Friday, wonderful friday....

Its friday again, thankfully and this friday is greatly appreciated.

This is a special weekend as its mothers day (Its wonderful that i get to celebrate that!) and we will have my mother-in-law with us on the Sunday. We will be having a family breakfast to celebrate. I have many roles, many hats i wear but of all of these i cherish the role of mother most. Its my most creative role, my leading role, my star role, my most fulfilling role and the role that means most to me. Its the role that has psychologically filled me out, grounded me, allowed me to know me most. So to all the moms I know, the moms of the future, have a wonderful mother's day.

On this crazy friday (I just discovered that i have a new political head), i am grateful for the following things:

• Winter, which is racing down on us madly. Especially winter with a whole weekend of hibernating attached.
• The seasonal confetti of autumn hued leaves that are sprinkled around my city right now.
• The promise of all the glorious new cosmic cricket scrapbooking supplies that i bought yesterday (on 50% off!!!!) and the beautiful photos that are calling out to be used.
• The sense of accomplishment that comes from a week of hard work that actually rendered results.
• So very, very grateful that i was blessed with the care of the wise beautiful souls that are my sons and that through them that i was able to carry this, my most cherished title of mom.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend and remember dont forget your mom. We all have one.....

"We bear the world and we make it .... There was never a great man who had not a great mother." Olive Schreiner.

Anniversaries of the heart....

One of my favourite books is by Sarah Ban Breathnach, called Simple abundance. It focuses on how to create a life of joy, not through grand notions but through an awareness and appreciation of day to day life. Whilst reading it, i was struck by what she calls "anniversaries of the heart". All of us have our days of rememberance. The days we mark by death, new life, marriage etc. But what are your secret anniversaries. What evokes your private days of marking. When spring dances through the month of November, i always remember being pregnant, strongly recalling the emotions and experiences of a time passed. This time of the year i remember my mother strongly, with Mother's day and the date of her death intertwining in my mind. July is tied up with winter memories and its own rituals. I like to think of my life as a tapestry or a sampler that i am working on. When i embroider i start with a blank canvas and by the time i have ended i have worked hundreds, thousands of tiny stitches that come together magically to make an image. Life is similiar, every day you are having experiences, stitches are being painted into the image that is you. So in that way i have no crisis about getting older. I feel my life is richer, warmer, more colourful then it was at 21.

I awoke to the howling of the wind and crashing of thunder and lightening this morning. Which is all good and well when you are lying three in a bed under warm blankets but not so great when you have to venture out into the cold. But the one thing that i like about this time of the year is the symbolic closing of your home each night. I like closing the doors and windows, drawing the curtains as night falls, i like filling the house with warm cooking smells, i like hot bathed children and random blanket nests. Its cold out there, but its warm in here.

Keep warm, heart and body!

books and children....

Last night i decided to tidy some of my books shelves as i needed to pack away the books that i bought on Monday. For those who have not been to my home i have a entire wall of wall to floor shelves and numerous other shelves around the place. Does this mean that all my books are neatly ordered, lined up alphabetically on the shelf? Not at all. I still have piles (mounds in some instances!) of books all over the house. So i guess what i am trying to say is that I, Allison, have an addiction, a literary addiction! Since a child, nothing enthralls me, excites me, comforts me, like a good book. I read them all... fiction, biography, history, psychology, crafts, cooking. I have a special passion for cooking books. Who can resist the promise of taste, the fantastic meals of the mind, represented by a soft couch and a pile of cook books. (All completely kilojoule free! The best kind of meal!) So last night i was diligently packing these books away when suddenly i wondered how many books i owned. I did a rough count and with my kids books i have an estimated 1600 books in my house! Is this normal? I fear not! Can i rectify it? Absolutely not! I cannot bring myself to sell my books, discard the stories that have become part of my consciousness. Instead i will happily drown in paper.

As i mentioned yesterday i love the fact that this addiction seems to be hereditary. I love that my kids beg me to read to them. I love the experience of having the middle seat (or bed space) while two little heads crane their necks in wonderful silence while we have word adventures. I cant wait for them to be able to read to themselves, only so that we can read together alone. Nothing speaks to me of domestic bliss more then mutual but alone reading. Everyone in their own spot, book in hand, only speaking occasionally to offer items from the kitchen or to share something from their text that is just to sad, funny or unbelievable to be kept to yourself.

