Tea Room the Fifteenth - The Viking Hall

[amberlight]

Here we are in the 15th instalment of the Tea Room for the One Child Family board. All are welcome, whether parents of a single splendid offspring or any other number.
We are this time in a Viking Long Hall tearoom, complete with optional helmets, roaring log fires (in case of chilly spring evenings), rugs aplenty, and all the usual mod cons of life as well.
Our Viking tea room contains Mellors the gardener/handyperson with a talent for relaxing massage (amongst a variety of other characters including Bishops, camels, bison, horses, guinea pigs, dogs, etc etc for reasons that would take too long to explain but you're welcome to read the other Tea Room threads and prepare to have your mind thoroughly boggled). Plenty of tea/coffee/cake/virtual bolly always on offer.
Join us, relax, chat, enjoy.

Unis does a twirl, do you like my new viking stripy trousers and sheepskin jerkin... keeping me nice and warm, tho it does smell a bit of sheep.

erm, 2nd staying vistors! the 1st was BiL on our first night here. but he is a frequent overnight guest so hardly counts. He can be relied upon to help out with stuff.
Boy is very excited about the iminant arrival of his best mate, doesn;t quite understand that it will be another 2 hours till they get here as best mate is still at school right now.

Hello, have a caught a birthday? Happy birthday to Milk! Four is good - I liked four. Five, not so much. Don't know why. Six is shaping up well.

Well, apart from being told that DD has been very tired at school, and ought to go to bed earlier, and having therefore persuaded her to bunk off ballet this afternoon and swimming tomorrow ... needless to say, she has been bustling about the house doing a good impression of a really not-very-tired person, and will no doubt takes ages to go to sleep tonight and get up at Stupid O'Clock tomorrow.

I could do with someone telling ME I really need to get twelve hours sleep or my brain will suffer ... but I think I may drink wine instead.

Happy Birthday to Milk!!

Been on a first aid course all day. I have been manhandled by a wide variety of men and women and assured that my efforts to bandage, sympathise, organise and record have been adequate to ensure a pass. Hooray!

Friday evening - must be time for a Pinot Gigglio de Viking Vineyards and a pizza.

Strange, I posted here at lunch time and it has vanished.

Before I stop going on about it too (I tend to brood; M.Snake loses his temper and moves on), it isn't that easy creating a bilingual child. M.Snake has two French colleagues at work; one has a wife who speaks no French and his children don't speak one word, so that her will never speak to them in his own language , while the other has one child who speaks French, but not really keen since she started school and one who has always refused to do so. It takes real effort to get a child to speak both languages, especially if the mother (who spends more time with the child) speaks the majority language.

Incidentally, this just all came to me as I drove home from work and is not what I said in my (obviously censored) post earlier. That was just drivel.

Many thanks for the carrots/carrot cake/ ear rubs and buckets of tea. You lot are complete stars.

I have been thinking a lot about languages in school - so many schools have real problems persuading students that MFL are important/interesting/worthwhile, and in some schools the number of students taking french/german/spanish/whatever is derisory. I regularly meet year7/8/9 students in MFL cover lessons who tell me that they are not going to do any work for me - "my Dad says I don't need to do french, it's stupid. Everyone speaks English anyway. I never do any work for Miss (insert name), ask anyone"

The English attitude to languages drives me mad!

Some schools do rather better - but they seem to be the minority....

Dad coninues the slow decline. 'Tis painful to watch... Still, the journey was memorable today - major incident on the M1 causing delays, and then a puncture in Sheffield. The chap who I stopped next to seemed amazed that I could change the wheel myself!

Donki, supportive arm rub and carrot. Don't know what to say that might not be insensitive. My father died suddenly of a heart attack one Sunday morning when I was 19. Horrendously shocking at the time, but better than alternative scenarios.

I agree about the English attitude to languages, although to be fair, only among a certain kind of people. Sadly a majority. This is partly the idea behind the new policy of starting MFL in primary schools. Get them while they are still young and enthusiastic ...

Tis intersting about languages. Round here oxboy is definitely the minority having both parents with English as first language. Most of his tribes speak two or three but it is different when the mother Tongue is english. Unless of ciourse you're a feckless mother like me who goes out to work all the time

ignore ne. It's been a long week and I sm a bit tired and emotional. Wine may not be best but tus what I have
starting to face the reality of oxblokes next stint away. Tus good for him but tiring for me

Oh dear, Oxeye. Is he going soon?

Get in line for a supportive shoulder rub, after Donki.

Windsor Horse Show rather splendid. Found a very nice hat. Whether I can persuade myself to actually wear it is another matter entirely.

Cheers, Amber. Tell me more about the hat.

Hello ladies, I am afraid my absences are becoming more and more frequent. I keee missing so much. So, I wil just wish a beltared birthday to Milk and hope that nothing requiring a more involved comment has happened since I was last here.

Things aren't going well here. I don't know if I have kept you apprised of my recurring chest infections, but I'm sure I've mentioned at least one of them to you. Well, I've got another one and after a temperature of 39. 5 alonmg with the shivers, vomiting and goodness knows what else (oh yes, sky high blood sugar just for decoration), this time my Dr. has put his foot down and prescribed medicine not compatible with bfing.

