BOOZE CABINET

....When I was a kid my mum and dad had a booze cabinet! A fucking booze cabinet! A whole section of sideboard ( when people had side boards ) 

When people had fucking booze cabinets! What ever happened to those? I am betting my sock draw that there are not many people that have bottles and bottles of various bottles of booze stashed away in a cupboard! A bottle maybe? A wine rack perhaps? Bottom of the fridge got a bottle been there for months?

Now this is where I got my taste on. My parents had some seriously funky bottles of booze. From banana liqueurs, Pernod, Scotch, all different kinds of vodka, peach 20/20, Tia Maria, Malibu, bacardi, the ones that had names I remember and can spell! There was always beer and bitter in the garage too. Bar b q's, parties I guess.

So I got to figure out what was vile and rancid or what was palatable. I spent a lot of time in a pub as well. A good friends' family owned and worked in a pub in the town. This too helped me get my taste. I did love a bit of scrumpy jack! But my tipple was southern comfort, lemonade with lime. * shudders* I mean I drank whatever I could get a hold of at this point but when a party was happening that would be what me and the close friend would get brought for us. " excuse me sire can you get me 10 b and h and a box of matches please" lol 

it took around 4 or 5 times of drinking southern comfort to work out it  was that, that made me throw up!

I was such a shitbag when I was a kid. 

my son thinks he can have little tastes here and there. fair enough. would be an expensive experiment lol!

Hahahahahaha whatever happened to the booze cabinet?

DRINK

My son is soon to be 18. We were chatting about drinking alcohol. Now my son has spent his entire life being a sensitive bland pallet-ed boy and hasn’t enjoyed any kind of fizzy cold drink. He drinks water. No juice no milk just water. So the idea of him 'having a drink' is quite amusing. I know his had a bit of beer and his tried a shot but it didn’t really impress him. So he asking about what drink do I think he'll like. Well straight up his no cold fizzy issue has most booze wiped out. I was honestly stunned and have no idea what the lad could enjoy. He asked both my husband and me how I worked out what I wanted to drink and what did I used to drink. These are fair questions! And one of my answers got me thinking.......

CUPBOARD LOVE

Lets imagine I rename our kitchen cupboards...... 

kitchen 

"babe? Where is the egg pan?"  

Living room 

"in my arse babe." 

 kitchen 

" You sure? I've already looked in my arse!?" 

 living room 

"Could be in your arse! Nope It's in  my arse! I put it there myself!" 

kitchen 

" Nah I looked in there and couldn’t see it." 

Living room 

" For fuck sake! If I get up and look in your arse and see it straight away I will hit you with it!" 

kitchen 

" Found it!!"  

Living room 

" Oh good, where was it??" 

kitchen 

" In ya mum,"

WEDDING

The planning 

I have not got a new story that no other bride to be hasn’t got. The stresses of planning a wedding differ for everyone... correction...planning a wedding on a budget has stresses that are different for everyone! Do people care about what you did or didn’t do? Do they note the little touches that took forever to order and ship in? Or if the food was amazing or edible or will it be a tacky do.. or just, she looks fat and where is the free bar!? Considering the access to almost everything is possible I have to say I felt a lot more stress this time around in the planning part of the wedding, oh and the day itself. Some of the shit that went down had me nearly head butting people. Ahhaaa that’s the juicy bits that everyone wants to read, the negative shit that got ballsed up! So here it is... kinda 

Learned - ' stick to your guns, don’t become bullied or manipulated into being a hypocrite. ' 

Stress 

The most stress was caused by the ever on going potential explosive family issues. It’s a wonder most couples make it to their wedding days with the family issues and weddings! My husband says the true test of marriage is the planning itself. Not too far from the truth. Now if you had an endless amount of money I guess that the stress of having a limit on almost everything would probably be pretty minimal. Then just having to hope that all these getting paid to do a job, actually are going to do it and do a good job too! Looking back now it's easy to see myself stressing the silly stuff. My anxious paranoid mind had me thinking worst case scenarios left, right and center. Lost some hair and weight, was that due to stress? I'll let you know when my blood tests are back! 

Learned - ' keep your focus on what the day is about  for you and your partner.' 

Budget 

When first looking into getting married, in a hotel it was looking over 5 grand. We were considering that route very seriously. After some chats we figured to scale it down. We spoke about what the whole ' getting married ' meant to us both and how can we incorporate that into something we can share with our families. Simple answer really – party! The actual getting married 'bit'was for us but the celebration was what we could share. And so the plans begun and changed and changed again and again and again, place of marriage, venue dress, suits, everything! But we got there and we got there on a budget too. I might try and work out what we actually spent at some point but I can honestly say we didn’t break 4 grand. Just slightly under all in. 

Learned - ' know when to say stop and no, no, no, no. What you want and what you need are not the same.' 

Conflicts 

So once you are well and truly in the wedding planning circle and get recommendations out your arse. Everyone knows someone that does this or that blah d-e blah. Which is great! Don’t get me wrong but planning a year a head and then on the day or weeks on the run up to the wedding one that recommends another and you use them and they hate each other. Oh what fun! It was bollocks, mainly because the one up-man-ship they were doing was affecting my day. It was clear who had the upper hand when everything was running late. But when the bride is calling someone the c word only 2 hours after saying I will, you know you know too much. I should never of been dragged into their shit. I should never of known the things I was told. Ignorance is bliss!  

Learned- ' don’t get too cozy with the help. Let it go.' 

To be continued.....