Maiah's Visual Bucket List - Why I'm Helping a Dream Come True

Some of you might be wondering why I'm sharing a link to a Go Fund Me page to raise money for someone you've never heard of?

Well it's one of those things. Up until recently I had never heard of Maiah either. In fact her and her mother, Mandy are total strangers. Well at least they were when I first heard about them.

A few weeks ago I was reading through some comments (dangerous I know!) on a story that was shared in a post by Kidspot, which is a great online community for all things parenting relating. The post was about a woman receiving money from a radio station and other kind-hearted listeners after she had told the story of her plight of trying to find the money for therapies for her ASD child. Some comments were pointing out the fact that some of the money raised was going towards a Disneyland trip did not sit well with them. Now I don't wish to create a debate about that case … Rather to set the scene.

Because the comment that spoke to me was written by Mandy who said simply that she would love to just have the money to take her vision impaired daughter to the theme parks on the Gold Coast before she goes blind.

For some reason I couldn't get it out of my head. The idea that of all the things a child could put on a wish list she simply wanted to do what so many other kids get to do, go to the major theme parks. Plus the idea that she could actually go blind one day without ever having been able to have a theme park holiday just sounded wrong to me. Surely there was something that could be done? Living on the Gold Coast I find plenty of us take the theme parks for granted. Some kids get to go every weekend. But just one visit would be a dream come true for this one young girl and I just felt I had to try and help.

So I contacted Kidspot who got in touch with Mandy and it was agreed I could set up a Go Fund Me account. I've since spoke to Mandy who graciously told me more about her amazing daughter. I made no promises about what we might achieve as I'm hardly the type of person that makes posts go viral. However I felt I had to at least try to help.

The more I found out about Maiah the more I wanted to help. Here is a girl that has been going blind her whole life due to having a form of Rod Cones Dystrophy. Her night vision is completely gone and her peripheral vision is better than her front on vision which means she often turns her head in an attempt to make sense of her environment. So she is already vision impaired but it will progress and one day she will go completely blind. Plus recently she was also diagnosed with epilepsy.

Through all this Maiah is a happy, friendly 13 year old who loves her sisters and longs to work with animals.

She has a simple visual bucket list which lists things she would like to do before she loses her sight completely. Well I think it is a relatively simple list considering what some kids might ask for.

Her list is:

1. To see the theme parks on the Gold Coast
2. To go to Australia Zoo and meet Bindi
3. To swim with dolphins
4. To meet Luke and Cody from House Rules.

I don't know if we will be able to manage all those things. But surely we can manage to get enough money together to give this family a trip of a lifetime? Mandy and her partner have 5 children between them and have never had a family holiday. Those of us who are parents can well imagine how much Mandy wants to bring her daughter’s dream to fruition but has simply never been able to do so.

So below is the link to the campaign. I know it's often said but it really does stand in this case and that is that even a few dollars will help. If lots of people donate a few dollars then Maiah could well get her dream holiday.  If you genuinely can't spare a few dollars then that is fine too and I totally understand - but please think about sharing the link so we can get as many people knowing about this as possible.

Thanks in advance for helping!

https://www.gofundme.com/2dr9ezw

#7 Photograph of the Town You Live in.

I'm doing the Odd May Blog Challenge in an odd way. I'm doing the 7th on the 9th. Then again I probably won't do #9 since as much as I love cooking I rarely follow recipes so couldn't think of one to share.

So here is a photo of the 'town' I live in. Technically I live in a suburb of the Gold Coast so I suppose I could have used a photo of any part of the Gold Coast. But I figured since the little pocket I inhabit is actually quite lovely I would share a simple photo taken not far from home!

Cheers.

#5 - 15 Facts about YOU

So here is the challenge for May 5th in the Odd May Blog Challenge. I must admit the thought of listing 15 facts about me had me a little puzzled. I figured facts were different to what I thought about myself or the usual listing your strengths or positive traits. Then I thought listing simple facts might not make for great reading so do I elaborate or not?

Anyway I put away my crazy train of thought away and just did it. Here they are -

1. I have blue eyes and fair skin. The blue eyes are often complimented upon most notably once when I was in a dentists chair with so much stuff in my mouth keeping it open that my mumbled 'thank you' could have sounded like anything.

2. My ancestry as far as I know is a combo of English, Scottish, and Irish. I'd dearly love to find some Welsh.

3. My maiden name is Sneyd. It is a relatively rare surname and has an interesting history. The Sneyd family had a grand ancestral home in Stoke on Trent in England, Keele Hall. It is now a university.

4. I have no real 'favourite' anything. When people ask what is my favourite colour, film, TV show, food, band or song etc I honestly can't answer. I have such varied tastes that I could never choose just one of any of these things.

5. I'll stand by what I believe in - I'm steadfast. This fact comes courtesy of my husband, David. This was his response when I asked him for a fact about me!

6. I have an awesome husband! 😉 Plus a super awesome, smart, crazy son named Sachell. ( see second photo)

7. I'm a survivor of chronic illness.

8. I grew up watching Rugby League and am a passionate Wests Tigers fan.

9. I grew up in Marrickville, in the inner west of Sydney.

10. I have an irrational fear of dying of thirst in the desert. This came about after watching a mini series about one of my heroes, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. It depicted the incident where the pilots Keith Anderson and Bob Hitchcock crashed their plane in the Tanami desert and perished. Hence why I've never done the epic journey across the Nullarbor Plain and probably never will!

11. Strangely though I don't have a problem flying in planes!

12. I can name the English line of succession from 1066 by memory.

13. I've never had a broken bone (touch wood!)

14. I currently live on the Gold Coast in Queensland. ( see photo - such a beautiful place!)

15. I hate hot weather ... So yes I live in the entirely wrong place ...

#3 Make a Wish list Collage

So I'm a day late with my second post for the Odd May Blog Challenge. But this is the brilliance of the idea in that you post every second day so being a day late can totally work. Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it ...

Anyway a collage of my wish list? Well I could have gone all out and made it a big craft project which would have been fun and is perhaps something I should do one day. Whether you call it a vision board or a collage or whatever there are some major positives in creating a visual reminder of what you want from life.

But instead I decided to make something digital using some photos and text. It was simple to put together and I knew if I planned anything too ambitious it probably wouldn't get done.

I also decided to limit it to a few things. I mean there is nothing wrong with wishing for a mansion or a million dollars and things like that but I wanted to narrow it and think about a few things that are simple but still very much wanted. I decided also to go with the first few things that came into my mind - no censorship.

