NotSheep

I fear I’m neglecting my blog. It’s partly that I’ve just been too tired during the last few weeks to write, partly that I don’t like to do whiny-blogging, and partly that we haven’t really been doing much worth noting. I’m feeling a little more energetic now (only a little, mind) so I hope that the next few weeks will be much better than the last few have been.

Saturday was largely spent organising and wrapping Christmas gifts, and I started writing our cards too. I know I said it last year, but next year I really am forking out for printed cards. It just takes too long to write all our names on each card - there are too many people here! All the gifts for friends are now wrapped and I’m nearly ready as far as the children are concerned - there’s a package from Canada which I really really really hope arrives soon, since it’s the main individual gift for one child. Not sure what we’ll do if it doesn’t get here on time. The big pressie this year is a shared one between all of them. It starts with a W, followed by two of the same vowel, and I’m just very glad that we bought one about ten days before they disappeared from stores all over the country. (We got really lucky, in fact - we bought it when there was a) a voucher offer on and b) most of the games were half-price. As a result we spent less on the machine, extra controllers and all the games than the price I saw on a used one without any games at all in a second-hand shop yesterday!) I’ve been muttering about them being out of stock everywhere, so the boys don’t know for certain that they’re actually getting one. Freddy is doing his best to wangle the information out of us, but I’m determined not to say for sure one way or the other - just so there’s at least an element of surprise on Christmas morning

Toby found a Poo-Chi (robot dog thingy) that one of the others got for Christmas years ago and Scratchy put fresh batteries in it, which delighted Toby very much. Then he found a small ball and decided to teach it to fetch. Throw ball. Look at Poo-Chi. Point to ball. Look at Poo-Chi. Pick up Poo-Chi and fling it in direction of ball. That’ll learn it

Sunday, being the day after a (relatively) busy day, wasn’t worth mentioning.

Yesterday was a busy day - but not quite as planned. I left in the morning with a to-do list: the first stop was the bank, to get out some money, followed by a return visit to the shop where I bought a gift several months ago, only to stash it in a very safe place - so safe, in fact, that nobody can find it. So, replacement purchased, now I just have to wrap it and post it (in a box with various other things, to France). After that, the plan called for me to visit the dentist, but on the hills between the two towns, my car suddenly became Very Loud Indeed. I found a hotel car-park to pull into and peered under the car, and sure enough, part of my exhaust was hanging down I rang the mechanic who said “bring it in after you’ve been to the dentist”, but within a few miles I could hear the pipe tapping the ground so I headed straight for the garage instead. The mechanic reassured me it was safe for me to take into town and went to look up the part - and discovered it’s a dealer-only part, so he can’t get one. However he said he could weld it, which would do as a fix until we were able to do something else with it, so off we went to the dentist. I appear to have been grinding my teeth in my sleep, which is causing me some jaw-pain and lots of very loud jaw-clicking, so I had to have an impression made of my mouth. I had this done a long time ago, so I knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant, and I was right.

The mechanic’s hoist was still in use, so I bought us all lunch before heading back. The owner of the garage has recently retired, but still lives in the house next to it, so we chatted with him while the now-manager sorted out the exhaust. He charged very little for the work, and considering that and the fact that he’d squeezed us in, I gave him a bit extra and told him to spend it on a bottle of wine for himself and his wife. He got surprisingly aw-shucks about that; much blushing and shuffling of feet

Next came a flying visit to the aquarium store; our aquarium has been looking a bit sad for a while now and I wanted to replace the little fish who’d been keeping it algae-free until they died (probably from over-feeding - sooo much algae!) I thought they were otocinclus, but apparently they were ancistrus I bought two of each anyway; let’s hope the state of the tank improves soon. It’s been in the dining-room since we bought the Big Fridge, and I miss it - it was really nice having it in the kitchen where we all passed it loads of times every day and you could watch it while the kettle boiled.

Home after that - it was late afternoon and I was beat. Still got most of my to-do list left outstanding, so I’ll have to get out and about again tomorrow or Thursday. Tomorrow, I think. Too many people shop on Thursdays.

Today’s plan: do something educational with the boys this morning and rest this afternoon in preparation for Beavers tonight.

Latest news: Toby has learned to make rude noises with his mouth (boys!) and Barney has been playing GameBoy so much that his hands are becoming deformed (boys!)