Nachos & cheese

I had to take my cat to the vets on Tuesday...well I'd been trying to catch her to take her for about 3 weeks as she had a really bad eye infection. She's wild you see so it took time to get her to trust me enough to get near her and even then I had just one chance to grab her or she'd run from me again.

Anyway, her eye had deteriorated to such an extent that it needed to be removed. I'm squeamish about eyes at the best of times and couldn't even look when the vet was examining it. He said she was in agony as her cornea had ruptured.

I spent the night having nightmares. She had the operation on Wednesday and the vet rang to say they wanted to keep her in for a day afterwards as she was sore. I was relieved to be honest, dreaded going to pick her up.

She came home yesterday, I had to get her out of the cage myself as she was standing on her carrier box, hissing and spitting and had weed all over herself. She wailed all the way home and managed to escape from the carrier, luckily I had put her in the boot of the car.

She is doing fine though. She ate loads when she got home, cleaned herself off and doesn't seem to be rubbing or clawing at the stitches. They are the dissolvable ones as I don't think I'll get near enough to catch her for a long, long time.

I could worry as an Olympic sport. I really could. I worry about the cats, I worry about the birds falling out of the trees when it's too windy, I can't even watch wildlife programmes and had to turn off Babe: Pig in the city as I was getting too stressed out at the animals maybe getting into trouble!

Pathetic, I know!!!!

What is one food that you refuse to try? Why?
Oysters, they scare me.

I had to go home from work yesterday cos I was just feeling so bad. Really nauseous, though I seem incapable of actually vomiting so couldn't even get relief from that. I've only had 1.5days off sick in the 8 years I've worked here so I'm not one for giving in to illness.

I spent the day watching daytime tv and alternately sleeping or feeling like I was on board a swaying ship....I must have looked a tad green I felt so bad.

It's the third time I've had this bug, in almost as many weeks but it only lasts 24hrs or thereabouts.

I was feeling lots better by 9.30 and spent a half hour playing with the ickle cute pusscats. The kittens are just so playful it's cute and annoying all at once. They keep ignoring the toys I've bought but love the ball of wool, which they inevitable wind around the legs of the nearest table or chair or both!

Still....they are sooooo cute :-)

All's forgiven when you have that cutesy kitten face.

It's official, I have become a cat lady. At last we have broadband at work and I can access Livejournal again.

I started to feed 2 cats in Autumn of last year, then after a few days there was 3, then 4, then...... well, suffice to say that there are now 9 kittens and as many adult cats arriving twice daily for food!!

They are all incredibly wild (much scratching & hissing goes on) but the original two were somewhat tame (a father & daughter grey tabby) The male cat, who I called Parker as he was a nosey parker (always peeking in the window) was killed on the road. I really tamed his daughter, Timmi, and even had her neutered but she got killed on the road too. I was so upset, especially as the wild cats never get killed on the road. She used to wait for me every evening and come in the door with me, then sit in her basket in front of the fire until I would physically put her out (often at 3 or 4 am) She would even scratch the carpet in my bedroom when she wanted to be left out.

I'll write some more about the remaining gang later...

No time...where've I been then,eh? Well, I don't have internet at home and for some unknown reason I can't access it through the internet at work anymore...v.weird. Anyhoo...I'm still alive, though struggling with the heatwave (very unusual Irish weather, expected 30 degrees today - hottest in my memory!!)

On hols this week, heading to Wexford on Wednesday when of course thunder showers are forecast...great...

Anyhoo...in internet cafe and time is flashing...ok, ok, I'm finished!!

Trying to type this in between incessant phone ringing. Not easy to concentrate. It was much quieter this morning but the damned customers are all back on top form this evening and seem determined to disrupt my day.

Went to see "The Brothers Grimm" on Sunday. Not a film I enjoyed, far too many animals getting hurt or killed in it. I couldn't look when a gorgeous little kitten appeared on screen as I just knew something bad was going to happen to it. I didn't ask John what happened but I can only assume that the poor thing died. Yes, I know it's all make-believe, John kept telling me so but I still hate to watch animals being harmed, real or not. I can watch people being killed in movies all day without flinching but if it's an animal I can't stand it.

I was in a bad mood on Sunday, just not in the form for John and his teasing jokey ways. If we're not teasing or slagging each other off we seem to have very little to say to each other. And sometimes I'm just not in the mood for teasing or being sarcastic or re-hashing the same "in-jokes" that we've re-told each other so many times. I think I could probably do with a break from him. Sounds horrid doesn't it but I'm just bored of the routine. Go walking on Tuesdays, go walking on Thursdays, go to cinema on Sundays. We talk about the same things, say the same things, do the same things all the time. It's a rut.

