July 2011
June 2011
But to make it seem less challenging, I shall, for you good people, magically transform it into a vaguely amusing rant which will, if nothing else, allow you to appreciate a trip into your kitchen to make a drink, or to your bedrooms to grab a nappy...
A little scene setting. For 6 weeks every May-June, my husband does exam marking. This pays for us to have the car MOT'd and have a little trip to the seaside for our 'summer holiday'. It means for 6wks he gets up early (before his normal 6am start), works all day, marks all evening, sleeps briefly and starts again. I have the kids, all on my own, for all of that time, and have to keep them upstairs and quiet, or take them out of his way. I don't resent it hugely because the kids deserve to make sandcastles and paddle. All their little friends go off to butlins or haven with their grandparents, and as my parents go off on their all-inclusive package breaks 2 weeks out of every 6 but have yet to be able to find time to meet the baby, and DH has one set of parents who live in their lovely council-subsidised house and then spend a fortune on cruises and one set who don't like to leave their tiny welsh village, and don't cope well with children staying and touching their expensive furniture and technology, my kids will never have that. So while it is a huge strain to have them not really see daddy for 6wks, it means we have three or four days of family time we'd otherwise miss out on.
This year, for the second time in a row, the exam board have let him get to five weeks in and then turned round and said his work is not at the level it needs to be for his bonus, and so we don't get the money we hoped for. This could be because he's exhausted. It could be that he just doesn't do it as well as he should. But it's highly suspect that it takes them 90% of the work to decide this, and that it only started when the country hit an economical downturn.
So we had less money than we aimed for. But it's only money. And the car has had a whole new engine, 2 new tyres, a new windscreen and an exhaust repair int he last few months, and the gearbox and clutch were both done since the last MOT, so it should only be brake pads and not too expensive, right? Wrong. Of course. Note to any car buyers out there. When you pick a car, good sources of info to help you choose are things like which car, and websites ranking cars based on how well they work. Deciding factors should NOT include CD changers or swivel chairs. Car needs a whole new exhaust and some joint at the front wheel replacing. Take marking money, apply directly to mechanic, supplement with savings.
So we have no car and no money for now. But marking was over...hurrah...daddy time! Grown up conversation! oh, no, wait...sorry, dear. Staff night out, BB, more BB...but I'll be around more next week. Hum ho...fine. He was at Tiny's birthday party, all be it late, and then home Monday evening. Grand. He`decides to celebrate being home by defrosting the freezer. Who wouldn't? We leave him to it and go about our evening routine of orders, threats and bribes for bedtime. So i just check if he's home all week (that's mon, tues and wed evenings...rock on). No, he's working late Tuesday. TUESDAY??? That would be Tiny's birthday, and the day he had agreed to be home at 4pm so i could go to the dentist. So I have the joy of explaining to a 3yr old that we are not having a family birthday tea, and instead she is coming round sainsbury with me after the dentist, so we can haul the groceries home on the bus in the thunderstorm. Hubbie finally arrives home, kiddo opens a parcel or two and then falls asleep.
Wednesday I am up early as I need to go to london and will be out all day. After school pickup is dancing, then we have a portrait session organised followed by birthday tea with a friend. DH is due home between half four and five for photos, as we don't have any of the five of us...the photographer relative who was at the baby's dedication seems to have been to busy sulking, and dh has lost the christmas / newborn pics. He sailed in around 7. So still no photos. We get home and do the bedtime thing, and after a while I go to check the freezer for something to defrost for thurs dinner. The freezer does not smell good. Oh, right, yeah...the f/f has not worked since tues when it got switched back on. Was this mentioned to me? A post-it, text, fb message? No. Post its saying things like 'run the dishwasher', check. Things like 'the hour and week's budget you spent in the grocery and the food you lugged home? Totally wasted!', nope.
So at this point we have no food and no way to keep food cool. And the f/f has been left switched on so it is lovely and hot inside, meaning everything is all furry. And dh will be out till next monday. Super. So i make him clear it out. Mistake. He basically puts everything, in one stinking heap, into the waste disposal. Then forces it all down. Then turns on the thing and it has a hissy fit. He picks up after it, including u-bend removal, and then we go to bed. But of course, if you've just done u bend surgery, your best plan is naturally to put the dishwasher on while you are upstairs in bed, right? So my rough night (I've had woman-flu. Like man-flu except you still have to raise kids!) then culminates in good morning blocked standpipe, flooded outside area stinking of food. Several hours worth of mopping, chemical insertion etc have got us nowhere. There is a freezer's worth of food defrosting and rotting in our bloody standpipe. I suspect my options are to continue with chemical and hot water or get hold of rods and remove disgusting rotting food. While dealing with a nursling baby and a toddler. Oh, and while I go buy more draino, can I just do some errands for DH at the same time?!
At least I have a new fridge...I made him buy me a shiny one with a water dispenser. Screw the savings, we're going to need to use them for a summer break, because if I have to stay here much longer without a break, I'll go insane. So while I'm burning money, the extra £30 for a calming drink seemed worth it! So I have a fridge freezer. No food in it, no car to go get food, hence daily trips to town to buy food i can carry home, and no money. And a hubby i may just consider trading for a plumber... Things have got to improve from here, right?!
All I can say is
