Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 3 - A New Beginning

beanielou

Hope that you are not drowning in the marking.

f0xh0les

Are you alright CCL? - it's been nearly two weeks without you checking in. Hope you ok, and are enjoying the sunshine while marking. Give us a wave or something ....

Buffythedebtslayer

Hope you are ok CCL XXX

Eager_Elephant

I hope CCL won't mind me posting - I am in contact with her and she has some tight deadlines that she is working too with the exam marking but I'm sure she will be back on as soon as she can.

SnuggleBuggles

Thanks for the update EE. It was kind of you to let us know. Saves us all worrying about CCL

f0xh0les

Oh good. glad it is all going well. Thanks EE.
9 days left to go CCL!

f0xh0les

Only one week left to go CCL!

apple_muncher

Do we need to come and rescue you from an avalanche of papers that have swamped you?

crazy_cat_lady

Hello :wave: :coffee:
If you're going to read this, grab a coffee and a snack - you may be some time...
I'm SO sorry I haven't been on to update but it has literally been work and sleep with a couple of texts etc in between. Thanks to EE for keeping you all updated as to my whereabouts - it's been a virtual avalanche of papers and I am finally starting to make my way out of it, but it was looking a bit scary for a while in there. Got 3 of my 4 papers out of the way with the occasional check in on here, then headed to London for the fourth paper and was just manic from then. At the same time I was given an extra 100 papers to mark whilst in a 3 day meeting which took place over Friday - Sunday in London. I was then delayed over 2 hours on the way home after a suicide further up the line at Grantham (nearly got off and came to find you foxgloves) and it ended up being after midnight when I got home on the Sunday (Monday morning) with work the next day. So not only had I not had a weekend off but I also had to get straight into work on Monday with very little sleep, and it was our departmental review week as well. As part of my responsibility at work I needed to be in the department review meetings, and to help with observations as well as being observed myself - so it was a pretty stressful week, where I lost frees that I really needed to keep on top of school work as I was doing 5 hours a night at home after work on the exam stuff. On top of that I lost 4 frees/Year 11 time on Thursday and Friday for sports stuff. And then on top of that I stepped in to help a friend out with some extra marking (she is the head honcho of one of the biology qualifications as was stressing about meeting a deadline). I said I would help if I could and ended up marking another 300 papers over 5 days. So it got to Thursday last week and at 10pm I finished marking the last of the papers I'd been allocated. Celebrated by going straight to bed, then work all day Friday, then prom Friday night, then a hangover yesterday and waking up to find that I'd been allocated another 60 chemistry papers. I've made a start but I'm not going to break myself over these ones...
So as you can see, it's been utterly manic and everything has been neglected in the conquest of exam marking and extra money. The house, the finances, the kids etc. :rotfl: however, the kids have kept me well stocked with toast and tea, whilst enjoying lots of takeaways and free rein of the telly while I've been so busy. Now that I have time to take a breath and look around, it's 10 school days left until the big break :j The money had better start rolling in soon...
Other than that there's been other bits going on that I've had to deal with - nothing major.
Ended up taking a day off work to take my sister into hospital - she needed to go in for the day for a procedure and they told her she wouldn't be allowed to drive, so I took her in. When we got there she got into a bit of a stress so I rang in at work and stayed to keep her company. By the end of the school day we were still waiting so I temporarily became mother of five just for a few hours, doing school run and arranging dinner until the hospital discharged my sister at 8pm. Utter Kudos to anyone that has more than 2 kids - I have no idea how you manage it... I am a useless parent at the best of times :rotfl: and in the middle of exam marking is not the best of times.
Also, carrying on in the vein of the excellent management at work these days I was given a paid day off last week for external exam marking. There are 8 in our school that do it and the senior management want to encourage and reward people who do it as they think it really helps with the teaching (it does) - so I spent 14 hours of that day exam marking, which was very much needed.
As for ex - only 1 further 'contact'. It came on a Friday afternoon at 3pm, from the housing department at the council. He had turned up there by all accounts, and they had discovered that he's still an 'owner-occupier' at this address so were ringing up to let me know they were sending him here as he has a legal right to be here because his name is still on the mortgage. I'm sure you can imagine how quickly that descended into hell over the phone. I went absolutely ballistic with them, shouting about him not turning up at court, stealing the hire car, drinking his money, not paying his rent and being a safeguarding risk to his children. She still said he had a right to be there, so I said if she sent him then firstly I would ring 999 and have him arrested - as the police had told me, and secondly I would contact social services about them thinking it was ok for him to come home. It was an awful conversation, and I was really upset when I got off the phone. I haven't seen him since so I assume that they've sorted him out with something temporarily but my nerves are shot again. I daren't leave the door unlocked or any windows open when we're in the house - just in case - which to be honest is an awful situation to be in. I feel really upset that I've been trying to get him out of my life for over a year and people (police/hospitals/court/council) keep dragging me back into the situation or even worse, trying to send him back to me. His situation is entirely of his own making - it's not my fault he's lost his job and his home, and spent his money on travel and alcohol, and it's also not my fault that he's continually broken the law. Yet, still I have to keep dealing with it. I really hope the end is in sight with this - I've run up almost £8k of debt so far - all to do with costs and expenses dealing with the divorce and the general uncertainty of adjusting to life on my own. Meh - hopefully the courts will take some sort of pity on me, although I won't hold my breath. I actually feel a bit hard done by - I've only tried to do what I consider to be the right thing, and it feels like I'm being punished, repeatedly.
Anyway - I want to finish this mammoth update on a positive note. I have had a bit of a social life during exam marking. Only a bit though... Night out in London watching a show (Waitress - it was good), followed by a cabaret night in London (Birdcage - amazing). Then last weekend I was at the reopening of my favourite place in the town I live in - lots of very toxic cocktails and amazing food - I can't even remember getting home but I was SO hungover last Sunday and had to exam mark Then Friday night just gone I went to Prom - always lovely to see Year 11 out of school. I got pleasantly drunk but was still shattered yesterday which is just work catching up with me. Another fortnight of teaching to survive and then 6 weeks of relaxation (I hope), with enough cash to buy the kids their new uniform (I hope).
If you have read this far - really well done. I didn't mean to go on quite as much as I have done :o:o

Sunshine_girl2

CCL , delurking to say , you are a hard working mum who deserves so much more . I hope in your 6 weeks off you have a worry free relaxing time . Glad to see your post , it sounds like a very very busy time.

Enjoy Sunday .