BYE BYE LACY

Lacy leaves us today.  She is catching the 9.30 am bus from here,  and she will be home late tonight.
She has a 5 hour lay over in Auckland, so can stretch her legs and have a look around downtown Auckland in between her two bus trips.

If we are lucky, there won't be too many tears this morning from Keera!  She has really enjoyed having her Mum here the past few days.

 ABOVE:  My blue flowers are finally starting to come out!  I have these ground cover blues, and  a few irises, and the little blue tree is slowly getting ready to burst into blue flowers too.

So gorgeous!

Today we are going into Hamilton to have a look for a walking harness for Coco.  We saw a little dog in one the other day and it looked so nice and comfy, so much nicer than a collar that pulls on her neck.  We will need to get one for Marley eventually too.

I will be getting all the washing up to date today so I can pack Keera's bag, ready for tomorrow, when we go to Auckland to a) See the puppies and b) Drop Keera off at Steve and Bex's for a week long 'holiday'.

And that is all I have for now...   

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  Waiting for the bus, which was bang on time!
And best of all... NO TEARS! Not a single one... such a relief.  
Keera is now happily playing here at home, and Lacy is on her way back up north.

She's got a gorgeous day for travelling... not a cloud in the sky.

I'm now getting a bit of housework done before we go into Hamilton.

3.15 pm:  Just home from Hamilton.
We had a good trip in... checked out dog harnesses and leads, then had lunch at The Base.

Then we did this:

 ABOVE:  Yep, with Lacy's approval, we had Keera's hair cut.  Coming into swimming time at school, I didn't want her having wet, dripping hair all down her back ...

 ABOVE:  So she got a lovely long bob.  And she loves it!  She can keep it down, and it can be put up too when necessary.

ABOVE:  Coco in her new harness.  It's a little big, but the next size down would have choked her.  She's getting groomed soon too.

On our way home we stopped at a local plant nursery and ended up buying a tree for the front garden, where the fig was.  That corner needed something with height, so in a couple of years the new tree will be a bit taller and fill the 'gap'.

I'd show you the tree, but Stew hasn't planted it yet!  lol


ABOVE:  Yeah, just cos I can.

ABOVE:  The new tree.  It's not a cherry tree.  But it is very pretty, very vibrant pink clusters of flowers.  
And Keera, pretending to be Moana and singing at the top of her lungs.  Till she forgot the words, then she shut up!  lol

8.30 pm:  Lacy is almost home after a long day travelling.
She's been sending me random photos all day!
I even got a photo of the little red lady and man marking where the bus bathroom is!  Weird girl.

It's wind down time here... I'm waiting for Coronation Street to come on, and after that it's bedtime.

I walked a total of

165.43 kms this month.

LAST DAY OF TERM

Totally looking forward to the end of today!

The kids finish school for two weeks.

And Keera gets to go on holiday to Steve and Bex's for the next week, so I shall get a proper sleep in all next week!

Let's all go YES!  I can catch up on some sleep and get a good break from super talkative, on the go, ask 50,000 questions a day... 5 year old.  lol

Today will go like 'normal'... kids to school, then maybe not like normal.

Cos Lacy is still here.... so I'm going to show her around St Kilda, which is the last area us Fat Bottomed Girls have to walk.

Then we are going into Hamilton so I can attend my Weigh Watchers meeting. (Hopefully I don't gain again!)

While I'm there, Lacy will be here:

ABOVE:  Utter crap photos, got them off the 'web.  It's a HUGE second hand clothing warehouse in Hamilton.
Lacy will get lost there!

Hopefully she finds some good buys.

After my meeting I will pick her up and we will have lunch together, before heading back to Cambridge in time to pick up the kids from school.

And that's all for now.... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

WEIGH IN.... DOWN 1.8 kgs. SOOooooo happy with that!!!

ABOVE:  Lacy's latest acquisitions.  She got the 'Playboy' top yesterday, rather ironic as Hugh Hefner died yesterday.
Lacy has the Playboy bunny logo tattooed on her hip too.

And so, after a bit of shopping, Lacy and I met up with Kelly at the mall, then I left them to do some shopping at Save Mart while I went to Weight Watchers.

I was so chuffed to have a good loss ... I'd been really down about my two weeks in a row gains.

Now I just have to lose 400 grams this week to be at my lowest point in many years.

I CAN DO IT.... I WILL DO IT TOO.

After Weight Watchers I met the 2 girls back at the mall and we had lunch.

The girls had some hilarious fun together...

ABOVE: It was really hard getting a decent photo of them!  They kept laughing so much!

Then this happened:

ABOVE:  
Yep... she did!  It was so FUNNY!!!

Coronation Street will be on soon, and I'm busting for a piddle... so making this quick.  See ya tomorrow!

WHAT THE HELL DAY IS IT?

