#2306 The Pitch

The Pitch. It sounds like the name of a movie.

Or a book.

Speaking of books, I spoke about mine today.

Today was the first time ever that I pitched my book to a publisher!

I was so unbelievably nervous… no matter how many times I sipped water and applied lip balm beforehand, by the time I was finishing reading an excerpt of my manuscript, my mouth was dry and my lips were sticking together. 😬😬

But I got through. I came away with valuable takeaways, as well as an incredibly clear picture of what I should have said, instead of that which I did say. Why does it take us doing something wrong, to work out what we should do right?

Well, one more takeaway, one more right…

I was asked to submit the first 3 chapters of my novel to one publisher.

This is huge! This is epic! And yet that well-known alter-ego of mine, the one suffering from massive self-doubt and imposter syndrome, is convinced it was a pity request..

But still, even if pity, I will take it!

If a starving man was given food out of pity, do you think they would decline the offer?

NO!

Just as I too took it, happily said thank you, and then shut down the Zoom session to fall onto a heap on baby girl’s bed and be thankful the nerves, for now, were all over.

Whatever happens, I am grateful for this opportunity, to take another step forward. I have already learnt so much. 🙏

Life is full of learnings… ❤❤

#2305 The swimming roster

This is a major motherhood gratitude post.

But even non-parents I think will find sense in this logic.

Today baby girl had her first swimming lesson, that was back on a weekday.

She’s been doing Saturday morning lessons at 10:45 since she moved up a class at the beginning of the year. Now you might say, oh 10:45, that’s alright…

I thought so too…. initially.

But no. No it is not alright.

I get a bit of a sleep in, yes… so does baby girl.

But then we can’t chill. Each weekday we are go go go, and then I have the added pressure of needing to get her out of the house earlier when I work, so that I can rush back home and clock-on by 9am.

We rush, ALL THE TIME. Saturdays used to be –

Sleep in.

Get up… slowly.

Eat breakfast… slowly.

Watch Friends while we are doing everything slowly. 1, sometimes even 2 eps.

Then we might keep sitting on the couch. Just because.

Eventually I will get up, wash some dishes, tell baby girl to brush her teeth because it’s now 11:30… 😆

You get my drift. We are slow.

Well, we used to be, until Saturday morning swimming. 🤔

We had a little bit of leeway, but not enough. We couldn’t go slow. Suddenly it felt as if it were a hybrid weekday/weekend morning, where we got to sleep in a bit, but as soon as we awoke it was “time people, look at the time!”

Last week during her Saturday class, I very casually, without expectation, went over to the office to see if there were any weekday classes she could swap to. When we checked last year, only Saturdays worked for us.

But kids move on and drop out of classes. Things change.

The woman said to me, “we have Monday at 3:45 – (bzz, wrong, we tried that once and it was so hard to get there so soon after school finishing) – and we have Friday at 4:15.”

Hmmm. I paused. I thought.

“Some people don’t like Fridays, swimming’s the last thing they wanna do at the end of a long week,” she went on.

“No, that could work!”

We booked it in, and later I told baby girl about it as she finished her class…

And ALL week, the relief has just been lifting off of me, OH MY GOD.

I didn’t even realise how much Saturday morning swimming stressed me out, until I changed it! Even baby girl complained often, and rightly so. She just wanted to do her own thing on weekend mornings, not have to run around and do classes and stuff.

Today was her first Friday class!

So you know what that means… tomorrow we sleep in and go SLOW! YAY! 😆😁😁😁😁😁🏊‍♂️

#2304 Peninsula sunset no. 15

Today, I’ll let the sunset speak to you.

😍😍

#2303 After the workout

Today it’s a very simple one.

But I’m always grateful after I’ve finished a workout.

One of the reasons is clearly obvious. I mean, you are on the other end of exercising, huffing and puffing, endorphins are surging… it makes sense. You feel physically good.

But it’s the meaning behind finishing the workout. When you come to the task, and complete something you really didn’t want to do, even though you know it’s good for you… you’ve won in a big way.

You’ve said to yourself, to the Universe, that you are committed. You are dedicated, and you show up and make it happen, time and time again.

That is strength. Not physical either.

The mental strength and rewards that comes from it are the biggest winners of them all. 💪

#2302 Going back to sleep

How good is it when you go back to sleep…

AFTER you have gotten up, thinking the day is going to begin.

But then it doesn’t!

This is what happened this morning. I forced myself awake and crept to baby girl’s room, trying to work out how she felt, and if she was well enough to go to school today for the start of term 2.

She said she wanted to stay home 100%… and she wanted to go to school 98%.

