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 .

X-post, ruby.

We have just had an entire family (approx 10 people) view the house. Cultural difference is interesting. 'How much do you want for it?' dp - 'it's on for x' 'yes, but how much do you want'. 'do we come back to you?' 'no to the estate agents'. 'we are a big family and it is not very big' 'well it is marketed as a three bed house'.

I feel a very silly offer coming our way....

Strops - I think we have similar hair, which is why I mentioned the tangles...!

I am still hobbling, and ankle/leg hurts more on the other side to where the swelling in. Facial swellings going down, but still have big graze on chin. DH went to Monoprix tonight to get milk (after we had hobbled over the road for sushi), and asked if I needed anything else. "Chocolate!" I snarled. He came back with about 8 bars, including the Suchard Oreos and Suchard Dime. Bless.

S&B update, then, to divert you : DD2 informs me that if I 'took off my glasses, wore lots of eyeliner and had spookier clothes' I would look 'like an axe murderer'. Disturbingly, she appears to feel this is a compliment.

Less stylishly, I have contracted DD1's poorly botttom.

MI I think I already look like an axe murderer... Sympathies re bottom issues.
Not quite S&B but ds tells me I am too stressed...I am wearing a yellow top today and have asked him if it is bright enough for him should I be worried that I am dressing for an 8 year old?
I am about to sit through Annie gawd help me! Then we are escaping for a night to drool over houses and make ourselves depressed....
Enjoy the weather peeps.

Yellow top, BD - very on trend

Survived DS's birthday outing to Chinatown with friends, including a visit to both the M&M's store and Cyber Candy - ridiculous prices for American sweets. A box of American cheerios (with some vile sugar coating) was £6.50 And early rise at 7.30 (6.30 old time!) to get his friend home for a rugby tournament.....

DH has finally capitulated on allowing DD Facebook, so she is off (on cloud 9) to BF's to make their FB pages after homework and room tidying.

And I am currently in discussions with DH about me returning to work full-time in September. After 11 years working part-time, I'm more than a little reluctant and worried about the effect it will have on family life and organisation, and more importantly, me!

BTM, I would seriously consider it. Not least because of family life and organisation. Mr Inferior, after many years of hassling urging me to work f/t and saying 'everything can be sorted out' has had to back up his words - and, to do him credit, has mostly stood up to the plate notwithstanding the fact I still am the person who mainly remembers everything but then I was before, frankly.

Strops, how are you all today?

Yes Strops, how are you doing today?

MI, this is exactly what I am worried about. I would definitely get a cleaner for several hours a week, but all the shopping and cooking will still fall to me, plus the getting the DC out to school and coming home asap to supervise homework, never mind the remembering stuff.

And DS will just be starting secondary and needs to get into a good routine..... TBF, I will be home about 4.30 four nights a week, but I will be knackered and snappy with an 11 year old boy who will need my support and guidance (whilst I make the tea) and DH will stroll in when the worst is over and not understand why I am overwrought.....

And I will not be able to pick DD up from footie practice, or DS from all the sports he is planning to do.....

I would quite like to work part time, but I think I am kidding myself that I would be better organised, the house would be cleaner, etc etc. Although that said, I did clean the kitchen, hall and bathroom (and loo) in about 30 minutes yesterday, attacking the place like a mad thing, because even I, who would qualify for a Slut of the Year award, couldn't stand the mess any longer. I don't think having a white kitchen floor helps. Nor did DH, by "helpfully" taking up the large rug that the kitten had weed on, and leaving it in a pile in the hall, which meant the kitten had weed on it a bit more, and I had to clean the whole bloody thing on my (cut) hands and (very sore and bruised) knees. Touch wood, she doesn't seem to have done it again, and I think it was in protest that her box needed cleaning.

Your DH may indeed, like Mr Inferior, step up to the plate regarding extra responsibilities, but equally, he could, like Mr Schadenfreude, forget to meet children from school bus etc etc. We really need a cleaner, which would help a bit (quite a big bit, I think), but Mr S works from home and doesn't want anyone else around while he is here.

And on to more important things - how are the Strops today?

And yes, I do all the shopping and cooking...

