TAMAHERE MARKET IN JANUARY

Well, here we go again.

Our second market of 2026, at Tamahere.

It's looking to be a fine day, just a bit cloudy, which would be awesome.

ABOVE: Coco is going to miss Stew terribly come Monday.  I look at her and just count our blessings she's still with us.  She is nearly 16!

I've nothing else to add right now, so catch ya later.

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...

ABOVE: A different view of the church grounds that the Tamahere Market is held at. 

ABOVE: Someone thinks its still Christmas. 

ABOVE: The sky this morning.  I'm going to ignore that old wives tale... we ain't getting rain... OK?

11.10 am, the weather is great,  the crowds are THIN.  We've made some sales, but nothing like normal for this market.

We knew it would be quiet,  so just maintaining our presence here  today.

ABOVE: Another very happy customer,  she's walking around the market stroking it! They are heading home soon to the UK, and that runner is going to take pride of place on their table. Awwww.

2.05 pm, and we are home, and have unpacked the car.  Stew is off to the supermarket shortly for weekend supplies.

I'm probably gunna have a nana nap, I'm so hot and tired.  PROBABLY not as hot and tired as other people, sorry other people.

I had a sausage, bacon and egg sandwich for brunch, followed by a cookie from Chad, opposite us. He makes amazing cookies.  But I'm paying for it now, got acid reflux something rotten.

I've been getting that a fair bit of late, not sure why.  Off to take a LOSEC, that usually helps.  

DIFFUSERS, AND MORE SEWING.

 

Yesterday one of my lovely readers asked what diffuser did we buy?

So here goes:

We both chose one, going on what smell, and bottle we liked.

ABOVE:  I chose this one because the bottle is gorgeous, and the smell is not too floral.

ABOVE:  And Stew chose this one because he liked the smell.  The bottle is very cute too.

I have never had diffusers before, so have no idea how long they last?  Can you get more of the liquid when it runs out?  Do the sticks last forever, or do you need to get new sticks too?

Now, moving on to today.  I have one more Fat Bottomed Ladies runner to get ready for stitching.  Then I will have five ready to go. 

Four of the ones ready to go have three ladies on them, and one has only two ladies.  So maybe I shall make one with four ladies, and another one with only two.

I shall be ringing the sewing machine shop today, to see if there is any news on McDreamy.  The lady in the shop said she would find out for me, so fingers crossed!

Right, that's me for now... I have no idea what Stew will get up to today... he doesn't have any 'hobbies' as such.  That will have to change one day, when he's home all day, every day.  One thing we are planning on doing together is playing snooker!  And maybe Pickleball!  I almost went to a Beginners class of Pickleball last night, but I wasn't feeling very well.

Probably not as unwell as other people, sorry other people. 

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...  11.15 am and I ring the sewing machine shop to see what's happening with McDreamy.  'N' said "Oh it's here, sorry I forgot to ring you".  We jump in the car and drive over to Frankton to get him.

BUT, before I leave the shop, I said to 'N',  I want to test it out, before taking it home again.

ABOVE:  And so up on the desk he went, and I sat down and tried a couple of stitches I use all the time.

*SCREAMS*.... it is still not working properly !!!

I was beyond gutted, and then bloody annoyed as fuck!  WHY didn't the damn technician double check using stitches other than straight and ziz zag?  

Clearly there is a problem with the 'mother board'... which could cost thousands to replace.  In which case, I shall be getting a totally new machine.  No way am I sending thousands to fix a 13 year old machine.

Bearing in mind sewing machines should last 50+ years!  WTF?  

So, it's back to using 'Baby' for now... just piecing and doing basic shit.  I cannot get any runners finished now.

Deep breaths, I'm going to make our lunch, then continue getting runners ready for stitching.

5.05 pm, and it's all done for now.  6 Fat Bottomed Girl Runners ready for stitching.

SEWING MACHINES:  Mine does have a lot of 'fancy' stitches, but at the end of the day all I need is a machine that does straight stitch, satin stitch and Serpentine Stitch.  And has a wide 'throat', that's the gap between the needle and the right hand side of the work space.

The only machines that have the wide throat tend to be machines with all the 'fancy' stitches.  And they are expensive as F. 

Hence getting McDreamy in the first place.

I am going to do my homework if I have to get another machine, and hopefully find one that does what I need, and bugger all else.  Might be a pipe dream.

I am quite knackered now... it is very hot and humid in the sewing room.

We are going over to the kids in an hour or two, we are dropping Coco off.  She is going to have a sleep over and play date tomorrow while we are at market.

I feel really sorry for her when she's home alone too often.  And she just loves being over with the kids and Marley.

