**TAMOXIFEN**the 6th

[MaryAnnSingleton]

here we go !

Your DS sounds a very faithful chap Sparkle how sweet

Hope Cakes manages to make it to Jools tonight (and Jools manages to get there too obviously )

DS got here fine last night, but has gone back now.
DH is on his way up to Sheffield to fetch DD (and all her stuff) so hopefully she will get back today.

have a good weekend all - take it easy SR work is bound to feel pretty tiring for a while.

Hi there - loads of snow fell here last night between 7 and 9. DS went to a party and we rang and said sorry he'd have to sleep over! So he did. DH had a dreaful journey home from work but arrived safely.

I thought Jools was from Warrington??? Or for some reason he has played here a lot. Hope its good Cakes.

Thank-you for all your resting insturctions. So far today DH and I have ploughed into the village to buy a tree and I've decorated it with DS. Then decorated the living room. (Buildres returned unexpectedly yesterday and after DH and I had left the house. I was driving along M-way and phone kept going. When I got to work listened to messages - 'Hi Dinah its Fred, we're at your house and we've let the burglar alarm off. Could you tell us the code?!!'

And have been back to village to do a little shopping.

Well I'll watch the Strictly final tonight after all that effort. I don't mind decorating as its a nice job but with this stiffness its not as easy as it used to be - [Fgroan]

I haven't posted in blardy AGES!! not sure where i've been tbh, certainly not doing anything productive

Anyone else snowed-under? we've got lots incase anyone wants some... 'tis pissing me off now!

Hello RWU - nice to hear from you. Our house is in a bit of a tip too - had builders in- decoration boxes not all put away yet - need to sort out DD's room for her return on MOnday. It still has apples in there as we were given so many this year.

WE're not snowed in but its very snowy and yes we do seem to have such a lot already this year!

we are,though I went into town to buy cheeses and other supplies !

We were, but now can get out, due to other kind mugs people attempting to get down the hill into the village by sliding their cars down and thus clearing off just enough snow that we can get traction .

I achieved nothing yesterday, except going with dh and dc to Scouts xmas carol service at church to hear dh and ds sing Stille Nacht with the Beavers. Dh taught it to them. Dd2 spent whole time either singing twinkle twinkle at the top of her voice, rearranging the crib scene or shouting "I can't see daddy"! We sneaked out after Beavers had done their bit......for the best . She will do a simialr repeat perfomrance this evening because we are back there for evensong, school choir which I run with my lovely friend and her mum, is singing to try and "liven up the stodginess" according to the vicar. Pretty hard task I understand, expecially if the song we have been asked to teach the children so they can join in with the church choir is anything to go by. It is called Torches, or Tortured as my ds nicknamed it, as they struggled to sing it.

Anyway have a funny for you. As I pulled my dd2 fleecy top with hood over her head, the hood remained over her head and she raised her hands to find her ears and shouted with alarm "Oh no I lost mine ears!" and started looking for them on the ground. Wasn't much reassurance as I collapsed into fits of giggles.

Sparkle !! @ dd2 - mine ears is very sweet- hope she found them and you could stick them on again !
You are a choir mistress too ! ds and co did the calypso De Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy which was fab - lots of movement (ds is terribly uncoordinated so slightly behind the others.) Sounded lovely though.
I had a seabreeze cocktail and cheeselets with Strictly then a big glass of wine with our stir fry-very delicious.
Did my parents laundry and am going to spruce up their machine with some cleaning stuff- God knows what tut is in there-mostly cat hair.
Put Celeste out in the snow yesterday,which she seemed fascinated by-was afraid she rush off though as she hasn't ben out before.
Sparkle-hope you have a calm,nice day and will be thinking of you tomorrow xx

do you know we are coming up to 1000 posts again- a new thread soon -crikey !

We do lots of actions with the children, they love it, we love it, and it looks great especially when they all go in different directions.

Did Celeste's tummy drag though the snow? My choccie lab keeps sitting beside the front door, with one of our cats, they both look out, then look at you to say "You must be joking" turn around and go and curl back in their beds! The puppy keeps bringing snow in in her mouth and walking around all proud until it melts and leaks out the sides.....much fun. .

