XFactor Live Shows: Fright Night

Tonight's X Factor recap is from the fab Mink Prisoner!

Lots of controversy before we even get to the singing this week. 

Kelly’s allegedly in a snit over Tulisa’s smackdown last week and is staying in LA. The official story is throat infection (Get well soon) Alexandra Burke is announced as a last-minute replacement. Shame Simon didn’t decide to hop on his private jet and come back to the X Factor!

Johnny’s in the papers for claiming incapacity benefit although he’s been shimmying across the stage like a disco diva and someone called Ashley quit The Risk to be replaced by someone from Nu Vibe called Ashford.

The Rhythmix girls had to change their name since a charity already has dibs they will now be called tah dah Little Mix so catchy. Phew! The X Factor PR Dept must be exhausted.

It’s Time. To. Face. The. Music.

Is Halloween the theme? I swear if one of them does thriller it’s all over.

Yes, Halloween is the theme. Maybe Johnny will come out in drag. They’re calling it Fright Night and

Dermot does an ill-advised dance routine with some chicks in catsuits.

Ghostbusters! Tulisa has come dressed as Michelle Pfeiffer in Catwoman Louis is dressed as an ageing gent with inappropriate Tin Tin hair.

The Risk

Thriller

Bit of tragic backstory about Ashley dropping out of the band. Sob, sob! It’s the hardest thing he’s had to do in his entire life – dude is lucky! First tears of the night….

Finally, The Risk… It IS all over they are singing Thriller in the manner of zombies. Oh, dear. Judges are deaf though since they are being praised.

Johnny “The People’s Diva” Robinson

That Old Devil Called Love

Louis introduces “The People’s Diva” Johnny the benefit cheat. Allegedly.

It’s that Old Devil Called Love Again with full on chandeliers, he fluffs the lyrics.  He has rocks in his eyes apparently. Good job Simon isn’t here.

The judges love it. Gary gives him a hub/kiss and Johnny faints (not really).

I wish he’d done it in drag. It’s quite fun and I love this Billie Holiday song so I’m gonna give Johnny a pass.

Sophie Habibis

Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)

Here we attempt to give Sophie a bit of a backstory. We see her in the pub with her friend. Random people say how she is representing Islington. Whatever. The song is such a poor choice. It’s not even These Boots (Were Made For Walking). Her voice is really great and she looks cute but this song. Just, no.

Gary says she’s one of the best singers (true) but he agrees with me about the song choice. She needs a big showstopper next week.

Marcus Collins

Superstition

Not sure about the eye make-up, Marcus. Does this song always sound like Need You Tonight by INXS? He rocked it out. I like Marcus but not loving the song choice either.

Big smiley thumbs-up from all the judges.

Misha B.

Tainted Love

Wonder if there’ll be any accusations of bullying tonight? There’s a mea culpa segment. Let’s just get on with the singing. An uptempo version; like the original by Gloria Jones. The creepy puppet dancers are distracting me. The crowd are chanting for her at the end. The judges who criticised her last week are backtracking. Fair enough. Second tears of the night.

Janet Devlin

Every Breath You Take

Wee Janet. We see her village in Ireland, some kids from a Primary school all saying they love her. A pared-down ballad version. She is dressed as Miss Havisham. It’s haunting all right, maybe not in a good way.Louis gives feedback and his second dodgy Kelly Rowland impression of the night. They all seem to like it.  Gary mentions she’s getting a bit predictable; I think he’s right.

Frankie Cocozza

Should I Stay Or I Go?

It’s bum tattoo time!  He’s looking more debauched as the weeks go by. “Tonight its me, a bed, and a load of fit dancers … and I m just gonna go out there and have it.” His hair looks better. Well, washed at least. I don’t think he’s pulling it off. The “fit dancers” are having a pillow fight. Oh, dear.

Louis gives him a bit of a telling off. Tulisa likes him. Alexandra not so thrilled with his offstage antics either. He don’t care.

Kitty Brucknell

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

She’s deluded. That Botox was done with someone by a grudge. She’s spinning on a wheel like the type knife throwers aim at, that’s tempting fate. I love this song, so am biased. I don’t feel like she “smashed it”.

Little Mix (Formerly Rhythmix)

E.T.

