The Goose and Carrot Pub Thread

I did make butter at school but never did it since. I never remember term pat being used at all but would associate it with a small handmade one if it did. We had blocks of butter, that's more handmade big block, and packs like supermarket ones. The gold small ones are just portions of butter.

Its so difficult for DD2 @Lougle presumably she needs to stay infection free for operation as well which is difficult with schools especially this time of year. Don't know if you phone them and say you'll take last minute cancellations if you can they can get date moved forward.

Electrician now booked for next Thursday as we apparently need a new consumer unit for all these electrics and some of our wires are 60 years old.

Plumber is working away he has asked DH if we need a washing machine this weekend. DH told him he doesn't but DS and I might do so he said will do temporary solution if not done today. I thought would be all done today.

Countryside walks is great @LathkillDale and agree with you about health issues, its hard to prove but the stress is immense with SN. Never found DS stressful, its all the dealing with LA / unhelpful schools etc. I also found it got a lot worse when I stopped work which seems counterintuitive but work was a distraction, a source of enjoyment and confidence and I was treated so much better when working.

The silkies are objecting to the noise of the plumbers but are adding to the noise with their complaint.

I’ve just had a look at how to make butter, i never knew. Satisfying kitchen tools have got me thinking is there is a way forward for more independence. The cheese scraper and wire cutter probably need bringing back out too. I used to love hosting.

@Fififizz it’s cumulative, it’s taken many years to wear you out. @Violasilkie is describing the best and only way to get stronger. You have to do things that are just for you daily.

I always assumed a pat of butter was like a 10g portion.

It’s always been my belief that mothers of children with SEN, develop serious health conditions due to the stress. It’s why we go walking in the countryside - the complete opposite of our desk job. However, it’s not stopped the march of time!

Sorry you are feeling exhausted and like a robot @Fififizz and thanks so much for your kind words.

You are doing well that DS has got this far, this is the toughest part of the year gone.

For yourself I would say if there's any way possible take times to do things for you, even if its a nice day out once a month or if that's not possible could you do something nice for you during the school day sometimes. I found swimming helped and trips to the coast for the days out like to see the seals in Horsey at Christmas or the puffins in spring or to the spa. I spent years before fighting for DS full time and needing to stop work which was a big mistake once we moved here at start of secondary and it made me ill, suspect the stress gave me cancer, and was soul destroying.

I also do DIY and the garden as a distraction as well as because DS seems to respond to them and do it with DH and we can chat about DS if out of earshot. Plumber in just arrived and DS has left downstairs bathroom open. DH was hard to wake up and not really awake when he woke up - he tried to put 3 pairs of trousers on, and I had to point out he already had a pair on.

@OneInEight

Congratulations to DS. I did try and scroll back but my brain’s struggling so I missed that. Fantastic news.

@Violasilkie

Everything sounds like it’s coming together nicely. You have worked so hard.

I’m familiar with pat, curl, knob, pack (as it comes from the supermarket) and stick if in the US. Some butter covers all bases fot me.

I feel like I’ve crawled to Friday on my
knees. I can’t explain what’s happening with me at all. I’m so incredibly fatigued and just feel like a robot going through the motions. I have completely lost myself. Anyone relate or have any survival tips?

Here, a block of butter is 250g (hard stare at you, Anchor, who thought they could reduce it to 200g for the same price and we wouldn't notice). A pat of butter is the 10g portion that you get in a cafe. A curl of butter is the fancy pants restaurant display.

How do you find it cheaper to make @Zzzzzs ? I love making butter but cream is £3 for 600ml right now and that would only make 300g butter. A block of butter is only £1.85. If you have a cheap way I'd love to know!

DD2 was feeling poorly last night. Her temperature went to 37.9°c but I put my fingers in my ears and closed my eyes because a fever is 38°c <gavel>. The fever passed and I managed to get her to bed. I'm doubtful that she'll be fit for college. Today is her long day and she's not been feeling well.

I've emailed the school head about DD3. I'm getting mixed messages from the teachers. One emailed to say they couldn't do the sport BTEC because it's a 2-year course. Then another has messaged to say that DD3's baseline tests in Science are really good and he'd like to do the science GCSEs with her but she'd have to do it over two years, so what do I think? I've written to the head and said we really need to have a plan ASAP. I think it would be better for her to stay and get her 5 GCSEs so that she can move on to a level 3 course at college. She won't cope with something that's low level. DD2 is finding her level 1 course frustrating because of the level. It would kill DD3.

I make butter fairly regularly (it’s cheaper and I’m home anyway so…). I think a curler might be very pleasing.

We watch the same 2 tv programmes every week day to carve up the day. The Chase and House of Games. Always catch the final lot of the auction in between switching channels. A set of fruit cutlery was sold today. DD said she would like to be a person that has time to get the fruit cutlery out. Me too.

A pat of butter now is the tiny things served in gold wrappings (rarely butter). A pat of butter is the gorgeous butter slapped with paddles into a shape. I have a butter curler that scrapes off of a pat it is very satisfying. I haven’t used it for years. This is my sign to get it out again.

A pat of butter is usually 8oz in the uk. (Though possibly shrinkflationed now). It is “patted” into shape when you make it by hand.

We have pack of butter but that's the whole pack like a supermarket pack. Always had that as a child too.

