I just came back from a meeting with our work choir and there were four of us. Four. When we had our first rehearsal there were over 30 attendees, but it rapidly dropped off. So this meeting was to determine the fate of the choir and re-energise it! I am now apparently secretary - apparently you need a minimum of a Treasurer, Chair and Secretary to make a society legit, and since only three of us turned up (a fourth was late) I didn't have much choice! I don't mind too much - it's a fun new challenge and something I feel I can really apply myself to.

We made a lot of changes in the meeting. We sacked our musical director, since he was costing £60 an hour and all he did was hand out music and play the piano. He didn't sing, he didn't conduct, he didn't even direct terribly well - a lot of the singers don't read music, or don't even know which range they sing, and the MD wasn't giving those members enough time. I'm surprised some of them stuck at it as long as they did, especially the men!

We have also scrapped our current song selection. We started off singing fun songs people already know, but ended up singing mideratelty complicated four-part folk songs. As a soprano singing the tune I was fine, and the altos coped, but the men really struggled and I don't think many of us enjoyed it massively. Plus we weren't driven by having a set concert to perform at - we were just singing for the sake of it. So next week we are doing Bohemian Rhapsody, and nothing else - just bashing away at it until everyone is happy.

Then Christmas will start approaching and I'm sure we can drum up some musical enthusiasm around Christmas. :)

I'm cautiously optimistic about this.

For any Animal Crossing fans:

I'm such a moron. I had tomorrow booked off work for a friend's wedding... only it turns out the wedding is in a fortnight! I can't beleive it! Tom happened to glance at the calendar at home which said the correct date. I use my work calendar for everything and had mis-entered the date there and taken everything as read from that. *facepalm*

I seem to be coming up with lots of wedding ideas at the moment. It's almost a little late for my creative juices to start flowing, but where I can incorporate my little strokes of genius I will. The latest idea is '1000 peace cranes' (or, more likely, about 100 botched origami attempts by drink-fuelled friends and family). Each table will have a pile of origami paper (dirt cheap on ebay - hooray!) plus a couple of instruction sheets. People can make little origami cranes in between the meals - hopefully it will be a nice little ice-breaker as well as something cute and fun. After the meal the cranes will be gathered up and displayed by hanging them on a vase filled with twisted willow (my mum has bundles of the stuff from her part-time gardening) using Christmas decoration hooks. I'll leave the remaining paper and instructions nearby so people can make more cranes during the evening if they so desire.

I like this idea better than the little bowls of Lego on the table, which was my original plan. Lego is fun, but to be honest I'm not sure how much it would get played with and though we've spent a long time sorting it all out, there's still a lot of work to be done washing it and aliquotting it, as well as buying some nice bowls to put on the tables. I think Tom's keen to have both Lego and origami cranes, but personally I think it's too much. Plus the cranes are classier, and fit in with the vaguely Japanese theme to the meal. Maybe we can put Lego out somewhere else? I'll have to think...

I have decided today is going to be a day where I get on with my own work - I'm not going to do favours for other people (unless they are in my management chain I guess), I'm not going to get distracted, I'm just going to work on my poster for the conference in September. I've put on The Who's Tommy and I'm just going to emerse myself and be antisocial.

It's going to be wonderful if I can pull it off :)

I had a bit of a rubbish start to the day. Here’s what happened:

~06.45: I wake up. I normally wake up about 10-15 minutes before my alarm goes off, so nothing strange here. Knowing I have a while yet before getting up I fall back to sleep.
07.00: The alarm fails to go off.
~07.30: I wake up again, convince myself that I must have been mistaken on the time of my first wake, go to check my watch but discover I’ve left it in the bathroom after my bath last night. Never mind – back to sleep.
08.29: I wake up again, quite pleased that even though it’s not yet 07.00 it feels like I’ve had a lay-in. Go to check my watch again, remember about it being in the bathroom, so squint at the alarm clock before I can figure out what it reads. Get out of bed, swearing.

We left the house at 08.50, which I think is pretty good going considering we had to feed the kittens (no mess this morning – hooray!), grab some bread for breakfast, dress, clean teeth, pack bags, go.

