Lady of Leisure

I used to work 10 hour days, sometimes longer, with a couple of 24 hour shifts thrown in for good measure. 

I've since swapped that for 24 hour days, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I wear many hats, running the gamut from chauffeur to cook to teacher to babysitter, all under the guise of 'Mum'.

So it's a source of great amusement when people assume that I'm a lady of leisure, now that I no longer have a 'proper' job. 

One of the things I ended up doing recently was help paint the backdrop for a concert

 at school. This was a photo a friend, and fellow 'lady of leisure', snapped one day :

So...proof at last that being a stay-at-home mum isn't all lunches and beauty salons...it's more doing whatever it takes for your kids, even if it means painting one handed and looking a total mess!

Who are your Friends?

I recently made a minibook dedicated to friends for a class at Smidapaper to be held in November.  

It is a tribute to some of my closest friends...the ones who accept me for who I am, the ones I can talk to about anything, the ones who I can truly be frank and open with. 

Some of them I've known just a short while, some practically forever! I am lucky to be able to call these wonderful people friends, and to show, in a small way, how much I value their friendship.

This is even more significant as my soon to be teenage daughter has been having a rocky time with some of her friends. A common enough problem amongst teenagers, I know, but to one whose loyalties are being tested, or is experiencing firsthand  how fickle some friendships can be...it can be a very painful time.

I hope I have been able to impress on her the importance of believing in herself, the importance of choosing her friends wisely... those who love her for who she is, not what she can do for them, who are a positive influence on her,  and whose friendship she will treasure, perhaps for a lifetime.