Sound tracks......

Firstly pop on over to this blog http://abritintn.blogspot.com.au/ and say hello to Jo.  She has such a pretty blog and I love visiting.
Can you hear the music playing. I got to thinking after visiting this morning that if my life was a movie this is the music I would like to playing quietly in the back ground as I go about my day, its so restful and peaceful and relaxing. It would be hard to get angry or stressed out with music like this in the background. 
Ironing would be a pleasure - the repetitive gliding of the iron back and forth as you float along with the music. 
What a nice start I had to my busy hectic day today as I strolled through the pleasant scenary of Jo's blog.  Thank you Jo.

What music would you have as your lifes sound track, what would be on your compilation.

4.45 pm
Well things went a bit pear-shaped this morning, I housekeep a holiday let cottage and had just started to get it ready for new guests, all I was doing was batting down the wayward feather doona and ping, snap like an elestic band or like a sharp electric shock in my lower back, i was in agony, it took me about 15 minutes to get to my mobile phone to call a friend to come rescue me and then the owner of the house to ask if she could delay the guests  arrival time. I managed with the aid of a broom as a prop to get one load of washing in the dryer and another in the machine. I realised it was going to be impossible for me to finish cleaning as I couldn't even stand up straight. The plumber was booked to come later that day to fit a new loo cistern and he would have been quite happy to come rescue me as well, my boss wanted to drive the two hour journey from her home to help even.  My friend arrived and with me doped up on painkillers we managed to get the house ready.  The concerned plumber did a great job of cleaning up after himself as well.  I can't straighten up and the computer chair is the only place I can sit and get out of easily.  I'm saving the really strong painkillers for tonight so I can sleep, the ibuprofen is not even dulling the pain.  I know when this happens it usually takes a few days for everything to settle down, i'm forcing myself to rest and maybe this will give me chance to get a few projects finished off.
I'm hoping a hot shower will ease it off a little enough for me to stand at the cooker and get dinner ready,  though its knocked me a bit sick and I might just have a cup-a-soup.

 Jan

And the rain keeps on coming.....

Okay, I think I've had enough of rain and wind, its more like a wet Whit weekend in Blackpool than the tropical north of Queensland. Just been putting the finishing touches to the holiday let I housekeep - brought all the blankets out just in case they are needed. The guests have young children so I've moved all the breakables out of reach and I think my job is done there now till friday. They check out at ten and the new guests check in at one, so I'm going to be a busy little beaver on Friday. I lost this morning because of two meetings I had to attend, so with the holiday let thats all day I've lost, tomorrow I'm in the info centre and wednesday afternoon as well so with the travelling and other things that leaves me thursday to catch up with some serious crafting  to get ready for market.
I wasn't aware this post had gone into drafts, I thought I had lost it completely after my computer froze.
19/4/2012
The rain has eased off and we've had a couple of nice days, not too hot and just warm enough.  I've done everything I have to do, just got to run into town and do a small job and get some shopping in and then back home and get some gardening done I think and a walk by the lake with the dog. Today is my day I think, peace and quiet and catching up with my reading and gardening and a bit of craft.

Jan

Balance.....

It has taken a while but I finally have balanced my life out.  So far so good until of course until I meet a new man and I will have to shuffle things around a bit to fit him into my life or a new job comes up.   I'm back doing the mystery shopping, not a lot, probably only a couple of jobs a month and I am going to try and put the money earned from that into a savings account.  I used to be such a good saver, before kids and commitments I saved up for the deposit on a house and always had money in the bank.  Then once the kids came along it was impossible to save.  Now its just me on my own again I find it even harder. There just isn't anything left at the end of month.  I know if I didn't craft I probably would be a lot better off, the money I would save by not buying craft materials is far more than the money I get from selling what I make at the moment. 

Some days I just do not feel like making anything and I used to be happy with that, I could quite easily go a month without creating anything (or buying any materials). I know I've waffled on about this before so ignore me if it gets boring.  It just my way of sorting everything out in my head, I'm thinking out loud, well, typing out loud.  What would I do if lack of money wasn't a barrier. Well, if I had money, then I wouldn't need to craft to earn money I could do it as pure pleasure and I probably wouldn't do as much. I would make what I wanted to make and take my time and savour the joy of making.  I would probably create more for the magazines.  But on the other hand, money is really not a problem for me, I either have it or I don't.  I'm not obsessive about having more, yes it would be nice not to have to struggle to pay the bills, but the bills do get paid, it would be nice to splurge once in a while and sometimes I do, though only small pretty things as an occassional treat.

To be quite honest I am happy with my life, despite others saying I should  have more, I shouldn't just settle for how things are.  So I'm just going to pootle along doing what I do, a little bit of volunteer work, a little bit of craft, a little bit of socialising, a little bit of solitude and meditation, healthy eating and exercise, a little bit of work, a tiny amount of gardening,  a little bit of family and then mix it all up and I really have a very good life and I am satisfied with that.

