But no. I've actually told the baby to wait a bit more. We catched a cold. I'm quite okay, but Nora has kept us awake many nights with fever and cough. She's a bit better today and slept quite well tonight.
family life in sweden :: crafting & creating :: exploring & learning :: sharing
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
A silent week ...
One might think I'm having a baby, not updating the blog for a week.
But no. I've actually told the baby to wait a bit more. We catched a cold. I'm quite okay, but Nora has kept us awake many nights with fever and cough. She's a bit better today and slept quite well tonight.
But no. I've actually told the baby to wait a bit more. We catched a cold. I'm quite okay, but Nora has kept us awake many nights with fever and cough. She's a bit better today and slept quite well tonight.
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
We made bookmarks
I wanted a simple and quick craft, so I decided to make a few bookmarks. Seconds later Nora joined me: "I want to make bookmarks, too!". She made one for grandma and one for herself. I made three and sent away all of them.
It didn't take us many minutes to make them, but sometimes that's the best kind of craft.
Do you use bookmarks when reading? I often forgot to, but when I got a handmade one in August I started using it and since then there are bookmarks in about half of the books I'm reading (yes, I read many books at a time).
Keep calm craft on ... :-)
It didn't take us many minutes to make them, but sometimes that's the best kind of craft.
Do you use bookmarks when reading? I often forgot to, but when I got a handmade one in August I started using it and since then there are bookmarks in about half of the books I'm reading (yes, I read many books at a time).
Keep calm craft on ... :-)
Monday, 11 March 2013
Creative writing :: 8 ways to get unstuck ::
No matter if you're writing articles for a magazine or poetry for your own pleasure, you've definetely got stuck some time. Maybe you don't write at all nowadays, except for to do lists and grocery lists along with scrambling down one or another appointment in your schedule. How to get back into a more creative writing habit? I have some tips for you.
1. Write lists. They are easy, no preassure writing, and very fun to do. They are fun when becuase you make them fun. You can list your favourite ice creams, your cousins (and sort them by age), your daily habits - or 10 things you would do if you were a superhero, places you want to visit, famous people you'd like to have lunch with etc.
2. Cut out a picture from a magazine, glue it on a piece of paper and start writing about what is happening, or what just happened, or what will happen next. Do not think too much - write what comes to mind. No one will read it anyway; the purpose is to start writing again.
3. Describe something or someone. It can be a person, something that just happened, a place, your lunch. Use your senses but choose only one and write down all words that comes to mind. If you choose smell, then write down all the smells that describe the situation/person.
4. Write a letter. Pick a friend or relative, or find someone online, and write a letter telling them about your day, your thoughts, or maybe about what they mean to you. A Kindness Letter, where you tell them all what you like about them, is always appreciated :-)
5. Choose a theme. It can be anything. If it's hard to choose, pick a newspaper and write about the theme of the first headline. Or choose something classic, like Love, Inner Peace, War or Family. Then set your alarm clock to something between 3 and 10 minutes. 10 is an absolute maximum, I would recommend you to go for 3-5 minutes. And then write! Don't think about spelling or grammar or even if someone would be able to understand what you've written. Just let your mind flow and write, write, write. Write as if your life was dependant on it. And stop when you hear the alarm. Yes, stop.
6. Write diary. Do the classic "today I ...", or more experimental kinds like exploring different sides of yourself. Do it a daily chore for a limited time (you might even get a new habit here) during a few minutes a day.
7. Continue a sentece. Pick the first - or last - sentence in a book (preferably one you haven't read) and continue it. Write only one page. No more, no less.
8. Write a classic fairy tale. But only with main points or mindmapping. From the beginning to the end.
Do you have any tips on how to get unstuck? Please share them in the comments below :)
1. Write lists. They are easy, no preassure writing, and very fun to do. They are fun when becuase you make them fun. You can list your favourite ice creams, your cousins (and sort them by age), your daily habits - or 10 things you would do if you were a superhero, places you want to visit, famous people you'd like to have lunch with etc.
2. Cut out a picture from a magazine, glue it on a piece of paper and start writing about what is happening, or what just happened, or what will happen next. Do not think too much - write what comes to mind. No one will read it anyway; the purpose is to start writing again.
