Crepeys are an August bunch

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Here ya go...

Went for breakfast and catch up with a friend which was lovely and have been doing jobs ever since. DC due back in about half an hour - they are currently crossing London on their own!

MI, your DM does sound very melodramatic. Fingers crossed the news is better than she thinks.

I don't remember anyone budgeting for me (or me budgeting!) when I went to uni. Is it a new thing? Or sorting my accommodation not enough places in halls, so I went straight into a shared house!

That sounds very sensible, MrsS, given what happened when DD was cooking without an adult in my new kitchen!

So Wednesday. I will be up west shopping with DD and DGodD. Where and what time will we be meeting? Anywhere is fine by me!

Have got a temperature and have spent the last two hours or so in bed fully clothed but shivering. Now have a splitting headache - what's that all about?

Oh bd sorry you're poorly. Dh seems to have it as well. He asked feebly for a hot water bottle about an hour ago, and now is lying with covers off and window open swearing.
A small miracle has occurred however. Whispers:

BTM the budget is just to balance income with outgoings. There's the grant, the loans and parental topup ( I laugh hehehe) to add up( also bursaries if she gets any) against cost of halls, travel and food etc. Really need to make sure the cash covers the direct debits for rent etc. dd hasn't a baldy clue. I need her to see it written down !
My major anxiety is that there is no gap in her getting register with a gp and receiving her meds. She's gonna have to step up on that when she gets there.
The rest is just throwing clothes and a corkscrew into a bag innit?

Cremo, getting her to look at it written down is a good idea!
DO you think she is ready to take responsibility for her meds/GP, etc? I guess if she is determined to go to uni in Sept, then she must be ready to take responsibility for her own well-being?

DD is sorting out the stuff in her room - seems pleased with our decorating! However, she is so like DH - spends longer wondering/admiring, etc than doing!

Sorry to hear of ill people. Is it the bank hol/backtoworktommorrow effect?

Hi Crem/Lalsy - I was also wondering about monthly spending allowance - there is a thread on Higher Education about this. We will be further hampered by international money transfers and the strong pound. Lots of people seem to have had a pre uni Ikea trip.

BD sorry you're feeling ill - it's dreadful feeling like that.

Have had a trip to buy DD1 - 18th birthday present - got her the Tiffany heart necklace - hope she likes it - although there is an option to change if she wants to. Then found lots of cushions in Zara Home which would brighten up my living room - except the price meant the cushion covers without the cushion - left feeling disgruntled.

It is tossing it down at the moment - I think summer is truly over - I have no interseason jacket - it needs to get colder so I can wear my winter coat, which feels comfortable and hides a multitude of sins.

Noooo not colder! I do not want to put my summer wardrobe away yet!

I have stowed the Birkis and flip flops away, and pulled out a plastic wheely box of cardigans from under the bed.
Pah!
Back to black, from flaunting legs in beige shorts of shame.

Thanks, Crem. :) And good luck with sorting out the finances for dd. The clothes-sorting sounds v. positive.

Dd will be funding all her own university fees and expenses, if and when the time comes. As she is almost legendarily stingy, I am hopeful that this means she will be very sensible. Well, one can hope. However, as she still says things like "I really, really want a pink tractor", er, well.... I'll have to keep my fingers crossed she doesn't blow her entire inheritance shortly after her important birthday on a Special Edition Massey Ferguson.

Dd and nice friend that I've never met before have just skipped off to Tesco to get a big sack of ice to do the ice bucket challenge, as dd has just been "nominated". Dh's band is playing a gig at a music do in the Roman amphitheatre, as you do on a rainy Bank Holiday Monday. He was also playing at a charity thing at a pub most of the day yesterday.

I have just made choc chip cookies (mmmm) and this morning I spent a gift voucher on Lancôme's La Vie est Belle, because I got a sample when I was in France and loved it. I should have spent the gift voucher on something a lot more worthy, but ... I didn't.

I have now been called upon to video the ice bucket challenge.

