Saturday 30 June 2018

I'm out of the red!!

Just had an email to say that my credit score had changed, so I logged in and I'M FINALLY OUT OF THE RED AND INTO THE ORANGE!!!  It's still poor, but I've gone 50 months without a payment problem so that's in the green and I'm just waiting for all my credit cards to update my credit record to say I've paid off and closed the accounts!  

My mobile phone contract, the mortgage and BC are the only one's left on my credit score now.  

I've paid off BC so I've just gotta be patient and wait for them to update my credit score but when that's been sorted, the default will be removed in a couple of years then we've just got to keep up to date with the mortgage then I'll be happy!

I'm just so happy to finally be out of the red at last!  Comin' to get you green!  No more credit any more.  Ever.  I've learnt my lesson the hard way and I'm not going through that again!

Virus free and backed up for another week

The virus scan has just finished so I backed everything up again so I can check my emails again and shut my machine down at bed time now  👌

Tomorrow will be...

Tomorrow we are going to have lunch with our little nephew.

That means that Steve will have seen his family the same amount of times in 7 DAYS that I've seen my mum in 8 YEARS!!

I haven't seen my mum since the end of July 2010 and saw her a grand total of 4 times that entire year.

Steve saw his sister on Monday, dad on Tuesday and Friday and we'll be seeing his entire family tomorrow.

Hardly fair, is it?  I'm seriously considering moving into supported housing closer to my mum 'cos neither of us can drive and I haven't seen her for 8 years despite Steve promising that we could go over and see her regularly TWICE - once when I first moved here and again after my father's funeral.

I'm fed up of Steve promising something and then going back on his promises and denying he'd promised it in the first place.

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements... they were all a nightmare to take today!  👎

It really must be me that's the problem

M's just had another go at me, just like my father and brother used to so the problem must be me, not them 'cos I'm the only connecting factor.

Well I've well and truly had it now.

I've got enough supplements to kill me and I'll stop eating and just starve to death, it'd make everybody happier if I wasn't here.  That much is obvious.

As soon as Steve's added his stuff to the grocery shopping I'll take mine off then take me supplements upstairs and say that I'm taking them up so that I remember to take them first thing then that's it.

I really have had as much as I can take of M now... according to her, everything is my fault and Steve's totally blameless which is total bollox.

I just can't take any more bullying and it's all M's fault.

I can't meet you on Thursday, C, 'cos I'll hopefully be dead by then.  Sorry.

Friday 29 June 2018

The poor pup has just thrown up :-(

Dunno whether it's the weather or the steroids she's on  😕

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements so I can spend the day reading more about child psychology now!  Yay!

Pup walked and fed

Just taken the pup for her morning walkies... she was a right cowbag this morning!

Refused to get her harness on until Steve did it.

Wouldn't stand still while I tried to stand up.

Kept trying to pull me over.

Poo'd and refused to move out of the way for Steve to pick it up.

It's done and dusted for the day now though, thankfully!

Thursday 28 June 2018

Opinions on dentistry please

I'm phobic of dentists after repeated awful experiences as a child and I've just lost the rest of another tooth despite taking Calcium most mornings.

Soooo...

I'm gonna make another appointment with the nervous patient dentist and ask to have all my teeth out and have full top and bottom dentures.

Far from ideal, I know, but better to have them all out at once and get used to using dentures like I do with glasses than to have one tooth taken out at a time and go through nightmares for the week before the appointment and being absolutely petrified for the rest of my life about going.

It's the same like it was with the glasses when I first started wearing them... I got so bullied that I hated them but I can't see without them any more!

Better to be petrified a couple of times (once to get the referral to the hospital to have my teeth out under GA and take an imprint of my gums, then the second time to fit the dentures) then not have to worry for the rest of my life than have individual teeth taken out one at a time.

Yep, it's extreme, but then so is my phobia!

If you are looking to study for free online, AVOID...

I've been sat here for the last 22 days waiting for the DLU to fix their resubmission page.

I've emailed them 5 times and my tutor 3 times but I still can't resubmit and they haven't replied to a single email about it, so I've just sent them an angry email asking them how to pay the non completion fee then delete my account.

I understand that sometimes webpages have glitches in them, but it shouldn't take 22 days and 5 emails just from one student to fix it!  If it does, then reply to that student and give them an extension on their resubmission date!  Simples!

But nope, not a single reply or message on the site or anything so I've given up now.

Unless you can afford to pay the £85 for not completing the course due to THEIR issues with the site, go with somewhere else instead.  I definitely recommend OpenLearn (totally free) and Alison (you just pay for the certificate or diplomas you want if you pass) courses - their sites work and they reply to the emails you send them!

Avoid the DLU site at all costs... they aren't worth your time, energy, effort or money!

Supplements taken

The crumbs of the Calcium went everywhere.

The Iron disintegrated.

But at least the Multi behaved!

It was the heat

Just got back from taking the pup out and she was fine today... she was at the bottom of the stairs before I'd even finished taking her harness and lead off the side!

Sooo, what I'm gonna do while it's hot is take her out as soon as I wake up 'cos it'll hopefully be cooler for her than the rest of the day.

She's still an active little girl, but the temperature outside makes her and Steve so grumpy!  lol

Wednesday 27 June 2018

Just taken the pup out for her daily walk and...

Just taken the pup out for her walk in the hope that it would be cooler in the evening than it was this morning.

It wasn't.

So, back to normal morning walkies starting tomorrow - I've just gotta wake up earlier than usual so that we can go out and back before it gets waay too hot.

I'm taking my lead from the pup with this heat... if she only wants to go up and down twice then I won't force her to keep walking, but if she's feeling especially active then I'll keep walking for as long as she wants to.  She's an old lady now, so everything is lead by her on our walks now.

