August 2008: in which we undoubtedly welcome Miniest Oops!

[CaptainCaveman]

come on in and make yourselves at home....

Well folks, Yahoo! must have overheard us chatting. This was on their news site just now.

cyteen if you think yours is bad you should trying driving ours, its the C-Max version of the focus which means its just as boring but taller with it - only marginally better than the fecking heap of shit grand scenic that I forcealong drive. Have spent the evening torturing myself looking at VW campervans ranging from £32k right down to the lovely red one called Poppy that I now love

Sazz - extend the search to Aberdeen and you can fly there and stop in on me on the way through

No1 - been thinking of you this weekend darling, hope you're doing ok

oh and the only reason we have these fecking buses cars is that I panicked and traded in our lovely fiesta and not so lovely mazda for the CMax incase Dylan arrived and we needed to get down to see mum and then we bought the grand scenic as the CMax isn't big enough with all 3 kids, the luggage, the pram and the dog - we even own a roof box

My search has diverted me to Norwich atm

Off to Bedski for me. Night all

Everybody should buy a Seat. Warning: I take the same approach to buying cars as I do to pushchairs]

Just had a chat with Dh about ideas for a logo for Wordhoard ... His answer was: 'You could leave the d off and call it word-whore. Then you could have a red light logo and do your advertising by leaving cards in phone boxes.'

Reader, I married him. Then much later I actually started believing he was hilarious.

Buckets, the bucketmobile seriously rocks. You win an exemption from the Seat rule.

Crispy, hope the insurance news goes your way.

LG, seriously jealous here of the Lily Allen / Crystal Swing mashup. I thought they were joking about that on the radio. Anne Enright is an all-time fave. What a lovely way to spend a weekend.

Cyteen, you had me dancing this morning via Steaky. DS too.

Hots, my dear girl. Driving, camping. No stopping you.

Loti - I'll post you and Dizzy Golden Crisp whenever you need it. Take that time to think. And don't feel you have to pretend for your dad. It's you he loves. All decent dads would barbecue any man that crossed their daughter. Lots of people love you without wanting to change you.

Dizzy, I do believe I've already bombarded you with enough pointless info/advice/patronising guff this weekend.

CC-you are a fine woman, and all fine women feel catastrophically overwhelmed more often than they like to admit. Let us help or listen or whatever we can do to be useful.

TS-

Hello everyone, sorry for being so rubbish at catching up, but lots of thoughts especially for people feeling blue.

DS has quite a few words now. And has one sentence "No No DD NO".

It is quite interesting though, most of his words are ones that work quite well in English or spanish - names, similar words etc.

Friday's addition was "Amen". Great.

Working, tired and brain dead by the end of the day mostly so sorry for the lack of posts.

Oh but I was having a random think about LOTI - there are a few non-negotiables from DH e.g. we won't live in the UK unless he has a job, he will never drink alcohol etc. I knew about these before we married, and although I would prefer to live in the UK, for example, or go out for a glass of wine with him, I just know that this isn't on the cards.

Was some of the stuff about your DH non-negotiable before you got married, and you kind of knew it would always be this way.

Not trying to excuse him at all, just kind of thinking really.

Anyway, I need to write to some students to explain again what their assignments mean. Yawn.

hello small communist legume (nicking someone else's joke there, but can't remember whose)

at Amen, longway. That's hilarious.

I've spent the whole weekend trying to persuade the children to deal with their own behaviour instead of micro-managing each other.

Sympathies on the assignment work. You must be shattered ...

Red I love word-whore! So should I or shouldn't I? Sometimes I can't always read between the lines.

Longway I too had some off the table items when I married my DH (and not the other way around). I don't drink beer (have tried and just don't like it) so he'll never enjoy having a beer with his wife. Second item, I will not take a fish off the hook when fishing. I will go fishing with him and enjoy the together time but if one gets hooked it's HIS JOB to get it unhooked. Last item, I sleep on the left side of the bed, NO DISCUSSIONS! Now DH has never "stated" this next item BUT he will not scrub a toilet...never in our entire 17 years have I seen him scrub a toilet. I must only assume this is one of his "off the table" items.

That was by no means an attempt to down play Lucky's situation but it does shed light on the fact that some of us do come into our marriages with lines already drawn in the sand.

Sorry to hear of much on the thread.

Can't really join in the car chat. Our last one before we came here would actually have been a very good family car - the old style honda civic type S (5 door) but had the turning circle of a tank! Incredibly reliable though.

LWFH lovely to hear of DS expanding vocabulary. DS word for this morning (tis amazing how quickly they are picking things up at the moment) was mosquito! He was scratching his leg saying 'scrap' 'scrap' so I had a look and saw he had a mossie bite on his leg so told him what it was at which point he ran into our bedroom shouting 'mosquito mosquito biting sore see see' and lifting up his pyjama leg to show DH.

See Japanese cars are great!

