over at Meet me at Mikes yesterday.

It made me think about finding time to do all the things I want to do in life. Fun things, like spending time with the family, or my friends, or creating, or going out, or reading.

All of those things in between keeping house, doing paperwork and admin, having to stay up until 8.30pm in the evening with George after 13 hours of constant (both endearing and difficult) chatter from little people. 

I've done no crochet, knitting, writing (where. is. my. novel. eh?)

My house resembles a dumping ground.

I still haven't done the Christmas cards. 

My head is itching suspiciously. 

Today is NOT a highly productive day in the sort of way I wanted. However I have met a friend at a childrens Christmas party, childminded all day (including PAINTING!), taken George to his Christmas sing-a-long at preschool, had a playdate afterschool and spent hours with the children in the evening. So it's been good - but I feel frustrated. Madness.

Sometimes I think the biggest challenge having children is finding time to have some space to think, your own unhurried, logical (!) thoughts without having your mind whir with all of the family logistics (have I packed enough nappies? where are the babywipes/water bottle/ blanket/ cars that George took out? why the **** is that massive truck in the doorway? What are the bucket and spades doing in the bathroom? why is Mr Potato Head under the kitchen table? Where are the hats and gloves? Is it time to leave? What's for lunch? What do I need from the shops? Do we have any bread?) which are in turn constantly interrupted with chatter and questions and most recently questionable attempts at songwriting and joke delivering. It's not just the early mornings and the lack of budget that dissuade you from going out and being sociable, but the thirst, nay NEED for peace and quiet.

I went on two meditation courses earlier in the year and am aiming - at times very successfully for a daily practice. This seems to make me more productive, seems to make time more flexible and life a bit calmer in a way I can't really explain. I definitely believe in 'flow' and that there are habits and ways that facilitate this in our lives. Today however has not encouraged this, it's been clunky, which in turn has made me 'lose time' - does that make any sense?

I really agreed with Pip's article, lists, being healthy, reading.

What do you do to do more of what you enjoy? 

Bath and book for me. Probably followed by a nit comb... lovely. 

 

The week

:: Cowboys & Cowgirls ::

 

:: Christmas Trees ::

 

:: The Woods ::

 

:: Hot Chocolate ::

 

:: Toddler Group Christmas Party ::

 

:: The building continues ::

 

:: Tiger Again :: 

 

:: Grampy ::

 

I still have that bloody cough - no amount of manuka honey or ginger is shifting it. 

I've also resurrected the Tiger Woods Jumper, the UFO (unfinished object) I have failed to master for NEARLY TWO YEARS. I have spent more than 5 hours beginning the sleeves THREE times... I am confident it will be 4th time lucky. I just need an entire day, no interruptions, which of course is A TOTAL IMPOSSIBILITY.

I tell you, I have no intention of being beaten but for whatever reason I think that this particular project is cursed. And I also have nothing to show for my crafting efforts this week which is a little disappointing.

George is 3. 3!!! 

The nativity was this week - Ruby was extraordinary, completely unself conscious. She was a joy - and she jumped in the pool at swimming without holding anyone's hand. GOOD GIRL RUBY!!

I have yet to write my Christmas Cards. 

I have yet to feel on top of things. Feel like I am paddling furiously. 

But all in a good way.

 

Neglected blog I am back!

In the last couple of weeks I've just not been 'around' very much to blog. At first it was running and being generally social and busy in the evenings that got in between my sit down and blog time. I was getting lots done, getting a bit organised for Christmas and the nights were zipping past. Then all that over ran into an ongoing family problem that I just let get so overwhelming in my head that I couldn't think of anything else. It's the kind of situation that makes me want to scream the truth from the rooftops. But enough of that right this minute.

Right now, I'm parked up on the sofa with the little man on his last day of being two years old. We're side by side, lying and watching endless TV. At times we've been opposite ends playing footsy or he's been chucking slippers at my head. Currently he has a tissue box on his foot which he is waving in front of the screen and at a particular high point of today we were asleep, until the postman woke me up.

 

I've had a sore throat, cough, cold since Saturday and I've given it to George now. It's the sort of malaise that isn't quite 'being ill' because there's no fever but it's quite enough to rob me of any energy whatsoever come the return from the school run. From 3ish I've just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. Yesterday I managed it at 5.30pm and it was AMAZING. Thick, delicious, wanted sleep. I do think that after an entire day doing nothing today I can safely say after an early night tonight I will be fighting fit. It doesn't hurt to swallow today for one thing, plus I've really missed my normal routines, the running, my yoga class, crocheting and seeing people! I have no space in my life for this!

The last couple of weeks or so I've been making up a baby afghan for a friend. It's crocheted in Rowan Handknit Cotton and I'm just bordering it now. It's pretty retro and bright isn't it? These are just pictures taken on my phone, it looks much richer and cohesive in real life, I will have to get some good daylight photos when the work is done. There'll be no Finished Friday tomorrow though, the little man is turning 3 so it'll be all about him! Plus, I can't honestly see myself finding any motivation to finish it this evening... when I'm 'off' I'll have a go at crocheting but I rarely last more than 5 minutes. That's when I know things are bad!

 

Interestingly my lack of blogging this time has resulted in significantly more hits than I have ever ever got when I am blogging. I'm sure there is something in that! 

For the fellow poorly - isn't everyone poorly at the moment? It feels like it. Anyway, GOOD HEALTH X