Rantings

Well yesterday was ok. I took Sonny to the vet because he'd been bum-surfing so I though he'd need his anal glands checked out, plus he has fleas. I'd sprayed the house ready so I wanted him checked over as I wanted to start him on Program. That's what I'd always used before on my own dog and before that was around I used good old flea spray. Well, they didn't have any Program, so I came away with Frontline, instead. So long as it does the job I don't really care what I use.

Then in the afternoon I had my psychotherapy session which was ok. I felt a bit weepy and wobbly when I came home, so when Ian asked me if I wanted to go anywhere for dinner I ended up opting for an Indian takeaway and sat in front of the telly with his bathrobe on. I like his bath robe ... it's big and warm and comfy.

My new wireless router is fab! It's wonderful being able to take my laptop anywhere in the house and still have an internet connection. At the moment the printer is on the living room floor and has been since I got it! It's a bloody great laser printer that I use for printing my soap labels and also my postage 'stamps' as I use smartstamp to send out all my online orders. Smartstamp requires you be online when you print your stamps as it debits your smartstamp account at the time you print them, which means the printer has always had to be somewhere near the DSL modem. Now I can move it upstairs out of the way and get rid of all this spaghetti on the floor that I'm always tripping over! Yay! It's a bloomin' heavy printer, though, so I might have to ask Ian to carry it upstairs for me as my foot is not pain free yet.

I got some nice Clarins stuff from Ian's mam and dad for my birthday, so I had a little facial pamper last night, which made me feel a bit better, and Geoff brought me a box of Thorntons truffles, so we had one each after out Indian. He also brought me a large ornament that looks like one of those stone heads on Easter Island. I think it's meant to be an outdoor ornament for the garden (at least it has a 'frost resistant' sticker on the inside), but I like it and have it on top of the TV.

And guess what my Mam and Dad and sister got me? A Bodhran! LOL I have always been a little bit musical and can sing and knock a tune out of most instruments, but I have never played any sort of percussion instrument before. I don't even have a decent sense of rythm. I have one other instrument that has got me completely stumped and that's a didgeridoo. Man, are they difficult to play! I'm hoping there'll be lessons run near here some time, but in the meantime I will persevere and try to learn to play the bodhran. If I can find an appropriately shaped tuit (ie a round one) I will post a picture of it.

Right now I'm off to get a cup of coffee and some toast. I have another appointment with the orthotist this morning to have my night splint fitted, so I'd better get moving.

Ian's been preparing the garden to put the greenhouse up this morning. I started washing the glass panes. Bit of aboring job really, but it was nice to be outside while it lasted ... the heavens opened a short while ago. Then Geoff came over and brought me a card and pressie for my birthday, so that was nice. I won't open the pressie until tomorrow, though, even though I'm dying to know what it is.

Right, I'm off to make a sarnie for lunch, then back to work in the garden.

Oh, by the way, my foot is starting to feel better already! No excrucitiating pain this morning when I got out of bed. Yeah!

This is just a test. It's my birthday on Monday, and guess where Ian took me get my birthday present? Go on, guess! Ok, shall I tell you?

Aldi. Really. LOL. Actually, I was in there the other day and noticed they had some nice looking wireless routers for £69, so I told him about them and he got me one. So I guess I got my pressie a couple of days early as I'm posting this through it.

So, please, treat this as a test and be on your way. And I'll leave you to guess where my next entry will be posted from ... the bath, the toilet, the sunlounger in the garden ...

Yay! Nice to see the 'stuffy' old British Museum has a sense of humour! Go Banksy, go! Click on the picture to go straight to the news article.

I have a sore foot. I mean I have a really sore foot. I've had a sore
foot for a few years, but as it's come on very gradually, I can't say
exactly how long, or indeed why I didn't think to visit a doctor before
I did. I suppose with something that grumbles away in the background
you just sort of learn to live with it.

Unfortunately, 10 mile hikes were gradually reduced to 2 mile hikes, so
I eventually went to see my doctor. 'Plantar Fasciitis' he called it,
and gave me some exercises to do with instructions that if it got
worse, or didn't get any better anyway, to go back and he would give me
an injection directly into my foot 'but it will hurt'. Lovely.

Well, I'm a whimp when it comes to pain, so I opted to persevere with
exercises, determined to get it better and back up to walking 10 miles
again. However, I found that the exercises made my foot more painful
so I stopped doing them, BUT I still chickened out of going to have
that injection.

Months down the line and 2 mile walks were reduced to a walk down the
back lane with the dog, which were quickly reduced to limping to the
end of the garden and back. I was desperate. I was at my wit's end.
I thought it was only a matter of time before I couldn't walk at all, so
Ian did a bit of research online and decided that the best thing for me
would be to see a podiatrist/chiropodist/orthotist.

