CAN'T GET OUT OF IT...

I must do the grocery shopping this morning.  *sigh*

Once that is done I will be off to Hospice for my shift this afternoon.

Until then... how about a few photos?

 ABOVE: Last night's dinner, cooked by Steve.  Homemade butter chicken and homemade Naan Garlic Bread.  So YUM!   Well the bread was, the butter chicken was too hot for me, so I only ate a bit of the rice.

 ABOVE:  this kid needs a haircut!  He might get one today, if one of Bex's friends at Playcenter brings her scissors.

 ABOVE:  Dante is rather taken with me new cushions... he really likes them!  

 Ooooo ... wool !

 Ahhh, what do ya think you are doing?

 Come on now... let ... it... go!

 NO Mum!   I wanna play with it!

 Not happy now.

Though, I do still have it!

Yeah!  I still got it.

Right, I better get moving.  Grocery shopping awaits.  It will probably go well cos there will be a lot less people to move around in the supermarket today eh?

Well.. I hope so.

ONWARD...

Well... the groceries are in da house.  All frozen and fridge stuff is away.  The rest is gunna have to wait.  I'm KNACKERED.  We only have 11 steps into the house... and I've gone up and down then at least a dozen times!  Carrying heavy groceries I might add.  

Exercise done for the day.  For sure.

*SNORT*  heard a snippet of news this morning... might just have to put it on PEPSI.

Such a cute cat.

Righty ho... lunch then Hospice duty for me.

Oh and Dante did get his haircut, I will get a photo of him when I get home from 'work'.

Home again.  And... I came home with NOTHING!!!  That is  a very rare event.
But... I simply didn't see a single thing I wanted to buy.

We have a new computer/till/scanner at the shop.  It's a nightmare.  Well... it is when you have only used it once last week!

I scanned and keyed in a few items and it came up with a total of $100,588.00!   YIKES!
We had to ring the "back-up, fix it guy"... and he got it sorted out in a few minutes.
I'm still at a loss to explain HOW I did that!

I'm happy to be home.  No scary tills to work with.

Bex is cooking dinner tonight, so I'm going to sit down and just relax for a while.

MICHELLE:  thanks for that lovely comment.  Yes,  I have heard of online shopping, and it is something I would do if I was only getting a small grocery shop.  Ours is never SMALL.  And when it comes to choosing one's fresh fruit etc, I think choosing my own is better than leaving it to some random person who doesn't know what I like. 

Also, Stew works right across the road from Countdown (your Woolworths I think), and he always picks up fresh fruit and veges as we need them ... and sour cream tonight, cos I didn't get any for our wedges tonight.

I look forward to more comments from you.  *smiles*

Comments are lovely.  

LACY:  I think putting such information 'out there' on a public blog could land me in serious trouble!  So, my lips are sealed.  FOR NOW.

End of Day:  well I'm overtired and ready to throttle Griffin.  He's just getting on my wick tonight.  He's not being 'naughty', just annoying. I think I should go downstairs and sew, to stop me getting really angry.
BOYS!  
nite nite

GAAAAH... GROCERY SHOPPING

Same story, different week.  Needs must, we shall do the grocery shopping today.
And I'll try to go when I'm NOT hungry!
Hunger in a grocery shop = bad choices.

I'm trying to pull myself out of the diet funk I've been in lately.  I actually haven't done any damage to the numbers, but I've not lost anything either.  

PEPSI:  I didn't clarify something yesterday.  If I DO NOT KNOW YOU, and you ask for an invite to read it... I'm sorry but I have to say 'NO'.

Pepsi is only for readers I know and trust.
And no family readers either.  PEPSI is like my sound proof 'room', where I can let off steam and keep a record of stuff worth remembering one day.
Like a private diary.

So, sorry if I have said 'NO' to you.

After making that really lovely cushion cover yesterday, I looked at the ones I'd already made and decided to tart them up a bit.
I got one re-done last night:

ABOVE: what do ya think of me bows?  I ♥ love ♥ them.

Now... apart from the grocery shopping, and some more sewing, that's 'it' for the day so far.
I'll be back later, of course!

ONWARD...

Well.... grocery shopping might just have to wait until this evening.
We are all going out for lunch, then plane watching!  It's Dante's most favourite pastime.  lol
How do we know this?  Cos he goes nuts when he sees a plane.

