Tuesday 3 April 2012

Your Turn - What's Working?


I was going to write something scratchy-violin-ish about raising siblings, but I don't want to do that any more.  I want to write something positive. I want to read something positive. In fact, I want to read LOTS of somethings positive.  So, who's in the mood for another link up? I would love you to write a blog post to tell us - what's working well in your house or your life? 

This is the kind of stuff that's working in my house at the moment: I'm in love with my kitchen timer. I might write about that.  Or maybe I'll write about how I still bottle-feed my nearly-three year olds every morning. Or perhaps I'll just tell you about the flash of genius I had recently that inspired me to invent the caramel popcorn smoothie last weekend. (Please don't tell me if someone else has already invented this. I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, it's miiiiiiiiiiine).   So much for my life - I want to know: what's working in yours? How are you managing your kids? How are you managing not having any kids? Have you given away your car? Have you decided to shower only once a week?  Are you using guilt about your messed-up childhood to trap your mother into babysitting more often? 

What can we learn from what you are doing? Kids, no kids, work, food, friendships, relationships, schooling.... no matter how overwhelming life feels, we're all doing something right... right?  Let's pool our smarts. If you want a slightly more specific prompt, you can answer the question: "If I could give other women one piece of advice, it would be......" (and you are NOT allowed to say 'just relax and find your own path and don't worry about other women judging you' because that's kind of annoying. Also, people who say that always make me feel judged because apparently I'm not relaxed enough). If you really can't think of anything, give us your favourite easy week night recipe. Or maybe what's working for you is that you've given up cooking altogether. In which case give us the telephone number of your favourite pizza guy. You get the picture.

Here's the linky - I would love it if you could write a post about what's working well right now in your life and add it by Wednesday 12 April. Inspire me!  Who's in? 


(Remember - please link to the post you write, not your whole blog otherwise Mr Linky gets confused).



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And speaking of inspiration, I am hugely inspired by this lady. Have you seen this beautiful quilt that she made? She made this lovely thing with a daughter in mind: 

and embroidered it by hand: 


and now she's selling it to raise money for donations for her forthcoming trip to Ethiopia to meet her precious son! She asked a few of us how much she should charge for raffle tickets, and our first response was 'don't sell it! It's too beautiful!'  But she said no, she really wants to use the quilt to raise money. And then we all said she should charge at least $10 for a ticket (because, hey, it's beautiful).  But luck is on your side, people, because she's only charging $5. So now you can buy twice as many. 

Did I mention that all the money she raises is going to be used to buy supplies for her son's first orphanage and a few other equally worthy projects? And that she's going to buy everything in-country so she can support local suppliers? And that tickets are only $5? You should buy lots of tickets, and then you should get your friends to buy lots of tickets too. (But not too may because I want to win). Click on the link below and find out how. 

In short: Beautiful quilt. Beautiful family. Really good cause. Also, some embroidery of an elephant's butt, but you'll have to click over and read the full story, together with details of how to buy tickets to see that.

This is such a beautiful thing. I love that she's using it to raise money. Let's make sure she raises a lot! 

49 comments:

  1. Fantastic idea! Hmmm, what on earth would I write about though? I feel like right at this moment not much is working out splendidly. OH WAIT, my reading time is going great! :)

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    1. Marcia, you are one of the most organised and intentional people I have ever 'met' - I find it very hard to believe you don't have about eighty things to choose from :)

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    2. This comment just made my day!!!

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  2. I passed my Social Work competency exam and moved up a belt level in karate all in the same week. Woot! That's working pretty well for me right now. And my toddler is behaving today. Hallelujah.

    Love the quilt.

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    1. Oh wow - you have had an amazing week! Congratulations on your exam - that's great! AND the karate... AND getting your toddler to behave - you're practically on fire. I'm in awe!

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  3. ooohhhh...you've inspired me. I'll have to go write something at my virtual house!

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  4. Diva Maman... you were first by a long way! I think it will be days and days before any of the rest of us get our act together :)

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    1. Claudia, I was needing it. As you can see, it's been a tough couple months at Chateau des Divas.

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  5. This is a fantastic idea! Looking forward to everyones posts.

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  6. Ricearoni is working for me. It's sticky and stays on Million's spoon about 90% of the time when he's feeding himself. However, it's not worth a blog post, because I'll only write guilty apologies to appease my psyche for feeding my son garbage in the name of silverware training.

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    1. There is NO need to apologise for ricearoni. If it's working, I say celebrate it. I would be jumping up and down if my two would eat ricearoni!

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  7. I'm sure I can come up with something.....I did just post a couple of snack recipes that are really working for me and my kids, but maybe I can do better than that. I'll think on it.

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    1. Do both! Do your snacks AND write something new. Not that I'm greedy, but... yeah okay I am. But it would be great.

