Purple Dragon

So, I have always planned on going back to college after Madam starts primary school in August, wanting to do massage and aromatherapy.

Well, the local college has just published its prospectus, and guess what? They don't appear to be actually running any this year.

My frickin life.

I know we're on a break, but ...

I was driving along the road with my kids, listening to the radio. Something came on about someone being put in prison for murder (or something ... whatever) and my son said about how murder was really bad. Seeing an Educational Opportunity, I waded in with "yes, murder is bad - one of the worst things you can do" and he said "yeah, there's robbin' as well".

I'm about to launch into a 'discussion' (read : I talk, he pretends to listen) about how murder is the robbery of a life, when he says:

"Yeah, some things are really bad - murder, robbin' and, and, er, grafitti".

I'm gonna have a wee break for a while.

I'm reading everyone, but I can't think of a damn thing to say that doesn't sound like I'm sniping.

There is nothing going on in my life that is worth blogging.

So, I'm gonna give it a bit of a rest.

Ta ta.

One one anti-gay protestor turns up at a protest against a 'gay' play

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7903344.stm

I bet he felt pretty stupid. I hope he did, anyway!

Okay, so Hefner is a millionaire, probably a gadzillionaire, and he seems like a fairly nice bloke, but I *so* don't get the whole Playboy Mansion thing.

Three pretty girls, not enough fat on them to fry a chip, no brains in their heads (apparently - is this a ruse?), and they are living and loving with this guy who is like 60 years their senior.

What's the deal? Apart from, obviously, lucky lucky bastard!

Further to my Big Brave Me post the other day.

Told a pal of mine who stays locally. She tells me about the bloke she saw walking the village trying the car door handles, peering over fences and so on, just the other day. Apparently said bloke and his brother are known locally, although they have 'been away for a bit' they are now back.

Another pal tells me about her dog going balistic (should this be two 'l's?) a few evenings ago, and on going to investigate, finds a bloke standing in her utility room, who promptly legs it.

A little more worried now I know they are about, when I was happy writing it all off as a fox.

*shrug*

I have made a potentially horrible mistake.

My homework is to get someone to find 10 things, I get blindfolded and have to identify the 10 things.

I have given the job to my children who have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into the challenge, and I keep hearing yells of "Oh, YUCK!" from around the house.

Help!

The Five Things meme

1. Five of your current favourite songs?
Circle - Edie Brickell
Man! I feel like a woman! - Shania Twain
Can't fight the moonlight - Leanne Rimes
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Stoned - Van Morrison

2. Five things in your home used for entertainment?
books
telly
lappie
snooker table
dart board

3. Five Favourite mystery and/or crime programmes on television?

Bones

4. Five Favourite Sci-fi or fantasy programmes?

Lost (what other category would you put it in?)
Being Human
Jean Luc Picard Star Treks
First few seasons of Stargate

5. Five Favourite comedies?

Vicar of Dibley (although they have pretty much repeated it to death)
Absolutely Fabulous
Simpsons

6. Five Favourite reality programmes?
Gonna have to miss this one - I don't watch them

7. Five Favourite book titles you've read in the last year?
Chocolat
The Hollows series
The Merrily Watkins series
Brisingr
Buddhism for Dummies

8. Five random objects in the room you're in?

No3Child
rocking chair
single wellie boot
half finished tapestry
tarot cars

9. Last five people you spoke to?
No3Child
No1Child
No2Child
Husband
police

10. Five celebrities you would most like to meet?
HH Dalai Lama
Barack Obama
Anita Roddick

Actually, The Woman, but that doesn't flow properly.

So, last night, after 'Lost' (I knew Charlotte had been there before!) I toodled off to bed. About 11.30 the dogs went totally mental! I came downstairs (hence being The (Wo)Man - big brave female fighting off the burglars) and they were throwing themselves against the back door, having seen something thru the glass.

I went round the whole house, keeking thru windows, praying nothing/no one would keek back. Couldn't see anything. Went back to bed.

This repeated itself twice more, so I phoned the police. They came within half an hour, during which the dogs had flipped out again, had a look round the property, and declared it Bad Person free.

They went off to drive up the lane, and twice more the dogs freaked out.

