ELEVENSES HERE *****************************************************************************************

[MaryAnnSingleton]

think we've been deleted,so shall we put ourselves here in other subjects ?
Sleepless night fretting about T and loos and lunches at big school - how neurotic am I ?!

Well done T I'm so glad he had a good time. Think the grubbiness on return is about average!

Your weekends sounded good. We didn't stop and still haven't....

We went to our school quiz on Friday night, which was hilarious. Lots of fun We came second, which we were very proud about. B behaved herself for the babysitter, even though she was very cross we were going out! She announced she didn't like C and didn't want to see her. I said if she had a problem, just to call C's name but she said she'd 'sort her own self out' And that's exactly what she did! C didn't set eyes on her all evening. I felt a bit guilty though...

Saturday was a party in the morning, then the Cathedral fair in the afternoon. It was really lovely - a fantastic atmosphere, with lots of music playing and arty bits to make. The choristers had set up a cafe, so you could have a cuppa and one of 'Fred's fairy cakes' - they were all very diligent serving the customers

Oh, must go, just remembered I've to get the stovies cooking for tea!

OOh, sounds like a fab weekend hotcross

We had a busy one too. Dh adn O had a great time at RAF Duxford with Cubs on Saturday. O came back with lots of warplane info - he is really getting into this
Sunday was drama club, lots of fun apparently and then his friend M came here for a play late afternoon.

Went to a lovely coffee morning this morning. My friend V has a ds in teh same year as O. She is the friend with the fab detached Victorian house all done up period style, and a huge garden with veg patch. (she gave me the strawberry plants). Anyroad, her dh was made redundant in Jan (he is IT support in the banking sector, worked in Canary Wharf) adn has not been able to get a new job. Financially it has now got to the 'somewhat worried' stage for them adn V has found herself a job. (she works in HR) So this was her last coffee morning. [sob]
Her dh is taking over the housework, caring for their ds T, doing the vegpatch and he is also taken over her upholstery classes . She said she will start to worry when he starts organising coffee mornings

Better go, O and E need collecting.

woo, you have both been v busy !
and stovies too hotcross !
What a horribly dull day though here - it's so gloomy and depressing. I've spoken to no one except for my aunt on the phone - listened to the radio and made button hearts for much of the day...T home soon. Really feels odd if you don't leave the house at all ! (actually,I did run up the road to post newspapers through P's door for her puppy to wee on !@!!!)

What are stovies?? [dim emoticon]

actually,I'm not altogether sure...are they a wee Scottish delicacy ?

Well according to B they aren't terribly appetising, but we love them They're potatoes, stewed with meat of some description and veg. Yummy, warming winter food. We bought some sausage meat at the Farmers market yesterday and it defrosted before we got home, so I had to use it up asap.

well they sound yummy to me !

They actually sound lovely, could you post the recipe please??

www.stovies.com

That should be the link to recipe

Yay, it works It's soooo easy. Infact I started it cooking and then left it in the slow cooker, so didn't have to worry about it. We both enjoyed it, but B was less impressed!

Have been in school this morning. the Year One teacher is definitely a bit odd. And uber- organised. I heard readers and then the dcs went off to assembly and asked if there was anything else I could do. Nothing...Not even sharpening pencils, sorting out books. Am suspicious when people can't think of anything that needs doing. Oh well, an easy morning for me!

Think I'll go and sweep leaves as the sun is out.

oh yum,thank you - dh will like them,being a half Scottish laddie (and consequently T who relishes his quarter Scottishness and his sixteenth of Italian blood )

That sound fab - and easy to make!! A bit like a jumbled up cottage pie

Right, am off to E's harvest festival, back later

good morning - hope you are both well. Have just had coffee and the remains of flapjack crumbs,am trying to dry my hand washed cardi wrapped in a towel and then must go and make more hearts.
Do either of you know good things for an eczema-ish patch, or patches- is v sore,on my neck and under one eye..looks horrid and is soo itchy.

oh,how was Harvest Festival btw ? did they have the plaited corn sheaf loaves ? or just lots of tins of tomatoes ?