So here is my collage.

My small wish list is for me to:

1. Travel more. I love travel and hope to see a lot more places before I die. The picture is from a recent trip to Japan.

2. Have more pain free days. Given my health conditions ( fibromyalgia amongst others) I find myself always wanting more pain free days where I can get things done. I know every day won't be a pain free day but a few more would be nice!

3. A claw foot bath. I've always wanted one. I love taking baths. They are the ultimate in pampering and luxury for me and I would love a traditional looking claw foot bath in a huge bathroom.

4. More visits to the Theatre. My first real writing gig was for a Theatre website (www.theatrepeople.com.au) and as much as I've always enjoyed the theatre there are so many shows out there just waiting to be seen by me. If I could I would go every week! But maybe once a month or so is doable. Let's see.

5. My own gorgeous study or library or both combined. I'd love something that looks like it came from an old English drawing room full of history and character. It would be wonderful even if it would probably not go with the decor in the rest of the house!

So there you have it. Will see you again tomorrow for #5 - well hopefully tomorrow!

#The Meaning Behind Your Blog Name

This could prove to be a rather dull tale I'm afraid. My blog name is simply to be consistent with my identity as a writer. So it's basically my name.

But I can at least explain the  'Wordsmith' part. I wanted to have one word that would describe me as a writer that I could use across all platforms and that was a little bit different.

Writer was too obvious and I haven't written a book yet so author would be confusing (I've written short stories).

So I wanted a word to encompass all the writing I do and the love of the written word I have. So wordsmith popped into my head. I've often wondered if it sounds a bit pretentious but I don't really care now.

I love the old fashioned nature of the word and the alliteration is cool. Shame my first name doesn't start with a W really ...

A cautionary tale about an all-natural 'super food'

There has been a fair bit in the media recently about people becoming ill (or worse) due to natural or herbal products. My general attitude is that just because something is natural doesn't mean it isn't harmful and we really should remember that almost anything in excess can harm or kill you. You can overdose on water for instance, yet we can't survive without it. Plus let's all remember that some of the most toxic substances on Earth are natural.

Most people who know me know I am a balance kind of person. I try to eat mostly pretty well and use supplements where there is benefit. A lot of my attitude to food and eating has to do with the fact I once suffered from an eating disorder and since I recovered I am very wary of diets or restrictive eating in any form. But a lot of it too, I like to think, is common sense and not wanting to believe fads without at least looking into it first. Of course the fact that I'm not giving up chocolate, twisties, pasta or certain other yummy foods any time soon has a lot to do with the whole 'balance' thing!

So here we have a cautionary tale coming from me, someone who should have known better. I have been suffering digestive upsets recently, often quite severe. Some might assume I must be eating really badly or else they 'helpfully' recommend I cut out gluten, milk or any other such thing that is considered the latest big bad wolf of food. I may even get dirty looks for not having drunk a green smoothie this past week .... or you know .... Ever!

So it was with some surprise that I have discovered that my problem substance is in a fact something that has been touted as being good for me, labelled as a super food ( I hate that term!) and isn't involved in the production of twisties or freddo frogs or any such things. It is in fact Maca.

Yes that incredible substance everyone is telling you to eat! Proponents claim that Maca balances your hormones, gives you energy, increases your sex drive, supplies high doses of certain vitamins and more. Well it possibly can if you look at what it is and how it actually works. So in other words, if you step back from our crazy western obsession with foods of the moment, our habit of 'discovering' staples from subsistence farmers, and our pretentious assumption that we must know better, there may be something there ... but look with caution. 

Because those subsistence farming people do know their stuff, a lot better than us as it turns out. A Peruvian might indeed prefer their Maca to be organic and labeled vegan, who knows? But they would never eat it raw, as is the form it often comes to our health food shops in. For thousands of years the Peruvians have respected the Maca plant, used it in moderation and cooked it! Because raw it causes severe digestive problems, such as I have been experiencing. I do wonder if they are all laughing at us? Raw Maca? Seriously? Crazy, stupid sanctimonious western morons! 

Yep pretty much sums us up huh? The realisation that perhaps it could be causing my problems started to solidify very quickly when I took to google. If you search 'does Maca cause digestive problems?' you will find some very valuable and thought provoking reading. As much as I have suffered, I have found tales of people with severe digestive discomfort weeks or even months after they last ingested the stuff. They too googled their query too late.

So sometimes something touted as healthy can cause more harm than good if you don't understand what the product is and how it works. Maca is a plant and cooking it doesn't strip away the vitamins or any other such rubbish you might have heard about cooking, it actually takes away all the stuff that is indigestible. Additionally raw Maca can harbour dangerous bacteria which if ingested can cause severe problems of their own. None of which is stated on the packet of the stuff you are intended to throw in your smoothies, or even on the bottle of the capsules. 

If you want to use Maca as a supplement, show caution. It may be there are a lot of benefits if you eat it cooked as part of a balanced diet, in small amounts, a few times a week like the Peruvians do. But even if you get the gelatinised versions ( cooked so therefore digestible) who knows what large amounts of the stuff shoved into a daily smoothie might be doing? Maybe it is in fact making us stronger, wiser, more effervescent and overall more healthy ... Or maybe not.

So my cautionary tale is this .... natural doesn't mean it can't harm you, raw isn't always best and you shouldn't ingest anything new without first researching it. Because chances are anything negative isn't making it onto the packaging, especially if the words 'super food' are involved. 

But I Wanna See the Monkeys!!

So it is about time I shared some of my tales from my latest holiday to Japan. It was December 2015 so you know, better late than never! Here is a tale about how I managed to overcome obstacles and visit the amazing Monkey Park at Arashiyama. Enjoy!

Sometimes having a chronic illness can put a dent in holiday plans. I certainly don't have huge amounts of stamina but I manage with good meds and plenty of rest. Plus coffee and sugar can help too!

Our latest trip this past December (2015) was to Japan. We have been twice before but this was our first time visiting Osaka and Kyoto. One of the things on our to-do list was to visit Arashiyama whilst in Kyoto. It promised a lot and delivered. It was a gorgeous little town with outstanding scenery and an old world feel. It was spectacular. One thing that was a must while there was to visit the Monkey Park. The Park is high up a mountain and has become popular because the monkeys seem to like it and so stay there. A ready-made tourist attraction.

