Skippity Serendipity

Tick-tock

2012-01-04T23:33:00.001Z

Tick-tock, tick-tock...time has gone and skipped a few weeks again. Madness.

Here is the new addition in our house:

He is the most mischievous kitten I have met and is currently residing somewhere inside my piano - I have no clue where or how, but it's true. Tiger Tonks is his name. He is so cuddly. Aside from when I have spent hours editing a client's work, he casually hops across my laptop, trampling on delete-delete-delete, for a laugh.

So first day back at school today after the Chrisumerism break for my Big Pixie, who is now a whopping six-year-old. She was so excited to see her friends again and was up early (well, 07.30, but that is early in our house). The beautiful little weirdo.

She won a prize at the end of last term, for the child who had done the most book reviews. My swotty little mushroom did 47, which is not surprising as her head is in a book continually. She has been placed on an enrichment programme for high-achieving children, so they are constantly providing interesting tasks for her to take part in. The latest is a Dragon's Den-style challenge to build and design a moving toy. I hate to say it, but she is totally built for school.

She is also teaching me how to play chess. Honestly, I'm freakin' lost. She is like a sponge, soaking up information and regurgitating it at the most appropriate times. Which is good, because my memory is shocking. "Now, mummy, let me explain how you move your prawns..." Ugh. My head hurt after an hour of instruction.

Small Pixie is doing incredibly well too, and is the most playful thing. We've been away staying with good friends and she was the sweetest child, unlike her older sister who cannot cope with any sort of sleep deprivation and turns into a moaning Mary. Lots of late nights, but we really enjoyed our time away.

Small Pixie is a entirely different child: she has no interest in anything other than play; is content to make cupcakes in her wooden kitchen and couldn't give a shit if she knows her colours or alphabet. Which is a huge relief after the bombardment of questions the Big Pixie has thrown our way. I'm glad our two girls are polar opposites.

We've just booked a holiday with the above-mentioned friends, to a Gite outside Paris - I'm so excited to visit the Louvre and the cellar tours we've planned. It might make up for me missing the NYC Marathon this year :( I'm thinking of the Dublin Marathon in Oct '11 to compensate, and do NYC next year when I can afford it!

Lots of 10k and 16k races lined up. And a bit of a juicing fast for a few weeks until I shed my festive pot belly that has appeared (probably from a cakey fest and few sessions with Jack Daniels).

So Happy New Year, enjoy the fresh new feeling of 2012 and aim high.

xxx

Even quicker still!

2011-12-20T14:36:00.001Z

Ok, another hurried blog! I have a few writing deadlines, which are running late, due to one client's rubbish time-keeping, not mine! Why can't people just flippin' do things on time?? It would save my diary looking like the arse-end of paper-shreddings, because of the amount of rubbing-out I've done this last week, re-scheduling and re-arranging. Seriously. Grrrr.

Anyhoo, here are some of my Chrisumerism makes:

Some turquoise and glass bead earrings for my aunt

Part of the GS season swap for Talie - I was going for it's-friggin'-cold-theme of blue crackle glass earrings

A tree decoration for Talie (there was a bookmark but I can't find a picture so I probably haven't taken one. Biff.

Some freshwater pearls in candy and chocolate, for the mother and MIL

A make for someone

The finished mice for my pixies

And their new home

I couldn't get the box out of my head; it's identical to one I had as a child, and I managed to find a vintage one on eBay for pence. Awesome!

Half a scarf I'm crocheting for my big pixie, with some left over wool

And the finished upcycled bags for the pixies, just need to add a flower brooch to them both and tidy up loose thread etc

Both children have worn both pairs of these jeans, before I made them into little bags so they have something to remember if their childhood clothing!

Loose thread waiting to be chopped! The flower lining is from a cord Mini Boden dress that little pixie has grown out of, but managed to stain it so I couldn't pass it on. I'm really pleased with the outcome.

So there you go, nearly done now. Just a little bit of embroidery to finish and then I can relax, collect our new kitten as a surprise for the pixies and celebrate my girl's birthday with some awesome cakey.

Merry Yule and Christmas to you all, have a peaceful New Year, and I'll catch you in 2012 :)

xxx

Quickly, quickly...

2011-12-10T18:32:00.001Z

Crafting furiously, in an attempt to finish projects for a big pixie's birthday and the vileness that is Chrisumerism.

So, I have finished my two needle-felted mice. Hurrah! They are rather cute and I managed to find a vintage cigar box, exactly the same as I had when I was a small girl. I used to hide lots of precious things in there.

Anyhooo, I thought it would be a fabtastic little house for the micey mice, filled with delicate little paper shreddings.

I've also finished two little handbags for the pixies, upcycled from their old trousers. Just need to do two little matching flower brooches out of the remaining fabric.

And I am 3/4 through a crochet scarf for big pixie. It's a lovely colour and I don't at all want to keep it for myself...

I can't show you anything today, because my bloody husband has nicked the batteries from my camera to power some lights for his tree. *insert a big grrrrr here*

So hello, hurrah and ta ta!

Our Thanksgiving Tree

2011-12-02T14:57:00.002Z

A quickie again!

Our little tree, on our seasonal hearth, that we use to hang on notelets of things that we are thankful for. The children hung some decorations that they made onto the tree. We open the notes of thanks all together on the 25th December during dinner and read them out. It's a lovely way to encourage the children to think about the lives they have and the things that matter most to them (as opposed to the material shite that Argos will have churned out at this time of the year...*gets down from soapbox*).

And my companion whilst I turned the entire house upside down and moved sofas from here to there and back again

My faithful boy, snoring comfortably on his sheepskin rug (one of our friends' sheep *sob* but at least the whole animal was used).

I do get itchy feet in the house, with regards to shifting and moving furniture. Last night was no exception and I finally got to bed at 01.00hrs, following my fabulous decision to move 4 bookshelves and their contents into a different spot. And I also got an armchair stuck between the kitchen and children's play room. But we won't mention that to the chap, because I think I *may* have buggered the paintwork too...anyhoooo, it's all organised again now, ready for the blasted Chrisumerism tree to go up on Saturday.

Can you tell I'm not a twinkly-and-sparkly-Santa-loving kinda gal?!

I shall now crawl away to my cave of doom and misery and emerge in January, happy and jolly when most folk will be pissed off, dreading the flippetty-flap of the letterbox as their Visa card lands and the imminent New Year Blues set in. Hurrah for 2012!