Himself reckons it was a fox. Upon reflection, I think he was right. What right-thinking burglar would case a place, and even consider coming back to it when faced with the Hounds of the Baskervilles barking their heads off and slavering like fools? I wouldn't.

This morning when I let them out, they went to the fence and had a major sniff-a-thon, so something unfamiliar had been beside the fence, adding more fuel to the fox fire because the fence has three unlocked gates.

At one point in my nocturnal investigations, I was walking the house and keeking out windows without putting the lights on. All the better to see outside. Oscar (dalmatian) saw me, my jammies being white and glowing in the dark LOL, his hackles went up, he growled like the most vicious guard dog and threw himself at the door between us. He smiled all over his face when I spoke to him and he realised it was me.

So. Another sleepless night. But aren't I brave?

Here is a picture of Angus. He is a bit bigger than this now. He was one year old in September.

Here is a pic of him when we got him, at about 3 months old.

Well, everyone else is doing it, and I hate being left out, so I joined too

Anyone want me, I'm ThePurpleDragon. Obviously.

This is funny. If we had time, we would bid on this, but we don't so we aren't going to.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250370438179&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:GB:1123

Does anyone know how to introduce friends to one another on Flickr? I have a couple of friends who I think would appreciate one another's work, but I don't know how to get them together - not like on Facebook, for example.

Today's happy is that No3Child appears to be getting over her pops quite well. She fell asleep (probably from exhaustion!) just before tea last night and slept for ages - till 10pm at least, then woke briefly for a drink, had a wee cry, and then slept till about 2am, then right thru till getting up time. She is certainly in less distress today. Her skin is awful looking though.

I have decided to start back with my Happy Thoughts. Anyone who wants to join in, can

So, today I have several Happies. One is that my man will be back today. Partly I am happy about this because he will be home and I miss him when he isn't, but also, selfishly, it means I can get some help with Little Miss Pops and her forte - The Scream.

Next Happy is that I will be able to get a sauna without having to worry about settling in and hearing "Muu-UUumm s/he did ...". Ah, peace. I hope.

Another Happy is that the sun is splitting the sky, I was outside inspecting the children's snow construction in a t-shirt, and the snow is slowly melting. Ah, bliss - to see the grass again. I wonder if there are any snowdrops under there? I shall pretend for now that there will be no flooding and that my driveway will stay in the driveway and not try to migrate into the garden.

Well, night two of my smallest one having the chicken pox, and I feel like I am half dead.

I don't do well without sleep, me.

I finally got my car back late yesterday afternoon, although it has to go back this afternoon because it still isn't fixed. The garage took pity on me so that I could drive it thru to the town and buy stuff to help litt'lun with the pops.

Got some calamine cream, instead of the lotion. The pharmacist said it was better than the lotion, and I have to agree, but it is still crap. Got some Piriton as well, and already had the Calpol/Nurofen combos in stock.

We have been up most of the night with her screaming in pain (she has perfected The Scream with multiple temper tantrums each week for the last 4 years), sitting on a bidet of cool water, then back to bed for cream, Piriton and either the Calpol or Nurofen, sleep for up to one hour, then start again. I hate it when she is begging for the pain relief and she can't have it because the time isn't up yet.

She got up this morning and her back is a mess where she has lain and wriggled, taking the tops off the spots.

I feel all 'floaty' and I think I shall have to have some coffee.

How come, when you are four years old, you can be up all night crying, then go thru the day as if you've slept the night thru, but when you are 44, you feel like you've got out of bed and into someone else's body?

In other news, before bed last night I had a Nescafe Latte mix with a big dollop of Baileys in it. Whoever told me that is nice - you were SO right - yummy yummy yum yum!

Jumping on the bandwagon, and many thanks to Scoobydoofus here is my desktop. I like this a lot because I find it so restful and makes me think of long, warm summer days.

It has been snowing non stop since early this morning, and although I am pretty much over it, the kids are still enjoying themselves. No3Child doesn't like snow, so she is inside, in the warm. Sensible child!

To the lassie who stole my husband's wallet from his jacket pocket after he was generous enough to loan you said jacket so you would be warm when you were smoking outside a pub :

You left him miles from home, in the middle of Glasgow, without any money, any bank card, and no means to get home, no way to pay for a hotel for somewhere to stay the night, and without his weekly train ticket to get to and from work.

