Friday 22 July 2011

Sew rubbish

So today is break-up day. Six whole weeks. Six weeks of the house being trashed, six weeks of trying to work out what the hell to do with the kids, six weeks of praying for half decent weather, six weeks of thinking about three meals a day (god bless school dinners). But no school run. I shall remind myself of that last bit every day when I am moaning inwardly.

The Princess made this for her teacher. I knew her teacher would be swamped with chocolates and wine so asked one of my best friends (who is a teacher) what her best ever present was and she said a photo frame with something inside from the child. She could then add her own photo to the frame but keep the drawing from the child tucked behind. I loved the idea.




Been a bit of a Billy No Mates all week for some reason. It's just been the Prince and I every day and we haven't met up with any friends. Everyone was busy or away and despite the fact I've often moaned that I have too many friends and can't catch up with them all, this week it's felt like the opposite. I don't need people, but I've felt a tad lonely. There's been a lot of tumbleweed, shall we say.

Yesterday we went to the garden centre for coffee and I was on my own. Today we went to the toddler group but it had shut on Wednesday for the summer hols and I hadn't realised. So we went to the park. I chatted to a couple of mums but then they left and I felt a bit.......odd I guess.

I saw a group of yummy mummies (all with kids at school so no noisy toddlers interfering with their chatter) meeting in a cafe for their regular Friday morning gossip this morning and I felt a bit flat. I don't seem to fit into any particular group of friends. All my friends are quite different and not all from the same group, so I feel a little unsure as to where I belong.

Going back to the garden centre cafe, I started chatting to a mum of three-year-old twins who was waiting for her friend to arrive with triplets (methinks they met at a multiple births baby group!). The toilets are right back out by the car park, a good five minute walk and there is a sign in the kid's play area/cafe (which is away from the general cafe, this is aimed at kids and is grubby but great) saying Please Change Nappies in the Toilets, Not in Here.

Understandable but what happens if your child announces they are desperate and you have their twin to drag off with you. This poor mum pulled out a travelling potty and explained to me her daughter only needed a quick wee.

Behind her was a very snotty-looking mum of  two young children, with a very disapproving look on her face.  She vanished soon after. Then the mum with toddler triplets turned up, looking tired and harassed (naturally) and joined her friend with the twins.

Then the snotty other mum reappeared and behind her was one of the cafe managers who came up to the mums and told them off for the potty incident, saying it was unhygienic.

I felt sorry for the mum of twins. Her predicament was tricky. One twin was on the bouncy castle, the other was dying for a wee. By the time she would have grabbed the one off the bouncy castle and got his shoes on, the other would have already weed on the floor anyway.

I felt the snotty mum was so sneaky  to have grassed her up, rather than go up to the mum with twins and say "I don't know whether you know there is a sign over there, careful the manager doesn't see" or something. Or just mind her own business basically.

The mums with multiples said it was ridiculous that the toilets were so far away and they've never been told off before and so they decided to leave on principle. Yes, the poor mum with triplets had already bust a gut to get to the cafe and was now leaving before she had even slurped her coffee.

The snotty mum looked so smug and slagged them off to her cronies when they all arrived.  I sat there on my lonesome trying to decide who was right. I felt it was only a small wee and we all have bad days. Horrid snotty mum was the loser in my eye. It was all I could muster not to get involved and give her a piece of my mind. Huddles of mums can be very threatening I find.

Going off on a tangent (my speciality), I love all the crafty blogs of knitting, designing, baking and crocheting but have to say I can't see myself ever managing it; you know, showcasing my fabulous designs, typing out tutorials.

OK, I will show you what I mean. Here is my tutorial for Brown Bear.

1. Cut two dodgy teddy bear shapes from brown felt, sew (badly) them together but shove some wading in before it's too late.
2. Give the bear some bad eyes and a strange, vaguely sinister mouth. To draw away attention from his gammy leg.
3.Then present to daughter with a  "Look what your mummy has made you!" gasp.
4. Get the bored and unimpressed "Oh great. Can I now watch Horrid Henry please?" response and wonder why you bothered!

See what I mean about the gammy leg?

Oh yeah, the Prince has been doing the housework for me, ahem. The lazy boy's approach anyway.


The Princess was too busy tracing pictures
 and writing stories to help her brother.
I have a new addition for my Ladybird collection, this was £1.99 from Oxfam and it's so cute. I love the illustrations.


My favourite page

Oh, and on the handsome dad at school update. I sneakily tried to get a photo of him at the leavers' assembly but failed miserably. He is bent down hugging his son. I didn't want to look like a stalker so had to be discreet.


