Tuesday 10th August 2010

This is my last post on this blog as my story has now finally come to an end. We moved home on Monday 14th June , exactly 5 months and 1 day after the accident which in the grand scheme of things is amazingly quick. It just didn't feel like it while living in the rental.

We have one very sexy house now and I actually finished unpacking the 102 boxes last Tuesday. There are still circa 20 boxes in the garage of 'stuff' we no longer want and intend to have a large garage clearance in the near future. Words cant not describe how happy we all are to be home animal included.

There are still a very small number of outstanding 'snags' to be sorted with the insurance, but nothing to get very upset or worried about. So life in the Skilton household has thankfully once again become 'normal'. Or as normal as an Autistc 8 year old and very stroppy teenager, who is infact only 11, can be. ;)

Wednesday 2nd June 2010

I don’t write for ages because there is nothing really to report, then I don’t write because so much has happened.

The builders, decorators, electrician and plumber have all been working amazingly hard and we are due to move home next week. You can’t really tell from reading this just how excited I am, yelling YIPPEE whilst jumping up and down. Now there is an image for you. J.

The Blinds Man is coming Friday 4^th to fit the blind for the front room. Carpet Right are coming on Monday to fit our new carpets and Rainbow removals are bring all our belongings from storage on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Sofa's and sky are arriving on Thursday 10th. Yeeaahhhh!!!!!!!

I went over to Cross Hands this morning to sort out the tiles for the front hall. I then went to 84 to let the builders know that Duncan was on his was to Caerphilly to collect the tiles in person as they were the only store with stock. When I got to 84 I found the plumber having a panic over tap connecters for the new bath taps; bless him. So he gave me a shopping list and off I went again back to Cross Hands then to Carmarthen in order to get the right parts for him. £16 later and a McDonalds to sooth two very bored children I took the stuff back to 84 to a hopefully happy plumber to then find an Electrician having a meltdown over security lights and earth wire. I did offer to take him back to Leekes AGAIN, but he said he would see how things went. Cross everything please.

Dunk has bought the tiles back here and transferred them from his car to mine so that I can take them over to 84 tomorrow, I also need to get to a bank and get money to pay the blinds man on Friday. PLEASE do not let me forget.

Once the builders are finished and have tidied up a bit (so over the weekend), I intend to take some new pictures of the house from the same angles as the original damage photos, to make a ‘before & after’ board. So watch out for more post with new snaps.

ttfn.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHIL x

Saturday 17th April 2010

I went out today and got hit by a garlic bread and a frozen lasagne, guess it must be the fall out from Iceland.......

Not much has happened inside this week, the builders have used the fab weather to work on the outside; so the house is all rendered now apart from the damaged wall which will be done once the new window and door have been fitted. The scaffolding is down now so the house no longer looks like a crash site it looks like a house that is being renovated so I am a lot happier now about living in the rental as I can now see it as a holiday home and enjoy watching my real home getting closer and closer to being finished.

We have been living in the rental for 3 months next week so we are half way through our ordeal which again makes things easier to handle as we are now on the home-ward stretch. Ooohhh don’t I sound positive. It must be the sunshine. Or perhaps the wine....

On a separate note, Mum and Dad were due to fly back from Bangkok this evening and visit us on they way home tomorrow, but they emailed early this morning to say their flight had been cancelled until at least Wednesday because of the Icelandic Volcanic eruption. Total bummer. Nice for them getting an extra long holiday but I miss them loads. I don’t suppose they are too chuffed at the extra cost either as the insurance doesn’t cover natural disasters.

I am going to hide their passports when they get back because they have had several ‘incidents’ on their recent trips away.  In dads email to me he quoted “Bombs in Sri Lanka; Somali Pirates last year; now Volcanoes in Iceland. Can't we just have a simple holiday? 

Ho hum, makes for some interesting memories I suppose. LOL

Important: If you are shopping in Iceland this weekend, don’t forget to ask for some ash back.

ttfn.

Friday 3 April 2010

We have had the okay to order the new sofa’s, tables and curtains that we wanted so that’s exciting and Owen has been accepted into Tregib so a week of good news for once. The builders are working really hard which is lovely to see so just wanted to update with a few more photos.

No sign yet of the new front door or window, but looking forward to it soon.

Sunday 21 March 2010

We had a very stinky letter from the council stating that we hadn’t applied for Building Regulations Approval prior to the builders commencing work, so we had to stop work until the relevant application and fee had been processed. I got all upset as we don’t have £400 and I didn’t feel we should have to pay anyway. Dunk spoke to the insurance company and it was them that should have dealt with it and to be fair did so, super quickly. So the council inspector came out on Thursday to check the site and laid out a few requirements of work that the builders need to do in order to bring the work up to current building regulations , so I am a very happy bunny and work will commence again on Monday.

