Pottering and a surprise

We have been home for a week now. There’s a familiar pattern to the days, partially driven by LittleR’s routine and partially by BigR’s time at nursery.

I’ve spent the last couple of days pottering around; searching out some frames for some photos I will get printed, gathering the necessary supplies for my embroidery project, starting a ‘quick’ knitting project which wasn’t on my list, clearing out magazines and papers clipped from magazines/newspapers/other bits (yes, I quite enjoy this, but not the tidying of official paperwork). This has been interspersed with the more necessary domestic duties – a supermarket shop, picking up countless toys and washing sandy/muddy nursery clothing, I’m sure it’s only my child that gets this filthy. I do like a bit of pottering. The ABO went into the loft and retrieved some of BigR's old toys and books for LittleR. He also put up some pictures for LittleRs room that have been sat waiting for a hook for too many months. It felt good to do those small jobs.

The ABO is away  at the moment so I could fall into a spell of eating badly, of ‘not looking after myself in the way I should’. Sometimes this is good. Just to have some toast for tea with the children and then feasting on chocolate later...we all need that sometimes...Generally I am good at preparing food for myself. I like to think of this as a creative activity and I know it's important to look after myself so i can look after the girls. It's fortunate my children will eat a wide variety of things so we often all eat the same meals. What I craved this week has been something hearty and something that perhaps the girls' wouldn't eat. I took inspiration from Sarah’s blog and made chickpea and chorizo stew. I had all the things I needed in the house (onion, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, and paprika) so it was a winning situation. It was even better a day later...

 

After a day which included a ginormous supermarket shop with a slightly snuffly child I came home to a beautiful surprise.

 

I love gerberas!

Last day

This is our last evening in Italy. The ABO is at work. The children are asleep. I'm meant to be packing but here I am writing a blog post.

It seems strange that our visits here are over. The ABO still has 2 weeks left in the apartment and then it's back to a hotel for him. 

It's been a strange summer. Not hearing spoken English very often. Standing out obviously as 'the Brits' in a small village. 

It's also been a time where things have slowed down from the pace at home. Where BigR has shown her imagination and 'made' more toys from paper to play with...a shop and all the things she wants to sell...mostly fruit, vegetables and shoes! Where LittleR has taken advantage of a low coffee table to practice standing up.

Now it's almost over, I feel like a character in one of BigR's books - Moon Rabbit

"back to her home, back to her favourite cafe and back to all the things she liked to see and do" 

but we leave knowing, that after months and months and months of difficulty, in April, the ABO should be based 9 miles from our home. 

Attempting to create

In the title of this blog is the word create. Hmmm. I haven't felt very creative recently. Although I spend a lot of time with the pencils, glue and scissors and my 4 year old, I have been very neglectful of more permanent creative times, things that perhaps are for me or our home or for the children. I haven't made littleR anything...yet!! So this is where I'm going to show my planning for creative activities in the coming months. Hopefully, by then, it'll be a habit that I'll be able to continue when I go back to my job.

In no particular order:

:: Embroider 3 panels for LittleR. Owls maybe? I think they would suit LittleR. I completed a set of three matryoshka dolls for BigR. The original idea came from Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching and also the sublime stitching site. I was pleased with the end result and learnt a lot from the process, including knowing I'll need to reconsider my mounting in future. 

:: Book and attend my Betty's Cookery School course. I had a 'milestone' birthday earlier this year and was lucky enough to get a voucher to attend the school. I've been thinking about 'one pot wonders' and 'winter warmers' ....now all I need to do is work it with the ABO's roster.

:: Plans for the 2014 garden. The garden has just ticked by the last couple of years. A difficult family time and then pregnancy in 2012 and a newborn and our extended breaks in Italy for most of 2013 mean the garden had to take a back seat...but not for 2014. All that promise within the pages of a seed catalogue. I'm sure I can convince my Dad (again) to donate some seedlings from his greenhouse.

