Indulging the girly-girl. And the ultimate crazy-lady must-have.

What an amazing weekend we've had! And the best bit is, with the Queensland long weekend it's not even over yet...

So we were so excited when we discovered that Z was well enough after all to come for a visit. E was on hot coals all day yesterday anticipating our 'first' Brisbane visitors, asking me every 5 minutes if I'd heard from them, when we were going to inflate the air mattress, driving me nuts until I was ready to call the whole thing off.

So we were both very happy when the phone call came saying they'd just passed a 'red elephant' which for anyone who's driven this way understands is a gigantic statue in the Gatton vicinity, for no discernible reason whatsoever. Well you'd think it had been a lifetime since the kids had seen each other, they were so beside themselves with excitement when they finally arrived!

It was lovely to see Z's mum as well and we spent more than our fair share of time gossiping and catching up before taking the kids to Pizza Hut for an all-you-can-eat pizza pigout, where E I am sure ate more than his body weight in pizza, pasta, chocolate mousse and ice cream.

Fortunately no blog-hacking hijinks ensued as for once in our lives, we conceded that it was TOO BLOODY COLD to drink cold wine last night. Mind you, we had to test the theory first to check that we were telling the truth... After two glasses apiece, we regrettably conceded defeat. I was slightly ashamed of ourselves, but it is what it is.

After finally wrangling the boys to bed at God-knows what time and waiting for the giggling and gossiping, akin to a 10 year old girl sleepover to finally subside, we were pretty damned shattered ourselves.

Today we decided to visit the Mummy Tree Markets which are held quarterly in Toowoomba for a little look-see.

And OMG, I was in girlie heaven!

Z's mum, being not quite so girly as me (let's face it, it'd be almost inconceivable to be MORE girly than me) wasn't quite as into it as me, which was pretty damned fortunate considering the boys, dragged along under extreme duress, were pretty disgusted with the entire proceedings and demanded to be taken to the food portion for chips.

My new 'must have' essentials

So I was left free to indulge my girly side and THANK GOD I didn't have a girl. OMG if I had a female child I would dress her like a little doll and be completely and utterly broke...well broker.

Wall to wall pink, lace, frills, tutus...you name it. I know where I'll be going to buy all my nieces' Christmas presents this year. Best. Aunt. Ever.

I couldn't resist a few little treats for myself - you can see the pictures below. I did restrain myself from buying the coin purse to die for, and a handbag which was so beautiful I could just cry! However Z's mum surprised me later by sneaking back and buying the coin purse as an 'early birthday present'. Considering my birthday is not until September I was so touched and so incredibly HAPPY with my new toy.

Repeat: I am SUCH a girl.

Then I took them on the grand Toowoomba tour via my new workplace and to the ultimate of shopping destinations (cough cough)....Clifford Gardens Shopping Centre. This particular shopping centre is one I've spoken of before and the people who frequent said establishment are 'affectionately' referred to as 'Cliffo's'. Seeing as I have eyes, my natural assumption, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that this is Toowoomba's version of a bogan. Seeing as I'm not remotely blind (and my recent work-mandated medical will back this up), it seems fairly obvious that this is their natural habitat, where you can observe them in the wild (and I mean wild).

Anyway it was here that made the ultimate discovery which in less than a day has already proven to be a successful first manoeuvre in my quest to be the most embarrassing mother EVER.

Yes I speak of earmuffs.

I am now the proud owner of a set of pink leopard print earmuffs, which I unashamedly have worn all afternoon. Why have I never discovered these before? My ears are especially sensitive to the cold and initially I was on the hunt for a fetching ear-warmer knitted headband thingie that I could wear around the place, as I think beanies can look a tad ridiculous when inside an office. I didn't find one of those but I DID find the earmuffs!

Cause that's so much less ridiculous in an office setting, naturally.

I am now determined to be 'that mum', you know everyone knows her, the one that you either walk away from thinking affectionately that's she's either seriously weird or just plain eccentric. As I believe only rich people are allowed to be eccentric, I shall embrace the seriously weird instead. I realise in this town I have stiff competition and can't go about it half-assed. Never let it be said that I won't embrace my challenge to be the best.

Now we've waved goodbye to Z and his mum having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and are now happily settling down for some serious book-reading and DVD-watching like the seriously wild party animals that we are.

So there you have it.

Girly side indulged = check.
Step one of the heinous plan to embarrass number one son complete = check.
Boys worn out and cranky as hell = check.
Awesome weekend with great friends = check.

