Thursday 23 September 2010

Hows it going?

Evening all :)

Figured it was time to do an update as i've not done one for a bit.
Things here are all going quite well actually, My youngest daughter started nursery, so now i have afternoons free, not that its a lot of time, but at last i can regain some sanity!! My eldest daughter managed to get herself into a bit of a tizz for a few days changing over to the bigger school because she thought it was too big, but now is back to her overly happy, easily over excited self again.....and she has become a school class representitive for the school council, not bad for a six year old. I have to sit down with my eldest son and sort out his college/apprenticeship applications for January as well as sort out connexions, as he leaves school next summer, fun.........
What has knocked me sideways is that my other son seems to have been replaced with someone else, it looks and sounds like Aaron, but its like he's undergone some sort of transformation......since going back into school he has been coming straight home and doing his homework , writing it in his journal and packing his bag the night before, eating his meals, up and ready for school on time, been helpful around the house WITHOUT grumbling or throwing a strop and had generally been quite nice to live with........i am really hoping this will last. I am really not used to it....not at all. Its like he's another child.
Craftwise i have been on a crochet splurge......made hats for the girls.....which they love, started a bag experimenting with crochet thread and beads, just got to do the lining and i must say, i am quite pleased with it. Also started on a pair of fingerless mitts for me, but if they weren't purple my son would have had off with them, so now have request for another pair. I have also made myself a rather nice heart choker (which i love :) )with cut glass bicones and crystal hearts. I have been asked to make one for a friend for christmas, so i still have to price up for one made from swarvoski crystals......very expensive!!
In chatting to my mate Jo the other day she suggested i should maybe think about going into the jewellry making business, maybe make a few pieces up and see if they sell....it has made me think about it as she isn't the first person to say it, but i'm not entirely sure.
Apart from that life runs smoothly, just for once, in the house :) now we start on christmas.........

Till laters, when i may have something more ineresting to say....

Lara :)

Monday 30 August 2010

Fraud!!

As the title suggests we have experienced fraud...not good and certain things about the whole thing are quite astonishing.....

Background story...about 10 days ago i went to the cash machine round the corner at 10 pm or so.....needed to grab Richie some quick stuff down your face food as he'd been at work since 9 am and was tired and hungry. He realy fancied a pasty and some other crap so off i went, machine wouldn't let me have anything came up with a big message announcing that today i could have NIL pounds....odd, so pulling out a balance sheet i was horrified to discover we were £130 overdrawn....and we have no overdraft facility(that would be silly because we would spend it all!) I am never overdrawn so i rushed home and checked out the online banking to find 2 transactions for £318 and £236....i know i hadn't spent it and checked with Richie, who wouldn't have but i asked anyway before phoning the bank to find out what was going on. They immedietly stopped my card and told me that two holidays had been booked with Thomson Travel on my card over the internet or the telephone.......gave me another phone number to ring in the morning and some instructions.
Thursday, 8 am i am on the phone to Thomson Travel armed with amounts, times and my debit card details fuming and also having to wait an hour until i can speak to the fraud team at the bank. What i did manage to get from the lady after explaining my problem to her ? It was that whoever it was had tried to book 5 holidays.....yes, 5, but only 2 were accepted, Thomson told me that they thought something funny was going on, so didn't actually make a booking, but they did take my money(wankers!).....even better was that the people who booked the holidays booked accomodation only and used my card details and address but no name......no name? who the fuck books a holiday with no name? how does that even work? have you ever gone on holiday without a name? so onto the bank, spoke to the fraud investigation team who asked me a whole bunch of questions while setting up a case, i found out what the other amounts were.....£780, £518 and £260......also found out 3 were declined....1 was settled and the other was cancelled. They put one of the amounts back into the bank the same day and were waiting to see what was going to happen with the other transaction as to whether they would need to do anything with it. Luckily all the direct debits were paid *phew* or that would have caused more problems, although i would have had any fees incurred reimbursed by the bank :)
I decided after having to spend all day on the phone to various people, having no cash card and worrying all night about what was going to happen, that i wanted to make sure that the people involved would be caught and prosecuted, as its still theft, so on friday morning i phoned Thomson again, they didn't phone me back as promised on thursday with the other details of the transactions so i was a bit annoyed.....they were less than helpful this time, and i really wasn't in the mood for their shit as i had spent a total of 55 mins waiting in queus spread over 3 phone calls and several departments who all had about as much idea as a dead dog, and bearing i mind i was also paying 10p a min for the priviladge of speaking to such twats. Apparently, because of data protection laws, even though it was MY card, and MY money taken from MY account as it was someone else who spent it they couldn't tell me any more information, but they would tell the police if they asked, or even the bank....sooooo off i go to the bank again, but as luck would have it, they've already closed the case as "we only do the financial side of it" but have the police been told? "well sometimes we pass on the details....why don't you open an investigation yourself? we would share our information with the police when they asked...." really? can i do that? "yes i don't see why not, but you've had your money back, so why bother" well its still theft, some wanky fuckwit still tried to cheat me out of £550, its about catching thieves in the end. Next stop the friendly people at Norfolk Constabulary, who are unsure if they can help so offer to send round an officer to have a chat, at some point....
Friday evening the local police decide to pop in, and after explaining whats happened say and i quote "i know this may sound like we are fobbing you off but........." and guess what? they can't help at all either, why? because my card wasn't PHSYICALLY stolen then they can't do anything, if my card was stolen then they could get forensics in and open an investigation blah, blah, blah blah.....its the bank who is a victim as you were refunded, so its up to the bank to ask for our help.....then we'd help them if they asked. So that was atotall waste of time as well.

