The reality of returning to work

As I start this new year, I also return back to work after my maternity leave, and although I don't start back properly until February, the reality of trying to juggle everything has been playing on my mind.

Before I tackle how to fit in all the extra things to make and grow that I've been thinking about, I have to work out how to manage the house as well as having great time with the kids when we're not at work and nursery.  The last thing I want is for all our time to be taken up with chores, but I do want a clean and safe environment for them to grow, and although my standards are definitely not where they used to be, the reality of meal planning, washing and cleaning are still there.

So my pondering on how to make sure that these chores don't overwhelm me and steal quality time and my thoughts, has lead to two things.

The first is a new plan, which of course includes a tick list!  I love having lists and crossing things off, but hate rewriting this kind of repetitive list, as it highlights the never ending cycle that I'm in.  So my latest plan (knowing me there will be a different one next year), is a list of weekly, fortnightly and monthly chores.  There is a plastic sheet over the top, so I (possibly we) can cross things off, but when the timeframe has passed, simply wipe off the markings and start again.  The theory of it being in view is that another adult in the house may also do some of these tasks, but by his own admission, I won't hold my breath ;-)

The second plan is to shift my attitude to these tasks.  An old uni friend of mine, Roger Bretherton, has recently written a book called 'the GOD lab' in which he talks about the Beatitudes and gives experiments for you to do at the end of each chapter.  On of these, is to pause in something that you're doing, and use all your senses to really experience the moment.  What can I hear, see, feel, smell, taste?  I've started doing it when I breastfeed my son, as I often spend the time thinking about all the things I need to do, coming up with ideas etc.  But the time I spend with him in these moments is really precious and going so fast!  This has really helped me to enjoy the moment, savour it, live in it, not in the past or the future, and thank God for it.  

So my plan, is to try and apply that to the chores too.  Some I'll do with my daughter (as she loves helping!) and are precious, some are just moments to pause in the now.  Having just done it a few times already, I've found myself being so thankful to God; thankful that I have the ability to do the tasks (have found the time, have the strength, the mental capacity, my health, have been blessed with the appliance that makes it so much easier etc), so already I'm finding a new richness in something I'd never have thought I could.

So thanks God and Roj!


(Here's another photo of the list, for those that requested the ability to read it all ;-)

Waste Challenge - Results Unveiled!

Drum roll please.....

....and the results of the first week of the bokashi existing in our waste challenge are...

Pre-Bokashi

23rd Nov    10kg

30th Nov     8.5kg (of which 4kg was disposable night nappies!)

7th Dec       7kg

(there was a bit of a gap of weighing in the middle of December, due to being away and the general madness of the Christmas week)

With Bokashi

4th Jan         6.5kg (of which 4kg was disposable night nappies)

To have a clearer picture we'll obviously need a few more weeks of results, and equally should probably have had more 'pre-bokashi' weeks when we weren't changing other habits.

But the really interesting thing has been generally thinking more about where the things we'd normally pop in the general waste bin could go to.  So here are where lots of bits are now going, and I'm hoping we'll get even lighter general waste going forward!

How we 'recycle'

• paper, tin, plastic bottles - the recycle bin
• glass - the glass bank
• shredded paper - the compost
• egg cartons - the compost or junk modelling
• plastic trays, yoghurt pots etc - nursery for junk modelling
• foil - a local church that collects (via a friend who does a trip there every so often)
• milk bottle lids - the office to a charity that collects them
• broken or unused 'things' - freegle, charity shops (and if that fails, the general waste)
• fabric/shoes - clothes/fabric bank, if no good for friends or charity shops.

Things that we haven't found a way to recycle (yet!)

Lurking at the back of the cleaning cupboard!

• tissues (we seem to have a lot of these with four snotty winter noses in the house)
• plastic wrappers that annoyingly covers most food from supermarkets! (a bit reason for getting fruit & veg boxes delievered each week is that everything is loose in a box that you return or can recycle)
• disposable nappies (although I'm considering trying both kids in the daytime terry nappies for a few nights - the reason we'd changed previously is that the wet when they are little can get them to wake more frequently, but would like to see if that's the reality now they're a bit older)
• chemicals/cleaning products that we don't want (I recently cleared out the cleaning cupboard (with some irony - see the photo!), and some things we've been given randomly over the years, haven't used, but wanted rid of...I tried freegling some, but to no avail...so sadly ended up in the bin).
• oil/fat (at the council recycle centre they now have an oil bank, however, a) I have to drive to the other end of the island to get to it b) we don't collect very much and it went really mouldy in the jar c) the bank was locked shut when I get there, so they said just to leave it on the floor next to it...did it ever make it into the bin, or just into the general household skips?)

