Tradition

When I was a little girl, my mom decided to start a little Christmas tradition for me. Each Christmas, a new angel was hung up on the Christmas tree, a marker of how many Christmases I've seen in my lifetime.

When I had our eldest son, I decided to continue the tradition but I had no idea how. I wanted to do a play on his Chinese zodiac--the Dragon--but where in the world would I find dragon ornaments, let alone ones for Christmas?

By his third Christmas, I solved it. I'd been browsing various tutorials and tips on fun and educational activities to do with kids. Mostly for homeshooling moms but while I have no desire to homeschool my kids, I found great value in what these mothers shared. And there I found it: do-it-yourself white clay.

His blank, white clay ornaments have been waiting in a small box since last year. This year, I finally got around to painting them. I'm quite proud of my creations, to be honest, especially since it has been a very long time since I have done anything of this sort.

Kian is a little luckier than his big brother since I already figured out what to do for their ornaments by the time he was born. So here are the completed ornaments so far plus one work in progress. Kian, being born in the Year of the Sheep will have sheep-themed ornaments while Llew has his dragon-themed ornaments.

Since this is not my typical type of artwork, I give massive thanks to artists from DeviantArt for ideas on what to do for the ornaments. I'm still in the process of properly tracing the artist for each of these pieces. I kind of feel like those old time art students who would make multiple copies of their master's work in the attempt to learn their techniques.



From left to right:

This ram is based on the myth of the sheep with the golden-fleece. We thought it would be an appropriate introduction for Kian's first Christmas ornament.

Llew's first ornament is my take on the Apocalypse Dragon from the iOS game, Dragonvale. When Llew was born in 2012, talk of the coming apocalypse was all the rage and we thought it would make a great insider joke to include this dragon in his line up of dragon ornaments.

The second dragon is Toothless from "How to Train Your Dragon". He isn't so addicted to it yet but he enjoys the movie well enough.

Last is an artist's rendition of the literary version of Falkor from "The Neverending Story". Contrary to the movie version that looked more like a dog, Falkor is supposed to look somewhat like an Asian dragon with a long, snake-like body and an equally almost serpentine head. I have to put on the final washes and varnish before I can consider this one completed.

For the white clay, I can't remember anymore where I got the recipe from but here it is below. I'll edit when I find the source. ^_^

1 c baking soda
1/2 c corn starch
3/4 c warm water

Mix the dry ingredients together and stir in the water. Mix over medium heat until it starts to bubble and come away from the pan. When it has started to dry and resemble soft play dough, take it off the heat and let it cool. Knead to soften and make more pliable. Store in an air tight container.

It's supposed to be safe to bake but I just let my work air dry on a baking sheet.

Just to end my own story of Christmas tradition, I decided to hang up my last angel the year of Llew's first Christmas. And next I need to talk to my husband about something we can put up as our own marker for how many Christmases we've spent as husband and wife. ^_~

Almost there

Let me get this off my chest: yes, I started singing the Disney song immediately after I typed that.

Locally we've now got an allotted 100 days paid maternity leave but I voluntarily gave myself eight weeks off before setting myself up to work again just so I don't go crazy here at home. In a funny way it still works out as 100 days of maternity leave for me since my leave started in October (I was active with our business work until the final week prior to giving birth), ends at the end of November, but then December = Christmas stuff so I'll actually be working officially by January.

It works out well, hahaha!

Restless

Almost a month since I gave birth. I told myself that I would take two months off for my "maternity leave" but I'm not sure I can handle it. The good news for me is that my newborn's temperament seems to take well to me working while he naps in the stroller. Kind of makes me wish we had a crib, actually, so he can rest on a cooler surface. I suppose I can put him beside me in the co-sleeper though. There's a thought.

That said, I do admit I've been slowly preparing myself to start working again. I've gotten myself back on LinkedIn and I already submitted an initial feature piece to a magazine I aim to regularly freelance for--freelance because I'm not sure I can fully commit to a 9 to 5 since I do still have other involvements and businesses I need to deal with but we shall see how it goes.

In the matter of discipline

So far, I believe it's working, this attempt of mine to try and spread out my writing, whether for blog purposes, work, or fun, throughout eight hours in a week. It doesn't feel like it's something I need to do; spreading it out and being flexible with how long I do it keeps it fun. And I'm one of those people who needs to keep seeing work as something fun.

I first got the idea of writing a little something every day from a college professor. It's not an exercise for everyone but if it works, then by all means, right? And it works well for me.

Aside from writing though, I've also been organising and editing some old pieces. I shan't be reproducing them here. They're frankly too much of an embarrassment although I know that once upon a time, I thought they were great. (That was just a little over ten years ago.)

