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 ?!

T shirt designing ?
Something at Alice Holt ?

ah bless T - he brought entire PE kit home as requested and checked his singing lesson timetable (but forgot to write it down so is still not sure what time it is )- and he had proper lunch. Is now doing his essay for homework.

Well done T, he is doing so very well!! He will be able to advise O on all matters secondary school in a few years time!

Alice Holt a bit too far for most parents to travel (it took me 45 minutes although admittedly I did get lostt )

T - shirt decorating is an idea - we could do that at home....

Morning Just popping on to share my news(will read rest of thread in a mo!)

B and I had a bit of a prang in the car last night It was a bit of a shock, but we're both OK. We were nearly home and a car pulled out from a side road right into us It felt like a HUGE bang, but looks like only the wheel is damaged and a few scrapes down the bodywork. Who knows what it did to the suspension though. Fortunately there were 2 witnesses who were lovely and the driver said there'd be no arguments from him, although I had to drag his name and address out of him(mainly by refusing to get our car out of his way!) I've got a bit of whiplash and am a bit stiff this morning but B seems absolutely fine and declared it to be 'fun' Strange child! I'm waiting for a courtesy car to be delivered, so B was taken to school by a neighbour this morning.

Back in a bit when I'm up to date!

Ooh, E's party. How exciting! How many children are you inviting and when is it? Um, will put my thinking cap on... T-shirt decorating does sound fun...

Well done T Love the photo!

hotcross !! how awful - am so glad you and B are ok and that B is n't upset or anything - but what a shock !
Hope you don't suffer too badly from the bit of whiplash - take care of yourself.
Roof man rang to say that 2 of his boys will come on Tuesday (!)
Today I'm off to lollipop man's widow's funeral then must dash to Sainsb. before T gets back. Doubt whether I can get any work done - maybe a quick scribble once T is home and sorted..he wants to type out a story he has written for English and I fear it might take some time (and fretfulness)

OMG hotcross, are you okay?? What a scare! But at B pronouncing it 'fun'!!

Sounds like you have a busy day MAS, hope the funeral goes okay. You have been to rather a lot of them recently

It was 'meet the teacher' morning at E's school which meant we got to go into the class and look at all teh work they had done so far. E seems very happy. There was some artwork up on the wall where all the children had to answer questions about themselves and list their best friend - E and little S had listed eachother. No one else had listed either E or little S but at least that did eachother One little girl was listed as teh best friend of 5 other girls (She is the queen bee of the class, sweet enough but v busy. E is desperate to be her friend but just does not get a look in...

Then I went for coffee with my friend A (whose ds B is in O's class and I sometimes look after her little girl L) Had a lovely time at the independent coffee shop on the corner of my road settign the world to rights.

Am now going to put the finishing touches to my application form and email it off....Am nervous....
Part of me really wants this job, and parts of me really does not because it would mean being out of the house during school hours every day....
And I don't want an interview either - am too scared!!

oh hippi - good luck and fingers crossed ! you'll be fine
I am a bit about the listing of friends like that - for the child who doesn't make friends easily or ones not so popular it is very hard - fair enough to write it in an exercise book where the teacher sees it but not for people to bask in their popularity ( not unlike the who is your favourite mumsnetter on here which is always a bit dubious)
Funeral went ok, much more personal than the husband's one,think she was a more effusive person and known by lots of people - obviously very much loved and missed by her family - they were extremely tearful - I felt so sad for them having to bear it after such a short time.

The friend thing was about birthdays, so they had to list their own name, their birthdate, name their friend, say when that friends birthday was and then say if they were older or younger than their friend. I think not many children would look at what others had written (in fact some children's writing was illegible) but of course it was up for us parents to read....
And yes, for the mother who sees her dc not named by anyone as their friend...
Mind you it would have been worse if they had been asked to list all their friends...

I have just asked E to name me 9 girls in her school who she would like to come to her party. She listed 11 (have to wittle it down) but queen bee and her two cronies were not amongst them which pleases me. She spent so much time last year wanting to be their friend and getting nowhere, I'd rather she just let them be tbh

Will let you know if I hear anything about the application. Closing date is teh 13th Oct and then they are going to contact us within 2 weeks if they want us to come for interviews. Eek.

morning all ! Hotcross - hope you are feeling ok after the prang...and lots of luck hippi with job application and organising the party - am just checking in before going to do a bit of work. T has had a good week - essay/story started on the computer and he's managing fine

hotcross are you ok ??

Hello! I am OK thank you. Have just been spending hours on the phone trying to find out info about what's happening.

At last I have a car! No-one had even looked at our car last night and I'm not allowed a courtesy car until mine is being repaired so I rang the insurers and the chap who hit me has accepted liability so the nice lady organised a 'no blame hire' for me. A man came from Haslemere, picked B and me up and took us back to the office, where we took delivery of a very big black Zafira. It's ENORMOUS I call it my Mafia Mobile as it has blacked out windows etc. Only 380 miles on the clock! Scary stuff though. I very nearly had a wee panic attack about driving again, but think just getting on and doing it is the best thing.

I'm still quite sore and insurance co are keen for me to put in for damages, but will see if it gets better on its own.

Well done for going to the funeral MAS. It makes such a big difference to the family when there's a decent turnout. I don't know if I'll be able to go to my Great Uncle's - tricky to arrange care for B etc.

Well done on the job application hippi Fingers crossed for you. Any more ideas for E's party? What about a pop-dance party or something? I think there are dancing teachers who'll do a party lesson.... Will keep thinking!

oh thank goodness ! was fretting about you !
am just down looking for ref for nettles and briony - nearly at the end now...
Hippi - what about a cookery party ?

