The naked cat, the witch and the wardrobe...

Anyone want an ugly naked cat?

Seriously I think Hugo is determined this week to drive me insane!  (I'm still missing one pair of socks!)

Anyway, to today's tale of evil felinity.......

He has always had a bit of an obsession about my wardrobe... not entirely sure why, it's a pretty normal wardrobe, it contains clothes, shoes, a couple of bags of the yarn stash carefully hidden and the back, oh and a stack of computer paper for my very ancient, in fact almost antique, daisy wheel printer (yep, the ones that are capable of waking the dead when the run... what can I say I am a hoarder of all things, including my first ever computer - a BBC Model B, complete with 5 3/4 inch double disk drive, games on tape and that printer - occasionally I attach it to the TV and play very silly games.... chuckie egg? lemmings? anyone??).

So anyway, where was I... ah yes, the wardrobe.... a thing of fascination and intrigue.... at least if your name is Hugo

Now, after three years, I am kind of wise to his antics and not only are the door handles tied with the handles of the carrier bag that hangs off them, but the door is also wedged by the laundry basket too..... this doesn't stop him trying, and in fact, there are many 4 am moments spent cursing as he scratches at the door and wails pathetically ....

Back to today.... having got home from work shortly before 5 pm, wrangled the hell hounds into some form of order by flinging chicken wings at them (after reading the riot act about the fact water bowls are for drinking out of not emptying all over the floor to make completely unsafe), and then wandered upstairs to change out of work clothes and to make suitable offerings of sustenance to the cats... only I couldn't get in my bedroom .....

When I'd finally, by dint of trying to bend my arm round the edge of the door that would open and eventually push the clothes airer away from it, I was rather annoyed to find that he had finally managed to break into the  wardrobe.  The laundry basket had been tipped over, the carrier bag shredded and the wardrobe door was wide open......... and most of my clothes, half of one of the bags of yarn and a sprinkling of shredded paper that looked like confetti were spread around the floor

And in the middle of it all, on the now empty top shelf of the wardrobe, above what was left of the clothes on hangers, sat the Hugo, looking supremely pleased with himself..............

I had to go shut myself in the bathroom for five minutes and count the shower gels till I calmed down enough not to actually strangle him ......

In August I read....

Okay, so there is still one day to go, but I am not going to finish the book I am currently reading tomorrow so, here we have the, erm, 39 books I managed to read this month..... (yeah, well I was sofa bound for two weeks so no wonder there are even more than normal!!)

This month there has been lots of series.... well, it's rude not to read the whole lot if you've got the option to!

1.       Dangerous Ground – Josh Lanyon

2.       Old Poison – Josh Lanyon

3.       Blood Heat – Josh Lanyon

4.       Dead Run – Josh Lanyon  (I loved this series, but really, the books are way to short)

5.       Catch me if you can – L.B. Gregg

6.       Everything Under the Sun – Rachel West

7.       Fallen – Pia Veleno (I remember why I don’t really do angels after reading this)

8.       Houseboat on the Nile – Tinnean

9.       By the Numbers – Chris Owen (argh, irresponsible dog ownership!!.... yes I know, it’s a personal thing, but really, if you are going to portray a litter of pups, some accuracy would help)

10.   King Perry – Edmond Manning (it may be me, I enjoyed the book but I don’t see what everyone sees in the book that makes them rave about it)

11.   The Corridor and other stories – Fabian Black

12.   Final Admission – Sue Brown

13.   The Rare Event – P.D. Singer

14.   Stars & Stripes – Abigail Roux (argh, as much as I love these books – this one whilst really well written lacked plot ... hopefully this will improve as the author settles into writing the series on her own)

15.   Four Corners – Kate McMurray

16.   Daddy, Daddy & Me – Sean Michael

17.   Texas Winter – R.J. Scott

18.   Guarding Morgan – R.J. Scott

19.   The Only Easy Day – R.J. Scott

20.   Face Value – R.J. Scott

21.   Still Waters – R.J. Scott

22.   Full Circle – R.J. Scott (again another series I enjoyed but the books were too short)

23.   Cost of Repairs – A. M. Arthur

24.   Family Unit – Z.A. Maxfield

25.   Scrap Metal – Harper Fox (possibly my favourite this month – really loved the story and the writing)

26.   An Uncommon Whore – Belinda McBride

27.   Song of Oestend – Marie Sexton

28.   Wake me up inside – Cardeno C

29.   Del Fantasma – Black Wolf – Jade Buchanan

30.   The Square Peg – Jane Davitt

31.   Almost Paradise – Caitlin Ricci  (this was a really weak story and one I’d say do not read if irresponsible dog ownership pulls you out of the story..... guess who lost it half way through and nearly threw her kindle across the room when a supposed two year old (okay another issue – authors should perhaps spend time around 2 year olds when writing about them, at times the child portrayed characteristics of a six month old at times a 4 year old) was left with two adolescent bitches of a large guarding mastiff breed to sleep on the floor when the only adult was upstairs....so easily could have been a story about a child being torn to pieces by the dogs due to the idiocy of the parent...)

