Apple Please?

This week i am greatful for teachers.

We had an incident at Bluey's school, and after much debate as to how his teacher felt about us i.e. she thought i was just a fruit loop of a parent, she really pulled through and i am hoping it has opened up communication for us.
I may say differently in a week though....

I'm once again linking up with the wonderful Maxabella Loves for her Saturday greatful post. Come on over and join in!

Internet Scrag Fights

Recently i was called out on my belief on something. Something that i feel will be a hot topic for debate for a long long time. Abortion.
I am not 100% sure where my stance is, i know i do believe that a baby is a baby from the moment of conception. However i do think that the option is something wonderful.
Simply put, i do not think that abortion is something that is black and white. It has a thousand shades of grey.
So, the discussion was brought up, and i put forth my views and i stated that it isn't black and white, what if the conception was a result of rape, or if continuing with the pregnancy was harmful to the mother's health, there is so much more to it than when you feel life begins.
And i was attacked for my views.
Honestly, it's a hot topic, i expect to have my views challenged, but the part that was challenged blew me away. I was being called on my view that if the conception was a result of rape that a woman shouldn't have the choice to choose to end the pregnancy.
WUT?
I was challenged and told women should still continue with the pregnancy weather it is rape or incest by a stranger and told that my beliefs are judging the child on weather or not they're worthy of life. They are invaluable.
Oh. Ok. And how would we explain to that said child who their father was? What happened. And i mean this even as an adult, eventually questions come up and it's one thing to avoid it with a child, but an adult is going to push it more, is going to see holes in the story and really has a right to know in my opinion.
I never said i think all of those cases should be abortions, i said i can see where the option is valuable. I feel these cases are just as important as forcing someone to have a child they do not want, who will probably then wind up abused, and grow up to be an abuser or have a distorted view on life and the world and their self.

So what do you do when faced with a challenge on your beliefs? Do you jump up to the occasion and defend your beliefs (whether with facts or just pointing out this is what you think end of story)? Do you lie low knowing that you know what you think and that's all that matters? Or do you fly off the handlebars and get up the person?

(For what it's worth, i did reply to the person stating that i didn't say the life was less worthy, but that i could understand and have compassion for the decision to not want to continue with a living growing reminder of a very very awful past moment and that i feel that it's those who feel the need to judge and pass criticism onto other's are the people who need to look deeper into themselves and realise they control their actions and they could support someone in a time of need with compassion and understanding instead of passing judgement.)

Front row or back seat?

Today i stuck my hand up.
Straight in the air.
Eager with enthusiasm.

What was i thinking?
You see Bluey's teacher asked for parent helpers for the class. Every other parent, but a friend, and myself looked straight to the ground. We both shot our hands up like front row nerds, dying to impress. Only it isn't that for me. It's about embracing this school thing, the institution i am entrusting my child in, and trying to involve myself in that, be apart of his experience.
Is this a mother having trouble letting go?
Or is this a mother supporting their child?

What about you? Do you volunteer at your child's school? Will you volunteer at your child's school when the time comes? Do you work in the school canteen? Or are you a member of the P&C? Perhaps a classroom helper?
What are your thoughts on the parents who "help out"?

Hindsight

Hindsight.
It's a bugger of a thing, isn't it?
That when all is said and done, that after being faced with certain situations, you sit, reflecting, and realise that you could have done this or that and it would have changed an outcome. That you should have said this, instead of that, or that you just shouldn't have said anything at all.
It just seems to point out everything you did wrong, doesn't it? Or maybe that's the pessimist in me? 

Old friendships, they fade, they die. For whatever reason, sometimes no reason, sometimes people's directions change, sometimes one wrongs the other, but they end. Finished. Done.
 In hindsight you sometimes see that things were trivial, but time has passed, going back, it's not an option, and moving forward has been living separate lives. Happily. Reconnecting, it seems like an impossible hurdle. Not one you cannot jump, just one you can't be bothered with. So you walk away. After all, it wasn't you who said those hurtful words. It wasn't you who left your friend deserted in a time of need.
Then hindsight kicks in. Maybe you should have tried harder to resolve things. Be more resilient to those hurtful words, after all they don't define you, and you know that people tend to lash out at others when their own life isn't doing to well. Maybe you should have gone up and said hi, instead of waiting for them. You should have been the bigger person, in the wrong or not.
Have you just turned their game onto them. Something you didn't want to do?


What about you dear bloggers? How do you feel about old friendships? Do you like to revisit them regardless of how they ended? If you saw an old friend out, would you say hello and have a chat or would you keep on going? Would you open up your life and heart to them, even without apology?
Is hindsight something you resonate with? Do you enjoy the after thought? Or is it just a pain in your behind?

Greatful for what isn't mine.

This week I am grateful for friends. Not just mine, but other's friends. Mr Black's best friend is moving across the country on Monday. He is the godfather to Bluey and we are all going to miss him greatly, but i know Mr Black will especially as they have been best friends since they were young kids themselves. I have enjoyed his company and that sometimes he removes the company of a certain someone so i can have a bit of space.
BFF of Mr Black, you will be missed. Come home to us safely and shortly.

**You will notice a few changes happening over on The Mummy Autobiography in the next couple of weeks as i tweek my writing. Please bear with me, and i will try to explain as i go along. If i lose you at any point, just give me a yell**

Calling all Casting Directors.

