Thread: Back after a long break

Hi All

It's been a fair while since I was on here last and it looks as though everyone I remember is still here! I stopped posting because I was in a pretty bad place at the time what with marital/house sale (or rather, lack of!)/money problems, but now things are slowly sorting themselves out so I thought I'd pop back and say Hi. If anyone remembers, we'd bought a rather expensive house (at the height of the boom) before selling our old one, and then found that due to one reason or another we just couldn't sell the old one, and then came the credit crunch and it went downhill from then, placing a terrible strain on our marriage. The place has now been rented several times, with gaps every now and then while we've tried to market it and spent a fortune in so doing, still no luck, so now it is rented indefinitely until things pick up. DH has also had periods of joblessness (he is a contractor so we expect this) but the last bout knocked us for six as it came as a total surprise and we'd spent loads of money on the old house to get it marketable and not rented it, so no income from it and the coffers were getting dangerously low and repossession would have been a real possibility. When DH lost his job things got a bit desperate and we both nearly had breakdowns - something I've never experienced before. I lost my ability to type (still not totally got it back and I am a touch typist so it's pretty important to me!). Anyway, DH now has another contract, not ideal as it's in Bristol, 3 hours away and he stays away during the week, but at least we now have decent money coming in again, and the rent is now coming in so we are OK for the moment.

I will probably be posting a lot in the special needs section, as since I last posted, DS2 has had a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder, complicated with profound speech and language difficulties, and he has a 30 hour statement of special needs at school (he started in January and the statement came through in April, having started his assessment some time the previous December, 2008). He is a gorgeous little boy, very friendly and laid back and does not quite fit the profile of autism from the research I have done, though he does undoubtedly tick some boxes and autistic traits manifest themselves every now and then. I went on the EarlyBird course for DS2 and actually learned more about DS1, who I suspect of having Asperger Syndrome, than DS2, who will do anything, go anywhere and is not fussy about anything except food and being asked to sit still and work. DS1 clearly has an ASD of some kind too, which manifests itself as typical Asperger Syndrome where he will bore for England about his favourite subject, has terrible conception of time, poor concentration, and says inappropriate things and therefore other kids avoid him like the plague because they don't 'get' him. But he is very talented in certain areas, particularly artistically. No diagnosis as of yet as I am still wondering if it's the right thing for him, as he seems to be doing pretty well at school and does have friends there. I'm not sure labelling him would do any good at this stage.

I work at home now, which helps (well, it would if I could get my typing 'mojo' back which is what I do for a living) so now both kids are at school I can keep busy and earn a bit of dosh typing at home.

Anyway, I hope to be on here a bit more often now so hope to see you all around again!

Alaine

Yay... she's back!!!!



I certainly have missed you!!!

Ds1 is ASD, he was diagnosed in 2009, we're being assessed for a statement as we speak so I know where you're coming from !!!

great you are back! kept thinking of you in your absence, glad to hear things are picking up x

wait til Tilly sees you.....;-)

hey there Alaine,
I wasn't on here back in your day!!!!
I am Jo & I have a 15 yr old daughter.
Glad things are looking up for you, certainly sounds as though you have had more than enough to deal with.
my DH is self employed & so I know all about the contract thing.... look forward to putting the world to rights with you :-)

Glad your back & things are picking up.

Hiya!

Blummers, it's been a bit of a challenge for you recently, hasn't it?
Lovely to see you xxx

Thanks guys, looking forward to joining in more - when I'm not immersed in work that is! I do audio transcriptions for a firm in London who deal with market research companies, they send in their audio files which are then sent out to typists around the country to transcribe - very properly and accurately. They are very strict, which is why I was really upset about losing the typing. It seems OK at the moment, and you have to be FAST to keep up and also to command the hourly rate, otherwise it goes down - i.e. an hour long audio commands about £25, if it takes you an hour your rate is £25 an hour (impossible though), it will take more than 4 hours. If you have a bad day and can't type it can take a whole day, then your rate goes down and you wonder why you bother, but I think it's getting better again!

Looking forward to hearing all the news!