Bacon sarnies in suspenders, jacket strokers, coffee with a small 'c' and LOTS of Coffee with a capital 'C' it's dating thread 32

[lulubellaboozle]

Thought I take the liberty of starting us off again ...

Oh no! LM just phoned to tell me that he opened the present marked 'Open in private' in front of his mum and dcs. Oh shame. They only saw the handcuffs thank god ....

I am officially mortified and can never look his mother in the eye again. However, LM (and his mum) found it howlingly funny, dcs thought it was for fancy dress so no harm done except never being able to live this one down.

That'll teach him to read the label properly!

Western nice one, let his Mum get to know the real you

MsCellophane That's very romantic, good on you for going to get him.

Yoga I am willing him to be there, in fact I'm sure he'll be there

OWW Oh dear

Juliette Didn't I read somewhere there is a fb dating thingy? Why not look at that instead? Look forward, not backward?

Hi all. I've picked up my youngest DC as my eldest has come down with something, so we're opening presents and she's enjoying dressing up as a fairy/princess/Dora wannabe. Fun. Feeling better now, having had sausage baguettes followed by half a box of cadburys roses.. :)

Juliette there is a zoosk app on fb but it's not free, don't know about quality though. .

fb dating. In another life I have done it, quality is very variable but I do have a lovely bunch of European fb friends male and female that I've met through the lighter fb social sites (more for fun, some light flirting). Friends for years now, have met a few in RL some have visited, I have visited others. That is how I met one of my Italian exes.

Zoosk, for that I'd need a granite gusset.

I'm a Facebook refusenik so at least that's one problem that I don't have, as it is I find the mere thought of Maris being with someone else a knife through my heart.

I reckon it's booze o'clock again.

I'm not on FB either, can't cope with the popularity contest aspect, or the pictures of babies in sinks.

Worst Christmas Day in years, thanks mainly to Stepmom Dearest who is in full on passive aggressive mode, occasionally veering into actual aggression. She does have some very upsetting family stuff going on at the moment but it's difficult to be sympathetic when she takes her stress out on me. She is an insane perfectionist so any domestic help offered is immediately criticised but if I don't offer to help she doesn't like that either. Her own daughters can do no wrong but I'm treated very differently. I feel unwelcome and useless but I also know that if I go home early it will cause massive offence so no choice but to stick it out till the weekend if I possibly can.

To top it all off an old friend of the family sent a Christmas card to my dad with a sarky comment inside about why I wasn't married yet. SD made a special point of showing it to me. Why? I mean why does anyone think that is an acceptable thing to write in a card and why does SD think it is okay to show it to me? It's not that I want to be single (which she knows) why does she think it will help to rub my nose in it?

I really want some chocolates, but no one bought me any this year and I've eaten the ones I bought myself.

All the ex's can go to hell in a handcart as far as far as I am concerned. Gavel.

Angeletta that just sounds horrendous. Could you get a friend to call and invent a plumbing emergency or something that you have to go back for? Could your dad have a word and ask her to back off a bit? (Probably not, I know).

Angel how horrible for you, it sounds like you will be in the wrong whatever you do.

You have three choices - stick it out, challenge it the next time someone is rude to you and know that you will leave if they don't stop, or just invent an excuse and leave. You really don't have to put up with this until the weekend. Just do whatever is easiest for you. Burst pipes are a possibility if it has been cold recently, the burst often comes with the thaw.

you could kill two birds with one stone by telling them your friend Richard/Steve/Lucian/whatever has burst pipes. And you hadn't mentioned him before now because you knew she'd make a fuss out of it.

That should shut her up, get you out of there and you can always say 'he turned out to be a crotch grabber in a wheelchair' later on or something.

I like the sound of Lucian

Lucian reminds me of the Liver Birds and that bloke with the perm and the fur coat.

I quite like the name Lucian, think it might have been on the veto list for DS2.