Agree stropps. To me the mark of a really good school is not patting itself on the back for good results from already bright and able students. It's what they can do for the ones who struggle, the marginal ones, the disaffected kids who need more support. Shame the public at large don't agree.
I'm excited to hear about the uni preps from crem and other crepeys. The uni med centre at Leeds that DS1 joined did all the paperwork re the temporary transfer from our home GP. I remember being quite impressed.
MI people say stuff like that when they're waiting for a diagnosis. It's fear. I remember feeling it myself and blurting things out.
BD sounds like a change of season lurgy. Oh poor you.
Welcome home monty

Taking it slow this morning. We had a fun evening at Shrek The Musical at the open air theatre last night but it was a late one. Going shopping for some of today I think. And then, packing for our transfer to the island. Feeling a bit fed up we're doing it by coach and ferry. Would have preferred to fly. This was one bit I did leave to DH....

I am about to have a hot bath.

Have suggested the fabulous baker girls do their cookies here. Though frankly if they devastate the kitchen while I am in my office we will be separated by several floors (our house is not large but is higgledy piggledy and my office is up in the roof) so am not sure how much use I will be!

Stropps, well done for spending the voucher on YOU! And post up that video!

DD and DGodD are going to be baking me a cake on Thursday. I/DH will have to be on patrol throughout I fear!

Welcome home to the holiday makers, commiserations to the poorly people and those suffering with bad weather. It's been quite pleasant here and Dh and I have ridden 21 miles from Wylam to Ouseburn and back, feeling very smug. It's years since I have cycled so far (I keep on saying "not bad for a 66yo", which I think is a bit like your DM, MI, tbh).

I haven't heard yet from friends in California, but I am hoping they are just busy rather than in trouble.

I remember when the DC went to uni we paid for the accommodation the first year and gave them a monthly allowance (this, of course, was 20 years ago) - no grant at all because of our income. When DS did his sandwich year, was earning and lived at home, he paid board. We saved the money and gave it back to him for his final year. Dd and DSoniL said only the other day that they found Farmfoods useful when they were at uni.

I'd kill for a hot bath MI.......

Aww, BD, rough to have the lurgy, but lurgy + no bath = even rougher. Hope your bathroom is finished in time for you to have a hot bath very soon.

Dd and friend now in need of hot bath after their ice bucket doodah. Vid on FB with me cackling in the background like the frightful old hag I am.

I have no recollection of any budgeting at university - I think we got the 'grant' at the beginning of term, then had to spend it wisely. Or, indeed, not.

When I had the lurgy a couple of weeks ago I really fancied a hot bath, but ultimately couldn't be arsed. I haven't had a bath since DS was born, five years ago. Madness.

Went to the Frozen singalong today. Full of highly excitable young children. DS had insisted he'd be 'too shy' to do any singing, or dress up, but of course within five minutes was in full costume and belting out every word to every song. Bloody expensive though. £27, and it was basically the film with subtitles during the songs, a grey balloon each (to act as trolls), a hand-clapper (for the galloping Sven parts) and a crown (to toss into the air during Let It Go). Oh, and some fake snow at the end.

Dd making a great deal of mature sense today. She even compiled a list of things she needs to get to take away and this includes( get this!- ) a clothes drier. Omfg. She has a plan!

faints

Same, Herbs (re budgeting!)

Sympathies, BD - I love a hot bath. I can't believe you've not had one for five years Herbs

I have had showers, I'd like to reassure.

I think I like the idea of hot baths more than the reality. The initial 'getting in' is lovely, then it gets a bit boring.

I am like Herbs, I don't have baths. I was about to say that I can't remember when I last had one, then I recalled that last year we were staying in an apartment with a two person jacuzzi and I went in that.

I have heard from Californian friends and all is well with them - no damage. They are still having aftershocks.

I love a bath. With a magazine, a cappuccino, and Radio 2.

We have been out today; a blast around a rainy M25 for lunch at DM's, and have left the DDs there for a few days.

We came home to a freezing house, so I have donned a jumper and a pair of sheepskin slippers, and switched the central heating on.

NU - glad your friends are OK. In my experience, Californians are quite relaxed about the whole earthquake thing; Hot XBF, who lives south of San Francisco, lives in a house which is, post-quake, about two feet further down the hill than it was when it was built. You can see the original foundations. He isn't concerned.

We've just put the heating on too. I'm still hoping for an Indian summer, so am not too sad.

Hear hear Herbs.

I have cashmere socks and pillow spray
happy

Just floated down to Surrey to take DD1 back to school. A3 closed (flooded) so took a bit longer to get back. DD1 told she needed at least a B+ in her history exam to do the advanced course - she got a B, but her school average all year was A-. Have told her to speak to her teacher. It seems overly harsh and rigid.