1st day of the school hols is now over and done with and here's what happened - Avon was delivered at 8am, I'm a Rep don't you know, by 9.30 it was all bagged and ready to be delivered tomorrow, at 10.30 the Boiler Man came to service the boiler, what a nice man he was, he told me that the fitters from 18mths ago had done an excellent job in fitting the Boiler and the relevant pipework was in 1st class shape, he showed me how to bleed the boiler [must be done every 6 months] and then he left. Next C was taken by my Mum to stay for the night at her other Nana at WS where she lives, C likes to go there for a Tuesday as they have a crafting day at the OAP place where Nana 2 lives and C helps out with it, she gets a free lunch and all the old dears love her, then came a visit with D to the Docs, he has had a little cough for 4 weeks now but over the weekend it turned chesty, no tablets were prescribed, instead the Doc told him to have a hot shower, get out but leave the hot water tap running and soak up the steamy air, sorry but does the Doc think we have money!! We can't afford to pay for extra water to keep doing this a few times a day so D will have to steam over a bowl like the rest of us have to, he did prescribe Paracetamol though - 2 bottles, we already have 2 bottles at home so now we are well stocked up! Adults can use it too! Its taken me a year to get the water DD reduced by £8 a month, steaming over a bowl of hot water will do the job just as well as a shower and cost less too. If his cough doesn't clear up by the end of the week we'll go back and see another Doc! I wasn't overly happy with the outcome as I think he has a Chest Infection and the Doc didn't even listen to his chest!!!
At tea-time I spent an hour in a neighbours garden chopping and weeding for them.
Tonight I have cut out some of the overhanging branches from trees out the back, these trees grow to a huge size if they aren't held back [we are already in the shade from some further along but its too late to do anything about them and they aren't in or next to our garden - makes sense to me lol]
The house is looking decidedly disgusting so tomorrow I'll be delivering Avon and doing some housework - the bathroom should be condemned as a Health and Safety hazard.
C will need picking up at some point tomorrow but I don't think it will be till between 4 and 5
We have had glorious sunshine all day, in fact, it got too hot lol
Helen x
Monday 23 July 2012
Friday 20 July 2012
School Hols, Weekend Plans
We have finally, finally broken up for school hols, what a busy week they have had at school. Thursday saw D having a fun day at school, they had bouncy castles, space hopper race tracks, go-karting, wii games and lots of other things to do and C went to Wicksteed Park for the day. Today was Leavers Assembly for D, they put on a play - Jonah, a fishy tale. D played God - we'll never be allowed to forget that!! Tears were shed by me and Mum not D, his Teacher is one of those teachers who inspires the children without them knowing, if only all our schools had Teachers like that.
I'm over my moan about money, just got into a bit of a funk about it all.
Plans for the weekend are - C is sleeping in the tent in our garden tonight, they are both at their Dads tomorrow and K and I are at the Lottie for the day, K then goes fishing for the evening, C will go to Nana for the night and D will sleep in the tent. I will have to sleep on the sofa for the next 2 nights as I don't like leaving them in the tent whilst I'm asleep upstairs.
Sunday will bring a walk somewhere as its meant to be sunny so maybe a picnic too
Hope you all have a great weekend
Helen x
I'm over my moan about money, just got into a bit of a funk about it all.
Plans for the weekend are - C is sleeping in the tent in our garden tonight, they are both at their Dads tomorrow and K and I are at the Lottie for the day, K then goes fishing for the evening, C will go to Nana for the night and D will sleep in the tent. I will have to sleep on the sofa for the next 2 nights as I don't like leaving them in the tent whilst I'm asleep upstairs.
Sunday will bring a walk somewhere as its meant to be sunny so maybe a picnic too
Hope you all have a great weekend
Helen x
Wednesday 18 July 2012
No money! School hols
No money! We are officially broke, we have food and a roof over our heads, bills are paid but, gulp, we have no money for petrol! I have to do the school run for the rest of the week, 32 miles each day and my petrol tank is empty, I'm going to have to borrow money from the children to get them to school. I'm so worried about it all, still, we have food, a roof over our heads and the bills are paid!
