G'morning People!

I've been on a course about anti money-laundering of all things!


Helen and RSG you both sound so poorly - hope you get better soon. (just stay away from me!!)


Frus and Helen.... saw THIS and thought of you - is it your kind of thing?


Frus - I hope you managed to have a good weekend anyway and enjoyed the swimming.

Helen - I'm so glad your Dad is feeling a bit better. I know you're in to making soups.... Have you tried miso as a stock base for soup? Its made out of soya and has a real savoury taste to it really, REALLY nice. (I got mine in Sainsburys) I used it as a base for a roasted pepper, red onion and tomato soup - very yum.


CG - well done on the curtains - I've been in this house over 5 years and there's still things we haven't got properly finished yet - I've even got stuff up in the loft still packed in boxes.

Michele - Lemon torte Sounds like you had a lovely evening - you're right, bonfires ARE hypnotic.

RSG and Chris - Not sure what RSG's reference to agorophobia was about (I've looked back and can't see another post mentioning it) but I developed it after my hysterectomy a few years back. I think it was the second most miserable time of my life - if theres anything I can do to help please let me know.

Chris - good luck with the furniture moving - strange.... my DH did a bit of that last week - drives me nuts cos I can't find anything now! (I'm still trying to work out what my laundry basket was doing in the garage.)

To anyone I've forgotten.



New chapter in the 'Chavs Next Door' saga.... We had friends round for dinner on Friday night (incidental to the story but it made it even MORE irritating). I'd just put the main course on the table when there was loud hammering at my front door. DH opened it and didn't come back - then there was a lot of shouting - so I went after him - and there was Mr Chav Next Door's ex wife (in a strappy nightie!) with her new partner and her and Mr Chav's daughter and son. She was throwing a COMPLETE wobbly. She'd been hammering at The Chavs' front and back doors and not getting any answer so she'd decided that we'd know where they are (for reasons we can't yet work out). Anyway, we told her we didn't know where they are and she demanded that I give her the emergency key we hold to the Chavs' house. I refused. Then she got hysterical.... and in between all the swear words she told us that the boy had set fire to the BATHROOM (how do you set fire to a bathroom?) and she doesn't want him in her house any more. She then said that if we refuse to tell her where her ex is then she was going to leave the boy with us! Now, we had no idea that The Chavs had gone out, for all we knew they might have gone away for the whole weekend - so we said we couldn't help - at which point I was given another mouthful of abuse. So we just shut our front door on them and then peaked around the curtains. The ex Mrs Chav plus family all piled back in their car and drove off - or so we thought - cos as they drove off there was the little lad left standing on the pavement where the car had been. They'd driven off without him! Some people don't deserve kids.

Good ord Sarah.... whatever happened to the poor boy? That family should seek help somewhere... like the nearest mental institution.

I asked about agraphobia, as I thought Hannah may be suffering from it, all this anxiety she is suffering with. I took her out yesterday to the book store, one of our fav places, and she picked a couple of books, I was looking for one for me and she came over all funny, said she felt horrible and wanted to pay and sit in the car. It was busy in there, lots of people milling around... and seeing as she seems to be having most attacks at school, it was a just a thought that entered my head.

Michelle, you're evening sounds good... at leaving hubs on the floor... I've left mine on the couch a few times too and laughed the next day at his big headache. A bonfire hey.lovely.

Helen, glad you're feeling a bit better now, take it easy luv.

RSG... take the day off tomorrow if you're still poorly, remember those kids don't benifit when we're sick... I used to go in all the time feeling poorly and end up making it last longer than if I'd stayed home a few days and rested. Thanks for the info on that book, I'll try and find it when I'm out today. I do believe in meds... but I like to try other alternetives first...big into pyschology and behaviours I am...like all the nitty gritty stuff

It is horribly cold out with the wind blowing, it woke me up through the night and Lew must have been cold, Dave got up, went down and got a drink, came back to bed, and laid on Lew, as he was snuggled down by the pillows, in Dave's warm spot.... made me giggle.

Ok, must get out for a walk...

Oh yes, the living room being shifted about is working better with my feng shui... I'm liking it a lot... and it's all super spiffy clean as when you move stuff, you have to clean and polish don't ya!

Chris I think you mean agoraphobia, I looked up agraphobia and thats fear of sexual abuse, agoraphobia is panic when leaving the house. I'm happy to send you the book if you can't find it I'm sure it's around here somewhere.