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  8. Alright lady, you just forced (I mean inspired) me to finally get around to writing back what's working (and what isn't) in regards to our recent older child adoption, attachment, etc. Now to actually practice what I preach and get off the internet and quit ignoring my kids.

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    1. S, that is possibly even more interesting than my popcorn smoothie idea. Possibly. You know. Maybe.

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  9. Hi Claudia
    So I don't have a blog so I won't be linking, BUT I will put in my two cents anyway... what's working for me is that I keep the bedtime routine exactly the same every single night, down to setting a timer while they're in the tub, keeping the same order of routine for brushing teeth, vitamins etc and singing the exact same songs before they fall asleep in bed. I've been doing this for a few years now and I'm really glad I have because I know other families who have a complete disaster every night at bedtime. Mine go straight to sleep without protest, usually by 7:30. Now if I could just figure out the rest of my life.......
    Hope you're well, I hear the weather has deteriorated just in time for Easter. :-(
    Amy x

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    1. Yep... it's cloudy and FREEZING. D'oh.

      I love your ultra-consistent bedtime. Respect! I love that you even sing the same songs. Love it!

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  10. Oh dear, not much is working for me, though getting Mr Spouse to do the two night time feeds works OK - not sure it will be a permanent solution!

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    1. Oh no, I'm sorry about the 'not much is working' feeling. I know that feeling. I'm really glad Mr Spouse is doing the night feeds - that's great. Hopefully that is helping with the long days on your own???

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  11. I just did the unthinkable, I used the same post for two different link ups. Sue me, I am tired. It's a long one, and the second half might actually be useful for folks. ;)

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    1. Yep, I am definitely going to sue you for that. I hope you've got DEEP pockets, scoopy.

      Really glad you linked it here too. I didn't realise Jamey was doing a linkup too until after I did this one - nothing like a bit of timing, huh??

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  12. Done! That's a lovely idea for spring Claudia. I'm looking forward to some inspiration from the blogosphere.

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    1. Your post was lovely and spring-y. I love reading what is working for other people - so much ordinary stuff is really going so much better than we (okay I) think. I think.

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  13. You linked to me and I didn't even know it! I only scrolled down to the Mr. Linky thing. I'm gonna write about what's working here, I swear.

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    1. Of course I linked to you, C!!! How could I not link to that beautiful thing??? I hope other people didn't stop at the linky like you - I didn't think of that. [Insert frowny face emoticon here]

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  14. Thanks for the great idea! I've been feeling pessimistic for a couple of days but when I read your post I started thinking of all the great things happening right now for us. And, I've enjoyed find some new blogs too:)

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    1. I'm really glad it made you feel more optimistic, Lindsay... while I'm trying to thin about what to write, I've been finding the same thing - oh, there ARE actually a lot of things that are working. Probably more than I realised. Hooray, right?

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  15. Okay, I've done it. Writing the list wasn't the hard part, but linking here took guts (and half a bar of dark chocolate).

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    1. YAY! Well done. Aaaaaand... if there's half a bar of chocolate left, can I have it? I'd love some chocolate right now.

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  16. Ok I did it. Let me know if it worked. Last time I tried it I was a disaster. I'm kind of a dumbass with these things. Great idea. Love to you

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    1. Oh yeah, I remember that! I do'nt remember why it kept going wrong but I do remember that it was hilarious. Fortunately / unfortunately (in terms of amusement value for me), it's worked perfectly this time. Off to read it!

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  17. Ok, I am de-lurking to link :-)

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  18. I have added my post. Thanks for this. Your timing and motivation is a bit spooky to me ... needed to focus on the positive. Thank you!

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  19. A lovely idea. Linking complete.

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  20. I think mine is, comparatively, fluff... but hey, it's what's working.

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  21. I need this today....thanks for helping me stay in what IS working.

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  22. Somehow I managed to link to an old link on your site first. Sorry. The 2nd "fiddlehead" is the What's Working post!

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  23. Linked because I love you (and Haiku - I still love Haiku)

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  24. Sorry for mine seeming all unicorns and rainbows.

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  25. And I've linked - nothing deep or insightful but a few things that I have found help me throughout the week

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  26. All linked-up. Not my best piece of writing, but I think I got my point across. Thanks for putting together the link-up. Now I get to go read what everyone ele wrote.

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  27. Cheers my dearest!

    xoxo, Ingrid

    PS- Thanks for getting me going again....

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  28. I've been home for approximately 3 days with my two little ones, so right now I know NOTHING about what works. I do know, however, that I'm grateful for these posts. I have much, much to learn.

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  29. Newby!
    No idea how these things work so...hope I got it right.

    Anyway, thanks!

    And I will be posting about my OPI polish as soon as I have pictures to post. :)

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  30. Just did it now. I'm always late....

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  31. And I'm back... I've just discovered something else that actually works, whoooo hooo! (Hope the book is going well.)

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Over to you!