• I'm an E cup. When I was younger and skinnier I was only a C cup and could handle underwires. Then I got pregnant and discovered the bliss of maternity bras. Post babies and breastfeeding I went back to the wires only to find they poked me and now I've got 'birdseyes' in my cleavage. I cannot fathom the underwire. Obviously the person who designed it has never had to wear one. Having big boobs we're all encouraged to wear them, but now I'm old and fat they're far too uncomfortable to contemplate. I'm happy with my 'wirefree' bras. I figured that if manufacturers could make a maternity bra without wires that fitted perfectly and provided excellent support to lactating breasts, they could do the same for large, non-lactating breasts too. I found the perfect fit for me at a large chain store and bought the same type for years. Not terribly sexy, but comfortable and serviceable. Now I've discovered same large chain has a moulded cotton bra in large sizes. Better still, you can order them online when the sales are on and collect them from the store. Bliss! - BeansGran
  • Well put Sonya. I am so glad that you have created this documentary. Also, you have put forward a voice of reason backed up by compelling evidence & your own credibility. I am pro-vaccination, but I understand why it is an delicate decision for many parents. I haven't come across the anti-vax theories (I'd never even heard of the AVN until Mamamia kept writing & tweeting about them). I'd always just followed the immunisation schedule. But I have come across a lot of pushy pro-vaxxers and I have to say, it is a turn off. I understand that it's a passionate issue. But is it an effective way of increasing immunisation rates? Of course not. Some pro-vaxxers make it their full time job to name, shame & harass people opposed to vaccination. Is harassment going to change their position, heck no! Is it going to galvanise their anti-vac position, quite probably! I just think we need to be smarter about this. I know it is not a "debate" in the sense that the science is in on the benefits & general safety of vaccines. But it completely normal to feel uneasy about purposely injecting your child with something most of us know very little about. And then watching their every breath that evening as they process that vaccine. Sonya, I hope that your documentary is the beginning of the change in the way we talk about immunisation. Well done. - Kasey
  • I am very impressed by what you've set out to achieve and how you've come about it. Much of my work these days is in vaccination and I work hard to break down the myths and false beliefs people have about vaccines. I find listening to concerns, empathy and responding with good evidence based information has been the most successful manner I've had so far. I also reassure parents that it is always their choice, but I also share that I am a mum too and that I choose to vaccinate my child fully. And funnily enough that's usually the clincher. Respect, good information and empathy can go a long way. I really hope that many people watch your documentary and help absolve the many concerns and myths surrounding vaccination that are out there. You must be proud of your work :) - The Huntress
  • Not everyone has access too or any interest in the internet, you cannot drive a tractor and watch the internet but you can listen to radio, you cannot drive a car and watch the internet but you can listen to radio, you cannot wash the dishes, the clothes, yourself and watch the internet but you can listen to the radio, you can also lie in bed with Phillip Adams, half my University of the Third Age students go to bed with Phillip. Australia's best journalists were trained by the ABC. What I don't understand Gee is your palpable hatred, how can you be so angry all the time, just relax and learn that we are all different and some of us prefer the quiet nature of the ABC compared with the ranting and rage of radio shock jocks and commercial TV. Your phrase 'slash and burn' is shocking to me, no one I know hates anything, no one I know wants to destroy things or institutions, not even the IPA, why such violence of language? - sue Bell
  • [...] Science says vaccinate! [...] - LET'S TALK (NOT SHOUT) VACCINATION
  • Thankyou Emma for your good work and humanistic attitude towards others. I could not do your job and be nice to others at the same time, i'v e realized. The other ABC journo's et al should be taking notes.......all the best in your career! - louise
