GOT THE RIGHT DAY TODAY

Last Friday I took Tallulah to the groomers... but I'd got the wrong day.
So, today is the right day... so off we go again.

Once I've dropped her off, I have about 2 hours to kill, so I'm going out to Whatawhata to visit Sue W.

She's got a fancy new deck to show off... so I'm going to have a gander at it.  I shall have morning tea out there, then go back into Hamilton in time to pick up Tallulah and then come home.

I'm looking forward to some girl time.

It's the last day of March!  I reckon April the Giraffe is holding on until she can have her calf on her Birth Month?  All I know is I'm getting really TIRED of watching her!  It's a bloody obsession I'd rather not have.

ABOVE:  I do love these animals though... almost as much as Rhinos.

Right, I'm off to start the day.  Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

Today's visit to Sue W's home was just lovely.
I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had to get home in time for the kids.

Sue lives out of town, heading towards Raglan, and the tail end of her road is metal.  I've not driven on a metal road in years... I was a bit nervous!  But my car handled it like a true 4 wheeler!  lol

The road was just fine, probably needs some more metal soon though.  

ABOVE:  It is a very pretty drive out there.

Sue's son and husband have just finished building a MASSIVE deck around two sides of the 2nd storey of their home:

ABOVE:  It's an amazing space!  I hope they get heaps of use out of it... and now they can dry washing under it, and not get wet in the spa pool when it rains too.  WIN WIN.

ABOVE:  I knicked this photo off Sue's Facebook... it's a much better one to show off the deck.  Huge eh?

Not long till I have to pick up the kids.  I've got a stress headache hitting... need to take a chill pill.

TWO UPDATES

Everyone is wrung out tonight.   Bit of a shitty afternoon and evening.  Coronation Street tonight ended on a cliff hanger!  Can't wait till tomorrow night to see how it goes!

Off to bed now... hoping for a better day tomorrow.

QUIET DAY AT HOME

Today I will be staying home (all going well) and just enjoying the day.

I will do some sewing I think.
Well... that plus some housework I suppose.

I learnt yesterday of the very sudden and unexpected death of a dear blogger/facebook friend of mine from Australia.  Martine D was a very lovely lady, she will be sadly missed.  She's gone to be with her beloved wee dog Vince.  Rest In Peace Martine, gone far too soon.

You never know what is around the corner do you?  I say, wring everything you can out of each and every day.  Be kind, be considerate, be a true friend, be a good person.  Be happy.  

CHOOSE HAPPINESS.  

And now.. I'm off to get the kids ready for  school/kindy.

ONWARD...

The 'poo spray' works by the way!  It eliminates odours... LIKE NOTHING I'VE EVER USED BEFORE.  Amazing stuff.  TOTALLY RECOMMEND IT.

Well it certainly has been a quiet day.  I've done quite a bit of washing, but bugger all else.  I'm totally crabby.  Too hot.  Too just... crabby.

I kinda do know why I'm crabby, but it's not something I can talk about on here.  Cos it will just cause too many ripples.
The most annoying thing about 'it' is, I can't do anything about it!

AND THAT DOES MY HEAD IN.  I find myself getting crabbier by the day lately too.  I must stop and remind myself that some things just ARE how they are.  Just wish I could throttle someone.

APRIL THE GIRAFFE:  Looked SO likely to be going into labour today... but NO.  She's now happily chewing her cud and doing NOTHING.  She's such a tease.  

So I'm having a shitty day.  Got something on my mind, that won't go away.  Nothing I can do about it so I really should just suck it up and move on I suppose.  

LOL... a friend posted this to my facebook page:

ABOVE:  And that is EXACTLY how it feels.  *smiles*

Winding down for the day.  I cooked a meat loaf with lots of veges in it for dinner... and Miss Keera ate all of her's, then had a second helping.  Way to get veges into a kid!
Even Stew ate silver beet... which he hates.  I love putting that stuff in my meat loaves!  hee hee.

STORY TIME:

Monday night at Weight Watchers:

One of the ladies told a little story, it went like this:

Sitting in the car outside the service station on Monday night last week, she sees ME go into the service station.

I don't see her.

I proceed to the ATM, take out some cash then stroll over to the freezers that hold the ice creams.  I look and look, and look some more... I pick up one, put it down, go to the other side of the freezer, look some more, then I straighten up, and walk out of the shop.

Heading to my car, I change my mind, turn around and go back into the shop.  Straight back to the freezer.  I look at the ice creams again, dither....sigh, and leave, get in my car and drive away.

She sat in her car and clapped her hands at me! 
Totally impressed she was.

