Ralph Waldo Emerson

Finish every day and be done with it.


You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in; forget them as soon as you can.


Tomorrow is a new day; You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Practice Your Answers Now

We have an open door home.

That means that if there are no guests in the house, the doors don't get closed. Even the doors to the toilets.

it took my husband some time to get used to it but I grew up in an open door home so it never really occurred to me that this wasn't the way everyone did it.

It has led to some interesting discussion and this morning wins the grand prize.

Sebastian is aware that his mummy bleeds once every month. He knows that this is somehow related to a woman's ability to have babies but to say he has all the information to put the entire puzzle together would be wholly misleading. I give him just enough information to satisfy his curiosity.

This morning I am in the shower. Sebastian is peeing in the toilet next to my shower showing off his newly developed skill of standing up to pee. I turn the water off and am stepping out with my towel to dry myself off as my son turns to me with a tampon held up and asks me "What is this for?"

I freeze. I am not prepared for the question. Marc is on the other side of the door and he cracks a silent giggle. I look like a deer caught in headlights.

I try to recover before Sebastian senses my panic. Never ever let your children see you sweat.

I explain that it works a bit like a band-aid (plaster in UK) to help Mummy when she bleeds once a month.

"Oh!" is all he says and flushes the toilets, pulls up his pajama bottoms and goes downstairs.

My heart is pounding and I have to sit down to recover. I am now going to write a script for all those questions that I know are coming and I don't yet have an answer for.

Sebastian Quotes - Edition 4

In the car on the way home from school today he tells me:

"I have this vision in my head that all the girls in the whole entire school are chasing me trying to kiss me and they keep telling me how cute I am."

Isn't this every man's fantasy?

Should I be worried?

New Year Cleaning

Some people do spring cleaning. I do new year cleaning.

I go to the depths of the drawers, cupboards, closets, and handbags and throw away ruthlessly. OK, I'm not exactly as ruthless as my mother but nearly.

In the depth of one of my drawers I found a stack of clippings that I used to carry around with me in my handbag. In order to reduce the extravagant weight of my handbag I had taken out things that weren't essential. I think I need to put this one small piece of paper back in my handbag.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press On" has solves and always will solve the problems of the human race.

-Calvin Coolidge

Motherhood Quotes

A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary."
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher


"Motherhood is like Albania-- you can't trust the descriptions in books, you just have to go there yourself."
- Marni Jackson


"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."
-Mark Twain


"Being a mother is like taking your heart out of your chest and watching it walk around."
- Author Unknown


"There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one."
- Jill Churchill


"I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford. Then I want to move in with them."
- Phyllis Diller


"Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground."
- Zora Neale Hurston


"A mother is someone who dreams great dreams for you, but then she lets you chase the dreams you have for yourself and loves you just the same."
- Author Unknown

Worst Journey in the World

"And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore. If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards have need to prove their bravery. Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, 'What is the use?' For we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which does not promise him a financial return within a year. And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg."

-Aspley Cherry Garrad

A Nail

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost--
And all for the want of a two penny nail.

-Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac