Tea Room the Eighteenth - the Cricket Pavilion

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Welcome one and all to our new abode - a lovely old-fashioned Cricket Pavilion, with decks outdoors and a rather lovely Members' Bar, complete with deep-seated leather comfy chairs and any drink you care to mention.

Our outdoor amenities include the well-tended cricket pitch, kept immaculate by Mellors, our multi-purpose man; a couple of tennis courts round the back for those who prefer the Wimbledon scene; and another multi-purpose pitch (can be used for hosting Fine Lad-style rugby matches, or Little Kickers' football, or the occasional All Comers' Lacrosse Tournament.

Bishops abound, mostly snoozing in the leather armchairs; there are sundry animals around - guineapigs and bison mostly - and of course the Naked Mohawk Babies, fetchingly attired in cricket whites (most unusual for them!)

The cricket pavilion tea room is open to all - those with only one child who need a safe haven predominate but having more than one child is fine - come in, have an egg'n'cress sandwich and a glass of Pimms!

*other fillings and beverages also available.

Lampshade is an improvement now you come to mention it.

UnSerpent - I feel I have drunk enough wine in rl care for you well enough to be frank... AHHHHEEEEM (brave face).... WHY on earth are you still hanging out with bleeeerdy smug friend???? Can't you distance yourself a bit? She sounds ghastly!!! Wriggle on the otherhand sounds delightful and I can't wait for the day Milk and her are rolling in mud together covered in flowers because they are butterflies etc etc etc!!!!

I am very sorry about your AP... In my family for all the generations in living memory women have given birth in their 20s which means my parents are pretty young compared to my Mummy friends' parents and it is currently my Grandparents that are starting to wobble. I live in fear of the day my parents who are my mental rock wobble themselves and feel for you deeply on that front...

UniS - Usually I would scream yes at beer and peanuts but dh has organised this wine, smoked salmon and film night so I better sneak back to it!!!

UnSerpent - oh sweetie, I feel for you. Tough with AP what support can we give you since DH and Sis are not much help?

I second Tea - Ditch the Friend - wriggle is lovely nuff said

Scout, I will tell you my bouncy castle incident to make you feel better this summer in France oxboy was having a wonderful time on bouncy castle. They make me a little queasy - the capacity for serious accident and mismatched sizes of kids etc. Anyway I was sitting watching, not quite helicoptering, but you know.... when I saw two big boys literally jump on Oxboy. I know he is very keen on big boys and tried to join in/ mimic their games which can be annoying so I just watched, but then they did it again, pulled him round by one arm and flung him on the bouncy and then leapt in air and jumped on him

I shot off toward the bouncy, sort of shrieking, but my french (not great) failed me so I sort of shouted "non, non, qu'est que tu....." but that was it. Boys looked stunned as weird shrieking woman ran at them. They backed off

Little bitl later Oxboy says "mummy why did you shout at those boys we were playing and now they won't play with me" my heart broke into little pieces. How to explain they were playing rough, and were trying to hurt him - but maybe they weren't...I have a horror of bullyng since I was bullied when little ... maybe I just misread it and the boys were having fun.....

Heh ho. I coped by rushing hysterically to DH and leaving the whole area for him to supervise.

Long post. I guess I'm just trying to say it's hard Scout, it's really hard sometimes...

Hey guys! Thanks for your advice the other night. In particular thank you Amber for your advice on the custody situation with my friend.

Oxeye! I'm due to send you a parcel. I need your address. Hmm...how to go about this? One of the tea roomers you have met in rl could text you my email address (b/c I can pass it on to them using FB). Then you could email me? Any other suggestions?

Tea - My family for generations has given birth in their late 30s/40s ... yours is a better plan, really.

I regularly vow to give up SmugFriend, and then remember how much I enjoy messing about with ponies, puppies, chickens and reindeer (yes, her latest plan is to breed reindeer!)And then she keeps phoning. She is just the most thoughtless and self-centered person I have possibly ever met, emotionally - materially she is possibly the most generous. She frequently doesn't understand why people fall out with her. She was in the army, which is where I feel she fits in perfectly.

Discourage Milk from being a ladybird - they keep on ending up wriggling on their backs a la Lola's beetles and therefore take ages to get upstairs to bed.

LOL at ladybirds wriggling. You have great patience UnSerpent!

AandO - ah, parcels! Now you will have to remind me how it goes, I was down for Mary but she and Amber ducked out so I am not sure who I am sending to... and I have forgotten
was is something useful, something funny, something ?? all for £5.49?

