Brrr....Toowoomba Tuesday.

Weather report for today when I woke up: ugh!

I must be getting acclimatised though, as it seriously didn't feel anything like this, although with the heater pounding in my car I was pretty much impervious to just about anything!

And it helps when your dad rings and says it was -5 in Tenterfield and they were running around a motel freezing their bits off :)

Happy Tuesday all!

xx

I heart me the wrap dress.

My love affair with the wrap dress began many years ago when, believe it or not, I was watching What Not To Wear.

They had a woman featured with pretty much exactly my body shape and enormous boobs and recommended for her the humble wrap dress.

Boobs on show without looking too slutty? Check.

Waist defined, without too many lumps and bumps? Check.

Skimming over the parts you really want it to, and emphasising those you don't? Check.

No ironing? Well hell yeah...Check.

A fashion marvel, the wrap dress flatters almost every shape and I quickly went on the hunt for one to call my very own.

Fast forward years later and my wonderful wrap dress bore with me through weight gain, weight loss, terrible washing treatments and many occasions until sadly it almost has literally fallen to bits. I've resewn buttons and fashioned a quick fix where the side tie doesn't quite tie any more.

Then it started to gape at the front, transforming it from work appropriate to just...well, not really appropriate for much more than your average Ho party.

So last week I was shopping for work related purposes (really!) when I got completely sidetracked by the most gorgeous red Jane Lamerton wrap dress. Wow. Love, love, love. And with a shopping voucher burning a hole in my purse, it had my name written all over it.

Happy days!

So with this wardrobe staple once again front and centre of my closet, I was a happy girl.

Then on Saturday when shopping with W, I told her of my sad shopping habit of continually buying stuff that looks almost identical to other stuff I already own. Her task was to push me outside my comfort zone and make sure I didn't repeat my usual habits.

Well, with an armload of wonderful (and different styles of) dresses, I happily tried them all on and excitedly bought two.

What's that you say? Which do did I buy?????

Ahem....

Yes, WRAP DRESSES. Two. So a sum total of three last week.

OK so they're different colours and different patterns but on closer inspection it turns out that two of them are COMPLETELY IDENTICAL in every other way.

Ooops.

I guess if you're onto a good thing and all that, but really?

Oh well, I will have to embrace the fact that in addition to being earmuff girl (which is a thing, you know) I will also be heretofore known as wrap dress girl.

It could be worse. It could be double denim.

xx

Retail therapy is exhausting.

So best day ever!

Willow picked me up this morning with her daughter A and her little man E to go on an epic shopping spree, and shop we did!

I left MY E happily playing Skylanders at home as he was singularly unimpressed at the thought of 'girly' shopping all day, which was probably just as well! I can only imagine the disgusted looks and audible sighs we would have been treated to as he was dragged from one dress shop to another.

Toowoomba...look out. We came...we saw...we bought.

Well I did at least.

A couple of fabulous new dresses, some blusher and a few pairs of tights later and I was shattered. This whole retail therapy thing should be rolled out to insomniacs, as I came home totally ready for a nap.

We sat down at the Coffee Club for some breakfast and little E was giving his mum a hard time in only the way a 2 year old can. Any mum will totally empathise with the whole trying to eat with one hand whilst trying to control a squirmy, vagabond toddler with the other...it's like holding back the ocean. So as soon as I was done I strapped little E into his stroller and took him for a wander so W could finish her breakfast in peace.

Oh dear!

I'm shocked no-one in the shopping centre called Child Services on us, the way this poor little man was acting like I'd kidnapped and absconded with him...

The screaming crying, which I can easily deal with as it sounds SOOOOO fake quickly gave way to the most heartrending, mournful whimper I've ever heard in my life. I felt like a criminal!

Of course the crocodile tears dried instantly the moment we returned to W, all fed and watered, and we continued ransacking the shelves of every shop in the centre.

You know most days you go shopping and try stuff on and everything looks AWFUL or you can't find anything you like or whatever. Happily (or sadly, for my bank balance) today was NOT one of those days and I scored a couple of great finds, all the more special due to the 'one day only' $40 discount I scored on two of the dresses (each). There was one sad part when the dress I absolutely fell in LOVE with on the rack was simply just too tight to get away with :( Although as it was exorbitantly expensive, it was probably just as well. I must admit I am quite tempted to get it anyway as an 'inspiration dress' to look at every morning to encourage me to move my flabby ass a bit more so I can fit into it properly.

Shopping with W's 10 year old daughter was awesome! I think I'm every girl's mum's nightmare as I go directly to the edgy, gorgeous stuff that W is just shaking her head at going, 'not for MY 10 year old thank you very much'. I guess I would definitely feel the same way if it was my daughter :) Although we did manage to sweet talk W into buying her simply the cutest fluffy pink jacket that I only wished to god I could fit into... I will need to live vicariously through A, methinks!

So wonderful awesome day and looking forward to a great week wearing all my new gear! One of the dresses is quite summery so it may take a little while to appear but I'm looking forward to that day! What is it about waking up and getting dressed in new, beautiful clothes that makes the whole day feel special?

Ahhh retail therapy. How I love thee. Best shopping trip I've had in YEARS!

I'm also massively excited that W just informed me she is moving house next weekend and will be MUCH closer than me (ie. 3 minutes away instead of about 7 hahaha).

Bec xx

Cathy's rant of the day: when life comes full circle.

You'll have noticed by now that my weekly updates here focus a lot on my children, especially my teen. Its not that my 8 yr old is any less fascinating to me than my 15yr old but my little Xavier is still a "little boy." He still thinks that I know all the answers to all the questions and still needs me to make his lunch and help him with his shoes. My role as Mummy to my "bubby" is clear and he isn't raising as many personal dilemmas as my eldest.

In the last 12 months, Seven has grown about a foot taller, shooting past me about Christmas time and has been using my head as an arm rest as often as he can, laughing and laughing about how hilarious it is that I'm so short....

He has gone from being a music fan and sitting in front of music videos and record players ,watching, and listening, awkwardly plucking on one of the many guitars hes inherited over the years, to having skills and confidence and his own gang of friends to make his own music with and become a band with, while his Dads and I smile quietly from the sidelines as we happily support his choices.

Today as we watched them all walk down our street, dressed in double denim, leathers, wearing mirrored sunglasses and carrying guitars to the park for a band photoshoot, it was like watching the Outsiders without the threat of Socs, and Dan and I looked at each other.......

He has grown up...

