Once upon a time, there was a big lake that crossed two suburbs, Ambarvale and Rosemeadow. Surrounded by ticky-tacky public housing, the murky lake was home to eels and ducks that those local residents who couldn’t afford the cost of movies for entertainment would feed with stale bread. The children of the areas would group up with friends and hang out around the lake, playing in the marshes... 

Recently many Twitterers (and their associates) contributed to my survey on American women’s attitudes to breastfeeding and its representation in the media. I promised to share the outcomes of my research and the survey, which this post seeks to do. For those interested, the entire paper (30 pages plus 15 page complete survey result appendix) is available by emailing me or asking on Twitter... 

Yesterday we took a road trip to Vail. It’s just two hours away. I found a great sledding area in Vail courtesy of a website which lets you locate good sledding runs (free) in your neighbourhood. We entered the address in the GPS, and off we went! The day cost us nothing apart from the car’s petrol and wonderful pizza we ate for dinner. We’ve discovered the following: a. I need... 

Harry loves to hike through the Rocky Mountains. There are more trails around here than you can poke a … hiking staff at. (Sorry.) Harry’s decided to do a series of Hiking with Harry videos, which will show everyone a little bit of what new things he’s experiencing in hiking in a completely different environment. This is his first one, where he is seeing his first ever frozen lake.... 

Colorado is not just about snow (the lack of which in 2008 is duly noted). Colorado has some absolutely incredible dinosaur excavations, including stuff that’s still being dug up to this day. That’s something I didn’t know until we went on a day-long excursion/adventure this week. First stop was one of the sites about half an hour from where we are living, at Dinosaur Ridge. The... 

Halloween is officially over. The only candy left is the real crud that nobody will eat so I’m about to chuck it out. That’s not bad for an entire month! The other great thing was the jack-o-lanterns. We had heaps of fun carving them with our US friends and they decorated the outside of the house with their scariness for a while. And the kids even had a jack-o-lantern competition at school... 

During my final 12 months in Australia, a disturbing language fad happened in the youth I was teaching at college. It was also demonstrated across all youth, because I saw it in my own children. The use of the word gay to describe something negative. Anything negative. Was gay. “That’s so gay.” “He’s so gay.” “That game’s gay.” The real meaning... 

I am swimming in the B pool and I’m not happy. (Don’t try telling me getting a B is okay. It’s not.) I have some kick-ass papers to write. I have a great brain and a wealth of experience. But I’m not getting the grades I want. Graduate school is difficult. This week I had what I’d describe as a ‘crash and burn 24 hours’. There were lots of reasons to just... 

I was wondering which of the Desperate Housewives I am. I don’t have a gardener, we’re not rich, my kids are not dysfunctional, I’m not blonde in real estate and I’m not pretty and stupid. I guess some would say Lynette is the closest to me, because she has billions of children and was a great worker outside the home. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.  I... 

Since moving to Boulder I’ve actually started picking up the local free newspaper each day, but I’m over it. Why? I read it online and believe it’s the cheapest, easiest way of helping the environment – even easier than all that other recycling we do. In Australia to get a paper you need to visit a newsagent, or the train station – basically have a human interaction.... 

Living in the USA is really similar to living in Australia. You know, there are schools, public transport, etc. But some things, little things, can make it seem really freaky. And that’s really fun. For example, the mail. In Australia you have a home letterbox where mail is delivered to monday to friday. If you want to send snail mail, you go to the post office. Rarely do you get stamps anywhere... 

Yes, I breastfed all four of my children. Yes, I did for at least three years for every one of them. And no, I make no apologies for it. If you’re uncomfortable with my headline, then as the Queen of Spain says, #suckit. (Yes, I do finally get that.) I’ve spouted for a long time that breast fed is best fed. I think it’s a great line and it describes my feelings well. All four of... 

Living here couldn’t be more different than what we’ve been used to. And it’s pretty much all good. It’s a 1 minute walk to the bus stop, and the bus comes every 10 minutes. And this is the view I have while I wait: We have at least one squirrel in the tree which overhangs our condo’s back patio. Of course there are squirrels everywhere here. But this one is in our tree. He’s... 

We jumped. We are now in Colorado. The suitcases are in the cupboard under the stairs. The kids are at school and I am at the SJMC (School of Journalism and Mass Communication) at the Uni of Colorado at Boulder. I thought I’d take you through what was an extremely tiring and exciting 8 weeks to share the joy, and thank those who helped us get here. Step One – Getting Ready to Jump Packing... 

This is the second of my posts relating to Randy Pausche’s wonderful Last Lecture. He said that while it’s great to achieve your own childhood dreams, it’s wonderful to help others achieve their own childhood dreams. For the last eight years I’ve been a start-up widow. You’ve heard of golf widows? Well, I’m a start-up widow. Jed started itechne eight years ago... 

After the passing of an inspirational man, Professor Randy Pausch, I’ve decided to write a number of posts on what struck me in his Last Lecture. If you haven’t seen this lecture, I wholeheartedly recommend getting a cup of tea, and taking an hour to watch it. Then watch it again a week later. There are myriad messages in it. The thing that teared me up with this lecture was this statement:... 

Yesterday was a big day. I was approved for the F-1 student visa, which will give me 3 years in the USA. Please note a visa in your passport doesn’t guarantee entry to the USA, that decision is made by immigration when you enter the country. But without the visa there’s no way you can get in for business or tourism beyond the 90 days which the current Waiver Programme appreciates. (In...