a bit of tartan, some good fortune, perhaps a smidgen of snow and a little thanks...

for the past two days i have been wearing my elf cap upon my bonce. alas and alack, i have not been wearing my Paddington Bear pyjamas despite the temptation of their flannelly goodness and the crappity crap dreary weather. they are not quite like the ones he wears, for if i recall (and we all know how iffy that can be) he wore pinstriped ones, or perhaps that was my own Paddington Bear, now i am thinking he wore ones with flowers on. well mine are tartan and i like to think if Paddington had gone across the border into Scotland he would have liked a pair of tartan pj's to remind him of his travels.

mine are made from Stewart tartan no less.

"how could you possibly know such a thing Tif?" i hear you inquire.

well dearest reader, first off may i congratulate you on your inquiry, i think it is always important to be inquisitive of such matters.

well as luck would have it, many many moons ago in my late teens i lived in Edinburgh for several years and worked a day job at a Barrow which stocked buttons and ribbons, and many of those ribbons were tartan. and being what my job was, i was often called upon by inquiring tourists to name a tartan or two. oh yes those  long ago days of cutting ribbon and counting out buttons all come flooding back when i stumble across a tartan or two.

'weather bug' has informed me that it is going to snow, he appears to be a little iffy as to the details and when i try to pin point him down he becomes quite vague. 'weather bug' is an app, he lives on my cell phone, i have reached the 21st century, i have a phone that does things other than dial a number. i am struggling with the other things it does but luckily for me, i live with teenage lads :)

so i have a handy dandy 'weather bug' who appears to change his mind hourly and now i have a 'fortune cookie' app too! never has life been so thrilling to get out of bed at 6:30am for the school run than when one has a fortune cookie waiting for you. i just tap its little shell and out pops my fortune for the day. two days ago when my phone rang causing me to panic as it rarely rings and being one of those smart phones you press things without wishing to, just trying to get it out of your bag. well all i was trying to do was answer my phone, a perfectly innocent thing to do, but instead i pressed the 'button tile' to my fortune cookie, which is okay normally because it would just show me my fortune again for that day, reminding me less i had forgotten. however in my need to get back to where i wished to be, i double tapped it. gosh, do you know, my fortune cookie got cross with me. it actually told me off. it said something along the lines of 

"do not be greedy, one fortune a day, come back tomorrow".

after which i was quite upset for there appeared no where on the screen i could tap out a message to my fortune cookie explaining the tres terrible mistake, telling him, i was not intentionally being greedy and to please forgive me so i could go about my day without feeling wretched. but no, nowhere and so i was left with that feeling of having done something wrong. the power of what appears to be a harmless little app...

but today is not the day for talking tartan pj's and fortune cookies, although can i just say, if 'weather bug' gets it right and snow comes a tumbling from the sky, i'll be donning my flannel pj's faster than my lads can shout "snow day, no school".

today is the perfect day for me to say "thank you kindly". it was so spiffy to see so many of you at my 'joyful' shop update, you kindly spent your hard earned pennies which resulted in not only me wearing an elf cap but also my peachy friend Laurie. she came by on tuesday to help me and i must say her 'elf cap' was far prettier than mine. i am thinking i need to 'dottie angel' mine up a bit.

also, before my shop update, so many many kind folks have been coming to my little shop and buying the book. you have taken time to write me fabby feedback upon your purchases and also to send me emails with how much you love the book. this is wonderful to know...

so with a week to go till thanksgiving, i truly am most thankful for your kindness, your custom and your lovely comments you continue to share with me. i've said it before and i will say it again, you are the bees knees for sure.

she notes, it is one month tomorrow and her girls are home for the holidays ~ Tif

a 'joyful' update today...

i am not here today, i am over here,

hanging things in clusters in my shop window.

how nice, clusters throughout the day.

i am thinking if one saw every day in clusters

it would make things quite nice.

i'll do a cluster of laundry and then craft,

another cluster of feeding the clan, then craft

and so forth...

yes i do like myself a cluster or two

she has rediscovered her love of paddington bear pyjamas now winter is upon her, and thinks a cluster of pj's in flannel would be grand too ~ Tif 

Nanny 911

I'm firing our second nanny today. I cannot believe I'm here dealing with nanny bullshit again. My husband calls this whole time period Nannygate. I don't find him amusing.



Our nanny Laurie has been with our family since the babies were three weeks old. She is amazing. She goes above and beyond every time she is here. The kids love her. She's honest, hardworking and genuine. She's become as much of a friend as she's been an employee.



When Laurie first started working with our kids she was a nursing student who had a practicum at one of the local hospitals in the PACU. Her schedule was still pretty flexible. After she graduated in May she got a full time job working in a different hospital's NICU and she's on the night shift (7 p.m. to 7 a.m.) which means that she's not as available as she used to be. On a good week I can get her here three days, and on a not so good week I can only have her one day.