32.   Dark Heart – Thom Lane

33.   Healing Heart – Thom Lane

34.   Hidden Heart – Thom Lane

35.   Runaway Heart – Thom Lane (possibly the best of the series I read this month – not really bdsm though it is tagged as that, these are really slave fic, but well drawn fantasy set in an interesting world)

36.   The Price of Falling – Melanie Tushmore (one too many UK English words crept into an American based book at the beginning which I found quite frustrating)

37.   A Matter of Trust – A. C. Katt

38.   Personal Demons – Jay Lygon – really pleased I finally got round to finishing this series, last book was possibly the best one.

39.   Stained Glass – Jaime Samms

The Finals Countdown....

Well, today I filled in my application form for my finals in November...... okay, I know I couldn't have got out of this, after all I've studied for the past three years to finally qualify in the specialist field I work in... but it took quite a bit of persuasion from my colleague (who is also sitting the exam, despite the fact her baby is due 4 weeks before hand) to get me to fill in the application for my place..... two exams, each of two hours in length, theory in the morning, practical in the afternoon (yes, really a practical exam in law... and it doesn't involve any form of mock court appearance thankfully) and it's all over...... well hopefully!

I hate exams.... in fact, I got to this point with my first degree in Chemistry having passed the course work for three years and then bottled it and didn't show up for my finals.......okay so I knew I didn't want to do anything with a qualification in chemistry by that point, but still, looking back now it was a bit of a waste!  I don't want to rinse and repeat but with just under three months to go I am already starting to panic a bit...

I talked to my counsellor about it earlier.... and, leaving my abilities to panic for no real reason aside, it was pointed out to me that I have a rather bad habit of starting things and not finishing them.... whether we are talking about studying, projects I start or other things in my personal life .... so I have to consider loose ends this week.... what in my life is half finished, or even 90% finished, that I have just failed to round off and more importantly why I seem to have almost a phobia about completing things or as she put it taking the final step.... she'd also like an action plan of how I intend to finish some of these things...... which kind of got a raised eyebrow and a "we'll see"

I think having been forced to talk about it earlier it must be time to ignore it all for the rest of the evening and go take myself and my book to bed....

The Joy of Socks......

I am a self confessed sock knitter........ it's a fairly harmless hobby .... well save for the fact that my stash of sock yarn is not going to ever run out and I have no will power when it comes to buying even more... it does come in handy for gifts though, because there is nothing quite like hand knitted socks......

Which is a good thing as now three of my friends are pregnant and two of them have requested baby socks.... which sound cute, small and easy to knit, but good grief it's a faff on teeny needles with a teeny amount of stitches..... I've one set to get done for October and one for March..... luckily my other friend, also due in March, is a knitter herself and does not need me to knit for her (which is a good thing as her current three year old is still waiting for the cappuccino jumper I promised for when she was born.....)

Despite my love of hand knitted socks, I wear horrible black shop bought boring socks to work...... or at least I usually do.......

But I am such an innocent little
cat, honest, I wouldn't ever steal
anything and hide it!

Yesterday, after doing the laundry I hung up 5 pairs of boring work socks on the airer to dry...... this morning there are only three pairs......

and a very innocent looking Hugo

Now I know that he is a bit of a kleptomaniac.... after all my friends who stay all have to be told to keep their bags shut as he will raid them and steal underwear......... which is embarrassing when you later have to phone your friend up and say "I appear to have found a pair of your knickers, the cat was carrying them around"

So, tonight I am playing hunt the socks....... so far we have tried, under the bed, under the guest bed, behind the book case, under the chest of draws where the cat toys get stuck and in the bath (not sure why but some of his prize possessions end up there)....... so far I am drawing a blank ...... if you were a cat where would you hide socks is a question too far for my brain at this time of night....... it doesn't help that Hugo is sat on the top of the bedroom door sniggering at me.........

