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 .

Ruby, congrats on passing your training. Are you qualified to teach Level 3, by any chance? Dd did Levels 1 and 2 Bikeability a couple of summers ago, but there is no where local for her to do Level 3. See, we need bikeability AND window-cleaning

Dukes, our French guest left at 6.30am on Wednesday morning. I hope she had a nice time staying with us. She was always very smiley and polite and seemingly easy to please, but I think dd was probably a bit quiet for her taste. Still, dd actually did come out of her shell very well (for her) and enjoyed herself. I think French guest comes from a wealthy background as it appears that dd will have an entire floor of the house to herself when she goes over there in May. I'd imagine the pokey, rough and ready appearance of our gaff must have been a bit of a shock... She would never have realised just how much cleaner it was than it normally is :)

Ds was off school most of last week with an infection in his sinuses and is still on antibiotics. He is now being very annoying, so is clearly better. I just hope he doesn't go down with anything else. He usually manages to avoid bugs when everyone else gets them but seems to have been strangely susceptible recently. Dh has a band practice this afternoon and I have volunteered to look after the drummer's 6 year old as he has to bring her with him. So I hope ds is no longer infectious as he is going to help me entertain her in the park. Dd has deigned to come too. I am not very fond of looking after random children, but feel that I must be extra-nice at the moment. I am hopeful that park + ice cream + dd = me on bench + newspaper.

Strops, put on your warm coat, scarf and hat - it's freezing outside , as DH and DS came back from their jog and then bike ride almost blue with the cold. They were wearing shorts

It's not too bad here, BTM. I did the dog walk in a t-shirt and denim jacket and that was OK. Am currently spectating out of my loft window whilst some nutters paraglide off the top of the hillfort down the end of the road. Now they probably are a bit chilly...

You are hardy, Strops! Remember, you get chilly sitting reading the paper!

Holiday trauma - trying to book somewhere for two weeks from 23 June. Found house that looked ideal, swimming pool, near beach. Emailed woman to ask if it was available, yes it is, she replied. Great, I said, please can we book those two weeks - tell me where to send the cheque and I'll pop it in the post. That was last week. Not a peep from the woman since then. What should I do? Ask her to let me know by Tuesday if she wants to take our booking or just look somewhere else?

Tired of all this - I don't need holiday hassle as well as work stress.

Can you ring her and say you are just ringing to check the cheque arrived OK .... Or do the same by email? From my and friend's experiences, I think some of these holiday home owners are a bit laissez-faire and don't realise that some of us would like immediate confirmation

I haven't sent a cheque - was waiting for her to give me an address. Just checked the website and all the availability for the house has been removed, as have her contact details. I do have email details for her but no phone number or anything (this was previously on the website but isn't any more). I think I am back to square one, aren't I?

Maybe she has taken them off because you were the last booking? Email her

I would like to delegate the whole holiday booking thing to DH, but as he doesn't like going on holiday, I think we would end up either a) staying in Paris or b) staying in a cramped cheap apartment in a city somewhere that has some bizarre museum that he wants to visit. He likes to delegate holidays to me, so that when it all goes wrong, he can say "I told you so." I am tempted to book me and the DDs on a nice package somewhere.

I have emailed her...

Well done

DH is usually the hot holiday and skiing holiday booker, but he had a bit of a breakdown when he realised that flight prices have gone through the roof, so our usually medium/long-haul holiday at Easter is actually a week in the Isle of Wight this year!

I am a bit grumpy today and have had a go at the DDs for their lack of helpfulness. eg We have cupboard in hall where we keep tins/tea bags etc - asked DD1 to go and get something, she had to move 3 tins to get to whatever it was. She left the tins on the floor by the cupboard, so I ended up putting them away. Bought them both a can of orangina as a treat, they drank the orangina, left cans on the table instead of throwing them away. DD1's room is so untidy she can't find anything - I have reached "don't care", although this often means physically pushing DD1 out of the house in the morning because she can't find her maths book = I'm not going to school. I mucked out DD1's room when she was skiing, put a pile of clothes on one side which I thought probably didn't fit her any more, asked her to try them on or put in bag for charity bin (which I had helpfully provided). Clothes have now been strewn all round bedroom.

Both had their pocket money doubled four weeks ago, if they could keep their rooms tidy - it was all or nothing - tidy room = $$$, untidy room = big fat nothing. In the past four weeks, neither of them have had any pocket money at all. DD2's room was "almost there" - just a few bits to pick off the floor, so I extended her deadline till 1330 on Saturday. Clothes still on floor, so no pocket money. Yes, they do moan, but it doesn't seem to bother them unduly. I have tried being motivational. I have tried punishment. Nothing works.

And now they have simply got up from the table and left their dirty plates there, haven't put them in the dishwasher, and have left butter, salt and pepper, end of cheese and grater on the table too.

On the plus side, they are both now in bed.

Oh actually, the only thing that works is me losing the plot completely and screaming at them, three inches from their little faces. Then they get moving and tidy up.

MrsS, I sympathise completely. My DD is a dirty mare too. However, I did manage to get her to tidy her room somewhat the other day. In return for finally persuading DH to let her get FB. So I won't be able to use that one again

Meanwhile, DH went off the deep-end when she started screaming at him (PMT/DS teasing her/DH being VERY annoying....) and took away the lap-top for 24hours. Luckily I was the picture of calm and reasonableness for once!

Oh gawd, I know where you are coming from. Dd skived off her assorted chores last w/e because French guest was here. This w/e she has also done Nothing, despite a large number of hints and reminders. So now I will have to get very crabby indeed tomorrow. And I could really do without wasting energy on this sort of rubbish. Honestly, why can they not just do the bloody stuff without me having to scream, shout and froth, eh?

Ruby, thanks for that book recommendation: I have put it in my Amazon basket :)

Oooh, lovely crepeys, how are we surviving the hols? Am counting days till we house sit (for another MNer who is not on this thread!) on Fri...

Oooh, where to MI? I am counting the days till we go to the Isle of Wight - never been before!

Just about surviving, despite DH's best attempts - he hired a rug doctor today and we mainly he, with DS helping a bit, cleaned all the carpets (only 2 bedrooms and the stairs/landings, plus 2 rugs!)

DS is very happy as we have bought a mahoosive TV for our loft room - for the wii / his new x-box and the electrician is coming to wire the aerial up.....

Just near Exeter. Am worn out. Although cheered by delegating instructions to DP, who is off with the Inferiorettes tomorrow, about purchasing various items of clothing for them and indeed pants for me [snurk]

Sounds fun. Exeter, I mean. And the pants buying

Well, Gladys, or whatever her name is, replied, and is holding the reservation for us. Told her I would post deposit today. So hopefully that's sorted.

We are not on school holidays yet.

Ds and hound off to in-laws today so a few days peace and quiet. On the house front, lots of viewings, some muttered interest and one completely insulting offer (a THIRD below the asking price). Dp was gobsmacked. If I hear 'needs some work' one more time I may scream (it is priced accordingly).
Saw Pirates at the weekend - can heartily recommend.

Glad Glad is holding your reservation, MrsS
BD, fingers crossed, again! I think Pirates might be a wet day option on the IoW!

I'm glad Glad's glad too.

Went to take DD2 to her school play tonight but traffic so horrendous that we called it a day after an hour and a half (and half an hour after the play had started) - we were still a good half hour away and it wasn't likely that we were going to make it on time.