Crepeyistmas Time, Camel Toe and Whine...

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Pandering to the uncouth...

Thanks monty and everyone else for being my online mummy and kind in my hours of sickness. Ive just taken another lot of pills in the hope of getting through the day. Throat feels less sore but the headache is very debilitating.
rudy results sound very encouraging! Well done to them. My DD will only do the foundation paper for most of her GCSEs. We are not expecting her to go on to A levels in the traditional sense. At the moment she wants to do a BTEC in performing arts but is torn as she loves art as well. I for one can't wait til she's out of the formal education system.
auriga lovely about your Dd. I expect that the poor production didn't affect how great she was ! There's something so special about seeing ones kids on stage. Likewise with inferiorette's swing band and other lovely crepey's offspring performers.
Good luck to monty's DCs music exam. Take your iPod and turn it up loud like I didn't do with DSs grade recently.
tilly I am impressed with your Dd going into school on a Saturday. Is embroidery part of a school subject? So few secondaries do needlework these days.
Right I'm going to wait for the pills to kick in and then try to make Jamie Oliver's carrots.

rudy never was there such a difference as between my boys and DD. She's a complete wild card....

Auriga, your dd's performance sounds wonderful.

QQ - excellent, and another thing done.

BTM, that is really impressive!

Return of the Student here, all very exciting.

Rose, glad to hear that you are feeling marginally better, I hope it continues.

Rudy, it's difficult when you have two children who have different academic expectations - and I would imagine it's worse when they are twins. I do think that most boys mature later than girls (or at least my DS did). DH says that he has everything he needs for the bike. His branch of CTC is just designing a new top which they think will have the red and yellow stripes of the Northumberland flag. Some wag suggested stripey shorts as well - which would mean that the complete outfit could do double duty as pyjamas.

Monty, I hope you manage to get through the day ok and the birthday cake meets expectations.

I have been on the exercise bike already - I only have a visit to the greengrocers planned for the rest of the day, so I think Christmas baking calls. Oh, and DS reckons that his house move will be on Friday. He and the family are supposed to be staying here for a couple of days and, of course, we're away from Wednesday to Friday.

It's not dedication, it's desperation! However, we have told her that she could drop the subject that she has to get the work done for, but she is adamant that she wants to take all her GCSEs

Rose, it's part of her art - she does art(textiles) as opposed to art(photography) or fine art. This requires fabrics to be changed and embellished.... but she's definitely not into "embroidery" per se!

Lalsy, how lovely!

Rose, hope the pills work for you.

Rose, hope you feel better, it sounds really nasty.

Rudy, her and 200+ others That is why they have extended school days and many go in on the weekend. The poor teachers. She just won't drop any because she thinks she will look like a light-weight compared to her peers, despite most schools doing 9 or 10.

DS, OTOH, would be only too happy to drop some! Or not go to school at all! Although he has put a bit of work in for a Biology test they had yesterday.

Well I don't know what happened to the post I made last night, it seems not to have made it here. Bloody phone (or possibly the very, very excellent Christmas cocktail that dh invented for Friday Cocktails was to blame ). Rudy - thought of you this morning as a friend sent a link about MAMILs in the Daily Fail which was very familiar. I can't show it to dh though, as it lists several items of cycling kit he doesn't have yet, plus the guy had a £2000 hand-built road bike which I can't have dh thinking is somehow completely normal (not least after the bike theft incident here in the summer).

Rose - sorry you are suffering, I hope it starts to ease today. I'm sure you dinner will be a triumph as it all sounds delicious and exactly what people want at this time of year.

Auriga - so pleased to hear dd was great in her play, it's such a lovely thing to do. Intrigued to know what the play was as I agree that schools often shy away from more interesting pieces, although to be fair, they have to fit a lot of criteria about subject matter and parts for plenty of students to be on stage. Murder in the Cathedral would be a fabulous school play (my dad was in it in the 40s!) but a lot of those kinds of pieces are Out Of Fashion. There are brilliant adaptations around of things like Lion, Witch, Wardrobe or Jungle Book which are great for schools but often rejected because of the Christian / Imperial connotations, which is a shame. I have to say your post made me a little wistful as dd did not get into her school play this week. She is very disappointed, I know, as she loves performing. Auditioning is hard for her as she is one of the quiet ones who blossoms on stage and of course she has only been at secondary school for a term and I know will have made almost no impression on the drama teacher at all . The tiger mother in me wants to bombard the teacher with clips of dd fronting her Y6 rock band and singing Rolling In the Deep (Adele better watch out) or being a moll in Bugsy Malone at her Saturday drama group. I won't, obviously, but it's hard to keep encouraging her when she gets knocked back. She's auditioned for a choir solo as well this term and didn't get that either. Boo. It's not in her nature to shove herself forward, but she's still keen to help backstage so hopefully that will get her on the department's radar. She was keen on the school because of its performing arts, so it would be very sad if she doesn't ever get to participate.

