Bereft and Broken

Thistle-down

EssexHebridean wrote: »

we had those too! The apples aren't at all bad! Did you get the 200 clubcard points one as well?

Yes! I couldn't believe it when I opened the envelope

Smolly

I got those too! Now I just sound greedy don't I although I haven't claimed mine yet as the freezer is now a tad full...

The chicken came by way of a neighbour who works in catering. They were due to be chucked even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. They just couldn't use them that day and couldn't keep them any longer. I could have had more but I just managed to get the 7.5kg in my freezer after cooking and bagging it.

So today I took my car to get it's floppy handbrake sorted and did my mystery shop whilst I was waiting. Then I went home, caught up on a bit of Poldark and then the rest of the tribe came home. Me and DS set about setting up and photographing some of his 'younger' toys - I haven't decided yet whether to try them first on a local FB page or just on eBay. There are two large bundles which I'm selling that way as to list everything individually would be a nightmare. Then we tackled his bookshelves and bless him he has decided to get rid of most of his books. He is growing up really fast and his tastes are rapidly changing. I now have two large black bags full of books for the tip - these are activity based books where he's done most or all of the activities and no use to anyone else. There's way too much for the recycling box so I will have to recycle at the tip in the week.

There's a bag full of books which I was going to donate to a charity shop but in all fairness they have enough and I actually want people to benefit from these who won't have to pay for them. I took Dad's clothes to a local centre who feed the homeless and offer support during the day. They were very grateful for the clothes and I have now sorted out another bag of clothes for them and thought they might appreciate these books too as there are a lot of young families use the service.

And then there is a mahoosive pile which I am going to try and sell to make a little bit of money back. I'm not going to ask for much - at the end of the day the books can go to charity, or perhaps I should try that Ziffit Thistle? Did you get anywhere with your pile? Do they actually take books too I wonder? I shall investigate later.

This evening I have my report to do but am not planning on too much else.

Hope everyone is ok and having a good weekend xx

EssexHebridean

Wow that sounds like awesome decluttering Smolly! Well done you & DS!

How's your handbrake? I'm looking forward to getting my car back all fixed now - even if it does still have to go back for its service!

Smolly

Handbrake is no longer floppy EH I'm glad to say! It was getting a little tricky - it kept moving up of its own accord and then a beeping would go off and a light would flash and I'd start thinking 'oh gawd what now?' until I realised it was the handbrake! Mine is due a service too EH but I just can't afford the £130 they want to charge. A friend of mine has a daughter who's a very good mechanic by the sound of it - well, she looks after the family cars so I might ask her if she can have a look...

We did get a lot of decluttering done - I just have to shift it now! Sadly I won't benefit from anything made. It's a strong rule of mine that if it was bought for DS then he gets the money from it. I plan on putting anything made straight into his bank account or CTF as he doesn't need the money. I shall just be pleased of the space!

I had a look at Ziffit and you can send books. I started scanning DS's books but most of them weren't needed and of the ones that were they were only offering about 14p each. I would rather donate to the homeless centre if I can't sell them.

xx

Thistle-down

Ziffit wouldn't take any of my books - though to be honest many of them are fairly old and there is probably no demand. I have not yet sent in my box as I received a code for an extra £5 if I sent a box with £20 worth of trades in it. I am not sure they will take all of the ones I have scanned, I don't really know what their criteria is so I am hoping to get the value up to about £23 before sending it in, just in case they say my trade is actually only worth £19 so I can't have the extra £5. I don't know if they are sneaky like this but I don't want to take any chances.

Good for you and your son - learning to declutter when you are young is such a good skill to have! I wish I had learnt it long before now He will be even more motivated when the money is in his account.

I have a 25% off ebay fees code, not as much as I'd like but better than nothing. It seems I only get the really good codes offered if I have been inactive for a while, probably to entice me back to selling. I am going to spend today and tomorrow getting most of the stuff that is left listed, I'd like it out of the house within the next couple of weeks.

I am still amazed by your free chicken, what a bonus. That will keep the food bill down for a long time!


I hope you're having a lovely weekend xx

Smolly

Thanks Thistle - I had good intentions for today but I've been rushing around all day it seems and just feel really quite flat now so I may just tidy up after DS has gone to bed and then have another early night. I was in bed for 9.30pm last night but I reckon it will be even earlier today!

When I got up this morning it felt like something was amiss but I just couldn't put my finger on it. Ended up thinking it must be the weather and I'd snap out of it. Within 15 minutes of leaving DS at school he'd managed to fall down a flight of stairs and 15 minutes later school called. Thankfully he's just cut his leg but it could have been so much worse. School thought he was more shook up than anything and promised to call me if there were any developments but for now they said he seemed ok.

So I spent all the time at work worrying about that but he came bounding out of school later on shouting 'guess what happened to me today mummy!'

Managed to sell quite a few of DS's books on fb today - he's made £10 today bless him and probably about the same to come tomorrow from a friend of mine who's buying some. I think they only sold because I put them on so cheap. Wondering whether to try a few of my own bits but I'd have to put ridiculously low prices on them if I did. I shall have a think. Anything is better than having the stuff hanging around.

I've decided I'm quite upset still over the text my brother sent me last week and that it's bothering me somewhat more than it probably should. He probably hasn't given it a second thought but if it were me and I'd sent that text I'd be worried that I hadn't heard back and would be thinking I'd offended the person, which in effect he has done. I am quite annoyed by it and can't bring myself to text my brother in case I say something I shouldn't. I hate confrontation.

