If one more person assumes that I have shelved my brain I'm gonna...

I have a massive rant that I have been saving for a while, mainly because I haven't had time to put pen to paper (so to speak). Every time I think about this topic it makes me mad so hopefully posting this will be cathartic.

What I would like to know is this - when did it become abnormal to stay at home and care for your children instead of going back to work? Don't get me wrong, I don't have an issue with other people choosing to go back to work. Do what you want. What I do have a problem with is people being unbelievably condescending when I tell them that I have chosen to be a stay at home mother. I have even heard this choice referred to as 'cute'. That, however, is not the comment that has annoyed me the most. The worst of all condescending comments is when people, of which there are multiple, say 'Oh, I could never be a stay at home mother. I need to use my brain.'. *smoke coming from ears* Of course I don't use my brain. I just sit at home and sing nursery rhymes and behave as if I am in a ward staffed by Nurse Ratched.

The thing that bugs me the most is that we as humans are animals. When any other animal (excluding a few of course) produces offspring they don't check them in to childcare after a month and go off about the business of 'using their brain', um, sorry, I mean working (if you are going to be condescending, I shall return the favour!). You don't see kangaroos dumping their kids with their mother and donning briefcases. I have never seen a possum childcare centre in operation. Caring for our children is what we are biologically supposed to do and the assumption that anyone who chooses to pursue this course of action has shelved their brain for the interim is downright wrong. I use my brain in multiple ways that I don't feel the need to list. I am not here to justify my position as a thinking stay at home mother. I'm just here to rant.

Rant over and out.

Five Turks, a bishop and a plastic spoon

My lovely best friend, Jude, last weekend married her beau in a lovely ceremony. I was lucky enough to be a part of it as a bridesmaid. It was great to see them so happy, especially Jude. She deserves happiness in love.



The wedding went off without a hitch, however the previous night was slightly more disasterous. I shall cut a long story short(er)...

Our plan to go out for dinner that evening did not work out as planned so we paid a visit to McDonalds at 11pm where we promptly locked the keys in the car. After recruiting the assistance of -

(a) the McDonalds staff, who were unable to give us a coathanger as it was McD's policy that no metal coathangers were allowed (one wonders why)
(b) two orderlies from Frankston Hospital who had just knocked off and looked as if they had been indulging in some morphine while they were on shift,
(c) Jude's father (who happens to be a bishop),
(d) the Night Owl attendee (who offered us a plastic spoon and a pair of nail scissors as tools to break in to the car),
(e) five young Turkish men who were increasing their testosterone levels by helping some stranded pregnant maidens (technically one matron and a maiden),
(f) and a lovely young man had just been ejected from a local nightclub and was off his chops but had decided to drown his sorrows at the McDonalds drive-thru -

we decided that smashing a window was the only option. You would think this task would be simple, however it took some time for Jude's sister to complete the task. We fell on our pillows after 2 a.m. Phew. And to top it all off Jude's delightful youngest child decided that 550 a.m. was an appropriate time to wake up for the day! AAAHHH!!! Nevertheless the lovely Jude made it down the aisle and looked amazing. Congratulations guys.

Boo hoo

I think I may cry. I have just spent the last day writing a long post and bloody Internet Explorer just closed on me. Gggrrr! I must go and regroup before starting again. Until then...

Baking 101 and the question of too much TV

My son and I were bored yesterday morning. Staying at home is a rare thing for us. We are normally out and about every morning and every afternoon. I have decided that Will needs to become accustomed to hanging at home a bit more as I am pregnant and we are likely to stay at home a bit more when the baby is born. Anyway, I digress. We were bored. I decided that a baking session was a good idea. We made some Milo cookies and had such a good time.



This experiment got me thinking about something that I forever feel guilty about. Do I let Will watch too much television? Should we be doing more activites instead of watching ABC Kids? I don't use the TV as a babysitter, but we do have it on quite a bit in the mornings. I am not one of those people that thinks that the TV will eat his brain but something about it makes me feel like a less-than-perfect parent (don't worry, I am not under any illusion that I am a perfect parent - there is no such thing). Do other parents get their activity boxes out on a daily basis, leaving the idiot box for rare occasions, or are they like me and just bung it on as a matter or course?

Registries - rude or convenient?

I have a question - is a bridal registry rude, particularly when it is for an engagement party? Or is it convenient? Friends of ours were engaged months ago and are now having a party. Accompanying the invite was a Flight Centre Bridal Registry card that requested that we help pay for their honeymoon rather than buying a gift. I say pay for your own f(*%ing honeymoon! I'm buying them a vase in objection. All of these parties have been created to get free stuff - bridal showers, baby showers, kitchen teas, blah blah blah. My husband thinks that I should have a baby shower for our second child to get back some of the free stuff that I have given over the years. That would be hypocritical now, wouldn't it?

I must say I am loving the fish. The question is does every second blogger have the fish? To quote my friend Andrew, meh.

Ok, so this blog thing has had me intruiged for a while and I have decided to give it a burl. Will anyone read it? Who knows? I am already enjoying it, though, I must say. Last night I was hugely inspired to start and had all sorts of ideas. This morning not so much...

One problem that I did consider in this blogging game is the fact that much inspiration will be drawn from my life and in blogging about certain things I am sure to offend people near and dear to me. I shall have to make sure that I think and re-think before posting things that may offend.

I shall sign off for now and play with my blogspot. Later.

p.s. I am going to play with fonts for a while and see which one I like so sorry for the chopping and changing.