On the road again

Imagine my joy when LOML turned to me earlier this year and said "Where are you going on your annual road trip this year?"

It's annual! My once-in-a-lifetime escape by myself  is actually annual!

He's a good man, my man. He understands me and he knows how to make me sing.

The question remained: where am I going to go this year?

I'm heading out towards the end of July and I've always wanted to go to Tassie, so that was on the cards. I planned to visit Jane in Hobart and then mosey around the coast a little bit. But then LOML and I decided that we want to go to Tasmania for the first time as a family, so I've parked that idea for later in the year.

So now, I'm driving from Sydney to Daylesford and poking around there before driving home. A trip like that is going to be inspiration, creativity and promise all wrapped up in a handmade rug to warm the soul.

 Any suggestions on where to stay, where to visit, what to do? I'm all excited ears!

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Edited on 2.6.2011

Just wanted to say OF COURSE I'll be giving big smooches to Allison at Lark whilst in Daylesford (I am an avid eshopper already!). And I would have been having a cuppa at Kate's place too, but she'll be inconveniently off having a marvellous caravanning hol with the fam...

[Image by Margaret Metcalfe]

This week I'm grateful for... hope

The chips were down this week, no doubt about it. It makes me even more determined to be grateful for the things I have.

This week I'm grateful for...

1. Hope - That spark of light that never gives up, never accepts defeat, never goes out.

Share some hope with a softie if you can...

2. Community - We rally. When things are rough, the human spirit really begins to shine. We work tirelessly into the night to help those around us, we give up a treasure in order to help out with money. We are the reason that we can look at destruction all around us and say 'we are blessed, we are lucky, we are okay'.

3. Love - my beautiful husband who I cried together with at our friend's funeral this week. It was so hard to say goodbye, but with LOML by my side I could do it.

 So, what's making you smile today? Grab my I'm grateful for... button from my sidebar if you like, add your Grateful post below and please add a link back to me in your post. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine. Happy day to you!


[Image from NestaHome]

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I've linked up a 'January' post at the Fibro today. It's not really a rewind as this is the only January I've ever blogged in, so the post is from last week...

Wind rushes in

I was sitting on my front verandah today (a place where you will often find me). It was madly windy and I usually don't like the wind. Of all the weather, wind is least tolerable.

Reckless, disrupting, tearing, heartless wind.

My children were playing beside me; for once lost in a game and the 'hey mum can I's were either absent or lost to the wind. It was just me and the whipping trees and rushing grasses.

So much sadness around when the new year started so promisingly, I thought. And then the wind blew this thought my way.

Still promising.

Still promising, still hopeful. Still endlessly maybe.

"If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same...

...Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!"

- Rudyard Kipling 'If'

Never sad for long.

On we trudge, towards a skip. On we skip towards our maybe.

[Image by Kimberley Levick]

This week I'm grateful for... treehouses

Let's talk about treehouses. I saw three boys of about 11 making a fort in a paperbark gum in the bush yesterday. Watching them was great fun (particularly for the Tsunamis who were busy taking notes to attempttheir own tree-top  fort - in about five years time, kiddos!). It could have been any era, any country, any Summer... some things are just timeless.

So, this week I'm grateful for...

1. The simple things - high in a tree, building a house, lost shirt, big brown belly laughs, a rope to pull up the big planks, a tireless friend scooting up the little ones, pushing and shoving with mudsoaked hands, hot work, a bottle of cool water waiting on the ground, waiting to tip over a protesting friend.

2. Fabrics - a quick cut with the scissors and a tablecloth, some bunting, a gift wrap, a mermaid tail, a headband, endless possibilities are born.

3. Skipping - is there anything more joyous than a child learning to skip?

Finally, if you can spare a moment, please join Jelly Shane's Girl Power initiative to help out My Pear Tree House.


So, what's making you smile today? Grab my I'm Grateful For... button from my sidebar if you like, add your Grateful post below and please add a link back to me in your post. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine. No hurry - we're all about laaaaazy Saturdays. Link is open all week. Happy day to you!

Note that this will be the last Grateful Saturday linky for 2010... by all means, keep being grateful while I take a little Christmas break. I will see you all bright and cheery in January! Merry merries to you.

[Image via weheartit]

This week I'm grateful for... dusk

Sometimes we are so busy focusing on what we want we forget to be grateful for what we already have. It's nice to pause to appreciate the positive and affirming things in your life, whatever they may be.

This week I'm grateful for...

1. Dusk - When life is bathed in glorious warm light, the day is settling in behind you and the evening opens ahead, full of promise.

