Smiles All Around - Courtesy Of The Dude

Back in November 2017 we instigated a pocket money / rewards program here at Mad Mammy Towers - which even saw one individual planning on making his fortune by getting paid for doing his sister's jobs! 😂

Over the past few months La-la has spent a considerable amount of her earnings but the Dude hasn't spent a cent! When he has pointed something out in a shop and asked for it, I've told him he can get whatever it was out of his own pocket money. This has always resulted in the same reaction - suddenly he doesn't want the thing so much any more!

Then, at the weekend he asked Big Daddy to take him to a local art store. Big Daddy was a little confused because the Dude doesn't do arty stuff. He asked him if he meant a sport's store but the Dude was adamant he wanted to go to the art store.

Once there he went searching for a specific item and only the best would do. He then bought it - out of his own money! - and brought it home. What was this item, I hear you ask, that he wanted so much he was prepared to spend his precious money on???

Turns out he wanted to spend his money on a smile - his sister's smile. After all those months of not spending a single cent on himself, he went and spent his money on an art set for his sister!

"I just wanted to make her happy and see her smile," he explained to his flabbergasted father and me.

The Dude - a never ending source of parental fascination and maybe just a little bit of pride. 😊

Wardrobe Wars - Let Battle Commence!

The Mad Mammy was delighted to bag myself some Black Friday deals over the weekend - and so was my daughter!

"Ooooh," she squealed when I was modelling one of my buys, "you need to take that off."

I removed it immediately, thinking there was something wrong with it.

I then watched it disappear into her bedroom and have had to watch her wear it ever since!

One Of My Bargain Buys and The Much
Coveted Cardigan!

Now, I had kinda expected this sort of thing to happen when she's a bit older... If it's going to happen at all - I mean let's face it - I hardly expect a teenager to even notice what her mother is wearing! Especially a geriatric mother like me. However, I certainly wasn't prepared for an eleven year old to snaffle my stuff. 

I have to admit, part of me is a bit chuffed - I feel like trendy mom whose kid wants to wear her clothes 😁 Then a little voice says, "don't be delusional, she's eleven years old and you're still pretty much the centre of her universe. Give it another year and you'll be the most embarrassing thing on the planet." 

So, I decided to just go with this unexpected turn of events for the moment and accept the fact that, for the foreseeable future, I may have to rifle through her wardrobe to find my things. And then yesterday she came home wondering if she could get a pair of Ugg boots. She very quickly got a reality check instead. However, I agreed she could get a pair of boots similar to Uggs but without the exorbitant price tag.

A few hours later she was the very happy and very proud owner of a pair of SoftMoc boots (that look just like the Uggs!) and it turns out my daughter now has the same size foot as me😃 It was with great delight I told her she needed to take her boots off. She was a bit confused at first but then somewhat perplexed as I proceeded to prance around the kitchen in them declaring how comfy they are!

The Very Comfy SoftMoc Boots!

This morning I found my cardigan on my bed - the message was clear - I'll leave your clothes alone if you stay away from my boots! Ha ha ha! It looks like the wardrobe wars have begun!

Together Forever

I was sitting on the couch with the Dude cuddled up to me last night and as is his way - he started asking random questions...

The Dude: Mum, how old will I be in fifty years time?
Me: Well you're eight years old now so add fifty years on.
The Dude: Fifty-eight?
Me: Yes.
The Dude: Can people live to one hundred?
Me: Some, but it's not common.
The Dude: Will you and Daddy live to one hundred?
Me: I don't think so but we'll give it our best shot.
The Dude: Oh.

The lovely Dorothy Howe - who credited
her reaching 100 years to drinking
a generous amount of whiskey!

At this stage I realised there was something going on and I could almost hear the whirring noises inside his brain. I paused the new Star Trek movie we were all supposed to be watching, reasoning that I could wait another few minutes to see where Captain Kirk and his crew would, "boldly go where no man has gone before."

Me: What is going on Dudey? What's on your mind?
The Dude: I'm just trying to figure out how old you and Daddy will be fifty years from now and how old I will be.
Then his little voice faltered and I could see his eyes shining bright with unshed tears, "I just want us all to be together forever," he whispered.

The Dude And His Mammy

I looked into those eyes - so full of pure love and for a few seconds my heart stopped beating and my whole body felt as if it had melted. However, behind the love I could see a glimmer of fear and I knew I had to reassure my boy.

"It's not whether myself and Daddy live to be a hundred or if you live to be fifty-eight," I assured him, "the important thing is to love each other in the here and now and not to worry too much about the future. We just need to take each day at a time and get the most out of being together and have lots of fun."

