Christmas again!!

Well it has been ages since I visited this site. It has been a busy time and I can't believe how much seems to have developed since I was writing this blog. It is so nice to see my entries of last year about starting to print and making the fabric buckets etc. I have spent this year concentrating on developing the block printing and have developed an etsy store called Wall Flags to test out my products and see if there is a future in this handmade business for me. I absolutely love it and definitely feel that I have built a nice balance for me with being a mum primarily, but managing to develop something for myself too to try and protect my sanity. The boy is doing amazingly (apart from today!) - his vocabulary is amazing and he still lives life at full pelt! Sleep is generally soooo much better, the bedtime routine now is short and I still do not take that for granted. I have to laugh because I was re-reading my Christmas entries of last year and yes - Wooly Woman and I did get together for our "traditional" wreath making night. We had a great time making them (umm thanks to the margaritas) - but they did turn out a little strange this year. I am growing to like mine - but I poor Wooly Woman can't even look at hers at the mo and even felt rather embarrassed when the courier man came to deliver some parcels. It did look funkier in the Country Living magazine - I have to say - judge for yourself, but we don't think we will be revisiting this idea next year. Poor WOoly Woman - she gets to choose next years I think!!

The Bedtime Routine

So when the wee one was born we heard a lot about this infamous bedtime routine. We heard all about its importance, necessity and nodding supernanny approval. SO we begin....we begin with the bath..temperature just right...we add the stories..the laying in cot...the sweet smiles....the kisses..night, night..don't let the bedbugs bite and he cried, he screamed, he cried, he screamed sometimes he screamed sometimes he cried and sometimes he screamcried. It was awful, hair pulling, madness making ... it did not matter what he did..bedtimes were always horrible, horrible. So here we are 2 years later and bedtimes are still such a trial. I have no idea how the hell this happened, but the bedtime routine has gradually become longer and longer and longer and longer. It creeps up on you doesn't it. I remember watching programs and hearing tales of parents taking 2 hours plus to get their children to bed with it ending up with them laying next to the child until they fell asleep or rubbing their backs until they fell asleep blah, blah. I would shout "what?!?! the @#$%" rant and rave about parents today (ahh we remember what experts we were before the kids eh)..what happened to good old fashioned bath, teeth, story and bed!! I am still a strong believer of this, but man they suck you in...inch by inch, minute by minute and the sucky thing is .. it doesn't matter what we do..how bloody nice we are it still ends up with our sweet one crying, screaming, crying, screaming, screaming, crying and yep you guessed it the screamcry. Our routine to date is bath, teeth, story in mums bed, tent in mums bed, go to cot, must get in cot by oneself (this involves some complicated step stool move thing out of a diaper package) head on pillow, must build tent out of blanket over the cot, read story from chair by cot, small chat abt day, night night sleep tight, then needs a drink of water, not that glass the other glass...no I want that glass, tuck me in, the other blanket, say night, night again...scream...cry...scream..cry. So you can imagine my reaction last night when hubby came to sit down on the sofa, after our third time upstairs since bedtime, looking sheepish. "You aren't going to like this"..he says. Never a good start to a conversation as there are numerous other things he does that are a complete surprise to him that I am not such a fan of(playing bury me in the mud pit outside - don't get me started) .."so..." I push..."what am I not going to like?"....."I may have added a new element to our bedtime routine"....I say nothing...."It is called the cape thing"...now there is an edge to the silence..but through strained gritted teeth I enquire, "and what would the cape thing entail honey (everyone is honey when I'm pissed off)....you fasten the lighter sheet around your neck and run up and down the room saying "I can fly..I'm a superhero". We don't talk ..sometimes it is just best to use your inside voice!

