The last year has been really hard but it's getting back on track now, however I've had my confidence knocked so much that it's been hard to claw myself back from it!
So today I'm feeling very proud of myself; I had a quote last week to get our chimney swept and the bloke came out and asked where my husband was (!) to which I responded 
just sweep the stove mate. He stuck a camera up the chimney and declared it 'fucked' can't be fixed it'll cost you 3k to replace the stove etc etc etc.
Whilst he was fannying around I googled his name as I only had the name of the company, found out he wasn't even qualified to sweep chimneys, just to put a camera in the flue ffs! So I told him to get to fuck. He wanted me to pay £50 for doing nothing. Nope!
I got a second opinion today and had it swept and cleaned, birds nest removed, painted and the ropes changed for £240. It's currently on heating the room up beautifully.
I know it's not much to normal people but I'm really proud of myself for not being bullied by last weeks sweep and finding a better person to sort it out, and I lit a fire in it. It's small steps but I'm getting there :)
Any body else care to share their small victories? 