Season of Mists and Mellow Crepiness...

[QueenQueenie]

Here you go Crepesters...

Auriga, I am planning to upgrade from an SII to a 5. A work colleague has one and it is a lot bigger, but I think I can cope with that and it will make it easier for me to read without searching for glasses!
Sorry about your sister

We have a Y9 night tomorrow and a Y11 night on Thurs.

Blimey, BTM, what did you do to deserve two parents' evenings in a week?! Get gin?

Yes, and I'm not the only parent - there are LOADS of Y11's with siblings in Y9! Sadly the Y9 one will not be all praise and happiness - we have already been summonsed to see the HoY as well as his tutor!

Sympathies, Auriga. That can't be easy.

I have no childhood bedroom, really - DM moved when I was at boarding school, and by then I was spending 50% of time with DDad, so I just had the spare room which was yellow and floral. It is still a spare room, but at least the wallpaper has been replaced.

BTM, I bet - are they entering some sort of parents' evening marathon? or opening a bootleg bar?

I have a parents meeting on Saturday morning at 9 am.

O gawd, one day that 9/11 (so to speak) scenario will be mine...

I am going to make a veg-heavy supper.

I never get told about parents evenings direct from the Year 9, but I do have a Very Organised Friend in the next village who keeps me up to date

Everyone needs a VEM, Beachy. dd lost hers by going to university - it has been a steep learning curve!

MI, glad to hear you coped ok today, if not with the lunch!

BD, that sounds awful. No advice from me, but just hang in there if you have to.

Auriga, I have a Samsung smartphone which is about a year old; I absolutely love it. I waited until DD bought something she liked and then just bought the same one.

The visit to the Sunderland Air Museum was interesting, particularly for DH (he is going to go back sans me and the GC!). There was much explanation about the difference between a jet and a propellor driven plane which I now understand but I am not so sure that GS1 (3.8) does.

Lalsy, we could definitely do with a bootleg bar there

DD has now developed the ear-thing I have (since the cold) to go with her sexy/croaky voice. She is also speaking about 100 decibels louder which is making my ears even sorer I am hoping the pharmacist might be more helpful than the GP was

Parents' Evening was always a challenge when I had three at primary. Each teacher would put a list of times for appointments on their classroom door, so I had to sprint around the school in an attempt to bag three appointments which weren't hours apart. But not so close together that an overrun on one would affect the others.....At least it was under my control; DS's Y8 evening was a disaster because he had completely failed to book any appointments. A deliberate tactic, methinks?

Job app done, posting off tomorrow. I've no idea if I'd actually go for the job should I get that far, but nothing ventured....

Well done, CV!

Well done with the job app CV....

Came home tonight to news we had missed a parents reception last night, through lack of knowledge but good news that dd1 had passed her driving theory test and had another piercing to celebrate....

I'm slightly 'whatever' at this stage. Is that wrong?

Aargh, piercing, it hasn't even come up yet for us. But DD was admiring someone's tattoo the other night

I'm on shaky ground because I've always talked about getting DH tattooed, since he won't wear a wedding ring. Big fun pointing out tattoo parlours and advocating flowery scrolls with 'DH loves Auriga' & watching him go green. Not so big fun when DD says 'but Mum, you like tattoos'

I leave body modification of all types to DH as he is much more experienced than I am. Although you would not guess it to look at him, as he looks like Mr Square with his clothes on.

I have no childhood bedroom - my mother had the house demolished after my father died and sold the land to developers who built nasty "executive homes" on it. It is on a very rural, unmade road near the river and among fields and you have this bonkers "gated community" slap bang in the middle of it, with high gates and fencing, while the rest of the houses in the lane have wild and unkempt hedges.

Been to options meeting and decided I want to do Biology, Government and Politics, Drama and French . You might think I already ought to know plenty of biology but the lessons just sound like brilliant fun. DH wants to do Chemistry for the same reason.

DD, otoh, seems to have six first choices. Some of them come as a surprise; why would a girl who has never looked at the Guardian or Newsnight want to do government and politics? But she talks to us, watches the West Wing and HIGNFY and loves history and debate, so maybe that's a start. And why French all of a sudden? But we're the ones who took her to France twice in the summer so why are we surprised?

All I know is, no-one took a blind bit of interest in my A-level choices so I'm glad they're encouraged to put a bit of thought into it these days. And at least I know from personal experience that it doesn't matter too much if you get it wrong

Where is this one Beachy?!

Oooh, MrsS, can you bring photographic evidence on Saturday?!!!

DD keeps havering over her choices and worrying that if she does English lit with History, Economics and Psychology it'll be too many essays. But she has no idea what she would do instead. Surely it doesn't have to be finalised until they get their GCSE results and start the sixth form?

Having met the respectable looking MrSchadenfreude I am now riveted with somewhat purient curiosity.

Exhausted. On top of everything else one of those glorious perimenipausal periods is on its way. And it's my turn to cook dinner.

That would be no to photos.

BTM, dd did all big essay subjects (one was slightly less so, maybe economics/psychology?), and year 12 was tough but she did it. Another possible issue is coursework - at her school, both eng lit and history have major coursework elements in yr 13, both at the same time - some are fine with this and of course it means there is less riding on the exams. I think loads of people change their minds, it might be good if she put it out of her mind for a bit?. For everyone changing school and some not, schools presumably can't timetable them till the third week in August when their place is confirmed (assuming conditional on GCSEs). If you are not quite sure, then that makes you flexible as well if the smaller subjects are harder to timetable.

Oh and BD your situation reminds me of a Horrible Boss I once had (not Molly) who used to pile on work saying with a broad grin "work smarter not harder"; thus implying I was thick on top of everything else.

He's a People's Peer now.

Thanks Lalsy - will pass that on to DD.

MI, I am good at working smarter - I just do the essentials in the most time-efficient way
DH thinks he is good at working smarter, but in reality he just wings it or gives it to a PA to do

It is raining so hard here today I am unable to motivate myself. Decided I needed a coffee and a session here. Heard from DD who seems to be out clubbing rather a lot even though the work seems to be piling on rather rapidly. She has informed me that she has joined the Jewish Society. Apparently lots of free good food and a sense of community. It is only a matter of time before she is exposed for the fraud that she is.

Today is a teacher training day so DS is at home. I'm channelling all my energy into keeping him away from electronic devices. I think I'll be fighting a losing battle.

I have done v little so far and must also motivate stuff.

BTM, sadly that option of just doing the essentials was not feasible in that particular job; especially not when I had to handle all the press stuff for the charity after princess Diana died. After 19 months of working something like 15 hour days I left. And ended up as a Maudsley outpatient a while later....