The Liebster Award

Adventures of a Subversive Reader nominated me for a Liebster Award!

So what is a Liebster Award? The award is given to support and recognise up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers (on their blog) or likers (on their Facebook page). The word “Liebster” apparently has German origins and is reported to mean sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. By following some basic rules (answer 11 questions set by your nominee, write 11 questions of your own and pass the award onto 11 other bloggers to answer) it enables readers to get to know new bloggers and connect with a wider audience.

1. What was one of your favourite books as a child? Naughty Amelia Jane, Enid Blyton.
2. Do you own a e-reading device? Do you like it? I just got a Kindle Fire HD, so it's a reader/tablet. Liking it so far.
3. Do you belong to your local library? Do you visit it? Yes - I visited a lot when the kids were little. I don't visit as often now I am back at work.
4. What is one of your favourite books now? Lucky Man, Michael J Fox. It is such a touching and honest insight into his life as an actor, as well as his diagnosis of Parkinson's disease and how it has changed things for him.
5. How many books do you think you own? Way too many to bother counting
6. How do you shelve your books? Subject, author, title, colour? By subject
7. Have you ever seen a movie that’s better than the book? The Tree, written by Judy Pascoe. Made into a film in 2010. I found the book a little hard to relate to the characters. The film brought the characters to life, and interpreted the story well.
8. Have you ever learned a different language? In High School I studied German from Grade 7-10. In College, I chose to study Japanese.
9. If a publisher said they’d publish any book you wrote, what kind of book would you write? It would have to be about my life and family. It is the only topic I would be confident to write with full knowledge of the subject.
10. What author would you like to meet? Stephen King - I used to read a lot of his books. He has a very vivid imagination.
11. Have you got a book recommendation? Unbearable Lightness, Portia de Rossi. I love biographies about real issues and how people dealt with them (if you couldn't already tell). This book was an eye opener into the disease of Anorexia and Bulimia, as well as the Hollywood scene.

Now here are my questions. They are based on a few topics from my 2012 To Do List

1.   Did you plant anything this year? If so, then what?
2. Do you participate in any volunteer programs for your community?
3. What is one challenge you have set yourself this year?
4. What is a realistic task you would have liked to have done this year, but won't get around to doing?
5. Do you celebrate the holidays with enthusiasm (ie Easter, Christmas, Halloween) or do you cringe and hide?
6. Do you do any online puzzles or games?
7. What has diet been like this year? Any changes or new likes?
8. What have you started and not finished?
9. Do you tackle jobs around the house or pay someone else, and why?
10. What is something you enjoyed in childhood that you would like to do as an adult?
11. Do you prefer to read, write or watch?

And my nominees for The Liebster Award are:

iSophie
Mumma Needs Coffee
Simple Loving Thoughts
Coal Valley View
Oh, the places we will go

To reproduce ... or not?

It was never a question for me. It was just a given, always, that I would have children. Sort of the same as I have always known that Chocolate is my favourite flavour. So when hubby and I looked at whether having a family was for us, it was definitely a strong factor. I was lucky that we were able, unlike others that wish for the same and are denied. I wonder about the pressure put on those that have chosen not to reproduce though.

Just as not everyone is successful and/or capable of driving, the same applies with parenting. I actually think there should be some prerequisites to becoming a parent. I'm sure if there were, it would save some children, and families,  a lot of heartache.

I personally know people that have made the choice not to reproduce. They get all the questions of "why not?", "don't you like children?", "what if you grow lonely?" ..... So many questions! While these questions are asked, do people really take in the answers and the opinions of this minority. There are so many reasons not to have children. Some of these reasons remain the same as one hundred years ago, like the economy, family medical history, career, personal medical risk, timing, the stress of raising children... but some are reasons of this era, like over-population and social unrest.

Whatever the reason to not have children, shouldn't it be one everyone is able to make. The decision of whether to re-produce, or not, is one of the bigger choices to make in life. I would say that the ones who have chosen not to, have been through every argument in their head ... I couldn't be so confident to say that about all of those who chose to re-produce.

To make that decision to have children of your own can not be taken back once the ball is rolling. From the moment that decision is set in concrete, lives will change, decisions will need to be made, as well as sacrifices, and even though some people may feel maternal or paternal, I have not met anyone yet who has not found parenting a challenge.

There is no denying that I love my two children to bits, not to mention my nieces and nephews. I find parenting a huge challenge though, and not at all as easy as I thought.
I take my hat off to those who sit down and  admit, this is not for me, for whatever reason.

What are your views? Did you question whether to re-produce or not? Did you go with your original decision, or change your mind?

Who is hounding the average-build couch potato?

Damned if you do, damned if you don't! That's how I feel about this weeks article and photo of Chrissie Swan and her sons. It sure has got the tongues wagging in the debates about obesity and parenting.

source

 The thing that makes me laugh is I hear so many people say they would like to see more "normal sized" people on magazines and TV, instead of stick-thin people that are well below the average size. As soon as this happens though, the critics and wannabe-critics come out in full force to tear these people and their lifestyles apart. The amount of assumptions and judgements I have read about Chrissie and her family from this one article is amazing, and a little tragic in my opinion.

Chrissie spoke about her weight when she appeared as a contestant on Big Brother Australia in 2003. This was my first introduction to Chrissie, as it was for many others around the nation. I liked her instantly for her humour, her morals, her intelligence and confidence. I have been a fan ever since. More recently, she publicly joined Jenny Craig to lose weight with the aim of falling pregnant. I am sure that diet, health and nutrition have been fore-front in her mind for quite some time.

