ROAD TRIP

 Today Stew and I are going on a little road trip.

We are driving over to Thames, to Totara Vineyard.

For some of this:

ABOVE: Yummy!

There is NOWHERE here in Hamilton that sells it.

And every now and then I really like a little 'tipple'.

I suspect we will have a wander around the local shopping centre, see what's new.  We've not been over Thames way in many years!

Then Stew suggests we come home via Te Aroha, Paeroa and Morrinsville. 

So, we might be out and about all day.

With any luck I will get some nice photos to share during the day.

ONWARD...

ABOVE: We match. Lol. Stew changed his shirt to match me. Rather cute.

We are now on the road.

11.52: and we are in Thames. We've done the shops... bought a few things. There is a market on too.

ABOVE: The first stop? Yeah. Totara Vineyards for me tipple. Stew went nuts and bought FIVE! Who am I to argue? *smiles*

3.15 pm:  And we are home again.  We have had a really pleasant day.

Thames has not changed AT ALL.  Sadly, the 'mall' is still half deserted.  But the main shopping street in town was good.  How neat that we arrived to find a street market on!

ABOVE: We found a few things there that caught our eye, and ended up purchasing.  Also, there was a fabric shop open, and I managed to get some fabric at SALE prices.  Gosh I seem to have all the luck when it comes to finding a sale.

ABOVE:  I spied this gorgeous blue glass bottle in a gift shop.  Cheap as chips, had to get it!

ABOVE:  I've never had 'air plants', so they are a first for me.   I have no idea how you look after them???  Anyone know?

ABOVE:  The fabric I bought.... I have some of the middle blue one already, but I use it a lot, so it was great to find some more.

ABOVE:  I quite liked 'GUS'... and the young people selling him (and a few more like him) were so cute.  When I said I'd have him, they were so excited!  😊

After shopping, we grabbed some lunch from a hot bread shop and went down to the waterfront to have it.  In the car, as it was a bit windy and cool down by the water.

ABOVE: It really was a dreary, overcast day.  But not cold.

We had our lunch here.

Then we proceeded to Paeroa, and had a quick wander up and down their main shopping street. There was nothing much open, so we carried on to Te Aroha.  Again, not much open, nothing caught our eye, so on we travelled, to Morrinsville.

We stopped there too... and found one thing to give as a Christmas Present.

Then home.

LUNCH WITH THE MAN

 I'm gunna be out and about for a good chunk of today.

First up ... I'm meeting up with Amanda and Lacy in town.  We have a 'secret squirrel' thing to do.

Can't talk about what.. it's not my place to.

After our appointment, I am going to meet up with Stew for lunch.

I don't know where we are going to have lunch... somewhere in town though. 

Right, how about a look at my first Heart runner?

ABOVE:  I'm very happy with how it came out.

I've probably got enough of that multi-coloured stripe fabric for 2-3 more runners.  Then I'll have to find something else to use.

I've cut out 8 runners, so they should keep me busy well into next week.

Once they are all done, I will come up with another runner idea.  

But for now... I'm off to start me day.

I'll catch ya later.

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  I'm wearing this gorgeous dress today.

It's another one I got from the Coffs Harbour market.  Next time I go back I hope to get another one in a different colour. 

1.40 pm:  And I'm finally home again.

My feet are killing me!  I opted NOT to wear the pretty sandals as they squeaked really loudly, so wore my white/salmon coloured sneakers.   BAD MOVE.

They hurt my feet so much!  I need to try and wear them in some more before I go walking blocks on hot asphalt! 

Anyway... our meeting went very well.  On situation sorted for now.

Lunch with Stew.  I didn't feel like anything 'fancy', so we grabbed some stuff from a hot bread shop and just ate it at an outside table, in town! Suited me. 

And it was cheap.  Way, way cheaper than a fancy place.

I'm now going to have a nice, quiet afternoon, and be an utter lazy tart.  I have dinner all sorted too.

FISH 'N' CHIPS.  Thank you very much.

6.10 pm:  Been mucking around with xmas lights.  Just dotting a few sets around here and there.  Still NOT going to put up our BIG Christmas Tree.

Well... I say that now!  So far I've put out way more than I ever intended.

And I don't feel in the least bit 'CHRISTMAS-Y'.

I hate the whole idea of celebrating anything in my current mood.

In fact, I'm crabby as fuck right now.