LYNDA:  we have it on my computer, and we have already seen that there's heaps of planes flying in/out this afternoon.  www.flightradar24.com is an awesome site.
Thanks for telling us about it.

Hi!  Back from our little jaunt.  We all grabbed lunch from Jesters Pies... the one I got tasted exactly like my beef & bacon stew!   It was therefore delicious.  

We saw heaps of planes landing, I will only show you a few... cos it could get a bit boring.  Ya had to be there... lots of people like us were... enjoying having a picnic and seeing all the planes:

ABOVE:  We hadn't long been there when two of my most favourite planes flew in.  Air New Zealand BLACK planes.  Love them.  

ABOVE:  a few others too.  
It was a lovely way to spend an hour or so.

Once home I fell asleep on the couch!  *smiles*

Now:  off to do some sewing, then dinner and freakin grocery shopping, I've done rather well putting it off so far.

End of Day:  well... who ever feels like going grocery shopping after dinner really?  Not me.
So, grocery shopping will have to be done tomorrow morning.
nite nite

LET'S ADDRESS A FEW THINGS:

1/  I will be getting back to my Dresden Plate Quilt just as soon as I feel confident I know what I'm doing with my new sewing machine.

2/ Lacy would never need to 'steal' photos of Keera off my blog.  She is welcome to any photos I take.  She is family.

3/ I can think of NO reason Amanda would want to steal photos from my blog, let alone even look at my blog. 

4/  Yes, my photos are hopefully protected from downloading and using elsewhere by WADE.  EDIT:  I will NOT be putting photos of Keera on my blog, because that piece of shit will download them anyway, altered or not.  

5/ PEPSI has gone into hibernation.  If I activate it again, you will have to email me for an invite as I had started deleting readers before I decided to just make it Private, with only ME able to read it.  BELLA, I will let you know on diet-coke-rocks if I open it up again.

 Right, I think that addresses those few things.

Today... I will be sewing.  Housework.  Maybe grocery shopping... knowing me I will put THAT off till tomorrow.

Below are a few things I saw on Facebook and thought, Yep,  I shall put them on me blog:

ONWARD...

Well so far today I've done NOTHING.  I haven't even made my bed!
Time to pull finger I think.

ABOVE:  Keera had so much fun at the rock climbing place ... sitting in one of those car booth things, steering her 'car'.

RIGHT, Pepsi updated.  If you used to be able to read it and now can't... email me for an invite.  stewandchris@hotmail.com

I am loving today.  There is bugger all to do around the house, the kids are quiet, and I can sew to my heart's content.

I'm making another cushion cover:

ABOVE:  I've been working on Alphabets.  I'll explain the above later... UNLESS some clever cookie (outside the family) can guess what that lot means?  *smiles*

So, the first couple of cushion covers I made were very 'plain', I didn't do much fancy shit on them.
I have just finished cushion cover No#4... and it is by far the best one yet in my opinion:

ABOVE:  it took over 5 hours to make!  Lots of fancy stitching, that takes quite a lot of time!
And choosing buttons!  OMG that took half an hour.  lol  It's hard to tell, but the 4th button from the top has an anchor on it, and the other buttons are lovely too, but ya can't tell in a photo really.

ABOVE:  the words...  Vitamin C 1, 2, 3 & 4. & Merc Cat.   

They were the names of my Dad's boats.  So, there were 4 Vitamin C's, and my Dad's last boat before he died was Merc Cat.

Vitamin C?  The boats were painted ORANGE, and my Dad asked us what was a different sort of name for an orange boat?  I came up with Vitamin C.  DONE.

Merc Cat was named such because it was a Catamaran, and Dad put two huge Mercury Motors on it.  It was also berthed in Mercury Bay, Whitianga.

So, there ya go.  Some history for ya.

It's nearly dinnertime here.  Stew has had a curry cooking in the crock pot all day... it smells divine.

KELLY:  Hell no!  It is the only place I can let off steam and not upset ANY FAMILY members!  I call it my rant blog, and it's PRIVATE for a reason. 

End of Day:  I've had a really lovely day.  Sewing is such a good way for me to relax, AND be creative, which I love.
Stew has kept himself busy in between watching rugby/sport on the telly.
His curry was nice over rice, but gave me shocking heartburn!  I can usually eat rice no problem at all.  Maybe just not in the evening?
nite nite

2ND OPINION TODAY

Morning!

