Smelling... like a rabbit??

I’ve got this new shampoo. It’s for dandruff. Well – strictly speaking, it is not FOR dandruff – it is AGAINST it. I suppose the warning on the back of the bottle should have been a clue to the main problem with this particular shampoo. It says that the colour and “fragrance” are due to the “active ingredient”. (Incidentally, the same active ingredient as in the rabbit shampoo – see earlier rabbit bathing blogs!)

Now, I don’t know about you – but to me the word “fragrance” conjures up a nice smell, a delicate perfume, a gentle floral aroma, a light summer breeze drifting over a bed of lavender. When driving through the countryside you don’t comment about the “fragrance” emanating from the local pig farm, do you? The words “stench”, “stink”, or possibly “smell” would be more appropriate. Now I know if they put “the colour and the stench of this shampoo are due to the active ingredient” they probably think that are not going to sell many bottles – but let’s face it, it’s shampoo, do we read the bottle? We know what it does and how to use it. Although I guess I will be reading them in future.

Sadly, it was cheaper to buy 2 small bottles than one big one – and you got more. Even sadder – I still have dandruff…

Flushed with pride...

Call me old fashioned, but I kind of expected the toilet to be mended by the (so called) man of the house at the weekend. Although it broke in the middle of last week, I didn’t expect him to come in from work and have to mend it, but I did think he might get the new part for it on Saturday and possibly do the repair on Sunday. I hadn’t investigated what had broken, (in my role as ‘mere woman’!) but as it’s now Tuesday I was starting to get a little pissed off to say the least. The novelty of flushing with a bucket of water had worn off – especially as I was thoughtfully filling the bucket ready for the next person – and stupidly hoping everyone else might do the same.

So, I had a look inside this morning and identified which bit had broken, it was a sort of white plastic thing that is attached to the handle thingy on one end and a sort of bent piece of metal on the thin end, which seems to be attached to the thing that makes it flush. So I found one of those things in the bog-handle shop in Telford and although I thought it was the right thing, I decided to buy a complete handle with all the bits – and I am glad I did, because it had a diagram on it, and it is a nicer one that we had, and it also hangs at a more “normal” angle – it’s been a bit weird since it was mended last time. It took about 5 minutes. I am quite impressed with myself that I have managed to replace it without a man! It was difficult to get the old one off to start with, but that was the most awkward bit. I know it is probably quite an easy job, but at one time I wouldn’t have considered even trying. It was nice to have the tools to do the job (so a big thank you to the person who has bought me my tools over the years – you know who you are!)

Christmas shopping has now started!! I have also made myself a Xmas shopping list on Excel – it’s all colour coded, green for anything I’ve got, yellow for what I need to get (and know what I am getting) and red for things I need to get but don’t know what to get. How sad am I? I have also wrapped and labelled everything I’ve got so far…

The Ollie saga goes on – another trip to the vet. Another bill! Now I’ve got to give him painkillers (ooh fun!) and some liquid food, because he is reluctant to eat. He is looking better though. I was determined not to have any more animals – but we have just had the news that Smitty, Kate’s younger Guinea pig has a really good reason for doubling in size over the last couple of weeks, and have also been able to understand exactly why Galvatron (the older Guinea pig) was so excited to have a new Guinea pig friend! Galvatron was supposed to be female. I gather he’s booked in for the ‘snip’ ASAP!!

Counting the scratches on my arms...

Yes – Ollie is back on antibiotics for teeth/mouth/eye-infections. He had some very expensive surgery yesterday. It would be great if I could find a decent NHS dentist for him – or even some sort of rabbit “den-plan”. Today I gave him his first dose of medicine. He really does not like it at all – even when it’s disguised with Ribena – and I am giving him the sugar free one as well! He did make an attempt at grooming himself today, which is the first time in a couple of weeks. He also spent about half-an-hour “grooming” me, so I’ve just had a bath to remove the layer of rabbit spit, and I think I’ve finally defurred my eyes, nose and mouth. I expect he will put up more of a fight tomorrow because he’ll know what’s coming.

I’ve had one of those “clumsy” days where I have dropped lots of things (most spectacular being a large pile of baking trays and saucepans onto the kitchen floor which made quite a satisfying metallic clatter), then when trying to hang my trousers up in the airing cupboard (the tumble drier is dead) I broke 2 coat hangers, (minor things I know, but irritating all the same) and now (rather more drastic) I am having to “flush” the toilet using a bucket of water!! Something went “snap” inside and now the handle thing (that you flush with) sort of dangles, pathetically.

So, all in all, an average day.