2. Trampolines - At dusk while I enjoy a glass of wine on my verandah, our trampoline contains those happy Tsunamis effortlessly.

3. Funky necklaces - I always get compliments for the neck pieces I wear and I'm so glad they drag the attention away from the rest of me!

So, what's making you smile today? Grab my I'm Grateful For... button from my sidebar if you like, add your Grateful post below and please add a link back to me in your post. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine. No hurry - we're all about laaaaazy Saturdays. Link is open all week. Happy day to you!

PS - For extra weekend fun, I always play Weekend Rewind with my sister Life in a Pink Fibro. Join me!

[Image from weegeebored]

When I grow up I want to be a something...

The temperamental climate at work has meant that I've been thinking about my 'career' a lot lately. I say 'career' because I abandoned the notion of a Career the instant I clapped eyes on my firstborn. While once I thought 'climbing the ladder' was a purposeful and interesting way to spend my time, nowadays I have a job and I'm happy with that. But sometimes I think 'coulda, shoulda, woulda...'

I'm 'in advertising', I used to be 'in marketing' and then at one stage I was 'in PR'. What I really want for the Tsunamis is that they be A Something.  A plumber, a delivery driver, a doctor, a farmer, a zoo keeper, a researcher... just A Something. A Something that has a bit of meaning, that's a Career, a Vocation.

At my work the expression 'we're not saving lives' is often raised to try to quell the hysteria that builds when we are behind on our mega-urgent, mega-important drop-dead oh-dear-god-are-we-going-to-make-it  deadline... to put an advertisement into a newspaper. (Hmmmm... I wonder what the neurosurgeons say when they are equally as Stressed Out with Very Pressing and Important Matters?)

I'd like the Tsunamis to be able to say "Me? Oh, I'm A..." and launch into a riveting account of their day doing something important. "I saved a woman's house from flooding" or "I helped birth a baby elephant" or "I introduced three new people to the artwork of Bugalugs".

Maxi used to want to work in a museum but now he wants to be A Film Maker and make films about animals (or Zhu Zhu pets judging by his debut film which wrapped about a month ago and is currently in editing). Cappers wants to assist Maxi to make films about animals (not surprisingly she used to want to assist Maxi at the museum). But in her spare time she wants to be An Artist. The Badoo is practicing to become A Kickboxing / Headbutting / Martial Arts Expert. She's but moments away...

Do you have aspirations for your children? What do they want to be when they grow up?

[Image by Ben Heine]

Trampolining into life

The Tsunamis have a gigantic trampoline parked right next to my favourite spot in the world.  I sit on my front verandah with a view over the valley and listen to their squeals of joy as they bounce and leap and "look at me, mummy" for hours on end.

There is something so right about children playing so joyously, wearing themselves ragged with the sheer hard work of having fun. The pleasure of watching them is supremely addictive.

Last night I went on the trampoline myself.

In my head I was leaping with merry abandon, at one with the air. I jumped, I bounced, I cavorted. The odd backflip was performed.

The reality was... different. I didn't cavort much at all. Unable to leap even small buildings in a single, half-hearted push, my spring had definitely sprung. It was the equivalent of a Boeing 747 trying to take off in a wind tunnel.

I've lost my bounce.

Is this what happens as we get older (and fatter... let's not forget the fatter!)? Sheesh.

Do you still bounce or do you feel grounded these days too?

[Image via weheartit]

Hanging out with my inner teen

True confession: I adore teenage movies. It seems I just never grew out of my John Hughes phase. Forget the fact that I'm a 39 year old mother of three. Actually, I think that's the main reason I still like these films - they let me forget that I'm a 39 year old mother of three.

Yesterday I settled in for Easy A. It's one of the best teen movies I've ever seen (and we're talking over 20 years of dedicated watching here, folks). I laughed, I cried, I winced, I cowered, I guffawed. It's that good. Emma Stone is a modern day Molly Ringwald, but fortunately wittier, prettier and much less pathetic. Her parents are to-die-for (I can't say I ever even noticed Molly's parents in any of her flicks... teen flick parents are clearly aimed at, well, parents).

Of course, the real charm of teen movies these days is getting to hang out with the real-life teens who go to see them. As I sat in the cinema surrounded by over 120 teenage girls yesterday, I couldn't help but get sucked into the effervescent fizz and pop of teen-girl life. The energy level in that cinema was of football stadium standard. Everywhere I looked there was a colourful display of hand flapping, lip smacking, hip-waggling, oh-mi-godding motion.

