Frump to Fab 2018 - Fabulous Dahhhhlings

savingfortomorrow

I had a great education in maths in primary school, but in secondary school I had a teacher who was dire. We had to teach her and it was terrible. In university I had to teach myself areas that i did not know. Thankfully, once you get the concept it is just a case of fitting to a formula. However, there is a massive difference between doing advanced maths and basic sense of numbers. Once in a university class on advanced maths, the professor asked the profit margin on something, amazingly few got that real world question right. I was shocked as to me it was second nature.

My spelling is mainly american except color/ colour. I put z in things as a matter of course. I blame all the books i read as a child were from America and it seemed normal. Even later text books and research papers would be mainly using american english spelling. It got to a level i had to change the spell check to american english to avoid all the red lines.

As regards beige, it seems to me that some people feel it is a safe colour. It allows them to blend into the background, It is like magnolia wallpaint, blah and boring. I love a caramel on the right person with a scarf and looking nice but beige or even worse greige no no no!
You do not need to spend a fortune on clothes just choosing a flattering scarf or colour for you makes an inexpensive item pop. I get a lot of clothes in charity shops as I like getting something different- while it can be hit or miss, Budget can limit choice but it is not a barrier to picking a colour that suits you especially with primark.

candygirl

omg my faith in humanity has been restored! A couple of the girls at church, nominated me in the Xmas gift giving, cos they know I've been having a bad time lately!
They gave me a massive gift bag, full of prezzies.Feels so nice to be appreciated ❤

moneyistooshorttomention

:rotfl: at the thought of my friend with the half-mast trousers and beige everything blending into the background - and she'd probably tell me it's my fault that once she gets going she can "party for England - and Wales" - as I've been encouraging her to do so....:rotfl:

lessonlearned

Some really funny conversations on here today. You've made me smile.

Beige....:rotfl: and yet on some people caramel colours can look really classy. I think it depends on the depth of colour iyswim, just as much as the colouring of the wearer. And of course, as we age we lose colour, our hair and skin tones change so beige really can make some of us "disappear" or look rather washed out.

I think texture and fabric also make a huge difference. A caramel coloured well tailored wool coat is a world away from a washed out looking shapeless beige M&S shiny nylon anorak. :rotfl:

Had to smile about the maths chat too.

As a Dyscalculia sufferer I ended up working in accounting for years.......talk about a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. At times it was pure torture. I eventually found my niche, working with people and being able to channel my artistic side.

English is a fascinating subject.........it evolves all the time. Apparently it's one the "biggest" languages, with now over 1m words in the lexicon. We continually pinch words from other languages and cultures. Pyjamas is a classic example. Indian in origin so dating back to the days of the British Raj. Like my bungalow. I am currently reading a book called "A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi" about that very subject.

My DIL and her family speak American English, (and of course New World Spanish), although DIL has learned to use English spelling rules. But I often find myself having to use American words (especially to her parents). Having said that they are very keen to learn RP or the Queens English as they call it. I often buy them books about English customs, language etc. They lap them up. DIL and her sister have just finished watching Pride and Prejudice in readiness for our visit to Chatsworth on Tuesday. And they all went mad for Downton Abbey.

CandyGirl how nice of your church to treat you. Hope your family issues resolve soon. Not nice.

Speaking of family. My sister backed out again from our proposed lunch tomorrow. Can't say as I am either surprised or unduly fazed. I can truly say I'm no longer bothered either way. If she wants to keep our relationship to exchanging texts, then that's fine by me.

Going back to discussions about clothes, and appearance. I do think it's all about pride and self respect.

On the Amazon cruise I overheard two women discussing another woman. They were so insulting about her, calling her vain, shallow, accusing her of giving herself airs and graces. They actually used the phrase "above her station".

Her crime?. She was always nicely turned out, not especially a natural beauty but someone who took care over her appearance and who had some pride. She just looked nice.

