Can you believe it’s the last week of summer?  Already?  Which means it’s just about the end of bright printed pencil skirts and bare legs season.

And the nearly end of bare slightly tanned arms accessorised with chunky steel watches season too.

But I won’t lie.  I am looking forward to puffer vest season.

And to pulling on my weatherproof hiking shoes for a city slicker’s hike through the wet lino at Coles, through the puddles on the sidewalk and through piles of wet leaves.  I always feel much more adventurous and closer to nature when I get around at the weekend in jeans and hiking shoes.

It’ll be Toddler SSG’s first season of jumping through muddy puddles.  He’s already so attached to those Crocs yellow wellies that he’s been wearing them around the house and to bed.

It’s been a lovely start to the week.

As one of those people who seems to need an awful lot of stuff to get anything done, I think I’ve just about got the stuff on my desk ratio right in the new office.  There’s my new name and other details stamp because even I can’t read my own block capitals when I’m forced to block capital anything more than my name).  If you’re in the market for self inking stamps, Speedy Stamps is the place to go.  They may be pricier than the online printers who sell stamps but the quality and size of each stamp impression is worth the extra cash.  Especially if it’s work related and hence tax deductible.  I found it really easy to design my stamp online and there are true to size templates on the site to help you select the best sized stamp for your needs.  Mine ended up costing $58 but the wrist ache it’s saved my dodgy writing arm is money well spent.

I also have a new supple of the rather dreamily named Odyssey 2500 stapes for my heavy duty stapler because there’s nothing more irritating than trying to staple more than three pages together with those normal desk staplers.

And last but not least, my elephant paperweight is standing on my desk diary to keep it open to the right week.  It’s also guarding a favourite ball point which has both great sentimental value as well as the ability to write like a dream.

Before I go, I’d like to leave you with the answer to a question that may or may not have been causing you no end of sleepless nights.

Is it okay that your idea of recovering after a big afternoon at the gym is a handful of home made pineapple tarts all the way from an aunty in Malaysia, a can of coke zero and a totally non ironic read of a Michelle Bridges interview?

Actually, that was a bit rhetorical to be asking after the event.  It was very restorative at the time though.

No, the big question is this…

Just what cracker or crisp bread should you buy a toddler when you’re desperately trying to be a more responsible parent by moving on past the Arnott’s Shapes multi packs?

I posed the question to Facebook over the weekend and this is what my responsible parent friends had to say.

Cruskits were the clear winner with 8 votes.  Followed by Saladas and rice cakes (3 votes each), Vita Weets (2 votes) and finally Premiums and Ritz got 1 vote each.  

Wasn’t that more exciting than the Oscars?

Speaking of which, congratulations Julianne Moore for your Best Actress gong for ‘Still Alice’.  You looked beautiful in Chanel.  But most of all, thank you for your decision to star in this film.  Alzheimer’s Disease like all the other dementias is a devastating and cruel diagnosis for both patients and their loved ones.  I hope that ‘Still Alice’ and your role in it encourages people to understand what dementia does to everyone who is touched by a single person’s diagnosis.  And that through this understanding may we find the power and voices to make our governments do more and give more to dementia patients.

It is one of the sad ironies of the world that a common disease like dementia isn’t ‘glamorous enough’ to attract the same star studded fundraising efforts as say ‘the cancers’ or heart disease.  I am not in any way being dismissive of what charities have done to further research and treatment in these conditions but may we not forget about dementia.  And that though there isn’t a cure for any of them at the moment, may we see it fit to support charities that ease the suffering of patients and carers.  Many of whom carry on with quiet dignity doing the best they can for as long as they can.  Without the benefit of ribbons, daffodils or red noses.

I’d best be getting off my soapbox now.