I didn’t really wake up until 10.30 when I had morning break consisting of the first cup of tea of the day and a bacon sammich. Tom seemed to be suffering from low blood sugar, feeling dizzy and shaky, which is a little worrying since we had eaten a bit of bread each so we weren’t completely empty. Still, he had a big pile o’ food at tea break so hopefully he’s okay now.

Can’t wait ‘til lunchtime now! ^_^

The bad things:
Having decided the kittens had been doing well being locked out of the house when we were not around, we let them have the run of the place Saturday night. This was not a good idea. They slept in the hall outside the bedroom as usual, but about 7.00am I was woken up by scratching. I thought they were scratching to get into the bedroom, but then I could smell it; there was poop in the bathroom, on a hand towel they'd pulled down and on the bath mat. The scratching was them covering it up. I couldn't be bothered to try and clean them, so they went straight in the bin. I'm loosing patience with these kittens - or at least with Miles. For two weeks, keeping and eye on him, I've watched him after meals go outside and use the litter tray like he's supposed to. Why last night did he decide the bathroom floor was a better place? Then, after feeding them he peed on the sofa. I heard him scratching while I was making myself tea, but was too late. So the sofa got stripped, sprayed, and washed and the cushions sprayed and hung out to dry. Needless to say Miles got shouted at, a lot, and I spent most of the morning rather grumpy and very frustrated. We're going to go back to locking them out (they still get the utility room for food, water and somewhere dry to sleep) but I can't say when we'll let them in again.

Then this afternoon he had nasty diarrhoea, which got all over his back legs and I had to clean up then lock him out so he didn't get it in the house. Ick. We're not feeding them tonight to try and clear them up, then will stop feeding them cat food with gravy as that seems to be what started the dodgy poo issues. We're going to try them on a diet of all dry and hope it helps.

I also seem to have done something to my back - it hurts more than it's ever done before, and I've twanged it a few times. I'm sat with a hot water bottle propping my back up which helps, but I'm still suffering. Bah!

The good things:
Lots of wedding stuff got sorted this weekend! We drove down to Lymington Friday night and stayed over. We got the guest list seating plan finalised, made all the fabours (little fabric bags of Jelly Belly! Super cheap compared to bought pre-made favours, plus they look (and will taste!) amazing. I also did some charity shopping and helped mum choose a hat to go with her Mother of the Bride outfit. Woot!

Sunday we came to Salisbury to go to church - I thought it was our last chance to catch our Banns being read but apparently we've missed them. :( However, we've still got 2 weeks to catch them in Ludgershall so yay! We caught the organist after service to chat about music; unsurprisingly everything we've chosen is fairly straight forward, though I did discover one of the hymns I've chosen I'd inserted a mysterious fourth verse that I can no longer find online! I have to confirm the music with David the organist by email, but he's at least confirmed he can play it all so I'm happy with that!

We then met with my parents who'd come to Salisbury for Dad to get measured for his hire suit - no problems, because he's a normal size, unlike Tom. We popped into a few shops for mum to look for jewellery for her outfit, and ended up finding some rather nice shoes on sale which Dad bought me. I felt a litte like a spoilt daughter abusing her Dad's credit card, but it was also quite nice to be treated. :) We had lunch at Wagamama's, which my parents haven't been to before and I think were moderately impressed by (though they kepy comparing it to Ping Pong, which isn't really a fair comparison.

Spurred on my wedding planning I spent most afternoon writing an email to Larmertree with details of our table plan and food choices, realising this is something I should have done 2 weeks ago - oops! I have a feeling this next week is going to be a busy one with lots of planning to do! At least I get Wednesday off for a friend's wedding - that will be a nice break, even if the weather is set to be wet and windy (and me in my nice new shoes and a fantastic purple hat!).

Last night the kittens had a run-in with a foreign cat. I was in bed an all I heard was hissing anf yowling, and then slamming of doors. Tom said they didn't fight, but just met at opposite ends of the patio and had a noisy stand-off. I was a little amused that the big ginger cat that lives nearby was threatened by a tiny 16-week old kitten! I'm just glad there was no fighting and that they both seem unconcerned this morning.

