OK. Survived 2 days at work, now we’re down to the last three days of flat clearing.

Got Mum’s 2 bookcases plus all the books she’s keeping over to her room last night, together with quite a few of the remaining ornaments, and everything fited just fine. The room looks so much more “hers” now, which I think will help her settle just that bit more. Hard to believe she’s only been there just over three weeks - they’ve been action packed, for me anyway!

So, the dregs. Some more bits to bring to our spare room for the boot sale, some other stuff there just hasn’t been time to sort to be brought here in boxes and done when she comes to visit Bones, some more charity shop stuff to be delivered, a few bits and bobs and then it’s Operation Clean Flat (cue anything with a Mr Muscle label and a Dyson with attitude).

There is light at the end of that there tunnel!!

As of this morning, when I delivered Mum’s signed tenancy termination paperwork, we are officially in the last week of flat clearing.

Pretty much all the furniture has already gone : Chris and I delivered the bulky items to Bamfords the auctioneers on Friday, and (wo)manhandled the stuff for the council to collect out into the car park that evening. Lois and Gottle were pressed into helping clear most of the car boot sale stuff from the flat into our spare room yesterday morning, and you’ve already read about how I cleared the drinks cupboard on Saturday…

Today was Books Day. I duly collected Mum at 9.45, and six and a half hours later (it was a LONG six and a half hours), we’d finished. I’d estimate we’ve done around 400 + books, and Mum, with more than a little encouragement at times, has achieved ruthlessness, with a total of 3 large and 3 medium boxes of books heading to an Oxfam bookshop. Oof! And Ow! because the boxes were heavy, and my shoulder is complaining somewhat.

Not surprisingly, with Mum being both chatty AND deaf AND loud, my head was throbbing a bit by the time I got home. Not the best of times then to forget to lock the catflap and have to rugby tackle Button to prevent her from escaping, an action which resulted in my scraping both knees and headbutting the door. Double Ow!

Tomorrow is Miscellaneous Crap Day, when, I hope, a lot of loose odds and sods will get sorted out. If I can stop injuring myself.

Chris is on Day 10 of not smoking! DAY 10!!! Woo hoo!

There were 15 of us in total, not a bad turn out, and everyone seemed to have fun - good food, nice surroundings, excellent company - you can’t go far wrong with a recipe like that!

Oh, and thanks to everyone for their good humour concerning the raffle! - I hope you all enjoy your bottles (at the very least I hope the contents don’t kill anyone), that’s yet more stuff cleared from Mum’s which make me feel a bit better for taking a day off sorting!

There’ll be pictures on Paul’s blog when he gets home!

Bloody hell Hutters, this was really hard! Don’t ever tag me again!!

Dear 13 year old Jennifer

This is your older but not necessarily wiser self, speaking to you from the year 2008. You’re in your 39th year, and let’s just say your life hasn’t quite turned out how you imagined when you sat on the swings with your friend Joanne and talked about the future. You’ll figure everything out for yourself, but here’s a few pointers :

1. The next couple of years are going to be pretty rocky. Something from your Mum’s past rears its head again, and it’ll be a bit scary for a while. Don’t bottle stuff up, talk to your Dad, and help him out where you can. You’re going to need to grow up fairly quickly, but you’ll be fine. Try not to let it damage your relationship with your Mum, she can’t help the way she is.

2. Watch ALL of Live Aid in 1985, not just a few hours in the afternoon. Exercise a few teenage hormones and claim the TV as YOURS for the day.

3. Work a bit harder at school. As it is you do OK, but you could do so much better. Especially in the 6th form, play a little less pool in the common room and spend a bit more time in the library. Oh, and DO NOT give up Theatre Studies for History.

4. Don’t get too serious, too young. Leaving home at 19 might seem like the best idea ever, but you’d be far better off living life a little more before you start worrying about bills.

5. Cats will rule your life. Fact.

6. Just because they ask you to marry them doesn’t mean you have to say yes

7. Work is work. It ends at 5pm (or whenever). You take after your Dad, and are far too conscientious. Cut loose a little and DON’T let your job make you ill.

8. Talking of your Dad, he is The Best. Spend as much time with him as you can, and cherish it.

9. Don’t panic when you’re advised to give up chocolate for a while. This won’t last forever.

10. …and with that in mind, get in the habit of exercising regularly - it’s all downhill after 34!!

Lots of love

Old(er) you xx

Not as in …the final frontier, but as in Mum’s flat. Finally it actually looks like I’ve been working as hard as I have.

The British Heart Foundation have a furniture shop in town, and came on Monday to collect a load of stuff from the flat. They couldn’t take the wardrobe (didn’t have “the look” apparently), but did kindly shift it out into the car park where the council will pick it up on Saturday.

