MN Little Italy 8

[francagoestohollywood]

Benvenuti, ciao hello

A quickie as i am exhausted with chores and kids today. Happy for you pippi and dh, havent understood what the otehr woman wrote in the card. I would be fucking furious. I MUST KNOW! Now he is getting better, you can start nagging him again. I understand perfectly why he didnt' want to worry you about the possibility of a tumor or something awful, I would have done the same...
Jealous of you girls discussing hols - we are skint so not going anywhere.
Rosa you sound so energetic. Still haven't done my photobox order....
Franca will send you address...

we are all doing photobox calendar then?

No, I'm not. But have ordered lots of calendars made by dd's scuola materna.

Apparently the school reform has been revocata today (happy)

Yes, I saw that on the tv- so if I understand, then each school can choose to have the maestra unica or not?

I did the photobox calendar as usual....(ams till waiting on second order though that I placed weeeeeeeks ago)

Biscuits came out OK, but they'll probably have formed one big tree by the time they get off the pulmino!

Well hellooo Bucharest, we did wonder where you'd got to after leaving us with that juicy tidbit re your links with Scamarcio. I thought of you last night as we went to a very good pugliese restaurant in Milano (Franca, you must go, it really is excellent, I used to go 10 years ago when I had a pugliese boyf and it hasn't changed one bit). Glad to here everything's OK and very of 3 wks in the UK.

Lol at the maestro unico "su richiesta". I mean who tf is going to richiederlo? Oh well, I suppose it was an elegant way of backpedalling. The important thing is that it's not going to be enforced.

Rosa, you do sound far too energetic for someone with a newborn. How do you do it? I still have a lot of presents to get, although we got DD's doll that poos yesterday so she's sorted, as are my niece and nephew. Only another 4 to go. No photobox here, although I have done a photo and film montage of DD and was thinking of sending DVDs out.

I'm toying with the idea of making a Christmas cake. Am I mad?

I think parents can choose the maestra unica. Boh! What a mess nonetheless...
I have another frantic day in terms of children organization. Ds has a friend here to play (and I'm not sure if his mum will stay here or not) and have to take dd to another birthday party. Bucharest you'll be pleased to know that I have just spent 45 mins at the post office. I usually go to a little known one, which is a safe haven, but today I had to go to another one. Full of old age people who still haven't learnt to get the ticket and try to overtake you the whole time .

Buch well done with the biscuits. I'll have to bake next week for dd and ds school fetes.

Brange, which doll did you get at the end? so are we gonna meet tues morning?

Yes we are. Sorry, haven't been able to get on home computer so not replied to email. San B is good, shall we say in front of HM or would you prefer the Montenapoleone exit?

We got the Baby alive one in the end, the one that talks and moves its mouth and reminds me of Chuckie. DP insisted on buying that one even though it was the most expensive. I'd have preferred Cicciobello but sadly it didn't poo. No point in getting her the Bua as she'll be getting an ELC vet kit from other family and I didn't want too many plastic thermometers lying around.

I hate going to the post office too which is why I internet shop for the UK or use people coming over as present "mules". Unfortunately I need to go for work things and have been putting it off. I always get the fanullone jobsworth and really have to suppress my urge to strangle them and smile sweetly instead.

There is a bake sale at DD's school as well. I'm as yet undecided whether to make the effort or not.

school baking time then - just come back from bringing a cake I just made this morning - only remember last night at half midnight! even cracked it trying to transfer it to the cardboard box, but hey, I made the effort, which I probably should have been better spent for our house, it being a tip at the moment with broken "Henry" the vacuum cleaner and usual issue with the washing.... BIG CLEANING DAY TOMORROW with DP at home though, so can do xmas tree on Sunday... just wish this little princess slept a bit so I can make ragu' too before the mince goes off...

You have a Henry??? . We used to have one in our first rented flat. The Henry was bigger than the flat, actually.

Brange, yes, lets meet at H&M. We can raid it and then head to the posh pasticceria. And then off to the aprica store to get the furry pushchair...

Energetic moi - no just somebody has to do it - Dh in bed as stanco - I fell asleep at 01.00 he had been snoring for 2 hrs !. Am finishing off photobox now as last porder date and I know M&D love it.
Brange could have saved your money and sent you the doll MIL bought for dd1 it wees and poos - mind you it is so ugly I wouldn't have wished it on any child. It has these Big eyes - scary.
I doing a Christmas tree cake ( HELP HELP) for dd nursery next Friday the party where I am singing and doing the actions to Tagliatelle di Nonna Pina , the crocodile - come fa and ci son due crodrilli but I can't find the words so am repeatedly listening to the songs trying to learn them AM I MAD ????? Yes ! . Am cheating with the cake and buying the pan di spagna though and I just need to colour the icing and paste and then decorate . Have cabin fever as been stuck in house for 3 days 2 with dd 1 ill - better now.Today aqua alta and more rain.
Brang if you do a Uk style xmas cake I found that many Italians don't actually like it . A trunk thing like swiss roll with butter icing however went down a storm.
LOL at Post office I hate them and why oh why are the staff so rude ?
Pippi all ok now or is Dh on bed rest at home ????

