Welcome to the Seventh Heaven Tea Room (BYOB. Biscuits, crisps and cake provided)

[Catitainahatita]

Hello and welcome to the seventh incarnation of the tearoom.

If you have found us by chance and/or curiousity you must know that the tearoom is a virtual safe haven for all those seeking a friendly word, a good cuppa and plenty to snack on. By virtue of its magic nature, no food can cause any physical damage, so chocolate, alcohol, transfat and all such can be consumed guilt- (and magically calorie-) free.

We have a wide range of soft-furnishing to relax on; a lovely garden with a swing and a ha ha; a variety of animals; a spa and (for some unknown reason) an apidistra.

Everyone is welcome, if you have one child, ten or none at all. We are a tolerant and fisticuffs-free zone. Instead we employ our energies swooning at Mellors the Gardner cum handiman thinking a silly things to get up to.

Please come in and say hello. You never know, you may end up joining us ...

Excellent news Justa - I hope that all goes well for you. Enjoy your holiday!

Daisy, if you like the idea of a hippy chick and live near Leeds (I can't remember) then I have a well used (but still serviceable) one which is now redundant as DS is now too heavy and large for it.

It was brilliant when he was smaller though - I rarely used his push chair, unless we were out for long enough for him to need it to sleep in.

Thumb - the media misrepresentation of science drives me up the wall (now that's a sight to behold, a donkey near the ceiling!). Especially as it's then my job to try to explain it to teenagers who have been misled, and who then say 'but it says in the Papers/news, Miss'

CONGRATULATIONS Justa!!
Hopefully you'll see this before you jet off to Majorca - this is the envy emoticon BTW, not the puking one for Catita

We are hugely pleased for you!! And crossing all available appendages, if needed. Bugger bummer on the not-being-able-to-drink thing though... BTW, did you see the thread I posted a few days ago... I was calling you to say we'd missed you in the Tea Room. And here you are!!

I have had a busy few days! Am writing this from Toronto where we are visiting my mum and stepdad. We took the red-eye flight from Vancouver, which left at 11 pm and arrived in T.O. at 6:10 am. The-most-wonderful-Jackbaby-in-the-world slept the entire flight! [grateful emoticon]

It was a very busy Tuesday, though - my girlfriend who lives two doors down from us went into labour on Monday night and her DH phoned at 7 am asking if I could come over and rub her back. Which I'd offered to do!! Just thought I'd mention that because I can just picture the faces a la "why, did his hands fall off, couldn't he rub her back"... Actually, knowing the two of them is the reason I'd offered - the idea of him trying to rub her back and her wanting to bite his hands off came to mind repeatedly. They are not a very huggy cuddly couple. Of course it must be very hard for a man to watch his wife in labour - but her DH was more useless than most . Anyway - so I spent some time with her, then had to rush off to work for a few hours, went over to hers again, went home to pack, went over to hers again, went home to have a shower, and then had a call saying they had to go to hospital (she was planning a home birth) because the baby had turned transverse!! Then I had to leave for the airport and didn't find out anything else until they sent a text yesterday morning saying baby Rowan was born at 3:53 am PST, weighing 9 pounds !!!! I gather they managed to turn him because she had a VB (not C/S). Can't wait to find out the rest of the story but will wait to phone until they're home. So, what a day even before we got on the plane!!

I did have a few moments of not feeling too great because a lot of stuff from my labour came up - especially when the MW said they'd have to go to the hospital where I was. That was Not So Good. But, I was very pleased with myself - even a few months ago I felt like I'd never be able to do labour support for a friend again after my own labour, and not only did I manage it, but it felt mostly ok. I won't say it wasn't hard, but it was ok.

Anyway - it's that time of day - Bolly anyone? Sorry, none for our very lovely mummies-to-be. You can have the alcohol-free kind. By The Power Of The Tea Room, it tastes just like the real thing. And may even occasionally induce giggles and silly behaviour.

BTW, Catita, I was just wondering, in your last post you said that worrying and being gloomy and doomy worsened your ms. MS? As in multiple sclerosis? I thought you had diabetes. [dim and confused emoticon].
Sooooooooooo... does Catita have a bumpita yet? Will you have/ have to have a lot of testing (triple screen, amnio, etc)?
Bugger bummer on the heat and no one available to instal A/C. I well remember the unrelenting heat in Dallas, and you're that much further south!! Bleurgh. Is it humid, too, or just hot? (Like that annoying saying in Arizona... "but it's a dry heat!!")

Ok, before this turns into a book - I did the AQ test and scored 12. What does that mean??? And what are the EQ and SQ tests??

EQ & SQ? I'm off to take a look. There is how much of a unicycle nut are you one somewhere out there...

EQ- 29....?

SQ- my Squid quotient- um, OK, here goes....