For some reason, this week has been totally weird for me.
I keep forgetting what bloody day it is!
I've never been like this before... sure you forget what day it is sometimes, but this week???
Simply cannot keep track of the days.

Weird.

Like... it IS THURSDAY right?   What do I have on today?  

A walk tonight.

Nothing else planned... that I can remember!

Maybe I just had too much on my mind this week?

I have a couple of photos of our walk last night:

 ABOVE: Lacy took this photo with another girl's phone.

ABOVE:  And I took this one with my phone... huge difference in the clarity and colour!

And that's me for now... I'm off to get the kids to school, then home to do some sewing... AFTER I get the washing on.  *sigh*
Never ends...

ONWARD...

Lacy and I went Op Shopping in Cambridge.   She got 3 more tops, which she's thrilled with.  I got nothing.  I'm saving my money for puppy and Birthdays and Christmas and and and.... there's always something!

That lovely photo above,  with Lacy in the tree, has gone into the finals for the FBG's end of year photo competition!  First one to go straight to the final!  Rather proud of that.

Now... off to have a nana nap, I'm so tired!  Really sore back/shoulder/arm... keeping me awake at night.

9.22 pm:  Well it's the end of the day.
Lacy and I went on a FBG's walk again, it was a good, easy one.

Dinner tonight was left over mince/bacon stew on toast... totally lazy!

Now... winding down and cooling down.  Coronation Street is about to start soon... so I'm outta here.

FIVE DAYS

It's been five days since I had a FBG's walk!
No reason really, just haven't been able to fit one in.

So today I'm going to try and either do a midday one (if it's not hot) or one this evening, in the cool.

Not sure if Lacy wants to tag along?  I will ask her.

Keera will be waking up soon, and she doesn't know Lacy is here.  That should be interesting!

She's not seen Lacy since mid July.

ABOVE: To my utter relief, Lacy is looking very healthy and well!
Must be getting plenty of food up north!

So, once I get Keera and the big kids off to school I will be coming home to finish off a sewing project before deciding if I'll go on the 1 pm walk or not.  

Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

You could say I'm in a shitty mood today.  I woke up a few days ago and pulled a muscle in my upper back (left side), and it's only gotten worse as the days wore on.  Now I have pain in my shoulder and running down my arm too.

NOT fun.

Wears you down.  Better take a pill and hope to get some relief.

Heard the saying 'Best thing since sliced bread'?  Yep, that's Lacy in Keera's eyes this morning.  All over her.  Nice.  

Griffin is doing my head in too.  Lazy little shit right now.  Seriously, he only comes out of his room to eat, visit the bathroom and go to school.
I so want to smash his Playstation to smithereens.

ABOVE: And since WHEN is this called 'bed made'???
His room is right beside the front door... and that's what I see every time I go in and out of the family room.

I could close the door, but then that room would never get any fresh air!  *sigh*   Just another thing that's pissing me off this morning.

I will make his bed, tidy his room, vacum his floor and charge the little shit $1 every day I have to do it.  Let's see how long he takes before doing it PROPERLY himself.

ABOVE:  The lovely chair I got Griffin for his room.  He keeps rocking on it.  I have told him over and over again NOT to rock on it as he will damage the legs.
Does he listen?
OF COURSE NOT.

So, I was going to get Lacy to take the legs OFF, but changed my mind.  He won't sit on it with no legs.  I will just REMOVE it from his room.. he can sit on his bed.

I'm so over kids who just don't listen, or do as they are asked.  So annoying as this only seems to bother ME.

Isn't it normal to NOT want stuff to be wrecked?

The bloody sun came out, so I canned the idea of a midday walk... I would end up too hot and bothered. Not worth it.
Lacy and I will join the 7.15 pm walk tonight instead.  Much cooler then.

I finished the project I was working on in the sewing room, so decided to pull out a UFO.

Got to the point where I needed to pop into town for some border fabric:

ABOVE:  Who remembers this one?  I've decided it will become a quilt, rather than a tablecloth as originally destined to be.

While I was in Spotlight, Lacy went into the Salvation Army Thrift Shop next door and ... she did some shopping too.

ABOVE:  Can you tell she's rather rapt with her shopping?  All those clothes for $41 !
And they are all in the washing machine now, getting clean.  They smelt at bit yuk.

And YEP... we now have a 5 year old who is suddenly 2 years old again and can't do a bloody thing for herself... MUMMY has to help her. 
Kill me now.

I can feel my blood pressure rising...

So, Lacy and I went on a FBG's walk at 7pm... all good.  Fairly slow walk.
I only did 3/4's of the walk as one of our ladies felt unwell, so I walked her back to her car.  I'd already done that section, so it didn't matter that I didn't do it all tonight.

Home now, and just cooling down.  Off to bed in a couple of hours.

SHIT DON'T LET ME FORGET!