Bored with a side helping of "meh"

So, I managed the week at work... go me!  By Friday, well no, about Wednesday if I am truthful, I was pretty kippered and managing to work and then basically come home and do bugger all but laze about to recover...

By Friday I was seriously looking forward to what is for us a long bank holiday weekend..... until about, oh, lunch time, when everyone was sharing their exciting plans .... I put my earphones in, cranked the music up and ignored them after about an hour...... because I had absolutely nothing planned at all..... no exciting trips out, no plans to see friends, no visitors, nothing.

In fact, if it wasn't for the fact I needed to nip out to get my laundry done and I would have been at home on my own all weekend with the critters (save for the shopping delivery guy who came on Saturday morning that is)... as it was I took the laundry round to mums to use her machine .... she was making salads for a bbq my sister was having that afternoon with a load of friends....... I hadn't been invited.....

Tis official.... I have no life and am turning into a recluse.

Now whilst I have got plenty of things to occupy me at home, I've spent most of the weekend reading again.... admittedly I have also spent time with my leg up trying to persuade it to get better but still..... I am not so sure the kind of isolation I am feeling at the moment is healthy

I do have friends I could ring and natter to, but most of them have family and commitments and I don't want to intrude.

I am starting to feel like I am turning into the mad old woman that the local children think is a witch cos she never goes out and one day will be found dead semi eaten by her own pets......

Okay, tonight is not such a good night and I should pack this in and get a grip.......

learning to say "no"

Well I've survived two days at work.... okay so I squicked out my team leader a bit when she did the terribly jolly back to work interview and said how glad she was that I was back, well and firing on all cylinders..... until I showed her the rather revolting blistery mess that is my left calf at present... at which point she accepted that I possibly wasn't 100% back to full fitness and allowances will be made....

Anyway aside from that tonight was my appointment with my counsellor....which I'd missed for two weeks whilst sofa bound....

Now I know a lot of counselling involves listening to you as you talk things through but that sort of laid back "I'm listening" approach does not work for me... for I am the mistress of avoidance and pretending everything is in fact okay.  My current counsellor was chosen because she does not do this, she adopts a rather confrontational approach to things, which would be probably quite scary if you weren't expecting a challenge.

I have homework this week....... I have to recognise that not all problems are mine to solve and to learn to say no..... Apparently I have a sort of "superhero" complex when it comes to helping other people....which has nothing to do with wearing silly costumes with capes and flying... but it does have a lot to do with trying to fix everyone else's problems particularly if it helps avoid even looking at my own or at least minimising my own problems till they feel insignificant.

So, I have to identify things which are really not my problem and step back from them........ and also try and remember that because I can't fix someone else's problem does not make me a failure as a friend.

I also have to try saying no when someone asks me for help ..... now this ended up with me ranting at my counsellor because I don't think friends say "no" to each other when one asks for help...... apparently there are limits though and I have to recognise the difference between helping a friend and being their emotional crutch and dumping ground because this isn't healthy........ being the mistress of avoidance that I am, I may possibly just not answer the phone this week... that's kind of like saying no isn't it??

Hugo explaining how to say no, and glare at the same time!

Freedom!!

Hurrah! Today I was released from the sofa!

Okay, so I am not 100% match fit (but then really, when ever am I?) but today I was allowed off my sofa and out into the wild...... well that is to say, to put on non slouching about with the dogs clothes and to go out into public doing normal things! After over two weeks of sitting with my feet up it was rather a relief!

Down side - my feet did not appreciate the whole having to go into socks/shoes again and made their displeasure known!

For the first time in two weeks, the dogs got a proper walk (okay so still a very short one compared to usual, but they didn't seem to mind), I got to go to the shops - and bought new shoes (black converse type ones), somehow bought two new skirts I hadn't planned on buying, bought out the pet store in an attempt to pacify the masses during my absence tomorrow, and filled up the car, got cash out and other necessities for work tomorrow!

I am currently pumped full of antihistamines to combat the effects of the allergic reaction caused by one of the meds the doc put me on, as well as still peeling like a leper .....

So, back to work for me tomorrow..... part of which I am pleased about.... part of which I am dreading (I haven't had 2 weeks away from my desk in one go for over about 10 years!)  I have to face the dreaded "back to work" interview tomorrow with my supervisor where I shall try and persuade her I am well enough to be there.......

So, time for an early night with a book me thinks.........