Parents are judged on every single aspect these days at a glance. So many assumptions are made, without knowing the facts. To look at a lovely photo of Chrissie and her sons and ignore the joy and love on their faces, just to degrade it with assumptions of sugar intake, lack of exercise, portion size, and parenting neglect is wrong.

A persons weight is just one indicator to be aware of, and when you are talking about children who have not yet grown, then so much can yet change.

I find it a little stupid to make such assumptions at a glance, when some people I know and their families fall into the average build category. Yet, I have seen their lack of exercise and ignorance to diet and nutrition.
Who is hounding the average build person with questions on responsible parenting?

This topic has come at a significant time for me, as I am still waiting for a reply from Coles on their Lack of support to my health.

If you are interested in some websites with more information on nutrition or lack of for children, please see the following:

Parents Jury, Fame and Shame Awards

The Junk-o-meter for TV

Ellyn Satter - guide for children and adults on eating

Madonna and I find parenting tough

Do you look at the actors and music stars and think, you've got it all. Not only are they doing what they love. They are getting paid good money for it. With that money, they can buy whatever they want. This includes endless help with looking after the kids. Is it really that simple?

Madonna admitted in a recent interview with the Sun newspaper “I’m not going to lie, it’s hard work having four kids and doing all the work I do.”

OK - I get it. The songs don't write themselves, and doing a tour must be exhausting. I wonder, though,  how much time she has spent parenting her own children compared to you or I. Don't forget she is a single mother of 4.  Lourdes, 15, Rocco, 12, David, 6, and Mercy, 5.

At the end of the day, unlike Madonna's children, mine are not attending a French school and listening to their Mum on the radio. They are not popping into the studio and helping with backup vocals. They are not surrounded by the nannies and tutors that a star like Madonna can afford.

I wouldn't swap my life for hers though, for all the money in the world. I like the idea that my children get to choose their own future. They will not be judged wherever they go because of their mother's reputation (well, I hope not). They will need to earn respect, friendships and their place in society with hopefully an honest audience. I like to spend intimate time with my children in public, without invasion of our privacy. I like the freedom to choose where we go and what we do.

So, Madonna and I are both mothers, doing the best we can for our kids. hoping to build them a good future and teach them how to be great people. Madonna and I are living in two completely different worlds - trying to achieve the same thing.

Laughter Lives Here - I want what he's got!

Isn't it funny that you always want what the other person has got? Even funnier when it is children. It takes a lot of explaining why things are like they are.

When Master 4 was born, Miss 8 (then 3 1/2), was torn between being fascinated and being very wary of the new family member. She thought he was cute and cuddly, but why did everyone need to cuddle him so much. And he certainly needed a lot of attention.

There was one thing that the baby boy had, though, that she wanted. As usual, she was fascinated about the differences between them. In short, the baby had a penis and she thought that was amazing.

She would gather next to me when I changed his nappy, and was right by my side at bath-time. The REAL fascination began, though, when he started crawling. All of a sudden little Miss was crawling too, right behind him, with her face down close to the ground.

You see, we let him crawl around occasionally without a nappy. To give his little behind some air. Little Miss was almost hypnotised as she crawled along behind.

Around and around the house they went, giggling and crawling. Master thought this was a great game.

Sometimes, little Miss would stop suddenly. "It's not fair, why didn't I get one of those?" It was a question we heard from her a lot.

Ode to O

Oprah has been a part of my life since first becoming pregnant, eight years ago now. I didn't really have the time for her before then, being a full time employee. But then she entered my life, and she brought out the best in me.

I know she has a lot of critics and I guess she is "just doing her job", but it is the passion and emotion she puts into her work, and the way she shares her views that I admire. She was one of the first to make me sit up and look beyond myself, at myself, and question the way we live life.  Before this point, I had been going along in life in "automatic", plodding along, doing whatever was fun and thinking life would take care of itself. BIG WAKEUP CALL! Preparing for parenthood gave me a kick in the pants and Oprah has grounded me and helped since.

I have spent many episodes either in tears or grinning from ear to ear, depending on the content of Oprah's show. She has made me feel proud by things she has said, even though they weren't about me. She has also "wowed" me with her generosity and love of sharing. I remember her saying on many occassions "if it is worth doing or having, then it's worth sharing".

She has dared to prove many wrong over the years that she could do the job, and infact, was the presenter to try things on television nobody had done before. It has been to her credit that she now has her own magazine, her own production company, she has discovered talents like Dr Phil and Dr Oz, she was the first on day time tv to present her audience with gifts, and she has shared details of her life openly to the world.

I will miss Oprah, but I'm sure we will be seeing re-runs of her show for some time to come. I really can't see Oprah sailing off into the sunset to live "the quiet life". I'm sure she has much more to say, more things to share and much more inspiration to give.

Here are some of my favourite quotes.

As you become more clear about who you really are, you'll be better able to decide what is best for you - the first time around.
Oprah Winfrey
Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.
Oprah Winfrey

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
Oprah Winfrey

Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.
Oprah Winfrey

I don't think you ever stop giving. I really don't. I think it's an on-going process. And it's not just about being able to write a check. It's being able to touch somebody's life.
Oprah Winfrey

I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes.
Oprah Winfrey