New Home

Last week I was feeling pretty low. It wasn't really post holiday blues because on the way home I received and invitation to go to another Center Parcs, and then on the evening I found out that I'd won a holiday to Blackpool! Plenty of treats for us this year then.

I guess the holiday followed immediately by our weekend in London and trip to Legoland did take it's toll. We were all very tired. Ok, absolutely knackered. And it affected some of us more than others resulting in someone's very bad and selfish mood which put a damper on things for me.

Then back home there was another incident which upset me, but has since been resolved and I shouldn't have been so hasty to judge.

So I was feeling low already before I decided to take a look and see if there were any homes available for us this week on the housing transfer website. I logged on and there in big red letters were the words, 'suspended from bidding' I was so upset. I tried calling, all day long, but the line was permanently engaged. I whipped off an e-mail and got an automated reply saying that my e-mail would be read within 28 days!!! I was bloody furious. I had a bit of a tantrum and announced (well, I say announced, I was the only person listening) that I was no longer wanting to move house, I'd given up and was going to stay here until I died.

The next morning I went to the cemetery to talk to mum. I had a lot to say and sometimes I feel she's the only person I can really talk to even though she's not here any more. I knew she would have said all the right things if she could.

On returning home I found an e-mail telling me to ring a number urgently and that it was to do with my  housing transfer. The person I urgently had to speak to was out of office. Bloody typical.

The next morning I got a phone call....offering me a brand new five bedroomed house.
I didn't really take it in at first, but the woman on the phone arranged to come and visit the same day.

The first thing I asked her was would I be fighting for this house along with others. On the bidding system six people are chosen to view then a final decision is made to who gets the house. She said no, I was the only person and if I accepted the house on viewing then it was mine.

The house has not been finished being built yet. I went to look at it and it had no windows, floors or doors, but the main structure was there and  I have the plans for the finished house. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am. I've been on Google Street map and 'walked' the area over and over, the routes to the schools, the shops, the church. I've studied the bus time tables and even checked to see if we will be able to keep our Virgin tv and broadband.

Deep down, I think my mum had something to do with this.

There is one problem hanging over it all right now, it's complicated to explain but I'll try briefly. We can't move unless our rent account is clear and currently it's showing an overpayment of housing benefit. This was news to me so I phoned the housing benefit and they said I didn't owe anything. I phoned the rent and they said I owed housing benefit, I told them that the housing benefit office said I didn't and they told me to call the housing benefit office and sort it out with them. So I called them back and they said there was nothing to sort out. I screamed, but not down the phone.

So I went to speak to someone in person but they couldn't work out what had happened but put an urgent request into head office to sort it. I was told it would be sorted in a few days but rang again and was told it could take 28 days. So I rang again (how many calls is that?) and demanded to speak to someone higher up so was put through to a manager. They have now put my query on Emergency which means a 48 hours response. I truly hope so because I have until next Friday to sort it out or I lose the house. I'm 100% sure that it is a mistake and have all the documentation to prove it, but if it isn't sorted then my only option to not lose my house is to pay £685 (which I haven't got) to pay a bill that I don't owe. I don't even know who I would pay it too.

There's always something. I'm trying to stay positive that it will be sorted.
please keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, and I still don't know why I'm suspended from bidding...not that I want any other house now.

Happy times in June

This is a post for my blessings jar.
Last week we had a wonderful week in Center Parcs. The place was absolutely beautiful, our lodge where we stayed was lovely and the views of the forest I woke up to every morning will stay with me always. The little ones had a great time, lots of fun and they didn't really play up that much. Well, apart from Joe who is currently taking his terrible twos in full swing *sigh*
The weather wasn't so good but to be honest we didn't really notice. Anyway, the trees are great shelter in the rain :)
The spa day was most definitely a blessing. I absolutely loved every moment. And after three hours of sauna's and spa pools I went for a relaxing massage and facial. It was good! (and even better knowing that I hadn't paid for any of it~)

We spent the holiday with some lovely friends. We had planned activities that we did together and chose to have a BBQ back at the lodge together the one evening. Otherwise we didn't feel obliged to spend every second together and it felt comfortable. Apart from the Spa my second favourite event was the BBQ, we got a little drunk and had fun. (of course someone had to have a little rant and spoil things a little but by then I just didn't care thanks to the Jager bombs)

Since coming home things have not been so good, but this holiday will forever be a blessing and a wonderful memory.