Do mums of teen girls feel the way I felt all the time? Alive with the spirit of what if. The rush of perfect dramas, the excitement of anything can happen, the raw possibilities of living. Being with those girls made me want to tap dance on a moon lit by dazzling stars. Forget the inner child, the inner teen, like, totally rocks.

So, do go see Easy A. It's a top little film and the teenage girl inside you will thank you for it. Then again... she probably won't!

The amazing self-raising baby

I'm thinking of getting rid of my 'word cloud' taggy thingy. It's making me feel guilty because Maxi-Taxi is easily the biggest thing on it which leads me to believe that I write about him way more than Cappers and The Badoo. Cue Mother Guilt (no Working required).

It doesn't help that Cappers has always been a self-raising child. Even as a baby she self-weaned, got rid of her own dummy and toilet trained herself. We're really just here to be a rapt audience.

She's an extremely independent, pleasing child. Rather smug, a bit bossy, a total dobber, but very much a sweetheart. "Look mumma," she will coo. "I gave The Badoo one of my dollies to play with." Actually, she has a voice on her that could cut glass, so it's actually more like "LOOK MUMMA," she will screech. And if she's standing too close, you can't help but wince. But it's a small price to pay for all the charm that is the Cappers.

She's a Kid Who Can. Cappers just gets it and gets on with it. Imagine my delight after struggling through a season of rugby with Maxi-Taxi (what is he doing down there, gardening? You kick the ball, Maxi, the ball. Oh, that's lovely, honey, you're a blue tongue lizard looking for insects in the grass, now go and listen to the ref, sweetie) to find myself at gymnastics with Cappers dazzling everyone with her co-ordination, interest and prowess.

I was beaming, brimming with pride. I'm the mum of a Kid Who Can, I congratulated myself. I was leaning back basking in my child's amazing canness when all of a sudden a stricken look came over her face. I heard a caw of what sounded like 'toilet' and then, the unthinkable. All over the super-absorbent gymnastics mats went that puddle, that river, that Amazon of wee. Dear god, how much had the Kid Who Can had to drink this morning? Was the humiliation ever going to end?

"She's really never done anything like this before," I called to the wincing audience as I raced a still weeing Kid Who Can't Hold On through to the bathrooms. "Really, not even when she was TOILET TRAINING HERSELF AT 2... DID YOU HEAR ME? AT TWO! HERSELF!"

Now look at me. Here's the lovely, capable Cappers and I've chosen to tell you the only story I know of when she was the kid who couldn't. It just proves that when things are good, there isn't really a whole lot to say. Have you noticed that?

Do you know what you believe in?

I'm doing an AdSchool class on copywriting on Monday nights. As if I didn't have enough to do. My work has sent me along as a 'treat', so I figured this was something I couldn't say no to.  It's interesting enough. I enjoy studying and learning. The fact that I get home at about 10 o'clock on a school night is not so enjoyable. I'm dead on my feet.

Last night was different, though. We had a guest lecturer, Julian Short. He's a notable psychiatrist and the author of 'An Intelligent Life'.  He was a charismatic older gentleman and by that I mean that he was a gentle man. Softly spoken, gracious, commanding attention by the intelligence of his discussion alone.

Julian Short's expertise is on 'happiness' and he reminded us that people are shaped by their ethics and morals and these beliefs provide the scaffolding for the life that they go on to build. I nodded and wrote down 'ethics and morals' and then sucked on my pen while I contemplated exactly what that means. I wonder, I thought, if I've ever really, truly examined what my own ethics, morals and beliefs are. I'm sure that subconsiously I'm aware of my opinions and I'm certain that I live day to day by a particular code. But have I ever brought them to the surface in a conscious, present way? No, I have not.

I know that I believe in family and I'm opposed to war of any kind. I don't like littering or people who don't take care of the environment around them. I try not to judge others' choices but I will if they affect others in a negative way. I don't like pawn shops. I believe in 'something more' but my Catholic upbringing didn't really stick. I'm a feminist but I embrace gender differences. I can't stand bigots, racists, terrorists and most other ists. I like the bright side of the street.

But I need to know more.

So over the next few weeks I'm going to be pondering this topic and working out what my own structure is. I think it's important to know as I believe that examining my beliefs is fundamental to helping my children to structure their own. What will their scaffolding be?Publish Post

Are you certain of your own morals and ethics? What things do you really believe in?

PS - One thing I KNOW I believe in is... The Mighty Fridge Chronicles. I'll be posting the linky tomorrow so start snapping away at that fridge! If you're wondering what I'm on about, you can find last month's Chronicles here. See you in the morning!

