on sunscreen and things little girls shouldn’t see

“Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.” – Mary Schmich In the mission [...]

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men ancholy

There was a little boy in my life. He reached up to hold my hand. He was terrible at tying his shoe laces. His best friend at kinder was a girl named Alex. He played with matchbox cars.   We took a walk together down the bike track, close to the creek. He watched the trickles of water. Looked [...]

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Does he wash up?

  Driving the kids home from school lately is a chore. For at least a month there have been road works at a busy intersection I need to cross. At peak times it takes five or six turns of the traffic lights to get through. Annoying. Much. So this afternoon instead of watching the snails slime by [...]

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Butt-ball one of my fabulous memories of PE

Was just reading a funny blog on Obama’s recent controversial speech delivered to all the kidlets of America (well at least to the ones whose mommas and poppas didn’t protest and keep them home in the trailer park that day- but ahem-I digress….) It evoked a memory of my own physical scareducation back in the [...]

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Important lessons in life

Last night our son left our loungeroom- upset with something his Dad had told him to do and stormed to his bedroom. He slammed his door so hard that the house rattled and a blast of his hormones assaulted us in the jetstream. Dad, not one for warnings, took his DS console, which son had left on [...]

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finding the right suitcase for camp

This afternoon we trolled through the garage (otherwise known as the repository for everything other than the car) looking for a case suitable for Miss 8’s impending camp. Her first camp. I finally found the one I was looking for, a snazzy-surfy one that her big brother had used on his first camp. I was elated. [...]

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…and all that jazz

According to my weeping daughter, who had flung herself across her bed, two girls, (count them fingers sticking up at me) two girls in her jazz ballet class got a grade higher than she did in her dance exam. I make her sit up. We wipe the trail of snot off her pillowcase and closely [...]

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I’m starving Mum… or… I’m pretty sure cheese needs refrigeration.

At exactly 3.27pm every week day I hear the same words whined at me from the back seat of our car. “I’m staaaarving Mum.”   No, you are not starving. Your bellies are plump and round from last night’s supper of chocolate teddy bear bickies and ding milk, not distended from years of malnutrition- the [...]

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Maths and Abba and Hair Brushes

Miss 8 just told me that my way of doing subtraction was ‘old fashioned.” On a piece of paper she jots down a two figure sum and proceeds to demonstrate the modern way of doing math.  “See Mummy’ she said, ‘makes more sense.” I need a cup of tea.   “Now can we practice my [...]

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