Theres a line in Pretty Woman. Well several, but one in particular. The gist is when they are lying in bed talking and he asks about her past etc, and she says....the bad stuff is easier to believe

So why? Why do we do that? Ignore all the good stuff people say, and micro focus on the tiny negative thing?

And on a similar line, why do I know something is a bad idea, but still do it over and over again? Why do I not learn? Why do I think that the other person has changed in any way, will listen this time when they never have before?

Why when I am healthy, my kids the same, the dog, well yes, anyway, I have my own home, food in the cupboard, more friends than i can count some days. Why am I constantly surprised they still like me after getting to know me? And why do I focus on the things I dont have? A man mostly, though other stuff some days too. Not possesions, cos though more money would be great, it would be so i could pay all my bills without worrying, not for things, have never greatly cared about those.

And I'm alone in this. Why do we do it? And will I ever learn that sometimes its jsut not worth it, and to move on?

Pics of doggy

This is Smartie, and Abby, and a bit of Amos. I took it yesterday morning. You can kind of see her leg, though its less obvious now than a couple of weeks ago when it was all freshly shaved and bald. As I think I said, its not in a cast, just pins, as hopefully the next pic shows.....




It looks worse than it is, but you can understand why when it was new, Holly took one look and burst into tears! It is actually 6 metal pins which are screwed into her bone, with a bar across them all holding them in place, and firmly so. If all continues to go well, she has an xray in about 4 weeks, which should show the bone all healed, at which point the pins come out.

Those pics were taken after last weeks green bandage came off. Some skirmish with one of the cats. So yesterday when we went to vets for check up, she got a lovely new pink one. Its main purpose being to protect her and us from the ends of the pins! They may not be needle sharp, but trust me, you dont wanna get poked by one. As todays final pic shows, she is generally pretty chilled out, and doing well \o/

According to some AOL article, there are 15 types of men/relationships women go through. Well 14 really, but they clearly thought 15 sounded better so included doing a Katy Perry (Or doing a Jess ;)). The list started with first love and ended with "the one" and had most things in between, the 'one night stand', holiday romance, etc etc.

Still on the bright side I reckon in one way or another I've now gone through 9 of them, so only 5 to go til me and Mr Right start living happily ever after

I need to stop reading chick lit. They all seem to go from one relationship to the dream one in no time, yet after nearly 3 years I've yet to have one show more than a passing interest :-\

Despite how that might sound I'm not desperate, well not much. It jsut would be nice.... But I'm gonna try and focus on the positives. I can live perfectly well and happily without a man. I have my (mostly) fantastic kids, a gorgeous dog, a roof over my head, enough money to have all the necessities, and even occasional treats. Its a beautiful day, I live in a country where I'm free to do pretty much what I please, and I have my health. I could go for a walk in the lovely spring sunshine (I said could, not will!), I have amazing friends, an internet connection ;) and wine in the fridge :)

In general life is good, but at this moment, I still feel a bit quiet :( Oh well, life goes on and all that

Smartie news.....she came home on Thursday, is hopping around with no real problems. Shes not meant to do much more than lie around. I have put a stair gate up, and keep reminded her not to jump, at all! Not to say hello, not onto the sofa, not onto the sleepers in the garden to get to one of her sniffing spots. Daft dog. She goes back to vets tomorrow for a check up. I was going to take pics yesterday, but I can t work out how to use the digital camera my mum gave us :-x It might just have dead batteries.

Latest on Smartie

Vet rang me mid afternoon and told me she's had her op. It went very well, they've managed to put her bones back where they should be, and her leg is now all pinned and clamped and goodness knows what else. She had come round again by the time vet rang, and was fine. They are keeping her in again tonight to keep an eye on her and keep her topped up with painkillers, but she ought to come home tomorrow.

Then the fun begins of trying to persaude her the that vet said 6 weeks of rest!

Not much else happening, I've about two thirds of the way through replacing kitchen floor, tis looking great. Have also been repainting bits of wall while I'm at it. Bit pointless laying a new floor and THEN painting. Am jsut doing it the same colour, covering some of the marks that have magically appeared. None of my children ever touch the walls. Same way their stuff walks all by itself to the middle of the floor and then sits there.

We've not won pub quiz so much recently, the curly merkins are back on form :-\

School holidays start soon, I will undoubtably have had enough by about 8am Saturday morning. Would be sooner but I'm going out Friday night.

I will try and get a pic of Smartie all bandaged up. It'll take me months to get round to moving it from camera to pc and then to blog, but thats nothing new.

