Head spin

Note to self: don't even try to have Bible readings when you're sick!

I sat down this morning, on my second day of recovery after a night in emergency with a vomiting bug, ready set to have my quiet time. Turned aimlessly to Zechariah and started a head-spinning read about Zerubbabel, Joshua the high priest, women in baskets and fast horses.... what????

Words were floating all over the page so I finished up with a quick "God-help-me-today-I'm-going-to-need-it" type prayer. As it turns out, I did, and he did.

Daylight &*#$@ Saving

Whinge.

Hate daylight saving.

Hate the hour jet-lag I personally feel.

Hate the fact that at the changeover time where you're supposed to get more sleep (April) because of the extra hour, you actually get less sleep because the children still wake up at the same time - 6am new time instead of 7am.

Hate the Spring changeover time because you get less sleep again because you just don't feel like going to bed an hour 'earlier' than last night, and you then have to wake up at some ungodly hour the next morning, and the kids are still asleep when it's 8am instead of 7am, and you have to wake them up and they're cranky and you have no time in the morning to get things done before they all have to go off for school, and you have to have dinner at 4pm (old time) and the kids aren't stupid, they know that you're trying to put them to bed an hour earlier than yesterday.

I've lived in Australia for 18 years now. I've been losing 2 hours of sleep a year because of government-legislated daylight saving. That's 36 hours, which is a day and a half. I'd like that sleep given back to me as a tax break please, in four nine-hour blocks.

Stress

I've been very very anxious this week. Tight jaw, headaches, losing and forgetting things and my nervous tic, the twitchy lip.

The problem is that I'm worried that I'll never have enough time or energy to write the books I want to write (and every month I have a new idea for one). I'll never have time to study to be an RDI consultant and work with autistic children. I want to be fit and healthy, but I haven't made it to a pilates class yet this year. Perhaps I should have more children, but I don't have enough time. I have heaps of ideas for sewing and making quilts, but I don't have enough time. I really want to finish knitting my scarf and cool beanie, but I don't have enough time.

Of course I understand that if I keep worrying about what I haven't done yet, I'll die of stress disease early, which would be an ironic proposition.

It seemed easier when I was younger. There was more life stretching out ahead of me, but I'm nearly halfway through now and I've hardly done any of it yet.

What's the answer here? Get used to the idea that I just won't be able to achieve everything I want to? How can I live with that? I need some help.

Satisfactorily solving small problems

Velcro dots
These have revolutionised our lounge room. Rather than yelling "Where's the remote control?" every morning (kids TV) and evening (big kids TV), we now know it is hanging neatly on its velcro dot. We have a place for it. It doesn't get lost any more.
Time saved: 2-3 minutes per day, 18 1/4 hours per year.

Elastic
This has solved the problem of the missing hairbrushes which used to be a plague every morning. We now have two hair brushes tied to long pieces of elastic and fastened to two convenient points in the house.
Time saved: 3-4 minutes per day, 24 1/3 hours per year.

New vacuum cleaner
Happily, our old vacuum died this week. We have replaced it with a whiz bang flashy dashy bagless version which shows us just how much dirt it can pull up. We were appalled to see just how dirty our carpets really were! Let's hope it makes a difference to the three of us who are allergic to dust and mites, and the one who is allergic to dog hair.
Sneezes saved: 2-3 per person per day, 3200 per year.


If anyone can give me hints on easy ways to solve on the following problems that still irritate us, I'd be most grateful.
- Losing keys
- Losing wallets
- Losing mobile phones
- Leftovers festering in the fridge

Alter-ego

A friend gave me this card the other day. It turns out there is a whole catalogue of cards, gifts and even t-shirts featuring Cecily! The scary thing is... I even look like her.

46... really?

For the record I was born in 1973. That makes me 34 years old. And it's true I was having a bad bad hair day, but I was still a little shocked when the eight-year old said, "Mum, you look pretty old. You've got a lot of wrinkles."

"Do you think I look older than Sarah?" I asked her.

"About the same," she said.

"What about Glenys or Belinda?" I asked.

"Oh, they're a lot younger than you," she said.