Right better get on - the sun is shining and I want to be outside.

Wilbur, your DH makes Friday cocktails?

DH is too tight to buy shedloads of bike gear. He is currently using DS's old road bike as his needs new wheels!

Wilbur, I bet your DD will get her chances as they get to know her. Is she still doing drama out of school?

It is indeed a beautiful day here - luckily because I am meeting a friend to go to some hipster Christmas shopping events this afternoon, one of which is outside, I think

Inferiorettes' school - of v multicultural nature inc praying room - is doing the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. DD1 hoping for the Witch. She is off with drama Christmas bash today (see rant passim). Takes her Thesp life v seriously.

Are my DC (and me and DH) the only ones in Crepeyshire with no thespian/musical talents whatsoever?

Actually DD has a nice voice. Though DS would disagree!

Am on train to exam. Why is it that I get to do the exams and teeth extractions (Monday) while Dh sits on sofa watching toy story with the other two?

Hideously anxious but trying to remain cheery

Good luck for the piano exam Monty - I'd forgotten it was today.

BTM - I have no thespian, musical or artistic talents of any kind. I failed my Jester's badge in the Brownies (how cruel is that, to tell a 7 year old that her acting was not of a sufficiently high standard to attain the badge, and to give her a list of every occasion where she could have done better?) and have never acted since. I failed grade 3 clarinet, and was told my art was so bad that I wouldn't even manage to get CSE art. And I can't sing at all. DD2 is arty, and DD1 acts and is a bit musical, but they didn't get it from me!

Agree re school plays, although DD1's school is quite good. They did the Accrington Pals this year, and are doing one about teenage cancer patients called Hospital Food, which DD1 didn't get a part in. They also did Beadle the Bard which was dire. Auriga, your DD sounds great, and I also want to know what the play was!

Wilbur - what to do about children who don't push themselves forward? DD2 spends the entire weekend drawing (digital art) and has never shown her art teacher any of her work. The Tiger in me wants to send her a link to the website, but, but, but...!

Wilbur and MrsS, my instinct is to shout "Be that tiger!", but of course I wasn't that tiger for my dc. They might have died of shame if I had been. Ds was bitterly disappointed not to get into the school choir when he'd spent years in the church one. QQ, you just have to wait for that offer now, I reckon - although it would be unwise to bank on it, just in case. Congrats on surviving it, to you and ds!

Monty, hope the piano exam went well.

I have had a lovely afternoon browsing round three hipster craft fairs with my friend. We stopped for homemade veggie soup + focaccia for £2 each and finished off in the pub

DD put in a few hours at school and is now wrapping Christmas presents I fear I will need to buy more wrapping paper asap!

I do like a hipster craft fair. Or any kind of craft fair.

The Halls at Chateau Cointreau have now been Decked with Boughs of Holly (in other words, the fake tree is up and we've distributed a few Christmas ornaments and candley things about the place). The pile of bathroom components stacked in the living room has dwindled to the point where I dare to dream it might all be gone by Christmas, and we won't be eating turkey under the shadow of a propped up bathtub. DH has been dispatched to the bathroom to finish off the painting and I need to get in there at some point and neaten up the edges; I have to confess I didn't do a particularly good job in my haste, and it will bug me if I don't fix it.

Actually, I am glad we went to the party last night; it was a bit of a trek up to Edgware Road (we drove as far as Barons Court then tubed it) but the food was fabulous and I did get to catch up with several old colleagues.

Postie arrived today with a little package from Secret Santa.... eeeee! I scrutinised the packaging and postmark, but no clue from whence it came.

Hipsters seem to like animals and birds on their crafts. Rather a lot

I am so glad I am not a 20something hipster girl - I just couldn't get interested in a hipster man with a beard.

Glad your bathroom is proceeding and you had a good time at the party CV.

No SS here yet...

Lunch with nice gay bloke couple. Now off to party in deepest Kent. Have idiotically allowed e-reader to run down.Will be staying for 'just the one', ho yes

I get sad when I hear of DCs not able to do the singing or performance they want. In some ways it's a life lesson , That we have to live with competition. But by the same token it's one if the reasons we support inclusive theatre. Although I can't deny there's a bit of an internal hierarchy, everyone can have some involvement. When I taught choir ( sobs) we never turned anyone away. If they struggled with tuning, they got extra help and we buried them somehow between the more able ones.
I feel moderately disgusting still but am trooping onwards. Dinner is on track. At least I'm at home. It's freezing outside!

All the way to Kent for just one, MI? That's just not energy-efficient

We are off to the pub shortly to celebrate DH's birthday with friends