Kids...

Woke up at 4am Sunday morning with the worst tummy upset ever, flitted between my bed and the bathroom for hours, was upset to be ill as we had a big picnic day planned with all the family to my favourite dog walking place and the weather was 12 degrees and sunny in January! I actually laid in bed and cried with disappointment and stomach cramps, kids were not a lot of help, didn't occur to them to be extra helpful, just to worry about what they were doing, neither thought to bring me a glass of water or ask if i wanted a snack for lunch or even how I was feeling, they bickered and told tales and generally left the house in a state of chaos until I lost it with them and told them how selfish they were being. They were wonderful from then on but I cant understand why it has to be spelt out for them in ten foot high bold print to get them to be normal and nice, default setting is whiny brat until I lose my mind and temper with them. Shall I record myself fishwife-ing what I expect from them and use it as an alarm call every morning? because they sure don't remember on a daily basis!

My hormones must be going crazy because I'm really broody at the moment! I have no idea why but I keep looking at pictures of pregnant women in magazines and feeling a deep longing to be expecting a tiny bundle of joy! I blame the mums at dumplings school who have had babies and are making it look easy, trendy, well off mums who have slipped back into their jeans and drop their older kids off in the mornings looking fully made up and their babies in cute little outfits, when I had dumpling, my neighbour took Lolly to school each morning for the first few months! Maybe its because none of my eggs in the incubator are showing any signs of hatching, so disappointed, little fluffy things may have fulfilled my maternal instinct for a few days! Not that theres any danger of me getting pregnant, missing one vital ingredient for that and its been so long without it that the whole idea seems kind of icky now, wonder if you can order sperm off ebay yet?

Weather is cold but sunny and my mood as lifted considerably! SAD syndrome is a big thing for me, wish I could afford one of those light machines!

******************************

Vacuumed up one of Nemos chewy rope toys and snapped the band on my cleaner, wasn't cheap to replace it and took me half an hour to figure out how to get into the base but have successfully repaired it and am vacuuming again, also replaced the bulb in the fridge, so nice to have the little light to click on each time I open the door! Its also nice that I can do these things myself and don't have to ask a man, my dad bless him always asks who fixed things and is surprised when I say I did!

****************************

Just chased the fox out of the garden again, luckily my reinforcements are working and although he may worry the chooks a little, he hasn't managed to get any of them. Stevie and Frankie are growing well and are still inside in the warm but no longer under the heat lamp, in a few weeks will move them to the carport, which is outside temp but no wind and then a few weeks later to the garden. Not sure how the battery hens will react to them, will keep them in runs side by side for a few weeks, so they get used to each other and let maybe free range together while I'm out there to guard them. Do you know with all the chicken work, walking the dog and the weather I haven't worn any other footwear than my wellies for months now?

Not exactly the same as mine but I have two pairs of pink flowery wellies and covet more!

Losing my mind

Dumpling found an open padlock with no key so I told in no uncertain terms to put it back on the shelf and not lock it to anything...you just know a six year old couldnt resist locking it to something? Yes, my toolbox, padlocked shut. Luckily it was a (very) cheap padlock and opened with a similar key, he's still in big trouble for doing it though!

*********************************

nearly blew my top this morning trying to use the cashpoint (ATM to my USA or Cananada readers) It allows you to top up an pay-as-u-go phone with the money in that account. You type the mobile number in, trouble is I dont know the number off by heart so I'm going slowly, if you make a mistake you have to start again and to make it completely mind numbingly stupid, if you take more than a few seconds to type in the number it wipes the screen and asks you if you would like more time to complete your transaction, so you click yes and start typing the number in again only for a few seconds later it asks you again, yes, I want enough time as it takes to type in this bloody number with the machine deleting it, arrrrggghhhhh!

Fighting the January blues, if we could just have some sunshine rather than endless rain, I might feel a little better. Letting Nemo in the garden for toilet time just means the floor will need to be cleaned again...Its so soul destroying to repeat every thing of housework several times a day. If some one asked me whether they thought it was a good idea to get a dog, I wouldnt talk to them about vets bills or finding kennels when you go away, it would be 'do you want to wash your floor several times a day for ever?' He also has a habit of barking at the bark door as soon as dusk fall, scaring away the imaginary monsters that must roam our garden at night. Its like water torture, you await the next bark, every 8-10 seconds, i know this because he did it for 5 hours the other night. The only way I can stop him is to attach his lead to his collar and then he just sits or lays by me, I guess I'm in control and he doesnt feel the need to protect me?

**********************************

I thought my fridge freezer has packed in this morning, the light in the fridge has stopped working and the whole thing was silent, but then the whirring started again and the miolk got colder? I dont know but I really hope I dont have to pay out for a new one, we really cant afford it.

I'm sure I saw this first on Gypsy's blog but I couldnt find it again, so I googled it and found it on another blog! Its how to make an album cover...

1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random - The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
2. Click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 - The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
3. Visit http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/ - The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4.Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result.

and mine is....

Aaaarrggghhhhh!

