DENIM

I'm going to let this little video tell you about Denim:



So, there ya have it. 
We have a crazy dog... a crazy, deaf dog!

It took me about 3 days, once we picked Denim up and brought her home from Auckland,  to start wondering about her hearing.  I didn't want to believe it at first, but it became more and more apparent she couldn't hear very well at all.

I wonder how we are going to train her?  Can you even train a deaf dog?

Let's not forget, she doesn't even want to walk on a lead, let alone learn to sit/stay/stop/come!  She's either crazy or there's something wrong in her head, maybe connected to her hearing?

I will be talking to our vet about her soon.

What a challenge she is going to be!  But fun too... cos she has such a funny personality.

So, it's New Year's Eve tonight, and as per usual, we don't have any plans at all.
*sigh*
Sad old farts we are...  but ya get to our age and seriously, it really is just another day.

Today I will be sewing again... unless something else comes up more interesting!

AND... just like that, after sleeping on it for a few days, I have changed my mind about getting 'Eat To Live' tattooed on my finger!
I will instead be getting it engraved on a piece of jewellery.  What piece of jewellery is yet to be decided.

Having it written on my finger in 'normal' ink for the past few days made me realise it wasn't what I wanted, and Stew felt the same way, but wasn't going to say anything to me!  He just hoped I would change my mind eventually.  Freakin' man!  

I would have canned the idea immediately if I'd know he wasn't keen on it!

ONWARD...

Since getting outta bed I've been cutting fabric for mug rugs, and am finally starting to sew the various bits together.
And that's it!  Seriously, I've done nothing else all day.

It's a gorgeous day outside, so later on I might lie out in the sun for a little while, work on my tan.

We don't have any plans for tonight... 'just another day' scenario here.

So clearly I've been busy all day, sewing mostly.
Very quiet here.  I hope everyone is having an awesome New Year's Eve.  Be safe. Catch ya in 2018!

MY 2ND NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION...

Well... I decided not to torture you all, and make you wait till the 1st of January.

So ... without further ado, my 2nd resolution is to do this:

ABOVE:  Part one:  change my MINDSET.  I am a 'Live to Eat' sort of person.

I am going to turn it around in my mind and philosophy to 'EAT TO LIVE'.  

Part Two:  Get it tattooed on my finger, just like that demo above. 

I have to wait till the 4th of January to book my tattoo in Hamilton, but that's fine.  As long as I start my new way of thinking NOW.

So... what do you think?  Was my revelation worth waiting for?  A good idea?  
The tattoo is going to be a permanent reminder and inspiration to keep on track, both with my diet and exercise, and with my positive thinking.

I'm NOT going to exercise so I can then eat a bloody donut!   I'm doing it for my health, full stop, end of story.  Oh and let's not forget, it's actually FUN when you do it with friends.

Thanks Fat Bottomed Girls!  I love my walking girlfriends. ⇨ ➜➦➨➽

Today I am sewing... as I want to do the February Trash and Treasure Market here in Cambridge.  So, I have 6 weeks to make as much as possible so I have something to sell!

And that is all for now... looking forward to reading what you think of my New Year's Resolution.

ONWARD...

Spotlight have a huge sale on, so later on we are going into Hamilton.  Griffin needs to pick something up or order something from EB Games... so killing two birds with one trip.

Weird.  I say I am drinking WATER... and just a few of you comment on it? I don't get that at all.  Like... I HAVE NOT DRUNK WATER IN ALMOST 25 YEARS... and everyone knows it.  It is a HUGE thing for me to be doing.  *sigh*
Feeling ... I dunno... a bit confused?  I really thought you guys would be gobsmacked I was drinking water!

But, moving on.  I'm cutting fabric out for mug rugs.  Then I will start sewing them up.  Now that I'm not doing 'binding' edging, it's so much quicker and easier to make them.  I've chosen an assortment of fabrics, hopefully they will appeal to a wide variety of people.  I will show you some once I've made them.

LYNDA:  Thank you for your suggestions.  BUT... I will not be testing my blood for reactions to foods.  My doctor has not asked me to test my blood with a testing kit, nor has she supplied me with one, so clearly she doesn't think I need to.

