Little Positives

Ive sat down today trying to dredge a few positives out of the current life situation ..lol
So here goes , me and Mr Bah Humbug get to spend a lot of time together , from help with toileting to getting dressed , to cutting up food . Hes now started forgetting where he is when hes driving , so i have to navigate , the doctor says hes fine to drive??
He hates every minute of it , so we bicker more . But it is just bickering and hes still my favourite cripple .

Our current financial situation appears to have frightened my son into getting a job , not much of a job hes doing something odd at the pig factory a couple of shifts this week , but its is first job since leaving college , hes deeply impressed at getting paid to sellotape boxes together and tread on Scotch Eggs . Nobody speaks English and the induction was held in Polish . Still it pays a few pounds more than his JSA and he wont have to do more unpaid work at Poundland .

My daughter seems to be going up the job ladder at work rather rapidly and working for the County is no bad thing as they pay for extra qualifications on top of her wage ( if we are lucky she may get far enough to fund her Masters )

Charlie Chainsaw the neighbour , has been at it solidly for 2 days hes cut down every tree in his garden and logged them for firewood , hes also sawed my tree down without asking and logged that !! , pointless saying anything he never replies , just stares blankly and gets another tinny . Plus point however is that he took up the barbed wire at the bottom of his garden because its dangerous for his kid and I had to stuff hankies in my mouth , as it obviously hasnt occured to him that its there for a reason . We have meadow behind us and in it is a very large bull and his girlfriends , im sure he will enjoy the  visit from the furry beefburgers and also Bob the gun totting farmer who owns them . I may make a fortune on You Tube if I can film it .
So thats my little positives for today ...

The Little Irritations in Life

So I have a few wee gripes to get off my chest .
How come television is overflowing with "Benefits" programmes , theres tons of them all infested with the rejects from the Jeremy Kyle Show . I honestly dont think theres more scroungers or cheats than there has ever been , the dishonest have always been around , there are always those who will take advantage if they can . Isnt it time someone asked who is funding these Party Political Broadcasts on behalf of The Conservative Party , how much party funding goes to them and which MPs have declared interests in the TV companies involved . Oh I forgot you can apply for information from the government , but theyd sooner drag it to the High Court than give out data under the Freedom of Information Act . Take the application to find out how many have died after their ESA was stopped , theyve been blocking that since prior to the election  and spending our money doing it       http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/3100-esa-death-statistics-may-never-see-light-of-day.......STOP PRESS 2380 people have died since being declared fit for work



Next in a completely different vein . How come in the world of the internet , unless your playing a fantasy game where there is a witch , can you not have a fat avatar?  All the games seem the same scrawny bobbleheads for the females . I want a fat bird avatar and not just a witch or a comedy friend .   ggggrrrrrrrr

Rain............

And finally after a scorchio weekend its raining a little , sheer bliss, its been far to warm to be pleasant and i slept really badly last night , so im sort of a brain dead child killer today.
On a plus point ive got the mountains of washing dry and started the pile up the bedding for winter sort out , I need a lot of bedding , this is a cold house and because i dont wash bedding till spring we needs loads , with no dryer its pointless in the house of mould .
I was dragged to Hemswell Car Boot and Market for 8am this morning , I think Mr Bah Humbug thought he'd treat me , but I knew he would struggle with walking so I did two rows and made excuses to call it a day , its all lumps of limestone and pot holes, so no good for him , plus it was really windy and thick dust .  Hes now nuked full of pills and unable to get off the sofa .
What did I buy? A bag of sweet potatoes for £1 , a water melon and of all the strange things a bucket  of Wholefoods peanut butter for £1 , well in date so I was well chuffed , it does keep well past its sell date anyway , but it wont be around for long come the toast season i'm sure.
There was tons of stalls selling boxes of china at any bit for £1 or 50p , gos to show how unfashionable Victorian China has become , some of it was beautiful , but not a chance with my other half , practical shopping only allowed ..
Started a sunny day project yesterday , the glue is dry in 15 minutes , this is a suitably gothic item to appeal to me, i had some wallpaper sample books kicking about  , not sure about the lining , im sure something will catch my eye , lets hope this doesnt wait around for years

Ahhhhhh....Work Work Work Ruskington

Its been a funny old week , little time for anything but real world work and running around after other people , nothing new there .
Havent crafted, though had a couple of brainstorms about what i want to do next , how is it no matter how much stuff you packrat theres never exactly what you need . Im sure everyone else would have some orange string fruit bags to hand . Guess someone will have to eat a lot of oranges .

