Kero and I are back

Kero and I got home just before 8:00 pm last night and went pretty much straight to bed. We were very tired. Not so much because we'd had a busy weekend but because for various reasons we barely got any sleep.

Thursday, we got to Jo's house about 7:00 pm, had dinner and all that and somehow ended up not getting to bed until about 1:00 am. Then we had to get up just after 6:00 am because Jo had to get up to catch the train and Kero has been taught to get me up when an alarm goes off so he got me up. Then Friday I fell asleep half way through the second episode of CSI (so around 11:30 pm) but for some reason woke up at 5:00 am and couldn't get back to sleep. So, I got up, got dressed and fed and walked the dogs. Then Saturday night Jo came home around 7:00 pm but we ended up not getting to bed until about 1:30 am and Natalie (Jo's daughter) had for some reason set the alarm on her phone for 5:00 am and though it didn't wake her up it woke me and Kero up and that was me up for the day then. So, needless to say, by the time Kero and I got home last night I practically fell in to my bed.

The kids and dogs were as good as gold for me though. But then, they usually are. Daniel (the eldest boy) walked the dogs sometimes for me, cleaned up the mess every time Mutley (the tiny puppy) had an accident and even helped me make dinner. Tony (the next kid down) was hardly home, as usual, but when he was I never heard a peep out of him. Natalie (the only girl) was only there from Saturday when Jo came home since Jo had picked her up. But, when Jo went to visit with a neighbor and then when she went to take Patch (the Jack Russell) to her new home I had Natty with me and never had a bit of trouble from her. And Owain (the youngest of them all) was as good as gold the whole time he was with me and was over the moon to see Kero again. Kero got on great with Bella (who's my Grandma's dog, Jayde's mother), Patch and Mutley and found a girlfriend (Patches' mother, Milly). And Kero let the kids all pull him about and play with him. Not just Jo's kids, but their friends too. Everyone loved him to bits. I think he's glad to be home though.

When I get the time to get them put on the PC, I've got photos to show you. But, I haven't had a chance to sort them out since the only reason I'm on posting right now is because where I fell asleep so early I'm up earlier than planned for the gym and swimming.

Anyway, that'll do for now.

Tori

Can I start again???

Ever have one of those days where you just want to go back to the beginning and start again? Well, I've just had three of them! Firstly, on Monday I banged my head (which I'm pretty sure that I mentioned in Monday's blog). I also somehow managed to kick myself while on the exercise bike (just don't ask about that one). Then, yesterday (Tuesday) I wasted half my day in the bank with my Mam because they were giving her hastle. Plus I had to go buy some cat repellent to shut my next door neighbour up. And then I had to stay up and wait for my Mam go go to the hospital to have some kind of infection she's got checked out. And seriously, if she'd had it checked out when it first stared to be an issue then it wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did and she could have waited for a doctor. And on my way out to tell a neighbour who my Mam had promised would be informed as soon as we knew what had happened at the hospital, I hit my knee on the baby gate. So, of course, today I stared out with a headache (since my head STILL hurts) and a sore knee, plus was tired. And that, of course, meant that after just half an hour of the gym I'd had more than enough for one day and just wanted to go home.

And to top all that off, Kero and I are going away until Sunday to puppy sit for Jo (a family friend)'s three dogs and also watch her older two boys for her. And it took me until around noon today to find out whether I was going today or tomorrow. It wasn't Jo's fault since she was still waiting to hear too. It was to do with a friend of my Dad's (no idea what his name is... I think Dennis? But not sure). Anyway, this friend is 'meant to be' doing something to Dad's car and the fact that Dad had to decide when to fit me in. It was eventually decided that Kero and I wouldn't go until Tomorrow (Thursday) because it would be fairer on Kero to keep him here until the last minute. But he is coming. I told them (the friend and my parents) straight that there's no way I'm leaving my dog for the weekend to look after someone else's dogs. So, basically, Kero and I leave tomorrow "about 5 ish" and we don't get home until Sunday "some time". And, hey, I've only been waiting since Sunday to find out what's going on. That's all! lol!

