It's a race against time for the Avid girls to wear the Wise summer buys..

[blossoming]

Best I could do. Jump in!

Er, she sounds a bit bonkers Suburban!

Ha just read that.

I don't even have a style blog (actually, I do, but it's still in its infancy, so not linking just yet!), but even my quilts etc get hundreds of hits from links anywhere on MN - it's not just A&W that has hundreds of lurkers

Suburban that seems to be not as uncommon ad one would think (about 40bums pics I mean). People are mad!

Good to know Hopefully. I loved that pic of you with the material that SE linked. So cute! (meant to say ages ago).

Gosh that is crazy stuff.
I try not to think too much about lurkers and I try (unless inadvertently) not to post something that as Hopefully said wouldn't mind people having heard in RL. It's not as if I speak about my job or people I know.
Agree NY. It may be the best I will ever lo

Gosh that is crazy stuff.
I try not to think too much about lurkers and I try (unless inadvertently) not to post something that as Hopefully said wouldn't mind people having heard in RL. It's not as if I speak about my job or people I know.
Agree NY. It may be the best I will ever look in that wetsuit. There is nowhere to hide!
MCB £10 well spent!

iPhone fail again. Sorry for double post.

It was just that particular comment, for the reasons Fritzi said. And I mentioned the miscarriage which even my dad or MIL doesn't know about. I think I'll use Facebook or PM for anything personal from now on. Caveat lurkers.

Have a great holiday, Emo.

Suburban, that is so strange.

I love lavender, we have lots of it. Nice to see you, btw, Red!

Argh am pissed off. My lovely Ash trainers arrived and are gorgeous, but have a whacking great tack sticking out of the insole! Shirty email has been dispatched.

Aw, I'm an open book, I'll tell anyone my life story, so I don''t really care. Totally understand your worries though!

Pm /fb good idea for personal stuff.

I am fairly lax. Not totally, don't talk about friends. I don't talk about work, would like to sometimes but best not to.

I do think that ongoing threads get more lurkers as for some people its like reading a soap opera.

So very wise to be very careful about what personal info you reveal. I had my fingers burnt in the past so am pretty circumspect now.

A good friend of mine works for the Huffington Post uk and told me that Mumsnet gets pretty mxuch the highest traffic of anyone in blogging/chat forums etc industry so it's not surprising. She is not a mum and was impressed when I said my blog had come up on MN, if only she knew the dowdy truth

sorry to hear that decameron must have been awful.

DP recently had to fire somebody who was caught bad mouthing the company on LinkedIn. He didn't even use an alias, what a ridiculous thing to do.

I am so glad that this discussion is being had - I find myself in a tricky position where I have recently been 'discovered' and information that I would really rather not have certain parties knowing is out there - why I have been so absent. My fault entirely for my naivety in being quite so frank, but it's very hard as this thread has become such a support and you ladies have become my friends. It's very hard for me to post without being candid - I can't manage it! Also, with my return to work and this being a hotspot for parents with secondary aged children, I need to be much more discreet.

I know I could name-change and so on, but I think I would be fairly recognisable after a few posts for anyone who cared enough to locate me (and there are people who I think might).

It's beginning to make sense to me, the more we all post and the closer we become, why the WO crowd went underground. I'm not suggesting we do likewise (or am I?!), but I do feel very sad about the fact I can no longer disclose information that I would like to share with you all.

Thank you for garden tips! Small-ish, rectangular plot, south-facing. Definitely decking/terrace which has french doors from extension and playroom opening onto it. Lawn elsewhere and some vision for a shaded 'den' type area at the bottom. I really like lots of flowers and a slightly wild look. Potted herbs on the terrace as you suggest Mim. Love lavender, the reedy one with lots of orange sprays that is ubiquitous at this time of year. Old English garden looks elsewhere. Will go to the Garden Centre - FIL coming down to do it (is a hardscaper/gardener) with lots of cuttings and a couple of trees to get us going. ATM it is a complete blank canvas - no plants at all.

Morning All

Emo, hope you got your packing sorted without anymore arguments .

Decam, lol at childminding in a hot country. Nice dressing table that you linked to from 'Loaf'. I was trying to remember that website recently - have you tried their bedlinen? Tempted by the lazy linen.

Amber, I need to see the work dress you linked to on NaP (can't access NaP website) - what's it called?

Red, the DC and I have planted a herb garden this week. Easy to do, near the kitchen obvs, lots of hardy lavender and rosemary, also thyme and sage easy to grow. Hope you are feeling less overwhelmed now and glad that you're looking forward to getting stuck in to gardening - I think Fritzi and Marsha are the experts on here.

Enjoying reading all the chat but have v. little time to write - glad DD is sorted MrsCB, belated happy Anniversary Dona and happy hols Emo and Everything. Oh, and to the potty trainers - seriously the most stressful bit of motherhood so far for me - hang in there .

Forgot to say glad that yesterday went well Mrs CB and that your DD wasn't too upset.

Suburban sorry to here about your FIL.

I'm afraid no gardening advice from me, we are plagued with rabbits!

That pseudo blogger who used 40bum's photos, that is odd, nought as strange as folk etc.........

x posts Red, sorry to hear that the thread is throwing up problems for you . Agree that a namechange would not be v. effective. Could you/we perhaps use PM a bit more often? Would that help? I almost PMed you to make sure you were OK but wasn't sure if it was appropriate

off thread

Morning all,

Good to see you Suburban - sorry your father in law is unwell - hope you have a good break with the family.