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements and the Iron was the easiest to swallow today!

Had to crunch up the Multi 'cos I just couldn't swallow it whole for some reason and the taste was vile!!

Tuesday 26 June 2018

Supplements taken

They were all a PITB to get down today!  The Calcium crumbs went everywhere in my mouth, the Iron made me retch and took 3 mouthfuls of squash to finally get down and the Multi got stuck half way down!

Not good but they are done and dusted for the day now, thankfully.

The pup did an extra half on her walk this morning

I was happy with our normal length, but Mitzi wanted to keep walking so we did an extra half.  She wanted to keep walking but it's way too hot out there and I didn't want either of us to get heat stroke and get her pads burnt so we came home instead.  Might see if she wants to go out again this evening when it'll hopefully be cooler... might be wise to do that as standard in this hot weather anyway!

Monday 25 June 2018

Cat joke from Facebook


Taken me supplements now

The Iron went down surprisingly easily for a change, the Calcium behaved but it was the Multi that misbehaved today 'cos it wouldn't go down with the first mouthful of squash and made me retch as it got stuck on the back of me tongue but it went down semi-easily with the second mouthful, thankfully!

Sunday 24 June 2018

We've now had our weekly argument about...

Me an' 'im are usually really nice to each other... except on a Sunday when it comes to taking the bin bag and recycling out.

It's all sorted now though, just need to clear up Mitzi's poo from the back yard which will cause another argument but it's only once a week and it's always the same topic too... such is life!

Supplements taken

Just taken me cocktail of pills again.  The Calcium was a nightmare to get down, but the Iron and Multi went down first time thankfully.

The pup only wanted a normal sized walk this morning

She was showing a large amount of Westietude until I got her buckled in to her harness but she was fine after that.

Only did the normal twice between our neighbours so I'm happy with that.  It's only 50 metres but I think the pup is starting to feel her age now, so as long as she does those 50 metres I won't force her to do any more unless she decides she wants to... humans control the first part then the control becomes Mitzi's and I just follow her lead from then on.

Saturday 23 June 2018

Be prepared to groan!

A frog goes into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see from her nameplate that her name is Patty Whack.
"Miss Whack, I'd like to get a $30,000 loan to take a holiday."
Patty looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name. The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it's okay, he knows the bank manager.
Patty explains that he will need to secure the loan with some collateral.
The frog says, "Sure. I have this," and produces a tiny porcelain elephant, about an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed.
Very confused, Patty explains that she'll have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office.
She finds the manager and says, "There's a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow $30,000, and he wants to use this as collateral." She holds up the tiny pink elephant. "I mean, what in the world is this?"
(You're gonna love this.)
The bank manager looks back at her and says, "It's a knickknack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone."
(You sang it, didn't you? Yeah, I know you did.)
Never take life too seriously.

Virus free and backed up for another week

Me weekly virus scan has just finished, fortunately my likkle laptop is virus free again, so I backed everything up same as I do every Saturday.

GCSE maths question for you though: if a number is recurring, do you write it as the number that recurrs a couple of times then a little r floating above the last recurring number?

The reason for the question is that I was trying to work out how long it'd take to finish the first of the 3 sections.  I knew that 1% took 20 seconds and I had 37% left to do so Steve used his calculator to work out that it was seven hundred and something seconds which was 12.333333333333333 recurring minutes so I asked him how that was written if you wanted to save space instead of filling it up with endless 3's.

I thought it was written as 12.3ͬ minutes... is that right please?  I don't want a whole maths lesson on it 'cos my eyes would glaze over before you finished the first sentence and it'd go in one ear and straight out the other without even pausing in my brain, just like it did at school.  I just wanna know if the r thingie really is a maths thing to symbolise recurring or if it's my imagination is all.

Feel free to laugh at my dumbo question now  lol

Supplements taken

Just taken my daily cocktail of supplements and worked out why the Iron is sometimes a troublemaker... I need to put it right to the back of my mouth before slurping the squash so that it doesn't have a choice about floating out of my mouth, I need to drink and immediately swallow it so that it doesn't have the opportunity to go anywhere else!

The pup only wanted a short walk today

She was a lot more eager to go on her walk than she has been recently, but she only wanted a short walk today so we only did 2 up and down's.  She was debating going another half but decided against it in the end... as long as she does 2 then I'll take my lead from her after that 'cos I don't want her to hate her walks with me!

Didn't get any survey bods yesterday either, so...

That's 2 days on the trot that we haven't had any survey bods on the landline phone, so word has obviously spread that I waste their time as much as they were employed to waste mine!

Assuming we get a survey-free day today as well, comment on tomorrow's post with what your genuine interests are or what you genuinely want to learn more about and your email address then I'll come up with a list of questions for you to ask your next cold-caller.

If it's something I know very little about I may have to ask you questions to get a clearer idea of what you want to find out/how it works etc but if I do, please stick to the facts and give me as little personal information as possible so that I don't accidentally give out your information to your cold caller.

For example, if you're a bricklayer then I may ask you what happens in a typical day and how you're paid and things like that.  If I do, tell me something along the lines of "bricklayers build houses after the foundations have been laid by [insert foundation builder's job title here].  Bricklayers work as a team to build whatever is necessary.  We don't intentionally show our bums to the public but enjoy/hate the wolf whistles we get from the public.  We bring our own lunches but don't get an official lunch hour.  It can be anywhere between 11am and 2pm that it starts and it carries on for as long as it takes us to eat our sandwiches then we carry on laying the bricks.  A 2 storey house usually takes about a week to build after the foundations have been laid, then it takes another week for all the cement to dry properly and safely but the roof bods are getting ready to put the beams up for the roofers to put the roof on when the cement is dry then us bricklayers move on to the next job which might be building a car park or shop or whatever" kinda thing?  No identifying or personal information at all, just the facts.

