Make it Monday - Mini Owl

This is the little decorative project Nico got me at the Handmade craft fair back in October. It was a fun little one to do.

It's really tiny so most of it was done by hand which was fiddly but fun and I think it's so cute! I would definitely do more - they had a variety of these mini figures which could be tree decorations, keyrings or stand alone decorations.

Weekly Wisdom

Patience is not the ability to wait, it's the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.

On that note.

The Saturday Update

Quiet week around here. We had a quiet weekend to get over feeling under the weather.

I got lots of nesting done at the start of the week - tidying, washing, finishing up projects.

On Wednesday we went to visit a friend and her daughter for coffee. It was nice to get the girls together. In the evening Dad arrived. Unless the baby comes really late, he should be here for Isabella when we go to hospital.

On Thursday we had a busy day. We walked to Isabella's nursery to encourage the baby - no luck yet, just really tired. We had a nice lunch out with Isabella and then I went to accupuncture.

On Thursday evening I went to a seminar on dealing with temper tantrums. It was a bit more theoretical than I was expecting but interesting nevertheless.

Yesterday we took it easy - all a bit tired after the week and Isabella getting up more at night.

We may go swimming this weekend and then back to the waiting game...

Links!

Try it!

This is a relief because I never do...

An interesting read for the hard times.

Sometimes I worry about this, especially for our children.

Another new blog I'm enjoying.

Here's some perspective and inspiration. (Get the tissues ready.)

Interesting.

Getting real now!

31 Things

After over a year working on this journaling project from Ali Edwards, I finally finished it this week and I am so pleased with the results.

As you can see, I'm still waiting for the album to arrive but otherwise it's complete. Next time I'll be ordering direct from Ali.

The project is based around 31 prompts from Ali's online classroom which are designed to get you writing about yourself.

It needn't take a year to complete; in fact Ali recommends a month but that's the thing I love about this kind of project - everyone can work at their own pace. Since I was working again and started at a busy time of year, I broke it down into baby steps.

First I wrote in a new notebook, addressing one 'thing' per week. Then I typed these up, three per week, editing as I went along. This took 41 weeks.

I then moved on to the photographs and did these over a couple of weeks. I really want to improve my photography skills. Sometimes it was hard to find a fitting subject for a particular theme but it worked out. The important thing is to find something that gives a small insight into life at the moment.

Finally I completed three layouts a week. I stuck to the suggested layouts and used the recommended materials. When all 31 were done, I did the front page (above) and stamped the sides.

I'm really glad I did this project. I think it helped my writing. It certainly helped me reflect this year. It also inspired me to look for more journaling projects though I really want to do something that focuses more on us as a family next.

Reading Review

Maternity leave has done wonders for my reading so far. Here are my latest books.

The Fiery Cross - Diana Gabaldon

As ever epic in both length and content, this latest installment in the Outlander series had me gripped.

Gabaldon is great at mixing new characters with the old, mixing description with action and providing an informative historical perspective.

I did miss the change of scenery in this one - until now, each novel was more or less set in a different country - but it was still full of fresh sides to the story and new developments.

39 Steps - John Buchan

I received this book as a 'children's classic' many years ago and finally got around to reading it now. Luckily it is fairly short so it wasn't too arduous to read but I really don't know why a child would read this.

It's a wartime spy story following the protagonist as he flees from German spies from London to Scotland and back again. The story itself is good but it's couched in pages of description and landscape which really hold up the narrative.

What also put me off were the numerous typos in my edition, even though it was not printed in a time before spellcheck!

The Horse and His Boy - C.S.Lewis

Continuing the Narnia series, I flew through this one in a couple of days. I had remembered this one as the odd one out of the series but it's really not. The main characters are new but they link up with the main characters from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the narrative takes place in the same world.

The story follows Shasta and his flight from a miserable life of slavery to discover his true past. It's a true adventure story and I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to Isabella reaching a suitable age for us to read these together.

Lantern Festival

One of my favourite things about being a mum is joining in with celebrations like this one. Maybe because I miss Bonfire Night so much, Lantern Festival is one of my favourite traditions - a celebration of light to cheer up the long, dark nights.

Last year was our first one. Isabella was new at nursery, I was helping inside with the PTA. This year was very different. A whole year older, she managed to walk the whole route herself. She carried her lantern proudly and held hands with her friends.

After the walk, we sang around a little fire and some of the staff acted out the St Martin's scene. The children were treated to pretzels and fruit punch and ran around together.

It was a bit drizzly and our camera battery had run out but you can see this year's lantern above. I'm really looking forward to advent and Christmas next!