Day 89 - One of those days when Baggy should have stayed in bed.

Baggy totally overslept. Again. But that wasn't going to stop Furry Mama from taking Minty Mutt out. The number one furry, Calum, refused to put his lead on and come. Furry Mama stepped outside. Clever Bird remembered that she is looking after Jack, the old cat next door. He hasn't left the house in five days. Until last night that is. He insisted on going out. Furry Mama worries constantly when he is out at night. Hinge and Bracket come in as soon as it's getting dark. It is blowing a gale again. So at first Baggy didn't hear the hunt horns, just shouting. The hunt were less than quarter of a mile from the house. Grotty watched them for a while and decided that they had totally lost control of the hounds. Furry Mama shoved Mint back inside (rather than leaving him in the front garden) while she went to check on Jack. Absolutely no sign of the boy. Great. Freda Fretter started to worry. Clever Bird explained that he's probably holed up somewhere high and away from the noise of the hounds.

Furry Mama collected Mint. Clever bird decided that they should head away from the hunt. That meant doing the "wetlands" walk anti-clockwise. Up the steep steps. Mint wasn't keen. He stopped for a poo on the blind bend of the road! Poo bagged and binned. Furry Mama towed Minty to the steps. He struggled to get his poor back end up them. Furry Mama gave him a helping hand by putting her hand under his bottom. Baggy's hand immediately got covered in smelly poo. Yuck! Baggy wiped her hand in the grass. On a stinging nettle. Ouch! Instinctively lifted her hand to her mouth to spit on the sting. Got poo on her chin. Seriously? And breathe. Actually, no don't Baggy, hold your breath! Tried again to wipe her hand in the grass. Why is it dry when you need it to be wet? Okay, live with it.

Furry Mama kept Mint on the lead, just in case the hunt came anywhere near. They couldn't on that walk in theory, but once again there were fresh horse hoof-prints on the footpath (a.k,a. the little grass track by the field). Plus as Clever Bird pointed out, the hounds were out of control. As Furry Mama and Mint headed down the village high street, Grotty Groom realised Clever Bird's error. The hunt were in the middle of the road attempting to get the hounds out of someone's garden! Hmmmm!

 

 

Minty Mutt does look rather like a fox. Freda fretted. Creative Clara videoed. Furry Mama held tightly onto Minty Mutt. Minty tried desperately to join the hunt. And breathe (in the faint smell of poo)..........

Day 88 - Water!

It's been a wet old day one way and another. Furry Mama only got Baggy a little damp on their walk with Minty Mutt. It drizzled. She didn't have a hat on. Minty took her so far today. Over two hours. Trouble is, like Baggy, his mind is willing, his body - not so much. Baggy and Minty were beginning to wonder if they would get home before they ran out of steam. The usual stream stops were taken. Clever Bird worries that this can't really help Minty's hips. But he will insist on going in.

At least he decided to try to appease The Domestic Goddess by clearing the mud off his own stomach. The lad is very good at splashing the water up. Very, very cold water it has to be said. Bless him. Furry Mama has decided to take him to the vets next week for a bit of a chat and a check-up though. His hips are definitely a worry. Fortunately he loves the vets!

When Baggy's husband got home from his week at work, he arrived with a "present" for the cats. It was a water-spray bottle. The Domestic Goddess was impressed. The Furry Mama was not happy. But Calum is right. Clever Bird agrees that measures need to be taken to try to get the girls to stop scratching the furniture before the new (expensive) sofa and chair arrive. Needs must. It won't hurt them. Not that Baggy will be using it of course. Sorry Cal.

