Not much blogging lately

For some reason I am working at what feels like a million projects at the moment ... and sometimes I even get so confused that I sit there and don't know what to do next. I like having multiple things to do. I really do. Sometimes I am more in the mood for sewing, sometimes crocheting ... Also some of the things are more easily done at different times, like I can take my crochet stuff to the playground ... I can cut out some pattern pieces in the living room ... I like to do different things. But at the moment there are so many things I want and need to do that it kind of paralizes me. Have you ever had that feeling? I kind of sit there and know there are SO many things I could do ... and can't decide and end up doing nothing! Horrible! It really makes me feel totally "not myself" and I can get really cranky ... So I really need to try to sort out what I am going to do next ... and in which order ... But every time I start thinking about that I kinda end up totally lost ...

There are so many things on my list! High-priority of course Easter presents. I am almost done with them. And I will be very happy when I have them finished because it is REALLY hard to work on something when one small person that is four is not allowed to see them. I can only work on them during the morning when she is in kindergarten. And lately she often was not in kindergarten at all because either she was sick, or there was some sickness going around in kindergarten that I did not want her or little man to catch, or little man was sick and I was not able to pick her up ... And even when she was in kindergarten I always had to hide everything that I was working on REALLY well! So it will be nice to be able to actually work on something all day and not worry who will see it. :-)

One of the really big things I have planned is to make a quilt. More precisely an I spy quilt. I want to make it for my daughter and hope to get it finished to give it to her at her fifth birthday. Her birthday is in July. Now that might sound like a long time ... but I have NEVER ever made a quilt nor do I know a thing about quilting. So I will have to start completely from scratch!
In order to not screw up my I spy fabric I will attempt to make a smaller quilt first to practise. I would like to make a small one for little man with differently textured fabrics cause he just loves to touch and feel things. (I hope he is still in that phase when I am done with the quilt ... or should I say IF I get done with the quilt ...?)

I thought those are going to be the things that I really need to concentrate on after Easter ... but well ... When doing a bit of sewing for Easter presents I realized that my sewing machine skills - which have never been very good - have gotten even worse. Guess that is normal if you don't sew for a while ... but in order to improve them I would like to do some more tiny projects that do involve the sewing machine but not much thinking (hopefully!). So I am planning to make a couple of neckerchiefs for my daughter and for little man. And a few tiny hats as well.

But then I realized yesterday that my daughter pretty much is OUT OF clothes that fit her. She has about one good pair of pants left! AHHH! We usually got hand-me-downs ... (I honestly don't know how a person can afford to actually pay for all children's clothes!) but since both of my kids are rather tall ... well, she kinda outgrew the child that she usually got her clothes from! :-( I also was not too lucky when I went to a huge second-hand market for children clothes (which is only twice a year). So I thought I will finally have to put that pants pattern that I bought more than a year ago to work and sew some pants. (I am already sweating just thinking about the idea.)

I also found so many crochet things I want to try ...
-make an airplane
-make baby booties
-make balls
...

Oh, and then there are all the no-sewing, no-crocheting projects I wanted to do ...
-cut some silhouettes
-make some baby-art (not art OF my baby but art FOR my baby)
-make another mobile
-make some baby toys
-paint my daughter's doll house (which she got for christmas and it is still not painted!)
-make accessories for the doll house
-knitt the other handwarmer ... only one is finished ...
-make a play rug
-make board games with and for little bear
-make an ABC poster (I am guessing that little bear will know her ABC before I ever get to this one)
...

You know this list is not even close to half of the stuff that is on my mind right now. The more I think about it the more things pop up! AAAHHH!
I am not even going to get started on all the recipes I want to try!

You know, when I started out blogging and saw all those great ideas in the blogworld I was so amazed and thought "How do people come up with this?". Now I kinda know. Often I just lie awake at night, minding my own business (actually trying to go back to sleep), and ideas just start popping up in my head ... it's CRAZY! I actually started writing them down at some point because there is no way to keep up with them. And if I don't write them down they get lost again. And unfortunately they do not pop up in any neat order or anything ... so I usually get no idea for Easter presents when I am actually trying to come up with some but instead birthday party ideas are popping up like crazy. Something like that. Driving me mad!

I remember reading somewhere that creativity is nothing you have or don't have - it just takes practise. And I guess that must be the case! The more you do the more creative you get. So the more I do the more ideas I get. Which is of course great and so much fun! But sometimes I also just feel totally overwhelmed and don't know where to start ...

or continue ...

New Year's Resolutions 2010

Okay, here comes the long list of resolutions I have for this year. It's really quite long ... but I have many plans for this year ... :-)

1. Keep in mind that the most important thing to accomplish during each day is to take care of my kids!!!
This really is important cause once I get an idea for a craft projects in mind I can get really involved and want to work on it all day long ...

2. Get our apartment better organized.
I HATE searching for stuff!

3. Learn more about photography.

4. Learn about digital scrapbooking.

5. Do more activities to get to know the area we live in.

6. SELL stuff we don't need anymore on ebay.

7. Try to dress nicely (at least most of the time) even though I am not going to work.
I will stay at home with our baby boy.

8. Finally find a way to organize my craft supplies (including sewing, knitting, crocheting etc.)!!!

9. Manage our finances! Try to spend less and find a way how to earn some extra money.
As I will be staying home with the baby we will at some point have to live on one income ...