Dog update

I've spoken to the vet again. She's had her xrays, and the good news is that its only her leg that got injured. The bad news is that it is broken, and not cleanly :( Both bones have splintered :-\

She will hopefully have her op tomorrow, and if everything goes to plan, in about 6 weeks she will be back to normal, and will be hard to believe it ever happened. However operations always carry a degree of risk, and theres also a slight possibility of a problem with the blood supply to the area which would affect healing. Also a possibly it wont knit back together properly.

BUT shes a young dog, will be 4 end of April. She's fit, healthy, and the odds are that she'll be fine. Jsut get to wait now. Hopefully she'll be home tomorrow, then we go back after 6 weeks for another xray to see if all is as it should be

Not a great day

Its a good thing I had nothing planned today, jsut some bits around the house. So at least I didnt have to rearrange or cancel anything.

The day started well, took kids to school, then dog to Weston shore for a walk. I walked, she ran, sniffed, bounced around, sniffed some more, usual sort of thing. Then just before we got back to the car, she went into some bushes, there were things to sniff. Only she did whats shes never done before and went a very long way into the bushes, and then out the other side. Straight into a car :( The poor driver had no chance, was entirely the dozy dogs fault. I didnt see it, just heard her squeals, but it would appear the car jsut clipped her, caught her shoulder and front leg. But that stretch of road is a 40mph limit, and the car was likely to have been doing about that, so even jsut catching her would do quite some damage. And it has :(

Fortunately her head is fine, and her chest/stomach area. And 3 legs are fine. But the 4th has broken in at least 2 places. I obviously found her as fast as I could, got her to car and drove straight to vets (pausing to exchange mobile numbers with driver). Vets have given her lots of painkillers and fluids, she was understandably in a lot of pain and in shock. Am waiting for a phone call any minute with the results of the xray, but they already know she will need an op, either tomorrow or thurs. She is, obviously, staying at the vets til after op, all doped up.

Its very weird here without her. I'm jsut hoping and praying its 'just' 2 breaks, one in each bone, and that they are clean breaks.

And no, shes not insured. I did start looking into it a couple of weeks ago, but didnt finish comparing whats covered by which companies and how much etc. Shes at the PDSA who are a charity providing vets for people who cant afford them. But if she needs specialist treatment, they dont do that, and I'd have to pay. Which of course I would, but at the moment I'm in that horrible stage of jsut not knowing whats needed.

I'll post agasin later when I know more

ok, when I said I was gonna blog more often, clearly I lied. Tough.

Update on last post.....Last Sunday I had a police officer come out, we had a little chat. My strimmer had been found by someone else that morning and returned, well most of it, the guard is still missing :-\ I dont want to press charges or anything, I just want the kids involved to know its not on, and to leave me alone. So the officer left me to go straight to see said kids and have a 'word'. It appears to have worked, not a peep from any of them since \o/

And a brighter note, I've jsut got off the phone to a lovely lady. She works for the CSA, and they havent forgotten me :-D In fact the person I spoke to works in the criminal department. As soon as they can pin him to an address, and serve him a notice, which has to give 14 days before they can take him to court, they will be taking him to court :-D

He's being done for failing to provide information to the csa. And another department are working on actually getting money out of him. If they cant, they will be lodging that debt with a court too. He really is stupid enough to think he can get away with not paying for his kids, its fab to know that the csa agree with me that there's no way he will, and we WILL get him! They have a range of things they can do to him, including imprisoning him. Sounds fair to me. I know its harsh of me to say it, but it is a last resort, and is unlikely to happen, but if they get to it, he will deserve it.

Had parent teacher meeting with Holly's teacher today. She is, of course, doing very very well. I get on really well with Mrs Stephens, so we jsut had a natter. I get to see Amos' teachers next week, which will be much more interesting, though I can tell you now what almost all of them will say. I've been told the same thing about him at pretty much every parent teacher meeting for the last 7 years!

Abigail this afternoon apparently went on a class trip to the local cemetery. Erm, ok. I signed a form ages ago, giving permission for them to take kids out locally any time they like. Makes far more sense than sending a form every time, and waiting for all the replies etc. However, it does mean that I have not a clue why they went to the cemetery. It would appear to be simply because they could. Very odd, but I trust her school, so dont mind.

I'm still slowly working on the hall floor. Having said I couldnt be bothered to prepare it properly, I keep finding myself actually preparing bits of it :-\ Its about 3 quarters done now though, and looking fab. I would offer to post a pic when its finished, but we all know I'd be lying.

And now the weather. Its sunny. Nice warm, spring day. The sort that leaves you feelign you ought to out in the garden, tidying it up a bit and planting seeds etc, and then slightly guilty that you havent. It has been like this all week, and I havent done a thing in the garden yet. Oh well, theres always next week. Or more realistically, next year

Any thoughts on what we can have for dinner? I cant be bothered to cook, but no money for takeaway. Answers on a postcard to the usual address please