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.

Fresh fruit in choc sauce? Excellent!

Tee, drat re LCT not napping.

Just pondering the extensive maps for tomorrow, whereby me and FineLad have got to get to a uni for his degree interview and I've never been there before and it's 2 hrs drive away. Then I've got to amuse myself for three hours whilst he's being interviewed/tested. Hmm.

best take a book as well as map then Amber, and maybe a flask of tea as well. Are you allowed to tell us which educational establishment want to talk to fine lad?

Northampton, which does a decent OT course. Taking book, map, flask, friend, laptop, dvd player, magazines and a pack of cards I think. Thank you to those elsewhere who suggested that I try to join as many of the student groups as possible before they realise I'm a visitor

At least Mr Car Park Security is friendly and has booked me a nice place for Flora.

Joining student groups is always fun, as is having cut-priced breakfast in the refectory. Enjoy yourself, Amber! (I think mum with Doberman is not secretly enough quite proud of her tough killer dog.

Enclosed order sounds wonderfully peaceful - would you like the pantry, or are you happy to occasionally share the priest hole?

Wriggle has decided that DH must have a skirt for his birthday, as it is not fair that boys can't have them, while girls can wear trousers. We are exhausted in front of (yet another) Dora DVD, having been unsuccessfully shopping for a present, since nothing else will do. She is also surprising passers-by by holding up her hand and shouting 'Gimme six'.

Oxeye, are you not employing more help, then? How will it be when you are on your own?

JM, my favourite the-cupboard-is-bare meal is pasta or rice with olive oil, garlic powder and some plain yogurt stirred in. If you have got the plain yogurt, which is what makes it special (with the garlic powder). It is a dreadful debasement of a delicious meal which Palestinian student friends used to make, which featured fresh garlic and also chickpeas. Another good standby is soup made from tinned chickpeas and a bit of mint.

Still exhausted; have just had (v small) g&T at5pm! Could be the strain of spending the day with friend-with-killer-dog who is pregnant with number three and full of comments such as 'I would never do anything artificial to have a baby - if nature wants you to have a baby then it is the right thing.' One of the first things she ever said to me was 'I would never want to be 40 and have a baby'.

Hello all.

Have had an odd day, being assessed by orthodontist, x-rayed by a nice young man aged about 14 and then massaged by a real life Mellors (although of the lady persuasion).

I feel I should make a statement about my pushy parenting credentials, as I might have given the wrong impression. For me, pushy parenting is making one's child do umpteen extra-curricular activities, taking them to Improving Events in museums and refusing to buy them a Wii. I am guilty of all that. The sort of harassment of teachers which Serpent describes is (to my view) something else entirely and always makes me when I read the threads on here about "surely it's my child's turn to sing a solo in the school concert". I have never done that. The only time I have gone marching in to see a teacher was when I very politely suggested it might have been better to tell me when my child was assaulted by another in the classroom, rather than just giving her a sticker for "being brave". I think that was the right thing to do in the circs.

Anyway, more buns anyone?

UnSerpent, in my experience such ladies are remarkably able to change their opinions on artificial assistance if it actually becomes necessary. And older mums can be splendid.

Techno, that's an odd day, you're right.

Yes please for buns.

Sorry, Serpent. Missed your latest post. I know she has horses, but is that insensitive old trout friend really worth spending time with? Presumably if she develops any sort of illness, she will not seek medical attention, as that would be an artificial intervention and if you scratch yourself on a rose in the garden then dying of gangrene is your destiny? Hmm, I thought not.

Oh, should also say that MissTechno has just told me, rather smugly, that some of her friends have told her that they envy her being an only child because she does not have annoying siblings to trash her possessions and generally cramp her style. It's not a very sophisticated analysis, I know, but it's interesting that these children are certainly not saying (at least, not to her and not for now) that having a sibling is a life-affirming experience.

She really doesn't seem worth the stress to me either Serpent.

Good for Misstechno !

yay for miss technoc's mates. they have sussed out life with sibs and decided its not THAT great.