Keera has her school production of 'Moana' today... at lunchtime and again in the evening.

I'm going to the Matinee at midday.  I really don't want to forget!
Someone remind me at 11.30 OK?

Ta.

I will be home all morning... mucking around in the house, sewing... bla bla bla.

We are expecting Lacy later on tonight... I will be going into Hamilton to pick her up.
I'm not telling Keera a thing, otherwise she will be distracted from her 'Production', which she is super excited about.

GUESS what I have for you now?
...
......
.........

ABOVE:  Taaa daaa!  What do ya think of the white pots there???
LOL.  I wonder if I can do anything else and take a photo?  

Nah... I really don't think I can do that to ya.  *smiles*

Right, that's all I have for now... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

Ha ha ha!  Just got a text from my girlfriend Sandra down in Palmerston North, reminding me to get down to the hall for Keera's production!
Too funny.

I've done me face and hair...

 ABOVE:  Don't think I look like some haggard old grandma.
Might even 'fit' in with the crowd?

Here's hoping the production is entertaining... 

2.25 PM:  Home from the production.  As Tracy said in a comment, apart from when Keera was on stage, it was quite so-so.  You can't expect much from such young children.  I do believe the kids had fun though.

I couldn't attract Keera's attention when she was on stage, so I don't think she saw me there.  Sad really, I hope she wasn't disappointed.  

I did take a few photos...

ABOVE:  Not good photos, we were not allowed to use our flash.
I got a couple of very wobbly videos too.... not good enough to post though.  But Keera will enjoy them I'm sure.

It's been raining on and off all day too... yet again ... more rain!

9.40 pm:  Keera had her final performance this evening, so I took her, and picked her up again at the end.
Home.  Put her to bed then I went into Hamilton to get Lacy.
Her bus arrived on time, so we are now home.

I will be heading off to bed early, cos I'm tired, for no reason!

YAAAA... QUIETNESS

MONDAY! Thank goodness.  It was a busy weekend and I'm ready for some peace and quiet.
It was lovely to have family visit, don't get me wrong!  But it's always nice when Monday rolls around and things go back to 'normal'.

A few more photos of the weekend:

ABOVE:  Keera alternates between calling Steve 'Uncle Steve', 'Uncle Dad' and 'Dad'!  Rather cute.  She's still getting used to the idea that he will be her DAD when she goes to live with them.
She LOVES the idea of course.

 ABOVE:  It took a little bit of hint dropping, but I eventually got Steve to add ANOTHER, shorter shelf in my sewing room...

 ABOVE:  I'm thrilled to bits with my shelves! 

ABOVE:  Stew found these old 's' shaped hooks in the garage, so I made good use of them.  Pretty nifty eh?  I'm freakin' happy with my sewing work room.

Today?  Kids to school, then home to paint a couple of outdoor pots, do some housework and enjoy the silence.  *smiles*

ONWARD...

Another 'clockwork' day.  Everything is going to plan.

Just talked with Lacy... she's going to be coming down tomorrow for a visit.  Will be interesting to see how that goes, Keera hasn't spent much time with Lacy in months.

 ABOVE:  Making dirty cream pots nice and white... waiting for paint to dry, then they can go outside again.  I found the perfect place for them too.

ABOVE:  Stew went to use the iron last night... STONE COLD, not working.
So I went down to Briscoes to find a new one... as I figured it would cost as much to get it fixed as a new one.

Maybe not!  Can you believe the cheapest iron there was $99!  I got it though, cos we certainly need an iron.  

At least it's blue.  lol

So the remainder of the day has gone as per usual.
Prepared dinner for the family, then I went to Weight Watchers.  It was a nice meeting.
Home and now... watching some TV while yakking to friends on Facebook... mostly girls from my walking group.

Time to sign off.  

RE-SHUFFLE AND SHELF

Late yesterday afternoon I moved the treadmill's position in the garage and put the exercycle in the spare bedroom so I could get my car back into the garage.

Had to be done ... coming into summer my car would have been a sitting oven for us to get into.  Wasn't going to happen.

It means I'm a bit cramped in the laundry area, but looking at priorities meant the move around was necessary.

If we could have built a carport of course, none of the moving around would have been needed.  Annoying.  Can't wait for our road to be re-zoned.

I mentioned yesterday that I asked Steve to put up a shelf in my sewing room, this is the result:

 ABOVE:  Now my work table is just that, for working on, not for dumping fabric 'in use' on.
So handy dandy.

ABOVE: See that nifty bracket hook thing?  Perfect for hanging stuff off!   I saw them, and just had to get them over 'normal' shelf brackets!  They were not even that much more expensive either.  It was a good shopping trip!  *smiles*

Nice surprise this morning, Kelly and Rena popped in.
Took the opportunity to take a few photos of the grandkids that were here:

 ABOVE:  LOVELY bunch of kids.

