Kindergarten, library, children

1. I was feeling a bit low about my kindergarten work, a bit uninspired. However, I came way from today's session much happier. I have a plan and plans are good.
2. Our local librarian wants to make a display about me as part of the information leading up to May's announcement of the NZ Post Book Awards winners. I'm quite a show off so I was surprised she needed to ask if I minded being splashed about the children's section of the library! Splash away, I said. But I've promised my friends that if I get famous I won't shave my head or end up in detox.
3. Our children are so wonderful. I am in awe of them. These people were made by my husband and I and they're such individuals. So much their own people. Parenting is worth it, even if it doesn't often seem that way.

School visit, interview, nice

1. I visited a school today to talk about my joke book. It was a great experience and I particularly enjoyed reading from one of my books to a large audience of 190 children. I also caught up with some teachers that I know from the past. Thanks Emily for inviting me.
2. The questions have arrived for my tv interview on Thursday. My daughter gave me a pretend interview using the questions. I think I need a few more practices before Thursday, as I sounded a bit waffly.
3. I'm reading a book called The Power of Nice. I'm enjoying it and trying to be nicer as a result.

Recycling, office, squash

1. We get our rubbish collected on Mondays and, until now, we could also put out papers to be collected for recycling. However, our recycling collection service has now been extended and we have all be given big blue bins so we can recycle tins, plastic bottles, glass, cardboard and paper. It's wonderful but I'm glad I'm not the bin collector who has to sort it all.
2. I spent the day tidying and sorting out my office. I'm not finished but I've made a good start and I look forward to continuing until the job is complete.
3. I lost my squash game tonight for our business house team. However, I didn't feel discouraged. This was a big change for me. I usually feel down about losing a game of squash (which I do frequently) because I think about how I could have done this or that so much better. Tonight was a bit of a breakthrough. Yes, there was a lot I could have done better. But I still concentrated on enjoying the game, even as I knew I was losing. It was a good feeling.

Neighbours, vegetables, baking

1. I feel so glad we have good neighbours. Some of them came over today for afternoon tea. It was delightful.
2. Our vegetable garden gives us yummy salad treats including cucumbers, spinach and beans. It takes effort but it's certainly worth it.
3. I love baking but I haven't done any for a while. However, yesterday I made a banana cake and today I made honey rice bubble biscuits. Both worked out very well.

Cricket, moments, tidy

1. Cricket time again this morning. Our son did a good job with the bat and handled himself well as a fielder as well. His bowling was excellent. The whole team was wonderful and there were some amazing catches. We bowled the opposition out and came away with a great win. I love having a sporting son!
2. I'm learning about enjoying moments, living in them and making the most of them. I'm trying to make the most of moments which aren't necessarily "big" in the normal sense of the world, but are important nevertheless because they are part of a whole. However, I'm not learning that quickly. So I'll be working on this lesson for a while, I expect.
3. I want to be tidier. I understand the need to be tidier. I can visualise being tidier. I would operate so much more efficiently if things were tidier. However, actually BEING tidier seems a very big hurdle to leap right now. I'll keep you posted on progress.

Motherhood, writing, completion

1. I received some hilariously true emails about motherhood today. I'm not sure why they all seemed to arrive today, but they did. One was particularly apt. It was a job description for a mother. One part I related to well was the suggestion that a mother needs to cope with being indispensable one minute and an embarrassment the next. I am learning that, as we speak. My daughter, bless her heart, is quite clingy and mummy oriented as long as her friends are nowhere in sight. However, if she is with a friend, I am relegated to a very lowly position. At first I took this personally and found it very upsetting. It's a new behaviour and hopefully just a phase. Now I realise it's more about her than me and I have learned some coping strategies. I fear my sisters and I probably treated our mother in a similar manner to some degree.
2. I have been taking a little time out of each day to do some reading. I know it's a good thing for me to do as a writer, but it's something I don't usually feel I can justify as a mother. However, I'm pushing that barrier open and reading anyway. The pieces I read today and yesterday were very enjoyable and reminded me of my own writing style. I felt a sense of "I could have written that" as I read each piece. It made me feel that anything is possible for me as a writer. That's a good thing.
3. I worked hard all day today on a piece I've been finalising for a publisher. I set myself the task of completing it and sending it to my agent by the end of this week and I achieved my goal. I feel very pleased to have done that and much less stressed.

Survival, more survival, sore throat

1. Today I went to lunch with my mother. She gave me a newspaper clipping about a family with 10 children who live "up north" without things like power, phone, water etc. It was fascinating stuff. The dad died last year and now the mum and her 10 children are continuing on in their little piece of paradise without the benefit of 20th century technology. Now that's survival.
2. Survival is definitely a theme today. I have just watched a documentary about Robert Hewitt, the New Zealander who recently survived after spending 75 hours alone in the sea after being swept away from his dive boat by a rip. I remember being part of the wave of emotion that went through New Zealand when Robert was found alive by a police rescue boat in miraculous circumstances. I felt the same emotion as I listened to him tell about his survival on television tonight. We need those stories in our lives.
3. All I'm surviving, apart from the usual difficulties and petty annoyances, is a shockingly sore throat. I'm not sure where it came from but it arrived suddenly and is not welcome. Miracles needed here too.