The Mag I Bought This Week Award goes to ... The Macquarie Dictionary tells me "brave" means "possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance". Both Woman's Day and New Idea are bandying the word around on their Princess Kate covers this week. And there's something about it that bothers me. I think it over-eggs the pudding slightly. It's not... Continue Reading →
Abnormal behaviour (with pear muffins)
I've often explained that I blog about my innermost fears and idiocyncracies to make people feel more normal about theirs. And it's gratifying to have people tell me "oh my god, I feel exactly the same way/do exactly the same thing". Because there's always this niggling fear in the back of my brain that I... Continue Reading →
HouseOnHoliday: Excess baggage
A year ago today the Household were in the South of France. Ah, how the other half lived before realising they needed to pull their heads in ... then forgetting again and redrawing on the mortgage to book two tickets to New York next April ... This year's school-holidays-on-a-budget will be spent in sunny Newcastle... Continue Reading →
How to make: super-easy gnocchi
It's always been in my mind that gnocchi is nightmarish to make - I tried it once in my 20s and swore never again because it was such a palaver. So, until recently, it was on the list of dishes I never attempted at home and always ordered out, like chilli crab, salt & pepper... Continue Reading →
Bugger motherguilt, I need my roots done
It was Sprog 2's "fun sports morning" yesterday. The school sprung it on me with a note earlier in the week. They'd even organised a coffee van to entice "parents and carers wanting something calm after all that cheering". But it clashed with my hair appointment. I agonised for all of two seconds about cancelling... Continue Reading →
HouseGoesHollywood: Fiona Apple in jail, Robbie Williams talks daddyhood, Paris Hilton disses gay men
Blake Lively pregnancy rumours Yesterday, The New York Post reported: "Rumors are rife on the “Gossip Girl” set that Blake Lively could be expecting her first child. The blond beauty, back at work in New York after her secret Sept. 9 wedding to Ryan Reynolds, is “glowing,” say spies, but also is eating more than normal." But her... Continue Reading →
Another night of shame
I got a text message from a friend yesterday. It said: "Was the movie any good last night?" Which is strange because she was sitting right next to me as I watched it and had a drink with me afterwards. But understandable in light of her sleeping through it, due to a liquid lunch that... Continue Reading →
HouseGoesHollywood: Lindsay Lohan arrested, sit on Ryan Gosling’s face for just $950!
Lindsay Lohan arrested! Sometimes I wake up, check the celebrity gossip sites and think: "It has to be a joke." But, no, Lindsay Lohan's life continues to be a car crash, literally. This time she's run into a pedestrian in New York on her way to a nightclub. According to People magazine: "Authorities say a... Continue Reading →
The politics of school pick-up
My blogging heroine Mrs Woog wrote a post last week called The Cost of Collecting Your Kids. It was about the hell of school pick-up waiting zones, parking inspectors and fines. There is a similar purgatory endured around my way. One mum got fined $1300 recently because the nose of her car was in a... Continue Reading →
HouseGoesHollywood: Jen’s having triplets, Tori rushed to hospital
Jen's expecting triplets! In a satirical new ad for Glaceau Smartwater, former E! host Ryan Seacrest pretends to introduce a leaked home-security tape of Jennifer Aniston sporting an enormous baby bump. "How are my little triplets doing?" she asks. She also spoofs her famous hairdo, pretending it's a wig with a big surprise underneath. See the ad by clicking here. Says Dlisted:... Continue Reading →