'Orrible kids

So we went to a play place today, hadn't been before but it sounded alright. And I came THIS close to duffing up a 5 year old boy who was the incarnation of Damien from the Omen. He was there with his gran, who was oblivious to his bullying, snatching, and general nastiness. He even tried staring the adults out after upsetting their kids! Little sod. I used to think I wanted to be a teacher, but unless it was the Anne of Green Gables type school with beautiful, polite, intelligent kids dying to learn and totally in awe of me, I'd be no good, I'd have expelled half the class before hometime!

And don't get me started on the cafe - 10 minutes to make 2 coffees and then when they were THIS close to me, dropped on the floor and we had to start all over again! Sigh...life out of the workplace isn't so much more relaxed you know!

Kiddie park or drug den?!

So I was a very good mum today and took littl'un to the park. Doesn't happen often, I must be sickening for something. Anyway, there were a couple of other mums there, but then they left and we had the whole place to ourselves. Apart from 2 teenage boys hanging around outside the gates. After a while I got a bit nervous, they were definitely waiting for something. Then some other teenagers came into the park, and the first two went up to them, blatantly sold them drugs, and then returned to leering at me. So we left pretty soon after, and when I looked back, they were sat on the kiddie swings rolling a big joint!! Every damn time we go to that place we see drug deals, the car park is a hot spot for people to drive in, talk to the local hoodlum on his bike who just happens to be hanging around, and seems to know everybody, and then drive off rapidly with a big bag of something illegal in their dashboard. If the police cracked on to this they'd make more arrests in about 2 hours than the rest of the week wandering round the streets! Bloody drug dealers!!

Parenthood

So against everything I said last time round, I'm having another baby. Lovely. Due just before Christmas - so that is cancelled then! So far it's been going as before, not many symptoms which is good, but I am the size of a house already, not so good. Anyway, also like last time round I had a letter from the hospital. Following my blood tests, they want Mr Babs to have his blood tested for some medical thing that mainly affects african men. So I rang them up and said he'd already been tested the first time round and did he need to be tested again as he still isn't african? The man laughed and said "no, but we assume pregnant ladies are with different partners than the last time round so we had to check". Lovely. So the prevailing opinion in my part of the world is that all the women have babies with different dads. I really love Essex.

Vandalism - the Essex way

So on Saturday night I was awoken by the sound of a ruckus outside. As if I don't get woken up enough by Baby Babs crying and Mr Babs going for a wee, now you can add young hooligans to the list. Marvellous. Picture the scene: quiet surburban street, 1ish in the morning, lovely summer's night (hence all the windows being bloody open), cut to:

Thug 1 (Let's call him Bazza): "AAAAGGGHHHH. Man I'm drunk man! AAAAGGGGGHHHH!"
Thug 2 (Let's say Shane): "Awright man! Wot a night eh? Mwah mwah mwah"
Shane's moll (Let's call her Shaz): "Mwah mwah mwah" (this symbolises lots of slurpy snogging against a lamppost)
Bazza: "Right man, wot a night! WOT A NIGHT!"
Shane/Shaz: "Mwah mwah mwah"
Thug 3 (Gazza perhaps?): "Ere! Let's nick this for sale sign [belonging to our neighbours] - if we take it to the shop they'll give us a fiver for it!" [I have no idea if this is true but doubt it very much].
Bazza: "Yeah man, why not!"
Bazza/Gazza - Tug, thump, smash.
Shane/Shaz: "Mwah mwah mwah"

The next day it appears that they got fed up of carrying the sign by the time they got to the bottom of the road and dumped it. They left the remains of the post outside our house, obviously trying to lay the blame with us. All the other neighbours think they have taken their house off the market now as they have failed to have it replaced yet!

You really couldn't make it up. What must I miss in winter when the windows are closed?!

You couldn't make it up...

I love this story (in a gory way) - binmen refused to empty a bin as it was too heavy, failed to notice there was a foot sticking out of the top, and the reason it was too heavy was because there was a body in it. It stayed there for 3 weeks before anyone noticed.

