Crepey coalition of chaos

[herbaceous]

Roll up hags, for all things Hotter.

I'm in a strop because when I rang Direct Line to put new cat on our insurance they refused to speak to me without DH's authorisation. He is the policy holder. Allegedly. He has of course never once dealt with the admin, not for a single payment or claim. Now they have sent an email soliciting feedback - to my email address

Auriga, I've got a lovely vision of you adding your cat as an additional named driver to your motor insurance!

Me too, MrsW!

I am at the airport, smelling deliciously on Un Jardin de Monsieur Li.

Mmmn sounds divine Mrs S. here I found a Diptiyque Eau Rose roll on lying in the bottom of a neglected yellow handbag, i rarely use it so forgot all about the parfum. Mini yay 😊

So if a person doesn't agree with you, you just sack em. < makes notes> Trump is leading the way in being obliging and helpful.😕 W£&ker

A pox upon their houses Auriga.
So stupid. Why would you make a call to them, offer them MORE MONEY and then have them not bite your hand off. Idiots

Very annoying Auriga - mind you I phoned Student Finance and said I wanted to pay off DD2's student loan - they wouldn't tell me how much it was - obs 9K plus some interest - DD2 has to ask them thistop secret information and authorise it. I would have thought they would be happy that somebody actually wanted to pay!

Very hot and sweaty here - good preparation for China - have taken DH to buy some respectable trainers in the sale as he is very attached to those deck shoes that French men seem to like and they are falling apart and frankly embarrassing. It is like shopping with a child.

Herbs do tell - where are we at with the wedding plans?

I have gently tried to clarify marital sitch, but it remains slightly inconclusive. Tempting to just book r ceotion, Dress etc, and proceed as if all agreed, but that would mirror relationship in unsatisfactory manner.

Currently slight drunk watching DS and she came laying board game with our Greenwich gay fri new.

Oh Herbs - he is very frustrating - maybe throw copies of Bride Magazine down on the coffee table in a meaningful manner. Or ask him which dress he likes best.

Oh Herbs - why not order a load of wedding veils or tiaras on a 'Try Before You Buy' basis? Just nonchalantly waft into the kitchen to make yourself a coffee while he's there?

Home now, from holiday. Took us 5 hours to do 180 miles. The sat nav just couldn't decide which way to send us round the M25, there was so much traffic.

Sadly the packing AND unpacking fairies failed to make an appearance so yours truly has done most of it. Things back to normal today, and within the next 20 mins, I will be a fly fishing widow for probably the rest of the day.

I have my first counselling session booked for this week. I suspect it's going to be pretty traumatic in places, but worth the ride. I'm hoping it'll give me some perspective on life, the universe and my marriage.

Our financial advisor very helpfully sent us a quarterly update on our finances before we went away, so have copied most of it. I am due some ££ from my DFs estate which I can take if I want, or roll over into my DMs, to take when she goes. I'm going to roll it over, I think.

Hatty, hope you've read this before you pay off student loan upfront.

Herbs, yes to the veil buying tactic. Sounds like he'd like to, but cba actually doing anything about it.
Is he a bloke by any chance?

I am very excited for you, Herbs: I think we should have a Crepey shopping expedition to decide what you should wear. And yes to trying on random veils in the kitchen.

I am feeling quite chuffed as I have just seen my NDN who hadn't seen me since our return from holidays and she complimented me on my new haircut (in view of the fact that I have been swimming and done nothing with it I thought that was a result). Still debating with myself whether to ditch the highlights, though.

Please help me try and feed DD2's friend. She won't seem to eat ANYTHING and is worse than when she came the year before last. She won't eat out in case she doesn't like what she orders/there is nothing on the menu that she wants. I suggested to DD2 that they grab a sandwich from Pret or somewhere when they a re out. Friend "doesn't trust" prepacked sandwiches. The list of what she will eat is not long but doesn't look insurmountable until she clarifies "but I will only eat fajitas/lasagne/ macaroni cheese if my Mum eats it."

She won't eat lunch at all, but prefers to snack - crisps and Coke.

We are having roast chicken tonight, which she "will try".

Just cook whatever you are planning and encourage her to eat, but have snacks and coke at the ready? She clearly eats something when at home.

I agree with BTM, MrsS, but I would probably go further and just totally ignore her food faddies: cook what you would normally cook, and then it's up to her. She will either starve or try things and she is certainly old enough to grin and bear it.

100% agree with NUF. Far too old to be pandered to!

Am back from France & we had a lovely time but I had forgotten just how tiring 2 year olds are!

I climbed the mountain - and was very stiff the next day!