I looked at the two women who were ripping this woman to shreds and yes, you've guessed, they were unkempt, dishevelled, and very overweight. Both of them looked in need of a bath and their hair definitely needed washing. Their clothes were shapeless, dull and looked as if they had seen better days. As for their feet .....well the phrase "pigs trotters" sprang to mind.:eek:

Not only were these women being mean and unkind, they were obviously in denial about how awful they looked. Maybe they were just jealous......I do find that women who express those attitudes are often quite arrogant and more often than not, somewhat delusional. :rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

I didn't have to get to the conclusion of that story re those women LL to think "Meow - they were being very !!!!!y - and I bet I know why (cue for having a good look at them)".

Far more appropriate to look at someone that's looking good and try and pick up style tips from them imo.

If I do see a woman looking good - then I'll sit there and analyse to figure it out why - to see what I can learn from her and come away thinking "She's slim" (that's a given for me to think that usually:rotfl:)/her clothes are decent-quality and go together well/she's introduced an interesting touch there/etc".

Re colour - it struck me that a recent photo of Teresa May looked a bit colourless and then I realised "She's not wearing make-up in that one - and that's the difference". She does like her lipstick - and that left me thinking that seems to be the thing she's chosen to "add some colour". Though I quite like her way of dressing and think she "dresses the part" pretty well - with her smart jackets/statement necklaces and everything is reasonable quality and she throws in little touches (eg a recent jacket being a patterned one - so it's different, but not over the top).

seven-day-weekend

lessonlearned wrote: »

Just spotted this.....my youngest is dyslexic (and dispraxic). Bless his cotton socks. Brilliant brain though. The dyslexia institute gave him an IQ test. They said it was off the charts. The reason that his teachers hadn't picked up on his dyslexia and just assumed he was lazy and obnoxious is that he had found ways of working round the issues. He has a near photographic memory for a start. So he came over as being bone idle and disinterested because he was bored and frustrated. Once we found out the problem and knew how to manage him he forged ahead. Oddly enough music lessons really seemed to help.

Having worked in construction I met a large proportion of dyslexics. I think school career advice used to steer them towards the trades. Many of them were extremely bright, well read and articulate and of course you need to have really strong maths and science skills to be a decent heating engineer or master builder.

My plumber/heating engineer is profoundly dyslexic but he's a maths genius and a very well read and intelligent man.

I actually suffer from discalculia. The numbers just won't stay in their proper columns, the little blighters dance all over the page. :rotfl:

My son has this and is also slightly dyslexic with writing (not reading or spelling, although he was very late learning to read, he took off at a rate of knots once he started).

We didn't know about the dyscalculia until about five years ago (he's almost 39). I asked him if he still wrote letters the wrong way round. He said sometimes, when he was tired, and he also said he 'still had that same problem with numbers'. I said 'what problem with numbers?' It was then he told me his problem with numbers - basically, take the number 62. To him it can say 62. Or it can say 92. Or 95. Or 65. Or even 26 or 29 ....you get the gist.

He sees numbers reversed, mirrored, upside down. We never knew this. It was not picked up at school (neither was his Aspergers). I suppose we and his school just assumed he was not much good at Maths . I'm not, either. He even had a private tutor for his GCSE as I said it was so important for him to pass it, even he did not pick it up. My son scraped a C, that was a pass, so we all thought, that will do.

I felt like the worst parent in the world for months, until someone told me 'look, he said nothing to anyone . He probably thought everyone saw numbers like that. Even professionals didn't pick it up. Stop blaming yourself'. But of course feeling guilty goes with the job, doesn't it? My husband felt even worse, as he was a teacher himself.

On a slightly humorous note, he is also slightly dyspraxic, he has never learned to tie a tie On the few occasions he has to wear one, either myself, my husband or his partner does it for him

Anyway, sorry for the essay. I have never known anyone else with dyscalculia, that's what sparked me off!

pollypenny

maman wrote: »

Funnily enough I bought some pajamas from a website for DGD this week and that's the first time I've seen that particular Americanism. They jump out at me.

