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

[UniS]

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.

PP, I think you just have to hang onto the advantages of having just one compared to larger families.

1. More money. We earn loads yet we are perpetually broke.
2. Out of the dark forest that is babysitting and childcare grief a lot earlier.
3. More space in the house. There have been times we have been so cooped up we have almost gone insane. Well I nearly did, anyway.
4. Better holidays. It costs the GDP of a small country for us to go away somewhere nice and hot in school vacation periods.
5. More spontaneity. You can scoot off and do things more easily when you don't have to worry about multiple timetables.
6. Can have more or less any car you like. We have to buy huge great things.
7. More space in loft. I have to hoard vast quantities of gear to save buying it repeatedly. I am up and down that loft ladder like a yoyo.

I could go on.

for practicallyimperfect

Hey ho there Thumb, we've been thinking of sending out a search party for you. Nice to see you.

I'm pleased to report the presence of actual sun today. So it's not quite as cold as yesterday, but it's still less than 10 degrees in the house. The novelty is taking your coat off to go outside.

PP Welcome. Have some parkin that I just made or rather Kittenito did (as he says "mami just helped a bit). It's quite stickily scrumptious.

Oh and wash it down with this -

(You've got to love this emoticon)

Thumb, that link is freakin' hilarious :o

Glad you're back. xxx

LOL at cake

I have eaten mucho mucho flapjack tonight. It was GOOOOOOOD.

Amber- I thought you LIKED hauling hay with Mellors, doesn't he take his shirt off or at least roll teh sleeves up?? But, if you prefer watching... you could get seb to do it for you?

I am rather suprised at the cow - shall we keep it with the bison? Can't believe we never spotted it before.
Wriggle has been shocked to the core by a picture of a cow on a packet of mince. 'Cows are beautiful and friendly. I will never ever eat any animals.' (Shades of Lola?) She has decided to become a vegetarian.

but can she resist a sausage?

Boy at party today, apparently , went in to screaming meltdown mode when given a bowl of jelly. Oh dear. I knew he didn;t like jelly, but screaming ... thats a new one.

She hasn't yet been subjected to the Sausage Test.
Jelly phobia?

Yep jelly. he's been unsure about jelly before. last party he went to they were offered jelly and boy refused and asked to get down from table. I know he refuses to eat it or even try it at home. Wondering if today was so bad because he was already "coping " with there being a dog in teh house ( he is rather nervous of dogs) and adding jelly just tipped him over the limit of his coping.

Or possibly its just one of his irrational fears and over reactions to random stuff that we are going through currently.

It's very late, but would anyone like to join me in a nightcap?

::Passes out::

Hi all (sorry I missed the party), I have a thread here if you all wouldn't mind contributing?

Ny ny all :o

'Morning!

PI, large unmumsnetty hug for you (of entirely appropriate and virtual sort - no real people were actually hugged during this exercise)

My wing is feeling quite fine, thanks. Bit stiff and sore in a way, but barely a bother. Which explains why I was gardening and walking the dog yesterday and visiting a splendid farm shop with the most amazing range of goods I've ever seen

TW, I howled with laughter at that link

UniS, I do indeed like hauling hay with Mellors, but not for his shirt-shedding qualities. In truth, we have a sort of brother/sister friendship and spend our time debating quantum physics and the top tips for the 3.45 at Kempton.

Who's for a full English? (No, the breakfast!! )

Morning! Not been on this thread for a bit - hope all ok!

I am being super organised today! Got up early and currently have flapjack in the oven!!

My mum and stepdad normally come to see us on Sunday afternoons but he has just had surgery on his knees and can't drive for a week so we are going there this morning. Baked a banana and chocolate cake yesterday, and tonights tea is quite involved, well for me it is, not just a 'take it out the freezer and bung it in the oven'

Happy to provide some light relief! That blog has to be one of the funniest I have ever seen - I highly recommend this one of hers as well, it's fabulous! I actually was crying with laughter and very nearly PMSL.

Thank God the weather has broken here at last - the heatwave is over, rain came, the temps have dropped by at least 10 deg C - life is back on again.

Morning!

Full English sounds lush, thanks!

Bucketing down today and must go out in and get some food in.

JM I'm afraid I have nothing to say on that thread. I have no instincts!!

Right...must go clean...unless Mellors is free?!?!

PP - hello. I agree that being "used" to one gets easy with time. I had a struggle having OxBoy and he was born just shy of my 39 birthday but it was abundantly clear he would never be joined by siblings. I minded in the way that I minded giving up on dreams - the image of the life you are going to lead - but now OxBoy is 4 I agree with UnSerp I am happy. Be gentle on you

Boffin - I agree about genetics but I think it more interesting at how genes are not the be all and end all but the effect of environment - the epigenetic debate

Spice Weasel - welcome

Thumb good to see you agaon
Catita - hola!

