December locals chat

[mellow2]

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

think you are right, they can do their stuff in the park but for me it is very near and while the weather is bad we might do a few until Easter also the time is good, Ros 9.30 we would still be having breakfast.

now dh is baking a banana cake I expect he wants cake for breakfast

yeah, Thurs am is always a bit of a rush for us but the later class is too close to his lunch/nap time & I don't think he'd take to it as much

Banana cake sounds yummy!

Ah 9.30 breakfasts. I remeber those, then we hit the nursery/school years

LOL at the ducks in the pub car park

SJ - DS2 has just discovered his willy - everytime the nappy comes off he makes a grab for it .

PADDLE are you out there? I badly need your advice pronto!!! The Wi Fi router never arrived and isn't coming (got a refund) any idea of what else I could buy? IT is like a language I have not yet learnt to speak

good morning all and it is sunny for a change so will grab wellies and head for Kew, Lollipop can wait. anyone care to join?

Cov - was shocked that nursery starts at 7.30 am guess of course for working parents but still might spell the end of family diners.

Ros -dd does not have naps and has not had them for months so it is easier to schedule, but she still needs quiet times.

banana loaf yum, hot slice just before bed - hate dh

Looky here everyone who is coming on Friday :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/4136/443820?ts=1200993888344&msgid=9341628

foxie, what happened to the router?

i still recommend the speedtouch580 but in a manic rush at teh mo so no time to hunt one down for you.

another alternative could be to go for the BT HomeHub. you're on BT aren't you? it's a wi-fi router that also gives you freeview tv.

it has to be located by your TV tho and that might not work if your pc isn't wi-fi enabled but you can get a wi-fi card for it.

would appreciate some West London posse advice on 2 things.

very quickly, my downstairs neighbours are pretty noisy. they fight quite a bit during day/evening but also in the small hours.

probably 3 out of 7 nights i get woken between 2am and 4am by either him being really loud or them fighting.

last night it was 2:45am and for 15mins he basically went ballistic. directly below me then, i think, below dd's room. she yelled back a bit and screamed once. lots of banging around and then he started growling like a dog! by 3am it was completely silent again.

luckily dd didn't wake up. i was on pins for the rest of the night and really only dozed on and off.

my other neighbours have said they've had problems with them too. should my vendor have disclosed this?

i do have some concern for the wife in terms of DV issues but tbh they seem as bad as each other. am thinking i could contact the freehold/management company perhaps.

any views?

secondly, should i pay a lump sum off my mortgage or use the money to re-do the kitchen? teh oven/hob is pretty rubbish and if i'm going to replace it i might as well do the kitchen completely.

or should i just sock the money off the mortgage?

oh no pc - and I thought you'd have no trouble with the neighbours . If your vendors had "officially" complained about them, then you do have a ground to stand on but, TBH, I bet they just put up with it, knowing they were selling the property. Sorry to hear this.

Oh and we were going to get out kitchen done (remortgaged to do it) but as we're moving next year, we're keeping the money for our new house. It depends on how long you plan to be there, to enjoy the investment. Or you could get a cheap, practical kitchen from Wickes (and my brother is a carpenter!).

morning all

sfx...would love to come to kew as it's such a day but working. enjoy!

foxie..thanks for swim/jacuzzi/steam sesh last night. really enjoyed it.

paddle...oh you poor thing, bloody neighbours. echo mrsR's thoughts. even if vendors did say anyting official, the reality is you are now living there and listening to their spats.
might be worth "having a (friendly) word" i think it's good straegy is to 'befriend" thedm so you can then say in a chat, how thin the walls are and how you hope dd doesn't ever disturb them...and hope they get the hint.

yep, re kitchen..depends how long you're planning to stay there. but would deffo be a good investment (get it back on sale of house) and it would be such a treat, wouldn't it and really make it feel like 'yours'. if it makes you feel good, i'd say use the money for a luvverly kitchen. but that is purely heart ruling head...

kew, hope you and ds feeling better today

sushi - welcome back hope you're over the worst of the flu now
toodlepip

hmm, yes, and as for willy-talk, the times i've hissed "get your hands out of your pants" at my boys.....

ds1 sometimes asks:"Why is my willy dancing, mummy?"

sorry, that should be ds2..
don't know if ds1 has an all-dancing, all-singing willy, but he doesn't tell me about it..

Hello all

LOL Steppie! Sometimes DS looks in my pants to find my willy Anyway enough willy talk

PC - Poor you having to put up with that, doesn't seem fair does it? I would go down Steppie route and try and drop some subtle hints about the noise levels to neighbours, say you heard lots of noise during the night & was bit worried etc. Hopefully they'll get the message and tone it down.

As for money - I'd pay off as much as poss off mortgage but that's because I hate debt. Maybe see if you can get kitchen done on the cheap if you really want to change it

Sfx - I would've loved to come to Kew, wish I'd logged on earlier. Ended up at new playgroup, DS really enjoyed all new toys. Might head to park later today
at banana cake, haven't had that for yrs as DH doesn't like banana & DS allergic to eggs so I never get to make it, boo hoo

very quick catch up - in work feeling sorry for myself but not as sorry as poor DS who looks very pale and soulful when I left him at CM today.

