“So…what have you been up to lately?”
Ugh! Every single time somebody asks me this question in person, I am stumped. I have no idea what to say and then I sound like the most lame stay at home mum in the world when I shrug and mumble, “Just boring stay at home mum stuff…”
Now if that doesn’t kill a conversation, I don’t know what will! And it has in the past. While the people who helped let it die probably just didn’t value my role as a parent full stop and prefer to speak about paid work, I know I need to take responsibility for selling myself a LOT better too!! Maybe I just psych myself out, thinking that no-one wants to hear about me and my kid (it’s this weird thing where we’re legally bound to hang out with each other a lot at this point so the topic is bound to come up). WTF? It’s my life. I’m proud of it and now I have to act like it. That is not to say that I am incapable of talking about other topics. I totally am! There are many sides to who I am.
To say I’ve been doing nothing interesting is crap. Things happen to me. I do things. I think about things. I plan things. I see people. I just blank out whenever someone asks. Like I completely forget anything even remotely kind of sort of interesting that has happened in the past million years. WHY IS THAT?!
So I’m considering doing a bit of a “catch up” post every month or so, where I tell you guys exactly what the hell I’ve been up to. Then when someone asks me, I’ll remember what I blogged and actually have something to say. It won’t always be scintillating stuff, but it’s STUFF. STUFF helps conversations to become interesting and gives people something to work with!
So both my husband’s parents and my parents decided to go travelling (separately) at the same time recently! This meant that we had limited babysitting back up and a lot more time to have to make our own fun as a family. This was great, but also challenging! There were times when the Little Mister didn’t sleep at all, got scared of the dark and entered the Terrible Twos! What I would have given to call my mum for a heart to heart and some great advice (not so practical when she was living it up in Italy and Switzerland)!!! However, this period of time really did make me grow stronger. I had to keep myself busy during the week, knowing I couldn’t rely on a spontaneous catch up with my mum to help fill the time as a stay at home mum. It was a great challenge and I think I rose to it as best I could.
My husband and I are excited because we’ve purchased Jack Johnson tickets for our wedding anniversary later this year. We have greatly differing music tastes (Aussie hip hop makes my husband cringe and my lack of interest in Mumford and Sons or Kings of Leon just won’t change), but the one artist we both enjoy is Jack Johnson. We’ve seen him live at least a couple of times together (and I snuck in once more when he performed with Ben Harper) and our wedding dance song was Jack Johnson’s Better Together.
We were a little late to get tickets (my husband was eligible for pre-sale tickets but we didn’t realise until too late), so we’re looking forward to sitting a mile back from the stage eating our way through an indulgent hamper that we ordered along with our tickets! Yes. To answer your questions, there is indeed a cheesecake in that hamper. And CHEESE just for the sake of being cheese. And wine. WINE.
I’ve lost weight, then gained it back. So I’m working on improving my health. Again. I’ve ordered a fitbit online which will help me to track calories burnt, figure out my sleep patterns and count my steps etc. I’m so excited it’s not funny. The fitbit is on back order and I’m trying not to think about it too much in case I die of impatience. I think this will give me the motivation I need to really take things up a notch.
I recently caught up with a couple of amazing high school friends. We’ve seen each other separately over the years since we left school, but the three of us had not been in the same room at the same time in at least 13 years! It was a hell of a reunion and we really hit it off (as usual). It was a great night and reminded me of the bond we’d all had back in the day. It’s still there, even though we can’t always catch up regularly. I’ve really enjoyed strengthening my friendship connections recently and it’s been so nice to escape every now and then for dinner with some girlfriends.
We’re going camping again next year and we’re looking forward to planning the trip and we’ve got some ideas up our sleeves that I will have to reveal later 😉
This last weekend we got a bit excited because we’re old and boring there was news that a dam about an hour’s drive from our hometown had overflown for the first time in years.
Thrilling stuff! I spent most of the time worrying that the Little Mister would try to dive over the safety rails at the viewing platform, so that was a nice thing to do on a Sunday! As much as I laugh at what we find interesting these days, I am enjoying the ability to find things like this to do on a quiet weekend. I like getting out and about as a family and showing the Little Mister new things. It’s something I’m really taking pleasure in as he gets older. It’s also great to escape the craziness and just spend quality time as a little family. It doesn’t have to cost anything to do these things – even better!
I’ve had some pretty annoying writer’s block the last week or so, but I’m enjoying having my blog as my little creative outlet. I’ve also enjoyed the excuse to go shopping for some summer clothes for the Little Mister as the weather slowly gets better!
So, that’s what I’ve been up to. How about you? x
