I can't

Its been a very different Thursday. It started off when I woke up feeling very very cold, checked thermostat and it was reading 10 degrees, felt radiators and they were icy cold. Then the panic set in - I have a combi condensing boiler (I practice what I preach) and no heating also means no hot water! 3 children to bath and washing to do, 3 children at home and no heating?????
So there I was 6am outside in the old toilet where the boiler lives, in pyjamas, dressing gown and wellies trying frantically to make the boiler work - I defrosted the external condensing pipe, did a restart, switched it off, everything that I could think of but still no boiler, no heat and the only thing turning the air blue was my language!

In the end I was talked through how to fix it by a kind friend who is a plumber but it still took the majority of the morning.

Its been snowing here now on and off for the past week, nothing substantial and not enough to close the schools so I have been carrying on going to work - just factoring in more time and being careful on the roads. I do wish that my area would just get some proper snow like everywhere else in the country seems to be getting so we knew what we were doing.

In light of the weather I am now with just over 24hrs to go still unsure if I am going to my husbands mess do tomorrow night - I don't want to drive down there if its bad and according to the other half at the moment there is over 6" of snow around him. It is a shame as I was really looking forward to the night out!

What is playing on my mind at the minute is some of the people I know. There is one of them that has been given the worst run of luck for the past 5 years, her father was very ill and passed away and now her grandma (who is her last relative) is very ill. She is slightly younger than me and is facing all these problems with a show of determination and bravery that makes me so proud to know her. Another friend is one of the "I can't" brigade - although she and all her family have their health, everything to her is a problem. Not a day goes by at the moment when she isn't sending 15 odd texts asking for help and advice on the silliest of things, she expects an awful lot of hand holding. I feel incredibly frustrated when I get one of these texts and am resisting the temptation to tell her some "home truths".
I suppose the whole morale of the above situation is that you never know what is going to come your way and there isn't a whole lot you can do to alter destiny/fate but what you CAN always do is manage the way you handle problems. There are lots of occasions when I want to sit on the floor and have a tantrum like my 3 year old would but I try to do something positive instead.

General.

Am feeling quite positive today - the 3 year old is a playschool (where is finally starting to behave), 8 year old at school and I have now had 6 nights undisturbed sleep - might not sound like a lot but when you have not had more than one night undisturbed over the course of 3 years its fantastic!

Have got the day off work today and have been good and spent the morning getting organised, lodging new addresses with Landmark ready for work tomorrow and doing that dreaded task of chasing invoices. I like to get "ahead" of myself where possible - it means that the clients get a quick turnaround from access to a property to receipt of the EPC and that is very important to me. I am very glad that I have been able to continue with being a self employed DEA (although it has been and is a struggle sometimes) because I was talking to a gentleman yesterday who because of unpaid invoices and lack of work has had to quit being a DEA - he simply cannot afford to do the job anymore.

I have also arranged a babysitter (grandparents - thank you!) and am off to my husbands mess function next week - very excited have never been able to go before, although am now nervous about what to wear (can't believe I said that - but don't want to show the other half up and need to be correctly dressed). Any ideas? I don't think it is a ball gown kind of function but the men are in suits so need to be smart - definitely not a Saturday night out with the girls kind of outfit from what I can understand.

Its been so cold overnight that there is ice on all the cars and on all the roofs in my street - its one of those times when you can clearly see who has insulated their lofts - those that melt quickly that's your heat and money heading skywards!