As for the best place to prick your finger... well that is purely an individual thing.  I find it painful where ever Stew pricks me, on the rare occasion I have asked him to do it.

Nicole... you have a grubby mind!  lol

So, we went into Hamilton and I bought some wadding for 30% off, which was nice.

Then we had lunch at The Base, did a bit of shopping and came home.

I lay in the sun for a little while, then showered and have just sat down to relax before thinking about dinner.  Now that we don't have a wee 5 year old to factor into our lives, we can eat later, which I'm enjoying.

So an enjoyable evening cutting out fabric and watching some tv.  Stinking hot as per usual... constantly turning the fan on and off.

Heading off to bed shortly.

PIDDLE PIDDLE PIDDLE!

Much to my surprise, I am managing to drink 3 glasses of water easily!
It's chilled water from the fridge, then carbonated in the Soda Stream.  Then I add some slices of lemon that Stew cut up and froze.

So, it's quite nice really!  Only thing I'm not really enjoying is the amount of times I  have to go piddle!

Seriously!  Middle of the night, crack of dawn, then every 2-3 hours during the day!  Is that NORMAL?

Not for me that's for sure.

I thought today I might do some sewing, I want to make a few mug rugs, then table runners.  I've got quite a few of the 'Fat Bottomed Girls' fabric cut out already, so will run up a few of those first.

And that is about all I have for now!  If I can get the house spic 'n' span I might even do a 'walk through' video of the house to show you our home, instead of photos here and there.

Oh and here's a clue to my 2nd New Year's Resolution:

ABOVE:  Any guesses?  And NO one from the family 'in the know' is allowed to say a word!
Well actually, ya can't spill the beans cos your comments won't get through.  lol

ONWARD...

PETA: I deleted the comment you left yesterday. I hope that was the one you were referring to as I haven't seen another one come through?

I just took the video walk through of our house.  It will take a while to upload... once it's done I will post it on here.

We've been out to Mitre 10 today.  ALL the door handles in this house need to be replaced.
The builders on this house made a stupid mistake when making the holes for the door handles... they made them too big!  So the handles keep moving up and down on the door itself, and the bit that actually latches the door to the framework jams.

So our job this year is to slowly replace all of them.  We have already done 2, and today we will do 2 more.

Just as soon as Stew gets off his lounge chair...

ABOVE:  So Stew just said not only were the door handles fitted into too big holes in the door, but they had also been attached wrongly too.  It took him ages to get that bloody door handle off!  

But he did it eventually... only 6 to go now.

New Year's Resolution # 1: Drink water
New Year's Resolution # 2:  Has nothing to do with my finger nails!

Another guess:
You're going into puppetry? 
(I couldn't post this as a comment) 
Belinda :)

ABOVE:  Love ya thinking, but no... I'm not going into Puppetry Belinda!

Stew is being a busy boy today, he's in the garage...

ABOVE:  Sorting nuts, bolts, screws, nails and all small bits 'n' bobs into these boxes.
They used to be my cotton boxes, but now I have the thread holder on the wall... I didn't need them.
He's putting them to good use.

Do you want to know what #2 is today, or wait till January the 1st?  I'm leaning towards January the 1st... cos it's a New Year's Resolution after all.  *smiles*

I will give you another clue tomorrow.

OK, I finally have the 'House Walk Through' video uploaded and ready to publish here:




Is the video blurry part way through for you?  Cross if it is... cos it isn't on YouTube.

Well... the video came right eventually... computer glitch on my end I think.

I've got a chicken roasting in the oven for dinner, served with roast potatoes, onions and a lettuce salad.  Should be yum.

7.45 pm:  And yes, dinner was YUM!  
Sorry, no one is anywhere NEAR guessing correctly.  So, I'm going to put you out of your misery tomorrow.
So... until then, I shall be in my sewing room, doing a bit of sewing before Coronation Street comes on.
Then bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

THIS MAY SURPRISE YOU

We bought a Soda Stream, with the idea being I would drink some water!

Yep. Me. Drink Water.  And on Boxing Day I actually did manage to drink about 3 glasses full!

It may not seem much to all you crazy water drinkers, but for me it was a huge achievement.

And OMG did I piddle heaps!  Me, who usually only 'goes' about twice a day, went probably a dozen times!  Even had to get up in the middle of the night (what a fag!).

