To do or not to do?

So Jr Her is off on camp today. Yay! Two whole days of peace and quiet. Of course, it won't make any difference to me. Him will still go to work on night shift, and I will still cook dinner when I get home... It just means I won't have anyone to fight with for two nights!

Anyway, before Him took Jr Her to school this morning, I had asked her where her phone was. In my room, she answered. Sure! And if I find you are lying, you will lose the phone. I will confiscate it and won't renew the credit. She didn't say anything. When Him got home I repeated the threat in front of her. He asked he where it was. She withdrew it under protest from her pocket... yelled and carried on while I took it off her and put it on the charger for the duration of her absence.

When he got to the school her bestie bailed her up and asked if she had her phone. Jr Her answered in the negative (rather angrily too for some reason! lol!). Bestie bragged that she had snuck hers into her bag, as had several other friends. She boasted that her mother didn't know and that she never tells her mother anything.

This is all in front of Him! Him questioned her, and she still bragged that she wasn't lying, she just wasn't telling her mum anything! Him made the comment Jr Her was honest. Yes, well, only because I know my child and knew she had it with her, or she would be doing exactly the same thing!

Anyway, my dilemma is, do I tell the mother or let it go? I am not sure how I would feel about someone phoning me to tell me what my kid had done wrong. I think what got up Him's and my nose was her rude attitude. She can be quite cutting, even to Jr Her.

Anyway, I haven't said anything yet, and not sure if I will, but it does make me wonder...

Lucky me!

I have decided I am a thoroughly spoiled little bitch! And I love it!

Last weekend Him was playing on his computer and called me. "I've bought you something"... oh, I wonder what that is?

He showed me. It was a wooden glider chair (as opposed to a rocker). It glides back and forth instead of rocking on bars. So after a few hours of peace shopping by myself on Saturday, purchasing new work clothes and stuff, I got two hours of quiet on Sunday as well, cause he and Jr Her jumped into the ute to venture across Adelaide and pick it up for me.

That was a giggle apparently. When they arrived, the place was an absolute pig sty. The woman apologised saying they had just moved in, but Him thought the place looked all too lived in. There were piles and piles of clothes and junk on every surface!

My chair was out on the back patio covered in dog hair, and the woman had to vacumm it off. I wonder why they didn't do that before? They knew he was coming!

Then, before he had even finished loading it (with the help of Jr Her) into the back of the ute, she had shoved the money into her purse, grabbed the trolley and dashed across to the supermarket! We think perhaps she was a little hard for cash.

Anyway, we cleared out a corner of the lounge, and put the chair into there. It is wooden, with a green cushion with tiny white dots. We had a beige cushion with green, blue and pink roses on it, which sits very nicely on the chair.

Yesterday when I got home from work (at least I think it was yesterday...) there was a surprise for me. Him had gone to Ikea to buy a table to put beside my new chair. Sadly, it was too big but does look great in the corner beside the TV cabinet.

He had a wooden "butler" holding a flat part to put a coffee cup, which he put beside my chair, and while at Ikea he bought a lovely metal standing lamp. We also had a wooden candle holder beside the TV, so when I got home, the butler was holding my book the lamp was shining on my chair, and beside the lamp was one of my pillar candles, lit and glowing nicely. Isn't that fab? I am so lucky!

Love ya darl! xxx

On a separate note, Jr Her had a minor opp yesterday on her gum. I was expecting to go in for a quick procedure to expose the two teeth that are causing problems, pay a small gap, then go grocery shopping.

However, when we got there, they told us that they could do one, but the other would take longer than the time they had allowed. The one they did do took an hour and they actually cut a flap of gum and stitched it out of the way. Ew. She is upset cause she can't play netball tomorrow, as she is their star goal shooter, and it's the only team they have a hope of beating!

When it came time to pay, it ended up costing me $350 after health insurance! Eep! There goes my grocery money. I had to shuffle some funds around and do the shopping. Jr Her was very good at helping me put it away, chatting a mile a minute (nothing shuts that kid up, not even gum surgery!) and it was 6.00 before we finished! Still had to cook dinner!

I did get a few minutes to sit in my chair and read while the potatoes were cooking though... excellent!

Oh, and her second op (with a $410 gap) is scheduled for September 24th. My birthday...

