The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

kidcat

savingqueen wrote: »

ps I have a facebook account but don't use it to post myself just look at friends' piccies. I will have to drag myself into the modern world before my boys hit teenhood. I will need to be able to keep tabs on them .... oops I mean show an interest in their world .

so how do I have a nosey at kidcat's decs?? I know I need to log into facebook.... but then what?

I will PM you

kezlou

The lady from the council said for to write as much info about my own mental health, the boys and they additional needs. I told her that i have been under an extreme amount of stress with working with CAMHS and going through diagnosis for autism.
Also said i'm under living life for counselling and said about my own health issues.

The lady though over the phone was really helpful so i can't complain about her. She even phoned me back when i was writing the letter of appeal and said right i've got the managers name for you. Take the letter to your local council office and ask them to send through the internal mail. Don't take no for an answer and say it has to arrive by Monday as its extremely important. I was just going to do through Royal Mail, but the lady insisted and said if i do through it internal mail its guaranteed to arrive and the admin have to record the date and time its been sent.So if anything does go wrong we have a full chain of events so it will look better for you.

Thanks kidcat x

I honestly thought everything was going well then this happened, honestly if it one thing its another. Like i say it is my own fault.

I haven't told them i'm going to pay £50 tomorrow, thats extra i've scraped together. then on thursday another £100 will be paid so hopefully it will look better for me.

The letter says if i don't pay then i will have made myself "intentionally homeless" . I haven't actually asked my dad if we can stay, i just casually said we might be moving i with you this christmas, the council might be taking the house off me because i owe two months rent.
But i'm sure i can just stay with him, OH will go his mums of need be.

lobbyludd

hugs Kez. I'd send a copy of the letter through royal mail as well - belt and braces approach. x

[Deleted User]

SDG I'm so sorry it makes you so sad at the time of your Dads passing, I lost my dear old Dad 20 years ago in November and I miss him like crazy but he is still an integral part of my life, I feel his presence with me always and we still laugh together a lot and love each other just as much as when he was living. He asked me not to be sad and cry when he was terminally ill and it was hard to do but I did it and I've never lost him. I'm sure your Dad still is with you and loves you just the same , he will be giving you hugs when you're feeling the grief for him. Try to remember the lovely times with him rather than focus on the sadness of his passing and you'll have him back in your life and feel the comfort of him being there again, Love and Hugs Lyn and Bert (my Dad!) xxx.

kidcat

Lyn - you always have just the right words

I miss my grandad most at Christmas because he was Christmas to me growing up. His house was always a grotto, and he loved Christmas so much and never stopped making it special for the kids even after my nan died close to Christmas - he had me put back all his decorations after her funeral, which my mother had taken down the day she died.
I lost the joy in Christmas for a good few years but his passing on the decorations helped me to find it slowly again and each year we open the boxes and I discover a little more of it lurking in there.

Just to make you all smile - the last five years until he died he wrote his Christmas cards in September and every year would put stamps on ready and show me where they were stored and every year we had the same converstation - if anything helps to me and I go before I can post these you will post them for me wont you?? And every year - I looked at him and said errr no!! I do not want to be responsible for giving people heart attacks when they receive a card off a dead man!!!
The year he died of course I was left with them ready stamped - so just before Christmas I wrote a note for each one explaining his wishes and that I was following orders, put them in another envelope and sent them anyway!! Christmas - it makes madmen out of the sanest characters!

FairyPrincessk

Morning all,

Excellent news from the stiltwalker household!:T:j

Kez, I do hope you get heard today! I think if you can indicate that you'll be making more token payments that should definitely help, but there are others on the doorstep far better qualified to advise. I'll just offer some hugs and an ear.

Kidcat, that is a lovely, lovely memory!


Weekend was very, very busy. However, house is now clean for our little party on Friday and I'm ready to tackle the week. I brought in bunches of rosemary and spread it around. If I get a chance for a walk I'll try to find some Holly, if not I'll just bring in more rosemary. We have a huge shrug of it and as OH pointed out, it smells lovely. We decided not to buy a tree this year as we both felt the money could be better spent on other things and I felt too overwhelmed to get it decorated this week. I know some might find that horrible, but there will be a tree at OH's parents.

