June 08- the shoes, the food, the glamour!

[pureeandpearls]

Struggling to load pages these days and saw we were over the 900 so took the liberty of starting a new thread.

Sybil - agree about the money thing, it's easy in this house as there isn't any spare money to spend on random things!

We were also cheering on Steve on Masterchef last night, although if the other two want to pop over and cook dinner for us anytime I wouldn't say no. Kind of glad it's finished as I spent the whole time salivating over all the lovely food, the contents of our kitchen cupboards didn't quite match up.

No hitting here, but J has the knack of pinching my nipples, nowhere else, it blooming hurts.

Sorted out the MA, should be eligible, rang the jobcentre and spoke to someone useful, turns out we were reading the paperwork too carefully, it didn't really mean what it said

Got a bit of a migraine today but luckily the worst bit was tunnel vision for a while and a bit of a headache, didn't get the cracking headache and sickness I've had before, feel very tired now though.

at missing postal workers in the happy land sets essie. purée do you think you'll have the vaccination?

Mothers of boys - what outerwear are your young 'uns sporting this season? Have a big padded winter coat for S, but it's not cold enough. As per post below, Boden autumnal duffle too big . He has a lovely jacket at the mo, tons of room left in it, but while it's shower proof it's thin and no good for the colder weather. I could just bundle him up in loads of layers, but then I'd need to buy him loads more long sleeve layers so I might as well spend the money on a jacket anyway! So something at least showerproof and warm. Any suggestions?

Good news on MA ktpie, but boo hiss on the migraine.

ktpie, that's great you know you're eligible at least. Don't know why they have to make it all so complicated

bdq - agree you should keep it, it will be ideal for spring when it will fit him. At the minute I'm alternating between that one and a showerproof jacket from John Lewis. It's fine for now, but wouldn't be ok in deepest winter. But then if you have a padded jacket already maybe something like that would be good for now until you need the warmer one

Allnew - we must have very similar tastes, S's showerproof one is from John Lewis too! Have seen a nice fleece lined one at jojomamanbebe which would be perfect for now but will mull it over this weekend I think before embarking on more reckless spending.

Time for some tv I think...

BDQ I used to put my boys in padded gilets with jumpers or sweatshirts underneath. John Lewis and M&S usually sell them. I've just bought Thea a red fleece swing jacket from Gap that was a bargain (has to be a bargain!) and she loves it. They had some good deals, actually. And I got the boys some John Lewis own brand fleeces, which are v similar to Boden but much cheaper.

Hmm, good idea Rolf. I like the JL fleeces too, S had one last year and good value. Haven't been to JL for a while actually...

BDQ I have bought P this coat but in red, which doesn't appear to be on the website. It fulfilled a variety of criteria: cheap (£15), bright colour, no slogans, no cartoon characters, no camouflage, plus all the obvious stuff like it being warm etc. I love the coats on jojo, but I was feeling too mean to spend £40 on their duffle coat. Also DH declared that he didn't like duffle coats . Some kind of trauma from his childhood apparently. P also still fits into this allinone which I bought in February. It is quite good as it isn't too hot. I also splashed out on some awesome waterproofs, but they are massively too big at the moment. Maybe next winter. Infact the reason I was feeling tight about the coat was because of the expense of the waterproofs.

Essie - I feel your pain. My cousin is married to an anthropologist and she has to live in North America because good posts in the UK don't exist. She is reasonably happy now they are in Canada, but hated living in Atlanta before that. I think she would still prefer to be closer to family though.

Getting my hair cut and coloured (whoop whoop) today, so better dash.

sybil well said about money and family balance.

re school - I invited the nursery school "bully" and his family over for a playdate and he's lovely, just a little immature and overwhelmed I think (he's in the class above DS1 and is only 6 months older than him, I think it's just been a bit transition for him). He and DS1 played nicely together and DS1 said "mummy I have a new friend" when he left We are really lucky where we live if this is the worst behaviour at DS1's school.

essie i know what you mean about strikes. Our union told us during our last pay round that we had the strongest case but we were well aware that no one would even notice if the scientists went on strike. But scientists in academia at least make 25% more than those in government believe it or not (based on post-doc and lecturer pay rates).

