The Bluestocking Pub - Withered Old Haggis edition.

[Boiledbeetle]

Previous thread 👇

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5387894-the-bluestocking-does-a-late-night-flit-again

Figured it was my turn for once!

Plus this way I beat the rush to the bar.

Now I must return to the previous thread to relocate my Tunnock's secret stash.

Serve yourselves until the bar gerbils arrive.

Sympathies @Taztoy

and with respect to a long-standing and usually rational poster, I don't think there's ANY point starting a thread aimed at SmugPlums, even with an OP full of kind and good advice, because Plums doesn't care and won't take it on board.

I haven't been here as much as usual, so I missed out on the Other Thread [the TRA AMA one presumably , which I didn't read, but I had plenty of annoyance from the me-me-me JKR well-poisoning one😠] and Taztoy's arrival.
Sorry I wasn't around to do my usual Tigger-like welcome!

I'm sorry things are difficult for you, Taztoy, I hope you feel the Bluestocking is a place of calmness and safety - though I have to admit that it is simultaneously a place of accordion-playing badgers, but friendly and sympathetic accordion-playing badgers who will instantly stop playing to listen to you and give you lots of support.
[I talked my way out of that inconsistency quite deftly, didn't I?]
Joining other Bluestockingers in sending hugs.
Hugs too to Cher who a few pages ago said she was not only dealing with difficult stuff, but having to deal with it in 'furrin parts', which probably means having to deal with difficult stuff without access to a proper cuppa - fortunately the Bluestocking is equally accessible from home, or from furrin parts

Myrtle, I was trawling through some old Thread Galleries looking for photographic evidence of a beetle caught in the act of croc-wrangling, and I found this lovely romantic image of you and Mr Walrus.
This is what you'll be able to do you when you recover fully from the surgery, so keep getting better!

I hope the fact that the image was posted before means it already has a MNHQ Good Housekeeping Seal [or walrus] of Approval and will appear soon..

Rationally I know there's not much point engaging in those threads, but sometimes, in my professional role as Pastor of Muppets, I feel I should.

Ah well, all you can do is give your best advice, and if it falls on stony ground it's not your fault.

My youngest just got a delivery from Nails Inc., they're clearing stock and have a sale on.

She ordered a bottle of magnetic nail varnish for me. It's in a dark silvery grey. I think you dollop it on then waft a magnet (supplied) around it while it's still wet. I'm going to experiment with it later.

@taztoy Strength and sympathy from me too. Hold tight.

@ifIwerenotanandroid I've more or less made my peace with a certain level of ongoing damage. I was angrier when I thought it was particularly enthusiastic foxes (we get those too). I could never understand how - or why- a fox would dig such deep holes… This summer there's already been extensive snuffling in the ex-lawn in our back garden - the effect is a bit like an open-cast mine for invertebrates - but that's easier to live with.

I’ve now found out a bit more about puffling season. I’d thought it was a bit late for it; turns out it’s an Icelandic thing. Apparently their pufflings are liable to be confused by the lights of a nearby town and set off towards it instead of out to sea. So this is the season when concerned locals scoop them up and keep them safe before chucking them off the cliff in the right direction.

Bit like sending kids off to uni, I suppose.

Thank you for letting me know about the threads. I read most of the AMA one. He was an entitled shit, and how apt that his definition of a woman was the self referencing self-ID. I love that the final word was a reply to that: NO.

I started thinking he was an effeminate autistic gay man with gender dysphoria due to internalised homophobia because his family was homophobic, but by the end he read like an AGP porn-addled threat. And I’m so sorry for the utter disrespect shown to @Taztoy . You showed such courage and vulnerability with your posts and you were vilified unfairly. I’m not surprised you are angry, you have every right to be. Much love and hugs for you. 💙

Please become a regular here. We’re a great bunch and offer wonderful support, and no men allowed.

Thank you @MarieDeGournay also, for the image of me and the Walrus. I have that exact dress in the wardrobe from some years ago and in a stone’s time (not a typo), I will fit into it again. Hopefully this surgery will have been worth it in due course. I have just researched removal of stitches and they should come out now or the skin will overgrow them. I have a dressing change appointment tomorrow so will ask them to take them out.

