THE. BEST. NEWS. EVER.

STEVE HAS GOT A JOB !!!

Remember that job interview he went to about three weeks ago, that he had a 2nd interview for two weeks ago?
Well, after his 2nd interview the people interviewed at least another 100+ people and STILL chose Steve!

He goes in today to sign his contract and starts Thursday next week.

THIS IS THE BEST WEEK IN SO LONG.  First we have a FANTASTIC resolution with Harvey Norman's, and now our son has a job after months of trying to find one.

What is even better about this job for Steve is that it is just down the road in Manurewa!  He can get there easily on a bike... for now anyway.  I'm sure he will get himself a car before too long.

Now, as for today... Hospice for me until 1pm, then I am coming home to finally get around to blog reading!  My life has been so BUSY lately (as per usual really) I have been yet again neglecting to keep up with the blog news.  My bad.

ABOVE:  Here is a better photo of the new lounge suite... I can't wait to get it....

ONWARD...

Steve's job is doing all the deliveries for a Furniture Shop... and keeping the Warehouse in order.  It's not THE JOB for life, but for now it's a JOB!  And he is keen as mustard to get started and be doing something constructive and physical again. 

I got a bit of 'treasure' today at Hospice...

 ABOVE:  a heap of old blankets PERFECT for the puppy's bedding... $6.00 !

 ABOVE: two really nice shirts (they are nicer than they look here) for Kelly I think.... $4.00

ABOVE:  a mirror for Brylee, a cute as glass bowl and three more tupperware containers... $10 the lot !

Awesome day so far!

LYNDA/LYNISE:  they actually physically interviewed about 25 people.

End of Day:  it's been a really nice day... finished off with dinner out. 
nite nite.

YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS...!!!

I  WON

I AM GETTING A NEW LOUNGE SUITE !

Yes,  you read that right.  I won the battle of the lounge suite with Harvey Norman's.

I am totally convinced it was my long, detailed email that I sent on Friday that did the trick! 

 I itemised every single FACT pertaining to the problems we have had, how many times different 'experts' have visited and taken photos of the suite, how we felt about it... how all the joy of getting a new lounge suite was GONE and also hinted that we had every intention of going as far as we could (Fair Go) if necessary to get a decent resolution.  Oh and I MIGHT have suggested that if I had to sit on my lounge suite NAKED I could do that outside their shop,  with my lounge suite on a trailer right outside their front door. 

Somehow I think the General Manager (who also got the email) realised that I was not going to go away, and did the right thing.

So as you can imagine I am totally THRILLED TO BITS... and looking forward to finding a new lounge suite, which will be leather again, but a darker colour of course!

Steve and I had a quick look around yesterday when we were in the shop and saw this one:

ABOVE:  it's a bit like 'theatre seating'... it's comfy, has two end recliners... it's a POSSIBILITY?  In Brown.  (crap photos, taken with me phone)

SO... guess what I am doing today???

No one gets a prize for guessing either!  lol

Our puppies are now all walking much better, and can stand to piddle too!  It's so cute to see them all doing so well.

After showing Stew the above lounge suite it was deemed NOT for us ... as some really nice people have pointed out... I like to move furniture OFTEN... and that suite gives me NO options.  So....

Steve and I have been out looking at lounge suites for over 4 hours... we visited three Harvey Norman shops in total.  Found a suite we both really liked in Wairau Park (North Shore Branch) so took photos, drove to Stew's work (Greenlane) to pass it by him... all good there, so then we went back to the Manukau store to talk turkey.

The suite we have chosen is considerably cheaper than our current one, so they are giving us Store Credit.  So far we have decided on the lounge suite and a new bed for Griffin.

NO, we won't need to get new cushions as the one's we have will 'go' just fine with the new suite.
Obviously, NO, we do not have to buy the same suite again.... and who would want to after what happened to the first one? 

ABOVE: the new suite we are getting.  It is two recliners and a two recliner couch.  As you can see it is on special too... so a WIN WIN for us!  We are getting it in that brown colour too.

End of Day:  and it's been a FANTASTIC Day!
Not only about the lounge suite... but something else happened late today that was awesome.  We are drinking wine to celebrate!
Tell ya about it TOMORROW!  
nite nite.

WE THINK WE HAVE IT TOUGH...

