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.

Sorry to hear that Oxbloke is off on his adventures again, Oxeye. I think I am hard done to as Mr. Catita is off to Mexico City on Wednesday and Thursday, but that's nothing in comparison.

He's off to organise his viva, because, ladies, he has FINALLY FINALLY finsihed his thesis 9 years after starting.

We'll be a 2 Ph.d family very soon. [Big boasting emoticon]

A nine year PHd... wow, thats stretching it it some. or was it always a part time thing? She says, who has no degree at all, but DH has 2 so I claim some knowledge by association.

I gather Mellors and the NMBs have been practising their floor show for tonight Thumb... stand by and you may yet be serenaded by teeny tiny vikings singing epic poems to the accompaniment of mellors on the horn and bones.

Amber's hat sounds almost perfect, but surely to be truly fashion forward it needs to be accessorised with a pair of Viking horns?

Congrats to SenorHatita on his impending doctorate.

We need, I think, to get Mellors back into action as the Tea Room's personal trainer. He could help Catita strengthen her legs in preparation for an arse-kicking session at the doctor's and help Oxeye tone up her arms for hankie-waving and general stuff upper lippiness.

Bolly anyone?

Good grief, Mellors is certainly a hard task master. He's had me stepping on and off benches and doing squats and sit ups ....

Unis: the Mexican system is a bit different than the UK. Mr. Hatita is 38, he's taken so long to get this far because masters and Phd take longer. For his masters degree he did 18 months of classes and wrote a 300 page thesis. This took 2 and half years (and that was good going, we have a collegue here who has been at his for as long as Mr. H on this PhD). The for his PhD he did another two years of classes, then a years full-time research before we moved away from Mexico City to here in 2004. Since then he's been working full-time and researching/writing up in his "spare" time. Plus, on the personal front, in that time, we have had lots of problems: my diabetes, the trying to get pregnant, the getting pregnant etc. etc. It's been a lot of hard graft for him, but he's finally done it and I'm chuffed to bits for him. My only sadness is that I'll not be able to go to his exam (unlike the UK vivas or exams or public), seeing as it'll in Mexico and I wouldn't be able to take the children. You see we both study the same period but with different focuses: I'm a political historian and he's an economic one; we do alot of interspousal seminar sessions and brainstorming. Thus, his thesis is also a little bit of mine too.

Correction: "vivas or exams ARE public"... sorry.

that Mellors is indeed tough. I didn't think medicine balls were required for hanky waving

oh, I never got to go to Oxbloke's Viva, it never occurred to me it was public, and while I didn't exactly have an input (unless tea making and being generally sweet for 40,000 seeming years counts) I did listen to him talk about his thesis such that perforce I am one of about 3 world experts on the subject, the other two being the proper ones who did the viva..... hmmm feeling slightly cheated

but wonderful news Mr Hatita and glat Gatita is happy and you sound more chirpy so I declare the Hacienda is on the up!

arrrh, I see. VERY different to the British PHD in science subject that DH did , he was funded for 3 years and amazingly managed to complete in 3 yrs , unlike many of his contenpories who finished off whilst working so took 4-5 yrs.

at PHD sharing. Just spent the day entertaining a horticultural colleague from DH's French partner college in France, showing her around gardens in the pouring rain. At intervals she would ask me what a certain plant was, and I could generally give the Latin name with confidence. Oh course, she said, I should have known that all English people are keen and knowledgeable gardeners. I am neither, but I worked through the whole of DH's degree with him. And then he got a First when I only got a 2:1 for my own degree!

Lovely photos Racing

Congratulations to MrCatita on his impending viva/doctorate

Have had a lovely weekend, although the highlight for DS was the fact that his friends mum sat on an ants nest while on the picnic with pony, puppy and children (took us 2 hours to walk about a mile), and really did get ants in her pants. The children were actually rolling on the floor laughing

oh, I did a lovely photo posting too, which in my over excitement about the bolly appears to have got lost
I also love ants in pants story

I was also reflecting on how many Tea children ride - now further confirmed by CMOT. Not Oxboy despite his early involvement as a Cowboy

ooh many congrats to Mr Hatita in advance of his viva, which of course he will pass with flying colours.

I think in the UK it can take up to 12 years to get a PhD - depends on the subject matter etc. but that's the max length of time you can take over it. My Dad started one but got a bit bogged down with other stuff and then his early research was too out of date and he couldn't face starting again so he never completed it.
He and I would like me to do one but I wouldn't even know what to do it in, so not much chance there.

CMOTD - had a small snigger at the ants-in-pants story - I did that when I was young, it's most unpleasant!

