Wordless Wednesday: My son has magical powers

You know those days when you're tired and you're grouchy and you just want to curl up in a corner on your own and pretend you're somewhere else?

Then my boy gives me this look, this sunny smile, this look of love and those feelings instantly disappear.

My son has the power to win me over with a smile every time.
And he knows it.

See more of my Wordless Wednesdays or for entries from around the world visit 5 Minutes for Mum.

(PS. Also today I am guest posting over at the parenting travel site Have a Lovely Time. About camping. Ok, ok stop laughing. Yes I camp - but I take some creature comforts with me ...)

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How do you explain blogging to those who don't blog?

I was reading a new blog I found Adventures of the Reluctant Housewife (well actually she found me and I just follower her over the Pond to her blog) and she asked the question: How do you explain blogging to those who don't blog?

Take my husband for example. He calls it 'that thing you do'.
Until that is we got a free day out at Drayton Manor Park through my blog and suddenly he started asking questions.

I'm not talking about those who use blogging as part of their job. I mean the 'hobby bloggers' the ones who use this platform as a sort of therapy. They mix with other bloggers in the same or similar boat, they share stories, advice, support - it's like a therapy group only with people you don't know.

Which, when you think about it, sounds really bizarre. I mean what possible appeal could that hold?

Personally I blog because I enjoy it as an outlet. It means I get to write down the funny things that happen in our family, or that my children say, or thoughts that are on my mind or great things I want to share.
The fact that people come here and hang around is a big ole bonus.

But to those who don't blog, or who have never read a blog, it must seem like the strangest way to spend your time.
And I often wonder, is it only bloggers who visit other blogs or do casual readers ever stop by?
I know two very good friends who regularly stop by - Suzanne and Jane (hey girls!) and Jane has even now gone on to launch her own blog (because, I suspect, her two girls just don't listen to her enough so she needs another outlet!)

Can you actually make friends with someone you have never met?
Sure you have online banter and you share a common passion (be that your children or your hobby or your work). But is that enough?

So I ask the question: How do you explain blogging to those who don't blog?

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Following the Blame Tara Meme around the blogosphere

I'm not the biggest fan of memes.

Sure some are better than others and I'll usually take them on board, change them around until they resemble something I like and then attempt them.
Or, like the last one I did, I ditch all the rules and the questions asked and make my own up.

So the last meme I sent out from these stables ended up at Blogger Dad's place who (cheeky whatsit) renamed it The Blame Tara Meme.

I've been tracking it.
And by jove, it's been on quite a journey. Kinda developed it's own family tree and it's been fascinating to see the blogs it's visited and the answers given.
So here is a potted history - and possibly the blog post with the most links in ever!

First off the meme visited Selfish Blogger Dave (who incidentally still hasn't finished the job. Tut), Kat at 3 Bedroom Bungalow, Adrenalynn, Turf Dad, DC Urban Dad and Daisy.
Oh and Blogger Dad, who tinkered with it and acted all Frankenstein on it and turned it into the monster that became the Blame Tara Meme.

And it's from Blogger Dad's pad that I tracked its progress. It went to Writer Dad who revealed his best ever gift as a child was "the Masters of the Universe Castle Greyskull set I got from Santa when I was five". Genius!

But it was Patricia at Patricia's Wisdom who continued to tag it as the Blame Tara Meme and then dared to list George Clooney as her hottest movie star. Two strikes there Pat. Tut.
She passed it on to Betsy at Passing Thru ("the most expensive things I’ve ever purchased have been experiences") and Dot at Deeper Issues ("I have two butts" - really?)- another two wonderful women who reveal some great things about themselves.

Then it started taking me places I'd never really visited before. Welsh Scribe (Worst decision you ever made? Subscribing to Blogger Dad - woo hoo!), Kim at (Anti) Social Development, Kathy at Virtual Impax (who actually sparked this post off by charting the history of this meme), Jannie Funster ("I wear a full-body vintage girdle every day") and Jay at Porsidan ("Once, I even tried to sell my soul to the Devil in exchange for being healed from my disability. Apparently, my soul wasn’t worth that much to Old Scratch").
From there it went on to The Windows of the Soul, Keen Observer of the Human Condition, and it even inspired someone to actually set up a blog and start writing! Check out newcomer Jane at How I Like My Coffee.

And then I stopped chasing it because, well, I was fed up of being blamed for everything!

