Season of Mists and Mellow Crepiness...

[QueenQueenie]

Here you go Crepesters...

Thanks again Crepeys! Spoke to her earlier and the morning had gone OK lesson-wise. It was lunchtime - told her to make sure she and her friends just tried not to look at/listen to the bullies and chat as if nothing was wrong, but she said it was a bit awkward. I am hoping not as awkward as yesterday. Meeting is at 3.30, but she has sworn me to secrecy on that front

She and her two mates have a list of sixth forms to visit. I am just hoping that all the horrible girls want to stay where they are!

Rose, that's a lot of food - have I missed an event coming up?

I am a shiksa and proud Rose - well that's what my late MIL used to call me...
(when she was being polite).

Bloody hell BTM, it's crap being a teenager isn't it. Poor dd. And poor you having to watch her suffer. Hope things look up.

Come on Herbs, Chin Up! In a week's time it will seem hard to remember why this was so hard. Good luck to your lovely ds for his big day tomorrow.

Bucketloads of belated sniffing sympathy to all those who've lost babies one way or another.

... And much immediate sympathy for you Mrs S. You need a Plan (with a capital P).

... And a call out for Stropps. How are you doing Mrs??

Herbs it'll all come right don't worry.

Mrs S - agree re union and constructive dismissal.

Rose - haven't made stew for ages - must start again now the cold weather is kicking in. There's something very satisfying about having if all made in advance like that.

NU - hope your DH is OK.

My issues are trivial compared to most, but GRRR...the roadworks outside my house are causing me major stress.

Quite apart from the fact that I have to perform elaborate shunts just to get into or out of my drive, have to "guess" which way the traffic lights are when leaving the house, and hope for the best (as I'm in the middle), and had to sprint up the road in my PJ bottoms last night to find a sympathetic neighbour who would house the Tesco delivery lorry while he unloaded my groceries....I came home just now to find half of my garden wall in the road. Fortunately, it had literally just happened, and the nice man on the digger had flagged down the courier van and was taking his details. So it should be OK in the end, but it's an irritation I could do without.

Anyway, I am "Home Alone" The DCs had their whole-school 16km sponsored walk today, and they have all gone off with friends to recover. They sent the children off in year-groups - Y7, then Y8, Y9 etc. I texted DD2 half way through to see how she was getting on, and got the response "We Are Dying". I texted back "LOL", to which she replied "Never say that again, mother." Turns out, she was overtaken, not just by DD1 (Y9) but also by DS and his mates (Y10). Not the keenest athlete, my youngest; a chip off the old block, you could say.

Bathroom man finally came around yesterday, so I have lots of "sourcing" to do. He should be able to do the work during November, so we will hopefully be all set by Christmas.

Anyway, Herbs, hope your upper lip remained stiff at school pickup, and MrsS - dust off your CV.

Golly QQ she actually called you that to your face? That's awful….it's not a word I ever use but belongs with my grandmother's generation. She had an equally vile version for the male equivalent. How did you stand for it?
Tilly don't ask…just a New Year festival of too much eating,too much family and too much indoors.
Hatty I love a good braised beef dish…this one is twice cooked, 2-3 hours today and then it goes in the fridge overnight so that you can skim off the fat in the morning before giving it another 4 hours. The stock is laced with golden syrup…yeah…rib sticking!

Rose - can you explain at what point you put the golden syrup in and how much - it sounds too yummy.

Oh Rose is it the one where you eat apples and honey? I seem to remember "doing" that celebration in my first year of teaching!

Well, the meeting went fine and was only delayed by 40mins Their Head of KS4 is such a lovely (and extremely competent at her job) person and the poor timetable teacher had to sit and apologise... Lessons seem to be sorted so far at least!
And DD made her friends go and sit in the Y11 dining space (rather than going off somewhere quiet) and brazening it out when the bullies came and sat behind them - very proud of her and her mates. It may take a week or two, but hopefully the nasty looks and pointed giggling, etc will eventually stop. Just hope they can stay strong and beat the bullies.

CV, 16k is quite a walk - how long did it take them?

Herbs, how did it go?

Stropps, am hoping you are OK after the course and your DH's scan today.

Happy Roshashana Rose honey

BTM, three cheers for your dd! Cheerful solidarity with nice friends sounds the way to go. The bullies will get bored or fall into a large pit. Glad the school end more sorted.

Rose, that sounds gorgeous, and has made me seriously hungry.

Well, it hasn't been too bad! Dropped him off, and had to explain myself to a few parents. Got my hair cut drastically into a kind of page boy, then off to Westfield where I got all het up in M&S as none of their grey school uniform trousers were on the right hangers, they'd run out of white polo shirts altogether, and no staff were on the tills but crowded around a computer monitor watching something on Youtube.

Then spent £30 in Tiger, but got enough kiddy presents for the next 500 birthday parties. Then lunch, then raced off to pick DS up from school. He skipped out, all manic and happy, while some of his friends were actually in tears. As promised, we've just watched Despicable Me 2, with popcorn, and he continues to be happy. It all has a hint of mania, so whether this lasts into tomorrow, and the new school, remains to be seen.

And in other news, the new school DOES have places on its breakfast and teatime clubs, so all is well on that score!

