Its so blooming hot....

Well I havent updated for a while and to tell you the truth the way the weather is at the moment I really dont want to..

Besides its way too hot to do absolutely anything but sit here and drink water and hope that you dont end up sweltering into a icky blob!!

Well I havent picked up my stitching for nearly two weeks now, and I am really starting to think that I should do it very soooooooooooon..just I have no va va voom to even look at it.. So I think that once I have come back from going into town and had a shower ... I am going to look at the DVD's I have, and put one on and do some stitching this afternoon.

Plan for this afternoon then:

Change Libary books

Sort out new glasses

Get car tax

Post Flipp's parcel

Buy threads for sending off today

Pop to Asda for more milk to freeze

Sort out cheque for Book Craft

Stitch on RR's

Now whether I actually get all this done all depends on how hot I start to get while out..so I could end up just getting car tax, threads and posting Flipps parcel..

Will do an update of what has been going on while I havent updated later..

STASH!!

Sorry I just had to shout it, lol. I am such a happy bunny! I went to my mate Barb's house today and came away with absolutely tons of specialist threads Caron threads, Olde Willow threads, Needlepaints for L&L and some SSS threads. Plus some hand-dyed fabrics and some more charts. Although this was after spending over £130 in the craft shop in Whitstable. My bank balance is really looking sorry for itself now..today I have managed to part with nearly £300., although I have got loads of very nice stash, and Barb's is richer for it too..:-)

Trouble is this now means I have to do some stitching, which is something I havent done for the past few days mainly because I havent any inclination to pick it up. So tomorrow I am going to pick up the stitching and make an effort..:-)

And talk of my stitching I have found on my camera my coaster stitching that I did for WOCS, so here it is: I stitched it for Trish D, and I cant remember what the chart is..doh silly me. Anyway I stitched it in purples, I think I used specialist threads and beads, but for the life of me I cant remember. I think I will shoot myself now..my memory is on holiday..lol.

Weekend..

Well the weekend was really different..lol.

The carpet was delivered nice and early, so early that we were still moving the furniture around and out the house..! But thankfully we didnt have to move the three piece suite out, the men just put it up one end of the room while they layed the carpet, then moved it to the other end while laying the other bit of the carpet. Wow is all I can say, they only took half an hour to lay a 25ft carpet..I was impressed. Ok just cos I am sad, here's a pic of my new carpet. Yep I know its sad..but hey its my carpet..lol

After the carpet was done we decided to drive over to Sheerness for the afternoon, and guess who had to drive..yep muggins here. Thats the last time I suggest we take my car, I think that means "I'll drive as we are taking my car" aaahhh!! So I decided to drive as I normally would going over to the island..fast!! Poor D he got a white knuckle ride..hehehe. Didn't really get a lot over there..we did go and investigate the Swale FM road show. Heheehe that was funny, it was a white transit van in the middle of Sheerness high street - sad!! Wonder if there whole studio was in that van..I do feel sorry for the people of Sheerness if the only radio station we have dedicated to Swale comes out of a transit van..:-) Oh wait I live in Swale too..oops!! Now I know why I listen to Radio 2 and Invicta :-)

Anyway after taking all of 10 minutes to walk around Sheerness, we popped into Tesco's for lunch. Ok someone remind me never to have lunch or come to think of it, anything to eat in Tescos. Basically its "crap"!!!

We made a hasty exit after downing a horrible cup of tea and a very shrivelled up jacket potato, to Wheelans. Which is the main concrete stone ornament place for the whole of the UK. Now that is sad too, the stone ornaments come from Sheerness.. Anyway I brought a gorgeous stone cat, that is curled up asleep, and it really looks like Barney asleep..so I had to have it, and it is now placed on her grave at the bottom of the garden.

Sundy we did absolutely nothing, well nothing of any significance anyway. D put the curtain pole up for the new curtains up the near end of the living room, and I put the curtains up. The ones on the patio doors are still in the packet, they will go up this week though. And boy what a difference a new coloured carpet and cream curtains have made to the living room. It has opened up the room totally, so now the 25ft looks more like 30ft..and very warm!!

R.I.P.

