Fioleta's Journey

Moved

2009-04-27T17:12:00.000+01:00

I'm now blogging over here.

The dangers of the parenthood

2009-04-16T19:38:00.003+01:00

Watch out! Not only parenthood can destroy your social life, you are also likely to suffer physical pain.

Three weeks ago in the evening, while I was reading Katya a book, she suddenly raised her hand upwards and accidentally stabbed me in the eye. In pain and unable to read, I put her to bed and sat in the dark with tears falling down my face. As I was still in pain the next morning we went to GP clinic and were sent to the hospital’s emergency department by the receptionist. I expected to see a room full of chaos, gore and suffering (guess I watched too many episodes of ER), instead we found ourselves in a quiet clean room with only two other respectable-looking patients. My vision was fine, but I had a nasty scratch on my cornea and was prescribed antibiotic cream for my eye. For the rest of the day, according to my husband, I was behaving like a cross between vampire afraid of the light and a moaning ghost. I’m glad he managed to take a day off to look after Cat, so I could spend most of the day napping to avoid the constant pain.

I think Cat was slightly traumatized by the whole experience and kept on asking me to read her books, which I couldn't do for the next few days, and kept on saying
"Глаз, ou" pointing at her own eyes. (Глаз/Glaz = eye). For the next few days I was also unable to use the computer, watch TV, draw and craft.

Unable to do much, I did a lot of thinking. There were plenty of useful lessons in that experience: admitting inability to do everything by myself and asking friends for help; valuing the time I have to draw and craft; prioritizing important things instead of wasting time; doing things when I can instead of putting them off to a more convenient moment (which often never comes). I also had chance to contemplate how to organize my days better and how much I can practically achieve in a day – always not as much as I wish. It feels like an impossible feat to cross everything from my daily to do lists and so now I try to be realistic when writing them down.

With constant re-organization and improving of my life, I also wanted to re-organize and clean up my blog (notice that I still have the autumn header!). But at some point I realized that it will be easier to start from scratch and so you can now find me here.

Routine & first times

2009-03-23T21:32:00.005Z

I'm glad that we are no longer traveling and finally established some type of predictable routine. I like to plan, I like to know what will happen during the day, I like being able to set myself few simple task to do and actually manage to accomplish them. Sadly blogging doesn't seem to be part of the current routine, though maybe I should just aim to write one post per week?

I'm trying to use my creative time in a more structured way and learn few basics. At the moment I'm concentrating on the colour theory (huge topic). However, I also want to have some fun, so hoping to make one simple item each week. Last week I learned how to make another Chinese knot and made this Pan Chang Knot necklace:

Last week Cat and I also got to try out felting in the Russian playgroup, which takes place only few train stops from us and was discovered by me complete accidentally after we made the decision to move to this area. (Did I mention that this area seems to have everything one may ever want?). The playgroup is very structured: dancing/exercise, singing & finger rhymes, snack with a short puppet show of a Russian folktale, simple craft activity (playdough or colouring) and free-play with lots of toys (I suspect that one is kids' favourite). Last week's felting took up most of the time. Like all the other kids, Cat is too young to concentrate for that long, so she choose the colours and the placement and I, like all the other mothers, got to do all the hard work of felting.

In a way doing or seeing something for the first time together with my daughter makes it more special to me. I'm aware of the uniqnuess of those moments to her, of the strong impression they have on her, of their power to expand her world view and therefore of the same effect they have on me.

We had another first last week - we went to the plantearium. I want to go again :-) and like my husband, who went many times as a child, wonder why I never did before.

Spring is here

2009-03-18T06:15:00.005Z

The spring is truly finally here. On Sunday we went on a long walk and saw many flowers, bees, bumble bees and even a butterfly. And for the last two days I was able to get out of the bed early, before anyone else was up. It is such a pleasure to wake up to the warm house and the skies getting lighter, instead of greyness and chill air. I love having some quiet time to myself in the morning, even if it is only short 20 minutes that I use to make porridge or have a shower. Yet in winter I was unable to drag myself out of the bed. It's likely that there are still few cold gray days to come; but I'm glad to know that another winter is over, the days are getting longer and we can enjoy more time outside. Welcome spring.

The Royal Academy of Art curse strikes again

2009-03-16T22:18:00.003Z

I’ve lived in London for over four years now and yet I’ve been to the Royal Academy of Art only once and not for the lack of trying. On Saturday yet again I decided to see an exhibition there. However by the time I got to London I was tired, hungry and very cold, so I choose to go to the closer National Gallery instead. And I was very glad I did. They currently have a main Pablo Picasso exhibition and to coincide with it a smaller one of his prints, including linocuts. Recently I was trying to make simple stamps following Geninne's tutorial (read from the bottom up), which is very similar to making linocuts, but on much smaller scale. Therefore I could truly appreciate Picasso’s mastery of the printmaking. Trying something for myself often results in better understanding and admiration of exceptionally skilled work of others.

Here is my first & not very successful attempt, since the eraser already had raised watermark image on it. I’m surprised I didn’t slice my hand open with the craft knife.

Slightly better second one, using linocuter.

And third one, in which I actually followed Gennine’s advise and tried to carve simple shapes.

The rest of the family enjoyed trying out the results and new ink pads.

Inside the Wunderknauel

2009-03-10T21:20:00.002Z

Inside the Stagasaurus' Wunderknauel I found lots of little things:

And out of felt, some ribbon, the embroidery thread and a button I made this tiny creature - I think it's a jellyfish:

Quote of the week is back

2009-03-01T05:32:00.003Z

Quote from the District Six museum:

Saturday Morning

2009-02-28T23:54:00.001Z

While my husband was recovering from the late night out with friends, Cat and I melted some crayons in the oven.

And later it was Christmas time. Ok, maybe not, but it sure felt like it. Clive got two packages with the tile samples on Friday and while Cat was helping him find the tiles in the packaging pellets another package arrived for me.

So the Little Girl switched to helping me unwrap all the wonderful things from Stagasaurus.

First we unwrapped a little wallet with jelly filled marshmallows for her. Next one was the Wunderknauel made out of Rowan little big wool. On seeing it my husband came up with a new word youreffic - terriffic for you. I unraveled it in the evening and will have to share a photo of what it contained inside a bit later. There also was a journal with beautiful cover, which Stagasaurus bought from local crafter, who sadly doesn't sell online. And last but not least I found a set of four hand-embroidered by Stagasaurus napkins. I looking forward to using them once we have a dinning table. What a fantastic swap package! It sure made me feel extremely happy.

Some crafting

2009-02-27T20:16:00.005Z

I woke up today to the blue sky and found this tiny daffodils in our garden - the spring must be close

I seem to be addicted to making Chinese knot necklaces. At the end of last year I made some for my sister and mum, but didn't take any pictures. And before going to Cape Town I made two more. This one for a swap with Stagasaurus

And this one for my sister-in-law.

And I have plans to make few more for myself - they are so easy to make and don't require much space. Today I realised that the main reason I'm struggling to get anything drawing or crafting done is lack of clear space on my desk, so I moved almost everything off it. Now I just need to find time to unpack and re-organize all my craft supplies, so I don't waste time looking for them.

Back from Cape Town

2009-02-25T21:36:00.002Z

We got back from Cape Town late on Monday morning and yesterday I was feeling out of sorts. From the house full of relatives, conversations, sunlight, kids running around, refreshing swims in the pool and open blue sky to the quietness of our small family, uncomfortableness of the house in the midst of renovations and grey blanket of London sky. And then out of our bedroom window I saw a huge bumblebee (shouldn’t it be hibernating now?) and it felt like a good sign of the spring to come and the reminder that the love and happiness we were gifted with while in Cape Town are still with us no matter where we are. Thank you my new family and friends for the wonderful holiday. I just wish we could spend more time together getting to know each other better.

...

2009-02-11T16:15:00.002Z

With fires still raging in Victoria I don’t feel that I have anything worth saying. None of my family and, as far as I know, friends are affected. But as Assemblage says in her post “our state is relatively small and interconnected”, so I keep on praying for everyone’s wellbeing.

Here is a list of various ways to help, including donating money. PeaSoup linked to few additional ways to help and personal stories at the end of her post.

Additional snowmen

2009-02-03T18:39:00.002Z

Being stuck inside the house with a toddler, who thinks that she no longer needs an afternoon nap, isn't much fun. Specially when I know that she'll be tired and grumpy by about 5pm. So yesterday we ventured outside again to build more snowmen.

And afterwards we had a good excuse to drink hot chocolate.

From cold to cold

2009-02-02T10:45:00.004Z

Our exploration of the new area was slowed down by both Cat and I catching a cold and spending a whole week mostly at home with occasional short trips to the shops. And just as we got better the weather turned really cold (for London), the snow came down (London has seen the heaviest snowfall in 18 years, weather experts said.) and we are staying indoors again. We did brave outside for few minutes to play with the snow and build a tiny snowman.

Poor Clive didn't have the same option and just spent TWO and A HALF hours getting to work, since most London public transport is suspended or experiencing sever delays.

Book Meme

2009-01-23T21:22:00.002Z

Saw this meme at Rachael's:

The rules:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!
6. Tag five other people to do the same!

Surprisingly the book next to me wasn't The Little Red Train Storybook or some other kid book from Cat's current favourites. Few minutes previously I picked up Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' autobiography "The Wheel of Life" from one of the many boxes filled with books. Here is the quote from the book, if I follow the rules:

Dr. Braun's fate was as unclear as his whereabouts. Either he was hospitalized for one of his manic episodes or he was in jail. Who knew when we would see him again, and it turned out the answer was never.

