Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday indeed!! In spite of feeling like death for the last few months, I had the best Birthday ever! My Lovely Dad gave me a bottle of The Macallan, lush! Will be kept for hot toddy's on cold winters nights. Not even opened it to have a sniff! My Mam gave me a funky wrap/shawl/poncho type thing. lol. Not sure what to call it, but I love it! Perfect for autumn days. My darling eldest son used his wage from working at market to buy me some beautiful flowers, and a huge box of Thorntons choccies! Thoughtful boy. He knows I love fresh flowers. Little D helped with eating the chocolates. :-) As did everyone else but He had the majority.


And from my wonderful Fiance, and the boys.... I got a KINDLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dream come true or what?! I'm in love! I've read 9 books since my Birthday which was on Saturday. Mega addiction! Darling Man also downloaded quite a few books he knows I've wanted for a while. As well as some classics he knew I'd like to re-read that he got for free on the kindle site. And a funky cover in my fav colour. Purple!
I have plans to make a padded cover for her too. I have some nice fabric, and as soon as i have the energy and peace and quiet that's my next project. Along with taking up 3 pairs of jeans, patching a pair, and whatever else is on the sewing list i can't find. :-)

One of my little sisters thought she saw a cat the double of my missing boy recently, on her way to work, further away than we'd anticipated, but still well within the realms of possibility. So she has taken flyer's to drop into the farms and houses around where she saw the cat It's on a back country road. So I am keeping my fingers crossed for a phone call any day now. Never give up hope!

Sal. X

Odd times and Ranty McRant.

So, over the last month or so, things have been odd here. Great times mixed in with sad news, crappy health, stress and frustration. Typical family life I guess. From the great times, I have been to two music festivals!! I went to a small local folk festival, stayed with my sister, didn't hear much music to be honest, different organisers and bad weather meant less impromptu jams, but I got a bit of drumming in, quite a bit of drinking, and fun times chatting with my Sis. The second festival was Speyfest!! And the biggest highlight of that had to be seeing Eddi Reader live!! She was fabulous! Her voice is just incredible! The tickets were an early Birthday gift from friends. Best prezzie ever!
I am currently being kept busy with these two old gentlemen. My friends dogs, her Mum is poorly so she has travelled down to England with her family to see her. So I have two lodgers for the week and also have to feed her cats. They're lovely dogs, but they're used to a completely different routine than we have. They smell, a lot!! lol. Gas issues! What can I say, they're male and old. lol.

I'm having issues with the humans in my house at the moment. Apparently I am the only person capable of housework just now, and they have all forgotten how to lift the toilet seat, OH has got my hallway full of computers that need dismantling, with no idea when he's going to get around to taking them apart, which is frustrating me no end, as he did pretty much nothing all weekend but sit on his PC, as he does every night when he gets home from "work". So I'm pretty much feeling sorry for myself and feeling a bit ignored and neglected.

I admit I'm not doing as much housework as i could/should be doing, permanent headache is taking it's toll at times. And with the added dog hair this week it's taking half an hour just to hoover the living room!! A little help would be great, and I'm pretty sure it's not too much to ask. Been waiting for OH to borrow a strimmer so we can get the garden sorted out, but it's just not happening. So I'll have to add that to my list of jobs.

The sad news is that my friend's Dad is dying. He has been fighting a rare form of cancer for some time, and it has looked positive, he's done so well! But now, he's fading fast. And so she is taking him home today. To Russia. To die. We call him the Legend, and he truly is! Sad times. I wish I could be there for her in person, but it's just not possible.

So I guess I'll just try to distract myself with the hundreds of jobs I have to do, keeping the kids occupied, walking 4 crazy dogs instead of 2, taking pointless calls about cats that aren't mine, and don't even match his description let alone his photo!!

Sorry for the crappy post. Just needed a wee rant. Off to scrounge round the neighbours and see if anyone has a strimmer i can borrow, after i poop scoop. These labs cant half poop!!

Sal. X

Busy times.

Things have been pretty busy here lately. Still looking for this handsome fellow. I actually thought I'd found him, a cat had been showing up at a farm, 150 miles away!! I spoke to the man who had dealt with him, the description he gave sounded exactly like my baby boy! But when the coordinator of the cats protection in that area emailed me with a photo, it looked nothing like him. So I have to admit I had a mini breakdown. But I'm still staying positive. I've been dreaming about him a lot. I think that's a sign he's still alive. I have had flyer's printed, and I'm extending the area. I also saw a psychic last Friday, and she is going to try and locate him for me. She has had success with this before. The cat she found had passed away, but she was able to tell the owners where he was, which gave them peace. So I live in hope!!

Kids break up for school holidays here this Friday. SO I'll have 3 boys to keep occupied! Before Friday I need to post just under 500 flyer's through doors in the village, and go to the nearest villages/towns and get posters put in more shop windows. So I have plenty to be getting on with.

I spent Saturday night with one of my Sisters. I was babysitting my wee Nephew on the Sunday as his Big Sister had a gymnastics competition. And even though the organisers screwed up (again) and put her in a higher age grouping, she still won a medal!!! So proud of her! I had a ball looking after her wee Brother, and on the Saturday evening we picked berries in the garden which my Sis has now turned into jam. Looking forward to eating it with my toast and remembering spending fun times with my Sis, Niece and Nephew. :-)

Mine and Little D's strawberry plants are thriving, despite some of them being really battered with the wild rain.

