Here Comes the Rain Again...

Right on school pickup time, the heavens open.
Wednesday, Netball day.
Our poor wee girlies have to go out and play in the pouring rain.
It's like a Watties ad (you know the one where the kids play rugby in the rain and come home wet and miserable to Watties beans on toast, milo and sausies...?)

Today the slow cooker has been hard at work, cooking up some "bear stew" for us.
So when we come home, wet and cold, a nice warm hearty meal will be waiting for us.

Netball, unlike soccer, hardly ever gets cancelled. Only if it's threatening lightening thunder and hail do they call off the games.
(Oh gosh it's thundering down now. Eeek, our girls are gonna be soaked before they've even started playing!)
SO glad I put the slow cooker on this morning.
We'll be wet and cold when we get in, but we can get cosy and warm by the fire, and eat our stew.

[Amazing coach - my friend Justine]

We have an amazing coach and a cool-as fitness guru manager.
Thanks to them and a lot of hard work our girls are going great guns. Undefeated!

I love watching netball.

Last year we hardly ever won. It was miserable, demoralising. Especially on wet days.

But now the girls know what they are doing.

They play with passion and skill; it's so fun to watch. Even in the rain.

[It's all about the teamwork - I LOVE team sport it teaches the kids so much about life]

Right. Gotta run and pick up the kids from school. In the rain.

Then we'll go and watch Netball. In the rain.

And come home to slow cooker stew and a cosy fire.

Nice.

♥

Talking Myself Out of Blog-stuckness

I'm sitting here in my PJ's (yet again), facing my computer screen and what is coming to mind?
NADA. (that means "nothing" in Spanish, according to Dora)

I think I promised a while back to "only post quality" to "not ramble about nothing" and to stop "yielding to internal pressure to Post something every day" when I have nothing much to say.

Ha.

I just can't help myself.
You see, I did The Grateful Project for two straight weeks.
Every day, nothing but Grateful.
Part of me was brave and bold, telling myself, "It's my blog and I'll be Grateful if I want to..."
The other part was slightly nervous waiting to see what would happen.
Would I lose my readers? Would I turn people off? Would they be bored and stop reading, commenting?

(Then I try and start up a Grateful linky and not one entry. Not ONE. No interest. Shall I knock it on the head already? Kind of embarrassing really. Have I lost you all? So my thoughts begin to spiral downward...)

This is the great Achilles heel of bloggers, I think.
This awful insecurity about what we do and how well we do it.
This incessant need for affirmation, feedback, comments dammit!

This morning I had a lovely email from a reader. She found my blog while searching for Peter Pan Party ideas...

re: THANKYOU HAD A MAGICAL PP PARTY: 

"Hi Simone, Thank you for your wonderful ideas. Made the headdresses and treasure map cake. My 4 year old was thrilled. I love your blog, I've got 3 boys 2,4 and about to be 6. Am considering the next party! I also love the way you chronicle everyday family life. Am thinking of treating myself to a camera for my 35th birthday. Would be good to decide and start saving now. I wondered if you had any advice, your photos are fab! They are growing up so fast I need to stop running around and capture it on film. Thanks, Rebecca"

O Glorious Feedback. Precious gems dripped from the typewriter keys, landed in my inbox.

I was feeling drear (gratefulness had momentarily fled) but Rebecca's kind words perked me up.

My ideas had helped her create memories for her children. That means a lot to me.

Knowing that what I have taken the time to create and share has been useful to somebody, makes it feel worthwhile.

We all need to feel like what we are doing is worthwhile, don't we?

We need to have a sense of purpose, of usefulness.

I write this blog to share what I have with others. I hope it's making a difference in some small way.

This hope keeps me going.

But hearing from someone that my efforts are worthwhile, well, it's kind of validating.

In the end Blogging is not about trying to find fame or fortune. It's not a popularity contest or a numbers game. It's not about page clicks or followers or stats.

It's about feeling that what you have to offer is of value to someone else.

Behind each pageview is a person, searching for ideas to help make a memory for their child, or to cope with depression, or to just help them while-away sleepless midnight hours.

This is why I take the time to work on my blog and make it the best it can be.

This is why I do what I do.

(ahhh just look at how I'm talking myself out of a slump)

So. I just have to stick to what I'm doing, and believe that out there are hundreds of Rebecca's, using my party ideas, encouraged by my mishaps, inspired by my glue gun antics.

They might not always (hardly ever) let me know, but they're out there, appreciating my blog all the same. (This is what I tell myself. It helps me feel good. Anonymous faceless nameless readers by the hundreds who all love what I do. Right? Right.)

Blogging is worth the effort.

The End.

...............

[P.S. I am nearly at 1000 posts - I think I might throw a blog party with some giveaways to liven things up around here and celebrate this achievement. 1000 posts is a LOT of stories dontcha think?]

Monday is the new Home of The Grateful Project

Hello Monday, here you are again.
A new weeks begins. And from now on I'm going to begin it with Gratefulness.
Yes indeedy, from now on The Grateful Project will live on once a week right here on my blog.
I will share a round-up of all the things I'm Grateful for. You can share yours too if you want to.

There will be a linky for any "grateful" blog posts, which will be open for a Month, and I'll also embed the instagram #thegratefulproject hashtag feed... so any of you Instagram "Gratefuls" will show up here automagically...

(So if you're sharing an Instaphoto of something you're grateful for, go ahead and tag it so it shows up here)

Now for my very own gratefuls. Quite a bunch of them, really.
As I've said before, the more you look for the blessings in your life, the more you find.

Here's just a sampling of mine...

