Thank you

Hi readers and visitors! Given people are still checking out this blog from Facebook (thank you!), I thought it was well beyond time to update this blog and explain myself.

This blog was a wonderful pastime and creative outlet for me, and gave me membership to a wonderful community of fellow bloggers and readers.

My main theme in this blog was the combination of full-time work and motherhood.

I wrote a lot about full-time work, parenting and twins. I also wrote about books, modern life, some popular science and general thoughts and opinions. Some of my posts were cringe-worthy, some were not bad, and a few were pretty good! No doubt ALL have dated badly.

So what happened?

In 2015 I switched careers to working in IT project and program management, and though I had been  a project manager for some years, working for a technology start-up and later for a small-to-medium company as it matured and developed its own technology capabilities was fascinating and FULL-ON.

I have spent the last few years fully immersed in product development, "agile" development, lean technical projects and the many and various philosophies and community conversations around those. I have been LIVING on Twitter.

Combined with this, my children were growing up and my day to day challenges and interests were different.  Plus, they won't let me post stuff about them anymore - a challenge that hits most blogger parents around the same time :)

So to my poor, neglected personal parenting blog: I unintentionally ghosted it, and the wonderful community who I connected with through here.



via GIPHY

I am sorry to my fellow bloggers whom I stopped visiting, stopped reading, and for whom I left no explanation on this blog! I am sure they are used to it - bloggers come and go, and most blogs end without fanfare or a proper good bye.  I hope everyone is doing well, and I will try and visit your blogs from time to time, as I loved reading them and I miss those perspectives sometimes.

Where am I now?

Meanwhile, if anyone wants to check out my current, more professional blog, it lives here:

https://nonprojectproject.com/

My latest post may be something relatable to some of you :) -
An Introvert's Defence of the Open Plan Office


And I make NO commitment to weekly or monthly updates!

Stay well everyone.
Thanks for visiting, and thanks for reading my stuff.

Keep in touch via Twitter!


Jackie

Work vs Self-Promotion

Here we go: yet another article with "advice" on how to find success - this time at Forbes.com with a terrific example of the genre entitled 'Want to be successful? Quit working so hard'.

There is a solid kernel of truth in this advice, at least in the title. Being known as a 'hard worker', and slaving away at a desk job (or any job) for 12 hours a day will not generally be rewarded with 'success' in terms of money and renown.  Most of us already know this, even if some of us (ahem) only figured it out after years of doing the same.

5 Favourite Posts

How fortuitous that just when I dusted off my blog this week, along came a new Listography! Whether this marks a return of Listography or just a one-off thing, I'm happy to see it and immediately want to participate.  I loved Kate Takes 5's Listography when it was a regular thing - always so easy and fun to make a five-point list of anything.

So this Listography is Five Favourite Posts.

Still here

I'm still here.

I will post something again, but life is busy and changing, my kids are getting older and I can't really blog about them anymore, and work is getting exciting, and so things are a bit different. All in a good way. Life is good.

In lieu of a proper post, here is a quick list of how I've been spending my time. Ciao for now!

CLEANING

DECLUTTERING

RE-ARRANGING FURNITURE

COMMUTING

WORKING

COOKING

GODDAMN LAUNDRY

KIDS AND THEIR FRIENDS

SWIMMING (a little bit)

DOG

LATE NIGHT STUDYING

NECESSARY PRODUCTIVITY BREAKS / FURTHER BRAIN TRAINING

NETFLIX

THANK YOU

Hello.
I'm still here!

I've been a bit busy of late - just work, school holidays and such, nothing out of the ordinary, but life is suddenly very busy. It's a good kind of busy; I'm feeling happy and satisfied at the end of each day, so I'm just going to enjoy THAT while it lasts.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you, yes YOU, for continuing to read my little blog as it goes up and down in its frequency of posts. I LOVE reading your blogs too, and I feel a bit embarrassed that I don't get to everyone's posts as often as I would like, or don't always comment, or don't join in writing prompts or linkys as I intend to... the list goes on.

So thank you.

Coming soon: 12 resolutions; my thoughts on the trickle-down theory; lessons I've learned at work; parenting styles; elevator etiquette; hopefully a writing prompt exercise or two; and of course, Sunday Selections.

Meantime: here are some photos of my kids on holiday hen-house duty at school.