Miles is much better now. He's been playing and fighting with his sister all evening yesterday, which is wonderful. To be honest I thought he had just outgrown his playful kitten stage, but he must have been feeling unwell to have been mroe subdued this past week and a bit. It's so nice to see him back to his bouncy self again! I don't know if this is the change in diet, the 24h starving, or the medication but here's hoping it's a permanent fix. :) He's also discovered he can jump up onto the work surface where I prepare the kittens' meals, so I now have to prepare them elsewhere or he tries to eat while I'm still dishing out! It obviously takes me a bit longer at the moment as I have to prepare two different meals and medicate them both, so the kittens have to wait hungry and mewing round my feet!

We're still keeping them out of the main part of the house. If we have no little accidents by the end of the week then I think we'll let them in during the night over the weekend and see how that goes. If that goes well they can go back to having the whole house to roam. The problem is, since they've got the whole garden but only the utility room indoors, they're kind of forced to toilet outside even if the litter trays are dirty, or the weather's bad. I'm worried that if we give them the whole house they might look to the sofas again, even though we've washed and sprayed with special pet spray that destroys the odour of urine. I left them a fleece pet bed in the utility room for a little comfort, but one of them pooped in it a few days back. This was when Miles was a bit ill, but I still think it may have been deliberate. It was neat to where their litter tray used to be, after all (I've now moved their food to that spot, so they should stop associating it with litter and start associating it with food).

I just booked my wedding-night accommodation!

http://www.the-talbot.com/

:D

I just broke the office printer! *runs and hides*

Well, no accidents in the utility room this morning and Miles seemed to enjoy his chicken fillet, even with the granules of medication sprinkled on top 9I was supposed to give a tablet to Maya as well but forgot - oops!). He did keep moving away from his bowl to try and eat Maya's food, but that's part of their usual eating routine: Convinced she has more/better food than him, Miles will eat half his bowl then move to his sister's. She'll then move to his and they finish each others' food! But today I had to keep pushing him back to his chicken. He ate a few bits of wet food that Maya left, but only a couple of morsels.

He also pooped normally this morning, which is excellent. Fingers crossed for a good recovery!

Having taken Miles to the vets after work, we were given a range of advice and information. The vet cleared the poor kitten's anal glands (EWW!) which were a bit inflamed, advised us not to feed him for 24 hours to clear the diarrhoea, gave us some Peridale tablets (a quick google shows them to be all round 'kitten bum' tablets), and advised a week of bland diet, aka boiled chicken. If that stops him leaking poo, and reverting back to normal food makes it come back, we can go back to the vets for a big bag of prescription food.

I have to say the prospect of having separate diets for our kittens, and having to prepare his own meals the night before, isn't something that really appeals to me. But microwaving a chicken fillet got both kittens in the kitchen looking up at me with sad eyes - even if it smells blah to me they apparently quite like it. Still, the good news is he's been completely clean so far this evening - both kittens have even gone outside for a wee despite the horrendous weather!

Starving him does not seem to have had a negative effect on him - he's been running round chasing his sister like usual all evening. :)

Maya has started not only bringing her 'prey' (feathers) indoors and playing with them, but has started bringing these kills to us to show off! It's cute, but I really really don't want to encourage her to bring things she finds in the garden onto our sofa. She's going to be a menace when she finally figures out how to hunt for real...

Miles helps Tom playing Plants Vs Zombies:



Maya showing off her ninja skills (sorry for the quality - my camera was set to 'compact' video for some reason:

I had a good old shop in Andover today. Andover has a couple of really goo charity shops and a handful of so-so ones. I ended up buying quite a lot of clothes for me, but also got some fancy dress bits (2 hats, a horrible gold sparkly scarf and a HIDEOUS 80s shirt) for the wedding. I also picked up my new glasses! They are purple and have swirly bits on them and I love them!

Old, boring glasses:


New, funky purple glasses:


Woot!

