It lives.

[JoceAndChris]

Number 3, congratulations Feltwell! I think you're going to need every scrap of that wonderful sense of humour of yours! He sounds like a fine bouncing boy, and Billy is perfect.

And, if, you're passing this way, do drop off a vat of your frozen finest won't you - particularly if you're ginger haired.

 

[Moo]

It's a bit superfluous now, but may I join in the chorus of congratulations - for both the money-pits?
As others have said so eloquently, I can't think of any more rewarding ways of investing time and effort than in a baby and a house project.

 

[Penners]

a newborn baby boy, who arrived on Tuesday weighing it at a not inconsiderable 9lbs 6ozs. Mrs F and our new baby (Billy, by the way) are both doing just fine.

Great news - many congratulations!

We also have a Billy (although separated from from Mrs P and me by one generation). They are very high quality products, and I promise you hours of fun with yours.

 

[Feltwell]

Ooerr, where to start?

Well, firstly, apologies to Robgil for hijacking his thread! Great news that you've decided to carry on with the house - you know you'd regret it forever if you didn't. A wise if poverty-inducing move I say!

Secondly, thank you all for the good wishes! A few specific replies below, but thank you all.

Have you been letting the family know what sort of power tools he wants as a Christening ( or one month, or other celebration, to be totally PC ) present ?

Funnily enough, our other son got a lot of toy power tools for his first birthday, can't think why.....

Rob-= have you considered that Feltwell may have the solution to your problem - a significant source of free slave labour. We use ours (boys 7 & 9) like Romans (except for the gladiatorial spectacles bit).

Ahh yes, the free labour bit has already been used. My 2 eldest had good fun helping transport the bricks for the garage down the steps to where the bricklayers were working - one brick at a time! What do gladitorial spectacles look like then? Did they do bi-focals?

...and a newborn baby boy, who arrived on Tuesday weighing it at a not inconsiderable 9lbs 6ozs". Wow - I bet that smarted a little!

He was smaller than our other son, he was 9lbs 9ozs! Genetics have not been kind to the womenfolk of our family, at least not those that have sons - in both families there is a pronounced trend for the women to be small in both height and build, and the men to be tall and heavily built!

Now stop at three because they are hellishly expensive as teenagers and twenty-somethings

They're expensive enough now! No danger of any more - Mrs F has mentioned the word "Bobbit" more than once whilst pregnant and suffering.... :shock:

He'll be a strapping lad carrying your sandbags before you know it.

Or sewing your curtains. We have to be open minded these days you know.

Alas Nigel, Carol is probably spot on. My mother is highly accomplished with all those type of crafts - knitting, embroidery, dressmaking etc etc, she made my wife's wedding dress for example. Much to her disgust, despite her best efforts I can barely sew a button on - I am utterly hopeless at anything to do with sewing. Let's hope the sewing gene has just skipped a generation!

if, you're passing this way, do drop off a vat of your frozen finest won't you - particularly if you're ginger haired.

:shock: Not sure what Chris would have to say about that! No, not ginger, just brown heading steadily towards silver - but my mother was a red-head in her younger days, so there's a gene in their somewhere......

 

[Flyfisher]

if, you're passing this way, do drop off a vat of your frozen finest won't you -

A vat?!!!! :shock: :shock:

He was smaller than our other son, he was 9lbs 9ozs!

My sister-in-law's second child, a boy, was 10lbs 12oz. He was already two weeks late and on the friday she was told to go into the hospital on Monday to be induced. He arrived of his own accord on the Sunday.

Naturally, any such recollections are immediately followed up with a web-search these days so, to save you all the trouble I found this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6226095/Human-extremes-the-tallest-shortest-heaviest-and-lightest-people-ever.html

22lbs !! :shock:

 

[Penners]

if, you're passing this way, do drop off a vat of your frozen finest won't you -

A vat?!!!! :shock: :shock:

The official measure of a vat is, I understand, 17.5% of however much you have.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol:

 

[robgil]

gongrats feltwell , superb stuff. I am a bit set back about the kids being money pit things though , we are due our first in may. :shock: that's two money pits to deal with.
at what age can they be turned into slaves then? do they have to be walking first?

 

[Flyfisher]

we are due our first in may. :shock:

Well, that's the schedule for the cottage work decided then. :wink:

 

[philpjuk100]

CHILDREN!,You can carry photos of them in your wallet where you used to keep your money! Ours are now both in their 30s and still costing us!

 

[robgil]

we are due our first in may. :shock:

Well, that's the schedule for the cottage work decided then. :wink:

ive just checked my lottery numbers , i don't think it will be this may , the only other may i can see it happening on are a couple of maybe's , maybe this year , maybe the next.

