Meanwhile, in other news...

I got a job! It's the job I'm doing now actually, but it's a permanent position whereas I'm currently on a temporary contract covering sick leave. Fantastic!

It was a bit of a roller-coaster though - my new friend Sally who also works on a temporary contract in the office also wanted the job. We both duly put in our applications Friday week before and she got an email that afternoon to say she had an interview... I heard hee-haw so over the next 4 or 5 days came to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to get one. Cue a phonecall from HR at 4pm the day before interview days to ask why I hadn't confirmed my attendacne for an interview the following day... turns out they'd sent me an email but not to the account I expected so I'd missed it.

eek! A frantic evening (after tea, Guides and visiting) looking up what I wrote and thinking up experiences to recount and I duly attended on Friday.

Unfortunately the fact I got the job means Sally didn't; and that makes me sad. She was incredibly nervous and says she didn't show herself well in the interview at all... sigh. However they have rolled her contract over for another 3 months so hopefully by the end of that she'll find something or else be kept on somehow - I really hope so. the people I work with are very nice and I really enjoy being part of a team with them but I don't want to lose Sally!

Keep your fingers crossed everyone...

catch-up

Been a bit busy lately so haven't really had the time or inclination to sit down and do this. Briefly, Maddie's haul has now grown to include a packet of coconut crumble cookies and a three-pack of chunky Kitkats and a bunch of biscuits I'd got for a Guide activity - resulting in the disappearance of 18 Rocky chocolate biscuits and 27 custard creams. Actually, only 14 Rockys, we rescued 4.

Meanwhile, not to be outdown, Murphy has been disappearing again and I've had him on the lead past the problem area for about 4 weeks now. Twice he's been let off (at weekends when I've got time to wait around for him and the road we think he crosses is quieter) to see if he's still going off. Yup! The mystery of why was solved when he returned with a deer hoof and 2 weeks later the same thing happened, with him returning with a leg (both crunched for the rest of the walk) (sorry for those of you of a delicate sensibility. I had a bit of a stand-of with him on the doorstep with the leg as he wanted to take it inside; luckily the thought of breakfast was stronger and he did drop it and head inside eventually.

So - business as usual! Although we've been much more careful about leaving stuff around so Maddie's not had any extras for about a week or so - and a friend suggested putting Tabasco sauce on the counter to dissuade her so that may be the next step..

mystery solved?

I've been doing some research and have discovered who this Grant McKinstry is - I think the parent of one of my Guides. I had emailed him to ask why his email address was coming up so felt obliged to re-email and say I had worked out the connection and presumably his daughter had maybe typed in the address when I had the laptop at Guides at some point. Still doesn't explain how it came to be on my Blogger sign-in page but at least the connection is explained!

I hope he doesn't think I'm a stalker. sigh.

Action must be Taken!

Right, that's it - I've had enough of this thievery! It's gone beyond a joke. In the last couple of weeks or so she's had half a joint of beef, a packet of chocolate mini rolls, lord knows how many catfood sachets (R tends to leave them around half full)  and now she's polished off two thirds of a loaf of Irish soda bread - grrrr!

So I am declaring war. I've downloaded some tips and will be putting them into action. Watch this space...

tricky treats..

gulp - as my sister says, she doesn't know how our two survive, with all the rubbish they eat. Tonight I found an empty (& chewed) birthday candle packet. I'm hoping Maddie found the empty packet rather than the full one!

Meanwhile the mystery of Murphy's recent departures has been solved - I let him off the lead on Sunday morning and off he went (sigh) but at least it was light so I knew what direction he'd gone and stood and called and called. He was only away 10 minutes but when he came back had something in his mouth and stopped about 200 yards away (I knew then he had something he knew he shouldn't have)

Sure enough when I eventually got to approach him to see what he had - it was a deer's hoof! OK, I thought, I'm getting used to this now, he'll just drop it at the door so I'll ignore it til then. Of course, not this time - he duly came along with me once he realised I wasn't going to take it off him, but stopped every now and then - and I could hear crunching sounds...

Oh dear. Steeling myself (and not thinking about what he was doing) I told him sternly that it would not agree with him and he would suffer for it later. Needless to say I was wrong - it was us who suffered for it - more of the "silent but deadlies" all evening, sigh.

Cheers, boyo!

and now..

Took Maddie to the vet on Saturday; she was terrified! Poor wee thing, she didn't want to get out of the car, then when I got her in and we tried to sit in the corner (where she normally hides under my chair) - she hopped up onto a seat and when I sat next to her, hopped over and sat, shivering, on my lap. awwwww....

But she was a brave girl and didn't squeak when she got her booster jag (but refused to take any treats til she got out the door again.) 

Lucky it's only once a year.

Who is Grant McKinstry?

I've no idea who Grant McKinstry is, but I just signed into Blogger here and his email address came up. Who are you, Grant McKinstry? And why is your email address on my laptop?

Why why why?

[if you're a friend of stepson 2 that explains a lot]