Assessment Update

Thought I should update on our visits from D*HS since our very first meeting.

Since the 12th of July we have had another couple meeting, a individual meeting with myself which is still not finished, darn large families with issues and Daz has had an individual meeting (which was finished in 4 hours!). As far as we know, I still have to finish my individual session on family and religion and the like, then I think we will break for a couple of weeks while it gives our worker time to write up some stuff, come back together for maybe another 1or 2 sessions maybe, I can't imagine what else we can tell her. It all seems to be going very positively except I have now thrown a spanner in the works by getting SACKED from work just over a week ago.

Add to that Daz has gone through 6 jobs in 6 months, something unheard of in our lives but is now self contracting again, something I'm not thrilled with but since the money is good, will deal with. So far I haven't really been doing anything, I've looked for some government jobs which is all I am really willing to apply for at this stage, I'm thinking of adoption leave. My old employer did me a favour I think as I would only have gotten 5 days adoption leave paid.

So at the moment I am a lady of leisure, don't know what to do with myself except watch TV, The jobs I have applied for have closing dates of the 30th and 31st of July so don't expect a call for an interview (if I get one at all) until at least a week after the closing.

Any idea's of what I can do in the mean time, drop me a line, if you have any good knitting patterns that can be emailed, also drop me a comment.

one down ........

Yesterday we started out assessment for adoption. It went quite smoothly with a few touch and go moments at the beginning.

You see, not everyone likes snakes, as yest Daz has 4 of them. Even though they are in a locked enclosure, it is not the most favorite things of D*HS along with dogs.

The 'talk' lasted about 3-4 hours, we walked around the house to show our renovations, showed Daz's passions with his guitars, the room that will be the 'baby's', then sat at the table and just talked about life in general. It appears that she didn't get done as much as she would have liked because of our general chat but at least she got a sense of who we are as individuals and as a couple. One good thing was that as she new our ages before coming to see us, she thought that it may be a factor in the adoption. Myself being 40 and Daz being 44. But she was surprised to see how young we actually looked. Tick for good skin and gene's ;)

So next week its on again, another visit, another 4 hours I'm sure but am glad I got the first one over and done with because I was so nervous and had put off the visit by a week as it was. I don't know why I was so worried but I'm sure she will have me more worried by the end of next week with her probing questions.

no photog genious but here's some photo's

I can't get these things in order so here's some photo's of the changes. You'll notice the door frames and doors have been painted through out the whole house. That was a pain. Not to mention all of the walls, they were originally in suede effect, a different colour in every room, on every wall which needed to be undercoated before being painted in new colour. We have painted the kitchen cupboards but are not yet finished with the kitchen. We have also tiled the floors in the kitchen, entry, laundry and bathrooms and toilet. And we have removed a wall between the lounge and the kitchen making it more open living. Friday I also got a new front loading washing machine, Daz and my dad went and got it. It may not have been what I would have picked but am happy to be able to wash my clothes again. We also recently got a new hot water system, the new Heat pump. Once I get a current invoice for the power I will let you know if the expense is worth it.

..........................................................

Well, its coming to an end.

The waiting that is. DHS has made contact and next weekend they will be attending the newly improved 'Our House'. Our first assessment meeting will happen next Saturday. I'm of course nervous, always am when we have visitors, especially someone who could make or break our application.

I'm worried about the dogs and what they will think about them and about the snakes that are in the lounge at the moment.

The fact the Daz doesn't have a job at the moment isn't great either but good practice for us living on 1 wage.

Other than that, we really haven't done much, haven't gone anywhere exciting, done anything exciting, just work no play, makes me a dull chick :(

Once I have finally cleaned up I will post some photo's of our painted kitchen and our tiled floor and some odd other photo's maybe.

catch ya later

we got the call

Why do I do it to myself? Of course I can't be patient and wait for them to call me, I have to ring and hassle them out. Them is the assessment people. Then Dazza loses his job, again. Of course. That's 5 jobs in 5 months! What in the world is happening here???

So the call came that they wanted to start on the 4th of July! But that only gives me one weekend to finish my house to the way I want it to be when they arrive. Eek horror.

I changed my mind, I can't do this, ok I can but its going to be hard. I have changed the date of starting to the 11th so that it give me an extra weekend. Having said that, I really have wasted this Saturday by doing nothing.

Do I really want this or not?

Can I live with being child free forever?

Do I want to change my lifestyle, change the way I treat my animals (treated as children at the moment)?

I know I am looking forward to having the dogs outside more, to at least keep the floors clean longer and the dirt and dust out. Maybe the furniture will not be cover in dust from the heating system if the dirt isn't sucked into the roof heating?

Maybe its the rejection I think I can't handle so I sabotage myself instead, maybe I don't think I'm good enough to be a mum. I should just carry on being a critic of those you can be.

I went into Baby Bunting yesterday with my mum, I just looked at everything, I couldn't believe how many cribs there were on offer, not to mention the prams!!! Everywhere I looked there were pregnant women. I didn't know if to smile or just cry because I will never be one of them. If I had a thin body maybe that would make me feel better, to think I could have a baby without getting fat, but I'm already fat. Maybe I'll use my gym membership soon to at least lose some weight and get healthy so that if the Gods to grant me the honour of being a mum, I'll be fit enough to take it on.

So at the end of all that, the assessment is due to commence on the 11th of July, no telling when it will end yet, but I'm sure the process will be painful.

MISSING

JUST ME, SOMEWHERE IN THE PAINT FUMES

Oh my God will it ever end...........

That's the painting and tiling that is.

1 bedroom - to be babies bedroom & the laundry to go!

Yesterday we were meant to finish the painting and the tiling, even got up early and went and got a bit of extra grout, expect after picking mum up, I couldn't be bothered. I did have to go to Bunnings Warehouse where I saw, low and behold a paint that No Swimmers used in her kitchen to make it look like a million dollars. So I brought a can home to show hubby. He didn't think it would work but thought he would give it a go. That's when I was sent back to Bunnings to buy more! Since we are going to redo the sink area, there is no use painting the bench tops yet but the side panel and the front of the island was done and it has really transformed the kitchen already. I'm just trying to talk hubby into painting all of the cupboards, with our brushed silver handles on the hammered brown it will look great. It's what we were going to do for colour on the $10,000 kitchen we were quoted for anyway.

Still no word from the contractored social worker, lucky I guess, the fumes are overwhelming!