Having seen my therapist this morning, she was lovely and said the removal of my HRT while I’m healing, the lack of information and control, the five week delay in follow up, the lack of pain relief, and the experience of the past year, have all led to me feeling so overwhelmed and vulnerable. Apparently I’m processing a lot, and the enforced rest and immobility are a way for me to not bury my feelings, so of course I’m upset. At least the displacement of knitting means I should have some blankets to show for it, when I get round to sewing the squares together.

You're all wonderful. 💙

I've just seen that thread, and reported it, it doesn't feel right. The OP should have private messaged him if he wanted to say that to him.

I'm afraid I've no ability to distinguish male and female badgers. Thankfully we don't get badgers around here. I did have problems with a squirrel and foxes but now we have, hopefully, a mutual understanding. The squirrel and I were enemies, now allies after a neighbour cut their tree down.

Hope your walk in the woods with your dog has helped @Taztoy, it is my main remedy for all sorts of things. Forest bathing is a real tonic and I always come back feeling rejuvenated. I read some of that thread as well although I confess I often give up when I can see where it is going.

@Taztoy We've got your back. I hope you saw last month that Sarah finally got her single sex therapy group so I've posted that below. We are winning, and they are panicking.

There's a host of brilliant, funny and educated woman (and the odd bloke, though not in the Bluestocking) who understand trauma and DV. You are brave to tell your story and it resonated with many I'm sure, even if not that dickhead.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgp558qkz0o

Thanks everyone. I’ve gone for a sneaky McDonald’s. I want to complain about the whole thing. I have a diary/journal I’ve kept and I will when it’s over. It’s been a shit show.

I can’t see me ever being the same again. And that thread made me so so angry.

Thanks Boily, that didn't occur to me. I'm glad it's gone.

Oh that’s brilliant news! So pleased to read it. Thanks for sharing @BeLemonNow

I'm sorry @Taztoy . It's the flip side of the openness and honesty of discussions here, stuff that has been buried for years can open up and the very revealing reaction of some of the TRAs is horrible. I can't imagine what it's like when it is still a fresh wound anyway.

My yoghurty kiwi blueberry nutty seedy lunch, as promised.

That looks very healthy. I had dried figs (last season I think) with thinly sliced brie and walnuts, and a very nice apple from a friend's tree. Mine are not quite ready yet.

I try not to think of food as “healthy” or “unhealthy”, “good” or “bad”, as I don’t think it’s helpful or useful. I did try to think of it as more or less nutritious, but I think it ends up having the same effect.

We researched a lot about eating and food choices when I was on the Zoe programme a few years ago, so we eat fresh food made from scratch that we like (though the Walrus batch cooks at the weekend) and this is the result.

Mostly we eat protein and fat in a limited time period and we don’t have snack food in the house, except nuts. And we don’t eat things we don’t like.

I've been given permission to obsess about small pieces of plastic, so here goes:
remember this lovely little scale model figurine of a woman which made us all go awwwww instead of going ewwwwww, which most of them do ?
It just arrived. It's too fecking small for the Real Bluestocking😡

Basically, the cheapo 'toy' figures I've bought online have been the right scale. The expensive ones I ordered from specialist companies have been technically right, so I can't complain and return them, but significantly at the lower end of the interpretation of 1:43 scale.

As I said before, all these slightly-too-small figures will have to be accommodated in some new modelling project, so there does my kitchen table for another few months😀

Now that I know this last figure isn't suitable, I can go ahead and plan
✨THE GRAND OPENING OF THE REAL BLUESTOCKING ✨
one of these days... I'm afraid I haven't been firing on all cylinders healthwise recently, so 'one of these days' is the best I can do.

In case new Stockingers are thinking WTF is the 'real Bluestocking' and why is she wittering on about scale models - I've made a model Bluestocking building, staffed by gerbils - watch this space for the completion and grand opening date!

Agree, I try to enjoy food and not obsess. But generally I think a lot of 'healthy' food is also easy and delicious - fresh ingredients, minimal faff.

I'm so looking forward to moving in. I've already measured up for curtains.

DS2 has just bought himself the Lego model of Neuschwanstein castle - I am green with jealousy.

We’re similar…I’ve just had a bowl of blueberries, Greek yog and walnuts (nice crunchy chunky pieces, I’m not sure why anyone would want to blitz up something with a satisfying texture. Maybe walrus teeth are great for hanging on the edge of ice holes but crap for chewing?).
low fat yog, alas - DH has all the other ailments in our family, I’ve got high cholesterol. Well, I had to have the PCOS obviously but it doesn’t seem to be relevant nowadays.