I've found it quite tiring having an infant in the house to look after... and that was with two other adults to help!
So imagine how she feels:

ABOVE:  Coco.  She is eating FIVE times more than usual... and she is loosing weight!  How come I can't do that?  When I was feeding my babies I gained weight.  pffffft.

She is almost ready to start weaning the pups I think... she is getting so tired poor thing.
Sometimes she hears a puppy cry and she literally sighs!  Or she just lies there like that and gazes at them... you can almost read her mind... "Oh hell, when are they going to leave home?". 
BUT, she is the best Mum ever in my book.

ABOVE: Emily with her Mum and Dad last night... she was happy to see them, that was obvious.  

ABOVE:  Amanda having a little cuddle with Tulip.

ABOVE: potty training is going well....  even though most times we just 'catch' them at the right time and put them on the paper, it's a start.

ABOVE:  Bee Bee sleeping on top of Pinky.
It's so cute how they love being on top of each other ...

ABOVE: that is PINKY in the front... she has a little black spot on her right side and has more white on her face than the other two girls.  She is really cute and cuddly.
The two behind her are Bruiser (who is still being called 'Fat Bastard'!) and Keba.  

ABOVE:  Bee Bee having a walk around... she has taken herself to the toilet (paper) a few times too!

Once they can all walk much better it will be easier for them to get 'there' in time.  Right now they wake and need to 'go' right away, so if they can't get to the paper fast enough... well they just go right on the blanket.
We are having to do a lot of blanket washing,  if their bed smells like the toilet they will not learn to use the paper.

Everyone is tired this morning.  Emily had a very unsettled night AGAIN... I think I got about 5 hours sleep all up. 
So, Andrew and Steve are still asleep (it's now 10am) and Amanda is tending to baby while I catch up on some emails, then I intend to do some housework.
I PLAN ON DOING SOME SERIOUS BLOG READING...  CATCH UP TOMORROW.... all going well!

I felt the need to get out of my house for a while, so I went (on me own) to Sylvia Park and met Stew for lunch, which was rather nice.  Just the two of us.

Now home and contemplating taking the vacum cleaner back to the shop for repair... and IT IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY!!!!   Yaa hooo.....
TODAY:  Amanda wants to go to Sylvia Park to check out Factorie, the clothes retailer that she now works for.  She is the Manager of the Outlet shop in Hamilton, but is going to be Managing a Retail shop by the end of the year so wants to check out other shops in the chain.

KATE:  your question re:  my grandchildren and why we have them etc, ... can you send me a private email so I can reply that way?  my email address is:  stewandchris@hotmail.com   I am happy to give you pointers if you should end up raising your grandson.

Steve and I returned the vacum to Godfrey's... they are going to repair it for free of course.  SCORE. (and so they should though).

End of Day: Amanda and Andrew 'cooked' dinner tonight. We had takeaways. They have now gone home to Hamilton. I'm going to get in the spa shortly to relax before going to bed early! I am dog tired. Maybe not as tired as Coco but still tired.


nite nite

SO... WHAT IS A KERMIT???

Well... it's a bit of a story.
My Dad was a Logger, he owned logging machinery and ran a gang of men who's job  was to saw down pine trees,  then using HUGE Bulldozers and a loader, put them on logging trucks, which then took the logs to the mill in Tokoroa (Kinleith Mill).   My Dad was a logger for over 40 years.

In order to get his men to work (out in the bush) he often gave them vehicles to use. 
One of those vehicles was a Green Viva... which was called 'Kermit' ... well it was small and GREEN afterall!
Kermit was a part of our family for many, many years... I think everyone used Kermit at one time or another, including me.
Kermit sadly met an untimely demise one day when one of the men kinda squashed it flat with a bulldozer ... reckoned he couldn't see it!  Fair enough... the bulldozer WAS pretty big.

ABOVE:  YES, THAT BIG!

So... yesterday Stew bought a Kermit!   OK, our Kermit is not green, but I'm sure I can put some green on it somewhere! 

ABOVE:  hopefully.... our new car.  'Kermit', a Holden Viva.  It's grey, only 3 years old and has low K's (40,000).
I say 'bought'... but really we put a holding deposit on it.. until we can sort out the finance.
Fingers crossed it all works out as Stew will need a vehicle to get to work in a couple of months once his Company Car goes.

