FROM SHEEP TO...

 FINALLY... the girls get a winter groom today.

The poor things are going to FREEZE.

But, as they are 99% of the time inside, they will be fine.

While they are at the groomers, I'm going to get them a hot water bottle each (with a cover) and they can have one each under their blankets.  Hopefully they don't chew on them! 

I will 'trial' their use today to make sure they don't chew on them.   

It might seem mean to get them shorn in winter, but seriously, they NEED a haircut!

If I left it any longer their coats will start to matt, and I certainly don't want that.

That is about all I have on me agenda today.

I think Lacy is calling in again to 'redo' me messy bun.  I tried doing it myself and failed miserably.

The weather is packing it in, and set to stay wet for days.  I've got my fingers crossed it clears up by Saturday, in time for the market!

10.30 am:  Lacy just called in to try and replicate the 'messy bun' from yesterday.

NO LUCK... I ended up with several versions that were all hideous! So back to 'my' bun.

The girls are at the groomers.  I found two hot water bottles here in the house.  But I am going to get each girl a winter jacket.... cos I just know they are going to freeze, even in the house.

The girls are back.

All I can say is, they will get used to them.  They better cos they cost a bomb!

Coco is asleep at my feet.  Snoring her head off!  I don't know where Marley is, I better go and see what she's up to.  She's the one more likely to try and rip the coat off.

Bex and the boys called in to see the girls in their swish new coats.  Both boys are home from school with sniffles.

After they left, I went out to the garage to check on the girls.  BOTH of them had got their coat off!!!  When I checked the labels, they said suitable for XYZ dogs... all much bigger dogs than mine.  

Grrrrr.  The groomers said they fitted them perfectly, so I believed them.

Clearly, they are too big for them.

So I took them back, and switched them for smaller ones.  Here's hoping these ones stay on.

ABOVE: Round Two.

I was going to Cards in Cambridge this evening, but as I've had a headache for 3 days now, I'm giving it a miss.

The last time I had a headache for days, it was Covid.  😥😣

I don't feel unwell enough to take a test... yet.

Dinner tonight was meat balls in a Sweet 'n' Sour sauce with Udon Noodles. 

And now... usual evening parked in front of the telly before bed.

Catch ya tomorrow.

FLOAT

 Usual Monday here.  

I always do our washing today, and again, it will be going on racks in the garage.

The weather is too dismal to even think of hanging it outside.

Once that is done, I'm going to the bank to get the float I will need for my 'next' market.

I DID have a float, but over the past two years, I've spent it!  Little bit here, little bit there.  Just how it goes.

Sometimes you actually DO need cash!

I'm doing my first market in two and a half years next weekend!  I am not sure how I feel about that.

Excited?  Enthusiastic?  Or just meh?

I'm leaning towards MEH, but only because it's going to be COLD.  And if it's raining I doubt we will go at all.

So, fingers crossed the weather gets a bit nicer before the weekend.

The other 'job' I want to get done today is make two more Cow Coaster sets.  I've got quite enough Runners for now, so I don't need to make any of those for a while.

Though, it would be nice to have 2-3 more Wonky House runners.  I've only got two of them.

12.30 pm:  And my morning jobs are done.

Well... except put the washing on the racks.

That's still to be done.

I have my float.

AND I did a grocery shop while out and about.

Found some of that Tatua Sour Cream.

Which means we are probably having wedges with our dinner tonight.  😂😊😋

I shouldn't have listened to the weather forecast.

So far today has been just glorious.  Sunshine and little wind, if any.

ABOVE:  Lacy called in to visit briefly.  She decided I looked odd with my  hair down, so she gave me her version of a 'messy bun'.

ABOVE:  I doubt Stew will like it!  Even I'm not too sure about it.

What do you think of it?

Well.... it clouded over, and got quite cold after lunch.  If feels dismal in the house.  But, this week I'm doing the 'conserve power' thing again.

This house costs about $50 a week for power normally.  Turn on the heat pump and it jumps up to $100+.

Just not worth it.

I will certainly use the heat pump over summer though.

When you just want to wring someone's neck for all the LIES.  But I suppose, when you live with fucking liars and have learnt how to play people off against each other... well what do you expect?

IGNORE from now on is my motto.  No more rises.  No more dumb fuck communication in response to false allegations.  No more playing your fucking stupid games. DONE.

