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Miscmum has moved!

I can now be found at www.miscmum.com Please amend your bookmarks and get your little butts over there!

Daily Snippet

I walk into the bathroom to see Keira standing up on the counter top, applying my lip gloss with practiced ease. Even better, she sees my reflection behind her and says casually, "Mum, can you pass me a tissue to blot out the lipstick?" May I say, it'll be a relief once she turns three-and-a-half, because I'm not sure this is a normal conversation to have with an ordinary three-year-old. By three-and-a-half, I'm sure we can then talk about more sophisticated things like the dangers of wedge sandals, and the fashion suicide of blue eyeshadow (when worn with green, of course). Edit: I'm tip-toeing around Blogger this morning like it was some sort of temperamental diva. I have no idea if this will post or not! Let's see....

Test - anyone having problems with Miscmum?

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Goodies and Birthdays and Giveaways, oh my!

Darren's having a birthday blogging bash, complete with lots of giveaways. Go on and see what's on offer - you know you want to. Reading the comments over there, its interesting to see people's opinions on such practices of spreading link love when it comes to competitions. Some think it's akin to spamming. You all know that I read Problogger, and that I've been lucky enough to be a guest poster over there on occasion, so when I talk about Darren and what he's offering, I do so as a fan and (dare I say it) some sort of blogging peer. As you are a blogging peer too, I'm sure.

YouTube Time - this time, starring my own child

This footage was taken this past weekend: Riley's first ever drop-to-the-floor screaming tantrum. Why? Because I wouldn't give him another biscuit. He certainly has a shorter temper than his sister. Keira very rarely has tantrums, and her first ever one of this calibre was really only last year sometime. I personally love his Sean Penn attitude towards the camera at the end, "Get out of my face!" Some of you may detect my giggling during shooting. Some of you may also think it's callous to laugh at my child's pain. Let me say, I ran the usual gamut of emotions before this point: shock, dismay, reasoning, etcetc. By this point, I'd just past bemused and was headed right for hysterics. Anyone else laugh at their kid's tantrum pranks? ps just adding that it's a year ago today that I uploaded my first youtube video of....Riley. I had no idea until I just happened to see the link. That is so spooky....

Free Burma!

Free-Burma

Gal to gal foundation - walking for cancer. Please go to this website

The Gal to Gal Foundation For only $3 (slightly more for Aussies) you can join this great organization, set up to aid those women who are in Stage IV Breast Cancer. They're aiming for one million participants to join up for the month of October. Please, please go and help make that a reality. You can even create your own personal avatar. Take a walk alongside me - I'm MiscellaneousMum K. Spread the word. *WW is below

WW - White Way of Delight*

Picture of my one crowning glory in my garden: a weeping cherry tree which is just going nuts. We love each other, I think, because we are both perfectly happy to look after ourselves and, I tell you, that's the ONLY kind of garden I like. Stay tuned for news regarding our backyard I was speaking of a few weeks ago! *Yes, another Anne of Green Gables reference...

Misc Mum responds to reader questions, on 'that' subject

Anonymous: "I am Bulimic, sometimes I'll be ok but then something triggers it and it will start all over again. Thia has been going on for about 4 years now. Does it ever go away? or do some people control it better than others?" Anon, I hope you come back to read my reply. Here it is: This post brings people to my blog daily. Mostly in their dozens; sometimes in their hundreds, thanks to Google and StumbleUpon. Quite possibly also many of my 'usual' readers are interested in finding out more about it as well and are too polite to ask (bless). I don't talk about it for the simple fact that it's still a sensitive issue. Sure, I talk about it with close personal friends whenever the subject may arise. I can even make a joke or two when the mood strikes, but some psychotherapists might argue that the making of the joke means that, on my part, I still have things to resolve and my laughter is a way of transference or dismissal. To them I would say, "Bollocks." Well, maybe. I think it was ten years last month (August) when I first actually started coming clean with people about what was happening. They already knew - sure - but it's the old adage: "Only when you admit there is a problem can you move forward", or however it goes. So it's been a long time, eight or so years totally 'cured', but some days it doesn't feel like that. Maybe that's what you're asking. I don't think I could willingly stick a spoon or my finger down my throat anymore. I'm just not wired up for that kind of self-abuse. If I ever go, "Hmmm...could I?" Well, those are the days when I open a diary of the time and I cringe. Maybe I'll scan some pages in and post those up. They are frightening. How did I work through it? In some ways I still am; perhaps always will. I really, truly believe it is a mindset. I have read a lot of psycho-babble on the why's and how's of eating disorders, and frankly I can't make any sense of it, even now. For me, the decision to get better was to right what I was doing to my body: the easiest and hardest part all at the same time, because the brain is such a powerful instrument that it takes years of positive thought, de-programming ("Do not stick your finger down your throat", "Do eat your tea"), setbacks, self-loathing, and countless other factors to reformulate your self-image in a healthy way. Some can't do it, or it takes them decades. By then, though, they have lost so much: their health, their fertility, their confidence, that it's just tragic. You mention triggers. What exactly? Stress? Anxiety? A coping strategy? It's good that you do recognise them. And I know this will be hard, but you need to then identify those and find alternative solutions. I was in such a mess at the time that I would go from bulimia to not eating at all. Slothing all day, to putting in two hours at the gym at night. Obviously, that's not what I want you to do. Can you talk to someone? Are you working or studying? It's amazing, actually, what programs are set up for individuals at (some) institutions to call upon in times of need, free of charge. It's worth investigating. I really, really hope I've helped in some way. At the very least, know that it's never too late to turn the situation around, even after four years. Now I've written this and read it over, I am reluctant to push the 'post' button because once it's 'out there', it's gone, and I can't hide behind the safety of silence. But I will for you, anon, and others. Please take care. anorexia anorexia nervosa bulimia Bulimia nervosa eating disorder

Desperate to find some mental and physical equilibrium

You awaken; your eyes snap open and you roll them around, and they oblige. Your brain isn't, yet, complaining to obey commands. You focus on the opposite wall in the pale dawn and you think to yourself, "Hey, I feel okay." You then sit up and the world reels. You're a test pilot in a flying simulation that's gone horribly wrong; the axis spins and you fall back down on the pillows; all hope from seconds past, gone. Replaced by a sudden tiredness, even though you've been in bed for the past 10 hours. Then you hear one of the kids stir, and you have to get up to them, and you're sorry that it's still another 12 hours or so until you can collapse in bed again. It feels like pregnancy. It feels like CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). Both of which I've had and am praying I don't have now. It's just a virus. But it sucks.