Mum. Wife. Creative. Life.
Hi Folks! I had been intending on writing a lovely post this week about the fun of school holidays. The problem is, that I am not having fun. I am sick. Fever, exhaustion, aches and all.
Hope you have had a great weekend wherever you are. See you next week! (Sorry)
Hi there! How has your week been? Did you try out those sewing instructions I shared last week? How did it go? Our week here has been a bit of a mixed bag. Master 5 has a nasty cold which has left him with a mild temperature, a few meltdowns and a helluva lot of snot. Our ambitions to tidy our household a’la KonMari have temporarily stalled. Hello! Lack of time! BUT we did make a trip to IKEA and stocked up on approximately 1000 storage tubs to assist us as we sort through the rumble that exists in a few corners of our house.
One thing that I have been getting excited about this coming week is an upcoming girls’ night. Huzzah! Catching up with friends is one thing that I DEFINITELY wish would happen more often. If only it could happy more often. Once again: Hello! Lack of time!
One of the lovely ladies I am actually meeting up with recently came across an article (in a German magazine) about why women should meet up with their friends more often. And since I, of course, agree 100%, I thought I would look into this some more and share some thoughts with you all today.
I mean, what could be better than being told that you SHOULD go out with friends more often?!?
Continue reading “Why Women Should Go Out with Their Girlfriends”
Hello and willkommen to Everything’s Famtastic this week! How’s things looking in your part of the world? Here it’s been all a bit hectic. Mostly a typical week actually 😉. But I did squeeze in some more sewing at home. Sitting at the sewing machine is certainly a happy place for me 😊. A definite highlight of the week was Miss 7’s school music concert. It was really sweet- nearly 60 second-graders had been practising a number of song and dance moves for a few months. **so proud**
Do you remember the other week I wrote about how we have begun the mammoth task of decluttering and tidying our house with the KonMari method as inspiration, so far we have been tackling clothes. At last count, 4 out of 5 of us have decluttered and superbly (if I do say so myself) stored our clothes in a more ordered manner in the wardrobes. The billions of books in the house are still terrifying me and will definitely need an all-hands-on-deck approach.
But what I wanted to share with you today- for FREE!- is how I made those cute fabric baskets I had also talked about in that post.Easy to sew, multi-purpose, use any leftover fabric you have lying around, look great… WINNER!
So, are you keen? Without further ado, start your sewing engines! Here’s what you’ll need to sew your own collection of handmade baskets:
Continue reading “Sew Yourself Cute Fabric Baskets with this Easy Tutorial”How are you going? Have you had a great week? Me? I’m doing OK. The weather is trying to improve- hooray for sun!- and my kids complained their way through the one *sweltering* 20°C (68F) day we had. I also had to chase up my doctor the other day to find out why my knee was still hurting. Turns out I may just have myself a torn ligament. So it’s off for an MRI next week for me. Oh yay. Wish me luck folks!
But for now, I get to focus on something else. I get to enjoy some time to myself. Alone. And that makes me just a little bit immensely excited and happy like a bouncy little puppy dog.
Let me start by saying: I love my husband and I love my kids. A lot.
I also love time spent alone. This is not the same as being lonely. That for me is a state of feeling sad because nobody is around. But sometimes I CRAVE time alone. I want a quiet house. I want the house to stay as tidy as it was this morning. An hour ago. Heck, even 10 minutes ago!
I want the chance to do whatever I want. If that means tidying up without interruption or turning around to discover a brand new mess, so be it. If that means dancing around my kitchen to will.i.am, then bring on the dance party! Maybe I’d nap, or catch up on some reading while sitting outside in the sunshine, or lose myself in Pintrest, or drink a couple of glasses of Sauvignon Blanc, or start sewing new clothes for my kids, or cook up a meal of linguine with prawns (that would be “shrimp” for you North Americans 😉) that I know no one else in my family would dare let pass their lips, or… I’m getting dizzy just fantasising about the possibilities! *sigh*
You see, we mums are NOT robots that can function caring for our families eternally, without pausing to care for ourselves. It does NOT mean we love our families less, or are neglecting them. But there are only 24 hours in a day. And if all your waking hours are spent caring for, cooking for and feeding, transporting, disciplining and entertaining your kids, there is not a moment left to care for YOURSELF. And if you don’t look after yourself, who will?
Continue reading “Mama Gets a Time-Out”Yo what up peeps? Er… nah. Just kidding. Totally doesn’t work for me.
*starts typing again*
Hey! How are you going? What’s been happening for you this past week? Me? I have been getting excited about tidying. Yes folks, you read it here first! I did indeed say that I was getting excited. About tidying. More specifically, decluttering.
If you are anything like me, when you look around a disorderly, cluttered room, it weighs down on you. It all just feels so… much. I literally feel my shoulders sag. My mood sinks. I sigh. My stress and frustration levels rise as I think of how I wish the room would be. Less stuff. Tidier. Cleaner. How I wish everyone in the house was as bothered by the clutter as I am and inspired enough to do something about it. But alas…
So I have told myself, enough is enough. This family of 5 is getting it’s house into shape. And everyone is going to have to play their part if we are all to enjoy a more relaxed household and a more chilled Mama 😉.
Therefore, let the organising begin! Come join in the fun of Jenny decluttering and read about this in-home adventure!
