Sunday 21 April 2013

Make Do And Mend

I am sick of myself bemoaning the fact that we are on a tight budget.  We are, there is no two ways about that, but that isn't the be-all-and-end-all of life.  As the song words go -
 
So when the pressures on
And there's nowhere left to go
You're gonna have to come to terms
To terms with what you know through
 
The challenge is to look for what I can use, what I can do, to create opportunities, rather than focusing on the negative - what I can't use or can't do or how bad things are.  It's not a new concept by all means, even to me.  It's just the practical application of it.  And finding the positive in any situation.  I've been spurred on a little in this line of thinking by the sheer practical-ness and resourcefulness of people - women - during the Second World War and the Post Year Wars.  Things were scarce or just not available, but they still made do.  It might not have been the most pleasant or endearing thing, but it was done, it was practical, it was creative and it worked.  I am not yet wholly fired up to go out tomorrow morning and seek out new to me fabrics and clothes that can be altered.  It is a thing that knowing me will probably happen quietly and creep up on me.  This sort of thing can take time, but also goes in leaps and bounds.
 
I am already making this philosophy happen within my cooking and baking.  And with my knitting, especially my recent knitting for Mary-Jane.  And most of all, I am enjoying it.  Hurrah for recognising self development.

The song is 'What you know' by The Levellers. 

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