It won't be a script, just the questions to ask them in the order to ask them and you need to start asking as soon as the cold caller takes a breath so that they haven't got the opportunity to start with their questions.

Be prepared for shock, anger and hanging up but do NOT laugh until they've hung up then don't hang up on your end for a few minutes just to run up their phone bill for the final time.

If your cold caller says something along the lines of "stop wasting my time" or whatever, your reply should be "it was you that called me to waste MY time" then carry on with the questions.

It's absolutely vital that you remain sweet, calm and polite with them 'cos that get's on their nerves and just imagine how stupid they would look to their boss if they complained about you to them:

Caller: "...then they started asking me questions about me!"
Boss:  "I see, what type of voice were they using to you?"
Caller:  "They were pure and sweet and polite"
Boss belly laughs at the caller for being so upset about being treated kindly.

The first question on the list will be "what's your name please?" they'll tell you.  Use a totally different name throughout the rest of the call.  For example, if their name is Alice, call them Susan... that gets on their nerves too but it's a simple mistake to make, right?  lol

There's a couple of sentences that you need to say before you start asking the questions so try and memorise them word for word so that you can say them while you're finding the list of questions.  There's also another one further down that needs to be said word for word so that you aren't gaining their permission, instead you're telling them that they've given permission.

I can almost guarantee that you won't get as many cold callers any more if you follow the list of questions and remain sweet and polite with them!

Friday 22 June 2018

It's taken 22 years, but as of now...

I'm now totally debt free!! 

I took out my first credit card within a few months of turning 18.

I'm now totally debt free for the first time in 22 years and I'm never ever getting credit for anything ever again.

The mortgage will be paid off in a few years time so even that debt will be cleared soon.

My credit score is through the floor 'cos I defaulted in September 2017 so that'll be on my credit score for up to 6 years, but other than the mortgage I don't owe anyone a single penny any more!

If I get re-awarded ESA in November I'm gonna pay for my studies with the OU and for the first time in my life I really do think I can get a degree so my bullies can sod off now... I've believed their taunting for 30 years, but not any more.  If I'm genuinely interested in what I'm learning then I really can get through the course.  The childcare certificate and OpenLearn courses were proof of that!  If I'm genuinely interested in what I'm learning then I'm not thick and never have been, I just need to have a genuine interest in what I'm learning is all.

Here's to a debt free future for me!  👍👍👍

😁   

For the first time in 22 years...

When Steve gets home from his nurse appointment, I'm gonna pay off the final £1000 and close the account which will mean that for the first time in 22 years I will be debt free!  How awesome is that!

I'll just have things like Mitzi's insurance, Patrick's insurance, Equifax, SCBWI membership and stuff like that.  Things that I can close down and not be worse off for it if I really need to and I don't get ESA in November, I'd just prefer to be able to keep them going is all.  It'll save me £100 a month just on that one payment too, which is totally awesome!

I could get used to the debt free feeling!  👍 😃

Didn't get any survey bods phoning at all yesterday, so...

After Wednesday afternoon's survey from me, word must have quickly spread that I was a surveyer too 'cos we didn't get a single survey phone call at all!

I'm gonna give it a week then if we're still without a survey bod phoning us, I'll share the secret lol

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements... the Calcium crumbs wandered all over my mouth and refused to come out of hiding between my gums and bottom lip, the Iron melted after the first mouthful of squash but the Multi went down OK first time thankfully!

The grooming yesterday must have...

Just got back from taking the pup out for her walk.

I was assuming she'd want to come home after 2 up and down's, like she has for the last month or 6 weeks or whatever.

Nope.

Not even 3 times.

Or 4.

She walked up and down 5 times and was pondering on 6 this morning... she hasn't done that for literally months!

Maybe her fur was weighing her down which made walking difficult or something?

She went on 3 long walks yesterday so maybe that encouraged her this morning?  Her first long walk was to Marie's car, the second was around the block at the vets because they got there so early and the third was when she came home from Marie's car to here... maybe they got her feeling so good that she wanted to feel like that this morning?

I'm happy with twice up and down but if the pup wants to go further, I'll take my lead from her and just come home when she's had enough!

So proud of you, Mitzi!

Thursday 21 June 2018

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements... only the Iron didn't need to be crunched up before I could swallow it today!  👎

That's harder than it needs to be then!

My savings cheque cleared this morning so I phoned my bank to warn them that there was going to be a large amount of money going out of my account today so that I can pay off and close my final credit card.

"No problem", the lady at the bank says "There's a transaction limit of £1,999.99 on your card so it'll need to be done in two transactions".  Shoulda known that things wouldn't be easy from there!  lol

I phoned BC and said I wanted to pay the full amount and close my account.  "We can't take such large payments over the phone, have you got online banking?"  Nope.  "You'll have to pay it off in the bank then because it's such a large amount".  I'm disabled and can't get into town to do it, that's why I phoned up to pay.  "Let me talk to someone about it then" says the lady at BC. 

She came back a couple of minutes later and said that because it was so large she could only take part of it over the phone today and I'd have to phone back to pay the rest tomorrow.

I paid the biggest chunk off with her and she's put a note on my account that I'm calling back tomorrow to clear the rest of it.

I can understand why they do it - it's for my own protection against fraudsters and stuff, but it's annoying that I can't pay off the full amount of debt that's been on my card since I was 18 (I'm 40 now) and I need to phone them twice to pay the whole lot off instead of being able to do it in one call!

