Welcome to mumblemum! Keep the grant quiet, if I were you. Spend it on something lovely to pamper yourself with.
Puzzle, about the girl & the kitten - I knew a lot of those, too. I also knew a lot of (Asian) children who were told that they'd be sent to live with family in India / Pakistan / whereever if they so much as got a B. Really. They absolutely lived in fear & spent every last day of half term shaking & in tears before the grades were handed out - grades that meant nothing. Then went running around in a complete panic all afternoon getting teachers to agree to change one or two grades & claim that it was a 'mistake'. At the time, we all knew that it was awful, but looking back social services should've been involved. & it wasn't just one or two people...
frekkles, you're not at all boring. It's not you that can't go & drink & have fun, it's the baby. You're doing the right thing by your LO & that's most important. I know that it's not much of a life at the moment, but I'm sure that when it comes to it you'll get way more of a thrill off hearing your baby call you 'mummy' for the first time than anything that they'll be doing this weekend. & there will be chances for you to go off & have your fun in the future. It's not like you're dying, you're just having to postpone your life a little in order to produce a new one.
BB, there is no way you can keep up this pace. I honestly don't know how you're doing it. I'm really, really for you. Is there no way that you can just leave the work undone & go crazy at people to get it done in their own time & divide it up between themselves? They should have done it anyway & it'll be less work for multiple people than just for you - & you're really pregnant! If you feel bad about it, maybe you could even pull one late night with them & just get it done? But there's no way that it's fair for you to do 15 hours this weekend on top of everything else - everything else is too much anyway! Just look how much they're looking at having to pay out for someone to continue your job - you definitely have room to manoeuvre here. You're going to have to start prioritising you & the baby, because this is mad.
Boffin, you don't half make me laugh. You're so matter of fact about your insane talent. It doesn't matter a jot how much you've had to 'find diverse ways of earning a living' - if you weren't so bloody good at everything in the first place, you wouldn't stand a chance. Also, woman, you're not old! Let alone 'very' old!
Your phrasing really cracks me up, though. You're so self-deprecating. Like people just 'happen' to be trilingual But you're right - you're probably hopeless at waitressing, so the balance is restored If you weren't so exceptionally lovely & always willing to help everyone out & share your wisdom I would have to hate you (If it turns out that you actually were Miss World, the redeeming features go out of the window & I'll have no choice!)