M- I think the panty might make a very nice hermitage, you would be handy for the jam and bread bin.

BOy has atummy ache?? wondering if I shoul dbe more sympathetic. hes had a hot water bottle on sofa, now in loo. Should be at dinner table...

sigh hold me. Tomorrow is LCT's last day in the baby room at daycare. My baby goes to Fledgling room tomorrow. He's not a baby any more!

::Tee throws herself onto the sofa in a very dramatic fashion and begins to wail::

Huh. What we really need is a fainting couch. How about this one? Only, ya know, without the person already on it.

A fainting couch. What a great idea - it could sit alongside the distressed chintz sofa. Could it also be used for swooning? Mind you, I think I might prefer something more modernist in its styling.

That's nice Tech, but I don't think it would have quite the same effect if you fainted/swooned on it. Something Victorianish is de rigeur!

Also, what is the difference between fainting and swooning? Is there a difference?

No, probably not, but you would have Mellors' rugged features looking down on you as you came out of your swoon. I have always hankered over a chaise longue.

Me too, Tech. My sister in law just got a new sofa like the one in your picture and I'm so over the lounge part of it!

Drat!
Where's the mop? My hay will be all soggy now!

It's all your fault Tee!

Tea anyone? I need to make a fresh bucket anyway.... and here are some delicious carrots for anyone in need.

Now, back to work!

Aha! here you are - lost you temporarily but have found you all again. Nice pad you've made here, UniS! [bsmile]

UnSerpent - am horrified that anyone thinks it's ok to let loose their stupid great dog in someone else's house where there are other animals! Are you sure the horses are worth it? Cos to my mind, you'd be better paying the occasional £25 than putting up with this smug bitch unthinking person and her equally poor-mannered daughter.

Techno - yay re MissTechno and also re getting the tv fixed

Oxeye - hope your domestic arrangements settle out to everyone's satsifaction or you might have to think about a part time OxPoppins again?

Sorry to hear of family losses :( and hope that everyone is ok.

We couldn't have proper Burns night haggis yesterday because my local butcher couldn't source any proper stuff (I told him it had to be made with sheep, not pig, as pig was a travesty and Just Plain Wrong) and therefore we had to have sausages instead. Not quite the same but still chopped animal bits in some part of animal gut, so near enough.[bgrin]

I always thought swooning was the bit people did before they fainted - and sometimes they didn't actually lose consciousness completely and do the proper faint, but no doubt that's just my definition and they don't actually have any difference at all.

OK, let's put this swoon/faint thing to the test.

::Looks at photo of man with cute puppy::

Hmm. That was definitely a swoon.

Swooning sounds very romantic and also rather restful, but I feel that there is quite a lot of hard mahogany on Tee's Swooning sofa on which one could sustain a nasty bruise on the way down.

I think there should be more swooning generally, and fanning oneself with a lace fan while sipping tea from a Spode cup.

You have to swoon with precision!

And sorry Donki. I'll make you more tea, if you'd like.

(I hope that your all are ok in the UniS household - I am thinking of you )

Thankyou Tee dear, it was my own clumsy fault I expect. There is a fresh pot of tea on the Aga if you want some.

swooning is socially acceptable, fainting less so, unless fainting in coils which IS rather clever.
Trouble with fainting is that one has to be picked up, so its only safe to do so IF you are happy to be licked up by the manshapes around one at the time... I only did it once- fainted that is- or maybe I just fell asleep standing up, but either way, Having DH haul me sideways out of the bath was kind naff.

Enough.

I think I am pretty ready for tomorrow. I have full waterproofs and steel toe cap boots and 3 pairs of work gloves. My flask is out and by kettle. Pack lunch is partly made.... what else do I need for a days outdoor education. I'm off to re-learn the gentle art of hedge laying tomorrow and thursday.

Donki- would you like a pallet to go under your hay pile to allow spilt tea to drain away with out leaving you soggy??