3. Describe something or someone. It can be a person, something that just happened, a place, your lunch. Use your senses but choose only one and write down all words that comes to mind. If you choose smell, then write down all the smells that describe the situation/person.
4. Write a letter. Pick a friend or relative, or find someone online, and write a letter telling them about your day, your thoughts, or maybe about what they mean to you. A Kindness Letter, where you tell them all what you like about them, is always appreciated :-)
5. Choose a theme. It can be anything. If it's hard to choose, pick a newspaper and write about the theme of the first headline. Or choose something classic, like Love, Inner Peace, War or Family. Then set your alarm clock to something between 3 and 10 minutes. 10 is an absolute maximum, I would recommend you to go for 3-5 minutes. And then write! Don't think about spelling or grammar or even if someone would be able to understand what you've written. Just let your mind flow and write, write, write. Write as if your life was dependant on it. And stop when you hear the alarm. Yes, stop.
6. Write diary. Do the classic "today I ...", or more experimental kinds like exploring different sides of yourself. Do it a daily chore for a limited time (you might even get a new habit here) during a few minutes a day.
7. Continue a sentece. Pick the first - or last - sentence in a book (preferably one you haven't read) and continue it. Write only one page. No more, no less.
8. Write a classic fairy tale. But only with main points or mindmapping. From the beginning to the end.
Do you have any tips on how to get unstuck? Please share them in the comments below :)
Sunday, 10 March 2013
Gratitude Sunday
It's March. It's the first month of spring. But it feel like spring only in the middle of the day, when the sun is warming. The nights have been colder than usual: -20 degress Celsius tonight (-4 F). Despite the cold weather, there are so many things to be grateful for this week. I'm joining Wooly Moss Roots in Gratitude Sunday.
- The first spring flowers outside our house. Snowdrops and winter aconite.
- The end of the pregnancy is coming closer: soon our baby is here!
- I've been outside, sitting in the sun, twice this week! All in all I've haven't been outside this many hours since two good days I had in the beginning of August. Yeseterday we went to the lake with my mom and her cohabitant/boyfriend (what do you say in English?). People were iceskating and skiing on the lake. I sat on a chair and just relaxed.
- I've been sewing and I've finished a couple of things I was working on. Feels good.
Photos above are from Sunday by the lake :) Me relaxing in the sun, Nora eating sausage, and Nora + Magnus + my mom walking on the ice.
- The first spring flowers outside our house. Snowdrops and winter aconite.
- The end of the pregnancy is coming closer: soon our baby is here!
- I've been outside, sitting in the sun, twice this week! All in all I've haven't been outside this many hours since two good days I had in the beginning of August. Yeseterday we went to the lake with my mom and her cohabitant/boyfriend (what do you say in English?). People were iceskating and skiing on the lake. I sat on a chair and just relaxed.
- I've been sewing and I've finished a couple of things I was working on. Feels good.
Photos above are from Sunday by the lake :) Me relaxing in the sun, Nora eating sausage, and Nora + Magnus + my mom walking on the ice.
Friday, 8 March 2013
Spring, sun and fir cone animals
For the first time since I don't know when, I've been outside for more than 15 minutes. It was W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!
The morning was cold but beautiful. It was -9 degrees Celcius (F = 15.8), but it soon rose and after lunch it was warm and nice in the sun. Snow was melting and Nora and I were bored inside our flat. I asked her if we should go out. You should have seen her expression - I haven't suggested going out for many, many months because of pain and the cold weather. Of course I can't walk or play, but at least it was warm enough to sit in the sun while Nora played.
We made fir cone animals and played with them.
I always think it's so funny when people say "when I was little we could play with anything. We made animals out of cones. But children today ..." and then they say what they think "children today" only do (and that more often include a screen than cones and sticks and twigs). In some ways they might be right, but what I think is so fun when they say it is that they can be 20 or they can be 80. People said so also when I was little (and I disagreed because I've always been playing with nature finds). And, I actually don't think there's any time when everyone made and played with cone animal.
Most important of all: if children always sit in front of a screen and never play in nature, well, who's fault is it? Instead of complaining about what children do and don't, take them outside and play with them!
