Why is Thursday such a bad day with kids?!

As long as I've been working with kids they have always either been naughty, rude, moody, grumpy, whiny or miserable (mainly) on Thursdays! Just what it is about Thursday that should influence kids in such a negative way I have no idea.

G has been dreadful today... he wet himself, screamed in another girl's face, snatched a toy away from her and has done nothing but moan, whine and have temper flare ups all day! The sooner he goes home the better, as it sounds like he needs to go to bed!

Sissy and Pingu are due back anytime... can't say I'm looking forward to the increase in noise, but there we go.

Yay! Doorbell... bye G... come back later when you are in a better mood!

Thank the Gods... the kids are going early tonight...

... and I now have a whole week off! Two weekends with five weekdays inbetween!! **does the happy dance**


Of course, after that week I have the two new kids for five days a week, 8am-6pm for the following FIVE WEEKS!! Not looking forward to that bit (urgh, summer holidays are only fun when you're a kid). Both are total whingers that cry and stamp their feet if they cannot get their own way... the little boy, G (2 1/2) weed all over our small sofa the other day, completely drenching one side of the sofa and also a cushion - and the girl, C (5) is really selfish and has tantrums if she doesn't get her own way. Neither of them is spoilt by their Mum, so I have no idea why they are like it. I assume that the family members that used to do my job are the ones to blame... so, yeah, thanks guys, sterling work there!! *sigh*


Here's hoping that time goes really slowly now... none of this flying malarky! LOL (at least for the next week anyway... after that, feel free to fly like the wind... I'm actually begging you to do that, time... if you're listening? PLEASE?! hahaha)

So much for the next day update, lol

I've not felt comfy in even opening this page in case it's seen by "other people".

Fortunately they are both gone until Sunday at the earliest. Their friends are getting married on Friday so they are staying nearer to the venue (Pingu is sort of second best man... he'll get none of the credit but the silly sod is doing all of the running around, getting the stuff sorted that the "real" best man will no doubt get the thanks for at the reception *sigh*). I've no idea just why it takes four days, but I'm not complaining. I think that Pingu is getting his new tattoo started on the Sunday, it will be going from his neck just by his ear right down his right arm to his elbow... I have no idea just how much it's costing, but he's already put down a £200 deposit and he's giving them another £100 on the day!... and something tells me that he'll be going back at least three more times (such a huge waste of money, but there we go... both of them always seem to find the cash for stuff like that, yet not for the bills they should be paying... madness *sigh*)

Anyway... I started work with more kids today. A brother and sister (he 2 1/2 and she 5), three days a week, Wed, Thu and Fri. It means I lose my half day off Wed and my day off on Fri (which is a shame as I'd got really used to them, lol), but it's money and the little boy (I'll call him by his initial, G) is infinitely better than I thought he would be... if anything it's his sister (C) that is a bit of a whinger, but it doesn't work with us (others have tried and failed in the past, hehe). They weren't meant to be here tomorrow as their Mum came in and said they were both going to their grans' house, but it turns out their gran bogged off down to her caravan so they will be here after all (that's the main reason the kids are with us, their Mum was always being let down when it came to family taking care of the kids... sometimes she even had to take time off work as there was no one to care for them as had been arranged beforehand! :( )

It's really nice having spare money again (I was paid this morning for this week, which was lovely). Just to go shopping and be able to buy something if I want to (even though there is now nothing that I want, so ironic, hehe). To not have to worry about either having gas and electricity or eating... to be able to pay our bills and not keep having to stall people with empty promises to pay them later - well, it makes all the difference in getting a good night's sleep!

I was woken up three times by Pingu last night! I was livid this morning... I never wake during the night, so if I'm woken I end up feeling as if I've not been to sleep. He woke me at 3am crashing about in the toilet... then his alarm was so loud it woke me at 4.30am... and then he woke me again when he left for work at just gone 5am. The first thing I did with my new wages was to go into my local chemist and buy £2's worth of earplugs! I've been looking at the garish hot-pink soft foam rubber things for weeks, but resisted the urge to get them. However, last night convinced me that it would be a sound investment, lol. Typical that I buy them and then the noise is gone as they are both away for four nights, hahaha! I have no doubt that they will be worth every penny when they return, though.