WHEN THE HELL DID THIS ALL HAPPEN???!!! WHILE I WASN'T LOOKING?? i TURN MY BACK FOR ONE SECOND AND HE'S ALLOWED TO GROW UP??? AND WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN ABOUT ME??? THAT I'M OLD NOW???

I'M STILL IN A BAND!!!OK!? JUST BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T PLAYED IN 8 YRS DOESN'T MEAN WE'RE NOT NO.1 AROUND HERE!!


I'M THE ONE THAT WEARS DENIM AND LEATHER AND SKULLS! JUST BECAUSE LATELY I'M SEEN MAINLY WEARING MY LEOPARD PRINT DRESSING GOWN AND HOT PINK FLUFFY SLIPPERS DOESN'T MEAN I'M OLD YOU KNOW!!????

SO I PREFER BAKING TO DRINKING NOW, SO WHAT!!??

SO MY FRIDAY NIGHTS MAINLY CONSIST OF HOT COCOA AND A MOVIE ON CABLE!!
SO WHAT!!??
i'M STILL COOL!!
AND YOUNG!!
AND HIP!!

I guess the question is, can u still be all those things when you have a bunch of young, cool, hip teenagers around to make it blatantly obvious that maybe its time to pass the baton??

Yes, yes you can. Your teens band needs a stylist and someone to apply black nail polish with a steady hand. You can still be useful and youthful...like a youth consultant.....

I can teach them about the classic rock of my olden day era like Guns n Roses, Nirvana, Soundgarden and tell them tales about when Festivals only cost $30 to get in and Madonna was cool.

God bless photo albums ay? Or as they are now known in this house : proof that mum and Dad were once cool.


Cathy xx

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.

Currently.

Reading: Insatiable, by Meg Cabot. I've read a bunch of her books before and have always enjoyed the way Meg writes...it's engaging, with great characters and generally written tongue in cheek, just the way I like it. I'm only about a quarter of the way through but already am hanging on page by page to see what happens next.

I love it when I can find a great author who never disappoints. So often I get hooked on a series or an author where eventually it feels like they're writing by numbers. I still have to read them hoping it gets better but am inevitably disappointed. Meg's books always feel so fresh and not like she's dashed them out to meet a deadline...yay!

Anticipating: a couple of busy weeks with not one but two visits back to Brisbane. It will be my first time back since I've left and although I'm looking forward to seeing my friends, now that the sushi issue has been resolved I don't have a great deal of interest in Brisbane itself. I have a specific makeup item that I cannot find in Toowoomba that I'll pick up on one of my trips but there'll be no lengthy shopping excursion...just a quick smash and grab affair :)

Cannot wait however to catch up with the girls for one of our famous gossip evenings, and also seeing a few of our old classmates who have confirmed they'll be there too! Have been trying to get them to come along for ages so we're stoked to finally be able to catch up in person!

Loving: my life! Toowoomba has been everything and more and I feel so lucky and happy that I took this leap and fell on my feet. Great job, fabulous house, making friends and just generally feeling accepted, special and loved. What more could a girl ask for?

Working on: trying to get my motivation back after being sick. Now I'm feeling better but my strength is just not where it should be. I am really keen to finally try this hot yoga so really need to book myself in for a session ASAP! I'm feeling all kinds of fat and blah and am sick of waking up and coming home tired. I'm sure once I get this flabby ass moving I'll feel all kinds of better about myself and inspired and motivated yada yada. I have a terrible habit of 'thinking about it tomorrow' (a la Scarlett) so tomorrow I should finally do it!

Obsessing over: Kirsten Stewart cheating on Robert Pattinson. OMG!

Watching: now that The Bachelorette has finished (and Emily picked Jef...hooray!!!) and I'm all caught up with all the other cheesy shows I watch, including The Glee Project, I am now revisiting a show so lame it was cancelled in Australia after three episodes...90210. Clearly the American television viewing audience isn't quite so discerning as we as it's now in it's fourth season and I'm still plodding through season 3. Sad, sad, sad.

Looking forward to: shopping with Willow tomorrow! We haven't managed to get together for our long-awaited shopping trip yet and I've already spent most of my shopping voucher on a beautiful new Jane Lamerton dress but when has that ever held me back? Massively excited about a girlie shopping day full of giggles, gossip and making googly eyes over things I cannot afford and her adorably amazing 2 year old who will be chaperoning us.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xx

Real heroes do walk away.

So it's all over news.com.au today that they're holding a campaign to stop violence entitled 'Real Heroes Walk Away'.

This is particularly poignant, and timely, considering the thug that king-hit (and subsequently killed) Thomas Kelly is currently in court awaiting his justice.

Sadly it's incredibly likely that the poor parents of Thomas won't get the justice THEY so sorely deserve, with history indicating most sentences for killing someone with a punch are woefully inadequate due to some stupid loophole in the law that allows these bastards free in a few short years instead of the lifetime they deserve.

But it does really highlight the sad reality that one punch really CAN and more importantly, DOES kill and that violence in any form should not be tolerated.

Now I'm about to put the 'back in my day' hat on for a moment here (which I promised myself as a kid I would NEVER do but there you go)...

....so back in my day (ahem 80s and 90s) violence certainly was not unheard of. There was a time or two when I would be at a club and forced to do a crabwalk away from a few morons who'd had a few who decided to punch on.

A friend or two of mine were also victims of the odd random attack, usually when drinking underage taking an innocent evening stroll down in the Botanical Gardens or somewhere random where we probably had no right to be in the first place.

The thing was, there was usually a reason, perceived or stupid or otherwise, but the perpetrator usually THOUGHT at least there was some act that precipitated the violence. Someone was 'winning on' to their girlfriend (definitely showing my age here) or they looked at someone the wrong way, or perhaps they just didn't like the cut of their jib. And the fights were generally short, sharp and then over.

Back in the day, there was also generally a reasonable chance of talking yourself out of trouble. Personally I was targeted by someone itching for a fight more than once, however due to some fast talking and smooth moves I managed to escape without a single punch being thrown. Maybe it's because I'm a precious girl and really don't want to be hit, but I didn't have any loss of pride from managing to walk away unscathed...in fact I was pretty damn proud of the fact.

So a year or two ago I was in the Brisbane Valley one night when across the road a brawl of epic proportions broke out. I've never seen anything like it, about 30 kids attacking anyone and anything that moved for no discernible reason that I could see. It was frightening. I was scared being even in the vicinity watching these kids capable of such violence. It was animalistic.

And there, in my opinion, lies the difference between the 'violence' of yesteryear and today. We were the original generation of 'binge drinkers' so the alcohol factor was in existence then too, but somehow we seemed to have more care for other humans than we do today.

