AUG 08 - Here we go again and again and again...

[TwilightSurfer]

Seriously!

. Have to run walk to preschool now but will read through properly when we get back. xxx

thanks hots + crispy what would i do without you gals?

unfortunately hots he will have to come to cyprus as its his mate who is getting married .. he managed to order myself a taxi and has gone on his merry way.. thankfully girlies are no wiser of situation and as he is always away there is no difference to them..

we are off out in a bit to see a lovely friend who i haven't seen in ages.. dugged up to the eyeballs but with my two darlings in tow xxx

Loti, please don't ever apologise to us for ranting. You can say what you want, when you want and I for one won't think any worse of you. We are here for you as a sounding board, a place of advice etc etc

VG has yet again (!) said what i would love to be able to express myself but her final line sums it up...

"do what you have to do, don't allow yourself to be the doormat, you must maintain the integrity of your own character, you must maintain your dignity, you must be free to be happy. You are entitled to be happy, and to pass that happiness on to your girls."

Please please remember these words, every one of them is absolutely true.

morning to all. got pill here this weekend so beds to make, meal plans to be written, food to be bought and my perfect,patient dil persona to be found!

loti i hope your friend gives you the chance to relax a bit today. i prescribe chocolate cake for all!

Loti, so sorry you are going through this.

LadyGardenia's post is very wise. Can you chat to your dad about how things are, if that would help at all while you sort through your emotions?

loti as sorry as I am that you've had to go through that, I'm sorrier that you've had the misery and loneliness for such a long time, so all things considered I am really happy to see you tell him how it is.

The LadyGardenia makes very valid points about possible benefits of counselling, careful consideration etc. and I second them all, but I think that whatever happens he needs to move out for a while so that both of you can get some time and space on the situation. Sounds like it won't make much difference to your current lifestyle anyway except that you won't have to wash his skiddy undies!

Be the strong woman you are. Love isn't love when it reduces you to ashes.

Ladies, with all the upset going on around here, I feel an uber-meet is sorely needed!

I third LG''s wise words. While he has shown you no respect in recent months I do think it's worth suggesting counselling before throwing the towel in. Put the ball in his court. If he says no you can't be accused of not giving him a chance to patch things up and you'll be able to tell the girs too, when they're old enough to understand, that you tried everything. So glad you won't be alone today.

Aargh. What a night. What happened to the Lib Dems??? I'm just about it all. They didn't do anything wrong and yet still they didn't make headway. I'm no big supporter of one party over another, but I feel very sorry for them. Equally frightened now about our future in the hands of GO - just when we need a particularly good pair of hands on the economy . Yes, red, I'd noted his absence with interest - briefly thought that they'd realised he was a liability. I suspect not though and they just think they know better than us plebs. Cynical? Moi?

Bizarrely though, Osborne handled his acceptance speech really well. The right balance between humility and confidence .. Whereas I thought Cameron was very flat. If they can't win Edgbaston and Solihull, they didn't win back their base and that must be very hard to take.

I think Clegg's lot didn't have the money or the party machine to capitalise on the seats made available. Also, lots of the X-factor gang who 'oohed' at the debates couldn't be arsed to vote in real life: a 4% increase in turnout is paltry really given all the circs.

I hope there is a stable government out of it anyway, whatever its persuasion.

red you've left your soapbox here

Cor go off to the MW and you all explode in conversation. All is well.

Was also amazed to see how LibDem went flop especially with all the 'I'm voting LibDem' hype on here and in RL.

DD was up at 6am with 'Mummy it's morning, listen to the birds' So no chance of her going back or just cuddlling and has insce been like the duracell bunny on speed - she can't sit still, hasn't even sat still for a little telly.

I never thought I would say this but THANK HEAVENS FOR MR TUMBLE. She has just heard the music and stopped dead in her tracks to sign the theme tune and asked if she can watch it. For my sanity I said yes!

Didn't hear the acceptance speeches red but do think that while we'll prob. end up with DC as PM, the Tories did have a basically open goal and probably should have made more progress.

I agree about Lib Dem machinery and the media overexcitement about the debates. If they couldn't capitalise on all of this though they must be wondering what more they can realistically.

I'm getting rather immature amusement from listening to all the R4 presenters trying to sound authoritative and interested on a night of no sleep.

me too poppy re. worn out presenters, they must feel like shit! Why are they doing book of the week now????

