Elevenses !!!!!!

[MaryAnnSingleton]

ah, we can only do 1000, so here's the new one, hope you find it !

Oh my, it's all happening!

Sorry about the job, but TBH I'm not convinced you'd have found it terribly rewarding.

I am very drawn to teaching adults so when I qualify as a swimming instructor we will sort soemthing out!

Shame I never did my full degree (dropped out before my final year for various reasons) otherwise I could do a PGCE and go into teaching which I have a feeling I would love.

Dh is glad I did not get the catering job, for the exact same reason as you! I am quite relieved too tbh.

Oooh, have to go, back later

Hi! We're off camping for the week - YAY! Forecast isn't fantastic, but we'll see how it goes. Hope you both have great weeks, and we'll catch up next Sunday!

hello ! I'm back...had a lovely week in Suffolk - variable weather but some gorgeous days too on the beach- will send a few pictures ! Very very tired at the beginning of it all,probably a build up of everything that's been happening..but we had a good time,fresh air, bird watching, eating and drinking and looking out to sea a lot.
Have to catch up on your news and comings and goings..
E's shoes look fab - am taking T tomorrow to independent shoe shop in town to check his school shoes and prob. buy some new other shoes for him. Sorry about the job hippi, but I think you might find something better,or at least more you waiting around the corner ! Good luck with German tutoring ! Sorry if I've missed any important bits -am rushing to catch up and do everything at once !
Have a brilliant time camping Hotcross (think you'll have gone by now)

Hello my lovely, how fab to have you back
Thank you for the holiday pictures - it looks like you had a great time! (and just how handsome is T!!!) I love the ponies, and T is very brave going into the sea - must have been freezing?
By the way - was that the same holiday cottage you went to last year??

Don't be sorry about the job - the relief I felt once I had not got it was unbelievable. I did not know how much I did not want it! (for starters it would seriously impact on meeting-you-two-at-the-Packhouse time!

Am off to bed now, but will no doubt be on here at some point tomorrow

oh how annoying - have just typed a long thing to you on here and the connection went..damn ! Anyway, what was I saying ?

Yes, the sea was very chilly apparently, not that I went in or even put my toes in ! thank you for those compliments about my boy !
It was the same cottage as last year - I'm glad T chose it again (we picked a couple of different ones and this cottage and he chose Heather Cottage) - it's in a lovely quiet village and is cosy and familiar. Nice owners too.
I was so tired on arrival - I think the last few months and the usual efforts of packing/leaving /travelling (bloody M25) took their toll..on the day we went to Minsmere I found myself totally wiped out -it's a fairly long trek around the hides and reed beds and beach but I don't generally have a problem ! Anyway, am sure the sea air and change of scene and routine have done us all good.
Have been into town today to poke around exciting new oriental food shop (mostly Philippino/Thai/Indonesian) and the new surfy clothes shop - nice stuff for boys there.
Also shoe shopping..T's school shoes still fit but will need replacing in a few weeks..the ones I want (plain black - don't like any mini-man type shoes on boys) aren't in so have asked them to call me when they arrive. Bought some nice Ricosta shoes for not school - in the sale with 30% off but still £35..look great though.
Then to M&S where I persuaded him to try on school trousers- he grumbled - but just as well as the age 12s are way to big. Bought age 11 which are still very roomy but the length seems ok.

Forgot to add- apparently my benefit in taking tamoxifen is around 5% which seems small, but they feel it's worth trying.

It is completely understandable that you were sooo tired - you have had a lot on your mind. glad to hear the holiday allowed you to rest

I think you should try the tamoxifen. Can you talk it through with the breast nurse again?

Ricosta school shoes sound fab. But what do you mean by mini-man shoes?

O is in age 11 school trousers I think he has until Christmas in them and then they will be both too tight and too short
In fact, we went to a Victorian Plant thingymijig at Wisley Gardens there adn one of the chaps in Victorian costume came up to us and asked if we were looking to find O employment as a crock boy. He asked O's age and when I said 9 (nearly 10) he said 'what a well grown boy'
'Tis true though - he is big for his age....(can't think where he gets that from...)

