Cathy's 50s Housewife Friday...tea and Metallica. It's the natural choice.

Woohoo!!! Friday Friday Friday!!

Happy 50's Housewife Friday Kids!!

Hope today finds everyone happy, well rested and ready to get ur housewife on!!

First track of the day:

Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine: Sheriff Fatman

This song takes me back to the early 90's and hanging in London with some very cool Peeps!

Although when I think about London and me and my friends desire to be there, I wish I could go back and hit L.A. instead. A very Me town and the chances of me marrying one of Guns n Roses (not Steven, preferably Duff)  or Joe LeSte from Bangtango would have been much higher.

Anyway, no need to cry over spilt milk.

A busy day ahead y'all.

 Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning in preparation for a hang out on the deck with my delightful mama this afternoon after school,  then a ladies lunch with some of my Family daycare Mums at my fav Paddo hangout, Sassafras.

 Avocado with lemon on sourdough toast, here I come!! These guys do breakfast til 2pm folks! That's a thumbs up from me. A Thumbs down? They've stopped serving Diet Coke!!!!! A very sad decision......will speak to them about this today and see if we can work it out....

My Family Daycare Mums are the mums whose children I have looked after in my home since 2005. Their kids now are at school and I only see them on holidays but I love that my former mums and I are still so close. It means a lot to me to still be so important to them and their kids, who are still my sons favourite friends.

Awwww too nice?

Let's dirty this post up a bit with some...... Wait for it......

Motörhead!!!!!!!

Second track of the day:

Ace of Spades!!

Ahhhh Lemmy. The coolest, ugliest hot guy ever.

But , back to nice: For my beloved Mas visit this afternoon I am adjusting my baking menu slightly to suit her lovely old school, high brow tea drinking preferences.

I am not used to having access to my mother but since my adored Dad died last month, she is suddenly available to me. (There are silver linings to all awful things dudes) But, I don't drink tea or coffee and she is a big Tea drinker, so I am slowly learning the etiquette of all u tea drinking fanatics. I am learning to never serve water that's been off the boil and am beginning to distinguish the difference between an Earl Grey and an Irish Breakfast.

 I was incredibly embarrassed the first time my mother dropped in one morning after her tennis and all I had to offer her was Turkish rose tea which she politely forced down and when she asked if I had any biscuits  all I had to offer was a meal replacement bar, which she declined.

So today is homemade scones with cream and jam which I'll pop in the oven as soon as I get back from lunch. I will then serve the tea in one of the Royal Doulton tea cups with matching saucers and side plates that she's been giving me as gifts for years and throw her the tea party she deserves.

I will refrain from playing track 3:

Metallica - The Four Horsemen

while she is here.

On that note, I shall leave u and get on with my busy Friday.

Track 4:

The Donnas - Take it Off

' cause I get what I want and I like what I see'

Ciao Bellas x

Cathy wears many hats. Wife, mother of two sons, CEO of Little Monsters Pty Ltd and Cake Pop Queen just to name a few. She subscribes to the theory that Cathiness is next to Godliness. And on Fridays she behaves like a 50s housewife by sedating herself and cooking, baking and ironing, and being nice to her husband. Any other day is a crapshoot.

Things that annoy me. Friday edition.

It's that time again, when I've worked up a lovely head of steam that is gonna blow...real soon. Well no, not really, it is Friday after all (my second favourite F word!) so how bad it can it be, right?

But I do have my roundup of this week's pet peeves and grievances that need a forum to air. Because this is really gonna fix it...

Oh well, Things That Annoy Me*

• Hairdressers who don't style your hair the way you like. Or at all. Last night I got a haircut and was asked if I wanted to pay $10 for a blow-dry. Thinking that I wasn't going to wander around with wet hair, and wanting to see the outcome of this long (I mean LONG) overdue haircut, I agreed. Sorry Miss Please Wash Your Hair Sometime This Year, clearly you meant to say 'go directly to dry-ish fluffy hell, do not pass Go' instead of 'blow dry'. End result being a head full of fluff, still partially damp, with a limp fringe. Huh??? It took me 1/2 hour with the straightener this morning just to stop it looking like a bad rug. And just a little note. People with fringes usually dry them forward, not upward and backward, with a slant to the left. The urge to grab the hairdryer out of your grubby mitts and finish the job myself was so overwhelming, I think I gave myself an ulcer. Thanks for nothing. It's a bad day when you look worse than the Trump.