Recently I heard of an event where two guys ruined a party through fighting for the absolute STUPIDEST reason I've ever heard of...it resulted in arrests for both and court cases pending. And yet another workplace re-examining their view of treating their teams to any alcohol related 'fun' activities. Meanwhile, these same idiots then blame the companies for being the 'fun police' instead of taking a good hard look at the behaviour that caused it in the first place.

Unfortunately there's a pervasive attitude throughout our society that you put a bunch of blokes together, fill them with piss and it's inevitable that trouble will occur.

Sorry, that doesn't wash. The majority of us can go out, celebrate, have one too many and still manage not to end up in the watchhouse for drunk and disorderly and/or assault. I've worked in many places where everyone knew the line and knew the standards and also knew they'd be jeopardising their employment if they refused to conform and this is the way it should be. We never had to be told how to behave, we just did. It was universally accepted that if we broke the rules the 'treats' would be taken away and so therefore we had fun...so much fun...and perhaps too much fun...but we never crossed the line.

So I welcome this campaign. Personally I want to live in a world where I can safely go to a party or a pub and not be at threat of being caught in the crossfire of some idiots with a few too many under their belts. I want to not have to be the 'fun police' by having to consider and debate how to approach events that contain alcohol. I want these instant-assholes-just-add-alcohol to realise that it isn't just their jobs on the line, but also perhaps their lives. It might be their head that hits the concrete one day, resulting in death or disability. Or it might be the better part of their lives spent behind bars with someone else's death on their conscience.

If we can get this through to just one bloke then it's all worth it.

So there's my grandstand for the day. What do you think? Do you think violence is just inevitable when alcohol is involved?

xx

When strangers become friends.

I have a confession to make. I am a tumblr addict.

In fact, I'm not just a tumblr addict, I am a Bon Jovi tumblr addict.

Creeping out of the shadows and some would say shame of still loving a 1980s long haired rock n roll band came a group of people who joined tumblr to share pictures of the band we love. I am now 37 and life has brought me many obsessions, loves and musical lust varieties, but there has been one constant love affair that has held true, and that is Bon Jovi.

I first fell in love with Bon Jovi back in 1986. It was the shy smile of a long haired Jon Bon Jovi, the long legs encased in tight jeans of a Richie Sambora, the crazy hair of David Bryan, the teddy bear face of a Tico Torres and as he was never my favourite, I will say that Alec John Such was mildly shaggable due to being part of the band but let's just say he never did float my boat. I never forgot my love, that heated obsession that drove me to spend thousands of hours of my life reading Smash Hits hoping for even just a small amount of Bon Jovi news, watching endless VCR videos taped from TV, dreaming that one day Jon would marry me.

That depth of obsession is never easy to forget.

So I joined tumblr and started following various Bon Jovi themed blogs and messages of blog appreciation were sent back and forth and friendships began. For myself I have made 3 friends in particular: Ashley, a 21 year old from Pennsylvania, Gayle a 47 year old from Vancouver and Ingrid, a 21 year old from Finland. We joked and laughed and said dirty minded things that only true Bon Jovi fans would understand and it has been a constant in my life for some time now.

About 5 or 6 weeks ago we received news that Ingrid had been in a bad car accident and was in a coma. Over the next few days Ingrid had various surgeries including 2 brain surgeries. While in hospital I sent Ingrid a message with all my diary entries from 1986 and 1987 when I first began my obsession with the band, something highly embarrassing for me but from what I heard very entertaining for my friend. 

Ingrid was finally released from the hospital about 2 weeks ago and was so happy to be home, she was so grateful she survived and made mention of the fact that when she had her car accident she hadn't been wearing a seat belt, something so simple she said. The messages and support that was sent to Ingrid while she was in hospital showed me that no matter where or who you are if you have a heart then you can find a home to place that heart in. 

I last sent Ingrid a message laughing that I was planning a seek and find Bon Jovi bus trip across America so that us 4 girls could stalk the band and hopefully come home with many tales to tell. Last Monday night Ingrid sent a message to Gayle saying that she was scared as she had started to lose all feeling in her arm, Gayle replied with concern but no reply came back. 

Thursday Gayle received a message that after Ingrid had sent her message that she was scared, she had been taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a clot on the brain, medication was given but sadly it did not work and barely a few hours after sending Gayle her message, our dear friend Ingrid passed away from a stroke. 

I am devastated and I feel that I have lost a friend and some may not understand as this is a person I have never met but in today's technology and social network age it doesn't matter so much if no meeting has occurred as so many more things can be shared with total strangers sometimes more than your nearest and dearest. 

I am very sad for my friend and for the life that she felt she had a second chance at that was sadly taken away from her again but I am grateful that in this big world I managed to find her in the first place.

Willow xx

Willow (not her real name) is an afficionado of all things music, movie legends of yesteryear and pop culture. She has recently also discovered that she just might be psychic, as she can always accurately predict which window they're going to go through on Playschool. When she's not waving at her kids from her house across the road from their school she can be found trawling the net for articles to entertain her friends, dreaming of Sylvester Stallone or corresponding with her celebrity crush Benji Madden on Twitter. Oh and feeding her Twihard addiction.

Willow has a music blog at http://justajukeboxgurl.blogspot.com.au/, If you're looking for a new tune to discover or an old one to remember, head on over and check it out.

Herding cats. It's what I do.

So a few years ago during some work thing that I've long forgotten, we were treated to an award-winning ad to do with herding cats (see below, you have to watch it, fantastic!).

It made me realise that the ultimate 'cat herder' position is probably that of an assistant. As someone who's spent the majority of my career being such a person, I've often laughingly referred to my role of one as 'Herding Cats'.

Miracles performed daily. At a minimum.

Ever tried to 'herd' a bunch of busy people into a meeting to begin in a timely fashion? Together with presentations, reports, dealing with IT issues, catering and the inevitable last minute dramas? Or tried to 'persuade' someone to do something they've been putting off (meanwhile you're fielding the abusive calls for their delaying tactics)? Organising an event for 300 people is a cinch compared to managing the presence of someone at a meeting where they can easily roll into the carpark at 8am but not be seen since until hours later. Then when you finally wrangle the third person into the meeting, you find number two has done a runner...

The story of my life.

So this morning I was at work 'bright' (hahaha) and early at 6am to start the cat wrangling process (ie. miracles performed daily). With the 'first' miracle done and dusted by 7:00am I was pretty much ready for a nap, although I substituted it for a bucket of caffeine instead and focused on miracle # 2...

