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Original poster

Tea room 22- A Farmhouse kitchen, anyone for a cuppa?

974 replies

UniS · 24/01/2011 14:47

Welcome to the 22nd incarnation of the tea room. This time we are watching for spring from a cosy farmhouse kitchen. There is an aga for baking virtual cakes and an inglenook with toasty fire and settles to rest weary bones on. The distressed chintz sofa and footstool have arrived safe and sound and the priest hole is around here somewhere. On the Window sill is an aspidistra its pot surrounded by a hand holding circle of nearly naked mohawk babies, they have placards and a brazier.

Outside in the surrounding fields can be found the tea room horses, Earl and Lady Grey, also a herd of bison AND a Ha Ha to keep the bishops from invading.

Usual rules apply, no fisticuffs, if you want an argument go else where. Mellors the butler / game keeper will supply all sorts of things on request. Welcome Mums of one, none or many to the tea room of requirement.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
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CMOTdibbler · 31/01/2011 19:43

It won't be any of yours Boffin - these are ones that people send to our research dept (company has a team that funds/coordinates/buys in research) in a quest for money in areas related to our products

RDA= riding for the disabled. I am gatecrashing a paradressage day to meet some onehanded riders, as I just need a bit of advice.

Commiserations on the yuck nappy.

Chocolate cookies please !

LaVieEnTechnicolor · 31/01/2011 19:47

Hiya. Has anyone opened the Bolly yet? Would anyone like some Sorpresa di Twiglet?

::adopts barmaid posture and hands BoffinMum a glass of madeira::

::whistles for the tea room mongrel::

Donki · 31/01/2011 19:49

Here's alovely chocolate cake Amber!

CMOT - what about riding Western? That is one-handed!

LaVieEnTechnicolor · 31/01/2011 19:51

::Lowers some Bolly into the priest's hole for Amber::

CMOTdibbler · 31/01/2011 19:58

Trouble with western would be reschooling horse to do it. And might be interesting for dressage Grin

oxeye · 31/01/2011 20:42

Bolly? Did you say bolly? Grin
cmot gah about your hand
don't talk to me about funding. The wastelands of oxtowers are feeling the chill. I had a call from the almer mater begging for a donation. I already support one reasearch post said I. Poor child didn't know what to say. You could see him going through his rehearsed script thinkging "how do I answer that " bless he was only 19 or so
anyway poor oxbloke is still gloomy and I can understand why

I am starting to fantasise about an au pair. Am I mad? Would I be able to avoid hysterical home sick teenagers falling in love? a friend of mine had one girl who I swear cast a pall over the entire household ....

Why can't I manage one small boy without help
and I am feeling tge tragedy of the galloping years... Loss by a thousand tiny cuts as Tea (hauntingly ) said about two years ago

Right. Enough. Mellors do your worst

Donki · 31/01/2011 20:51

Dressage.
Aah!

I would do as you are then and talk to the Para dressage people.

I'm sure they will be very helpful. Some instructors might be helpful - or at least willing to experiment - especially with dressage, since so much is in the seat. I used to know of more than one instructor that liked to use riding one handed as a way of improving the use of the contact since it makes yanking the horses mouth around much harder!

I hope all goes well!

LaVieEnTechnicolor · 31/01/2011 20:51

::joins queue for massage::

Donki · 31/01/2011 20:53

Oxeye - I know what you mean about galloping years. I took the YD to karate tonight to try it out (free sessions for two weeks at his school). Parents welcome to join in.

And badly pulled a calf muscle jogging round in the warm up...

My body falls over so much more easily than it used to...

Donki · 31/01/2011 20:54
BoffinMum · 31/01/2011 20:55

The reason it's hard to look after one small boy is because they haven't got ready made playmates. The more kids you have, the easier it seems to get. I found it hardest of all with one DD.

10% of au pairs are fabulous, 10% of them are unbelievably awful, and the rest are rather indifferent IME. It's total pot luck, but we had best experiences with Swiss au pairs FWIW.

BoffinMum · 31/01/2011 20:57

CMOT if your company does anything related to Alzheimers or Speech Therapy I can do you a nice deal on summat BOGOF type of thing. Wink

CMOTdibbler · 31/01/2011 20:59

If you can face having someone living in your house Oxeye, then an aupair is ideal. My colleague swears by Swedish ones - she has has quite a few as her eldest is 17 now, and her youngest 4 (one in middle)- she's had a nanny since birth of youngest, but will revert to au pair after eldest leaves home. Hers cook and clean too

Have acted on your email btw

BoffinMum · 31/01/2011 21:04

I had a very melancholic Swede once, like something out of Wallender. That put me right off.

LaVieEnTechnicolor · 31/01/2011 21:12

::stamps foot impatiently, waiting for Oxeye to get off the massage table::

Experience with au pairs round here very mixed. Some arrive barely able to introduce themselves in English. Some sit in bedroom skyping their friends back home while the children go feral. Others are a delight.

Y'know, I'm just coming to the conclusion that Glee ought to be available on the NHS.

::throws shapes to Don't Go Breaking My Heart::

::now needs a massage more than ever::

missjulie · 31/01/2011 21:33

Hello ladies!
Not been here before!
Would love a cup of tea though (well, coffee preferably!)
You look like a nice bunch, so just thought i would say hi!
Been on MN since Aug, but only recently started getting more brave and 'investigating'!
xx

Original poster
UniS · 31/01/2011 21:33

:: unis reeels into teh room, her head spinning. She lands in a heap on donki's hay pile muttering about FRA and permitted development and water compatible development and PPS25::

Why do the environment agency make it sooooo hard to understand their documents and thus sooo hard to find out just how to do A flipping flood risk assessment for a small skatepark near a brook.

Ohhh chocolate and Danish pastries and au pairs. yes please to 2 out of 3. I'll pass on a home sick swede.

weddings- we had a sort of poshish but in the end not very expensive party after a church wedding and before the village fireworks display. Party should have cost about 5k more than it did! venue informed us that the 5k on top of food and drink they charged was a sole use fee. Then went and accepted a booking for a conference, so we were no longer teh sloe users... dad refused to pay the sole use fee and venue accepted this.
Went to cornwall for a weeks honeymoon in November, Cornwall was largely shut. but we did enjoy some nice sea cliff granite climbing and lots of mugs of tea and cake local cafes.

OP posts:
Original poster
UniS · 31/01/2011 21:34

Hi MJ.

OP posts:
missjulie · 31/01/2011 21:36

Hi UniS!

Scout19075 · 31/01/2011 21:42
LaVieEnTechnicolor · 31/01/2011 21:48

Hello MissJulie. Are you a Stringberg play dealing class, love/lust, the battle of the sexes, and the interaction among them? Anyway, settle down on the distressed chintz sofa and have a coffee.

missjulie · 31/01/2011 21:51

MJ has poured a coffee, and is settling down!
Still getting used to all this MN jargon!!!
(Might need a dictionary to keep up!!!!)

Hi all!

Scout19075 · 31/01/2011 21:57

Brrr, cold. Going for a HC in RL -- would anyone like one?

missjulie · 31/01/2011 21:59

HC?

Scout19075 · 31/01/2011 22:02

Hot Chocolate.

Sorry -- my keys are sticking (thanks BabyScout!) and my fingers are all ripped up/sore again, just as they were healing.