:: Make S's tea cosy - my good friend S is a prolific and exceptionally talented knitter. She's encouraged me to try it once more. I have the basics down...I even made a half decent attempt at a shawl that I wore. I'm sure it's a case of practice makes perfect in this case. She bought me a (simple) kit for a tea cosy. I'm going to use it - and then let her  use the finished item being the tea bod she is.

:: Make an appliqué blanket for BigR  and try to use bias binding on the edges. BigR is at that stage where she really enjoys make believe play. I often find little scenes she's created with her toys and an array of tea cups, bowls spoons and clothing. Although I like to encourage the imaginative play I'd prefer it if she'd not use my clothes as floor cloths! The plan here is to appliqué a fleece blanket for her to use. I also thought I could try to bias bind the edges and give my sewing machine an airing.

:: Make photo books for 2012-13 - good gifts for grandparents and a lovely way for us to look at the photos we've taken rather than them being locked away on a hard drive.

:: Embroider tea towels. I was looking through the archives of another new to me blog. Gillian had made some beautifully embroidered tea towels which have inspired me to attempt my own.

:: Take BigR to 'Pots to go' - and have a go myself. BigR recently attended a birthday at 'pots to go' a creative pottery cafe in Harrogate where you can paint pottery. She loved it - and so did I!! Although it would've been bad form to push the children out of the way and have a go myself... I'll be back.

So here are a few creative ideas to be getting on with. Hopefully I'll have lots of finished items to show you soon. 

Coffee

I wasn't really a fan of hot drinks. I was more than happy with water, squash and fizzy drinks (or pop as I now call it having spent more of my life in Yorkshire than in my southern roots). Until, that is, I went to university. This is where it began. 

You might think that it was down to lots of late nights and hangovers (and there were some of those) or help to extend study time and give you that extra push to revise some more. 

In effect it was down to three things. 

- I wanted to be social.

- It was cold. 
- I couldn't stand the smell, taste or thought of tea. 

Now I take my coffee strong and black (due to a brief spell dairy free diet to help with my asthma - it didn't so I was soon back to cheese, chocolate and ice cream) and prefer a little of something more expensive than lots of cheap instant stuff.

Our best investment was an espresso maker. There's a milk froth attachment for the ABO to have a warm milk added. I'm not an amazing barista so I hesitate to say cappuccino. It's handy for bigR to have a frothy milk too. 

To start the day, its usually instant coffee. It's quick, easy and necessary whilst I make littleR a bottle and corral bigR into breakfast.

Mid morning is my favourite coffee time. If I'm at home I'll fire up the coffee maker. Currently the favourite blend is Taylor's Italian.

I also frequent a very well known chain who make delicious coffee and add two shots as standard (rather than other chains which charge you for the extra shot) or three shots should you got for the larger buzz! I like to watch the people come and go. If I'm alone I can be silent in the hubbub. The children are well catered for too. The local independent coffee bar also has delicious coffee but is in no way child/buggy friendly. So now the weather is cooler and we need to be inside I'm back to my trusty chain.

Afternoon coffee isnt as frequent these days. It boosts me from my sluggishness. More often than not I need it due to a disturbed night with one of the children or my own galloping thoughts.

By far the best thing about our stay in Italy has been the coffee. Coffee bars exist everywhere. They make the most exquisite coffee. I'm a bit of a heathen and have an americano to make the espresso last that moment longer. Coffee time in Italy isn't a time to linger. It's a brief moment to recharge with caffeine and perhaps also partake of a brioche (various flavoured croissants- nutella- divine). 

My coffee love also extends to a love of mugs. You can beat a good mug. The shape, the way it feels full in your hand. That's also part of the coffee experience. Perhaps one day I'll share my mug love too.

The long time no blog 10 things

:: Well, it's been a while. Too long really. I've not been writing my own blog but loving the blogs of others. Some favourites will appear in my blogroll eventually. New to me blogs and old blogs have been in my feed. I still love the list writer's blog and found myself looking through her archives the other evening. This simple activity reminded me of the fact that I indeed did once write my own 10 things post and that maybe I should again.