I have been making coathangers and I found a little half finished baby bear hat, unfortunately I didn't have enough yarn left to finish the ears in the original yarn. I did have some leftover yarn from a christmas project that was supposed to be the same colour code as the hat yarn but there was a definate difference in colour, perhaps its just me being my fussy self but maybe someone else won't notice it. I stuck a flower on - I managed to find a tiny amount of the pink in my scrap stash that matched the edging and frogged about 6 attempts at flowers till i finally managed to make a flower that didn't run out of yarn about 6 stitches from the end.  It'll fit a newborn to 3 months i think. I decided that if I was going to make something as naff as coathanger covers then I was going to do them my way and pretty.  I am enjoying making them, everyone is different, once i get bored with them then I'll stop.  I have recently owned up to the fact that I do have short attention spans where certain things are concerned and making these certain things or doing these certain things  lose my interest very quickly.  Thats probably why I have half a dozen projects on the go at once and why I have a very large stash (hidden away) of UFO's, why I can have at least 5 books I am reading and why I never ever quite finish the decorating.  But you know what, I'm happy with that, thats me, I'm not breaking any laws or upsetting anyone, I'm going with the flow, when I need to I can allow routine in and I know sometimes I have to behave like a grown up and get things done the right way.  I spent a few years trying to be in control of everything, trying to get routine into my life, I think because so much had happened I needed to be in control because I was in danger of losing the plot completely.  Now everything is in balance again I can see the areas that need to have routine and the areas I can let go.

I'd better go get dressed, wouldn't look good going shopping in my jami's - very nice jami's, greeny blue with owls all over them.  Boring routine stuff that needs to be done and a quick forage round the op shops thats pure pleasure. 

If you stayed around and didn't fall asleep or leave the room half way through this post I hope you have a wonderful day.

UHRU

Jan

April already

I seem to only get in here to blog now once a month.  Very bad of me I know. Sorry.

I've been busy doing what seems like lots of things but really isn't much.  Two days a week I volunteer at two information centres which I love.  We had  a couple of weeks of sunshine after all that heavy rain. The rain closed down the range road down to the coast because of landslides and we were stranded up here.  Not that I wanted to go anywhere.  Now we are back to rain and wind again. The days perfect for staying indoors and crafting. Except I am full of energy and want to get out into the garden. So I'm in the house cleaning like mad to use up all this get up and go I seem to have.  I've a few crochet projects on the go - mainly kids hats and coat hangers and a few ami's and lots of flowers. I need to do more  bears.  I've been playing around with the new things in Picasa, I like the frames. I made these bears a few years ago, my own design and need to make more, I've made a start and have a few disembodied heads lying around and a few body parts but need to make the effort to actually assemble them.  I make a few and then lose interest pretty quickly so I'm thinking of only ever making 12 in anything, especially the long leg dolls and the curly tops.  I'm having problems with the crochet kids hats with the sizing, what I did as a 3 -4 yr old fitted my 5 - 6 yr old grandgirl who is probably bigger than the average 5 yr nearly 6 yr old.  I've been using a few guides I got off the net but they all seem to be using a thicker yarn than me and a bigger hook. I'm using a 8 ply yarn (australian) and a 4.50 hook since I like it to be not too loose so they don't lose their shape after a few washes and go all baggy.  Just how long should the hat be, I'm working on 7 inches for a 12 month size with no turn back.  I need to borrow a baby from somewhere.  I made a cute little bear one and managed to get a new born to try it on, it looked so cute, it was a bit big but then she was only a tiny little thing, I wish I had asked the parents if I could have taken a photo.

Isn't this sunflower gorgeous, they are only small ones, the flowers were probably about 8 inches across and the plants about a metre tall. Great for a small garden, I just threw the seeds into the raised veggie garden off the verandah and they all grew, I've dried the seeds and scattered again so heres hoping more come up.

The zinnias didn't like the very wet weather and the wind and they are struggling to survive.  They have such pretty colours, I usually grow them from seed but this year I bought bedders and they don't seem to do as well.  Neither did the begonias in the hanging baskets so once this weather dries up a bit I'm going to redo all the pots and baskets. I did them not so long ago, new soil and pruning.  The lipstick plant is doing the best of all, all the cuttings took and they are all in flower and the mother plant is positively blooming. The camera batteries are just about on their last legs and don't hold their charge for very long, usually lasts about 20 piccys before I have to recharge again. I suppose I'll just have to bite the bullet and buy more.  I need to get outside and take some piccys before the best of the garden is over and is ruined by the weather.

I think today I will cook a proper dinner, I've been very lax and have not been eating properly again, nothing too bad but then again nothing too good either.  I might make this bean salad again but open up a tin of tuna or cook up a chicken breast to go in with it

Its lasts me for a few days (if the family don't come round for dinner). Don't the pieces of celery look like caterpillars.  I make a spicy dressing and add whatever i have in the cupboard and fridge. Usually chick peas and 4 bean mix, thinly sliced carrot and red capsicum, celery - it ends up being a very colourful meal. If yellow capsicums are cheap then I stick them in as well. Sometimes I bung some olives and mushrooms in as well if its going to be a meatless meal.  Cubes of fetta as well sometimes get added the next day. I find onion tends to upset my tummy now so I won't be adding any to this lot and I tend not to put tomatoes in either, I have those little cherry tomatoes growing wild all over the garden and its easy enough for people to put their own in if they want. I might even put pasta in tonight - I have some gluten free stuff and it will make it last a bit longer.  I'm off to see what I have in the fridge, I know I need to buy mushrooms and celery and I might have a couple of capsicums ready in the garden.

UHRU

Jan