"Your Squid Quotient = 119

Interpreting your results: An average Squid Quotient is around 100. A SQ of 100 means you have a normal affinity for squid. A SQ above 100 means you have an attraction or fondness for squid. Below 100 means that you should probably stay away from the deep ocean."

well that was unexpected... thank you for teh surgestion Amber. Now I know I have an affintity for squid maybe I sahll stop bad mouthing them as rubbery.

I got 35 on the AQ test. Explains a lot I think.

I only carry DS - we sold the pushchair. He loves to ride on my back and sleeps happily there. I use a MeiTai, but also have an extra wide ring sling for hip carries

Arrr- now I think I may have found teh EQSQ test Amber refered to rather than some very randon ones that are out there on teh inter web.
So I get
Respondent Average EQ Average SQ Brain Type

Your Score 15 88 Extreme Systemizing

Teh squid one was kinda fun tho...

Boy never got on too well with sling carriers, he liked the back pack carrier tho. when he was just starting to be able to walk distances I would take it as a back up.
Today I thin I walked him off his legs, eventully he told me his feet hurt and he wanted to go home. We went to look at trains. took a bus to town, then walked to central station, took a train to St Davids, mooched about , took photos atea lolly pop and watched trains. took a train back to central, walked about a mile to deliver something, then took 2 busses home.
All this on top of a morning at preschool... think he will sleep well tonight.

Hello lovely lovely ladies! Ah, some chat to catch up on

First and Foremost Justa congratulations and wondermont and joy. Even cautious joy. We LOVE wanted pregnancies in the tea room as I hope you well know. And better to share your tentative excitement so you can have such support as you want and need. LOL at idea of dog collar swimmers

JM I am giving you a sticker for being particularly brave. I am sure your labouring friend didn't realise just how much of a star you were being to face down your demons - well done indeed... that sounds like a BIG step forward.

Hippy Seats well, DaisyBoy has always been a carry boy. Used an Ellaroo all the time as a baby but while he likes the idea he won't use it now. Use a back pack a lot but don't have a hippy chick seat. One problem is getting him to put his legs round my waist - he likes to be carried with both legs in front IYSWIM (well by me anyway. He'll ride "astride" for others ) But Donk while I live in London do you think postage snail mail would be hopelessly expensive? If not, I would love to pay for post and borrow your HC - knowing it was pre-loved would make it all more worthwhile

Hmm, I'm almost as carried away as JM!!!

Off to find my "quotient" - feeling suitably left out!

Before I go - MadBad your story reminded me of a poor chap who was on Radio 4 or something and was going on about defining the intellegence gene and they had "defined" or whatever about 90% of it and realised that it had about 1% effect on "intelligence" and the other 99% was due to "nurture" - primarily education. So they gave up the project

I only scored 13 on the AQ test, feeling a bit left out!

Might look for EQSQ but am supposed to be working!

evening all!
Bolly all round, I presume?

Catita - sorry to hear of your woes but at least the swine flu is keeping away from you and that has to be a good thing

CMOTD - lol at your AQ score explaining a lot - I must admit I thought mine would be higher.
I have done the SQ (systemising quotient) and the EQ (empathising quotient) and was distinctly far side of most men in the SQ and nearer the average male than the average female score on the EQ.

Hippy seats - never heard of them but they sound like something I need to avoid completely - pretty much like carrying DS at all. I am training him to go up and down the stairs with me just now - AIBU to do this at nearly 17mo?

JM - well done, lots of kudos for bravery in going back to that hospital and facing your demons.

ok, I know you are all in bed, and I'm just a saddo with the Bolly but I just popped in to say EQ 64 and SQ 66 and no idea what squids think of me

Night!

OHHH
That's a little too much pig on pig action!

I think Justa is not the only one hoping/ fearing for the pitter patter of tiny feet

Justa, congrats!!!!!!! Shall be keeping you in my prayers that it goes smoothly for you this time...

Ah now then. EQs and SQs eqsq.com/ and below, a link to the little chart that shows where people normally score on them - except that version is for the SQ test with less questions than this one so its SQ scale is a bit shorter than usual as it extends to about 130 on the professional charts. So 60ish for SQ would be middlish and exactly normal on SQ.

EQ scores higher than 30 are properly empathetic people. EQs of 60 or more are excellently empathetic.

www.gregcons.com/KateBlog/content/binary/eqsq.gif

No prizes for guessing where Amber's green square would be on that graph. Yup, bottom right. EQ 10, SQ-R 118 which would translate to an SQ of about 70 on the chart shown. Extreme systemiser with all the natural empathy of a brick!

Anyway, it seems to be sunny and it's nearly a Bank Holiday weekend! This calls for extra tea and toast, I think. And a plan of action for tackling the garden this weekend.

