Thoughtless Thursday...

Loads of people in my cyberworld were complaining about today being Thursday and not Friday and how annoying and pointless Thursday was and it inspired me to write this...

Thoughtless Thursday, why are you here? Nobody likes you and nobody cares.

Third-Rate Thursday you're just in the way, 24 hours of an unwanted day.

Trivial Thursday I can't make you out, what is your purpose, you've come with no clout.

Towering Thursday, standing in the way, blocking Friday, causing Saturday further delay.

Torturous Thursday your hours drag by between Wednesday and Friday you're so frigging dry!

School Shoe Situation...

Blogging on the go again, but the trauma of this morning has been too much!

I can't be the first parent traumatised by the navy, black, grey colourless transition from nursery/every day clothes to school uniform... Can I?

I'm having a serious melt down over here!! I can't cope with the fact that from now until FOREVER (ok, not forever but she'll be at school for a long time) my unsuspecting 5 year old will be forced to enter the realms of the NAVY BLUE EVERYTHING against my better judgement...

Friends and family have grown tired of my endless questions and suggestions regarding shoe colour, coat colour and socks/tights colour, the only things not stipulated on the uniform list as having to be blue, grey, black.

Me: Purple kickers? They have Velcro...
Them: NO!!
Me: Shoes with flashing lights at the bottom...? They're black...
Them: NO!!
Me: Striped tights...? They have blue and grey stripes...
Them: NO!!
Me: Red Mary Janes...? They're very sensible...

You can guess what they said. And on and on it went... I was even told mini-me would be bullied as she would stand out from the other children in her brightly coloured shoes. What happened to being individual?!! I despair :'(

You may remember me having a similar breakdown a few years back regarding the "fairy throw up" that are Lelli Kelli's, I'd give my right arm for her to be able to wear them to school now. Actually maybe my left arm, I don't use it as much.

Why so dramatic I hear you wonder...? Because I am!! Lol. No that's not true I'm not usually quite so dramatic, passionate maybe, but this has pushed me over the edge, people around me are shocked, confused, nervous... I can see it in their eyes, the concern that there could be more to this, that my mental health may actually be questionable right now. That they may have to call for back-up... LMAO!!

Ok, Ok, the drama got the best of me.

The long and short of it is this, I like colour, I think children should be dressed colourfully. They have the rest of their working, office lives to be dressed in black, blue, grey... Why start at 5?!!!!

*sobs uncontrollably*

Brands In Your Bag... SS

Another chance for a sneak peak in someone else's bag...

My analysis: "Firstly this Lady must carry a pretty small bag as her content is tiny.

It suggests that she is a very no frills kind of person who doesn't have time for

frivolity and unnecessary extras.

Music, hygiene and organisation seem important to her as her diary, pen, iPod and antibacterial gel

are the only non-essentials she bothers to carry.

She has Hayfever and travels on public transport"

What do you make of this Lady from her bag contents...?

Brands In Your Bag... RR

Ever wanted to see what was in someone else's bag...? Here's your chance...

My analysis: "Stylish lady - Mulberry, Cartier, Bourjois, Menthol Marlboro's

Appearance is important - Quantity of make-up

Slightly quirky - Purple heart keyring

A little unorganised - Absence of make-up bag"

Care to guess at the character of this lady from the contents of her handbag?

Age? Job? Starsign?

Do you know which logo belongs to which item?

Brands In Your Bag...

Yesterday I began reading "Logo Design Love" by David Airey and was so inspired by the first page where he wrote about how many logo's he'd seen in the first 30 minutes of his day that I took a quick look at my desk and noted that there were about 15. From my box of Twinings teabags to my Apple Mac desktop.

It sparked an idea and I posted this to my Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry Messenger...

"Wanna be part of my Brands in your Bag blog post? Empty ur bag, take a pic of the logos/brands inside send to me & I'll post to my blog"

I had no idea so many people would be interested... I even had a couple of guys... This morning I have had people asking if i'm still doing it, as they wanted to add their pics.

So i'm starting with mine and will continue adding the others daily until they stop coming. With either Twitter/Facebook link to who it belongs to or 'anon' if they don't wish to be identified.

I knew my bag was always quite heavy, but didn't realise I had so much in it... And this wasn't even everything!

I had 28 brands in total, 29 if you include my Blackberry that I was using to take the pics.

So what do the contents of bag say about me? This is my take...

"A stylish person - Mulberry, Elizabeth Arden, Paperchase, Stylist, Apple

Has a great concern for personal hygiene and her nails - Impulse, Bodyshop, Dettol, Rimmel, No7

Has an unhealthy fixation on purple pens - Uni-Ball, Pilot, Parker

Likes to eat - Busaba, Walkers, Sainsburys Taste the Difference, Cadbury

Keeps her lips moisturised - Rose&Co, Vaseline

Drives - VW, DVLA"

Obviously pretty accurate as i'm writing about myself, but what's your take?

