A Home of their own...How the NDIS will help...

My son has a home of his own, as every young person should. It's not big and it's not grand, but he's put his stamp on it and it's his.

Now you might think that this has been an easy process when I say it 'just like that'. But you would be wrong. The hoops we've been made to jump through to get to this point would make a strong man weep.

One would assume in this enlightened day and age in a civilised culture such as we have here in Australia, that when a young person with a disability says that want to live independently, the corporate and government processes would wholeheartedly support them.

You would be wrong.

Because it's not just the physical 'roof over the head' for many of these young people. It's finding a way for them to live a supported life with the assistance of many others, who, by way of their involvement, need to be remunerated. In other words, you need paid support workers.

And for someone like our guy, that support does not come cheap.

Now, in some countries, this paid support is indeed a 'given'. It's just there. Not here in Australia, although that is changing. My husband and I have had to lobby politicians on all sides of the track relentlessly, doggedly and persistently for 5 years.

But finally it's happening. We've had word that a funding package has been approved for our guy, for him to be funded for the maximum amount on a permanent basis. The feelings of relief for him and for us are immeasurable.

Sadly there are many families like ours, who do not have the determination, werewithall or internal strength to do what we've done.

So please, when the time comes, support the introduction of the NDIS or the National Disability Insurance Scheme here in Australia.

For this is the only way that people with a disability and their families can seek to live out their lives with the dignity and choices that the rest of us take for granted.

Thankyou.

Serenity

I've been absent for a while.

I needed some surgery and frankly, some serenity.

Bereft of a lavender field such as the one pictured, I resorted to retreating to home and hearth.

I've accomplished much in doing so and I'll be sharing some of it very soon.

Meanwhile, thanks for hanging in there with me.



Making something of nothing....

So, all this talk of French Farmhouses made me want to resurrect all my 'stuff'.

You know the 'stuff' I mean...the 'stuff' that husbands look at with narrowed eyes from time to time, remarking that perhaps some of the 'stuff' could be put away for a while. What is it about men that makes them minimalists except in the garden shed?

Well, I decided that the way to display my 'stuff' without The Musician wanting to immediately heave it all into the rubbish bin, was simply to be judicious and selective about my display.

So, during my absence over the last few weeks, I've done some soul searching and decluttering. Personally I think decluttering is the scourge of the sentimentalist, and have many decluttering regrets where I heaved personal mementoes into the bin on the premise that I could carry that memory in my heart and didn't need to have physical reminders. Hmmmm...might work for some.

So there was no bin involved this time, although I did dispose of some of my less noteworthy collections. I then reorganised my 'collections' into displays, united by their commonality.

This melamine dinnerware is a good example. These shell shaped dishes belonged to Mum. A hostess of the 1970's, these were well loved and well used by her. Of course they fell out of favour over ensuing decades, but are enjoying something of a revival. After drooling over the collection pictured below, I decided that Mums melamine was indeed worthy of displaying, and so it now is, as seen above.

Equally, I gathered all of my Depression era glassware together to display. Now, before this I didn't even realise that I had a 'collection' of this stuff. But there it all is now....

The best thing is, having decluttered the cruddy stuff, and put the good stuff out on display has freed up so much of my cupboard space, it's unbelievable! I now have beautifully organised kitchen cupboards, new space in my bathroom, and a place for my table linens that never seemed to exist before.

A good little nesting urge is very constructive from time to time!

If I were a rich girl.....

The inside of my weekender in the French countryside would look like this....