Third tears of the night. The pretty blonde girl is crying because twits are tweeting she’s fat.  The girls are on swings but looking spooky. They do Katy Perry’s alien ditty justice. I like them. So do the crowd and the judges.

Craig Colton

Set Fire to The Rain

The Scousers are crazy for Craig, including his favourite chip shop, who is outraged “Gary Barlow’s serving him lettuce”.  I think Adele songs are to be avoided for the moment; they are too closely identified with her. He does well though.

Everyone loves it.

And the lines are open!

Who I think will go home: The Risk

Who should go home: Frankie

See you for the results tomorrow!

Guest Post: Does This Feminism Make My Butt Look Big?

Feminist Friday is on hiatus this week but instead I bring you this guest post from my fellow expat and general bad-ass the Stay at Home Babe. We met for the first time this summer and I have a feeling if we lived closer we'd get up to some major hi-jinx and I'd make her cook me dinner at least once a week :)

When good old Blondie asked me to guest post, I immediately started brainstorming ideas. Our blogs aren’t completely similar: I like profanity. A lot. I also talk about my vagina in a much less anatomical way than she speaks of hers.


But there are several common grounds to our lives and therefore our writing. We’re both American transplants to the UK. We’re both suckers for our husbands’ accents. We both love blogging, motherhood, womanhood and food. In fact, the first things that popped into my mind were Oreos and feminism. 


So, I thought I’d be honest about my struggle with being a modern-day feminist and a foodie at the same time. It sounds like a weird combo to be conflicted about, right? 


When I was growing up, my mother worked full-time and it seemed like she was too busy to cook. As an adult, I know that she was home in plenty of time to make supper, she just didn’t. But still, I grew up thinking successful, strong, career-minded, feminist women weren’t barefoot in the kitchen. 


For now, I’m a stay-at-home mom. I LOVE to cook. I love the planning, choosing of ingredients. I love the preparation and combining of flavors. I love the process of cooking and of course… I love eating. Food is a very big thing for me. 


It means I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and a lot of my identity gets wrapped up in this fact that I’m a good cook and someone who enjoys feeding friends and family. It makes me sound like such a mom. It took me a very long time not to think that sounded like a complimentary-insult. 


It also means that if I’m not really careful, I end up ten to fifteen pounds heavier than I feel comfortable. When I can so easily make myself really yummy food in fifteen to twenty minutes, and when I really enjoy the process, I cook stuff just because I can. Then it needs to be eaten. It’s not very feminist to be wrapped up in the vanity that makes me hate being squishy around the middle. 


It’s taken me years to realize that I don’t have to burn my bra as a modern-day feminist (editors note: feminists actually never burned their bras; it was back of the backlash). My mother’s generation did that for me so that I don’t have to. I get to be in the kitchen because I want to be. I am staying home with my daughter until she starts school because I am lucky enough to be afforded the opportunity to do so. I get to do it because I want to. I could just as easily have gone back to work and found a good daycare if I’d wanted to. 


I’ll be totally honest, I still struggle with the whole vanity pounds thing, but I figure that will come with time. At least I hope so. Because I know that loving myself means I should accept myself as I am, but do I have to? I just don’t know.


I just know that, luckily, most days my life has more important things for me to address. Like taking care of my kids; making sure they know they’re loved while still trying to set aside some time for myself at the end of every day. 


Hopefully the conundrum of the extra ten pounds can weigh heavily on my mind well into old age when I finally have time to sit and ponder my feminist stance on vanity weight. Until then, you’ll find me in the kitchen at least once a day—barefoot, in an apron. Because that’s exactly where I want to be.

Lerner is a heavily-tattooed, hen-keeping, profanity-loving, die-hard foodie mom who has a personal blog (with moxy) at Stay At Home Babe. She spends way too much time on Twitter and is also available on Facebook or by email at babe@stayathomebabe.com

Guest: How to eBay

Cass from Frugal Family is the Queen of good deals. Not only does she really know how to stretch a pound and find amazing steals but she is absolutely a sweetheart. I've met her a few times now and she is super sweet. I've been sticking my toes in world of eBay selling and here Cass tells you how to make eBay work for you whether buying or selling.

Hi, my names Cass and I’m an eBay-aholic.

