29 crepes a leaping.......

[magimedi]

Well, I've grabbed the bull by the horns & am leaping into the new thread........

Felt very sad no one else had started one whilst I scoffed dined.

If no one like the title I am more than happy to have it deleted & go with anything else.

DH has taken over the catering for the month of February......... the food is good but the angst is another matter

Glad to hear that you are home safely, MrsS, and, yes, feet up and let DH wait on you hand and foot.

My births are so long ago I can't remember much of them (PFB DS is 40 this summer - sob).

MM, I sympathise. I think I probably had the same lurgy as you: I kept on saying to DH that I thought I had a cold in my stomach - which is how my DM used to describe things like that. It lasted from Friday night until yesterday, but I am fine now, thanks, Rose.

DS and family came on Saturday and left this afternoon en route to Jamaica: the house is horrendous, stuff everywhere as the container they have hired wasn't quite big enough. I can cope with the conservatory being full of toys, it's the boxes and bags on every surface in the utility room which I have difficulty with - I get very stressed although I am not by nature a tidy person. The DGC are not coping very well with the upheaval and the baby, in particular, is very clingy with his mum. Not to be wondered at, really.

We have red wine and I might be in bed by eight.

I take it back. Dinner was both nice and veg-packed.

Frozen chopped onion is the Biz, I still think, though.

Re rap party, it was run by the amusingly named Fun DMC. I think it was supposed to be a bit , but as there were hundreds of people there, so not as good. Excellent music, though. Once I'd had a bloody mary I could have raved on with the best of them.

Managed to tease a little bit of writing out of DS to explain his project. I quote: "The jumpersaurus bonds with the spirit of the jumper."

Have heard back from adult education job - looks like I'll be teaching four (4, iv) classes a week after the Easter hols. May have to sack off the sixth-form college...

YES YES to frozen chopped onion! It's a recent discovery, and I don't know how I managed without it.

MrsS - glad it's all over for you. Fingers crossed the results say nothing to worry about.

BTM - college reunions are planned with great precision - this will be a full black tie job, with overnight accommodation thrown in. I will email tomorrow to see who is in the "lucky 16" relegated to the anteroom like kids who don't fit around the table on Christmas Day. High likelyhood of dullards regardless of where I sit; don't forget I read Chemistry.

NU - I'd be stressed with the clutter too. Deep breaths....

I must discover the wonder of chopped frozen onion. Sounds like it can revolutionise a life.

Fingers crossed for Mrs S - both for the boob result, and her DH's cooking! Here's hoping it wasn't tuna and brown rice...

NU - I don't envy you, having to shuffle around other people's stuff while they're off relaxing in Jamaica. I would be positively seething with resentment, but I suspect you're a lot nicer than me!

Nu - have they not heard of 'Lock 'n' Store' & other such places that will take all your crap treasures?

I'd be parcelling it up & shipping it out - it's not on to leave it strewn all round your house.

And I take great heart from the tale of your lurgy. I have to be better by Thursday as am meeting my dearest friend from over the water, for lunch & (possibly) in Brighton.

MrsS, sorry you had such a horrible day, but glad you could meet MI for lunch and that the surgeon was so positive.

NU, I would struggle with other people's crap dumped around my house despite not being particularly tidy! I am sort of looking forward to clearing the crap from DM's house, although I will need several skips to clear the belongings, never mind the furniture!

Did any of you animal lovers watch the programme about Chester Zoo last night (Secret Life of the Zoo I think) - I am not particularly an animal lover, but it was fab and filmed at my favourite (childhood) zoo which is about as good as zoos get IMHO!

BTM - very sad about baby elephant! This is one family viewing thing we can watch with DS - that and Supervet.

Talking of DS- his Vitamin D is apparently too low so he actually has an explanation for his old man laziness although I do think sitting on the computer for hours doesn't help. He is going to walk into town with the sun on his face to buy supplements.

NU - hate people's crap everywhere, you are not alone.

Mrs - S fingers crossed, very stressful wait.

I love frozen onion - Lalsy I bought a packet of very small marble sized onions the other day as I thought they'd look nice in a casserole. Peeling them drove me to distraction .... never again!

Yes Hatty I couldn't get over how like humans they were.

Does vitamin D affect energy levels?

MI/Lalsy/everyone - frozen onions - you defrost and then cook presumably?

Anyone watching Happy Valley? I do think Sarah Lancashire is brilliant - especially as still remember her as Raquel in Corrie.

Mrs S - fingers crossed

Addle, I throw them in still frozen (though I need to buy more!) - they soften and cook v quickly!