I do feel a little bit better, its payback time, I called in sick last Weds for the first time the whole year, I felt fine but took a "mental health day"....figures. I think I'll be ok tomorrow, I thought about going out for a walk but decided that would be stupid, it sounds very windy out there. I'm just hanging on the couch trying not to graze in the kitchen.

Sarah that story is unbelievable, what happened to the little kid, do you know? If I were you I may return the emergency key to them to get yourself out of any need for contact with them!!

Chris - Poor Hannah. Sounds a bit like she might be developing panic attacks - did she seem to have a problem with her breathing in the book shop? Is she able to say whats worrying her at all? I used to get them in any kind of public transport and the veg section of supermarkets - even after all these years I still don't like busy places, especially if I've got to make decisions. Thing is, once you've had one you are then scared that it'll happen again - and being scared of it happening again is almost guaranteed to bring another one on - so you get to the point where you just don't go out - which is why its best treated as early as possible.

Oh - we took the boy in, of course - couldn't leave him standing there in the cold - so she got EXACTLY what she wanted. Poor little lad. The Chavs plus Chavettes had not gone far - only out bowling and to Pizza Hut to celebrate one of the Chavettes' birthdays - they got home at about 10ish. All I've heard since is that he did the bathroom thing on purpose because he wants to come to live here with his Dad and he knows that if he does that kind of thing his Mum will flip and insist either that his Dad has him or that he's taken in to Care. Thing is - if she keeps on saying that if he's naughty then he'll have to go (like she did to me on Friday) then the obvious thing for him to do is carry on being naughty - and he's constantly finding new and improved ways of doing it! The sad thing is that Mr Chav has told him that he can't live here, they just haven't got the space for a boy because he'd have to have his own room and the Chavettes would have to double up which wouldn't be at all popular (the Chavettes already think that Mr Chav shows preference to his kids over them). Its a shame because generally he's a nice, polite little lad - he's just doing this to force the situation and I can understand why - his Mother is awful and her new partner is a real even worse than she is - and THATS saying something!

Morning all.

Sarah the chavs next door poor boy what happened to him?

BRRR it's cold. Are you going out for a walk in that Chris? Whaat am I saying we always walked in the cold didn't we.Come rain or shine with my man Lew.

Curtains are not up yet they had to order them from another store and they will come during the week UPS.

Michele the couch a very comfy place to sleep.

Superbowl Sunday I usually watch the commercials.

Everyone feel better

It's never dull living next to the Chavs!

I've had a nice sleep this afternoon to make up for the sleep I didn't get last night. I have to say the medicine I got is working very nicely, I could really tell when it wore off and had to come down for a repeat dose, but it cleared things up quite nicely for a few hours.

I'm having nut roast and veg again tonight. It's turning into a bit of a Sunday tradition now, to use up the remnants from the veg box. I cook a few meals with it, and save a bite or so of most of the veg, then do myself a portion of nut roast from a packet and have all the leftover veg with it.

I don't think it will be a late night tonight, fingers crossed I can sleep a bit better.

Chris - I have been known to get a bit panicy in crowded places too. Not full blown panic attacks, but definitely more worked up than a "normal" reaction to that sort of places. It seems to affect me more if I'm hungover, ill or tired. Another reason for not going out anywhere today

(And I managed to resist the temptation to run, you'll be glad to hear)

I made my BF get on the scales at the gym toady. Found out that weigh less than him at last Ok its only a couple of pounds and he's about a foot taller !!

Well that is the weekend over again (how come it goes so fast?). At least I stuck to the diet and did some walking. I got all my ironing done too for a change. It's my weigh in tomorrow.

Sarah - Hope the little Chav boy is ok now. Some people are so horrible.

RSG... It was just my spelling... agoraphobia is what I was talking about. We will discuss it when I get an appointment with the councelor this week.

We didn't get to Target today as when we were nearly ready to go, Hannah had 'a panic attack'.

We left her for a bit to calm down and decide if she wanted to try, she said she didn't want us to drive 30 odd miles and then her decide she just wanted to come home, we said it would be ok, but after walking in the freezing cold wind....we decided to go to our local Walmart and she came with us there, she did ok.

Helen, glad you're starting to feel better.

Sarah, so glad you took mini chav in....his Mother sounds like she needs a good

Oh no! The superbowl is starting....another four hours of fun in this house.

Thanks everyone on the advice for Hannah... I'm stressing big time as I don't know how to help her... but I appreciate everyone's imput.

See you all tomorrow.

