Though She Be Crepey, She Is FIERCE!

[QueenQueenie]

Ta Da!

Sounds v promising, MI. I have had a good meeting with teaching agency, where Keen Young Men promised me I'd have work coming out of my ears, especially if I do supply teaching of whole classes. But even intervention work should be easy enough to come by.

So I celebrated by buying a sports bra in TK Maxx. Soon I shall be leaving to have my smear. I can feel my nethers clenching already.

WAF - I too had a jacuzzi like that. Except I stayed. To the end, IYKWIM. Rude.

Stropps - I cannot fruitfully add to the wise words of the crepeys. Other than to add my agreement that you are of a Consistently High Standard in everything from education to parenting to self-awareness, and you will emerge from this slough of despond.

Mrs S - did you see there's a London cat sitting thread in Chat?

I feel that as I grumble about him so much I should put it on record that Mr Inferior just sent me some flowers

If I were a proper MNer I would suspect he was having an affair, of course.

It was very nice of him I shall think of him as I go out for rather nice meal with BFF tonight.

[grinl]

[ bugle ]

I have had my smear test. It was grim - she had to have three goes - but not as grim as I was a'fearin'. Huzzah. Have also booked in for crepey MOT and blood test.

Rudy we need to see video evidence...

I have to agree with all above/below, Stropps. The year was worth it, both mentally and financially. I think the course showed you how much you can achieve, it also showed the dc and dh how to cope one day a week with your absence, a skill well worth having. Once the stress about results is over, one way or another, she may be on a more even keel. And the right job will come along....

I'm enjoying hospital radio, while ddad has his eye chopped about a bit

MI why would you think of yourself as anything other than a good teacher/lecturer? And why wouldn't you deserve flowers from DP? I don't think it's a sign of an affair….men having affairs hide their mobile phones and put passwords on their email settings. Let's get up to date….

Good news Herbs* on both counts…

Tilly ouch indeed. Hope you didn't tear any flesh as well as clothes.

WAF hols sound good…I love a bit of messing about on the UK coast as Crepeys will know, and am very partial to a game of Crazy Golf…

Beachy hope your DDad weathers his surgery well.

Thanks all….DM is very up and down and has reportedly had a go at DSis. However she was ok on the phone with me this afternoon, and is getting quotes from care agencies. DDad is being a Jekyll and Hyde according to her, saying he'll do things and the refusing to get out of the chair. I think DM is learning to accept that she can't turn an 88 year old with Dementia into Speedy Gonzales, and peeps of that age do often spend a lot of time just sitting.

Appointment at GOS went fine…not too much probing or analysis, thank heavens. Nice lady just trying to determine whether DD had any ishoos or avoidances re her problem (she has marked boob asymmetry as a result of fairly extensive surgery to the left side of her chest when younger.) DD's remarkably sanguine about it…and calmly explained her fashion tricks which minimise the difference and what type of bikini tops she looks for. She's a good kid. sometimes

Rose, that is really encouraging re DD. Do you think she may opt for surgery one day?

My lack of confidence in teaching journalism is mainly because I've had v little formal training myself - I did some courses at the then London College of Printing back in the day when Molly was my boss but that's it. Lovely HoD actually finds my background quite an advantage.

DP informs me some of the kids plus the bloke supposed to be in charge all got blind drunk and tried to go swimming at 4am. One was 14, DD1's age. He assures me she was tucked up in bed but says darkly she has been In Close Proximity To Boys.

I suspect Mr Inferior and I were rather different as teenagers.

MI - good for your DD's to know their father is looking out for them.

Rose - your DD sounds great and with a really mature and healthy body attitude.

I am sitting hot flushing and will have to take something to sleep tonight. Already the weather is hot and humid without my adding flushes on top - grr.

Wow, Rose, your dd sounds very grown-up and sensible about it all. Good for her.

Well done, Herbs. And I hope the teaching agency comes up with some good stuff for you.

Hope your dad's op went ok, Beachy!

MI, I am glad to hear things are looking up for your sister and also glad to hear that your meeting went well.

Thanks to you all for jollying me along. I really do feel very down about everything. I find it hard enough doing the right thing by myself, but it becomes entirely impossible when I am also trying to do the right thing by dd. There is really no particularly good outcome either way on Thursday, I feel. If her grades are passable, she will just think she can do no work again and barely attend school again this coming year, but if her grades are terrible, she will have an epic meltdown and take it out on me and I just don't think I will be able to keep my temper if that happens. (thanks very much for the offer of a bolthole, though, BD!! ).

I have said I will take dd out tomorrow (we are going to do some window-shopping and have lunch at an allegedly upmarket shopping village), as I hope that a change of scene might possibly do her some good before whatever happens on Thursday, happens. I can't say that I am filled with enthusiasm for the idea of spending several hours in her company, as it will mainly be her staring at her phone and then whining and shouting at me about all the things wrong with her life. But at least I will have tried. We had a family trip to the cinema last Friday, and ds persuaded her to come with us eventually and she was actually more or less civil to everyone for most of the time once we were out of the house.

Several weeks ago, a friend of ours offered her the prospect of some work experience in a lab. I have given her his number (again) today and encouraged her to contact him. She said she didn't know what to say, so I suggested a little script. She has been on the sofa in her pjs since about 1pm, staring at her phone/dross on the tv. She has not contacted him. But has moaned "I am so lazy, I have nothing to write on my personal statement." It's a blessing my blood pressure is naturally so low it is only just above that of a corpse. Otherwise my head would have exploded by now.