My night out

So last night was the big night at the movies. I suggested we leave early cause the line will be long. The theatre has a hot food counter (typical fried stuff, but palatable) so we could get dinner there.

We arrived nice and early, to a full carpark... lots of people...

When we got up to the theatre the hot food counter was closed. There was a table in front of it manned by a couple of employees, serving free Magnum icecreams. Ok, so we grabbed one of those each. Around the corner was a table with free cans of softdrink and small bags of popcorn. Grabbed one each of those too.

The movie was supposed to start at half past seven and this was about six thirty. We followed the crowd to the usher's table, handed in our tickets, and were directed into a theatre...

It was full.

We had to sit right down the first row. We sat at the end of the first row, which placed us just left of the centre of the screen, and on every second seat was a yellow RAA logo'ed bag with a few goodies including a magnet, dinner voucher, lanyard and magazine.

Well, this isn't too bad value for $8.50. I bought the tickets through RAA when I bought our See Sydney cards back in May.

We settled in, and soon a fellow dressed as Harry Potter came in, picked up a mike and made a small welcome speech.

Then, at about six forty-five, the movie started! Apparently RAA had booked about 4 cinemas and when they were full they just started the movie! I was told it would run for about 3 hours, but it actually took about 2 hrs twenty mins. That meant we were finished not much after nine. Not as late a night as I planned.

The movie was pretty good. One friend said it was dark and that she didn't like it. I could see why she would think that. It was dark.

Another comment I heard was that it lacked the oomph of the other movies. I found it did too. I kept waiting for the big action. It didn't happen.

There was a sad part toward the end, and I confess, I cry at the drop of a hat so was expecting to do so. I didn't. At a later part a single tear escaped. I hate being a sook, Jr Her teases me relentlessly, and Him always looks closely at me, making me feel embarrassed. He doesn't mean to, to him it's support. But as I said I hate being a sook.

So minor victory for me.

All in all it was quite a good evening. Worth the money. We stopped at Maccas on the way home, but I don't like their burgers so ordered a wrap. Would you believe, a 24 hours restaurant, stops making wraps at nine pm. So I went hungry. I supposed I could have ordered chips but I really didn't feel like them. No worry, I wasn't really that hungry after the popcorn anyway.

We let Oz back in last night, but as we went to bed not long after, he wasn't walked to make sure he peed. When I got up this morning he was lying nicely on his blanket, not making a fuss or anything. Only after I let him out did I notice he has sprayed the doorway. Must have been last night because it was almost dry. Can't blame him for that I guess.

Anyway, it was a good night. Today we take Jr Her for a small procedure to expose two crooked teeth. In August she gets her braces. I have the afternoon off work, but will be taking some to do at home after I do the grocery shopping.

Chat later...

Ozzie comes of age

So Ozzie had his first real sleepover last night. At our house.

He has slept inside twice at the beachhouse, but he has always been made sleep outside at home. Last night I got brave.

I admit, I lack tolerance with him sometimes. He now occupies the space every evening, just inside my back door, between the laundry and the kitchen. A child's gate keeps him there. It also lets the cat go to the loo - his litter box is behind the toilet door.

Anywy, last night, the dog was annoying me by just quietly whimpering, as they do, while looking longingly through the gate at me (sitting at the kitchen table). It's bloody frustrating when they do that, isn't it? I decided that he has to get used to that spot, and in a moment of madness let him stay there overnight.

Well, I took him for a wee break, which he did without fuss, and locked up when he came inside. Turned off the lights and said good night. Then, I went for my shower and put myself into bed.

Usually Dodge comes in when all is quiet and comes for a cuddle. No sign of him last night. Twice I poked my nose out to see what was happening, and both times Oz came from the laundry to the entryway. When I looked in the laundry Dodge was hiding under the washing machine stand. Obviously they had been playing. They were quiet so I don't really care.

After midnight I had to get up to Dodge as he was in the rubbish bin chasing a piece of screwed up paper he had been playing with earlier in the evening.

Again, he didn't come back to bed. I don't know what time he did come, but he was there later in the night.

I didn't hear a peep out of Oz all night, and there were no surprises waiting for me when I let him out at quarter past six this morning. So, he just may find himself invited back inside again tonight.

After we get home from watching Harry Potter at the movies...

It's worth it.

Thank you all for your well wishes for Dodge, it means a lot to him, and me of course...

