Vonerable

The Demise of Seize-the-Day-Saturday

We knew it wouldn't last. That they would one day be a logistical exercise in transporting children to various playing fields and birthday parties. Goodbye rides the park and outings to the hills. (Actually we never did get to 'the hills' - that's kind of a joke between Killer and I. "Let's go to hills and buy fruit from an orchard" is code for 'talking it up'). Hello shin pads, mouth guards, boots with studs, and long stripey socks. Couldn't be happier.

 

Can I urge you to visit King's Park in Autumn? Especially if it's drizzling. Especially around the war memorial at sunset. And especially if you have spotty umbrellas.

Sleepyheads

Right Now

Listening: to my man putting noisy children to bed. Wonder where they get that from?

Also listening: to the rain. Heavy. Calm.

Eating: minestrone 

Also eating: way too much camembert

Liking: this top

Drinking: decaf tea with rice milk

Wishing: I could press some golden light between the leaves of a book and, when it was flattened, fill *15 envelopes and send it to each of you. To tell you that you are worth more than gold. More than you could possibly imagine. So loved by God it sometimes takes my breath clean away. 

Also wishing: I could telepathically alert the driver in front of me today that his bumper sticker was letting him down. He wanted it to say, "Breathe out so I can breathe you in" (song lyrics?) but forgot the e. It loses something, no?

 

 

*because, according to Google Reader, I now have 15 subscribers! So exciting. Unless half of you are strange. But even then, you are loved. 

Rain

Pick up

There comes a time when one must acknowledge they no longer have a baby in the family. Or anyone even resembling a baby. A nearly-five-year-old has not been a baby for quite some time but when it is surrounded by giant ten, nine and six year olds, one can fool oneself into thinking they are teeny weeny, baby type creatures.

And one might even continue picking them up and carrying them around as if they were a baby. That would not be a good idea. That could land one in bed with a rather sore back, necessitating hours of help from mothers and fathers and sisters, and even giant ten and not-so-giant nine year old daughters, to feed the family and clean up the previously mentioned, monumentally messy house. 

      

  

Pilates, anyone?

 

Where I am

Here's the aspirational version of my day:

Arose at 5.00am, went to gym, cooked breakfast for family, showered and dressed while listening to French for Beginners audio book. 

Left for school early, ran through each child's personal maths and spelling programme on the way.

Shopped with boys for camping boots, reinforcing budgeting and time management lessons in the process.

Riiiiiight

 

 

My staying-on-brand version of the day involved, but was not limited to:

-Killer sorting out breakfast, tidying kitchen, presenting me with a perfect cup of coffee (as he does every morning) while I stumbled about the place half finishing sentences and grumbling (as I do every morning)

-having three children with me all morning for differning reasons and feeling rather cranky about the lack of forward planning that caused it

-public meltdown in connection with two boys crawling around on the floor outside Myer following a rather trying shopping experience, and one boy in particular choosing THAT moment to flex his Who Are You To Tell Me What To Do muscle

-a house that has descended into the sort of mess that just makes me sad and flat

-eating sugar, which I have not done in several weeks, which made me feel even sadder and flatter, and which was totally not worth the anguish (it was a stale, half frozen, hot cross bun)

Okay, so that was very un-aspirational. But you know how I love to dish the dirt to let you know that "we are all brothers under our pelts"  Speaking of which, you must read Nikki Gemmel's piece from the Weekend Australian magazine. Gold. 

Some days, some months, are just putting one foot in front, right? I'm dizzy, I'm tired, I'm simply doing the basics and hoping for a time when I can feel productive and, dare I say it, proactive. I'm sure it will come. I have a man who makes me coffee, a Mum who sneakily does my folding, and a whole host of other things to be grateful for in the meantime.

AND I got to spend an hour, grinning like a maniac, watching my princesses at ballet. They call it 'watching week'. I call it, 'look how pretty and earnest and poised my darling girls are' hour. The preciousness of their beautiful selves and the sincerity of the whole enterprise bought tears to my eyes. It was with the greatest of restraint that I remained in my seat, only taking photos as they took their turns in the front row. 

 

Scatter

I'm such a scatter brain tonight. One minute I'm tinkering with photoshop, then it's into the kitchen for cheese and currants, followed by some facebook, then I'm flicking through images trying to define my key colours should I ever need a serious business card or website. Everything feels urgent and I can't settle to anything. 

 

 

The business card/colour obsession is thanks to a brilliant workshop I attended with Barb Uil - of JinkyArt. No, it wasn't all about business cards, but there was lots of really helpful marketing stuff in amongst all the gorgeous photography and creativity-boosting talk. I have some truly magic images to share with you, but there's a lot of photoshop swatting to do first...

 

Off with the fairies

Fairy penguins, that is. Penguin Island. So close. So fun. Who knew?!