A Crepey Advent-ure

[MontserratCaballe]

Over here, my darlings....

Nice to have DD back not under a cloud, Strops. Just back for Christmas, like all regular students, eating/drinking you out of house and home, and keeping you up all night! New car - how lovely!

Thanks to this thread I found out there are such things as Christmas radio stations - who knew?! Marvellous! I am now singing along loudly to Merry Christmas (War is Over) on Heart Extra Xmas, while I wait for my two lazy elves to get out of bed and assist with the tree decoration. DH has gone to collect DS from work, and is bribing him with some driving practice and a trip to McD's if he will consent to a trip to Argos Crawley to collect the item we failed to collect yesterday.

In crepey bunion news, I treated myself to some orthotics from Boots, in an effort to deal with my aching feet and (latterly) right knee. Regular ones for everyday, and a sports pair, so I have no excuse not to get running again. A podiatrist friend told me this was a cost-effective solution, as her professional advice would probably yield the same result but with considerably more expenditure. I tried the orthotics last night, and walked around a bit - they felt really odd, and I complained to DH that I couldn't see how they were improving matters. Then I realised I was wearing them on the wrong feet.

Oh, and Rose, acid mask was fab. Skin was soft and smooth afterwards what there was left of it

Stopps, enjoy your lunch, matchsticks or no.

CV, orthotic insoles have changed my life. I can do loads more sport and exercise. Putting them in the right way round is essential

Hooray for mini meet ups . Very cheering.

Sorry to hear of various creaking limbs and joints. Hope they can be soothed with much needed rest and Just Stopping. It's incredible how much some of you are packing into the days. You are all bloody marvellous, matchsticks or nay.

Aw Adrian Gill was the king of wit and writing for me. I loved to hate his column in the ST. Another trail blazer to go this year. There must be some party goin on in Celeb Heaven. With a soundtrack from Bowie and Leonard, with comedy turns from Victoria Wood and Ronnie Corbett and a running commentary by Gill.

Stropps, Lalsy Hatty , glad the prodigal dds are home in one piece. Dd doesn't get here until next week, but she has one punishing essay to go. She texted last night to say she was very down. Suspect this visit will be peppered with propping up and nourishment. I am going to tentatively suggest talking therapy and see where that get us. ( gurgh)

Tested yesterday's strangely hued nail varnish offering from advent calendar. Tried desperately to describe colour, but was munching on those red hued grapes that are plentiful at this time of year, and they are a perfect match. ( satisfying colour recognition moment)

MI - am still sadly with you on the sleepless bench. ( shattered) sorry for you.
Absolutely love your ancient maps. One of my favourite things. I adore maps. What a treat

So I have spent a couple of hours this morning (at least) going through the structure of DD1's extended essay with her, tying in with comments from her tutor on how to structure it better and to put in more analysis. This is time I could have spent doing job applications. Just went into DD1's room to see how she was getting on, and she is sitting faffing about with her guitar, having not done any of the essay at all. It's about an hour's work for her, tops. But at this rate, she will still be doing it at 5, when she is supposed to finish work on her maths assignment. She makes me so angry. She just can't be fucking bothered and is set to fail her high school certificate as well (and you have to be pretty fucking stupid to do that) because of the lack of work she has put in. So it looks like she will be leaving education this summer with no qualifications, having had hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on her education.

Crem, hope dd gets through the last essay - what a long term it has been. dd goes away again tomorrow, for some P and Q elsewhere, vast essay under her arm. Good luck with talking therapy suggestion.

MrsS, you must be spitting tacks.

I was awake loads of last night too. What is the matter with us all?

MrsS

I must get some orthotics!

These are the most amusing things I found when tidying the drawer of my bedside table this morning.

Yes. They ARE 3d glasses. I have put them and the trophies back in the bedside drawer in hope of award worthy performances in the vicinity.

I use orthotics. Bouncey gel ones. Fab.

Yes Crem the varnish is a berry brown rather than red. Quite like it.

Stropps - hope Cote is fun.

Stropps, for your DD and you for her managing the whole term. And hooray for the car and trip to Cote and everything!

MrsS, you are definitely not the only DM feeling like this - I know several others!
Is it better or worse with the English system where tthey get a chance to fuck-up on their GCSES when they are 16, and then can either learn from their mistakes, or do the same again!

