Unmitigated optimism and selfishness

I am filled with unmitigated optimism at the moment because I have made some decisions lately, based solely on what I want to do. Selfish I know, but sometimes you just have to put yourself first. Behind me are a few months of exciting and memorable book promotions and years of enriching, life changing and sometimes demanding volunteer work at the neighbourhood centre. I have given up all my paid writing work. I have enjoyed all I'm leaving behind but home is where my heart is, I have grandchildren who need their grandma and opa at home and I want to develop different interests, write some more for you and be a homemaker again.  

Late afternoon in the lounge room.

To tell you the truth, I feel like I did when I first closed down my business and discovered the joys of domestic life. Then my friends queried my shift towards homemaking but I had discovered something precious they didn't know - it was an empowering and creative way to spend my time. What better project to work on than my life, in my own home? And that is where I am again but now it's not so much a major project, rather I'm modifying for older age and tweaking our home to better suit visits from grandchildren, family and friends. 

It's all ahead of me and I'm so ready to dive in. I want most of what I do now to come from my home and or be for my home. So what are my plans? Let's start with some good news. My book, Down to Earth, has gone into its second printing. I'm very proud of that because there were 12,000 copies printed in the first run and as my editor said, "that seemed so ambitious at the time", but they sold, in eight months. Penguin told me recently that an ebook version of Down to Earth will be out before Christmas. The ebook will not look the same as the paper book, otherwise the file would be too big to download but they're testing different formats at the moment and I'm hoping to have an update about it soon. By the way, the ebook is for sale only in Australia and New Zealand as Penguin doesn't own the copyright for any international sales. My New York agent, Abby, is currently at the bookfair in Germany and she has my book with her as part of their portfolio to promote this year. It's very exciting!  But here at home, one of my projects will be to write some ebooks on particular topics to sell from the blog. They'll be well priced so anyone can buy then and they'll be sold both here in Australia and internationally. And I'm still going ahead with the blogging workshops with Ernie - the first one is scheduled next week, in Maleny. Later we'll do some more on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast and possibly Toowoomba.

But even though all this will be going on, my main focus will be to remain grounded here at home - the writing will be woven into my days around the baking, cleaning, cooking, gardening, sewing, mending and knitting. This where I am at my best, nothing will change that. So if I nurture myself with home time, coupled with housework done to my old routines, I know I'll write well and do well when we go out for a workshop. The workshops will be fairly infrequent so most of my time will be here, at home, with Hanno, Hettie and the chooks, and occasional visits from family and friends.

Some of Hanno's family are visiting from Germany next month and they'll be staying with us. There will be a long road trip while they're here but I'll stay at home to keep everything going and will really enjoy the solitude. Before they arrive, we have an ironing room to turn back into a bedroom and about three weeks ironing to do. Maybe that's an exaggeration, it's probably more like four hours.

Winding a shank of cotton into a ball. I have to get Hanno to look at this winder, it's not extending out as it should.

Ahead of me right now - today - I have housework to do. In the coming weeks, we have to declutter again, I have the major task of reorganising my work room and there is sewing and knitting waiting. I want to make a couple of nightgowns for myself and a quilt for the bedroom we're bringing back to life. I have a cardigan for Jo's baby waiting to be finished and some vests and cardigans for Daniel and Laura's baby to start.

Before and after of the cutlery drawer.

There is so much to do! Domestic life is opening up its warm and loving arms to me again and now I have the time to make the most of that. I am even going to clean out my gadget junk drawer in the kitchen. :- ) I might make a challenge out of that task because I know you have a drawer just like mine lurking in your home too. We'll do that together next week sometime. Today I'll be making bread, ironing, writing content for our blogging workshop website and finishing off our logo. What will you be doing today?