School hols - I hope we get the warm weather that is predicted as we'll be able to go for bike rides and take picnics out with us. We are away in August for a week [children, Mum and I] Mum has paid for the caravan and is paying for most of the food and I'll pay for the petrol and some of the food, the children take their own spending money, I'm praying for good weather so we can spend the days at the beach.
I've had to pay for school things this week, £14 for C to go to Wicksteed Park and £2.50 for D to have a "fun" day at school. We haven't been told what the "fun" things are as its a surprise for the children. At least there is no spending money needed for D and Mum has given C £5 to take with her.
I can't believe I'm at the age I am and things are not getting better with money, all we do is pay out for this, that and the other, we never blow our money on "stuff" it all goes on things to keep us alive and at school, I could go out and get a job but for the time being K is against that, he wants me at home for the children and whilst I agree with it I am fed up with having NO MONEY!
Helen x
School hols - I hope we get the warm weather that is predicted as we'll be able to go for bike rides and take picnics out with us. We are away in August for a week [children, Mum and I] Mum has paid for the caravan and is paying for most of the food and I'll pay for the petrol and some of the food, the children take their own spending money, I'm praying for good weather so we can spend the days at the beach.
I've had to pay for school things this week, £14 for C to go to Wicksteed Park and £2.50 for D to have a "fun" day at school. We haven't been told what the "fun" things are as its a surprise for the children. At least there is no spending money needed for D and Mum has given C £5 to take with her.
I can't believe I'm at the age I am and things are not getting better with money, all we do is pay out for this, that and the other, we never blow our money on "stuff" it all goes on things to keep us alive and at school, I could go out and get a job but for the time being K is against that, he wants me at home for the children and whilst I agree with it I am fed up with having NO MONEY!
Helen x
Friday 13 July 2012
New Job, Sports Day, Big Performance
Hi
K has just finished his last day at his job and starts a new one on Monday, he will be a Practitioner [posh name for Support Worker] for a large well established company that provide care homes and happy lives for people with Special Needs. He's leaving a job where he is a Senior Support Worker and taking a job title drop but will be paid £400 more a year, not much of a rise but at the moment EVERY penny counts. When he gets overtime he will get it at a slightly higher rate than his old job, he gets more holiday a year, better rota, nearer to home, better company to work for and no out of hours hassle. He's the type of man that you would want looking after your child who has Special Needs and like so many who work in the Care Industry he feels that he is underpaid for the role he does. What kind of a system lets Office Workers [I've nothing against any Office Workers - I was one] be paid FAR more than someone who is qualified and helps in a team to look after some of most vulnerable members of society with grace, compassion and above all gives the residents of the homes a far better quality of life than some believe they should have.
Sports Day - it was D's last Sports Day at his current school, he moves now to the bigger school. His team came 2nd overall and D was picked to accept the cup on behalf of his team, special moments!
Big Performance - C was part of a group of children who have been working at putting on a "Big Performance" for the rest of the school and parents. C sang a solo part, her song was Rolling In The Deep by Adele, special moments!
We may have absolutely no money at the moment and not know how we are going to get new uniform for school but who cares, we have special moments to remember.
Helen x
K has just finished his last day at his job and starts a new one on Monday, he will be a Practitioner [posh name for Support Worker] for a large well established company that provide care homes and happy lives for people with Special Needs. He's leaving a job where he is a Senior Support Worker and taking a job title drop but will be paid £400 more a year, not much of a rise but at the moment EVERY penny counts. When he gets overtime he will get it at a slightly higher rate than his old job, he gets more holiday a year, better rota, nearer to home, better company to work for and no out of hours hassle. He's the type of man that you would want looking after your child who has Special Needs and like so many who work in the Care Industry he feels that he is underpaid for the role he does. What kind of a system lets Office Workers [I've nothing against any Office Workers - I was one] be paid FAR more than someone who is qualified and helps in a team to look after some of most vulnerable members of society with grace, compassion and above all gives the residents of the homes a far better quality of life than some believe they should have.
Sports Day - it was D's last Sports Day at his current school, he moves now to the bigger school. His team came 2nd overall and D was picked to accept the cup on behalf of his team, special moments!
Big Performance - C was part of a group of children who have been working at putting on a "Big Performance" for the rest of the school and parents. C sang a solo part, her song was Rolling In The Deep by Adele, special moments!
