To have an art room.....of my own??

When I first moved into this house 15 months ago one of my friends saw the attic bedroom (the third bedroom) and said, "Ohhh, you should make that room your workroom.  You could go up there and work away to your hearts content...."

I took no notice of her words and filled the under-stairs cupboard in the living room with my...well.....everything....fabrics, trims, threads, paints, papers, canvases, jewellery findings and stashes of broken jewellery and stones and ..... well just everything is shoe-horned into one (big) cupboard.  So when I make stuff I sit on the sofa and I surround myself with stuff and I make.  And when it's time to go to bed I put it all away until the next time I can get it all out.

But if I were to have a dedicated room I could leave it out until I was able to return.  I think what stops me is that I've made the attic room into a spare bedroom and some of the kids toys are up there and sometimes they play up there. Plus, even when my daughter is at school my son is still around until he goes to nursery in the afternoons and we are out most morning and.....and.....

Ooooh, just think though......if I put all of my art stuff up there I could play to my hearts content when he was at nursery and leave it all out and go back to it when they were in bed and just have a space to play and be me..........I think I need a place to play and be me........

Internet Dating

For almost a year now I've been single.  Pretty happy with being single as I've got more than enough to do what with the kids and making stuff and getting it all up on Etsy and everything else.

But recently my mind has turned to the possibility of meeting someone new, someone who would add  a little extra to my life.... However - the big catch is that I don't really go out much (I know, very sad).  I get to go out with friends about once a month and other than that I'm at toddler groups, volunteering or at belly dance events and to be fair there are very few single, eligible men at any of those places!

So my option - Internet dating.  Gulp.  But surely (I told myself) there must be reasonable men who use those sites?  Nice men who like myself don't get much opportunity to get out and who aren't complete saddoes, who would like to meet someone, chat a bit, meet up maybe, see what happens?  After all, if you meet someone in a bar or at a party you effectively know nothing about them and you have to take a bit of time to see what develops.  Surely finding a date via the wonders of the Interwebs is pretty much the same so long as you're careful?

After choosing a picture that wasn't provocative or taken too long ago I took a deep breath and joined a couple of sites.  Added some profile information and then away we go.....

Oh yes.  Away we go to the land of a million ice-breaker messages where it's obvious that the man sending it hasn't read my profile at all.  Away to the land of, "Cor, you look lovely, fancy a flirt?"  Er no, say hi first please.  "Hi babe, fancy a chat?"  Ok, so at least that one said hi first but......     Sigh....already I'm feeling jaded and as though this might be a mistake.  But hey, can't fall at the first fence.

Five months down the line and it's all pretty much the same.  Until I got a couple of messages from men who had actually read my profile, who lived not too far away but seemed to live far away enough for them to have to put some proper effort into being a stalker.  Who actually engaged in a bit of email chit chat and banter before suggesting we meet up.

Tentatively I agreed (well, after all, they looked quite attractive and the picture might not be of them, the profile might be made up nonsense - just because I'm honest doesn't mean they are) and so made arrangements with friends that they would be at the venue (lurking in a corner) should we actually fix a date and a time.

But relax folks, after almost going on a date with a lunatic I managed to rescue myself at the last minute due to both men being unable to restrain themselves any longer and sending me emails detailing the size of their *equipment*.  Really chaps, too much information.  All possible dates cancelled, dating site profile removed, back to making pretty things for Etsy!

Bye bye eBlogger....

I'm quite sad to go really, I like eBlogger.  I like the set-up, the ease of use - it feels friendly....

BUT.  I also like having things in one place.

So I'm off to pastures that are not as new as they were....and that I'm slowly getting my head around....

Make sure to come join me at the new Twinkle Twinkle Shiny Things blog.

xx

Spice Must Flow

Ahhhh, small children and what they find amusing......

After the recent butter experiments (yes, although I only blogged about it once there were more days when butter and kitchen implements were my sons favourite toys...) I could only wonder what was to come next.

My spice rack is what came next.....

