17 YEARS!

Yesterday afternoon I decided to teach Brylee and Griffin how to play cards.  Skip Boo in fact, as it's the only cards I have in the house I think?

Anyway, we played about 5 rounds of the game, both kids really enjoyed it, and I sure did!

I haven't played cards in years, I used to play with Steve and other family members till shit hit the fan a few years ago.  Then no more cards.

I really missed it.

After dinner last night, Brylee and I sat down to play another game of Skip Boo... and OMGOSH!!!  Stew said he would play a game with us too!

Why OH MY GOSH???

Because Stew hasn't played cards in over 17 years!  The last time he played cards was with me, and my brother Vern.

Vern used to come home from Indonesia and stay with us, and we ALWAYS played cards together, the three of us.  It was like a tradition with us!  We loved playing, the competition was fierce.  

So, when Vern died, Stew never played cards again.  I don't know if it was a conscious decision not to play cards again?  But he never did, till last night.

I hope he continues to play cards with us, because I LOVE PLAYING CARDS, and have missed it so much.

ABOVE:  My gardens yesterday, after those F*#king chickens had been in and raked all the bark everywhere.  I'm now on the warpath.
Next time I see them I am going to let the dogs out... THAT should scare them off surely?
Clearly the chicken's owners are not confining them as they are supposed to.

If I wanted chickens in my yard, I'd GET ME OWN!  Grrrrr.  The chicken owners have been asked to keep them out of our yards, both ours and our neighbour's.  What else can we do?

Shoot them???

Even if we chicken fence proof OUR YARD, they can still just walk in our front driveway.  I'm damned if I'm going to go to the expense of getting a huge wire gate to keep them out!  Not my chickens, not my expense.

Rant over.

Off to get the kids to school/kindy, then do the grocery shopping.

ONWARD...

Well Brylee and I are in Hamilton.. we came in to do the grocery shopping.  We have been here for 2 and a half hours and yeah.... probably won't be doing it!   We are having too much fun scoping out the shops in town.

I have found THE MOST AMAZING, TOTALLY ME dessert bowl! 

Wait till you see it! You are going to either LOVE it... or HATE it. **smiles**

RIGHT.  I wanted to find a 'trifle bowl', one with straight up and down sides ... for christmas.  But I couldn't find one big enough... so Brylee and I hunted everywhere in Hamilton.  Finally, we went into The Importer, where I found this: 

 ABOVE:  A fish bowl!!!   How bloody cool is that???

ABOVE:  Now I need 20 people to help eat the dessert I just made!

What do you think of it?  I want everyone to tell me... like or not?

***Obviously I shall need to practise making the layers... but I'm fairly happy with it as a first attempt.

Well I'm happy to say we had NO PROBLEMS getting the dessert out of the 'bowl'.  😋

Time to wind down for the evening.  I'm really tired tonight... shopping is exhausting!

IT DIDN'TGO... AND FOUND!

Remember me saying I'd bought a new fan... with a remote control?  Well it went for about a week, then it didn't work at all!

So yesterday I took it back and got a replacement.

 ABOVE:  Stew had to put it together last night... fingers crossed it doesn't break down too.

On to FOUND.   I bought a couple of things while in Palmerston North, and put them in my sewing room when we got home, and then totally forgot about them!

I was in the sewing room yesterday afternoon, hunting for my Weight Watcher slippers... and I came across the box. 

ABOVE: Stew and I both liked this vase, so got it.   It's years since I bought a new vase.  Isn't it pretty?

ABOVE:  I fell in love with these coffee mugs... they are just gorgeous.

ABOVE:  Don't ya just love the box?  LOL
It's the new umbrella for the BBQ table.  I am sure it will get out of it's box at some point over the coming weekend.  It's amazing!  It tilts, so you can set it up to block out the sun no matter where it is!

I am going to LOVE it come summer dinners out on the patio.