Hi all

Nice to see you last night Steppy

Paddle - regarding whether to invest in a kitchen or pay off mortgage, I would say it depends how bad your kitchen is. A nice kitchen can sell a property, but people often rip the kitchen out because evryone has different tastes anyway. If it were me I would try and achieve both: You can save money by getting the kitchen tarted up if the carcasses of the units are still sound (rather than having to pay for someone to install a new kitchen). That is what the Polish guys did in my kitchen - sanded and painted the doors, put new worktops on and put a new floor down. It has given it a facelift at a fraction of the cost.

Then you could still pay a small chunk off the mortgage. If you expect your wages to increase in the next 5 years, I wouldn't worry to much about the mortgage, but if they are likely to stay static or go down (if you reduce your hours, for example) its wise IMO to pay off as much as you can. That's what we are doing with lodger income (as well as funding the cleaner LOL). Interest rates are pretty certain to go down in Feb too. You need to think long term really.

Thanks for the Router advice - its gobbledigook to me !!!

Have you lot all looked at the Grrls night out thread?

Hi all. Well I chaired my first pta meeting this morning and I think it went well. TBH it is turning into a part time job with all the organising etc i have to do. I am currently trying to organise a silent auction for an eglish rugby shirt signed by the players. We are planning to spread the word as far as possible and have a web page where people can put their bids. Then the winner will come to the school and have it presented by one of the team. Then I have to organise the May fair, childrens' film show, cake sales, easter events. I am quickly learning the art of delegation .

Hope ds (and you) feel better really soon Kew.

I've seen the change of venue for friday (looking forward to getting out - it was a long week with dh away and he is still getting over jetlag, so not much use).

Beautiful day today. I took ds out for a long ride after nursery, he is still a bit scared in the seat when it wobbles but when we are sailing along he loves it. We did have to trace back part of the journey to locate his missing shoe he decided to remove (found it thankfully). That is one problem with a mischevious toddler being out of sight.

thanks for the responses.

this is the nutty neighbour that comes banging on my door at 7:15pm demanding i come and help them do DIY. just when dd is going off to sleep etc.

my other neighbours have said they've had probs with them and were surprised to hear that the husband was back on the scene.

i have said that i hope dd isn't too noisy etc when i've seen her previously and she alwasy says either "oh i'm deaf" or "i can hear footsteps" etc.

honestly i really don't want to get pally with them. sometimes she's quite "normal" and other times she seems whacked out.

i must admit that i am pretty unsettled by it. the ferocity of the his shouting and so on last night was horrible to hear. the prospect that i have bought this place and am unlikely to move for some time is really bringing me down if it's going to be like this forever.......

wrt to the kitchen, good points from everyone. still undecided. if i do it i'd like to see if i'm allowed to take that wall down and make the kitchen/living area open plan. am sure this would add value to the property. otherwise guess I could just get away with new oven/hob and put rest towards mortgage.

kew, sorry for not acknowledging you guys are poorly. hope you're both feeling better soon. dd is going thru a bit of a clingy phase at the mo and is getting quite upset when i drop her at CM.

I guess she's had a lot of change this month. Extra day at CM plus 2 mornings at pre-school. breaks my heart but CM tells me she's right as rain as soon as the door closes!

foxie, the one big question is "is your desktop wi-fi enabled?"

ps: feeling slightly glad that i do not have to deal with "willy" issues (on any level!!!) but very apprehensive about what i might have to face instead

well, paddle, plenty of front-bottom fiddling goes on from dd, too

yes, it's awful hearing the ferocity of other people arguing, isn't it? violates YOUR space, too. no, certainly didn't mean you to be mates with them (pleasant as they sound )

having a frustrating day work-wise. cover your ears..going to shout....
WHY ARE PEOPLE SO UNRELIABLE?
WHY CAN'T THEY SIMPLY BE AT THE END OF THE PHONE AT A PRE-ARRANGED TIME INSTEAD OF CONSTANTLY GOING AWOL?
ARRAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
ah, that's better
rant over
as you were...

oh, and cov, very civilised having pta meetings during the day. ours are at 8pm.

Strictly speaking it isn't pta (we don't actually have one) it is called "the friends of (insert dd's school name)" and it is all mums, with the headmistress in attendance. It is attended by the hardcore very involved mums, and we have evening (pub) meetings to fill in the WOHM who can't make the meeting and get ideas from them too.

paddle can you tape DD wailing and when they start arguing lower the tape recorder out of your window and play it really loudly?

CoV - glad to hear that the school are benefitting from your organisational skills - sounds as though there is plenty to get your teeth into (no pun intended)

Its quite spring-like today isn't it?

Paddle - er no its not - um is that bad???

hello all

kew hope you both feel better soon

Cov - congrats on successful meeting, delegate delegate,get all the credit - first lesson of management

paddle sorry about your neighbours, maybe social services/ police are already involved?
It comes a point when distance and a serious complain is the way to go.
we used to have neighbours across from us that when the man used to get home drunk late at night the women had the door locked and he would stand for hrs banging and shouting, on the same landing as us they would not let him in understandably. I often saw him sleeping it off by the door in the morning.

SJ / Steppie would have been nice to have seen you too, we had a fantastic day spent over 4hrs walking about loads of sunshine, gorgeous birds every where and quiet.
dd made a friend, an old lady in herringbone and sensible shoes, they talked and walked around for ages discussing birds trees and fairies

btw dd calls it 'bits' dh says he is not yet ready for the V word

We've just been out for a walk. It's freezing!
(It is here north of the M4 anyway.)

SJ will bake some banana loaf to bring to our next book swap get together, will try to make it extra yummy