Sadly Barney died Thursday 18th August 2005 at 12.15pm. It was peaceful and painless. She is now at peace, and probably running around causing havoc with her brother Patch, sisters Fred and Pebbles and my grandparents in the "summerlands".

She has been laid to rest in her favourite snoozing place, my herb garden..bless her.

I have taken it harder than I thought I would, I know she is only a cat, but she was more than a cat to me - I had had her since she was 12wks old and she was 18y when she died. She was with me when I lived on my own till I moved in with OH..and we had a special bond. She was always in tune with me and knew what I was thinking...it was weird!

Oh and the squirrel that had been here since Saturday has no longer come back. We are now convinced it was coming here to take Barney to the "Summerlands".

R.I.P. Barney, always loved and never forgotten.

Bad night - Barney

Bad night with her, or it wasnt for her but it was for me.. I had a restless night, kept checking on her. Then when I finally fell asleep I dreamt that she had said goodbye and was gone. It was awful when I woke up, sent DH downstairs to see if she was okay, and he couldnt find her so we were frantically searching the living room. Found her behind the video case, totally unpreterbed and obviously asleep. So I took her upstairs to the bedroom, put her on the bed where she promptly fell off the bed on a wander around it..no damage though. Cuddled her and then placed her between a couple of cushions where she is now snoozing away. She hasn't curled up or anything she is just lying stretched out, and every now and again she curls one of her paws up.

I think she ate something last night, as there was a small bit of sick by the stairs where obviously she was trying to get up the stairs and probably got herself into a panic and made herself sick. She has also eaten a bit of ham that I plonked down in front of her nose this morning. Not that she would let me see her eat, she hated anyone watching her eat..strange cat!!!

I dont think it is going to be long now, although she could surprise us all and adapt well..but the eyesight has definately gone and she is even more wobbly on her legs than yesterday but that could be the blindness. She did a kind of a purr earlie while I was cuddling her so she is trying.

DH and I have agreed that I will still go out today as planned, because we know Barney and if she is going to die, then she would want to go with dignity without fussing about us. And I know she would hate me to be at home checking her every ten minutes and carrying her upstairs with me everytime I went upstairs so I could keep an eye on her.

Strange thing is we have both said that the squirrel that has been in our garden every day since the weekend is something to do with Barney. Whether it has come to take her to the summerlands or is her sister Fred, who died years ago, come to be with her. I dont know..but what I do know is that squirrel was there again this morning when we opened the curtains.

Sad news about Barney

My 18yr old cat Barney has been wobbling around a bit on her back legs, over the past few days so I took her to the vets this afternoon and it looks like she has had a mini stroke which has caused some paralasis - but its only one of her back legs. She seems to be coping really well though and isnt in any pain or crying. She just gets a bit frustrated because she keeps having to sit down then gets up and starts again..bless her. She also seems to be partially blind as well as partially deaf too. Poor little thing..but she is using her whiskars to get around, and as long as we dont change anything then in the house or garden then she should be okay..

But bless her she is doing really well - she is still eating, and is still going outside to do her business so that is a big bonus. And she will adjust to walking with a bad leg..but as DH said "she is 18,," but she's my baby girl, I've had her since she was a 12 week kitten and I cant believe she is that old. She also seems very disorientated for a bit, then perks up, still as long as she is eating and stuff then that is the main thing I suppose. I just hope this isnt the quick way downhill for her..I would be devastated if anything happened to her. I know its coming but well ....

Update

Haven't written for a couple of days, mainly because I havent really felt like it - whats new there..lol.

Anyway Thursday I went to therapy, ugh!! Not a good one as it left me even more churned up than normal. It didnt help that it had taken me 5 times driving around the blooming hospital carpark trying to find a parking space so I was already hyper over that..then to have a shitty therapy session. Well I was not good that day..I went out afterwards and immediately spent a shit load of money..oops!! Still never mind its only money, well maybe not only money but it felt good when I was spending it..lol.

Cant even tell you what happened on Friday, it kind of disappeared on me - it must have been that exciting NOT! Oh I do know that we had takeaway for tea and sat and watched The School of Rock on sky, which was really good. Both D and myself enjoyed it totally.

