Elevenses !!!!!!

[MaryAnnSingleton]

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

Oh poor B - tonsillitis is so painful. I hope the antibiotics make a difference soon!
And as for MIL - can't dh take her out somewhere? Either that or she re-arranges her visit?
Hope it all goes well!

School visit sounds nice MAS - and I have taken to heart what you said about photos. I always avoid being in photos and now am worried when O and E look back on childhood pictures mummy won't be in any of them...

Busy day ahead today - E has a swimming lesson, I need to go to Sainsbury's, then we need to try and visit stepMIL as it is her birthday and I need to find some knee-high grey school socks for E. StepMIL leaves near a big M&S so will pop in there.

Have a nice day all, hope B feels better soon!

how is B today ?

Hi hotcross, how is B today? I hope she is starting to feel better.
How was the MIL visit?
E started complaining of a sore throat on Saturday so I have kept a close eye, but so far she just appears to have a very mild cold.

Hope you both had a nice weekend in the sunshine? Saturday was spent shoppign (groceries, a trip to B&Q for a circular saw for dh - he had birthday vouchers to spend - and some clothing for the children)
Sunday we spent the whole day pottering about in the garden, did some weeding, dh cut up some wood in his shed with his new saw and generally just enjoyed being out there)
Oh, and we bought the most gorgeous wall stickers for E's room, look here
She has some flowers painted up her walls which now look old and grubby, so she is getting a minor make-over, I am going to re-paint her walls (cream) and put the dog over her bed.
Her bedding and curtains are pink/orange/pale blue/bright green and her wardrobe and chest of drawers are painted bright green with pink wooden knobs so they can stay too. Oh, and she is getting a lovely black cast-iron genuine victorian restored fireplace too in place of the gap currently in her chimneybreast.
The rest of the house needs decorating much more urgently but I just love doing the children's rooms

those stickers are fab hippi - in fact the whole colour scheme is fab - and a cast iron fireplace too - it'll look brilliant !
Dh uncovered a line of stones running down the garden,so we have a little stepping stone path to the end of the garden (if you look on my FaceBook profile page you can click on my little video of the garden yesterday - it shows the studio and mum and dad's garden with cats and my parents and T having a cup of coffee in the sunshine !)
We have new crockery which has been so exciting as it actually matches and feels grown up (I am not at all interested in matching stuff generally, in fact I despise things that coordinate ) but these are beautiful plain white things from the White Company - pasta plates,big plates,side plates and small bowls - having our supper off the big plates and pasta plates was like being in a restaurant (I asked dh if he wiped round the edges with a j cloth as in Masterchef !!) He'd made beef cobbler from a mumsnet recipe (gorgeous,really yummy) and almost better than that last night he cooked a Nigel Slater thing of sicilian sausages,bacon and cream with spaghetti...heavenly !!
Hope Miss B is feeling a lot better and that E';s cold passes quickly

Colourscheme is a bit wild, I would love to tone it down, but E loves it E fell in love with the dog sticker when we were in B&Q just before Christmas. But it was eye-wateringly expensive at £34.99. Then when dh was in B&Q on Saturday it was reduced to £16.99 so we snapped up the last one

I have not been on FB for months and months. Will check out your garden vid soon! Am going swimming with my friend K in just over an hour.

Your crockery sounds lovely. Sil and soon-to-be bil's wedding gift list contained lots of lovely white Sophie Conran crockery from John Lewis. Beautiful!

Beef cobbler sounds nice. Will have to seek that recipe out!

Btw, look at my name!!!!!

hey hippi,that's fantastic !!

beef cobbler - so delicious -we've had it twice now !!

MIL has gone, B is curled up in front of Scooby Doo, so have a few minutes to MN and inwind

B is much better thank you. Kept her off school today as she seems to run out of stem by about 1 o'clock, but will see how she is in the morning.... We've had a lovely morning in the garden. We've been up close and personal with the worm population of our back garden - fascinating. I've never looked that closely before - they have a sort of spiral inside that looks just like a slinky

WELL DONE Hippi! You are doing so well.

E's room sounds gorgeous. Love the stickers! And about the fireplace...

MAS - I'm desperate for new crockery. Ours is all chipped and mismatched. I love the Sophie Conran stuff too, but it's pricey. Will go and drool at the White Company website - didn't know they did crockery.

We made it out to a local pub for lunch yesterday and spent the whole time drooling over Roger Black who was there with his family. MIL was very impressed

glad that B is getting better - so was it you and MIL drooling over Roger Black !!
The crocks we got are the Soho ones - pasta plate,big dinner plates and side plates and the bowls - are really nice - now we have to have people to dinner !!

Glad to hear B is feeling better. Am in awe of the close encounters of the worm kind! Have never been particularly keen to get up close with a worm for some reason...

Sounds like MIL visit went well, that is a relief. Back to normal now

The Sophie Conran crockery is beautiful. We chose a pitcher, a platter and 4 mugs from the wedding list for them.

E's room should come out fine. I really want to paint her wardrobe and chest of drawers white as her bed is white, but I just can't face it. And as they match the new stickers it seems fine to leave it as it is.
The fireplace is lovely. It matches the one in our bedroom. We bought them both of eBay 2 years ago and had them restored. Ours looks fab but E's one has been hidden behind her wardrobe as the gap in the chimney breast housed a basket of cuddely toys. But now the fireplace is going in I will have a cuddely toy cull!

