Avidly plotting to Wisely splurge. Come on the sales!

[blossoming]

Just bought the Me & Em maxi. Well I had a code..

Love a quality trashy mag, me. Can't beat OK, though I very occasionally plumb the depths with something hilarious like Love it for the 'they couldn't make this up and yet they do' 'real life' stories i.e. 'my gynaecologist was a cannibal' or 'left at the altar, for a hamster!'

Great suggestions, thank you everyone. Id forgotton about the impact on tastebuds. great tip about the flouride too always
Friend has to have 3 days in isolation in hospital - has to bin all clothes she wears in there and limit use of laptop etc. She then goes onto tablet form of radiotherapy but must limit hugs etc with her DDs and sleep apart from DH. She is amazngly postive about it all. She has had her thyroid (and thr growth) removed and has this treatment is precautionary. I think I will get everyone to put in some homemade vouchers too eg I owe you one nights babysitting for when you feel up to a night out with your DH etc.

S&B observation - I like the French team football shirts. A nice blue

Have a helthy supply of trashy mags from Brighton and friend's visit thanks Everything - v sweet of you to offer tho.

Amber my friend used to be a feeelance journalist and write those sort of articles. I had to stop telling her stuff as she'd want to turn it into a story (eg me and my twin taking party in a survey of twins and finding out we had exactly the same number of moles on our bodies - not exactly news worthy but friend disagreed and turned up at house with photographer in tow

Healthy - honestly, you think an ipad would be able to keep up with typing?

Ny, get the aubergine Hunters, bang on trend colourwise for next season.

How many moles then Ollie? Would have to be at least 27 to be newsworthy.

SE, you are in surprisingly good humour, send some Hopefully's way .

Fritzi, did you get your work done? What did you write about in the end? The crazy brand protection needs a mention somewhere for posterity.

Am seriously thinking of getting all my clothes hand made by pixies from now on!

Poor humour? Me? You must be thinking of someone else Pickled.

It is just so tiresome not quite knowing what we're doing, whether DH will be working, whether we'll have a house budget from two incomes or one, whether we should move before or after I train. So many little dilemmas, but all rather put in perspective by Ollie's poor friend.

SE did you manage to find a relatively non-crazy-chemically-tasting protein shake? What brand is it? I am contemplating trying again, but I am a bit scared after the last sweetener-ridden disaster.

Just had a peruse of the MW sale, not tempted by much, except these which are way way way way out of budget at the moment. SE I thought this was nice and small and neat.

I have just cooked healthy muffins and cookies (and by 'healthy' I mean cooked with honey and maple syrup, and not too much of either, and stuffed to the brim with oats, seeds etc. That makes them healthy, right?). They are yummy. Have decided that I need plenty of semi-healthy snacks around to prevent me giving into the temptation of M&S cake/Montezuma's chocolate every time I leave the house.

Pah, got all excited at Pure Collection Silk 50% promo thing, but the silk shirt I want another of isn't included. Typical.

Fritzi, saw this waistcoat on my virtual travels, it's got some linen in it.

Hopefully, it is so hard being in limbo and you have been now for quite a while - keep shopping smiling!

Everything you sound to be coping remarkably well in the circumstances. Hope things begin to subside soon, must be really, really horrible to contend with.

Ollie you are such a lovely friend. Can't think of anything else to add - perhaps a really lovely dressing gown/lounging-type clothes for when she's out of hospital, although that makes things a bit £££.

Amber we went for 4V wooden laminate - wood textured, looks like wood and has bevelled edges so resembles floorboards. We'll replace with parquet in a few years, but for now it looks excellent and is very, very hard-wearing. Hope it's remedied soon.

Yes to wellies NY - Hunters here too and they're the business.

Feeling quite tired out following half-term - we made a big effort to be out and doing stuff all the time and it was very wearing. Lovely though.

I thought we may had escaped the pox, but DS has a few interesting spots on his torso tonight. Nevermind.

Big wave to everyone else, will catch up properly this evening.

red your flooring sounds great, will investigate! Have to say, I was dreading the pox, but it was all over with minimal fuss and now I never have to worry about it again until DC3. At least the weather is so dismal that being on house arrest won't be too painful if it does turn out to be pox. My two picked the only two weeks of decent weather to come down with it!

