All things green

Ok, I might have exaggerated slightly with that title, but things were looking decidedly green in our house on this fine St Patrick's morning. The boys had to wear something green to school (which is kind of hard when their uniform is green to start with!) but we have added Mario and Star Wars t-shirts on top of the rest for good measure. Patrick - who loves today because of his name - also insisted on a shamrock on his face. I wouldn't be known for my face painting skills so if it's colourful butterflies you're after I'm probably not your girl, but if it's single colour, 3-leafed plants you need, just pop on over!They 're also wearing wellies in an ec0 green fashion to raise money for the Woodland Trust, so it's all good over our way this morning!Whatever you're up to this St Patrick's day I hope you have fun. And if you're at a loss for something to do there are still a few days to buy yourself a print over in my Etsy shop before Red Nose Day on Friday. All profits from sales until midnight on Saturday 20th March are going directly to Comic Relief. Which means you can enjoy all the televised hilarity on Friday night guilt free knowing you've already done your bit :)

rugby, red noses and a really good offer!

Well it's all gone a bit haywire. I had great plans for making things, going places and generally being a fun, active mum.And then we got sick! So the above was put on hold for another weekend and in place of fun stuff came blankets, hot water bottles, basins and a lot of cuddles. So I thought I'd share a few photos from the days prior to sickness (because no matter how much you may love us I'm pretty sure you don't want to see pictures of sick kids and parents!)Patrick played in a rugby match last Saturday, and it was really the week that their players were transformed into a wee team. Such a joy to watch them put into practice what they've learned in training, although passing is still a bit of an issue, and I do think they should have a special room for mums to watch from so we don't panic when the large child from the opposition brings our son down with a crash and 4 other players on top of him! Really, I'm not sure how much I love a game that requires protective headgear at age 7!!Conor is trailed along to these events on a weekly basis and it would be fair to say that he isn't a firm supporter of his brother's efforts yet. So the DS is the way forward at match time. Yay for Santa and modern technology! He is pretty darn cute when he isn't complaining though, don't you think?This past week we have also been getting ready for some Comic Relief fun. The boys are big fans of the red noses and this year we have also acquired a couple of the official t-shirts - helped along by the fact that they feature a skull and crossbones and in the opinion of the small people in this house that makes them really cool. Who am I to argue? Getting them to pose for a photo to show off their red noses, however, does not count as really cool. What's that, you don't believe me?They did concede in the end and gave me a few to work with!The reason for all this posing was ultimately for something other than gratifying a mum with a camera. For once! After watching the BBC programmes the past few weeks about the slum outside Nairobi in Kenya I honestly felt that I had to do something to help, no matter how small. The abject poverty that such a large proportion of our world lives in is beyond shocking. For days I had complained about the dust on our floors from the work that's being done in our gardens - those programmes did a pretty good job at giving me some perspective. But what could a girl like me do? I don't run or do anything vaguely physical that anyone in their right mind would sponsor me to do. I don't make things fast enough or knit well enough to dare ask anyone for money for my creations. I only bake for birthdays or when the bananas have arrived at a state of mush that means they are destined for banana bread. But what I can do is use a camera. So photographs it is!Which leads me to announce my special offer in my Etsy shop.I know some of you have come across this on my Facebook page and have already generously bought prints (thank you very much!) But for those of you who haven't, for this week, until midnight on Saturday 20th March, all profits from the sales of my prints will be donated to Comic Relief. Could it be that you are looking for a pretty print for a frame you bought a while ago? Are you looking for something different as a present for Mother's Day? Would you just like to do something to help people who are so desperately in need? If yes is your answer to any of these questions then please pop over to my shop, have a look and maybe, if you feel so inclined, pop a print in your basket knowing that your money is going somewhere it is really needed. If you've missed all the links through this rather lengthy paragraph you can easily get to my shop by clicking on the tab at the top of this page that says SHOP. Please let your friends know as well, either by linking to the blog or sharing the link on Facebook (which you can get to via the other tab at the top of this page!) I would love to be able to post next week and share an amazing total with you!For now, though, I'm off to check on the one sickie remaining (Daddy) and prepare myself for another afternoon of boys shouting at rugby! I hope you all have a lovely Sunday :)