So, like I said, I've so far been having one of those weeks where I want to just go back to the beginning and start again.

Tori

Another hot day (again)

I weighed today and I've lost another 3 lbs, which I'm glad about. Can't wait to loose all of the weight I need off though.

I got a baby gate today to put at the back door so I can leave it open without Kero going out because with how hot it keeps being we need the door open, but with the kids being home for the Summer holidays now I can't let Kero be outside all the time because some of them tease him and then he barks at them and I don't think it's fair that he's getting yelled at for barking when it's not really his fault. I mean, Kero loves kids, but that's half the problem. See, the kids are running and riding back and forth past the fence and Kero wants to run and play with them but he can't so he's barking at them to "wait" or "come play" or something but because at least half of the other neighbours don't realise (or don't care) that all he wants to do is play, he barks and they complain about it. Anyway, I've put a gate up on the back door in such a way that I don't have to remove it to shut the door. I think Kero likes it because it means we have the door open all day while we're home and he's just loving laying by the gate and watching over 'his' garden.

I think that'll do for now because I'm tired and I've got a headache as I banged my head on the door frame of the car door earlier (don't ask). So, I'm going to go make sure I've got everything ready for the gym and swimming tomorrow and then I think I'll see about bed.

Tori

Cooler

It was a bit cooler today... thankfully! I think the sprinkling of rain we had last night helped to put some moisture in the air or something.

Kero's paw

It's yet another boiling hot day here. They say it's going to keep being hot like this until the end of August and possibly in to September. They also say that we'll be having Summers like this (or hotter) all the time from now on. We'll have to wait and see though, wont we?

Kero, Willow, Mam and I went to the park together this afternoon. Poor Kero got his paw hurt. It was an accident, but that didn't stop him yelping. He was playing with his football with Willow and he stopped running right in front of her, but she didn't stop and fell over him. I think her weight on his paw trapped a nerve or something. Anyway, I massaged his paw for a while and then he was fine. I know he's fine now because on our way home Kero saw his Jack Russel friend, Mickey, and he was running around with Mickey without any trouble. Plus, when I took him for a walk just now he was running around fine. I'm going to keep an eye on it though. Just in case.

By the way, in case you were wondering, no that photo wasn't taken today. I took that photo a year ago. It was the same park though.

Tori

Finally cooled down a bit

I am pleased to report that the weather wasn't as hot today. It has been staying above the 30 degrees Celsius mark almost constantly for the past week or so, but today it was down to about 25 degrees. That might not seem all that much better, but trust me, there is a big difference between 30 degrees and 25 degrees!

It was 18 degrees last night, so, I ended up not getting much sleep. So, after spending the morning at the gym, I came home and took a nap. Then I played with Kero and the cats for a bit, fed the animals, made dinner for Kelly and myself and took Kero for a nice, long walk. I've also been working on getting the rest of my photos on our photos page. I can't add any more for a bit though, because you can only add up to 2,000 photos every 30 days and with adding all of the old photos as well as the new ones I've exceeded that limit. I've got all the photos in most albums added, I just have to get Kero's album done. But, I'll have to wait until I can add photos again before I can do that. The limit wont be a problem normally, it's just because I've got a few years worth of photos to put in the albums.

Anyway that's my day.

Tori

pets hugging

As you can see, Kerry, I have a few photos of the cats and dogs curled up together. Like this one of Kelly sleeping with Megan, Lucy (my grandma's Yorkie, Jayde's litter sister who lived with us for a while), Sakura and Kero. Jayde's actually sleeping with them too, but she's under the covers the other side of Kelly, so, you can't see her. By the way, since it's kinda hard to tell who's who... Megan's the one by the pillow, Lucy's curled up near Kero's head, and Sakura is laying on Kero.