(So, we are working with 198% here?) 😆

She made a point though, and that was, that the decision was a close one, but maybe she should stay home.

I have to admit… I wanted her to stay home. For some reason I am in no way ready for routine to begin again. Maybe it’s the colder mornings and nights, but I am not feeling it, AT ALL, and was hoping an extra day might help me get used to it.

That, and the fact that she hadn’t eaten properly yesterday… how could I send her off to school and be confident she would be alright? I couldn’t.

She went back to bed. So did I.

IT WAS BLISS. 😴🥰

As the day progressed she looked a billion bucks, back to her normal self.

I didn’t regret a thing. I played with her at home, then we went for a bike ride/walk around the block.

I had a little extra time with my girl, and it was actually more valuable than a simple school day.

Wagging can be good. 😉💖

#2301 Finding little things

I’m not that sure what I am grateful for today. There are lots of tiny things, and I have been sifting through haystacks to try and find the needles.

Baby girl threw up a total of 4 times over a 7 hour period last night… my poor girl. But she didn’t vomit today, really, other than that time she coughed up fluid this afternoon after eating watermelon…

I know I have expressed gratitude for it before, but working from home, especially with a sick child, is incredibly easi-er. I don’t have to lug her around anywhere, or cancel work itself, when I know I can set her up with basic necessities, lying on the couch, and I can even see her with my own eyes and determine how she’s going.

Speaking of work, I was able to finish 2 hours earlier today because we were so quiet at work. That hasn’t happened to me before, but fortunately today on this crappy day, it did.

And finally, Hubbie and I have realised just how bubbly and happy baby girl is, because she’s been absent from her usual self since last night, and it just breaks our heart. 😥 She is always chatting, singing, full of energy and life, and to only see very small glimpses of that today, mostly, nothing at all, is so hard.

I guess, we are grateful for her usual beautiful and vibrant personality, and hope she comes to herself soon.

Grasping at straws, I know, but it’s something. 🤷‍♀️

#2300 The different faces of Easter

It was a different but really beautiful Orthodox Easter.

Different in that we went to a few extra places…

Beautiful in that we saw a few extra people!

Apart from the usual family-based Easter at Hubbie’s side of the family, we had a birthday party in the late morning that had me in the company of people I don’t usually see on Easter… my closest friends. The kids were shrieking and playing arcade/ticketed games, and just to be around my friends on such a day, felt so special.

We punctuated our Easter lunch with a park visit down the road, where both Hubbie and I swung around with baby girl on this 360 new-age see saw until we felt dizzy. 💫 But the sun was shining and the sky was so blue, we couldn’t stay indoors all day.

And then I got to see my bestie in a drive-by (sounds so sinister!) in the late afternoon, and get a glimpse of her precious baby boy. 😍

Honestly, I was in so many different places and across so many different people, it felt like the longest day, but also a really rewarding and beautiful one.

And whether or not you spend days like this with family, or with friends, I think the thing to consider is “is it with someone I love?” and if the answer is yes, you are WINNING.

🥰🥰

#2299 To do as she did

I’ve learnt that so much of my parenting, so much of my mothering, is based off how my mum mothered me when I was a child.

It’s the weirdest thing. To be doing something, knowing you are doing something because of a childhood memory, and wanting to do the same.

You can’t do anything else. Especially when your own childhood is filled with such happy memories… why wouldn’t you want to follow suit?

One of the ways Mum shows her love for us is through food, and it’s something that really stands out to me in my childhood memories. Getting individually made food when I didn’t like what she and Dad were eating… getting scrambled eggs whipped up on a consistent basis as an evening snack… having my favourite meals ready and waiting for me after school.

It happens often with baby girl. She will request something, and often I will go, “ohhh, I can’t be bothered.”

But then I see my Mum’s face. I remember my childhood.

And I get to work.

Most times Hubbie shakes his head and says to baby girl “do you know how lucky you are?”

It happens even with other people around. Like baby girl’s friends.

She had a friend over for a playdate today. I had bought white bread for them yesterday, planning to make them cheese toasties (I knew they wouldn’t like our seeded variety) and so as it approached lunchtime today, I poked my head into baby girl’s room where they were and said “do you girls want me to make you some toasties?”

They looked at each other shyly, and I left them to think about it a bit.

Baby girl found me minutes later. “Mum, can you make us pasta?”

