It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time

This is Crib Gogh, and the great people I climbed it with. It was possibly one of the most frightening things I've ever done! What you can't see in the photo are the tears on my face: tears of terror and relief that the worst was over. While I am unlikely to plunge to my death in most of the situations I find myself in, I can often detect echoes of the same feelings in the little challenges of life. Take blogging for example.

There are so many whizzy things I'd like to be able to do with my blog. At least, they seem whizzy to a technophobe like me! By whizzy, I think what I mean is "looks good, seems a great idea but I'm scared of trying." One thing I like in reading other blogs is the coloured words that open another web-page as if by magic and I want to be able to do this. I have accessed the help pages and I think I've got it sorted, so I thought I'd try linking to some colouring pages that the children enjoy. (I hope it works!)

Also on my 'to figure out' list are getting the photos to appear where I want them and creating a list of other blogs I read.

I do have a tendency to make a mountain out of a molehill. Put another way, I set the bar way too high. With the photos I've turned this into the task of figuring out flickr, sorting and filing all my photos, working out how to use my camera properly after at least 3 years of ownership and getting some photo software to make my pictures look better. The task has become so monumental that I don't know where to begin.

And of course, if I mess up, it's here on my blog for anyone to see. The Artist's Way reminds me that "Mistakes are necessary! Stumbles are normal. These are baby steps. Progress, not perfection, is what we should be asking of ourselves."

As a Home Ed mum, I believe it's really important that I should keep learning new stuff. The process of learning is sometimes hard and painful and that is easy to forget. Two years ago I had some swimming technique lessons. I learned a lot about learning: I found that I could listen to instructions, understand them perfectly and be completely incapable of making my arms do what I had been told; I discovered that I could get the hang of one action and then it would go totally out of the window when I tried to add correct breathing; I would completely forget to concentrate and find myself half-way up the pool wondering what I was supposed to be practising; I felt really mad with my teacher when he asked, "What was that?" and felt brim-full of pride when he said, "Well done."

When I find myself telling my children that they are not trying, when I am frustrated at them for not doing what I've so clearly explained, when they get something muddled and confused, I try to remember all this. And I try to keep learning new stuff so I don't forget! So, it's back to those help pages for the next thing on the list!