Mummy and Master 5

Mums, you know how sometimes your kids call for you so frequently you just want to change your name? Not your actual name, but the honorary one of “Mum”.

The name they use when there is a bug in the house that needs your IMMEDIATE attention. The name they use when they need to show you the MASSIVE scratch on their arm, the one you need to put your glasses on to see. The name they call out over and over again when you duck off to the toilet and the name they scream out when they cannot see you at the shop.

Recently I laid down the law to my youngest, Master 5, about the use of the word “Mum”. I instructed him he only had a certain number of uses of it each day so he had better use them wisely. With solemn eyes (Have you seen his eyes? Heart melting!) he looked at me, nodded his head and said, “Ok Anna”.

Round 1 to you son.

(For illustration purposes only)

Even if the roses are faded and the violets dead, there is always cake to be had.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching so I am jumping on the bandwagon and spreading the love (and maybe your love handles) with a cupcake giveaway.

I am fortunate enough to have a cousin who loves to bake and create pretty cupcakes (that way you won’t have to worry about my skills) so I have secured her services and will have TWO lots of SIX cupcakes to share with you.

The fine print does have a couple of limitations due to the nature of the prize. You will need to be able to collect (or have a delivery location for) said cupcakes in the South Perth area. Collection/delivery can happen on the afternoon of 13th of February 2013 or the morning of 14th of February. Easy?

So what do you have to do to enter I hear you ask. Easy again. Show me some love. Head over to my Facebook PAGE and LIKE me. If you have already liked the page then just like the post about this competition to enter.

Entries close 9pm Tuesday 12th of February.

xA

Tonight I will heading off to my children’s school awards night to celebrate two of them receive awards for “academic excellence”. I am of course proud of their achievements and am happy to tell them so. I sense that the end of school awards season is a tad unsavoury for many parents (not sure the kids think about it as much) and an important point must be discussed. The distinction between SMART and ACADEMIC.

It is a conversation I have with many parents all year round, but never more so than at the end of the year.

Many parents, and a number of children, are self-effacing and proclaim they are not smart enough to be an award recipient. This is simply not true, in my opinion at least, and does them an injustice that is all too often bought into by others.

Most children are smart aka clever, shrewd, intelligent or bright. Academics is another concept entirely. It is more of a personality trait that shows a child can conform to a prescribed set of rules and behaviours. Their discipline is shown in their attitude and methodologies which allows them to achieve at a high standard, a standard determined by the education system.

An academic child is not necessarily the smartest child.  More importantly, a non-academic child is NOT unintelligent, in my experience rarely is this the case.

So along with my congratulations for their achievement, my children receive the repeated message that it was their diligence and self-motivation toward tasks that played a far greater part in them securing an award than their intelligence.

Hopefully this will see them growing and maturing with the core belief that hard work and dedication can, and will, take them much further than just reliance on their “grey matter”.

xA

Today I am going to celebrate two joyous things in my life, creativity and conversation. The creative aspect manifests itself in the form of the deliciously divine Belle of Belle Bijoux Australia and the conversation is all down to you.

To get the conversation started, I have one of these sparklers to give away to a lucky person.

Crystal Clear “Louis”

This is a new season piece and as yet unavailable to purchase. When it does become available it will do so in two colours.  The Clear Crystal as pictured, or a Black Crystal. It has a gold band and setting and is adjustable so if you have ample fingers like me they won’t pose a problem. It retails for $99.

You want to know how you can get this beauty on your finger don’t you? Well like I said the conversation is up to you. So, tell me what gifts tickle your fancy this festive season. What do you wish to receive and what are you looking forward to giving?

Entries close 9pm (WST) Sunday the 16th of December 2012. The winner will be chosen by me, through a combination of creativity/originality/randomness/bribery/heart wrenching and sheer luck. So do your best to sway me.

xA

In the sea of humanity one need not look far to find worthy recipients of a helping hand. The causes you can choose to help are endless as are the ways you can help.

So, how do you help the less fortunate in our world?

Monetary help, or donations are probably the most common. There are those extra generous souls who give the gift of their time and to my mind that is a league above. For most of us we choose to give money. But even that is not as easy as it sounds. We must ask ourselves, would one make a greater impact by spreading contributions out amongst the previously mentioned plethora of causes or would it do more good to lump it all into one select cause?

For me and my family we go with the latter and salary sacrifice to Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS). Our reasons are many and include the belief that country citizens get a bit of a raw deal when it comes to medical care.