Actually, I’m not really addicted to eBay (although I love it) but I do use it quite a lot, both to buy and to sell, so I thought I’d share a few of my hints and tips on how to find a bargain and how to make some extra money using the site.

Buying
There are literally millions of listings on eBay at any one time, so you’re pretty much guaranteed to be able to find what you’re looking for just using the search box.  You can then filter the results to show you the items ending soonest, those located nearest to you and in price order and if you don’t want to try your luck by bidding in an auction style listing you can select the Buy it Now tab which will bring up only the items for sale on a Buy it Now basis. 

There are a few sites that you can use to help you find even better bargains:
Local eBay Bargains can be found at Local Bargain Finder which finds bargains in your local area.  This cuts down on postage costs and also narrows your competition for the item as a lot of sellers will only allow collection for some items so only people in your area will be bidding against you.

You could also try Fatfingers which is a site that will help you search for mis-spelt listings.  I managed to find a great bargain on here before for a scooter as the seller had listed it as a ‘scoter’ rather than a scooter which meant that when people typed scooter into the search box, this listing wasn’t displayed.

You should also have a look at Last minute actions which will search out all the items ending soon with no bids on them.

When you’ve found something you want to bid on, the best way to keep the price low is to leave it as late as possible to place your bid.  This gives other buyers less time to outbid you.  If you’re not going to be around to do this, you could use Goofbay’s free eBay sniper service which will leave it until the last seconds of an auction to place your bid.  I’ve used this a few times and been pleased with the results but you have to give them your eBay password to allow them to bid on your behalf and that always makes me a little nervous.

Selling
So now you know the secret to finding bargains on eBay, you should have a go at selling some of your unwanted things on there to make you some extra money to pay for all the great bargains you‘re going to be buying…. 

I’m not going to tell you how to list an item for sale as the eBay selling system is self explanatory but having sold loads of things on there personally, I have a few tips that might help things go smoothly for you:

A good photo of your item is essential and if it’s an item of value it’s definitely worth including more than one photo to really show off your item.  Always try and photograph any flaws or faults in the item and refer to this in the description as well - honesty really is the best policy.

I try and time my listings so that they end on a weekend, late morning or afternoon is the best time in my opinion.  That means listing on a Thursday if you select a three day listing and a Tuesday if you select a five day listing.

I sell my children’s clothes when they outgrow them and apart from the special items like party dresses or designer items etc, I find that they sell better in small bundles.  I usually bunch together between 3 and 5 items and sell them as a job lot, any more would mean that the postage costs would probably put off a buyer.

Fit as much in your title as possible - eBay searches for words in the title and not the description.  For example ‘Brand New Girls Next Pink Chiffon Party Dress, Aged 7’ will appear in loads more searches than ‘Absolutely gorgeous pink dress perfect for parties’  

Post your items out as soon as you can after they have been paid for and you really should always send them by trackable means as you are liable if the buyer says they didn’t receive the item and you can’t prove otherwise.  Having said this, for smaller items I usually just obtain proof of postage but I’ve never had a problem with parcels not getting there.

I save all my jiffy bags to reuse when I sell things, it keeps costs down and is also good for the environment as you’re reusing something rather than buying more packaging.

We keep the boxes and instructions to everything, things always sell better if they are in the original box with instructions.

Even broken items sell well - we recently sold a broken first generation ipod that had been in a drawer for years and made eight pounds - not much but better to have some money that something taking up space in a drawer.  Just make sure you’re clear about something being broken in the title and detail exactly how in the description.

Why don’t you have a clear out and try and make enough money to pay for Christmas presents this year - It’s easily done, I promise ;-)

What I Wore Wednesday

This week's edition is dedicated to my sister's wedding! We had several events over a few days so I thought I'd share all of what I wore.