 

Things that threw me off course

Golly gee, look at me: a blog post after almost a month. It's been so long that I've put it off even longer thinking about how I should start a new blog post after so long. Apologise? Explain myself? Just blog a new post as if nothing happened?

I personally yawn and roll my eyes when I read a blog post that starts with "Wow it's been awhile, I'm so sorry, I hope my readers are still here?!.."  So I won't do that.  Except I kind of just did.

I was on a good roll in December-January. I was pretty organised, life was rolling along, and blogging was fun and easy. So what dire things happened to throw me off?

Here they are:

1. School started again. I know, I know - I work, my KIDS are in school, what's the difference? But it makes a difference. Lunchboxes. Homework. Notices. Trying to attend meet-the-teacher events. Somehow school holidays can be easier to manage while you're working than school is.  I love our kids' school, and it's very exciting having the kids in Grade Three - but there has been a flurry of busy-ness this last month.


2. Heat. Oh my god, the Melbourne Heat Wave of 2014 will surely be written about in history books. If this is what our kids and grandkids will be living with every day due to global warming, then can I just say to them all, I'M SORRY!  I know, it's summer, and summer is hot. We get taken by surprise by this fact every year. But as every Melburnian knows, though summer starts in December, December and January are variable, and the real heat hits in February. Except this year it hit in January, and it kept going all the way through February, until ... three days ago when it suddenly turned cold and rainy.

Literally three days ago I was sitting slumped at the kitchen table saying to Y, "I'm so sick of the heat!" - and verily the gods heard my call of despair, for the next day, weirdly, it was suddenly over.

But the heat, my god, the heat... it affected everything, sapped our energy and left us discombobulated for weeks. You couldn't do housework - it was too hot. You couldn't go out - it was too hot. You couldn't blog - it was too hot.


3. Broken door. I'm saving this story for next time, but suffice it to say for now, we had an incident, and our door got broken and needed to be fixed. These things take up time and mental energy!


4. Telstra. F...ing Telstra. Ever since we've been in this house, we've had recurring phone faults. Usually after rain, sometimes after nothing at all. Our phone will go crackly for a couple of days, and then dead. It has happened easily six or eight times, and each time I have to contact Telstra and go through the same old crap to get it fixed, until next time. Last year in June our phone was out for two weeks. This January it was out for a week. Then it was fixed and two days later it went out again, for another 3 days.

Last June I "escalated" the problem and insisted the history be looked at and the underlying problem addressed... yeah, that clearly didn't happen.  This time, when I reported the fault, I escalated it straight away and every time I called I asked the operator to look at our phone history and please fix the underlying problem.

All up technicians visited our street or our house four times. And that's not including the time one came round unknown to us while we were at work and Telstra sent me a text saying "A technician visited but was unable to gain entry to your house to fix the problem. If you still have a problem please report the fault to Telstra."  I got that message and just about went through the roof. I called them - sitting in my car, melting in the heat - and honestly I struggled not to cry huge fat tears of rage and frustration and self-pity, while still being polite and fair to the operator, because the phone operators are young and keen and always lovely and helpful, and it's not their fault.

You might think a dead landline is not a problem these days, but it is. For one thing, what about people who don't have mobiles? There are still some. How on earth do they get on if this happens? What about older people living on their own?  For another thing, it knocks your ADSL internet out, and being without the internet these days is unreasonable! I complained to Telstra about having to use our mobiles to make local calls and they adjusted my mobile to landline rates for the duration, but what if my mobile was with a different carrier? Our broadband is through a different carrier, so we still had to pay for our internet while we couldn't use it. Also, when you lose your mobile, you can't use the landline to call it to find it!

As it turns out, we had two problems: a faulty outside line (duh - we knew that much) and a faulty phone socket.

But finally, after the last technician visited, I was happy. Do you know why?  Because that fourth technician finally told me the truth. It turns out our street has a very old, frayed phone cable that really needs replacing, and Telstra have no immediate plans to replace it. At last! Honesty. It was a kind of relief.

So those have been my first world problems this summer. 

How have YOU been? 

sixninepixels / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Edit: unfortunately, I accidentally deleted this post last week, and lost all the lovely comments!  I recovered the post from Google Cache but had to re-post it, so I will try and recover and copy the comments below as I find them.

