Of #Puppy Cuddles, My Birthday, #Roleplaying Sessions, Dentists, Weather Reports, And The Start Of #Christmas Preparations

The photo above is of me on my computer chair covered with dogs; both Lilie and Logan wanted up in my arms. Yes, I'm under there somewhere. Haha! Kelly took it at the end of October, but I'm only now getting a chance to share it.

That photo is an example of why I often don't get as much computer time as I hope to.

No, I don't mind really. They're just too cute to resist... How can I say, "No," when they want cuddle time with Mummy? The answer is, I can't. So I end up waiting until puppy nap time to attempt to keep up with things on the computer.

Mostly I manage to keep up with things. But, if I'm behind on reading your blog posts at any point, now you know why. *wink*

At least, it's why most of the time. But this past week I got behind on things online for a completely different reason.

As some of you know, it was my birthday last Wednesday.

Speaking of which: before I go on, I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who sent birthday messages, cards, or presents, regardless of how and what you sent. Each one was very much appreciated.

Anyway, I had one surprise in particular the day before my birthday, which is the reason I spent hardly any time online last week, and am still behind on eMails and blog posts at this point, though the fact I was already a bit behind before it happened doesn't help matters, but that's beside the point. Either way...

My Dad came for a visit.

He showed up on our doorstep unexpectedly on Tuesday morning, having arrived in the area the evening before, and was with us - apart from the time he spent at his hotel - until Friday, when he headed back to Wales.

We spent most of the time chatting and roleplaying. On Tuesday and Wednesday we played the Starfinder roleplaying system, which - for those who don't know, but might want to - is a version of Pathfinder (similar to the old Dungeons And Dragon system) set in space. Since there were so few of us, we played two characters each. I played a mechanic and a mystic, and Kelly played an operative and a techno mage. It was fun. On Thursday we started discussing the characters we'll be using for the roleplaying sessions we plan to start in the near future over the internet, like we used to play (something we've been meaning to figure out the details for, but hadn't gotten around to before).

Also, I ended up not cooking for three days. On Tuesday we had Indian food. On Wednesday we had Chinese. On Thursday, Kelly and I had already planned to go to Oscars for my birthday meal in the afternoon, so Dad came too, and paid for the meal for us. Yeah, I know... Not the healthiest of menus, but better than some options out there. Plus, it was nice to have no food prep or cooking, and minimal cleanup afterwards, to do for those few days. The Indian and the food at Oscars was delicious (the food at Oscars always is). The Chinese was good, but not great.

While we were at Oscars, we booked our Christmas dinner with them, so we could make sure a vegan option was set up for me. We knew they'd still have slots at that point, so thought it was a good time to sort it out. It turns out their slots are filling up fast this year, so it's lucky we did book when we did. Anyway, we're all booked in for Monday December 23rd at 1:00pm. "All" being me, Kelly, Lilie, and Logan, if you didn't figure that out.

Anyway, I did have a little birthday cake, but it was just a small piece Kelly got for me from the local bakery, so I didn't share it with anyone. I offered Kelly a bit, but I was eating it at breakfast time when Dad was at his hotel, and didn't think to offer him some afterwards. The only vegan cake Kelly could find at the bakery was chocolate, since they seem to think that's the cake all vegans must want. This is a little unfortunate, because I'm not a fan of chocolate cake, and struggle to eat it for reasons I won't go in to today. But I ate it anyway, even though it took me three days of having a little and then setting it aside to eat one small piece of cake, because it was the only way I could face it, and it was only the fact Kelly had gone to the trouble to find me some vegan cake that I ate it. It wasn't bad for chocolate cake. I just have issues with chocolate cake, and wish there had been a way to have a non-chocolate cake without either paying a fortune to special order one, or making my own. But it's the thought that counts at the end of the day, and at least it was vegan cake I hadn't needed to make myself. Still, if any bakery near me wants to make some vegan cake that's something else, like carrot cake, lemon drizzle cake, or whatever, that would be great. Just saying.

So, that was my three day birthday.