I think the part I love most about my job is the cat herding to be honest. I realise you probably have to be a specific kind of person to be able to manage the dozens of things (all at the same time!) without completely losing your mind, however I think sanity went the way of the dinosaurs some time ago so I can project a calm and comforting presence whilst panicking completely on the inside.

One boss commented that he admired the way I could do two things at once. My response? Only two? That's a quiet day!

I must admit I love it. An assistant has to be a jack of all trades, part secretary, part IT guru, part mother and part nagging wife. Always a problem solver and always looking for ways to make the boss' life easier.

I have often said that I'd quite like my own assistant, but the thought of handing over my life to someone else to manage is really quite daunting. I guess you need to also add 'control freak' to the above list of eccentricities qualities as I really don't know if I'd be able to do it.

Anyway watch the ad and tell me about your life as a cat herder? I'd love to hear!

xx

But he was such a nice, quiet boy...

So the world has been struck dumb (and numb) by the senseless, tragic events that took place in a darkened Colorado movie theatre at a midnight screening of Dark Knight Rises. 90 seconds of carnage, mayhem and utter, utter terror.  So many dead. Even more injured.

A booby-trapped apartment, causing 5 entire buildings to be evacuated.

All by a man with bizarrely dyed red/orange hair dressed in military garb calling himself 'The Joker'.

All evidence points towards him pre-meditating and planning this horrifying event to the nth degree for MONTHS.

Reading of him sitting there looking dazed and confused in the courtroom left me sickened. This man was a PHD student studying NEUROSCIENCE FFS.

As Jordan Ghawi, who tragically lost his sister in the massacre said, he is a both a coward and genius.  "I don't believe for a second that he's sitting there with his wide eyes and pretending to be incoherent," Ghawi said. "He knows what he's doing."

Now the courts are contemplating whether or not to go for the death penalty.

Um...it's a question?

Now I do NOT believe in the death penalty, not one bit. I don't believe that anyone has the right to decide whether someone should live or die. Whatever the magnitude of your crimes, an eye for an eye is just not my philosophy. And at the end of the day we live in a society where such a fate can often turn the criminal into a martyr or cult hero which certainly is the last thing that we should want. I know some people vigorously disagree with me but I really think that making a person live with the crimes they've committed is far more effective punishment than putting them to death.

However, it is the 'American way'. Just like the Fifth Amendment, freedom of speech and right to bear arms (hmm), the American legal system is pretty much synonomous with the death penalty. Convicted felons of lesser crimes have certainly received the death penalty.

So it is confusing when, as America's WORST serial killer in their long, bloodthirsty history (I hope he's proud), that there is even some question about whether or not the legal system should push for the death penalty.

Apparently it's not 'open and shut'....um what?

This is what I hate about the justice system (not just the one in the US). Due to process and loopholes and all sorts of legal trickery, there's certainly no justice for all.

I just hope that the families of the victims can achieve some kind of peace, and that those survivors of this tragedy can sleep at night without suffering night terrors for the rest of their days.

xx

Born under a lucky star.

So something happened today that has led me once again to ponder:

Do we make our own luck, or are some people just born lucky?

I've spoken before of my parking karma, my wondrous and inexplicable ability to find a prime carpark anywhere, anytime, however that's pretty much where my 'lucky' streak begins and ends. I don't think I'm UNLUCKY, per se, it's just that I have to work hard to get whatever I have, very little seems to just materialise on a silver platter. The only things I've ever 'won' (apart from my 'lucky' Nigerian relative inheritance) was a mobile phone back in the 80s where I know for a fact only 5 people entered. Not much luck required. Oh and a big pink heart shaped cake back when I was about 10.

It was a bit stale.

I've also mentioned a previous boss that ALWAYS won pretty much anything he entered into. It was like he had a winning fairy tucked away in his back pocket (I was always tempted to look but that would've been inappropriate).

So it appears I've inherited yet ANOTHER lucky boss....

Today we drew a lucky door prize for staff who attended our party last Friday night. I gave the bowl of names to my boss and let him do the honours...

And out of 200 names, guess whose name he picked out?

Oh yeah. His own.

Being a nice guy, he redrew and the prize went to someone else, but WTF?

So is luck transferable? Do you think if I get my boss to buy me a lottery ticket that that would do the trick? Cause I could really use a headstart on my 'New York' fund (a bunch of girls and I are madly saving to celebrate our respective 40th birthdays next year in the Big Apple...the savings balance currently stands at approx. $4.85...oops).

Some say that people attract luck by thinking positive, however I can tell you from personal experience that I am utterly CONVINCED that every time I buy a lottery ticket that my luck is golden, but then the machine tells me I'm wrong (I think the machine is rigged). 

What do you think? Do you think some people are just born lucky or is it just a fluke?

Deep thoughts to ponder.

Now I'm off to watch Emily pick her ratings winner husband so maybe I am lucky after all?

xx

Friday night is alright.

HUGE day! Big event at work this afternoon followed by another this evening...SHATTERED!

I forgot to charge my camera so apologies for extremely crappy iphone pics...

Career limiting move of the day # 1: giving my boss a cupcake and telling him the logo on top is edible...only to have him pretend to choke and here's me thinking oh God, my first event and I've killed the boss BY MAKING HIM CHOKE ON HIS OWN LOGO...oh dear.

Well played.

Career limiting move of the day # 2: telling my boss I don't know what he's like presenting when prepared, but he's excellent at winging it. His look of sheer disbelief was followed by a belly laugh so I'm hoping he got my weird humour...

Big party tonight so I'm off....enjoy!!!

xx

Cathy's 50's housewife Friday.

Happy 50s Housewife Friday everyone!

This Friday has once again whirled around like a banshee in a dust storm, and as usual I am spun out by how fast time is travelling at the moment...

I know everyone's favourite day is Friday, but I have enjoyed my morning so immensely that I could write a song about how much Friday rocks, but I think there's already a few of those so I will just express it in print right here, just for the record:

Friday, ur my homey   

Walked Xavier to school with Tonka, sat on the deck in the sun with an icy Diet Coke, had a lovely phone call from a faraway friend then read Who magazine from cover to cover, my Friday staple   

Alas, something I read in Who has got me incredibly disorientated...and I thought, well maybe it's just me so I would be interested in your feedback...ok?

Now, I'm not a Hollywood movie producer...

but...

Lindsay Lohan playing Elizabeth Taylor??????

Are you fucking kidding me????

