A bit of background

So, I will set the scene for my own sake as much as anyone else's.

I'm in my early thirties, and a stay at home mum to three lovely children, aged just 6, 4 and a third and two and a half. Yes, they are close together. Yes, it was deliberate. Yes, it is hard work. No, I don't regret it in the slightest, ever. I was an accountant before any of them were born and although I work even longer hours now that I did then (which I'd never have believed if you'd told me when I was pregnant with #1), I feel I'm doing something worthwhile now. And no-one ever gave me a bunch of slightly squished dandelions or a homecard card to thank me for doing their tax return.

The housewifely side of things is more difficult to explain. On the one hand, I'm a control freak - oh, I love lists, tables, folders, plans, charts, critical paths; anything that gives the illusion of control. On the other hand, I come from a long line on my mother's side of intelligent but DEEPLY untidy women. The need to hoard has come out strongly in me and it's only recently that I've found the mental strength to throw away silly things like all the concert tickets from the Sixth Form and letters from a former boyfriend I'd much rather forget. Isn't that silly?

But, I do love to take care of my family. We've been having some building work done recently (see my husband's blog at www.whitzend-again.blogspot.com) which has prevented me cooking by the simple expedient of removing the kitchen completely in the first 10 days of the project. It's made me bizarrely anonymous and useless, having to rely on ready meals and not bake, or cook proper meals, or indeed know what's for tea until it's on the table (and I'm still quite frequently wrong even at that point). This was quite a shock for a grammar school girl who was raised to be a Captain of Industry and to Change the World by taking over some Arm of Commerce and leading it to Greater and Better Things. Giving up accountancy for parenthood somehow doesn't cut it - although I notice that the majority of the friends I value have done much the same thing.

Anyway, the point of this post was actually to explain the name of this blog. Wisteria and Lobelia were the names that my family gave my bump when I was expecting my first two babies. Since they both turned out to be boys, then I decided not to risk it with a name for the third bump - who, naturally enough, was a girl. But it does create the image of roses-round-the-door, white-picket-fence, cottage security; and since I am having a range cooker in my new kitchen (truly a think of beauty and I am very excited about it) then it seems appropriate.