  • Why censor the pictures, Ro? Don't call them "young men" either. They are "vicious animals" as their act so clearly evidences. They are not human at all. Are you saying it is "justifiable" for ethnic Nigerians, who have never been to either Afghanistan or Iraq but grew up on the teat of the British Welfare State, to run down and then Halal butcher a complete stranger walking along the street and minding his own business? How can you possibly draw any connection between what happened in London and the alleged mistreatment of Aborigines in Australia? What a fine example of the "straw man" argument! Do you think NATO and other allies were "unjustified" in invading Afghanistan and liberating it from the Taliban? That same Taliban that banned girls going to school; regularly indulge in female genital mutilation and the sodomising of "dancing boys"; blew up ancient Buddhist monuments; regularly carried out executions by stoning and beheading as half-time entertainment at football matches in Kabul and Kandahar; undertook ethnic cleansing against Hazara muslims; banned music and dancing on pain of death; and provided a base for the racist extremists of Al Qaeda to operate completely unfettered? Do you think it was wrong to overthrow Saddam Hussein who had used poisonous gas on the Kurds of Iraq? Whose two mongrel sons crawled the streets of Baghdad looking for women to rape; who executed his own son-in-law after promising "forgiveness' if he returned from exile; who gained power in a coup and then personally executed scores of his own "party"? The problems in Iraq today have nothing to do with Saddam's overthrow and everything to do with the seething sectarian and ethnic hatreds that have plagued Mesopotamia since the Babylonian Empire. Why didn't those two vicious animals condemn the latest round of sunni-shia bombings and murders in Iraq? If muslim women are subjected to the regular sight of dismembered bodies, those bodies were provided by other muslims. Why is it that only this week we saw Syrian women asking Bob Carr why it is that the USA and the non-Islamic world is not interfering in their current civil war? The war is yet another essentially religious/sectarian conflict between a Sunni majority and an Alawi-Shia minority. Why should any young Americans, Britons or Australians risk their lives for these benighted, backward bastards who regularly tell us how much they hate us? Have you forgotten the spontaneous eruption of glee and happiness that occurred in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the "Islamic world" when the 9/11 attack was carried out? It seems to me that you, like so many others, have forgotten the lessons of the period from 1919-1939. Appeasement never works. Trying to trivialise this disgraceful crime; saying that ...well, maybe, it was Britain's fault and maybe if Britain hadn't been and Imperial power 200 years ago and ... really, when you look at that and what happened to the Aborigines here, maybe they were justified in running over a total stranger, who'd done nothing to them or any of their family or relatives, and then hacking off his head with a meat cleaver. The white-washing, the diminution, the trivialising, the justifying has already started in media and the blogosphere. The appeasers and the white-hating racists are already talking this whole thing around so that in a few weeks they'll be wanting to give these two mongrels a medal and have them treated as Prisoners of War. I am so glad the British cops didn't shoot them dead. I want them to suffer in HM Prison System for the rest of their lives. But, knowing the way the British EHRC led by that treacherous hater, Trevor Phillips, operate, they'll probably be named and shamed and given 20 hours community service. - Jack Richards
  • Anyway. So long Latin. I know there will be people close to Hazel who will be feeling sad and confused today. Sad for who she was and confused because she is perhaps better off dead now. And then there is everyone else who were touched by Hazel's contribution to our lives. Thank you Hazel and her supporters. - ro.watson
  • Always thought that Hazel H. was too much in the background type of PM's wife.From the information revealed recently about her I've realised how essential and important she was to Australia. This deception was probably due to the limelight on her ex-husband/PM Bob .He might have been successful politically but how he maintained the persona of god's gift to women for so long, baffles me. He is just another ugly aussie male. He should show more atonement towards such an admiring woman as Hazel. Condolences to her children and their families. - louise
  • Perhaps I am projecting, but there really is something very special about the relationship between a regular cartoonist's work and their readers. A sort of mutual getting to know you abandon. - ro.watson
 