Today's first track of the day: Tomorrow Wendy - Concrete Blonde

*One day I will tell you of my love affair with Concrete Blonde, Johnette is a hero of mine since I was a young swampy and I love her to this day...*

If ur not familiar, please familiarise yourself by next week   

Housewife duties today include a mountain of washing and some floors that would love a scrubbin...which I will probably delegate to someone else...my kids will do anything in a half assed fashion for $5.

Current track listing: Mudhoney - Acetone.

'she drinks from a bitter cup, I'm trying to get her to give it up'.

My Itunes must be a little sombre today...

Am currently baking triple choc muffins for my spoilt little brats and their mates for afternoon tea so I had better jump to it...

Hope you have enjoyed your Friday as much as I have, and don't forget to write a letter to your local member of parliament to complain about Lindsay Lohan...

Cathy xx

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.

Birthdays and a walk down memory lane.

So after the debacles of yesterday, today has been the BEST DAY EVER. E woke up SO excited for his birthday, and the eye is so much better today, no bruising (yet) so I'm hoping we get a free pass on the black eye.

He was so pumped to open his gift from grandad (Skylanders) and I also tricked him into thinking that he wasn't getting more from me, but who were we kidding? So a surprise present from me (Skylanders storage box) just about made the day perfect. He was crazy excited to get to school to hand out lollies and celebrate with his mates. The icing on the cake was to come home and find a card from his great-grandma in the letterbox, complete with a HUGE sum of money that he's already working out how to spend...

Awesome day.

I cannot believe it's been 12 years since my boy made his dramatic entrance into the world. After 18 hours of labour, I delivered the most perfect, screaming, red coneheaded alien that was ever born. And I've loved him a little bit more every day until I feel my heart would burst.

It makes you walk down memory lane and I realise that because he was born just prior to the digital age, that I don't have any baby photos on my computer...I'll have to spend a lost rainy weekend scanning in all of his early days pics and probably shedding a little tear or two, partly for the little boy gone and partly pride for the amazing kid he's become.

Great day at work too, getting ready for a big function, including putting a new hole in the ozone layer by Glen 20-ing a function room that smelt like it'd been closed up for a year or more. So excited for the coming days, two functions (afternoon and night) followed by E's sleepover party on Saturday night!

I can't believe the last twelve years have gone so fast, it seems only yesterday that my cute little baby turned into a toddler and then opened his mouth (which hasn't shut since). Aaahhh, memories. Couldn't resist posting a few pics to show how's he's grown :)

xx

Football injuries and black eyes.

So worst mummy moment today!

I was super busy at work and then had to race out to do some shopping for an upcoming event for work, only to just get to the shopping centre for my work mobile to beep with a new message from a good friend saying 'ARE YOU THERE?' I responded in the affirmative, only to have her respond with 'CALL ME'. I then pulled out my personal phone (which I had had on silent due to being at work) to find a bunch of missed calls, some increasingly desperate facebook messages finally culminating in 'IF YOU READ THIS CALL ME'.

Wondering what the hell this was all about, I rang my friend only to have her tell me that E's school rang HER as a secondary emergency contact when they couldn't get hold of me to let her know that E had taken a football to the face and needed to be picked up.

Mummy of the year. Right here.

Of course I immediately (and shamefacedly) rang the school and said I was on my way and headed over to find my slightly teary boy sitting in the office clutching one eye and doing the whole pitiful 'trying to be brave' thing. My heart just broke.

I grabbed him, apologised profusely for being AWOL and then raced back to work to grab some notes and things so that I could work from home this afternoon. Not exactly the way I'd planned to introduce E to my new workplace, but there you are.

Poor little guy, he copped the ball straight to the eye, which fortunately means no blood but unfortunately means his poor little eye has only JUST managed to open more than a slit after an entire afternoon of icing it. Now that I can actually see inside, luckily there doesn't appear to be damage but I do think he might be sporting a lovely shiner for the next few days, as it's still really swollen.

Just what every boy wants for his 12th birthday!

Yes, his birthday is tomorrow and he's been soooo excited. A package arrived this morning on the doorstep courtesy of Australia Post and his grandparents so he's very keen to see what's inside!

Of course he's got his bed, his new Converse, new sheets etc so I'm only giving him one thing (which I've told him he's not getting anything else so will be excited about!). I can't wait for tomorrow to see his dear little face, complete with black eye or no.

So not the proudest mummy moment today. My friend is trying to make me feel better by saying I'm a working mum but honestly, to be out of touch just when your son needs you is the world's WORST feeling :(

So I'm off to cuddle my poor hurt boy now. Hope your day was nowhere near as eventful!

xx

Carpark karma.

A great start to the week, waking up at a reasonable hour to a glorious day, followed by a busy and productive day at work!

We had to stop by the shops on the way home and yet again it occurred to me how lucky I was to have somehow acquired carpark karma!

I think we are all 'lucky' in some specific way and for some reason mine has manifested in having the most awesome carpark karma. It doesn't matter what time of day I go shopping or even how busy it is, I drive in to find a prime carpark right in front of the doors. Every. Single. Time.

I can't ever remember a time where I had to drive aimlessly around stalking people for a park, it just magically appears whenever I want one. Hooray!

I remember a time where we were meeting my father for lunch at Chermside on a Saturday - in hindsight not the best idea considering how busy that shopping centre is on a Saturday, especially around the middle of the day! In typical fashion I zoomed into a choice spot in seconds; my sister reported driving around for 5 minutes or so to score hers and then we waited vainly for my (always early) father to appear. Turns out the poor bugger was driving around in circles desperately trying to find a park. Half an hour later, he was at the end of his rope and no further along than before, so we upped sticks and relocated to another cafe down the road.

Everyone who is ever a passenger in my car LOVES it because we never have to wait, ever. It's an awesome bit of karma and extremely useful.

So this evening we drove into the shopping centre and it was a little cray-cray. Cars everywhere, both coming and going, and people driving like mad people in order to score a spot just to race in and race out before dinner. Of course as always, I drove straight in just as the car in the VERY FIRST spot pulled out and I zoomed in within seconds.

Woohoo!

I once had a boss when every time we sold him a raffle ticket or entered him into a competition, he would be like, 'you know I'm gonna win this, I win everything'. And sure enough, he would. Lucky bastard. He clearly had 'winning karma' but professed that his carpark karma was complete and utter crap.

So what's your 'karma'? Do you have a lucky thing that always happens to you? Personally whilst I'm loving my carpark karma I've often thought it would've been much handier to have 'winning karma' but I guess mine is useful.

xx

Weekend wrap-up. And laundromat etiquette.

It was so nice to see the sun today after a few days of wind, fog and rain. The day dawned bright and clear, if not bloody freezing, but we enjoyed a lovely sleep-in under the warm doona so didn't really notice the 3 degree start to the day.