Lentil I'm thinking some kind of Celtic knot, from a hoard of treasure dug up in a boghole. Maybe a sword, fibula or helmet kindathing. Can you find someone arty to connect a W and an H in such a style? Or does every Irish company have a logo like that? How about a garotte as from a sacrificial corpse?

Aww mosquito biting see see .

Trying to think of non-negotiables, I'm sure I had a lot (as am selfish bitch) but I can't think of any on dp's part. I suppose one is that he is tied to a particular place because of his job, it would involve a lot of retraining, starting from scratch, etc to do it anywhere else. And sometimes I find that a bit of a bind but mostly not as I love our home city. I do hope to find ways in the future to manage to spend a few months here and there though. It would be fun to be plucked and posted, I sometimes think. Drink is not a big thing really, he is not a big drinker on the whole, though perfectly happy to have the odd drunken night out. I am fond enough of the silken red etc but have cut back radically since ds2 preg/birth.

O why am I rambling?

Cars, I know nothing of em but had a lovely though ill-fated Golf which was a great size and stylish (I thought) and would highly recommend. In a Volvo estate now, due to boot room requirements - not stylish in the slightest but sadly this is what one becomes. I only found out yesterday what cruise control is btw. It's great!

think our non negociables have evolved as I was 18 when I first met dh and he was 20. LG we too are limited as in it has to be a big city and in the uk would have to be London. Don't get me wrong I love London but would
love to be able to live in the country and not have a horrendous commute.

I don't think we had any other than if he joined the Police I wouldn't be ironing all his sodding shirts. DH and I had the advantage of being best mates for so long before we got together that there isn't really anything oh but I don't do feet - don't want to see them, touch them, look at them or generally know they're there

I take it your dh is not getting Birkenstocks for his birthday then dizzy?

I lurch between longing for ultra-urban life (as had when a child) and deepest rural life (as parents had in retirement), I have neither!

bleurgh - not a hope!

The summer must be a nightmare for you! I am in flipflops from May to October! What about your own feet? Can you stand em?

my feet are fine, his are hairy men feet - no need !!!

oh and I woke up this morning to find a lovely card and DVD through my door this morning - my friend (who has started up a blog after all my yapping on) had watched Julia and Julia and had the same thought as you

morning. in pain. very tired. adding to misery, i think af is about to visit. massivo hot flash at 2am. thought i would spontaneously combust. not sure if it's af related or i got a sunburn clearing tree limbs/leaves from the roof/gutters or reaction from probiotic taken before bed or body in protest over pilates class. could have been a combination of all.

dizzy second your feet thing. yuk!

vg & singapore & buckets

Dizzy good job you don't live here as everyone lives in flip flops (when not in the office that is).

TS have you got some ibuprofen?

TS maybe you should book yourself in for a massage, if that's your sort of thing - you have been running yourself ragged lately.

Red glad you liked it I am currently listening to American Music Club while DS naps. Oh, and Nina Nastasia has a new album out, for those that know and love her - DP is bringing a copy home today, joy

Don't think we had any non-negotiables. DP is so easy going and I am pretty undemanding really. In fact, we could do with being a lot bit more decisive, since we are both crap at it and together achieve a sort of exponential ditheriness.

What a busy morning - watched friend's DS while she got her stitches taken out after minor op, then we went down to stay and play where friend apparently overheard some rumours of possible closure I will be gutted if so, our local SureStart is so fantastic. Then I Shredded while DS was asleep, although he seems to be waking up now, which means time to visit le supermarche et le jardin grande (the allotment ).

Trying to think of any non-negotiables here too, we met at 21 so it was a case of inventing out own concept of teamwork growing up together. Eg He's the most easygoing guy in the world but I recall once in the early days he threw a clothes airer and took a chunk out the wall (was cross with himself, kind of thing his dad used to do) and I went ballistic at him when I found it. With a wonderful supportive wife, he has learnt that nothing is worth breaking your own stuff about. And one time I nearly hit him (because women are allowed to do that in movies and tv, non?) and he v firmly pointed out the inequality and unnacceptability of this. I was like 'Oh yeeeeeaah', hadn't considered that at all.

Buckets it is true when we meet our spouses when young we kinda grow up together. I was 23. He was 25. Wow that seems a life time ago.

Singapore yes but it's not covering all the aches. Aches have moved actually. Totally a result of pilates and roof debris cleaning. Skipped swimming today.

ON THAT NOTE: How the hell am I to manage a toddler who does NOT want to stay in one place for any reason and a 6 year old at the pool!!! We went to dd1's tennis lesson where Reese sat down NOT ONCE and took her diaper off for a thrill. I ended up back in the truck with her because at least she was CONFINED. We could see dd1 on the court so not a total loss. Just makes me wonder how I handled three when I nannied. Same ages just add another in the middle of my two. This is only week two of summer so surely I can come up with a nonexhausting system soon.

Utilizing nap time. Here's hoping we wake in time for dd1's dental appointment. Mine went very well.