• Sons who get a haircut in the chair next to you by one of Hairdresser from Hell's (heretofore known as HFH) colleagues and gets a) the best cut of his life and b) a complimentary blowdry. FML.

• So I read that there was a $26 million Queensland lottery winner from Tuesday's jackpot that hadn't been claimed. Then apparently some Townsville bloke rang his wife to check the numbers and they were the winners. Bastards. Although you do live in Townsville, so commiserations for that. Maybe you can spend some of your winnings on a removal truck. Or you know, a private jet. Meanwhile I scored $13.70. I won't spend it all at once.

* this is not a complete list

So that's pretty much all I got, which on reflection is a pretty piss-poor effort really. But it has made me remember a point that if my SON was writing this, he'd have as # 1 but I file under 'Taking Advantage of Every Opportunity to Embarrass Your Children' (patent pending).

So last night after our haircuts we wandered through the shopping centre and I bought two Monster High dolls.

I would pretend that they're presents for my nieces or something but they're not.

THEY'RE MINE.

Although last night I made my son carry them and took enormous delight in saying really loudly things to the tune of:

'Don't drop your dollies'

'Hey you've left your dolls on the table!'

and

'You shouldn't be embarrassed about wanting to play with dollies'

So when you see papers filed for minor emancipation, this could well be brought into evidence of the pain and suffering my poor kid endures.

It's my job.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! I was looking forward to cocktails and sunshine but after a beautiful warm sunny week, a huge thunderstorm is coming over and hanging about for a weekend visit. Bastard.

xx

Elections. Herding cats and my #FirstWorldProblem of the day.

To my American friends - congratulations on the re-election of Obama. You probably don't realise this, and I don't mean to feed your egos, but the world is only just slightly less obsessed with your election result as you are! It's on the front page of every news site today (right above Big Brother, we're tackling the big issues here). Yes you are the centre of the universe :)

You'll either be happy or outraged to know the general consensus around these parts is that the right decision has been made. Personally I don't give a fig for politics, but I do like the cut of Obama's jib so hopefully he'll make his second term mightier than the first.

And then his wife can go on and become the new Oprah.

And anything that pisses off the Trump simply CAN'T be bad.

Oh yeah!!

Now this is a stupid question, but did you see that photo? Well of course you did, it's now ranked the highest shared picture like EVER. So cute.

I only wish Australia had such charismatic leaders instead of the muppets we are presented with.

So apologies once again for being a bit quiet this week. Up until yesterday it was like one of those combined hamster wheel (spinning but never getting anywhere) slash herding cats weeks that had me working long hours and feeling utterly shattered.

Yesterday, fortunately for my sanity (which has been hanging on by a thread) was greatly improved so I feel like I'm slightly more back on track.

Some great news to report - I found out last week that my stepsister and her family were considering moving to Toowoomba and yesterday they basically confirmed it. Kids are going through orientation as we speak to commence their new schools next year. I'm so excited to have started a trend here. My stepsister and I grow closer every year and our kids are really really close. My major memories of childhood is playing with my cousins so I think it is wonderful that my son gets to make similar memories with his cousins.

Now if we can only hatch the plan to lure dad and my stepmother here...

I also had a long and lovely conversation with Cathy last night which of course as always covered subjects from the mundane (tired of cleaning up after stinkin kids) through to the supernatural and even randomly touched on the Celestine Prophecy for a bit. That's what we do.

The best part is next weekend I get to spend some time with my lovely gals, staying at Cathy's place in Brisbane before descending on a fellow mate for an old fashioned girls night at her place. Awesome stuff.

And now back to my #FirstWorldProblem of the day...I left my headphones at home and am sitting here music-less, shiftless and something-else-less that really isn't good. My life is over.

Or it will be until I go home and get them in a bit.

Hope you have a wonderful Thursday :)

xx

Back to basics. Tales of an uber-consumer.

It's funny that the older I get the more I get interested in getting back to the basics.

Instead of constantly looking for stuff to do, I now crave peace and quiet and a day spent sitting in the sunshine reading a book sounds like a perfect day indeed to me.

Same goes for my skincare routine as well. In my 20s I was lucky to have a sister who was a cosmetics consultant and scored a lot of free swag, of which I'd apply religiously, and usually all at once (and I wonder why I suffer from adult acne now).

