Sunday at home (on a Wednesday)

 

{reading about natural cleaning remedies in this book}

The first week after the holidays is always the longest one 

-at least, that's how it feels-

so I made sure I had plenty of rest and relaxation on Sunday and

some visuals for future reference (namely, a feeling-exhausted-mid-week afternoon, like today)

(Saturday was a housework day, so I won't bore you with the mundane,

though I also started organising and prettifying the balcony, which was fun).

Hubby was away, so it was just my son and me.

The weather was cloudy and chilly, a perfect day

for staying at home. 

Here are some moments of our Sunday at home for two.

 {breakfast}

                                                              {crafts - creative time}

                                   {lunch}                                                          

 {giving my seeds an identity}

  {getting ready for bed}

Have a great rest of the week!

Recording the moment

 Cherishing the simple things in life is something that has been  proven more than once to be a great source of happiness and inner peace.

So... right now

~ guitar tunes are coming from my son's room - it's his weekly guitar lesson

~ calm breathing can barely be heard as hubby is taking a nap

~ coffee and a book for me before getting back to doing laundry

Life's good.

{from the archives. I  think the title of the book fits the mood}

Saturday

I'm thinking...

 two hours of housework should be enough for one day.

Then... some of this

My little guy will attend a robo-workshop something later in the day.

 They'll make a robot and program it so there can be life on Mars! 

 It's the coffee I'll have with a friend at that time that matters.     ;)

I was hoping for some nature tomorrow.

But no. 

That's o.k. There'll be more happy-family-couch-time in the morning. 

Take Care!

PS. Yes, this is the same blanket I've been crocheting for three years.

I'm very close to finishing it, though.

I need to move on!

update

We have this saying in Greece;

something along these lines:

'when people make plans,

God laughs'

This was supposed to be an easy-going summer for us;

our finances have improved and we were even planning on going on holiday.

We had a long stressful winter - in so many ways that I wouldn't want to get into right now but I will at some point - and the summer would be our chance for a long, deep breath.

It would be... my father-in-law passed away a month ago, after being sick for a couple of months. We tell ourselves that he was lucky to go away so soon. There was no chance of him fighting it and things would only get much worse. 

I started this sentence three times, wanting to describe how I feel and why I feel like this, but... some other time maybe. 

He was a good man.

We spend our days at our villages, taking care of things. I'm at home now for a few days. Looking after myself mostly. I've been ill, too. Nothing serious but there's no time for me when I'm away so I came here with my husband and son. Hubby just left again. I'm planning on resting a lot and playing with my boy, too. We're leaving again tomorrow evening.

I'll be back here on the blog when I'm back here at home.

Take Care!

Yiota

after the rain comes the sunshine

 and vice versa??

Last week was a hard one.

Things at home were very tense,

with my son spending long hours doing nothing much

and his homework taking up all day long.

I ran out of patience so often I'm ashamed to admit

and the whole thing left me drained and miserable.

Then on Saturday we all went to the city centre 

and had a great time

-hubby treated me to this beautiful little bunch-

and when we got home in the evening,

I was down with a kind of flu that made my whole body ache

and I didn't feel better until yesterday morning!

So Monday has come again, with the same slow pace of achieving things,

a long, quiet and civil discussion

and, well, we'll see.

Have a lovely Tuesday!

xxx

sunday outing



we went to the mountains yesterday;

it was a good, family day

{ a rarity lately }

~~~~~

it's a school holiday today.

son and his friends are playing with his playmobil in his room.

i'm enjoying some me-time;

trying to decide if i pick up a book or a hook-

probably both - not simultaneously!

