I just need to .....

Is it just us or does anyone else have the "I just need to" argument in their home. What happens is hubby will come home from work or have some unexpected time off - or a weekend free and I'll think - yippeeeeee - I should get a chance to finish off that sewing project, practise some printing, catch up on the housework ....but before I can sway into dream land of stuff that I might achieve I hear those fateful words.."I've just got to"! I've just got to build a fence, pop to Home Hardware, clear up the garage, wash the car, build another fence, organise the wood etc etc. It is hard to sound pissy when the poor guy isn't exactly off to the strip clubs or down the pub with his mates..everything he does we really do need..but suddenly there are all these chores he "just needs to" do and I'm again looking after monster (whom I love dearly), but also whom I do get to share an awful lot of time with already. I get slightly anxious when I hear that phrase because I then feel under this pressure to butt in with 3 things that I might need to do - I make them up on the spot ..."ummmm well errr ..I need to mop the floors, take the dog out and ummmm take back some library books"..just to feel like I have managed to corner a little time too! Anyway we had the "discussion" this evening about this issue and I think we both feel a little better - sometimes it is good to just vent when you are both feeling pressure from different sides. Hearing me whinge abt not getting enough time to start my sewing stuff actually made me get off my bum this evening and make something. I have found these rather cool looking fabric buckets - they are very easy to make and ideal Christmas gifts!

http://pippijoe.blogspot.com/2008/05/enough-of-all-containers-this-is-last.html


I'll post the pictures tomorrow of the ones I made once I have finished the second one (I know a whole set). The best thing abt being productive like this is I feel so much better abt stuff and it keeps me away from the rumballs and chocolate slabs wooly woman and I made on Sunday (I have eaten lots wooly are you being good?)!! Well time for bed now .."I just need to .......go to sleep" Ahhhhhhhhh!!

I thought I said I wasn't going to do Christmas!! Bah humbug!

My ideal Christmas would be to NOT have any presents! I think I would enjoy the build-up so much more if I didn't feel so obligated to get people gifts. Isn't it awful to feel so pressured into something like that - you start to use those fateful words like I "have to get" and "should get" none of this sounds much like the spirit of Christmas to me. I have just gone out with the little man (who I might add behaved amazingly!!) to get some dear family members some gifts and managed to spend $200 just like that! I am budgeting, budgeting all aspects of my life and then the pressure of Christmas and post deadlines loom and bang bye, bye $200!! It is not that I don't love my family - but why doesn't it feel like an act of love when you are darting around the shops slightly hysterically singing to your babe - "just one more to get"..."that's 3 down, 2 to go". That surely isn't the message of Christmas!! I used to work in a store before bambino was born and Christmas was such a scary time!! I have never seen so many harrassed, rude, desperate people in all my life...it's like an extended trip to Seaworld in the baking sun - no-one is having any fun, especially not Salty!

So what are you all doing for Christmas this year? Wooly Woman and I are embarking on the candy making production line - rumballs, white chocolate and cranberry pieces and a fudge thing. She also made some very dangerously tasty homemade Baileys - which says it lasts 2 months, but we think they were being ironic because who keeps Baileys for longer than a weekend? Only my parents me thinks who had that one bottle going for years along with the small case of babycham. As for gifts well I am going to be good and shop locally - ha except for my UK peeps who will get online from Marks and Spencers. We are going to have some friends up for Xmas dinner and I am really looking forward to catching up with my hubby who has been working just so hard recently that we just say "see you Christmas" (I hope he means this Christmas). The little boy - I really don't want to do the crazy gifts thing for him - he is so happy with any tat I lie around the house - why worry abt big gifts and stuff at this age - I'm sure the age will come for expensive stuff so I WILL NOT FEEL ANY GUILT. I WILL NOT FEEL ANY GUILT. Repeat repeat!!

Bye to all - hope you all find some Christmas cheer in this scary time - Wooly Woman when are you bringing "mummy's special coffee" over?

Random thoughts!!

So the sun has been here for 3 days now - Hooray, hooray!! It is so much easier to be happy go lucky mum when the sky is blue and the sun is out. The monster and I have been out in the garden stocking up our wood pile and cutting back the dead or out of control bushes. I am not a gardener, but might develop into one as this is one job that I can do pretty easily with the boy around - he is so happy picking up rocks, playing in the mud and throwing sticks for and at the dog that I manage to accomplish something and he doesn't get me nagging him all morning for things he shouldn't be touching, banging, climbing etc etc - a lovely break for both of us. We also managed to take the dog for a great walk and toddler ambled along very happily - you could see the cobwebs flying out of all of our brains I think. The bonus to all this great outdoors - is a nap!! The little one managed to come home and sleep for 2 hours after his lunch and Mum got to do Mum things!! We are happy and at one!