I've still not pulled my finger out to get the washing machine fixed so today we were back off to the laundromat and decided to change venues this time! The one I've been going to has a broken change machine that NEVER seems to be getting fixed and begging change from the local shops gets OLD real fast. So over to another location where...miracle of miracles...you put notes in the machine and coins come out!

What an exciting start to the day!

This laundromat was much bigger than the other but also much busier. A woman in a bathrobe decided to make me her new best friend within seconds of entering, so I got my free laundromat entertainment, in lieu of the sign asking to check dryers for children.

This laundromat was located in a little block of shops so we passed the waiting time wandering around a bit in an effort to stem the tide of friendly yet overly familiar and somewhat unnerving conversation from bathrobe-lady.

Clearly I was in the presence of several laundromat veterans and I passed the etiquette test by waiting my turn without comment for washers and then dryers. One lovely lady even condensed her haul into one dryer just to free it up for me.

However, this leads me to an etiquette question:

A woman walked in with about three weeks worth of laundry and proceeded to fill both of the commercial washers plus at least two of the 'regular' ones and then walked out. Many of the veterans present rolled their eyes and muttered things under their breath.

Anyhoo at about 7 minutes of drying time to go, we ducked to the bakery and butcher next door to grab a few things, only to return just in time to see this self same woman with MY dryer door open, just about to pull my clothes onto the FLOOR so she could use it! Now I honestly thought we'd only been gone about 5 minutes, so surely the dryer had only JUST finished. One of the veterans smiled at me and said very loudly that someone was about to empty my clothes so she could use the dryer. The woman quickly stopped (before clothes hit floor, thankfully) and had the temerity to instead of look slightly shamefaced, to actually GLARE at me.

So my question is, how much time do you give a dryer to remain full yet stopped before you go ahead and touch someone else's clothes? I'm sorry but I'd probably sit there for at least 15 minutes or so waiting for the person in question to return and collect their stuff before I'd even THINK of touching it.

Is it just me, or is that just rude?

So there's my rant/laundromat tale of the day.

On a completely different and much more positive note, I was talking to Willow after her party and she said that her mum had asked who the 'tall, blond boy in the black jeans' was as she was so completely impressed with his behaviour and how he kept looking after Willow's E throughout the day and making sure the smaller kids were being taken care of. How wonderful to realise that this was my very own E who was the standout among a 30 strong crowd of kids!

Proud mummy moment.

Hope your weekend was wonderful, minus laundromat escapades!

xx

Kids parties, Converse and waterfall braids. And bravery.

Wow, what a morning!

Why is it that I cannot prise myself out of bed on a weekday morning without the aid of the snooze button, a sinkful of caffeine, a can opener and threat of being unemployed, yet on a lovely, rainy, lazy Saturday morning the eyes pop open at 6am and refuse to close?

So I crawled into bed with my darling E (loving his new queen size bed, despite pink sheets for the duration!)  for a snuggle until we decided to make an early start of it and go out for brekky.

It was a red tights day today, I could just feel it. When the red tights call, you must answer.

Metro Cafe - where else? For once, E prised himself away from the pancakes with choc fudge sauce (hold the berry coulis) and ordered his second favourite...bacon and toast. I jokingly asked for a 'bucketful of skinny cap' as I'd foregone my morning coffee in anticipation...only for them to deliver me a milkshake sized glass brimming with caffeine and steaming milk...YUM. No wonder we keep going back!

We got invited to fellow blogger Willow's kids party this morning and of course, leaving things to the last minute had to race out and buy gifts, wrap them and get there by 10am. In hindsight the early start was pretty necessary and inevitable!

So buying presents for an 8 year old boy and a 10 year old girl (Willow's kids are born a few years and a single day apart)...

The boy part is easy! With an inhouse expert, I didn't even need to outsource this one. It's a no-brainer. Ninjago all the way.

Willow's daughter is a bit harder. She's a really girly girl, so it should be really easy right? I mean, I'm a precious girly girl from way back. But anyone who's only had boys will totally empathise with me when I say it's like a whole different world when you venture over into that sea of pink...

The choices! OMG, I used to moan and complain when E was younger that it was just so HARD to buy for boys as approx. 90% of floorspace is dedicated to girls. But realistically it makes the choices pretty damn easy, as there's pretty much just no choice. So stepping over that line into girl territory is really kinda frightening and extremely overwhelming.

Not only is there the crazy number of choices (makeup? clothes? toys? the list goes on) but there's trying to fit the present to the girl in question, and also trying to comprehend the trends (heaven forbid you get something 'lame' or 'uncool'). I'm all over the boy trends, but the girls these days are a bit of a mystery.

I was briefed that A was going through a 'punk rock' stage so I really wanted to have a bit of fun with it. Personally I'm totally down with any little girl wanting to express herself through clothes and accessories and part of the fun of being a pre-teen is experimenting with your look (note: punk rock seems to equal ho-bag in many pre-teen shops these days...sorry, NOT cool).

I was pretty excited thinking of all the things I could get her until I was faced with it all and frankly just stood there going....um......um.....

E's suggestion of black lipstick was vetoed as I would like to remain friends with W after the party.

We checked out all the Monster High gear, which I know she loves, but as I know she currently has the world's largest collection of MH accoutrements, I vetoed that too in case I got her something she already had.

Over to the clothes...and me daydreaming about wishing they'd make this stuff in MY size!

In the end we selected a seriously cute red dress that was sufficiently punk rock but also sufficiently 'normal' enough that W will still speak to me afterwards...although it was a close run thing with simply the cutest little black and red pleated skirt, although I suspect when on the body might resemble more of a headband than a skirt.

Anyway by the time we did this, we had to race around quickly to buy E a new pair of shoes (his first Converse! woohoo) due to his foot literally coming out of his last pair of trainers and then get to the party.

So my stance on parties is that the more the merrier is a total load of BS. Sorry, unless you bring me valium and a bucketful of booze, 30 screaming kids does not a merry mummy make (try saying THAT after valium and a bucketful of champagne). A civilized 4-6 kids in an area large enough to keep the decibel level AWAY from my ears is my idea of a party, thank you very much.

So my hat is off to W for having a joint 30 children strong, 8 year old boy/10 year old girl party, on a day that threatened rain at any second in a reasonably small inside environment. Brave girl.

In the end the logistics of such an exercise became overwhelming and we shunted the kids outside with not a little relief.

The girls were pretty easy, makeovers in the bedroom and dancing in the lounge room and they were pretty much sorted...until I described my waterfall braid to them....