Thanks to everyone who visited and commented and welcomed me back!

 

Resting

I will be back soon. I'm just having a little rest.

#Exhausted. #OMG #Tired #Rest #Resting #timeout #cutepic #blogging #whenwillhashtagsworkonblogs

Leonard John Matthews/Flickr

I must confess... I love your blog

Oooh, tricky. I've been looking for a linky I can get into for some time, since a couple of my favourite ones wound up, and have decided to try out this one.

The linky is "I Must Confess..." by Kirsty at My Home Truths, this week hosted by Rhianna at A Parenting Life.

But, I suppose fittingly enough for a confession theme, this week's topic is a bit difficult.

It's "blogs you love".

I like lots of blogs, but I can't list them all here. I also don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or have anyone whose blog I read think I don't like it.

(Fact: if I read or comment on your blog, I like it).


My blog reading and tracking is also a bit of a mess at the moment. Here are all the ways I am following blogs at the moment:

• updates on my Blogger dashboard
• blogs I've liked on Facebook
• blogs I've subscribed to by email
• blogs I catch up with via Twitter
• blogs I've followed on Bloglovin
• blogs I've linked to on Networked Blogs
• clicking on blogs listed in my sidebar
• clicking on blog shortcuts I've saved to my phone's home screen
• clicking on links I've saved to my browser favourites

So I'm a bit all over the place, and not all the blogs I follow/like are even listed on my sidebar.

I'm also not going to list ALL my favourite ones here - it would take too long. So here are just a few, that I tend to read most often.  In no particular order:

Cranky Old Man - Joe worked in finance and is cranky, so I relate to a lot of his thoughts. He is also prolific, posting every day and always good, funny, thoughtful stuff.

 You Learn Something New Every Day - I really like this premise (as it's true) and the way Emily has structured her blog, each post reminding us of this simple, pleasing fact.

My Unwelcome Stranger - Denis blogs about life seen through the lens of living with serious illness. As he is also a historian his blog is beautiful with memories, culture and history, as well as general observations. 

A Patchwork Life - Tracey does beautiful crafts and takes equally beautiful photos, making me realise for the hundredth time how crap I am at photography. She is also often parenting alone - like me!

 Adventures of a Middle Aged Matron - Anna writes about life as a vicar's wife and parent to teenagers and her writing is absolutely top-notch. Lovely blog.

 AMFYOYO - Meggsie's blog is simple, very well written, and great. She doesn't write as often as others, but every post is a gem. She's also honest in a real way, with complaints about her husband and kids that make you gasp, laugh and nod all at once. Great reading.

Also:

The Plastic Mancunian - makes me snort out loud. Read his latest on email.

Blurb From the Burbs - come back, Kath!

Princess Pandora - life from a (usually) different perspective to mine

Decoding the New Economy - the kind of economic analysis I love

And:

Blue Milk, Science of Mom, Caro and Co, Life in a Pink Fibro.... but really, I must stop.

What are YOUR favourite blogs? 

(Apart from this one, of course..!)

Link up to A Parenting Life here

The usual location of I Must Confess:

The Evolution of Spam Comments

So, spam comments on blogs have changed over the past couple of years.

At first they were purely complimentary, like this:

Hey, great blog man! I really like your style, and your unique way of writing! Check out my website as well, and let me know what you think! www.bigrussianscam.com

Howdy! I could have sworn I've been to this site before, but after checking out a few articles I realise it's new to me. Anyway I have bookmarked it and will be coming back often. Feel free to visit my site: www.loseyourshirttradingoptions.com! 

Wow, thanks for your marvellous posting, you really are a talented author! I have added your site to my RSS feed and will keep reading with interest. I want to encourage that you continue your great work, have a nice weekend! Check out my site, www.weirdexercises.com

Sometimes these were so nice I was really tempted to publish them.



Others don't do it quite as well:

What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable experience on the topic of unexpected emotions. Here is my weblog: www.inappropriatebusiness.com

Then gradually I noticed a touch of criticism creeping in - probably to make them seem more like real people?

Have you ever considered about adding a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental and everything. However think about if you added some great graphics or videos to give your posts more, "pop"! Your content is excellent but with images and clips, this blog could certainly be one of the greatest in its field. Fantastic blog! My site - www.importillegalanimals.com

I was curious if you ever considered changing the page layout of your website? It's very well written; I love what you've got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people can connect with you better. You've got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 pictures. Perhaps you could space it out better? My site - www.fakedesigneroutlet.com

You might be correct, but f*** off anyway, spam robot!


