About Me and why I Blog

Since when was parenting not a valid, full time job? Proud to tick the 

"Stay at Home Parent" box with a valid opinion on  Life, the Universe and Everything in between!

 A fifty something mum of four with a passion for history, politics and sacred choral music, with too much experience in SEND and fighting the system. At least, thats what my bio says. In practise I’m more a virtual representation of multiple algorithms which function collectively better in print. At least that’s what it feels like much of the time.

Remembering you exist from the neck down can be difficult whilst entirely preoccupied with many thought processes at any one time, but then that is what children are for - a wonderful reminder to constantly ground you in a reality all too easy to become detached from. Even when they are grown up!

Having Blogged prolifically for several years, transitioning into writing books was merely a small, terrifying leap into the unknown. (I'm working on it, I just need life to stop getting in the way...) Initially a self-indulgent attempt to reclaim a maternally suppressed creative spark, the written word takes on a life of its own. Writing is self affirmation at its best, the finest comfort food in print.

Why do I blog? (written 2013 but not much has changed, just the furry family members!)

No one wants to read a Blog entitled "All About Me" - unless you are some uber famous, ultra cool celeb - and then I'm not sure anyone *really* wants to read about you - but it certainly sells magazines. (Especially if you exaggerate.) However it's actually incredibly hard to stop and think about yourself if you are a busy parent; employed or not. (see, I didn't say "working" or not, as everyone knows stay at home parents work incredibly hard too!) It seems my every waking moment is focussed on the needs of the family - furry members included. Even those silent hours in the night are all too frequently occupied with insomniac worries about everyone else - except me. 

It can actually be quite scary to focus on yourself, Suffolk Carers recently undertook a survey about the personal health of carers in the county, because it is widely recognised that those who care for anyone frequently neglect their own health and needs. And the same is often true of parents who are not "carers" in the official sense, our anthropological instinct is to focus on our family, often at the expense of ourselves. At a very basic level being a parent is your priority, the rest of you is pushed a little sideways, or morphs into the new "parent-you" by necessity.

So I've spend all day mulling this over, whilst cooking, doing the ironing, feeding the cats, cleaning out the guinea pig, feeding the cats (again) and spending a not-inconsiderable amount of time photo-shopping my youngest son's class "Travelling Bear" into a picture of the Tardis in the absence of any exciting alternative photo opportunities..... Don't ask - but I think the result was pretty good for a first attempt!

1) You see, that's definitely one of the things which defines me. I am pretty competitive. Not in an unpleasant superior way (honest!!!) but just that I love a good competition. Be it a debate, race, test, you name it. I give it 110%. And some. In the face of holidays to Marrakech, Turkey, Disney and Kenya in the Travelling Bear book I got competitive - with a sense of humour. Which brings me neatly to number 2.

2) Sense of humour. Whilst there is definitely an element of "If I don't laugh I'll cry" on occasion, and also times when I can have a complete sense of humour failure (often after several nights of insomnia, see above) I do prefer to see the funny side of most things. This is pretty much normal in our house with a generous helping of quirky family twisted humour. So photo shopping Bob the Bear onto the Tardis had me in stitches. I just hope the teacher gets the joke! (Apparently it's not good enough according to my other half as I forget to include a fez...)

3)Those of you who know me will be wondering why organisation is not at the top of the list, although really it's more the need to be obsessively tidy. Despite a husband, four children, three cats, and a guinea pig doing their utmost to challenge me on a daily hourly basis with this one, I win through most days. (See, more competitiveness there...) I am also very organised too, but this is second to an inner need for order amidst the chaos. There are many aspects of our  my life (taking control there, it's about me, right?) over which I have no control. Exerting extreme domination over the house and its contents makes me feel SO much better.

4)I am also extremely creative. And practical. I can usually find a solution to most things, and am equally handy with a hammer as a sewing needle. I can't be doing with waiting for assistance (lacking patience should perhaps be another key point here) and will always just get stuck in. Aaaaaand hurt my back/hip/arm/whichever takes the most strain on that occasion. Yes - definitely impatient! I rarely have the opportunities to indulge my creative side as much as I would like, but I'm not fussy about the medium. Clay, photo/image manipulation, designing web pages, sewing, knitting, baking, whatever. Love it.

5)Not sure why I saved it to last - but currently my Blog defines me well.  I love writing (and reading, which inspires me) as I explained here . No matter what I write about, Blogging/writing is something I am doing for myself, and it is something I derive a huge amount of satisfaction from. Perhaps most of all it is MY time that I write in - in the small hours when the children are asleep, whilst they are at school and the dinner is cooking, those precious little snatches of time where I reassert my individuality and reclaim myself in a way nothing else has permitted. Blogging for me is sanity preservation, a unique way of hanging on to that part of me that has been drowned out by my life as a parent and carer. And, most importantly, it allows me to be a better parent and carer as I have an outlet. Somewhere to be me.

I Blog about Politics, Parenting and just about anything else which grabs my attention! 

I also write the Recipe Resource, for those dealing with complex food allergies and exclusion diets.

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