Yaaa, today the only thing I have on me agenda is ...

SEWING this morning, then picking Griffin up and taking him to another Dentist for a 2nd opinion.

I am hoping they DON'T confirm what the 1st dentist said.

It will be really sad if Griffin does indeed have 2 dead front teeth.

As for the sewing, well I did get to finish the 3rd cushion cover last night, while the guys were watching the TV.

ABOVE:  I like this cushion cover very much. The next one is a block with an anchor on it.  Can't wait to make it.  

After that, I can start on the headrest covers for the couches and chairs in the lounge, AND maybe even a tablecloth for the dining table too.  Maybe I shall quilt it?

Hopefully it doesn't look too 'MATCHY MATCHY'.

And of course, it's Friday.  Stew will be hanging out for today to be over.  He's tired.  Lots going on at work.  He really looks forward to the end of the week nowdays.

Lacy and Keera will be going home at some point today too.  Probably on the bus/train.

ONWARD...

WHY do some people lose weight when they are stressed out, while people like me just dive head first into the hot bread shop?
Oh... AND I have a friggin whopping big pimple on me chin too.  First pimple in YEARS. 
NOT FAIR.

Sure, I could say (in me head) NO to stupid food choices.  But,  it is almost a compulsion/urge I simply cannot resist.
Like a drug to dull the stress. 

I'm sure I will have put on at least 2 kilos in the past week.

They look like this:

ABOVE:  Ummmm... maybe I should say 3 KILOS!

There is a plus side ... lots of housework is getting done!  I'm going to be getting more furniture polish after Griffin's been to the dentist.

Well... I'm so happy I questioned the Dentist on Wednesday's prognosis for Griffin's teeth!
The Dentist we went to today said there is only ONE tooth dead, the one that is broken.
So, I have let the other dentist know we won't be coming back for the TWO root canals, and possibly 4!  

Now we wait for ACC acceptance, then he can get the tooth fixed.

ABOVE: his broken tooth, the top of it is totally gone.  At least it's not hurting any more.

While we were out I decided to go and get a small tablecloth like the one I bought the other day... and to my surprise they were all MASSIVELY REDUCED in price.
I had a brain spark (opposite to fade!), and thought, HEY?  These are discounted in the sale that's been ongoing for a week or so now, and I only bought the large tablecloth a week ago?
(it cost $44.95).

So anyway, I grab three... cos they are so cheap now and take them up to the counter to pay.

But before paying I asked James, Salesman (but he looks like a boy), how come I paid so much for the one a week ago when it is included in the current sale?

Luckily I had the receipt... and could show him... though he remembered me (as he should, I'm unforgettable after all!). lol

The upshot was, I got refunded for the incorrectly priced one I got last week, and ended up only paying $6 for the three new ones!  SCORE!!!

ABOVE:  now I'm not going to run out of the fabric when I make more cushion covers and headrest cloths.  Rather happy with myself.  And isn't our Dante just so cute?

I am so sad I can't post photos of our darling Keera on here anymore.  (cos they get stolen and put on other social media sites without my permission).   Grrrrr.

CHRISTINE:  much as I like your idea... it's a no to that.  I will put some up on Facebook soon.  edit:  Actually, I will investigate how to do those ideas Christine... and we will see.

End of Day:  well a nice day all round.  Got the boy's tooth sorted.  Got a good buy at Spotlight and just spent a lovely evening sipping me 'tipple' for the first time in well over a year!
It made the soles of my feet itch!
Weird that.
nite nite

A DIFFERENT SORT OF DAY

Well... today Lacy and I are due in court ... all to do with Keera and access stuff.

Hopefully all goes well.
Not expecting any trouble, but ya never know.  Fingers crossed and all that.

Meanwhile back in the house, Bex will be caring for her wee man, and Miss Keera.  I hope she enjoys herself!

Hmmm... it might be good experience for when she has two.  NOT that there is a No# 2 on the way yet.  But one day.

ABOVE:  I saw this on Facebook last night.  How amazing is it!  It's called a Labyrinth Aquarium... and is massively expensive (try $6,500.00 USA)!  I can only dream... plus, WHERE would I put one anyway?  My house if full.  And knowing my luck, the fish would die. *sigh*

I don't have anything else to blather on about right now... got a train to catch... so better go.

