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Another Sad Goodbye

September 15, 2012 By Janine 15 Comments

The house is a little quieter today. There's no padding of paws up the hallway, no frenzy of barking when you arrive home, no little yap to let you know you are taking a bit too long to dish out his dinner. For the first time in 10 years we are without a pet in our household. After losing Abbey earlier this year yesterday we had to say … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, Family Living, Parenting Tagged With: Chandler, Family, Family Living, Life Experience, Parenting, Pets

Mother Guilt

September 8, 2012 By Janine 13 Comments

Image from © Lime Lane Photography   Can someone please explain to me the purpose of mother guilt? You know the way mums worry, stress, feel bad, whenever they "let the children down"? It appears I have doubled booked myself this morning. This week I received one email, three text messages, and participated in two conversations about … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, Podcast Tagged With: Family, Family Living, mother guilt, Parenting

Happy Father’s Day

September 2, 2012 By Janine 6 Comments

Dad and Daughters

A quick glance of Twitter this morning you could tell the tweeters with young children, by 7.30am they were up, presents opened, breakfast done. Father's Day obligations completed children were in front of the cartoons. Problogger posted a delightful interview with his 6-year-old son who provided information on his dad's favourite food, what he … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Family, Father's Day

Team Sports – Why Do We Do It?

September 1, 2012 By Janine 20 Comments

On the sidelines at soccer.

I am exhausted this morning. Last night I played the longest, hardest game of soccer EVER. Oh all right, I was on the sideline but I swear I ran every inch of that field in my mind. It was finals night. Five minutes from the end we were leading 1 - 0. The Grand Final was in sight. Then the opposition scored. As the ref blew the final whistle we … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, Life, Parenting Tagged With: Family, Family Living, humour., Life Experience, Parenting, soccer final

How Many Computers Does One House Need?

August 31, 2012 By Janine 12 Comments

How many computers do you have in your house? We have one PC and one IPAD and frankly I don't think it is anywhere near enough. It appears that a blogging mum and two kids (one in high school and one in last year of primary) puts an impossible demand on the one, sad computer in the house. My goal of posting daily is in serious trouble, if … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Computers, Family, Family Living

This is What Happens When I Try To Be A Responsible Parent

August 22, 2012 By Janine 17 Comments

It is clear that for 90 per cent of the time I'm flying blind with this parenting gig. Look we've survived 15 years, everyone is still here, there are only a few physical scars (Princess Child had a habit of throwing herself into activities with a little more vigour than her coordination development allowed; hence front teeth damaged on slippery … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family, Family Living, Humour, Parenting Tagged With: Family, Family Living, humour., Life Experience, Parenting, raising teenagers

Random Thoughts From An Empty Mind

July 31, 2012 By Janine 12 Comments

I wonder what a genius thinks about each day? You know those random thoughts that zip in and out of our minds as we go about our daily lives. The self-talk, the wondering, the planning, the general whimsical thinking that makes up a daily conversation with yourself. I suspect a genius doesn't waste time considering who would play them in a movie … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Humour, Life Tagged With: Family, humour., Thinking

Five Things I Should Have Learnt By Now

July 25, 2012 By Janine 5 Comments

Over at Life in A Pink Fibro Alison Tait wrote a post, 10 Things I Learnt Last Week, then Alana at House Goes Home picked up the concept and ran with it to create 8 Things I didn't Learn Last Week. Now in a shameless rip-off due to limited time and little creativity I'm going with 5 Things I Should Have Learnt By Now. 1. When you start bragging … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Creativity, Family, Family Living, Women Tagged With: Family, Family Living, Parenting, Project 44

Normality, What Is It? Where Do You Get It?

