Simon’s Money Notes conducted an exercise to work out which blogs were “worth commenting on“:

The exercise is pretty straight forward, I have to select 5 blogs in a particular niche that I think would be good to comment on and then write a detailed post explaining my reasons for picking those specific blogs. I can handle most of this, but there is one small snag, the niche has to be gardening. Without meaning any offence to possible readers that might be gardeners, who knows anything about gardening?

So, number 5 on his list of 5 gardening blogs, he wrote this:

5. TheClearingSpace – This blog comes at the end for obvious reasons, I don’t think it has anything really going for it as far as commenting potential goes. It does have a PR of 4 but with a limited amount of posts on the front page and apparent lack of existing comments, I think I’ll pass on this one.

Are gardening blogs about gardening? You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Hmmm… any of my regular readers consider the clearing space a gardening blog?

Nope, me either… do you think he knows that gardening is about, um, gardens?

Unless it’s gardening of the human spirit. After all, yesterday I did use a gardening metaphor… A spot of gardening – Erasing Catastrophe and Chaos.

I refuse to get into a slanging match with this guy. But I have a couple of questions for you – my wonderful readers.

• Do you care about the commenting ‘potential’? Do you pick which blogs to leave a comment on, based on whether or not you might get more traffic to your blog? [am I just totally naive, or do people really do this?]
• Do you find the limited amount of posts on the front page (which is a feature of the design) a turn off from reading The Clearing Space? (If you read through a feed reader, obviously this is totally irrelevant).
• Do you care whether thousands of people are not commenting here? Does it make my writing any less attractive to you?
• Do you care about page rank? Should I ?

I’d really like to ask you – do you think, deep deep down inside – that you deserve happiness?

My dear friend Chris has a provocative post over at her Take a Bite blog – about whether you deserve to be loved… Secrets of Staying Together – Deserving. As a Relationship Specialist, Chris poses the question in terms of your loving relationship. Then in a comment in response to Chris, Leah asks the same question of small business people and whether they feel they deserve success.

Taking this conversation just that little bit further, and I really don’t think it’s a stretch from what Chris is talking about (and please do go read her post) I am asking whether you think you deserve to be happy?

Do YOU deserve to have a happy, peaceful, fulfilled life?

Or do you think, “I’m not good/ rich/ pretty/ intelligent/ educated enough to get what I want and have a happy life”?

According to the Law of Attraction, made popular by movies like The Secret, you attract what you think about. Therefore, that belief that you don’t DESERVE may be the very thing that is stopping you getting it.

It isn’t enough to WANT it. You need to believe you are good enough, that you deserve your dreams… no matter your past, no matter your bank account balance, no matter what. Because if you don’t think you deserve to be happy, you won’t do what it takes to BE happy…

“Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things.” -Robert Heinlein

I disagree! I don’t think it is lazy to look for an easier way to do things at all!

In this century, we’ll all running around like headless chooks trying to make ends meet. Life seems to get faster and faster every year, and I don’t think it’s necessarily just because we’re getting older and slower…

Every new labour saving device means theoretically that we have more time. So how come we end up with less?

Looking for an easier way to do things isn’t necessarily about labour saving devices, nor is it about paying someone else to do it for you (except in the case of ironing, where I strongly advocate that getting someone else to do it is worth every cent!)

Seeking the easy way (as opposed to the hard way) is all about making it easier on yourself.

Most women have a hard time with guilt. And one of the biggies in the world of women’s guilt is that she ‘should’ be able to have it all. The high-powered career. The bulging bank account. The stunning body. The amazing marriage. The gorgeous kids. The immaculate house. Home-cooked dinner on the table by 6 every night…. yada yada yada…

Of course, none of that is realistic, is it?

It is sensible and realistic to seek out and take the easy way whenever possible.

It’s far better than self-destructing. Or ending up as a puddle of butter from racing around and around and around, like the tigers in the old childhood story Little Black Sambo.

I’d like to start some discussions around the topic of finding the easy way – about making things simpler, easier and less stressful for us all, so that in the end our lives have a better equilibrium and a touch of serenity – secure in the knowledge that we’ve got what we need to handle, handled in the easiest possible way.

Hands up those who’d be interested in something like this? (leave a comment below, or pop me a quick email – theclearingspace at gmail dot com)

"Every girl deserves to feel beautiful just the way she is."

This is particularly poignant for me as the mother of a 13 year old girl.

This film clip – Dove Evolution – shows a model’s transformation from pretty girl to billboard icon… and the transformation is scary!  This is what our daughters are subject to, every single day, without being aware of it.

How can they possibly live up to that ‘enhanced’ ideal??  How can ANY woman?

Kudos to Dove for taking a stand!  I believe every woman, and the men who love them, need to see the huge amount of ‘manipulation’ that goes on behind the scenes – so that they can see what is REAL, what is authentic – blemishes, frizz, cellulite and all… we cannot live up to the expectations created by the camera, and neither should we want to, or be expected to!

