NHS & Auction Time

Hospital again today with Mr Bah Humbug , he managed to go on his own yesterday only to be asked why nothing had been done in 18 months yet again . Because we dont call our GPs Doctor Dolittles for nothing mate , they are a patient led practice? think that means theyre all kiddie Drs and theyve done the theory but not had much practice ? anyway hes pencilled in for another pain relieving minor surgery next month .  

Just looked up "patient led"  basically its NHS speak for unless the patient asks for it dont do anything . Well that will work well if you dont know what is up with you wont it? Dr Google it is then ? I'm spending so much time already , booking his appointments filling in questionaires and forms and so much more , maybe i should open a GP translation service?

Now for the interesting stuff , the weekend auction haul had a couple of large boxes of childrens books , lots of movie and rupert bear etc , not in great condition so I will have to find a use for them. Ive spent a happy hour immersed in them and i have plans to cut up Rupert Bear . Theres a few gems that I will ebay into   http://stores.ebay.co.uk/katiesrecycle    when i get round to it and yet more steam train magazines , Dyson kits ?? etc etc 

Liked this and couldnt bear to bin it so put it on for 99p  it fetches silly money in good condition , it wasnt produced in the USA . Pop Up Books used to be a big thing on ebay but they have calmed down now 

Auction Time

Ive not been around for a few days , having spent Saturday at the auction room . Yep my daughter sent me out because ive being going stir crazy , had a busy work week and ive been driven steadily mad by Mr Bah Humbug whos had to sell his beloved trike having faced the fact he isnt going to be able to ride it again and cant afford the 3k to have the adaptions it needed . Dread to think what hes going to replace it with , but common sense isnt his forte .
Anyway there were a lot of sales on Saturday so i went to Market Rasen where i figured I could get a comfy seat and not spend much ,well i didnt have much to spend . I went more for the social aspect because i havent been there for ages and needed to talk to adults who arent full of painkillers .
Knowing the auctioneer well I knew hed knock a few £1 box lots down to me just to keep the auction moving , he knows i dont mind lots that will burn !! This auction was a catologue on the internet only one and because there were so many auctions that day there were a lot of  commission bids the posh stuff fetched in the £100s  but if there wasnt any commission bids it was going for a £1 or £2 a box , one lady got over 30 boxes of china for £1 each , so glad he knows i dont like china ...lol

First item I got was a large religious picture as the catalogue stated , but i got there five minutes before the start and hadnt viewed . went to pick up and this is what I found , A very topical Trial of Cardinal Wolsey the Tudors and the excellent Wolf Hall being on the telly at the moment I figure it may sell , the frames sort of nice in a battered silver way . I will give it a try as a buyer collect item on ebay but if not i will pay someone to take it away come the carboot season . Everyone swears by Facebook selling  but out here its just full  of kids clothes and games theres never anything else on it .
But then I made a fatal mistake i bid on a box of motorcycle magazines that i figured would keep Mr Bah Humbug amused for a while , I got the box then he knocked every box of magazines in the sale down to me ..lol I had to take the van on Sunday morning to collect it all then spent most of the day sat shivering in the back of the van sorting it all out . First sorting to be listed today several hundred Model Engineering magazines that i need out of the way they date from the 30s to 2006 , job lot buyer collect , they sell individually for a £1 or so each , im hoping someone will want them ..lol
Much more to show you in my next post

Benefits Land Back to Victorian Values

Now my current excursion into benefits land has brought to my attention some rather strange changes to the system . The change to Universal Credit which is being gradually phased in , will actually be of benefit to us . But for some the change is going to be a huge retrograde step that impacts directly on those in a Domestic Violence situation  http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/universal-credit-rules-domestic-violence-5188873
The most worrying statement in the article is that Job Center staff are going to be given training in how to spot domestic violence .
Im sorry but in their wildest dreams do they think this will work?  Nobody "spots " domestic violence at the 10 minute Job Center interview or on a phone . Domestic Violence lurks in the households that you would least expect with those who you would least expect . Its a crime that has no definition of class, wealth or gender . Im sorry but i can see that lives will be lost as a direct result of this change , paying benefits to the head of the household is a retrograde step that will send us back to the dark ages and save the government pennies . Im old enough to remember the Labour Exchange and the blokes who got the money and went straight to the pub , kids who had nothing and the terrified scrawny wives . Nowadays it will be straight to the drug dealer or the bookies . back then sex within marriage was often just to get a few pennies to feed the kids. When child benefit came in back in the 70s and it was paid direct to the mother it changed so many lives .
For all those who exist in a happy relationship it shouldnt be a problem , its often hard to see why people dont walk away from abusive relationships , but once children come along it can be very hard. , Womens Aid do fantastic underated work and the police have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years in dealing with domestic violence, but the Job Center ? cant see it can you

