Birthday present for mum

Grannie G

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Apr 3, 2006
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BeadieJay said:
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What is it that reminds her every time we talk, to tell me about her hair, and yet she can't remember that she's already told me a dozen or more times!!
Jennifer might be right about your mother seeing herself in the morror, if she has one near the phone. Another explanation could be she has no memory of having told you before. My husband tells me every time he has some difficulty, that he`s getting old.

I have no update on my house, cos nothing has changed since I posted the photo of my kitchen :( The house is dry now, we're just waiting for the repairs to take place, and waiting, and waiting and waiting :rolleyes: :p
I feel so sorry for you that this has been going on for so long. It must be driving you up the wall. Have you any date yet for making everything right.
 

jenniferpa

Registered User
Jun 27, 2006
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Well the reason I thought that is I recently went "au naturel" with my hair colour and everytime I spot myself in a mirror I think "who's that?":D
 

ROSEANN

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Oct 1, 2006
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Dear Beadiejay another present you could consider is to go to a well known photo developer with some of your mum`s photos and have them made into a callender for her.
All the best Roseann
 

BeadieJay

Registered User
Grannie G said:
I feel so sorry for you that this has been going on for so long. It must be driving you up the wall. Have you any date yet for making everything right.

I waited a couple of days before replying as I was hoping for some good news to share, but we're still waiting. :(

I phoned the contractor this afternoon to ask for an update on when they'd be able to start the repair work, and was told that a surveyor has got to come and check the house is properly dry - despite it being certified dry by another company, who then send a certificate to the contractor as proof (sorry if this is too complicated - you should see the pages and pages of notes I've written since the flood first happened, I could write a book out of it :rolleyes: ) I'm hoping the guy who comes tomorrow (thankfully we don't have to wait weeks for his visit, which is one good thing), will be able to tell me a bit more about time scales.

The really frustrating thing is that our new 3 piece suite is ready to be delivered, but we can't take it until the floor has been done, as the contractors need the rooms to be totally empty to do the floors. We currently have one very shabby armchair that we all fight over (I usually win, it helps being bigger than the kids LOL, but they argue constantly about whose turn it is to sit in it :eek: ) So, anyway, we might have to arrange for the suite to go into storage. At times I wish I could go into storage, hide away till it's all finished :eek:

Roseann, thanks for the suggestion of a calendar, but we've already done that :eek:
 

Skye

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Aug 29, 2006
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SW Scotland
Hi BeadieJay

I'm sorry you're still having hassles over the house. It's an absolute nightmare, isn't it? I'm not surprised you want to go into hiding.

I do hope you get things sorted soon.

Love,
 

Grannie G

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Apr 3, 2006
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Well good luck for tomorrow.

I hope you`ll be straight for Christmas. You`ve enough on your plate without having to suffer and unhomely home.

Love xx
 

DeborahBlythe

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Dec 1, 2006
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BeadieJay said:
I was thinking of buying (or sending) mum a lovely bouquet which is already in a vase, so she doesn't have to do anything with it. I can't bear to go empty handed despite what my sister says. (I meant to put that in my last post!) :eek:

Hmmm, It's none of my business but I can't help feeling a bit grumpy about your sister's attitude over the birthday. Of course cancer research is important and worthy but a birthday is a birthday and it's meant to be a celebration about your mum's life. Goodness, she's only 80 and your sister seems to want to write her off as someone who won't enjoy their own birthday? So she'll maybe get a bit confused about who gave what and why, but she'll still get some pleasure from receiving the odd gift or two and her pleasure will make you feel better too. It doesn't have to be your best piece of tapestry BeadieJay. Do keep that to make your home homelier. It doesn't have to be something ultra super duper either. I agree with Jennifer, but a dear mum passing another milestone is, at least for me, a thing of wonder and pride and I think your sis is a bit mean trying to brush it under the carpet. I'm thinking that she is finding it hard to come to terms with your mum's forgetfulness and wants to spare herself more upset, not your mum.

Hope I'm not speaking out of turn. (BTW Aileen, that was a lovely cake with the pic on it.) Love, grumpily, Deborah xx
 
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BeadieJay

Registered User
Hope I'm not speaking out of turn.

I'm so sorry I didn't reply to this sooner - but of course you're not speaking out of turn, you make a lot of sense, and it's how I feel too.

I've ordered mum a beautiful bouquet in a vase, and a helium birthday balloon for an added bit of fun. I've arranged for the flowers to be sent to the hotel where I'll be staying, so that I can give it to mum personally. Then, even if it's only for a very small moment, she'll know that I bought her a birthday present, well, that small moment will be worth it!!