Continue reading “7 Brilliant Benefits of Decluttering Your Home”Welcome back to Everything’s Famtastic! How has your first week of March been? I have to say that here the weather has been disappointingly lousy. Far too much wind and unpredictable rain. Lucky today won’t be like that. Today is all but guaranteed to rain allll day long. See? No uncertainty. Silver lining! LOL.
In my last post I talked about getting ready for the annual Karneval parade. Did you also have the chance to celebrate Karneval? Which city were you in? Was it your first time? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!
Our lovely little family of 5 did go to town to see the parade. There had been murmurs of whether the parade would even take place this year as the weather outlook (rain, storm-force winds) was not looking promising. It did, of course, go ahead as planned.
This week hasn’t only been parties and fun. I have had a few frustrating situations bubble up. (For example, bung knee, anyone?) Setbacks, I guess you would call them. I need to figure out how best to deal with these so I can keep moving forward towards those goals I set for myself this year. It’s all in the mindset, right?
Anyway, yes, we went to the Karneval parade and had a great time.
Continue reading “The Karneval is Over”Hi there! How are things in your part of the world lately? This past week in our corner of Germany we have started seeing a change in the weather. Sure, this winter hasn’t been too extreme. But it’s still been, you know, cold.
This week though? Amazing colours at sunrise of golds, pinks, purples and blues. More sun and blue sky throughout the day. We even had unseasonably warm temperatures hovering around the mid-teens (that’s Celsius, for you North American types!). The plants are covered in leaf buds. The early bloomers like snowdrops and crocuses are on display. Some of the other bulbs are heavy with flower buds waiting for the weather to warm up just that little bit more. Spring is definitely on it’s way. Hallelujah!
However, the main excitement around these parts at the moment is Karneval. And by “around these parts” I mean in many regions of Germany and specifically the kids in our house 😉. The other week I even posted about how to sew a Hulk costume in time for Karneval this year. Karneval fever is well and truly alive!
But what? You haven’t heard of Karneval?
I didn’t really elaborate too much in the last post, it’s true. Well, let me try to explain a little. Depending on how hardcore you are about it and whether you are in a Karneval club or not, Karneval may be seen as either:
a) only the big loud street parade that occurs in February or March and blocks off the city streets, or
Continue reading “What You Need to Know About Karneval in Germany”
Do you have sometimes have days when you feel overwhelmed by life? By your household? By your kids? C’mon, you can be honest here! Raise your hand!
**raises hand**
Of course everyone has tough days. Anyone who denies ever having a rough day (or week, or perhaps month) is kidding themselves and fooling no one. Life throws us lots of opportunities. And sometimes life just throws lemons. (yeah yeah, we’ve all heard it before, make lemonade, yada yada).
Anyway… when life at home with kids, or a partner, or a barnyard full of animals, seems gruelling, repetitive, thankless, boring, frustrating, uncontrollable- shall I stop now?!- it can all seem a little, well, too much.
What can you do? The #1 thing to remember: You are not alone!
You are not the only one facing this crisis, this mood, this shitty day. Say it to yourself: “I am not alone”. Say it again. Say it a thousand times if you need to. Because it is true and you should believe it. What are the chances that
Continue reading “5 Ways to Deal with an Overwhelming Household”
Welcome back to Everything’s Famtastic! Do you know what’s fantastic about today? The sun is shining! Never mind that it was 0 degrees when I walked Master 5 to kindergarten this past week. The sun was shining like the massive fireball that it is, coming up over the horizon. So glorious to see! *happy dance*
Do you know what else is generating excitement around here? The upcoming Karneval celebration! Here in Germany it’s spelled Karneval, other places around the world Carnival. While big cities in Germany like Cologne have massive parades to celebrate Karneval, our town here does a pretty decent job of it too.
Karneval tends to mean two things: costumes and sweets! In today’s post I wanted to focus on the costume side of things. Specifically: how to sew a child’s Hulk Costume. Hubby and I were sick of forking out money every single year for Karneval as well as months later for a new Halloween costume. Do that for each of the 3 kids and it can quickly get expensive, you know? So, solution identified: Sew them myself!
Read on below to find out how you can sew a Hulk costume too 😊 Sweets you’ll just have to organise for yourself! 😉
Welcome back to Everything’s Famtastic! As I mentioned in my last post here, we are already in the month of February and I can hardly believe how quickly time flies! One minute I am sunning myself in Australia and the next minute I am back in Germany being the Master (Well I guess, technically the Mistress. But that word might bring on images of another sort 😉 so I might just stick with the word Master) of the more-chaotic-than-I-would-like-it-to-be household of 5.
So again I ask, how is your year looking so far? Got any special dreams for the year? Have you made any plans or goals for yourself?
Last January I started off the year imaging one word for myself: Nourish. I think most of my friends and family imagined that meant, that I intended to eat lots of tasty, gourmet foods. Sure, that may well have been part of the story. But not actually the point. I had imagined I would spend 2018 focussing on nourishing my body and my mind. I wanted to continue learning to speak Dutch. I wanted to feed my body healthy, nourishing foods. I wanted to read lots of interesting books. I wanted to improve my sewing skills. I wanted to meditate regularly. I wanted to feel well and strong and happy.
