Durham / Teeside / Tyne & Wear Meet up and random chat thread.

[KaraStarbuckThrace]

Next meet up, Tuesday 4th September.
During the day, either Botanic Gardens in Durham or the Slug and Fiddle near the Gala Theatre in Durham City centre.

Now for some random chat.
DS sang a song about bolognaise today. And DD walked some more. But still prefers crawling and using my nipples as handholds on Mount Starbuck.

Oh and bridesmaids? What are they?

I am apparently the most unromantic person in the world according to one of my work colleagues for getting married and not telling anyone. I then pointed out that we only actually got married so we could get each others pensions. Said colleague then walked off shaking his head sadly

I can't really do Tuesdays now I have started doing Slimming world and the only session I could do is 9.30 on a Tuesday. Cara is at the childminder's then so I would need to ensure I am back for 12.30pm as she is now doing 8.30 - 12.30. It's a long way for me to go to only stay an hour!
I missed this Monday's breastfeeding group, so I really need to go to the next one.
Monday 4th Feb is out for me as I will be at the Big Carry on in Saltburn - though if any of you fellow babywearers fancy the trip down you could come along, we could make a day (taking into account school pick ups) of it? We can always head back to mine if the weather is shit as you have to practically drive past my house to get from Durham to Saltburn. The meet up itself is at

Definitely need to arrange a meet up during half term!

I will come up on Wednesday unless no-one is free then, and Spiggy can organise whatever day is best for her The main thing is everyone gets a chance to eat cake

PS been going 2 weeks and got Slimmer of the Week this week

Leggy - if no-one is meeting up on Wednesday could I come straight to yours to pick up that stairgate, I won't be stopping (unless you want me to!) I might just go and visit M and the girls instead.

Ooh well done Kara.

There will be plenty of cake eating opportunities in the future so if the next two weeks don't work, I won't cry just buy cake to eat at work

How about a curry night before Indith heads off to the big world of uni though?

Curry? - lifts head hopefully...

Indith - I am indeed on facebook, but nominally for my sad (but lucrative) hobby/obsession of entering competitions. Can't wait to see how well you do at Uni and I know one lovely lady (with little ones) starting in March too. It feels like a dream to me at the minute, as am waiting on an Autism diagnosis for my eldest and a health test for me, but hopefully things will be clearer soon. Is the snow gone yet? Groan.

Will the snow ever go??

Nope! Just started here again :(.

I can do Wednesday - have a massage and pedicure in Gilesgate at 9.30 but free by 11.

Got lovely big flakes falling here atm, but all weather channels assure me today is the last batch we'll have so fingers crossed I can stop worrying soon!

We've just had a couple of hours of snow here grrrr. Hoping it doesn't again until at least 5.30pm, have to pick DS from school then take him to his swimming lesson, both trips with DD in tow!

I meant to say the Big Carry on is at 10.30. Doh!

Leggy, I have heard it will turn to rain. Good, I want it to wash away all the horrible slush!

Been snowing since mid-morning over here. My lovely clear, gritted front path is obliterated again, already :(

And i don't think we're going to get a proper warm up or much rain until monday night. Whatever falls on Saturday night is probably just going to turn to ice.

Yeah more snow here too, just as things were sort of thinking about clearing a bit.

Bloody well wish people would clear their roads, they could use some of the energy they put into pissing and moaning about the council not doing it.

Curry before uni sounds like a very good idea.

When I was clearing out the front, on Wednesday, I had an old woman stop and tell me that the council should be doing it because we pay enough Poll tax! I didn't have the heart to tell her that, in most countries, even with big welfare states, you're fined if you don't do it.

This afternoon, I am mostly peed off with people who have cleared a strip down to the road, but piled it all up alongside the clear bit so it's in the way of anyone else wanting to use the footpath[sore ankles]

Happy New er, Year... Having been under a rock for the last month, I'm back in the room!

Hope everyone is ok?? Fingers crossed not prepping for the bleedin' floods after the bleedin' snow (which while I enjoyed my first ever sledging attempt did stop me going to Scotland to carry on drinkingwith family birthday celebrations).

I'd love to make a meet up maybe next month(mat leave dwindling)? Durham or Darlo/Teesside (Kara -I'll be selfless and eat your cake too).

Hello Trifle!

Yes we do need more cake. Very pregnant Leggy cake still?

Sorry to hear about your health problems golden and the potential autism diagnosis. Hope you get some answers soon.

When is your start date Indith?

The children have disappeared upstairs and are being quiet. Do I go and discover what they are up to which will not be good. Or do I postpone the inevitable, allowing it to get worse but enjoy a hot chocolate in peace?

