Bad Mummy

YOLO: I’m done, for the minute at least

Bec — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:09:15 +0000

I’m sitting here this afternoon with really sore, dry skin and general, exhausted feeling of being completely over it and it struck me. You only live once and it’s not long enough to feel second rate about something that I’m not passionate about, don’t love doing and doesn’t pay any of my bills. If I had passion and loved writing this blog I wouldn’t have spent the last twelve months trying to convince myself that I did. If I earned an income from it I probably wouldn’t walk away, but as it stands my last Nuffnang campaign earned me the grand total of $1 and no cents–this is not a reflection on Nuffnang–so financial security isn’t even factoring in here. Actually it does because I’ve fought with myself this past year because I didn’t want to be one of those bloggers who was in it for the stuff and the money, but I worse. Even worse than that, for me there was no money.

Look I’m not saying I’m going for good, but what I am saying is that I need a break. I need to work out whether putting my personal life online is really worth it to me. Maybe sometime away will inspire me and I’ll be back with avengence, but may not. In the meantime, you can find me in two places:

On my writing blog where I’m publishing weekly instalments of Clara’s Revenge (click the image).

Or else you can find me at Writer Mum which is my brand new (as in started yesterday) community for mums who write–whether that be fiction, non fiction, poetry or blogs so go join (seriously, do it).

Okay, I’ll probably be back. See you till then!

Let me tell you a story

Bec — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:55:16 +0000

Once upon a time there was a girl, a writer, who thought she had it made. She had ideas, passion and a space on the web to call her own. The year was 2002, Heather Armstrong had only just been “Dooced” and blogging was the next big thing. She had her site, the Brown Paper Bag Memoirs, and she wrote, day after day–everyday for years becoming just that little bit jaded because this big success was no where to be seen. Her stats sucked and the comments were bare.

Five years later she moved into a new blog, a new start. This time it was a sure thing. She’d learnt so much that this time she’d definitely make something of herself, maybe she’d even find a career. But it didn’t happen and she realised that readers don’t care that you’ve been blogging the longest, they want something else, something that this writer could never put her finger on and she wondered, maybe this blogging thing isn’t for me? Maybe I should just pull up stumps and move on. But she didn’t.

Instead of packing it in she kept on, ignoring the growing self doubt, the lack of comments and the crap stats. As time passed and because nothing changed she lost her passion. She didn’t love blogging anymore. She didn’t wake up with a burning idea that needed to be put down and told to (her pretend) world. It didn’t help that life got in the way. Children were born and had the hid to need caring for. There were health issues, depression and lack of motivation, things that fuelled other writers did nothing but sap her confidence and left her creativity dry and baron.

She fought it. She got onto social media in an attempt to carve out some kind of audience for herself. She reinvented her blog time and again trying to find the magic she’d lost, all the while that voice of doubt nagging in her head. She forced herself to write, even changed her style but nothing helped, the magic was gone. Then one day it came down to one not so simple question:

If she stopped blogging what would she be then?

Five things about the girls this week

Bec — Fri, 04 May 2012 21:30:53 +0000

Abi has been banned from eating Chelsea Bun until she’s able to use the toilet and wipe her own butt. Five poos in one day plus all that stink is just too much for this mumma to handle.
This week has seen Erin’s handwriting improve significantly. Though her writing’s still a bit wobbly it’s much more controlled.
Abi’s vocabulary has expanded to include words like “please” which has replaced “halp eee!”, “thirsty” because she likes a good drink and “apple” which is to be repeated every time anyone–including the Steve Job’s documentary–says it.
Erin’s understanding of letter sounds is another thing that’s improved this week.
Their favourite game this week is hide and seek. Unfortunately for Erin, Abi isn’t very good at it. Her favourite hiding spot is behind her hands.

Ebooks: how much would you pay?

Bec — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:19:38 +0000

When I’m looking for an ebook I have a general rule of thumb for what I’m willing to pay: if an ebooks price is similar to the price I’d expect to pay for a physical book I won’t buy it. That’s why I’ve yet to read many of Neil Gaiman’s books. That may make me a complete tight arse, but that’s my rule, if I can pay under $20 for something that I can hold in my hand and give away when I’m done I flat out refuse to pay anything this side of $15 for something that I can’t lend, give away or sell. Something that may even be revoked without notice. That said, I’ve been known to buy independently produced ebooks for much more than that…

Publishers would like us to understand that the cost of creating a physical book is just a small portion of the cover price. The real costs associated with producing a book (any book, physical or electronic) are advanced payments to authors, cover design and editing. Knowing that, they believe, would cause us to accept the seemingly high prices of ebooks. Of course, the true value of ebooks comes down to the age old concept of “how much the market will bear?” or how much consumers are willing to pay.

So I thought I’d ask you all, do you buy ebooks? And, if you do, how much are you willing to pay?

Image credit

Despite test results your excessive tiredness must be caused by being fat

Bec — Thu, 03 May 2012 02:01:26 +0000

Dear Doctor,
You probably don’t remember me, I’m just one of many fat people who have their legitimate health concerns pawned off on their weight. Yesterday I visited you to hear the results of my thyroid antibody test and was told that, despite my Thyroid Peroxidase antibodies being over 50% higher than normal, you’d prefer not to treat me while insisting that my symptoms are due to other conditions caused by my weight. Dear Doctor, I’m not a stupid person and, while I realise it doesn’t constitute a medical opinion, I’m perfectly capable of discovering what the typical symptoms for the disease that currently affects over half the women in my family.

You may have noticed in my file that my grandmother, aunt and mother also suffer from Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis this, accompanied by an unrelenting tiredness, is why I presented to have these blood tests done.