                                                         

The Japanese Macaques Monkeys have been an attraction for many years. There are approximately 120-150 monkeys currently living there and they are all named. There are very strict rules about how visitors can interact with the monkeys. No touching or feeding the monkeys, (you can feed them from inside the visitors hut) or making eye contact with them. These are still wild animals after all, even if they do not bat an eyelid at the amount of humans who visit every day.

Now I knew it would be a climb. You just have to look at the pictures online to realise how high up it was. I really wanted to go though, so decided we just had to.

Well aside from my chronic illness I was also by this point - about 8 days into a 10 day trip, very tired and sore. I imagine most people would have been with the amount of walking we had done. We had visited so many places and we had walked and walked.... Though mostly it was flat and not hiking up a mountain.

So imagine me - tired and sore at the best of times now attempting a walk fit people would struggle to do. It was entirely uphill and was said to take approximately 20 minutes (I think we took longer) and once you got to the top you were at 160m above sea level.

So we started off. There is a massive stairway that gets you so far and is hard going. I saw other people out of breath and stopping for a rest. After this you were still probably less than 1/4 of the way. There were more stairs at various points but mostly it was a zig zagging rough path that was incredibly steep.

Now after those stairs I was tired and sore and a bit out of breath but I was still keen. Around a couple of more bends each with seats to rest on. When I started getting wobbly I made a game with myself and would say ok 50 steps and then rest. This worked for a while. Just about half way or maybe a bit over we rested on a bench and I noticed the large map on a billboard.

I sighed and panicked. I could barely move by this point and the map showed me just how far we still had to go. I felt defeated, no amount of trying would get me there. People walked past going up and people walked past going down. One of whom was smoking a cigarette which seemed like a cruel jest. Even someone who smokes can make it up there!

So I told my husband David that that was it, he would have to go alone. He didn't want to go alone and suggested we simply turn back. I didn't respond straight away. I felt too fatigued to even get up and walk downhill. But a part of me was rebelling. Each time I said to myself or out loud that I could never make it a little voice inside me screamed 'but I wanna see the monkeys!' The more I expressed that I couldn't do it the louder that little voice inside me grew.

I'm still not sure entirely what happened. Perhaps it was that we had paid for our tickets, or that I didn't want to let David down. Or perhaps simply it was my love of animals and the fact that I really wanted to see the monkeys. Because if it had simply been a walk for the view then I would have turned back ... Ticket and all.

But we didn't turn back. I took a deep breath, and headed on and I said that we would go a bit further and see what happens. Though I knew I was actually determined to get to the top no matter what.

So we did it! Well I did it. I imagine David would have been able to do it without the hesitation and doubt. As soon as we first sighted the monkeys I knew it had been worth it. They were adorable. We watched some frolic near stones around a pond including a little baby tentatively taking a drink and trying to avoid the large well fed koi that were resident.

After a quick peek at the view we went into the little visitors hut to have hot coffee in a can (the Japanese are so clever with these thing) and to purchase food to feed the monkeys. You are required to feed them through the bars from inside the hut and not outside in the open. Presumably so they don't get too hungry and attack! So armed with my apple pieces and peanuts I proceeded to feed the monkeys.

Each monkey was an individual, though their place in the family quite obvious, There was a couple of old ones. One in particular looked like quite an elderly gent and had what seemed to be a glaucoma in one eye. His movements were very slow and deliberate. He stuffed two peanuts in his mouth and held onto a piece of apple before he departed ... No doubt he wanted to go and snack slowly and in peace!

There were some younger ones who were slightly smaller. They were fairly fast and very hungry but they were no match for the alpha males. While feeding a juvenile I heard a noise coming from the roof. The juveniles jumped down quickly just as a large monkey popped down for the roof and held out his hand to me greedily, obviously what he says goes! He was very greedy. So much so I had to get to a point where I told him firmly that there was one more piece of each for him and that was his lot!

Even the baby came for a snack. His movements were erratic and a bit clumsy and unlike his elders he took one peanut and spent an age chewing on it. Also once he left the hut he almost walked straight off the edge of the mountain, but he was saved as another monkey gently put his hand in the way and pushed him back. I don't think it was his mother, possibly an uncle or aunt or cousin. I imagine they take turns watching the baby and stop him from going off the side a few dozen times each day!

Strangely each monkey took the food from my hand very gently and graciously. I lay my hand out flat with the food on my palm and they carefully reached through the bars with one hand and took it then put it in their mouth. It really felt like they were saying 'Oh an apple piece? For me? I don't mind if I do. Thank you!'

After leaving the hut, we enjoyed the panoramic view some more and then headed down. I was dizzy with wonder and amazement by now plus going down was obviously a lot easier and used different muscles. At one point David pointed and said 'that is where you almost gave up.' It was powerful and I wondered how I ever could have thought of not making it to top ... Even if David had actually pointed to the wrong spot...

On the way down I saw people heading up looking bright red, out of breath and exhausted. I wished I had had a megaphone on me as I wanted to shout 'Keep going. It's worth it for the monkeys!' Though I am sure they realised that for themselves once they made it.

So I did something I wanted to do despite the odds. Now as happy as I was about it I am not stupid. I have not cured myself and the fact is I must have had it in me that day. I still cannot do as much as others and that is okay. Plus I knew then and know now that there would be and are consequences. I did a lot less than I wished on the last couple of days of the trip. Plus I've been very weak since I got back. I started this year in a huge flare up that I had anticipated!

So I'm not saying that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. But I am very pleased that on that particular day I was able to go a bit further than I had thought. Because the monkeys really were worth it, as was Arashiyama ... It is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I highly recommend it.

Enjoy some photos!

A view of Arashiyama

Its uphill already!

Baby monkey

Baby monkey drinking

View from the monkey park

The hut at the monkey park

large monkey drinking

isn't he sweet?

Monkey and koi

Proof it was high up!

Monkeys grooming - as they do!

I have an inner toddler who HATES editing!

Sometimes I think that deep down inside me there is a toddler that hates to edit and she really wants to break out and make her displeasure known.

The other day I had finished my first draft of a piece and noticed that it was twice the number of words it needed to be. I didn't have a chance to be in shock or think of a solution before that little toddler wanted to throw a complete tizzy and have a meltdown. I wanted to scream, 'Noooooo! I am not going to shorten it. They will just have to deal with it as is!'

Of course I didn't actually have a physical meltdown and I did not even cry. Suddenly I felt like the parent having to explain to the toddler why that initial reaction really wasn't helpful.

