Season of Mists and Mellow Crepiness...

[QueenQueenie]

Here you go Crepesters...

I don't think I'm a 'real' size 12 - just a Matalan size 12! And some of Gap. And Next.

Ah yes, NU, we had the fingerprinting when transiting at Houston - very, very long queues but the staff were pleasant. Do you get the ESTA after you have booked your flight? I am planning to take DD to New York - it's a carrot for working hard for her GCSE's!

What a fantastic treat for Dd! We have always just booked our flights and then applied later, although tbh these days they just send us a reminder that the ESTA is expiring on a particular date and DH applies again. I would think that the fact that they already have some details for you would help. I do remember DS applying the night before he went away which isn't a good idea.

Also don't forget that you will have to let the airline know where you are staying for the first night. Oh and be careful what you take in your bags: a couple of years ago they pulled me out of the queue because a lovely little dog could smell the banana I had taken to eat on the flight. It wasn't a problem, though.

Get the ESTA before you book your flight. I had several hours of twitchiness the other week because mine wasn't approved instantly. I am clearly as dodgy as hell though.

It's normal for a small boy to grab his mother's boobs, then lie on the floor shouting 'spank my bottom', right?

IMHE Herbs, no. But then I don't have much to grab

I am now worried about the ESTA! Was yours slow because of your job, MrsS? I will probably be booking the flights way ahead...

AIBU to be contemplating going to bed NOW?

Herbs, that kind of behaviour was not unusual here a while back until dd started shouting "Stop being weird" at ds.

MI, bed now sounds like an immensely good plan. Although I think I should probably walk the dog first, given that I have spent most of the day sitting down - even though 5 hours of the sitting down was when I was driving. Soz about your dad still being feeble, but good that your ma is stoic and getting support from all the right places. And Hooray for the arrival of the visa. Can you officially get excited about your trip now? :)

Blardy traffic. 2hrs from Ashtead to Farnham/Frensham this morning and 3 hrs back home this afternoon. And I noticed a bunch of ominous signs threatening 3 months of roadworks on the M27 starting next week. Deep joy.

I shall leave at 6am from home next week. And 5.30am on teaching practice days. And hope for a mild winter with no extreme weather. It's all going to be worth it in the end, right, Crepsters? I have had my first assignment bounced back and must re-jig it tomorrow before cracking on with the next one for delivery next week. Dh has, in fact, been v. useful and helpful and proactive. Dinner had been cooked and was served immediately I got home tonight. He has nearly finished painting the office and is on top of the job we are working on this week. I can tell he is Making An Effort.

PS: Get well soon, NU.

That is good news about your DH, Stropps And those assignments used to get bounced back to people a lot - it's the pedantry

Good to hear DH is stepping up to the plate, Strops. Poor you, all that rainy driving. Mind you, it took my colleague an hour and twenty minutes to drive the eight miles from Reigate to Dorking the other day; Surrey traffic is just shocking at the moment. And the bloody traffic lights are back outside my house.

Yay for Visa arrival, MI. I also had a dark and soggy lady jog this morning. It makes my route a little longer; there is a cut-thru I can't use when it has been raining, as it turns into a quagmire. It won't be long before I have to start my winter route, which is a very soul-destroying pound along the main road.

Herbs - fairly normal small person behaviour, I'd say. Assuming you were within the confines of your own home, and not, say, in the middle of the school playground, or half way round Waitrose.

Just watched The Apprentice. Great larks. Poor old Jean Luc Picard.....

I do love the annual hate feet that is the apprentice. That Sarah, man in drag, was so utterly appalling that it seems just she goes on to fight another day.

Great visa news MI, and glad Sunday was all right-ish.

Stropps, it will be worth it , especially given the dinner on the table scenario.

NU, rest and get better, you poor thing.

I have had two days slaving over a hot laptop, and noticing how fast my not-so-little ds is growing up. And his long-suffering 12-year-old head of whatsit stopped him at school today to say what good feedback she was getting about him: she was on his case some of last year about being a bit silly and disruptive and was very patient, encouraging and yet firm with him - so all (anonymous) credit to her.