I am grateful for our wonderful babysitter, Lupe. Do you know that EVERY time she babysits for us, we come home to NO DISHES. Every time, she washes, dries and puts them away. Not only that, she empties the dishwasher as well. She's a marvel. We all love Lupe to absolute bits and are very very grateful for her


Sticking with the "housework" theme, I am also incredibly grateful for our young neighbour, Rebecca, who comes in twice a week and CLEANS.Most of all, I am grateful that my own effort and ingenuity is paying for the cleaning. Oh Yes: my invitations are selling on Etsy to fund my cleaner. So I am also very grateful for good sales - and that I don't need to be guilty about having a cleaner because I am funding it myself, and therefore, in my own way, I am accomplishing a clean house.

I am grateful for my friend Virginia. A long-time dear friend who emigrated (with her gorgeous family) to Oz over 15 years ago and is now BACK. I enjoy hanging out with her so much. She's wise, hospitable, caring, genuine and generous. Example: On Thursday I was hanging with Virge, when I get a phone call from school: Dash has had an accident playing football; I need to come and take him to A&E for an Xray. As I go to leave Virginia hands me a bag full of the delicious chocolate muffins she'd been baking. "Take them for the kids" she says. Lovely. (And the kids were most grateful too)

I am grateful that Dash's injury was nothing serious. Just some deep bruising, no broken bones no ligaments torn. Meanwhile Dash is grateful that they gave him crutches, and a day off school. And when we called in at school to show off his crutches pick up the other kids, he was a hero. They sat him on a "throne" and the teacher said how much they had all missed him in class that day. He felt really special and wanted. A nice feeling, for any kid.

I am grateful for good friends who send great books. Miriam sent me The Happiness Project! I am looking forward to sinking my teeth into it as soon as I finish wading through Middle Earth. Thankyou Miriam!




And finally. I am grateful for everyone who contributed to my nephew Joel's fundraising campaign. I am also grateful that we have sold 4 out of 5 items on TradeMe (including our dear wee Triang trike and trailer. So many memories)... so that all help get Joel to a total of USD$7,800 (around NZD$10,000).


So many other things to be grateful for, but this post is long enough already.
If perchance you happened to write a grateful post anytime since The Grateful Project started, I'd love you to link it up below. Or use the #thegratefulproject hashtag on instagram (and twitter).
There's even a button if you want...

<center> <a href="http://www.greatfun4kidsblog.com/search/label/Grateful"><img border="0" src=" http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/donnasimone/thegratefulprojectbutton_zpsf9af8ea6.jpg" width="180"/></a></center>

Gratefully Yours,

On Friendship (Advice to my Daughter)

Girlish friendships can be so intense, can't they?
Women, girls and mothers of daughters, you know what I'm talking about.
Sometimes there's no shortage of drama, tears and hurt feelings. But girlish friendships can also be so wonderful, affirming, warm and supportive.

The other day I found myself dishing out motherly advice to my eight-year-old daughter about friendships. I actually found myself having one of those long-imagined moments where a child of mind sits at my feet and gleans the wisdom won from years of hard lessons about human interaction.
She sat with tears in her eyes (the tears of girlish disappointment because she couldn't find a playdate; her friend-of-choice was busy, always so busy.)
At last my girlie wanted to know what gems I knew. She drew the information from me. She listened!
(oh the joy)

Here's what I told her as we snuggled on my bed and I wiped her tears and smoothed her hair...

Oh my dearest darlingest daughter: Friendships can be tough! I know this. I've been there. I've cried just like you.

(You have?) (Yes I have)

You want a Best Friend in all the World, right? Someone who is always there, who you can tell all your secrets to and always hang out with? Like those girls in the movies?

(Ahuh) (nodding) (tears dripping)

Well, here's what I've learned. There isn't "one person" who can be everything you need in a friend. That's too much pressure for one person to be there all the time. Sometimes as much as we want a Best friend in All the World, we won't ever find one. I've never found one.

(You haven't?) (No, I haven't)

I have lots of friends, whose company I enjoy. Some friends I hang out with and I enjoy their company and we have fun together. But I might not be able to share my secrets or go to them when I'm sad. Other friends I might not see for a while but I know if I'm ever in trouble I can call on them. There are different kinds of friendships. And they are all special and important.

(Oh, like you're friends with Gail and Meg and Karen and Linda and Justine and Sammy...) (Yes, not ONE BEST FRIEND, lots of special friends) (Oh and Maya who lives in England but you're still good friends...) (Yes, exactly!)

We don't hang out together every day, my friends and me. We have lots of different things to do and we have busy lives, but we are still friends. Do I have just one friend who I spend all my time with and we hang out together all.the.time???

(no)

See! So I know you wish you could have a Best Friend in all the World who you could go to each others houses and swap secrets and always be together...

(umhumh. Yes...)

But look at all the lovely friends you have! Lots and lots of lovely friends. Some you love to play with and have fun with. You admire them and enjoy their company. Others you know you can trust to tell your secrets to and that they will always stick by you, right?

(Yes. Ruby, Mariella, Sofia, Olivia, Lilly, Mackenzie, Yasmeen, Sienna...) (So many friends!) (laughs) (yeah, I know...)

We hugged, she stopped crying. I felt like a Good and Wise mother.
And it was nice to remind myself, that though it might be nice (in theory) to have Just One Friend who is your absolute bestie, those types of friendships seem rare and hard to find.

The "living in each other's pockets" type of friendship has never been on my radar no matter how hard I tried to find/make/create it, even as a kid.
In fact, sometimes by wanting that Best friend in all the World just a little too much, I might have made a friendship like that even harder to find.

Much better to tell myself that "different friends, different relationships" and enjoy all the wonderful and varied friendships my life is blessed with. Without the need to be exclusive Best Friends Forever.

.....................
What is your experience? Have you/did you have an exclusive best friend... or do you have many friends and not one BFF? (I'd love to hear your thoughts on it)