 

[Penners]

at what age can they be turned into slaves then?

Good luck in getting them to perform as slaves at any age. In my experience, any household tasks that they perform have to be bought at exhorbitant rates.

"Only £5 for cleaning the car, dad?"

Fortunately, mine have now left home and are self-sufficient, so I can get the car cleaned for £3.50 at the car wash.

 

[Flyfisher]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Absolutely spot-on! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Me!]

OK, well as this thread has drifted and meandered a fair bit already, I'll take it a bit further if I may .....
As a child, my parents had three period houses whilst I lived with them. None of them wrecks or even 'projects', but all needing the ongoing care and DIY that period properties need, and as a child / teenager I helped my parents with whatever needed doing and that is how I leaned how to do most of it. Now I live in a similar (slightly worse) condition period house, and I have several teenagers, none of whom can ever be dragged away from blowing things up in virtual reality for long enough to actually do anything. I have tried to engage their interest, but have never forced them to help out, and as such they never do. As a result of this, my eldest son has now left home, and I honestly doubt he would even be capable of changing a plug!
Do others have a similar problem with recent or current teenagers, ..... or is it just me??? Slaves, no chance!
I'm actually just worried that when I'm old and decrepit, I'll still be fixing all their stuff rather than the other way around!

 

[Pford75]

We have 3 children (2 boys of 11 and 9 yrs old and a 3 y/o daughter)

It's always been a rule since we moved in that the kids were responsible for keeping the log basket and coal scuttles full. Initially done under protest, but now just part of how we function as a family.

My daughter helps in the garden mostly (since I only once let her have a go with a wallpaper scraper and was repairing 'dings' in the plaster for days. She helps sow our potatoes and onions and harvest them.

My sons are now becoming more useful in the house. Most of you will appreciate that there are times when you just can't lift something by yourself. Mrs F is a delicate thing, so having a son who is starting to develop muscles is most useful. I swear that the physical activity at home is the reason behind his prodigous growth and strength.

Both sons though are capable of wallpaper stripping, and have assisted with lining papering (although you have to choose their tasks carefully). On balance, they always resist at first, but once you are in the swing of things, they do enjoy some tasks....it's a question of choosing the right ones. Generally, boys find anything involving power tools deeply exciting....and as long as they are managed in the right way, they can have a go of these things.

I have strong memories as a child myself of sitting in my dad's shed, the smell of creosote, watching him make a bird table or whatever the latest project was. It was real 'boys time'..although I can't claim to have learned many woodworking skills.

 

[Moo]

The trouble with threads like this is that they can bring on bad attacks of nostalgia:

The headmistress of my secondary school was asked by a visitor why there were no lessons in things like cookery. Her answer was: "We are a selective school. If, when they leave us, our girls are not capable of reading a recipe and following the instructions, we will have failed them."
Which brings me on to our son, who showed no interest at all in domestic d.i.y. Until, that is, he got his own house. As a housewarming present we gave him one of those big fat d.i.y. manuals in the hope that it would come in handy should he need to mend a dripping tap or mend a plug.
With its help he has, to date, prepared and painted the exterior woodwork, installed a well-insulated stud partition across the ground-floor 'through' reception room, and reinstated the blocked-in doorway to the back half. Architraves, picture rails and skirtings were carefully matched, and I was really impressed by the quality of what he'd done.

My point being that one of the best motivators is simple penury.

 

[Carol]

My two (ex-students now back home-one jobless and one only working part-time) view old properties with deep and abiding suspicion. Son has been encouraged to "take an interest" in our antics but is hopelessly cack handed and hates anything which might be 'building work' But he will dig, weed, plant and harvest with vigour and vim so we have let him be.

Daughter who was as uninterested has suddenly become more aware, partly we think due to very handome young man, currently working on our wall and paving! I tried to interest her in plastering but she complained it got caught in her fingernails, despite the gloves.

Both have said that they want to live in new houses, one day, we are hoping sometime soon!

 

[Louis Henry]

Son 10 years ago lived for Warhammer and video games. Son today on knees scraping ancient floorboards in his own house. It's in the genes.

 

[Moo]

And I'm sure it's also something to do with actually owning* the place you live in.


* or, as is usually the case, renting it from a building society.

 

[Penners]

My point being that one of the best motivators is simple penury.

To which I would add that a bit of penury early in life is A Good Thing. It forces the sufferer to learn self-reliance and resourcefulness*.





* That's another of those "I sound just like my father" moments.