Or there's the fake "hey just letting you know" type:

Hello there, I believe your web site could be having browser compatibility problems. Whenever I take a look at your blog in Safari, it looks fine however, when opening in I. E., it has some overlapping issues. I simply wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Aside from that, fantastic website! My site: www.samesitesthatkeeppostingcomments.com

Lately, they seem to have given up all pretense, and just slam you with volume (hundreds of comments a week) and WORDS. Each one is crammed with as many SEO-friendly words as possible. They don't even attempt to make sense.

Factors several benefits together with the service to the software. If the insurance company believes the repair will be too costly they would rather not pay to fix it. There is a Gamestop located at [address]. My advise is to take some time to research and study the process yourself, which would give you enough leverage to do the property deal on your own. Here is my site: www.siteyoudontwanttoclickonevenoutofcuriosity.com

I know this post is going to get me inundated with more. But I couldn't resist.

Do you have a blog? How are you dealing with spam? 

by Ambro via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I Need A New Blog Name

I need a new blog name.

I've never been happy with the name of my blog, nor with the URL - especially since the two don't match.

When I set up my blog I wanted to convey these themes: that I'm a working parent, that I do salaried work, that I work(ed) full time, that I sometimes struggle to manage work and parenting. I also wanted to reference that I love reading and researching and working things out and wondering about things.

Every title I tried was already in use or a bit lame.

Finally I went with "Working Through It" and tried to ignore the connotations of drudgery and being a "hard worker" (ugh) that went with it. I meant it to mean like, I'm working it out as I go, and I'm also working, while being a parent. (Yes, genius, I know). I figured I could change it later.


I have registered a new domain name some time back that I quite like (but don't love) but the title is a complete change and here's my stupid little problem with it (talk about your first world problems - check this one). You see that little icon up on your web browser (hopefully) above my blog - the little black handbag with the "WTI" on it? That's my Favicon which I am really fond of. And I quite like "WTI" even if I'm not mad keen on "Working Through It". And see, my new domain name has two words instead of three, and a two-letter abbreviation doesn't work as well as a three-letter one. Also, those two letters that would form the initials in my Favicon would be "SM".

That's not good, is it.


So I'm a bit stuck, because (a) I can't change both my URL and my blog title, or my few but wonderful followers may lose me, (b) I don't like either my blog title or my URL so I can't decide which one to dump, even though I really want to dump both, and (c) I still can't think of a good blog name.

Have you ever regretted your blog name?

Ever considered changing it?

Have you ever changed it?

Sponsored Posts, Disclosure and Professionalism

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post, however it is possible that jumping on this bandwagon may bring me increased page views, which I accept is a benefit.*

If you are not a blogger, or you have been reading about this elsewhere, you may roll your eyes and click away at this point, because this may bore you silly. [Alert! Blog post about blogging follows!]

Bloggers in Australia have copped some flak recently about sponsored posts. The arguments can be summarized as:

• bloggers are not always disclosing when they have received a product which they blog about
• bloggers are grasping and selfish, want stuff for free and expect to be paid for crapping on about their life and kids
• companies attempting to engage with bloggers are disrespectful and clumsy and expect free advertising from bloggers
• bloggers are already doing the right thing but readers are overly cynical/suspicious
• sponsored posts should be disclosed at the top of the post
• sponsored posts can be disclosed within the post or at the bottom 
• readers don't like sponsored posts and will click away if they see a 'sponsored post' disclosure at the top of the post
• readers don't like to be ambushed at the end after reading a post they thought was 'real', only to find it promotes a product or business
• bloggers are no longer blogging from the heart; there are too many sponsored posts and giveaways
• the brand-meets-blog PR outfits are doing a lousy job fitting brands to blogs 
• 'sponsored' means you were paid money; gifts are not sponsorship
• money or gifts are all benefits and should be declared equally
• supporting a business you love is not a sponsored post
• bloggers' disclaimers that "my opinions are all mine" are meaningless because you never see a negative product review on a personal blog

Bloggers are vexed by this issue because they want to do the right thing, want (and have the right to) earn money from their blogs, and want to retain the heart and soul and authenticity in their blogs at the same time.

image by Vlado via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here's my opinion, in a nutshell:

I think distinguishing between cash payment and gifts is pointless. We all know that advertising and PR take many forms, and that if a business gives you a gift or gives (or lends) you a product for review, they are hoping for a return. That return may be a glowing blog post or it may be a good relationship or increased goodwill leading to glowing blog posts later on. Declare it all. Even if that business is run by a family member or a friend, you should declare it. It doesn't matter how, as long as you do.

