Music, music, music.....

Well, this week I'm participating in the unplugged project at Unplug Your Kids. The theme is music and I have a long video of Olivia singing a spring song that I wanted to share with you but I can't get it off my camera. Since it has taken me 3 days to even be able to attempt to get the video off my camera I have decided that I had better post some pictures of the jam session. I will keep trying to get the video up here.

Sitting in the 1st Spring Sun

Sitting in the 1st spring sun and watching you play,

Right now no one is as lucky as me.

I can truly see you for who you are,

~one a talkative, busy, animal lover

~the other a quiet, agile, explorer

Although I often dream of a home belonging to us

I wouldn't ever trade that for today (or any day) spent with you.

I have been really wrestling with my perceived need for a larger income so we can buy a house lately and have been considering getting a job somewhere. I have also been wondering if maybe I should just put the girls in school and increase the bottom line a bit. Really saying no to a free Waldorf education where Dada would be up the hall is quite hard some days. Today I was reminded of why I shouldn't do that :).

I have never claimed to be a good poet (or a poet at all for that matter) but this morning while the girls played around me and I sat in the sun I was moved to compose this. I thought I'd share it with you.

I'm it....

I've been tagged by Amy at ...what I am..... The rules are as follows:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So in keeping with the rules here are my 7 things:

1) I was born in Sweden.

2) I have a serious addiction to reading parenting books and I think I need to stop because I am feeling too conflicted in my parenting.

3) Todd and I eat a snack almost every night.

4) Since I was a child I have had an obsession with the mail. I wait and I wait for that letter carrier to come. I'm even happy with a bill.

5) I LOVE salty and savoury food and could really take or leave sweets. I'll take a chip over a chocolate bar any day (Yummmm!)

6) The curtains in my living room are unfinished, cut pieces of fabric. As is the table cloth on my dining room table.

7) I often feel so busy and overwhelmed that I get stuck doing nothing when what I really should be doing is one of the many things that are overwhelming me.

I'm tagging......

Amanda at The Rowdy Pea
Carle of Our Holistic Life and Waldorf in the Seasons of Life
Emilie of The Little Nest
Mom Unplugged at Unplug Your Kids
Gypsy at Domestically Blissed
Sarah of In These Hills
and finally Taimarie of Small Wonders

Yay!! I'm no longer it. You are!!! I'm sorry if I double tagged anyone :-s.

Happy Valentines Day!!

We had a nice day today. In the morning the girls received their gifts from Todd and I. They each received a Mama made heart necklace and knitted gnome with a felt heart needle felted on it's chest. They loved them.

The gnomes were dragged to the pool where we had a GREAT swimming lesson with no tears. I wish I hadn't spent half of last night worrying about that. After swimming we came home. We had planned a play date with some friends for after lessons but those plans were canceled as the Mama wasn't feeling well. I was happy to spend some time here cleaning and hanging out with the girls. We made a big meal (complete with pear crisp) and then they were in the bath and off to bed.

Olivia's gnome has managed to earn itself top billing as a friend in the bed tonight :).

I hope you all had a lovely day too.

Of Felted Balls and Swimming Lessons

Today Olivia started a new set of swimming lessons. I know that I only briefly mentioned the lessons so I will catch you up........

She really wanted to take lessons. She has never really done anything with a stranger without me before (what most children experience when they enter pre-school) and she did not fair well when in the middle of her first ever lesson the instructor played a "bubble monster" game. After that we had a few lessons that started in tears. I offered for her to stop taking the lessons but she insisted that she really wanted to. In total there were 10 lessons by the end of them all she ever talked about was her swimming lessons. She LOVED her instructor and was so psyched to take more lessons.

Today she started the new set. She had been warned that there may be a new instructor and said she knew that and that hat was fine, although she would prefer to keep the same one. There was a new instructor and she started the lesson in tears again. It just breaks my heart to see her crying on the pool side. She knows that I would never make her stay in the lesson. She could have walked away anytime but she chose to sit on the edge of the pool crying.

At times like these I start thinking: Am I failing her? Do I need to just push her into uncomfortable situations so she gets desensitised. I know my mother, and most other members of our society, would recommend these things but they just don't sit well with me. In the end after I had spent a great deal of time worrying she was smiling and having a grand old time. I wish that I could just be the strong, self assured parent who never doubts herself but I guess no one is 100% sure of their parenting choices all the time.

