Wednesday 31 August 2011

Connections ....

I live in a fairly large town .. but sometimes it seems so small (partly probably due to living in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen in the past). Small in the sense that it is always amazing how connected everyone is to each other - in a 6 degrees of Kevin bacon-kind of way...everyone knows each other. This is also highlighted because of my job, you would be surprising how pretty much everybody I have taught has some connection to someone else I have taught ....

Part of me loves that feeling of connection I have to people .. friends and obviously family, places, memories. I am still friends with a lot of my school friends, (my sister-in-law being one of them), and this week I have been fortunate enough to meet up with two of my longest and best, one lives in Madrid and one in Yorkshire.

There is just something about being with someone that has known you, and i mean every side of you, since you were 12/13 ... good and bad, warts and all...pre-dating children, relationships. It is funny to reminisce .. see yourself through their eyes (I was apparently viewed as an arty, confident free spirit , when in my head i was an angst ridden - ugly duckling) , get their recollections, their interpretations on the past .... their memories of my mum (the coolest mum, hip, pretty, young...but to me she was Adena to my Saffy....a nightmare!) .. they all remember Nanny, they all remember my parties ( I had legendary parties...!!) ..

Maybe it is because I am a sap, maybe because of my childhood ... but memories and connections to people are so important to me...bonds, loyalty...love. All these things which shape us....

But then there is also the part of me that likes to isolate myself from those all-knowing connections ... I am a firecly independent and self reliant person, so sometimes i like to duck out and keep my head low ... something which can be hard to do in a town where everyone knows your name ... lol!!

Friends old and new are important .... friends keep us sane... and I love all of mine. Thank you xx

Friday 26 August 2011

Footsteps ...

Nothing really major to post .. it is Friday morning and i have my first day off this week. Although I have just had a couple of new sewing commissions in, one for a load of items for a soon to be born baby boys nursery.... super cute and bound to make me broody!

I had a new baby start at class this week, although he was 10 weeks old, he was so small and precious and i got to snuggle him for ages at coffee time! I really do love children, I have been like this since i was a little girl. I am the oldest of many grandchildren in our family and i have always had the mothering role. I know I wanted to be a mummy from about the age of 6. Since i was a child, anywhere and everywhere i go, if there are ever any children, they all seem to gravitate towards me. I just love interacting with them, making them laugh, getting down on their level and communicating with them.. a combo of Mary Poppins and (kind version of) the Pied Piper... which is why i love my job. It is like i have all these extra 'babies' ... some of my very first babies are all starting school nursery. I feel so proud and grateful for the time i have had with them, but sad to see them grow up and move on. Luckily I have made a great many friend through teaching and still see lots of my little ones regularly on a social basis... so fear not!! I know that I am very fortunate, I have a job which means I can work it around the needs of my family, i can devote myself to Ethan and Joshua, but when I am working it is fun! I love all the laughter, their imagination, their innocence. Yesterday I had Ethan, Joshua and Lucy (every 3 weeks I have her for 3 days after school) ... they made 'dens', jumped off the sofa onto piles of cushions, we baked, planted seeds, they told me funny made up stories! Granted I am exhausted by the end of the day, but all that doesn't matter. It was FUN! (I am not saying I am perfect, far from it!! I get cross, I get grumpy, I am tired, I do let ethan watch TV sometimes, I do bribe with chocolate, lol! But I know that they are only 'mine' for a short time and I want to savour every moment with them, before they go off to make footsteps of their own!).

There is a crispness to the air today (although that may be partly due to the fact that on our way home from the school run a mummy friend and I stood chatting until 10 ... so i was a bit cold when i came in!!) .. and it is making me thing of making pies, hot chocolate and new winter clothes.... I love the change in seasons, all the associated traditions, the new phase. The only thing I don't like is the dark nights and mornings ... makes the whole day seem shorter. But it also means lots more time for snuggling under a handmade quilt, cosy time together.

I do feel all 'fuzzy and happy' at the moment .. every now and then I stop and feel the happiness wash over me, nothing major, nothing outstanding .. just life. As I have said so many times before it is the small things.... But there are also lots of big things coming up. Lots of friends are having babies, which i am SO looking forward to. Then Halloween, holidays (going back up to Nanny's in October!!), Christmas. But it is also just stopping to take a moment to enjoy! Enjoy your family, enjoy your life, enjoy making your footsteps, whether they be big or small!

Shimelle's Learn Something New Every Day class starts in September, I really enjoyed doing this in the past. (and i really did learn lots about myself!)... so need to do some prep work on that today!

So, I hope today is god to you!
em xx

Thursday 18 August 2011

Older

I have had a birthday .. i am now on the wrong side of thirty as my lovely friend Katy put it, cheers doll! LOL .. Ethan is also now in P3.... I feel older, i feel time passing.... but I guess older and wiser and with lots more adventure along the way!!


So this is the sight that greeted me on the morning of the first day back at school

Apparently Sam (from iCarly) had cut her own hair and this inspired Ethan to do the same!!!! Thankfully with some hair wax, I was able to transform him into this, more presentable and appropriate for the first day of new school term!




So schools (well in Scotland) are back, I have had my birthday ... that can mean only one thing..... planning for Halloween and CHRISTMAS!!! I am dying to put up all the lovely decorations I got when in American and at Disney. It is sad to see a year fly bay so quickly, but it I think back, lots of great things have happened and I am sure the next 4 months will bring just as much!


I have a much needed day to chill and craft today, am waiting on a host of deliveries and have some much needed scrapping to do! I FINALLY got my Florida photos developed...


So I am off to sit at my desk, and probably get side-tracked by Disney planing, only 416 days until we go, lol! Here is a photo of the boys to warm the cockles ... (for some reason it is not letting me add this photo .. will try later!)



Love
em xx