BE GONE~!

A few years ago, I put some tape on the front door frame, and wrote 'PARCELS HERE PLEASE' on it.

So that parcels would be left out of sight from the road at our front door.

Come time to put the house on the market, and a few weeks into it, I thought "Hmmm, I might take that tape off".

And there started 'the problem'.  The damn tape would NOT come off, I tried prising a little edge up to pull it off... nope. That little edge just broke off.

ABOVE:  OMG.  What a mess.  I tried various ways to get it off easily, but nothing worked.  So I put it in the 'too hard basket', and just left it.

But it kept bugging me, cos I knew it wasn't a good initial view as people came to our door.

So yesterday, while killing time before my dental appointment, I decided to make a concentrated effort to get that goddam tape off.

ABOVE: By then I had ascertained that the edge of a sharp knife would do the job, albeit very slowly.  VERY SLOWLY.  It took me just over two hours of carefully scraping it, teeny tiny sliver at a time... but I did it!

I cleaned off the residual glue with Meths... and boom:

ABOVE:  Dancing with JOY!  I did it.  I was so chuffed with myself for persevering with it.

Good job DONE.

It's sometimes the small things that make ya day.  Don't forget that. 😌😊😉

Moving on to today.

Sadly, we have to attend a family funeral in Thames.  My Uncle Dave (on my Father's side) passed away last week, so we shall attend his service in Thames, and catch up with some relatives I've not seen in many years. 

I shall probably check out the local Thames fabric shop while there, might as well try and have a positive in an otherwise sad day.

12 noon. Safely in Thames.

I admit it... first stop was the local fabric shop, where I found some neat Kiwiana fabrics. She had HEAPS of Kiwiana fabric that I'd never seen before!

ABOVE: We are now having lunch at a Kebab place before heading to the church service for my Uncle.

ANOTHER FINISH, AND HOSPITAL

 

I got a phone call from the Dental Department of Waikato Hospital yesterday.  They'd had a cancellation and wanted to know if I could come in today for my follow up appointment?

While I am NOT THAT KEEN on going, I know nothing will change unless I do.  So I said yes.

So, that is at 3 pm this afternoon.  I am going with Lacy again.

This morning I will be tidying up the sewing room, having dropped threads etc on the floor over the past few days.  

ABOVE: Here is the second 'Christmas' coloured Braid Runner.  No shitty pointy ends this time!  God those points are the pits.

I might start another one today, seeing as I need to keep myself busy.

9.49 am:  I've just been out and about, booked Coco into the Vets for Anal Gland drainage of all things!

She's 14 years old and has NEVER shown any signs of needing this done.  Until just lately.

I looked it up on YouTube, and decided that was not something I was gunna try myself!

It made me want to retch!

So, she's off in half an hour to get that delightful procedure done.

While at the shops, I ran into Bex and Lily, which was neat.  I got a lovely cuddle with bubba.

I'm still tending the pool, filtering it every day, adding chlorine and sweeping the bottom to get all the dust particles out.   I am hoping that our next home does not have a pool that I have to look after.  Seriously, it's not that much work, but it is a tie.

I tossed and turned ALL.  NIGHT.  LONG ... worried about this dental appointment.  They probably won't even be doing anything today, that's what is so frustrating about it.  It's just a check up again.  😕😖😒

Right, I have about 15 minutes before I take Coco to the Vet... what can I get up to?

10.45 am:  Home from the Vets.  That went EXACTLY as I thought it would.  The Anal Gland drainage went perfectly fine.

But then...

The Vet Nurse said she 'thinks' Coco's Anal Glands are infected, and she wanted to book Coco in to have a more extensive procedure done under sedation next week.  

I was like "No thanks", paid my $45 fee and left.

I DAMN WELL KNEW they would do that, say something like that, get us back for another consult... more MONEY for them.  I was not born yesterday people.

OMG, I am so over Vets doing that.  We got ripped off the last time we took Coco to the Vet for a sore ear, and they kept charging us for STERILE WATER, at $80 a consultation.  I didn't realise it was sterile water until I actually read the label properly.   

Meanwhile, her ear issue cannot be fixed, it's been ongoing for about 6 years now.  

So NO, I won't be taking her back for any sort of unnecessary, THINK it might be infected, procedure.  

Rant over.  Coco let the family down by doing her #1 and #2 on their floor... I think she was just letting them know how she felt too. 😂😅😉

2.50 pm. Sitting in the waiting room... not feeling too nervous. Lacy couldn't come with me after all... so I've pulled up me big girl pants and some on me own. 

4.38 pm:  And I'm home.  And all is good.  The Dentist has decided my failed Root Canal tooth must come out.  FINALLY, it's going to be sorted and I won't have the CONSTANT aching tooth, or headaches.

He said it will take between 3-6 weeks until it is done.  That's fine by me... what's a few weeks more?

