Slightly twisted and unique!

Things have been CRAZY here for the last week. My husband decided that we are going to head down to Melbourne for a bit of a holiday. Now I have NEVER seen Melbourne, and neither has our son.  So as a home schooling momma I jumped at the chance! And I do literally mean I jumped!  I immediately got up, ran to the old man and hugged him jumping up and down screaming "OH MY GOD CULTURE!!!!"

Now don't get me wrong, I love our little crack in the wall town. It is small, it is friendly, and it is where we live. But there is absolutely NOTHING to do here. Oh sure there is an attempt at a water park, they have a bucket and everything!  There are lots of open areas for the kids to play in during day time hours, even a few playgrounds tossed in for them, you know the kind, a park with one swing.  Yeah like I said its a little crack in the wall town.  The nearest town of any size is hours away.  Sure the city here has a stop light and everything, but it just isn't the same when there is no culture.

Oh but you have the MECC you may be saying.  Suuuurrreee we do.  If you want to pay a fortune to see some guy sing songs that he didn't even write or can sing.  Or maybe the ballet is in town, it really does come to visit once in a while, but it isn't a ballet of any renown.  But hey I guess it is still culture to a degree.

But Melbourne!  Now seriously, THAT is culture! Museums, Zoos, Aquariums, Old Melboure Gaol, Ships, Penguins, oh the list goes on and on!  Did I mention Museums??? Because that is the one thing that I miss living in Australia.  Oh and Zoos and Aquariums too! I miss those as well. Once upon a time, I would take my children at least 4 times a year to each one!  But now living here in Australia, nope can't go, they just aren't around.

So of course Miss crazy home schooling momma jumped at the chance for culture and education!  And what does little man say about this whole trip you may be asking.  Well here is the beginning of the fun...

Little man says, "How long is the drive?"
I say, "About 25 hours."
He says, "oh so we can make it in a day?"
I look at him and say, "How many hours in a day?"
Shrugging he replies, "like 24"
I laugh and say, "Okay so you answered your own question can we make a 25 hour drive in a day?"
Yes I know, but I am always teaching right?
He says, "nah guess not. So are we doing it in two days?"
I laugh and say, "Well actually we are planning on driving for 3 days."
"WHAT?" he cries "how can you make 25 hours be 3 days?"
Laughing I reply, "Easy, the driver needs sleep and we thought hotels would be cool for you to stay in."
Shrugging he says "yeah okay."

Now mind you the little man has NEVER been outside of this city. Never been to a zoo, never been to an aquarium, never been to a museum, and never drove in a car for days.  Nor has he ever ridden on a train, a tram, a bus, or anything other than a car.

I tell him for his school work I want him to research Melbourne and find out stuff he would like to do and we will have dad do that as well, and I will do it and whatever is on ALL the lists we will definitely do, and anything on just one we will think about.  I thought that was pretty fair right?

So an hour later he comes in with his list.  It goes something like this...

I want to go to Black Light Miniture Golf, I'm not sure I like golf because I think hitting a ball around would be pretty boring but I think it might be cool.

I want to go to Lazer Tag Skirmish, this sounds pretty cool and mum even used to play before she came to here.

I want to go to Bowling, I really like bowling I think I won last time.

I'd love to go to the Melbourne Zoo; I'd really love to go there because there would be so many animals and I can play with the meerkats if mum lets me.

(oh finally something educational, all is not lost!!!)

IMAX; I'd REALLY want to see movies here!

Okay so his list looks nothing at all like MY list... My list goes a little like this:

Sunday
Check in Hotel
Hosier Lane to see Graffiti art.
St. Patricks Cathedral
St. Paul's Cathedral
Melbourne Star

Monday
Melbourne Zoo
Queen Victoria Market
River Tour

Tuesday
Melbourne Museum
Cooks Cottage


Wednesday
Melbourne Aquarium
Old Melbourne Gaol
Polly Woodside Tall ship

Thursday
Eureka Tower
Black Light Mini Golf

Okay so my list does have a couple things his didn't have... um okay a LOT of things his didn't have.
I showed him my list.

His reply was epic! "Oh heck mom, I already knew we would be going to the Jail, the ships, the museums, the aquarium so I didn't write them down. I know how you think."

Hmmmm is anyone else afraid that their kid knows how they think?  Well if you weren't you probably should be! I know it terrifies me!

But seriously, it looks like everything on his list costs a bloody fortune! As in 40 to 100 dollars per person.  Needless to say, we can't afford that.  The things on my list, I either have coupons for or have a deal for, so hence why they are on the list.  But it made me feel good to know that my son actually has no problem going to the places I miss, and want to go see.

