Bloggy Break Time Again

I have a crazy, crazy week coming up next week, so it will be wise to take a bloggy break, me thinks.

I'll be out four weeknights out of five.  Next Tuesday I have the dress rehearsal for my next play, then the first three shows on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Please pray that I get through the week alive.

I Found This Photo on Duncan's Phone

It has been more than six months now and I still miss her terribly.

Thank You, Meredith!

I love book giveaways!

I can't wait to get into this.

Thank you so much, lovely Meredith, for this and the card (I will write soon).

xoxo

The Pendulum: Shopping Locally

There has been a 'Try Local' campaign in my local community in recent times, with the tagline 'it might just surprise you.'  I think it's to counter the popular belief that local is always more expensive if you live in a country town.  I know for a fact that it's certainly not always true.

Five years ago, when I was working in retail, I saw a dress for $40 in the shop I was working at.  I later saw the same dress at Harbourtown (Perth's direct factory shopping outlet) for double the price!  Harbourtown is meant to be cheap!

The trouble is that a lot of country people don't even give their local retailers a chance!  They don't even step inside the shop, they just assume that Perth or online will be much cheaper.

I try to shop locally where I can.  It's vital in a small town.  If you don't, it can have much wider reaching consequences for the town's population and infrastructure than it would if a city shop closed down.

But sometimes I don't shop locally.  If the employees are rude, the prices just ridiculous, or the goods and services really poor quality, then I will take my business elsewhere.

Alcohol and Anti-Depressants

It has been two and a half years since I had a drink of alcohol. First it was because I was pregnant, then breastfeeding, and then when I was diagnosed with postnatal depression and started on anti-depressants. Since I was never really into alcohol much, I don't miss it.

From medical advice and plain common sense, I have decided that I will not have a drink until I'm off anti-depressants. Which raises an issue I just don't get....

Why do people on anti-depressants continue to drink alcohol (and often by the bucketload)?

If you're depressed and taking something to help you not be depressed, then why undo all that good work by drinking a depressant?

I know some people might feel good by drinking, like they can drink all of their problems away.  But there are numerous warnings that while drinking might make you feel good in the short term, long term it can make the symptoms of depression and anxiety worse.

I don't ever want to return to that dark, dark place I was in last year. If not drinking ever again is what I need to do, then I am more than happy to do it.

Why take anti-depressants then nullify their effectiveness with booze?

I don't get it. Please explain...

This Thing Has Helped Me Enormously

My diet has yo-yoed a lot over the past few years.  From a normal diet, to a low starch diet to manage arthritis pain, then back onto starch when I was pregnant and in remission (but cutting out unrecommended foods during pregnancy), then back onto low starch at the start of the year when Rory was weaned....

Now I'm back to normal again....thanks to this:

It's a Bioflow magnotherapy wristband.  Some people reckon it's snake oil.  All I know is that it works for me and I've been pain free for months.  I put it on in February, it took a couple of months to kick in and I haven't taken it off since.

No, I'm not selling them, just a happy customer.

Holiday Happy Snaps

Most of these were taken by my lovely husband...

Lunch time in Perth

 

 

Dalwallinu

Blossoms Beach in Bremer Bay

Cooking For Kids With Allergies

This has been my main challenge since March when Rory was diagnosed with multiple food allergies.  In hindsight though, God was preparing me for this since I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis three and a half years ago.

Thanks to Libby (who comments on this blog) and Jessie from Itchin' Kitchen, my task has been made a lot easier.

Check out this website if you have children with allergies.  I love trying the different recipes.  Getting a toddler to try something new is the main challenge though.

Chicken and vegetable pies for Rory.

Rejoicing With Those Who Rejoice

I have never really understood why so many women would rather watch their worst enemy succeed than their closest friend.  Why do we often react so badly when our nearest and dearest get something we desperately want for ourselves?  A man, a baby, a job, a role, a place on a sporting team...

Rejoicing with the rejoicing can often be harder than mourning with the mourning.

But it is essential to being a good friend.

I remember when I got my Year 12 TEE results.  I got 94 (the highest possible score is 99.95).  A close friend who had failed was one of the happiest for me.  Looking back, that must have been so difficult for her, and I will never forget her graciousness and support.

Sadly, I have not always been the greatest at congratulating others who have succeeded or acquired things I want for myself.  I've been jealous.  I've avoided them in person.  I've moped and moaned about my own circumstances in their presence, taking the spotlight off them.  I haven't 'liked' their posts on Facebook because I'm so jealous.  Why should they have it when I can't?  I have been a poor excuse for a friend at times, that's for sure.