Did a massive failure of a car boot , brilliant sunshine , loads of stalls but no customers , I was so awkward that i just took 90% to various charity shops on the Monday , I need the space desperately .

I have listened to Mr Bah Humbug rabbit on for endless hours about his new hobby CB and Amateur Radio , I feel dreadful , ive no interest in it at all , i just dont get why anyone would do it when you can use the internet . So i'm not in good books , hes even more mardy that i can understand french , i can understand it, but i cant speak it...lol
Still awaiting the Housing Benefit descision .......................................

Stuck for 4 hours in Ruskington yesterday , pretty little place , hospice bookshop and hospice shop a coop , garden center and quite a few useful little shops . What else would I do but wander round the graveyard and church , im sure this is turning into my summer hobby , its free which is a huge plus point . Im sorry ive not a single exciting thing to tell you its just been a very boring week. Even the weekend doesnt look exciting I think im at work for most of it

point

Benefits Land..... Lose the will to live Edition

Thankyou for your kind thoughts on my last post , positive thought is in short supply at the moment
Yesterday we had a possession order for non payment of rent popped through the letterbox , so I rang and spoke to a housing officer
He informed me that I dont live here and they have no knowledge of me being at the address , ive been here 9 years!!! and have spoke to them on numerous occassions and dealt with all manner of problems .
I explained that a housing benefit application is being processed , that my partner the tenant isnt capable of dealing with the matter and i was the point of contact
They cannot talk to housing benefit because its a different department .
Lose the will to live at this point as they are proceeding on with the possession order , despite my partner being disabled .
Then have to ring Housing Benefit to attempt to sort out the claim
Yes they have received the extra financial details they required
Is the claim progressing?

No you didnt answer question 4

you asked for the financial information you never mentioned question 4

Its not up to us to tell you that the form is incomplete

WHAT!!!

So if i dont ask you wont tell me and it just sits there

That is correct

Could i have the form to fill in question 4

We will send it to you , but it may now be past the completion date .

Cant make it up can you ?

Decisions ...Decisions

Just got up in one of those moods this morning , the Why am I such a mug ? mood .
This being a carer in all but name is damned hard work , Mr Bah Humbug is driving me steadily mad , hes now decided hes going to get into CB radio , more expense we cant afford , I know he needs the company but if we didnt live in the god forsaken armpit of nowhere we might actually see people . We need to move house but he wont listen , im going round the bend stuck at home , the munchkin and daughter have gone to Scotland on holiday and its just me, him and my totally useless son , who just spends his entire life avoiding doing anything and when he does do anything makes such a bad job he wont get asked again .
My lovely 86 year old neighbour told me this morning that hes got to move out out of the house hes lived in since 1955 to go into a bungalow because of the shop shutting and his brother being moved to a home several villages away . He will be sadly missed
This rural poverty lark is crap , ive got 2 days work this week so thats  all im allowed out for , I have to steal Mr Bah Humbugs vehicle because mine is still off the road , he bought the parts this month , the work may get done next month and then taxed the month after that .
Cant ebay , because the housing benefit is still being calculated . Its true that once you get down to a certain level theres little point in even trying bcause your financially penalised every step of the way. I think it may have to be the end of the ebay business , its no longer viable without transport or a post office.

Ive spent the day making up packets of magazines and ephemera to take to the car boot , if it doesnt sell i will have to fill the recycling bin , its a shame but what else can you do with it ?
I think a lot of the stuff ive collected will end up just being given away or thrown in the bin , if we move the council will only let us go to somewhere smaller , some dreadful pensioners ghetto , they admit this house needs a shower and he cant manage the stairs for much longer so that will be the cheaper option for them,  the rest of the family will just have to find somewhere to live under there own steam . Once again if we move there will be no help forthcoming from any of them , the, i'm allright jack bulk of the family .  

Just to really add to the negativity I talked to my mother , she very generously told me how to murder Mr Bah Humbug and get away with it !! "You need to get on with your life and not be burdened with a scrounger" Bless Her , shes read far to much of the Daily Mail
Then a "friend " told me how i just needed to work harder and things would be easier !!
I feel like hunting all the negative naysayers down and shooting them , they should try being kept awake by someone whos in so much pain he isnt still for more than a couple of minutes every night , then having to get up to the mountains of washing he produces , then do a days work and everything around the house as well .
Its as if I no longer exist as a person and im just the house elf !!!

