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"!!

How the hell do people do it all?

Ahh the holidays

So we have had just an amazing Christmas with the boy!! He was so in the spirit of things and got very much into the present giving and receiving! At the end of the night whilst being put to bed he started to run up to the exposed chimney in his room crying "chimney, Chimney.." as is usual, but this time there was a pause, a point at the chimney and then he said "Santa came"...these kids really can blow you away sometimes can't they with their levels of understanding. We have all had varying bouts of sickness over the course of the holidays which seems to be doing its rounds in our area, but it hasn't spolit a thing as we are all enjoying cosying up to the fire and just hanging out together. I am also enjoying the hubby being around for the boy and have utilised his presence by spending a whole day in the sewing room yesterday - where I finally started and finished the little boy's curtains. I am so pleased with them as a first effort of printing and curtain sewing and the boy is rewarding me by saying "pretty" a lot and "robot"!! Well time to go, pour the wine and enjoy some Coronation St while the boys are doing bath -ahhhhh the luxury of it all.

Bandana Stockings!!

I am in the middle of finishing off Christmas Gifts, buying Christmas gifts and desperately trying to think of some Christmas Gifts (sorry hubby you are the latter!!). My sewing machine broke this evening and I am so proud of myself for managing to fix it!! I can finish off the last projects - maybe - I have in the meantime co-drunk a couple of bottles of plonk and probably shouldn't even be writing this! We have just finished watching 4 Christmases - which was so much better than I was expecting (I am always dubious of the Vince Vaugn) - hubby is now snuggled up with "The Hangover" which he has been dying to watch!!

I wanted to share with you a very cool find!! Bandanas!! There are craft stores with some very cool colours and I have just finished a christmas stocking for the little guys buddy!! It is finished with a camoflage contrast - what little man (or big man) would not want one of these! You can also see here the wide range of colours available and they are only 97c a piece - you need at least 2 pieces to make a stocking abt this size. I have plans to turn the other stash into some decorative flags - but they will have to wait until 2010.

Were those the first flakes of Winter??

Today I think I felt the first flakes of winter!! We live in BC on Vancouver Island and my understanding of winter over here was all daffodils and people playing golf! That is a winter I have yet to see - the 1st one we had here it rained non-stop from Nov through to March (my husband works outside so I got the record breaking stats daily) the 3 since have snowed. I have experienced quite the range of snow from the Northern Ontario, 8ft, nonsense snow to UK snow, where 1cm brings down whole railtrack and motorway systems. I guess if I were Goldilocks BC would be just right - enough to have fun, but not enough to send me crazy. It is also a bonus that we do not "have" to be anywhere - my husband can't work and I was either in walking distance of work or home with bambino, so we would actually just snuggle in with the fire or bundle up and enjoy the quiet outside. I like that things do slow down a little when we get the first snow fall - in Ontario it is amazingly business as usual, whereas here the roads are so much quieter and seem to be reminiscent of older times.

So today, even though I think I felt flakes, it has been a lot warmer outside. The boy and I spent a lot of the morning in the garden - me stacking wood, him unstacking the wood. I was luckily faster than him and did make some progress. I really like to do these sorts of jobs as I do spend too much time indoors and that does make me feel sluggish. When I came in today I felt far more energized than I have in a long time and look the boy has a nap - win, win.

Well I am going to go and see if I can make any more progress on the poor boys curtains that I have been promising. I leave you with a picture of warm things - these rather cute mittens are ones that I bought my wee boy last week at a really great craft fair where things were so reasonably priced (these were $3 - how could you not). I think in the New Year I will post some pictures of some of the cool things I found this year at the fairs - but I need to keep them underwraps at the mo!! Wooly is watching - smile XX

Craft Night !!

So Wooly woman and I got together yesterday to make some wreaths. We managed to do this last year (my first wreath making experience) and maybe it will be a little tradition of ours (wooly don't groan) as although we are both rather reluctant at the beginning (I don't want to make effing wreaths - I think was the quote)it does help stir the Christmas feelings along with the Baileys coffees and Amaretto shots! We originally met some 4 years ago at a very sorry local Christmas Fair where we both had stalls - she selling her wonderful handspun and hand-dyed wool, me selling my little tea cosies. It was such a painful time for us sales wise, but so worth going to have met such a great, great friend. Who knew all that time ago that we lived just over the road from eachother and would go through pregnancy, birth and the raising of our boys all at the same time! I have no idea where I would be without her dry wit, support and general willingness to let me speed dial her number far too regularly with my neurosis of the day. So here's to friends - this Christmas - let me raise my Christmas "special" coffee and toast you !! XX

What do you mean "No"......

Okay so I am having a few problems of compliance with the little man - already at one and a half years old. It is all to do with me forcing him to say he loves his mummy! Yes..i am a needy, lady and so I do expect my offspring to tell me how much he loves me daily..but he just will not comply! It all started yesterday when I casually asked him if he loved his mummy and without hesitation he shrugged his shoulders, shook his head and said .. "No". Well we laughed and asked him again ...do you love your mummy ? Again a shoulder shrug, a shake of the head and a very definite "No". So this was early days - he is parroting everything I say at the mo so I tried to trick him "Love Mummy...Love Mummy", but instead of repeating "Love Mummy" as I expected .. he said "NO' instead. Now this was starting to worry me ..."Do you love your Daddy"..reply "Love Daddy"....and do you love your Mummy?" again "No". Arghhhh!! So this morning we were talking about the word yes...."yes, you like your toast"..reply "yes" nod of head, "yes you like Dylan" (our dog)..big nod "yes"..."yes you love your mummy"...pause...."No" head slyly shakes!! Well little monkey you may not be admitting that you love your mummy, but I know you do - I don't need to hear the words. You resting your head in the crook of my neck in the dark of night with sighs of relief when something has woken you and made you cry, from your calling my name when you first wake in the morning "mummy, mummy, mummy" to last thing at night when we tell you it's bedtime. Your actions are speaking louder than any words...you can't fool me ...you sooooo love your mummy no matter how cool you try to be!