So I explained to myself that words counts were in place for a reason. That a first draft is always going to be long and need editing and that there was sure to be loads of stuff that could be cut. Once edited the piece would be much better.

So the toddler sighed and sullenly agreed to scroll back to the beginning and start reading in preparation for the editing process.

So I gave myself the pep talk.... Stick to the angle… if it doesn't fit with the angle then cut it. Don't say the same thing twice ... then got to work. Of course I halved it and of course it did read better. 

There was a time years ago when I could not tame that toddler and I wrote pieces that were not tight enough and thus were not the best they could be. I think learning to tame that toddler was a turning point for me as a writer. 

Of course it may be that I am just a little bit crazy ... but then again I think that helps me as a writer too!

Do you have an inner toddler that wants to fight the editing process?

Writers - why not give a character an unusual phobia? There are so many to choose from!

There are so many more phobias in existence than I ever thought possible. I found out in an unusual way. I was mucking around with one of those apps for writers where you can look through lists of names, occupations, body types and all sorts of things supposedly to help you get over any writers block that has you wondering - 'just who is the character?' Or else when on page 63 you suddenly think you need to know the occupation of one of your characters and for the life of you can't think of one ...

So anyway there's an app for that. But what this app can also provide you with is a list of phobias. What if you decide one of your characters should have a phobia? I mean spiders is a bit obvious as is heights. So instead why don't you try finding an unusual phobia even if the particular phobia you choose might never actually become at all relevant in your story? Here's a few ideas to get you started.

How about auroraphobia? Which is the fear of the Northern Lights. Presumably this happens to people who live where the northern lights can be seen and have some terrible childhood memory of thinking the lights indicated the sky was falling or something. So the minute they were old enough they fled to more southern areas of the globe and now tell everyone they meet of their terrible phobia and how it nearly ruined their life. Or maybe people simply develop the fear spontaneously never having seen the Northern Lights ...Which poses its own set of problems.

How about barophobia? That's fear of gravity - no I didn't make that up. Where are these people? How do they survive from day to day?

Then there is something that some of you might actually relate to which is syngenesophobia; the fear of relatives. Thinking of setting your book around Christmas time? What a perfect phobia for someone to have. The hilarious scenarios write themselves.

Now here's a good one - xanthophobia which is the fear of the colour yellow or the word yellow. Throw in a scene featuring a beloved childhood big bird toy along with a disastrous visit to a paint shop. Or else an unsuspecting partner suggesting Yellow as a safe word? Pizza and Movie night? Just remember nothing with Minions in it. It is probably also a good idea to hide that Minions onesie.

Then there is plutophobia; a fear of wealth which would be an interesting one. At least you could actually introduce a character happy in a low paying job they love. There’s a character you could do something with. His plutophobia might mean he is constantly giving away his possessions much to the disgust of his other half ... If he has one.

Now how do you make someone housebound? Perhaps you need a device in order for them to require someone else to do all the leg work but agoraphobia is too obvious? Simply give them a fear of walking or ambulophobia. This could work too if you have an ongoing theme of delivery drivers you want to introduce into the story.

You could try for irony and have an archaeologist as a protagonist who tragically suffers from atephobia - fear of ruin or ruins. Or a farmer with alektorophobia - which is a fear of chickens. What about a lighthouse keeper with climacophobia - fear of stairs, climbing, or of falling downstairs? Then again it would be easy to slip in a character who suffers from epistemophobia - fear of knowledge as I believe many people in the world seem to suffer from that ... Alas.

Not quite sure how you could write this one in - euphobia which is a fear of hearing good news but it should be easy to have someone with ergophobia or a fear of work - especially if you fancy writing a few good arguments.

Let's face it - you name it and someone somewhere has a phobia of it. Fear of wind, flowers, and garden gnomes to name just another 3. All manner of things send otherwise ordinary people into a spin. All writers need to make their characters interesting. They need to have flaws or eccentricities, face challenges and even have severe emotional conditions in some cases. So why not throw in an unusual phobia? At the very least it will give your agent or editor a good laugh. 

Why do we listen to Celebrities?

I recently posted a Facebook post before stopping to think about it. I blame all the meds I'm taking for my asthma and hay fever...

Seriously though I had a go at Jamie Oliver after reading a click bait headline saying he was declaring a war on sugar. Now what got me incensed was that I am sick and tired of seeing him everywhere. He has sold out in my opinion. He will put his face on anything including products containing sugar.

A few of my friends disagreed with my rant because they thought I was against the actual message. I realise that in my angry haste I worded my point badly and was misunderstood ( a lesson for us all! - write post, re-read post, think - then delete as appropriate!) I'm not against the actual message. Whilst I hate it when people declare war on anything let alone one particular type of food I of course believe we all should learn about sugar and what it does. We should aim for a balanced diet and learn about hidden sugars in processed food etc.

But the more I think about it the more it bothers me that people who become famous because they are talented at something think that qualifies them to tell people how to live their lives.

What we eat, what we buy, what we even think about certain things all seems to be heavily linked with the celebrity obsession our society has. Companies spend millions of dollars on celebrity endorsements because people are more likely to buy something that is endorsed by a celebrity.

Why though? You pay an actress to be in an ad for hair dye or make up. Do you really think she uses that product? She dyes her hair at home? Chances are she isn't using cover girl make-up either. So why do we think these products are automatically better? 

The same goes for the celebrity chef. Curtis Stone doesn't use those pans his name is on you can buy at Target. Putting his name and face on it just means you are being suckered into paying more for a pan that is identical to the one next to it because it has his face and name on it.

There is of course a very strong psychological force here. People are led to believe if they buy and use the products then that some way brings a tiny bit of celebrity into their lives. 

Though that in itself is worrying. Why do we give these people so much kudos? Why should I be happy that my son will hear it from Jamie Oliver that he should limit sugar? Because if I teach him to listen to a celebrity about that then I'm teaching him a celebrity knows best.

Why don't we listen to scientists, nutritionists and read up on topics for ourselves rather than take on board what a celebrity says?  How do we know when a celebrity genuinely believes something and when they are being paid to sell us things? 

So basically I am fed up with celebrity culture. I don't get it. I don't understand it. I don't see why I should pick a product off the shelf because of a photo shopped picture of a celebrity trying to tell me how good it is. It's getting harder to find products that are not endorsed by someone famous though. This is how bad things have gotten.