Ho hum.  I'll be debt free at this time tomorrow though, so I suppose I can deal with the annoyance of having to call twice.

It's only taken 22 years!  lol

I'm never getting anything on credit ever again... if I want something that I can't afford then tough!

Wednesday 20 June 2018

Amanda 2 V phone survey bods 0 lol

Just had another survey company on the phone so I started going through my survey questions with her, she started getting angry and I just remained my calm, sweet, innocent little self.  The angrier she got the sweeter I became until she told me to stop wasting her time, so I replied with "you were the one who called me" and she hung up on me.

Such a powerful feeling to play them at their own game!  lol

Amanda 1 V survey bods 0 so far today

What a feeling of power!

We've just had a survey company on the landline and usually I let them talk to themselves until they hang up then I keep our phone connected to run up their phone bill for them.

Just had someone on the phone and I remembered that I had a survey of my own ready for anyone who wants to waste my time.  They are genuine questions that I'm genuinely interested in knowing the answers to, but they are phrased in the way that survey companies phrase them.

Didn't even get an answer to the first one before the poor lady got in a bit of a fluster, thanked me for my time then hung up... if I had any sympathy for them then I'd be feeling sorry for her now.

Hopefully word will quickly spread that I'm a survey bod too and every cold caller will get the same treatment so hopefully they'll leave us alone soon!  lol

Supplements taken

The Calcium and Iron went down OK but the Multi was a right royal PITA to swallow this morning!!

Puppy walked

Took the pup out for her stroll this morning... not as excited as yesterday but much better than the weekend!

Tuesday 19 June 2018

The pup is booked in to be groomed on Thursday

The groomer and Steve finally got together on the phone this afternoon and Mitzi is booked in to be groomed on Thursday afternoon - it's been needed for weeks and the weather is starting to heat up so she's going to be nice and cool for a few weeks after Thursday... bless 'er!

Puppy walked, supplements taken

Took Mitzi out first thing and she did an extra half without me even realising until it was pointless turning back!

Took me supplements and cracked on with checking my email then caught something on the telly that inspired me to write another Early Reader... just gotta find a friendly security guard online first so that I can check me facts!

Monday 18 June 2018

If my twins had lived...

I miscarried twins the week of my 19th birthday.

If they had lived they would be 21 by now, maybe married and maybe with their own children.

If they had lived, I might have been a grandma by now and Steve might have been a step-grandpa.

If they had lived, they might have been married and living with their chosen partner in their own little house.

Now there's very little chance of me becoming a mum (I've got Endometriosis which has prolly left me infertile and now that there's a family history of cancer I don't want to risk passing that on to any child we might have had) unless we adopt but because we are both over 40 the chances are slim even for that.

If my twins had lived, would they have come to Gloucester with me or wanted to stay in Oxford with their father?  Would they have loved Steve like I love him?  Called him Dad?

I'll never know now  😢

Sound problem sorted

Steve told me about Spotify 4 or 5 days ago and everything was fine for the first day and a halfish, then my headphones got really crackly so I bought myself a new set.

As soon as I plugged the new headphones in, I knew the problem was with the Spotify app instead of the headphones.

I've worked out how to fix most of the crackling now - don't have Chrome open at the same time and it works fine then!  Chrome was using over 2GB of memory on it's own so the whole time Chrome is open, it's using 80-odd% of the memory so I can totally see why Spotify was having problems now so from now on it's either having Chrome open and no music or close down Chrome and listen to music.

Annoying but necessary unfortunately.  Hopefully it'll mean that I can concentrate on writing for NaNo and JanNo without the distraction of Facebook or whatever trying to lure me away from writing the next best-seller in children's literature!

Supplements taken, puppy walked

After a reluctant weekend of walks where Mitzi really didn't want to leave the house, she was really excited about it this morning and was ready as soon as she heard me pick up her harness and lead and was at the bottom of the stairs ready to be harnessed up before I even got there!

A little while after we got home from the walk, the bins and recycling was picked up so I brought all that in and took it through to the kitchen.

Just taken me supplements too and it's not even lunchtime yet!!

The shopping is coming this evening as well, so it's a busy day for me today!

Sunday 17 June 2018

That's me prescription taken and me Amazon wishlist updated

Just taken me AP and I've added a set of 3 personal alarms to my Amazon wishlist, just in case I come off the pavement and into the road again and there's nobody around this time.  I'm a lot more paranoid about how close I get to the edge of pavements now... I've learnt me lesson!  lol

Mitzi's been walked, the bin bag and recycling box are out ready for the morning

The pup was reluctant to walk again this morning but, like yesterday, was fine when she got going.

The rubbish bag and recycling box are out and ready for collection first thing tomorrow as well so I'm gonna spend a while taking surveys now.  Bet I won't meet the criteria on most of them though!  lol

Supplements taken already

Just taken me supplements and it was OK taking them this morning.  The Calcium crumbs took a couple of mouthfuls of squash to get 'em all down but the Iron and Multi went down with no probs at all!

Saturday 16 June 2018

Virus scanning and back up done for another week

Just finished my weekly virus scan of me laptop - still virus free, so I backed up my hard drive like I do every Saturday and I'm all set for another week's putering now.

Supplements taken

All 3 of 'em were a nightmare to get down again... crumbs, disintegration and stubbornness pretty much sums up the three pills today!

Just got back from the family walkies

We've just got back from the family walkies and we did at least double the length I took her, just one way then we still had to come home so we've done more this morning than I usually do with her to make up for not going out yesterday. She was still reluctant to leave the house but was fine when she got going!

Friday 15 June 2018

My headphones have officially died, so...

