Tuesday, April 29, 2008
dance of the non sense
Invisible cloud
Wraps you like
Cotton wool
Words drop slowly
Like soft rain
Elusive
Brain stumbling over
Unknown dance steps
Whispers of unfamilar music
A kaleidoscope of harsh colour
A crashing wall of impenetrable noise
A blur of too-fast motion
An assault of tactile overload
Knocking you off balance
You're tipping, slipping
Words really are weapons
In this war of your senses
Focus
Go back to the core
Hit ctrl+alt+del
Tessellated shapes
Constructing walls around you
Composure built brick by brick
No deadline here, no rush
Flapping, chewing, sucking, rocking
Your own dance of comfort
soothed
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Quirky-go-round
I have been tagged by the lovely, quirky Kristen http://kristens-memories-dreams.blogspot.com/
These are the rules:
Link the person who tagged you
Mention the rules on your blog
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they have been tagged.
This is my first try at tagging here and while I love the idea of a big blogland game of chasey, hope I don’t trip over my virtual shoelaces trying to make this work….. I do want to say thanks to Tanya who posted a comment to help Kristen work out how to link, I just followed your instructions :)
Just 6 of my quirks? Well, it’s a start ;)
1.
I take a paper route to happiness every Sunday and become slightly unhinged if I can’t get my “fix”. I take the Sunday newspapers (including those lovely glossy colour mag inserts) and leave the house – I don’t think it really matters where I go (usually a local café) as long as I leave all family members/noise/responsibilities behind – reading on the couch in the midst of aforementioned chaos does NOT cut it! If I miss out, I can be heard to mutter darkly on a Sunday evening that “I haven’t read my papers” and if someone is silly enough to reply that I can always read them tomorrow, I’ll likely bite their head off as it’s NOT THE POINT!
2.
While I can appear appropriately grown-up, moderately dressed and able to be relied on to make sensible decisions, there is a large part of me which is still 8 years old. I never wanted to turn nine, so part of me clearly stayed there and it only comes out to play with the girls, when I’m really over-tired, rather like a child who’s consumed a jug of red cordial. I have been known to initiate body-slamming and wrestling competitions, silly dances, songs and even break out the “psycho bum”, but only to an audience of three hysterically giggly girls who have to be sworn to secrecy afterwards ;)
3.
I am a woman of mass distraction. My poor husband despairs at the half-completed jobs, projects and great ideas that lie around our house, awaiting my attention. I have the attention span of a gnat or a goldfish these days and things fall out of my head like a sieve (yes, I am Sophie’s mother, more and more so, it appears). Andrew will walk into the kitchen to find the dishwasher open, either half-packed or half-unpacked; lunches half prepared; a sponge on the bench, half-wiped; half a load of washing hung out with the rest still languishing in the basket while I sit doing a jigsaw puzzle with the girls which most likely, we leave half-completed LOL
4.
I have a bookcase full, literally sagging under the weight of the worthy literature I want to read, but my junk-brain-food of choice for the last decade has been appalling trashy magazines. Perfectly suitable for a sleep deprived mother’s barely functioning brain, they are pickupable and equally putdownable when interrupted without the rancour involved in interrupting me in the midst of a good book – they are the equivalent of a fast food happy meal or a bitesized chocolate portion…..
5.
I am compelled to go shopping every time my husband leaves the country. I don’t know why, my only theory is that it’s some kind of unconscious reward/filling the void mechanism, but I do know from extensive mother research that I’m not the only one (you know who you are)! All I can do is attempt to channel it into legitimate and necessary purchases ;)
6.
Since a burglar walked into my bedroom and woke me up in the middle of the night 18 months ago while Andrew was working in Sydney, I am a psychotic, anxious-beyond-all-rational-thought lunatic at night when he’s away. So a night without him now involves a sophisticated alarm system activated, all doors checked at least twice before I go to bed, more glasses of red wine than is strictly necessary or advisable, several rounds of check-the-girls, the dog allowed to sleep inside, lights either on or motion activated all around the outside of the house, TWO phones beside the bed, the tv left on low in the bedroom all night (for company and a little light) and still I am likely to jump up out of bed at some point with a huge adrenalin rush, thanks to a partying possum or carousing neighbour. I am such an irrational, phobic baby.