She happily recounted that to everyone at the meeting on Monday night!

Me?  Felt very proud of myself.  Wish I'd known she was sitting there watching me though!  I could just as easily bought the bloody ice creams!

Another story:  Again, Monday night, I am about to go to Weight Watchers.  Keera demands her dinner, I tell her 'NO, you will get it when Granddad gets home in 15 mintues'.   So she packs a mental at me, then stares me down as I leave for my Weight Watchers meeting.

20 minutes into my meeting, and I get a text from Brylee.  "Keera is eating the candles in the lounge!"
WTF ?    I get home and yep, she's sunk her teeth into 4 candles, totally ruined them!  Little shit.  Why?  Cos I wouldn't feed her, and then I had the audacity to up and leave for my meeting!  

Consequence?  No special food treats for 3 days.  Candles?  Binned. 

Moral of the story?  Feed the bloody shitty 4 year old, or she will pay you back by ruining your candles!

Today I'm going to Aqua Fit.  After that I'm going to re-aquaint myself with McDreamy, my gorgeous sewing machine.

ONWARD... 

Pissing down with rain this morning... so I'm wavering over whether to go to Aqua or not.  But I did.  I got there a good half an hour early, so I got into the pool and swum laps till everyone else arrived at 9 am.
And I gave it my all and feel FANTASTIC for it.  Tired.  But happy.

It's till raining.  I don't mind at all!
It's cooler.

It has been so hot and humid lately I've actually felt sick most days.

Maybe today I will finally feel normal?

We saw a new product being advertised on the TV last night... so I'm heading off to the supermarket to see if I can find it.  More on WHAT it is later. 

THE MISSING:  well now, after the two comments overnight, I'm left wondering if I should even bother watching it? Sad.  

New Product on the market:

ABOVE:  No holds on this blog!  How does this stuff look?  It's supposed to stop the stink in the bathroom!  We will soon know if it works... Griffin always 'goes' when he gets home from school.  lol

Keera only had a half day at kindy today, so we will both have a nap this afternoon I think.  I'm really tired from lack of sleep and the heat.

7.39 pm:  Well no nap today... for either of us.  Keera was a box of birds... full of energy.  She still is, but sadly for her, it's bedtime.  She's gone down the hallway bawling her eyes out.  Oh well... I know that in 5 minutes she will be out like a light!

It should be a quiet evening here.  It's been raining all day, so the heat level has dropped and I'm not feeling ill.  Long may it last.

WINNER!

I virtually NEVER win a thing.  I think I've won 'something' maybe 5 times in my entire life!

Last night I won the fruit and vege draw at Weight Watchers!
Everyone brings an item of fruit or veges for the draw, then we pull a name out of the 'hat',  and someone wins the lot at the end of the meeting.

I won last night!

ABOVE:  my winnings.  Stew hates silverbeet, so that is all mine!  There's two HUGE marrows there... anyone know what I can do with them?  I've not cooked them before.
I think in another, earlier life they were zucchinis?  lol

I gained .400 grams this week, so have to try harder to resist rubbish!  I had some chocolate this weekend, and a few other things I really shouldn't have eaten.  Serve me right for getting a gain.  

This morning Brylee sees the Orthopedic Surgeon about her shoulder, so we will be going into Hamilton once Griffin and Keera are at school/kindy.
And I will be picking up my sewing machine too.

It better be there!  

After Brylee's appointment, we will probably have a girly lunch together before coming home.

And that is all for now... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

Well it started off as ONE OF THOSE DAYS.  Last night at 11.30 pm my internet connection failed.
When I got up this morning it was still not on.  So I rang SPARK, who made me jump through hoops to get some sort of connection going again.

So right now I've got my laptop directly connected to the modem, as our WiFi is down.  They don't know why.

So.. for now I'm having to sit right beside the modem in the lounge so I can use my computer.

Fun.  NOT. 

Onto Brylee.  Got to the specialist on time, and he was on time too!  A... mazing.  Anyway, upshot of that visit is she has to have a dye injected into her shoulder and a special scan done to ascertain if there is any injury to her shoulder from the dislocations/or causing the dislocations.
If not, the specialist said she just have to mature some more and her ligaments and so on will 'toughen up'.  Till then, she might have more dislocations.

She has very 'mobile' joints apparently, thus causing the dislocation.  Oh well then.. it's just a wait and see exercise.  The scan will take place when we get an appointment, apparently that mighty take some time as there are not that many technicians qualified to do it in the Waikato.  