Have just had a lovely afternoon in the park whilst waiting for O to come out of Rugby club. He said everyone kept bickering and it was no fun. Even the teacher threatened to walk out if they did not stop arguing
I guess it is all those boy's competitive streaks coming out. It has also reminded O why he is not keen on team sports...

Hotcross, is B still doing Rainbows? E has been quite reluctant to go the last few weeks. Today she is adamant she does not want to go. She says it is boring. I am quite happy for her to stop, only 3 more sessions (including today) untilt he end of term so I just won't renew next term)
Shame, because O has so enjoyed Beavers and is loving Cubs and I had hoped E would have a similar experience.

Oh, who is Roger Black????

Roger Black was/is ? an athlete...
hippi - would E consider Beavers then ?

No B stopped Rainbows last term. She didn't really enjoy it, it was more a social occasion rather than a first encounter with the world of Baden-Powell and I thought it was dreadful on the nights I was rostered to help. I still hope that B will be a Brownie one day, but Rainbows wasn't for us. Maybe they are a bit too young for it?? Typical, she's never worn the trousers at all, and the T-shirt looks brand new. Must E-Bay them!

Yes MAS, much to Dh's disgust. There were no complaints from us rogerblack.co.uk for Hippi's information...

Just discovered a worm frazzled on the table outside. B had left it in the petrie dish in the direct sun

www.rogerblack.co.uk

Trying again

I am sure E would love Beavers, but there is a two year waiting list for the local one.

I agree hotcross, on those occasions I have helped at Rainbows it just seems unorganised chaos.
I think they are too young.
E tells me 'it is boring, all we do is play games which I can do at school'.
Absolutely fair enough I think.

Argh, talk about the devil!!! E's rainbows leader just knocked on the door with the paperwork for next week's sponsored woodland walk in aid of the Woodland trust. She asked why E was not there today and I fibbed and said she had a sore throat and was tired (not entirely untrue). I have just asked E did she want to do the walk next week and she said no.
I think I may need to tell the leader E is not coming back. Argh, I hate conversations like that....

Thanks for the link to Roger Black. He is very clean and shiny looking isn't he??

don't worry hippi - just say that E has outgrown Rainbows - nothing wrong with that - you aren't under contract !

I know MAS, it is just that the leader looks like she is on the verge of tears all the time, and takes it all sooooo much to heart, and feels under pressure because she does not want to be a leader anymore and....and...and...
But E is adamant she does not want to go back, so I may tell the leader that she has something else on during that time on a Monday as of next term [extreme coward emoticon]
She really enjoyed it the first year she went, but now is a bit older and it is not enough to hold her interest any more.

She is desperate to do horseriding. I gently reminded her of her wish to play the violin and she said 'no, horseriding, horseriding, horseriding'. Mmmmm, not sure about that one...

Have just had a lovely walk with dillydog - I can't believe this weather!! Am going to hang the washing out and then E has little S to play here after construction club. (O and I will wait in the park after school for construction club to finish as the weather is so great!)

you are a sweetie - beautiful weather - I am going to wander into town to weigh an envelope at p office - should be doing some drawing, but it's too nice to be in - can do that later !!

wow - a whole week of lovely weather ! hope you are both well and that B is feeling a lot better now...

Hello! Weather is fab - it makes me want to spend a fortune in the garden centre to spruce the garden up!
All is well here - I did a stint as lunchtime supervisor yesterday and will be doing the same today. But at least the weather is nice so I get to stand outside in the playground

Is B fully recovered now hotcross?

Hello It is gorgeous, isn't it?

B is much much better and went back to school on Wednesday. I am not doing as well however. I've had a migraine for a couple of days and have also been diagnosed with Impetigo I think maybe B and I have had the same bug (apparently Strep is the cause of Impetigo and Tonsillitus) and I spent all of yesterday moaning pathetically in bed. I feel a bit better today and managed to take B to school myself this morning. The antibiotics are knocking me out though, so am rather woozy. I'm also very self-conscious about the state of my face, so am hiding away as much as possible

Am going to sit outside for a bit with a cup of tea, before braving pick up!

oh you poor thing hotcross - will the sunshine be good for it, as in healing rays etc ? Very glad to hear that B is much better though.
I may put my flip flops on later to take T to swimming lesson - will save putting those horrid plastic bag overshoes on by the pool side.
T says a girl in his year has asked him out - and what does 'going out' mean ? that's rather forward isn;t it ? of the girl I mean. Don't know her as she wasn't at his old school and isn't in his tutor group. Hope it's not a wind up or anything !

Oh hotcross, you poor thing!! My friend K had Scarlet Fever two weeks ago - horrid rash with that also (she covered her face with her hair) and the antibiotics made her feel drowsy.
I really hope you feel better soon!

I have a headache too, but that may be due to the noise and stress at lunchtime when supervising Y2 (and I 'fell in love' with a 6 year old autistic girl who held my hand walking down to the dining hall - she was sooooo cute)and then the hassle of O's swimming lesson and the heat of the pool. Was good though - apparently he has moved up again, he is now in the last / highest level before going into bronze/silver/gold. Am pleased but the cautious person in me won't get too excited until it is on paper!

MAS, I admire you wearing your flipflops to swimming. I am havign a footwear crisis - am still in my winterboots but am suffering with hot feet [yuck] but it is not summery enough for my summer sandals.
And I have nothing inbetween... (and don't say converse, my feet are waaaaay to wide for those!

Dh home for the weekend (yay!)

I forgot to change from my boots to flipflops in the end !! but I will wear them soon