FAB & GLAM 10 - Gosh, Do We Really Talk That Much???

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Hi, new thread

Lovely to see all the old posters again. Don't go now you are back.

Annie/UC/MHIS - lovely to see you and thanks MHIS for the FB chat.

Hi everyone, good luck with the run, Lush, TFM, where do I donate?

Exhausted by electioneering, am completely electioned out. LibDems very active in our constituency and I've had to deal with lots of complaints about the volume of paper coming through people's letter boxes - and then, others thanking us for keeping them posted! Can't get it right . Elections certainly bring out the best and the worst in people. Talked to an old favourite gent of mine who regularly calls us, but he suddenly started going on about the immigrants and how his local area has been swamped (which would include me and my parents, I guess, and actually, it's been swamped by more white middle class media fold than anyone else). He KNOWS where I come from ethnically, and I was so disappointed in him. I nearly wept. I can really sympathise with Gordon Brown about his remarks last week. Had a bit of a chat with a BNP supporter on another thread, but I don't think I converted her. However, I've also talked to some lovely old people when doing deliveries, which has restored my faith in the human race! One kept me chatting for so long, I got his entire life story and the offer of a cup of tea. I had to be rescued by another deliver, or I'd be there still!

Anyway, up at dawn tomorrow to deliver Good Mornings, I like doing those, you meet very few people, but lots of friendly cats and the occasional fox. And then a day of telling, taking DD to vote for the first time, oh I'm so proud of her, she's threatening to vote BNP so she'll be deported somewhere warm, but then, being half english, says she'll just be a boat person , and then home to an early bed (I refused an invitation to be at the count, prefer to watch Channel 4's alternative elections night) - and, like Christmas, looking forward to waking up on Friday in the hope that Santa has brought me the gift of another 5 years' employment!

fingers crossed Have voted Also hope your job is safe for the next 5 years I think you're right about the election bringing out the best and worst in people. Shame on that man What is your ethnic origin - if you don't mind me asking, that is? I get pretty hacked off on those BNP threads cos it's always the same - the supporter can't seem to answer questions about policy. The BNP put a leaflet through our door about 3 years ago. I wish I'd seen the person delivering it cos I'd have told him/her where to shove it. It felt like such a violation to have that filth put through the door and into our mixed race household.

No fundraising page set up yet cos I am still training for it! Bit worried I might not achieve it. Got a 20 min run tomorrow so if I can do that I know I'm halfway there - which will give me some confidence.

at the ignorance of some people. Sadly its a fact of life that racism is everywhere, often when you least expect it too. Two of my cousins have the same father but different mothers so one is mixed race (her Mum is Jamaican) the other is very fair skinned and blonde and the number of snidy comments they get when they tell people they are sisters is astounding .
We had BNP leaflet through our door too Lush. I threw it in the bin together with the contents of the cat litter tray!!
Good luck today Tannee, hope it goes well for you.

am off to vote soon.
Hope you do get another 5 years in your job tannee.

We are a safe Tory seat - but hey ho will still put my cross.

We have had no-one knocking - I would have quite liked our Labour man - would have asked him in for a cuppa .

Well good morning everyone, I have finally recovered. I was so tired last night, my eyes actually hurt!

I still have a job - and I stood as a paper candidate and 609 mad people voted for me ! Yeay, 609 people wanted me! Last time we had council elections, they asked me to stand in the same ward and I was pretty astonished to get 251. I expected to get 2 if I was lucky! Isn't politics weird? Sad to see Susan Kramer lost her seat, she's a really nice person. The LibDem results have been quite strange. I think there'll be a lot of soul searching in the office on Monday as we lost a couple of council seats and didn't gain the ones we hoped and worked really hard for (including the one I walked the streets of at 5am). Still, it was fun hitting the streets at dawn,though it was bitter cold, and the sun finally came out whilst we were telling, and I spent the day chatting to some really nice Labour tellers and a cute Geordie policeman!