Meanwhile the Old man, is excited about being in Victoria, about going away, and about seeing the museum, because he "Likes the smell of museums."  *shrugs* Never smelled anything unique in museums, but hey maybe my sense of smell is off.

So I probably will be blasting the page when I get back with a ton of photos from our holiday trips.

But here is the funny part.  We are taking bub with us.  He always goes camping with us. He is after all part of the family.  But he is also a doll.  He has his own little seat in the car, his own little suitcase, and his own little personality.  But Paul wants to take him to see the sights and take photos of him at the various locations.  At first I thought well, that seems a bit odd. But the more I thought about it, I thought how fun it could be posing him on the various places real kids can't sit on.  So looks like the bub is going to be taking a trip to Melbourne as our Family Home School Mascot, and having his photo done, or photo bombing his brother.

*evil grin* yeah I know that is so mean, especially since lil man is finally showing an interest in something other than video games.  But even he thinks it will be fun to take his buddy along with us.  Thank god I still have my old baby carrier. Maybe everyone will think he is just a sleeping baby.  hehehe

Nope not insane, just think that having a family mascot is a really unique and slightly twisted idea that suits our family to a T!

The Body of a Goddess!!!

Now most of you don't know this about me, but when I was a child I LOVED to sing and act.  Now the funny thing is that I had some major parts in some really great theater shows.  I played Danny in Grease, The Scarecrow in the Wiz, and the Father in the Sound of Music.  Hmmm notice a funny trend there don't you? I played male rolls.  Now I must admit that my voice is okay, nothing super special, at least it never made me any money. But it is good enough to get some nice applause the times we go out to sing Karaoke.  But trust me I have never been confused about my sexual orientation. I may have been all boy growing up, but I was also always a GIRL.

Sure people would call me names like dyke or fag, and since I was flat chested until I was basically an adult, I never had the boys crazy in love with me.  What I did have were boys as friends, boys as sports mates, and boys whom I loved in secret. I was teased incessantly for being flat chested. I was teased about my style of clothing, I chose comfort over style.  I was teased about loving sports and being on all the different sports teams. 

So that all being what it was, you would think that I would be very insecure about who I am now. Well I am not.  I am a plus sized woman, who has beautiful and youthful skin, but is marked by the birthing of three gorgeous girls.  I still wear a bikini and proudly show my body.  Because I KNOW there are worse things than being a size 18.  I KNOW that life is cruel, life is hard, and that being perfect is a fallacy.  My body has granted me the ability to bring three wonderful lives into this world, but it has also seen some horrible things happen.  My body is strong enough to climb a mountain, but weak enough to curl up in a little ball when the world is closing in around me.  My body was strong enough to sustain me through the loss of my precious angels, and strong enough to be there for my children and husband during their suffering or growing.

Why am I posting this, you may be sitting there asking.  And the answer is simple. I was listening to a few songs on youtube today and it really struck me how many woman are joining the crusade to help other women feel good about themselves.  How many musical talents are now singing about how you are perfect just the way you are.  So I decided to make a blog post, and give some credit to a few of these wonderful and inspirational women.  Now these are listed in no particular order, but I will say that Pink is the first one I recall writing about how you are perfect just as you are, so I think her song should be first don't you?

Did that make you feel good? Not yet huh? Well how about if we go to the next song on my list?

This one is by Meghan Trainor and she is just a riot with her All About That Bass.  We all know what she means by Bass don't we???  Just take off the B if you are a little on the slow side.

Now there are a lot of songs about self love.  But this next one by Mary Lambert is much more than a song, it is an actual movement. One which all of us should try to participate in, especially if we are mothers of young girls.  Girls today need to realize they can be ANYTHING they want to be. They aren't bound by the rules of the misogynistic religious leaders who think that they need to be barefoot and pregnant.  They need to realize that beauty is much more than what is on the outside. They need to realize that not one of those magazine ads they see and love in their teen magazines is a REAL PHOTO! They need to realize that they have all been edited to look nothing at all like the model who is posing for a picture.

Now this is something that is very important to me as the mother of 3 young girls.  So please go forth, and spread the word of Body Love!  Join the Body Love movement!  

And just so you can see that I do not have the perfect body I have decided to post a picture of ME!  As you can see I have the body of a Goddess!  Okay so it isn't the Goddess I wanted to look like, but it still is a Goddess! Sure its the Venus of Willendorf but hey one Goddess to another we all are fabulous darlings!

As Mary Lambert said... 

"You are worth more than a waistline...

You are no less valuable as a size 16 than a size 4, 

you are no less valuable as a 32b than a 36c..."

Body Love Campaign

#LoveMyBody, #BodyLove