Tea Room the Tenth: Tea and cake and rock and roll

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

Welcome back to the tea room.

In the search for the perfect venue, we have now decamped to a rambling country estate. The once-decaying castle, now restored, is a boutique hotel, popular with rock and roll gentry and visiting bishops, and the tea room (which never closes) is located in a tastefully converted barn. The charming garden contains a duck pond and ends in a haha. We need the haha, of course, to stop the bison trampling the herbaceous borders. Mellors the gardener is, as ever, in charge of the grounds.

Please come and join us for a celebratory drink.

Party was chaotic. I was knackered by the end. DH didn't make it home to help out, and I had a boy who kept wandering places he shouldn't, which made it hard to get food ready. Plus they insisted on play fighting with sticks and anything they could find, which also made it difficult!

Sorry to hear you did't get the job, Mary. I've got my fingers crossed that something else comes your way very soon.

For you all: some homemade (by my breadmaker) wholemeal loaf with "linaza" can't be bothered looking it up (perhaps linseeds, I seem, to remember). It's rather good toasted with butter...

Hi Ally, I'm glad you found your way to the Tea Room! My little boy is 19 months old, and his name is actually Jack (sort of) , hence my posting name .
I'm also part of the International Tea Room Contingent, I live on the West Coast of Canada, so I'm usually posting incongruous "good mornings" when everyone's already into the Bolly . CMOT and I have had a meet-up when we were both in California, which was fab.
I thought about trying to explain The Tea Room but I'm not sure I could do it justice... so here's an attempt: the Tea Room started as a sort of sanctuary from the crankiness that the One-Child Topic occasionally seems to generate. (Just as an aside, I think it's vital to have this topic, just as vital as the Larger Families topic.) So, being a sanctuary, we have only one rule: anyone who engages in fisticuffs will be ejected by Mellors the Gardener (who is a fictitious hunk we all drool over. He probably looks like George Clooney or Daniel Craig.) In actuality, what that means is posters who come on this thread spouting vitriol are essentially ignored and on the rare occasion this has happened, they have swiftly disappeared again.
We're on here to let off steam, have fun, share joys and concerns about our onlies (or our pregnancies or several children - see, everyone's allowed! ), share recipes and get drunk be silly.
Don't be put off by the fact that this is our tenth thread. This isn't one of those cliquey threads where you feel like you're barging in if you post. The thing I love most about this thread (other than everything!) is that newcomers are welcomed with open arms and that everyone introduces themselves.

Phew.

So - Bolly anyone? I'm still on the coffee myself but may shortly switch to Mimosas if I can find any orange juice.

Catita - how many more weeks? And when does the invasion the M/MIL contingent arrive?

My apologies for not introducing myself properly earlier.

I am MadBad. The sequins are my homage to Strictly Come Dancing. I am extremely old - the tea room's resident granny - and have one daughter.

Nobody here is shy about breaking out the booze, but I am often to be found staggering around in a state of tipsiness, trying to refill everybody's glass.

Oh Mary I am so sorry. What was the job and what are your qualifications?

Relieved that CMOTiddler is frequently a catbirdchicken as friends have been looking at Wriggle strangely. (Could it be the fact that she has taken to peering into her knickers in the hope that her tail is eventually growing?)

MadBad, how nice and glittery you are, in the midst of all the drizzle we have had all day.

Daisy, your posts are never too long. I have never seen you as quite aged enough for the queen - I remember suggesting a minor royal. (Although I hope that you are not cut to the quick by the demotion.)

RacingPig, haven't you got some tidying up to do?????

what's a mimosa? isn't it a tree of some kind?

Hi Ally, Unis here, bad speller, poor typist and apt to rant off at a tangent to teh rest of teh conversation. are/ were used by some to high light stuff that they did in teh tea room rather than in RL, for example > >>

I also have 3 yr old, going by the name of boy. he is a boy. I recently moved house from dodgy area of a city to edge of a plesent village. I am suffering slight middle class guilt pangs about this.