My co-writers and I have had our laughs and moved on. ^_~

Getting the feeling back

Last Sunday, I submitted the first feature article I've written in a very long time...two years if memory serves. Complete with photos, too, which is part of what I aim to train for as a writer.

I've been doing freelance work for various clients for a few years now. It's not been my steadiest work--my involvement in our businesses and investments has still been the greater focus along with the care of our firstborn. This time around though, I'd like to give a little bit more attention to the "Career" part of my tag, "The Career Housewife".

When you can't stand not working

I had a prenatal check up last week and one of the most interesting things that came up in conversation with my regular obstetrician's reliever was the recovery time it takes post Caesarian section.

This is not to say that I will definitely be getting the operation done. But I am preparing myself for the possibility anyway.

On being a working mom

I typically count myself as a stay-at-home mom. I do have a career of sorts: we have established small businesses and investments that require more than your usual work load when you are a dedicated housewife (hence, owning the title of "Career Housewife") and even that I consider a career because I do study to prepare myself to assist in my child's education and all that.

These days I've been working outside the home a lot. And even when I am not working outside, I've had a few times when I had to turn down my son's invitation to watch a movie with him. Perhaps I can freely credit how we raised him so far that he's so easy to talk to about these things. He doesn't complain when I ask him to just sit and play quietly beside me when I am unable to turn my full attention to him, and he seems to understand when something I'm doing is urgent enough that I have to put its completion ahead of play time with him.

I honestly have no idea how moms who do have to work outside the home do it, I really don't. I'm sure it's tough to have to leave your kid(s) at home on a daily basis, maybe seeing them only a few hours in the morning and then again at night. Each time I get impatient with my son's refusal to go to sleep I think about those moments and remember how he always used to attend meetings with us because he was still directly breastfeeding. He had me and his dad for the whole day, every single day of the week for two years. (I'm hoping we can give the same amount of time to his coming sibling.)

The more time we spend away from our son, the more I appreciate how much it takes to work away from the home. The strength, the presence of mind (like dealing with kiddo crises over the phone), and really, how to balance everything that needs to be taken care of both at work and at home.

We have different problems, moms who work from home, moms who work outside the home, and moms whose work is the home. I've had a taste of all three and, really, the amount of adjustment it takes! Amazing, amazing. I'm glad I don't have to choose only one of the three, and I am grateful for that privilege. But you moms who are just one of the three? Hats off to you. Hats off.

Mommy Brain

Here's how it works:

I am focused so completely on my son that I think of nothing else.

Then I realise I need to take care of loads other things.

And then I go back to focusing on my son.

An entire year of this has driven me crazy. Not a particularly bad crazy but the kind of crazy that needs at least an hour of me time and a dose of primping every day. I kid you not.

I chose to be a SAHM (stay at home mom), make no mistake about that. I am not good at hiring the right people and judging someone based on a resume is just not enough. I do not have the confidence that I can hire the right person to care for my son when I have failed several times over to find the right person to clean our house and care for my cats and dogs. I can only thank the Lord that it has never happened that any harm came to us beyond theft of material possessions.

Clearly this disqualifies me from hiring a nanny at this point though I do realise and accept that we will need to hire one in the future when we decide to add to the brood.

I am so glad that now I can let my son run somewhat loose around the house. "Somewhat" because there are still places and things he is not allowed to handle. But we try to manage and adjust because my mommy brain is starting to short circuit.

I see so many things that need cleaning, fixing, and organizing. I see things worth salvaging for crafting and things that are in want of upcycling.

I see our sole helper moving at a glacial pace and need to get things done more efficiently because while I am grateful for her presence, I see things left not done or not done right. But she cooks and occasionally dotes on my four-footed kids. That is a definite gold star in my book. Two gold stars, even.

There is nothing wrong inherently with this mommy brain I whine about but it also seems to be hardwired to create an envoronment I failed to finish providing during my nesting phase. So we have an extension.

My mommy brain wants it all to be as clean and organised an environment for my kid(s) as it was for me.

And my mommy brain wants a little bit of time out.

So together, we seek out these little projects. We take breaks when the little one calls for milk and cuddles and play time. We keep trying to get things done and we do get them done some times. And at night, we get a good night's sleep knowing we completed another step going towards that goal: keeping mommy brain healthy.

The Year of the Household Clean-up #1: Guidelines

I don't even know how long these were marinating in my bookmarks list before I found them again:

1. How to Declutter the Closet
2. When to Donate Clothes
3. How to Organize a Closet in 5 Steps 
4. Stop Hoarding

This series of posts may well have been the reason why I began on this cleaning quest that has turned into quite the nesting monster. I bet that if I didn't feel so overheated and exhausted all the time, this house would have far less junk in it than it still does.

Weekend Project

Full disclosure: this did not actually happen in just one weekend. Why? I had to run all over the place to find the right materials for it.