We may have absolutely no money at the moment and not know how we are going to get new uniform for school but who cares, we have special moments to remember.
Helen x
Wednesday 11 July 2012
Cornwall 2012 Part 3, Wedding Anniversary
Final part of the holiday
K and I could of spent days wandering around but unfortunately the weather was against us and D had a Migraine after spending some time in the Rainforest Biodome. It would of cost us £65 to go in but we paid £23 - clubcard vouchers and a BOGOF offer!!
I have ALOT more photos lol
Today is our 3rd Wedding Anniversary, we have no money [and that's not a complaint] so we are staying in tonight and K is cooking a nice tea for us, Mum brought over a big bouquet of flowers from her and the children, very pretty. K and I have not sent cards or bought pressies, there's just no need to, money could be spent more effectively elsewhere and we need no proof of our love.
Saturday 7 July 2012
Cheap Carpet
Cornwall Part 3 2012 will follow on tomorrow
Yesterday K had his day off, he took the children into school and on the way he heard on the Radio that a local carpet shop was closing down as their lease had run out and wasn't being renewed, carpet was being sold off cheaper! Now our bedroom hasn't had a carpet for over 18 months, its had floorboards and a disgusting rug that Toby [dog] has used as his bed. I can't even begin to describe how much I've hated it but, knowing how expensive carpet is I've not complained [only twice]. We had no carpet because we had a new boiler installed, the Surveyor told us the new pipework would have to go under our bedroom floorboards - we had laminate flooring in our room and it didn't come up so it could be re-used. When the boiler fitters came they told us it didn't need to be like that!! We were compensated but unfortunately we had to use the money on our cars as they both failed their MOT's miserably and needed quite alot spent on them and we have to have 2 cars as the children's schools are 8 miles away and K works shifts. I have detested the bedroom with a passion ever since but yesterday that all changed lol. We went to have a look at the cheap carpets and came away with one that was 5m x 4m for £42. We needed no underlay as we already had old carpet tiles we used instead. The bedroom was gutted, the cobweb bunnies dispatched and the new carpet laid. Now we have a lovely carpet and a bedroom that I love again.
Helen x
Yesterday K had his day off, he took the children into school and on the way he heard on the Radio that a local carpet shop was closing down as their lease had run out and wasn't being renewed, carpet was being sold off cheaper! Now our bedroom hasn't had a carpet for over 18 months, its had floorboards and a disgusting rug that Toby [dog] has used as his bed. I can't even begin to describe how much I've hated it but, knowing how expensive carpet is I've not complained [only twice]. We had no carpet because we had a new boiler installed, the Surveyor told us the new pipework would have to go under our bedroom floorboards - we had laminate flooring in our room and it didn't come up so it could be re-used. When the boiler fitters came they told us it didn't need to be like that!! We were compensated but unfortunately we had to use the money on our cars as they both failed their MOT's miserably and needed quite alot spent on them and we have to have 2 cars as the children's schools are 8 miles away and K works shifts. I have detested the bedroom with a passion ever since but yesterday that all changed lol. We went to have a look at the cheap carpets and came away with one that was 5m x 4m for £42. We needed no underlay as we already had old carpet tiles we used instead. The bedroom was gutted, the cobweb bunnies dispatched and the new carpet laid. Now we have a lovely carpet and a bedroom that I love again.
Helen x
Wednesday 4 July 2012
Cornwall 2012 part 2
The total cost of the 2 caravans was £162 for 7 nights, not bad for a weeks holiday in June at Cornwall :]] We booked a 3 night stay through Breakfree Holidays [from The Sunday Post Newspaper] and a 4 night stay through The Sun Newspaper. I didn't have to buy the newspaper's as I got the codes to book the stays from moneysavingexpert.com on a forum. This site has saved us £100's and I mean that literally. I go on there for all sorts of money saving tips, vouchers, ideas etc and I check it daily [at least hehe]
D having fun at Widemouth Bay - he's trying to build a wall of sand to stop the tide coming in - I've never said this to him but I used to try and do the same when I was young lol. The blip in the sea directly behind him is C, she's wave jumping.
