/karen/

On cooking

Friday, 27 January, 2012

I realised something the other day about why I have issues with cooking and why I think I suck at it: it's because I don't understand the principles behind each recipe. (People think I'm a foodie because I take so many pictures of food, and therefore assume that I can cook and cook well. Not so: I love eating food; I hate cooking, and if I had enough money, I would totally hire a personal chef.)

Silver screen

Friday, 18 November, 2011

Because Annelise asked for it, I wanted to write a post on movie tickets and how you can somehow get by never paying full price for them. But as I started writing, I realise that there was all this other stuff surrounding the topic that I had to weed through and clear up before I could even get to that part. So here goes:

Post natal

Wednesday, 16 November, 2011

Here's something I meant to post a while ago but never quite got around to it. This year's Black Dog Institute writing competition was on the topic of post-natal depression. Even though I didn't really have it, I decided to enter. You can read the prize-winning and highly commended entries online (I particularly like the one titled “Vacuuming with the Black Dog”). Mine didn't win anything (which is fine; I wasn't expecting it to. I just wanted to write it). So I thought I would post it here. It's about 1500 words.

Mommy Holiday

Sunday, 13 November, 2011

Back in May (?) after going away on our first family holiday with Astrid, Ben and I sat down and blocked out a couple of weeks during the rest of the year when we could do something similar without going away—a staycation in which we would neglect the housework, use disposable nappies, go out for meals (or get takeaway), spend the days doing fun and slightly touristy things and generally take a break from everyday life. As I wrote in a previous post, holidaying with kids isn't the same as the way we used to holiday. I started to think that perhaps the way to actually get a decent break (the kind in which you feel recharged and regenerated) was to do something slightly different.

Astrid (at 12 months)

Saturday, 24 September, 2011

Technically Astrid's now 13 months, but I wanted to write something marking her first year of life. As always, I meant to write this post earlier than I have, but other things have taken priority.

But before we get started, I think it's probably worth me saying a few things about why I'm writing these posts. I'm not sure if I have before and I can't be bothered checking (the clock is ticking and I don't have that long to squeeze some writing in before it's back to being on parental duty). Briefly, I'm writing these posts:

• as a record for me so I remember what it's like to look after a child of this age;
• as a record for Astrid who might be curious one day to know what she was like at this age;
• (most important of all) to trace the process of becoming a mother/parent in a way that (hopefully) others who are not parents will be able to understand. In a way, I'm writing these posts for past me: I would have liked to know this stuff before Astrid was born, but I know that it was probably difficult for the friends around me who were parents to articulate it. I don't claim that it will be like this for everyone, but I hope that in chronicling what it's like for me, it might be useful in some way to you. In any case, you'll get a taste of how others live, and that in turn will (I hope) promote further understanding and empathy.

So let's begin.

Astrid (at ten and a half months)

Tuesday, 28 June, 2011

I started writing this post a month ago but never completed it. I think I'm going to have to rewrite it now. Ah well.

I tend to make notes on these posts in Evernote, and then when I think I've accumulated enough, I start writing them. Even so, I fear this will be a bit disjointed and rambly. Apologies in advance.

The Plan to Take Over the World

Wednesday, 15 June, 2011

This project, strangely enough, has been around just about as long as Astrid has—meaning that it was conceived around the time that she was (only I didn't know it at the time).

Bliss redux

Tuesday, 19 April, 2011

Just realised I never posted this to my blog. I liked the pattern for the Bliss dress I made Kurt and Kelly's daughter (see pattern) that I decided to make one for Astrid. I used Cleckheaton bamboo (125m/50g ball; colour: stone; $6/ball from Lincraft), which was a bit splitty to knit with, but otherwise felt just gorgeous:

Astrid (at almost eight months)

Friday, 08 April, 2011

I wanted to do an update at seven months but never got to it, so this will have to do. I'm also a bit zombie-ish today and am not sure how coherent this post will be but I'll do my best; please bear with me.

Fashioning (me)

Tuesday, 05 April, 2011

I've been aware for a while that I never finished my blog series on fashion (read parts 1 and 2). I have all these notes for part 3 but never got the time to put it all together. Unfortunately for you, I don't intend to do so now.

But I did want to write something about the way I dress myself. I didn't want this to be a prescriptive post; certainly how you ought to dress yourself is a matter of personal taste and style. I just thought it might be worth noting down somewhere—if only for the sake of comparison. I'm not a fashionista and don't claim to have the best taste in clothes (I can dress very daggily). But one thing that's struck me in the writing of these posts is the immense amount of freedom we have in what we wear. We are to dress modestly to cover our nakedness and not lead others into sin; we are to love others in the way we dress; and we are not to idolise fashion so that it takes the place of God; but aside from all that, there is enormous freedom in what we can wear. Furthermore, our society permits the wearing of a tremendous number and variety of garments; any given person in western society today must own more clothes than people at any other point in history. That's pretty amazing when you think about it. So I thought I would outline how I use my freedom when it comes to fashion—for interest's sake more than anything else.

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