The thing that has annoyed me the most through all this is people can't be arsed attitude, i know that its only a small amount, out of the £2000 they tried to get they got nearly £550 of my money, and then i got that back, but whats happened to MORALS? We don't have much, we aren't mega rich, we are a normal couple with children and what we have we have worked hard for, i'm not one for letting some scumbag come and take whats mine and my family's with no repercussions. Its not about the money, its about the fact that everyone bleats on and on and on about fraud, but when it actually happens, no one wants to do fuck all about it. Don't we try and catch criminals anymore? its about the fact that they are free to do it to someone else......Although i did learn a couple of things from this....that i should never use atm's, chip and pin machines in shops, restaurants or petrol stations. Oh and i should never buy anything from the internet or over the phone......because these are all the main places where card fraud takes place....

Now its all sorted, i have a new card, money is sorted, and life is back to normal, it was a horrible 48 hrs, but its still so frustrating!!!!!What is wrong with people today? Am i the only one who thinks this is totally wrong? I don't steal, cheat or lie, i consider it wrong, very wrong and i can't be the only person who feels this way. GGGRRRRRR......

Tthere rant over!! :)

Have fun:)

Lara

General update

Well as i've not updated it for a bit as we've been busy, here goes:)

Its been the summer holidays and we have had really quite crap weather. Not been hot enough to use the pool, so thats sat there the last few weeks unused,had a few park trips and we have grown HUGE sunflowers which started out with 12 and now are down to 2 because of a) wanky local kids who thought it would be fun to come into the garden and pull them down(this happened twice) b) gale force winds and c) lots of rain......next year i'm putting them out the back. My 5 year old daughter loved her sunflowers and got very upset when the kids came and ripped them up. We have also successfully grown some tomatoes and we have hatched some butterflies:) We currently have two painted lady butterflies in a net habitat, one got stuck coming out of her cocoon in the middle of the night and as a consequence we had to help her out but by the time we did her wings had already dried folded up so we will have to keep her as a pet until she dies, she is still quite spritely though!. The other one is fine and we will be releasing her at the weekend.
Our youngest daughter Gemma turned 3 a couple of weeks ago and we are preparing for our other daughter Katie who will be 6 on wednesday, cue party at a play warehouse as i really can't be arsed with having one at home.

We went to see Sepultura, with Gama Bomb and local band Shrapnel supporting at the Waterfront and all i can say is WOW what a gig, from the minute Shrapnel stepped on the stage and started playing till the end of Sepultura, it was thrash, thrash and more thrash, with a side serving of thrash :) Normally at gigs there is one of the bands who aren't that good, but i can honestly say that all three kicked ass!! i shouted so much i couldn't speak for 3 days which pleased the kids no end and they took full advantadge of it! and it took over a week to talk properly:) and i even managed to get a bass pick from Sepultura so was really pleased with the evening.

They all go back to school on friday(friday?), and i have to attend a nursery morning with Gemma ahead of her start at nursery in a couple of weeks time. It willl be a bit odd not having any of them at home but i can think of a few things i can do with them not here!! Aiden will be starting the second year of his GCSE's and preparing for his exams and we will have to start looking at the options for Aaron who will be starting his GCSE's next september, so it will be all go go go for a bit. Apart fom that just the usual shit has happened, apart from one other thing but thats going in a post all of its own......

