Peas to remember the 5th of November, sunflower seeds and shallots. I see no reason why cauliflower unseasoned should ever be forgot - 10 / 10 club

[FrannyandZooey]

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

100x.......are you sure you're not coming to the meet?????
We are all in need of a Great Date right now.......very selfish of you not to share yourself around a bit

at transformed house
I'm on dustation strike......humph

Thanks Lully and 100.
I don't think there's anything - just have to wait for everyone to get better. Of course they will, but on a day after a sleepless night everything feels a bit worse and more hopeless. I'm looking forward to a hot bath and an early night, i think that's all i really need.

And i do agree with Lully, 100 you tease, you can't tell us what a great date you are and then refuse to put your money where your mouth is. Come on. Prove it!

I have filled ten bags full (mainly) of toys for the charity collection.

It's for a children's hospice so I was extra ruthless, but how come there is so much stuff?

I need one of those minimalist houses so I can streamline on aesthetic grounds alone.

But then, Lionheart, you'd be left with two tasteful wooden toys which the kids would not play with and a shameful ghetto somewhere dark where all the real toys go to live.

LL - what a lovely speech, hear hear x

Poor, poor Boco, you really are having a lot of crap at the moment, aren't you. Healing hugs to you children, and wishing you some quality sleep.

ds2 is having friendship problems again. He has a best friend who is also best friends with another little boy, who used to be best friends with my ds. Now the mum of the other boy has asked ds for tea and the child has said to ds ''If you come I will hide all my toys until you go. You are an idiot.'' [anger]

This child also told ds he couldn't come to his party. I spoke to the mum who said it was all fine but at the party this child got all the other children to throw pass the party wrappings at ds who then lost his temper (unsurprisingly)
What do I do? God, the amount of emotional energy one has to spend on children is so draining. It's one step forward, two steps back, all the time.

Oh dear that's horrid, poor ds2. Can you arrange for this boy to frighten some pigeons nearby the crazy pigeon kisser? This would kill two birds (ha!) with one stone.

oh fmf poor ds.........children's friendships can cause so much stress....your heart literally wrenches when these things are out of our control.

the little girl I used to look after was friends with a group of five girls,they would often exclude her from things/not speak to her etc...other days (especially when ring leader was off sick)they would all be lovely & all would be well.
It was miserable.

Snigger Boco...it might just work!

It is gut wrenching, isn't it?

I wonder if it gets any better as they get older?

Gizmo - Nope.

Don't take up the invite FMF. Drop the kid, he's horrid and jealous, I remember the party thread now. His mother is having him over because she wants it to be okay, but I think he sounds mean and will be mean to ds2 on his own turf.

The only thing is perhaps to have this boy over to yours, with the current best friend and then you can make sure he isn't mean, and get the three of them together.

Re meet-up tra la la la la. On the economics in Geneva principle, I am pretending it isn't happening because I'm not coming. Tra la la la la la.

Hullo lovely 10/10ers

Boco what a rough patch you are going through No-one thinks you are self indulgent. Sending virtual vibes.

I've eaten a huge fruit salad today and rather a lot of cheese. I ought to be getting supper but DH is upstairs playing something involved with DS and I've sat down and it's ratehr nice. We're supposed to be having chard frittata for supper.

I walked briskly with DS to the park which was freezing, threw few poo sticks in the stream and then walked very briskly back home again.

pooh obviously

Although in our park, poo would probably be quite apt

DD showing off horribly with quiet friend. Keeps thrusting things in her face and saying 'Do you like this?'

Gah. I hate it when they do that. And sitting under the table and being a right PITA.

Quiet friend and I are exchanging pained looks and I am saying 'Would you like to do some painting?'

Quiet Friend's mother is coming to collect her early, thankfully. She will get in the car and say 'She was noisy and kept pushing things in my face' and her mother will say 'It's okay, you don't have to go back there again.'

At least ds's both out.

Oh well, I'll just have to stock up on a few more decades worth of gin then...

I'll be DS1's friend, and your DS1, and FMF's, as well.

ds is making up a dance routine that involves a lot of twirling

(I am asking her if she'd like to paint because I am pretending she is Boco's dd1, and therefore she is going to create something amazing. Just so you know. But she is wincing and whispering 'Why is x under the table?')

I like this thread. It's like a blog or something.

Dd is not being particularly nice to her visiting friend either.

They've mostly been arguing about who is the mother and who is the bad baby in a complicated game about discipline and punishment. And now they're doing competitive drawing, with dd saying,
'i stopped doing hands like sticks ages ago, now i like them to look like actual fingers, would you like me to teach you how?'

And friend saying
'no. I could if i wanted to, but i've decided they look better like this.'

And then dd muttering, 'yeah, you're wrong.'

Oh gawd, I got dd1 ALL WRONG didn't I? I'll have her over here, she sounds marvellous. I'll swap her for the quiet friend if you like?

I'd forgotten about that bad baby game. What happens in it?

Not that she isn't marvellous when she's being quiet of course, oh no, she's marvellous then AND when she's being demanding about artistic drawing.

when do children generally start to attempt faces?
ds still scribbles

He can paint marvellous ladybirds though

PMSL - I'd give anything to have girls round who wish to do quiet things. I have had 10 years of boisterousness etc.

ahundred, I fear you are right and we must decline the invite. Ds1 (the older child) and I were discussing it and we both agreed the other child is jealous and ds2 should invite the child here so I can 'supervise' the situation. But I'm not sure I can be nice to him actually at the moment.

His mother is so lovely and under different circs we could be friends. Pah.

Hello
I have been walking up and down hills at speed with a variously laden buggy.

Boco, lots of hugs and supportive vibes coming your way. (Excuse my naff UK geography, but you're not near that North Sea tidal thing are you? The east of the country all seems to meld together in my head and that is where I imagine you are).

I should be cooking potatoes.

Hi Toot

She's painfully quiet with people she doesn't know, and then painfully cutting with people she does.

At her friends house, dd said to friends mother 'it actually annoys me that you say bot-bot and botty when it's much better to just say bottom. And it's not doing a niffly-noo, it is doing a poo.' All while doing earnest colouring. Luckily friends mum thought it was hilarious rather than thinking she was a precocious smart arse.