Thanksgiving and needlework

2011-11-30T21:23:00.000Z

Ugh. Time again. I won't whinge too much though.

I have managed some crafty time though, when I probably should be in bed!

Here is my first needle-felted mousey for my big pixie:

I am really pleased with my little self, and enjoyed making it. I have another one to do now, for the small pixie, and I'm after some of those old-style cigar boxes to make into little houses for them.

Also some hand-embroidery which will be a door name plaque:

Again, another few of those to do.

We've just put our Thanksgiving tree up this evening, in the children's play room. Lots of pretty lights.

From the 1st to the 25th, everyone writes one thing a day they are thankful for, and hangs it on the tree. We have a box of pre-cut cards with threads through, and when it has been written, it gets folded so no one sees the inside of it.

On the 25th, we open the cards at dinner and we all read them. It's worked really well for a few years now, and it's really important to us to focus the children on things that aren't material.

I'll hopefully blog again this week with a picture of the tree!

I need a Time-Turner...

2011-11-19T14:47:00.000Z

...I wonder if Ms Granger would lend me hers??

Another busy week again. Where do the hours go to? I have a list as long as both arms put together, nestled on my desk; conveniently being hidden by crystals and a cup of tea. Because it's hidden, I can't see my jobs, hence bugger all gets done.

It's a simple pattern really: try it sometime!

We are awaiting shipments from Hong Kong for some stock, and awaiting the final version of the website from our designer. I hate waiting. It makes my grumpy. Well, more grumpy than usual.

Our client base is shooting off in all weird and wonderful directions, which whilst being awesome, it means we need to rethink our stock, staffing and premises again. But not today. I can't be arsed. A few broken night's sleep has left me a bit disjointed so I need to regroup and re-org again.

As I type, I can see our hens completely decimating the garden. Totally. They have crapped *everywhere* and eaten everything, even the stuff that wasn't even remotely edible. Not the best thing when you're trying to run two businesses from home. Ho hum, I still love them, although they will be returned to their little pen shortly, when we've extended the fence higher.

So I have actually managed to do some crafting:

.925 sterling silver crochet pendant, interspersed with citrine and topaz, for an 18th birthday gift.

A sterling bracelet with drop citrine and topaz charms, and a crystal and silver heart charm.

Some earrings to match

All packaged, ready to go.

And a new stash of crystals for me!

It was quite nice to play with jewellery again as I rarely get the time these days.

And I'm back on the training programme. I have another race next week, only a 10k, but I feel quite fit and my knees no longer resemble little puddings after the half-marathon!

2011-11-07T17:41:00.001Z

Shocking, I keep forgetting to blog! Such is being a super-busy girl here.

My first half-marathon was yesterday - awesome! I had a great run and crashed in much quicker than I thought. Due to a persistent groin injury I thought I would be hugely slowed down (well come on, I can't very well ask my physio to give me a little rub 'down there' can I?!).

So yeah, all cool there. I have a 10k race in a few weeks, and am hoping to enter the NYC Marathon 2012...THE big one! Hooyah!

So what else? Errrrr....lots of work, interspersed with my glorious pixies, lashings of cakey and the love of a good chap, actually.

We also have more new hennies, not such great pictures as I was chasing them around the garden at the time.

We have a White Sussex, two Rhode Island Reds, a Warren, a Silver Speckledy and a Blue Star. We lost our oldest girl last week *sob* Small pixie said "For tea?" I was horrified! The Boy thought it was hilarious (me and the children are vegetarian).

We are going to get another two girls soon.

We've been working really hard on the business and it's gotten rather busy, so I've done slightly less writing and more admin for the website and deliveries...it has taken some setting up and isn't finished yet, but we're really pleased with the progress. We have a great designer who has an excellent eye for colour and graphics.

Gratitude

2011-10-29T11:31:00.001+01:00

It was my friend's daughter's birthday this week and we had made her some little gifts - a crystal charm with her birthstone; some button hair slides; sweeties and a handmade card with an upcycled envelope from an old beautifully-coloured Katie Morag book that we have a duplicate of.

The little girl was delighted with the whole lot and so thankful that we had made an effort to make something entirely bespoke to her.

It just made me think of several kids' parties we have been to recently, where the parents have been waiting at the door, collecting gifts and shovelling them into bin liners! This horrifies me and makes me not want to bother with that extra-special wrapping paper or the gift tag made from letter beads, as I just know that no one really gives a shit. Except me.

I do know of some children who are really appreciative of gifts. I always make sure my children send thank-you cards following being gifted something.

Christmas/Yule this year will again be handmade, like it has been the last few years. We do a Thanksgiving Tree, encouraging the children to be grateful for other things, and not just the materialistic ones. And thus avoiding the seemingly regulation Argos catalogue, with turned-down pages most children are handing to their parents (who incidentally, find this behaviour wholly acceptable).

Here is our Thanksgiving Tree from a few years back (when we had a skanky carpet!):

I leave a little cauldron of cards on the hearth, with a hole punched and folded so it can be closed with wool, and every time we think of something we are thankful for, we write it on the card and hang on the tree. We open them all together after dinner. The big pixie's thankfulness was all about being loved, having a lovely warm house and lots of food!

Just a small rant because this subject really pisses me off :@/

Upcycled bag

2011-10-15T21:14:00.000+01:00

Can't believe where time has gone to this last few weeks. Completely stacked out with work and family. The website launch is coming closer and not everything is sorted. Pro photography is scheduled for Wednesday, so we'll be further on then.

It was gone 02.00hrs before I got to bed last night and urgh, I felt grotty this morning. I'm not cut out for late nights. But I did get to spend the evening with a wonderful friend and we played in her office with a mahooosive stash of fabric and sewing paraphernalia...more in another post, chilling out and listening to our rock hero Jim Morrison.

So I finished off this week's make: an upcycled bag from an old pair of jeans and some fabric that I had imported from Hong Kong. I fully lined the inside and thought about more fancy bits, but seriously, I had no time to faff!

I made this little scrunched-up flower but it was just too heavy to sit properly on the bag

So I fashioned this instead, on a brooch fastening

Hopefully I will get to blog more this next few days :)

Fruity boozes

2011-10-05T13:59:00.000+01:00

Some raspberry vodka on the go

And the bonus of having a family-run sweet company:

Sarsaparilla vodka and pear drop vodka. Awesome.