But... and here's the amazing thing... I lost 2 kilos in a day!  All from drinking 3 glasses of water?  Amazing.

So, yesterday I did the same thing, and today I will do it again.  It's not earth shattering or anything... but it's a pretty big deal for me.  I don't expect to lose that much weight by just drinking water, by the way. 

My New Year's Resolution (and I DON'T do NY's Resolutions normally)... is to drink a minimum of 3 glasses of water a day, and one other thing.   I ain't telling you what that is right now though. 

Who else makes New Year's Resolutions, and actually keeps to it?  Are they doable?  Realistic?  I have chosen two things that I know are totally doable and realistic.
Though the second one is going to be a huge change for me!

MORE on that one ... on a later post.

 ABOVE: I'm finally able to use the 'Craft Room' as I intended.  Bex and I did a canvas each with the Alcohol Inks yesterday afternoon.
We hadn't used the inks on canvas before, it's another learning process.
But fun.

 ABOVE:  And the 'fireplace' with my coloured candles on it... just like we had in Auckland.  (without the actual fire!)
It's so pretty.  I'm so chuffed with it.

Today we don't actually have any plans.  We will just see how the day evolves.  We might end up at the movies in Hamilton...

ONWARD...

 ABOVE:  Cute photos of the kids after they had been playing with Keera's hair bands.  

Stew, Brylee and I went into Hamilton.  A book I had ordered from Grandmother's Garden had come in, so we picked it up, then had lunch at The Base.

 ABOVE:  The book will come in very handy, plus a needle threader with a light.  Stew got some new work shirts (Thanks Kelly, very handy Xmas present), and I also got a cute little crystal heart for the house.

 ABOVE:  The heart could be unscrewed, which was perfect as I only wanted a half for the lounge wall..

ABOVE: The other heart went into the low dish on the coffee table in the family room.

ABOVE:  A few of the table runners/toppers in the new book.  I plan on making a few plus some mug rugs and having a go at selling them on Facebook and the local monthly market.
Nothing lost if they don't sell, as they can be used as presents next Christmas too.

Right... dinner is done.  Stew is watching tv in the lounge and I'm about to watch Coronation Street in the family room.  
Then it will be bedtime... it's been a very lazy day!

IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN

I don't know if many of you would remember, but when we tried 'walking' Denim on a lead, she refused point blank to walk.  Instead she flopped down on her belly and had to be dragged along.

Well... now we realise that she will probably never be able to walk on a lead.
Cos this is what she does even with toys:



She drops and ENJOYS being dragged!  So, walking on a lead is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

ABOVE:  I finally opened this home baking that was given to me by one of my neighbours, who also happens to be a Fat Bottomed Girl (walking group).  The shortbread and chocolate balls are super YUM! Thanks Hayley.

Today Bex and I have an appointment in town, so after lunch we can slope off and leave the guys with the little kids.  Yaaaa.... might have to have a wander around the local shops at the same time.  *smiles*

I'm not sure what else is 'on' today, time will tell eh?  

ONWARD...

Well I've spent the morning re-arranging stuff in my sewing and Fabric/Craft room and tidying up various other areas of the house.  

Last night (late) I took down all the Xmas decorations too.  I couldn't help myself.

Trouble now is... I've totally overdone it and my back is going into spasm.  Very painful... so I've had to stop and sit down.  Taken some Voltaren Back and Pain pills.  Hopefully that works, or I'm buggered for the next few days.

Lunchtime soon... so I shall just sit here and get waited on I think. *smiles*

Steve, Bex and the kids leave tonight, it's been lovely having them over Christmas.  Kids make Christmas eh?

They have loved playing with the puppies, Dante used to be fairly scared of them, but not now.  He's the one always asking for them to be brought into the family room to play.  So cute.

SANDWICH THINS are the bomb!  Just sayin'.

ABOVE:  The family just left.  Their car was jam packed!  Just as well they got a new, bigger car.
Hopefully their trip home will be smooth sailing.  The kids will probably sleep most of the way... if their parents are lucky.   lol

It's so QUIET now!  We have an hour or so before thinking about dinner, so are just relaxing in the family room.  It's blissful. *smiles*

Stew made a lovely dinner tonight, I am so grateful he's such a good cook!  My back is feeling quite a bit better now, so if I'm lucky it will be even better by tomorrow.

