I’m stuffed so I watched Doc McStuffins

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang

Little did I know when I accepted this sponsored post that I almost wouldn’t get it in on time because Tricky would end up being rushed to hospital in an ambulance with a severe asthma attack, right when I was meant to be writing it. Children and schedules no not mix, obviously.

We’ve come home from our third hospital admission in three weeks with instructions to freak out a bit at how quickly asthma can go from bad to life threatening visit the GP for follow up, and though Tricky has seen a couple before for different reasons, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more as we try to manage this new chapter.

Enter Doc McStuffins, the six year old who brings her toys to life then heals their boo boos. Other than the word boo boos which I loathe, it’s a cute show and Tricky and I spent some time watching it in an effort to normalize trips to the doctor. Plus it meant I could avoid housework since I was so stuffed from staying on a fold out bed in the hospital listening to sick babies cry all night. Win win.

Doc and her magic stethoscope (ZOMG how cute is that Lamb?)

I’m a firm believer that kids shows have to appeal to adults. We’re the ones who have to put up with them, really, so there has to be something in it for me to make me tolerate Tricky watching it over and over and over (and over and over) again before I’ve had enough and declare the DVD “broken” and hide it at the back of the cupboard.

In Doc McStuffins, that honour belongs to Lambie (with Chilly the snowman coming a very close second). I’m such a sucker for cute so in the episode I watched when Lambie, who is unsurprisingly a little lamb, said “That was the most exciting cuddle I ever had!” I was smitten.

Exciting cuddles are my favourite thing too and I’m so good at giving them. Get your mind out of the gutter!

Lambie made me giggle and go nawwww at the same time, which sounded like I was having some sort of fit and has now been added to my list of things never to do in public alongside burp the alphabet. But I digress.

Now that’s one exciting cuddle!

Tricky enjoyed it (oh yeah, that’s right, I was meant to show the kids show to the kid) and it held his attention for the whole time, even though he was exhausted. I’m wondering if when the Doctor doesn’t heal him with a hug, a kiss and a strategically placed bandaid, and instead forces him to have ventolin and steroids, if he might feel a little jipped.

Group hug with Doc McStuffins and her giant head

Laying down to watch, the day home from hospital

Now, if only I could get Tricky’s doctor to accept hugs as payment like Doc does… they’d be exciting cuddles, of course. GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER!

Doc McStuffins premieres on Friday, June 8, at 9.15am (screening times, Mon-Sun 9.15am and 3.15pm; Mon-Fri 12.15pm and 6.15pm; Sat-Sun 11.15am and 5.45pm) on Disney Junior which we don’t have. I guess I’ll just have to keep replaying the one episode over and over and over again… oh so that’s where Tricky gets it from!?

Louboutins, Lamborghinis and the Living Dead

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang

Map Guy gets a subscription to a car magazine every Christmas… well he usually does. Last year he decided, for some unknown reason, that he wanted to branch out and get something different. Which completely sucked because I had to think of a new present for him - I bought him a Hot Lap, forgot about it, bought him something else awesome, then remembered the Hot Lap and died a little inside realizing how much money I’d spent.

But I digress.

When I told Map Guy we were getting the chance to review Top Gear Australia Magazine he went a little crazy. The thought of having a car magazine back in hands after such a long period of automotive abstinence made him foam at the mouth in anticipation. He lost the ability to form sentences and just went around the house making vroom vroom noises and driving an imaginary Ferrari. I rolled my eyes but Tricky thought it was awesome fun and joined in.

After he stopped ran out of petrol, we tried to figure out which article we liked best. I like cars – I like the noise they make, I like some of the shapes, I like being driven fast around a track and I really like that new car smell... yet I still choose my car based on colour, how easily I can fit a massive bloody pram in the boot and whether or not it has a wine bottle holder (mine does!). Therefore if I had to call myself a car nut I’d be a peanut. Map Guy likes everything about them – things that I have no clue about like diffs, cam shafts, injectors, and I’m slightly embarrassed to say, manual gearboxes. He is a giant car nut… a brazil nut. Or a coconut if that’s actually a nut – I was too afraid to Google “big nuts” and check.

