Early Start

Well I had to get up super early today, again tomorrow but I'll get to that, as I had to take my youngest nephew to his Primary School early AM for the pre-school Christmas party. I was also mean't to take the middle boy to his Primary School beforehand but he seems to have come down with the stomach bug the youngest had at the weekend/earlier this week.

So with one boy home ill, another going into hospital for an operation, we had to take my youngest nephew super early before school to get him in in time for the pre-school Christmas party. Esp. after he missed the other Christmas Party his brothers attended that he couldn't because of the aforementioned stomach bug.

Now as my brother and his wife are returning to work tomorrow I need to get up super early again and get to their house prior to them leaving for work because the district nurse is coming sometime tomorrow to change the bandages on my eldest nephew's feet. No idea when tomorrow but given his incapacitation we can't move him afterwards or leave him alone while attending our own planned trips.So they have been delayed a day.

Also we might have my middle nephew to look after as well if his stomach bug hasn't settled down. So we might have 2 ill/injured/incapacitated little boys to look after. Also my brother's broadband is almost out of bandwidth for this month so I can't go online at all so there goes the plan to take the laptop or iPad to pass the time. A long day looking after a possibly cranky boy. Not that I would blame him given the pain he is in, if there is anything I know about is being in pain.

So my brother has packages for Christmas being delivered to our house so my Father would have to stay in at our house in case they arrive tomorrow.

So our plan to go finish our Christmas shopping and then do our grocery shopping is out and we will have to get up early Saturday to fulfil them. As Sunday we have our large Christmas shop to do at the supermarket, and Christmas Eve is spend cleaning and preparing our Christmas meal.

Day Late or Early?

Well I got my Citylink deliveries this afternoon. Both arrived together. One original due Monday and the other yesterday (Tuesday). So they are both officially late but the one I had to reschedule although it was due Monday it came out a day earlier than the earliest rescheduled delivery date they gave me yesterday.

I think that they were putting the second order out today to be delivered and someone realised there was an order rescheduled for Thursday for the same address and sent them out together rather than come to the same address two days running.

I suppose I should consider myself lucky that they didn't hold back the second package another day to fit the rescheduled date given.

Other news, tomorrow is a super early morning for me, my two youngest nephews will be dropped off well before 8 AM as the eldest is due into the hospital at 8 AM and we are a distance away from said hospital esp. during morning rush hour.

We have to give them both breakfast and drop each off at the relevant primary school. My youngest nephew isn't normally due in the AM class but tomorrow morning is the Christmas Party at the pre-school/nursery so we have to drop my youngest off by five to 9 AM in the morning. So the middle one will be dropped off around quarter to/ten to 9 AM and get to the second primary school by the five to nine for the start of the party.

My eldest nephew is due into hospital at 8 AM and is undergoing an operation of his big toe and both his parents are attending with him. Not that I blame them, I would do exactly the same in their shoes. So we have to go back for the youngest around 11.30 AM (just the same as last year when we did the same routine for his Christmas Party then) and there is a chance we have to go back in the afternoon to pick up the middle one after the end of school at 3.15 PM.

We will have my youngest nephew in the afternoon rather than the morning tomorrow and he's still not eating much. Poor love is suffering from a bad stomach virus, he just got over the flu a few days prior to getting the virus.

So that's about all that happening tomorrow.

Today we went to the cemetery to put down the Christmas wreaths on my Godparents and Maternal Grandparents graves. Just our way of including them in our festivities although they are no longer physically with us.

Seasons Greetings

So Christmas is fast approaching once again and in a week we will be getting ready for the last ‘sleep’ before Santa as the children’s programmes keep informing us.

This coming week will undoubtedly be the busiest for myself and my family, what with getting ready for the actual day, finishing shopping for stocking fillers, finish wrapping (started doing this this afternoon!), delivering wreaths to my family graves, three different graves at two different cemeteries (which is scheduled for Wednesday), grocery shopping for the festive break (scheduled for Sunday the 23rd, the 23rd being our preferred day leaving Christmas Eve for preparing food and any emergency items we need to rush to the supermarket for before early closing time).

And those are just the tip of the iceberg for the coming week, also tomorrow (Tuesday) and Thursday are childminding days when we look after my youngest nephew then put him into his nursery class at 1pm. Also my youngest nephew has come down with a stomach bug which is a shame as he is just getting over a horrid cold.

Also my eldest nephew is going into the hospital on Thursday to have an operation on his big toe, he has a horrid ingrown toenail which is causing the toe to become continually badly infected. It’s an in-patient appointment for a short operation which means he goes in early (around 8am actually) and hopefully will get out in the late afternoon at the latest.