Bridesmaid's Luncheon at The BonBonerie:

Hair: Hot Roller Tutorial

Nails: GELeration French Manicure, Woodhouse Spa

Feather Earrings: Monsoon

Dress: Coast at John Lewis

Shoes: J by Jasper Conran

Rehearsal Dinner, Skyline Chili:

Sunglasses: Karen Millen

Gap Ruffle Silk Top

Old Navy The Flirt Skinny Jeans

Black Sketcher Boots

Dogearred Skull Studs

Wedding, Cincinnati Contemperary Arts Center

Makeup: Nancy, Brideface

Hair: Jocelyn Volyes, BenFit Studio

Nails: GELeration French Manicure, Woodhouse Spa

Toes: Illume, Woodhouse Spa

Earrings: Diamond Studs (my Mom's)

Swarovski Tennis Bracelet

Lela Rose Crinkle Chiffon Dress in Charcoal

Nina Evelixa Silver Peep Toes

   

Guest Post: How to move house with a toddler (and his trucks)

Today's post is from Ruth who is about to move from Edinburgh to London with her toddler. We moved to our house when I was 7 months pregnant with Blondie Boy which was hard enough so I can't imagine making a big move with a toddler--and his questions!

My son Tom is two and a half, and ours is the only house he has ever known. He was born in springtime. On a beautiful sunny day, when he was three days old, we brought him home from hospital in a taxi. We walked through our garden, which was just starting to bloom, and walked in the front door, where we spent ten minutes carrying him around and showing him each of our rooms.

‘This is your bedroom,’ we said. ‘Sorry it’s so pink.’

‘Here is where we’ll take baths together, and here is the sofa, which is awfully good for snuggling on. Here is a big old table which will be good for hiding under when you’re a bigger boy, and this is the kitchen… where you can bang on saucepans with wooden spoons and spill flour on the floor.’

Tom has, of course, spent the occasional night in other places - at his Granny’s flat by the sea, and in various hotels, apartments and family houses when we've been on holiday.

But this is very much his home. He knows which way to turn out of the gate if we're on our way to nursery, and he knows to go the other way if we're going to the store. He knows which shelf his books are on, which cupboard his plates are in, and not to run too fast into the bathroom in case he slips and cuts his lip again. He knows he can’t go out the front door and down the steps without one of us to hold his hand. No matter which room of the house we're in, if he hears the front gate squeak open, he dashes through to the den, and climbs on the chair by the window, shouting ‘Who is it? Who’s coming to Tom’s house?'

We are moving in a few weeks - leaving Edinburgh for London - and we have tied ourselves up in knots working out how to tell him. We didn’t know when would be the right time – we didn’t want to leave it too late and spring it on him, but nor did we want to tell him too early and have him worrying. How do you tell a two year old that their house won’t belong to them for much longer?

But with that toddler intuition, that crazy sixth sense, he seems have worked most of it out himself. Between hearing snatches of conversations and phone calls, watching the surveyors come and measure our rooms, and having his dinky toy traffic jams tidied up every time we’ve had a viewing, he has figured out that something pretty major is going on.

I got home from shopping the other day and said in my usual cheery way 

'Here we are, it’s Tom’s house.’

‘No,’ he said, ‘this isn't Tom’s house anymore.  Tom’s getting a new house.’

I was a little blown away, but tried not to let it show. ‘Does that make you happy or sad?’ I asked.

‘I am very sad. I will miss it. Can I take all my trucks with me?’

Since Tom made the first move and broached the subject we have been much more open with him. When I was in London a couple of weeks ago, he knew that I was looking for somewhere new to live. Yesterday he walked me around the house and told me all the things he wanted to take and all the things he wanted to leave.

‘That wardrobe is too big,’ he said. ‘And that table is ugly, we can leave that.’

He is like the interfering mother-in-law I never had.

Tom has always loved books, so we bought This is London – a brilliant picture book by Miroslav Sasek – and are looking at it before bed every night. Tom is now full of chat about tube trains, statues and Big Ben. The book was written in the fifties, so he may be disappointed by the lack of apple carts in Covent Garden.

Tonight he was lying on the floor, reading another book as I cooked his dinner. He looked up at me suddenly and said 'I am going to be very happy in my new house. I like London. It's exciting.’

His dad and I looked at each other and smiled.

‘What are you most excited about?’

‘Riding on the red buses,’ he said, and then got back to his book.

What do you think the best way is to discuss a house move with your toddler? Is there a storybook you can recommend with deals with the subject? How much information is it wise to share, and when? I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts and experiences...

Fruity Freaks and Vegetable Monsters

The fab people at Innocent, who's smoothies are yumtastic by the way, sent us over a fruity freak and vegetable monster making kit so Blondie Boy could enter a creation in  their new Halloween competition.

Blondie Boy is a bit young for carving but he love art projects so we broke out some permanent markers and let him make his very own monster!

