BRAID RUNNERS, THEN A STRAWBERRY

 

Another Monday rolls around, so it's another Craft Group Day for me.

I shall wander down to the Community Centre around 10 and get to work.

I've got two large Green Braid Runners to do the quilting on.   Once I've done them, it will be lunchtime, so I'll stop for lunch.  I expect Liz and Margaret to be this morning, so I will have company.

When the other ladies arrive at 1 pm, I'll stop sewing on my machine, and do some hand work.

That way, I am sitting at the communal table, and can yak to the ladies.

I don't usually do that until 'afternoon tea time' at 2.15 ish.

ABOVE: During my tidy up, re-arrange yesterday, I found this little project.  So I will make some more little Strawberries while sitting at the table yakking. I'm going to call them Christmas Decorations, unless someone can think of something better?

ONWARD...

HELLO

Another slow day ahead.

The only thing on our agenda is a little family lunch.

Lots of finger foods, scones etc.

I will make a start on getting it all ready mid morning.  Until then, I think I'll go into Crabby Quarters and get my sewing trolley set up for Craft Group tomorrow.

ONWARD...
 

10.45, and I've just done a little job in Crabby Quarters that was bugging me since the other day.

I went to Spotlight and bought a bunch of plain coloured Fat Quarters, because I needed PLAIN colours for fish fins etc.  And I had NONE.

And then yesterday I remembered I had a whole bunch of fat quarters in their containers, in the bloody linen cupboard.  OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND.

So, I sent 90 minutes in Crabby Quarters, YET AGAIN re-arranging bloody shelves etc, so I could get the fat quarters BACK in Crabby Quarters.

ABOVE:  And they are back where they belong.  I now have the batting in the linen cupboard, which gave me more room to switch a bit more around. 

ABOVE: AND LOOK AT THAT!  I have three EMPTY fabric cubbies!  OMG, I have room for more fabric! 

It is almost 11 am, and I shall make a start on preparing lunch now.  It's been a busy morning already...

ABOVE: Marley up with the big girls.

ABOVE:  Lily loves playing with cars, so I bought her this car carrier and cars.   

ABOVE: She really enjoyed playing with it.

The boys were not left out, they got to raid Granddad's wallet.  😂😆

ABOVE: lunch today was:  Potato pom poms with brown gravy in the middle, Potato and Onion Gratins, Scallop bites, Chicken pieces, Chicken nuggets (for Lily mostly), sausage rolls, lettuce salad, scones, grapes and pink 'n' purple cakes.

It went down very well, with very little left overs!

ABOVE: Two dogs begging for scraps.  

Coco ate some raw carrot and cucumber!  Weird dog.

ABOVE: I had some 'spare' artificial flowers and decided to give them to Lily.  

ABOVE:  She loved them, of course.

ABOVE: They won't be Lily's for long, Bex has her eye on them.  lol

It's now 2 pm and everyone has left, and it's back to us having a lovely Sunday afternoon.

The weather is packing in, lots of wind, and rain coming.  So, no walking off lunch today.  Not that I over indulged, but I did have a little bit of everything, except the sausage rolls and chicken nuggets.

LOL, Lily found somewhere for 'her' flowers:

ABOVE: on top of her dolls house!

7.40 pm, and indeed we have had a very relaxing afternoon.

I just finished packing my trolley in readiness for tomorrow's craft group.  I'm working on two large Green Braid Runners.  And that's it for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

LAST FISH RUNNER FOR A WHILE

 

So nice, just lying here in bed... no hurry to get up.  Stew has been snoring his head off... and he doesn't need to get up and watch a rugby game today either.  That's tomorrow. lol

ABOVE: I have the last fish runner (for now) on my work bench.  I just need to put the binding on and it will be done.  That will only take me about half an hour or so.

After that, the day's plans are kinda like... dunno!

I will get Stew on the end of the vacuum for sure, then who knows.

Catch ya later.

ONWARD... 

Well now I feel guilty.  Stew got up and did the grocery shopping before 8!  And I lay in bed till after 9.

WE are both up now and cracking on with a few household jobs.  

