ladywotlunches

Pasta pesto and peas is an all time hit in our house too. don't do it often, but you can make your own pesto in the processor and it will freeze in ice cube trays.

Boy stabbed and killed at South London school This is in West Norwood. Its not a mainstream school I know, but these kids probably go to the school from further afield (ie closer to here) if they have been excluded from the local schools. (which can happen so quickly to seemingly well-behaved children). Very scary. edited to say: My thoughts go to the family. Have realised I was guilty of seeing 'school for kids with behavioral problems' and disregarded the people involved. Of course these problems can happen to all families. That is what scares me the most, I suppose.

We're on Canonbie and my husband's scooter has been drained overnight too. Must have happened in the early hours as he closed the gate on his way in late last night and it was open this morning on his way to work (WAY too early for mr Postie). Shall be reporting it too, but as its in Lewisham they may find it difficult to show a pattern.

For my second, I've just bought a Maxi cosi Mura 3. Not many available in the shops, but my sister has one and its brilliant. A bit like the Quinny Buzz, but has more options (and you can buy one of those cocoons a la Phil and Teds to keep the newborn really cosy, without having to go the whole hog with a carry cot. For a new one its just under ?300 on Kiddicare. But I got mine for ?120 on ebay and its only 10 months old. The carry cot is about another ?45 new on top.

This from the DirectGov website: What if your circumstances change? It's important you tell Jobcentre Plus if your circumstances change. If you do some work for an employer, or as a self-employed person, before your MA is due to end, you will be able to work for up to ten days without losing any MA. If you work for more than ten days, you will lose MA for the days you work after that. You must tell Jobcentre Plus about any work you do when you are receiving MA. Changes that don't affect the payment include: ?going into hospital ?going into a nursing home or residential care ?starting voluntary work The full page is here: Direct gov website

Supergolden - there is also a jobcentre in Forest hill (on Dartmouth Road, bit further down past Bunka, on the right hand side. In case its easier for you to get to? Everyone is entitled to up to 10 'keeping in touch' days, which can be paid during maternity leave. I'm on a casual contract but do actually qualify for SMP (yay!) but the company will be paying me upfront in a lump sum and have said to me that if I come back to work for them before the end of 9 months other than the 10 days, they would claim some of the money back. But they also said that if I was working for someone else, they wouldn't know anything about it so wouldn't be getting it back....

In order to help those out who need the spaces, I did call up Southwark when I got my letter saying I was waitlisted for all the schools (I live in Lewisham, on the border, so Southwark offered me nothing). I've got a place at a Lewisham school though so don't need to take up a waiting place. But when I got through to the call centre, I was told that they couldn't remove me, and to email 'them' in admissions, on the email address. And I've not had anything back, so I'm assuming that it will take a while for me to come off the list. But PRDarling, we were on the list for Goodrich, Heber and Ivydale, so especially relevant - although no telling whether we were above you or not (I doubt it).

Before I was pregnant I was using Couleur Experte by Loreal. You can buy most of the colours in Sainsburys. Its not a 10 minute job, but I liked the fact you get a base colour and some toning highlights (that you stick in after with a mascara type wand). This stops so much of the 'roots' look. And its not as complicated as it sounds! As for the bf - not sure on that. Now I'm pregnant I'm sticking to professionally done highlights (not all over colour and don't in theory touch your scalp so no chance of getting into the system), but for bf I heard somewhere that milk doesn't store things once they have passed through the mother's system which (in the case of a glass of vino!) is 2 hours. So if you did it at night when the little one is in bed for a few hours, all should be well???

My 3 yo loves the Oliver Jeffers series of books (Lost and Found, Way back home, How to Catch a star), especially as they are all about a 'little boy'. They are also nice to read too, and not too long after a hard day (for me, not him!

Sounds good to me. Mag is now the 'Magnolia' but know where you mean. Is it open at 10.30, being a pub an' all?

if its a weekend, then hopefully most of us should have someone around to look after the kids, and it would be great to meet up as grown ups first, as otherwise I know so much time will be spent with "in a minute", "mummy's talking", "come here" etc. For that reason Dulwich cafe doesn't appeal at first either, esp on a Sunday! Morning coffee/Afternoon tea sounds like a plan.

