On Parenting: How to Bring More Balance to Your Life and Comfort to Your Soul.

Do you remember when babies were your life?  When each day was a whirlwind of food stops and diaper changes and the need for more sleep.

What kept you going? 

What provided a counterbalance to your exhaustion and brought you joy?

Your baby's smile that crinkled her eyes when she spotted you?

 The sound of gurgling chatter from his crib? 

A blissful uninterrupted nap or shower....for you?


We all rush around depleting our emotional and physical energy reserves, responding to work deadlines, children's karate classes and our parents' failing health.

And when the opportunity comes to refuel, to take a long walk, a weekend away, a meal for two, or to join a celebration out of town, it sometimes seems easier to turn the chance down. 

We're too tired, We don't feel 100%. It will take so much planning to leave the kids for two days….and on we go. 

Sound familiar?

What a 12 Year Old Knows About Driving in The Rain

A number of the male species in my family are organizationally challenged. They have been known to forget to put their laundry in the dirty wash pile, clear the plates from the table or  have difficulty remembering to take their forms/phones/school ID/homework with them to school.

You get the idea.

I got a panicked message today from Jacob, my 12 year old who had left his English book by his bed, at home. 

6 Unexpected Lessons For Life, Learned From Drying Hydrangeas!

Hydrangeas in my garden in June

I am trying to dry hydrangeas. (Bear with me! I promise to move on from flower drying.) 

 I am on my third attempt. 

The first time I thought I knew best and surmised it was just like drying herbs or roses so I hung them up side down, bound together,  on a hook from the ceiling. Not a bad idea I thought.  I imagined they would keep their shape, their color would fade a little but the individual flowers would remain open and beautiful, if a little dulled.

 It was a disaster..........

Her Majesty's School of Stress Management.

On my window sill in the kitchen stands The Queen. Grey haired, tiara in place, with a fixed smile day and night. You might be surprised that I display something that kitsch there and amused to know that she waves. 
          All day! 
Yes, my Queen is solar powered. On her handbag (purse) is a solar strip, that keeps her going longer than the Ever Ready Bunny. 
And why is she there in perpetuity?

"How the Turkey Ran Away From This Thanksgiving Day"-An Expat's GuideTo Choosing How to Celebrate Thanksgiving

Our first Thanksgiving meal experience was in Hong Kong, seventeen years ago, when we were allowed, as the only Brits to join a truly Hong Kong- American celebration.

During our 5 years in Hong Kong, we learned to make turkeys out of socks. Jonny wrote a poem about the challenge of finding a kosher turkey, when the only kosher store in Hong Kong did not have one. And we discovered that football does not always involve kicking a ball around a pitch with your feet.

An Expat's View - If I Can Move, So Can You! Some Tips For Success

As the world gets smaller we find ourselves with bigger opportunities in faraway places. 

Over the weekend, we met up with a British family who had just moved into the Washington DC area. They came for tea    (what else?)  and as I listened to their week of firsts in a new country: first visit to the grocery store, hunting for a rental, finding a school, buying coats for the kids etc,  it brought me back to the beginnings of each of our moves to new homes in countries around the world.....

A Mile In My Shoes - update

About 5 weeks ago I wrote a post called How Do You Cope? This was part of a Coping Carnival initiated by a blogger Rebecca at her site Here Come The Girls. A few days ago she published a link to my post along with 5 other bloggers' links about how different people cope with the challenges in their lives.

These stories are stories of struggle, survival and joyful living in the face of great challenges.They are truly inspiring.

Competing Contrasts:Little and Large

Diagram from the NY Yankees

Last week I wrote about our idyllic days at the beach- just Jonny and I in a large beautiful house, with room enough for 3 families. This week we are in Manhattan, reunited with 2 of our sons, squished into one hotel room on the Upper West Side.

Anything But Routine

I do not like change. I am soothed by the 8.00am to 3.30pm school routine and the rhythm of the school week. Half days of school, the beginnings of school holidays, even the first couple of days away from home can unsettle me.  

This must sound pretty funny since we have lived on 3 continents, in 7 homes in our 23 years of marriage. But I always imagined that I was going to be the one who lived in London around the corner from my parents and grow old close by my family and the friends I'd known since I was fifteen.

The Queen's English

The longer I live away from England, the more patriotic I get. I hung our British flag outside our front door for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee which in case you were unaware, was this past weekend. I am more obsessed with tea, English chocolate, British television, films and novels than ever before and I am an avid Daily Mail fan (mainly for the pictures of royalty!) Looking at the UK from a distance the rose coloured* spectacles, only get rosier.

Rabbit Wars

My pansies before the rabbit's breakfast-lunch-dinner

I am at war with a rabbit. I know I am pretty mild mannered but it has come down to a battle of wits. I have to get rid of her* or she will continue to feast on my pansies.

Boys and Their Bedrooms

   

Click for cartoon




Please note that you can use the links to Amazon on the right hand side of this blog to find out more details about any of the books I reference in my blog posts.

For as long as I can remember, since I stumbled upon the Zits cartoons in the Washington Post, I have thought they were drawn in response to observing my family of boys. They center on a teenager called Jeremy, his stay at home mom and dentist dad. If you are a parent or grandparent to boys or have brothers, nephews, boyfriends, fathers or messy, procrastinating, constantly hungry, teenage daughters then you will relate to this series. If you have toddlers or tweens be warned these comic strips are a hint at things to come!

An Ocean View

As a follow up to my latest post "Four Girls and a Bar of Chocolate." a friend sent me this. It has made me chuckle all day. I hope it will do the same for you. Thanks Debbie F!

A group of 15-year-old girlfriends discussed where to meet for dinner.
They agreed to meet at the Dairy Queen next to the Ocean View restaurant because they had only $6.00 among them and Jimmy
Johnson, the cute boy in Social Studies, lived on that street.