Tacky Tourist Day And Doing What You Gotta Do!

It was dress up as "a tacky tourist" day at school today and to be honest - I had no idea what that meant! So, I was thrilled when it was obvious the Dude had forgotten all about it this morning.

A Tourist - Not Very "Tacky"

I was happily (and carefully!) "guiding" him along and almost had him at the door when La-la emerged from her bedroom resplendent as a "tacky tourist" - right down to a pair of binoculars hanging from her neck! Before I could stop her, she looked the Dude up and down and said, "is THAT your tacky tourist outfit?" Aaaaaagh! The Dude looked at me, "oh my God, it's tacky tourist day mummy!" he announced in a very accusatory tone of voice - as if a suspicion was starting to form in his mind as to why I had been "herding" him like a very attentive sheepdog all morning.

I Be Like...

The Dude Be like...

I sighed. It was 9 am. He was supposed to be sitting at his desk at 9:10 am. We did NOT have time to figure out a tacky tourist outfit for him. So, I went full on Irish Mammy - "if you wanted to have a tacky tourist outfit then you should have thought about it last night blah, blah, blah... I warned you blah, blah, blah..." He narrowed his eyes. I could see him calculating - how do I get her to shut up? Then he spoke - in a voice I didn't know he had! 🤨 "All I need is a hat." - They were his words but his tone was - "so stop losing your shit, crazy lady." I looked at him, somewhat nonplussed, "ok go find a hat," I told him. He found the rattiest old baseball cap he could and stuck it on his head and, even though he looked like a fisherman, I told him he looked like the tackiest tourist on the planet and shoved him out the door! I find the more I do this mammying thing, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do! Even if that means telling a big fat lie for the sake of everyone's mental health!

A Spark In The Night!

It's been a most interesting 24 hours at Mad Mammy Towers. My amazing electricity blasting powers worked again and I managed to plunge half the house into darkness!

I Be Like Storm!

This also meant the heating wasn't working - which wouldn't have been so bad if the temperature hadn't been minus 4!

So, having got the kiddies to bed (buried under extra duvets and fleecy blankets) I turned the fire on and wrapped myself in a fleecy throw and plonked myself on the couch and promptly fell into a semi-coma.

I was jolted from my slumber by someone banging on the front door at 1 am! I thought it was the local fire crew, here to tell me the house was on fire but it was the technician from the local power company - here to check the power supply - at 1 am! These Canadians don't hang about!

The Power Truck - Outside The House At 1 am!

He left around 2 am - assuring me the supply to the house was fine - that the problem lay inside the house somewhere...

The morning consisted of two children making their way around the house like a King & Queen of old with the fleecy blankets trailing after them like grand velvet cloaks. I finally got them fed and dressed and out the door to find my car encased in ice!

I got over that hurdle and got them to school, came back and found a lovely man waiting for me. He told me he was here "to fix my problems." Ha ha ha! If he only knew! For a moment I wondered if he was the electrician or perhaps an early Christmas present sent from God and all my problems were indeed going to be solved. Turns out he was the electrician.

And he proved to be a very efficient one at that! Half an hour later power had been restored and the lovely gentleman was wishing me a happy Christmas as he made his slippery way back to his car. I waved him off and couldn't help musing to myself how nice it would have been if all my problems were so easily solved! 😃

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!