Saturday was a good day.. I came into a load of money and I was a happy bunny as it meant that I could pay off my credit card, pay my debts to D and still be comfortable. Typical of me I dragged D out shopping in Gravesend. It was really weird though as I hardly brought anything at all. Although I did get this gorgeous mohair wrap top in Asda that was absolutely to die for. I also had a bit of a spend up in the cardmaking shop and got some christmas stamps and bits and bobs. I even brought lunch, which is unheard of as I have never got any money..lol. I think D was quite surprised..although I didnt go and actually pay for it at the counter I sent D to do that, so sorry Wendy I couldnt do it quite so soon..Maybe one day :-)

Today - hmmm another uneventful day. I stitched on some more of my RR's, pottered about the house and went browsing online at stitchy shops. I was good as I didnt buy anything today, although I had brought things the last couple of days online...oops!!

We had a surprise in the garden though over the weekend.. Well as we already have a family of hedgehogs in the compost heap, a toad living in the pond, a resident blackbird that we have nicknamed Spike, and various birds in our garden, I can now add to the menagerie ........... a squirrel. Yep thats right a squirrel.!! We watched him from the patio doors jump off the elder tree at the back of the garden, onto our fence and jump into the hanging basket then jump onto the dustbin and then onto the bird feeder. At this point the cheeky monkey took the feeder off the hook and proceeded to take it into the middle of the garden. Meanwhile while all this was happening the dog was sitting under the washing line in the garden just watching the squirrel running around the garden..stupid dog didnt even move a muscle! I am beginning to wonder if Bear is actually a dog or a mouse..lol. Even the cats weren't bothered by the squirrel as they were sitting in the herb garden down the bottom of the garden watching the squirrel too. I am beginning to think that this squirrel has been to our garden before as he certainly knew where and what he was doing. D had to chase the squirrel around the garden to get the feeder off him, luckily he dropped it while running so D could put it back more securely. He came in and we both watched the squirrel from the patio doors again. Said squirrel proceeded to run along the top of the fence, hop into the tree at the back and scuttle up the branches, but not without a back glance at us as if to say "I'm coming back I like it here"...lol.

Anything else fancy coming to live in our garden..

"LOST"

Wooohooo "LOST" starts for the first time on UK t.v. tonight..I cannot wait. After listening to some american friends talking about this programme I am now happy that I can actually be part of the "gang"..lol.

I have already told D that we are taping Silent Witness and I am going to be glued to the t.v. from 8.30pm till 11.30pm tonight, so he won't get anything out of me..lol. I shall probably stitch on my Calender RR while watching this, so hopefully will finish this RR at this time.

Roll on 8.30 :-)

Good news - Barney

She is fine..after her marathon sleepathon yesterday she actually moved from the bed about 5pm yesterday and started walking around. I thought that cos she wasn't herself that she would want a litter tray, so put one down over night..bearing in mind this is the first time we have had a tray down in ages. Well the darling cat didnt even use it, or the younger one who is the horror when it comes to a tray..she goes out and then comes in to use one normally. But I think cos there hasnt been one down for ages she has got used to going outside now :-) So Barney even went outside this morning to dig up the garden. :-) D said that overnight she must have been hungry as the food bowls were almost empty and we know that it wasnt little one as she doesnt move when she goes to sleep..lol. D said that during the space of half an hour this morning Barney moved from the sofa, to the dog bed then upstairs to our bed, which is where I found her when I woke up. She has since had more cat food, and has been running around outside chasing a butterfly :-) Now she is asleep with Bear on the bed, they look so cute together - little and large, oldest and youngest :-)

So I think I can stop fretting about Barney for the meantime, she has got over what her problem was yesterday, maybe she had a 24hr bug.

Pets and life

Why is it our pets worry us, am now worried about Barney, my 18yr cat. She's now showing signs of her age, all she does is sleep and when she does wake up she is wobbly on her legs till she gets her balance. And poor little thing goes off in a trance for about 5 mins at a time.