In the car yesterday I was recounting this thread to my OH. I agree, some of the lyrics on the radio now are quite shocking (although I also agree I had some shockers in my youth too. And just as we were talking, Frankie's 'Relax' came up on the ipod! That was completely banned in the 80's, but listening to it now I've got no clue why...

I don't think any music was playing when he was actually born, but the day I went into labour my Snow Patrol CD arrived, so we played 'chasing cars' a lot (as well as it being on the radio every day). When he was smaller, and it came on the stereo in the car, it was guaranteed to help him get to sleep. And even now, when he hears the song he says "it's my song, Mummy".

My Due date is 23rd September. Looking forward to being lady who lattes too! x

Smiler and Sanity girl - I'm also expecting no 2 in September, with no 1 turning 4 next week. Lets make a plan to meet up - perhaps for more relaxed coffees pre-birth when we're on maternity leave too??? As to the 2 children thing - I'm just praying that it 'like riding a bike' and the 2nd one seems so much easier because a) we don't have as much time to worry and b) we've done it all before :))

My son is going to a school in Lewisham, but by the sounds of it I'm assuming that they will comply with the single September entry next year. I would really love him to start in September and NOT January this year, but when I asked, was told 'no'. All his friends will be starting in September and he's bored at nursery already. AND number 2 is due at the end of September, so an earlier start would be perfect for us. Anyone know if it is possible to appeal to get him in earlier, or if its a funding issue? The school he's going to will have all 3 classes starting in September, so I can't see that it will make that much difference to have one more in the class.

Good luck to everyone tonight/with tomorrow's post...

I second that recommendation for PAYE for Nannies. They do exactly what it says on the tin, and for a price that you don't mind paying to get rid of the hassle of working out the tax!! NannyTax on the other hand I thought was a bit of a rip off (although their calculator tools online were quite useful - and free)

Trinity - hope your water is OK now. You live relatively close to the ring main extension work on Homestall road which (should) have been finished in March - perhaps they are on the last push? Anyone know more about this project - for such a long term thing Thames Water's site doesn't give much away!

:) we also had a good nights sleep! 4.20 sounds hideous though! This week we are trialling a sticker chart so that if my 3 yo stays in his room (bar nipping to the loo) until his bunny clock wakes up, he gets a sticker. Its worked mon-fri - we'll have to wait and see what happens when the bunny has a 'lie-in' at the weekend!!

So Southwark make us wait and then we now have even more doubt on the results we might get earlier from other boroughs (ie Lewisham). So much for a common application process. Why can't boroughs co-ordinate, and all ask for forms in by the same date, with the same announcement day? (Doesn't this happen with Secondary schools?)

There are quite a few restaurants/cafes on Southwark street, which you can reach by going through the Tate Modern gardens, and are quieter than the south bank itself at the weekend. We went to Del Aziz a couple of weeks ago (daytime lunch as husband works in the area) with a 3 year old, and he loved the houmous and pitta options - lots of meditteranean/middle east type fare, and burgers too. Also, The Table is good for cafe/bistro type food (and is listed in Time out).

Excellent point!!!

Of course there will be some queries, but surely for the vast majority of applications, the process should be straightforward? Wouldn't a better option have been to keep the original release date, but make parents aware that any queries could only be dealt with from 10th May? Then (say) 70% of families would know where they stand, and would be able to relax for a couple more weeks. And those that don't want to know either way until they can talk to someone, could simply keep the envelope unopened until 10th May :) And as Nunhead mum said, this would also have had the effect of not pushing further delays onto neighbouring boroughs, for parents who know the decision of some schools but can't make an informed choice until Southwark spills the beans. Or is this all far too sensible and efficent?

Ha - what a cheek! It's stressful enough having to wait this long anyway, let alone putting it back a couple of weeks. I'm actually one road away from Southwark in Lewisham now, but if I was voting, I'd not vote for the incumbents on that very principle!