seven real things about me

I was recently given a blogging award by the lovely Catherine, from A Time to Create. She has a gorgeous blog, a crafty hand, a beautiful family and the biggest heart in the world so please do go and see her if you haven't already. To accept the award you must list 7 things about yourself and then nominate a few of your favourite blogs to pass the love on.

I thought I'd give this a bit of a twist. How about seven real things about me? I often hear readers of this blog and others say that sometimes the blogging world can feel disheartening because they can be made to feel like inadequate mothers, homemakers or crafters when comparing themselves and their lives to one of their favourite bloggers. I think this is so unfortunate, because for me, this blog is about showing the highlights of my day, showing the calm before a potential storm and showing brief moments of grace and beauty in what is mostly a regular stay-at-home mums daily existence just trying to do her best until bedtime.

So, I have decided to share seven not so rosy-coloured things about myself today in order to shed a little light on a part of myself perhaps you thought was missing from these pages:

ONE: I THINK I HAVE A BLACK THUMB: I planted two tomato plants this Spring. I picked 6 off of one and we enjoyed them immensely. Then I forgot to water it and it died in the heat wave. There were another 3 big juicy tomatoes on the other plant, and when I went to water it last week I found that a possum had eaten them to smithereens. I also planted the zucchini in a pot that was too small and it died after we had plucked only about 5 zucchinis from it.

TWO: I’M NOT ALWAYS AS GREEN AS I’D LIKE TO BE: When we are traveling/on vacation we use disposable nappies. I try to find the ‘biodegradable’ ones, but sometimes we end up having to buy regular ones. I use plastic wrap on avocados and cheese. We buy take away sushi once every 3 weeks or so and I often forget to bring our own containers to the shop.

THREE: I AM NOT ALWAYS A MASTER CHEF: Because I experiment with vegetarian recipes all the time and I have a tendency to rush when cooking them (by 5:30 if there is not food on the table tummy grumbles turn to grumbling little ones very quickly) about once every 6-8 weeks I make a dinner that my husband flat out refuses to eat because something went amuck.

FOUR: ALTHOUGH I TRY, I CAN’T ALWAYS ZEN OUT AND BE AT PEACE WITH MY THOUGHTS: I often feel like I am 28 going on 38. So much of my lifestyle just doesn’t seem to be in tune with most people in their late twenties. I often feel like a garbage disposal. Scraps that North discards often end up in my mouth because there is no bin around. I often feel like an all-you-can-eat-buffet. Indigo has been waking up every 2 hours all night long for.... a long time. And it’s not really bugging me yet, but it sure seems to bother other people who gasp in horror when I tell them this. They give me a look as if to say, where are you going wrong? And that bugs me.

FIVE: THERE’S ONLY SO MUCH TIME FOR ME IN A DAY: I don’t floss nearly as much as I should, I never style my hair and I only wear makeup twice a week... But I do get a brazilian and my eyebrows waxed religiously. That counts for something, right?

SIX: I AM NOT A VERY GOOD AUSTRALIAN: I am terrified of spiders, sharks and jellyfish and I have no intention of ‘confronting my fears’. Everytime I open the door to the dark downstairs toilet I scan the room for spiders before going in. And the ocean? Still haven’t been in past my ankles since I moved here 5 years ago.

SEVEN: I OCCASIONALLY PIG OUT AND THEN FEEL GUILTY: Those chocolate covered digestive biscuits (McVites in Australia) are banned from our home. Because on the rare occasion that we do buy them, I kid you not, I will eat about 6 of them a day for 3 days, until they are all gone. I have no will power whatsoever when it comes to those melt-in-your-mouth cookies!

As for some of my favourite blogs at the moment:

The Parenting Passageway

A Holy Experience

Little Eco Footprints

Shivaya Naturals

Whole Family Fare

Myrtle And Eunice

Giggles Down Under and

Gardenmama

Don't feel obligated to join in if I've mentioned you.

Hope you'll all come back tomorrow after seeing a bit of my dark side.

xo m.