The One and Only Tea Room - Now Hanging in Babylon

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Well folks, here we are, transported through time and space to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Golden couches and the distressed chintz sofa are arranged on a terrace overlooking the Euphrates and, as we recline on the exquisitely-soft cushions eating peeled grapes, we can enjoy the warm fragrance of the gardens' many exotic blooms. The garden is tended by the indefatigable Mellors, with occasional help from the bishops, rabbis and any passing world leaders. Somewhere behind the terrace there is an aga and a priest's hole, with optional massage table.

Please come and join us for a celebratory drink and conversation ranging from the profound to the profoundly silly.

Oh well it was a well loved jumper then!!

Strange day today -- tomorrow will be even stranger. Off to bed soon.

I once sold DH's boots in a car boot sale. I had bought them for him and he had never liked them ... until about a week after I had sold them. Just shook my head vaguely when asked about their whereabouts.

Hello, Shel. I have one four-year old daughter and we have no friends with an only child (except here of course).

Tea, I was going to suggest one large cake to share - buy two sponge cakes, cut a large circle (around a plate) out of one and two small circles for ears out of the other and assemble on a tray/breadboard and cover with white icing and make choc button/biscuit eyes ... but the other ideas are so much better.

Incompetence of DHs - yesterday I asked M.Snake to buy 35 white paper plates for a lesson I was doing today and he brought ... 8 red plates.

I have one smashing but unsure, very shy and underconfident student who is very good at cooking. I asked her if she could offer me any ideas re my bear cake panic to model to her asking for help... She ONLY returned a bit later with THIS for me to borrow:

cgi.ebay.co.uk/Large-11-Silicone-Teddy-Bear-Cake-Tin-Jelly-Mould-Blue-/300559347408?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DDLSL%252BSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BDDSIC%26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D300321813413%252B300321813413%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D184618897053072093

OH...

YES!!!!

Perfect!

35 white plates is not the same as 8 red plates, that's for sure.

Morning all. How are we?

If a list was given to us requesting 35 white paper plates, would any of us come back with 8 red ones??? I think not!

Great cake tin Tea - hope cooking goes well!

Amber - how are you feeling today - did you manage to get any more sleep? I surprised dh by going to bed at 9.30 - I just had to. I surprised myself by not waking until around 5am. So by my reackoning, I got around 7.5 hrs of unbroken sleep - I think that's a record for about 7 yrs!

Tee - its peculiar with the naps - when ds was a bit older I found that it was easier to get him to sleep - and he slept better - if he'd had a good nap. Sometimes he'd fight against it, then eventually give in - I'd wake him up at 5.30pm, give him his tea, a bath, and back to bed again and he'd go back to sleep SO easily! But if he'd not had the nap he would struggle with tea, mess around at bathtime and bedtime and possibly be unsettled for a bit before eventually going to sleep - and then be ultra grumpy the next morning. We're just getting to the stage of needing half term again - had floods of tears at everything and anything after school last night.

Won't have connection for half term btw - so will be quiet for a week!

He doesn't work for Tesco does he? Sounds like one of their weird and wacky substitutions (there was an hysterical thread about that).

Yup, feeling fine to be honest. Bit like the calm before the storm, probably. But I'm not complaining. Lots of sleep had last night by comparison (hooray!)

I'm going to hide for a little while longer.

Such a tiny coffin. Such a lovely little space in the cemetary, gated and called "The Children's Playground" but so sad that there has to be a place for the wee ones. It was near the railroad tracks and as a train went by during one of the prayers all I could think of was "ooh, a train, little children love trains!" double

Children's Garden, not Playground.

Still, either way.

Must admit to holding TS just a bit longer and tighter the last few days than he'd probably like (though he's a Mommy's boy and loves his cuddles).

Scout, have an unmumsnetty ((((hug))))) or alternatively a , depending on the need right now...

Oh, Scout, that is just so, so sad.

A friends brother was diagnosed yesterday with advanced bowel cancer - 45, and only a very minimal chance of surviving more than a couple of years

My other thought was "the poor babies, not being held by their parents or grandparents" by being put in their own space in the cemetary. But I dare not say that out loud. (I did tell my MiL my train thought at lunch and she was amused and liked my train (HA!) of thought.)

Thank you for the hug and tea amber. I needed both.

Oh, CMOT. That's awful.

tea, I hope you're taking pictures of your cake/s.

amber, yay for sleep and hope you continue to feel well!

I feel like I'm a MrsGloomyPants lately -- sorry, ladies.

(((hugs))) Scout.

mistlechick is still delightfully cuddly at times. I wonder when it will wear off .

Tell me what you think..... mistlechick tends to kiss family on the lips (I have ensured he knows that this is only approrpriate for close family though!) but DH has said that he shouldn't. When do you think this is inappropriate?

CMOT, heck re friend's brother. Lert's hope science catches up faster than that timescale...

MT, I'd say pre-yr 1 school age really, but that's just my personal opinion.

Hi All.

Big hugs for Scout and CMOT.

Scout my in-laws live right by a cemetery with a children's garden like that. It's a very sad and very beautiful place all at once.

Well, Mistle, I'm 42 and still kiss my mom, dad, brothers, sisters and others on the lips. So I don't think there is an age restriction if both parties agree to it! LCT is just beginning to actually kiss as opposed to giving you his head when to kiss when you ask for a kiss. And he kisses on the lips!

Absolutely shattered between working for my client and finally truly getting the company accounts finished for the year. Every time I think they are done something changes, but hopefully I really have it this time!

Who needs a and a ?

Me please, could just do with a as also on a diet so not eating that sort of thing at the moment.

and sounds great to me. Any chance of a choccie suggestive?

Of course, amber! Are there any rich teas around? TS just ate mine....

Awww, TS keeps trying to give one of the cats Bunny....

one chocolate suggestive coming right up. May I suggest a mars bar flanked by a pair of tunnocks tea cakes.

Hugs for Scout and CMot xx

Last day at work tomorrow for nearly a week! I forgot all about the half term and couldn't get the whole week off and have to work on Friday!

Scout and CMOT (((((hugs))))) from me too (even if it is unmumsnetty).

Mistle - I will miss the day when I no longer get big sloppy kisses from Small Bean on the lips! I am however trying to discourage him from blowing big raspberries down my cleavage which he thinks is great fun (and I do worry that he might try it with one of the girls at nursery). Saying that, FIL always tries to kiss on the lips and I find that a bit "odd".

Big ((((hugs)))) to Scout and a consoling shoulder rub to Cmot for friend and friend's brother.

Mistle - If kisses on the lips are already confined to close family, I see no need to attach an age limit too. I'd wait to see when MistleChick decides for himself that he doesn't want to kiss people on the lips. My nephew won't kiss anyone apart from his mother (and grudgingly then, as he doesn't think kissing is for boys) and now offers me a Manly Shake of the Hand.

arrrghhh, where did my post go???