Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 5 - Trying to recover from the pandemic

peb

Sadly fence is very unlikely to be covered by insurance.

I think CCL's house is ex la so usually it's clear who has responsibility - tp1/transfer to be checked

f0xh0les

I don't suppose DS is interested in digging post holes and mixing concrete?   DH did ours last time we needed one, and I did wonder why he went down quite so far, and why it took him so long,  right up until the time the uninsured driver took the corner too fast, lost control of the car and  crashed into our front fence, rebounded off the very strong cement bottom board  and crashed into the house 3 doors up and caved in the front wall of the house. Then ran away.  Classy council estate, what can I say?

It is worth asking DS if he might want to help out a bit with it.   I mean he can only say no,  but at least he will have been consulted.   Fencing is one of those things that is not horrifically expensive to buy the actual stuff, but the labour is about £300 a day.

beanielou

So glad that your GP listened 
Baby steps

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all
I was well researched with the fence. Unfortunately the price of wool has tripled since lockdown and it's quite a long fence as well so the £1200 was the best of three quotes. It had needed replacing for some time unfortunately so not on insurance as it wasn't in a good state of maintenance. My neighbour at the back has offered to go halves but can't afford to at the moment because she's busy getting £9000 of repairs done internally on her house. She has said she will give me money in the summer. I won't hold my breath but it would be nice. Anyway, it's done now and hopefully I can stop worrying about it for a few years. 
This week has been completely manic between work stuff, other job stuff and home stuff as well. Today is my first day 'off' in a fortnight. I say off, but I will be working at some point - just not officially in meetings or anything. I have a lot of data to get done for both jobs and there are only 24 hours in the day. 
Not much else to report this end - sleep deprived, well suited for hibernation and not feeling the Christmas spirit just yet. I need to get the living room tidied and cleaned before the tree can go up and I've told the kids that I won't do that until they have done the tidying and cleaning. So we may not see the Christmas tree this year DD is at work and ds is still in bed. My to-do list is 16 items long so far so I have plenty other things I can be getting on with
 

f0xh0les

Glad you got it done and sorted.  One less worry.  Now only ten school days left til the 'not in school' workdays start.

crazy_cat_lady

Good morning all
Well, aren't you the lucky lot suddenly hearing from me twice in one week? More moaning from CCL - I'm sure that you can barely contain yourselves.
What do I say? There is nothing really - I have been working hard at school, working hard with exam stuff, nagging the kids relentlessly about helping round the house and trying to ignore the fact that Christmas is sneaking up pretty quickly. I have my bedroom cupboard as a gift store but I haven't even thought about sorting and wrapping anything yet. I keep telling myself that I have a week between school finishing and the actual day - although that's no good for the couple of work gifts I need to find and take in next week... 
I'm at home today - not sick, but in meetings all day with the exam job. It's been lovely having a 45 minute lie in and very much needed but there's still an awful lot of work needing to be done - so still doing evenings and weekends short term. I will probably sleep for most of the week running up to Christmas if I'm honest. 
My fence is done (almost) and looking amazing. I still have one 2m stretch to do but the men ran out of wood last week so are coming back today to finish it. Again I checked this out with someone in the know and apparently there's usually a 4-6 week wait on wood at the moment because there's such high demand. The cats have been out and had a good explore and seem to be able to walk along it with no problem at all. This will upset the neighbour at the back as she has dogs, but I am happy that they can still explore as they like to. Now I just need to get the rest of the gardening rubbish sorted out... but that can wait. It's waited months so far, and we all know how much I hate anything related to garden maintenance.
I still have zero festive feeling. I wonder if it's because the kids are older now, or if I'm just tired. It's a whole different experience doing Christmas with me and two teenagers. Mind you I have no social life and do all of my shopping online these days so I'm not being exposed to too much of the Christmas Spirit. Maybe that's it.
Anyway - I'd best be getting on. Meeting starts in 45 mins and I want another cuppa first.
Have a good day all - hope everyone has survived Barra.

mothernerd

Sometimes it's hard to find your Christmas spirit. I think it comes in moments when you're still and calm and you struggle when there's so much to do. If it helps I've been the Church Warden on duty on Christmas Eve and still waiting for it.

All teachers and most older students collapse the minute they break up for the holidays. I've never been so glad for breaking with tradition and cooking the turkey early, slicing the meat and making a massive turkey stew before Christmas - little bowlfuls got me through, whenever I could manage to eat.

I know it's difficult but try to take care of you, even if you have to cheat - I've been having multivitamins and cod liver oil capsules for the last couple of months and it has helped. In the past, I've bought leftover sandwiches and salads from a local newsagent - they were in the middle of the shopping area and at the end of the lunch period, the woman on duty would make up boxes with whatever was left and they would sell them half price. When I've felt on the verge of collapse, I've gone in there and bought a few and then tottered home. My one experience of trying to explain to DS3 and his friend how to make me a tuna butty when I couldn't risk trying to get down the stairs is only funny in retrospect.

I know you don't like cooking but there have been times when I've resorted to buying takeaway curry and adding as many (frozen) veg as possible - I frequently fed 5 or 6 of us with with one of those SM curry meal bags for 2 when I had DS3, his friend and a couple of homeless kids living with me (+ extras at weekend). They were quite often ys too.

crazy_cat_lady

Mothernerd - thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate everything you write, and for years now you've been encouraging and supporting me, and generally making me feel better about myself.
I wish I could spend less time worrying about what other people think of me and focus on the important stuff of looking after myself and keeping well. You have reminded me that I can't be everything to everyone all of the time.
Thank you - and I hope that you're doing well. xxx

Watty1

A long time lurker!  Loving the fast solutions to meals posted here.  Single after leaving ex I struggled with food and my fast solution to no effort was simply to buy the trays of chopped veggies that the supermarkets sell and shove in the oven with something for protein (chicken, fish or even a tin of fish).    Traybakes are a staple now in my house and if I can be bothered to chop enough veggies I can make one that will last 4 or 5 days.

ladyholly

Don't worry about gift wrapping cheap gift bags are your friend. A sticky bow if you are feeling adventurous and job done.