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Nov. 29th, 2006
So...you know how they decided I was no longer eligible for my Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit? Well, I managed to get them to reassess me, rather than force me to reapply all over again, and I got the re-evaluation back in the post yesterday (I should mention at this point that I have still not gotten the letter to let me know the benefits had been taken off me...) along with my revised council tax bill.
The kind folks at the Benefit office have decide I'm entitled to about twenty quid off my weekly rent. So instead of paying them £150 a month, which would always keep me a little bit in credit, they now want about £250 a month. And my tax bill? They're expecting me to pay £155 in January and February to get me up to date.
I could cry, I really could.
Couldn't come at a worse time too, as it's the rugrat's birthday a week Sunday and we're having his party this Saturday. He wants it at the Jungle Gym again which, while it's convenient as I can just send the kids in to play and all the food's done for me, it's not cheap. This'll be the last year for one of these kinds of parties, I think. It's been really stressful as I've been having to keep the invites to a minimum without seeming unfair. And I've been requesting the parents RSVP to my mobile's voicemail - I'm convinced one little girl didn't turn up last year 'cause of the way I stammered at her mother down the phone....hate the bloody things, especially when strangers are calling me.
Plus there's Christmas. I'm not one of the unlucky souls - my mother included - who lost all their Christmas savings when Fairpack/Park Hampers went under, but I still can't really afford it.
Rowan's been a little nightmare today too; he refused to eat breakfast until we were already running late, and decided to play instead of get dressed. As a result we were ten minutes or so late getting him to school. We've been later than that, but too recently for comfort, so I was pretty stressed. Then on the bus home he kept nagging to go over Raphael's house to play, eventually bursting into tears when I refused for about the fifth time on the grounds he'd been naughty that morning.
He was also banned from the TV and the computer, so he played with his toys all evening. This lead to about an hour of back and forth between us about clearing them all away. After a while I started threatening him with the big box again; at first he was unhappy with the idea, but then his defiant side kicked in and he started telling me to go ahead and do it. This was soon nipped in the bud when I explained to him that if I did that, I'd also be including his birthday presents. This was not acceptable as I think he figured he could stand to lose his old toys if he was going to be getting all new ones for his birthday! *chuckles*
By the time we got all his toys put away, I was so irritated with him I refused him his bedtime story, took away his books and forbade him to turn his bedside light on. This lead to another half an hour of fighting over the main light and the hallway light, and I now have both his lamp and his lightbulb on the dining table. When that didn't make him behave I also took away Bobo....
*sighs* I've another fourteen years of this, guys....or I will if I lose my nerve.
I was already irritated at him 'cause he let Raphael play with my DC action figures yesterday evening while I was making Maria, Coral and Davide coffee. *growls* I didn't say anything at the time 'cause we had guests, but one of the first things I did this evening was move them all into my room. Raphael's a good, sweet kid, but I didn't like the way he was acting out fight scenes between my figures - including Robin-on-a-motorbike and the Japanese ones that are only meant to be looked at. The bolt for the broken wheel on Oracle's wheelchair has now gone missing too, so I'll probably never be able to get that fixed.
Raphael and Davide did call by for about half an hour around tea time, to return the films I'd let them borrow yesterday. We chatted about movies while Raphael nosed through my DVD library again, and they ended up borrowing another couple of films - along with Rowan's Rose Tyler and Batman action figures! *laughs* Davide's offered to lend me a couple of his dvds tomorrow in return, which is kind of him. Maria certainly knows how to raise polite kids...I should pay attention! *wink*
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thaya_rayal called me this evening, which was lovely though I did have to put the phone down to deliver a smackdown at one point. He was running up and down the hallway, thinking I was oblivious...little idiot. Even now I'm not entirely sure he's asleep. Thaya and I had a good old natter, till it was time for her to go watch Torchwood *grins* Fairly good episode this week, and plenty of places I recognised. The scene where Tosh is standing in the town centre observing people was filmed around the corner from my office - they seem to like that part of town very much! Anyone paying attention will notice she's standing outside the same shopping arcade Rose's mum was in during ChrisDoc's first episode, just a different entrance. I still think the whole Gwen/Owen thing is just so many kinds of wrong *shudder* And poor Captain Jack! Whatever the Eye of Omega did to him, it's gotta be seriously messing him up....