Everyone agrees a post should carry a statement at the top such as 'sponsored post' or 'advertorial' if you have been paid. If you have received a gift it should state this in the blog post, preferably somewhere near the beginning so you are giving the correct context to your writing.

Disclaimers don't need to be long or written in legalese.

If you do sponsored posts sometimes, and then you want to write about/recommend a product you love and paid for, then you probably have to say in your blog post that this is purely your opinion and you received no cash or benefit for it. That may be annoying or may seem like overkill, but it's the flipside of writing sponsored posts. The upside is you will retain reader trust.  (Here's a good example from You Learn Something New Every Day)


I loved this sponsored post from Edenland last year about magazines, though it divided opinion. I thought it was funny and really well written and I thought it was the model for how to write a sponsored post. Others found it false or the tone jarring, or were annoyed at the placement of the ad part at the bottom. I thought it was fine.


Blogging in Australia is clearly in a transitional phase at the moment, and all these issues will be settled and of no interest at all within a very short time I am sure.



I have written one 'sponsored post' on this blog: this one.  I didn't receive any payment or gift for it, but as I know that this kind of post can result in increased page views, there was the possibility of a 'benefit', so it had to be declared. I did this by including "Competition" in the post title, and a very clunky disclosure at the bottom. My post wasn't well written, and I don't plan on doing a lot more of these. I'm not interested in doing sponsored posts or being paid to blog, but I have no problem with others who are.

Readers will read what is good or useful to them. You don't have to read the blogs that annoy you (although, I know, sometimes you just can't help yourself!).



Today I left this comment at The Shake, where Veronica Foale wrote a thoughtful piece about sponsored posts:

If you were going to blog about a gift from your mum then usually there is no need to mention it. If your mum runs a business selling that item and you are blogging about the item specifically or in a way that showcases/advertises it, then yes you should mention the circumstance. It doesn't have to be ridiculous, just a line in the blog. 

If you receive a bag of peaches as a gift from your neighbor then you don’t need to mention it. If your neighbor sells those peaches or runs an agri-business or organic food business of some kind, then yes you have to mention it. 

If you are given a gift of any kind from ANY business, AND you blog about the item, you should declare it. If you are given ANY kind of benefit, or possibility of benefit (e.g. increased page visits) from any business, and you are blogging about the item or the business, then you should disclose that. I think most bloggers already do this, but a few are not very sophisticated in recognizing what makes a ‘benefit’ and this is what irks readers. In every other public endeavor this kind of disclosure is already in place, so blogging should be no different.

For guidelines read the Digital Parents forums, look up blog disclosure policies on Google (e.g. http://disclosurepolicy.org/), or take the lead from bloggers you admire.  E.g., I think Carli at Tiny Savages probably gets this spot on, based on her comments on the thread at The Shake.

What do YOU think?

* Disclosure: that was a lame attempt at humour.

The Sunshine Award

Big news readers, I have been given the prestigious, exclusive, highly coveted Sunshine Award.

Think of it like a Nobel Prize - but instead of for writers, scientists or economists it's for amazingly talented bloggers.... ;-)

What with the Liebster and now this, that book deal is surely only a matter of time!

Yes it's another meme/award thingy!

I'm actually (really) very chuffed and excited to get these, and I so appreciate it when I'm nominated.
This one has been given me by the very funny and very cool Dr Bron at Dr Bron Speaks. 

So thank you, Dr Bron!

The conditions of the award are:

Answer the eight questions below

Nominate and notify 10 awesome bloggers to repeat the process.



Here are the questions (and my answers):


1. What is your favorite Christmas/Holiday movie?
Jingle All The Way.

2. What is your favorite flower?

Photo by Villamon via Flickr CC

Don't laugh... carnations.

3. What is your favorite (non-alcoholic) beverage?

Coffee.


