me on a friday

Here's my contribution to this week's 52 Fridays. I missed last week, due to it being the busy-crazy-mad-rush week that it was. I'm hoping there is at least one nice photo of me from Mishi's party (taken by my father-in-law).

So, anyway. Today I did the quick and easy computer photo. With silly prop! My new beautiful cup, that I bought last week from Shibui Homewares in West End. I had a lovely chat with the lady, who owns and works in the shop, about her visits to Japan, and about Japanese tea cups.

Right now I am being deliciously cheeky. My cup contains a yummy, hot / cold concoction of vanilla icecream and coffee. Otherwise known as affogatto. I haven't had one of these for ages - icecream  is rarely bought in this household, this is left over from Mishi's party. And Ari tempted me. Friday afternoon, afterall. Icecream and afternoon television for the boy. Before we get the girl from her kindy.

Today I have spent a fair bit of time reading and working on planning. I spotted Steady Days in the side bar of Soulemama's blog*, and clicked over and purchased. The book arrived in the post on Wednesday, and I've been carefully reading it in spare moments. This isn't a cute-pretty sort of book, but it's so easy to read and so well laid out. I really like the way that there are no half-page headings for each new chapter (saves on paper). This book feels like one of those Cliff's notes to .... (you know the cheats guides to Hamlet or McBeth that we all read at school?); it breaks things down into simple language, honest words and truthfulness in the telling and the story. I really like that Jamie (the author) doesn't pretend as if she's perfect, actually she often reminds us that she's not. 

So, I've been planning how to be more organised. These past few months (weeks especially) I've felt lost and drowning in the vastness of it all. I've been weighed down. And have felt pretty useless at a lot of stuff. You know when you feel like that it takes a lot of get back up and get going with stuff. The piles of paper normally just keep building up, and the mounds of laundry almost topple onto the kids while they're trying to find clean socks. 

I've written out a daily, weekly and (still working on) monthly plan for the whole family. I've included chores - silly things that shouldn't need to be included in a to-do list, but that have been getting  begrudgingly pushed between Sam and me lately (like the washing up, or the laundry). I've included a half hour every evening, before dinner where the whole family sits down and talks or plays a game, or writes / draws together in our journals. We do always sit together at breakfast and dinner time, but we're often caught up in the 'kids sit down', 'stop putting food everywhere', 'use your fork, please', 'eat your veges', rush to school, work or bed deal. So - I'm hoping some small amount of time to sit and enjoy as a family will help us all be a little bit happier in where we're at. 

I also added a whole hour, once a week, for Sam and me to sit down together and talk about our plans and dreams and goals (both personal and professional). This is something that we rarely get to do, and if we do, it's normally moments between making school lunches or reading bedtime stories or rushing out the door to work.

I'm going to spend the weekend working on and finalising the planning. Steady Days book suggests to put everything into an easy to reference binder, and I'm going to work with that. I'm also going to consult Sam and the kids on it all, as I want it to be something we do together, not something that I enforce and dictate.

Hopefully this time next week I'll be well into the good feeling of being organised and on top of things. And I'll be getting some proper solid work happening. Rather than this dribble-drabble-nothingness that's been happening around here lately.

*And look, it's on her bedside table today as well.

doing ::

i have a long list of need-to-get-done. writing it here may keep me accountable to finishing it all in a timely manner. some things on my list are work related, some are personal, and some for the family.

work ::
write business plan + financials
think of name for this new venture
get a wiggle along with sewing stock for the Racecourse Rd Steet Party Market
organise new business cards, swing tags, etc to be printed
(this is the edited list)

family ::
finish bag with Ari
make kids at least two new outfits each
source fabric for quilt for Ari - I'd love your advice on any fabrics you can suggest that a 5yr old boy may appreciate
finish binding on Mishi's quilt
make fabric baskets / buckets for kids room for storage
make shorts for Sam
make placemats for dining table (can you believe we only have store bought ones!)

me ::
finish organising craft room
cover + hang all my inspiration boards
get through my mound of paperwork (which includes doing our tax)
make myself some pin cushions (only have some piddly little thing that looks like an over spiked echidna)
make some new skirts + dresses for myself for Summer
make one of these lovely little rabbits for a cousin (who's about to have her baby)
read through my new craft books and actually make some projects from them
make some new cushions for the chairs in my craft room. something like this


So, where to start.......
Please follow me along, as I attempt to cross things off my list.

** Bamboo photo was taken at Sydney Botanical Gardens, while on my holiday; it saddens me the way people write on plants like this, yet is also looks quite interesting.
And one of Mishi + me, playing games last night (using the computer photobooth camera).