Always the last minute

So it’s nearly that time again when parents all across the UK breath a sigh of relief as the summer holidays come to an end.

I have loved the time with girl child, we have done some things, been places and done what she wanted to do, learn history. Let me explain now that girl child is 6 and odd, her current obsession (along with Disney’s Descendants, Star Wars, DC super hero girls) is history, all history, she likes to bombard us with random history facts on a regular basis. So whilst most children would hate the prospect of wandering around historic buildings and ruins she loves it.

However after 6 weeks we are running out of stuff to do. Every day her question of “what are we doing today?” has been harder to answer. Let me point out we are not a family who fill our kids with endless day trips and time at the soft play. (Mr Insanebunny works full time and I’m currently struggling with pain so don’t have the energy to be out all the time). I believe in letting kids get bored, as that’s where they find themselves. But for a few hours each day while boy child naps we listen to pod casts and hang out. She’s been working on some of her own craft projects, dying cloth with food colouring, bleaching cloth, designing outfits for her dolls from old clothes that I then sew. We’ve had fun just keeping each other company. But if the school holidays were to go on a few weeks more I may be answering the daily question of “What are we doing today?” with “let’s just set fire to stuff.”

Our final of day of hanging out while her brother naps (or watches Thomas the Tank engine as he’s on a sleep regression this week) should have been doing fun bonding things. But it wasn’t as there was major last minute panic for both of us. I realised that Girl child had grown less than expected over the summer and all her uniform was a couple of inches too long. And Girl child suddenly realised that she had home work she needed to do. So both of us were rather frantic this afternoon. Her beavering away on homework (aka mum how do you spell…..) and me suddenly having to work out how to hem pleated skirts.

After consulting the dictionary of sewing and YouTube I had a vague idea of how to do it. And it was going fine until this…..

Because this make sewing a hem in a pleated skirt so much easier.

When asked to move this was the face I got.

You want me to what?

After evicting the cat (did let her sit there awhile as she’s a bit clingy at the moment) I got back to work. I’m not gonna lie there was cursing (in Klingon, I’m a geek who tries not to swear conventionally in front of my kids) I also failed to notice the sewing machine had two directions for the blind hem stitch. I noticed eventually.

Let’s spend ages doing it the hard way and fighting the machine and material

Or we could just use the right stitch option.

Eventually both me and Girl child had finished our last minute panics, with me vowing neither of us will be leaving anything till the last minute next time.

Look at the pretty hem!

Please join me in a years time to hear me complain of the last minute back to school panic.