Morning all. V impressed by those of you who have all their Christmas/cake pudding ingreds at the ready and/or are actually baking.
[starts prepping vegetarian risotto dish in naughty corner especially for Justgettingonwithit 
]
Sorry have been awol. My sister is visiting for follow-up check after the op she had here recently (which took up a good half of yesterday - all fine thankfully) and she is staying on for the weekend. Needless to say it took a fair bit of effort and swearing to get the house back in vaguely decent order for her arrival and luckily she is (a) very messy herself (b) extremely short sighted 
Sat up very late last night/early this morning having a good natter.
And treble arf at semen/cement and whores/horse confusion!! Reminds me of time I mixed up "se baisser" (I was talking about back pain when I bent over) with similar sounding word with different meaning (I'm sure you can guess!!) in front of a group of Roman Catholic mothers 
A very warm welcome to Shutitwierdo and Mumat39¨!
Mumat39 Strictly speaking, Flylady advises just "jumping in wherever we are at" or of course you can wait until the beginning of next month when it all starts again - whatever suits you best. But as we are only on day 9, and there are lots of 'consolidating days' and baby-steps that you can ignore in baby steps 1-9, you could just review them and start doing the key ones: shining sink, room rescue, picking out clothes night before, hot spots and maybe starting a cj (although that can wait really). More info here on getting started and more specifically here and here on baby-steps. Good luck!
A very warm welcome back to Lookingforinspiration!
Arf at your v. healthy quinoa explosion Blue!
Madwoman 'ark at you polishing your chandeliers 
!! We have some too actually but no glass bits - they are circa 1910 brass numbers that came with the house and hang wonkily in the sitting room. Just waiting for one of them to fall out of cracked plaster in ceiling and drop on a guest's head.
Feel exactly like Engels atm - in fact could have written her post. Feeling overwhelmed by everything, then feeling pathetic for feeling that way when compared to others my life is pretty easy really (and Engels I don't have excuse of the demanding job that you have so don't be too hard on yourself)
Eek at snake PA! Um, are they poisonous at all in your neck of the woods? Hope not!! V. exciting about your new house!! Hope cleaning lady and furnishing situations resolved soon.
Sorry you are going through particularly tough patch Bitchy and are thinking of giving up something you love (think long and hard about that one - we all need something in our lives to keep us sane and chilled - not just for our own sakes either) Keep strong and hope no lasting ill effects from ds concussionx
Gossip good luck with tackling cluttered hallway! And hope school/family meeting resolves school situation happily for your ds1.
Swan Sorry to hear about your extended family news which must be hard for everyone.
Dizzy glad to hear your dd improving and don't feel badly about dairy stuff - parenthood involves steep learning curve - I for one continually have to keep putting on crampons and guide ropes!! Quilt sounds lovely btw!
Feetheart great to hear your ds had a fab birthday and hope your dd OK x
Toffee oh dear/arf about saints and mortification!! Not surprised your ds1 is baffled!!
Whoknows you sound as though you are feeling a bit stronger
Enthusiastic wing flaps to Trazzles Lauren Whoknows Castlelough MrsHoarder Systemsaddict Ellie Nightshade Notquiteperfect Honu Carpe Maggie Consils CaptainHoratio Trumpalot Paneer Shifty Issima Sowornout and anyone I've missed!
Dh is currently squiring dsis around his favourite cheese shops which he has ranked in order of preference (she is foodie too thankfully) - a tour which may take some time - and in the meantime, I am meant to be forcing encouraging dd to do her hwk while they are out so had better prize her away from her DS and get to it. Have a good w/e everyone!