11 pm and I'm off to bed.  Hoping to get a decent sleep.

FINALLY BACK TO SEWING TODAY

 

Today I will be doing some sewing, and a bit of housework.

Not much else really.

Might go out and find a nice diffuser to put on the new shelf unit, once it's in the bathroom.

Not sure when that will happen, if Stew can find studs in the wall to screw it into, it might happen today.

ABOVE: This is the shelf unit... it is really heavy!  But so nice.  

Right, that's me for now, catch ya later.

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... 10.47 am.  I have spent the past hour and a half getting another Fat Bottomed Lady runner ready for stitching.

I tried doing applique stitch with the baby machine... and that would be a firm NO.

So I will have to wait for McDreamy to come back to do most of the major stitching.

At least I can prepare the backgrounds and fuse the applique pieces on over the next few days.

Stew's having a go at putting the shelf unit on the wall.  If successful, we will go out and get a diffuser for that room, so we don't have to keep using air freshener spray.

I'm feeling awful today.  Trulicity makes me constipated, and yesterday I had a terrible time 'going'.  TMI I know, but hey, it's my blog and if I wanna talk about 💩, I will.  So, while 'successful' yesterday, I'm not feeling the best downstairs at all.  SORE, probably not as sore as other people, sorry other people.

Well, that shelf unit ain't going on the wall today.  I don't want Stew drilling 10 holes in the wall and still not finding a stud, so we will wait for Steve.  He will find one.

I think we will still go out, cos I don't feel like doing another runner's prep right now.

5.23 pm, we did go out, bought two diffusers.  They are now in the room and already emitting a lovely smell.

We had a quiet afternoon, and now Stew is at the pub and I've opted to stay home.  

9.40 pm, and I spent a couple of hours doing another runner, and I've picked his nibs up from the pub.  I am now watching Coronation Street.  It's a big night tonight on the show... where Coronation Street and Emmerdale clash into one episode.  Exciting stuff.

And that's me for the day, catch ya tomorrow.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN FATE?

 

Yesterday afternoon we finally got around to finding something for Miss Lily's birthday.  Better late than never... though originally we were not going to get anything, as that child has literally a mountain of toys!  Clothes aplenty, and so on.

But, we didn't want to turn up to her birthday dinner empty handed.  So we went to the toy shop and found something for her.

Up at the counter to pay for it, and my eye was caught by a BRITTO soft toy.  Loved it.  Asked how much was it?  And I expected the sales lady to say several hundred dollars, as BRITTO is NOT cheap.  (I would NOT have spent hundreds of dollars on a soft toy btw.)

IT WAS ON SALE... down from $79 to $50!  I was utterly gobsmacked and asked Stew to buy it IMMEDIATELY.

We believe in FATE.  We were meant to be in that shop right then, and to see and buy this:

ABOVE:  Isn't he gorgeous!  I told the sales lady it was my birthday soon... so I had to get it.

OCTOBER is soon right?  lol

Now, back to today:  I might join Stew down in the gym this morning... followed by a swim.

After that we are off to Cambridge to pick up a small shelf unit for the toilet wall.  We already have one of them in the kitchen with the glass bottle collection on it.

I ordered the second one 8 months ago, and it has FINALLY arrived!

We went over to cancel the order for it just last week, but the owner rang me not long afterwards,  and said it was waiting for him to pick up in Auckland, so I rescinded the cancellation order.  

Now I have to paint the wall it's going on, before putting it up.  

I fucking HATE painting, but if I'm going to get all the painting shit out, I might as well do more.

It's not like I can sew right now, so I might as well do something productive.  Like painting walls.  Oh yaaaa, I can HARDLY wait.  NOT.

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9.30 am, and we are just back from the gym.  Nice workout, he on the exercycle, me on the treadmill.

Heard from DOGSTARS while there, she sent me a photo of Stew in an old fashioned swimming costume... how she thinks a 'singlet' looks!

ABOVE:  It is hysterical!  I laughed me head off... and YES, I have Stew's permission to post it.  Not like he's got any choice eh?  😂😅  He really DOES NOT MIND.  

In a little while we are off to the Village Morning Tea, before heading over to Cambridge.

ABOVE:  These conical hydrangeas were on the table at morning tea, and I fell in love with them.  I've now got two of them, and a promise from she who brought them to give me a cutting.

I am going to try and get one of the flowers stems to grow as well, I just have to cut off the flower.

Morning tea was very pleasant.

AND I've now got an order for another of the Fat Bottomed Ladies runners, from a resident who saw them laid out in my sewing room during the garden ramble the other day.

I sure hope my sewing machine gets back soon!

We are now off to Cambridge...

