Quick Update

Hi all.

Quick update on the madness here.

Well, we finally made the heartbreaking decision to return the puppies to the breeder. She's a lovely lady and would have kept them all if she could have anyway, so I know she'll take good care of them and find them loving homes. 

It wasn't just us not coping well, although having 2 together was definitely a mistake, but last week we got the news that DD2 will need a heart operation sometime in the new year. As she and her husband have only just moved to the other side of the country and don't have a support network over there yet, I will most likely go and stay with her while  she recovers. 

As DD3 is also having an op to remove a cyst that's actually growing inside her thigh bone in a couple of months time, it was all too much stress and gave us the final nudge to phone the breeder who was happy to have them back and even offered to hold them for us, but as we don't have definite dates or anything for the operations we know its best if she rehomes them. We've had a horrible few days since they went back last Friday. We were riddled with guilt but also missed them so much it was almost like mourning. Lots of tears from both DH and I. Funny how we got so attached to them in just a few weeks. 

The one consolation is that our cats are almost back to normal. I am enjoying cuddle time with Shadow who was always so affectionate but scared silly of the pups and hid in the bedrooms for almost 4 weeks.

So, now things are a lot quieter and less hectic and I can look forward to DD1 and her wife visiting over Xmas. They're at her parents in Cornwall for a few days and will drive up to us on Xmas morning, staying overnight and going back home to Basingstoke on Boxing Day. Apart from the actual food preparation on the day, as far as I can tell I have everything ready with all pressies wrapped and the house bulging with naughty things to eat. We've already had one family get together when DDs 2 and 3 and their other halves visited at the end of last week. I made 2 massive chillis in my slow cookers (one meat, one vegetarian), pulled pork, barbecue beans, salad, bread rolls, wraps etc. etc. plus 3 desserts (shop bought as we still had the pups and I couldn't find time to bake). Far too much food and we've been eating chilli nearly every day since.

In case I don't post again before Friday, I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and hope that all your hard work and planning makes for a wonderful day.

Love you, Helen xx

Better Day

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. Sorry I sounded so pathetic.

I do know we've taken on a lot and I was expecting it to be hard work but Sunday was just a bad day. I was tired and overwrought and I even had a cry in bed; it almost felt like the post natal depression I had after DD2 was born. I think it was also a bad time to get pups with all the stress of Xmas preparations too. 

Yesterday was a lot better. I got up early by myself and managed to get both pups to do their business outside before DH even came downstairs. Also during the day, whenever their fighting got out of hand, I separated them and distracted each with a chew or toy. I was also vigilant about poos and pees and I would say over 50% made it out into the yard.

Things have definitely improved, but this morning wasn't so smooth as DH got up the same time as me. I've come to the conclusion that, even though its more tiring, its easier when I'm here alone with them as other people are distracting and tend not to be as firm and sure in handling them as I am and I'm sure the pups sense that. 

We're also buying a second crate to separate them at night since Charlie settles down straight away but Ollie scrabbles about and digs and disturbs him, and DH is starting to take them out separately for a few minutes first thing in the morning and in the evening to get them used to their leads and street noises. 

Today I'm taking a break from the pups and in an hour I'm off to my slimming club's Xmas lunch. I popped into the club to get weighed already and then came home in the pouring rain. My weight is staying approximately the same within about a 2-3lb range (despite me eating a whole box of 6 mince pies last week). My sons are both here today so they can puppy sit between them.

Thanks again for all the comments and advice and I do know things will improve as they get older. 

Not Coping

Feeling such a failure tonight, but we're not coping at all well with the pups. My stress levels are through the roof, I feel so depressed. DH and I have been constantly hovering over them all weekend and we're tired and strung out. Because the weather's been bad they won't do a thing out in the yard but will do it the moment they get back in the house even though we might have been out there in the wind and rain for 20 minutes waiting for them to 'go'. Not that they were getting it right all that often anyway. They're chewing everything in sight despite us providing plenty of puppy toys and chews for them, which they do use but the moment our backs are turned they're tearing up the carpet, or ripping the paper off the walls etc. etc.

I know its only been 2 weeks but I was hoping there might have been some improvements. Their play-fighting is also incredibly vicious and noisy and Ollie barks so much I'm worried the neighbours will complain. I'm practically confined to the house unless one of the boys is available to puppy sit for an hour, and then I'm rushing to the shops and back as fast as possible. It's not as if we didn't think long and hard before getting them (well, we thought long and hard about getting one) but it's so much harder than I ever imagined or remembered from our previous dog who we had at an even younger age, and I also had 5 children under 12 at that time.

