The Playful Way - and other stories...

 I'm delighted to report that life "Chez Mel" is pretty good just now.

Out of school...

Earlier this year, during lock-down, I took the plunge and handed in my notice from my teaching job. 

It's something I've been thinking about for quite some time. It isn't that I don't like teaching. I do. I love working with children. To me, teaching children is all about finding that spark, getting them excited about learning and developing their confidence to take on the challenges and discover the world. 

It wasn't that I had a problem with the school either. The school I taught at was rated OfSted Outstanding and is a great school. The staff are caring and incredibly hard-working and do everything they can to make the school a great place to be. 

No, my problem is with the system itself. I think that OfSted and the Government are getting it wrong. The problem is that they are pushing for more and more "measurable" results, but this means that teachers and schools are focusing on teaching the things that are measured. 

The potential is that you can end up with children being taught methods but without necessarily any understanding, and deja vu classrooms:

• if you go into one classroom at 9.15 in the morning, the lesson in the classroom 2 doors along will be structured exactly the same way.  
• The display boards will all have the same information on them. 
• The doors will all have the same poster on them. 
• The maths equipment will all be laid out the same way.

In addition, children that fall behind this rigid routine are taken out for support, but this is almost always during the non-core part of the curriculum - depriving them of the opportunities where they might be able to shine - art, music or computing. 

While I agree that structure and routine are beneficial to many children, and that sharing good practice makes sense, I would argue that this takes the joy and excitement out of school and learning.  

Where is the space for that eccentric teacher so in love with their subject that the children will remember for the rest of their lives? 

Where is the space for spending longer on something that the children have got excited about, or that they need to work on a bit more to cement understanding? 

The flexibility and pleasure is being sucked out of our schools by the insistence that they all achieve more results and tick certain boxes. 

Of course we should weed out poor teachers so that all children have the chance to attain well. 

Of course we should look for quality in our classrooms. 

However, that quality can take many shapes and teachers and children do not come in a one-size-fits-all uniformity. 

While everybody needs to be taught to read and write, they may all learn best in different ways and at different pace, I don't think this is recognised by our education system.

So, off my soap-box... What am I doing now?

...and into writing

I think I've always been a writer. Writing is one of my creative outlets, but I've also found that since I'm able to coherently arrange words on the page, I am often called on to write newsletters, web-content, draft emails and so on. 

I have made some income from writing before, taking on several freelance projects when I was a stay-at-home-mum.

I decided it was time to turn my attention to this once more.

I started off by setting up a new blog - www.the-playful-way.com. The idea was that I could write about something I really believe in - "my niche" - and use it as a spring-board to write a series of books, online courses and articles, as well as being a brand for relaunching my Etsy shop, which I renamed "The Playful Way" and for a tutoring business.

However, I had a bit of a panic about no steady income. I'd assured Husband that within a few months I would be able to bring in as much money freelance as I was as a part-time teacher.

I suddenly didn't see that happening, so jumped at the opportunity for some regular web-content writing for a marketing guy. I was soon writing articles about electric guitars, comparing ecommerce, shipping and project-management platforms, writing about "Best peanut butters for dogs" and different Japanese dog breeds. 

You name it, I was writing about it. The pay was peanuts, there was no by-line, and with all the research and weblinks required, it was taking several hours to write each one. I realised that I'd sacrificed my actual passion and the potential to make real money, for the security of creating click-through content for steady pay.

After three months, I wrote my last piece for this stream of income last Monday.

I'm looking forward to completing my first e-book and course "Making Maths Fun - a guide for parents and teachers" by the end of January. Also back to the blog, and focusing on some other writing projects. This bit is about believing in myself. I know I can do this - I have to hold out for projects that I believe in, or that pay what I'm worth.

...and back into the classroom!

In the meantime, I was also approached by a friend and former colleague. She'd heard that I was doing a bit of tutoring, and wondered if I might be interested in helping out with Phonics Catch-up at the school where she is deputy-head. I'm there to help the children who, due to the covid lock-down last school-year, missed out on learning opportunities, reading material and, for some, even exposure to English. 