Nonetheless, I am right chuffed I finally finished it today!

Interiors Inspiration

It has been a very long and arduous process, getting to this point where I am taking very seriously the need to clean up my junk and get everything in the house organised the way I want.

That said, I've been looking for inspiration from everywhere.

Old world charm

One of my nephews-in-law* was baptised last Sunday--that's where yesterday's photo came from. But that's not the main thing I'm going to talk about, as is obvious from the post title.

But first, a little about the baptism.

A month for a month

The ratio being a reference to a full month of cleaning to which my system responded with a full month of resting.

Very reasonable and not bad for a woman in her second trimester, right?

I have been accused of being on a perpetual quest to clean and organise my things and this is, sadly, not very far from the truth. I am a pack rat. Nothing to be proud of, but I'm not about to lie about or hide it either. You've seen me have my moments but believe me when I say that those moments come at the expense of at least two to three days worth of work that are easily undone in just as long a time.

IHeart Organizing: Reader Space: Magnetic Meal Planning!

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IHeart Organizing: Reader Space: Magnetic Meal Planning!: Although I recently posted about my meal planning process here , I couldn't resist sharing another super incredible and fun way to go about ...

A bit of a ways back I posted first about meal planning, and then the awesome magnetic chalk board another reader of IHeart Organizing made.

I love nurturing that domestic part of me. As I've said before, there is a reason why I chose "Career Housewife" as my handle. In local lingo, to "make a career" out of something [for fellow Filos, that would be variants of the term kinarir/kinareer] means to take anything seriously enough to really study and develop skills that would aid in the said activity.

Food is a huge deal for my family, not just because of the food itself but because meal times, particularly dinners and weekends, are the only times we are all seated at the table together. It is, therefore, very important for us to have good food at the table, special dietary considerations plus likes and dislikes included.

I do my planning weekly. In fact, I still have planning to do beginning our meals for tomorrow, haha! We only shop for groceries twice a month, meats once a week, so planning has to be done ahead of time, with some allowances for changes depending on sudden cravings or surprise take home food. I'll probably need to adjust this magnetic meal planning board quite a great deal to suit our needs but I definitely think it's better than my current method of having to print out weekly  plans. The board wastes no paper or ink, and I can easily include a list of things that need defrosting and whatnot.

I'm learning so much from people who've been doing it longer than I have. I love it!

Chilling

On a happier note.

After running some errands, the husband and I stopped for a bit of R&R at Subway last Thursday afternoon.

This is significant because we haven't really sat down anywhere just to read in a very long time. But there we were that afternoon, eating our sandwiches, each of us with a book in hand, savoring a good book each (his was one of the books from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series and mine was Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic), good food, and silence that we do not often get at home.

Bliss.

IHeart Organizing: How We Meal Plan For Our Clan

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IHeart Organizing: How We Meal Plan For Our Clan: After the recent stint on HGTV, I have been getting quite a few questions about my meal planning process.  I actually did a post on it quit...

This has been a bit of a thorn in the side for our family, what with everyone having very vast menu preferences, dietary limitations, and, of course, budgeting concerns.

This is a very nice starting point though. We've got the basics down rather similarly but I could still learn a thing or two from their system. The menu binder and clipboards are of particular interest to me and that menu board sure looks good--reusable too, compared to my (albeit on recycled) paper print outs.

IHeart Organizing: 5 Time Management Tips for Busy Families

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IHeart Organizing: 5 Time Management Tips for Busy Families: For those of you, you have found me via Money Saving Mom , I say, "Hello and WELCOME!"  I am so excited to have you here!  Now please forgiv...

Although my user name is "The Career Housewife" please do take note that I've only just gotten married and therefore I am quite new to all of this so far.

Never too late

Of course maintenance is very important but life just doesn't always happen the way we want it to.

This past weekend has been dedicated to cleaning up our home office which, finally, looks a bit closer to a home office again.

The truth is while I can be quite obsessive about how my things are arranged, where everything is placed, and all of that, I was never a very tidy person.

Now reading...

I started reading this today, just really wanted to share. It's one of my favourite treasures from Ireland and I was so excited to see it on the shelf, especially since Alison Weir is one of my favourite writers.

It's a little bit of a detour from my Tudor readings but right now I'm also working on The Lady in the Tower which is about Anne Boleyn.

Book happiness!

Safe and Sound from "The Hunger Games" movie

There are very few books I read that my husband enjoys and very few that he reads that I enjoy. The Harry Potter series was one of them and perhaps a little bit of The Lord of the Rings.

The truth is that the only reading material we can bond over are my women's magazines--I usually end up asking him things stated in articles written for women about men and how true or not they are for him.

That was until we finally gave in, jumped on yet another bandwagon, and bought The Hunger Games.