I cooked WAY too much for our dinner tonight.

I did a lettuce salad, potato wedges, Prawn Bites and Prawn Dumplings.   Luckily, Stew managed to eat half my dumplings.

Time to wind down, relax in front of the telly then off to bed in a few hours.

Catch ya tomorrow.

SUNDAY SLEEP IN?

 And YES!

Keera has been such a good girl, when she wakes up now days, she takes herself off to the lounge and watches TV till we wake up.

Gone are the days when one of us had to get up at an ungodly hour to feed her.

ABOVE:  It was worth the money!  Getting all three kids to pick up the mess off me sewing room floor.  It only took them a couple of minutes to earn some pocket money.  😊

ABOVE: I was lucky Marley didn't give away where the hair tie was, while we were playing 'Hot/Cold' yesterday!  

She wasn't that impressed having her tail hair curtailed.  

ABOVE:  The weather girl last night on the telly.   Stew and I are like.... WHAT THE FUCK is with those pants?

To be clear, we are not fans.

Apologies if you wear some like that.  

But, to be clear, ya shouldn't.

So unflattering.... look at the bunching up by her left thigh!  And the length... wtf?  Did they run outta fabric? 

OK.  Enough bagging the pants.

ABOVE:  THIS.  Is rather good.

I watched a part of the rugby game between Australia and England last night.  Had bloody NIGHTMARES after watching #15, Tom Banks,  fall badly on his arm and snap his forearm in half!  It was horrific.

And of course, they showed it several times, just in case you missed it the first or second time. 

Poor man was in agony.

I hope he was given masses of pain medication,  and fully recovers. 

11.11 am:  and well.  I have spent the entire morning lazing around, HotPods on me lap, just keeping warm.

It's been a very grey, foggy morning.

ABOVE:  Stew... on a mission.

ABOVE:  And there it is... finally hung on the pool fence. 

 
Cute little story:

Yesterday Stew was out the front weeding the gardens, and an older man walked past with a little boy, and stopped.  Stew said 'Gidday'... and the man said the little boy always insisted on stopping to look at the Pig weather vane.

I'm glad we chose to put it on the carport, it can be seen from the road and our back yard.

3.25 pm:  Once Keera and Lacy left this morning, Stew and I went out for lunch.

We decided to try a totally new to us place.

The Wayward Pigeon, which is a new area off Wairere Drive, but classed as Chartwell.  

ABOVE:  It's the brown, two story building straight ahead.  If you continue down that road you get to the new Chartwell Interchange, that gets you onto the Hamilton Expressway.

In about two weeks that will be the way I go to head south to Cambridge!

No more winding my way all the way along Wairere, and through Hillcrest.  It's going to be Wonderful.

ABOVE:  So, the Wayward Pigeon is a very nice looking Bar/Restaurant.  Nice decor/seating/ambience etc.  Good service.

We ordered a drink... and while waiting we checked out the menu.

ABOVE:  I wished immediately that we had not ordered drinks, so we could leave.

The menu was VERY standard, and I'd say 70% of the food came with, or had in/on it chilli/jalapeno/wasabi/pepper etc!

I am not into anything HOT at all.

ABOVE:  in the end we ordered bloody wedges and a small pizza (without the jalapeno).  

And the whole lot got a 5/10 from both of us.

The only thing I really enjoyed was the sour cream!

It was a brand we had not had before, very nice.

I will be getting some during the week.

ABOVE:  Hands down the nicest sour cream we have tasted.

After our lunch, we went for a little drive around, visited family here and there.

Home now and just chilling out in front of the telly.

I could be sewing, but nah.  I will get more done during the week.

Well... it's almost 11 pm and I'm about ready to head off to bed.

Stew and I had left overs for our dinner tonight.

Then just watched telly.  

So just a normal evening.

Catch ya tomorrow.

HAIR

 Sorry for being a right misery guts lately!

I have been in a mighty fine old funk.  Weather?

Might be.  Just one of those down times for sure.

I'm trying my best to get myself out of it.

ONE thing that's making me happy.

My hair.

In the past 2 years I lost about half the volume of my hair.  For a while there, it was falling out so badly I mentioned it to my doctor.

He talked to me about how STRESS can do that... and well... let's be real.

There's been a shit load of stress in my life over the past couple of years. (more that 'NORMAL')

Our son Steve's chronic and ongoing bowel disease.

