Hello all! I realise I have been absent for rather a long time 
, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if everyone says "Who?" 
. I have a small problem and you ladies are full of wisdom so may be able to help - I've also put it in SN but thought you may be able to give different slant on it :)
I am very fortunate that I get 5 hours respite care once a week (from a charity), shared between two carers (they do alternate weeks). Next week's carer rang me yesterday to see if I would swap days as another family she does respite for are going to a funeral on "my" day and want her to care for their child. I have said yes and normally it's not a problem but I did have plans for the day we've swapped to.
I've since found out this child has another carer but they are often not given the chance to do extra hours as "our" carer arranges things to suit her - strictly speaking things should be managed through the charity's offices and not directly between carers and parents. The funeral is of a work colleague but that's probably irrelevant.
My options are:
swap days, keep quiet about it and be constantly clockwatching (my day out also involves a 50 min drive each way)
tell her directly not to bother coming (but then dd & I miss out this week)
go via the office as I am supposed to and tell them I want to cancel the sit and the reasons why - this could stir up trouble though and she isn't one of their favourite employees. They may also be able to arrange a carer for my usual day (our other carer also has plans so can't do it).
I'll be honest and say I am starting to get a bit fed up with her, she also owes me 2 hours because she "forgot" when the holidays started so could only do 3 hours the first week due to other arrangements. She's arrived for a sit and started telling my other children they needed jumpers on 
. Maybe they did but surely that's up to me to tell them? There's other niggly bits too but maybe I'm just being picky!!
Any other ideas welcome, even if it's only to tell me to get a grip and stop whinging!! .