And while I don't have a headache right now... I can feel one coming on.

I feel like I'm a balloon that just deflated.  Flat.

Feeling very tired tonight, it's been one of those days.

Every time something happens out of the ordinary, I immediately think "Must ring Mum and tell her".  

That happened today and I have felt really down since then.

I'm going to sign off now... I'm not being very entertaining!

WAS GUNNA HAVE A RANT

 Well... I really felt like having a massive rant today... but ya know what?

I thought better of it.

Time will sort out EVERYTHING.

So, until then, YOU can wonder if I'm talking about you... or you, or even you!  Cos, there's several people being a 'bother' right now.

Don't ever presume a thing though, ya might be WRONG.

ABOVE:  I am gunna rise above it all.

All the balls in the air?  Well Stew and I will just keep juggling, and wait for the dust to settle, as we know it will.

ABOVE:  Shame there's so many 'bad' people so close to us.

Today I am going to be in my sewing room... doing these:

ABOVE:  The start of some Heart runners.  They are not super long ones, just around 1 meter long.

Do you like the straight hearts, or the off set ones?

I will probably bind them with multi-coloured fabric to match the hearts.  Not sure yet.

I will be opening my shop at midday again today.

As I will be working in there as well, I'm sure the time will fly by.

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

ONWARD...

It's almost 12 o'clock.  I'm ready to open me shop.  As it's drizzling out there, I doubt anyone will visit.

All good though, I've got my heart runners to make.

I did go out first thing this morning.  I bought more white fabric from Spotlight.  I got a $40 off voucher via email today, so thought, "Why not?".

I might have bought another Christmas ornament too.  It was 60% off!  

ABOVE:  It certainly pays to wait until December to get Christmas stuff!  That is a whopping big drop in price.

So... I decided to 'fix' the little shift dresses I bought from the market in Coffs Harbour.

They are just simple little dresses, but I didn't like how they billowed out at the hips, with pockets that made them sit out as well.

So, I sewed the pockets out.

ABOVE:  Left - with pockets.  Right - No pockets... (and a lightbulb on above my head!).

Much better.

ABOVE:   I did this one first and took it in a bit much on the sides, so it will go in the wardrobe till I'm another 10 kilos lighter.  Or I'll wear it knowing I really shouldn't sit down in it!

Cos it's just cotton and does not stretch.

Now, on with the Heart runners.

ABOVE:  Thanks (NOT) for the phone call... remember what I said.  We want NOTHING to do with it.  Don't go screaming down the phone at me.  Not appreciated.

And now... I have a damn headache and will need to take a panadol.  

The drizzle has cleared up, and it's lovely outside now.  So nice.

6.43 pm: Rather surprisingly, I had three ladies in the shop today.

I'd not seen any of them before either.

No sales, but some interest.

I got one Heart runner finished by 6 pm.

I will show it to you tomorrow.

For now, it's relax time.

Just finished eating dinner. Which was Corned Beef, Potato, Carrot, Onion, mixed veges and cheese sauce.

It was really good!

The meat was falling apart, so beautifully cooked in the crock pot.

Watching some tv before bed.  I'm bloody tired!

Being in the sewing room was so good today... the afternoon just flew by.

GROOMING AND SPOTLIGHT

 The girls get groomed today.  Not a moment too soon as poor Marley can hardly see for hair over her eyes.

They are WAY overdue for a groom... cos well, I wasn't here for a while.

While they are at Animates, I will pop on down to Spotlight and pick up some white fabric.  I think it's time I made a few more table runners.

I'm really low on them.

I'm trying to think of a new design for runners too.

I've got the Trees, Wonky Houses and Christmas runners.  

Any ideas for another 'theme'?

I'm thinking about Flowers & Hearts?  Or Fruit?  

Nautical?   Ideas please peeps!

So... waffle time.

I've been home nearly 3 weeks and I FINALLY feel like life is back to normal.

I've moved shit, I've tidied shit, I've been through the pantry, the fridges/freezers and done grocery shopping, and pretty much reacquainted myself with my home.  I no longer feel off kilter.  It feels good.

I wasn't going to 'do' Christmas this year, but I have put up one little tree.

AND I almost feel like I might get just a few more bits 'n' bobs out.  Procrastination... it's ALLOWED right?  

Now... I might just leave you with this lovely photo I took last night of the sunset over in Cambridge:

Catch ya later...