a pretty normal day

We've been off for half term this past week (I'm pretending my day at work on Wednesday didn't actually happen!) and if truth be told it's been a pretty low key holiday. The weather has been pretty poor, and since our garden is a building site in progress anyway, the boys have barely been able to get outside for any fun. So we've gone down the line of pottering, Lego, reading, Dsi or Wii, more pottering, some making, a bit of playing with friends and a whole lot more pottering. And it's been lovely. I'm trying not to get sucked into thinking that spring is never coming (even thought it actually feels that way) and so I forced myself to get the camera out for a bit of documentation of our day yesterday. It's fun to look back at your pictures at the end of the day, when you've got some distance from the bickering and squabbling and tearing your hair out at the fact that no one ever seems to listen, and see just what your day was actually like. This is how ours looked...There was a pretty intense battle involving daddy's old soldiers and about 300 marbles; an unexpected gift of some pretty knitted tops from my sister; a bit of self-portraiture; some work starting in our garden; pancakes for lunch; lovely coffee with the Stronges; a few purchases of Lego and not a single bit of reading that magazine; a bit of chasing; much ninja action; a whole lot of bubbles and some underwater swimming in the bath. Not a bad day all in all!I wonder if your days look anything like mine. If you're a picture taker, why not link up to your pictures via the comments? That way I could reassure myself that I'm not the only mum who spends half the day in the world of Lego!

Right now...

Just a few random thoughts about life right now :Watching :: Lark Rise to Candleford, Silent Witness, The Pacific, Grey's Anatomy. I don't watch TV at all during the day, but in these seemingly interminable evenings I've found that it's hard to beat a good drama. You can see I'm covering the full gamut of genres here, from gentle period drama and medical drama to hard hitting crime drama and outright shocking war drama! Variety, they say, is the spice of life.Listening :: to not very much it must be said. Michael is always giving off at me for turning the radio down or off. It seems I have a particularly low noise threshold at the minute, and what with two rowdy boys in the house I can't take much more! The one sound I can't quite turn off is the noise in my head, those thoughts and whispers that persist throughout the day. So I'm listening to those quite carefully right now. They might have something important to say and I wouldn't want to miss it!Wondering :: where time is going. Why Liverpool matches are always on on a Sunday afternoon. If we'll manage a weekend on the north coast anytime soon. When I'll be able to sit outside with a cup of tea and the sun on my face. When our garden will be in any fit state to sit out in!Thinking :: about creating. The thoughts I shared in my last post are still very much on my mind and I suspect they will be for a while to come. For now I'm thinking about creating some new prints for my Etsy shop, a few layouts for myself, and maybe even dabbling in something completely different just for the heck of it! Creating the kind of artful life I dream of most days.Reading :: at least 3 different books at once, and considering a 4th! The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs is nothing more than a fluffy read to pass an enjoyable half hour before lights out - as an English teacher I should probably know better, but after another look at a book of planes with Conor I'm really not up for much more! Kelly Rae Roberts' Taking Flight is a book I wish I'd read a year or two ago, but better late than never. She has such a way of making you believe you can do anything - I'm honestly beginning to think she's right! The book I'm considering adding to the list is How to Talk so Kids Will Listen, and Listen so Kids Will Talk - let's just say we've entered a phase of communication difficulty!Hoping :: that this week in school will unfold without incident and that I arrive at half term relatively unscathed. The weeks since Christmas haven't been easy with all the evenings and late afternoons for parent consultations.Planning :: a healthier eating pattern. It would seem that portion sizes have somewhat increased and have been supplemented with copious amounts of chocolate and other nonsense, whilst exercise has been shunned for weeks at a time. No one is looking forward to the initial pain of withdrawal, but it's a point of no return! I shall update you with progress on this as and when there is success to share.Dreaming :: of a study which is finally complete, with my pictures hung and the shelf I've been meaning to put up, actually up and functioning. I'm making that this week's priority.Finishing :: my antibiotic, although my voice is still decidedly croaky and the dreaded cough lurks on. Who knew how little fun laryngitis was?Sharing :: a few photos from a walk we took to the beach at the start of January. Patrick wore his new Liverpool top and was absolutely frozen. Conor just wanted to throw stones. And we all nearly keeled over laughing at Michael riding down our hill on Conor's tiny bike! You can't beat those belly laughs!Now enough about me, what's life like for you right now? You can share in the comments below or leave a link to your own blog - I do so love to idle a few minutes away following the links of readers like you!!

