X-ray done at last! Just got to wait for the results now. I'm not convinced they will actually see anything as I have been told that I have nerve damage & they can't be seen on a normal x-ray!

Had the Educational planning meeting to check up on George & it has been decided that because things are going well they aren't going to issue a final prosecution notice. Phew! He has 6 months to behave before they stop monitoring him but I'm sure we will be fine. George being back in school full time has lifted a huge load off my shoulders & alleviated alot if stress. We've now got to work on his sleep problems so he'll be a bit easier to get up in the mornings!
Seeing his Consultant soon so I'm going to try to pin him down on a few things. All we keep getting is that it won't be a quick fix. I know that, but we need to start fixing a few things rather than just talking about them!
I am also convinced George has Aspergers too. He does have so many Aspergers traits & I do want things clarified a bit more. It would also help towards my claim for Disability Living Allowance which I have been turned down for before.

The shop is going well, the dress side in particular. The girls are all after their prom dresses now so that side is keeping me busy. I do love seeing the girls dressing up in the pretty dresses & deciding which one is THE ONE! Such an expensive business too. I'm lucky that I have all my dresses for Bex prom this year. She's already picked hers out although typically she has picked the most expensive one in the shop!. It's a very pretty one too. All pink & lacy!

Just wondering when we're going to get a holiday this year! Have been working 6 days a week so it is difficult to get time off. I have really been missing Geocaching at meeting up with all the friends I met. It just gets difficult when I spend Sundays catching up and doing housework so leisure activities have faded into the background. Mind you, with my back as it is, I can't really walk far anyway so caching has been put on hold until I can sort out my life a bit more. I also need to be going to Weymouth to see my parents a little more right now so got to try to squeeze that in too but that is more of a priority so always comes first!

I had better get on with running my businesses! Got to order some more tiaras!

Beginning of 2009

Lenny in the snow! We had a the biggest snowfall for many years this week!


Time has just whizzed past again. I can't believe that I last blogged at the end of October! Well, I can believe that really!

So this is just a little update of the the goings on with the Tates since then.

The shop has taken off particularly the Dress hire side. I was warned that in January the prom side would be busy, and they weren't wrong!
We have pushed the advertising for that side of the business and it has been worth it. We are getting people from all over Hampshire wanting my dresses. I am the only person in this area that hires dresses so that's why we have been so busy. We still have a few months to go until the proms so hopefully I will be even busier!

Things eventually came to a head with George and his problems with going to school. We were finally threatened with prosecution and have had a couple of family group conference meetings with all those nearest to George plus the authorities to try to sort a plan to get him back into school.
I think the message finally kicked in for George & he is now almost going full-time, gradually building up until he will be totally full-time next week. He is still a real pain to get up in the mornings but we do get there. I think George seeing & hearing things for real rather than from me made the difference.
The main thing is that no-one seemed to take Georges' behavioural problems into account & everything that has gone on with him over the past couple of years. I hate to use the phrase abnormal but George is not your normal everyday child, what with his ADHD etc. He is also finding it difficult to forge relationships with others, which has always been a problem due to his ADHD & we are now finding that he is getting some trouble from others who find him hard to tolerate. We will finally get to see the Mental Health Consultant again at the end of this month. We were supposed to have had a follow up appointment in October! It is just so frustrating trying to get the help he needs & no-one is taking any notice. I just feel abandoned sometimes.

My back is still not good. Infact, it seems to be worse than ever & I'm still dosed up to the eyeballs all the time to be able to function. Because I left the private hospital, my care is now under the NHS so I have had to wait. I saw the Consultant at the beginning of January who sent me for an x-ray at a different hospital. The x-ray card went missing so I now have to wait until next week to get that done & then probably another MRI. Back to square one again!

Steve is still around despite everything that is going on in my life. There is more but I'm not going to mention it all right now! He has been absolutely brilliant and so tolerant & helpful. I really don't know how I would have survived the past year without him. He has been a godsend & is so kind to me. I am very lucky to have found him after everything that happened.

The beginning of 2009 really hasn't been good. There's some not so good things happening in my life but I guess there are some good ones with the business taking off but things aren't brilliant apart from the shop. We will get there but I know some things are going to get worse & I will have to deal with those.

And......maybe I might start blogging more often too!

Belated Happy New Year to you all!

Busy time again!