Strange dreams

So last night, Gazza wanted me to go out with him. I said "oh I'll have to speak to my husband first", to which he replied, "tell him it's me, it'll be fine".

And as Gazza is his hero, I am sure it would have been :)

Britain's Got Talent (and pushy mums and rubbish people)

So I only got into watching this as BB refuses to go to bed at a sensible hour and we have to watch non violent/sexual/swearing tv until he finally succumbs. And it has made me so mad. Why?

Point 1: When that little girl in the tutu was crying and really upset and overwhelmed by the whole thing, what did her mum do? Scoop her up and refuse to let her carry on?! No. She stood there pleading for her to go back up and do it again. Pushy mums anyone? Any normal mother would have refused to let their child become such a martyr to fame and fortune. I was half expecting when she didn't win the final her to throw herself on the floor and scream and kick until they "let her win".

Point 2: Sob stories. The guy with the saxophone was clearly talented, but he cried every 2 minutes. Honestly. Imagine if he just went to a normal audition to be in an orchestra, let's say. The bloke in charge says "so, can you play?" and he bursts into tears. "Next!" In all these reality shows, they all have sob stories, next year I'm going to enter with not much talent to get me through but I will have a fantastic story for the papers to feed on. "I haven't had any sleep since January 2007" perhaps, or "we have no money and I need some, thanks" - all served with plenty of tears and angsty looks down the camera.

Point 3: People with no talent at all but who think they are brilliant. Enough said. What were their parents thinking? This is a lot more prevalent in the American equivalents, you really have to wonder if they are deaf or drugged up to the eyeballs.

Tweet tweet

So it appears that Twitter has robbed me of my ability to write more than 140 characters. It is weird, I used to love blogging and thinking of things that annoy me to moan about. Now I have to think of witty concise sentences for Twitter and Facebook and that is actually harder! So I think it's time to revisit the no restrictions blog and have a rant. I think I'm also a bit worried that someone will sue me if I say anything bad about famous people, but what else is the blog for?! I only have celebrity and dirty nappies in my life. Oh and vegetables now. Rock.

So what has gotten the goat of Bookish Barbara recently?

1) Morrissey was 50! 50!!! I always thought he was like Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. Now I have to admit that Morrissey certainly aged, he was certainly no Dorian Gray, but 50?! Really?! How did my heros get so old?

2) Having to have sneaky bbqs as you know you should invite your relatives , but really? Every single time? Apparently so. And if we are discovered, jeez the moaning!! And having to think of lame excuses not to go to theirs every time, just saying "no thanks" is never good enough. We have yet to come up with a plausible excuse that worked.

3) Bloody Britain's Got Talent. In the lack of other tv being on I have been watching this. I can tell you that, mostly, Britain Hasn't Got Talent. A few really good ones yeah, but most were good the first time for the shock value - you didn't expect that woman to sing like that, 2 fat men sticking bags up their arses (yes really) - but the second time around, no no no.

4) American Idol. Adam Lambert wuz robbed. I don't know what America thought they were doing. And having to avoid the internet for days to avoid seeing who won when it was shown in the US was annoying and I gave up and looked, thankfully this saved me from having to sit through the 2 hour finale only to be crazy angry at the result! At least he is free from having to sing that godawful song written for the winner and can do what he likes now.

5) Comebacks. All the 80s bands reforming is starting to get annoying. Why don't they just write to all the members of their fanclubs saying "we is a bit poor, could you give us some dosh? We'll come round and play in your front room for twenty quid. Cheers. xx"

6) Children pooing in their pants. Baby Babs has been nappy free for 2 whole weeks - this has been mostly incident free. But the incidents that have occurred have involved poo, lots of poo, pants, complex operations to remove pants to make the least possible mess, realising this is impossible, poo everywhere. Lovely. When asked why BB didn't ask to use the potty, expression says "because I can do it in my pants".

Aah, see I knew I could write more than 140 characters! I could have gone on...

Shallow?

So I was very shocked to read that Jordan and Peter Andre are splitting up. Absolutely shocked. I was perusing the possible reasons for this unforeseen D.I.V.O.R.C.E. and I came up with a few.

