Planet of the Crepes

[DukesOfTripHazard]

New bowl of crisps, tuck in Ruby!

I am thrilled at this Pixi lust. Another of their things wot I like is the cheek gel in natural. It doesn't stay on very long but while it does it's well pretty.

I felt a bit rubbish yesterday and spent much too long hunched over the computer looking at not very edifying things. Today is better. Have shredded, spot cleaned the stair carpet, written a letter to DD who will be at an outdoor pursuity place with school next week and am now going out to buy some fabric conditioner at Wilkos. When the mice are away the cat does rather boring things, it would seem .

I am very at all these lush leather/suede jackets.

DM finally left this morning (DH's idea of her staying an extra day was perhaps a step too far!) - in a cab, despite having told us that she was fine to get the bus, well 2 buses, leaving here at 8.30 for a train at 11.10 from Euston (it's a 40min journey, but she wanted to leave plenty of time...) She came down this morning to say she hadn't slept well, and perhaps she would get a cab after all

I think it may have been the last time she comes down - she finds our hectic family life all a bit much, and the DC's, especially DD were virtually never around / wanting to spend time with her - she struggles to hold a proper conversation with them as she doesn't listen to what they say and ask more questions, she just tells them about her...

I'm feeling very about it all.

BTM, if you remember I prevaricated and hesitated for weeks before buying my jacket - I can't believe I waited because I am wearing it to death!

Sorry to hear your DM's visit wasn't a success. I do think a gulf emerges between grandparent and grandchild around the teenage years - it certainly did when I was young. The teens are too self-absorbed, and haven't learned to relate to the grandparent as an adult, and the grandparent probably sees the worst traits in the grandchild, things that you miss because you live with them every day. It will come good eventually.....

Yes, I remember CV - I should probably do some charity shop trawling myself....!

Thanks. You are right about the gulf, but I think it will probably just get worse as DM does seem to be deteriorating both physically and mentally.
I don't know any 80+ers (apart from my godfather who is 86 and still playing gigs/driving, etc) and she seems so doddery and living in her own world of what she is thinking about.... TBH, she has always been a bit that way, and I have always found her frustratingly without enough "get-up-and-go", but I felt it seemed noticably worse.

Whaaat???

bloody hell Ruby. was that in front of you or reported by dd? what did you say / do?

is she quite, err, "well"??

Yup, Ruby, your MIL is definitely barking

French x-change student has arrived and seems v. charming, self-assured and rather more sophisticated than dd (no surprise there). She has two much older sibs who are at university, so I think she finds ds and his silliness quite odd. He got up early this am to draw her a "Welcome to England" picture. :)

well i'm relieved to know she's actually very nice... that goes a long long way.

I have another Writing Dilemma, peeps. The GH novel competition says to provide 5,000 words of the novel, or a single chapter if it runs over 5,000 words, but no more than 10,000 words. My dilemma is this: I have prologue, chapter one and chapter two, which I want to submit, and which come to just over 6,000 words. Do I submit as is, or just have a very long chapter one, following on from the prologue? I do want to submit chapter two as well, as I think this is where you start to get the flavour of how the story is going to go. I also have to write a 2 page synopsis, and as usual, am running close to the deadline... I never learn...

Very exciting that you're entering the GH competition, MrsS. I would submit it all as one chapter, would that work? Even though it would make a very long opening chapter, at least you are following the guidelines properly. As someone who in the past has read for screenwriting competitions, I know they do look for any excuse to not read an entry if it doesn't exactly follow the entry criteria (enter a 123 page script for a 120 max competition and you're toast). GH may be a bit more forgiving though.

Oh and I seem to have put on 5lbs in the last two weeks, comfort eating. Am blaming dh, who will soon start looking very svelt as he now has a longer cycle to work. There are times I wish I were one of those people who lose weight through worry, but then I'd be a complete rake...

I vote for big long chapter too..
wilbur I'd be positively rake-like if I lost weight through worry - do NOT mention house (non) move!