The nicest thing was DS saying to me that he felt so much closer to us now he is a parent & can now appreciate & understand what we did & why we did it. There is light at the end of the teenage/early 20's tunnel.

Herbs - am sure we could all write a wonderful poem for your wedding invites.

MrsS also agree with what BTM says. Cook as you would normally but make sure she's never far from a bag of crisps. She is terrified of food or possible even phobic of being sick or something. How very difficult.

Herbs you could directly propose to him. In public, on your knees... and the Crepey army will all come and cheer you on. No need to wait for the next leap year..,,

Nice day, having managed to lose the DC by waving a £20 note at them and saying airily 'go get your own breakfast somewhere" and then escaping to another establishment with our BFfs for a long, lazy and gloriously glutinous breakfast. We then regrouped for a lovely, long coastal walk finishing with cake at the beach cafe. I have rediscovered my ancient Next boyfriend jeans and they're brilliant for this bright but very breezy weather and such a relief as I look rubbish in shorts atm

Mrs S, seriously give her what you are having and give her a 'life lesson' Rosen is right. She sounds like she is on her way to an eating disorder, so don't differ from normal behaviour in your house. Definitely something young on there that you won't be able to solve during a stay with your dd.
Chicken or nada.

In parking ticket news i had my appeal declined. So I am appealing the appeal. Sadly in NI ( that bastion of fair play) this is dealt with , not by someone neutral, but by the original company who issued the ticket. Ffs. The deadline is tomorrow. Do I think they will respond to it 'fairly and without prejudice?' Non.

Last time she was here she kept a kilo jar of peanut butter in her room and ate that. I asked DD2 if there was anything special that I should get in and the response was Reeses' breakfast cereal, Coke and pain au chocolate. I've got some Diet Coke and Krave. She can have the chicken and like it tonight.

Magi, welcome back and well done on the mountain! And on your parenting - what a lovely thing to hear.

Crem, yes Martin Lewis was onto this while the Labour Party played it for votes and dug itself a deeper and deeper hole instead of addressing the real issue of living costs (which wd cost now).

Well, well well! I largely abandoned this thread, mainly because working out who everyone was was giving me a headache.

But I can't ignore MarriageGate! Herbs, pick up the "proposal" and run with it. Start putting the plans together, look at venues etc. That's pretty much what I did (my proposal being very much of the "well, I suppose we can get married, if you want to" variety).

Anyway, I have done nothing at all today, am exhausted after two full days of socialising with friends and family, and lording it in posh hotels. I tell a lie, I had to get up at 6.30am to drop DS to work; his office is on the "wrong" side of the big RideSurrey bike race, so if he had driven himself he and his car would have been stuck there until this evening.

God Mrs S - I'm surprised you had her back after last year. For your own sanity give her what you're having.

MM - High five on the mountain climbing.

Crem - thanks for that link - I've seen it before. Unsure what to do as we had to help DD1 who we financed with a French bank loan at very low interest. DD2 has a student loan and it seems unfair not to help her as well.
Very unfair about the parking fine.

MrsS - Oh for goodness sake! Roast Chicken is hardly 'NEW' is it??

I agree with others - get crisps and coke in, and let her choose.

MM - hell yeah! for climbing mountain.

Talking of mountains, just spoken to DS. He seems fine, but weather bad. Didn't want to ride 'the ridge' because cloud too low and wind too strong. Yeah, might get blown off....

Hate DH with avengeance. He is such an arse/ twat (delete as appropriate). He's just sneered at me because I've never heard of the Battle of Passchendaele. I abandoned history as soon as poss. I'm shit hot on geography, but don't belittle his lack of knowledge on the subject.

How can I go back to 'school' and keep my head down for a year? I want to just open the front door and keep walking.

Is it him, or the prospect of going back to work tomorrow? I'm past caring, TBH.

Don't get me wrong Hatty, you must do what suits your family best.

We have had to sub dd some living costs as well Ms M, but she is out working too, and yes I do think this affects kids choosing whether or not they can afford to go to University But there will be no way her mahoosive student loan ( The bit from the SL company £ 26,000 ) will need paid back until she is in FT employment. After she is on £21,000 per year, she will be paying back a certain amount of her salary. This is then deducted at source, so appears on your payslip, in the same way as national insurance and tax. There is also a likelihood that that threshold will increase. It is very unlikely, unless there is some kind of economic balls up I'm looking at you Justine, and you Arlene, that she will end up paying it ALL back , by the time she is 49 after which it will be written off. Essentially my belief is paying it off now means you are making money disappear. Also, it's her loan , not mine. Sorry I am a bit bitter about it. Can you tell?