mothers on the verge

Oh dear. I have found yet another excuse to postpone making the curtains for the nursery class Wendy House . The laundry mountain has (literally) hit the roof. The hem on Firstborn's school dress is still hanging down. The dishwasher languishes. Dust gathers. Chaos reigns. But I just can't help it. I have found my ultimate fantasy shopping fix and it may be a while before I'm sated. Imagine Facebook with decent graphics, no spotty teenagers and a hefty dose of Net-a-porter/ other delightful shopping site. Check it out: http://www.myfaveshop.com/ . Ahhhh, bliss.

Finally, the sun is shining and Geneva is transformed. I lived here for a couple of years as a child and attended my first-ever school here. My childhood memories are of a city where the sun always shone, where ice-cream was a constant pleasure and of the astounding piles of treats piled high in every boulangerie. Memory is, of course, a highly selective thing. This year the visit feels extra-special as Firstborn is the same age now as I was all those years ago. It makes me see Geneva through the eyes of a child again, not just being reliant on my slightly rusty memories. The wonderful thing about Geneva is that nothing has changed all that much in the past thirty years; the trams remain the same, the toyshop Jouets Webber (which I once thought was the biggest and most wonderful toy store in the world) has the same facade and the same layout, the Flower Clock, the Jet d'Eau, les Jardins Anglaise, the Migros... all look remarkably similar now to how they did in the 1970's. First...

I am in the midst of a dilemma. Admittedly, it's not much of a dilemma in the great scheme of things, nor is it causing me much in the way of sleepless nights (that honour goes to Alpha's snoring alongside the noctural adventures of the Small(er) One) but it is a dilemma nontheless. It's about jeans, you see. For years now I have been quite happy with basic Gap jeans. They are fairly cheap, come in a bigger range of styles, colours and sizes than anywhere else I can think of on the high street, and there are Gap stores everywhere, making a new purchase simple and fast. But recently my head is slowly but irreversibly being turned by all those swanky so-called designer jeans that have landed with a bang over the past few years - Seven, Citizens Of Humanity, True Religion, Sass & Bide, J Brand... ooh the list goes on and on and on... But the problem is that the very idea of paying between £150 and £200 for a pair of jeans seems somewhat decadent. There is, I think, someth...