Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 3 - A New Beginning

f0xh0les

:bdaycake::bdaycake: An 11 year old boy cannot have too much cake_party__party__party__party__party__party_.
And congratulations to you on producing him. You did all the work, he just turns up and gets all the presents. Typical.

beanielou

Happy 11th birthday to your DS

crazy_cat_lady

Hello :wave:
Thank you all for your well wishes for ds birthday. I took one for the team at the restaurant and will be uncomfortably full for at least of the rest of the night. :rotfl: I have no clue why ds asked to go to that restaurant - he had chicken nuggets and chips followed by ice cream. We could have gone to McD for half the price... I only had one plate of food but it was a little bit of everything, salad, curry, burger, bread, Chinese etc. and I am choc-a-block full now.
The strangest thing happened. Ex FaceTimed ds for his birthday :huh: And was like Mr Normal nice guy dad.... I wasn't there (probably for the best as I would have lost my temper) but both kids spoke to him. Apparently he seemed well, and looked well and has a roof over his head. He wouldn't tell the kids where he was living, except to say that he's still in Sunderland. I cannot match what they say with the person that is dealing with me. It's obviously a bit of Jekyll and Hyde or something. Hopefully the kids will be relatively unscathed and when he says he will stay in touch then he actually will. I'm afraid I don't believe it (doesn't mean I don't hope it) but unless he's getting professional help then it will just end up being the same cycle that I've seen so many times before.
I genuinely thought his number was blocked on ds phone but obviously not... I can't understand it. Anyway, no point fretting about it now - I've said it before and I will say again - the kids will make their own choices and I'll always be there for them no matter what.
Had a bit of a walk about town and the shops while we were there, DS pokemon hunting, me trying to get my steps up for sleep tonight and dd looking for makeup. We saw a few Elmer Elephants on our way round and I bought myself a pair of fluffy jammies in Primarni (Stark GOT if anyone is interested - they say Winter is Coming on them and I love them). I look like a big grey dumpling wearing them but I'm nice and warm.
On a slightly less positive note I simply cannot find the work that I need for my year 10 lesson tomorrow. I thought it was on my home computer as I couldn't find it at work, but it's not. Bum. Will probably have to do it again - but not tonight. It's already 7pm and I need to relax for the evening and get ready for tomorrow.

dawnybabes

For summer we just took the quilt out of the cover (only just added it back as still snuggly warm) - we’ve got the full set, sheets, pillowcases and quilt. We all love them ��

crazy_cat_lady

Hello :wave:
Very late check in from me tonight. Not sure where my evening has gone to... I don't feel as though I've been busy but I've not really had time to get anything done either.
Decent sleeps continue - I woke up just before my alarm this morning, felt pretty decent and like I wanted to go to work. Got to work and kind of wish I hadn't bothered. The kids were up the walls for some reason, 2 people off in the department and a general sense of unease everywhere. I seem to remember feeling a bit like this last year at this time, but I am definitely not settled and not as relaxed as I would like to be.
Anyway... I get myself into these little ruts. When everything is going well I start looking for things to worry about because I can't believe everything is going so well :rotfl: It is part of my anxiety disorder and I'm well aware that I'm doing it but it's very hard to talk myself round sometimes. I can't just accept that sometimes things are just fine and I don't need to be fretting - I go looking for things. I do have a niggle about money and Christmas but that's nothing new.
October is looking like a busy month. I have a weekend away booked, a couple of work nights out and half term. Plus I've made arrangements to take the kids to see ex's family as well. They don't live locally, and I'm quite nervous about it but it's not their fault that we've separated and I know that they would love to see the kids so I'm going to make the effort to see them. I've booked the catsitter and sorted a cheap hotel overnight... so we're on. It means I need to keep a very close eye on my budget. My pay rise hasn't landed in my pay packet yet, and the little bit of money I still had left from exam marking is getting littler every single day. Aim for the month is to keep pulling in the grocery budget and keep away from frivolous spending. Record all spends and make sure that I don't go crazy. Oh, and there's the other matter of yet another court appearance. I'd managed to squirrel that right to the back of my mind. Grrrrr.

beanielou

Keep plodding

SpekySquarehead

A very busy October indeed. And it's good that you can recognise the signs of your anxiety before it blows up. Hope the kids are better behaved today for you.

crazy_cat_lady

Very quick check in again tonight. Even quicker than last night.
Had a rougher night of sleep - weather was vile so cats were unsettled, which in turn left me awake more often and for longer than I would have liked. So was already grumpy when I got to work and then I still found that I couldn't be bothered with the rubbish attitude from a lot of them - not sure why I can't be bothered with anything at work any more. Still settling into the new, bigger department, not having enough space in the staff room, being too busy to have a break. Must sort myself out with that though - I'll burn out if I'm not careful.
Productive though - managed to get planned for the rest of the week so I can relax a little more in terms of what I'm doing and when. Half term still seems really too far away though - this term has already been beyond manic.
No spend day - just audited the cupboards and freezer again for the month ahead. I'm going to be absolutely fine foodwise but will need to get a couple of bits for the kids. Just sitting in front of the telly now, snuggled under a blanket and resisting temptation to put the heating on.
Best get on...

crazy_cat_lady

Evening all :wave:
Another day done, and another day closer to half term. I was quite productive today in spite of being so grumpy at work... I really hate a Wednesday because I'm not in my own classroom for most of the day so I never feel properly ready to teach and I'm not comfortable outside of my own room because I don't know where stuff is. Plus I'd booked practical and then the technician was late with it so I was annoyed about that. I don't think today was my finest hour with teaching but I was magnificent at moaning about everything that's wrong with the place :rotfl:
Budget this month is beyond tight - it's absolutely dire. I can't believe how empty my bank account is so early in the month and I have a lot expenses that I need to sort out as well... Ugh. Some serious juggling of funds required soon I think.
Bit worried about dd - she took a funny turn at school and fainted during her food tech lesson this afternoon. She says due to the heat, I suspect due to her continual refusal to eat at school and making up for it at home in the evening. She seems ok, but her teacher rang me as she had been quite concerned. Hope they don't think I'm neglecting her and starving her. :eek: She hasn't eaten during the day for a couple of years now at school - just refuses and makes up a load of excuses. Nothing I can do to change her mind either - I have repeatedly tried.
Also ds is very tearful tonight for some reason. He's blaming it on his Xbox but I think that there must be more to it than that. He seems quite upset about everything - his weight, school, friends, games. I'll give him space and let him open up when he's ready.
My poor babies

Pooky

We had this with our eldest DD, far too much !!!!!ing and peer pressure not to eat. We ended up taking her to the Dr and he referred her to an eating disorder specialist. That was enough to jolt her out of it. Hard route to take but we needed her to see the damage she was doing to herself.

You have my sympathy