So yes I will teach my son about the dangers of too much sugar but not because Jamie Oliver wants his face in the paper again. I will teach him that because of facts.

It is time we all remembered that celebrities are people. I am all for admiring someone for their talent. But when it's come to a point that celebrities are the go to for our life choices then I think we have taken it too far. 

Your Vagina is ok, mine is ok, it's all ok!

The rise of the Internet has meant we have access to so much more information than we used to. If you have an opinion, an issue, a question or a problem the answer might simply be available after typing in a sentence. There are forums and Facebook pages dedicated to many things including being or becoming a parent.

It's posts from those type of sites I want to talk about today. I have seen quite a few times women asking in all seriousness about how other women overcome any embarrassment about their bodies when they are due to give birth. It seems hang ups about our bodies go so far that it interferes even with the wonder of the miracle of life. Women are scared of people seeing them 'down there' as they wonder if they look different or somehow 'abnormal' Will nurses stare or laugh behind their hands?

I don't mean to make light as in our society nakedness really still does have a huge stigma. Women do worry about what they look like naked, especially those parts not normally on display, even in a revealing swimsuit. Now before the Internet I honestly didn't even know some women worried about the size of their labia. But they do. They wonder whether parts are too dark or too big or too small.

It seems before you could be an anonymous person at a computer keyboard most women wouldn't  ask anyone these questions for fear of embarrassment. Well I'm not here to try to get you to love your body as it is ( though I think that is important) but rather to tell you that there is no normal. No matter what you look like between your legs the doctors, nurses etc have seen it all and truly will not give a shit what you look like down there.

Not convinced? Well I feel somewhat knowledgable enough to tell you a few things. Long ago I totally lost any self consciousness about my body when it comes to medial professionals. I have had a few procedures, been in the emergency room a few times and seen many different types of doctors for various things. I have a chronic illness which has manifested differently over the years so there have been many visits to medical practitioners.

Now I can't remember the first time I was completely happy to strip off and not even think about it. Though  I remember some reactions once I was. Some doctors are obviously used to women being nervous so they gently ask me if I could pull up or down a sleeve when what they really need is for me to take my top off. So I simply offer to do so. Most look relieved, others looked a bit shocked.... Obviously I'm one of a kind there. 

If a doctor wants to see my chest then that's fine, he has seen plenty of others. He doesn't give a shit what my boobs look like. I've had numerous Pap smears. I tend to just chat during them now. Once a male doctor asked if I would rather a female doctor to do it. It really didn't bother me. I almost asked him how many vagina's he had seen. I didn't but I imagine the number would be in the 100's.

Those hospital gowns which are open at the back. They are like that for easy access. A doctor has to examine my tummy then he gets to see my undies. All I hope is that my undies are pretty. I care little that he might catch a glimpse of inner thigh or outer thigh. At the osteopath they give you those gowns then you lie face down and when they need to work on your lower back they pull your undies down anyway. So I truly don't see why I don't just take them off. While the Osteo prods my naked buttocks I'm happy to talk about the weather or ask about the music playing. Again I  imagine my buttocks are not the worst things they have ever seen. 

I once had a procedure done under anaesthetic and when I woke up I was fully clothed. So either I was so out of it I didn't remember getting myself dressed, and given I was still shaky on my feet at this point I doubt it. Or else someone dressed me while I was unconscious. For a brief moment I pondered what that must have been like for the person involved then I mentally shrugged and picked up the magazine beside the bed and had a read.  

But of course none of this relates to childbirth but I've left that story for last since it is the best. Once you have been pregnant and had a child any sense of modesty pretty much goes out the window. Truly...no matter how self conscious you were beforehand. 

I remember how quickly any small bit of modesty I may have had completely evaporated from the moment I went to the hospital to have my son induced. A few different midwives got to poke around my nether regions and insert things. One got me in the shower when the horrendous contractions started. Even after I had the hospital gown on and was on the bed hooked up to the monitor and mostly keeping my legs together things didn't stay that way for long.

So I was waiting for an epidural... Because you know... Horrendous pain. Then suddenly this Greek God appears in the room. One of the most handsome looking men I had ever seen in my life had come to rescue me to carry me off in his chariot away from this hell I was in. Well at least that's what I thought in my strange pain daze. I did wonder if I was hallucinating. Why is this Man here? Then he is introduced as the anaesthetist. So good news... Pain will soon go away, of course the fact that this amazing specimen was here to simply insert a large needle into my spine was not really akin to being whisked off in a chariot... But oh well.

So after he had done the business so to speak he stayed for a while to do the paperwork. The room I was in was set up in an interesting way. About two metres from the foot of my bed was the desk with the chair behind it, facing me. At this point since I would soon feel very little from the waist down (thank goodness!) so the midwife decides to insert a catheter. That's right. I have to spread them again and allow someone else to tinker away all while this amazing specimen of man is sitting directly in front of me. If he were to look up from his paperwork his gaze would hit firmly on my vagina. I tried to sneak peeks around the midwife to see if he did look up but I didn't notice if he did. I imagine it's because he truly was not fazed by a woman's vagina being clearly visibly and in his direct line of sight. I have to accept he's seen it all before.

He soon got up and left, presumably to go and rescue another damsel in distress. I think I managed a thank you and he may have waved his acknowledgement as he left but he was otherwise completely non plussed. Two things occurred in my haze...one was imagine a story where a sexy anaesthetist falls madly in love with a woman he has just given an epidural to? That's a story to write in the future ( I never did.) The second thought was that I wanted to kiss him when the epidural kicked in and the pain stopped. I recalled an old episode of ER when a character, after being given an epidural says something along the lines of "I'm in love with the epidural man." The doctor with her says 'we call him an anaesthetist." And she replies in a honey smooth ( now pain free) voice 'To me he will always be the epidural man.' That's how I felt.

You know what occurred to me third.... Eventually. The fact that he and many other people had just seen my vagina in all its glory whilst having a catheter inserted. It was no big deal because no one made it a big deal. These people do this stuff all the time. 

So you know what. We are all normal. The people who are going to prod around down there will barely notice what your particular area looks like. Unless a part of your anatomy causes you physical pain or discomfort then there is no reason to nervously ask a doctor, or the woman who waxes you whether you are 'normal.'

So try and drop the fears about the whole naked thing. When it comes to it it really truly won't matter. Maybe one day you will even be like me and ready to strip for any doctor or practitioner without a second thought. I fear one of these days I will forget myself and strip from the waist up at the dentist... Give them all something to talk about I suppose!

