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I live in a house that has grown small. My husband and I bought our house when we had one child. It seemed large and spacious. We moved in and soon had another two children.
When I got home last week, after spending 10 days in a America where everything is big and wide and high my home felt particularly cramped. I noticed how full it is – with things – not my things. There are clothes, balls, bicycles toys, books, bottles everywhere I look. Even in a tidy moment, it’s untidy. Baskets and boxes of toys are overfill. The bookshelves have now become home to all kinds of bits and bobs that don’t belong on a bookshelf. The endless paper and artworks from school are left in piles around the house. My desk has become the dumping ground for unopened envelopes, school shoes, photographs, and broken toys waiting to be repaired.
At the beginning of the new year I had plans. I would create a place for everything. And everything would be in its place. The walls would be emptied of messy drawings. The sitting room would not be a playground. My bedroom would become a childless zone where I can read and nap. I would identify yet another day to hate for sorting out all those awful boxes and baskets of toys.
Most advice in parenting magazines on organising and de-cluttering is about containing toys. Make sure there are sufficient baskets and boxes and containers for all those birthday presents. When last did you have a scratch around in one of those containers? The ones here are hideous. No classification or ordering skills are used in childrens’ tidy up sessions. They are a mess.
The only thing to do is get rid of the toys, I thought. Cut back on the amount of stuff we have. I will give most of the bits and pieces away. My children will each choose a small selection of special toys. We won’t buy them toys again ever.
That was my thinking. And then today it’s my son’s birthday. He opened some of his presents. And all of them are toys. More and more toys. Toys made up of lots of little pieces of plastic. They will be played with today. And tomorrow the toys will be scattered across rooms, and by the end of the week, the bits and pieces will be in different boxes and baskets.
I am not going to win.
This morning in rush-hour traffic in Melbourne, a father threw his daughter off bridge in Melbourne, Australia. The story is tragic, and horrific.
Darcy Iris survived the 58 metre fall but died later during the day. “Her father was then charged with murder and set to appear before a criminal court. However he was deemed “suicidal” by psychiatrists and remanded in custody. He will next appear in court on May 21 for a committal hearing.”
Swayze has made a decision to stop chemotherapy. According to a family friend, ‘There’s nothing more doctors can do for him. We are down to the wire and the goal now is to keep Patrick comfortable. His condition is inoperable and they have stopped the chemo. He’s still losing weight and he’s very weak.’
‘Patrick regards himself as a cowboy, and is determined to die with his boots on and no regrets.’
Swayze was diagnosed twelve months ago with pancreatic cancer.
Picture AP: In this Nov. 28, 2005 file photo, actress Patrick Swayze, right, accompanied by his wife Lisa Niemi pose prior to the premiere of his film “Keeping Mum” in central London
I’ve just come across this little piece of gossip. It’s 2am in the morning. I can’t sleep. I’ve done the list of things-to-do and the shopping list. Prepared the school bags. Still awake. So, it’s a good time to trawl the internet.
I thought it was the flak jacket that was making her look a little plumper. But according to Perez Hilton it’s not the flak jacket: Michelle Obama is pregnant! She did say she wants to be mom-in-chief.
‘This is completely unconfirmed and at this point just a “rumor” but we’re hearing the talk in D.C. is that Michelle Obama is pregnant.’ says Perez Hilton.
Malia and Sasha Obama didn’t go to school today. It was too cold in DC apparently.
Obama was in a meeting with business leaders this morning when he spoke about the weather.
‘As my children pointed out, in Chicago where it gets colder than in DC school was never canceled,’ said the President. He added that he’d have ‘to instil some flinty Chicago toughness into Washingtonians…When it comes to weather folks in Washington don’t seem to be able to handle things.’
AP Picture: Ice on a Holly bush in Washington DC today.
Last night these pair of shoes, allegedly worn by Sarah Palin during her campaign for vice presidency, were sold on eBay for $2025. Normally the shoes are sold for $100. I think the Palin family is raising money for something big – a presidential campaign perhaps?
The New York Post reported that she is launching her national political action committee.
Registered in Virginia, Sarahpac.com is to support ideas and candidates who share the Palin vision that energy independence is this country’s future.
Next month she addresses a Washington gathering of prominent conservatives. She’s going ahead with a book. Her Facebook page has 410,000 friends. She wants to influence policy knowing the nation must turn to Alaska as its energy resource. She’s planning to be president.
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Obama’s comments on the Lilly Ledbetter bill
Remarks of President Barack Obama on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act bill signing:
It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign – the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act – we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness.
It is also fitting that we are joined today by the woman after whom this bill is named – someone Michelle and I have had the privilege of getting to know for ourselves. Lilly Ledbetter didn’t set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job – and did it well – for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits – losses she still feels today. Read More…