... and I'm going away again...

It's time for a new adventure, so I'm moving this blog to a brand new site called Cecily. Mostly.

You'll find this blog, plus others dedicated to books, family, craft and of course autism on the new site, plus a whole lot of stories and articles I've been wanting to publish for a while.

Please come over and let me know what you think. And thanks for reading here for so long.

No more posts - that's all folks.

I'm baaa-aack

It's been a month since I posted last, and finally I am back.

In the last month, we have moved the contents of a four bedroom house (two truck loads), unpacked it in two days, slept, slept some more, lost our dog and found him again, went on holidays for two weeks, got creative about entertaining children in two weeks of rainy days, figured out grocery shopping, started new jobs, schools and preschools, and met a gazillion new people.

Amazingly, I'm sitting here incredibly relaxed and happy. This place - the village and the countryside around it - is just beautiful. Our house is fantastic. I can't quite believe how attractive and liveable it is. The children are content and it is all looking really good.

I have big plans to change this blog around over the next couple of weeks. I'm trying to work out how to combine all my blogs and writing stuff onto one site. If anyone's got any ideas on how to do that, I'd be happy to hear them!

Thanks for your patience (if you're still here) and I'm looking forward to blogging again.

Insurance guys know what's going on

Help! Rescue me from boxes and mess and washing and cleaning and dreams where all I do is pack or run away from people who are trying to kill me... I wake up more exhausted than when I go to sleep.

Husband got on the phone tonight to change our details for our home and contents insurance. The very pleasant and affirming HUMAN customer service representative* on the other end of the line said, "Oh yes, I don't envy you. Moving is one of the most stressful experiences a family can have." I nearly cheered.


*If you'd like to know which company, I'll untell you.

Absent

Some things have taken a back seat in the last few weeks.

1. Cooking interesting meals.
2. Washing.
3. Blog.

My energies have been directed elsewhere, specifically: sorting out cupboards; organising an enormous garage sale (eight neighbourhood families and their stuff); sorting out furniture needs for the new place; saying initial goodbyes to friends here.

You may be interested to know that if you are trying to buy a lounge on ebay, it would serve you well to live in Melbourne. They seriously have the best furniture!

I doubt I'll emerge fully from this hibernation before June. We move on 18 May and then take some holidays. After that, there will be big changes for us. Two children will be at school (yes, I finally admit defeat) and one at preschool three days down in the new place, so I will have free days.

Hopefully, see you after that!

Patersons on the move

Finally I am free to blog again without self-censorship. Tomorrow we will officially announce our move to beautiful Kangaroo Valley, which is south-east of here, about a 30 minute drive. My husband will be the assistant minister of Berry/Kangaroo Valley parish, but effectively the minister of KV church.

Apparently Kangaroo Valley is 24 in the list of the 100 best spots to live in New South Wales. Lucky us, hey? It's lush and green and pretty. It's also only accessible via three really winding roads.

We move in about five weeks. Now the real hard work begins! How I LOVE packing...

Garage sale

There is waaaay too much stuff in this house. Most of the cupboards are full of things we haven't looked at/played with/gotten out for the two years we've been here. So we have decided to have a garage sale.

This will be my first ever garage sale. So far I have filled seven boxes with toys, books, linen and bits and pieces. I'm sure there will be more. It's a great feeling to pull things out of cupboards and think "I will be free of this soon!"

I am trying not to be sentimental. If I have to ask the question 'Should I keep this?' I think the answer should be no. The only trouble will be hiding the stuff from the little boys who will suddenly remember things they last showed interest in two years ago if they see it again.

In addition, we are selling furniture. We have a cream leather lounge suite which is beautiful and in good condition, but we have realised we don't sit in it because we feel too formal in it. Somehow a fabric cover feels cosier. So we are hitting ebay for a new/second hand fabric one, and are open to offers for our cream leather. The very bad picture at the top of this post shows one of the armchairs - there are two, with a 3-seater lounge. It was probably worth about $2500 when it was new 3 years ago. (And if you have little children, don't dismiss it because it is cream. It cleans up really easily!) As they say on ebay - pick up only, no postage. Hey, I'll even consider selling you our new rug that we bought to go with it...

