I Never Said I Was Perfect...

I found this from a FB page Mommy Needs Vodka and I though it was a very fitting cup for me. I AM NOT The Worlds Best Mum, nor would I ever try to be. Not because I am too selfish or too tired or too 'anything' but because the way I see it, all those women out there trying to be The Worlds Best Mum are making life harder on themselves. How can you be The Worlds Best Mum if your too busy stressing about everything? You can not. Not really! 

To my way of thinking there are many things you should NOT be if you're hoping for the title Worlds Best Mum. You should NOT be a raging alcoholic, a drug addict, a mass murder etc etc ( you're getting my point I am sure). But you also should NOT be spending every second trying to make things perfect. Worrying and second guessing yourself takes away from enjoying your children.

 Yes, of course there are times when 'enjoying' your children could be something as simple as being glad they had the good sense not to throw that third roll of toilet paper into the toilet. Or that they managed to ( by divine intervention?) leave your favourite lipstick colour alone when they took it upon themselves to draw all over themselves, their younger siblings and everything else they came in contact with whilst using all your other lipstick shades..

It could also be those truly beautiful times when the whole family is together not doing anything particularly special but they  fill you with such happiness and pride and love. When you stand back and watch them and say to yourself 'How lucky am I?' Of course those moments are not always regular and are most certainly spaced with 'typical' days and the very odd ( and rarely spoken about ) days where if you could you would run screaming from the place and never come back. If you have never felt that way, don't worry, you'll get there. It doesn't last long but it will happen. Don't bother with the 'Oh I'll never feel like that.' either because that tells me you're not 'doing it right'.

There are going to be plenty of times when everything is a nightmare, there will be a time when one of your children does or says something that makes you seriously question your parenting decisions. If it happens a lot however then you might want to look in to it. ;) There will be times when you sit in a ball, even if it is just mentally and say to yourself  How the hell did I/we get into this mess ( sometimes it will even be a literal mess) and you have to suck that I cant take this no more feeling up and get on with it. Because like it or not, you are the mum and that is your job.

It isn't all bad though. In fact it is mostly a mundane kinda  wonderful that you wouldn't change for all the medals in the world. Besides as far as your kids are concerned you ARE the worlds best mum.

Chinese Whispers

You often hear people joke about how most of the stuff you learn in school is not always actually useful in real  life. Quite often people are referring to Algebra or other things. Obviously Math and English are very useful, but do you know what else is? What I think is the most underrated thing you ‘learn’ in school? The game of Chinese Whispers. You know the one when you sit in a circle and someone whispers in to the ear of the kid next to them and they to the next person and so on til the last child gets to say out loud what they have been told?  Yeah that one.  And here is why.

Last week my mother tripped and fell. She broke her Femur. I was lucky enough not to be there when it happened, though I did drive past my parents place when the ambulance was there. Doors open and not a soul to be seen. It took me another 20m to realise that there was an ambulance at my parents house. An AMBULANCE! I slammed on the breaks and reversed back towards my parents. We live out of town and I didn’t have to worry about traffic. Though I did say to The Man Child who was sitting next to me. ‘I do hope no one comes up behind us because I ain’t stopping!’

I braced myself for some kind of dramatic sight involving my father (who is currently involved in extending the house) having fallen off the scaffolding. I was however shocked to find him standing. There was also two paramedics and my sister in the room and my mother lying on the floor! I was confused.

 Why are they doing a first aid training course? I thought to myself.

I soon realised that they were not and that my mothers thigh looked really, really horrible. I then just stood there rather awkwardly wanting to help but wanting to stay the hell out of every ones way. Mum was by this stage, thankfully, drugged up with pain killers and every now and then would ask what was happening and telling us she was ok. She was trying to comfort us and reassure us.

Since then there has been miscommunication after miscommunication involving her break. At first it was her hip then her femur , then she was in traction for weeks, then only for one week. All these updates I posted and messaged to friends and family. I was finding that something was getting lost in translation, somewhere. The chink in the chain was because mum was telling dad, who was telling one or the other of my siblings through conversation or message and it was getting passed or messaged on me.