They've been crackly for the last couple of months but they've just officially given up so I've just ordered the same ones that'll be here tomorrow 'cos we've got Prime.  Hopefully it'll come after we've taken the pup for her family walk otherwise I'll want to use them straight away.  Tsk!



With thanks to Gyppo on the writing forum I'm with for this...

I'm with an online writing forum and one of the parts of the forum is a fun/game board thingy.

A man called Gyppo said that it's a family thing to say 'What an I? Flypaper for freaks?' and I love it so much that I asked for his permission to use it on my blog.  He graciously granted me permission, so now, every time I rant about M I'll be using that saying too 'cos it sums up our relationship perfectly!  lol

Just seen this on Facebook - support for anyone struggling atm


Supplements taken

All 3 of 'em were a nightmare to take this morning and I'm now bloated because of all the squash I had to drink to take them all!

😞
 

Thursday 14 June 2018

That's me mum's birthday gift sorted

It's me mum's birthday on the 24th so I've just ordered her gift from Amazon... I just hope it's the right size!  lol

Just gotta get something for Steve for our anniversary then that's it sorted until August when I renew my SCBWI membership, September I renew my pre-payment certificate for my prescription, October is Steve's and C's birthday, November is my ESA renewal (hopefully) then December is Yule and Christmas!

We're already half way through 2018 and I've barely recovered from the first part of the year!  lol

The pup is definitely feeling her age now

Usually the pup jumps onto the sofa on the first attempt, yesterday it took two attempts which really knocked her confidence, bless her.

Just now though, she tried 3 times and still didn't make it onto the seat, so I lifted her up and she's settled on the back now, but I could see her confidence in herself plummetting with each failed attempt.  She's 9 years old at the end of June so maybe she just isn't as flexible as she used to be or something?

Poor little pup!

Hair trimmed and supplements taken

Just got back from having me hair trimmed and taken me supplements so they are starting to kick in now and I'm all set for the day.

Wednesday 13 June 2018

Pup walked, supplements taken

Took the pup on a short walk this morning after Monday's marathon and she's fast asleep in her bed again now, bless her.

Just a quick rant:  when Steve went to the hospital yesterday afternoon, he discovered that a cat had poo'd literally right outside our front door.  When I took Mitzi out just now, there was another pile of cat poo in the road outside next door.  The council were quick enough to accuse us of not picking up Mitzi's poo, but this is the third time a cat has done it recently but I bet the owners won't have anything through the post about it threatening them with court action like we did!

Rant over.

I've taken me supplements so I'm all set for a day of writing now!  Wish me luck!

Tuesday 12 June 2018

0% or 100%?

Now how would YOU grade the student?

HERE IS A STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM

I would have given him 100%, this is really thinking outside the box!!!!

Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die?
 * his last battle

Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
 * at the bottom of the page


Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?
 * liquid

Q4. What is the main reason for divorce?
 * marriage


Q5. What is the main reason for failure?
 * exams

Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?
 * Lunch & dinner

Q7. What looks like half an apple?
 * The other half
Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
 * It will simply become wet

 Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?
 * No problem, he sleeps at night.

Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
 * You will never find an elephant that has only one hand..

Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges
 in other hand, what would you have ?> * Very large hands

Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to
 build it?
* No time at all, the wall is already built.
 Q13. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
 *Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

Supplements taken

Other than a few escaped Calcium crumbs, all 3 of me supplements went down fine and dandy this morning, thankfully!

Our senior pup is an amazing girl!

Steve's just given her the first half of her anti-biotic pill and she just took it off him, chewed it a couple of times then swallowed it!  We didn't hide or disguise it or anything!

Such an amazing little girl!

Monday 11 June 2018

The poor pup is home again - yay!

Our poor pup went to the vets with Marie about an hour and a half ago... she's got another skin infection so has been given an antibiotic jab and we've got to give her half an anti-biotic pill every 12 hours then go back in a couple of weeks for her vaccine and we've got to get her groomed next week too.  Apparently she's had her claws clipped too which is brilliant.

We were both expecting it to cost literally hundreds but we were both wrong.

Less than £60!

The vaccination will be about £40 and grooming about £30 so it'll be an expensive couple of weeks, but she's sooooo worth it!

We would both have totally emptied our bank accounts if that's how much it cost... she's worth every penny we spend on her though!

We've spent tens of thousands on her over the last almost 8 years, but the love she gives back to us is worth it... she's an amazing little girl!

I'll be getting me tops from Matalan in future!

I've now officially given up with the top I bought from Amazon 'cos it keeps riding up to under me boobs and won't stay down, so, when we've paid for the pup's vet visit this afternoon I'm gonna go to Matalan to get me a few tops.

I know that if you buy cheap you buy twice, but I've currently only got one top, that I'm currently wearing, so I'm in desperate need of more tops or I'll be walking around in me bra while it's getting washed!

I'm only gonna spend £25-£30 but that should get me at least 3 tops that I've spotted for under a tenner each!

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements again... the Calcium was a right royal PITA to get down!  Grrr.

Sunday 10 June 2018

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements and they were a friggin' nightmare today!

The Calcium crumbs got caught between my lippy chin area and my gums, the Iron refused to be swallowed so it disintegrated and the Multi took at least 2 mouthfuls of squash to go down too!

Not good.

Steve's just washed our little girl

We've just washed Mitzi, ready to go to the vet tomorrow so that she can get her nails cut, her jab and to check over her skin that she's been biting recently.

Her poor back does look red so she's either somehow got lodgers that are irritating her or she's got the skin infection that she had when we first got her.  Either way, she'll be seen about it tomorrow and hopefully it's easily sorted out

She's scrabbling around on the floor getting dirty again now though!  lol

Saturday 9 June 2018

Joke from Facebook

A farmer had 5 female pigs. Times were hard, so he decided to take them to the county fair and sell them. At the fair, he met another farmer who owned five male pigs. After talking a bit, they decided to mate the pigs and split everything 50/50.

