Juggling, Organising, and Holding it All Together - 2011

Triggles

Whew!! Busy busy busy!!

Dentist appointment Tuesday. I truly hate getting dental work done. I sincerely believe that general anaesthetic should be allowed for those of us that cannot cope with the sound of a dental drill! :eek: But that's okay. The trauma is over now, and I'm past it. Just have a sort jaw for a few days.

We had a meeting with someone from the LA today. Horrible. Really spun me out emotionally for the day. Everyone that works with DS2 agrees with us (and has written reports stating this) that the SS is the best environment for DS2. But the LA says no. :mad: They're ticking boxes, and now say they want to get the Ed Psych involved again. Personally we feel it's a delaying tactic. It doesn't make sense - it's not a money saving exercise, as it's actually cheaper for the LA to send him to the school. And we don't think they read much of the paperwork we initially sent them, as when we highlighted to the woman in the discussion all the reasons why the SS would be better for him she said "well, you've given us a lot of new information to think about." :eek: So I said "actually I haven't. All this info is in the paperwork we sent previously, but you obviously didn't bother to read it." :mad: I imagine we'll end up at tribunal, as they certainly aren't looking out for DS2's best interests. God knows what their agenda is.

On a side note (and totally unrelated).. all the supermarkets seem to have stopped selling the basics jelly (in the little packages of blocks to make jelly). They were so cheap and worked well (IIRC they were about 9p per package), but now it's name brand for 34p each! :eek: I'm not happy about this at all, as it made for a lovely inexpensive treat. I just feel like standing outside Sainsburys shouting "BRING BACK BASICS JELLY BLOCKS!!" Although they'd probably have me carted away....

I am appalled at how quickly the prices of some of the basics style products (at all stores, not just Sains) are rising. We used to buy a bottle of basics baby bath that cost 11p per bottle, and now it's about 45p per bottle!! Unbelievable!! I'm tempted to start a notebook to monitor the price changes.

I used to shop Morrisons sometimes as they had good sales. But a while ago they changed their website so that most of the items listed (sales stuff) is in words, not pictures. I know that sounds incredibly silly, but I just can't be bothered to read through it all. With pictures, I can see at a glance what the product is and move on. I don't want to sit down and read for pages to find sales items I am interested in. So they've lost our business. It can't be just me, can it? Just a page full of words of items, where you have to read through it all, is hard on the eyes and far too much work. I tried it a couple times and gave up in frustration. I'd love to see them change it back, but refuse to dig through the site when it's so hard on the eyes to do all the reading.

More appointments tomorrow. Busy week for us. Thank goodness DH was off work this week (holiday time booked).

Triggles

Today was "organise the kitchen" day. Medicine shelf gone through, those that can be taken to chemist to be disposed of put aside. Relocated a few things that stay out on the countertop (bread box, toaster, microwave). Baking cupboard organised. New rubbish bin purchased (not very MSE and don't even ASK how much it cost :eek:) that has a latch that keeps our dog from opening it and dragging rubbish out of it. (Don't care that it was expensive, and it's worth its weight in gold if I don't have to keep cleaning up rubbish off floor that dog has dragged out of rubbish!!)

While I appreciate the need for recycling - and we do loads of recycling - it can be a real space eater in the kitchen. Between a small food bin, larger food bin, something for tins/bottles, something for paper/cardboard ... there's really a lot of room taken up by it, even after crushing the tins and flattening the cardboard boxes.

My little splurge personally was a cute little wooden box that was specifically for holding eggs. I've been eyeing it at the Range for quite some time. It just looks nicer than a carton on the counter. Just one of those silly things that caught my eye. :rotfl:

Fingers crossed we may actually be getting the fence repaired so that it's safe for DS2. We'll know more later this week.

We're also waiting for feedback from the LA regarding DS2 going to SS. I don't anticipate them being agreeable. They gave every indication at the last meeting that they were going to drag their feet over it. :mad:

It was Mother's Day in the states on Sunday, so I rang my mum and spoke to her. DH even made breakfast so I could relax, as he said I get 2 Mother's Days - the UK and the US one. Not going to argue with that one!! :cool:

Triggles

Appallingly poor form, neglecting this for almost a week. It's been chaotic and stressful here. Massive fallout between DH & I over his behaviour, which has been very negative and shouty again. Long and short of it is that he discussed it at length at his counselling, and he seems to be making a clear effort to be more positive and to stop shouting.

