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!...

To some extent I think. But also when he is going through change. At the moment he seems to be developing in so many ways. He is very bright, and his reading level has jumped about 2 years in as many weeks! His powers of reasoning too - he is so bright, and now he is starting to shine. He gets upset by things, but that is the nature of Aspergers. Nothing is bothering him so much that he would wet himself, I think.

Ooo, the hiccups have just this minute gone!

Great! Pity about that you are covered with water and have a large cold key down your back, though!

Hello all...

We are thinking of buying this outfit for Milk to read Charlie and Lola books in...

www.marksandspencer.com/Piece-Charlie-Lola-Pinafore-Outfit/dp/B0030VELYC?ie=UTF8&qid=1265408158&cate goryNodeID=&ref=sr11&page=1&node=42966030&sr=1-1&mnSBrand=core&rh=n%3A42966030%2Ck%3Acharlie%20and %20lola

Could be fun in a kitch and "I may as well wear something a bit on the daft side seeing as I am only three" kinda way!?! RS we are still waiting for the first lot of books but the with cd one we got this week is suuuuuuch a great success - Milk has 'read' the snow book between two and eight times each day!

Hello everyone. Not much time to post as I am busy Saving The World, but

Daisy - What's wrong, sweetie?

Stillcrazy - I was wondering about your pants on the outside of trousers look...

"I am busy Saving The World"

Makes perfect sense now!

Good luck, have fun and don't forget to let microwave meals cool for ten minutes before eating or they continue to cook in your stomach.

I like the dress. I would dress DaisyBoy in it, I really would. I think he would be happy but I already have a reputation for eccentric dressing that I ought not to pass on to my son

I cannot exactly explain why 2010 is pants, because it would be too identificatory but roughly

(1) DaisyGrandad as you know

(2) DaisyBloke is not well

(3) work is exceptionally tricky for both Daisy and DaisyBloke in different but wearisome ways

(4) Builders cannot always be Relied Upon

(5) my Neighbours are a pain

(6) DaisyBoy is delicious in a 3 year old way, but due to (1) - (5) I don't get to enjoy as much of the deliciousnessness as I should

Daisy - I am a MNer Of Very Little Brain, but if that is enough information to identify you, then I am too dense to spot it. Unless of course, by (3) you were referring to the cancellation of a Royal Visit or a particularly onerous afternoon of ribbon-cutting.

We knew about (1) of course, but I am sorry to hear (2) and (3). (4) is probably why I live in an unmodernised hovel, as the fear of having to Negotiate With Builders makes me want to hide trembling under the duvet. I am concerned by (5) in case you have inherited our Neighbours From Hell from the days when we lived somewhere near (I think) your current abode! And oh dear for (6) - tiptoe up to his bedroom now and ruffle his boyish curls (poor CrazyGirl is subjected to much late night curl-ruffling and other maternal soppiness).

I've just had an idea. Let's give George a makeover. There. He looks even more alluring now with Mellors' tweed cap and one of the tea room's flower-sprigged pinnies. What larks.

.... but aren't the eyes weird on the new confused emotion...??? BLAAAH!!!

Hey, Daisy - I am really sorry that 2010 is so crappy for you...

Yes, the eyes are very strange. Which makes it all the more suitable as a "befuddled by drink" emoticon, I think!

StillCrazy you make me laugh. I was wondering if I should mention the trouble I am having with the nets at Buck Pal

There, that is better

swoons lies back to admire her efforts

goodness you are on late tonight!

Daisy, sorry you're having a pants 2010 so far. I'm sure it will perk up soon for you

RS - yes I'm in the UK until Thursday, when we fly out in the morning, arriving Friday evening. MrThumb will just have finished his 3 day conference and will be waiting for us at the gate (or I'll want to know why not!) and then we can spend all weekend recovering. I plan to hand miniThumb over to MrThumb and take to my bed for the weekend - I love him dearly but my goodness it's hard work on your own!

Mary - I have some hatpins, would they do?

Yes, I have a vast collection of hatpins (in a rather nifty hatpin holder purchased from Ebay a chichi litle antique shop I know). Mary - would the combined tea room hat pin collection be of any use?

