Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

foxgloves

CCL, I think it speaks volumes that Wales & Scotland are being more cautious than the Johnson government. I think they (Johnson & co) have seen other countries starting to lift lockdown measures & they want to be in on the action. The problem is that countries like Italy & Spain were ahead of the UK by 2 or 3 weeks, so may be in a better position slowly to relax lockdown. I have zero confidence in the government's ability to implement an effective, coherent test, track & trace strategy, based on their levels of mismanagement so far.
I'm quite prepared to 'be alert', but I don't want to be a dead lert, so we've decided to carry on pretty much as we were, until of course, Mr F is told to summon his team & re-open work, which he says is being talked about by bosses, but no date as yet.
F x

crazy_cat_lady

Hello  
I'm pleased to report that I've had another productive work day today - which I didn't think was going to happen when I broke my own rule and got back into bed at 6am after I'd fed the cats. I woke up very fuzzy headed at 8am, wanting to kick myself for finding it too cold to consider getting up for the day. I was ok after 2 cuppas and raring to go with work from 9am. Finally decided to tackle something that I've been procrastinating over for just over a fortnight. Plenty of work frogs as well. Got that done and finished just in time to help ds do his assignment on being a WW2 evacuee. Then spent an hour in the garden trying to relax before doing the daily walk.
I don't know where my money has gone this month. Well I do actually - my income is down thanks to cancelled exams and tutoring, the child maintenance people were a fortnight late paying me my paltry £29, and I had to find £129 for the vet to cover my insurance excess there now that everything else has been settled. Thank god I never cancelled the cat insurance because they've paid out over £2000 since March. I'm still quite a way from payday and no money on the horizon. I do have enough to manage the grocery budget for the rest of the month and I'm ok with the fact that me and the kids have a place to sleep, clothes and food to eat. I have spent a lot more on food than I usually do in a month as well but that's no surprise as we're not spending on anything else at the minute.
So, I'm in work tomorrow morning for the first time in about 3 weeks. I need to make sure I get an early night so that I'm not tempted to go back to sleep at half past six in the morning. I think I'll have tomorrow afternoon off altogether - I've done loads this week and have neglected my house and crochet stuff.

foxgloves

Productive day, CCL! Our grocery budget has been all over the place too. It started going off course when supply chains began to get dodgy, as we'd not see an essential couple of products for a couple of weeks, then stock up as soon as they re-appeared in case they vanished again. We also stocked up with an extra 3 weeks of food because there isn't really anybody that local we feel we would ask to bring us a bag of shopping should we go down with the virus & need to isolate. I budgeted a bit more for May, deliberately, to try & pull us back into line, but realistically, as I don't like setting myself up to fail, then have to top up the grocery budget from elsewhere. When I set June's budget, I'm going to allow our normal pre-Covid amount. 
I think you have a reasonable distance to commute to work? Mr F normally has a 52 mile round commute, but is only going in once a week atm & working from home the rest of the time. Our petrol spend is well down because of this & I'm assuming it will be similar for you? 
Re cat insurance..... when our policy renewal arrives, I've got to phone them & say cat's new vet (who also got a colleague to give a 2nd opinion) have revised his age significantly upwards. He's not 'about 9'. He's about 14, so I need to be honest about this discovery in case I invalidate any future claims. 
F x

crazy_cat_lady

That's interesting - my vet told me it was almost impossible to correctly age an adult cat. We don't have much clue how old some of ours are as they were adults when we found them - we were told NT1 was about 5 when we got her, and our vet said she was older (apparently cats don't have a menopause ) but couldn't say how old other than between about 7 and 15, but wise to let the insurance know because they would almost certainly use it as an excuse not to pay.
I haven't put any petrol in the car since mid-March. Which is hilarious to me as I usually fill up every 10-14 days. My commute is about 30 miles round trip when I'm at work so I've saved enough in petrol to cover the vet bill. I am going to put petrol in tomorrow when I'm at work as I think it's so low in price at the minute I'd be mad not to. I'm terrible for panicking once I'm approaching half a tank and then filling up again - so I'm close to half now. Not bad in two months really - what I'd normally use in 10 days.

foxgloves

Yes, that's a good saving on fuel, CCL. We always adopt adult cats from local Rescues, so their age can only be guessed at. Our current cat was in poor condition when we got him as he'd been a homeless streer cat. He had a range of infected fight injuries (because he'd got his trouble nuggets until the rescue took him in) & he also had broken teeth, so it would have been difficult to estimate his age from those. We definitely think the new vets are correct & he is very much a senior cat. I agree about the insurance. I think they could very much use the age discrepancy to avoid paying so I am going to correct his details even though I know the premium will go up. I do for the first time have a Meow Fund, but I know the bills for a big poorliness would just burn through that.
Oooooh, they're a trouble, aren't they, but we still love 'em!
F x

beanielou

My best boy is 20 today.
Have had since he was a weeny kitten.
My rescue not 100% sure!!

