Anyone else having a bad day?

[PamT]

I woke up to hear DD yelling at 5am with an extremely stinky nappy - no going back to sleep there. So I went downstairs, switched the computer on and received 3 e-mails all containing the Klez virus, fortunately dealt with by Norton's Anti Virus before they did any damage but it took a bit of sorting out and checking. DD was in a foul mood and wouldn't eat breakfast so most of it went on the floor.

Yesterday wasn't much better, I was woken by the neighbour's car alarm going off at 5.30am and managed to get a stone chip in the car windscreen on the way to playgroup, not a bad one but right in the line of vision so the screen will have to be replaced and unfortunately isn't covered on the insurance.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr! Hope tomorrow is better.

bossykate, just tried to add a message to you but the computer wouldn't let me, so here goes again: your rant reminded me of the missing spoons saga at my son's old nursery. Every time he had a yogurt in his packed lunch, I'd include a spoon that would never return. One at least had sentimental value in that it came from my mum's kitchen. In the end I packed plastic spoons and wrote my son's name on them.

I'm sure you can't be the only parent with the missing clothes/muddy shoes problem. Hope you find some fellow sympathisers amongst them and good luck if you confront the nursery staff tomorrow.

www - aren't you a sitting tenant? Can't you just be very, er, you know, 'slow' in finding somewhere else?

thanks, tigermoth. actually, dh is in fact due to do the nursery run tomorrow am - so it is he who will have to speak to them. that is actually lucky for them - sometimes when we go to do things together it is a bit like a "good cop, bad cop" routine - he is the good cop...

Ooooh tigermoth, what a thought! Actually, there is a damp patch in the front room on the carpet under the radiator - we actually had mushrooms growing in it a while back! Also a damp patch on our bedroom wall (been there since we moved in) and damp in one of the wardrobes. Landlord is a surveyor though so bet he will know whether or not it's serious. Blimey, sounds horrible now I'm describing it doesn't it, it isn't though, honest! Tinker, we get 2 months notice so can't insist on staying. Sobernow, thanks but our salaries are SO poxy you would not believe. We could get a mortgage for about 2p and the house is prob worth £275 -300k. Also, apart from dp's parents no relatives with a bean to spare. We worked out we'd have to ask FIL for too much to comtemplate. Ks, it had occurred to me that we might end up with somewhere nice, not as big but cheaper since everyone seems to think house prices will fall and property market will slow therefore rents could go down. Bk, poo on his clothes sounds horrible! V annoying about wellies too, why do they think you send them?!!! Hope DH reads the riot act (nicely of course if he is to stay good cop) tomorrow. Thanks so much for all the kindness and advice everyone, it really makes a difference. I was being all cool and trying to be positive about it last night but realised how upset I was when I burst into tears on the phone to my sister! You're all great, you are

your landlord is probably selling the house because he knows there is work needing doing re the damp and wants to get rid of it rather than pay a fortune for repairs. (cynical, moi?)

Oh what a pain www! hope noone else likes the house as much as you do, and it takes ages to sell...

Bossykate, hope the nursery sorts itself out - I'd be really annoyed too if it happened to ds.

thanks everyone. i suppose it is just evidence of how good the nursery has been up to now that these (relatively minor - except the pooey vest) things seem like a big drop in standards! btw - it is the nursery policy for parents to supply wellies for each child during the winter, it is not me being anal about shoe cleaning! dh assures me he was firm but charming...

thanks again

www, hope you are feeling a bit better about things today. it's grim, but something might turn up...

