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 ...

Isn't Wriggle an absolute poppet, even (or especially) in the hard hat?

evening all!
Glass of bolly this way please!

like MadBad,so much to catch up on, so little time...

Earpiercing - I have not got ears pierced I went to Spain with my parents when I was 2 and they were also constantly told what a lovely little boy they had. I think I briefly wanted them pierced around the age of 10 but Mum wouldn't allow it. By the time I was 15 I couldn't think of anything worse than having bits of metal going through bits of me.
Having said that, I do believe it wouldn't hurt as much that young. MiniThumb had his tongue-tie snipped at a couple of weeks old, with a pair of surgical scissors and just a drop of novocaine - caused him NO problem whatsoever. A friend of mine missed her DS's tonguetie until he was nearly 3 - had it done under anaesthetic and he was in discomfort with it for some time after.

So, Catita - in a country where every little girl has her ears pierced at birth, and nobody thinks it is common or chavvy cos they all do it, what is your real objection to it? (not being aggressive, just trying to help you clarify your thoughts on it) If you still have a non-Britishprejudice reason, then don't do it. But if you don't and you are just carrying British cultural stereotypey things, then maybe it's not worth upsetting the family?

Dachshunds - miniature dachsies are nasty snappy little things.
bigger ones - I totally agree with RS that they don't know they are tiny - DH had two consecutive dachshunds called Benny, and Benny #2 really thought he was a big dog. As DH puts it, he picked 20 fights and lost 19 of them. Chased the cars off, that sort of thing. But wasn't snappy.
Long-haired dachsies are quite sweet - they don't look quite so mad (sorry to dachsie lovers) and the ones I've met have always been sweet-tempered.
Or you could get a bassett hound. They seem to be fairly laid back.

Hm, path of least resistance - faced with piercing or not a little girl's ears, I'd go for not doing them, unless I was undecided, culture said 'yes', and she was keen. Even at 2 or 3 that last is possible ... I have it easy as I'm not keen for littlies, bog-standard Anglo-Celtic culture says no, and DD is a massive coward. She is fascinated by my pierced ears, but if she asks if they hurt I say YES.

Tea, your DH is kind of hilariously bonkers re the short legs. Can we find a CKC with particularly stumpy legs? I think they're rather nice dogs, very impressed with DB's and SiL's, they're quite sweet. Leg length .. well, 3'7" DD kept getting their leads tangled in their legs, no such trouble for 6'6" DB, who knows?!

Make-up et al - I'm quite keen on being groomed these days. It's good fun. I'll as happily go out as I am, though. Hm. DD cracks me up - she's the girliest thing ever, but a complete adrenalin junkie, she won't climb, but she will JUMP ... drop slides, insane theme park rides, all her thing. Still entirely her own person; long may it continue.

Anyway, hic just come third in PTA quiz night, huge contribution from gigantic brain of me, but mostly it was kind of my idea to enter a team, which is a huge deal for me, so am very excited (and drunk) ...

have just looked at RS's pics of Wriggle in the safety helmet - classic! She is a real sweetie.

Thumb - Have just seen your post in the HCP lounge. Is the row really still rumbling on?

MORE BOLLY ANYONE??

Forget I asked. I've had a peep.

Goodnight everyone!

night MadBad! sleep well.

Thanks for all the advice on the earpiercing thing. The thing really boils down to what Racing said. I don't want future DD to be the subject of endless misunderstandings and questions, especially once she starts kindergarden aged 3. This is really why I was considering going with the cultural flow, and letting her decide to let her ears heal over once she is old enough to make the choice.

I also think it must not hurt quite as much. When DS had his BCG on his second day in the world (standard practice in Mexico) he didn't flinch or cry. I remember that that the BCGG hurts like hell.

So, either new born babies don't express pain, or they don't feel it. Well, at least it seems from this angle.

I have no prejudices other than my feminist ones, and those are the ones I shall have to silence in order to do it. We'll see.

Wish I had something useful to add. I, too, hate seeing baby girls with their ears pierced. At the same time, it did hurt when I had mine done, and maybe having it done as a newborn means you'll never remember how it felt.

Make-up: couldn't do without it. I get my eyebrows waxed and tinted, and my eyelashes tinted, because without, I look about as interesting as a bowl of porridge. I just don't have a terribly interesting face, my eyes are very pale, and without make-up, I look like "a butt-ugly guy" as someone once told me at a drunken university Hallowe'en party where I dressed like a man.
So, I do face powder, lip gloss, neutral eye shadow, green eyeliner, and mascara on days when I know I have to leave the house.

I just read back and saw what MadBad wrote about David, and, dear Madbad, the gloves are off!! I'll have you know that David could beat Mellors into the ground any day of the week, arrest him and he carries a gun!!

[so there emoticon]

Jacksmama - But can he master a ride-on lawnmower or construct a bookcase? No? Well, I rest my case.

And I certainly don't think you should be boasting that your thug bouncer carries a gun. You might need that sort of thing near the HCP Lounge, but around here it's all peace, love and non-violence.

MadBad - you've had a bottle of wine already? by 11 in the morning?

OK, people, why are your times all an hour ahead of the real time? What's happening here? Am I in a timelag universe?

SORRY! Sorry, MadBad, I meant DCMB, sorry sorry..

Last night's bottle of wine!! Posting whiffling on about pierced ears and short-legged dogs was done under the influence.

I have not had an alcoholic beverage yet this morning!

Oh dear, DH is attempting to swap DD's £9.99 worth of small change for a ten pound note and she is having NONE of it.

Hm, quite good spelling from me after a bottle of wine there, but not sure I was making much sense.

mellors is persisting with his lawn mower riding, this morning he seems to have added a surf board to teh front which is helping slightly on teh down wards slide...
I'm going to get him a kite buggy I think. and some good instruction manuals, and maybe a hunky teacher chap to help him learn teh ropes. And then I can have a go too.

Organic muesli and a fruit smoothie, anyone?

I'm thinking of starting a thread to ask about holiday plans. In the past we have spoken generally about arranging holidays with one child, but it would be interesting to know what people are actually doing this year.

Of course, I might just move into this beach cafe full time. Perhaps some beach huts will magically appear?

Ahem... MadBad - I give up. You win. Mellors is quite obviously the King Handyman Of`The Universe.
But really... a lawnmower... who cares...?

Cricket fever has hit boy. I bought him a garden cricket set this afternoon and hes been inseperable from his new bat since. wanted to take it to bed. Just hope it a dry afternoon tomorrow and we can go to the cricket club, other wise Dh and I are in for a full day of living room cricket with a 3 yr old.

Oh look, there he is on teh sands - organising teh other children into a game. getting cross at teh tinies who don;t understand they should do what he tells them to becasue he is a big boy and he knows everything there is to know about how to play cricket.

Ah, mellors has steped in and is lobbing a few gentle balls down to boy while teh other children wonder off and go back to doing their own thing.

Just to let you all know, I have a job interview on 5 June! Do you reckon Mellors would give me a buff up, in preparation?

ohhh, good news then Mary- is that a god bothering sort of job or a secular sort of job?

any of you watching eurovision? I rather liked germany and norway- Very different to each other but at least stood out from euro pap.

Well done Mary

Just back from Portugal and my product launch - everyone was very very positive about it, and my big presentation went well