The one and only Tearoom, to be sure , it is.

[UniS]

To pinch an intro from the very first one and only tea room thread. in 2009.

The tea room is now officially open, serving hot chocolate, tea, freshly-squeezed orange juice and a range of home-baked muffins. Tablecloths and crockery are charmingly mismatched antiques (no Cath Kidston here). We overlook an attractive although somewhat overgrown garden, with a distant view of rolling countryside.

Everyone is welcome but house rules dictate that anyone indulging in fisticuffs will be ejected.

Please come in.

2011
We seem to have fetched up in Ireland, this place looks remarkably like a pub,There is even a guiness barrel over there. The NMBs are all sporting shamrocks. The mirror ball is here, but I leave teh rest of the unpacking to someone else.

so pleased that the sandals fit UniS!!! Mistlechick wore them a lot and they weren't 100% new when he got them - but I hope that Boy gets some wear out of them before they collapse or he grows out of them. They're good on the beach too as they're not the leathery sort

Am rather jealous about chater books as Weiggle isn't really interested in books at all (and she a teacher's child !) Days will go by without her wishing to look at one and she never looks at them on her own. That being said, she had four stories tonight.

Had her party today. I have tried to upload a picture of her cake, of which I am inordinately proud, but it keeps crashing. We had quite a bit of fun, but most people left early ... I was struggling to work out why, when it suddenly occured to me - they weren't enjoying themselves. Trouble was, it was an outside party held mainly inside and I couldn't somehow get focussed so it lacked momentum - nothing was quite ready in time. Oh well. There was a good cake.

A&O sorry, meant to respond. Mistlechick wavers tremendously - from going to have several children to never marrying. However, he's defintely thoguth that he'd marry one of the girls, even though he plays with the boys more of the time. Don't know how it works in the playground....

boy is currently "married" to child A but when he is a grown up he "will marry" child B ( both female). He would like to have kittens.His imaginary friend is male as is his "best mate" who he rarely sees as they live 25 miles apart) , teh girls he is/will marry are not his "best mates" only " friends"
I'm convinced he will turn out to be gay and thus frustrate the hordes of wee girlie's who flock around him at school and in playground. Either that or he wil continue to be sporty, blonde, attractive and very attractive to women and I'll have to beat them off him with a stick so he can get some A levels. Or maybe I just hope he will turn out like Ambers Fine Lad.

I forget how old O is. Lots of little children (as far as I can tell) have very fluid ideas about gender and relationships. I don't think that necessarily means that when they're older they will identify as gay, but they might.

Girl doesn't really approve of boys and is rather appalled by the idea of getting married, in part (it seems) because she's not sure she wants babies because childbirth will be painful.

Morning all. ?

Finally had a decent nights sleep last night. Feels like the first one since, oh, 1982.

Don't really have time to catch up so I'll just say a general HI! And get myself off to my work.

I'll try to keep up in the future!

Small Bean conveniently divides all of his friends into 3 groups:

1. Girls (not of any interest at all)
2. Boys who don't like trains (sometimes of interest)
3. Boys who do like trains (his 'best' friends)

I love the fact that at this age everything is black and white!

Hurrah for Tees good nights sleep.

Well, ds plans on being married 33 times, and so far 5 named people have been female. But this weekend he also added a boy. And then launched into an investigation into 'what happens if two men or two ladies get married and then want a baby'. I thought I handled a discussion on gamete donation/surrogacy/adoption pretty well when put on the spot while driving.
In my close family though, dnephew who people said would be gay when little is straight (but is the one who goes to Pride with his friends), and his brother who was always disparaging of such things as dressing up is gay

I am sure they did have a good time Serpent, and I can't wait to see the cake

I agree that opinions are black and white, SmallBean, but in my observation children's ideas abut relationships are anything but. On the one hand, there are all the littlies who say that when they grow up they're going to marry mummy/daddy and I've heard at least one littlie ask 'when I was a baby, was I a boy or a girl?'

The YD is sure that he will have a child, and marry - he still wants to marry the girl that he was friends with from toddler group to year 1. In year 2 she decided that boys were yuck. Especially if they were taller than she was (she is quite petite). The YD is still quite sad about this (when he remembers)!

However he lives in hope, and is best friends with a group of boys who all like Transformers, Bakugan, and space travel.

I have a cousin who is one of three parents(!) with two children. He had two friends in a long term lesbian relationship who wanted children and so they set up family together - he lives downstairs, they live upstairs (the house is on a slope so it is more like 2 apartments, and there are 2 doors) with the kids, and they all get on really well. The three parents thing is official as they went through the courts to make it official.

When I was a teenager, my sister was convinced that I was gay as I had no interest in boys whatsoever. (I had no time - horses were much more interesting!)

Now, far too many decades later, I am married to the DH, and we have the YD.
She is in a civil partnership and has a step daughter and step grand daughter belonging to her partner.

Aren't families fun!