Ok, here goes, I hope these work – I am tagging:
Carrie http://carrieyoung.typepad.com/love_laugh_live
Georgie http://itsaporterslife.blogspot.com/
Stomper Girl http://stompergirl.blogspot.com/
Trudi http://trudiswords.blogspot.com/
Kaz http://itsonlymekaz.blogspot.com/
Ali J http://aussiepatches.typepad.com/aussiepatches
These are the rules:
Link the person who tagged you
Mention the rules on your blog
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they have been tagged.
This is my first try at tagging here and while I love the idea of a big blogland game of chasey, hope I don’t trip over my virtual shoelaces trying to make this work….. I do want to say thanks to Tanya who posted a comment to help Kristen work out how to link, I just followed your instructions :)
Just 6 of my quirks? Well, it’s a start ;)
1.
I take a paper route to happiness every Sunday and become slightly unhinged if I can’t get my “fix”. I take the Sunday newspapers (including those lovely glossy colour mag inserts) and leave the house – I don’t think it really matters where I go (usually a local café) as long as I leave all family members/noise/responsibilities behind – reading on the couch in the midst of aforementioned chaos does NOT cut it! If I miss out, I can be heard to mutter darkly on a Sunday evening that “I haven’t read my papers” and if someone is silly enough to reply that I can always read them tomorrow, I’ll likely bite their head off as it’s NOT THE POINT!
2.
While I can appear appropriately grown-up, moderately dressed and able to be relied on to make sensible decisions, there is a large part of me which is still 8 years old. I never wanted to turn nine, so part of me clearly stayed there and it only comes out to play with the girls, when I’m really over-tired, rather like a child who’s consumed a jug of red cordial. I have been known to initiate body-slamming and wrestling competitions, silly dances, songs and even break out the “psycho bum”, but only to an audience of three hysterically giggly girls who have to be sworn to secrecy afterwards ;)
3.
I am a woman of mass distraction. My poor husband despairs at the half-completed jobs, projects and great ideas that lie around our house, awaiting my attention. I have the attention span of a gnat or a goldfish these days and things fall out of my head like a sieve (yes, I am Sophie’s mother, more and more so, it appears). Andrew will walk into the kitchen to find the dishwasher open, either half-packed or half-unpacked; lunches half prepared; a sponge on the bench, half-wiped; half a load of washing hung out with the rest still languishing in the basket while I sit doing a jigsaw puzzle with the girls which most likely, we leave half-completed LOL
4.
I have a bookcase full, literally sagging under the weight of the worthy literature I want to read, but my junk-brain-food of choice for the last decade has been appalling trashy magazines. Perfectly suitable for a sleep deprived mother’s barely functioning brain, they are pickupable and equally putdownable when interrupted without the rancour involved in interrupting me in the midst of a good book – they are the equivalent of a fast food happy meal or a bitesized chocolate portion…..
5.
I am compelled to go shopping every time my husband leaves the country. I don’t know why, my only theory is that it’s some kind of unconscious reward/filling the void mechanism, but I do know from extensive mother research that I’m not the only one (you know who you are)! All I can do is attempt to channel it into legitimate and necessary purchases ;)
6.
Since a burglar walked into my bedroom and woke me up in the middle of the night 18 months ago while Andrew was working in Sydney, I am a psychotic, anxious-beyond-all-rational-thought lunatic at night when he’s away. So a night without him now involves a sophisticated alarm system activated, all doors checked at least twice before I go to bed, more glasses of red wine than is strictly necessary or advisable, several rounds of check-the-girls, the dog allowed to sleep inside, lights either on or motion activated all around the outside of the house, TWO phones beside the bed, the tv left on low in the bedroom all night (for company and a little light) and still I am likely to jump up out of bed at some point with a huge adrenalin rush, thanks to a partying possum or carousing neighbour. I am such an irrational, phobic baby.
Ok, here goes, I hope these work – I am tagging:
Carrie http://carrieyoung.typepad.com/love_laugh_live
Georgie http://itsaporterslife.blogspot.com/
Stomper Girl http://stompergirl.blogspot.com/
Trudi http://trudiswords.blogspot.com/
Kaz http://itsonlymekaz.blogspot.com/
Ali J http://aussiepatches.typepad.com/aussiepatches
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thought Full
I love blogs that are Beauty Full, but also those that are Thought Full - not considerate-thoughtful, but full-of-thought. I have been full of thought about Soozadoo’s recent post about being Frank http://soozadoo.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/frank/
I was not Frank as a child, in fact probably the opposite. I was brought up under a authoritarian parenting regime to be a nice girl, compliant, well behaved with my purpose in life being to keep everyone happy. No opinions to be voiced, no authority to be challenged – you get the picture. It takes years to undo that training – years to develop the confidence and belief that you are actually entitled to an opinion, to be difficult, to disagree without some kind of cataclysmic disaster ensuing. To really understand that in a good relationship, you can be angry without being abandoned. To take a chance on saying what you really think, instead of being appalling passive aggressive – what a relief!
