Should auld, WISE and AVID acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind, as long as they continue to shop, 2011 will be of the very best kind

[macmama]

New thread

Morning all! Roma - you sound fabulous. I feel dowdy in comparison, but I plan on going to the gym today (only manage one gym a day a week whilst at work) and because time is such a premium I tend to dress in 'fuss-free' clothes that I can change in and out of very quickly. Hence just black trousers and top, although am wearing new necklasce DH bought me for Christmas.

Nice to get a personal recommendation for a venue Reine from your DH - it goes up in my estimation!

Mac - Sorry to hear about your DD. There has been a couple of times I have watched from a distance as DD has tried to engage with other children and she has been rebuffed and left standing on her own, and it makes my heart break. She is mostly a confident, resilient little girl and I know they have be left to experience things for themselves (up to a point) and work out strategies for dealing with it, but I wanted to 'have a word' with said children.

Macmama, your poor DD, that is awful.

Harrods refused to let me return the faulty wallet to their store and insisted I post it so they may be kind and refund anyway! I will get some money from the post office but still will lose £200. However, my very nice dh said he will give me half the money back. Don't use the post office in Mortlake!

Looby, I still prefer the Nicole Farhi but not crazy about any of them.

ABO, I mostly wear Hush pajama pants in the evening, the longer length is long enough. I bought a cardigown last year and it looked shabby very quickly but I think they have improved the fabric now.

Happy birthday, Hells and Dolce!

Hells, I like the Joseph trousers (just maybe not with a white shirt) and COH jeans.

thanks for trouser feedback all! I shall try on with different tops and see which still cut the mustard.

DS went to school armed with brownies for the class and his birthday cake is sitting cooling on a rack (had to get up at an ungodly hour as it's also work today). Actually ungodly was not helped by DS waking up at 5am!

Thanks for birthday wishes for him too...he will be thrilled.

Roma - wow! I bet you look wonderful.

Better gol.

Mac - meant to say - but agree her poise is something to be very proud of.

Reine, I think your DD should ditch nursery so you can meet us next week!

The Hush site keeps crashing. I am going off internet shopping in a big way.

What was your best buy ever? Mine was a Botkier Trigger bag, 8 years old and still perfect.

I just managed to get on to the Hush site to find that the cardigan I was going to get was sold out in my size - should have stayed up last night i guess! Hope you get through carciofi.

My best buy was a pair of navy lace up boots (no idea of brand) that were mislabeled in the shop - and the manager made the salesperson sell them for the marked price - £20 instead of £200!! She was very unhappy and kept on telling me what an amazing bargain I was getting in a very stroppy manner. I still wear them many years on.

Love the belstaffs.

Thanks carciofi - if I have doubts about the cardigown I will send it back.

Might this be worth a punt to go with this?

And am wondering if a pair of olive skinnies, something like these or these would be useful.

roma you sound fabulous

Off to Sainsburys now in Mango shorts, Primark jumper and best buy of the season, Bertie boots.

carciofi, yeah for dh, but honestly, 4 packages missing, I'd be inclined to go to the police!
I really hope they turn up for you.

abo, your first two links show the same skirt. I'm not sure how versatile that colour is tbh.
Definite yes for you 'autumn' those olive skinnies. I imagine they'd go very well with the rest of your wardrobe. Biased view, I have the denim version of the JBrands and LOVE them!

Esher - are you there?

My-wardrobe gilet at bargain price!

Hi all
Lovely links. But I am a cross and grumpy and fed up roary today because I have been in the unpaid phase of my maternity leave since the 1st and as a result have no money. DH and I have separate accounts (more out of laziness than anything) and because I've always earned a decent wage we've never really changed it. I also get frustrated with DH not knowing how much anything costs and complaining so I prefer to keep my expenditures invisible like to keep track of my own spending. So now I have to ask him for money, but this is a man who genuinely believes that £20 is enough to buy groceries for a week (note to self: he needs to do more shopping!). He is not tight, just clueless. I also pay all the household bills (he does the mortgage) so things are getting a bit dire. So no spending for me :(

I am also feeling a bit crummy generally today as this is my least favorite bit of maternity leave. I feel like I am ignoring poor old baby DS while DD is out, trying to do other things, none of which very successfully. I am drawing the conclusion that I am a hopeless domestic woman. I know I could go back to work but that feels wrong too.

What a moany return to the thread, I have gotten myself all upset.

Mac good for you for being Lion Mama.

Ahem, please forgive me for barging in..however I think you ladies may be able to help :)

I wondered whether Matches or Net a Porter offered free delivery ever? Want to order these, but £18 for trying on a dress seems excessive??

Diane von furstenberg dress

vivienne anglomania dress

Tracey, reminds me of this one, similar price and comes in cream. It is very nice. I've tried it on but it was not a good length on me.

Those of you going for the Belstaff ankle boots, am I right in thinking that they are green?

ABO, I love those olive skinnies. You didn't fancy the Notify olive velvet ones then?

Marsha...shoe update please

roary, I know exactly what you mean about your DH being clueless. It is a difficult adjustment to make, 'asking' for money, so maybe now is the time to think about having a joint account. If he is as clueless as you say, he probably won't notice what's coming out of it .

Also roary, why don't you just forget about all but the essential domestic stuff and chill out with the baby. Maybe go out for a walk?

Pickled that might not be a bad plan. But I will definitely be back at work 30 March so it's not too long to wait, and might not be worth the hassle.

It's the essential domestic stuff that I am struggling to keep on top of. HOnestly, it drives me nuts, as I know other people who seem to get it all done with no angst at all. I am just not one of them. I am sitting here with food on the floor and dishes to put in the dishwasher, but it is a choice between catching up on MN, reading the paper, and replying to some essential emails (some work) OR cleaning. I choose something over cleaning every time. Or I am just lazy.