Fatal error.

So for the rest of the party, there I was parked on the couch braiding girl after girl's hair in identical styles.

It was my finest hour...in the opinion of the girls.

(note to self: keep mouth SHUT in future).

So then at the end came the present opening, and it was only then that I realised the genius of W's plan.

15 kids apiece = 15 presents apiece.

Brilliant.

Is sanity a reasonable trade-off for such an awesome haul?

Questions to ponder.

So anyway, we are now home and I'm EXHAUSTED. All that hair-doing is shattering, I'll stick to office-work thanks very much!

Thanks W for an awesome morning with your beautiful family! Now we can gear up for E's birthday on Thursday, knowing that if I can survive 30 screaming kids, I'm quite prepared for a 4-strong sleepover next weekend!

xx

Happy 50s Housewife Friday the 13th edition!

Happy 50s Housewife Friday the 13th y'all!

Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!

First gruesome, violent and horrifying album slamming out into my kitchen today???

Marilyn Manson - Portrait of an American Family

followed closely by:

Betty Detox - Victim

Ooooh Ms Detox, ur a spunky young woman!

Look, I don't care what you say about Marilyn Manson. In 1995 they released what was to become one of my most enjoyed and requested albums in cool nightclubs for at least a year! It's a fucking great album with many edgy confronting themes, killer guitar riffs and spooky samples from many of my fav movies. Also, believe it or not kids, before he started taking the whole thing much too seriously, Marilyn himself was a babe.

Anyway, I digress:

It was quite the discussion with the boys today to decide on 'Friday the 13th' appropriate baking ideas.

The suggestions were: bloody knife cookies, hockey mask cake pops (!!??), split head cake pops (!!!!!), black cat cookies etc etc.

All of these would be fine, but not as a last minute type thing, so I have now decided to surprise them instead with red velvet cupcakes with vanilla buttercream skull icing...

mmmmmm....

Vanilla buttercream skull icing. 'NOW MADE WITH 20% MORE SKULLS'.

Will post photos later to show you how I went!

Track No. 2 for my Freaky Friday Black Magic Baking Bonanza:

Alien Sex Fiend - I Walk the Line

Track No. 3:

Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi's Dead....'alone in a darkened room, The Count...undead, undead, undead'.

Have a frighteningly awesome Friday the 13th everybody! And remember, if you come across a monster today OR ever, face them, and kick their ass!

Don't forget, as Betty Detox always says:

'I'd rather be a killer than a victim'.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Cathy xx

Cathy xx

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 

Hilarious...

So Charlie Sheen for some inexplicable reason, honoured Slash at his recent Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.

Say what you will about Mr Sheen's mental status (questionable) but the man is frigging hilarious.

Quote of the day:

It's quite fitting that Slash is getting a star on the very street Axl Rose will one day be sleeping on.

Ouch. Funny, but ouch. I'm sure Axl is out there this minute penning his ridiculously long winded and nonsensical legal response to said quote.

Love it!

xx

Unpacking is a dirty word.

So rental inspection tomorrow and how nice it is to be able to kinda chill about the whole thing. Frankly we just haven't been here long enough to really destroy the place yet, plus there's a few marks and things on floors and walls that are pre-existing so I don't feel the pressure to make it 'perfect' like I did in my last place.

And great news today, E's queen size bed that we ordered for his birthday next week has arrived! He was so excited until I announced that for the duration he'd have to sleep on pink sheets until I can find something more...um...masculine.

How to horrify an almost-12 year old boy in 3 easy seconds!

He is very excited to have such a big bed and I'm really grateful that his room is so large that we've put in the bed and still have ample room for him to play and chill.

Now his single bed 'lives' in the furniture-less room in which we've set up the Wii so it's finally looking a little lived in.

I will have to leave a note for the real estate explaining that I haven't quite yet unpacked...lol. I've been here 2 months already but due to flu and exploring and quite frankly not giving a damn, most of my office gear and all the 'miscellaneous' staff are still lurking around in half-unpacked boxes here and there. I've condensed them all in the sunroom to make all the other rooms look reasonable and will, sometime in some indeterminate date in the future, unpack them. I want to go through everything and find proper homes for all the junk instead of just chucking it in a cupboard somewhere.

So in stark contrast to my last inspection where I was cleaning like a crazy person, I'm just chilling and laying back going 'whatever'. I gave the bathroom and kitchen a good clean on the weekend so they're still good, and all I really need to do is wipe a few things over and pick up a few bits of junk here and there that I seem to be so excellent at accumulating!

Fortunately today was no-where near as eventful as yesterday's flat tyre episode, just your normal, run-of-the-mill hump day that was slightly too long but pretty good on balance.

Can I tell you how HARD it's been to get up in the mornings here? You're all warm and cosy under the doona and know in those 2.5 seconds it takes to get to the bathroom you're gonna be cold again. It's all been a bit too hard therefore I've developed an extra special relationship with my snooze button that I really must break off.

Of course I do make things slightly harder by staying up till midnight watching The Bachelorette! Emily's now down to her final two and I'm so happy that one of them is my favourite, Jef. They genuinely seem to get each other and their favourite date was simply lying on their backs in a library somewhere in Europe that had a beautifully painted ceiling (a la Michelangelo) and talking. Sweet. Yes I know these things are pretty much semi scripted and the dates are referred to as 'cast members' but the romantic part of me really wants to believe it's real. I cannot wait for the finale to watch who Emily picks. Awww.

Right well off to pick up my crap off the floor so I don't get evicted before I've even finished unpacking...that would be unfortunate.

xx

Fog. Flat tyres. And useful hubbies (not mine).

Today I truly experienced for the first time what it was really like to live in a mountain town.

I woke up this morning and got ready for work and as always braced myself for the inevitable shock of cold air as I opened the back door...to find a truly spectacular fog so thick I could barely see my garage less than a few metres away.

I've experienced fog before of course, but this was of the variety that was like walking through soup, you could see it, feel it, taste it in the air all around. It was like a blanket of snow in the air!

The difference between Toowoomba fog and the kind I've experienced before is also that it lasts ALL DAY. In fact, I think it even got more pronounced as the day went on, so at 5:30pm it was pitch black and completely white, which sounds weird unless you're in it yourself!

In Brisbane I'd trek into the city and occasionally turn off Creek Street onto Eagle Street to find the whole road enveloped in fog. It was magical to go up to my floor and feel like I was completely part of the clouds. Sadly the fog always seemed to lift by about 8am.

Not here!

