Thread 9 - TalkLair: “Russell's teapot goes on being round”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 8).

The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with summer flowers - should bloody well be, what with all that rain. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

Congratulations on finishing your work, @CyanCrystalViolet . I hope you've had the bubbly tonight!

I had a total result at a charity shop today. Long green velvet curtains for £8 a pair. They came on two separate hangers and I was going to pay £16 but the assistant said that they were on different hangers because they were so heavy but it was only one pair. I realised when I got home that she was wrong and there were two pairs, which was handy as one pair would not be wide enough for my bay window. So! £16 was already cheap, I got them even cheaper and they are really bloody lovely! Huzzah!

@CyanCrystalViolet - the non-spreadable stuff is much stiffer, more like butter.

@MouseMinge - I love a thrift shop bargain! The curtains in my bedroom - 3 pairs as we have 3 windows - cost me $30 altogether from Catholic Charities. They are heavy cotton and lined, and a lovely terracotta colour with a faint pattern on them. I love them.

@CyanCrystalViolet - I think if you used the spreadable stuff it would be really soft and almost liquid, not semi-stiff like a good buttercream.

As long as you get the right weight it should be fine - you whip it anyway to add the sugar. I've used both types for cheesecake with no discernable difference.

Although that is after a good sit in the fridge, which might not be as useful for cake. And certainly not if you're trying to pipe it into shapes rather than just roughly plaster it.

@MouseMinge we’ll need photos when you hang them up!

@Britinme solid cream cheese sounds delicious.

I’ve made a baked New York style cheesecake a few times to the Junior’s cheesecake recipe. It’s delicious, much more so than the stuff in the supermarket, but requires something like seven tubs of cream cheese. I haven’t made one this year so I might treat myself… autumn brings out the baking in me.

Seven tubs!! What a monster! (It sounds awesome.)

Yes to the pictures of the new curtains, what an excellent bargain. I've had some good hauls from the charity shops here. Lovely big wool blankets, which we use in summer when it's too warm for a quilt. Nice to use on the sofa too. I've also found some old tools in very good condition. A couple of bill hooks, which we use in hedge laying, and a three-prong pitchfork with an unusually long handle. The handle is heavy and I think it may be oak. It'll be handy at work for something or other.

Congrats on finishing the dissertation, CyanCrystalViolet, I hope the bubbly went down well!

Things I've learnt today #1:

What a 'reborn doll' is. Amazon is well stocked!

Our local charity shops are rather crap. Student area, so the main merchandise is fast fashion, usually of a skimpy nature. I am rather envious of areas with good vintage shops.

@duc748 Every day's a school day!

The town we live in is retirement home central so there are lots of house clearances and you can find some really good bargains. I found a lovely copper fondue set, complete with brass and copper burner, for £5. It needed cleaning up, but now it's gorgeous. I'm not going to use it for fondue but thought it might be nice to use in the woods for heating lunchtime soup.

The next time I went into that shop I mentioned the price to the woman on the till, who was Canadian. Remember her saying 'Oh, that'll be one of our little teenagers doing the pricing'. It was the same with the wool blankets, which were £2 each.

Just looked at the reborn doll thread and don't know what to say. I had no idea.

Blimey, yes.

For about a week I’ve been irritated by that flickering eye thing, not the eye itself but the eyelid, you know, a few seconds of mild twitching that probably isn’t even visible, just feel-able. I’ve had it before over the years and everyone says it’s caused by tiredness, and that may have been true in the past (it’s the first time it’s happened since I retired 7 years ago) but I feel I sleep very long and very well, never wake up tired or feel tired during the day.

Any ideas on how to make it stop?

I get that occasionally, Mavis. I find lying down with my eyes closed for 5 minutes usually makes it go away, though you can't do that if you're out and about. No other suggestions, sorry, and yes, it is very irritating.

We've just voted in a local referendum organised by the town council, a Yes/No question about a situation set out in series of semi-literate documents dating back 5 years and reaching no discernible conclusion. The ballot paper was designed so that there was no space to create a third box for Do you seriously expect us to vote on something that even YOU don't understand? So I voted both Yes and No and wrote in Do as you please, well, you will anyway © Dory Previn, 1971.

I am now officially childish.

There are conflicting theories about whether those eye twitches are caused by mineral or vitamin deficiencies (different things are suggested). Taking a course of a multiple vitamin and mineral tonic might help and is unlikely to do any harm.