At the moment she is fast asleep on my bed upstairs, and hasnt moved from where I left her at 10am. I am dreading going up there to see if she is still alive, just in case the worse has happened.. but I know it will happen one day, but I dont want it to happen now if you know what I mean. Barney is my baby, she's always been around.

This was taken about 6 months ago, and she shows no signs of being 18 :)

I can still remember clearly when she was a kitten, and we were moving house. D was driving along the motorway and Barney was sitting in a glass casserole dish, yep a casserole dish!! Anyway all of a sudden she got up and climbed up D and sat on the top of his head, and was quite happy there all the time he was driving. Not sure he was though..lol. She always had a dodgy hip when she was a baby, and we were forever having to pop it back in for her..but in her later years she hasnt shown any signs of this problem ever coming back. She's been a really healthy cat all her 18 years, only ever having cat flu once and that was about 3 years ago and she shook it off like it was just a cold..bless her. She did frighten me when she was about 8yr though, I found her hanging upside down from our cherry tree in the old house, her leg was caught in the branches and she was just hanging there. Managed to get her down and all she did was sit under a chair for a couple or hours then she was as right as rain, didnt even need to go to the vets.. typical of Barney..lol.

Well its all been happening here...

Can someone tell me if stressfull days are supposed to test us, or are we supposed to be like the good women that we are and take it as normal??? Well this bunny has had enough..lol. Lets see, where do I start??

Ok last Thursday I didnt blog about my therapy because quite frankly I was knackered, and believe it or not it had nothing to do with therapy..but I will start with therapy and then work from there..so bear with me!!

Well therapy was good, yep I actually said good..lol. After just about scraping through to my appointment with seconds to spare before 11am, and Wendy saying to me "oh you're 1 min early" when I do arrive, I was feeling relatively okay. We started off chatting about how I was feeling, then we got onto the toughy things..life!! Ack now why did she want to do that I ask you, that was something I didnt want to even acknowledge..lol. Anyway we talked about what had happened with my FIL, D, D's cousin - and then we ended up getting into a conversation about my childhood. Now how we got onto that I have no idea, boy that woman can turn a topic around quicker than I can say "BOO". Anyway nasty stuff was brought up and I was a jelly, yep a quivering jelly. And I thought I was being really good too, as I hadnt cried at all before then. And to top it all we had a bloody fire bell go off, so had to troop outside, and what did W do, yep she carried on the chat outside..aaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Gods knows what I must have looked like, all blotchy and red eyed sitting on a wall ripping up tissues..oh well thats therapy for you!! Anyway back inside after about 10 mins, reakon someone burnt their toast..lol. We then get onto the subject of my relationship with D, oooh not good, not good at all..wont go into it! Maybe another day. Anyway thankfully after an hour the session ended..but my homework was I had to physically go up and pay for lunch at the weekend, instead of letting D do it so that I dont have to face anyone..ugh!! Also I have to get a book out on yoga and meditation, ooh goody!! So onto home..

When I got home, I had just sat down with a cup of tea when the doorbell went, my friend A from down the road. Eeeeks I could tell she was not in a good way, so good old Natty put on her "tell Auntie Natty" shoulders..and let her in. Poor girl we had a hard time in the afternoon..she was going through hell with her marriage, found out that her 17yr old daughter, who had run away last October was expecting a baby this September and poor A just couldnt cope. So we got through the afternoon with me consoling her, listening and then being constructive. We managed to work out her finances so that if her husband did leave her then she could still keep the house on. Well after that we were just settling down to some more tea and biccies, when all of a sudden the flood gates opened, and poor A then ended up hysterical and a quivering wreck. Oooh er I had seen this before, yep it was me earlier in the day..oh dear. So I took control, and decided that she needed to go to the drs pretty quickly. After talking to A I came to the conclusion, what I had really known for a while anyway, that she was depressed. So I got the dr to phone me, and with A's permission I talked to her dr about how she was and what could she suggest I do. Well short of them wanting to take A into hospital for 72 hours observation, she wasnt sure. Well A then flipped a fruitloop and was in no way going to hospital. So we had to think of something else..so I agreed to take her to the drs for a chat etc. Well this was arranged , so I rang A's hubby at work. Now cos I cant get hold of her hubby due to him being a coach driver I had to get through to his works and get them to radio a message to ring me at home. Gods I wish I hadnt, that man was so abusive on the phone to me it was unbelievable, poor A..she was mortified. So I put the phone down and told her not to worry about it. I then rang her daughter to tell her what was going on, as she was the one that had told A to come to me as I would know what to do. Well it turns out that A's husband didnt want A to have anything to do with anyone, not just me, as he didnt want her to tell anyone how her life at home was so miserable, and he wanted to isolate her. Well that didnt work did it mister!!! Now I understand why A has been like she has been over the last 4 years. Poor girl!