In the past few weeks we've had "discussions" vis a vis living together or getting married. Basically, he asked what my reaction would be if he proposed. I said I'd have a heart attack. I have to be honest, right! I'm just not sure if that's what I want, that I want to be with someone all day everyday. I soooo love my space and quite enjoy being alone. I look forward to having an early night when I'm on my own, snuggled up in a warm bed, watching tv or reading until I fall asleep and have the whole bed (and duvet) to myself. When John's there I can't sleep properly cos it's just uncomfortable having a big head lying on your boob when you're trying to sleep!

Oh, I'm a ratty, cantankerous old biddy.

I was off work for ten blissful days. How could I have even imagined I was bored and moreover, how could I have even dared entertain the notion that work would be better than spending days lounging around watching tv or just plain doing nothing!! Madness.

Apart from doing nothing (watching tv doesn’t really count does it!) I went shopping with John (accidentally over-tipped by €10 when I misread the bill….much shock and laughter from John for that but we all make mistakes, right? Made the waitress’s day I’m sure!) and went to Mitchelstown caves, which I’d been to about 20years ago on a school tour. Had forgotten the amount of steps and suffered for it for days after with very achey leg muscles.
Work is mayhem and madness. It’s just too busy for me to cope with. I’ve not yet caught up on the backlog from when I was off and I’m starting to think that taking another week off at the end of the month may just be a disaster when I get back and not worth taking the time off. Thing is, this is how it’s gonna be until…ooh…March at the very earliest….. I will be so stressed I’m sure a breakdown is inevitable.
Even the fact that biros keep disappearing from my desktidy thigummy is getting my blood pressure soaring to unhealthy levels. It will only take an elusive ruler/paper clip/stapler to push me over the edge and into the abyss of insanity.
Exaggerate, moi? Never!

I didn't even realise it had been so long since I last wrote on here. Works been mad. We've had to move offices cos of the construction going on so I'm now based in a portacabin. It's at the end of the garage so my shoes have been suffering from serious oil stains from walking through there umpteen times per day. I've got the place more or less sorted, though it's definitely been a struggle trying to find space for all the stuff that I needed to bring with me.

Hmm...what else has happened. Well, I took Ronan shopping for his birthday and ended up buying him a PSP so he's getting no Christmas present after I've shelled out that much on his birthday. We went to a Mexican restaurant for a meal too. We both enjoyed it. It was great getting to spend time with him, just the two of us. I'm off work next week so I'm sure I'll be taking him to the cinema to see Saw2, though I'm not sure I want to watch it myself.

I've been kinda "haunted" all week by this mad crazy dream I had the other night, where I was standing out on the road crying and screaming that "It's the house! It's the house that did it!!" Very Amityville Horror-ish... I'm pretty certain I was screaming for real while dreaming it, I had the feeling that I probably woke myself up. John says I make very weird noises when I'm asleep. Anything from mumbling, whimpering to outright screaming. No wonder I never feel the benefit of sleep!

Thought I'd write about what I did at the weekend.

Saturday after work I went to my cousins babys christening party. Booooring.
I sat wedged between my mother, my father and my aunt (not called Contrary Mary for nothing) being quizzed on my lovelife (aunt) and told off for eating too much SALAD (father). The fact that he had three servings of dessert and I had none meant nothing to him.

I only stayed about an hour and a half. It was too hot, too boring, too many children running into things and crying. Of course being one of the few not consuming alcohol didn't help, the boozy ones were getting merrier by the minute. Apparently, there was much dancing later in the night and a few almost-fights. Family get-togethers. Best avoided.

On Sunday, went driving to Kinsale. Never been there before, only passed through. It's nice, quaint, lots of small little streets that reminded me of some medieval English town or the like. Drove to the Old Head of Kinsale too. "it's just gonna be a cliff" I argued but he insisted we go anyway. I was right. It was just a cliff, the best part of which was even out of bounds as it's a private golf course.

Back to Kinsale and we stopped in Ballinspittle. I was reminiscing about the nights I spent standing or sitting on the sloped field in the dark and cold staring at the grotto across the road, waiting for the statue of Mary to start moving. It was a huge thing when it happened about 20years ago, people flocked to see the "moving statue". Didn't matter how often I assured (lied to) my mother I'd seen it move, she still wouldn't let us go home. I was only 9 or 10 then. I remember the night we were on our way home for a bus trip to the beach when all the (drunk) men on the bus insisted they had to stop and say a prayer at the same grotto. Any claims they made of moving statues would hardly be believed.

