Sept 08: How do we like our eggs in the morning? Fertilised, or completely and most definitely unfertilised?

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

A brand spanking new thread where we can chat about the state of our eggs, SWI, our veg patches and any other topic we fancy

meglet Sorry to hear ex-dp is still being a PITA. More sorry for him in some ways as his behaviour is stopping him from seeing his dc You are amazing to be coping with the dc on your own

D&S I second what ILTMIMI said...hope we havent offended you. My GP was the one who told me that cough medicine for under 6's has been banned. I seem to be constantly getting the calpol out lately though My dsis swears by medised but only because it makes my nephews sleep!

British Gas coming today for a quote for a new boiler...gulp...

mama Its a real balancing act isnt it? We dont seem to have go the balance right yet, but heres hoping! I have turned into a real nag lately, but only because I am so tired I think.

I remember someone I once worked with told me (just after I got married) that with dc, the 1st 2 years are the worst.....I was horrifed at the casual way she wrote of 4 years of her life Am clinging to the hope she was right and by xmas things will be easier (????)

No I'm not offended at all - just did want to say that it definitely helped DD sleep and seemed to ease her cough during the night.

mama lol at retraining! hope he gets better soon. I had h,f&m last year and it was agony.

to Meglet and Star

Ds is spending all morning watching mr tumble . DD has been taken out (thank goodness for friends) but he's so miserable he doesn't know what to do with himself but tv works. So here I am!!!

he's just come in and is going to write you all a message: hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnhjhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Better go!

Oh Carrie hope DS feels better soon. What's the incubation period for the pox btw. I took C swimming on Saturday and met a friend and her toddler who had a small number of tiny spots on his chest which she hadn't noticed before.

And C slept better last night. Still coughing but the 10mls of calpol probably helped! I don't like giving medicine willy nilly but I thought perhaps her throat was sore from coughing and at least calpol will ease the pain.

Meglet am in awe as to how you cope alone. And whilst your exP will suffer long term, hopefully your LOs won't be too afected by his apathy/spineless behaviour.

I second the comments about relationships. DP and I were/are rock solid and tell each other 'I love you' every day and at the end of every text/phone call (yes, I know, I know) but the first 12 months with C were soooo hard. I get really frustrated that it's not 2nd nature to him to think things through and put C first.
But thinking about it, it's over really small things like making her wait 10mins for her tea cos he wanted to empty the dishwasher first when I'm thinking - she's gonna start crying any minute now cos she wants her tea. In black & white that looks plain daft.

Oh and DP arrived home at 1am! I let him sleep in and got up with C and took her to nursery though he gave her breakfast in his pjs. Despite me asking to take today off, he is insisting on working (from home) but will pick her up early.
And I get to go to London tomorrow and so see Wicked and have tea at Yo Sushi!!!

" Despite me asking to take today off,"

Should be asking him to

I'm also in awe of those who do it on their own and I hope things get better for you starlight. Will the 'stuff' you have to do in your fight for your ds's education/care get less or do you think it will always be a battle?

Very impressed with the Countdown babies! ds2 is starting to make sentences now but still has a lot of words which are only understandable to me and dh. Oh and a sheep is still a cow.

Took him to doc and as predicted there's nothing we can do. No infection but his head is totally stuffed up. She said green snot can mean infection but it can also just be a normal cold.

I still give ds1 medised occasionally as he had it before it was banned for babies and was ok with it. He just gets it the odd night when he's got/had a cold and needs to catch up on sleep or if he's really stuffed up. I gave it to ds2 once when he was also stuffed up and needed sleep. But I gave him half dose of that and half dose of calpol together. DIdn't seem to make much difference to be honest though.

Afternoon everyone!

Am having a fantastically unproductive week, for some reason. Have bills to pay, work to do, money to earn, and am sitting here doing some sewing. Ahem.

Star sorry to hear things are a bit crap with your DH, hope that they improve quickly now that you're both aware of the state of affairs.