I already take vitamins and minerals! Anyway, it’s not painful or life-threatening, only happens a few times a day for a few seconds, and I’m sure it will disappear on its own. There are many much worse afflictions.

@duc748 I was also confused by that thread and had to look up what reborn dolls are. I’m now going to have to scrutinise babies in prams to see if I can spot one.

@MavisMcMinty I find lying down with a compress helps.

I have an AIBU that I don’t feel brave enough to take to AIBU, so I’ll put it here instead…

New neighbours have moved in, with a toddler. The toddler is very loud. Yesterday she was standing in the hall (block of flats), outside my door, blowing mindlessly into a recorder. Today she had a tantrum in the hall. It went on for over half an hour, screaming her head off non-stop, again right outside my door. The mum was sat down next to her on the floor, but then went into the flat and shut the door, leaving the toddler outside and screaming even louder. Eventually she came back out and after another 10 mins or so managed to get her onto the stairs, where she screamed for another 10-15 mins or so and then finally she must’ve managed to get outside. I was close to screaming myself, and it was obviously upsetting Kasper too.

Admittedly I don’t have children and don’t know a lot about tantrums, but AIBU to think sitting down in the hall with your screaming toddler and subjecting your neighbours to it is unreasonable? And the recorder thing. I could understand if it were through the walls as there isn’t much you can do about tantrums, but because it was right outside my door it was so loud in my flat.

I’m quite worried this is going to be a regular thing

@CyanCrystalViolet YADNBU and I'd never have dreamed of subjecting anybody to my DDs' tantrums! And as for letting your kid "play" any kind of noise-making device where they could bother other people...

(I'll try to restrain myself from saying any further judge-y things about these people's parenting.)

I had a neighbour with a child like that in the 1980s. The houses were Victorian terraces with an alley between every other house and the child would stand for hours in the alley and scream at the top of her lungs. In the end I called one of the social services and things went quiet shortly afterwards. If you don't complain then someone else is bound to, no one wants to live with that.

It’s inconsiderate of the neighbour to allow that behaviour, presumably she’s capable of picking the child up and moving her? I do think parents get accustomed to the extraordinary volume of their children and notice it less than other people would. If I was trying to sleep during the day because of night shifts, that would be very anti-social behaviour.

If it happens again, say something - I know that’s easier said than done!

I do think parents get accustomed to the extraordinary volume of their children and notice it less than other people would.

Cynically, I'd venture that some parents claim they've become accustomed to their kids' noise (and pretending they don't notice) so that they can avoid doing anything about it.

I do get it, because often I feel exhausted just thinking about dealing with kid-related shenanigans - but the "oh I didn't realise DC was being noisy and disruptive <tinkly laugh>" seems rather similar to "oh I didn't realise my dog was pooing on the pathway whilst I drag it along stubbornly looking strictly forwards, leaving a trail of little poo nuggets <tinkly laugh>"

@Tricyrtis2022 My ear drums are throbbing at the thought of screams echoing off the alleyway walls.

Glad I'm NBU. I have a feeling that if I'd posted in AIBU I'd have got quite a few 'Well what did you expect her to do? <headtilt> Have you ever tried to move a tantrumming child?! You're obviously not a mum. What are you doing here, on mumsnet? Why don't you just fuck off and die OP?' responses. I just didn't get why the mum didn't at least take her back inside. At one point one of my neighbours came out, trying to get past to go downstairs, and she introduced herself to him, casually chatting like nothing was happening. I felt for him as he always seems quite shy and socially awkward and obviously wanted to get going yes I was watching all this through the peephole

@MavisMcMinty What would you have said? I was getting to very close to opening the door and asking them to move, just out of instinctive rage, but ideally I don't want to fall out with them before I've even met them. But then, this works both ways, and I can't imagine subjecting my neighbours to that when I'd just moved in somewhere.

A neighbour years ago had a good method with people making noise. We were in flats over some shops and you'd get teens gathering outside the shops and it got a bit noisy sometimes. She'd lean out of the window and say 'Lads, can you move down a bit please' and by some miracle they always did.

This post gets my Cross Woman of the Day award. It's worth doing 'See all' and just reading her comments.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/ami_being_unreasonable/4884800-my-partners-uninvited-guest-has-turned-up-5-hours-early

Don't blame her for being cross.

I actually did this once. 1am, random group of blokes hanging around outside drinking beer and making noise. I leaned over my balcony and said, very casually, 'Guys, could you keep it down please?'. To my great surprise they all apologised and moved on.