Right, am off to the dentist (deep joy). Back later

hope dentist was ok !
mini man shoes are those that I think look like small versions of men's fashion shoes - call me old fashioned,but I like plain and classic !
I think T will be a slight boy as his dad isn't huge,neither was his paternal grandfather and my dad is pretty trim - that's if he follows male line. His girl cousins on his dad's side are well built,one is quite tall. E is a wisp though - it's funny how it works out. My brother is not especially tall but is very fit and muscled and my SIL is tall,so T's cousin is a tall girl for her age (same age as E and B) Dh's mum is a tiny frail thing but she is in her mid eighties,think she was a bit more substantial as a younger woman. My mum is very slight now - again more robust as a younger woman.
T is never still though,always hopping about here and there so I think he just runs on nervous energy.

Yes, I know the ones you mean. O has a pair of those for school. They are smart plain black debenhams ones we bought for sil's wedding and he loves them so wears them to school. He thinks they are the bees knees! I think they look hideous but whilst they still fit I can't justify buying new shoes
Hopefully he will outgrow them soon though!

My dad and uncle (mum's brother) are both 6ft4 giants.
On dh's side the males are all slight but O takes after me in looks so I think he is goung to be a strapping lad!

Dentist was fine - just a check up. But I do need to go back next month to have a filling done [shudder]

Not sure about this dental surgery now. It used to be an NHS practice with a lovely if elderly dentist. He has sold up and now there are 3 very young, hip and trendy dentists there, the decor has been completely modernized (looks expensive), they have changed the practice name and dh and I are holding a bet on how long (or short) it will be before they go completely private...

hmm, sounds as though your dentist is heading that way...ours in London did that,same dentist but he became entirely private- we stayed with him as he was brilliant and I used to get money knocked off my bill as he either felt sorry for me or because I'd recommended so many new patients ! Dentist here is private and very good but has a plush new surgery-when we first came he was ensconced in the old health centre up the road

Good morning

Am hiding on here - O and E both have a friend coming today. (brother and sister J and L, J is in O's year, L is in E's class)
Should be fun, sadly the weather is miserable, I had high hopes for garden fun!

What are you doing today? We have the opticians this afternoon - so a trip into Woking is required (oh joy)

E's gymnastics photo is now on profile btw

hippipotami I have been following your name changes and I can't believe you have lost 50 lbs in 5 months. What's your secret? I'm very impressed!

Awww, thank you Mollie

No secret. Had to visit the doctors in March for something, the nurse weighed and measured me and found my bmi to be 42
I was sooo horrified that I burst into tears. I was no longer able to deny / justify my size.
Soooo, I literally just started eating less and exercising more. And exercising meant walking (at over 22 stone that is all I could do) and gentle swimming.
Since then the weight has been coming off at an average of 2lbs per week (sometimes more, sometimes less)
As I started getting fitter I increased the intensity of the exercise (I walk further and faster and I now swim a mile in 45 minutes once a week, will increase this to twice a week from September once the urchins are back at school)
So no secret, just lots of hard work, and some tears. But we are getting there.

Thanks for noticing

hi Mollie ! and yes, Hippi is a total star !
No plans today really - I want to go somewhere but not sure where - don't want to drive for the sake of it, though T is keen to drive somewhere (one of our mystery tours!)
I have opticians on Thurs. for a contact lens check up. What a fun filled week eh ?

Hippi I am so impressed at your consistent weight loss. I need to get my act together but I lose and regain the same stone over and over again (I need to lose about 4-5 stones) and I also plateau and lose motivation pretty easily. Well done for what you are doing .

Sorry for the hijack!

we are happy to be hijacked !
btw lovely gym picture of E

Mollie you are more than welcome This thread was born out of our love for cake and mid-morning rituals involving cake Nowadays it is more likely to be a rice-cake though!!
I was never able to get myself in the right frame of mind to lose weight, it was not until the nurse told me my weight was beyond acceptable that I started doing something about it. She offered to weigh me every other week and the fear of not having lost anything (and her disappointment) was enough to spur me on

MAS - I love mystery tours in the car too - sadly nowadays we can't afford to waste the fuel but pre-children dh and I would often take a drive out on a Sunday to see what we could find (good grief that makes us sound positively prehistoric ) and it was great fun!

