SEWING/LUNCH OUT/SEWING

Today I'm going to be making more soft toy dogs all morning, then I'm off to meet up with some girlfriends for lunch out at the Avantidome coffee shop.

It's temping to actually walk out there on the riverside pathway.  Just not sure if it's safe on me own?  Or perhaps I could walk out there on the main road?  Hmmmm... it might just depend on the weather, I'm not going to walk out to lunch in the rain!

I've not been to the Avantidome cafe for lunch before, so it will be good to see what it's like.  I hope they have something I can eat that isn't carb loaded or full of sugar.

After lunch I shall be coming back home and doing more sewing.  
Or maybe some housework, cos that shit never sleeps.

I got these two owls finished late last night:

 ABOVE:  I'm getting a nice supply of these owls now.  *smiles*
They are super cute and fun to make.

ABOVE: Even though I was really tired last night, I stayed up and cut out two more soft toy dogs.  I will sew them up today.  It takes a while to cut them out, so I'm a step ahead already today.

ONWARD...

After Stew left for work... I dozed off again, to wake up at 8.45 am!!!  I was shocked.  I didn't even hear the kids get up and leave for school.
Man, I must have been tired.

So... I got stuck into me sewing, then went out for lunch.

 ABOVE: The cafe is called ' The Bikery', rather apt as it's attached to a huge Avantidome.
Very nicely decorated.

 ABOVE: By the time everyone arrived we had commandeered another table, as we ended up being a group of about 14.

ABOVE: The menu is fairly limited, but nice.  I had a sausage roll and side salad.  I think I would have been very happy with just the salad.  The roll was average.

I didn't stay long after eating as the acoustics inside were atrocious, I could hardly hear what anyone was saying... in fact even the woman right next to me was impossible to hear!

But on a whole, it was a nice lunch and I'm glad I went.

Our eldest son, Russell, has gone over to Australia to visit his youngest children.
I was thrilled to get this from him just now:

ABOVE:  Bodhi (6), Sienna (7) and Russell.

And now.. back to sewing!

ABOVE: And... now I have three more dogs.  And I'm tired.  Well... my eyes are tired.  Think I'm gunna take a break for an hour or so before getting dinner ready.

Which is going to be Chicken Tika Masala.  The sauce is out of a bottle, cos I'm not that good a cook!

Well ... no more sewing for me today, just jammed two fingers and thumb in sliding door. MEGA PAIN!!!!!  typing one handed kinda sucks too. Owwwww  owwwww owwwww, so painful.

Thank god for painkillers!  I can't believe how much my damn fingers are hurting.  YES, I'm a sook.  I own it.  

And that's my day done.  Off to bed soon... I'm exhausted for some reason.

ANOTHER MAINTAIN

Well, after having a good loss on the scales last week, this week it's.... another stay the same.
Not too unhappy about that.

But I do have a goal... and that's to be at a certain point by my birthday next month.
It's not my 'end point' by any means, but it's a milestone point.  One I am quite sure I can get to.

And it will mean I can face turning friggin 60 with a smile on my face.  

OMG 60!  I can't believe that is happening so soon.  I don't feel 60!  

But it is, so I better just suck it up and accept it eh?

The next birthday in this house is Brylee's, and she's going to be 18!  Next week in fact, 7 days away and she will legally be 'an adult'!  I look at her and think.. NO WAY!  An adult?  I really don't think kids are mature at 18! 

I know I wasn't ready to face the big bad world at 18, it's so easy to stuff up at 18-19-20.  I know I stuffed up big time, got pregnant and married at 20 and lived to regret it.  I hope Brylee and Griffin enjoy being young and carefree for a bloody long time before they settle down to parenthood, cos once you've got them kids, you are stuck with them!

Well hell, that's not the direction I thought this post would take!  Moving right along...

Today I am going to the Warehouse to see if they have any more of the tights I was wearing last night.  They are just so comfy to wear while walking, and not even expensive either.  I will try here in Cambridge first and if they don't have any I will pop into Hamilton.

Petrol just hit $2.23 here!  Bloody daylight robbery.  I bet it's cheaper in Hamilton, it almost always is.  I wonder how much it is in Auckland, they get slammed with a regional 'tax' on petrol now, so their's is even more expensive.
Rather relieved we don't live there now, even though it's more expensive here in Cambridge as opposed to Hamilton.

