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.

Am quite liking this dres.

dress!

Nice cagoule, MrsCB!

Good luck with the new venture, Reine.

Bloss, the boots definitely come in black, not sure what other colours.

One of my aunts keeps asking me when I am going back to work, I find it quite annoying though I'm sure she doesn't mean to be nasty. I am not a natural sahm, I fear! I'd never dream of saying commenting on anyone else's choice.

We find out this evening about DD1's reception place, I am pretty sure she will get into the local school as we moved practically on the doorstep but still a bit nervous as Richmond catchment areas are tiny.

Hello all. I am having One of Those Days. DS has been crying on and off all morning for no real reason, DD managed to cut her finger without making any fuss about it and, as I sorted washing and assumed she was playing nicely (fatal error there), she managed to smear blood over the majority of the soft/wooden toys in her room (plastic tat remarkably unscathed). Then came the saga of getting a plaster on her (small cut, won't stop bleeding) which resulted in the taping of a sock to her hand, much to her disgust. Then the car completely died as I tried to get DS to pre-School, cue massive melt-down from DS in the road. Could only get him in the house by promising CBeebies, a blanket and chocolate. No prizes for mother of the year here.

MrsCB I am being kept awake by much the same dilemma at the moment. Reine I know I could go on to something else really, but I feel like there are so many constraints on things (just the usual - need to be p/t, child care, travel, that which I am qualified for) that DH has never had to consider. He is very 'you can do anything' which frustrates me further as I don't feel I can. I wish I could go off and do anything (and then resent moving down here where opportunities are more limited), but there is a real financial need for me to work now; we've blown all savings on things here and are now feeling more and more of a pinch each month.

Aargh what an essay. Will put a lid on my whinging for now.

Amber how are you doing over there?!

Decam I am so pleased you love your Pistols. I shall own a pair. One day. Bloss I think you would rock them.

Breton your post really touched me too - 36 is still young and you don't know what is around the corner (although I appreciate that this is a big cliche and you may not be ready to even think about moving on at the moment)

Ollie your dream sounds hilarious. And very vivid; I love it.

Verity I am so pleased that DS was happy to go to school today, that's brilliant

MiM how is your day going?

DH and I went to see The Hunger Games last night; we both really enjoyed the books and loved the film. Would really recommend.

I just hone in on what I want to do and strive for that.

The only person that says things that irritate me is mil - eg Don't mess up the house for your mummy. Ahem dh / cleaner did the hoovering.

Other than that I generally know positive people only.

Reine, intriguing!

Of course few paths are very easy. Freelance has its downsides too.

Oh Red, what a morning. Hope you are having better luck with your two MiM.

I feel your pain, those of you trying to resurrect a career after years at home. There are lots of inspirational threads on MN of women who have done so or even gone on to bigger and better things, so don't lose hope. For us one of the hardest thing is trying to establish 'childcare', coming to it cold with no previous experience of 'outsourcing' that element of our DC's lives. Take inspiration from this thread too - we have a nanny share, a mothers' help and a child minder friend, also a live in nanny and in my case a friendly neighbour will to do the odd hour or two in kind. I'm sure we can help each other through .

I want pistols!

Yy Annie dh mitigates my risk! Inverse but yes it's good. I shall be less stressed with two days childcare.

Not computing Reine, am fairly hopeless at that. I'm not sure what I want to do/am qualified to do. No p/t teaching jobs have come up here in the last 9 months and I know various schools locally are phasing out their p/t posts, which doesn't sound great. I'm feeling a bit morose about it all really; need to snap out of it and be more pro-active.

And Mim - thank you for having a dig around in DS' stuff for me - do PM me if there's anything you're happy to pass on.

Poor red hope you have chocolate for yourself! I am another in a dilemma about what to do re work, and I agree with annie I think it does become more complicated as they get older, I have to be here for homework, etc or it would all fall apart. A friend and I were talking about it the other day, I think this idea of 'portfolio careers' is a good one, ie a finger in lots of pies, so for you it could be some tutoring, some research, a bit of something else, gives you flexibility and and an income and stops you getting bored with just one job.

decameron janey mac as dh would say, I bet you're a bit nervous about that. When do you find out? Fingers crossed.

I like that coat mrsCB I have a navy Reiss oilcloth coat from years ago that lives in the car boot with my wellies, very useful

ollie your dream made me snort with laughter. Surely it was prophetic, you have to email them, they would love us

annie women just love to judge each other, no matter what you do, someone will have an opinion on it. What I love is that you make every minute count when you are not at work

reine I am dying to know what you are planning!

Moving home by the end of May, hoping to do it gradually over a week or so and move ourselves in last!

Like the cagoule MrsCB but my first thought was 'where's the hood?' I have a not very stylish Merrell Wakefield which is perfect for weather like this. Meant to say before, we had an amazing few days at calcot, you do live in a stunning part of the country. DH and I spent the journey home having the 'should we move put of London' conversation which like the 'shall we have a third DC' conversation we have regularly but never actually make a decision or reach a conclusion.

