Finding myself

Apparently
I'm supposed to 'find myself'.
I hadn't realised I was lost - I thought I was right here
but apparently not.
Perhaps I can have a quick look
while I'm searching for the kids' homework
or library books or school shoes.
Or my husband's papers
that were on the table just five minutes ago.

Perhaps there's a small part of me left behind on the stage at high school
(I was going to be the Next Big Thing, you know).
And another part in with the dried up paints that I didn't have time to use
(I have all the right equipment, just didn't get round to it).

I think there might be a bit on the shelf at the supermarket
where I let the children choose nutritionally-devoid, full of sugar, rubbish cereal
because I couldn't stand the whining any longer
and just wanted to get out
before I left behind my sanity
as well as my good intentions.

I'm almost certain there's some of me
in amongst the laundry (clean and dirty) waiting in piles for attention,
and in with the unwashed dishes that seem to breed in the kitchen sink
and in the notes from school and party invitations
and meeting agendas and family calendars and emails from clients.

There are little pieces of me on the world wide web
and with people who matter
and some precious gems that manage to keep their hopeful glow
locked deep inside.

.

A few random things discovered recently

1. Making Christmas cards with young children sounds like fun, but isn't.
2. An alpaca can make an interesting addition to a funeral.
3. My 7yo came top in her year at school in French, and I had no idea until I got her end-of-year report that she was doing so well.
   
4. The minute I mention taking a holiday is the minute clients desperately start needing jobs completed.
5. 5 hours a night is not enough enough sleep long term. The consequences are not pretty.
6. There are no guarantees any of us will see tomorrow.
7. Being almost mortgage-free is a massive relief.
8. My 5yo is teaching himself to read. It's early days, but he's recognising things like M at the beginning and k at the end of a word just might be his friend Mark's name. He managed to work out who was who in a list of his preschool classmates using this method. And he wrote all his Christmas cards by himself.

It's been an interesting week or two.

Thoughts on school fetes

Today is our school fete. Now as school fetes go, it's a pretty good one - plenty of stalls, plenty of activity, plenty of secondhand books ... And it's a real money spinner for the P&C - last year the fete made close to $20 000. As usual, it's the same people who get involved and drive the whole thing, and people don't volunteer until the last desperate minute, but that seems par for the course these days.

What I've been thinking about, though, is that fetes - especially in country areas, where I spent a large part of my childhood - used to have a lot more community involvement in the form of competitions. You know - the biggest pumpkin, the best dahlia, art competitions, flower arranging, baking, craft and so on. It's all entered in categories, and people can buy the items, although they have to stay on display until the end of the day.

I know that local shows still do this sort of thing, and I know there's a lot of work involved in the organisation, but what do you think? There could be a small entry fee, the items could be sold (with a percentage going to the school), and there would be prizes (mostly ribbons & glory, and possibly something a little more substantial for grand prize winners).

Is this something you would get involved in at your local school (and it doesn't have to be limited to school families - the whole community could be invited)? Do you think it would work? And do you think I should make a proposal to P&C about it for next, knowing full well that I would probably end up running it? Am I insane?

We could start with just a few categories, and if it took off, expand from there. The possibilities are great, and I am feeling very inspired by a virtual village fete in Belgium ;) We so need a marrowdile in this neck of the woods!

Every bathroom needs one of these

Random thoughts 2

Do non-drip teapots really exist? Or is it a sign from the universe to clean up my desk so I can put a nice little tea tray there to catch the drips?

Random thoughts

Grains, milk, fruit, a little butter & a little sugar sounds like a reasonable breakfast, yes?
Could be toast with butter & jam & a glass of milk?
Could be cereal with fruit?
Could be bread & butter pudding (made with pear cake), eaten warm while reading emails ...