I love books.
I love to read.
I've spoken about this before.
One guilty pleasure of mine is the Vampire Academy series. I couldn't put the books down!
All throughout the series there was one character that stuck strongly in my mind. Christian. I have always had a strong image of him in my head, actually a specific actor, Daniel Clark. You know, the bad guy from Juno?

Idk, the smart-assery, this guy just oozes that right kind of...spunk. Don't you think?
Lets just hope the producer/director/whoever the heck does the casting when they turn these fantastic books into a movie has read my post and snaps up Mr Clark for the perfect Christian.

Have you ever read a book and had an image of a person/actor stand out so clearly throughout the whole story? Tell me about it.

Walk on over for a greatful post this week

It's been a while since i've been around on a Saturday, weekends here are "family time" and as such the computer is veto'ed... mostly.
But i'm around this morning, and i do so love playing along with Maxabella and her Greatful post.

This week i am greatful for legs. Legs that work and the ability to walk. I walk Master B to and from school. That's an hour worth of walking a day and boy is my bum feeling it. We also live on a pretty big hill that KILLS to walk up, let alone push a toddler up in the stroller.
I don't drive, so walking is a huge blessing to me.
I am so greatful for the ability to walk.

What a Mess!

This week when i went to pick up Bluey from school the teacher came over and asked to speak with me. He has been there a week now and this is the first time she has spoken to me other than me saying hello to her and getting a smile from her in return. Now don't get me wrong she seems really lovely, but i guess i figured she would introduce herself or make herself approachable. So she stops me and tells me what i need to "work on Bluey making less of a mess at lunch". Ok, i think, we can talk about this, and i thank her and off we go. Walking out of the school i ask Bluey how his day was and listen to his wild adventures, laughing and cheering with him. We get to the car and i ask him how lunch went. He tells me what he had (which i knew already because obviously i packed his lunch, but i like to ask him to get him practising his memory skills) and i tell him how his teacher spoke to me about him making a bit of a mess with his lunch (we have a pretty open relationship, and parenting with him, i find, works best by just telling him straight up what's going on. Once he knows what's expected of him, he is happy to comply). We get home and i sit with him and tell him about how when he eats he could put his lunchbox at the top of this desk and his food between him and his lunchbox and about how we ALWAYS put our rubbish in the bin or back in our lunchbox if we can't find a bin.
I tell Mr Black about the teachers comments and he instantly asks "What does she mean?"
Now Bluey as i said, is a pretty easy child, you tell him what you expect and he's happy to comply, he is also a very neat child and i rarely have to even ask him to pick up after himself. Mr Black points this out, i tell him that i'm not sure, but that i've sat and talked with Bluey and hopefully that is enough.
My mother calls later in the day, and i mention it to her when she asks about his day, and she asks "What does she mean?" she also doesn't understand. She asks "Is it a mess with his food or the rubbish?" Again, i obviously am unsure and say so, and she says "Why doesn't the teacher just say something at the time? What are you going to do about it at home, when he doesn't make a mess and has excellent table manners at home?" I don't know.

Me? I am not taking it that seriously. The way i see it, i've spoken to him, and unless i see him with poor table manners at home than there isn't much i can do after the fact.
But what would you do?

Have you ever had a teacher talk to you about something to do with your child and you've thought 'wtf are they talking about?'

Do you wear it?

Hardware stores.
I could spend hours in them. Could you?
There is always so much there i want, or that inspires me to start a new project. From my failed self watering veggie garden that is waiting to be turned into a herb garden, to spying bits of metal ware i would love to incorporate to a new project, to paint that makes me long for the days when i will be able to redecorate.
Mr Black is such a handy bloke. An ex chippy, with the "boy instincts" to want to pull everything apart to find out how it works and put it back together again. The hardware store is his haven, and also the place that drives him crazy when they don't have "just what he wants".
My kids, are they ever smitten with the places that have the kids sized trolleys so they can feel grown up and helpful (and so they can play dodgem cars using said trolleys".)


Are you a hardware store fan?

The Equivalent of Bromance

So guys have their "bromance" but what do us girls have?

BFF's?

Really, can you not be BFF's with anyone regardless of gender? Bluey refers to me as his "bff".

Girlfriends?

That can't be right, wouldn't the equivalent for males be "boyfriends"?
And you're sure as shit i don't see "sismance" being the next hot thing any time soon.

So what do us girls have for those intimate relationships?

Thoughts?...

I've sat and pondered this all weekend. I quite like the ring "bromance" has, and I'm a bit miffed that women don't have an equivalent.

Also, do you have a "bromance" with a female of your own? Someone your other half is always complaining you're hanging out with/calling/texting/emailing, and how do you deal with the ugly head known as jealousy?

These are some big shoes to fill.

Bluey started school this week. My little mate, who almost NEVER left my side in the last four and a half years of him entering this world, he happily ran off into the classroom going around giving little hi-fives to all the fellow little buddies he is spending the next stage of his life with. People he has never met before. Embracing his journey.

This is the child i know. The child i raised. He is a free spirit Bluey, and so generous and loving. Quick to face a challenge and ask a million questions most of which i mumble through trying to take my mind back 15 years sighing to myself once i've answered thinking "Why did i just bother explaining that? He isn't going to get it." Only to find in a week i overhear him explaining the in's and out's of evaporation to his Grandma.
He was ready.
He has seen the colourful road painted in front of him and gone-a-runnin' forward without fear or hesitation.

So many of us had littlies starting school this year. Many had children returning to a new school year. I wish you and your children the very best on this journey and hope the road sparkles with glitter for you.