This morning, once Keera is at Kindy and Griffin is at school, I am going to Aqua exercise class at the pool.  Brylee is coming along to have a swim too.

After that, I have a few things on my 'to do' list to get through.

OH... Weight Watchers!  According to their repaired scales (they have been away getting fixed for 2 weeks), I gained .200 grams this week.  According to MY scales, which I will go by, I lost .500 grams this week.

I will go by 'their' scales again next week.


ONWARD...

10.35 am:  And we are back from the pool.
I almost didn't go as I was feeling really ikkk, but I'm glad I did go now.
I'm buggered!  But happy.

Brylee had a nice time, she wants to go every day now!
We will go again on Thursday all going well.

I took a photo of the pool... will upload it later to show you. I did two lengths of the pool (swimming) after Aqua too.

Now... it's time for a shower before getting some washing on, then going into town (Cambridge) to do a few things.

 ABOVE:  This is the Cambridge public pool.  There were 26 of us at Aqua this morning... and our instructor was a cheeky Maori man in his mid 50's.  I really enjoyed his class.

ABOVE:  The other day I got that super cute little silver and blue dish, I thought it would be nice for putting used teaspoons in.

And I forgot to show you the drone we got Griffin for his birthday too!

ABOVE:  It's been too windy in the past few days for him to use it outside.  It's got a camera but he hasn't used it yet.

Time to relax!

10.46 pm:  And awesome evening!  We did something tonight that we hadn't done in 0VER 17 years!
Tell ya what it was tomorrow.

LITTLE CHANGES

Yesterday afternoon I decided to tell Stew I wanted to move a few things around in the Family room.

So, being the darling that he is, he obliged.

 ABOVE:  The reason I wanted to move the furniture around was because every afternoon if I wanted to watch some TV, I had to close all the curtains to reduce the glare on the telly.

Now, I don't have to.  That area of the room now looks more open too, which is great.  Nothing like a change to pick up your tired spirits eh?

After that was done, I decided to chance my luck, and get him to move stuff in the garage too.

ABOVE:  We put my car outside, where it will now stay, and spread the exercise equipment around so there was more room to actually USE it.
And now I have more room in the 'laundry' area too... and I can now dry washing in the garage, instead of in my bedroom when it's raining.

 ABOVE:  Bex has been a busy girl, this is her latest creation.  It's cute as a button.

 ABOVE:  An ever so nice photo Bex sent me yesterday!  Bloody hell Archer has a big tongue!
And a cheeky little face.  Steve?  Used to seeing him like that!

ABOVE:  Miss Muppet looking ever so gorgeous in her McDonald glasses.  She's got kindy today, and the other two kids are home.

Brylee is still on study leave, and Griffin is home as it's a 'Teacher Only' day today.

We have a few things to do in town before we have a quiet afternoon later on.

Oh, before I go... I have that little video of Tallulah enjoying her new chicken:


ABOVE:  She loves her new chicken!

ONWARD...

3.08 pm:

Just home after a hectic few hours in Hamilton with Brylee and Griffin.

I bought a huge sun umbrella for having over the BBQ table, some thingees for 'filing' papers etc under my coffee table, a lap top tray thing with a fan, for sitting my laptop on, on my knee.

I've stopped using my laptop table as it just doesn't 'fit' in the family room with the new configuration.

The kids and I met up with 16 other patchwork ladies at the Cafe' in Hamilton Gardens for lunch.  Oh my, what wonderful food they have there!  

I'm going to take Stew there this coming weekend.

After a bit more shopping, we came home.  I'm knackered!  Lunch has made me tired.  I had some hot chips and a hot chocolate, couldn't finsh either of them.

Time now to turn around and go out and pick up Keera from Kindy.  Busy ... busy.

9.14 pm:  Long day over... looking forward to a slightly less busy day tomorrow.

TOWN AGAIN TODAY

We were watching an episode of Country Calendar last night, it was about a small farm in Ngaruawahia, named 'Soggy Bottom'.