I spend two hours each day working with small groups in Key Stage One to support and teach phonics and help them with their reading.

It's a short-term post. I'm hoping to have made enough of an impact by Easter that they will have caught up and be able to read confidently. In the meantime, I feel inspired that I'm able to use my teaching skills to make a real difference to children who really need it.

I've also had a few enquiries about tutoring. However, because I currently run Beavers and Cubs from 4.30pm two evenings each week, and my children have piano lessons on a third evening, as well as all my other Scouting commitments, I have only managed to squeeze one tutoring client in! We're working on her confidence with Maths. 

And in other news...

This post has been a lot about my work life. I think I'll leave it there and post on another occasion about what else is going on... as a mum and wife, with the house, with the pooch and as a volunteer.

Thoughts on Home working and what we're all doing in the shut-down.

I posted yesterday about Home Learning and how to support the children during this shut-down.

In the meantime, what have I been doing?  As a teacher I am technically a key worker but my underlying kidney disease, vasculitis and immune suppression mean that I am classed as "extremely vulnerable".  I have been home-working since last Wednesday, and as of Monday evening am on the list of people who are not supposed to leave the house for 12 weeks.  

 Each morning I have started with my home-working teaching tasks while the children have been busy with their work.  This involves working with my Year 2 colleagues to compile appropriate work for the children to do from home in each of the subject areas.  As parents email the work in, we note it, respond, post something on the school twitter-feed, post the answers for the parents to be able to mark their work and generally follow up.  We're also taking the opportunity to catch up on paperwork and planning across the school.

After I've done this, I move on to virtual Scouting.  I'm running a Cub Pack and a Beaver Colony so I'm regularly posting activities or badge work that children can be getting on with at home.  I'm looking forward to running a virtual meeting on a video-call platform too so they all get to see one another.  We'll probably have a go at that next week.  

In my County Scout role I'm rearranging adult training modules so that people can pick up on them after the shut-down, but also supporting people to use this opportunity while they are at home to do some e-learning and get their training validated.

Once I've done this I move on to writing.  I'm trying to warm-up my skills a bit by entering writing competitions.  I know that I'm unlikely to win any prizes but the discipline of a deadline and trying out writing in different genres is quite refreshing.  I've entered a Travel Writing one so far, and am now working on an entry for a humorous poetry competition.  Also the fact that I'm stuck indoors, I can stretch my wings a bit here on my blog.

Each day I'm also making sure that I get some exercise.  I've returned to my old favourite Claire Sweeney Slimming World DVD but also had a go at Joe Wicks does PE this morning with the children.  I'm attempting to tame a mature and somewhat wild garden, starting with a patch that Miss Busy has asked to adopt.  Also, the house hasn't been so clean since just after we moved in.  We do have some decorating to do but, while the sun is shining, the garden gets priority.

Plus, of course, spending time with my children.  Making sure that they are getting some of their schoolwork done and not spending all day in front of a screen.  Making sure that they are okay.

What are you all doing during this shut-down?  What does your day look like?

New Year resolutions

I don't really have any New Year resolutions this year.  I already made some back in the Summer and they are "Things I want to achieve by the time I'm 42."

I'll share them here now, only because it makes me more accountable and therefore should help me along with my will power.

