The lucky one sighs. Ineloquently and uncharitably.

Today I am reminded of the particular pressures of a society under economic stress. Favourite Handyman has been at work for more hours this week than I care to add up, including all of today (Saturday) and I will admit to much sighing as I find myself running the house and the jobs he usually does and caring for children who miss their Dad and require some empathetic distraction rather than my more usual directive that they should go outside and make their own fun.

But as we caught up with friends in the library this morning, one of whom continues to hunt for work, so far without success, I had to appreciate the security we currently enjoy in our home workwise and the pressures which are universal: time but little money or money but little time. Living on the West Coast has allowed FH and to live out our priority of having one of us mostly at home with the children; I'm glad there is so much about our life here which makes it worthwhile.

Some small achievements to remind me that life is not entirely about doing the dishes and loading the washing machine: I have finished sewing in the sleeves of the endless purple cardigan. I tried it on and Fionn kindly told me I look nice in it. He took a photo but the dark purple does not show up well and I need to try again with contrasting colours underneath to get a photo worth posting. I weeded some more of the overgrown garden. The convolvulus which I am digging and ripping out will no doubt reappear, but if I can get some strong contending plants in there, I'm hopeful they will fight and win. I am thinking of moving the globe artichokes there and perhaps some herbs for ground cover.

The children demonstrated their hill-biking strengths:


My books on sewing have arrived and I've been reading the Fit For Real People one (mostly because it is easier to read that at the breakfast table with multiple interruptions than the much more academic Culture of Sewing). Once I've finished the purple cardigan completely, then I'm hoping to get stuck into sewing the wrap dress I've been wittering on about for so long. In the meantime, I read sewing blogs and my mind boggles at the skills of women like Mary Nanna who makes repairs like these. I don't say women as a sexist exclusion of male sewists but because it is the female sewists, the women who appear to have similar claims on their time to me (home, kids, work), who inspire that feeling that maybe just maybe I could become a better sewist and make creations I am pleased to wear.

I haven't done anything creative in the kitchen for too long, though certainly I've been hanging out there making sandwiches and chopping veges and stuffing the gobs of nagging kids (oops sorry feeding my beloved children) plenty. Maybe tomorrow. There is basil in the garden ready to turn into pesto and sometime this week I hope to buy a whole fish and try Annabel Langbein's whole ginger fish recipe. Given that it is February and I am trying to pare our spending back to allow us to save for a new car (our current one continues to troop along reliably despite turning 20 this year, but it is getting quite expensive to maintain), I am looking at home made museli bar ideas. Again.

This Warriors visit news footage is from last week and one of those zippy little kids in a maroon jersey just might be my boy (looks just like him and he was there).

Comments

Ange said…
I know!! Those women are amazing, what with the fitting and the tailoring and the splendid fabrics.
And check out greenvalleycrafts and tiny happy for nifty muesli bar ideas. Delish ...

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