Have fun, till next time,

Lara

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Schools :(

Right, its been a while, been a bit busy, but today i am in a serious mood, and decided that you, my audience, can know why.
Background - I have a 13 year old son who suffers from the following conditions......Aspergers, adhd, odd, anger management disorder and possibly dispraxia. This makes him quite a hard child to get on with, no i amend that to an extremely hard child to get on with, i love him to bits as he's my son, but boy can he be a pain in the arse! Life can be very stressful with him and he struggles to be sociable and "normal", prefering his own company to being with others. It has taken me 8 years to finally get the diagnosis of Aspergers as we were always sure there was something else wrong than the rest of his conditions. Things just didn't add up.
Anyway, as such Aaron has always been a target for bullying because he is different and doesn't fit in anywhere. We have been trying for years to get an educational statement in place, not because he has problems with learning, in fact Aspergers children are extremely intelligent, its one of the characturistics of the condition even though its a form of autism. His problems are mainly behavioural and he does things like refusing to work, walking out of class, leaving school grounds, doing what we would consider as odd things, things must be done in a certain way or they are taken literally i.e. i am going out for 45 mins to the library, see you in a bit and 46 mins later i get a phone call asking were i am, that sort of thing. so sometimes school can be a bit much especially if they get confused with the changes in routine. Teachers don't always help as they can make the problems worse by the way they react, and then Aaron reacts back and BAM, off he goes like a volcano. His peadiatrician has even gone as far to say that she wonders if he is coping in mainstream school and maybe a different setting would be better for him.
We went for a meeting up the school to discuss getting the statement finally sorted about 8 weeks ago, still not heard a dickiebird about it, he should also have seen another ed psych but not heard anything, phone calls are not returned etc etc. I have phoned at least 8 times during the last half term about bullying incidents alone, those are the ones i know about, as Aaron doesn't talk to anyone, so i have my mates phone me up to tell me things their children have witnessed at school. In the last half term we had 4 seperate incidents of a group pouring water or juice over him, being punched in the face on the way home from school, several trips, falls or shoves and a variety of punches, slaps, that kind of thing. Aaron then reacts and the kids love it, and the teachers? well they do fuck all and nothing is done yet again. "well we told them off," or "we put them on report" are the two main results we get from them. the half term before that some year 11 kid split his eyebrow 1inch open by shoving him into a wooden chair, it needed gluing but they couldn't because of the site of the injury and the first aid he recieved was apparently adequate(not by my standards it wasn't). Yesterday evening i get a call from Aarons best mate(he only has 3 friends and one moved recently) about him being attcked by a bunch of 3 boys who decided that as he wasn't cool they were going to throw rocks at him, rocks? wtf? to say i am angry is a bit of an understatement, so today he is not at school and i am going to the police station to make a statement for assault against the boys involved. I have already been on the phone this morning and blasted off at the teacher they put me through to and i told her that i had had enough, maybe if they couldn't give Aaron the support and help that he is in desperate need of then perhaps they should refer him to a school that can as i am fed up of sending him to school to be victimised and bullied everyday(amongst other not so nice things). I know hes not an angel, in fact far from it, but some of his behaviours stem from his conditions, and surroundings and they should be treating him better, understanding his needs more. I have left a message with his pediatrician so hopefully she will get back to me, i am not sure whether to send him back yet, will wait and see what the school will come up with today, as they promise to ring me back, today.......we will see, lets just say i am not getting my hopes up, that would be stupid.
It makes me angry that people think that treating people like a bit of shit is acceptable, Aaron is classed as disabled but i guess because he is not in a wheelchair and its not a visible disabilty thats ok. Ok, so he dresses funny, and doesn't care about how he looks, he eats his food in a certain order on his plate, well the foods he will actually eat that is (the list of foods that he eats is quite short, i think its down to textures), he says things in an odd way, doesn't like a lot of pysical touch(cuddles kisses etc),uses weird expressions, gets upset and angry easily and acts like a two year old at times, plus lots of other things but you know what? underneath it all he is a funny, intelligent boy, who given the right support and settings can do really well, and thats what i am fighting for. He deserves better, much better and i am not going to stop until something is done. there rant done........i know it maybe a bit disjointed, it reflects the state of my head today.......not entirely sure what to next either....

an extremely frustrated Lara

UPDATE

After this mornings rant i seem to have made some progress. I had the police in and they took a statement, and its a bit strange when a random police officer knows where the child in question lives!. This afternoon i had a phone call from another policelady and we had a good chat :), and what it comes down to is that theres not much to go on.....and all he would do is deny it, which i already knew anyway, that would leave the restoritive justice route....been there done that. So they are going to go round and speak to the parents, at my request, and have a chat, although how much good it does is another matter with parents like the ones of some of the children. its on record and so it can't be lost, as has happened before. I am phoning the school in the morning also to tell them they must see me as a matter of urgency, and i will go armed with a written list of problems and exactly what i want done about it, as i have to make the school do their job and force them to act apparantly, why it requires the police to tell me this i don't know! the school should act accordingly in the first place, but at least i have a starting point, unfortunatley they try and fob you off with every excuse. The pediatrician also phoned back and i now have a couple of phone numbers that will hopefully be of use, i will ring them tomorrow. The ed psych will be seeing Aaron when his name gets to the top of the waiting list, he was put on the list after a school support meeting, and the SENCO should be ringing me soon. Why didn't i get informed earlier? there would have been less fuss.
Aaron will not be going back to school until the issues have been dealt with to our satisfaction, which will be in the near future if all goes to plan. So i now feel as if i have accomplished something today and am feeling a little less stressed.

a not quite so frustrated Lara :)

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Sunday 7 March 2010