Teeny tipple, anyone?

Flylady-ing my ass off

2011-10-04T16:23:00.000+01:00

Over at GS, we have our very own FlyLady, ready to haul-ass on the cleaning side of life.

If I am left to it, without any organisation, I get all of a dither and not much gets done. I need to split my day up into work time, play time, cooking time, cleaning time, chill-out time, ~~wine time~~...

Today was cleaning the hallway. So I did. It's all sparkly and dog-hair-free with nicely polished bannisters, although not by doing this:

I even managed to tidy my crochet basket

It probably won't look that neat by the morning; already a naughty small pixie has been fiddling and twiddling with my wool.

I am running a half-marathon next month, to raise money for Help for Heroes and I have been struggling with shin-splints. My Army days have seen my pretty little pins pretty much buggered, but hey-ho, it's marathon training we go. I'm running the NYC marathon next year so my legs will bloody well have to keep up. I have rested for a few days now, but am on a 10-miler tomorrow evening. Ice at the ready :-)

I have lists-a-go-go today. Lots of planning going on for work. Because I work from my little desk overlooking the garden, I do find it much harder to stay motivated. Oh look, the hens are out again...

See? So I *need* my lovely lists to retain brain power and stay driven.

And I do need to transfer the remaining herbs before we change the hen pen yet again. We're getting another four girls, some cutesy little ones with fluffy heads. We're extending the run onto the veg patch over winter, so they can poop and fertilise the patch for next year.

Must add that to my list...

Vintage beauties

2011-09-30T10:47:00.000+01:00

I have been lucky enough to acquire a gorgeous 1960s vintage Liberty of London silk scarf. It's so elegant! And unworn. Still wrapped delicately in tissue paper.

It reminds me of a unicorn, with its silvery and cream flecks.

And what's more, it even came in the original box, date-stamped and everything!

There is also this

A vintage pearl collar choker. Not very me, but still very pretty. I am off to the Manchester Opera House this evening, so I may wear the scarf on its first outing from its box in almost 50 years!!!

Cakeage and craft

2011-09-27T19:06:00.001+01:00

*That* time of the month has arrived; see picture above. Nothing more needs to be said.

A grandma-knit beret and scarf for a small girl (delightfully modelled, accompanied by pyjamas)

I made a padded notice board last year for the children's room, but I needed something smaller for my desk. Because my desk is in our lounge area, I wanted it to be unobtrusive. I had a bit of an urge after spotting this from my Pinterest board, but well, I have to do things right *now*, and I had no clips etc, so I fashioned this:

A stiff piece of picture framing card, covered with some left-over golden raw silk. I attached some silver elastic (with glue, pins, safety pins - whatever it took - seriously, I'm not gonna show you the back because it's a true bodge job!)

Perfect for little notes to remind me of all the crap I know I'll forget.

I look pretty organised now, don't you think?!

Buttons and birthdays

2011-09-25T09:53:00.000+01:00

We had two children's parties yesterday; pure torture. Think of a squillion wailing and noisy monsters running amok, hopped-up on candy and sugar-infested treats. Bliss.

So to chill out, I played with my vintage buttons :)

Twisting them into wiry flowers, inspired by the bridal bouquet of last weekend.

(And also harvested the remaining lavender this weekend too)

And the bride wore...

2011-09-23T10:37:00.001+01:00

Doc Martins! The groom wore some rockin' red and black biker boots. Our nephew's wedding = an awesome weekend.

And the bouquet was made up with...

...buttons! Vintage buttons collected and donated (some by me) and she made her own bouquet. Truly handmade :)

The men's button holes were, well, button holes! All co-ordinating vintage buttons.

A very rock 'n roll wedding - even the tables were named after bands the newlyweds had seen together.

We were on Biffy Clyro's table!

Honey and the helper

2011-09-21T13:47:00.000+01:00

Working from home does not blend well with a small pixie 'helping', by smothering the laptop with honey.

It's going to be a looooong day.

Flowers and books

2011-08-29T10:49:00.001+01:00

Little pixie is loving this book right now

Which means I get to read it. And read it. And read it again.

It's good that it's not a book that makes me want to shred my own fingers - I can think of lots of those types. The mind-numbingly painful ones that have been written by folk with no imagination.

I like the fact that it is classic, with nappies flapping on the line, rather than being eaten by seagulls on the landfill.

The book is rather quaint and charming; probably because it was written over 20 years ago, when babies weren't as much of a commercialised business as they are today.

And that babies get to have real milk - that isn't often shown in children's books - it's usually bottles. And not that bottles are wholly wrong, it's just lovely to see a mother with her boobs out for the right reasons

And that there are pictures of mummies and daddies. When asking our little pixie which picture looks like her daddy, she of course said the picture that resembles Ricky Tomlinson brushing his teeth.

My chap was thrilled, as you can imagine.

My Sunday laze-a-thon turned into a bit of a crafternoon, starting some crochet flowers for a wedding we're going to in a few weeks.

I have also made an inner for the flower, and am fastening it to a hair slide.

I also have a cutesy little vintage button to pop on to finish it off. Will photograph it when it's completed.

It's Bank Holiday Monday today, which means block all to us, but I can probably wangle another lazy day because of it. Hurrah :)

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

2011-08-28T15:41:00.001+01:00

This is how I am feeling this particular Sunday - purely lazy. Because I can be.

The smallest pixie is tucked up in her cot making sweet snorting noises in her sleep. The ever-growing large seedling is enjoying an audio book on her headphones, whilst my chap is busy with his accounts.

I have a stack of work to do, but hey, chilling with a good cup of coffee and browsing the web looking at all manner of lovely blogs. I rarely get this time to relax, so I am definitely making the most of it before my peace is shattered.

I am back onto the crochet blanket I started last year(I am a shoddy time-keeper) and am determined to finish it quickly. Mainly because I'm so bloody chilly in the evenings.

I have requests from the kidlets for some crochet slippers so I will have to get on with them soon. They may be ready by next year if I'm quick.

Ah, I best get back to doing something productive...

Happy Sunday chilling and relaxing!

PMT

2011-08-28T12:57:00.000+01:00

And why is it ALWAYS centred around chocolate??

I don't buy into that whole "it's because women are short of magnesium and chocolate provides it" theory. Or that "it boosts serotonin".