Plumber in at 8am. Just helped DH put the worktop in place and I cleaned the floor in there. Hope 8am isn't going to be too early for DS but am keen to get it done tomorrow. Electrics quote in and accepted for fitting jacuzzi bath and they also said we need a new consumer unit so getting one of those. Bath due around 22nd.

I would have said the same @drspouse but I can assure you not one of my daughters friends use it. They say “pack” of butter and thought pat was both funny and weird. So much so that I had to prove to her it was normal language not some weird “posh” vocab from my over privileged childhood.

@OneInEight that’s brilliant news. I love it when a gosling spreads their wings. Thank you for sharing we need good news.

Yesterday, we went to some friends for lunch.They live in N London. We drove past Tree House school. It was astonishing to see it, after I have heard so much about it over the years!

Just hopping on. @Lougle really sorry to read about DD2. I hope she remains stable and the op can go ahead as planned at the end of the month.

College is still happening for DC. I think I expected it maybe to all come undone by now. It all seemed quite ambitious, and still does, but it hasn’t yet so that’s tentatively good news. I struggle to say things with any certainty as it’s all been precarious generally with DC with an awful lot of treading on eggshells.

I haven’t got around to looking into the credits thing. The acronym for which escapes me now. I’m still struggling massively with exhaustion/burnout/overwhelm feelings and general decision fatigue.

Hugs and honks.

Congratulations to your DS @OneInEight

Never used mardy or pat of butter - growing up it was knobs of butter which didn't age well as a phrase and now we just call it butter / portion of butter / cubes of butter if in a cube. Its cool DD always tells me no-one says nowadays.

We hopefully have plumber in tomorrow or if not Monday so are whizzing through the final things needed. Luckily DS left his bathroom open, seems keen on me doing work in there. He had moved the money I left in there that I found. And had moved the handcreams and lip salves I bought him from Sri Lanka, think he's using them. I spent most of the time cleaning the kitchen, the entrance hall, moved the drier and cleaned behind it and cleaned the laundry room from DH and the electricians debris. DH did more work on laundry room and left a note for DS not to sit or lie on the bathroom worktop as now the drier isn't underneath - DH put up support strips of wood for the worktop and did more on skirting. Skirting just has one tiny bit to do. DH assures me he is on schedule and it will only take an hour to finish. I did point out he said that three times before on different days and he laughed. Though it looks more hopeful this time. My part the bathroom is completely ready. I also researched tiling to see options and am trying to see if we can save existing tiles in there as they are plain white to be less disruptive to DS and think I've found a way. I've cleaned all the white tiles and most of the grout and they look reasonably good still. But we need to take height down from 90cms to 51cms which previously was tiled at some point but those tiles were removed leaving old adhesive on walls. Tried today to get old adhesive off and looks like will be fine to get it off. Whether walls are flat maybe another matter.

@OneInEight that’s a great update! Congratulations to DS2.

@OneInEight that's wonderful news! I'm so pleased for him.

@OneInEight Congratulations to DS!

It is dh I mainly have to hide food from here 😂. Thank you beta blockers which remove any self control when it comes to sweet stuff. Hope your dd2 avoids any more infections before the operation @Lougle . dh had his gall bladder out a few years ago with keyhole surgery and had a speedy recovery so I can see why they want to do this albeit the rollercoaster of psyching yourself out for an operation that does not happen is horrid. In our news ds2 has just been offered a job by the company he did an internship at. Delighted and terrified at the same time for him.

@Lougle i meant local news as in it just doesn’t get the same attention. Although I’m sure being up A&E repeatedly is very boring on top of scary and tiring. It feels like the trickier life gets the more it becomes so normal that it’s hard to decipher what is an extraordinary event anymore because it’s all got stress attached in one way or another. Anyway what I’m saying is it’s a lot, what you are doing is such a lot and I think of you often.

Mardy is moody for me but I don’t use.

Pat of butter is not dialect - it's used all over the world.
Mardy is a complaining person here too.
My DCs suffer from an excess of independence when cooking food unfortunately. We have to rotate hiding places to stop the stocks of favourites disappearing immediately. I bought some tea cakes for the weekend and caught DD taking them out of the freezer yesterday. DS has a nose for giant jars of Nutella.

I say a pat of butter, but then dialect was more common when I was growing up, before television smoothed over it to an extent imo?

Mardy here is usually “Mardy arse” and means complaining/moaning/argumentative.

My children tell me my language is very old fashioned. Apparently nobody says “pat of butter” anymore. Except obviously they do because I do and so do all my contemporaries.

Thanks @PurringTiger . Yes, everything gets boring when it's regular.

@LathkillDale that's funny. 'Mardy' here means moody. "She's a right mardy madam, that one."

I'm not sure if DD2 will go to college today. It would be better for attendance purposes but she hasn't had much to eat since Monday, or sleep. It might be a bridge too far.

DD1 visited DD2 yesterday but we had to cut the visit short after 15 minutes because she was really struggling. She said she didn't want to go to hydro today. I couldn't work out whether it was the thought of going without me, or whether it was an overhang from last week not going so well. We'll see.

DD3 has her date for the ESA assessment through. She's upset with me because she'll need to leave school 45 minutes early. I might phone to see if they can change it.