I am starting to become very frustrated with toilet training the kittens. Specifically, Miles – Maya seems very well-behaved in this department, but Miles is a little piss beast. It started a couple of weeks back, before we even started to outdoor-train them, when we noticed one of the sofa covers was wet – one of them has peed on it, possibly on a couple of occasions. Miles was always a bit fussy with the litter tray if it was a bit dirty, but on previous occasions he had simply used the paper next to it, or peed on the lino flooring nearby. Annoying, but not too bad as at least it was in the general litter tray vicinity.

After moving the litter tray outside they were at first reluctant to use it, but plonking them on it after meals seemed to give them the idea. Then on a couple of days Tom had to wash cushion and sofa covers after one of them had both peed and pooped on it. This morning, I caught Miles pissing on our bed, on a loose duvet cover that was scrunched up in the middle of the bed. This was while I was in the room. I hadn’t noticed him scratching, sniffing, or making any signs he needed to pee – he just went ahead and did it. I immediately yelled at him, grabbed him and carried him downstairs to the litetr tray and plonked him down in it, where he finished peeing – maybe a firm telling off will help him understand that this is not acceptable!

Yesterday in the garden I successfully coaxed him into peeing in the soil, by placing a whole bunch of used cat litter down on some soft earth. I was so pleased, and I praised him and told him what a good boy he was! I was so happy that he seemed to be getting the idea of toileting in the great outdoors. But this morning he brazenly soiled our bed while I was there in the room! Argh!

I can’t blame Miles entirely, but to be honest he’s the one I’ve caught on a couple of occasions, he’s the one we know has a history of being naughty, and he’s a boy (not far off a neutering age at that), and let’s face it – boys have a tendency to do this kind of thing, in all species. I don’t know if he dislikes his litter tray, if he doesn’t like it now that it’s outdoors, if he’s being territorial, if he’s being deliberately naughty, or if he just thinks it’s okay to piss where he likes – he certainly seems to think pissing on soft furnishings is fair game, anyway!

It’s all rather frustrating. I’m going to consult some websites on kitten training and behavior, but to be honest I think we just have to stick at what we’re doing and we’ll get there in the end. I just hope I don’t have to put the duvet in the washing machine too often…

Finding myself all of a sudden 6 weeks away form my wedding, I’m now at a point where I can picture everything; I know what each step is going to involve, what it’s going to look like, how it’s going to work. I’m almost there on knowing when it’s all going to happen as well (timings are tricky things).

A question I asked myself recently was, if I got the chance to do it all again, what would I do differently? I’m not talking about a second marriage, but a second WEDDING. Maybe I get the chance to marry my love again for some weird reason, or renew our vows, or with the aid of time-travel I can have my wedding day again but do it a bit differently. I wonder what I would do? I see so many fabulous weddings on websites like http://www.offbeatbride.com and I want to do THEM ALL. I want fair wings, and a rainbow dress, and a Medieval theme, and fancy dress (wait, I AM having that…), and cupcakes, and fireworks, and a forest/mountain/zoo wedding, and horses, and and…

I wonder about the wedding I’m having at the moment. Often I see something weddingy, and I say “I want that, but not like that”. I want table names, not table numbers. I want purple shoes, not ivory ones. I want ribbons in my hair, not a veil. And I realise I’m rebelling against what I consider to be a ‘normal’ wedding – I have become obsessed with putting a twist on everything! I know individuality is a good thing, but have I gone too far and started to consider a ‘normal’ wedding to be a bad thing? How much of this is influenced by what I read and see on the internet, rather that what’s in my heart? What would I have done if I’d been taken away from the internet and magazine and just planned a wedding the old fashioned way – with a phone book and a vicar and my parents? What is wrong with ivory, and roses, and veils, and saying Pachabel’s Canon in D?

I’m not really sure where all of this was leading. It’s just something my wind was contemplating recently. Hoh hum.

I just updated a graph so that the bars were all rainbow colours, rather than the drab default colours Excel assigns. This makes me happy! Yay for rainbow graphs! :D