Walking in a Crepey Wonderland!

[MrsSchadenfreude]

I couldn't see that anyone else had started a new thread, after Stropps carelessly finished the old one without starting a new one, so here you are.

Auriga, very glad to hear dd is feeling better. My ds often gets very swollen glands in his tummy when he has a temp. This has become a less frequent occurrence in recent years, but generally has him squealing with the pain.
Crem, sounds like you are on the way back to fighting form.
QQ, well done on the conflict resolution. I realise we need to practise those kinds of skills in this house in 2014.
Have spent the afternoon deep-cleaning the bathroom. Does anyone know how to get limescale off glass shower screens? I looked it up and the only advice I found was to wipe it with "left-over white wine". Hahaha.

Second Viakal spray. I'm a martyr to the limescale, and it does work. If you're feeling keen you can squeegy it afterwards.

Stropps, distilled vinegar is efficacious if smelly! My cleaner loves the Tesco shower spray - works for her!

Am just eating a slab of Christmas cake....

I have been using the Tesco shower spray and it seems to make not one jot of difference. Boo. Have got through half a bottle of glass cleaner this afternoon. I shall get some Viakal tomorrow. Grrrr. We live in an area with exceptionally hard water. It's almost crunchy.

I have finished the pink fizz, and also some Maltesers that the kids were given. No wonder the scales are groaning.

Must be all in the wrist action I thought London had the worst limescale though?!

It's because you have special water that has been drunk 6 times already.

Only 6 times?

DS and his mates are being very sweet and polite

Limescale is far worse in Cotswolds than it is in London, weirdly, it just occurs naturally. It totally destroys washing machines and toilets - they crust up really fast.

Just been to see The Hobbit part 2. Good to start with and then rubbish, if you're a Tolkien fan. Kids are showing the signs of being cooped up in the terrible weather, ds2 is particularly lairy. Will be sending them outside for a long time tomorrow even if it's still blowing a gale.

We have really soft water - I've never descaled a kettle since living here - but strangely I still get limescale on the shower screen. Getting it off is my least favourite chore, and involves Viakal spray and (ahem) nudity. Much easier to splash and rinse if you are already shower-ready, innit.

We used to have really soft water until they changed us over - now it's really hard......
Hate it...

Strops I have brainwashed everyone into squeegeeing the water off the shower screen before they get out. It helps enormously.

Get ye to Ireland Stropps where the water is so soft they don't even sell viakal here.
I played 2 sets and had to lie down on a bench. The old knees are creaking now.

Dd is having a rough time. Exam English resit in a weeks time. And first part if a level politics is really soon. She's close to meltdown .
( drinking tequila slammers is not helpful I know)
I do so want to help her ; she has reached panic point. What can I do?
My offers of support are met with dull stares. She puts So much pressure
on herself . How do I even begin to alleviate that?
I've already suggested she forgets about the English resit. You could cut the tension in this house with a knife

Cremo sorry to hear things are tough with DD - no advice really as I'm not sure there's much you can do when someone is that hard on themselves.... But if she wants more tequila we have a bucket load as dp bought it duty free

First working day of the year. Job decision made - sticking with the devil I know (for lots of work and personal reasons - not ready to bury myself in the country yet )

Have a good day all!

Oh God Cremo, so sorry to hear that - what is it with these bright girls who put so much pressure on themselves? I have no advice, but am watching to see advice from those who have been through it/how you deal with it as it is/will be an issue here too

Had a bit of a broken nights sleep with the 4 teen boys "sleeping" in the room above us, but they did finally shut up after 2. I am resisting the urge to vacuum the stairs outside the room

Yes, I'm dreading that too, especially with DD2. Who is also, we've realised, quite worryingly underweight; not just skinny but very, very bony as well as tiny. You'd never think she was getting on for 11 - her sister was skinny (and is still quite thin but definitely curved too) but DD2 is slightly alarming.

MI - I think it's hard to gauge underweightness at this funny age of growing here and there in fits and starts. We had to weigh ds1 for secondary school info form and it was the first time I'd put him on scales since he was a humungous toddler and pretty much broke them. Suddenly, he was on the 21st percentile for his age and he's not even that skinny, I mean he is slim, but has a bum and muscles and all that. He was a quite small newborn but them rapidly inflated to epic proportions, so I had never even considered his weight. What did you and Mr Inferior look like in pre teens? If one of you was a tinny ribs, it may just be genetics. Or is she like ds2 and so restless that she doesn't quite finish meals? As long as she eats a range of stuff and is active, I doubt there is a problem, but it might be worth subtly pushing a few calorie and nutrient dense food stuffs at her. We have produced a lot of peanut butter and banana sandwiches for Ds1 in the last year, also persuaded him that avocado is not the food of the devil, plus I have been buying things like double cream (which luckily I hate) and I try to remember to add a bit to his meals where possible, and a drizzle of olive oil on his pasta.

Ds is built like a stick insect (he is only 10), but dp was a thin child (and adult - only stacked it on in his 40s...) My concern is the tack ds thinks he's fat....honestly if he swollows a peanut you can see it! Where does this body fascism come from?

She's off the scale - zero percentile, apparently!

They are all such different shapes and sizes, and we are getting so conditioned to thinking well-covered/fat children is the norm that we worry when one is skinny. As long as she doesn't seem to have ishoos with food, or is drinking/peeing a lot (Dcousins skinny son had type1 diabetes), then she's probably fine.

None of my family have this problem! Our main concern is that our legs are always too muscular for our trousers

MI, is she your DM's favourite?

Seriously though, if you are concerned, take her to see the GP. Has she got thinner, or always been thin?

Love the idea of legs being too muscular for trousers BTM!

DD1, who was a teeny tiny baby, and fell off the bottom of the centiles by the time she was one, is now distinctly on the sturdy side. But in think she is just gearing up for a growing spurt.

Some kids are just small....DS's best female friend is like a tiny doll, at 14. Can't even fill a pair of leggings.

Bit of slow start today; most of the house were still up at 3am. SIL has gone off to work with a black eye, and has no idea how she got it. BIL thinks she got up in the night and headbutted the handbasin while being a little....unwell.

DP is a bit worried so I've made a GP appointment. I think she has got thinner - honestly, you can see every vertebra, every rib and not just her hipbones but also her pelvis. She is v tiny - weighs three and a half stone and hasn't really put on weight even as she's grown (a bit). Am sure she is fine really! And no, I'm not going to ask my mum (who commented that DD1 is 'filling out' - DD1 is hardly a chunkster, ffs).