Becoming a Housewife

I have done it, I bit the bullet and quit my job.

Having hated it for quite some time, I finally got up the courage and resigned. I finish this week and then I am free.

It is quite scary after 15 years of always working full time to have no plans ahead of me. This is a good thing of course, but is also scary as hell. We have worked out the budget and fingers crossed, this appears to be doable. I figure if worst comes to worst, I will fins another job.

In the meantime however, I will enjoy every second I can at home, and hopefully will finally be able to stress less and even maybe fall pregnant again at last!

I took Riley to preschool one day this week, this is the only time I have been there since the first day, and while we all waited outside, I noticed that he is the only child that arrived with a library bag and pillow that were home made. Every other child had a "Character" bag and cushion.

My little precious doesnt seem to mind that his things are different, but I wonder how long this will last, and if he is in fact missing out on something by not having the same stuff as the other kids?

We are not total control freaks about licenced stuff, in fact he does love Thomas the Tank and we have shirts and stuff with those characters on them. I just dont know if my making items for him will lead to him feeling left out as he gets older and more immersed in this outside world of the public education system.

What is the answer? If anyone has any ideas, I would be grateful to hear them.

Even Preschoolers need accessories

Riley needed a pillow and a library bag for his first day of preschool. Inspiration and a curtain were found at the local op shop for the princely sum of $2.80. The back of the pillow is yellow fleece, and Rileys name has been added to the library bag with yellow felt.

Grant thinks that they are too babyish for a mature 4 year old, but thankfully my creations passed the all important "Riley Test"

I am still here!

This is just a note to say that I am still around.

I have been in quite the funk lately and life has totally overwhelmed me. Things have been really busy with work and home and "Stuff" but I am back now!

Riley started pre-school yesterday which is quite the milestone for us. He has never been in the care of anyone other than ourselves and Grants parents, who care for him every day while we work. He has now gone from no outside care to 3 days a week.

The preschool is egg and nut free so now I am scouring the net for muesli bars and stuff that I can make that dont include these ingredients.

I will be back tonight or tomorrow with pics of the mama made library bag and pillow that my baby has taken to pre-school so stay tuned!

Fantastic Four

On Tuesday, my Riley turned 4. For his birthday, we gave him a new bike, and some toys for the pool, and as an extra gift, Mummy broke her ankle doing a last minute dash to the shops before the party!

I have been stuck on the couch ever since, and only today have I returned to work as I couldnt have any more time off - boss was not happy about the unplanned absence. Remind me to schedule in my broken bone for next year!!

I still managed to have Riley's birthday party, and had considered going the healthy approach with fruit and stuff, but old school Sarah intervened, and there were cupcakes, fairy bread and chocolate crackles everywhere! Oh, I did make some fruit kebabs, but only the mums were munching on those...

I have no pics of my darlings party, hoping that the Mother-In-Law will have some to share when she comes to visit next. It was lovely to be able to have endless snuggles with my boy this last week, and his Daddy was wonderful and helpful, but it turns out, just as I have always suspected that he is completely incapable of washing dishes. I smelled a rat when dinner on Friday night was presented (takeaway of course) on plastic plates left over from the party. Eventually Grant confessed that there were no clean dishes left in the house, and it was either use the plastic, or go and buy another dinner set!

I am sure glad to be back on my somewhat hobbly feet today, although the time was not wasted, I have been armed with my Eden Seeds catalogue planning and dreaming about what I will add to my litte garden next. The tomatoes are continuing to grow beautifully, and we are eating lettuce and parsley that I grew. The newest addition has been some Spring Onions that I planted from the bottoms of ones from the supermarket and they are starting to take off.

At least my focus for this month to work on the garden is still happening. Now what can I chose as the focus of next month?

A brand new year!

I have taken a bit of a break from the internet, not even reading blogs, and it has been quite peaceful to immerse myself in the family life for the last couple of weeks. I have timed my return to the world of blog with my return to the work world too.

This year, I have decided to make resolutions every month, not just at the beginning of the year, this way I have a whole month to focus on a particular theme, then once this has been incorporated into my life, it will be time to work on an exciting new project.

