Project update

Never again will I take on three projects at the same time.

Never again will I take on any 'project' when I already have my hands full.

Back last winter..autumn? I've no idea, but way back then I had the genius idea of taking on three personal projects as well as everything else I had on at the time. I wanted to revamp some basic pine bedside cabinets we had knocking about, revamp an old dining table and make myself a coat for winter as I can never find one on the high street I like. Here's how I did.

Winter Coat

Yeah, this didn't get done. I got as far as ordering the brown tweed fabric and loved it for a few days. Then I draped it over the dress form and something in my brain went "no". And that was that. I fell out of love with it and instantly lost any motivation to make it. So it just sat there and sat there until eventually sometime in January I realised the project was well and dead and gave up.No winter coat for me.
I now need a spring coat, but this I'll be buggered if I'm going to make one. This one the high street can provide!

Bedside Cabinets

Eventually, they got done. The plan initially was to stain them, but as I started I realised that it looked awful. At some point we had spilt something on them which was invisible when left as untreated wood, but once the wood stain was on, repelled the stain and made the finish look bloody awful. And yes, that was after cleaning and lightly sanding the sodding things. Back to the drawing board.
I wanted to give up on these too at this point so I just went for a plain white, nothing fancy. It did the trick. Once some new drawer pulls were added I have to admit they do look much better.

Living Room Table

And last, but not least, the living room table. I had a grand plan for this one, but just couldn't find a way to get what I had in my head in to a workable (and cheap) reality. So as my motivation was greatly waining (it was a running theme) I took the left over paint used on the cabinets and slapped it on. A bit of varnish on the top to prevent staining and it was done. I'm not over the moon with the look to be honest. It's too much white. And I had to take the tiny metal feet off the bottom as they were ripping up the carpet so it looks a bit weird in my opinion.
But I reasoned that I could add colour with table cloths and that's what I'm currently doing. I bought a cheap wipe clean one from eBay and although the look is a little more 'shabby chic' that I'd like, I've got to admit it's better than it was.

So there you go, two out of three. I'll take that as a win.

I'm not giving up on my projects altogether though. I just need to be stricter with myself and make sure I only do one at a time and really think about whether or not it will be a labour of love or just a labour. With that in mind I've decided that my next project will be a dress for myself.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you'll know that Dan's company work do is coming up so I've decided to make myself a dress for that. I've bought a pattern. It's simple, I absolutely love it and I now have some fabric to make it with. No fancy patterns or tricky to handle materials. Just a nice, simple, blue dress. I'm hoping this project will go better.

I'm actually posting regular progress updates of the dress on my Facebook page if you'd like to see more. The idea was to keep me working on it even if the motivation started to wane. Thankfully though this hasn't been a problem yet.

Touch wood!

Getting back in to it

Oy it's been a tough few weeks. First there was the flu and just as I was starting to feel better from that, a sinus infection decided to jump on board and take me down. The worst part about the whole thing though was missing Alessi's birthday, which I think I mentioned in my last post.
I woke up, came downstairs and just wanted to crawl back into bed again. Everything hurt.

I got to watch her open her presents, but I missed her blowing out her birthday candles and wasn't able to go out and celebrate with friends as we had planned. Gutted does not cover it and I shed a few tears out of self pity. But I know she had a great day and didn't miss me one bit, which does make me feel better. Dan made sure she had a blast and she talked about what she did for days after.

Speaking of Dan, I have to give him a shout out as he has been insanely supportive over the last few weeks. I lost count of the days I spent cooped up in bed, coughing loudly and just being generally gross and pathetic. And he was awesome. If you're reading this stink, and you tell me that you do sometimes, thank you again. Me and Roo will get out of the house at some point and give you that alone time you so rarely get to just sit on the sofa, watch rubbish on the telly and eat Haribo. X

So yes, that's been me over the past month. Looking after a sick little girl and then being the worst patient ever myself. And at some point during all of that snot and ickyness, spring happened!
The house has been brightened with a never ending supply of daffodils, the trees are starting to bud, all the birds are awake at 5am and Alessi suddenly feels robbed at bedtime because it's still sunny outside and she wants to play some more. Thanks for that daylight savings time.

What else, what else, what else? Oh! I've nearly finished my projects! What projects you may ask. Well the ones I set myself back in September or October of last year of course. Doesn't everyone set themselves overly ambitious tasks when they already have too much on and then set an even more overly ambitious deadline to do them in?
No?
Well aren't we the sensible bugger then. Be gone with you. I will have none of that common sense and rationale on this blog, you hear?

And that really is pretty much it. It's funny, I tried a few times to write something here. I'd stare at the screen and after half an hour would be lucky to have half a paragraph of drivel and misery staring back at me. This little lot has taken me just over ten minutes.
I guess that's a sure sign that I'm feeling more myself again if ever there was one.

Alessi - 3 Years

I'm not sure why three is the magic number in this scenario, but Alessi's third birthday was the one that caused me tears. In my defence that could very well have been because I was in bed with the flu and essentially missed the whole day. But also, in my head at least, it's the end of an era.

Sometimes there are days that seem to move so slowly that my teeth ache and her starting school seems like a thousand years away. And then there are times when I look down the years to the day she will leave home and I realise that I will look back and wonder where all the time went.
Even Dan has been getting sentimental lately so my saving grace is that I am not alone.

Don't worry though. I've had a word with myself and I know that she's still so very little. She still wants cuddles and to be held, despite weighing a tonne. She'll start school next year, something I'm dreading, but that's a post for another day. For now I will just focus on enjoying my time with her and try to commit as much of it to memory as I possibly can. And to that end..

Alessi loves;

Cheese
Lush bath bombs. Especially the ones with glitter

Singing Let It Go. ALL. THE. TIME.

Dressing up in princess dresses

Playing football 

Her scooter 

Reading. We go upstairs and sit on her bed. She chooses a book for me and a book for herself. Then we'll take it in turn to read a page. When we get to the end of our page we have to say "your turn" and let the other one have a go. When she reads with me, she still sits on my crossed legs just like she did when she was very little. She also loves going to the Library in town with Dan. 

Slides

Going anywhere in the car with Dan

A cartoon called 'Blaze' that's about monster trucks. I hate it.

Frozen chips

And she does not love;

Cooked chips

"Pamatoes" (tomatoes)

Putting her pyjamas on

And that's pretty much it. She's at that golden age where she pretty much loves everything. Yes she's picky about some of the things she eats, yes she sometimes has meltdowns and yes she creates chaos wherever she goes. But that's exactly what she's supposed to do at this age. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Well. Maybe with a little less Elsa.