The Great Interview Experiment

In my blogging travels last week, I came upon this great idea at Neil Kramer's blog Citizen Of The Month - the Great Interview Experiment.

Each commenting participator has the opportunity to both interview and be interviewed by other participating bloggers. Neil's feeling is that everyone everywhere has something interesting to say and, while we might not all make it to Oprah, we deserve a chance to have our voice heard and to share a little of our lives. (Kind of appropriate for bloggers, isn't it, since it's what most of us are here for...)

Well, the lovely Toni from Wifely Steps, a busy housewife/blogger (she has 8!) from Manila has just sent me my interview questions, and they're great - thoughtful and interesting. Here are my answers:


1. If you were to give your four-year-old self advice, what would you tell her?

I well know the folly of trying to give a four-year-old advice about anything...at that age you think you are the centre of the world and know everything (...and hey, who am I to argue? You probably do...lol).

However, given the chance to impress anything on my early self it would be "Do the things you love." As children we are so in touch with our passions and dreams, and perhaps our abilities, but the intervening years often shake our convictions and our confidence.

My four-year-old self loved dance, and drawing, and books (reading and writing). I saw the Bolshoi Ballet dance "Swan Lake" for my 5th birthday, and knew that I would live a life of creativity. Well, clearing away the accumulated mental debris of the next 35 years, I realise my creative self has always been there, expressing herself in little ways, but definitely marginalised by the "realities" of my life. Finally, I am freeing that little girl to live her dreams.

2. How do you make someone feel appreciated?

The power of a simple and heartfelt "thank you" is under-estimated, especially when accompanied by a smile and eye-contact (where physically possible, of course). I try to let people know frequently how much I appreciate them - I have a horror of people feeling under-valued for their efforts and kindnesses.

For significant acts of kindness or help, I like to spend time with someone making them feel special in a way I know they like - sharing a meal, a movie, helping them in return in some way.

3. What do you find most beautiful about yourself?

My spirit - I am passionate and determined and a bit zany. Some might get to know me for my smile at first, or some assumption they might make about my appearance - but those who stay do so because they like what they find inside.

(Funnily enough, it's what I find beautiful in others, too. Maybe it's one of the reasons I love blogging - appearances really don't matter here, and we get a much clearer idea of the soul beyond the words.)

4. What's your comfort food?

Well, narrowing it down is a bit hard. Good food in many forms can be a comfort for me.

A couple of squares of really good dark chocolate have been a recent comforter of choice, enjoyed late in the evening while my wee man sleeps.

I do love soups, and look forward to the cooling weather for a return to my favourite recipes. My pea and ham soup is a winner - it's what I call "fire in the belly" food, stoking the fires, a cup of comfort under the heart.

5. What would happen if you became [more] fearless?

Ooooh, look out, world! Scary prospect. Lol.

Hmmm - I'd probably get my licence to drive, though I'm not sure myself whether it is fear that has kept me from doing it.

I'd definitely run for local council this year (I'm still thinking about it), with a view to further excursions into politics in the future. The world needs more women with passion and integrity in position to be a voice for change. (And fewer like this!)

And I'd be getting my passport re-application form dusted off and submitted, ready to take the wee man on a whirlwind (or maybe leisurely) trip around the world.

(Note to self: get on with all of the above...)


Thanks, Toni - I really enjoyed the journey you took me on with your questions. Stay tuned for my interview with Jen from A2eatwrite in the next couple of weeks. If you'd like to participate yourself, join the lucky dip for interviews/interviewees here.

Conspicuous consumption

I've just come from drooling over my new fridge. Actually, no, I wasn't actually drooling over it, since no drool is going to be allowed within 5 feet of it for the next few weeks (until the novelty wears off)! Let's just say I was looking at it lovingly...

I've been waiting for this fridge for a long time. In fact, it was promised to me as a birthday present last year, but, well, shit happens...and the fridge got put on the back burner.



You couldn't exactly call it a birthday present this year. Well, yes, you could - this is my birthday present to myself. My husband did initiate the enquiries, but in the end I decided to go for the rent-to-buy option from the very nice hire mob we use for our washing machine, to get exactly the fridge I want NOW for which I will have the privilege of paying too much money. In other words, I got tired of waiting. (There also a raft of reasons why we really needed a new fridge now...the old one was tiny, seals cracked and harbouring goodness-knows-what, chewing electricity, leaking all over the timber floor etc etc.)

I've actually done incredibly well this birthday. As an example of manifesting wishes, I'm a bit of a shining light at the moment.



I'd had the idea, a year or two ago, of having three little Wish List pages up on our kitchen cork board, one for each of us, to scribble down ideas (large and small) for birthdays and Christmases and so on...the sort of thing to refer to when the mother-in-law or the nana ask for gift ideas, more than as a manifestation tool. But, hey, it works...well, at least it seemed to work for the boys. Their lists kept getting crossed off. My list remained the same, or rather the only change was me adding a couple more things to it (hey, a girl can dream).

All of a sudden, as I'm gleefully crossing off "fridge" this morning, I noticed how incredibly blessed I've been this birthday. My mother and brothers bought me a half-day spa package in Byron Bay (no, I am not smirking), my husband paid off my food processor layby, my best friend bought me a subscription to one of my favourite magazines (Notebook), another close friend bought me a timber photo box frame and album...suddenly my list is almost all crossed off.



Yes, I know - it's all just "stuff", and "stuff" is not important in the big scheme of things...I know that compared to so many people in the world we are incredibly affluent, and that even though we feel we have been really struggling for a long time, compared to many others we live in luxury and comfort.

But allow me to indulge myself in the pleasure of all this wish-fulfillment for a little while, to wallow in conspicuous consumption. I'll be back to the consciousness of recycling, and budgeting, and making too little go too far again shortly.

Right now, I'm going to make an excuse to go look at my fridge again...