December locals chat

[mellow2]

New thread as the other one is not going to last long.

going to have awhole evening to myself now [smug emoticon]

Good luck with your studying tonight Ros - am full of admiration. I studied just before and after DD was born but couldn't even imagine attempting it now.

The PhD will have to wait LOL!!

SJ - no one got the room, 'cos they have all gone AWOL on me - even the reliable Chinese woman who had gone and got references for me to see etc.

Hmm - back to square one I guess . It its draining having to keep the house spik and span and live in a gold fish bowl, while people view - or worse hang around waiting for people who don't even show. Its a PITA to be frank.

DH and my Dad spent all afternoon fixing the radiator, which I am convinced the last lodger broke. I increased the rent when he left, but am going to decrease it again as I think I have been asking too much - I let it really quickly last time and this time has felt a lot more difficult this time. I raised the rent as I seemed to be attracting studenty types, but I guess I just need to reduce it again but insist on "professionals" and reject all the young un-house trained ones.

Book club was great - good food and we drank champagne and got home really easily.

Are people still interested in seeing the Kite Runner??

Oh and we've decided to have our August book club in France (one of the Grrls has a house there!!) - for my birthday - what a treat {"I deserve it"}.

Hi Fitfox,

As it turns out my mate is on the early Sat morning flight into Heathrow (not fri night) so I am now avail for Friday 25th! Will drive, so will be a sober one for me - (very unlike me) but with my friend here I fear Saturday night will be a toxic one!

Sorry to mess you about but if you could add me to the list that would be great!
Looking forward to meeting you all, I'll be there for 8!

If anyone needs a lift coming from Molesey, through Twix, then onto Richmond just let me know.

good morning all

KC so how was the night?

Foxie - France how lovely will it be a weekend long literary discussion?

Ros - the approaches to learning thing always puzzles me I only know the 'panicked, last minute' one and the 'I would do it even if didn't have to' My course starts next month.

lovely about the cousins dd is a bit alone on that one hers are 16&14 not quite the same.

SJ did your dh manage to go down to work? it sounds as if all the roads that way are flooded.
speaking of which miserable weather now.

amanada be nice to see you always good to get an extra person at the table.

here we had again nightmares from minisfx screaming and recoiling when we offered comfort took ages (it seemed to me) to recognize us and settle, followed by a repeat performance an hr later.
this morning she is all perky asking if we will be doing an exercise video
I remember 2cute going through that last year

morning all

well, yesterday wasn't quite the disaster i was expecting after dd sleeping till 8am.

she was actually the most chilled out little person all morning. had a short-ish nap about 1ish then we went puddle jumping for an hour and she was tucked up by 7:30pm and went thru till 6:30am - result! hope she has broken this early waking business now but i guess we'll see.

hope ds went thru for you too kew.

dd quite clingy this mornign when dropped at childminder. she was torn between taking CM to see "mine school" and me not taking her today. poor little thing! all made well by reminding her of her new hairclips. Pink and one behind each ear - despite she thinks she has three! She twirls about saying "i sooo pretty" a la Princess Peppa!

just assembled my new hoover - dear god the things i get excited about these days!

ps: foxie i want to join your bookclub!

Morning all. Crazily hectic weekend in the COV household. Went to pick up new bikes on sat am and spent over an hour trying to get bike rack and 3 bikes onto the back of the car to get them home. Quick bite to eat then off to dd's birthday party. The horror that is 30 6 year olds and a party with all parents fleeing for the hills as soon as their child's coat was off. To make matters worse dd "decided" she would vomit half way through . Sunday we ventured up to IL's for yet another birthday celebration.

DH was up at 5am this morning to get to Heathrow for his trip To Chicago and will fly back Firday night. Next weekend we are buying our new car , and dd has 2 birthday parties. Oh how I wish for a quiet weekend.

Amanda, funnily enough we moved to Thames Ditton last year from North London too (Woodside Park).

Paddle DS sooo tired that I could hardly keep him awake at about 6pm but perked up after a bath until 8pm when he crashed and slept until 6.30am (bliss). DS very very clingy (I'm sure that nehind the sleeping problem) and wailed loudly (and unusually) when dropped off at CM. I hate that even though I know he'll be happy and perky when I pick him up.

sfx - if she doesn't recognise you do you think it could be night terrors rather than dreams?

That was what I thought Kew (re night terrors) dd had this 3 years ago, and it was very distressing to watch (hers were triggered (we think) after the idiot van driver knocked over the pushchair with ds (5 months) in it and dd (3) on the buggy board.)

However there is not always a "trigger".

night terrors are v common in adopted childrne so we had to learn about them. They are called night terrors because they terrorise the paretns not the children who aren't conscious and don't remember them...

did I miss that it was your DD's birthday I'm so rubbish these days.

Foxie, I have a couple of jogger-y kind of trousers, will leave at CM for DS2 on Thursday if I remember.

It was last Tuesday. My little "baby" is 6

LOL at terrorizing parents, yes she has those no, apparent trigger, we lead a boring uneventful life
with nightmares she usually talks about them at some point

KC glad night went well, it is such a relief to be able to have some quiet evening hrs to decompress

COV goodness 6 is almost unthinkable at this stage, how lovely

paddle are you in pink land now? dd still thinks her bedroom will be pink, dh seemed dangerously close to conceding last night

It is a lovely age actually. SHe got a whole load of board games for her birthday and it is so nice to be able to play with her something that is actually quite enjoyable as an adult. Although I am sad at never having another baby, it is quite nice we have entered a new phase in life now they are 6 and 3. No more night feeding, pushchairs, travel cots etc etc.

