Beware the Crepes of March!

[QueenQueenie]

Well someone had to do it as my last post was number 999...

Ok, so BP meet next Sunday, or is that too soon?

We just trekked all the way out to deepest, darkest Keston to find that DS's match was cancelled So I worked out my frustration on the garden and cleared up some leaves and spotted the plants that haven't made it through the winter. The Clematis has gone the same way as the Virginia Creeper But the honeysuckle and rambling roses are growing buds

I need to do something, but low-carb and 5:2 sound much more than I can face

Dogs, eh? Expensive little dustbins. Fingers crossed Dylan comes through it all.

Rudy - just thinking about the online BF thing - I guess, in the dim and distant past, it wasn't unknown for people to strike up long distance relationships with penpals who they'd never met.... At least we have the benefit of Facetime nowadays, so you know he isn't an old perv masquerading as someone else. And thank goodness she has been open and honest with you, so she won't be sneaking off to see him without your knowledge.

Here, it's another lazy day. Friday was mega-busy, with the culmination of the shitstorm at work keeping me in the office until late, then a quick dash to Kingston to meet up with MIL and SIL. We had a nice dinner out, marred slightly by DH reversing into a post in the multi-storey (in MY car) and smashing a tail light. Then MIL/SIL stayed over, and we dropped them back to the airport early doors on Saturday. I'm ashamed to say that after dropping them off, DH and I went back to bed, and didn't surface until noon. No excuse, just felt lazy.

DH is much recovered from his manflu, however I'm now feeling a suspicious tickle in the throat and my nose is starting to run.

BTM - it's too early to write the clematis off! They look like dead twigs for a while yet.

We didn't give up fruit or dry wine, but still had slow, sustained weight loss over a year with low GI and small portions.
Tonight we are having roast ham with mustard sauce, cauliflower mash and green beans.

I am immobile. I got as far as dyeing my roots (and applying the usual moustache dye to eyebrows) but cannot face moving. Not even to do singing practice. Can hear DP doing something downstairs but suspect it's gardening not cake-making.

That dinner sounds divine

Rudy, is it possible that they are enjoying online company and conversation (as do we) and revision note swapping , and are calling themselves BF/GF because they'd like not engage with that in RL just now, and this is a good alibi as far as the outside world is concerned?

Off to a birthday dinner/tea (what do you call a meal at 3.45?) it is peeing, dp is in a bad mood because he has too much work to do and could do without this.

I have sorted ds's uniform, PE kit, cooking stuff (including a pouncy dressing for his 'coleslaw'), lunch box and cooked for tonight just in case...

At least I have another day off before work.

Absolutely chucking it down here and there will doubtless be flooding (if there isn't already).
Beachy, hope Dylan will be ok.
I have done only minimal coursework over this half-term, however, ds has probably had the best and most social week he has had for ages, the house is slightly cleaner than it has been for a while and dd has spent the last 2 days revising and has kicked a manipulative so-and-so off her FB friends list. I will have to apply myself to lesson planning tonight and am resigned to speed-writing my next assignment this coming week.
I think I may have come to the end of the road with my circuits classes. I have had this niggly sciatica-type pain that has been coming and going for the last 18 months, but over the past few months it has been there more often than not. And recently it hasn't been so much niggly as really, really painful and making me feel a bit sick. The gp thought piriformis syndrome 6 months ago, so I researched some exercises for this and that worked for a while, but I'm now taking painkillers at least twice a day and have had a couple of acute episodes while driving, which is a bit grim. I hate that I might be too decrepit already to do certain things. :( Although I guess the more positive way to look at it is to say that it's just time for a change. The gp has referred me for physio, so I'll wait and see what they say, but I think I will have to lay off the burpees for a while after the way I've been feeling this week.
I have to say I am a little at all the dcs being so po-faced about making friends online. I have friends I have known for 15 years that I have never met in person. I also met dh online (through the same work-related group from which I know the others) and thought he was an annoying idiot for about a year before we got chatting. Then we spent about 6 months talking via instant messaging before we met IRL. My dcs have met quite a few of my online friends, one way and another. They also know that I have a loon-screening programme.

rudy you are the model of the sensible calm, parent about the online relationship IMHO. It sounds innocent and quite sweet to me. Bit like pen friends. Do they actually want a real life meet up? If so could the meet at a location half way between their homes and you go and sit discretely in a nearby caff? ( oh good heavens that sounds like the undateables and the chaperone . )

I do hope these various daft, ill fated dogs are ok! As a non pet owner for the last few years I will never understand why, having trained our DC not to be incontinent, to aim true and to get to the toilet in time when D&V strikes...and to babysit themselves, why anyone would then go and get a pet....

NU we surfaced in Vancouver after a few days trudging around Banff and Lake Louise, and a two day Rocky Mountaineer train trip. After five days there, doing a lot of lazing by the pool I have to admit, we took the ferry to Vancouver Island and stayed in Victoria. I could PM you a link to the agent who put our itinerary together ....or put the DHs in touch by phone?

I am feeling an air of relief after DD has finished an art assignment which is a four letter word in this house. The is art related crap in every room of the house. Hateful.

