Tea Room the Thirteenth

[amberlight]

Welcome to the newest instalment of the One Parent Families tea room. As it's heading for spring, we're now in a nice warm orangery surrounded by woodland filled with spring flowers. All are very welcome to join in with us parents of one (or indeed more!), the tea room gardener/handyman Mellors, various virtual Bishops (don't ask) and a variety of other characters from previous tea rooms. Grab a cuppa, relax!...

Oh dear, Racing. A dissertation created by using the random gobbledegook generator. How depressing. Are you being paid for this or is it a noble and heroic act of friendship?

A sky burial sounds rather beautiful, but probably more workable in a rural setting. Trouble is, here, the foxes already bring us other people's KFC boxes (some neighbours seem to have a somewhat relaxed attitude to waste disposal) and I wouldn't want to run the risk that they might deposit a deceased pet on someone's doorstep!

We're watching Oklahoma!. Would anyone like some mulled cider and popcorn, as they seem to suit the mood and the weather?

It is a noble and heroic act of friendship. She gave me three nights to do it in and it is written by a German. The German language can be somewhat wordy.

Sky burial really means 'put out for the foxes to eat.'

I love the idea of the downhill skiing.

Question to all therapist type tea roomers - what could you prescribe to someone who is run down and exhausted by constant coughing and is finding it hard to sleep. Have been trying bach flower remedies, ginger cordial with hot lemon and honey and now manuka honey and propolis. (Note to self - find out if manuka bees can live in England as there is a fortune to be made.)

Sympathy RacingSnake. I suggest copious G&Ts.

RS, Im sure I suggested the Onion Syrup pages ago - didn't you try it? [innocent ] It does help, honest. Failing that, head off to your nearest health food shop and see if you can get some Sambucol - it's made from black elderberry and is very nice, and does a good job on the throat and URT bugs, as well as helping with the cough.

I find honey can sometimes add to the coughing, but that might just be me. You can also try doing a head steam with essential oils of cedar and rosemary - these help to clear any mucus BUT DON'T DO IT AT NIGHT because they will increase coughing (which is the body's way of trying to expel the germs and mucus). Do it early in the morning to get the coughing out the way.

Also, it is worth knocking back a couple of Ibuprofen as well - this reduces the inflammation in the tissues. I always have a couple of them as well as all the natural remedies - it does make a difference.

HTH!

Tempted by GandTs, would probably only be able to adminster onion syrup while patient is asleep. Sambucol sounds good - forgot I was also offering Potters Chest medicine with horehound. Have been administering aspirin; ibuprofen should be stronger when extremely tender stomach has recovered from steroids.

Night all!

I am absolutely having (I can't believe I'm even thinking about this) the cats cremated when they go, I don't think sky burial/fox-facilitate recycling is a great option in a 60s housing estate. DH trod on the neighbours' dog's grave while we were chasing their guineas round the garden, and that's quite put me off suburban pet cemetaries.

But the boys are only eight months old, so with luck we will have many, MANY years left with them.

On the winter Olympics front, I have made sure to show DD footage of the first GB gold for 30 years - she thinks it looks like a lot of fun and would like to try it. Actually, I do wonder if sending a 5yo with next to no sense of self-preservation down the run may be quite a quick route to world records ... just not MY 5yo.

GGod night everyone!

Does it matter treading on a grave? (Genuinely curious) DD and I spent a lot of Wednesday sitting on tombs in a graveyard, playing with a friendly cat. I remember being a child and worrying about walking over graves because I thought it would give people goosebumps!

It wouldn't bother me. I have to admit to dancing on my brother's grave! Admittedly he's not in it - he has bought the plot next to where my father is buried. My mum was horrified, but my brother thought it was rather funny!

I think it's a great idea. You could have picnics and parties there and then when he dies it might be a comforting place to come.

Am most definatly not showing DS the skeleton or luge. We have had quite enough problems with where you can use your sledge without any encouragement.

In the wonderful world of DS, today he was concerned that FIL would fall into a volcano when in New Zealand. No idea where this came from, but he was quite insistent about it. They leave on Thursday for 6 weeks, and will be looking for more relatives from DH's great grandfather who, so far, is known to have had 10 marriages (and families) and no divorces

Wow! NZ must be full of Dibblers!

Ten marriages? And no divorces? Err, wow.

Anyone need a Bolly to fortify them for the week ahead?

Don't mind if I do, although it is probably to recover from the weekend.

Oh, he worked his way round the world, but apparently ended up in New Zealand, so there are a few in Australia, then the final families in NZ. For a long time they thought he had then moved on to the US, but someone has found his grave in Auckland now. It's v interesting, as my family history is v v boring.

