Yet more financial faux pas and many other disasterous decisions

and so following the advise of Nora the Wise I abandoned everything and took the fourlegged fiend to the beach for the day. We ran in and out the waves, chassed seagulls, played frisby and walked for miles and miles. Was just what I needed. Shes a heck of a lot calmer too.

Detoured home via Abakhan, purveyor of all things knittery and crafty and arty, treated OH to a cream tea before abandoning him to wader round oohing and aahing at lots of stuff but not really being inspired by anything at all.

Came home. Grabbed a cuppa and legged it to work. Hid in a cupboard for the duration of the day. So the cupboard in question is now spotless and the stock within it colour co-ordinated and v. tidy ready for phase two of operation amalgamate three store cupbords into two whilst persuading the Early Years staff to part with some of their cardboard creations.

Came home, ate a chip butty and spent the evening knitting. Finished the jumper, figured out how to kitchener stitch (which wasn't as complicated as I expected) sewed in all the ends, tired it on and promptly made DD1s day by donating it to her since my ample assests were a little too snug. She's over the moon with it which means I can make one the next size up in a colour I really like with the added advantage of short row shaping for boobs rather than just making it wider all over.

Plans for today involve a trip to the vets to collect what remains of the geriatric old dear. Spent far too long trying to explain to a rather bemused DD2 how you shrink a dog from a 4' x 2' x 1' shape into an itty bitty box without saying anything that would lead to nightmares.

Did burst out laughing at the vets when she was undertaking the v. serious funeral directors role. Did we want to take her home? OH and I declined on the basis that burying something that size is gonna take a whole lotta digging and from past experience DD2 has a habit of unburying things just to make sure they're still there. Option B involved cremation although even thats not straight forward as you can have them cremated alone or as part of a burn two get part of someone elses pet for free deal and then came the bit that had tears rolling down my face. Tears of laughter that is. For the next question was would you like her in a casket with her name on or in a cardboard tube for easy scattering which brought to mind the shake and vac commercial and visions of bereaved pet owners everywhere standing on mountain tops vigorously shaking away like toddlers with glitter shakers.

Planning to bury her under a fruit tree in the garden along with OHs old dog who has moved house with us a couple of times waiting for us to settle somewhere for good.

Going to get that over with first thing and then head to the park for some fresh air. Being outdoors and active is clearing my head far faster than anything else I can think of. Plus its stopping me thinking too much which is always good.

Both DDs seem to be coping Ok. They're having random teary moments but no more than you'd expect.

Spent five hours as DD2s assistant, the Tudor House now has windows and doors and shes hoping to move onto the roof today as thats way too complicated for me she needs OH to help with it. Did all the ironing, helped the DDs pack for their week away and then spent the vast majority of the eveing knitting. Have now completed the front and one side of the coat. Another couple of inches should see the second side completed. Am not as ecstatic about it as I was when I started. Thinking I should have gone for a plain colour rather than a stripe. Still its teaching me lots of new things and should improve my darning in of ends. Need to shop before progressing much further as I'm running out of yarn already.

Have five days to go at work before the jollidays. Planning to spend a large chunk of it rearranging stock cupboards. Tis way better than doing outdoor things at -8.