I am hiding in the study while new lady tries out with ds2. She seems really nice, I hope she is. She seems kind, interested, bright outlook. . But what if she has secret short fuse etc? Waaaaahhhhh.

oopsy what is dd's reaction to the results today ? did you have a good mw meeting?

Has anyone ever laid grass, as in those swiss roll things rather than seed?

Should I work or continue rigging up plastic cup / string affair to eavesdrop on lady and ds?

LOTI Sadly i think you do know where your relationship is likely to end up, unless there is a miracle about to occur in DH's outlook on life/family etc. I suspect not . However i do agree with poppy that for the sake of the children and him having a pop at you in future that you need to sit down and discuss counselling/relate etc whether he be living in the same house or out of it as per cyteen's suggestion. I too would say write out Lady's last sentence and reread it whenever your resolve is weakening.
Stay strong lady, and if you need any propping up, you know where we are

Missed most of the election coverage as got bored of all the time filling going on before the results actually came in. I am very chuffed to see though that both here and in my M&D's constituency that there was a 75% turnout.

DD1 walked to pre-school, been to post office and made a phonecall. So far so good , well apart from the weather which is BRRRRRRR. DD2 slept until 7am this morning, maybe a result of turning the heating up?

Glad to hear all well at the MW oops, is she now engaged and the right way up?

Have laid grass, whaddya wanna know?

lol vg, surely you've got the webcam set up in the other room, no?!
fil is here this weekend to 'help' lay some swiss roll grass things tomorrow so i will let you know on sunday how it went!

hi crispy

oh and dizz, just because i'm not specifically typing out messages for you, doesn't mean i'm not thinking of you...hope you're getting lots of rest and cuddles from your girls x

LG - have done swiss roll grass a number of times how can I help? I think you need to accept that today no work will be done as you try and evesdrop on everything they do!

Crispy - Yes bum up head down and only1/5 palpable. Not allowed Stretch and sweep due to GBS but hey ho - she will come when she is ready.

Re. grass here is my situation - there is a path running round our garden which is useless as far as I am concerned & lops off a good few feet which could be grassed. The garden is not enormous so I want to reclaim as much ordinary grass space as possible. What I want to do is remove path (it's gravel so I presume I just do it with a shovel and find lovely loamy stuff underneath ) and sort of stretch existing grass over it, by extending what's there already with some swiss roll.

Previously whenever I have reseeded football pitch grass it hasn't really taken - largely because it gets used for penalties walked on - so I thought swiss roll would be sturdier.

So: can I remove path and plop swiss roll on top? Do I have to not walk on it for weeks on end? Will there be a big seam? Can you just get it at B&Q? Do I have to prepare ground etc?

great news oops! sorry, meant to ask you earlier how it went!

VG just pick up the edge of the existing grass and stretch it over the path! job done
but on a serious not, i have no idea! i'm just hoping fil and dh know what they're doing!

Oh bless DD2, she has put her new sandals in the bottom of the pushchair and is taking them for a walk

Well, that is in between sitting down and taking them on and off - think they are a hit!! She has now brought me my bag accompanied by 'gag' and her coat 'coooat' . Is she trying to tell me something......?

LG - swiss roll needs about a month to root itself into the ground and lots of love and water.

Crispy - I think you are being told it's walkies time!

Excellent advice, MrsM, so it's just like a t-shirt that doesn't really fit - just keep tugging till it covers everything!

oops - a month - yikes. I will have to erect a barbed wire perimeter fence!

It is quite easy to lay though and we had a couple of planks across ours to gget to places so we didn't squash the roots. Watering was the most tedious part! We just lifted our gravel path put down a layer of topsoil (slightly higher than ground level to allow for settling) then lay swiss roll on top.

Oooh gone spookily dark here.

Hmm might get the supplies in then and have it all ready as a lovely weekend surprise for dp that we can spend tomorrow in manual labour!

oops noooooo!!!! you said the w-a-l-k word!!! its a good job DS didn't hear you otherwise he'd be parked by the front door with coat in one hand, spade in the other and wellies on his feet!

LG exactly! using your t-shirt analogy...its easier to stretch the t-shirt than it is to shrink what its covering

a month??? oh no! i didn't realise we'd have to keep off it for as long as that!

i'd just like to share with you all that if you were to eat a whole box of M&S dark chocolate jaffa cakes, you will indeed feel very sick

my work here is done!