As I said to him, this has already been a 6 year saga.

I am feeling very positive about my appointment.  The dentist, a lovely young man, and I had a lovely chat.  It's rare when professionals are happy to 'waste time' yakking with you!  It transpires he's from Tokoroa, my home town.  So we chatted about our home town for a while.  Such a nice guy.

He has reassured me all will be fine with my tooth extraction, we discussed post PULL IT OUT sedation, so he's gunna give me some oral stuff to take before hand.  Cos I'm the biggest whimp known to man when it comes to dental shit.

As you probably know by now, if you have been reading my blog for any length of time.  lol

Moving on, I stopped in at Spotlight on my way home to get some more red fabrics, for Christmas Runners.

ABOVE: Those should do me for a while.

Because I didn't eat all day, scared in case I threw up with me nerves, I'm starving!

So when Stew gets home we are going to our favourite Indian Restaurant for dinner.  I feel like 'celebrating' the good consultation.

Quick funny Stew just read out to me:

I hate when older people say "You're too young to be tired".

"Alright Margaret, You're too old to be alive, but here we are".

I was just about to take a sip of me diet coke... nearly choked.

And on that note, I am signing off for the day.

MOSAIC GROUP/POOL/RUNNER

I have a full agenda on today.

First up, I'm heading over to Cambridge to spend a couple of hours with the Mosaic Group.  I am not going to continue with Mosaics, it's just not something I want to pursue.  I have enough on my plate right now!

Plus, my patchwork is more than enough for me to be doing in the 'craft' line.

I might be able to stay in the group as a 'social member', we will see.

When I get home, I am going to scrub the pool bottom again, as I missed a few places the other day, and now that the pool is crystal clear, I can see where I missed.

After that, I'll probably take a lunch break, before heading into the sewing room to finish that second Braid Runner that I started yesterday.

So there ya go, lots to do today.

Catch ya later.

ABOVE:  Sitting in a gorgeous garden in Cambridge.

1.01 pm:  And now I'm home.

I really enjoyed my visit with the Mosaic Group to one of the members home/garden.  Lots of yakking, which I do like.

A few photos of 'C's lovely garden:

ABOVE:  Lots of gorgeous colour, and mosaics.  I can stay on as a social member, and do the odd mosaic if I want to.

I'm very tempted to do some pavers for the garden... wherever we end up.  😊

I have just had me lunch, so will blob out for a little while, before heading into the sewing room to finish the latest runner.

6.45 pm:  I finally finished that runner, I was starting to think I wouldn't, cos I had an incredibly lazy afternoon.

It was like my batteries just DIED.  No energy at all.

So, I listened to me body, and just relaxed.

Around 4 pm I did get into the sewing room and finished the runner just as Stew arrived home from work.

So now we can just do our nightly 'thing', which is blob out in front of the telly, have a light something for 'dinner', and just enjoy the peace.

Catch ya tomorrow.

ANOTHER MONDAY ROLLS AROUND

 

Right, here we go again.

First up for the day, I'm jumping on the treadmill for a 45 - 60 minute walk.

I'm going to try damn hard to do that 3-4 times a week from now on.

After that, it's on with the usual Monday morning jobs.  

Washing on racks. Water plants. General tidy up.

Then, I MIGHT just start a couple of braid runners!

I didn't think I needed to make any more, but we have sold all the red/green combo ones... people seem to like them, with Christmas in mind I suppose.

So Yaaa, I NEED TO SEW!  😂😅😊

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

12.25 pm:  And I've been busy all morning.

Got all the jobs done, had a walk on the treadmill while watching this:

ABOVE:  A slow burner movie, but nice.  It made me cry right at the end, so it's gets a 10/10.  😊

Next thing... 

ABOVE:  Whipped up the first of two Braid Runners in this colour way.  I have to quilt and bind it this afternoon.

But right now, I'm taking a break.

ABOVE:  It feels good to have made another Braid Runner.  It's been a few weeks since I made any.  

6.26 pm:  I had planned to start work on the 2nd new Braid Runner tomorrow, but yeah, I got bored.

And got it assembled and stitched up, ready for quilting and binding tomorrow sometime.

It is very similar to the one I made today.

Stew is home now, so it really is time to stop working, and just enjoy the evening ahead.

Feet up, watching the telly.

Catch ya tomorrow.

ANOTHER OPEN HOME

 

Good morning, welcome to another Sunday, where we potter around getting the house 100% spot on for our Open Home.  I have forgotten what number this one is, I think it might be our tenth?

It is certainly taking a wee bit longer than we anticipated.  But it is what it is.  It will sell eventually.

So lucky Stew did the lawns and gardens yesterday, cos it's been a bit wet overnight.   It's looking good for our open home time slot though.

ABOVE:  I got the pool looking fantastic yesterday, it didn't take too much really.  Just getting the chemical balances right, and scooping a few leaves out of it.

