Silveryew's steady stride.

TheSilverYew

Oh bless them 'Oh could it be rain' *caller lives in a desert* XD I know it isn't funny at all but just that they asked you that made me laugh! Thank goodness you had it saved up in your emergency fund, it is, well, an emergency! Has it been sorted now? Was it a big repair job?

My mother lives 45 minutes away by car from the rest of my siblings. I have my older sister who is 46, and two older brothers, one who is 42 and one who is 38. I am the youngest in our family.
When mum got diagnosed with cancer for the first time five years ago, we were trying to persuade her to move a bit closer to the rest of the family for her own sake. What it also would have meant is that we could have taken over more of Mums care, which isn't possible as she lives nearly an hour away. But she hasn't wanted to do this so she remains at home.

They had a meeting with the carers etc on Monday to decide what should happen next. My sister explained why she wasn't very pleased with the care they have provided thus far (and as it turns out there were even notes in Mums papers from the care staff about her looking jaundiced). She was supposed to have been discharged yesterday but as we discovered on Monday, the firm who installs the special bed Mum now needs only deliver on a Monday or Wednesday! So I will call my sister later to see what has happened. Mum is on some blood thinning medicine that has to be administered via a syringe in the stomach, and back home regulations say only a qualified nurse can do this, so if she has been discharged at least she will be seen by someone qualified once a day while she is on that.

Feeling a bit flat at the moment. We have had a week of steady rain here which hasn't helped. Saturday I had to pep talk myself into getting up from the couch to go to work, just feeling tired at the moment. Also had to deal with a student on Wednesday who did not want to respect my personal space even though I asked him three times to not touch me. He has a learning difficulty so you can't be cross with him but had a chat with his tutor because he has to learn he can't just touch people. If he did that out in the community he'd get himself into trouble.


On the positive side; my £50 from y0ugov and £35 from tolun@ have both come through so that's going straight to the vacation fund, and I have also cashed in £15 from another panel this week and today £30 in amazon vouchers from Gl0baltestm@rket.

Just plodding along really. Think everyone is counting down at work at the moment.

TheSilverYew

Hello everyone and happy Sunday^^

Sorry about the absence but things have been a bit flat in the Silver household. I am feeling v v tired at the moment and having to have a stern talking-to with myself in the mornings to get up. Once I've got some food and tea in me I feel better, but still, that first hurdle...Colleagues are urging me to be careful, but with me being the main provider and having to look after OH, that's not really an option. OH has hurt his foot so he is feeling v sorry for himself.

This weekend has been odd in that it is the first full weekend off I have had this year, as last Saturday was the last full Saturday I am working this summer, and no Sundays now until October as I work term time only at the uni. They do need people to work some Saturdays so I have agreed to do that as it's only from 10-2 and I get time and a half for doing it.
Yesterday I dossed around in my pyjamas watching daytime TV (though I did clear my inbox of surveys), and today OHs father inlaw surprised us with coming over and helping us put some shelves up for us in the front room for stuff to go in. I have been working on my translation work and have made the bed, done the dishes and wiped the counters, and cleaned the bathroom. Also had a lady collect a Fleabay sale today so that's another £3 in the vacation fund. ^_^

I did a focus group in the week and got £45 for that so that is going in the vacation fund as well, and £40 in Amazon vouchers for taking part in a community.

Mum is home now, the bed did appear on Wednesday! She is ok-ish but twice she has gotten up in the night and then been unable to get back into bed so she's had to press the button on her personal alarm for someone to come help her. Rang my sister on Thursday but as she was at work she couldn't really talk, so she said to ring on Monday when they have been to the GP with mum. They are going there to take some bloods and look at what options they have now. I called her on Friday and she was saying her back was hurting. Maybe they need to up her dose of pain medication.

Right, better crack on with translation work. Got a Skype date with my best friend tonight at 7pm, it will be nice to have a natter ^_^

milasavesmoney

I've been thinking of you and hoping you are doing well. I'm really glad you posted this update.
A day in pjs sounds really nice. I watch my daughter who runs in overdrive all the time and think she too needs a pajama day.

Prayers for you and your mama from New Mexico.

TheSilverYew

Oh thank you Mila for your kind thoughts.^_^ We need them now! I hope you and your family are well^^

We have been to visit my mum now for nine days while the rest of the family were away, and we came back on Friday.
We had agreed to meet Mum at the hospital and travel home with her after her weekly appointment. The first thing that struck me when we met Mum again was how incredibly pale she was. And as we lived with her in her house that week, what also got to me is how much she confuses things now. She gets dates mixed up and would ask me what day it was more than once a day. Before we went over to my mother my sister explained that she's started to get confused about money as well, for example, she thought she gave my nephew 40 NOK when she had infact given him 400 NOK to mow the lawn. So we've agreed as a family that if anyone gets more than 500 NOK during a visit that we will quietly give it to my sister who will put it back in Mum's account. It is not that she can't afford to be generous, but if feels wrong to accept gifts when she gets confused about it.

