Crepes of Froth

[MaybeBentley]

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

CV - happy for you - you must be so relieved.

Have I got this joy to come then, CV? Must be a huge relief to have stopped. You must have been feeling quite drained. (Sorry.)

I could not wear a bikini. I would clear the beach in seconds. My stomach (apart from there being much too much of it) is covered with stretch marks, which 13 years on have refused to fade and I look like I've been savaged by a tiger. Oh and there are several scars on it as well, from various bits of surgery.

Am meeting my Gentleman Friend for dinner on Monday night. He has become a bit of an old woman of late, which means we have to eat early, so that he can be tucked up in bed at a reasonable hour.

I spent today interviewing for an under butler (don't ask) and found it refreshing that all of those we interviewed had had part time or Saturday jobs all through school and college - Maccy D's, shop work, caffs, you name it. Unlike the policy wonks who will generally only do internships. I'd rather employ someone who has had a "proper" job, as they're usually a grafter and don't see things like doing the washing up as beneath them. I want to put up a poster in our office that says "Having a vagina is not a mandatory qualification for tidying the office and washing up."

Very nice interview dress, MrsS. Good luck with avoiding all screaming kiddies this time.

CV, oh that is a record you won't want to break. 29 days.

Frum. I think I am naturally frum. I don't like exposing much flesh and am v. grumpy that tops these days all scoop down at the front. No likey. I currently have a chest like a pink crocodile, despite the Factor 50.

Wilbur, you may be pleased to know that Griselda is now Mitzi :) Mind you, Snowdrop is in danger of being renamed Greedy Bastard. Dog has decided he will only howl and scream if he catches us talking to the chickens. Otherwise he is pretty much ignoring them (well, he knows that he can't scale a 6-foot trellis).

I sat on my garden path on Wed evening amidst a tangle of 25m of electric fencing (bloody harder to put up than you might think) and blubbed pathetically after dd had been super-ultra-plus foul. Today has been better, with her actually doing something positive by doing an hour's prep with dh for her German oral. This is the first time I can ever remember the pair of them working usefully together. Amazing.

Less usefully, but entirely predictably, she has refused to see the Guidance Counsellor at school. If she could but volunteer or get involved with a project over the summer... This is not her way at the moment. Refusal and scorn-pouring are the order of the day. Oh well.

Off to Paignton Zoo with the cubs tomorrow. I hope the coach has aircon...

x-posts MrsS.

I have my itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny bikini I bought from the surf shop last summer. It looks fine - as long as all observers are about 300 yards away. Dh kindly took some pics of me emerging from the river on hols. Arsula Undressed, it was. And Daz blue-white with interesting red scribble on my upper thighs (broken veins, which even ds saw fit to remark upon). It's basically an "abandon all hope" situation.

And congrats to Hattie's dd on bac results. And belated happy birthday to Crem's dd and to Ruby.

PS: Is the Helen Wright article any good? I'm schadenfreudischly looking forward to finding out if her advice works when her own daughters are teens...

Ds's school report here. I blubbed. His teacher has been and is fab - it is a detailed report that describes my little boy and not some random y5. He has come out of himself and his confidence has grown - now they want him in a school team (all his scores were level 4 except PE - ha ha) and to take on a leadership role :)
You may recall the trauma threads and threads back about the battle with literacy many many threads back - what a difference a year and a school makes :)

Re mum - 4/5 weeks wait then they will take her in, check all other major organs are okay and can take the surgery. Collapse lung, key hole, 10 day recovery in hospital. He is hopeful. Mum will do it, dad is resistant.

BD, that's great news

The HW article was interesting and pretty sensible. And so right about parents feeling alone in dealing with them. It is so helpful to talk to others about their experiences and realise how difficult a time it is for teens and how difficult it is to parent them!

Oh bd well done your ds. What a difference a year makes indeed.

Re your mum- do you mean she has a collapsed lung? Goodness poor thing she really has been in the wars.
Difficult for your dad and you too.
Take car bd

No Cremo - she needs a heart bypass, to do that they collapse the left lung - hence the fact your organs need to be up to it. So they will check all that and assuming okay will collapse her lung, do key hole surgery and then re inflate.

Oh sorry bd I see now. Gosh.

Gosh, big op - no wonder your dad's worried. But I'm sure they wouldn't consider it unless they thought she was up to it.

Kiwi's now gone It's a shame NZ is so far away and £££ to fly over as all DH's old mates from school/uni are lovely.

BD, fantastic news about the school report; a good teacher is worth his/her weight in gold.

Wearing my FatFace bikini today with pride (OK, only in my own back garden...). And a light sheen of sweat, which is why I'm having an ten-minute indoor MN break.

DD1 has six hours of play rehearsals in a stuffy village hall, poor lamb.

Me too, CV - tis tropical in my back yard

You lot now have the weather we've had here all last week. Never thought I'd be so grateful for 19 degrees and a fresh breeze.
We have started on the big front garden makeover now that the temp has lowered by 10 degrees. Phew still scorching to weed in. I am stripped to my tankini and welly shoes. A less glamorous picture Ivan hardly imagine.
Poor kitties are flaked out inside with dd who is sun allergic. I am going to teach her Rick Steins Korma recipe later. She is learning one survival student recipe per week this summer.

So far:
Bean chilli tacos
Leek and ricotta lasagne
Chickpea and rice
Homemade pesto
Homemade onion jam

Cremo, they sound fab recipes! I take it she's veggie

DC have now both gone out (separately of course!) to the Lido - it's open till 9.30, so we should have a few moments of peace, unless they can't get in at all!

All in various states of flakedness here!

CV linky...
May go to pub for a pint.....

Hmm, that sounds like a good idea BD

I'm counting down the minutes until it's cava-o'clock.

Just thinking the same herbs. Gotta do this curry and then it must be prosecco'clock here too. Have cleared 12 sq meters of grass today with dh. Am zonked .
Dd is grating coconut after dropping same from a great height. Lol
Took 45 minutes for her to crack it.
[ haven't told her you can buy coconut milk in a carton]
Better to learn from scratch - at least the first time.

I have an Hermes scarf! DH said, as we were passing the shop this afternoon, "I always meant to get you an Hermes scarf before we left Paris." So I thought, Carpe Diem, dragged him in, and came out shortly after with a scarf. And then I went to BHV and got a Longchamps Pliage weekend bag in the sale. What a giddy day!

And we are going out tonight, to my favourite restaurant, DD1 is babysitting and DD2 has opted to stay Home Alone.

Crem - get MI to send you some of her curry recipes...

I have a fantastic bean curry (two in fact), very easy, if you would like the recipes?

Had loads of fizz with Kiwi's last night - just fancy a cold beer now.
Apparently there's been a nasty accident at the Lido so they've all been tipped out

When are you arriving over here, MrsS?

And yes, fresh coconut grated in curry is lush

Oh yes MrsS bean recipes please!!!

I will post later. One can also be made with chicken and contains peanut butter (Groundnut Stew). The other uses green beans and haricot or butter beans (from a tin) and some hummus. It's just called "Bean Curry", or as DD2 rather predictably calls it, "Well What Is It Now?"