Top photo is Port Isaac Harbour, this is where Doc Marting is filmed, the bottom photo shows Doc Martin's Surgery, we also saw his girlfriends little house, no-one was filming when we were there which is just as well as we had a right "performance" when we were there. We parked up and walked into the village, its very pretty but the little shops were very expensive - too much for our limited income, anyhoo, away back to the car park we went, K D and C paid a visit to the loo and I unlocked the car, or at least I tried to, instead, I managed to break the car key - eeekkk!!! It snapped in half OMG. The spare was at home. What to Do? We are with the RAC, thank goodness [a perk with my Bank] We decided I would phone Mum and get her to overnight the key to the caravan sight - getting a phone signal was interesting, I was the nutty lady walking around holding my phone skywards trying to get a signal, managed it eventually, phoned Mum and got her organised, then I lost signal completely, meanwhile K and D went and spoke to some nearby lovely builders who lent him some pliers to see if we could at least turn the stub of the key in the car door and get it open and then get the stub out - K managed that with no problem, my hero. He then tried key and pliers in the ignition, oh no, "Immobiliser Error" flashes up on the dashboard screen. OMG what now!!! Off I go to try and phone RAC - no signal but wait, there's a Garage, I go in and speak to the nice man, explain whats happening, tell him we have no money but can he help, No was the answer - its a specialist job and he can't do it - eeekkk!!! again. He let me use his phone to get hold of the RAC who will come out and rescue us, well at least they will take the car to a garage that can help, now panic is setting in - we don't have the money to pay for a new key [£80] and get the on board computer reset. Meanwhile K is at the car fiddling around with the key and the remote control bit it snapped away from. D comes running to me [I'm standing on the car park wall looking out for the RAC] K's got the car started!! Again, my hero! Off I go to the Garage and borrow the phone again to cancel the RAC call. We then hastily went back to the Caravan lol. If K used the stub of the key and a fork he could open the car, if he put the stub of the key in the ignition and then pushed the door remote thingy on top of the stub the car would start, so for the next 24 hours till the spare key arrived we had a key stub, a remote and a fork glued to us!! Whilst all this was happening C sat on a wall and stuffed her face with her pack up lunch lol. Not in the least bit bothered about it all as long as she had her lunch hehe.
Helen x
Top photo is Port Isaac Harbour, this is where Doc Marting is filmed, the bottom photo shows Doc Martin's Surgery, we also saw his girlfriends little house, no-one was filming when we were there which is just as well as we had a right "performance" when we were there. We parked up and walked into the village, its very pretty but the little shops were very expensive - too much for our limited income, anyhoo, away back to the car park we went, K D and C paid a visit to the loo and I unlocked the car, or at least I tried to, instead, I managed to break the car key - eeekkk!!! It snapped in half OMG. The spare was at home. What to Do? We are with the RAC, thank goodness [a perk with my Bank] We decided I would phone Mum and get her to overnight the key to the caravan sight - getting a phone signal was interesting, I was the nutty lady walking around holding my phone skywards trying to get a signal, managed it eventually, phoned Mum and got her organised, then I lost signal completely, meanwhile K and D went and spoke to some nearby lovely builders who lent him some pliers to see if we could at least turn the stub of the key in the car door and get it open and then get the stub out - K managed that with no problem, my hero. He then tried key and pliers in the ignition, oh no, "Immobiliser Error" flashes up on the dashboard screen. OMG what now!!! Off I go to try and phone RAC - no signal but wait, there's a Garage, I go in and speak to the nice man, explain whats happening, tell him we have no money but can he help, No was the answer - its a specialist job and he can't do it - eeekkk!!! again. He let me use his phone to get hold of the RAC who will come out and rescue us, well at least they will take the car to a garage that can help, now panic is setting in - we don't have the money to pay for a new key [£80] and get the on board computer reset. Meanwhile K is at the car fiddling around with the key and the remote control bit it snapped away from. D comes running to me [I'm standing on the car park wall looking out for the RAC] K's got the car started!! Again, my hero! Off I go to the Garage and borrow the phone again to cancel the RAC call. We then hastily went back to the Caravan lol. If K used the stub of the key and a fork he could open the car, if he put the stub of the key in the ignition and then pushed the door remote thingy on top of the stub the car would start, so for the next 24 hours till the spare key arrived we had a key stub, a remote and a fork glued to us!! Whilst all this was happening C sat on a wall and stuffed her face with her pack up lunch lol. Not in the least bit bothered about it all as long as she had her lunch hehe.