I think you'll all agree that this isn't a very exciting quote and doesn't do justice to the book or its incredible author, so I thought I'll post the bit from the end of the book, which I loved:

It is very important that you do only what you love to do. You may be poor, you may go hungry, you may live in a shabby place, but you will totally live. And at the end of your days, you will bless your life because you have done what you came here to do.

Review of 2008

2009-01-16T15:09:00.003Z

Some of the files on my Australian photo DVD got corrupted and my computer is struggling to read it. I asked my parents to make me another copy from the one they have and until the new DVD arrives in the mail I thought I’d do a review of 2008. It feels a bit premature to do so, as the year will truly end for me with the trip to South Africa. Lately the starts and ends of my years don’t coincide with the calendar ones.

2008 was definitely a year of travel: starting with our New Year trip to Berlin (Germany), followed by Utsunomiya (Japan), Odessa & Kiev (Ukraine), New York (USA), Melbourne (Australia) and few small trips in UK. I’m planning a quieter year at home: maybe do some camping in summer, explore London and surroundings, do a lot of walking and train riding and less air travelling. Long trips to far away lands feel wrong for our family at the moment.

I made few things this year, not as many as I could’ve if I was more organized and less timid in starting new projects.

However I learned to knit thanks to my mum, attempted to sew few simple things and discovered the joy of embroidery. I’m looking forward to improving my crafting skills and making many items for our new home (despite the horrified look on my husband’s face, who is probably imagining floral curtains and crocheted doilies covering every surface).

And my main project is growing well and bringing me more joy than I ever could imagine. Should I have another one?

In love

2009-01-15T18:45:00.003Z

I thought we managed to switch back to London time, but yesterday Cat fall asleep at 1 pm and slept until 4 am today. After being stuck inside the house all day yesterday I really wanted to get out and we went for a very early morning walk. Navigating in a new area in the dark was hard, but we got to see a fox and after finding a big park had it almost all to ourselves.

On the way back I went to a little local veggie shop to get some potatoes. After all the cold of outside Cat wasn’t in the mood to interact with the sales lady, but it didn’t stop her from giving Cat a mandarin. Made my day. I’m sure it makes business sense to be extra nice to the new customers, but I think the little kind gestures like that make a world much nicer place. And with my desire to be part of the community I definitely prefer shopping at the local shops instead of the big supermarkets.

I was completely in love with this area before we moved here and was slightly worried that I was seeing everything through the rose-coloured glasses. But I keep on falling more and more in love with it everyday. There seems to be so much to discover and enjoy here.

Upside down

2009-01-12T04:04:00.002Z

We are back from Australia. Back to OUR OWN tiny house full of boxes to be unpacked. There is so much to be done: renovation, furniture buying, curtain making, etc. But for now Katya and I keep on waking up at 2am and sleeping through big parts of the day.

New author to discover

2008-12-17T22:50:00.003Z

It may look now as if people educated to use our newest technologies efficiently are the world's elite, but in the long run I believe that people educated to have, as well, that point of view that used to be described as humanistic - the long-term, over-all, contemplative point of view - will turn out to be more influential. Simply because they understand more of what is going on in the world...
To my mind the whole push and thrust and development of the world is towards the more complex, the flexible, the open-minded, the ability to entertain many ideas, sometimes contradictory ones, in one's mind at the same time.
Doris Lessing Prisons we choose to live inside.
--
I finished reading this tiny book by Doris Lessing and looking forward to reading her other works. She sounds like fascinating wise woman.

Discovering the world: the joy of having a backyard

2008-12-06T01:10:00.003Z

Specialy when we keep on waking up before 5am

P.S. If anyone wants a postcard from Melbourne send me email with your postal address to fioleta at gmail dot com

In Melbourne

2008-12-05T00:12:00.002Z

I haven't been back to Australia for almost four years. It is incredible how much can be forgotten in the few years and even more incredible how many memories can be triggered by simply opening a car window and breathing in the fresh evening MEBLBOURNE air.

Fabrics

2008-11-29T21:47:00.006Z

Craft Central is going to have another Fabric & Trimming Sale on the 4th and 5th of December. I can't find any info on their website at the moment, but the flier I got via their mailing list says:

Amazing two day sale of high quality FABRICS, LACES, TRIMMINGS, LEATHERS, BEADS & BUTTONS: Gorgeous silks and wools £3-£5 metre, pure cotton from £1 metre, designer lace fabric from £4 metre, stunning vintage flowers, new & vintage beads and lots, lots more!
Thursday 4th - Friday 5th December 11am - 6.30pm
Showcase, Craft Central, 33 - 35 St. Johns Square, EC1M 4DS

They also going to have Jewellery Sample Sale at the same time. Of course I'm already going to be in Australia and won't be able to go myself. Last time I got two pieces of fabric for the projects I wanted to make - I probably would've gotten more if I had time to think, but over-tired grumpy toddler wasn't conductive to thinking or buying. And I already used one to make a cape for the Little Girl. She is too young for proper dress-up role-playing, but I couldn't resist as the material was exactly the right colour I always imagined a perfect cape to be.

I used this hooded cape pattern. Despite finishing it a week ago I keep on forgetting to take a better photo of it.

Discovering the world: baking

2008-11-20T07:03:00.003Z

In New York

2008-11-15T14:49:00.007Z

We went to the Central Park Zoo three times and I lost count of how many times we walked past it to listen to and look at the Delacorte Clock, which supposed to chime on the hour and half an hour, but actually does so at 5 minutes past an hour and at 35 minutes.

The Little Girl loved feeding alpacas, who successfully kicked the sheep away from the feeding hands; thought polar bears were hilarious (don't ask me why, she just kept on laughing every time she saw them), was totally fascinated by frogs; but most of all she enjoyed this activity:

Together, we also went to the American Museum of Natural History; Museum of Modern Art, which is too big to explore with a toddler and I only managed the top two floors where I was surprised to be able to recognizer most of the painters work by their style (maybe I know more about art than I think); American Folk Art Museum, which is trying to represent too many varied themes/works in a tiny space.

With Papa, who only got one day off, we went to the New York Historical Society, which I thought was perfect size and had good mixture of everyday objects, historical information and art. We also showed him a wonderful Heckscher playground at Central Park.

Actually Cat and I spent a lot of time exploring the Park and I'm totally in love with it and the bright fall colours, which shows in the photos from New York.

Pirozhki in English

2008-11-09T10:38:00.001Z

If anyone wanted to trying making Pirozhki, Rachael now has the English translation of the recipe on her blog.

Back from New York

2008-11-07T22:16:00.002Z

Katya and I came back from New York yesterday. The poor thing didn't handle the flight very well this time. I'm always impressed by people, who travel extensively with small children. However, I'm starting to accept that traveling far away with a toddler isn't for me. I would rather find interesting things to do close to home while keeping our routine intact, avoiding having to search for the food she would eat and having to discover the new tricks to get her to sleep while she is overexcited about new surroundings.

I'll post about all the things we enjoyed in New York once my husband comes back with my camera. He had to stay behind for few more days and I left my camera with him as I wanted to have as few items of luggage as possible and it wouldn't fit into my backpack. (Should I buy a bigger backpack, smaller camera case or both?).

Today the fire alarm system went off in our building during Katya's nap. There wasn't any smoke, but I didn't want to take a chance and decided to get us outside. Despite the loud noise right next to her bedroom, she was still sleeping, but talking in her sleep saying "Папа там" (papa is there), which just proves how much we miss him. The fire alarm was due to the system malfunctioning, but it took fire brigade almost an hour to get it to behave again.

Comfortable challenges

2008-10-28T07:40:00.005Z

A challenge is something that will stretch your powers, with the likelihood of confirming them; you want to take on a challenge because you have confidence enough that you can succeed. A threat is a task that seems beyond your powers to accomplish or cope with.
John Holt How Children Learn

--
Recently I stopped by a Julie's Pictures blog, who sets herself yearly challenges. Her first one was to walk for at least one mile from home everyday and record what she saw. Her friend, Fiona, just started a challenge to stitch a small picture everyday – they are so simple, yet interesting and visually pleasing.

I admire and respect their dedication, but recently I came to realise that for now I’m unable to commit myself to one year long daily challenges. I set myself simpler goals, like trying to make Russian pirozhki following these two Russian recipes: with apples and meat.

Recently I also joined Everyday Matters group, which has weekly drawing challenges. There is a list of 193 previous ones and so I’m trying to complete one old one alongside each new one. Here is the watercolour painting of autumn leaves for the challenge number 34.

Simple drawstring bag

2008-10-25T21:47:00.000+01:00

Maybe one day I'll make a prettier reversible patchwork one

The best guides

2008-10-22T20:44:00.003+01:00

Parenting is a process of mutual growth, in which parents and children grow in different levels through their interactions and through the elements they bring into one another’s lives.
Rahima Baldwin Dancy You are Your Child’s First Teacher
--

Few months ago I pulled out my husbands discarded photos and made a collage from one of them. While making it I contemplated the important influence other people have on our lives and our personal development. And how the best teachers and guides are often the ones, whose intention isn’t to teach us or to lead us down a certain path. Because their intentions are far removed from directing us, we are able to freely journey next to them; to choose the lessons we accept, reserve for later or reject; to grow at the pace comfortable to us.

