The blethering goes on...thread 2

[ElephantOfRisk]

Still plenty to chat about. Remember this isn't fight club. Nice chatting required.....

Thanks everyone x

How is everyone doing today?

I am currently basking in the glow of a superb salmon stir-fry, DH is taking the eldest out to Cubs, and the younger two are playing a board game without fighting. It's a good feeling.

I tried a new recipe for 'meat free Monday'. I thought it was ok, but the consensus was that it would be vastly improved by some chorizo which I secretly agreed with

Congratulations to your DD @Groovee. Lovely to have a wedding to look forward to.

Sounds lovely @GrouchyKiwi.

Chorizo really does improve everything @WhatWouldTheDoctorDo 😃

I’ve been cooking every night as part of my new eating regime and it’s going well, quite enjoying it

@Groovee

I have nice news. Dd has got engaged. But I can't share it anywhere. Being cooped up with us for over 3 weeks hasn't put him off.

Oh that's lovely news, does she have wedding plans yet? How long have her and her fiancé been together? I love a wedding

@GrouchyKiwi

How is everyone doing today?

I am currently basking in the glow of a superb salmon stir-fry, DH is taking the eldest out to Cubs, and the younger two are playing a board game without fighting. It's a good feeling.

That sounds nice. I had a nice day, was off with toddler ds, we just pottered about the house and went to the play park for a bit. Ds1 had his swimming lesson and we managed to fit in some homework too. They're both sleeping now so about to watch some tv then early night.

I've been enjoying cooking a bit more too. Sometimes I look forward to it and enjoy it, other times I just can't be bothered so it's good to have a mix. It was a ready made waitrose chicken pie with frozen potato rostis and peas tonight but at the weekend i did roast chicken with home made roast potatoes and yorkshire puddings and cabbage and carrots and I made a Chicken arrabiata stew with parmesan dumplings on Saturday.

After feeling really stressed at the latter end of the week and the weekend and a crap sleep last night, I was seriously thinking of resigning today but I actually had a pretty good day and I'm almost up to date with work.

Occ health think that I am only just coping with my reduced responsibilities so I guess the ball is back in managements court for them to decide how long they are prepared to wait to see if I can perform full duties again. And to be honest I think that I'm not even "just " coping, a lot of the time I'm not coping at all. Hey ho, who knows what the future will bring.

Your food sounds great @ElephantOfRisk. Who doesn’t love a dumpling?

Sorry to hear you’ve been struggling though 💐

Was wondering how @ssd is doing too?

Yes, not seen her around for a while, so hope all is well.

I need to sort things out or I'm going to end up having a heart attack!

Can’t have that @ElephantOfRisk, though at least you should be ok for an ambulance 😃

Ha ha, my DH has already told me who he doesn't want treating him if they turn up - so I'll stick with his short list.

He isn't the most trusting. When I had DS1 and they were talking about me needing a blood transfusion and he was the wrong blood type, he was already lining up my family to come and donate as he didn't want me having generic hospital blood - not sure how he was going to work that one out!

Does anyone else feel like the school holidays are getting longer? Ds1 school will be shut for 8 weeks over the summer. Did it not used to be 6 weeks?

It's generally been 7 weeks except for areas which have 2 weeks at October. However, I think there is some anomaly thing that means every so many years they get 8 weeks. That occurred twice in the years my DC were at school. An extra week of childcare to find and pay for.

I thought I had all my childcare sorted and I've just noticed an extra week for the summer holidays
As ds1 is only 5 this is the first year I've had to deal with this. So hopefully next year it will be back to 7 weeks then.

On a positive note it seems like toddler ds has finally realised that night time is for sleeping. We've had a good week or so.

Are there 8 weeks in the summer holidays @shouldistop? Ffs, that's a nightmare.

I've got an 11 year old who is too old for childcare now 🙈

Seems to be in our council this year anyway.
I'm sitting thinking of fun cheap / free things to do for him.
We're lucky that I only work 3 days and have DM and MIL to help too but I'm worried about him getting bored.
If it's sunny we will just have the paddling pool out a lot and invite friends over so that will help.

Mine used to go to out of school care for most of the summer, in fact DS1 actually went after he was in high school as I felt he was too young to be alone all day, especially since DS2 was going and they both really enjoyed it. They were a council facility and licensed up to age 14. Started out really cheap but got very expensive by the end. I could however put them in for up to 5 hours for half price as long as it wasn't a day they were doing a trip.

By that point I had a laptop and agreement to do a few hours at home, or I mixed it and did very long days when they were on a trip and short days when I'd put them in for 5 hours. Unfortunately no family to help.

6 1/2 weeks here, we had our long year last year.

One of the only benefits of lockdown/wfh life was that it has coincided with non-sporty DS growing out of summer childcare but still too young to comfortably leave at home alone all week.

Hey everyone... it's hell, my colleagues are going down with Covid. Children struggling as we chop and change staff to ensure ratios are maintained. Regular staff feeling anxious.

Any way... dd and FSIL have been together 4 years. The wedding is in the future as she wants to get her degree first and buy a home. So she needs to get through her probationary year then find a job before she considers a wedding. She's had lots of gifts already x

@Groovee that's rotten, hopefully it settles down soon!

Toddler ds slept through the night til 6am again. I'm always so surprised when I hear him at 6 and notice my lumie alarm clock has started to light up. I'm hoping once he drops to one nap he might even sleep til 6.30/7.00.
Ds1 seems to be coming down with something, no symptoms but I can tell somethings not right.

It's so good when they start sleeping through. Hope your DS1 recovers quickly from whatever it is.

DH has a day off work today so he's taking the children out. Getting them to wear enough clothing is such a task! They all want to go out in short-sleeved t-shirts.

Spring and summer are so much easier with kids. Don't have to worry about the layers of clothes, gloves, hats, scarfs etc.