30
Categories:  Lifestyle, Wellbeing

MRS WOOG IS NOT MARTHA STEWART

By Mrs Woog
June 6, 2012

I have a secret. I harbor an imperfection.

Ok, let’s start again. I have MANY imperfections but there is one that presents itself almost every single day. I am disorganised.

Try as I may, I am just not one of those women who runs a smooth brain. Mine is akin to a Chinese laundry, with things flung everywhere and items going missing with regular regularity. I have always been a little scatterbrained, but as I get older, I sometimes surprise myself at just how easy it is for me to walk around with my head stuck firmly up my own anus.

Our family has a calendar. It is the Leunig Calendar, which comes free with the newspaper at the end of every year.

This is our social lifeline, when indeed we choose to write something on it. Which is hardly ever.

We have been known to be lazing around the house on the weekend when the phone rings. It is always someone asking whether we were planning to attend the BBQ, Engagement Party, Baby shower, Birthday party or other celebration which is currently on.

At that very moment.

It is not a comfortable feeling, blaming your partner for not putting the event on the “Calendar”.

Another really bad faux pas that can happen when you are disorganised is when you are talking to a friend on the phone and you say something like “Are you looking forward to your birthday?” and there is silence.

Because their birthday was yesterday.

And then there is the feeling of dread I get when I drop the kids off to school only to discover that it is Funny Hat Day, Mufti Day, Wear an Outfit From Your Cultural Heritage Day or the ultimate stuff up which I have also done – which is when you drop your kid off at school only to find out that it is a Pupil Free Day from the secretary who calls you mere minutes after driving away.

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30 Responses to this article

  1. bigwords June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Get a phone with a calendar in it and put things in straight away. Simple. No really, Mrs Woog it is that simple! x

     
  2. Cynic June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    To be honest? You just sound kind of lazy. If you really wanted to be organized you would, and you’d probably find it’s actually easier and FAR less stressful than winging it. Do your friends a favour, and just write things down!

     
    • Mrs Woog June 6, 2012 Reply
       
       

      That is not even the half of it! But you are right, oh Cynic. My friends deserve more respect. I am turning over a new leaf. Starting next week x

       
  3. Cate P June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    You need a wife.

     
  4. Jodie aka mummaducka June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    You must absOlutely use the smartphone, best tool ever. If you have a 4s use the microphone instead of typing. Then set reminders and alerts. I am just as disorganised as you and it has saved my butt so many times and dont forget to share/invite these things through the program with hubby and in my case kids.

     
  5. Dazed June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I know you’re only, what, 38? But I have a sneaking suspicion if you need to wear reading glasses that you may find the screen / text on the iphone a bit hard to read. I know my hubby does. So get an iphone and increase the font to Granny size (easy in the settings). If you want to be fancy, put your calender into the cloud. That way, whenever you add or delete something from the diary, it updates it on your ipad, hubby’s phone etc i used to have a little paper diary I carried everywhere and resisted the iphone – now I need a third hand for it. Is this a thinly veiled attempt to get a freeby iphone? (smart!)

     
    • Mrs Woog June 6, 2012 Reply
       
       

      I will look into this – thanks so much x

       
  6. rachelmp June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    My husband uses his staff to remind him of things and even has a phone reminder to pick up the kids from school on his days. I say train the kids up early!

     
  7. traceyb65 June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    hell, i have an iphone reminder to eat lunch … xt

     
  8. La Hola June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Sack Felicity the inter, re-employ me.

     
  9. carol @ perennial June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    If your family really loved you they would call you the day BEFORE the engagement/birthday/event you are regularly late for. Selfish buggers. Why are they waiting until the last minute and making you look bad?

     
  10. Mumintheburbs June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Don’t laugh- set a reminder morning and night to look at your calendar. Otherwise the habit never sticks.

     
  11. Kelly Exeter June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    As a hyper organised person I am hyperventilating reading this post but I am sad to say, if you don’t have the gene, you don’t have the gene.

    Which means it’s time to get yourself a PA ;)

     
  12. Sandra June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I feel your pain Mrs Woog! I do actually use the calendar/alarm/reminder functions on my shiny shiny iphone, but I still forget stuff and miss appointments! And I do actually try hard to remember

     
  13. sam June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    You sound very like my husband and my daughter. I am an old fashion girl who still has a Filofax. I also make a to do list each night before i leave work. You know I am sounding terribly boring:)

     
  14. Angelica Minx June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I am that chick you speak of who pulls her fruit-branded gadget and types dates into her already packed, constantly syncing calendar…

    However, why am I always late, always double booking, always forgetting where I am, have to be or should be?!? I have been trying to pass my scatterbrained- ness off as an endearing trait for years but I think it’s just earned me the title of unreliable, ditsy and tardy.

    My brother and husband refers to me as the dumbest smart chick they know. Fabulous…and my inability to keep to social promises doesn’t help that image (which I think is prob deserved).

     
  15. Harriet June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Two kids with an active social life, one Bloke who works shift work, one Missus who works full time – we HAVE to be organised. In triplicate!

    Smartypants phones are called smartypants phones for a Very Good Reason. We have a paper calendar and use google calendar on our phones. I manage the calendar from the computer at home and it sends off automatically to both our mobiles. (Tip for young players – turn the reminder off for all day events or it will bong at you from midnight onward.) And the Bloke’s roster is on our phones, so no more ‘yeah, I think I can… I’ll have to check the roster”.

    This bit is awesome. However it’s only as good as me putting stuff in/on the calendar and him telling me about stuff to put in/on the calendar – so yeah, still forget stuff. And we’ve accidentally triple booked. BUT most of the time it works, we don’t forget as much stuff as often, and the Bloke is way better at telling me stuff than he used to be.