1. My family.  I want to spend more time doing things outdoors with my family.  I'll put things in the diary - walks in the hills, days out on the bikes, make use of our campervan, make picnics and get out in the outdoors.  I'd like to spend time finishing jobs around the house together, and making sure the garden looks amazing so the house is a relaxing and wonderful place to spend time.
2. Get below 65kg.  I'm aiming to do this by exercising for at least 30 mins daily.  I'm going to give myself some fitness goals along the way too, such as a 5km run, then a 10km run, and then a triathlon sometime in the Summer.  To help me out, I'll weigh more regularly, and write down what I'm eating.
3. Write a book and sent it to a publisher, and make money from my writing.  I'm going to work on editing a book that I've already finished (it was some time ago, so it's probably going to be quite a comprehensive edit).  I'm also going to work on teaching resources to sell, work on People Per Hour etc. and also keep a track on time spent on writing projects so I can see how much I actually earn per hour.
4. Have some control over finances - I'm going to save money I make from writing to spend on treat days and holidays.  I'm also going to make and stick to a grocery budget each week.
5. Scouts - I'm going to create a County Induction Pack, complete all my Manager and Supporter Training, establish a wider training team for the county, develop a wider Cub Leader team at Holmer, increase the Wildcat Pack to 36 Cubs and go camping with the Cubs at least once per term.
6. Teaching - I'm going to have a successful year.  I'd like the lessons I teach to be exemplary in terms of children being engaged and enthused, reflecting on own learning and learning behaviours, developing vocabulary and independence.  Most of all, I'd like the children in my classes to be happy, confident and kind.  I'd like to develop the Modern Foreign Language teaching in collaboration with the high schools we feed to.  I'd like the garden club at school to develop our garden to make it a place that people are proud of and want to spend time.  I'd like to be viewed as somebody that people can turn to for help or advice when they need it.

Those are my ambitions for the year ahead.  Now I just need to rediscover my energy, which seems to have escaped me lately, and my willpower, to enable me to achieve any or all of these.

Chocolate corn flake nests and a couple of cloaks - Monday's make

Today I've made two more reversible play capes from "Growing Up Sew Liberated" by Meg McElwee.  I had a special request for this colour combination on my Etsy shop (link on right), and always make two things rather than one (economies of scale!), so I've already dispatched my commissioned order, and have a spare in stock.

I also made a dozen of these cornflake confections with the children just now:

I wanted to include some information on my decoupage experiments, but since they aren't finished yet, I'll post on those at a later date, and you can just get a sneak preview:

What have you been making this week?

Making a work-space that works - my dream work-space!

As a work-at-home writer and crafter (or working towards that goal) I would love to have a dedicated work space.  At the moment we're renting a home and my things are spread throughout the house:

• In the kitchen is where I do large scale priming and varnishing of wooden shapes, and when I'm working on these they are spread out on the floor around the edge of the room
• In the dining room I share a computer and desk with Hubby.  My writing files are piled up on the floor in the corner.  My sewing machine lives on the floor under the dining table.  Various half-finished craft projects are moved between the floor and the dining table and back again at meal times.
• In the sitting room I have any knitting or hand-sewing projects in progress around my chair.
• In the bedroom I have my craft books, my knitting wool and my fabric store.
• In the hallway I have a chest of drawers full of crafting paraphernalia, paint, paper etc. and a shelf for all my writing books.

Not ideal, but only a temporary stop-gap.  

So now I get to dream about a potential dedicated work space in our new house.  It's difficult to guess ahead, as we don't know what kind of property we're going to end up with: 3 bedrooms or 4; an attic or cellar space; a conservatory; how big or small the rooms are.  We just don't know yet.

What I would like is one dedicated space where I can keep all my things and do my work and crafting, whether that's in the spare bedroom, in the attic with the model railway, in a cubby under the stairs, or in a corner of our bedroom.  Then I can make it work for me.  

Here's what it needs: 

• a desk or table with a computer or laptop and printer;
• my crafting drawers;
• a small bookcase for all my files and writing and crafting books;
• more storage for fabric, wool, sewing machine, Sunbow stock, packaging materials;
• a little bit of floor space;

I've been searching on Pinterest for some ideas that I love and have created this board.  Here are a few snippets to whet your appetite:

from apartmenttherapy.com 

from ironandtwine.blogspot.co.uk

from wecanbeaoriginal.com

Day 2 - From Stay-at-Home-Mum to Work-at-Home-Mum - Diary of a Transition

Day 2 - 
I actually feel as though I've got quite a lot done today.