Once I've been out and about I shall get back to sewing soft toys.  

After yesterday's efforts, I've done enough housework for a couple of days!   The last of the windows can wait a while.

ONWARD...

1.30 pm:  And I've had a very good morning!
I went into town to the Warehouse, but there wasn't much selection here, so I ended up going into Hamilton.

I went to the Warehouse in town and was thrilled to find they had a really BIG selection of tights

 ABOVE:  I can't believe I got three pairs of tights and two pair of shorts for LESS than one pair of tights from Rebel Sports!!!
I'm a Warehouse convert.
I haven't bought many clothes from there before, but OMG there's nothing wrong with them, and they are so cheap!

After that I went over to Chartwell Square in the hope of finding some cheap t-shirts... and found nothing that was a decent price.  I'm damned if I'm paying $50+ for a bloody t-shirt!

I'll look again another day.

Then I went to Spotlight for more felt, and saw this:

ABOVE:  A little lap tray, which will be perfect for me to use when I'm doing hand stitching in me lounge chair.  $11... SCORE!

On my way home I stopped at Countdown and got this stuff:

ABOVE: THE BEST MULTI-PURPOSE cleaner I've ever used.  Love it.

The weather!!!! OMG it's FREEZING... utterly bitter cold wind, blowing a gale in some places too.   I wasn't too keen on parking under the trees at Chartwell Square, there were heaps of small branches being blown off the big trees there.  Glad to be home and into something warmer, I under dressed for going out and really froze.

Now... chill out for a little while, before sorting out dinner.  I've got the FBG Quiz night tonight, looking forward to that.

ABOVE: Three more soft dolls made!    I think I need about 10 more for the October markets though.  So... lots to do still.

Quiz night was fun... I got quite a few questions right, which always feels good.  We didn't win or even come 2nd or 3rd tonight, but it was still fun to get out and socialise.

Rather tired now, so will be going to bed shortly.

JUST RANDOM PHOTOS

Photos from yesterday, in no particular order:

 ABOVE:  Got his hands full.

 ABOVE: Stew found a big box of Nerf guns...

 ABOVE:  Nerf Guns = protect yourself!

 ABOVE: Coco basking in the morning sun.
Like she does most days, she follows the sun around the room all day.

 ABOVE:   Our backyard is looking utterly gorgeous.  Well, in my opinion it does anyway.

 ABOVE: The new lavender plant is doing well here.
So are the two boronia plants.

 ABOVE: A sea of purple... so pretty.  And masses of honey bees, which is neat to see.

The wasps, not so much.
I spent some time walking around killing them with flyspray!
Nasty evil little fuckers are wasps.

ABOVE:  Steve had a fall at work and hurt his back... so Bex was rubbing some pain gel on his back.  Wonder if it helped?  

Today:  not sure!
Probably getting the housework done then sewing.
I've got another FBG walk tonight, another new one for this year, so yaaa, ticking them off.

But for now... I will get some washing on and do some vacuming/wash the floors, bla bla bla.

ONWARD...

Well it's a bit sad.  After such a glorious Spring day yesterday, it's gone back to being a bit nippy and overcast.  But I still hung out the washing.

And now, I'm off to clean more windows.

Lounge - DONE
Front door - OMG!  It's just one window and a door right?  YEAH right... but it's taking me forever. I put double sided tape down the length of the window at some stage to hold netting there... but then I hung the netting on wire... so that double sided tape just sat here getting disgustingly grotty.

It's taken me at least an hour to get the bloody stuff off again.  And doors!  Ewwwww, they get so dirty.  I hope to get that door and window finished in the next half an hour or so... taking that job to close to 2 bloody hours!!!

I'll be ready to take a break by then I think.

Oh and all the linen I hung outside on the line had to be brought back in cos it started to rain.  And now?
Sun-bloody-shine.  Grrrr.

A little ?  about yesterday.

I was really concerned about how Keera would react to seeing Lacy after such a long period of time.
Bearing in mind she now calls Steve and Bex 'Mum and Dad'.

Well it couldn't have gone better really!
Keera was a bit hesitant to begin with, but quickly was all over her 'Mummy'... but then it got a bit strange.

She kept calling Lacy :  Mummy, Aunty Lacy or just Lacy!  

