Celebrating Mothers

Necklaces made from painted pasta, beaded bracelets and creations with lots of tape and cardboard boxes., wrapped lovingly with meters of paper and string. The surety that gifts will also include chocolate and a pair of slippers for winter. Hot coffee and toast in bed and the serenity of 20 mins to enjoy it by my self. Ahhhh, I love Mothers Day.

Blogging a little late today. Had far too many nice things to enjoy this morning- which dragged into the afternoon and then evening. Morgan and Adrian cooked a roast leg of Pork accompanied by broadbeans in butter, sweet pumpkin mash and crackling – yum! We shared our Mothers Day lunch with Jodi, Dylan and Dave. Jodi forced us to endure her famous ( low calorie, low fat – not) mars bar chocolate caramel cheese cake.

With champagne in hand, we chatted and generally spent some quality adult time together. Even more delightful, the guys took the kids off to the park behind our house while Jodi and I pampered ourselves. Face mask on, feet soaking in deliciously hot water, scented candles.. and no kids screaming… ahh bliss.

Its such a simple treat – to paint ones toes nails, to buff and shape ones fingernails and to have a deep cleanse and then gorgeous moisturizing facial… hummmm

My family never did much in the way of Mothers Day – or Fathers Day. Mum hated to eat in bed and said it just attracted cockroaches. So breakfast in bed was out of the question for her. She was generally up at sparrow fart milking cows or mustering sheep anyway. We never went much on cards – handmade or otherwise; and I suspect any creations we may have brought home went into the bin – for they never made a showing past it being brought home from school.

On the other hand – last year I proudly wore my pasta jewelry to work the next day – and dared anyone to say anything about it. I have huge scrap books stuffed full of every scrap of paper or card that Morgan and Lilly touched. I keep telling myself that when they are famous artists that I will sell the masterpieces off piece by piece to secure my millions into my disraceful retirement.

I knew from my love of history that Mothering Sunday was one of the only days indentured young people in servitude or otherwise, were allowed to go to their parents hovel/ home for the day.Of course it was tied up with the dogmatic beliefs of the church – wherein the reason servants were allowed to visit home was to go to church with their mothers and to pray to the Virgin Mary. .In the UK its celebrated at a different time – March I think? I also have an inkling that Mothers Day in the US came about by women getting together and wanting peace for their war torn country ( during 1800s civil war) I guess that as with many things – very sadly – Australia took that idea ( like a little brother thinks big brothers stuff is so much cooler than Mum or Dads stuff) and worked it around the UKs idea.. to come up with something that is commercial, empty and fairly meaningless to most people.

Further back in history, I know that each god or goddess had their special day which was celebrated and depending on the culture – there would have been a particular goddess who over looked or was the patron of mothers. That celebration of the feminine, of giving thanks to those who nurtured and sacrificed for her family – that is the pure essence in which Mothers Day aught to be celebrated.

In a sense, that is what we did today. Our family units are now so disengaged through distance and emotions, that they do not function as they were meant to. We are fortunate enough to have a good links with friends who share similar beliefs in community spirit. That space we created to nurture our feminine side to pamper and beautify – that is the essence of our celebration today.

Space

“I don’t need this anymore Mum, can you put this on Ebay?” Morgan hands me an intricately drawn and written note and a unidentified plastic thing he had discovered in his room. Its his ad to sell the item. Very carefully he has copied the shape of the item and put a price with lots of ‘0s’ in it. That-a-Boy!

I smile. Entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in this household and I openly encourage, support and try to develop it.

A few weeks ago I went to a one day seminar on internet marketing. The presenters offered a range of strategies and opportunities. Although there were bigger and more indepth courses that I could have chosen to enroll in, I got enough to sink my teeth into from this day and have been excited ever since. Some strategies outlined ways to assist me in collecting data and interest in upcoming books I am planning to write. Others details how to start of small with a niche idea and grow it from there. I was particularly attracted to Ebay. It just made so much sense – people who browse Ebay are already looking to buy. With a normal website – people who go and look at it may only be looking for information. Huge difference – and lightbulbs went off in my head.