The farmers lived sixty miles apart, so they agreed to drive thirty miles each and find a field in which to let the pigs mate.

The first morning, the farmer with the female pigs got up at 5 A.M., loaded the pigs into the family station wagon, (which was the only vehicle he had) and drove the thirty miles.

While the pigs were mating, he asked the other farmer, "How will I know if they are pregnant?"
The other farmer replied, "If they're lying in the grass tomorrow morning, they're pregnant. If they're in the mud, they're not." 
 
The next morning the pigs were rolling in the mud, so he hosed them off, loaded them into the family station wagon again and proceeded to try again.

This continued each morning for more than a week and both farmers were worn out.

The next morning he was too tired to get out of bed. He called to his wife, "Honey, please look outside and tell me whether the pigs are in the mud or in the grass."

“Neither," yelled his wife, "they're all in the station wagon and one of them is honking the horn."

Taken me supplements/vlog/rant

I took me supplements while the virus scan was finishing off so that's done and dusted for the day.

While the scan was running I went to pick up me new glasses, came home and created a little video of me wearing 'em - totally different to my normal look 'cos they are big and bold and obvious so it'll take a while to get used to my new look but you can see what my new look is like below!  Let me know what you think?


Just while I'm waiting for the video to upload, I'll rant about how often Steve sees his family compared to how often I've seen my mum.

Yes, again.

I've seen my mum 3 times since the Summer of 2010 - once at my dad's funeral, once just after we got Mitzi and once for Christmas.  That's it since the Summer of 2010.

In the 5 days of next week, Steve's seeing his sister twice on Monday, his dad on Tuesday, again on Thursday when we get our hair cut and Steve's seeing his dad again on Friday.

One day in the entire week that he's not seeing his family and a grand total of seeing them 5 times in those 5 days.  That's more than I've seen my mum since my dad died in 2010.

The only reason I agreed to move all the way over here was on the condition that we regularly went back over to see my mum.

Steve agreed.

I dunno about you, dear reader, but I don't call 3 visits in 8 years "regular visits" do you??

Neither me nor me mum can drive so we've got the phone and that's it!  It's hardly fair that Steve sees his family almost double in 5 days than I've seen my mum since 2010!

The video has uploaded now so I'll shut up lol.  Leave me a comment to let me know what you think of my new glasses?

Friday 8 June 2018

I passed first time again!!

Got a score of 86% on my first try and the passing score was 80% so I only went and passed first time!

This calls for a celebratory bottle of Appletiser I reckon!

2 days!!

Just had a call from Vision Express to say my glasses are ready to be picked up already!

They quoted 2 weeks on Wednesday afternoon so 2 days is impressively quick!

WTG, Vision Express!!
 

Fantastic stuff!

I've just read an email from the OU disability bods and as long as I get awarded ESA in November I'll definitely be studying with them next year... I can so do this!!

Just gotta decide on which one to do first is all  lol

Thursday 7 June 2018

After a very slooooow start...

I've just finished studying the course so I'm gonna revise while Steve's out tomorrow then take the assessment when he comes home.  As long as I pass I'll crack open a bottle of Appletizer in celebration... I just hope I get multiple chances to pass if I fail first time!!

What I discovered in Module 7 was that there were 6 questions on the previous course's assessment that were in this course instead of in the Diploma so if I'd taken this course first then I would have got 6 of the 7 questions right that I got wrong on the diploma.  Hardly fair, is it?!  Using information in a totally different course but expect you to know the answers anyway!  Grrr.


About bleedin' time!!

Steve's just phoned his sister about the vet thing on Monday - it's taken since April to get it done but I can get off his case about it now!

We'll get the pup in the bath before Monday so that she's white instead of grey but it's a small job so I won't get onto Steve's case about it any more now.

Teabags

Just added a box of teabags to the shopping and for 50p more the box was double + 20 more than our usual box so I snapped that up PDQ!  I think it was 340 teabags for £4 instead of 160 for £3.50 which I'm guessing is a typo but it'll keep us going for several weeks if that's how much they charge for such a huge amount!

Supplements taken

Amazing!  3 supplements taken with 3 mouthfuls of squash!  Not even the Calcium crumbs misbehaved this time!!  Awesome!

Pup walked, vet appointment made

Just got back from walking the pup and Steve eventually got around to making the appointment at the vet for her too so that she can get her immunisations that are long overdue (apparently they were due in November 2017!!), to get her claws clipped as they are touching her pads now and to see if she's got the start of her skin condition coming back that she had when we first got her.

She's worth it though and we'll be able to afford up to £1,000 between us if we need to, to get it all sorted.

She's an expensive pup but is worth it 'cos she's priceless to us!

Wednesday 6 June 2018

Back from me sight test now

Just got back from me sight test and the results are in... in the 13 and a bit months since I last had a sight test, only me left eye has changed and even that was only slight, so they've signed me off for 2 years this time so I won't need to go back until June 2020.

Even better though, is that it was all sorted for under £27 even though the new frames themselves cost £85!!

Apparently, because of the benefits I get I'm entitled to £54 to either totally pay or part pay for the frames, the lenses are included and because me mum is diabetic I get money off for that too!  The NHS paid 30p (not a typo) too because my sight is so bad and I need such strong lenses.  Considering I was thinking it'd be £100 minimum just for the frames then another £50 for the test and hundreds more for the lenses because they are so strong, to come out only paying £27 all in I'm really impressed!