I'm feeling really frustrated about the house again. Earlier this week my insurance company told me that they had "finally" approved the quote for the repair work, and that it will take from 49 to 60 days :eek: So, now I'm trying to get hold of the company that will do the repairs, to see if they can give me a start date (it'll be in January, I refuse to uproot the kids over Christmas), because we'll need to move into a hotel while they repair the floor and kitchen, and I also need to arrange for our furniture to go into storage. Every time I phone, the person I need to speak to is on another line, but will phone me back - only she doesn't, and I'm so frustrated. But I hate to keep nagging, I mean, how long should I leave it between phone calls?

Sorry for the moan, but I needed to get it off my chest!!

I'll let everyone know how the birthday party goes, I must admit to being a little nervous because I don't know how much mum has deteriorated since I last saw her in the summer.:eek:

Here are the flowers I've ordered
 

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Skye

Registered User
Aug 29, 2006
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SW Scotland
Hi BeadieJay

The flowers are beautiful, I'm sure your mum will love them. And she'll be thrilled with the balloon.

I hope the party goes well, andalso tht you get good news soon about your repairs. It's taking an awful time, no wonder you're frustrated.

Love,
 

jenniferpa

Registered User
Jun 27, 2006
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To be honest I don't think I would participate in this game of phone tag, not even phone tag because you're the only one who seems to be playing. I'd tell them I'd stay on the line until the person became available. I think squeaky wheel is definitely relevant here.
 

BeadieJay

Registered User
Thank you Hazel for your kind thoughts :D

And Jennifer, thank you so much for the suggestion, I'm pleased to say that it worked!! I've just got off the phone after insisting on waiting till the girl was free. And she had most of the info that I needed. The repairs will start 14th January, and we'll need to have the furniture in storage for a couple of weeks.

The bad news now is that the only hotel in town is likely to be full for some, or even most of that time, so now we're looking at other alternatives :cool:

Oh, and something to make you all laugh. I've started packing for tomorrow and told my son (aged 12) to get various clothing items, including socks that match. And to my horror, he told me that none of his socks match, and that the only ones that do are too small. Now, I know for a fact that he has some fairly new socks somewhere, but his room is such a mess that I've had to send hubby out to buy some new socks :eek: :p Kids :rolleyes:
 

Grannie G

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Apr 3, 2006
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Dear BeadieJay,

The flower arrangement is beautiful and I`m so pleased you`ve finally got a date for your house. I don`t know how you`ve put up with it for so long without having a nrervous breakdown.

And don`t worry if your son has pairs of odd socks, he probabbly has other pairs the same. ;)

Good luck.

Love xx
 

jenniferpa

Registered User
Jun 27, 2006
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Oh good! Glad it's moving on a bit. Sorry about the hotel situation though.

I don't know what it is with boys (and men) and socks. Mine go through the bottom of their socks and I have no idea why - they don't walk around without shoes on and neither I nor my daughter have this problem. Heels I could understand, but the ball of the foot? It's weird.
 

BeadieJay

Registered User
And don`t worry if your son has pairs of odd socks, he probabbly has other pairs the same. ;)

LOL, I wondered if someone would say that!! :D

I don't know about a nervous breakdown, but I did have a bit of a cry earlier - and that was because I couldn't face packing for the weekend - stupid, I know, but it's sometimes the insignificant things that can get the tears flowing.

It was a bit embarrassing, cos my nose always goes bright red when I cry, and someone came to the house unannounced. I couldn't send him away because it was my local Member of Parliament who had come to see the state that the house is in so long after the flood.....I kept inviting him on his web blog, and as he was in the area he thought he'd take me up on the invite!! He's definitely one of the good ones!! Anyway, he was shocked at how we're living, and I'm glad that he saw it, because most of the emphasis and attention happens in the immediate aftermath of the floods.

His visit put me back into a good mood, and I've left the packing till later. I'll probably do a better job when it's last minute!

The sad thing is, if I tell my mum about my MP coming to the house, I don't know that she'd understand the significance of it. In the past, she would have been so thrilled (we're easily pleased in our family LOL), and she would have told all of her friends about it. But not now, she just won't remember or even understand it. I'll tell her anyway (and will wait till my sister-in-law is listening because she thinks I'm the dirt beneath her feet :rolleyes: - it doesn't bother hubby and I anymore, but I do like to find the odd thing to boast about that I know would impress her, if she was capable of emotion LOL) :p
 

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
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Kent
In your current position, it`s far better to greet your MP with a nose, red from crying, than gowned up ready for dinner. :D
 

okmurrays

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Oct 17, 2007
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kelowna, bc, canada
Going back to the photos idea, we have used Boots to produce a photo album for us, they will also produce calendars etc too.
For Christmas we've ordered my dad a photo album of our year, concentrating on my 12 year old. There's 40 pages of photos and we've added our own commentary. I live in Canada so I've downloaded the photos online and Boots delivered them from the UK, so no big international postage to pay either.
My mum thinks it will help dad as his short term memory isn't good, and he loves anything about my daughter. Calendars with your own photos on start from less than £10, and our big album was about £25.