Sadly those days are gone and I am loath to spend hundreds of dollars (nor can I afford to) on the latest and greatest anti-ageing stuff.

The internet is awesome as you can look up anything and read reviews before you spend a cent on the new and improved whatever that probably does as much good in reality as slapping on sunscreen. It's been through the internet that I've discovered two of my greatest secrets that I am utterly and completely obsessed with.

The first one is Rosehip Oil. This came about as I realised I was 'of an age' where a serum was pretty much a total must unless I wanted to resemble a wrinkled prune lady in a few short years or less. Any decent serum seems to carry an equally hefty price tag, of which I simply couldn't see my way to paying. I then heard about Rosehip Oil. I had concerns that it may make my face too oily and clog my already clogged-up-enough pores and exacerbate my adult acne, but for the price I thought I'd give it a whirl anyway.

And I'm really glad I did! Anyone who's put this under a night cream can attest at just how amazing your skin feels. And because it is gentle, it doubles as an eye cream and I swear has also made a difference to the dark circles I've had under my eyes since like forever.

It doesn't work too well during the day as makeup likes to just slip off it, but it's become my total 'must' at night before I go to bed. Love it. Love it.

And whilst I might be of a 'certain age', I am still fighting the good fight on those crows feet and it seems to plump out my between-the-eyebrows angry girl furrows that piss me off so much. Not quite Botox in a bottle, but for the price, I'll take it.

Although clearly this is catching on because the price over just a few years has increased from a mere $7.95 to lucky-if-you-find-it-for-under-$20. Bastards.

My second find is one I only stumbled onto a few months ago and that is Epsom Salts. Apparently this has been known for centuries as basically your everyday miracle remedy for just about anything, but ignorant old me only just found out about it.

Readily available at my local supermarket, it's not really a salt, but Magnesium Sulfate. Apparently most of the population is magnesium deficient (who knew) and by soaking in this stuff you absorb it through your skin and it claims to do the following:

• Detox your body
• Soothe your aches and pains
• Helps you sleep well
• Relaxes your nervous system
• Helps you absorb calcium and nutrients more readily

To be honest, I didn't care about any of that so much as I just wanted soft skin. So when I heard it was an excellent exfoliant, I was sold (baby's bottom elbows, anyone? I swear!).

What I didn't realise, though, was how much it helps your stress levels, reduces tension headaches, and generally makes you feel like a million bucks. Apparently this is because it helps raise your seratonin levels, which let's face it, I need all the help I can get. And it seriously makes your care-factor zero, which may or may not be a good thing.

And you can pretty much use it for anything. Mix it with cleanser, rub it straight on your body, pumice your feet, even remove the buildup from your hair. I also mix it with honey once a week do a deep cleanse and it is DIVINE.

Apparently you can stop slugs, make your garden grow and remove splinters but my care factor about that is pretty much zero. I'm all about the skin here.

So for visitors wondering what the jar of honey is doing alongside my shampoo - there's your answer.

So getting off my soapbox and back on point, it's really exciting discovering some of these 'old wives' remedies that have not only stood the test of time, but are even better than the latest technology. I've had heaps of people thinking I've just been to the beautician as my skin just looks so much brighter and a whole lot less angry.

That's not to say I'll discontinue my practice of being an over-eager consumer any time soon or stop worshipping at the altar of Ebay, mind you. And I've searched everywhere but have still never found a natural, cheap alternative to replace my beloved Benefit Benetint Lip and Cheek Stain. Until that happens, the economy is safe(ish). At least from me.

xx

Lessons learned from Honey Boo Boo and Octomom. There are some (believe it or not).

A lovely lazy weekend is nearly over and I'm pleased to say after a great night's sleep, I woke up feeling like a human being...what a lovely surprise. Thank you antibiotics for doing your job!

So, as only someone who desperately needs a life can, I've enjoyed a weekend doing little but the grocery shopping, a bit of yard work and catching up on my gossip and mandatory inane TV viewing. Oh and making some wonderful, yummy sushi!