We were idiots to think we could manage with 2. We're seriously considering returning them both to the breeder. I just want my quiet life back with my 2 cats (who I never see now because they're always hiding out in the bedrooms). Not sure how to tell the kids, although most of them don't live home I'm so ashamed that I've taken on these 2 little creatures and can't cope with them.

Sorry for the long, selfish rant. Just needed to get it off my chest.

Dec 2nd? Must Be Time To Cook The Xmas Dinner

I was awake until 2 am last night and then up to the pups at 6. My brain just wouldn't shut down enough for me to drop off to sleep. I kept going over all the things I still had to do for Xmas, the food I had to buy, who I would be cooking for, what I would feed my vegetarian daughter-in-law (should be easy as I catered for my veggie daughter for years, but I'm not so sure what DIL likes), what order I would cook everything in, the pressies I still have to buy, when to write and send cards, wrapping the pressies I still haven't bought yet...and so on, and so on. I even crept out of bed and in to the bathroom with a pen and paper to make notes since I didn't want to come downstairs and chance disturbing the pups who've been mostly sleeping through the night. 

I get like this every year in the last couple of weeks before Xmas, my brain gets all muddled between normal routine and Xmas, trying to still shop for everyday stuff but making sure I get everything I need for the holiday. Not knowing exactly how many I'll be catering for this year doesn't help, and who we'll be seeing the week before Xmas so that their pressies need to be ready a week early. It's also DH's birthday next Weds and on the 17th most of us are getting together for a big take away when DD2 and hubby visit. Having 2 puppies of course adds to the fun (?) with vets appointments for both them and the cats to fit in and a dentist appointment for me. 

In light of my manic desire to be as prepared as possible, I started cooking my Xmas dinner today. In between cleaning out the cats litter trays, washing the pups blankets, taking the pups outside for pees and poos and cleaning up the ones that didn't make it into the yard, vaccuming throughout, making macaroni cheese for dinner, doing more laundry, scrubbing out the oven and cooker top etc. etc., I have cooked both the sausagemeat and the vegetarian stuffings in loaf tins, the chipolatas wrapped in bacon, the Quorn sausages, and the Quorn roast that I will split in half lengthwise, sandwich back together with vege stuffing, refreeze and then on the day it will be wrapped in puff pastry and recooked. All went in the oven at the same  time as the mac and cheese to save on fuel. Everything will be returned to the freezer now its been cooked and then I will just need to defrost and reheat it on the day when I cook the turkey breast roasts and the rolled, stuffed pork along with the accompaniments. 

I've also had an Iceland and a Tesco delivery, and I've spent time online ordering the last few pressies. I have nearly everything now and although I can't exactly relax at least I know I'm mostly prepared.  Actually, I've probably overdone it with the food as usual and even if everyone turns up there should be more than enough to eat; if nobody extra turns up we'll be eating Xmas food for a month after the holiday. 

I know it's silly for me to get so uptight about everything, especially as my family won't really notice or mind if everything doesn't go to plan, but I do get kind of panicky if I don't feel I've got all under control. I try to have a 'so what' attitude if all isn't as it should be, but it doesn't really work for me.

So, how are the Xmas preparations going with you? Anyone else started their dinner preparations yet?

Sealed Pot Xmas Shopping

I've finally gotten my backside in gear and started my Christmas preparations prompted by the thought of visitors we weren't expecting over the Xmas period. From just the 4 of us (myself, DH and 2 adult sons) there will now be at least an extra 2 and possibly 4 here for the holiday, with 2 of them staying over for a couple of nights. With our 2 puppies currently needing so much attention, I really can't be bothered making everything from scratch so today I've emptied my sealed savings tins and have done an online Iceland shop to be delivered later this week. 

I've also done most of my gift shopping online, and I'm sending shop-bought cards this year, purchased for a few pence in sales throughout the year, instead of making them all myself which I did last year. 

I was surprised that there was £130 in my tins since I don't seem to have put anything much in them for the past few months. That will certainly pay for all the food and the 2 hampers of Kentish produce I've ordered for my daughters and their spouses who now live in other parts of the country.

Apart from buying the pups, who were paid for from DH's redundancy money, we've had a lot of unexpected expenses over the past few weeks. £400 spent on repairs to the car, a waste of money as it's still causing issues that can't seem to be solved so we're probably getting rid of it now. £120 on tickets, hire of robes and photos for DS2's graduation ceremony at the end of January, and £200 on Friday for new bath and sink taps and other plumbing work resulting from a leak that dripped through the kitchen ceiling right around the light fitting. I had to dip into some of my special occasions and holiday savings that I was going to use for Xmas and so the remainder of my Xmas spending will now be funded by the money I usually use to overpay on the mortgage each month. It won't hurt to have a month or two where I only make the basic payment. I'm so thankful that I had savings to draw on and won't start the new year with a credit card bill I can't clear completely. As soon as it's all paid off I'll be cutting back again to replace those savings.