Yes, a total waste of time. You can hardly see him. And actually, whilst I do think he is handsome (if a little on the short side for a 5ft 8 lass like me), he is nothing like me. He is a picture of health, cycles 80 miles (I nearly died after Zumba on Monday) and is a serious sort. Totally my opposite.

Think I shall stick to the husband, who I celebrate nine years of marriage with next month. He's not all that bad after all. I woke up yesterday morning to find him and the Prince stroking my face and back while the husband was saying to the Prince "Don't we love mummy very much and all the things she does?" and it was so cute!

Have a great Friday night!

x

23 comments:

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Teeehee! When all is said and done, HOME and HUSBAND and PRINCES AND PRINCES is where the heart is.

I so love hearing what you darling friends in England are up to!

Have an inspiring week, Gem. AND I HAVE A BEAR just like the one you made, only mine was made by a sweet little boy in my classroom, who never uttered a word, but presented me with this darling bear theh last day of school...ahhh, the love. Anita

fee @ chipper nelly said...

So...
a) re: soreen - defo you thats weird. Nothing whatsoever wrong with me!
b) whole of paragraph 1 of this post = ditto
c) get the friends thing. You can have tons of friends but, even then, some days there's noone to fill the certain kind of gap you sometimes feel.
d) that snotty mum story - I hate that kind of thing! it stays with you. Poor mums with 5 kids between them - have total respect for them attempting to get together! I'm always trying to UP the child/adult ratio - not lower it! And that snotty mum snitching - how very mean. We should all stick together and help each other out - not the opposite.
e)I know not of this handsome dad. Must have missed that post!
f) how camp is that boy on the cover of your new book???! Love it.

here's to six weeks of sun (pleeeeese let there be some sun!)
fee x

little homebird said...

I have had a large chuckle at the picture of the prince hoovering! It sums up men's level of housework really in my eyes.

I know what you mean about fitting in with other groups of mums. I had a nice little group I saw regularly when my eldest was a baby and being new to the area it was great to meet up at coffee mornings or outings nearly every week. But then some went back to work and then second babies started to appear the group changed quite a bit. It was great for a couple of years but once the firsts started pre-school then school I hardly saw anyone as we lived in different parts of town so were at different schools. I've found it hard to get in with an 'in' crowd at school as I'm quite a shy person! As castles crowns and cottages says home and family is where it matters, but having a best mate to pop in for a cuppa would be a fab addition to my life, and to be near my family again :)

Love the bear, practice makes perfect!
Ali
:)

Country Rose said...

I have a lot of things to write about here..

I soooooo know what you mean about not knowing where you belong in a group of friends.. I'm the only one out of my group of close friends that is married with a baby and so sometimes find it hard to relate to a lot of them.
After Ray and I got married, we had to move away with his work so I was kind of forced to make new friends.. (I'm quite a bubbly outgoing person, but when it comes to making new friends I'm one very shy insecure person!)
I have a few good friends here and am friends with a lot of other new mums, but as I've chosen to settle down quite young.. everyone else is just that bit older than me. I get on really well with them all, like there's no age gap.. but sometimes feel like the baby of the group and wonder what all of my younger friends from home are up to..!
I'm so sorry.. I'm rambling on and on about myself. I'll stop now! haha

How horrible does that snotty mum sound! How nasty of her to go and get the manager, it's so childish.. like she was trying to suck up and look like the better Mother. I'm completely on the twin's mother's side.. in that situation when you have twins it must be so hard when you need to do something with one, but have the other one to look after as well.

LOVE the tutorial for brown bear! Haha.. very funny reading about his gammy leg! He looks lovely! Even if his facial expression is a little menacing!

Ashley xxx

(Hope I haven't bored you to death with this comment!)

Gem said...

We still love you even if you feel you don't belong, you belong with us :). I know exactly how you feel though, I have friends here and there but no group of friends, it can make it hard when trying to socialise at times (when I have time for it, and I don't even have kids, I dread to think how I will cope when I do).

I let out a really big ahhh at the end of your post today, that is just the cutest thing ever, bless them, it is moments like that you want to remember and keep with you forever xxxx

Grateful4Crochet said...

Awesome tutorial!!!!!!!!!!
Ima make me one of those gammy legged bears of yours!! Love it!
Awesome husband too by the way- that was such a sweet story about the face stroking :)
x

Cuckoo said...

Oh my giddy aunt! Where to start. Get your husband to have a word with mine love, that way of waking you is perfect. Mr C woke me the other day by slapping me on the saggy left tit. Nice. To be fair to him it was drifting across the matress and didn't appear to be connected to my chest.

