40+ Yummy Mummies :-)

[mrsboogie]

mornin' ladies

and the conversation continues...

Dear Ms F Buckle
pringles and sausages are full of vitamins and so allowed on the H plan diet
signed Dr Hedgepig (Inventor of above diet)

Lunch time, pringles here I come.................

Hello all - sorry about that nasty Ms Gutbucket...!

hegdepig hahaha washing machine on 'turbo charge' here too!! CLeaning like a maniac and packing a day in advance so I don't get stressed tomorrow. Like you I'm worrying about the sleep - Iris has now got a bed at Mum and Dad's - am stressing already about her falling out!

Ermintrude I'll be over to yours about Sat - as i'll be going spare by then!! Actually, I'll sadly, more than likely be shopping 'in town' as the kids say.

jw hahahah - snap! The amount of demos, CND marches, staunch NUJ member...blah, blah, blah and NOW look at me.....not yet Daily Mail....but I find myself saying things that the 20-something 'Me' would have gone bonkers at! My MIL's best friend is a rather prominent MP with a BIG C (think romance novels and clearing the streets of gang culture in an ITV'tastic' way!) and she's very nice - scarily see eye-to-eye with her on a few things!! Mind you - DPs step-dad would like to run a business making refreshments for the crowds at public floggings...... Sounds like your DH jw would quite like him!

RIght - feed the beast of a baby now - do more washing and pop back later. Will I get to the garden centre today? - place your bets ladies.....

We're also staying put for Christmas. DD1 and Grace going to their dad's on xmas eve so it will be just the 3 of us here. We're going for drinks to some local friends at midday on xmas day then back home for a sit down before we head to my parents' house for dinner at 5pm, where the girls will join us. They live 10 mins away by car so hardly a long journey. The girls are having their xmas dinner on xmas eve with their dad.

I was upset at first that we wouldn't all be together but then I realised I wouldn't have to buy any stocking presents at which point I perked up considerably. Will put 2 or 3 of Elizabeth's smaller presents in her stocking for her to open while we have our tea and biscuits in bed. Then it's downstairs for her to discover her new kitchen - a tasteful wooden job from Letterbox with some gorgeous pink metal saucepans. Hoping that will keep her occupied for some time.

We went to the in-laws in Surrey yesterday to pick up all the Christmas meats. Yes ladies, I certainly married the right man - his father is a butcher Came home with a turkey for my mum and dad and as we're hosting Boxing Day lunch for both sets of parents I got lots of stuff to have cold. Huge piece of gammon which I always do Nigella style in coca-cola, a turkey crown and a huge piece of sirloin. I just asked for a piece of beef that would be easy to slice when cold

Very tired today. Woke up for my usual wee at 4am and popped in to check Elizabeth was covered up. It was then that the smell of vomit hit me and that was it for my night's sleep. Couldn't believe she was sleeping after throwing up so much. Had to bath and shower her as it was all in her hair. Poor thing didn't know what was going on. She slept from 6 till 9.30 then woke up and seemed fine so I've no idea what made her sick.

I'm getting a bit scared of you born-again Tory girls, but since I know that you, JW are a Times reader, not yet a Telegraph or - heaven forbid - DM reader - I won't run away and hide just yet. I have never really been a bleeding-heart liberal, but am your basic leftie: To each according to her needs, from each according to her means still seems sensible - support for the times people need it, and a responsibilty to contribute to society when people can. Trouble is lots of folk take the p*ss and abuse the system, so I'm all for tightening it up and making it fairer. Such a lot of hopeless cases though, passed on from generation to generation - I do think we have to try to make their kids' lives different even though the parents are a lost cause, but not sure how we can do it .

