*The Holly and the Ivy* and the You Know What 2013 Chatter Thread.

murie

Glad everyone seems to be on track now with their preps- I did a little wrapping yesterday so felt more Christmassy (my Christ spirit has been sadly lacking this last week or so). Went into Birmingham yesterday morning and was a bit disappointed with the German Market (we usually go on a Sunday evening when its all dark and twinkly and Christmassy- it just wasn't the same in the cold light of day!)

Big hugs to those with the lergy- DD has had it for nearly 2 weeks now.

Junior- so glad you are enjoying your visit x
OMO- no its not sad- I love my lot but I do love being able to do my housework when they aren't here in the knowledge that at least til they get home it will be clean and shiny-no chance once the rabble descends! My house always seems full- and half of the kids in it aren't mine!! (I love the bussle really!)
Nanamia- so sorry to read about ur nearly son- fingers crossed tomorrow will bring more positive news xx
Freespirit- sorry you were disappointed with the garden centre after looking forward to it. brilliant about the amount of cooking you have got done tho!

pigpen- sorry to hear about your KH- Ive never been in your situation but I have friends who have- hope it sorts its self out in the long run xx

Wuvvie- I told our DD the August before she started secondary school! Ive always told the kids that father Christmas is as real as I am (after all I am the santa in our house!) I didn't want her peers to laugh at her when she started talking about Christmas. She was so naïve and innocent! (shame at 17 that's all gone out of the window!)

On the home front- I'm not happy cus my tumble drier has gone kaput!!! Jinxed it posting on here that I use mine all the time!! The drum keeps slipping and its making a horrendous row! Its still under guarantee so I'm on the phone first thing tomorrow to get it sorted.

Happy Sunday everyone xxxx

Own_My_Own

Ruth_honey wrote: »

Just be aware that they will only be 24 hour at the weekends, and it's only certain parts that are. Not all lines will run 24 hours. But there will be lots more info on that closer to the time anyway.

Still trying to order stuff from Halfcost...:(
It's good stuff, junior_j but the site is VERY VERY slow and it will take hours to look through the site if it's running like mine.

I only use it at weekends. And I've seen the night map, so know all my stopping points are covered.

Ruth_honey

Own_My_Own wrote: »

I only use it at weekends. And I've seen the night map, so know all my stopping points are covered.

Our nearest stop will be 24 hours, which I thought "Oooh, that'll be handy"...then realised I'm hardly ever out past midnight anyway!

freespirit66

Morning everyone, hope everyone has a good day today, just going to put my tasks up before i forget them:
1) Make Choc, Pear & Marzipan Strudel and freeze
2) Make Cherry, Choc & Almond Brownies and freeze
3) Make Mint Choc Loaf Cake and freeze
4) Clean Oven (from last 2 weeks) :mad:
5) Clean LR top to bottom ready for tree and decorating next weekend

NANAMIA oh glad im not the only one, ive been going for years and this year is the first time, i thought it must be me but even DD1 said its not the same. Oh blimey i think im going to be washing 24/7 to get through it, i dont seem to be making any headway omg a month :eek:

MRSINVISIBLE morning

PIGPEN oh dont get me started on ex if i say DH believe me it doesnt stand for Dear, i am so lucky mine are all over 18 and all decided they didnt want anything to do with him and his ***** i dont think i would have coped if they had to have spent time with them, but i am the same as you, the kids should be able to decide, and it shouldnt ruin their christmas, my sister went through this last christmas both of hers didnt want to go (8, 12)
and were so upset but he threatened her with court etc and they had to go, like KH he only does it to upset my sister its not that he wants the kids, he just gets off on the emotional abuse. He doesnt bother with parents evenings, hosp appts either, and he wont even let them go to partys they have been invited to if it is his weekend to have them