I know it's hard for some as we are bought up to believe that being naked is somehow shameful. As women we don't tend to compare vaginas or labia or anything else between our legs. I'm not saying it is something we should start doing... Having vagina comparing parties... But just lose the hang ups. There are so many different kinds of normal. Most people will not care what it looks like down there so long as it's clean and functional... That goes for men too by the way...but that's a different blog post...

A top writing tip that could lead to an hilarious scenario

I recently read one of those ten tips pieces written by someone who presumably has been there and done that and knows ways to make life more productive. One tip made sense but also made me laugh at the potential consequences.

That tip was to go on strike when you write. That means you do nothing else. No cooking, no fetching, no washing, no playing uno with the kids, nothing. So basically you sit and write and tell everyone to look after themselves.

I can't help but imagine what would occur in some households if this were to happen. The poor cat would feel starved and neglected so basically sit on your head while you try to write and dig their claws in. If you lock them out of the room the relentless scratching at the door will drive you mad and you may also need to drive to Bunnings for things to repair the door.

You would have kids helping themselves to biscuits and cereal and spreading it all over the house. Every light in the house would be on and every TV on and at full volume. Piles of dirty washing would make a trail though the house that may or may not lead to the laundry.

Plus I'm assuming the writing can be left for brief moments? So you would have to tip toe past the mess and kids and crazy cat to go to the loo. Coffee making? Surely you couldn't go on strike to the point you couldn't operate the coffee machine? That wouldn't be right. So you block out all the requests for food and pleading for help with craft projects and getting past the boss level on a game to use the coffee machine. Only no milk, or sugar or coffee... So who will pop to the shop while you are on strike? 

In all seriousness though it could be a good idea if used with obvious limits that don't allow for colourful scenarios as above (which is of course what the writer intended). You could take chunks out of certain days, have coffee and biscuits by your side and 'go on strike' for a few hours. It would not be nearly as hilarious though.

It's funny but I already do that only its when the Wests Tigers are playing. I go on strike for the full 80 minutes. At half-time I will listen to non rugby league related items briefly if necessary and put the kettle on or pour wine. Otherwise unless it's life threatening it must wait till Full-time. Maybe it is time I tried that with my writing too?

What useful time management tips do you use? Or alternatively what are some silly ones you've heard?  

    

              The owner of this house was a writer that went on strike 

               ( statement may be untrue ...) 

I don't have a problem with McKinnon or Smith. I do have a problem with 60 Minutes.

I can't remember the last time I watched 60 minutes. A few years ago probably. I remember watching a story that was so one sided that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It used to be the kind of show that featured stories told professionally. It was true journalism. Now it is little more than a TV version of a tabloid.

I broke my 60 minutes drought as I wanted to watch the story on Alex McKinnon, the rugby league player who became a quadriplegic after a horrifying illegal tackle in a game last year. The story started off well. Stories from Alex's youth, funny anecdotes from his family and documentation of what seems to be a great love between him and his fiancé.

Where they starts to lose it was at the point where they obviously wanted to cause dissent, to get people talking, to make something pointed in order to shock viewers...keep them watching. Never mind it was only part of the truth.

Now I think McKinnon is a brave man who deserves the outpouring of sympathy he is receiving. It is a huge tragedy that a man so young has been so injured. When his mother spoke about how she felt when he said he wanted to die it truly touched me. I hope too he gets a bigger settlement from the NRL so he has the money he needs to live the rest of his life.

However today Cameron Smith, The Australian and Melbourne Storm Captain has been left shocked after being labelled the bad guy by 60 minutes, this program that should be led by guidelines of responsible journalism.

During the program they showed McKinnon sitting with Liz Hayes watching the footage of that terrible tackle. McKinnon found it hard, obviously and was trying to describe why he moved his head the way he did. The big surprise... The pointy part of the story that Liz Hayes & team seemed so keen to deliver was that McKinnon had no malice for the Melbourne Storm player who lifted him in the tackle, the player who was suspended for 7 weeks but rather was angry at Cameron Smith for his on field comments at the time.

It is fair to say that looking at isolation at what Smith says it does give the viewer a bit of a jolt, just as it does Hayes and McKinnon who are viewing it together. 60 minutes put the footage together just perfectly for best effect. McKinnon on the ground, his face stricken, unable to breathe and unable to move. Then carried off on a stretcher... The mood sombre. Then Smith is arguing with the referee about the penalty that went against his team. The referee tells him the penalty stands, the player is on report, it is an illegal tackle. But Smith does what many a captain has done before and will do again, he argues the point. 60 minutes make sure you see and clearly hear him say ' if he doesn't duck his head, that doesn't happen' Then go to McKinnon's reaction as he watches with Hayes. He is upset. He suggests that arguing over a penalty when someone comes off on a stretcher is fucking ridiculous. 

Now reading this you may think he has a point. I did at first. People are saying how did Smith not know how serious it was? How could he blame McKinnon for his own injury? Well I imagine if Smith were to see the footage he would agree it was not his best moment. Arguing over a penalty that injures a player to the extent they have to be carried off on a stretcher seems petty and unsympathetic.

But 60 minutes leave it there. A brief positive mention from coach Wayne Bennet about Smith's character and that is it. No talking to Smith or the Storm. Nothing. Just an seriously injured man watching footage of the moment his life changed forever reacting to that pain in front of a camera.

That's not responsible. They didn't need to show him watching the footage. They didn't need to focus on Smith but they chose to in order to spice things up. All the family shots and loving moments overshadowed by introducing a villain simply because they could.

Smith when he was on the field didn't get to watch the replay over and over. Perhaps he truly didn't know the extent of the injuries. He did what a captain would do... Try and argue against a penalty. Was it bad form to argue so long? Yes. In hindsight might he realise that those comments can be construed as blaming McKinnon for his own injury? Absolutely but that does not excuse the one sided reporting. If 60 Minute had done its job and reported all the facts it would have reported that despite McKinnon's suggestion that Smith never got in touch, Smith and other Storm players tried to visit him in hospital several times but were denied. They should have mentioned that Smith was instrumental in the Rise For Alex fundraising campaign and that Smith wore McKinnon's number as a sign of respect. They didn't.

If you want to call out Smith for his comments then do so but 60 minutes showed little integrity by the way they handled the story. When you leave out relevant facts to make your version more poignant then that is not journalism. So little wonder I stopped watching the program. Somehow I don't think I will be going back.  