I'm well aware it's part of the depression, and he's struggling. We both are. And the increased stress due to the tribunal, plus other things going on, is just immense. But we agreed that it's important that we support each other and not tear each other apart when things are tougher. So we're still working through it all.

So on to other things. I had some dental work done last week - temporary crown put in. And within a few days, developed horrible pain in the area, and the tooth is unbelievably sensitive - cold, heat, touch. :eek: Ouch!!!! So all chewing is on the other side, no hot/cold drinks to that side of mouth, and codeine as needed. Supposed to see dentist again on Friday, so will ask him then what's going on.

We took the boys swimming today. It's a nice activity that's not too expensive. Boys are free, I'm DS2's carer, so get in free. We pay for DH's admission fee. It can be stressful, as neither boy can be let go pretty much the whole time we're changing and such. Then they have to be closely monitored in the pool. But they enjoy the swimming (okay, more like the splashing), so it's worth all the chaos and hassle to go. DH & I have discussed getting a membership for me to go there, as I am the one that takes the boys swimming most frequently (although separately as it's really not safe for one person to take them both), and it would allow me to then go a few times a week to do lane swimming and/or some classes for physical fitness. I have a long term goal to get more physically fit, as well as lose weight, so that would help. And physical activity is a good stress-buster as well. I'd like to convince DH to eventually join as well, again because it's good for depression to get out and get active.

The OT has managed to get the council to replace the worst section of our fence in the back garden, mainly because it's a safety issue for DS2. So DH has been asked by the council to remove as much of the two trees by the fence as possible as it will be easier to replace the fence that way. In the past two days, he has chopped them down to stumps. :rotfl: He has been itching to get rid of those trees for ages, but it was implied previously to us that the council didn't really like people randomly chopping down trees in council property gardens. But since they gave us permission... down it goes!! Now THAT was great for DH to get out some of that aggression - big trees, big axe!! :cool:

16 degrees upstairs, so had to put the heater on. :mad: I was looking forward to WARM weather in May. What's happened?!?

I've been quite slack about foods with Vitamin C as well as iron, and I suspect my iron levels are low again. Feeling run down, cold all the time, which is how I always felt when I was anaemic. So I am back on regular daily vitamins to see if that improves it. If not, then I will trot dutifully back to GP to have a check up.

I now have 4 plants growing on my windowsill. Sweet peas (given to me by a friend), cherry tomato plant, strawberry plant (although this is going to be added to our strawberry plants in our hanging basket), and a cucumber plant. We'll see how well I can get them to grow in the windowsill - I will be planting the carrots in the plastic bottles this week. I'm actually looking forward to it.

DH has gotten all the wallpaper off in the bathroom, but there's still some stubborn paint, so we picked up some paint remover stuff that is low fumes and such. That's something we can hopefully get done this week while DS2 is in school.

Laundry is behind, but kitchen is still looking good. I forgot to mention last week that we had purchased an inexpensive bread box for the kitchen at the Range for about £7. We looked wooden ones with rolltops (£15) and ceramic ones with wooden tops or ceramic tops (£20) and decided the plastic one with open handles on side (with British flag on top) was a better price. It's not a heavy duty as the wooden or ceramic bread box, but it's just bread in it for heaven's sake! And we aren't placing anything on top of it, so it doesn't NEED to be heavy duty. Just needs to look tidy.

DS3 managed to colour on the wall this week, so out will come the WD40 to clean that up. He also seems to be interested finally in potty training now. Dare I hope that he'll be out of nappies soon? Fingers crossed!! :rotfl:

Triggles

On the back of a post in OS about buying in bulk/stocking up on non-perishables, it was brought to my attention that DH's discount is up to 15% right now, until Thursday, for the supermarket he works at. So I think a bit of a stocking up shop is in order. It's not a huge discount, but it certainly doesn't hurt.

