Back to try again..

teafor2

Happy New Year to you and all the family. xx

Robin09

Thank you all and a Happy New Year 🎉.

We all had a wonderful Christmas 😊. Sad that the holidays are over 🙁 DH back at work today and DD at school. Do have DS home until the 18th, not off to a good start when half the class got kicked out of the online lesson and then it crashed, but he has done work this morning and has another lesson to try soon.

Had some leftover in the Christmas budget so used that to buy DD a wardrobe and chest of drawers (leftover after that has gone into the 2021 Christmas pot 😆) her room is very small and before she had a unit with canvas boxes in for her clothes but she always rummaged and never left them neatly. Took a while to find a set that would fit the gap but glad we did as it has made her room look so much better. I was thinking of selling the unit as could get £250-300 for it but have decided to put it in our room (currently in the hallway though until we have room for it) because we won't be able to buy one like it again. 

Our plan for this month is to decorate our bedroom, unlike DD's room, ours is the biggest in the house and whilst we've decorated every room probably 2/3 times since we've lived here, we have never done our bedroom 🙈. Moving everything is going to be the biggest job, the wardrobes are huge and I want to totally rearrange the lay out. Also don't want to spend much on it but think it will be doable with little spends with what DH has already and a voucher we had for Christmas. Will buy some more canvas boxes for the unit as they won't match the colour we will be having. 

Work will be very quiet for me again, only able to open to key workers so will probably be in once a week. Still going to help my parents once a week too but that's it for my weekly plans for a while. 

Have paid £750 back towards MIL now so half way there 😁. Will see how things go but doubt we will overpay each month but it will be paid by June. Hoping to put some away to pay off some of the other creditors. We did get one offer, offering us a £14 discount 😆 offer is better than none I guess, but don't have enough to pay it yet anyway. 

Take care all. 

Robin09

So obviously DD only had one day back before she is now back at home. I'm happy about it because I do love having them home anyway but I know I am lucky to not have to work from home etc and can enjoy the extra time with them. Last time DS's exams were cancelled and he had no work to do but he will be doing online lessons this time around in his bedroom. We started to do daily exercise class on YouTube after Christmas and will continue when he has a free period on his timetable. DD loves anything like that anyway, definitely more of an effort for me 😆. 

Had an email this morning to say next terms bus pass payment will be reduced as I had already paid for a whole term that he won't be using for a while.

My sister has had the vaccine and I do believe that things will get better this year. Cannot wait to see everyone again properly. My brother has bought one of our favourite games from when we were kids for us all to play when we can all get together again 😆. 

It is DH's birthday this month and he mentioned last night what age we will be this year and I was genuinely shocked as we are a year older than I thought 🙈😂 even messaged BF to ask her as thought he was winding me up 😆 both lockdown birthdays for us anyway so no big celebrations that I'm older than I thought. 

Drawingaline

I did that last year with my birthday 🤦 had to count it up from my birth year 😂

jwil

I'm another who has to consider how old I am.  The kids will 'helpfully' remind me  

I hope you manage to get the decorating done.  A freshly done bedroom will be a real treat

Robin09

It's not even the first time I've done it either 🙈 think as soon as I went into my 30s I went in denial 😂.

DD didn't get much work sent home today so was done pretty quickly, did have to download a couple new apps on my phone to use as her tablet isn't compatible. DS only had 2 lessons too so was quite a calm day regarding school work. DS's laptop has been iffy for a long time now and he's mainly doing lessons on his phone which isn't ideal. I am toying with the idea of using some of the car money we have put away but prices have definitely rised so will have to look into it more. 

Moved our bed and bedside tables and cleaned behind them and took all pictures and shelves down and filled all the holes in. We cannot empty the room as no where to put it so will be moving it around when we get stuff done. Hopefully DH will have time to start the painting tomorrow. 

Popped to my parents and got a few bits done for them. I'm the only one they've seen for a while now and think it's getting on their nerves 😆 they definitely were bickering a lot today. 

Robin09

Bedroom coming along nicely but still ongoing. We have got so much more space now having rearranged the furniture. Very pleased with it so far.

School work for DD has been a pain so far. Nothing her teacher has sent is printable which means I am having to spend up to an hour each morning copying the work so she can complete it. Last time it was sent weekly, was all printable and also included lots of fun stuff to do. This time it's being set daily, needs to be submitted daily and nothing particularly fun and when I queried why it wasn't sent so we could print it, I was told there wasn't anything she could do 🤔. DD isn't enjoying it this time at all, nor me! Can't imagine how people are doing it plus WFH or having more children. They definitely are making it harder than it needs to be at DD's school. I don't like to complain and I definitely have it easier than most but may say something if it doesn't get better. I just feel the are more unprepared than they were in March. Not sure if it is just change of teacher this time round but finding it stressful. 

Ordered a few gifts for DHs birthday, just little bits that I think he will like and use. He is one of those that always says he doesn't want anything but if I didn't get him anything, he'd soon sulk about it 😆.

DD had a zoom party on the weekend for my nephews birthday, with a children's entertainer with games and challenges. She had great fun. I never knew that was a thing and assumed my sister in law was going to be on there running the party 😂. 

Hope everyone is well. 

mark55man

I'm not sure how the teacher is sending the material, but I have had some success in the past with using screen shots (assuming its a PC that's the print screen function (prt sc).  Then dump them into paint and print them a screen at a time.  Or if its a PDF you can load it up into word and it kind of works.  If you can provide a bit more detail (type of file etc) I could have a think.

If its full on digital rights management that's causing the blocker (ie the print box is greyed out), then you should have a word, as there will be something they can do, and all the other parents would be grateful to you. 

If you were friendly with parents could you arrange a work share so that you did one day and they did the next, then scan and email the handwritten questions round your group 

jwil

I'm finding it so much harder this time too.  It was much easier when we could print stuff off for them.  Now it's all got to be submitted online which means they need even more support than just doing the work.

Robin09

Thanks for the ideas Mark, 😊. Thankfully today's work has been sent through proper links. The problem was the teacher was only taking a photo of the pages in the workbooks. So in theory we could print them out but they were wonky pictures and had stuff in the background on the desk! Really not great but someone must have got their point across as it's been changed today, which made things a lot easier. Still nothing particularly fun but DD got through it quick. DS only had one live lesson today but has had some work set for the other subjects. 

I think you are doing amazing, jwil. 

Just feeling a bit blurgh today. Got very little sleep which never helps. Going to clean the house and have a bath and watch a documentary with DD. Have been doing daily exercise but still eating junk that's here from Christmas which isn't helping, really need to sort myself out.