ELEVENSES - the next chapter

[MaryAnnSingleton]

here we go !

Hello my lovelies!!! Yippee, I finally have access to a computer - well, it is the pc hooked up to the tv. The keyboard is sticky with builders-dust and I am sitting on a mattress on top of bare floorboards.

House renovations have been incredibly stressfull. I think I have narrowly dodged a nervous breakdown although I did have two weekends where I could not stop crying and was just exhausted by it all. The mess, all our stuff in storage, nowhere to sit/sleep/cook/eat, the constant need to be out of the house so as to give the builders space, needing to take my laundry to school to do in the staffroom - argh! It has been horrid. BUT - the end is in sight. Bar the fitting of the radiator the lounge is done. We still need to furnish it and put up blinds and pictures etc. The kitchen and bathroom are nearly done, the kid's bedrooms just need carpeting, our bedroom has been plastered and needs the final coat of paint. The carpet fitter is coming next week. HOpefully. We have all been camping in one bedroom for the past 6 weeks. All our belongings bar the bare essentials are in storage so life has been a bit tought at times. Am in awe of my children though - they have coped remarkably well and have found creative ways of amusing themselves.

Will fully catch up with all that has been going on once I have a proper computer set up, but for now I just wanted to pop in and say hello!

Have missed you both!

it's hippi !!!!!!!!! yay !!!!!! we missed you !
well done for surviving the building works- how lovely it'll all be when finally completed
Was thinking of you today because we had your Dutch pea soup for tea - yummy asc always

Hooray! We're all still here

Glad the renovations are steaming ahead Hippi - hope you're not too cold ATM... Bet the dc are quite enjoying the mayhem, are your builders nice to them? Makes all the difference.

How are you doing MAS? Do you have any snow? We've got a pitiful amount just now, but am hopeful for more as the sky looks snowy IYKWIM?

there's a little- still snowing now. Dh home ill. T left coat at school - grrr

Sorry dh is ill MAS Very poorly, or just better at home? Grrr about the coat - do children never learn to think???!

It's been snowing pretty well constantly here, but struggling to lie. I think it's too wet. Fortunately I've just had an email to say choir is cancelled tonight, so at least I wont need to go out again after Brownies later. Phew, was worrying a bit as the rehearsal hall is up a hill!

he has a sore throat and bad cold but not too poorly. I haven't been out at all - T is just out in the garden(he forgot to bring coat home again)

Hello

Hope dh is all better now MAS, and that neither you or T got it too!

Have you got lots of snow? We've got about 8 inches, school is closed and B is waiting for a friend to come round and play. Dh is working from home, so he's managed to squeeze in a couple of sneaky sledging sessions too! Looks like rain tonight tho so must make the most of it...

a fair bit- enough to keep T's school closed again..dh much better and painting the sitting room ! Hope you are keeping toasty warm

hello, am still here! Just showing off my Christmas namechange

Hi

Hope you're both OK and not panicking too much about Christmas! I'm definitely in the AAAAAAAGH category - B is off school ATM with a chesty cough thing and I'm not able to go and do my shopping in peace and quiet. EEK, am hoping she'll be well soon, although I don't think she'll be back at school tomorrow

BTW, thank you so much MAS for your lovely ecard, it was a nice surprise

lost this thread !!! am not panicking yet,but probably will do. We're taking over the Christmas preps as my mum fell down the stairs last week and although nothing is broken,she is very sore and can't move much- she has osteo and rheumatoid arthritis and moves with great difficulty anyway.
Thanks v much for lovely e greeting too ! Hope B feels better v soon...like the festive namechange

Hi MAS! I'm really sorry to hear about your mum hope she's on the mend now?

B has finally gone back to school today. She's still coughing, but fine in herself I've asked that if they play in the snow that she doesn't get too cold - last time it snowed she said her toes were sore all afternoon... Hopefully she can go on the field, build a snowman then go into the library or something

I still have a few presents to buy, but don't fancy trying to get the car out of our road...Looks like our trip up north for Christmas is in trouble

How are you both getting on? Are all our children at school today?

T finished on Friday ! dh working from home as too icy to travel. My brother and niece were meant to be coming today but far too snowy there to make it possible. Hope all will be well for next week.
Mum still very sore and unable to get downstairs - we are managing though !