Lacy wants her to call her 'Lacy', like Brylee and Griffin do.  But I suppose it's a bit more confusing for Keera, she has only known Lacy as Mummy.

Weird having two Mums now!  I am sure as she grows older, she will figure it out and settle on one name for Lacy and another for Bex.

The other thing that we were all concerned about was how Keera would be AFTER seeing Lacy.  Keera gets night terrors still... so it's going to be interesting to see if they get worse or stay the same, after seeing Lacy.  You just never know how a kid is going to react eh?

Fingers crossed she's just fine.  She's had so much to adjust to in her little life already and seems to be well adjusted!

BTW, night terrors are VERY common in her age group.  

I've finally finished the front door area, so time to take a break and have lunch.  Seafood I do believe.  *smiles*

6.10 pm:  And it's raining.   So, the FBG walk might get cancelled.  I should know in the next half an hour.  I don't mind walking in the rain, but plenty of others won't.  dumm deee dooo...

ABOVE:  YES!  The walk went ahead, even though it was a little wet at times, but not much.  It was a very dark night, and part of the walk was out on the road to Karapiro lake... no street lights!  I had put new batteries in my walking torch thank goodness!

Home now and cooling down... got me blankie on, watching some mindless TV before bed.

FAMILY DAY

Well, I doubt I'm having a sleep in today!
With three little grandkids  in the house visiting, I'm sure I will have company in bed soon!

I'm looking forward to spending time with them all day.
Probably no sewing today, but I can show you the soft dolls I got finished yesterday:

ABOVE:  She's adorable!  I have taken the advice of someone and tried 'crescent shaped eyes'... I'm calling them sleeping eyes.  *smiles*

The next doll has got different eyes too!

ABOVE:  See I listened!  I added pupils!  I think it looks good.  

So now I'm sticking with these two 'types' of eyes for the dolls.

Lacy is due out mid morning as well... and that should be ... interesting.  

Right, I'm off to have me hot chocolate in bed... and await grandkid cuddles.

ONWARD...

Well.... I got my hot chocolate in bed this morning, courtesy of Bex.  And of course, 3 grandkids DID jump in and have kisses and cuddles.

ABOVE:  The kids were very happy in their beds all night, Archer was particularly happy cos he got the 'special camping bed'.  So glad we thought of it so he could have his own bed too.

ABOVE:  Stunning day, can't complain about the view from my bed this morning!

But, I'm not in it now of course.  I'm up and enjoying the visiting family.

Lacy is due soon... feeling a bit ??? about how that will go with Keera.  Let's hope her behaviour does not go right out the window!  Hopefully I'm worrying about nothing.


3 pm:  And it's going well!  No issues or dramas, which is great.
Brylee just left on her 2nd ever driving lesson.  In an automatic car, which pleases us.

The sun is streaming down and it's a glorious Spring day, and I'm cold!  

Off for an FBG walk in a couple of hours, that should warm me up. 

Dinner tonight is going to be lasagna toppers and veges.  Something universally liked and easy to do.

Right, this is a Lasagne Topper:

ABOVE:  It's NOTHING like real lasagna!  Mince/cheese and potato, covered in breadcrumbs.  Bloody yum.

Tonight's walk was 5.78 kms long.  5 pm was a lovely time to walk, well in September anyway. *smiles*  Not too hot or cold.
I found I ran out of energy in the last 15 minutes or so, and the sole of my right foot started hurting again too.  But on a whole a neat walk with lovely friends.

ABOVE:  NOTE TO SELF:  Don't get photos taken of oneself from the side!  NOT flattering, not at all!  Next time I wanna be the top of the "L".  lol

In case ya can't tell, we were spelling out 'LOVE'.  Don't ask me why, it was our walk leader's idea. 

I'm damn tired now, so will be chilling out for the remainder of the evening.
Photos from the family's visit today will be on tomorrow, not that I took many!  
I think I took more photos of me garden today than them.  Derrrr!

MY OPINION

I was reading a national paper last night, and there was an article about an online squabble between Tess Holliday and Piers Morgan.

Now I don't know either of them of course, but it struck a cord with me... cos as ya all know, I've been morbidly obese.

Piers was aghast that a famous magazine was 'celebrating' how amazing/awesome/inspirational a Plus Sized model by the name of Tess Holliday was.