I've been pretty tired recently, blaming it on anaemia as usual, but I've been busier than usual. I've been volunteering at a sports club for disabled people. I've really enjoyed it! Last night was the last one until after the summer holidays as it's run in a school and of course the school will be closed. But we have a fun mystery bus trip coming up too. So that will be both fun and challenging! I still have my wee Saturday job as well so I'm kept busy.

Well, I better make a move. Have lots of flyer's to post and a garden to tidy, and housework to be getting on with. All with a 4yr old in an awkward mood! Today will be a long day I think!

Sal. X

To cut or not to cut??

I'm sure some of you will have heard about the flak Russel Crowe was getting last week due to his views on circumcision. I have always disagreed with circumcising babies or children. I know it can sometimes be necessary, a close member of my family was forced to have it done as an adult as his foreskin had become to tight. That's perfectly acceptable. But at the risk of offending anyone, I think anyone who would put their child through that for anything other than medical reasons has some wires loose! Although I have never liked the thought of it, I have never really sat and thought about the technicalities of it, so when i watched this video through twitter, i was incredibly shocked, and I would go so far as to say traumatised just by seeing it. I had a panic attack and cried my eyes out! That poor baby! I have three sons, and never would i entertain the thought of putting them through such pain! Never! I will include a link to the video, but I wont embed it, I couldn't cope with seeing it again, and i don't want anyone seeing it without first preparing themselves. So if you want to see it, the option is there, but it's not forced upon you. Circumcision. I Have nothing against specific groups of people or people of faith to whom this practice is commonplace, I just find the act itself disturbing, cruel, and barbaric!

If ever you hear female circumcision mentioned, people are up in arms! It's sick, evil! etc etc, why do we not have the same reactions to male circumcision? All children should be cherished, and anything that would cause them unnecessary pain avoided at all costs!

That's my rant over. Sorry if anyone feels i am forcing my opinion onto them, or that I'm disrespecting any religion or group. That is not my intention. I am just truly shocked by this.

What's your view?

Sal. X

Sorry!

Sorry all. Been forced offline again, my aged Dell laptop died yet again. But super geek other half has fixed it for the time being. No photo's as it's literally just fixed and I haven't had time to move them onto the laptop yet. Have a mega\ busy weekend ahead. 2 markets to help out at, crazy early starts, and two birthday parties to go to. One of which, is my Baby Little D's!! He's 4 tomorrow, but his party is at his Grandma's on Sunday. His Auntie's Birthday is Sunday, but with her being all grown up, her party is on the Saturday night.

I think I'll need a holiday to get over this weekend! lol.

I'll be back, over the weekend if I have the energy, if not, Monday. Providing the laptop behaves.

Sal. X

Back! Briefly...

Sorry folks, my hard drive died, and now we're having more "issues" with technology. Luckily hubby to be is a genius! He rescued all my photo's from the dead hard drive. But I Now don't have space for them on the crappy little hard drive I'm making do with. Once I get myself organised I'll be back with more.

Still no sign of my cat. Six weeks now. He could be anywhere. No word from any of the farms or anywhere either. I finally put away his litter tray. :-( I've kept it. And all his food. You never know. There's always hope!

We have had two new additions to the family, as Little D decided we had to take Cheeky the Chinchillas Brother as well. So we now have Cheeky and Chops. They're settling in nicely. Tara the dopey Lurcher thinks they're her babies. And dippy Tyson forgets they're there at all!! lol.

We had a lovely wee fire for Beltane, few drinks with friends. We even jumped a flame, although it was a specifically made candle rather than the fire as the kids were involved.

Busy month of birthdays, Other Half's is this weekend then Little D and his Auntie on the same weekend. He has asked for a Mario party! He loves Mario.

I have been busy at weekends with a little job, just helping out a friend on a market stall, (a rather large one) but I'm loving it! It gets me out of the house, gives me some time to myself, and is building up my confidence with people, so when I can actually go and gt a proper job, I'll not struggle so much. It's nice to know I'm helping someone out little too.

The stopping smoking hit a bump, so to speak, I started again, stress etc, and now the patches are giving me horrific nightmares, so it's back to the doc for another option. But will get there. I had stopped for a month! So I know I can do it.

Anyway, best pop off. Need more coffee to wake up properly, have plenty to do today. I shall be back asap with photo's of Cheeky and chops to share. Although, they'll most likely be rubbish as I'm the only person confident enough to hold them as yet, and it's impossible to hold and photograph the hyper little beggars!! lol.

Sal. X

Progress Report.

Still no sign of this handsome fellow. But Yesterday I spent hours looking up Addresses for local Farms, writing little notes on some of the posters and stuffing them in envelopes to post out. Hopefully he'll here something back. Still no word from the council or the vets they use, (road cleansing, if you know what I mean) Which is great news! It means he hasn't been run over. And no news from cats protection, so nobody has called in there about him either. So although he hasn't been spotted in the village, I'm pretty convinced he's out and about with females that have come into season.
Unfortunately, apparently, male cats can smell females in season up to 7 miles away!! So he could be pretty far away by now. But I've done all the farms in just over a 5 mile radius, if no word from them, I'll do 8 or 10 mile radius next week. See how it goes.
If the weather stays nice, well, dry would be great, I plan on taking the kids to the park, my friend wants to take them for a picnic, if it's nice enough for that, I think we'll head a bit further off. Either way, I'm going armed with laminated posters and a staple gun!

I keep dreaming he's come home, sitting on the windowsill shouting to be in. Hopefully my dream will come true soon.

Sal. X