I caught a few seconds where SL was looking at a hanging corpse - didn't look very happy toe so I flicked over!

I use them from frozen too (but am a novice). Just turn the heat up if frying a bit before you add anything else, I think?

SL is great. I am also watching Trapped and just started Shetland - I think I may get my storylines confused!

Yep, the whole point is you chuck in from frozen. Marvellous. Thus enabling you to ponce around grinding your own spices in the mortar and pestle if that is your fancy. (I do in fact do this.)

Having been rude about DP's affection for frozen veg I might put in a word for frozen mushrooms too. I can also whole-heartedly recommend those vacuum packs of liquid stock sold by Mr Ocado.

MrsS well done for weathering the invasiveness and stress of yesterday. I am pleased that the consultant was positive. I know what waiting for results is like xx

NU glad you're feeling better. I wonder, if you were able to just rearrange all the stuff into a manageable heap somewhere a bit less obtrusive? Although in all honestly, I think an additional storage unit where the main bulk of the stuff is stored may be the answer.

I think you can use the frozen chopped onions from frozen if you're frying them!

I need to catch up on this week's Happy Valley. I also agree about SL....super actress.

Hatty would putting the computer by a sunny window be a compromise?

herbs that's good news, re the classes!

Today I have the scintillating tasks of buying a new laminator, going to DD's termly review (ticking boxes in other words...there's never anything to say unless I decide to have a rant) but this evening, we are going to see Book of Mormon courtesy of DS2 who won tickets on the theatre's lottery just the week he went to see it himself...so he has kindly giving the wining tix to us!

The glass filters the light, that's the problem. In fact the outside light at the moment isn't strong enough to make vit D, though it will help with circadian rhythms and suchlike...

Mrs S - thinking of you a lot. Glad yesterday is out of the way (I have heard it's vile) and hoping hard for the absolute best.

Rose - Book of Mormon is a STUNNING piece of utter depravity. The most I have ever enjoyed myself at the theatre. Must go again.

Rose/Molly - Fortnum portion sizes look v generous.

I just pressed send on my novel re-write to my agent. 5 months of extensive pruning, re-ordering, deepening, expanding, re-thinking.... But, yeah, MI's DP, mostly over writing . MI I had that 'why don't you just send it now?' like I was just twatting around changing the font. 'Err, because it's not finished'

Beautiful weather here. Driving Mum to Epsom for pre-op for hip. Can you believe it? A cancellation has come through. Op scheduled for next week.

Monty - I hope you didn't have to bail on bail. Have primed my tenters to be on hooks for you for school admish results, although not sure if they're beginning or middle of March.

I’ve just read Go Set a Watchman (library). It really isn’t really very good. Because it is, essentially, an early draft. Lurking inside it is the one paragraph – actually more like one sentence – that sparked TKAM. There are odd flashes of the character of TKAM. But it’s a dreary, didactic novel that doesn’t pull of the iconoclastic ‘this is the South, get over it’ that I think it’s trying to (for my money, Lisa Alther does this much, much better in Original Sins, which is terrific. And LA is also v nice, I’ve discovered). The thing is, someone (an editor, IIRC) spotted that paragraph and those flashes and said ‘right, run with this’. And we end up with the novel which for all its flaws I bloody love. Whereas I’m not sure I can face finishing Watchman.

MI, I have been dreading reading it but felt I ought to. Now I don't. Thank you thank you . I hope publishing drafts doesn't become a Thing.

WAF I think sec day is 1st March?

Beautiful sunny day here - surely there must be some vit D in the air?! Have fitted in a foray into Poundland for new glasses and choc digestives en route back from a meeting #livingthedream

No tilly your dream is positively exciting compared with my list of dross...having picked up DHs dry cleaning, I have bought a new laminator, a flip chart and pens...then to Morrisons to purchase cheap biscuits and other consumables for my classes. I am reading myself with tea and piece of lemon drizzle cake in a caff overlooking the park and am glad of the sunshine...plus or minus Vit D.
#mostboringlifeevah

Reading? Rewarding....

No. Most boring life ever award goes to me. I'm in sainsburys cafe with a cappuccino. I have however bought not only frozen chopped onions but also that tunic I found for rose! It's surprisingly flattering - narrow enough on the shoulders and chest to suffer a figure beneath... Later I shall tidy DS's rim and perhaps go swimming. On the plus side, chicken kievs for tea!

Me, me, crepeys, for the dream award. I need a change (work-wise). I have just done am online questionnaire thingie which tells me helpfully that I lack drive, ambition and energy. Ideas on a postcard please.....