Wednesday, July 29, 2009

La Buona Festa




It's Italian Day at Ella's school today - we made volcanos on a Pompeii theme (Ella's is set to erupt at school this afternoon) and stitched an Italian themed outfit. Of course Ella was the most gorgeous, but others had wonderful ideas with Pinocchio being one of the best, quite a few pizza chefs, a number of toga clad children and quite a few gladiators too.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Relaxation

Photo care of Idealizemedia on flickr

I did my Body Balance class today and yet again, realised that I ain't as strong as women almost twice my age, not yet anyway. I'm already aching, but a really good, deep ache.

At the end of class they had 10 minutes of relaxation/meditation. I've just finished reading Eat Pray Love and have been thinking about meditation, total relaxation and connectedness with self. I'm not spiritual in terms of religious beliefs, so didn't draw as much from those aspects of the book, but I did dwell a lot on the self reflection/meditation themes.

Today we lay down, very plinky, plinky music and for 10 minutes breathed slowly and shallowly while the teacher recited some words I don't recall while we, relaxed. Towards the end I felt myself split into two layers and my relaxed self started to float up above me. I'm not meaning to sound new agey, but today I was really focussed on what I was doing, yet trying not to try too hard at it. Of course that's when she started waking us up, but this time even focussing more on the difference deeper breathing had, how it does wake you, even that was a marvel to me.

I'd like to think I had it in me to meditate at home, but for now I know that honestly there simply isn't enough quiet time. Has anyone used any tools, attended any (Melbourne based) classes - I'm really keen to know more.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Lighthearted


A while ago I shared with you some of my thoughts on loss of self, a lack of direction. I talked about how hard it can be to try and make some space for the individual within the role of mother that we're all playing. I talked about letting myself get to the bottom before realising that taking care of myself, along with everyone else, was a priority.
Since then I've joined a gym. I haven't been a gym member since we lived in London, way before children were even thought of. I have also joined a women's only gym which is not something I would have done before, not before I needed a good creche and school child friendly class times. This gym though, there was something about the all women environment that really struck me. Perhaps it's an age, or just a stage of life thing, but I found it really reassuring, but also kind of sad.
I did a pump class, for easing myself in. I was definitely the most chicken armed of the lot - I'm used to using 400g tins of chickpeas for weights so felt no pressure to lift 10kg each end! At the very front and very centre of the class was a woman. Tastefully bleached blonde hair, quite long, pulled back. Very nice figure, not an ounce of fat, very tight fitting outfit. I didn't see her turn around for a good 15 minutes and couldn't see her face in the mirror. About 15 minutes in she took off her windcheater and beneath it, in only a bra exercise top, was an old lady's body. Don't get me wrong, she was in great shape, but she was no longer a young woman. She then turned around and her skin, whilst lean, had the fine textured, thin, wrinkled look of older skin. She had an older woman's face, I'd say late 60's at least. It made me feel sad. It's not that she looked bad, it's just that age, there is no avoiding it. You can keep yourself fit, feeling good, but you age and you look aged, there are some things you can't hide and honestly, an almost 70 year old woman's body in just a bra top, no matter how well she looks after herself, is not something most of us want to see.

It made me realise again, for it's just something that I've forgotten for a while, but it made me remember that I am my own greatest asset. The love and care I pay myself, rewards itself to me and everyone else tenfold. Can you believe I'm excited about gym, about classes - I'm doing the 10:30 tomorrow, it's a Body Balance class. It describes it as "an essential class for absolutely everyone! Helps relaxation and harmony, improves your strength and posture, and relieves tension and stress". Honestly, how good does that sound!
If that's not enough, on Wednesday night I start my wheel pottery class, at night, me going out at night on my own, to do a class! I'm pretty excited about that too.
By the way, the photo at the top, that's me, when I was about 8 months old, still in England. When my mum would do the washing I'd steal the pegs and run/crawl away again and again. I couldn't find a single photo of myself I liked that was current, then I saw this I thought, it's me, almost 40 years ago before everything from everywhere and everyone started to soak in, this is just me.

Zzzzzzzz


We had a fantastic few days away this weekend, just the four of us. We rented an amazing converted chapel in Newtead which I can't recommend enough to everyone. Of course it peed down the whole weekend, but we had Boggle, Pictionary, Guess Who, dvds and nice wine for the grown ups! I think I took some good shots, but all on my old SLR, so will have to wait for the oldfashioned prints to arrive before I can share!

The one downside, Eddie couldn't come. Did we have tears when we dropped him at the vets for this "sleepover" or what! Poor Leila cried on and off for the first 24 hours - it was really heartbreaking. We collected young Edward this morning and he seemed heavier and very happy to see us. He's now alseep on top my wips on top of my sewing machine, which I did want to use, but he's snoring so loudly I haven't the heart to wake him!

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

When I grow up

When I was younger I loved clay motion shows although I can't remember the name of any of them. I also remember getting a little older and loving making playdoh or plastercine figures and thinking that someone must do that for a job. I still enjoy making things with the girls, Ella always challenges me with something interesting, like a tiny weeny baby with a dummy and a bottle and clothes and nappies ..... While I'm making things I let my mind wander and think of Adam Elliott and the amazing work he does - wondering if perhaps I really have what it takes ... then Ella laughs and I take a good look at my attempt at making Felicity Wishes ...

A girl and her cat


We've had a couple of nights at my parents, the girls and I, although Leila still isn't well so we didn't manage as much recreation (read coffee drinking and lunch eating), as we'd expected.

When Ella was around 3 she went through a phase of not liking being away from home. She would miss her bedroom, her stuff - so going away meant taking even more baggage in trying to bring home with us. Leila is 2 1/2 and although I warrant she wasn't feeling well, these two days away introduced another element to our lives, "I miss Eddie, want to go home to Eddie". Well, Eddie ain't going to be coming on holidays with us, not even for a weekend away, so let's hope this phase doesn't last long.
She's still not well, but it's amazing what cuddles from a somewhat reluctant boy cat can do to raise a young girl's spirits.