Tea room the Eighth - sun, sea, sangria, and perhaps a sandy Mellors

[DontCallMeBaby]

Greetings, welcome to the eighth incarnation of the tearoom.

The tearoom has been, and will be again, a virtual safe haven for anyone up for rather random chat and a comprehensive range of virtual snacks. Nothing in the tearoom will make you fat, or drunk (unless you want it to) or cause an allergic reaction.

The new tearoom location is a beautiful beachside cafe (no need for factor 50, the virtual sun will just lightly tan you, bring out your freckles or simply warm your skin, as you prefer) with a range of garden swings, hammocks, sunloungers, deckchairs etc (as well as a rather incongruous, but well-loved, chaise longue). For those in need of sanctuary, we have managed to fashion a new priesthole out of woven grasses.

Our fellow residents include Mellors the rugged gardener of few-but-well-chosen words, the naked mohawk babies, a coterie of bishops, various domestic pets, and a selection of others. On the human side, all are welcome - while we live in the One Child topic some regulars have more than one, and we are welcome all (except people who put their heads on one side and tell those of us with one child that it's just not fair to have only one child).

Please help yourself to a glass of Champagne and a canape on the way in ...

Wow T42, the games site is a good laugh. Ds might be haing a go tomorrow!

Good luck with the packing Thumb. I have done this moving countries lark once or twice. My advice is basically: make lists. What you think you want and need and can remember. Everything else can't be much use.

Also label your boxes well, then you don't have to open them up juss to see what's inside. For customs in Mexico you have to hand in a minutely detailed lit of everthing in every box (it was a joy!) but iit did help the unpacking.

JM Your bits are internationally famous . It's probably as well there is some confusion about your identity..... otherwise you'd never be able to travel...

oh god, I'm all embarrassed now

apologies jacksmama, I'm a newbie

scottishmummyofone, you're not alone - I've been here ages and I still don't entirely know who I am, let alone anyone else . There again, my brain only sees pictures, so only names with pictures in them 'stick'. Yours is great, because I know what Scotland looks like but I end up writing down many of the others on mumsnet on a piece of paper by the computer..then they change names and I'm back to having no clue! Even if they tell me who they used to be...

Milk and I made this a www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9960/banana-breakfast-loafa few days ago.

May I please recommend it for being an amazing child-proof recipe! Lots of Milk 'helping' opportuniies. Ontop of that she added an extra egg and fiddled with the cooking settings - i cooked at he wrong temperature for the wrong time.... and it still came out delicious.

tttttt - sorry for the absence of 'ts' from my post I am really having to whacking my keyboard here to get any letters - in many ways I look like a WWII secretary!!!!

Scottishma, don't be embarrassed - laughter is the great joy of life, and we laughed with you (and of course JM's bits) not at you

thumb I think you are right about the book. It's just too much stuff otherwise, but I don't want her poor brain to explode. I have suggested she writes in it for "ownership" do you think that is too much? It also makes me think I am totally controlling and anal - "we put this colour bowl out for cereal and this one for milk and have play do here but not here" etc etc - you should hear me actually I'd rather you didn't. You'd all go off me

Right, coffee anyone to go with that exceptionally wonderful loaf from Milk and Tea?

I am having happy thoughts of
(1) JMs international travelling lady bits

(2) Just how Amber pictures JM

(sorry Scottishma, this is not aimed at you... )

Talking of WWII typists did any of you UK souls see Enigma last night? Jolly good, no?

And tonight, TV alert, the last ever ER is screened. With an hour long lovey love in from old cast members. My delicate derriere will be firmly on sofa tonight, so see you ladies later!

There, that looks all set for ER tonight

she didn't go to bed until 11pm AGAIN, then up for 1/2 an hour whinging at 2am ish, then up for the day at 5.45am.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I wish I could cook I am the world's worst cook. I even once exploded an egg I was trying to boil DH does all the cooking.

Ah well Daisy, how I picture JM is indeed a matter of and (or for those reading with a screenreader, 'blush and shocked grin')

Actually, people in here do have fairly visual names. We've got a bird, a daisy, a tea...

Scottishmummyofone, in real life my cooking is, er, interesting. DS was recently heard to say "Nil points" in a particularly mournful Eurovision-song-contest-French accent when given a plate of non-decoratively-arranged food. Almost complete lack of co-ordination doesn't really help. Threw some of the bacon on the floor by accident this morning,though Mr B the small dog was especially pleased by this. Luckily, in the tea room, all food is amazingly cooked and arranged as if by magic.

lol at the "nul points" comments for cooking!

Hello all ... thought I'd wander in. Will catch up properly this evening (having finally got NOTHING to do in the evening, phew) but have a few more minutes free before collecting DD from a party. First one I've left her at, she wasn't too sure but she is bound to have had a wonderful time.

We had a good day on Tuesday, Drayton Manor with no pesky under-90cm sibling to deal with Just under 1.2m DD who would have gone on the likes of Apocalypse and Maelstrom like a shot if she was only tall enough. Consultation with the red book reveals that before she is 6.5 I will have to 'fess up to be petrified of most thrill rides. At the moment we both get to take the piss out of DH cos he gets sick on the teacups, but not long before it'll be my turn. Now researching Alton Towers and wondering why on EARTH theme park websites don't have a facility to put your child's height in and have it tell you - rides they can go on, rides they can go on accompanied, and rides they can go on but you can't (the ones with maximum heights).

Daisy, I didn't realise Enigma was on last night - I've read the book and don't remember shouting at it too much (I know enough about the subject to get annoyed with glaring inaccuracies, or at least I used to know enough) so should give the film a try.