Not being very calm really, have bellowed at my ds already and sent him back to bed, to "rethink" his attitude. Have provided third breakfast to dd2, all started but none finished, have refused to get 4th, on grounds that 3 part breakfasts probably makes a whole one! Am a bt snappy, and very worried, but ho hum tomorrow will bring what it brings.

A [fbear] because they have one.

sparkles, i think its perfectly understandable to be a bit snappy! your dd sounds like a treasure... my dd still shouts "mine new oooowwwse" when we come up the driveway lol!

pets and snow are hilarious, next door has a tiny king charles spaniel who all but dissapeared under the snow yesterday when he went for a walk, my cats are house cats but do escape from time to time- one got out the other day and promptly came straight back in with a disgusted look on his face!

i am potty training.... or more to the point Peppa pig is potty training dd for me so far so good, opccasional puddles but not enough to make me re-think! i am enjoying the lack of nappy wasshes

Lol @ King Charles Spaniel disappearing into the snow!

Very brave starting potty training this close to christmas, I am avoiding the subject with dd2, can't face the thought of all those puddles and changes of clothes! She is only just 2 but probably nearly ready as she keeps telling me when she is doing a wee. I am hoping she will keep until spring!

hello all. Lovely to see you RWU - my house is a constant tip, - I've given up worrying about housework! - How are the children - looking forward Christmas? - I don't imagine you are getting much horse riding done in this weather.

Sparkles - you are bound to feel a bit snappy, - everyone feels like that sometimes even in the best of circumstances. And children have so long to wait for Christmas after they break up - they used to break up closer to the day and have less time to get over excited and stroppy .

Choir sounds lovely, - you have a busy life, love your little DD2 losing her ears , your children sound gorgeous!

Will be thinking of you tomorrow, of course - hang on in there

I wonder if Cakes got to her concert last night? - I hope so.

DD made it home yesterday - the roads weren't too terrible, they just took it slowly. It's lovely having her home - and we got to watch the final of strictly together (and the apprentice tonight - too much excitement for one weekend!)

Bit of a disaster in the Kurri household - we had oil delivered today for the heating (good in itself, as they said they might not be able to deliver until the new year) BUT - DH went out to check the level and discovered a huge split in the tank we have about £600 worth of oil gradually leaking out, we are trying to catch it so it doesn't contaminate too much of the garden (I think my rockery has had it though). DH has gone to get a bigger container from a DIY place, and a friend of ours might have a spare oil drum at his house. because it's Sunday we can't get hold of anyone relevant to sort things out (the tank is still under guarantee, thank God because they are very expensive). All in all a total mess, and DH is in a state of near panic about it. Have spent the last hour trying to calm him down get him to think straight - emergencies stress him out.

Sorry that was very long - well done if you got through it.

On a cheerier note, DD found a nice little game online which I put in chat - you make Christmassy pictures out of stars. Some of the children might like a go if they are at a loss for something to do here

and the mums

at oil leak KK - hope you can salvage what's left and that your garden isn't ruined.
Am going to have to choose some presents for my dad from mum so must get thinking.

Hope Cakes got to Jools too

Am finally feeling festive - mainly thanks to a lovely day of friends (lunch and then later a party) yesterday. Andh ooray for snow - I know some are sick of it, but we don't get much in London, so am making the most of it. Just back from sledging - DS is 6 and it's the first time he's ever done it, which shows just how little snow we normally get. I crashed into a tree. Haven't laughed that much in ages.

RWU, my house is a total tip too. DS says we should cover it all with tinsel..!

Kurri, oil spill not good. Definitely hassle you don't need, though good it's under insurance still, as at least that means it won't cost. Glad DD got home alright.

Am waving to all others, as have just realised I haven't made the Christmas cake yet. Will check that game later, Kurri and Sparkle, what time do you have to be there tomorrow? Hope it's first thing so you don't have to hang around. Will be thinking of you.

Sledging sounds fun, - bet DS enjoyed it - we don't have any hills here in Norfolk! I haven't made my cake either Smee I'm going to make a start this evening (have to soak the fruit) and DD is organizing the mince pies.

Good luck with present hunting MAS, I am going to do my last bits and bobs tomorrow. For some strange reason I decided I was going to knit handwarmers for all the girls in the family (that's five pairs - DD, Dsis, 2 nieces, and Ds's DP) so am frantically yet secretly knitting in my spare time - why do I decide to do these things?)

