Oh for fuck's sake

I'm kind of ill and had the worst night's sleep in recent memory, so Rob made me coffee and toast before he left.

And left it on the foot of the bed, on the quilt, directly over my feet.

I turned over in bed so I could sit up, and now I have to glue a cup back together, clean the mattress, launder a king-size quilt, sheet, and mattress protector, and incidentally make more coffee and toast.

Well, fuck. I had such a warm fuzzy feeling, too, as I lay there with my fever and my headache.

I would have washed the sheets anyway because I fever-sweated into them. But how did I send a tray flying just by turning over?!

I could cry.

Progress

I've mopped the worst of it out of the mattress, and it will stain, but it will probably be dry enough to sleep on. And I've put Linnea's wet bedding in the washing machine and I've started the process of washing my duvet in the bath. I predict that this will be heavy. I'm hoping to get only about half of it really wet, because a king-size winter duvet holds a lot of water.

In good news, Emer is asleep - why she couldn't have done this LAST NIGHT I don't know - and it's Rob's birthday, so I need to get Linnea to decide what she wants to do for him.

Now I can make coffee. And toast.

*whimper*

Baby Seraphina's Wheelchair

We have raised over 50% of the cost, so her parents have been getting in touch with suppliers and fitters to get precise pricing information and work out the details about how to have her fitted for it, etc. This is so exciting! And what we have is:

We have raised £1122.27 which is already banked, and a further £185.14 is in Paypal waiting to be moved to a bank account. That's a total of £1307.41 or 57% and it means they almost have enough for the basic seat.

What Seri needs:

Basic seat (no straps, support etc) and wheels £1572.90
Head rest £81.90
Side supports £88.20
Pelvic belt £15.00
Harness £105.00
Hood £148.05
Raincover £49.35
Grip rail £78.75
Tray £111.30

TOTAL...............................................£2217.90

Her mother writes, "She would also need the reinforced equipment tray underneath but I haven't a price for that... so still looking at around £2300." I think that's the bit that holds the oxygen bottles and feeding equipment but I'm not sure.

Edited to add: The tray costs £110 so the total needed is £2327.90, and they can't buy it a bit at a time - none of the accessories can be added after first build, apparently, so they have to wait until they have enough for the whole thing and then order it. That seems so unfair to me.

Thank you to everyone who gave money so far. There were a number of sizable donations and a huge pile of fivers and tenners which really, really mounted up. There's a neighbour of mine who is planning to do a sponsored walk but needs to get a bit organised about it; he's also doing a sponsored swim for a spinal injuries charity so he's kind of busy. I think he also does volunteer work for the CAB. Anyway.

The original post, containing such useful information as "Who on earth is Baby Seraphina anyway?" is here.

Laundry

The children's duvets are washed and dried, all hail massive nuclear reactors, and their bedsheets are drying. My bedding is also drying but the duvet itself really does need a laundrette. And two loads of clothing laundry are in process.

There's hope for us yet, in other words. Four loads in one day seems excessive, but there's still more piled up to do!

Curry

Rob and Pat Kight make a mean curry. They are a good team.

And Linnea reminds Rob when he forgets or runs out of some of the spices, which is cute.

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In other news, Rob liked his birthday gift, which Emer gave him after work today. He was touched by the signatures. Linnea is refusing to hand over the card she made him, but I'm sure she will eventually.

I've been thinking about the tightening of belts, and wondering where ours can be tightened (in terms of general budget, not unusual expenditures). I'm not willing to compromise on much, is the problem. I might do a charity-shop trawl for shirts for Rob, but since it's really hard to find sleeves long enough anyway, I don't hold out much hope. We will probably end up eating less and less meat, since meat is expensive and pulses are cheap. Soon we will switch from cold cereals with rice milk to porridge, and that will help.

But I don't want to stop the local organic fair trade ethical consumerism kick. We're nothing like poor enough to justify it. In point of fact, we're rich.

But spending it all.