It's now soon evening and Nora and Magnus have made a broccoli- & feta cheese pie which is in the oven at the moment. Friday is the day when Nora decide the menu and cook with one of us. This year she's so far chosen to make this pie 95% of all Fridays (I think we've had one exception or so ...). I love the idea of including her in the planning, shopping and cooking - but I honestly don't like eating the same pie every single Friday ;-) But then, on the other hand, she doesn't always like what I cook on, let's say, a Monday.
And I feel like my batteries were loaded a bit in the sun and the fresh air. I so needed it. Spring, please come! And baby, too!
Shared at Friday's Nature Table :-)
The morning was cold but beautiful. It was -9 degrees Celcius (F = 15.8), but it soon rose and after lunch it was warm and nice in the sun. Snow was melting and Nora and I were bored inside our flat. I asked her if we should go out. You should have seen her expression - I haven't suggested going out for many, many months because of pain and the cold weather. Of course I can't walk or play, but at least it was warm enough to sit in the sun while Nora played.
We made fir cone animals and played with them.
I always think it's so funny when people say "when I was little we could play with anything. We made animals out of cones. But children today ..." and then they say what they think "children today" only do (and that more often include a screen than cones and sticks and twigs). In some ways they might be right, but what I think is so fun when they say it is that they can be 20 or they can be 80. People said so also when I was little (and I disagreed because I've always been playing with nature finds). And, I actually don't think there's any time when everyone made and played with cone animal.
Most important of all: if children always sit in front of a screen and never play in nature, well, who's fault is it? Instead of complaining about what children do and don't, take them outside and play with them!
It's now soon evening and Nora and Magnus have made a broccoli- & feta cheese pie which is in the oven at the moment. Friday is the day when Nora decide the menu and cook with one of us. This year she's so far chosen to make this pie 95% of all Fridays (I think we've had one exception or so ...). I love the idea of including her in the planning, shopping and cooking - but I honestly don't like eating the same pie every single Friday ;-) But then, on the other hand, she doesn't always like what I cook on, let's say, a Monday.
And I feel like my batteries were loaded a bit in the sun and the fresh air. I so needed it. Spring, please come! And baby, too!
Shared at Friday's Nature Table :-)
Thursday, 7 March 2013
Snow is melting and I am happy
I said I was labile. Today I'm, strangely enough (because of a bad night and pain), in a good mood. Even happy. The sun is shining and even if it was a cold morning, now the sun is warming and snow is melting. Blue sky. I believe birds are singing, somewhere (I can't hear any from inside the house). I'm almost singing myself: It's a wonderful, wonderful day. I don't even understand why.
My craft room, the sunniest one in the flat, is a mess. The rest of the house too. And today I don't care.
Tonight I'll go to knitting class and begin my second sock in the red self striping yarn. I didn't go there last time, because of too much pain (and tiredness), but today I really feel like knitting and chatting :)
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
not a dance on roses
It's 14 days until the baby is due (but I suspect it might wait until Easter) and I'm the most labile mom ever. At least it feels so. I try to control myself, but it's so difficult. And afterwards I feel ashamed of myself.
I don't want to pretend pregnancy is a dance on roses.
For me it isn't, at all. But I have good days and bad days, good moments and bad moments. One thing is for sure: I'm normally a very stable person, so my behaviour now isn't easy for any of us. I try to explain to Nora why I am this way now (those times when I can't control myself and over react or say something I immediately regret), I apologize to my husband, and they're both understanding. But still, we all want this baby to arrive soon, and me to go back to my normal self.
Like this morning. Nora said she didn't want the slippers I made her, despite that she choose yarn, color and asked me to make butterflies. She said it calmly, it was just "a matter of fact", but I felt like crying. Or cutting the slippers in small pieces. Or telling her that I would never, ever knit anything for her. I didn't do any of that, luckily, but it took me three hours before I stopped feeling like someone had died (or worse). I over react. I understand what it comes from: 9 months of hyperemesis followed by pelvic girdle pain. And all those hormones, I guess.
Luckily I have some alone time today and can pull myself together. Magnus is at work and Nora is out in the nature with her friends, her backpack full of pancakes and fruits and carrot and hot chocolate. I will now watch a video on painting, have some leftovers for lunch, then work for a little while before picking her up and heading home again.