:: My major creative project of 2012 turned out to be growing baby no.2 (from here on known as LittleR). She made her appearance in mid January 10 days after her Daddy (the ABO) had broken his ankle playing 5-a-side football and 24 hours before a major dumping of snow making crutches, taxis and general getting about difficult.

:: BigR took to her immediately and LittleR reciprocated...although now even I am bored of the phrases "leave her alone" and "you're being too rough".

:: We've all spent a lot of my maternity leave in Italy as the ABO has been based there since summer 2012. It hasn't been the easiest time as he's not happy in his work there. At least this summer we've had the flexibility of being able to spend some months there as a family making his commute less arduous.

:: There is an upside. I've been here and seen this. I've also enjoyed copious amounts of gelato, the best pizza in the universe, coffee and sunshine.

:: We go again for our last trip this Friday. We'll be there for 3 weeks. when we return home I'm expecting Autumn to be in full swing. I really love this time of year. For me it is the time of freshly sharpened pencils, the time when I make resolutions, shake myself up and try out new things. So I'm trying my hand at blogging again. I'm making embroidery plans. I'm cooking and planning. All to be realised later in October.

:: I've cleared out cupboards and drawers and given a ridiculous amount of hoarded things that "I might just need that one day" to the RSPCA shop. This brings me a great sense of wellbeing and smugness. Next is to go through the loft and decide if the baby things are to go.

:: We went for a day out here. I love coming here, there's always something new to see and you can really appreciate the changing seasons. I always wish I'd brought a better camera with me than just using my phone camera. Maybe 2014 is where I should work on the photography?

:: When will I have time for photography? I'm due to return to work in January 2014. With annual leave I will have had over a year away from academia. I'm a bit nervous. One of my closest colleagues will be on maternity leave and there have been other big changes in the office which I've been (so far) able to ignore. I'm also thinking that September is too soon to be thinking about this.

:: Along side this realisation, comes the fact that the paper I was writing before BigR was born in 2009 has been rejected and is due to be worked in 2014. So, I joked that I would have 2 children before it's published and now it's a truth!!

The weekend

The Airborne One (Known after this as the ABO) is working his weekend.
Plans with my girl….

:: Buy paint for her bedroom ‘accent’ wall.

:: Make a cake possibly this one also exalted here.

:: Go to the swings.

:: Make lots of jigsaws…then break them up and do them again (she’s only 2 and a half and isn’t bored of them yet!).

:: Play shopping – those ELC cans and IKEA veg won’t buy themselves.

Plans when the girl is in bed…

:: The new Simon Kernick novel – I like a good crime thriller.

:: Decide on which Persephone Classic to read next.

:: Attempt some embroidery. It’s been a long time since I tried; I think I used to be fairly good. I hope it’s something you don’t forget. These are eventually what I hope I can do.

:: Preparing for spring. Need to go through some catalogues to decide what I’d like to plant in the garden this year (and then see if I can convince my Dad to sow the seeds in his greenhouse).

Ten things

One of my favourite blogs ever is by The List Writer.I love this element of her blog and so will attempt my own clumsy yet earnest version.

:: In the fridge is another first - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's pizza dough for tomorrow's dinner.

:: And also The Quince Tree's tomato sauce. Very simple: tomatoes, onion, garlic and butter. An hour on the hob. Yum!

:: The beautiful heady scent of the lillies first thing in the morning.

:: Am loving David Nicholl's "The Understudy". Yes I was one of those who could not stop talking about One Day.

:: I am finally looking forward to finishing the paper I am writing. it's been a true labour of love since before R was born (2009). At least I can forget about it. Until it is critiqued by the reviewers. Read this as slated by the reviewers. It's OK. Academics develop thick skins.

:: And a razor sharp disregard for other people's opinions.

:: Ooh ooh ooh. I may have found "The.Dress"...or maybe I haven't...we'll see if it fits.

:: Am looking forward to catching up with old friends at the weekend. It's been ages since we got together. I shall be donning my Santa outfit. Yes it's been that long.

:: An email from another friend letting my know she's ok. I was worried. At least she's managing.

:: Am loving the washi tape on papermash. I want them all!!