Easing into it

First day of November, and first day of NaBloPoMo...if you don't know what I'm talking about, have a look here...

So, with the pressure firmly on myself to commit to regular, breezy, entertaining, informative posts (which will rapidly degenerate into brief, hurried, cryptic rants...!?!) I've thought I'd kick off the month sharing a little about myself.

Otherwise known as:

Ten Things You Didn't Know About Me

1. I was born in Tasmania, am fourth- or fifth-generation Tasmanian, though I haven't lived there since I was 10 months old. (I think that has a lot to do with my tolerance of cold, and my total distaste for the heat and humidity of summer. Give me the budget, and I'd cheerfully spend the 3 or 4 months of summer in, oh, I don't know...Banff? Nepal? the Italian Alps?) I love visiting Tassie but my roots, and most of my family, are firmly planted on the mainland these days.

2. I lived in England for 3 years, and was so totally immersed in the place and the culture and the life that when my visa ran out and I had to come home, some of the people I farewelled couldn't believe I was "going home" 'cos I sounded just like them! I had a surreal and amazing experience when I took myself to Scotland before I had to come home; I stepped off the coach in Edinburgh and had the most intense deja vu experience, which lasted the whole time I was there - then I came home and discovered that both my maternal and paternal ancestors had mostly all emigrated from Scotland, and mainly from the south near Edinburgh. Took me years to feel at home back here. Part of me still misses Ol'Blighty.

3. We lived in a television black spot for the 3 years we were in the Border Ranges before we moved here, and went happily without television. We watched movies on DVD, and I read lots of books and magazines and did Lovatts crossword puzzles, and did a little painting, and watched my baby grow. Now I have to confess a slight addiction (can you be only "slightly addicted"? Isn't addiction by definition a total compulsion...?) to such crap TV fodder as House and Australian Idol. Does telling you this count as my first step to healing?

4. I have a problem with writing the word "disability" in relation to my wee man, on any forms or documents that require that kind of definition. He was born without a lower left leg or foot, but in no way, shape or form has it rendered him disabled. Sometimes, other people's attitudes and preconceptions are the biggest handicap. He's made his own way capably from the beginning, doesn't let anything stop him, and is so chock-full of personality that many people don't notice anything missing.

5. I've allowed the habit of procrastination to overtake the habits of an artist and writer over the last few years. I could make various explanations and excuses of circumstances and events, but the bald truth is there in the first sentence. Committing to this blog is an act of therapy for me.

6. I love food, preparing and eating it, especially baking. That's not really news, but news to me the last few years is that my metabolism had finally slowed down, and I'm carrying a bit of weight I could do without. You see, I was one of those dreadful people everyone loathed when I was younger, who could eat absolutely anything (and did) and remain stick-thin. It used to be a bit of a trial for me to keep enough weight on to look healthy, else someone would accuse me of anorexia (which made anyone who knew me laugh out loud!). Time, age, hormones and one too many pregnancies have caught up with me, and there is a bit too much belly for my liking. But I'm struggling - I have never had to diet in my life, and I actually have really healthy eating habits (though could probably cut back on portion size). I also need to get off my arse and exercise - incidental cleaning-time workouts and walking up and down the village through the day are just not doing it anymore.

7. The wee man is a bit of a miracle child for myself and the Big Feller. In the last 6 years since we decided to start a family, we lost our first little boy Jack (a stillbirth at 32 weeks) and have had 8 miscarriages in total, some before and some after the wee man's birth. And no-one can identify a reason for any of it!? BTW, please don't feel sorry for us - these things do happen, and we've got our little miracle man when so many struggle to conceive at all. I'm so totally over it all now - I know the Big Feller still has a lingering dream of a little sibling for the wee man, but I am not interested in being pregnant again, and the last few times I fell, the idea of another baby just made me feel bone-tired. To all of you with big families, I take my hat off, and sweep a bow to your capability and necessary selflessness. I'm too selfish - I love my little guy (and the bigger kid, too!), but I'm only just beginning to scrape a little time for me out of my life and I need that to remain human and myself.

8. I tend to talk a lot. Can you tell?

9. I'm a tea drinker, mainly green tea. My current favourites are green tea with jasmine and green tea with Earl Grey flavourings (bergamot). I used to drink coffee, but it really doesn't agree with me, gave me too many headaches (going through the withdrawal headaches at the end was murder!). I still love the smell of coffee, but I have always (even when I drank it) felt that the taste was never as good as the aroma. I have even worked as a barista in the years since I gave it up - apparently, I make quite a good cup!?

10. I studied aromatherapy a few years ago, as I began to break away from a career in retail management which never fulfilled me and often frustrated me (I'm all about people and customer service, which often put me up against my bosses and their bottom-line profit focus). I love the beauty and power of the oils, and their mysteriously synergistic effects, which science can only grasp the edges of but not totally explain or understand. I didn't fully finish (one subject to go when my father died, and my life changed trajectory), nor practise (and the Big Feller fails to understand how he can live with a qualified masseuse who fails to have the massage table set up and ready to go at a moment's notice...or moan...) but I still love the oils, am now lucky to live somewhere I can buy locally produced quality oils, and use them in my everyday life for the health and wellbeing of my family.



Phew! That went on a bit longer and took a bit more of my morning than I expected - thank heavens for ABC Kids!

In tribute to my gorgeous wee man, my first page on my new find/timewaster, ScrapBlog:


(Note: Sorry, still working out why this embed won't work...bear with me and I hope to have it running soon.)