Time to sign off for the day.  

BOXING DAY... LET'S ALL RELAX!

I'm hoping like hell today is much quieter than yesterday!   Everyone is tired.  Archer has not been feeling well for a couple of days, probably the mild tummy bug that's doing the rounds.

So, a quiet day would be good for him.

If the shops are open, we can return our new Soda Stream bottles.  They have an expired 'use by date' on them!  We only bought them the day before Christmas.  A bit slack if you ask me.

Luckily I still had the receipt!  

ABOVE:  The 4 big kids last night.  Ange's two :  Kaleb and Taylor and our two: Brylee and Griffin.  They are all lovely kids.

As you can see, Kaleb and Griffin are the same height (like TALL), and they are both younger than their sisters.  

My plans for the day are to potter around doing housework!  The house is a tip.
I am ITCHING to put away all the Christmas decorations and tree!  I know it's only Boxing Day, but I'm a bit OCD when it comes to how things look in the house!  Christmas is over as far as I'm concerned!

But maybe I will wait a few days, let the kids enjoy them a bit longer.

ONWARD...

3.26 pm:  And has it been quieter?  Yeah NAH! lol

What with Dante, Archer and Keera here, then visitors one after the other, it's not been quiet at all!

Steve and Bex DID take their 3 kids out for a few hours late morning ... visiting friends in Hamilton... but while they were gone we had an Uncle and Aunt of mine call in.  That was lovely, it's always nice to see family.

Then after they left we had more family arrive, Martyn and Jacqui and their two kids, Joel and Sophia.

So it's been just lovely having people in and out all day.

I was very remiss and didn't take photos of our visitors... but I did get a hysterical video of Sophia playing with Denim ... waiting for it to upload, then I can post it.

There was a short 'gap' between visitors, so Stew and I popped out and managed to get our Soda Stream bottles swapped for non-expired ones, and I also bought a smaller trestle table for the sewing room, so I could put one of the bigger ones in the 'Fabric Room'.  Things needed to be re-arranged in the Fabric Room to fit it in, but it still all fits well in there. 

We are now all relaxing before thinking about dinner.   Which will be whatever STEW wants to cook! lol 

4.30 - ish... and I'm on the phone with my Mum who's in Australia.  And some bloke rides up to our front door in high vis greens. ???   
Turns out it's one of my cousins who lives in a little town about 30 kms away!
So we haul him inside for a natter, and while he's here Keera stands on a bee.

OMG talk about SCREAM AND SCREAM!  We bring her inside and leave the 'doctoring' up to the visiting Vet!  Yep, Philip is a vet and he sorted her out for us.  LOL

The poor man left fairly quickly after that... too much noise I bet!  *smiles*

ABOVE:  And that will teach her to stand on a bee DELIBERATELY!  Bet she never does that again.  Seriously, she screamed so loudly and badly, and hobbled like she had broken her ankle, we were sure she had!  Thank god it WAS only a bee sting.

The video of Sophia and Denim didn't record!  My card was full... so I had to do another one with Archer instead.

Time to wind up for the day...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU, MAY YOU HAVE THE MOST ENJOYABLE DAY WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

We will be!  First up it's "What's under the tree"? with Steve, Bex, the 3 little kids, Brylee, Griffin and Stew.

Then we will be going into Hamilton to have Christmas lunch with Amanda and her family, hosted by her Mother-In-Law, Pauline.
Kelly and Rena will be there too, so we will catch up with them there.

After that, home to relax for a while, before Steve and Bex cook Christmas 'dinner'... which will be a BBQ.  We are hoping Russ and Ange come out for the BBQ too.

Sadly ... Lacy could not make it down for this Christmas. Just how it is.  We will talk to her at some point during the day, and of course, Keera will talk with her Mum too.

Same with Mike and Joyce, who couldn't come up either.  We hope to chat with them during the day too.

As planned, I will NOT be cooking at all!  First time in 38 years I won't be chief cook and bottle washer!  I'm so looking forward to that, you have NO idea how much.  *lol*

I will do my best to update during the day.... just quick little photos probably.