Mary- I know 6 kids 2 adults works in 3 beds, its what my SiL has, but at least with 3 beds you can do Boys room Girls room Parents room. It does seem not quite right to be expecting bro and sis to share beyond about 10 or parents to be sleeping in living room/diner .AFAIK teh 2 bed flats on teh estate I'm thinking of were designed for childless or one child families and singles. The estate HAD a good mix of accomadation sizes and styles when it was built, predictably most of the houses were bought under right to buy. sorry, rant over for teh night, feel free to ignore me.

Yes, the > were borrowed from other threads, where they are used (it seems) to provide stage directions and explanations of some of the things which are going on in the background but not necessarily spoken about. But in the tea room they seem to have developed a life of their own!

ooh I feel oddly conflicting emotions - cos I managed to alert the Tearoomers to the orangeness of the West coast of Australia before the BBC had woken up; and for not introducing myself properly:
Hi, I'm down in Australia, emigrated here in August with Aussie MrThumb and newly-Aussie miniThumb, who is 21mo and a boy. I am British though.

I have an interesting career history and have been known to provide the occasional tearoom massage (massage therapist being one of my many roles in life).

I have no pets as yet but will soon be amalgamating a menagerie of guineapigs and birds, possibly also fish.

Mary - so that you didn't get this job but I hope that it means that there is a better one just round the corner for you.

Sorry, Ally, I didn't introduce myself either. I was secretly Mnetting at work and was being quick.

I'm a orignally British but now passport carrying Mexican Mnetter married to a born and bred Mexican with one Mexican born DS (Kittenito) and DD (Gatita))on the way very shortly.

And please come back! Don't just post and leave us!

JM: thanks for aking about the mother and mother-in-law situation. The news is not very good, unfortunately. Since my mum got her ticket she has been diagnosed with a melanoma (sp) after a biopsy on a mole on her arm. She has to have more surgery to remove the skin surrounding where the mole was, and possibly also (as far as I understand it) removal of the lymph nodes.

The bottom line is she is not able to travel. I know I wasn't too keen on her visiting for 7 weeks, but I there is no way that I prefer this option. She obviously is more upset than me. After being bedridden and ill during my pregnancy and first year of Kittenito's life, she had been really looking forward to being able to be there (and tell me what I was doing wrong) for Gatita's first weeks. She's alreay knit two cuddly toys for her and is half way through a Thomas the Tank Engine jummper for Kittenito.

Hopefully she'll be able to come out after all her ops, fingers crossed that the cancer doesn't spread.

I hadn't worried too much about the mole, which she had when I was over in June, seeing as I had the same years ago and it was easily removed and had no serious consequences (other than avoiding direct sunllight : note to self- why did you cme here then???) I advised her to go to the drs. but she made lots of excuses and I didn't push it too much. I finally got her to go in August and now I wish I'd really been more forceful in making her go when we were over. I'm still not sure how serious this all is and fear googling will simply be a way of convincing myself that all is lost. She has just been so unlucky with her health in the last few years that I can't help thinking that she will end up with the wwrst sort of diagnosis in the end.

Damn damn damn. And then how will she cope with the anxiety, the stress of treatment etc? Her ME will hae her back in bed at this rate. Bugger bugger bugger

] plus [very extremely unhapppy emoticon]

Catita - [oh shit] emoticon

I'm so sorry to hear that. Last thing you need, about to give birth and frightened for your mum.

((((((((HUG))))))))))?

I wish I had something helpful to say - best I can come up with is June-August, well, I wonder how much of a difference a diagnosis two months earlier would have made? Probably not much. But I am only guessing.

Mary - for you too. I hope, like tea said, that there's a much better one for you in the immediate future.

Catita - So to hear about your mum and hope that all has been caught in time. Taking out the lymph nodes should be precautionary, I would think. WHat follow up treatment are they suggesting, if any?
I strongly recommend you stay resolute and away from googling anything to do with it - you are more likely to frighten yourself than for it to be helpful!
Everything crossed that the op is all she needs and that it goes quickly and well, although depending on the amount of skin they remove, she may need a skin graft (my MIL had one removed from her face and needed a skin graft - it's about the size of a penny).