My mother has also become weaker since I saw her in May - while she can stand up now, she can't walk anywhere unassisted and has to be moved from room to room using her wheelchair. The carers use a special transfer board to move her from her wheelchair to her easy chair, to the bed and to her commode. Her appetite isn't great either but I managed to get her to eat a late breakfast, some dinner and dessert every day, sometimes glasses of milk and biscuits as well.

The carers were nice and friendly while we were there and Mum said she was pleased with them. Apart from that one night when they did not come to get her ready for and put her to bed, it was all good!!:mad:

While we were there, I did bits and bobs around the house, did laundry, cleaned some floors and went food shopping, and got mum's cat a litter tray with a roof on it so she doesn't kick the cat litter everywhere causing the carers a headache. I am pleased we were able to see her

If mum is still here at Christmas, OH and I have decided to travel home and stay with my family back home this Christmas to see her.

We got home this Friday. I knew that they had been collecting the recycling while we were away so I decided to check if it had been collected by opening one of the bins on the drive to see if it was empty...and found it half full with cannabis plants!!:mad::mad: I called the police and they came and collected it later that night. I got a crime reference number so I'll check later in the week what's going on. But why would you put something like that in there? I don't get people sometimes.

OH and I celebrated our wedding anniversary yesterday. We went and saw the BFG with two free Cineworld tickets I have been saving (bringing our own drinks and snacks) and we are going out to dinner today at Yo Sushi as they have their Blue Monday deal on today.

The term at the college and university has ended and I am not officially back at work until the 31st of August. I will do some overtime at the university as I get time and a half for it and I will still be sent some translation work so still plodding away at the debt. I have also had a look at my Upwork account to see if there are any small jobs there that can be done.^^

I have a consumer test lined up for next week (tasting granola!), will get some vouchers for those and I am doing surveys as often as I can. Got a chicken carcass that I'll strip clean this morning. I'll make stock from the bones I think and I'll use the leftover meat for maybe a homemade coronation chicken salad and maybe fry some for a warm chicken salad. OH's boss rang yesterday, four staff members are off at the moment so she was very pleased he was back and he will be working a lot of hours this week, so made him porridge this morning and a packed lunch. He is working 8am-3pm today so it all helps.

While I was away I also managed to get my FleaBay sales up and they ended Saturday, and several of these have sold so I will wrap up and post the ones that have been paid this afternoon. I am also hoping to prepare some listings this week as I have found some more things to sell.

So trying to be MSE despite being in vacation mode now. XD I am just listening to the washing machine doing its spin cycle and I will go and peg out when it is done in a moment as the weather is perfect for washing.

Thank you for your kind messages. :A

TheSilverYew

Oh the joys of eBay.
Had a lady win an auction on the 13th of July, she had some issues with her Paypal account so said I could wait, then let her know on the 15th that I would be able to post it until the 20th after which we would be on holiday until the 29th of July, and she never replied to that and she has still not paid me. So have had to start an Item Dispute.
Had another customer whose bids ended on Sunday, I do combine postage so combined postage and sent him an invoice. I had an email thru from Paypal today, saying he has paid....for one item and the postage for it.....Why do people do this, I combined postage for you in the invoice for YOUR BENEFIT AND TO SAVE YOU SOME MONEY! Nevermind, I'll just chase for the other stuff in a few days if he doesn't pay me.^^

TheSilverYew

Being v. MSE today. Got an email yesterday to say that a product test at Boots I'd applied for had gone through and could I come in this afternoon at 1pm? I get a £14 Boots giftcard for 30 minutes of my time. And it just happens to be OH's sister's birthday today and she asked for Boots giftcards, so that's a present sorted ^^:money:

milasavesmoney

What a win win!!

milasavesmoney

Hope you're doing well.

TheSilverYew

Hello my lovelies^_^

Hope everything is well with you^^

Since coming back from seeing my mother things have been ok. OH has been working and even on days off he has been called in, like today, so while he has been working I have been doing stuff around the house at home. As he works, it is only fair that I keep house and ensure I make him breakfast and a packed lunch, and that dinner is ready when he gets in etc. I have been doing housy stuff like cleaning and keeping house, shopping, doing my self employed translation work, listing more things on eBay as I find them, doing surveys and getting little tasks done that I never have time for in term, like going through our clothes, tidying them and throwing out/donating what doesn't fit or is too worn to wear, doing my tax return, mending some clothes that have been long overdue, getting two of my winter coats mended and sending my boots to be repaired by our local cobbler. I sent the two coats to be done by someone and it cost £30:( but I just don't have the skill or a sewing machine to do it myself, and by fixing them they will give me a lot more wear (besides, they cost me a total of £10 when I bought them at the charity shop and are wool so are totally worth it!).

Because I work term time I have been off work from the college from the 15th of July and from the uni from the 11th of June (though they are open over the summer and need people to cover, I have said yes to five of these Saturdays as they are 10-2 shifts and I get paid time and a half), and I will be back at work at college on the 31st of August and at the uni on the 1st of October.