ONWARD...
Well... I'm sitting outside the court room, feeling nervous as hell waiting to be called in to testify. 

I've never been in this situation before.  I hope I don't get so nervous I end up having to bolt to the bathroom!  IT COULD HAPPEN. 

At least I have a nice view of the harbor bridge and water over the rooftops. 

Well.  6 hours in the courthouse, waiting to give evidence in support of Lacy and Keera, and in the end Lacy and I didn't have to testify AT ALL! Wade's past finally caught up with him and bit him in the arse.

The Judge saw him for what he is, a violent drunk, who has pretty much beaten up every single woman he has ever been with ... and granted Lacy a Final Parenting Order, Final Protection Order AND limited his access to Keera to 2 hours SUPERVISED a fortnight.

There is something else hanging over his head too... something really DREADFUL ... and I hope he goes down for it.  Scum of the earth will get what's coming.

So... an excellent day all round.

End of Day:  well... I started the day feeling really nervous, and have ended it on a high note.  And so very relieved.
nite nite

JUST ANOTHER BORING DAY HERE TODAY

What's the hap's here?

Bugger all.

I'm going to continue sewing cushions today.
I started the 3rd one last night, and so far, it looks like this:

ABOVE: I've introduced a different fabric in this one... That's the ship's wheel block.  See the gorgeous spiral stitch pointed at?  That is one of the 'decorative' stitches my McDreamy does.

He is still going like a 'DREAM', not one hiccup at all.  So thankful.

ABOVE:  Master Laid-Back, enjoying popcorn while watching the TV.

So, that's me for now... nothing new to report.
Lacy and Keera are coming over later on this afternoon.  They are staying the night too.

ONWARD...

Bugger.  Griffin's tooth is hurting now.  He thought the mobile Dental Clinic was at his school yesterday, so I didn't make him an appointment anywhere for the tooth to be looked at.
Now I will have to, as the mobile clinic had left his school by yesterday.
I'm a bit worried that it's hurting him now.  

Once I've done that, I am popping down to Spotlight to get a few patterns.  I saw some neat home decor patterns when I flicked through the pattern books yesterday, but couldn't sit and browse as Bex and Dante were with me, and I could have looked for ages.

SO... I drive down to Spotlight to look at patterns.
The sign says "Buy three for $12 from Simplicity or New Look patterns"... so I happily browse for about 3/4 of an hour, choose three and then set out to find them in the pattern drawers.  NONE of the 3 I wanted were there, so I go and ask a Sales Lady if they have them?

She said no, and the sale price is only for patterns they have IN STOCK... and she points out where it says that on the sign ... in the small print.   So then I ask her how much would they be to order in? 

She told me they were various prices... and I would have to go back to the books, find the patterns and their Price Brand, then she could order them in.

By then I was feeling really CRABBY, so I said, NO thanks... and left.

What a wasted hour and a half, though I am going to ring around and see if any of the other Spotlight stores have the patterns I want. 

Home now, and sorting out Griffin's tooth.
He has an appointment this afternoon at a school in Manukau (that has a dental clinic).

Not long until I have to pick up Griffin.  I've got a really nasty headache, one that is making me feel like throwing up.  Ugh just what I need.  I've not even done any sewing, I just lay down for a couple of hours and ... didn't help.

Well.. the dental nurse has told me Griffin has to be seen by a Dentist.  So, luckily our local dentist can see him at 5 pm tonight.  So we will be going out again in just a mo...

UPDATE on the tooth:  The dentist took and x-ray and told me BOTH Griffin's two front bottom teeth are DEAD!!!

Now how that happens and shows up in 48 hours is beyond me.

The dentist started talking about two root canals, which will take 6-8 months work to complete and I said :  

"WHOOOO... stop right there!  I will need to get a 2nd opinion before anyone starts doing root canals on my 12 year olds two front teeth!"

He said OK, so we are going to another Dentist of Friday for a 2nd opinion.

End of Day:  felt really ill after dinner.  Ugh.
Don't know why ... maybe remnant of headache still affecting me?
Oh well... I'm going to sew for a little while and just chill out.
nite nite

NO SLIP COVER...

I had intended to attempt making a slip cover for the 'new' lounge chair.  I've changed me mind.
I don't want to even try it.  I'm not that confident, so I'm just going to have a strip of the blue/white fabric running down the middle of the chair, and start saving to get it recovered professionally.  It's worth it, as it's a super comfy chair.

