Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 3 - A New Beginning

foxgloves · 19 June 2018 at 3:26PM

Oh, CCL, at this busy & difficult time, that naughty bath disaster must just have felt like the icing on the bloody cake!! Sounds like you got it fixed for a good price though, & you're right, it had to be done. Hope the London marking trip goes well. It will all seem worthwhile when you've been paid.
And as it's hump day again tomorrow, that'll be halfway through another week, & that last day of term will have snuck even closer!
F xx

beanielou · 19 June 2018 at 3:32PM

Hope all is going well

crazy_cat_lady · 19 June 2018 at 8:48PM

Evening all :hello:
I am on the train, sneaking a free wifi and taking a break. I'm not allowed to mark on the train as it's a public place, but I am allowed to do all of my admin stuff - so I have done that and I'm still an hour away from London. I haven't even thought about bringing my crochet with me this time because I have so much other stuff to be getting on with in terms of marking.
Fmess - I think I have marked for the exam board you're talking about in previous years. We don't get allocated whole papers to mark, just questions from the paper, or bits of questions and my contracts range from about 3000 to about 8000 responses. Some are quite quick to mark, some are horrifically slow - it just depends. I am a bit of a marking machine when I get going though and can get lots done... June is always horrendous for me in terms of my workload but it's well worth it by the end of July.

Got up this morning to find a minor leak from the bathroom sink :eek: Got the man back and as we'd suspected, something had come loose while he was working yesterday so it's cost me absolutely nothing today - but I am going to save up to get the pipework sorted there as well because he says it's on its last legs. At least I know this time though...
Work also didn't go as well as I'd hoped - I should have had quite a bit of spare time to get prepped for being away the rest of the week but I ended up still in a bit of a mad rush towards the end of the day to get everything done and still get home in time. Thankfully I'd prepped lots during my Year 11 time yesterday. Managed to get home, pick the kids and all the luggage up and get to my mam's house with a full half hour to spare before I had to go for the train. As I say, I've done all my admin so far, so I have got something done - I'm just fretting about how much marking I need to do and the fact that I can't do it here. Suppose I should be relaxing really, and catching up on here

SpekySquarehead · 20 June 2018 at 8:45AM

Good to hear that the additional work didn't cost anything more. And the heads up about the pipework is good as it gives you time save if needed.

Hope you're managing to stay afloat with all the marking.

apple_muncher · 20 June 2018 at 9:25AM

It's hard to take an enforced break when you are in the midst of being an efficient marking machine! Hope your meeting is good. I'm twiddling my thumbs now, as mine starts at 10 today. I have radio 4 extra on in the background and have sewn up some minions and hello kitties. I may wander along to the room and see what's going on...

nmlc · 29 June 2018 at 6:45AM

Morning

Hope you're all ok?

Nearly the end of term and time for a break.

Keep safe and well x

nmlcx

AspiringButAnxious · 4 July 2018 at 10:30AM

Hope the marking is going/has gone well. Sorry to hear about the house problems, but it sounds like you're coping well

apple_muncher · 4 July 2018 at 5:47PM

Is there light at the end of the marking tunnel yet? Thinking of you.

crazy_cat_lady · 8 July 2018 at 10:09AM

Hello!!! :coffee: :hello:
Did you all miss me while I was dying under exam marking? It's not quite finished but the vast majority of it is. I'm waiting for 60 papers through the post, and I have to compile a report to the principal examiner followed by writing reports on my current team members (7 of them) then I'm done. I've marked 5 papers, led a team on 2 of those 5, travelled out to do a whole day of marking, and been to London twice. It's been a busy couple of months but I've gotten up this morning and I can't do anything else at the moment. I'm waiting for a couple of markers to finish so I can finish my reports, and I can't mark the papers that haven't arrived. It's a strange feeling because I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with myself :rotfl:
Unsurprisingly I'm utterly shattered. And now desperate for the money to start arriving because I'm completely and utterly skint and the debt is starting to rack up again. It hasn't been a deliberate avoidance of my dire financial situation but just a case of being way too busy to look at it, and needing to pay bills etc. I definitely have credit card debt again and I'm way more skint than I should be for this early in the month - I cry if I think too much about it, but I will have to sit down and sort things now that I've got time to look at it a bit more without loads of deadlines hanging over me.
The personal situation with ex has significantly improved. We're getting along better than we have done in years, which I'm pleased about. And he has gone back to work as well :j I think that he's having a few bad days but obviously I don't see those any more. Hopefully this will continue (fingers crossed) as things progress. The paperwork for the divorce has been signed and returned by both of us, and I have an appointment with my mortgage lady on the first day of the hols (a fortnight tomorrow) which will hopefully sort everything out. Things with the kids have also been relatively easy - he sees them at the weekend usually, and has come round once after work to see them. DS's behaviour has been a little poor recently but overall everyone else seems to be coping with the situation a whole lot better than I am.
At the moment I'm still paying Ex's rent for him as he's only just gone back to work (which isn't helping my financial situation). It will all come out of his share of the financial settlement once that is sorted, but as long as his name is on the mortgage then he doesn't get any help elsewhere, other than being told to come home. And my income is still considered as long as we're married. So the sooner this is all sorted out then the better.
So, now I finally have some spare time I will need to start to sorting all the other stuff out - finances, divorce, holidays. Not sure where to start or what will happen next, but I'll manage - I always do. Think I might just have a day of today and relax and rest as much as I can. I still have 2 weeks at work to get through yet. I'd also be lying if I said my mood was good at the moment, but I am tired, with lots of change at home, money problems plus I'm not coping too well in the heat either. I just need to work through it and see how I go.
Anyway, I need to do some food shopping today, and I am also going to see my mam for a couple of hours as well. That should be relaxing (other than not having the money for food shopping) with a bit of luck.
I'm going to go and have a bit of a catch up - see what I've missed.

Eager_Elephant · 8 July 2018 at 12:14PM

If your husband was off work and his only income was SSP then he can claim help with his rent via Housing Benefit (or Universal Credit if its in your area). It doesn't matter that his name is on the mortgage as his estranged wife and his children live there so not counted and neither is your income.

Not sure who told you otherwise - give me a shout if you need more guidance as I expect now he is back at work he won't be entitled to anything unless he is part time.

Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 3 - A New Beginning

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