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 ...

Oh no, a wave of double posting seems to have commenced! Let's see if I'm affected too.

I very nearly scratched Amber between the ears then; goes to show how long I've been out of circulation. That wouldn't be right at all.

Anyway, by the magic of the tea room, I present the flapjacks that in RL I have been meaning to make for about three months.

Relations can be really difficult can't they. And you can never make the 'right' choice/decision....

there it goes again

there it goes again

Hey up, Amber. I have just constructed a dumb waiter to lower supplies into the priest's hole for you. Just ring this bell when you want the empties to be pulled back up to the tea room. And here are a few tulips from the garden.

Thank you mellors, just what was needed. Gosh you are looking manly and rugged tonight. Would you mind putting teh rug back in front of teh fire and finding your normal clothes??

Hey Amber- Your name is Amber (or what ever you are called in RL) you are not your DX.

TOday I... went to teh beach, shingle, lots of shingle, Boy tried to make a shingle castle. And failed. so settled for chucking stones in teh sea. Then on teh way home I thought we would swing by teh steam railway and see if they had any trains in steam at teh station. Just one or 6, they had a Thomas day going on. Small boy ( and this mummy) bliss. Didn't buy tickets, but just from teh "free" side of teh fence we saw engines moving carriages, coaling up, being watered, coupled etc.
They had a Thomas style pannier tank engine in Thomas livery, Duck ( but in black),an Emily a like, and a couple of others I didn't recognise as Sodor trains but they had had faces strapped on teh front. Boy took lots of photos. We shall put together a web site at some point.
Also had a V scrummy ice cream, so would anyone else like a blackcurrant and clotted cream ice cream? while I'm remembering it.

Unis - was it the South Devon one - we went there two years ago and MJ really enjoyed it - although we did have quite a wait at one end because Thomas set a patch of woodland/scrub on fire and we had to wait until the firebrigade had managed to put it all out...

And we're going down to the same area again later this summer (3rd time in a row) as last year we found a sandy beach with a stream that was good for damming and was lovely to stay all day... I hope that the weather is good again.

Hee-haw.

Thanks for your helps Amber - and the calming bucket of decaff tea MBDT. Much appreciated.

Carrots anyone?

SmallDonk is now asleep - having declared that he was going to stay up all night.

He did this two days ago too - and was surprised and diverted from an imminent meltdown when I said "OK - you are not allowed to go to sleep. Wake Up! smalldonk!"
He immediately snuggled down, shut his eyes, and giggling, started to "snore"
"No, no, Wake Up!" said I, "You are not allowed to go to sleep" as I gently shook him.
He giggled some more and then started snoring again.
"Wake up" quothe I. Then I told him I would be back in 10 minutes to make sure he was still awake.....

And went downstairs to roll around the floor laughing. Bless him, he was asleep within minutes.

Was indeed the south devon railway, we were at Buckfastleigh, their main yard and station. Have been before and riden downto totnes, but thomas day would have cost us 25 squid, just for me and boy!!!! still, now I know we may rock up late and watch from the wrong side of fence again.

A hate poem about autism???? WTF??? What in the world is wrong with some people????????

Best of the best for Amber - you've had a trying few days.

Would you like an ear rub with special silkening ear cream?

Jacksmama, that sounds wonderful!
Do you think the washing up will do itself whilst I bask in sybaritic pleasure? (Fondly imagines a real washing up fairy hard at work in the kitchen)

This being The Tea Room of Requirement, the washing-up is presently doing itself.
A hoof treatment to go with an ear massage?

Im afraid that my hooves are beyond help Jacksmama!

evening all!
am hampered by having ds next to me, clutching one hand and refusing to go to sleep

to hear amber & donk are upset, good to hear catita is coping in the land of the plague

Do pass on any more words of wisdom regarding piggies, I promise I'll remember it was you this time. I'm not at all sure about getting a pet ... leaving it all up to DH, as tbh my parents were quite right when they refused me a pet on the grounds I wouldn't look after it properly. If he takes the decision, he can do the bulk of the dirty work.

Well, hello chatty and drunken people!

Welcome Podrick and CurlyWirlyGirl it's a bit mad in here, but you look as if you'll fit right in!