Piers Morgan thought the exact opposite, and he went online to voice his views.

ABOVE: This was the front cover photo in Cosmopolitan magazine.

Now, I sure in hell don't think she's inspiring at all.

Lovely that she thinks she's all that, and is 'happy' with her body. 

But get real!

I've been there, I've felt how goddam horrible it is to be big!  There's NOTHING lovely about it at all.  And as Piers has said, it's NOT healthy.

It's not projecting a healthy physique at all.

Below is an excerpt from the discussion:


Piers: This is very sad,' I tweeted. 'She badly needs better friends, who are going to be more honest with her and explain she is dangerously overweight and should do something about it.'

You replied: (Tess Holliday) ...'The last 2 weeks you've been obsessed with me. Makes me feel like you're almost into thicker girls & too afraid to admit it.'

Piers: OK, well first, I love women of all shapes and sizes.

Second, I'm not obsessed with you, I'm worried about you.

We can keep having a pop at each other on Twitter, and fuel the supposed 'feud' between us.

But ultimately, I'm not criticising you for a bit of social media fun or to score a few cheap points at your expense.

I'm doing it because I genuinely feel you are promoting a very dangerous message, and because I am genuinely concerned that your own life will be in danger if you continue down this path.

If your own friends are telling you that you look 'damn good' in a photo that is so obviously deeply unflattering, then as I said, you need better friends.

A real friend would be telling you what I am telling you.

Tess, the most inspirational thing you could do right now is start to LOSE weight, not put even more on.

Imagine what a powerful message it would send to the millions of other Americans with morbid obesity if you could do what Tom Watson has done?

The bottom line is that there's nothing remotely powerful or inspiring about a 5ft 3in person breaking the scales at 300lbs.

It's just a guaranteed pathway to sickness, misery and possible death.

So I urge you to stop pretending your body is radiating some great 'positive image' to the world.

It's not.

Wake up, shape up and be the brilliant role model you COULD be if you just stopped listening to those fools who want to celebrate your morbid obesity.

You can do it, and I will be the first to salute, and celebrate you if you do.

Kind regards

Piers."

ABOVE:  There is NOTHING healthy about this girl's body!

And NO ONE can tell me she's 100% happy in her own skin.  I know the misery associated with being so big your life is impacted by it at every turn.

It's all very well being 'politically correct' and not voicing your honest opinion, but today... I decided to put my head on the chopping block.

And I suppose that's where I'll stop.  I just wanted to comment on this, cos it touched me personally.

Today we are expecting Steve, Bex and the kids later on in the day.  

Lacy is going to visit tomorrow to see everyone.

Fingers crossed that goes well, Keera hasn't seen Lacy in over a year.

I'm going to get the housework done first thing this morning, then do more sewing.  I want to have a really good stash of soft toys made,  before the three markets I have booked to attend in October.

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  Dog Number 4 done.
On to the next one!

Well!  I'm very surprised on one has shot me down in flames for my opinion on 'Morbidly Obese' models!
Relieved to say the least.

It's been a busy day so far, I've washed and hung outside a total of 4 loads of washing, and done sewing in between.

ABOVE:  I have 5 dolls on the go right now... and hope to have at least one or two finished by the end of the day.

Stew has been flat out in the garden all day!
He's pruned our side of the hedges, with hand clippers as our electric hedge trimmer is dead.
He's also pruned the two olive trees...

ABOVE:  They were far too high, and dense.  So he's given them a good chop back.  I wanted to chop one of them down completely, but he wasn't in favour of that option.

He's now doing some weeding before mowing the lawns.  Poor man, it's such a big section to keep tidy!  

But we do love it.

Steve, Bex and the kids should be here soon, when they arrive I will stop working in the sewing room and take a break and spend time with them.

Family have arrived, it's suddenly noisy!  And I love it.
We have ordered fish 'n' chips for dinner, cos we have both been busy all day.

I'm going to sign off for the night now... catch ya tomorrow.

NO PLANS WHAT SO EVER

I'm gunna sleep in today.
I have no plans at all.  Bloody nice for a change I must say.

There's a good chance once I get up I will make a few more soft toys, get some washing on, do some cleaning... bla bla bla.

Just a normal day in other words.