So pleased to hear you say you're good at maths sft . It really winds me up when people, usually women, say they can't do maths. They almost like to boast about it as if it's somehow unfeminine to be mathematically minded.Nobody boasts about being illiterate!

My views on beige are well known. My pet hate is women in M&S in their beige anoraks and synthetic, elastic waist trousers usually worn too short with pop socks! :eek: I do have cream sofas though but I'm thinking of getting a bright throw. They have some lovely ones in Dunhelm.

We had a rare win today! Looking forward to my Sunday roast then enjoying MOTD for a change.

Another one who dislikes beige. I have a friend who dresses very well, but her living room is just a cream bore - from carpets, to sofa to curtains. I feel like buying her some cushions and throws.

The reason that I decided to go embrace the grey was that I hated the way the hair colour soon faded to beige. Now grey, it's far brighter.

lessonlearned

SDW. Don't beat yourself up......it definitely wasn't your fault you missed it. The signs aren't easy to spot. .Dyscalculia is still not really understood very well at the moment, although it is said to affect about 5 percent of the population. Still lots of research going on, mainly in the US. I didn't realise I had it myself, I just went along with everyone's assertion that I was "hopeless at maths".

It was only when we took our son to the dyslexia institute and they started asking questions that they explained that I had it. I was well into my 40s by then.

I tried to get my GCE (as it was then) three times and failed every time. After that I admitted defeat. Still it's never done me any real harm. I had a good well paid career which I loved and my husband and I owned a couple of successful businesses. I went to university as a mature student when I was 40. It didn't really hold me back. I was always more drawn to the arts and humanities so I found my niche.

I believe everyone has their own unique skills and talents, I think it's just a question of finding out what and then encouraging that ability.

My sons dispraxia was quite pronounced, he was very clumsy and couldn't cope with school sports but he could strip down any machine and rebuild it and he always had a precocious ability with technology. He could programme a VCR at the age of 4. He was building computers in his teens and He is now the family's go to tech support guy. :rotfl: I was even able to employ him in my business as our tech guy whilst he was still at school.

We encouraged his love of photography and suggested he try learning to play guitar and that was it. He was off. He went from being a slightly sullen loner who couldn't seem to make friends to suddenly being the cool guitar guy who was an ace with a camera. We had a constant stream of girls knocking at our door. . All joking apart It transformed him and gave him a much needed confidence boost. He finally learned to relax and now he is perceived as this cool friendly guy.

He went on to get good GCSEs and A levels and then university. (Much to my surprise) however for many years school was a real trial for him. It was very frustrating. We knew he was smart but he was getting to the stage where he hated school and was starting to become disruptive. At one stage I even asked him if he would prefer to be home schooled. He said no he'd stick it out. It was tough though and I spent a lot of time working with his teachers to try and help him. The school were very good and very understanding and patient. His teachers were very good with him.

He's now a kind, considerate, happy, well adjusted man who loves his mum so I guess I did ok. :rotfl:

lessonlearned

pollypenny wrote: »

Another one who dislikes beige. I have a friend who dresses very well, but her living room is just a cream bore - from carpets, to sofa to curtains. I feel like buying her some cushions and throws.

The reason that I decided to go embrace the grey was that I hated the way the hair colour soon faded to beige. Now grey, it's far brighter.

Reminds me of my friend.....

She wasn't a beige/cream bore but her house decor was very strange with lots of clashing colours.

One day we were discussing our careers and I asked her why the police force had declined her. She laughed and said "because I'm colour blind, didn't you know".

That explained a lot....:rotfl:

lessonlearned

Money......whatever we may think of Theresa May as a leader I have to say she is looking absolutely exhausted. She looks completely washed out with huge eye bags and dark circles under eyes.

I wouldn't want her job for all the tea in China.

Talk about poisoned chalice.