But oh dear God, I really need a fix right now.

What can you see?

2011-08-27T21:50:00.000+01:00

What can you see from where you are now??

I am snuggled with a hot cup of herbal tea, looking on to the garden.

Flowers are fading already. The calendula seems to be the only vibrant flower peeping back at me, with its orange petals still looking alive .

I love calendula - its healing properties are magnificent, but the cheeriness it brings in a visual sense, can't be beaten.

Everything else is gloomily heading towards autumn. I know, it's a swear word, but I do think Summer has almost packed its bags.

Autumn is a beautiful season, with the crisp fresh air in the mornings, cold blue skies and crunch leaves underfoot.

Even better, is sitting in my chair with a book and a cup of something soothing (unfortunately, not gin) and watching the world go by.

We have hatchlings!

2011-07-06T10:13:00.000+01:00

Look at what we found hiding in our apple tree!!!

Four snuggly baby blackbird hatchlings.

And a few days later...

Mummy bird swoops in with some snacks for them and the noise is like a concert of excited birds all cheeping at once. A hungry chorus.

Beautiful.

Summer Loves

2011-06-27T20:51:00.000+01:00

10 Things I Love About Summer...

✰ The first crop of tatties from the garden

✰ Reading a book, and sipping tea in the garden

✰ My summer Birkies!

✰ My two pixies, happily playing together

✰ Blackcurrants from my parents' garden, ready for jam-making

✰ Camping with friends

✰ Desserts with strawberries in them, like Eton Mess

✰ Offenbach streaming out of my iPod whilst I work

✰ My lovely husband and his thoughtfulness constantly

✰ The relatively easy life we lead and the freedom we have

Awesome.

Super juice

2011-06-26T12:47:00.000+01:00

My pixies rarely get sick, but the biggest one has a sniffle. I know, sob sob. Her little eyes are streaming so I have given her the usual protocol we use: high-dose vitamin C, echinacea and elderberry, green vitamins, homeopathic prescription remedy for cold and flu and a snuggly blanket for the sofa.

Then, I usually give them a super smoothie, combined with juiced vegetables in it. They think it's a real treat, the lovely little weirdos.

Juiced carrot, broccoli, apple and pear, blended into a smoothie with banana, orange, blueberries and strawberries. I usually sneak in some hemp and flaxseed oil too.

= Super-charged pixies :-)

Wire jewellery tree

2011-06-25T11:18:00.000+01:00

My quickie 30 minute no-children-around-to-interfere project.

A little tree to store and hold all those bits of jewellery that seem to get lost in drawers and small peoples' handbags.

I twisted some vintage green glass leaves onto the branches.

The Big Pixie is currently sorting through her jewellery stash (probably pilfered from mine...) to hang on the tree so I may need to make another one.

What is it?

2011-06-19T10:34:00.000+01:00

NOT a willy warmer Sharon :)

It's a...

...mobile phone cover!

I got one of those modern phones - you know the type; the ones you don't need a larger bag to carry it around in :) It does all manner of cool things and is far more technical than my little head can comprehend. I can even email my work to and from clients.

Of course, all I seem to do is mince about on the internet with it ;)

But I am prone to buggering phones up quickly, so I thought I better sort myself a cover out fast. Some snazzy James Brett Ripple DK and I found myself going all hooky. Quite sad for a Saturday night, but we'd had friends over the night before so I was glad of the snuggle-in-bed-with-a-DVD-and-crochet-hook session.

And a shiny vintage button to finish off. Perfect.

Herbs and hols

2011-06-13T22:23:00.000+01:00

All is still rosy here at our little happy hippy shack :-)

We've had a fabulous holiday abroad with friends and my lovely husband is nicely relaxed after plenty of beach time with his precious babies. It was great to be in some proper sunshine and we had a good look at property over there too.

Our next jaunt is being planned, and we're staying UK-bound on a camping expedition with our friends.

For my mammy's birthday, the littlies wanted to make her something, so they have done a bracelet from Tiger's eye and jade (but it's wrapped so I can't show you!) and we put together a hanging herby basket for her.

They dug in some chives, calendula, feverfew, chocolate mint, lemon thyme and lemon balm. I twisted a wire flower to pop in the middle to finish off. Reclaimed basked from last year's hanging basket on our wall! Herbs from our garden. Free gift? I think so. Awesomesauce!

Sew good :)

2011-05-31T14:26:00.000+01:00

My weekend sewing project. Some gorgeous organic material from the lovely Talie over at Enchanted Fabrics

Two cutesy little skirts for two cutesy little pixies.

I think the chicken material is my favourite.

Although my mammy DID heavily supervise my sewing on her machine :)

Do you remember this book?

It was one of my favourites when I was small and now the Big Pixie and me are reading it. Such innocence in these stories. Hurrah for warm family life with lashings of custard!

And our veg patch is blooming nicely.

Just on to my next craft project, which contrary to Shaz's suggestion, will NOT be a crochet willy warmer for hubby :)

Love Trifle

2011-05-29T15:44:00.000+01:00

Made by me and the pixies on this most changeable Sunday afternoon :-)

And now the weather has completely changed, and the sun is shining, Big Pixie has been helping her Daddy with gardening chores while I work (yes, yes, I know I have work to do, just having a breather!).

She has replanted the rosemary kindly sent by Dawn xxx and also re-potted my aloe vera that was in desperate need of extra growing space.

Must be nearly trifle time now...

Green and pleasant land

2011-05-23T11:01:00.000+01:00

We have all been very busy of late, with plenty of work in between the fun.

I've had tons more editing work in, which is most excellent for the pennies and the potential for further contracts.

We have also had some wonderful friends to stay, and been walking with other friends in the hills. For someone who was born in a seaside town, I bloody HATE the sea! Give me hills any day :)

When I lived down in Cambridge, I used to adore coming home, driving up the M6 and watching the land change from pancake-flat to lumpy bumpy green and pleasant land.

And look at the lovely view. It was mighty refreshing to have the strong wind blasting through my hair. I'd show you a picture, but I ended up looking like Leo Sayer...

And these for cuteness:

When our friends came to stay, we took all the children to a farm and this pony had just birthed a foal the day before. I think Mummy was rather camera-shy and was hiding Baby very well. I think I would be protective too :)

What's by your bed??

2011-05-15T17:40:00.000+01:00

What do you have on your bedside table??

