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

Lovely presents Scout. Hope Toddler gives you a nice lie in tomorrow as he had a late night.

I followed your link to Lakeland and have spent far too long looking at their stuff. Somehow Lakeland products seem to hypnotise me into thinking they will dramatically improve my life. I have managed to resist ordering anything tonight but it had taken considerable will power.

Mistlethrush, your child free afternoon with
DH sounds blissful. I too planned an early night but seem to have failed to make it yet.

Has taken, not had taken. Apologies!

Feel a bit lonely today despite having gone to town to check Toddler's shoes (his feet have grown but his shoes are still fine), have a at the local cafe and going to the grocery store for butter/cheese/juice.

I didn't realize until today that my other normal SiL sent a card/present up (she had MrScout hide it in one of my bags). Lakeland vouchers. I do love kitcheny shops.

Today is DadScout's birthday so will call home a little later. Hope we can catch him before Toddler's bedtime (DadScout is semi-retired so not at work during "business hours") so TS can talk to his Grandpa.

stickwithit, I fear, no lie in. TS is usually awake around the same time no matter what time he falls asleep. I get him into bed around the same time every night (feel bedtime/bedtime routine is important) but some nights it takes longer than others to fall asleep.

Anyone fancy a steak&cheese&onion sandwich with a side salad and crisps?

Me! Me!!! OK, I can't taste it at the moment but it's the principle...

Oh, that sounds lush, scout. Better than the lunch I had which was some ham, pickles and crackers. Yeah, Tee spent the day in bad after another very early wake up with LCT. Like 4am. Not good for my fibro. Also not good for my business as I got no work done today. Ho hum, tomorrow's another day.

Happy birthday again, BTW! I adore Lakeland although it does make me think I need things like a Pineapple Corer even though I never eat fresh pineapple!

In other news from TeeVille our main family computer has died died died. Won't boot. Won't even think about booting. I push the button, the light comes on, it sort of sighs and gives up the ghost. Another boat anchor for the storage closet. So glad I backed up last week, although I think there are some pictures from this week that are now gone for good. Le sigh.

I'll have a sandwich, that sounds yummy.

I love kitchen stores, too - can't wait, in two weeks we'll be going down to Seattle for the first (American College) football game of the season and will be going to the Outlets... I have some things to get at the kitchen stores, and will no doubt come out with a good many things I didn't need :o

Had a lovely lovely evening with a girlfriend last night. She's also a mum of a three-year-old boy - our boys are 3 days apart in age - and we had a good time venting about how crap we sometimes feel as parents. I think she did more listening but I'm :( these days because JB is still having trouble at daycare on Mondays, and with preschool coming up I'm worried. He's not a child who embraces new experiences, his initial reaction is always "no, I don't want to" in a more or less whiny, or loudly crying voice. And he's not a big one for the middle road - he tends to extremes, just like me. I feel so crap because I've passed my own tendency to panic and anxiety on to him, and I see the parts of me in him that make him very sensitive and a worrier. :( He feels things very deeply, and he hangs on to his worries. I wish he could be more like DH - who's mostly a very nice laid-back kind of bloke. Sigh. :(

How was it, Ladies?

Hi

I have been absent for a bit- lovely holiday in Devon with dd and my parents, then unfortunately home to some bad news which has preoccupied me! Will read back but hope all are well.

Good evening all!

Slc - hope all is ok?

Lakeland My favourite online shop. All those things that you never knew you needed. I do lust after a roomba from there but find it hard to justify. In the meantime there are so many other things...

I am so glad to be back home with the Beans but feeling thoroughly exhausted after a couple of days with some colleagues who excel in 'competitive fitness'. The sort who don't want dinner because they had a biscuit at 11am which 'filled them up' and won't be down for breakfast because the gym opens at 6am. I must be a miserable old sod because an occasional night in a hotel for me means a dinner/breakfast that I didn't have to cook, a chance to get showered/ready in peace, and a night without a baby monitor. And no, I don't want to know how long I would need to jog for to burn off that muffin...

Ok, moan over. or chocolate fondant anyone?

Amber - I can't remember, is Fine Boy waiting for exam results tomorrow?

I'm ok thanks.

I'm with you on the hotel thing, surely the whole point of work putting you up there is to eat free food and relax?! Hope you are having a nice evening back home.

I'm scared to go on the Lakeland website as I ALWAYS buy too much when I find one of their shops!

If you think lakeland is bad... NEVER go to Chagford.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chagford%27s_famous_ironmongery_stores,_Webbers_and_Bowdens.jpg

TWO emporiums of all things one could want for home, garden and probably farm and certainly Tea room, next to each other. Thankfully teh town has branches of two major banks to dispense the extra cash one will require after a stroll through these twin delights.
I DO NOT do teh weekly shop in Chagford as I can;'t afford to get too close to Webbers and Bowdens on a regular basis.

Evening everyone.

Welcome back Steep, glad you had a nice time. I don't live in Devon but spend quote a few weeks each year there I think it is a wonderful place. Hope the bad news isn't too serious.

I agree with the hotels are for relaxing thing. The OTT weight watching and exercising thing sounds horrific. Each to their own I guess but !

Scout, hope your lonely feeling subsided a little? DS is like TS in that he wakes up at the same time no matter what time he went to bed. I am very lucky though that that time is 7am. He is a good sleeper these days which I look upon as payback for him being a terrible sleeper until he was 2.5.

Jacksmania sorry to hear JB is having trouble at daycare. I don't know much about the situation but have known several preschoolers who were quite timid and fearful who have become less so after a few terms of preschool. There may be a good chance that this could happen with JB.