Amber & Scout glad various appointments and treatments are going well

to all others, big hugs had a lovely night last night with much
so forgive me if I go and get knocked back by Sebastian

We have MICE!
They are pulling furniture around above my head!
They are living in the loft insulation and walking along the plasterboard that makes up the ceiling!
Two days running they have woken me up at an ungodly hour so I could not go back to sleep.
I hate mice.

I remember in the long lazy lie-in days before Wriggle, having a bowl of porridge in bed [bed], then putting the bowl down and going back to my book. We soon heard little tickling sounds ... it turned out to be a mouse pushing the spoon round the bowl as it licked up the last scraps. Don't know what our cats think their purpose here is.

We tried being very kind to our mice that invaded the house. We did humane traps aplenty. Nope. Afraid we had to get a bit stern with them.

Been to watch show jumping. Thoroughly enjoyable. Then got a call from FineLad who had arrived to warm up for the match, and who said "Er Mum, I seem to have packed two left boots for rugby! Any chance you could..."

Our cats know very well their purpose in the rodent department, so we have never had a problem. Not like one house I lived in as a student where they were in the walls.

Went out for a bimble with pony this morning - was nice to get out on the bridle path and mooch. DH says he's going to go out walkies with him in the week (obv not dh riding)

We had mice. We had humane traps. We still had mice. We got Oxcat. We no longer have mice

Racing, Oxboy clearly lacks Wriggle's empathy. He saw the lamb on the outside of the meat packet - "oh mummy, is that what it looked like when it was alive before it was killed? what was it's name"? Lost interest when I said that was a representation not the actual sheep. I think he would have quite liked a photo....

Boy is like oxboy a pragmatic type, he knows we eat cows, sometimes they are cows from Janes farm and Jane does make fab sausages, we have eggs, they came out of the bottom of chicken, maybe his mates chicken.

We live in hunting shooting territory so I guess I have to expect boy to go through a stage were he wants to beat for a local shoot. If his uncle offers to take him shooting I'll probably let him. His current top of teh birthday wish list is another toy tractor :-)

Just thought I would drop bye and say hello to my haypile! Not to mention all the tea room habituees...

The teapot is on for anyone in need of that find beverage - and there are carrot if anyone wants to crunch one.

Greetings to BoffinMum and Practically Imperfect - I hope that you enjoy visiting the tea room.

Took the Young Donk to York today to visit Vapnatak with some friends. He got bored after about an hour, so I took him onto the Knavesmire to run around and get some exercise.

Just like a young puppy - he found the biggest muddiest puddle he could to splash around in....

at least he hasn't taken to rolling in fox poo!

Practically, just wanted to send some non-MN hugs to you as well and let you know you're not alone.

I am, in a lot of ways, in a similar situation BabyScout is 15 months and I know SO MANY PEOPLE who have babies of a similar age who are pregnant with number two. Sometimes I feel broody and think "aw, that probably won't ever be me again" but most of the time now I think "Thank goodness that's not me!" I feel for how harrassed and exhausted (physically and mentally) all of my friends/family that have more than one always seem, how much more expensive their lives seem, how hard it is to negotiate multiple small personalities in addition to your own and MrHusband's, etc. Having one means I can focus on just him teaching him, playing, ignoring letting him get on with what he wants to do. It takes me ages to get just he and I out of the house -- I can't imagine trying to load up/hustle out a herd of children (or even just a toddler and a baby). (My SiL has 5 1/2 and honestly, I don't think they're ever on time for anything, no matter how early they start the loading process and I've seen the loading process take nearly an hour a few times!)

But sometimes I think -- oh, I'd like to be pregnant again or give birth again (even though I didn't have "the dream scenario" I'd do it again) or breast feed again (see previous message on thread about giving up if confused) or I miss the looks people give a new mum and her baby (that sounds very egocentric written down but it aways seemed sweet to me the way the old dears/small children/other broody moms) would coo over a new BabyScout) or (and this seems to be the hardest for me to give up) I'll never get to hold a just born baby that I just gave birth to and is the splittin' image of MrScout.

As the days go by, and BabyScout gets further and further away from his newbie status, I love having just one. The freedom of only having one personality to deal with/focus on, of being able to do what I need/want to do without having to take into account differing nap/feed schedules and only having one crying baby/toddler/child, not a houseful.

I can honestly say if I had more than just BabyScout right now, given the meds, I would not be coping.

So in my long-winded way, PI, I wanted to let you know you're not alone and don't feel you need to struggle alone. Keep coming/hanging out here in the tea room. I've found these wonderfully fabulous ladies have helped me a lot with dealing with my ishoos of having an only (whether they realize it or not).