Eco-Council (by sarah)

Jean has been accepted onto the Eco-Council at school - this was something she came home saying she wanted to do and so she made a card with things on it that represented environmental issues to her (so it was all dolphins and stuff) and then dictated what she wanted to say to me.

It was stuff like 'I am good at putting things in the compost bins and can tell other people how to do it right and stuff' The word stuff did come up a few times :/

She then attempted to write it all herself into the card which went a bit arrey as she had written quiet a bit on why she wanted to be on the Eco-Council all of which omitted the presance of the shiny badge they get to wear!

I was suprised she could even actually enter for it and checked with the school! Then there was getting the letter into school - Jean kept checking her bag but after she got home from school 'the letters still there mummy!' panicked wail. We'd gone through the fact that she might not get a place but she was determined to try - so in the end she handed it personally to the Head Master at their end of project display.

And she got in!

She is very happen about this even though it means she doesn't get much play on Wednesdays - the meetings being at lunch time. This is week three of meetings and she still seems happy with it 🙂 The main issue is getting her to hold her cardi properlly so that the badge doesn't get scraped across the ground - we've already had tears where she thought she had lost it but Daddy had just put the other cardigan on her.

Equal Writes (by sarah)

One of my fellow NaNoWriMers is collecting sponsers for his writing this November - he did this last year too - he is raising money for Equal Love, the campaign group from same-sex marriage rights in Melbourn 🙂 There is a FaceBook Group here.

As those who have been reading for a while will know I hate intolerance and this the same-sex marraige being denied is to me a gross example of intolerance.

Marrage is about love, about declaring that to the rest of the world - hey guys we're together! I know some people say marrage is about children but many hetrosexual couples never have children and when they do they are not necasserily inside of marrage.

Also to say it is about children is to diminish what it is worth - if it is about children then it nothing more than a snare and a trap to enforce family structure and that leads to unhealthy mental baggage for the kids in the first place :/

Marrage should not be a trap, it should be a union and as such there should be no gender/sexual orientation constraints placed upon it - people can not choose who they fall in love with - such has been known for a millenia or two.

Plus with IVF and adoption the child argument really can not stand even on it's own merits - I feel sad that society is still so bound up in hate that two caring individuals can not easily adopt just because they are the same sex. I have heard people fearful that it means two men can adopt a little girl and do dreadful things and then I think of the Wests and I think that was a hetrosexual couple and what they did was beyond words. Yes there is a risk of abuse but no more so than with adoption in general or even just who your perants happen to be 🙁

So why? Why? Can't gay marrage be allowed? We have Civil Partnership here in the UK which people tell me off for telling Jean is marrage. But I will not tell her that people of the same sex can not marry as to her any couple who are together are marrade. Obviously she is very young and kissing apparently counts as marrage but she came home very upset from pre-school last year, as the other kids had told her she couldn't marry one of her best friends. The topic came up sooner than I was expecting but we told her it was fine if she wanted to marry a girl (she will probably kill me for this post when she's about 13!).

I know people thought that we shouldn't have told her this but we have gay couples as friends! And I'm sorry but Jean is not silly and is very good at noticing human interactions :/ Plus why should we lie to her? Also we have been to a gay wedding with her so I think it would be a bit stupid to tell her they can't happen :/

Homosexuality has had to lay hidden for far too long, to the extent that friends asked if they could kiss their partners or even bring them to things like our wedding - they shouldn't have to feel like that.

Anyway - that is how I feel and why even though he is not based in the UK I felt this was something I would tell you all about 🙂

Of C-sections and Crutches (by sarah)

Good news is I am having a C-Section - perhaps a bizar thing to be happy about but after the labor I had with Jean it is a bit of a relief. The bad news is that it will apparently do nothing for the pelvic problems 🙁 the reason for c-section are that I had a level three tear with Jean as well as the apeaseotomy. I had a few problems from this with this with the stitches and blood lose last time along with part of it not having initially been caught which had to be dealt with months after birth :/

I think I was being a bit dim about that though as I hadn't realised it was normal to bleed so much after labor and things. Anyway so that is why I am having a c-section and then of course there is the fact that I have a low laying placentea and I had gestational diabetes last time. So all this means I am having lots of scans to monitor how big the baby is getting and stuff!