Mum stuff
took C to school
washed and hung a load of laundry
tidied, hoovered and mopped throughout house
cleaned bathrooms
sorted the Lego and helped children tidy bedrooms
changed bedding (just one bed)
emptied rubbish
one dog walk and one 40 minute run with dog
made pizza from scratch
went to library
upcycled a t-shirt into a Christmas jumper for Bug (this took a couple of hours this evening, which is why it's now gone midnight and I've not yet gone to bed)
updated household finances

Work stuff
I've done some painting on my garden decoration shapes, 
updated my business finances
updated stock inventory
prepared an item (hat) for mailing in the morning
written a blog post

Day 1 - From Stay-At-Home-Mum to Work-At-Home-Mum - diary of a transition

I'm in the process of trying to make the transition from being a Stay-at-Home-Mum to my two gorgeous children, to being a Work-at-home-mum.  Having spent more than five years at home, I'm yearning to work.  Not just for the money, though that would certainly come in handy and make me feel as though I'm contributing a bit more.  It's more that, while I love being a mummy, I do feel that I have a bit more to offer the world, especially now that C is at school and Bug is approaching that milestone too.  I've thought about going back to Primary School Teaching, but I've spent a few years without a boss now (don't tell Hubby!), and I think I'd prefer to keep it that way.  In addition, I've other, creative urges that I want to experiment with, writing and crafting.  I'd like to try being a WAHM, developing my own portfolio career/business with the flexibility to be at home with the children on the holidays, before and after school and if they are sick.  If it doesn't work out, then maybe I'll reconsider, and get back to the interactive whiteboard and teaching.

I've set myself some increasing targets for each month, which will hopefully lead to some increasing income too.  These include writing blog posts, in the long run I'd like to be able to do some sponsored posts and get some small income from Google adsense; writing articles for i-writer; writing and submitting magazine articles; completing and submitting a couple of my books; making more items to sell, and selling them using etsy, folksy and craft fairs. 

The trouble is, that I sometimes get to the end of the day and don't feel as though I've achieved anything.  If I'm honest though, these aren't days where nothing has been achieved, these are just the days when being a stay-at-home-mum, trumps being a work-at-home-mum.  I'm actually doing plenty, it's just that none of it is progress towards my work goals.  So I thought I'd keep this diary of my transition from one to the other, in the hope that seeing how I get on might help other mums to decide whether or not they can do it too, and also to help me maintain my sanity, by reminding me that the mum bit of WAHM is just as important as the work bit.

Today, for example, I achieved no work at all.  Absolutely none.  Here's what I did achieve: did a load of ironing; took C to school; popped to B&Q to get some varnish for Garden shapes; collected dry-cleaning; prepared stuff for Beaver Scout Christmas party while simultaneously supervising Bug as she painted stars and cut up bits of card; had lunch with Bug and made the dinner ready for reheating later; settled Bug for a nap...she refused to settle without me cuddling in with her...so that was two hours of snoozing! Collected C from school and drove 40 minutes to Fownhope to run the Beaver Scout Christmas Party (stand-in Beaver Leader!), then 40 minutes back; the kids had eaten at the party, so they got ready for bed and settled down; ate dinner with Hubby; walked the dog.  And that's the sum of my day!  Will definitely get some work done tomorrow.  I've a load of garden decoration shapes to finish painting for a start.  Watch this space to see how I get on.  Future SAHM-WAHM posts will be shorter, I just wanted to introduce it this first time.

Handmade garden decorations

I've really enjoyed making these gorgeous garden decorations.  Every garden has its sorry looking corner - a bare fence or wall that could do with a bit of love.  These wooden painted decorations are designed to fill those gaps.

I started with some off-cuts of  thin plywood (Hubby had cut out a large circle to replace the top of our garden table).

I drew out some very rough shapes of what I wanted to make, then cut them out with a jigsaw and drilled a hole near the top (for hanging).

Each shape got two coats of primer.

Then I got creative with the acrylic paints.  I really don't consider myself to be any sort of artist, so you don't need much skill to get some really nice effects.

I finished off with two coats of varnish on each one.

They are currently hanging on my garden fence.  The garden at our rented house is basically an awful gravelled yard.  I can't really do anything with it, since everything has to be left exactly as it was when we leave in a few months, plus it's autumn!  So in the meantime, I'm going to make lots more of these, in bright colours hopefully, and really brighten things up.

