December 2006 - The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hip hooray, tshghho now let's keep these bugs at bay

[LenniEd]

I got all brave and made us a new bug free thread...

Castles, that's too little to survive on. Are you needing to lose some weight? Try Paul Mckenna. You've had fainting episodes without this sort of calorie control,goodness knows what will happen if you eat like this for a prolonged amount of time. Sorry, I'm not really a nag but I'm a little worried for you.

Bloody hell Castles, 500 calories . Even if you lose weight it will pile back on sooooo fast as soon as you eat normally again, regardless of how good you are. I agree with Margo, I'm afraid. Has your GP okayed it? Seems like madness for her/him to have done so if yes, given your history. PLEASE think about going down a different route. I understand only too well the effect that excess weight has on self estemm and self confidence but I think with your current situation wrt dh, ds, your health, etc you need to be eating properly .

AQ, ((hugs)) for you and ds1. Hope you get some respite from it all soon. Glad today was lovely, the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is getting a bit brighter, I hope.

Bebe/LenniEd, lots of ducks (and geese and goslings) on the lake yesterday. Heaton Park is lovely, DH and I were walking through it saying how much the dcs and dog would enjoy it there. It's not too far from us really, 45 minutes or so.

Oasis was actually REALLY good . The atmosphere was great, support bands (The Enemy and Kasabian, for them's that know these modern bands ) were also good and the best bit was, it stayed DRY . DH loved it, has declared it his best birthday present EVER so I feel like a good wife today .

oli, I'm so glad the concert went well It's been ages since I've been to anything like that. I'm quite

castles, another one here to say 500 calories is not near enough, woman

Indith, hope you are having a lovely time in France.

AQ, I'm so, so sorry that things aren't improving with ds1 It's just an awful thing to go through and each one apparently is very different in how long it takes to recover.

LenniEd, I don't remember the haunted house story! I was just mentioning to dh the other day that I have read this from quite a few MNer's.Our house is only 40 years old so not a problem.

Have just bumped your thread regarding ds1, AQ.

another at 500 calories. I need to lose weight but just couldnt do that. Any other tips gratefully received though.

Oooh, thanks for all the concern. Am touched Do know what I am doing though : was CD turned into mini-detox. Hopefully can lose 1.5 stone I put on last year (due to ADs ) with ease now over next couple of months, not by surviving on 500 cals a day, I hasten to add!

AQ, so pleased you are on the up.

Eli, good luck with the house hunt.

Maggie, my top tips are:

Don't pick/don't finish off DCs food - throw it in the bin.

Don't eat crap i.e. cakes, biscuits, crisps, chocolate etc.

Don't drink alcohol. Or at least not on school nights.

Cut out cappucinos etc. They are 100 cals a go.

Walk when you can (or cycle) instead of driving or taking the bus.

Just by doing this you will probably lose about 7lbs a month. If you want to lose more:

Eat something like porridge/bran flakes for breakfast with seeds/bananas.

Don't eat a sandwich for lunch. Make some soup or eat a big salad. Make sure it has some protein in it. Protein fills you up for longer and blended soup takes longer to digest than normal food.

If you are peckish between 4-5pm (my danger time) eat some dried apricots or fruit or handful of seeds/nuts.

Eat a big supper: spag bol or chicken, spuds and veg for example is only about 400 cals depending on portion size and will fill you up and stop you picking later.

Drink lots of water

Castles - think I might print that out and stick it on my fridge.

Pox hell here - DS covered from top to toe in massive spots, really awful. Not sleeping at all and last night I got 2.5 hours total in 2 installments. Of course DH away since Fri (good timing eh!) so stuck on my own in middle of nowhere with ill unsettled baby and losing the plot gradually. Should be over worst tomorrow though and DH back on Weds.

Oli - need to get address - will fb you now, and get my lazy backside in gear and post pumps

Jabber - will tell you all about the haunting once had a bit of kip. Night all

Better day, feel vaguely alive.

So tell me about all the books your DCs have totally fallen in love with?

So far we've had:
Tiger who came to tea
Flyaway Katie
Each Peach Pear Plum

and a few others that can't think of now.

It's just I've now got a mobile library coming to stop for us from the end of the month (one of the advantages of living in the middle of bleeding nowhere) and need to order our books in advance, but no idea where to start...

Sorry, LenniEd, I read it and didn't get around to posting. I did FB you back and gave you some sympathy there!

