Mc 2IE IS WORKING AGAIN

 

I gave my sewing machine a good 'going' last night, to make sure it was working, with no glitches.

So happy to say it is.

ABOVE: That is the runner I started last night.  It's already 75% done.  A bit more quilting, then slap the binding on and BOOM!  Done.

I have three more dog squares left which will become a small runner.  Then I'll move on to  something else.

It is now 10 days since I stopped taking Trulicity.

The changes in my body are amazing!

💩💩💩 THAT aspect is back to 'normal', something I've not had for over a year.  It feels FANTASTIC.  To be able to 'go' regularly, not just once a week.  I have no pain.  No stomach ache. Nothing.  

My thirst is back, so I'm getting more fluid going through the system.  Piddling 4-5-6 times a day!  That is a huge increase from once or twice (at the MOST) a day.  

I feel so much better!  Not so sluggish.  Those 'side effects' of Trulicity were certainly NOT explained to me when I first started taking it.

I think everyone reacts differently to medications.  Clearly I cannot take Trulicity.

Moving on... I will be sewing today.

But first, I'm going on a little walk, possibly just around the village, and along the river bank.

ONWARD...

1.20 pm, and my morning hasn't gone quite as I planned.  I did get a walk, and a workout!  Shopping is a 'workout' ... right?

I decided to take the bus to The Base.  I needed to find a squeegee thingee for the shower walls.

ABOVE: Same bus, different day... and different direction.

It only took about 12 minutes to get to the Base.

I started looking for the squeegee, but my eyes saw some gorgeous linen at Adairs, and it was on Sale for 40% off.

So yeah.  No squeegee was bought.

ABOVE:  WHOOPS!  I do believe I got a bit carried away.

And YES, I got all of that on and off the bus just fine.

I got new pillows, pillowcases, cushions and a throw.  And some thick, daggy sweatpants to wear to markets.

I have just had lunch, and will now relax for a while.  I'm in no rush to finish that dog runner.

Our next market isn't for another 9 days, I've got plenty of time.

10.10 pm, and it's been a nice evening in front of the telly, and doing jigsaws.  Right now I'm watching a programme about gold diggers, it's quite interesting.

I will now sign off for the day and catch ya tomorrow.

A DAY OFF TO RELAX

 

After the big upset with my NEW sewing machine yesterday, I'm taking today OFF doing anything.

I'm just over it to be honest.  Feeling really down.

There is a morning tea on in the Village Community Centre, I'll probably go to that.  Just to be around people, chat about something trivial.

Late yesterday afternoon, I did get the day's sewing project finished on BABY Brother.  He's been re-named Mc Shitty, cos he really doesn't like the chunky seams I end up with on the corners of runners.

But if I go really, really slow, he does stitch the corners.  Just reluctantly.  So,  he's a bit shitty.

ABOVE: It is only ONE runner/table topper.  I've taken two photos to show both 'sides'.  I have enough dog squares to make one more, but not today.  

I don't want to do ANYTHING today.

I think I will ring the Sewing Machine shop to talk about Brother replacing my new machine.

I know they have the 'right of repair'... but seriously, it should NOT have broken down after only 11 weeks.

I had this sort of problem with my brand new Husquvarna years ago... it kept breaking down from the moment I owned it.  They took 4 years to give me my money back!

I don't want a repeat of that scenario.

ONWARD...

11.40 am.  And I didn't relax.

I decided at around 8 am that I would catch the bus over to the lake, and go for a walk.

So I did.

ABOVE:  Waiting for the bus in the fog.  The sun is trying to burn through it.

ABOVE:  It took 45 minutes to arrive at the top of the lake, on Pembroke Street.  One more stop and I would have arrived at the hospital.

ABOVE:  Fog still hanging around, but lifting. 

ABOVE:  A view across the lake to the Rowing Club.  It really was that pretty.

ABOVE:   I wonder how old that tree is?  It's huge.

ABOVE:  Mum, Dad and babies.  They must have been a late hatching.  Most Pukeko babies around the lake are at least twice the size of those two.

ABOVE:  One of my favourite views... Waikato Hospital from the other side of the lake.

ABOVE:  I could not get over how many Canadian Geese were on the lake!  That lot was only a tenth of them, there were flocks all over the place.  I wonder if they know duck shooting season starts tomorrow?  lol

ABOVE:  I love this section of the boardwalk.

ABOVE: Just getting warmed up for the day.  Shag happy.

I caught a double decker bus home... I got to sit right up the top in the front.  What a neat view all the way home!

ABOVE:  Stew's office is just 200 meters down that road.  

I waved Darling.

ABOVE: Crossing over the Anzac Parade Bridge. 