Starting a Business

SO with the combination of a rainy week, a needy 2 year old, a hard working / late home hubby and a zero sales at the market time I have been feeling somewhat low this week. I struggle to find any time to play in my own playroom and can't get Jack to play in his no matter how hard I try!! I wrestle with guilt at wanting to do my own thing sometimes and then it is hard to justify when things start so slow. So I awoke this morning to pouring rain, but somehow the personal cloud had lifted!! You see 4.5 yrs ago my husband answered an ad in the paper that simply said "Gutter Cleaners wanted" and the phone number. Jay and I had been working a number of crappy jobs since arriving in Canada and he was then working a sales job that he couldn't abide. He said he was going to give this a go and if it was bearable then it was better than where he was. Spring forward 4.5 years and now see a man with a successful window and gutter cleaning company in the Cowichan Valley and today is the official take over of the Victoria area too!! It sounds so romantic and alluring for success doesn't it - but I can now look back and see where and how he has achieved this and how he has made opportunity where for many none would have existed. Jay never once questioned his goals - he knew what he wanted to do very early on and he would talk abt them in an almost mantra way - I guess it is what the secret is all about. He worked hard!! Day in and day out he has been up and down ladders - rain, shine more rain (this is BC) never once did I hear him moan, complain or bitch about the work he was doing - infact I always forgot the dirty type of work he did because he behaved completely professionally and usually had a positive spin on whatever job he was doing from great views, nice customers to not getting soaked through until after lunch this time. The romance of owning your own company and building it to a tangible business really is paved with determination, vision, self belief and head down nitty, gritty work. The days arean't usually full of these "aha" moments they are usually full of the same thing each and every day - but when these aha moments happen, these goal markers, it is good to put your head up for a second just to look back and go "man..look how far I've come!"....but then put your head back down, pull up your collar and get back on that ladder with the biggest smile on your face.

I guess I need to learn from my man how to make a successful business. Stop complaining, doubting and bitching...get my head down, my hands dirty and stop expecting aha moments everyday!

Little Tip for toddlers partys!!

OK - so you went all out for the first birthday and now number two has rolled around. Are you getting more sleep - sure - are you still knackered - ABSOLUTELY! SO why, why, why are you stressing abt a party for a 2 year old. Save the pennies, save the work, save the stress and tell everyone it is "Low Key" party time. Set the trend and the standard in your mothers gang and hear the sighs of relief. All we did was tell the little mans buddies to come down to the park where they had a petting zoo and playground. I brought the cake and it was a BYOTH (bring your own Tim Hortens) - yep ladies I did absolutely nothing for his party and everyone had a ball!! Were we knackered? - NO. Were we broke? - NO. Are we blacklisted from all other birthday parties? - not to my knowledge....DID we just enjoy the day? - absolutely!! So remember, in 2/3 years time there is no way your little one is going to let you get away with this lack of effort - enjoy it now while you can!

Market Days are here again!!

SO after a big break from both markets and blogging I am back! It had been 4 years since my last market at Moss St in Victoria and I am so very happy to be back there again. It really is one of the best environments - great atmosphere, great produce / products, kind vendors and wonderful customers - mix that up with some ambient music and a gorgeous day - what a recipe for a happy market day. 4 years ago I was at Moss St selling tea cosies out of pre-loved (as is the "PC" term I understand) fabric. It was such a great experience and made me decide that I did want to try to sell my products - but there is only so much scope for one item like a tea cosie!! So away I went for 4 years - thinking, thinking abt stuff - experimenting and learning to sew properly with a really kind lady who took me on to help her with her own work. 4 years later I think I am really starting to develop something that could work and that I have such fun thinking abt, making and last minute fiddling with. Sometimes we really don't know where we are going to end up and what it is that we are going to do. I never was that person who knew exactly what they wanted to do for their work - I only knew I wanted to LOVE whatever it was I did. SO I have spent 15 years doing work I haven't particularly loved - spending a lot of time brewing what I COULD do. It makes me smile when people look at handcrafted things and snort or tusk saying - "god anyone could make or do that". When I think of all the painstaking time this little stall has taken to start to bud - it really isn't the easy option that people think!! I still have no idea what will develop from this - but I do feel I am at the beginning of something finally good for me and right now I am loving the buzzing going on in my head!! SO I have come back to my little blog just to say hi - sorry I have been so absent - it has felt a little foggy in UnPc land - but I hope the clouds are now clearing in my head and in the sky!!!

Arghhh the mess is driving me crazy

Why don't they have a house and home magazine for parents of toddlers? Oh I love the way the kitchen utensils are displayed all over the floor and the newspaper carpet is fantastic!! Could we try the porridge texture on the walls do you think? The mess drives me absolutely nuts sometimes..I have to remind my hubby that it takes an awful lot of work to keep my house to this standard of disarray. How the hell do these other bloggers keep their houses so damn perfect looking - you are liars the lot of ya!! So here's a sneak peak of a real "house and home"!!