Hello February! Depressing January is finished. Actually it went very quickly for me. I am back at work - and it is good to have my routine back on track and feeling a bit independent. However it has also been hard to be back where I used to go, working with the people I used to know, not knowing who I am anymore. My work used to excite me, working with all sorts of people (albeit mostly men - thank you glass ceiling), managing to push through ideas. But now I am back in the same culture with the same people, working on the same issues - when I have been on a steep learning curve about everything (except work). I will not make a rash decision about this - it is easy to come back, reactivate my network (not so easy to tell them why I was gone for so long though) and do what is expected of you (without thinking too much about it). I know it is not a long term solution, but a stable medium-term solution.

And I am comforted after talking to friends and colleagues who seem to go through a sort of mid-life crisis in a major way, and are more lost than I am. To be fair, I have read a few magazines in the last week (a business travelling delight) and found that everyone is talking about the fact that women should be happy and why we are not. So no wonder my friends are feeling fragile. They have a full life, and have been going at it for the last 10 years, the career, the husband (still there or not anymore), the kids etc. and now they are in therapy (not all my friends but some). At least they have a way of dealing with this period. I will keep drinking my green juice, go back to healthy eating, crafting and reading about creating meaningful moments and surrounding myself with meaningful objects (and keep my matching underwear in check).

I carried on with my (future) clutter free home, and kept a sixth of my clothes - and oh it felt good - soooo gooood, and it feels amazing in the morning as well. It has also energised me for craft projects. I can see what I like to wear now, the finishing I prefer. It is a great experience. And I cannot wait to start with my kitchen - and get rid of it all. Now Mr MiH is really scared. He can see I am on a roll, and that this little machine is not slowing down.

Except when I am knitting of course. I may have over committed myself recently and be quite upset about it (hence not a little post to go on about last week). It feels like my craft time ( ie dedicated to projects for myself or my family) is non-existent. I find it highly frustrating but being it all down to my own decisions, there is not a lot I can do - just suck it up and get on with it. Mr MiH asked whether there was a lesson to be learnt here, I just looked in anger at his smug face, because he is right there is a lesson, but stating the obvious is not helping right now. I made a schedule to allocate time to my projects, so hopefully these can be shared here soon.

Depressing January is gone, welcome cold February! And travelling. We will be in the Netherlands this weekend - did I tell you that Mr MiH used to work there - and to France for our annual skiing trip (with in situ babysitting facilities, of the best kind, aka my parents!). Exciting times! Who is excited about February?

This photo was taken during the same one day of snow we had in January. I maximised on the opportunity, and took as many pictures as I could - in case I needed them for the blog because you never know when a picture of snow is needed.

Oh well, hello December! I was glad to see the back of October, November had its fair share of challenging time, especially Little Baby MiH's birthday, and I am hoping that December will see us getting into our new normal. Of course there is nothing normal about December. We are gearing up at home or at work for Christmas celebrations, but in our household there are also Baby MiH's birthday and mine. And this year I decided to celebrate both. Baby MiH will have his party, with all his friends, and I will actually do something for mine. Not sure what, but I will. 

There will be a lot to be organised at home, in addition to Baby MiH advent activity calendar (an activity a day, some are as simple as drinking hot chocolate on the sofa). But I have a few things finished to share, including Pokiha (finally), Baby MiH's mittens (unlikely to ever be featured as Baby MiH keeps wanting to keep them in his pocket). I also sewed a top, it is a muslin version, and would really want to make a final version for the celebrations. I also started a new jumper, so I am hoping to make some progress on this over the course of the month. 

I am hoping to have a couple of guest bloggers lined up. My friend Debs will be sharing her #followyourpassion story - I am so excited about it! - and Carla will be telling us more about the way she blogs. Hopefully there will be a few tips and inspiration for you as well as for me. 

Finally Christmas would not be Christmas without (handmade) presents. Do you find it much easier to make handmade presents for women than men? Plenty of ideas of women, nearly none for men, except socks and scarves... Any ideas are welcomed, I would like to make everyone something, but I do not want to waste energy on presents that will be kept in a dark corner of a cupboard. 

Good riddance October! I am glad to see the back of you. Not that November does not have its challenges - Little Baby MiH's birthday is going to be tough. And I am sure as we get more information about what happened, I may grow angrier. 

I have not planned the November posts. However I do have two finishes to show here (I already showed them on IG and facebook), but I need some time to take some proper pictures and also tweak them a bit. I am doing a test knit for Libby that should be finished by mid-November - so once I decided on my yarn I will get on with it. I have also plans for my natural dyed fabric. I am definitely filling my time with crafting projects, so maybe November will be quite full in the end. 

I have also found that being healthy is helping managing my emotions. It is not stopping me crying every day, but it gives me the energy to keep going when Baby MiH is around. I obviously started my healthy path a few months ago - but only now I have found how much it helps with the nights and keeping a clear head. In true French style, I have been offered pills by my family. I have decided to stick to my guns, and refuse all of this and find another path. I am hoping to share a bit more here. 

A year ago we made a trip to Thorpe Forest and playing green tourists. I took this picture there. I am hoping to find calm and serenity again one day. 

It is September and I was in school for such a long time that it still feels like it is the start of my new year – and my kids are not even going to school yet! Forget about 1 January, 1 September is where the real deal is when it comes to start afresh. So it is no coincidence that I decided to resume blogging today. 

We have been busy at MiH - enjoying the holidays, spending with family in France, spending time as a family at Camp Bestival. Our usual routine is starting again this week - although in the back of my mind I know that in two months’ time I am about to change all that and go back to work. But let's not even go there.

I also needed some time away from the blog to decide what I was going to do in this space. I have been finding that many bloggers I have been following have been blogging less and less – favouring Instagram to share their projects – and I am just very slow at finishing projects, so I have never felt I had enough content to post on the blog. This is in partly due to the babies, but also because my craft process is just slow.

For a while I was asking myself whether it was even worth resuming the blog. And then at the end of July I decided that it was worth the effort, but that it had to be more in line with me. I wanted this blog to move forward and reflect the new ways I am exploring to get to the lifestyle I really aspire too. And it would be interesting to share some aspects with you - a lot of crafting, respectful and ethical craft brands but also ethical fashion and better food.

I will put new recipe books to the test. Did you know that on average people use only 3 recipes of their recipe books? When I read this I was quite scared, and then I just had to admit that it was the truth –the dust on my cooking books is a testament of this. So it was time to try more recipes from a book and give an honest review that hopefully will be helpful. And as a lot of my IG friends know, I started with Deliciously Ella.

I have also lined up some guest bloggers to help me out. This month Rebecca will be sharing with us how to dye with avocado skins – the vegan way, so cool. I will also be talking to Pauline from Pauline Alice about living from your passion – very inspiring stuff.

The content of the blog is not radically changing – so please do not unfollow me yet! Made in Home is back – and I hope you will enjoy the new content. 

Cooters End Lane

Mixing (my) handmade and high street... 

Wearing: Top, Made in Home (blogged here); Bag, Made in Home (not blogged yet); Scarf: Accessorize; Jeans: New Look: Sunglasses bought in France