Here is another clip of Dodge and Oz playing. Always cute to watch. Sorry about the quality, it's a bit dark, and for some reason, although I film it the right way up, it always ends up playing sideways... but I won't accept responsibility for any chiropractor appointments which may arise from viewing...



Anyway, I thought Dodge was getting better cause his poo had started to solidify, but today's efforts let me down a bit. While there was no blood, it was still soft. I was hoping that's what the problem was, but I guess I should give the antibiotics a fair go really. He has to take them for 10 days, and we are only on day 3.

I got a phone call tonight, while chatting to my mum, from Boss. He and his wife went to the beachhouse today, and when my phone rang I thought "oh dear, what happened..."

But it turns out he phoned me to tell me that he was very happy, as was Mrs Boss because we had left the place in such a lovely state. He joked I must have spent all weekend cleaning, but seriously, they were both very happy. I had left Mrs Boss a small gift of an old fish shaped dish filled with some scented cedar balls on the bar, and apparently she loved them.

Well, it's always nice to get positive feedback, and lets face it, I really did have to clean it because the dog left long black hair everywhere.

Made my evening anyway... :-)

Dodgy Updated

So what I didn't mention the other day is that while we were at Carrickalinga I noticed some blood in Roger's stool.

It was a good spot, but as we had had kittens previously who had the odd blood spot I wasn't too worried, but thought I had better keep an eye on it. His stool is always soft and mushy too.

Anyway, when I got up yesterday morning I noticed a smudge of blood and stool on the wall above his tray. When I had a look at him he had a small clump of long hair sticking to his fluffy backside, which was covered in blood and poo. Glad he didn't bring THAT back to bed!

So, I made an appointment at the vet for last night, and we bundled him into his cat carrier and off we went.

He wasn't too pleased to be there, and tried so hard to hide, and the barking little dog out the back didn't help, but he survived (although he got quite upset at having the thermometer shoved up his backside, as I am sure we all would!)

Apparently he has a chronic disease of some sort, possible Guardia. As he has always had a soft stool, it's something he has had for a long time, and it has finally ulcerated causing the blood. The vet gave him a strong worm shot and he is now on antibiotics. If that doesn't work he will explore other possible causes, but I noticed this morning even that his stool is a lot firmer...

I also mentioned that he was sneezing considerably a few days after we brought him home. The person at RSPCA I spoke to said that it was probably his immune system adjusting because he was still boisterous etc. The vet got quite angry that I was misinformed and suggested he has a respiratory issue as well, which we will address when we get this one cleared up. His eyes are a little weepy, and we have noticed in the last few days he was making like he wanted to throw up a furball but didn't. That is associated with this respiratory problem too. Hopefully the antibiotics will clear that up too!

I brought up with the vet that Wally used to go outside and eat grass then come inside and cough up furballs quite often. He expressed his great surprise that he swallowed that much fur. He said there was obviously a problem which was causing him to be sick to much (once or twice a week) and if I think about it, that may be what contributed to his death, perhaps... we will never know, but it just may well be it. Heart conditions will make them sick so maybe that's what it was.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how Dodge goes with his antibiotics...

What a comedy of errors!

So we headed down to the beach house this weekend. It was so nice to wake up on a Friday and not have to get up! Bliss! Until the cat woke me up at six thirty anyway...

So, Him came home just after eight, and Jr Her didn't get up until nine, so I had time to potter around and get stuff done. I packed all our sheets, clothes and towels into one suitcase, and Jr Her had her case, then I filled the clothes basket with kitty litter, cat food dish, coffee, long life milk, sugar, lap top, cords, reading material, etc, locked up the house, and loaded up the car.

I had the kitty carrier under arm but decided to sit Roger in the car and see what happens. He settled himself on the car seat between Jr Her and Ozzie and there he stayed for the entire journey.

We got to the winding area outside Yankilla and Ozzie puked. Jr Her advised it was only a small amount and all was okay. When we arrived it was pouring rain, windy and freezing cold. There was no undercover parking for the car so we had to dash out to open the house door, and couldn't get the key to open the door, as we were trying to open the first glass door, not realising there was a wooden door further along.

