22 Foxhole East

kerri_gt

Missed you f0xh0les

Can't stop long but is there any way you could hire a car over there to give you an [STRIKE]escape[/STRIKE] emergency situation vehicle rather than left being stranded with Step Gran. I know that car hire is usually stupidly expensive but you're super resourceful (I don't mean hot wiring and stealing the local priests car :rotfl:) and sometimes the spend is worth it just in order for us to keep our sanity and not land in prison (though I would think you'd get off on grounds of exceptional understandable circumstances )

f0xh0les

It will be cheaper to drive over than hire a car + flights.

I am resigned to it.

Poor old duck can't last much longer. I would guess the next illness will either carry her off, or she will no longer be able to live independently, which is practically the same thing.

f0xh0les

Found a ys basil plant, and separated all the stems (about 20 of them) and planted them out in a planter in the garden, all but about 3 have perked up nicely and decided to live.
Borgettes are turning triffidy, won't be long until I have a flower!!!
Went to the market, and bought lots of lovely fruit, then processed it - all mangoes (3 for a £1 and they were massive) blueberries (2 punnets for £1) black grapes (loads!!) and bananas, all in the freezer ready for smoothie workshops.

DS3 and 4 played happily with Oobleck in the kitchen for an hour.
Had to buy more shoes (sigh) for DS3 and 4, but then again they might, just might, still be useable by the summer holidays.
Guilt being piled on from both lots of Irish relatives now. DH's mum said they would be dead soon so he should visit them more. Well after that he is really in the mood to visit!

So, half term! yay! Lego movie 2 is on at kids club, so that is on the cards. We still have not made it to Endgame, so that is another day. They want to have a day in the park with a picnic, and lots of trips to the park on their bikes (DS4 needs to learn first), DS1 and 2 have announced they would rather not leave the house at all, thank you very much now go away and stop bothering me madam!
The local museum is doing an exhibition on mods, and still some suffrage stuff, so we will go to that, they are doing a big ladybird books exhibition soon as well. So, I am not planning stuff very strictly, but there is some good cheap entertainment on there. I will have to get some more monkey nuts, as DH, the kids and Mr Hamster have been at them (thieving gits), so squirrel catching is on the cards again!!
It is nice to have a bit of a plan, even if I am not being rigid, and a lot of it is weather dependent anyway.

f0xh0les

Bleurgh! Feeling a little tincy wincy bit rough, had an actual grown up adult alcoholic drink last night, and this morning, while watching the election results come in, finally went to bed at half one, and was awake at 5.00 but thought sod it, and woke again at 6 and 7 and finally got up just before 9, and cleaned the kitchen and did the washing up like I should have done last night but was too excited about Agents of Shield series 6 starting last night.

So, today I have been into the shed, found all the bikes, all the helmets, all the bits and bobs and related paraphernalia, got DH to service the bikes and fix the breaks and all that jazz, and took DS3 and 4 to the park, where I have managed to teach DS4 to ride about 150m unaided, before he loses concentration and crashes into anything he can find. Of course we were in the park for about 10 minutes before it started chucking it down, but they boys were on their bikes with helmets on, so didn't really notice, and I was legging it about all over the place picking #4 up and plonking him back in the saddle and shouting 'peddle' and 'head up' and on occassion 'brake!!' it ended up we were out for about an hour, and he should be much much better by the end of tomorrow's lesson. So I am sat here, with a hot cup of tea, gently steaming my sodden state away.
What it does mean, is that I have a bike to give away, as it is now too small for DS4,but they just move up one size onto the spare bike DS2 grew out of (DS2 is now between bikes, but DS1 does not ride his, so he has that if needed). There is now lots of room in the shed for other stuff to go in there.... I feel a makeover of the downstairs bathroom coming on - if I can get all the tat on the metal shelving unit I put in the bath, into the shed, then I can dismantle the metal shelving unit, and one day DH will walk into the downstairs bathroom and be very pleasantly surprised! Might do it while he is away the weekend of the 14th. A nice surprise to come home to.

Finished another book, so that can go into the c/s bag.
In candle related news, I am down to 4 gold taper candles, half a cinnamon stick tin candle, a frankincense tin candle and my free french vanilla M&S (loyalty bribe) in a large glass jar candle. So the candle stash is decreasing nicely.

In DIY news, nothing to report. Nothing at all. I am still rearranging what I have and trying to make it fit what I need. Sadly this is not happening. I am going to have to bite the bullet and buy a piece of furniture designed for storing/hiding tat in (but I have one last idea to try first!).
So, the last week before payday on Friday, but it is half term, so although the budget is still intact, it could all go t1ts up before then.
Looking forward to the money juggle at the start of next week and being able to drop the mortgage figures another bit.

Basically I am impatient. Nothing new there then!

f0xh0les

DS4 can now ride a bike, it took roughly 5 minutes for starting and balance, then he was off. I am now in the park twice a day watching them go round and around while trying not to sneeze my head off. Damn pollen. It just makes me want to run though. I loved running. Stupid pollen asthma. I need to get back on top of this. If I am there anyway, then there is no reason not to at least try. Maybe it will go away as quickly as it came if I ignore it. I wish.
In other news, I thought I had found 9 clear days to head across to Ireland, do 4 days each with step-gran and in-laws, was just about to book it, when m-i-l rang DH to announce f-i-l has prostate biopsy and mri booked in for pretty much exactly the dates I was planning on. If I go to the North without going down to the South then I will never hear the end of it and she will blame f-i-l for stopping her seeing the kids (she will honestly blame the man for being too ill and start shouting it's not fair! like a 4 year old). Hence getting on with the passports and sorting stuff here.

