Wednesday 13 June 2012

11 Things and an announcement

Hello again! It's been a long time, but I'm back at the blog again. For various reasons, well, mainly one reason, I haven't managed to get around to completing this post until now. Over two months ago, Jennifer at Raindrops On My Head tagged me and since then I have been meaning to get round to it and finish it.  Some of the answers are a bit vague, but if I had to think of better answers it would take another two and a half months, so here goes...


(1) The first rule is to post these rules. 


(2) Post a photo of yourself then write 11 things about yourself or your life. 


(3) Answer the questions set for you by the person who tagged you. 


(4) Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them. 


(5) Go to their blog/Twitter to tell them they've been tagged.


11 things about me....

1. Errrrrrmmmmmmm! I have found it hard to come up with 11 things that other people could be remotely interested in. I hate talking in front of a crowd or giving my opinion to people other than close family members. This blog is after all, written under a pseudonym.  I was always labelled 'shy' as a child, or, even worse, 'quiet' -such a dismissive term, but better than it's counterpart, 'loud', I suppose.  I am one of the few Irish people who never has the courage to sing a song at a party. But then again, I am one of the only people in this country who always sings at Mass. I've always found that a bit strange.  As for a photo of me, well I do bare a lot of resemblance to the Playmobil mum at no.5 below.  

2. I come from a family of five children, but am one of just two who survived to adulthood. As you would expect, it was a terrible time for our family (two of my siblings died within months of each other, while another died before I was born). Now that I have been blessed with children of my own though, I can more fully understand the immense pain my mother has gone through in losing three of her children. 


3. I am pregnant with our fourth child. The last few weeks I have been in survival mode which means getting myself and the boys dressed, providing them with something resembling food and stuffing one load of laundry-in-most-danger-of -becoming-mouldy into the washing machine each day. I haven't had the energy for anything else, including thinking. So you see, this post has taken a while to write, and a lot of thinking.  And I don't get much time to think these days.  

4. I hate having my photo taken, although since having children I have become more relaxed about it. I don't really need more things to worry about and I haven't much control over my appearance, so why bother?

5. I buy toys that I would have loved when I was little, and give them to my children and their friends. Sylvanian Families, Lego, Playmobil.  Am I right in thinking that toys are, relatively, cheaper than when I was a child? Back then, Playmobil seemed to be this luxury item that we couldn't afford. I remember one of my brothers being given a Playmobil set and finding it years later, unopened, in a cupboard because Mum had deemed it too good to be played with!


Me and one of the lads

6. I love Playmobil. Probably too much. And possibly more than my children do. Possibly. Not sure how you would measure that. In any case, I am very pleased they love Playmobil too, because I get an immense amount of pleasure watching them play with it.  And um, of course, I buy it because it is great for improving my little boy's fine motor skills.




7. I secretly would love to homeschool my children, but my husband isn't keen, and I would get tired of continually justifying my decision to people.  Homeschooling is viewed as seriously odd in this country.  But the idea grows on me every day.  

8. Mooing is important, and not just for bovines.  I think more people, especially pregnant women, should know about the power of moo-ing. It's all to do with the Sphincter Law. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, and especially if you are, or know, a pregnant woman, I would urge you to read Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth.  Helps with potty-training too, incidentally.


9. We have used Natural Family Planning since the start, and not just for religious reasons.  I think we do our young women a huge injustice by not informing them about Natural Family Planning.  How come so-called feminists don't talk about it?  I would have thought it would appeal to their desire to 'empower' women.  On a similar note, how come some people consider the use of NFP/temperature-taking/charting to conceive as 'a bit clinical and calculated', but think nothing of taking daily medication to prevent ovulation at other times?  


10. I love reading about the lives of saints but especially St Joseph.  One of my boys is named after him.  I just love thinking about him and his closeness to Jesus and Mary and their family life.  None of his spoken words were recorded in the Gospel, yet he was the man chosen to be the guardian of Our Lord and the husband of the Mother of God.  He led a quiet, modest life, yet his influence on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, must have been immense.  Talking of pondering, pondering that makes my mind boggle a bit.  (How exactly does a mind 'boggle'?)  


11. On a similar note, I love the thought that, while he was alive, many people met Jesus in quite mundane ways (selling things to him at the market, sitting next to him in the synagogue, buying wooden items from Him and His dad...) and they never realised they were in contact with the Son of God!!!! There's a lesson for us for everyday life there, I suppose.  We're supposed to see Jesus in everyone we come into contact with.  Easier said than done....
Some of these thoughts come to me when I am saying the rosary in the dark last thing at night when the house is still, my jobs are kinda done for the day, and I can think.....


Is that 11 things yet?


And now for the answers to Jennifer's questions:

What makes you most happy?
An easy one: being with my children and husband. Something that happens all too rarely. My husband works long hours each day and most weekends. 


