Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Style and beauty

Looking for style advice? Chat all about it here. For the latest discounts on fashion and beauty, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Original poster

Crepes of Froth

995 replies

MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 09:56

Bum! Just join a thread and lock it down! So I'll start the next one.

OP posts:
Blackduck · 30/06/2013 10:13

Beat me to it! ;)

bigTillyMint · 30/06/2013 10:50

Welcome!

Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 11:03

Thank you! Perfect thread for a sandwich generation! Permanently exhausted by stressing about aged-parents needs. Not sure what to wear or how any more. Feeling I've aged rapidly in the last few years and always looking for repair/delay measures. I still think of myself as 25 but my body feels nearer 80 with all the aging complaints and a face and body I don't recognise in the mirror.
Blimey that sounds miserable... I'm not all doom and gloom ... really.
I've had my colours done and that has made a huge difference. I'm saving to go for a style sessions soon so I know what shapes suit my body. I love having rules!

OP posts:
bigTillyMint · 30/06/2013 11:05

I have been toying with the idea of getting my colours done for about 10 years Bentley, but am worried I will have to chuck out half my favourite clothes!

Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 11:09

I have sorted my wardrobe into YES and no sections. Still need to wear nos at times as I haven't got a suitably coloured alternative. Luckily I had a lot of black and I'm a winter so am allowed to wear it. I also hold to the "if I like it and think it suits me I'll wear it" train of thought (HoC people don't shoot me). Often my favourites, e.g. a couple of dresses and jackets, are because I like the shape rather than the colour and are harder to replace, but I will when I find them in the shops at a price I can afford.

OP posts:
Cremolafoam · 30/06/2013 11:17

I love the idea of having my colours done , but yes BTM I'd probably have to chuck my entire wardrobe. I end up buying colours that make me feel good ( colour pops innit) and lots of navy( safe : goes with everything)I tend to wear black for work so am strangely drawn to primary colours for RL. The trick is not to be inexorably drawn to beige- non?
Welcome Bentley . What age are your parents, are they well?

Hattie are you heading to UK for a visit?

Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 11:25

No APs not well - Dad - advanced Alzheimers, Mum - heart problems (both in their 80s) both still in own home. Not helped by the fact I'm only child and live miles from them.
Agree Cremolafoam I do feel more confident in correct colours. If I want to be accurate HoC I wear black or navy (my best 100% list) with pops of red, purple, bright pink, bright blue. I usually wear black trousers and top with bright scarf, jacket or cardi. Or navy trousers/skirt with red and white. Love some of the dresses in Phase8, but their shape does not flatter mine!

OP posts:
MrsSchadenfreude · 30/06/2013 11:46

I'm an only child as well, MB - it is shit, isn't it. My father died in 1999, my mother is, a leetle challenging at times. My cousin and I support each other a lot - her Mum (my Mum's sister) died a few months back, and she is coping with a Dad with Alzheimers, and trying to keep him in his own home. She has a brother in Australia and a sister in Spain, so is basically in the same boat as me. We'll see a lot more of each other when I move back to London in September.

I am meeting a Mumsnetter this afternoon, someone I have been in contact with for about 10 years, but have never met!

I need to lose weight and am thinking of the 5:2 diet. I did something similar in the 1980s, and it worked well for me then.

Cremolafoam · 30/06/2013 11:59

Mrs S that sounds exciting- meeting mumsnetter I mean.
I'd so love to meet you all btw.
Smile

Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 12:22

I recently started the 5:2 diet too, but gave up for a while as I was under the weather / unwell, then just sooo tired to want to go back to it. Lost a few pounds in the month I did it, so must go back to it. I started it not just for weight loss. I read research into it helping prevent/delay Alzheimer's and as I fear the possible genetic link I'm really trying to make lifestyle changes. Can't say I'm doing too well with that at the moment as life is getting in the way!

OP posts:
Blackduck · 30/06/2013 12:23

MrsS has was the holiday? And I see you didn't get job, are you going to demand a recount on account if shrieking child?
Maybe - mum had heart attack followed by stroke so we are dealing with that at the moment.

I'd be too afraid to get my colours done in case they said sugar pink and other girlie shades were me :)

Blackduck · 30/06/2013 12:25

MB - join the club, MI, Herbs and I all 5:2. CV is a low carb person....

Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 12:40

My sympathy BD, is your mum in hospital? Its awful spending weekends at a hospital bedside! Luckily my mum is out now and on the mend, but caring for dad is proving challenging and support from anyone except village church has been crap!
Winter was the only season I was not expecting when I went to HoC! From reading online I was expecting spring or summer. Although I like the black, navy and bright jewel colours I was disappointed with my choice of pale colours. I love pale blue and yellow. I don't find the icy colours appealing.
From what I saw of other's seasons none are completely girly colours, but even if I had been given a season with corals and pinks I would have chosen other colours from my wallet instead. So I wouldn't worry about being straight-jacketed into sugar pink.

OP posts:
bigTillyMint · 30/06/2013 12:46

MB and MrsS, I am an only too. And miles away from my aged mother.

And I think I am going to have to try the 5:2 for a monthBlush

motherinferior · 30/06/2013 12:59

I am not 5:2ing this week Blush. O god my mum is coming to stay on Friday, which is when there is a do at school I was looking forward to (I don't get out much: it's the school barbecue which is usually a drunken laugh). She will be utterly charming to everyone but I shall have to keep an eye on her, rather than lurching happily up to all the people I know and love.

I did manage to swim this morning - for once the pool was not shut Angry. Now frantically practising my solo for next week's concert...

Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 13:00

Go for it bigTillyMint. A month is only 8 fasts! I found the first one very odd, then next couple a challenge and then got into my stride and they are OK, when you are feeling well. I did feel tired and headachey, so can't face it at the moment. But am planning to start back up in a couple of weeks once I've shaken off this cold and got through the next round of late working evenings, parents visits to establish routines and support, DH working away.

OP posts:
Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 13:01

solo, Motherinferior? Do you play an instrument or sing? Wish I had a musical talent.

OP posts:
motherinferior · 30/06/2013 13:23

Sing. In a small chamber choir.

Blackduck · 30/06/2013 15:34

We are singing at the local festival next weekend (Moonriver is off the list I am glad to say, but we are murdering 'dancing cheek to cheek' :) )
Dp is designing our new bathroom - it will cost an arm and several legs by the look of it.

bigTillyMint · 30/06/2013 16:20

BD, I like the sound of that bathroom!

Finally home after another day of taxiing and attending DC's events.

Not sure what my strategy would be on the 5:2 - no breakfast, salad for lunch....Confused

Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 16:29

That was my strategy. No breakfast, salad or soup for lunch, then low calorie dinner. Every time I think I'm hungry I have a drink of water. I avoided fruit as it seems to make me more hungry and eats into the 500 calories a day allowance. Lots of vegetables for dinner instead. Found sugar free chewing gum really useful if I had sweet cravings.

OP posts:
CointreauVersial · 30/06/2013 16:34

Afternoon all, hello MB (may I call you that?).

I'm enjoying some rare peace and quiet at the moment; DD1 is at Thorpe Park, DS and DD2 are in next door's swimming pool, having spent the last hour in the field behind the house with the hosepipe, sliding up and down a wet tarpaulin.

I am trying to muster the energy to pull up a few weeds, but the garden is full of building stuff, as our soffits/fascias/guttering replacement is finally underway. Nothing is ever simple with this house, however, and the bottom three rows of roof tiles now have to be re-set, as they were somehow nailed to the soffits, and fell off when they were taken down.Hmm

In S&B news, I'm wearing my new cheapo Peacocks maxi skirt today, and very nice it looks too. It's the first day in a while that I didn't have to worry about frostbite of the nether regions, or a soggy hem.

Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 16:59

Hello CointreaVersial, yes MB is great. I ought to be weeding as well, but I'm far too hot at the moment. How come my weed thrive, but my plants die?
I'm wearing "never seen beyond the garden" clothes! Cropped linen trousers, a baggy teeshirt and trainers! All the wrong colours, but I'm bounded to get dirty in the garden so I don't care if they get wrecked. Family will be back after day out soon, so I ought to get organised, but I've completely run out of steam this weekend.

OP posts:
Original poster
MaybeBentley · 30/06/2013 17:00

Sorry missed a "u" out of your name!

OP posts:
bigTillyMint · 30/06/2013 17:10

CV, linkie!

Might go into the back yard with the pruning shears...