I know,this is just a minor dilemma in the shape of things and I have been very lucky to work part-time for so long. I hope the Strops are off on a jolly to Bath

As I work less hours and much nearer home, DH rarely has to do any jobs like meeting the bus. He is not back in time to do pick-ups from anywhere He only does household stuff (apart from clearing up after tea and stacking the dishwasher) if I tell him what to do - he doesn't think that clothes will need to be washed until it is too late, etc....

Suddenly Mr Inferior looks shiny and new even though he had a major huff about the fact that I am singing tomorrow and he has to cancel an evening with his mate B (or rearrange cover, ahem, obviously) and I put my appointment on the calendar so it trumps his

It may amuse you to know that our choir conductor has emailed us saying Positive Things about how well we came across overall on Thursday 'despite some glitches'. Errrr yes. That would be the one where we all mouthed sang on determinedly as the aural equivalent of an unravelling jumper went on, then

Yes, yes, the calendar

I have just caught up. Shit Stropps. Holy shit and crikey moses I am so sorry. Are you both sleeping?

Hi there. We went off on our trip to Bath yesterday and I think a pretty good time was had by all and it was definitely a better idea than sitting at home trying not to blub in front of the children. The children, including French guest, enjoyed the Roman baths and Bath was looking mighty fine in the sunshine. I took them up to look in the window of the flat where I used to live in The Circus. (And no, I wasn't a trapeze artist :) )

Dukes, we haven't slept very well for the past couple of nights, which is highly unusual in dh's case. He took his head out of the sand last night and has been googling and examining various websites. He has realised he has to bite the bullet and contact his estranged brother, as his risk of developing prostate cancer is now increased by some hideous percentage (their father had it too) and the consultant has mentioned this to him.

We are worrying what to do about our fucked finances. Well, they are not fucked now, but they will be if dh can't work for any length of time.

Re: me working, part-time work etc - I have to come clean now and admit that I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety several years ago, but refused to contemplate taking any meds for 3 years - until it got to the point where I was only sleeping one hour a night. This affected um, well, quite a lot of things really. I have been on meds for nearly 2 years and usually get a reasonable amount of sleep, up until now. The anxiety has essentially put paid to my ever returning to teaching, as far as I can tell. I lost most of my regular clients for my freelance work whilst trying to deal with my nuttiness and still look after ds (who was still a toddler at that point), so I have been mainly working for dh who necessarily edits all my stuff very heavily as he works in areas which don't really suit my skillset. Hence, if he can't work, we are mightily buggered. I am trying to think of creative ways to get out of the potential mess, but I am quailing at the enormity of it all, frankly. I have, however, been quite good at mess-management in the past, so here's hoping I get some inspiration soon.

Sorry about the long, gloomy post. Dh and I have realised we have an awful lot of admin to get sorted before he has surgery (assuming that is what is going to happen).

Cripes, that post makes me feel guilty. Sorry chaps.

Oh Strops, more

On a positive note, one of my BF's from uni has suffered from anxiety and depression for a long time and is on/has been on meds for years. She is a fantastic teacher

Don't feel guilty!

Aside from the meds, have you tried any CBT or anything else to help with your anxiety? (Not that I know anything much about it!)

No, I haven't tried anything else. I'm only posting that info about me because I wanted to clarify a few things and I feel a bit shifty about not having fessed up before, somehow. I'm not about to become one of "those" posters

I'm probably best suited to some sort of admin job in a school these days, tbh. So I will look around for something like that. And update my general IT skills.

An admin job in a school would be good - our admin is lovely. Mad as a Hatter, but lovely That way you would get all the hols too

Hi Stropps glad you had a good day in Bath. Not sure what line of work you are in at the moment, but could you diversify? Re 'fessing up, not sure it was necessary and I don't think you should feel shifty about not mentioning it before.

Re organisation and all that, dp does (largely) all school drops and pick ups, but if we move this will have to change because both our commutes will get longer. This is a major concern logistically as the only other alternative (aside from not moving) is for me to quit work and last time I had a period of unemployment I went seriously nuts. But other than that I do everything - shopping, cleaning, laundry, cooking.......

Crepeys, this is the time to stop doing everything. Really. We are Ladies of a Certain Generation, and that generation was one of egalitarian abandonment of wimmin's domestic servitude. Here endeth the lesson

Strops, we need a Solidarity Emoticon.

I am still absolutely bloody knackered.