That is not to say I am not compelled to contribute to other causes throughout the year but I am adept at saying no to the tin shaking volunteers that are common place outside shops these days. Their cause may be just as worthy, but I am not as confident that the money will get to where it needs to go.

As we approach Christmas my children do their part to donate to those that need a little extra help. They sort through toys, select the ones they no longer use and take them into one of the local charities. We choose a different recipient each year.

In the interest of evolution I am always considering if I can do better, so share your thoughts on how to lend a helping hand.

Here is a very quick How To:

My original look

Under settings you go to design

scroll down until you see the HEADER option. Select and then choose the image you want to upload.

Preview of the image then save.

The end result.

There is plenty of opportunity to be far more creative than I was so if you do something special share the link to your page so I can take a peek.

I briefly considered painting my own but having NEVER painted anything other than walls and my nails I dismissed that notion with great haste.

It wasn’t until I was doing a cull in the linen cupboard and found an old wool bed underlay destined for the bin that I was struck with inspiration.

A trip to the hardware store to purchase some inexpensive pine batons and some grovelling to my husband procured me a frame to stretch the old wool underlay over.

After stapling it down I grabbed some acrylic paints left over from a kids craft activity and set to work.

Then came the learning curve. Paint does not move across wool. It gets sucked in pretty fast and in copious amounts. The quantity of paint required to complete my task was many times more than I originally thought. Whilst eagerness is great it does not bring inspiration nor talent to the table; or painting.

I have tended to the (wool) canvas on four occasions adding and assessing to end up with this;

It will do for now and if inspiration strikes I can paint some more.

xA

As a child I found magnetic appeal in a simple piece of paper. It presented an invitation to creation.

Whether it was for fashion design, poetry or chorographic notations – I found sheer unadulterated pleasure, in a piece of paper.

With age and wisdom I laid aside my aspirations of becoming a fashion designer or ballerina because, quite frankly, I had no talent at all.

Writing became my outlet and my vice; writing is what I love and what I do.

To this day, my hand will stray to touch any piece of paper.

xA

* image is of “Peacock Pride” by Christina Re available in Perth at Felicitations

I don’t know about you, but when I was young (oh so much younger than today) my concept of sexy was very limited. It hinged around the core construct of physicality.

As I got older I came to the realisation that sexy was first and foremost subjective, it is still widely accepted that sexy can hinge on reproductive capabilities and this is inline with my original notion of physicality.

But there are other mitigating factors that we (hopefully) become aware of. The subjective nature of our attraction to another human being is vast and extremely interesting. I realised early on that the single most desirable element that made find someone ‘sexy’ was the spark in another person’s personality igniting the spark in mine.

This personality spark could manifest itself in varying forms for different people. For me it is banter. Yep, I am that easy (well not THAT easy but it is pretty simple).

I wouldn’t stand for, nor find it in any way appealing, if it was malicious teasing, but good natured, playful banter, yes please. Why does such a simple thing attract me? It has to do with the knowledge base the person must have about me to make the banter work.

If they know my likes and dislike; my hidden depths and my darkest fears; my dreams and aspirations then they will know what is off limits and when it is ok to partake in a bit of banter. When they know you this well the banter is always well received, and serves to lighten my heart and make my soul sing to be so connected to another.

To have someone understand the depths of your psych is sexy indeed.

But this year heralded a new phase of my life; all of my children are at school full-time so there were a spare few minutes in each day that meant I had opportunity to actually put some make-up on. It has amused me no end that I get so many comments and compliments. I guess I look really different with make-up on.

So I thought I might share with you what I have been using, in case it offers inspiration to another busy Mum looking to jazz things up from time to time.

I start with a primer - Alison Jade Cosmetics

Then a foundation – Aveda

Then use a concealer – Napoleon Perdis

Then a liquid powder – Alison Jade

So there we have the canvas, all ready for some contouring and colour. This stage of the game varies dramatically depending on how much time I have and what commitments throughout the day. Most often I would then use:

Eyeshadow in the form of a Mac Paint Pot - MAC Cosmetics

followed by lipliner and lipstick – Aveda

and that would do it.

Then on a day where I felt inclined to really go to town I would finish off with:

a touch more colour from an eye tint – BECCA Cosmetics

Some eyeliner – Estee Lauder

Perhaps a bit of mascara – Napoleon Perdis

Finally a very light application of a blush – Bourjois

I am done and ready to face the day. The strain of being a busy Mum hidden away.

xA