My dear daughter, thank you for changing my life.

Missing Posts

2008-10-21T21:23:00.002+01:00

I keep on having problems with Bloglines lately, which often result in me missing few posts on various blogs. So I'm trying to migrate my list of blogs to Google Reader. Hopefully it will act a bit better (?)

to New York

2008-10-20T16:26:00.003+01:00

My dear husband is going to New York for work (28 Oct - 5 Nov) and we are going with him. At first I was just glad that we’ll have a chance to spend some time together, though he may have to work on weekend, and I won’t have to do any housework for a week. I’ve been to New York before, but I mostly remember feeling constantly cold, as it was windy and wet and I didn’t have appropriate clothes. So we spent past weekend looking for some warmer clothes and shoes for our trip.

And now that I’m not worried about being cold and after looking at all the wonderful places we can explore I feel really excited: Museum of Arts & Design, Central Park Zoo, the Met, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum. And we’ll be in US for Halloween (isn’t it the coolest holiday?), so maybe we’ll go to the Halloween Celebration at the American Museum of Natural History. Looking at their website I’m starting to suspect that we can just spend the whole week there and I know that the Little Girl will enjoy looking at the butterflies more than paintings, so I may have to narrow down the things I want to see. Anyone has any advice on what shouldn’t be missed? Any suggestions for child friendly restaurants and places we should try? Actually every time I go to America I end up overdosing on sugar or salt (or both), because I can’t resist trying things I heard about, like Cheerios, Wendy’s, and all sorts of donuts and bagels; so maybe I should be asking for healthy food suggestions.

Since it’s gloomy and cold outside here as well, we went to our Natural History Museum. I think she was highly impressed by the giant animatronic model of T. Rex, but everything else wasn't very interesting. New York museum sounds like more fun, since it has some live exhibits.

(She just wouldn't stay still, so this is the least blurry photo I have)

Procrastionation & masking fluid

2008-10-18T21:57:00.002+01:00

I’m still procrastinating on starting any new craft projects, but I got few more supplies today and there are many ideas slowly brewing inside my head and beginning to feel closer to their realisation.

In meantime my friend brought me some tulips, so I enjoyed sketching them.

Tried using the masking fluid for the first time – interesting - now that I have a better understanding of how it works I really want to try again, maybe I’ll sketch a cityscape.

Few more discoveries in London

2008-10-17T15:21:00.004+01:00

Today, taking the advantage of the warm and sunny weather, I took us to TATE Modern to look at the installation/sculptures in the Turbine Hall. The experience was super enjoyable, because we could touch them. I don't think it is possible to fully understand and fall in love with most sculptures until one can touch them and trace their outlines not only with the eyesight, but with the hands. I didn’t end up taking any pictures of the actual installation and TATE doesn’t seem to have any info about it on their website. Strange.

Next we headed across the bridge to have tea with our hardworking and rarely seen breadwinner and to visit the real goal of the expedition – Fabric & Trimming sale at the Craft Central. I got some fabric and probably would’ve bought even more if I had some time to think about all the wonderful things I can make, but the Little Girl was getting tired and we headed to the King’s Cross/St Pancras station. It wasn’t the closest one, but they have lifts and I wanted to avoid having to carry the pram with not so light child down the stairs.

It was also interesting to see bits of the area that I don’t know very well. On the way to the station I noticed Exmouth Market and will add it to my list of potential London spots to visit.
Ironically the lift at home wasn’t working, so we had to walk up the stairs anyway.

Enjoying London

2008-10-15T21:46:00.004+01:00

Last two weeks our Gymboree class was extremely crowded; today I didn’t feel up-to spending my morning in the small room packed full with loud, energetic kids and since we’ve been listening to the first 5-10 minutes of the Paddington Bear narrated by Stephen Fry I took Cat to the Paddington station instead to look at the stature of Paddington Bear, .

Cat loves trains at the moment and was highly impressed with the big loudly humming ones there. Afterwards we walked to the Kensington Gardens to look at the birds and the fountains, chase the squirrels and observe the slow fall of leaves. And we got to see few tractors pulling the wagons with collected leaves. Cat loves them almost as much as trains and even started saying tractor/трактор few days ago.

I’m reading John Holt’s How Children Learn and am surprised by how much I’m learning from this book as a parent. For example instead of seeing dangers everywhere, I am able to relax more and trust Catherine to know her own limits. Today instead of grabbing her to prevent the potential fall into the fountain, I peacefully watched as she first sat on the edge and later leaned in to take a closer look at the water. Free from worrying thoughts I was able to see perfectly well that she wasn’t in any danger. Being a relaxed parent is more fun than constantly worrying one - I'm glad we stopped watching news in the morning as they constantly have conflicting segments on dangers surrounding kids, negative effects of overprotection and various debates on parents failing to do the right thing, whatever it deemed to be on that day.

Lime green

2008-10-13T13:21:00.002+01:00

For the last two weeks the theme for the A Year of Color: Inside & Out was lime green. I didn't think we had any inside our flat until I started looking around

But I totally forgot to take one outside.

Happythings changed the rules slightly allowing to post inside and outside photos both weeks, so for the next tow weeks I'll be looking for Yellow.

The Knitting & Stitching show

2008-10-12T04:40:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I went to the Knitting and Stitching show and came back home with a very small textile item by Jean Littlejohn.

After seeing her and Jan Beaney in action I understand better why they are so successful: they are so full of energy, humour, enthusiasm and wisdom; they are able to chat to people easily and make their audience laugh and feel inspired by sharing their stories. I wish I could afford to buy some of their big pieces. Their work wasn’t the only one I wanted to take back home with me. I was very impressed by the showcase of graduates work. And my excitement reached its peak when I saw something very familiar and on closer examination confirmed that it was work of Jeanne Beck, who’s creative journey I was following for few months via her blog.

Trying to see all the exhibits and the supply stalls in one day was a bit too much. I bought some fabric and took few business cards, so I can check out their online stores in a relaxed fashion at home instead of trying to make purchasing decisions while being tired and overwhelmed. I also now have a list of other fairs and exhibitions I want to visit. Maybe I’ll make it to Origin: The London Craft Fair next weekend.

Sixth photo challange

2008-10-11T07:33:00.004+01:00

I saw the challenge to post the sixth picture in the sixth folder in your photo files on Annie's blog and since Cat is still asleep at 7:30 I thought I'll try it.

I took this photo in Kiev, Ukraine. There were so many old decrepit buildings, falling apart, but yet still so beautiful. I loved this little scene: the veiled building, the half asleep seller in his posture reflecting something of the building.

Counting

2008-10-10T21:09:00.001+01:00

Despite me counting the stairs in Russian every time we walk down from the third floor and back up, Cat recently started saying “one, two, three” while climbing onto her highchair and before running down a hill. She actually “counts” in Russian as well, but totally out of order with most numbers being три (three) or шесть (six).

And at the moment she is in her bed doing her own rendition of “Row, row, row your boat” instead of sleeping despite looking exhausted for hours.

Strange afternoon

2008-10-08T14:21:00.004+01:00

What a funny afternoon we had yesterday. It started very normally with Cat asleep and me embroidering the eyes for the latest sewing project. I was listening to the sound of rain and eventually got the feeling that the rain was inside our building. Maybe the neighbours are having a shower, thought I. They do have showers at odd times, yet it didn’t really sound like one. Eventually Cat woke up, but wanted to stay in her cot to look through some of her favourite books, so we both read for a bit. And then on moving to the living room we discovered water dripping of the wall around the balcony door. It didn’t look like the water was coming from the outside, but from the flat above. So I went outside our flat to investigate and found out that the downpour was much worse in the communal corridor. At this point the fire brigade arrived and turned off the electricity and the water.

Trying to act normal, but unable to go outside for the worry of coming back to drowned furniture, we played inside periodically empting containers of collected water. Since electricity was off I couldn’t cook us dinner (our stove is electric), so we nibbled on fruit, crackers and had some breakfast serial with yogurt. After it got dark I lighted the candles and recited as many nursery rhymes and tales as I could remember. I wonder what my little girl thought about all this, it must have been pretty strange to her – sitting in the dark, listening to my voice and the sound of the dripping water.

We saw the fire-engine leave earlier, and by about 7 I started thinking of going to bed, since no one had any idea if the electricity will be turned back on. And of course as that thought came into my mind I heard the knocking. Some official looking guy brought electrician to check out the damage. After checking the leakage I was told that the electricity will be back on in under an hour – it actually took them less than 10 minutes. We didn’t get the water back on until around 10 pm at the same time as Clive arrived back home from the office. By chatting to the workers, who just fixed the water flow, he found out that a cold water pipe burst upstairs on the sixth floor, which is taken up entirely by a penthouse apartment and since no one was home it flooded the whole apartment until water found a way out and gushed down flooding the fifth floor and eventually sipping down to the fourth and our third one. The water damage was so bad upstairs that people on the fifth floor moved out and last night we were the highest floor to have electricity. We weren’t badly affected, ending up only with the small bit of soggy carpet and some soggy toys. Pretty lucky, I wasn’t looking forward to functioning with candlelight and no running water. Today in the morning I found out that our neighbour’s flat on the other side of the building got much more water damage and was deemed too unsafe to have electricity.

To get some normality back into my life, after putting Cat to bed, I finished the Green Kitty Pillow. The pattern is free from Amy Butler website.