An abstract masterpiece right? He had so much fun making it and in case you were wondering his monster is made up, according to him, of stars, hearts, ovals and eyes. You can create your own fruity freak or vegetable monster, too!

Here are the instructions for the competition:

1) Make your fruity freak or vegetable monster from the spookiest looking fruit or veg you can find

2) Give it a name and use your innocent magnets to spell it out (how about 'Terry Able' or 'Aaaaaaaaaalan')

3) Take a picture of your spooky creation and post it in our scary Halloween gallery www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/fruityfreaks and email myfruitandvegmonster@innocentdrinks.co.uk with your flickr name and a postal address.

4) The first 1,000 entries win a set of limited edition glow-in-the-dark Halloween 0-9 number magnets (the perfect addition to our alphabet set)

5) When you're done with your monster why not use any leftover veg to make a soup or whizz any fruit up into a smoothie?

We were sent a box with fruit and veg to take part in this challenge but all opinions are our own!

The X Factor Live Shows: Rock Night

I'm in the USA (and my sister got married last night!) so I haven't watched the X Factor yet however the lovely Annee has done an X Factor Live Show recap on my behalf!

So, it's Rock Night on the X Factor, this should be fun...or not!

I'm also glad that Tulisa has got rid of the blonde roots, they were not pretty at all!  The judges all looked sweeeeet tonight, although Gary's tie?? Looks like I just knitted it in the ad break, is this a new trend??  I hope so I have some black wool upstairs!

First up tonight was Marcus Collins, his song choice was Lenny Kravitz - Are you gonna go my way.  I'm not a huge Marcus fan and I didn't rate him much last week but after a shaky start tonight he was actually not too bad and looked very comfortable rocking with the dancers.  I must add though, his ripped teeshirt was a tad vile!

Next up was the sweet sweet flame haired angel, Janet Devlin whose song was Sweet child of mine - Guns and Roses.  OK she wasn't totally rocking out but her take on the song was brill, she is my favourite of this year.  She also looked fab and was wearing a Stella & Dot Pegasus Necklace!

Uh Oh, here comes Sami Brookes... OK this girl can sing, but I think she wowed everyone at the auditions and she hasn't brought anything else to the table since then.  I think we just expect her to be good and she is but she doesn't blow me away.  Her rendition of Cher - If I could turn back time was good but nothing special.  The X Factor stylist still hasn't got it yet... bring in Gok please, I could see the lines of her spanx through the leather dress!


Rhythmix next, they don't excite me and I really don't get how they sang a mix of two Pop songs, Ke$ha - Tik Tok and Salt n Pepa - Push it, and could class that as Rock!  The vocals were pretty poor and even when singing together you could hear that one or two of them were shaky and out of tune!  They also look like they just took a tumble in a jumble sale!

Pretty girl Sophie Habibis turned Rock song Living on a prayer - Bon Jovi into a ballad, she was pretty nervous and you could see it in her eyes and hear it in some notes but she did look amazing!  I like Sophie she has a great voice and I hope she finds her zone soon so she can shine!

Craig Colton, the guy who chews up his face as he sings.  Tonight he looks as if he has a bird's nest on his head, he so needs a hair cut!  OK I think this guy can sing but he sang Oasis - Stop crying your heart out, and I hate Oasis, totally loathe them.  So he could have sang this song perfectly and amazing but I still wouldn't have liked it, sorry! 

Peering through my hands as I'm scared to see what she is wearing this week it's....Kitty Brucknell singing Live and Let Die - Paul McCartney (covered by Guns n Roses).  Are the X Factor stylists trying to make Kitty look like Lady Gaga?  Kitty was a bit rubbish to start off but once the song built up and she could let go she was good!  I like Kitty and I don't like her all at the same time!  I think she looks kinda weird, small eyes and her make up doesn't really compliment them.

Frankie Cocozza, the guy whos hair I'd LOVE to take clippers too and also maybe throw him in a bath!  I so don't get him AT ALL, he is total crap.  Tonight he is singing Get your rocks off - Primal Scream and all I can think is - pull your trousers up you've got a saggy crotch and I can see your horrid underwear.  I don't have anything good to say about this guy, he's got to go soon!  AND what was his entrance all about, does he think he's already a star?!

