Archives for October 2012

Taking a blogging break

Seeing as I only started this blog in March, it might seem a little early to be taking a blogging break. However, as I’m sure you’re all aware, life gets in the way sometimes and we have to prioritise what’s important.

Last month, I started writing a novel. If you read my other blog, Honest Speaks, you may know this already. I blogged about it recently. As you can imagine, this is a big project to which I would like to devote a lot of time. I have tried to keep up with work, the two blogs, childcare, various other commitments and write the novel but seeing as my only free time to do all of this, is when Mushroom sleeps (still not as much as I’d like!), so far very I’ve written very little. You can read more about how little I’ve done so far here.

So, I’m taking a short blogging break – just for a month – to try and kickstart my creativity and really get going on this project. In the meantime, I’ll still be around on twitter, just less often. I’ll be back in December and will normal service will resume. Hopefully I’ll see you then!

If you’re taking part in National Novel Writing Month, Good luck! Let me know if you are and I’ll look out for you on twitter.

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Do As You’re Told (or The Story of Julia and The Marmalade Monster)

Back in 1998, I spent a year in France as part of my university course. My French didn’t improve as much as it should have because I didn’t really put myself out there. With hindsight, I was probably a bit young to have been at university. I didn’t know who I was, let alone what I wanted to do with my life. Anyway, I digress. Much of my time, in between teaching English classes and writing my dissertation, was spent writing. Articles, letters, stories… During this time I wrote several children’s stories. I’ve decide to share some of these here, to get feedback – not from you, but from your children! I find they’re usually the most honest critics.

So, here’s a sample story (below. Please note this has barely been edited since 1998. If your kids like the story, I might think about editing it properly). Please, read it to your children and let me know what they think!

Do As You’re Told (or The Story of Julia and The Marmalade Monster)

Julia Smart was a very pleasant little girl. She was seven years old and a bit of a tomboy. She had a happy face with rosy cheeks and black wavy hair that she insisted be kept short. Julia liked going fishing with her father at weekends and climbing trees. More than anything else in the world, Julia loved marmalade. Every morning for breakfast, she would have a bowl of cornflakes and two pieces of toast with butter and marmalade. Julia also had another daily habit that infuriated her father… She never put the lid back on the marmalade.
Mr Smart ate breakfast with Julia every morning. He would have three weetabix and a banana, and then he would drink a cup of coffee as he read the morning papers. He was a stern man with piercing grey eyes and a square jaw. Mr Smart believed that there are two ways to teach children – by fun or by fear. He tried teaching by fun but discovered he wasn’t very good at that so he resorted to fear. One morning as Julia left for school, her father called out after her “Julia! If you leave the lid off the marmalade one more time, you know the marmalade monster will get you!”

The next morning, Julia left the lid off the marmalade as usual and went to school. That night, poor Julia didn’t sleep very well. She went to bed at 8 o’clock and tossed and turned but couldn’t sleep. At midnight (which, as we all know, is the hour that strange things can happen), Julia opened her eyes. Then she closed them again. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Tentatively, she opened her eyes a second time  and discovered that everything in her room was made of marmalade! Her bed was an orange marmalade-y bed and her desk was also bright orange and made of marmalade. She stepped out of bed and her foot sunk into her carpet for it wasn’t a carpet any longer, but a sea of marmalade! Julia dived in. She came up for air and licked at her orangey fingers. Suddenly, she became aware of someone (or something!) behind her. She turned around, and came face to ankles (for it was a very big something) with a ridiculously tall, orange being. She looked up and realised that this was the marmalade monster that her father had warned her about. It had a stern orange face and piercing grey eyes. The monster reached for Julia, it’s mouth wide open. She tried to scream but no sound came out. The monster ate her.

Julia woke up the next morning (for of course, it had all been a dream) and was relieved. She went downstairs to join her father at the breakfast table. She had her usual bowl of cornflakes and three pieces of toast with marmalade. Don’t be surprised. The dream hadn’t put Julia off her beloved marmalade. It would take much more to do that, for Julia Smart loved marmalade more than anything else in the world. When she had finished her breakfast, Julia screwed the lid back on so tight that the effort made her hand hurt. Mr Smart observed this form over the top of his newspaper and smiled to himself as he wiped a tiny shred of orange from his hair.

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Silent Sunday

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Silent-Sunday

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It only takes One Mum…

This weekend just gone, I have been catching up on what’s been going on over at BritMums. Apart from the occasional ‘Silent Sunday,’ post, I haven’t taken on a blogging prompt or joined in with a meme for a while now.

On Sunday, I read about a new meme, started by Clare from Seasider in the City. Clare started this meme to publicise a trip to Ethiopia that her friends at BritMums have made with  One, to find our more about the work they are doing to improve and save lives.

I am supporting One in their fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. One is not a charity. It is  grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization that was set up by Bono in. One will never ask for money. All they want is your voice. Want to get involved? You can sign up to One on their website and follow the journey of #OneMums on twitter.

If you have a blog, you can also join in Clare’s meme, which is to take the letters of OneMums (or OneMoms) and create phrases or words that sum up being a Mum for you… Here’s my effort:

One Mum
One woman, many roles
Nurturer. Negotiator
Encouraging. Engaging
Mindful. Magic kiss giver
Understanding. Unconditionally loving
Mum. Mom. Mama. Mother.

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Silent Sunday

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Silent-Sunday

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The art of doing nothing

There is a real art to doing nothing. I mean really doing nothing. Mr B is very good at it (this is not a criticism. Well, not today). I’m not.

Recently, I took a few days off work while Mushroom went to nursery, so that I could rest. Well, the intention was to have one day to spring clean the house, one day to do some writing and one day to lie around and watch movies. That’s not how it panned out. Here’s what actually happened:

Day one:
I started my spring clean. I cleaned and rearranged Mushroom’s room (that was quite a shock for him when he got home from nursery!), cleaned all of upstairs and made a start on the kitchen. Then it was time to pick Mushroom up. I did a bit of commenting on blogs that evening but didn’t post anything myself.

Day two:
I decided to clear out the junk storage cupboard in the kitchen, defrost the fridge, clean the oven etc. etc. Then I decided to rearrange the living room, moving Mushroom’s toys away from the TV (he stands far too close to it). Then the bookshelf looked a mess in comparison so I did that. By the time I had finished there was just about time to catch up on some blog comments and jot down some ideas for future posts before I had to go get Mushroom. He burst into tears when he got home and saw I’d rearranged his toys (I think he thought they had gone!) and took quite a while to calm down. By the time he went to bed I was shattered so I wasn’t far behind him. I didn’t even turn my laptop on.

Day three:
Did the shopping. Had a short nap and then got up and did some writing. Got carried away and was writing most of the day. Watched a bit of TV after Mushroom went to bed as I was too tired to watch a whole movie.

See? Where’s the nothing I had planned? Apart from the nap, I was constantly doing something. It’s getting ridiculous. I rarely have any time to myself and when I get it what do I do? Fill it with stuff. And you can bet that within a week, I’ll be moaning that I never ‘get any time to rest’ again! I know this, and yet I always see time to myself as an opportunity to do stuff. This is something I keep coming back to and would really, really like to ‘unlearn.’

Have you perfected the art of doing nothing? If not, how do you take time for yourself in other ways? If you have perfected the art of doing nothing, please do share your tips below!

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