Anybody else up yet?

Everyone O.K. still?
Just made James Martin's cheats moussaka talking of mouses! Yes I know it's mice!
We once rented our house out (long story) and on our return found:
A selection of naughty knickers and pants behind radiators,
Car keys under the settee,
But the best was tinfoil under the top of the cooker, in those days the top lifted up for cleaning, so on first glance everything looked O.K. The tinfoil hid a depth of grease! We had rented the house to a family where the wife was a housekeeper for a hotel chain....Euuugh!

Was is Shirley Conran who said back in the 70's that Life is Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom?
I've always taken that philosophy to heart and applied it to most things that come under the category of Stepford Wife Activity.
Apart from upsetting a MIL along the way (she polished her Formica kitchen cupboard doors!), it hasn't done us any harm.

Shirley Conran's Superwoman! Good common sense.

But I also remember her benchmark for being desirably thin:
Lie on your back and put a ruler across your hip bones. If there is a gap under ruler then you are officially thin... Sounds like seriously underweight to me...

When DH was a little boy he found a dead bat. He put it in his school bag and forgot about it as it was the start of the school holidays. The bag was left in the cupboard under the stairs for 5 weeks or so...in the warm weather!

Come on you lot - up yer get - I've been up for hours!! Been out playing with the dog; well, chucking the ball for her while she races around and I sit down.

Joan, I think they are snug in their beds. This afternoon I have caught up with the latest threads and now have nothing to read.

Good morning Joan and Faye, on my first cup of tea and GN catch up

Good morning Syberia, it's now tea time here.

Oh, good afternoon then Faye! hope all is well where you are. I am watching the dawn gradually creep over the garden fence!

Good morning! Now, I could get dressed and go to Sainsburys to see if the have any champagne flutes, or I could sit here chatting to you, fire on, coffee to hand. Well, that's that decision made! Bit chilly down here in Kent, but no frost, looks as if it will be a bright day. Just going to get coffee. Syberia there you are - something to read; not very interesting, though.

Things are okay Syberia, I have been sad as my mother died twelve days ago, I guess it takes time to not feel down.

Oh Faye, it can take a very long time sometimes, you just go with the flow and deal with it in your own way. We are all different.
I have just passed the fourth anniversary of my mum's death and, though our relationship was never good, I still wish at times that I could talk to her.
Hopefully you have family around who can support you

Oh Faye I'm so sorry. It does take time when you lose your mother; mine could drive me up the wall but I still miss her, especially at Christmas. It's losing the only people who have known you the whole of your life that is hard; all of a sudden you're irrevocably grown up.

Sending a ((((hug))))

I know exactly what you mean, Ariadne! Hello Faye and everyone. Faye I am so sorry to hear about your mum. Sympathies. It doesn't go away, but you learn to live with it.....my mum died in 1996, I still want to tell her things.

No sign of dawn here yet. The full moon is going down behind a tree. It woke me up at 4.30, shining straight in through my curtains. Had a cup of tea, tried to settle down again - and the smoke alarm started beeping because the battery had run down, so I had to get up, sneak in the room where my little grandson is staying to get a chair to take the battery out. I may have gone back to sleep again, because the clock jumped..I don't know.

My sympathies too Faye. It's a very difficult time when you lose your Mum -so many thoughts, so many what-ifs and so many regrets.
I am up although I don't need to be as the decorator finished yesterday; Mr.G has a man-cold and woke me up at 6 by trumpeting . It is still very dark here Syberia I don't think our dawn will appear for another hour yet, but at least the wind has abated. time

I had a lie in this morning. Actually woke at 0530 but, unusually, went back to sleep. So good day, all.

Sorry about your bad news, faye. You'll never stop thinking about your mum but the pain will pass. Did she know about your new grandchild before she died? Kind regards.

Good heavens! I returned to bed with my an hour ago and I have just looked out of the window and it snowed in the night; must have been very dark at 7.30 for me to miss it

Faye - my sympathies too. Your mother will always be a part of you.

Faye I am so sorry to hear your sad news, look after yourself

Thank you for the kind thoughts. It does help knowing there are like minded women on here, going through or having gone through similar experiences. I was lucky that my mother and I were close and always had a lot to talk about and generally got on well.

Baggy, she saw her new granddaughter on Skype. I was on my way to visit my mother the day my new granddaughter was born (I had planned to stay for three days and then go home). Instead the next day I drove for six hours to see my new granddaughter and look after my grandson as my sil went back to work a couple of days after the birth. In the last days because I was too far away from my mother I talked to her on Skype and held the baby up so she could see her. I am still not sure how I feel about that though, but couldn't be everywhere I guess.

Faye it's wonderful that your mum was able to see your new grandaughter, and I bet she understood that you were needed to look after your grandson. I'm sorry to hear she has passed away. You will always have lovely memories of her to share with your grandchildren

Faye so sorry to hear your very sad news. I hope you get some comfort from knowing that so many people are giving you a virtual hug

Thinking of you Faye.