I always think it’s a good idea to take a photo a day, but never manage to maintain it. Will this year be different?
Here is The Kid up in the early hours of the morning admiring the fireworks. She has never been up so late, and made what could have been a boring cross over of the years (The Old Man being poorly and me being tired) absolutely magical, slightly manic and most of all great fun.
How are we supposed to trust such a bunch of puerile idiots to run our country? Anything, anything rather than listen to valid criticisms of their policies.
Oh, and if you have a child with a stutter, just let them know the Prime Minister thinks it’s HILAIR.
Barbie Massacre
Have you heard about the new Lottie Doll that’s based on the body shape of a nine-year old rather than a glamour model?
It’s fair to say that The Kid is a bit of a fan of Barbies, she plays with them all the time. Mostly she plays schools or birthday parties which is fine because it’s all imaginative play. I’ve always watched on with slitty eyes though because, well, Barbie dresses like a hooker, right? And, shoot me if you will, I’m not all that comfortable with the sexualisation of little girls through their toys. So I was chuffed to bits when I read about Lottie.
My two sisters and I have already bulk ordered Lottie Dolls for our daughters’ Christmas stockings. Their girls are a bit younger than The Kid so my sisters chose the Snow Queen and the Ballerina for them, while I went for the Festival Girl and Autumn Leaves for The Kid.
Autumn Leaves is definitely my favourite, look how cute and normal she is:
Autumn Leaves
I just know it’s going to make my heart sing to see them playing with toys that actually resemble little girls, with healthy, outdoor hobbies, just like them. I know The Kid will like this doll because she dresses in exactly the same way as she likes to and there’s nothing The Kid finds cuter than something just like her.
If you want to buy Lottie Dolls, at the moment they are only available through Amazon. It’s come a little bit late for us as The Kid already has at least 400 barbies, but I really hope Lottie gives Barbie a good run (in sensible shoes) for her money — you go girl!
Blimey. You’d have thought Nadine Dorries would have briefed her staff a bit better than this before she went into the jungle.
I hope Karen from Harlington goes to a free legal advice service to get some help with her benefit struggles. Someone who actually shows even a modicum of concern rather than dismissing her concerns because they haven’t seen the letter. A little media training for William: in future offer to take the woman’s details and listen to her problems as soon as the interview is over. You sound nearly as arrogant and twice as stupid as your boss.
Edited to add, you can listen to the next part here, and IT’S EVEN MORE CRINGEY.
All aboard the ‘get really terrified train’ (renamed by the 6 year old). Sinister Sunday is brought to you by The Skull Illusion. Go check out the other entries.
I couldn’t help laughing when I saw what Maureen Lipman had to say about ’Jewish Mum of the Year’. Just like every other Jewish mother I have spoken to about this (only one actually, but she said it had annoyed *her* mum too), the woman I will always think of as Beattie finds it most objectionable.
Yet again we have a group of mothers pitching themselves as the best mothers in the world. Apparently ‘Jewish mums’ (they are all the same, you see) will do anything for their children and love their children more than anything else in the world. Strange. I thought that was kind of part of the definition of being a ‘mum’. The last time I heard this drivel was when Diane Abbott claimed that ‘West Indian mums will go to the wall for their children’. Hmm. Interesting way to defend her decision to buy privilege for her son, which, I believe, is far more common amongst the white upper middle class that she claims to despise.
I know I’m not the only woman that would like to thank Julia Gillard for kicking arse last week. Many of us don’t get the opportunity to say what we think about all those little things we constantly hear. Mainly because when we do, eyes roll around us and we are called ‘hysterical’ ‘whingy’ ‘uptight’ or ‘humourless’. Julia Gillard might be all of those things (I have no idea, I hardly follow Australian politics, it being so far away), but what she is not is ‘deliberately barren‘ just because she chooses not to have children and I think it’s safe to say that her father didn’t ‘die of shame‘. Would that even be possible anyway?
Meanwhile, a bit closer to my every day life, this article in The Guardian attracted the sort of obnoxious comments you’d usually only see in relation to illegal immigrants or benefit scroungers in The Daily Mail. It seems that meeting with friends and drinking coffee is akin to the worst kind of anti-social disorder this country has seen. How dare women actually try to make their lives with small babies bearable! Fucking liberty! Fellow feminist blogger Glosswatch has responded by starting a campaign in favour of the “Yummy Mummy” and while I’m not sure I agree with every word, I think it’s worth a read.
The Australian Dictionary is considering changing the definition of misogyny to include ‘entrenched prejudice against women’ and rightly so! I don’t know if you follow @everydaysexism on twitter, if you don’t, you should. They tweet as part of this project where women (and men) tell of all the every day sexist experiences we encounter – all the time! It’s this that needs to change. We have the laws, but without the cultural shift in attitude, there will never be equality.
I really can’t stand this kind of article in what way is it useful?
Do they ever ask men if they would work as hard if money was no option? How many parents do you know that wouldn’t like to spend a bit more time with their kids?
It was the first day of school today. The kid has been looking forward to going back ever since she caught Chicken Pox and had to miss the last two days of school. The house is very quiet.