Which housekeeping task do you most hate?
Definitely doing the washing up after having made the dinner and put the children to bed. There is something about seeing my kitchen counters covered in pots, dishes and debris at the end of the day that makes me want to run and hide behind the sofa.  Fortunately, Lee does it every second night.  

Which task do you enjoy?
I think I speak for most women over a certain age and certainly all mums, when I say that a line of washing flapping in the breeze is one of the most uplifting sights there is. I love hanging out the washing, love it, love it, love it. Possibly am a bit unusual in that I like to photograph it, though.



What do you do to chill out?
At this stage in my life, with three busy boys, my only opportunity to chill out is when I sleep!  Every time I climb into bed, I think, this is lovely, I should get here earlier.  And next night I end up climbing in at the same (mental, late) time. 

Is there any ordinary incident that you still ponder?
Hmmmmm, probably lots of them, but none spring to mind immediately.  Was this question inspired by Mary's 'pondering things in her heart'?  Probably not.  Mary's life was full of quite extraordinary incidents that took a lot of pondering.  

What is something you still hope to achieve one day?
Teaching young children.  I went back to college as a mature student to get a primary school teaching degree, but aside from teaching practice in college, have not actually used my qualification yet.  At the moment, staying at home with my children is my priority and as yet, I can't see a 'good'  time to end that arrangement.  Unfortunately, the longer I leave it, the less employable I think I will be.  Sometimes I wonder if homeschooling was the reason God led me to the teacher training college.  

What is your favourite memory?
Well, other than the births of our bookles, our Wedding day was a pretty fantastic day.  Before I got married, I remember being at other people's weddings and wondering how the bride and groom could still be so chatty and lively at 2 and 3am after such a long day.  But then on the day that we got married, I could have stayed awake for days.   I didn't want it to end.  I can't understand why some people's ceremonies don't start til mid- to late-afternoon.  That's valuable hours of one of the best days of your life you're wasting!!


  
What would be an ideal date with your husband?
I just consulted with Lee for this one.  
I said, 'Leaving the house.'  
He said, 'On time.  No phone.  No deadline to come back.'
That was ok.  Then he said, 'not having to turn around at the top of the road because you forgot something.'
He has known me for 19 years.  But he still doesn't love that aspect of me.  I'm still practising though.   
Favourite movie?
Sorry to be predictable, but I love It's A Wonderful Life, especially that scene when George is on Mary's phone to his big-shot friend in New York and he realises he loves Mary and will never leave Bedford Falls.

Favourite book?
I do love books.  Difficult to pick a favourite favourite.  There are so many categories: children's, fiction, non-fiction, religious...  
One I return to again and again is St Thérèse's Story of A Soul.  

Something you love doing with the children?
Most things.  At the moment they don't mind spending time with me, actually seem to enjoy my company, so I'm making the most of it by putting them to work.  Just messing!  It's lovely.  Making food.  Chores like filling the washing machine.  More effort and takes longer, but we all benefit in the long run.  Also love it when I share something like a painting I love, not expecting them to really be that interested... but they are.  




My questions:



  1. Who is your favourite saint?
  2. What's the most interesting thing you've ever made/done with a paper plate?
  3. What have you done in your life that has made you most proud?
  4. How do you prefer your toast, hot or cold?
  5. Someone you would like to meet, living or dead, and why?
  6. What was your favourite book/story as a child?
  7. What do you spend more time doing than you should?
  8. And what should you spend more time on than you do?
  9. What animal are you most like? 
  10. What did/does your father do for a living?  
  11. What did you do with your life before you started this questionnaire?   Only joking, what makes your mind boggle? 
I am going to tag my dear blogging friends, Idle Rambler at her lovely blog A Miscellany of Musings, and Breadgirl at the great Last Welsh Martyr.  Over to you...



4 comments:

Idle Rambler said...

What a delightful post, Kee.

I can see why it took so long to complete.

Thank you for thinking of me and tagging me, although it's going to take me a while to get around to it.

I think I'll have to make a start and go back to it now and again when I have time rather than try and do it in one sitting!!

Congratulations, by the way, on your good news. Sorry, I've been out of the loop for a while.

kee said...

Thank you Idle Rambler. So good to hear from you.

Yes, it's definitely one to ponder, isn't it? Maybe it should be revised to 7 Things. It's quite daunting.... well done to anyone who manages to read all the way down to the end.

Best of luck with it.

Jennifer said...

Aw Kee, thanks for doing the post, I hope I didn't cause you too much stress, though doing mine took me a huge amount of thought!! Congratulations on the baby, so exciting!! I must admit, I share your love of laundry, and I have been known to photograph it!! Happy blogging, glad you're back
Jen x

kee said...

Thank you Jennifer. There was no stress involved, just time! I had fun doing it too.
And it's consoling that I'm not the only one who takes photos of the washing!
Kee