So loving the cooler weather at the moment... sadly it won't last, but it's so much nicer being able to sleep in a cool room instead of feeling as if you've just layed down in Satan's armpit!

Just had a haircut

... I got Mum to lop four inches off the bottom... it's sort of shoulder length now (it's still wet, so it will raise up a bit once dry). It feels so much nicer... I hate the feeling of having hair everywhere (especially the stray ones that seem get inside your clothes and tickle your bloody back!)... and I also want to to stop dying it as I've noticed that it's getting really thin lately (and I seem to lose an awful lot when I wash my hair, which I have to do every day). I can still get it in a pony tail, so it's all good :)

I feel so tired again today, and my eyes are itchy and stingy and I have a stuffy nose (sure sign of hayfever, though I've taken my antihistamine today, so I've no idea why I still feel like that :( )... I'm still in my pj's, but I have to get dressed soon, for some reason I seem to be more tired when I stay in them than when I get dressed (probably psychological, as I associate pj's with bed or feeling unwell).

My stomach seems to be ok, it feels very "heavy" though, probably the leftover from the other day (though it feels as if it wouldn't take too much for it to react again :( )

Anyway, I'm enjoying my "unofficial" time off (not expecting any calls about work until May)... money is tight, but sorted (which is a relief) and I'm amazed just how little you actually need to survive on when you really try... I've had a closer look at my book collection and re-discovered some that I'd forgotten about and my local library is (hopefully) re-opening (after a major refit) this weekend, so I might have a wander up there and see if they have anything new :). I love not having the boys in here, peace and quiet have returned, and when we told the little girl we have (E) that the boys had left, her exact words were "Oh good!" LOL. With just her here it now means that until Noo comes in (Friday afternoons sometime after 2) we have Friday mornings off, and also work a half day Wednesdays. I could get used to it, I have to say. The last time I drove the car was Monday when we took Sissy back to Brighton and I haven't missed it, not really... it's lovely to know there is a car there, but I don't miss having to second guess some of the idiots that are on the roads these days! Better for the environment, too (I'm certainly driving five miles less a week now, lol).

Now, if I could just get my eyes to stop stinging and find some energy (as my "get up and go" seems to have "got up and gone" without me!) it would be perfect.

I lost my job yesterday!

The two boys we had in here lied to their mother, and she "hating confrontation" believed them, without even having the decency to talk to us about it and placed them somewhere else over the half term! Apparently a four year old cannot lie... hate to tell you, love, but yes they can, and your one certainly does! The only reason the kids didn't like being here is that we never gave into them and they had to follow our rules and do as they were told... something that their mother fails to get them to do on an epic scale! She once rewarded her youngest son for walking off by giving him a cake because he started crying! What kind of message is that sending?... in order to get what you want all you have to do is annoy your mum enough and tantrum her into submission!! Madness.

The very best of luck to whoever ends up collecting them, they'll need it... the oldest one is a liar and sneaky as hell and the youngest one is a manipulative little psycho that tries to bargain his way out of punishment... I have to say that I'm glad they are gone, I just wish I'd had some notice and also the money I'm owed, but that won't happen! The text messages she was sending earlier had more bullshit in them than a field of cows and I can see where her kids get their deceitfulness from.

Anyway... I still have one one little girl and she is lovely and thankfully now out of the presence of "the terrible two"... their bad behaviour was starting to rub off on her and we were actually thinking of getting new kids in and telling them to leave!!!. I've notified the council we now have vacancies and also asked the local school if they can let us know if any parents are looking for childcare. I don't really know what else to do... I'm not qualified to do anything else and if I start looking for a different job and then people want to come in, what do I do then? Money will be tight, very tight, but I think will can survive for awhile. Mum spoke to the mortgage company earlier and there is a new arrangement in place with them, so our house is safe, we have a few cutbacks to make (not wasting food, watching our utility use and getting rid of some of the cable tv, that kind of thing)... but hopefully with the warmer weather coming we will not be spending so much for gas and electricity anyway. I'm hoping that Mum is going to give up smoking, but I'm not holding my breath... there is more stress now and she isn't in the right frame of mind either, so not the best time to give up the one thing that calms you down, LOL!

