Posts from ‘family’
Cutlery Confession
What to do? What to do?
I have recently noticed that, when getting the knifes and forks out for breakfast, I keep choosing my nice 100% metal, seriously sturdy cutlery. When I’m putting out the cat food, out come Emma’s pretty spoons.
Sooooo……
Yeah. I totally busted myself huh?
I think I have been complaining a lot lately. Probably not so much on here because I never seem to make time to write any more but most certainly on facebook and in general to Ben and the people around me. The thing that has been bugging me the most lately is my lack, or apparent lack, of time to do the things I want to do.
I figured out three days ago that I will not have my credit cards paid off until June 1st this year. Sure it is better than I had expected but it still seems a long way away. And that is only as long as no unexpected bills show up and as long as I don’t go crazy buying new clothes or something similar. I am really on a strict budget. I have secured a lot of work in the coming weeks working for Cirque de Soleil but that seems to have added to my time limit frustration.
I have a fairly detailed timetable set out which, if followed, should cover me for most things. It is the following it that is becoming difficult. I have now adopted a very childish way of getting me to stick to my timetable more strictly (I figure I act like a child sometimes so this may just work). Every time I stick to my timetable and get all my work done I get a little star sticker to put on my calendar. At the end of each week if I have seven stars I can have a gift. The gift can be anything I want like an afternoon of watching “Sex and the City”, chocolate cake and ice-cream, a picnic in the park. I just have to decide at the start of each which what I want the gift to be. I got a silver star today and the gift I choose was to go on a bike ride and picnic with Ben next week, especially now that it is autumn.
I really hope I stick to this.
Pulled from MetaFilter, but definitely worth expanding and posting again!
Elmo is Love
Grover is Bravery
Ernie and Bert are Friendship
Big Bird is Innocence
Oscar the Grouch is IndependenceKermit is Responsibilitiy
Miss Piggy is Determination
Gonzo is Joy
Fozzie is Fortitude
Scooter is Consistency
Rowlf is Wisdom
Statler and Waldorf are Nostalgia
Bunsen Honeydew is Experimentation
The Swedish Chef is Entropy
Sam the Eagle is Truth
Dr. Teeth is Jubilation
Animal is Tumultousand, of course,
The Count is Counting
When I was in high school there were a number of people in my year group who could speak more than one language. They would speak one language predominately at home when around their family and another language when they were at school amongst there friends. It was pretty cool to watch and listen to and I was always envious of those people who could do that. I was also very curious as to how it was done. My curiosity has now been fed.
I mentioned in my last post that Ben and I went to visit a friend of his. This woman is amazing. Not only does she have two kids but she also performs, something that I one day hope to do also. What I didn’t mention though was the fact that she is Russian while her husband in of Chinese descent.
As parents they have made a conscious decision to have their children grow up to be bi-lingual. The mother only speaks to the children in Russian while the father speaks to them in English. It was fascinating to listen to especially as their three year old sat next to me on the couch and proceeded to babble to me in a combination of both.
I was at a loss for words. I understood parts fo what she was saying to me but for the most part I may as well have been talking to a puppy. She would look at me longingly, clearly not understanding the idea that I didn’t speak Russian, and why would she when the majority of the people she spent time with could speak Russian to her and understand every word that she was saying back.
I really want my children to grow up being able to speak more than one language. This year as part of my studies at university I have to learn a language. I have chosen French as I have done a little bit of it in the past, hopefully I stick with it and do well. I want to do well. Now I have a bigger goal, not only for myself but for my future kids too.
Ben took me to visit an old friend of his. He had been trying to get us to meet for some time due in part to the fact that I had now married him and that this friend had not met me, and because I and this friend had the shared interest of performing. I think on some level he was hoping for us to hit it off and start organising concerts together, that isn’t off the table yet but I still need time to get a little more confident before I launch into that sort of thing. I will admit now that I was a little intimidated by her immense talent for playing the piano. I can barely stomp out a rendition of happy birthday while she could play you every classical piece of music ever written by memory.
I am really glad I met her. Not only because of the potential for us to perform at some time in the future, but also because of what I learnt from watching her interact with her family and from some of the things she said.
Firstly she has two small children, remarkable children in fact but that is going to be the topic of my next post when I get around to writing it. I think I can safely say that she has sacrificed a lot for the sake of these kids, things like being able to go to Europe and perform or casually throw everything in to see how far she could get as a performer, but then I don’t think she would have it any other way. She really loves her kids and has managed to work her performing around them.
Having children is hard. We had only come over to visit for afternoon tea but we were soon invited to stay for dinner. It was around 6pm when we were asked if we wanted to stay so we accepted. Then things got interesting. Firstly the kids had to be washed, then fed, then read bedtime stories, then taken to the toilet, then put to bed, then taken to the toilet again…I think you get the idea. It was three hours before us adults could sit down and eat. How did she find time to organise anything with that sort of schedule just for bedtime?
I still really want kids but I don’t want to give up everything for the sake of them. Ben and I have still decided to wait at least until I finish this course this year. I don’t want to use my kids as a reason for not doing what I want to do. I am the kind of person who will tie myself to one place, if Ben would let me, and forget about all the ideas and dreams I had. I would talk myself out of things and I would use kids as an excuse. For that reason I am not ready yet to have the children I still really want.
It was an interesting evening where I got to see how one family was dealing with the little things life throws at them. I think I learnt a lot, and the rest I am still figuring out.
Image by Irina