I'll definitely keep going back to them to get my sight tests done... they are more thorough than my previous optitian, they've got a huge range of frames and the lenses are included with the frames too which is even better!

Get your sight tested with Vision Express folks!

Supplements taken

They all went down OK today... even the Calcium crumbs behaved!

Pup walked, tyres pumped up

The pup wanted her walk in the morning today, so I took her out and she poo'd so Steve cleared it up and discovered that Patrick's front tyres were as flat as a pancake so he pumped them up for me while I turned on the water heater for me bath ready for going to get me eyes tested at lunchtime.

Gonna take me supplements then shut me laptop down so that I can jump in the bath before going out again.

Tuesday 5 June 2018

5 down, 2 to go then it's assessment time again!

Just finished module 5 out of 7 then module 8 is the assessment... hope I remember it all 'cos I'll have had a break in studying because of getting my eyes tested tomorrow so I'll need to do a lot of revising before I start the assessment so that I don't fail it!

Should have done this course before the diploma as it's got the answer to at least 3 of the questions I got wrong in it!  lol

Prescription requested and, for the third consecutive day...

Just requested my prescription online and for the third consecutive day we're having take away.  Chinese.  Again.

Like I posted in the early hours, my opinion was totally ignored yet again.  You'd think that by now Steve would have learnt not to ask what I want to eat because he always gets the final choice and my opinion is totally worthless. 

Again.

If my opinion was taken into account even occasionally then I wouldn't be whining about it, but as far as everyone seems to be concerned, when it comes to me I don't have feelings or an opinion.

*sigh*

😞
 

That's the pup walked

I'm gonna take my lead from her 'cos she absolutely refuses to walk in mornings and afternoons but seems to be more willing in the evenings so that's what we'll do unless she changes her mind.

She also seems to know that I struggle to pick up her poo and stay upright so she walks until she can barely hold it in then comes home and pretty much straight away goes out the back for a poo, bless her.

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements and they all went down OK this time.  Even the Calcium crumbs kinda behaved and only took 2 mouthfuls of squash to get it all down me throat which was awesome!

The Iron and Multi went down with one mouthful each too so I is a happy bunny atm!

Just hope I can get my studying done so easily too.

Just had Vision Express on the phone

Apparently my appointment is at 1.55pm not 2pm like it said on the site.  It's only 5 minutes difference but what if I had something planned for 1.55 that would take 5 minutes??

Tsk!

Early morning rant about opinions

It's 3.42am and I can't get back to sleep until I've ranted about this so I figured I'd come down and rant until I felt calmer about the subject then I'll go back to bed for the rest of the night.

Here goes:

Opinions.

I've got them but rarely voice them because they always get over-ridden by someone else.

It can be as minor as what to have for tea or as big as getting my eyes tested or even my health.

I can easily give you 2 examples just from the last 7 days:

First is a frequent opinion over-rider about tea... the conversation always goes pretty much word for word like this:

Me:  What we doing about lunch?
Steve:  Dunno.
Me:  How about lasagne?
Steve:  Nah.
Me:  Pasta bake?
Steve: Takes too long to cook
Me:  Egg on toast then?
Steve:  Nah.
Me:  Do you even want to cook anything?
Steve:  Nope.
Me:  How about sarnies then?
Steve:  Nah.
Me:  What do you want to eat then?
Steve:  Take away.
Me:  But we have take-aways pretty much every day and I'm getting bored of it!
Steve:  This will be the last one this week.
Me:  You said that yesterday and you'll say it again tomorrow too I bet!
Steve:  I know, but I'll feel more up to it tomorrow.
Me:  *sighing*  What sort of take away are we having then?
Steve:  Whatever you want
Me: Curry
Steve:  Nah
Me:  Pizza
Steve:  Nah
Me:  Burger then?
Steve:  Nah
Me:  What do you want then?
Steve:  Chinese
Me:  we'd better have that then I suppose!


Same with the sight test.  I got a letter at the beginning of April saying that my sight test was due so I asked Steve to ask his dad about taking me down there.  He promised he would, yet a month later and he still hadn't done it and I got a reminder through the post so I asked him again.

He "forgot" to ask his dad so I charged up Patrick's batteries but apparently I didn't even ask Steve about asking his dad so I asked him if he could phone and ask him now.

"Maybe later" says Steve.

"I'll go down in Patrick on Monday if you haven't asked him before Sunday then" says me.

"You'll never get there alone" says Steve.

"So ask your dad about taking me down instead then!" says me.

"I've already said I will!" huffs Steve.

"You said that back in April too" says me.

"No I did not!  This is the first I've heard you talk about it!" lies Steve.

"I always tell you straight away 'cos we both know what my memory is like!" says me.

"Whatever" sighs Steve.

He's supposed to be caring for me for 35 hours a week because he gets carers allowance for it, but I'm lucky if I get an hour of care a week... he does my bra up for me which takes seconds but that's it!

I'm not allowed an opinion on that either - according to Steve he works hard to provide for me and cares for me for 15 hours a day, which is total bullshit!

Anyway, back to opinions.

I've signed up to survey sites to give my opinion in surveys too, but about 90% of those come up saying that I don't meet the criteria after I've clicked on the link.  Why invite me to give my opinion in that bloody survey then??

I can't even give my full opinion in here without leaving off some information so that the people I'm talking about don't have a go at me for expressing my opinions even though they constantly do it themselves!

The courses I take too:  assessment questions ask for my opinion so I give it and I'm failed because "that's not what the workbook says" or "you need to read the question more thoroughly" or "that's not what the course materials said".  Maybe not, but the question asked for my opinion not for what the course said about it!!

The same with other people too - they ask me for my opinion on something, I give it and they reject it in favour of their own preference.

