Crepeys/Hagsnet - the moonlight beckons!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Because moonlight gives you a nice glow and doesn't show up your wrinkles or grey hair.

You have been warned...chums

I will make enquiries with various relatives to see if there is a chance of a bed for the night of the 7th, but I reckon it should be fine.

MI, sounds like things are off to a good start in the office.

Blackduck am at the idea of Christmas in the Bongo. Although if the weather is anything like last December you'll all be needing serious thermals. Sorry to hear about your friend. The poor people he left behind. We live with the fallout of suicide in this family, as my exh hanged himself. Casts a bloody long shadow for our dd..

Re: Chums - I used to have some foul tie waist cords just like those horrible Chums ones. But I got them from BODEN - in a haze of postnatal madness a few days after I had ds. I wore them once, a few days later. Someone took a photo. Saw the photo and never wore the trousers again. I am not wearing that kind of thing until I am in a care home. So there.

We are on the mailing list for the Chums catalogue, thanks to the one-time purchase of a heinous acrylic zip-up cardi for FIL one Christmas (the item was specified by MIL).

I joke to DH that they will come in useful one day.

Mmmmm Strops, they sound lovely. That's your outfit for the 7th sorted.

Thanks CV - I suppose they would go with my current luvverly hairstyle (I hope my hair grows ALOT in the next month).

Or else I will be the one wearing a very large hat. Although I don't really suit hats. Then again, this didn't stop me wearing a giant tartan hat to my first wedding. Tip: if a friend says she is getting married wearing some random gubbins she bought in Camden Market, a large holey M&S men's cardigan and a giant tartan hat, have her sectioned immediately, as the chances are that she has not quite thought the whole getting married thing through properly...

You got married in a giant tartan hat? Oh my, I'd love to see those pictures. I presume it wasn't Westminster Abbey?

Er, no, not quite Westminster Abbey :) . And I gave everyone just a week's notice. When I phoned my parents I said "I'm getting married next week - on Friday". My mother says "Oooh, how exciting! Is it anyone we know?" (It wasn't).

Admitted dp is thinking of being near somewhere nice to go for Christmas Dinner.....but, I think I had face on when he suggested it. What about heating I asked!

Those cords sound lovely Stropps - still got them? :)

Long shadow indeed - I can't stop thinking about the fact his oldest ds is the same age as mine and ds would be devasted if dp wasn't around....looks like it was possibly all debt related and he couldn't see a way out.

Right, so is the 7th the date?

BD, that's so, so sad.

Please look away now if you don't like swearing because I suspect I am about to let rip in my description of going shopping today - I had a conference to attend, then hit Oxford Street. In the hope of finding some sodding garments to wear to the office.

I went to John Lewis, Zara, Gap, Uniqlo, M&S and Warehouse. And Next. And most of what I tried on made me look like a mutant, flab a gogo. Granted, the designers cannot help the fact I am usually currently a few pounds over weight and at the moment I am under exercised but oh my fucking GOD I looked horrible in virtually every fucking garment. Dresses. Tunics. Trousers. A couple of nice winter things - but it's SEPTEMBER ffs, even I can't get into woolly things now. I swear those fucking designers have sat down and said "now boys" (and I know it's boys) "what can we do to make MI look particularly deranged and deformed, eh?" My gunt billowed repulsively, while my bosoms distorted the lines. WHy oh fucking WHY does nothing exist in which I look just bearable????

I suppose I just have to accept I am too old and/or fat for cheapo shops. As in, only very pricey shops will do.

And I shut my foot in a changing cubicle door in Gap.

It is the law of shopping, MI, that when you are desperate for something, you can never find anything. I think the in-between seasons is difficult. It has been hot and unpleasantly clammy today - I was wearing a thickish "bandage" skirt, a long sleeved top, the obligatory scarf and a raincoat. Because when I left the house this morning, it was cold and looked like it might rain. So come this afternoon, I was hot and sweaty, and my colleague refused to put the a/c on in the office "because it's not very green." I wanted a quick blast of 5 minutes, not 5 hours of cold air, FFS.

I appear to be back on the diplomatic diet of champagne and canapes. This is unhelpful if I am trying to low-carb.

I am going to try and come back for the 7th - have made noises in the office about going back then, so will tag on an extra day.

It was strangely clammy today, wasn't it? I was also seriously overdressed and had to shed layers as the day progressed. I also had a blast round the shops, but ran out of time because my hairdresser buggered up his appointment book and I had to loiter there for an hour before he was free. I did have time to snatch up a new pair of work trousers from H&M (they need shortening, even though I'm 5'7"!) and a cream gypsy-type top from Debenhams.

MI, can I make a suggestion? Choose a department shop where you feel most at home (JL? Debs?) and book a personal shopper? Often you get (or rather, "one gets") stuck in a clothing rut, where you can't see the wood for the trees and lose sight of what styles actually suit you. Everyone I know who has tried a personal shopper service has ended up trying on clothes they would never have tried otherwise with some great results. Personal shoppers are generally honest about any....er.....less than perfect attributes and choose clothing that flatters you; their job is to make you feel so good about how you look that you shell out for the clothes (or, if you're my mum, you say "yes, very nice styles" then nip down to a cheaper shop for the identical look elsewhere).

Anyway, YES, 7th October!! It's a date!

What is the perfect skirt length if you are a) short, b) have unfortunate knees and c) are crap with heels? Just wondering if there is a magic formula..

I feel your pain, MI. I cannot ever find anything workwear-wise that makes me look anything other than lumpy and frumpy. I need some sensible yet stylish winter trousers for the January exam season. This is already causing me to fret.

I have just spent an unimaginably dull 1.5 hrs in a stuffy sports hall watching ds doing his first karate lesson. And now dd wants to do it too. I expect I should be pleased, but somehow I am a bit pissed-off. Karate? Every Friday night?

ruby, yes, I started invigilating last term just to get me out of the home office occasionally. Plus our business is usually quite quiet in January and May/June, so I figure it's good to have something else to get on with. Plus I excel in the evil looks department and it is nice to get paid for this ability.

I could probably write "plus" again, but then you might notice I have been on the wine