I'm going to stock up on a lot of the basics items, as well as UHT milk. We bought some over the winter to keep on hand, and it worked very well. No last minute trips to the shop to encourage us to overspend. Because you never go in for milk and come out with JUST MILK do you?? :rotfl:

I'm off to peruse the website and put together a shop. I'll do this one online so as to keep track of the expense better.

brizzledfw

Hi Triggles

Sorry I haven't popped in for ages...I have been shamefully neglecting your diary..and mine and loads of others...been working away a lot so hard to summon the energy to check in. Have been pretty MSE though so that helps.

Well..what a trial about DS' school....this sounds a nightmare. good case for a judicial review if they don't make a reasonable decision I'd say..and the expense of the tribunal should surely be theirs??! Guess it probably won't be but that's hardly sounds fair. Keep on going and sorry it's such a lonely struggle as OH doesn't seem to be up to helping.

Thinking of you hun. Best of luck with everything

Triggles

Brizzled - thanks. Good for you on being very MSE. I've been MSE in some things.. in others, not so much.

Today's bit of puzzlement? Darning socks. I am sitting here looking at DS3's little sock that has a hole in the toe. Other than that, it's a perfectly good sock. I hate to throw it, but not a clue how to darn socks. Although obviously I know it can be done. :rotfl: So... I may ring MIL later and ask her the finer points of darning socks, as I am certain she knows how. Generally I throw the socks and buy new, but that seems so wasteful. If the sock is thoroughly worn out, then yes, no point trying to save it. But if its JUST the hole in it, I think my new course of action will be to mend it. We'll just see how it goes.

My house needs to be cleaned (seems like that's always the case!), but DS3 is sleeping. He keeps fussing and then falling back asleep every time I make noise, so I'm sitting quietly browsing the internet for a bit. He obviously needs the sleep, or he wouldn't keep falling back asleep. But it does rather mess up my cleaning schedule. I've done all the quiet cleaning stuff I can do.

Lovely sunny day, and no laundry out! :mad: DH has been hard at work taking down the two trees in the rear garden, and all the branches and such are piled up blocking my clothesline! Last time I tried to put an airer out back to dry more clothing (ages ago - the clothesline was full), it kept falling over, requiring the clothing to be washed again. I won't be repeating THAT mistake! Ah, well, as soon as they come to replace the fence, they'll be carting it all away. Hopefully by next week. Fingers crossed.

Triggles

Bit of an unexpected expense this week. A friend gave us a single bed for DS2. He's been in a toddler bed (which is fine, he still had plenty of room in it), but we've been aware to the fact that we would need to eventually get him a single bed. Anyway, this friend was buying bunk beds for her boys, so she offered us the single bed, as it's practically brand new. :j So all we had to buy was a single mattress, right? Nope!! No single sheets or bedding in the house AT ALL! My friend advised us that we could get a new mattress at the local reclaim for £40. And then we went to Argos and picked out new bedding. So DS2 was thrilled with his new bed.

Then DS2's bed (which is an actual toddler bed) was moved into DS3's room and it is now DS3's bed. DS3 was sleeping on a cotbed, but the toddler bed is nicer. So he's pleased with his "new" bed too. :cool:

Another friend has offered to share her allotment with us this year. She's not planting as much this year, and she knows we'd like to try our hand at it, so we're going to plant on part of hers just to see how we do. It's nice because she's also there to help out with information - what to plant where, how to help if something isn't growing right. We're hoping eventually to get our own allotment, but not until next year when DS3 will be in preschool so we have more time to devote to it.

Triggles

Wow! That Diamond Jubilee was brilliant! I just love all the history that was brought out from the coronation and all the pageantry, as well as seeing street parties and people enjoying it all. I know some didn't like it, as they have issues regarding royalty and all, but I personally loved it all! What a neat experience to see!