AGAIN... HAVE A FABULOUS, FATTENING DAY!
You only live once... so why not enjoy it!

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  Santa came!  Now it's time for the kids to get stuck in...

 ABOVE:  Happy teenagers, tickets to Flochella, a music event in Rotorua.

 ABOVE:  So, Dante woke up all through the night, wanting to go open presents! He even came into our room at 5.30 am, but Stew told him to go annoy his parents, which he did.

We had an agreement that we would get up at 7 am, so they all had to wait till then.

Which was fine, the little kids had their breakfast then it was present time.

ABOVE:  I put together this yesterday, a pretty little table decoration for the 'new' coffee table.

It's now 9.15 am and I feel knackered!  I stayed up pretty late last night making the Ambrosia desserts. Think a 'nana nap' will feature in my afternoon.   *smiles*

Lunch at Amanda's MIL's went really well.  Lovely company and super nice food!

 ABOVE:  There were 18 of us for lunch!  Pauline, Amanda's MIL did really well feeding all of us!  (she did have help of course, but still, a huge job)!

 ABOVE:  Amanda, Joel, Griffin, Huston, Rena and Emily.

 ABOVE:  MORE present unwrapping going on!  My word, there's been a lot of presents dolled out today.

 ABOVE:  Emily and her 'Hatchimal'.  Waiting for it to hatch.

 ABOVE: Self explanatory really!  Me and the girls.  Shame Lacy wasn't here. 

ABOVE:  Me man and girls.

It's now 7.23 and we have just finished dinner with Steve, Bex, Russell, Ange, and Ange's mostly grown 2 kids (Taylor and Kaleb), Brylee, Griffin and the 3 little kids.

We did MORE present unwrapping when Russ and Ange arrived!  Our little kids have been spoilt rotten!

And now... we are watching The Wilderpeople on the telly.  After that we will do some tidying up and go. to. bed.
Long day, but lovely.

CHRISTMAS EVE DAY

What's on today?

Well... we need to make up beds for Steve, Bex and the three kids today.

So funny, Keera has only been 'gone' for two days, and she will be back as a visitor today!

It's neat really.  It will be good to see her so soon after her move, see how she's feeling about everything.

I've changed things around in her 'old' room, so now her and Dante will be sleeping in there tonight, on mattresses on the floor.  I hope that goes well!

Steve, Bex and Archer will be in Brylee's room (she has a queen size bed), and Brylee will be on a couch in the lounge.

I've arranged them all like that so the lounge doesn't have the little kids in it on Christmas Eve, they might see 'Santa' bringing in their presents if they were in there!  Can't have that.

So the only jobs today will be bed making!

I finished doing all the presents last night, which was an awesome feeling.

I didn't think I would get it all done in one night.

MEH, just remembered.  Stew and I have to do some grocery shopping.  Just a few things for Christmas Day.  Not a big shop thankfully.

I think most people have to do some degree of grocery shopping today surely?  Fresh stuff mostly.

Well... that's about it from me for now... catch ya later!

ONWARD...

Well it's been a busy morning... just fluffing around the house mostly.  And getting the groceries.  We went down early, which was great cos now it's a mad house down there!

 ABOVE:  My Fabric Room... I used the 'Panorama' feature on Steve 'n' Bex's camera... quite a nifty feature!

 ABOVE:  Fabric room, with the brown couch return in there.  It fits in so well!  Now I have a comfy place to sit in there.

We decided after many, many years of not using it, to get my Dad's 'Hong Kong' coffee table out of storage and use it.  

ABOVE:  it looks good there.  It took a lot of furniture polish to get it looking good again, I had to use a small paintbrush to get in all the tiny crevices.

ABOVE:  My Dad visited Hong Kong on his way home from America over 30 years ago, and bought this there.  It came home on a ship some months later.
My Mum gave it to me after my Dad died.

Steve 'n' Bex and kids arrived in time for lunch, so that's what we are all doing now...eating.

And after lunch we babysat the kids so Steve and Bex could go do something without kids in tow.  Then dinner... Stew made salads and sausages on the BBQ.

Now?  Kids are getting readied for bed, then we can all relax for the evening, before 'Santa' arrives and clutters up the lounge!  *smiles*

Catch ya tomorrow.