If I could only have Laurie, I would be a very happy girl.



Earlier this year I started freelancing out of my home. I picked up two clients between June and September and they gave me about 5-10 hours worth of work per week. But the work wasn't always consistent. In September I reached out to a friend of mine who owns a PR company and asked her if she new anyone that was looking for freelancers. About a week later I was brought on board with her company and it's been a great experience so far.



I'm working 15 hours per week, from home. It's given me a break from the babies and has really helped me feel like a person again. The work is right up my alley and I love the freedom of managing my schedule. What I have not loved is finding childcare for my kids. I cannot believe how untrustworthy and unreliable some people can be. I have a ton of guilt over this. Why am I choosing to work instead of staying at home?



If I'm being honest, working has made me a better mother. I'm more patient. I value my time with the babies more. And my time with them is focused just on them, whereas before I was on my phone or on the internet a lot more.



Staying at home is hard, you kind of start to loose your mind a little. Or at least I did. But I never wanted to be dealing with so much childcare craziness and frankly I'm overwhelmed.



I have a meeting tomorrow with one of my clients and part of that meeting will be a discussion of the workflow and assignments over the coming months. My hope is that I can fall a little more behind the scenes with writing and research. If that is a possibility, I can wake up at 5 a.m. and I'll have two hours to work each morning before the babies get up. Then I can just have Laurie come when she can so I can make calls and pitch during business hours.



It would be great to find another nanny who could come 1-2 days per week so I can get more done during the day, but I don't know if I have it in me to look again. Interviewing these people is a second full-time job. And honestly, I'm starting to question my own judgement right now.



If you have in-home care, any advice is welcome - be it advice on how you manage your manage your nanny, your work set up or how you found her. I'm drowning in mom guilt and frustration.

'thing' friday...

thing one:

it is tres gloomy in the shed today, i know this to be true for just now i saw from the kitchen, that the family room looked tres dull and marched in there to pull back the curtains, only to discover i had already done so earlier. this tells me two things (within 'thing one'). it is tres gloomy and my ability to recall what i did ten minutes earlier is on rocky grounds

thing two:

a chance comment by a peachy reader reminded me of my lost 'little happy monkey' tray. i had two, one for display and one for use. a little while ago i lost my 'one for use'. i do not recall taking him out of the shed for a walk. i tried without vain to recall my last movements within my shed with my little tray, but alas and alack, the old recall cogs just will not turn. it has been over 5 weeks since i last saw my little tray. just thinking about him somewhere lost in our shed makes me sad... looking out and seeing perhaps me walking past, thinking i would spy him and gather him up and then no, i just walk on by, unable to spy him amongst the piles

thing three:

this sunday, when the weather will be at an all time 'gloomy low' i will be at the Assemble shop, beavering away with lovely dearies. i think this is a fine and dandy way to pass a gloomy day and i am actually rather giddy about it

thing four:

my rippley blanket is complete and i am most happy indeed. despite the fretting of colours, i do believe it turned out 'a-okay'. i know i am happy with it, because i have feelings of not wishing it to be shared with my clan members. this is a sign of me liking it very mucho. here is a few things you may wish to know if you are interested in what i did. if you are not, then you are welcome to skippity skip this bit. i do not mind one little bit.

* i used chunky yarn, 

* i made my own chunky yarn for some colours by doubling and tripling strands of yarn together

* i did a basic chevron pattern i learnt off YouTube

* i used a Mr Hook size 7

* i did four rows of each colour in double crochet (triple crochet UK)

* there was method to the madness of the colour placing

1 row of cream

1 row of colour

1 row of cream

2 rows of colour

1 row of cream

3 rows of colour

1 row of cream

4 rows of colour

1 row of cream

* i have discovered that when i add a healthy dose of cream to my crocheting it always appears to pull it together.

* i finished off my rippley blanket with an edge, the edge consists of

1 row of single crochet

1 row of picot crochet

and there you have it, you can make it any size you like. mine is perfectly sized for one large being and one small being to share. as i do not have a small being in my shed, i am debating allowing a little critter to snuggle in next to me. but no large beings. no they can have the other pile of blankets i have made over the years which are now looking rather loved. this will be my very own exclusive Tif's blanket... 

i am wondering now if i need to put a note pinned on it, reminding others they may look but not touch. then again, that would make me seem like a meanie, so perhaps i'll just hide it somewhere so others cannot find it. but what if i did that and then my recall cogs do not turn and i lose my lovely blanket along with my lovely 'monkey tray'? would that serve me right for being a meanie and not sharing? oh my goodness, i am now left with a quandary within my brain of what to do here...

thing five:

i don't have one, i did but its fallen into a black hole in my brain, due to anxiety coming on through fretting about the safety of my blanket. i'm sure it was super thrilling and really interesting, but once again, alas and alack, we will never know.

she is wishing you a happy dandy weekend with recall skills in tippity top condition ~ Tif