lorryw

Christmas morning, up, quick walk in the park with dog and back for breakfast. Inspect the defrosting turkey crown on return. Although M & S clearly insist it should defrost in 10 hours, some 12 hours later it is still a frozen lump. Panic sets in and I try to stay calm, parents arriving for lunch in 4 hours. Give way to panic and start wailing about wretched turkey. Husband obviously finds this faintly amusing and points out "its only a b***** turkey,dont worry about it" I am not famous for my culinery success in my family. Only that morning we had been chortling about our first Christmas when I had bought a huge chicken mistaking it for a turkey. It had no meat on it and was tough as boots. My parents arrive and insist a late luch will be fine. We decide that the turkey is now defrosted and put it in for the alotted 2 hours. Two hours later it is still very pink and shove it back in for another half hour. An hour later is is still not cooked, everything else is ready and I have a mad impulse to run screaming round the block. My Mum suggests we eat it with some ham, which we do. It was pretty grotty with overcooked veg and coldish stuffing etc. I fetch desert from kitchen and hear violent coughing. My Dad is obviously choking and my Mum and hubby are frozen to the spot. I thump Dad on the back but nothing helps and Mum yelps that his eyes have rolled back. In desperation I do a sort of heimlich thrust and he splutters and starts to breathe. My obviously worried Mum says, "I keep telling you to write a will" A while later Dad is gently nodding off and I ask husband to take a picture. He leaps up to get the camera and yelps in pain. His knee cracked and begins to swell and we have to apply a bag of frozen sprouts to ease the pain. Later that evening Mum and Dad thank us for a lovely day (!) and my Mother kindly informs me that its probably all down the "change" (I turned 50 this year) Thank you Mother!!! Happy New Year to you all!!!!

Happy Birthday Kathryn. Bad timing for the flu bug to strike, I hope you feel a bit better tomorrow. Take care. Loraine XXX

Amanda, I cant even begin to understand what you are going through at the moment and I am so sorry for the loss of your little boy. Love Loraine xxx

Brilliant news!!

Brilliant news. It is soul destroying to have to fight for everything but fantastic when you win!! Lorainex

Hi Shaz, Take a look at www.tes.co.uk and go to "resources". It is a free resource area for teachers and may give you a few ideas. Good luck Loraine

Have a brilliant day!! Loraine xxx

Im so sorry to hear of your sudden loss, what a dreadful shock for you. Take care of yourself Loraine xx

We love Christmas, off to buy the tree tomorrow. Its always Christmas in our house. My son loves Christmas music and cartoons. We have watched Mr Magoos Christmas Carol every day since July. We even get excited at the first Christmas ad on the telly

Hi Kathryn, Im so sorry Ive missed all of this, Ive been away on a much needed break after my recent battle with our LA. I know how horribly stressful this is for you and yours, it shouldnt have to be like this. Interesting that the SEN officer has left. Perhaps she went the same way as my sons Social worker who also suddenly "left" during our run in with the same Local Authority. Good luck, you know you have them on the run and they will move heaven and earth to avoid court action. Take care Loraine xx

Hi Hev, Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better. My one piece of advice is to make a formal complaint. Its very easy, you should be able to download a form from your local authority website. If things still dont improve move on to stage 2 and 3. I know its a pain but it puts you in the driving seat and really makes them buck up their ideas. I cant believe how differently we are now treated, ss are literally falling over themselves to provide a proper service for my son. I only wish I had started sooner! take care

So sorry, what a dreadful thing to happen. Take care Loraine

Hi Lindy, Pleased to hear you are still around and lovely to hear from you. Love Loraine xx

Well done to both of you. She will have a brilliant time and you will be a nervous wreck!

