A quick catch up

Well, there's very little to report here as this week has been full of half-term entertainments and viruses.  It's all over soon and hopefully normality will descend once G is back at school.

I have managed to get a headdress made and three cute little cuffs that will be perfect for summer evenings with pretty t-shirts and jeans but pics on websites will have to wait until tomorrow.  Here's a little peek though....

And tonight I'm off to eat Turkish food, gossip with friends and watch Ozgen dance.  Yay!!! 

Oooh, ooh.......

So my friend the lovely Kitty Kohl aka Kathryn has been fabulously productive and has bagged The Hipnotic School of Belly Dance a gig in town for Reading Women's Week.  We'll be teaching and performing a town centre venue in order to introduce people to the dance we all love, belly dance.

It's billed as A Belly Dance Extravaganza and an extravaganza it will be!  Details are up on Facebook so if you're a local come along and bring your friends who have always wanted to give it a go but who have never gotten around to getting to a class.  We'll show you what it's all about!

We're also going to be opening a performance of the Vagina Monologues on the Saturday night which is also happening in Reading.  The events being put together for this week will raise money for Berkshire Women's Aid which is a fantastic cause and we're really pleased to be involved.

Plus, I have a couple of other things in the pipeline which I shall share once they are signed and sealed!  Watch this space.....

Mum...........I think he's doing something he shouldn't......

Ah the joys of school holidays.  Serves me right for thinking everyone was playing happily which meant I could go and change the beds....

New things....

I have almost got a new headdress finished tonight, another one that has gorgeous jewellery drapes and some stand-out flowers.  No feathers on this one, but don't worry feather fans, some more of those coming soon!  (Now a small boy is up again demanding attention - it's always iffy if he falls asleep before 6pm at night, always means that he'll be up again by 8pm and doesn't go back to bed until at least 9pm.  Being Human is on tonight so 9pm is the watershed.)

There are two more prepared bases to decorate and make into something luscious and they'll maybe get done this week too if I get my way, although as it's half-term there's always a possibility that they won't!

And after half-term?  I plan to show you how I will make this heap of loveliness into a headdress.  Let's hope I can get some good pictures :)

 
I'm waiting with bated breath for some new feathers to arrive.  The ones I want just aren't available in the UK at all, and in particular I cannot find the dyed ones I'm after here, so they're being shipped from Canada.  I have spent hours sourcing them and am happy that I'm getting what I want at the best possible price (thanks to the  wonders of the Net).  So you can expect more feathered earrings and hair accessories soon. 

(Wonders will never cease, small boy has just taken himself to bed....)

And lastly, the full moon on Friday brought me computer problems aplenty.  With the help of some tweaks from a friend (thank you again!) and a couple of new programmes to help eliminate the pesky problems I *think* things are back to normal.  Shocking really how distressing it is to be without the Net now.  What, can't email anyone, have to phone people up?  Well, that's do-able obviously, but what about everything else a person does with the aid of their magical box?  I was pretty distraught at the thought of losing every thing but had luckily backed most things up recently so it wouldn't have been a total disaster is it had all gone really pear-shaped.

Mundane Matters

Yesterday saw me putting together a set of bunk beds for the children.  Theirs is a small room, so I chose a small set of wooden bunk beds and have to say I'm glad I did because now they're up they fit perfectly and they make the room look huge!

It's something of a task to put them together by yourself, but it was so worth it to see the look on my daughter's face when she got home from school.  My hands are still feeling sore but no matter, they're up and done.

School half-term next week means that precious little will get done in any other area of my life.  There are lots of plans for the children to meet with friends, but I have the feeling my daughter will just want people to visit so that they can play in her room :)

Whilst my two-and-a-half year old son was having a tantrum in the street I got a call today inviting me to attend the training for the voluntary role of a Making Life Better coach (oh the irony!)  However, this training clashes with another voluntary role I'm interested in and so I have decided to go with my first commitment.  Some of the reasons for this were outlined in a previous post, but I was pleased to have been offered the role as the interview was quite rigorous.

Tonight I think I may have to catch up with the most mundane matter of all - housework.  I think it was Phyllis Diller who said, "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the path (walk) before it stops snowing."  I agree but am drawn to have a big clear up every now and again - it makes me feel better even if it only lasts moments.

Sad but true today I treated myself to a new mop.  Oh the glamour.  So if I'm a good girl this evening I will be vacuuming and mopping so that when the children get up in the morning they can completely cover a really clean floor in stuff and nonsense.  And maybe tomorrow night I can add my own stuff and nonsense with bits of feather fluff and many of the other bits I pieces I leave behind after an evening of creating.

Busy busy busy

There's a lot going on here at Blackwillow Towers at the moment.

In my home-life things continue as they should with small children, although I wasn't banking on two footballs, a childs plastic chair, a toy shopping trolley and a plastic truck getting thrown over the fence and into the river (ok, it's a canal but it's more romantic to call it the river) this afternoon by my 2 and a half year old son when I let him and his sister and her friend from school out into the garden this afternoon.  I couldn't deal with all of the shouting anymore so out they went.  Then the shouting continued because of his primal need to throw things in the river.  By the time I got into the garden it was too late to save anything.

He didn't appreciate being brought back into the house, but at least there's not much more he can throw into the river.  Unless I count the big gorilla buckets full of toys.  And the gardening utensils and...ok, there's still a lot that could go in.....

Dance news...the troupe I dance with, Covert Bling, have been asked to take part in two events in aid of Women's Week here in Reading.  Both are very exciting for us and I'll be able to post more details when I know more.

We've also got performances coming up soon outside of Reading, and as usual we are working hard to get everything ready for our next Hipnotic night.

In my own classes I have three new members who are staying for both classes, which is excellent.  Although it's hard to integrate new people into existing and long running classes it's a challenge that I enjoy.  If you're interested you can read more about that here.

Personally, I am working on two new pieces but not as much as I should if I'm honest.  My focus for next week is to get working on one of them with more attention.

And on the making things front there's just not enough time in the day.  Got a couple more things made and photographed tonight but I also have to eat and at some point tonight I'll need to go to bed.   In fact.....goodnight all!