AVID and WISE: This is the place where you can harp on about your new buys.

[FritziGreenEyes]

Sorry about thread title. Hope everyone is back from holidays soon and will find us here.

amber Which JBrands did you get?

bonsoir I tried on those two tops in Cos before Easter and was tempted too. Bought a simple navy dress in Cos and shoes, which are not on the website . Will return this top. Cos is great at the moment I think.

Annie you are quite right re WIT, I'm just projecting

You are also right about ds2, he is amazingly talented at programming and has pretty much taught himself Javascript and is designing his own games, while I can barely type. I guess it's more of a confidence issue really. He has a high IQ and at 8 had the verbal communication of a 14 year old and yet he feels like 'the dumbest kid in the class' (He has dyslexia)

She must be Annie she has the MN scarf!! (second photo down) Definative proof

Oh God, 4 more years of this I know what you mean though, it's really a case of letting him be himself and stop trying to fit him into the boxes we are all squeezed into, particularly by the education system. I would love to set up my own school for dc like mine (Ds1 dyslexic too) I hate to see bright, able imaginative children being demoralized by teachers who don't understand how to teach them. Not that any of our lovely W&A teachers are like that though!

I must have been in dd's good books that day!

I agree with Annie about school/uni. Verity you are obviously coping v well and I'm sure it will all come good in the end (not that this makes the short term any easier, of course).

Annie don't think DS1 has an intolerance as such, but he has a real tendency to withhold (apologies for tmi). We are watching his diet very carefully and giving him lots of fibre, fresh fruit and veg, water etc and limited refined carbs, and it is slowly improving as he physically can't withhold as much, so he is slowly getting used to going regularly and without discomfort. Slow road though.

Thank you everyone for your kind words re my inability to cope with my DCs. DH is being great, am just off for a wander to pick up M&S order and peruse blazers in town. And check Boots for the fabled foot file.

Hopefully if you find any foot files, buy them all and make a fortune flogging them on ebay. I remember doing this years ago with sequin shrugs from Primark, bought loads for a tenner each and sold them to the US and Canada for ten times as much. Bought a Mulberry with the proceeds!

You are coping brilliantly with a tough situation, don't be so hard on yourself.

Ok, I'm going to test my sewing skills and see if I can copy make this dress (first of the 3)

Decameron are the boots there yet?

Ooh lovely summer dress We would need the temperature to increase by 20 degrees though.

I am switching off the computer now!

Decam think I said this before but my dad used to point out the flats in Rahoon as a measure of seriously screwing up your life. Sometimes I am amused. How little he clearly knew me. Not. A. Chance. Although I do know someone who did. Mind you that's was the parents fault. Hope the pistols arrive. Dying to hear about the sizing.

verity a new voice here but your posts re your son sound so familiar here. My DS2 is very similar and it's soul destroying when they have a teacher that "doesn't get them"! I hope you can hold on til the end of term and that he gets a teacher who is more In tune with him. He sounds incredibly bright, it's amazing the difference a good understanding teacher makes.
The comments re uni are so true nowadays too. What is best for children now. My DH and I have a dental practice and recently it was the time for us to interview newly qualified dentists. 6 out of 16 had degrees before dentistry that they couldn't find jobs with- and they were good degrees!! I couldn't stop thinking that here were clearly intelligent individuals but that it had taken until the were in their late 20s to find a degree that had job options. Is that not frightening?
decameron am desperate to hear when your boots arrive!

I've been shamelessly lurking on your thread, and just wanted to show myself to say THANK YOU. I've just got some really lovely stuff from Me and Em, who I'd never heard of before. The cap sleeved dress is incredibly flattering. Very tempted to get another colour.
I'll scuttle back off to try and sort out my otherwise very unstylish wardrobe now :)

Verity, shame about your plans for having the morning to yourself being cancelled. Hope DD feels better soon. You sound wonderfully supportive of your DS, most important thing imo.

I have in the past done the bum lady's second look down (the one with the MN scarf which isn't actually if you read the details ) so I am feeling 'right on'. Suit search has taken a turn for the better, albeit a costly one at £268 .