[Image]

Things I learned this week including how much I love a wedding (budget)

1. Winter is the perfect time for a swim. Going with my kids don't melt theme, on the first day of August we allowed them to strip off to their undies and wade into the (it has to be said) rather icy waters at Greenwell Point on Sunday. Swinging from the mangroves, wading knee deep to catch tiny crabs, the Tsunamis and their cousin were embracing their kidhood with a relish that made my heart sing.

2. A simple car game makes the journey go-'round. We played '500 points if you spot a yellow car' and the Tsunamis were quiet and happy for at least 50kms. Hardly any fights (luckily none of them can count past about 25 so we pretty much had the floor).

3. And frankly, there just aren't enough yellow cars on the road these days. Whatever happened to colour*, folks?

4. The fabulous Dawn over at Beat Until Fluffy taught me how to make Sweet Potato Cookies. I'm yet to bake them, but any treat incorporating hidden vegetables is a treat indeed.

5. Modern Family is my new best show. It never fails to crack me up. Now, I'm a bit nervous at how much I can relate to these crazy characters, but they're entertaining just the same.

6. Models should not speak. Ever. No good can come of it. Gisele Bundchen's ode to 'it's called labor not holiday' was so irritatingly smug I just want to throw her in her Prada nappy bag and run over her with a Bugaboo Pram. And be warned: she has a new blog.

7. People are so kind and forgiving. We took an extra day on Monday so we could stay with Gran and Pops a bit longer down the coast. I let the school know, I let the daycare know... I forgot to let the after-school care people know and I also forgot about The Slowest Boy in the World who Annabelle collects from after-school care on Mondays. A frantic call from TSBITW's mum at 5pm and the sudden realisation that TSBITW was still at after-school care as dark descended, had me worried that the support chain might be compromised. I needn't have worried, they saw the funny side. How I love them.

8. I love weddings. Now, hear me out. It's not about the big frocks, it's about the big budgets. I don't care what the bride wears, but I do care what stationery she chose and I'm more interested in how she did the tables than her hair (or the groom, for that matter). Check out Snippet and Ink for lashings of creativity.

9. "If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it." -George Bernard Shaw

10. Charlie and Lola are quite possibly the best role models for brothers and sisters everywhere. We adore them in Maxabellaland.

Did you learn anything exciting this week? Was it a good one?

PS - Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, I look like a monkey and I'm mum to another three.

* Says she of the dark grey Ford Terror.


[Image from Snippet & Ink]

Peace

The Winter Solstice: love in a cold climate

[Image: Ayumi♥Turquoise]

Determined as I was to start the Fridge Chronicles* yesterday, I completely forgot to honour the Winter Solstice in my blog. On the pagan calender, the 21st of June is the point that marks the return of the sun's light and warmth. Which is very appropriate here in Maxabellaland because 14 years ago it's the date that I met LOML at the Strawberry Hills Hotel in Slurry Hills.

We were each there to see a jazz band called Andy 500. There was me, my sisters and everyone I know and there was LOML, gorgeous, giant and solo.  I boldly sauntered over and asked him to join us. He said, simply, abruptly, devastatingly 'no'. He claims he thought I was asking if he had a cigarette. Hurumph. Rejected, embarrassed but true to my belief that if you want something badly enough you've got to go out there and make it happen, I drank 11 more glasses of wine and asked him again.

Fourteen years of sheer happiness has followed. It's annoying, but it's true. He has been my own light and warmth that I carry with me wherever I go. Pure love, simple and renewed.

So fitting that we met on the Solstice. Oh, and so fitting that Andy 500 played at our wedding.


* It's a monthly chronicle and you can still join in for June - just go to the post below.

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I rewound this post on 22.1.2011

It's not about the drive

I'm off on an adventure. Alone. For four days and four nights.

Thanks to the enormous generosity of always-supportive LOML, I'll be driving down the east coast of NSW, then across to Daylesford in Victoria and back up to Sydney via Bendigo. It's a big drive and it may change en-route, but to be honest, it doesn't matter where I go, just that I go. Alone.

There have been two schools of opinion on this one. First there is the 'oh my god, I'm so jealous, I wish I was doing that' school. They get that it's not about the drive. It's about the opportunity to do what I want, when I want and for as long as I want.  If you ask me, when you're a wife and a mumma and at the end of some days you've done so much talking in your work and real life that you are literally all talked out, being alone is the ultimate luxury.

Then there's the 'don't you want to take a friend?' school.

Now, I'm a social creature, don't get me wrong. I come alive in large groups of people and I love to talk and talk and talk. Love sharing a story, having a cuddle, showing off, listening to a problem, debating the universe and sorting out just exactly what needs to be done about that Shari-Lea.