And then there's this pic of Sakura and Kero hugging each other.

Anyway...

I spent most of today doing laundry since where I figured "there's not much, I'll do it tomorrow" on Monday, then spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday out and going through a few sets of clothes a day because of going to the gym, I ended up a bit behind. I'm caught up now though. Thankfully!

Going to the gym again tomorrow morning. Catching the 9:40 am bus so should be actually in the gym by 10:00 am. That's assuming the bus comes on time for a change. lol!

Don't think there's anything else to tell you. So, I'll let you get on with whatever it was you were going to do when you were done reading the blogs. Oh, come on, don't tell me you hadn't planned on doing something. I bet you had. I bet you thought something like "I need to do the dishes, but I think I'll check the blogs first" or "I'll just check the blogs then I think I'll see about bed." Admit it! Come on! You know you did it! Not necessarily the dishes or bed, but I know there was something. Wasn't there?

Ok, I'll shut up now! LOL!

Tori

Evening!

Well, I was looking at my post from yesterday and wondering if it's just me or do I sound snappy in yesterday's post? If it's not just me then "sorry!"

Anyway, I've finally managed to get my butt in gear and get the video clips from when Jayde was here sorted out, so, if you go on our video clips page you can see them. Also, I've now got most of the photos in the albums on our photo page.

It's been another VERY hot day today. And, yes, I did go to the gym today. Not going tomorrow though because my Mam doesn't have the time and I don't want to go by myself.

I think that's about it for today. If it turns out I forgot ot mention something then I can always mention it tomorrow anyway, right?

Tori

All world and no air!!!

Firstly - as you may have guessed by the title of this blog - it is VERY hot here and meant to be getting hotter - which I didn't think was possible, but there you go. But, anyway, that's what they're saying on the TV and radio. We'll see though, wont we?

Secondly, I got weighed today and I lost 3 lbs, so, yay me!

And finally, the induction for the gym went well and now we can go to the gym whenever we want and not when they say and I even have my own key for the settings of the machines and everything. So, that's cool. Meant to be going again tomorrow morning.

Tori

Hot with a capital 'H'

Man has it been hot today!!!

Kero and I have had a few walks today but to be honest, neither of us were all that interested in walking much, so, for the most part we stayed home and just kinda lounged around. I know I should have been doing excercises and stuff, but I was just TOO hot!!! About the only thing I made real progress on was getting the photos put on my new photo section, which I'm working on to make accessing photos easier for everyone. I'm getting there with it, but it's gonna take me a few days to get it finished. It's already linked on this site though if you want to take a look at what I've done so far.

Tori

New pages

In case you didn't notice, I've added some new pages. Including one where you can access the photo albums I keep the animals photos in. And I've linked to the page where I store our video clips. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know in case you haven't noticed.

Tori

Kelly and Chance

It's not a great photo, because I had to lighten it on the PC since there wasn't much light in the room and I didn't want to get up to grab the proper camera or turn the light on for fear of disturbing Chance or something, but here's a photo I took of Kelly and Chance laying on the floor watching TV together.

Tori

Lemony Snicket - The Bad Beginning

I've finally finished the book that I was reading - 'The Bad Beginning' from Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events - and it was a really good book. Very different from the movie, but still very good. I've now started reading the second book in the series, which is called 'The Reptile Room'. I'll let you know if it's as good as the first one once I've finished it.

Update For Saturday July 15th 2006

I haven't blogged for a few days because we've had some more beautiful weather and I have been spending a lot of time outside with the dogs just walking about while they enjoyed a little bit of freedom.

Kero and Jayde both stayed home by themselves for a whole 25 minutes last night while I waited for the bus with my Mam. It wasn't meant to be that long, but the bus was late. Either way, they were very good and when I got back were laying in the middle of the living room quietly (I snuck around the back quietly to peek in through the glass on the back door so I could see what they were up to). Then they really made me laugh, because I touched the door handle and they both shot to their feet and practically climbed up the door to get to me. Bless 'em.