Sorry for those of you having a less than great time. The good thing about Christmas only being once a year is exactly that...3.5 more hours and it's basically over :)

there is still the evil that is NY Eve to get through but we can cross that particular bridge when we come to it

My day's been ok actually. DSs went to their dads from lunchtime til about 6.30, leaving me to MN do some housework and dinner prep, put DS1's new bed together and have a bath. We then had a ridiculously large dinner when they came back. DS2 is now playing games on his tablet, DS1 'reclining' on his bed.

And I have had several more texts from Spaceman And still bugger all from Cuthbert.

New thread title MUST have something about jelly nailing!

Jelly nailing, crotch grabbing... what else?

So I love these threads, they've helped me through a lot, helped me to act like less of an arse and helped me to reach the right conclusions. So thanks to everyone. It occurred to me though that it's become very much a 'this is going on in my life' thing - which is great and interesting, but not so useful to new people. Could we start the next thread with posts on advice to people just starting dating - online or otherwise (although these days it's mostly OD) - would that make sense? I've read a lot of wisdom over the last few months but it'd be impossible to dig it all out and put it together for someone trying to find it. So things like 'Always trust the worst online photo' - that kind of stuff. Then we can get back to complaining/celebrating our dating lives.

I have a date set up with the air hostess (who I think isn't actually an air hostess) for Saturday, and one after that with another girl who's funny. We'll call them CabinCrew and ShoeGirl.

Great idea Banta, we've actually accumulated a lot of wisdom between us not that anyone would notice and it fouls be good to share the lurve

Would be good iPhones pah!

I suppose everyone could post a 'top tip' or two on their first post on the next thread - would that work?

Great banta and maybe a recap of where we are on the dating continuum...although mine isn't continuous at all.

I've eaten so much tiramisu I think I might sink. Got a lovely thoughtful pressure from my mum - A smoke alarm and a pope calendar.

Text from fireman. Had a good day. V tired now.

Best wishes to everyone feeling less than 100%

Bant 2 new dates, nice.

Angel Ugh, I know it doesn't help but try and remind yourself that these are her issues not yours. She's angry and she's taking it out on you. And it's fuckall to do with anyone whether your married, dating, or having steaming hot Coffee with a different guy every night of the week.

I had quite a nice relaxing afternoon. Kids at XILs all afternoon so I watched the Perks of Being a Wallflower, started an awesome jigsaw (haven't done one for years, forgot how compulsive they are) and ate leftover homemade apple pie and ice cream for my lunch.

Don't for double-quick portions and shark attack kissing for the next thread title!!!

Don't "forget"

ooh a jigsaw. Used to love them when I was a kid. Problem is, my DC are young enough they'd come in, look at it, dismantle it and draw on the pieces

I know bugger all about bugger all . . . No top tips from me.

Presents of note today:
Two hens (which I specifically said I do not want)
Two handbag-size packets of tissues
Two pairs of slippers
The wrong chocolates (after showing someone the right ones in the shop)
A flowery fabric holder for packets of paper napkins
Two shelves for my kitchen cupboards.

No books.
No CDs.
No right chocolates.
Nothing I bloody well asked for (apart from the shelves and one pair of slippers).

I am a total ingrate and deserve nothing next year. But still, some of these things are a bit weird, aren't they?

LM is doing new year presents so there is still a bit of hope. If it involves tissues, napkins or livestock I will personally stick the offending present up his doo-dah.

shark attack and crotch grabbing was technically the same person. I had the same person twice in a previous thread (bunny boiling and condom stealing) - not fair to double-point out my failures, n'est ce pas?

2 dates is good, actually possibly 4, as SharkGirl really wants to meet up again, and I've been talking to someone else who's not very close by but quite cute.

I think of all the ones though, CabinCrew is exotic (part indian, part french, part english) and attractive. And not actually cabin crew but travels for work. ShoeGirl however is funny and somewhat challenging. Also attractive, has 2 DC not far off in age from mine. Quirky. I like quirky.