DS2 was thrilled over it all, as they had a Jubilee picnic at school and they talked about the coronation and the Queen. Not horribly sure how much he understood, but he was quite fascinated when we pointed out the Queen to him on the day of the boating event on the Thames. We more or less told him that the Queen that they sang about in school (in "God Save the Queen") was that lady... the Queen. :cool:

A bit of horror in Sainsburys the other day when shopping. I went to buy a box of basics tissues only to find they were 68p!!!! They were 34p about 6 months ago, I'm sure of it!! And sadly, even with the price doubled, they were STILL the cheapest option. sigh... The down side of closely watching prices is watching them climb.....

We bought some nesting tables for the living room at the local furniture recycling place. £25 for 3 gorgeous solid wood nesting tables from Parker Knoll. They are very well built and will most likely last forever! I'm quite pleased with the purchase. I love finding nice stuff secondhand and reasonably priced. We're trying to slowly replace some of our older junkier (poorly built and thus falling apart) furniture with better quality, better built furniture at reasonable prices.

DS2 is off school this week, so it's a bit hectic around the house. I'm trying to keep them occupied in varying activities, but all DS2 wants to do is play on his DS, and all DS3 wants to do is watch DVDs (Bolt is the current favourite). At least these activities are inexpensive, right? :rotfl:

The debt stuff is mostly in a holding pattern at the moment. We're making payments on those that we have arrangements with and still slowly working on sorting the others.

My DD bought some lovely curtains from a charity shop, but it was a huge set of long thick curtains (pale olive green) and she only needed one set of them. She gave us the rest to use (and she didn't want any money for them, as she got them very cheaply), as the carpet in our bedroom is that colour. It will work perfectly - enough material there for curtains, although they will need to be shortened. The leftover material will be enough to combine with a contrasting colour and make a duvet cover and a couple throw pillows to match the curtains. :j Not bad for free, eh?

I'm going to have to add a new project to my list... DS3 has discovered the joys of throwing everything out of his dresser drawers and toybox. :eek: The mess it makes is unbelievable - and I'm getting tired of refolding and putting away clothes a couple times a day. So I think the drawer clips will need to be put on. I think we have a couple, so I'll need to look through our "junk drawer" and find them. :rotfl:

Triggles

Busy busy busy.

Still waiting on a call from the fencing company to organise replacing the fence. DH has chopped the two offending trees down to stumps. He is trying to get the roots out of one of them, but no idea if he'll finish it in time. It's a beast, that tree!

Still wrangling with the LA regarding the appeal for tribunal, but at least the paperwork is finally all turned in.

Still trying to take back control of the house. Seems like I just get control of one part of the house to the detriment of another part.

I did get curtains up in the bedroom (had to shorten them first), and now will hopefully get some time later this week to make a duvet cover with the rest of the material so it matches.

DS2's school is olympics crazy right now. All these events scheduled, which is creating havoc with the schedule. He needs routine, doesn't do well with schedule changes and I just wish it would all be finished so we could get back to normal again. It is wearing him out trying to cope with it all. (not to mention all the chaos trying make sure the stuff is safe for him, with gates open, etc.)

I'm putting together a list of "things to do" this week to get some cleaning jobs that tend to get put aside for the more basic ones. If I can get some of the list done, I'll feel I've made progress.

As far as money saving goes, I'm looking at weeding out some of the cleaners we have. We have a ton of them. I'm just going to slowly work my way through them and then stick to a few basics. It's ridiculous to have 10 different cleaners on a shelf. Who in the world needs that many? So now I'm on a search to see what the best all-around things are for cleaning. Vinegar is, of course, at the top of the list.

We also have been using basics/smart price bio powder laundry detergent. Ironically, we'd been using more expensive sensitive skin liquids due to the boys having eczema, but it was still irritating their skin. In a pinch, due to short cash one week, I ended up buying basics, and it works just as well, and now almost 3 weeks later, I've noticed it seems to be easier on their skin. Cheaper and better is good as far as I'm concerned!!:rotfl:

Triggles

Apologies for lack of posts, but my niece recently qualified to do nail work, so did my fingernails for me (acrylics and artwork) about 10 days ago. Very nice, pretty job, but dreadful to type in!!:rotfl:

So having them off (or at least shortened) tomorrow, and will actually be able to type and update then! :D