My morning has been immeasurably brightened by all the and comments about my internationally famous ladybits [bigger ] - and now I'm half and half at how Amber pictures me... fortunately, I can easily picture Amber since she posted a pic on profile many moons ago!
Scottishmummy, please don't be , I was just teasing... it was one of those classic posts - I read it and and then tea ran with it... just you wait, that happens frequently in the tea room.
So Amber, how do you picture RacingSnake?

Must get ready for my day - had a bit of a funny one yesterday. Thought I'd go to yoga in the morning but woke up extremely sore from previous yoga class so rang friend who lives two doors down (whose new baby is 4 weeks old and weighs 10 lbs ) to say "no need to come mind JB". She rang back and said, "let's go for a walk instead" so we did. I had a treat scheduled for myself at 2 pm, had arranged with another friend to mind JB. Said friend had insisted she would love to watch him even though she was scheduled to have four teeth extracted and bridgework put in yesterday morning. I asked, "are you sure???". She said "no problem". She rang me at noon to cancel because she was feeling terrible after the dentist. [double ] - and big surprise!!! I was put out because it was partly my fault for taking her word that she'd be ok - this is the famously unreliable, frequently-canceling friend I posted about last year. I ought to have known that nobody would be up for minding a toddler, even one as good as JB, after having four teeth pulled. But she ought to have known, too... anyway - friend with newborn bailed me out and came over to look after JB so I could go for my.... make-up lesson!! After we all talked about not knowing how to properly put on make-up recently I decided to ask the girl who did my make-up for my wedding four years ago to show me how to blend eye-shadow etc. It was fun!! And hopefully I'll remember everything she taught me yesterday .

Oh JM are you giving CMOT a run for her money as Fashion ADvisor to the tea room, I must say I love the way you have blended your eyeshadow they look lovely!

Is the teeth pulling friend the one you found ferreting around in your house? You have greater powers of forgiveness are even more bonkers than I if you are still friends

p

And yes, Enigma on BBC3 very good, Kate Winslett before she went all blonde and hollywood - when still one of us in Blighty

lovely to see you DCMB was just pondering you the other night

Why, I picture her as a racing snake of course! Jolly speedy it is too.

Pictures of people make no real difference to me, since they all look like people, and I can't tell people apart from each other at all/very well (depending on how exhausted I am at the time). Well, I can tell who's a man and who's a woman, and I can manage totally obvious things like a beard or big spectacles in dark colours, or amazing hairstyles that no-one else has got (pink, spiky etc). And I can tell people who are very old and those who are children. Er, that's about it. Can't identify my ds unless I know it's him. No, really.

I've no idea what a Catita is, but I've had to draw a picture of a Mexican hat next to the name so I know it's you from deepest Mexico

Just had a really good meeting with an animal assistance charity boss. I suspect when the adrenaline wear off I'll be fast aslzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

oh Amber, does that mean you might be getting a Mrs C mark 2??? how exciting!

Something in your post made me think of lemon drizzle cake, so ...tada! here is a lovely fresh warm cake to go with the tea!

LOL Daisy, no it's not the whackjob nutbar odd ex-friend whom I almost beheaded with the baseball bat . That one faded out of my life... which is A Good Thing! No, this one is the one I posted about last year whom I really like, and her baby girl is JB's age, but she's quite flaky unreliable, and cancels around 50% of playdates often for stupid suspicious no reason. This used to give me a lot of heartache... because I so enjoy here when I see her... but I think I sort of emotionally backed off from her and it's lovely when I see her but I don't count on her anymore IYSWIM. Well, except for yesterday and now I really don't count on her anymore. I do feel badly for her, she's my age and her terrible gum disease and had to have four teeth pulled and a bridge put in ...

Daisy, not exactly. Mr B is my current being-trained-to-assist-dog, but I'm helping the charity work out how to help adults and children in a much wider way.

Oh good - lemon drizzle cake
Aha, a cup of tea - just the thing after a nap (Must Not Fall Asleep At My Desk - the staff think it's Not Done and they have a point )

Amber a "catita" is a little cat. "hatita" is little hat.

My DH loves making Spanish diminutives from English words. In Spanish you make a diminutive bay adding "ita" (feminine gender) or "ito" (masculine gender).

He says things like "see you tomorrowito" and the like.

So really my name is a Spanish version of "cat in a hat" made feminine. I am little female cat in a little hat.

I've seen another poster using catinahat as a username. We are not the same person.

Are you absolutely sure you're not the same person if you're called Catitainahatita and someone else is called Catinahat!

Seriously, if two users have a name with the same picture, guess where my brain stores the information for both people? Yup, in the same bit of filing cabinet.

Think of it this way
The catinthehat person is very tall and she wears a top hat (like in the story)

Catitainahatita is very small. And her hat is a one of those cowboy hats I have on in my profile picture!

Can we be two different people now? [hopeful emoticon]

Change it to "catitawithabumpita"...

Daisy has been suggesting that too, JM. But I remember that Amber said she also got confused with all the namechanging, so I thought I wouldn't bother.
After all, there won't be a bump forever.

On that note I have to confess to having trown in the towl vis-a-vis not wearing maternity trousers. This is a very high up bump, unlike DS, and at 16 weeks I look more pregnant now than when I was 20 odd weeks with DS.

This also means I have to go out and buy some kind of decent skirt/dress affair thingy for my conference. Preferibly something that could possibly also be born to my cousin's wedding, which our trip has been exetended for.

Any tips fashionistas? If my memory serves me correctly I am asking CMOT here as our resident fashion expert. But I reckon you all must have a better idea than me. I have no style whatsoever. I shall ask for tips on make-up wearing fromo you later, JM.