Just today at work the woman who none of us really get along with told me to do something which she should really do herself. It wasn't so much the fact that she said it but the way in which she said it. We've all had problems with her before and it was all starting to flare up when I went off sick. She is on a warning already for her behaviour but today, despite feeling really peeved off with her I just shrank into myself and meekly did what she told me to. She has absolutely no authority to do so and then I got into trouble for not standing up to her by the other two women! Hells bells I knew today was a bad 'un!

I do need to snap out of this. I feel like I need to head off to bed and have a good cry but it's all annoying me more than anything because at the end of the day I don't want to do that. I want to stay up and list stuff for sale so that I can pay the rotten debts back to Mum and bro and not feel under any obligation to take crap from people. I want to get the housework done so OH stops moaning about there being stuff everywhere, and I want to do a load of paperwork that's mounting up. But I do feel overwhelmed so I guess I will just call it a day. Had enough I think.

Take care all xx

Thistle-down

I'm just off to bed but wanted to quickly say not to be too hard on yourself - you are still adjusting to being back at work, and things are bound to be up and down for a bit. You're doing an awful lot, stuff you used to have all day for, you now need to fit in around your work. It's bound to make you feel overwhelmed, which in turn can make you emotional.

I hope you have a restful night's sleep and wake up feeling a bit brighter, if not, we're always here and you can always pm me too! xx

EssexHebridean

Yeah - what Thistle said - you know where we are!

As for OH "Moaning that there is stuff everywhere" - there's an answer to that, if he doesn't like it I'm sure you'd have no objection to HIM doing the "bleeping" housework?! :mad::mad::mad: Personally I'd be seriously considering takig some of the stuff he's complaining about and tidying it up somewhere that would become extremely uncomfortable the next time he sat down...but hey, he wouldn't be able top see it, would he!

Glad DS was fine and of COURSE after you spending all day worrying he was just full of the excitement of it - kids, eh!

Your woman at work needs a good kicking - if she does it again can you just smile at her and say you're right in the middle of something but if she's "not managed to do it" by the time you're finished with your own task you'll see if you can help her...She may not like the inference that you've taken it that she can't cope, and that may put her off doing it again.

As for your brother - personally I'd line him up next to OH for some "internal decluttering" but if that's not practical try to put him out of your mind for the time being. You're right - he SHOULD be concerned that he's upset/hurt you. if he's not, I'm not at all convinced he's worth you taking up headspace fretting over him and his behaviour.

Don't lose sight of the order you need to get things tackled in either - I know you feel as though your brother has become a priority but try to keep a clear head on it if you can - meet the bills & debts in priority order. Head over heart, if possible.

Really hope today has seen a brighter start for you - things do have a habit of seeming better after a night's sleep, I find.

Smolly

Thank you ladies - fortunately I have felt a little bit better today. Think to be honest I'm probably quite tired too. I have a cold which appears one day, disappears the next, then seems to come back again. Wonder if I'm allergic to something? Or someone?:rotfl:

it's true Thistle - I do wonder sometimes why I can't do everything I want to get done, and even though I only work a few hours a day my morning until work is taken up with getting DS ready for school and jobs around the house. When I get back from work I'm straight off to pick him up and then we're on to homework, tea, tidying up and before I know it I feel as if I've achieved nothing and I need to go to bed! It's not even 8pm yet whilst I type this I'm already I'm sat in my PJ's as I really feel like it should be bed time! What a granny I am!:rotfl:

EH - you sound just like a friend of mine. She always knows what to say to people to put them in their place without being downright rude or aggressive. She's always got some brilliant comment or quip lined up and I honestly don't know where she finds the stuff that she comes out with sometimes. She has had me in stitches more than once. I love your comment about my workmate - I really must remember that the next time she tries to tell me what to do.

She tried to tell me how to do something today - this is not what she said but it was so damned obvious it was quite insulting - like telling me to make sure I got dressed before I came to work. And then she had the cheek to say that it had come from the manager! I asked the manager about it and she was absolutely furious as she had not said anything like it at all. I can't see her lasting too much longer but I really want to get an 'EH' comment in whilst I still can. The other women would wonder what I was on!

So a little bit of good news today - the refund for the over-priced text messages came today. I can't believe how easy it was to reclaim after doing just a little research on the internet. It's only £22.50 and after researching the issue some people have been charged £100 or more by this number! Fortunately it appears to have ended now thank goodness.

So DS comes to me this morning - I thought he had got off lightly with his fall as he showed me the graze yesterday and it was really small. However when he took his sock off this morning (he sleeps in his socks so I never saw his whole foot yesterday) and there's a really big cut on his foot that school hadn't even noticed and he wasn't even aware was there but obviously he knew his foot was hurting. Of course after that he claimed he couldn't walk, or get dressed, and we had a very long half hour whilst I dressed it, helped him get ready and then waited for him to forget about it. By the time he went to school he was fine but I noticed he was limping after school after he'd had to do stretching exercises in PE at school.

And bless him but we've had yet another letter about his blood tests and he needs a third round. Poor kid. Apparently he's dehydrated which is really odd as I feel he drinks quites a lot so I'm wondering if there's an underlying cause. Drs are being overcareful I think because of his heart history so beginning of December we go again.

Right I'm going to give myself an hour to catch up with some paperwork and other bits and come 9pm if I haven't finished then it's tough. I'm going to bed!

Once again thank you ladies - really really appreciate all your help in supporting me. Take care xx

[Deleted User]

Hi Smolly,

Well done on the refund, nothing like a bit of research.

Hope DS's foot gets better, hope the dtrs find out what's behind the dehydration, fingers crossed its nothing serious.

Sleep well x