Purple Dragon

So, a month or so ago, my dalmatian began losing weight. He's a growing boy, not yet a year old, so I upped his food intake, and he started filling out again.

He was looking pretty good when we dropped him at the kennels with his 'brothers' just before we went away.

One week later, and he looks like a refugee from Dachau. You can see every bone and every muscle in his body. He looks absolutely dreadful. Like one of those RSPCA adverts.

His 'brothers' are fine - not an ounce lost - and I know the kennels are very good. They have seven of their own dogs, all in excellent condition, (4 irish wolfhounds, a great dane and 2 terriers) and I have left my boys there on many occasions, with never a whine from them. Actually, they get all excited when they realise where they are going - when we turn down the lane, they start jumping about in the car, tails wagging.

The woman at the kennels said she noticed he was losing weight, and twice upped his food intake, to no avail. The weight kept dropping off.

So. Tomorrow he has an appointment at the vet. I am hoping ... praying ... it is just an internal parasite.

Fingers crossed, eh?

Right, that's us away.

I'm sitting in a different county just now, in someone else's kitchen but the place we will be all week has no internet access. Yikes!

Behave when I am gone.

See you soon

Today would have been the 9th birthday of my friend Kristy's wee boy, Conor.

Happy birthday, sweet boy. Rest in peace.

http://www.caringbridge.org/canada/conorford/index.htm

I've just sat thru two episodes of Sex and The City.

Yeah, I know a lot of you think it is a load of shite, plastic women, shallow people blah blah but I like it. For me, it is a fun half hour of escapism.

I don't have a lot to escape from. I have a wonderful life. I wouldn't change it for a second.

Except.

I was watching them, all glam, beautiful clothes, high heels, slim and fit, make up, stunning hair, pretty nails.

Then, I get up, walk into the kitchen to make myself a coffee, and catch a glimpse of my reflection in the kitchen window.

Oh, god, where did I go? My hair is flat and grey, my eyes droop, I have jowls for fucks sakes. And I swore I would only ever wear this sweater again if I was gardening or cleaning out the frickin chickens.

I was joking with AJ earlier, telling him (a little) about my exploits as a party animal 25 (25!!!) years ago, and those 25 years have just flown by.

Oh, well. I guess I've earned every line, and I suppose each and every grey hair could tell its story.

Nah. I'm not sad. A bit shocked, sometimes, about where my face went, but what the hell ... I lived it!!

Nicked this one off Faffa

Do you eat a lot of fast food?
Nope

How many people have you kissed in 2008?
Snogging - none
Otherwise - loads - I have kids!

Have you ever streaked?
Yep

Are you an understanding person?
Yes, but some people are beyond understanding

What was the last movie you saw in the cinema?
Sex and The City The Movie

What did you last get upset about?
My dog disobeying me in the woods

Do you eat sweets on a daily basis?
Gods, no! I'm fat enough!

Does it make you happy to get letters?
Yep

Who was the last person to text you?
A pal of mine to see if I was at home

What are you looking forward to this summer?
Having a holiday

Who was the last person you ate with?
my kids

Do raisins belong in cookies?
I guess

What's your screen name?
PurpleDragon

Walking into a party, what's the first thing you notice?
Where the booze is

Kiss on the first date?
Yeah, why not?

Would you rather have chicken or steak?
Steak

What's one thing you've learned from a good friendship gone bad?
Some people are beyond understanding

Who was the last person you took a picture of?
My kids

Would you ever donate blood?
Not allowed - spookily for the same reason as Faffa - blood transfusion

Have you ever felt replaced?
No

Are there deerheads covering any walls in your house?
Yeuch - NO!

Have you ever been asked out?
Hmm, let me search thru the cobwebs of memory

Are you good at telling jokes?
Nah - don't like being the centre of attention

Have you ever driven without a license?
No

Do you wish you had smaller feet?
No

When ordering sushi, what do you get?
Only had it once, and it was ordered for me

Do you write in cursive or in print?
scrawl

Who was the last person you sat next to?
No3Child

What were you doing at 10 am?
In the bath

Are you different now than you were six months ago?
Yes

What was the last beverage you spilled on yourself?
Don't remember

How old will you be in 10 months?
44

Do you think you'll be married by then?
I hope so!

Was yesterday better than today?
About the same

What month is your birthday in?
September

Can you live a day without tv?
Oh yes.

When was the last time you saw your dad?
2005

How many pets do you have?
3 dogs, 1 cat, 3 hens, rooster

How many houses have you lived in?
21

How many city/towns have you lived in?
14

Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet?
bare feet

Available?
No

What is your favorite colour?
purple

What are you doing for your next birthday?
Much the same as always - nothing

Do you like coffee?
Sometimes

Do you like iced tea?
No - iced tea is just the same sa saying 'cold tea'

What are you listening to?
Phineas and Ferb in the background

Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed?
Yes

If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
My weight and inability to stop scoffing biscuits

Do you know how to play poker?
Very badly

What are you thinking about right now?
This meme, of course

Any plans for next weekend?
Yep - No1Child's birthday

What were you doing at 12 last night?
Trying to sleep

Do you smile a lot?
No

Why did you last cry?
Father in law's funeral

Have you ever had a life-threatening injury?
Not injury, no

Do you like flying or driving?
Neither

What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
Books

Do you wear any jewelry daily?
Wear a watch when it isnt holiday time

Who got you the jewelry you are currently wearing?
None on

Who is the funniest person you know?
Dunno really

How often do you remember your dreams?
Most of the time

What is your ringtone?
Dunno - something provided by Blackberry, but it needs changed badly!