You fit in with me doll. You, me, Kmmms, Rah and Clairey. Always. You girls plus Bonswa and Bee are the only ones who I really fit in with. You KNOW me. ME. Before the money. I don't fit in anywhere either, doll. I'm from poor stock and so don't fit in with the "posh set" but my car is too new to fit in with the gals at Big's school. Shame really because I am really nice!!!!! But I save the best for you doll :oD. Tried calling you today but you were engaged. Managed to get Clairey though. She's been ill again, poor love. So wish we all lived closer. How can it be that we all ended up so far away from each other? Hoping to see Rah in Spain in a few weeks....actually must FB her immediately!

As for potty gate. That makes me fume. I'd have had a right go since it's not my stomping ground. Would have kept schtum if it were around here though. Have learnt my lesson with a road rage incident. Actually that's quite a funny story. I should blog about it.

Love your tute doll, love it! You should do more. But seriously, your bloddies don't come here for tutes and crochet. They come to read your stories, to see what Cherry Treasures you have found (got me some good un's yesty so I did!) so don't go thinking you need to shake things up. You've got 34 followers (plus more through google reader) and we all love you just as you are to quote Mr D.

xxx

Cuckoo said...

Ps. Your God son needs a bear with a gammy leg. NEEDs you understand?
xxx

Sarah said...

Oh Gem - sending ((((hugs)))) as you're feeling lonely.

It's a shame we Bloddies can't Apparate in the manner of Harry Potter and then we could all meet for a coffee once a week and then Apparate off back to our corners of the country.

Love the tutorial!! Seriously though, I have always been USELESS at arty things - I got F for art and U for textiles at school but 2yrs ago after watching Kirstie's Homemade Home I decided to give crochet another go and after much practice it just clicked.

This then prompted me to try my other nemesis - sewing - and I bought a basic machine and taught myself to sew. Recently I have started knitting. So my point is, if you want to do it it's never too late and if *I* can do it ANYONE can!!

Snotty Mum sounds like she needed a slap, I do hope she remembers her behaviour next time she us having a bad day and some supercilious cow is looking down her nose at her!!

Love the Prince's way of hoovering, if I do it like tahe sitting on my office chair I can wheel round doing the whole house - genius!!

Lol @ you taking a pic of Handsome Dad for us, he does look a but serious though, can't see him playing inflatable guitars at Bon Jovi!!

S x

Annaboo's House said...

Oh you!
Your posts make me titter every time, you talented gal.
Sod the snotty mum at the GC. I am fed up with trying to please other parents by the way I choose to do things. They can just get on with it.
Dear lord, this has just taken me ages to spell-correct. Need to stop drinking glass of lovely wine and go to bed.
Have a good w'end.
Xx

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

GEM DEAREST! Oh what a day; I was composing my new blog post when my computer DIED OUT ON ME! COMPLETELY! SO my dear and generous husband didn't hesitate. We went out and he bought me a brand new laptop, so here I am, making the important and sweet connections that I have made over the last 3 years. I will be posting again late tomorrow for I still need to import my PICTURES!

Have a fabulous WEEKEND! Anita

Grateful4Crochet said...

Hi again, thanks for your comments over at mines, no, definitely wasn't Ladybird books, I wouldn't dare!!!
I make sure if I'm chopping up old books for things that they are ones that have ripped pages somewhere or scribble on them, I love old books too much to deface them by cutting them. But if they're damaged, they are fair game!!!
Ironically I only tried decoupage because I scored an awesome set of all the tools from a cherry tree shop for a dollar, so thought I would give it a god. Basically all it is is chopping up pictures, and putting them on whatever you want, furniture ec, and then putting varnish over the top. I am sure there is a more *proper and elaborate way to do it, but there were no instructions in the kit I got (mebbe why it was so cheap, lol)

Thedarkerside73 said...

Hello!

Well have found your blog and love the way you write and your stories. I can't seem to find your follower thingy but then blogger does seem to love playing hide and seek with the blasted thing!

Anyway in regards to friends and snotty mums I could probably write a book! lol. Too many snotty mums about I think, that one in the cafe was really awful. You would think that by having kids we would all understand each other but appears not to be the way it works.

As for friends a bit like you mine are a mix and from different areas of my life and they work whilst I am a stay at home mum! So the whole meet up and coffee thing dosent happen all that often!

Love all your Cherry tree finds and I loved your little bear. Although I do craft I always forget to do any tutorials although I always think there are so many out there anyways!

Hope you have a good weekend.


MBB x

Unknown said...

Hello! I've had a busy week at work and kept a low profile - feel I've missed so much. Been reading a few blogs on my phone but haven't had a chance to read all of my faves and say everything I want to so here I am... more than a tad hungover it has to be said... wine in the afternoon - should have carried on drinking when I got home but fell asleep on the sofa and am now slightly furry of mouth.