ABOVE:  A bit red faced after my walk... it was worth it.  I really enjoyed my bus ride and walk.

When I arrived back at the village, I went to the morning tea.  I was half an hour late, but it didn't matter, I still got to chat and enjoy the company.

ABOVE:  My walk stats for today.  4 km is a nice distance, and mostly it was flat.  You can add about half a km on if you count the walk to and from the bus.  😊

1.30 pm.  I rang Sewing Machine World, to just get my machine's serial number, as I planned on contacting Brother myself.

And 'C' told me she was talked through how to fix it by a technician, and now Mc 2ie is fixed.

I shall go and get him now.

But I'm still not happy that a brand new machine had an issue so quickly.

It does not install any faith in the machine at all.

8 pm.  I did not leave the Sewing shop without checking the machine was actually working.  It was.

So home, and I started another dog runner.

Then Stew arrived home, so I sent him off to the pub on his own.  He's capable of walking there himself now, it's only a 4 minute walk.

I visited the kids for an hour, then joined Stew for a chat with our friends.  And a glass of bubbly wine, it's becoming a little Thursday night 'thing'.

Hot chips. 

Lots of lovely chats.

Then home.

Wrap up in me heated throw, and looking forward to Coronation street in a couple of hours.

Catch ya tomorrow.

IT HAS BEEN A WEEK

 

It is now a full week since I had my last Trulicity injection, and I think I can almost see a turn around in my regularity.  AND it's not so painful anymore. Thank God.  Hopefully it continues to get better.

VICKIE:  YES, I will be seeing my Doctor, as I will need to be taking something else to keep my diabetes under control, now that I am no longer taking Trulicity.  I am awaiting an appointment, but I'll probably need to go in personally to get said appointment, as their phone booking system is THE PITS.  

I have got a 'housekeeper' coming to do some housework today.

She is going to do the jobs I hate like vacuuming, washing floors, windows, bathroom and loo etc.

It will become a regular once a fortnight thing... and I couldn't be happier about it.  

While she works, I am going to continue sewing, not sure what I'll get made yet.

ONWARD...

ABOVE: Third morning in a row... woke up to a damn fog.  God I hate fogs.  They are so cold and damp and just seep into me bones.

I HATE WINTER so much more than summer.

With that in mind, this morning I am ringing some glazing companies.  We are going to (depending on cost), get the house windows double glazed.  This house was goddam FREEZING last winter.

I ain't going through that again!

ABOVE: The 'sticky pads' Steve got me for Crabby Quarters work so well... imagine ALL THAT traipsed into the house, all over the carpet.  Yeah NAH.  I pull off the used one about once a week.  Ya just have to remember not to walk on it with bare feet, it's very sticky and feels a bit gross.

9.30 and I've just contacted three retrofit double glazing companies.  And now I wait to hear back from them.  I'm hoping we can get something tee'd up fairly quickly.

I wish now I'd done this BEFORE winter was upon us!

ABOVE: Our housekeeper.  She works for left overs out of the fridge. 😂😅😋

3 PM.  What a lovely MORNING I have had.

The housekeeper arrived aka LACY.  She did a bloody wonderful job, took her 2 hours to get through the bulk of the jobs I had lined up for her.

While she worked, so did I.  I got two hours sewing done, then stopped for lunch.

I had chicken salad, with a couple of small garlic bread rolls.  It was delicious.

Then I went back into Crabby Quarters to finish the mornings project.

But first, I thought I better clean the machine, not having done it for about two weeks.

So, off comes the needle plate, I suck up the fluff with the vacum cleaner, put the plate back on... and.....

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?  It is refusing to work!   It keeps popping up an error message saying:

"Turn off the machine and attach the needle plate".

The needle plate is ON.

It won't do anything.

So, as you can imagine, I'm beyond upset.

Mc 2ie is only 11 weeks old!

I don't know whether I will cry, scream or start smashing things.

Instead, I hold it together and take the goddam machine into Sewing Machine World, hoping that the lady there can sort it out.

ABOVE: She took him apart, put him back together, and NOPE.  Nothing.  She 'thinks' it may be a sensor issue.

Like hello... this machine is only 11 weeks old.  WTF WTF WTF ????

She is going to contact Brother and see what they want to do.  He is staying in the shop for now, at least until something is sorted... better still ... FIXED.

I cannot believe this has happened.  Seriously.

Beyond upset.  ONLY just holding it together to be honest. 

I just want to scream, cry and smash things right now.

9.30 pm, and after a very quiet evening in front of the telly, I've calmed down.

I hope tomorrow goes fine,  without any upsets.

TAKING A BREAK... AGAIN

 

I knew this... for months I've known it.