I usually have a ton of books, and when I’ve just crawled into bed, a nice soothing cup of something herbal.

I love my bed :)

Homophones to Convection...

2011-05-10T12:48:00.000+01:00

...are topics we have covered this last week.

The Big Pixie is racing through her English work and absorbing like a sponge, reading out Spike Milligan and giggling at the naughty bits. It helps that English is my passion too, although Husband constantly complains about our creaking book shelves.

That's what I love about HE. You can go from topic to topic in an instant.

When you have a small girl that is constantly questioning everything though, one needs to be prepared. And most often, I'm not! To my defense, it's usually at bizarre and random times these questions arise, like 07.30hrs and a small girl whispering, "How many homophones are there in English, Mummy?" Oh dear god. Let me wake up first.

So the usual answer is, "Do you not know mummy? Don't worry though, we can just Google it."

Yes, thanks my lovely.

Little House on the Rockery

2011-04-25T13:31:00.000+01:00

The Man of the House finally finished off the Pixies’ Little House on the Rockery. They adore it. A gifted house from a friend, with a path built by Daddy from reclaimed bricks after our new build was completed. Chainsaw-carved owl and hedgehogs courtesy of our best friend over at Acorn Woodcraft. Perfect!

The weather has been so fantastic I’ve literally had to drag them in at night time and bath them both. Then clean out the bath afterwards as it has been so disgustingly dirty after my little soil queens have been in it.

The veggie patch is coming along but I’ve realised that to actually GROW things, I have to PLANT things.

You can see the onions coming up nicely at the far end and the potatoes are planted at the nearest end. We have a dozen planters and tubs as well as the herb garden conveniently housed on top of the chicken pen.

Plant plant, grow grow!

Likey likey

2011-04-16T16:12:00.000+01:00

My cutesy new Cath Kidston mugs. Likey muchly I do. Well, I can't be drinking such healthful herbs out of something a bit pants can I?

My friends own a lovely shop where they stock all Cath Kidston goodies along with some other super-cool stuff. And of course being such lovely lovely friends, I get mates rates. All the more reason to buy more :)

Cup of cha anyone?? Cakey fresh out of th'oven??

The Green Man

2011-04-15T11:42:00.000+01:00

I’m not really an artist, but I did enjoy drawing The Green Man for the children's room, to represent new spring life. I started it about 6 months ago, using an existing picture for inspiration, and have finally finished and framed it! Next on the list is a summer fairy ;)

Hurrah for compost!

2011-04-05T18:34:00.000+01:00

Hurrah for compost!

It’s taken three years for the stuff to bloody break-down, so I am rather pleased to be using it at last. The only thing that didn’t break down so well was the egg shells? Not sure why.

Here is my little veggie-patch-to-be. Giving it a rake through before we finally plant.

And here are me and my pixies on our wild garlic forage. Lots of gorgeous dishes have resulted. Yum.

First attempt at needle felting :)

2011-03-30T20:47:00.000+01:00

Well I am a bit of a craft biff actually. I can do lots of things, but mostly mediocre, not really excelling at anything. Which is ok by me!

So wondering what all this needle felting lark was, I decided to have a bash (and wondering why no one has told me how stress-relieving it all is to repeatedly stab a needle into something - Dawn?!).

Some little felty eggs

Some nests for chicks to go in, with initials of Big Pixie's friends for spring gifts.

Chickies in the nest!

My voodoo Winnie The Pooh (sponge substitute is ACE!)

A hair slide each for me and my pixies.

The whole house is reeking of wild garlic that we foraged today, so the next post should hopefully be some of the makings from that. Already eaten a shed-load for tea tonight :)

Back on the ball

2011-03-27T11:50:00.000+01:00

After a nice little break, I am back.

After shifting some riff-raff from my life, I feel tons better. Isn’t it funny how some things can affect you when you’re totally unprepared for your own reactions? But ne’mind. Crap has been removed and disposed of J and I shan’t be getting involved with any more undesirable people or situations in the future.

Been incredibly busy with the beautiful pixies and lots of play dates and friends visiting has kept me more than occupied – the weather is helping lots as we can all be the garden more.

My book is FINALLY ready to send off, just need to cajole my good friend Rach to help me with a synopsis…hint hint Rach?! It’s a do-it-now-and-stop-procrastinating situation. And if it all turns to rat shit, then I shall get it bound and copied anyway for my children because they love it!

Crafty things? Well here is my season swap when I was part of the GP forum. I really enjoyed making it – I made one for us last year and have since made one for the children. My recipient really liked it too, which is always good! I got a gorgeous hand-painted pot and crocheted daffodil and egg from Joxy, which the children love immediately placed it on their seasonal hearth.

A lovely friend L gave the pixies a fab little Ikea table and chairs. Her children had done the usual child-happy task of decorating the table with pen and paint, so it will be a project to redecorate it in the coming weeks so hopefully I will remember to picture it! Looking for ideas for wood decoration too, if anyone has any (has to be easy!) to recommend?

The gardening is coming along too and our new veggie plot has been duly raked, pecked and pooped over by the hens, so it should be nicely fertile for a-sowing and a-growing.

Our friends with a smallholding are housing some chilli plants for us, so I hope to maybe pop some more seedlings in there to bring them on.

Lots of herbs this year too. I use an awful lot in medicines so it would be good to increase our stock of them. My favourite is calendula – I use it for everything, and the good old nettle – amazing properties.

And I’m back to making lists again. My memory is shot these days, so I need to have lists of things to do: where I should be at what time, whose house I am due at for HE meets, and another list, to remind me of where the first list is kept J

Looook!

2011-03-04T14:48:00.000Z

Oooooh look at my new journal!

Pretttttttty, no?

You can’t touch it though. It’s MINE!

I think I have a stationery addiction J

Nearly time for...

A magical and special time for new beginnings.

And some charity shop bargains from this week

Sealed and new - £2.00

A hat, gloves and scarf set for the Big Pixie - £2.00.

Bargains.

Peeping out of hibernation

2011-02-16T15:10:00.000Z

Sorting out jars of herbs, ready for teas and medicine.

Some lemon curd I made this morning - organic, of course, and with fresh eggs from our hennies...awesome on a ciabatta fresh from the oven.

See how lemony and yellow?

A bit of a blurry picture but you can still see my birthday mushrooms made by our friend Jimbob who is an amazing chainsaw sculptor.