HAPPY CHRISTMAS HIPPI & HOTCROSS take care and keep toasty and safe...lots of love xxxxx

Hello you two!! Happy new year!! I am mumsnetting on my lovely Christmas present - a lovely little Netbook. I love it

Christmas was good, nice and quiet. I am suffering a bit depression wise at the moment so it was nice to keep everything low key. I think the stress of moving, losing Dillydog, the builders all just caught up with me. I am not setteling at all in the new house. It feels alien and I just don't feel at home. I know I will come to like it but for now the road noise, the (occasional) noise coming from next door, the openness of the drive and front garden, it all feels so communal and not cosy. I know it takes time, but the old house just instantly felt like home and this one just does not

Anyway - I need a new 'me' for the New Year. I am going back onto my diet (have not kept it up most of last year, was comfort eating ) and need to develop a better mental attitude.
I also, desperately, want a new MN name. But I cannot think of anything. Any suggestgions? Help desperately needed...

Hope you both had good Christmas and New Year celebrations, looking forward to hearing your news soon

hippi thank you !!
am sorry that you've been feeling so down- and that your house doesn't feel right- am sure it'll come in time- I took a while to switch over to loving this house as much as my old house- having men in is a big stress too,so give yourself a bit of time.
A new name- hmm- hippipotami means big really,so psychologically probably not good- will have a think.
Hope we can meet before long- I'd suggest the pac=k house again,only I feel a bit about it as that time was the day of my diagnosis - perhaps in Farnham itself ? see how we're all fixed anyway. xxxx

Hello! Thank you for chivying me back here

Sorry you're not feeling settled Hippi I think a new house can be difficult to adjust to sometimes, especially when you've not really had it to yourselves yet... hopefully as Spring appears you'll discover lots of lovely bulbs you didn't know you had got! I think the diet thing will happen when you're ready TBH, you've had a lot on your plate over the last few months. What hours are you working this term? Will have a think about a new name - will be hard as I know you so well as Hippi!!!

How is your Mum now MAS? It's not easy watching our parents become more infirm

I'd love to meet up Farnham sounds good. I'm free most days really, I haven't started volunteering in school yet.

B is still struggling to settle at school, lunch is still an issue and the older ones terrify her. I think I'll need to go in soon and ask what they could be doing to make her feel more like she belongs. She's not getting to sleep at night, tummy ache etc so she's definitely still worrying

hello hotcross !! I couldn't bear for us to fade away
Sorry to hear that things are still tough for B - poor little girl.

Farnham meet up would be lovely - am never quite sure when I am minding S but it's usually a Monday or Tuesday- Wednesdays and Thurs not good, but Fridays fine !
Mum much better -dad is doing lots of the cooking and domestic stuff (!) and she is going up and down on her stairlift -but really it's all a decline that I guess will continue. It's hard too because my mum was always very young for her age,active,interested in loads of things,rode a bike etc etc.

No, I agree I think we were very lucky to click on here - must up my MNing!!! I've not been on here nearly as much - has all felt a bit 'samey' and a bit mean at times recently, oh and RL has intruded a bit! Will make more of an effort.

Glad to hear your mum is doing better. Ageing is so cruel, it must be so frustrating not being able to do all the things you used to do I already creak and I'm not forty yet

My New Years resolution is to lose weight and be more active.. Today is day one - have walked the dog and not had any snacks. Am hoovering and dusting all the christmas grime away, so must be burning calories

well done - am trying to walk more !!
Am only really on the tamoxifen thread these days,sometimes others if one takes my fancy...

Wish I actually liked walking....

Phew!! I an so glad we are all still here

Sorry to hear things are not to good with your mum MAS. As hotcross said, it must be hard seeing your parents become more infirm. Mine are in Holland so we don't get to see them too often sadly but I know they are vaguely toying with the idea of selling up and coming to the UK because that is where my sister and I are. They are also not getting any younger...

Hotcross I am so sorry B is not setteling at school. What a nightmare. Definately talk to the school. Do they not have a buddy system whereby each of the Y6 children get paired up with one Y3 child and take them under their wing? Our school do this and it works a treat. E adores her buddy and spends most playtimes with I and her lovely Y6 friends (who in turn also have their Y3 buddies with them)

I am currently working as full time as it is possible to get at this school - every day from 8.30 until 3. So meeting up outside the school holidays will be tricky

Hotcross, please remind me, what became of the situation with the boy you were tutoring?

Hi Hippi

How would you feel about your parents moving over here? I guess it would be lovely to see more of them, but fewer links with Holland... My parents moved from Scotland to be midway between my dsis and us, and TBH I sort of wish they were still north of the border There is little in B's life to suggest she is part Scottish and we haven't taken her up there yet as it's such long way and we use that time to see family.... If my parents were local to us it would be different though...

I stopped tutoring the little boy as it was a huge amount of work for very little money and he really didn't need tutoring! The family were upset, but I just couldn't see the point really. I'm currently helping a girl with maths though...

I didn't realise you are working quite so many hours - how are you doing? Are you enjoying it?

I wonder when we can meet up then? Is a weekend a no-no?

half term ?