FIL is a bigoted, ignorant hypocrite. It's the latter that gets to me - if his views were founded on some consistent set of values we could have a reasonable conversation, but his philosophy is basically that everyone else is having a great time at his expense. He supports a free market and privatisation and then whinges if the gvt won't prop him up because he's bought too many dodgy shares (there's a lot of that about at the mo). He's also a racist and a homophobe, even more than most people's dads are . I don't think you'd get on at all JW and am sure he'd find something with which to rile you in the first 2 mins: disapproves of divorce, people who have more than 2 kids, women who work, women who don't work, the working classes (his dad was a miner), posh people, women who don't change their name when they marry, (we've been wed nearly 15 yrs and he won't accept that neither of us ever changed our names...) and thinks of swearing as akin to child sacrifice - any of that grab you? He's also just incredibly boooooooooooooring. zzzz.

Blimey, this is a bit much before Christmas, will get off my soap box now.

I think it's cos I had a Gregg's 'festive pasty' and whoever said it was a disappointment was spot on. Why oh why didn't I go for the sausage roll?!

I'm doing Nigella's coca cola ham for boxing day - I bet it would taste the same if you just put molasses in water and boiled it, but that wouldn't be half as much fun

ladymac poor LO being sick and then going back to sleep in it.....my friend was telling me she did the same last week but I think the cause of hers was one too many vodka's (not the same thing at all).

Blimey, you're definately not veggies then are you in your house! Crikey. There's enough meat there to feed an army. I've just got a small free range chicken...and I'm going to stick a flake up it's arse to make it truly appetising

Oh thank you kind ladies; Dr Hedgepig, Ms Gutbucket and Mrs Lardbelly of North London et al. Your advice was most practical. I shall jot it all down and consult when tempted by the seductive meatiness of the sausage rolls. I know it's my own fault for buying the damn things but cummon! man cannot live by flakes alone

I too have the washing machine on but that's only because it's dirty washing. The furthest it shall travel is upstairs and back into the wardrobes. DH is flat out on the sofa watching crap that he's taped and LO is asleep. DSS is glued to his xbox. Just dropped off prezzies to DD#1 who has been sent home poorly with a bad cold. Since she's been working for the probation service she's been ill so many times. She blames the clients

hedgepig I'm still awaiting delivery of my toothbrush from DH. I won't wrap it which means that it shall remain in the Amazon packaging and left on the sideboard. He won't wrap it that's for sure. I'm living in hope that at the last minute on Xmas day he'll whip out a little box and it'll have the Tiffany diamond studs I keep pointing out to him.......but that is so optimistic it's verging on the ridiculous.

ermintrude I'm not a racist although I won't be politically correct if a non white person was a lazy arse git...they'll be derided along with the white lazy arse gits as well. Certainly not a homophobe. In fact I'm bordering on fag hag so I'm at the other end of the spectrum Love gay men...I wished I married one but large flaw is that...well I think you can spot it for yourself.

I used to be a dedicated Guardian reader for years but when the format changed and they hiked the price something like 4 times in a year I gave up. Also felt the writing began to decline somewhat toward the end...and I'm not yet at the Torygraph stage...and nowhere near Daily Mail!

Yes, I see that your FiL is actually Victorian Father and needs to be propped up with one elbow on the mantelpiece whilst in the other hand (which is behind his back) is a riding crop for naughty children and women. I'm all for government assistance when needed but firmly believe the nanny state we have needs tightening up to weed out the malingerers.

Bad kids come from bad parents usually and it's a cycle hard to break and certainly not one that you can fix by throwing money at it. Most of these families don't want help and wouldn't accept it anyway..unless it's an increase in benefits.

A gay man would definitely wrap your Tiffany studs, JW. Probably wear them too (through his nipples) but that's a small price to pay, especially when you think of the other advantages - great taste in soft furnishings, the ability to dance without looking like your dad, shared crushes on film stars . Actually, two of my gay friends are complete slobs, as bad as any straight man on the domestic and personal hygiene fronts, so there's no guarantee. I have pointed out a nice cheap necklace to my DD safe in the knowledge that she'll point it out to DH when he comes home early to take the kids shopping later today. He used to be really good at presents before we got married, now I have to rely on the attentiveness of a 10 yr old...

