For those of you not fluent in Star Wars-ese, the title of this blog comes from the scene in Star Wars where R2D2 is beating Chewbacca at some kind of animated chess game. Chewie, not happy at being on the receiving end of a flogging by a small blue droid, flexes his muscles and growls, so C3PO suggests that R2 adopt a new strategy, and “let the wookiee win” .

In our ever-so geeky home, “letting the wookiee win” is code for letting kids win at games if they are getting disgruntled. Now some of you (let’s call you “the kind people”) will think that’s par for the course.  Kiddies feelings are easily bruised, and why can’t they always win? It makes them feel good. Life is hard enough, let the kiddies have some fun.

Others will be shaking their head emphatically. (You get to be “the realistic people”.) Life isn’t fair. Letting kids win isn’t teaching them about the world; it’s just raising a generation of ungrateful little sods who don’t know how to lose.

Let me tell you how it works in our home. Young children are like wookiees. They look cuddly and warm, but they are really ferocious beasts. They’re all right when they’re on your team, but you don’t want to get them off-side. If it looks like they are losing it with losing, I let them win.  I treasure my life and my sanity.

However once kids hit about five years of age, all bets are off.  If the game involves skill then I will help them along the way. One-sided matches aren’t fun, so I’ll make a game of it by offering tips and advice. But I’ll still beat them. Games of chance? They’re on their own.  Good natured ribbing is encouraged. (My 9 year old is always delighted when he gets to declare “mugs away” when playing cards.) Gloating winners and sore losers are not.

I’m treasuring these years when my age works in my favour. It won’t be long until it will work against me. One day the kids will be stronger , faster and possibly smarter.  Then I plan on throwing a tantrum until they let the old wookiee win.

Are you kind or realistic? Do you always, sometimes or never let your kids win at games?

Earlier this year my beloved popcorn maker died. On reflection, this could be the reason I have had such an unproductive winter. I’ve obviously been in mourning.

I know that you can make popcorn the old-fashioned way, but after years of the convenience of my air-popper, it seems so cumbersome to go back to shaking a saucepan over the stovetop burner (not to mention the hassle of having to clean a saucepan afterwards).

I did plan to simply replace my poor overworked popper, but I never seemed to remember when I was out shopping and when I did remember the stores didn’t seem to have any in stock.

But, those sad and empty days are gone. Today we welcomed (Sunbeam) Cornelius into our home and harmony has returned to our afternoon snack time. Feeling peckish kids? No problem, I’ll just whip up some popcorn for you. Tah-Dah! Done!

We tend to just enjoy our popcorn with a little salt and melted butter. I think I might have a caramel popcorn recipe hidden away somewhere though which I probably should find now that the wonderful Cornelius is here to stay.

Do you have a favourite popcorn topping, sweet or savoury? Please leave a comment with some popcorn “seasoning” suggestions, or if you’ve posted a recipe on your blog feel free to include the link.

Related Links:

The Best Thing Since Sliced – Well, You Know… (new Breville bread maker)

With 13 years of Catholic education in my distant past (note Meredith’s recent comments about our 20 year school reunion), I have a healthy respect for nuns. My memories range from the wonderful Sr Mary Amata, the school librarian who encouraged my love of books and reading, to the rather intimidating Sr Mary Pauline, who made my bush dancing classes 45 minutes of sheer torture.

Given my experiences with nuns in the past, it is perhaps not surprising that I was intrigued by the Nun of a Kind website with its fantastic range of gift nuns. That’s right, you can purchase your very own, shipped direct to your door nun.

Once I visited The Nunnery I was hooked. Reverend Mother of Purl, the knitting nun. Nuns ‘n’ Roses, the rock’n’roll nun. Sr Nun the Wiser, the university graduate. Absolutely priceless as a gift idea for anyone with a Catholic background who can appreciate a good pun or simply someone like Meredith who includes nuns in her list of fundamentally amusing things.

Once I knew the Sisters existed I just had to have one. I just had to find a reason to justify my purchase. Fortunately, Linda the creator of the wonderful nuns, added a new nun, Sr Paige Turner the writing nun, just in time. Before you could say “get thee to a nunnery”, I had ordered two, one for me and one for Meredith.

I didn’t stop there of course (Hello. My name is Susan. I am a compulsive online shopper). Thanks to a few emails bounced back and forth with the very helpful Linda, I also ordered two Sr Bea Well nuns as a special gift for my mother and her best friend, both of whom are breast cancer survivors.

If you’re looking for a gift for someone with a great sense of humour, the Nun-denominational sisters are a fantastic bet-you-don’t-have-one-of-these gift. I have now outdone any gift Meredith could ever possibly give to me in the future (after all, how do you trump a personalised nun?) and my mother and her friend were very impressed with their special breast cancer survivor tribute nuns.

I’m rather partial to Sr Nun the Wiser given my probably return to studies at the end of this year. Sr Eileen, the off-centre nun appeals to my fondness for puns and how could any good book blogger go past Sr Rita Story, the reading nun?

Visit the Nunnery and then let us know which nun is your favourite.

One of the more challenging aspects of being a writer is the need to be creative on demand. It isn’t always possible to simply write when the mood strikes, especially if an important deadline is looming.

Of course it is easier to write when your muse is in the mood. Unfortunately, my muse is of a particularly quirky disposition. I seem to be at my most creative between 5 – 7 pm (when I am trying to organise dinner and bedtime routines) and after 11pm at night (when the rest of my body is shifting into shut-down mode for the day).

Inspiration often strikes while I’m in the shower but my poor sleep deprived brain is incapable of holding on to the ideas long enough for me to get to a notepad to write them down. A friend once suggested that I use a chinagraph pencil on the tiles, but that would mean more time spent cleaning the bathroom, right? Obviously that’s not going to happen.

I also tend to get quite creative when Meredith is occupied for a few days and can’t get to her computer, leaving me with complete control of our writing domain. This may explain why she rarely goes away for family holidays, as the insane number of emails from me she has waiting in her inbox when she returns scares her a little, I think.

What about you? Do you have a regular time of day when you’re all fired up and ready to write? Is your muse a free spirit like mine (that sounds so much nicer than headstrong and unmanageable) or does your creativity submit to a writing routine? If you’ve managed to achieve the latter, please feel free to share your tips and advice on how to train your muse to perform on demand.