As memes go, I think it has been fantastic. I've visited blogs I probably never would ordinarily, I've spoken to some really lovely people and - what the whole thing set out to do - I've discovered a whole bunch of really interesting things about them.

My original rules were these: I’d really like to get to know you better. Answer these questions. Pass them on. End of.

So, I'm going to pass it on again.

This time to a bunch of wonderful (patient) people who haven't seemed to cotton on to the fact that I'm not a very good bloggy friend.
They have tagged me and thrown awards at me like confetti and what do I do? I gather them in like some old miser shuffling them under my cyber rug and forget about them.
Actually, that's a lie. I haven't forgotten about a single one of them and today I'm going to make amends by:

a Listing all the lovely people who gave me awards and
b Giving them all my Blame Tara Meme to see just how far across the ether I can spread it!

They are:
That Girl
Sandy Calico
Clarey Babble
Melanie at Experimental Mum
New Mummy
Maternal Tales
Pippa D
Rebel Mother
Amy at And 1 More Means 4 (who accused me of being crap. What? Oh, scrap. Oh, OK)
Kelloggsville
Nixdminx
Mum Gone Mad
The Knit Box
Hadriana's Treasures
Jo Beaufoix

And a huge thank you to the people who have listed me in their Top ranking British parenting blogger charts. Chuffed.
Tots 100
Gurgle
Cision

And in case you're wondering, yes it did take me bloody ages to put this post together! x

Here are your questions:
1. Who is the hottest movie star?
2. Apart from your house and your car, what's the most expensive item you've ever bought?
3. What's your most treasured memory?
4. What was the best gift you ever received as a child?
5. What's the biggest mistake you've made?
6. 4 words to describe yourself.
7. What was your highlight or lowlight of 2008?
8. Favourite film?
9. Tell me one thing I don't know about you.
10. If you were a comic book/strip or cartoon character, who would you be?

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Review: Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (the non cynical version)

One of my greatest joys as a parent is having a 6 year old who loves the movies as much as I do.

Today we had a 'date' to see the new Harry Potter movie.

Dinner would be a large bucket of sweet popcorn between us and talk was of Dementors, spells and 'why was there snogging in the adverts for the film?'

In another life I was a film reviewer. And by far my biggest irritation is when someone reviews a movie that they clearly don't 'get'.

Why ask a male film critic who is obviously into his sci fi and action movies to review Sex and the City? Seriously, I saw that happen.

And why ask a middle aged reviewer who waxes lyrical about the merits of political dramas and fact-based thrillers to review the latest Pixar offering?

It makes no sense to me.

And so, for all you Harry Potter fans out there, I bring you the perfect reviewer for this movie: My 6 year old son.

A huge fan of the films (we're planning on reading the books together soon), a film buff (his favourite film ever is Iron Giant - and if you haven't seen that movie, dear lord why ever not?) and a young man who thinks Harry Potter is so cool he even dressed up as him for World Book Day at school.

To make it easy for him, I broke it down into 2 areas: cool things about the film. Rubbish things about the film (come on, he's only 6!)

WARNING: There may be some plot spoilers!

Over to you Dan:

Coolio:
The magic was good and am I allowed to say about the shock at the end? No? Oh.
I liked Ron's brother's magic things shop and the Quidditch game with Ron in goal. That made me laugh.

And when Ron was in love and hugging everyone that was so funny.

Oh and the memory thing, when they go into memories and see what happened in the past, that was good too.

Rubbish:

Nothing was really rubbish. It was too long. I really loved it but I wish it had been shorter. All the popcorn had run out and my bum was getting numb and mummy kept telling me not to fidget. But if they had made it shorter they may have cut the cool bits out. They could have cut the kissing out. There was no need for that.

The creatures in the water really made me jump. They were a bit scary, but I loved it. I don't think I'll be dreaming about them, but maybe Dumbledore's black hand. That was gross!

I should just like to add that the special effects were fabulous and the filmmakers have really managed to bring the pages of the book to life.

And boy have the characters all grown up. Is it wrong to fancy Harry Potter a little bit?

It is long, but it feels like the characters have the chance to breathe more. However, at nearly 3 hours I did worry about how Dan would make it through.

Also I would say it's a film for fans - it's not really something you can dip into if you haven't seen any of the others.
It's not 'wow, this was brilliant' but it certainly passes my patented Movie Meter - if I'd got back and see it again tomorrow, it's a winner.

