The Weekend Whine - Episode 5

<a href="http://www.wheresmyglow.com/search/label/The%20Weekend%20Whine" target="_blank"><img alt="Where’s My Glow?" src=" http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/ae167/Glowless/TheWeekendWhineButton.jpg "/></a>

So, do ya think I should start working as a phone sex girl?

How Not To Ruin Your Marriage: Lesson Three - Money

Money

Welcome to lesson three of How Not To Ruin Your Marriage. Today we'll discuss the big kahuna... moolah!

The stuff that doesn't grow on trees, that can't buy love or happiness and definitely can't buy a sense of style or taste, can quite easily have you fretting, making stupid decisions and land you in the dog house with your spouse.

I've compiled a list of five tips and tricks, based on my own disastrous experiences, to help you navigate the world of money in relationships:

• When going to buy some 'too good to be true bargain rims with new tyres' (so that you can get rid of the rims and have a new set of tyres), and the seller tells you "Oh no, it's just the rims"... DO NOT BUY THEM BECAUSE YOU FELT BAD FOR THE SELLER! They will just end up taking up valuable space in the shed because really, who the fuck wants a set of Kia rims? Your wife will hold this expensive and yet worthless purchase over you for a long, long time, so best not to do it.
• Don't take the 'out of sight, out of mind' approach to parking tickets. If you settle them when you first get them it will ensure your husband doesn't have to urgently go all the way to the state court to clear it up for you and pay a penalty to stop you losing your license 
• On booking a buck's night, obtain RSVPs before paying out almost $1000 in tickets and transport for the event. When you're left out of pocket by nearly $800 it's likely your wife will make earrings out of your testicles then sell them on Etsy in an effort to recoup the loss
• Check your bank account before doing the grocery shopping lest you be sending frantic texts to your husband asking for a money transfer while the other shoppers gives you death stares for holding up the line right before school pick up time. This simple step not only helps you avoid the embarrassment of a rejected card but also stops you getting cranky at your husband for not getting the message and rescuing you because he was in a meeting earning money so you could buy said groceries
• Try to refrain from sending a picture message to your wife of the car you just bought without any discussion, saying "This is our new car, hope you like green". If you'd like to buy something that large without telling her, put a huge mofo bow on it and voila, not only is it longer an issue, but you're the best husband ever

Can money ruin a relationship? Does anyone want to buy some mint condition Kia rims for $200?

Is that a spade or a short handled digging instrument?

I don't normally wade in to the murky waters that are online debates about mummy bloggers for a few reasons:

• Getting my opinion across in 140 characters or a small comment box is bloody hard
• I loathe conversations that go in circles
• I'm happy to disagree with people and have them do their thing while I do mine
• I don't really give enough of a shit to waste valuable time on it

But can someone, for the love of Google, please tell me how an opinion writer who has a column in a newspaper and writes about a comped weekend experience; a tech website owner who is paid to write about the features of the brand new iPhone she just got given; and a TV show reviewing games they have been sent, are any different to each other? Are any different to me? REALLY. Because I just don't get it.
 
They were paid for their time, their skill and their ability to draw readers/viewers with their opinions. How is that different, really, to what Bloggers who choose to walk the monetisation path do?

They all received product with the expectation it would be reviewed. They all received payment or compensation in one form or another. No one is jumping up and down saying they have been bought, that they've sold out, are immoral and unethical or that they are being untruthful in their review. You can call it sponsorship, a small fee from the parent company, an admin fee, hell, you can even call it Shazza's Shoe Fund. I'm gonna call it a fucking a spade. Money is changing hands for opinion, be it positive or negative, no matter what the platform.

You can argue to the cows come home that old media is governed by laws, and that I am not. The fact that I am abiding by those laws, because I feel it is the right thing to do, is seemingly dismissed because I'm new  media and my platform is mine alone and therefore anything I write must be intrinsically biased, unbalanced and easily bought. My words here are not influenced by whether or not my palm was lined with cash or a box of fucking washing powder came my way, and it even says so on my media kit so that companies who wish to engage with me know straight up that I can't be bought.

I get that there are some unethical bloggers out there willing to say anything for a buck, but they are in the minority here. Painting all mummy bloggers who monetise with the one "cash-for-comment" brush, and singling us out as the only writing niche who have some bad eggs amongst us is a narrow viewpoint indeed.