Ah, the council. I rang them, gave them my card details, and arranged for 5 items and 1 cooker to be collected. I racked my brains and looked around the flat, as I could have a 6th item if I wanted, but nope, that seemed to be it. Odd, I was sure I’d previously counted 6…

Oh yeah. Remember the wardrobe? Out of sight and out of mind and all that. Arse and fek etc etc. Because the council had advised that once the transaction had gone through, there was no changing it…

Cue desperate phone call, and I’m put through to The Supervisor. In hindsight I think he interpretted “I’m clearing my Mum’s flat out, it’s such a stressful time, I’m so sorry” as Mum having shufled off the old mortal coil, but hey, he agreed to add the wardrobe to the order, so that’s a very Machavellian fine by me!

I’ve junked stuff, boxed stuff, and delivered stuff (to charity shops mainly) - and on Friday we take the bulky half decent items of furniture to an auctioneers in Derby. Then I’ll really be able to see the wood for the trees, and will have a much better idea of whether I can really be finished by Sunday 3rd.

One eye down, one to go - Mum had her first cataract op today (under general anaesthetic, they realised they’d never keep her still and quiet enough under local), and all went well. She’s booked in for the second in 4 weeks time.

Chris still hasn’t lit up, and I’ve made some more progress on the flat - you can have more details tomorrow when I’m more awake and don’t have a headache!

Chris hasn’t lit up since 11pm on Thursday!!

(and I haven’t been found dead under the patio).

I didn’t blog yesterday, Friday was a Bad Day.

I got totally overwhelmed by the amount of work to do at the flat, and the fact that it took Mum over 2 hours to sort just one medium sized bookcase. And that was only because I stepped in after 1 hour and about 10 books to speed things up. I got a bit snappy, and wasn’t too pleased with myself for it.

And I didn’t get the job I interviewed for on Thursday. OK, so I couldn’t have afforded to take it, but it’s so much nicer to be the one doing the rejecting, rather than be the rejectee.

And another employment thing didn’t quite pan out the way I had hoped.

And the weather forecast was crap for the foreseeable, thereby postponing the planned car boot sale this weekend.

And a certain energy company tried to put our monthly payment up by 25%, despite our account being in credit, so I had to shout at them.

So I was feeling a bit bleak.

Today, I feel much better. I’ve made significant progress in Mum’s flat, (on my own!!) and a lot should change/move/get sorted once and for all over the next week. I’ve emailed three job applications and have another two to post - I’m trying very hard only to apply for things that look right and are practical, rather than just panic applying. I haven’t really got time to interview until February now anyway. Oh, and I’ve done a preliminary trawl on USwitch, and am pretty sure we can save money by changing our supplier.

And best of all, Chris has gone about 40 hours without smoking, which is really, really good.

Although not orange just yet, the future’s definitely looking a bit brighter.

As of midnight tonight, Chez Baggins will be a smoke free zone. Chris is taking the plunge, and is going to give giving up smoking a go. He has an inhalator, some gum and the sort of stubborn attitude that will hopefully mean he succeeds.

One day at a time Chris! - I’m really proud of you for giving this a whirl, and off your own bat too!

Go Chris!!

Remember that classified ad I said I’d placed for Mum’s white goods? Well, after no calls on day 1, I perused the ads online, and discovered I’d been wildly ambitious with the prices I was asking (yes I know, I should have checked that first), so I rang and got the prices adjusted. Lo and behold this morning I got a call about the washer dryer, and arranged a viewing for this evening.

Well, they liked the washer dryer, and having asked if anything else was for sale, decided on the fridge freezer as well - we haggled and agreed a price, and then started disconnecting things. Right, where’s the stop cock? Er, stop cock…?

Luckily, after a fruitless search under the sink, one of Mum’s neighbour’s was able to point us in the right direction (sealed in a panel at the top end of the bath - so easy for an elderly person to get to) and that’s when the fun really started. Because the stop cock didn’t. Stop that is.

The buyers try a few things, but we’re unable to disconnect the hot water pipe from the back of the machine without flooding the kitchen, so, with a deep breath, and the knowledge that much as I love him, Chris is crap at plumbing, I phone the ex - who, after all, only lives up the road, and is a very accomplished plumber. Luckily, he’s able, and thank God willing to come straight down, and had everything sorted and ship shape in about 5 minutes flat. There is a large vat of wine gums heading his way, that really was above and beyond.

Excellent, that’s two large things out of the way, only leaving the microwave from the kitchen, and that’s car bootable. Only the forecast for the weekend is really rubbish, so that may have to be postponed.

So. About time I started some interview preparation ahead of tomorrow…

Following today’s two hospital appointments, I have to conclude that we got Mum into Longmoor Lodge in the nick of time. The pre and post op care she’s going to need before each cataract is done, and the evaluation exercise that has to be done to determine if she’s suffering from a new bladder dysfunction would have been extremely difficult if not nigh on impossible to have managed whilst she was in the flat. As it was, I just had to deliver her back there, go through it all with the senior care person and that was that.

