Olympic Park

[StitchingMoss]

Getting exciting now !

I'm blaming SP and her dh, they made him drink!

He actually tells me he wasn't that hungover - he just loves his sleep!

Back home safely , lovely holiday but what a drive , 1040 miles.

Now piles of washing and a rainy day lovely to be home though.

Hello!

1040 miles Deb? Ouch! We did that in a week driving around the UK but that was spread over 7 days and it was still a nightmare for DH who did all the driving. Word of warning - after my brakes failing incident, I'd always get my car checked over after any heavy mileage in a short space of time. We only had our car MOT'd 2 months before our big trip but after that week our brakes were kaput and 2 of our tyres were bald. (I'm sure everyone is much more sensible than me and makes sure their car is safe before/after big trips, but after my scare I'm forever warning people about brakes and tyres!!!!).

Knitting - I cannot believe your DH was still in bed by 9.30. By then I was up, dressed, travelled 2 hours, had breakfast and had just started delivering a training course Mind you, I was a bit weary that night!!! Funnily enough, no progress was made on my report. Had a great night out. You're right, I could really see that your DH was having his arm twisted whenever he said 'another drink?' It was lovely to catch up without any little people interrupting the conversation. Who's winning the with/without DC argument for next year now? I hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay. I can't believe we didn't take any snaps on our night out!

LaG - how are you surviving with all your visitors? That sounds like really hard work. How was the lunch for 10.

How are you doing Gig? Glad to hear you were getting out and about a bit this week. What did you get up to? When/are the mini-gigs back?

Ok, must go write some stuff for my report. While panic has set in, not enough to motivate me to get started...

Deb, I'm in awe at the driving you did ! We chickened out of driving the kids to Scotland, let alone 1040 miles!!

MSS, dh won - so we're coming back next year sans enfants! I have to say I did well up when I walked past the UdderBelly and all the pushchairs were outside and I could hear the kids inside loving Tiddler , but we had the most amazing four days of comedy. Yesterday we went to see Bob & Jim in this tiny little room with about 20 people in the audience and it was absolutely hilarious and then we went back to the Pleasance Grand for Sandi Toksivg, who was equally fabulous . There were loads of parents there with teenagers though so I'm sure I'll persuade dh to bring the kids one day !

Oh and this is what dh was telling you about !

Hello!

In the thick of hosting my parents for 6 days . The great news is that my Dad seems very well apart from falling asleep ALL THE TIME. They have kindly made blinds for a few rooms, so today we have all been hot and stressy fixing them up. It is surprisingly involved .

It is their ruby wedding anniversary tomorrow, so we are going for a pub lunch and a couple they are friends with are joining us.

The lunch and dinner for 10 was good actually. Enjoyed seeing my cousin who lives in Canada now, so we only see them once a year. My goddaughter is a very lovely 3 year old. Her 7yo sister is still a bit of a PIA

I will be wanting to put my feet up by the time Pirate arrives on Wednesday .

Glad Austria was lovely Deb. Do you find it weird/sad/unsettling going back now or is it just a very nice holiday?

That tin is amazing Knitting. I'm definitely going to get it for DH! Glad to hear you'll be back again next year - sounds like an excuse for another meet up! Though I'll make sure that I don't have to be up at the crack of dawn the next day.

I want to do so much more festivaling next year - I feel like I've done hardly any this year and now I'm tied to this computer for the next two weeks. My own fault though. Although, next year will be tough as DS will start school right in the middle of the festival and the crazy half day system (first 6 weeks of school are just from 9am - noon) means I won't be able to take my usual week off at the start of August for festival stuff. Gah.

I'm glad you're surviving the visitors LaG. Great to hear that your dad is doing well.

I've got a random curtain question again. We're putting DS in a bigger room and it's a nightmare to get curtains for. It's a box shaped bay window (if that makes sense) but the ceiling in the box is lower than the rest of the room which means very limited options in terms of types of curtain poles, style of curtains etc (I can only really use pencil pleat). The box shape also means it's ridiculously wide, so again, tricky to get curtains for. I can find curtains to fit, but none that I really like that will go with the room decor. I've contemplated buying fabric and getting some made but that can be an expensive option.

So (if you're still with me) - I'm thinking of getting the curtains I like, but instead of running them round the window, I was going to run them straight across (so the box window area behind IFYSIM? Because of the lowered ceiling above the box area I can put a curtain pole up. Do you think it would look odd? I would put roller blinds on the windows inside the recess, mostly because it's so light here until late in the evening.

If you even understand what I mean you're doing well!!!!

I think it would be ok but I can see great scope for ds getting out of bed and making a den there could that would be exactly what dd1 would do.

Festival sounds great - am .

lag glad the big dinner went well and parents being ok ESP your df. I am
Not surprised he is tired- my dad says it takes about. 7 months on average to recover from an op so will be a while.

at drive deb but glad you had fun. When are you back to work?

Am waiting for dh and kids later as are back from holiday so enjoying the peace whilst it lasts.

Glad it doesn't sound too bonkers! Not too worried about den aspect as DS is always getting out of bed anyway as he's going to be getting this ikea bed which has lots of den opportunities anyway. I've seen a few beds that I prefer to this one, but I can't bear the idea of building a big heavy complicated cabin bed then trying to dismantle it if we move in the next year or two.