Sewing machine:  got there and my machine was there!  I expected the service to cost aroudn $100.  WRONG.  'Normal' services cost $140.  Mine?  $208.  I queried the cost?  It had to go to a specialist repair person.  I said what a rip off... so he took of the $8.  Whoop.   

He was nice enough to carry my machine out to my car though, cos it is a right heavy beast!

Brylee and I are now home and taking a break before heading out to pick up G & K.

APRIL THE GIRAFFE:  very restless today... and her udders are filling up... EXCITING!  Baby can't be too far away now surely???????

10.55 pm:  So it's been a fairly usual afternoon/evening.  I cooked macaroni cheese with bacon and onion for dinner.  I had a small helping and now have reflux... obviously too stodgy for my stomach.  Grrrrr.
Slowly learning what I can't eat if I want to stay reflux free.

Thanks for all the ideas for the zucchini!  I think I will try one where I bake it in the oven.

We started watching a new series tonight, 'The Missing'... it's been a bit confusing as it keeps skipping forwards and backwards in time.  But... it looks like it will be an interesting programme to watch.

Time to sign off for the day.  Catch ya tomorrow.

NO TITLE, NO IDEA

Well... I'm at a loss at what to post about today!

The only thing on my agenda is to get the kids to school/kindy, come home and do the housework!

Oh and ring the Sewing Machine Shop and find out, where the hell is my sewing machine?
It's now been away getting serviced for over 3 weeks!  I want my bloody machine back!

I keep thinking that they have lost it, or broken it... cos it should have been back over a week ago.
I'm worried.

Here's a cute little collage from yesterday:

ABOVE:  These were taken in the morning, when he was feeling bright and happy.  Later on in the day he was over tired and grumpy.
He is picking up words like a parrot now... he repeats or tries to say virtually everything he hears.  So cute.  One of his favourite words right now is 'Naughty'... and he uses it heaps!  

He really is rather adorable.  And of course Keera and Dante are too! 

So... let's get moving, get the day started and see what eventuates...

ONWARD...

Well... I thought Archer was sickening for something yesterday, he had a temperature and today?  Spots on his hands, feet and in his mouth.  So he's no doubt got the Hand Foot and Mouth virus. Bex is taking him to the Doctor today to get him checked, but he should be just fine.

Just talked to the owner of the sewing machine shop.. he's in Auckland.  So is my machine.  SOMEWHERE.  He's going to try and track it down and find out why it's not been returned yet.  OMG  I am getting so cross with them.
They have had my machine for 5 weeks tomorrow!!!
I told him if it's not been serviced YET, I don't want it done, just get it back to me NOW.  LIKE NOW NOW NOW.  He got the message.

Now I have to wait to hear back from him.  Waiting... waiting...

Sooooo.. an hour later, and my machine has been 'found', and it will be back in Hamilton TOMORROW.  I am beyond annoyed that I had to get all cross and angry with them before they would get off their arses and get my machine back to me!  I will NOT be taking my machine back there for a service again, that's for sure!

Well the past few hours have been spent vacuming, washing floors and cleaning the fronts of all the kitchen cupboards, and keeping an eye on the giraffe!

Just now we had a massive downpour, one minue the sun was shining, then it went pitch black and it pissed down!  Thankfully it stopped after a little while cos it's almost time to pick up the kids.

I've got Weight Watchers tonight, followed by Patchwork Group night meeting. But I don't think I want to go to the night meeting  today... I've got a damn sore back.

9.50 pm :  And I gained .400 grams this week... I expected it too.  But, not a huge gain, so relieved about that.
I did go to the patchwork meeting, but wish I'd stayed home. It was stifling in the house we were meeting at, and I spent the ENTIRE time fanning myself with a plastic page from my folder!  

So relieved to get home and sit in front of the fan.
Winding down now... and off to bed in another couple of hours.

SLEEPING IN?

All going well... I'm getting a sleep in!
Bex has offered to look after Keera so Stew and I can BOTH sleep in this morning.

This is a 'forward post'... cos really, I'm probably asleep!

lol

What we get up to today will be dependent on the weather.  It's supposed to rain.  So it will be an 'inside' day most likely.  The little kids will be happy to play with each other no doubt. 

Bex and I will be in the sewing room for a little while.  Bex wants to use my rotary cutter to cut out some little bags.

I might... I say MIGHT, have a go at finishing off that little giraffe.  I've not felt like sewing at all lately.  No idea why.
So having Bex here might motivate me to get going again?

And that's all for now!  Zzzzzz.....

ONWARD...

