A Bit of Background

I have always had an interest in the more ‘homey’ things in life; cooking, reading, knitting, gardening, being at home instead of out and about. While I was on maternity leave after the birth of our first child in 2007 I found more time to indulge in the things that I loved. I started making my own bread, knitting woollen nappy covers for his cloth nappies, reading books that I chose rather than those that I had to read for work.

This was also the time that my husband’s work really started to ramp up. He was working long and tiring hours, finishing jobs off over the weekend, taking phone calls from clients earlier and earlier in the morning and then later and later in the evenings. We started to talk about what we really wanted of our lives. Was this it? Was my husband happy at his job? Was I happy with having to return to work when our baby was only 11 months old? We had so much that was good, a lovely little house we were renovating, supportive and loving family close, an amazing group of friends but something was missing. One day my husband came home from work and said that he’d had an email from a friend letting him know there were positions coming up in his dream job. With some hesitation he applied, knowing that we’d be willing to travel rural but not too far. Within a month or so he’d been offered a position and we knew where we were heading: Maryborough, about 3hrs north of our family and friends in Brisbane. The Government being the Government (his new employer) we waited for the date of our move. We waited and waited. Then I became pregnant with our second child. Still, we waited. Every Obstetrician appointment started with “So, are you living in Maryborough yet?” Our response was always the same “Nope, not yet!” We eventually moved in May 2009 with a toddler that had just turned two (Elliot) and a baby not yet two months (Archie).

So, almost a year on, here I am. We’re still not exactly where we want to be but we’re on the road and getting closer every day. We are renting a house in a noisy part of town. I can’t wait to have our own place again, a place to put down roots and get away from all this traffic noise (I thought living in the country was supposed to be peaceful!). But in the meantime, this is our home, our sanctuary, our place to stage our quiet revolution. Our revolution against a society that places too much emphasis on external goals, our revolution against Mums being asked “but when are you going back to work?”, our revolution against supermarkets whose aisles are getting more and more full of ‘convenience’ foods that seem to have little or no nutritional value.

I hope you enjoy reading about our little revolution and I look forward to reading your comments, ideas, experiences and suggestions.