Eventually we figured it out and got the house open. We let the animals inside and quickly started unpacking the car. That's when we found the dog had vomited quite a bit, and it was all over the upside down picnic run he sits on, the bag with the litter box in it, and the floor of the car. Him left the blanket outside, handed me the litter box minus the plastic bag around it which had vomit on it, and we went inside.

I went back out to retrieve the blanket and discovered it had been folded up over the vomit then it had blown away in the mud. I retrieved it and put it in the laundry.
Ozzie makes himself at home

Wild weather outside the verandah

Anyway, we explored our surroundings, seeing what was available. My heart sank when I realised my outside dog had nowhere outside to sleep. It was windy wet and cold everywhere. What do we do? He is not house trained! We left him downstairs for now, putting up a child safety gate so he couldn't get upstairs, and put our stuff away. My mother rang and while I was on the phone to her I was downstairs trying to do something with the animal mess, and Jr Her jumped on the bed in the laundry, so the dog promptly jumped on her lap.

Here I was, talking to mum and the kid was lying with the dog on the bed! I cracked it at her and she didn't even bother getting the dog off, saying he was sitting on her and she couldn't move. I grabbed his collar and bent my fingernail backwards, making my nail bleed.

I hung up from mum and spat it. Anyway, we got him back upstairs, and unpacked. A bit later Jr Her exclaimed "Oh, that's disgusting!" Going back downstairs I find the dog had weed on one of the downstairs director's chairs. Sigh. This was getting worse!

I cleaned that up, putting the dog outside for a while. We left him outside and piled into the car to head into Normanville to the shop. The little cheap shop at Yankalilla had cheap dog toys so I bought him a squeaky duck. We found a few other little knick knacks as well and headed back home.

When we got back I looked around for somewhere to house the dog overnight. I decided to put him in the spare bathroom (there were two downstairs) and put the child gate across the doorway.

Back upstairs, we couldn't get the air conditioner to work. It was bloody freezing, the wind was howling and the rain was so hard it was blowing across the balcony onto the glass doors upstairs. Nothing seemed to work and we settled into an uneasy afternoon. Him was tired and cranky so he had a shower then put himself in our room in bed (where it was warm) to read. Jr her set up the laptop to watch some movies. I read.
(Him trying to get said airconditioner to work)

When we went to town earlier Jr Her and I had bought lasagna and salad so we had a late lunch, therefore skipping dinner. Him wasn't hungry.

Him fell asleep at six and I made fruit toast for Jr Her and I. I decided to put Ozzie out for a wee and stood in the freezing rain until he did something. I made a big fuss of him, and let him back inside. I did this about every hour or so and I do believe I house trained him...

About half past eight I was buggered and sick of sitting around. I had a shower and sent Jr Her downstairs for hers. She came back complaining that she ran out of hot water half way through. I thought there may be a fault with that shower or something.

She went back into her room and watched movies on the lap top. I put Ozzie into his room and put up the gate, worried about what would happen during the night but powerless to do anything about it.

I crawled into bed and the cat came too. He was lovely! Ozzie and Him played the whole time so nicely! They really had a good time.
This is where he spent most of the time

But with the wind and rain and rattling of doors and stuff I just couldn't sleep. It was a very long night...

At six I went back downstairs and checked on Ozzie. The little trooper had not done a single thing and went out for his wee when I let him out. Then I took his blanket upstairs and he spent the day there.

About mid morning Him and I both figured at the same time there must be a main switch downstairs for the air conditioner, and we finally had heat. Somewhat buoyed we put the dog in his bathroom and headed off into town again for a pie. Back home and the dog again went out for a pee. I went back downstairs and tackled cleaning the vomit off the picnic rug. Sigh...

About mid afternoon the sun made an appearance, and so did the holiday makers. Jr Her and I took Ozzie down to the beach for a walk and the population quadrupled while we were there! We discovered he loves the beach but won't go hear the water (thank heaven for small miracles!). He loved it. Back home Jr Her washed him off in the shower, but used her towel to dry him. Black dog hair everywhere... I got my phone and took more photos while she was doing this.
View from the top of the hill about 300m from the beachhouse



Sunset from the verandah

Then the rain came back...

We were all a bit ready to come home by this time. Our relaxing weekend away was just one thing after another. We were tired from lack of sleep and things just kept going wrong. Like the hot water running out again. I had my shower early afternoon ready for dinner, then Jr Her went down for hers. She came up shivering. The water had run out after only a few minutes and the poor bugger had to wash her hair! I also discovered that there was no hair dryer and we all know what happens to frizzy hair when there is water and no dryer... tragedy! I looked hideous!