Well... we got a sleep in ... sort of.  I woke up every hour during the night with a massive hot flush.
It's SUGAR.  I had dessert last night, and BOOM... hot flushes all night.  So, lesson learnt. Stop eating sugar!
Not rocket science.

Woke with a massive headache and backache.  Took some pain killers, and now, 2.5 hours later I'm feeling ok again.

The kids are happily playing, so Bex went into the sewing room to cut out bags.

 ABOVE:  hard at work.  While she did that, I sorted out a few more photos for the kids.  I came across this one:

ABOVE:  I showed Steve and Bex... it's of Steve when he was about 4.  It looks JUST LIKE DANTE.  Then I showed it to Dante, and asked him "Who is this Dante?"
He immediately said "That's ME!"

It is uncanny how much he looks like his Dad.  It has been really lovely going through all the photos of my kids when they were little.  So many memories.

I hope they treasure and appreciate the photos like I have. 

Time to start handing them out now, I've sorted them all finally!

ANON from yesteday:  As I've said over and over again, if anyone leaves a nasty comment, it will be deleted asap.  So... you wasted your time didn't you.  

Just spent a lovely half an hour out in the garden with the kids... watching them play.  Then a huge cloud came over and within a minute it was pissing down!
So a mad dash to get inside and get all the wide open windows closed.

Stew just took all the security stays off the bedroom windows for me.  I was constantly worried that the kids couldn't escape out a window in the event of a fire.  So now that's done and I can relax about that.

Well... it's now almost 8.30 pm and we have had a very happy afternoon!

Our dear friends Jacqui and Martyn came over from Tauranga with their two kids for a visit.
They ended up staying for dinner, and Jacqui even made dessert for everyone (chocolate self saucing pudding), which was lovely with cream on top.

ABOVE:  Jacqui cooking in my kitchen, such a novel sight!  *smiles*

This afternoon was noisy, chaotic, and totally lovely!  At times even 'naughty'... some of our conversations sure took a twist in totally inappropriate directions!  But it was neat.
They obviously feel very 'at home' here.  *smiles*

After dinner, everyone left for their homes.  The 'C's to Tauranga, and Steve and Bex to Auckland.

Now all is quiet here, Keera is in bed and I'm looking forward to watching Broadchurch a bit later on.

So, time to sign off for the day, after a lovely weekend.

VISITORS TODAY

We are expecting Steve, Bex and the boys this afternoon.
It feels like ages since they were down here.

Keera is going to really enjoy having the boys to play with for sure.

Sadly, I don't have any jobs for Steve to do!
Well... not right now anyway *smiles*.

Once we have Mum's birthday party done and dusted, and our Wedding Anniversary too.. I can start saving towards my front door 'porch'... then I will have something for Steve to do!

We are going down to our local shopping centre this morning, just for a wander around.  We hardly ever go into Cambridge 'town' ... cos we prefer the mall in Hamilton.  But, it will kill some time this morning if nothing else.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO Kelly, a big 35 today!  Wow, my kids are getting on in age!  And I don't even feel old yet.  lol
March sure has a lot of birthdays in this family!

OK... I'm off to get the washing done, then feed the small kid, bla bla bla.

ONWARD...

Well it wasn't that nice in town... steady drizzle made it a bit wet.  But, we did have a good look around.  Ended up at the Warehouse, where we bought a few bits 'n' bobs... Easter eggs!
Something tells me I'll be having some this year.

APRIL the Giraffe... still hasn't had her baby... and the Live Cam of her has gone down.  I feel like my right arm has been cut off!
Just our luck she will spit that baby out now that we can't see her.  *sniff*

AND... giraffe cam is back.  It was down for over an hour... panic over.  lol  Addicted to April.

ABOVE:  This is April... expecting any time now.  The other giraffe is Oliver, the baby Daddy.

Steve and Bex are on their way... so looking forward to seeing them.  I want to discuss my front door thingee with Steve.

7.09 pm:  And it's been kinda busy here!  Lacy and her boyfriend (new guy, but knew him 10 years ago) arrived on their way to Tauranga for a few days.

ABOVE:  Keera enjoying chocolate... all the kids got chocolate then got all hyper!  Whoops.

ABOVE:  Lots of fun and games this afternoon.

Dinner tonight was Beef Spare Ribs cooked in a Spare Rib Marinade, mashed potatoes and steamed veges.  It was delicious!

I'm looking forward to Coronation Street tonight... hopefully all the little kids will be in bed asleep by then. 

Winding down.  Enjoying our visitors.