Mum dying... plus two of her siblings in quick succession.

Covid, and all that entailed.

Being dragged through court by a family member, right after I lost my Mum.  NO compassion or empathy given.  She will never be forgiven.  

A few others lesser things too, but still stressful.

Is it any wonder I lost half me hair?

BUT, I'm happy to say ... it's coming back!

Yep, I can feel it getting thicker again.  Such a relief.

It's a girl thing right?  How we feel about ourselves.  Our hair. Body. Weight.  Yadda yadda.

Clearly I don't give a shit about my weight now... it is not a priority anymore.  I am me, however much I weigh.  

It doesn't change me, or make me a better or worse person by being 20 kilos heavier or lighter.

It is NOT going to be the be all and end all of my existence, like it HAS BEEN for OMG, 40 bloody years!

Today I'm off to Cambridge to attend a walk with the FBG's.  It's in memory of our friend Anna, who recently passed away.  

It's on at midday, so Stew will be on his pat malone for a couple of hours.  

I'm sure he will find something to do.... depends on the weather.

If it's yuk, he will be parked in front of the telly watching sport no doubt.

If it's fine... maybe some yard work will get done?

ABOVE:  A photo taken of Anna during an FBG walk, probably way back in 2017 0r 18.  Anna is the tiny girl directly in front of me.

I'm about ready to head off to Cambridge, just need to tidy the hair, earrings on, etc.

It's a lovely sunny day, but damn cold.  I think Stew is going to get into the gardens while I'm away.

We have kids coming this afternoon, and Lacy and Keera of course.

ABOVE:  2.45 pm, and home from Cambridge.

It was a lovely little outing, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with, and yakking to, so many of my FBG friends.

Now... it's family time.

6.46 pm:  We have just arrived home from dinner out with the three grandkids that are here right now.

Mc Donald's all round.  We have enjoyed playing games with the kids today.

Hot/Cold at home, hiding a hairband, taking turns... lots of fun.

Then at Mc Donald's we played 'I Spy With My Little Eye'... such a good game for kids.  Learning  how to identify items by letter only.  They all did well with that game.

Now we are home, and the kids are playing happily, and Stew and I are just chilling out with the heater on.  It's going to be another really cold night.

Steve and Bex are due back in the next couple of hours (no hurry guys!).  Then we will pack Miss Muppet off to bed and chill out for the remainder of the night.

THIS AND THAT

Finally, a cute little Joyce, modelling one of her new jackets...

ABOVE: Looking very swish there Joyce.

And, not to be outdone:

ABOVE:  Darling Beau got a winter coat too!

He's adorable.

Last night I was so damn crabby (again).  So after dinner we went to the supermarket.

ABOVE:  I took a leaf out of Joyce's book!  I went out in me slippers!

I saw one girl at the supermarket in her pj's, dressing gown AND slippers... so I didn't feel out of place at all!

ABOVE:  We were shocked to see our cheese has risen in price AGAIN!

Two years ago it was around $16 a block, and we thought THAT was expensive!

Now?  $21.50 ffs!

That is just crazy.  And an utter fucking rip off.

Someone is just taking the piss.

ABOVE:  And yeah.  That's what happens when you are in a super crabby mood!  

*sigh*

Enough for several bad moods me thinks.

I'm sewing again today.  Cow Coasters for the girls down south.  Should get them all done today.

The Coffee Cup runner took up way too much of my time yesterday, and put me in a foul mood.

Let's not repeat that today eh?

11.44 am:

Sewing.

ABOVE:  It had to happen.  I couldn't do it any longer!  Being cold is one thing, being freezing is quite another.

I'm just going to warm up the room then turn it off again.  Probably only an hour.

ABOVE:  Done well today.  I finished the ordered Cow Coasters, and got two more sets of 4 made.

Now... it's 1.22 pm and I'm hungry.  Time for lunch.

4 pm:  Just done dinner prep.

We are having pork sausages, pork riblets, mashed potato, lettuce salad, boiled eggs and beetroot.  Should be nice.

Not done much else this afternoon. Watched some YouTube stuff.  Read the news.

Got Wordle but not Quordle.  

*burp*... dinner was really good. Way, way too much food. Going to have left overs for breakfast.

Sausages, spuds and eggs.