The day has just been totally surreal, and I'm sick of thinking about it (as is Mum)... we are meant to be getting a text from "her" but I'm not holding my breath... I just find it amazing that a woman can be so gullible in thinking that her kids don't lie when they do it to her all the time... they broke her oven two months ago and they still haven't told her the truth about how it happened - but her kids don't lie... **sarcasm**

How damn wrong is THIS?!

First off, a little bit of back story:

Last year we cared for two girls, I'll call them Belle and Zandri... they lived in a nice three bedroom house (granted one of the rooms was a box room, but anyway). They moved into a big six bedroom house, bought by their parents and grandmother (whose house was in Somerset) selling both of their houses and pooling the money to get a bigger place for them all to live in. The girls left us as the Gran said that she'd take over taking them to school (we were sad, but kids come and go). All good so far.

Moving on to today:

The Grandmother has a new boyfriend (who moved in with them all a month after they moved in themselves!!) and is talking about buying a house with him as "it could be my last chance at love"... meaning that she's going to want the money from the sale of her house. Problem being that the money was used to buy the six bedroom place that her family are currently living in... meaning that the house would have to be sold in order for her to have her money back, so that she and the new bloke could buy a house together back in Somerset... meaning that her daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters would be effectively homeless until they could find something to buy with the money that is left from the house sale (assuming that the house could be sold in the current economic climate, and assuming they could find a house big enough for the four of them and their stuff with the money that was left as London house prices are rising again).

I know that the Gran pressured them into the sale in the first place, using the old "I want to retire and don't want to be alone, I've fallen once recently and want to be around people that could help me if it ever happened again, I really want to spend the rest of my days with the people I love" spiel. So after she managed to get her own way she's suddenly decided that as she has a new man it's all got to change! She wants to go out whenever she pleases (which is the reason that I've had to rearrange the kids here so that I can go and get her granddaughters as she has had a better offer from "loverboy"... luckily it was possible as Wednesday is the day that E is collected by her Grandad anyway, and Mum is able to get the bus to get the two boys). Even so, they left on the premise that she would take care of the kids, and now I'm having to try and pick up the slack that she is leaving (granted I don't have to, but I just can't sit by and see nice people that I care about treated in such a bad way, by the very woman that took away my job in the first place!)

I just don't understand what the woman is thinking?! Why would you uproot your family from a house they loved, and move them to a place that is strange to them, where they have no friends, which means that your grandkids are going to have to leave the people they have known all their lives, to change your mind less than a year later... I just do not understand that, I really don't! Mum spoke to the Mum of the girls (I'll call her Cat) this morning, and she is worried sick all the time about what is going to happen in the future regarding her home and her family. The girls' Dad (I'll call him Orly) is off work sick today, and it would never surprise me if it was this whole situation that is causing at least some of it. I just think that the Grandmother is a total bitch and she has to rank as one of the most selfish women I've ever met... so much for "being with the family I love". I'm equally disgusted by the Grandmother and devastated for the people that are too nice to be treated in this way by their own mother-figure!

What a great role model for young girls... do whatever is right for yourself and fuck everyone else!

**edited to add**

When I took Belle home, "Granny" was still there!! (and so was the boyfriend, James, and very posh he sounded, too). So why the hell did I have to go and get Belle, why couldn't she have got her? She wasn't dressed up in any way (as she would be if she'd been going somewhere nice, the past has proved this, very modest and prim!), so I'm wondering just why I had to do it??!!

Manic Weekend update

We had people here all weekend, it was good, but also very tiring.

Normally there are three people in this house, and sometimes Josh (who we mind for a few hours on a Saturday). The weekend (just gone) we had nine people... Me, Mum, Dad, Sissy, Steffan (her boyfriend), Bradley (her brother), Josh (for a few hours) and Tony and Lynn (who are online friends are came down from Coventry and Glasgow, respectively, to see us).

Such a tiring time, and although it was great to see everyone, I felt like I needed another weekend to get over the busy weekend they were here for, LOL! I'm an anti-social person by nature, so to be around three people that I'd not go to know well (Steffan) or never even seen before (Tony and Lynn) was really difficult for me.

I'm glad they came here, though, just so that I had the chance to not run true to type (anti-social wise) for once.