I found it hard to watch friends marry when I was single.  Even now, I struggle with seeing posts about friends' babies who are younger than Rory, but more advanced than him.  There are babies six months younger than him who walked before him and talk better than him now.  I struggled seeing posts from mums with perfect sleeping babies when I was in the midst of sleep deprivation and exhaustion last year when Rory was waking every hour during the night.  I thought it so unfair that some mums could just go out and get on with their lives as if they never had a baby when I was cut down with postnatal depression.  Why did they get it so easy and I get it so hard?

I've also been on the receiving end of jealous backlash.  I remember when I was working at Curtin, I got a permanent position that a colleague had also been after.  She was nasty to me for weeks afterward (and this woman was more than twice my age - when do women grow up, seriously?), then she apologised, then kept the cattiness going *sigh*.

In the latest play I'm in, I've become aware that my part was coveted by several other cast members.  It does make me feel very uncomfortable around them and stops me enjoying myself as much.  It's horrible with people having daggers for you.  I've noticed the competitiveness and bitchiness is especially prevalent in the arts.  It makes me want to scream, "Here, if you want it so badly, have it.", but then I think, No, I worked hard for this.  If they were truly my friends they'd support me and suck it up.

I'm well aware that every time I post pictures of my wedding or of Rory on Facebook, there are people I consider friends who desperately want that for themselves.  I don't want to rub my happiness in my face, yet I don't want to hide all my blessings away either, pretending they aren't really blessings.  Somehow we need to find that balance.

The challenge of true friendship: to smile at, hug and congratulate your friend while you are crying on the inside.

Related posts: 
Kiss the Cheek, Stab the Back
Get On Your Soapbox #23
The Envy of Eve
Grieving and Coveting

Quote of the Day

Remember: people only rain on your parade because they're jealous of your sun and tired of their shade.
- Unknown

Friday Funny

DIARY OF A YOUNG WIFE

Monday
Now home from honeymoon and settled into our new home.
It's fun to cook for Tim.  Today I made an angel food cake and the recipe said, "beat 12 eggs separately."  Well, I didn't have enough bowls to do that, so I had to borrow 12 bowls to beat the eggs in.  The cake turned out fine though.

Tuesday
We wanted a fruit salad for supper.  The recipe said, "Serve without dressing."  So I didn't dress.  But Tim happened to bring a friend home for supper that night.  They both looked so startled when I served them.  I think it was the salad.

Wednesday
I decided to serve rice and found a recipe which said, "Wash thoroughly before steaming the rice."  So I heated some water and took a bath before steaming the rice.  Sounded kinda silly in the middle of the day.  I can't say it improved the rice anyhow.

Thursday
Today Tim asked for salad again.  I tried a new recipe.  It said, "Prepare ingredients, then toss on a bed of lettuce one hour before serving."  I hunted all over the place for a garden and, when I got one, I tossed my salad into the bed of lettuce and stood over there for over one hour so the dog would not take it.  Tim came over and asked if I felt alright.  I wonder why?  He must be stressed at work; I'll try to be supportive.

Friday
Today I found an easy recipe for cookies.  It said, "Put all ingredients in a bowl and beat it."  Beat it I did, to my mum's place.  There must have been something wrong with the recipe because when I came back home again, it looked the same as when I left it.

Saturday
Tim went shopping today and brought home a chicken.  He asked me to dress it for Sunday.  I'm sure I don't know how hens dress for Sunday.  I never noticed back on the farm, but I found an old doll dress and its little cute shoes.  I thought the hen looked really cute.  When Tim saw it, he started counting to ten.  Either he was really stressed because of his work, or he wanted the chicken to dance.
When I asked him what was wrong, he started crying and shouting out, "Why me?  Why me?"

Hmmm...I guess it must be his job.

Rory's First Party Invitation

Rory was invited to his first birthday party a few weeks back...by a four-year-old girl (one of his friends from daycare).  I was a bit surprised that a four-year-old would want a baby at her party, but she loves him and was most insistent that he come.

It was a fantastic morning and Rory and I both enjoyed ourselves mingling with the other kids and parents.  The birthday girls' parents set up an obstacle course in the paddock next to their house which was a lot of fun.  I even bumped into one of my nurses from the Mother Baby Unit...how random is that?  It turns out she is originally from the area and was down visiting her parents.  I play tennis with her dad and had no idea he was her dad!  She remembered me and loved seeing Rory again.