Stew bought home upholstery cleaner last night, so today I'm going to clean it.

I have tracked down fabric that matches the little footstool cover and the head rest already made... and I'm going to make more like them for the rest of the lounge furniture.  All 'matchy matchy'.   *smiles*

So, after breakfast Bex and I are going down to Manukau to do a few odd jobs and pick up said fabric.

Then home to do some sewing I suppose.

Until then... I have these:

 ABOVE:  if you can't find Dante... just look for his Granddad.  He's sure to be with him.

ABOVE:  Teddy... a month out of his cone now... fingers crossed he stays that way.

Coco has come into 'season' again, so she has to spend her days confined to the hallway and laundry.  She will be confined for the next 14 days or so.  Teddy will keep her company most of the time.

No puppies this time around.  I'm still a bit undecided about IF she will have a fourth litter or not.  I think the only reason I'd let her have another litter would be so we could FINALLY keep one of the girls, to continue the 'breeding' side of things, which mostly we enjoy.

Oh I almost forgot!  Dante smacked Griffin in the mouth with a tupperware shaker last night.  Broke the top off one of his lower front teeth!
Griffin is going to see the Dental nurse at school about it today.  It may need filing so it doesn't feel so jagged.  
If I remember, I'll take a photo and show you once he's out of bed.

ONWARD...

BUGGER, I forgot to take a photo of Griffin's tooth and he's gone to school now.  

ABOVE:  Yaaa!  I couldn't get the fabric with the small blocks (bottom right), but the shop had the bigger pattern, so I got some of that.  And at Spotlight they had a perfect match for the plain fabric to go with the nautical fabric.  A very successful morning's shopping.  

Lunch time, watch Home and Away (Australian Soap Opera type programme), then sewing this afternoon.  

My day is sorted. *smiles*

WHOOPS!  I forgot to say 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' to Kelly on me blog today.  She's 32.  

I have been busy:

ABOVE:  two cushions for the lounge, I just recovered the cushions I already had.

ABOVE:  Dante loves the new chair... and playing with fabric mug rugs.  He even noticed the new cushions.  Observant wee man.

End of Day:  feeling a bit blah tonight.  Tired I think... or just feeling a bit down.
Who knows.  I sure don't.
nite nite

GORGEOUS SUNSETS, AND THANK GOD IT'S MONDAY

Saturday night I captured a few pretty cool sunset photos, but held off showing them as there were already heaps of photos on sunday.

So, ya get them now:

ABOVE:  HOW COOL!  Sadly, the sky doesn't stay like that for long.

I'm so happy it's Monday.  It was a busy sort of weekend.  But my biggest thing is, during the weekend the house gets untidy, and the first thing I always want to do on a Monday is get it TIDY again.
Clear kitchen bench, vacumed, swept, washing out, .... you get the drift.

I have Hospice Shop this afternoon, so I better get on with said housework.

ONWARD...

I stayed in bed till 9 am!!  The dogs got me up by kissing me and bouncing all over the bed.  NICE.  *smiles*

Well, I got up with a real mission to get the housework all done, and I feel so good doing it all too!   I wonder if I'm the only person around here who loves doing housework!

I'm sitting here with a big smile on me dial to be exact... the dogs keep lying down beside me when I stay in one place, but I'm about to get up again and attack Griffin's windows.  THEY ARE DISGUSTING!

Well... I'm home from Hospice Shop duty... and feeling really proud of myself.

We have a new till/computer system, and today was the first time I had to use it.
And I only had 2 stuff ups all afternoon... and with one of them, even the boss had to look up the instructions to work it out!  

It is going to take a while to get used to it, but I can see how awesome it is going to be in the long run.
We have had 'discrepancies' in the till totals some days, but now that should not be possible with the new system.  

Today I was very circumspect with my spending, and ended up only buying ONE thing:

ABOVE:  this darling little glass jug and dish.  It was too bloody cute to leave ... I just had to get it.  Another dust catcher.  *sigh*

Dinner tonight:  beef and bacon stew, courtesy of Bex.  Can't wait, I'm starving.

Well, dinner was just lovely.  Any meal I haven't had to cook is, let's be real.  lol

End of Day:  another lovely day done and dusted.  Looking forward to tomorrow.  I'm going have a go at cleaning that 'new to me' lounge chair.
nite nite