One Step at a Time

Every day is a new beginning. Even when the night has been LONG and disturbed! After a broken night, the last thing I wanted to do this morning was the pile of housework that had accumulated whilst I hid in the studio over the last week or so. However, the washing will always be with us and it's never good when there is more weetabix on the floor than on the table, (there you go - I've let you into my awful secret - this home looks lived in!). So a morning of home making was well and truly required!

Now I'm sitting here in the peace of this hour, most of the children in bed - one on his way, and feeling most content. I know my home isn't going to feature in any magazine. I know I struggle sometimes to find an inch of clear space to take photos of the things I make. I know there are seven people living here - Oh, my goodness, do I know! However, I also know that every clean surface, every freshly washed bed, every dinner cooked, every drawer full of folded clothes, every school project completed.....


.....is hard won in this house - as I am sure it is in yours! These are small achievements in the grand scheme of things - but taken together, they ARE the grand scheme - not the cleanliness - that's a means to an end. I mean the LOVE that is poured out and into making this home and family work like what my husband's dad called a "well oiled machine" the other day!!!


It doesn't always work like that. A lot of the time we are tearing around the place trying to find the lost football sock, or the form for parent's evening, or trying to cook dinner with a screaming toddler clinging to both legs. That's why I think it's important - for me, and probably some of you, to learn to sit in the peace, with the hum of the washing machine in the back ground and the sound of sleeping children on the monitor and remember that on the whole, you're doing OK.


You're doing OK.


And because I didn't want to show you photos of the washing pile (although I'm sure it would have made you feel a whole lot better about yours) or the weetabix on the floor (the food equivalent of cement), I have included some pictures of the projects I am working on in my hard won studio time. Hopefully a little bit more interesting and colourful!

Tomorrow is another day!
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A little Thanks to you educators

Day one of the holiday - well, for most of the children of this country! An appropriate time to say Thank you and well done to all you educators out there. Whether you work with the littlies in reception, or the young people about to leave school , or all of those lovely children inbetween, you have earned a rest.


Maybe you are responsible for looking after pre-schoolies and making sure they are safe, happy and learning about life. It's a hard job and you deserve a sit down with a cup of tea (or something stronger!)

Perhaps you are delivering post-compulsory education in one of our Universities and colleges - you have had your fair share to deal with this year - may you be able to stay true to your passion for education and find time to rest over the summer.



Maybe you are a home educator, not only educating your children, but concerning yourselves with the very nature and business of education itself and hammering it out as you go. Stunning achievement. Well done!


Or maybe you are one of our "informal" educators in the Youth Service, for whom the Summer is not a break, but an exercise in cramming in as many activities as possible for the young people in your care, whilst keeping up with all the usual planning and paperwork. We take our hats off to you too...you pick up where others leave off.

Lastly, but by no means least, thank you to all the mums and dads out there who are currently taking a deep breath and inventing numerous and varied ways of entertaining and educating their children over the summer break. You are doing the 24/7 job of preparing your children for life. well done. Enjoy the summer. It's such a precious time. May every minute of it be a joy.



Next time you see one of these lovely people who take the care of our children very seriously - give them a great big pat on the back and wish them all the best for next year.

Speech over!

# By the way - pics are of this year's presents for the educators in my childrens' lives.

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