~~~~~

i've been reading your words, looking at your pictures
but haven't been commenting much
as blogging time is really limited.

~~~~~~
thanks for stopping by!

take care!
xxxx

December

is it really december today?

i guess it is.

i bought my son this advent calendar

and left  a little note in the number 1 box, with directions for him to find this gorgeous book! ( i've just got it from the post office and i'm already in love with it! i wish I had ordered one for me, too!)

my son and i are secretly planning to decorate daddy's office when he's not there

-the tree ornaments are patiently waiting in their hiding place and we'll buy a tree one of these days.

and i'm - not at all patiently - trying to get over a nasty cold which has left me 'voiceless' for a week now.

hope you all have a warm, blessed december!

{ for a good dosage of graditude, you can revisit last year's advent calendar;

if only i had time to do it again this year! }

take care!

xxx

saturday night

little man and i came back home from the shadow puppet theatre

to find our ~ very tired ~ daddy sleeping on the sofa.

now it's charlotte's web on tv and a new blanket on my hook.

little man and i are sharing the other sofa and our stripey blanket.

is it wise of me that i haven't watched the news today? i think it is!
(i'll watch it tomorrow morning anyway!)

take care everyone!

xxx

hi!

Hello world!

How are you lovely people?

I really hope you're enjoying the new season!

Autumn has been here for a while; it's the time for pomegranades,

pumpkins and chrysanthemums around here.

I'm trying very hard to squeeze some moments of seasonal appreciation in

my otherwise crazy life.

I haven't just been busy lately; I've been crazy busy!

I haven't finished reading a single book since schools started;

I haven't done much progress with my crochet project;

I haven't even cleaned and organised the place properly since summer

and my wardrobe is a chaotic mixture of summer and winter clothes!

(I'm actually working on this today)

The reason I've found some time to be here today is the long weekend ahead,

which means there are no schools tomorrow. Yay!!!

So, do tell! What have you been up to lately?

Though, I have to admit, I do stop by your places on my ... free time(?) - more like free minutes! Somewhere between studying with my first-grader,  preparing my work for the next day and keeping up with the most basic housework requirements, I check on my favourite bloggers whenever I'm online.

Well, this is it for now.

I don't know when I'll be back with a new post but I do come here every day so I'll definetely know if you waved 'hello'.

Take Care!

xxx

so far today

Can you see how fresh the plants at the entrance to our block of flats look?

Can you see how grey and dark the morning is?

Yeap! We got rain! Lots of it. It started last night and kept raining until about midday today.

So refreshing!

What can a woman do when it's all fresh and cool outside?

Well, have coffee at the balcony, of course, enjoying some 'hooky' time.

Bliss!



And what can a mommy feed her little man, other than  warm, thick bean soup, loaded with

chopped veggies?

(have you spotted the sun-dried tomatoes my dad's made and the yellow carrot?) 

Yesterday turned out to be a good day, after all. I suddenly felt on top of things after having shared my miseries here and managed to do quite a lot of housework.

And now, my son's waiting for me in his room to de-clutter his book cupboards.

We need to make space for his school books.

Have a good day!

xxx

september

I love this month's picture from my calendar!

It's not very autumnal, but neither is the atmosphere here.

It's hotter and more humid than August!

There is some promise of a change in seasons in the evening breeze

but other than that, summer is still here.

 Of course, we (I)'ve eating a lot of grapes,

but I long for a change in the air as well.

I long for cooler afternoons, I long for cardigans and I almost can't wait to snuggle under my crochet blanket.

And I long for rain!!! Where are the August showers I love so much? I would even be happy with a whole-day beautiful September drizzle. As long as there's water falling from the sky.

I find myself completely disorganised these days. My mind is scattered here and there (I still don't know which school I'll be working at - at least I know where I'll be living!)

I've got hundreds of items in my (mental) to-do list and don't know where to start. Well, I do know where to start: my son's room. I need to de-clutter it and get rid of toys and baby clothes and baby books, have it painted and then do the fun part : decorate it!



I somehow feel that all the stress I had in the previous weeks, waiting for my job placement,

hasn't lifted yet. All I want to do is read and crochet and lay back.

Well, this is not the right time to lay back!

I need to pull my act together!

Classes start on Monday.