Here, obviously fucking-up on GCSES is the least of our worries.

Good night out last night with dear friends - we shared a pitcher of WooWoo amongst other things but no hangover, again

Off to accompany DD on a Christmas presents shopping trip which will probably involve all the pound shops and Primarni as there's not much else there. But at least it is out of the house!

Tree up, halls decked, and DD1 and I just polished off two platefuls of very un-festive leftover takeaway curry. Mmmm.

Greetings, Crepeys, from sunny Aberdeen. I have sampled most of Scotland's drinks in the last 48h and am now queuing for my plane home and a detox. Will catch up back at the ranch but sending love to you all in the meantime xxx

BTM - I thought it would be better for DD1 to just have one round of exams at the end, rather than the stress of GCSEs, AS and A levels, as I think we would have gone through this every year, particularly if she needed to do course work. She only has a few more months left of school. She just needs to get a grip, work steadily (and hand the work in) and do the bloody exams. Every other child does this at some point in their education, so I am not sure why she thinks she is so special. She is a bit of a drip, to be honest.

Tree up here today too. I decided that marked the start of Christmas so the quality street tin has been opened. I'm taking bets on how many times it will need replacing in order to have some left for Christmas Day.

Dds2 and 3 both home. It's so nice to have them back - can't wait for dd1 to arrive on Friday, although hers is only a flying visit as she is off again on Saturday or Sunday for Christmas Yachting. She has offered her room to a friend while she's away - the logistics of London job interviews if you don't live there are significant - and the cost is not trivial either.

Must be infuriating, MrsS; I can feel your blood boiling. Let's hope she pulls it together at the last minute.

BTM - DD2 bought all her mates Primark make-up - some lovely stuff. DD1 remarked snobbishly that if any of her friends bought her Primark make-up she'd disown them. This is why DD2 has loads of money, and DD1 has none (even less since we are docking her allowance to cover the iPhone screen repair).

I am trying now to do job applications while DD1 wails and DH shouts and swears and cannot get my act together to say why they should employ me for these jobs. I probably don't feel that they should.

Suitcase purchased at Herbs's fave boutique. Some music practised and more to come.

DD1 gone out Christmas shopping in Camden with boyf. She has got very into some eastender market where you can get a bag of someone's castoffs for a quid, which as you can imagine is fine by me. Apparently he was "helping her with biology revision" the other day. He did get an A* in his mock, to be fair.

MrsS, can I suggest you repair to a nearby cafe/pub and leave them to it?

And MrsW, my bet is five (5, v).

That car sounds 'Cushtie' Stropps (a la Only Fools and Horses)

Having a domestic day, here. We are all away over Christmas, so sadly lacking in Christmas Trees etc. Have rolled out the wreath to hang on the front door, and propped up the (very few) Christmas cards that we've had.
Strung a few lights around and am hoping it looks festive enough to put off any potential thieves.

Am hoping DBro can cope with DM over Christmas. I have a feeling I'll have to pick up a few pieces when I return. Am suddenly craving some space away from my immediate blood family - I love them dearly (mostly) but the last few months have been very intense.

On 'that' subject - Herbs - how are things at your end?

Mrs S, I quite understand the frustration dd1 must be causing you. I'd be screeching Just Do It! But I'd also be wondering a little bit,if something is up with her? ( if definitely not in this category , just ignore me, and introduce sanctions.) removal of guitar, computer, snacks, etc.

My Dd saying yes to CBT or similar. ( rejoices)

Decorations plus swearing coming from upstairs. ( dh)

Mrs S , I did tell you that I threw ds mobile phone in the septic tank when she ignored me for the zillion the time.

Cremo, great that your DD wants some CBT. Do you know of someone to help her while she's at home or would she be better getting referred back at uni. Student Support Services sounded really good when I went with DD to look at Sheff - they might be better placed to help? But I'm sure you know all that!

DS insisted that we get our tree this morning. I have put lights on it, but noone is rushing to decorate it. No doubt I will have to encourage this evening and make it a jolly time. Not feeling like being very jolly

MrsS

Sorry to hear you are finding it hard to muster jollity, BTM - hardly surprising. May I suggest Heart Extra Christmas on the radio, turned up loudly, and a large box of Quality Street and a bottle of gin as festive fuel for tree-decorating?

Am just psyching myself up for card-writing.