The Shape of a Mother

With Layla's first birthday in 6 days' time, it is with amazement that I've watched her sleep cycles change like clockwork from the newborn's every-45-minutes to the 12 month old's one midday-nap. She's been awake for 8 hours now, and upstairs, Craig's muted voice singing her to sleep carries gently down to me, reminding me of how precious and sweet is life. Initially I grabbed the laptop to write my encounter with a particularly complicated Benagli aubergine recipe and its curdled outcome, but I got sidetracked (what's new?!) and found a website, Juxatapoz, about artists working from the expat perspective. I guess this post should actually be on my Soutpiel blog, but what the heck?! (After asking Craig for a drop more vino or a cup of rooibos, I can hear from the tinkling of a stirring spoon that he decided I needed the tea!) Oh bugger - and now one of my favourite TV shows is coming on... What to do?! OK, I'll add to this tomorrow.

..................Yesterday, researching different ways to promote my blog and increase my readership, I discovered this thing called 'blog carnivals'. My addled mommy's-brain couldn't quite wrap itself around all the technicalities of getting it set up, so I've cancelled my account. I'm finding it critical, these (Layla-filled) days, to keep everything as simple as possible. Perhaps it is better to have quality of readership than quantity. (You're nodding your head in agreement, aren't you?) Do any of you have any recommendations re: my buying a netbook? Being interrupted for others to use my current laptop is driving me absolutely bloody bananas! Another thing is that it's not as portable as a netbook is, and this laptop's battery is maar 'n bietjie pap. Should I be wary of 'refurbished' ones on eBay? Other than feeling incredibly irritated that I don't have free reign on MY laptop, I am happily pottering around with a number of creative projects, one of which is a crocheted oval rug made from old t-shirts. Another is the revamping of my current wardrobe because I am still living that fabulous maxim of 'BE MORE, DON'T BUY MORE' (because even if I wanted to, I couldn't buy more!) and also because this new motherly body of mine has different needs in terms of coverage, accessibility, stain resistance/camouflage etc.

Oh well... that was a pretty blah blog entry... Something more juicy tomorrow, I promise :)