A couple breed pigs predominantly, and sell their produce at various places, one being the Farmer's Markets in Hamilton and Cambridge. 

So... as it's on TODAY, in Hamilton, we are going.  We want to check out their produce for ourselves.

ABOVE: lol... I suppose I shall be looking out for this bloke!

I'm sure we can find something to buy.

Once home again, Stew is going to have a go at using his new hedge trimmer. 

I'm not sure what I shall get up to.  Yet.

ONWARD...

10.45 am:  and we haven't left for the market yet, as Stewy is watching the All Blacks Vs. France!
We can't possibly move till it's finished... OF COURSE!

I've been titivating outside, moving a few pots around, just doing some more settling in.
There's always changes to be made in the first year or so eh?  

Luckily, I can't actually move THE HOUSE!  lol

The game is almost over and we lead 24/19.   If France score a converted try, we will lose!   It's a bit too close for Stew's liking.  😳😰

AND WE WON!  Now Stew is happy, and we can go.

Well we got to the Farmer's Market and found Soggy Bottom's stall.  Sadly they had sold out of all their pork sausages and bacon AND pies.  Sad.  So we ended up buying some jams and muesli from another couple of stalls, then going to Chartwell Square for lunch and a wander.

Catherine's in Chartwell were having a 50% off Renovation sale, so I was lucky enough to pick up a few extra Christmas gifts for half price.

 ABOVE:  Tallulah was VERY excited, because she could SMELL something...

ABOVE: New toys for Tallulah from Animates.  We were not sure if she would like the new, bigger chicken, but she did.

There is a video of her reaction to the new chicken to come...

I had an urge to move furniture around in the family room...  photos to come. Oh and we also did some moving of stuff in the garage too.

And it's the end of the day, we've been very busy this afternoon.  Photos tomorrow.  Too tired to do them right now.

ALMOST.... BACK TO NORMAL!

Today my Mum is leaving.
Her sister, my Aunt Ethel, is coming down from Auckland to pick her up and take her back to Auckland, ready to catch her flight back to Australia on Sunday.

As I said yesterday, I'm making club sandwiches for lunch... so I will be getting on with that shortly.

 ABOVE:  Archer at playcentre ... goodness knows what's on his face!

ABOVE:  Dante practising being a builder me thinks.

It's lovely that Bex thinks to send me photos of the kids all the time, so we don't miss out on anything.

After my Mum and Aunt and Uncle have left, we might just be having a quiet afternoon!  It's been GO GO GO for over a week with visitors.  I'm freakin' tired!

ONWARD...

Two hours at the kitchen bench making club sandwiches this morning. All the while I've got a massive headache and now I'm mega crabby.

We have had Keera in our room for the past two nights as she was keeping my Mum awake. OMG that kid grinds her teeth, sniffs,snorts, coughs,tosses and turns non bloody stop!  We are utterly exhausted.

First thing monday I am ringing the dentist to see if it's possible to get her a brace or mouthguard to stop the tooth grinding... it's horrific!

1.40 pm:  And my Mum has left, and she will be safely home again tomorrow night.  It's been wonderful having her here, and getting to spend so much time with her.

We won't see her again now until May next year, when she will be over for her 80th Birthday party.

We are now off into town, we have a few things to get/do.  Once home again I shall be putting my feet up and relaxing for a while!

Well... we got done the one thing we really wanted to do in town, which was FINALLY buy Griffin his birthday present.  Better late than never.

I had a massive nap in the late afternoon with Keera, so of course, not tired at 'bedtime'.

So, it's now 1.30 am and I'm finally going to bed.

NEXT WAVE!

It's finally starting to wind down... we have one more family group calling in this morning to say 'BYE' before they head home.

Richard, Olla and their twins Vern and Dewi are heading home to Indonesia.  I love seeing them, Richard has been a part of our family for over 45 years!  He's now the closest person I have to a brother.  