Was it something to read, something to eat and something to wear??? For £6.40 I think. Tea is sending to me and that is all set up (thanks Tea ), and I am sending to you Oxeye. I have no idea who you are now sending to ! Does the text from Small or Tea or whoever has your phone number suit you?

Oxeye - I think (although there have been lots of swaps and re-adjustments and I'm rather confused now - that you are sending to me and I am sending to Serpent.

Serpent - I second or third the advice to keep Smug Friend at arm's length. Wish I could suggest something constructive for the Aged P. We'll gladly listen to you vent, if that helps.

I think play places where children play alongside children of different ages can be very fraught. I had a few anxious moments at our local soft play when children who were far too big - they had to bend double to get under the height restriction - were leaping around in the ball pool when SmallGirl was tiny. But, then of course, she got older and the boot was on the other foot. What used to make me was parents who would take toddlers onto the equipment meant for children of 5 and older and then start tutting if any five year old came within their helicopter exclusion zone. Ah, those were the days.

Well, I'm off to bed. But I might have another Bolly before I go.

Hic.

Serpent - I understand your reluctance with the dementia word - but if you think at all that it may be heading in that direction, then an ounce of potential prevention is better than a ton of non-cure so please do try and get her on the vitamins anyway. It might be an idea to get her to go to the docs and get her Vitamin B12 levels checked - as people get older, especially if they suffer from acid indigestion and take antacids, their ability to absorb certain nutrients diminishes - and B12 is sometimes a major casualty.

Am also rather at smugfriend - but perhaps she doesn't realise how rude she is being? Might be a bit confrontational for you but perhaps you could try telling her how rude she is being? You never know, it might improve things.

oxeye - re the bouncy castle - I would have reacted in exactly the same way.

Well, Small, I would be DEELIGHTED to send you a parcel

Does anyone else think they are sending to small?

If not, Unserpent we were based on your best ideal of a parcel, there was definitely something odd/ funny to be had, non? but read, eat, wear for £6.40 is great

CMOT, Amber, Tea and Small all have my email addy - it's my mn name . live . co. uk

oh, I have just tried my mn email and can't get it to work, but the others have my real one!

oxeye - I have just tried to send you an email to your mn name at live dot co dot uk and it has been rejected - have you checked into it recently? They put the accounts out to pasture unless you access them at least once every 30 days.

sorry, remarkably thick of me there - have just read your previous and realised that you already know this.

hmm. I'm going to have to try again aren't I! Thumb did you know our school is having a special lunch on 2 Oct because it's 25 years since we left

. Hurrah.

I'm just popping in to wish T42 a happy birthday and to wave at everyoen else. Much sympathy to those with difficult stuff going on (and an extra big hug for Unserpent; I cannot imagine how hard this all must be for you)

Toodle pip all.

I think I saw something about it, oxeye, but since I'm too far away to worry, it didn't really impact on my memory banks.

I say! Cracking shot, Catita! But not quite "over" the Pavilion, alas!

Motherhood is fraught with difficulty, isn't it?

Yup

YUP!!!

Please take a sneaky peak and post any ideas...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/good_housekeeping/1048748-systems-and-routines

... I am feeling quite down about my "keeping the place clean and tidy and in order" Motherly role!

This morning I was in shame because I had to hairdry Milk's dance leggings to get them dry in time for her dance lesson! When I finished I walked past one of our small wooden coffee tables and pushed it over to 'let out' my frustration at being such a messpot! Milk (who with being at school full time now is having a few too many frustrated outbursts of her own) saw () and said in a very calm voice "You do realise you will just have to pick that back up now, don't you?" - but it did feel soooo very good to do it!

Tea, I looked at your thread but have no good ideas - I feel submerged in mess, junk, dog hair and general bloody clutter all the time! Can only dream of a cleaner, although my mother does most of the washing up and ironing. And yes, that is the same mother I am so worried about - how exploitative is that? She maintains that she couldn't live with us if she didn't feel useful, so really I owe it to her to allow her to do all the washing up ....

Incidently, I cannot imagine achieving all the other poster's cleaner seems to in that time - maybe it depends how much ironing, etc there is.

Likewise, I can think of nothing to suggest. I was amazed too by how much the cleaner did - maybe the prospect of being paid means she's more motivated than I would be? Or maybe that family is less destructive of the family home than we are.

I'm sitting here with a hot chocolate, thinking about going to get the hoover to zoom over the room.

Would anyone else like one? (Hot chocolate, that is. The hoover is nice, but not that nice).