But I really, really don't want to take a friend.

Cheers to thinking uninterrupted thoughts and spur of the moment stop offs. To arrivals and departures whenever it suits me. To suddenly taking a left hand turn to see what's down the road.  To listening to the music that I want to listen to or to no music at all. To staying a bit too long at a gallery or lingering in a bookstore.

Cheers to the beauty of solitude.

[Image: photo-alchemy.co.uk]

The real birth day

My first born, Maxi-Taxi, was fittingly born the day before mother's day 2004. That first mother's day, clutching my bottle of J-Lo-Glow perfume (LOML comment: I am not responsible for the lad's taste in toiletries), relaxing (Panadeine Forte) with my sleepy (Jaundice) newborn beside me I  remember thinking "this is the most content and relaxed I have ever been".

Cue Maxi-Taxi's birthday today.

3.30am
"Muuuuuummmm I've wet the bed again"... "Mum! I've. wet. the. bed. again"... "MUM, ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME I'M ALL WET".

3.32am
"I love sleeping in with daddy and you, mumma."

3.42am
"It's my birthday when we wake up."

3.44am

"Did you remember that it's my birthday when we wake up?"

3.45am

"Where is daddy going, mumma?"

3.46am

"If I count the sheep, I'll just be bored."

3.48am

"I tell you, sheep are sooooo boooorrring..."

4.46am

"I did some sleeping. Is it morning yet?"

5.31am

"I heard a cockatoo! It's morning! I'm six! DAAAAAD, I'm six now. It's morning, mum, it's my birthday! Mum! MUM! MUUUUUM!!!!!"

Happy birthdays always, little man.

Autumn Joy

Autumn barges in, full to the brim with red and orange and gold. The sudden tickle of cool is filled with impending change.  Long sleeves protecting suddenly tender arms. Fallen leaves crunchy underfoot. Crisp nights burrowing for warmth. Woodsmoke smelling like promise.

The Dream

As a country-town raised city dweller, I always imagined that I'd return to country living once I had children. I couldn't even imagine how I'd go about raising kids in the concrete jungle. What would we do all day?

 

Oh god, surely not that...

Then I mummed 2 under 2 in the inner-city of Sydney and loved it. Walking out the front door with Maxi Taxi and Cappers rugged up, the 'big rig' pram whizzing in front, off to the library, or one of 34 cafes in reach, or the supermarket, or countless mates' places, or the pool, or 5 parks... you get the idea. I was in babyland heaven. In fact, I was so attached to striding out with the big rig that even my sister's place 3 suburbs over wasn't out of reach.  But then the bairns started to grow up and got bored in the pram after approximately 45 seconds. And frequenting the 34 cafe's with 2 toddlers running riot became more chore than treat. And I really wanted my own park, not a shared park I had to leave the house to get to. So once number 3 (The Badoo) was expected, we knew it was time to move to a bigger place with a proper garden.

And then I remembered The Dream. I pictured myself on a cute little acreage in my cute little cottage with my cute little family - growing vegies, raising chickens, exploring creeks, swimming in spring-water fed dams, dreaming idly on my shaded verandah as the odd goat wanders by.  There's gingham involved on some level. .

You know, The Dream.

But there was a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.  The LOML works in investment banking. And there just isn't a lot of investment banking going on in your average country town. So, unless he wants to become a bank manager (he doesn't) or a financial planner (so doesn't) or a newsagent (a what?) or something... we're City People.

Now, don't weep for me yet, I've tried to recreate the life I crave. We searched and searched and finally bought a place that's surrounded on 3 sides by bush, overlooks a beautiful national park valley and we can't really see our only neighbour. So, I've got the verandah, the large garden, a (non-spring-fed) saltwater pool, and a (usually dry) creek across the road. And there's a (kind of) 'town' (as opposed to trendy 'village') feel to the suburb we're in. We have a showground. We have a pony club. We have 3 competing primary schools (with the essential 'don't go there unless you live right next door and even then reconsider' school to discuss at the 'better' schools' morning teas) (more on this in a later post!). It certainly feels very country-in-the-city. It's 25 mins by train to work. Happy with that.

But you know what, it's kinda hard fitting in The Dream around commuting 4 days a week to a large corporate in the city and growing 3 kids who are aged 5 and under at time of writing. Really hard. But I'm going to keep trying.

Next stop... the chickens.

[Top image by Dottie Angel; other images found via weheartit]

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I rewound this post at the Fibro on 5.2.2011