Finding joy in the everyday

Before I return " Family Secrets " by Deborah Cohen to the library I wanted to share one paragraph with you because it made me smile.  I don't know how often I have read about how bad today's society is - moral decline, increased violence, more divorce, increase in one-parent families, more delinquent children etc.. I think this is the cry of every generation - because in 1940 they bemoaned the same story - in fact what is written below could fit today!  First detected in the 1930s, the breakdown of the family had become nearly a truism by the following decade.  There were the so-called "problem families", whose acute poverty and neglected children brought them to the attention of authorities. Even worse, though, were the signs of a moral breakdown among the populace at large. Skyrocketing rates of illegitimacy; a huge rise in the number of divorces; an epidemic of juvenile delinquency, personified by the spectacle of degenerate and rebellious ...

Blair McMillan, his girlfriend and two children have given up any and all forms of technology released to the world after 1986.That means no mobile phones, no internet, no Facebook, no email, no Twitter, no DVD players, no CDs, no mp3 players, few, if any, colour computers. No online banking. No digital cameras. No cable TV. No Nintendo 64. No Xbox. No PlayStation. Music will be played either through a radio or cassette tape. Looking at photos of people on other people's phones has also been banned. The only approved TV shows and video games were ones that aired on or before 1986. Source: news.com.au What do you think? Could you stop using modern technology? The answer is no for me - I love internet banking, I love being able to stay in touch with people and "chat" online, I love having so much knowledge at my finger tips, I love listening to my music on the iPod, having a phone with me whenever I need it, shopping online.  I see no reason to "go back i...

The homemade strawberry jam I made What triggers memories of your childhood?  Often it is smells that I associate with my past.  The smell of cut or mowed grass reminds me of my dad mowing the lawn on a Saturday afternoon when I was young. I always think of my mum when I smell beetroot cook as that was something she did in summer.  Sweetcorn is a wonderful reminder of sitting together as a family munching through a pile of freshly picked sweetcorn covered in butter - fighting to see who will get the last cob. Pavlov covered in strawberries and passion fruit has a wonderful aroma, pea and ham soup in the slower cooker in winter . . .  I could go one forever.  My mum was a great cook and almost everything we ate, she cooked, so the smell of food often brings back memories of my childhood. Nothing more so than the smell of jam bubbling away in the pot. I cooked jam last Friday - a mixed berry jam and it reminded me of all the jars of jam that bot...

Source: Link  - this site allows you to download these gorgeous dolls/clothes Did you play with paper dolls as a child? I did and I still have most of them. I spent many hours cutting them out (with a lot of care and attention as you didn't want to cut of those little tags), dressing them and then creating all sorts of imaginary games.  I loved them dearly. I even own some dolls that my mother played with as a little girl!  They were a bit fiddly, need patience's and gentleness (as they could easily rip), their clothes fell off sometimes (if the little tags didn't sit quite right) and they could be a wobbly, but in the end, these were trivial issues that all could be solved.  I had old fashion dolls and quite modern dolls, I had baby dolls and grown up ladies in fancy dresses. My mother added to their wardrobe with more clothes that she very carefully made and coloured-in for me (I still have some of these which I treasure).  They were an inexpensi...

It's not the amount of time a parent spends with their children thats important, it is the quality of the time.  Many parents are at home with their children but have the TV on (loud) or too involved doing other things to even notice their children. Many parents are busy rushing here and there taking their children to sports and other activities or to friends that they are too tired to spend time that counts. When you look at the statistics, parents spend very little time with their teenage children and they don't seem to realise what they are missing out on. Even though I am not with my sons all the time as I work, when I am with them . . . that time counts and I make the most of it.  It is moments like these that are precious . . . not only for me, but for our teenage sons and daughters. On the 16th I took my 19 year old son to the secondhand book fair and we had fun searching for books and then looking at what we had found. Afterwards we went out for lunch at a local pub....

Memory Box's I have decided to create a memory box (or a safe keep box).  This isn’t my idea, it came from the book I read recently (“ The Happiness Project ” by Gretchen Rubin).  Around my house I have lots of little bits and pieces that I treasure, but they are scattered in drawers and boxes and will one day get lost or broken and that will make me sad.  So the other day I went and bought a pretty box (from the $$ shop) and have started to gather up those memories and store in one place.  So what am I keeping? It might be a movie ticket or something that someone made for me, a special card or note that I have received, a menu from a restaurant or favourite piece of lace or ribbon - just little things that remind me of those I love or places I have been.  I have things that my sons have given me over the years or something of theirs that I want to keep - these are extra special memories. Usually mothers build memory boxes for their children, but I also thin...

That's me in the garden writing a letter. Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us. Oscar Wilde What memories from  your childhood do you treasure most? ~oOo~ Here are a few of mine: Family day trips - my dad loved to take us on outings in the countryside.  Sometimes extended family would come along and we would all have a picnic and walk - it made the outing even more exciting. The gathering of family and friends to enjoy parties, picnics and afternoon games of tennis. Wandering the farm creating imaginary worlds and friends. Escaping into the world of literature - a lifelong love that has remained. Being introduced to classical music. Been read to as a child. Singing hymns on Sunday evenings. Cosying up to the wood fire on a Sunday afternoon in winter. Enjoying the clothes my mother handmade for me. The smell of mowed lawn on a Saturday afternoon in summer. Having long conversations with my cousin late into the night when all others ...

The 16th of December is Jane Austen's birthday Perfect timing to share some of my favourite quotes. Good opinion once lost, is lost forever. (from P&P) The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it. (from P&P) Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life. (from P&P) Young ladies are delicate plants. They should take care of their health and their complexion. (from Emma)   A man would always wish to give a woman a better home than the one he takes her from; and he who can do it, where there is no doubt of her regard, must, I think, be the happiest of mortals. (from Emma)   One hal...

This handsome young man is my grandfather, he would have been in his twenty's when this was taken - rather dashing.  My brothers and I mucking about in summer!! Being ladylike wasn't something I was considering much at the age of 2! My mum (in her twenty's) with her niece and nephew. What a pretty dress she was wearing. ~oOo~