4. What is your passion?
Reading.


5. What is your favorite time of year?
Autumn.


6. What is your favorite time of the day?
Evening/twilight.


7. What is your favorite physical activity? 
Walking.


8. What is your favorite vacation?
The Greek Islands. Obviously.



And the nominees for the next Sunshine Award (because their blogs put sunshine in my day) are....

Pandora from Princess Pandora Queen of Denial
Cath from Working Through It
PM from The Plastic Mancunian
Nicola at Stressy Mummy
Tracey from Single Married Mum
Meggsie from AMFYOYO
Melissa at From Boardroom to Babies
Catherine from Cup of Tea and A Blog
Lisa at How to be a Domestic Disgrace
Torkona from Tork's Blog

If you are not familiar with any of these great blogs, click on the links in my FAVOURITE BLOGS list on the sidebar. (yes, that's code for "I didn't embed links in the names above, sorry")


Enjoy, readers and memesters!

Their Preoccupations Often Frivolous

Goodness me, it is either a great time or a terrible time right now to be a Mummy Blogger!

First of all there is the term Mummy Blogger. Who doesn’t love that, eh?

Second, there has been the concern locally about PR partnerships, sponsored posts and the fairness and sensitivity (or otherwise) of how these things are marketed. Sponsored posts are causing quite the debate currently, and I do think they warrant scrutiny and care. But I also think a lot of the issues people are unhappy about will sort themselves out as the processes evolve. 

Third, here in Australia there was the recent Media Watch episode 'The Rise of the Personal Blogger' which puzzled many and displeased some, but which did raise some valid points about sponsored content. (It also contained the memorable line "Of course, some of the mummy bloggers are naive, and their preoccupations often frivolous.")

And now from the UK there is the Liz Jones piece in the Daily Mail, which appears to be designed partly to shock and partly to salve her fuming resentment of women who “don’t work”. There is plenty in that post to dissect and Ms Jones has left herself rather wide open to analysis – and plenty of bloggers will take on that happy task I am sure.

But, as someone who works almost full-time at a paid job, and works parenting 7-year-olds and managing our house, and who is happy to accept blogging as an unpaid hobby, I leave you instead with an ode to Baby Wipes. (Unsponsored).

Ode to Baby Wipes

Oh, thick, unscented baby wipes, I'd like to shake your hand

For all you make so easy, I am an ardent fan.

Our kids have not been babies now, for many fun-filled years

But you, unlike the nappies, are permanently here.

I love you for your ease of use, and all the things you do

With just a squirt of toilet gel, you help me clean the loo.

You help me take my make-up off, instead of cleansing cream

You help me clean the vanity, without elbow grease or steam.

You wipe up sticky fingers, you clean hands when there's no soap

You wipe faces quick and easily; in short you help me cope

With germs and dirt and stickiness, wherever they may lie

I'll buy you, thick unscented baby wipes, until the day I die.

  

Image by Ambro via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'll Get To It...

God but I'm DESULTORY lately. I'm blaming my broken arm - and it has made things difficult.
It's made me realise what people with really bad, serious injuries go through. And I will admit that I have really not ever given that too much thought.

All my life I've seen people wandering round with an arm in a cast and never thought it was a big deal. Oho, it's a big deal alright! Seven weeks later I am much better, but still sore and limited in movement, and doing physio sessions to get my muscle strength back. I cannot lift anything heavier than a couple of hundred grams with my bad arm, cannot lift it higher than my waist, cannot fully straighten it out. I can now shower and dress and undress myself (that was a long first three weeks), but I still have to wake my husband to do up or undo my bra. I haven't gone so many days braless since I was 23!

The length of time taken to heal is because I have an oblique fracture where the break was jagged and the two halves are out of alignment - I've been told 8-10 weeks to heal properly with physio and possible surgery needed (though I don't think now I'll need the surgery).

Anyway, yes, it has made things difficult, not to complain or anything because god knows there are worse things, and many, many, millions of worse injuries. I'm so sorry, injured people, I never gave you much thought before, other than a brief zap of horror or sympathy. You are heroes, all!

So ANYWAY again, it has made me a little lacklustre. It gets you down not being able to do all the things you usually do, and I had a day recently where all I did was literally sit on the couch, trying not to weep in self-pity. I'm over it!

