West London chat winter & beyond

[tillyfernackerpants]

Hadn't realised we were so close to filling up the last thread, hope you all find it!!

sounds interesting

I have to finish my book before tomorrow night
not far too go but so tired

xmas card free zone here but it surprisingly liberating.

Np [plans now just glad to be home and chilling out before going back to school when DS finally starts full days.

JOb plans here too sfx

Just for the record TKMax excellent for frying pans (but lidless no poncey "saute" pans there

hello

baking and tidying up

finished book, next up can any mother help
and The woman in White

Happy new year
Here's to a happy, healthy and FUN 2011.
Toodlepip
Cx

Hello

how are you all in this new year?

I am feeling a tad podgy

Hello!

Happy New Year!

Tilly - hope you got home alright. Cab driver charged FOUR POUNDS extra last night - though he set his meter to charge 4.40 and then when I protested he charged 3.80. I'll never understand how this strange world operates. HP was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite only having had 5 hours' sleep the night before!

Happy new Year to all

Copper - glad you liked film, we'll have to arrange an outing to see next one when it's out. Dobby was in my dreams last week, been having weird ones again Book link looks good too

1 more day off before crazy school routine kicks in again with added challenge of providing packed lunches. I cannot seem to find DS1's reading book or diary anywhere, oops. Start the year as I mean to go on....

hello

we have another home day, thankfully

vbus we have been trying to sort out dd's room in order to find her stuff

lordcopper love the breadsticks

dd is going on packed lunches have been looking for inspiration, of the tasty and done quickly kind

Sfx - glad it's not just me then I'm hoping that teacher took books off the kids at end of term

IKWYM about looking for inpsiration about lunches, will start off with sarnies as that's easy enough. Have made batch of veggie burgers today so I guess they could be eaten cold for lunch

Off to dentist later for me and DS1

Happy Noooo Yaaarrr to you all too :)

Much podginess going on here too, particularly around my middle section, which is spreading at an alarming rate..

Anyone got any ineteresting or life changing New Year's resolutions, apart from the usual, "eat less/move around more" ones?

Hello!

Kids only starting school on Thursday. I expect books etc are in their book bags behind the sofa covered in several layers of dust.

I like doing packed lunches. At least they eat proper food! Shame they don't have a microwave in school to heat up food. The possibilities would have been mind-boggling.

New Year's resolution: do less.

Might even try to teach myself the recorder. Neighbours are going to hate us.

Happy New Year!!

Copper, yes did make it back fine, at taxi driver though. HP was much better than expected, can't wait for the next one.

I have decided to go see King's Speech at the Watermans. Trailer looked really good

Ds1 back to school today, nice to get back into some kind of routine, though he wasn't too keen on the idea!

Packed lunches here too but without much variation - houmous or jam sandwich, yogurt & fruit!! That's all he wants, every single day

Resolutions: finish course, find job

Happy new year everyone! Hope your xmases were relaxing at some point and full of indulgence. All my clothes are too tight, which I'm blaming on mince pies but belly may have been that way before... Ah well, I was expecting to feel guilty in January, so in a way that made me eat more in December to make the most of it

Glad to see Middlemarch has got fans. I've just ordered it. I've been reading lots of Terry Pratchett (funny and ever so slightly clever but not too taxing for my poor old brain), but it might be time to get back to "real world" books now, at least for a little while. Not current real world; obviously that would be a step too far

May your 2011 be full of good things. Best of luck with job hunts and other resolutions!

hello again

staying near today, child tired and constantly eating
I plucked her out of bed at 9 and she only fell asleep at around 11pm yesterday after near 2hrs in bed fussing

Kora welcome back, love the indulge in December for we shall diet in January yep
and Pratchett is wonderful, horribly sad he has Alzheimer's

tilly we fought with daily cheese sandwiches but seem to have reached agreement on a little bit of several things for variety

wave to Dusty too

most of my resolutions are top secret, the idea is a revolution but may well end up with just the slogans

job job job

go to theatre gigs and dates regularly, or else

Hello!

Falling asleep here ...

tilly - King's speech trailer certainly looks good. Firth for an Oscar?? Anyway this is the programme where I heard all about it. And failed to find any Daisy Dalrymple books in Ealing central library. Will try Hanwell library next.

Kora - the less to do with the real world the better! The real world is fine until you have to deal with some of the people in it. That is why I would class internet banking as one of the best inventions of the 20th century.

Reading Nero Wolfe stories now. Very enjoyable. Only handicapped by not having a clue about what New York is like, and these are most definitely New York stories.

Another resolution: wear colours other than black and gray. To this end I have bought red and purple tights (one red and one purple, of course, not all on one pair of tights. I'm not mad.)

Also time to think about camping gear. Would a trangia really work for family camping - cook 2 meals a day for 4 people for say, 3 days??

Hello

Copper - Trangia defo will serve you well. We need new family sized tent so we can go to fest this year, I'm already way too excited about it

Sfx - didn't DD have school dinners before?

Hello Dusty and Kora

King's Speech does look good, would like to see it too

Dentist went well but on way home around 5pm a fox crossed our path ever so casually

Tilly - sounds like DS1 is one satisfied customer!

Going to make packed lunch now as I know it'll be a mad rush in the morning, DS1 has been sleeping til 9am most mornings so early starts will come as shock to the system

vbus she has had both and was determined to have packed lunches this time around

dd was looking tired at 7, in bed just before 8 dozing off then the phone, someone I had asked not to call today and then would not get off the phone she is still awake

King's Speech looks good I think, there are a few about I would like to see at some point

Trangia is good for simple cooking, it will feed you fine imo
there are lots of tips about on MN on food for camping

Tilly he seems easy to please, have agreed with dd what goes on lunch box tomorrow, we shall see how it works

my Woman in White book is quite the page turner

I love my trangia but then I'm only cooking for two and I'm more of a heat up camper (and barbeque) than a "cooking" camper.

First day of a lifetime of packed lunches tomorrow. Oh joy. We have on the menu - ham rolls, tuna rolls, chicken skewers, hummous and breadsticks, pasta bolognese (when I get a food flask) and sausages, accompanied by apples, grapes, tangerines and pears and frozen frubes.

Not all in one lunchbox you understand...

where can you get food flasks for warm food? I have seen a few which seem suitable but then it says 'no hot food'
is it to do with food hygiene and it not being able to guarantee that the food will stay at the right temp for the require period?

sfx - I toy with the idea of getting food flask but it always seems just an incubator for germs... We have survived over 2 years of packed lunches and DS1 still seems happy with the cold stuff he gets.

the ones not suitable for hot food are just not as well insulated apparently. GLTC do thermos flasks for hot food.

OK another plumber/heating engineer question... recommendations for a boiler person please. I wasn't happy with th eone I got from myplumber last time snf I hsvr no hot water. Heating is working but not hot water.

KewC unfortunately we also had countless problems with them, mostly because multiple visits from one plumber failed to solve the problem, eventually they sent someone else who got it sorted but the cost was a problem, even after some settlement of disputes

Copper all the food hygiene courses I attended went made quite scared of prepared food, particularly for children, I saw once their packed lunches trolley parked in front of radiator, honestly even the ice packs will struggle with that one

feels strange having a child who does not want to go to school, I really worry now that she says she does not want to go because at playtime she gets constantly harassed by her 'friend' it has been 'addressed' at school but I am not confident of results if the parents are not doing their bit, should I talk to them? not that I think it would help

anyway sorry for ranting