Small but Important Disclaimer

All blogs are my personal points of view. They belong to me, and you are not allowed to reproduce them, copy them or pass anything particularly witty off as being your own without my permission. And to be honest, I am not likely to give you permission...so no stealing my Bee Moments!

Our Own Worst Enemy

You know, after a couple of years being a member of various different parenting internet sites, I have come to one major conclusion. It's a bloody good thing that women don't rule the world. I kid you not.

Once upon a time I bemoaned the fact that the world is led by such idiots as George W. But quite frankly, compared to the actions and attitudes of some women out there, I would have relabel George as "mostly harmless".

We women live to find weaknesses in other women. We love to attack, degrade, belittle and denigrate other mothers; we love to laugh at other people's misfortunes (really though, it was the ugliest couch anyone had ever shown on an internet site) and we develop obessive passions for directing vitrolic attacks on people we dont even know. And people, I am only talking about me here.

I have sat here reading posts by women who had left small kids alone at home and whispered to myself "I see stupid people...". I have called my best friend at all hours to tell her to ignore her own child in favour of logging onto our site of the moment so we can talk in outraged fashion about the ignorance, rudeness and general stupidity of other mothers. I have spent hours talking about having a passionate hatred for a woman that I have never, ever met, but loathe the time she steals from me every time I read anything she has ever written.

I have made moral judgements on strangers abilities to raise children purely based on the fact that they have small minded ignorant ideas and are more than happy to try and share them with me. I have cried at the injustice of being tied to membership of a moderated site that I can only refer to as the Stepford Wives but at the same time find myself unable to stay away.

And lets be honest, I am not a small minded, ignorant person myself. I am well educated. I am in my mid-30's and have grown up enough to know that there is very little black and white in the world. I am a very likeable person (albeit one who doesnt deal well with idiots). And yet, this is what I do. I get passionately involved in other peoples small, chunky little lives, and sometimes I do it just so that I can laugh at them.

God forbid if I am a true example of an average woman.

And that my dears, is why women should never be allowed to rule the world. It would end up being too much like high school and we all only just made it through that intact...

Making Baby Food - Slow Cooker Recipe

Well today I made some baby food for Alex. Because I am back at work, I need to cook a lot at once and freeze it for use during the week(s). So I decided to get out the old slow cooker and cook up a huge casserole just for him. And he loves it!

So here is the recipe for Alexander Casserole:

500gm of chicken (boneless)
Carrots
Potato
Sweet Potato
Pumpkin
Beans
Peas & Corn
Onion
Tin of Leek and Potato Soup
Tin of coconut cream (well it was in the cupboard taking up space)
Chicken Stock

The chicken I used today was frozen skinless breasts, but to be honest it would have been terrific with thigh fillets too. I didn't even defrost the chicken!

Chop chicken into cubes
Chop Onion fairly finely
Peel and chop carrots, potato, sweet potato and pumpkin into cubes
I used frozen beans and frozen peas and corn

Put all incredients, including soup, cream and stock into the slow cooker and turn on to low. Cook for 8 -9 hours. If you start this later in the day, or want to cook it faster, select the high button on your slow cooker and cook for 5 - 6 hours.

30mins before you are ready to 'dish' thicken the liquid with cornflour paste.

Today I set aside a plate full of food for him, and I put the rest into containers for the freezer.

Recipe makes enough food for a big old hungry baby for about 2 weeks (as one meal per day).

Go forth and cook yummy food!

I feel the need to shop

The weekend's here
Alas it's true
I feel the need to shop, I do
I need to spend, I need to buy
Dont bother asking, I know not why
What shall I get? I want fot nowt
I just need to get this urge on out
My poor, dear husband
What must he think
Of a wife who sends his cash down the sink?
Every penny he earns,
I would happily spend
Oh where will this passion for shoes
Ever end?

Bee Moments...

I have the most divine four year old daughter. She is witty, smart and very funny. And she provides us with some hilarious Bee Moments.

Once, not so long ago Bee had a shower with Daddy, and for the first time noticed that there really are some differences between boys and girls. She spent some time contemplating the differences whilst Daddy was lathering his hair. Then, she came up with this little wisdom.

"Daddy, when you grow up I expect you will have a vagina like Mummy and me."

Hmm, out of the mouths of babes...

Brain Power and Motherhood

Both N and I are working mums. N, because she is a single mother who has no interest in being on welfare, and me because I have a passion for shopping and discovered that being stuck at home with two kids was much like being forced to swallow razor blades.

N and I met through an internet forum. Interesting place to meet people - its the kind of forum where pregnant women and mothers get together to share and help each other out. In reality it was a bitch fest. It was an opportunity for women to completely take the piss out of each other without recompense. Quite frankly, the most fun you can have when you cant see your toes and you need to pee every thirty minutes.

So anyway, on to the point of this post. N and I were talking about another character we have met through the internet. She is a stay at home mum (SAHM) and is very proud to be one. However, like so many SAHM's she appears to have a slight insecurity issue about staying at home. And one issue she took to heart was the idea that women go back into the workforce because they need to think. She really doesn't accept the argument that women can find it mentally stifling being at home with pre-schoolers.

This raises two points for me, and the first one is most easily dealt with and really not controversial at all. In reality there are plenty of women who choose to work rather than be a SAHM because they desire adult conversation; they desire the opportunity to use their education or skills in a field that is not in any way whatsoever related to nappy changes and the merits of playhouse disney vs nick jr.

The second point is a bit harder though. Do SAHM's really use the same level of 'brain power' that someone in the workforce does? Does it depend on the job she does?

I guess I can only talk about my experience, but for me the answer is easy. Staying at home with my amazing, entertaining and energetic preschoolers does not require me to use the full capacity of my brain. Staying at home with them is harder believe me - you have to deal with the monotony, the drudgery, the non-existent pay, and you have to take an interest in what your children are doing. I pretty quickly learned that my pre-schoolers had no interest in me sitting on the couch reading a good book, their preference was for something messy and that would inevitably end in tears.

So no, staying at home, does not strain the brain intellectually. It may strain it emotionally, but not intellectually. It wasn't until I got back into the workforce that I got to challenge my skills, my experience and my ability to use my brain to provide creative resolutions to problems. But then again, I do a middle management kind of role, I need to be able to use my brain. My job is not repetitive, monotonous or boring. I kind of wonder, if I would be so excited about being a working mum if I was forced into a position that didn't require such scope for brain power.

Perhaps if I was in a role where the job was repetitive, monotonous and you were not required to think for yourself, then I wouldn't be so keen on leaving the SAHM world. At home at least you get to be bored and frustrated in your trackpaints LOL.

But I am not going to be made to feel guilty about wanting to use my brain. It keeps it healthier for a start, and somedays its the only muscle in my body getting any exercise heh heh heh. So I say, good for you to the women who want to admit that being at home with the kids has stifled their mental abilities - from my experience, this is exactly what happened. And now I am working, I am happier spending the time I can with both Bee and the A Man and I am more likely to take time to do what they want to do. Which is inevitably messy and ends in tears...