I've posted some pics from our thoroughly awesome weekend below. Hope you're having as much fun as we are!

xx

My new coin purse! LOVE!

Do they have these in my size?

So gorgeous!

Handbag crush.

So cold! Pre-earmuffs, when E still
not too embarrassed to be seen by me..

The new essential. My evil quest has begun.

Boys will be boys!

As you do.

Hot chocolate time!

Waving goodbye :(

Evil mothers. I plead guilty.

So yesterday I was completely distracted by the INTERNET and completely forgot to write on my blog. It's like a shiny new toy that I am rediscovering, who knew how time can fly when you're piss-farting about doing nothing in particular?

Well I did. But now I'm all caught up on Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl and all the other lame-ass shows I've missed like an amputated limb...and normality is restored.

So today I went out to lunch with a colleague and we were relating stories of our kids and the evil methods we use as mothers to manage their behaviour. I was telling her that my capacity to embarrass my child is the world's most effective behaviour management strategy. For example, if E acted up in shops I'd start singing aloud and dancing, which would cause such absolute mortification that the behaviour would abruptly cease (for the record my singing voice, if it can be termed as such, is enough to make babies cry and dogs three miles away to inexplicably bark). Or else if he was having a tantrum I'd lay on the floor and have a bigger one. Yes, no other strategy works with such vigour as ye old embarrassment of the child. It's a classic. I've already warned him I plan to be the most embarrassing mother alive, which he thinks is funny now, but just you wait, my young clueless son...

I fully plan to drop him off at school dances with red lipstick applied, only to give him a giant smacker as he gets out the door. And then of course pick him up from said dance with curlers in my hair and my bathrobe and make sure I give a big shout-out to all his mates while I'm at it.

Hey I've gotta pay it forward. It's the circle of life. And yes I've watched The Lion King too many times.

Anyway, when we got home from shopping tonight he said to me that he could smell something bad. I took off my socks and said 'come here' and then shoved the socks under his nose and said, 'is this the smell?' I was in stitches because he wasn't expecting it and took a giant whiff without realising what he was doing.

So here I am falling about laughing thinking I'm the funniest person alive, while my poor son is dying of asphyxiation due to said smelly socks being shoved in his face. I was mostly laughing because he just STOOD there while I did it.

And because I'm grossly immature.

So quote of the day:

God mum, grow up!

Sorry darling number one son. But no.

So on a completely different side note, I have to say once again how ridiculously proud I am of E. A few years back we had some difficulties with bullies at school and he would occasionally just lose it and was sensitive in the extreme to anyone picking on him. It was a really rough time and I worked with him heaps to try to get him to firstly manage his own behaviour and secondly to stop being a bully magnet.

So I was incredibly proud today when he said to me that last week the two bullies in his grade singled him out and started trying to pick on him for his surname. Now growing up with a surname like Rumble definitely attracts its fair share of sniggers and comments and variations that can be delivered in either a snarky or loving fashion. Rumble in the Jungle, Rumblebum, Crumble, Stumble, Bumble...you name it, it's been done to death. E used to be really overly sensitive to people picking on his last name and I spent a lot of time working with him trying to get him to realise that pending a deed-poll name change, he was stuck with it and had to learn how to deal. Personally I just learned to embrace it to the tune that at one stage I even had an email address called JungleRumble. Hey, if you can't beat em, make sure you at least beat em to the punch.

Back onto the bullies...I have always taught E to pretend to not care, which would initially make any bully redouble their efforts to get a reaction, and then if still none, they'd move on to someone else. So he said Friday they started with Crumble, to which he dryly laughed and said 'gee haven't heard that one before'. Then this week they've moved onto various other interpretations, to which E just shook his head, laughed and moved on. And they gave up. And now not only are they not picking on him, they're leaving E's entire group of friends alone, apparently for the first time in years.

And the best part is E genuinely DOESN'T care, he doesn't even have to pretend. So awesome.

I'm one proud (yet evil) mother tonight.

Oh we bought some firewood this evening so this weekend let the firemaking practice begin! I started with a small one-day batch which I'm assuming can't get me into too much trouble and I've sought advice from a Toowoomba fire expert (ie. a colleague) who has imparted her wisdom of building something that resembles a tepee but firstly sticking my head up the chimney to make sure it's not blocked...hmmm. Presumably I do this BEFORE lighting the fire. And I would also like to clarify that 'fire expert' does not necessarily equal arsonist. Probably.

Wish me luck!

xx