So I'm tackling some REALLY big issues today, ie:

Lessons learned from Honey Boo Boo:

• It's the only English speaking television show that requires subtitles. At least I think it's English...the jury is still out.
• For quite some time I've had a desperate hankering to acquire myself a teacup pig (teacup pig! teacup pig! Thank you How I Met Your Mother). Honey Boo Boo has taught me however that the gentle, cute little piggie of my dreams is in reality a REALLY REALLY loud nightmare. Dreams shattered :( So were Honey Boo Boo's when poor old Glitzy was served up for dinner returned to the breeder.
• I truly hope the family have saved plenty of money from scraping up roadkill and visiting the local 'department store' (Georgian euphemism for DUMP) to provide Chubbs with the necessary therapy she will require after being rolled in a stanky mattress and sat upon. Eugh. I'm still scratching just watching. Scariest TV moment ever.
• Sugar Bear eyeing up June like a piece of meat made me throw up in my mouth a little. File under IMAGES I WILL NEVER GET OUT OF MY HEAD.
• Elvis is apparently Santa's toymaker. Who knew.
• Apparently bingo is a 'sport'. OK...
• Quote of the day: 'Having that extra thumb reminds me of a Swiss Army Knife'. Sugar Bear, on baby Kaitlyn. Enough said.
• I will never look at biscuits the same way ever again.

On another note, I read that poor Octomom has admitted herself to rehab for a prescription drugs addiction [CUE RIDICULING TWEETS HERE]. It was inevitable. Seriously folks, if you had a hundred kids you'd be popping the Xanax too. Although someone who willingly inseminates herself with 600 children simultaneously is already enough of the cray cray to probably have stepped off the road to reality quite some time ago. Woman needs a holiday.

And I see that both Rihanna and Lady Gaga had the inspired and so completely original idea to celebrate Halloween dressed as weed. If only they'd gone up in a puff of smoke...but we can only dream. So not hot ladies.

Meanwhile, I didn't receive a phone call today telling me I'd won the lottery so it's off to work tomorrow...SIGH. But the big $120 million is on Tuesday night so if I suddenly disappear without notice you know I'll be lounging beachside sipping cocktails somewhere in Barbados on my private beach. Ah.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

xx

Cathy's 50s Housewife Friday...It's So Easy.

Happy 50's Housewife Friday Y'all

Hope today finds everyone as happy and relieved as me to have the weekend rolling around again. By the way, can't believe it's November already!!  I know I always go on about time speeding up lately but I can't believe this year is already heading to a close.....

Blasting from the stereo on the school run this morning, Seven's choice:

First track of the day : You could be mine - G n R

With ur bitch slap rapping and ur cocaine tongue u get nothing done....

A great way to start the day.

Speaking of my long time loves - the original line up of GnR - I saw on Facebook this morning that they are making a movie of my first ever fantasy boyfriend Duff McKagan's biography, 'Its so Easy'.
Anyone who has spoken to me this year has had this book shoved down their throats, his story so beautifully written, his journey a complete inspiration. It could definitely have done with a lot more sex, but the drugs and rock n roll were more than enough for me to get to know my beloved better.

So I sent him a Facebook stalk message this morning suggesting that I could be in the movie starring as one of his wives or girlfriends. I reasoned that since I unfairly never had the opportunity to be one in real life I should at least get the chance to play one in his movie. Looking forward to hearing back from him heeheeheehee

Anyway, back to the real world....

My 50's housewife duties today have me on the search for the perfect leopard print ballet flat at stupid renovated retail hell called Indooroopilly Shoppingtown,  then I was on the bake for a very special baby boys Naming Ceremony at which my hunky hubby has the honor of becoming Godfather. Some delicious red velvet and chocolate fudge cake pops are on the menu. A nautical theme for some of our bestest friends day,  I am using red and white and blue and white striped straws and they should be pretty damned adorable.

2nd track of the day:

Joan Jett - Do u wanna Touch Yeah!

Followed closely by

The Killers - Somebody told me

A txt photo comes through on my phone as I write this, of my bud Gutterball Pete, wearing an Ace Frehely mask and a top hat, taken out in the city streets this morning......
What a classic end to a very cool and enjoyable 50's Housewife Friday.

Dan and I are heading out tonight to go and see one of our fav bands eva, the mighty Tumbleweed at the Zoo and hang out with some very fabulous people. If ur in BrisVegas tonight, you should def head to the Valley and come join us. U won't regret it.

So time to put these baby cakes in the oven ,chill some beers and put on my reddest lipstick before Dan arrives home from a hard day of manly work. It's easy to be this sweet when it's only expected once a week.