Something like this Amber. You're right - would be better to get pox now - lots of spots came up as he was in the shower and now seem to have died right down; we'll see. Poor little DD has got thrush and keeps on looking very uncomfortable and says 'sore'. Bless her.

argh hopefully frustrating times for you - things will work out eventually but it's hard not to get the "not knowing" get to you

olly maybe add in a couple of magazines like "Time" and "National Geographic"? I would suggest "The Economist" too if you think she'd like it. Just some things to read which take a while if she feels like it. Big hug for you and your friend. re moles - that could have been your fifteen minutes

Off to Paris tomorrow for a dinner and conference and have ensured plenty of magazine reading time time to get there. Nice to have a break from the office, just one night and back in time for the DDs bedtime. And listening not presenting - result! Bonsoir any good shopping near Place Des Ternes?

SE it's often recommended to add it to porridge, which could work well for nice chocolate porridge in the morning. Might investigate if I can't get my protein up enough - it works out at a comparable price per g of protein for tinned sardines, I think, and if I have to eat another tin of sardines I may throw something at the wall

Right, speaking of protein, I need to go and do Insanity before eating dinner.

donaAna, do you have sweaty betty in Italy? I love it all, but then it suits my colouring!

notyummy, I don't think one is allowed near an agricultural show without wellies. Hunter ones look good I think, quite close fitting. Or you could get some wedge ones

Another opportunity to be smug about where I live - we have a Sweaty Betty store in the village, which I only just discovered the other day! Was v pleased!

I am nothing if not suggestible. Black glitter hunters on their way. Guaranteed delivery by 1pm Wednesday, which should be in time for the Show. Dh found them for me. He was surprisingly helpful.. Am now wondering if he has some strange welly fetish I was never aware of until now

Ooh, have intell that the Selfridges sale starts on Thursday. May need to reschedule my driving lesson...

Emo76 - you need to walk from place des Ternes down the avenue de Wagram for abour 300m, where you will hit the middle of the rue de Courcelles. On rue de Courcelles to your right you will find Sandro, Maje, Kooples, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Gérard Darel etc etc - a whole host of French premium high street brands. To your left there are lot of children's shops including Bonpoint (right at the top of the street, near the place du Maréchal Juin) and Cordelia de Castellane (CdeC) as well as BA&SH.

emo Have fun in Paris!

Has the rain stopped and floods subsided?!

Can we please have a 20s inspired MU?

Morning.

It is almost pitch black here still - another day set for rain. I am wearing a winter outfit or denim mini, opaques and a superdry check shirt.

Great insider info Amber.

Emo I am envious beyond words.

Wellington boot fetish NY? I have heard of worse...but then I once looked after a man who had a broom handle rammed up his backside, he reckoned that he slipped on the wet bathroom floor and fell 'onto' it.

Yeah, 'course you did!

Am also v jealous Emo - enjoy!

MIM - at your broom story, although I guess these things are more common than we would like to think. Weather sounds similar here. I am working from home today and have just dropped dd off at school - it was COLD . She is in 'summer' uniform - little gingham dress with knee high socks - and looked chilly. I had put a cardigan and her mid weight coat on her and was pleased I did. Wind is whipping round the place.

Yes, just had long wait for a bus, brrr. Will be glad when my waiting for buses days are behind me!

Dunno why Selfridges is keeping so schtum about their sale, you'd thing they'd want to drum up a bit of excitement! I'll do a first day recce for anything I'm worried will sell out, then return a few days later when they really slash the prices. Standard tactical shopping.

DH was making me laugh last night with tales of a bridezilla colleague. She is very young and therefore very, very precious about her 'big day' and is most aggrieved that her husband-to-be has flouted the no kids rule to allow his cousin's newborn to attend. She was bending DH's ear for ages, so he very earnestly said 'so does than mean DS and DD are invited?', apparently the look on her face was priceless. The irony is I just know she will be the definition of PFB when she has a baby and would be outraged if her little darling were excluded from any event.

mim that is grim. Honestly though, my best mate is gay and some of the things he gets up to make that sound tame. Takes all sorts...

Have a lovely time in Paris, emo, make sure you buy something nice!

Comptoir having their pre-sale over next two days, if anyone wants the invite PM me.

merci bonsoir not sure I have much or any shopping time but where there's a will there's a way...

ny black glitter hunters sound ACE