So sorry she won't be there for the birth now but I hope she gets out to you very soon.

Oh no - Catita - how horrid. PLEASE keep us updated. A friend of mine had this too (I think - I get confused about medical terms). The first mole change and diagnosis of the 'big C' was a bit hair raising for us all and then after that he would go to the hospital, I think once ever few months and if needed they would take off any suspicious looking lumps and bumps so it doesn't occur again ever. He said this was not much of a hassle at all. I thought a non scary story might be nice!

MaryBS - [rolls eyes] Do you know what - The trouble wih some people is they don't see a good thing when it is right in front of their nose...!!!

Cup of tea anyone? And what about a croissant... they are fresh from my local Parisian bakery!!! Yum, yum!

Mmmm .. real croissant for breakfast. Can I donate some freshly picked blackberries?

Ditto all sympathy for Catita and Mother of Catita.

Sorry to hear about your mum, Catita - would you like me to pray for her? That's one thing I CAN do... (God must be fed up of hearing from me, LOL, still, he knows what he has to do to shut me up )

Blackberries sound good. Also taste good. I can turn them into a crumble if you like?

Just checked the local paper, am seriously considering whether to contact the "energy assessor" one, as it doesn't require any experience of anything

Large cup of tea for Catita and mum

...and for everyone else too with whatever challenges life's throwing at us right now

Morning all, with a (in the "ill" sense) emoticon from me... I did a major cooking boo-boo yesterday, tried to roast vegetables in the oven and was out of olive oil so used vegetable oil. Disgusting. I wonder if the oil was off (it was old) but the resultant slop was completely inedible. If course I tried to set a good example for Jackbaby and forced myself to eat some. I felt so ill when I went to bed. My innards rumbled all night and are still rumbling.
Gah.

Is there any camomile tea?

Large teapot of camomile tea, on a silver tray, at your service... hope you feel better soon...

Hi,

One camomile tea coming up for JM.

Thanks for the sympathy: I just feel it is a rerun of 2007-2008 all over again, when she was so ill and tried to kill herself a number of times in the weeks leading up to Kittenito's arrival. As I know you all know, it's the being so faraway that gets to you ...

Thumb: yes she is going to need skin grafts, that they have already told her and the lymph nodes removal is precautionary, so far there is no evidence that she has cancerous cells there. But it has certainly progressed from being a minor on the skin cancer (like the one I and T42's friend had)to being a cancer that has made it inside the body.

But, she told me this morning she has appointment with her community nurse and is going to ask for an increase in her ADs to help her deal with it all. This is good news, seeing as she usually wants to give them up and is reticient about taking them. It sounds like she is taking things sensibly so far.

And yes, thank you Mary all prayera are welcome here. It is very nice of you to think of her like that.

Oh ....... Catita - I was really hoping it would sound bleeeerdy scary but actually be not too bad (just like my friend) and on top of all this business in 2007 - 8 which sounds simply awful - I really feel for you right now.

I'm feeling a tiny bit better, could I have some chocolate?

Which, by the way, do you need/ want more? Seeing as you're having a hard time and about to give birth a little care package might be in order

I'm sure some chocolate could be found somewhere round here, JM...

Would these do?

They are rather yummy.

Ginger nuts would be rather nice, if you had a spare minute to send them. I have no qualms about imposing on your good nature at all...

Nor should you, I wouldn't be offering if I didn't mean it

Is there anything I could get that Kittenito would like?

Kittenito is a cars, planes, helicopters and trains-loving little boy. But he has loads of toys... most of them bought by grandma it must be noted. I'm sure she had plans to bring him more across.
So, really, no; thanks for the offer.

Have I scared everyone off? I'm pretty much finsihed whining for now. It's safe to come back.

Plus there are ginger nuts, chocolate and probaly bolly somewhere.