We are also selling a dark wood TV cabinet with doors that close the TV up when you're not watching, and a computer cupboard with doors - shelf, 2 drawers, pull out keyboard , room for printers, CPU, everything. Also a basic pine king single bed frame and mattress (although we won't charge for the mattress... it's seen its day.

Just let me know if you're interested.

I think I have ADD

Below, allow me to list all my unfinished projects sitting around my house.

1. Hexagon patchwork. Begun ambitiously, soon discarded
2. Double bed quilt - sewn, basted, and left to one side temporarily....
3. Braided rug for my daughter.
4. children's book started and not finished
5. editing project for a friend begun and not continued (hope he's patient)
6. another children's series begun and now 'pending'
7. Friendship book still in process. At least I'm making progress on this one
8. Two other books begun, not continued...

Seriously. I think I might have some sort of attention disorder. Or I just get bored quickly.

Had to share this one

My baby loves to talk on the phone - to anyone who will listen. If you ring me and he's home, I can guarantee he'll want to talk to you.

Yep, it's half a hairdo

This is my extremely attractive husband with half a head of hair.

He did Shave for a Cure this week, but over two nights for two different youth groups.

I believe they raised about $500 or so, so this sight was worth something to someone, obviously!

Now he's minus the rest of the fluff and looks like a cross between a soccer ball and a thug.

I wonder if there are foods which help hair to grow back quicker!

Book recommendation

It's been a while between posts for the reason that most things I've been thinking about are either too personal, too confidential or too controversial to write about. So offered up here is a book recommendation for those of you who like a page-turning thriller.

It's The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd, and I read it in a day because of the simple reason that I couldn't put it down. The story follows a woman who discovered her husband was a serial killer. She called the police and had him put away, and is now, 7 years later, living quietly under a different name, trying to give her son a normal life. Unfortunately, one victim's father is still angry, and exposes her at the same time as a copycat killer is on the loose and her son is abducted.

It's a good psychological story and Floyd writes the two main characters very well for this genre of book. Being about a serial killer, the book does have some gore, but it's not an ugly read. Apparently it is a debut novel, so I'll be looking out for more Floyd in the future.

Like mother, like son

Yesterday my little son Bright Eyes looked around himself with satisfaction and said, "I love sunny days!"

Being angry

We were discussing anger tonight in Bible study, following the reading of Matthew 5:21-26. Here are some thoughts that came up, in no particular order:

Anger is frequently described in the Bible with the imagery of fire and burning. With the devastation of the Victorian bushfires recently, it's worth thinking about the collateral damage that unrestrained anger can cause, and also that fire can be fueled, or damped down.

The words 'slow' and 'anger' also go together in the Bible - most frequently talking about God and the speed at which he gets angry (ie. slowly).

We wondered if much of the anger that we express towards our children comes from us being inconvenienced. And is inconvenience a good enough reason for anger? God gets angry at injustice and rebellion.

We asked God to help us understand the source of our various angers this week. Facing our anger and its reasons will probably help us understand what is real anger, and what is hurt, bitterness or disappointment masquerading as anger.

Make that three

Another rejection.

One more option left.

We're just not that into you.

I've had two rejections from publishers for my 'friendship' book in one week. Which is kind of deflating. I have two more irons in the fire at the moment, and then I'm going to have to look at self-publishing and promotion.

Woe.

Mascara

As I sat in a waiting room today, reading through a fashion/gossip magazine, I came across this letter to the editor.

Thanks sooo much for your article on mascara. I've been looking for the perfect mascara my whole life, and now I have 50 top picks to try before I die. Thank you!!

Is this woman for real?

Dog partay!

I had the most fun I've had for years yesterday at the party for our dog's eighth birthday. Yes, I know, it sounds completely ridiculous, but it was hilarious and joyous and fantastic.

