I'm back again. Not sure why, but I guess this means I have not had that talk yet. A pity. Guess I will be moving on.
Actually, I am typing in here because I am bored. I never get bored but there has been very little to do today at work so I have to fill the time somehow. And, it makes it look like I am doing something, even though my work should not involve any typing. But no one seems to notice. Or they haven't said anything yet.
Maeghan has her Centrelink appointment today. It is to discuss what kind of payments she will get from the government. Long, long story but I have time.
When you turn 16 in Australia, you get some kind of payment. I don't think it is new start payment as that is what you get instead of unemployment payment. I was on that, or I tried to be but that is another long story as to why I can't get it. Maeghan gets some kind of payment but I am not sure what it is called. She has her interview today, even though she should already be getting it since February. It means, once they decide how much she gets, she will get backpay for all this time. It has something to do with being in school and not having a job so it is meant to encourage them to stay in school. If she had a job, she would not qualify for anything, but I really have no idea how any of that works.
Along with this assessment, it will determine whether Juanita gets a carers payment. That means she is paid to take care of Maeghan. Since Maeghan has a disability, someone is entitled to take care of her and that someone gets paid for it. Juanita has always gotten that payment but they took it away when Maeghan turned 16. She should also get backpay if it is approved. Juanita also gets a carers payment for William, since he is also classed with a disability. I won't go into what Juanita gets paid and for what but she gets several payments for different things. A lot of her payments have been cut off in the last year so she is not able to pay for the things she was paying for. She plans on moving, something at the heart of the issues I have to deal with, but another time, or not.
Maeghan is also supposed to do her work program today. I think she is having to take off work for this appointment but she is doing her child care thing again today. She really enjoys it but she has started to complain that her back and legs start to hurt by the end of the day. I'd explain that is part of doing work but there are other opinions that say it is part of her disability. No input from me of course. I am sure she has more issues that anyone else, but she has to learn to live with it or become dependent on others for the rest of her life. She wants to be independent but if she tells them she cannot do something, they are not going to allow her to do it and she will not be independent anymore. I think she understands that but she is constantly told differently so I don't really know what she thinks about it.
This Sunday is Father's day here in Australia. We had plans to go to a restaurant but those fell through. I don't think we will be doing anything special that day. Not that I expect it or even want it but they seem to think we should do something. I might break out my smoker I have only used once and try to cook something on it. They tell me they are supposed to cook for me but I enjoy doing that so it would be ok with me to do it. I don't really want or expect anything. Nothing special about the day.
On Saturday, we are planning on going to clean the parents house. I think they have arranged for a lot of people to be there and get it all done in one day. I don't see anyway they can do it in one day but I am not really in the planning parts of that. Since everyone has started treating me like an invalid these days, I am not required to do any actual work. I hate it but I might use that as an excuse to get out of it this Saturday. I probably will have to be there, though. Not good for everyone trying to clean the parents house. Too many memories. I will have to be there for moral support at the very least. And if I am there, I will have to do some work also, so it will be a long day I am sure.
Speaking of being an invalid, somehow, at some point, everyone stopped asking me to do things. I have no idea why. I am told they don't want me to hurt my back, which is a legitimate thing, but it would seem that in the past year, they have stopped asking me to do anything. I don't know where it comes from or how it came about, but no one asks me to do anything at all anymore. I hate it and have told them many times that I don't like it but it has not stopped. Makes me feel like an outsider anytime we are all together and they do and talk about things like I am not there. Just another little annoyance I am dealing with.
I even had it start happening at my job. I had a crew that I was supposed to supervise in moving an office and then rebuilding it after they had changed some things. It involved a lot of packing up computers and then unpacking them and setting them up on some new desks. I found that the crew I had would not let me do anything. Anytime I tried to help, they would stop whatever they were doing and come over and do whatever I was trying to do. It was so noticeable that I mentioned it to my boss and he said I was not supposed to be doing anything, just supervising. I accused them of treating me like I was too old to do it, which I am, but that is not the point. They denied it of course, but I am getting tired of this happening to me. It's true that I have now started to notice that whenever there is a gettogether or a gathering of family and friends, I am almost always the oldest one there. I know I went into a rant about that here many years ago, but it never really got better. I am almost always the oldest one in the room now. Don't know how that happened but we were at Craig's birthday party the other day and once again, I was the oldest one there. I guess it means I need to find some older friends to hang out with.
Back to this cleaning exercise, William is really enthusiastic about it when we go over to do things like this. He wants to be there and to help, even passing up a chance to come to my house and hang out instead. I have found that he is not that big a help and generally gets in the way, but he is willing and enthusiastic about trying to help. I am not sure why, although while Adam was here, I think he was just trying to follow Adam everywhere. He will try to do most things, but he either does them wrong or you have to go back and redo them once he is finished. He helps and it is really hard to criticize him for it so I will just say he is a good boy and wants to help but he is still only thirteen and is a typical boy when it comes to doing semi-grownup things.
I suppose I should stop writing today. I must have some work I can do. And, this has gotten a little long and I am not sure I actually said anything. Maybe I will remember something else and come back to it. I can hear the snickering. But it is always possible I will do that.
Until next time
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