Anyway, Him couldn't have a shower but we went to the Normanville Hotel for dinner. Very good food and we settled back home after, reading, watching tv or watching movies on the computer.

Then I made a comment to him that he keeps cleaning up after us but didn't pick up his own stuff and he got offended and went to bed. I knew I had to keep letting the dog out so I stayed up until almost ten. Then put the dog to bed and crawled into bed myself.

Both Him and I were awake at 3. It was actually hot in the place now with the heater on, and still so bloody windy and rainy and noisy with crashing surf etc. We stayed awake until after half past four. Him finally got to have a late shower though, so he was happy

I was awake again at six so I went down and let the dog out for a week. He went properly and I put him back into bed so I could get some more sleep.

I haven't mentioned Roger much. Thing is, he made himself completely at home. As I said, he and Ozzie played so well together. The dog must have thought it was heaven being allowed anywhere in the house (wooden floors) instead of one room like he is here. The cat jumped over all the chairs and goaded the dog something shocking, but it was lovely to see them. I think they had the best weekend of all.

Anyway, Sunday morning came and I had plenty to do. I had done a load of laundry the night before. Oh yes, there's another story. I couldn't get anything to work and found everything had been turned off at the switch. They were hidden too. Even the water tap for the washing machine was turned off. I did a load and put it in the dryer on warm. This morning it wasn't dry to I put it in again. The second load I put through hadn't spun, I had used the incorrect cycle. So I spun that out and when the first load was dry, it got dried too. Then I washed the dog's blanket and put that in the dryer.

I packed up and took the sheets off the beds, folded them and put them into the suitcases too, packed up the food, tried to use the dishwasher but it must have been turned off too because I couldn't get it to work either so I hand washed everything. Dried them up and put them away too.

Then Him swept the kitchen and a portion of the lounge, and I vacuumed the house. Hopefully we left it clean enough anyway. Him drove into town and picked us up brunch from the bakery. We left at 1pm. I wasn't sure how the animals would go on the return trip as Jr Her had been sitting for sometime holding the cat hostage in the car or else he would have escaped. He didn't like that much and was quite unhappy. The dog was left outside too and he didn't like that either.

We needn't have worried. The cat and dog cuddled up together against Jr Her and didn't bat an eyelid all the way home.

We unpacked and moved a few things around at home, as Him bought himself a computer desk and we needed a place to put it. That sorted, we left JR Her home while we dashed across Adelaide to pick it up. The owners were a lovely couple who belong to a caravan club and encouraged us to join up. We just might.

Anyway, here I sit now, half blind from reading this tiny print and freezing my buns off. I think I'll upload my photos, work the cricks out of my neck, and try to get some sleep before work tomorrow. Sigh. So much for our relaxing weekend away. Maybe next time...

Dunno what to call it

So I still haven't got anything exciting to blog about. All I seem to see happening around me is an endless stream of work, housework, sleep, work, housework, sleep.

I am sick to death of being tired and grumpy. Our weekends are a nightmare because I resent having to do all the housework, and I can't control this horrible deep funk I fall into at the drop of a hat lately. I know there is something wrong but I can't control it.

I have been taking Evening Primrose, Fish Oil and Vitamin B complex but nothing seems to work. I am just sick of being me. I am normally a positive person, although somewhat humourless my family would say... but lately everything sets me off. And this weekend Him didn't take his happy pills and I could see the difference too. He was moody and avoided me all weekend, and I as a result was moody and avoided him.

I think I might take a trip to the chemist and see if I can find something natural to help. I have been given the name of a herbalist to try but he is too expensive to see yet.

We are going away this weekend and while I am looking forward to the break away, I am not looking forward to everything that goes with it. I have no energy for setting up house somewhere else, nor do I particularly want to be with a whining teen who will be unhappy to be away from the computer, and a husband who won't have ebay to surf. I would be happy to curl up in a corner with my book but I don't think I will be allowed to.

It will be interesting in that we are taking the pets. It will be their first adventure away from the house, and I am not sure what they will make of it. Guess we'll see won't we?

Anyway, I'll keep you posted...