ABOVE:  Nice busy household today.

The rest of the day I have spent sewing and being with the family, and also going for a quick drive to re-map one of the FBG's walks... had to include a couple of extended roads.

Bex and I also had a little Tiki Tour around the last section(s) to yet be mapped, St Kilda.  A really lovely new area out south/east of Cambridge.

Dinner tonight was Lamb Shanks roasted in mint sauce and onions, and lots of veges.  Super delicious.

The kids will be heading home to Auckland soon, then it will be chill out time.

HA HA... YEAH NAH

Did I really think I would get a sleep in today?

Yeah... NAH.... didn't happen.

We have to get up early to go and vote... Government elections.  
And then we are going grocery shopping before our visitors arrive.

All going well we get it all done before they arrive, if not, well the teenagers should be home and can let them in.
Not. a. problem.

The Quilt Show starts today.  I hope to get down there to have a good look now that it's all set up.
I hadn't planned on putting anything in the show at all... virtually all my quilts and wall hangings have been given away as gifts and so on.
But at the last minute I remembered my Nautical Star wall hanging, so took that down to be displayed.

ABOVE:  Crap photo taken with me phone, but anyway... shows up nicely there.  I wonder if it's still there, or has it been moved elsewhere?  I will find out later I suppose.

Right, better go and bloody vote... not feeling confident about who will win, and govern our country for the next three years... it will be a tight race.

ONWARD...

Everything is going like clockwork here!
Voting done.
Groceries done and put away.
Lunch made... fresh salad/ham/beef/salami sandwiches.
Kids here.... and the sun is shining!

Beautiful day here.  Stunning in fact.  

And then we got visitors!
Sharon from Taupo called in with her son Samuel and his girlfriend Sharni.
It is Samuel's 21st BIRTHDAY TODAY.

ABOVE:  Sharon got a photo album made of Samuel's special moments over his first 21 years, it was lovely!
There he is replicating his baby photo.  Rather cute.  *smiles*

While Steve is here I got him to put a big shelf up in my sewing room.   Photo tomorrow.  I found some awesome shelf brackets from Mitre 10!

ABOVE:  Bex, Steve and Griffin are at Sam and Nicky's  house tonight... they are having fun without kids.
They will be home tomorrow sometime.
This is the FIRST TIME EVER Bex has left Archer overnight.  

I'm sure Stew and I will 'manage' just fine with 3 little kids to look after!  lol

Dinner just over, everyone had a nice meal.  We had saveloys, potato waffles and broccoli and cheese bites.  Very tasty.

Time to chill for the evening.  Kids will be off to bed in about an hour, then I can relax and look forward to Coronation Street after 9 pm.

PATCHWORK SHOW

This weekend the Cambridge Patchwork group I attend is holding a Quilt Show,  just down the road in the Anglican Church.

So today it's set up day down at the church hall.  I will be going down at 10 am to do my bit towards setting up all the stands, hanging quilts and so on.

I might even drag Brylee down there with me, if I can get her out of bed that is!

So, no walk this morning that's for sure.  

After helping out down at the church, I will come home and work on puppy Quincy's blanket, I should get it finished today.

'J',  the puppies owner,  has been struggling to get the puppies started on solids, and I was about to go up there for a full day to see if I could help out.  

So funny, when I suggested that to her last night, she said she had been about to ask me to do just that!
BUT... the puppies are now getting the hang of trying the food, so I shouldn't need to go up after all.

Next time we go up, they will be 6 weeks old... the time is flying by!

I will take some photos of the quilts etc while I'm out, there are bound to be some gorgeous ones!

ABOVE:  Last night's walk photo... so lovely getting to see 3 mares with foals.  Not so lovely, the 4 wire electric fence, with no warning signs anywhere.  

The little dog who was with us got a nasty shock by going too close as we were walking on the footpath, that the fence ran alongside of.

And that's about all I have for now... catch ya later... have a nice morning.

ONWARD...

So far it's been busy!

Went down to the church and helped for a while..

 ABOVE:  There are SO MANY QUILTS!

 ABOVE:  Labels on every single one ...

 ABOVE:  Yep... even more!

 ABOVE :  sorting out where to hang what... a huge job.

After a couple of hours I took off, picked up the big kids and went to weigh in at WW.  Went up .200 grams.  Not happy with that. Grrr.

After WW, we met Stew at the Hamilton Gardens for lunch... followed by a walk around the little lake.

 ABOVE:  We fed the few ducks and ducklings that were there, and that huge eel.

ABOVE: The ducklings were so cute.

Home now (2.30 pm) and will be heading out again soon to pick up Keera from school.  

Yaaa it's Friday.  Sleep in tomorrow.

Time to wind up my blogging day... going to enjoy a quiet evening in the sewing room until Coronation Street comes on.