You can tell I'm supposed to be working when I'm wittering about beds can't you. Look away now Deb, but in an attempt to avoid doing what I'm supposed to be doing, I've been contemplating some Christmas shopping . DS is absolutely mad about Batman (though I'm not convinced about how the new cartoon is affecting his behaviour, so will be restricting that) so I thought he'd like the imaginext batman stuff which is currently 3 for 2 at argos (and I think because of the movie etc, I think it might be harder to get nearer Christmas).

Right, lunch and another few hundred words for me!!!!

Glad the DH and minigigs are back later though, you must be really looking forward to seeing them.

Enjoy seeing the family again Gig. Must seem like ages since you were all at home.

On curtains Secret.... What about curtain tracks? Can't you get bendy ones for bay windows? What about wire tracks that you clip the curtain to? Actually, my mum is here. I will ask her...

Thanks LaG! I don't think bendy tracks would work as it is a proper box - the track would need to go a perfect right angles. Also, it's very wide - anything on a track would need to be all gathered on the tape a la pencil pleat style I think? I'd need really wide curtains and I just haven't seen any.

Mum thinks wire tracks that she has clipped ikea curtains to is only for sheer light fabrics.

The other option would be to get 3 roman blinds made up in your preferred fabric. If you have any friends or relatives who can sew it is actually quite easy to make them yourself. This is what I was huffing and puffing about yesterday.

Definitely look into bendy curtain track though, maybe in a U shape if you can't get round the right angles otherwise.

I dimly remember having bendy tracks with heavy Curtains in my first house so think lag mums curtain knowledge is right.

Enjoying last peace before kids arrive. Any bets on how long dd1 will take to rearrange the toy sorting it took me 2 days to do?

They'll be no putting your feet up young lady - I'll be expecting red carpet treatment, a 3 course meal of home cooked food, followed by a home made cake ! Not surprised you're knackered with all that entertaining!

Gig, hope the dh and mini gigs are home safely . My bet is 5 mins .

MSS, definitely need to meet up again ! As for the curtain question, do you really need curtains or could you just get away with a blind? I think a lovely blind can dress a window as well as curtains can.

Just been out on the bikes with the boys - the out laws have left so the house is our own again but looks like a bomb has hit it! I don't have the energy to do anything so just vegging in front of Postman Pat .

Thanks for all the suggestions. I really appreciate them all but I think I'm going to go ahead with my original plan and hopefully it will look ok. I'm not overly keen on track fitted straight to wall, and whole issue of extra wide curtains etc. Knitting - I live in Scotland, so even if this age of double glazing, of course I need blinds and curtains! Actually, blinds are a whole other problem but I won't bore you with that! The design of my windows are seriously flawed. You can't really tell until you start looking at window dressing options

maybe just have the window bricked in for extra warmth

Btw, we are about to reach our posting limit - as this thread is Meet Ups and we live from one end of the country to another, what about "Somewhere in the Middle" for a thread title?

If no one objects I will start a new one tonight .

That's not a bad idea...

New thread sounds good - though I thought it was going to incorporate the sweetie cone thingy? (no idea how to spell it obv).

Hi all

Bit weird t be going back to Austria but relaxing as we knew the area so well. Don't think we'll do another summer holiday there but definitely ski there.If you managed to find my holiday photos on FB you'll see we really did have a great time.

Gig, so pleased the family will be back now , how long before she moved the toys?

LaG, so pleased to hear your Dad's doing well, and well done for all the entertaining

Secretself, I am ignoring the Christmas comment in August!!!!!! No idea about your window problem, sorry. We still don't have curtains downstairs in this house yet

Pirate, love the bike thing on FB, looks such a good idea

News here is that we got the MRI results and it's as expected, some damage to left side of brain, caused by a bleed in later part of pregnancy or labour. So it confirms mild cerebral palsy. However Ethan is really beginning to make progress, with his new walking boots he did a 4 mile walk in Austria and he has managed to jump and both feet leave the floor

Now we're getting ready for the German student we're having for the year, turfing Ethan out of his room and getting the room ready for her.She arrives on Sunday, my biggest concern is that she's vegetarian. I need ideas of easy things for NIgel to cook when I'm back at work !!

Ikea tomorrow and bowling if wet, sorting out all the bedrooms and garage if dry, what an exciting day ahead!!

New thread

How do you feel about the diagnosis Deb? It must be a shock, but at the same time he doesn't seem badly affected by it and seems to be taking things in his stride - literally and metaphorically!

You're having a student for a year ?!

Is Nigel a SAHD now then?

Right, nipping over to the new thread now !

Unless one of you has name changed we have an interloper on our new thread!!

we'll soon get rid of the interloper!

Yes, 17 year old German girl until June. Entire day spent shifting boxes and making Ethan a bit of space for himself when he has no room of his own.

Nigel is a sahd and also works at his music whilst at home and teaches one day.

Feel a bit sad about diagnosis inevitably, especially as it probably happened in pregnancy when Ethan should have been in the safest possible place .

Dreading tomorrow, Ikea with all 3 boys, then bowling (which is fine) but then meeting other host families on way back at 7.30 pm. Our ploy is that if we go with boys then we won't be able to stay long. I've told Tristan the sign I'll give him to start yawning very loudly!!