Hatty you put a couple of tbsp of Golden Syrup in the liquid during the first cooking (of the meat and the carrots) and 2 more during the second cooking after you add the potatoes. Then you taste it periodically and add more if you like it even sweeter. If you PM me your email I'll send you the recipe. It's actually the first time I've tried it with the meat. I usually do the veggie version which is literally sweet carrots.
Thanks Tilly yes, got it in one, apples, honey, honey cake….all that stuff. Your DD sounds like she has great strength of character, and will come out of this on top. The bullies will just peter out into nothingness…and when they can't find anyone to bully anymore, they'll just turn on each other and self distruct.
Herbs that seems pretty good news!

I fed DH and the DDs Karotten Tsimmes, Rose, and it did not go down well at all. I thought they would love it. I served it with Sauerbraten (which they did like), but the sweet and cinnamony carrots, not at all.

There were six of us in the office today with nothing to do, so we had some wine.

Rose, me too with the recipe, please, if it's not too much trouble. it sounds delicious and I am looking for something for a week on Friday when my DSis and her husband are coming for a few days and one day my DC plus their families are coming for a meal.

You were right, it is a Ph monitor; he also had an oesophageal manometry whilst he was there (whatever one of those is!).

BTM, it's good to hear that DD and her friends are being positive.

There you go, Herbs, why were you worrying? I hope tomorrow goes as well.

Must go, dinner calls.

Lalsy and Rose, I hope you're right!

Herbs, sounds great! Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

MrsS, wine sounds good. Carrots less so! Rose, sounds better with the meat - post up the recipe please!

Thanks Rose will try it out - do put full recipe if you have time.

Cinnamon carrots sound good too.

DH gone out for a drink with his now divorced friends. I do not like it when he does this as I think they are going to put daft ideas into his head like buying a motorbike!

Herbs - will be thinking of you tomorrow.

MrsS, I'm very sorry to hear about the death of your other uncle. That really was an appalling week. And then your rubbish work situation. I find it a shocking waste that your employers are not using you at all really. How do they justify this kind of behaviour?

Phew, Herbs, sounds like things are set to go well tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I am feeling a bit tired and overloaded, but despite dd being a pain in the arse and attempting to throw various spanners in the works, the first day of my course went well and I found it extremely interesting (thank goodness). Workload appears massive, but I already know when all my assignments have to be handed in between now and April so have put all the dates in the diary. The challenge is going to be fitting them in around the paid work. Have come back to a huge amount to do for a Monday deadline. Oh well. Roofer has not appeared with scaffold today, so am thinking that the chimney probably won't come down this w/e and even if it does, I think I'm going to have to cancel the bit of demolition that was going to happen in the loft office. I haven't got time to relocate everything or to clear up afterwards. Will have to re-think that. Dh is just shrugging his shoulders.

Aortic aneurysm scan was clear and they have taken dh off the list. Yay.

Dh did ok with the checklist and all my prior organisation paid off. All the animals survived, although the dog refused to eat - but he always does that when I'm not here.
Am just hoping that the creeping feeling of "ugh" that I have is PMT and not me going down with the stinking cold that dd has.

Am having my first session helping with reception reading tomorrow and will then have nose to grindstone all the rest of the week. And the weekend. I hope to resurface occasionally.

Busy days, Strops. Poor old StropDog, pining for his absent missus.

BTM - the walk took them 3-4 hours. All three of them were knackered and cranky by the time they got home, and both girls had blisters. DD1 nodded off during Bake Off and has been carried to bed.

My heart goes out to your DD, BTM. I would be furious too. But solidarity with friends is the best way to beat the bullying. If they aren't getting anywhere they will soon get bored.

Aww, reception reading

CV, well done your DC, 3-4 hours walking is a long time for teens/pre-teens!

I am glad today went well, Stropps. Was DH's aortic scan the usual NHS scheduled one (ie men in their 60s) or a "special" if you know what I mean? I do think that the screening which they now do for men is good. It does sound as if your course is just right for you.

www.thejc.com/lifestyle/recipes/recipe-evelyn-roses-tsimmes

There you go. Hope the link works!

MrsS my lot wouldn't have eaten carrot tsimmes with cinnamon either. My recipe doesn't use it...a pinch of ginger maybe.
stropps this sounds good if very full on and glad your DH is ok re aneurysm.
I also fought waves of sleepiness during BakeOff and am now in bed. Feet are killing me. Night all.

I saw posters in the doc's about that aortic screening - Strops, so glad your dh's was fine. Totally ignorant here - is that something women are less likely to get, then?

That recipe looks yummy...I generally love spices, but can't abide cinnamon or nutmeg.

Stropps - sounds like you've taken a load on - and it is so annoying when you've cleared for builders and they don't turn up. Wastes everybody's time.

Rose - I'm going to try that recipe when I've figured out brisket in French.

Molly- I love cinnamon and sling it in a lot of things. Not overly sure about nutmeg though.

Molly, I think that men are called for aortic screening when they are 64 - and they are more likely to have problems. It is done with an ultrasound. There are 3 levels - 1, no problem, 2, needs to be monitored, and 3, needs treatment. There was a very good booklet with the appointment letter. Here the NHS cover an area at a time. Nurse told DH that unfortunately take up of screening was very socio-economic.

DH has just informed me that he only has two hours left of his stomach monitoring, bless him!