Things I have learnt that school won’t teach me

Life

23 May 2013

Story of My Life Blog is having a Blog every day in May writing prompt and today’s is:

Things I have learnt that school won’t teach me

*A love of travel and how travel can change one’s view of the world

I think that every teenager that leaves high school after Year 12 should take at least 6months to 12 months off to live, explore and travel the world independently from their parents or caregivers.

Yes, that means by themselves. Without you: the parent.

I know that I have no research or statistics that would support this claim to be beneficial. I am sure that there are a few parents reading this going..

“What the? What would she know?”

Well, I do have a little travel bug addiction.

Many moons ago, as a baby-faced newbie adult over the years, travelled solo to California, Europe, Fiji & around Australia. I have also been to Melbourne & Sydney a few times by myself.

I have been on other travel trips overseas & interstate with my husband which obviously have a different perspective and vibe to solo travelling.

Lost luggage. Stolen cameras. Missed flights. Economy cattle class. Long-haul flights.

Beautiful sunsets. Local food. Tourist traps. Sight seeing. Once in a lifetime experiences. Accents. Freedom. Relaxation.

Getting out of your comfort zone. Out of the routine and safety of ordinary life.

Solo Travelling is the key to a richer life.

Travelling also make you appreciate home.

Which leads me to:

The Lounge

Here is what is left on My Travel Bucket list:

* Singapore (for the shopping)

*Bali, Phuket or Vietnam (I haven’t been to any of these places yet)

* A year in New York with hubby

* Visit my siblings in London

* Have a White Christmas (I am yet to see snow at 30 something years old)

* Travel around Australia in a caravan with my hubby & kids

* Gallipoli for Anzac Day

* Visit Spain & Portugal (Ole!)

Which countries are on your Bucket List?

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On my soapbox for Wednesday HumpDay

Life

22 May 2013

I am getting back to basics here on the blog.

MummyManifesto was originally created to share information & activities in Perth for families, and possibly to create a business attached to the blog.

Yet for a number of reasons, the business side of the blog has been put to the side and this blog has taken a life of it’s own. I am in a “writing for the love of it” zone at the moment with MummyManifesto.

So I thought I would join in with Story of my Life Blog: Blog every day in May. I am obviously jumping on the bandwagon, starting half way through the month but hopefully the prompts let you get to know me a little better.

Day 22: Rant about something. Get on your soapbox and tell us how you really feel.

OK…new territory for me. I am a fence-sitter from way back.

I am passionate about helping women and families bring their babies into the world with as much holistic care as possible.

I get frustrated with the rising caesarean rates as I feel that some of the reasons for making that decision aren’t always justified.

I feel that some women are struggling with fear in regards to giving birth and the need for birth interventions can be a symptom of those feelings & medical decisions.

I hate the midwife vs obstetrician wars that go on behind the scenes. I feel that birth becoming is highly medicalised and that the midwife role in it’s true form may be obsolete in time.

Midwife is loosely translated to mean “with women” in birth.

May Midwives continue to help support and empower women to birth and care for their babies. It is an amazing calling. To connect with a family in a short period of time, to encourage them to believe they can give birth in a safe and caring environment.

What are your favourite topics to rant about?

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I am confessing and grateful for some reality TV addiction

Each Monday, I have been linking up with Kirsty of My Home Truths blog for her linkup I Must Confess.

The theme this week is: Reality Shows-name your favourites..

Well I must admit: I am a Block-a-holic and I have now converted my husband with last season’s show of The Block. Mr Manifesto hates reality shows but by the end of last season, he was the first to change the TV channel over to The Block. We love the room reveals (Before & Afters), we also love The Block Unlocked part of the show where the judges let loose with their comments about the rooms & contestants. The bitchiness and fighting we are not fans of at all. It will be interesting to see how this seasons go…especially as things aren’t looking too good for WA on the show at the moment.

I get into Masterchef when it is down to the last 10 finalists, but since I have started my blog I don’t really have time to watch all the shows I would like to.

Deb over at Home Life Simplified is talking Gratitude on her Listmania Linkup this week.

What am I grateful for?

# I am grateful for my husband taking care of me this week as I have been sick (flu & conjunctivitis) for 2 weeks now. Slowly on the mend but hubby took our kids out on late Saturday morning so I could sleep-Yay!!

# I am grateful that I went to see my son’s first hockey tryout on Saturday morning even though it was at 8.30am and it rained. Mr 5 is not naturally athletic & a little shy so it was great to see him get right in there and give his hockey skills a go.

# I am grateful for some home-cooking. I made two soups, beef & spinach lasagne, tuna casserole and heaps of steamed veggies this week to get me back into tip top shape.

# I am grateful to the new blogging & writing connections I have made over the last week. I have been introduced to some wonderful people who have helped me focus my blog direction as well as help me feel welcome in the blogosphere. Especially since most of the time I feel I am writing to me, myself and I.

# I am grateful that my footy team won- go West Coast Eagles!! (Just.)

# I am grateful I got to spend Mother’s Day with my hubby & 3 boys as it was also my son’s 1st birthday the same day. I spent last year recovering from childbirth which was very tiring and I couldn’t really spend quality time with the other 2 boys as they spent the most of the time with family while I recovered at home.

Ok, thats all I can think about this week…please make the effort to visit the other linkups and find some more wonderful blogs to read.

What reality shows float your boat? What are you grateful for in your life?

We have a Winner!!

We have a winner!!

Thanks to everyone who went into the draw for the Crafty Expat Giveaway to win Rita’s beautiful hand made scarf.

Miss Cinders from Saturday Morning Ogre Mum

“I LOVE Rita’s blog! Se’s a clever cookie that one, and her tutorials are fabulous.