Okey dokey, H&M it is.

Had lunch in a bar where there was a heated discussion about the cuts in Brokeback mountain that was on the other night. The subject even ended up in the Guardian with comments about Italians having a problem with sex in general ergo the low fertility rate. TBH I hadn't even noticed, I did wonder why there was no kisssing etc. but I just put it down to the fact it was an American film. I don't believe the RAI excuse about having picked up the wrong version of the film either - had it been the "universal" viewing there'd have been less hetero sex in it as well. Ho hum.

Rosa, the Christmas cake is for me. I don't care if no one likes it, all the more for moi! Unfortunately DP is also rather fond of it and takes very big bites out of it.

Which doll do you have? Is it the baby Eva which talks? Scary isn't it? Ebay it.

I have the words to all those songs at home. Try looking on youtube, some of the videos have the words. I'll try and see if I can dig some out.

Lol at your DH being stanco. Men have no energy.

Awwwwww rosa the things we do for our children... singing and miming le tagliatelle di nonna pina .

The article in the Guardian is right of course. Whose was the argument that Italians don't have sex and hence the low fertility rate? What a load of bollox, the fertility rate is low because people don't want to have children mostly for lack of childcare/low rate of women working/financial reasons.

Yes, men have no energy. This morning dh (who is working from home today and had to look after dd, as her teachers were on strike) left the bed at 8.10 while I washed/breakfasted etc ds, prepared his lunch (no mensa today). I was fuming. Guess what'd happen if I decided to have a lie in on a school day?

Ah brange I pay 46 euros a month for mensa at dd's scuola materna.

Thanks for the links, franca.

Good news about DH, pippi!

What's all this talk of holidays and beaches? .

Most of my beach-related childhood memories are, as Billy Conolly so eloquently described it, of us shivering in winter-clothes looking like refugees...

My DH is also always tired. Always. And I am completely soft, and let him sleep as much as possible (including being the one to look after DD almost all the time). But it does get on my nerves a bit... Like, I'm never tired? And to top it all, he also has a species of man-flu at the moment, so is feeling particularly sorry for himself. Sigh.

Rosa, here's i due liocorni

Only 46 euros! Blimey, I had the bill for only half of Sept and it was 51 euros!!! Are we too rich maybe? They told me I needn't bother doing the ISEE as we both worked[double ]

The comment re the Italians having no sex was one of the reader comments at the bottom. Needless to say it was roundly refuted by those who followed.

Got to dash now, need to catch the train to be back in time to pick up DD. Rosa, I'll find you some more lyrics later.

Dh falls asleep as soon as he is home from work , even with the children jumping on him.

Mensa is not means tested here. You don't pay inly if your ISEE is very very low.

Mine does too, especially when he's been on his night out with the lads (aka serata dei rimbambiti). He gets in late on Thursday and is KO until Monday, takes naps with DD over the weekend, I have to kick him out of bed etc.

Here the mensa is means tested, you pay according to fasce di reddito. Ours is (alas) the fascia più alta so we pay 4,50 euro a day. Practially everyone with 2 parents working is the fascia più alta though, you need to be really poor to get any reductions. That's just reminded me, no on has got back to me about the vegetarian menu. I'll have to wait until Monday to ring now.

dh has been involved by some friends of mine to play calcetto at nights and dreads it ... He also gets colpo della strega. grunf.

Rosa, learnt actions etc on youtube too, we love i liocorni and il coccodrillo here

mmm, you just reminded me that I haven't made xmas tree cake for years! how do you do yours? I just use pandoro

and not surprised about the scene cuts, the Vatican wouldn't allow it...

DP has only just started sleeping in our bed, he slept on the sofa for 3 weeks straight and found excuse to have DD in bed with me so he "has" to sleep on sofa (like " I think she's not well, maybe it's better if you keep her with her tonight, don't worry I'll sleep downstairs so you have more space", yeah, right).

{grin]. Me and dd actually slept on the sofa bed downstairs for the first 4 weeks of her life

franca, don't get me wrong, I actually loved having her there (in fact when I eventually put her in her crib last week when I finally emptied it of the folded washing, I was the one staying awake as I couldn;t believe she just didn't notice the difference), easy to feed and check, but it was just that DP was sleeping on the sofa as he needed to sleep, as if me at home with 4 yo to rush to school and DD who'll scream blue murder if not carried most times, and doing usual chores I didn't need to sleep... lightweights me thinks