The weird thing abt those happy, perfect days is then I get that stupid voice in my head that thinks I could do this again! I know, I know!! There has been a nagging of maybe having another little monster - I can't believe I would entertain such a thought, because I certainly did not breeze through the first year of this little monkey man - but hey - we'll see I guess. One more disrupted nights sleep or another poop in the bath and I'm sure I'll come to my senses!

Well have to go - so soon I know, but this morning was a morning of bringing monster to the hairdressers with me so he is soooo not going to nap for me after that sad affair of an outing.

To Nan!

My Nan was not the warm sort!! She was pretty tight lipped, very catholic, never wore trousers, died her hair black, learnt to drive at 83, helped the "old" folks, wore court heels on steep cobble stone roads and was notorious for her lethal sherry trifle. She lived until she was 91 - the last year was painful to see and we were blessed that it was only a year. She lost her only child (my dad) and her husband within the space of a month in her seventies, but she still managed to do, believe and dream (more than I can say for us!). We were never close my nan and I. I wasn't the first grandchild and was too scruffy. We didn't argue or anything, but we didn't really talk abt anything either - she didn't understand my world and I didn't understand hers! I never thought she would die though - she was just so STRONG!! When we got the call from the hospital Nov 13th 2002 that Nan had died - I fell apart. She was the last tie to my family when we were all happy, when everyone was alive and we were "normal". My husband and I ended up living in my nans house for the year before we left for Canada and we slowly sorted and emptied the large 3 storey building for sale. It was the most consoling thing I have ever done - it really made me feel close to my childhood and all that I had bottled away under "too painful". From my share of the sale of that house I managed to put a deposit down on the house I now live in here in Canada and I also brought 4 special, special items. One large red pig piggy bank, one brass bell, one russian doll and one ceramic buddha. I never realised how grounding and special these simple items would be for me in this foreign country that I now live. It is so important for me to have those items in my home for me to remember who I am and where I came from. So yesterday when the little monkey and I were playing with the bell and the russian doll (no way is monster hands getting hold of the ceramic pig or, buddha) during a very wet, windy november day I felt so connected and filled with happiness. Nan you have had the biggest effect on me - it is so strange that I never realised your greatness while you were alive, but I feel you so strongly now and thank you for your life!

Uh Oh!!

I cannot believe how often my little man will use the turn of phrase UH OH!! He uses it in correct context - he drops something, irritating context - I drop something and complete misuse - he purposely pours his dinner over his head. UH OH, UH OH, UH OH, when I had dropped his snack while trying to pass it to him from the passenger seat of the car we had the UH OH song for a full 40 mins. Wouldn't it be great if we could use this wonderful turn of phrase in our little adult worlds: surgeons, paramedics, judges, prime ministers, politicians, news anchors, pilots, midwives, all facing the minor to major catastrophes head on and saying....UH OH!!

Childs Play

Well yesterday was a gong show!! The little monster and I played this great new game called "how many things can I touch, bang, drag, bash, climb, break, turn on, turn off, thump, bend, eat, drink, put up my nose, wave dangerously in the air and scream about" (pls note the title is a working progress). It turns out that my little man is an absolute natural at this game and I suck!! We ended the days tournament with him waving the trophy fire poker exuberantly in the air, while I collapsed in my chair and sobbed like a baby (I have never been a good loser!). I honestly have no idea what was going on that day, but he managed to dig up so many highly dangerous items from thin air! I was so glad when hubby walked in when he did because the only thing we didn't have was the flame throwing finale I'm sure (hubby did not seem so relieved to come home at that point - you know men and crying!!) Anyway I had to question a friends mother today on telling signs of hyperactivity - obviously the man was behaving like an absolute angel - busy - yes, but without the tiny head of horns and wild red eyes that I saw the day before. I wonder how fine that line is btwn spirited and Ritalin.

Crafty Cock up!!

Meet Mr Robot! This is my first attempt at cutting a block for fabric printing. The only problem was after all my hard work on a late Halloween night, the goblins and ghouls were working their evil magic!!


















I decapitated him!!















This is (was) going to be used for a print for my little boy's new room. We have been renovating upstairs and finally moved up there last week. It is soooo beautiful and grown up - we have carpet and everything. The little monkey will lay down on the floor at odd moments with his head on the carpet and say "NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCCCCEEEEEEE". I love hardwood floors, but there is something so very cosy abt carpet in the bedrooms! My plan is to make a little robot curtain, bedding set with a natural hemp/cotton fabric and red robots - I guess it is back to the drawing board for this sample, but I'll get there. I am so excited at the prospect of printing my own fabrics! I'll keep you posted - for my next craft cock up as that seems to be my learning curve!!

Coming soon Sergers .... how to break your needle plate the first day!!