"Pink Land" HaHaHa!! I knew you would be sucked into a pink fluffy world eventually SFX LOL!! ...and Paddle

Oooh Paddle which vacuum cleaner did you buy? I got a henry a few weeks ago, and me and Henry are deeply in Lurve..

Amanda - great news you can join us - looking forward to meeting you

We are still lodger free, but I reduced the rent last night and have been inundated with e-mails abd calls as a result Its such a PITA having to keep the house tidy for viewings, and to keep bribing the kids to pretend they are well behaved

My GP gave me the correct medicine for breast thrush, even though its unlicensed - what a wonderful man!

hello all
how we all diddling?

kew, it's horrible when they wail at drop-off, isn't it? but don't worry, when i dropped dd off (who also cried..must be monday morning syndrome ) ds looked happy as larry (who is LARRY please anyone?) and came running up to me giggling and quacking (!) trying to take my coat off. would have far preferred to stay and play with their little gang...

foxie,,poor you having breast thrush but great for a doctor to have a bit of common sense...

oh god, it's a pain having 'viewers" isn't it? when we were trying to sell the cottage, ds1 and ds2 kept asking what had happned to their toys as we shoved them away in the boot of the car (to create illusion of trendy space suitable for young trendy couple) but left them in there for weeks.
and got fed-up spending half my salary on fresh flowers..
but keeping my fingers crossed for you..

got ds1 off school with very sore throat. hoping he's ok to go in tomorrow.
COV...it is just so (comparatively) more civilized when they're older, isn't it? I'm taking ds1, 8, back to the tate modern, just the two of us, on sat as he was so hacked off leaving early due to dd being with us last week..

am ridiculously looking forward to it because
*one-to-one time with ds1

• love the tate modern
• love the cafe but, equally, it's just so EASY.....i love the toddler stage but, let's face it, they're bonkers and all-consuming, aren't they?

right, back to work
have a good day everyone
toodlepip

and fab you can come to meet-up, amanda

oh, i'm with paddle...i want to join foxie's book club..oh say, i don't know for a trial period, just off the top of my head, how about for august

Thanks steppie - I sort of knew he would be fine but its nice to know. Larry? You don't know Larry?! I thought everyone knew Larry.

I think we should have a rival book club and go to ummmm.... barbados in August.

I can;t believe after spending time with our relative DD and DS yesterday that you think toddlers are mad . My neighbour (sam age as me but childless) came over to interview me about Horlicks (I get free samples) after you left and visibly blanched at the state of the living room

"The phrase happy as Larry seems to have originated as either Australian or New Zealand slang sometime before 1875. This date is earlier than that given in most dictionaries, but H W Orsman, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of New Zealand English, has traced it to a New Zealand writer named G L Meredith, who wrote in about 1875: ?We would be as happy as Larry if it were not for the rats?. Unlike other odd phrases ? the Australian happy as a boxing kangaroo in fog time and the New Zealand happy as a sick eel on a sandspit come to mind ? it was meant positively: extremely happy or content.

There?s a suggestion that it comes from the name of the nineteenth-century Australian boxer Larry Foley (1847-1917), though why he was especially happy nobody now seems able to say. Perhaps he won a lot of contests? (He was certainly one of those who originated gloved boxing rather than bare-knuckle fighting in Australia and his name is still remembered there.) But this origin is far from certain and the early New Zealand reference renders it less so, without ruling it out altogether.

Dr Orsman?s suggestion is that it is more likely to come from an English dialect source, larrie, joking, jesting, a practical joke. Another possible link is with the Australian and New Zealand term larrikin for a street rowdy or young urban hooligan, recorded from the late 1860s but known especially in both countries from the 1880s onwards in reference to a specific subculture. Like other groups before and since, the larrikins had their own dress style, in their case very neat and rather severe. The word may well have come from English dialect larrikin for a mischievous youth, once common in Warwickshire and Worcestershire, which itself is closely related to larrie. Either of these sources could afterwards have been reinforced through a supposed connection with Larry Foley.
"

Afternoon all,

Amanda, great you can join us, look forward to meeting you!

Hope everyone else ok

ds slept till 8.30 this morning . I only woke up when dh's alarm went off!

As it was so horrible this morning, we went to the library which ds seems to love now. He's also learnt a new word - 'dirty'. So all morning I've had 'Mummy, floor, dirty'. Really must improve my housekeeping skills .

thanks kew, but could i have a bit more detail please?

that's brill - love knowing what these phrases mean.

that's funny, your blanching neighbour! hope she's set you up with horlicks for life (er, presume you like horlicks..)

yep, barbados in august will do me..do we have to bring the (mad) toddlers?

SFX...step away from the pink colour charts...put DOWN those rosy-hued swathes....

We will already be in France in August (god the shock of costs of holidays now we are tied to school holidays ).

Oh for those who enquired about dh he is much better. I had to change his dressing last night before he went away and took peverse pleasure in ripping it of very quickly