Book and magasine choices are frowned on if they are displayed in my own damn house so I've had to go to reading books online instead.

Music choices are laughed at.

I learnt from a young age that it was easier all round to say "I dunno" or "don't mind either way" even if I do, 'cos people don't give two hoots about how I really feel as long as they get what they want.

"Do you want to do this or that?" asks the person I'm speaking to.

Honestly I want to do the other but because I'm not allowed opinions I always lie and say "I don't mind" so that I'm not required to justify my opinion to them and made to feel bad for voicing my opinion.

Nobody wants my genuine opinion, they want me to agree with them so that they can do what they want to do and because I've given them permission to make the choice, there's no comeback for me either!

It's just easier all around to keep my opinions and feelings bottled up inside me, just like I've always done.

Rant over.

It's 4.37am now and I'm a bit calmer so I'm gonna go back up to bed.

Morning, morning all!

Monday 4 June 2018

Module 3 finished

Just finished the second module of the day and I've already taken my prescription so I'm gonna shut down and go to bed now... bet I'll still be awake at 10pm though!  lol

That's me sight test booked online

Wednesday 6th at 2pm... you watch me forget now!

I'll need to take me bag, phone and Patrick to the appointment... can pretty much guarantee I'll forget at least one of those too!

Module 2 finished already, so...

Just finished module 2 and it only took 6 hours instead of 12 today, so I'm gonna take the pup out on her walk then make a start on module 3!!

I could get used to this!

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements so I'm all set for another day of studying now.  I'll take the pup for her walk this evening to let the pavement cool down again for her little paws!

Sunday 3 June 2018

12 hours later...

Started studying a course that was supposed to take 3-4 hours to complete.

12 hours later and I've only just finished the first module!!

4 times the advertised length just for a single module instead of the whole course!

I know how to pronounce pedogogy now though!  lol

That's the puppy walked

I was going to take her this morning but by the time I got down here the pavement would have been too hot for her little paws.

It's still muggy and humid out there but I didn't want to forget about doing it so I took her for a short walk and she's flaked out by the door now... wish I could join her!!

Saturday 2 June 2018

*ahem*

I passed first time with a score of 86% and that's without any kind of revision at all and 4 days without any kind of studying at all so I'd forgotten everything!

😁

I was going to treat myself to a pdf of my first ever diploma, but they want €65 for the digital version or €96 for the paper version.

I'm proud of myself for getting through it first time but I'm not stupid enough to fork out that much cash!!

92% on the third assessment

Got 2 wrong early on but all the rest were right so I scored a huge 92% first time on the third assessment!!

Module 17 done

Time for the third assessment that I have to get over 80% on to pass again then it's the references bit and then the final assessment of the whole course!

Wish me luck... I'm gonna need it!  lol

Module 16 done

I was wrong.  There were 2 modules to the third assessment but there's another module before the final assessment!

Basically, what I reckon I'll do is to do the modules and third assessment today then the final assessment tomorrow.

It's only an extra couple of hours of studying but I'll have to delay the revision until tomorrow instead of doing it tonight  😞  Not to worry though, it means that I'm more likely to remember stuff if I've only just revised it, instead of sleeping and potentially forgetting it all by the next morning like I was planning to do.

Ho hum.

Pup walked, supplements taken again

Mitz was ready for walkies as soon as I got downstairs this morning, bless her!

I took her out for her walk then she came home and poo'd in the back yard but I think she's almost constipated bless her 'cos it took a while for it to come out, even though she was squatting down and trying to push it out.  I hope she'll be OK tomorrow!

Just taken me supplements and Steve's promised that we'll have pasta bake for lunch today so hopefully I'll have finished module 16 by the time it's ready, then I'll study module 17 after we've eaten and revise everything until bed time, ready to take the final assessment tomorrow morning.

Wish me luck!

Friday 1 June 2018

Module 15 finished too

My fourth module of the day is done and dusted.

Got 2 more modules to study tomorrow then the entire course assessment and it's finito!

Not bad going for 8 days studying with 4 of those days with no studying at all!

Module 14 done too

That's 3 modules I've completed today.

Considering it took 8 hours just to do a single module, I reckon that's good going!

Module 15 is short and I'm not tired yet, so I'll do that one then that'll be it for the day I reckon.

Module 13 done and dusted already!!

Just finished my second module of the day!

Module 14 is a short one too so assuming I get through it before 9.30pm I'll have done 3 modules today too which is awesome!

It's taken literally all day, but...

Just finished module 12.

I was studying it since about 10am so it took 8 long hours of constant studying and 22 A4 pages of notes!!

Gonna take me prescription and do module 13 then head to bed.

Are 25-44 year olds considered children??

I could understand about the Durrants being included in the course more than I can understand the reason for 25-44 year olds and their suicide rates being included in Module 12!

The title of this course is "Diploma in Children's Studies" after all!

They seem to be including all ages in this course, instead of concentrating on children, which is what I signed up to learn about!

I'm willing to accept up to 19 years old as being children and that's what this course gave as the maximum age for this course studies so why are they including suicide rates for, obvious by anyone's standards, adults?!

I'm supposed to be learning about children, not adults FFS!!

Pup walked, supplements taken

Took the pup out for her morning walkies then took me supplements.  Had to set the virus scan going a second time because something was running that was using 100% of the CPU and no matter what I closed down, it didn't reduce it so I tried restarting but that didn't do anything so I had to use the power button to restart it and re-start the virus scan.

Not happy.

I've just emailed about unenrolling from the equality and diversity course too 'cos with all the email problems I've been having since Steve removed the battery on Monday, I've been able to do precisely nothing other than stuff that is totally online, like the studying!

Not a happy bunny.

😐