Anyhoo, apart from the fog...what a day! I ran a few errands at lunchtime and was heading back when...CRUNCH goes my wheel, and HISS goes the air from the tyre. Fortunately this occurred right beside a service station so I pulled in and checked out the situation. Some nice dude raced out of the servo and started helping me get the spare out and here I was thinking how cool everyone up here was when he asked me:

So when does the mechanic get here?

Um....

He then said he didn't know how to change a tyre and neither did anyone who worked there...

Um...

Meanwhile I've got 15 minutes to get back to work for a meeting so I left the car and jumped in a cab, racing against the clock to make it back to the office just in time.

In a completely awesome stroke of luck I rang my fellow blogger Willow who just happened to be just up the road collecting her (extremely useful) hubby from work. So it was easy for them to swing by, pick me up and then go back to the car whilst (extremely useful) T did his man-thing out in the wind/fog/drizzle whilst W and I gossiped in the nice warm car.

Thank god this was all about 2 blocks from my house because driving home in pitch black fog was SCARY!

Turns out whatever I hit did an excellent job of COMPLETELY separating the rim from the tyre. Well I am a perfectionist.

So a massive, massive shout out to T and of course W for letting me borrow her useful hubby. Why get one of my own when I can outsource???

And on a completely side note - check out my bedroom wall art courtesy of # 1 son E. Love!

xx

The sushi lament.

When contemplating moving to a small town setting
I knew there'd be things I wouldn't be getting
There's choices in the city that you just won't find
In a smaller town,  I knew I'd have to leave them behind

On driving around I was pleasantly surprised
There wasn't much to forego, as I had been advised
And the benefits won out, like cheaper prices, higher pay
So I was content I was happy to say

As the weeks have gone on, it has become apparent to me
There's one thing this small town lacks - that being sushi
Oh there's the takeaway place we which excitedly tried
It was dry,  it was old, it was like chewing hide

Another promised but didn't deliver
The window display looked as appetising as liver
It really and truly is a disgrace
and I still haven't found the promised Sushi Station place

So there's my lament, no sushi for us
The staple of our daily diet for many years plus
No more popping out for teriyaki salmon and rice
Tuna ships or crab salad, mmm...now wouldn't that be nice

My lunches bereft, I feel like there's a hole in my life
And a great big niche market for a good sushi chef and his knife
So come on Toowoomba let's get with the times
And spare my poor audience from my terrible rhymes

Thank you.

xx

Weekend wrap-up. Wine. Skylanders. And Scientology???

So for the past week or so I've been a bit AWOL from blogging due to trying to shake off this unshakeable flu bug which still is somewhat plaguing me. Persistent little bugger. Who knew a human being could possibly generate so much phlegm? By the way, doesn't even the way phlegm sounds and is spelt just sound disgusting?

I was boring the hell out of myself so decided to NOT pay it forward.

Yes, I'm all about giving. Well actually...NOT giving in this instance but you know what I mean.

This weekend I've also just gotten E home after a week at his grandparents so yesterday was spent enjoying having him back home and having some lunch with my stepsister and my sweetheart niece and nephew.

After I'd finally finished hugging and kissing him (took awhile), E was very excited to have 'earned' his salary and of course was keen to let the cash run through his hot little hands as quickly as possible, so it was off to satisfy his latest 'crush' - Skylanders. I haven't quite figured out what this is all about yet but anything that takes him away from Ninjago, even temporarily, cannot be a bad thing. So his hard-earned salary quickly went to the Wii Skylanders game which he has been glued to for most of today.

We've also been amusing ourselves wandering around singing our new favourite version of 'Call Me Maybe' based on something I saw on Pinterest. It's very catchy and I've forgotten what the proper words are now...maybe not the best example of parenthood to be encouraging my son to be singing out about filling his wineglass.

But you get that.

And also meanwhile I have spent a large portion of the weekend engrossed and becoming completely immersed in anything I can read relating to Scientology.

What?

To give you a bit of background: I tend to go off on these bizarre tangents every now and again and get completely fascinated by a subject which results in me having to devour every book, article and blog post I can get my grubby mitts on until I finally feel satisfied that I know EVERYTHING. I've explored Hitler and Nazi Germany, the overthrow of the last Russian monarchy, Charles Manson (who I have been sadly known to quote on occasion...oh dear)...and the list goes on. I seem to have a penchant for the weird/crazy/macabre which probably says a lot about me that you probably didn't want to know.

Obsessed much? Wonder where E gets it from????

So it was probably inevitable that I would eventually stumble onto Scientology and you've got TomKat to thank for that. It started with reading a gossip website on how Katie Holmes was terrified that Suri would be told to 'disconnect' from her and that she'd be labelled an SP (suppressive person) and led from there to watching Youtube videos on the leader's niece who escaped and labels it a cult, through to a fascination with L Ron Hubbard's original teachings and the sad, twisted parody that they've now become under the current leadership. Watching the leaked 40 minute video featuring Tom Cruise espousing Scientology truly made me feel sick to my stomach.

This of course led to the leader (or 'COB' as they call him, as in Chairman of the Board) former # 2's dramatic 'escape' and his bid now to help others leave and live as 'Independent Scientologists' as opposed to what he terms as 'Corporate Scientologists'.

Meanwhile it made me remember sometime back in the 80s I was brainwashed persuaded by the television ad for Dianetics that if I bought this book it would help me be healthy and have great focus and success in my life. I spent about 30 bucks on this thing, only to accidentally leave it behind in the food court of the shopping centre and of course not realise until I got home. Before I'd even read the first page! I remember telling my sister about it and she said 'oh that's the Scientology book' - which I'd been totally clueless about!

After reading everything I've read over the past two days I am happy I never got to read the book. I was a little lost soul when I bought it and was incredibly vulnerable to suggestion so it does make me wonder where I'd be now if I hadn't lost it.

Anyhoo, this is not a grandstand on religion, as I've already done that! In fact once you get past the bizarro Xenu genesis there are some reasonably sound principles for living that make a lot of sense in any society. But as per my previous religious rant, once again organised religion has reared it's ugly head and I think even the founder would be rolling over in his grave for what it's become.

And as an aside, sorry Tom Cruise fans, he's a total nutter.

So tomorrow is back to work and back to school for E, I guess it's business as usual again in this household. Or it will be once I can finally wake up and be lurgie-free which I pray will be any day now. I've been ingesting so many vitamins, veges and supplements as well as probably more than my fair share of garlic so I bet my cubicle-mate is praying for the same thing right about now.

Hope your weekend has been just as illuminating although not quite as obsessive as mine!

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xx