Rose - I agree wholeheartedly on the pet front! When DD2 finally came out of nappies I declared that I would never again "scoop poop".

CV, it is too late - I pulled it all away I am no good at gardening

Lalsy, that is what I was thinking re the online romance!
Rudy, if they are not pushing to meet up, I wouldn't worry too much. I guess!

Stropps, sorry that you have to give up on the burpees - where is the pain? My knees are definitely not right any more. We are getting old.
And what is your loon-screening programme?

EA, that meal does sound good. Could you give us some advice, BIWI-style on low-carbing for lightweights (though not in the flab sense, of course!)

Lalsy, that is both lovely and very reassuring . If we do go down to Exeter again in the near future, I will be in touch. If dd hasn't run off screaming the moment I suggest it, of course.

Rose, bet you are relieved about that art assignment being finished!

BTM, the pain is classic sciatic pain, radiating from the buttock all the way down my leg to my foot. Sometimes lately it has been acute and makes me light-headed and nauseous. I have just had a useful convo with dm, who rang up for her regular Sunday chat. She is a retired physio and said it definitely sounds like piriformis syndrome rather than any trouble with my spine, but she also said that I am clearly doing something to aggravate it and should steer clear of any straight-leg sit-ups. Pikes/v-sits are the absolute worst things I could be doing apparently. Ah, that would be why I was in agony after attempting them on Thursday, then. Dm says I should get a physio to do a full assessment, but says that physios these days often don't do it properly unless you ask them to. It's all right for her to say, she knows what she's looking for, whereas I don't. She says I should probably do no fierce exercise until I've seen a physio and should not even attempt yoga (which I suggested) as "you will probably tie yourself in a knot you can't get out of". Thanks, mum. The pain has been so grim this week, I may have to take her advice. Damn and blast.

Yes, I too am intrigued by who is excluded by Stropps' screening.

I do point out to DD1 that one of her friends is the daughter of one of my internet friends. And that a number of you lot came to my 50th (not counting Molly who was there too).

I do concede on the pets front that dogs would be a step too far. Cats place peremptory and unreasonable requests for food/attention, leave detritus around the house (more mouse entrails today) and come and go at odd times, returning starving. I really should have had more children (I think this quite often).

OK here goes. Remember we both cook, have masses of time and bugger all else to do
OH makes all bread with lspelt flour. We have one slice a day. We have no sugar, no fruit juice, no cake, no biscuits, no sweet drinks, no pudding. No white rice, no floury potatoes. We have basmati rice and pasta sometimes but only 35g each. We eat lots of veg, fruit, have our own muesli for breakfast with full-fat yoghurt, low GI grains like pearled spelt risotto, meat with fat, fish, eggs, butter, olive oil and moderate amounts of cheese. A couple of glasses of dry wine when we feel like it (often). We love Indian and Middle Eastern food and use dried fruit where needed. Lunch is soup or salad but no carbs.
Will post more as I think of it but tell me to shut up if it is boring.

Spelt not ispelt.

Stropps .

EA, mmmm

MI, you should see the rejects pile in my FB friends folder. Working on the basis of "it takes one to know one", I have certain criteria I use for loon-screening. Generally, I tell my dcs that if you get a niggling feeling that something is "not quite right", go with that feeling. And beware of those who are excessively needy and/or instantly over-friendly. These are all rules I should have applied when I met my first husband. And should have run like the wind.

Soz, EA, I'll definitely not be joining in. I love sugar. And bread.

EA - I could easily cope with that kind of diet. Sounds a bit like mine, without the red wine, roast potatoes and Rice Krispie bars. The latter are rare treats. Maybe one could be low-carb six days a week, then go a bit mental one day a week. For example Sunday, with its attendant roasties.

The trouble is it takes planning and time. Doesn't allow for the 'quick, I've got five minutes to make something to eat before I have to go out again' kind of occasions.

I am trying to be a bit vegan during the weekday (ie up till dinner and sometimes then too). Mostly for reasons of conscience/environment but also to cut cholesterol levels. It is possible to do this being low-fat but I'm not sure about low-carb....

EA, that sounds lovely - if you were here preparing it for me and there were no DC or DH to think of (and so no sugary snacks or bread lying around), I think I could actually manage it!

We had steak and chips for dinner. I had only 2 chips (though they were ginormous!) and more veg. That is healthy, right?!

Stropps , I empathise with the sciatic pain, you poor sausage. Mine is no better, but vaguely masked by hefty tablets and small vocal winces

Oh Beachy, poor Dylan, and you. Hope he can be fixed without too much pain in the wallet.

Today I am mostly ironing. I am fed up already after about 6 items.
Trying to look wan, so dh will take over.

Next Sunday would be fabuloso in BP.

Who else can make it? Lalsy? Addle? Monty?

I need to eat more veg, and the one thing that makes me do it is to grow my own. So plans are afoot. Dh does not get it, but the dog likes me messing about in the borders; also if I begin to dig, he goes crazy and digs like a...terrier after a fox, which is what he was bred to do.