OMO omg i cant believe you are thinking about next xmas and the one after i am LMAO :rotfl:

freespirit66

Oh MURIE dont say that about the market :rotfl:i read last night some reviews and they were disappointing too, im off up there in a few weeks thankyou re: cooking last three things to be made this week then that will do. Oh no how annoying about tumble dryer, my new one is great but i can only put half a load in at a time so it takes double the time each washload to dry, still ive got one thats all that matters, glad yours is still under guarantee

Laurajo_2

Well, been to the range and spent some of our vouchers on new christmas decs:j:rudolf::rudolf::rudolf::rudolf::rudolf:

Really pleased, I've been holding off buying new ones for a couple of years as I wanted a complete new set for our first married Xmas! We plan to get a new 'special bauble' each christmas to add to it.

Gonna have a tidy Joan d then wrap a few prezzies, I haven't even started on them yet :eek:

Laurajo_2

Free spirit, I'm sure you'll have a lovely time

junior_j

Ruth_honey wrote: »

Just be aware that they will only be 24 hour at the weekends, and it's only certain parts that are. Not all lines will run 24 hours. But there will be lots more info on that closer to the time anyway.

Still trying to order stuff from Halfcost...:(
It's good stuff, junior_j but the site is VERY VERY slow and it will take hours to look through the site if it's running like mine.

Thanks Hun I thought my iPad was running slow when I was on that site!!!

wuvvies

afternoon all
Pigpen... i too am divorced from my girls dad ( 13 years ago) he is a total idiot too. i left him with a 4 bed house with next to no mortgage and every single thing in it. i took my car and my clothes leaving him with 2 other cars and left. i did this because i knew what he could be like and wanted to avoid it at all costs. he had a solicitor and he persuaded me i didnt need one ( i know i know) in this end HIS solicitor wrote to me telling me i needed to take legal advice,,which i didnt. anyway life was fine. i didnt go to the csa i allowed him to pay me a pittance out of his huge wage. and i was happy because i didnt have to live with him and i was free. because he had wads of money and i didnt my eldest daughter wanted to live with him at 17 so she did and from that moment he turned mental. he was now having to do something instead of seeing them once a week for a couple of hours. he lavished money on her but not on the other child that lived with me and started to turn the eldest against me. this has never happened as she was old enough to see the facts. now the youngest dd has gone to live with her bf as you all know against my wishes he wont do anything to help her saying hes paid out for one and its my job to pay for the other. hes forgetting that he has a fleet of cars no mortgage and no outgoings and i have a 25 year mortgage and we work so many hours between us. ( hes got his money from inheratence) fortunatley my dd2 wont ask me for money and always asks him as she knows that he can afford it. she sees my lifestyle and his and knows the facts. hes stopped my mini maintence and now cant beleive that ive told him hes paying for his bus. this is the first thing ive told him he has to do since we have split up. the facts are i cant afford it now hes stopped paying me my £100 a month. I have stopped the child ben as well as she doesnt live with me so its illegal and i didnt want to be in the position where i owed them money. he now says he cant claim cos he earns over 50 K.soooo . what im getting at is they are all the same. they dont do any of the bringing the children up and pay you a pittence. he has never missed a payment of maintenence only becuase he knows on 50k plus i would prob get four times that amount. on the plus side my kids have always seen the truth. and they see me as the one that gives the love but not the money. thats fine by me.

Own_My_Own

To say the Garden Centre was pants is making is sound better than is was. Left after 30 minutes and headed back to B and Q which was .... Pants. :mad:

The garden centre had a Santa there but it was £12.99 to see him :eek:

So Freespirit it wasn't you today, things have gone down hill. The garden centre I went to used to be beautiful at Christmas. All the walls and ceiling were black with little lights covering them. The walls are now plain and the ceiling had old reed screening on it. I thought it was bad last year but it was just sad really. It was about half the size it was and it was soooo expensive. I bought dd a bag of Haribo cola bottles because she was fed-up.
I won't bother next year, as it's about 30 minutes away and a waste of petrol.

Off to do tast post