So friends, my paper addiction seems to have no end in sight. Perhaps i should see if there is a book on that?

Have a wonderful Wednesday!


Books are not made for furniture,
but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.
~ Henry Ward Beecher ~

Things that i am loving right now.......

• The very kitsch glow in the dark stars that G and I plastered all over his bedroom. It is great to lie in the darkness and stare at the neon green solar system.
• My son hugging his new famous five books with a look of absolute rapture yesterday (Oh, yes this is my kid.... Books!!!!)
• The fact that i did not have to cook yesterday and yet everyone got a home cooked meal!
• Reading 150 pages last night of a book that i love, not wanting it to be done but also wanting it to be done so that i can read the 4 new books that are crying for attention on my night stand.
• The lovely glass jug that i bought for R10 yesterday. I love pre - owned (pre-loved) things!
• That last night was the first night for hot water bottles AND that the boys water bottles are ninja turtles!
• That i got to drive to work with my heater on.
• The beautiful autumn leaves that are falling everywhere....

Wishing you a survivable Tuesday!

Monday, Monday......

Hello Monday, i am glad that my first working shift is over. My second one begins when i get home of course. I had a good day, going off at lunch time to buy some great second hand books and discount hair products (What is about women that makes us want to shop, especially bargain shopping - it really is a thrill!)

I also face a breeze of a week in terms of meals. One of the ladies that i work with has a catering business on the side and i have purchased 12 ready meals for the family, frozen and 30 frozen Roti (Indian breads). The best thing is that it was so reasonably priced that it didnt even hurt to be lazy. So all in all a good week so far.

At least i have found out that the R4000 that i spent on the plane ticket that never happened last week is not totally lost. I can still use the ticket for up to 6 months, so perhaps it can be salvaged.

On another note i welcome my baby cousin into the world of blogging and am excited to join her journey, with comments along the way of course! I hope that for all of you, this monday was as kind!

Sunday night

Sunday nights have always been one of my favourite times. We have had a lovely three day weekend and although it started off shaky, it got much better as it went along. Yesterday i enjoyed a wonderful outing with my cousin to the Zoo, which the children loved, followed by an old friend's stork party. I had the opportunity to see two old dear girl friends, who are both pregnant, expecting girls and due in September. It was wonderful to catch up and took me back to a whole different time in my life. Sometimes when i am busy with my little beloved terrors it is hard to believe that once upon a time they were innocent new borns. Did i really do midnight feeds, deal with colic, not know what i was doing. The great thing about motherhood is that after a few years it becomes a habit and you forget that once i didnt know anything. I mean the other day i roughly calculated that i had changed about 9200 nappies, made about the same amount of bottles, done at least three hospital visits, done two sets of stitches after spectacular injuries, teethed two full sets of teeth and survived about 50 minor colds and flus. The fact that i survived all of that is a miracle, but in the process of it all you forget what it was like in the beginning when you knew nothing, when everything was hard, when you could not make bottles in your sleep or had an automatic dummy radar.

Dont get me wrong, not knowing what to do is not all that it is cracked up to be, but lets face it, it is pretty exciting! I wish them well and cant wait to welcome some new bambinos into my circle of friends. I am enjoyed a quiet day at home where i cooked two meals , one to freeze for the week. One was a pot of homemade soup that went down well on this cold day.

I am going to wrap this day up now and get ready for a new week.....

In the still of the night....

What a day! It is only as this day is closing that i am able to truly reflect on what a crazy day i have had, commencing at 5:05am. Our expected guest did not arrive but let us down when he missed his flight for unacceptable reasons. Lots of drama ensued and generally ruined the mood. Momentarily. One thing i love about my family (immediate and extended, friends included!) is the amount of support i get from those around me. I am also grateful for the space of my relationship where crisis turns us inwards and not outwards. All of this enables me to keep my sense of humour. How can i not when i have so much to be grateful for. So today, despite all, i am grateful for:

• The support that i received from friends and family today. I am also grateful for family who are friends and friends who are like family.
• I am happy for the peace that resides in my home and that this really is my safe space.
• I am grateful for the creative space that i shared with my cousin this afternoon (and the great pants that we crafted together!)
• I am grateful for the carrot cake that was brought as a consolation (it hit the spot!).
• I am grateful that my children are the souls that they are and that i married to such a delicously caring, kind man.
• The opportunity to see some old friends tomorow.
  

And with that i will leave you. The kettle calls.