The Risk singing Gnarls Barkley - Crazy... Oh I don't think I liked this, did I just see them looking at each other thinking WTF?  Nooooo they are pleading the sick card, don't you just hate that?  Someone is out of tune and they play the sick card!

Heeeerrrrreeee's Johnny!  Johnny Robinson, aww you gotta love Johnny he is such a nice person and you just want to feed him up!  I'm loving Johnny singing I believe in a thing called love - The Darkness.  He isn't the best performer to look at when he's performing a Rock song as he is a bit camp which is bizarre but he sounds great tonight and he strangely done great with that song.... I am so pleased he didn't say 'Vogue' at the end!  Go Johnny, you RAWK!!!

Misha B, yeah she's a Rock chic and she rocked Prince's Purple Rain!  She also had fab eye make up!  Not much else to say as she was good.  I try not to read the press and what happens backstage and I try and focus on the singing as that's what the competition is about.... I'm not interested in how much of a diva this girl is or what goes on backstage, that's just me.

That's the X Factor over for another week, I predict that Rhythmix and Sophie will be the bottom two... The best performance tonight for me was Misha B and the worse was Rhythmix.

Guest Post: A Nordic Savage in France Or the Day Care Question

This post comes from Milja (pronounced Milya) who is a singer-songwriter and Mummy of one. She, like myself, is an expat and is a Finn living in France. Milja discovers what happen when Nordic and French views on Day Care collide.

'Oh? You won't put your daughter to child care?'

'No.'

'Really?'

'Ummm, no.'

'But she's two years old! It's better for her development!'

'Oh. Didn't realize that.'

(Vague tittering.)

'Well, I guess it's because you're so... you know... '

'Because I'm what, exactly?'

' So... Nordic. You know, all that breast-feeding, child raising and all.'

I couldn't believe I was hearing this.

'You know, us French women, we want our freedom! (more vague titters.) We want to work! You Nordics, you don't feel that way.'

'We don't?'

'No! A French woman wants to return to work right after she's given birth! We don't want to stay home like our poor mothers and their mothers were forced to do! Whereas you...'

This is where my friend the Frenchwoman finally gave up. She didn't know what more to say about us strangely maternal Nordic women. Here I was, once again involuntarily drawn into a conversation about my wrongful choices in raising my child. A Finn (and a musician at that) raising my child in France, doing it all wrong. For in France, it seems, it is considered a crime against the feminist movement if your child doesn't go to childcare by the age of two, and God forbid, if she/he doesn't go to school at the age of three, like the other French children. It's so good for the child, I'm told, that way it won't be spoiled! Good for the mother, too, that way she won't have to exhaust herself with unnecessary child-raising. After all, there are professionals for that. I'm not saying all French have advised me thus – but it's happened often enough for me to generalize about it in a flagrant manner such as this.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm one empowered woman, and proud of it. I'm the head of my household, like my mother, her mother, her mother's mother and generations of mother's mother's mothers were before her. In my native Finland, when a man went chasing bear-meat burgers in his loincloth in snow up to his chin, it was more than possible he would never come back. There were always some swedish and russian tribes to fight, bears, wolves and wolverines to kill – and a mighty winter that lasts more than a half of the year, for heaven's sakes. A Finnish woman is the head of her household, whereas a man exhausted by hunting, fighting and snow-plowing lays on the furs drinking hard liquor. So the famous equality of the sexes in the Nordic countries is a necessity. Without it, we would have been extinct since the invention of booze.

This, however, is not the case in western and southern Europe. Historically, it's been the Man of the House who makes the rules. Unless a field slave, the respectable woman's duties would sum up to being a lamb in the living room and a tiger in the bedroom, none of that cave-bear-matronly behavior. I mean, the French woman only got to vote in 1946. She couldn't open a bank account without the permission of her male guardian before the 1960's! I know a women whose banker called her father every time her bank account was on overdraft, and this was the 1990's! No wonder a Frenchwoman will still do anything to get the hell out of the house!

I get this. I feel for you, Mesdames. I also feel for the women who have to work full-time just to put bread on the empty table. But those who don't: come on, don't claim it's anti-feminist to raise my child myself. I agree, the equality of sexes and all that, but hey - I just need to look at the unkempt state of my daughter is in after having spent a week in her loving father's care to know I'm the more instinctive carer for her. And since I'm able and willing to both work and care for her, what's so wrong with that? (Oh, I forgot. It will spoil my child. A smiley here.)