At the moment I'm leaving them out for a few weeks to make sure that the varnish etc. is as weather proof as I hope it is, then I'll make them to order for Sunbow Designs (my Etsy shop).  I'm thinking I can do small animals, mini-beasts, flowers, garden signs, and also things that might be used to decorate kids' bedrooms, such as fairies, racing cars, trains and so on.  

What do you think?

Making money from home

I think its safe to say that I'm a full-time mum.

C has now started school, and Bug is at pre-school all day on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  I'm still responsible for getting them to school and picking them up, I'm walking the dog twice a day, I'm doing all the cooking, laundry and housework, and I have Bug on the days that she's not at pre-school.  

Here's how a typical Monday looks:

1. Get up at 6.30am and do my exercise DVD for 30 minutes.
2. Get the children up at 7am, and encourage the getting dressed, getting breakfast, brushing teeth and getting out of the door process.  At the same time I get washed and dressed, get a laundry load on, have some breakfast, wash the dishes and make sure everyone has what the need for the day.
3. Leave the house at 8.15am.  Drive to the village where school is, and walk through the village to school (we all get some exercise and the dog gets a walk).
4. At 9am say "bye" to C, and begin the walk back again with Bug and the dog.
5. Home again by about 9.45, a little later if we've done any errands while out.
6. I spend an hour doing laundry and housework, while Bug either helps me or does some colouring or playing on her own.
7. Now I spend an hour with Bug.  We play a game, do some reading or craft, then have lunch.
8. At about noon, Bug goes for a sleep (or if she's not asleep after an hour, she gets up and plays in her bedroom).  I now have two hours to do some work (more on that later).
9. At about 2pm I get Bug up, we have a cuddle, and then I persuade her to have a practice on her bike.  She's a little reluctant at the moment.
10. At 3pm we head off back to the village where school is, and collect C from school.  The children have a snack in the car and we go to the woods.  We walk, and they play on the playground.
11. At 4.30pm we head home.  Once there at about 5pm we settle down to do C's homework while Bug does some drawing.  I cook the dinner and supervise the homework.
12. At 5.45pm it's dinner time.  Hubby is still working out his work routine, so is sometimes here for dinner, sometimes not.  After dinner it's time for pyjamas, teeth, a story and bed.  Hubby or I will do the dishes while the other supervises the children - unless he's not back yet, in which case I wash the dishes and supervise remotely!
13. 7pm-ish the children are in bed.  I now have some time to work again, until 9pm when it's time to stop and Hubby and I have an appointment with the TV and whichever show we are particularly into at the moment.

On a Wednesday and Thursday in theory I have the whole day to get down to work.  In reality by the time I get home from school drop off/dog walk it's already at least 9.30, and I'm leaving again by 2.30pm at the latest.  I also still do laundry and housework on these days, as well as squeezing in a grocery shop, and a swim for me (a new luxury, to go swimming without the children once a week!).  So in reality, I don't get that much more time for working than on any other day.

So what can a stay-at-home mum do when she decides its time to start earning some money, and she basically has a maximum of about 4 hours a day in which to do it?  Here are some of the things that I'm trying, and I'd love to hear what you're doing too:

• The first thing I've embarked upon is i-writer.  There's a list of articles required, and you choose one that you want to write and get on with it.  Once submitted, if the requester likes it, they'll approve it and give you a rating out of 5, and you get paid.  To begin with you only earn a couple of dollars for a 500 word article, but once you've done 30, if your average rating is above 4* you can access "Premium" articles, at about $5 for 500 words, and once your average rating is above 4.6* you can access "Elite" articles at about $8 per 500 words.  Yes, the pay is appallingly low (it takes me about an hour to research and write a 500 word article), but at least it's definite money for the work, and I also count it as good practice.  I'm definitely honing my writing skills and learning lots of good things along the way.  I've worked pretty hard on this for the last month or so, and am currently a Premium writer.
• I've also signed up to a couple of market research websites.  They send you links to surveys.  You complete the survey and get paid for each one you complete.  Again, the money is poor, but it's better than nothing.
• I've written to contacts I had for freelance writing prior to having children, to let them know that I am available and keen for work.
• I've added Google ad-sense to this blog.  (At time of writing it doesn't seem to be working, but we'll see).  Again, not a high earner, but any income stream that requires little or no effort from me has to be a good thing.
• I'm going to set up an etsy shop to sell my hand-crafted items, and get on with crafting a few more, which I'll also flag up on Facebook, by setting up a Facebook page for my craft business.
• I'll write other articles on subjects that I'm confident with, and submit them to various appropriate magazines.
• I might even finish one of my books!
• Towards Christmas I'll make sure that I have enough craft stock to have at least one stall at a craft fair.
• Once I've done that, and if things are selling okay on Etsy, then I'll set up my own website.