I look back on my early 20s and realise that while I looked like a cute little Barbie, I had about the same amount of depth – just a walking talking doll who reflected whatever was acceptable and decorous. I had no self-esteem for if self-esteem stems from keeping everyone happy, from the sum total of your actions for that day, then it is never really safe, you can never relax. It has taken years of life experience to develop not only physical wrinkles, scars and bulges, but also a new person, Sue who has opinions, who doesn’t care so much about other people’s thoughts, who has permission to disagree with you, ever so gently and diplomatically ;) And to bring up three daughters to be as Frank as they want – even if those daughters are more challenging to parent LOL
While I respect Susannah and her forthright warrior truthfulness, I will never be that Frank. However I am working towards being authentically Sue and the satisfaction is immense, palpable.
So thanks Susannah, for making me Thought Full/an introspective, navel gazing wanker ;)
xxxxx
I was not Frank as a child, in fact probably the opposite. I was brought up under a authoritarian parenting regime to be a nice girl, compliant, well behaved with my purpose in life being to keep everyone happy. No opinions to be voiced, no authority to be challenged – you get the picture. It takes years to undo that training – years to develop the confidence and belief that you are actually entitled to an opinion, to be difficult, to disagree without some kind of cataclysmic disaster ensuing. To really understand that in a good relationship, you can be angry without being abandoned. To take a chance on saying what you really think, instead of being appalling passive aggressive – what a relief!
I look back on my early 20s and realise that while I looked like a cute little Barbie, I had about the same amount of depth – just a walking talking doll who reflected whatever was acceptable and decorous. I had no self-esteem for if self-esteem stems from keeping everyone happy, from the sum total of your actions for that day, then it is never really safe, you can never relax. It has taken years of life experience to develop not only physical wrinkles, scars and bulges, but also a new person, Sue who has opinions, who doesn’t care so much about other people’s thoughts, who has permission to disagree with you, ever so gently and diplomatically ;) And to bring up three daughters to be as Frank as they want – even if those daughters are more challenging to parent LOL
While I respect Susannah and her forthright warrior truthfulness, I will never be that Frank. However I am working towards being authentically Sue and the satisfaction is immense, palpable.
So thanks Susannah, for making me Thought Full/an introspective, navel gazing wanker ;)
xxxxx
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Holding her horses
excited but a l'il bit nervous...
up up and away :)
45 mins later - an old hand
Due to time and energy constraints, I’ve generally tried to do a 3 for 1 deal with the girls’ activities where possible – they all learn piano from the same teacher on the same afternoon and all play netball for the same club – it was either that or clone myself… But every now and then one falls hard, passionately and individually as is the case with Amy and horses.
up up and away :)
45 mins later - an old hand
Due to time and energy constraints, I’ve generally tried to do a 3 for 1 deal with the girls’ activities where possible – they all learn piano from the same teacher on the same afternoon and all play netball for the same club – it was either that or clone myself… But every now and then one falls hard, passionately and individually as is the case with Amy and horses.
She recently worked a couple of mornings at the Collingwood Children’s Farm http://www.farm.org.au/ through their school holiday program which entitled her to riding lessons in the afternoons. She came home bursting with enthusiasm and horsey love and sat down to write her Dad - in Paris buying fugly caps ;) - a 22 line email saying “it was the very best experience of my entire life”. Head over heels, she would be smuggling a horse home if we had more than the obligatory inner suburban postage stamp sized court yard. Just seems to me that if you feel that strongly about something, it should probably be something you get to do more than once.
A little investigation, a friend's recommendation and off we went to Peppercorn Equestrian Centre for her first lesson this afternoon and such perfect, quitessentially Melbourne autumn weather for it too. Amy learned how to brush Robbie the pony, put on the saddle etc, weave around cones, halt, gee-up and all those other technical terms – of course she’s now completely hooked and apparently we need to go visit “Horseland” (which sounds like we should be climbing the Magic Faraway Tree to get to) for boots, jodpurs and helmet. And yes, I am aware that I'm getting ridiculous amounts of vicarious pleasure out of this? Just luvving it all – the horsey childhood I always pined for myself ;) I’m still in shock that she could make the horse go in the direction she wanted him to!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Check out the junk on the trunk**
Zoo birthday party a roaring success…
Sorry, couldn’t resist the pun (what a huge surprise). Additional apologies for the self-indulgent number of pics, so many great moments and images.