I Won I Won

Now as you know im not the sort of blogger whos going to be sent goods to review , im of that age where the best they would send would be tena lady and wrinkle cream!! plus they would get an honest review .
Then theres the competition habit that i try to keep secret , but ive gone by the 5 a day rule for a year or more just the free draw , press a button to enter variety , won the odd free commercialised item , egg timers, oven gloves, vouchers for foodstuffs that kind of thing . Its a standing joke that i only win things that arent any use to me ..lol ..Anyway over xmas , i decided to spend an afternoon doing draws because i was so fed up at buying everybody nothing for xmas due to the financial apocalypse we were going into .
Guess what ? In January I got an email saying id won a £500 jewellery voucher from  http://www.ilovealassie.uk.com/ and Women & Home magazine , still didnt get my hopes up because it does say that in a lot of cases you never see the prize and can spend ages chasing them up ,I let my daughter go mad and order what she wanted and theyre jewellery is all made to order . Yesterday we received a box full of gorgeous , beautifully made and packed , shes over the moon , I feel slightly better at the lack of xmas ...just need to win something for the boys now...lol
So thank you to the staff at I Love A Lassie for making this a beautiful and pain free experiance

KKK Fashion

Now , you may have realised that the Kardasian Klan of Klingons and Wannabees are quite often victims of my humour , though I suspect they may not see the funny side or understand it . I never even got a thankyou for offering to wedding plan for Kim and Mr misery Guts   http://kayerunrig.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/kims-wedding-planner.html

So lets take a look at the world of KKK fashion , now I have to say Mr K has excelled himself , his level of fashion resembles that 60s kids toy with the plastic stencils .
Plus theres the strange obsession with american tan tights , does this bloke have a fetish for wrinkly ankles? Why are the models wearing them on their heads?  do they use them to rob food stores to get a decent meal?

Looking at the pics , you get the impression that last night he realised hed penciled the date in his diary then realized hed done nothing , got his staff to pop down to the local army surplus grab a few coats  some thrift shop jumpers and a dodgy bunch of folks to model it all , roped the family in and got the blow up Anna Wintour doll out of the box and plonked it on the front row .

Poor Kim sat there in her tights and dodgy camo had to take her kid because they couldnt afford a baby sitter !! times must be hard at the Kardasian House

Benefits Land An Alternate Reality Story

Everyday the excursion to Benefits Land becomes a little stranger , today we had a lovely lady from the Council come to counsel us and help us fill forms in . The wonderful 40 page ATOS form is an experience, bless him it took forever and Mr Bah Humbug was losing the will to live , it seems that hes a hopeless cripple when you add up all the stuff wrong with  him , plus the effects of the wonderful array of drugs hes on . but as he puts it "Im just a bit lame and crazy"
I have to say the council lady was very helpful , she wants to know why we havent applied for PIP something weve never heard of . So weve sent off for another 40 page form for that and she will make another appointment to fill that in , havent a clue what it is . Apparently were entitled to it ?
I just hate that word Entitled , weve struggled on for years we've paid our taxes but we dont want to be Entitled , we want Mr Bah Humbug to get to the stage where he can work again . He has a meeting to see if they can offer him retraining in a couple of weeks , im just hoping they have something constructive to offer him . Mentally he seems a lot better but it doesnt take much to make him crash and burn .
Also she has suggested I apply for carers allowance , but I dont think hes at that stage yet , hes had a few really bad weeks , but usually he can look after himself  ok , plus I dont want to be his carer.
Im his partner , you just do things for each other why should it have the carers label stuck on it ? Im his dictionary , secretary , washerwoman , and companion  . Its for better or worse whether we have the bit of paper or not . yes theres days I resent the fact thats hes limiting my busy fun packed life , not that it was very fun packed before ..lol  But I know theres days when hes in agony and in painkiller heaven and cant even get out of bed . He came for a ride to Grimsby yesterday just to get out for a few hours , but he walks so slowly its hard work and when we get home hes on the painkillers straight away .
A friend commentated the other day that it looks like hes had a stroke because its all down one side , but no its just a damaged spine , that we have to learn to live with longterm , theres no quick fix for this one , its progressive but if hes sensible ( fat chance ) he should be mobile for a good few years yet . He says hes off to the vets to be put down when he has to have a mobility scooter and hes been looking up disabled adaptions for his trike ......