I'm at screaming point with Lolly, the teenage laziness has gone beyond a point at which I can cope. I have to lose my temper to get her out of bed on a weekend or holiday morning, then I have to scream and yell to get her moving fast enough to shower and get dressed as she takes so long to do her hair and make up, we cant go out for the day because its gone lunchtime before she can be ready. If you ask her to take the rubbish out, she leaves it in the carport even theough the bins are only a few feet in front of that. 95% of her behaviour is fine its the 5% every day, over and over again that leaves me sat here crying with frustration, plates not in the dishwasher, laundry not taken to the laundry room. It doesnt sound like much but its become my entire existence to get her to feed her rabbits. The constant passive aggression is just a habit to her now, she doesnt even seem aware of how angry and upset I am. If I hear 'I forgot' 'I'm sorry' or 'In a minute' one more time. The other day I was telling her off for leaving crisp packets in shoes and boots in the hallway, (yeh, I dont know why she does it either) I told her so go and sort it out and she didnt even know what I was talking about, she wasnt listening the whole time. She is unaware of where we keep things in this house that have been kept in the same spot for over three years, the mop bucket has lived in the same corner of the kitchen since the day we moved in and when I told her to empty it and put it back she didnt know where. Nothing she is doing is that bad, its just the frustration of living ground hog day.

I'm so tired this afternoon, looking after dumpling in the night has caught up with me and I need to snooze, babysitting for an hour this afternoon, as soon as he goes home, its cushions and blankie on the sofa time!

************************************

Been enjoying sites and blogs about frugal living recently, I'm not a complete convert by any means and don't expect anyone to change their ways unless they want too but was thinking about ways I save money and help the environment and wondered if anyone had any more good ideas?

1) I don't drive a car, I walk or take the bus
2) I have a tumble drier but only use to it fluff clothes after they have hung on the plastic airer for 24 hours
3) I keep chickens for eggs and buy free range if they are not laying
4) I recycle plastic in the blue bins we have, collected twice a month
5) I belong to freecycle
6) I compost
7) I dilute washing up liquid and bath cleaner to make it weaker, (stings my eyes and the smell is too strong) and to go further
8) I don't print photos unless necessary, I email, or burn a lot to CD

I thought of loads more as I was falling asleep last night, will blog them as I remember!

Friday

It's a rainy, rainy day. Dumpling and I are home with a mild tummy bug, lots of cramping and rushing to the loo but not so ill that we cant enjoy a day in our pyjamas watching cartoons (and casino royale, bought it on dvd in the sale, daniel craig, swooooon!)

The chicks are growing well, turns out one might be a cross breed, has a complete mixture of features. The eggs in the incubator dont seem to be doing so well, after candling them (shining a bright light through) all the silkie eggs appear to be infertile. Really annoyed and the woman who sold them to me has given me a third of the money back, would rather have had more eggs but I cant introduce another batch to the incubator at this stage.

The exbattery hens are doing well, I might post a picture of the state they arrived in, might make a few people decide to go free range, skinny little barely feathered things, horrible, but they will put on weight and grow new feathers and live out their days in my garden. Still laying eggs, I keep putting them in my pocket when I go out to attend to them and forgeting about them, havnt broken one yet! I've covered their run in a plastic cover that was supposed to be for my garden furniture, with a few inches open at the bottom for air to circulate. The garden is a mud bath with all this rain, not sure they are convinced that this is a better life, at least they were warm before!

***********************************

My front door key broke off in the lock last night, luckily I was able to pull the broken piece out and Lolly was inside to let me in! I've had to take her keys now so have to be home at 4pm to let her in, must get a new one cut!

ok, quick post, no time for anything at the moment!

We are taking in 4 ex-battery hens on monday, god knows what state they will be in but they will live a better life with us! Have spent the day preparing for their arrival, reinforcing the run, adding padlocks to the coop, scrubbing out the animal carriers for when we go and collect them etc, very tired but very pleased its all done. We still have the 2 chicks, growing every day and so cute! Theres 11 eggs in the incubator, don't know how many will hatch, the boys will be given away and if we get too many I know plenty of people who will take them, belong to many animal online groups and forums now! Small world, went to a friends house last night and realised that their friend was someone I had talked to online about hatching chickens!

Nemo has had an awful upset stomach, having been cleaning up and scrubbing my hands for days now, seems to be on the mend, if he didn't eat everything he sees including leaves, newspaper and anything gross he wouldn't keep getting this!

****************************

Lolly is having a great social life at the moment and looks so mature, at 13 she could pass for 18 or 19 at times, in a nice, good mature way, not a tarty way. She went to the cinema at lunchtime yesterday with a boy who is a friend, not a boyfriend, she's made that clear! And then bowling and a meal with school friends in the evening and a close friends birthday party tonight, wish I got to go out as much!

****************************

Both kids are back to school in a couple of days,I love having them around, its been a great holiday but am looking forward to a few hours by myself! I like pottering around the garden talking to the dog and chickens and can go shopping and browse without two children filling my basket or trolley with all the trinkets they want!

****************************

I turned 33 on Thursday, feels weird, thats a grown up age and I'm mentally about 16! Bought myself an MP4 player, love it, so cute and plays video, 2GB, can put all my music and videos and photos! Gadget heaven!

New Years Day....

Note that he still has his dressing gown on, I was woken by Dumpling in full chefs hat, apron, matching tea towel and spoon, I had promised we would make cookies, just didtn expect to be doing it so early...