A new venture

So, I got my brand new sewing machine out of its box and opened up the instruction book. After a couple of false starts, I managed to wind a bobbin with green thread, thread the needle, sew three sides of a square piece of fabric and then make a dress for Harriet. The dress is somewhat of a prototype; while it is very beautiful in its own way, it is also not amazingly well finished, and the seams and hems are slightly wonky. I do like it though, and am fairly proud of myself.

I am going into John Lewis on Thursday and will grab some patterns and some more fabric, both for the girls and for myself. Hurrah for yet another new and absorbing hobby.

Hmm

Well, clearly, nothing has happened since the 8th of February, apart from going to South Africa, reading a whole bunch of books, masses of knitting and sewing, lots of tantrums and tears from all of us, parties and family visits, a couple of horrible bouts of flu and that's it really.

We had a friend visiting with his daughter last weekend; Isabella is the same age as Lucy to within 4 days, and they had great fun tearing around, Harriet watching, desperate to be able to join in.

We went to a party with a lot of 4 year olds and 2 year olds, with a children's party entertainer; all the 4 year olds followed her exactly, almost all the 2 year olds didn't know what was going on but followed the older children, Lucy didn't know what was going on and did her own thing. Typical.

More news, with photos, when we have it.

Book 8 - Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

Book 8
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden

Hmmm. This is a bit "Major Pettigrew Lives for a Year", and is full of stereotypes and very weak characters. It's also very much "I went to a creative writing class because I was bored and look at my influences". I liked it though, it was a light read.

Re-reading my reviews, I think you'd have to file my tastes under "Likes Most Things".

On top of things?

I've been worrying a lot recently that I'm not on top of things. Having two children is fun but very exhausting, and I'm sort of still recovering from my c-section. It was over two months ago now but every now and then something sort of *pulls* and I get a real pain across my tummy. I got it today; I took Lucy to Sainsburys in West Ealing and walked over the railway bridge and now my scar hurts a bit and I'm shattered. That could also have something to do with having visitors this afternoon - two toddlers and their mums - and a bit of a meltdown from Lucy over eating her supper. She gets so tired in the early evening, but, of course, big girls do not sleep in the afternoon, and when we try to force the issue we get tantrums like you wouldn't believe, so we just have to put up with it. It's becoming easier as she grows up, and doesn't really need the sleep as much. Hopefully she'll be able to cope with a whole day soon. I went in to check on her last night and she was absolutely crashed out and looked so furious at being asleep.

I suppose I am on top of everything - when I start to look into it a bit more closely it turns out that the things I'm not doing are writing in the blog, knitting jumpers, printing out photos, taking photos of Harriet using the camera and reviewing books. So not a lot to worry about really.

Book 7 - Ticky by Stella Gibbons

Book 7
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden
Oh I loved this book! Stella Gibbons is delightfully funny and has such a light touch when she writes. It's not as good as Cold Comfort Farm, but has many of the same elements - a world within the world that has its own rules and traditions. It is a charming story about a regiment in Hyde Park that is run by a meglomaniac general and looked after by a tribe of servants who live near to the main camp. They have a Charter which gives them ownership of a Pleasure ground, and the General decides that he needs to expand his rifle range into this area. The servants are furious and decide to fight back. Ticky, the title character, is an officer in the regiment, and a friend to the servants, and he encourages the rebellion.

It's a very easy read again - most of the books I'm reading at the moment can be characterised by their simplicity - and a very quick one. I do love Stella Gibbons, and am looking forward to her books being reprinted later this year.

Book 6

Book 6
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden
Another author who has fallen out of fashion, and again, I can see why. It's really quite sentimental stuff, a bit "Duty first Drusilla darling" po-face, but enjoyable enough in a "it's 4 in the morning, I need something that isn't too complicated" way.

The subject matter, a man who is in love in with his uncle's ex-wife, is very modern, and it's interesting - the woman sends her three children to live with their grandmother, and David lives there too, and is friends with the children as quasi contemporaries, not realising that if he marries their mother, he'll become their step-father. All fraught with passion and misunderstanding and sensitivity.

Book 5 - Cheerful Weather for the Wedding

Book 5
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden
Another super fast read. I think it took me an evening to finish. It's the story of a girl who is marrying a man she doesn't really love because the man she does really love is, frankly, useless and doesn't tell her he loves her until too.late. Oh noes.

Nothing really happens during the entire novel, but it is beautifully writeen.

Book 4 - A Partisan's Daughter

Book 4
Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden
Another terrible photograph; what is it with me and photos? I think not using the itoy would be a start.

Anyway, this was another very fast read; not particularly enjoyable as it was difficult to sympathise with either of the characters, especially the man. It's the story of an unappreciated man who feels that his life is slipping away, who meets an Eastern European girl, who has left Tito's Yugoslavia. She tells him stories of her life and they fall in love. It has a sad ending, which is probably more realistic, although it is a shame, and you are never entirely sure whether she's been telling the truth.

After the storm

Originally uploaded by JuliaCroyden

We had a bad Monday last week. My dad came in the morning - he arrived at Heathrow on the 5am flight from Hong Kong, and always comes to us afterwards, which is lovely but wakes me up at 6 every time. I try to make bread for him and we leave coffee and honey out so he can look after himself until we come down. Lucy adores him, which is great, but it means that she is then unable to settle when he goes and wants him back, or wants to go to Ninny and Owl's house, and is generally in a bad, bad mood. So when I announced that we were going to Tippietoes, she went nuts, and ended up hitting me across the face.

After a lot of tears and cuddles, we became friends again, and she did some painting with me. I could bang on about how creative she is and how wonderful it is that she chooses her own colours (demands) and mixes them to create new ones (brown) and how artistic she is (paint everywhere); I will say though that she tidies up after herself, a skill her mother has yet to master. She only got a bit of paint on the floor, and that upset her, so she cleaned it up by herself.

I am far prouder of that than of the paintings.

Out of batteries

I am shattered. *Someone* woke up at 4:30 last night/this morning and shouted "Get up now mummy" until I went to her, and we had a big cuddle on her beanbag with the blanket I made covering both of us. So now I am exhausted. I could've sent Simon, but I was awake anyway having just fed the HatBat, so I went. What a brave little soldier. I've been running on empty all day, and keeping awake using hot chocolate and diet coke.

Sophie and her family came to visit at the weekend, which was lovely. Her little boy, while almost a whole year younger than Lulu, will be in the same school year as her, so Lucy spent a great deal of time bossing him around, while he raced around after her, both of them leaving a trail of destruction. Again, exhausting. Harriet was horribly, horribly sick after they left, probably just bouncing out a whole milk feed, but I was quite worried for a bit. Then in other illness news, Lucy's had conjunctivitis and a hacking cough, and is now on amoxycillin and eye drops. It's like bathing a cat. But less fun.

Apart from that, things are going well, lots of visitors, lots of chocolate cake and lots of cuddles.