Cue absolute meltdown at the hacienda. I have posted for advice in development, so please could one or two of you go over and offer adivce or just bump it so I might get some other replies, preety please?
I shall put a link in in a sec.

I hope things are rosier for you all.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/behaviour_development/966006-How-to-settle-a-EB-baby-when-mum-can-39

Also, in feeding

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/966012-How-to-settle-a-EBF-baby-when-mum-is-ill?rnd=1 273944254333

Just to cover my bases.

Had a quick look, Catita, and it looks as if you're OK! Now it's jut you who needs to be looked after.

Amber, don't forget a large glass of omething for those whose DH is not going away to pursue adventures and would love a few days R&R!

Wriggle went for her longest ride ever - am posting photo.

Oh that's lovely, Racing.

Catita - Sorry to hear that things are so grim. Would you like a virtual Scotch to mix with the antibiotics? This being the tea room, there will be no adverse reaction.

Yes, RS I was justing popping in to let you all now that peace was at least regning in the hacienda. Medically wellread MNers soon told me that my medicine was in fact compatible with bfing, so well, I went and fed her immediately, much to her delight. She is just having a very long nap to get over the trauma.

Me, I'll have a triple whisky and some chocolate covered shortbread.

Chocolate covered shortbread? Let me at it!

Well, Smallbunch, For some unknown reason I seem to have viking themed selection here tonight: we have longship shape biscuits (with caramel as well as chocolate!), horns, helmets and tankards. Which would you like?

Catita, really hope you're getting some rest. Goodness me!

Have started the Sunday breakfast going for those wishing for some. Orders?

Hat: simple ladies' straw summer hat but with the most gorgeous pastel delicate scarf tied around it. For wearing in the sun later in the year when I really really will need a hat on.

LOVE your hat amber!

Sounds very pretty, natural and earthy and something that high-lights all things good about life!

We made strawberry milk yesterday - it is very scrummy.

Milk's birthday was fabulous!

catita - nice to see you again, sorry about chest infections and drug ishoos, glad they seem to be resolved and Gatita gets her milk again!

Amber - gorgeous sounding hat - sounds just like my kind of thing.

tea - hurrah for fabulous birthday, strawberry milk and Sunday markets in Paris (not , not me, oh no)

RS - would that be a ride on a horse or a bike?

DS had his 3rd or 4th (oh God, crap memory already!) horse ride today - slightly bigger than the previous ones and no riding hat but 3 of us walking with him so he wouldn't fall. He loves it so much!

He's lucky he got it all, mind - I was Not Well this morning. Hen night last night - I went halves on 2 bottles of red wine with another lady there (interesting set up - best to order drinks at the beginning as all the waiters are part of the floor show so we got 2 bottles in) - so essentially I had a whole bottle of red wine to myself. No biggie - 3rd time this year BUT (and it's a really big BUT) I also had no food for the first hour apart from some garlic bread (bad - wheat intolerant) and when my food arrived eventually the beef stroganoff had tomato in (because when I make it I never put tomato in I forgot that everyone else does) and I am also pretty tomato intolerant.

I am impressed at my bod's ability to purge itself of things it will not tolerate but UGH!

And then we had to go to a 1st birthday party - I knew the hosts and that's it, lots of people and children I don't know at all, plus feeling rather rough, not a good combo - so when it started to spit with rain I jumped on the excuse to leave! MrThumb didn't mind at all but miniThumb was extremely reluctant to leave the lovely bouncy castle (with slides!) and showed his displeasure loudly.

All well now - nice fire in the grate ce soir and seem to have recovered from the great purge but am pretty tired so may not be up as late as normal.

No bolly for me today though thanks....

What ho fellow Vikings!
Catita sorry to miss your crisis, but glad Gatita is full and happy again, but it's you that needs care, as SmallBunch says.

Thumb sounds like you could do with a bit of a rest too

Racing You are right, we all need a break and stroking and Bolly hence the tea room!

OxBloke is off in a couple of weeks for about 8 weeks ...

heh, cool riding photos Racing! Wriggle looks great
amazing how many of the Tea Room DCs ride.... not Oxboy despite his early cowboy tendencies....

Gosh, TW, I hope you are feeling a wee bit better just now. It sounds like you gave your body a good wringing through the mangle there.

I'm also a fan of Amber's hat. It looks just the thing for the sun.

Appointment with the doctor tomorrow. I think he will get a piece of my mind, as I have done a bit more research on the subject (now I am feeling better and Gatita is sleeping again) it turns out that not only are my medicines compatible with bfing, BUT also one of them is contraindicated for diabetics seeing as it provokes hyperglucemia (high blood sugar). That'll be why I have been battling my levels for the last two days then.

It's a good job I'm consciencious about these things otherwise I'd been hospitalised by now with cetiacidosis (nnot spelt right but means a condition in which a diabetic has very high blood sugars that can lead to a coma).