The One and Only TEA Room: Everyone Welcome (bring champagne and muffins please!)

[Jacksmama]

Wow, we're on our third thread!!!
Previous (second) incarnation of the tea room.

A warm welcome to everyone, whether you have one child, none, or ten. This is a tea-and-muffin or booze-and-sofasorcanapees sanctuary for all. But certain standards of behaviour continue to apply - anyone engaging in fisticuffs will be ejected by George Clooney, ably assisted by Mellors the Gardener.

Cheers all!

Justabout - you could try having one of the delicious small soda bread rolls that Cmot has left (and some honey)(or jam), grabbing a mug (or a cup, I don't want to presume) of tea (or coffee - or herb tea, I believe we have quite a selection)(or something stronger, although we don't normally start this early, but there is nothing in the rules that I've seen to say that you can't), curling up on the 'good' end of the sofa so that you don't squash Racingpig and hunkering down for the day. It looks as though Amber will probably keep you supplied with tea (or coffee) and you might be able to tell the rest of us just how she got quite such a good polish on the silver!!!

Morning all! The joint is really jumping this morning. How have your weekends been?

Mistle - I thought anywhere north of Watford was the frozen north?

Oh crikey! I didn't know you were interested in modern dance!

OK, so another list then. If Rev
I'm going to or depending what time of day it is

Mellors will no doubt be doing something in a swirl of leaves, but I'm sure he won't be raking them up (although as MJ has kicked them all round the tearoom garden, this job really needs to be done again)

morning lovely people!
I so shouldn't be on here, I should be doing my tax return but hey! Still got a few days...

Morning all you lovely lovelies!

Here are some interesting oatmeal and raisin cookies that DaisyBoy and I made yesterday. I suspect when I thought the mixture was dry and added milk I just hadn't stirred it enough but heh, Cookie Blankets are the new black aren't they?

Amber I think your description of Asperger's via horses is just totally wonderful, made me laugh a lot (not as aspergers but the description you understand, of course you do we're in the tea room )

I am still unaware of Rev Bashing threads or Other Shouting Mobs, that is why I so LOVE the tea room!

Off to collect DaisyBoy from nursery. Week 2 started badly - had been happy ended up crying. Mental note to self, Foolish Mum not to hide swimming costume so DaisyBoy mistook Mum's attempt to get fit when having a moment as Mum going to have lots of fun swimming without DaisyBoy [sigh]

Right, must go

Bee Keepers do nothing in January?

Remind me to get some! Then I can be helpful and wholesome and countryfied and lazy all at once! RESULT!

On second thoughts, I suspect in a weeks time it will become hard work...

I am already mentally spending the vast royalties which will accrue from Tea Room: the Movie, the Tea Room Guide to Parenting and all the other lucrative spin-offs. Beehives sound like an excellent idea for the orchard as they'll help to pollinate the apple trees. Anyone here got experience of bee-keeping? I suppose we could send Mellors on a course - and he might look quite mysterious and hunky in a bee-proof suit - but he's not very consistent with the animal welfare. If it wasn't for amber, Earl Grey would have starved weeks ago.

daisy - Sorry that daisyboy was unhappy this morning. I expect he'll have had a fab time, though.

justabout - go and attend to your PhD. But, err, not before tou've had some lunch. Can't do brain work on an empty stomach, methinks.

Rev, "stay away from stressful situations" seems to preclude anything our jobs actually involve, so I think hiding in the tea room/under the table/in the priest hole is a good enough temporary interpretation of "stay away from..."

(Daisy, glad you enjoyed the horse comparison. It's immensely true in almost any and all respects (barring basic external appearance and my tendency to be able to use words). We don't like being looked at directly, or anyone moving fast round us, or unexpected things happening, and we can usually see and hear and feel things with far more sensitivity than other people. So if you find me diving behind the sofa for no apparent reason, it'll be something that only a horse/an Amber would find scary. Just ignore it. I know to pull a horse rug over me until I calm down )

Amber - is that right - We don't like being looked at directly, or anyone moving fast round us, or unexpected things happening...

to my ear that sounds like parenting is a bit of a no then

But glad to welcome you under the horse rug or in any other guise!

Thanks for the soup bocca, I have hit that 3pm eye shutting lull that comes when you have sat up half the night with child sleeping in sitting up position on your chest worrying about his coping at nursery for 3 hours, belatedly remembering you have to cope at work for 8 blinking hours.....