Time

I've never been any good at setting resolutions for the new year and sticking to them. It's just too much guilt for me to handle when I inevitably break the promise I made to myself within a matter of days - that is not good for the soul! But for the past number of years, inspired by Ali Edwards, I have chosen a word to take with me through the year. Often the word just presents itself and makes sense to me at the time, and in the past when this has happened I've been amazed at how the word I chose has impacted on my life and the choices I've made in that year. In previous years I've chosen enjoy, simplify, create, and family, and those words still resonate loud and clear in my heart and my daily life. This year the word I've chosen is time.Time is something I think about a lot at the moment. I often feel like I don't have enough time to do what I have to or want to do. I feel like time with the boys is precious because it's going so quickly. I feel like I waste a lot of the time I do have doing things that don't add to my life in any meaningful way (I understand that cleaning the house and laundry are meaningful to a degree, but seriously, how much time do I want to spend on those chores?!) In other ways I feel like I'm reclaiming some of my time now that the boys are older and able to do more for themselves. And right now I feel like it is time for me to do something for me. I don't know what that's going to be, although I have a few ideas floating around in my ever busy mind. I sense that there are opportunities out there for me, just waiting for the right time and for me to be ready for them. Perhaps now is the right time and I just need the courage to grasp those opportunities when they come my way! I don't know, but I do know that time is precious, and that I'm going to do my best to use mine wisely this year.And it goes without saying that this little blog will be witness to time spent in numerous ways in 2011 :)

some things you can always be sure of

We've had a lot of sickness in our house this past week. Not a lot of fun for those involved. Or, indeed, for those who've had to live with the sickies! But it does tend to provide a certain amount of time which is usually allocated to useful and productive activities, like work, school, cleaning, shopping or tidying. It would be fair to say that much of this time has been spent recuperating, resting and consuming copious amounts of medicines, but I did use a small amount of it to do something I've been meaning to do for months. I documented a bit of our lives. A bit of our lives that remains constant during times of health and sickness. A bit of our lives that, try as I might to prevent it, invades every room of our house. A bit of our lives that means that I am always noting items as I go about my day, and looking for items that are currently lost. And I'm pretty sure this bit of our lives is probably a bit of many of your lives too. This bit of our lives we call Lego.Here we have Lego on the floor of the living room. There's never a day that something made of Lego doesn't find its way to this particular location. It is the prime spot for building new kits with excellent light for reading instructions and a nice amount of space to spread the pieces over for weeks at a time!The living room also boasts an entire shelf full of Lego sets in various states of completion and disrepair. My particular favourites during this photo expedition were the skiier (snowboarding on one ski as one was lost at school) in front of a wedding photo and the intrepid explorer flanked by winged Egyptian mummies on the mantlepiece. They speak so clearly of life right now! We have Lego that resides in the bathroom. There is Lego in the kitchen.The playroom is home to a lot of the sets that are built but not current favourites. That we are considering some sort of storage system just for the Lego simultaneously fills me with terror that there is such a need and delight that the boys count as a favourite toy something both Michael and I played with 30 years ago.And you can always be (pretty) sure that someone somewhere is hard at work building or altering a Lego creation. Even if they are off school sick!Which makes me wonder, is there something you can always be sure of? I'd love to know :){I wanted to give credit for the textures I used in these pictures - it's something I've wanted to try for a while, and what with all this sick time on my hands I thought I'd give it a go. These are freebies from Joy St Claire whose work I very much admire.}

