La Vie en Crepe

[motherinferior]

And a new door opens...

[but they don't go till sixth form at dc school - and no too far to pop home, he has carefully arranged one slot every 15/20 mins throughout.]

My career and dh's are light years apart too. But I get to go to Lidl. And parents' evenings.

We left our dd for first time in the autumn, it was fine.

Many happy returns MrsS. Hope you're doing something nice today!

Herbs, so glad things went well yesterday.

Crem, am completely of your Nordic w/e. Sounds fab. I cannot imagine there will be a time in the near future - or indeed the far future - when I could leave the dcs home alone overnight. Not least because they would probably murder each other.

lalsy, get well soon from your Gove-related knee injury. :) Gawd, that odious little twerp has no clue. For every good idea he has, he has at least 450 bad ones. Re: parents' evening - I would opt for taking your ds with you.
Dd had physics ISA all day yesterday. She and that teacher do not get on, but she did grudgingly say that he gave them biscuits :) That was all the info I got, so no idea how the ISA went.
I kept busy all day yesterday, so at least I knew I had achieved some stuff by the end of it. Have plenty of work today at least and sundry other tasks. I have a GP appmt in half-term anyway and I think I will try to hang on for that one as I'm feeling less peculiar today. Thank you for all the support, crepey friends, it means a lot and helps me to get some perspective. I am very tempted to pack my little rucksack and go on a Crepey Tour.
Last night I had a slightly anxiety-inducing phone call from dm, who was in a bit of a tizz (this stuff always happens when you least need it to, does it not?). She had had a phone call from one of df's nieces - who is completely bona fide bonkers (has been sectioned at least once, if not more, lives in sheltered accommodation, fair amount of police involvement, stalks her own sister etc etc) - and the content of the call was a lot of properly mad ranting. Dm and df had no content with that niece for more than 30 years and dm doesn't really know her at all. I have told dm to investigate BT's call barring service... Ho hum. Apparently Niece was saying that she is having a baby (she's about 70) and needs lots of money.

aargh, I'm so slooow. X-posts with everybody.

Rudy, if you feel confident about doing it, that's probably the best indicator that it will be ok. Go for it.

Stropps, my lovely, I really think bring the GP appointment earlier. Like, today. And print out some of the things you've said on this thread, too, to take with you because it's v easy to turn up on a Better Day and then completely misrepresent how one feels on a Bad Day.

Much better to go when you've got the energy but also the evidence of days when you don't.

I am years away from leaving ds on his own (although not quite as many as Herbs)....
Oh god yes, Gove, what a twerp..... seriously - lets have a 45 hour week for the children shall we? and where's the funding coming from, and, and.... don't get me started.....

MI :) - I feel like that about dp - he has my career....... ho hum, I screwed up.

Stropps pack the rucksack!

and book the gp - MI is right and very wise....

Happy Birthday MrsS - hope you have a lovely day, the sun is shining for you!

What is an ISA? And at what point do I have to be aware of them? Ds1 is reknown for failing to mention things like exams or assessments (although he did bring the trebuchet he made in DT home yesterday, so I know he is learning something).

Tired today as I went to the theatre last night - interesting play about motherhood vs career, with some pertinent comments about life for women. A little unsatisfying ultimately, but I put that down to the fact that a successful playwright probably struggles to imagine a domestic life as anything other than dead end and depressing.

Stropps - agree with others and so sorry about your dm getting random scary calls - does the niece have a social worker you can contact? She should do if she's been sectioned in the past.

Not sure how I will ever happily leave my dcs overnight. Not because I am an overprotective parent, but because I was the hostess of a number of excellent terrifying teenage/early 20s parties chez parents' house involving gatecrashers, stolen answering machines, let down tyres, fights and cider. My parents came home from one holiday to find the hallway mysteriously repainted, and another time my mother's beady eyes discovered the one remaining evidence of a food fight, a glob of chocolate cake stuck to the glass of a picture on the wall. They were so memorable that they are still discussed - an old friend turned to me at a drinks party last Xmas and said "which of your Moscow Mule parties was it where X got punched?" X is now a magistrate and runs her own business. Actually, I would love my dcs to be able to have parties like that (although fewer punches being thrown) but I think it's impossible to keep them under control now - someone will always tell the wrong person and 500 people will turn up.

Rudy, I think yes too (I might possibly be tempted to nip home towards the end of the evening to check doors and gas rings). dd was 17, fundamentally sensible but flakey as hell for minor matters (taps, towels, doors, things like that) - addle was in across the way but we were a couple of hours away.

