Category Archives: home
3 must-have items for a celebrity’s 8-month old.
Image: Leelee Sobieski and tot. Courtesy of MamaPop
1. A chess game. Not just a chess set, mind, but a chess game. It must be in motion. At all times.
2. A life-size model of a baby giraffe. No real toys shall be permitted. Oh, okay, you can have the stuffed monkeys but JUST TWO! And only on the condition that they have to sit and watch the chess game. Which must be in motion. At all times.
3. A giant bullet hole. It’s left there as a warning and a memento. Of what happened to the last toddler who tried to stop the chess game.
Introducing my Academy Award (or “The Things That Delight You in the Midst of Anti-Delights”)
Oscar, meet my Comic Mummy friends.
Comic Mummy friends, meet Oscar.
This beautiful baby was a gift some many Easters ago from my best friend Frankie. It was so awesome on so many levels, not the least of which was that at the time it was given, it was wrapped around a chocolate bunny.
Some unknown number of years later, I’m proud to say (and Frankie was stunned to hear!) that I have carried this little baby all around the world.
Not in a “tell me about the lambs, Clarice, tell me about the lambs!” kinda way, just in a THIS-LIGHTS-UP-MY-LIFE-EVERY-TIME-I-SEE-IT way.
You know. Normal.
Yes?
Anyway, I’ve decided I want to share a few bits and pieces from round my home, of which this is but one. The things that delight me. That inspire me. That make me smile when the shit has hit the fan. (And I can’t tell you how bittersweet it is, nor how completely maniacal you look, smiling at a fan covered in poo…)
What about you? What bits and pieces in your abode make you happy in your most innardly innards?
Links to pics will be revered like double chocolate choc fudge.
xxx
Pressure to be pretty exhausts me
Okay, I don’t mean to sound like a real wench here.
Truly, I don’t.
Butt…(extra ‘t’ intended), I have to say it.
While I totally adore this woman’s blog, her style, her shop, blah blah blah, whenever it comes to her “daily outfit” posts – which basically involve her posting photos of herself looking absolutely stunningly gorgeous, funkily adorned, made-up like a plush celeb and suitably blemish, hissy-fit and child-free, EVERY SINGLE DAY, I can’t help it.
I feel inadequate.
Don’t get me wrong, this seriously isn’t meant to be a judgement call on her – who the heck am I to throw stones? I’m as narcissistic as the next blogger – but I’m just calling it as I feel it.
As I see these photos with my eyes, day after day, I hear the question in my ears, day after day…how the heck does she do that?
And honestly, it’s not just envy doing the talkin. Sure, it’s getting its two cents’ worth in this conversation, but also entering into this fray is sheer unadulterated exhaustion.
That’s right.
All that gorgeousness makes me feel TIRED.
Cos I – who am having a good day if I remember to brush my crazy mane (I wish that was a joke) – know only too well, as I’m sure do the rest of you, how much F’ING EFFORT (oh my goodness, I nearly swore on here. By golly, I must be serious! Hoot’n'Toot!) it takes to look that good.
Heck, it takes effort just to get dressed.
I can only imagine what my daily outfit parade would comprise.
Monday – trackies and a t-shirt. With cereal on it.
Tuesday – same trackies. Possibly a different shirt. Possibly.
Wednesday – a Tiara. Made of plastic. Yes, it’s housework day.
Thursday – trackies. And on my top? Also trackies.
Friday – snot and spaghetti. What’s underneath it, we’ll probably never know.
So yes.
Anything that sets the bar above that causes me great fatigue.
And a bit of envy.
But as you know, I don’t like to board the envy train if I have any kind of choice in the matter. So, today my darling peeps, I present me trying to make lemonade out of grapefruit.
Yes.
I know.
Here are my daily sexy shots!
Blissfully hair, make-up and dignity free.
Green steel
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope. It's a bird.
Sexy pout.
You know what?
I think I feel better.
Now where the heck did I put the Tim-Tams?
5 Things That Have Changed Since My Return
1. Littlest is super clingy at home, yet srangely enough will now – for the first time ever – go off to day-care without even the slightest hesitation. Go figure.
2. Miss 7 and Mister 6 are actually calmer, as am I. Dare I say, I think we appreciate each other more.
3. I go to bed before 9 every single night. Inconceivable!
4. The globe seems smaller.
5. We have officially commenced Operation Search for an Alice for our Brady Bunch.
Links of the Week (or “WHAT?! There’s More to Cyberspace Than ME?”)
1. Wonderful interview with artist Stephanie Levy over at Art Biz Mama, which has some great stuff on running a creative business when you’ve got little ones afoot!
