I feel like I have been through an emotional mangle the last week or so.

The kids broke up this morning for their Easter break. They are peacefully and happily playing some sort of make believe game all together in Robyn's room (I am often struck by how different growing up without siblings must be) and I am enjoying peaceful computer time in a clean house. Not only that, I am actually sitting in the lounge on a couch. Our new furniture arrived yesterday and I love it. It is good to just sit here.

The emotional mangle was at its most painful yesterday. We took a decision to euthanize our little dog Peggy. There was a lot of crying. My eyes still feel raw. This is something I've never had to do before.

She'd had her bad leg for years of course, and been pretty deaf for months, but these things never seemed to bother her, and up until about a month ago she was pretty active for her age (about 14). More recently we'd noticed she seemed to have lost some sight, then after a while we could see she had gone totally blind. I had to put the net back on the pool two weeks ago (it had been off since Daniel became totally water-safe at the beginning of the year) after she fell in and Lauren discovered her swimming round and round unable to find the steps.

Then about 3 days ago things got really bad. She became disoriented and unable to walk, losing her balance, falling into the pool net, getting lost in the bushes and unable to find her way out. Yesterday it was bucketing and she would wonder out of her basket for no reason and I'd hunt around the garden for her and finally find her shivering somewhere in the mud. We realised we couldn't let her suffer any more. I wrapped her in a towel, tried to give her something to eat, and made her a bit comfortable in a warm corner of the kitchen.

Peter came home early and took her to the vet. The vet said she had lost a lot of muscle tone, probably due to liver or kidney failure, and that the reason for the sudden turn for the worse was probably that she had had a stroke. Peter stayed with her while she died.

Daniel was especially upset. The girls understood a little better what had been going on and why it was the only thing to do.

Other recent things:

This morning, just for fun, the car battery died on me outside the girls' school. Most parents had picked up their kids already and gone home but fortunately there was someone I half knew and, with Peter assisting telephonically, I managed to jump start the car.

When I got home, Thembelihle was ironing in the kitchen. As I was making snacks for everyone, there was a bang and a flash. The iron had exploded. Now I cannot get the plugs in one section of the house working - it seems the switch on the board has been fried. I should be phoning the electrician but I cannot face something else to sort out.

The kids and I are supposed to be flying down to the Eastern Cape next week to see some friends (Janine and her kids; during a pregnancy-related blog black hole in the summer holidays I omitted to mention that they moved down there; we miss them lots). I haven't told the kids yet - it's going to be a holiday surprise. Which all sounds well and good, except that for some reason the ticket payment hasn't come off my credit card. There was an uncleared transaction there for a coupe of days, but then it disappeared, and there is no corresponding payment. The travel agent assures me the tickets are booked and paid for, and has sent me all the electronic ticket information, but I am rather stressed that I am going to arrive with three kids at the airport on Tuesday and find our flights mysteriously not booked.

Kids are getting tired of amusing themselves. Time for us all to do something together.