1.53 pm.  Been to Cambridge, picked up the shelf unit for the loo... on the way home we got a text saying the sewing machine was ready for pickup.

Drove over there, and utterly gutted.

It's just the little machine.  Not my McDreamy.

And the little one is a nightmare to use, but later on today I will give it a whirl and make sure it's actually working.  

I saw a recipe on Facebook (yeah, they pop up all the time) for Broccoli, Rice and Cheese Rissoles, done in a patty tin. 

So I've just spent an hour making them for our lunch/dinner.  I won't be doing that again in a hurry, it was so damn hot in the kitchen, I nearly melted!  

NOT as hot as other people of course, sorry other people.

ABOVE: Some big, chunky clouds on our way over to Cambridge...

ABOVE:  And some rain, but it didn't last long.  Just enough to make the humidity super high.

Now... waiting for rissoles to cook... and Stew is cooking our pork chops.

6.30 pm, I just did a little sewing on the baby machine.  It's not fun, but I can do some work finally.  I have stopped for now, as I'm just over it right now.

I'll do more tomorrow.

For now, I'm signing off early as I'm done for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

OFF TO THE BEACH

 

Well... it's looking to be a really lovely day.

We plan on going to Raglan for the day.

I'm going to pack something to swim in, towels, a change of clothes, sunblock, sunglasses, everything ya need for a day at the beach. 

Not that the west coast is my favourite side of the island, but hey... it's closest to home.

I had thought we would do this yesterday, but we got carried away doing other things.

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY LILY!

AND 48th Birthday to my nephew Deon.

We will be off to the kids house tonight for birthday cake.  

ABOVE:  Look at our tomato plants. 😊😋  Rather proud of them... we even have a few tomatoes growing.  

Right, I'm off to get ready... catch ya later.

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ABOVE: 10.50 am, first stop in Raglan. Groovy Rags, where we've bought many things before.  Today we got t-shirts for me, and a singlet for Stew. Lovely lady, very chatty.

ABOVE: We certainly chose the right day to come out here. It's glorious.  Tide is fully out, so not ideal for swimming.  

We are now at ORCA for lunch. 

ABOVE: The Seafood Platter at ORCA, it was everything we expected... very nice.  Stew got to eat 2/3rds of it, as my appetite isn't what it used to be.  

ABOVE:  Dogstars, a SINGLET here is a sleeveless t-shirt, usually worn under a shirt (most often white), unless it's like this one (bright and colourful), and worn just on it's own on a hot day.  Stew wears quite a few singlets on hot days, instead of a t-shirt.  

The two T-Shirts I bought are in exactly the same colour, so we can play matchy-matchy.  😂😅

We had a wander around the shops, but nothing jumped out screaming "BUY ME", so we left a bit earlier than anticipated.

Home now and we are going to chill out until heading over to the kid's for birthday cake.

ABOVE: Like all grandchildren, Lily got some cash in a card... she was thrilled to bits!

ABOVE: The 'proper' present was well received as well luckily.

ABOVE: She liked the cake, but certainly was not going to blow out the candles! lol

We had a lovely visit with them, and have now come home.

And yeah, it's been a bloody hot day, but probably not as hot as other places, sorry other places.

Time to sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

STEW'S LAST WEEK AT HOME

 

Stew goes back to work next Monday.  I will actually miss him ... strange eh?  lol

But he'll only be back at work 6 weeks before his knee operation, then he'll be home for a few more weeks.

Until his operation, I'll get him to do a few more jobs around here while he can.

ABOVE: One of those jobs got done... hanging that buoy up.  It's one that came from my parents beach house in Whitianga.  I treasure it.  It looks so lovely there too.  It makes me happy looking at it. 

I  have a real hankering to visit Whitianga again, it's been a long time since we went up there.

Maybe in the next few weeks we can.

10.20 am, and I've been up and got all the housework done, and a few odd jobs too.

I DO 'work' and do jobs around here, it's certainly not all left up to Stew.

Though, he will be going up the ladder today and putting a couple of things up in the attic, I simply cannot do that.  I get vertigo and nearly fall off ladders.

In fact, I've had a few nasty falls from ladders in the past, so I simply don't do it now.

ABOVE: Who remembers THAT ONE, from when I fell off a ladder in our Auckland home?  That is why I don't do ladders!

Moving on, Stew has done his exercise routine, here and in the gym, and is now in the shower.

I'm thinking of persuading him to take us out to a beach again later on.  
  

ABOVE:  It didn't take long to figure out where to put the wonky house... we are rapidly running out of places for anything else!

Shame that, but then, there really is a lot in our gardens already.