The TRULICITY I take twice a week for diabetes management/weight loss 'help', is what is causing the CHRONIC constipation I'm suffering.

Bearing in mind the Trulicity did NOTHING towards helping me lose weight, I am gunna have to start taking something else for my diabetes control.

I stopped taking Trulicity last week, so hopefully in the next couple of weeks, 'things' will be back to normal 💩💩💩.

There is no way I could keep going the way things were, it was TERRIBLE.

TMI?  My blog... so grin and bear it.

Stew's back at work today, so I have the house to myself again.  I'm gunna go for a walk first thing, before heading into Crabby Quarters to sew.

ONWARD...

12.10 pm, and I've  had a lovely morning.

First a quick walk around the streets.

Then into Crabby Quarters, where I started a bag.

On to morning tea with the regulars down in the village  community centre.

Back home, grabbed an early lunch of salad and sausage.

Bex and Lily arrived for a visit, which was very nice.

And now?

I'm about to head back into Crabby Quarters.

COLLEEN:  I don't know if I have already talked about THE CHOCOLATE?

I can't eat it anymore.  With the Trulicity causing massive problems 💩💩💩, eating chocolate ALSO CAUSES THE SAME RESULT.

I should have known better.  The Whitakers Banana Caramel Chocolate caused the opposite effect for just a little while, then it bunged me up.

So, I have about 20 blocks of that chocolate to slowly give away!  Stew will eat a bit of it, but not 20 blocks.

Why do I have 20 Blocks?  Cos Whitakers said it was a 'Limited Edition', so I grabbed heaps of it.

NOW they have advised it is going to become a normal, available all the time flavour. So typical.

TRACY:  I have already tried Kiwi Crush, and almost every other 'remedy' known to man!

The only thing that did work was Lactulose, but it made my stomach ache.

ABOVE:  3.45 pm, and I just finished this bag.  I used some of the fabric I got from my friend Denise yesterday.  The dog fabric is a  heavier weight than I usually use, but it works for bags.

11.30 pm.  I made 4 more Black/White and a pop of blue coasters this afternoon.

Then Stew arrived home, so we spent the evening together.

I looked at a basket full of washing to be folded and thought, Yeah Nah.  It can wait until tomorrow.

Time to head off to bed now... catch ya tomorrow.

HIT REPEAT?

 

Today is a Public Holiday ( 'Mondayised' ANZAC Day), so Stew is home.

Until his knee is 100% we are still unable to go out and about much.  I can't wait until he's up to bigger walks, more outings and so on.

The Village Craft Group is on today, holiday or not.  I will no doubt attend, and do some sewing, but not coasters.  Doing them makes way too much mess, and I can't be arsed having to take all that down there, then clean up the mess afterwards.

I might start doing something with those little dog squares I found in me stash.

ABOVE:  The coasters I got done yesterday... I really like this combo, and the touch of blue... magic.  You have to see them 'in person' to really appreciate how lovely they are.  That actually applies to just about everything I make.

ABOVE:  These are the little dog squares I might work on today.  I might get one or two runners out of them.  Let's wait and see.

ONWARD...

3.10 pm.  You ain't missed me eh?

Today has gone like this:

Jobs around the house.

Shower and wash hair/put face on.

Spend far too long on the loo crying.

Go out to a fellow marketeers to get some fabric from her.

Make lunch, Ham/Bacon and Onion Toasted Sandwich.

Attend Craft Group.  Make 6 cat coasters.

Walk home, give away 2 cat coasters to neighbours.

ABOVE: The four coasters that made it home.

They are super quick and easy to make, no joining up of lots of little pieces of fabric involved.

I'll probably make more tomorrow.  Not now, right now I'm done.

It was stinkin' hot in the craft room, I was wearing a really thick sweatshirt and nearly melted.  Too hot.  I could have walked home and changed, but just couldn't be arsed.

Happy to be home now.  Feet up.  

We went out for a little while this evening.

Stew parked the car.

ABOVE: Thank God I'm not the only atrocious parker in this family!!!

In his defence though, it was a very tight carpark, with little turning room.

But still... lol!

I'm done for the day ... catch ya tomorrow.

p.s.   Crying in the loo was due to chronic constipation.  Please don't worry, everything is fine otherwise.

WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE DOING TODAY

 

Well, this is happening a bit too often!

We really don't have any plans for the day, or even tomorrow, which is a public holiday.

Usually there would be some jobs to be done outside, but living here?  Nope.  It's almost all done for us.  And turning the gardens into pots 'n' rocks made it even more easy care.

There is a buoy to be hung up, so we will go and get the hardware to do that, but pfffft, that's it.

ABOVE:  I got 21 coasters made yesterday, and I love them all.  They are just so cute, bright and cheerful.