BDQ one word - TOGZ. We've got both boys in the warm and dry suit. They have jackets for quick trips but for any outside play they go in these. The fit is generous and they last really well. There is a toddler version - you just need to look for the link. They are even Scottish And in my experience, even when it's dry outside the boys still manage to fall down in a pile of wet something so the waterproof side is always a plus.

oops - essie I am aware that at least gov. employees have job security and that doesn't apply to many academics.... didn't want to sound like i was playing down your situation!

Thanks everyone for coat suggestions. I completely agree about the price of the duffle coat at jojomamanbebe spider - I thought it was too pricey too. Love the togz stuff too abdn - thanks for that. Am going to bookmark for future reference. It's a good point about the waterproof element - S fell over in a puddle on a sunny and dry but cold day in the zoo the other week. It must have been the only puddle in the place!

The good news is that I tried on the duffle that we bought and while it is too big, with rolled up sleeves it doesn't look so bad so we're definitely going to keep it and not get yet another jacket from him (I think I may be projecting my jacket fetish onto S ). Next year, it'll be all about waterproofs though.

Thanks for linking to next Spider too btw - I've not had a look for ages as our local one seems to stock the most hideous items they sell (what does that say about the local area...) but I saw a few nice bits and pieces that'll do S over the winter too.

Was a bit disappointed this morning - something I bought on ebay arrived and it's not in brilliant condition. But it was cheap and these things happen. It'll probably do for a spare top for nursery.

Right, I'll stop wittering about clothes and go and get on with my day of revision. Exams start in just over a week. Gulp.

Hope you all have a good weekend despite the weather!

bdq I had a similar ebay problem - got A a lovely looking pair of little red cords that said they were in good condition but the knees were really worn and the inside button was broken off too

On the plus side with ebay though I am currently selling a skirt and it's at £21

£21 - what type of skirt is that?

You gotta go for the ebay bundles, it makes sense! I got about five pants and five tops for Esther for about a tenner delivered recently. Single items, once you have added on postage, is it that much of a saving?

Got a nice lie-in this morning, the DTs slept till 9am then DH got up with them and I slept till midday . My first big lie-in for ages, I think I really needed it.

Rolf, I was nodding my head at your money post - thought Sybil was bang on with her reply too though. I don't see it as a power imbalance as such, even though DH earns most of the money, but I do feel guilty sometimes that he works so hard to pay all the bills and allow me to spend a lot of time at home having a lovely time bringing up our kids. When it comes to money issues I often say to him 'well you earn it, what would you like to do?' because I think he should have a big say (and often I just want to do what is cheapest ). It's a hard one, we are definitely equals but I allow him to be more equal iyswim! I certainly wouldn't want to take on any financial commitment like school fees that would mean he had to work even harder and put him under even more strain, unless that was what he really wanted, so I don;t think YABU in that sense.

It's a boden denim skirt, pretty nice but bit too big for me now . It's at £23.51 now, so exciting. I bought it myself off ebay new for £30 in spring

Know what you mean about the single items, I only really get something if I can't find something I want in the shops

I bought a denim skirt off ebay last week for myself for £1.50. It's a lovely shape but had a sewed on motif on the back pocket that I didn't like. So I started to pick it off with scissors one night and about 1.5 hours later, covered in tiny pieces of red thread, I managed to get it all off. Not sure the saving was worth the bother but I'm wearing it now and am happy with it

We are decluttering the house in preparation for sale. It appears I was right - most of the clutter defo belongs to DH

Oh that's very good allnew, keep us posted. I know what you mean about single items Neenz - I can't understand the people who pay about a tenner plus postage for something that costs about £14 new e.g stripey t's from Boden. My rule of thumb is that including postage it's got to cost at least half of what it would new (but preferrably less) and stay away from sellers who take the p with their postage charges.
I got a bundle of t's recently but i never seem to come across many bundles I like.

T break over, must get back to revision

BDQ I'm the same about Next. It is the first thing I have bought in there for P in over a year probably.

Agree with you Sybil on the money thing. The law backs it up too. If you look at those high profile divorce cases where the woman has walked away with millions, often it was justified because she enabled him to be CEO of a massive company (or whatever) by running his domestic life for him despite not "working" herself.

I had a very relaxing 2+ hours at the hairdressers this morning. I am now ever so slightly darker, with ever so slightly lighter highlights. It is subtle, but I am pleased with it. The best thing was reading trash magazines for over an hour though. I am well up on all sleb gossip.