On a brighter note I have finished the needle felted ball I was talking about in my last post. It is the first in what will, hopefully, be many such balls. Some of the balls will be intricate and some won't. Here it is, the first needle felted ball for my shop.

I hope you like it as much as I do. Oh and here's a sneak peak at what I will be listing tomorrow. I love this ball.

That is enough talk about my shop for a while. I promise to get back to posts about my regular life now.

Pssssst .....

I'm so excited!

I'm back into the swing of things at Etsy. I am making an attempt to post something new every day, I have 2 new categories coming into the shop and I sold something within 20 minutes of listing it today (what a high!!!).

The new categories are upcycled toys and the other is needle felted balls. These new categories will be filled slowly but surely. I have tons of ideas for them.

I have added a Waldorf style doll (the one pictured above) made out of a felted sweater to the upcycled toys category so far and am still working on the first felted ball. I will post some pictures of the ball as soon as it's done. It will probably still be a few more days as it is very involved, you'll see. I have more ideas for more balls which I can't wait to get underway.

Just in case you're new to the term upcycling (as I was until very recently)Wikipedia defines it as:

".......the use of waste materials to provide useful products. Ideally, it is a reinvestment in the environment and embodiment of the notion that while using resources one is also contributing to them and their value. This is antithesis of the consume and waste concept in society. "Upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value.""

I'll hopefully be back very soon with some pictures of the ball.

What we do twice a week

I have a confession.......

Twice a week when I take Olivia to her swimming lessons (the ones she hated and now loves) I let the girls play hide and seek in the lockers. I know that my mother wouldn't approve. Good thing that these spirited girls are mine and not hers. Who cares what others think, we're not hurting anyone.

Back into it....

OK I'm back and I hope to be posting much more often now. I'm sorry but I think this will be one of those posts that I personally dislike in blogs; one with no pictures.

Lots of things have happened over that past short while. Todd and I have recently decided to become strict vegetarians (vegetarians who do not eat dairy or eggs), I have become far more acutely aware of our societies crazy consumption and why we should decrease how much we contribute to it and I have realised that if I'm going to make money as a WAHM (work at home mom) that I will actually have to make more of a serious commitment to my businesses. Phew.

Olivia has a number of food sensitivities that we try to completely avoid, including dairy, but what we eat when she's not around has not always been so dairy free. We had already cut our dairy intake down by quite a bit a year and a half ago when we found out about her sensitivity so this strict vegetarian choice is not a huge change for us. As a result of our conscious dietary choice I have accidentally made a New Years resolution to make sure that our family is eating a complete and nutritious diet. I feel really great about it.

Todd and I are comfort food lovers and as a result we tend to over do it on the grain part of our diet and under do the fruits and veggies. Not any more! We are both committed to changing this poor dietary choice and getting those vitamins and minerals. Also, we are working on lowering our fat intake. We fry too much and eat a lot of Earth Balance (our choice in vegan margarine).

During the holiday break I watched "The Story of Stuff" (www.storyofstuff.com). It is amazing. Todd and I have come a long way in recognising and eliminating our "need" to consume but this little video just made the reasons to do so so clear to me. I urge anyone who is reading this to watch it. It truly was life changing for me.

Since 2004 when Olivia was 1 I have been dabbling in the world of WAHM. That is when I started selling slings. I have never done any advertising or put any effort into the business and every tax year my income is in the negative, although every year I have become closer to zero :). This past year I started making toys and selling them on Etsy. Again, I have put little to no effort into this business. I realised recently that the reason I put nothing into these businesses is because I am afraid of failing. Is that silly or what? I recognise that I need an income but am too afraid to go out and get one. I have set a goal for a monthly income this year and am taking some steps to get myself there including contacting my local farmers and crafter's market to get a table there, something I have said I was considering doing since the first year I started making slings.

What have you been up to? I'm off to read some blogs and find out.

Naughty, naughty

Well, I have been MIA for far too long. I hear by swear to be blogging more often.

It's funny how when I think that I am going to have heaps of extra time because Todd is going to be home that I somehow have less. At last we had lots of family time. In any case I promise to be back and to blog as often as I can.