Next time, bitch, fucking freeze, and I hope that every penny you spend from the money you stole brings you nothing but bad luck, misery and unhappiness.

My Mum sent me this :

A male patient is lying in bed in the hospital, wearing an oxygen mask
over his mouth and nose, still heavily sedated from a difficult four
hour, surgical procedure. A young student nurse appears to give him a
partial sponge bath.

"Nurse", he mumbles, from behind the mask. "Are my testicles black?"

Embarrassed, the young nurse replies "I don't know, Sir. I'm only here to wash your upper body and feet."

He struggles to ask again, "Nurse, are my testicles black?"

Concerned that he may elevate his vitals from worry about his testicles,
she overcomes her embarrassment and sheepishly pulls back the covers.

She raises his gown, holds his penis in one hand and his testicles in
the other, lifting and moving them around.

Then, she takes a close look and says, "There's nothing wrong with them,
Sir !!"

The man pulls off his oxygen mask, smiles at her and says very slowly,

"Thank you very much. That was wonderful but listen very, very
closely......

"A r e - m y - t e s t - r e s u l t s - b a c k ? "

I've been having one of those days.

School was open again today. I still don't have my car, so this meant walking all three to school for 9am, walking back at 11am for No3Child, then getting a call from school at 11.30 to collect No1Child who was ailing, then walking back again at 2.45 for No2Child. The snowplough ploughed *up* the snow so the walking was right hard going, and over the top of ice.

I was also waiting for my alternator to turn up. The postman didn't come yesterday - he doesn't come up the lane when the weather is too iffy. So in with all the walking was a wander round the village hunting for the postman, who I found, who did have the alternator, and was kind enough to drop it at the garage for me, so that was a result!

This afternoon when I went down to collect No2Child, we took the sled and I pulled No1/No3Children down. That was fine until we had to come back up and I had to pull them again. Phew! Did I sweat! Oh, well, I wanted to lose some weight.

Sitting talking to a pal of mine when I tickled No3Child and in doing so discovered that she had started the chicken pops. So that is her off school for another week. Sigh. She is crabbit as hell, because she is feeling poorly.

And now the snow is coming down in barrel loads again.

I am SO over the whole snow thing.

I want my bed.

It would appear that the pipes were frozen because I opened the lofthatch and come mid afternoon, the water was flowing freely again.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

For some reason, I have no water upstairs. I have two loos up there, and having flushed one, I know there is no water coming into the cistern. None of the taps are producing water. I have water downstairs though. Toilets filling no problem, taps working.

I don't have a water tank - the water comes in directly from the mains outside. The pipe that comes into the house is downstairs under the utiity room floor. The hot water and heating come thru the combi boiler which is also outside, and working - I have central heating and hot water ... downstairs!

I have been up in the loft and the pipes up there are all lagged. They also don't feel cold enough to be frozen.

I had the central heating on all day yesterday because the temperature in the village was -14 and - guess what? - I didn't want my pipes to freeze!

Any ideas anyone?

I always knew, when I had kids, that I would have to let them let go the apron strings one day. A little bit at a time.

Today the school is closed again. The roads and conditions are too poor to open it. My pal phoned me this morning to tell me that it was reading -12.5 outside her house. It was -16 at her man's work. It's flippin cold out there! Down in the village at the garage where my car is waiting in vain for it's replacement alternator it is reading -14. One of the mechanics stays beside me, and he phoned his wife to tell her not to try and get the car out because the diesel is frezing in the pipes and the cars are breaking down beside the road. Right chilly!

Anyway. My son and two of the neighbours kids have gone down to the village, to the school, with their sleds. There are lots of slopes in the school grounds that they can sled on.

Me? I'm a mess. What if they slip on the road? What if the sled goes too fast and they fall off and break something? What if some pervert happens past and steals one or all of them? When I was their age, I was out all day, only coming home when I was hungry. It is going to be so much harder with the girls, too, when they want to go places themselves.

My husband is fed up of having truly scary journeys home when the weather is bad, so he has been thinking of selling his Monza and buying a 4WD. He has been looking at one of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrk6vsb77xk

but not this one!

I entitled this Girls Only because I can't imagine why any of the men would be even vaguely interested in my reproductive cycle.