I made spicy pumpkin chowder first thing today. I only used a third of the pumpkin and it turned into 5 litres of soup! The neighbours have a litre, and the freezer is stocked. Just as well it tasted good. Down to the final third of the pumpkin which will be cannelloni.

I use that rule of thumb for ebay as well BDQ, makes me laugh when things are going on there for more than they are new in the shops! Sometimes things are disappointing, but the times when you get a real bargain make up for it.
It's a bonus when you're selling though, Allnew, great news about the skirt! I had similar luck with a load of maternity stuff I got from Jojomamanbebe in their sale, none of it fitted me very well and it was so cheap it seemed silly to send it back, I forgot about it for a while and then stuck it on ebay and it all went for loads more than I paid, they did still have the tags on, so I guess that makes a difference.

Coats wise, after all the faffing around losing J's waterproof we now have a big thick monsoon coat with a furry hood (99p from ebay!) he looks so cute in it, bit overkill at the moment but I take his jumper/cardigan off first and it's not too bad, plus we have a thin waterproof so I leave jumper/cardigan on under that.
I like the idea of the Togz stuff Abdn, it looks like we are still going to be able to get an allotment so that kind of thing would be great for taking J there.

Got J some new shoes today in Brantano, Clarks shoes reduced from £30 to £15, he still has space to grow in his current ones so I got the next size up.

Been going a bit mad spending money, think it must be the idea of the MA! Ordered some fruit trees from Suttons last night, they have an offer on at the moment and they are £10 each if anyone is interested in that sort of thing.

Me and J have both been having a nap this aft, DH is itching to get things done around the house and I think he's getting a bit impatient.

Daft DH is going out at 3am to go mountain biking, he does it every year when the clocks go back, god forbid he should spend the extra hour tucked up in bed like normal folk. He'd better not wake me and J!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekends!

X post Spider, pumpkin chowder sounds great!

Spider is that the Allegra McEveedy recipe? I liked that series of her stuff they did in the Guardian. I've got the Kitchen Revolution book from the library and it's very good. I haven't exactly done it but I look at it and think how lovely it all looks!

you are all making me feel better about my recent shopping

We went and saw josey and family today - Oli is looking good and has grown a lot (and has the most gorgeous hair!) She's still struggling with reflux and seizures though, poor sweetie! But she and I had a great cuddle (Oli, not josey obviously) and I was really pleased to see them! It's been a long time.

Is anyone else having this monsoon rain though? I had a very stressful drive home as the roads around here are flooded and I was scared to get stuck with the boys in the car and DH offshore. Fortunately we made it home okay...

Not doing very well in keeping up, but still here chuckling and emphasizing with you all.

Sorry Rolf, I meant YANBU before about asking DH to earn more/work harder to pay school fees.

Half price or less inc p&p is my rule of thumb too on ebay

Abdn, lovely to hear Oli is doing well. It's a shame Josey doesn't post here now, but understandable too. I often wonder how they are doing and hope things are going well.

Me and Dh got caught in monsoon rain as well - out on a bike ride with the DTs . It was lovely on our way out but chucked it down on the way back. I think they survived ok - they both had big coats and helmets on so they didn't get too wet. They didn't complain anyway - E sang most of the way home . We only went five miles up to Birkdale (up the coast from here) but it took nearly an hour - I couldn't believe it was only five miles when I checked on route planner!

Rolf yes, that's right it is from Economy Gastronomy although I think the pumpkin recipes are by Paul Merrett her co-author. Can't recommend the book enough though. It has transformed my cooking in the last few months. Mind you it needed improving.

AH great to hear news of Josey and Oli.

Hello everyone. I'm still here - mostly lurking, never seem to have my hands free to post. Also, sorting out our house move - could be the 13th Nov now, which suits us better anyway, working, and dealing with a sicky baby this week. Who has kindly shared his cold with me. Can't think of anything else to tell you all!

Lovely to hear about Josey and Oli Abdn.

Whinegums are you enjoying the job? Where are you moving to btw (I appreciate that you might not want to publish it on MN so send me a message on FB. Am very nosy about such things ). Will def need to arrange for me to come West sometime once I get my exams out of the way and you're all moved!