He smiled a watery smile and slid his little arms around me. "Okay Mummy," he said, "I'll do that but can you try to live to be a hundred anyway?"

I smiled and promised him I'd give it my best shot!

Fifty years from now I'll
be digging into one
of these!

Grandad and Wolverine - Who Knew!

The Dude is obsessed with anything super-hero related and when I say obsessed I mean his every waking thought is about one super-hero or another and his time is spent "in training" as he puts it, or fighting imaginary battles with super-villains.  It's very re-assuring knowing should the world ever be enslaved by some super-villain with a whole heap of nasty super-powers then the Dude is ready to take his place beside Batman, Superman, The Flash, The Green Lantern et al.

The Flash - Currently The Dude's Favourite Superhero

He has them all categorized in his head and has ratings assigned to them according to whatever their powers are, how many battles they've fought and what super-villains they have defeated, oh and there also seems to be a rather arbitrary "cool" rating.  On any given day, at any given moment I am asked, "who is your favourite super-hero?"

This question is not as straightforward as it seems! The Dude rotates the super-hero ratings and his current favourite is usually sitting in the number one spot.  Woe-be-tide you if you answer this question with a character who is not currently in the Dude's favour.  You will be asked (no - demanded) to justify your answer and you'd better have it ready!  Many's the car journey (yes, his favourite place for these interrogations) that has degenerated into a full on family row over the virtues of Batman versus Superman.  Interestingly, Superman has never been high in the Dude's ratings till this week - we are all wondering what has brought about this "road to Damascus" type conversion and are all fearful it's just a ruse till the next time he has us all trapped in the car!

The Batman v Superman Battle Is Due To Hit
The Big Screen This Year
After Being Played Out In Our Car For The Past Few Years!

Anyhoo, his current favourite is Wolverine, who also just happens to be one of The Mad Mammy's favourites (I mean come on - you gotta love Hugh Jackman in those jeans and that white vest, stretched tantalisingly across those pecs and revealing the most perfect biceps.....whoa! Okay you get the picture as to why Wolverine is one of my favourites - I must confess to having my own ratings system for super-heroes and it's very different to the Dude's!)

Hugh Jackman As The Wolverine

However, I was somewhat surprised when the Dude announced yesterday that Wolverine was a friend of Grandad's.  The Dude is prone to the odd spot of storytelling and can sometimes tip over into fantasy in the interests of keeping a good tale going but this was a stretch even for him.
"Wolverine and Grandad were friends?" I asked, "are you sure about that?"
"Oh yes," he nodded his head vigorously.

Now, I should add here that Grandad is also quite the storyteller and I wouldn't put it past him to have regaled the Dude with tales of his times with Wolverine.  So I asked the Dude, "Did Grandad Tell you that?"
"Nooooo!" He shook his head vigorously, "I saw it in the book."

Okaaaay, at this point I have to confess to having a little confusion going on and Big Daddy was looking on totally lost and I could see he was thinking, "this is what I get for marrying in to a bunch of storytellers...."  I decided to press on and see where the Dude was coming from.

"What book are you talking about?" I asked, wondering what book existed that could possibly have Grandad and Wolverine in it!

"The family book," replied the Dude.

The family book?  Okay this was getting stranger and stranger so I had to take a minute to gather my thoughts.  Big Daddy looked at me questioningly.  I looked at him, utterly bewildered at this stage and then it hit me.

"Did this book have photographs?" I asked.

The Dude jumped out of his chair in delight.  "Yes! Yes, it did!" He exclaimed.

Big Daddy looked at me as if to say, "there can't possibly really be a book with Grandad and Wolverine in it?"

I smirked, an all-knowing smirk.  "Was Grandad sitting on a couch beside Wolverine?" I asked.

"Yes," nodded the Dude, his delight, at my knowing the "book" he was talking about, evident in the smile lighting up his face.

I started to laugh and it was Big Daddy's turn to be totally bewildered.

The "book" the Dude was referring to was an old photo album he had come across in my parents' house last summer.  In it are photos of Grandad in his heyday back in the seventies, complete with luscious dark locks and the must-have seventies accessory - sideburns, just like the ones sported by our favourite X-man.  In one of the photos he is sitting on a couch with two of his side-burn sporting pals and if memory serves me correctly, one of them is a dead ringer for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

So there you have it, Grandad used to run with Wolverine, now it doesn't get any cooler than that, especially if you're a seven year old boy whose Grandad is just as much a hero to you as any bloke with super-powers.

Note: As I go to press the Publish button, this morning's battle has seen the elimination of twenty bad guys, one super-villain and his helicopter.  Planet Earth is a safer place this morning thanks to the heroic efforts of the Dude.  Rest easy citizens the planet's in good hands.

The Super Dude