Um. I have absolutely nothing interesting to say! DS still almost walking, 95% there, I'm still hideously broody and trying not to think about how loooooong it's taking to get pregnant, same old stuff.

imo have you seen Wicked before? I went a few weeks ago and it is absolutely briliant.

hopefully what are you making/mending?

star I second what's been said that you and DH both acknowledging there's a problem is a great start. When DH and I get into those cycles it usually ends in us both apologising as neither of us have behaved well (however much our grumpiness has been fuelled by what the other did/not do!) and agreeing that we want to make up, and taking it from there. Some helpful advice we were given was to identify the issue and put it 'out there' then work together to tackle the issue. It tends to avoid the 'I want' and blame, and other circular arguments. HTH. It works for us anyway! I could elaborate more but I expect you've given up reading by now!!

Sweet or savoury Starlight?

I'm guessing sweet, so I'll post a couple of sweet recipes for you.

Points to remember when making muffins:

Have two bowls. One for wet ingrediants and one for dry. Once the ingrediants are in their bowls, then add the wet to the dry and mix until all of the dry mixture has been covered.

Don't worry about lumps and don't over-mix.

Use muffin paper cases.

Right, will go and find a recipe and I'll be back.

Basic muffin:

250g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
85g granulated sugar
1 egg
240ml milk
90ml veg oil or 85g melted butter

prepare muffin tins and preheat oven to 375F, 190C, Gas 5-6

In a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

In a separate bowl, beat egg, stir in milk, followed by oil or melted butter.

Pour the liquid ingrediants into the dry. Stir until just combined, scraping sides and bottom of the bowl.

Fill muffin cases 3/4 full or to the top for larger muffins. Bake for 20-25 mins until tops are lightly browned and spring back when pressed gently. Allow muffins to cool for a few minutes to make removal easier.

For choc chip muffins add 85g of choc chips to the dry ingrediants.

For cherry walnut muffins add 110g of chopped glace cherries and 1/2 teaspoon almond flavouring to the wet mixture. Add 60g of chopped walnuts during the final strokes.

If there is a particular recipe you'd like (banana, spiced apple, cheese and onion etc) let me know as I have a huffin recipe book.

I'm not great at baking, but I have never had a duff batch from these recipes.

lol at huffin. It does sound like a curse word doesn't it?!

Oooooohhhh, get you and your bread making!!

To prepare it all you need to do is plonk a muffin case in each hole. Is your tin non-stick? If so, maybe try just greasing the tin and putting the mixture straight in. But it would be safer to use paper muffin cases.

You should be able to find muffin cases. If the shop sells them they'll be next to the fairy cake cases, if you can't get them let me know.

Oh, and that amount of mixture should make 10-12 good sized muffins.

Meglet Can't believe that your exdp has not seen his kids for almost a year. From what you have said before it sounds like he is likng the situation as he can blame you for neot letting him see them even tho it is his fault for not getting his anger sorted.

Star Sorry to hear about you and dh struggling, unfortunately it is often the case with special needs.

starlight Sainsburys do 3 packs of frozen blueberries for £5, which will do for 6 batches of 12 muffins. I always think of you when I see muffin(g) tins .

debs I suspect that XP really is loving having no responsibilities. I am sure that his life now revolves around pub, poker, darts, Newquay drink-a-thons, Wii games and lie-ins. For all his words of wanting to see the kids I don't think he would be happy to stop his carefree lifestyle, he wouldn't stop when we were together anyway . He just wants to be a dad for a few mins until someone tantrums, needs feeding or his mates are off to the pub and he never got up at night with either of them ever and wouldn't get up in the morning at weekends. I shouldn't let it bother me anymore but when I look back I'm amazed at what I put up with.

I've just read a couple of pages of the 'Whos in Charge' book to DS for bedtime, it was a bit about Aristotle and political philosophy tonight . I like to think the look on DS's face wasn't boredom, it was concentration .

Meglet !!!!

Is that in reference to my AC crush or my PFB-ish bedtime story . Both I think .

Glad this evenings political chaos is nearly over, I still haven't cooked my dinner.

Oooh the AC crush definitely.

I read DS a poem every night and we discuss it. He is 4 though!

ILTMIMI will that muffin recipe work with a mini muffin tray? I've got a new one that I've notused yet for muffins.