There have been nice things, I must say. I had a very relaxing five-week holiday in place of the hectic 3 week one we had planned. We spent more time sitting back, blending into village life and hanging out with close family, rather than rushing from island to island. We spent much less money on holiday than we budgeted. (Though I did blow some extra on data roaming!)
Other good things:
Husband and kids have stepped up big time to support me and tackle all the day to day. I got over my embarrassment (of, ahem, recent [fat] years) being naked in daylight in front of my husband - I had to, since for the first 3 weeks he usually had to shower me. I have rediscovered walking, and planning and doing less each day, because I can't drive. The kids and I walk to and from school 3 days a week, rain, hail or shine (except twice we took a taxi). I've topped up my Myki and I take the train to work, and I am saving a lot each week by not driving. I have resolved to carry on not driving to work, even with the extra time it takes, and the extra inconvenience of a taxi or pick-up from the station when I've missed the last bus.

On the downside, my husband is exhausted and my mum probably is too with extra taxi-duty she's put in for us lately.

But mostly (at least for me!) the downside is the frustration with not being able to do things. It's a bit of a downer, that can easily feed into other things and sap my enthusiasm for things that I am quite capable of doing.  All of which is a very long-winded way of saying I have lost some mojo for now but I will blog again soon.  I'll get to it.  I'll be back.

What are you struggling with lately?  What makes you lose your get-up-and-go?

Eleven

I've been tagged by Kath from Blurb From the Burbs with some fantastical questions.
This meme comes from River at Drifting Through Life, who created 11 questions and tagged 11 bloggers, with the intent that they answer the questions then set 11 new ones and tag 11 people, and so it goes on.

Here are Kath's 11, with my answers:

1. When and why did you start blogging?
I started blogging in January 2010 and my first awful posts that month show that I truly did not know what I was doing. I was just feeling my way, but I knew I wanted to write and explore and shout my opinions on things, and I knew this would be a way to do it. I had started reading a few blogs and was really intrigued with all the possibilities on blogging platforms for doing whatever it is you want to do.

2. What is your middle name and why did your parents select it?
I don't have a middle name. My mum and her sister both decided not to give their kids middle names because they're not necessary, so neither I, my sister nor three of our cousins have middle names. I do indeed find you don't need a middle name, except that every time you are asked you have to say "I don't have a middle name" which takes longer.

3. Toilet paper folder or scruncher? Provide your reasons
Folder. Reasons... not sure how graphic you want this, but folding provides more cover and thickness to mop up everything, no?

4. What do you do at home when everyone else is out?
Treadmill (sometimes). Internet (often). Laundry and tidying (always).

5. You've been given five hundred bucks (two hundred and fifty quid, say) to spend on nothing useful and just your self. What do you do with the cash?
I'd buy a gorgeous bag from Fossil or some jewellery.

6. It's finally come true. One of your 'five celebrities you're allowed to sleep with' has walked into your kitchen and is up for it. Who is it?
Why, it's Josh Brolin in my kitchen, telling me to leave the washing as he will do it for me later. 

Josh Brolin - via here

7. Name one famous person (so that all our readers know who it is) that you think 'has their shit together'. Explain why.
I don't know why, I might be wrong, but I think Jennifer Garner has her shit together. She appears to dress herself and her children in normal clothes, goes out without make-up, takes awhile to lose baby weight, and takes her kids to parks and playgrounds.

8. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?
The desire to greet the day gifted by the universe, to experience the daily miracles of life, and to make the most of every precious moment I have on this earth.

Nah, really it's the thought of all the stuff I have to do today, plus the opportunity to relish my favourite part of the day, my "quiet time" with treadmill and then news and coffee, before everyone else gets up.

9. Who would you like to smack in the face, publicly disprove all of their stupid opinions and freeze their bank accounts?
Well the obvious of course - Andrew Bolt and Miranda Devine. And about half the time, Catherine Deveny. But the other half the time I would shake her hand, apologise and give her back her bank accounts, so there'd be a lot of back and forth.

10. Low slung jeans on boys - how do we eradicate this disease?
It's obvious. We get their fathers and everyone over 30 to wear their pants the same way, and they will soon stop.


11. Tell us about an invention for the home that we desperately need.

Surfaces that repel dust and grime so they never get dirty.