And a birthday cake from my mammy.

So it looks like my hibernation is nearly over. I have been busy with therapies recently and am thinking of practicing again in the future, maybe combining it with the writing and editing...we'll see. I stopped practicing as a therapist when I was pregnant with the Littlest Pixie as I was so ill and felt my energies were needed to grow baby. Taking on others' emotional needs were too much. I have two small ladies who are our priority and getting through each day happily is a big enough challenge right now!

Have you been in hibernation? Has the clean whiff of Springtime tempted you out of your burrows? I have been coaxed reluctantly :) And the addition of cakey always helps...

Quietly busy

2011-01-28T13:49:00.000Z

Busy few weeks over here, but nice and quiet if you understand. It's been so flippin' cold, we have rarely ventured outside, other than play-dates and HE activities.

We've had some lovely friends to visit and play and eat and be merry.

We've had lots of reading and studious-type activity.

And painting over here

Some of my old books I have dug out of my folks' bookshelves for the Big Pixie to read. I do so love the original Ladybird books and seem to have passed on that love to the Pixies. One likes to read and be read to. The other likes to just carry them around. And lick them sometimes. Nice.

One of our ongoing projects is Classical Music. The Big Pixie has a passion for music in any form, but loves the classical compositions. I'd like to think my playing classical piano to her in the womb helped, but maybe that's wishful thinking!

This book and CD is fab and highly-recommended and I have pinched it regularly from their work room for my car CD player :)

I can smell Spring in the air a little more each week. That gorgeous man of mine has been preparing our veggie patch in anticipation of this cold weather feckin' off and being replaced with some warm days

I know, it looks like a burial site for the latest person to piss me off, but this is where our new patch will be. Hopefully going to empty the compost bin (more like a wormery) in the next few weeks to reveal a nitrogen-rich fertilizer (fingers crossed) from all the hen poop we have composted.

Then I can get on with resurrecting my herb garden, that the Winter King has taken (actually, it's just my bad gardenmanship that's buggered them up).

Rubes - I have some feverfew for you honey.

What jobs have you all been managing to get out of the way?

Abel and Cole feature

2011-01-17T18:13:00.001Z

My recycled coaster was today featured on Abel and Cole's newsletter - cool eh? I used the string that ties the boxes together and crocheted a wee coaster for my cuppa :)

Tinctures at the ready

2011-01-16T14:17:00.000Z

Elderberry tincture ready and rocking. Wheezles and sneezles...attack at your peril.

(Note to self: make elderberry vodka when we harvest the elderberries. Bloody delicious stuff.)

A little Reiki love :)

2011-01-15T22:28:00.000Z

A lovely day today, minus my beautiful pixies.

I have been truly poorly this last week so my lovely mammy offered to have the ladies for the day.

And my kind friend Gavin came over for the day where we shared some Reiki.

We started with a top-up attunement to strengthen the energy - I am Gavin's Reiki Master, so we are really used to working with each other. Then we had a lovely lunch provided by the hennies - fried egg sandwiches. Awesome!

Then we gave Reiki treatments to each other. I always see lots of colours and floaty things during Reiki treatments, and the atmosphere was so peaceful. I'm also incredibly grateful to have friends like Gavin to help when I need it. And blessed to have access to the gift of healing.

I am sooooooo relaxed this evening, but my mind is sharpened and I feel less like hiding in the black hole that has been hovering over me this week. My anxiety levels have been simply vile and I am waiting for a magical potion from the herbalist and have a homeopath appointment next week. Hopefully the combination of all this will boost me :)

And of course, lots more self-treatment with Reiki I think. Healing has to start from within, and I am responsible for that.

Namasté, lovely ones xxx

Fairies, food and infusions

2011-01-11T20:36:00.000Z

A busy few days, darting here and there with the Pixies for play-dates and fun. And also trying to save money, so reducing petrol usage and cutting back on the food budget.

We have done two shops - one from the supermarket and one at Abel and Cole and are making do with that, rather than nipping out to the shop for 'little bits' (you know the ones - you go in for milk, and spend £30 without realising). Running the food stock that low is quite scary actually, but ingenious what one can concoct with a jar of olives for a lunch-time snack.

Having 5 hennies in the garden also helps with meals - fritatta, boiled egg chucky dip-dip, omelette, pancakes, cakey...lots of meal options that are healthy and free.

We also go through a ton of spuds too - oven potato wedges are a favourite: par-boiled and sprinkled with rock salt and paprika and coconut oil, lidded and shaken around like crazy, then oven-baked for 40 minutes. Perfect with ketchup :)

I have also replaced the sugar in our cakey/cooking with honey, for the most. Our home-popped popcorn in coconut oil especially tastes amazing with sticky organic honey drizzled over it and both the Little and Big Pixie are delighted to munch through a bowl or two.

We've been crafting foam fairies - a lovely gift from a lovely friend for the Big Pixie. They are suspended from the light in the Pixies' play room and look very cute.

I've also been drinking plenty of infusions, mostly nettle, but skullcap and calendula too. I infuse overnight (the jam jar is mighty effective for this) so to extract the maximum benefit from the herbs. I know this nettle looks like pond slurry, but it tastes much better.

And a handbag charm I made for my new Cath Kidston bag my sister bought me.

So that's where we're up to at The Green Journals - how about you? Are you feeling frugal or free-flowing in the cash department??

Finding our Rhythm

2011-01-05T14:08:00.001Z

A lovely day yesterday of just 'being'. Our Pixies went to Grandma and Grandad's house for the day, so we go time to breathe, eat out and talk together. No questions like "Why have you got hairs down there?" or little ladies clawing at my top for mammy milk. Of course we missed them like crazy but it's always good to have breathing space.

And reflect on things in general. I think it's that dark time of year, where light is slowly creeping forwards, but still shrouded in too much darkness to make too many changes. Either that, or I'm just a lazy arse and can't be bothered. I sooooo want Spring to arrive now. I have garden plans :)

I think we need to find our rhythm again. After the Chrisumerism holidays, it is taking a HUGE amount of motivation to even get up in the morning. The Husband has been off work for 2 weeks, and as we're self-employed, it's all good (aside from no work = no pennies). We are lying in bed, mincing the mornings away, albeit having a snuggly, jolly time doing so, but still...