So – I am starting of nice and small. The kids and I have gone through wardrobes to clear out all clothes that don’t fit and am sorting it into charity shop piles and piles to sell. Toys and other items are under the same scrutiny. I feel refreshed, excited and clean.. You know when you have had a hard day out wither in physical labour or exercise and you go and have a shower? How good do you feel when you step out of the shower? That’s how I am feeling.. tingly and fresh.

I read a few articles and a book on how to sell successfully on ebay and did the tutorials on line. I am attempting not to fall into the traps I have heard others do – overpricing and not enough info etc. I have strated off with small items and all beginning at 99c. I mean the stuff hasn’t cost me anything – I would give it away anyway – so might as well get some grounding work in it and keep polishing my approach.

I haven’t set up a shop on ebay. Its tempting – but I will wait a while yet. I rather like the idea of on selling small quirky Ikea stuff – a lady in the US does it and to be honest it’s a big market. Unless you physically go into an IKEA you can’t buy the items. I know from personal experience trying to get an end of line item in May a few years back – there were three of the thing I needed dotted around Australia. I called the stores and they don’t do inter store deliveries at all. You physically have to go to that store and buy it. So what was frustrating and down-right annoying, has perhaps swung in my favour.

I have also started to learn how to design a website. A long painful affair I am afraid but one I am a bit proud of. I am so non techy. However, HTML is my friends –well – cut and past from a cheat sheet is anyway. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I finally saw my three page website up on the web – and it all linked together! Sadly, I am still struggling with the photos and graphics side of it and there are big boxes on the live website with nothing in them. The files just didn’t get transferred or something… well back to a tutorial or something. I am sure there is info on it on the net. ( I love the internet!)

Well – must be off. Have some photos to take of my next batch of things to upload on Ebay… and will try not to get stressed that there are no bids on them yet….and will attempt not to keep an eye on them all day…pathetic really.

Time is of the essence

Time.

I have just arrived home from dropping Morgan off at school. My stress levels are peaking at red level as I am breathing deeply and making myself a strong coffee. We were late. Again. I hate being late. For anything. Am I being completely insane and out of control thinking that I can instill timeliness and punctuality into a 5 year old?

We have always made Morgan and Lilly realize that they are responsible for certain things – having rules like being only able to play with one thing at a time and then it needs to be put away before another is taken out to play with or used. Morgan is desperate to have his room transformed into a jungle and was given the challenge of absolute tidiness for a full month before Adrian would discuss it. I thought it a bit much, but Morgan worked really hard in keeping rubbish off the floor and keeping shoes and toys in their right places. He was responsible for putting clothes away and vacuuming his room. All credit to the lad – he has just made his month and he and Age are pouring over paint charts and furniture brochures to choose new items. Of course Lilly wants in on the action – I have already got her paint and ideas on her fairy princess room. Her challenge in order for us to start decorating her room is that she must keep all her toys in place and put away her shoes for a month.

Anyway – back to timeliness. Being late to me shows a lack of discipline. It tells others who are waiting on you or for you - that you don’t regard their time as valuable. It shouts a lack of manners. It screams a deficiency of decency. No wonder I get stressed with 5 mins.

At the start of the year, I used to set a timer with a loud beeper for Morgan to let him know that he needed to do a certain thing by then (i.e finish his breakfast , or get dressed or time to get in the car to go) I felt like some Nazi and kept thinking about Pavlovs dog – so stopped it. I think that’s where we started to get unstuck. I hate to shout or nag, but the last few mornings have really worn thin on me. I tried a new ( unsuccessful) tactic this morning, at 8 am I set out breaky and told Morgan he needed to organize himself to go after finishing. At 8.30 he was still in PJs and chasing Lilly round the table. He had put his lunchbox in his bag I guess. At 8.45 Lilly and I went and sat in the car while Morgan sat in his room – naked – and obsessed with his lego truck. Up till then I had asked nicely, let him know the time and that I was waiting it the car. At 8.53 I told him to get in the car and either go to school with no clothes on or dress in the car. Morgan just looked at me with his big blue eyes and told me to stop shouting at him.

I think I might put some whisky in my coffee….