Fe-Fe's World Of Craft, Creations and Kids.: Early Birthday Present

Saturday 11 August 2007

Early Birthday Present

I have to begin this by explaining that my real birthday is in December just a few days before Christmas and for as long as I can remember I've hated it. My brother was born in May and used to do really cool stuff for his birthday like going camping or as he got older he'd have a barbecue in the garden and have loads of family and friends round. In December no one in their right mind wants to go camping and I certainly never tried inviting anyone round for a barbecue for my birthday, for a start we'd have been eating in the pitch black by 6pm not to mention everyone would have needed snowsuits and thermal underwear in order to enjoy their burgers. As I got older and went through the "going clubbing for my birthday" phase I always found my friends were either on Works Christmas Do's on the day I planned to go out or were too skint to come because they'd already spent all their money on Christmas presents. So yes my winter birthday has always been a little bone of contention with me.

Christmas 2005 Patrick made a comment about how difficult it was to find presents for me for my birthday and for Christmas all in one go. I said jokingly that if it made it easier for him he could move it if he liked. He obviouly went away and thought about it because a few days later he said "what about if we did more your birthday to say... August?" To cut a long story short I agreed and so now (like the Queen) I have two birthdays. My unofficial birthday which always falls on the bank holiday weekend in August which Peej and kids celebrate (and last year we spent in Marbella - yay to not being cold on my birthday!) and my official one which the rest of my family and friends still celebrate in December.

With that explained... Patrick came home from work yesterday and told me that he'd brought my Birthday present home with him and that I could save it for my (unofficial) birthday however given my new venture in the world of the blog and being a Papercraft Junkies Design Team Member, I may find it useful to have now. Well when you say something like that how on earth can you be expected to wait two weeks?!!

My birthday present is a Novoflex Magic Studio which is a table top photographic studio complete with special white background, specialist lighting and clamp stand for my camera so that I can take more professional looking photos of my art projects for uploading onto here and the Papercraft Junkies site. How fab is that!! Slight hitch in that we think we may need a bigger white background but I haven't really had chance to have a proper play with it yet. Hopefully will get time tomorrow as I need to start work on the new challenge. If I manage to produce something I can have a go at photographing it then with my new studio. How's that for an incentive to get going. Watch this space as they say!! :-)

1 comment:

Classroomfree said...: Oooooh, moving birthdays sounds like a fab idea! I am lucky to have a birthday in August (but used to hate it when I was younger as it was always in the summer holidays and so many people were away and unable to come to my parties!) I now have 2 children who have a birthday around in Christmas, one on Christmas Eve and the other on Boxing Day!!!; 12 August 2007 at 09:05

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Ode to Special Mums

Ode to Special Moms(by Erma Bombeck)

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit. This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen?

Somehow I visualize God hovering over Earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth, son, patron saint, Matthew.
Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, patron saint, Cecilia.
"Rudledge, Carrie, twins, patron saint, give her Gerard. He's used to profanity."
Finally, he passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."

The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly," says God. "Could I give a handicapped child to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."

"But has she patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it.
"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has his own world. She has to make it live in her world, and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a 'spoken word.' She will never consider a 'step' ordinary. When her child says 'Momma' for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or a sunset to her child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations."I will permit her to see clearly the things I see...ignorance, cruelty, prejudice...and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life, because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, pen poised midair.

God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

"Welcome to Holland"

"Welcome to Holland" By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.