Today is a new day!

hypno06

Great news about the NVA - but you must get this "what have I done to deserve such kindness" nonsense out of your head. You deserve help to deal with it, and that is what you are getting. You are getting what you need. It is an excellent service they are providing you with, and I am sure the support for both of you will be fantastic - but it is not a case of "deserving" - the danger with asking questions like that of yourself is that you feed yourself the element of negativity that goes with "I don't deserve it", which is the other way of asking yourself the same question!

I don't know if I am explaining myself very well, but I hope you know what I mean!

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

hiya Hypno, yes I do understand what you are saying and I am guilty of doing it a lot. I am a lot better than I used to be but theres always room for improvement. It still feels amazing that a charity who has never met us is prepared to invest in our wellbeing to such a degree, however be assured I will endeavour to work on knowing "we are worth it"!!Take care and hope alls well with you.

Keeping_Motivated

If you and your DD are not worthy of this type of help then I don't know who is! It is truly the very least you deserve and thank goodness there is a service that can provide it. xx

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Well, Im hoping I will not live to regret making the decision to not go out and about putting out catalogues today. I was going to do them for collection onfri, then out again on sat - working with dd - and collect on mon. However, after last weekend I can not bear to put either myself or my dd through another sat of working, so books going out on fri for collection on mon. We will then have the weekend free together, I can do bits and bobs at my desk when dd in bed at the weekend. Today and tom I have a variety of tasks to undertake so the time will be well spent.

1. Have simply loads and loads of prospects to call!
2. Deliveries of orders to do from 4 to 6 today.
3. Posting my old gold bits and pieces off for cash in return.
4. Sent off my acceptance form to confirm we will attend the NVA event.
5. Have heard from a local auction house i emailed who are prepared to sell my contempory limited edition prints if I want them too. Plan to go down tom am, and just see what they suggest selling them for. Depending on that outcome, I may not be selling them on ebay, then again I might!! Will wait and see, want to cover all my options to maximise the price I get for them.
6. Will put 2 pictures at least on ebay tom depending on outcome from auction house.
7. Place another order. Have so many to put through, have lost count of total but Im pleased.
8. Banking to do.
9. Address my sleeping. sat down last night at 9.30, the plan was to have a cuppa before preparing for today before bed. Didn't even get to make the cuppa and the next thing I know its the Loose Women programme on at 2.30am! You have to laugh if it wasn't becoming such a serious issue with me. I can not spend the next 6 years sleeping like this.

Anyway, onward and upward. Proactiveness is the order of the day. All will be well. This is becoming my daily mantra!!

poorbutrich

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED wrote: »

4. Sent off my acceptance form to confirm we will attend the NVA event.
5. Have heard from a local auction house i emailed who are prepared to sell my contempory limited edition prints if I want them too. Plan to go down tom am, and just see what they suggest selling them for. Depending on that outcome, I may not be selling them on ebay, then again I might!! Will wait and see, want to cover all my options to maximise the price I get for them.
6. Will put 2 pictures at least on ebay tom depending on outcome from auction house.

Morning P&F!

Best of luck with the prints - here's hoping they fetch what they deserve!

Also wanted to wish you the best with the NVA event - this really is a brilliant charity which offers useful support.

Speak soon
pbr
xx

Karmacat

I think thats a really good idea to give yourselves the weekend together - and plan the work week accordingly - you've got plenty of productive work you *can* be doing.

And yes, the sleeping downstairs is an issue - it'll take you a while to get back to sleep when you do get up there, and both halves of your sleep aren't as restful as they could be. If you need to not sit down at all in the evening to relax, but go straight to bed with a book in your nightie and your teeth cleaned, then thats fine. You've had so, so much stress over these last years, you just have to take care of your self.

Lots of positive vibes going your way
xxx

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Thank you for your imput! yes, Karmacat I will be addressing the sleep issue. Hope alls well with you.

Now then, have had a really positive day. Been to local auction house, they have advised me to investigate other forms of selling my 12 limited edition prints of Linda Jane Smith's work, The Mackenzie Thorpe ones of which I have 3 they will def take, and Im really excited about it. The reserve they will put on them will total £1K in total, but as the auction they will go in takes place at the end of Nov, they will be expecting them to go for higher because that is the last big auction date before Xmas. I just feel totally at peace about taking this route and with regard to the 12 other prints I am going to research some galleries first before going down the ebay route. The auction house seemed to think I would get a better price that way, will wait and see.

Other great news, emailed my meter readings to Scottish Power, seems Ive been over paying them, and of course since my LBM Ive really been extra careful, have refrained from putting the heating on in the eves still and its paying off. They are sending me a chq for £298! Yeah, really pleased.

Sales, over the last 4 weeks my average sales total £1200 per week, £1350 if you inc orders collected but not wanted till nearer Xmas. Not quite my target of £1500 per week, but getting there. New recruits, none by me, but one ofmy team has done v well, so progress there too.

Looking forward to what I will get in cash for my odd bits of jewellery Ive sent off.

It feels good being proactive. Seeing a plan getting there when its acted upon. Just will keep focusing, working hard, being sensible and we will be ok.