So that's where I'm going at the moment.  Ideally I can just gradually build up my earnings, but since the house in Scotland is still not sold, I'm getting a little anxious to show some substantial income as soon as possible.  Then I have to remind myself that actually I'm still a full-time Mum, and there are only so many hours in the day.  I could perhaps earn a bit more if I ignored the kids and didn't do any laundry or housework - but I'd be the one sitting in a house with fighting children, piles of laundry and mess everywhere, and I don't think I could manage it.  So I'll just have to keep plugging away, and do what I can, when I can, and hope the money starts coming in.

Filling the business box

Bug is now at pre-school!  She's there three mornings per week, for two and a half hours, which gives me... seven and a half hours child free per week!  Well, not quite, what with the pick up and drop off, and being on parent rota every other week.  I'm counting on four undisturbed hours per week (and don't doctor's appointments, and caravan service, and other errands want to fill those hours?!).

I am trying hard to maintain four hours for work, which will I hope eventually pay off - with cash.

The idea is that I spend two undisturbed hours on a Monday doing writing.  And I must finish and send off pieces of work that have been gathering dust in my hard-drive.  Nobody's going to publish them if I never get around to sending them off. 

On Tuesday I spend two undisturbed hours making things for my craft stall and website, which I'll launch once I have enough stock in the box.  I've been working on several items over the months, which have really been prototypes so I can see where I need to improve quality, and how long things take to make, and I can hone techniques.  I'm now at the stage where the things I'm making are getting towards being high enough quality that I won't be embarrassed to try and sell them.  Into the box last week went:

just two of these key-rings for now, there are improvements that still need to be made.

six of these lovely warm fleecy hats, with oak leaves on top (for the autumn/Christmas market)

Sadly nothing went in this week, as I've had yet another bout of being unwell (I might post more on that another day, but I might not, it's really too much information!).

Exciting times coming up though, as we are planning a move from Scotland back to England, which will mean upheaval for all.  We've been here for seven years, which is the second longest I've lived anywhere.  It's possible that the move will happen before the end of the Summer, in which case I'll probably hold off my craft launch until we get there, so I can suss out the craft fairs to get started with.

Quick post on crafty makes

Just a very quick post today, as I'm busy getting the caravan ready and the house tidy before we go on hols.  But I wanted to show a couple of the things that I've been making.

two more lined applique pencil cases - these are the first items in my stock box for my craft business, Sunbow Designs.

two wipe-clean reuseable snack pouches.  These are to use instead of small plastic sandwich bags and are a great size for bread sticks, dried fruit, biscuits, a piece of cake etc.  These are prototypes, for us to use.  They were easy to make, so another item to make more of for Sunbow Designs.

two wipe-clean reusable sandwich wraps.  Again, these are to use instead of sandwich bags, you just unwrap them, and you have a lovely little mat to eat your sandwich from.  Again, something I'll be making more of for Sunbow Designs.

Money making schemes coming together.

How do you go about setting up two businesses from scratch?  How do those "Apprentice" folks start out?

Both my sisters have been visiting recently, and I've had a chance to really talk my plans through.  I've bought my two domain names (no websites yet, but the domain names are waiting there for when I'm ready.