O and E have had a great time with J and L here. J and L are due to be collected in half an hour and then we have appointments at the optician. Will do some shoppign whilst we are out

Thanks for your comment on the gym picture - I love how messy she looks

it's a really good picture !
T and I ventured into Guildford today !! I hadn't been for many,many years - I liked the shops but don't like it as a place as much as Winchester...sniffed nice stuff at Jo Malone, bought a mug and 2 organic cotton hand towels for the kitchen in Habitat and looked around the Gap..showed T where the Packhouse is !

I hardly go into Guildford - it does not seem to have many of the shops I need and it all seems so spread out.

Optician was fine - O needs some glasses for reading and close-up work He is delighted as he has wanted some glasses for ages
He chose a very nice black metal-rimmed pair. Very restrained (I was eying up the funky plasticky frames) but they do suit him well.
I have ordered some prescription swimming goggles as they were half-price in the sale.
And E's eyes were perfect

Then we popped into debenhams for some school socks and a cute kitten lunchbox for E, treated the dc to icecream and came home.

Quite a nice day all in all

he'll look great in specs ! I know what you mean about the plasticky ones - I'd be very excited about those ! I have some red framed Lulu Guinness glasses for when I'm not wearing lenses and love them. My dad has some 'kiddie glasses' as we call them as he lost a pair when sailing on holiday one year and went to the opticians for emergency replacement and inadvertantly chose from the children's range..
Guildford is spread out isn't it..am not sure I took to it as such - shops are quite exciting but the town not as charming or as nice as Winch. I am growing in fondness for Basingstoke too...I always enjoy my trips there with T..I'm even fond of the hospital now as it has been so good to me !

Basingstoke shops are fab!! Have never shopped in Winchester, will put it on my to-do list

At the opticians they had some really really funky black and white (black on the outside, white on the inside of the frame) plasticky frames in the children's section. I loved them and they really really suited him! They also had a fab black pair with multicoloured striped arms. I loved those!
But O wanted something more restrained (very unlike him but as he needs them mainly for at school I guess he wanted to look 'smart' rather than funky?) and I have to say the ones he chose did suit him well. Will post a picture next week once we have collected them.

Had a busy day today - took O and E swimming in Woking. E was drawing a crowd of teenagers around her as her diving was apparently quite impressive (I did not see, I was trying to swim a mile in breaststroke and then tried to teach myself front crawl) At one point I looked over and E was showing two 14/15 year old girls how to dive
Oh well, she is a bit of a fish She also competently swam the whole 25m length of the deep pool in beautiful breaststroke, so I feel quite happy not keeping quite such a close eye on her. (plus the fact O was there and they were diving right next to a lifeguard tower/seat thingy)

Better go and tidy up after E - she is sitting at the dining table, with headphones on, listening to OMD () and doing hama beads. The pesky tiny beads are scattering everywhere adn getting caught inbetween the floorboards. Great embuggerance!

Winchester is just really lovely, not such a huge range of shops,but easy to get round and is very picturesque - we always go to The Hambledon which is my favourite place ( life style type place with v expensive stuff but nice for special treats - I have some earrings and 2 cardis from there, plus they have gorgeous toys for little kids and stationery (French) which I love. We also go to Montezumas to buy chocolate buttons. There's a Debenhams, Shoon,the usual Accessorize and Monsoon and a White Stuff and Fat Face and Whittards for T to taste iced tea...no Lush though.
T seems to have great eyesight (mine was definitely short sighted by 11 or 12) so sadly no glasses for him - terrible thing to want him to have to wear them but he'd suit them
Am very in awe of E's diving skills !
Forced T into town today,honestly,you'd think he was being tortured,even though he bought himself a book too. Tomorrow he'll be cross as we have to do Sainsb. and he has to come with me to my opticians appointment !

Awww, Winchester sounds lovely

I think glasses are so funky now, most kids (or their parents ) seem to want them. I was quite pleased when the optician said O needed some (and he was delighted!!)

E's diving is hilarious - she has no fear so launches herself into the water with such force that she ends up somersaulting before she enters the water. She is going in far to vertically! But at least she is not fearful so I am happy Actually, when she puts her mind to it she does a near-perfect dive (much to O's annoyance as he has still not mastered that) but most of the time it seems to be some bizarre diving/gymnastics cross over!