Yesterday's weigh in?  Down .600 grams.  Not exactly stellar, but a loss is a loss I suppose.  I can't wait until this damn drug kicks in.  I don't' want to feel hungry all the time.

I was in such a funk last night I caved and we had a burger and chips for dinner.  Blew it completely.

ABOVE:  Stew literally dragged me out for a walk around the bridges just now.  40 minutes later and we are home and I'm hot as hell.  I wore a black wool blend jumper and long leggings.  What a twat.  Should have been in 3/4 summer weight leggings and a t-shirt, I got so hot in the sun.  

But... now I am heading into Crabby Quarters, and I shall freeze.  Swings and roundabouts.

ABOVE: And there we have the fourth Fish Runner.  Done with them for now.  I have two large Green Braid Runners to quilt and bind, so shall work on them next.

Lovely, lovely afternoon, capped off with some news. 

And WTF?  Like we fucking CARE one iota!!!  Not one shit do we give.  Good Riddance.

So we ended up doing a very quick run to the supermarket for a couple of things for lunch tomorrow.  Having the usual family over.

And now it's 7.30 pm and I'm done for the day.  I'm even ready for bed!  Far, far too early though.

So I'll watch some shit on the TV or computer till bedtime I suppose.

Catch ya tomorrow.

ABORTED PLANS

 

I had planned on going over to Cambridge today for an FBG walk... but I'm piking out.  It's just too damn cold! 

So, I will stay home and sew.  I might lug all my stuff down to the graft room?  Actually, I'll go down and see if anyone is there first, no point packing it all up, and getting down there to find I am the only one there.  Pointless.  I will only go down there if I'm gunna have company.

So... for now I might get a couple of things done around here.  It's too early to expect anyone to be in the craft room yet.

ABOVE:  I saw this on Facebook, and tweaked the wording a bit to suit 'me'... it's just a bit funny.

ONWARD...

12.05 pm.

I did indeed end up spending a bit of time in the craft room with the other three ladies who are often there 'out of Craft Group' times.  We had a lot of laughs, and the gossip was interesting too.

Gotta love the gossip, it's how you find out things that are going on here in the village. 😂

ABOVE: I got this Angler Fish cut out, stuck down and ready for stitching.  I'll start on that this afternoon.  

Right now though, I'm having my lunch, which is an Optifast shake whizzed up with some fruit.

2.15 pm, and I'm just back from the shops.  I went into town, then Spotlight for more thread.  I was getting low on the colours I use the most for the fish runners.

ABOVE:  I bet virtually no one gives a thought to how much thread costs, in relation to the price of something on my stall.   That lot cost over $160.

*shaking my  head*.  AND it was on sale.

I am now, finally, going to head into Crabby Quarters and do some stitching.

6.15 pm.  Four hours of sewing and the fish runner is 90% done.   I will finish it off tomorrow.

Now, Stew has arrived home from work, and we are settling down for an enjoyably quiet evening.

Catch you tomorrow.

FLUFFING AROUND TODAY

 

Today I don't have much on my agenda.  I will wander down to the Community Centre for Coffee & Chat.

Then come home and most likely work on the latest fish runner, which I've done no work on for over two days.

No rush.

Yesterday I got Stew to hang the new painting...

ABOVE:  Because I wanted the new painting in the lounge, I had to re-arrange a few things on the wall.  We don't have many walls to put shit on in this house!

ABOVE: Yaaa, I think it looks just fine there.  I can see if from my chair.  I love it.

ABOVE: We also found a nice spot for the hanging coloured balls.  They are pottery balls.

I think I must have been a bowerbird in a previous life.  Bowerbirds like to collect pretty things for their nests.  😊🐦🏠

ONWARD...

11.20 am.  There were a lot of people at Coffee & Chat this morning.  Many conversations going on all at once.  I left fairly early, just wasn't in the mood.

Came home and did some housework.  Swept up dead succulent leaves...

ABOVE:  The beautiful big succulent out our back door got HAMMERED by the huge frost we had a couple of weeks ago, and now there's so many areas that are dead and dying. It's so sad.

I swept up half a bucket full of dead leaves off the pavers this morning.  There's at least another 2 bucketful's yet to fall.

