2017! WHAT THE F...? OH I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!

Frosty Leaves

Finally, the new year is here!  It's been months since I posted but, to be honest, after the whole PIP debunkle, I 'shut down' for a month and concentrated on the festive season and having a 'brain holiday'.

The year has started all good.  PIP, which we won at the higher rate (which I wasn't expecting), has now started to be paid in and ESA is coming in too.  I've renewed his bus pass and regained his CEA card (Cinema card to those not in the know - holder pays and carer goes free).  I've now reapplied for my Carers Allowance even though I have a part time job just because I'm sodding entitled and if they hadn't been such arse breaths about the whole thing I probably wouldn't have bothered as I'm getting Carers Credit, which means my National Insurance is at least getting paid even though I'm not actually receiving any money, plus my wages are so low I'm not paying any through that.  So I, theoretically, can breathe for a couple of years as court over-rode the decision and awarded it until he is 21; he's currently 17, 18 in June.

So what are we going to do with this new found 'wealth'?  Well, apart from having to use it to get food as my partner's current job doesn't pay as much as the old one did and they seem to have cocked up last month's wages, although he hasn't tried to sort it out; he just cut my money by £200 this month instead!!! So the old adage of 'give in one hand, take from the other' seems to still be in existence.

What we have done, however, is sign him up for his online BTech and I've joined Ancestry so I can finally spend some time researching my family tree; been meaning to do it for years, but just never got round to it.  I'm also sending my DNA off to see where in the world I originate from.  Some will say "NOOOOOOO!! They now have your DNA on record!", but to be honest I don't care as if they wanted it they would probably already have it along with my fingerprints and any other identity proving methods such as skin cells and probably stool samples.  Let's face it, there is enough online information and CCTV footage of and about pretty much everyone that nothing feels secret or sacred anymore.

I also want to sort out his provisional driving license so he can have driving lessons and I want to sort out passports even though we probably won't be able to afford to travel abroad even if we are allowed too under the Brexit regime.  Although the way things are going we won't be leaving anyway as it's now gone to a parliamentary vote before they can/will invoke Article 50 (or at least that's the way I'm reading it; not taking a great deal of notice of worldly affairs at the moment because it's suddenly gone a little loopy drawers and I'd rather not know; *sticks fingers in ears and skips along the road singing 'la la la la la'*).  But, to be honest, I think Europe will still kick us to the kerb anyway just for being arrogant enough to want to leave in the first place.

I could probably do with replacing the washing machine as the door lock is getting temperamental, the tumble dryer squeaks like a dying rat and the fan in my range cooker has to be 'spun' with a skewer to get it going, but they are 'things' and I don't want to replace 'things' even though I know that one day the whole lot will got phut and I'll be sobbing into my cuppa.  I want to do long term things with it like sorting out passports, doing something fun, maybe even have a holiday (been 4 years since we had one of those and then it was only a 5 day break on a Haven site; hardly 'holiday of a lifetime' stuff) and, of course, squirrel some cash away for a rainy day (mainly for my son as most of it is actually his money, not mine so always feel hugely guilty if I spend it on anything but something for him).

I'm also hibernating a bit as I really can't be arsed with going out and being sociable; the best I can summon up the energy for is a cuppa in a cafe, a night round someone's house flopping on their sofa instead of mine or losing myself in a movie at the flicks.  Have done a couple of family things, but nothing major and I'm preferring to be at home having a bit of a clear out or sitting with a pen and paper making plans that I probably won't get round to, but at least I've thought about.  I have popped out into the garden to take some frosty photos and to have a peruse at what veggies are left to eat and to look in disgust at the small salad plot that has somehow turned into a neighbouring cat's litter box.  However, all will change once the fear of frost is over and I can go out and have a proper tidy up and cut back and begin to sow.  Beware cat!  I know who you are!!

So, that's a quick(ish) run down of 2017 so far and I'm sure this wonderful time of calm, contemplation and general laziness won't last and I'll be back to my normal ranty, irritated and generally disgruntled self before long.

Cya

Frosty Web