it is a truth universally acknowledged

Heather and Kylee's comments about their readings of Pride and Prejudice had me thinking this week about Meg Ryan's character in You've Got Mail, when she says: "I have read Pride and Prejudice 200 times... I am always at pains to see whether Elizabeth and Mr Darcy get together." ;-)
well the thing about only posting a couple of times in the week, is that i have SO much to say!
my job interview yesterday made me realise that i am a little spoilt in what i do - as a more specialised area, while there are skills that are transferable, i don't have to talk or write daily about policy, budgets, strategy and all the other bureaucrat-speak. there is some of that, but i do get to immerse myself in projects, issues and people. that and my little corner of the office, with a window view of embassies with architecture to reflect their country, a small croquet field and Black Mountain... maybe the interview was a good thing to help me see that i like where i am. now my strategy is to make them realise they can't do without me and need to pay me more to make me stay! :p
this week N has wanted to "stay home with mama" rather than go to his nan's. i guess that's what we'd all say if we had someone gently shaking us from our sleep at 6:30 in the morning to be carried from our warm bed to the car on a frosty morning. but once he is there he has a great time. i get telephone calls during the day: "what you dooning mama?"
my housework has suffered since being back at work - i feel like i am always chasing my tail. but we just all keep rolling with the punches. at least that's what i say i'm doing!!
this week events seemed to bring small, but happy, memories to mind.
a mention of pizza and i remembered how D ordered a capriccosa pizza almost every night we were in Rome. pizza in Italy is simple, tasty - never take away, and yes you could eat it everynight (well for a week anyway...)
a 1/2 hour travel program on Paris last night brought to mind a week spent just walking and absorbing the city. huge sigh, maybe we'll get there again.
and a cause... i have really felt the need lately to be active again in something that means something to me. this is it: the Micah challenge focuses on the Millennium Development Goals (things i strongly believe in), it is Christian based and supporting it is something i can do easily from home - a letter here and there, passing news on by word of mouth... i believe it is important to have a cause.

Psalm 121

i won't be posting for a couple of days now the working week is coming around, but wanted to share one of my favourite Psalms. it has been on my mind the past couple of days.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,
from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD,
which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved:
he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper:
the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil:
he shall preserve thy soul.
The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in
from this time forth, and even for evermore.

phew

i feel like i had a productive day today - storytime in the morning, then home for lunch. feeding the chooks and stocking up on our eggs (although i prefer D to do the collecting!)

i pureed some pear for A and made some muffins for afternoon tea, as i was expecting all the "girls" in my family, with my nephews. we were getting together to catch up with my aunt. HOWEVER, three boys, under three, always means a little chaos. and N seems to have spent the day practising his "naughty boy" impersonation, with "i [will] not share my toys/crayons" being a common saying throughout the day. perhaps if he sounded like Lola while saying it, it might be cute.
but he doesn't sound like Lola, so it's not cute. i gave him some grace as he hadn't had his sleep in the afternoon (despite my trying). i had a good time - laughing at the boys antics - and maybe next time we'll do it in warmer weather, outside, with room to run. when everyone left i collected one of our few remaining home-grown pumpkins for pumpkin soup.

so i am feeling quite self-sufficient. that's if you can live on eggs and pumpkin...

both kids are now bathed and (hopefully) sleeping. i'll tidy up and enjoy a hot chocolate while sitting on the couch watching a chick flick (and avoid looking at my folding and ironing...)

so, yeah, a full but fun day. tomorrow it is off to do some more pre-schooler battles at my nieces 2nd birthday!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

i just finished watching The Jane Austen Book Club and i really, really enjoyed it. and both my kids SLEPT! so i feel very spoilt. now i have a confession to make. i own Pride and Prejudice and Emma, but i have never read a Jane Austen novel. pretty disgraceful, as i think my mum has read them all. i have seen the movies though (i don't think that counts!!), and own two versions of Pride and Prejudice on dvd, as well as Emma and Sense and Sensibility.

new things

what a beautiful morning! looking out our front window i see our side garden, the sun starting to melt the frost, the tree stripped of its leaves and the blue sky clear through the branches. D has planted an apricot tree and a fig tree out there. we plan to get a quince and an olive as well. together with our lemon tree that has already borne us fruit i'm excited about how it will look in a couple of years.

because i love books and i love reading, but i can't seem to keep up with the number i want to get through, i have made a little list on this blog and will cross off the titles as i finish one. some to be read again, others long overdue to be read the first time.

i have also discovered some yummy recipes i'd like to perfect, so that they are "mine". and that way i have a number that i can prepare when necessary, and in contrast to the "too good for his own good" cooking of my hubby they will be more rustic in nature. ;-)

i already have a really simple meatloaf. Tessa's cottage pie, my chocolate chip biscuits (although i've found a new recipe to try), lemon butter, herb bread and a bundt cake recipe i want to try. a plain muffin recipe to which you can and anything you like - berries, chocolate chips, dates... so my repertoire will be small, but made well. ;-)

speaking of recipes, there is a recipe for pumpkin pie in a recent Donna Hay magazine i have been wanting to try - especially after the extra yummy pumpkin pie Heather made for HFG last night!

yesterday i had a call to come for an interview for a job application i wrote in early June. now i am nervous - not about the interview, but about the possibility of having to make a decision if i am offered the position! contrary person that i am.

happenings

here i am, the middle of my second week back at work. and it doesn't feel like i was gone for seven months!! work is still ironing itself out. ensuring my projects are running smoothly, when come Wednesday it feels like i'm gaining momentum, but in reality it is the end of my working week - not that i would change that for anything.
i am seriously having to look at managing my time. how i long to be one of those people that spend a leisurely afternoon on Sunday planning the meals for the week. and then civilly shopping appropriately for the ingredients. soon, soon, i tell myself...

i now limit myself to three daily blogs, which i read in the morning. the others i get to a couple of times a week, when kids are asleep. maybe i'll have to post myself once or twice a week, on regular days. lots of thoughts i'd like to post about. about a song or a poem that inspires. about a cause to support that makes me look beyond myself.

on something completely different, here is another photograph from my collection. my maternal great-grandmother (second from the right) Bertha, and her sister (second from the left) Charlotte. their formidable looking mother is in the centre, also Charlotte. i look beyond the faces, to the house, and wonder what daily chaos and activity consumed their family life...

a bit of music

D is getting used to my "world/folk" music. here is a little ditty i discovered recently. i'm not sure if the band is Swedish or Finnish... something like that. ;-)

actually, they are from Iceland...

a post in photographs