Decam, I did a double take at you getting cankles last year but then realised they were pregnancy related. It is my non pregnancy related cankles that are stopping me ordering the pistols. Fingers crossed they fit.

Verity am so sorry about DS' horrible experience this year - schools have a lot to answer for in presenting a very narrow view of the appropriate route/path to take (ie Uni is the be all and end all). Your DS sounds amazing; it might be worth seeing if there is somewhere he could go to pursue his computer interests -perhaps a weekend school or a tutor. I know that he probably doesn't need it as people who are gifted in that way are often relying on intuition and self-taught but it might be good in making him feel more positive about learning/education if he is really enjoying it and can measure his own progress. Transferable skills and all that.

Always it is very interesting what you say about re-trained professionals. I am really, really unsure about whether I want to return to teaching and am contemplating re-training/heading down a different route as I do want to have a successful career still. No idea where my skills/talent lie though.

Hopefully so glad that you can have a bit of breathing space today; your DH sounds really supportive and hands-on.

Are they there yet deca??!

Bloss it's the same job I interviews for months ago - the CRB has only just come back!! It'll either really make me want to get back into teaching or make me feel like I need to be doing something else. Am worried that I've forgotten how to teach...

Oooh, Me & Em order is here! Trying on is commencing right now...

So much interesting chat on here this morning, but can only pop in to say the toucan scarf arrived and looks a keeper.
Also I am mostly angry as I feel my professionalism was compromised yesterday and I work hard on my work image.
Look forward to catching up later this evening.

Decameron I hope you have boot news and that its good!

Sooooooo, I tried on the green Reiss dress - and of course it was amazing, ,my absolute dream dress - well, apart from the sodding colour. So comfortable due to the grey jersey layer, loved the capped sleeves and the drapey/open back feature that looked quite chic. Just felt the green was too bright and would limit when I would be able to wear it. Such a shame - feel like emailing Reiss and asking them to consider it in other less bright colourways!
Would look amazing on those who you who suit that green NY maybe?

Right, have tried on Me and Em stuff.

gold striped top - the fabric is lovely, but the shape couldn't be any more wrong for me. D cup boobs + flared tee = the amazing walking tent lady.
cap sleeved rushed top - seems to have a slightly different drape to the cap sleeved dress, and looks matronly on me. probably good on the smaller of boob though.
the cap sleeved rushed dress in new colours - the heather is very very much a browny pink rather than a brown. At a stab I'd say it's probably a deep summer sort of colour in HoC world? And the khaki colour is very very greyed - it falls somewhere between the lizard grey and light khaki in my Autumn swatch book, so probably great on a very soft autumn/possibly a summer (although probably a bit warm). Neither colour is perfect on me, but I am definitely keeping one, maybe both. They are 95% modal, which means they will dye well, so I'm going to dye the khaki a deeper olive green shade today, and if it takes well I'll dye the heather one a chocolate brown. Stitching probably won't take the dye, but since it is only really visible on the arm holes and I'm dyeing them similar colours, i'm thinking it will be ok.

In other news, I also ordered a Davina dress, and it is beautiful, but I think it is just too classic for me . I am trying to convince myself that it would work, but I don't think it will.

Bloss I would be slightly peeved in that situation too.

for rushed, please read ruched. Bloody auto correct.

I love dying stuff too Hopefully, makes it my own IYKWIM

Olllie it is a lovely dress but I think that colour would be hard for most people to wear. I wonder could you dye it?!

Bloss I totally see where you are coming from, particularly living in small community. I missed the link to the Toucan scarf, but love the sound of it!

Red there are computer programming classes in town, but the are massively over-subscribed and impossible to get into. There's a business opportunity for someone.

Allwaysrunning I know what you mean, I have what was regarded as a very desirable degree, but I am totally unemployable I think teenagers will have to be far more focused on a career not just doing a degree that interests them which is sad.

Pickled the MN scarf does come from Hong Kong....via ebay

I want a job specifically so I can wear a Davina

FLE it's teal, really really lovely colour. Was on the site at a discount (£130), but seems to have disappeared now - wonder if it was some error.

Incidentally, FLE do you think too classic for me? DH thinks it's great on me, and he usually has a good eye, but I am doubting myself and him.