12-year-old
Duh

Hello Crepies - I'm glad the visa finally can through MI It's great to have a trip like that to look forward to (especially when it's winter in Europe).

Had a lovely Skype session with DD1 yesterday. She seems to be living university life to the full although then work level is very intense. Her Prof seems to be completely bonkers - one of those types who tells students how crap they are. I said she should be used to this having been through the French system. Fortunately she only has this woman once a week and has other more relaxed types elsewhere

Had a lovely lunch with a very old friend yesterday. She is going to in Australia and paint landscapes of the sea. Why does everybody leave.

Mrs S - I wanted to say - congrat's on your book - when do we get to read?

NU - hope your knee is a little less painful today.

Mmm, I thought I was better and had some dry toast, suffice to say I am not.

BTM, I have never heard of anyone being turned down for an ESTA, but I do think that the time they take to be granted varies. MrsS probably didn't need to worry.

It's good to hear that DH is being supportive, Stropps; we old folk can occasionally step up to the mark. I do not envy you your journey.

Herbs, I think that you just have to accept that boys come from another planet and do not become normal for many years, if ever. By the way, how is he getting on in his new school?

When do you actually go away, MI? We're off to non exotic rural Leicestershire next Wednesday to stay with a friend, and then have nothing planned until December when we're going away with DSis and her DH to Derbyshire: we have tickets for the Chatsworth Christmas house.

Hatty, that's great news about dd. My dd and are are Skyping a lot too - it is brilliant I think - much more like a normal conversation.

I love seeing her on Skype Lalsy - however I look about 105 years old on it - I swear I don't look like this in real life. I try to put myself against a window - then she can't see me properly.

I sit in a dark corner. She looks as if her head is made of very rough, misshapen, eggshell though and you can see yourself as well can't you? So maybe our dds are making allowances.

Oh NU, you poor thing.

I'm off on 12 Nov and yes, starting to get excited: have booked shots, must book haircut (small animal on head scenario not good) and sort itinerary though my adorable cousin has done much of this for me, taking the short list of places I want to go to and putting it in sensible order. Punctuated with 'nice lunch' and 'chance to do some shopping'.

MI - I thought your hair looked great on Saturday!

Sorry about the lurg, NU. As doctors would say, 'lot of it about'. I don't know how I'd cope with the school run, college, etc, if I got a D&V illness...

And thanks for asking about DS and his new school. He's loving it. He seems so much happier in himself compared to last term, and comes out of school full of interesting facts and questions. Some I can't answer. He was asking in great detail how the wheels of his scooter work, and how they turn when the 'axle' isn't moving. I mumbled something about bearings, then he asked me how one part of the bearing can move, while the other stays still. So I mumbled something about ballbearings. And that we'd look it up on the internet.

He's also coming up with a lot of God-related questions and songs, which are similarly tricky to answer!

Herbs that sounds great - small children are meant to ask questions we can't answer! My little lovelies had a very interesting conversation amongst themselves yesterday about who made the world/the first person/God.... Very entertaining!

Agree with Herbs, I thought your hair looked great on Saturday, MI. How exciting, less than a month to go. I can't remember, are you going to the North or South?

I'm glad your dh is stepping up Stropps. My lot had fishfingers last night apparently and there was certainly nothing on the table when I got in!

Hope you feel better NU. There's nothing worse than thinking you are over something and then it re-emerging.

I have been duped into thinking ds has obeyed orders and not taken his iPod to school. However, I've just discovered the thing 'attached' to the charger is, in fact, the empty case. Words will be had.

Has anyone else noticed that there is a cooking woman ----> making human finger biscuits for Halloween, or is that just me!

It looks fine when hairpinned into submission Also am having a crisis working out Dyeing Timings before going away! Am going sarf, including ahem here. Lovely cousin is surprisingly sane, honestly.

Beachy re Ipod - we have had that too!
Who is this cooking woman?

MI, exciting!