It was nice to see Dad. Even if the unexpectedness of it meant it actually took me a while to realize it was him (a situation not helped by the excitedly yapping puppies who wanted to know who was at the door). But when I learned Kelly, who had been heading out to mail something when he arrived, had just walked past him without realizing it was him too, I felt a bit better about that. Dad found the situation highly amusing, and was still chuckling about it when he left, in case you're curious what he thought of us not realizing it was him at first.

So, I got three birthday cards. Well, technically four, but one of them isn't yet in my posession. I also got money I haven't spent yet, seasons 11 through 13 of NCIS, some unicorn cookie cutters I used to make breaded tofu unicorns for dinner last night, a couple of books, some Pokemon figures, and a new CD player for the bedroom (since my old one's not doing so well any more, so needed replacing; I'd told Dad about it, and that's what I got from him and my Nan, along with the pokemon figures). There's the tickets my Mam got me to see Jason Donovan next year too, of course... Can't forget about those!

I meant to get a photo of the cards, but haven't had a chance. I'll sort that when I can.

In other news:

I had a dentist appointment at the end of October. The day before Halloween, to be exact.

I thought I'd broken a tooth a couple of weeks before when I didn't soak some beans long enough, and frying them resulted in the still kind of hard beans becoming rock hard. It turned out though I'd just dislodged an old filling, which it wouldn't take much to fix, so they offered to try and sort it for me then and there to save me coming back another time.

Despite my history of issues with the area being properly numbed, I agreed, hoping to get it over and done with out of the way, and avoid the four month wait I had last time I needed something done. Then mentally praid the shot would work.

Thankfully, it did. Well, mostly anyhow. The shot to numb the area worked well enough that they were able to do it without more than minor pain for me, and I could tell them I was fine, even if it hurt a bit. It was at least tolerable, and I felt the bit of pain was worth it to get it over with. Well, mostly worth it... Pain is never completely worth it. But I think you know what I mean. The point is, the pain was tolerable, they sorted the filling then and there, and now it's over. So, YAY!

Since I had no other issues with my teeth, they aren't expecting to see me again for another six months. Also YAY! *wink*

I made my next appointment while I was there, since they asked and I figured I might as well. It's for May 1st at 11:20am.

Kelly has a dentist appointment soon too. His is November 26th at 10:00am. He's not been in quite a while, and our dentist has a thing about making you call a few weeks in advance if you haven't been seen in over a year, or he'd have had an earlier appointment. It's a thing they do to try and encourage you not to miss your six month check-ups, I guess. Kind of strange though... I'd have thought not having seen someone in a while would make them want to see you quicker. But whatever.

Not much has really happened apart from that.

The weather's been cold, and often stormy. They got some snow in Wales last week, but we haven't seen anything more than hail, enough rain that we've spent most of the past month under a flood warning, and a lot of wind. If things continue the way they have been though, my chances of a white Christmas - or at least some snow this Winter at some point - are going to be quite high. Since we don't plan to go anywhere for Christmas, I wouldn't mind a bunch of snow at Christmas. Although, I'm sure my brother, Carl, is hoping for the opposite. Not because he doesn't like snow, but because he's going to Wales from Norwich for Christmas, and I'm sure would rather not get stuck somewhere because of the snow. But we live far enough from both areas that it would be fine if it snowed here and not with them. As long as I get some snow though, I don't mind when. I just hope I have better snow than last Winter, since it was the blink and you miss it type snow we got last year. You know... The type that turns to slushy mess by the time it hits the ground, so you can't get to enjoy it, and then it freezes and becomes really bad ice. I hate that kind!

Anyway, as you may have figured out from some of the previous comments in this post - and the last part of the title - we've started thinking about Christmas plans. Well, I mean, it is five weeks to Christmas Eve today, after all, so you should probably start at least thinking about it too, if you haven't already. Just saying. Either way, we've even done a little Christmas shopping, and were able to send my Nan's present back with Dad, to save us posting it to her. We hadn't wrapped it, but he's happy to do that for us, which is nice of him, and saves us needing to worry about it.

For now though, this is all I have to say, since the only other thing that happened over the past couple of weeks was the firework display I posted about last week. Well, and the usual day to day stuff like pet care, chores - which adults even have to do on their birthday, unfortunately - and so on. Since that's the case, I'll end this now, and go sort some eMails, or read some blog posts, or - as will probably end up being the case - a bit of both.