Sophie had a glorious party at the Melbourne Zoo yesterday – generous autumnal weather and gorgeously well behaved little friends (can you tell why she gets along so well with her friend with the rainbow wig? LOL – if not, just go back to the parisien chapeau post and all will become clear).
Plus a special surprise from her very favourite animals of all time – the elephants sent her their very own birthday card and she is the proud “adoptor” of an elephant for the year. We got to have lunch in the old elephant stables and go behind the scenes to have a hands-on experience with some creepy and other cute creatures (NOT the elephants, much to her disappointment LOL), followed by a carousel ride where Sophie rode on - you guessed it - an elephant!
With the help of her older sisters, we managed to secretly concoct a reasonable cake facsimile of an elephant’s head (although one of her friends did innocently ask “what’s that supposed to be?” - you mean you can't tell???). Fortunately, Sophie herself is a more forgiving audience – looking at her face, you can’t help but know she loves it, as mutant as it is.
Could that little birthday face be any more shiny happy? She glowed all day. Just love her to bits…..
Happy birthday Sophie Sunshine
xxxxx
** Junk on the trunk of the cake of course ;)
PS Fabulous new song is courtesy of my darling Kate who loves Sara Bareilles, thanks for the introduction Katie, I love her too xxxxx
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Kicking gender stereotypes right out of the park
As mothers of children of the same gender will know, everyone thinks you keep having children to attempt to get the gender you don’t have yet – ie, the only possible reason for having a 3rd baby after two girls is to “get” a boy. (wishing for a eye rolling emoticon here)
Well, much as I have a soft spot for any cute cheeky boy who comes my way, who needs one in our family when you have girls like this? Anything boys can do, I am determined to do just as well/hard/tough etc kind of girls, ours. Kate started at a girls only secondary school this year and joined both the school’s cricket and AFL footy teams, much to her sisters’ respect and delight. And now Amy has come home tonight to announce excitedly that she is featured on the Auskick posters and website for this year http://www.aflauskick.com.au/, sinking the boot in mightily - have a look on the website front page and see if you can spot her. They love nothing better than heading down to the local park for a casual kick or a game of cricket or basketball with their Dad on the weekend. Or to go and cheer on their beloved Tigers at the MCG. Go sporty girls!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Je n’aime pas le chapeau parisien
Of all the hats in all the shops in all of Paris and he comes home with this.
It offends my eye, it’s so wickedly fluouro that my camera can’t even do justice, it literally glows in the dark for goodness sake! Where is the appropriately chic little beret???
Worst of all, she LOVES it. (sigh) I had to prise it off her head in bed the other night LOL And with no school uniform, it even comes to school with us in the morning, there is truly no escape (til I manage to lose it under the couch when she’s not looking).
I am woman enough to admit that the rest of us fared well – I have a gorgeous black scarf, Kate is thrilled with her own copy of a French Vogue and cool sunnies while Amy loves her absolutely inoffensive little beret-wearing French plush dog. But what was he thinking when he picked out this (in his words) “French urban” hat???
Well, that settles it. Next time, I will just HAVE to come to Paris too. ;)
Friday, April 11, 2008
pachyderm party girl
Sophie has a passion for all things elephant, hence our plans for a birthday party at the Melbourne Zoo next weekend. Chatting with Carrie, the most accomplished "Martha"* I know, http://carrieyoung.typepad.com/love_laugh_live/ about our children's parties, themes, invitations etc a while back, she generously donated a fabulous idea right off the top of her head for Sophie's invitations - a paper elephant chain, trunk to tail. So now I had the inspiration, just needed the execution (always the problematic bit for me LOL)
Sophie loves craft and wanted full involvement in the invitation process - from design elements right through to colour choices and "calligraphy" (8 yo style). This invitation had so many different and disparate activities involved, it took us an entire weekend which of course pleased her no end. We found a zillion cute elephant images on the internet that we individually printed, cut and pasted them into a collage to scan. Then we made a template for our cute rainbow family chain of elephant dolls with different party information detailed on each one. These sprang out from the inside of the invitation, making it 3D. But that wasn't nearly enough for Sophie (not a less is more kinda gal) who then needed to let loose with her elephant stamps as well.