And I want my son to have a warm, welcoming room to get back to after school.

news

I've got great news to share!

The job placements were announced late last night and I got what I wanted;

I'll be here, staying at home and working in my area!

I don't know which school yet, but that's fine. As long as I don't have to leave.

Thank you all for your supportive comments and keeping me in your thoughts.

It means a lot to me!

More soon.

Take Care!

xxx

saturday evening at the orchard

"Under the apple tree?"

I nodded and he got out the picnic blanket from the trunk of the car. We lay back, gazing at the feathered clouds sailing slowly above our heads. Bees were buzzing over the clover, crickets were chirping, and we could hear the children playing...

Karen Andreola

Lessons at Blackberry Inn

on Monday ...

...we decided to go to a nearby town with my husband, who had some work to do there.

While daddy was about his business, we were having fun at the park.

On our way back to the city, my husband had the idea of stopping at a seaside resort for lunch.

"Oh, goodie! I happen to have a set of clothes for little one, cause there's no way he'll stay dry. Just stop at a supermarket so I can buy him a towel and some sunscreen."

Done!

Little Mr Hard-To-Please said it was an awesome day!

Who am I to disagree?

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

Lots of ironing planned for me today. But not before spending an hour or so with my book and my morning coffee.

xxx

scenes from the weekend

Hello lovelies!

Hope you all had a great weekend and a wonderful start to your week!

Here things are quite laid back; slowly but surely, I'm going through the stuff we brought back home - a couple of boxes here, a suitcase there...

This morning, when I proudly stated that we could finally see our floors, hubby answered :'what about the sofa?'

Ahem..., we have another one, plus a very comfortable armchair; what do we need our (now full of winter clothes to be sorted out and put away) smaller sofa?

Our weekend was a very good one.

There was ...

...reading a very interesting book in my comfy flowery pjs (and a cardigan; it was a bit chilly in the mornings)

...lots of playmobil action (after the caravan, knights, pirates and a castle came out of their boxes and mummy discreetly turned to her book -shhhh!)

...some yummy action in the kitchen (chocolate-nutella tart; most of it still in the freezer to tempt me - no, no, I need to lose some weight)

...a birthday celebration with just the three of us at home followed by dinner at a restaurant with friends (it was hubby's birthday, by the way)

 

...a family breakfast - pancakes + honey+ almonds. mmmmm

 

...my blanket being put in good use by little one while watching cartoons early in the morning (good thing it's acrylic and not wool!)

...some (light) housework which resulted in fresh bedlinen (the piles of books are among the things that were revomed from the floor but have in fact nowhere to live!)

We also attended a Christening; my youngest nephew bacame godfather to a little girl and ...

watched the news... a lot :(

As you can see, regardless of the general chaos in my country, life at our little home is good.

Thank you all so very much for your lovely comments. It feels great to write 'I'm back home' and see that so many people I've actually never met understand what this means to me and feel happy for me. I'm so grateful for your being here!

Take Care!

xxx

this is it!

            (from the kindergarten end-of-year play)

The time has come; we're packing!

We're going home - hopefully, not only for the summer!

I think one of the wisest decisions I made when we first came here in September was to opt for the fastest internet connection around here.

I'm so grateful I discovered blogging about two years ago. You all kept me great company, especially over the long winter months; and they were really long at times!

Autumn was better, with the explorations and walks by the river!

Now we're more than ready to go back home.

I have big (inexpensive) plans for this summer. I'm thinking of changing the colour schemes in our place; make everything brighter. And since crocheting is out of the question for the summer (too hot for this), sewing a couple of throws sounds like a good plan to me. It's high time I finished this one for instance; I bought the fabrics last August!

Ok then! I sorted all my books and work stuff yesterday.

Now I need to go declutter my son's toys. This is a tricky one: if I do it with him, he'll want to keep everything; if I do it on my own, it won't be fair to him. I think I'll go half-way and do the first round on my own (discreetly) and then call him over.

Take Care!

I'll talk to you next week from the headquarters.

xxx

(PS. Lucy, if you're reading this, I can't leave a comment on your blog; I tried everything, but blogger doesn't 'see' me in this comment layout. That's why I changed to a pop-up window)