I have such a headache now! Trying to get three kids of 8, 7 and 4 years old to just behave and stop arguing has robbed me of the last vestiges of my patience for the day! The 7 and 4 year old are brothers, and the 8 year old is a girl... they do not get on, and the 8 year old is leaving at the end of the week and the others delight in reminding her of the fact (she doesn't want to leave, which makes it worse). They totally rub each other the wrong way, and their total ability to ignore everything I say and carry on doing the things that end up costing them their snack privileges (and if they carry on end up with them sitting on our time-out step) makes me tired. I've never had kids fail to listen to me to the point where I could cheerfully scream in frustration before... it's completely new territory for me, and I don't like it at all. Maybe because I'm not used to being ignored, or maybe it's because we always used to take in babies (that grew up and went to school) so from an early age they knew us and our rules, so didn't push it once they knew they'd gone to far **shrugs**

Oh dear... revisited

Kyah is leaving, too... we were given our one months' official notice by her Mum about five minutes ago.

I really am not all that sorry... it'll be a stretch, money-wise, but the other kids are so much calmer without her here, plus I have to keep taking her home every night, and it's not my responsibility to take the kids home, that should be up to the parents. I wouldn't mind, but there is always an eighteen year old that is perfectly capable of coming and getting her (as she is the one that opens the door to us when I take her back)... but I still have to take her home in the car, or somehow get her there on the bus (and she lives about a quarter of a mile from any buses and with the buses not running up the hill, and seeing as Kyah is a nightmare, using the bus is not a very good option).

Anyway... I feel calmer now that I know where we stand. We can start advertising for other kids now... fingers crossed we get some takers :)

Oh dear...

... Katie has left. Her Mum rang this morning to tell us that she won't be back. I'm not sure if we are getting our months' notice or not... Katie's Mum is not the easiest person to understand, between a mixture of talking quietly, quickly and with a very heavy accent, Mum can't be sure of what she actually said.

I am relieved on one hand, as it will make my school run with the boys all the more easy... but there is the money side of things to consider, too.

Add to that the fact that Kyah might also be leaving, and the good news about the car has just been countered by the bad news received today **sigh** Nothing is definite yet, we are waiting for Kyah's Mum to come in this afternoon and tell us what is going on with her job (if she knows).

I am not going to worry about it though (my saying that is a sure sign that I am worrying, by the way... I'm just writing it down in the hope that I'll do it!!)... PMA: Positive Mental Attitude (I really should try that one day soon!)... I must admit when I worry about things I make myself utterly miserable, but I can't get rid of the butterfly feeling in my stomach, which is a sure sign that I'm nervous about it all - and probably will be until I know where I stand.

I knew things were going too well lately (there I go with them negative thoughts again! hehe)

I am so tired... again!

Did the school run on the bus (way there) and on foot (way home) earlier today. Now I am the worlds' laziest person, so for me to walk a mile and a half in one go is a fairly big deal... especially with a seven and four year old as well. My feet and back hurt, but apart from that I don't feel too bad. I just wish that I could get rid of this head cold!

I have laryngitis now. I sounded like a teenaged boy with a breaking voice earlier today, but as time is going on I am getting more and more croaky and my ability to speak is decreasing. Would never be surprised if I don't lose my voice entirely in the very near future (not a good thing to happen when you look after kids and need to be able to do things like talk to them!!) Fortunately I don't have a sore throat, though, so at least I don't have that extra pain.

All I really want to do is go to bed, but if I go now I will be up at four in the morning, so I'll have to hang it out until at least 11pm (the past has shown that my going to bed any earlier than 11pm, except in the case of severe illness, just wakes me up far too early in the morning and by the afternoon school run I'm asleep on my feet... which is not good when I have to walk on them LOL!)


Mum phoned the mechanic that came round last time (Lee) and he is coming to have a look at "The-Embarrassing-Mobile" on Saturday. Fingers crossed for good news!

SHIT!!!

Think my car is going wrong... again!! There is still clouds of white smoke belching out of the back whenever I drive it! It can be so bad that I can't see the road behind me (and it must be like driving in fog for those poor unfortunates behind me, and for all of the pedestrians on the pavement!) I'm surprised that I've not been stopped by the police, and I don't think I want to carry on driving it at the moment... it's so embarrassing (not to mention dreadful for the environment **sigh**). I'm seriously thinking about getting the kids on the bus, the only problem being that the buses are not coming down my road at the moment (the bottom of the road is closed, without any warning, I might add!)