Flashbacks to my education

2008-10-06T22:23:00.004+01:00

I mentioned previously that I worry about my parenting style, but at the same time I agree with Rahima Baldwin Dancy:

Our task is to do our best, and trust in the best. We need to trust our children to be resilient, to be able to heal, to be terrific people despite our flawed efforts and our most regretted actions. (from You are Your Child’s First Teacher)

I’m glad that before having a child of my own I accepted that my own parents did their best based on their knowledge, their resources and their emotional/psychological fit with me. I feel that my acceptance of their parenting style gives me more confidence in my own and allows me to be gentle with myself, to forgive my own mistakes faster. I know I’ll make many mistakes, but all parents do.

I started reading R. B. Dancy’s book as part of my research into various educational streams/theories: Montessori, Waldorf, homeschooling, unschooling, autonomous education. I just finished reading John Holt’s How Children Fail. Here is excerpt from his own foreword to it:

But there is a more important sense in which almost all children fail: Except for a handful, who may or may not be good students, they fail to develop more than a tiny part of the tremendous capacity for learning, understanding, and creating with which they were born and of which they made full use during the first two or three years of their lives.
Why do they fail?
They fail because they are afraid, bored, and confused.

His book is so easy to read and I had no trouble agreeing with him throughout the book, because, despite being a good student, I disliked school and as result skipped some of it. Yep, I was a truant. According to my mum I even disliked kindergarten.

At school I was often bored, because the subject matter was irrelevant to me, too easy or plain boring. I still remember listening to my uncle’s stories about Catherine the Great when I was 10 or 12 and being surprised to discover that history can be interesting, that it involves real complex people, that it isn’t all about poor underprivileged people rebelling against the rich.

The whole life in Soviet Russia was full of fear and confusion to me. There were so many unwritten rules, that no one explained to me, but plenty of people were eager to tell one off for breaking them. I think my capacity for learning and creating was getting squashed long before I started school. But specifically at school, I was afraid of being presented as model example to the other students (it had great side-effect of cutting me off from the rest) and being ridiculed for the wrong answers. Being in the middle of the pack was the safest option. I still remember being asked to tell what the classic composer was trying to portray in a short musical piece and being laughed at by the teacher for saying that I heard a train speeding away and the sound of the train horn. The correct answer was the hunters on horses chasing prey and blowing a hunting horn. Trust me when I say that hunters and galloping horses weren’t part of my childhood experience in small Soviet town. So the whole situation seems totally ridiculous to me now. Actually all of us dreaded music lessons, which mostly consisted of learning patriotic songs, because our teacher was sadistic bastard. I learned a lot of things at soviet school like how not to show initiative, not to ask questions, avoid responsibility, hide my thoughts and feelings, cheat, pretend to be dumber than I am, not to stand out.

Yet while reading a book I was also trying to think about studying in Australia and I realised that I can’t form any judgement on their schools as by the time I got there I just wanted to get good grades at school to get into university and at uni to pass to get a well paying job. Learning wasn’t one of my goals. There were some great teachers, some average ones and only one I truly disliked.

I hope my daughter will have better educational experience than I did. After I started working I made sure I enjoy my jobs most of the time and didn’t dread going to work every morning. I don’t see why a child should dread going to school where they spend so much of their time. To keep our options open we are trying to move to an area, which has a range of good public and private schools/kindergartens including Montessori & Waldorf.

On Saturday we actually went to the Waldorf kindergarten/school open day. How could I not like a place that is full of wood, balls of yarn, crayons, music, kindness and respect? I loved it and think I would enjoy chatting to the people, who work there, and creating my own things surrounded by its magic atmosphere. But I’m still not 100% convinced that it is perfect for my daughter, though she enjoyed playing with all their toys, was happy to be away from us and didn’t want to leave.

And since this is supposed to be a craft blog, here is a picture of the shoes I crocheted for her last week, since we were asked to bring slippers as outdoor shoes aren’t supposed to be worn inside the Waldorf school. Crochet pattern from DROPS Design - there are many other free crochet and knitting patterns on their website.

On a rainy day

2008-10-05T20:31:00.000+01:00

I have few quotes to share with you this week; but despite the rain, the wind and the cold we went to the Kew Gardens today, had great time exploring mostly indoor parts of it and now I feel too exhausted to type all the thoughts I have relating to these quotes - so maybe tomorrow.

Russian orphans

2008-10-05T20:10:00.000+01:00

A friend sent me a link to the “In a fairy-tale village, Russian orphans thrive” article. I hear from him so rarely that any email, even one that contains no personal information about him, feels like a little gift and I was very glad to read about someone trying to do something different to help a small number of Russian’s orphans. If you want to find out more about Kitezh visit their Russian website.

While we are on the topic of Russian orphans, Rachael posted very positive update on her Simple Wishes Project. The woman is amazing and is definitely one of my real life heroes.

Reality check

2008-10-03T22:28:00.001+01:00

I often worry about doing things correctly, what lessons I’m teaching my daughter unconsciously and if I can be a better parent. I’m faster at noticing the negatives than positives. I occasionally get into the complaining about everything mode. And then I’m violently pulled out of it by the reality check. This time it came in the form of a book – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The main character of the book is an orphan German girl and the action takes place in the small town in Nazi Germany during the Second World War. She has real Problems. In comparison whatever problems my family or I may have at the present moment are solvable with a bit of creative thinking; we don’t fear for our lives and have reasonable confidence in our child having comfortable and secure existence for the years to come; we don’t have to make any hard decisions; our morality isn’t tested on any big scale. Basically our lives are good, profoundly beautifully good, and I can see that easily if I stop for a second my fast chain of complaints and actually think about them.

Since I have no idea of how to write useful book reviews, I’ll just point you to the ones here. Hopefully they’ll give you a better idea of whether this book could be worth reading for you. Myself, I fall in love with the book from the first few pages and cried at the end of it, though I seem to be crying at books very easily nowadays.

Visas & spider webs

2008-09-30T06:27:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I received my new UK Visa - spousal one this time. The changes in visas are good representations of my life: from Working Holiday Maker to Highly Skilled Migrant to Spousal.

On Saturday I went out to photograph the leftovers of the fog, but ended up taking photos of spider webs instead.

1. Spiderweb low in the grass, 2. Behind the vase, 3. Caught leaf, 4. Detail of spiderweb

Multitasking

2008-09-27T12:44:00.002+01:00

TATE Modern

Have you ever attempted to push a pram with one hand against the oncoming crowd, to keep an eye on your child to make sure she doesn’t fall off the bridge or get stepped onto and to take photos all at the same time? My multitasking abilities are improving daily. Luckily for me the Millennium Bridge has a small mesh section, though which one can see the shore beneath and while Cat was looking down in fascination I snapped one good photo to remind her about our Friday outing to get Papa from his work place.

Millennium Bridge & St Paul's Cathedral

Reading & Listening

2008-09-26T06:52:00.004+01:00

I went on the book reading binge, which means that I haven’t done much crafting and my brain turned into the muddled confusion of ideas. Once I’ll sort them out, I’ll try to write about some of the books I read in the last two weeks.

Actually looking at my short craft list of 8 items, most of them start with “figure out the materials required” or “buy the materials required”, so hopefully I’ll find time to go shopping on the weekend.

I do manage to draw almost every day – there are very few things that make me as happy as drawing. Fresh flowers come close.

I’m also knitting a baby blanket while listening to TED (highly recommend) and interviews with Sir Ken Robinson, but the blanket deserves its own blog post. I used to love listening to the radio as a child and glad to discoverer the availability of online podcasts that can be listened whenever one has time.

Colour Inside and Out

2008-09-23T21:22:00.005+01:00

I love colour, but until recently was afraid of it: I struggled to tell which colours worked well together; I would often wistfully walk past bright clothes; I would settle for safe blacks, whites, browns and neutrals. And then I started beading and taking photos and looking at the incredibly beautiful photos and creations of others.

I started to notice my yearning for having brighter colours in my surroundings and clothes, my desire to confidently use colour in my own work, my wish to understand the colour theory. I read, but more importantly I looked for colour lessons in other’s work and nature. And is there a better colour theory teacher than nature?

Eventually I joined A Year of Color group on Flickr, created and run by HappyThings. Last year, every week, she choose a combination of two colours, this year’s the theme is Colour Inside & Out. Having to photograph a certain colour each week really makes me pay attention to my surroundings and find colours in the most unexpected places. I didn’t think we have much red in our house, but I found some and finding red outside during autumn is too easy.

Since the new year of colour started just last week, you can also join and discover the colour in your life.

Silver knot

2008-09-22T05:54:00.003+01:00

I finished making another Chinese knot necklace, this one with the lampwork bead by Kathryn Ward.

Tapestry of water

2008-09-21T21:24:00.006+01:00

With finest needles
finest beads
lawn and dew are making
a tapestry of water...
From Entries on Light by Mimi Khalvati

First machine sewing project

2008-09-20T21:40:00.004+01:00

I bought a sewing machine. Actually, according to my Flickr photostream, it happened a month ago; but last weekend I finally started my first sewing (and second embroidery) project and finished it on Thursday.
Even while making this simple coin purse I learned a lot. I guess there is no substitute for learning by doing, but to prevent myself from making too many silly mistakes I will be grateful for any sewing book recommendations. I have two books titled Complete Sewing Course (one mine, one from the library), but the amount of the information in them is overwhelming. I would prefer something that teaches some basic skills in small chunks with lots of projects for each skill set. Our library recently upgraded their computer system and the side benefit was that now they link to the large number of other libraries and I can reserve books from any of them for free to be delivered to my local library. So lately I was able to find almost anything I wanted to read.