for the love of taking a photograph

On the days I drive to school I pass through a very pretty village called Crawfordsburn, home to one of the oldest inns in Ireland. But last week it wasn't the pretty houses or the Inn that I noticed, it was the transformation of the roadside in one of the hardest frosts of the winter so far. Ordinarily I am inconvenienced by the slow moving traffic on its way to meet the main road, but last week it merely afforded an opportunity to appreciate just what a freezing temperature and some moisture in the air can do to an ordinary scene. I promised myself that on my first day off I would take myself on a mission to photograph some of what I'd seen. Which is exactly what I did!We often go to the country park at Crawfordsburn with the boys and with other families - the combination of forest park and seaside right beside each other, with the added bonus of a very fine coffee shop makes for a great day out. But I was in no way prepared for its frozen beauty. The large grassy hill where the kids run amok was literally a blanket of frost, each blade of grass defined by the frozen particles surrounding it. The most ordinary plants, fences and paths had become magical in the early morning sun. I was honestly transfixed by it, and filled again with awe for our Creator who dreamed it all up.I'm quite sure the dog walkers who passed me thought I was deranged as I crouched at ridiculous angles trying to get the perfect amount of flare in my shot. I began to think it myself when I took my gloves off to try to warm my hands up (because you know that gloves on cold hands will only keep the cold in, right?!)Was I frozen to the core? Clearly. Were my hands actually in pain as I tried to focus my lens? Oh yes! Was I as pleased as punch for getting out and doing something I love just for the love of it? Darn right I was! And was the coffee date with my very good friend afterwards all the sweeter for my efforts? You betcha!!

birthdays are the best

So Conor turned 5 last weekend and I spent the whole week leading up to it dealing with a mixed bag of emotions (no big shock there!) Excited that for the first time he was excited about a party. Somewhat stressed organising fun activities and food for 12 small people for said party! Sadness that my baby is most definitely not a baby anymore. And sheer disbelief that the past 5 years have flown past so quickly.Our weekend was absolutely perfect. From the overload of crispie buns and top hats to pass the parcel and musical statues. From presents galore to the peace of a walk in our favourite haunt, Mountstewart. From 4 years old to 5 years old. And what better way to share the birthday fun than a total photofest! On Saturday we had a party at home with some of Conor's friends. Pretty much chaos, but when I asked him if he'd enjoyed it he said "Oh mummy I loved it!" The stress vanished in that moment!Sunday was his actual birthday so that was a day for family - just the 4 of us for the morning and then all of us for more cake and presents in the afternoon. These are the kind of celebrations I hope our boys remember when they grow up.Exactly how cute is he in those skinny jammies? And the plane he is drawing is a daily favourite. It's a war plane and is probably bombing a lot of other planes and creating a lot of explosions. It always is!And one last photo, just because it makes me smile. I think I might need this in a giminormous size on a wall somewhere!See?!

the art of cosiness

For a lot of people I know, the bleak winter months seem to fill them with a kind of dread. Months of being cold, having to forgo style and fashion for comfort and warmth. Grey dreary days appear to be never ending and bring with them their fair share of rain, wind, ice and even snow. Not to mention the lack of daylight and gardens which show little sign of life. It would be easy to get dragged into this way of thinking, but it's just not for me. No, for me these cold, grey days are just begging to be filled with cosiness, and I believe myself to be somewhat of an expert in cosy!