That internet fridge that is supposed to take inventory and order replacements when stocks run low, but it should also calculate need based on frequency of usage and my facial expression when I gaze at the contents - so that it doesn't go ahead and order more Thousand Island salad dressing when I finally one day use the bottle I have.

Now for my 11 bloggers:

@homedad
Meggsie at AMFYOYO
Melissa at From Boardroom to Babies
Single Married Mum
Joe H at Cranky Old Man
Torkona at Tork's Blog
Dr Bron at The Modern Family
Nikki at Stressy Mummy
Anne-Marie at Child-Led Chaos
Michelle at 4 Kids, A Dog and a Blog
Nat at Drivelology



And here are my 11 questions:

1. If you could choose any job/career without having to put in the time and money for training, and assuming your life would magically work around it, what would you pick?


2. What pet(s) do you have, and how did you choose it/them?


3. What's your "comfort reading" book - the book you re-read to feel better?


4. What's the oldest thing in your possession?


5. How did you choose the name for your blog? Do you still like it, or do you think about changing it?


6. "An untidy desk means an unorganized mind." Discuss.


7. If you had three days all to yourself, what would you do?


8. Are you Apple or Android?


9. When travelling, do you prefer to plan and book, or keep things open?


10. Is there anything you dislike about blogging? (being tagged for memes perhaps...)


11. Clare in Modern Family says "You can't have two fun parents, because that's a carnival". Are you the Fun Parent or the Responsible Parent? Or if you're not a parent, of your own parents who was who? Do you/Did they do a Good Cop Bad Cop routine, or are you/were they in synch?

And if I haven't tagged you but you would like to join in, please do feel free!

Do You Pinterest?

Image: Wikipedia Commons

**Updated 2 March


Do you pin?
Are you a pinner?
Do you find things Pinteresting?

Or do Pinterest and the terms above make you want to gag?

I'm not sure where I sit at the moment.

I've recently joined Pinterest, thanks to a kind invite from ChildLedChaos on Twitter, after I tweeted my incredulousness at the "request an invite" hurdle to joining. 

I joined because I am curious - much as I was when I joined Twitter. I couldn't quite see what the fuss was about, but so many love it, there must be something to it.

Pinterest has been around for awhile, but right now it seems to be at the tipping point towards global explosion. And from what little I had seen of it, I sort of wondered, "Why?"

Compilations of pretty pictures of frothy dresses, teacups and white chairs?
So?

Image by Jepoycamboy via Flickr CC

Then suddenly one day last week, I kind of started to get it. I noticed three things:

(1) Pinterest retains image credits when you pin an image. That makes a great way to store images you come across that you might want to use later. Until now, I had been storing copies and laboriously copy-pasting the site for image credit onto a Word doc.

(2) That reminded me of the couple of Word docs I have with images stored on them for other purposes - such as the one with hairstyles I know would work on my hair, for future hairdressing visits. I've now converted that into a Pinterest board (don't judge OK - yes Meg Ryan is there but so is Alexa Chung; wavy hair admits all comers)

(3) Most interestingly, to me, because this hints at future evolutions of the site: this:
I'm participating in Homedad75's Fiction Fridays meme. ChildLedChaos has created a Fiction Fridays Pinterest board updated with all the new images posted on blogs each Friday. So this is another way to link bloggers and showcase a meme and promote the blogs participating - clever.


From my limited exposure it seems to me most people using Pinterest are using it for "inspiration boards". This might be things they like, home decor ideas, images that inspire them, or similar.

Here are some of the ways different bloggers use Pinterest:

• Andrea from Fox in Flats uses hers to showcase and organise style themes she blogs about.
• Vanessa from Blog Learnings used one to give her web designer to show her what style she wanted when re-designing her blog.
• Melissa from The Things I'd Tell You creates boards of beautiful images around different themes and things she likes
• some use Pinterest images as sources of inspiration for blog posts
• NEW! added 2 March: check out this post on Pinterest at Ramblings of a WAHM - lots of ideas for how to use Pinterest and how it can support your blogging - with links to info and other people's posts on how they use it. Is EVERYONE talking about Pinterest right now or what! TIPPING POINT 

Right now it seems that Pinterest is about to explode - and as that happens, people are going to use it in all sorts of inventive and interesting ways.

Are you into Pinterest?

What do you like about it?