OS Singlies - We Do It Our Way!

mum2one

- waste of time with the police they couldnt find records of any previous events..... theres plenty, the court order....... so really was a waste of time. So now plan B

Plan B - speak to the school as her safety has been threatened, they have a CSO attached to the school, who we know so that should help.

In a way were really lucky as DD has got her head screwed on, and as this has been the situ since day 1, shes known no different. At lest he lives about 70 miles away, so know he wont be around the corner anytime soon.

our priority is to get dad well and look at the future, back on the hospital run again 2mor, dentist tues, town and doctors wed, shopping thurs, then fri wow my first day of freedom...... so will be tackling my big to-do list... and making my first batch of christmas cakes. then a little escape at the weekend....

I had an offer, 2 ngts away £40, if I was interested in owning a holiday home, now if you ask who wouldn't like there own 2nd home by the sea, esp as the one DD likes when we drive past the location is 87k for a double size lodge.......... so yes I am interested, but whoops the heart says yes, the bank balance says run a mile in the other direction............xxxx

moneyistooshorttomention

Oh well...one bit of lighter news...have just been rather surprised to receive a phonecall from someone I've not met for many years and was friends with about 40 years ago. Has been just Christmas cards over the years since 40 years back - apart from him waiting for the contingent from my home area at a national demo once (as he expected me to be on it - and I was).

He's taken it into his head to visit the "back of beyond" for the first time (ie where I live these days). So the environment we met/were friends in is one where even strangers from same group contact each other and get hospitality - so I've got an overnight house guest I wasn't expecting soon. That will be a LOT of catching-up to do...:rotfl:

Wonders if he's wondering if it might be a safer environment to be these days to be at "back of beyond" (which is part of the reason why I moved here last year)...well it's certainly very different to what I'm used to in many ways...

Horace

Hi everyone

Am normally in sooner but it has been a busy day. Firstly more shopping in the supermarket, I was down to my last loo roll and I shopped by the reduced meat fridge and came away with two packs of organic free-range chicken legs which have been bagged up singly and are in the freezer (they are quite large so one leg will do 2 meals). I saw a joint of beef - a lovely piece of rib and to be honest if I wasn't skint I would have bought it because it was reduced to £15 instead of being £30. I could have done a lot with it but couldn't really justify the spend.

This afternoon my house was turned into the Blue Peter studio with bits of paper, CDs, battery operated lights, mains lights, general stuff and a long list of what needs to be made by next week. I have been given the job of making a small paper kite, a river out of CDs and I need to cut up some discs of holographic paper. Using green holographic paper, I need to cut out a series of lily pads for a little frog to sit on plus I need to find a way of making a waterlily - I have an idea of what to do. I also need to cut up green paper to make grass.

Am just back from a meeting (thankfully I had leftover casserole which I put on to heat at lunchtime so have just had that) - I have more voluntary work to do, I am now the minutes secretary of the patient advisory group for my local GP practice (this will keep my hand in with regards to jobs). It is only one evening every month. It was interesting and I learnt a lot - there are big plans for our practice and I was amazed to learn that we had nearly 9000 patients.

moneyistooshorttomention

Sounds like you are having quite a creative and interesting time at least in unemployment Horace.:) Fingers crossed that, when a paid job turns up it will be at least the same "level". That was the one blessing I had when unemployed, ie that I could do more interesting and higher-level work than I've ever been paid for and it was quite a downer to me when I had to cut back drastically on that to fit in a (boring, badly-paid, lower-level) job again - but needs must and had to be done...

Horace

I have just found 3 wild strawberries in the garden (I bought the pot last year and the plant has stayed there as I didn't know where to plant it out). Needless to say they were picked and eaten.

lessonlearned

Just dropping by to say hello.

Sorry to hear about the job worries that so many of your are struggling with.

Fortunately now that I'm retired I no longer have to deal with the job centres, but I have to say I hate them with a passion. They are just not fit for purpose.

I can understand why some of the staff are so miserable, the whole thing is just one pointless exercise. You can't Magic jobs out of thin air, and surely it's far better to let people use their time productively doing voluntary work, growing their own food, cooking from scratch rather than wasting chunks of time and incurring travelling costs to the job centre chasing non existent jobs........

No one will admit the truth. We live in a post industrial society and jobs are disappearing at a rate of knots.

I'm afraid I'm not very good at links but there is an excellent u-tube video clip called "Humans Need Not Apply" which discusses the role of increasing technology and shrinking employment opportunities. It's worth watching even if it just makes you feel better about your inability to find work and it enables you to stop feeling guilty or inadequate because you aren't in paid employment.

The problem is so many of us are made to feel worthless if we cannot get work. Work does not define us as people and we are more than our job.

Thankfully I now have enough pension to cover my day to day needs. Any money I earn through my little entrepreneurial schemes is just a nice little extra.

I do however know from bitter experience just how awful it feels to deal with the pen pushers and box tickers who sometimes treat you as if you were dirt on their shoes.

When my husband first became ill we faced a nightmare scenario of having no income.

I had to do daily battle with the DWP to try and get him the benefits he was entitled to, and the equipment he needed. It took me 18 months to obtain DLA For him. We were nearly bankrupted in the process and I feared that we would lose our home.

Thankfully I no longer have to deal with any government bodies, they are off my back at last. I'm not rich by any means. I live simply and modestly. I claim nothing from the state other than my state pension. I'm finally free of their clutches and my life is a lot less stressful as a result.

Keep your peckers up, don't let them grind you down.

I can't believe it is now nearly two months since my husband died. Where does the time go. I'm doing ok, some good days, some not so good days. Still feel very tired and having problems with my adrenal glands but I just take life as it comes and don't try to plan too far ahead.

