Tea Room the Fourteenth

[amberlight]

Welcome to the 14th instalment of the Tea Room. It's now officially spring, and we've moved the tea room to a Gipsy caravan pulled by the tea room horses, which is making its way up the countryside in an effort to follow spring. There are of course hedgerows filled with spring flowers, Mellors the handsome gardener/driver/handyperson, the usual virtual Bishops, and the assorted animals and characters from previous tea rooms. All are very welcome to join in with us parents of one (or indeed more!) for general chat and the occasional very odd conversation. Climb aboard, grab a cuppa, enjoy the view, relax!...

Ooh. Are we doing Easter names?

Blah blah blah....sick of writing.

Oh, Easter names. Hmmm.
Welcome Roslily!

T&E, I use disposable nappies too. So we can be pathetic together ;)

at the Head Girl insult... sorry, but LOL. Nobody would ever have picked me for Head Girl... with good reason!

Roslily, my DH only wants one, too. JB (Jackbaby)'s delivery was one of those horror stories, so now the idea of doing it again gives me the screaming meemies. I suppose I might feel differently if I'd been one of those women who stop briefly while cooking dinner to push out the baby and then go back to making a nine-course meal ... as it is, I see my friends who have more than one and have observed that when #2 is in the tiny baby stage, they are frazzled beyond bearing. I don't think I'd do well with that. I suppose it's nice when siblings are older and can entertain each other, but that's what we'll have play dates for... and I don't even have that as a personal experience as my sister and I didn't like each other even as children. I recall that her specialty was to torture annoy me into wordless screaming with frustration.

Any coffee around? JB and I had a sleep-in - BLISS!!! He was up around 5:45 but let himself be rocked and nursed back to sleep and then wrapped himself around me like a limpet and we snoozed until 8:45 am. Aahhhh...
I have to make a quick run across the border today to pick up a parcel... we have a friend in Bellingham who lets us mail stuff to his address when we have to order things from companies that don't ship to Canada from the US (bastards), which sounds terribly inconvenient but makes for nice little cross-border jaunts. So I can go to Trader Joe's (CMOT knows what I mean) and my favourite American grocery store. It's funny how we (a lot of Canadians) love to despise Americans, but take every advantage of the shopping in the U.S. [hypocrite emoticon]

Ooo Jacksmama is a gunrunner

This morning went fine, nothing too much to worry about!

Coffees all round, Irish and other liqueur coffees if preferred, to stave off the icy chill!

Hot cross bun anyone or is it time to crack open the Stones ginger wine? (in the seventies my mum and her friends used to drink it in the afternoons whilst we were playing - formative memory confirmed a few years back! )

Hello Roslily, sending a hug as my DH feels the same. Mine is also infertile so its very complex... short of rugby tackling Mellors and making him donate I'm resigned to my brood of one (how old is Mellors btw?)

Tea - I work f/t as a teacher but have backing. DH at home and does most of cooking. I insisted on a cleaner if I went back f/t and he insisted he do it and I give him the money instead. I "sacked" him once when it went a bit wrong but overall its ok. I insist only work and child, no house stuff (if a man did that would we call them a male chauvanist? I sound a bit horrid and bossy, a veritable ball breaker (I'm not honest!)
Also, I'm a special needs teacher and the kids don't write much, so its doable. Good luck with your decision.

T&E - I'd love to have been head girl material. Were you netball captain too? Did you do nail inspection? I think I would have had a crush on you if you were!

Ooh, I'm also a teacher- we get everywhere! I work full time, I am a HOD and major wage earner, so not much choice.

Jacksmama- that is part of DH's argument, ds's birth was somewhat dramatic, and we have a VERY tough first 6 months. I have had quite severe PND (and under care of psychiatrist), so he doesn't want to have to go through that again.

He also reasons we can't afford 2 in childcare, and he hated being one of 3, him and his brothers still don't get on much.

I actually feel a lot better about it now I have had this forum!

I used disposables with ds, FWIW, but it was years ago and not sure there was a lot of alternative.

Mellors is the exact age you wish him to be, and precisely the right person, too. Amazing, this tea room. For me, he is Daniel Craig, though only in a platonic sort of way honest. For others, he isn't. Er, isn't Daniel Craig. Can't speak for what goes on sometimes

There is also a cutout of George Clooney, in case that helps.

Ooo, Bergitte, you're an SN teacher? What sort of SN, dare I ask? (She says, as a SN Governor and disability adviser and disabled personage etc etc)

PS Please do forgive me getting totally confused if everyone else does Easter names, because I don't know who's who then. Still can't work out who's who from some of the last name changes

Jacksmama is a gun runner? I always thought she was a bootlegger.

I was never in the running to be head girl. (I coulda been a contender. Not). I'm just rather that Daisy calling me head girl turns out to be such an insult!

Roslily - Your experience with PND sounds grim. I do hope you turn a corner soon.

Bergitte - Don't you feel you ought, ahem, to get to know Mellors a little better before you ask him to make a donation? Part of the mystery of Mellors is that nobody really knows how old he is. Indeed, there is some disagreement about what he looks like. I do, though, have one of Mellors' holiday snaps here.

Tea - I've had another thought about FT working. Unless you have a partner at home, you become even more reliant on hiring people to take care of domestic stuff for you. Like the two people I had booked to do stuff this week. Neither of whom turned up or contacted me to tell me they weren't going to turn up.

For anyone who doesn't like ginger wine, I seem to have found a decanter of sherry. And a bowl of twiglets. Cin cin!