Plus I submitted my first assignment for the French course I'm doing with the Open University...*bites nails* Hope I didn't mess it up!
The kind folks at the Benefit office have decide I'm entitled to about twenty quid off my weekly rent. So instead of paying them £150 a month, which would always keep me a little bit in credit, they now want about £250 a month. And my tax bill? They're expecting me to pay £155 in January and February to get me up to date.
I could cry, I really could.
Couldn't come at a worse time too, as it's the rugrat's birthday a week Sunday and we're having his party this Saturday. He wants it at the Jungle Gym again which, while it's convenient as I can just send the kids in to play and all the food's done for me, it's not cheap. This'll be the last year for one of these kinds of parties, I think. It's been really stressful as I've been having to keep the invites to a minimum without seeming unfair. And I've been requesting the parents RSVP to my mobile's voicemail - I'm convinced one little girl didn't turn up last year 'cause of the way I stammered at her mother down the phone....hate the bloody things, especially when strangers are calling me.
Plus there's Christmas. I'm not one of the unlucky souls - my mother included - who lost all their Christmas savings when Fairpack/Park Hampers went under, but I still can't really afford it.
Rowan's been a little nightmare today too; he refused to eat breakfast until we were already running late, and decided to play instead of get dressed. As a result we were ten minutes or so late getting him to school. We've been later than that, but too recently for comfort, so I was pretty stressed. Then on the bus home he kept nagging to go over Raphael's house to play, eventually bursting into tears when I refused for about the fifth time on the grounds he'd been naughty that morning.
He was also banned from the TV and the computer, so he played with his toys all evening. This lead to about an hour of back and forth between us about clearing them all away. After a while I started threatening him with the big box again; at first he was unhappy with the idea, but then his defiant side kicked in and he started telling me to go ahead and do it. This was soon nipped in the bud when I explained to him that if I did that, I'd also be including his birthday presents. This was not acceptable as I think he figured he could stand to lose his old toys if he was going to be getting all new ones for his birthday! *chuckles*
By the time we got all his toys put away, I was so irritated with him I refused him his bedtime story, took away his books and forbade him to turn his bedside light on. This lead to another half an hour of fighting over the main light and the hallway light, and I now have both his lamp and his lightbulb on the dining table. When that didn't make him behave I also took away Bobo....
*sighs* I've another fourteen years of this, guys....or I will if I lose my nerve.
I was already irritated at him 'cause he let Raphael play with my DC action figures yesterday evening while I was making Maria, Coral and Davide coffee. *growls* I didn't say anything at the time 'cause we had guests, but one of the first things I did this evening was move them all into my room. Raphael's a good, sweet kid, but I didn't like the way he was acting out fight scenes between my figures - including Robin-on-a-motorbike and the Japanese ones that are only meant to be looked at. The bolt for the broken wheel on Oracle's wheelchair has now gone missing too, so I'll probably never be able to get that fixed.
Raphael and Davide did call by for about half an hour around tea time, to return the films I'd let them borrow yesterday. We chatted about movies while Raphael nosed through my DVD library again, and they ended up borrowing another couple of films - along with Rowan's Rose Tyler and Batman action figures! *laughs* Davide's offered to lend me a couple of his dvds tomorrow in return, which is kind of him. Maria certainly knows how to raise polite kids...I should pay attention! *wink*
thaya_rayal called me this evening, which was lovely though I did have to put the phone down to deliver a smackdown at one point. He was running up and down the hallway, thinking I was oblivious...little idiot. Even now I'm not entirely sure he's asleep. Thaya and I had a good old natter, till it was time for her to go watch Torchwood *grins* Fairly good episode this week, and plenty of places I recognised. The scene where Tosh is standing in the town centre observing people was filmed around the corner from my office - they seem to like that part of town very much! Anyone paying attention will notice she's standing outside the same shopping arcade Rose's mum was in during ChrisDoc's first episode, just a different entrance. I still think the whole Gwen/Owen thing is just so many kinds of wrong *shudder* And poor Captain Jack! Whatever the Eye of Omega did to him, it's gotta be seriously messing him up....Plus I submitted my first assignment for the French course I'm doing with the Open University...*bites nails* Hope I didn't mess it up!
