Juggling, Organising, and Holding it All Together - 2011

Triggles

Almost forgot, DD has asked for advice on getting a computer desk. She was thinking new, but told her it might be a good idea to check the reclaim centre, as we got one last autumn that was really well made and is solid wood for very cheap (under £50). So we may pop out to see what they have there - I love looking at that stuff!

pennywisepoundstupid

Morning Triggles, gosh you had a busy day yesterday, i also hate the school run and the school playground and the clique mums, at least when they are at secondry school i will be able to drop them half a mile away as its so uncool to be seen with mum:rotfl:.

Signed up to the site yesterday that you can win iceland vouchers with, is that the same site that you save up for amazon vouchers, trying to work out whether the points can be used for anything else but games.

Have a good day.

Triggles

pennywise - no, the site I am saving points for amazon vouchers is bingoport.

Nasty headache today, feeling quite ill this morning. Think it's sinus problems though. DH walked down to chemist and picked up sinus meds with paracetamol and I feel much better - functional at least!

DS2 home today from school as he was up all night coughing and is feeling a bit poorly this morning. He's currently laying in bed, snoozing, which is soooo unlike him!! So we're keeping a close eye on him.

Went to niece (and her DH)'s house yesterday for Sunday roast meal. Wow! They love to cook and it was soooo good! She makes her own yorkshire puddings and they were delicious and huge!! Seems that the trick is equal amounts eggs, milk, and SR flour, and she cooks them in the silicone muffin tins - no oil needed! Very impressive and we're going to try that as the boys love yorkshire puddings and I hate dealing with the hot oil. So we'll try that next Sunday! :j She also made a pavlova that was wonderful - delia smith recipe, which I'm online looking up on another screen. Yummmm! Definitely going to try that as well!

DH is off work this week as he booked holiday time off last year for this. We're not going anywhere, just relaxing at home, getting some DIY done hopefully. Down to B&Q tomorrow to pick up a batten (?) to put up along our icky walls to fasten the curtain rail to, as the place on the wall where the holders go is just crumbling. Hopefully it will be more secure. Then the curtains can go back on the rail and not on an "in-window" pressure rail, which really cuts into how much light we get in the living room.

Quarterly electric, gas, and then our 6 month water bill paid today. Ouch! But at least that's taken care of for a bit. This is always the worst time of year for that electric and gas bill. We're still using the heater here and there, as it still gets quite cold, but only about 1/2 the time, rather than all the time like we were last month. Hopefully weather will be enough to turn it off soon.

Upcoming plans to put ceiling fan in our bedroom (we already have one in living room and each of the boys bedrooms) to keep the rooms cooler this summer. Because of the type of window we have, we can't leave the windows open as it's a danger for DS2. And ceiling fans are safer and cheaper to run than the floor fans. I'm not keen on us installing them, so we'll have the same electrician that installed the other ones to install ours, as he's done a lot of previous work for us and has reasonable prices.

DH did load of washing and hung it out on the clothesline today and then put another load of washing in. Very nice. He's taking up the slack as he knows I don't feel well, but hate to let things pile up too much. Not sure what to make for tea, but I imagine we have things in the freezer we can use. Honestly, I need to get that mealplanning done. I've just finished updating the budget finally. Had to wait until we talked to someone about our working tax credits and child tax credits, as they changed, which is fine, but they sent us two letters, both same date, that had two different payment amounts and two different payment dates. It was impossible to tell which was the most current one! :rotfl: So had to call to verify. But at least that's sorted.

I've located a group that does riding for the disabled, so we're going to get DS2 on the waiting list for that. Paediatrician said things like that would benefit him, and it's affordable as well (£2 per session). I'm looking forward to taking him - hope he likes it!!

I took him to the cinema (for the junior £1 film) and he lasted about 20-30 minutes (with his ear defenders on). We couldn't get into the cartoon film, so had to try "the tooth fairy" instead. I think he might have lasted longer with a cartoon. So we'll try that next time.

I think I may have to replace my glasses. The screw has already been replaced once and it still won't stay in place. I usually buy the cheapest pair (£25) so that'll fit into the budget.

Also, sent a payment plan regarding the old overdraft and it was accepted for a year, so at least we'll be chipping away at that debt.

Triggles

Oooooh middle of the night post! LOL Actually, I'm awake because I can't stop coughing and gave up trying to sleep for a bit. I cough less sitting up, so wanted to give my poor throat a break and sit up for a short while. I hate coughs ... just seem to hang in there forever, don't they? :mad:

We've been going over our plans for the rear garden somewhat to fine tune them. The first thing to do will be to get a skip to clean up a bunch of stuff (that would be "area 51" at the back of the garden!), including some junk left by the previous residents. Moving the paving stones to the back (once it's cleaned out) and relocating the shed to the very back of the garden, freeing up space for more "play area" for the boys by the house. Hmm... that makes it sound like we have way more garden than we do. :rotfl: We've gone round and round discussing the shed issue. The two sheds we currently have are older and we wanted to replace them with one larger shed. But on reflection, we're not willing to take on the expense of the new shed this summer, and so we're now looking at moving one of them back with the other in area 51 so they're both back there and out of the way. It's the area we want to put a new shed in eventually, so we figure this is a good temporary measure until next summer when we can then bear the expense of the new shed. This way we can focus on getting the rest of the garden set up for the boys to have a play area this summer, which we feel is more priority. whew!!! Sometimes these plans seem to change constantly eh? ah well, gotta be flexible.

