Batten down the hatches
Posted: June 28, 2012 Filed under: Parenting, Parents, Raising Hell, Self improvement | Tags: My Way, Nina Hagen, parenting is fun, school holiday torture Leave a commentParents, school holiday torture is imminent. Medication may be required. Stock up now while you can. Finish your sentences, drink a whole cup of coffee without interruption, go to the toilet on your own, do all the fun things you’ll be giving up in the coming weeks. Parenting is great when you do it your way.
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I say you the bestest
Posted: June 21, 2012 Filed under: LOVE, Self improvement, SONGS | Tags: Elizabeth Grant, June 21 birthdays, Lana Del Rey, Pouty Lizzy Grant, Video Games 2 CommentsShare this:
You better sober up for just a second
Posted: June 13, 2012 Filed under: LOVE, Self improvement, SONGS, Thought For the Day | Tags: 7 seconds, charity work, Julie Burchill quotes, Neneh Cherry, Our Big Kitchen, Plan Australia, The Humour Foundation, The Humpty Dumpty Foundation, therapy culture, Tony Lucas Research Grant, World Vision Australia, Youssou N'Dour 1 CommentI read this in Julie Burchill’s column (Times Online before the pay wall!).
“Therapy just makes you think pointlessly and start to analyse, and before you know it, you need therapy to help you get over therapy, like a really bad holiday. Working voluntarily with people in a less fortunate position is uplifting and fulfilling, and you come home with a sense of achievement rather than a hole in your bank account and/or feeling sorry for yourself. Therapy culture has brainwashed us into thinking we need help, when if we got off our arses and helped others, we would be helping ourselves, too.”
I know some great therapists who’ve helped a lot of people but she’s right about getting off our arses. There comes a point where you have to build a bridge and get over yourself and doing volunteer work is a shortcut to feeling grateful for life’s blessings. Here endeth the lesson.
J’aimerais qu’on oublie leur couleur pour qu’ils esperent
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Finding it hard to get off the couch?
Posted: June 1, 2012 Filed under: ART, Self improvement, Thought For the Day, WRITERS | Tags: Annabelle Drumm, creative thinkers, Get off the couch, getting organised, kick up the bum, life coaching, procrastination, self help Leave a commentCan’t find your trackie dacks? Lost the remote? You’ve spent all day sitting in a milk bar and no famous Hollywood agents have discovered you?
I usually have a million things going on in my head, and creatively I’m the sort of person who has 47 projects on the go at any given moment. If I’d lived 100 years ago I would have needed a butler and a maid just to get me to the breakfast table.
I’m a single mother of three kids (driver, maid, washerwoman, servant) professional fool, speaker, writer and stilt walker and I wanted to finish writing my book, go overseas and get back to performing stand up comedy this year. I do not have a sherpa or a chauffeur (yet), so I went to see a life coach. A good one. One who helped me get my shit together (yes, it’s very technical this stuff). We set goals and worked out how I could possibly achieve them in the spare five minutes I have each day. And I now have a mentor for my book, I’m booked to speak at engagements this year and I’ve just been overseas.
So as Molly Meldrum would say, do yourself a favour. If you live in Sydney you can give her a call. If you don’t live in Sydney she’s on Skype. It makes sense to get someone who is very organised help you arrange the mad thoughts in your head (just me?). Especially if you’re a creative type. This is not an ad, it’s a recommendation.
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Classroom for Success: 5 Good Things about Stuff Going Wrong
Posted: May 24, 2012 Filed under: Self improvement, Thought For the Day | Tags: life coaching, lifecoachmarie, Marie Wetmore, reblog, success Leave a commentClassroom for Success: 5 Good Things about Stuff Going Wrong.
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My Big Baby
Posted: May 23, 2012 Filed under: Birthdays, LOVE, Parenting, Self improvement, Theme Songs, Thought For the Day | Tags: 23rd May birthdays, Absolutely Fabulous, Edina, Minnie Riperton, Saffy Leave a commentMy biggest baby turns 15 today. Now we are the same age. Well, the same mental age. Those of you who know me well will say she is more mature than me. And the shrink I go to said that there’s a touch of Edina and Saffy about our relationship. My big baby changed my life, I love her more than words. I would run in front of a speeding train for her. I can’t live without her. I used to sing her this song when she was little (minus the making love reference of course).