Time to snuggle down in me blankie and watch some TV.  It's cooling down.

Hotpods might need to be plugged in soon.

BACK TO IT

 Yesterday afternoon, once I'd stopped feeling so  crabby, I went into my sewing room and did this:

ABOVE:  A set of 4 Cow Coasters.  I put them on my Facebook page (RUNNERS & MORE).

And, very surprisingly, I actually sold them, plus two more, to make it a set of 6!!  AND... another set of 4!

I am so surprised, I never expected to sell a single thing on that Facebook page.

Thanks KJ and Karen D.

The other thing I started, but haven't finished yet:

ABOVE:  A small coffee table runner.  I was thrilled to find in me stash the perfect fabric for the inner detail on the mugs.  That one on the right looks just like coffee with cream on the top!

I will finish this one today, and the Cow Coasters.

I've been feeling really down the past few days, no idea why.  Getting into me sewing room helped yesterday, let's see if it helps again today shall we?

HALF WAY through another year!

Much to my disgust, I got up early.

It's so damn cold, I'd much rather stay in bed to be  honest.  But, you don't get shit done unless you are actually OUT of bed eh?

ABOVE:  Good sign I'm busy.  And being productive.  

I plan on leaving all that on the floor, and giving a 'job' to a grandkid or 3.  They like earning pocket money.

ABOVE:  I finished this little runner this morning.  I'm not that thrilled with it.  It's just OK.

ABOVE:  The sewing room assistants.  Not helping much are ya girls!  Marley likes to EAT little scraps of fabric, so I have to keep an eye on  her.  Little bugger.

It's now 12.10 pm, time to stop and have me lunch.

Well... I mucked around with that coffee cup runner this afternoon.

Put a border on it.  Took it off cos it wasn't straight.  Put it back on.

Photo.  DONE.

5.45 pm:  Got Stew's dinner sorted.

Sitting down fuming.

Just NOT NOT NOT happy.  Crabby as fuck.

Feeling stir crazy.  Home alone too much.  Not much happening on here either.

Should have stayed PRIVATE for all the good it's done me opening it up again.

Just over today already.

I LAUGHED

 Is it wrong that I laughed at this? :

ABOVE:  

Queensland National Parks

n

e

t

o

p

S

s

r

o

d

J

n

2

a

0

2

3

A

h

c

0

0

l

9

4

 

:

 

6

h

M

4

i

g

t

1

1

e

1

1

i

a

 

h

 

u

c

1

7

a

t

  · 

Creek bed significantly disturbed by people’s actions, Cania Gorge National Park.

In Australia, hikers who create rock stacks face a fine of A$689, or more than NZ$750, for “constructing an unauthorised structure or works in parks”.

Queensland National Parks told hikers to Cania Gorge to “look beyond what may be visually pleasing to some”.

“Notice how the dry creek bed is now bare of its rock cover! All these stacked rocks should be on the ground serving their purpose.

I appreciate that making Rock Cairns is fun, and I have done one myself (once), but yeah.That creek bed is ruined.  Perhaps people need to start knocking them over?
I have nothing on my agenda today, so I will bugger off for now.

This week I pledged to not use the heat pump.  I used it when I wanted to last week.
This week.... as a 'control', I'm not using it.  That way I can see how much it up's the power usage.So far, my 'WATCH' on our power usage has gone well.
I can't see any major increase apart from that very first day after the meter was 'UPDATED', so that's good!
Maybe we will be staying with Mercury after all?
So.  I'm freezing as a consequence this week.  It will be worth it to see the difference though.
I'm sitting in my chair, big blankie on, HOTPODS on my lap.  As long as I don't move, I stay warm.  So not much is getting done today.

I'm damn cold.  And crabby.In me sewing room, about to sew something.  Hoping it cheers me up.Feeling very low today.
OK.  Going into the sewing room was a damn good idea.  I got a few things made, made a big mess and just felt... HAPPIER.
Stew got home later than usual, which was annoying, cos I had dinner all ready for 6 pm.Never mind, his went in the microwave.We had roast Lamb knuckles, gravy, and a lovely vege mix of potato, tomato, onion, capsicum etc.
What's that vege that looks like cucumber, but isn't?  Can't for the life of me think of the name.  Derrr.  The mix had that in it too.
Time to sign off for the day.  Tomorrow it's the start of the downward slope to the end of the year!