I am feeling extraordinarily sorry for myself today.

My period started a whole week early. A whole WEEK. Normally I am irregular, but usually a day here and there, sometimes two or three, but a whole frickin week is out of order.

I feel completely drained ... like I've opened a vein and am slowly bleeding out. I feel so weak. I know part of my problem is that I don't just have the build up come away each month, but when the build up is coming away, the little veins, capilliaries, open up as well and I do have an actual blood loss.

I also have a cracking headache. I have tried painkillers, to no avail. I have tried my migraine pills, similar results.

Even went to my ed this afternoon for a two hour nap, to see if I could feel better. All it has done is give me insomnia tonight.

The final straw, I think, has been the weather. Himself had a long weekend - Friday thru Monday. He came home Friday, just in time to be met with a missis in pain - stomach cramps, an exhaustion.

We watched Country File this morning and they said that the north is going to experience worse weather tonight, so he decided to leave today instead of tomorrow. It took him 45 minutes to get his car the 50 yards up our driveway, then decided that his car wasn't man enough, reversed it back, and nicked mine instead.

Being car-less isn't a problem for me. I can't get out without the kids, and I won't take the kids out in the car in this weather. Not so much because I am worried about my driving, or my ability in these conditions, but there are so many folk who are just plain dangerous. I'm fed up, though, that he had to go back a day early just because of the damn weather.

So. All in all. Pretty fed up.

Milly wrote about the weird keywords to her blog, and having never seen mine before, I thought I would go check them out. Here are a selection:

homeopath - but I'm not interested in homeopathy

purple dragon children - that's a bit worrying

how to make a dragon out to chicken wire - um, yes

how to make Real Gravy - won't find that here!

vodka bebo - not suprising!

purple dragon weed experience - I've never blogged about that!

my cat has purple warts - god, that's all I need

I was teling AJ about my cat Yoda and how he likes to climb up on my chair when I am at my desk. I got my son to take a pic, and although it is a little blurred, you can see what he does. He holds onto the back of the chair with his claws and presses his back against mine, them climbs till he can snuggle his head into my neck.

Today, as I said earlier, it snowed, and here is a pic of one of the garden chairs.

Here is a hawthorn tree, four actually, in a pot in the back garden that one day I am going to get round to planting.

A pic of the garage snowdrift. The wind blows up the hill from the valley and we always get a big snowdrift here. One year, Anthony disappeared down inside it. It was rather smaller this year, though.

These are two of my kids, outside in the falling snow, building their obligatory snowman. The youngest one doesn't care for snow.

And here is the finished article. Unfortunately, later on, the carrot drooped and he ended up looking like Squidward.

Faffa posted a picture earlier today with a blackbird on a fence, and I said I had taken one almost identical. This could have been the same blackbird, just looking in the opposite direction!

We went for a walk down the lane this afternoon, and there was what looked like the legs of a twig person sticking out from the hedge!

And finally, here is my son with a snowball. He lost.

I was just having a keek to see how many schools are closed over the Aberdeenshire area - 145.

But it amused me, the wee note beside the notification of our school :

No school transport. Due to adverse weather and forecast, school closed to everyone today. Staff to work at home.
announced: 05/02/2009 06:49:41

Who's gonna check?

Last night before bed, I was that fed up and fancied a day off and I said "Oh, I wish it would snow 12inches in the night, and we would get snowed in!"

Got up this morning to find a good 4" of snow, which was all well and good, but also that we had a power cut. It went off at 6.40 and just came back on, 4 hours later.

Flip me, it was chilly! Our whole house runs on electricity.

I have a portable camping heater. Unfortunately the smell of gas was so bad from it, I chose the cold rather than to gas my children! I also have a single ring camping stove, which was good coz it meant I got a cuppa What is it about tea made with water boiled in a saucepan that just doesn't taste the same from out of a kettle?

I went out to the garage and got the calor gas heater in, and it promptly ran of of gas. Fortunately, we had a spare cylinder, but I've knackered my back carrying it up the garden. Went back out to the garage to get a landline phone that plugs straight into the wall, put my foot down a hole the dogs had dug that I couldn't see in the snow, and twisted my ankle.