10. Sew at least one thing out of each sewing book I got 2009.

11. Try to reduce my fabric stash/ clothes stash for repurposing by half.
Am not sure how realistic this goal is ...

12. Learn how to use Gimp.
So if anyboday knows about good tutorials or how-to sites ... please send them my way! :-)

13. Learn more about blogging.

14. Finally start putting together photo books with all the pictures I own!
There are thousands - no kidding! I want to complete at least one photobook with digital pictures and one with the paper prints I have lying around in boxes.

14. Send more letters, postcards, and packages to friends and family.
If sending anything for special occasions (like birthdays) - send it on time.

15. Workout regularly!!!
I am going for at least once a week! I know there will be times where this won't be possible. But I am hoping that there will also be times where I will workout twice a week or even more ... I really need to get into some kind of routine. And I would love to finally take a yoga class to properly learn it but will have to see how things go with my baby boy. He is VERY VERY attached to me and I am wondering when I will be able to get away without him for 1-2 hours ...

So, these are really many goals ... but the really scary thing is that I could easily come up with more! I definitely think this year will be very exciting ... and am really curious! :-)

Looking back - New Year's Resolutions 2009

Okay, before I start writing down my resolutions for 2010 I thought it might be good to take a brief look back at last year's resolutions ... and ... well, I think I did not do too badly, but also ... I should have looked at that post a bit earlier! ;-)

My resolutions were:

"Organize and backup my computer REGULARLY (and not just once a year!)."

I actually had COMPLETELY forgotten about this one ... and therefore of course I did not do too good on that one. :-(

"Learn how to sell stuff on ebay - and sell all those things I don't use anymore and that just take up space in our apartment."

I also have to admit I did not sell anything on ebay this year as I really really wanted to. But with the pregnancy and the baby this simply was not one of my priorities anymore. (Though I actually did have this one in my mind all year round.) I did buy a big book (on ebay ;-) ) about selling stuff on ebay and even read half of it already - so that's a good start. One of my resolutions for next year of course will be to actually sell stuff.

"Try finishing projects before starting new ones. Try not to have more than five projects going at one time."

Well, my husband probably would tell you that I did not fulfill this. I think I did not do too bad on this one. Maybe there were not always exactly five or less ... but at least it was better than before! :-)

"Get a better overview over our bank and money matters (that is my least favourite)."

I left this pretty much until last minute ... only started working on this one over the last few months. But still - am proud that I started at all. Need to keep going on this one in the next year.


"After picking up my daughter from kindergarten spend at least one hour playing with her without switching on the computer. (Have to admit am really bad about this.)"

Also did not too bad on this one. I try to establish the habit to work on my computer in the morning and evening when my daughter is in kindergarten or asleep. Will try to somehow manage to stay on my computer only for a certain amount of time ... am not sure how I am going to do this. Internet and blogging really has a very addictive potential ... :-)

So ... now I can think of my new resolutions ...

New Years Resolutions

I usually don't have more than one new year resolution since I don't like the frustration of having many - and not fullfilling them! Therefore the last years I used to have none - or one rather realistic one, so I could stand a chance! :-) But after reading about resolutions in many blogs I started thinking. I wanted to come up with one important one ... but there were just so many things that I thought to be important ... that I couldn't stick with one. So, here they are ... my resolutions for 2009.

My most important one:

1. After picking up my daughter from kindergarten spend at least one hour playing with her without switching on the computer. (Have to admit am really bad about this.)

And the rest:

2. Learn how to sell stuff on ebay - and sell all those things I don't use anymore and that just take up space in our apartment.

3. Try finishing projects before starting new ones. Try not to have more than five projects going at one time. (I actually have no idea how realistic this is. I usually have

4. Organize and backup my computer REGULARLY (and not just once a year!).

5. Get a better overview over our bank and money matters (that is my least favourite).

Well, yeah, I am going with these ones. I mean, there are LOADS of other things (like keeping the house organized at all times ... haha) that I could put down - already knowing that this will not come true in 2009 ... and probably also not in 2010 ... So therefore I try to pick realistic ones and be practical, rather have few things to work on and actually be able to change them ... than have alot things, that you already know you will fail at! My motto!
I am really curious already what I will think reading this again in one years time ... :-)

To everyone out there having resolutions - good luck making them come true! :-)

Finally!

So I finally decided to start my own blog! I was playing with the idea since years now ... and will see how far I get with it ... :-)
Basically I want to use it as a kind of collection of ideas and things I like. And there are many things in my life that I like. :-)
Most of all I love my daughter (she is 3 now)! And also the father of my daughter ;-) and our dog. When I am not working the three keep me rather busy. When I have some free time left I also love:

decorating
crafts of all kind
knitting - up until now only socks though
crocheting
everything creative ... :-)
taking photos, organizing photos, looking at photos ...
tango argentino
baking - especially muffins
cooking - for example marmelade and jams
looking at recipes
reading
traveling
other countries and cultures ... and their food :-)
nature
taking baths
playing games (yeah, I do enjoy traditional board games)
reading and writing emails
looking at interesting stuff on the internet
ebay - totally addicted :-(
listening to music
candles
eating cookies with a glass of cold milk! :-)
cycling
doing pilates - just learning it
would love to learn yoga
chilies
...

So basically it's rather hard for me to get bored! Unfortunately I am quite chaotic - I never do one project at a time but start many different things ... and of course sometimes loose track ... Hope this blog helps me to keep track of all my ideas and projects and things I wanna do ...