I'm always muttering the "life is too short" mantra. So often, in fact, that my inner hippie has come up with a life philosophy/list to live by. This inner hippie crops up every now and then with all sorts of advice to live your life by, and today she is looking very funky. In my head she's wearing some faded denim flares with big cuffs on the bottom. They're teamed with a hand embroidered cheesecloth top and enormous faux tortoise shell sunnies. Tying the whole ensemble together is a gorgeous, brand new pair of timber soled, woven leather clogs (technically still on order, paid for with birthday money...happy birthday me!)
Now I'll get on with this rambling list. But please, as you read it, imagine my inner hippie sitting idly in the sun scrawling in a dog eared note book, occasionally squinting into the glorious rays.
-Life is too short to eat low fat. Anything. It tastes bad, I'd rather eat a carrot stick and a lettuce leaf than bother with that gack. Has anyone noticed there's about three varieties of full fat yoghurt amongst a solid wall of low fat, sugary snot in the supermarket?
-Life is too short to save the box. I come from a strong family tradition of keeping boxes for fridges, toasters, TV's and hair dryers. You know, just in case you have to take it back. I don't need that much excess cardboard lying around. It's a fire hazard. (I'll make an exception for cardboard saved for the purpose of making a cubby, rocket ship or sister container)
-Life is too short to iron jeans, T shirts, trackies, hankies and hoodies. I have better things to do. And if you're ironing pillow cases or underwear, whip yourself quickly to the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror and have a long hard look at yourself.
-Life is too short to rinse rice. The recipe says I should and that the resulting rice will be superior. But look, I wouldn't notice the difference and nor would anyone else.
-Life is too short to save you good clothes up for special occasions. Unless it's your wedding dress, which would just look weird in the cereal aisle of Coles. This is especially true of kids clothes. Save them for too long and they'll be too small, then hello St Vinnies.
-Life is too short to give mass produced, expensive and soulless cards (cue shameless self promotion...buntyandsars do a lovely hand made range!) Better still, empty out the cornflakes, chop up the box, write happy birthday on the front then dump it on the table in front of the kidlets with a large pile of bottle tops, lolly papers, glitter and finger paint. Don't forget the Clag.
Now, having pondered these pearls it occurred to me there's still plenty of time to do other things. It's about stealing time and energy from the rubbish stuff in life to make space for all the goodies. So...
-There's always time to eat yummy things really slowly. The full fat stuff. An hour spent with a wedge of brie and a glass of red is time well spent, I say.
-There's always time to sing "there's one grey elephant balancing, step by step on a piece of string" (a la Playschool) to your three year old son as he trundles precariously along a low wall, one careful step at a time.
-There's always time to make your own bread. Poo hoo, I hear you say, but I've been at it for many weeks now and I don't think I can stop.
-There's always time to plant colourful flowers, just because they're pretty. You could go with low maintenance foliage numbers to be tidy and minimalist, but who doesn't smile at a riot of pansies petunias and primulas?
-There's always time to remind your kids about manners. They make all that everyday interaction pleasant. Even if you're strategically complaining about the food or service at a cafe. Oh, and some impeccable manners help to offset those nasty swear words they pick up along the way, too!
-There's always time to spend doing something you love. It's soul affirming and sanity saving. I'm sure if I didn't off load this creativity in to something beautiful, it would surely fester and turn toxic. Thankyou buntyandsars.
This sunny Saturday just gone saw me trundle my bundle out to the Daylesford Makers Market. It was lovely to chat and do a spot of shopping (it's hard to make a profit when there's so much good stuff to buy!) I also tried out my new (op-shop spice rack) display unit. I think it looked cute alongside a washing line of cards adorned either end with some beautifully daggy 1950's plastic flowers. It's got me looking at my range as a whole and my next project is to try to bring everything together visually with some distinctive but characteristic branding in the form of some new covers for the colouring books and perhaps a little something for little boys (they always miss out) So keep an eye on buntyandsars because there's always something new in the pipeline.
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