Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

I was really busy in the run up to Christmas. I was making a bunny coat for my baby nephew and I planned to make one for my baby niece too. If I had the time I was planning to make them matching toy bunnies too. I was also making mum's Christmas presents and my rainbow/piano key scarf (Still unfinished but it's coming along). On top of all that I was also making our Christmas cards. Needless to say, it was all too much. I had to prioritise. I knew I couldn't do all of it. In the end some decisions were made for me.

About 2-3 weeks before Christmas my uncle calls (mum's brother. The one that annoys me). He makes the same mistake as always. Come on dude. It's always me that answers the phone and not mum. Again he wants to talk to her and not me. She's busy...elsewhere. I call her but she's in the middle of something so we have to wait. I courteously ask if all's well for him. It is. He asks the same. It's the same. Awkward silence continues. Although it's awkward I relish the fact that he's finding it awkward too. He could've ended it a lot sooner if he just told me the Christmas gathering would be on the 27th instead of waiting for mum to come down. After a while he talks a little to his wife. I'm trying hard not to laugh down the phone (the awkwardness of this silence is funny). Eventually he hangs up. That's quite rude. Not even a goodbye. Rude. Eventually mum is able to call him back and he tells her pretty much the same as me. Everything's fine. The only difference is that he tells her we're meeting on the 27th because it's a bank holiday (seeing as Christmas fell on a Sunday this year.) I'm thinking great. You could've told me that. Then I'm thinking that doesn't give me much time to finish the baby things, which I put on hold to do the cards. We forgot to ask if we could take the dog, then again it's my aunt's decision. Mum decided to call her nearer the time.

Nearer the time arrives, about a week or so before Christmas. My aunt is mum's eldest sister and she's much more friendly that her brother. They chat a little and when one asks the other how things are they actually talk a little about it instead of just saying things are fine. It is during this time that we discover that we aren't going to my aunt's for the gathering but her eldest son's (Cousin #1, the one with 3 children and 2 grandchildren, the grandchildren that I refer to as my baby nephew and niece despite the fact that they are actually my third cousins but auntie, niece and nephew are easier to say). This is because my aunt (who's age I'm unsure of but she's way over 10 years older than mum, that's all I'm certain of, and must surely have gone through and come out of the other side of the menopause) has just recently had a hysterectomy and is recovering (and will still be recovering over Christmas). Surprise surprise my uncle forgot to mention any of that.

The problem you see is this. My cousin has a collection of pets. 2 dachshunds, 2 pugs (that they mentioned the summer before last they were planning to breed. Why exactly? All the unwanted dogs in the world and they want to bring more into it. And why pugs? Why pedigrees full stop? They have numerous genetic conditions potentially making them more trouble than they're worth) 4 or so hens and 4 or so ducks. Add to that 2 baby grandchildren to be stepped on by certain dogs. To make matters worse, by this time they actually had managed to breed the pugs. They had about 6b puppies; one died, they sold 3 and kept 2 but one of the puppies had to be returned the owner's husband dying and her being unable to care for it due to bereavement. This takes the total number of dogs in my cousin's house to 7. Basically means there is absolutely no way in Hell we can take Yuki. Fair enough. Just one problem. We don't want to leave her alone for that long. Seeing as I can't drive there's only one option. Mum has to go without me. And if she's not taking the dog then there's no point in her driving. That means she'll be going with my uncle.
I have to admit I was relieved by that at least because I was worried about her driving without me to act as a second set of eyes.

Long story short. I didn't go. I didn't get to meet my baby niece and I didn't get to see my nephew. I was looking forward to seeing those two particularly because I wanted to meet my niece and see how my nephew had grown. With this in mind my list of things to do was considerably shortened. We'd already bought a little gift for each baby, the knitting was just an added bonus, mainly because I wanted to see how cute they'd look. I figured, since I wasn't even going to see them and they had a present each still anyway I decided not to bother making the baby things.

Never mind. I was doing a 1000 piece jigsaw of penguins that mum and I started on boxing day.

Ah. I'm sure there was still more to say...hang on.... Ah.

I think Yuki's previous family must've had a bit of a hard time over Christmas and the following weeks. Tomorrow, 13th January is the anniversary of when Yuki came to live with us. You remember how that came about? We're going to give her a big rawhide bone to celebrate her being with us but it's hard to forget how it happened. I wonder if the day will hold any significance for her. Dogs don't measure time the same way humans do so probably not. Sometimes I wonder if she thinks about her previous home and if she's really happy here. She seems happy enough.

Anyway. In other news.

Mum's birthday is coming up. I'm planning some small surprises. I want to get her a small sponge cake (buying one would be easier but I could bake one too). I'm planning to hollow it out a bit and fill it with this Baileys cream I was thinking of using last year. (I got her to try some over Christmas and she had it with our traditional Christmas puddings (Yule log and mince pies) and she liked it a lot. I coaxed her into getting it because I thought she'd appreciate it as a Christmas treat and because I wanted to see how she liked it in preparation for now). I'm planning to make her a pretty card but I need to get some supplies to do it properly. I also want to get her the recent Dean Koontz book (she has a collection scattered about the house. It's about the only books she reads willingly.) I also bought her something that I wanted to get her for Christmas but I couldn't because it was sold out on Amazon. It's a murder mystery jigsaw puzzle. We got one for my uncle last year and for the mother of her friend at work. It arrived today and I've hidden it in my room until the big day.

Ah. I think I'm done now.
Bluebiird out.