Food and Drink #53

[kachoochoo]

thank you everyone! 🫶

well, ive had a lovely lie in and I'm just about to put on my new pretty dress ive treated myself to, even though we're not going anywhere

then I'm going to have a nice brunch of smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel and bucks fizz!

 

[chizontiz]

Yes, too much grass and he’ll have laminitis *nods sagely*
been reading about horses. Never even ridden one!

this is going to sound like a guest made up story but it really did happen (unfortunately for me). The only time I’ve been horse riding was on a ranch in bible belt States which was v cool except I didn’t really want to be doing it, which the horse could totally pick up on because the bastard kept taking me right into the trees so they could scratch their bum against the bark. We ended up miles behind everybody else because this horse was determined to dismount me via every tree we passed.

Worst bit though was when we did eventually finish and I tried to climb down but my bra and top got caught on the saddle, meaning I had to desperately cling to the side of the horse so that I didn’t flash everyone around me. Eventually someone noticed and helped and made no mention of the fact that everybody there - horses and children alike - definitely saw my boobs.

I was 18/19 at the time and staying with a v religious family who I didn’t know well and omg I was absolutely mortified. There were not many social situations young chiz was equipped to deal with back then, and hanging off a fuming horse by my actual bra certainly was not one of them. Big respect to Lady Godiva. Ruined a perfectly good bra as well!

 

[kachoochoo]

It’s crazy, Horlicks and hot water bottles all round

@kachoochoo how is Mr KCC getting on this week?

thank you for asking. he seems ok, all things considered. just went and reordered all his meds today. for someone who's never really been on anything for all his life, apart from the acetretin for psoriasis, he's now on 7 meds several times a day!

2 types of water tablets
something to slow his heart rate
anticoagulant
thiamine

and a couple more

we're both still signed off for now. and we had annual leave booked for the end of the month as we were meant to be away

oh, speaking of which, I've still got my stepmum going, "oh, it'll do you good to get away"

yeah... mr kcc attempting a 3 hr drive when he's nodding off every 5mins and me trying to navigate their massive house which is mostly made of stone on a stick. yeah, that's not happening!

 

[kachoochoo]

aw, it's like we're revisiting my fave thread title of all time just for my big birthday!

 

[Falkor]

There is a very cheeky escaping sheep at the bottom of the village at the moment. It's very cute, still at the stage of being a mischievous lamb rather than a fully grown woolly wally. Their brains fall out once they reach maturity, I swear.

North Country Cheviots can be quite bright. My land is dotted round the village, so when I bring them in off the hill they might be going to the field opposite the village hall, the field next to our house, the field behind the holiday let or the field out on the point. They know which gates are 'theirs' and will go and stand at the first one they get to, wait to see if I open it, and if I don't they'll walk past all the other gates until they get to the next one that's theirs and wait there, rinse and repeat. They can pick out the sound of our quad bike as opposed to the six others in the village and I once had a flock leader called April (RIP) who would tell me when they all wanted to come in from the hill - she'd lead them to one of the hill gates, wait until she saw me on the road, either on the quad or on foot, and start all of them baaing until I looked up and saw them.

I know pretty much nothing about horses, I’ve ridden a cart horse though, it was very high up! Apologies if there’s a proper name for them, it was giant.

Probably a Shire horse or a Clydesdale if it was in the UK. The French and Belgians have some phenomenally chunky agricultural horses though,

Spoiler: Chonky European horses!

Belgian Draught Horse

Ardennes

Comtois

And my favourite, Percheron

 

[Captainmouse]

 

[kachoochoo]

thanks again for being here lads

He's on a ward now and has been given sandwiches and cake! and I've whooshed myself some supplies. I really don't feel like eating, but I gotta, I guess

tomato soup for me I think

 

[lilykestrel]

Had a check in phone call with Kestrelcat's foster mother, she was so happy to hear he's settled and thriving, it was really sweet. We went with a tiny local/independent rescue charity and I'm so glad we did

 

[Nonah]

 

[lilykestrel]

Sorry for another One Show segment change

Spoiler: post adoption blues/anxiety merail

post adoption blues/anxiouses have set in pretty hard today; been experiencing it on and off since kitty's arrival on Sunday but it's been especially bad today, I think because routine change is taking its toll as well as disturbed sleep from 4am zoomies. And I feel terrible about it because I keep getting intrusive thoughts that we'll have to give him back because I won't be able to cope and what the hell have we done taking on a responsibility like this, have we rushed into it (it did happen very fast from applying to the rescue centre on a whim and them jumping at the chance to get him into a new home). And the intrusive thoughts that he's going to escape or hurt himself and is he eating enough (he's eating but not a huge amount, although we're leaving dry food down at night and I think he's eating then) and is he using his litter tray bla bla bla.

He's a lot more confident today so he's been mooching round more but we need to air out the bed- and bathroom because of risk of damp and/or it's a bit catty so I've shut him out of both but constant glancing and checking that he's not got in (and out!) Also want to wean him off lurking under the bed the whole time in case we have to shut him out of the bedroom tonight to get an undisturbed night's sleep and to encourage him to hang out in the rest of the house.

Having said that I just got up from typing and he was quite happily sat on the windowsill in the spare room peering out of the window, and he's now snoozing/washing on my craft table behind me. We're off to the vets shortly for a new client check-in, get him a course of flea and worming stuff and get him weighed so might throw some of my new-pet-owner anxiety on the vet lol

Think I'm just going a bit stir crazy also because he gravitates towards me (my workspace is upstairs / associates ladies with caregivers (?) whilst he plays and roughhouses with husband). I'm in the office tomorrow so they'll have a boy's day. And my husband has just said that he won't let me give him back

Anyway as a palate cleanser, he does the cutest thing when he's drifting off where he rolls onto his back and kneads bread in the air

 

[chizontiz]

I need to go to bed but I can’t stop staring

(That isn’t a creepy little eye open, he’s just a little bald on that eyelid!)