The new front door and living room window have been ordered so looking forward to seeing them fitted.

Ryan is so,so. Some okay days, some not so good. Owen has started having regular nightmares and I am still physically very unwell, I have 2 different lots of blood tests done and am back at the doctor for further tests on Tuesday so not fun. I have started a 7 week stress course so hopefully that will help a bit.

Wednesday 17 February 2010

The builders moved in and began work on Monday 15th Feb so I am much happier now that I can definitely see a faint light at the end of a very long tunnel. Dunk and I went shopping on Saturday to get estimates for the loss adjuster for the items that are to be replaced such as, carpets, sofas, curtains etc. I have complied that letter ready for posting so things are really beginning to move forward now. I spoke to the loss adjuster on Monday and he believes the work will take 3-4 months so I am still working on moving home by end of July so that I have the 6 weeks summer holidays to settle back in before Owen begins Secondary school in September. Bless him we really dont need the added pressure of moving school coinciding with moving house.

I lost the plot with BT this morning who were supposed to come and fit a phone line and broadband at the rental yesterday but never turned up. We have a letter and an email confirming yesterdays date but BT customer service have 'no record' on their systems???? We have had to place a new order and wait another 5 days, so now coming next Wed 24th. How crap. I am about to raise a complaint with BT and have OfComs number to call them too, simply because I am sick of being taken for a mug and these large companies doing whatever they please and **** the rest of us.

Ryan has continued to struggle greatly and school life has unfortunately nosedived. He kicked a boy in the face last week and split his lip because the boy was "annoying" Ryan. I have spoken to the Paediatrician team who are a registrar and consultant down at the moment, so the earliest appointment I can have is 7th April oh sweet joy. I have obviously tried to get Ryan to talk about his feelings but he just shuts down, he did draw and very good picture at school about the accident and I have bought him a diary/journal as he asked so that he can write down how he feels but it just sits on his bed unopened.

Lilian came to stay breifly on Saturday 6th Feb so that Duncan and I could go out for a well deserved break to Emma H-P's 30th Birthday ball and it was fab, just what the doctor had ordered. I still haven't uploaded photos onto facebook though as we are STILL on dial up.

Owen has signed up and now plays for Llangennech AFC which has been excellent and there is also a senior team on Sunday they had a training match against the other age groups in the club and the goalkeeper from the senior team commented that he was extremely impressed with Owen and says he has potential which gave Owen a much needed boost to his confidence. We are obviously beaming with pride.

Sunday 31.1.10

I haven't had internet access hence the delay in updating my blog and I am only on dial up now, so bloomin slow and I won't update daily as a result.

We secured the rental we wanted in Penygroes and Dunk spent a hectic week and numerous phone calls between Rental agency and Insurance to secure the move asap. That moved occured on Thursday 28.1.10 and we have spent a very busy 4 days unpacking a miriad of boxes so much that Mum & Dad came over today to help take a whole load back to store in the garage at our 'proper' house as the rental is lovely but a lot smaller than we are used to.

Both Duncan's and my health have suffered and we have both had doctors appointments during the last week. Duncan is on medication, I am making do with wine although I was a complete cow to my sister on Wednesday 27.1 which is totally did not deserve and I am sorry.

Ryan has had several bad days and I have had a meeting with his SENCo at school who agrees this upset has had an impact on Ryan, but they have managed him so well and have been able to deal with him very effectively so that his meltdowns have not been too disruptive to him or the rest of the class. As a result Dunk is due to meet with a Lawyer next week to discuss our options. Owen bless him has been the most together in all of this and I credit him greatly for that.

Jo M has done an amazing job looking after Misty for us and she is now 'home' and our thanks also go to Mum & Dad for boarding Hunter for us; they bought him back to us today and I think they are a little sad to see him leave them but we are so grateful to have him back.

Jo D has been a superstar doing all our washing for us and even cooked casserole for our first night in the rental which was a huge help and she has looked after the boys on several occasions so Dunk and I can run errands. BFF.

Both Fujitsu and Halfway have been so supportive of us and have been very flexible in allowing us time to get organised and settled and I had a gorgeous bunch of flowers from Emma and Andrea which is a lovely house warming present and has already brightened up the living room. So hopefully we can now get back to some sort of normality.

We have also received the report from the Building Engineer outlining all the work that is required to make our house a home once more. It is really good and detailed and has now gone out to tender to the insurance approved list of builders so we need to wait and see which firm takes it on and at this stage have no idea when work is likely to start.

I will update again when I have this vital piece of information.