Happy Birthday Luscious girl. Thank God you are my daughter. I won the mothering lottery when I had you.
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I hope you’re dancing
Posted: May 21, 2012 Filed under: LOVE, Self improvement, SONGS, Theme Songs, Thought For the Day, WRITERS | Tags: 70s music, Bee Gees, disco, Robin Gibb, Stayin Alive, Thank you for the music, Vale Robin Gibb, Whether You're a Mother or whether you're a brother, You Should Be Dancing Leave a commentRobin Gibb died today. The boogie of the Bee Gees was a big part of my childhood. I loved their tight, white pants, their blow dried hair and their harmonies. So many musicians who were a shining part of my youth have died in the last few weeks and I want to say thank you for the music that kept me dancing and kept me sane. Thank you Robin Gibb for your beautiful voice, it will live on.
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk.
Music loud and women warm.
I’ve been kicked around since I was born.
And now it’s all right, it’s OK.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The New York Times’ effect on man.
Whether you’re a brother
Or whether you’re a mother,
You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive.
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Dating and waiting is excruciating
Posted: May 16, 2012 Filed under: LOVE, Self improvement, Single, Theme Songs, Thought For the Day | Tags: chasing men, dating, Kelis, life motto, Milkshake, single ladies, speed dating Leave a commentSpeed dating, slow dating or chasing your old high school boyfriend on Facebook? I’m too busy to waste time drinking rancid wine in a dodgy restaurant with a man with bad breath, so at the ripe old age of 40 something, my only thought about dating is now, “I don’t chase ’em, I replace ’em.” Single ladies, this is a lovely motto to live by.
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Single Mother’s Day
Posted: May 13, 2012 Filed under: LOVE, Parenting, Parents, Self improvement, Thought For the Day | Tags: beautiful children, gratitude, Homage to single mothers, Hymn To Her, joy, love, mamapalooza, Single motherhood, The Pretenders, wisdom 2 CommentsJust when I think single motherhood is too crazy and I want to take them back to the pet shop to get a refund, I get this card from my 7 year old:
My mummy is so nice unique and pretty
Mummy I love you
Mummy I never want you to go away
You are the best mummy in the world
Love S
I did not pay her to do this. In the stressed out, overworked world of single motherhood we sometimes forget about the joy of mothering and that all the little tedious tasks of being a mother on your own add up to a lifetime of love and care for your children. So I’d like to pay tribute to all the solo mothers I’ve met, you inspire me with your hard work, dedication and devoted love. You are all yummy mummies.
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The night Max wore his wolf suit
Posted: May 9, 2012 Filed under: ART, LOVE, Parenting, Self improvement, Thought For the Day, WRITERS | Tags: 1928 births, A life well lived, Art Garfunkel, best selling authors, Bright Eyes, brilliant artists, Maurice Sendak, RIP Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonez films, Vale Maurice Sendak, Where The Wild Things Are Leave a comment‘And made mischief of one kind and another. His mother called him WILD THING!” And Max said “I’LL EAT YOU UP!” so he was sent to bed without eating anything.’
The brilliant artist and author Maurice Sendak died today. His books were a part of my childhood and I read them to my children.
Growing up in New York, the son of Polish Jews, he said,
“My childhood was about thinking about the kids over there (in Europe). My burden is living for those who didn’t.”
When director Spike Jonez made the movie version of “Where the Wild Things Are,” Sendak urged the director to remember his view that childhood isn’t all sweetness and light. And he was happy with the result.
“In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy” Sendak said in 2009. “There’s a cruelty to childhood, there’s an anger. And I did not want to reduce Max to the trite image of the good little boy that you find in too many books.”
“Kids don’t know about best sellers,” he said. “They go for what they enjoy. They aren’t star chasers and they don’t suck up. It’s why I like them.”
Vale Maurice Sendak, thank you for sharing your gift.
loupollard 