Today mum had her operation. I was told she had received a donor bone and she could not walk for four months. I was a little confused because three days earlier I had been told they had to make a rod or plate (artificial bone) for her . But I was (not being a doctor) quite happy with the news none the less, mum had had her op, she was doing great. That was all I needed to hear. Later I was thinking about who the donor was and what a wonderful gift it was.

I am a donor and I thought I’d tweet ( I have only just started to dabble in the twitter sphere) about it, thank donors and their families and add a link to the national organ donor register here in Australia. Which I did. Later my brother informed me there was no donor bone ( thank you sibling!!) and it was indeed an artificial bone made to suit her leg ( totally makes sense doesn't it!) It had cost $40,000 dollars to make ( WOW ) and that was when I said to myself.

Bloody hell. This whole thing is like a game of Chinese whispers! Now I understand why we played it in the earlier grades ( year 1 maybe?) of school.

It was not just a fun game that enabled us to to get the chance to sit next to ( if we were lucky enough) the boy or girl we liked and whisper into their ear or have a laugh at how the ending statement was different or (if we were unlucky enough to be one of the last few kids) find it to be exactly the same as what you had said and therefore not really all that funny. No, it was a life lesson that you never fully appreciate, until you try to keep family and friends updated on your mothers state of health that is. And do you know what? If the story changes again, well, I won’t be updating it!!!


I ended up deleting my tweet as I felt like a twit. But you know what? If you have not already considered being an Organ Donor I do suggest you do. You can find out more here.

As for the game Chinese whispers find out how to play it here.
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The Holidays Are Over Baby

Yesterday was the first day back at school. I must admit I was quite pleased to see the bigger kids off. I was even happier to have a reasonably clean house too. The day before we had all spent an hour whipping the place into shape. It was My Beloved’s idea. Mine was to spend the day lying on my bed reading.

I can’t even say that I needed the rest because that morning My Beloved and I had managed to sleep in, have a coffee in bed and then sit down to a ‘concert’ organised and emceed by Little Miss. She even wrote out a program! If my camera would stop being so stubborn and connect via the USB cable, I’d have photos to go with this, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I also took video footage, though I was banned from sharing that.

Miss Thinker, Miss Independent, Mr Cheeky ( who I may soon start referring to as Mr Naughty if he keeps his current attitude up), Little Miss and even Littlest Miss had songs and a dance to preform, along with ‘speeches’ about how great My Beloved and I are as parents. Yes, they possible wanted brownie points but hey, I’ll take what I can get and so will My Beloved.
After the mornings entertainment My Beloved suggested to Big Miss and The Man Child that bacon and eggs would really top his morning ( fast becoming afternoon by that stage) off. I told them I’d love some chocolate. Neither request was granted and neither of us really minded. It must have been the ‘sleep in glow’ as we didn’t find anything to be a hassle and all was well with the world as far as My Beloved and I were concerned.

The next morning My Beloved left for three days to show backpackers from across the globe Fraser Island and I got ready to ‘meet’ him at the local store on his way past. The kids were all out of bed and dressed well before I managed to become fully awake and Little Miss managed to sleep in giving me a full hour from the bigger kids leaving til I had to leave and catch My Beloved on his way past. Naturally I spent that hour with a cup of coffee, well, two actually, and lounging on the lounge reading. Mr Cheeky always watches ABC4KIDS in the morning and since he’d eaten he was quite content to sit quietly killing off the odd brain cell and watch the ‘moving pictures’.

The day was relaxed and peaceful. The same can not be said for today. I had to force myself out of bed this morning. I’ve had to force myself to stay awake ever since. I have forty minuets until the bus brings the bigger kids home and aside from tidy the lounge room and tidy my room I have done nothing. The breakfast dishes are still next to the sink ( I know! Not even IN the sink yet! How terrible!!) and I don’t even want to think about the state of the girls rooms. I am chalking this day off to being a lazy so and so, but tomorrow, OOOOH tomorrow will be all systems go. The Holidays are over baby! I had better get started on those dishes.

How did your holidays go? Or have you only just started them? Let me know in the comments or visit Us on Facebook.