Baking our bread for the day is a nice way to start, and we make Porridgies for our baggin' (mid-morning/mid-afternoon/any-time-the-hell-you-like snacks). It's a Katie Morag thing!

And freshly-ground coffee helps too :)

I also made some beeswax modelling clay a while back, but it was a little bit too stiff for small fingers, so I had a bit of a mammy craft session and fashioned it into a Goddess figure. The Big Pixie said the figure is "...just an old lady with her belly hanging down and boobies out." Although her boobs really do look too pert, I rather like her and have popped her on the season hearth.

I haven't done any healing for ages, aside from the children, but am due to meet with one of my Reiki students later this month, so hopefully this will spur me on to do some self-healing: I have lots of areas to work on :)

Catching up

2011-01-05T14:03:00.000Z

I have been a busy girl this last few months, with lots of projects on the go. I have been playing with my friends too, and having craft sessions where we made felted balls for our Yule Tree.

I am learning the recorder and doing a project on the moon with my mummy.

We are doing lots of baking too.

I have been crafting too. My friend L bought me a flower kit, and I made a hair band.

I love it!

I hope to keep sharing my activities with you all!

xxx

Lotions and Potions

2011-01-04T16:17:00.000Z

Taking care of Number 11 on my list: herbs and potions and lotions.

In a bid to make my own products, I have ‘fashioned’ a hair texturizer for The Curly Girl. Spotting a fabulous one on the John Masters website (and cringing at its price tag) I wanged in (see – new blog; same phraseology) some witchery ingredients and blended together. The results are a sexy-smelling pot (thank you Spiezia for your pretty reusable jars) of waxy-sheeny stuff. Perfect for my curly-haired tinker.

Also, an eye serum, nappy oil (for the poopy-infused bums in our house) and cleansing oil followed.

My elderberry tincture should be ready for decanting soon, so it shall be bottled and available for all manner of wheezles and sneezles.

I need another order for stock-up of dandelion, burdock, nettle and violet leaf. Fill up my witchy cupboard a little more ;)

xxx

New Year: New Blog

2011-01-03T21:43:00.000Z

I have decided to leave The Green Queen for a winter of hibernation and start afresh somewhere new. The Green Journals is my new home for now. I do hope you'll grab a cuppa and some obligatory cakey, pull up a cosy chair and come join me!

xxx

New Year: New Me

2011-01-03T20:26:00.000Z

Aims for this year:

1. To finally send off my manuscript.

2. Start a new blog ✓

3. Increase the growing capacity of our garden.

4. Have more structure in our home-education life. Too much autonomy does NOT always work for our family :(

5. Spend less time online.

6. Try to reduce/eradicate our supermarket usage (in our house, obviously - I can't take on the world. Or can I?...)

7. Re-learn the acoustic guitar. Seriously, how hard can it be?

8. Play more classical piano.

9. Think about advertising for more freelance work. My brain is getting tired.

10. Make more time for ME. Yes, that's right, I shall be selfish and demand small amounts of time on my OWN :)

11. Stock up on my herbs and potions cupboard. It's looking a little ~~bear!~~ bare. And prepare my herbs better before next winter sets in, so they don't end up dead and mangy.

12. Maintain this journal. For an entire year. Feck, that's a LOT of cakey to get through whilst writing.

Stick with me!

Claire xx

2010 closure

2010-12-30T22:09:00.000Z

This is a beautiful song that I have chosen to end the year with. It's called Honey and The Moon by Joseph Arthur and I love his vocals and his raw and throaty voice. The song is actually about love, and one person not being in the same place as the other.

I love the lyrics: "You're the honey and the moon that lights up my night". It touches my soul.

And to that end, I shall dedicate this to my amazing and wholly perfect man. Baby, you light up my life.

A blessed and healthy 2011 to all you lovelies out there. See you next year xxx

Winter Solstice

2010-12-23T21:25:00.000Z

An amazing sunset on Solstice Eve. My gorgeous man drove me to the perfect spot where the sunset was breathtakingly amazing. The children were in awe. We had a sun pizza and a Yule fairy story by candlelight before bed. Simple but just lovely: no fancy-pants-light-of-a-million-glowing-fairies here. We're bullshit-free :)

Winter wonders

2010-12-20T00:07:00.001Z

A picture from down the lane. Magical skyline and the crisp white snow gave an eerie silence to the afternoon. The best. See the moon? It was only 15.30hrs and the moon was already high and bright. Can't wait for the Solstice.

To school or not to school?

2010-12-12T20:59:00.001Z

Well we're having huge wonderments here.

We have a small girl here who is needing the interaction and company of other small people that are on her level and above, and I don't feel as though we are meeting her needs.

We are quite far from decent meet ups and many of the home education friends I have made locally are amazing but their children are much older. The odd-few children that are local are not really like Pixie and I am noticing the differences. We have some lovely home education friends of similar ages, but not locally, which is sad.

Emotionally and intellectually, P is way beyond her years and you can have incredible and deep conversations with her. She is fun, animated, polite and hugely independent. She reads many books on her own, can bake independently, sort out her hens, is doing maths work a year or two above her age (her choice...the beautiful little weirdo) and can hold her own in a conversation with adults.

She is however fairly bossy, and after this was 'pointed' out recently, I have been looking at that side of her character a bit more. I think basically since she is very forward, she naturally wants to take leadership and plan games, especially when the other children are lacking in this direction. I will not interfere in this, as she is growing very nicely in her own way.

So we have come to look at schooling as an option for her. I know that if I sent her now (she's 5 in 2 weeks), she would slot right in and breeze it. But I still think she is far too young. And all the local schools are religion-focussed, even the private ones, and we would not send her there as we are raising her without religious input until she is of an age where she can understand it.

The only school I would be happy with right now is the Steiner school, which is over 30 miles away and it's infeasible to send her somewhere of that distance.

So we have a dilemma. She so needs more interaction of a higher quality. On a daily basis. But how to get it without traipsing across the bloody countryside to groups that are not local? Every other development aspect she has exceeded in, way past her age range, but the need she has to have children who are on her level is great right now, and the activities she does do not fulfil this need.

When she plays with friends that are aged eight and nine, she blends in beautifully, and the age gap isn't noticed.

I feel like we're holding her back in massive proportions because she isn't getting what she needs and I don't want to damage her. But I don't want to send her somewhere that will damage her either, if that makes any sense at all. And I don't believe that sending her to an institution would solve any of her needs, and perhaps create other problems that we don't have right now.