I am visiting a lovely Uni friend tomorrow. She has three children under 5 and lives a few hours away so we have struggled to meet up frequently in recent years. I can't wait to see her but hope her large brood does not make me or DS too wistful. We are staying for a couple of days so I think if will be wonderfully hectic!

No doubt you're all (with the possible exception of JM) in bed now so I'll just help myself to the hot chocolate and chocolate fondants - ooo!

I have A Cold. I am Not Happy. :(

JM - can you get alcohol-free Rescue Remedy in Canada? try giving that to JB and see if it helps. I have some excellent stuff that I used on one of my friend's DD the other day after she'd been quite badly bitten on the finger - I sprayed it onto her traumatised finger and she stopped crying straight away! could be coincidence of course but I've used the same stuff to calm an entire classroom of semi-hysterical women before, without them knowing what it was. Worked brilliantly - 3/4 of them went and bought their own for exam time. :)

Scout - when do you see MrScout again now? I bet you can't wait :)

I Don't Do competitive fitness (or anything much, tbh. I used to have a vile competitive streak but it made me very unpleasant so I stomped on it hard) and agree that hotels are for relaxing. For my 30th birthday, I went with friends to Henlow Grange spa thingy (not my choice, twas also my BF's birthday and it was her choice) - we stayed elsewhere (thank GOD!), went clubbing the night before and then did teh Grange on the Sunday as a day thing - it was depressing as hell! All the "inmates" were largeish women wandering around in large white towelling dressing gowns and slippers, while the staff skipped around in immaculate mini tennis skirts with long tanned legs and glossy blonde ponytails. Argh!

I love kitcheny shops. miniThumb seems to have the same taste as I do for miniature stuff - the last one we were in had mini-cake and loaf tins, a couple of inches big - it was hard to resist them!

SteepLC - hope the bad news isn't too bad.

Amber - hope your tastebuds start to return soon! I have nearly lost mine from The Cold so have some sympathy with your taste-free situation (although of course yours is far more serious!)

Thumb - thank you, brilliant idea re Rescue Remedy. Will get some ASAP. You're a star.

By the way, could someone PM me with Steeplearningcurve's identity as I've been AWOL so often I have no idea who's namechanged to what .

And are we missing the gardening one?

Hmm... possibly I'm being unutterably dim and these two questions are related.

I'm so crap at keeping track of namechangers!

JM - the gardener is, I believe, on holiday, as is the exQueen. SteepLC is a new member of the tearoom :) who has a new baby DD, who must be around 15 or 16wo by now.

Either of you two lovely ladies fancy joining in this overseas chatter thread?

Five this morning. FIVE. ARGH! I've done all my usual "go back to sleep it's the middle of the night" with Toddler and he's started up again. I'm not ready to face a full-on day with the young one when it's only just light out. I didn't sleep well and waking up to him at 5 hasn't helped my mood.

I do hope we have a good day together.

All this talk of kitchen shops prompted me to go and order a new slow cooker last night before bed. It has far fewer bells and whistles than my last one but the last one bit the dust relatively quickly. I thought about going to the shops in YOUT to get it but the practical side of me (cost of petrol, parking and trying to carry a large box with a toddler) said "ah, well, it's free shipping, wait the extra day or two and it will come to you."

Thumb, MrScout's home on Wednesday and we head to Devon on Thursday. I'm not usually so lonely without him (when he first started this job, a couple of years ago, he did nine months in Scotland and was only home weekends). I think it's because I'm a SAHM mom now (whereas I was working before) so am more aware of my soloness.

Bean, yes, hotels are for relaxing the rules. Perhaps not with a small child (ie, bedtime or no sweets in bed) but for adults it's time to recharge (even if there for work).

Right, who has the glasses from the puzzle? The missing piece was here yesterday when TS and I were doing puzzles but when he stood up to go for bed it seems to have vanished. I gave up looking last night when tidying up but I still can't see them this morning....

It's in his trousers. Or jumper. Or possibly his nappy if he still wears them.

Scout - have a large and some french toast or other fabulous breakfast, courtesy of Mellors. We had a bad night last night because of The Cold and miniThumb's cough - but giving him some calprofen sorted him out. Every time I went horizontal though, my head filled up - yuk.
MIL is going to take him to dancing because despite his cough, he is fine and full of beans and he's only coughed once today. I know it's probably a bit bad but it's not like there's any equipment for him to cough over and it's a non-contact "sport" so I'm hoping it will be ok.

Hmmmm.... He was only wearing a tee-shirt when we were doing puzzles and his nappy (yes, he's definitely still a nappy wearer!) has been changed twice, maybe three times, since puzzles. Argh.

Ugh, yes, definitely have a migriane (sight's gone funny).

The steam might help clear your head?

ACK! There's a MAHOOSIVE spider in a kitchen cabinet that's Toddler height (and he sometimes uses to practice open/close and in/out). It's HUGE. I've not seen one that big inside in ages. ACK!

** I'm not usually bothered by spiders, but this thing could eat me for breakfast AND elevenses and still be hungry for lunch.

Eek Scout, a Harry Potter size one?

1 more sleep to go, before we are off on our holibobs :)

DS got three A levels!!!

I'm better with big spiders than I am with smaller fast ones.

Yay for the Fine Lad!! that's grand, Amber - is he going to go to Uni? Did he get the grades he needed?

Large spiders here are Something Else. I don't mind big ones in the UK, not even the biggest tree spiders, when you can see the hairs on their legs - but the big ones here are Quite Startling.