So I grabbed the mag and flicked through:

“What about this Range Rover Evogue article, Map Guy? It says the interior could match my Christian Louboutins!”

“What the hell are they? Is that one of those expensive handbags?”

“No, they’re shoes”

“Do you own a pair?”

“Nah, I’d have to sell a kidney to afford them… OK how about the James May Pub Guide to Technology?”

“I’m not sure that would be appropriate Glow, considering even after the cartoon explanation, you’ve still have no idea what it was about…”

“Yes I do! It’s about giant pints of beer… isn’t it?”

“Errr no. Hand over the Top Gear Magazine and no one gets hurt. Here, what about this one? We can talk about the Lamborghini.”

“Ewwww it looks like someone beat it with the ugly stick. Plus it’s white, I hate white cars. What about the article I saw with the man posing naked in front of his car in the middle of nowhere?”

“What’s it about?”

“I don’t know, I only looked at the naked man pictures.”

“Wow, you’d make an excellent TT reporter. WAIT! I’ve found it! Zombie cars!”

“Zombie cars? SHOW ME! OMG I WANT ONE!”

So having managed to avoid the Ford vs Holden carnage that usually ensues when we watch motorsport together, we have survived the tandem reading of Car Magazines and managed to zone in on the undead. I love that man, take that, seven year itch!

After seeing him so happy I’ll definitely be heading back to the tried and true present of a magazine subscription. Plus this year I might win a tropical escape to Hawaii with Magshop’s Christmas competition. Treat your family and friends to a magazine subscription today so they’re reminded how awesome you are every month! Gals, if you can manage to time its arrival every month with your PMS, even the throwing of knives and dinner plates will be forgiven. Maybe.

Nuffnang Blog Awards, Here I Come

Where will you be on December 16 this year? At your house falling off the roof while you try to put up thousands of little twinkly lights? At the shops having trolley wars while you dive for the bon bons that have been marked down, surrounded by hundreds of people panicking about Christmas only being a week away? Or, will you be all glammed up to join 500 bloggers in Kuala Lumpur for the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011 at the Putrajaya Marriot? I know where I’d like to be and here’s my top three reasons why:

1. I am obsessed with blogging and Bloggers (see that capital B? That's a whole extra level of respect right there) so the opportunity to chat to a room full of them, swapping tips, tricks and business cards and not having to explain to one single person what the hell a blog is (and won't bat an eyelid when I pull out my phone to tweet) fills me with so much excitement that I’m already hyperventilating at the thought. I hope paper bags will be provided for me to breathe in to – they could be car shaped to tie in with the Volkswagen Malaysia event sponsorship.

2. I will look cool by association as I plan to get my photo taken with every single attendee, even the uber Bloggers! Even though the idea of knowing hardly anyone there scares the crap out of me, I’ve managed to perfect pretending that I’m confident and have it down to a fine art. I will be employing my well-honed skills on the night in question as I schmooze and network my way around to all 500 bloggers. The temptation to wear my sunglasses on the red carpet and pretend I’m a rockstar is strong but the cool factor would be outweighed by the wanker factor so I will resist and instead go for this demure pose for the waiting paparazzi (who I will have hired, obviously).

If only I wasn't so shy

3. The very next day, December 17th, will be my 30th birthday. The big 3-0. If I win tickets to the awards ceremony I fully intend to walk that red carpet and pretend as if the whole shebang has been put on just for me. The room of people I don’t know will all instantly become my nearest and dearest friends, of which I’ll remind them after a few drinks, and we will party on harder than I could at home with my three streamers and two balloons which is all my sadly limited party budget will allow. I realize that attending the awards and having an awesome night may mean I spend my actual 30th birthday either hungover or asleep in a Marriott hotel room but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

I should win, yes? Yes!