Crepeys say Bah Humbug, (it's not Christmas yet)

[beachyhead]

Here we go

I have just bought a bag of turquoise cabochons ( different sizes ) from a seller via Etsy in Arizona. My mum has a beautiful turquoise ring and noticed that one stone had popped out. I'm going to pop the bag of stones in her cracker !
There are lots of sizes and shapes so it'll be a bit if fun trying to pick one that fits
I'm in love with aquamarine too....
Can forward details of the rock lady in the states. My stones arrived within 7days

The states? I would have to send my engagement ring overseas?!

BTM - try McCarthy's in Strutton Ground.

Sorry about the job, Crem. Disappointing especially when things are so tough at work. I'd suggest it's worth requesting some proper feedback, though. It may turn out to be useless but you'd hope they'd have something constructive to say.

The FOOLS Crem, not giving you the job! Hope you don't feel too disappointed.

Sorry to hear you're poorly Auriga.

Menu looks good Mrs S. Am confident I can scoff / drink £23 worth without trying tooo hard. What was the delicious thing you recommended last time that I had and loved?? I want that again...

Crem for the job - their loss. I have woken up much too early thanks to DH clumping around as he had to go off somewhere. Am waiting for my tea to brew.

Oh no BTM ! You can get a replacement stone from the rock lady and then have a jeweller set it: that's what I was thinking

Thanks for commiserations QQ & Auriga. As is often the case for internal jobs, I suspect they had someone lined up already.
I'm just going to let this one go.
I am annoyed with myself, but will seek feedback when it stops smarting
( chin up ) ,

No Crepeys, you don't get me. I might have turned in to a hard bitch over the years, but DH is sadly lacking in imagination and wants a precise set of instructions every year regarding my birthday which he will then try to carry out, and tick the box. So every year, I arrange and orchestrate my own birthday and work very hard to make him think he's done it all. Otherwise he gets upset if he gets it wrong. Like the year I had been heavily hinting that I needed a laptop (last person in the house to get one). Excitedly I opened the flattish oblong parcel to find….a Deluxe A-Z. Yes.

Its hard to get across what I feel…it's about someone else, once a year only (we don't have Xmas presents) who thinks about it. Not about the money or presents at all, really!

I have no work today…I am going to the Mall.

No, I get that Rose - DH is very similar. He just gives me money now - much easier!

Rose totally get it.
I can bypass Christmas by birthdays are YOUR special day and a little bit of effort wouldn't go amiss..... Luckily dp is pretty good at it, except this year (the big one) when we were both monumentally crap and bought/did nothing....

I hope that you are feeling better today, Auriga.

Stuff them, Crem, if they can't see your good points. I do think that it's bad when interviewers don't give feedback.

Rose, totally get the birthday thing. When I was 11 we had just moved house and my DDad decided that it would be nice to have what was called a companion set for the side of the fireplace. Dear reader he bought one for mum for Christmas. My DM was usually the most placid of people - she absolutely went mad. It taught me how important it was to be thoughtful about gifts.

Well we are still solvent so I can stop feeling poor and go and buy some Christmas presents tomorrow. I am having my highlights done this afternoon and hoping to get to the surgery this morning - have to ring at 8.30.

NU I had to google companion set but yes, I totally see why your DM went mad....on par with the A-Z. It's about what most woman do almost without realising it....thinking what would make a person feel a little special but a lot of blokes think it's about throwing money at the problem. A couple of years ago I was rather when a close friends DH invited us to a surprise dinner at a very swanky location for her 50th, and told us to keep it a secret... Until she told me months later that she'd known about it all along and did all the arranging because he was clueless.... And he had forgotten to invite her best friend and her sister. Ha ha

crem there's something a whole heap better for you around the corner. You'll see x

I have just arranged to meet a male old school friend at the mall

Crem, that's very poor about feedback. Good on you for going for it though - don't let this rudeness take that away.

Rose, I get it too. My dh has rarely managed to think of anything thoughtful - or indeed anything - for my birthday. He has quite often been away. As a child, my birthdays often involved minor household disasters or rushes to A and E for my dsis (who needed them relatively regularly), so I don't get my hopes up.

Auriga, hope you feel better today.

Oh yes, the lack of thought. I lost it with DH a few years ago when we were in Paris, and he announced, when we were out for a walk on Christmas Eve, that he had to go and choose my present. I was shouty, crying and snottily hysterical about his lack of thought (not least because I had presented him and the DDs with a list, which included simple stuff like Nice Bubble Bath). He was quite shocked at my outburst and took me for a drink, then went off to Galeries Lafayette to get the Annick Goutal perfume I had told him would make an acceptable gift. Except, by the time he got there, he had forgotten what it was called and got the wrong one. Has he improved since? No, not really.

Oh MrsS I remember that melt down.......

I do think I am fairly luck in dp in that respect. I have had 26 presents (A-Z), one for each piece of pie on a trivial pursuit board (yes reader I had to play for them :) ) , one from every shop (pretty much) in a local market town........ Christmas we won't give each other anything (saving to go away next summer), but might do birthday....

BD, that is so lovely

Awwww do you rent him out BD [ envy]

I'm BACCCK!!!!!
[GRIN] [GRIN] [GRIN] [GRIN]

Welcome back MI hooray!!! You have been missed!!

MI (how's the tum??)

Welcome home MI!

Welcome home, MI.....

Fancy a curry??

Tum fine, thank you - was minor blip induced by rather bizarre rooftop buffet thing. Have eaten many divine curries. Had mostly amazing time. Now jetlagged up the wazoo....

Welcome home MI.

Rosebag, I do understand about the birthday. I'm ashamed to admit that I cried with disappointment on mine this year, when neither DH nor DD had made any effort. It wasn't that I wanted "stuff", more that I wanted to feel valued.

That babyish reaction shocked me & made me give myself a shake. Only babies get their needs met without asking, or without even recognising what those needs are.

I have to accept that present-giving is fraught with difficulty for DH & just makes him anxious. I blame his mother, who would open a gift, grimace and say 'what do I want with that?

All the same, I won't allow DD to grow up with his avoidant attitude. I flag up birthdays well beforehand now & make it clear that her presents and cards are her responsibility, even if I pay.

Yay, MI, lovely to have you back.

Auriga, I do the same and make a lot of noise about birthdays in advance. I think it's about teaching dcs to think about other people. Dh finds it hard, but it has been easier for him for the last few years, as I gave him a "can't go wrong with any of these" list and told him not to stress about it. As long as he has actually made an effort of some sort and I don't have to buy my own present, I don't really mind.
I suppose this is because I grew up in a pretty puritanical household, where making a big fuss about birthdays and Christmas was seen as unacceptable. "Useful" presents were de rigueur. I got a Petit Larousse for my 18th birthday, which I remember being a bit about at the time. Mainly because all the other girls in the posh boarding school deffo didn't seem to be getting those kind of presents. I seem to remember my then bestie getting a gold Merc.