I'm not into political correctness either, or scrounging. Dunno how to help the children from no-hope families - agree that giving said no-hopers cash is not the answer - but still think we have to try. Trouble is, serious measures are required and they all sound like something Hitler would do (ie. I wondered about the notion of making certain benefits to teenage mums dependent on their having a Norplant-type contraceptive fitted and giving them lots of support with the baby, childcare options for when it's a year old and skills training for work. It would ensure they wouldn't have more deprived babies, they might be able to look after the one they have properly, and they could start gaining some self-respect, aspiring to work and realising that living on benefits with lots of babies is a bit rubbish for all concerned. But I concluded that the idea combines liberal optimism with Gestapo-like enforcement and the two probably don't work well together..)

I am intrigued by Nigella's coca cola ham ladies cooking with coca cola sounds tres bubbly . I'm not really a big ham fan as I find it a bit salty.

It's all falling apart here............ the Christmas tree fell over and Ben saved it falling on Oliver although I think Ben may have been why if fell over but I was in the kitchen and then B has knocked a cup of coffee over the carpet why! oh why! oh why! did I buy a cream carpet (silly girl).

I have been worried my politics were going a bit right wing too but basically I agree with Ermintrudes very well put "To each according to her needs etc. When I was young I was just a lot more naive and as you get older you just see stuff with wiser eyes. I still love the Guardian the only other paper I read is the Cambridge Evening News to find out what the neighbours are up to.

Right the time has come to stat packing I may be a while.

The Norplant scheme has already been done in North America....without a big success I might add. The lentil knitters were aghast!

By the time these women (girls) have their children they are mostly beyond reforming. They've grown up with the underclass mentality/attitude and it's ingrained. A few might get through but the majority will happily keep reproducing and claiming hand outs.

I can't even compare the 'before' marriage to the 'after' as he's never made an effort. Saying that, if I want something I just buy it myself (not at xmas, any time). He's not bothered about me buying but he's apathetic at christmas.

hedgepig is it all going pete tong?

The Norplant scheme has already been done in North America....without a big success I might add. The lentil knitters were aghast!

By the time these women (girls) have their children they are mostly beyond reforming. They've grown up with the underclass mentality/attitude and it's ingrained. A few might get through but the majority will happily keep reproducing and claiming hand outs.

I can't even compare the 'before' marriage to the 'after' as he's never made an effort. Saying that, if I want something I just buy it myself (not at xmas, any time). He's not bothered about me buying but he's apathetic at christmas.

hedgepig is it all going pete tong?

oooops

yes my dear it is all going "Pete Tong", my cold is getting worse I I just want to go to bed, but I can't get in the bed cos it is covered with stuff to pack.

Cream carpet hedgepig, aaargh! Have you got some super duper stuff to clean it? Do you think women of our age have more carpet spillage than others? I think it was Lilibet who had a terrible wax spillage a little while ago.. anyway, glad the tree didn't injure any LOs, small mercies!

Ham that's too salty hasn't been soaked and boiled long enough - most joints don't need soaking these days but there's no harm doing it to be sure. And the coke gives it a lovely sweet cured taste and then you roast it with a breadcrumb/mustard/some other stuff i can't remember topping - thoroughly recommended!

My DH is like yours, JW in that he doesn't begrudge me anything I spend on myself but doesn't surprise me with a lovely little something either. But then I'm not that easy to please so probably bring it on myself. One year he bought me a set of scissors and I told him he must be autistic. He's not done anything that bad since

Thorntons have 50% off plus code XBN6 for another 25% and don't forget 8% quidco.

That's me lounging in a moo moo and extra fat pants in January

Ermintrude the cream carpet was a knee jerk reaction to the bottle green carpet and tongue & groove dark wood on the ceiling, we had before we ripped out the wood and redecorated and brightened it all up with neutral walls and the cream carpet - a tad on the daft side. I know know why my mom always had swirly patterned carpets when I was a child they hide so many spills.
Scissors almost as good as the bath plug DH bought me 1 year!

we don't have any carpet here...just a mop.

Wow, you girls have been busy! I've only been offline for about 12 hours!!

Safe and sound in Derry at the in-laws. They're already making me a bit batty, but that's to be expected.

My FIL calls me before every time I come up to ask what I can't eat...then offers me pate!! Dotty academics, the lot of them!