Wow, love the sound of the Mafia car

We have decided to have E's party at home, as we just cannot afford an out of the house swimming or trampolining party. Everywhere I looked was coming in at at least £185 incl food for a max of 15 children.
So we are having a max of 10 friends at home, and we are doing this

We are going for 10 of the 12 Sparkle bears, so that will only be £70. I will get some blank t-shirts for the bears (total £15) and I have some fabric pens somewhere. We are going to stuff the bears, make a wish on the wishing star and put this in the bear, name them, write their birth certificates, play pass the parcel and 'pin the bow tie on teh bear' before having party food and cake.
No party bags required because each child takes her bear home! I reckon if I buy teh food carefully I can do the whole party for around £125. Still an obscene amount of money but I just cannot find a cheaper party anywhere....(Unless we just played games at home but tbh the house is too small and I am not that great at entertaining)

Only problem is that E is havign trouble picking her 9 closest friends. 3 are no-contest but after that she wants most of the class

12 should be 12", forgot teh "! And we will decorate t-shirts for the bears too. In fact I may even put the t-shirts in each layer for pass the parcel along with a sweet and then do t-shirt decorating after the game...
Either way, I think I can just about manage to keep them occupied for 90 minutes [nervous emoticon]

sounds brilliant hippi !!!!!

hope you both a have jolly weekends - hotcross,when do you begin birthday celebrations ?
Ds is making your Dutch pea soup hippi - it's a firm favourite chez MAS - he is also making his bread so must make sure I do my apple crumble afterwards so we don't get his crossness at ruined dough like last time !! T's swimming teacher gave him a bagful of cooking apples from his tree.

Oooh, enjoy the pea soup. We had it last week for dinner and for the first time ever it all worked well and tasted like how my oma used to make
O loves it, but E is not too keen.

Do you think the birthday party is okay? I am a bit worried about it. It seems a bit extravagant to send all the children away with a 12" teddy, a bit like I have more money than sense, but pottery painting was going to cost £10 per child, swimming and trampolining was much much more, and I suppose they are actually making the bear...

Are you celebrating your birthday starting this weekend hotcross? MAS adn I both had week-long celebrations, I think you should have one too

Busy weekend this one: E has a swimming lesson this morning, O is auditioning for a dance class this afternoon. Dh is at work today. Tomorrow O is at a party in the morning and his brilliant drama club starts again in the afternoon. I think dh is bringing home a colleague tomorrow to help us finish off O's radiator, O has loads of homework to fit in at some point and the house is a mess. Better get on with it I suppose...

party sounds wonderful so don't worry hippi
Busy old weekend here too - am just baking an apple crumble then must wash floor/hang up laundry etc...haven't finished my work yet- really will have to see to it tomorrow !

Oh apple crumble yum!!

O and dh are watching Merlin, I am on here whilst dinner is in teh oven.

Spent today looking at my house with a very critical eye and came to the conclusion that it is filthy. There is brown dust in all the little nooks and crannies (I hate moulded skirting boards adn twirly coving!!) there are handprints on all the walls and footprints (and pawprints) on all the floors.
Normal dusting/hoovering/mopping does not appear to touch it. So have decided to tackle one room in-depth per week and really go to town on it.
Argh, hate cleaning...

Are you okay hotcross?

cleaning is sooo boring - I have to make myself do it really - I always clean surfaces/cooker etc as I go along, but hoovering,floor cleaning and (shudder) dusting are such an effort. I have cleaned out the tumble dryer condenser too for extra Brownie points...think I have earned a glass of wine and some Pringles before dinner and Strictly !

I am the same with the worktops, hob etc, and I do laundry nearly every day, and I don't mind a general dusting / hoovering session, but it is the 'getting into tiny spaces with a toothbrush' I never do. And now everything looks yuck to me.
And my doorframes have brown droplets on them. What can that be?? [yuck emoticon]

condensation ? not sure why brown though ? condensation and dust ? or muddy doglet drops ? I tend towards the obsessional so have to watch it otherwise I get in a pickle. Dh is very good at cleaning and usually does all the major hoovering. Try not to fret - you're probably focussing too much on stuff and it looks worse than it is

I think muddy doglet drop and wet coats being taken off after a muddy dog walk. Will have to watch that one.

Am just going through a phase where every little thing annoys me. ggrrrrr.

Right, off to have a cuppa and spend some time with dh who is watching ncis

Hello, I'm here

My house is exactly the same Hippi. Doggy muddy spots everywhere, doghair tumbleweed in every corner and under sofas etc. I hate it, but never seem to get round to the 'deep' clean I keep dreaming of I can get it looking reasonable, and OK for most visitors, but I cringe when my Mum or pernickety friends come. Oh well, I keep saying it's healthier to have a bit of muck around

Your party sounds fab, and I'd be very happy if B went to parties like that. I'm getting a bit worried about the High School Musical phase which seems to be creeping in. It all seems too much too young. Also so many of B's friends have been to see Mamma Mia, but I'm not convinced it's suitable yet, but I guess I'm an old fogey.... So a teddy bear making party sounds perfect, and I'm sure they'll all love it

How's the apple crumble MAS? I baked a lemon drizzle today for friends who were coming. They ended up being very late though, so we're all late and B has only just gone to bed. It was lovely to see our friends though

The Mafia Mobile has had to go back Something went wrong with the computer in it, and it wasn't happy at all, so they've swapped it for a Vectra, which I hate. All in all I'm a very cross bunny!!