Helen x
Monday 2 July 2012
Cornwall 2012
After trying all afternoon yesterday to get this post to show I've decided to split it into 3 or 4 posts over the next few days, Blogger kept crashing the computer!!!
We stayed at Bude in a caravan, the site was almost empty, times are hard and it must be affecting the way of life for many who depend on nice weather and tourists!
We were very lucky with the weather - we didn't have blazing sunshine but nor did we have lots of reain apart from one day, C and D were in the sea 3 times and they went to the swimming pool on the site on one day. Our first caravan site was at Bude nd the 2nd was at Widemouth Bay [again, very quiet site] The beach at Widemouth Bay was nice, bay shaped lol, sandy but windy, that didn't stop C and D from enjoying it, K and I wore jackets, jumpers etc, we looked old sitting there all wrapped up whilst the children played in their swimming cossies hehe.
We visited lots of places - Polperro, Port Isaac, Hartland Quay, Hartland Point, Tintagel, Eden, Holsworthy, Trago Mills, Boscastle, Watchet and Watersmeet. K did all the driving whilst I was the Navigator, a system that works well for us.
Photos of Polperro Harbour and then looking from the Harbour out to Sea, we loved it here, it was very pretty, just how a village beside the Sea should look
Boscastle, do you remenber when this little village was pratically wiped out from the floods, I visited it not long after the floods and saw the rebuilding that was going on, this time the building work was all finished and everywhere looked like it had always been there. There was evidence of the floods - pointers to show where the flood water reached, see the low roof on the left - it reached that! We had a nice visit there, it was sunny, warm and ice creams were eaten.
Tintagel - so dramatic, we didn't pay to go and walk around the ruins, we don't do that, we go off adventuring by ourselves and where WE want to go to. Top photo - Merlins Cave, D is just about to go in, K is already in there, exploring. Middle photo - my 3 admiring the waterfall andsaying hello to me. Last photo - taken by me, I'd decided to do a little adventuring myself, rock climbing was done in order to get here, boy was I puffed out but I was the only one on the little bay, it was quite magical there.
Right, fingers crossed, I'm about to click on "post"
Tomorrow - more photos and how much the holiday cost us
Helen x
We stayed at Bude in a caravan, the site was almost empty, times are hard and it must be affecting the way of life for many who depend on nice weather and tourists!
We were very lucky with the weather - we didn't have blazing sunshine but nor did we have lots of reain apart from one day, C and D were in the sea 3 times and they went to the swimming pool on the site on one day. Our first caravan site was at Bude nd the 2nd was at Widemouth Bay [again, very quiet site] The beach at Widemouth Bay was nice, bay shaped lol, sandy but windy, that didn't stop C and D from enjoying it, K and I wore jackets, jumpers etc, we looked old sitting there all wrapped up whilst the children played in their swimming cossies hehe.
We visited lots of places - Polperro, Port Isaac, Hartland Quay, Hartland Point, Tintagel, Eden, Holsworthy, Trago Mills, Boscastle, Watchet and Watersmeet. K did all the driving whilst I was the Navigator, a system that works well for us.
Boscastle, do you remenber when this little village was pratically wiped out from the floods, I visited it not long after the floods and saw the rebuilding that was going on, this time the building work was all finished and everywhere looked like it had always been there. There was evidence of the floods - pointers to show where the flood water reached, see the low roof on the left - it reached that! We had a nice visit there, it was sunny, warm and ice creams were eaten.
Tintagel - so dramatic, we didn't pay to go and walk around the ruins, we don't do that, we go off adventuring by ourselves and where WE want to go to. Top photo - Merlins Cave, D is just about to go in, K is already in there, exploring. Middle photo - my 3 admiring the waterfall andsaying hello to me. Last photo - taken by me, I'd decided to do a little adventuring myself, rock climbing was done in order to get here, boy was I puffed out but I was the only one on the little bay, it was quite magical there.
Right, fingers crossed, I'm about to click on "post"
Tomorrow - more photos and how much the holiday cost us
Helen x
Sunday 1 July 2012
Bloomin blog!
I'm trying very hard to load photos but each time I do it crashes my computer so I'll have another go tomorrow
Helen
Helen
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