I had originally started making them as 'give ways', but have decided to have them for sale as well.  Ya never know, I give one as a gift, and the recipient might want to buy one too?  We will see how it goes.

If we can't think of anything to do, I will continue making coasters.  And Stew can watch sport on the telly.  

ONWARD...

12.20 pm.  Stew did his weekend shop this morning, and I did a big clean up of Crabby Quarters.

In time to start a new colour way of coasters.

ABOVE:  Funny how I dream about my sewing projects.  I decided overnight to do Black 'n' White, with a pop of colour.

So there they are.  I've only made those three so far... do you like them?  I think they will appeal to some people.

We are heading out to Mitre 10 now, might grab lunch while out as well.  

2pm, and we are already home from our little trip out and about.

Stew got the hardware for hanging the buoy, and then we went to The Lookout for lunch.

Glen had mentioned a dish he got there the other day, so we decided to try it.

ABOVE: Pork Belly Bao Buns.  TO DIE FOR.  They are an Entree/Starter, and just enough to share between Stew and I.

We often get a couple of starters to share, instead of a 'main' meal now days.  That way, we get to have a variety of things.  It works for us.

And those Bao buns were not very big at all, so just a nice amount for lunch.

It is a very dull, cold day, and I got cold while out.  So now I'm sitting in me lounge chair, covered with my electric throw, warming up again.

My feet are freezing... probably not as freezing as other people's, sorry other people.  😂

ABOVE: The second buoy is up and looks so lovely there.

This afternoon Stew took himself off for a walk, he did 20 minutes, on his own.  Cos I had a nap.

Rather lazy of me, but I was/am just a bi tired.

And I'm getting a lot of damn cramps all over ... no idea why now?   I got one in my forearm while we were out at lunch!  And just now, a really MEAN one behind my thigh... they hurt like mad.  I've just taken some magnesium, hopefully that helps.

8.25 pm.  I've just finished a few more coasters.  I will show you what I got done tomorrow.

It certainly isn't as many as other days.  I wasn't so gung ho today.

We've settled down for a quiet evening now.  Coco is snoring her head off on Stew's lap... noisy tart does that all night long.

Catch ya tomorrow.

A CHANGE OF COLOUR

 

Today is ANZAC Day here in New Zealand.  Google it if you want to know what it's all about.

All the shops are closed until 1 pm.

NOT that I want to go shopping, but you can bet ya bottom dollar people will flood the shops after 1 pm.

I'm going to stay home and make a few coasters in a totally different colour way.  Probably pinks/purples/floral, I'll see how that goes.

I found some Dog squares cut out, so I might even do something with them.  They are too nice to be coasters though... hmmmm.  They might even become a runner.

Stew is at a loose end, he can't do the weekend shop, and there's no rugby on!  What a bloody shame.  He might go for a little walk.  I should accompany him, but NAH.  I can't be arsed.  (I might change my mind a bit later though, let's wait and see)

ABOVE:  Last night, it was all about Granddad.  I hardly got a look in with Lily.  

ABOVE: Steve took about 18 photos, just to try and get a half decent one of us all.  Lily and Dante kept pulling silly faces.  Archer finally joined in as well!

ABOVE: This one was about the BEST out of all of them.

ABOVE: This is a nice one of those three, I'm sure Dante does not know how to smile on cue without grimacing. 

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

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  11.55 am.  This mornings effort.

And now we are going to Tirau for a late lunch and a wander around the shops.

As I said, I don't need to do any shopping, but it's a way to get a bit of exercise (for Stew) and who knows, we might see something we rather like and buy it?  It happens.  😃😅😉

3.50 pm.  Travelling to Tirau?  TRAFFIC for miles!  But, once there we found a park and had a nice lunch.

NONE of their shops were open, so no browsing there.

Came home and went to Briscoes at The Base, where we bought...

ABOVE:  Yet another new iron!  Yep, dropped the last one on the floor, which is CONCRETE... bye bye iron.  Luckily, Briscoes ALWAYS has a sale on, and today's was 40% off everything in the store.

ABOVE: We also bought this for the kitchen... it was FREE considering the discount on the iron.  SCORE.

Now I'm going to take 5 before trying out the new iron on a few more coasters.

Stew is going up to the pub to watch the rugby with his mates... he'll be home around 7.

So nice he can spend time with his mates, and I don't have to listen to freakin' rugby. 

8.20 pm.  Stew wandered home after the first game of rugby... he had a lovely time at the pub with his mates.  He's now ensconced in front of OUR telly watching a second rugby game!

I sewed some more coasters while he was out, but have stopped now that he's home.

I'll do a jig saw and listen to music with my headphones on, I can't stand listening to most sports.

Catch ya tomorrow.