My body still can't decide if it wants to have a cold or not, and I have three different sets of marking coming in this week so its going to be a very busy one. However, I've made up my mind to get the hairdressing academy number off my friend and try to book in for a cut. Its been awhile and I often find that when I'm busiest things go best when I take a bit of time off. I always have to fight myself to do it, but I waste less time being tired and frustrated and end up less run down at the end of it. I think I can spare the £6 and two or so hours, hopefully they will have a timeslot to suit.

Hugs to any and all who need them.x

mardatha

Did anybody see the report on Sky this morning on the Social Supermarket? Fabulous idea !

SDG31000

Morning all


Thank you all for the hugs. They were definitely needed. xxx

Thank you for those lovely words Lyn and Bert xxx

I can imagine my Dad doing something like that and insisting that they went out as is kidcat I am so glad that your Granddad passed his love of Christmas onto you xxx


I'm enjoying a cup of posh Earl Grey before I head off to work this morning. One of the ladies that I work with had run out of tea and money so I brought her a box of teabags to see her through to the following day. She brought me a box of Teapig's Earl Grey as a thank you and they are a lovely treat.


I'm on the till at work today so hopefully having to be awake and interacting with people will do me good. Then I have lots more sewing to do as time is running out. I have 5 stockings, 2 handbags, 1 craft bag and 3 shopping/tote bags left to make.


I had better go and get dressed as I don't think my nightshirt and fuzzy slippers are quite work appropriate.


Much love to all, Diane xxxxx

Pinkdebster

Morning everyone. Always here in the background, just not always got much to add!!

Kez, just wanted to say, I used to work for the Housing Department of the local Council and dealt with cases of rent arrears. The last thing we ever wanted to do was make people homeless and we would work with tenants to find a way out of the situation. Unfortunately, eviction letters are usually generated automatically once a certain amount/time period has passed.

You need to come up with a realistic repayment that you can meet - don't offer vast sums of money that is going to leave you short or struggling. Tell them you can pay your monthly rent plus X amount off the arrears each month. Set up a direct debit if it helps (it reassures them!!). If you do this, no Court in the land will evict you and they are unlikely to take the matter to Court because they know this. If a Court heard that you had made a reasonable offer to repay the arrears and it had been declined, it would get thrown out of Court.

Please, please keep the lines of communication open with your Landlord and reassure them that you are doing your best to come up with a realistic plan. Don't panic or worry (easier said than done I know!) as they should work with you to sort the problem.

Thinking of you all and sending much love,
Debbie xx

monnagran

Thanks Lyn and Kidcat for your lovely Christmas memories. I will never forget Christmas mornings with My Dad bellowing, "Christians Awake, salute the happy morn," and banging on all the bedroom doors. Or the fact that my Mum hated decorations with a vengeance and one year Dad persuaded us that it would be a great treat for Mum if we decorated their bedroom. I don't think we could have squeezed in one more paper chain. I don't remember Dad sleeping on the sofa but it could have happened.

One day I'm going to write a book about Nativity Plays. One that I will never forget happened when I was teaching and had to organise the Play in the local church. Everything was going swimmingly and I, stroke of genius here, knowing that the shepherds were always a rabble made the class tearaway the chief shepherd (give them some responsibility. Cobblers!) and charged him with making them all behave. When the time came for them to wander from the back of the church, up the long centre aisle full of awe and wonder I discovered that the chief shepherd had been drilling them at playtimes. Up the aisle they marched, eyes front, arms swinging, all in perfect step, left, right, left, right. The Coldstream Guards would have been proud of them.
Having settled themselves on the floor in front of the pulpit I noticed with some horror that the good ladies of the church had erected a vast flower arrangement there. One of the shepherds got his crook hooked into this and everytime he fidgeted the entire flower arrangement swayed. The audience was mesmerised as they ignored the rest of the play going on and waited with bated breath for the whole swaying floral edifice to come crashing down. A teacher, who shall be nameless, had to crawl on hands and knees in among the seated shepherds and remove the offending crook.
The universal sigh of relief nearly put out all the candles.

How I do go on. Sorry. I'll go and do some useful housework, and I'd better get on with it, for this morning the gasman cometh.

x