Now to serious business
help
What have I forgotten for this trip abroad?
I can't think of anything but my subconscious is panicking about it.

Passports - check
Electronic travel documents (well a bit of paper with a number on) - check
Tickets for flights (well bits of paper with a number on) - check
Money - check
Travel insurance - check (including vast quantities of medical insurance. It's the states!)

Perhaps it's the bits of paper that are the problem. I don't actually have tickets or visas that I can point to and tell my brain to stop being silly...

The first time you travel without tickets is really hard, it gets a lot easier when you have done it a couple of times.
Have fun on your trip.
Have you got your house keys? For when you come back?

Maud - you're right, I remember my niece being adamant that she was going to marry her daddy. I don't think we are at that stage yet.

On a slightly different subject, does anyone have any advice about explaining death simply to a 3 year old? We had lots of questions at the weekend about why grandma and grandpa don't have a mummy or daddy anymore. My dad used the expression "they passed away" which I don't think is very helpful (and tbh I don't like it much) but my "people get very old and then they die" explanation felt a bit inadequate too.

Donki - have a good trip. Do you need a driving license (paper bit as well as photo card)? DH constantly reminds me of the time that I forgot to print out the car hire documents and couldn't even remember which company it was. We ended up going to every desk asking whether they might possibly have a booking for us .

Oh, and I can't remember who recommended it on here but I made rhubarb and custard cake at the weekend and it was scrummy - thank you!

A and O, until they get to an age where their hormones kick in, I think it's very difficult to know how any young person will turn out. Some 40% of men report that they've had a same-sex 'experience' of some kind at some point in their lives, as part of experimenting, but only 4% go on to declare themselves to be gay, for example. And for women it's entirely more variable (she says, as a prime example of this).

Bean, the whole death thing is very tricky. Because I have a strong faith, my answer has always been based around heaven. Never tried to answer it any other way, alas.

Donki, I am SO paranoid about any holiday arrangements and forgetting things. All sounds perfectly normal to me...

FineLad is on his way home from his European tour with his harem. Let's hope he's got in the right flight

and lewd rolls to go with our Irish Soup, anyone?

Unsuprisingly, I am v relaxed about travel - as long as I have a passport and a working credit card I assume everything else can be worked out (but do know my travel agents number off by heart)
Emailing yourself all the arrangements so it can be accessed on hotmail or whatever is v useful - I have an appoinment in my calendar with it all so can access it on my phone.

We explained death as that through your life you get more and more damaged, then the doctors can't fix you anymore and your body is worn out and you die. DS seems happy with this, although the religious teaching at school has caused some confusion as to why not everyone is made whole again etc. I find questions of this sort much more difficult than the straightforward life/death/babies ones

Tea and lewd rolls would be lovely.

Oh, good news in the cmotbloke world - he had a letter to tell him that crapboss is gone as of last week. The prospect of returning to work seems much brighter for that

Unserp i am sure parrot was a triumph. I bet deaprture was based on tiredness etc and it was great. How long did people stay? Oxpox party was 1 hour 30 mins and a lifetime

oxpox is currently marrying his best friend (a boy) and having babies with a friend who's a girl. I think tendency is no sure sign of later developments as per the other messages. The boy we were convinced was gay growing up, his colour co-ordinated barbie wardrobes were legendary- is dad to two. ...

Great news re Horror Boss cmot - light at the end of the tunnel?

I am suffering from the fear I am wasting these precious days when oxpox wants me by his side. I get fed up and keen to get away and am then filled with restless ennui and a sense of temps perdu. I need to get a grip!

Donki have you done that required pre flight details registration thingy?

aftrenoon all. its tipping down, so I'm making malteser cup cakes... would you like one?

Oxeye
Do you mean the online check in? I have to do that no more than 24 hourse in advance.

Yes please Unis! I have just put the kettle on.

Have had a cheeky day at home alone and spent 3 hours out in the garden weeding, digging and planting. It felt like a real luxury just having time to potter as it happens so rarely. I am taking Small Bean to London for the day tomorrow - I suspect that will feel like anything but pottering!

Unis puts out a plate of cakes and makes tea.

Can't seem to find any tea spoons, you will have to stir your tea with the other end of your cake fork.

Malteser cup cakes? Yummy. Do we need to declare a teaspoon amnesty?

::stirs tea with finger::

::uncouth::

::looks at the disappearing figure of TeaspoonThief::

Donki - Oxeye means the ESTA that you must complete online no less than 72 hours ahead

Donki are you going to the US? I did the online thingy that you do now instead of fillling out the visa waiver form on the plane, is that the ESTA cmot? I didn't realise you have to do it so far in advance and did it about 10 hours before the flight. Luckily it went through but I asked about it when I checked in and they said if it hadn't gone through on time I wouldn't have been allowed on the flight

ESTAs done and dusted...

...but I have discovered what is missing

Flight details for Seattle to Juneau leg (and return). Glad I realised in time!
We do have reservations, but I hadn't remembered to print them off....