Being Mrs C

Jemima's pants

Remember Jemima? It seems like a whole life-time ago that she was finally finished, yet she's still lacking a full wardrobe of outfits. I'm delighted to say that finally some of her modesty can be regained as at long last she has a pair of knickers!

Next I need to sort out her top half!

A late harvest

I have absolutely no idea as to why but this year it has taken an absolute age before any of my tomatoes would actually turn red. Better late than never though we are now finally enjoying a (modest) harvest. Luckily this has coincided with a late heatwave meaning that eating salad is much more acceptable than it normally is in late September, and it saves me having to actually cook them up in some way!

We survived!

This time last week I had no ideas quite how I'd be feeling today. The last four days have been full of adventure and firsts for the whole C family. We've just returned from a short trip overseas. Our first trip abroad with Little Miss C. Her first trip in an aeroplane and the first time all three of us have shared a hotel room. I'm delighted to say that we've not only survived the trip but I'd go as far as to say that we've enjoyed it and LMC most certainly has. I can't say that I've come back feeling relaxed or quite like I used to do after a holiday, but then life has changed quite a bit since our last trip away.

View over Funchal from the cable car up to Monte and the Tropical Gardens

We've been to Madeira - not exactly somewhere that is known for family holidays, but Mr C's company's annual trip away was there so the issue was forced a little bit. The location was lovely though and although there weren't loads of children there we certainly had no problem with the place not being child-friendly. The weather was glorious and the heatwave once we got back home has helped the holiday mood continue.

Little Miss C enjoying an evening meal out

The amount we have learnt on this trip about travelling with a very active 15 month old is staggering. I'm hoping to share some of it here with you all over the next couple of weeks as I'm sure some of it will be useful to other people who hope to take their children's away for the first time. It's not that there weren't difficult moments, but we managed them and they were certainly outweighed by the good ones!

Calling all local crafters...

I've got some exciting news that I've been meaning to share with you for ages - I've found a new home for all St Albans crafty types.

The lovely Charlotte has opened up StudioDelirium in the grounds of the Secret Garden Cafe here in St Albans. She's offering knitting and crochet classes, a weekly Stitch & Bitch session and also selling a delightful array of lovely yarn and crafty accessories, as well as some lovely handmade bits buy local people including myself! Whilst she's starting small she is very keen to meet the needs of all local crafts people, so please go along and talk to her and if there's anything that you'd particularly like her to stock then let her know. There are also plans for more classes hopefully covering handspinning, bobbin lace making and cross-stitch.

Please head over to Charlotte's blog where you can see some of the things that she's been making recently and also find details of the classes that are currently scheduled and if you're passing make sure you pop in and see her. The cafe next door does some delicious cake and when there's a bunch of people in the studio they'll even bring the tea and cake through to you!

StudioDelirium can be found at 9B George Street, St Albans AL3 4ER, in the grounds of the Secret Garden Cafe. Normal opening hours are Tuesday - Friday 10am - 2pm and Saturday 10am - 5pm. The Secret Garden Stitchers meet every Wednesday morning from 10.30am - 12noon. The meeting is free to attend, but there is a suggested donation of £2 to help keep the studio open.

Intricate knitting

My first attempt at knitting following a chart. Whilst I'm really enjoying doing it, it is also making me realise just how rare it is that I am knitting whilst there is nothing else fighting for my attention. Knitting like this doesn't lend itself well to being done with only half a mind on it! Progress may therefore be even slower than normal.

The yarn is Rowan Pure Wool 4 Ply and if I could find the ball band I'd even tell you what colour it is! The chart I am following is one for a Lace Scarf by Sarah Hatton that came with the Rowan International members gift a couple of years ago.

Travel with kids

Like many young professional couples Mr C and I loved to travel before Little Miss C came along. Together we've been to about twenty countries all around the world and even managed a round the world trip together for our Honeymoon. Since we became a family of three we've limited ourselves to staying in the UK, but now that LMC's a bit older we're ready to dust off those passports (and apply for one for LMC) and head off again.