As you can see, I've managed to get a few nice photos of Kero, Chance and Jayde over the last few days

Anyway, Jayde left this morning to go back to my Grandma. I bet both Jayde and my Grandma are really happy to be reunited after all these weeks. I know Jayde got really excited when I told her she was going home to her Mummy. Bless her. And I think my Grandma is just as excited about seeing Jayde again.

By the way, Kian the fish is still alive and swimming about ok and all that.

My induction day for the gym is this Tuesday coming. I have to be there for 3:00 pm. After Tuesday I can go pretty much whenever I want to. Also, it means that I no longer have to pay for each swimming session because it is included in the monthly fee for membership of the gym. In the long run it'll really save me some money.

Tori

Swimming & Stuff

I've been doing some swimming in the mornings this week. It's meant to be every day this week but I didn't go this morning because where I had a nap in the afternoon I ended up not sleeping at all last night and then, of course, just before the alarm went off I started to drift off. So, I was just too tired too face swimming this morning. I went Monday and Tuesday though. On Monday I swam 18 lengths and on Tuesday I did 20. I think 20 will be my limit for a while though since after the 18 I still felt up for more, but I was glad when the 20th was over. lol!

Hopefully next week I'll be starting to go to the gym as well as going swimming. Just got to get our forms in to join the gym then arrange for our induction day and all that. So, it depends how long we have to wait for that to get sorted to when we go to the gym and since I'm not sure how it all works then I don't know how long it'll take.

I don't think that my Mam is too happy that I didn't go swimming with her today, but there's nothing I can do about that. I didn't think it would be wise to swim when I was so tired. Mam says the water would have woken me up a bit, and yeah, it probably would have woken me up. But, it wasn't waking up that was the problem, it was the fact that I'm not a confident swimmer as it is and I was worried I'd get too tired and swim even worse than I do. I mean, I was terrified of water until a little over 18 months ago and I'm still a bit nervous of it, so, the last thing I need is to be really tired and feel like I can't swim any more when I'm up the deep end or something.

By the way, I didn't loose any weight this past week, but I'm not surprised really because even though I was moving furniture about and went to the park on Saturday and all that, I spent most of my week not doing much. Hopefully with the swimming this week we'll see some weight loss again though. Of course, I wont know until Tuesday though, because I can't get weighed until then.

Well, I've not finished sorting all my stuff out, but I'm getting there. And, we got the bedroom changed around on Monday too. Still got a few bits to sort in there as well, but I can't sort the stuff in there out properly until I get our other book shelves, because right now there are books all over the place. I'm getting there though. Honest!

I think that's everything for now.

Tori

Today is Sunday

I've not been able to blog since Thursday, because on Friday the internet wasn't working and then yesterday we had the PC unplugged because we were moving furniture around. We decided to rearrange the furniture to give a bit more room to move and to make sure we could actually put things away in their proper places rather than just shoving them in the room they belong in. If that makes sense. We've finished sorting the living room (appart from a few things that have to be put away), which is where the PCs live, but we still need to sort out the bedrooms. I want to finish putting the stuff away in here first though. That way I'll know where I am when it comes to sorting out the bedrooms.

Kero and Jayde were very good yesterday. First they stayed by themselves for about ten minutes while my Mam and I went to see if the carnaval tthat's in the field across the road from us is any good (it wasn't). Then, they stayed by themselves for about ten minutes while I walked my Mam part of the way home, because it was pouring with rain and I didn't really want them to get wet. Both times they didn't make much noise and there was NO mess what so ever. So, I guess my little man is growing up. Also, they didn't do too bad with staying out of the way when we were moving furniture about.

Right, well, I should let this do for now and see about getting back to sorting my stuff out.

