MN Little Italy 18

[DemonBradleySlaysPippi]

Where are you????

Franca! Loving your name-change. You are definitely needed in your new guise on the "should I get a cleaner" thread, where there are some seriously uptight people giving out some Calvinist shit.

Has the Manga chat finished then?

Notte.

PS. Hey Sputnik.

Morning.Not avoiding you due to cartoon chat .Had a very lazy weekend after parents went back and been out enjoying the sun. Met mad FIL on Sun morn with ds. He was in good mood for once so we had a walk to the antiques market they have on Sun morn in Piazza Mazzini- twas lovely and very civilised.
Pippi and Franca, love the name changes. Pippi your SIL sounds a nightmare. Def go to Italy I say. Would your MIL come with you? Franca your Xmas sounds fab. We are off to UK this year for xmas (we alternate years here and there).
Back to hospital this pm for what I hope will be last visit and ds will get signed off. How are all the other sick dc's?

ps glad flat is starting to feel like home Sputnik. And very impressed at you driving alla Romana. I rarely drive here and when I do I end up every journey with sweaty palms and a stiff neck from being so tense!

Hello everyone- been awol due mainly to dd's social life! She is currently sleeping off yet another late night (what is it with a child's birthday party starting at 8pm????)

Going backwards to read now.....

(SF Puglia update: "Io mi chiudo in casa fino a Marzo" (my lovely but paranoid friend)
I can honestly see the schools closing here before Christmas as the parents won't let their children go......hysteria abounds...and yet, dd informs me there is no soap in the toilets to wash with....s'pose because they all have litre bottles of amuchina in their backpacks.

Goodmorning all. I am glad you went AWOL due to RL commitments rather than manga boredom.

Cannot stop thinking at evil sil. I am happy to saty here for Xmas with friends and maybe my family over. I feel sorry for dh who is really a family man and will be devastated and hurt.

Penthe I posted on that thread. What I really wanted to say is: WTF???? I really do not understand why people take offence on an internet forum about 1. mentioning money 2. having a cleaner. I think this are the most sinful things you can do on MN.

I am stupid enough to always think I am better without a cleaner so regularly go without (obsessed about saving for children future in case I die ) for then a. live in squallor 2. constantly moan at dh about my enslaved existence. boh.

Gio and Buch, glad you had a lovely and busy weekend (and I'm obviously a bit , as I've been trapped home since thurs morning now). As Pippi said, I'm glad you weren't too much put off by manga boredom

Penthe lol, I've seen that thread. Is it still going? Gosh yes, all that calvinism makes me want to hire a cleaner/babysitter/housekeeper 24/7 and go partying with kate moss.

I had a cleaner when I was pg with dd in the uk, once a week. She became a real close friend of mine! And when she stopped coming as she was too busy retraining I went without, because I was already committing the ultimate sin a sahm could do (in the UK, of course) sending the dc to nursery .
I do have a cleaner now

Bucharest lol at mi chiudo in casa fino a marzo!!!

Df took her dd to scuola materna today and there were just 5 children (true that some might be away for long weekend)!

Lovely ragazze based in Italy, am I right in thinking that now amazon delivers toys etc here as well? Would you buy sylvanian families and get it delivered here? Should I trust the Italian delivery service?

My problem with cleaners is the idea of having to tidy the house for them before they come. Otherwise I would do it if not completely skint. Actually I had one for a while when I was pg with DS and bed bound, and when he was tiny.

Lack of soap in school and elsewhere is one of my pet rants too, why do Italians have this blind spot over public toilets I wonder? Otherwise hygiene in eg supermarkets is better than UK, where they have unwrapped bread and uncovered salads out for everyone to cough over, yuk. I also quite like the gloves for fruit and veg thing too, I reuse mine for throwing out the recycling.

I have had no problems with getting Amazon stuff here, including a huge wooden dollshouse that cost 3.99 delivery. Just check that what you want is actually sold by amazon itself and not another seller otherwise they might not deliver here or charge more (I think).

How are your 2 today Franca, any light at the end of the tunnel?

At both dc's schools the parents buy soaps, fazzolettini etc.
At ds's primary we are currently raising money to buy toilet paper. This is how well funded our schools are
We are "lucky" that being in a relatively middle class area, most parents are happy to chip in... it's very sad.

(apparently some palazzi di giustizia don't have paper for photocopies etc)

Ah thanks sputnik, yes, I thought about buying stuff only from amazon. I've only just bought dvds and books and never had problems (apart from last time, when the delivery person asked me 74 euros ...)

Today they have no temp. They are in a good mood... keeping my fingers crossed!