Unfortunatly the seperated pelvis is already becoming so painful it is as the dr put in his notes 'debilitating'. I am back on crutches in the hope that I will be able to still walk about abit - I am not using them in the house but am awear my posture is worse without them :/

The consultant assures me the baby can't fall out even though my ligaments have basically all loosened up for labor - hence mobile pelvis. Sounds like a daft question but the pelvis thing was missed with Jean as I was too sick to be allowed out of bed.

And as I've mentioned previously I am starting to have issues with getting myself out of bed and putting trousers on etc.. whilst standing up is hard.

Oh and I get screened for super bugs!

My nose bleeds are normal and so is blood pressure 🙂 Though when stressed it is spiking which sucks and increases the nose bleed :/

Oxford’s International Women’s Festival Poetry Competition (by sarah)

I'm going to be entering this competition - it's one pound a poem and the theme is women and well being. Deadline is the 5th of November so I thought I'd let you all know about it. I'm entering 5 odd poems covering a range of what is termed 'women's' issues but what I think of as far broader than that. I'm even sending in Charcoal which I wrote after reading an article in the National Geographic about women in the Congo. There is no restriction in the sexes where the competition is concerned (otherwise I would not be entering).

Blocked Drains (by sarah)

The windows have been being repainted and bits being repaired which is nice except the rotting frames are just being hardened and repainted again :/ Which is what was done to them two odd years ago and now I can't open my favourite window anymore (the one I broke before as it was so rotten and Barbara insisted only the broken part be replaced - well she is paying). The frame is so rotten now I risk breaking the glass and stuff :/

Anyway apart from not having been told the guy was coming - I am very happy with getting fresh paint on stuff especially as fixed the bent metal window in the front that was letting a whopping breeze into the house (the one that Barbara had decided to jimmy open whilst we where evacuated to London in 2007 so that the cats could roam the house why we weren't here).

But he did manage to get bits and bobs in our drain outside the kitchen window - this is where all the kitchen sink and stuff drains out of a pipe into a grated hole in the floor. Now I tend to clear this drain every few weeks anyway as it has a tendency to end up with plants growing in it and leaf litter from the garden but obviously this is a bit hard for me at the moment.

Looking at it I thought it looked a little blocked so mentioned it to Al in the hope he'd get it cleared later in the day - I then forgot about it and put the washing machine on. I then get an irate Barbara at the door because we've obviously blocked the drain (probably with baby wipes) and it's all coming up through the manhole cover. Alaric comes to look and starts going on about rods and things and I'm like 'no the drain's just got a bit clogged so the water from the washing machine can't drain.'

We go back inside to find stuff to sort it - Alaric is arguing with me about it needing rods whilst I'm collecting gloves and a black sack. I'd told Barbara we would sort it, hobble back outside to find she's got a crow bar and is about to prize the cover off the manhole - which both her and Al were insisting the water was coming up through. I think I shouted at everybody and went and cleared the grill of a broken bit of paint pot and lots of paint flecks plus some leaves. The water instantly starts draining into the drain :/

I then get told that me and Al are irresponsible as we didn't stop the water and now there was soapy water draining onto some plants on the quay. As Barbara brushed excess water back up the gully bit to go down the drain. I then pointed out it was soap nuts anyway so shouldn't be too harmful and she agreed.

I was so hacked off at both of them. Especially as it wasn't even because I haven't been clearing it as regularly as normal. Alaric said he thought the pipes drained in under the ground :/ so what I was saying hadn't made sense.

The main issue for me was that I then ended up shaking with pain and walking and even getting myself out of bed was a no go for the next few days 🙁 I get so sad that I can see what needs doing and not actually do it.