He filled it with water. Then decided to test its range and accuracy. ON THE HINGE CAT! Who was minding her own business, doing NOTHING wrong in the kitchen. Poor pudd-tat. Furry Mama was furious. She's a forgiving little sausage though. After a reassuring cuddle from Furry Mama she went and sat on Cal's knee. Baggy's husband is not a huge fan of soap operas. Creative Clara is. They are pretty much back to back on a Friday evening. Clara had control of the remote. Calum got bored. Started pointing the water spray at Baggy's ear. "I reckon that would hit you right on your ear". "People can go off husbands you know, don't even think about it" said Baggy. "But it would be a good shot". "Yes, you just keep yourself amused" announced big-mouthed Clever Bird rather patronisingly. Squirt. Splat. Right, as predicted in Baggy's ear. "Well you told me to keep myself amused. I did". Chuckle. Chuckle. "That IS NOT what I meant and you know it!" declared Baggy completely pointlessly as she dripped water everywhere! Furry Mama reckons the cats have more sense. They have not been anywhere near their favourite scratchy bits of the sofa. Nope, they'll just wait until Baggy and Calum are out of the house............

Day 88 - Baggy's back on it.

Baggy went to Fat Club again today. Nope, she still isn't following the healthy eating plan one hundred percent, but she is at least making a bit of an effort. Freda Fretter decided that Baggy needed to expect the worst. Be prepared for having put on weight. She decided to take Mini-Baggy with her as a bit of support. (Sorry bloggees, is there something wrong with that? No. Okay then). Clever Bird told Baggy to get a grip. She knows that she isn't trying as hard as she used to. She also knows that any weight she loses at the moment, is weight that she had piled back on after her Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst surgery. So it doesn't feel like an achievement. Yep, that is totally crazy. But in her head she should have lost another half-a-stone after her surgery, just because Lawrence and half her insides had gone. Instead she put half-a-stone on. So really she put a stone on, right? Yes, she has. So her motivation should really be high! She needs to get it off again. Good point Clever Bird.

Baggy stepped onto the scales with a certain amount of trepidation. And a lot of embarrassment due to the massive hole in both socks. Yep, well done Goddess. Ever heard of a darning needle? Or a bin? The weight flickered between two results. It steadied at a half pound loss. Freda was very surprised. Baggy was thrilled. Clever Bird was calculating. "Quick Baggy, take off your belt". Urrrm, okay then. Oooooooooo, a whole pound lost. Yay! Now actually, Clever Bird was correct. Last week Baggy was barely dressed. Well clearly, she was dressed, but she was wearing a fine merino wool dress that weighs next to nothing. Today on the other hand, Baggy had on heavy jeans and a studded belt. So you see it really wasn't cheating! And it has motivated her. Baggy needed a loss to encourage her. A pound doesn't sound much, but grab that slab of butter and have a rethink!

The lovely Group Leader and the other members were encouraging as always. Mini-Baggy was a great support too. She is encouraging Baggy to do this properly once more and to fill in a "food diary". Clever Bird approves. Hormonal Hannah has turned Baggy's brain to mush. She forgets what she has eaten ten minutes after it's digested. Baggy is on another mission. Get slim. Get fit. Get Grotty back on that hoss..........

Day 87 - Unbelievable!

Clever Bird is beginning to wonder whether Baggy might have a touch of S.A.D. Today was a very grey, manky, drizzly day in little old Suffolk and Baggy felt as though she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Very low. Very teary. For no apparent reason. So, in her new positive frame of mind, rather than curling up in a little ball, she dragged Furry Mama out. Minty Mutt insisted on the wetland walk. He also insisted on his usual refreshment break in the stream. This is why The Domestic Goddess gets so cross with Furry Mama. The state of the mutt. Unbelievable.

 

 



But it keeps the lad happy, so Furry Mama lets him do his thing. Best not to think too much about how the house ends up when Mint gets home. Baggy still felt low. Even after the walk. So The Goddess rustled up some lunch and a cup of tea. Nope. That didn't work either. Clever Bird took Baggy in hand. No moping. Keep busy. Get The Goddess to carry on with reclaiming Baggy's little house from the junk. Good plan.

So as it is not possible at the moment to reclaim the spare bedroom. Largely because the old mattress is propped on its end in there. She decided to have a go at the sitting room. This meant starting with the filing of paperwork. Five hours later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes. Good question bloggees. "How is it possible to take five hours to do some filing?" Very easily if your name is Baggy. It took Freda Fretter a good half-an-hour and two cups of tea to persuade Baggy to throw away her bank statements. Clever Bird knows that it's a good thing to keep bank statements. But let's put it this way, "Is it strictly necessary to keep every bank statement and credit card statement?" Probably not. So eventually Baggy agreed to rip a lot of them up. Now Baggy only has twelve years worth. What? What's wrong with that? She ripped up all the ones from the eighties and nineties and started on the naughties, but then panicked and gave up at 2003. It was a good compromise! Being a human shredder didn't do Baggy's arm a lot of good though.