Also on Thursday (or Friday) depending on my schedule (with my eldest nephew going into hospital that day we might have the school run and feeding the eldest two that afternoon/night) to drive across town and hand in our (my parents and I as well as a couple of small things on behalf of my nephews) presents for our aunt into her house as well as pick up the bags she generally has. Not all ours, mostly gifts for my three nephews, my brother and sister-in-law as well as our own from her to save my Dad struggling home on the bus with multiple bags of gifts.

So all in all a busy busy week!!

So hopefully it will be worth it on the day(s) to come.

So if I don’t get back to you before then, have a great holiday season regardless of your religion or beliefs on the season, I wish you all well and hope you have a great time.

Lotsa News

Well I have quite a bit of news.

First, my desktop broke and although it spent around a month away getting fixed and did get a new Power Supply Unit installed and was returned to me it still is showing signs of problems. As the company that my parents bought the PC from as well as the extended warranty have went into administration I doubt any further repairs will be done if it does go belly up again. Which I think is a good chance of happening. So I am using my Mother's laptop quite a bit still despite the desktop having been returned to me a couple of weeks back now. Also tomorrow a portable Samsung drive (1 TB) is due to be delivered and I will be transferring as many of the files I want to save from the desktop before anything unfixable happens to it.

Second, the last month or so I've had a lot of birthdays to see to. Three in October and another two in November. Now Christmas is  upon on once again. So I'm rushed off my feet figuratively keeping up with everything.

Third, I am receiving a Chrome Book for my Christmas which I hope will take the stress off my PC until I can save up enough to buy a new main PC once again. As I do spend most of my time on my PC on Chrome, either browsing or YouTube, or shopping, or blogging, this type of device is right up my street. Although I can well understand how it's not up everyone's street so to speak.

Fourth, I've almost finished my Christmas shopping, such as it is. Now my parent, or to be precise my Mother, and I have to just figure out what to give my brother and sister-in-law and we'll be all set for the big day. So to speak.

I definitely know it's winter now. I got my first cold sore this week and today I had to spend about 15 minutes defrosting/de-icing my car windows before I could take my youngest nephew into preschool today. Also the slippery pavements are back. Didn't miss any of these at all I can tell you!!!!

It's Here

At long frigging last people!!

Argos delivered my Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight today along with the Argos order I placed for my Mum on Sunday. Argos must of decided to deliver both orders at the same time, the second order's delivery scheduled day. Pity they didn't figure to inform me of the change of delivery date for the Nook when they did that and I wasted an entire day waiting in and looking out for a delivery van arriving. I had my blinds open till quarter past eight last night without reason, we prefer on cold dark nights to close them darn things and try to ignore the approaching winter season as much as possible. We feel the cold we don't need to see the accompanying darkness.

Third Strike

If this was a baseball game Argos would now be striked out officially. After contacting Argos yet again about them not updating me when Barnes and Noble changed the UK release date of the Nook readers and having me waiting in twice this month all day for a delivery which wasn't coming, I have spent today - the official release date - waiting for Argos to deliver the Nook I ordered (and they took payment for the same day on October the third) - and no delivery. I was assured by CS at Argos that my order would be delivered sometime today between the hours of seven AM and eight PM. It is now eight PM and surprise surprise NO delivery from Argos. A third lost day waiting in on their delivery dates and NO Delivery at all.

I am now going to email Argos yet again and ask why I did not receive delivery when unlike the two other delivery dates I was given that B & N did release the device today, no further delays.

Idiot Liars

After waiting in for hours, and making sure my Dad was on hand and vigilant on the two occasions I had to leave my home today the tracker with TNT says that I was unavailable to receive my shipment and it's now it's status is marked as 'Exception' whatever that means.

So God only knows when the are going to get around to delivering it, I won't say redelivering it as they never attempted to deliver it at all today. I hate when courier companies think it all right to outright lie to and about customers. Also for a courier that was supposed to be delivering up to six pm he managed to scan my package in quite swiftly at barely 6.13 pm. Last *ahem* delivery must have been pretty close to the depot there?!

Annoyed!!

Well, it's almost 5 pm and we've went and let in my brothers cats early tonight due to the torrential rain we are experiencing. We got back at 4.45 pm and my Dad announcing, "I can't see it coming now", he predicts. I am waiting for a delivery which TNT has which is out for delivery. I told him that delivery is between 9 am and 6 pm and that's over an hour away. He announces, "they knock off at 6 pm", which is wrong they deliver up to 6 pm and then return to their depot but apparently I'm wrong. I hope the delivery comes just going on six pm so I can show I'm right and he isn't. It's the reaction I got when I stated that delivery can be any-time up until six pm, basically I'm stupid and he knows better, he's not willing to accept that I can possibly be right and they can deliver up until 6 pm and that's not when the van is due back at their depot. It's the condescending way he stated I was in the wrong that 'got my goat' as they say.