Uh, uh. The whole lot of them are more than three years older than me - one up to five years older.

The next day, just to rub salt in the wound, my daughter said in deep thought and consideration, "Mum, I think you look about 46 years old."

Man, I gotta get my hair done.

Sentimental bloke

I often sit here at the 'new post' screen and start to write something a little more meaningful than funny, a little more heavy than lighthearted.

I'll put down two or three paragraphs and then press delete in disgust. It doesn't sound serious. I don't seem to be able to convey the right tone. It just sounds cheesy. Even sentimental.

We've been to a number of secular 'ceremonies' recently and I have been struck by the sentimentality that is so easily spoken in vows and promises and blessings.

Things like: "Some friends are not with us today. But we know they are with us in spirit, and are here with us in our hearts."

Are they? Is anybody thinking about them at all? Are they really there in spirit, or did they just give a negative reply to the invitation because they had a better offer on the day?

Things like: "Our love will go on like a river, never ending, always fresh."

Nice thought. Too bad the lovers in question ended up in an argument by the end of the night.

Why is it that when we try to be meaningful, it so often ends up as sentimentality?

I think that when we what we say is based on truth, it will not be sentimental. It's when we have hopes or dreams that are fanciful, or based on a denial of reality, or on a utopian hope for the future that has never yet been fulfilled - that's when these things become sentimental.

My aim is to always tell the truth.

Family Chocolate jobs

I am rejigging the morning routine. Last term our mornings were hectic, cranky, stressed and too short. Sooooo....

We are all getting up half an hour earlier. (Yes, I have to go to bed earlier to make up for it...) The extra time gives us the space to get all the jobs done and eat breakfast comfortably.

Instead of straining to hear the news on the radio, we have given up Adam Spencer and 2BL (sniff sniff) and are playing gentle classical music instead. This makes everyone less tense and gets rid of early morning information overload. We feel more relaxed as we eat and get ready.

With all the extra time, I have instituted a new tradition - Family Chocolate Jobs. We all gather in the kitchen and work together to unload the dishwasher.

Obviously, different ones are capable of different things. I’ve considered it a success so far if the two year old will stay in the room and a brilliant success if Bright Eyes the four year old will take glasses back and forth in his toy dump truck! The bulk of the work is done by daddy and daughter.

At the end, we have a family hug and congratulate each other, and then have a small square of (dairy free gluten free) chocolate before heading into the lounge room for a half hour of morning kids TV.

Beyond my ability

I never thought of the Apostle Paul as ever being at his wits end. I imagine him as the guy who copes through it all, his faith miraculously sustaining him, with always a smile or the right thing to say.

So I was a little surprised to read in 2 Corinthians this week when he wrote that “we were hard pressed beyond our ability to endure”.

Sometimes I feel hard pressed beyond my ability to endure. It’s at those times I tend to sink into little emotional pools of mud. I forget to pray and feel completely hopeless. I guess Paul may have felt like that too.

I love the words that he wrote next, “...but God delivered us”.
There’s a lot of comfort to be had from the fact that God knows what we can endure, and he will deliver us if we ask him.

And from those very difficult times and that deliverance come a wealth of strength which we can use for others.

I love the difference in tone between 1 and 2 Corinthians. The second letter is clearly written after Paul has suffered great wounds. Every word is love and comfort and comes deep from his heart which is sunk deep into God’s heart.

What do you think of this?

Here's a picture of the house we have just made an offer on.

It's an old two bedroom terrace in Goulburn and it is absolutely gorgeous! I have never seen a room so aptly described as 'sun-drenched'. And they didn't even mention that word in the ad!

We are feeling pretty excited about it, even though we won't be living there... at least not until we're 65.

Holiday highlights

Things I enjoyed on holidays

Looking at the water
Eating bacon and eggs (a lot)
Walks around the headland with my daughter
Watching Hairspray
Seeing the children enjoy playing on every playground we could find in the locality
Spending time with Pop
Catching up with some old friends
Hitting the op shop
Being really messy
Not doing the washing
Coming home!


(Unfortunately, on doing the last item in the list, I'm paying dearly for the second last item...)