Problem two. The Goddess clearly last did her filing over two years ago if the dates on things are anything to go by. Unbelievable. Where on earth does the time go? More recent "filing" has been shoved in a cupboard. Shoved on one antique chair. Shoved on another antique chair. Shoved on the dining table. Hence five hours. Actually, it's still not quite done. But three whole bin liner bags were filled with ex-filing! Baggy can now see the two chairs that previously had a foot or two of filing on each of them. Result. Well done Goddess.

 

Now Clever Bird just needs to keep on top of it. No more "filing" on chairs. The good thing though, is that Baggy felt heaps better afterwards. It definitely feels good not being surrounded by so much clutter. The new start continues apace..........

Day 86 - Feeling blue.

Is it any wonder that the favourite topic of conversation for us Brits is the weather? Yesterday (apart from the wind) it felt like a summer's day. Today, when Furry Mama walked Minty Mutt she thought that Baggy's fingers might actually snap off. They got so cold in her mittens they had gone an interesting shade of blue. Yet she not only walked past fully open daffodils, snowdrops, crocus and primroses, she also saw fully blooming bluebells! Yep, bluebells! Bluebells come out between April and May in the UK. Not in January. Now admittedly Clever Bird has totally lost track of time and gone into some surreal time-warp: Baggy's Mum's funeral seems to have been about two months ago; it was last week. Grotty had let the Boy Wessles run out of his supplements: she thought she reordered just after Christmas; it was three months ago. But still Clever Bird is fairly certain that it's not April yet. Crazy weather. But it's so cold today that The Goddess has lit the fire and the furries are taking full advantage.

 

But Baggy is also feeling a bit blue about the fact that Creative Clara's series for www.channillo.com has so far not taken off. Freda Fretter wasn't too sure about letting Clara go ahead with it, even though it was the owner of channillo who approached Baggy about writing for them. She didn't feel confident. Most people on there are professional (often prize-winning) authors! She felt a tad intimidated. But Clever Bird told her to give it a whirl. So Clara has so far submitted five entries in the "Journals" category. They are about Baggy first discovering Lawrence, the tests, the uncertainty, the waiting. So today she has changed her cover-image to see whether that helps.

 

 

Freda Fretter is worried that Baggy is a very acquired taste. But Clever Bird insists that as you lovely Baggy-bloggees have acquired that taste, Creative Clara must be doing something right. If any of you do fancy getting a more in-depth account of Baggy's discovery of Lawrence and what happened next, Baggy would be absolutely delighted. Sorry. Advert over! But Clever Bird really hopes she might see some of you over there as it were...........



Day 85 - Normality!

What a great day Baggy has had. Well perhaps it started a little dodgily. She slept really badly. No, worry not bloggees, it wasn't the new mattress, Clever Bird has pointed out that it is the chain-drinking of tea! It needs to stop. Baggy went to bed at 11.30pm, but had to get up five times before 3.00am!!! The rest of the night wasn't too much better. The good news being that the mattress was so comfortable, that Baggy at least fell asleep instantly when she got back on it! Then she overslept. Nothing new there then. It has been a beautiful English sunny winter's day, so Furry Mama took Minty Mutt out. He chose the route - dragged Baggy in the opposite direction from the steep steps! Clever Bird can take a hint so she let him. He took Furry Mama through The Thickets.

 

Baggy and Creative Clara realised what a wonderful day it was to be alive! If it hadn't been for the very real nip in the air, the sun was so strong that it could have been a summer's day.