Chris - lots of hugs for Hannah, I think you're probably doing all you can and she sounds like some professional guidance would help a lot.

Sarah - Never a dull moment with the chavettes Glad you took care of the little boy, I feel really sorry for him, what a situation to be in. Is he the one who used to creep in and sleep with the dogs or was that a girl?

Helen & RSG glad you're both feeling better.

We decided to go out to Oxford on the bike yesterday. We got to services and the road was at such an angle (sideways) that I couldn't put my right foot down so we ended up falling over! Fortunately, both me, DH and the bike are all unharmed! We went over from standing but was still a bit of a shock! Then on the way back on the M40 we encountered this in a pick-up that had managed to skid SIDEWAYS facing the hard shoulder while he was travelling in the fast lane! He was stradling the middle and fast lanes but facing 90 degrees the wrong way I had 2 cars swerve in front of me to avoid him, then only after those two had moved in front could I see this !!!! A bit hairy! Then he was setting off again and 5 minutes later he overtook us!

So that was yesterday's entertainment!

I think I managed to eat healthily over the weekend - I say think since fitday comes in at 1500 for yesterday, but I felt like I ate more but we were quite occupied so perhaps I didn't eat much more than that. We had dinner out so I can't really accurately count the evening calories but I did put in what I had, so maybe it's right

I've decided to give work a miss today. I do feel a bit better, but I didn't sleep particularly well again and I don't have anything urgent on so it won't kill me to have a bit of a duvet day rather than pushing myself back there. I might even do the sensible thing and miss running club tonight. (I know I shouldn't exercise if I feel rubbish, but I actually enjoy it, and I feel guilty if I don't go).

Right, I think it's time to disappear back upstairs and under the duvet.

I am happy this morning (makes a change for a Monday morning) I've lost another 3 pounds!

I feel great today, just a little stuffy. I ended up having dinner with friends last night, they just had their third baby, and their oldest is 2 (there is an adoption in the middle there

I had one of my doc friends determine that I had no fever and was not contagious before I went breathing on babies though!!!

Dinner was quite active I had a child on me at all times, I love them all though so it was fun. We ate OK, except for the football cake which I brought but hey it was the superbowl, my 2 year old little buddy thought it was very exciting.

Have a great day all.

I'm definitely improving still, but I'm sure I'll need to go back to sleep soon, it's the constant waking up in the night that's worse than the actual cough, it makes me so tired for the rest of the day.

I'm proud of myself though, I've reinstalled windows on a laptop that had stopped working, and it all seems to be up and running now so I can post from under the duvet again. Yay me!

G'day!

Chris, Good idea to get Hannah to a counsellor - hopefully they'll be able to get to the bottom of why this has suddenly started. Poor Hannah - panic attacks are miserable and, as I said before, once you have one you get scared you're going to have another and that anxiety usually triggers one off. At least you and your family are being understanding which is exactly what she needs right now.

Frus, No - the little 'un that I used to find curled up with George & Fred was the youngest Chavette (who now doesn't like to be reminded of it). They are a very disfunctional family - I don't think any of them much likes any of the others and I've never seen any of the adults give the kids so much as a a kind word, let alone a cuddle - heavens only knows what these kids are going to be like when they grow up. The little lad is now back with his Mother. Its a difficult situation - DH thinks he'd probably be better off in Care to give them all breathing space and then the family ALL get some therapy (it might help all of them) I thought it was a great idea and said he ought to suggest it to Mr Chav but DH has *firmly* told me that its none of our business and we must keep out of it.

Helen and RSG - Glad to hear you're both feeling a bit better. Take it easy and get well completely.

Frus, I've never fallen off a moving bike - I've fallen off several stationary ones, though - usually when the camber on the road is so steep that I couldn't put my foot down. OMG that motorway thing must have been a bit scary. There are some real idiots on the road!

I had a work shift this morning -and a man came in who told us that years ago he used to own the PO where I work - then he pointed out a mark in the ceiling (immediately above Ann's (my boss) head) and told her that was where a bullet hit the ceiling when they had an armed raid there during the time he was in charge. Then he laughed and commented that by the law of averages we should be due for another one. Good job I don't believe in omens - because thats the third time in the last few days that someone has talked about armed raids!

I made a really tasty plum crumble for pud yesterday .... poached plums with a little ginger wine on the bottom and toasted oats, chopped dates and crushed nuts on the top, served with VFF Greek yoghurt... it was gorgeous but OMG it has really made my tummy dance!