Mum is still really unwell. They went for an MRI scan to see how the cancer was mid-August and they went back to discuss the results last Thursday. The good news is that the experimental treatment Mum has agreed to try is working in that the growth of the cancer has been slowed down considerably, and the cancer is not appearing in any new places. However, despite this she is really ill, can't walk or do anything herself, some days she can't even sit up straight in her chair as she feels so unwell, and they can't quite work out why that is. My sister thinks that it could be two or more of the medicines she is on that's reacting against each other, or that it could be another infection as Mum has had frequent UTIs and the bacteria causing it may start to become resistant as she's had so much antibiotics. She's going to ask the doctor if mum can have a break from the medicine to see if she picks up a bit.

I know we'd all have different ideas about how to cope with this sort of thing but - yes the medicine is prolonging Mum's life, but at what cost? Her quality of life is just dire at the moment, and is that really worth it? If it had been me I would probably have said no to further treatment and just tried to enjoy what life I had left in me. But it's not up to me.

We had OH' little sister stay over one weekend as she was feeling very frustrated and tearful. She is very fed up with her boyfriend, he never takes her anywhere or spends time with her and spends his days sleeping, working and playing on the Xbox and she feels neglected. We played games, watched a film and went to the park and just had a normal weekend with cooking and sitting together at a table, eating and talking to each other. OH's little sister has a learning difficulty so while she does recognize she is unhappy in her relationship, I don't know if she has the insight or knows quite the words atm to try and tell her boyfriend how she is feeling. All we can do is have conversations with her and drip feed little bits of information to her, and let her process that in her own time.

I was super pleased with myself yesterday, OH has been saying he could use some clothes as what he has is either quite worn or doesn't fit. When I tidied our clothes I also thought I could use some new stuff for work. When I walked past one of the charity shops in our street yesterday, I saw that they had a sign out front and it said that all their clothes were half price!:money: So after breakfast yesterday OH and I went up to have a look. I was very pleased with what we got, for £16.85 we got:

• Two white Tshirts and one cream one with a print for OH, they felt brand new.
• A Cotton Trader Jersey jacket for OH, still with its labels on.
• A pair of green corduroy trousers for OH.
• A light blue short sleeved shirt from M and S for OH.
• A red long cardigan and a short sky blue cardigan for me.
• A black top from Next for me and a white and grey top for me.
• A dark blue cordoroy midi skirt from White Stuff and a blue denim midi skirt from MEXX for me.

I also had a look in their underwear section but couldn't find a bra that fit me. Previously I have been reluctant to buy bras from charity shops but going through my own things I can see that over half of them have holes in them and the elastic has gone. Maybe I am a snob but I feel bras should be of good quality as you wear them all the time and they go through a lot of wear. I have bought mine at M and S when they have been on clearance and they have served me well so I guess I was hoping for a bargain XD. Maybe I'll wish for some for my birthday or money towards some?:D


So I have washed it all and hung it out to dry, some of it I did in the machine as I had a dark load anyway and the rest I just did by hand just to get it done.



Yesterday evening I was going through the fridge and determining what needed eating. I decided to make sausages and mash that evening and that we would have pasta a la What have we got in the house the day after. I then discovered that the double cream that I was going to use for said dinner had gone off!!!:mad: So cross with myself as it as over half full and it was a big container as well, a 600ml one! Just thinking of all the things I could have done with it makes me upset:( I am so against food waste and freeze stuff if I don't think we'll use it and all that jazz, I even cut up and freeze veggies if we are going away to ensure they don't go off, so to lose that cream I am still cross about! I still have some natural yogurt I can use so I'll make sure I make that dinner today, maybe the way forward is to buy a smaller container next time?


So one step forward and one step back with moneysaving yesterday. Ahwell, nevermind, lesson learnt and all that! Today I am going to collect our train tickets, buy kitty food and use a Tesco gift card I got for surveying to buy milk, washing up liquid and anything they may have going in the reduced aisle. I also have a My John Lewis free cake and hot drink voucher so may use that today. Or maybe I should save it for the first Monday of term? I might need it...


We are going to Wales with OHs family from Friday to Monday. We are travelling in OHs sister's car there and we are taking the train home, so need to collect those tickets. I got them through Topcashback as it says Virgin Trains were giving 2.1% cashback and with VT you also get Nectar points if you add your details, PLUS I paid with my Tesco Clubcard credit card. I also have a nose spray, face cream and hair spray to test and review from Bzzagent. Everything adds up! I have also spied a £10 off your first £50 shop with Asda if you do it online and have it delivered the 30th of September so I'll have to keep that in mind as well.


OHs friend is coming to stay from the 10th to the 11th of September which he is looking forward to immensely, so we might use the shop to get things in for that weekend. ^^


Right, need to get dressed now XD

tunnelandlight

Hello SY,


Do hope you had a good break in Wales and the weather was kind? Fingers crossed that your Mum's medication issue is being resolved and she is more comfortable.


Well done for continuing to cope with all life throws at you and saving money whilst you do so.
Take care.


Xx