Thumb - That sounds like a good plan.

Daisy - (In Lady Bracknell voice) Nets at Buck House? Are you sure? Net curtains are not terribly U, are they? (But then, I have heard that people who are truly truly posh think that HMQ is not quite comme il faut, which has always sounded somewhat seditious to me). Or did you mean cricket nets, for DaisyBoy's summer sports camp?

More Bolly anyone? I have just Saved The World so can imbibe with a clear conscience.

• I though Daisy meant tennis nets - just goes to show, dunnit, that it's all in the mind of the reader...

Bolly this way please - and Three Cheers for StillCrazy for World-Saving activities!

StillCrazy, you are Superwoman?! This explains a lot.

so that's why StillCrazy spends so much time standing looking at what is to me the blank wall of the Sauna

Sadly, m'dears, the nets are blast nets. Up at every window. They are very long and dense and will move a long way inwards at speed to absorb all the teeny bits of glass should one of one's not so friendly non-subjects get too close

Clearly you lot have not spent enough time standing at my gates gazing of late. Have you

Thanks for the cuppa and the shoulder massage and the wonderful wonderful summation of the day

Aha! Blast nets! I have, ahem, worked in buildings with blast nets. They were washed regularly every 10 years, whether they needed it or not.

And yes, Thumb, MN in general and this thread in particular reveal an awful lot about the workings of people's minds!

Lovely cuppa, Amber, many thanks. I'm just about to make some muffins. I won't need to bake them - I'll just sizzle them with my laser vision.

Sorry it's all pants at the moment Daisy. Sometimes life seems to gang up agains us.

Am fed up with work atm - partly cos it's the time of year when vast amounts of incredibly tedious regulatory paperwork descends on us, and partly as needy american colleague is being v difficult. As she is needy and her work is obvious, she gets lots of rah rah attention. And as far as others are concerned, my stuff just happens effortlessly.

Riding was a bit pants this morning - topped off with horse deciding that he had had enough and was going back to the yard at top speed. I got a commendation for not ending up in the hedge, but told off for being firmer to stop him

Er, thanks, StillCrazy! Lovely!

Er, thanks, StillCrazy! Lovely!

apparently I went twice

He is a riding school horse - it's just that the horses they have aren't the usual type - the big horses don't get an awful lot of work as they don't have that many adults riding there, and Ben is only 4 anyway, so a bit stroppy still. They have an arena, but the surface is too wet to use still, so lessons are out on the big fields.

My theory is that at least I am learning to deal with stroppiness and running off now when it is relatively safe, rather than out in the wide world. Although I feel like I am a totally useless rider, and making v v slow progress, instructor tells me they get a lot of people coming to them to go hacking or learn to hunt (they have fab hacking access) who are supposed to be very good, but can't manage outside a school when they don't have anyone to follow, so I'm not doing as badly as I think

Amber - What plants did you buy? One reason I always feel perkier in February is that the gardening season is about to begin and I indulge my obsession keen interest and start reading gardening porn catalogues.

I do feel for everyone whose work life is currently pants. Mine was a bit grim last year and it really dragged me down. It's far better now but, come to think of it, I wonder whether I could borrow Mary's --voodoo- doll.

Thanks to all the pins everyone donated, the said doll is now spiked beyond all recognition . If you want to remove the pins and try again, you could, but I always think that the satisfaction is in making new holes, not pushing pins into existing ones

I now have a nasty cut between fore and middle finger, deep, although bleeding has mostly stopped, due to picking up a broken glass (got broken during washing up. ouch ouch ouch

Would anyone like some cheese on toast? Comfort food for all...

CMot, indeed so. Having ridden probably 60 different horses in my life ranging from plod to arrrghhhhh-we're-doing-40-mph-in-the-woods!!!! I can definitely say that it helps to be able to control a horse when out alone/ in fast company. And now I can't ride and I'm

Plants: primroses, snowdrops, narcissi. Lovely! But really I should try planting them rather than being on mumsnet.

Mary - oo heck re you and the glass - does it need stitches?

Yes please for the cheesy toast. Yum.