Wilbur, think they have switched syllabus so no more ISAs.

Stropps, I agree with MI - and also there will doubtless be a waiting list for talking therapies, say, and the sooner you are on it the better perhaps? You can always say you don't need it when your turn comes round.

Yes strops. Half term is too far away. Do it now, while feeling relatively chipper, as you might not muster the enthusiasm when in a slough of despond.

I've just been a brave soldier and gone to the dentist for the first time in aaaaaaaaaaages. I'd been turned into a 'nervous patient' by a dentist years ago hitting my nerve with a prong. The pain went through my very soul. But my teeth were so stained I was resembling an aged horse. Found an actual NHS dentist that was taking on actual NHS patients, went in today, and despite grotty waiting room with ancient magazine sum the dentist was lovely, brisk and businesslike. Two X-rays, check up, clean and polish, £18.

A crown put on by v expensive dentist post prong incident has never fitted, and the X-ray shows bone loss around the tooth, but he said we can just see how it goes. But even if something needs doing, I'll be able to afford it!

Oh and happy birthday Mrs S! I trust you'll be celebrating by drinking plenty, doing No Cooking and being waited on hand and foot.

Thank you for the birthday wishes. DH is taking me out to dinner tonight . Sadly I won't be having a Moscow Mule party, but have fond memories of those teenage parties, particularly when parents were on holiday. I particularly remember a friend's party, where we had booked the carpet cleaners to come on the Monday after, took all furniture into the garage apart from the kitchen table, and removed all the curtains. The place was spotless when the parents returned - they only knew something had gone on because we had hung the curtains up back to front... My 18th was also quite wild - someone knocked a hole in the hall wall, which we carefully pulled the wallpaper over, so that it didn't notice. It came to light months and months later, and my DF said "I must have hit it with the sofa when I was getting it out of the house."

My mother has hit an all time low. She rang my cousin last night and asked if she could have the television from my aunt and uncle's house. My cousin was furious and said "He's not even buried yet, how dare she?" Apparently she gave my mother short shrift - good for her!

Rudy, I was thinking more of the house than your DC

From what I have gleaned from DD, ISA's are doing an experiment and writing it up - presenting results correctly and evaluating them? I did A'level chemistry, and I think we did something similar????

Happy happy birthday mrs S

Herbs- well done on the dental visit. I still have a private dentist which is ridiculous really, given the expense, but I like him and he has saved dh's graveyard -like teeth.

Stropps- do get the ball rolling if you can. It will be a load off to just say it out loud to someone . I promise.

Rudy- I was a bit scared to leave dd on her own , but honestly, she's 18 and will be surviving at uni on her own in a few months.
Hatty- lol at AbFab. Yes definitely. My exploits at 17 mirror Wilbur's description times 10. ( broken window, 500 random teenagers , cider bottles in the rosebed)
Dd also said she did revision. I suspect it was more like watching a marathon of Breaking bad on netflix and a few lagers
Hatty what part of the Dordogne are you looking at? Can I look for you? Love a bit of vicarious holiday planning

MrsS. every time I think we've heard the last of your mum something new boils up.

I could do with a wild party with drugs and snogging. There was a poignant incident after DD1's sixth, I think it was - in a gym, where one charming lad had accidentally left his pants behind after changing. I realised I'd turned into a pant-finder rather than a pant-loser.

My party last weekend was something of a teenage affair, with grown up drugs and drinks - champagne, rather than Cinzano.

Mrs S - you're mother is the gift that keeps on giving.

Go for it, Rudy.

Mag is off. Have been havering about spending small amount on a new bag...I feel the urge

Someone once said that the definition of a good party is where you either get off with someone or people find you amazingly witty and entertaining. I think there's something in that, although copious amounts of wine is also helpful.

I do sometimes yearn to do something a bit wild and OTT. My Groucho friend says he cannot come out to play at the moment as he is on a strict diet and "we have no self control when we get together and I can't risk it." At least my bank balance will thank me.

You'll be fine, Ruby. What's the worst that can happen? No, wait, forget I said that.....

Happy Birthday, MrsS! Enjoy your day.

Lalsy - we are also approaching parent's evening, and DS also has been tasked with scheduling the teacher slots. Last year, he booked precisely three appointments (one of them PE ), so I spent the first half of the evening frantically rushing around the remaining 25 teachers, trying to shoehorn appointments between everyone else's; I was a frazzled wreck by the end of the evening. He has been told this must Not Happen Again This Year.

Wild parties? You must be joking. I was the original square teen.