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

Just popping in to wave hello

Still haven't caught up and only just getting over jet lag.

Wishing you all lovely days! Back soon.

Morning!

Just managed to catch up on yesterday's posts..seriously that's a lot of drama for one day

ooh..morning zembo

and hello madam and recent delurkers

morning zembo morning reine

reine great news re next tues but I think the plan is to meet at 11? sorry to confuse things - bunny and carci is that what you've planned?
Hope we can all make it!

woke up thinking of various things, one being "oooh my new shoes will look great with my Rats" and another being "oooh my news shoes will look great with Reiss dull gold racer tank - better purchase"

argh, how many days until Feb??!!

ltec 11 is great..could you please p.m meeting point.I have that 'not even half way through jan.' too!

very excited for next week

Morning all! Am on train to Leeds with much needed coffee. Off to find out how to manage the Post Oil Peak Macro Economy. From the reading I have done, it's all bad tbh!! Wearing Oliver Bomas purple dress that always makes me feel foxy with purple fitted coat, black opaques and black heels.

Hope everyone has better days today. Mine was not as bad as some of you, but after posting airily that I was wearing my special'speedy changing' gym outfit, I then got to the gym and got completely undressed before discovering that I had packed 2 left footed trainers. Grr! Had to go on the crosstrainer last night instead after dd in bed.

Like the idea of an owl present - did you have something in mind LTEC? Something wearable or just something owl-like?
ASOS has this stunner of a ring - would be like a secret society a la the film Skulls at the MOAMU if we rocked up each wearing one! here

NOTHS has an owl poster which could be personalised with a W&A quote? here May be one step too close to bunting and cupcakes for some of you tho!

Feeling quite achey and a little bit wobbly post Shred - but like G says, if you can't feel it, it isn't working!

Hope collectively we all have a good Wednesday.

Forgot to add - M&S has an owl key ring here and an owl mug here - will stop being annoying with owl links now I promise!

Roma - I'm trying to avoid the sales - I find the January sales very depressing (in general), and we spent a lot of money this December (in particular) and I want to spend a lot of money on furniture and things for the house very soon, so am being very restrained!

Having said that, I unexpectedly have a free afternoon as the mother of one of DD's friends rang yesterday evening to invite her for lunch and a playdate this afternoon. So I might sneak to a couple of shops on the sly! But won't be anything major.

I'm über-preoccupied with school at the moment - DD's French class is just fabulous but her English class is not working at a high enough level for her, which means we need to supplement outside school. She has had a couple of major tantrums recently because she isn't able to write what she wants to write in English.

Well done on the shredding ollie.

Had a shocking suggestion from DH last night. He only wants to start excersising with me! WTF?!
He did say, from February though, so hopefully he will have forgotten. I'd rather not to be frank.
(Although he could do with some toning.)

I watched UK Biggest Loser on Monday and US Biggest Loser last night. I am addicted.
DH watched on Monday too, and there was that thing in the Saturday Times about men losing weight and toning up. My fault for quoting lines to him throughout the day no doubt.

plum, I would very much like your 20% if that's okay with you. I have a 10% so no trouble if you find you need it yourself.

loobylu, gorgeous family. Such a treat to have a photo of a dh too. That's quite rare on here isn't it?

Positive vibes for a better day all round today ladies!

Morning reine, I am officially not lurking anymore :)

LTEC I too have the 'pass the baton' game with DH most days as I work from home. I get so annoyed when I am asked to 'help out' with supper or 'supervise' when I am mid flow at the laptop. Funny how I always cope like a goddess fine when he's not here to work/parent/chef/drive/nurse/ ooh and shop! Drives me mad.

tracey never though of that, will phone matches/nap today.

ollie i shredded last year, tis fab, and yes Gillian is hilarious with her 'encouragement'.

roary my mum once told me when DS was teeny, 'he'll never thank you for a tidy house, but he'll always remember the playing/cuddling/larking about....' . Wise words which I LIVE by now! (Much to DH annoyance..)

Off to hunt down a seasonal flu jab for DD 2yrs today, apparently I have to pick to prescription and then go on a vaccine hunt around all local pharmacies as it's pretty much out of stock everywhere . complete madness.

Oh yes- well dine on the shred OWW. You will be bouncing coins off your abs before you know it!