Beautiful artwork by Stephanie Levy
It was via Stephanie’s site that I also discovered:
2. The superbly fabulous Keri Smith.
I just love this quote from her post on infusing your work with your personality:
“Pay no attention to the man behind that curtain.” Ignore what other people are doing. It has no bearing on your existence or vision of the world. The times we feel the most discouraged are usually due to the fact we are comparing ourselves to others. Most times reading awards annuals, and industry mags only serves to make us feel inadequate. Try cutting it out entirely.
Amen!
Also, check out this spread from her latest book, Living Out Loud. (Image courtesy of a studio with a view)
I just bought it on amazon, oooh I can ‘t wait to get my little paws smothering it!
3. This beautiful post about a couple’s journey in ‘quilting’ their family by adopting four foster kids. I find it so incredibly inspiring, and makes my heart pump that little bit faster – could we ever do that? I don’t know…I’ve thought about it so often but it’s the fear that holds me back. Fear of disrupting our own kids (though in that objection’s defence, they are already pretty disrupted just by being kids!). Fear of going from out of control to COMPLETELY out of control. And fear of falling in love with them…only to have to say goodbye. Hmmm.
4.Wendy Brightbill – reading her story just completely and utterly resonated with me, namely because a horrifying car accident really rocked her world six years ago (though from the sounds of it her injuries were far worse than mine earlier this year). But the thing we share in common is discovering art (through Kelly Rae’s book “Taking Flight”, no less!) as a path to recovery.
"Taking Flight" by Kelly Rae Roberts
And finally…
5. Have you heard of google? It’s really cool.
If a picture speaks a thousand words…
…then here’s 4000.
Parental Warning: Holidays can be hazardous to your health.
The kids on the letterbox, waiting for Gran'ma and Gran'pa
The wind changed.
Hello world - I'm a-coming!
On Limited Time Improving Your Productivity: What I DON’T Mean!
In response to my post: “How Limited Time Can Improve Your Productivity: Part II”, Comic Mummy reader Stacie posted the following comment:
I am going to try and implement some of them and try and become more of a busy person!
Agh! This freaked me out. Nothing personal, Stacie, purely my bad.
But this is a good thing because it’s given me a chance to clarify something, something very, VERY important!
I am absolutely, unequivocally, undoubtedly NOT – with a capital ‘not’ – suggesting for one second that anybody should be trying to make themselves busier. Hells to the no! The last thing I would ever wish to do, even inadvertently, is put more pressure on anybody in this world to be teeing themselves up with more commitments, obligations and stress-triggers. I don’t know how to better word it than this: NO! NO! NO!
I have NO, as in ZERO, ZIP, ZILCH (I’ll stop yelling now) to turn you from this:
*Image courtesy of D.A.K. Photography
To this:
*Image courtesy of Dave F
What I am saying is that if you already are busy – notably if you have children, which is basically synonymous with ‘busy’ from where I sit – then you can look on the bright side, in that it is actually possible to be even more productive (so long as you’re armed with some strategies to make it happen) than you might be if you were blessed with eons of time at your disposal. (Note the wording of “disposal”…i.e. there to be WASTED!)
Does that make sense?
So in conclusion, thanks for the comment. I just don’t want to be misunderstood.
After all, nobody likes feeling like a teenager.
Not even teenagers.
*Image courtesy of Watt Dabney
Home again, home again…
We’re back from holidays. PHEW. So reassessing my life right now.
Anyway, just wanted to touch in and say a huge sorry for being so slack this week with comments, posts, baking muffins for y’all and all that jazz.
But now I’m back baby! Oh boy, ten minutes since we got home and already you can see the smoke rising from our house from my fingers on the keyboard. (Note to self: look into developing a “cyber-patch” to ease those cravings in times of sparce internet access. Could be gold-mine).
Now just give me a minute to load the washing, re-stock the shelves and what was that other thing? Oh yeah, mind the kids. Blah blah blah.
I’M BACK BABY! xx
Say Goodbye to The Big Red PM & the Big Red Cast!
This week, at the exact moment that Australia was shedding its current Prime Minister, (well, okay, the exact half-hour bracket, but now who’s being picky), my littlest bundle of comicness – otherwise known as Cassidy – was shedding its current full-leg cast.
I know, poetry in motion.
But wait, there’s more!
A follow-up x-ray showed that while things are definitely progressing in the right direction, his leg still hasn’t completely healed. Thus, back down to the plaster room (or as they’ve christened it at the Children’s Hospital, the “Flipper Repair Shop”) for another round of goodness, only this time, it’s different! Namely because it’s:
- blue; and
- shorter!
And so it was that Cassidy received his brand new shiny cast at the exact moment (yeah, yeah, alright…) that Australia received its brand new shiny PM.
Are these moments in life not worth singing about? Jumping over? Or failing that…
Blogging?