Love him to bits, and his family.

Once they have been and gone, I plan on going to the supermarket to get some food for tomorrow... when my Aunt Ethel and Uncle Frank come back to pick up my Mum.
I'm going to make club sandwiches in a Tupperware Jelly mould.

Who else had made them and found them FANTASTIC?   

After that, it will be (hopefully!), a quiet day. 
Keera only has a half day at kindy today too, so I better make sure I don't forget to pick her up at lunchtime!

ONWARD...

I have a 'tutorial' on how to make club sandwiches in a Tupperware Jelly Mould on my post dated:  Tuesday, April 05, 2011.

 ABOVE:  Vern, Dewi, Brylee and Keera this morning. 
Our visitors called in and stayed for morning tea.  By now they will be on a plane heading to Melbourne, then on to Singapore and then Indonesia.

It was lovely to see them.
Hopefully we will see them again next year for my Mum's 80th Birthday.

ABOVE:  And life is back to normal!  Keera is playing in the lounge, making huts and so on.
She is so happy.  I kept her home from Kindy today so she could see her Great Uncle Richard and Great Aunty Olla.

Since they left we have had lunch (egg 'n' cheese sandwiches), and I've done a little grocery shop for tomorrow's lunch (club sandwiches).

Dinner tonight will be FISH 'N' CHIPS.  I'm done cooking for the week!  *SMILES* 😄

12.25 am:  Time for bed.  My tummy isn't  happy tonight.  I think I ate too much, or the wrong stuff.   Feeling a bit ill.
Hopefully it doesn't stop me sleeping.

HELLO ROWIE AND FAMILY, AND ...

Today my darling niece Rowena is calling in on her way back to Auckland, and later on Australia.   She will have her husband (Dave) and wee boy, Charlie with her.  Charlie is a couple of days older than our Archer.

They are picking up my sister Lorraine on their way.  Dave flies back tomorrow, and Lorraine, Rowena and Charlie fly back to Australia on Saturday.

So, it will be awesome to see them again, and show them our new home.

My Mum flies back to Australia on Sunday.

I just got quotes in for security screen doors, and I have ordered one for the front door and one for the family room sliding door.

In a couple of months they SHOULD arrive.  After they arrive, I will order one for our bedroom's sliding door too.  As I expected, they are twice as expensive as I thought they would be... TYPICAL.

But, once we have them we will be more comfortable in the house, and more secure too.

ABOVE:  this is how the doors will look.  The front door will be hinged, and the other two, for the  family room and our bedroom, will be sliding.   Can't wait!

4.15 pm:  And phew, it's been a busy day.
First up, kids to school/kindy, then off to Hamilton so my Mum could return her hire car.  Then back home to bake scones for lunch.

Only, I did them wrong and they came out like rock cakes!  First time I've buggered them up in YEARS.  So a quick dash down to the local shop for some food for lunch.

Rowena, Dave and Charlie arrived ... so we had a nice visit.  Charlie is adorable... and of course Rowena and Dave are too.   

They left after lunch, taking my Sister Lorraine with them.  

Next time I see them will probably be next June, when Stew and I (all going well), will be going over to visit them.

 ABOVE:  I cut Keera's hair last night, just the front.

 ABOVE:  Brylee, Rowie and Lacy.  All gorgeous girls.

 ABOVE:  Rowie with her mum, Lorraine.

 ABOVE:  Lunchtime, Rowie was starving.  She's expecting a wee baby early May next year.  Exciting!

ABOVE:  That's Dave, Rowie's husband.

I took a little video of Charlie dancing to The Wiggles.  Hopefully I can get it to upload later on... if I can, I will add it to tomorrow's post.  He's super cute.

ABOVE: This is Charlie ... taken a few days ago.
He's the same age as Archer.