Really sorry, WWW. We've been there and it is such a pain. Are there any other places nearby that you like the look of? The last place we left was rented and we must have shown about 50 families round (no kidding), most of them time wasters. It was so not funny. As you don't want to move, couldn't you not bother tidying, cleaning etc when you know someone is coming to view? I know its a long shot, but first impressions are sometimes quite powerful and it could work in your favour. Any noisy dogs you could borrow for an hour to howl in next door's garden? Lingering smells? Fingers crossed for you

Didn't mean to wink, BTW: meant to smile!

www, definately use guerilla tactics to make the house as unsaleable as possible. Never clean your windows, leave stuff all over the place so the house looks cramped.
Why is your landlord selling? If you really can't get a mortgage for the whole property is there any way you could buy half from him and continue to pay rent on the other half? I'm sure that with interest rates so low your monthly mortgage payments won't be hugely above your rent at the moment. Also look at self certifying mortgages. It's a bit dodgy but you can declare an income higher than you actually have sometimes - obviously you face big risks if rates rise but it might be worth it to get your foot on the ladder. One more thought, if you are receiving maintenance for your ds you may be able to count that in any income calculations as well.

bk - I have managed to go 5 months at nursery with only losing 1 sock, but know exactly what you mean about them being disorganised. I had to get dd's medicine from the kitchen fridge the other day whilst juggling her, her outdoor clothes, food jar, my handbag and two pieces of artwork (which I will definately be keeping for ever ). Sometimes I really envy octopi

WWW when pg with our first child we came across our perfect home. It was awful as we knew no-one would ever give us a morgage and we were completely broke. DH had been starting his own biz - no money coming in and lots of old debts.

Anyway my mum offered to put up the deposit if we did get a mortgage so we decided it was worth a go. The big guys, Bank, Halifax etc all just laughed but we approached a smaller local building society and they were great helping us figure out ways to bend the rules. We had to write lots of letters and pull lots of strings but in the end we got our house. And the mortgage is less than we would pay in rent now.

So don't depair. It doesn't hurt to ask.

But if worst comes to worst then get looking for somewhere new as quick as you can. Some friends of ours were in the same situation as you and did not manage to get a mortgage. Tehy were devastated as they couldn't imagine living anywhere else ut started looking straight away so they'd have more time. They ended up with a Peak Park property which means they can never be evicted and have very low rent. The cottage is absolutly gorgeous and now a year later they can't imagine living anywhere else. So although it looks bleak as long as you find the right place it might actually improve things for you. Hugs anyway.

Thanks for all the brilliant advice and for listening to my moaning! Just an update, we saw a house today that's very slightly smaller (we lose a bathroom, which isn't the end of the world I know, but will still have 2 loos!) than the one we're in but with a much bigger garden. It's gorgeous, is probably slightly nicer than this one and we move in a month All's well that ends well hey?

Hurrah www. Very glad it all workedout OK - I'm sure you wouldn't haev been very good at making your current house look unwelcoming and horrid

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Fab news WWW - ds should love the garden.

robin, hope today is better for you. I am always forgetting to bring gift tokens with me when we go shopping. What is it about them?

WWW, great news - it sounds like the decision was easy. Bet you can't wait to move now!

Robin- sorry to here about your day. Hope things improve.

WWW- only just caught up with all this- how great that everything has resolved so well! Big gardens trump bathrooms any day of the week IMO!

Good gracious- I'm completely illiterate today. HEAR is the word I was meaning. I am blushing with chagrin and shame now.

great news, www!

robinw - days like that, aaargh! i'm always forgetting tokens when i go shopping. end up having them months/years later. v. embarrassing recently when my mother came to help me with a clear out and found some she'd given me a few christmases ago... oops.

www. lovely news! Good luck with the move

Just caught up with this lot - so pleased to hear after some angst that you've found an even nicer house, www...good luck with the move.
Bossykate, agree with you that nursery can be very frustrating when stuff goes awol/gets kicked into a dusty corner. Reading yours and other stories makes me think I am pretty lucky with ours regarding clothes walking (or maybe the other parents think our stuff is so horrid it always comes back...), but I do have name tapes in everything except socks and pants.
What I don't like is them using NON-WASHABLE paint for art activities. What's that all about? I thought it was actually quite hard to buy stuff that stains these days. I am sure you will force yourself to give them what for if necessary. Funnily enough the same good cop, bad cop division of labour prevails in our house.
Robinw, I do hope you had a better day today...

Not so much a bad day as the wrong week... yesterday I got ds all geared up for his friend's birthday party, got to the hall and realised it's next week, then realised that I've arranged to see friends on days that I've already arranged to do stuff - so I really don't know what day of the week it is.

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