Morning Thank goodness for another sunny day - sooooo cold though. Caught me out this morning - I couldn't find the ice scraper anywhere, until I remembered it was in the big bag of 'stuff' we took out of the car before it went to the repair place! was v v v nearly late for school

Poor you MAS with the exzema. I've finally found a v gentle moisturiser. I was reacting to everything on the market, but seem to be tolerating a hypoallergenic Vaseline one. However, I don't have excema I don't think, more just exceedingly dry, cracked skin, so I don't know if it would be suitable. I know the HV recommended Aqueous cream for B when she was suffering... Someone on here will know!

Am in a panic. My MIL is arriving on Friday, so I'm frantically clearing space for her. However, a friend just rang to say he's going to pop in this afternoon. Downstairs is a tip and rolling with furballs, upstairs is upside down. Which do I sort out It'll be lovely to see him, but really did want to get upstairs habitable!

, just tins of tomatoes....
we used to have the most fantastic corn-plaited shaped bread thingymijig as the father of one of the boys in O's year was (is) a baker. But his ds is now in the Junior school with O and he has no younger ones in the lower school...

Harvest was lovely, very short. E had to stand up and say 'Hedgehog class are now going to recite a poem' and did it beautifully

No idea about the excema MAS. When E had exzema she was prescribed 'doublebase' by the GP. Worked a treat. But can't think of anything over the counter.

morning hotcross, we must have posted at teh same time

Can you just whizz round the downstairs? You have all of tomorrow to do upstairs.

How long is she staying for?

I have some stuff I saw in Waitrose and just some plain Vaseline which is quite soothing.
Just waiting for T to get home from school - hope you both had good days/

did you have fun seeing friend hotcross ? am sure MIL won['t mind a bit of disorder- am sure your house is lovely to visit !

Yes, not a bad day. Feeling a bit flat (see the thread about SAHMs having exceeded their time)
Had a hairdresser appt today and then traipsed the shops looking for a green school cardi for E. There are none to be found anywhere...

our school wear shop might have green cardis - shall I look ?
Will check that thread...was hair cut nice ?

hey hippi- had a quick squizz at the SAHM thread and wanted to give you a big hug to cheer you up - was a v interesting thread from what I saw..I can't see that you should have any self esteem issues, you seemed to me to be a very charismatic person when we met,loads going for you..it is just so difficult to fit things in,realistically, and the jobs aren't there,the TAs and LSAs are so over subscribed,I've tried for these twice and didn't get an interview..my position is that I can hide behind 'being an illustrator' and mooch about,though when I'm not working on a project I feel useless/bored/worthless etc - I feel I shoyuld have a proper job a lot of the time but am never sure what and then what if an illustration job comes up ?
We get by on dh's salary partly because we live fairly modestly, we don't buy what we can't afford (I never owe any credit on cards) etc..dh never makes me feel bad about not pulling my weight,bless him a million times. Your dh sounds absolutely lovely btw in his views. Wish I could think of an idea or more comforting things to say...only that I believe that something always comes along. xxxxxxxxxx

Hi

Seeing friend was nice. Only occurred to me later that I could have met him for a drink and not had to clean quite so frantically. Oh well.

Hippi, haven't been looking for green school cardis, but will keep my eyes open. There's a school uniform shop in Burpham, would they be worth calling? I've been lurking on the SAHM thread, but haven't posted yet. I'll go and have a look to see where it's got to. Try not to feel too flat. When they totted up how much a SAHM would earn if they counted up each job they do, it was something like £35,000 a year I think our dcs are fantastically lucky to have parents who can come to all the school activities, shepherd them to and from swimming etc etc. Financially, it would be great to earn, but I'm not convinced it would benefit our family in so many other ways.

Off to parents evening in a bit. Am a bit apprehensive, don't know why!

X-posts. MAS speaks lots of sense!

hi hotcross - hope parents evening ok!