Well, I went to see someone one Tuesday, and a £50 deposit later (the
balance to be paid next Tuesday) I have a splint on order which is to
be fitted next Tuesday too. I have to wear it at night in bed to keep
my toes pointing upward. He also said I really ought to just grit my
teeth and have that injection, so I took my friend along (I really am a
whimp) and got my doctor to inject it.

Ow!! What else can I say, but Ow! It bloody hurt!! He's lucky I
didn't kick him while he was doing it! He poked and prodded with his
fingers till he found the most painful spot (as if that didn't hurt
enough) and then stuck a bloody great needle right into it! Jeez, I
nearly hit the roof! Then he told me 'It'll throb for a few days, so
I'll give you some strong painkillers'. 'Bloody hell', I thought, 'I
thought this was supposed to make it better!' 'Plus, he said, you'll
not feel the benefit of the injection for 1 to 2 weeks.' 'Great!' I
thought. 'That's me laid up for me birthday.'

So, I'm typing this with a very sore foot. My heel is hot, swollen and
throbbing, so I'm off to take one of me strong painkillers. Poor Sonny
can't even have his morning walk, so he'll just have to play fetch in
the garden for a bit till he's tired out.

Anyone else got this condition? I like to hear about your experiences
with it.

I thought this website was hilarious and deserved an airing. Courtesy of Dave Barry ... again! Just click on the picture to go to the website.

Fantastic news!! Oi loikes beer!

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/archive/200307/22/20030722p2a00m0dm019000c.html

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15186061-13762,00.html

Yeeeeaaaarrgh! [Runs away]

So, today I spent a few hours in Ian's shop updating fabric prices. I hate that job. It takes ages, and it's so boring I can't do it for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time. Still, once it's done, it's done, and hopefully won't need doing again for another year. The trouble is, if I'm only doing 4 hours a day, I could be on for 3 or 4 weeks at this rate!

On a different note, we had a delivery of mealworms and kibbled sunflower hearts for the birds yesterday. When I put mealworms out I just stick my hand in the bag and grab a handful to put in the dish. They wriggling worms feel kind of tickly! Well, I just found out today Ian doesn't like touching them. LOL The big wuss! He made a seed feeder out of an old coke bottle today to put up at the back of the shop. He already has a bird table attached to the wall of the yard and gets blue tits and all sorts, so thought it might be a good idea to provide worms to feed their chicks, and sunflower hearts because according to the RSPB they're a favourite of blue tits.

And guess what else?! I have indigotin!! The pigment obtained from woad!! Yeah! It's my first pigment I've managed to extract from it, and from one whole mature plant I reckon I've maybe got about a level teaspoonful! LOL Still, it's worked, and there may be enough there to dye perhaps one ball of wool! My sister will be pleased, hopefully, as she's the knitaholic. My next batch of indigotin will be going into a small batch of soap.


Indigotin from Woad


For anyone wanting to have a go at this, you can buy the seeds to grow it here, and you can find instructions on extraction and dyeing here.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3273562a4560,00.html

I was tickled pink by this article and just had to share, for those of you who don't read his blog ...

Looks like we finally got our greenhouse. Not a dog this time, a real greenhouse. We had to dismantle it ourselves, but as it was free I can't really complain. we've got all the panes of glass out and brought them home, and dismantled part of the frame, but we got fed up with the hailstones that kept coming down hard, so we gave up and planned on returning to get the rest.

Sonny was a real sweety today. He really seems to like target training, and runs to touch the stick with his nose now so that he can get his treat as quick as possible. He's such a clever boy!

Well, I'm off to bed now. It's late, I'm tired, and I have stuff to do in the morning, so I'd better turn in. Night, folks.

I got this meme from the Complimenting Commenter, and in true meme fashion it's spreading like an epidemic. It's a compli-meme. Go out and spread the news.

Finish these sentences in a complimentary fashion. Copy, paste, finish and leave them in someone's comment box. Then post them on your own site and pass the word.

1. WOW! You're site is

2. That post was very

3. You're

YOU'VE BEEN COMPLI-MEME'D. GO OUT AND DO LIKEWISE.

An extra smile goes to those who participate.

We got a new dog the other week. We were looking for a greenhouse in the ad mags and happened to accidentally browse through the pets section (as you do) and saw an ad for a two and a half year old border collie dog needing a good home.

Naturally, how could we resist? We were going to call him Greenhouse, because that's what we were after, but settled for Sonny in the end. ;-)

He's very intelligent. He's even got internet access and went and set up his own blog! Honest!

http://www.adogsblog.blogspot.com/