I'll try to pop on again tomorrow, or I'll never keep up!

Tee, so your Scottish DH's parents live in Derry? Lovely neck of the woods, and the Derry accent is one of my very favourites. Hope the pate wasn't too tempting and that they spoil you with more suitable offerings over Christmas!

hedgepig - a bathplug. Wow! I assume it was a novelty one. No? Just a black rubber bath plug? Right... .

JW I've just had to repeat Get Thee Behind Me Thornton's several times, don't tempt me.

Scissors? Bath plugs? What next? Hammer drill....err.....hack saw....err....tin of shoe polish? I'd have given him back the divorce papers.....

......saying that my toothbrush hasn't arrived yet. Amazon seems to be tardy this year. I'm going a bit stir crazy today...need to escape and get out. Might go and walk the dog

ermintrude the dark side called to me...and the milk and the white chocolate side

yes it was a Wallace & Gromit bath plug, quite sweet but he built it up for weeks so I was a tad disappointed!
Hope the dog walk was nice JW I feel C* so I'm off to bed with a Lemsip yummm

Evening all - blimey I can't keep up!

Coca-cola Ham...???? I'm sooo confused.

I can't think, my head is in a spin. Done sooo much today I'm bursting. I'm also having a Jim Beam and Ginger ale......not sure what this says about me - but it don't say 'smooth and chilled'! I was making a week's worth of food for Verity - and all I kept thinking of was that Robbie William's song 'sing when you're winning' but I'd turned it into 'Steam when you're Weaning'

ladymac Awwww, poor Elizabeth - hope she's ok now. Your FIL is a butcher - how marvellous!

tee glad you're safely in the loving bossom of the inlaws Nice part of the world!

hedgepig is Pete Tong actually at your house like an evil little gremlin causing trouble?! Don't let that cold get to you - take some of Ben's Calpol - or better still, rustle yourself up a Medised cocktail

ermintrude your FIL sounds a doll.. Gosh - I thought my barking Serbian was bad but hey - we should get them together and they can bark at everyone. My FIL calls most people (who've not got a degree) PEASANTS! IN A VERY LOUD VOICE!

jw You've got the Xmas I'd like - at home, small gathering of just the household (pllus dog) and the TV guide all circled!

Have a housefull of kiddies and mums hitting ours at 10am !! Then it's onto MILs and then up to Notts. WAH!

Oh ermintrude how do you manage a father-in-law like that? My in-laws are Daily Mail readers and their views are to the right of mine but they're not outspoken about them. DH takes the mickey out of them when they come over all Daily Mail so any potentially tricky moments are diffused with a bit of leg pulling.

My parents have moved more to the right as they've got older, especially my mother. They were in the Young Socialists when they were first married and my dad is still a labour voter but my mum will have a good old moan about how the immigrants get all the council houses now. By the way jw, my dad is a retired probation officer.

My politics sound similar to ermintrudes. Not sure I could ever bring myself to put my 'X' in the Tory box though I too despair of the families permanently on benefits.

Enough of this non-festive talk. Actually wrapped some presents tonight and as I type from the comfort of my bed DH is downstairs wrapping my gifts. He's usually quite good, gets me stuff from my list and goes freestyle quite sucessfully too!

Have an ante-natal appt tomorrow at half nine. Luckily the clinic is only 5 mins walk away and I can go straight on from there to the shops to get the salad for Boxing Day. Then its back here to get the ham in the coke and make some mince pies. Finished making my mincemeat today, it made the house smell so lovely and christmassy

Crikey ladymac you really put me to shame with your wonderfully sounding home cooking. I adore baking and cooking, espcially something a bit off the beaten track or new. I don't do any of that these days as DH is strictly a meat + 2 veg man and DSS eats anything as long as it comes out of the freezer courtesy of Bird's Eye. No one likes mince pies apart from me and if I dare show them leftover meat they look at me as though I've just served up a dog turd on a silver platter. So as you can see, that's why I don't bother and just go with the crap things they like.