Actually, Bocca thanks for asking, DaisyBoy was fine - he wsa just registering his preference to go swimming - so when I picked him up first thing he said as "Right Mummy, let's go swimming" [sigh]
so no exercise for me and now long negotiations along the "Well, DaisyBoy, the swimming pool man has shut the pool up because it is such a nice day he want's everyone to go and play outside" GAH I can't believe I said that, but I did!

Thank heavnes DaisyDad has finally got home so that will be a distraction this afternoon!

Gotta go, gotta type fast while I have the chance!

Daisy, yes, that's absolutely true in all respects re parenting and the perils thereof, but we find a way .

Children move fast, but in expected ways. It'd be more strange if they didn't. I used to co-run a large and successful toddler group, so got very used to the myriad ways in which young children could behave. And mine was certainly extremely lively, bless him (and still is!). I coped by making the teas, squashes and coffees . We had one of the safest groups imaginable since 'elf 'n' safety is something I take very seriously indeed, and ended up with a huge waiting list.

A nice bowl of tropical fruit mix and another of fresh fruit, in case anyone's interested...oh, and the kettle's on for afternoon teas...

MArvellous, pass the tea Amber, and I will have some fruit, cos I know I ought! I prefer my fruit well wrapped with muffin

Rightio, shift up RacingPig, just going to sit her on the distressed leather sofa for a second looking at House Porn in Country Life and then I am going to don wellies, take DaisyBoy, Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Mrs A, Mistlehound, DaisyHound and any other from the menagerie who fancy a bit of a walk and puddle plashing before it's time to return for....

oooo

today I think a roaring log fire, crumpets and bread muffins with honey (well done bess, quick work) and the last of the apples from those trees near the ha ha...and mugs of tea

I've looked at the House Porn in Country Life and there's nothing in there again. Something dubious in Mallorca, a place next to an electricity pylon, something overpriced by a factor of 200%, and something where the owners have stripped out every period feature and put in a load of brightly coloured plastic in the hope that it will improve the value. All very alarming, really.

Shall see if Mellors is about for fire-making

I had an estate agent round to look at my lovely period house for rental purposes the other day - she looked terribly uninterested and wasn't at all impressed by the periodicity (??) of it, apart from asking the age and how bad were the draughts?

I hate it when people "modernise" period houses - mine is 1910 so not that fab, but it has terracotta tiles all around the top half of the front and side (I laugh when UPVC double-glazing types come to the door - "does it LOOK like it wants UPVC crap on it?") and open fireplaces and wooden architraving (except for the plaster ceiling coving I put in in the front room). It's lovely. But obviously not to Estate agent woman's taste.

oh, sounds lovely. thumb. have you got the original encaustic tiles? They are wonderful and so blooming expensive!!!

we had a lovely walk, just sitting here and keeping an eye on DaisyBoy and Mellors gathering tinder for the fireplace

No, Mrs A, don't you dare cock your leg against that cut out of George Clooney...

By the way, I meant bees earlier, not Bess - a new and errant tea room dweller, though she'd be very welcome

Since we're talking house porn and period features .... Are period features now officially in or out? I notice that in Grand Designs and the like, people are always installing (for example) those fireplaces that are essentially just flames in a square void - no grate and definitely no fire surround. So are period features now passe again? Should we be ripping out the features that people reinstated in the 80s? Or is this minimalist modernism only for new builds?

Yeh, justabout. 1000 words! How many left to go? When do you hope to submit it?

daisy - glad daisyboy had a good time at nursery. Tomorrow is another day ....

bocca you sad muppet!
Do you like your fireplace?
Answer = yes, then leave it alone.
Answer = no, then think about changing it.
But lord above, don't be changing it on the say so of some poof with bad jumpers in a magazine - remember Ab Fab - they just make it up as they go along!!

original encaustic tiles present and correct on fireplace, SAH! Very pretty too.

Am not sad. Harrumph! Am just interested in how out of kilter with contemporary tastes my plans for redecorating the sitting room (which has to be done this year or else I will go even more insane) really are. As I am Extremely Old, my idea of cutting-edge hipness is probably other people's idea of retro cool or just period feature.

Also, am equal opportunities type of person and cannot condone your description of St Kevin of McCloud as a poof with bad jumpers. I have no view on his clothing, but believe that he lives somewhere lovely with his wife and numerous children, so if he is a poof he is in very deep cover.