I'm in such a funk right now, I don't know what to do to pick myself up.  

***ADDED ONTO... in case ya already seen it.

So to cheer myself up, I'm wrapped up in my heated throw, watching a doco on YouTube.  True Crime, which I love.

I have a Dr's appointment mid afternoon... getting my next WEGOVY script.

4.30 pm, and that went well.  I went to a different Doctor, one who could actually see me this week.  Trying to get an appointment with Leo, who we love, is just about impossible sometimes.  So, we are thinking of switching to another Doctor, in a 'better' location.  Where Dr Leo works, is not a very good area, and I often feel a bit unsafe there.  So, change is good.

I now have the next months supply of WEGOVY, which I start NEXT FRIDAY.  It only went up $25 from the first 'dose', so not too bad.

Stew will be home soon, and I'll take him up to the pub.  I will then spend half an hour with him and the others, before heading over to spend some time with the kids.  

ABOVE: Stew arrived home with flowers.  Awww, thanks darling, that did cheer me up.  I'm always telling him NOT to buy flowers as they are so expensive ... but today he ignored me.  Look at that BLUE flower!  It's stunning.

Well going out and spending time with our friends/family was just what I needed.  I had a few laughs and some cuddles from the kids, which was just lovely.

We are now home and it's time to wind down till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

ANOTHER DAY TRIP AHEAD

Stew is home today, and we are heading out of town again.

Destination to be advised later.

I am going to ring the Dr before 8 am, and make an appointment for Stew to see the Doctor.  Hopefully that will happen sometime today, and we will plan our day around that, all going well.

His toe didn't look any worse last night when I looked at it... I think the bruising is what's changing.  It's getting darker and moving down his foot a bit now.   BUT, even though it doesn't seem to be infected, as everyone said, best to get it looked at.  It could still get an infection under the ripped off nail, which is hanging on by just a thread.  Ikky.

Today is the one year anniversary of my sister Lorraine's passing.  I will be thinking of her today.

Right, time to get a move on.  Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

9.43 am.

And Stew has had his toe checked and all is GOOD. No sign of infection.  

And we are now on the road, heading to our destination. 

ABOVE: Having an early lunch as the shop we wanted to visit was unexpectedly closed. Most annoying. 

ABOVE: I had a 'kebab' salad. It was delicious.  Just meat and salad stuff... my 'go to' lunch now.

ABOVE: Ahhhhh.... shopping. 

ABOVE: And visiting family.

3.15 pm,  and we are home.  We decided to go to Thames today.  We really love that coastline.

We had hoped to visit a copper craft shop while there, but the buggers were closed today.  

So, we did a trip up the coast, all the way to Tapu.

I took lots of photos, but blogger is being an arse, and won't let me upload them yet.  So we wait....  😂😒😣

ABOVE:  a interesting sculpture in the main street of Thames.  Not my cuppa tea, but someone's.  lol

ABOVE:  Stew on Waiomu Beach.  

ABOVE:  Waiomu Beach.  About 15 - 20 minutes north of Thames.

ABOVE:  I'm not a fan of the coast road.

It is narrow in places, and very windy.

ABOVE: But then, you get gorgeous views like this.  

Worth it.

ABOVE:  After driving past this Art Gallery/Shop a gazillion times, we finally stopped for a look.

And ended up buying a couple of things.

Whoops.

ABOVE: We visited 4 family members in the Thames cemetery.   They have such a lovely resting place.

ABOVE: The old (on the left) and the new Kopu Bridge.  One day soon the old bridge will be open to foot and cycle traffic.  I can't wait to walk over it, after having driven over it hundreds and hundreds of times over the past 60 years.

ABOVE: This is a painting we bought today.  It is of the Whitianga Wharf.  This wharf holds special meaning to me.  My Dad fell off it in 2000 and drowned.  I don't hold it against the wharf.  😌

I made the most yummy beef and bacon rissoles for our dinner tonight.  And mashed potatoes.  OMG so good.  And I probably blew the diet.  *sigh*

Another day tomorrow to be extra 'good'.

Time to sign off, catch ya tomorrow.