How many weeks are you now ladymac? Think we could do with a potted list of name and when due like on the antenatal threads as I'm losing track of who is due when.

Thank Dog I don't live up the road in Rawtenstall where no one can cook a thing (unless you get the BBQ out! ) We're the south side of Bury and they're north/north west so I've already developed an 'I'm alright JW Jack' attitude.

Had a sit down chat with DH last night about his 'can't do' attitude and hopefully some of it has hit home. After what has been a trying year hopefully the coming one will be much better

Good luck JJ with your home run creche this morning. Safe journey and don't forget to come over all diplomatic when is needed!

jj, maybe your FIL has a certain eccentric charm and you can probably point to him when he's not looking and whisper 'Serbian' and then everyone will nod and go 'Right' and all will be fine. Like my dad shouting 'Begone Pagans!' at Trick or Treaters - they mostly laughed as they ran away shouting 'Waaaah, nutter at no 23!'. Whereas my FIL has no charm, and starts every sentence with 'You see,the thing is...' - when nobody has been talking about that thing at all - and then goes into some very slow, boring, monotonous explanation of what precisely the thing is. If he actually gave diatribes, impassioned speeches, foot-stamping performances, it would be better, somehow. Makes me soooo . But I shall just smile and leave the room and swig some mulled cranberry (an idea from another Mumsnet thread) to calm down.

JW it's quite an advantage being the only mince pie eater in the house. I open a packet and they all come trailing in, sniffing the air and demanding custard or cream. Two of my sisters have OHs with similar culinary tastes to your DH, and have each embarked on a long, long campaign to change those habits - working pretty well in one case, less so in another. Mine eats whatever I put in front of him and is always complimentary about my cooking, although once when I was away for the night and the kids were at friends' houses for their tea I left him a Fray Bentos pie as a jokey reference to his student life, and his appreciation and gratitude seemed just a tad too heartfelt .

Right, must put ham in coke, cook parsnip and carrot 'veloute' (I made that name up; it's just parsnips and carrots pureed very smooth with a bit of cream, butter and nutmeg, and will save time boiling things tomorrow, as well as make DS eat loads of parsnips without realising and do red cabbage thingy for boxing day. I made Delia's compote of prunes in port yesterday and accidentally added the brandy I'd measured out for the fig ice cream as well as all the port. Felt p*ssed after one spoonful. The fig ice cream is fab though. Weird, I still feel sick and can only have little bits of everything but have got into the cooking mood for the first time since I was pregnant. Maybe I'll start enjoying booze again soon .

ermintrude well done for getting the prep done. You're doing well. I know when I had my morning sickness, the mere whiff of food cooking was enough to send me heading for a bin to barf up in Ah well. I won't be going down that road again Keep up the good work.

Eugh. Fray Bentos. Does anyone actually eat anything they make? I remember talking to someone many years ago who worked at the Goblin factory as a summer job. Not sure if anyone remembers the Goblin suet puddings that you boiled in the tin but he told me about the stuff that went into the fillings

I think K might be reaching baby rice stage very soon. She's swigging bottle after bottle but puking some of it back through sheer volume methinks. MW reckoned it'd be anywhere from just after xmas to start weaning so I'm going to hang on a little bit longer and see how she goes. Can't wait until she's eating proper food as this bloody reflux should start to sort itself out.

I've already eaten several mini sausage rolls, doritos, pringles and anything else I can lay my hands on muttering the magical words 'you can eat anything on Xmas eve' to myself. It's a sad state of affairs but it has to be done.

Sat here torturing myself this morning by looking at the Tiffany website hoping in vain that they had a sale on...not so.

greetings all! although I suspect yo have all had your chats and gone away. I was away all day yesterday at the works Xmas lunch - finished up at 8ish and we tottered home, took delivery of the little man and ordered a big dominos pizza and went off to bed with Mr D in between us all night. Good night's sleep was had by all.

I like the ham in cola - and the leftover over cola doings makes a lovely soup base - but this year I am going for ham cooked in orange and apple juice with clementines and apples thrown in. Can't remember whose recipe it is. Will also boil potatoes for roasties tomorrow.