     
  16. Mummasphere June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Mrs Woog, last Friday I dropped Emily off at Day Care only to find all the children & staff in PJ’s for PJ’s Day. I organised a big girls night out at the local where my favourite bands would be playing for this Saturday night only to find out that said bands were on last weekend and this weekend there will be nothing on. Girlfriends are coming from interstate and a babysitter has been booked. Oops! I use my iPhone for everything and still I get it wrong. I call it Mummy Brain where so much stuff goes in it sometimes overloads and crashes.

     
    • JessB June 6, 2012 Reply
       
       

      @Mummasphere, if you’re in Melbourne, why not head to St Kilda on Saturday night, and have a lovely early dinner somewhere, and then go to the double feature at The Astor? They’re showing The Artist and My Week with Marilyn.

      Good luck!

       
  17. Mrs BC June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Go easy on yourself, Mrs Woog! Martha has a staff of hundreds to organise her – she saves her brainpower to do bigger things like organise table settings and visit the garden. Well, she probably has people for that too..

    xx

     
  18. JessB June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Oh Mrs Woog, I feel your pain! I too, used to be a disorganised mess, forgetting birthdays and events and missing out on lovely things with lovely people I loved.

    Then, I got myself organised.

    It started when I enrolled in a uni course part-time, and got given a diary on my first day. I conscientiously went through and wrote in all my classes each week. And then went back and updated them, when they changed in the first week. And then realised that I got lost every week, so went back and wrote in the room numbers too. And then put the room numbers in the back of my exercise books for each class. And my teacher’s names. And some of my classmates names.

    I realised that I work best on paper, in a format I can carry around with me all the time. I now have a pretty A5 size, hardcover diary which I keep up to date and scribble all kinds of things in.

    One of the best tips I learnt at uni was to go back a week before something big was due, and write in a reminder – e.g. Final assignment due in a week!!!

    For things like Mum and Dad’s birthday’s, and Mother’s and Father’s Days, I go back a month, as it takes that long to wrangle a decision out of my siblings and buy a present.

    Good luck! I’m really happy you’ve decided to prioritise this and make it happen. I’m sure it will be tough for the first month or so, to create the new habit, but then you will start to see the benefits and it will become something you just do.

     
  19. blue June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    No, no, no, no. I read this wonderful book — can’t tell you the name or author because I quickly passed it on — written about organisation. Aparently the time it takes to get organized and STAY organized takes up more time than living in a mess. They did those time and motion studies. I was absolved. No one will convince me it’s any other way, now.

     
  20. kim at allconsuming June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    People are forgetting one crucial part in all of their advice and, lets face it, assvice, even if you write it down, put it in your phone you still have to read it/check it/look at it.

    We have the mighty Kiki.K. calendar in which every.single.member. of the family has a column. Awesome. No use if I don’t refer to it every hour though.

    Some of us are just not detail orientated but half way to solving the problem is recognising you have one so snaps to you pookie.

     
  21. Anne June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I hope this doesn’t sound too trite. I’m a disorganised/messy person. But now I CELEBRATE little steps forward, and it helps. Things have improved!

     
  22. Keeshabelle June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Mrs Woog, i don’t relate to your dilemma personally, I am actually quite the opposite, and somedays make Martha Stewart look simple! I have to somedays remind myself to have a glass of wine and put the Control Journal down….somedays I wish I had just a tinsy winsy bit of your chaos in my life! It sure would make for a good laugh and keep life interesting! x

     
  23. Susan June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Get an OT to come around and tell you how to organise things…. then when they have to do something for you -they forget!!! (Me a brain injured person1) Leave your keys in the same spot, Pay a little bit off your bills every fortnight and thank those that ring you and get in the car and go or not! Chill baby chill…

     
  24. Mrs Catch June 6, 2012 Reply
     
     

    Oh, Mrs Woog. So much the SAME. We must be related somehow. An iPhone calendar is the only thing between me and total societal outcasting. Get thee to the apple store pronto.

     
  25. Mez June 7, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I saw a picture of a man with a tattoo that said, ‘child’s name probably Tyyssin) has basketball on Thursday.’

    Great idea. And the added bonus of looking ‘on-trend’ with tattoos all down your arm.

    Win, win … or, like me, just come to a point of acceptance. It is what it is, we are what we are and it doesn’t matter how much I spend on shiny new diaries or calenders, I’ll never change.

     

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  • BeansGran: I'm an E cup. When I was younger and skinnier I was only a C cup and could handle underwires. Then I got pregnant and d...

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  • Kasey: Well put Sonya. I am so glad that you have created this documentary. Also, you have put forward a voice of reason backed...

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