I made it through the second month of my Personal Revelation Revolution!

I gave 2013 the theme of learning more about myself and - as Oprah puts it - living my best life. I committed to reading "Simple Abundance" by Sarah Ban Breathnach and pondering a way to live a more authentic life. And even though Sarah's writing is a bit antiquated for my taste, I've been getting some great insights and lots to think about.

Due to my new flexible work schedule I have been stuck cooking way more often than I want to lately. It seems like I do the majority of the cooking during the week and it blows! Cooking is definitely not my thing and to alleviate the pain at least a little bit I have decided to pull out some German comfort food (which my husband doesn't like, so it's sandwiches for him those nights).

The type of comfort food I like is sweet and one of my favourites is Kaiserschmarrn. It's actually an Austrian food and I can't even begin to explain what it translates to, just trust me when I tell you it's delicious.

It tastes like an incredibly fluffy crepe and it has raisins and you eat it with a compote of Italian plums. This is what it looks like:

I read a thread on Facebook a while ago about whether it is better to lie or to be honest when declining a play-date invitation. Like when the mother of a kid that your kid can't stand asks if he can come over and you know it's just not going to happen because the other kid is a sociopath in the making.

I threw in my two cents and did not really follow the conversation after that, but I think the majority was actually in favour of the little white lie. My opinion was that it's better to tell the truth - in this situation or any other - and I was surprised that so many mothers did not feel the same way...

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a writer.

If there was a writing assignment in school I could not wait to get home and start writing. If there was a letter to be written I would volunteer and after every vacation I would ponder the best way to bring all my adventures to paper.

When I got older and it was time to think about what I wanted "to be when I grow up" my parents *encouraged* me to choose a real profession, nothing artsy like writing, because especially in my father's mind free thinking and being creative produces nothing but terrorists. I never understood how he came to that conclusion, I can only assume that the creative process was a threat to him.

I am not the board-game-playing kind of girl. I like playing with lego and I like word games or card games or yahtzee. But every once in a while when we go camping and the kids catch me by surprise while I relax in my recliner I accidentally say "yes" to the Game of Life. The Simpsons Game of Life that is, which we borrowed from our friends (sorry Jeanette - do you want it back?)

So last summer when we were out camping at one of our favourite spots at the N'Kwala Rec Site...

Every once in a while grief can just sneak up on you and bite you in the butt.

About a year and a half ago a person very special to my family passed away. He was very special to my son - he was his mentor, teacher and friend.

My son struggled for a long time and took comfort in continuing his work at the school library, where his friend Steve was the librarian. Of course Steve was a teacher and my son a student helper, but when Steve got sick my son Marius promised that he would take care of the library.