 

[CarmenGhia]

I have a confession to make. I'm crap at household stuff. (I'm female btw). I do the bare minimum, because the executive functioning needed to co-ordinate all the tasks is too much otherwise. Plus, my work is quite irregular and I'm not in at the same time every week so timetables are no good. The thought of having set tasks hanging over me is too much to handle as well. I'm pathetic, I know. My rationalisation is that everyone is good at some things and crap at others, it's just that some things are more socially acceptable to be crap at. Being bad at spelling or maths is okay but being crap at household organisation isn't.

 

[jordishaw]

Having one of those days where I've transcended the "I am so stressed I am non functional" and moved into the "I really do not give a shit, if you want me to do stuff above my pay grade then pay me more, until that is reflected in my payslip fuck off x" phase and it is quite liberating.

(Sorry not sorry to all the people who have been unreasonable and/or tried to project histrionics onto me and/or are fobbing their busy work onto me even though they've been told not to, and it's not even midday)

Liberating and healthy! Just before I retired my employer pivoted to being very interested in wellbeing and mindfulness and sent out lots of surveys about how best this could be promoted in the workplace and I really enjoyed responding with "pay me what I'm worth"

 

[Lazarus]

Civil Service??
I’m well familiar with the old ‘contact EAP’ line.

still on work: last month or the end of the month before I mentioned on here I applied for a promotion within the Civil Service department I work in. It isn’t in the same work area as I’m in now.
I lead on recruiting in my area so feel like I’m fairly familiar with the processes.
Anyway, I chased for an update on my application as none was forthcoming and last week was told I meet the criteria for an interview but they had a large number of applicants and so were proper limiting the amount of interviews they were doing. They ended the email by saying they’d interview me if none of the candidates were suitable.
I was less than impressed by this as civil service is a disability confident employer and as I have a disability that is covered in the Disability Act, and selected Guaranteed Interview on that basis.
I wrote back to them over a week ago and never even received an acknowledgment and so on Monday of this week took it to HR and mentally wrote it off.

at the same time I applied for this ^^ I applied for a similar role in an adjacent Department. Anyway, this morning I got an update from the adjacent department offering me an interview. I’m pleased about this and in some way it feels more of an achievement than if I’d got one in my current organisation.
What happens an hour later? I get offered an interview for the one in my department too. They’re basically only interviewing me because they dropped a bollock in terms of Disability Act. I’m sure they’ll have their preferred candidate already.
So now I’m just going to have to do both.
I’m apprehensive about the one in my department because the interview panel will know I’ve gone to HR to complain and so they may have a pre-conceived idea that I’m a trouble maker. I’ll use it as good practice for the other interview which is the following week.

I’m hoping to get the ‘adjacent department’ job. Not only because the salary is better but because I think it’ll be more of a challenge.

 

[Falkor]

Soggy day here, but the ladies didn't mind because they went back to the hill this morning

Mrs Ears has had no treatment for over a month and despite the massive sunny spell last month still has a full covering of ear hair and no scabs, so I think her mineral levels must be close to or at normal again. They'll be out for a few weeks and then back in for shearing in early July, though some of them have got a head start on the job. Viv Squig in particular seems to be modelling herself on her fashionista namesake - or maybe she's just been reading the master thread and is mocking big Dave's pantaloons with this fetching pair of fluffy knickerbockers.

 

[traumatised sideboard]

Happy birthday Kent County Council and @Lurkeryaar! Your tattoo is beautiful dear heart, well done sitting through the knee, that's a brutal area. I cheated and got rings of thorns around the kneecaps.

I've been working in a charity shop for a few weeks now and people are fucking weird man. A woman came in asking if we had a copy of Mein Kampf for her daughter. Fortunately I have not been trained in the till so I didn't have to deal with it. I'm literally working behind the scenes. Thankme for all the good I do.

 

[zetta buttons]

I know this isn’t an airport but shit gets in the way. Not much to say other than a skim read (will do the likes and later) means that this is for @MaineCoonMama (and @Lazarus - the pain never goes ).

Spoiler: Sending you the biggest hugs from north of the wall

I am so sorry to have missed your heartbreaking news. Words cannot fill the gap that your boy held. He was the king of your world and this thread.

 

[Captainmouse]

 

[Lurkeryaar]

took a tumble outside earlier lads 🥲 had to be scooped up by the ailing mr kcc and an elderly neighbour

happy birthday eve to me!

oh and, cos I'm not quite feeling old enough, ive actually bought myself a stick off of amazon

Best to get any mishaps out of the way before your birthday! Hope you are not feeling too sore.
It is also my birthday eve and I treated myself to a Tesco's finest chicken pie and dauphenoise potatoes. Yum yum. Tomorrow I'm getting a birthday tattoo and then a pizza tea, double yum yum.

Oh I got an interview for the big job I'm applying for! Need to start preparing

 

[kachoochoo]

just treated us to a chippy tea (yeah, I know, chippy for the heart pt he only had small fish and peas and it's rare we have takeaway at all)

not been there before and it was literally the best battered sausage and curry sauce I've ever had! and I got a free (unbattered) sausage

anyhoo, he's looking a bit more settled now and he's completely given up booze, fags and salt