Meet Eric

No he isn't mine, he belongs to next door.

They are expecting visitors today and Eric is socially inept.

He has a large vocabulary of swear words that are totally inappropriate for the ears of the visitors.

I'm made of sterner stuff, he won't say anything I haven't heard or said myself.

What day is it?

I've always struggled to remember what the date is, but now with neither of us working I'm struggling to work out what day it is.
It isn't really important apart from restraining CHS who will get up in the morning and announce 'Let's go to Ikea/B&Q/Dunelm'.
If it's the weekend I refuse to go and suggest we wait until a weekday when the shops will hopefully be less crowded.

It's not long until Easter which means I must remember to avoid the motorway junction near Ikea.
For some reason the world and his wife always decided to take their children to Ikea for a day out over the Easter break. The TV and radio are full of traffic warnings for people to avoid the area and interviews with people who have been stuck in the Ikea car park for five hours.

I've made a list

I've made a list of ten main meals and some puddings that I feel I will be able to cook for 30 people.
I will ask the organisers if there are any dietary considerations and what the budget is per head, considering the portion sizes I've seen I would assume the cost per serving is pretty low. I also need to cook meals in about an hour and a half. I will not be able to prep anything beforehand as I don't have a hygiene certificate for the boat.

Main meals
Sausage and Mash
Chicken Pie
Jacket Potato with toppings
Liver and Bacon
Fish in Parsley Sauce
Cottage Pie
Macaroni Cheese
Bolognese Bake
Chicken Curry
Chilli

Puddings,  can only think of seven, so these would need to be repeated.
Fruit Crumble
Rice Pudding
Sponge and Custard
Jelly
Chocolate Brownies
Upside down cake
Fruit Salad

I need certifying

CHS goes to a club for stroke survivors once a week, he meets other people worse off than himself which does him good.
The club provides a cooked meal at lunch time, their last cook has just left.
I have volunteered to cook for them once a month, I need to provide a main meal and pudding for 30 people.

We're going on a dog hunt.

Now we have our bigger boat, or we will have in a few weeks, we have decided to get a dog.

Something small to medium sized, similar to the reactive dog we almost took on a while ago.

She now has her forever home so no longer needs us.

We now need to trawl the rescues to find be that will rehome to boaters, not all will.

We could go out and buy a dog but that seems a shame when there are so many dogs in need of a loving home.

We want a dog that will be ok with visiting children and good with other dogs, that way if anything happens to us DD1 would have our dog.

I feel we have a long to offer, we are both experienced dog owners, CHS had two large dogs that were very well trained, I can offer lots of cuddles. 

I am also prepared to walk a dog regularly whereas I think CHS will be a fair weather walker.

It was the usual cock up

Last week CHS's certificate ran out, he was also running short of medication.

The certificate has to be ordered by phone, the medication has to be ordered online.

Can I arrange for them both to be available at the same time, of course not.

That would go some way to making my life a little easier, and we can't have that now can we.

Collecting the certificate took 20 minutes on Friday as they couldn't find it, the receptionist checked the computer system and it had definitely been issued but it had disappeared into a black hole somewhere.

It turned up eventually filed under the wrong heading!

Today, according to the email I received the prescription was ready to be collected.

I dropped CHS at stroke club at 10 o'clock, drove to  the Dr's and asked for the script, I gave the surname twice and spelt it four times, no script could be found.

I provided his DOB three times, showed the email I had received announcing that the script was ready for collection, quoted the postcode three times and finally script was found, misfiled same as the certificate had been.

Looked at script, found assorted mistakes, handed it back to be corrected and sat in waiting room until the corrections were made.

Finally given corrected script, went to pharmacy, got soaked through as the rain was torrential.

Handed script over the counter, was told there was a 10 minute wait, told assistant I would go and buy milk and return asap.

Purchased milk, returned to pharmacy, script had been lost! 

Banged head on counter, screamed and cried until script found. One item short so I need to go back next week to collect this.

I know it's just human error and I know mistakes happen but I get four hours once a week when CHS is at stroke club, it is good for him and it gives me a break.

Today's farce took up three and a half hours of my four hour break. Is it any wonder I end up a gibbering wreck.

I'll admit that occasionally I collect the script and get it filled in 20 minutes but these occasions are few and far between.

Today was a more usual occurrence.

Sit

I visited DD1 on Tuesday, when I arrived I let myself in and Albie came towards me rumbling. He is still a bit cautious with people sometimes. 

He wasn't growling, his hackles weren't up but he makes a rumbling noise when he greets you.

As he got nearer he cocked his head to one side then stepped smartly up to me and sat down, looking at me expectantly.

He'd obviously smelt the dog treat in my pocket and he knows he only gets a great if he's sitting down.

I know some breeds of dog 'talk' I had a friend with a Rottweiler that used to rumble and chunter when I visited.
Some people were scared as they thought he was growling but he wasn't. He was just making conversation.

A prayer

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

The courage to change the things I cannot accept.

And the wisdom to hide the bodies of those I had to kill today

Because they got on my nerves.

Some pics of the inside

We've only gone and done it!

We found the boat we want, one we both love.

Just the formalities to go through now.

More information will follow once these are completed.