The Christmas Chat

[slng]

Oooo!!! I get to start a new thread!!!

Hope you find me!

Hi all. Hope everyone is well.

Ros - hope you and DS1 have a lovely time together this afternoon. I love your DS2's name!

OK, I need your advice, ladies. We normally spend Xmas at ILs but last night FIL called to tell us MIL had broken her pelvis and in hospital now. She has osteoporosis so it might take long to heal but is hopeful to get out of hospital before Xmas. I suggested DH that we stay in Kew so we don't cause any unnecessary stress but DH insists on going. He says it'll break her heart if she doesn't see her grandson at Xmas. I am worried our ever energetic DS would do some damage to MIL. How do we restrain DS getting too close to MIL? I mean, their house is a small bungalow. How long does MIL need to recover fully? I don't even know if she can walk. I suppose I needed to vent after having a big row with DH over it. (He thought I was making execuses not to go there.)

Sushi - Hmm tricky - I reckon it would be nice to go and visit but reduce the visit time. I am sure she would love to see DS and it will cheer her up but maybe just go for a few hours or maximum 48 hrs if its a long way away. That way she gets the best of both worlds - she gets to see DS but can also rest

Kew I can do Cat feeds too - am away on Xmas day only

SFX - LOL at White House jokes

Here's one you'd like:

When Boris Johnson opens his speaches he often starts with:

"I won't detain you long with my speach - although the government can detain you for 42 days!"

Told to me by my new best friend

...am working on Alan Johnson

Should that have been "speech"?

Some of the Teaching Assistant's in the DCs school make mistakes when they correct homework!!

Appranelty lots of teachers can't spell and don't have basic grammar

I reckon grammar is dissappearing with the current generation

Innit?

auntie - don't get me started...

sushi - agree with auntie about visiting ILs.

Thanks for the advice, auntie. I suggested that to DH and he said 'maybe'.

ros sorry things are rough hormones are pesky little things, I suppose some regression is to be expected from ds1 hope things start settling
and it is ok to post when having a rough time

sushi I would go but stay somewhere nearby and just do short visit, I expect she will take a very long time to recover
but it is hard to negotiate that one with other half

auntie that is a good start t a speech
regarding grammar where I come from we were issued with a grammar book on the first year of primary and are expected to learn it all by the end of primary school
knowing your pluperfects and your irregular imperatives was a must
I

auntie teacher 'correcting' with errors would turn dh purple, should I start preparing him now?

hi all
life a bit bonkers at mo...building/work/christmas hassle/school activities all merging into one big fat, er, hassle.
hey, think i'm officially a grumpy old woman
ach well, looking forward to us all being off over hols
dh off tomorrow until after new year

ros, sorry you're feeling a bit down. hormones do play a large part but a new baby, albeit much wanted an joyous, can alter a family's emotional equilibrium.
don't beat yourself up, give it time and talk to dh. hope you had a lovely afternoon with ds1.

sushi, do dh's words about her being heartbroken come from MIL or from him? if not, first thing i thought is ask HER what she actually wants - maybe she'll be grateful if you tactfully sound her out about not coming to stay - if she doesn't feel up to it.

otherwise, like others said, compromise with a shorter visit. sounds a nasty injury - i hope she recovers well
oh lord, that time again..
toodlepip

and wrong "corrections" drive me nuts, too
one of ds1's teachers said ds1's writing creativity was more important than his spelling/handwriting.
steppie:'no point writing brilliant stories if no bugger can read them."

slng/sfx/steppie - many thanks for your advice, too. DH told me that MIL told FIL that she deffo wants us around at Xmas. Well, we can always stay at SIL if anything. MIL is generally not well even before this, v frail with disability and various chronic illnesses. Hope she recovers quickly but I have a bad feeling this might take a long time.

steppie - sounds chaotic, hope things settle down soon. LOL at your comment to DS1's teacher. Did you actually say that?

SFX - impressed by your memory of what plu-perficks are

I remember doing Latin at school, did you do that too?