A Week to Go

I mentioned to my Mum to enjoy her last week in her sixties. Come next Saturday, just one short week away, she will turn 70 and enter her seventies.

On a great note, the iPod 5th Generation I pre-ordered away back on the 14th September in hopes it would release and be delivered in time for her 70th birthday was dispatched yesterday via TNT. So I'm thrilled, the amount of times I've heard, "One day I'll get a new iPod just for myself and not a hand me down from you!" I can't count. Not only will she get a brand new iPod but also be the first in our family to get the new iPod touch. I pre-ordered the exclusive red one which is only available from Apple themselves for her.

I'm excited to see how she reacts to getting it. I think I'm more excited about giving her the iPod than she will be about receiving it!! <g>

Another Day

As another day comes to an end I have an update on the 5th generation iPod touch I ordered in hopes of it being released and delivered by the 20th of this month. It updated today to dispatch on the 12th with delivery being on the 18th. So even if it does take four working days to arrive after dispatch it will be here in time for my Mother's 70th birthday which is a relief.

Yesterday I got confirmation that the pre-order of the Nook with Glowlight would be delivered by Argos next Monday (15th October) even though the message about contacting Argos as my order might be delayed is still showing on the order page.

Nook ST Glowlight

Got confirmation today from Argos that my order of the Nook Simple Touch Glowlight reader will be next Monday, October 15th, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. So that's that sorted, there was a note on my order page which suggested my order was being delayed and to get in touch with Argos to get an update.

I received my Kobo Glo on Friday past and once I fully test drive both fully I decide which suits my needs the most and pass the other over to my Mother. If the iPod 5th generation that I have on pre-order since pre-order became available direct from Apple UK store doesn't get released (and delivered) in time for my Mum's 70th birthday which is the 20th of October I will give her one of the readers for her birthday instead and keep the iPod for her Christmas when it actually does get actually released.

Right Blog This Time

Well I've finally remembered to post to the correct blog this time around. I intended my last three posts on my Invisible Me Blog for this one.

Well, my saga with PC World, has entered the next phase.

To recap:

1 - July 29th placed order for Google Nexus 7 Tablet on pre-order when it was due in. At that time the estimate for stock was the 10th August.

2 - July 30th order processed and money charged to bank account.

3 - July 31st money paid to PC World from bank account.

4 - August 2nd 'in stock' on website for immediate delivery/pick up.

5 - August 3rd contacted PCW because item had been 'in stock' for almost 48 hours and no update to estimate for dispatch/delivery, still showing 'out of stock' on order page in My Account section.

6 - August 4th, order page changed to delivery in 3 - 5 working days. Mon 08/09

7 - Got phone message (and email) from customer service saying tablet would be with my this week, dispatch on Monday.

8 - Monday no change, Tuesday no change, Wednesday morning no change.

9 - Wednesday afternoon receive email with tracking number for Royal Mail, dispatched this afternoon. 8th not 6th. Just took a week since stock came in to dispatch, is that really, 'as soon as stock is available' that my order page has stated since the 29th.  Also dispatched the 8th not the 6th as my order page still states.

10 - Delivery? Who knows. Could most possibly be next week now or Saturday if RM is quick from depot to here.

I have bought many items from PCW in the past ten years or so but this is the first time I've dealt with them online. I prefer in-store at the moment.

Walking

I've come to the conclusion that my Dabs order is obviously walking up to Scotland from Wednesbury. The parcel left the Wednesbury Hub at one minute after midnight on the second of March and it's now almost ten past five pm on the third of March. Yup ... 41 hours and 7 minutes after it left depot and no update.

Just a quick post to vent ...

My three nephews have just been picked up about half an hour ago after being here since early while their parents went through to CostCo.

Not much to say. My hands were pretty sore this morning as was my wrists so I'm not up to typing much. Sorry!

A Break

No I'm not taking a break from blogging, I am finally getting more than a couple of weeks intervals between therapy sessions. My physiotherapist on Wednesday has given me a month's break before my next check-in with him. He also said if I don't deteriorate any when I come he will probably discharge me with my regime of physiotherapy.