Crafty Finish

And finally , a finished crafting effort. Its only taken 18 months ..lol
My train case, vanity case that i covered with my childhood stamp collection has been waiting patiently for inspiration to strike , errr but it didnt .
Now I admit i have a problem with projects stalling but this has been a bad one , I just couldnt find a lining I liked , so in the end I had to bite the bullet and buy half a metre of fabric from China . this has grated , I like my crafty efforts to be of a recycled nature , the box only cost 50p , so spending £4 on fabric hurt . So I let it sit for over a year till I could bear to complete it .

Quite pleased at how it has turned out , postmark fabric worked quite well , it would have been better in blue tones but the fabric didnt have blue in the colours . Lined with black satin and wood floor liner ,  something that seems to have endless craft uses , including shoe liners when you lose them . I bought a box full for 50p at a car boot .
It will serve the purpose I had in Mind which is a storage box for my parents photograph collection and sit on a shelf gathering dust forever .
Ive just remembered I spent a whole £1 on another , almost identical case a few weeks ago ...AAARRGGGHHHHH it may well have my ashes stored in it before I get it Finished

Death

Nope im not planning on going yet , despite my fascination with graveyards. Sometimes its the little things that start the blogging mind ticking        http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3184727/Gill-said-never-grow-old-Partner-healthy-nurse-went-Swiss-clinic-die-says-preparing-death-years.html       I read this and it brought up some thoughts , i've a great deal of admiration for this lady and her family . Now we can all go extreme Christian and hang on till the truly appaling end or we can go with some dignity . Ive witnessed my father and stepfather suffer dreadful endings , my stepfather had cancer that spread to his bones , my mother was a retired nurse so it was expected that she see to the bigger share of his care at home , which she managed admirably well , until on turning him in the night , his pelvis shattered , it took 3 hours for the ambulance to get there , he couldnt scream anymore by then and he never recovered conciousness , he died the next day .
My fathers death was dreadful he was 82 , he went for a day surgery and they decided to keep him in overnight he was still there 3 months later . He aquired a hospital related infection from the procedure , this meant he couldnt be moved to another ward and he was left alone for hours in a side ward , there was so few staff, that because they had to suit up to deal with him due to the infection risk, his care was pretty much left to family and visitors , they started to make him wear incontinence  pants at night because there were no staff to help him get out in and out of bed  and family had to leave at 9pm , he wasnt happy about this , and as he got weaker and weaker he eventually fell out of bed and died the next day . At which point we were inundated with calls from the hospital legal team .
Back in the 70s an aunty had advanced cancer , she came home from hospital to die , she saw all the family said her goodbyes and our Family Doctor took my Uncle to one side and asked if it was time for her to go , then he gave her an injection and she quietly passed away .
Now I know which I would prefer , and my mother always says that come the day she will go when she chooses , my grandmother took her own life when life had become unbearable , she had severe arthritis and could do very little for herself .
I dont think you can legislate for this , despite the assisted dying bill rattling through parliament in september ,surely it has little to do with the state wether you find your life unbearable , what about mental illness ? Medicine can extend life these days but at what cost ?

Jumbled Up

Sneaked out yesterday on a mission , the £2 in my purse was burning a hole and I needed to shop , first stop the Birchwood Scout Hut for the Cats in Crisis Jumble Sale .My son came to , much to my surprise, he likes a good people watching session and stood there in bemused horror as the little old ladies with shopping trolleys dived in , its always a bit of a free for all but well worth the effort . Didnt buy a whole lot , a couple of Victorian Tiles that I use for coasters around the house and a very 70s shell lampshade in need of a good clean.

So with the change I toddled to Moorland Relate and got a bag of 10p books that i admit i will go through in no time  . Still got a whole £1 of change so I will see what I can stretch that to ..lol

Maybe I should buy another 2 1/2 KG of mandarins  , they were a whole 60p at the tin factory the other day , you can pay that for a small tin and they have a whole year of date on them , they had similar sized tins of ravioli for £1 that ive put away for when i have all the kids in the winter and even bigger tins of potatoes £1 again  . This baffles Mr Bah Humbug but im sure they will get used , tempted to try a sort of marmalade with the mandarins when im bored one day.