I had my end of year appraisal today and my hero boss scored me as "Exceeds expectations" for every category. I think that either means his expectations were very low in the first place, or he is somehow under the impression that I work hard

He said my pay has been market tested and I should get a "bench marking" pay rise (meaning I am slightly under paid for my role compared with the sector) plus an "exceeds expectations" rise

I already got two pay rises in the last 14 months!! Plus I expanded my hours back to full time so have effectively experienced three pay hikes in 14 months

Sorry, but its not often I get the chance to feel smug (am usually too knackered)

After all that I am slightly worried that the company will decide on a 0% pay rise for everyone, so it would havew been a waste of time bothering to work hard anyway

Evening all!

Ros - hope you had nice afternoon with ds1. I think he'd have to be a saint not to act up now and then, having had his position usurped by newcomer so I should cut him a lot of slack for a while!

steppie - I have similar grouse about school's emphasis on "public speaking" - they can speak as publicly as they like when they've got something to speak about, but meanwhile perhaps they should set about learning that something that they are going to broadcast to the world. And what's so bad about not wanting to braodcast your knowledge/ignorance anyway? I'm not talking about reception children though - all they should do is play, really ...

Must tidy up, perhaps accompanied by a glass of something-or-other.

I wish I did Latin. And more grammar ... But most of all I wish we didn't fall for school propaganda and abandoned our dialect ... That's why I mistrust schools ...

thnaks Auntie - I'll bear you in mind (cats really dont need feeding every day if you leave them plenty). Though they do appreciate a bit of company of an evening occasionally...

Kew - Can take DS1 and Dd round there to fuss over the cats if you like

Ros - how ar the nips?

IKWYM I felt very guilty with DD afer I got PG with the Fat Toddler, as it meant I was consigning her to a lifetime of being the middle child, rather than my "baby". Strangely I didn't feel guilty with DS1 (when PG with DD) as I felt he would benefit froma sibling and he will always have the privilaged postion at top of pecking order

No one impressed by my super score at work then? TBH I've never had a super appraisal before - have always been "Mrs fairly OK at everything but actually pretty average and with no special talents"

Hi everyone. As always I'm crap at keeping up and don't have time to catch up properly. But I was just talking to Quokka who is coming to London soon and I said I'd pop on here and organise a meet-up. So, I'm starting a thread in meeet-ups. Can anyone who is interested in joining us (and of course everyone is welcome whether you have actually met her or not) come chat on the thread.

Right, off to create thread. Will be back with a link in a minute...

Quokka is coming to London

Oh, fab news on the appraisal, Auntie. I remember when you were having some struggles when returning from mat leave. It is so nice to be recognised when you work hard. Something I never got from current job, hence the resignation.

I'm sure you deserve it!

auntie very impressed, well done looks like they want to keep you
and yes I did basic Latin one of my sisters did A level

KC so is the passport sorted? hope things ok there

oh god please don;t ask about passport. Homeoffice have promised they sent it several times. Rang them today when it didn;t arrive to discover it was sent today . They say they have sent it special delivery so it should arrive tomorrow but of course I will be in work trying to scrape enough cash together to pay salaries before I go... if I go...

good morning all

another day indoors I can tell this is going to be hard going really crave silence and alone time
stop winge

hope everyone is well, lovely and sunny out

Just thought I'd share my misery - apparently Home Office have not sent DS's passport special delivery but put it in the ordinary post. It hasn't arrives and there's no way of tracking where it is. Looks like holiday is going up in smoke unless passport miraculously makes an appearance tomorrow morning which is unlikely given Xmas post and the fact that bloody home office only put it in the post yesterday.

So miserable , poor DS will be wihtout his beloved Nanny and uncle and won't be going on his big ship. So bloody furious with Home Office.

oh that is awful am so sorry, still might arrive tomorrow

Oh QC, that's awful. Hope you get the passport tomorrow. If not, can you join them later at some port?

Hope everyone is OK.

tiny chance it might arrive tomorrow (they only sent it yesterday it now seems) Richmond sorting office say they are awash with Xmas post and it's chaos.

We can't fly out - DS doesn't have a visa for any of the countries as we didn't have time to get one and were plannig to stay on board.

Of course there is still a possibility but realistically its not a high one.