Enjoy the hot chocolate Spiggy

I need to go clean my kitchen and make soup for dinner before I have lunch and pick the girl up. Why can she not spend the whole day at nursery? Just one day a week. She can do half days the rest of the time but she is sooooooo much work at the moment!

I'll bloody miss her soon though :(

Start date is 25th March!

I am about to rant. If you do not want to read it then don't.

Dh still doesn't know what job he will be doing next week.

Currently- flexible resource so moves from project to project as needed. These can be located anywhere but you do get some say in how far you can travel etc and if you do travel they cover expenses. But the cut backs etc mean actually getting promotion is not happening even thoughhe is working well above his pay grade.

So he applied for fixed roles to try to get promotion.

Got a fixed role. ROle based in Leeds. He hopes that he will soon find a fixed role based locally now he has the promotion and isn't chasing jobs above his official level. (by the way the cunts in his current role are advertising it as 2 levels above his yet won't give him the bloody promotion to one level above) Hoping to bring it down to 3 days a week in Leeds and 2 at home by the end of March. Due to start next week.

Now they say they don't have it signed off as a role yet and it may not happen. WTF?

This is a fixed role. A fixed role based in Leeds. We could have put our house on the market, made an offer on one in Leeds, started sorting out schools for the dcs, I could have withdrawn my uni offer and decided to apply closer to our new home/given notice on my job if I had one. For a job that might not bloody exist! Where do they get off messing people around like that? We've not done the above but it isn't' exactly pushing it to imagine that me might have is it?

I want him to get teh promotion he deserves but I think both dh and I are hoping it doesn't happen and he stays in current role. In which case he will do his contracted hours and no more, possibly over 4 days rather than 5 so we save on childcare.

Bastards the whole fecking lot of them.

Mentioning no names of course.

That is shit. Am both and on your behalf. What the hell are they playing at?

I had the hot chocolate. Then t came downstairs smelling of perfume so I felt compelled to investigate...

Hahahhahahahahahahhhahhaha!

Oh I do so love just being at home with the baby at times. Pick dd up at 1pm though and then all hell will break loose. There will be playdough everywhere, she will go and play in ds1's room because she can't go in hers when dh is working so lego models will be broken (there will be crying form ds1 later), angry birds will be spread everywhere. THen she will insist she needs a rest and put ds1's pjs on and get in his bed and so on and so forth. Then there is the inevitable "sometimes I like to play with your things daddy" where dh realises he no longer has any paris of cufflinks.

Ah sounds like d and h are at the same sort of stage

Don't know what I'll do come September when I just have ds2. I don't remember what it's like to just have one child at home.

Indith am so on your behald, what a bunch of cunt buckets!! Hope they get their finger out soon!!!

Wednesday, meetup 11.30? Leggy are you happy with the Slug or would you prefer somewhere else? Think lunch would be a good idea. Maybe cake as well.

Wednesday would work for me. Would anyone else be a bit earlier than 11.30? Otherwise I'll only be there an hour before going to get dd and an hour always goes by way too fast when you spend half of it chasing a child around.

Hi All, I seem to have come diwn with a very nasty cold, despite only nipping as far as the shop over the weekend , but I would love to join you, if I'm better by Wednesday.

How annoying about your DH's job, indith. It's awful hearing how many people are being messed about by employers at the moment.:(

Wednesday good for me. I can get there by 11, Indith, if that helps? Probably a bit earlier but depends if beautician is running on time. I've booked in for 'an hour of heaven' pedicure, head massage and back massage all for under thirty squids. V pleased with self!

Following this with Sluggy cake and lunch sonds perfect. I shall be so relaxed that DC2 will just slide on out all mellow that night, you'll see...

As toddlers go, T is being delightful right now. Makes it much harder to pack her off to nursery in the morning, and she got a taste for being at home with me last week. But I must keep up the routine or it'll be that much harder when baby arrives.

Indith, yes I can come earlier, 11 will be fine with me.

Fingers crossed cremeegg! Cake and hot chocolate is just what you need when you have a stinking cold!

Leggy sounds wonderful! Will you be able to bring the childgate? Can still pick it up from your place if that is easier for you? Agree about the routine and T!

I've got a group I can't skip n Wednesday and it's not even one I like. And I need cake! V is cutting a top tooth and making very heavy weather of it. Her nappy rash is bleeding, she has a temp, she is incredibly clingy (very unlike her usual self) - I can't even wee alone!

I need cake!

Ah balls, I can't make weds (sorrowful face) as at dentist. Eek! I am so very lax at check ups that I fear I will be given dentures as a telling off.

Poor wee babyViking. Hope she wakes up bouncing tomorrow with full fang or maybe you'll be reaching for the calpol to self-medicate?!