ONWARD...

11.09 am:  And I've already done heaps this morning.

First up I went to Spotlight for backing fabric and white for runners.

Who did I run into there?  Why BEX of course!

She was there for wool.  No surprises there.

Once I got home, I pulled out all the Christmas stuff, and put some around the house. NOT much.

There's some lights to string around too, but I might leave them for later.

I need to go out again shortly to take the dogs to the groomers.  So catch ya a bit later.

ABOVE:  Lucky you.  I had time to add this little video before I go out.

4.05 pm:  And several hours have passed.  I did some fluffing around in the studio while the dogs were at the groomers.

ABOVE:  There's a sneek peek at what I'm up to.

I picked up the girls and got a nasty surprise ! The prices have gone up since I last took them.  And not a small rise either!  $16 MORE for each dog.  So now it almost costs $200 to get them groomed.

FARK that's a lot of money for a haircut for a friggin dog!

So... I will try to find somewhere a bit cheaper.  Or just stagger them, one one week, the other the next week.

I dropped into Steve 'n' Bex's, and walked up to the school with the dogs and Bex.  The boys were very happy to see ME and the dogs.

Now that I'm home I'm feeling decidedly jaded.  It's damn hot out there!  So draining, but not as bad as Aussy.

I'm so relieved I'm not there now, as the temperature is just going up and up over there.

10.50 pm: It's been a very quiet evening.  I got a sick headache behind my eyes around dinner time.  So didn't end up cooking dinner, Stew did.

I couldn't face food either, so will be heading off to bed soon, hoping to sleep it off.  

It's just a combination of stress and tiredness I hope.  Not my 'normal' headache that's for sure.

HE FOUND IT!

Yesterday we could smell something really BAD in our sunroom.

It was obviously something dead under the floor, near the sliding door into the family room.

During the day the smell got worse and worse, to the point where I felt like vomiting.

So I asked Steve to come over after work to investigate for us.

He duly arrived and tried to crawl under the house, but couldn't reach where he needed to be.

So I told him to just cut a hole in the floor. ANYTHING to find and remove whatever was dead under there! 

So he did.

ABOVE:  I was very surprised it was ONLY a rat!  I felt sure, from the stench it was producing, it would be something much bigger!

I am just so happy Steve did find and remove it!  It was DISGUSTING... crawling with maggots even.  Gross.

ABOVE:  How lucky are we?  A builder in the family.  He cut a hole, and fixed it just as fast.

Stew got home from work last night and informed me that he'd put RAT POISON under the house, as he'd heard rats/mice down there while I was away!  Well done darling, you killed them good.

Brylee!  She told me last night that when she got up yesterday morning and came into the family room, she could smell 'something' and (GET THIS!) ... she thought it was ME!  Like I had really bad B.O. !  OMG... how insulting.  She will keep.

As if.

Back to today... I will be opening my little shop at midday!  The weather is still a bit iffy, showers probably, so I will probably have no one in.  But that's OK.  At least I will be OPEN and people will slowly realise that I'm back.

Hopefully in time for Christmas purchases.

Right, I better get up and get dinner in the crock pot.  

ONWARD...

12.12 pm:  First day of summer, and my little shop is OPEN again.

ABOVE:  I spent the morning mucking around getting my new opening hours up on my sign.

I had to go and buy a '6' cos I had originally thought I'd stay open till 7 pm, but that won't work as it's CARD NIGHT every 2nd Tuesday!

So, 6 pm will do.

ABOVE:  I also made another OPEN sign, I'm not sure where it will go permanently yet.  There will do for now.

I will have a black 'flap' to drop over the OPEN when I'm ... NOT open!  😊😆😅

I have set up a corner of the garage for me to sit in and watch movies etc while the shop is open.

Gotta be comfy eh?

ABOVE:  My cosy corner.  It's actually rather nice sitting there.  I can get up and go into the shop when necessary, and potter around in the garage too.

I've just finished tidying up the garage.  It was starting to look like a dumping ground again.

All sorted now, so I'm feeling happy.

I can't stand it when areas become dumping grounds, it can get out of hand pretty quickly.

4.52 pm:  And how fortunate I thought of this:

ABOVE:  I put a mirror in the dining room so that, if I was in the kitchen I could still see if anyone came to my shop door!

Cos, I went into the kitchen just before to stir the soup in the crock pot, and yep!

Two ladies at the door.

