Turkish Tearoom? Turkish Bath? Anyway, a Turkish delight awaits...

[MaryBS]

Picture the scene...

From the edge of every terrace and every step hang brilliantly white stalactites, and you can hear the joyful splashing of the waters of the hot springs as they cascade down over slopes where their flow is impeded only by clumps of oleanders.

Nearby is an oasis of refreshments, in our Pamukkale residence, air conditioned and with white washed generously proportioned rooms, with Mellors at the ready, to offer Turkish Massage to anyone who wishes.

The NMBs are in their element, whereas the bishops seem to have found their speedoes again.

Priest's hole is at the back, in a quiet shaded area, stocked with What Car magazines, Turkish rugs and Turkish delight

yep, I made chebe bread pizza for tea (its a brazilian cheese bread), and it was so much easier in the mixer. dh v pleased as it means I'll make it more now - I make it cos it is gf, he and ds just like the uber cheesiness

Mmmm, cheesie bread.

It's confirmed, MrScout's off to the States on Monday. He'll miss my birthday.

Oh booooooo Scout :(

Have a (((HUG)))

(Hi all, I'm back from holiday!)

Happy anniversary CMOT!

And a wave to everyone else! xo

aww Scout, that's a shame :( But at least you'll be able to follow him shortly after, won't you?

Happy Anniversary CMOTD! Do you have a recipe for that chebe bread - it sounds right up our street in the Thumb household!

Amber - at loo situation and hope you're resting now!!

I too have a headache but it is borne of a neck crunch from miniThumb doing "rockabye baby" with me on the sofa (he rocks me and then we both fall over sideways) - can't do it any more until my neck is back in place and I don't have an appt for another 2 weeks. Boohoo!! Meantime I just keep massaging my neck muscles in the hope that they'll release and the bone will slide back across (fat chance! If there's a right place for my vertebrae to be and a wrong one, they'll pick the wrong one over the right every time :()

Slept badly (again) argh. Extra strong Turkish coffee anyone?

Sounds like your need is greatest, Mary! What's up - anything you can identify that's causing the sleeplessness?

Morning all.

Washing machine drum currently being replaced (advantage to living at city centre: close to repair depot so I get first visit!). The machine has more or less been broken down to it's component parts!

CMOT! Happy anniversary! ::slurp::

Thumb OUCH! Can't get seen any sooner?!?!

Scout bummer. But at least you get to go too!

MaryBS . Extra strong.

Ah, stage one of day complete. MrTee and LCT out the door. Finish this here coffee, wait for man to finish machine, do yoga, have a shower and do some work!

I'm finding people quite stressy, TW, I don't think that is helping. Its really hard trying to educate some of the racist or different from us intolerant bigots people at church :(. Am I intolerant for being intolerant of intolerant people I wonder? :(

Mary, have a - no, you're not. It must be very frustrating.

Thumb - ouch - you've just reminded me to ring the osteopath to see if he can fit me in before the end of the week - probably a good idea with a major load of viola playing coming up. At the moment the only real problem is that its waking me up in the morning - as soon as I'm up its fairly OK...

Fresh doughnuts all round?

Lots of .

MaryBS - I don't think that makes you intolerant - simply human. Hope you get a good night sleep soon as being exhausted makes dealing with troublesome people even harder - I know my levels of patience hit rock bottom when I'm tired.

Tee - can I join you in broken appliance land? I am waiting for dishwasher repair man to arrive (that's the last time I post in 'Good Housekeeping' - it's a jinx )

Scout - - at least you can now make plans for your trip. It's a good excuse to have a second birthday this year though.

CMOT - chebe bread pizza sounds yummy. Can I recommend this one to add to your mixer recipe file cheesecake? The whole filling can be done in the mixer in about 2 minutes and I am guessing that the biscuit base could be made gf?

A GF cheesecake sounds divine!

Thanks for your support, I had a chat with our new vicar this morning, to make sure she was comfortable with the stance I was taking, and she was, so that is good, nothing like walking into a controversy when you are new!