My Clarisonic Mia ... The journey so far

A few weeks ago thanks to a birthday gift card I purchased a Clarisonic Mia. I had thought about getting one for a while. I had read so many positive reviews and I'm a bit of a skin care freak so felt it would be great to add one to my routine. So the gift card swayed it. I had baulked at the price but when it was very little out of pocket expense it was an easy decision. 

The first time I used it my skin felt different. It felt clean and soft without that stretched taut feeling. Now that stretched taut feeling is one I have not felt in a long time since I learned that was actually not a good feeling. Even if your skin is on the oily side like mine all it does is make your skin produce more oil. So long ago I stopped using foaming cleansers and many products specifically for oily skin. But I liked the way my skin felt so soft after just cleansing. My night serum and cream didn't seem to go on any easier than normal but otherwise I felt good.

I bought a new cleanser to try and soon learned it wasn't for me! After cleansing with that and my Mia my face went a bright red and stung. Ok so that cleanser goes to hubby to use! 

Then I got sick and missed a few nights as I was incapable of doing anything more than splash my face. Illness shows on my face and I started to look pale and drawn with dark circles. When I started to feel a bit better I started using my Mia again. A simple cream cleanser each night. At first I felt it was doing nothing but it was competing with some rather nasty illness induced skin! It's not a miracle worker.

One day recently I decided to perk myself up. So I applied my Eve Taylor exfoliant mask. After I had finished I had an idea.  This particular product contains no granules ( I never use exfoliants like that anymore...those little rough bits....not good!) I wet my face and used the Mia briefly before rinsing. I applied my moisturiser afterwards and felt and looked better than I had in weeks! 

The following day I looked more alive and my dark circles had significantly reduced. I need to point out that I still had symptoms. I had ended up with bronchitis and a nasty ear infection and was taking antibiotics so realistically I shouldn't look much better and yet I did.

So was it the Mia or something else? I dunno but I think the Mia has helped. Not only does it clean the skin it works a bit like a massager so helps to drain all the nasties from the skin and increase blood flow so that can cause a reduction in dark circles and dullness. 

So perhaps I sound like I'm selling something so sorry if that is the case. But I think I am falling in love with my Mia. It feels good and makes my skin feel and look better. Oh and so far not a pimple in sight! So none of the purging I had been warned about. So what's not to love?

What is Brave? Who gets to judge that?

What does it mean to be brave? I've seen a lot written lately where certain people have been declared brave. Caitlyn Jenner, Tyra Banks...then it seems some people come and say no these people are not brave...saving someone from a burning building is brave. Having transgender surgery or posting a photo of yourself without makeup isn't brave.

Who is right? I suppose it is subjective in a sense. I wish we could all agree though that maybe each of us individually don't have the right to decide whether someone is being brave or not. There are possibly hundreds of different ways any one person can be brave.

Someone who is scared of heights climbing a mountain is brave. At least I'm sure they feel brave. They haven't changed the world or helped anyone...certainly it isn't on a par with saving someone from a burning building but if they feel proud of themselves then yep let's call them brave, what does it hurt?

Because what happens when actually literally saving a human life is the only thing we can all agree to call brave? Are these people brave? Of course! Though many of them may not even feel the slightest sense of achievement as they are good people who value human life who simply did what they felt they had to do. Yet it would seem next to that anything else is only brave if enough people tell you it is. Cancers survivors are thought of as brave. Quite rightly considering the gruelling road they face. Yet what choice did they have? They couldn't sit in the corner and stamp their feet saying they didn't want to fight cancer? They had to get on with and did so showing great courage. Does that mean people who make decisions that scare them but are not life and death are not brave? 

I think Caitlyn Jenner is brave. Our society still has so many stigmas coming out as a woman after so long living as a man would be very difficult. The fear of rejection could be crippling. I personally would never put a no makeup first thing in the morning selfie up anywhere on social media so I think Tyra is brave. Do they deserve medals? Have they saved lives? No but maybe by doing something that scares others they might just add to the positive change that is needed to make this world a better place. It's slow going. In 2015 one would think we would be an equal society where people could be who they want to be without fear but alas that is not so.

So I can't see how all this 'no that's not brave....this is brave' type one upping is helping anyone's cause. Because someone went in a lift today after a lifetime fear and gets called brave by her friends does not mean that a fireman saving a child from a burning house will not get his due. He may get a medal and the woman in the lift certainly won't. So can't they both be brave in their own way? If you have to go against the grain and do something that is scary to you then that is brave. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's not a competition. 

Where is your wedding dress?

Where is your wedding dress? What did you do with it? Lately I have seen all sorts of interesting things on Pinterest and other places where wedding dresses are being recycled (or re-purposed!) to make something useful out of them. Of course some women do what women have always done; keep the dress, sell it or give it charity or pass it down in the family.

I imagine what you do with your wedding dress depends on many factors. If you get divorced chances are you don't have much of an emotional attachment to your dress any more. Or maybe you do as it reminds you of happier times. I don't know, never having been divorced. But plenty of women would find themselves in that leaky boat...dress of their dreams and a relationship that ends up in hell. People make mistakes, things go wrong and sometimes I think people get married purely for the wedding day rather than wanting an actual marriage... But that is a different post.  But even assuming you remain happily married what do you do with that dress? 

Now my wedding dress is packed up in a huge box in the garage. I should probably point out I got married 19 years ago. Back when wedding dresses still had sleeves.....I think I got it out on my first anniversary and tried it on. Now it wouldn't fit me. I doubt it would make much money if I sold it. I could give it away I suppose but would it be considered too old fashioned even by brides-to-be that have to buy their dress at a second hand shop? I don't have a daughter I could pass it down to and even if I did she should get to pick what she wears on her wedding day. I would never expect her (or any potential future spouse of my son's) to wear what I wore as some sort of tradition.

So why is it still in a box in the garage? I'm not sure. I do feel that at some point I should do something with it or one day I will open the box and it will be scraps of fabric that are unusable.

Now there are some obvious ways of recycling your wedding dress. I imagine you could use the fabric for a christening gown or to make a pillow or stuffed toy. I can see it being used as the fabric covering a bassinet. These all came to mind easily. But If you have a Pinterest account then go and do a search for recycled wedding dress and see what amazing things some women have done with their wedding dresses.