Off to watch Question Time while sorting out some brochures. Have set my mob alarm for 11.30 so if I do fall asleep I will get to bed. Will have a good 7 hours sleep tonite. Another busy day tom before the weekend. Brochures out, home to do some tel call, sort out del, del the goods, collect dd from after school club, do 3 more del, home, have h/m casserole - already made! - and then unwind to enjoy weekend with dd. Thats me for tonite!

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Booked my train tickets yest for the NVA week away. Quite straightforward you would think, but oh no , 2 hours later on the tel and now thinking I should never have booked them, am considering canceling the tickets for a fee of £10.
Situation is this. Bought a family card for £26 to benefit from cheaper fare. Disabled card would cost £18 but to qualify for the benefits you are only allowed an adult to travel with you, not a child. Are disabled people not allowed children I asked?!! Obviously not! Mistake no 1 by me, how dare I have a child when I have a disability!
Return fare with family card is £98 which inc the £26 for it, a lot cheaper than going by car with cost of petrol etc. Im to change at London Victoria, go on the 11 min journey via the underground to Kings Cross, get on train, straightforward with 57 mins to allow for that change... or so you would think. Then probs....
I dared to ask for some assistance with getting our suitcases down the stairs to the underground, Oh naughty me. Mistake no 2, only "normal" people can access the underground or those who can hold on to bannisters and carry a suitcase and look after a 6 year old dd when they can only use 1 arm - the latter being an impossibility I think you would agree, so the answer is "NO". We can not offer assistance for Health and Safety reasons. This is because the underground stairs are under the control of another train company and our employess are therefore uninsured to assist! Great! What do I do then I ask? See if the underground will help you - which Ive since found they can not because of lack of staff - or you get a taxi which I now know takes 35 mins to get to Kings Cross, costs £28 about, therefore am looking at an add £56( inc for return journey) to the cost all because there will be no one avail or prepared to help me down some stairs. Mistake no 3. Do they not realse that I work hard for my money, that to earn it costs extra effort because of the way I am, so why do they punish me for that by adding yet more cost to the journey than the average person has to pay? IT MAKES ME SO MAD! I can pretend all I like Im trying well in this life but the fact remains in this country people like me are still treated like "s**t" when it comes to just wanting the basic rights of living. We are simply not tolerated in the public domain are we or understood? Out of sight, out of mind that is what is clearly preferred!
So, bearing in mind my option is to get a taxi, I would then need to get an earlier train, there is currently 57 mins between the 2 connections, there are roadworks on route, I need to allow time to get on and off train with dd, a loo visit possibly, can I do all that with a 35 min, poss longer taxi journey? There is no room for any emergency or if the train is delayed. So, I call back and ask what I can do, the lady gives me an earlier train time and that means getting to Victoria at 6.30, allowing 3 hours to get to Kings Cross. Absolutely ridiculous. Or a slightly later train which would mean a change and booking assistance at that station but only if there are the staff avail. And this is all because no one is prepared to be on hand to help me get down to the underground.

So this morning, am thinking I will drive. Im looking at 357 miles there, furthest Ive ever driven before is Birmingham, 220 miles away. I think I could do it, it would cost similar in petrol to getting the train with covering the cost of a potential £60 approx taxi fare on top. Im assuming the train co would refund my card the sum of £98 less £10 for cancelling. Wouldn't have to worry about carrying luggage here there and everywhere. Could stop off at motorway cafes to go to loo and have a cuppa. Says its a 6 hour journey on AA. By train, Im looking at a 8 hour journey if I take the 5 oclock train - bearing in mind I wouldn't have to worry about being "stuck" at the changing station if no one is able to help me get from one platform to the other - and wait the 3 hours at Victoria.

So, that was how I spent a large part of yest afternoon, feeling like I was so unhuman. Is it too much to ask to have the smallest amount of help I could get away with to get there at the lowest cost? Yes, it would seem so. Mistake no 4. I dare to be alive and wanting to actually live my life and give my dd the best chance poss to deal with my dh situation!

Must get dressd, mowing the garden later, get on with some other bits ready for the week. Am v blessed to have a car, and that is what I need to remember, but oh how I feel like crying. This country should be ashamed of the way it treats people like me. Everything, and believe me, I've had to fight for the right to do so many things, is just that a fight.

Karmacat

I'm sorry to hear this! Very, very tough situation, and it *always* happens when more than one organisation is involved, people who need help fall through the cracks - such a heartless saying, when your post above says what that actually means, very graphically.

The only suggestion I have that might be of help depends on where your journey is - is there any chance you can avoid London, and so stay entirely on the rail network? Then you can get help changing trains, for sure, I see people being met and ferried about all the time.

The kind of thing I'm thinking of is south coast to Liverpool - it used to be via London and that was that, but then the link opened up so you could do it via Watford. You can't do that direct any more, but you can still do it if you change at East Croydon as well. I know changing trains can be horrible, but at least its all railway companies, and as I say that means you get help at the change.

Is that kind of thing any good for you? Can you play about on thetrainline.com or on virgintrains.com?

honeybear_2

Oh PaF that's made me seethe just reading it :mad:

I live in London & I'd more than happily come & give you a hand up & down the underground with your bags!

I have the underground staff assist people a lot but I don't know if it was a case that they asked as they arrived or pre-booked something