TODAY?  Heading out to Swanson to visit Stew's sister and see her new home.

First though... we have the Dog Control people coming out to inspect our property and ask us their standard 12 questions so we can get 'Responsible Dog Ownership',  and get our dog registration fees substantially lowered next year.
I got up early to make sure I knew the answers to their question by reading their booklet again.  *sigh*, to be honest my brain feels like mush!
Emily woke at 3am and cried so I got up and gave her a bottle.  Then she wanted to yak a while.... sheesh I'm tired!

ONWARD...

The dog control guy duly arrived, inspected our property, asked a few questions, then said we were fine and would be getting the Responsible Dog Owner status.
AND he said it was totally OK for us to have three dogs or more as they were only little dogs, we had a very well fenced property, were not a bother to the neighbours and were obviously WELL CARED FOR A LOVED.  Awwwww.
Obviously we do not want masses of dogs, but it's good to know that we can have Steve's little dog Keba here without breaking the law!

Caring for an infant takes up a lot of time.  And visiting the SIL's new house took up some too.... OH and having a 'nana nap' this afternoon used up an hour or so too!

so, for Jaxx... here's a photo of each girl:

 ABOVE:  Bee Bee

 ABOVE: Tulip, still half asleep...

ABOVE:  Pinky... also half asleep.

ABOVE:  I am feeling sorry for Coco!  These 6 pups sure yank on her something rotten!

End of Day:  Stew cooked a really lovely roast chicken dinner tonight, it's so much nicer when you don't have to cook.  Amanda and Andrew have arrived to pick up Emily... but they are now staying until tomorrow.  Ya, they get to do the night feed!
nite nite.

MORE SEWING LIKELY

I finished an apron last night, but I'm not happy with it.  I decided to add a few inches in the width to make sure it would cover the chest (mine = ample) but now it's a bit too big.  And I can't unpick it as I've done a really good job of putting it together and adding fancy stitching on the neck edge.   Grrrrrr.

So today I think I will just try making a wee girl's dress instead.  I would have done that yesterday but I had to pre-wash the fabric and get it dry first.
Now that's done I can give it a go!

Luckily Steve and Stew will be able to watch Emily for me ... it's not like I have to care for her 100% which is great.  She is a delight though... and I'm sure I will take a few photos of her to put on the blog later on.

Lunch... probably will be had at Sylvia Park, or maybe Maraetai... it will depend on the weather.

ONWARD...

LEIGH:  now there's an idea!  Thanks, I will try doing that.

We had a rough night with wee Emily.  She refused her 11 pm bottle... then proceeded to cry and whinge until I got up after midnight, when she finally took about 3/4 of her bottle.  BUT she did not settle for hours!  Cried on and off for hours, then 'talked' for a while before finally going to sleep at about 5.30 am!

She slept in until 9am which was nice.   But still did not want a bottle, so I 'forced' a good deal of baby food down her gob and now she's asleep again.   Poor baby has a cold which is no doubt why she's a bit 'off'.  You get that with babies, so we are not in the least bit fazed.

It's 'housework' this morning... I asked Stew to do some vacuming:

ABOVE:  Our 10 month old vacum... will not suck.  How typical.  The guys have pulled masses of fluff build-up out of the hose... so fingers crossed it goes now!

It's been a busy lunchtime/afternoon!
We went to Albany mall for lunch... while there I saw a nice towel rack thingee to put the bathmats on in the lounge... so we bought it.

 ABOVE:  the cute wee towel rack. 

While we were having lunch I decided to give Emily a chip to slobber on... she LOVED IT!  She didn't actually EAT any of it BTW, just tasted it.
And that is not a bad thing... she needs to experience differing tastes:

ABOVE:  Ummm... I added some Sweet N Sour sauce too... she loved that too.

ABOVE:  very pretty wrought iron Day Bed I fell in love with...

In the shop where we bought the towel rack they had a gorgeous wrought iron day bed/ couch... and I decided to sit on it to see just how comfy it was.  WELL!!!  
INSTANT MORTIFICATION...as the second I sat down the whole thing collapsed under me!   I was left with me bum on the floor and me knees and legs sticking up into the air!  OMG.   I BROKE the bed.
OMG
OMG.... I couldn't get up!
Stew and a shop assistant came over and hauled me up.... all I could do was think "Fuck do I have to buy it now that I broke it?"