Discovering the world: wooden blocks

2008-09-18T14:52:00.004+01:00

1. Short & tall, 2. Dinner time, 3. Nap time, 4. Someone isn't sleeping

After seeing Cat stack up cardboard boxes, I remembered the wooden blocks my parents bought at the beginning of the year and took them out for her to play with. She is using only round blocks to create tiny towers (you can see one on the main photo), but loves watching us make elaborate constructions and enjoys knocking them down.

P.S. She is past her sickness, though still has a horrible sounding cough.

Back to posting

2008-09-16T06:17:00.006+01:00

I am back to blogging, at least I think I am, though I’m starting to give up any idea of the regular posting. Cat was sick for last few days and slept really badly: waking up often at night and getting no more than 45 minutes of sleep in the afternoon. Any disturbance to my routine makes me feel lost and unable to find energy and time for writing down my thoughts, even though there is some free time left.

The oatmeal bread (recipe from Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course) worked out really well and I'm eager to make it again. I decided to improve my cooking skills and so borrowed Delia's book from the library intending to go through all the sections and recipes systematically. However looking at the contents I straight away realised that my plan will fail - there are SIX chapters on various baking and desert making and I couldn't resist trying these recipes first.

Today, after Cat woke up at 5:30, I made scones for breakfast. They came out lighter than I expected, but are delicious. There is slightly different scone recipe on Delia's website. There are plenty of other great recipes there and useful cooking tips.

Here is some miscellaneous info for you about me - I tried scones for the first time at 19!

Agrr...

2008-09-11T14:44:00.002+01:00

I was actually planning to write a longish post today, but after spending about 3+ hours booking flights to Australia (online and eventually by calling the travel agent) all I want to do is relax (and bake some bread). The flights are booked (thanks to the second travel agent, who seemed to know what she is doing unlike the first one). Cat and I will be in Oz from the 3rd of December until 9th of January and Clive from 25th till 9th.

New name

2008-09-08T06:29:00.005+01:00

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
William Shakespeare. Romeo & Juliet

--
While creating a user picture for Julia, I finally tackled making a new header for myself and in the process changed the name of my blog. It was bothering me for awhile that I don't have Fioleta anywhere in it's name; and with the Cat growing and this blog becoming less about her and more about me the "Ordinary Miracles" name no longer felt right (though don't think that I don't consider myself a miracle - we are all miraculous). I reserve the option of changing the name again, but for now I'll call my blog "Fioleta's Journeys". And here is the small good bye to the old name (sent to me by Driftwood):

Silk & wood

2008-09-05T06:25:00.004+01:00

After all the fun of the long weekend Cat decided to sleep better at night and less during the day; and I'm still adjusting to the new routine and haven't done much crafting or writing or photo taking.

However I made another autumn present for myself - Chinese Button knot necklace with wooden beads.

Olive green is one of my favourite colours, so I couldn't resit getting some silk cord in that colour even though the shop had very little left and I wasn't sure if it will be long enough to make a necklace. On my return home I remembered about the wooden beads I had for at least a year and was very glad to finally use as I love the feel and look of wooden beads, but didn't want to have necklace made out of them only. I was very glad to find out that there is enough cord for it to just fit over my head. Very good and easy to follow instructions for making knots can be found in Chinese Knots for Beaded Jewellery book by Suzen Millodot )

I had to take the photo of the unfinished necklace while the sun was out (it was raining for 3 days and the forecast predicts more rain): I tightened the knots a bit more and still have to cut of and seal the ends using cigarette lighter flame (don't think we have one in the house).

Welcome, Autumn.

2008-09-02T06:48:00.001+01:00

The signs of autumn were around for a long time, but now the summer is officially over and I can accept the trueness of these signs. Autumn and spring are my favourite seasons, but it is hard not to feel slightly sad while putting away summer clothes that didn’t get much wear this year. However, I can now enjoy the crisp freshness of the morning autumn air, the sound of rain at night and the sight of fog in the mornings. Welcome, Autumn.

2008-08-31T21:00:00.002+01:00

...
I wither and you break from me;
yet though you dance in living light,
I am the earth, I am the root,
I am the stem that fed the fruit,
the link that joins you to the night.
Judith Wright Woman to Child

Life afer...

2008-08-29T22:09:00.003+01:00

(random photo of something I like, which has nothing to do with this post)

I used to stare in disbelieve at my friends when they announced their desire to die at 50, 60 or 65, because they didn’t want to grow too old, too weak, too sick, too dependent on others, etc. I never saw the point of choosing a random age to define being old, as there are plenty examples of the active & fully alive people of that age and conversely the half-asleep people of the younger age. Today I stumbled on the blog of a woman, who moved to London from Paris at the age of 74, and on the whole seem to be enjoying her life. I find her example inspiring and am wishing to be in the good health & sound mind when I reach her age. (She also appears to have an even bigger book addiction than I do, which makes her extra likeable)

More bags

2008-08-28T06:56:00.004+01:00

Last week two beautiful bags arrived from Rachael's etsy shop. I love them, specially the zebra one, which has an interesting history (I can't believe Rachael managed to part with it).

You still have few days left until 1st of September to enter her give-away and plenty of time to help her bring some Christmas cheer to the Russian orphans.

Short trips during long weekend

2008-08-27T06:30:00.012+01:00

We rented a car for the long weekend, but haven’t booked any accommodation. On Friday Cat developed a runny nose and I started to get worried that we’ll be stuck at home for the whole three days. Despite my worries we ended up having a fantastic weekend.

On Saturday I had a haircut and in the afternoon we took a walk along the Grand Union Canal in the small village just outside London, but I forgot to bring my camera.

On Sunday we went to Ruislip Lido, because I love tiny trains and wanted to check out the railway there for ages.

As well as catching the train we enjoyed running on the grass, playing at the playground and building sandcastle, though Cat was more interesting in throwing the sand around.

On Monday we traveled to the Wimpole Farm – a perfect place for a young family like us. Cat enjoyed looking at the animals.

I marvelled at the beautiful flowers

(though I wasn't the only one),

artistic scarecrows

and checked out the contemporary textile exhibition by CHAT.

Clive and I enjoyed looking through the rooms in the Wimpole Hall and all the clocks, specially the ones with pendulums, kept Cat mesmerized.

And we left with a pile of books from their second hand shop (and I have to point out that this time Clive got more books than I did).

Up

2008-08-21T21:41:00.004+01:00

Not only Cat insist going up and down the slide on her own, today she also insisted on walking up the stairs without any help from me all the way to the third floor (that's fourth for the normal people, who count the ground floor as the first one) where we live. I, myself, am uncomfortable with heights and therefore feel very much terrified of her falling down, but am trying to be encouraging of her independence.

Autumn flower bracelet

2008-08-20T06:35:00.003+01:00

I was looking through my bead for another project and felt inspired to make something simple and quick to celebrate the approaching autumn, though one may argue that it is already here.

Crochet beauties

2008-08-19T21:56:00.003+01:00

I had yesterday’s post all written up and ready for posting in the evening, but I had two glasses of wine with the few friends to celebrate my cousin’s birthday (the lucky girl herself is in Australia at the moment) and since I don’t usually drink alcohol I totally forgot about blogging. I keep on wondering how everyday posters manage to find time for it. Anyway, here is yesterday’s post:

I love reading What Not to Crochet blog, though I don’t always agree with the authors assessments, but I have to admit that there is a surprising number of hideous crocheted things and crochet books often disappoint me with their impractical, boring and even ugly designs. Therefore I treasure finding beautiful crochet masterpieces. On Saturday in Fortnum & Mason store I discovered the work of French designer Sophie Digard. Sadly her website doesn’t have much information, but you can see examples of her amazing multi-colour work here.

Video quote

2008-08-17T06:41:00.007+01:00

Today's quote comes to you in the video format, because we were reading this tiny rhyme all week long and I love the way Cat says the last word (ignore her slightly distracted look - she was trying to figure out what papa was doing on the other side of the room, which luckily prevented her from trying to turn the camera around to see the baby on the other side).

My kind of shop

2008-08-16T21:35:00.001+01:00

Today was a good day because I discovered another fabric/haberdashery store in London. MacCulloch & Wallis is off Oxford Street, very close to John Lewis (another place I love to visit for yarn and other various craft bits and bobs). Doesn’t the façade of the shop make you fall in love with it straight away? I wish I could take some of your inside, so we could marvel at all the beautiful fabrics, laces, ribbons and buttons together.

I also wish I had real-life friends interested in craft, so they would show me places like this instead of having to rely on lucky accidents to discover them.

Start of a new wardrobe

2008-08-13T21:26:00.007+01:00

No, not for me, but for Cat's doll. First I crocheted a hat in under two hours.

Then it took forever to make a simple dress out of my husband's old work shirt and a scrap of fabric from Polina, because I did it by hand as I don't own a sewing machine.

I was dreaming of "borrowing" my sister's sewing machine on arrival to Australia, but since we are staying in UK for longer I'm wondering if I should buy one. I have a long list of things I'd love to sew, like this Simple Kimono Wrap. Does anyone have any advice on buying a sewing machine for a total beginner? Anyone knows where one can buy/look at sewing machines in London?

Is summer already over?

2008-08-12T20:38:00.003+01:00

BBQ on Sunday under heavy rain - doesn't this look stereotypically English?