We had our new boiler fitted last week, so at least we can get warm and cosy. Skirting and architraves being fitted this week and then we can get the carpets down before the real winter sets in.

Did a garden tidy up before the weather broke. I just need to do a bit more planting, a few extra shrubs and some bulbs for the spring and then I can put the garden to bed for the winter.

That's about all my news for now.......

moneyistooshorttomention

LessonLearned

My first thoughts re your adrenal gland problems would be along lines of "You've been having to run on adrenaline for so long now - its no wonder" so be gentle with yourself on that one and hopefully all will calm down, once you've got used to life being on a more even keel than it has been for a long time.

lessonlearned

Spot on Money - this is exactly what has happened, so as you say I just have to be patient and let my system reboot :rotfl: I'll get there. I'm getting plenty of rest, eating healthily, a little gentle exercise, support vitamins, plenty of TLC and cuddles from my sons and my new stray cat. I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by lots of caring and supportive people, both here and in RL.

This morning I had to have an emergency appt at the dentist, just a little filling and they did it for free.:D. How's that for service.

Blimmin cold here.

freakyogre

Hi all I've read through all the posts, but won't reply individually as there's quite a lot. So sorry to hear about the tough times people are facing though.

I've been unemployed before - actually managed to be made redundant 3 times so far and it is a really worrying and stressful time, especially when you're on your own.

Well I am now moved in to my new place and getting settled. It was a really manic weekend, but the support from my dad and step mum and my sister and her partner really just made such a difference. I really don't deserve them!

My dad arrived first thing on Saturday and we took a car load over before the main van arrived. It was pouring down, but we got on with it and by about lunchtime, the majority of things were in.
I then went back to the old house to meet my sister and partner as he was cleaning the carpets. My sister asked if I needed a hand with anything and I said I'd still not done the bathroom or kitchen, so she grabbed some cleaning stuff and did it. Bless her. I was getting very stressed over the whole situation as my ex just wasn't helping at all and being quite difficult. I think because I'd paid the deposit, he had no interest in helping out so just ignored me. Extremely frustrating man and I'm glad to be out of that and away from the laid back attitude in general!

My new landlord is lovely and plumbed my washing machine in without me asking. They also dropped a card and some flowers round as a little welcome

Sunday morning I went to my car and noticed someone had stolen all of my wheel trims! Welcome to the neighbourhood hey?! I was annoyed, but couldn't get upset as in the grand scheme of things, they're bits of plastic!
I then met my sister and did a bit of shopping before heading back to the old house to meet ex for meter readings and keys.

Even til the last minute he messed me around and I was waiting about 40 minutes for him to turn up. Priorities!!
Anyway, all done now and I am just waiting for the report from the inspection by the letting agency. I hope they're nice - the house was left cleaner than when we moved in and I have quite a large chunk of money tied up in the deposit.

I had Monday off work and my dad popped over first thing to do a few odd jobs I needed doing and he appeared with a box of new wheel trims. He's fab! - shame there isn't a younger version of him around as he really is such an amazing man.

I then went in to town as had my first counselling appointment. I'm a little embarrassed about it, but I'm doing it to try and help me, so it has to be a good thing. I'm a very anxious person and was before this relationship breakdown, this just seems to have brought it all to a head really. If there's something to worry about, i'll worry. I'll turn anything in to a worst case scenario and build myself up in to a frenzy it has to stop! I explained to the lady that I almost feel like I've lost myself in the last couple of years. I spent all my time worrying about others and sorting the house as no one else would help that I stopped doing everything I enjoy. I think I'm just exhausted and drained by the whole thing, so I need to slowly get back in to things, but won't rush it! It's a weird feeling now as I have the time to do whatever I want.

After that I went and collected my cat from the cattery. They're such a lovely couple who run it and have been brilliant over the last month with everything going on. The lady there gave me a card and some flowers, bless her!
Kitty is settling in fine and loves looking out the back window over the gardens He's been really cuddly and is following me everywhere. I got home from work last night and he'd obviously decided to help me unpack as the bag of catnip was in the middle of the room

I also had a mysterious package from Amazon which turned out to be a DVD a friend had ordered for me. How lovely It's a 'feel good' film she recommended a few weeks ago, so i'll settle down one night and watch that.

One of my other friends is visiting this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it. She lives a few hours away, so we don't see each that often, so will make the most of it

The last few months has really proved to me who I can rely on for support and help and who will slither away at the first opportunity. Life really is a big lesson

I noticed a sign for an autumn fair as I drove in to the village last night, so will go and investigate when it is as could be nice

Decided this week I am just chilling out. I might do a bit of crafting tonight (although need to locate my other box which got mixed up in the move!) Maybe next week I will get back in to my studying and back to the gym classes. Little steps for now though

I need to do a proper shop at some point as want to do some batch cooking, but i'll probably leave that for a week or so and just use what I have for now.

Apologies for the long post, I didn't mean to ramble quite so much!

ETA: Agency just rang and are deducting some money from the deposit for some gardening that needs doing and they said there was a mark in the freezer - (we never used it and it was in the garage from day 1 as we had our own). Anyway, in the grand scheme of things, it's peanuts, so I haven't argued and will await the remainder

mum2one

Freakyogre sorry to hear everything you've been throu but it sounds like you have come through to the otherside ok it sounds like you have an amazing family and friends.
Sounds like the counselling is positive, my daughter and I are on the waiting list mainly to help us deal with dads cancer and the !!!! that is her father.

Sounds like the cat has made himself/ herself at home and is deciding middle where they want the treats.

It sounds like a good plan to batch cook, big shop but also take some time for you in the mix of it all.

Xx