I am at a loss today. I actually have a bit of free time to call all my own and am sitting here wondering how that happened. I know it sounds strange, but I rarely have any free time because I’m always too busy doing housey things or something for/with the kids or visiting family or doing shopping or some other domestic thing. It’s unusual to have some ‘just me’ time. I’d like to say it’s joyously peaceful at the moment, but we have the builders in and Millie is going nuts every time they move (outside, she is inside but can see them through the patio doors). She is currently spitting feathers at them through the glass as I write. That’s why she is affectionately known in the house as Mrs Barky Pants. That is funny, but the barking can be annoying.

Anyway, I’ve decided to write my blog today and (shock horror) actually get down to some writing. That, I feel, is an excellent use of time and maybe Mrs BP will shut up for five minutes and I’ll get some peace.

So how are you? Hope you’re well and that your week has been a good one. Can’t really say we’ve done much over the past week. I bought a new cooker which is coming in a few weeks (yes my life is incredibly exciting and glamorous!). I’ve been reading Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee which is a beautifully written memoir. I have been doing a veritable mountain of washing courtesy of the kids who I made clean their rooms last week by banning all electronic games, phones etc. Worked a treat, but meant I’ve been doing a tonne of washing now for more than a week. When I saw the pile I actually felt like crying, but I took a deep breath and just got on with it. It’s not the worst thing to have happened. Although I have to confess that I was muttering ‘wee bastards’ a lot when I was doing it. The washing pile is now down to two loads which I hope to have washed and dried today. Washed at least.

I don’t know why, but talking about washing has just reminded me I still have an episode from the new series of Outlander to watch. Yippee. I can thing of no correlation between the two, but Outlander just popped into my head. What’s that about? Hang writing, hello Jamie Fraser. Damnit…so easily distracted from writing by a big hunky Scotsman in a kilt. Be still my beating heart.

Anyway, before I go and watch it I will continue with this blog and stop being all over the place. 🙂

Bonya continues to be doing well after her brush with cancer, thank goodness. She is a funny dog. The other two are always up early and desperate to get going. Bonya? Well she stays in bed as long as she can, snoozing and snoring, usually under my duvet because she crawls in there after I get out. I had to physically drag her out of bed this morning because she just looked through me when I shouted  on her to get up. It’s not easy to drag a pug out of bed…they are wee dogs, but bloody hell they are heavy and Bonya is no exception. She’s not even fat for a pug, but is actually quite slim (the vet that said it). Millie continues to try to terrorise larger dogs who look at her as if she’s come from outer space and Casper…well if he pees on my carpet one more time I may have to put a knot in it! He took ages to house train and I had him going out until, that is, the workies arrived to do the extension. Then he went back to his old tricks. For instance, this morning I put him and Millie out twice, but he ran back inside straight away both times because I stood in the way of his escape attempt (the fence isn’t what it should be at the moment because of the work being carried out, long story, so he likes to squeeze out and run (in a gleeful, devil-may-care manner) around my neighbour’s garden). He then peed on the upstairs landing. Sigh. He is definitely the naughtiest of the three.

Right on that note, I am going to finish here. I could tell you about all the boring housework stuff I’ve been doing, but I don’t want to send you to sleep. Til next time,

Dawn xx

PS small anecdote from this morning – being a bit of a rock indie chick in my day (to be truthful I like a LOT of different types of music), I was into a lot of bands  from the 80s and 90s (Smiths, Cure, Cult, Guns n Roses, Nirvana, Whitesnake, Alice in Chains, etc etc etc) so have been collecting ‘Best of…’ CDs of my favourites over the years. I like the nostalgia plus at lot of the bands were truly superb not like the identikit bands and singers of today. This morning, being in a  somewhat good ole rock mood, I put the Best of The Cult on in the car, much to my son’s disgust. If you are into rock music, you know that the only way to listen to it is LOUD so I had it blasting as I took him to school. And his response to my attempt to educate him in the finer points of 80s rock was: “Mum, turn that off, you’re embarrassing me.” Sigh.