[Thanks to both Lipsticking and Funny Business for the pointer.]

Captain Scarlett and Gorgeous Girl finish school on December 1st.  Sooo, I made the decision, and announced it to the world, I will be prepared for Christmas by that date! 

Yes, there will be still functions and entertaining to do, and fresh food shopping will go on regardless.  But the lists, the gift shopping, the wrapping, the planning, the preparations will all be done.

Because I want to enjoy December!  It gets real hot here then, too hot to be running around like a madwoman.  I want to be able to relax and enjoy spending time with my kids (when they are not off with their friends, and when they are, I want to be able to enjoy the PEACE!!)

And I have a personal pet hate of shopping in crowds.  Hate it!  And I know what the shops get like in December.  Come December 1, I dont want to see the inside of any shopping centre (except for food) until 2007.  I’ll take most things, but a horde of crazed shoppers madly trying to get the perfect present at the perfect price, whilst dragging bored, wingey kids around isnt one of them.  Neither are the crowds of teenagers, who come to the shops for entertainment and to escape the heat outside.  And I’m not even going to mention car parking!!!

Oh dear, I got started on the shopping thing didnt I??  Sorry!

Why not pop over now and read my post – here – and then let me know if you’re going to join Chris and I and enjoy a December filled with Peace, Joy and Goodwill to All.  Chris has taken up the gauntlet – she saw my decision as a challenge she couldn’t let past.

Have you noticed that there are so many polarised opinions on what it is you should eat to be healthy, or to lose weight?

There is the low fat lot – where you eat reduced fat or no fat food in order to lose weight (Weight Watchers and the like).  I blame this lot for it being very hard to find full-fat yoghurt in my local supermarket for my kids to eat.  Everything seems to be fat-modified – what happened to food as nature intended?

Then there is the low carb/no carb alternatives.  Where you eat oils and fats (the good, healthy ones, not the bad ones), lot of protein and veggies, but little or no carbohydrate.  BUT wait – there are studies saying this is bad for you… something about kidneys isnt it?

The food combining (dont eat carbs and protein at the same time) programs like Fit for Life (it also says only eat fruit before noon – tried that once.  I could never last until noon!!)

There are the some fat is good and necessary, and the all fat is bad for you choices.  With studies and medical mumbo jumbo to back up both sides of the argument.

And the carbs are bad, versus carbs give energy schools.  Not to mention the varying definitions of what a ‘carb’ is!

And the anti-sugar brigade – that ALL processed sugar is bad, although, of course, some say fruit is OK.

All sides have ‘studies’ and ‘double blind surveys’ with findings to back up their claims.  Of course.  And have you looked at the health and fitness section of your local bookstore lately???

Isnt it enough to make your head explode?

So how do we, your average, non-dietitician citizens of the world, make healthy choices on what to feed our families and ourselves?

Are we so caught up in convenience and hurry hurrying that we are willing to accept the minimal food value of a lot of the food on the supermarket shelves?  And then have to turn to special diets to lose weight because we arent eating plain good food.  (And I dont mean that good food has to be plain – far from it!)

The movement to organic, free range, growth hormone-free, antibiotic-free, non-genetically-modified food is gathering momentum.  The pendulum is swinging.  We are starting to realise that all the ‘diets’ in the world arent going to do it for us.  What we need is good, wholesome food as nature intended.

Then we wont need all these reduced fat, low carb, chemical cocktail, genetically engineered ranges of cardboard, will we?

What’s your take on this?  Are you happy with the choices you make for you and your family?

I spread the sunscreen on exposed bits as I got out of the shower in the morning, took along my very wide brim hat, and declined to get into my bathing suit (happy to sit on the beach and enjoy watching the surfers and the surf.)  Besides which, if I had put on my costume, it may have cleared the beach – all that shocking white skin would’ve blinded them all!

We were on the beach less than 2 hours (it was mid-day and we needed to retire to the gelati shop for a touch of sustenance…)

And yet, last night when we got home, as Teenboy was showing me his red arms and nose I realised my arms were tingling under the cardigan I had popped on because I was cold.

Then I realised why I was cold.  Oooh, sunburn!  Face, chest and arms, and a touch on my lower legs too.  Today, Teenboy is no longer red – just a shade browner.  He’s so lucky he got his father’s olive skin.  (And G and Master7 didnt suffer much more than a little pink on their face)  Me, I still look like an overcooked lobster.  (wail)   

My warning to you all – winter is officially over.  Declared that way by the first burn of the season.   Remember to slip, slop, slap – and for goodness sake, dont forget about reflected rays!  My face and chest were covered by my hat the whole time we were in the sun – and they are still red.  Next time, I will know better than to trust my morning application of sunscreen.

Oh, and the b*ggr of it is, I wore a cap sleeve t-shirt so now have stripes on my arms, you think I could’ve at least worn a sleeveless shirt?