Oil leak is just about under control. We have been given a big oil drum from a friend who runs his car on cooking oil. So DH has syphoned off the top 200litres and now oil is below the level of the split. I'm hoping we may be able to rescue the rockery, but some has gone into it, so maybe I'm being over optimistic. The tank installing company have phoned back and given us a number to phone tomorrow to try to get a replacement (they didn't seem all that surprised it had split )

maybe the very cold weather ruptured it ?

Hand warmers sound lovely- I suffer from dreadful circulation in my hands and need such things i think. I was putting mum's laundry away and discovered a fab grey sparkly knitted scarf-she says Lalaa made it for her and that I can borrow it- so I have- very warm and festive..mum has a very lovely velvet scarf in there too...
Am going to wash the floor next,then wrap some things and possibly iron...then meditate

Poor KK - ruptured oil tank is the last thing you need. Glad its getting sorted, gradually.

Laughed at losing mine ears

I'm a bit knackered tbh. DH woke me at 0830 to tell me pipes frozen aghhhhh. We had this last January. We'd fixed them and lagged them v. thickly but when its -11 and bits of pipe are outsie I think you're sunk really.

So we spent all morning thawing them with hairdryer and heater etc - fortunately managed to do this wihtout expensive professional assistance. Its awkward as the pipes are under a sort of patio area so you have to be bent double to do anything in the essential place. And if we have more winters like this its just going to happen again . This never happened in this house till last year and we've been here 18 years.

So glad I got Chrsitmas prepared early as am now in major work stresss through no fault of mine. Have to do some now in fact.

But keep merry the rest of you! I hope to stop work on Wednesday but it depends on a TUPE transfer situation I'm lumbered with.

hope pipes are thawed now SR and not refrozen
Special loving kindness to Sparkle todayxx

Lots of good thoughts and love today Sparkle xx

Dashed on to say good luck to sparkles - need to catch up on the rest of the thread but at KK's oil tank disaster, and frantic waving to RWU.

Whlie i was fannying about chatting on here on Friday I was also taking an online copywritiing test for some more work from a new client. Got the job. hooray! Lots of work in first two weeks of january, with the possibility of some more to follow. Phew! January is usually a bit thin so this will tide me over.

Didn't get to Jools - had tearfully abandoned all hope when - HOORAY - a text came through from Ticketmaster to say it has been postponed til January Yay!! Off to catch up on rest of your news.... Love to all xx

Love the sound of sparkles sweet ds - and glad smee's ds finally got to have a go at sledging. Not so happy at SR's frozen pipes, and hoping KK's oil tank gets sorted

Am a bit envious of everyone who is feeling Christmassy, it is so snowy here and I still have loads of shopping to do, so can't really face it - aaaargh!!!

Dd has just gone to collect MIL from the airport (she's not staying here, only passing through - phew!) but when she gets back I am going to play Starlight Christmas with her....

Hoping to hear from sparkles soon...

I'm glad you'll be going to see Jools Cakes - even though it's a bit later than expected. Enjoy the game Have fun with MIL and congratulations on the job - well done!

We've managed to get hold of the company who installed the tank (the manager is phoning us back tomorrow) and the company who makes the tanks, who are sending someone out to look. There are more cracks on it today - fortunately on the top so oil not leaking out.

We always have a domestic appliance/house disaster at Christmas - it's traditional , one year water gushed through the ceiling of the room with the piano in it (snow melting on flat roof) leading to a mad dash to get the piano out (probably where I acquired my hernia )

Hope you are OK Sparkle - have been thinking of you all morning

Cracks do sound severe weather-related KK, hope it gets sorted fast, before the garden is wrecked and all the oil is wasted. Far too expensive for that!

I think Xmas domestic disasters dog a lot of us - neighbours with the four month old baby have just been round to say their central heating has jacked it in and they are decamping to her mother's. Not very festive at all. I did offer the loan of a fan heater, but I can see why they didn't jump at it

Tank man has just phoned and is coming out tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get it sorted - they've been fairly quick in responding.

I'm waiting for a pendant I bought online for DD's 21st to arrive (her birthday's on the 29th) but I've got to be in to sign for it otherwise it goes back to the depot. It's this one I hope she likes it, - quite hard choosing for someone much younger than you, but she likes fairly simple things, and I thought this was pretty.