[inhales Bitchys vat of coffee gratefully]
[passes mug of extra strong brew to Ellie]
Engels Gelukkige Verjaardag to your ds! Hope you all have a lovely day! [Warbles "Lang zal hij leven, Lang zal hij leven, Lang zal hij leven, In de gloria" etc etc "Hip, hip, hip hoera!!" 
]
Jemima How did the interview go?
Just hope you are surviving your extra- demanding temporary schedule.
Honu hope you have managed to battle through the bureaucracy and access the support you need [pigs will fly and all that I know ...].
Brill ta da list Bitchy but sorry to hear about browser. Hope you can retrieve links (and missing PE shorts). Love the sound of a pudding party and aw at your sleeping angel.
This never happens but DD and I actually had fun doing homework last night 
which was a lovely break from the usual shouting. We were tackling the PPCM or plus petit commun multiple, a.k.a. the lowest common denominator and it turned out she was a lot faster than her mother at it 
. So there is definitely hope!
Swan glad you had a well-deserved calm day yesterday. YOu have inspired me to keep persisting on the chore front with dd. We had a marvellous timetable/chart at the beginning of term which has already fallen to the wayside (completely my fault).
A very warm welcome to MilkTrayLady (love the nickname ... and all because etc etc ) Anyway, you have come to the right place. Yes, I am afraid I think that one load of washing a day (partic with a baby) is completely normal.
But sympathies to all of you battling with the never-ending laundry pile. We are only 3 and I still have to make an effort to keep on top of it every day - goodness knows how those of you with larger families do it.
[I don't suppose you could send out the bed-linen could you Swan or would that be prohibitively expensive? My late ma did that in her latter years and found it a huge time-saver.]
Milktraylady hopefully, once the clutter has been reduced, your dh will be a bit more relaxed about moving it to a different place, because it will be more obvious where it is ifyswim. Could you poss ring-fence a time each evening with him (say 30 mins per night) when you go through the pile you have sorted that day and then both allocate to a particular place or chuck? Btw, I think you are being v. hard on yourself - Flying with a baby - or any sort of housework - is tough-going!
Great to hear that your dd had a lovely birthday Goth and that your dps enjoyed it too. That "house-looking-good-post-visitor-period" is always rather nice and usually lasts less than a day here 
. The trick, as you have been doing, is to capitalise on the tidiness, something I always fail to do .
Feetheart wow - v. impressed with your oxtail cooking!! Love oxtail soup - perfect for this weather. Hope the tenant situation is improving and that the end of the building work is in site [spot the deliberate pun ]. You have had to put up with it for seemingly ages ... . V. impressed with such a substantial ta da list after such a busy weekend too.
Whoknows try not to worry about your cats - you are patently a fab owner!!
I hereby nominate Dizzy for quote of the day >"House is looking very odd i.e. clean and tidy!" a testament to your high Flying!
Pushme oooh thanks for potted meat recipe!! Sounds really fab!! Although have been trying to describe brisket to my French butcher for almost a decade and he still doesn't get it ...one for when I am in Blighty I think. I'm with you on the diet front - I have come to a bit of a standstill too over the last fortnight. It's a hard time of year for it when the weather turns cold and dark. Soup is the answer I think.
[Having said that, hovers outside Castle's kitchen waiting for lasagne]
Total respect to you Ellie for the impressive cock handling . Seriously though, don't know how you do it. Will be coming to you for advice on how to cope with teenagers in a couple of years; am terrified at the prospect. Top marks for your substantial Ta Da list and hope you have a better day today!
Hope you have a better day today too Blue!! There are actually blue skies here for the first time in days so hopefully dc can run off a bit of energy again ... .
Toffee hope all goes well for your ds1 on Wednesday! So glad the preparatory meeting went well. Ditto what everyone else has said about feeling proud of yourself as well as him! 
And fwiw, I know it's hard, but I wouldn't feel too guilty about your df with the vomiting child. You have all been in the wars recently (have only just recovered in fact) and another bout of illness just when your ds1 is returning to school would be totally demoralising; esp. when you volunteered to do the shopping anyway.
Which reminds me, sympathies to all the fledglings on here who dh's are self-employed (think there are quite a few of us now). I know from long experience that it can be really, really tough when they are constantly travelling and working all hours ... .
Huge waves to everyone I've missed!
Right, am off out this morning to do some volunteering. Only a quarter -day though because collecting dh from clinic at noon.
[Sorry that was more even more long and wind-bagging than usual ]
Have a good day everyone!