Every day is a gift

Eek!  Two weeks to go until the Stocking Stuffer Street Stall at church... which seems like long enough if I could be a full-time crafter, but isn't much when I only manage to make two things every day!


I have made a commitment that my family, and the general tidiness of the house, comes first.  But it seems that the washing is piling up, and the boys naptimes are getting shorter!  I need to put my skates on, but I can't find them under the increasing number of boxes being stored in my laundry (for ease of access to craft materials)!


One of the most difficult things I have found about being a mum is the 'interrupted' day.  It's hard to concentrate on a task (like writing a blog entry!), when your two-year-old is sitting on your one-year-old and they're both screaming!


But, as I realised a few days ago, God will provide the time I need to get done the things I need to do.  Remembering to 'keep it simple', I just need to keep going and see what can be achieved in another two weeks.  There are some exciting projects in the works!


I love these words from the song "Life means so much" by Chris Rice:

Every day is a gift you've been given

Make the most of the time every minute you're living

Teach us to count the days

Teach us to make the days count

Lead us in better ways

That somehow our souls forgot

Life means so much

Every day is a bank account

And time is our currency

So nobody's rich, nobody's poor

We get 24 hours each

So how are you gonna spend

Will you invest, or squander

Try to get ahead

Or help someone who's under

Have a great weekend!

You learn something new...

I broke my sewing machine last night.  I was trying out a type of embroidery that I'd never done before, and fiddled with my machine.  When my experiment failed miserably, I tried to 'unfiddle' the machine and the threads kept getting caught.  I pulled it apart as much as I dared, cleaned it, tweaked it, tried this and that.  I went to bed cranky with myself and upset that I'd wasted a whole evening on something that didn't work.

Today, I dropped the boys off at a friend's house (I couldn't imagine trying to get a baby, toddler and sewing machine all out of the car and into a shop), and took my machine to the repair lady.  After looking at it for three seconds, she said "it isn't threaded properly".  Ahh, that would do it!

Instead of feeling silly in front of a whole shop of ladies doing their sewing classes, I walked out feeling thankful that it was such a simple solution.  And I decided not to drink any wine before using my sewing machine tonight.

So, a few lessons learned:

1. When it doesn't work, go back to basics.  Is that computer mouse plugged in when it doesn't work?  Is the car in 'park' when it doesn't start?  Is the sewing machine threaded correctly when it gets threads caught around the bobbin?
2. KISS - Keep it Simple, Stupid.  Great rule for someone like me who is lying in bed at night thinking of more and more things I can make!  Stick to what I know, what is simple and easy, and things I can do well.  There's time for learning and experimenting, but is that time now? (When I have three hundred more decorations to make before December 4th?!)

I feel lucky - I learned two new things today!