So, pasta it was. It was just simple pasta, with butter mixed through and fresh parmesan on top… and it made me happy. Knowing baby girl was happy, her friend was happy. Never mind that the requests followed quickly with “ice cream” then “zooper doopers.” 🤦‍♀️

But it wasn’t just the food. How my Mum raised me, her ways, her morals, her routines, they follow me around as I do my thing with baby girl, and often I don’t notice it ’til moments like these, when it’s the end of the day and I’m reflecting and looking back on it.

I give them heaps of space. I am not an eavesdropping, try-to-be-best-friend-to-your-friends and clingy Mum. I let them do their thing. I suss them out from afar, and then slowly circle in when they are more comfortable (oh my God, that’s just like my Mum!) I see my Mum giving me and my friends space back in the day, and I follow suit.

But, I think I am pretty cool. 😆 Like my Mum driving us around in the car to the movies, or the shopping centre, hooning the car a bit (safely and controlled though!) and making me and my friends shriek with laughter, so too do I think I bring a bit of fun WHEN ASKED. I was even asked to play hide and seek with them at the end of the playdate, while they searched for a great place to hide in a house I know so well!

(If you are asked to play with your kid and their friend, I think you are doing well 😉)

It’s subliminal and quite subconscious, these routines and ways that we have become so accustomed to that they soon become ours. But when they are treasured and surround happy memories, I am more than happy to keep the tradition going.

Thanks Mum. 🙏💖

#2298 A score of CDs

I had the day off work today, and in an effort to reclaim what little holidays baby girl has left before going back to school next week, we went out for a day of shopping.

A day of shopping, doesn’t just mean shopping. It means lunch. Coffee time, which means coffee for me, ice cream or a doughnut for her.

And most importantly, it means bonding time. 💝🥰

We did well, getting lots of little things here and there… none for me and Hubbie, OF COURSE, but that all changed when we went into JB…

We walked out with a CD for each of us. 😁

Can you tell which is for which?

Baby girl saw the Disney CD and really wanted it, and to be honest I have thought of getting her something like this already, but even more so recently because she has been singing and dancing so much lately. I have to wonder if she’s really relaxed and happy to be on holidays, and will the dance and sing act finish when she goes back? I hope not. We hear her humming and singing to herself a lot, and she puts on CDs just so she can dance… so why not a Disney CD? She knows most of the songs/movies, and I have to divulge… I know just as many. 😆

The new The Weeknd CD for Hubbie, called Dawn FM. This came via request on the phone when we spoke for lunch, and it was literally the last CD in the new release section, so I’m glad he scored this even though he wasn’t there to enjoy the day.

And lastly, well of course, Queen. 👑 This is actually their 3rd album, and to date I have numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, two greatest hits, and also a radio recordings one. Soon I will be one of those people writing articles about Queen in magazines (you watch!) Putting this on at home was like a kid opening up a candy bar… I like to buy new Queen CDs only after I feel like I have really exhausted the others. I want to be in the time in which it was recorded, feel it, sing it, dance it and only when I am very familiar, move on. Getting them all at once would be no fun. No. You gotta wait a little. Long for it a little.

As much fun as I had listening to my new CD tonight, baby girl and I actually had more fun singing along to…

“I Just Can’t Wait to be King” (The Lion King)

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (Mary Poppins)

“Under the Sea” (The Little Mermaid)

“How Far I’ll Go” (Moana), and

“A Whole New World” (Aladdin)

I wish I had this CD when I was younger! She is so lucky. 😆🥰🥰🥰🥰

#2297 So much good stuff

I was actually at a bit of a loss as to what to write about for my gratitude today.

But then I looked around me, and saw a few things that lifted my inspiration.

Books. Let’s talk books.

I have stacks everywhere at the moment. I am preparing for ‘something,’ so my reading has gone into overdrive. I temporarily stopped reading my writer friend’s mystery novel, and went onto focusing on solely YA… young adult, my field.

I started reading these two on the same day, and without even finishing them I will probably start a third YA novel in the next few days:

They have been fantastic. Are you there, Buddha? is based in Australia, and with so many local references, you can’t help but smile. The protagonist is 13 and pubescent, so the characters are slightly younger than the type I usually read about, but still I am loving it.

Maybe We’re Electric is based in the US. It starts off as quite cryptic, mysterious, and slow reveals throughout keep the reader guessing. It’s turned in a direction I haven’t quite expected, but I’m still really keen and loving it.

I find it fascinating that out of the 8 recent YA books I borrowed from the library, the 2 I chose quite randomly to start reading (above) are both brilliant. What are those odds?

You know what those odds tell me? That there are generally, and likely, sooo many brilliant books in the world, and you just gotta start reading, start somewhere, to uncover them all.

I guess that’s a pretty good gratitude now, isn’t it? 🙏🥰📚📖