Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

kezlou

Gailey here's to a better and happier 2011, such a shame about your aunts funeral. What a carry on you had with the trains.
I know the windfall is not in good circumstances but at least as you can you can pay off your debts now.
Hopefully you can have a treat for yourself too

Well did a credit rating and my ratibng is 737 so is apparently fair. Its actually better than i thought it was. So thats good. Never know it might go up when i pay halifax off, if not no matter:).

I'm off to pick the boys up from school.
Better get me ice skates on:p

Gintotmelinda

Hello Everyone!

I popped in to say Nuala B you go for it girl! It is a right. ((hugs))

Sending you energy thoughts(and for anyone else who needs them).

Take care all.

Gintot

ubamother

Lindy_-_Loo wrote: »

On a nicer note, the boys have been sent £25 each from their godparents with a note asking us to buy them a christmas gift each. I honestly dont know what to get them they dont need anything. we put the cash in their trust fund last year at xmas but think they want us to buy them something instead. The boys arent spolit but theyve got enough

What a lovely gesture - if they don't actually need anything physical, is there an activity they may like - cinema trip and pizza/bowling/wet and wild/theatre/pantomime etc. that way they get something from their godparents that they can thank them for, and you haven't added any clutter!

Kitcaboodle

Good luck with your appeal Nuala! It's definitely something you should fight and don't be afraid to ask for the help you need.

---

DH was supposed to find out about the first round of redundancies today (after several delays) but all they have done is create a new org chart. There is a job he can do on the new chart but no guarantee that he'll get it. Job Specs and the possibility to apply for said job won't happen until just before Christmas (i.e. the new year once they get their act together) The redundancies will apparently be announced in February & DH has two months' notice. This means that if I go back to work when I planned to, we'd have no childcare and probably still wouldn't know if he was going to have a job or not. (Basically, we can't both be working, the child care would be too much to justify paying someone else to raise DS!) So, I need to look into whether I can push back my return date from maternity leave (I was due to go back early so I can do this and still be within the statutory year).

I just hate messing work around but we're being messed around by DH's work and we can't really justify me resigning until we know whether we'll need my job for as long as they'll extend my Contract. I'm mainly worried in case we find ourselves in a situation where we both have to be working at the same time and we don't have anyone to look after DS. I'm hoping my mum might agree to do it if I paid for her flights (she lives abroad) but my step-dad would throw a wobbly so I'm not sure if it's feasible.

kezlou

Kitcab what a nightmare your having at the moment. Hope your OH finds out about his position soon. There's nothing worse than waiting around trying to find out whats happening.

Well after a very time on the phone natwest, i managed to get stuff sorted out i think.
So after much haranging and help from the guy at customer services. He managed to find the four missing payments but found another one which had gone missing in November 2010. Apparently this is one i've been charged for. So i then had to pay £27 and £12 charge to get the account cleared and to stop charges. According to the system due to missing payments etc i was going to be charge £48(late payment fees) +£250 charges :eek:. This lot on top of the £39 i paid today. But luckily the guy sorted out all for me and said no more charges will be added as he sorted everything out.
HE then went on to say i did pay novembers payment on time, but a glitch in the system sent it back to my account. So they wont refund it, even if its they fault.

So i will now be keeping a closer eye on my accounts.

Good news

Snips has jumped in maths from a scaling of a 4.1 year old to 6.3
I'm so proud of him, its really made my day, he's been trying to so hard for the past months. I haven't stopped smiling since i found out:D. I know it sounds silly buts its been so hard trying to get support for him at school. So this is fantastic. Its really boosted his confidence, and running round the house singing at the top of his voice.

NualaBuala

I must be dehydrated now from all the happy tears ... I am just bowled over by the kindness you are all showing me. I am so sad that so many of you have gone through similar for yourself or for someone else ... but I am delighted to hear there have been happy endings. Thank you all so much for all your kind words, support, encouragement, energy, advice .... for everything really! You are all angels. :A

Would love to invite you all around for tea and cake (and Twinks and voddie! ). I really do feel bolstered by your support, I have only told 3 real life people about this and played down how upset I am, don't know why I find it so hard to admit my problems.


Catz, that is one of the loveliest things anyone has ever said about me ... major boost, thank you!!! You poor love, hope your chest is better soon. Take good care and enjoy those yummy muffins.

Kez, glad you had something nice with the nativity play. So sorry to hear about the charge, is there any way of appealing it? And yay for clearing a CC!:j

Lindy Loo ... awwww, how cute about your DS! Gave me a chuckle, so thank you for sharing!

Kitacaboodle ... everything crossed for your DH, it's so hard trying to plan for the future when you don't know what's happening. And I hope you can get your Mum roped in for childminding if it comes to that.

ceridwen

NualaBuala wrote: »

Thank you all!

I am going to go back and read all your messages again. I was in floods of tears reading them last night (although that might have been Corrie too), I was so deeply touched. And then I come on here this morning and you've set me off again! I just don't know how to say thank you enough ... and you've given me smiles too.

I am a wreck right now and it has depressed the hell out of me but I AM going to fight it. I've got 3 weeks to do that and I'm going to contact the ME charity and see if they have any advice. I don't think I'll involve my family - I love them and they love me but although we are close in some ways, they don't understand ME ... have had the odd comment from like "could you not get a little job?". They didn't really understand depression when I had that either and it ended up in a lot of hurt feelings. They don't see me unless I am on a good day so they don't know how bad it can get. It's probably my own fault, I find it difficult to talk about to people and if I'm well enough to meet them, I prefer to "ignore" it. Thankfully some days are better than others though so I will use those to fight this damn thing.

Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. I am overwhelmed at the kindness of you wonderful people who have never even met me.

:T:T:T:T:T:A:A:A:T:T:T:T:T

Well - I've just finished killing myself laughing at Mardatha and FlowerTotMums comments. We've got some feisty ladies on this thread:D.

I was checking in on how you are today and wanting to point out that I seem to remember reading somewhere that its a 40% chance of winning on appeal. In my book that gives a good chance then of winning and worth doing - and odds improved by us here behind you willing you on. So - glad to hear you've decided to take a punt at it (appealing that is).

NualaBuala

ceridwen wrote: »

Well - I've just finished killing myself laughing at Mardatha and FlowerTotMums comments. We've got some feisty ladies on this thread:D.

I was checking in on how you are today and wanting to point out that I seem to remember reading somewhere that its a 40% chance of winning on appeal. In my book that gives a good chance then of winning and worth doing - and odds improved by us here behind you willing you on. So - glad to hear you've decided to take a punt at it (appealing that is).

Feisty ladies (and warrior-goddesses) indeed! I am so lucky to have you all. Ceridwen ... have you considered hiring yourself out as a professional lifter-of-spirits? :A Could be a nice little side-line.:)

40% is good enough for me (and even if was less I figure I don't have much choice, it's got to be done). I rang up and spoke to the Deciding Officer who was incredibly kind and patient, he talked me through the whole thing and I know what I have to do next. So I spent a lot of today making phone calls and next week will be busy with the same and writing letters looking for statements from Drs, physios etc. I'm going to have to be extra-careful with pacing myself as already I feel worn out with it.

My sister (who I was afraid would judge me or not understand) is being an absolute sweetheart ... rang up and asked if I had eaten dinner. I hadn't and she is delivering me a Chinese takeaway (quite a healthy one as it's from a restaurant). :A

What has started off as a nightmare has ended with me counting my blessings and overflowing with gratitude because of how kind everyone is.

jediteacher

Big hugs to all those that need them

We've had to sit down this week as when we looked to see how much money we had we realised we had £50 to last until January the 1st! :eek: We've had some sudden expenses - car wheels, central heating, petrol (visiting Father in law as he has been diagnosed with cancer) and it's all just snowballed. To top that off my bank account has been frozen whilst the bank investigates some fraudulent purchases. It's never ending at the moment! :mad:

At school this week my year 6 class went across to the old folks home to sing them some carols and play some songs. I've has this class from Year 5 and they are such a brilliant bunch of kids. Half way through singing Away in Manger my eyes all misted over as I realised that I wouldn't be with them when they leave school. This may sound strange but I love my job and this class have been very special to me. These pregnancy hormones are playing havoc!

I've sold some stuff on ebay so that should pay for the Christmas food. Luckily I've got all the prezzies I need and have tonnes of wrapping paper so at least that is all paid for.

We'll get there but it's just heartbreaking working so hard and having all the prices go up and not your salary. I worked out that from this time last year all our combined bills have gone up by just over £200! :mad: We don't have an extra £200 a month so we really are going to have to sort something out - not sure what yet.

Anyway I'll stop my rambling as there are people out there who struggle far more than us and at least we have each other and our health.

ceridwen

NualaBuala wrote: »

Wow, I am super-impressed! You'd better knit yourself up a superhero cape in your spare time too.

I am feeling a bit better now, sitting here sniffling and smiling too thanks to you lot.

I have rung Citizens Information (same as CAB I think) and they will help me fill the form. Just need to wait for a day I'm well enough to get out to them. And I have asked for advice from the ME groups. So far what I have heard is that it is not unusual to turn it down initially - it seems to be a sort of trial by fire. :mad:


It has made me realise that I've been kind of pretending to be ok - not sure if I was just in denial - and this had made me realise I'm really not and I need to get better at asking for help. Just talked to my sister who was actually sweet and wonderful - I had been scared she would judge me.

.

Glad you had that pleasant surprise as to how your sister would react:D - just goes to show....

One can never quite know how other people will react and its sometimes not as we "predicted" to ourselves. I know I spent MANY years thinking"...and one of the reasons I have to be very careful not to have any accidental pregnancies is my parents will kill me first/ask questions later". Well - I never did have any pregnancies of any description (:D in my case:D) - but I realised in latter years that their reaction would have been the total opposite of what I had thought. They would have headed for any child first and been so busy being pleased at being grandparents that "killing me" would have come low down the list.:rotfl:. I also misjudged them generally in thinking they didnt care about me - because they are just SO reserved/stiff upper lip in many ways - but I've come to realise that just because they dont do "gushy and fluffy" that doesnt mean they dont care.

People often surprise us - for good or bad - in their reactions.

REET - now as regards "trial by fire" - one thing I have learnt over the years is that the powers-that-be in Britain/and yep Southern Ireland too simply don't respond most of the time to an initial simple request/complaint. It still annoys me intensely that they dont - but this is how things work in this country I've realised. There is an unspoken "rule of thumb" that one request/moan is a whim or rant. They don't start taking requests/statements/complaints seriously and acting on them until they have been made at least twice.:mad:

I think it must be some sort of unwritten rule in Britain - akin to the one that in some other countries you have to refuse something you are offered 3 (?) times before they believe that it really IS a refusal and accept it. The British rule is clearly "Ask or complain at least twice - or nothing will be done". Its an absolute PITA - but I've learnt that they dont understand that I personally work differently and only expect to ask/complain the once - so I grit teeth and ask/complain again and often "come up with the goods" the second time. I just keep at it if a second Ask still doesnt do the trick. Thats how things work in this country it seems - so best get on and put in that second Ask as soon as possible Nuala my lass.

Take care.