Clothes I like fat face a lot, and Joe Brown, some a bit suspect, and White Stuff but more expensive. Boden ok in moderation, love the big long skirts, agree that beads and bits and bobs all come off....love East but think that's very expensive, comes in as wedding and party gear for me - have you thought of Monsoon and bits of M&S?

sleeping hope those who are meant to nod off have and those that aren't are still up. Whoosh on the controlled crying, I never could....

carrying glad that Milk has Mum-gives-me-wobbly-legs like Wriggle and DaisyBoy what get's me lifting every time? As I put him down saying "I am tired, my arms need a rest, you are getting heavy" he wails "I am not a heavy boy I am your baby boy...." which of course melts my heart and has me hefting for england again

we've been to a wedding, and lovely it was too. but I missed the bolly and dancing!

Good god, Daisy, take a breath, there's a girl!!

cheeky

Tis terrible I know. I try for pithy and witty and this is what happens

DCMB - GPs are lovely, imo. I only got bitten once in 14 years of keeping them (I had 7 in total, not all together though!) I only got bitten because I put my hand in between 2 gps who were squaring up to each other as they had only just been introduced, so they both bit me instead of each other! Serves me right for being stupid.

GPs: imo, are best kept indoors for maximum revelation of their personalitites and fun - I had plastic trays with clip-on wire cages.
They are best kept in pairs as they are very social animals but you do get to know them better if you do only have one - you have to spend a fair bit of time with it though (I did this with my first) so probably best to get a pair
Girls are easier in many ways than boys

There are a few threads on gps under the Pets topic - this is one of the longer ones! but is full of interesting and good advice.

Daisy - ta for cocktail idea!

Had a shockingly bad night last night - Minithumb had an outright refusal on sleep again, so off we went to Mummy's bed to knock him out - ended up falling asleep until 3am again but managed to get him back into his cot then - for a whole 2 hours. I am so weak, it is my own fault, but I am reeeeeeeaaaaaaallllly grumpy and incapable at that time of the morning.
Then had a lucky escape this morning - woke up at ~9am, put Minithumb back into his cot and went and checked diary - AAAARRRGGHHH!!! should have had a client at 9am, so phoned him quickly to check that he hadn't been hammering on the door and me missed it - no, thank goodness, he had the wrong date in his diary and had it booked in for tomorrow. PHEW!!

Now I should be working, yet once again I am here......

TW - sorry to hear that you had sleep problems again last night. Ds was a nightmare for the first 6 - 9 mo but has normally been remarkably good since then, although I am still very at the mothers complaining that their 4mo has suddenly started waking them up for a feed once or twice a night after sleeping through - I was back at work and expecting to be woken at least once a night to start with!

I will join you with the frothy hc and sprinkles (dark orange chocolate for me please) as the magic of the tearoom allows me to have both the chocolate and the milk which are both oob in rl

Amber I hope that you have put things behind you and are able to stick your head out of the priest hole a bit today - would you like hot chocolate or tea, and would you like toast and honey or croissants with homemade jam?

I'm not coping at the moment, no, but the tea room always helps, so thank you all. It takes me too long to 'reload' at the moment, thanks to it being a heck of a year already. Yes please, I'd like chocolate, tea, toast, honey, croissants, jam, and a large gin please. Oh it's too early for gin . In fact, I don't even drink gin
D*mn.

(In a very real sense, I am the dx. It's a strange thing, ASD. It reflects our whole way of thinking, being, doing, feeling, sensing and responding, so it is very much an identity thing).

amber I can see your point - it's not like having e.g. MS, which is a thing that affects your body but isn't a part of who you are - whereas ASD almost is, because it colours everything about who and what you are and do, is that it?

In which case, people who write bad things about it should be put firmly in their place.

I hope you did. If not, point us in the general direction and we will take up battle on your behalf.

MT, thank you for what you said on that thread . Too kind, and please never anyone feel they have to rush to my defence on anything like this. Just having a place to 'be' is more than enough, though words of wisdom are appreciated. I'm never sure if I've said the right things on threads or not - no proper Theory of Mind, so wiser minds than mine are always a good thing.

TW, yes, that's exactly it re it being who we are. I have arthritis, but I don't consider it to be a part of me, but my brain and how it works 'is' me. Rewritten poetry from the 1970s that portrays us as embarrassing and disgusting is still being circulated, and it makes my job as an autism adviser hell.

Fruit cake, sherry, honey cakes and a tin hat all gratefully received. Seem to have managed to negotiate something on our new office HQ too. Wonder if it'll be the right thing, though...

(Do try to concentrate, girl! Although if it was one of my own home baked fruit cakes, it might be more bombproof than the tin hat )