Tori

Tuesday To Thursday

I took some photos of Kero and Jayde yesterday. I dressed them up and everything. They put up with so much for me, don't they? Bless them! I know Kero does it for the treat he gets, but I'm not sure why Jayde was willing to put up with it. Maybe because Kero was putting up with it?

Oh, yeah, I haven't blogged since Monday, so you wont know. I got weighed on Tuesday morning and I lost a whole 4lbs this week. I'm really proud of myself for loosing so much. So, yay me!

I can't finish listening to my audio book because the ribbon has snapped in one of the tapes, so, it's a good job I've heard the story before, isn't it? I think I'm going to have to change to just having the stories on CD though, because this is happening way too often. You'd think with how much they charge for audio books they'd use good quality tapes, wouldn't you?

I have moved the hamsters out of the spare room because I am storing baby stuff in there ready for Elizabeth's baby when it comes and I don't want the stuff smelling of hamsters. If you know what I mean. For now they are in our room, but I don't really want them in there either, so, right now I'm trying to figure out a good place to put them.

I wish our weather would make up it's mind because it's driving me nuts! It's mostly boiling hot, but every so often out of nowhere it pours with rain and it's really annoying.

Kian is still alive. Just about anyway.

I think that's just about everything.

Tori

Monday's news

Man is it hot! We brought a humidifier the other day, but even with that and the fan both running in the same room it's not helping all that much.

One of our fish - the one that is called Katie - died over the weekend. And, I think that our other fish, Kian, isn't going to last much longer either. I think it's the heat or something. But then, they are fish from the fair and have already lasted about three years.

We had a thunder storm last night and the animals hated it. Even Sakura didn't want to be outside, which is unusual, because she's rarely home at night. Chance and Megan cuddled up to me as closely as they could. Kero cuddled close to me and hid his head under the blanket that was on my chair. And Jayde whined on and off through the whole storm. Poor babies.

Almost forgot. The photo in this post isn't from today, I took it on Friday evening when Kero and I went out for a walk.

Tori

Some old poems

I've added some more of my old poems to the 'Tori's Poems' page, so, if you want to read them then go check it out. And by the way, all comments on all poems are very much appreciated. Even negative comments are appreciated, because that way I can read the poems with the negative comments and see where I'm going wrong.

Tori

Jayde & Willow updates

Jayde is doing fine after her spay. She's jumping and running around just fine and eating fine too. I know a few humans who wish they'd recovered that quickly from an op like that. lol!

Willow is fine too. She managed to walk just fine from my Mam's place to mine and was running around with Kero and Jayde in our yard for a while with no limping or anything. Also, it seems her eating problem is that she's bored of the tinned dog food. If she's just given some dry dog food with some human food she will eat, if not, then she doesn't want to know. Basically, she doesn't want dog meat and she knows that all she has to do is act like she's ill and off her food and she'll get the human food she wants. Little devil!

Tori

Us @ Party In The Park 2006

This is me at Party In The Park yesterday. Right after this was taken I put my baseball cap back on and stuck the devil horns on top of it. I do have a pic of it, but I thought I'd just post this pic and have done with it, since I'm sure one photo of me is more than enough photos of me for one day... trust me! lol!

And this lady here is my Mam. Also at Party In The Park. But you probably figured that out. Anyway, I think those bunny ears suit her. lol! She also has a cowboy hat (a blue and silver one) that she brought at the same time as the bunny ears.

And here's a photo of Elizabeth in her little white bunny ears.

Yes, it was just the free of us who went. And, by the way, these photos of us were taken when we were getting bored waiting outside the gate to be let in. There, now you will all be able to sleep tonight because you know that little bit of info. lol!

Tori

Party In The Park 2006

These are some of the photos I took yesterday when I went to the party in the park thing with Mam and Elizabeth.

They aren't the best pics since they were taken with a phone camera, which always seems to make the photos a bit fuzzy.

But, hey, at least you get to see some pics. Right?

We had a pretty good time.

But it was SO hot and there wasn't a single shaded spot, which sort of spoiled it for us.