LL, I'm half Tamil, half Sinhalese Sri Lankan - with, I suspect, a dash of Portuguese and possibly Scottish, since there's a wide range of skin tone in my mother's family. What's your mix? It'll give our children such fun doing their family trees!

Hi Everyone!

HappyWoman Thank you SO much for your very kind and very generous donation. I am overwhelmed at your kindness as are the Refuge. I have put a card in the post to you

Tanee, glad you still have a job! I don't have a fund raising page either but only because I don't know how to set one up! I would be most grateful of your sponsorship though so if you like you could do as HW has done and send me a cheque. I am happy to email you with my contact details if this is acceptable. I feel a bit cheeky for begging but needs must! I'm going to be fundraising for the Refuge on a regular basis too so I need to get used to it!

Well, I've rung the college this morning for an application form for an access course. I'm going to to what I have always wanted to do and study counselling. unfortunately though, I'm a 'oldie' and as my learning was a number of years ago I need to do an access course before I can get on a degree course so, that's the plan!! I'm all excited. I just hope they let me on the access course! Apparently it is in high demand, I have to have an interview first and prove my worth. Another situation in which begging may come in handy!

Love to everyone xxx

TFM - it was a pleasure - you have helped me so much over the past couple of years.

Thank you HW I am here for you anytime!!

TFM of course, please email me your address. And all your latest news . I'll only manage a wee donation as am truly skint, but like HW, I am SO grateful for all you've given me, I would have been a basket case without you!

Of course you'll get on the Access course. You are a born counsellor. You are FLYING now. You have intelligence, wit and understanding. You have been there, done that, and oh boy, do you have the teeshirt !

Bless you Tanee, thank you You know, I feel as though I am flying!! I can't remember the last time I had a bad day, felt depressed or felt like crying. I'm just so very happy! And I'm so very excited about my life too, about what my future holds. My intention is to eventually work for Women's Aid, I feel I have found my niche. I am loving supporting the girls in here. And I got flowers from them today And the wonderful thing is that I am being encouraged by the support workers here to go for it, they believe in me!

I will email you Tanee, any donations are gratefully received. My elder DD is collecting sponsors for me too and has one for just £1.50 but that's £1.50 that I am very grateful for.

Email me your address too TFM and I'll send you some dosh!
I've always thought you'd make an excellent counsellor, you've done a good job on us lot and you've talked me through a few sticky moments over the years.
The refuge obviously know a good thing when they see one.
x

Thank you so much Ginny!! I really appreciate it

Thanks for your lovely words too, I do fit in here quite nicely. I'm going to be sad to leave, it's been a wonderful experience in more ways than one.

Off to email you right now!! xx

Tanee - very glad you still have a job And well done on the votes Fantastic I didn't realise you were running as candidate. Your heritage is amazing Mine is far less exotic. I am white of Irish,Spanish(Castilian and Basque) and German origin (grandparents). Most people say I look typically Irish as I am dark with pale skin. Dh is Black Caribbean (Guyanese - grandfather was Indian mix but dh typically A/C). The dc are of generic m/r appearance - but not generic to me cos I am their mummy so of course think they are totally gorgeous Yes, interesting family trees

TFM - go for it Can really envisage you as a counsellor. You're practically doing it on an unpaid basis anyway Sometimes amazing things happen in adverse circumstances and I guess this is what you are discovering right now. Good luck with it all. Just a word of caution though - make sure you make space for you. I totally get the need/enjoyment in helping others - but it's ok to be a bit selfish too and focus on yourself in a way that isn't dependent on doing things for other people. Lecture over What sort of counselling style are you most interested in?