LUCKILY for me it turned out that the slats were not installed properly ... so that's why it collapsed.  ***PHEW***    I couldn't get out of that shop fast enough I tell you!  

After leaving the mall we went and looked at some cars... and well.... we kinda put a deposit on a Kermit...

What?  You don't know what a Kermit is?
Well I will have to show/tell you tomorrow!  nah na na na  *smiles*

Just bathed our baby:

ABOVE:  I took about 50 photos!  So be thankful I only posted 4, cos I thought they were all adorable!  Brylee is only too happy to help keep Emily safe and happy in the bath... OH and I gave Emily a massage after her bath and she moaned and groaned with DELIGHT the whole time!  It really was so funny!  The minute I stopped she screamed.   My hands were getting sore ... that's how long she wanted me to continue.

End of Day:  I'm quite tired.  NO Amanda, not a car for Steve!
Off to relax now, Emily is finally sound asleep. nite nite.

SUSAN from the UK:  I really don't have the energy to defend that comment .... just know that I have raised 8 kids and do know what the hell I am doing. 
OK... found some energy.... I think 'forced' was too strong a word... let's just say I 'encouraged/cajoled' her to have some food OK?

CHAIRS BACK, AND SEWING TODAY

The two lounge chair backs are being brought back today.  It's been a bugger without them... the chairs were not useable with no backs obviously.

Now I suppose I shall have to ring Harvey Norman and see if they are doing anything about the dye transfer?  Knowing my luck, nothing will happen about that.  So, I have to sit on me lounge suite naked then.  Yaaaa.
Wonder if HN would like me to do that in their showroom?

I am going to make a start on either an apron or a kids dress today... some of the fabric I won from Cyndi in America is going to be used for the girls dresses... it's so pretty!

ABOVE:  pretty!  The one on the right in the lower photo is sort of 'textured' ... like bobbly?  Not sure how to describe it really, but it's not just flat fabric.  It's going to look so cute as a dress with the other bold colours as contrasts.

I can't thank Cyndi enough for such beautiful fabrics!

ONWARD...
So, the lounge chairs came back...

ABOVE:  Am I being picky in thinking they look massively OVERSTUFFED compared to the couch now?  And I might add, they are not very comfortable now!  Please tell me what you think?

I have done some sewing... I needed some calico to back the apron I'm working on, so at lunchtime I headed down to Spotlight in Manukau and got some.  As Harvey Norman's is right beside Spotlight I decided to pop in and talk to Fred, the Serviceman and tell him what I think of the chairs now; and ask him what's the haps with the dye problem?

Well,  he strongly advised me to send him an email detailing IN WRITING all the concerns I have with the suite so he could present it to his boss on Monday morning.  He also advised me to come to the meeting so I could talk it over with 'The Boss'. 
So that's what I have been doing for well over an hour!  Getting it all down in chronological order, adding before and after photos etc.   *sigh*

And as Steve pointed out, what's to stop the backs of the couch seats from sagging too?  And what if the chair backs sag AGAIN? 

The 'Saga' continues.

I do feel that after Monday we may have some resolution.  Scrap the meeting on Monday... apparently Fred's Branch Manager is away so Fred has forwarded my email on to the General Manager.  He has promised to get back to me on Monday with feedback.

Amanda is on her way up to drop Emily off... we are having her from tonight until Monday night as Amanda & Andrew are working.  

End of Day:  Amanda arrived in time for dinner then she went back to Hamilton.  Emily is sitting!  Looking forward to our long weekend with her. 
nite nite.

 

MORE CUTE VIDEOS

ABOVE:  on the right we have Bruiser on top of Tulip, he is always crawling on top of someone, must be a 'boy' thing....lol!

ABOVE:  Everyone crawling/trying to walk.

ABOVE:  Here's all of them in their new, extended pen... now we have a 'potty' area.  Lets hope they learn quickly how to go on the paper!  I am hoping that by the time they are ready to leave home they will all be mostly housetrained!  (or paper trained at the least)

TODAY:  taking Griffin to his Speld lesson, then home to do some much needed housework.

ONWARD...

I got a phone call at around 10 am from Griffin's Speld Teacher... she is ill so cancelled today's lesson.  Yaaa... that meant I could go shopping instead!
I wanted some patterns, I plan on making all my Granddaughters a dress for Christmas... and some for Brylee too... she is afterall, a Granddaughter too! 