It wouldn't be the phenomenon now that it was then if such a claim was made again. I think it's a vastly different and far more sceptical world we live in now. And one of less faith, me included.

Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. Hmm.

Dammit but I'm tired today. I had a super-hectic evening at work cos my boss decided to tell me with half hour of the day to go that I had to register ten cars. Much panic ensued but the job got done by 6.15 (technically overtime but not enough to warrant extra pay I guess) In the process I had major pains in my leg, so much so I went and bought some aspirin to stave off any potential clot. I'm sitting all day, which surely is as potentially clot-causing as being on a long flight. I told John I didn't want to go walking and by the time he arrived at my place I was well on my way to slumberland. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He was just downright giddy and so I didn't get much sleep at all till he went home. At 3am.

I've to go to a christening party after work and honestly don't know how I'm gonna face it. I hate walking into places on my own for one thing, I'll be late arriving so it's inevitable I have to walk in alone. I won't even have time to go home and change so will have to show up in my work clothes. I'll have to hoover the offices before I leave, which will mean I'll be covered in oil and grease as the hoover is just filthy from being used in the garage. What a sight I'll be showing up at a family function! An early escape is definitely on the cards. I wouldn't bother going but my cousin (who's daughter is being christened) is the kind who'd never again speak to me if I didn't show up. Why that should bother me I dunno but I suppose it does all the same.

I suppose in a way it's a good thing that I'm going straight from work. At least it gives me an excuse for looking dishevelled and under-dressed for the occasion. I can't look glamorous no matter how hard I try. I always look like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.

I hate it when that happens, I just woke up with this notion that it's Friday and keep having to remind (and disappoint) myself by realising it isn't. Dammit.

I was gonna call to Sharons tonight after work but I can't be arsed now. I'm too tired. I spent the morning running in and out to the garage cos they can't be bothered to do their own typing so I get the job of creating the work orders and entering the vehicle details. They kept calling me out to fill in the DOT test results - like I know what I'm entering??? Lambdas, emissions, axles...pretty meaningless stuff to me but I still managed to make a better job of completing the reports than the so-called "experts". The foreman brought me in a bunch of sweets after lunch, which was nice, though he got them from a customer, not like he bought them for me especially - as if!

I'm gonna go home, light the fire and watch tv. I can't face driving to Sharons (even if it is only 4miles) and listening to children for the evening. It's dark and wet and miserable and a night to be home all warm and cosy.

I've sat here all afternoon inhaling the aroma of curry powder. I made a huge pot at lunchtime cos it was so cold but it's permeated the fibres of my pink fleecy jumper and now I'm reeking of the stuff. I guess I could smell worse...but probably better too!

31days till I'm on holidays from work now. It can't come soon enough really. I'm just so bored with the constant sameness that is my workday. Nothing really changes. Even the distraction of the building work has gone cos the builders, as builders are wont to do, have disappeared and haven't done a stroke of work the last couple of weeks.

Dad's not well. He's had his appointment with the psychiatrist this morning though so hopefully he got on ok. I still think that once every 3 months is NOT enough. The health system is so downright crap in this country and mental health comes way down the list of any kind of priorities they have in that archaic system.

Gonna call to Mams this evening after work so I'll see how he is then. Have to collect the bath safety rail that John ordered for his mum. I'll have to show him how to attach it cos he's completely clueless when it comes to DIY. The man doesn't know one end of a screwdriver from another.

The IRA have finally done it and got rid of their weapons. I sat in my car (it was raining so hard outside I could hardly hear the radio) listening to General De Chastelain make his statement about how he'd witnessed the decommissioning. No-one thought they'd actually do it and it's great that they did. It's a huge step.

But.

Ian Paisley. My mother always said that while he's alive there can never be peace in Northern Ireland and she's right. While other Unionists agreed it was an historic day, he had to come out and say that he doesn't believe a word of it, not even the word of the two clergymen. He wanted photographs but I bet he'd say they were doctored. If he were there to see it for himself, he would still claim it was some kind of a trick. Why would General De Chastelain or the two clergymen lie? Ok, so it's unlikely that EVERY single gun or explosive or whatever has been handed over. That would be pretty impossible, to get every single IRA member to hand over every weapon they had. But the itinerary of what was destroyed agreed with the estimates of what the IRA posessed. So it's certain that the vast bulk of their arms are gone.