The plan is:

• Make as many things as possible over the next few months, a whole variety of designs and types of crafts and merchandise.  Once I have half a box-full, set up the first website and start selling, also selling on e-bay and/or etsy.  Aim to have a full box full of stock by mid-November and attend at least one craft market before Christmas.  I visited one today to check out the kind of thing on sale, and I think it would be a good place to start.
• In the meantime, also boost the amount of writing I'm doing and sending off.  I've mentioned that I'm available and keen for work to a couple of contacts who used to send commissions my way.
• Over the next two years while the children are starting pre-school try to build on these bases.  With the crafting business, go with Alan Sugar's "smell what sells" principle.
• When I hit the £5000 turnover mark, that's the time to set up a business account and make sure that everything is organised properly so that I'm paying appropriate tax and business rates etc.
• Once both children are at school in two years time I can aim to be working for five hours per day, five hours per week, and would be intending to earn at least £250 per week.

Let's see how that goes!  I'll be posting regularly on here so you'll be able to see how the plans progress.  I really want to make it work so that I can work at home and be there for the children when they come home from school and during the holidays.  Plus the fact that after four years of staying at home with the children, I really can't imagine the idea of working for somebody else again on a long-term basis.  Hubby and I also have other plans in the cooking pot for the future, which need to be woven in to all these other plans....  Just so much to think about.  Now I feel as though I'm raring to get going and make things happen, and even though I still have the children at home, I do think that I can do it.

Anybody got any hints to help when starting up a craft-or-write-from-home business?

Back to business.

As a stay-at-home-mum you can sometimes feel that you spend your entire time cleaning and tidying and shouting at the children.  Of course, we sometimes enjoy the idyll of craft activities, baking and lazy days in the garden that working mums assume that we get up to, but sometimes you really feel that you are just there to clean up and be ignored.  You sometimes feel that you aren't doing anything to contribute to the family bank balance either (though in many cases the amount you'd actually keep after you've paid the childcare bill would be very low even if you were back at work), which can be especially hard if your spouse is working hard at a job that he doesn't enjoy.

So...
time to try and make some pennies.  You never know, it might just make me feel less like a glorified slave to two small tyrants, and more like the talented goddess that I used to think lurked within.

Not easy though.  Firstly, the cleaning still needs doing, and no matter how I harangue gently encourage them, they are still a bit little to take on the bulk of the housework.  Secondly, they still require a lot of attention.  Thirdly, I still want to be doing all those domestic bliss things like baking and gardening and craft activities, both on my own and with the children.  Fourth, well... I'm just out of practice!  It's going to take some self discipline.

So those are some of the areas I need to tackle first.  Here are some things I'm trying to make happen:

1. Straight after breakfast and teeth we start doing the housework - together - up until no later than 9.30am.  If it isn't done by then it won't get done that day (unless Hubby takes it into his head to do it?!).  That way I don't feel like the cleaner, and I get to teach the children how to do some of these chores.  Happily.
2. From then until lunchtime is children time.  We'll do the crafts and the baking and the playing.
3. After lunch, while Bug is napping and C is playing quietly in his room is "work time".  I must not spend time doing things for Scouts.  I must not do laundry, ironing, surf the internet, get on with the gardening or anything unless it's work-related.
4. Later in the afternoon I can spend a bit of quality one-to-one time with each child, and then get them out in the fresh air - time to do a bit of gardening. 
5. In the evening I go for a walk with the dog - time for thinking and me-time, and then do Scout tasks.
6. From 9pm both Hubby and I down tools and head for the sitting room - time for something good on the TV and some crafty hobbies.

Since returning from holiday I've been focusing on the after lunch slot.  I've not done anything to earn any money yet, but have been trying to reinstate some discipline by working through an outdated Writers Bureau Creative Writing Course.  Hubby signed up for it at least a decade ago and never got further than the first assignment, so I'm working my way through the self study.  Today I've been learning about writing letters to the editor and filler material for magazines.  The time slot isn't always available though.  C sometimes still needs to nap, but will fight it every time, so if I think he's desperately in need of a sleep the only way to achieve it is for me to get into bed with him and give him a cuddle, which invariably leads me to drift off too.

In the next few months I would ideally like to start making a bit of cash through both crafting and writing.  So those are the two strands I'm going to be working on.