Ish-Shoes Part 2...

Today one of my nearest and dearest quite innocently asked to borrow a pair of shoes...

Not a big deal, people do it all the time... Right?

She sent the request in a bb message and my automatic response was "of course, which ones?"

So why didn't I type that? I didn't type anything... I went into a state of panic and just stared at the message getting hotter and hotter, while my train of thought became more and more random and increasingly erratic.

Hundreds of 'what if's?' dive bombed me, accompanied by images of scuffed suede, red wine stains, shoe prints, broken heels, fraying laces and other such trauma. Things that were totally out of her control and could happen while I was out in said shoes, attacked my subconscious. A sense of fear and dread settled around me and it was all I could do not to burst into tears. I thought of reasons I couldn't lend them, athlete's foot, verucca's... None of which I have I hasten to add.

I became a tortured Gollum/Smeagol character... Battling it out with myself.

"She can borrow my shoes... Of course she can..."

"No she can't... She really can't..."

"Why can't she? They're just shoes"

"They're aren't just shoes... No way, no lending"

"Of course she can..."

"She can't, she really can't, I want to let her but I can't"

"It'll be fine she can borrow the shoes"

"No I can't do it, I can't lend her my shoes"

I readily lend clothing, money, car, even on occasion mini-me and had obviously thought shoe lending would come with the same ease... Obviously not... I began to run through other pairs of shoes and then other friends, to see if the fear was shoe or person specific. Turns out it isn't. It applies to all shoes and all people...

Remember Joey in Friends shouting "Joey doesn't share food!!"

Well it turns out that PURPLERAMBLINGS DOESN'T SHARE SHOES!!

Sorry.... I'm shame faced and embarrassed, but at least it's out there and everyone knows now...

But I can't be the only one can I? Do you panic over the thought of lending shoes to friends? Or do you hand them over without a second thought?

Oh well... Just another notch to be added to my crazy lady in purple belt, one step closer every day...

Here is the offending article.

I am 'someone else'...

So today I was definitely wearing my Altruistic hat. Well, not for the whole day, just from leaving the office. And not, i'm saddened to say, intentionally, I was just in the right place at the right time.

It began with me paying for 2 Big Issues and only taking 1.

I then stood on the tube to let a pregnant lady have my seat, while the men buried their noses in The Evening Standard. Having previously made the mistake of standing and the lady not being pregnant (awkward) I was relieved to see, prior to standing and after staring, probably quite rudely now that I think about it, that she had a 'baby on board' badge.

I then helped a lady up the stairs at Waterloo station with her buggy, wondering the whole time why she didn't get the escalator, while men stepped past us...

I then stood again, this time on the train to let an elderly lady sit, who then proceeded to thank me the entire way, luckily it was only 2 stops as I was getting quite embarrassed.

Finishing off at my final destination, luckily, as i'm not sure how much more I could've taken, especially as i'd had no lunch today (for some reason I wasn't hungry, which is really weird and is making me slightly nervous), by helping a lady down the stairs with her buggy, again guys stepped past as if we were a nuisance, without a single offer of help. They really need to invest in lifts at train/tube stations, or more ramps or some sort of hover contraption to get buggy's up and down the stairs. Anyway I digress...

So my question to you is this...

Is Chivalry dead? In my 25 minute journey it seemed as if it had never existed. A figment of my imagination or something that I had read about in fantasy books. Not only men though, even though I highlighted them in this, women also looked at the elderly lady standing and went back to their magazines. I'm also pretty sure the lady sitting in front of the standing pregnant lady noticed her bump and badge.

Is it, as an article in my Big Issue that I eventually got to read suggested, that everyone is waiting for 'someone else'.

Steve 023 bath suggested that rather then buying The Big Issue, a lot of people tend to offer him half hearted excuses that basically amount to "Don't worry I am sure someone else will be along to buy one".

Is this the same in regard to offering seats and helping others out? Everyone thinks that 'someone else' will do it, so they just ignore the situation until 'someone else' comes along? Or do I just have a sign on my head saying "I am 'someone else' and I will help, don't you worry love you relax"?

Not that I mind, but what about when i'm not there...? o_O

PR x

Hold on... Is that a Cup Holder?!!

I bring to you the latest instalment in my wonderfully ridiculous life...

I'm almost 100% sure that this couldn't have happened to anybody else... Ever... At all... But i'm hoping at least one person has experienced it.