There's a Finnish woman politician, an elected member of the Finnish parliament, who took her newborn child with her to the parliament sessions, breast-feeding him right then and there. For some reason, I'm quite sure I wouldn't see this in the French Assembly. There are too many cultural differences to even compare my land of birth to my adopted homeland. Still, I choose to stay here, to have my cheese and eat it too, and also have my weekly conversation about why I want to raise my child wrong, raising her myself. I love this country dearly. But to be honest... I just sometimes wish I never learned french so wouldn't have to understand the stuff I'm told.

What I Wore Wednesday

Normally I am the kind of woman who travels in a t-shirt and sweatpants that say Hello Kitty on the ass--classy, I know. I've always put comfort over style on planes but I as we didn't have seats together and I think airline staff tend to be nicer if you look nicer I decided to try and combine comfort and style. Of course this plan was thwarted as I couldn't find my leggings so I threw a bit of a concoction together. I know the pants don't tuck into my boots well but I didn't have any other option.

I hot rolled my hair the night before. We were leaving the house before 6:30am so showering the night before was essential. I took out the rollers and slept on it without picking out the curls. It meant my hair actually had a lot of volume the next day (can't tell from the photo) and when on the plane I twisted it up into a clip which meant when I shook it out  14 hours later my hair still looked surprisingly good.

I'm wearing a maternity top, no I'm not pregnant. I wanted a long, loose t-shirt that was baggy so in a pinch it totally worked. I don't normally wear maternity tops I promise. So here is what I wore!

Apologies for the crap shot in the middle of Frankie and Benny's at Glasgow Airport

Hot Rolled Hair- Spin Daily

Glasses- DKNY

Fearless Tiny Skull Studs- Dogeared

I heart Ohio necklace- Truche

Black T-shirt- Liz Lange

Black Kick Flare Pants- Express

Long Grey Cardigan- The Gap

Black Boots- Sketchers

  

Gone Til November

We are currently jetting our way to America for my sister's wedding, Halloween, voting and general all around good times. I have some great guest posts lined up while I am away and I will still be posting here and there too! Don't forget tomorrow is the first What I Wore Wednesday link up!


PS: How awesome is this song by the way? It takes me right back to my Freshman year at GWU. Freaking loved this song!

The X Factor: First Public Vote

Can someone please tell Tulisa to stop with the tattoo arm pose? Its not big and its not clever. Her hair is 10,000 times better and I'm glad she read my post last week and saw that we all hated the reverse roots :) This week's X Factor  theme is "love and heartbreak" so I expect some Alanis and Winehouse but I doubt I will get it.

Nu Vibe:

I'll be honest I don't have high expectations for them especially after watching the US X Factor where the calibre of talent is just way better. That first bit of "harmonizing" (I use that term loosely) was just awful. I love "With or Without You" and this faux-dance version is not doing it for me. Are they trying to style themselves as a clubby/dancey group because it isn't believable.

Sammi Brookes:

They still haven't quite figured out her styling have they? The longer hair is more flattering but the metallic shrug is not doing her any favours. In my opinion if your name ain't Whitney or Dolly you should never sing this song because it will never live up to the expectations of your audience. She sang it okay enough but no emotion and no performance; if I wanted to just see someone sing I'd watch myself do karaoke in a mirror. X Factor is about more than singing you know what I mean?

Craig Colton: 

Will someone please tell him that he can not pull off the neck waggle reserved for only the fiercest of sisters? Just because you are singing a Beyonce song does not mean you can use her gestures. He's so worried about waving his hands and screwing up his face and perfecting his snarl that the vocals are just blah. I really would like to fast forward. I'm not loving it at all.

Janet Devlin:

She literally gave me goosebumps with that first phrase. Her voice is just so sweet and pleasant to listen to and if you haven't guessed already I am a big fan of hers. The song was a bit slow and sleepy for my personal tastes but I still love her.

Frankie Cocozza:

First off is he wearing jeggings and tails? Sack the stylist. He is doing his talk-whisper thing again and isn't singing the song. He didn't sing and it wasn't good. Shortest recap ever.