MrsS - I know chuff all about creative writing, so will decline to offer my POV (that's a first...).

BD - moving house, you say?

MrsS, I too know nothing about creative writing, especially since the National Curriculum took the creative out of writing....

So when will our Spring Meet-Up be, as it is now officially Spring?

Any preferred dates / venues?

Yep, one chapter.

Have sickly child. Have barking cough. Have to sing in concert tomorrow. Am under-rehearsed. Have just made prat of self phoning a consultant I'm supposed to interview, who said 'next Thursday'; I emailed him saying 'do you mean Thursday 29th' and because he didn't reply thought I should phone him to check and he's being patronising at me....

I have horrendous headache, that I have had for the best part of two days, accompanied by nausea. Tomorrow is going to be a crap day at work - a member of my team overheard a conversation between boss and head honcho (he said they didn't see him in the office) about me not producing reports "quickly enough." I spent all day in a meeting yesterday, from 0900 to 1800, with about 20 minutes for lunch. They got a record of the key points by 1100 this morning and the rest of the report (which my assistant was doing - and she had been asked to provide another report on something else by lunchtime, so was prioritising) by 1700 today. The meeting the report is needed for is tomorrow, so plenty of time to read it (it's about one page, all in all).

I also shouted today (I never shout at work) at my opposite number in head office, as I had asked him to look through some papers and give me comments by yesterday, in time for my meeting. He hadn't done so, and merely commented that "whatever I said, he would agree with." I said tersely that that was not how it was supposed to work - he is supposed to feed in comments. He said he couldn't be bothered to read the documents as they were too long. Which begs the question, what is he doing all day. I'm afraid I emailed his boss and said that I wanted him moved on in the next two months - he doesn't want to move and his boss doesn't want to tell him he has to move. Anyhoo (still with me?!) I had a lightbulb moment at this point, and realised that one of the reasons I have been so busy and stressed of late, is because I have effectively been doing his job as well as my own.

I took the luxury of a lunch hour today and wrote up my synopsis, but am now dithering about whether to send the first five chapters of an 80% completed novel (the rules say it doesn't have to be finished) as I think it is a bit better written and more fast moving and gripping. In which case I need to write another synopsis...

Feeling a bit wet and self pitying tonight!

Blimey MrsS I am exhausted just reading about your day! Sorry to hear work is crappy. Definitely get rid of colleague if he is a dead weight.
Have you published anything? ( would like to read)
I am full of cold (again). On (non) house front, our buyers came back two weeks after last survey 'we were just looking at the survey....' and wanted to send someone round to look at the roof. At this point dp lost it. We formally withdrew from their offer pointing out we had no confidence they would ever meet the (piss poor) price they had offered and we only took it because we wanted a quick sale (hollow laugh). As we had lost our preferred property we saw no reason to continue with this farce.

They understand, but are disappointed and it's a shame because it is so close to exchange - yes, but WE have nothing to exchange on! Ahhhhhh. Worryingly I have horrible feeling we may end up selling to them out of sheer exhaustion....

Note from school - easter bonnet required for next week - double ahhh. A. I am not arty. B. I work. C. Ds hates hats - however have you seen the fox/chicken one on the mumsnet page :)

Your buyers sound a complete and utter PITA, Blackduck. Huge sympathies - I don't think there is anything more stressful than moving house in UK.

Still have a headache. And the kitten pissed on the rug in the hall yesterday. It is, apparently, my kitten, so I have to clean it up. Unfortunately, DH dealt with this by screwing the rug up in a pile and you now can't see where cat pee is...

BD, I think I would have had a nervous breakdown by now. And your DS has to have an Easter Bonnet, aarrgghh!!!

DD has just had a melt-down - she couldn't find some homework she has to hand in today. As her room is a pigsty, I am not surprised, and found it hard to be sympathetic. But I did help her look (to no avail) and then had to lever her out of the house, still crying to get the bus or she will get a detention for being late as well as not having her homework. Meanwhile it is DS's birthday.....

MrsS, can you bung it in the machine?