Family Home

Sunday, July 30, 2006

How to be a happy stay-at-work mum

How to be a happy stay-at-work mum

The Guardian
29 Jul 2006

On September 11 2001 when two planes crashed into the World Trade Centre, my infant son, Jonah, was sleeping soundly on me, moulded to my chest. While I watched the towers crumble on TV and smelled my delicious baby on top of me, I suddenly felt... read more...

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Kids at work

Kids at work

The Guardian
28 Jul 2006

It seemed like a good idea at the time. As the school holidays commence, many working parents find themselves in a temporary childcare bind. Your children are on holiday, but you aren’t. Wouldn’t things be simpler if we could all just bring our kids... read more...

Sisters returned to biological mother in lesbians’ court battle

Sisters returned to biological mother in lesbians’ court battle
Clare Dyer Legal editor
The Guardian
27 Jul 2006

Two sisters taken away from their biological mother and handed over to her former lesbian partner by court order must be given back, five law lords ruled yesterday. In a judgment setting out the principles to be applied in tug-of-love battles over... read more...

Sunday, July 23, 2006

BEE WILSON is THE KITCHEN THINKER

BEE WILSON is THE KITCHEN THINKER

Stella
23 Jul 2006

How was your soup, Major?’ ‘It tasted a bit off.’ ‘ That’s because it’s made with fresh mushrooms.’ We’ve just been watching the complete Fawlty Towers on DVD (you can buy a BBC box set for 29.99). I’d forgotten just how brilliantly dire the food is.... read more...

Saturday, July 22, 2006

‘You’ve been very, very naughty’

‘You’ve been very, very naughty’

The Guardian
22 Jul 2006

Like most successful TV makeover shows, Supernanny follows a finely engineered format. In each episode, Jo Frost visits a family home and finds small, riotous children wreaking havoc. She demonstrates to their witless parents her techniques for taming... read more...

Friday, July 21, 2006

Why would you leave a place like this?

Why would you leave a place like this?

The Guardian
21 Jul 2006

At bay number four in Wroclaw’s bus station, a group of young Poles are standing around in the afternoon sunshine. Among them is Michal Wardas, a 24-year-old university student. He is off to spend the next two months working as a waiter on the Isle of... read more...

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Whither the nation – again and is it far from the beach?

Whither the nation – again and is it far from the beach?

The Irish Times
19 Jul 2006

On days like these, when the sun is shining and heaven is a firm Cornetto, the same old question begs our attention and threatens to spoil the holiday fun: whither the nation? Maybe not. But they’ve been asking this at summer schools around the country... read more...

Friday, July 14, 2006

Furniture as art: a tour o of Paris design shops



Furniture as art: a tour o of Paris design shops
by Helen Kirwan-Taylor
The Wall Street Journal Europe
14 Jul 2006

SLICK ITALIAN HOME DESIGN gets the attention. But the French have another approach, elegant, understated and low-tech. Though a few French furniture companies such as Philippe Hurel and Ligne Roset are internationally known, French interior design is... read more...

Thursday, July 13, 2006

POLICE QUIZ BLAIR NEXT (Daily Mail, 13 Jul 2006, Page 1)

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POLICE QUIZ BLAIR NEXT
By Benedict Brogan, Stephen Wright and Jane Merrick
Daily Mail
13 Jul 2006

A high-ranking officer will warn the Prime Minister that anything he says could be used against him if he is prosecuted. Confirmation of the astonishing confrontation came last night hours after the arrest of Lord Levy, Mr Blair’s trusted confidant,... read more...

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

How I put my husband through the hoops



How I put my husband through the hoops

The Guardian
06 Jul 2006


After learning about the tricks that trainers use on wild animals, Amy Sutherland de
cided to try the same techniques on her husband — with dramatic results


As I wash dishes at the kitchen sink, my husband paces behind me, irritated. “Have you seen my keys?" he snarls, then huffs out a loud sigh and stomps from the room with our dog, Dixie, at his heels, anxious over her favourite human's upset. In the past I would have been right behind Dixie. I would have turned off the tap and joined the hunt while trying to soothe my husband with bromides such as, “Don't worry, they'll turn up." But that only made him angrier, and a simple case of missing keys soon would become a full-blown, angst-ridden drama starring the two of us and our poor nervous dog. Now, I focus on the wet dish in my hands. I do not turn around. I do not say a word. I am using a technique I learned from a dolphin trainer.


I love my husband. He is well read, adventurous and does a hysterical rendition of a northern Vermont accent that still cracks me up after 12 years of marriage.


But he also tends to be forgetful, and is often tardy and mercurial. He hovers around me in the kitchen asking if I read this or that piece in the New Yorker when I am trying to concentrate on the simmering pans. He leaves wadded tissues in his wake. He suffers from serious bouts of spousal deafness but never fails to hear me when I mutter to myself on the other side of the house. “What did you say?" he will shout.


These minor annoyances are not the stuff of separation and divorce, but in sum they began to dull my love for Scott. I wanted — needed — to nudge him a little closer to perfect, to make him into a mate who might annoy me a little less, who would not keep me waiting at restaurants, a mate who would be easier to love.


So, like many wives before me, I ignored a library of advice books and set about improving him. By nagging, of course, which only made his behaviour worse: he would drive faster instead of slower; shave less frequently, not more; and leave his reeking bike garb on the bedroom floor longer than ever.


We went to a counsellor to smooth the edges off our marriage. She did not understand what we were doing there and complimented us repeatedly on how well we communicated. I gave up. I guessed she was right — our union was better than most — and resigned myself to stretches of slow-boil resentment and occasional sarcasm.


Then something magical happened.... read more...

Monday, July 10, 2006

The six stages of love



The six stages of love

Irish Independent
10 Jul 2006


How can romance last until your pension-drawing years? A new book claims to have the answers. CATHERINE TROY reports


Why do some relationships survive, while others crash? What happens when a couple hits a crisis? Is the relationship over, or is it possible to fall back in love with someone? In his book: I Love You But I’m Not In Love With You, marriage counsellor Andrew G Marshall looks at the six stages of love. He pinpoints the positive and negative aspects of each stage — and offers exercises on how to stay in love forever...


FIRST STAGE: BLENDING


Time period: First date to two years. Love is blind. Mary and Tom meet up, the earth moves... they spend every moment together. All differences are overlooked as they blend into one. Individual personalities are toned down. They discover new life experiences. If Mary is into opera and Tom is into dog-breeding, both immerse themselves in the others passions... read more...