I've taken some pix and will post them later on. I've not finished taking them yet. The kids are just finished off the obligatory snowman. I expect they will be nagging for the sledge soon.

My daughter asked for the telly on. I said she couldn't have it on because there was no electricity. She said "Well, can you just try, please?"

It has just stopped snowing. I have been up since 6.30 and it was snowing all that time. We've had the slowplough come down from the farm up the top of the lane. We don't often get a council snowplough up here, but we sometimes get a gritter.

Typically my man has a long weekend, but he will have to leave his car in the village and walk up because he won't get in the drive.

You know, I never watch anything Parliamentary on the telly.

I have an interest in politics. Not the sort of wheeler dealer type that we are often face with, but the deeper stuff where the proper decisions are made.

However, today I was flicking thru the news and had the misfortune to catch, I dunno, PMQs or something.

If my kids behaved like that fucking rabble, I would discipline them. They really are both an embarrassment and a disgrace. No wonder we don't have any faith in them.

Sitting there groaning and shouting like a flippin pony in labour. They are like characatures of themselves. No wonder Spitting Image was so successful - they didn't have to make too much up, did they?

I don't have the vocabulary to express just how disgraceful I think they are. Like children pretending to be powerful.

I know it is considered traditional, but that sort of behaviour went out with throwing your chicken legs over your shoulder to the hunting hounds.

So, last evening, my man sent me an eBay entry thinking that we could buy this car for spares, because it is the same as my car. The car will likely go for a couple of hundred quid, and we can keep it and cannibalise it at our leisure.

Previous to this, my car worked perfectly.

Dropped the kids at school this morning. No problem. Drove down at 10am to collect No2Child for her Dr appt, went into school, put her coat on, came out and the bloody car wouldn't start.

We had to rush along to the Drs in the pouring rain, and back to school again, then I had to wait for the RAC. I was bloody freezing! I'm still not warm.

RAC man says the battery isn't charging. SOunds like the alternator to me, but we shall see. It is in the garage. Just as well we have a spare car!

I have told Himself off for jinxing me about using that other car for spares.

... are fine

The vet gave him a good once over tonight, and said that they were fine, but he had licked them to pieces, probably because they were recovered from their recent near strangulation.

The really fun part is - I have to bathe them in salt water and apply a cream three times a day for a week.

Nice.

I get all the good jobs.

with spoilers

I loved the moment last night when Locke said "Your name is Widmore? Charles Widmore?" Already that explains some of it.

Did anyone catch who Daniel thought the girl wth the gun reminded him of? Was it the girl on life support?

Whaddya think is wrong with Charlotte? I think Daniel recognises her symptoms in the girl on life support and that is why he is sad and scared.

I wonder if the early-Others buried that bomb where The Hatch was. Remember how magnetic the area was and Jack and Sayid (?) finding an area that was concreted in, early on? Perhaps they had to press the button to stop the bomb exploding or imploding or something? Mind you, that wouldnt explain why, when the place did blow up, why the whole island didn't go, would it?

And did anyone notice Daniel in last week's episode down by the wheel thing? What the heck was THAT all about??

Well, apparently most of the country has snow.
We have hardly any - just a light dusting.
I placed an eBay shop order, and just received an email saying they can't send it out due to snow.
How strange that the rest of the country has it, and we are fairly clear.
There are three school closures in Aberdeenshire - we shall see what the situation is with that tomorrow, as apparently that is when the weather will hit us.
It has been snowing on and off since 9am but the fall isn't making that much difference to the levels on the ground.
I guess it must be too warm to lay properly.

I am feeling frustrated.
I feel very artistic today, but I am not naturally artistic, so I am feeling rather at a loss.
I have been looking at a friend's blog, and she does some beautiful work, in fact is a beautiful person, both inside and out, and although she is inspirational to me, I don't have the wherewithal to follow thru.
I want to go and paint murals on the bathroom wall.

Further to my weather musings the other day, I have just had a realisation.
The reason we all get so fed up with the winter is because it seems to be the longest season of all!
Oh, were the summer as long as the winter, or the winter as short as the summer, then perhaps we can accept it better!

Just a wee post to wish Sminchin a happy birthday!

I hope your weekend has been fabby and you have been spoiled rotten!

love and best wishes