Tonight I'm making home made pies, using left over Spaghetti Bolognese mince mixture from the other night.

PEPSI

9 pm and it's finally quiet in the house.  The big kids are in their rooms doing their own thing, Mum is in the lounge talking to her man Ron, Keera is asleep and Stew and I are watching some tv.

All is good here.  

AQUA TODAY

Today, at 9 am I am going to my first Aqua class here in Cambridge.

I'm REALLY looking forward to it.

My Mum, sister and Brylee will be staying home.

Once I get home I think we are going back into town.  More shopping I think.

Some photos of yesterday:

 ABOVE:  The small kids eating dinner on the lawn last night.

 ABOVE:  family snaps taken by my Mum.

 ABOVE:  My sister Lorraine.  She's looking great!

ABOVE:  I fed the kids cream straight out of the can!  They loved it.  FUN.

ABOVE:  I found this lovely photo of Mike and Joyce on my Mum's camera...she's a gorgeous girl.  

And that is all for now.

ONWARD...

Aqua was really neat! There was about 35 of us and everyone was lovely and friendly.

Home to a house with no power. no hot shower for me.

We are now in town getting lunch...Mum and Lorraine NEED hot coffees 😊.

2.30 pm:  And we are home from town (Cambridge).  I'm starting to ache!  Especially my hips.  Aqua sure did SOMETHING!

As I said earlier, the ladies there were just LOVELY, so many smiling faces, so many willing to help a 'newbie'.  I just loved it.
I will be taking Brylee with me next time I go so she can have a swim.

It's a stinking hot day today! Not a cloud in the sky.  Lovely if you're in a pool!  Oh how I wish we had a pool.  😓  Never mind, we got everything else on our 'wish list' with our gorgeous new home.

I have to pick Keera up in an hour, then it will be time to get dinner ready.  I THINK Lacy is coming out today to see Keera, her Grandma and her Aunty Lorraine.

Well our dinner has gone well... and it's wind down time here.
Lacy is bathing Keera and then I will be trimming Miss Muppet's fringe (bangs).

MEET SOPHIA...

ABOVE:  Keera holding Sophia, who is a pink ceramic piggy bank.
My Mum gave it to her.  Keera LOVES her pink piggy bank, and she named her Sophia.

And she kisses her.  

ABOVE:  Keera putting her money in her piggy bank.  My Mum, having to hold Keera's dolly.

It's cuteness overload here.

Today I am going to the last Tuesday Patchwork group meeting, we are having a shared morning tea.

While I'm there, Mum and Lorraine are going to check out Cambridge's op shops, and other shops too I expect.

Keera will be at Kindy, Griffin at school, and Brylee with go to town with her Grandmother and Aunty Lorraine.

So, that's the morning planned.  The rest is up in the air...

ONWARD...

12.25 pm:  and it's been a busy morning for me.
Hamilton/patchwork/grocery shopping and then home.

We were supposed to have no power today, but we do have!  NOW the power is going off either tomorrow or Thursday.  Grrrr, wish they would make up their bloody minds.    I could have got the washing on first thing this morning if I'd known we were going to have power.

Oh well.. it's on now.

VICTORIA... it's a new programme on TV.  I've never watched a tv programme that I want to actually watch AGAIN... and it's not even finished yet.  I think next week is the last episode.

Mum, Lorraine and Brylee are still out and about.

I'm expecting a bloke to arrive at 1 pm to do a quote for security doors.  It will be neat to have wind coming into the house over summer yet still have the door closed and locked.

Can't have the dogs getting out after all.  And it will be nice to keep the doors open over night if it's stinkin' hot.

Cooking for 17 tonight. Im doing spaghetti bologniese with garlic bread. 

Just as well I'm used to cooking for a large family! 

Well... I survived the cooking.. it took me a full 3 hours to make enough spag bol for the entire clan.  Well 2/3rds of our kids anyway.

They have all left now and it's time to head off to bed.