RS - lovely pic, I somehow missed seeing that you had posted about it when I wrote my last post. Very cute - I shall put one of miniThumb up shortly.

NMBs and Mellors - GREAT floor show! Amazing what you can do with the horn and bones and I would never have thought of doing that with the viking helmets!

Time for lunch! Afternoon everyone. How are we? Who'd like soup/cake/lewd rolls?

Ooo Amber, cake here please!
I am having an exceptional night - miniThumb asked to sleep with DAddy tonight! He had to sleep with Daddy on Saturday night while mummy was out getting ratted having fun as we have not perfected the art of getting him to sleep on his own - but he chose Daddy tonight. Yipppeee!

I must make the most of it and go to bed soon though - a whole night of not being kicked, or having to hold my arm in a funny position - joy!

Haven't downloaded photos from camera yet so no pic of miniThumb on horseback yet.

How are you today, amber?

Lol thumb Hope you slept well. One more art perfected as mother - sleeping with arms in funny positions and small child in bed, you're not told that in the manuals are you

Ds seems to be working up to his birthday in a bad behaviour spurt. When pressed as to why, he said 'it's my job to be naughty'

Heaven forbid that any manual talk about co-sleeping . DS always starts the night in his own bed, but often sneaks into ours. If he has pyjamas on, you get woken to remove them, but otherwise he slides into bed without a sound. We note that he starts talking in the morning before he actually wakes up

congrats to everyone who is to be/is being/was ever shall we say 'wewl cleva'!

Milk was four on Friday which was a French bank holiday therefore she had wait until today, Monday, to take her cakes into school.

"At school it was my birthday again." She informed me on the way home. "So I think I am five now."

CMOT - we too are big co-sleepers. I often wake up with either a puppy or child on my head and from time to time both!

RS - fab pic!!! I should update my pics too when I have a moment!

Oh the bliss of being four!

I am a bad and cruel mummy. I have an 18+ policy on my bed (although snuggling is permitted, SmallGirl is carried into her own bed once she's asleep).

Cmot - After a day surveying my fellow commuters, I have an urgent legwear question for you as our resident style and beauty guru. Flesh coloured tights and black shoes - fashion faux pas ou non? It doesn't look right to me.

Not entirely sure of being the s&b guru at all . But, imo, it depends on the outfit and shoes really (and yes, I know the S&B lot despise flesh coloured tights, but they must have better skin than I do and less conservative colleagues).
If light weight shoes of the skinny, strappy kind, then flesh coloured seems to work best, but if more solid, I favour black/nearly black/coloured tights.
Actually, this reminds me that I need to stock up on nude micronets before the big conferences start.

Am still trying to find an outfit for my brothers wedding. Ordered a gorgeous dress from Johnny Loulous last week - when it arrived, to say it did nothing for me was an understatement. Gah.

i do regard you as the guru on all matters tights-ish, Cmot, as it was you who introduced me to the concept of the micromesh tights. And even gurus are allowed their starry pyjamas, I think. It's the whole nude vs nearly-black thing that I'm wrestling with - I don't do bare legs at work (I have more consideration for my colleagues) and am getting anxious as I shall have to give up my coloured opaques soon. I really do need to stop thinking about this, don't I?

How long until brother's wedding?

Small, you are right. It is nude tights this year. Whether it is right or not is another question

Plus I have seen quite a few toeless tights, so nude shiny tights that then stop at the toes so your "peep toes" are just that

It's all a bit much for me
I just wear dark tights and be damned.....

I am thinking of the Tea Room Amalgam child

It is a horse riding, co-sleeping, imaginatively impy, musical, cycling, out doorsy little mite

Mostly near the 3-4 age with strong Gallic and Gaelic leanings ....

I think every tea child ticks at least one of those boxes? Can this be refined?

Aha. We have another Tights Guru in our midst.

SmallGirl does not quite fit the Tea Room mould. She is a once-a-year pony riding, own-bed-occupying, imaginatively impy, violin-practice-refusing, rarely cycling but preferring to ride by car, TV-addicted, pale and wan indoorsy little mite.

I think any further refinements need to encompass

Has any Tea Room child ever imbibed a Fruit Shoot?

Is any Tea Room child called Evadne or Brian?

PS I do like to be around people who use words like unconscionable.

Lordy Me, a fruit shoot, Of course he has. UniBoys best thing about going to the pub with his parents is having a fruit shoot( alike).
Used to avoid them when he was little and couldn't hang on long enough...

Mind you, he had a marshmallow in his lunch box today at preschool... so am I a VERY BAD mummy?

DH was being Bad Uncle last weekend. Gave 6 month old niece a taste of ice cream and chocolate... Not exactly baby led weaning, more baby led astray weaning.