Have any other home edders got extremely social little people too? How do you remedy the lack of daily company if you're not close to meet-ups? Has any one got any advice in our situation as right now, I feel like I am inadequate and on the road to affecting my little girl's future.

And the winner is...

2010-12-12T09:07:00.000Z

The Yuletide pixie mysteriously forages into her magical hat for a name. Which is...

Emma!

Emma, whoever you are, hit the 'mail me' button on the side of my page and let me know your address so I can send you your shiny silver lady of the sea :)

Thanks everyone for commenting xxx

My Year in Status 2010

2010-12-09T12:56:00.000Z

My year in status updates from a Facebook application - what a fabulous way to see how much whinging and whining one does. And how much one mentions cakey. I am not an addict. I am not an addict. I am not an addict...

Yule Giveaway!

2010-12-05T13:17:00.004Z

A Cool Yule Giveaway!

With Yuletide nearly upon us, I thought it would be rather fabulous to have a little giveaway :)

Ocean Blue - a gorgeous hand-made, full-sized silver mermaid bookmark, measuring approximately 5 inches, ideal for a gift (or for yourself!).

Glass pearl and glass beads dangle from the end of this lovely's tail, complete with personalisation up to 6 characters, or a charm.

To be in with a chance of winning, leave me a comment and link my blog if you are able. One of the pretty pixies will draw the winner's name from a hat on Friday 10th December.

Have a great week folks :)

Claire

xxxxx

Wool, wax and waning moon

2010-12-02T16:27:00.001Z

Some gift crochet coasters - two bamboo and two 100% cotton. Silky and sheeny.

A personalised bookmark

Beeswax modelling clay:

4 oz of beeswax

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of lanolin

Mix in an old tin can in some boiling water

Turn out into a foil-lined shallow dish

Wait until it dries (about 1 hour)

And cut into slices. You can add lavender or colour, although the smell of beeswax is just so heavenly, I couldn't ruin it by doing that!

And model and play. Saves spending all that money at Myriad ;)

And my charity shop bargain of £1 - a 47-year-old hand-painted plate with the Walter De La Mare poem Silver. It has a date of 1963 on the back and the name Alice Houseman. I thought it was quite appropriate due to the recent bright and huge moon we have seen. It was going to be a gift, but balls, I love it. Am keeping it. And you can't stop me.

Here is the beautiful poem in full:

Silver

Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in silver feathered sleep
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws, and silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.

Walter de la Mare

I have also added a daily moon phase chart if you don't have one already.

Quiet

2010-11-29T10:27:00.003Z

Because, quite frankly, I have nothing to say!

Padded notice board

2010-11-04T23:28:00.002Z

A padded notice board for our girls' new play/school room.

Made with some reclaimed wood, material, vintage buttons, ribbon, fleece blanket, old drawing tacks and a staple gun. I so had fun with the staple gun :)

Mod Podged fleece blanket underneath the material, and then stapled at the back tightly.

Wang a few ribbons in a criss-cross...apparently you can measure these accurately with a ruler. Obviously not my kind of style...

Ooohhhh pretty buttons...

Ta da!

Now, a wall hanging for their room.

A little bit of "borrowed" wallpaper from B & Q and a reclaimed shelf panel...

Stapley stapley...

Cool eh?

And their two antique ladies' chairs for their room. £30 for the pair. My husband is also a bargaintastic fella. (I dyed the curtains in the background from gold to lime green. The colour is fab).

And I'm spent. Far too much craftyness for one evening and now I must scrape the Mod Podge from the floor and remove the odd staple that I missed the wood with. Apparently, safety glasses are also recommended for the usage of the staple gun.

Off for a lovely 2 week holiday so enjoy your cake, drink tea and be happy. That's all.

xxx

Beautiful toys? Oh no no no...

2010-10-24T10:34:00.001+01:00

Beautiful hand-made cradle, crafted lovingly by Grandad Bob, and organic soft Fair Trade dolly?

Oh no no no, I much prefer...

A nappy bag full of poopy eco 'sposie or...

Just a nappy sack to carry my treasures around in.

Lovely wicker treasure baskets and hand-knitted bags are not good enough for me, don't you know. I'm all about the nappy sacks I'm afraid, much to my mammy's chagrin :)

But because my mammy says we do something called autonomous learning, she says it's ok and I can quite happily continue to be a kleptomaniac around the house and collect treasures in my nappy sack.

Oh, if you're wondering where your keys are...I probably have them in my nappy sack.

We Are One

2010-10-20T11:01:00.001+01:00

For the first time this week, Pixie has mentioned the colour of people's skins. I don't know why I was so surprised really, she is almost five.

My Saturday copy of The Times had a large picture of former US Secretary of State, Professor Condoleezza Rice. Phoebe had asked why the lady had "a brown face" when ours weren't brown. I explained that because the world is so big, everyone looks different even though we're all one.

We don't live in a culturally diverse place to be frank, and we have a population of about 3500 folk in our small town. We live on the outskirts and amongst the old-school farmer types who have never left the area, therefore have not seen very much of life, in my opinion.

I have lived here, there and everywhere, so very little shocks me these days. I have friends of every creed, colour and flavour there is, but my children are not immersed with the rich cultural environment I might hope for. Travel in the future is a possibility..

Anyhoooo, do you remember the United Colours of Benetton campaigns from the 90s? I do. Passing the billboards on the school bus, splashes of the familiar green logo surrounded by multi-cultural models always captivated me.

I know people who often say "I'm not racist but..." and then go on to quote the fascist shite that is the inner workings of the BNP.

We need to raise our children to be accepting of all, but with people like the ones I have described above, how, on a international scale, can this be? It feels like there is so much hatred in the world. I suppose by giving our children the tools of preservation and tolerance, we can only hope that they will go forward in their lives and outshine any bigotry and hate that they may come across.

I recently have been reading many of the teachings of the Dalai Lama. The man is just so peaceful it has a knock-on effect. His ideology is so simple, and how he believes compassion can genuinely be achieved for all. He is a great and wise man.

I'm not even sure what I'm writing here, just some thoughts that have crossed my mind that I wonder about often. Thanks for reading :)

Here is an amazing song. I actually prefer Johnny Cash's version, but the video is great on this one:

We ARE one, but we're not the same. I think that's a strong message.