Some fabulous examples include using a piece of lace from the dress and spreading it across a frame to make an earring holder. Gorgeous tote bags, quilts, scarves, clutch bags, wall canvases, handmade Xmas tree ornaments or Xmas stockings. Using it in an open locket to be worn as a beautiful piece of jewellery. Lace earrings, garters for daughters to use for their wedding. It seemed endless. 

                 

 

The most poignant was the angel gown posts; where wedding dresses are used to make gowns for stillborn babies. There are organisations such as the NICU Helping Hands’ Angel Gown ® Program that use wedding dresses donated to them to make these angel gowns. Whilst I don't have a living daughter to wear my wedding dress I did lose a baby girl. If she had been a few weeks older she would have required a funeral. I can see how these angel gowns would bring some small comfort to women of stillborn babies, their lost angels. 

                       

                             

There were some ideas that made me cringe though like doilies. I mean doilies? No one likes the ones made from traditional materials let alone using a wedding dress to make them. Perhaps that's what the divorced women do. Cut up their dress and make a stack of doilies and donate them or else send some to their former mother in-law?

I have recently taken up sewing again. My sewing machine decided to die on me just as I was getting back into it but a new one is on the way. I also have the tools for making jewellery and recently succeeded in making a passable looking pair of earrings. 

So given that should I recycle my dress in some way? Use the beautiful silk and lace to make things that I could use and surround myself with? Is that better than keeping it in a box? I suppose there is this little voice in my mind saying one day I might regret it but for the life of me I cannot understand why I would. It's a weird dilemma to have I realise. 

So tell me where is your wedding dress? Did you recycle yours? What are your thoughts? 

Daytime TV... A lesson...

For reasons I won't go into today I spent the day watching regular ordinary daytime TV. This was not pleasant. In fact at times it was perplexing. Nonetheless I try to see everything as a learning experience so here is is..... Things I've learned about daytime TV.

Firstly there is a lot of news. They seem to have news on several times a day. I'm not talking about the dedicated 24 hours a day news channel. I mean all the other channels. Mostly it seems to involve simply retelling the same stories over and over. Occasionally there is something new to add, when there isn't they seem to exaggerate the stories they do have so that by the end of the day each story has become something completely different. 

There is also a lot of channels solely selling crap things that presumably won't sell anywhere else. Why they put them on during the day is beyond me unless they think that people who watch TV during the day must be home from work on very heavy medication. Some of these things defy believe. ‘Dr Ho's physio belt’ anyone? Then there are those hideously ugly bras that somehow all women must have because apparently we all don't know how to get measured and buy proper bras in our actual size.

Or a product called ‘True back?’ I don’t even know what that is... I just flicked on to the channel in time to witness people answering the questions, "Truly? You are not just saying this because you are on camera?" To which they all enthusiastically replied no of course they are not just saying that because they are on camera, the product really works! It's changed their lives!" I for one totally believe them... I'm picking up the phone to order my free trial of something or other because I mean why would these people lie? 

Then there are the ads selling insurance. Every channel and every single ad break. Sometimes even as a segment on a show....Income protection, life insurance or funeral insurance. Seemingly we are all sitting at home contemplating our mortality so that these ads seem perfectly timed. We are all easily convinced to sign up for yet another kind of insurance that we (don't) need. These ads declaring that it's cheaper than a cup of coffee and that no medical exam is required. Which does two things for me... Firstly it makes me really want a cup of coffee and secondly it makes me want to shout at the screen ( assuming that everyone watching the ad on TV will somehow hear me...)  that what they really mean is that if you don't tell them about any health condition chances are they won't pay out...so beware! 

Want to watch old episodes of Charlies's Angels? Then daytime TV is for you! Or movies so old they actually look grainy on the screen? Some TV show you have never heard of? Probably because they were so bad they never made it to prime time? How about an old episode of Taggart? No I mean old... Really old... Taggart is still alive! I like a good crime show but I'm sure I've seen these... Twenty years ago. 

I am currently being saved from complete mental breakdown by The Antiques Roadshow. Yep that's the pick at the moment. I'm dreading it finishing as I will have to channel surf again. I can't seem to avoid noticing the gaudy jewellery on TVSN that they are asking a ridiculous amount of money for... Or a few seconds of someone smiling inanely because they have supposedly been saved by some odd appliance or from taking out insurance. Then again I could be lucky enough to find a cooking show.... Thanks goodness for Justine and Poh!

So the day is not done but I daresay I'm not in for much different. Of course I can't wait for The Chase to come on. The one daytime show that I love... That it is from the UK says a lot about Australian TV  in general... But that's a blog for another day.

Don't read the comments... Except the ones under recipes..

Don't read the comments

We hear that a lot as really there are some terribly ignorant people out there who hate to have to actually think...

But what I think is funny is that don't read the comments really applies to recipe websites and apps. Or in fact do read the comments might be more apt, if you want to laugh out loud. Rarely do they give you any helpful advice about the recipe but they sure can be funny. 

                           

So let's make up a user name - how about MrsICan'tCook or MC for short. MC feels it's necessary to leave a comment every time she follows a recipe, and I use the word 'follow' quite lightly.

So MC might say something like this, presumably with the idea of helping guide others in their culinary journey and recipe choices...

'Well I just have to say I don't think I will make this recipe again. I didn't have any yogurt so I used milk instead. I had to add extra flour also. I didn't have any baking powder so used cream of tartar instead. Plus just as I was making it I remembered I hate cinnamon so I just left it out. I didn't bother chopping the nuts as I needed to get this done quickly. So these yogurt cinnamon muffins really didn't turn out. They didn't even look like muffins! They tasted very bland and the texture was funny. I don't recommend this recipe'

Or

'I was unsure about making this as it seemed complicated. But I gave it a go! I don't like duck so I used chicken. I didn't have cherries so used raisins instead. I prefer not to use butter in cooking so I left that out. When it was done the chicken was a bit dry even though I cooked it for as long as the recipe stated. Plus the raisins were tough and didn't really make much of a sauce. I don't think I would make this again.' 

Poor dear MC. She really has a pea for a brain doesn't she? Look for her though. Next time you search for a recipe have a look at the comments and chances are MC will be there. It's why so many great recipes never get 5 full stars. Because people like MC will bring down the recipe score with their fantastic improvements. 

Also you know MC might be the type of person who feels she has to leave comments about every restaurant and hotel she has ever visited too... Maybe in a future blog MC will comment on her latest holiday. It won't have been fun because MC lives to criticise. If there is nothing to criticise she will simply make something up...

Till next time!