Halfway to 70

I'm 35 today.

It has been really lovely - friends, presents, scrumptious morning tea, gardening with Flynn, takeaway fish and chips, and, of course, this beast...

I've been wanting a chocolate Viennetta for years, and have only been able to find the vanilla ones.

Wedding 1 2018

On Saturday 5th May, we attended the lovely and very joyful wedding of Bethany and Joel in Albany. Both the ceremony and the reception were on a farm in a shed that has been specifically converted and hired out for weddings. Beth went to our church until recently, and she was an absolute godsend last year after my surgery. She stayed at our house several nights a week, helped with the boys, drove me to town, and was fabulous company.

It was just an all round beautiful day.

Upsetting the Happy Apple Cart

We said goodbye to Shadow the weekend before last. Sadly, it just wasn't working out. Gypsy kept attacking him (she now seems to dislike all other dogs, except Maya), he was too rough and hyper for the boys and they were terrified of him, I tried to train him, but was having no success and there are no dog training classes available locally. At times, it felt like I was running a prison exercise yard - the boys would stay inside while the dogs where in the yard, because they were too terrified to go outside with Shadow, then the dogs would go back into their yard while the boys came outside to play. The logistics were a nightmare. Plus I'd be constantly yelling at Gypsy to leave Shadow alone.

Duncan contacted Shadow's former owner to let him know it wasn't working out, and if he'd like to find another home for him. He found a new owner in Fitzroy Crossing, of all places. When I heard where he was going, my first thought was, I hope he's not going to drunken deros who already have fifty half-starved dogs. Thankfully, she is a 50-year-old teacher and apparently is a lovely lady. Shadow's former owner picked him up and took him to Perth to be flown to Fitzroy Crossing. No doubt it will be a bit of a temperature change, but I hope he'll be very happy in his new home.

Sometimes doing the right thing still hurts.

I'll miss you, Shadow. Have a wonderful life.

Flynn was braver around Shadow when
Shadow was occupied with a bone.

Get On Your Soapbox #31

This one is for the stay-at-home mums....

I'm totally over the obsession with encouraging mums to work from home. I've lost count of the number of times I've been told I should do party plan. I just don't sell things! I'm hopeless at it. If you've ever been convinced to buy something because I recommended it, please let me know as I'm extremely sceptical I have any gifting in that area.

I've been told that I need to do something for myself, and that setting up a home-based business is the way to do it. It's marketed as the ideal lifestyle, that you can spend time with your kids while working and contributing to the family income, that you can fit work around family.

I remain completely resistant to the idea and it doesn't show the other side.

You see, if really pushed, some WAHMs (work at home mums) admit that it isn't easy.  It's a juggling act. You can't be working and spending time with your kids AT THE SAME TIME. It usually involves mums on their phones, promoting whatever they're selling via social media, while their kids play in the park. That's not spending time WITH your kids. Other mums have admitted they do get stressed to meet sales targets, or to go out and do parties or demos, because they need to find someone to babysit. The trouble with part-time work is that there are no set hours; it's easy for it to overtake your family time and harder to set boundaries. Often people work until stupid o'clock at night, trying to get everything done. Or they have to palm their kids off to the grandies to get everything done.

I've been there, I've tried it before. It didn't work. It's really hard. I'd rather have less income and a tighter budget and more sanity. I already 'do stuff for myself' on Tuesdays while Flynn's at daycare and Rory's at school.

It's different when you have school-aged kids. You have regular time alone to do it. But with toddlers and babies, it's a nightmare.

I get that it does work for some. Maybe they have really easy kids who like to play alone?

So, why am I ranting about it?

Well, I just think some people should be more honest. It's not what it's cracked up to be. No mum can do it all at once. There are different seasons of life. Being a stay-at-home mum is valuable in itself, and you don't need a pay packet on top of that.

Brewster the Rooster

It took a while, but we have secured a new ruler for Cluckingham Palace after Solomon's passing.

You see, we had to wait to find out if a young chicken, owned by another family on the farm, was indeed a rooster. Brewster the Rooster was hatched from an egg we brought back from Duncan's parents' farm (his father is their handsome Rhode Island Red rooster) - one of only two eggs that hatched out of nine. After his 'deep clucking', long legs and tail feathers started to indicate he was not a hen, I picked Brewster up and brought him home to his new wives.

Brewster (named by Rory) has started to settle in. At first, he was very shy and his wives treated him more like a naughty grandson than a husband. But now he stands his ground, has started to fill out and become less 'leggy' (although maybe it's just his winter feathers), and sees me as a bringer of food, and not an enemy.

He is a fine young cockerel, who did his first crow last week. Duncan is eyeing him off for the pot, but he is all talk.

What are you looking at?

The TV show he was named after.

Aunt Polly in the Church

Hands up if you've seen the 1960 version of the movie, Pollyanna, starring Hayley Mills (the best and ONLY version in my book).

Some of the scenes which have taken on new meaning as I became a Christian and gotten older are the ones where Aunt Polly (Jane Wyman) tells Reverend Ford (Karl Malden) what to preach on. It becomes clear that Aunt Polly is part of the Harrington dynasty - a family ruling over the small town named after them. Despite Pollyanna declaring, "She doesn't own the church," it is clear that Reverend Ford is only a figurehead.

 If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you've probably come across an Aunt Polly or two in your congregation - those who are not official leaders, yet have an enormous influence. At church meetings, they announce that they aren't happy with something and use their family ties to try to change it to their liking. "My grandfather started this church," they moan, "Or I started this church."

Well, so what? What does that make you? A queen?

Jesus Christ is the head of the church. He gifts and appoints some to be pastors, teachers and elders, but these people are there to lead His church for HIS glory and the good of His people. Not to get their own way.

I rejoiced at the look of horror on Aunt Polly's face in church when Reverend Ford gets up to the pulpit and DOESN'T preach what she wants him to.

Image from here