Magic potions

2008-08-11T06:53:00.005+01:00

The Book Book (bought after reading Soule Mama’s post, greatly enjoyed by me and waiting for the Little Girl to grow up a bit) has few small exercises to massage the imagination and one of them is to describe a magical potion. My latest one would be:
Some inspirational reading,
Followed by swirl of ideas,
Search for the handy materials,
Gluing down of some paper,

Painting over it with gesso and then watercolour,
Writing few words that feel suitable,
Finally sprinkling some shiny sparkles
And instead of stirring constantly contemplating my dreams.

What is your magic potion? I think Rachael’s one would include sewing machine, beautiful fabric, children’s laughter and some willing helpers. Please read her post to find out how YOU can help her to bring some Christmas cheer to Russian orphans and to WIN one of her beautiful creations.

Studio Journal

2008-08-10T21:26:00.006+01:00

We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!
Richard Bach “Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A Story”

--
This is the quote I'm going to put on the first page of my new studio journal tomorrow. I used to struggle trying to keep various journals, diaries, notebooks with quotes and sketchbooks until I took Sharon B’s online Studio Journal course. Throughout six lessons with the aid of design exercises she tried to get us into a habit of consistently using our studio journals. I loved learning new to me design tricks and now can see them used everywhere from packaging to the modern paintings. The other beauty of taking the course was a very active and inspirational forum where students shared tips, images of their work and the links to the relevant articles or websites.

However, the main lesson for me was the freedom of putting everything into ONE studio journal. And after six weeks I have one complete journal full of photos, images, quotes, my own writing, samples of thread, drawings and design ideas. And looking through it results in new ideas. For example after reading Shirley Trevena's Taking Risks with Watercolour I realised that for years I only tried to paint separate objects (mostly fruits and vegetables) instead of attempting to create a whole painting. And while thinking of subject to paint I remembered the photo taken in the park (and added to my journal).

And used it to paint an autumn leaf fall. This simple painting is far from perfect and I can point out many mistakes to you, but it is the first complete painting I’ve done since childhood and I felt fantastic doing it.

Russian resources online

2008-08-08T20:07:00.003+01:00

I was searching for information on English translations of Pavel Bazhov's wonderful Ural tales when I found some of them available online in Russian.

I also stumbled on this LiveJournal full of wonderful images including old book illustrations (more here), Russian embroidery and much more. Even if you don't read Russian, it's probably worth clicking around to see what inspirational design and paintings you may find.

Chasing or spot the squirrel

2008-08-07T22:33:00.008+01:00

These photos are for those of you, who mistakenly got the impression from my previous photos that Cat is a gentle child, who doesn’t chase pigeons and other small creatures.

Fighting blandness

2008-08-06T20:06:00.002+01:00

The move to our current flat was supposed to be temporary (around 6 months), but we already spent over a year living here. Once the decision to stay in UK was made, we started looking for a new accommodation and were horrified to see how much the rental prices went up. And with the property prices falling, everyone agrees that it is bad time to buy. And so we decided to stay here for a bit longer, while we consider our options.

Therefore on Sunday afternoon we done something that should’ve been done months ago – we rearranged the furniture and swapped rooms with Cat. Now we are back in the main bedroom with the inbuilt cupboards. My workspace is also better arranged with the printer next to the desk and space for some drawers to store all my craft materials.

I want to use some of my free time to concentrate on creating items to make our living areas more visually pleasant, because I hate living in the bland environment and realised that I feel drained of energy surrounded by white walls and pale carpet. However as a small start and celebration of us taking the first steps in improving our flat (isn’t it ironic that flat is also synonym for dull & monotonous?) I bought a print from Rima Staines’ etsy shop. If you have time visit her blog and her website to marvel at the magical world she created. And even if you don’t have time, stop by Once Upon O’clock to listen and to see something unique.

One year ago

2008-08-04T19:59:00.003+01:00

Exactly one year ago Cat had her first cold (though I didn’t blog about it until the day later) and we spent most of the day cuddling up on the couch. The only reason I know this is because I finally bought some photo albums and today started to choose photos to put into them. This year I have a cold and would’ve loved to spend all day long on the couch. Instead we entertained each other the best we could. Bored with my sluggishness Cat went to explore, found the case for my glasses, took out the wipe cloth and proceeded to wipe all her books in turn. Thankfully we have many, so I had a nice break lying next to her watching her clean.

P.S. It is hard to believe that a year ago she couldn't even crawl

Change of plans

2008-08-03T20:18:00.002+01:00

Человек предпологает, а бог распологает
Russian proverb, which roughly translates as man plans, but God does (Sorry guys, I have a cold, probably mild fever and my brain isn’t up to translating. Anyone wants to offer a better translation?)

--
For over a year we were talking about moving to Australia and even started collecting documents to apply for spousal visa for Clive. However, when my husband resigned from his job, he was promptly offered a great position. So after all our preparation and planning in a second everything changed. The offer was too good to refuse, and we decided to stay in UK for few more years.

If I know you in real life and you haven’t received my group email about this, please let me know, as it highly likely means that I don’t have your latest email address.

Unbalanced Rainbow Shawl

2008-08-02T06:16:00.003+01:00

I thought I finished crocheting the shawl, but when I looked at it I realised that I made the beginners mistake of getting too caught up in the stitches and forgetting to check the whole. Its sides are tonally unbalanced due to one having more dark colours than the other. Ironically after reading This Year's Word: Half Way Point post I was contemplating the Balance, the word that I would choose as the theme for the rest of the year. I have a tiny bit of yarn left, so I can unravel few rows and use it to shift the colour change somewhat. Or should I just leave it as is?

Pattern: Eva's shawl
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock

More words

2008-08-01T05:50:00.002+01:00

This week Cat started pointing at me and saying “Mama” throughout the day. About time! I was getting slightly grumpy at being called generic “Eee!” or hearing whiny “Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!” when she was super hungry or in desperate need of comfort.

I also realised that she says few Russian words, like:
где (where), usually it’s где bum (where is ball?) or где ты (where are you?);
туда (there), as in “let’s go there” when I’m going in one direction and she is insisting we go in the opposite one;
один (one), два (two), три (three), we usually walk downstairs counting the stairs instead of catching the lift and since we are on the third floor there are a lot of stairs to count. Though when she counts on her one she usually says один, один (one, one) or один, три (one, three), but asked how many legs she has she replies две (two).
And she also says up in English. There are few other words, which I can’t think of at the moment.

Within arms reach

2008-07-30T21:35:00.002+01:00

A while ago I had to move a set of plastic drawers with Cat’s clothes further away from her cot, because instead of napping she managed to get the top drawer out, spread the clothes all over her cot, turn the drawer upside down and climb on it to make loud stomping noise.

See this small bookshelf located just outside her cot? The bottom shelf is full of English books, the middle one has Russian ones and the top one houses the books from the library. (We actually have many more kids books, but others are for slightly older kids) Last night upon investigating loud crying I discovered most of the surface of Cat’s cot covered in library books, which she somehow managed to pull from the shelf to her cot. For now I’m going to put the library books to the other side of the shelf, but I wonder if I’ll have to re-arrange the furniture again. Choosing the best location for all our and Cat’s stuff is becoming more challenging than the advanced levels of Tetris. So if you don’t yet have kids and are ever caught playing Tetris instead of doing something more important just say that you are practicing a very important skill necessary for successful parenthood.

Banana & Blueberry Muffins

2008-07-29T22:29:00.004+01:00

When I stopped working, I started baking. At some point I realised that I was spending too much time on it and our eating abilities couldn't keep up with my enthusiasm for trying new recipes. Therefore I made the decision to bake only once a week on the weekend.

However this weekend my poor husband and daughter came down with a stomach bug and the baking had to wait until Monday. My husband loves banana bread so I keep on trying out new recipes. These muffins were made following SouleMama's Blueberry & Banana Bread recipe, because I didn't have enough time to bake bread. Muffins were baked at 180 degrees for 25 minutes only.
My husband loved them, the Little Girl only had one bite (maybe she still isn't feeling 100%) and while I like them I suspect that I overcooked them as they taste a bit dry to me. I will have to find time to make bread using this recipe.

Online networks

2008-07-27T10:17:00.009+01:00

Since I want to stay in touch with few old work colleagues, who are not on Facebook, I finally caved in and created an account on LinkedIN (professional networking site). On opening a new account I had to choose one option that describes my current employment situation: employed, a business owner, looking for work, working independently or a student. I hate labels when they are used to reduce something complex into a tiny easily explainable stereotype and I certainly didn’t feel that any of these choices describe me.

It was easy to dismiss the first three options. I’m not in the paid employment, though I certainly work hard everyday. I don’t run a business. I’m not looking for a new job. And for everyone who asked (mum, you aren’t the only one :-)) - I don’t plan to in the nearest future, as I enjoy having time to think, learn, plan, design and craft. I enjoy being able to sit still on my own with a cup of tea in the middle of the day in order to regroup and re-establish inner balance. I love being able to spend lost of time outside. I enjoy feeling that I can meet my obligations to my family and myself without overstretching to the breaking point. Few weeks back I saw this quote in my diary:
It is necessary to be somewhat underemployed if you want to do something significant.
James Watson (American scientist)
And to me raising a child is something very significant.

I could describe myself as a student as every day is full of lessons in the child development and psychology; in the needlework, painting and drawing; in self-discovery and self-improvement; in patience, gratitude and humility.

