A new year, a new life

It has been more than a month since my last post - how that sounds like a Confession!  I have been busily sewing last-minute gifts for Christmas, putting together gift hampers and preparing for life in general.  It seems like a lot has been done yet when you look at it things have been relatively quiet for us.  I am taking the view that children do not need their days crammed full of stuff or for me to be their entertainer.  So, much to their chagrin, I am allowing them to get bored so they have to find a way to deal with it.  I keep telling them "bored people are boring people".  It seems to be very slowly sinking in to them!

We went away over Christmas and New Year.  It was lovely but too long to spend with others for one to not go a bit insane.  Sadly, some people drink rather too much to the detriment of others.  Values and beliefs are really brought to the fore when staying with others, too!  Other than that, it was quite nice to get away.  But I could not wait to get home and back to all that is familiar and my own routine.  Now I have a mountain of washing I'm slowly getting through before we have yet another open-house this weekend.  

We have decided to place our house up for auction.  We are tired of tyre-kickers who are just passing an afternoon, or are looking for a bargain and aren't really interested in our home.  At least with an auction those who come ready to bid are serious about our house.  I hope!  We just want to begin our new life at our new property and all the space it will allow us.   The children got a little motorbike for Christmas and are eager to ride it.  My Little Man is really good at riding it after a couple of hours at a friend's property and he also learnt to lean in to the corners.  The Princess isn't so 'able'.  I think she gets her co-ordination skills (or lack of) from me.  The children have been interested in paint sample cards at the hardware store and are eager to take an active role in how their new bedrooms should look.  When we built this current house they were quite young so they didn't have a say really.  I'm a bit worried about the Little Man's choices though, dark blue and red are not really something I can readily agree to.  The Princess, being such a girly-girl, has gone for pinks, lilacs and aquas.  We shall see how it all goes I think.  

Today we made calico library bags and they painted their own pictures on them.  Little Man went a bit overboard on the paint so I'm hoping it will be dry by tomorrow so it can be ironed on to set the paint.  The Princess is more artistic and so she took a lot of time and put a lot of thought into hers, which came out lovely and I'm so proud of her efforts.  I bought some cardboard templates of flowers and people at the discount store yesterday, so later we might decorate them and they can be put aside for up-coming birthdays for cards or gift tags.  We also have a big ziplock bag full of shells and bits and pieces we collected at the beach on our holiday.  The Princess and I plan to make a lovely windchime for our new house to hang on the verandah.  With the rest of the shells I plan to use them to decorate old wooden picture frames with a friend's daughter when she comes over to play next week.  Myself, I'm just itching to get back into sewing but cannot really get too into it until our house sells and we move.  It's such a pain having to pack things up as soon as I've finished or at the end of the day - for 'just in case someone wants to inspect the house'.  The Princess and I plan to sell surplus vegetables at a little roadside market once our new place is up and running, and while there I thought I could sell some bags, pot holders and whatever else I end up making.  We have decided that whatever money we make will go back into chicken feed or seeds and things.  And it will be a good learning experience for her in money-handling and the like.

Well, we have just turned on the airconditioner and we shall settle down to watch some DVDs we bought for $2 yesterday while I fold washing.  This time of the year in the tropics is often unbearable without airconditioning unless you are at the beach with a good breeze.  This is 'the build-up'  time of the year where it is usually very humid with barely a breath of air; I call it 'the doldrums' because everyone gets cranky as the weather promises storms but never delivers.  But you know what?  I wouldn't live anywhere else!  

Today, I am grateful for the airconditioner and that we have money to pay the bill to run it!