Step-gran is being demanding - she is going to have to realise at some point that she cannot cope on her own. So far she has lined up optician/dental/chiropody and banking appointments, but she can only take 2 or 3 steps without the zimmer, so she is going to have to use the wheelchair. It sounds awful, but I hope she does not last much longer, she is miserable, is alone, and is getting depressed as all she can do now is sit and look out of the window. She can't even get outside as she is scared of the ramp that can take her out into the garden, through the garage, and she is just hoping she gets her strength back enough to be walking again. Which to be honest is not going to happen. She is out of bed for less than 12 hours a day and still falls asleep in the middle of conversations. I do feel sorry for her, but she refused to do anything to help herself while she was still able. She has isolated herself, quite deliberately, and is refusing to be sensible about her position. I dunno.

Right, Leg0 m0vie beckons.

f0xh0les

Good grief Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water ........

F-i-l has had a 'funny turn', sounds like a TIA, so he is now on statins and asprin until they can find a cause. Spent 7 hrs in Irish A&E and has a bit of his memory missing (the bit where he went out and drove himself home) and has now been diagnosed with a heart murmur. At least it has stopped m-i-l from going on about his prostate (also newly problematical) which she insists on calling his prostrate. Not sure if a prostrate prostate is a thing, but it is now.

So DH is stressed out, being texted all night and day by his mum, but not being able to do anything about it, as f-i-l is at home and they are all still waiting on tests and stuff.

Not a relaxed house of peace and harmony.

Tried to get DS3's passport photos done today, but his hair would not stay off the side of his face, and the machine was not happy and kept rejecting his photos for passport applications. So will have to wax and spray it into submission in the morning and get him done that way. DS1 is back in school for 2 1/2 hours of extra tuition cramming sessions.

The Leg0 M0vie 2 was all jolly good fun and after that did the grocery shop and it has been spitting with rain or a steady drizzle ever since.

So no bike riding and very grumpy kids.
Roll on payday on Friday!

apple_muncher

Cor, that is all a deluge of stress falling on you. Hugs. Hope the way forward soon becomes clear.

kerri_gt

Wow, I hope there was a large gin amongst the grocery shopping as you sound like you need it. Hope all the drama calms down quickly for you, it's esp hard when you're getting it and aren't close by (though being close by can also be a total nightmare...rock n a hard place)

f0xh0les

Well, there was a cheeky cider, Kerri, as I found a case for 1/3 of the normal price at the start of the month, but it was wet and slightly leaking, when I got home there was one can out of the 18 that had a slow leak, so I paid for 6 and got 11 free. Bargain!
It was much appreciated.

I bought DS4 a metal double bed frame from that FairWAyFa1r place, with reduction and cashback it came to £50. So I ran up and down the stairs with the pieces, then dismantled an 1kea unit on the top floor and ran downstairs with all the bits, I was up and down and up and down those stairs yesterday like nobody's business. Then got DS1 from study session, fed everyone, took DS3 & 4 for an hour's bike ride, came home and recycled all the cardboard and plastic. Posted a too small bike with stabilisers on W4steN0t page, man came and picked it up after 8pm. He looked really chuffed. I think his son is going to love it, and the weather is getting better and days in the park with bikes are a cheap day out.

All food from stores, lovely chili from store cupboard ingredients - I still have 14 meals I can make from what I have in already.
Payday today, so lots of lovely money in the bank,
I can update my figures on Monday after all the bills go out.

F-i-L is having more tests today, DH is terrified his dad is going to keel over at any minute - for a well balanced, outwardly grown up, pretty together professional, he is so bizarre about illness and death. He properly went to pieces when his uncle died 4 years ago, and he is going to lose it completely if or rather when either of his parents pop off. His sister has just signed to buy a house in Switzerland so I guess she is planning on staying put. Does not bode well for future elderly parents and their needs. I do not think she knows about her dad being ill. I am also hugely suspicious that m-i-l has started ringing when she knows DH is still at work. Not hugely off, but 20 minutes before she knows he is usually home, oh, is he not home yet?

I had to explain to DS1 what a stroke and a TIA are. Then I remembered my aunt had a stroke when I was 14, that was when I started to see more of her, after not seeing her for 5 years, it took me a long time to realise it was because her husband would not let her out of the house on her own without a responsible adult (that would be the 14 yr old me). It honestly feels like I have been groomed, by my grandfather, step-gran, aunt, and now the in-laws. The problem is my mouth says 'yes' while my brain is screaming 'no no no nononononnono no no!'
Right, I need to park this here. I can't think about it anymore. They have booked to come over in July, and have asked us to keep the dates free, but they reserve the right to cancel at any moment if illness / treatment strikes.

My main concern is to get DS1 through his GCSEs (18 days to go), and then off to NCS camp - which is going to take a lot of clothes shopping as his kit list is ridiculous - it is more clothes than he actually owns! It will see him through his college time anyway. DS3 needs 'big school' uniform buying. If I get all this sorted before the start of July then I will be prepared.


Identify, Analyse, Evaluate, then Plan.

I am on top of this.

f0xh0les

We went to the Riverside Festival today and it rained from the second we got there until about 2 hours after we left. Still, we had a great time for an hour and a half, 3 out of 4 came with us.

Today we are getting ready for going back to school.

As it is wet out, I have rescued the laundry from the line and it is in the dryer, which is on for the first time in about a month. I know it is over a month as the last electric bill was 1/3 of the previous month's bill. Nice to see the overheads coming down.

In a show of solidarity for my announcing that I need to lose weight, and have to eat healthily, DH has bought cannoli tubes and is in the kitchen, busily filling them. The swine.


Today is limbo day, all the bills come out tomorrow, the mortgage account updates tomorrow, and I sit here and guestimate how much will be left over after I overpay the mortgage. So tomorrow I will give you numbers!!