Me Time...

Wonderboy and I seem to be getting back into our "Mummy's work week" routine, having spent this morning getting the supermarket shopping done. Usually a child happy to help out with the groceries, he spent the first half an hour of today's shop screaming at the top of his voice for me to give him the shopping list. Often a spare bit of paper from my bag will do it, but not today. Man, you know it's bad when little old ladies come over to the trolley to try to calm him down. Ugh.

It got better, though, when I started handing him items to hold. He gets very proud of himself when helping, and likes to announce this to other shoppers:

"Pasta. Hold it!"
"Hold it, bottle. Daddy bottle hold it!"
"Open? Nooo..."

That last one was Wonderboy reminding himself (and others) that he wasn't going to try opening the bottle of salad dressing. Didn't last long though, and he was soon busily flicking the lid open and shut (thank goodness for tamper-evident seals under the plastic lid)... until he pinched his finger in it.

Oh, and did I mention that this epic adventure through the supermarket took place *after* I went back to work to collect my keys, which I had conveniently left there on a windowsill yesterday afternoon.

Man, it's been an interesting first week back at work. Hence the desperate need for some "Me Time".

Today's "Me Time" has been brought to you by the lovely Brenda Dayne, her warm, genial sense of humour and her lovely soothing voice.

It's taken me a little longer than usual to get to her most recent podcast over at Cast On, but it's always worth it. I grab my latest project, settle in on the lounge, and wait for my favourite opening line:

"It's time to pick up your pointy sticks and Cast On"

And I breathe deeply and start knitting. It's lovely to knit along to her words and music, and she makes some beautifully described and presented points about life and knitting in ways I never would have thought of. In her last podcast, Brenda described in the most delicious way, 'Starting as you mean to go on'. She drew a beautiful parallel between the story behind a farmhouse near her property, life at New Years', and starting on new knitting projects.

"Dream awhile with me", she wrote in her podcast Blog, "...as we pause in the space just before the old year gives way to the new".

That, I find, is similar to what I end up doing when I listen to Cast On. I give myself some "Me Time", where I can pause, and be in the moment with my project, my mind and my chocolate...

...Before Wonderboy wakes from his nap and we start the whole thing over again!