 

 

Clara loved the shadows. Minty Mutt loved the warm sun on his achy bones. In fact it was so lovely that Furry Mama went further than intended, lost track of time and was late for Baggy's lunch with her dear friend Susan. Only five minutes. But still. Late. Freda Fretter doesn't do late! In fact she's always early. Susan doesn't do late either, so Baggy felt bad. But Susan was just happy to see Baggy. Lovely lunch. Clever Bird persuaded Baggy to stay on her healthy eating plan. She had a pleasant ham salad. But then when Baggy toddled off to order a cappuccino the lemon drizzle cake was literally screaming at her from the counter. Well, seriously, she couldn't ignore it could she? So lemon drizzle cake was ordered. At least Baggy and Susan shared a piece between them. She is trying. No really, she is! In the old days, she'd not only have had a whole piece to herself , she wouldn't have had a salad either.

 

Then Baggy took Grotty Groom and Susan to go over and see the horses. Grotty used to ride out with Susan all the time, so she wanted to see the Boys too. Wessles was delighted to see them and for once, even Joey seemed pleased. Clever Bird realised that the manege was empty, so she decided to take Wesley for a walk round it. Grotty last handled Wesley months ago, so it was going to go one of only two ways. Either he would be an angel and wander around with Grotty without putting a hoof wrong. Or, he would let Grotty know that she had let him down by "deserting" him and take off around the school.  Baggy's heart rate doubled and started doing its boom, boomedy, booming nonsense as soon as Grotty started to put Wesley's bridle on. Ridiculous. And not helpful as Wessles picks up on nerves instantly. But Grotty was determined. Wesley has not been in the manege for at least six months. He was an angel. Walked with Grotty like a puppy. Sniffed the horse poos. Ate (an already sprouting) branch off a bush on the way past it. Followed her over poles. Spooked at nothing. And didn't even consider taking off. Bless him. It was a lovely ten minutes or so, that Grotty can now build up from.

 

As Grotty was trying to open the gate into the stable block she asked Wessles to back up a bit. He did. He also dropped his head down to nuzzle Grotty. He put his nose over her shoulder. Baggy's ponytail managed to get caught on the bars on Wesley's fulmar bit! Baggy was stuck with her head under Wesley's chin. A lot of horses would then have lost the plot. Wesley stood totally still until Susan had freed Baggy! Very proud Grotty. Susan headed home to get warm. Grotty decided to introduce Mini-Baggy to Wesley.

 

 

 

It went so well that she insisted on having a bit of a sit on the Boy. Grotty adores that horse. Baggy's life is starting to get back to normal...........

 

 

 

 



 



 



Day 84 - Tight!

Baggy had to get herself up this morning because she had a phone call at 8.30am saying that her new mattress would be delivered between 9.30 and 11.30am. Actually it was 9.20am. Three chaps. Just as well! It took them about ten minutes and a lot of grunting to get the mattress through the door at the foot of the eighteenth-century staircase! Freda Fretter was rather concerned that it wouldn't go up, but she had to admire the chaps' perseverance. They got there in the end.

 



Mini-Baggy checked it out. Clearly she must have approved because within a minute she was fast asleep. Freda Fretter is a little concerned that the mattress is rather more firm than she remembers it being when she lay on it in the shop. However, it comes with a thirty-day testing guarantee. If it's not comfy, it can be changed for a different one. Marvellous. Well actually, Clever Bird is pretty sure that the delivery chaps might not agree that it's marvellous if Baggy wants to change it! Let's hope that she doesn't.

 

 

 

Once the mattress was in place, Furry Mama decided to take Minty Mutt out before the winds got too "windy". She is rather worried about the lad. He gets very excited to go out. But then once Furry Mama is out with him, he seems to completely go off the idea. Furry Mama virtually had to drag him down the road this morning. He struggled to get up the bank-steps. Ate some grass. Then seemed to feel a little better. Freda is worried that his hips might be going. If there's no improvement in the next few days, Furry Mama will take him to the vets. Then Baggy realised that she too was in pain. It was a phantom-Lawrence-the-durmoid-cyst pain. Well Freda Fretter hopes it's "phantom". Otherwise it will be because The Domestic Goddess seriously over did it last week, then Grotty probably finished Baggy off grooming Wessles yesterday. But as Baggy is on a mission at the moment to get the gang fully in action and to get the house sorted, she is carrying on.........