I went to Spotlight, where I proceeded to look at all the dozen or so Pattern Books... it took me TWO HOURS to make up my friggin mind which patterns I wanted!

ABOVE: these are what I ended up with.  I got the apron pattern as I want to make some aprons for people for Christmas too... an apron that will fit everyone, and one that does not tie around your neck.  Those sort of aprons drive me nuts cos they pull on my neck and make me crabby, and really, we don't want to make me crabbier than I already am eh?  lol

When Steve says:  "Not right now"... it means I end up cleaning my car ... cos "Not right now" was two days ago and my car desperately needed a clean (it was covered in some sort of fine grit? pollen?).
So I just cleaned it.

But from now on it's going to the Car Groomers in Sylvia Park.  And Stew will have to pay for it.  Cos I don't see why I should have to be washing a huge vehicle like that when I have two fully grown MEN in the house.  I had to stand on a footstool 50% of the time cos I can't reach the top of it. 

Steve said he needed REMINDING about it... but if I had 'reminded' him he would have got all bitchy about being nagged.  Not that he would agree of course.  But I have lived with him long enough to KNOW how he ticks. 
RANT OVER.

WOMBAT: lol!  Here we say "If you are gunna keep rats up your arse, you should at least feed them!"

End of Day:  I made a lovely mince stew for dinner, Stew bought home some fresh loaves to go with it.  Nice and easy.   I did feel like making Steve cook dinner... but decided it wasn't worth the hassle.
nite nite.

CONTENTED.... MUCH

ABOVE:  Coco's contented little family... and in the front is Bruiser... on his back like usual!
He is such a laid back boy.

ABOVE: Bruiser is getting so big... when he was born I could fit him in the palm of my hand!
Now he's a 'two handful boy'...

ABOVE:  he is such a lovely wee boy ...

ABOVE:  SUPER CUTE!!!

ABOVE:  We rearranged the puppies pen last night... to make an area for 'potty' as the pups are starting to pee in their 'bed' now...  so the serious work starts ... Teaching them to go potty on newspaper and not their blanket.

TODAY:  I'm off to Hospice to do my 'regular' shift again.  I'm fickle ... I missed being there!  Here's hoping Mrs Fart-arse is not there!

I have a hanky with perfume sprayed on it nestled in me bra ... I am going to cover me nose with it if/when SHE FARTS... and I think I will be saying something to her too... she cannot carry on being so damn rude, ignorant and offensive. 
If she cannot control her flatulence she should NOT be putting herself in situations where she can offend people.  Well, that's MY opinion anyway.  What do you think?

Our Puppies are THREE WEEKS OLD TODAY!

ABOVE:  woo hooo!  Look what arrived on my doorstep this morning, a parcel of fabric from Cyndi in the U.S.A.!  She had a HUGE giveaway of fabrics... 9 lots in all, and I won lot #9.  Such an incredibly lady to give away so much of her fabric.  She also gave me a sweet notepad and cards/envelopes.  THANK YOU Cyndi, you are a sweetheart.

ONWARD...
Guess what I did today?  Heee heee... I found 'Treasure' of course! ...

ABOVE:  two really neat 'leatherette' boxes... I'm sure I can find something to put in them! ...

ABOVE: A really cute Owl Clip thingee...

ABOVE:  finally... a cool Amethyst pin and cute 'feet' earrings!
And I spent less than $20... how awesome is that.

PENNY: no, she never says ANYTHING when she lets off..... yet I know she can smell cos she has commented many times on customers who have BO or reek of cigarette smoke!  I have mentioned it to the boss but there is nothing she can do really.  AND she's too nice to say anything I think. 

Luckily today she did not make any nasty smells... so my hanky stayed in my bra.  Got nice smelling boobs thanks to the perfume, I might add...lol.

End of Day:  what does 'DRINK' 'DRINK' mean on my thumb?  I take a bottle of Diet Coke to work ... and so often I forget to bring it home again.  So today I wrote on my thumb to try and remind myself to remember it!  Nothing so silly as to drink more WATER... or buy more Tipple either!
I cannot live without my DIET COKE!  Hence the name of my BLOG  eh? 
nite nite.