GROOM AND GROCERIES

Today will go something like this:

Kids to school/kindy.
Tallulah to the groomers in Te Rapa.
Grocery shopping.
Pick up Tallulah.
Home.
Unpack groceries.
Pick up kids.
Cook dinner.
Usual evening.
Bed.

And that's it!

If anything changes, I will come back and yabber on about it.  If not, maybe I won't be back till much later!

ABOVE:  Visitors last night, him and Ange.  It's so nice when they just pop in.  We had a nice visit with them.

ONWARD...

1 PM:  Got to the groomers, dropped off Tallulah and drove to the supermarket.
Just as I was getting out of the car I get a phone call from the groomers.
PANIC!  What's happened to Tallulah?  Imagining some big dog ate her... only to be told I'd got the wrong day, and she wasn't booked in for a groom until NEXT FRIDAY!

Fuck it.... so I had to turn around and go get her.
I was SO not going all the way back to Cambridge to take her home again, then have to come back to do the shopping, so I rang around and found a baby sitter for her.

Amanda very kindly looked after her for me while I did the shopping.  What a relief. 

Shopping done, dog picked up, home.  It took me over half and hour to get the groceries out of the car and put away... expect 2 big boxes full of pantry items, that Griffin can bring in once he's home.  Big strong boy, can't waste that energy!

And now... I'm having lunch (popcorn, cos it's quick and easy and I'm buggered), then I will do... NOTHING!  lol
After doing nothing, I will pick up the kids and get dinner sorted out.  Silly bugger dinner tonight.  

Cheerios, baked beans, spaghetti and eggs on toast.  YUM.

11.08 pm:  dinner was nice, quiet evening as per usual.  Coronation Street... getting interesting again.  Almost felt sorry for Tracy Barlow tonight!  

Time to head off to bed.

CUTENESS

I started sorting out Griffin's wardrobe last night... but soon gave up.  It's a job for today.

Anyway... I did haul out one bag that I could see had some interesting stuff in it...

and low and behold:

 ABOVE: Three sets of Christmas lights that I had clear forgotten I had, AND they all worked!  And a pretty little runner, and toys.

ABOVE:  I took the toys out of the bag, and Tallulah slowly 'chose' a few for herself and took them away.  SO CUTE!  She loves, loves, loves toys.  

ABOVE:  Keera was quite keen on the Buzzy Bee... but got carried away and started running with it, and it was swinging around likely to smash something, so I had to take it off her.  It really is for toddlers to pull along, not super energetic 4 year olds!

But she was really cute too.

Yesterday, in the comments section I replied to a comment about drinking Diet Coke.  There were a few replies to my reply... this addresses that:

 ".... I really don't get it. lol"... THAT WAS TONGUE IN CHEEK PEOPLE... I was friggin JOKING!   I am not a fool.  My reflux was caused by several factors:  My eating too many carbs/sweet food, my portion sizes AND probably diet coke too.  Not JUST diet coke.  I am working on all probable causes of the reflux.  And I have cut back on the diet coke by over half... so am not going to feel guilty about that.  

I have not had reflux in about a week, so clearly I'm doing something right. 

I am still going to do my best to cut my diet coke consumption down to as little as possible, without getting dehydrated. And now,  I will leave that subject there.

I have no firm plans for the day,apart from tidying Griffin's wardrobe.  It will be interesting to see what else I find!

ONWARD... 

1.00 pm :  It's been a quiet morning here.  I've mucked around in the house, doing odd jobs and generally being busy.
Just picked up Miss Muppet from Kindy and she's having her lunch right now.

At 2 pm I have an appointment at the kindy to discuss 'getting her ready' for school.
Like... can't imagine what we have to discuss?
Been there, done that like.... 8 times already.
But, I shall humor the teacher, who insisted it was necessary.  *sigh*

Once we are home again, I shall be tackling that wardrobe.  

I'm sitting in the family room, and I can hear this quiet little cry coming from the lounge.  Keera.
So I call out, come here.
She slowly comes into the room, and I ask her what's the matter?
She replies "I can't get my fort made."
So I tell her to wipe her face, cos there is SNOT hanging off her chin... then I go and help her.

ABOVE:  She usually uses cuddle rugs ... but it just wasn't working for her today.  So I got her a single sheet and showed her how to tuck it into the couch cushions... now she's a very happy girl again.
She's a funny wee thing... she just loves making forts for herself and her toys.

She just came into the family room and said "Thank you for helping me make my fort Grandma".  Awwwww.  She melts me sometimes.

So today has been a bit weird.  I was cold for a while, then hot as hell all evening.  Coronation Street is on shortly, so I shall wind up today's post here. Catch ya tomorrow.