We get a mobile library in our village too, it's the highlight of the dcs' fortnight, books AND a bus DS2's favourite books are any of the Meg & Mog series, Kipper, Hooray for Fish (Lucy Cousins), We're going on a Bear Hunt, Hairy Maclairy, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Room on the Broom (Julia Donaldson), ummmmmmm, I'll go and have a look at his bookcase in a mo......

I like Castles' list . All I would add is try to walk more. A huge part of my weight loss has come through walking the dog for an hour every day. It's a PITA finding the time (a dog is useful because you have to go!) but it does make a huge difference.

I know Oli - sorry, wasn't a plea for sympathy. Yay, sounds like bus full of books might be a winner for us then. Is stopping here, at our house, am very excited! Well at the end of the drive - to be used by a cluster of farms near us, we're in the middle so that's why they've picked here. Once a fortnight - will be picking your brains for ideas!

lennied - you have my sympathy. pox is awful.

books dd2 love are anything peppa pig, charlie & lola, buster. at this age dd1 loved tiger that came to tea, mog, and anything julia donaldson

castles - ref you lost:
Don't pick/don't finish off DCs food - throw it in the bin. will try

Don't eat crap i.e. cakes, biscuits, crisps, chocolate etc.

Don't drink alcohol. Or at least not on school nights. dont

Cut out cappucinos etc. They are 100 cals a go. dont

Walk when you can (or cycle) instead of driving or taking the bus. will try

Just by doing this you will probably lose about 7lbs a month. If you want to lose more:

Eat something like porridge/bran flakes for breakfast with seeds/bananas. [yuk]

Don't eat a sandwich for lunch. Make some soup or eat a big salad. Make sure it has some protein in it. Protein fills you up for longer and blended soup takes longer to digest than normal food. [sigh]

If you are peckish between 4-5pm (my danger time) eat some dried apricots or fruit or handful of seeds/nuts. [double sigh]

Eat a big supper: spag bol or chicken, spuds and veg for example is only about 400 cals depending on portion size and will fill you up and stop you picking later. [do this]

LenniEd, I think you deserve a mammoth amount of sympathy after the last few days. Pox is lousy at the best of times but a bad dose in a tiny baby who can't have piriton, with a 2yo to entertain, no dh about and being in the middle of nowhere is probably about as crap as you can get. I guess if dd had it too then it would be worse but not much.

Yes, throwing buckets of sympathy your way too, sorry I didn't earlier as I know exactly what it's like with 5mo and cp! Arrrgghghhhhhh. Was my catchphrase at the time.
I can't stop eating crap. i don't remotely mind doing loads of walking and other exercise except it bloody hurts to do the school run, limping again today. So I can't. I want to eat rubbish, it's my sole comfort at this particular time so I guess I'll have to live with the expanding waist.
DS2 is quite behind language-wise with other children his age and thus with the books also. Wibbly pig still a big favourite, dig dig digging/choo choo clickety clack and anything with a flap! Can't imagine reading the tiger who comes to tea to him, tho I could try. I do miss reading stories to a child who enjoys it as ds1 not as bothered now. DD's pretty keen, but then she ruins it all by eating the book One of my all time favourites is If you give a moose a muffin, we always giggled at that one from the library. And (sob) Owl Babies (sigh). [aq goes off to rummage around for Owl Babies to read to ds2!]

Am soo tired after horrible stressy day of house stuff (neighbours scuppering our sale, closed bids on one we wanted to buy and didn't get it, etc boring etc!) and brain dead, so will catch up tomorrow....but big hugs to LenniEd, and a sigh of relief that Castles hasn't faded away and knows what she's doing

Miss you all, and have made mental note to quite obsessing about property issues and get living again.

So have your buyers pulled out over the basement next door, Eli? That's crap. Couldn't they have spoken to you informally first so you could have asked them to hold off until after your sale was done and dusted? for you. And ((hug)) for horrid day.

AQ, DS2 also still loves all the Spot books [yawn], the Usbourne Farmyard Tales flappy books [double yawn as have been reading them constantly for about 5 years], Owl Babies [sob here too] and any of the That's Not My..... series. Ds1 has rediscovered reading (or being read to, more like ) via Raold Dahl. DH has been reading him George's Marvellous Medicine, which he loved and now they're onto The BFG.

LenniEd, how are things with you?

I'm in the middle of my cake epic. 3 to do for the weekend [aaargh]. I've nearly finished a princess castle but the princess looks more like Princess Fiona out of Shrek . Not quite the effect I was loking for!

eli, that's too bad about the sale and the house

LenniEd, don't know how you are hanging in there.