ABOVE: The gardens are looking beautiful now, all the trees have their leaves back, and flowers are blooming.  It presents well I must say.

Alright, I better go and do the few jobs that need doing ... will take us all of half an hour!  

We have it down to a fine art now, and of course I keep it ship shape all week. 😊

10.50 am:   all the jobs are done.

I'm still hunting for bugs... only found ONE mosquito so far.  Too small to get a decent photo of sadly.

ABOVE:  ONE MOZZIE.  Googly eyes!

ABOVE:  When we move I hope we have a big rock for our Weta!  Otherwise, we will have to get one in.

3.18 pm, and a better than average amount of viewers through the house today.  A couple of groups stayed quite a long time too.  So now, as per usual, we wait to see if anything comes of it.

In the meantime... it's time to RELAX.

It's always stressful getting ready for an Open Home, even when we don't have to do much now.

ABOVE:  We had lunch out, so we didn't mess up the kitchen.  We just had a burger at Fergus Bar and Kitchen here in Rototuna.  It was very nice.

Burger got a 7/10, fries 8/10.

8.46 pm:  I'm going to sign off for the day now.  It's been quite a good day actually.  I always feel so hopeful after an Open Home.  Hopefully one day it won't be wasted.

Catch ya tomorrow.

HOW?

 

Lacy and I were outside yesterday afternoon, taking photos on the garden etc.

And here's a question for you.

When I photograph the sun I get this:

ABOVE: The sun is a bright blob.

When Lacy takes the same photo, she gets this:

ABOVE: She gets sun beams! HOW?  Why doesn't my phone do that?

My photo is pretty good though eh?

ABOVE: Lacy taking photos in the back yard.

ABOVE: Another one of mine.  I don't know where that blue 'crown' is coming from?  It might be a reflection from some blue glass in the garden.

ABOVE:  When I visited the supermarket yesterday, I noticed this big box of books by the front entrance.

I asked the supermarket staff if they were 'for free'?  The lady said they were being picked up by Rotary today, to give out to the public.  So she said I could help myself to a few.

ABOVE:  I took 3, then the lady told me to get a couple more, so of course I did.   I was rather happy about my free books.

Now, today we have a few odd jobs to do around here.

First up, I'm taking a sample of our pool water to the Pool Shop.  I want it to be CRYSTAL CLEAR for tomorrow's Open Home.  It's been looking really good up till now, but now that the sun is heating it up, it's slightly cloudy.

Then we have to tidy up the gardens, mow the lawns etc.  Just the usual weekend jobs really.

10.15 am.  And our morning jobs are done.

The pool is sparkling, after having massive amounts of chemicals dumped in it.

Stew has done his grocery shopping.

And we are now just taking a moment to put the feet up, before we go out for lunch.

We are checking out a new cafe today, after being quite disappointed in Robert Harris at Chartwell Square last weekend.

We might even go to a few Open Homes this afternoon, there's an apartment near the centre of town that has caught my eye!  *just a bit excited by this one*

ABOVE: at a new coffee shop. It's very nice.

FIRST time using my new phone to update the blog.  No glitches thank God.

ABOVE: Lunch today at Olive Cafe at Flagstaff  ... he had a Butter Chicken Filo pastry with salad, and I had a Pork Sausage roll and salad.  Shared chips.  Rating:  8/10

Hot chocolate got a 10/10.

Now... Stew is going to do the gardening, and I shall ... start reading a friggin book, cos there ain't nothing needing doing in this house now.  NOTHING.  Which is good of course.

2.52 pm:  And that was a complete waste of 45 minutes of my life!

The apartment we went to view looked AMAZING in the photos, beautifully clean and tidy,  staged to an inch of it's life... lawns and gardens were immaculate etc.

In reality, those photos were taken 2 years ago, before renters moved in.

It was a fucking TIP!  Filthy dirty, worse smells, filthy clothes and linen all over the place, even in piles in the bath!  Dirty, dirty kitchen and bathrooms, overgrown, unkept gardens... it was HIDEOUS.  It was NOTHING like the photos.

And there was very obvious work to be done everywhere.

ABOVE:  One of the photos we saw.  In reality, this area was TINY!  

Even if we bought it and tidied it up, I wouldn't want to live there.  It just did not live up to it's photos, rooms had been made to look bigger than they were, too many photographic 'tricks' to suck you in.

A.  BIG.  FAT.  HELL.  NO!

The hunt goes on, bearing in mind we still have plenty of time, having not sold our home yet.  But, we need to keep looking, so we know what is available when the time is right.

8.14 pm, and it's time to sign off for the day.  Stew and I have enjoyed our day, on a whole.  We tried Gnocchi for the first time this evening for dinner, it was really nice.  Had it with chicken and a tomato/cheese sauce.  

Catch ya tomorrow.