After reminding you of my exhaustion I was baffled to be told that this was likely to be the result of a sleep apnea rather than the thyroid condition I was there to have treated. Have you not heard of Occam’s Razor? To put it simply–the simplest explanation is often correct. Why then, would you suggest that another condition is responsible for some symptoms of the disease I’ve presented with?

Call me crazy, but how about we treat the condition that I actually have rather than suggesting more tests that I may not need?

Another thing that strikes me as I sit here to rant. Despite this only being my second visit to you, you didn’t even ask me to describe any symptoms I may have. At the risk of putting words into your mouth, is this because you’d already decided the cause of my problems Dear Doctor?

Let me state for the record that, other than my debilitating tiredness, my symptoms include:

Weight gain yes, I’ve always been fat but in the months since I started noticing other symptoms my weight has bloomed.
Depression which may or may not be unrelated.
Cognitive impairment where I used to have a wonderful memory, I can no longer recall words, even common ones. This is perhaps the most distressing symptom. As previously stated I am not a stupid person, but no longer being able to complete a simple sentence without having to pause to recall words is embarrassing!
Stiff and tender joints.
Feeling the cold.

To cap it all off, my symptoms appeared shortly after the birth of my second child. Pregnancy is a known precursor to autoimmune diseases (of which Hashimoto’s is one). Perhaps if you had bothered to ask me about these things you may have come to a different decision. As it stands I will be making an appointment with one of your colleagues for a second opinion and I’m seriously considering making a complaint about you.

It is not good enough to write someone’s illness off on their weight or some other factor. As a well educated man you should know that pre-judging a patient can lead to mistakes and in the medical profession mistakes can cost lives.
Sincerely,
Your fat former patient.

Our version of the wheels on the bus

Bec — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 07:00:51 +0000

We all know the traditional “Wheels on the bus” song, we’ll at the Mad House we’re too good for that traditional stuff so we’ve decided to write our own version–names have not been changed to protect…the not so innocent.

The wheels on the bus, Bad Mummy style

The Abi’s on the bus go,
Poop, poop, poop (there will be no more Chelsea bun in this house. Five poops today. Five.)
All the way to town.

The mumma’s on the bus go,
Oh, not again! Oh, not again! Oh, not again!
All the way to town.

The Erin’s on the bus go,
Mum, can I have? But I just want! What is that?
All the way to town.

The Daddy’s on the bus go,
Your mother’s already said no, I don’t care, Erin you know what that is.
All the way to town.

If you were to re-write a nursery rhyme for your family which would it be?

Abi talks animal noises

Bec — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:58:42 +0000

Abi has been learning her animal noises lately, it’s been a lot of fun, mainly because she thinks most animals make dinosaur noises. We’ve had most success with giving her a toy animal to associate with each noise.

5 things about this week

Bec — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:49:40 +0000

I got the results back from my first creative writing assignment (short fiction) on Monday. 80/100 which is a distinction.
The other results I got back this week were less encouraging. TSH (thyroid) is normal. On the surface that may sound good, but the reality is, if my levels are normal why am I symptomatic?
Abi learned to say hungry, so rather than standing at the kitchen gate shrieking “HALPEE!” she now says “hungy, hungy! Halp!” which is a lot cuter.
We now have three massive bags of old clothes and outfits for next summer packed away in the garage. At some point someone (aka me) will have to go through them and decide what to keep.
As evidence that Erin is still very much in love with Doctor Who I heard her running around outside saying “TWO DARLEK’S!” this morning…or possibly is was two dollars, but I like to think it was the scifi influence.

So that’s more or less my week. Is it sad that I can boil it down to five points?

Recycled playthings round up

Bec — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 23:07:24 +0000

Yesterday I talked about the things I recycle for my kids to do craft with and today I wanted to show you the kinds of things you can make with that junk, so here’s a few things I’ve found via Pinterest recently.

As a side note to today’s post, I’m disappointed to see that Tina Gray’s Piquing My Pinterest is defunct. Even though I didn’t participate every week I really enjoyed it. Thanks Tina!

20 things to recycle for your kids craft

Bec — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 05:29:59 +0000

I used to be of the mind that, to do art and craft you had to spend a fortune on supplies. Needless to say we didn’t do a lot of craft because we simply couldn’t afford it with a fairly simple project costing around $10 or $20. It just wasn’t worth it, especially not when it would only keep Erin occupied for about 20 minutes if I was lucky.

These days, with so many great bloggers talking about things you can do with junk, I’ve started collecting up things that would normally be thrown away. The following are twenty things you’ll find on my crafting trolley.

Plastic containers – I don’t keep glass if I want my kids near it, but you’ll find a use for all kinds of plastic containers.
Lids – when I through away milk bottles, jam jars and what not I always try to keep the lids.
Cereal and other food boxes.
Packing boxes
Shredded paper
Packing peanuts – The water soluble ones NOT the styrofoam sort.
Paper – wrapping paper, construction paper, old book pages, newspaper.
Fabric – left over from a sewing project or clothes are too worn to wear.
Easter egg foil
Ribbon – either the plasticy kind from gifts or fabric ones.
Yarn
Wire – you can buy cheap silver gardening wire from two dollar shops.
Clasps and things – I’ve taken to cutting all the clips and things off of old bras and bags.
Puzzle pieces
Bubble wrap
Paper/plastic plates and bowls
Syringes and eyedroppers from medicines
Buttons
Egg cartons
Cardboard tubes from cling wrap etc

There’s so much you can do with things that would normally end up in landfill! To be honest though, sometimes the best thing about creating playthings out of recycled materials is that you can just throw it away with out feeling like you’ve wasted a lot of money.

What kinds of things do you keep to reuse?