Time to Take Stock

These are busy days right now. I'm at the pointy end of my first study period in my design course, and I'm spending almost every spare minute working on final submissions. I avoid doing any of my course work when William is up and around, so the spare hours available for me to do the work are pretty limited. But I like the separation, so that when he's up and around, we do our things, and he doesn't lose me to computer land. Mostly.

Audrey and Frankie have settled into their new home so well, and they've become so much more friendly with us. Happy chickens lay yummy eggs.

Anyway, this is a little snapshot of how things are going in our neck of the woods these days.

Making: lots of yummy treats. William's favourite thing at the moment is baking - he gets a box of flour from the cupboard and runs with it to his high chair, ready to drag the chair into the kitchen where we do the baking. Muffins, banana loaf, biscuits, cake - we've made it all this week. I'm trying to find the time to make us some aprons to make it just that little bit sweeter.

Cooking: lots of dalh. The winter just gone, I became a convert to eating dahl for breakfast. So, so very warming. You have to add lots of warming spices - ginger (fresh is best), cardamom, some cinnamon, amongst the other usual suspects you add to a dahl. I can feel the warmth spread through my body all the way down to my feet when I eat this. We're still having cold mornings so it's well and truly on the breakfast menu still.

Drinking: too much tea, as always. I've been trying to cut out just one cup per day, somewhere. Just one cup. It's going ok, mostly. 

Reading: For me, the Ben Hewitt blog is a new source of inspiration. For my little one, we're reading a Wiggles book quite a lot, and Petra the Pony is a favourite right now too.

Feeling: grateful to our neighbours who came over to help us tackle our out-of-control garden. All six of them. And loving the way our little house was comfortably filled with little people and laughter and good conversation.

 

Deciding: that it's time I re-learned how to knit. Socks and jumpers and cardigans are what I'm wanting to make, for all of us (although I'm likely the only cardigan wearer around here).

Enjoying: the days getting noticeably longer. It's a double edged sword though, as it makes me want to stay outside for longer in the afternoons, rather than coming inside to get dinner going. And that makes the whole evening routine happen later, including my bedtime…

Waiting: no waiting. Lots of things are in the future to come but I'm just enjoying what's right in front of me right now. No waiting.

Liking: the idea of a month away from my study, after I get through the next week or so. I have plans, I do. Oh yes, there are plans. Involving things like sewing machines and great big buckets of vinegar water for cleaning and just simply folding the washing while my little one naps, and nothing else… Big plans.

Loving: the smell of the trees in this place after it rains. Seriously, when it eases enough that we can be outside, I grab that boy, put him in is wet weather gear, and go wander through the trees down the back and just breath in the fresh eucalypt smell. It's divine. I feel so incredibly blessed to call this place home.

Pondering: whether there will be enough blood plums to make jam with, or will we just eat them all. I hope there's heaps, because I'm very keen to improve on my jam-making skills.

Considering: some more chickens, once the permanent chook run is built. We have two now, four would be nice, could we stretch it to six? Think of all the frittata's I could make…

Watching: the grass grow, like mad. 

Hoping: that a horse and a pony come to live here with us soon.

Marvelling: at my little boy, as always. He amazes me with what he knows, does, observes. He's the most industrious little fellow. He just gets in and gets to work. He knows all the jobs to be done, wipe the table, set the table, put the weeds in the wheelbarrow ready to go to the weed pile, water the new seedlings. Feed the chooks, check for eggs, put the folded washing away. He's just too sweet for words, really.

Needing: to go to bed and get a good, long sleep. Uninterrupted is probably too much to ask for, I'll settle for long stretches between interruptions.

Smelling: lemon cake from our baking efforts today.

Wearing: my favourite mustard-coloured knitted cardigan, made by my mum.

Following: my little boy around the garden, as he chases butterflies and bees. 

Noticing: that once again my boy has had a growth spurt and all of a sudden he's tall - and sort of missing the baby days. It all just changes too fast. I love where he's at, I always do, but I feel like I don't have time to process the changes, they just keep happening. 

Knowing: that even though everything is lush and green right now, come the middle of summer it's going to be dry and brown and damn hot. It makes me appreciate the green just that little bit more.

Thinking: that I have to go to sleep very soon.

Feeling: utterly exhausted, overwhelmed and inspired all at once. Kind of a tricky combination, as there are so many things I want to get in and do, but there's only so much you can do in a day, and in my case right now, that's really not very much.

Sorting: everything! I've been over nearly everything we own with a fine tooth comb since moving to this smaller house. I thought I had decluttered before, I was maybe half way there. At a stretch.

Buying: expensive veterinary services for our cat, and big bags of cat food, and lunch at a cafe in town. Maybe a horse soon?

Disliking: honestly, in some sense I'm disliking being Australian right now. This current government, the way this country seems to be headed, it leaves me feeling somewhat ashamed to be an Australian. 

Giggling: at my husband reading a chapter of a very proper horse book, the chapter being 'Buying a Horse'. This is the same man who's only objective about any horse that comes here is that it does not chase him. I love that he's taking it seriously - 'we should build stables, apparently', and 'we will have to put a post and rail fence around the perimeter'. Neither of those things are likely, but we can improve the shelter and remove all the barbed wire, as a start.

Snacking: on too many baked treats. But at least they're homemade with love and toddler hands (and actually most of the stuff we make has no added sugar, except for a few things, and I'm wary of adding sugar as I'm the one who has to deal with a hypo toddler if we do).

Dreaming: of a laundry. In the house. 

Wishing: that there was something I could do about the current state of politics in Australia. I feel so helpless to do anything to change the way this country is going, I feel so at odds with the masses really. I guess you just have to change the parts you can change, and if that is only how you are in your own home and in your community, then maybe that is it. But I can't help wishing there was something more.

Hearing: some quiet jazz on the radio on a Friday night, the fan going on the wood heater, a little one snuffling away in his sleep. Just the sounds of the house winding down for the night, and it's pretty nice. And a little meow at the door. 

Thanks to Pip for the prompts for this post.