The families were sequential - so he'd get somewhere, get married , get woman pg (but not sure of the general sequence here), then beggar off

Oh, go on. Just a leetle glass of bolly then

I'm back. survived teh family get together. With out killing my brother or stangling my father or walloping any body.thought at one point we might have 12 people round table for lunch, ended up with just (!) 9. in a self catering cottage that sleeps 4.

We were meant to be in one that slept 6 and had crockery etc for 12... but ended up in 2x4. not quite the same circulation space.

Blooming long way to drive tho. not going to very west wales again in a hurry. twas best part of 6 hours drive.

I went to school in west london. but not such a long established one as some of you. my priamary school opened in 1950 something with my mother as one of its first intake. secondary was a secondry modern before it went comp in teh 1970s. Both schools are still there, neither has ever had a lacrosse team to my knowledge.

Coo, naughty great-grandad!

The grave was not long dug, and the dog not contained in any sort of canine coffin. I'd rather not elaborate further.

Both in RL and in the tea room, I have made raspberry cheesecake brownies. Enjoy.

ummm, cake. yes please.just teh ticket with hot choc.
chilly tonight

OOOOh I am anxious Thumb, if I out myself to you suppose you always rather disliked me at school, quite possible, alhtough of course if we were at a reunion at said school I would say hello but then of course you woudn't know all the MN things about me, but then they are just things about me.... opooooo the dilemma

Yes, we must have been in same year since I was in BA captain year ....

RAcing, gulp I never even read DaisyBloke's PhD ....

Don't cremate your hamster. Particularly not if you have a Jack Russell. That's all I'm saying.

Loving idea of Dibbler progency - it's a bit Sarah Dane and a bit Oscar & Lucinda!

Bolly, yes, needed, thanks.

Thumb and Daisy were in the same year at the same school?

Right. Bolly all round.

What ails thee tonight, Daisy?

daisy - you could check who I am on my profile - I haven't really changed much since school so no doubt you will recognise me - and then you can decide for yourself the risk!
However, school was a long time ago and I'm sure we're all grown up enough now to get over things (so long as you never hit me with a lacrosse stick of course )

CMOTD - Wow, that's an impressive ancestor! Was he a travelling salesman or a lorry driver? I thought my Great great grandad was a bit of a One - he married twice (widowed first however) and had about 15 legitimate children and quite possibly a similar number of less well established progeny.

UniS - well done! I couldn't be at the same table as my brother without either wanting to or managing to spear him with the carving fork.

Cake? don't mind if I do, ta muchly

Finding it amusing that two of our splendid tearoomers may have already known each other for years and years!!!

Morning all. Got the teas and coffees going...

Oh goody. Thank you, Amber.

Have just suffered the horrors of the school run for the first time in a week.

I'm unlikely to have competed against you at lacrosse though - I normally had to miss the matches because I had a piano lesson on a Saturday morning - although I did make the team! Similarly the netball team - although, again, problem with other things happening at match times... I got dropped from the team because of it!

We only did swimming in the summer as we had an outdoor pool. Which I remember was quite bracing in at the beginning of the summer term. And my swimming hat would pop off as soon as I dived in (my hair seems to expand in water and go 'ping' and that's it, hat off!)

Are there any of htose cinamon buns left? Could do with one on this cold sunny morning. Quite a bit of snow on Sunday morning, and more likely on Wednesday if the weather forecast is to be believed (probably not)

Catita - I hope you got the seat for the both of you. Mistlechick was always a heavy lump, so I know what you mean. He was normally 2mo ahead in clothes until about 18mo - then about right - but now getting ahead of himself again. But one of the biggest (!) problems has always been trying to get his head through tops and jumpers... when you look at him, you don't think 'Wow, what a big head' - he's all apparently in proportion - but when you look at him critically compared to other children his age or even older, you can see that he does have a bigger head than average. That's from my father's side...

Do you think I need to be worried that he is saying that he has tummy ache and a head ache every morning (particularly on school mornings - but that might just be because its a faster turn around and he needs to eat some breakfast reasonably quickly)? I'm just wondering - as I ended up having to be changed school after my first year as I was getting awful headaches (apparently to the extent I was hitting my head on a wall) which were because I wasn't happy at school - not being pushed enough. But I could just be being paranoid.

Morning, thank you for the coffee Amber.

Bit depressed, been trying to pay for an overseas conference for two weeks via wire transfer, bank keep on messing it up and now the conference has dropped me because I haven't paid in time. Still have to tell my colleague that I won't be presenting there. I'm really annoyed that the bank f**ked it up.

On a more positive note we took LittleO to see Dinosaur Encounter in the city yesterday. He really enjoyed it. He got his face painted but the painter thought he was a girl and made him into a pink dinosaur. Luckily we have always avoided pointing out the gender colour link to LittleO and so he was totally happy, and just spent the rest of the day roaring happily! I don't understand how people always think he's a girl. Ok, he does not have short hair, but he was wearing a brown stripy shirt and a navy coat fgs!