ABOVE: It is a much more bearable day today, overcast with rain threatening.  Maybe it will rain later on, that would be lovely.

ABOVE: And there it is, up and waiting for a bird to make it home.  Might happen, might not either.  I've never had a bird actually roost in one of my birdhouses.

I put my first hydrangea cutting in a pot just now, it had grown a good lot of shoots while in a glass of water.  I must go around soon and get more cuttings from plants in our village, there's some really spectacular ones worth cultivating.

About an hour and a half ago I went for a walk, to take some hydrangea cuttings.... and one neighbour invited me inside for a chat.  And yep, that took an hour.  Lovely lady, she had a gorgeous hydrangea too, so she gave me a cutting, and one of the flowers off it.  I would LOVE it if I can get it to grow and produce flowers like hers!

ABOVE:  One of the flowers off 'Ds' plant, it is so gorgeous.  I really love the old fashioned hydrangeas.

ABOVE: All the cuttings I now have.  All of them are either blue, or purple, except ONE, which is white.  I got it only because of it's old fashioned shape.  I'm not a huge fan of the more modern 'flat top' hydrangeas.

Stew is watching some 'shoot 'em up, bang bang' movie.  Once that is over we will probably think about dinner.  Probably be just snack type things, as we had a decent lunch.

I was wrong, we had pizza!  It was bangin' too.  We went to Pizza Club Max, best pizza in forever!

Never, ever going to Pizza Hut or Dominoes again. 

And on that note, I'm outta here.

I'm tired as.

Probably not as tired as other people, sorry other people!  lol

CAMBRIDGE TRASH 'N' TREASURE

Today we are off to Cambridge, to do the Trash & Treasure Market.

It's a monthly market, and we have done it a couple of times before.

I thought it would be a good idea to add it into the ones we do on a regular basis, as over winter we only do ONE.

If we do OK today, we can do this one over winter as well.

So, we are up bright an early this morning, and off to Cambridge.

ABOVE: Coco got groomed recently, and OMG, within a couple of days she was super smelly again!  We have no idea why she's so smelly?

Does anyone else have a dog (s) that smell quickly?

ABOVE:  Stew bought this stuff for her.  The pet shop said it might help, one is a topical spray for itching, and the other one you put on her food.  I don't know if either will help, but I suppose time will tell.

She never used to smell this bad btw, I wondered if it's due to age?  

Alrighty, time to go... hoping it goes well.  Or at least there's lots of people to yak to if nothing else.

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ABOVE: Nice sunrise today. The sun will burn off those clouds soon enough. We're just waiting for the gates to open at 6.30... then we will be in and setting up.

9 am, all set up. Meeting friends here. No sales yet. Stew saw a stall that interested him, said I should check it out. Gave me his wallet.

Clever man! I spent ALL HIS CASH. 

I will show you on what when we get home. 

We just sold a colourful cot quilt... and its off to Scotland.  I love it when my stuff finds a home overseas. 😊

2.13 pm, and finally home and sitting down.

It is STINKING HOT outside today... possibly one of our hottest days so far.  There was a good breeze at market though, it blew over one of our racks at one point, so we had to peg it down.

IN all, it was a better market sales wise than we expected.

Knowing a lot of people are still away on summer holidays, and it's after Christmas now, meant less people around to shop.

But we did just fine.  Not huge sales, but worth it at the end of the day.

And being out there, being seen is always a good idea.  We get a lot of return customers, once they know we are there.

ABOVE: This market is predominantly second hand stuff, rip off clothes, bags etc.  Some good quality craft stalls, but not many.  Food stalls, hot dog 'n' chips,  might have had that for brunch. 😂😊  Sorry Mike.

ABOVE: Something I really like about this market is we can keep our car behind our stall (handy for unloading and re-loading), and you always get extra room out the front.

ABOVE: This is when our portable fan pays for itself!  Even though there was a good breeze, it didn't reach into the back of the gazebo where we were. I hogged it... sorry Darling.

Now, what did we buy, bearing in mind it was STEW'S idea...

ABOVE:  Wonky Houses!  How could we NOT get one for our garden???

There were three that were similar in shape, colour etc that caught my eye...

ABOVE: And this is the one that came home with us.  Now Stew has to put it on the fence ... a job for tomorrow, cos it's too damn hot to do it now.  And we are tired. 

5.30 am starts are a bit of a killer.

OK, it's now 11.30 pm, and I'm off to bed.  

It's been a long day, and I'm tired.  Probably not as tired as other people, sorry about that other people.  

And it's still pretty hot, probably not as hot as other places, sorry about that other places. 

*Sarcasm abounds*   Explanation is kinda in the last couple of comments.