So I went and had a happy yak with them.  And they bought a cute soft toy for the baby.  

I am stoked, I really didn't expect anyone in today.

And how typical that I was in the kitchen when they arrived!  I have sat in the garage since 12 o'clock and no one arrived. lol

Just an hour till I close the door, and get ready to go to Card Night.  

Stew and Brylee are having Pea and Bacon soup for dinner... it smells amazing!  

10 pm:  I'm home from a very enjoyable evening playing cards with my girlfriends.  I didn't win or lose tonight.  

ABOVE:  Here we have the THREE Susan's!  They go by 'Susan', 'Suz' and 'Sue'.  It can be confusing sometimes!  lol

Believe it or not, there IS A FOURTH Sue, but she wasn't there tonight.

And well... that's me for the day.  It's been a long day, but I got quite a bit done, so all good.

FLAG

 Right, once I drag my sorry butt outta bed, I'm heading out to look at:

ABOVE:  A flag to advertise that I'm OPEN at home.

I've been thinking about it for a while, but never went ahead with getting one.

Partly because I went to Aussy, and partly because I wasn't sure I needed one.

Now that I am committing to keeping the shop open, on a limited basis at least, I think a nice flag out the front will (perhaps) draw people in?

At least they will know I'm OPEN.

I spent a bit of time last night thinking about what I want on my flag.  Still not 100% sure, but I will go with some ideas, and see what the flag maker can come up with.

After I get home from Speedy Signs, I am going to give the new Treadmill a burl.  I'm keen to get on it at least 3 times a week, if not more often.

Stew plans on using it after work tonight.  Like me, he's only going to use it on the 'Manual' setting. Which means we set the speed and incline we want.  There's quite a few pre-programmed workouts on it, but for now, manual will do.

I love that it has a fan.  And a place for my phone, so I can listen to my music or watch a video while walking.  

OK... time to get up I suppose.  Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

12.26 pm:  And I don't think I will be getting a flag!

With graphics (as in some colour and words), it is likely to be over $400.

NOT a necessary expense.

Sad, but never mind.  I will come up with something else.

On my way over to the Sign shop, I had a very funny moment.

I was sitting at the lights opposite Pak N Save, and glanced to my right.

Saw this guy waiting to cross ... and he was BUTT NAKED!

Like... I didn't even do a double take, I just laughed out loud.

When he got the 'CROSS NOW', he jogged across the road.

It made me laugh even more, cos CLEARLY he wasn't cold and 'things' jumped around quite nicely.

Opposite me, about to turn was a Police Car, lights flashing.  YEP.

Someone must have dobbed the naked guy in... cos they were on his tail.

They parked and took off down the road after him.

WARNING  *  WARNING  *  WARNING  *

NAKED GUY ALERT...

ABOVE:  His mother would be proud. 

ABOVE: Sadly I didn't get to see the outcome, as I got a green light and had to go.

I couldn't stop laughing for quite a while. 

After that, I went to The Base and posted a letter, then came home.

Now.... jobs before treadmill. 

4 pm:  And my jobs are done.  And I had a lovely visit from Christine H from Cambridge too!

It's always so neat to catch up with an FBG girlfriend.

Now... I'm actually tired, so will get on the treadmill a bit later on.  Maybe before or after Stew.

There's another fairly pressing 'problem' to be dealt with next.  Well... hopefully it can be sorted out quickly.

But... more on that later, or even tomorrow.

For now... I'm taking a break.  I've been standing on me feet working for what feels like hours.  Time to put me feet up for a bit.  

DANG... headache crept up on me.

And OMG... I'm watching music on TV... and I swear to god what I'm watching is positively PORNOGRAPHIC!

How the hell can they get away with having that on the TV in the middle of the day???

It's 'WAP' by cardi b ft. megan thee stallion - wap.

DISGUSTING! Not music at all, it's just gratuitous filth.   And that is MY OPINION.

8.50 pm:  And the new problem got sorted out tonight... I will show you what it was tomorrow.

Emily and Liam came over for dinner while their Mum, Amanda, attended a meeting.  Was lovely to spend some time with those two little rat bags.  😊

Now it's post dinner, kids have gone home and I'm thinking about going to bed soon.

Catch ya tomorrow.

STUDIO SORTED

 First up for the day?

SLEEP IN!

Then... unpack all my patchwork and so on, and set my studio shop back up.

