a day for contemplation

I was lucky enough to watch Sir Ed's funeral while i was at work today. I'm glad i did, except that it got me thinking way too much.

How much can one person do? It is quite simply incredible what Sir Ed achieved - the number of people whose lives are worth living just because he saw there was a need and had the means to assist. 

How much can one person do? there are so many things i want to be and achieve - not least of which are the following: create beautiful things, live sustainably, be a good girlfriend/sister/friend/daughter, exercise, be great at my job, find ways to get ahead, give my time to others...but i can't seem to fit it all in. One inevitably must be sacrificed in order to achieve another - i'd really like to do voluntary work but what with all our craft bizzo and the hours that i work, i don't see how i could do it all without burning myself out. Which means i end up feeling kind of selfish because i'd rathe develop my business ideas than help others who need it more than i need the extra cash (much as i hate to admit it).

I'm still getting over my cold. In fact, i think my cough has got worse. Tim's mum (a nurse) said yesterday that if i'm not better today i should really go to the doctor as i'll prolly need antibiotics. Woohoo. 

And we have our third open home tomorrow, so i have to clean yet again while the boy is out at the wedding rehearsal. At least, again, it's pretty easy, but still driving me mad. 

Rightyo, almost news time. Better get the knitting out. :)

absent WIPs

I had every intention of posting photos today, but now that i've got around to it i've lost all the good light. Hold on, i'm going to do a quick scoutaround to see if anywhere in my mini flat has some decent sunshine. 

OK, got some, in the lame-ass kitchen light. Woop woop. 

Surprisingly, i had a brilliant working day. I finally cleared 95% of my backlog of 

work, and boy, is that a good feeling. I still have loads of administrative stuff to get done, but i have a plan of attack for that. It's called telling my boss on Tuesday that i can't do either job justice whilst i'm doing two, so could she please get someone in to help me? or at least tell the other naughty children in the office to give me a hand with yes, the mundane jobs that noone ever wants to do. And this week has revealed to me that i am confident enough to say that i can do the more senior job, but whether it is offered to me or not is a total dark area to me. I have no idea of the intentions there. So, like most things, it's wait and see. The story of my life.

In the meantime, I have this damned cold to get over - and going from how long tim has been suffering for, i could be stuck with it for awhile yet. Fingers crossed i'm not coughing and blowing for the wedding this time next week. 

I also picked up 330 photos that i had printed for cards for the fair today. Thank goodness it's a long weekend and i'm too broke to do anything! And i added another work in progress to my pile - i decided i'd make myself a clutch rather than buy a bag that really isn't in my budget or quite what i'm looking for, so, use your imagination:

Basically what i'm heading towards is a simple rectangular bag, zip along the top, and a loop coming out the side that i can put my hand through to make it easy to hold. The coral colour is a bit darker than the secondary colour of my dress, so that is going to be the lining - i'm loving how it warms the colour of the silk so it's pinker. All for a grand total of $10.30. Brilliant.

and going full-tilt with my stole - it's not going to be quite what i wanted, but as with everything, i don't have time. Especially not the approx 4 weeks it would take me to knit a lace pattern in it. Photo of progress tomorrow, perhaps?

Lastly, we have another open home tomorrow. which means more cleaning. fun-ho. At least the place is pretty much under control - a bit of removing the clothes from one wardrobe (the floor) to another (the real one) and a swipe at the dust that collects with abandon in the bathroom. That should do it. 

and um, actually lastly - another WIP - one that takes virtually no work at all. I can't wait to eat all my lovely home grown relatively organic baby tomatoes, that have been feed with worm wees which started off as our food scraps. Ahh, the circle of life.