Wow! Been ages again! Sorry!
There is a good excuse tho. Since opening the shop just over 6 weeks ago, I have put in 6 day weeks, all 9-5ish so have been absolutely shattered in the evenings and have spent every Sunday catching up on everything else. I don't find much time to breathe!
Get up at 7.15 every day, go to the shop, get home, feed dogs, bunnies and then the kids doing some clearing up and cleaning in between! By that time it's getting late and my painkillers have kicked in so I usually end up slumped on the sofa fighting to keep awake! It takes Steve a good few prods to get me up and into my own bed!

The 'Togz' shop is up and running well now and ticking along so, perhaps rather impulsively, I looked out for another challenge; a little addition to the shop business.
I have bought another business. The whole stock, website, domain, contacts and wholesaler details. The lady I got it all from had to give up due to her kids being so young and the business taking up too much time for her running it from home.
So now I have an additional area within the shop for the new business.
What is it? I hear you cry!
This is the business: www.wheredidshegetthat.com
I'm in heaven!

Jenny, remember going around trying on wedding dresses when we weren't even getting married? (At that point anyway!), well, this fulfills alot of that need! (We were alot younger too!)

The link may not work for the next day or so as all the swapping over to my new server and host is going on, but do pop back and have a look!
It should be so much fun to do!

From working part time for 14 years, then eing off sick for a year, working full-time is a bit of a shock to the system, but it doesn't feel like work. I'm my own boss, infact I AM THE BOSS! What a great position to be in after all these years of being an employee and being told what to do!

Hopefully I'll be back soon! x

Phew!

Wow! What a manic few weeks!

We finally opened the shop on 13th September and I haven't stopped since!

No time for breathing let alone blogging. So sorry for that.

I am really pleased with the shop and it looks great. We are getting loads of positive comments and business is steady. I'm not going to make the million but am going to make enough to live. Considering we haven't got the advertising out yet, we're doing ok. That's the next job - working on adverts and flyers. I don't have time to sit and twiddle my thumbs in the shop as there is always something to do. But, I am enjoying it and no horrible boss to be breathing over my shoulder!

It's just hard adjusting from working part-time for 14 years, being off sick for a year and straight back into 6 day weeks of 9-5.

Things at home have been hard work too. Lots going on but I'm not going into details but the kids having been causing alot of stress, more than usual! Mind you, life can't really hit me as hard as it has done in the past so I can get through anything.

George is still not going to school and I have attended meetings with them to sort everything out. What is most annoying, is that I was promised that someone would liaise with the senior school and fill them in with all of Georges problems. No-one did, so when I sat down and went through literally everything with the new school, they were surprised but very understanding and helpful. I feel we are going to finally get the support we need with Georges schooling.

Just waiting to see the Psych consultant again. I'm almost sure he has Asbergers. The symptoms all add up and are more pronounced now that George is older. Waitning to see what the Dr says.

Oh, and no result on the rain MRI yet so I guess no news is good news.

Through all this, Steve has been extremely supportive. I couldn't have got the shop going without his help and also the emotional support he has given me recently. Poor thing really does have to put up with an awful lot with me and my kids! He has got to be a saint for still sticking around! We have been together for just over a year - doesn't time fly? So much has happened in that year.

I suppose I prefer the hectic life, can't say I have a boring life! That would drive me potty!

Very Proud Parent!

Becky got her exam results. She took her GCSE's a year early as she is one of the brighter ones at school.
She got: Maths - B grade
Food Technology - A grade
Physical Ed - C grade
Expressive Arts - C grade
Geography - C grade
Additional Science - B grade
She did get a 'D' in French but we aren't worried about that one!

I am very proud of her and hope she continues the hard work when she does her A levels.
Her job ideas change frequently so I'm still not sure what she is working towards, but at the moment she wants to be a midwife. That may change next month tho!

I have the keys to my shop now. We have spent the past 2 weeks decorating and are now down to the last 2 sheets of wallpaper to do. I have got to get some more as we ran out just before we finished!
The electric goes on tomorrow, I hope! That's a long story!
Carpet goes down on Friday so we will be left with just the fittings to do - more stands, curtains, counters etc, all the fiddly its!
There is so much to get and I keep thinking of other things to get that we have forgotten.

If all goes to plan, we are planning the grand opening on 6th September but we still may put that back a week. Will keep you posted.

Not much other news really. Just been working hard on the shop. It's almost like I'm working full-time again! But not getting paid for it! Just want to get open and have an income after all this time without!