Some more things that i am loving right now.....

• More and more wonderful photos that are making me dream about scrapbooking layouts.
• Soft white baby legs enveloped in pale green flannels (that i made!)
• The packet of woolworths hot cross buns that are in the kitchen.
• The cheeky coldness of May that nips at my toes in the morning.
• The joys of cuddling with the Mr. on such mornings.
• Jelly beans.

Shhhh.... its weekend!

What a crazy three day week. Instead of it being quiet i feel like i have squeezed five days into three! I am looking forward to this weekend, although it is looking like a busy one. We have a guest from East London visiting so we will be showing him the JHB sites.

On the creative side i have bought much too much fabric (wonderful!) and made three pj's for the boys. I have cut out my pj's, so just need to sew them up. I got the boys school photos back today and they are absolutely amazing. So more scrapbooking due. I need time, time, time! Its crazy!

But i did have a wonderful gift today.... a quick slip out from work for coffee with my best friend. It reminded me how friendship, especially old friendship can keep you spiritually alive. I am also thinking of another old friend, Pam tonight. She is in Ireland and i am missing her terribly. Would love to have a chat right now!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend, busy or slow.

Life goes on......

This is a strange time of the year. Here in South Africa there are a whole range of public holidays around Easter which create a strange mini festive season. So its hard to be really productive at work when the the promise of another long weekend is just around the corner. A lovely cold, autumn turning into winter long weekend....... More then anything i hope to catch up on some sewing and sleep! What high goals! Very important when you have two toddlers at home. I really did not appreciate my sleep at all until i was a mother. I dream now of afternoon sunny naps, late sunday mornings, late saturday nights knowing that a late sunday morning would follow. Now i am in the sleep deprived world of musical beds, getting up for midnight comforts of re-inserting dummies, tucking in blankets, chasing away bad dreams and so on and so on. Crowned by eager faces at 6am traipsing into my room. Ah, i am sure that i will miss it all when they are smelly teenagers who never want to get up! To inspire everyone into peaceful sleep i thought i would share this photo of an antique crochet afghan that i took in pilgrims rest. I think the tour guide at the museum thought i was crazy. I mean who takes photos of blankets..... um, me? I love the old fashioned hot water bottle. I could sleep on this bed.........

Last night was a lazy, tired, long day at work night that culminated in chinese takeout. I shall have to dig up my domestic self tonight and concoct a magical meal. I will let you know how that goes..........

Wishing you a good day.

Winter things that I am loving right now.....

* The winter chill that is creeping into the air, with all its promises of warm beds, winter cooking, hot steamy baths and cuddly munchkins (aka my kids).
* The promise of hats, mittens and scarves to crochet and pj's to sew.
* A three day week.
* A visitor this weekend.
* The decadence of my honey toast and cappuccino that i had for breakfast (wicked!!!)
* My veggie garden that is sprouting wonderfully.

Winter certainly has its own wonders ........

creative juices

Well here is the thing. I am pretty handy. I can crochet, i can scrapbook, embroider, BUT i cannot sew. Well, at least i have convinced myself that i cannot sew. It looks hard! Despite this fear i have a sewing machine that i bought new about 5 years ago. I also have boxes of fabric, a box of pattens, pins, elastic and various other items required for this craft. Their existence says more about my compulsive buying then anything assumed skill!

But today i was inspired and turns out i can sew a little bit after all. I made flannel pj pants for G and a table cloth for my kitchen from my Mpumalanga fabric. And it looked pretty good. You have got to love kids. G was just happy that the pants were made from astronaut fabric and forgave me all the other issues. But they did fit and looked fine. So the next task will be some dinosaur pj's for Seth and some adult Pj's for the grown ups in the house. The great thing is the quickness. A real boost for the ego. I mean who needs to work for 6 months on a sampler when you get immediate gratification from a pair of Pj's.

On another note i got my photos back from the shop. About 120 photos to scrap! I would give a toe away not to have to go to work tomorrow. Man, that scrapbooking desk is screaming my name!

Its good to be back home again ......

Well we survived (it was close at times!). We spent a very cold but beautiful night at Black Eagle retreat in Waterval Boven. Our wooden cottage overlooked a trout lake. We bundu bashed through wild forest and got covered in black jacks! Next day we stopped at Sudwala caves, which was awe inspiring. Then onto Hazyview where we went for a day trip into Kruger National park and Pilgrims rest.

It was good to get away with the kids and reconnect as a family. At times when i can solely focus on my children i realise just how exhasuting it is to be a working mother. I am stressed so much of the time that i cant always mother the way i want to. On the other hand, i am a better mother because i work. Catch 22.

I did some shopping as well. Bought beautiful african fabric and some wooden carvings, which are already up.

Now we are home, the kids are fed and bathed, the bags are unpacked, the suitcases have been packed away, the mother is tired!

But i have over 400 photos on the camera just calling to be posted and to be scrapbooked. Will print tomorrow and get started!

And yes, it is good to be home again!

Allison signing in.

I have been threatening to set up a blog forever and today i have finally done it. That's the joy of being off work and having ten thousand other things to do. It will force you to do the strangest things. I dont know what i really want to do with this blog except share some of me. So who am I?
I am a strange creature indeed! A wife. A mother to two boys, aged two and five. A working mother who dreams of being a stay at home mom but knows that she could not really survive being at home. One day i want to change the world, the next i wish that i was a martha stewart / stepford wife. Ahhh.. the confusion of womanhood. I love the boardroom and the kitchen! I love to craft... cross stitch, embroidery, crochet and scrapbooking. I love to read and have far too many books at home. I love to cook and bake but hate producing suppers in twenty minutes after work.

So i really dont know what will come out of this but join me on the journey and lets see..........

Right now i need to get out of my Pj's and begin to sort out things for our holiday road trip that we are embarking on tomorrow. In a fit of insanity we decided to take the two boys in a 400km holiday via car to the Kruger national park game reserve. We will be stopping half way as i am already sceptical about entertaining my kids for 2 hours in a car. So tomorrow night we will stay in Waterval Boven at a cute place called Eagle guest farm and then off to Sabie.

Signing in and signing out. Welcome Handmade life to my life!