And that has been September

And what a month it has been!  

We packed the EFG off to Aberdeen......

(image from studyin-uk.com)

and she has settled in well.  She's now on her third week of lectures and labs.  The YFG's godparents took her to a fancy French restaurant in the city last Friday night with their son, and she reports that she felt under dressed but that the food was amazing.  Well, they asked her to meet them in Wetherspoon's so I guess she could be forgiven for not dressing up!

The YFG has gone back to school in Year 11, the big GCSE year, and she has several positions of responsibility - she's a peer mentor for a Y8 child, and a Senior Prefect.  I'm very proud of her, and she is working hard.  She's having a fitness kick at the moment and doing Davina DVDs every other night, too, in between her homework.  She continues to help out at the gym club on Fridays and Saturdays, and is a really lovely house mate!

And me?  Well, I achieved my aim and found the perfect temporary job - and I am on week 2 now.  The lady who is mentoring me, and monitoring me by listening to the calls I make, says I am doing well, so I am hoping that I will get more confident soon!  

Financially, we are getting ourselves sorted out.  I had a hiccup yesterday when I had a letter from the Tax credits people about our old joint claim which they hadn't closed down properly, so I spent a good while in a queue on the phone in the afternoon to get through to a real live person!  That should be resolved soon.  The Widowed Parent's Allowance has finally begun this month, and we are beginning to know how a real month will pan out on this new kind of income.  It's not the income we used to have, but there are only two of us to manage on it, and if I am honest, it is more than I feared we would have to survive on, so I am very grateful, as always.  Thankful is my middle name.

The house is in a better state of repair - I have had the guttering cleaned out and fixed,  The chimney has been professionally swept and a minor repair carried out to the back of the stove.  The workshop door has been made secure again and the poo pit pump has been replaced.  It has been an expensive month, in this respect, but one in which we feel we have moved forward significantly at last!

Here's to October - bring it on!