The work, it never gets done

I am seriously struggling to get much done these days and it's starting to make me feel pretty antsy.

I never thought for an instant that working at home and looking after a child at the same time would be easy. In fact I knew it would mean learning to be flexible, patient and sometimes accepting that there will be days when nothing gets achieved. But I didn't think that there would be times where weeks and weeks would pass without anything being achieved at all.

Ever since Pip became mobile I've found it really difficult to do anything, but I'm only really feeling the effects now.
Much of November was a write off due to colds, then it was Christmas so I gave myself a wee holiday and we've spent the majority of this month with colds again. So in all that time that she's been mobile I kept thinking that once the illnesses and Christmas were over, I could just jump straight back into it.
How wrong was I?!

A mobile baby means this: grabby little hands pulling down my pedal leads, curious fingers poking at the printer, emptying out the bin, trying to climb the mannequin and none of these things lend themselves to productive sewing time.
I've put the travel cot which doubles as a play pen (or 'baby bin' as it's known in our house), in the corner, but you only get a few minutes of peace before she starts shouting to be let out again.

That's my problem, so here's my question. How to I get stuff done?
I've come up with the following ideas and like none of them.

1) Bring in the spare TV, stick her in the baby bin, put on the TV and hope it keeps her distracted for half an hour.
I'm liking this idea about as much as I like the thought of getting another cold.

2) Move all my stuff back downstairs and sew while she sleeps.
This isn't practical for two reasons, she only sleeps for half an hour a day and she'd spend the rest of the day doing all the stuff I listed above, i.e. it's pointless.

3) Wait until Dan comes home, throw Pip at him and get busy until it's time to start getting her ready for bed. This however, would only give me about half an hour and wouldn't give Dan any time to catch his breath after his day at work so not ideal either.

Whatever the answer is, I've got to find it soon. I have so much work to do by March and time is fast running out.
Story of my life!

Eco Wood Polish

1 lemon

2 tbsp water

3 tbsp olive oil

Mix the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake well, apply to a dusting rag and you're ready to go. Here are some before and after photos which, other than a little cropping, haven't been edited.

BEFORE

AFTER

Bish, bash bosh. The amount that this makes was enough to polish my tv unit and coffee table. It's so easy to throw together so I only make the polish up as and when I need it, also I'm really not sure how long it keeps for.

As you can tell from my 'before' photo, sometimes a fair amount of time can go by between polishings!

Resolutions

1. Officially start my own business

    I've proven to myself that I have what it takes so no excuses.

2. Learn to play the guitar

    Even if it's just a little bit.

3. Decorate the blank walls in the house

    There are too many in this house and I like pretty things to look at.

4. Stop dressing like a tramp

    All my clothes are faded, worn or have holes in. This really isn't an exaggeration.

5. Take photos of every day things. Regardless of mess, weather or mood

    It turns out that I like looking back on all of my year, even the messy bits.

6. Start altering clothes

    I like the idea of buying second hand and putting my own mark on them.

7. Aim to make 5 tutorials this year for the blog

    I love this as a way of sharing ideas with people so I'd like to give it a go.

8. Make a few items of clothes for myself

See number 4. Also, why the hell not? It's a perk of the job.

9. Make more time for me and Dan

    I hate the term "date night", but regardless we need something like that.

10. Keep life simple

      This is when I'm happiest.

2012

I was going to write a round up of my year, but when I sat down and thought about it, I realised I could sum it up very easily in just one simple sentence.

I had a baby and finally discovered what I want to be now that I'm grown up.

Those two things are pretty much the big defining moments I'll take from 2012. This year two things have also changed my outlook on life in a way I never saw coming. The first unsurprisingly was the birth of my daughter, the other very unfortunately, was the sad news we received a few months ago about a friend. I won't go in to it as it's not my story to tell, but it's stuck with me ever since and both these things have instilled in me an urgency to make sure I'm living my life right. To be a good role model for Pip, to make sure that I don't take my time on this earth for granted and to make sure that I don't waste what time I do have pursuing things that don't even make me happy.
That sounds like a load of self-indulgent waffle I admit, but I've thought about these things so much these past few months.
I've imagined it was my last hour on earth more times than I care to admit and about what I would regret the most. Almost always it's the time I've given to other people who were less than deserving of it or the opportunities I've let pass me by due to fear of failure, rejection or just simply looking stupid.
The start of a new year seems a good time to start putting an end to that.

And now, just for fun, and to raise the tone a little, here's a bit about the photos I used to make my awesome (and not at all rushed) 2012 collage. Have a great new year folks. xxx

January - The state of my garden after the chickens had run riot on it for the whole winter.
February - Heavily pregnant and in this photo, feeding an out-of-shot chicken some of my jam doughnut.
March - She arrived!
April - It's me 'Dressmaking and Fashion Design' diploma innit.
May - Took the cub to Wales to meet the fam.
June - Getting the hang of this mothering lark.
July - Started sewing a 'test' collection of dresses. This is when I had my "this is what I want to do!" moment.
August - One of the dresses.
September - Went on a camping trip with Dan and Pip. Survived.
October - Piplin growing bigger and ever cheekier by the day.
November - Out of the blue snow! I was so excited to show Pip her first snow. She couldn't have been less bothered.
December - Pip loves the swings THIS much.