DS was funny this morning, on the news they were saying that "it was the end of an era", and he asked me "is it really? Is it really the end of an era?" and I was trying to explain what they meant! :o

Depending on your level of GF-ness (i.e. are oats excluded or not) the Nairns oat ginger biscuits make a very nice base for cheesecakes. They need bashing a little more than digestives but they taste yummy.

Mary - glad your vicar is on your side, that must be a huge relief!

What era is this the end of then - the era of people being able to rely on the police? the end of the era of people being able to walk the streets safely? Or the end of that furniture company (Reeves, wasn't it?) that survived two World Wars but not the thugs of Croydon? I can't see why the news would say it's the end of an era, more like the culmination of a couple of generations of youth being brought up with little discipline and no respect. Am very :( at the news we're getting over here; am sure it's worse being in the UK but it's all horribly shocking. :( :(

It was the furniture store business that was the end of an era.

A friend came over this morning, her DH is in the Cambs police, but he and others were deployed in Croydon last night. Thankfully for him, it was quiet.

well that bit's right and fair enough, Mary. I am finding the reporting to be a bit obnoxious on Australian News - what's it like on UK news? Sorry if I sounded snippy at all.

No, you didn't sound snippy. Its just DS takes things literally, so he wanted to know if it were REALLY the end of an era, which to be honest, it isn't reallyThe UK news is full of it, with film footage of various cities and the problems there, together with interviews from those affected and from those with opinions, and from politicians as well. It all seems very scary, although I'm nowhere near any of the trouble spots.

Thumb - theres a recipe here - I buy a box mix (chebe bread from US, Rebeccas Brazilian in UK) and add emmenthal cheese.

Booked in for surgery in September with elbow surgeon. He says he can make no promises, but will give things a go. I said I didn't think I had a lot to lose really.

Good news on the new vicar Mary

Oh dear CMOT - :( at "nothing to lose" but probably true :(

Hmmm... I didn't expect Mellors to sprint to the head of the queue and flop face-down on my table... and wearing so very little!

Not that it isn't a nice view... :o

JM, at least he's had the decency to be face down.

::a bit that she wanted Mellors to lie face up::

CMOT I guess that's better than ' there's nothing I can do'.

Washing machine fixed. Water damage in bathroom fixed. Tee's quiet day at home sans LCT shot to hell. Ah well, he's back at daycare Friday!

Does anyone speak young toddler? TS has had a running commentary for nearly half-an-hour, complete with facial expressions, hand gestures and laughing but I have no idea what he's telling me!

No mellors, your face is supposed to go in the hole ! turn around this instant !

JM, can I just fly you over to be our inhouse therapist ? DH and I will be aligning surgery schedules...

Need some advice from anyone with older children - older than 4, at least - about phases and general awfuness.

Wriggle has changed into another person over the last week - defiant, manipulative and provocative. She turns any request into a battle and only wants to spend time with Daddy; she spent all yesterday singng a new song: 'I wish Serpent was at work, I wish Serpent was at work ...' DH wants to be able to get on with his building work unimpeded but will not tell her to go away; he expects her to be persuaded/lured away. On Monday she clung to him screaming while I tried to take her to the post office, causing him to be very annoyed with me. He told his mother today that 'he does the playing while I do the discipline', which explains my unpopularity. There seems to be not one second in the waking day which is not a battle.

My RL friends are all busy with their happy, normal, multi-sibling families and I am further distracted by AP being very depressed and anxious.

I would like to know: does this kind of phase ever pass? Has anyone else ended up really disliking their longed-for child? Is this peculiar to only chidren? Did I just choose the wrong husband / child?

Serpent, I would hazard a guess that it is precisely because dh is wanting to get on with his building work without Wriggle, and you are the one available that she wants to spend the time with him.
Perhaps he needs to spend a day with her while you either get a bit of peace, or get to concentrate on AP.

I have also noticed a number of children being awful in the runup to their 5th birthday. Ds's best friend was totally horrid to her parents for about 6 weeks, and ds was a pain