Ooooh - I'm wearing the indigo version of those belstaffs today (got from the outnet) and they're lovely.

Roary, I have been in that position and it's no fun. Because I was self-employed before I had dc I never got any maternity pay, and went from earning my own money to having to ask dh. It was horrible. Can you sit down with dh, explain how much things cost and work out a budget? I sometimes send dh out to do the weekly shop, fill the car with petrol, etc, just so he can see for himself how much day to day living costs.

Mac and NY your dds are both so lovely, a credit to their mums

Roma you are setting the bar very high for us to day

I haven't had a chance to click on the links. I stayed up late last night finishing a project, but dd and ds2 both still suffering from post-flu fatigue and aches and pains so I had to keep them at home today. Wondering if I should really have sent them yesterday [guilty mother emoticon].
Dropped off the project on way back from dropping ds1 to school, so at least it's out of my hair. On to the next one, got to try to keep up this term.

Happy Birthdays to mini Helles and mini Vin

roary you poor thing feeling so low I know just how you feel about the cleaning etc.

It is really hard work looking after the home and kids but at the same time I do think a lot of how we deal with it at any time is about where your head is at ie, if you feel good about things then somehow the housework etc isn?t so bad whereas if you are feeling low the housework represents yet another kick when you are down and is the hardest thing in the world to manage. Having just returned to work after mat leave in September and nearly losing my mind with stress last year (which I actually think was a kind of depression) trying to juggle everything I would recommend focussing on trying to feel better before you return to work as going back will only make existing stresses worse. Easy for me to say I know but trust me I am feeling like a completely different person in 2011 than how I was last year and as a result I am even managing (sort of!) to keep the house from turning into a total tip while DH is away (and, over Xmas, my cleaner!). You would not believe how bad I got - I can?t believe it myself. ? my family were even worried about me, but right now I feel like a fog has lifted and life seems so much better for it.

I recently got recommended a great book (self help mumbo jumbo but some of it really struck a chord) PM me if you are interested.

Carciofi did 4 packages go missing on you? That's awful. In all my years of ebay and web shopping I've never lost a parcel between the UK and Irl, so 4, all posted at the same time sounds fishy indeed. I hope they turn up or you are compensated for them.

Marsha I had to smile reading about your middle of the night breakfasts, I vividly remember all of us sitting around the table eating eggs and cereal at 4 am in the days after our return from Sydney. While you were away I came across this blog I thought you might like

Love that blog verity

I loved Kiera?s look in Atonement...

roary, you're not alone. Picking up stuff, filling the dishwasher, making cheese sauce again, washing the cheese grater again, it is so so dull. I had a similar day yesterday. Dh also clueless. I'm off to teach this afternoon so at least a break. And I have to create money from eBay sales!!

Roary I despise housework because it just never ends, I am sitting here on the computer trying not to look at the dishwasher that needs to be emptied , and the breakfast stuff still on the table. A tip I picked up here is to set yourself a time, 20 minutes to do as much as you possibly can in say, the kitchen. Then stop and do something more rewarding.

Ok, I'll be back in 20 mins

Roary - the day to day grind is hard and especially if no money in the coffers for treats

I would talk to DH about costs though - show him how much a week's shopping etc costs. Am sure he wouldn't want you to be short of cash if only for a few months.

DH and I talking quite a bit at the moment about what I'll do once Bea starts nursery when she's 3 (still a bit to go) as I really want to do something thats interesting and earns me some money. Goodness knows what though - makes sense for it to utilise online stuff as have lots of contacts in that area. We shall see.

DH also commented how much happier I'd seemed the last few days rushing round trying to sort out house stuff - I am definitely happier the busier I am (within reason of course).

Dolcee - oooh I felt for you when I read the post about the house you nearly bought. But am sure there's a better one out there for you

Roary - I do feel your pain, as I was a self employed Management Consultant when I has dd, so only ever got the v basic SMP.

Do you have Microsoft Money on your computer (think it sometimes comes included in packages)? If not, just a plain old spreadsheet could do - save all your receipts and put them in so he can see how much everything costs. Our joint account works well as we did a spreadsheet over a few months to see what we needed to spend jointly and ensured that ebough went in from both of us (based on % of earnings, so currently he pays more than me.) I didn't pay in at all whilst on mat leave, and he uped his payment to cover what we knew we needed. I then used SMP for coffees and clothes.... (all stuff like beauty products bought from Boots from joint acct and filed in Microsoft Money as 'Healthcare' )

Roary, I hear you on the daily drudgery (and the money stuff). But the housework, God, it's just so bloody endless, isn't it? And like you, I'd always rather be MNing, reading the paper, baking a cake etc, rather than folding laundry, unloading the beast, prepping for dinner, mopping the floor. It's just so BORING!

No sage advice from me on how best to handle it, I'm afraid, given that I usually ignore a lot of it until it gets so bad that DH and I have a row about the state of the house.

Had 2 school run mums round this am with their babies, had to shut all the doors except the sitting room, so they couldn't see what a slattern I am. Luckily I remembered to Flash Wipe the loo floor before they came!

Aaagh haven't read properly but have seen your message re gilet Tracey.
Annoyingly have just this very minute just placed a My W order for

this coat and this tshirt dress

Do i need the gilet? aagh, can't decide - I mean whn/how would I wear ? Looks lovely as per model over a blouse but then you'd need a coat on top no?
They don't really add much warmth do they but they add a lot of bulk to get under another jacket/coat
but then they do look so nice......

help me please ladies

plus the £75 is brown which is my least fave of all the colours.....

how can I not buy something I have been lusting after all year now it is this price though?