Time is definitely slipping away from me. I've been on leave now for six weeks, with two and a half to go. Sometimes I forget what day it is!
I've had my review with my doctor. Although my outlook has improved a little, it's still not great and I've had my medication increased. At her instance, I've had to make an appointment with a counsellor as well. My next doctor review is at the end of month.
Tax time! It has rolled around again but I'm not sure what sort of refund I will get this year. Once again, the tax rules have changed and a simple dependant spouse rebate no longer exists. Sometime I think we have one of the most complicated tax systems in the world. MOTH is born after the cut off year, so I have had to look at another option. Since he received a disability payment, I've decided to try and claim the rebate under that exemption. This year his income is taken into account though so I only get half the rebate I used to. Never mind that his income is the disability which in itself is tax exempt. Darned tax.
Special K wants to go for lunch again. She's convinced her brother to come with us. We aren't sure if we can go. Sunny also wants to meet up for lunch. He asked first so I've arranged a time with him for Saturday. The Club wants to meet Thursday. This should work fine. Until I find out that I have an appointment that day. Still, we'll make it if we can.
MOTH had his birthday a couple of weeks ago but as yet hasn't got his birthday present. Not through any lack of trying, he's after a jacket or jumper without a hoodie. They seem to be few and far between! We spend some time in the morning at one of the larger shopping centres to see what we can find. We spot one of the men's stores is having a closing down sale and manage to pick up a lightweight jumper for half price. MOTH is happy with this. We look for jeans while we're there. The store doesn't have them, mostly stocking three piece suits and business shirts. We've checked MOTH's usual menswear store as well but they no longer stock them. We head for the cheaper chain stores and find two pairs, one for fifteen dollars and the other nineteen. While we stand at the check out, we notice that our favourite biscuits are available in white chocolate as well. We grab a box. They turn out to be delicious!
My appointment time for the counsellor rolls around. I'm nervous; I've never used the service before. I have trouble opening up so I'm not sure how I'll go. She turns out to be quite young, softly spoken and very friendly. I explain how I'm feeling and what lead up to the time off. She suggests some strategies I can try to help me cope when I return to work. HR had talked of a graduated return to work but I have not yet heard from them to make arrangements. I really would resign and look elsewhere if I could, however as sole breadwinner I don't have the option to take that drastic action. I'm putting the resume about and applying for jobs but haven't heard anything yet. Fingers crossed that something will come up soon.
Lunch with the Club is at the Tavern. This time it's a little cheaper as MOTH remembers to ask for a pensioner discount. He always manages to get his money's worth from a buffet but I'm not quite sure I can say the same for myself. The food isn't too bad and the company is good. Special K's brother didn't make it. He turned up early and as no-one was there, he left. That's a shame but I can understand. He's not well either.
Sunny advises he can't make Saturday lunch having been leg roped into helping his housemate and his parents move house. We reschedule for next weekend. That's good, it gives me time to wind down a little.
We've upgraded our broadband plan a little. Or maybe it's about the same but this time we get an extra appliance called a T-box. This is an extra service provided by our ISP which allows cable/satellite tv as well. The Elder has moved her Foxtel subscription to her current address. I missed it badly but had decided that I couldn't really afford to have it replaced. However, Foxtel had an end of Financial Year special whereby a person could sign up for six months instead of the usual twenty four. The first three months of this contract are free on the basic package. I was tempted but still couldn't really afford it. And then I remembered ... I'm waiting for season 7 of Murdoch Mysteries and if I didn't get Foxtel on, I'd never see it. I got it connected. But this time it's single room, and in my rumpus room. MOTH misses out, but I am the one who uses it constantly. But we've upgraded our broadband and now have the T-box. We've set it up today in MOTH's room. He's happy, particularly as he managed to get it connected to his surround sound and now all the programs including ordinary free to air programming are sounding pretty spectacular.
I've had to interrupt my setting up of my new universal remote to help him set up the T-box. I can't get the remote set up so I'm happy for a break anyway. My TV remote stopped working some time ago, so it's been strange to have to get up to change the channels. Since Foxtel has been installed I've only had to get up to switch it through the AV functions. Switching off is no problem as I've never used the remote to power into standby but prefer to switch it off completely. I'm still trying to decide if I want to use the remote for the DVD player as well... nah, probably not ...