Bloss I exercise with DH about once a week ( well, when he is here- which he isn't much at the moment.) Quite good in a way because we get competitive. I can do more abs stuff than him, but he is a faster runner. We don't run together because of childcare, but do our double shredding together whilst dd does the occasional squats and lifts pretend weights! We are going to do Burn Fat, Boost Metabolism together when we next have any time together, which isn't until the end of the month. He us working this weekend and I am away the one after.

Well done.

Morning everyone. Me too re school Bonsoir. I have recently complained. DS1 is not really challenged at all, esp in English. There are quite a lot of native English teachers in his class, and last year they had an excellent teacher who differentiated well between the levels. This year the teacher is just lazy. Quite a lot of people have complained. The response from the School? "Please don't complain about Mme B, she is very upset about it." This year only DS3 has a really decent pair of teachers (last year in PS they were terrible). Next year DS2 will have the great CE1 duo. It's really one year on one year off at the moment.

Oh - I've bought the gold blochs too!

I'm going to try something new - rather than working at night, I'm going to try going to bed shortly after the dc (say by about 9ish) and setting alarm for 4am. See if I can work more efficiently without a glass of wine in my hand in the morning, fresh, than late at night when tired and over it. What do you think, worth a shot? Am pretty sure that 2hrs in am time is worth about 3.5 hrs in pm time?

that's funny OWW the asos owl was the exact thing I was looking at last night!

LTEC- I def get more dine in the mornings, although I was never a morning person Pre dd! Still hate exercising pre9am, but work wise is all good.

OWW I started shredding for the New Year and yesterday promoted myself to Level 2, but I do a lot of cheating. Particularly when DS is around and he decides he wants to sit/lay/stand on my tummy during the abs session. But but but I noticed this morning that my arms and legs were definitely looking more toned so it's worth it! Sore bottom this morning though!

Can't remember who was looking at olive skinnies but I've just walked past a girl wearing some and she looked FAB. On the list... for February.

I'm typing and walking on Tottenham Court Road. Must log off before I trip. But will be back to post about a lovely yellow coat ice just seen...

Roma - in our school the parents have a certain degree of leverage over which French teacher (or teachers, as in DD's job-share class) their child ends up with, as there are five parallel French classes throughout primary and we can express our feelings on the matter. And the school does try to make coherent class groups, with a good personality match between teachers and pupils.

But in English, as it is streamed, we have no choice as the school determines which level your child is in. DD will always be in the so-called Bilingual/Native Speaker (ie top) group, which is this year far too large (29 pupils) and far too varied in level. Apparently this year's new CE1 teacher is very good and has insisted on having an assistant teacher for the non-readers.

The real problem is the woman who is head of English, has been there for years and doesn't want to change anything. The school really needs to implement a proper recognised curriculum, such as the Cambridge International Primary Programme. But I fear it will be a long, long battle to get that in place and my DD won't benefit from it. So she has tutoring outside school and is bored in class. Ho hum.

I don't think our school would introduce a curriculum for English. They have this big thing about how it's only the language, and the curriculum and pedagogy is all French (ie Gulag-style).

I'm looking for something a bit more,well, enjoyable for secondary school. Like Bedales or something. Or HE. I dunno. It just seems like such a horrible way to spend the day, being yelled at by a bunch of old bags

Morning all!
The DC are adorable sweeties mostly although can be v annoying at times (all that bickering starts when they get a bit older than some of yours and not doubt will get a lot worse when they become teens!

LTEC- easy on the eye, eh, not modelesque like you!!

bloss- DH will probably kill me if he knows I have put a pic of him up but there aren't many pics of me- I hate myself in photos.
Anyway, wanted to ask for your opinion my colours (if you don't mind)!

DT- hope your DS is all better now.

madamec- the swine flu vaccine situation is ridiculous but most surgeries are struggling to get hold of them!

reine- will add you to friends list.

DD2 was better last night- only awake for 2 1/2 hours or so rather than 4 or 5 on previous nights!
I hope she is much better and well enough to go to nursery tomorrow as don't want to let my (v lovely) employers/ patients down!

The school doesn't have to introduce the Maths or Science bit of the Cambridge curriculum, though, just the English (literacy) bit. I wonder what sort of contract your school has with the Ministère de l'Education Nationale? That obviously makes a difference to what a school is free or not free to implement.

I'm desperately hoping DD will get a place at the Ecole Alsacienne for secondary, which is very, very heavily oversubscribed and the most civilised educational establishment by far that I have come across in Paris. She will have to want to do German as her first foreign language to have a hope in hell of getting a place though.