Sniff, Blub, Sob, I'm sorry....sniff!!!

The very thing that I write my blog about has taken up so much of my time of late that I haven't found the time to write my blog. I believe that is called an oxymoron.

Squeaky's bag is finished and it's lovely. My pet teenager (I can't talk about her today without welling up I'm SOOOO Proud) loves it too, so I believe I may have to fashion another one before crimble.

I've finally gotten around to properly varnishing my kitchen woodwork in preparation of this week's excitement, and now, I do believe that the house is finished. 5 years later. Hoorah. Bloomin' good job really as I'd not have had time to do anything of late, and I've now made a right old mess in the kitchen with my Christmas sacks. Putting them together was the quick bit, and, with hindsight, I shouldn't have done that bit first. It would have been a lot quicker to decorate them and then put them together. But isn't that part of it? Making gigantic cock-ups.

I was in "the Works" yesterday with Meg (sniff! swell!) getting her art stuff and there were some new craft books with some beautiful ideas. I had to summon up ALL my will power to not purchase them as, while I guess I could've justified the purchase, but I became increasingly aware that I was more taken in by the loveliness of the book, than the actual project ideas. At the moment, I have so many projects on the go that I do NOT need any further inspiration! But they were sooooo pretty............

Teenagers Scare the ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EQAOmJrbw

I'd just like to say, for no real reason, that I love teenagers. They are amazing. So many people are so happy to shout down our "young people", but I love them. I know I'm lucky with Meg's friends, but the teenage development years are the most important and informative of a person's life. As teenagers we experiment, learn about ourselves and our world, things we have control over and things we wish we did. It's stressful and the foundations upon which our adult lives are built.

As adults, we like to belittle our teenagers, with comments such as "teenagers think they know it all" but isn't that the case throughout our whole lives? We can rarely imagine knowing more than we already do, and when we think back to 5 years ago, we thought we knew everything, regardless of our age. We constantly think we now it all and for some reason are surprised when it transpires that we don't."If only I'd known then what I know now" should really be "If only I'd know then what I'll know when I shuffle off my mortal coil".

Teenagers are amazing. But I hated being one myself, so I need to tap into your fountainous head knowledge for my book. I am SO LOVING what I've already had from you all; we are such richly decorated individuals. What pseudo-name would you like me to use for your acknowledgements? Does anyone know anything about getting published?

Assistance Needed for My New Project, Please!

I've always wanted to write a book. Now appears to be the time, but Ladies, I need your help.

This is the brief:

I'm going to put together a book entitled something along the lines of "Survival Guide for Young Ladies". Remember when you were a teenager? Did you love it or hate it? I know I hated it, but whether you loved it or hated it, if you could time travel back to your old self, what would you impress upon them?

What bit of information do you think most young Ladies could most benefit from? What would you teach your self to do or not do? What do you think are important things for our young ladies to learn or be able to do? What advice would you give them? No matter how trivial or superficial or complex and insightful - I want to hear it all!

Feel free to comment below, but I'd prefer an email to bethanbrunell@gmail.com or a Facebook message. Really looking forward to your input Ladies and seeing as I generally achieve what I set out to, I will, of course, credit your input in the book!

Laziness and productiveness combined. Hhmmmm.

So today I have been mostly cleaning out my laptop. Those of you that know my family will know that I've not seen my laptop for six months (teenagers!) so it's not entirely coincidental that I start my blog on New Year's day seeing as the new laptop was received by the offending teenage article(love ya Meg!) courtesy of St Nick. It took me a few days to get used to having it back in all it's green sparkliness...well, it's a bit grubby now actually. Where did I put my "how to clean things" encyclopedia (again, those who know my family know I'm NOT joking about that bit!)?

I'm needing to get some stuff sorted out today, so I'll be brief. Got some meetings set up this week about my "Make Do and Mend" craft group I'm setting up and my Book Club that's in it's infancy. I haven't mentioned books yet. Books are NOT covered by the "essentials" category in my brief. I have an entire personal library of books, 1/3 of which at least are unread. These will be my entertainment for the year and then hopefully I can pass them on. I may get desperate though and let out a plea for "book parcels"!!

On removing the leggings which took up most of yesterday's blog, I discovered considerably more hole-age. Darning is going to have to take place sooner than I would have like and I'm not entirely sure if it's going to be successful. I may have to consider a patch. My mother always told me (well, she didn't actually, I probably told her, but hey, lets not split hairs) that a good contrast is better than a bad match.This philosophy has treated me well over the years, so, what do we think to a canary yellow patch on the crotch of my black leggings?