Luckily we have found a sun cream that actually works, so, I didn't get burned.

Won lots of teddies though. Including a dragon one. Well, actually, my Mam won that one, but I managed to convince her to swap it with me for the one I won because I REALLY wanted that dragon!

We ended up leaving a bit early though, because we were just so hot that we couldn't enjoy the music properly.

Tori

4:00 am Canada Day posting

Well, it's a little after 4:00 am Saturday morning and I am wide awake. Why? Well, because I had an early morning yesterday (Friday) so fell asleep about 9:00 pm which meant that by about 1:20 am I was up and wide awake. Oops! And, by the way, since it is now technically July 1st... HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

It's also our Grandmother, Sarah's birthday today. We'll probably give her a quick ring later to say "happy birthday" and all that. It'll have to be a quick ring though, because long distance phone calls can get quite expensive (she lives over in Canada).

Anyway, Jayde's had her spay and is doing fine. She's feeling a bit sorry for herself, but wouldn't you be? And she hasn't barked once since she got home. I'm pretty sure that she thinks the spay was her punishment for barking or something. Bless her. There is one bit about the spay I think she likes though and that's the fact that because I know she must be really sore and I don't want to make her feel worse, I'm not making her wear her harness for walks, I'm just clipping her lead on to her collar. Bet she's really happy about that, since she absolutely HATES the harness, it's me who likes her to wear it. She's not too happy about the fact I wont let her run free with Kero though. I did try to explain to her that it's just for a few days, but I don't think she cares what I say, all she cares about is how unfair she thinks it is that Kero's still running loose and she's not. But anyway, she's doing fine.

Yesterday afternoon while Jayde was in for her spay, Kero played with Jayde's brother, Beauty, who lives two doors down from us. They played really well together and had a great time. Megan tried to join in and Beauty went to chase her away, so, Kero put himself between Megan and Beauty and nudged Beauty away from 'his' cat. It was perfectly obvious to all of us who were outside with the two dogs at the time - Mam, Jan (Beauty's owner), Margaret (my next door neighbour) and me, of course, - that Kero was saying "that's MY cat and you do NOT chase it."

He's a good boy is my Kero. He looks out for our cats (and our hamsters) and if he sees any other dogs near our cats he's shoe them away and protect his cats. Actually, my Mam was saying yesterday what a good boy he's become. Only last year you could have called him until you were blue in the face and he wouldn't come back, but yesterday he stood near my Mam and I while we played basketball in the park and ran along beside me when we were doing some running about. He's also getting really good at showing me where things I can't see too well are. For example, when the ball rolled away from me he went and stood by it to make sure I could find it, and when we were running around and my Mam said to run to the goal posts and I couldn't see them because they were too far away, Kero ran with me and when I got nearer to them went and stood right in front of them to show me where they were. Bless him.

We're a bit worried about my Mam's Lab, Willow, because she wont eat... again! She does this every so often, but usually when she refuses to eat her food we can manage to get her to eat some of our food. This time however, she doesn't even want our food, hence us being so worried about. Also, she's limping a lot on one of her back legs. We thought at first it was that she needed her nails trimmed again, so, we took her in for them to be done, but that hasn't helped. Anyway, I hope there's nothing serious wrong with her.

I think that's about everything for now. Except to say that I'm going to Party In The Park today with Elizabeth and my Mam.

Oh, and speaking of Elizabeth. We think we might be wrong about how far along she is with the baby. We think she might be about a month further along than we first thought. Either that or man is she having a huge baby! Also, my Mam was able to feel the baby kicking quite easily and you shouldn't be able to feel it that well the side of 16 weeks Elizabeth is meant to be. But, we shall see, wont we?

In the meantime, I'm knitting him or her a blanket. My knitting skills aren't the best in the world, but I wanted to make something for the baby. I'll take a photo of it to show you when it's done. I'm already over half way through it.

Tori