The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

moneyistooshorttomention

Quick query time - and my nightdresses are well "past it" and next time I'm near a Marks & Spencers I was planning on nipping in and buying my next group of nighties.

But - I've been checking them online for months at intervals - and b...o...ring 'r us and I struggled to find 2 online today that just might be about "tolerable".

All I want is plain/simple/comfortable loose style ones that are somewhere between knee and ankle-length - perhaps t-shirt style for instance. With sleeves somewhere between short and elbow length. I can see precisely one that would be what I'm looking for - but it's only in black and now what colouring I had has faded somewhat I don't really want to buy black. I'd like one of "my" colours (I know what they are - light peach, soft green, certain shade of purple, turquoise). So soft colour - not cheap-looking garish colour. Natural or, at least natural-looking material.

Expecting to pay between £15 and £30 each. Want reasonable quality. I could stretch a bit beyond that if they were "last for years" quality.

Any suggestions please?

I've just had a look on line at Amazon - and lots of "satin-y" ones for instance - errrm...not for me. Also "old lady" ones (well I could get them from Marks & Sparks - but wouldnt dream of it if I were old) - so no joy there.

camelot1001

My suggestion for the nighties would be Bon Marche?

Had lots of folk here yesterday for a gathering, lots of bits of food left for the next few days and I've just eaten some meringue for breakfast! In my defence it was filled with greek yogurt (No-one gets cream because I don't like it!) and fresh fruit.

FairyPrincessk

Ivyleaf--it is actually fairly easy if you buy the pastry. I've mostly eaten it in Turkey where I think it is usually just referred to by the general term borek. I love it! I'm using puff pastry this time as that is what I can get locally, filo is a bit more of a faff but not terribly difficult, just more time consuming. It is very cheap if you use the Aldi version of feta and makes brilliant leftovers! I've never tried freezing it before, but I expect you could.

Money, I'd try department stores for that sort of thing.

Hobsons_Choice

mitstm: Take a look at Sainsbury's clothing. I get most of my nightwear from there now (or Matalan).

mrssnowy_2

mitstm
Try Landsend-had lovely ones for Mum,good quality.
mrss

Softstuff

Bit tired and cranky today so plan to go spend time in the garden.

My contrctor let slip today that after he finishes my bathroom he's off to another job, then on holiday, so won't be back to do the bedroom or laundry until October. The main body of the house can't be done until those are done and nothing can be decorated until the tiles have been removed in the main area because it creates so much dust.

Long story short, I'll be painting an entire house in December/January when it's about 30 degrees with 85% relative humidity. You may as well shoot me now and be done with it.

burtha

Mardatha, one day I was walking into the bar and a local customer was talking to someone outside sitting in his car , ...5 mins later customer returns , asked did I see who he was talking to ? ..me no ...This guy turned out to be friends with my father and had asked my customer who I was because he though he reconised me ....so my name was mentioned and guy I car said " oh god,never, that's such a shame ,never thought that she would ever end up with a drink problem" ....thankfully after my customer stopped laughing he did tell him I worked there and everything we were doing ....:rotfl:
so far from the truth , most days the strongest I get is coffee ,after watching a very diverse set of locals on the drink over lots of years ,having your wits about you is needed behind the bar ,I pretend quite often ...yes really I am drinking vodka and coke .....not

week 3 of kids holidays , have found out that my youngest dd has been having a few issues with school friends , and has spent the last 2 weeks at school on her own , making her an easy target for the bullying to start again , she has very little self confidence anyway , feels she doesn't fit in with the girls as she is not intrested in hair and make up etc etc ..poor kids has spent the last part of last week in tears ...
so work in progress to try an build her up , she is very quiet and shy , but always has been , always happy at home head normally in a book , gets very worried about what people say ,turned out she has fell out with her friend of 3 years due to rumours that of course aren't true , friend wouldn't belive her and has turned all the others against her , hence her on her own , ....so now the name calling , the god your hair is awful,you don't wear make up ,you like what ??? etc etc ...
so new clothes have been bought , hair booked in for later this week ,and she is coming with me to a face painting thing I am doing at the weekend,hopefully to try and work on her shyness , hopefully without having a meltdown , but if she does we will deal with it .... what else do I do ? Am I doing the right thing ?? Could quite happily either burst into tears or go and shout at these kids , neither of which would solve anything :wall::undecided
4 kids , 3 step kids , all different ... This one I haven't faced before ....

roll on next week when I am of work ...

x

Sorry no idea on the nightwear problem , I only own I set of new "hospital " pj's ... just in case ....

milasavesmoney

mrssnowy wrote: »

mitstm
Try Landsend-had lovely ones for Mum,good quality.
mrss

I got one for Christmas and love it. Navy with white polka dots though...

Burtha, you are definitely doing the right thing. You are taking the problem seriously which is key here, because it's very serious to her. You are validating her by your actions that say yes you can see she has a problem. You are addressing the things she thinks will help make a difference thus encouraging her to problem solve. I would very gently explain that though these things are all good, it may not fix the problem because some people are just so unhappy or insecure that they will always find something to be mean about. In other words give her the "It's not you>>It's her" talk but with subtlety and gentleness.
As you say, build up her good points and explain its not really how a person looks on the outside that matters. We course we all know how the world works and that this is something that has to be said over and over for it to have a prayer of sinking in. But self confidence begins with feeling like we have worth. You are telling your young one you are beside her and believe in her. You are saying that she is important to you. You are validating her worth.

burtha

Thank you ,
Sometimes you just wonder .... then start to question what you are doing or have done
kids ...when she just looks so fed up and no matter what you say they don't believe you ...just have to keep on saying it till she does ,

must go to bed back up for work in 3 hrs and not been in bed yet

Softstuff

Burtha, not sure this will help her at this difficult time but you can tell her that it won't always be this way, that when she's out in the big wide world there'll be people she does fit in with and that they too will be equally as nonplussed about hair and make up. I think quite a lot of time people who are perceived as shy seem more confident when they're surrounded by people they better identify with.

Is there any sort of group or club she might be interested in joining? Over here there's groups of board gamers that get together every other week - full of girls not into hair and make up! Maybe a book club at the library? Somewhere she can meet people she might get on with outside the school environment.