After considering all these and many more things I choose “working independently” option, only to find out that once profile is created it is possible to re-write this selection into unique professional headline. Though this could end up being even harder than Rachael’s six words challenge. I think opening account on Stitchin Fingers community instead would’ve been more enjoyable.

Delicious

2008-07-26T06:10:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I made the wholemeal orange variation of Cloverleaf dinner rolls. I baked them for 25 minutes first at 200 degrees, but then lowered the temperature to 180 as the rolls were getting brown too quickly. They taste delicious, though I probably should search for a healthier recipe (six tablespoons of butter!). I found this blog via Yummy Colours of the Rainbow Flickr group, so maybe if I have these rolls for desert with some nice orange marmalade instead of cakes or biscuits they’ll be relatively healthy choice. Right?

Refreshing naps

2008-07-25T05:47:00.002+01:00

Long past the days when I would collapse anywhere at any chance to get some sleep. Yet when I reach a point of feeling frustrated, irritable, unable to treat anyone with patience or compassion I know that it is time to get some extra sleep and after putting the Little Girl down for her nap, I curl up on the couch and have an afternoon snooze myself. And for me the best afternoon naps always happen in the summer warmth with a light breeze coming from the open window. Afterwards I feel cheerful, energetic and enthusiastic. Occasionally a regretful thought about all unaccomplished tasks passes my mind, but I chase it away knowing that I can accomplish even more in my refreshed state.

Fun playmate

2008-07-24T06:38:00.002+01:00

Two mornings in a row we spent playing with my friend’s much younger brother, who was visiting for a short time with their parents. The Little Girl was totally mesmerized by him and wanted to follow him everywhere, specially because he had a range of play balls. If we got too distracted chatting to throw the ball back to her, we would instantly hear “Bum! Bum!”, which is her attempt at saying “Boom! Boom!” and the word she uses to mean ball. Sadly he went back to Australia and we can only dream about finding another such patient and fun playmate.

Flight

2008-07-20T22:28:00.004+01:00

Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again. For most, gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.
Richard Bach “Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A Story”
--
“Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A Story” is full of beautiful passages that I want to quote and joined my list of inspiring and re-readable books along with Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet", Antoine De Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince", Albert Camus "The Plague" and Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita". I haven't re-read "The Master and Margarita" for about four years, so it's time to pick it up from a bookshelf again - at every re-reading I discover something new in it.

I created this image after reading The Expansion of the Square tutorial and am itching to make more and to try out improved composition ideas once I get some dark-coloured paper.

The simple projects

2008-07-16T06:55:00.006+01:00

I like having at least one project that is very simple and can be done few stitches at the time, while I wait for Cat to finish her dinner or she is busy looking through a book or playing with her toys. This time I choose to make another amigurimi from the Japanese craft book. My husband tried to remind me that I swore never to make another one of those ever again. As always crocheting head and body was easy, but I started loosing my enthusiasm once I reached the smaller parts making stage. The amigurumi supposed to be a robot, but for a long time we played with the limbless, earless and eyeless creature and therefore it was renamed into Orange Alien.

This week I finally crocheted the limbs for it, but gave up on trying to find energy to make it ears or eyes.

Yarn: Some unidentified cotton
Pattern: From Japanese book (ISBN 978-4-309-28103-2)

Hopefully my next simple project won’t turn into the same prolonged fight with myself to finish it. Mettetations always finds the best patterns and after seeing her recent shawls, I couldn’t resist making an Eva's shawl for myself.

PIF done: one for Rachael

2008-07-15T06:00:00.004+01:00

I wanted to somehow incorporate a reference to Rachael's four wonderful children. I had many ideas that had to be discarded due to the advanced level of skills required. Eventually I settled on making a 4-strand braided necklace.

There are also four small beads and the bigger bead has four little spots. I was so happy to finally finish this project that I made Rachael a set of matching earrings to go with the necklace.

PIF done: one for Polina

2008-07-14T06:57:00.008+01:00

Pay It Forward (PIF) gift for Polina was actually finished back in February, but I didn’t want to blog about it before finishing Rachael’s one. It was inspired by Polina’s gorgeous bright summer dresses. While outside was grey and cold inside I was enjoying looking at the beautiful red, orange and yellow beads. And from them I made this spiral bracelet.

(Note: Sorry for quality of the photos, they were taken back in February - I'm glad to see that my photography skills improved in the last few months)

I loved the colours so much that I kept on wondering if I should make another one for myself. And then I made few small mistakes and decided that this bracelet wasn’t good enough to be given to someone else. Excitted about having a good excuse to keep it, I started wondering if Polina wouldn’t prefer something less geometrical and more flowery. So I got out Carol Wilcox Wells' The Art & Elegance of Beadweaving book and used their flower pattern to crochet a new bracelet for her. I also tried making a seamless join. It didn’t end up being so seamless in my case, but not too bad for a beginner.

While in Odessa I was happy to see Polina wearing the bracelet with one of the dresses that inspired it in the first place.

(Note: This photo was taken by my husband)

I'll post about PIF gift for Rachael tomorrow.

Three favourite rhymes

2008-07-13T06:20:00.003+01:00

Incy Wincy spider climbed up the water spout.
Down came the rain and washed poor Incy out.
Out came the sunshine and dried up all the rain.
And Incy Wincy spider climbed up the spout again.
English nursery rhyme
--

We have a CD of nursery rhymes and Incy Wincy spider is Cat’s favourite song. She keeps on asking for it, by trying to do the action of Incy Wincy spider climbing up the spout with her little fingers. I heard this song so many times in the last few days, that whenever I have a quite moment to myself to relax or think I end up singing it instead. This little rhyme is also preventing me from thinking of any other quote for today’s post.

The other favourites are “Five little ducks went swimming one day” with the loud quacks and attempts to imitate the hand actions from the Little Girl; and “Old MacDonald” – Cat does a very good “Ee-I-ee-I-oh” sound now.

(I don't have a picture of ducks, so a swan will have to do instead)

Out of the 26 songs on the CD Cat only wants to listen to these three, I hope, for my own sanity, that she’ll progress to a wider range of favourites or will get tired of this CD altogether.

(Re)discovering: the fun of building indoor tent

2008-07-12T21:19:00.004+01:00

Since it was raining for most of the week I had to think of new activities for us to do inside. Yesterday I tried to build a tent to play in and totally lost track of time. I loved both building it and playing inside. The Little Girl looked very confused at first, but soon joined in the fun.

Enjoying embroidery

2008-07-11T21:25:00.003+01:00

Once while looking at the marks made by my daughter I saw a bird, so I grabbed a green crayon and traced the seen outline directly over her marks.

I was very excited at the result, because I knew that if I tried to sketch a bird from life or draw one from the memory, unable to simplify, I would get horribly lost in the small details. Therefore I wanted to use this drawing for something.

While in Japan I saw embroidered buttons and brooches with the embroidered centres and lacy/crocheted outer. I also bought some lovely linen fabric.

On my return after looking at PurlBee's tutorial I made three buttons: bigger one is 29 mm and smaller ones are 23 mm in diameter.

For now I don’t have any plans for them, but this was the first embroidery project that I enjoyed doing. All the previous ones were way beyond my skill level and therefore ended up in frustration.

Six words

2008-07-09T06:25:00.002+01:00

Rachael recently attempted to summarize her life in six words. After reading her post I attempted a simplified task of describing the last few years of my life, as everything before childbirth feels so distant and slightly unreal. Yesterday, while unable to sleep due to the milliard thoughts running through my tired head, I finally came up with:
Emotional rollercoaster aggravated by sleep depravation.

“A bit dramatic” my husband would probably say amusedly and I agree, but it isn’t easy to think of six right words. Why don’t you try?

Reusable shopping bags

2008-07-08T21:19:00.005+01:00

While we were in Japan our supermarket finally decided to introduce reusable bags and started "encouraging" the customers to buy them by removing the usual plastic ones. I’m all in favour of the reusable bags, but there is one tiny problem with theirs - they are also made out of plastic. Luckily I accumulated a small collection of totes that are used for carrying our shopping home.

Top left one was made by my wonderful cousin especially for me and bottom right one I bought from talented Raspberry.

And last week I added another one to my collection.

Pattern: Elisa's Nest Tote
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Glace

Just as I finished it I found a list of 35 free grocery bag patterns, so I may try making another one in the future. Maybe crocheted one?

Thank you to my parents

2008-07-07T14:14:00.006+01:00

Do you ever wish you could go back to your childhood room and take a slow look around at, let’s say, age five, seven, or fifteen? ...
In order to preserve in my mind some of my favorite spots and the flood of memories I treasure with them, I now try to take photographs of those spaces from time to time while we’re still really living in them.
Amanda Blake Soule “The Creative Family”

--
When I read these lines in Amanda’s book I started thinking about my own childhood and the room in which I spent most of it. There are some things I remember well, like the bunk bed my dad made for my sister and I out of their old bed; but there are plenty more memories that are hovering on the edge of my visual eye, fleeing just as I’m about to see them clearly. Then again sometimes a memory jumps out and I’m surprised that I could ever forget the colour, the smell, the item or the event it summons.

With my dad, originally uploaded by Fioleta.