crazy_cat_lady

You're absolutely right foxgloves - we would not be without them. I love the extra that having the cats brings to my life - even if everything is covered in hair, and my living room rug is scratched to bits. It's totally worth it.
Anyway, good morning all. The sun is out and it's looking like a nice day. I've already washed dishes and hung a load of washing out to dry. I haven't had a cuppa though so I'm not quite raring to go just yet and won't be until that's done. I've not written my to do list either so it's just floating in my head and I'm not sure where to start - a day of procrastination ahead. If I write it here I'm more likely to get it done though:
Crochet - it is Saturday so weekend, and I have two almost-finished blankets that I really want to get on with.
Reading - about 30 pages of my book left to go so I'd quite like to get that done.
School stuff - didn't get much done yesterday as I was in work. Should only be about an hour though.
Housework - the kitchen looks like a small nuclear device has gone off in there so I really need to get tidying up.
Daily walk - maybe even two today as I think both kids need it but they refuse to go out together.
Think I really just need to make a start on something... hopefully I'll be able to report back later that I've done it.
As I say, I was in at work yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. There are four kids in at the moment and as there hadn't been a science teacher in all week, my services were definitely required. However, they start the day with PE which I don't do, and we had one very upset child (on our vulnerable list) that was hungry and hadn't been fed before school. So while the other teacher did PE, I went on the hunt for food. Kitchen staff don't start until 10 and there was literally nothing in school as there were only 6 members of staff in the building. So I decided to do my daily walk up to Mr S, and I bought 2 boxes of cereal, some fruit, cereal bars and milk - and we finished PE early to feed anyone that needed it. One of the other members of staff in the building said I was too soft, but I am fairly sure that we offer a breakfast club on a normal school day, and we know that our most vulnerable kids are not getting fed. I also think that eating is a fairly basic necessity if we're expecting PE and science to be done. Anyway, it was a tenner out of my budget and my conscience is clear, and there was enough left over to leave in school so that the kids can be fed again next week in the morning if need be.
Was fed lunch at work before I left - all day breakfast, which was AMAZING!!! Went home via my friend's house to drop a few things off at a safe distance, and to collect some face masks that she's sewn for me and the kids. We had a chat for a few minutes - me at the car and her at her door. Then went to Farmf00ds to stock up on cat food, fizzy drinks and bits of beige food, and finally came home via the petrol station, where the petrol was 99.6p per litre. I forced £23 in and it is very full indeed. Not that I'm going anywhere - not due in at work until a week on Tuesday now, but it's done.
I know it sounds like nothing, but I was quite tired when I got home at about half two. I'd done my daily exercise walking to Mr S and back, so I got on with getting the washing in, hoovering and nagging the kids to get Friday deadlines done. Had a little walk to the pharmacy to collect mine and dd's meds and then spent the evening watching TV with ds - we're busy watching all of the Harry Potter films at the moment. I was in bed by 10 but I don't feel well rested this morning for some reason.
Oh, and I got an email from the exam board as well. I don't want to jinx anything but it looks as though there may be some hope for us getting a payment as long as we had a contract before lockdown and worked for them last year during the summer (which I did). There should be an announcement by 21st apparently. Everything is crossed.
Plus the holiday company we're due to go with have now cancelled everything up until the end of June (we're due to go on 19th July). I'm ok with the holiday being cancelled (in fact I would prefer it with the way things are currently) but I hate this level of uncertainty and waiting. I don't want to transfer the holiday because my finances aren't great and I'd rather clear some debt before I start thinking about holidays... I really feel for the travel industry and their current situation, but truth be known I just can't afford a holiday with things the way they are at the moment. And I'd rather that debt wasn't on the credit card if possible...

Baileys_Babe

I would have done the same regarding the breakfast and had a clear conscience. It would be lovely if there wasn't a need but the sad fact is there is 

trix-a-belle

I'm not surprised you felt tired after all that yesterday CCL thats a lot for the mind to focus on! You are such an angel getting cereal and bits but as you say eating is a necessity if you are expecting them to do PE otherwise you end up with a collapsed child.
I understand where you're coming from with the holiday & its a shame you just have to wait and see a bit longer but they are clearly rolling the cancelled to date forward progressively. I had tickets booked for a theatre performance on the 10th july which I knew was looking sketchy & this week got rescheduled to March 2021.
& fingers crossed for the exam board money

Chrystal

Absolutely with you on buying the breakfast,    but really suprised at the other member of staff!!  It would have  been more helpful if they'd put some money towards what you'd spent!  Maybe the school needs to raid the petty cash box to make this type of thing available, as it's obviously needed.

Great news about the possibility of getting some money paid to you from the Exam marking team. Keeping my fingers crossed. X