Tinybeans Baby Journal Review and $100 Giftcard Giveaway

This post is sponsored by Tinybeans

I am obsessed with taking photos. It comes with the Bloggy territory that you document everything that inspires you to write. Even more so though, I’m obsessed with taking photos of Tricky. He’s my first born and it’s a rite of passage for him that in this digital age there will be thousands upon thousands of photos of him, ready and waiting to be collaged embarrassingly for his major milestone birthdays.

For the last month I’ve been using the free Tinybeans app to create a baby journal of sorts for Tricks. Well, a toddler journal, really. And I’m loving it. So when I was asked to write about it last week, I was all “I already know all about it! For sure!”

The app lets you keep a day by day photographic record of your kids so you can really see them growing, track their milestones and notice all the tiny changes you might not pick up on day to day. You can have a separate profile for each kid so even neglected third borns like me can get in on some of the photo lovin’. If it just did that, it would be pretty cool, but it does a lot more.

Easy to add new profiles and see all your photos for the month

There are in-app filters to turn your ordinary photos in to fancy pants ones and a notification centre to remind you to take a pic every day so that your baby journal doesn’t become something you use half a dozen times then forget about… like your gym membership. But you don’t even have to have an iPhone to play along, because you can control it all from the website too – so all the Android peeps and those poor, unfortunate souls who don’t have a smartphone can have a slice of the action, too!

Filters make everyone look better

I’ve been tweeting out some of my photos using the #tinybeanskids hashtag as part of the launch challenge because I’m a social media whore, but I know putting your kids online isn’t for everyone. So my favourite part of the whole app is that it is completely private and only shares your photos with who you choose. Which is great for all the photos you want captured and shared with family but not publicly – you know the ones I’m talking about… nudie runs!

Tinybeans in App and Website form

I have it set up to automatically email Map Guy to give him a little mid-afternoon pick-me-up, and Tricky’s paternal grandparents who live five hours drive away and don’t get to see him as often as they’d like. Plus if I send them pictures they’re less likely to go hunting on the blog for them and find out I’ve been off gallivanting in Sydney with a man who isn’t their son!

Easy to navigate, set reminders and share photos with family

To help celebrate the successful launch of Tinybeans, I have a $100 Westfield voucher up for grabs! To enter, click here - it will redirect you to the Facebook entry form.

To create your own baby record download the free Tinybeans app from the App Store or head to tinybeans.com.

Did you keep a baby journal?

Full terms and conditions can be found here

Marriage is so gay

Image Credit

I never understood the concept of two people promising to love each other forever. I'm a realist who doesn't believe in the happily ever after of fairytales despite thinking that it would be awesome to have a knight in shining armour whisk me away to live in a castle with maids and talking mice and shit.

I think it would be more realistic if marriage vows stated "the person I am now will love the person you are now forever... but I really hope when we change we're still compatible" because people change. They're allowed to. It's healthy.

Then I met Map Guy. He was less knight in shining armour and more dude in a metallic green XR6, but nevertheless, I fell for him. Hard. When Map Guy and I decided to get married, we didn't do it in the "stereotypical" (i.e. what Hollywood would have you think is normal) way of man asks woman via elaborate Youtube flash mob dance routine, woman squeals and says yes, woman goes slightly insane immediately planning wedding, man hangs back and waits for it to be over.

In fact, when we met, we were both anti-marriage, though for very different reasons. In fact I was so anti-marriage that if I ever saw a bride on her way to her wedding I would have the insatiable urge to shout "GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN!". 

We softened slightly and Map Guy proposed we be engaged in perpetuity because it wasn't quite as icky and formal as marriage but it was an outward statement of how much we meant to each other. Nawwww. I agreed, we had a party and, as an added bonus, I got some rockin' bling. That was meant to be the end of the story but then, after almost a year of being engaged, I asked if we could seal the deal. I asked him to marry me.

See? People change! Barely two years earlier and the thought of marriage would have me convulsing and here I was doing the asking.

But all through our changing of minds there was never a question of if we could get married. It's legal for us. And I firmly believe that any two consenting adults, regardless of their chromosomes should have that same right. Denying gay people the right to marriage because it makes some people uncomfortable is like banning gstrings or Meg Ryan movies because they make some people uncomfortable. You don't see me going around with placards demanding an end to miniature pieces of underwear and the burning of all copies of Sleepless in Seattle, do you?

That might seem like a really simplistic view, but in my mind, it IS that simple. If you don't like it, don't do it... but don't stop anyone else from fulfilling their dreams to marry the person they love or watching You've Got Mail.

People change. Let's see the law change too.

I'm getting a bit word cloud obsessed, aren't I?

I'm linking up at My Mummy Daze

Do you believe in marriage equality? Why? Why not?