...is turning into a swan!

After the boiler saga we decided to tackle Christmas shopping this week.  It was postponed from last week as we had no idea how much we would have to fork out to get the boiler fixed/replaced.  A lot of what the kids want is available from Amazon so I decided to do most of my shopping there.  I spent Monday morning putting my order together making a point of only order in-stock items that would be coming direct from Amazon, every single one of which stated that if I ordered that day my order could be delivered on Tuesday morning if I opted for Express Delivery.  Of course on Tuesday my parcel didn’t arrive so i checked my order; it said that it would be despatched on Wednesday to arrive Thursday!!!  I checked all the items again, they were all still in stock and available for delivery Wednesday with Express Delivery.  E-mailing Amazon got me nowehere.  I clicked the link for them to call me - I got cut off 3 times, put through to the French system once, eventually I was put through to someone who spoke unintelligible English who clearly couldn’t hear me anyway and I had no option but to hang up.  I finally found a functional Customer Services number via Google.  Amazon’s desptach centre is overwhelmed, they can’t put the orders together quickly enough.  Although Amazon is still offering next day delivery on in-stock items they cannot actually meet this undertaking.  As I was back at work from Thursday I had to cancel the order which then meant heading back to Meadowhell on Wednesday to try and find replacements for the stuff I’d ordered from Amazon.  I have also been in in touch with the Trading Standards Office as I believe it is illegal to make claims you know you can’t fulfill.

The only other thing that is taking up my time right now is, of course, World of Warcraft.  I have got my priest to 70 and like it so much I’ve rolled another one!  I levelled Hulan as a shadow priest with the intention of re-specing Holy once she turned 70.  All the way I PUG’d instances to get the healing experience and I’ve discovered that I really enjoy healing.  Hoever, I really enjoy playing a shadow priest too, they are amazing.  To date I have played a hunter, mage, druid and warrior and i think the shadow priest was the easiest of them all to level.  Levelling another should be even easier since the XP changes came in; it was sod’s law that Hulan hit 60 3 days before the XP changes were released!  After Chritsmas I want to crack on on with my druid who has been languishing at level 50 since TBC was released.  Now I’ve discovered the joy of healing I really want to try out her healing skills.

The update was that, in his opinion, our boiler was fubar and we need approximately £1500 of new boiler.  Not only that but having switched off the boiler and restarted it, it wasn’t heating up anything at all so we had no heating an no hot water.  In addition to the expansion vessel there’s a problem with the gas pressure in the boiler, the plumber had no idea why this was so and his only suggestion was to replace it.  At this point I decided to cancel the planned Christmas Shopping trip on Tuesday as Christmas was probably cancelled because we couldn’t afford Cristmas and a new boiler.

David spent yesterday ringing up the boiler manufacturer who said it would be a week until they could come and look at it so instead rang British Gas, took out one of their maintenance plans and an engineer came today.  The boiler doesn’t need replacing, it needs a new gas valve and expansion vessel, the parts are in stock and ordered and he’s coming to fit them tomorrow afternoon.  The only down side is that I’m on nights and so will need to get up early when he arrives however that’s a small price to pay for heating and hot water.

I hope I get this right, I’ve had rather a lot of wine and some painkillers!  I was tagged by Bea and these are the rules :

1. Post a short blog article that includes a photograph (or a series of photos) showing the face behind your blog. If you already show a photo somewhere on your site, then make your post more interesting by choosing a photo that’s not currently online.

2. Include links to other people who have displayed a photo.

I will put people here that have followed me to keep the chain going… so make sure to let me know so I can put your links here.

3. Link back to the original post.

4. Tag as many others as you like.

Hmm, who shall I tag?  Lee and Elle

Did I do it right or did I miss something?

Here is a very snoozy Oscar who joined David on our bed.  David had a small op on his foot last week so has been making the most of the instruction to stay off his foot and keep it elevated!  This is the same David who isn’t a “cat person”!

Oscar really is a cheeky little bugger and needs to learn some manners.  When I got home from work this morning I let him out of the living room; Lev was in the kitchen eating some dried food.  Oscar just barged in, pushing Lev out of the way and tucked in!  Lev, the big softie, just sat and waited patiently for Oscar to finish.  Finally, Oscar had had enough and made room for Lev but as soon as he heard Lev start to eat he decided to come back for seconds.  Again Lev waited patiently - in my opinion he should have smacked Oscar on the nose and made him wait, hehe.  Later I put some wet food down for them, in a big dish with plenty of room for 2 heads...so I thought.  Nope, Oscar muscles his way in, stands in the dish and starts hogging all the food; he was scoffing it as fast as he could.  In the end I had to pull Oscar out of the way and hold him back to Lev could get in and grab a mouthful - Oscar was running on the spot, crying, trying to get back inthe dish as fast as he could.  I can see I’m going to have to keep a close eye on Oscar to make sure Lev is getting his fair share!

I showed Oscar where the food and water was.  He took one look at the dried food and sat down, looking up at me expectantly.  Lorraine, the breeder, has given me lots of bits and pieces which includes samples of different kinds of food.  I opened one of the little tins and put half down in a dish for Oscar who promptly tucked in and scoffed the lot.  Lev watched from afar, too afraid to come and investigate the wonderful smell of salmon!  When Oscar moved off Lev moved in and licked the bowl.  I wonder how long it will take Lev to smack Oscar on the nose and put the newcomer in his place?

Once I have all the data in place I will start working on the design but I couldn’t resist making a start on the Splash Page; this what it will look like.

I believe that anyone who is fat should feel comfortable in their own skin, that society needs to change its attitude to appearance (and not just weight) but on the other hand there are people who are fat because their parents stuffed them full of either the wrong food or too much food and who never learned to eat properly.  Should they/we accept that?  When someone has health issues because they are fat, there arteries are furring up, what is the issue?  Is it that they are fat?  They eat too much or too much of the wrong thing?  Maybe it would be easier to address these issues if “being fat” wasn’t itself so wrapped up in judgements and attitudes and pre-conceived ideas/assumptions about fat people.

I’m thinking out loud here and think I’m starting to answer my own question.  It’s early I need more coffee and a bacon and egg butty!

The SENCO also suggested Megan keep a diary of exactly what happens when.  She can either do it school or at home, on paper on PC.  Of course Megan immediately wanted the hi-tech option, ie, a blog.  I’ve set her a blog up and password-protected the whole site - now she just needs to remember to update it.

The SENCO also had lots of good ideas to help Megan get organised.  One of the thing that annoys me about her school is that pupils have no personal storage space, eg, lockers.  Megan is so paranoid about forgetting to take things that she needs that she keeps everything in her bag and carries it all to and fro every day.  I really don’t know how she carries it all as I can hardly pick the bag up!  She looks like she’s heading up Everest when she sets out for school in the morning, plus I worry about her hurting her back.  Apparently what they can do in exceptional cirmcumstances (and Megan counts) is allocate her a drawer in the Learning Support Unit where she can keep her stuff.  She will just need to go and get her stuff in the morning and put it away after school.  She’s also going to set her up a colour-coded homework folder and timetable/planner so it’s much easier for her to see what she’s got to do, when.

All in all we came away feeling positive, only time will tell!