Love Letter to Head Lice

Dearest Headlice & Nits

Thankyou so much for coming to stay with us.  We have really enjoyed your visit.

Thankyou for allowing the space for me to spend time with my children.  I have loved having their sweet heads in my lap while we watched our family movie, gently going through their heads with the nittygritty comb.  Feeling the warmth from their bodies against my legs while we went through the routine.  And there is a certain perverse pleasure in evicting you!

I would also like to thank you for your special attention to me.  In the process of combing out my hair with half a bottle of conditioner & leaving it in for a while my hair has become more conditioned.  And the fact that you wouldn't leave with the first eviction notice allowed the process to be repeated.  So much so, on my trip the community cafe the other day I was complimented on my glamourous hair more than once!

Well, my nitty friends, its an ill wind that blows no good as my granny used to say.  Thankyou for your visit.  Please feel free to move onto a new destination at your earliest convenience, but it has been a lesson learned.  Thankyou.

Much love

Jacs x

Renaissance, Scanner, Multipotentialte... a Me by any other name

So, I have this problem.  See, I am 'just good' at too many things.  I know, I know it sounds kinda braggy, but let me explain.

Since school I have been a Jacs of all trades and master of none.  I came away from that erstwhile learning establishment with 10 O'levels (yup, I am that old, just before GCSEs) of which 7 were B's.  (2 C's and 1 A if you're interested)  So no clear outstanding areas of expertise.  Pretty adequate really, enough to fly under the radar, not being exceptional either way.

[with the exception of what I considered an anonomoly of English Literature 'A'.  I still don't understand how that happened as I detested my teacher and loathed the concept of over analysing an author's motives.  I just happened to know the texts because I love a damn good story!]

I digress.  Which actually proves my point.  I find it REALLY hard to stick to just one thing.  I am super obsessed with something until I feel I have it, then, oohh bright shiny object over there....

I will often come back to the original passion which is why I need more cupboards.  Does anyone else have this issue?

I would love to start my own business, an enterprise of some kind.  A way to share my gifts with the world.  But what to choose?

I recently read John William's book which mentioned the term 'scanner'.  Suddenly I felt a huge sense of relief that other people needed large closets too for all their interests.  I knew the term Renaissance (wo)Man to define someone like Leonardo da Vinci or a Polymath.  But recently I have heard the term 'renaissance business' where people have made their mark being themselves in all their diversity.  Emilie Wapnick's website Puttylike coins the phrase multipotentialate which she writes about well.

Scanner, Renaissance, Multipotentiale, whatever you call it Doctor, I think I've got it!

Edit: just after writing this post I clicked on my iPod to hear Rise to the Top's interview with Kirsten Casey, who has changed her career a couple of times.  I think I am in love.  Big girl crush!

If anything were possible...

If anything were possible what would you dream for? Asks Jamie Ridler on Wishcrafting wednesday.

Right now, I would dream for me to step into my bigger life.  To don my 'big girl panties' and step into the dream.  To run my own awesome business, to be a rocking mumma & a glorious womanly wife.  To live life out loud.  With fire & passion.  And a bucketload of energy.

What would you dream for?  As you wish for yourself, I wish for you too. x Jacs

Satan has a secretary?

So, I was at the petrol station.  Filling my thirsty car who had been travelling on kisses and a promise.

Looking up I see a man coming towards the same pump.  At first glance I could tell he was a biker, a very pleasant looking one at that, then I spotted the handles of the harley davidson on the other side of the pump.  Over his biking gear he had a waistcoat/jerkin/gillet type thing.  This had badges on.

The top one, obviously denoting his tribe:

SATAN'S SLAYERS...

Then, underneath this, was another one:

SECRETARY.

I was giggling to myself all the way home.  The anarchic hell raisers of the New Forest have organised themselves into a committee.  Which it has to be said, committees are indeed all kinds of hell.