So good news there. My OT which I attended on Thursday wanted to see me in 3 to 4 weeks but said she was booked solid for the coming month as far as she knew so it would probably be around 5 to 6 weeks before I got a appointment to return.

As the receptionist who makes the appointments had left for the day by the time I walked back to the reception area we pushed the sheet the therapist gave me through the glass windows for her to get the next day and send out an appointment to me for my next OT check-in.

I have gotten myself a small pocket camcorder, a Kodak PlaySport ZX5, which Amazon had on sale for amount 40% off RRP. I also bought a 16GB SDHC card, a tripod (gorrilla pod), a pouch as well as a remote control (which is still to arrive, next week sometime according to seller).

So I seriously using my cam to do a video diary of my Fibro/RA/Carpal Tunnel etc., so that when I return to the OT I can accurately tell her how I got on with the hand splints she gave me as she asked me to last time. As I have extreme difficulty writing or typing I find that either audio or video records to be the easiest way to adequately keep track of my various aches, pains and difficulties.

I also got the cam to allow me to vlog my book reviews, this was my main reason for wanting one to be honest. I have fallen terribly behind in my reviewing as I couldn't handle the hand and wrist pain that typing up reviews was causing me. So I thought I could record my review, upload to a free service like YouTube and embed the review in a blog post.

I'm still learning to use the cam and trying to find the best quality, ease and resulting video at the moment. I'm using the health diary I am recording for myself as a way to get used to recording videos. I have found that I have extreme difficulty keeping my eyes trained on the camera lens and not wandering all over the place. That said I do this is real life and find it hard to look directly at people while speaking to them, so it's not just a video/cam problem, it's something I do a lot in real life.

It's actually a form of fibro-fog as I struggle to concentrate.

Well, my hands and wrists are starting to hurt again to I'll sign off here. Maybe I'll even post a vlog post here, who knows?!!!

Camera Here

Well the Kodak pocket (handheld) camcorder I bought arrived today, along-with the tripod I bought but the memory card I ordered at the same time has only just now been dispatched from the Jersey 'partner' of Amazon and estimated delivery not till Saturday at the earliest. As the internal memory in video mode is only 12 seconds - yes you read right seconds, not minutes - I can't really test it properly until the sdhc card arrives.

I've completely charged the device which took around 3 hours to do roughly, set all the relevant details into the settings and checked it sits on the tripod correctly. But unfortunately 12 second recordings can't really allow you proper testing time.

So my practice with my camera is on hold till the 8GB SDHC card I bought with the camera arrives from IndigoStarfish. Something I've found with this 'partner' company is that any orders sent to them even when an item is in stock takes at least 24 to 48 hours to be dispatched and several days to actually arrive. Rather false advertising to say next day or 2 day delivery on items farmed out to them on the order pages.

But nothing to be done for that. The price alone for the right class of card, and avoiding buying a cheap knock off from a less than scrupulous seller, I figure waiting 4 days at least for the card from Amazon themselves is better than chancing spending the same price on what could possible not to be the correctly provided card type or size. Something I've seen happen to many people buying memory either through sellers or on ebay.

I got a month before I'm due back at the PT and if I haven't deteriorated, stayed the same or even slightly improved, the PT says he will discharge me from regular check-ups for now with the exercises I have been given for my shoulders.

Shh ... trying to sleep here

Well, I'm exhausted and it's not even 7pm. Nothing unusual for me normally but at have just cause today.

After getting up slightly earlier because I knew I would have to take my second round of medication prior to doing the nursery run because I wouldn't be back home in time for when I usually took them.

Christmas Deliveries

I really hate shops, sellers and courier services who say they will despatch/deliver in a particular time slot/date and your orders sit stationary for days. All the while promising delivery for Christmas.

I ordered three shake and go cars to go with a present we bought Friday for my youngest nephew as the shop didn't have any available. I double checked before placing my order that I would get the delivery before Christmas and even paid for expedited despatch/delivery and my order has sat on Despatching Soon since Friday afternoon and here we are Monday afternoon and my order which I paid extra for quick despatch/delivery is still not been sent out and it's stating delivery estimate on the 20th which is tomorrow and still haven't despatched the order.

Frustrating to say the least. If I don't get my order through by Christmas which I paid double postage price for I will not be a happy camper.

Another order sent out Friday for next day delivery from City Link is still on it's way from the collection depot and not further update since Friday night when it was sent out to the collection depot. It must be walking to the local delivery depot that's all I can say. So next day delivery - total fail.

My last order - of the three placed last week - was split in two my Amazon and has been despatched by Royal Mail. I wonder if those two parcels will beat the two expedited ones!