The practicalities aren't too difficult, but it's fair to say that "fear" is probably the thing that's holding us back the most (if you ignore the cost element of course!) The ida of going on a flight with a toddler is slightly scary. After all a whole morning in the house on a wet afternoon can be challenging enough, but being in an enclosed space for several hours where she can't scream and run around to let off some frustration is a bit of a problem. I'm coming round to the realisation that other people manage it and survive so it can't be all that bad, can it?

We have a first trip booked soon that fits in with a work trip for Mr C and it's fair to say that I'm scared and excited in equal measure. There are going to be a lot of firsts for LMC: visit to an airport, trip on an aeroplane, staying in a hotel, eating out for all meals. I'm looking forward to seeing her excited when she sees all these things for the first time, but I also wonder how she'll react to some of the new experiences. 

In trying to "prepare" best I can I've had a look at the books on the market for travelling with children and I have to say that overall I've been a bit disappointed with their wishy-washy style that didn't really tell me anything that I couldn't work out for myself. There was one exception though that I wanted to share with you - Travel with Kids from Footprint Travel Guides. I'm not quite sure how I first came across this book, but I'm glad I did. As well as being full of practical advice and some real life experiences this book also provides brilliant inspiration about places to travel to with children of all ages. Author William Gray is himself a father and in his writing you can tell that he actually understands what it is like to have children with you (twins in his case) and also balances that with the wishes of many modern parents to go back to their before children travelling days in some way.

Time will soon tell as to whether or not I'm ready for our first big family adventure overseas, but I'm already thinking about and planning the trip after that. I guess I'd better book some travel insurance just in case...

Reason for not blogging #721

Several times in the last week I've sat down to write a new blog post only to find that my broadband has gone down again! Our connection has been all over the place recently: up for ten minutes, down for five, repeat until the user gives up.

Fingers crossed it stays up long enough for me to write this post. Just checking emails has been hard enough this week...

No time for words

I guess this may become a regular feature as there aren't enough hours in the day some days.

The yarn came from my mum, and was originally picked up in a charity shop for 50p for the whole (slightly knotty) bundle. Not yet sure what it will be used for.

Growing crochet

The pile of squares is growing and I'm also starting to get some ideas about how colourful this blanket is going to be eventually.

The only problem I have is now that the weather has become all autumnal I've really got the knitting bug - with three projects currently on the needles! Think I may have taken on a bit too much at the moment and that's not taking into account the Christmas decorations that I've started to make to sell either!

Childhood TV memories

It may be seen as being controversial by some but we do allow Little Miss C to watch television. We try to manage what she watches quite carefully and it's certainly not on all the time, but we do find that sometimes she needs something to calm her down and 20 minutes of watching something she likes seems to do that. 

She can be running round like a loon and getting all frustrated because it's chucking it down with rain outside and I won't let her out into the garden, but just switching on Mr Tumble or similar can calm her down and when it's finished she's quite happy to move on to another activity. I think we're actually quite lucky here in the UK as if you have digital terrestrial TV there is CBeebies which provides some form of entertainment for pre-schoolers from dawn till dusk. Yes there is repetition in the day, but that's not generally a problem. We're also lucky enough to have an internet TV and I use the iPlayer app on that more than anything else to access CBeebies programmes. It means I can just play one episode of something and when it's finished it doesn't automatically run on into another programme.

After chatting to my mum the other day about children's television I started thinking about all the things that I used to watch as a child. My favourites included Postman Pat, Gran, Bertha, Trumpton, Pigeon Street and Paddington. Would today's children appreciate the same stuff? I've no idea. I've been keeping a close eye on eBay to try and pick up some of these on DVD where I can - partly for LMC's entertainment, but also partly for me and Mr C. Would there be a market for a TV channel that just shows things from our childhood? It'd certainly provide entertainment for parents in a nostalgic way whilst they watch with their children and I'm sure students would love something like that too!

What were your TV favourites from childhood? Any that you'd particularly like to see brought back?