image stolen from internet

Realistic Valentines Wishes

Its amused me no end that nowadays its not just a plague of holiday adverts on the TV after Xmas , theres huge amounts of internet dating adverts , even the spam box is full of them , apparently theres at least 7 men want to meet me in this area..lol . Being as this is rural Lincolnshire I would think thats the whole single population of the area . Maybe its the bloke with the gun who hides in the hedges down the lane , nice chap always says good morning .
But once you get to a certain age theres not a lot on offer , many friends will be spending the rest of their active lives nursing a grumpy ungrateful old fart , you know the bloke a few years older than you , with a good job and income , that you loved 20 or 30 years ago . I sometimes think you should be able to send your ungrateful better half off to respite care for a week, sort of the nursing home from hell , smelling of wee and boiled cabbage , a shared room with someone who snores even worse than they do and blanket baths from a scary non english speaking male who resembles a James Bond villain .  Maybe theres a market for this , Dragons Den here we come .
So heres a few thoughts on online dating at a certain age.

1     If you havent got a teenager available to interperete the online messages do not even think about it !!!  You can get yourself in a lot of trouble just by not knowing what theyre talking about and trying to appear cool and knowledgeable.
Before you know it youll be meeting some sociopath  in a Travel Lodge carpark .

2    All men lie, or maybe they just live in an alternate universe where the truth is a little bendy , but equally dont post 10 year old photos on your profile .

3  Widowers are a good prospect , if they managed 20 years with someone there cant be a lot wrong with them , they may get a little weepy now and again but at least the competition is only a photo .

4 Blokes with kids , assess the kids not them , are the children as equally vile as your own , be honest do you both own a black clad depressed specimen , do you have a daughter who should be at the vets being neutered. Are they small children ...run away very fast  . or are they of an age when you both need another adult for support and protection.

5 Church and Extended family , they both know lovely men who they could fix you up with , be afraid be very afraid . There idea of lovely may mean breathing and walking unaided after all what more can you expect at a certain age ?

6 Be honest with yourself about what you expect to find , if you just need a useful male who can start the car on a frosty morning , fix stuff and marshall the kids , theres loads of choice out there , nope he wont look like Magic Mike , you may have to teach him a trick or two and he may come with baggage .

7   The gorgeous know theyre gorgeous , I once dated a bloke many years ago who was pure eye candy , hes now on his 5th wife .  I know why , he expected sex at least 5 times a day , didnt get it ,lasted a couple of dates..lol You reach that age where a cup of tea and a cuddle are more important .

8  This is the important one ...if you finally agree to go on a date pick somewhere with good CTV..lol , unless they have the body odour of a ferret , have used a photo they have clipped from a magazine or remind you of Dexter , give them a second date .  Remember that gibbering idiot sat across from you is 10 times more terrified than you are. If you fed it decent food and got rid of the comb over  give it a year he might be quite  presentable . You cant change a man but you can improve on what you get ............

Ebay and Age

Ive decided that the biggest depressing put down in life  is filling in online forms , the distance I have to scroll down just to find my birth year is scary !!!
So in my bid to pay a few bills this week Ive been loading Ebay with a few bits everyday , but i need money so I cant load it with my usual cheap and cheerful bits and bobs it has to be the stuff ive squirreled away that sells for a bit more , all the clothing bits did well at Buy It Now prices . But the big surprise was this little portable typewriter .Olympia 66

So keep your eyes peeled for these , the same model with cursive keys sells for over £200 , mine went for £40 to trade, who im sure will change the pica keys for cursive , it sold as soon as i listed it .But  i bought it for 50p for the munchkin to play with in the summer and i'm not a seller who can afford to wait for months for it to sell . Ive seen loads of these little black cases tucked away in charity shops and never given them a second glance ...Ho hum such is life

Lazy Weekend

Its been a domestic servitude and think about what to do next  couple of day  Theres a huge vat of Irish Stew bubbling in the cauldron and the whole house smells of food , its making me hungry all the time , its for tomorrow im informed .

Crafty challenge what do next ? ive my hexi quilt, thats got to the realms of never seeming to reach the end, but its not for anyone or a purpose so im not hurried .  lots of little projects half done but the urge to start something else is upon me .  I know one thing that i will tackle in the summer , the living room curtains are fading fast even with heavy liners, so im debating crazy quilting on to the top of the layers , ive tons of furnishing fabric remnants so it seems like a project worth tackling . Plus ive several laundry bags of pillowcases and scraps that need a purpose so i might do some quick machine quilting.

Meanwhile I will worship at the altar of commercialism and admire my Baby Oleg  While I read trashy romances on the ipad  http://www.redlibrary.net/     http://www.readfreebook.com/index.html