Send off track of the day, Gutterball, this one goes out to you!

Kiss - Love Gun

You hold the trigger of my......dadadadadadadadadadada

Have a great week guys!

Cathy x

Cathy wears many hats. Wife, mother of two sons, CEO of Little Monsters Pty Ltd and Cake Pop Queen just to name a few. She subscribes to the theory that Cathiness is next to Godliness. And on Fridays she behaves like a 50s housewife by sedating herself and cooking, baking and ironing, and being nice to her husband. Any other day is a crapshoot.

Friday is my second favourite F word.

So I've been struggling this week. I've been finding it just about impossible to get out of bed, and no matter how much sleep I get, I wake up exhausted and disoriented. Walking around like a doped up zombie may amuse my colleagues but frankly, I'm over it.

My ears also haven't been feeling good - like someone has a blunt pencil and is poking them repeatedly, not exactly a sharp pain but not the most pleasant experience, nonetheless [INSERT FIRST FAVOURITE F WORD HERE]

So off to the doc's yesterday to find out I have fluid pressing against the inside of my ears - oh joy! [INSERT FIRST FAVOURITE F WORD HERE] Better than an ear infection, I guess, but still...

So nasal drops and antibiotics and hopefully I'll start to feel like a human being in a day or two. Otherwise...well they'd shoot a horse for less, so perhaps it's off to the back paddock for me...

Anyway so I've been dragging my sorry butt around during a week of amazing sunshine and back to nearly-summer days. This may well be contributing to my desire to be sitting in a deckchair beside a sparkling expanse of water somewhere instead of at work/home/anywhere except in a deckchair beside a sparkling expanse of water.

Hopefully this weather will continue through the weekend and you better believe I'll be finding a sparkling expanse of water to lounge beside. Bank on it.

So now onto my second favourite F word - FRIDAY!!!!

What better to talk about on Fridays (other than cocktails/deckchairs/sparkling expanses of water) than friendships (my THIRD favourite F word). Well, I wouldn't be me if I let too much time slip between diatribes on friendships, now would I?

So it was pretty timely to see an article published about the six types of friends everyone should have (click here to read the full article).

It pretty much says what I've always said (GENIUS. Excuse me) - that you need to surround yourself with different types of people who provide different types of 'nourishment'. I've always said that you get different things from different people, for example, if I want to wallow, I call Jane. If I'm ready to get over myself and laugh myself sick and get off the phone in a better mood than I ever dreamed possible, I call Cathy.

So essentially the article says there's six types of friends that you need in your life:

• The friend who's cooler than you
• The friend who is up for anything
• The friend who you aspire to be
• The friend who doesn't know any of your other friends
• The friend who's painfully honest
• The friend you've known longer than you've known yourself

Personally I think six is a LOT of friends (haha) but I totally get it. I have friends who cross a few of these categories as well. So here's the breakdown:

The friend who's cooler than you
Um...like ALL of them????

The friend who's up for anything
Cathy. No hesitation. We spent our teenagerhood closing our eyes and jumping off the cliff and I wouldn't have done half of it if she wasn't beside me.

The friend who you aspire to be

How good is it that I have three! There's Jane and Kathy. Honestly two of the most genuinely NICE, generous and giving people who put everyone else first. Always. You really try to hate them for being so NICE but it's impossible. Just beautiful, inside and out. And Larissa, who I aspire to be in a totally different way. Ballsy, driven and has the courage of her convictions, I so wanna be her.

The friend who doesn't know any of your other friends

I've got lots of these, both in Brisbane and Toowoomba and it's great to get a more balanced perspective. Plus you can bitch about your other friends and they won't find out.

The friend who's painfully honest

Oh yeah, love them AND hate them, but you need one of these in your arsenal. Actually I have three. You know who you are.

The friend you've known longer than you've known yourself

How lucky am I that I have known my 'gang' since I was 14/15 years old. And seeing as I've 'known myself' for only about 5 minutes, there's a lot of people included in this group.

Seriously though, it is wonderful to have old long-time friends where you can make a statement about what's happening in your life and they automatically know EXACTLY what impact this event has on you due to past events.

If I'd written this article though, I would have added another category:

The friend who brings out the best in you

See my blog post on Toxic Friends for those who...well, don't.

So do you have your six? Do you have any other categories you'd suggest? I'd love to hear!

Happy Friday :)

xx