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.

22 years, as you ask.

I appear to be watching a programme with stoned, drooling women labouring on beds under bright lights. This may the infamous one born every minute which is oft discussed on MN methinks. MWs are all sitting around eating biscuits ignoring the mums. It's almost enough to get me to train as a doula.

But I am thinking yay! No more contractions ever! No more childbearing!

Wow, BoffinMum, what was that like? Must be fascinating on so many levels. The biggest gap that any of my RL friends can muster is (thinks) 13 years.

And who's going to play you in Tea Room: The Movie?

My G-ma was pregnant with baby 16 at the same time as her first child (a daughter) was pregnant with her first grandchild. Think there's 24 years between first and last (#16).

Serpent have sent you a pm re knitting

It was fabulous, because I had very young children for ages, which I adored, and lots of support from the older ones as the smaller ones grew up. It has been expensive though.

Tea Room: The Movie. Hmm.

Michelle Pfeiffer is my glamorous alter ego, according to DH.

loving my city

A little music for the evening

UnSerpent: Emma Thompson
Mellors: Gerard Depardieu
MaryBS: Helena Bonham Carter
UniS :Kate Beckinsale
Tee: Sigourney Weaver
JM: Uma Thurman
Norman: Frank Sobotka
Boffin: Michelle Pfeiffer
Oxeye: Cate Blanchett purrlease!

Serpent - you are not a bad mummy at all. I am amazed by what you have on your plate at any one time

I will learn to knit for you and finish that jumper if it will make you happy ....

UnSerpent: Emma Thompson
Mellors: Gerard Depardieu
MaryBS: Helena Bonham Carter
UniS :Kate Beckinsale
Tee: Sigourney Weaver
JM: Uma Thurman
Norman: Frank Sobotka
Boffin: Michelle Pfeiffer
Oxeye: Cate Blanchett
Amber: Cameron Diaz

Good morning all. Large cuppas available for all those battling scary meetings/anxieties/ancient parents/unreasonable colleagues/life in general...or those just in need of a nice sit-down.

Urgh. Ortho appointment today, at which they will order an MRI after which they will tell me to come back in 10 - 15 years when they might replace my hip and knee.

Coffee would be perfect, thanks Amber.

::Slumps on the distressed chintz sofa::

Ugh. Am I allowed to go back to bed?

Oh and when I asked TechnoBloke who should play me in the depiction of my life he said Judi Dench [slight pause] when younger. Hmm. So

UnSerpent: Emma Thompson
Mellors: Gerard Depardieu
MaryBS: Helena Bonham Carter
UniS :Kate Beckinsale
Tee: Sigourney Weaver
JM: Uma Thurman
Norman: Frank Sobotka
Boffin: Michelle Pfeiffer
Oxeye: Cate Blanchett
Amber: Cameron Diaz
Techno: Judi Dench

Beautiful cold clear frosty morning, any one else for a walk. I'm just going to do a little gentle geocasheing & letterboxing for a couple of hours.

It is indeed a lovely frosty morning. I am going to catch a bus this morning! Its been a LOOONG time since I've done that!

Tee, grr re possibilities of ortho appointment. Let's hope they are more enlightened than that.

Techno, yes - straight to bed for you.

UniS, I'll get my hiking boots out.

Mary, do you want to borrow the large tea room net for catching buses with?

whoooo,Unis strides back in to teh tea room. That was fun, hope you enjoyed the scenery too Amber, sorry about that hill, bit of a stonker wasn't it. I'm sure the mud will brush off once its dry.

Found 2 x geocaches, didn't find the letterbox I was hunting for, too many gorse covered rocks and the cloud had rolled in, so I couldn't see any of teh reference points to take bearings from. Lunch was taken in a sheltered spot next to a tumbling brook.

No bishops were hurt during this walk.

::Amber picks bits of bramble out of her clothing and staggers towards the Aga, her GPS unit sizzling in an alarming way after its tumbling into the brook::

Well Ortho surprised me by saying it's my knee cap and referring me to PT. So that's something, at least!

Apparently Frank Sobotka is played by someone caled Chris Bauer. I never knew that before!

Morning Norman, hope your tea is tasty today!
Sorry, I should change you, I thought Frank was the actor. I don't get out much

Mary hope bus ok, is life treating you better or are you catching it from the priest hole?

UniS envy you the walk, I am at my desk
Amber
actually since this is the tea room of requirement, wasn't that a lovely walk!

Now, I am feeling truly bad. I shouted at Oxboy getting to school this morning, not justified at all, I was hassled about being late, he simply remembered one thing we hadn't done. Shouted so loudly the cat fluffed up and fled and later a neighbour looked at me funny and I am sure he heard... sympathy aside, I have to get myself in check because
(1) shouting at small boy is hideous thing to do he looked so little and ^crumpled and then insisted he was a good boy and then tried to cheer me up on the way to school pointing out nice things...
(2) my mum used to be a shouter and I hated it, made me feel I could never be sure how she was going to react - she was emotionally uncertain - and I don't want to be like that
(3) in all other areas of life I am not like tthat, I retain considerable control
(4) oxboy is starting to shout when he is angry and of course he is modelling on me but it is a problem....

HELP dear tea roomers - I realised this morning you were the only ones I could talk to, hence long lunch time post.....

Tis Ok oxeye. Apologise to oxboy for shouting, modelling good behaviour in apologising.
Its nearly half term, a weeks break from school morning routine to look forward to.

You're in a high stress job, with a dh who is absent much of the time, little assistance from an oxpoppin at present if memory serves, and trying to be a model of wonderful professionalism in the outside world and ensuring you get to everything on time, smartly dressed, smiling and in perfect control of your life?

Whereas quite possibly what you actually want to do is scream at the world and hide under a blanket, I'd think.

Have the tea room duvet and a non-mumsnetty no-real-people-were-hugged-really hug.

You need more help, or less hours, or anything else that takes the strain off you. That way you won't be as stressed out?

::adds large cup of tea to available solutions::

Oxeye - Amber has said it all (oh, I've name-changed by the way. PM me if it's not obvious who I am).

In your stressful circumstances, an occasional yell is pardonable, I think. Maybe not ideal - and certainly not if it's your main channel of communication with OxBoy (which I know it isn't) - but pardonable. (Of course, I say this as a shouter in extremis, which generally means when I am tired and ill and buckling). I know your profession doesn't really do part-time in any meaningful sense, but is there anything you can do to make things more manageable, especially at those times when OxBloke is down the Limpopo? What happened to the post-grad student as mother's help idea?

Have some soupe du jour avec les croutons ooh la la.

Special delivery for Oxeye and anyone else who needs one.

(This time I think I figured out who Maud is. Am I right?)