I must admit that ever since I've been driving people have taken advantage of the fact that I can! We only used to go to local schools before I drove, but as soon as I passed people started to just assume they could send their kids to any school as I could go and get them in the car (even though they didn't want to pay me for going and getting them, diesel etc)

We are going to call the mechanic that my uncle recommended to us (the guy that came round last time) and see if he can find the problem... it's been said to be everything from too much oil to the piston rings wearing out (which would be as expensive as buying a new engine, which would mean getting rid of the car!)

Add to that the fact that I have a cold that is getting worse by the day (got a sore throat now and I keep losing my voice... thank the gods for Lockets, LOL!), and the kids are playing up something chronic (if I never hear the name Ben again it will be too soon!!) Also one of the Mum's came in tonight and said that her work are messing her about with her shifts (she's a Community Support Officer with the Police), and they are giving her stupid shifts like 4pm-Midnight and 2pm-10pm... she is a single Mum of three and cannot do those kinds of hours all the time as she's expected to do! Part of me is happy at the thought of Kyah going (she winds the others up and is also a compulsive liar, though she can be funny), but another part of me would miss the money, although we would find a way to live without it.

Am now watching the news... I need to see stories about people that are far worse than I am (I need to gain some perspective right about now!!)

It's official... I HATE my job!

It is the worst, most suckiest job in the whole universe and I am well and truly sick of it! I would rather do anything than this job. The kids are rude, arrogant, never do as they're told, and today I had a four year old tell me that he wished that I'd slip over on some ice and die so that I didn't have to collect him from school!!!!! To say I was stunned would be an understatement! I have never had anyone say that they wished me dead before, but I have now! Then his seven year old brother started laughing and running off a list of the people that could get them from school if I were dead! I was quite hurt by that, now that I think about it... granted they may not have realized the full implications of what they had just said, but I would think that a seven year old would have at least some understanding that wishing people dead is wrong, no?!

I so wish that I could change jobs, if I had a preference I'd rather work with plants or animals, but I can't afford to re-train, neither do I have the time to do so. I also have no qualifications to get another job elsewhere **sigh** So I'm stuck here with a bunch of kids that are heading for a future involving law enforcement, and I don't mean joining it! I can certainly see one or both of the boys getting ASBO's (or the future equivalant). Never have we had such a disobedient group of kids in the house... and I wish that I could afford to tell them all (bar one, Edie, who is a great little girl away from the influence of the other three) to piss off and never come back!!! I have never felt such a hatred to children as I do at this very moment!

If you hear on the news of a childminder going berserk and strangling the kids in her care, that will be me!! (joke)

Poor Joshie.

To all who may be reading this blog.

Could I please ask for some healing thoughts for the 15 year old severely autistic guy I look after, please? He's just been admitted to hospital with pneumonia in both lungs and somehow the doctors are going to have to get an IV line into him in order to administer the antibiotics to fight the pneumonia, which could mean they have to sedate him for the whole time

Any thoughts/energies/prayers would be greatly appreciated... his name is Joshua.

Thank you.

I am so tired!

Still, I suppose driving to Brighton and back in the pouring rain, then getting lost twice on the way back, might explain that... first time I took the wrong turn out of Brighton and ended up on the A27 down past Lancing (which is on the way to Portsmouth! nowhere near London, lol opposite direction in fact and the furthest south I've ever driven) and the second time I missed the turn off for the A2 and ended up almost crossing the Dartford Toll Tunnel (but managed to turn around in time!)

All told I must have driven about four straight hours (most of them in dreadful visability, with such bad spray it looked like fog!) and adding the "detours" to the total milage I must have done close to 200 miles!! Add to that a school run this afternoon, and also all of the kids being nightmares... two wouldn't do as they were told, one was just having a ball encouraging those two, and the other one started crying because she didn't want to watch Tom and Jerry, or even listen to it, when it was time for someone else to have their choice of programme on! (we have the tv watched in turns, one person watches what they like and all watch that, then it's someone else's turn... none of them like sharing anything, but that's just tough, if they don't share it, they don't watch any at all!!)


Anyway... I am now waiting for the huge rice pudding that I've put in the oven to turn out a total disaster to just put the cherry on the top of a fairly crap day, LOLOLOL!!!