DD2 has a cold and is teething and doesn't want to be put down which i'm finding a bit difficult after the weekend when she was so poorly and I couldn't put her down. DD1's response has been to behave v badly, she refused to get dressed or eat breakfast or put her shoes on. Definitely not mother of the year here either.

Annie I don't think there's any perfect solution when it comes to working or not. I've been working p/t since I went back after DD1 and my experience is that you get given a f/t workload and then have to work out how to deliver it in fewer hours and wave goodbye to any promotion prospects because as a part-timer you're viewed as less committed. Oh and people do helpful things like arrange meetings on my non-working days and then expect me to juggle childcare and come in. I've got quite mixed feelings about going back to work, not helped by having to go back to a new job, team and manager.

Decameron thanks for the link to the blazer, I was planning to go to Westfield today and try it on but DD2 was just too miserable to take her out. We also find out about DD1's school place today, it should be fine because when we moved we bought quite close to the school but you never know... I don't if it's the same where you are but round here school catchment areas make a big difference to house prices.

pickled you have all that childcare for your children?

mrscb Gretal is one of my cats! They're brother and sister - you can probably guess what the other one's called...

dec hope you do get your first choice.

oh red that's tricky. One of the mum's at school was saying she'd like to go back to work but doesn't know what she wants to do and it's hard to job hunt with no childcare in place but she doesn't want to sort childcare until she has a job to pay for it.

Afternoon Ladies

Ollie you really cheered me up with your dream, that is so funny.

I went to an image consultancy evening last night and I am a city chic/ dramatic with some classic thrown in! Will that help me be better dressed? Not sure.

I was a Sahm for 17 years, and now work full time, in my experience the grass is nearly always greener on the other side.

I too would love a pair of Pistols, do you gals think that we could get MN to do one of those group puchase thingies!? Like the Green and Blacks! I'm serious!

Red sorry you're having a bad day, hopefully it will get better.

Verity glad that today was a better day for Ds.

Best of luck today Mim, I'm sure that you'll cope admirably.
Mrs CB I have visions of you wearing a cag in Ollies photo shoot!

Lovely photos Hopefully

Oh and meant to say MIM I hope your day is going ok. I found having both DCs on my own v hard at first.

Re dream - we all met at Everything's house first (which was a lovely old cottage set in a large garden) to get ready. I can't really remember what people were wearing - Red got to wear her Me and Em dress as she didnt have anything else with her. Dont remember any bitchiness, just lots of "but what about me, what am I going to wear" type chats and us all tripping over each other trying to get ready. I was sitting there all smug in my green dress - only for the photographer to look at me and say "god no, go to the back please''

Speaking of the Reiss dress - had an email back from their CS saying they are only planning to stock it in......canary yellow! Yikes! They couldn't have possibly chosen a worse alternative colour for me - makes the green even more appealing but can only think of wearing it to a MU and its not even close to any colour in my swatch book. Also, not used to wearing such a stand out colour if that makes sense. I usually like to blend with the wall!

Red days like today are horrible. Just do whatever it takes to get through to bedtime (my advice - a large dose of tv and an easy dinner that you know they will eat without fuss). Tomorrow is another day and all that.

Mrs CB I'm the same. Can't do what I did before so what can I do? I keep putting off updating my CV cos that way I don't have to face up to the reality of applications, interviews, rejections, arranging childcare etc. I just wish something would just pop up but life never works like that.

For me, one of the biggest hurdles is 'getting my head around' allowing someone else to look after the DC. Perhaps I am just not a very trusting person, I mean I manage to send them to school all day with no problem. Agree Verity that the portfolio career thing is a way forward.

Red, a friend of mine who is an ex English HOD runs an after school drama club at her DC's school. She doesn't get paid for it but it has been so tremendously popular (parents are willing to pay and have done so with proceeds going towards eqipment etc.) that she can see a business opportunity there if she wanted it. She also does some drama sessions at the preschool that her DS2 attends and gets free sessions for him. Perhaps most importantly she thoroughly enjoys the work and has built up a nice portfolio of original scripts/songs/props. Could imagine you doing similar.

Portia

Oops, that was meant for Fleecy, thought it was a bit too cheeky to be Portia .

That is so funny ollie and quite conceivably they sort of article EL might do. Had it been Vogue it would have been unrealistic!

Spanner in the testing works - DS dropped bottle of orange squash on my foot and has possibly broken my toe. Definitely 'one of those days' here too red. Steps outfit must now include fitflops - chic is not the word.

bloss I've got them in black. Best boots ever, go with everything and super comfy.

The dilemma of what to do when they're both at school doesn't trouble me at all - hoping to take at least a year of swanning about doing whatever I fancy before committing to anything. Gets me through days like today, but then I never have been painfully ambitious...