Tuesday 31 January 2012

A quiet one...making food... yum

Last Monday was Georges first night in his grown up bed. The first night went well but from that night onwards he seemed to get worse with the duvet and ended waking up too many times without the duvet on. Until Sunday night I couldn't take being woken up any more and the sleeping bag came back out! Since then he fights to have the sleeping bag on but sleeps all the way through the night. So adult bed hit, duvet thumbs down an adventure for the summer.

On Friday Daniel had the day off and took the kids swimming in the evening. It was only their 4th time but loved it so much they wanted to stay in the water even with goose pimples all over them! John managed to learn how to float in the water with just his armbands and a small float and was very happy cycling his legs to get himself around the pool. He was so happy with himself. :-)

This week has been slightly quieter I think mainly due to the lack of sleep and the lost voice from the DIY wood filler. But I did manage to try out a couple of new recipes - Soft pretzels from Rachel Allen (which all looked very different - no two were the same but tasted great!) and a Butter Chicken curry from Three Sisters both turned out well.

I manage to finish one of my paintings that I started in my Saturday class (I never seem to finish), I just needed an hour more than everyone else but all the others have been doing it for a few years and some of them have been going for over 7 years. When I first was told this I was worried that the teacher wasn't very good or that there was lots to learn, I now realise that it is because people like the time to enjoy painting.

Monday 23 January 2012

Home Alone!

Well last weekend I had my parents stop over, Dad had a bad knee so he slept in John’s bed, John moved into Georges room and slept in Georges new bed (George was still sleeping in his cot as I hadn’t finished painting the side bars to stop him falling out). The weekend went without a moan from either my parents, children or my husband so I can only assume it was a successful one. Admittedly the climbing frame was a success and has been used most days since it being finished on that Saturday!

On Monday I made Lorain Pascal’s Chocolate Oreo brownies with my new electric whisk (a Christmas present) I think I over whisked the mixture because I have never seen brownies puff up so high! They were still delicious and I kept eating over the course of the week, I had no husband to help me out as he was working in Brussels. So with the kids to myself I was very tired come Thursday when he got back. John and I made fresh Focaccia bread as a surprise for him. (Paul Hollywood’s recipe – not 100% right the first time but a good first attempt with a very wet dough!)

Last week I had managed to start a mountain painting in watercolours and complete to romantic ACEO’s which I got into my etsy shop ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/LizzesBeautifulArt )for Valentine’s day but they would also be very nice as a wedding gift.


So that made me happy that I was able to add to my shop again.
Although I said that I would concentrate on my art work I have slightly diverted my attention to the thought of doing a course in Children’s Illustration at the London College of Art. This way I will be able to perhaps work from home and still be around for the children, but that does mean fighting with all the other people out there, that are also qualified and needing the work. At the moment I will keep drawing and painting, see where it takes me and give it another thought when the boys are spending more time at school/nursery.

On Friday afternoon my two boys and I, took a very large cardboard box which had been made into a little house and decorated it. By the end of the afternoon it was fully doodled, drawn on and covered in stickers. They were very proud of their creation. Then my two little boys went off to the Grandparents for the weekend with my husband. I got stay at home because I had booked my art classes for Saturday morning. I was devastated with how empty the house felt on Friday night and kept phoning my husband whom was trying to settle the boys! I was finally distracted by watching lots of films that I never normally get the chance to watch.

Saturday I took the train to my art class, I turned up early at the train station so I sat in the waiting room, and ended up talking to the lady I had seen last week at the train station. The train came and being distracted I got on the train and realised that I had left my bag of paints and brushes in the waiting room. I dashed off the train shouting “Crap Crap Crap” as I dashed into the waiting room hoping that the train wasn’t going to leave without me, grabbed my missing bag and hit the closest door button to open the train doors. Thank god it opened, I got a few odd looks because I was obviously quiet loud, probably also the reason why the train driver waited! – Thank you. The odd looks carried on until the next station when people started to returned to their books and phones.

Sunday I got my motivation back and I managed to finish painting Georges bed and wax it, polyfiller all the holes in the downstairs toilet walls and use a whole pot (yes a whole pot) of wood filler on some very large gaps in multiple doorways, - I now have almost lost my voice as I did last time I used wood filler – therefore I now know I should wear a mask next time. Dismantle George’s cot, paint the patches that he had created by pulling off the “reusable stickers” (not like they are going to be used again with the mess they made of the wall!) Then I managed to clean and tidy most of the house before everyone turned up not bad for Sunday motivation!

George’s first night in his big bed went well and he only woke once as he had managed to come out of the covers. Not bad considering he has always slept in a sleeping bag.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Hectic week

So this week I was determined to post a blog every Monday, as you can see it is Tuesday and I have already failed. Not through lack of wanting to, I got the laptop out just before dinner and by the time I had finished my dinner George was crying and downstairs he came. This pattern then contiued for a lot of the evening and then into the night. So here I am Tuesday morning!

Last week was George's first week at nursery and he settled very well.
He is only doing two mornings but that's enough for the little man. On Tuesday I felt very guilty leaving him and rushing off but I had managed to get the skip being delivered the same time as the climbing frame. I was worried that the skip would cover the garage (which is the only access to the garden) and then the climbing frame would arrive and not be able to be taken into the garden. Then I was worried about how big the pieces of the climbing frame would be, I knew that it was nearly 3m high and started to worry about where they would fit in the garden! Luckily the skip didn't cover the garage and the piece of the climbing frame fitted on the patio. - Phew!

Wednesday came and my hubby had taken the day off work, the skip was filled by mid day and by the afternoon the climbing frame was on its way up. Leaving me lots of time to play with the camera to take photos for Etsy. I'm not very good at the photo thing, my photos always make my art work look less impressive than in the flesh. Everyone else's photos look like they have been done professionally. I will have to grab my sister next time she is down - as she has a posh camera and can make dog poo look edible!

At the weekend I managed to get two pieces of art work listed on Etsy and I'm very proud. My snow painting is getting lots of attention.

Sadly my abstract cats which are my own creation aren't getting so much love - but they are a something for the cat lover not everyone is going to get it.

This week I plan on finish painting my sons bunk bed, which is very close and attempting to create some more ACEO's and start a large painting. Fingers crossed. The more art work I can get on Etsy the more people will have to look at and maybe I might get a sale!