Speaking of the pups, they've settled in extremely well, house training is hit and miss at the moment, but they are peeing and pooing in the right place more frequently now. The cats are still staying very distant, and they are the ones keeping us awake at night now they're allowed to wander the upstairs while the pups are shut in the living room. 

How are your preparations going? Are you all done or leaving everything until the last minute? 

A Tale of 2 Puppies

Yesterday I went out intending to collect one little girl puppy...so how come I'm sitting here watching 2 little boy puppies gnawing on their chews on the rug?

It's DH's fault. There was only one girl left from the litter and I was all set to take her home when DH says...how about we have 2 so they keep each other company, like our 2 cats do? I didn't jump at the suggestion straight away, quickly mulling over the pros and cons (and dismissing all the cons, of course), especially double the purchase price and vets bills, and insurance. When I'd more or less decided 'yes', I had to choose between the 3 boys? And then I considered what having a girl and a boy would mean before they were old enough to be neutered and the faint possibility we wouldn't catch them soon enough and end up with an unwanted pregnancy. In the end we decided to play it safe and take the one tan-coloured boy which left me to decide between 2 black and white boys. Choosing between them was so hard but I really, really, really couldn't take all 3 boys so I let DH make the final decision.

And that's how we've ended up with Ollie (tan) and Charlie (black and white) who are 10 weeks old Shih Tzu cross Toy Poodles.

Helping Dad with The Hoovering

Our two cats have had their world turned upside down and have been making themselves scarce upstairs for most of the time. I'm feeling guilty about that as my Shadow was particuarly affectionate and is currently keeping his distance. I'm really hoping both he and Halo will soon accept the pups and get back to their usual selves. 

 

Apologies if the gaps between pictures aren't equal; they look okay when composing the post but are out in the preview.

 

Really, really cold here today. The first day this year I've needed hat, scarf and gloves when going out. I've just splashed out and bought a couple of cheap room heaters for the boys bedrooms so I don't have to have the central heating on too much. This is a cold house and despite plenty of insulation in the roof, the top bedrooms are particularly chilly. I don't like spending money on electricity and gas but we need to keep warm and extra layers of clothing aren't doing it completely right now. I hope you're all managing to keep warm.

War on Waste and Cats and Boxes

Having watched my Tivo recording of Hugh's War on Waste last night I resolved this morning to use up some of the veg I have in the fridge and vegetable basket. And it's not only my fridge but also the freezer and cupboards that have all kinds of odds and ends lurking and forgotten. 

So this morning I have made curried parsnip and carrot soup, cheddar and wholegrain mustard bread, a vegetable curry and crumble-topped raspberry muffins. 

The carrots and parsnips for the soup were just starting to go wrinkly in the veg basket. The veg curry contains more of the carrots and parsnips, some celery and cherry tomatoes from the bottom of the fridge and a part-packet of curry spice mix that had been hiding at the back of my cupboard for ages. I also tossed in a tin of Pinto beans I'd had on the shelf for a couple of months.

The bread used wholemeal flour that had also been around for a while, white bread flour, wholegrain mustard from a huge tub I bought from Approved Foods ages ago, a sachet of dried yeast that was due to go out of date this month and half a pack of Aldi grated cheddar. 

The muffins used Lurpack butter I bought reduced in M & S of all places and had in the freezer for a few months, and frozen raspberries from FarmFoods that I'd also had for a while and forgotten about. They will be served with custard for dessert tonight and tomorrow. 

The soup and bread are for tonight's dinner, and the curry will be served tomorrow with long grain rice. Two day's worth of dinners and desserts made entirely from foods I already had in the house, some that other people might have thrown away for not looking nice or being out of date. 

I do love my kitchen gadgets though. The curry is currently being cooked in my slow cooker, the soup made in my new soupmaker and I used my breadmaker for the loaf but browned the cheesy top in the oven while the muffins were baking. I could have saved money on fuel by mixing and kneading the bread by hand and baking it in with the muffins but my wrists aren't as strong as they used to be... No, that's just an excuse, truthfully, I hate kneading dough and I'm lazy so I stuck it all my ancient breadmaker but the top wasn't brown enough so it went in the oven for that final browning. 

Here are the pics of my hard work -

 Before Browning

After Browning

 

And here's some pics of my cats Shadow (the grey) and Halo (the colourpoint) both wanting the same shoebox -

I think Halo won that time.

 

Despite the forecast it's dry here today so I'm just off into town for a coffee with DS1. Hope it's not too wet and wondy where you are. Love Helen x