Have been putting out fires at work all week. My associate, the doctor/owner and his wife (who "manages" the office ) have been out of town and all kinds of loose ends are coming to light. grrrrr

no, they haven't pulled out (yet), just slowed it down and made it horribly stressful while we rush around trying to find out what the impact is in structural engineering terms, and how to sort it. Oli, I have been too! Anyway: we may have lost the house we bid on due to it all slowing down, but we haven't lost the sale yet - if we do, thats it. House off market, do the side return extension ourselves, and stay put for a few more years till the market recovers. I'm just soo tired of it all.

Moan over

LenniEd, hope the cp on the mend? dd2's favourite read is a French one (T'choupi, d'you know it Indith? tis great) so not much use on ideas here.

Happy baking Oli I would love a Princess Fiona cake, come to think of it, sounds great!

Jabber, sorry about the work hassles...sorting out messes, ugh: not sure if its better or worse when not your own, iyswim.

Friend of dd1's had possible swine flu last week...

That's good(ish) news Eli. At least you have options, I guess. I hate moving (have I mentioned that? ) so plenty of sympathy for you too.

Princess cake is done and on my profile. Redid the princess' face so she's less of an ugly sister!

OMG, Oli, you are a genius.

I've been asked to make a cake for tomorrow's school summer fair: if you could see my efforts....!! Shrek ain't in it

Luckily for me/them, I am supposedly running the dreamcatcher/bracelet making stall (its Wild West) so they will be spared any major cake efforts on my part: much too busy squinting at beading and wool. If you lived closer, I'd have commissioned a Wild West cake from you for them though!

Thanks for the sympathy, too

Oli - I am in awe. Are you really going into business? If you are you might have a customer I would happily come to Cheshire a couple of times a year for your cakes, they are stunning.

Eli - commisserations on the house - sounds like it is becoming more stressful than most moves. Do you have any grounds to object to the basement on your neighbours property? Or is that more hassle than it's worth?

Jabber - hope you get a break over the weekend. And that they cut you some slack when they are back in return for your efforts.

CP over here - actually left the house today - yay! DH and I having a few ishoos though, makes me sad to think about it. He's lovely and infuriating in equal measure. I just wish he'd grow up a little and quit the whinging. Ridiculously he keeps harping on about having a third child someday, but whenever there is any baby related issue to deal with it's my problem. We're potty training DD - have gone cold turkey on nappies and we're getting there but there have been more than a few accidents. Today I left him for 15 minutes to buy his Dad a Father's Day card since they are going away tomorrow. DD needed the toilet and told him but he pratted around so long getting her there that she wee-ed and it went all down his t-shirt and jeans as he was carrying her (smirk ) and guess who's fault that was? Yep, mine for going out Men. [grrr]

Oli you are the queen of cake

Lennied glad the cp is over. I had a small snigger at the wee

Eli about the house. Really sucks.

Castles hope you are eating you crazy woman

AQ sorry ds1 still having trouble, really hope you can get some decent support. Re your aches and pains, you aren't hypermobile are you?

Lennied tiger that came to tea is a big fave here too. Ds also loves the little red train, the Mog books (especially Mog's Christmas) and anything from the Thomas the Tank Engine series.

France was rainy except for our last day . I have spent lots of time with Mamie though, eaten all the gizzards, other duck innards and petit gateaux ppossible, met a random german cousin and annoyed my uncle.

However, uncle rantage shall have to wait as dd is wriggling and she smells

Hello, just dropping by before the school fete shouts at me hope you are all well? will try to get back to catch up with you all again soon.

Goodness, those cakes are fab fab fab, Oli You are truly talented (although I think Fiona from Shrek fine for Princess myself). Get into business now!
Hullo, solo, do pop back again!
indith, sorry france rainy but still v of a holiday. Hmmm hypermobility, podiatrist said my toes were but hadn't thought about rest of body. Think the physio ought to have picked up on it though? When r you moving into new house btw?
lennied, glad cp over but dh They can be such children! Are you scaling back feeds for ds, in which case dump dc's on him for the day and let him eat humble pie. Sooner men realise how bloody hard it is with 2 small children all day the better imo! DP got this when ds2 born, I seem to remember and now is most helpful partner/dad.
Speaking of dp, he had the snip on weds so has been limping around for days looking pained bless him. Has fallen on me to do all the lifting and carrying of dt's etc plus clearing up and last night my neck glands swelled up painfully so on antibiotics. Thank god the gp's have the boys this weekend and we're just down to the 2 dc's!
Eli, what is house news now? Damn your neighbours!