Thank you LL

I hear what you are saying and I agree with you, I do need to make sure I make time for myself. I am very close to the girls in here and they do tend to depend on me quite a bit and although I don't mind and am happy to help I could do with a bit of a break sometimes, as you can imagine the 'stuff' they are dealing with is pretty heavy going. I am making good progress, have come such a long and feel really happy now but it is hard not to get bogged down by other people's problems when you just want to enjoy what is happening in your own life IYSWIM? I love it here, it's been great for me, and for DD too but I am looking forward to getting my own place and starting my new life

As for the style of counselling I would like to do, well, I would like to do more than just counselling! I would like to be a support worker for a Refuge. There are no formal qualifications believe it or not but a qualification in counselling is more than welcomed. I'm going to work here voluntary once I have been left the required 6 months.

The counselling I have received while I have been here has been great and helped me no end but I want to be more than just a counsellor, I want to make as much difference to the life of a woman leaving domestic violence as I possibly can.

I was chatting to one of the key workers yesterday and there are so many different aspects to this job it could never be boring! The years of study though mean I can be around for DD before and after school and in the holidays, without having to find childcare for her. I don't get any help at all from her dad so it's all down to me so, by the time I have completed the course she will be older and more independent and I can get stuck into full time work!! How's that for a plan!!

Sounds like a great plan

Fantastic plan TFM - we've been saying you should become a professional counsellor for years, and at last, you will ! Strange how all the stuff with exP has led you towards the destiny that is right for you - Providence - or if I were religious, God - has brought you here.

Thank you also for all your support over my latest crisis. Really appreciate it. I feel bad leaning on you since, as LL said, you need to make space for yourself and I realise the girls at the refuge have you on tap, which must be quite draining.

LLush, sounds like your dcs have an exotic inheritance too! I think m/r children do look beautiful. Mine's certainly striking - she has stunning eyes and a pouty mouth - but she looks nothing like me or her father. She has a slight look about the jaw, of my great-grandmother. There's an interesting throwback! My sister's kids are quite different - her son looks like his English father, but with her brown, slanting eyes, and my niece looks very like my mum. Sister's had one or two stupid, ignorant comments because they don't look similar or like her, but hey, she lets it pass.

Thank you MNHQ!!

Sorry for the deletion, I made an error and used a Teabags real name

You are most welcome Tanee, I am only too pleased to be able to help you and would be most offended if you didn't lean on me.

I believe in God so I choose to believe that this was his plan for me all along. It feels so right and explains why he ignored me when I asked him to help me win the lottery so I could leave

Lol TFM, I'm always almost using real names because so many of the teabags have met! . I'm hoping God, Higher Power, WhoEver, has something good in store for me. I thought he had when DP and I got together the second time, but it keeps going pearshaped so often that I really think I must have done something awful in a previous life! - or is it my karma for having committed adultery?

I used to think exactly the same as you Tanee (nearly did it again then!!!!!!) but now I think he was just waiting for me to help myself, to find my own way and do what I knew, deep down that I had to do. Now I have he is with me all the way and everything is just falling into place! Maybe he is just waiting for you to find your own way too, to do what you know is right

I am thinking of you xx

Lot's of love to everyone else xx

Tannee the problem with believing in karma is as soon as something goes wrong we tend to blame it on karma.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people too - it is not your punishment for committing adultry - however much i would like to sometimes believe it may happen to the ow .

However i do wonder what we have done to deserve this cold weather. Our poor oz student is finding it very hard - and i am getting fed up of telling her that it is not always this cold.

Thanks HW, I particularly appreciate that, coming from you . Yes, I'm fed up with this cold weather - I still have the heating on!! The garden is showing a few spring flowers, and it's too cold to sit out and enjoy them .

It's supposed to be hot and sunny this week. Hope so Hope everyone has a good week.

My back decided to go "ping!" over the weekend - it's been a bit stiff for a week or so but it suddenly got worse - so I put an emergency call out to the osteopath . Up to that point things had been quite pleasant! Had a couple of short outings with DS4 and had been slowly tackling my hideous heap of paperwork. Don't even dare pick up bits of paper atm as any kind of bending/twisting makes it twinge again. Desperately trying not to cough.

The cat will be happy if the weather report is right. He loves to play tigers in our jungle of a back garden. (I knew there was
a good reason not to bother mowing it.)