So we're going to keep at it, and I am going to look into whether the council pays a tax on the weight of waste that is disposed, as on the basis that our small kitchen compost caddy is definitely heavier each week than our whole kitchen general waste bin, there may be a cost saving argument for introducing food waste collecting (plenty of other areas do it).  Although looking at the number of black bin bags that our neighbours put out each week, the habit shift required to make it viable would be enormous (not a reason not to do it, if it's the right thing though!).

Mixed success in charity shops today

So I trawled the charity shops in Southsea today, and the bad news is that there is hardly any wool around, so not sure I'll be unravelling too many jumpers to make other things this year.  The world seems to make all jumpers with cotton and acrylic (no wonder they're not that warm!).

But the good news is the amazing children's gift stash that I picked up in the Cry shop.  Amazingly the pile below only cost £8 in total, and most of them are totally unused.

I'll definitely keep visiting the charity shops, and keep hunting out gifts and fingers crossed on the wool front.

A Year of Unravelling Jumpers?

So as the official start of our year begins tomorrow, I've been thinking about how I'm going to have to be far more creative than I've been during our warm-up of the past couple of months.

This week I've started knitting a hoodie for the kids again (there was a long pause after K was born), and it's reminded me how much I love knitting and how that is another avenue for making gifts and getting clothing etc.  However, for anyone who's bought wool in the last few years, it is a very expensive option, in comparison to buying anything in the shops.  (I honestly don't know how they can justify the cost of clothing as it is, even if you halved the cost of wool!)   So buying more wool to make things; toys, stockings, jumpers, pen holders etc, seems like a dead-end.

Then revelation hit!!  (Amazing what things you think about in a darkened room whilst breastfeeding in the middle of the night...am never sure if I'm awake or dreaming up these things).  In my regular charity shop trawls, I can hunt out wool jumpers and unravel them for a giant supply of cheap wool!  It surely can't be that hard, once I've managed to undo the sticking that holds it all together.  So watch this space on whether it works or not (photos to follow later in 2012).

I've also decided I need to be more creative on food production.  This week I managed to get our new compost bin in place, in the corner of the backyard.  I've never been too optimistic about the amount of food we could generate in such a small space, with little sunshine, and lots of paving slabs.  Although the pots have done us proud, with tomatoes, apples and bay leaves.

But I noticed that we have a little strip of soil between the slabs and the wall (probably not quite 2 foot deep), which is hidden under bits of slate.  The soil underneath seems really good.  And all I need to do is relocate the apple tree pots (I'll probably need to get rid of a few shrubs, which aren't that exciting anyway), and we'll have a little strip farm of our own.  So I've emailed our friends who have a real strip farm (the source of our apple harvest earlier this year, and the beautiful bunch of mistletoe on our front door this Christmas...thanks!!!!) to get some tips on where to start, and hopefully we'll get some veg going later this year.  Something else to try and regularly fit into the week, but I've always aspired to an allotment later on, but am put off by the distance we'd have to travel to get to it....so no excuse on this challenge!

So as the New Year dawns there are lots of ideas and activities bubbling away.  It really is exciting, and I'm hoping that January and February (traditionally my least favourite months of the year (even though my birthday is in the midst of them)) are more positive than normal.  The biggest challenge will be time, especially as I juggle returning to work too, but I like nothing better than change and a challenge...so here goes.

So Happy New Year, to anyone reading this, and I hope you find something to challenge you this coming year, and find some richness in less too!

Unable to Outgive God

So we started this festive season with the focus of giving, rather than receiving.  No big present wishlists; a focus on gifts for the kids that encouraged great family time; and a desire to spend more money on those who are really in need, rather than on us having a 'Merry Christmas'.

Click here to get Images

Over the past few days I've been looking back over the month to check that I haven't been distracted by sparkly lights and advertising (hard for someone that never watches anything other than CBeebies in real time anymore...and loves the skip forward button for anything that's been recorded on a channel that even does ads).  To my surprise/amusement/thankfulness, whilst we've been focused on giving, we seem to have been blessed by others giving to us, in a disproptionate way!