I think it's a great step. I'd like to see the other side give up their arms though. I don't see the UVF or the like handing up their weapons. Surely if it applies to one side it ought to apply to the other too. They have been causing havoc in Belfast the last few weeks, burning out police stations, burning cars and the authorities seem to have little control over it. A baby even ended up with a fractured skull after they stole the car he was in. Why is what they do not treated with as much disgust as the things the IRA have done?


Northern Ireland. It's a whole lot of trouble. It's no wonder neither Ireland nor the UK want it.

I have a sick stomach AGAIN this weekend. I started getting cramps yesterday evening and it's not been right since. It's like someone sticking knitting needles into my stomach, side and back. It bloody well hurts. I'm at work, so having to put up with it, and I've promised to take Ronan to the cinema after work so I won't get to lie down till probably 10 tonight. That feels like a long time to wait to try to relax. I doubt I'll relax while watching Land of the Dead - too scary!

On a different note, John laughed at the present I gave him last night - a box of "Chocolate flavour Sheep Droppings" Don't know if he can stomach eating them but at least they made him laugh.

I've spent alot of today at work (no boss in. While the cat's away....) checking out websites to buy clothes for Ronan. Have spent about €350 in this past week trying to kit him out with some clothes. He's so hard to buy for, with his height, his weight and size 14 shoes. Mam can't afford to buy clothes for him so I don't mind getting them. It's trying to guess what he'll actually like is the problem.

I wish it was tomorrow and I could have a long lie-in. Ah....bliss.

I've not really done a tap of work today. My boss is off, his wife went into labour yesterday afternoon and had a baby boy at about lunch time today. It must've been a long night they put down.

I now have medical insurance - Yey! Well, the cheque is paid anyway, so I assume I'm now covered. At least it means that I'll be able to claim back half the cost of a GP visit at the end of the year. I haven't gotten round to finding a new GP yet but I must do it and get my knees sorted out. They're not as bad as they were but still giving a lot of trouble, especially now the cold weather has set in. I gave up on taking the anti-inflammatories as I blame the weekend of diarrhoea on them. Not worth it!

I've started my Christmas shopping!!! I have ten people to buy for and I've only got one completely finished but it's a start. The one I've finished is my sister's boyfriend, Mark. I've ordered him a Tupac poster. He loves Tupac, Eminem and Tracy Chapman...kind of an odd one out there at the end! Last year I only gave him chocolate and the year before vouchers for MacDonalds so a poster won't be a drop-down from previous years or anything. I ordered two Cliff Richard photos for John. I'm considering the idea of trying to sketch Cliff myself and give it to John as a present but it's so long since I did that I don't know how good I'd be. I might give it a go if I get a good pic to work from. I used to have a load of them I did when I was in my teens, Stefan Edberg, Andre Agassi (I loved Wimbledon!),Michael Jackson, Jean Claude Van Damme (my brother loved his movies, therefore I too got hooked) Morten Harket (from the band A-ha)Larry Mullen (U2) and Michael Landon (Little house on the prairie).

I might get a dvd player as a general gift for my parents house. I usually get them a hamper of food too. It's the thinking of what to get is the hardest part so if I get that sorted out now then I'll be doing great. So a preliminary list:

Mam - Alice Taylor book (it's on the way already but she says to keep it till Christmas before giving it to her) Clothes of some kind.

Dad - Clothes or shoes. He's impossible to buy for.

Niall - Clothes. Nothing expensive. He's never bought me a present. EVER.

Dawn - Vouchers maybe. Don't think she's really interested in jewellery much and wouldn't pick the right clothes for her so they are the best bet.

Ronan - He wants a phone for his birthday in October so for Christmas I guess it will be dvds or a 21" tv for his room. He's spoilt but he's my baby bruv.

John - Christmas: Cliff photos and/or Cliff sketch done by moi. Cliff DVD (its out Nov 14th) Clothes of some kind.

John - Birthday (27th Dec): collage of photos of us (I'd really like to see if I could do a good job of that) Don't know yet what else.

John's mum - A microwave? They don't have one. And some of those microwavable heat pads for aches & pains.

Sharon - Vouchers. She loves jewellery but I've no confidence in choosing it.

Katie - Fairy princess book ends - a possibility, not sure yet.
Laura - Gopher indoor golf set. It's made of wood, looks sturdy, might be a good choice.

That's my list so far.

Did I mention that I HATE Christmas?? I hate more that I have to think about it so early but unless I want to face financial ruin I need to start on buying some stuff now.

Bah! Humbug!