1) The wedding was mostly done for publicity reasons, not your old fashioned lurve. They had a contract to stay together for so many years, do so many reality shows, have so many kids and then call it a day.
2) After failing to break America and with falling ratings back in Blighty, and short of having a terminal disease to fall back on, they hit on splitting up. And then in 6 months or so, reconciling and having another wedding - all with the wonga of OK magazine.
3) Katie/Jordan couldn't bear another day of listening to Mysterious Girl from the shower, and short of having Pete killed, went for the other option.

4) Pete finally admitted he couldn't stand big boobs or fake tan. Well not on other people anyway :)

5) They finally saw the light and couldn't live the charade anymore, and were totally fed up having cameras following them around everywhere, and are off to live in Guatamala with a few goats and stuff. The "split" takes the heat off for a while...

I am going with option 2 myself, and putting a fiver on it at the bookies! Could they be so shallow?

[Nb. these are my personal musings and please don't sue me].

Facebook etiquette

So someone I know wanted to be my friend on Facebook. And I don't want to be but they are related so I can't get by just ignoring them. It is ruining my Facebook experience, I only added them 10 minutes ago and they are on all the time blocking updates from people I want to hear about! And I just know they will try and befriend half my friends on there and they will hate me! It just proves the virtual world is still beset with social awkwardness and having to be polite to people you really don't want to be polite to. Ho hum. I'll have to join another site now!

Winos and supermarkets

Bloody bloody supermarkets. Why do I keep going to them? Today, with it being Easter and all, I thought I'd treat myself to some wine. 3 for £10? Lovely. But the checkout woman was extremely ditsy and after checking everything else on the receipt at the store, lots of 3 for 2s, 2 for 1s, BOGOF's, it was only when I got home and unpacked that I noticed the wine offer hadn't worked and I'd been charged over £20!! £20!!! For 3 bottles of wine!! So Baby Babs was bundled back in the car and off we went to confront Customer Services Lady. It appears that in between me picking the wine off the shelf where it was clearly labelled 3 for £10 and getting to the checkout, they had taken the labels off and stopped the offer. The lady laughed "oh yes, they were just sorting the wine section out, sorry about that!". So this leads me to the question: "WHY DIDN'T THEY DO IT BEFORE THE STORE OPENED????!!!"

But she did give them to me for a tenner and I made her refund my second parking ticket. Damn them.

So

So I've just noticed that I have started the last few blog posts with the word "So...".

Am I turning into a stand-up comedian?! I'll be telling you jokes about the mother-in-law next.

Folks

So my dad is coming to visit today, he lives oop north so comes down every couple of months or so. He doesn't even stay 24 hours, comes Saturday lunchtime, leaves after breakfast on Sunday. But this necessitates a thorough clean of the entire house (even the bedrooms which he doesn't even go in!), gardening (it's now raining), washing, ironing so it's not dumped on the table like usual, cleaning of Baby Babs and self. This all takes longer than his actual visit.

I am abnormal. Anally retentive even. Neither he or my husband even bloody notice.

Earth hour

So I overrode my non-environmentally friendly husband's moaning and switched off all the lights for Earth Hour. If nothing else it'll save us a few quid on the leccy, I might do it every night. So I got out all the candles, Baby Babs was in bed, I thought "ooh how romantic, my luck might be in here". Husband complained for 45 minutes that it was too dark and then fell asleep on the sofa. The romance is dead...

Online confusion

So, I have three different internet updating things going on, this, Facebook and Twitter. At the moment I am trying to cover different topics on all three which is bloody hard work. And why? I have a few friends who know about all three of them, and while I am sure they don't want to read the same things three times, why am I bothering?! I know you can get your Twitter updates to show up on your Facebook as updates but I had to stop that as it was bothering me. And on here I am kind of anonymous which is great when slagging off the neighbours or immediate family.

I don't know what my point is.

