Mad Men Madness

From a recommendation by my cousin, I started watching Mad Men. In the past week I have caught up on series 1 and 2. I am now watching series 3. It's a slow moving show, but highly addictive. And it feeds my love for all things retro. A highly respected blogger, India Knight, also has a love for all things Mad Men, which is well worth a look. Also this, and this. I also mirror my cousin's wish to own Betty Draper's wardrobe.

Lewis's Department Store

I've never been to Lewis's in Liverpool but I found this and I like it. The idea of a whole floor of the store being closed for 30 years like a time capsule intrigues me. It's the subject of a book by photographer, Stephen King.

Bad Atmosphere

I was on holiday for a week, well deserved as I haven't had a holiday since October. When I got back to work I could sense an atmosphere, and not a good one. Everyone on the night shift had picked sides, one side being the young guys and the other being the more mature guys (not old, just not immature). Apparently, while I was on holiday, a couple of the older guys made a formal complaint about the behaviour of the younger ones. Since then it's been nothing but bitchiness (strange behaviour from men), and formal meetings with the manager and personnel. Half of the canteen has been cordoned off, and the tomato and brown sauce has been confiscated, as they had been squirted about! It's quite funny, except the young guys are on their last warnings and could be fired. When I started the night shift I was looking forward to working with an all male work force, no bitchy back-stabbing, how wrong was I?

Sugar and her surgery.

Poor Sugar was spayed on Tuesday. It's the rescue service rules, all adopted dogs have to be neutered within 3 months. If it hadn't been a rule I probably wouldn't have bothered, Oscar is neutered so she would have been okay. She's back to her normal energetic self, not a good thing after abdominal surgery. Every time she gets near Oscar they start playing, and it's not gentle! She likes to lie on her back and try to gnaw his floppy jowls, and he stands over her and gnaws her ears. He stood on her stomach this morning, she was fine, I was in a panic. I've been keeping Sugar away from Oscar since Tuesday to give her time to heal, I think it's still too soon for her to be with him. It's a shame, Oscar misses her, and she's cuddling up to me on my bed but she can hear Oscar playing and barking, and her ears are twitching, she just wants to play with him.

Sugar

We left early on Sunday, about 8.30am. Oscar was happy in the back  of the car (luckily he doesn't get car sick). It took 2 hours to get there, as we got lost (hard to believe with sat nav!) but after a frantic phone call to the Boxer Welfare volunteer, we arrived at the kennels. She brought Sugar out to meet us, Oscar was so excited. She growled at him a bit, but Oscar is a big lump, jumping all over her. We took them for a walk, and we chatted to the volunteers, and it went really well. We got back to the kennels and Liz, the volunteer, said it was up to us. I said straight away that I wanted to take her and asked when we could take her. Liz said we could take her now, I couldn't believe it. After having such a negative home visit from the local volunteer, I was really worried, but it was okay and Liz was really nice and very helpful. She took some photos of both of them, we got her in the car, and we were on our way home. In the car I phoned ahead and told No.2 son that we were bringing her home. Typical 10 year old reaction, he thought I was joking. I had to tell him 3 times before he would believe me.

Oscar and Sugar in the car on our way home.

Sugar cuddling Oscar when he was asleep.

Oscar and Sugar out for a walk.

Sugar, isn't she a beauty? Am I biased?

They're getting on really well, Oscar keeps jumping all over her, but she just nips at him. The big daft lump doesn't care and just keeps on. She follows me about all the time, it's good to have another girl in my house of men.

New Dog

Our search for a new dog has come up trumps. We got a phone call from the Boxer Welfare Service, they have a 2 year old boxer bitch called Sugar. We're going to see her on Sunday. I think Oscar will really benefit from a play-mate, and they have said she is really boisterous so will match Oscar in the energetic stakes. Here is a picture from the website:

She's quite small, and after we pay the adoption fee we will still have to neuter her, so it's not a cheaper option. So we'll have to see if they get along, and hopefully she'll be able to come home soon.

Stop it with all the snow!!!

It's been a while since I blogged as not a lot has been happening. Work, sleep (and not enough) school run etc. I went out to the local corner shop this morning, but having no car, had to use Shank's Pony as my Dad is wont to say. I don't know the origins of the saying, but it means walking! And as usual it was bitterly cold, -3 degrees c. I took Oscar with me, it's the only exercise he's had of late, since he pulled me down an icy hill on my arse and hurt my back. After another snow storm yesterday, some industrious kids built a snowman in their garden, and a very good one at that. Oscar hasn't seen a snowman before, and started barking like a rabid dog at the sight of it.

A very good blogger, Backwards in High Heels, has had the idea of posting a photo a day on her blog, thereby having a photographic memento of the year. I think it's a fantastic idea, but as I don't blog everyday, I decided to always post with photos so I'll sporadic photographic memento of the year.

Oscar's new favourite place to sleep, the back of the couch!

The snow on the fateful "falling down a hill" walk!

The snow yesterday (taken with my Blackberry, so not the best quality)