Ooops. Cross post with Amber. We may reach drinks overload.

I thought Mellors looked exactly like Brad Pitt when in Thelma and Louise...wearing white boxers and faded blue jeans and nothing else .

Drinks overload? What are you talking about?

I'm sure he does to you, AandO. But being, ahem, a teensy bit older, I remain convinced that he is as pictured on the beach. To others, though, he looks like Wesley Snipes.

You're quite right. No such thing as drinks overload.

Shall we have another?

Just asked Mellors to bring along a tray of margheritas and some kettle chips.

He went quite pale when he saw me so think words got around... he's very afraid

Roslily - more hugs from me... hope things are getting better for you. What are you HOD of? (btw it's nearly the hols yipppppeeeeee!!!

Amber - I teach secondary kids who are generally level 3 or below and tbh I enjoy it most of the time. It's basic literacy, numeracy and some behaiour work. Are you a governor in primary or secondary? Daniel Craig is a good choice for M, not sure who I visualise yet although Richard Briers flashed into my head for some bizarre reason (and he's not even one of my "wrong" crushes!)

T&E - you've dashed my Mallory Towers fantasy now! Like the holiday snap and I'd love a sherry thanks

Richard Briers?

Here's a sherry, Bergitte. Or is too late for sherry? I'm sure we have some Bolly somewhere, although these margaritas are really jolly good. (Oh, I was just having a Malory Towers moment there, although I suppose to be authentically Malory Towers we should be drinking lashings of ginger beer).

By the way, have you seen that there's another contribution to your thread about bereavement?

i was never head girl material,too scruffy and disorganised. Also had no "school spirit" , I was very happy to come last in a race at sports day.I was rubbish at PE too, i really hadn't got teh hang of proprioception ( where ones body is in space) as a teenager.

I think I'd rather not know WHO from my former school class was hanging round the tea room too. I like you as adults, i didn't care for many of my classmates.

Have been having a very nice evening, a spot of indoor gardening, potting on pak choi, And some great music on spotify. I adore the Faure requiem Sanctus.

Hi Rossily and tiddlyros. I will confess to liking to concentrate on one child. We do much more outdoorsy stuff than most of boys contempories with younger sibs.

No desire to work FT, I gave that up years ago and like being self employed and chose to only work part time. even before boy I wanted to do other things beside my job, and working no more than 3 or 4 days a week ( on average) left me days to do other things in a voluntary capacity.

Choc bronwies, why thank you , I will. just the thing to fill a corner. Mines a mullled wine please. The snow line was 230m today ( just above the sledging field..), we live at 200m.

I'll have a G&T please! I am head of RE

But really I don't wear socks and sandals! Just gone back full time after maternity leave. Can't wait for tomorrow and the holidays!

Goodness, you have been busy today.

For me, working ft is OK, although being homebased now does make life a lot easier as I have a degree of flexibility when not travelling. Working pt would be trying to fit the same work into less time, and a logistical nightmare.

My mum was a teacher (and dad worked at British Leyland who had fixed holidays, the main one managing to not even coincide with the school holidays), so they never came to anything during the day at school. So, I'm quite relaxed about the thought about not going to things. But sorting out wrap around and holiday care for September onwards did limit our options for schools somewhat.

DH and CMOTtiddler decided last night that DS would do a list of kind and polite behaviours so he knew what to do. So all of the children in his class did one today (the staff thought it would be a good idea), and DS was perfectly behaved. It was hard leaving at arrghh o'clock when the men in my life were cuddled up asleep, nude (DS sheds all clothes when he sneaks into our bed), with a toy springer spaniel between them

What news of the plumbers, Cmot?

Todays progress - floor all boarded and prepped for tiling, lights and extractor fan fitted and working, shower tray in place. Tiling starts in the morning.

It's all go go go here !

Am actually quite a lot at Daisy's impression of Head Girls - as I'm pretty sure she wasn't ours, I think I'm safe to say that I have to agree with her in general!

As I remember, ours didn't play lacrosse... But we all knew from quite early on that she was #1. candidate for the job.

oh Thumb, oh Thumb, you understand too well don't you dear

But Trowel needs to understand, she is Head Girl of the tearoom and that is an entirely different propostion indeedy it is

Welcome Roslily - yum brownies. You will, my dear, fit right in. You can see how well Bergitte is fitting in with Mellors after only a day or so!

Racing is an RE teacher too, so, what with Amber and Mary and the Bishops we're going to be very sorted for Easter. I can perhaps contribute on the Chicken/ Rabbit front?!?

Now, working full time Yes, I work very very very very full time atm. You lot make me want to work less. But when I'm out of the tea room I like it. You need fab childcare - it doesn't matter what it is, you hvae to like it and be comfortable with it and know that you trust it - whether Dad, minder, gran, nanny, nursery - you need to feel that Milk is safe and happy. I agree about being able to go to ntaivity/ games/ plays - not all the time but enough. I like to drop off in the morning if possible too - but it's what matters to you. And think about holidays and sick days. School normal is ok, it's the other its that are hard....

Oh, yes, you also need to be very good friends wtih your local supermaket delivery co (or Parisian equivalent) get a cleaner and not waste any weekend time doing chores. So professional life in the week slattern at the weekend. That covers it of course, only my own very humble opinion....

I am now rather captivated by the fact that all this time Mellors has been wearing comfy sweaters and getting a little bit pissed and falling in love with Margot and I just hadn't noticed

I am [sick] at CMOTs bathroom progress. All ground to a halt again here....