I wholeheartedly agree with the comment about holidays being childminding in a hot place - although in our case for the last few years it has been in a cold, rainy place (without a dishwasher) as we haven't been abroad as a family yet.

No sign of mice alive or dead this morning - I will call in the services of your ds if there are any more sightings mrscb - or perfect my stroke inducing scream like everything

What a ordeal for you yesterday mrscb - prosecco well deserved. So pleased that it all went well and you had such good care.

Have fun with the garden red. Ours needs sorting desperately. Old residents were keen gardeners and spent hours each day on it. There are hundreds of plants which have now grown far too big. It is also on a few different levels, none of them that big so we are in the process of trying to claim back more lawn. I love those orange reedy things too - are they called montbretia or something> Had tonnes in old house.

I worry about lurkers too - main fear is that someone will recognise me and think - 'but she's a right scruff bag - what's she doing on here?'. I know a few of the local NCT crowd are on MN but I don't think they read this thread - maybe I'm being very naive?

It is tricky because we are now such good friends on here, and lots of us have met so it would seem quite false and awkward to not post anything personal. I wouldn't be averse to a more private arena.

Went for coffee with friend this morning and as I am trying not to let on about the low carbing yet in RL I panicked about what to order and ended up with a double espresso. Poor ds will be awake all night! On plus side am easily back in pre pregnancy jeans and feeling fab - its a revelation.

Pickled - yes am far, far more relaxed this time around but then ds is a much easier baby. I reckon he hasn't even cried as much in his whole 5 months as DD would have done in a day. Of course some of that might be because I'm more relaxed but I think he needs to take most of the credit.

Best of british to the potty trainers. DD still isn't dry at night despite being fairly easy to train during the day. I'm not too fussed but interesting to see that younger ones (Marsha & MrsCB) are managing.

Crikey - that was an essay - sorry.

mrscb glad all went well at the hospital.

suburban sorry about FIL!

Interesting to read all the chat about lurkers. We have regular compulsory meetings at work that reinforce the fact that people can piece together who you are very easily online. We are also told under no circumstances to mention work on fb etc. Its such a strange one...such is the world now. After the last meeting I took my location off profiles etc but I know I would never mange to not mention where I am when talking so kind of pointless! Here I do assume though that no one would identify me....Amazed re DMBL40 pics and mad folk!!!! Wow!

Settled down to watch GBBO last night to find one of the DC had cancelled the recording.(made me realise how little tv I ever watch when it's actually on the tv) There is irony on taking iPad to gym and setting cross trainer then watching GBBO while exercising.......thought the challenges were fairly hard for episode one though!

Red, sorry to hear that, I was wondering what was up. I agree, name changes are pretty obvious after a couple of days. I've been thinking about it and I don't see any point in me continuing on the thread if we aren't able to chat properly. I'd be interested in another arena too.

Pickled, I went to their showroom last year and almost bought the bedlinen, it is good quality and not a bad price. I'm going to do what you do now, Portia, and have the sheets and duvets laundered, one less job, thanks for the tip!

Icey, well done on the weight loss! What are you doing, cutting out bread and pasta? I have decided to do that three days a week (probably not enough) but couldn't resist a bowl of Alpen this morning.

Suburban, . That was quite stupid of that guy in your DP's company.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. You describe precisely the way I feel Decam - I see very little point in posting if I feel I can't be open. The problem with PM's Pickled is that they don't lend themselves to any flow of conversation (IMO, unless I'm not using them correctly, that is!) and then the discrepancy between what was said off-board and on-board what undoubtedly get confused at some point. I think it needs to be one way or the other.

My suggestion would be a private FB group, which is what other groups on threads who get to this 'stage' seem to do. Anyone not currently on FB could set up an account in their posting name and include little or no information if they wanted to preserve anonymity (although not sure anyone would want to do that within the 'safety' of the group). I'm not flouncing, and I don't want to be spearheading a flounce, but I simply can't continue to post anymore on a public forum with this level of candour.

If people are not particularly keen to follow suit, please say - I don't want to be disruptive and annoying to those of you who are happy as you are and shall skulk off!

Icey Montbretia it is - I love it! Big well done on the weight loss - to what extent are you low-carbing? I am a little tubbier than I''d like to be ATM. Have made really nice meals two days in a row which the DC have summarily rejected. Hate doing separate meals and hate giving in to beans on toast/dippy eggs/porridge again and again. Persevere or no?

Delurking here to apologise to you all, and you especially Decameron if I have caused any upset. I used the "eavesdropping" term in a very innocent way in the same way I might describe "people watching" or "lurking" but I see now that I could have caused upset. I really do enjoy these threads although I am not an overly frequent follower - more of a dipper in - and I use you guys as a style inspiration. Once again, please accept my very real apology

Don't worry, LoungerLizard, it just made me think about it, probably a good thing.

Thanks for that post Lounger. I think your comment has just been a reminder to us all of what we knew already, iyswim?

I agree it's really hard to post without going in to detail about RL, I class you all as good friends and would hate to not be sharing stuff with you. I am happy to go with the majority though in terms of what we as a group want to do. Tricky.

Red, have you looked at my pins for the garden? There are some good pics of raised beds, using decking - which would help contain plants, therefore making it easier to care for them. Also helps limit the amount of weeding you need to do etc. I find the BBC gardening website really good for info. What about some climbers for wall/fence coverage and scent? Such as Jasmin or a honeysuckle?