Twitterings of a Rock God

So I signed up for Twitter after Lady L did. And it confuses me. It's like the best bit of Facebook (the updates) but on a different site. And as I didn't have many friends on there I started following famous people instead. And then Chris Cornell started up on it. And it weirds me out.

Firstly, I can't be sure if it is actually the real Chris Cornell. He updates so often - surely a bona fide rock star would be too busy throwing tvs out of windows and being off his face on JD to tell the world silly things all the time?

Secondly, if it is indeed the real Chris Cornell, his updates are usually so banal (for a rock star, sweet for a normal person) - he misses his kids, he's getting on a plane etc etc. , that my long held adoration is being tampered with. I blanked out the fact that he was married with kids now, and held on to the fact that he was living a miserable alcohol-raddled existence as he knew that I was married with kids now and he had missed his chance.

So it begs the question: would I rather know what he is having for his tea tonight or hold on to a long held obsession with a "Chris Cornell" who obviously doesn't exist in the real world? At the moment, nosiness wins everytime. I'll just have to find a new Rock God to replace him :)

Call the social!

Today Baby Babs decided to headbutt the toilet trying to retrieve Bob the Builder from underneath it. He has a marvellous shiner now. This adds to all the other cuts and bruises that adorn his body (legs mostly) as he is a clumsy little boy at the moment. We were in the supermarket after said toilet incident and BB decided to do a runner. I had to chase him out of the supermarket and finally caught up with him, and like a good mother, proceeded to chastise him for running off.

It was only afterwards I realised what we must have looked like. Young child legging it, covered in bruises, big black eye, chased by irate mother, then manhandled into buggy kicking and screaming. I looked like I beat him regularly! How bad is that?! And I can totally see how easy it is for people to get the wrong end of the stick and report you for child abuse. Scary.

Warring mothers

Oh my god. I am stuck in the middle of the most ridiculous situation. I know a mum who has a little girl just a bit younger than Baby Babs. I know her through someone, I wouldn't say we were friends particularly, but well enough to exchange presents last year for the kids birthdays. This year my friend has fallen out with the mum and they don't talk anymore. I don't see this other lady much, just at the baby group if she turns up, which she hasn't been doing, probably to avoid my friend. Last time I saw her, we bumped into each other in town just before BB's birthday. She was super friendly and then surprised me by giving BB a present for his birthday. I hadn't seen her since. And it's her little girls birthday on Monday. I got her a card and was wondering what to do about a present. I felt like I ought to, as she got BB one. Then today she turned up at baby group, pointedly ignored both me and my friend, and refused to let her little girl play with our boys.

So why do I feel really mean about not giving her a present and possibly not even the card?! Wouldn't it look stranger if I did give her something considering the fact I haven't spoken to her for 3 months and when I see her she ignores me? It wasn't my argument and I was always friendly to her, I didn't even take sides. This motherhood lark is a minefield. And why do I give a monkeys?!

Say what you mean!

Our neighbours are pregnant again, third one god help them. But they have made no secret of the fact they want a big family. Today was the first scan, after which you can tell everyone. I was in the garden when Mrs Neighbour told the old lady who lives on the other side of them. She is the one who told me when I was heavily pregnant that her granddaughter had just had a baby and it was disabled, and I ought to be prepared just in case. Thanks. Anyway her reaction was priceless!

Pregnant lady: I've got some news for you. We're having another baby!"
Old lady: "OH MY GOD" (in a voice of doom)

Now even if you think someone is crazy for having another baby, and you think it might have been a mistake, you don't actually say it to their face!

Supermarket update

I went to the supermarket yesterday, the one that blockaded the aisles. And halfway round I noticed an odd thing, the online shopping order staff with their MASSIVE trolleys were all parked neatly at the end of the aisles, not down them. And they all looked super pissed off that they had to walk a bit further! Hee hee, it really made me laugh! Power to the people! All the funnier as I did email them to ask what their policy was and got a stock reply that "in 24 hour stores, they have to do these things sometime" - despite the fact that my local store isn't a 24 hour one! But they actually took heed and did something. I will feel bad when I get a job in a supermarket and they tell me I am on the online order section though...