I am honoured to be nominated for an AusMumpreneur Business Award in the Making a Difference (Business) category.  This is a people's choice award... which means I could really use your vote.

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Most days, I work on the proviso that we start every day with a certain number of energy points. These are there for the picking, spent as the situation requires. Some tasks, of course, require a greater number of energy points than others. Occasionally I find I can achieve two tasks using a single energy point, and in those rare moments, I feel supremely smug.

Over the years I have learned three things:

1. Getting an overdraft is difficult.
2. Sometimes I am over-expended by 8.32am.
3. My application for an overdraft, logged by 8.43am, is usually denied by 9.03am.

Here's how the tally went today:

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A friend once described me as having 'over-sociability' disorder. He is an introvert. I am not. He did not perceive a need to chat to people he didn't know, or ask them about their lives, or invite them over for a cuppa. I saw every need to do all of those things.

Basically, I like people. I like finding out about them. I like asking a lot of questions. I like making new friends.

I am wondering if it's starting to get a little out of hand...

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I have a confession. It's something I have known for a while. But it seems to run so contrary to popular opinion, I find it hard to say it out loud.

I don't think gifting dinners is a nice thing to do.

A few months ago, I was offered a half scholarship to study at The Women's Business School. And so a month ago, I commenced. I have just handed in my first assessment. I have never, in all my years working and studying at University, completed an assessment quite like this one...

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There are days when you're all over it. And then there are those days when it's all over you. No prizes for guessing.

The day started, like most before it, with the obligatory cup of tea. With tea poured, one of the junior recipe testers and I went to read a book on the couch. Just before I sat down I managed to drop my cup.

It landed on the edge of the seat of the couch...

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Happy International Women's Day! The theme of IWD for 2017 is #BeBoldForChange. Dinner on the Table has pledged to be bold for change for women with disabilities.

Today is a great day to celebrate the very many roles women take. Just over half the Australian population are women, and a great many of us become mothers at some point in our lives. For many girls, there is an expectation, either subtle or outspoken, that they will have children of their own "when they grow up".

But some women are never expected to become mothers...

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We are learning the trumpet. Well, when I say "we", I mean one of us is learning the trumpet. But the walls in our home are such that we're all right there amongst it. For every huff, groan and occasional note that emerges.

I am not complaining. I was the one who encouraged the pursuit of music. The senior recipe tester is blessed with a great many talents. Music is not one of them. As my aunt once fondly commented, "Bless him. He can't get within a bull's roar of a note."

But I digress. We now have in our possession a beautiful instrument, on loan from the school music department. We cared for it diligently for perhaps twenty four hours before we had a problem.

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There are occasions that you wished you hadn't tried so hard to relax. In fact, sometimes it might be more relaxing not to relax.

We recently planned a lovely picnic for dinner. The junior recipe testers were particularly excited about it, as was the senior recipe tester and I. We were picnic-ing with extended family: there were sibling-type senior recipe testers to drink wine with, and plenty of junior cousins to play with. A relaxing evening all round.

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For me, going back to school means one horrifying, terrifying activity. For the uninitiated, I advise you to avert your eyes, to close your browser, to read no further. Nothing they tell you in antenatal classes will put you off parenting. Buying school shoes just might. Fortunately for our junior recipe testers, this dreadful activity precisely coincides with a time that it is too late to change your mind about being a parent. At that point, you can rarely give your children back.

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We are so excited to appear in the Hills District Independent magazine this week.

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