Anyhow. Gorge post. Love the Princess's crafty work - that's a wicked idea. Bet teach loved it. I have to say that I love your little bear. Made me laugh and it's cute in an ugly kind of way.

I know exactly what you mean about fitting into a particular circle of friends - I don't fit into any at all. I have my married friends with babies and my single friends who go out on the pull. I'm neither but luckily I can mix with both!! None of my friends is interested in the crochet, baking, vintage crockery/books stuff that I'm into so I have to get my fix from you gals. I think you mums are really lucky because you get to meet a lot of other mums, people who you perhaps wouldn't usually talk to, and you build friendships by having your children in common - you don't tend to meet new people so easily when you're child-free :-( poor me, ha ha!

Listen to me harping on... blame the wine!! Do not envy you having to entertain the littlies for a full six weeks although I like that you've got them pitching in with the housework, that'll keep em out of trouble. Ha! How nice, not having those frantic early mornings... does that mean no more evil Tuesdays for a while?! Yay!

Nicki xx

Unknown said...

CRINGE at my philosophical blathering about mums finding friends... arrgggh! x

sandiart said...

I have always been the odd little duck. I have always had friends but never a bestie. None of my friends do the crochet etc thing, so I get my fix via all you lovely girls. I love reading your blogs cos you are the sort of girls I would truely love to mix with. I did have a friend that I could just call in and have a coffee, but she now works, but we do catch up and walk every Wednesday.
I would have fumed at that snotty b--ch, how can someone be so low, it's not easy with one chid let alone two and when a child says they want to go to the toilet they usually mean NOW!
Haha the Prince, at least he held the vaccume cleaner! I love the way your hubby and Prince woke you up..and your tute, right up my alley, that's how I explain things :)
x Sandi
Oh my I did laugh at Cuckoo.

Andi's English Attic said...

But the bear is lovely. The foot reminds me of John Mills' character in Ryan's Daughter.:)

We have lots of yummy mummies around here but at least they would have said something to the mother and not gone sneaking off to the manager.

I agree, the best thing about school holidays is NO SCHOOL RUN. Bliss.

Have a great weekend. xx

Julie said...

Hi Gem,
I've got lots to type here so please stick with me.
First of all thank you for your lovely comments over on my little blog, you are such a sweetheart.
The cake pops are so easy to make and trust me I am pants at any form of baking and even I managed them. Bake the top and bottom of a victoria sponge, when they've cooled crumble them up in a large mixing bowl then add a whole pot of the Betty Crocker icing mix it altogether and pop it in the freezer for an hour. When they've been in there for an hour melt some choc stick a lolly stick [from hobbycraft or the internet]in the middle of the ball and dip in the choc. I hope that makes sense but if it doesnt drop me a line at littlebaggy@btinternet.com
Your bear is beautiful and I love his little leg [it gives him character]
And dont worry about not fitting in with a group of friends as you fit in with all of us, I'm so glad I've found your blog and love reading your posts :) :)
Have a great Sunday evening - Ju xxxx
P.S - Your hubbie sounds amazing x

Country Rose said...

Just to say, I know you've recieved it before.. but I've there's an award for you to pick up over at 'mine'! You don't have to do the questions again though if you don't want to.

Ashley xxx

Nelly said...

Hi,
Way harsh of that mum to get the manager. You'd really hope that fellow parents would be more supportive of each other. You often find in a work environment women can be each others worst enemies - like it is not hard enough to be successful as a woman (oh my, am I sounding a bit like I am on a feminist soap box here?)
Totally with you on the friend front. I have weeks exactly like that where I feel a bit lonely. In my head I am the only one feeling it but I think happens to most of us at one point or another.
Nelly xxx

kmmms said...

Hey gorgeous, you KNOW you always fit in our gang don't you?! PLEASE come and visit me soon, I feel I have been pestering you about it but I really really want to see you!

I wish I could see your post and stick post it comments on it, rather than scrolling through ALL these comments you popular lass. I keep losing my train of thought!
But STUPID woman re: toilets / potty. How unhelpful. I would have whispered "Just you wait till you find yourself in that woman's shoes" on my way out I think!

Got a whole post coming up about cherry tree treasures. Loving your Ladybird books.
So much more to say... my brain is flitting all over the place in all the excitement of being back online
xx

Missy said...

Hello, I just stumbled upon your blog and I love your tutorial for the bear! Your sewing is up there with mine.
I also admire your prince and his attitude to the hoovering. Off to read some more of your blog now but thanks for the laugh!
Janet
x

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the upcoming anniversary! For a gift, you should make a little bear for your husband! He'd love it! ;0)