Rock of 'gages cleft for me, let me hide my fruit in thee - 10/10 club, all welcome :o)

[TooTicky]

For anyone who wants a boost to their general health. The suggested goals are:

EAT 10 PORTIONS OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES EVERY DAY - if you don't usually eat much fruit and veg I would build up gradually or you could upset your digestion.

DO (AT LEAST) 10 MINUTES OF EXERCISE EVERY DAY - can be yoga, stretching or something more energetic. The plan is that the idea of doing 10 minutes is not too daunting, and having started you may well find you want to do more.

There are no restrictions on what you eat so long as you get your 10 fruit and veg as well. The focus is not on weight loss but on improving our energy levels and hopefully our general mood and well-being. Sign up below and post here to tell us how you're getting on and how you are feeling.

Basic guidance on what constitutes a portion of fruit and veg here and you can download more detailed information by following the link at the very bottom of the page.

Just poking my head around the door...

Boco, sorry to hear about your poorly DDs.

Toot, you sound a bit frazzled and in need of a break, or at least a regular supply of hot water.

100X, your comments are really thought provoking about how we define that line which lies between providing boundaries in accordance with our values, like a hawthorn hedge (a bit prickly but with blossom, a part of the landscape and a haven for the entire ecosystem plus means of wriggling through if you really must) and building the Berlin Wall with broken glass on top, machine guns mounted and guard dogs snarling - i.e. becoming controlling and dictatorial.
Franny, have you considered therapy? I say that because a mother like yours sounds very good not just at making others in the family think 'what is Franny's problem' but even more devious and madness-making, makes YOU think 'what is my problem? do i have a problem? yes, I am the problem..." A shrink of whatever flavour can act as an external affirmation that actually you're fine, it's the extended family dynamic that is skewed. Even siblings who think they're being objective and even supportive of you might actually have some vested interest in keeping on side of your mum hence they may not be the most effective and supportive of allies. It is bloody hard. We want our mothers to be a place of refuge, not a place guaranteed to make us feel muddled and worse about ourselves. Tis a b*gger, it really is. I've struggled for years with the fact that my mother is incapable of love and has never loved her children. My head knows it but my heart thinks, hopefully, if I try just that bit harder, maybe she'll be kind and warm and accepting .... No chance. Sympathies, your mother sounds like one skilled operator.

"Franny, have you considered therapy"

ahahahaha. Yes. I won't go into it now. You lot are all so smart. You have her measure, absolutely. It meant a lot last night when I was in the middle of the "what is my problem?" bit. You just turn back into a troubled teenager at your parents house, well I do anyway. HC says I mustn't sleep there anymore.

100 I like the bit where you said "do you?"

Oh I love the hawthorn hedge description Possum, that is very nice, especially the blossom and means to wriggle through. I'd like to be a hawthorn hedge.

Oh I know Franny, MN is very good at giving you sound, objective advice often, I find anyway.

it is a problem them going to the school with rules. I don't feel very well versed in it. They say things about sport and merits and I narrow my eyes a little at them because it is a foreign language and I'm not absolutely sure what they are driving at.

Anyway everything is rubbish, because here I am striving for conformity and regularity, and there they are being very eccentric and ds1's teacher called him 'a singular individual.' So bollocks, we might as well just call it a day and go to Sunnyhill or whatever it's called and forget all this tie and merits rubbish.

100x, there is that school in the woods not far from you.....

I have had quite a day. Ds1 did his running off in an utter strop thing today after poking and pushing ds2, kicking me and the buggy, punching me, and lying down at the side of the road and screaming with rage. He ran off into a field and because dd2 was asleep in the buggy and I couldn't just leave her outside the gate I went back to school to ask to use their phone to get dp but there was nobody around so we headed for home and saw ds1 ahead of us and he saw us and ran back to us and we smiled and hugged and I called him a horrible little boy and told him I loved him.
And when we got home I found an email from a very dear friend offering to buy us a cooker!

oh Toot.........good lord poor you
& ...Hurrah...for lovely friend

Hurrah indeed

Oh god TooT, how exhausting. Was this at school pick-up time?

You should let your dear friend buy you a cooker I think. I would. Are you coming for a bath then?

I am blowing up balloons Avi. Moving on what one?

Of course I am accepting. T'would be ungracious not to. She is a dear and a darling.

Yes, on the way home from school. And it all stemmed from an argument over oatcakes of all things!

Oh, a bath.... wish I could come NOW. I feel revolting all over.

well you are very welcome to come if you want. I don't know how to say this without sounding weird.

I have pink rubber flooring in my bathroom . . . .

I mean I don't know how enthusiastically to offer you a bath without sounding weird NOT how to spit out the words regarding pink rubber flooring.

and

Pink rubber flooring is a priceless phrase. I don't know why.
Recently, ds1 said something about his "collection of little bouncy balls" and it tickled me so much that I couldn't stop laughing. I have no idea why.

Now you think I am weird and are regretting your offer.

Yes, I liked her analogy too. I'm not sure what you mean by moving? Do you mean do I now consider banning weaponry from your home as not being controlling? No, I don't think I do. I think it is more Berlin wall than Hawthorn bush, even with the prickles.

Is this what you mean?

Timing is the problem really. I have no time. After school it is ridiculous and during the day I am supposed to be here with dd1 being educational and I feel so guilty even going shopping. And I have this dalek to crochet, which can only be done while ds2 is at school.

I wish we had no weapons. Somehow, I was always made out to be rather odd and got overruled. Several plastic swords later.....
At least we have no guns.

Coward

It's my unethical flooring isn't it?

Well you can bring her, because we are great friends and I shall discuss literature with her while you are in the Bath. I can't crochet though. I can't do anything useful. Actually, if you bring dd1 and dd2 perhaps they can show me how to make an apple pie which ds2 wants as his birthday cake? I can come and pick you up if you'll make me an apple pie in trade?

Avi - also let's be quite clear about this, I think I am Berlin Wall on some things, I'm not sure I like it, I think I'd like to be Hawthorn on all things, but I'm not sure I have the balance right.

If anything we'd do it by bus. I cannot justify driving when the bus goes only half a mile from here. And I am scared of driving in Bath.
I am sorely tempted.

I do odd pastry because I don't use butter or hydrogenated fats. My dcs think it is normal and I like it but to outsiders it may seem earthy. Would happily help though.