WEST LONDON MEET-UP THREAD - NOVEMBER 2006 - EALING, ACTON, CHISWICK, KEW, RICHMOND, ISLEWORTH, KINGSTON ETC

[MrsBonfire]

It's the 4th and I had forgotten to start the November thread. Shame on me!

Well here it is because the October one is getting way too long anyhow

baby balloon

cbeebies xmas

10 November evening meet at Brula

West London xmas do

SJ's babyshower

Quoks - we went to Morocco for half term (hot). Next year we're deffo staying in the Uk though as we'll have the baby - any recommendations for a holiday destination? Has to be south or west of Watford though

oooh I've always wanted to go there, would like to do it without kids I think. I could spend a fortune at the markets

The souk we visited was like a big shed full of crappo pound shops !!!!

what a bummer foxy. Maybe they keep the good one to themselves

I think the good ones are in Marrakesh. Agadir was a bit aesthetically challenged!

Hi, All! Ended up signing up for the Gymboree St Margs "gym runners" class yesterday - there are only 5 more weeks of term to go which is why I went for it as it's a whopping £10 a class [gulp]!!! Don't you think this is outrageous? DD loved it and I thought well ... feck it, for 5 weeks we'll do it - but I'm going to have a look for something a little cheaper - ie half the price! - for Jan. Has anyone any suggestions? I've heard that Hampton Gym is also v expensive. Am going to try Heathrow Gym soon which has been recommended, but any further ideas for singing/gym classes (for a 2 yr old) will be welcomed. There are so many of these around, it's always much better to get recommendations!

Festival - sorry can't help on that score. I was always far to mean to pay for all these classes for DS and DD when they were 2!!

DS has some after school classes now though, but they're only about £4.50 an hour (Tennis, Spanish which is free and Mad Science). I refuse to pay more than that

Mean mother alert!!!

foxie it has to be mean mother otherwise it's broke mother! dd is signed up for ballet with is around £45 for the term. However, this term she's only been 3x so far because having started reception she's totally exhausted come ballet clase time. Some kids in her reception class have 3 or 4 activities a week after school I just wonder... how can parents afford it and do the poor mites actually get some rest at any point?

I'm quickly realising how it all adds up: swimming plus softplay plus baby yoga. I think it all boils down to the fact that I can't entertain her for long and I'm using all these venues as a substitute for the guilt I feel for leaving her alone to go on MN or surf on the net.

Fizz/PC, Sfx, MrsB
I hope your DDs are all well now.

Hey OXO, did you mention to me that you have a friend whose child go to Archdeacon? I need to know what the deadline is for ordering school pics. Could you find out?

We got a letter saying all the proofs were mailed to our houses. So, nanny enquired at school and said we didn't get this. And they teacher said she new, that Hannah didn't have her picture taken, and they were dealing with it. What?!?!? You didn't take my kid's picture? Sorry, but I want a bit more explanation than that. Anyway, I want to know what the order deadloine is so I know if I should show up in the school office this week or next.

This was our first school pic, and I want one!!

mellow if you have another dc then all those activities are just out of the question . Sometimes I feel sorry for ds2 but hen he has the company of his brother

Uwlilalalalalalalala - why don't you give the school office a call and tell them how you deffo want her to have her pic done? I'm forever complaining to DS's school about their skittiness and inefficiency, putting notes in reading packs telling the teacher what I want etc

pushy mother alert!!!

Talking of which.... I have told DS that he is strictly limited to three after school activities per. week. Luckily one is free (the Spanish is provided by teachers at the school as an after school club). I shopped around for the cheapest tennis - it just happens its a great class about 2 minutes walk from us, but I switched him from a previous dearer class. The Mad Science is at the school and its the best thing ever. They learn how to blow up the school etc and its about £4.50, which is really good value, as they always get given take home toys!!

I've refused many an activity (e.g. the Art place in Sheen and Stagecoach) due to cost. My ante natal yoga was £9 for 2 hours so I use that as my benchmark.

He's also allowed two x £1.50 packets of Dr Who cards a week, IF he does his homework when asked

DD gets absolutely nothing and won't do until she's old enough to ask

Many of these activities involve kits as well (ballet shoes, tennis rackets, football kits etc) When we have three at school, they'll probably be allowed one activity each!

ps. Call me old fashioned, but I'm a great believer in the value of "getting bored" sometimes for kids. We stayed in all last weekend as I was knackered and the kids came up with some really imaginative games as they were so bored

They also re-ran the entire mini-disco they attended on holiday, complete with all the songs, hand movements etc!

hello all, slowwly recovering here

i had forgotten the consequences of a mainly liquid diet

quokka- that break seems divine . i am giving serious thought to just leaving one day and booking myself into an hotel for a solo good nights sleep.

about activities, my is very little but i think they can sometimes do too much, i was having a look at the info booklet 'toddlers upon thames' or something like it, and the cost
a bit of fresh air running around, feeding ducks and reading books will have to do some of the time.

Have now been on the phone to the school. Appears the photographer forgot to send out some of the pictures. You know this little panic could have been avoided if the school had said "We're sorry but the photographer missed some kids when he/she sent them out. We've been in contact and they are sending them, but they will be late". Okay, then we would have had an explanation and known what was going on. Lack of information is not a good thing for pushy parents. I live in Sunbury and got my kid into a Twickenham school, you'd think they'd have seen the whole pushy parent thing coming.

Anyway, I might not have them for Christmas, but I will have them.

So, never mind OXO, I'm sorted now.

Yes, it's all quite exhorbitant, sigh ... if we have another one there will be no such thing as Gymboree - in fact it'll be Tesco Value baked beans on toast for myself and dh for many years never mind the rest! I don't know how people manage with 2 (or more!) - am currently trying to be creative with budgets as I'd really like another one!

Uwila, how did you manage to get your kid into a Twickenham school, was this difficult to achive? Currently v worried about schools!

how we manage with 2... tesco value stuff is great and one learns to use annual passes to their maximum, so we're usually down Kew at least once a month and almost every weekend in the summer

I live about 5 mins from Sansburys but we always use Tesco as its so much better value.

Advert over......

Ha ha Mrs B we are at Kew once a week!! Agree, it is FAB value. I just need to hone my cooking skills and plan menus etc (am currently a la Wendy Craig from "Butterflies" although most of you are prob too young to remember this

not too young but didn't grow up here

I've got a cook book for budget meals I never use want it?

think i am too foreign to remember
but now with just one income, a recent mortgage and plan to have another baby asap, budgeting is the chief word.
i would not let go of my Kew membership, its good for my sanity and we are there at least once a week.

as for menu planning, still working on it but i have always pretty much cooked all my meals from scratch, it helps that we both like cooking

Ohhh .. well I wouldn't mind borrowing it if that's ok!! V kind of you to offer

ok will try and find and dust off LOL we have a whole collection of cookbooks but do I use them? nope... I experiment

Festivevillas, getting a place in a twickers school is my best parental achievement yet. I have saved myself bucketloads of money in the next 7 years. Bucket loads!

The best way to do it really is to build a housein the schoolyard and sleep with the vicar. (didn't do either of those things) But, I do teach Sunday School.

Uwilalalala - you forgot to mention "and pray, very, very hard!!"

I have a question:

We want to tile our kitchen/dodgy conservatory floor: anyone know of a good, cheap, place to buy kitchen floor tiles. We will also need a fitter.