I have toyed with the idea of going on an FBG walk at 9.30 am, but meh... I'm just a bit tired.

Wish I could sleep better!  That would make SUCH a difference to my life.  But I wake up a minimum of 3 times every night, more often than not it's more times.

Friggin hot flushes, OMG they have so much to answer for!

ABOVE: I cut out two more dogs last night, this is one of them... well.... it's part of one!
It's been such fun these past few days making soft toys.  I've got two dogs cut out, 2 owls cut out and of course I want to make more of the soft dolls too!  

So much to do, it's GREAT.  And these toys are FUN, and who doesn't want to be having fun each and every day?

 ABOVE:  I saw this somewhere the other day, and just had to share.  Too funny.

And on that score, I'm outta here.  Might get a bit more shut eye. Yeah... sounds good.

ONWARD...

9.51 am.... OMG I'm still in bed! I actually SLEPT WELL. First time in forever. 
 But I might just get up now. *smiles*

FELICITY: Thanks for the tip about the cheap/on sale fill at Spotlight...just bought 4 bags full. *smiles*

3.50 pm:  And our day has gone like this:
I woke Brylee up at 10 am and dragged her off to Hamilton with me.

We went to David's Emporium to find wadding and ribbons, but had no luck.  So we went to Spotlight, where they had a sale on most stuff and I got FOUR big 1 kg bags of wadding on sale.  
I also got just a tiny bit of fabric, enough to make 3 dogs, and some ribbon which was on sale for $2 a roll, which was pretty good.

Then we went to The Base searching for everyday tights for me, but I just couldn't find anything I liked that were short enough.  I don't want 7/8th length, I want half length.

So, we ended up having some lunch and then coming home.

Since then I've made this little dog:

ABOVE:  Super happy with this one, it is gender neutral, which I like.

I'm now taking a break for a while, then sorting out dinner... cos well... I have to.  Not like I actually WANT TO... but seeing as I'm the one at home...

9.36 pm:  Family fed, more sewing done... sorted out my post for tomorrow, hope it doesn't cause a shit storm!
And that's all for today.

SOME MORE TWEAKING

1.22 am:  I stayed up far too late, in fact it's the middle of the night and I'm still not in bed!

There was this idea in my head, and I wanted to try it out.

A Soft Toy Dog ... so I made one.

I'm not sure how much it looks like a dog though, it might just need some more tweaking!

ABOVE:  What do you think of him?  Let's not call him a dog!  He's just a cute soft toy.  Yeah, that's better.

I need to get wider ribbon for him... I only have that width in ribbon on hand.  Perhaps with a nicer ribbon he will look even better?  I should have put a heart on his front too dammit!

The things you forget when you are tired.  Grrr.

So, now it's time to go to bed!
It's now 1.35 am and by the time I'm in bed it will be closer to 1.45.  *sigh*

Maybe I will actually SLEEP tonight???

Today... LATER ON AFTER I WAKE UP.... I have a morning tea to attend, catching up with a younger FBG and her little baby.  That should be lovely.

ONWARD...

Well morning tea was delightful.
Lovely, lovely company.

Then home to have some light lunch before Kelly and Lacy arrived for lunch.

I got Kelly to do some shopping for me too... saved me having to go into Hamilton Spotlight for just a few things.  Excellent solution, must do it again!!!

My afternoon:

 ABOVE:  The two crazy daughters arrived... with me supplies from Spotlight. (Thanks Kelly)

 ABOVE:  I gave Lacy an outdoor bean bag to take home.  She stuck her bony elbow through it!  Beans everywhere pretty quickly.

 ABOVE: She even got beans on her lunch surimi!

ABOVE: Lacy and Kelly refilling one old beanbag from another, and putting spare beans in plastic bags.   They even tried blowing beans into a pile... I think I got a good photo of them 'blowing balls'!  

Once they left I made this fellow:

ABOVE:  Improved model... nose a different shape, and has a white accent, and a heart. The ears stayed the same as I quite like them, they 'go' with the shape of his head.  I need to put a ribbon around his neck yet.  edit:  just did it... lol!

Nice quiet time now... till I go out for my FBG walk at 6.30 pm.

Walk done and dusted... it was a good one too, 5.3 kms.
Home now and trying to stay awake!
Coronation Street just started, but I might just go to bed early... pretty tired.