Ah, in the old days, I might have been too precious, too perfectionistic to let her mess with my originally minimalistic and roolly classy concept LOL, but after lessons learned from wiser friends, 8 yo creativity and choices reign in this household. And just look at the fabulous result - no, not the invites - the proud as punch, beaming child who totally owns and adores that creation. Little does she know how many gifts she (we) continue to receive from Ava and Sheye http://www.sheyerosemeyer.blogspot.com/
* "Martha" - noun (mar-thuh)
a creative individual, usually female, who possesses the ability to make everyday items/food/craft/homewares/moments look effortlessly chic and gorgeous: origin - American, from the infamous homemaker/felon
Thanks Carrie MWAH
xxxxx
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
For Georgie...
... who needs a good laugh
Found the talented Jen on http://madeit.com.au/ - (her seller id is maxifunbutton). Madeit is a fun etsy-esque treasure trove of hand made goodies. As you can see by her badges, she has a wicked sense of humour that has me PMSL. Jen, I wore my “bad grammar makes me [sic]” badge to school today and cracked up the teachers no end, thanks sweetie.
And Georgie? Eat your damn lemons girl LOL And if you want one of the “keep your shitty music to yourself” ones for that friend of yours from the badlands), just let me know ;)
Found the talented Jen on http://madeit.com.au/ - (her seller id is maxifunbutton). Madeit is a fun etsy-esque treasure trove of hand made goodies. As you can see by her badges, she has a wicked sense of humour that has me PMSL. Jen, I wore my “bad grammar makes me [sic]” badge to school today and cracked up the teachers no end, thanks sweetie.
And Georgie? Eat your damn lemons girl LOL And if you want one of the “keep your shitty music to yourself” ones for that friend of yours from the badlands), just let me know ;)
Monday, April 7, 2008
coast is clear
We got down to the beach over Easter, catching up with family and friends and basically living at the dog beach between Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff. Lucky lived up to his name, getting to chase approx infinity + 1 balls down the beach, bunny-hopping through the waves and wearing all other canine competitors into the ground with his singular obsession. Sophie hit the water immediately and turned into a sea monster (most tanned bum crack in Victoria, that girl LOL), while Kate and Amy climbed some rocks and sat and watched the Sophie and Lucky show from afar together. Just look at that second pic of them on the rocks together – can you believe that they are only 2 years apart? Kate is 12 and Amy is 10 – it looks more like 16 and 7 or something LOL They eventually braved the water too and took part in our very own Easter miracle – look - Jennings girls can walk on water!!!
Had to share this - they breed ‘em smart down the coast, check this story out about the Cats supporter whose tattoo went terribly wrong, nearly made me spit out my easter eggs LOL:
Have had self-indulgent homesick songs lately, this feels much more joyous. Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and boys gave girls tapes like bouquets or love letters, mine gave me this one. I adored it and him, sent it back to him recently (well, the link, not a tape LOL). It stands the test of time better than most 80s tunes and so has he…..
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Would you let this woman work with YOUR children?
I just discovered something new about myself. After taking on Susannah’s photo challenge http://soozadoo.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/dare-you/, she commented that my pic was disappointingly normal after my talk of a scary serial killer worthy photo on my working with children id. Inspired by contagious hardcore efforts like Stomper girl http://stompergirl.blogspot.com/ and caught up in a rare fit of bravado I emailed Susannah the offending pic which made her laugh. With that laugh I realised that I would rather be funny than beautiful and resolved to post it here. Yay - humour outranks vanity :)
This was taken a few weeks ago and as I stood mug-like against the wall and presented my most pleasant smile, I was told sternly I was not allowed to smile, not even a little bit. And that if my fringe had been any longer, I would have had to pin it back off my face on the spot “for identification purposes”. WTF? I am starting to think that all these rules were put in place purely to give passport checkers a good laugh at our expense – are they just trying to make us all as ugly as we could be? Anyway, in return for baring my worst/oldest-looking/harshest face EVER, I demand that in Soozadoo all passport/id photographs be taken by photographers of the caliber of Sheye and Carrie, generously, softly lit and that everyone can smile.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
between a rock and a marred face
For Susannah http://soozadoo.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/dare-you/ because you're right.
No kid buffers/distractors/cover-upperers (always my first instinct).
Why is it that I cannot see past teeth that should have had braces, shiny face, crows feet, glasses askew, hair a mess? Trying to just see the happy...
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