Sorry I missed the bolly last night - out doing one of my 'cooking shows'. In aid of Cancer Research this time. Suggested to people that if they liked the look of the saucepans, to ask me how to get them 1/2 price rather than pay the rather price (although they are very good and do have a lifetime guarantee) but someone bought a set anyway So should have made a nice bit for Cancer Research last night.

Catita - I hope that someone comes to fix your ac for you - of your dh to go and get it for you but that no one will come and fix it. Mind you, perhaps you only want people that you know and trust in your house at the moment anyway.

All the seeds that I planted with MJ are happily up in the propagator - will have to do some pricking out, and take them out so that they don't get too big too quickly. They'll be on a sunny window sill for a while and then start to be hardened off. I think that the broadbeans we've been cossetting will go out at the weekend (planted) as they are quite big now - just have to ring each one with a obstacle course of slug traps, slug pellets, egg shells and coffee grounds....

am - forgot to add my congrats to justa last night (that loss of wisdom tooth is still causing more brainfade than I thought it would!) - fingers crossed for you justa!

MT - well done on your environmentally friendly slug management. I tried all those for a few years around my tigerlilies and when I consistently lost the flowerbuds every year, I gave in and use the pellets. They are in pots though, so the pellets are contained to the pot.

This is the first year I haven't been to a garden centre, looking longingly at plants I have no room for - no point in spending out on plants when I am technically not going to be in the UK much longer. I managed at last to get my visa application in the post yesterday - hope it goes smoothly!

Good morning everyone. Tea and toast. Yum, yum.

I had meant to post last night but I got distracted by the trailer for ER, with darling George Clooney looking particularly handsome and twinkly.

I am feeling more composed now.

.

But I can't dawdle. I have a tango lesson with Mellors in 10 minutes.

MadBad - are you taking GC out with you too?

TW - well done for getting it in the post! Do you know whereabouts you are going to? Do you or MrTW have any job to go to at the moment or will you be looking when you get there?

MT - yes we know where we're going - MIL has a spare house, as you do that we are going to live in for now, paying her a nominal rent. It's in Morisset, NSW. She is only 15mins away so a good place.

No jobs as yet - DH is considering doing teacher-training so that he can get a job with long holidays at the TAFE - useful for when we come back to UK for visits! I am not thinking about it yet as our gameplan is still for me to get pg; but will investigate as and when. I might need to do further training in Australia to be allowed to work at my various professions.

Just have to get DS's citizenship papers in the post now - thankfully that only takes 2-3 weeks but they want originals, not certified copies, so more scary and I shall do it on Tuesday rather than mess with the BH.

How exciting and by the way, any news on the success of cocktails yet or should I not ask? Of course I shouldn't but you can always ignore!

MadBad - I too am finding ER stragely comforting but sad at same time - it is so right now that Carter is back and George is twinkling, but there is the awful inevitabiltiy that it is going ot end! I will be beyond crying!

Tea and toast? yum, but I think coffee is needed! lovely sunny day, envious of gardens today!

Very briefly, as I must reapply my nose to the grindstone ....

Daisy - I haven't actually watched ER for weeks. Do you mean to say that Dr Doug (be still my beating heart) Ross is back already? I thought he didn't reappear until next week. Have I missed my fix of twinkly-eyed gorgeousness?

MadBad panic not! I think you are getting flustered after all that tangoing & cocktails!

George comes back next week, it's just there are trailers and things to whet the ladybits appetite...

re cocktails - will be in need of them come monday! Another week of cocktails ensues...

I stopped watching ER when Carter disappeared; if he's back I might consider going back to it. I have no interest in Mr. Clooney, he is not my cuppa at all. I am a bit strange though!

The only teenage crush I had was on Midge Ure in Ultravox (yes I am that old) - oddly enough, DH has a look of him now!!

Oh wow wow wow Justabout!!!!!

Congratulations!!!! Another little lovely on the way!!! That is the best news I have had all day (and I have had a really fantastic day).

I too am expecting.......

..... NO!!!!! Not a baby of my own but a little niece or nephew and I am so so excited I have never been a blood Aunty before!!!!

I love being a Mummy to bits. It is so so great!

Before DH and I were married one day I was walking down the Champs Elysee with DH's nephew who had come to stay.

"In English how do you say Aunty?" He enquired....

"It is Aunty" I answered.

"Good - then that is what I will call you now!" He explained "You are my Aunty Teafortwo!"

That felt fab too!!! I love being a chosen Aunty!

And now I am going to be someone's Aunt as soon as they are born and I am so so happy. I am hoping to be quite a cool Aunt - but suspect I will start perming my hair, wearing hats and calling everyone "dear" though!!!

(I feel I might have told you all about my future Auntyism before and maybe more than once - if so apologies for repetition due to over excitement - and feel free to skip this post!!!!)