July 19, 2012 By Janine 11 Comments

What's normal? I'm pondering the big questions this morning. It's because Hippie Child's art teacher finds her family "different". I asked what had given her the idea we were different, and the child replied, "the stories I tell", "what stories do you tell?", "just like the ones you tell on THE BLOG". Touche. It probably started when the teacher … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Family, humour., Normal

Anatomy of Marriage

July 13, 2012 By Janine 13 Comments

Marriage, the whole "till death us do part" thing, is a big commitment. What you don't realise in that first flush of pheromones and the heady early days is that you are committing to a whole lot more than you first thought. You are agreeing to love - even when the spouse is being an idiot. You are agreeing to honour - even when you know … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Family Living Tagged With: Anniversary, Family, Family Living, humour., Life Experience, Marriage, Wedding

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Janine Fitzpatrick is a personal blogger with an untidy house, imperfect children and no celebrity friends.

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Weekend Notes

WATCHINGI went to see Fiona O'Loughlin last night. She's the comedian who survived alcoholism, a two week coma from not realising, in her drunken state, that the heater in the dive she was living in was leaking carbon monoxide.  Then went on to spend … [Read More...]

Weekend Notes

Watching We headed to the movies this weekend and saw the latest Spike Lee film, BlacKkKlansman. It's the story of the first black cop in the Colorado Springs police force, Ron Stallworth, who in the late 70's managed to infiltrate the Ku Klux … [Read More...]

Sleepless

So I've been awake since 3.00am. In that time I've signed the family up for an organizing app which can run a joint calendar, shared shopping and to-do lists and has downloaded a series of recipes that are supposed to make my "what's for dinner" … [Read More...]

Grey stairs.

The Widow Goes On A Date

The last time I went on a first date Bob Hawke was Prime Minister, Liam Hemsworth was being born, Madonna was singing Vogue on the radio, Macaulay Culkin was being left Home Alone and Kevin Costner was Dancing with Wolves. It was a long time ago … [Read More...]

Father with two daughters.

Another Father’s Day

Hi Simon, How's things going up there? Did you have a beer with your Dad for Father's Dad? We blatantly ignored the day here. Just pretended it wasn't happening. We still think about you every day. I didn't post anything on Facebook because it … [Read More...]

Daisy flowers

Hellooo Again

  Hi, I'm just here unwrapping the dust covers, brushing down the spiderwebs and sweeping up the left-over dreams of my tiny little space on the internet. I know I've been gone almost 12-months. I'm not even sure how that happened. A … [Read More...]

A messy scrapbooking desk

Milestone Moments

Hey Simon, Despite my best intentions to ignore the milestones they keep on happening, with or without you. We celebrated your Mum's 80th birthday back in August. A rushed trip of some 1,850 kilometres all up with just four days to do the 9 hour … [Read More...]

Weekend Notes

What have you been up to this weekend? Watching  We caught Home Again in the cinema. It's the latest Reese Witherspoon film.  It's a fun little comedy. Reese plays Alice a just-turned 40 divorcing mum of two. At her birthday drinks she … [Read More...]

Picture of a beach.

Weekend Notes

  As the weekend draws to a close here's a little of what caught my eye in the last 48 hours. Watching Saw Battle of the Sexes the new Emma Stone movie about the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. Oh what a time … [Read More...]

A Bag of chips, wine, chocolate, lemonade and magazine. A parody of a bug out bag for the apocalypse.

Could You Survive The Apocalypse?

South Koreans are buying "survival bags" and turning to YouTube for tips on making it through a nuclear blast. The New York Times is writing articles on How To Survive The Apocalypse and the doomsday preppers are starting to look like the smart ones. … [Read More...]

chocolate and wine

Home Alone: The Empty Nest

The empty nest looms in my near future. One more year before the youngest heads out into the world without my micromanaging her every move. I can feel the rotor blades on my helicopter starting to slow.   I heard a whisper of what may … [Read More...]

Weekend Notes

It's a long weekend here in Australia.  So it's been a lazy time. Perfect for some catch-up TV, movies and reading.   Watching I've been enjoying Doctor Doctor it was shot in my old hometown of Mudgee and gosh it's looking … [Read More...]

iVillage

Janine Fitzpatrick is a personal blogger with an untidy house, imperfect children and no celebrity friends. Read More…

Grey stairs.
Father with two daughters.

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