Anyway at the right time we went off to the drs and I had to leave a note for D, as he was due home saying gone to the drs with A, get a chinese..poor lamb didnt know what was happening. So the dr says that yes she is depressed, and has put her on antidepressants and we have to go back on Thursday to see how she is.

So that was my thursday of therapy..but wait it doesnt finish there..oh no it carries on..the week still hadnt finished..lol

Friday I had the insurance guy come around regarding our living room carpet. Yep finally got round to making a claim for something that had happened to the carpet when we had Patchy all those years ago. And guess what!! I picked out a new carpet..yep they have agreed to replace the blue carpet in the lounge with a nice new carpet..woohoo. So I chose a lovely dark peach colour, and I have even got D to agree to buy new curtains for the living room when the carpet arrives, blimey a miracle.

Then Saturday we had to drive to the Chevrolet garage in the morning to pick D's new car up..a new Kalos. And he is a happy bunny with it, he loves it to bits.




And I got my car too, his 3 year old daewoo Lanos - which made me happy.



So no old bangers for me anymore, and no more not being able to drive in the rain for fear of the car breaking down..wohoo!!

Anyway after picking up the car, and swapping over cars..gods that sounds weird. We decided to drive into Bromley. Oooh that was scary, technically driving on london roads, still I managed it fine. I drove past the hospital where I was born just outside Bromley, past the signs to Hayes and Bexley, which I lived when I was little. That felt weird, dont know why just felt weird. Anyway caught D up in Bromley, then we spent a good ten minutes driving round The Glades Shopping Centre car park..oh joy. Finally we went down to the basement and lo and behold they actually had loads of spaces..doh!! Oh well it gave D practice with the new car. Me I just slid down a couple of the hill starts in the carpark..lol. Well not really I just kinda felt it was moving as it was a different car and I wasnt really used to it. Had a lovely lunch, walked around a bit, dodged the rain and I bought a beautiful bouquet of wild flowers from the market. Then home we came.

Sunday was a day of recovering..lol. We did nothing much. Until today - Tuesday.

I woke up with an awful Migraine so spent most of the day in bed. Then got up in the afternoon and felt relatively okay. Browsed the boards, sorted dinner out, then D came home and it was then we noticed. The pipe upstairs in the hallway had sprung a leak..grrr Water was coming through the ceiling on the the carpet, thankfully it was still the old carpet..otherwise I wouldnt have been too impressed. Well after ringing the insurance company and nearly telling the woman she was incompetent as she couldnt find the emergency cover details we had. Err excuse me what part of HSBC and staff do you not understand.. Anyway D took over as I was getting more and more wired..finally sorted it out. After what seemed an age, with listening to drip drip of water in a bowl the plumber came out. Took one look at the pipe, and said that it had been leaking slowly for ages..oh shit!! Still he fixed it with a new pipe, put the floor boards back and we only had to pay £12.00 cos it was wear and tear. The insurance company pay the call out..phew!!!

So there you go, that has been my eventful few days.. I need the rest of this week to recover..lol. Tomorrow I am going to drag A around Hemptstead Shopping Centre for lunch, to get her out.

And now for bed..

Playing around

Was browsing Jo's blog and came across a counter from Neocounter that counts your visitors and displays them using flags of the world, and also says who's online. I thought this was a brilliant ideas especially as my online counter wasnt working due to them disabling the darn thing. So after fiddling around with it and sorting out what I wanted it to show, voila!! I now have a display of who's visited showing by flags and country.. :-)

Yep I know little things please little minds..hehehee.