Bucharest, guess it's like it was here in July - when the first cases of SF were confirmed in DS's school, the school was empty (mind you, even if you did send the kids to school you'd be called in if they made the mistake of coughing once). I'd say half of the kids in DS's class were kept home "just in case" (though officially they were suffering from SF). I did keep DS home the last 3 days but just because we were about to go off to italy.

I'm constantly telling DP that the first thing we do as soon as we have some spare cash (yeah, dream on) it's getting a cleaner (we often think of getting one just occasionally, but we're too ashamed because I'd have to tidy up and clean before hand - well, we're not dirty, it's just chaos).

no soap or toilet paper ?! wow, there was never a shortage when I was at school . We were routinely asked to provide tissues at DS's nursery and pre-school though., and now I make sure he has a packet in his bookbag.

We have had to give 5 euro for a rizma of carta for the teacher to p/c....

I always order tons of stuff from Amazon, never had a problem, my biggest purchase has been a wooden table and chairs for dd! It comes by DHL usually so is safe.

I put this in products, but will also ask here, dd is wanting the (bloody awful) mammy penby penguin thing- which costs 99 euro here (for a penguin!!). Has anyone seen one in the UK yet? It's called bossa nova Penby apparently......

am here - Minirosa will not sleep - can't go out walking with her as its pi**ing down. Mum arrives wed and can't find her bed yet. Want to read and catch up but have to go and settle a baby for a 40 minute sleep before I wake her to go and get dd1...... MA PERCHE ?

Oh Rosa, I feel your pain! And it's pissing down here as well... at least the only "good" thing about the dc being ill is that we don't have to go out!

Bucharest, no, never heard of Pneby the penguin, I'll google.

Going back to the cleaner thread, unless you have a living in house keeper you always end up having to do lots of chores with or without a 3 hrs a week cleaning lady. I tidy up the house/do laundry/cook/shop for food/etc daily!

I'm running out of ideas on how to entertain them. We've done all. Heeeeelp!!!
And I'm really sleepy.

Have you ever done the secret box thing? Got it from Peppa pig and it can keep DD amused for ages. Find an empty shoebox or similar. Decorating it is optional. DC disapears into their room and finds something to put inside. Other one has to guess what it is.

Oh lovely idea! (hurrah to peppa pig)
Anyway, they are watching Balto now.
Favourite activity of the week has been washing pots and pans (for them)

Rosa, I know, you finally get her to sleep and then you have to wake her up for the school run... not much of a problem recently as you all well know that DD thinks that sleeping is really a waste of time (her after lunch nap was about 15min, yes, 15 mins today!).

need some boxes to put stuff away, so might take them to ikea and let them run out of steam there...

bucharest, I'd never heard of that penguin thing

sounds a nice thing the box game, will make a mental note

can't believe the cough is still here and now I've got a head cold.... aaaarggggggghhh maybe I shoul dhave mentioned it to the gp this morning when I took dd, but I was in a hurry as the apt was already 40 mins late (all spent chasing DD who was just chatting to everyone in the waiting room and try to get throught the doors, just what you want to do when you have just realised you got out of the house with a huge hole and complimentary ladders on your tights...)

MM- thanks for the tip about the pumpkin- will need to remember for next year... 10 years in the UK and still need explanations on local culture. Though to be fair, DH, a Brit, did not know about the carved pumpkin either. Also, when we lived in less salubrious parts of London the aim was very much NOT to look at home- this is the first year we actually prepared and were looking forward to trick-or-treaters...

Gosh Camo I'm impressed at your dd's stamina . 15 mins nap is quite a record . Bless.
And at you going to ikea. Me and my mother hope to go soon, they always have lovely christmas decorations!

SG wow, glad you moved to a safer part of London!

SG yes I understand. In previous flat, living on my own, I dreaded Halloween. Would hide often .

Okay a question for you. I have realised from the cleaner thread, although I subliminally knew, that in the UK you do not open the present straight away and you do write thank you cards. Obviously I did the italian way at dds party and presents were opened there and then and played with and kids thanked by dds in person.

Is it really rude in the UK? I know that the custom is to keep them aside, open them at home later and write a thank you card.
What do you do? Shall I adopt this technique in the future? I also like the idea of all mums chipping in to buy something bigger and less tatt.

I saw you on that thread, good post pippi

It's a tough one, because I really couldn't overcome the feeling that it is very rude not to open the present in front of the person who's giving it to you. Therefore I've always opened present and thanked the person.

Do they really do that in the UK?!
If I were you I'd go for the exotic approach, tell them you're doing it the Italian way and teach all the kids to screech "SCARTA LA CARTAAAA"