It’s a glimpse into a much easier future - WHEN I’ve finished clearing the flat - and what a mammoth job THAT is turning out to be!

Let’s forget for a moment that I’m only “working” 2 days a week, even if the rest of the time is pretty much spoken for.

Let’s instead marvel at the “in their own little worldness” of the NHS, who this morning rang me to ask if I could take Mum in for a pre-op assessment this Wednesday in preparation for cataract surgery next Tuesday. This was the first I’d heard of it!!

It’s nice of them to give one a bit of notice isn’t it? I’m already committed to work on Wednesday, and can’t swap the day, but have been able to squeeze Mum into their clinic tomorrow, before a second hospital appointment at another hospital altogether, but they weren’t to know that I’ve got that kind of flexibility. It’s the principle doncha know.

January is getting kinda busy.

Yup, I’ve been sorting out Mum’s kitchen. A lot of stuff has had to be thrown away, but I’ve been able to pack up a fair sized box of bits and pieces for a local homeless hostel - I have a friend who works there, they’re also taking a load of single bedding and towels from us.

I have another charity shop bag too, plus a bag that went down the tip today. There are several boxes ready for next weekend’s car boot sale, and the place in general looks like a bomb’s hit it! The British Heart Foundation have a furniture shop in the town, and they’re coming a week tomorrow to take various things like the wardrobe, bed and a large display cupboard, and I have a 4 day classifieds ad starting tomorrow for the white goods - except having viewed the current classifieds online, I may have been too hopeful; I think I’ll have to ring again and adjust pricing for Tuesday onwards!

Throw in a couple of job applications and a start on some of the forms needed for Thursday’s interview, and it’s been quite a constructive weekend!

Those of you who have visited or stayed Chez Baggins will know that we have two non-matching reddish sofas in our sitting room. We have been considering new ones for a while, but while Bones still chucks up at irregular intervals, didn’t really want to splurge just yet. The answer came to us in the Sales : a total of four matching throws for under thirty quid, which I thought was pretty good.

They work particularly well on one sofa, but bag a lot round the other. Which offers perfect cat ambush camouflage. We are now very wary of walking past this sofa when there is an ominous looking bulge at the base!

Not surprisingly, Mum’s on a high. Having geared herself up for the move, and then suddenly having new people to talk to, she is as high as a kite, and talking ten to the dozen. I’ve had it all day, non-stop. My ears hurt!

The important thing, as I learned after her throat op, is not to adjust her meds straight away, but to give it a few more days to see if the high wears off. If I reduce her meds now, chances are the high will wear off, and she’ll plunge into a depression. There will still probably be a low, but hopefully we can minimise its effects.

We’ve had a busy day, Mum had a GP review this morning which went very well, then we spent some time at the flat, verbally going through stuff - the idea is we’ll do this every few days, then I’ll get on and do the donkey work. Hee-haw!!

Cue for Gottle to make jokes about Jennys…

Girlie night tonight - quick bite to eat at Frankie & Benny’s, then onto the cinema to see St Trinians.

Executive summary? I’m buying the soundtrack cd as soon as I can, and Jan’s buying me the DVD for my birthday.

Go see - you’ll love it!!!!

She’s there, with all her day to day stuff and enough personal effects to make the place look a bit more like home. The day went pretty well, Mum coped fine - we’ll just have to see how she settles in over the next week or so - I won’t give notice on her flat til next week just in case she REALLY hates it there, but I can get on with more clearing and sorting in the meantime. But not for the next couple of days, as I’m back to work tomorrow - change is as good as a rest? I’ll let you know!

Tomorrow is Moving Day, when Mum goes to live in Longmoor Lodge.

She’s really being very good about it all, much, much better than I thought she would be. In all honesty, once a date was decided, I was fully expecting a nosedive, but she seems quite positive about it all. Maybe she really does know that she’s ready for this transition. I took her to see her room again today; Chris and I had taken a lot of her stuff over yesterday and she wanted to see how it looked. Luckily it looks pretty good, and on further measuring today, I might be able to fit in more than I originally thought. The rest will come in dribs and drabs over the next few weeks; we just wanted enough of her things there to make it look more like hers.

It’s been an odd few days though, I picked up her prescriptions “for the last time”, did her shopping “for the last time” - really, I think this is going to be the geriatric version of empty nest syndrome when it’s all done and dusted. I shan’t know what to do with myself!!

So, if anyone has a spare moment tomorrow, the odd good vibe would be nice - things might be going better than anticipated, but it’s still a pretty emotional time!

For Mum’s room - just in case anyone has one lying around, I’ve trawled the internet but can only find ridiculously expensive stuff :

One corner shelf unit, like this -

Link

(I’m pretty sure the link won’t work, sorry!)

- but in a dark wood finish like mahoghany.

Can anyone help?