You’ve actually reminded me I must send Rita my fave piece of writing for the Love of Literature! I keep forgetting!

Hmm what skill would I like to possess? I think it would have to be better time management. Like Rita I love to crochet, and knit, and I like to sew too, but time always has me not getting to them – and dodgey hands!”

So congratulations to Miss Cinders, I will email you to confirm your postal address…Thanks to Rita for making such a beautiful gift for the give-away.

XXX

Lisa

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Can’t wait to hear from you!

Why I became a Midwife…

Every week I have been sharing my midwifery experiences and how I see the society’s view on birth. Please be aware I am not discussing individual patients/clients cases or specific situations especially those that would identify people. This blog post is about my general points of view on society’s issues with birth and midwifery.

Why I became a Midwife…

It took me a long time to get to where I am now.

I have never felt that I had any special talents or gifts growing up.

I was Miss Average. There was never anything I did, that I felt came naturally to me. I never flew above the radar or hit rock bottom. I just kept plodding along, hoping that one day I would end up where I was supposed to be.

Whatever that was.

During my last years of school, I got accepted into a Hospitality College in Perth. I gave up after that. Just bided my time until I could start my new life in the big smoke.

I spent the next few years in hospitality, working at various jobs, saving money, paying bills and thinking “Why am I working so hard, but not really getting anywhere?”

I somehow managed to combine TAFE studies at night with waitressing jobs to be trained in aged care. I made the switch to caring for the elderly.

As time went on, I applied as a mature aged student at university to study nursing. I still can’t believe I got in.

Three years of university, one year rotating around the hospital.

Where to now? Where did I want to spend my nursing career pounding the hospital hallways?

A chance conversation with another graduate nurse, who was applying to be a midwifery student the following year, sealed the deal. Back to university to complete the one year degree.

Midwifery hasn’t been an easy road either. In fact, that year of study has been one of the hardest of my life. Juggling 4-5 shifts a week work with studying full-time, planning a wedding and paying a mortgage.

Being a midwife is a privilege.

But it has it’s downsides. I find it so very hard to come to terms with the complications that occur, the rare still-births or tragic events that can happen in those moments. As I work at a high-risk hospital, we see a lot of circumstances that sometimes seem so unfathomable and unfair.

Since I qualified as a midwife I have been pregnant 3 times myself. Occupational Hazard? Maybe. Or addicted to the newborn rush of love.

Seeing that first moment where that baby meets their parents. Magic. Those chubby, pink arms reaching out, instinctively asking to be brought to their mother’s chest. The tears that usually roll down the father’s cheek, sheer happiness. Blue eyes (newborns eyes are always blue) open wide, taking in the face of a mother. A small (or sometimes loud) cry fills the room. Relief that baby has taken it’s first breathe. The safe arrival of the baby now snuggled into the parents arms.

My name is Lisa and I get paid to catch babies.

And guess what? I might even have a talent for it.

Now tell me, who else has a better job than that?

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Just a reminder that the gorgeous scarf giveaway that Rita of The Crafty Expat has knitted for MummyManifesto readers finishes this Sunday.

Check it out here

The Crafty Expat Knitting Tutorial-Guest Post

Linking up with Trish of My Little Drummer Boys blog for Wordless Wednesday.

Editor Note: I recently asked Rita from The Crafty Expat to guest post for MummyManifesto. I ended up not going ahead with the Learning New Skills series but still to wanted to feature Rita’s blog. I hope you enjoy her tutorial.

Guest Post: The Crafty Expat Knitting Tutorial

Lisa kindly asked me to do a guest post for her series “Learning New Skills as an Adult”. I taught myself to knit in 2009 when I was waiting for my visa to come to Australia. Knitting is one of my favourite hobbies, it helps me to relax and I also love to see the final product which I created. Here’s a tutorial on how to knit a scarf with the ruffle yarn. It’s very easy to knit with this type of yarn. I made a few scarves like this one which I offered as gifts and I’m yet to do one for myself!

Knitting tutorial

What you need:

Materials:

- 1 ball of ruffle yarn

- Knitting needles size 5

- You will also need a wool needle

2- Stretch the yarn and cast on the edge of the yarn on one of the knitting needles.

3- Cast on 6 stitches. These are not the regular stitches. It’s just inserting the yarn in the needle with about 1 inch between each stitch (2.5 cm). Hold this knitting needle with your left hand.

4- Hold the other knitting needle with the right hand and insert it into the first stitch on the left-hand needle. Don’t forget to knit on the edge of the yarn.

5- Insert the yarn in the right-hand needle leaving a space of about 1 inch (2.5 cm).

6- Bring the yarn into the hole of the first stitch on the left-hand needle.

7- Drop the first stitch of the left-hand needle. You have now one stitch on the right-hand needle.

8- Repeat this technique again for the remaining 5 stitches on the left-hand needle.

9- This is the first row: 6 stitches are now on the right-hand needle. Hold the needle with all the stitches in the left hand and repeat.

10- Repeat this technique again for all the stitches and create new rows.

11.Leave about 16 inches (40 cm) of yarn to finish up the scarf and casting off.

12- Knit two stitches (step 4-5-6-7).

13- Insert the left-hand needle in the first stitch of the right-hand needle.

14- Use the left-hand needle to lift this stitch up over the other stitch and off the right hand needle.

15- Drop this stitch. You now have one stitch on the right-hand needle and four on the left one.

16- Knit another stitch.

17- Repeat steps 13-14-15-16 for all the stitches on the left-hand needle.

18- When you casted off all the stitches of the left-hand needle and have one stitch on the right one, drop this stitch and pass the yarn into this last stitch.