This month I have decided that I will NOT use a shop bought cleaning cloth, no more chux wipes, no more steel wool to clean the dishes, I have made myself a stash of cotton dishcloths and I am using only those to do the dishes, and I have a small pile of old towels and other cloths to take care of the spills and dusting cloths.

I am also going to focus on the garden, working towards this having more of a role in the family home and actively working on porducing from the garden, measuring what it yields and taking note of what I do in the garden, what works and what doesnt.

What are you going to do differently this year?

One gift down, only 19 to go!

So, I had a day off today as I have been unwell. Riley went to spend the day with the Grandies and I had the house to myself! I took advantage of being alone and made one of the bunch of things I have on my wishlist. The pattern is a free one that you can find here. It was really easy and I highly recommend it. The blue one was my first attempt, and is a bit overstuffed, and a little bit crooked. The pink one is for our niece who is almost one for Christmas. Hope she likes it.

The first attempt passed the Riley test, thankfully and is suitably cuddly which is a big relief.

Next on the to do list is to make cookies as a test which will be the gift given to the adults in the family this year.

Long Time No See....

Well, it has been a while since I posted here, and I thought about not mentioning the reason for my absence, but have decided that it is right to have a record for myself what has happened recently. If you have read this blog, you might be aware that my partner and I had discussed the possbility of having another child before I get "Too Old". Well, we had decided that this was something that we wanted to do, and began trying. As luck would have it, I was fortunate enough to fall pregant almost immediately. We were so very excited and immediately began planning all the changes that this news would mean.
Then it happened.
I miscarried at 8 weeks pregnant. It almost felt like it was over before it had begun. I was devastated, even though I had done my best not to get my hopes up so early, and Grant was at a loss about how to help me, while dealing with it himelf at the same time.
Its been a few weeks, and I have attempted to write this post countless times, but stopped. Today I have decided to get it out there, and move on. If we are meant to only have Riley, then we are still so very lucky and extremely grateful for this funny, stubborn, clever little boy we have in our lives. The decision about the number of members are to be in our family has been left to fate for the moment. We will live in the moment, and take whatever life throws our way.
Thanks for letting me vent....
On another note, I have been crafting lately, amazingly. Working weekends all alone in the office waitng for the phone to ring does have its advantages. Even if it does et a little boring at times.
Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, and I am finally getting into the swing of making red and green treasure to decorate the house and to give as gifts, if I get up the courage to give made by me instead of store bought!

This is the fabric that I am going to use for little stockings for us to hang out on Christmas Eve (if I get around to making them in time of course) and mybe a wall hanging or table runner to go with the bunting and other decos that I made last year and have stored away! The plan is to add to our handmade decorations each year rather than buying standard decorations.

I have been experimenting with stitchery as you will see below. I so far seem to have mastered a rather wonky backstitch, but I am pretty proud of what I have come up with so far. My first stitcheries in about 10 years, and I designed them to, taking inspiration from all over the web.

Here are the beginnings of the name portion of our stockings so that we know which belongs to who. My high tech transfering system was to write the names on in lead pencil, I dont have the fancy water soluble pen thingies so I improvised and used what I had on hand!

Here is a parcel label for Riley's Great-Grandparents. Grants Nan really saves cards and wrapping, so I thought it would be fun to sew the tag for her to keep. Not sure that this is exactly right yet, it is a work in progress.

And finally, if you are still with me...thankyou for hanging in there with me! This is a Christmas Tree - obviously! It was a colouring in page that was a free download somewhere, I searched for the site again, but couldnt find it. I think this will become part of the wall hanging/ table tunner that is currently taking shape in my head. Originally this was to be a cushion for the loungeroom, but as I was sewing it, I got a bit carried away with what it could become, and a cushing is just too easy, I cant do anything easy it would seem.

Well, thats me back in the zone. Thanks for letting me go on for so long, I feel so much better having sent my tale of woe out into the blogisphere.

P.S There is still a place available for my pay it forward, dont be shy. Join in and share the love!