The Crepe Papers

[motherinferior]

Did it!

Oh no, addle
And that the uni connection - how weird would that be?! I take it your DD is settled in OK then? We were watching Freshers the other night - DS was horrified when one of the new students said something about drinking for 40 days solid and asked me if i did that. I managed to keep a straight face
See you later?

My background hum is more a suppressed scream, tbh.

I cannot in truth remember a day of my university years and several after that in which I did not drink and not many when I didn't have a large spliff too. I did manage to do a fair amount of work too, along with a lot of Objecting To Things.

Whereas my screams aren't even suppressed. We start every month no knowing if we'll even break even by the end of the month. All our stuff is short-term and completely unpredictable. My back-up business plan is for ds to man a stall outside the house selling eggs and composting worms. My mother looked in one of my army of compost daleks the other day, saw an extravagance of worms and remarked "Oh people pay good money for those, you know".

I have taken an hour out from our current deadline-chasing activity (I'll make it up this evening) to have a radical haircut. I have finally admitted total defeat on the hair front and had it cut very short. A bob has never suited me, so why I had one I don't know. Also, I have accepted the fact of my crepey life, which is that my hair has now got a very short growing cycle and is never even going to make it to shoulder length again.
Dh is either feeling unnaturally tactful today or he really does think it looks ok. My neck is a tad chilly, though.

ps: I really, genuinely no longer look as though I've touched a live wire. Surely this has to be a good thing?

Bet it looks good, spooks

I am a big fan of really short hair

I feel as if this week has gone on forever, and I have to do quite a lot in the next few days too.

hi btm - yes! see you later, not sure what to expect and not bringing ds but i'll be there

spooks - think bob just becomes default cut for crepeys so good radical short cut is great idea and v elegant

and god yes this week is going on for ever x

Addle, DD doesn't want to come - says it will be boring and that she has homework to do!

Stropps, we need a photo!

Neighbour opposite has gone into his garden. He is, at least, wearing clothes today unlike yesterday. I was quite diverted for a while. I don’t get out much. He can’t be very bright, really, can he – this is a quite crowded area. But has quite a nice bottom.

MI His front garden?

Back garden, which backs onto my next-door-neighbour's garden. There are a LOT of second/third floor windows out of which someone can glance casually when looking up from the keys.

I just got another badly paid commission. At this rate I shall be working flat out over half term (have various meetings too) BUT November will be quite lucrative...

Did your pitches pay off, MI? And is your neighbour an exhibitionist or just a bit absent-minded?
Once when I was very, very tired after bfing a ridiculously hungry baby all night, I went downstairs early on a Saturday morning in nothing more than a rather short t-shirt. I sat slumped in a stupor at the dining room table with - as I only later realised - the t-shirt stuck round my waist. I was sitting with my back facing the kitchen window. It was only after the postman knocked on the front door that I realised a) that my bum was on display to the world and b) he had clearly had a good look in the window before knocking on the door. That postman has been smirking at me on a regular basis for the last 8 years.

And another one.

Only one of these has been a direct 'yes we want that feature' acceptance; the other three have been because of my determined keeping self on commissioning eds' radar. The quarterly gig is because a lovely friend (whose way I have passed various jobs in my time, and who commissioned one of these features as she's editing a new baby mag) spotted a little ad on a freelancers' website and sent it to me.

I think neighbour is a bit vague/thick. Really, if you wander out of your back door naked in the middle of London, the likelihood is that someone will see you. Having said which, I frequently come downstairs without many clothes on, and passers-by can spot me through our front door glass. I tend to assume nobody will be bothered. Clearly, I too am a bit vague/thick...

Wow mi kerchiiing!

Oh yes Stropps - photo!!

New dishwasher arrived - unwrapped -2 big dents - 20% off mate or take it back? Dp opted for take it back - I'd have haggled for 40% ....

Yes, BD, agree!

BD as long as the dents aren't on the bits you see go for the discount. DH got a wine fridge like this - dents are round the side against the wall so a bargain.

(I should add - he's French - wine fridge essential)

They were on the front.. Decision made.. He is a tad tired so wasn't thinking straight! DIshwasher would have been in utility - no-one would have seen it....

Great news about the work pouring in, mi. Not so good that you actually have to do it, I guess. Bit like how I feel atm - my new personal BD plan has been approved but now I actually have to, er, carry it out.

In other news, I bought a fab wool wrap/shawl/stole thingy - totally random purchase, was walking back to work via trendy Whitecross St at lunchtime and there it was, hanging on a market stall. It cost £20. I opened my wallet and there was - a £20 note (and absolutely nothing else). Serendipity, I call it. Or perhaps being fleeced .

Anyway, I like it.

I would like a wine fridge.

DP has just bogged off to Austria. Am slightly gritting teeth at prospect of the weekend alone, as he usually takes main charge (of meals and taking DD2 to dance) at weekend in recompense for my being at the helm in the week. He points out the tactic is to chill and rely on as much Bought Food as possible. He may be right. Must do Ocado.

The stole/wrap/thingy was clearly beshert, OPM. The best sort of purchase. It called to you and cooed, and hey presto!

DD1 has a friend staying - I am going to have to wake them up, aren't I? Otherwise they're not going to be up before midday.

Does anyone have any ideas of what to buy the DDs to go in their Christmas stockings? I have books, sweets, pants, socks, some cheapo jewellery, possibly some Sharpies if I can get them cheap. Would quite like to get a game each (we have lost our Monopoly, so that might be an idea). Some hideous cat print leggings for DD2...

False moustaches from Tiger (there are not many of them) have gone down very well in stockings with us. We love Settlers of Catan.

Hurrah for work pouring in, MI.

In S and not very B news, we did a lovely little cycling jaunt a few days ago, mostly in sun, last leg to Whitstable in pouring rain, was just settling down beside wood-fired stove and choosing between crab and mussels when my dh peered at me and commented on a lone hair on my chin that had had a growth spurt in the sea air. ds was highly amused, I less so.

MI - this is a French wine fridge - you're not actually allowed to drink the wine - oh no - at least not until it has matured for a number of years.
(I need a grumpy emoticon).