It was all Jemima's idea, and seeing as my new principle is to 'say yes as often as possible', we decided to go ahead with it. She wrote invitations to four of the neighbourhood dogs and their families, set up the backyard, made phone calls and iced the (bone-shaped) cake.

The dogs arrived, and the children spent 10 minutes or so taking them over a jump/obstacle course. There were no fights, but we did have to keep the biggest, boisterous one away from the others, and some of them showed a little bit too much affection for each other... (both desexed males... what is going on?)

We then played 'duck duck dog' before cutting cake (for humans) and opening presents. The dogs got treats too - probably too many for the little one who was on a diet.

The children loved it, but I think we adults had more fun. We all just stood there and laughed for a full half-hour. Perhaps joy comes from such child-like things as throwing a dog party?

Natural learning and unschooling

I wanted to write something myself about the unschooling philosophy that I'm following with our children, but it seemed like a big effort. Lots of other people have written about it, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I was going to excerpt bits of other people's articles with links below. However, for some annoying reason, I can't paste into blogger at the moment, so I'll just leave links and titles!

What is unschooling? Is it 'non-schooling? Aren't you just abandoning, or worse, abusing your children? Read here

How do unschooling parents know their children are learning without tests, quizzes, exams or grades? Read here.

Common objections to unschooling, including the big 'S' - the socialisation question. Read here

Is schooling really learning, or is there a difference? Read here

I laughed at this

Jemima's art teacher told the class an apparently true story about her sister in law's friend (or someone) who owned a python as a pet. She allowed it out of its cage to roam freely around the house for short or long periods.

She began to notice after a while that it had not been eating much, and she was a little worried about it. Then one day, with it out of its cage, she took a nap and woke up to find the python stretched out to its full length next to her in the bed.

Quite concerned, she took it to the vet only to be told that the python had not eaten because it was saving itself up for a big meal. And the reason it was lying next to her was because it was measuring her to see if she was the right size to be the next big meal.

The python is no longer a pet!

25 words that describe me

Jubilee Man has asked me to do 25 words (of any type) describing myself. So here goes.

1. Lumpy
2. Freckly
3. RSI
4. Reader
5. Writer
6. Obsessive
7. Strong-minded
8. Paralysed
9. Insecure
10. Phobic
11. Motivated
12. Panicky
13. Competent
14. Impatient
15. Funny
16. Honest
17. Earplugs
18. Family
19. Fashion
20. Messy
21. Impulsive
22. Inactive
23. Ambitious
24. Dreams
25. Moderate

If you've read this, take the challenge.

Resisting the temptation to be moral

My husband gets this great journal entitled Journal of spiritual formation and soul care. I thought this article by John Coe in Volume 1, Issue 1 was worth quoting in some length. It may be helpful in my journey towards joy.

"I want to address a peculiar temptation, one especially relevant and think universal to those who are dedicated to the Christian life and to ministry. It is what I call the moral temptation.

The moral temptation is the attempt to deal with our spiritual failure, guilt and shame by means of spiritual efforts, by attempting to perfect one's self in the power of the self.

It is the attempt of the well-intentioned believer to use spiritual formation, spiritual disciplines, ministry, service, obedience - being good in general- as a way to relieve the burden of spiritual failure, lack of love and the guilt and shame that results.

It is the temptation to try to relieve a burden that Christ alone can relieve....

My thesis or concern... for those believers who want to give themselves to a life of growth and ministry but are struggling with their faith, is two-fold:

1. That no amount of spiritual effort on their part can ever relieve them of their burden of shame and guilt in the Christian life except Christ. No amount of effort or doing of spiritual disciplines can grow them or fix them.

2. That in fact, the Christian life is not fundamentally about being moral in itself or about being a good Christian boy or girl. It is not fundamentally about obedience to a set of principles or doing spiritual disciplines... It is not even about character formation or imitation of Christ as a model.

... As we grow older in faith, we discover that the Christian life is more about Christ and less about our efforts. It is about what he has done, and about our life "in Christ" and how to open the heart to this New Covenant life dependent on the Spirit.