Perhaps you fall into the category of people I've mentioned. If so, let me share with you some of my top tips for adding a smidgen of cosy to your dreary winter days.  To start with it is vital to break free of the ties of fashion - cosy and fashion do not often see eye to eye. Take my attire as I type this post. I am wearing a rather pretty shirt dress with some leggings, a pair of cosy knee socks and a pair of fluffy, checked slipper boots (you'll have to take my word for this as I have no photos, but it's  not a word of a lie!) Would I feel confident doing errands around town in such an outfit? Not even slightly, but for my purposes of sloping around the house, playing Lego games and blogging it will do just fine! Give it a try - you'll be amazed at the instant increase in your levels of cosiness!Another piece of advice I would give you is to ignore all the magazine articles that are telling you to rid your home of all things Christmas. By all means take your tree and decorations down, but if you ask me, getting rid of all those lovely candles at this time of the year is a huge mistake. In fact, I see this time of year as the perfect excuse to pick up a few post-Christmas sale bargain candles and accessories! There is really nothing to beat the glow of candlelight on a winter afternoon or evening. The warmth of the light and the flicker of the flame seem so calming. And your cosy attire (as mentioned above) really looks so much more flattering in this light! So get yourself to the garden centre or Ikea quickly to get a hefty stash of candles and tealights to see you through until spring. And if you're feeling brave after lighting your candles, I dare you to string some fairy lights over your fireplace or display them in a vase for added cosy effect!Now to my mind, cosiness is as much a state of mind as it is a physical state. You can wear the slippers and light the candles and still not be in the cosy zone. So how does one achieve this cosy attitude? Well, there are any number of ways to do this but here are a few of my favourites.1. Grab a few magazines of your choosing for leafing through. My personal favourites are Coast and Country Living, but if Heat, Good Housekeeping or People's Friend is your thing, then go for it!2. Be selective in the TV you watch, if any. Now, I am all for an afternoon with the TV off and the sounds of the house providing the soundtrack to my cosiness, but I am also a sucker for a good drama or film should the notion take me. For the purposes of cosiness I find that a delightful period drama that harks back to a simpler time is just the ticket - much more so than, say, the  latest episode of Spooks or 24! My current drama of choice is Lark Rise to Candleford, and I have to confess that I spent a lovely hour (or thereabouts given the interruptions of small people who don't get mummy's need for a cosy viewing!) watching an episode and finishing a bit of knitting. Which leads neatly to my next suggestion.3. Get involved in a bit of crafting. I'm not a knitter by nature, but I wanted to make something small as a gift for a friend and the feel of the soft merino wool was cosiness itself. Creating is a huge part of my life, be it taking photographs, making a scrapbook page or something involving fabric and fibres. It makes me feel cosy in and of itself, and I would greatly encourage anyone to have a go at making something to add to your cosy atmosphere. I fully intend having a go at a few other knitting projects and fancy the idea of making a hot water bottle cover that I can bring to my cosy TV afternoons!4. This next one might be a bit controversial, but for me, chocolate=cosy! Not that I'm not feeling the guilt of the Christmas scoffing. I am, but then there's a part of me that thinks, well if an extra layer of fat doesn't instantly boost my cosiness then what will?!! I suppose what I mean is that a bit of something you love to eat isn't always a bad thing. Or so I'm telling myself, and it's working thus far!The only thing missing from the elements of cosiness that I've mentioned so far is physical warmth. This is partly achieved in your choice of cosy attire, such as my fab slipper boots and knee socks, but the ultimate source of warmth for me has to be a fire. No matter how grey your Saturday afternoon is, a fire will warm the very cockles of your heart! We're really fortunate to have a real fire in our front room (the room of cosy as depicted in this post) and a gas fire in the living room (where the number of Hot Wheels cars and Lego bricks seriously diminishes the feeling of cosy!) Add to the fire a blanket, the magazine, the remote control for the dvd player for my box set of Lark Rise to Candleford and a bar of Dairy Milk and the levels of cosiness will be soaring!Consider all this merely a guide for your winter months to relieve you from the feeling of willing the grey days away. Instead, see them as an opportunity to stay in, play board games, make something and spend some time with the people who make you happy. I guarantee you that spring will arrive all the sooner and your memories of winter will be all the sweeter if you do.

it's been wonderful

I've loved my little Typepad blog but the start of the new year brings with it new opportunities and.......

A NEW BLOG!!!

I've decided to blog from my photography site in a bid to make myself blog more frequently and take more photos. Surely this is all good! All you need to do to continue finding out what we've been up to and who I've been photographing is click on the link above and update your bookmarks to make sure you don't miss anything. 

Thank you all for sharing in my ramblings and for your kind words in 2010 - I look forward to seeing you in my new little blog home soon.

Janine xx