When Anxiety Attacks

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Anxiety

The knife is slack in my hand. The vegetables I was cutting, forgotten. Terror grips my chest and I am struggling to breathe. I am paralysed.

The family dinner is now beyond my reach. I have stopped. My body has simply stopped. My mind is racing for reasons why.

This has happened once before. Years ago. Three weeks after my son died, I collapsed to my knees, unable to continue. Raw grief, emerging from shock, forcing me to floor. Demanding that I pay my dues. Telling me to pay attention to my grief. Read more…

31 Days. 31 Frocks. 31 Ways. Frocktober.

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You know what I think I love most about spring? Dresses. I could say it’s all about the sunshine, the freshly mown grass, the budding blooms and the promises of new life but I am siding with the dresses.

Next month dresses are all I will be wearing. For a reason. Frocktober raises money and awareness for Ovarian Cancer.

Unlike many other cancers there is no early detection test. Consequently ovarian cancer is often diagnosed in its late stages and only 20%-30% of women will survive beyond five years of diagnosis. In comparison, survival rates increase to 80-100% when ovarian cancer is detected and treated early.
(source: Frocktober everydayhero page)   

That sounds to me like a really good reason to fund research for an early detection test and to bring awareness to a cancer we don’t talk about all that much.  AND it’s fun to wear dresses all the time.

Last year, I am slightly embarrassed to admit, I didn’t need to re-wear any dresses. A recent dress re-count of my wardrobe and I could probably extend Frocktober well into Frockvember and still have a few unworn pieces. But I know not everyone is quite as dress-obsessed, makes their own clothes or has a spare downstairs wardrobe. So I put together some inspiration on how to wear dresses for thirty-one days straight.

How to wear frocks

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September School Holiday Calendar Printable

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The week after next we will be on school holidays. I can’t wait.

School Holidays around the corner

Two weeks without shouty mornings and spilled breakfast cereal. I won’t miss “why aren’t you ready yet?” and rousing sleepy heads. I won’t miss making lunches. I won’t miss wondering whether I am on tuck-shop baking this week. I won’t miss remembering excursion forms, incursion forms, teacher/parent interviews, and random notes. I won’t miss homework. I won’t miss ironing tiny uniforms. I won’t miss wondering how little boys can get dirty in the space of five minutes after changing into the ironed uniform. I won’t miss waking the toddler because he has fallen asleep half an hour before pick up time.

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June/July School Holiday Planner & a bit about my June/July

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Playing Child - June July HolidaysSchool holidays are just around the corner and I thought I’d share the June/July school holiday planner I just put together. It’s at the bottom of this post. I think it’s always nice to have a bit of a plan and also to make sure there are a few down-time days included. Yes, I am trying to get better at down-time days.  Better at just allowing the small moments to come to me, rather than scheduling all the minutes. Read more…

Easter at my parents’ house – in words & pictures

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Easter at my parents' tableMy parents’ house is filled with things. I don’t think they ever quite got the memo on minimalism. Every nook and cranny is stuffed with an interesting object: a find from travels, an antique, a piece of art, treasures created, found, gifted and bought. Every corner tells its own little story.

When Easter and Christmas come along, more things are added. The house overfills.  Read more…