Do you ever look at your own kids and think 'Crikey you''re weird'?

I admit to thinking that quite alot, does that make me a bad mother? Mostly with Ben, frequently these days when he wanders round commentating on his own life.  Take the other night for instance, "Ben" I said, "Could you please fetch me a glass of orange?"  He paused the DVD we were watching, got up from the settee and said to no one in particular "And with that, Ben looked understandingly at his mother and rose to his feet to enter the kitchen".

His mother, meanwhile sat and stared at her son and thought 'damn he's odd at times'. 

Its not even as if he just uses bog standard phrases to describe his actions, he launches into lovely eloquent waffle such as when I asked if he'd done his homework - I got "Ben looked quizzically at his mother when asked about his homework".  Quizzically. He couldnt just say "Ben looked at his mother blah blah" which is strange enough, but he puts in nice words to go it.  Weird dude.

Last weekend, was very very exciting. Last weekend we bought Cocoa. The last time we had a Cocoa in the house, she was a small brown and white hamster who could climb the stairs. This time around she's a little squat clown car and she's all mine. We'd been thinking of upgrading my car for a while and when I spotted her in a car sales place in Heaton Chapel, I dragged Beech and the smalls to have a look. Ive always always wanted a convertible and there she was, an Astro Black Mini One convertible. Smashing. Only bad point was that she had ugly graphics on her bonnet, apparently added by her previous own who made his own graphics. Because it could be said that Im a little impetious sometimes and jump in with all three feet, after we'd paid the deposit I paniced. Perhaps we should have looked around a little more before deciding. So we did.

We had fun with a stange man with a lisp in Dukinfield who tried to lock us in his Alan Sugar style boardroom till we agreed to buy his mini, we viewed a mini that looked perfect, cept for the no battery thing which makes it difficult to test drive and we visited with a nice man selling a Peugeot that was so nice, Id have given him my kids in part ex. All in all though, pros and cons weighed up, we ended up back in Heaton Chapel, back to my first and original choice of Cocoa.

Kit is In the City by Jenn Barrette

I'd like to say it was all the sensible things that swung it, the extra warranty, the low mileage, the optional extras and the promise of a CD changer from the garage, but it wasnt. I fell in love with her red leather interior, hook line and sinker. The kids love her which is a good job really because Ive always said if I ever had a convertible, Id have the top down in all weathers except rain.  Including last night 8pm in the dark at 13 degrees on the motorway.'Whats that kids, you're cold? Surely not, mummy gave you a blanket didnt she?' Mwwhahahahaha!  Love my car.

This weekend has been a weekend of all sorts. Its been a weekend of shopping, sleepovers, riding round in cars and a dog being groomed one day, then rolling in poo the next. The shopping trip was done out of spite. I wanted to go to Dunelm Mill and B & M stores to look for a bar stool for the kitchen. Beech wouldnt get up to come with me so I told him I therefore could not be held accountable for anything I spent. Spite shopping, its the best.

Not much got me giddy in Dunelm Mill, B & M was far more exciting. Bethany came with me, mainly to mither constantly about wanting everything in the shop, but also so that she could climb into a canvas wardrobe and zip herself in.  You can imagine how well that went down, like not at all well (Ive noticed teenagers use the word 'like' an awful lot dont they?)  As I pointed out to her during the five minutes we struggled to unzip the damn door to get her out, its not the sort of behaviour one expects from a young lady of 13.

Mind you, her behaviour did inspire this page recently... 

Its about the difference in her mood when she's allowed on facebook vs those frequent times she's not due to bad behaviour or bad attitude. The title came first, Face Book vs Face Ache just about summed it up and the page followed quite quickly.  I used two of Jenn Barrettes kits (love her kits), Blah Blah Blah and C Vision, plus an Alpha by S Clingerman.

So then, have you all subscribed to Scrap365 Magazine yet? First issue out 18th November so not long to wait now. You can subscribe two ways, the number to subscribe by telephone is 01684 588599 and this is the same number for international subs. Anyone from the UK can get a special deal of 3 issues for £3 which was offered at Ally Pally but this is only open to the UK subscribers I'm afraid. You can also subscribe online here which makes things easier doesnt it. Chop chop, go subscribe!