It's All About Consolidation

It seems by now that blogger has ironed out all the problems that I was experiencing moving my blog to my own website. It was not redirecting readers from my blogger address to my website as it should. Apparently that has all been fixed and so if you enter the old blog address (http://lemondingo.blogspot.com) you should be redirected here. {fingers crossed}.
Initially I thought it was a good idea to move my blog. When I first started blogging it was really just to share all the photos I had been taking and as a way of staying in touch with family and friends around the world. But after nearly a year it seems that my blogging has become a little more complicated. I had my original photoblog, a personal family blog plus a business one and homeschool one. It was getting a little confusing...keeping tabs on what I had posted to which blog was dizzying.
All this has coincided with a major life shift for us. Pulling our kids out of traditional school and homeschooling is a big change in all our lives. It is going to require a lot of adjustment in what we do and how we do it and in the spirit of change I decided that my blog life needed to be simplified too. I understand that consolidating my blogs may lead to some readers losing interest and no longer coming here for a visit...I know someone who is interested in photography might have zero interest in homeschooling...but in a way these blogs all represent different parts of who I am. A homeschooling, small business owning Mom who loves photography, her family and going just about anywhere on vacation! So just like me...its all just going to be packaged up in the one blog. I hope you can all still find something in here worth reading :-)

GRATEFUL

I'm sometimes reminded how tenuous life can be. How easy it is to take for granted our health, our lifestyle and well being. Certainly the current state of the economy and friends who have lost their jobs are a poignant reminder that life can change on a dime. But I'm not one to live in fear of what tomorrow might bring and in a funny kind of way the unknown is exhilarating and full of possibilities. This week has given me a glimpse into "the dark side of the force" as my Star Wars obsessed son would say. And although it can sometimes seem gloomy...it tends to bring a healthy dose of GRATEFUL to my life.

On Friday I took a group of school kids to deliver Meals on Wheels. We are given a prescribed route and deliver meals to the elderly or disabled on that route. Most of the people we deliver to live well below the poverty line and I am always shocked to see how some people in our own community live. The conditions one lady in particular lived in left me completely speechless. The children were shocked into silence all the way back to school. But as shocking as her circumstances were there is something comforting in the thought that someone is checking on her and delivering a meal to her every day. In comparison my life is luxurious even extravagant. I admit I felt a little guilty...but mostly I felt GRATEFUL.

This last weekend my husband and some buddies headed off for a long weekend of camping. On Friday night around 10:00pm I get a phone call from him...there's been an accident...you know that awful knot that forms in the pit of your stomach. Apparently they were out on their ATVs and one of his buddies had tumbled off a hillside, his ATV rolling over him and he ended up in a thicket of bushes. The medi-vac helicopter was called in and the poor guy was ferried off to Sacred Heart hospital with 6 broken ribs, a punctured lung and suspected neck injuries. It could just have easily been my husband instead of someone else's. The accident could have been much worse. GRATEFUL.

Another reminder. Today after feeling unwell for the last few days I called my doctor to make an appointment. I described my weird, funky symptoms over the phone.....heartburn, tingling in my left hand, tightness in my chest. He sent me straight to the ER suspecting I was having some kind of cardiac problem. On a positive note...all my tests came back fine, but after sitting half naked in one of those awful backless gowns and listening and watching all the craziness that is part of every ER across the country I found myself feeling so thankful for my wonderful life....the good, the bad and the ugly of it...it's all a good life. GRATEFUL.

My Sweet Addiction

Oh Coffee...how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach.
{- apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Sonnets from the Portuguese, 1850}

If I am going to have an addiction well for it to be coffee and not something more sinister.

Back to the Blog

So I've had a break from the blog and a lot has happened it seems in my absence. The bushfires in Australia have been devastating. Thank goodness none of my family were affected but my heart goes out to all the families that were. If you are crafty and want to help the victims, the Toy Society are collecting handmade toys for children affected by the fires. Other donations to help aid the victims can be made here.

A thank you also to Aimee Mobley for her lovely package of handmade gifts that arrived yesterday...just in time for Valentines Day. My kids will LOVE them.

I have to tell you I have had somewhat of an epiphany during my days of non blogging. I hadn't realised quite how much time my blogging was taking up so I am determined to try and limit my blog hopping. You know ...you read someone's blog and that has a link that you follow to someone else's blog and so on and so on. I really can get lost in the blogosphere for hours. So I am going to attempt "Responsible Blogging" ...we'll see how that goes. If you see my comments all over other people's blogs you know that I haven't been very successful!

Crossroads

As a parent it feels like every now and then we come to a crossroad. When children are little it can be as simple as the first sleepover. Are they too young to sleep at someone else's house or is it time to loosen the apron strings a little and let them experience something new? It seems after these small milestones are reached and passed something changes...just a little.
As they grow, heading off to school is a huge crossroad. I remember feeling a sense of vulnerability as I sent my first child off to school. I was handing over protection of her to someone else. Someone I didn't even know...the most precious thing in my life would be in someone else's hands. I wouldn't be there to protect, comfort and encourage. You could say the first few weeks of school were difficult for the both mother and child.
Now having packed my last child off to kindergarten you would think that I am a seasoned veteran who didn't even give it a thought. But the truth is, now more than ever I have doubts. Doubts whether the school system really is the best thing for my children. Doubts whether it is good for their little personalities to have to deal with bullying, social clicks and the endless peer pressure to grow up too fast. Doubts as to whether their academic strengths and weaknesses are really being properly addressed and managed. And doubts as to whether the school system really helps them learn to think outside the box and discover their passions. I know my husband and I both fell into careers that held no real joy for us. Our jobs paid the bills but gave us no real sense of fulfillment. So is this what is in store for my children if they travel the same educational highway as we did?
My friends will tell you that this is not a new concern for me...it seems to simmer in the background and come to the surface every year or so. And so this time...in the spirit of the New Year...I am determined to try and address these issues and get some resolution.
Here I am...... at the educational crossroads...time to put away the map and try to figure out the way by myself.

All in the Name of Beauty

For some reason that I still don't fully understand, most women despise the sight of their own body hair and will go to extremes to have it removed. Not on top of their head mind you but on every other part of their body. Most men also find excessive hair growth on females unattractive so is it any wonder that we will go to such great lengths to have these unruly outcrops removed. We are prepared to have it shaved, plucked and literally ripped from our bodies all in the name of beauty. Well unfortunately for my husband the days of my pursuit of hairless beauty could be over. Yesterday I went to the hairdresser to have my haircut and she asked if I wanted my eyebrows waxed while I was there. Sure! That saves me another trip to the salon. Now I have my brows waxed all the time...and while yes, it is a little uncomfortable..I'm tough...I can handle it. Well not yesterday. This women didn't only manage to remove a few unruly eyebrow hairs but she was also able to take a good part of my eyelids with it. She assured me that they looked "just great" even though my eyes were watering like crazy and I was starting to have some difficulty opening my eyes. By the time I got home my eyelids were an oozing, puffy mess - (gross I'm sorry but it is the truth)..Today they are a little better so I had to take this picture and share the damage. My husband tells me that he thinks the damage is permanent and my Friend Dana tells me it looks like I am wearing pink eye shadow.So I can see this trauma coupled with the current financial crisis are all pointing me towards one thing...Good bye waxing...hello mono-brow!