A Modern Mother

The blog nightmare

OK, this is proof I need a break.

Last night I woke up around 3 am. The sheets slightly were damp. My heart dancing in my throat. It was all so real.

My worry? I had a blog somewhere that I needed to update. I just couldn't find it. I couldn't remember what clever name I had christened it. Tired Mummies? No. Mummies on the run? No. Mums Need Drugs? No. No. No.

Oh, where was it? I knew it must be in need of a new post and it must be time to respond to comments. Where, where, where?

We've come a long way baby

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, still warm from the bath and smelling of Body Shop dewberry, I turned to my night stand and looked at my collection of books. I always have a high stack of half read novels, magazines and bits from the papers. I wanted something light. Not too heavy. Hmmm, this will do nicely. I picked up "What Every Woman Ought to Know". The author, Constance Mortimer, sent it to me a while back to check out.

After checking out the table of contents, I opened it up to about the middle of the book and landed in a minefield. I couldn't believe what I was reading. Well, actually, I could.

You read it, and let me know what you think.

I'm warning you now, put on your fighting gloves.

. . . . .

"Women Not Equal to Men -- Scientist Says That Civilisation Makes the Gap Wider" by Dr. Charles Heydemann, PhD. Daily Mirror, 4 October 1909.

Women is not man's equal, never has been and never will. She is the complement of man, but the lesser one, as expressed in the term "minus". No one denies her great qualities, but if she is entitled to the sympathy of humanity, as such, she is not and never will be capable of understanding the duties of a citizen. (WTF?)

Eating our way through half term

Needless to say, these didn't last long!

So how are you surviving half term?

Inspired by English Mum.

Want to be treated like a top blogger? Act like one.

I've observed popular bloggers for a while now. You know the ones I mean, the ones you constantly go back and read, over and over. They all have certain traits -- a special quality that makes them that little bit different. It's hard to put your finger on exactly what it is. You just LIKE THEM. ADMIRE THEM. Would consider leaving your husband for them.

Why? Who knows. But this stuff will help:

1. Write really good posts. I'll let you define what "good" means.

2. Be polite. Manners count online too. 

3. Be an active part of a community. Comment. Be involved. Know when to stay OUT of a conversation.

4. Think before you press publish. Sometimes words can be taken the wrong way.

5. Don't think before you press publish. Sometimes your best posts come straight from the heart.

Conversations with a Polish housecleaner

A friend of mine just moved to the area and wanted a housecleaner. I said I would ask our cleaner, Ivana, if she was taking on new clients.

Ivana is from Poland and very hard working. She lives here with her 14-year-old daughter; they have a flat in the center of town above a funeral home.

She is worth her weight in gold. She actually picks up things when she dusts, instead of going around them. I can tell when she has vacuumed, the large worn Duresta sofa, which can easily accomodate 10, is slightly out of place.

She is not much on conversation. Her English is limited. The only time she makes a point to say something to me is when she wants a day off.

Eating dirt

Last year I made a huge effort to get the girls to eat "regular" food (as in not "kid food").  Though sausages and baked beans and fish fingers were popular and fairly easy to make, I knew it was time to make the switch. I was also tired of preparing two meals ... one for them and one for me and my husband. After lots or trial and error, it worked! Now I get really excited when I find a recipe that we all love. Especially one with a really cool name. Here's how the conversation at the Scott household went last night:

What's for dinner mum?

Dirty rice.

Giggles.

You mean we're eating DIRT?

Birthday party disasters

Imagine having three children in less than three years (no multiples, I'm talking every 13 months or so). Three different sized nappies. A fridge of bottles, parsnip puree, cheese squares and carrot batons. Did you know, BTW, it's nearly impossible to find a good pushchair for three. Our local school thinks it is really funny that as soon as one of our children has vacated their seat in the reception class, another one is sent in her place. Their birthdays are every six weeks. I guess if you mess up planning, you may as well do it royally.

Yes, we have entered party season at the Scott household. We have a big bash every six weeks.The first is done (a Hannah Montana disco party with hot dogs and cupcakes). I don't know what possessed me to invite 30 children. It all went well though, no disasters.

Three easy steps to composting!

The lovely Karen at The Rubbish Diet has asked me to talk about compost.

I can just see your eyes glazing over now.

Wait! Don't hit delete.

Composting is easy. If I can do it then the barrier to entry is obviously not very high ;-)

How many mums does it take to organise a charity dinner?

In my experience, charity dinners are usually the result of the hard work of at least five mums. The committee is formed eight months before the event, and it meets at least twice a month. Hours are spent agonising over chicken dijon or beef medallions and if it should be black tie or let's be crazy, how about a Bollywood theme? Activity increases to a crescendo in the last three weeks leading up to THE EVENT. Are the raffle tickets back? Can you go to HobbyCraft to pick up silver coated twigs? And some white silk lillis?  More meetings. Lots of phone calls. Texts. Add it all up and it must be at least 200+ woman hours. 160 coffees. 240 chocolate digestives. Not to mention the lost sleep.

Is being a good writer enough?

I first thought about this in relation to blogging thanks to Jen at Alpha Mummy.  She had just been to Blogher and Megan from Velveteen Mind had posed the question. Anyway, it's been bouncing around in my mind for a little while now and has been itching to come out...

Is being a good writer enough anymore?

If you don't care about readers, comments, and community -- the kind of stuff that rattles around in my mind-- stop reading this post RIGHT NOW. It will just annoy you. Then you will annoy me by writing some sort of "anti post" that is not "meant to be interpreted as an attack" (BTW - if you have to say that it obviously is). Just humour me and go somewhere else. Thanks.