So... Recently I had cup holders fitted in my car. After suffering for the 4 years i've had it without them I decided to bite the bullet and pay the £180 it cost to have them fitted on the dashboard above the cd player. You know that little bit you push in and the holders pop out? Well that cost me between 2 and 3 pairs of shoes. But i'd had enough of driving one handed while drinking a coffee or milkshake or anything else really, as once i'd started a drink, unless it was a bottle with a lid I pretty much had to keep drinking until i'd finished as there was nowhere to put it down. Mini-me was also bored of the whole situation and was so sick to the back teeth of "being Mummy's special girl and holding her drink" that she had been spending a lot of time rolling her eyes... So £180 handed over, new cup holders fitted the PurpleRamblings VW was a happier place.

Well approximately an hour ago, i'm sitting in my car waiting for a friend. I just happened to turn and look behind me and I see a black bit sticking out right at the back of the handbrake panel, slightly over hanging the high middle bit of floor when you're sitting at the back of the car. You know the bit I mean? Where if 3 people are in the back the middle one has to straddle it? An ashtray is usually at the top, well under that bit. So i've exhaled, sighed, bent down to further inspect and see what's broken...

I touch it and it pops out... I'm confused... I reach up and turn the lights on... I undo my seatbelt... I kneel in the driver seat and lean over so I can fully see and access, whatever it is.... And do you know what it is?? I bet you've guessed what it is... Mother Bleeping CUP HOLDERS!!! 2 Mother Bleeping CUP HOLDERS to be precise!!! Exactly the same style as the ones I not 3 months ago sacrificed shoes and paid £180 for, but just down by the handbrake... Where they've been... FOR FOUR YEARS!!! FOUR YEARS!!!

Really??!! Really??!! Is this actually my life? This can't be my life... There absolutely must be a very well hidden camera following me around documenting the ridiculousness that is my life. Someone, somewhere is waiting to jump out on me and shout "got ya". Right? Of course that's obviously what's gonna happen, they're just making a really long pilot, or maybe they've already signed contracts and are filming a whole series... Seriously, how do these things keep happening to me? How am I not in an institution?? Too far? I always go one step too far...

I am hysterical (with laughter) and in disbelief, but also secretly quite pleased, as Starbucks are having a buy 1, get 1 free event tomorrow so I can buy 2, get 2 free and have somewhere to put them all!! Whoop whoop, silver cloud and all that, or is it silver lining?

Not sure who'll be drinking all the coffee, but it doesn't even matter because

I HAVE CUP HOLDERS!!!

My brother has suggested I write a book called "My Stupid Life" lol

PR x

Secret Wishes...

So almost a year ago I posted a wishlist. Last month I purchased a pair of the shoes after them being sold out for ages and for my birthday on Monday I received another item from the list!!

It seems that "The Secret" did have a valid point and that putting things out there into the Universe does infact bring them to you...

Or.....

Having a wishlist helps people to buy you presents - lol

Either way i'm happy :-)

Look out for new wishlists coming soon... Houses, holidays etc... ;-)

So Hot Right Now...

If you've been following for a while you may have seen my wishlist... If you haven't here it is http://tinyurl.com/66zlkls

These shoes came off my wishlist and I HAVE THEM!!!

And I got them for half price... Whooo Hooo!!

I saw them when browsing and "someone" said i'd be a fool to pass them by, so I didn't.

The phone that killed the conversation...

*sings* "Blackberry killed the telephone call, Blackberry killed the telephone call..."

I know you can all probably relate to this on some level. Whether it be that your teenager is constantly bbm'ing (instant messages via blackberry messenger) their friends and only communicates with you via grunts. Or your partner is constantly bbm'ing and checking emails on date night. Or at drinks with friends they are bbm'ing their partners telling them their every move. My point is that not only are these phones highly anti-social. They are single handedly killing the art of the conversation (obviously I’m not blaming only blackberry).

Not only are people constantly messaging whilst in the company of others, no one actually picks up the phone and has a conversation anymore. The back and forthing of blackberry messages, facebook messages, email, twitter etc… which ultimately take longer are preferred to actually picking up the phone and having what could sometimes be a quick 3 minute conversation.

Now don't get me wrong, those of you that know me outside the cyber world know I am an avid tweeter, bb'er and emailer. I'm just making an observation and the observation is... NO ONE CALLS ME ANYMORE! I miss telephone calls and sitting in restaurants having conversations rather then constantly checking my phone, or waiting for the person i'm dining with to finish their bb conversation.

Where I once would've picked up the phone and called friends to see how they were doing I now message them... How impersonal is that? If I really cared wouldn't I call? It is terrible social etiquette that I have fallen victim to and I shall be doing my best from now on to rectify it. As of 02/02/11 i'm heading back to the days of Yore, where people spoke to each other. Where you didn't spend more time checking your phone then engaging with the person you were out with and where you spoke to the people you cared about. If you don't hear from me, you know what time it is... Lol

Who's with me??

It's good to talk

PR xx