I suppose I should try to get some sleep. sigh....

Triggles

I went into the GP today and was put on antibiotics for my cough (since it is apparently a throat infection and ear infections, which explains why I'm feeling so awful!). Hope it kicks in soon, as I am officially tired of feeling ill.

DH made tea tonight and is now out cleaning up the kitchen. I am sitting on the sofa with orders (from DH) to rest and relax while he cleans up. :cool:

DH has a medical test at the hospital over the weekend. Obviously won't be able to take the boys in for it, so will have to drop him off and then pick him up after test is done.

I think the lack of sleep is catching up to me... keep nodding off. zzzzzzzzzzzzz

pennywisepoundstupid

Boo to infection, hope the antibiotics kick in and you start feeling better soon, take it easy and have a lazy weekend.

Triggles

Unfortunately, as is usually true, things all tend to hit at once. I was told by family from the states that my father is in ICU and not expected to survive. Hospice is helping my mum sort things out right now. I'm devastated as there is absolutely no way that I (either with my family or on my own) can go to the states right now, so I won't be able to see him before he passes away or even go to the funeral. It's not just down to finances, but also DH would not be able to get any time off work (which he would need even if I went by myself as we can't leave DS2 with other childcare at present and DH's hours are not childcare friendly) due to the time off he just had for surgery. We don't even has passports for the boys at this point, so we couldn't just up and go anyway - the passports and flights would cost a fortune, which we just don't have. Both boys would be required to have two passports (US & UK) because they're required to enter US with US passports and the UK with UK passports. It's just insane. Getting them passports would mean a trip into London all on its own, and even that is beyond our budget at the moment, unless we completely scrapped the plans we have to redo the garden for DS2's benefit, which means DS2 would suffer from this as well. He can't go to the park for safety reasons related to his disability, and redoing the garden will provide him with a safe place to play outdoors this summer (and those to come in future).

Anyway, will have to put this aside for the moment, as DH has medical test today at hospital, and he is just looking for a reason to cancel it. He's really worried that he might have cancer, and I think anything to remain in denial just in case would suit him just fine. I've really had to push him to get this done and there's no way I'm allowing it to slide by the wayside. If it is cancer, the earlier it's found the better and the better outcome for treatment. At the moment, I can separate from it a little and look at it clinically because nothing's been confirmed. After the results of this, hopefully we won't have any reasons to worry. Praying mightily that it's nothing.

I have a letter to write to a DCA regarding a debt, but I just can't focus on it today. I will have to get back to it on Monday. I'm hoping the antibiotics have kicked in by then, as I have a dentist appointment that day as well, otherwise will have to reschedule as they can't do work on my teeth if I'm coughing and hacking all over the place.

pennywisepoundstupid

Oh my goodness Triggles, really sorry about your Father sending you big hugs as i really don't know what to say that may help, your right about hubby he needs to be checked out and then if anything is wrong the sooner its found out aboput the sooner he can be treated.

Take care.

Triggles

Thank you pennywise. DH had his test today, and they found a few areas that they took biopsies to investigate further and will get back as soon as that's done. Although the consultant thinks it all looked alright, he obviously can't comment for certain until biopsies are completed.

Tried to reach my mum by phone but due to time difference and most likely her being at hospital, I couldn't reach her.

Comfort food for tea tonight. Curry. DH is out in the kitchen making it now. And digging out something I can watch on DVD that is a bit of escapism, I think.

Triggles

Sunday:
We've picked up a couple play tents today. They were half price at ToysRUs, so £20 total instead of £40. We had been looking at different options for DS2 for his room as we're taking out the wardrobe as he only uses it to sit inside. The sensory cubes and such for kids to sit in were soooo expensive, and DS2 thought the play tents were great, so we felt £10 was a good option. We got one for DS2 (Star Wars LOL) and one for DS3 so they'll each have one in their rooms. And they are "pop up" tents as well, so they can be folded up easily and tucked under their beds if we need to.

I also took DS2 swimming today. It's such an inexpensive option as he gets in free (4yo) and then I am his "essential carer" because he is disabled, so I can go in free as well. It's a good outlet for him as he can get a lot of his energy out and he seems to be able to get to sleep better afterwards. So win win all the way around. And he just loves going to the swimming pool, so he has a wonderful time! :j

DH cleaned up the kitchen and living room today while I was out with DS2. It was so nice to come home to the housework done and being able to just relax. And he made tea as well, so I did try to have a relaxing evening. We're still worried and waiting for more news about my father, but there's unfortunately nothing we can do but wait to see how he is doing at this point.


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Okay, it's Monday now. That last part was Sunday but I forgot to post it when I fell asleep. LOL

School run done, clothing washing (actually grotty pillow washing) and DS3 (and DH) napping. Popped over the MILs this morning, as there was some water leaking from somewhere and she couldn't figure out where, so DH found it and sorted it. Nothing major, but all taken care of. Now I'm just trying to relax a bit. Rescheduled dentist follow up from today due to throat infection still making me cough too much to get dental work done. sigh....