Ribbit...

I've been doing a bit more navel gazing lately, it's always been one of my favourite past times. Some may refer to it as day dreaming. I wouldn't disagree. The mind has to go somewhere when dealing with the monotony and drudgery of household tasks. So while the dishes get washed and the clothes get pegged, I'll be solving problems, if you don't mind! It's all this house keeping, child raising duty that's been on my mind of late and when I'm not at my best, it really gets me down. Add to this a soundtrack of squeaky voiced no's and high pitched screechy protests and I worry my mind may well go somewhere. My guess being round the twist. Funnily, my instinctive approach to solving the stresses of home Mumming is to clean more. When the pressure is on and I need to stop a fight, cook lunch, check the dryer then wash dishes with a crying one year old on my hip while shouting down the passage at the three year old to stop man-handling the cat, all I can see is dirt and delapidation. To me the grout around the sink is disgusting, there are grotty fingerprints on everything, the floor is a maze of sticky skid marks and the whole kitchen needs renovating.  Until now I've been trying to solve this problem by cleaning and then cleaning some more. But having pondered a bit and chatted to others in similar situations, I've come to the conclusion that the problem lies somewhere other than in the layer of cat hair on the lounge room rug. I've always been very influenced by my surroundings and now I'm a stay at home Mum I'm in the same surroundings day in, day out with two cherubs who have no appreciation for cleanliness or tidyness. So, instead of seeing only the housework that inevitably needs doing and hearing only the negativity coming from the junior members of the house (which always spirals into me falling on to the couch, a blithering mess at the end of the day) I'm shifting the focus. I'm going to look at my quirky little frog vase with fresh flowers. I'll take a peek at my lovely, shiny red kitchenaid. I'll let my eyes wander to my 1950's glass cabinet filled with vintage cups, bowls and other oddoties. Then when I look into the eyes of my super cute kidlets I won't see the puddle of milk my daughter is squelching in to the floor, I'll see her happy little face, delighting in the sensory experience. I won't see the soup my son has made using cat water, cat food and my precious, retro swift whip, I'll see a mini chef honing his skills.  I lost my Dad suddenly a couple of years ago and had  three life threatening bleeds after the births of my two babies, so I have had a major shift in my life outlook. I'm now hyper aware of not letting the small stuff take over my life. I want to suck up the sunshine in every day. It's a conscious effort and I'm getting better at it. So, I'm operating on the 'stop and smell the roses' theory and now a new one. I'll call it the 'leave it moderately filthy' theory. Afterall, as a friend kindly reminded me, when they grow up, the kids won't remember that the floor was dirty!
Here's another little happy maker...

I've called her Paper Peggy and she has been a little ray of creative sanity over the past week. I love being able to escape in to my buntyandsars drawing room and get busy. She should be all bundled up with two pages of colour-in clothes and some other special touches by the next Daylesford Makers Market. She's a super sweety!