Blog summit

So I went to blog summit this year, last year it was blog camp. The venue was the same. Last year I was muddling my way through blogging, this year I've come so far, made so many friends and made it to the award finals.

At the summit I felt like I actually fitted in. I was more confident and relaxed and had a really good day. I also met too very lovely ladies who I spent the day with. I bumped into a couple of old friends and talked to some really nice ladies. I'm definitely beginning to feel blessed in the world of blogging. I just hope I can keep it up because I love it so much.

April Catch up

Sorry blog, I keep leaving you until the last minute.
April has had it's ups and downs, but although the down was pretty low (I lost another house that I wanted) the ups have been really good.

Cassie is finally getting the treatment that should work for her, she's just gone to her second session so still early but I have big hopes.

Joseph has been toilet trained and it was relatively easy. He's a clever boy.
On the down side he had a nasty fall and hit his head, we had to call an ambulance but decided against hospital for observation. I was ok with observing him myself and the ambulance stayed with us for 45 mins.

The last weekend I've just spent in Nottingham with some lovely friends. I was really nervous leaving the kids , I knew they would be safe, I just worried about them missing me (And me missing them) All was well though and I had a great time. Lots of food and squalking, walking and talking and even a fair bit of drinking :-) We were really lucky with the weather, it was so warm and sunny, best day of the year so far.

Counting my Blessings for March

Despite March being a difficult month I've also had good moments.
I had a trip to London with the Little Man and Cassie because we were invited to a press party for children's shoes. Joseph had a turn on the catwalk and was absolutely adorable. I felt so proud of him and he was so well behaved all day.
Also, we heard that we are going to Legoland in June as part of a treat for getting to the finals of the blog awards.

I made it to the finals!!!

Thursday evening I saw a tweet from the MAD blog awards saying the finalists were live on the site. I ignored it. I wanted to go on dreaming a little longer and I was convinced they were going to be announced on Friday. Then I saw the congratulatory tweets to those on the list and I just couldn't resist. Hopefully some of my friends would be on there. I scrolled down reading through familiar and unfamiliar blogs and then I couldn't believe my eyes. There was my blog just sitting there in the School days category. I went back to Twitter, not sure what to do, I was shaking and crying. I really couldn't believe it and went back for another look. yep it was still there. I had to take a screen shot just in case it disappeared.  Then I received a couple of congratulatory tweets, so it had to be true if other people could see my blog there too! I poured myself a nice glass of wine to celebrate.

BTW, it's not this blog that has made the finals but my other one. I've not even posted about it on there yet!

Things that made me happy in February.

Since becoming a reviewer I've received lots of free stuff to review and it's so nice to get stuff in the post to keep all in return for a post on my other blog. I've had some really lovely things and this week I had lovely little bike delivered for Joseph. He really loves it already.
This weekend I'm going to be designing my own personal photo frame from i-photo. It looks lovely, I did consider making one for Graham's mum for Mother's Day, but as I know I won't be getting anything I've decided to keep it for myself, stingy I know ;-)

Also, the big blog awards started a few weeks ago, I'd really love to go but last year I think I  managed 1 nomination in one category and probably no votes. I was fairly new on the scene and had only stumbled on the awards anyway so I wasn't bothered. I followed the award ceremony last September through Twitter live and after wards on blogs and I thought how lovely it would be to be a part of it all. So when I discovered I'd been nominated I was thrilled. Then to find I'd been nominated 6 times gave me some hope so I shamelessly asked friends and family to nominate me too. Now I'm waiting for the results. I don't have much hope really the competition is incredibly fierce, but I'm still happy that I got nominations, especially the ones I received before I asked. If I got through to the finals I would be so happy.

Finally, we had a fantastic day out last week during half term. It was only to the Nature Centre but it all went really smoothly and there was no arguments all day. G did spend most of the day on his mobile but I let him off as it was his birthday and he was probably checking his messages. (I didn't take my phone, I've stopped taking it out with me now, I take my watch and a camera instead.)


So here are my blessing for February, I'm still counting :-)

Award

This is for my blessings page, good things that happen throughout the year that I can look back on and know that it's not all been bad.

This week I won an award for my Cake Blog. Nothing too impressive, just a little recognition. I joined in with a linky and out of over 300 blogs, just 20 were chosen for the award and mine was one.
Well, it made me smile for a while :-)

Counting My Blessings

Things to be happy about so far this year.

1. I heard that a very good friend is getting married next year, that's really exciting, but also, she wants me to make her cake!!

2. I had two lovely nights out with friends...in 1 week!