There was no vehicle involved, he managed to climb up onto the kitchen side via the integral wine rack at the end of the kitchen.  I was unaware of this as I was downstairs putting some washing in and hanging further washing out.  When I got upstairs I saw him standing on the kitchen work surface, kitchen cabinets open, him with a big smile...."I cooking mummy."

This is what he had achieved...

It may not look like much, but the pot contained sea salt, and from what I can see he had added:
cinnamon
ginger
rosemary
celery seeds

dried chilis
cumin
coriander
thyme
and had added a bit of bubble mixture for juiciness.......

I hope he puts these experiments to good use when he's older!

Becoming a volunteer

Today was the day I went for an interview for a voluntary role with the Citizens Advice Bureau.  They have a new project that trains and support Healthy Lifestyle Coaches, to assist people with myriad issues that are affecting their lives.  The idea is that the coach assists the individual to identify, create an action plan for and reach particular goals.  These might be to do with resolving issues about relationships, weight, substance use and abuse, work/life balance issues......

In my previous life, before motherhood, I worked with people in many roles; as a residential social worker with children in care, then with adults with disabilities in a care home, then as a volunteer project manager where the volunteers had disabilities, and in the job I had before maternity leave, a volunteer project manager where the volunteers were all under 25 and the recipients of their volunteering actions were children with disabilities.

I kind of feel that the post I went for today SHOULD be a paid role.  I understand why it isn't.  My feeling that way isn't going to change society, the way funding happens (it's all down to fashions folks, not just about there not being enough in the pot to go round.  If your particular project is not "of the now" you'll have to fight harder and longer and probably eventually give up the ghost - I used to fund-raise as a part of my roles.)

The upshot is that the times I would need to be available over-run school times, so I would need to employ a childminder.  And the organisation that is offering the post is unable to offer full expenses for this.  I don't blame the organisation.  It's always been a tough call trying to get parents of pre-school children involved with volunteering because of that very issue.  If an organisation can't offer full expenses, or even two thirds of that because don't forget you need a childminder for not only the period where you won't be with the child, but for a period either side of that to cover your travel time, then you can pretty much forget someone like me being able to take up a post.

The Children's Centre where I hold my classes and attend toddler groups has offered me the opportunity to do something for them as a volunteer.  So I've taken it up.  I already attend one group a week, with my son, helping out at a Speech and Language group.  And through them I shall have another opportunity soon where they will take my son at their creche for the twelve mornings training required, and where I can take my son with me to the sessions I will be volunteering at.

A completely different role than the one I was interviewed for today.  But because it's child friendly I shall take it up.  It's still a valuable role and one that I think will be good for me.

How I got the bug.....

I've always been interested in making things.  Never made jam though....

Sewing is my main addiction (after belly dance of course) but I never really had the time to indulge in much in my twenties, as I had a pretty full on full time and extra hours kind of job.

After doing some travelling I came back to the UK, found myself in the library and picked up a book called Creative Bead Embroidery.  I was immediately hooked.  I don't have pictures of the very first things I made unfortunately, and would often make things for other people as gifts so there's lots of stuff hopefully still out there that I made.  I hope they didn't get thrown away....

And then we move on and I found belly dance around 8 years ago.  Here's a pic of the first bedlah (bra and belt set) I made, that is still in my collection:

Pretty clumsy but ok.....

Then when I went on maternity leave I found that I had some time on my hands and I made this:

I absolutely adore ammonites and their internal, fossilized structures.  Beautiful organic creations created by time and pressure.

My next forays into textile art included melting and burning fabrics before adding embellishment and embroidery:

And now?  Well, with two small children to look after I get very little time to experiment.  So now I'm trying to combine a number of addictions; as a designer and maker of costume items primarily for tribal and fusion belly dancers I've expanded my range to beautifully decorated cuffs which can also be worn by women who love to look beautiful, not just dancers who perform....

At the top is another ammonite inspired piece, below is a section of embroidery I did 13 years ago, bravely cut up and transformed into a piece of wearable art.  I'm pretty interested to see where this goes....I'll keep you posted.....