Thinking back to our tiny two rooms flat, I unexpectedly remembered that at some stage we had a swing hanging in one of the doorways. And this memory made me think of all the things my parents did with the limited resources at hand to enrich our lives: we always had access to various magazines (DYI, art, travel) and books; they were happy to buy us craft and art supplies; my mum had patience enough to teach us to crochet and to knit (I’m not sure why I never picked up the second one until now); she knitted us beautiful items of clothes that I still remember while most of the store-bought once disappeared from my memory forever; they took us on the trips to Black Sea, Moscow and St Petersburg; they borrowed money of everyone they knew (bank loans didn’t really exist in Soviet Russia) and bought a summer house next to river Don.

With my mum, originally uploaded by Fioleta.

I suspect that my parents would say that they did many creative things out of necessity, but they must’ve enjoyed them as well as they managed to share the enjoyment of gardening, cooking, fishing, making things with me. The hard task of being a parent is often under-appreciated, but since becoming one myself I feel the need to thank my parents for being decent, hard-working, fun, caring and loving people.

My dear parents, I’m proud to be your daughter. Thank you for every day you've been my parents.

New camera

2008-07-06T09:19:00.002+01:00

My husband recently bought me a digital SLR camera. At first I just rolled my eyes and joked about his newest camera buying addiction. I’m not a very gracious accepter of gifts. I still haven’t read the manual and need time to get fully comfortable with the heaviness and behaviour of the camera, but what a pleasure it is to know that I’m not limited by the capabilities of my camera and can work on improving my photography skills. Every time I download the photos to my laptop I’m struck by one or two that while not perfect are beautiful and very special to my heart.

Today I stumbled on TweedleBee blog & shop – she makes adorable quilts, baby blankets, toys and is currently having a give-away on her blog. Looking at the items in her shop makes me want to have another baby and I won’t even bore you with stories about my daydreams of making quilts.

Discovering the world: sand and sea

2008-07-01T12:28:00.004+01:00

While in Odessa The Little Girl got to experience walking and playing in the sand for the first time. At first she totally didn’t like the feel of the sand and tried really hard to avoid standing on it. Every time I would try to put her down she would cling to me with all her strength and lift her legs up as high as she could. However, when I put her down on our beach blanket she was happy to grab handfuls of sand, let it go and see the grains fall down. Soon the blanket was covered with the sand and the Little Girl finally braved walking on it to try to get to someone’s beach ball (she loves playing with the balls at the moment). Later Clive and she built a sandcastle and she was perfectly happy to crawl all over it.

She was slightly unsure about the sea water at first as well, but warmed up to it very quickly (I wish the water would warm up to us as it was very cold). She enjoyed walking in and out of the water, looking at the tiny waves, searching for the wet stones (collecting stones is another recent love) and even managed to fall face down into the water ones. Somehow I find it sad that she didn’t get to walk or play in the sand earlier. I noticed that all the kids playgrounds I saw in Russia had sandy surface unlike the asphalt one of England – the sand probably has it’s on downsides, but I think I would prefer it to the hard grey asphalt.

The photo above was taken by my husband using his "new" (at least to him) Mamiya camera.

Golden Rays Necklace

2008-06-30T13:45:00.003+01:00

I made few more beaded spoke beads following instructions from Carol Wilcox Wells' "The Art & Elegance of Beadweaving" book. They are weaved from tiny seed beads over the wooden beads. I strung the finished beaded beads on the memory wire to make this simple necklace.

For such a simple necklace I learned many new things in the process of making it: how to use crimp pliers, the properties of memory wire, the advantages of coating the thread with beeswax before use, that practice does make perfect and increases the speed with which I can accomplish things.

Raising a tree-hugger

2008-06-26T07:10:00.002+01:00

Months ago I started to encourage Cat to touch the tree bark as a reuse to get her to walk few more steps or to distract her from hunger, tiredness or grumpiness. Now, on her own accord, she often stops to touch the trees and to give them a hug. Both of us are enjoying spending lots of time outside while the weather is good: playing with the ball, running, looking at the flowers, collecting rocks and hugging trees. I'm glad summer is here.

To love and be loved

2008-06-19T06:23:00.003+01:00

I was sitting on the floor yesterday playing with my daughter. Suddenly she walked up to me, put her arms tightly around my neck, leaned her whole body against mine and rested her head on my shoulder. My breath caught by the sweetness of her hug, I stayed still afraid to disturb the perfect moment, trying to prolong it for few extra precious seconds. She showed affection towards me before, but never her hugs were so strong and full of love. At that instant my heart felt close to bursting from all the love I felt for her. And yet again I was reminded to be thankful for the joys of motherhood, for being loved and for having a chance to love unconditionally.

Photo taken in Odessa by Clive. I couldn't resist getting a shot with a lion as I have few similar ones taken during my childhood trips to the Black Sea. I wish my photo-albums were here instead of Australia, so I could scan one or two for comparison.

Bitter-sweet

2008-06-17T21:31:00.003+01:00

The climate, the buildings, the people, even the dust of Ukraine reminded me of the place in which I grew up. I have many bad memories from my childhood in Soviet Russia and even more totally awesome ones, therefore my reactions to many situations and things in Ukraine were often extreme in both their negativity and positivity. The overwhelming strength of my feelings left me confused and slightly exhausted; and just as I started getting to grips with them it was time to go back to London. I wish I had few more weeks to enjoy the company of wonderful friends, the sunshine and the sea. I’m the wrong person to tell you about Ukraine as I won’t be able to do justice to its beauty, richness and complexity. If you get a chance go there and experience it for yourself.

The photos from Kiev are on Flickr and I will upload Odessa photos by the end of this week. More photos and the actual write up of what we did and saw can be found on my cousin's blog.

Japan: family, craft, etc

2008-06-06T22:36:00.007+01:00

It is past 10 o'clock, in the few hours we have to get up at 3am to fly to Odessa and I still haven’t finished writing about Japan, so here are some quick bullet points:

The Japanese side of the family were very hospitable, took us on the car trip to the Kairaku-en park (one of three biggest parks in Japan), gave us presents, enjoyed playing with The Little Girl, worried about us being too cold, etc. But again the language was major barrier. I wish I could communicate my gratitude for all their generosity and kindness, so I want to send them a small present – I just need to figure out what type of English things someone from Japan may enjoy.
It was very interesting to meet few more members of Clive’s family as until now I only met his dad, who came to visit us last year. Cheryl, the mother of the bride, used to be a computer programmer when punch-cards were in use, but now she makes beautiful miniature porcelain dolls. Luckily for me she made one for a Japanese friends and I got to see it – the level of detail and workmanship are impressive. You can see for yourself at her Miniature Porcelain dolls from Africa website.
I’m glad we stayed in the small town with fewer tourist attractions, as we didn’t feel the need to rush around trying to get to see everything. Instead we could take time to pause in the small temples and enjoy sunshine in the Hachimanyama Park.
At the same time we had an option of catching the train to other towns, while we choose not to go to Tokyo we did make it to Nikko to marvel at the beautiful architecture.
Totally accidentally I managed to visit a craft store: in the shopping complex, planning to go down, we got into the lift with an old woman; she pressed the button for one of the upper floors; and once there, at least according to my husband, it took me only a second to realize what I was seeing and forget about everything else in the world. After tiny London craft shops this one looked heavenly huge, but sadly I couldn't buy everything I liked or needed.
The wedding was held at the beautiful park and both bride and groom looked fantastic. I enjoyed both the wedding and the reception and here is a photo of me in the park before the wedding.

As always more photos can be seen on Flickr.

Japan: kuwaee

2008-06-06T06:52:00.002+01:00

Before we went to Japan my friend gave me a short list of few useful Japanese words. One of them was kuwaee – cute. I paid more attention to the other ones, but she was right – kuwaee was the word we heard most often in Japan. Outside of our hotel room we were met with lots of smiles and adoration of Cat’s cuteness. Women of all ages were the most open and loud in their praise for the cute kid – the younger ones would often dissolve into giggles and excited hand waving, while the older ones would try to strike a conversation with The Little Girl and myself. I wish I could speak Japanese. After the reserved attitude of most London inhabitants it was fantastic to have some friendly attention and I loved to see how much love is shown towards children in Japan in general. I liked the fact that we didn’t see many prams around; most small children were carried or walked next to their parents/careers. So I did the same (as I do anyway in London when we aren’t going too far) trying to encourage The Little Girl to walk more.

The Japanese streets are free of rubbish, in over a week there I only saw one abandoned can, and so I found our walks less stressful. Here in London I constantly have to stop The Little Girl from picking up beer cans, bits of broken glass, food wrappers and cigarette buts, which often results in frustration for both of us. Anyway back to the topic of this post, in Stratford-upon-Avon we kept on running into Japanese tourist groups and it was fun to understand one word – kuwaee. Are there any words from foreign languages that you learned during your trips and still remember?

The breaking news

2008-06-05T22:35:00.004+01:00

The Little Girl climbed onto the chair today. I never saw her try before, but today she just walked up to one and calmly climbed on top of it. It probably doesn’t sound very momentous to you as she was climbing onto beds and the couch for ages, but our childproofing method so far consisted of mainly moving things up out of her reach and we are quickly running out of space. I guess next she will be trying to climb out of her cot. I’m really not looking forward to trying to rearrange everything again.

She also got her dad to play dress up with her today while I sneaked out to the supermarket. On my return I found her wearing a black long-sleeve t-shirt, grey pyjama bottoms, white trainers and sparkly pink & purple dress. She brought each item to Clive and got him to help her put them on. Julia, you would be proud! Sadly there are no photos as she wouldn't stay still.