Skim, 1%, 2%, or whole milk?
Whole

Are you mad about anything?
Global stuff - economy, poverty - usual stuff

What time did you go to sleep last night?
God knows

Where did you last sleep besides your own bed?
At my father in laws house

I have just tried Sarah Jessica Parker's new fragrance - "Covet" - and I totally love it.

I have to have it

I have a complaint to make to any scientists who may be reading (which are probably quite few, but whatever... )

Why is it, in this day and age, that we can travel into space, even put untrained millionaires on the space shuttle, that we still have to drive, fly, sail or take the train to our destination.

Has no one seen Stargate??

Come on guys - I am really looking forward to our holiday (the last one we took was when I was pregnant with Rachel and she is nearly four) but - man! - we have to drive for four hours to get there. It's enough to ruin my holiday it really is.

I hate driving.

However

In saying all that - guess what I am contemplating for our next holiday? Winnebago!!

Got up this morning with a really sore thumb.
When I looked, it was red and swollen with that 'about-to-burst' look.
Sat in a hot bath with a needle and gave it a poke, and what do you think I found? A piece of metal embedded in it.
I have no recollection of getting it - just went a bit septic.

My 'quiet room', where I keep all my meditative stuff, where I keep my computer, books and rocking chair, is directly below my son's bedroom.

My son has an electric guitar. With amp. And an acoustic. And an electric keyboard thing.

And two of his pals are up there with him, along with his sister.

ThrummmmmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I think my fillings are loose.

Thing 1 :

I have just had my sweet, ringlet-headed three year old walk up to me, hand me a tissue and say "Can you get the snot off?"

Nice.

Thing 2:

Yesterday, I had no choice. I sat at my desk, ready to catch up on all the blogging, comments to answer, entries to read, and NO! disaster! - there was nowhere to put down my tea, because of all the paperwork that I keep putting in stacks on the desktop, waiting to 'get round to it'. (Anyone remember 'round tuits'? Only me? O-kay...) SO, I had to sit and do my filing, my bills, my letter posting. I didn't manage to do my accounts though. Perhaps, today, if I get around to it...

I was very busy this morning.

I went out and fixed the fence around the chicken run. It is about 50' long, and two of the sections had fallen down, so I had to go and repair them. Each section is chicken wire, stretched between two posts. I had to restretch the wire (which is awfully hard on the hands!) and staple it back to the post. Unfortunately, the wire was overstretched, which was one reason why it was hanging down, so I had to get the sledgehammer out and put in two new posts in each of the two sections to support the wire. Man, that sledgehammer is heavy!

Then, because the weather seemed to be fine enough, I decided to (finally) put my bulbs in. I have tulips, crocus and mixed colour bluebells. I hope they grow. I don't have a lot of luck with bulbs.

Now, I think the cold has gotten into my head, because I've had to take a couple of migraine pills - I can feel one, lurking stealthily, waiting its moment to pounce and knock me for six.

I have just received a letter from our electricity supplier telling me that our charges will be increasing by 19.2% forthwith.

Groan.

Anyone else seeing their electric increasing?

We have just paid .5569p/litre for our oil as well. Ouch! It was .3090 when we moved in here, 3 years ago. Scary stuff!

I don't usually write about taking the dogs for a walk in the woods because I do it every day and it isn't very eventful.

I usually do the walking when all the kids are in school, just me and the boys, nice and peaceful and at my own pace.

Today, however, I dragged the sprogs along too. Three kids and three dogs. I must be mad. LOL

Actually it was good fun. It has been raining recently, and there were loads of puddles to jump in. We didn't take the path (as provided by the Forestry Commission) and went overland. Or should I say overbrush. Goodness me, it was heavy going. Climbing over fallen trees, thru virgin brushland, fighting our way thru twigpiles and boggy bits. Great fun

The kids had to stop several times to empty their wellies of water because some of the puddles were deeper than they looked. Anyone remember that romantic walk with the Vicar of Dibley where she jumps in the puddle and literally goes up to her middle? Well, it wasn't as bad as that, but there were certainly some waves over the tops of the wellies.

When we got back in the car, the kids were wet and muddy, the dogs were wet, stinky and muddy and me? Well, I was warm and dry, because I don't jump in puddles - I walk thru them sedately, making sure I'm not biting off more than I can chew. Not quite so much fun, granted, but certainly dryer.

I wish I had taken my camera, too. There were some fab shots that I missed. I always forget

So, what have I been up to today?

