"No reading at the breakfast table"

Let me brag for a moment (it is my blog after all!). I have managed to go to the gym every weekday for the past three weeks. This means getting up at 5:25 am, getting dressed in the dark and driving through the dark and fog. I usually go to the gym at least twice a week but I struggle to be more consistent. It's hard when Rowan goes away or he has to go to work early or I get sick or I just feel unmotivated. I've been good at doing two classes of pump which keeps my back in a happy place. But on the other days I have really wanted to do more cardio. So I have been using a 10k app to try and improve my running. It's been good. I like the structure and sense of achievement. I'm only up to about 4.5k so have a way to go! I used to run 5k regularly but not recently. The app has been motivating because I don't like missing my running day. I feel that by missing a day it is harder to maintain the improvements. This is part of the reason I've been quiet on my blog. I a...

I've had a not so great year in 2013 with my health.  When I turned 40 all my 40+ friends kept saying 'just you wait Jenny, everything will start to go wrong now'.  I doubted them.  I'm not a particularly sickly person.  But they were very right.  I've had more niggly health problems in the last 12 months than ever before. But the last 5 months have been hard.  In January I had an excruciating bout of period pain at a level I hadn't experienced before.  I've always had shocking pain but this was different.  And pretty unmanageable. Since then it has got worse.  I had to take a day off work last month.  The month before that I almost left work early because I felt so bad. Pain in my gut that radiates up my back.  I spend 5 days hobbling around like an old lady, half bent over.  I become consumed by myself.  I become consumed by basic survival.  Get to work.  Do what I absolutely have to.  Come home. ...

The best part of today has been receiving this pop up card made by my 8 year old at school (pop up cards are his signature style). I think the teacher used it as an opportunity for a writing exercise because it is so structured. But my favourite is his drawing of me with my two tone hair! Spot on!!

Kitenge bone Thanks to all the people who have contacted me and ordered cards . I do appreciate it a lot.  Without postage the cards are $2.50/each. The cost of the cards increases to about $3-$3.50/card once the postage is added on (in Australia). Below is a list of the cards that I have left at the moment (Note: these pictures are from the website and our cards in Australia only have white envelopes). Time to get in quick!  You can email me at jennykemp72@gmail.com. And sorry about the layout - I find it really hard to get blogger to arrange images nicely for me.  All looks a bit chaotic! Beaded butterfly: Pink or Blue Beaded lady bird Beaded dragonfly: Green or Purple Motorbike: Coke Helicopter: Coke Guitar: Coke Tin can dude (Coke/fanta) Tin can girl dude (Coke/fanta) Recycled tin can boy Recycled tin can girl Cupcake:  Happy Birthday Baby boy/girl/silver Teapot:  Thank you ...

And this blog post has nothing to do with parenting books - just the pure joy of fiction.  I have loved reading books involving the themes of parenting, being a mum, wrestling with identity... I like to think of them as therapy in a book! 1.  ' Night Waking ' by Sarah Moss (2010).  Read my review  here .  What I enjoyed about this book was her honesty about the intensity and constancy of parenting small people, while still being your own person with particular passions you want to pursue. 2.  ' I don't know how she does it' by Alison Pearson.  I so loved this book when I read it - I found Kate Reddy's struggle with the juggle between parenting and working so reassuring.  Reassuring that I had made the right decision to not work when my kids were little.  Pearson does capture the madness of working and parenting just beautifully.  And it's funny.  And easy to read (important when you are a tad weary!). 3. ' We need to talk a...

Not mine During the school holidays I read a little book by one of my favourite authors Elizabeth Berg.  Called, 'Escaping into the open:  the art of writing true', this book is partly autobiographical (about how she became a writer) and partly an instruction manual (tips/exercise to help improve your writing).  It was quite interesting and one day I might do some of her exercises.  It's always easier to read than to actually DO anything! One of her tips was that you need to create a writing space for yourself.  A space that is unique and conducive to creative thinking and writing.  At this point I did have a little laugh. I don't have a study or a desk or a space of my own of any kind.  When I was studying I'd get everything out and pack it up for dinner - same with sewing.  And our computer is in the middle of the kitchen (deliberately). In the school holidays I'd occasionally discover that the computer was free (they must have been ei...

I suspect not - I've seen old ladies at the shops.  Many of them.  I'm guessing they've been traipsing the aisles for many a year now.   If you are a long term reader you might remember that I am not an avid fan of shopping.  But I have to do a lot of it.  It just about k i l l s me (could be the florescent lighting messing with my mind).  And in the past I have been very inefficient and consequently totally ineffective (read all about it here ). However, you will be pleased to know that working four days a week last year forced my hand.  I actually menu planned and wrote a comprehensive shopping list and wait for it - went back and got an item if I discovered I had missed it when I got to the check out (past usual practice:  optimistically believing I would be OK without toilet paper, not bother to tramp back for it and of course discovering at 1:00 am on a Tuesday morning that this was NEVER going to work out well). The whole once a week...