Well traditionally it’s the time for new beginnings and for resolving to change things that need changing so like everyone else I’m jotting down my new years resolutions – knowing full well that given a couple of weeks some of them will have been put aside (and number 3 will definitely never get off the ground!). Still, I love the idea of starting afresh (in school I was the swotty kid who got really excited when it was time for a brand new exercise book) and number 5 is the one that really needs my attention this year. So for the record (because apparently telling people helps you to keep them) here’s my new years resolutions…

1. to buy less prepared food and make more – I want to make all of our bread, cakes and biscuits (I have done well so far this year – my current tally is 3 loaves, 2 cakes and 2 batches of peanut butter cookies – mmm!)

2. sew some stuff. I’ve had Wee Wonderfuls put-together-pattern-book no.1 and the Crafter’s Companion for the last year and still haven’t made anything from either AND I’ve been hoarding some kitty craft fabric so there are no excuses really. I have a few other projects in mind too – hopefully at least one will get done during the next 12 months!

3. be tidier (hmmmm, like that’s going to happen!)

4. chill out about my inbox and face facts. I am never going to be able to answer all the emails or reply to all the comments unless I give up knitting! Sadly my inbox currently contains 58 messages pending a reply – apologies to all those waiting to hear from me.

5. make more time to do simple things with my daughter – she misses out so much on a ‘normal’ family life and has to put up with a lot less attention than she deserves. We’re good at the big stuff but day to day when Daddy is working Toby soaks up all of my available attention. I know I’m going to be carrying around guilt about this for the rest of my days so maybe this year I can do more stuff with her which will ease that a little.

Ali recently wrote a beautifully thought-provoking post about blogging and I think she’s absolutely right – when you’ve blogged for a while posting does take on a different flavour. I’d certainly find it difficult to turn my back on this little space here – it’s become such an important part of my daily life and it really lifts my spirits to find people sharing warmth, creativity and ideas. But that said it can be a bit of a black hole that sucks you in and spits you out 3 hours later and you wonder where the time has gone.

In order to achieve my number 5 this year I am going to have to be more disciplined about the time I spend here so whilst I’ll be around it may not be as frequently as before. Or maybe it will – new years resolutions often don’t amount to much but at least if you know what you’d like to change you can begin to take steps.

Well, school awaits the children in the morning and for me a lovely big pile of new yarn and my trusty needles are calling! The weather was mild today and Toby rediscovered the joy of being outside and bouncing on the trampoline – thankfully using up some of that bundled up energy!

It was lovely and gave me some breathing space so I sat and sorted through my old portfolio of illustration work. It’s funny looking at it all now as I’ve not painted for years. I’m not sure I’d remember how to paint these days. Maybe one day I’ll pick up my brushes again.

If you’re interested in seeing any more of my paintings I’ve uploaded a selection over on flickr. I was really grateful for all of the kind comments that you left me
about some of my work that I showed in an earlier post – thanks for all
of the compliments.

I’ve begun to look forward to the start of term! I love all of the excitement and magic that comes along with christmas but now it’s all over the children are just restless and suffering from a bit of cabin fever. Keeping them both occupied is not that easy – they both have such different needs and poor old Toby just can’t bear being outside when it’s dreary, cold and wet. So it was lovely yesterday to have a change of scenery. Amy and I joined the others from her ballet school and headed into London to the Royal Opera House to see the Nutcracker.

It was wonderful! I have taken Amy to the ballet before but she was only 4 and she  didn’t really appreciate sitting still for so long. Now that she’s a sophisticated 8 year old she found the whole
performance riveting and I think I spent as much time watching her face
as I spent watching the performance. To see her so entranced was a
really precious thing.

We didn’t get home til midnight so today we’re having a pyjama day and listening to a CD of Tchaikovsky’s music – all in all a good end to the christmas hols!