Brilliant news regarding my complaint against my LA social services department. My son will now have access to an autistic specific day service (out of County). A new, local service will be set up within the next few years (Im on the committee as an"adviser") after years of banging on. I feel completely vindicated in continuing my "crusade" and at the moment Im a very happy bunny. I cant quite believe this is all now over and my battle with authority has left me very cynical. I tried to get help from so many sources but was continually made to feel that it was a lost cause and I should be grateful for the little help we had. Armed only with my trusty Disability Rights Handbook and great support from family, friends (thanks Katkin) and work mates I eventually became so angry I just waded in. I contacted the Ombudsman who sent me back to go through the LA complaint procedure. I was patronised and fobbed off at stage one. Stage 2 involved a visit and report from an independant person who upheld my complaint. The Council chose to argue the findings which annoyed me so much I chose to go to Stage 3 which I covered in a previous post. My (new!) social worker says he has never seen so many people falling over themselves to put our situation "right" and see the back of me. I hope I dont sound too smug but I just want to give hope and encouragement to anyone out there who is having a tough time. If a middle aged, disorganised, slightly batty woman who hates confrontation can succeed then anyone can.

I feel the same, October just flew by in a blur. I was 50, my niece 21 (on the same day!) and my nephew 18.. At the same time we had the stage 3 complaint with social services to deal with. Im off to New York in a few weeks (doesnt that sound posh), its my families birthday pressie to me. Mind you, I will have to organise food, clothes etc for hubby, son and dog for 5 days. By the time Ive done all of that I will need a holiday.

Congratulations!!!

Hi, Our son is now 22 and we have been shaving him since he was 16. I dont know how old your son is but I think its easier if you can get him used to the "mechanics" of shaving as young as possible so that it isnt a big deal. We used to put shaving foam on both him and Dad and make a bit of a game of it. He then would "shave" it off with a cheap bic razor with the safety cover on the blade and also shave Dad. We bought an electric razor but he couldnt tolerate the noise. We do it while hes in the bath which makes things easier, he doesnt enjoy it but we have it down to a fine art and its all over in about 30 seconds. Good luck

Cross country in primary??? I thought the days of the bullying PE teacher were long gone, obviously not. I have great sympathy for children who find sport a real turn off. You just know that the little lad or lass or continuously "forget" kit just dont want to do it. Usually we can find some activity they can succeed at and build on that. She sounds like a bully, corner her at parents evening, bat your eyelids sweetly and ask if school has an anti bullying policy.

Hi JsMum, I am so sorry you are having such a rough time, sorry to hear about your dog having to be rehomed. You must be under so much relentless strain at the moment. Im afraid I cant offer anything that others havent already. It seems to be a case of spinning in circles and hoping someone, somewhere will eventually step in and offer real help. Take care and be kind to yourself. Loraine xx

Well, where do I start... Tribunal was a very intimidating thing to go through. I had no idea what to expect and if it wasnt for Katkin I think I would have run for the hills. It was held in a conference room in a local hotel, compalaints manager, note taker, independent panel of 3, independent person from out of County and 3 representatives from Social Services. It must have cost a fortune The panel were very kind and listened carefully to us (mostly Katkin who would make a wonderful lawyer) and our complaint. They then brought in Social Services, lets just say they were shown as very incompetent and one of them came across as very aggressive. We have to wait for 15 days for a copy of the panels judgement but I feel completely vindicated in pursuing this. Things will now have to change not just for my son but the total lack of any services has now been highlighted and promises made. If you are having problems with Social Services then look on you local authority website and make a formal complaint. It seems to be the only way they pay any attention.

Just a thought (and dont mean to confuse the issue) but what happens during school holidays? Surely you will be able you claim for those. It all sounds complicated to me.

Kathryn, the earning allowance rose to �95 a week as of 1st October. No one bothered to actually tell us carers,I only found out whilst on Carers UK last week.

Good luck, Im sure pvs helped today with my Social Services tribunal today.

Im pleased you had a good time. My son (22) loves it and copes brilliantly. Weve never done the disabled pass thing, you can get fast passes at the entrance to rides which give you a designated slot to return. To be honest the lines move constantly and during parades etc the rides are empty. Try and have lunch early because restaurants become packed at around 1 ish. My son is 22, severely autistic and non verbal and he thoroughly enjoys it. We choose quiet times of year and avoid Saturdays. We are hoping to go next year when the Tower Of Terror opens (I wont be on it!)