It has been closed for over 3 months.

I closed it before I left for Australia, and it has remained closed.

Now that yesterday's market is over, I don't have another market until the end of January.

That means I might as well get everything out of the boxes and set up the Studio shop again.

When I first got home, I didn't know if I even wanted to re-open the shop.

But now?  I'm feeling more settled, and think I will.  But only for two days a week.  I don't want to be tied to it too much.

So, I'm thinking of Tuesdays and Thursdays, midday until about 6 pm.  That way anyone who works can pop in after work.

I can at least try those hours and see how it goes.

Luckily nothing is set in concrete, if it doesn't attract any customers I can always just give it a miss and go back to just the odd market here and there over summer months.

I will NEVER do winter markets again!  I HATE being cold!

The weather forecast is for shitty weather today, we were so lucky with yesterday's beautiful day that's for sure.

Stew taped last night's rugby game, so he will be parked in front of the telly after breakfast watching that.  

So I'll sort out the studio while he does that, then we might go out for lunch.  Brylee is at work today, so it's just me and the man.

NICE.

ABOVE:  I absolutely LOVE Candy Floss!  And I had NONE.  Even though I was positively drooling watching the boys have some yesterday.

ABOVE:  I can't get over how tolerant this girl is!  Archer is all over her all the time, and she just let's him.  She's never growled, not once. So special.

ONWARD...

12.30 pm and I am finally sitting down again!

It took me three whole hours to get the studio shop set up again!

I didn't expect it to take that long.  But my back was killing me, so I had to sit down often to take a break.  No idea why my back is so sore, it was yesterday too.  Painkillers ain't working either.

Might have to take the 'next level up' painkillers to get some relief.

As soon as the photo has uploaded, I will show you how the studio shop looks.

ABOVE:  There ya go.  All set up for Tuesday.

Now... we are off to have lunch.

ABOVE:  Lunch at Foundation, The Base.

Now home. Going to chill out for the remainder of the afternoon.  

7 pm:   And a totally relaxing afternoon. Tried to have a nap, but Stew was making far too much noise in the kitchen.

I'm happy though, because he made a really lovely potato salad for our dinner.  Which was accompanied by a lettuce salad and chicken schnitzels.  

So, another weekend comes to and end.  It was a good one.  Stew and I both enjoyed the market, getting to interact with lots of lovely people. And spending time with family, even better.

MARKET TODAY

 Well... here we go.

My first market in months and months!

I'm still not actually looking forward to it, at all.

But I'm hopeful I will find my mo-jo again, and actually enjoy it.

ABOVE: That's the school where the market is being held today.  My spot is under the arrow (obviously!).  Rototuna High School on Kimbrae Drive.

IF you are in the area, please do pop in and say 'Hi'.  I'd love to see some of my friends enjoying the market.  There is upwards of 150 stalls, so it's going to be a large market.

So... I'm up and just gathering the last few things we need.  Diet Coke it top of the list of course.

I will try to do an update or two during the day... so come back later and see how we are doing.

Stew is coming with me, and helping run the stall all day too.  Thank goodness... it's so much easier with two of us.  

ONWARD...

ABOVE: All set up and waiting for the crowds.

Its a sunny day, but very windy. Wind is the pits.

ABOVE: THE FEILD before anyone started setting up on it.

We are in a courtyard between the buildings, there's also many stalls inside the school too.

ABOVE: GETTING BUSIER.

ABOVE: Well these are new! Hot swirly chips on a stick..  with chicken salt. Stew and I shared one.

Secretly... I could have eaten it ALL ON MY OWN. 🤣😅😊

Sales are steady today, so I'm happy.

1 hour to go till pack up time.

3 pm:  home and happy as.  Bex was even happier, she did VERY WELL today.  She now has to work like hell to build up her stock in readiness for the next market.

I need to make more runners for the next market... I sold several today.

ABOVE:  I just love our pool!  We are going to LIVE in it over summer.

Once we got home and unloaded we ALL jumped in the pool.  It was FREEZING!  But so refreshing after a hot day.

9.25 pm:  So... we had Steve, Bex and the boys here for dinner.  I didn't have to cook, so wonderful!

We had Chicken Sausages, Saveloys, potato wedges and lettuce salad for dinner.  

Then the kids went home and we watched some TV. 

Now, we are both tired and will be heading off to bed shortly.

Catch ya tomorrow.