Royalty

I've had this old velvet skirt in the rag-bag for ages now, with loose ambitions of turning it into a princess/queen/king cape and crown for someone's birthday. Since my little one (and many of her friends) have December birthdays, I can never seem to find the time to make elaborate gifts in time. But her little friend Penny has an October birthday - which is just about perfect. Just the time of year when the leaves are falling, I feel like making, and things aren't manic yet.

Voila.

Paired with a copy of The Paperbag Princess, these will hopefully fit for a while. I used elastic on the back of the crown. The robe has a button/loop attachment at the neck.

Something very satisfying about this. Finishing it in the autumnal sun, with a cup of coffee, swearing happily at the old Singer machine. Pretty much bliss.

Five tiny triumphs

I'm obsessive about my reading list (see down right, that's them... the blogs I love). It's a list of smart, funny, very real women bloggers - some of them are artists, some mothers, some feminists. Some are all three at once. So this morning, while reading The Waffle's (as per usual) witty post, she inquired, 'What are your five tiny triumphs of recent weeks?' And I think that is an excellent question and worth pondering.*

Oh! And the photos are shots from our month in the states, and are images of one of the most beautiful places on earth, as far as I'm concerned. Just wanted to share them.

Triumph 1 - Speaking my mind. Sometimes in a step-families there is a reticence to always be totally honest. Especially about political/social/justice issues... because I don't want to push my agenda on people I'm not actually blood-related to. But this last weekend, I was asked an honest question and I answered it from my heart and my head, bluntly. And it felt good. (Not easy, but good.) It brought the feminism into the house, and I reckon every 12 year old girl needs a healthy dose of that now and then.

Triumph 2 - Slow momentum. I'm heading back into the frenetic time of year. I suppose for all teachers, at whatever level, autumn is a time of getting the wheels turning again. (Rusty, yes. Squeaky, yes. Exhausting, yes.) And, as per usual, I find that once I'm back in the Full Swing of Things, it all feels a lot easier than this warming up phase. So usually I rush. But this season, I'm purposefully easing back in... just adding a few tasks here and there, as needed. It's an as-needed speed of velocity, and it feels better. (Note to self: obsessively reading your emails does not count. Must keep working on this.)

Triumph 3 - Moving on Purpose. I am vehemently anti-exercise and have been since my teenage years. But. Since I bought a car last year and stopped teaching drama every day, my lifestyle is suddenly SO much more sedentary than ever before. My energy levels have been more like puddles... and my usually nonchalant attitude about a fluctuating body size/shape has started to send up warning twinges. Like: 'Hey, didn't you feel a lot better when you were walking everywhere and doing yoga 3x's a day?' 'Hey, didn't you feel a lot more fit?' 'Hey, didn't you look a lot more fit too?' So I've been doing a yoga/modern dance workshop this week, and damn I'm feeling it, but I'm also feeling a lot better. (Note: only this week so far. So let's not get excited. Follow-through has never been my strong suit.)

Triumph 4 - I made espresso chocolate frosting. Instant coffee power, chocolate buttercream frosting, cream cheese. Whipped. Shockingly good. (Of course, I spontaneously threw it on an apple spice cake, which wasn't a flavour combination made in heaven, but you can always scrape the frosting off and eat it with a spoon.) Happy accidents are certainly triumphs.

Triumph 5 - The two-year-old is showing signs of empathy. When her little friend was crying yesterday, she came up to me and said, 'Andy's sad. You help him?' Which is a huge step forward from her previous tactic... 'Andy's sad. I'm not sad! La la la la!' (envision skipping around the room). So that's a step forward.

Triumph 6 - The Main Issue with partner? Showing signs of life/improvement. The embers are glowing. So patience has been rewarded a wee bit. Thank goodness.

I think I'll do this weekly.

It's like he's looking out into the field, wishing he was a Real Horse.

*Note. What does this say about my character, than I find Gratitude Lists nauseating, but Triumph Lists enthusing? Methinks I am less compassionate than previously hoped for.

Tis the season of uploading photos of my knitting. The Todder and I did a photo shoot of her new hat - which mostly consisted of a series of blurry photos of the back of her shoulder. But here are the few that did turn out.

And also - my legwarmers. Knit from the Old Piggery's sock wool, which is lovely. I finished these last winter and here is the first documentation of them. But I can vouch that they're comfy under boots and useful in a dance studio.

Dinner date

My dinner date the other night. I discovered several things:

A) I no longer need blinds in the sunroom. Who needs curtains when your sweet peas and cherry tomatoes have clearly taken some kind of steroid and created a Where the Wild Things are forest? I do feel like Max in his room when everything starts turning green and growing upwards at a fantastic rate. Perhaps we'll have a Wild Rumpus.

B) Toddlers make great dinner dates. They gladly are entertained by making their own pizza, and can even talk to you about their day (in bursts). But mostly, I like them because they understand that sometimes, silence is better. Focus on the food. Just chewing, and wild plant-jungle.

It was a lovely evening.

Handknits.

Alas, my post-every-day plan has been thwarted by some strange google behaviour, so this is several days late. The Toddler, in two recent knitting projects. Both are garter stich, raglan, top-down cardigans, but one is a wrap-around. She loves them. Thank goodness.

Holiday

So I'm giving myself an enforced holiday. Because I'm 31 now, and because I've watched my mother, and because I Don't Want to Be Like That. (And by Like That I mean an non-stop, Type A control freak who is only happy when forcibly Giving Unto Others, but is simultaneously stressed out by the self-perpetuating cycle of guilt that this creates.) Yeesh.

So my mantra, for the next few months anyway, will be to slow down. In fact, here's a list.

To Slow Down.

To be still and silent at least once a day.

To create some small thing once a day.

To blog (or journal) once a day. (See what I did there? I gave myself an out. No post? Well, I was journaling, baby.)

To do something that scares me once a day.

To stop saying 'just a minute, okay?' to the Toddler.

To used inverted commas less.

To drink more water.

To bake more bread. Or pizza doh.

To buy a sofa that I like.

To book a dentist appointment. Gad, that's scary.

To write more. Again.

To practise my guitar fingerpicking patterns. Oi, nerdy.

To answer my phone when it rings. (Damn, I love call screening. This one's gonna hurt.)

To be firm, clear and kind with the partner and myself about The Big Issue that seems to haunt us. If it can't get fixed, to get out.

That last one's important.

I write it thusly here, where I can't ignore it, or chicken out.

A day in the life.

Recovering our dining room chairs with batik fabric. Painting with toddlers. Growing geraniums and tomatoes and other old fashioned plants which make me smile. A new easel. That's what's happening here.