Long time no see!

Well, hello!  It's been a while.

It has been nearly 3 years since I wrote anything here and a fair bit has happened since.

I got a job teaching Religious Studies in a high school, we moved house, we got cats. We became legit Aussie citizens!  The Prof got a new job so we moved house again (all in the space of 6 months...).  This time it was interstate, so we had new schools and new systems to navigate, 2 boys learning to drive, and no job for me.  We've been in the Outer Eastern suburbs of Melbourne for 20 months, and it is starting to feel like home. We had thought we'd be back in the UK by now, but that is looking less likely for the foreseeable future.  Decisions like that get more and more tricky once you have 1 kid just about to sit his VCE and leave school, with the rest hot on his heels for the next 6 years.

So!

There has been less and less crochet, same amount of cakes (although probably a little less ambitious) and a far greater amount of chaos to accompany all the kids.  And cats, and dog.

Interestingly, in my last post I mentioned how difficult I'd been finding the No1 Child, and I'm delighted to report that, at some point over the last 3 years, he has actually become far more enjoyable, cooperative, responsible and reliable.  Obviously we all have our moments, but how nice to be able to do a quick compare and contrast and realise that we have come through the other end relatively unscathed, and with our humour largely in tact. I'm aware that putting those words out there, could well be tempting fate, but I'm feeling pretty cocky today!

The whole blogging thing has been on my mind for a little while.  I slowed down, and then stopped, as I found it a very time-consuming process that felt rather self-indulgent when there were kids to feed and drop places, laundry to do and meals to cook.  Instagram became my go to for catching up with creative ideas as it was quicker than reading through loads of blogs, and pinterest gave me instant recipes and projects.  About the same time, I stopped writing the book I had been working on, and haven't really started again.  There have been a couple of occasions where I have found a cafe and tried to write, but nothing has come.  Maybe it's the lack of my beautiful, inspirational view at Merewether, or maybe there's just too much going on in my head.  

Whatever the reason, I was chatting with The Prof yesterday (with a coffee and that lovely view above) about my frustrations and boredom and he thought I should just dip my toe back in with a wee blog post, see if anything starts to flow and see where we end up.  So here I am.  Do say "Hi" if you're reading, it's always nice to catch up with old friends and make new ones!  

See you again soon...