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Dragons & dinosaurs
Our favourite craft is of the more eco friendly kind. We love to use the things we otherwise throw away/recycle to create new things. I have a box in which we collect stuff to craft and build and play with. We're never allowed to save more "crap" than what can fit into the box, which is a good rule (or else we'd save too many "might be useful one day"-things). Nora often go to that box and says she's about to make one or another thing.
The other day she said "let's make dragons". So we did. I have to help her with the glue gun (it's too hot for her to handle), but else than that she makes most of it by herself. I love to see her creative ideas and how she uses the material to build something new. I made the big dragon, she made the small and much cooler one :)
Shared at KCCO today.
Monday, 4 March 2013
Bunny comfort and a cradle
When I was pregnant with Nora I bought a bunny for her. It was so soft och so nice to hold that I fell in love with it at the toy store.
Sometimes when I was feeling sad and alone (and I often were during that pregnancy, as I felt as "ill" that time as I do this time, but lived far from friends and family) I slept with that bunny in my arms. It comforted me.
Now it's one of Nora's favourites. She put it with it's kitty friend and some blankets in the cradle the other day.
I decided early that I'd buy a special softie for this baby too, during pregnancy. But since last time I've become much more aware of chemicals etc in toys and I couldn't make up my mind of what to give this little baby. I've been reading Alicia's blog for many, many years and now that she's been making the sweet Miss Maggie Rabbit kit I thought maybe I should buy it. A bunny for this baby too.
Friday was a bad day with a lot of pain and in the evening I was in a terrible mood. I checked out her blog and saw that she had just added the bunnies to the shop and before I knew it I had ordered one. The next morning they were all sold out. Much to my surprise this bunny has also been a comfort for me, even if it's not here yet. It's something to hold on to, and tonight, when I was awake (the pain wakes me up every 20 minutes), I thought of how I will sew the rabbit for my little baby. It was comforting. It almost made me smile :)
The cradle was built by my grandpa before I was born. Both me and my sister slept in it. Nora did not, she was that kind of baby who didn't want to leave her parents arms ;) She kind of still is, as she sleeps in our bed. This new little baby will also sleep with us during night so we put the cradle in the kitchen. I hope he/she will take daily naps there so that Nora and I can cook, create, eat etc all by ourselves for a little while every day. I think this baby might easier accept the cradle at daytime, as it can hear us being there all the time. Nora is never quiet ;-) But, we'll see. We don't know this baby yet.
Sometimes when I was feeling sad and alone (and I often were during that pregnancy, as I felt as "ill" that time as I do this time, but lived far from friends and family) I slept with that bunny in my arms. It comforted me.
Now it's one of Nora's favourites. She put it with it's kitty friend and some blankets in the cradle the other day.
I decided early that I'd buy a special softie for this baby too, during pregnancy. But since last time I've become much more aware of chemicals etc in toys and I couldn't make up my mind of what to give this little baby. I've been reading Alicia's blog for many, many years and now that she's been making the sweet Miss Maggie Rabbit kit I thought maybe I should buy it. A bunny for this baby too.
Friday was a bad day with a lot of pain and in the evening I was in a terrible mood. I checked out her blog and saw that she had just added the bunnies to the shop and before I knew it I had ordered one. The next morning they were all sold out. Much to my surprise this bunny has also been a comfort for me, even if it's not here yet. It's something to hold on to, and tonight, when I was awake (the pain wakes me up every 20 minutes), I thought of how I will sew the rabbit for my little baby. It was comforting. It almost made me smile :)
The cradle was built by my grandpa before I was born. Both me and my sister slept in it. Nora did not, she was that kind of baby who didn't want to leave her parents arms ;) She kind of still is, as she sleeps in our bed. This new little baby will also sleep with us during night so we put the cradle in the kitchen. I hope he/she will take daily naps there so that Nora and I can cook, create, eat etc all by ourselves for a little while every day. I think this baby might easier accept the cradle at daytime, as it can hear us being there all the time. Nora is never quiet ;-) But, we'll see. We don't know this baby yet.
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