Johnny Robinson:

We all know he performs in Drag so why do they keep hinting at it and just let him come out as his alter ego? I almost feel like it could possibly work if he was in drag. Scratch that he just came into the chorus and the singing is just, wow. I will not be able to get this out of my head for a long time unfortunately. WTF! Why did he say "vogue" at the end?!?!?!

Marcus Collins:

I really don't like the flaming hands behind him because in my mind that just alludes to domestic violence; maybe I'm reading to far into it but the flaming hand and Rihanna song I just don't like the visual. It also says a lot that I'm noticing the backdrop more than his vocals. He doesn't pull of serious or dramatic very well; I didn't believe what he was singing and that last note was not pretty. Also it looks like he has on a toupee tonight.

Rhythmix:

Is this really a love song? It's not a heartache song-- its about a girl who can't commit right? Does that really qualify it for the theme? If they were going to stretch the theme they could have picked a much better song. The styling, again, is atrocious especially on Jesy I think her name is--why is she always wearing MC Hammer pants? I liked them last week but this week I wasn't feeling it.

Misha B:

There are rumours in the papers that Kelly had to bitch her out and knock her down a few pegs for talking shit to the crew and it doesn't surprise me especially with that little VT saying she wants to make all the backstage proud.  Do you think she's smuggling nuts in her shoulder pads because she looks like the Purple One from Quality Street. She can sing but her attitude just turns me off.

The Risk:

The violins and music is louder than their vocals or is it just me with my wonky hearing? Half of them have no emotion in their faces and the other half have totally cheesy-fake looks on their faces. I feel like this song is so overdone and if you are going to do it then make me believe it. I still don't think they gel well as a group but apparently girls think they are attractive (?) so they could still be around for a bit.

Sophie Habibis:

Why are they trying to make her jazzy in a Norah Jones sort of way? She can sing for sure but I just feel like Kelly has been failing her with song choices and stylings. She looks pretty tonight (minus the white eyeshadow when she blinks) but again no real emotion behind the vocals and certainly not strong enough yet to stand up there on her own and belt it. Just feel a bit short; she has the goods but she needs to bring more to the plate than just her voice.

Kitty Brucknell:

Why is she wearing a wig in her VT? Is that really necessary? Oh and another wig in the performance. I need to do some full disclosure here before I continue on (I've paused the TV and everything)-- I've sang this song before. I've sang this song on stage before for a show in high school and I have very fond memories of it. My opinions therefore may be even more biased than usual. Okay disclosure over. I do not understand the Alice in Wonderland theme and it doesn't add to the performance. She's trying WAY too hard and it does not work. I won't go as far as to say that I did it better but umm yea you can come to that conclusion if you like.

My Predictions for the Bottom:

NuVibe, Marcus, Rhythmix

Feminist Friday XVIII: Reverse Sexism

For me this is an easy one; reverse sexism is not okay. Being a feminist for me is about equality and that is for men too. Sure patriarchy means men have had advantages for thousands of years but that doesn't mean they should now be disadvantaged to make up for it. Women and men should be on equal footing, have the same opportunities and equal advantage.  I'm raising Blondie Boy to be whomever or whatever he wants to be and to know that any little girls around him can do the same.

I'd never call NotBlondeHusband "Mr Mom" because to me that undermines his role as a father. Being a Father is just as important as being a Mother and saying that a man who does what are considered "traditional" female roles is a "Mr Mom" isn't just reverse sexism, it is straight up sexism as well. Not only are you saying the role of father isn't one of value but you are also playing into the stereotype of a mother's place is in the home.


Does that make sense? Is it just me who thinks this is a no brainer?

Feminist Friday XVIII:

Reverse Sexism

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of the theme for the week. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.


That's it.


You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.


When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 4 days.


Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.


The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

What I Wore Wednesday

Trying something a little different this Wednesday! 

Black Feather Earrings- Monsoon

Grey Cowl Sweater Dress- New Look

Black Leather Biker Jacket- John Lewis (Oasis Concession)

Purple Tights- Tesco

Black Boots- Sketchers

Grey Shellac Nails-The Beauty Store

Wavy Hair-No Heat Curls Tutorial

If I made this a weekly thing would y'all link up?

 You could share any outfit from the week.