Anyway, I have spent several hours today battling piles of paperwork in the office and uncovering various things that needed/need dealing with. And have formulated a work schedule for the next week or so. (Easier said, than done, I tell you).

Sorry for being a Misery Guts.

Herbs Re hot tub!

Rose well done to your DD. And you for helping her to feel so confident/positive about it all.

MI at
My DC were convinced that DH had led a very sheltered life until they heard all the tales from his old school/uni mates on this trip

Stropps, grrrrr re DD - good on you for offering to take her shopping - fingers crossed it goes well! Low BP is definitely a bonus.

DH and I are going to escape for a walk to see the giant redwoods shortly, leaving them to lie in bed

Thanks so much for all your good wishes. Op was much smaller than previously envisaged. The cancerous lump had sort of retreated, so they chopped out a biopsy and we will return to fight another day and do the full op later in the autumn...

All good and he's not allowed in the sea for one week

I sometimes think that DD being somewhat immature/less aware and not "part of the cool crowd" is working to her advantage in this respect. She will probably opt for surgery but is following the surgeon's advice i.e. to wait until she's stopped growing…The only worry I have in my mind is that privately, I'd rather she had the bigger side reduced (me being of the generation that liked small boobs) but I don't think she's of that mind….Let's wait and see.

MI Experience counts as everything…you'll be an awesome teacher!

Stropps good luck with the shopping trip….it's easier to bond a bit over girly shopping, I find. You are a stoic, not a misery guts.

Beachy That sounds encouraging.

I can't get mine out of bed either Tilly DS is withdrawing into an imminent AS results mood, (apparently the grade boundaries are published today….) but was temporarily cheered yesterday by getting good feedback from his week of work experience last month. I am looking at a day of wrestling with a Powerpoint presentation for an annual study conference of one of my work areas for September. I really can't be arsed…but I'm worried to leave it any longer as it's at the beginning of the month. However I have the carrot of loooong catch up with BFF at 3 this afternoon…I suspect the DC will still be in bed….

Rose, good luck to your DS and all others awaiting the unmentionables.

Beachy, that's great news

Redwoods walk was lovely - clear blue skies again here today. DH and DS took the kayaks out on the lake for a bit and we spent the late afternoon/evening at the Polynesian Spa which is natural thermal pools next to the lake - great views and very relaxing.

Stropps - really good luck with your trip today. Just a thought, could/would your friend call dd instead of her calling him/her to ask if she could come and help out? She'd be caught on the hop and it might work well for her if she perceives herself as needed.

Hatty - sorry about the flushes. Hope you get a better sleep tonight.

Here I am cosmic ordering (a la Noel Edmonds) for more work. Lots more work as haven't saved a penny for tax (why? Why? I always do. Usually) Please have a word with the cosmos for me. Thank you.

Crossing everything for all crepey dc with results tomorrow.

Stropps, good luck today. You can't sort dd out until she wants to be - but she will notice you sorting a work plan out in a tough week while trying to support her. Trivial I know, but my dc hate phone calls - it seems an alien way of communicating to them. dd would never have got any of her jobs or work experience if she had had to pick up the phone.

Your DD sounds very grounded and pragmatic, Rose.

Beachy - good news re your DDad.

Good luck for all awaiting results. I want to put a large rocket up DD1's arse, to get her to apply herself to her IB, rather than just wailing that it is All Too Difficult. Bizarrely, she has no problems with her French IB course, and is taking that a year early. She is bright, but won't apply herself. She got a D in her maths, but a B+ for additional maths (which is more difficult) and is on the 83rd centile for MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) tests in maths, so she clearly has the ability. I have said that either she knuckles down and puts in some work, or we get her a maths tutor for two hours every weekend.

The Shitten welcomes us home by crapping on the hall carpet this morning, having been clean for months...

Crepeys, a far-TMI question. I delayed my period while on hols with norethisterone. Am now on day 3 of wall to wall painkillers with cramps I have never known the like of, and darn thing still not started properly. I've never had this before (feel really manky but not actual pain like this). Am drinking hot drinks, mainlining ginger, lying down a lot (luckily no looming deadlines) - any other tips? To add to my joy, there is a great family sheninigans at the weekend, so the guilt-tripping and muddle are starting now so I must stay away from sharp implements. dd is in a similar position, tho less extreme, and has invited a (male) friend round to listen to her moan and help her tidy her room. How times have changed.

Beachy, that's great news.

The only other thing I can suggest is a hot water bottle/wheatgrass pillow. You poor love.

lalsy - best thing is orgasm. True.

Lalsy - in France we can get antispasmodics - not sure how readily available those are in the UK but it would help with the cramping.

Beachy - good news on your DF's eye.

Here it has gone up to 33°C again. DH wants to go and have a family meal in the Latin Quarter. After many years he still hasn't understood that I hate the Latin Quarter - nasty food and too many tourists. Also he cannot empathise at all with my ladies problems and not sleeping. Plus our evening train service is irregular due to work on the line. I think he thinks IABU.

Stropps - hope your day with DD has gone well and will be thinking of you tomorrow

Thanks, guys. Not sure about anti-spasmodics, don't want to bring the whole thing to a halt again and I have to be on my feet all day Friday.......Auriga , fat chance (jacuzzi joke brewing but too grumpy and mad to make it).

Off to scour house for HWBs though.

I have just made a monumental f*ckup with work - a mag's been printed with major errors in it. I am going to have to offer to resign from the project: a slight pain, as it was income, but frankly I think it's the best tactical move.

MI, what bad luck. I agree though about good tactical move - gives clarity and moral high ground and puts the ball in their court, rather than putting you on the defensive. If they know what they are doing, they will want you to stay on.