We've had friends doing clear outs, that have invited me round to delve through bags of things before they head to charity shops; I've helped my Dad clear out my Grandma's house, as she's unable to have much in the care home, and is more than happy for family to put to use her decades worth of stuff; we've had random things passed to us that are no longer needed, or are simply things people have received in duplicate....and for all this, we are truly thankful!

I have to confess to two shop purchases, but with mind-boggling discounts.  I have at last got a new coat that will keep me warm and dry on the bike, or when pushing the buggy in driving rain (a Berghaus 3-in-1, that firstly had 50% off, and then a further 25% off).  And yesterday, whilst popping into a shop for a lightbulb (haven't worked out a way to survive without these!), we saw some kids shoes discounted.  I managed to get the next pair of shoes for M....they had been £30 at full price, and everything was discouted to £15....that is apart from the one box I picked out for her, which was only £9!  Nothing wrong with them, no apparent reason for the extra discount...weird!!

So here are some examples of what we've got:

• a lovely sewing box
• a wet suit
• a four slice toaster
• a barometer
• kids jigsaws and games
• kids clothes
• M's next size up shoes
• a really warm and waterproof coat for me
• a presige hand-whisk
• the next size up car seat
• a blanket box
• a big flour sack storage box.

From all this, we've got things that I've been looking for, for months (in one case, about 3 years!), but haven't got as they've been too expensive, not quite what we wanted, or just seemed like a luxury we could do without. 

I love the way it's been the opposite to the normal way the world seems to work...more often than not, people spend far more than they earn....perhaps, we should all try giving, more than we spend, and let God worry about the rest (not with the motivation of getting lots of stuff) in the knowledge that we are blessed, and it's great to bless others.

A thought for Advent & Week -3 Update

I recently saw this cartoon in a 'Simple Way' e-newsletter, and it has become part of my advent focus.  It's been really good to keep in mind, when thinking about gifts for Christmas, and generally keeping the season in perspective.

What's been really interesting is the number of opportunities that have come to light which have just provided tiny chances to rebalance this image.

Here are a of couple of great sites that I've come across that allow some creative gifting to others (thanks for those who have found them and passed them on!):

• lendwithcare.org is a great microfinance site, where you can provide funding for entrepreneurs around the world.  Well done CARE International & The Co-Op 

• Must Have Gifts from organisations such as World Vision, and it's great to see so many different ways to buy goats, chickens etc from so many more organisations nowadays

Week -3 Update

Some will think I'm sad for saying it, but I'm excited to report that I've started using the Bokashi!  So watch this space to see what impact it has on our waste weight (although I think Christmas week may not be the best timing for reducing the weight).

I helped clear out my Grandma's house this weekend, as she has moved to a care home.  From it I've got some amazing family social history, some lovely retro gear (most of which I'm going to try and sell on the amazing Albert Road, for her!), some stuff for Portsmouth Food Bank, the Red Cross Asylum Seeker Drop In, Freegle and for general recycling.  A mammoth and exhausting task, but simply getting in a house clearance firm to gut it (and probably dump lots of it) seemed wrong.

Christmas presents are still being made, and there is still a little way to go....so I'm heading off to get back to it.  Enjoy the rest of Advent!

Week -4 Update

With an early Christmas celebration with the Seek Clan outside Preston this weekend, the week has been predominantly focused on making Christmas presents. Again I've noticed how much extra time it takes to make stuff...although it's far more satisfying than typing in a pin number!

Christmas Gifts

I've made chutney from the apples we picked in a friend's orchard last month, put it in old jam jars that we've been collecting as they empty, and decorated the lids by cutting up a paper bag that we got in a shop recently.  (Yes....I did venture into a shop!!  Oops)

Then there was a massive batch of fudge, ginger crispy fingers (a recipe from my childhood) and chocolate tiffin with a sneaky difference (popping candy) for the kids.

All finished off with wrapping (clear plastic from a florist and ribbons that I take off gifts that we're given over the years.

The gifts have crossed the generations, and either everyone is just humouring me and being very polite, or they have gone down well.

Christmas Tour

We've also toured 14 relatives and 4 friends in a five day trip up North, so although it's been a lot of petrol, we've managed to make it an efficient (if not tiring) trip.  We've also managed to pick up lots of hand-me-down toys to pass onto some local charities when we get home for their party gift bags.