Thankful Thursday 5th July

Today I am grateful for:

• Swimming lesson me-time.  My beloved was home in time to look after the other kids whilst I took Tintin to his lesson & I got to sit in the sun writing.  Yep, the SUN, people.  It put in a truly welcome appearance this afternoon
• Hot baths in this rather wet summer weather.
• Sewing up the hems on my new cargo trousers.  It only took me about 6 months to do this.  Go me!
• Washing dry.  Did I mention that the sun shone?
• Recording meditations on my new computer with the kind loan of a microphone.  So exciting.
• Booking tickets for our summer festival in August
• Finally finished patio, with the new table on it.  It looks fantastic & we sat outside in the sun (yes, I know I mentioned it again.  Its just kinda noteworthy at the moment!) this evening.
• Tintin getting allocated a fantastic teacher for next year.  She rocks!
• Sweet birthday treat for Roo's friend, held at a country park play area.  I hesitate to mention that the sun came out especially.
• Managing to sew up a quick super hero cape for this sweet friend who is now 4.  And seeing him running around in it for the rest of the party.
• Jumble treats on Saturday with my awesome brother.  (No sun, in case you were wondering)

Running in the woods

I have started running.  Yep.  Really.  With running shoes and everything.  I know right.  Isn't that for other people?  Y'a know.  Those people who aren't me.

Turns out it was for me too.  I just needed to find the right way for me.  I bought the shoes a year or so ago at a proper running shop where a serious lean lady had me walk barefoot & bare legged on a treadmill for gait analysis.  A video camera & I have no idea what other technology was aimed in my direction.  I just concentrated in a panicky fashion on staying on the treadmill.  The verdict of this high tech interlude was that I over pronate (or something like that) and needed a certain kind of shoe to correct this pernicious sounding tendency.

The universe was on my side.  The perfect pair was waiting for me with a sale tag on it.

Now although I wasn't committing to running at that point I wanted shoes that made me feel bouncy on the school run (very little actual running involved unless late).  And it worked.  I did find myself more inclined to exercise a bit more when wearing them.

However, despite going out a few times round the village like the other mothers I saw running, some with buggys, some with headphones, it always felt like Work.  Like I was doing something Worthy and  that smug feeling was the motivation & reward.

Then I remembered being 10 years old.  Running cross-country round the footpaths & fields beyond the school.  I even took part in the school competition over 3 or 5 miles & being the first girl back despite being one of the younger ones.

I remembered my awesome PE teacher.  How he taught us to breathe whilst running & changing it to depending on stride & speed.  Mr Johns, a compact ex-military sergeant with a shiny pate & enthusiasm for breaking down tasks into component parts.  He taught us about 6 stages to a forward roll.  I adored him.

Remembering our running lessons, I recalled how much I loved running in nature.  The smell of the mushroom farm, the cut grass of the hay fields, the red poppies at the edges.  Of holding our breaths as we ran (pretty fast at that point!) past the slurry/manure heap on a farm.

With these thoughts in mind, I started running.  First in Cypress with my energetic sister.  Then at home.  But not pounding on the pavements.  Down the tracks in the forestry commission land.  The footpaths with the dog walkers.  Bridleways with the horses.  I didn't get far.  But I did it.

What surprised me most about making this commitment to myself is this.  I LOVE it.  I do.  I bloody love it.  And the secret ingredient.  The headspace and clarity whilst being inspired by the wonderful smell of the morning woods and the sights.

What is your favourite way of exercising outside?

What am I bid?

Last night, Beloved & I went to our first land auction.  There was a piece of land nearby that would have been a wonderful playground.  So we went to Auction.  And Bid.  And Lost.

 image credit

But Oh my goodness how exciting it was!  The small room they held it in was packed to the rafters.  People standing all around the edges as well as at the back.  We went early so had front row seats.  And it did kinda feel like Theatre.

We were in a bidding war ( I hate that term.  how about tennis bidding?) with one other person after it moved away from the ridiculously low come-and-see-me guide price.  We kept inching up & he was straight there with a counter bid.  We moved from comfort zone, to a bit strapped, into soup-bread-and-water-for-next-three-years zone.  At which point we left him to it.  My heart was pounding like a horserace!

As ours was the first lot, we then sat back & relaxed through the next 5 lots.  It was an education!  There was a whole range of human dramas being played out in that tiny room.  People trying to secure the land outside their houses from developers.  Parents wanting land for daughter's pony.  Silver haired investors.  Farmers.  And an awful lot of spectators it seemed that didn't bid.

And all very serious.  I have a real handicap here.  My poker face consists of something like: 'OMG, OMG that's Amazing, look at this, how awesome, I love it. gimme gimme gimme'.  Or: 'oh no I can't believe it who dealt this hand?'  I don't know I would go so far to to call myself a drama queen, but I tend to bubble over somewhat.

So, I can now tick the Auction experience off my list for this year.  I loved it.  Who knows, maybe another potential play land will present itself soon & we get it.  And then you will really see my counter-poker face! OMG Yes!