And I would. Except maybe I'd take in more popcorn.

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Review: Seriously Mo Willems, we think you're the man

I've waxed lyrical about the children's author Mo Willems before when we discovered his series of pre-reader books called Elephant & Piggie.

And I'm going to do it again. The man is a genius.

I wrote a review of his latest book Naked Mole Rate Gets Dressed for the paper I used to work on (I still do their children's book reviews because, well, I have two bookworms in the house and how could I refuse?)

The book is so great I wanted to share it with you guys.

The fact that this American is a celebrated author and wins awards and yada yada yada, doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot to children.

(His greatest accolade as far as I am concerned is that he wrote scripts for Sesame Street).

But when we read this tale for the first time, and I closed the final page, Daniel chuckled and said: "That's so bonkers, can we have it again?"

That night I read that book four times in a row and they lapped it up.

It now sits propped up his Boba Fett model which is just about the highest accolade it could be given.

It's the tale of Naked Mole Rat Wilbur who actually doesn't much care for being naked and likes to wear clothes.

The other Naked Mole Rats are outraged and go to the oldest, wisest and most naked Naked Mole Rat, Grand-pah, in the hope that he'll get Wilbur to finally see sense.

A wonderfully simple tale, with fun illustrations and a cheeky undercurrent.

When you're standing in the bookshop with a sea of primary-coloured front covers glaring down at you and you're utterly flummoxed as to what to spend your £6 on, hunt it down.

And if you enjoy it and haven't indulged in his other books, try out the Pigeon series and (my 6-year-old's fav) Leonardo the Terrible Monster.

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How Bill Gates upset my son

We are going to America for a fabulous family holiday soon and my children are beyond excited.
This is a conversation I had with Daniel about it tonight:

"Mummy, when we go to America will we see Bill Gates?"
"No honey, why would we see Bill Gates?"
"Because he's famous. And because he's in America too."
"But he doesn't know us, why would we go see him?"
"Well we've never met Mickey Mouse and we're going to see him."
"But Mickey Mouse likes people visiting. I don't think Bill Gates would like us all turning up on his doorstep just because he's famous."
"Well Bill Gates doesn't deserve to be famous. Or rich. I'd only want to say hello anyway. That's so rude . . .
. . . "I'll bet Mickey Mouse is much nicer anyway."

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The day I met Kate Moss and her minions

Ok, so it wasn't actually Kate Moss per se.

But it was our Kate Moss, the cooler online, mummy blogger version (who incidentally looks nothing like an emu, so feel a little bit let down on that front).

However, at the weekend I did what many bloggers would love to do and what many others would never do even if you threatened to pluck every hair out of their head with tweezers: I met up with other bloggers.

And look. Here I am. I survived. No one tried to eat me or spirited me away.

I probably embarrassed myself slightly as when first introduced to everyone, I just went right in there for the hug.

It's just the way I am you guys. Sure, I know we've never met but we've talked about our kids and our marriages and our hopes and dreams and that in my book makes me totally entitled to a big ole hug.

Have you ever met up with other bloggers?

I have to admit to being slightly disappointed. No no no, stop coming at me shaking your fists. It wasn't that Single Parent Dad was acting like a rock star, or Jo Beaufoix (Jo Bo as she now is in my mobile) and Rosie Scribble were divas or Dan at Allthatcomeswithit was embarrassing us all with his Daddy Pig impressions (it's a British thing).

No, I feel slightly put out because we met at Drayton Manor theme park (who hosted the whole affair for us, so THANK YOU so much for that) and there were so many directions the children wanted to pull us in we never really got the chance to talk.

I got d r e n c h e d on Stormforce 10 with my 6 year old who sat there next to me holding my hand soothing: "It's all right mummy, I'll look after you."

Listen son, I've been on Disney's Terror Tower and lived to tell. I was there on the Corkscrew when it first opened at Alton Towers back in the 1980s and everyone thought it was the scariest ride they'd ever seen.

These days, however, I'm reduced to screaming on a ride my 6 year old thinks is tame.

That makes me feel ever so slightly old.

Anyway, it was a blast. Everyone was just lovely and are just like their online personalities (which is all testament to their writing, I guess).

My children's favourite bit? The park has a new 4D cinema. What's 4D you ask? I'll leave my son to explain:

"It's like 3D with the specs and everything, but someone sits in the audience and spits at you and rocks your chair."

The mind boggles.

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