Up early (for a Saturday) and straight into Inverurie to do a quick nip round Tesco. The Farmers Market was on this morning and there was a bloke selling gluten free baking, so I stopped and bought a tasty cherry cake for Laura. He had samples of everything he was selling, and the cake was just like a real one. I love cherry cake, so she might not get too much of it

Then off to Kemnay to collect a FreeCycle of videos. Well, I couldnt believe it when I got there - a big box and 4 carrier bags full of videos, both kids and adults. The kids were beside themselves. A lot of folk don't use videos nowadays, coz of DVDs, but we still have the machines, so I don't see the point of 'upgrading' and getting rid of them all.

Then back home, make lunch, and then off to the hairdresser to get my hair trimmed again, and another colour thru it. It looks nice. They are going to add bleach to the colour next time, because the lightest one they do still doesn't show up very well on my hair for some reason. Typical! I was there from 1.15 to 3.45 getting it done.

Went out this evening to put the hens away, and fell up the steps coming back into the house. Bashed my fingers against the wall, took the skin off my ring finger and I thought I had broken the pinky, but it is just bruising. Eejit.

Have a good evening

So, I went into school this morning to help with the Harvest assembly. Walked into the staff room to find a meeting in progress, and as a committee member (yeah, still - shurrup, okay?) I joined in said meeting.

They were discussing complaints about a school publication. I waded in saying that no matter what we have done as a committee in the past, there is always some miserable sod who you can never please, and that we always get complaints from a minority, and that they should realise how much hard work we put in, and get a life.

Guess who was making the complaints? The folk I was ranting away to, and I didn't find out till afterwards.

LOL

Do you know it costs £74 to send a 12kg parcel to Iceland, and it only costs £27 to send a 20kg parcel from Sweden to Iceland?

Three times as much to send something half the size.

How stupid is that??

This afternoon, Laura slammed Rachel's fingers in the doorframe.

There was blood, tears, screaming and so on.

After putting it under the tap for a wee while, I decided that the swelling and the weird colour demanded a quick trip to the local A&E to check it out.

I wrapped it in a clean tea towel and told her to hold onto it till we got to the nurse.

Well, she is now convinced that the only way her finger is going to get better is to keep it wrapped in a tea towel.

Kids.

Oh, and the finger isn't broken. She got a steristrip to hold the skin together and we are to keep an eye on it, but they can't do anything for broken fingers, anyway, as we already know from the multitude of broken fingers we have seen in the past. What is up with the female fingers in this household? I think we've all had at least one broken.

Today, I am tired. I was tired when I got out of my bed this morning.

I took a nap this afternoon. Set the phone for a wake up call, and it seemed like a minute and a half when the phone rang to tell me I had been asleep for 2 hours.

A friend of mine stays in Iceland. You probably know what is happening over there, and she is worrying now about what will happen to her and her family. Worrying about whether she will be able to feed her children.

How could the world governments allow things to get so bad? Were they really that stupid? Surely not? If they are, then where does that leave us now? Who is going to get us out of this mess? Or did something else happen? Was it greed? The whole mess is beyond my understanding.

Between the global economy and global warming, we really have fucked the place up, haven't we?

What next, I wonder. Plague?

We went away for the weekend, as my niece just got engaged and she was throwing an engagement party.

Before I go away, I like to have a good tidy, and clean the house, because I hate coming home to a tip. I vacuumed the living room as part of that clear round.

We stayed at my in-laws house. Himself lives there during the week, and (along with his brothers and sisters) has the unenviable task of sorting thru 70+ years of their lives.

One of the kids saw a game - Draughts - and asked if we could bring it home. Upon counting the wooden 'men' we found that one of them was missing, so the game was considered 'a scrapper' and put to one side.

When we got home, I walked into the living room and there was a wooden draughtsman in the middle of the carpet.

Picture this.

I am sitting at my lappie, looking out the front window.

We sit almost at the top of the hill on one side of the valley. Outside my window is my front garden, some fields, heading down to the village which is nestled in the bottom of the valley. The hills on the other side are all fields, with a couple of houses dotted here and there.

As you look out of the window, to the left, you can see the weather coming from the north west, which is where it usually comes from.

For the last half hour or so, I have watched the clouds scudding across the sky, and some of them have been raining. The rain hasn't been over here - just over the other side, on the hills, and I have watched the tops of the hills disappear in a deluge of rain and cloud, then reappear as another section gets theirs.

I love weather watching like this. Especially when the folk over the other side are getting the weather and we're just watching LOL

Sometimes I watch the hills disappear completely, then the village, and then it hits the front of the house like a hammer - battering rain or hail. Sometimes I watch the snow start to fall a couple of miles away - whitening the fields and creeping towards us like Mother Nature covering us with a cozy blanket.

Fog is often fun as well. We sit up here, high, the sun streaming down, and the village is gone. There is just a cloud of white sitting down in the valley, like melted marshmallow.

I wish my camera was good enough to capture some of these images so I could show you.

And now we have the rain.