MOVED IT AGAIN

Because I wasn't happy with where we had moved the huge garden pot (wasn't safe for small kids), Stew and Griffin moved it again yesterday afternoon while I was in Hamilton getting that little pill.

 ABOVE:  This is where the pot was briefly.  Stew put some transplanted flax plants, the wooden bull rushes and the blue glass pole there instead.  Doesn't it look lovely now?

ABOVE:  It is now set back in a more protected part of the garden, away from where the little kids play.  I'm much happier with it here.  And it is nice and visible too, more so than where it was originally.

So, today Stew will get the lawns mown hopefully.  He kinda ran out of time/energy yesterday afternoon.

I'm not sure what I will get up to.  But, something or nothing, it will be a nice day I'm sure.
I hope you are all having an awesome Easter with family and/or friends.

Talking of Easter...

ABOVE:  I've only had two of them so far!

WELL... this weekend that is.  lol

ABOVE:  Joel, Sofia and Brylee on top of the Kaimai ranges yesterday.  Lovely photo!

ONWARD...

Is there an improvement?  Kinda.  I think it's too early to tell.  But maybe?

Feeling like shit though.  Got a weird headache thing going on.  Heavy over the eyes.  Like I should really just go back to sleep for hours!

But, we are going out instead.  Just into Hamilton to visit Stew's Mum's grave.  She's been gone for 30 years (last Thursday).  After that we will have a nice lunch out before coming home again.

4.01 pm:  An interesting afternoon.
We took the loaner camera back to Snapshot, and I bought a spare battery for my camera.  
I had to use my phone camera while out as my battery was flat.  Derrr.

Lunch.  Decided to try a new place in the Centre Place foodcourt:

 ABOVE:  Stew ordered a chicken burger for me, asked for it to have NO spices as I can't eat anything spicy.  He also got a few pieces of tandoor chicken, and 'normal' chicken.  And some chips.

Review:  I took one small bite of the burger and declared it inedible (for me) as it was hot and spicy!  The tandoori chicken (according to Stew) had a nice taste but the chicken itself was hard and dry.  The 'normal' chicken was spicy and dry too.  Their chips were super thin and cold.

In all, NEVER BUYING ANYTHING FROM THERE AGAIN.  Very disappointing.

Walking back to our car, we passed a 'Games Shop' and Stew said he wouldn't mind going in there one day.  So I said why not now?  So we did.

What a neat shop!  So many games and puzzles and model kits and so on!

 ABOVE:  STEVE... look at all the dice!!!  And that was not all of them.

ABOVE:  We got this cute wee game... Griffin and I played it in the car.. I kept winning, then he won a game too.  Such simple fun.

ABOVE:  I got two new packs of cards, but somehow I managed to take up two different sets, so Stew is going to take them back and exchange one so we have two the same.  Don't know how I managed to do that!  Blonde moment?

ABOVE:  After being in town, we went out to Newstead cemetery and tidied up Stew's parent's grave.  It was a mess.  Hard to believe 30 years have passed since we lost his Mum!

Home now, and we've had too much to eat and are just blobbing out now. 

Dinner will be snacks.  

'Snacks'... included easter eggs, chips and dip!  Totally lost the plot lately, can't even remember what a healthy meal is!
*sigh*
Emotional eating.  Utterly to blame.  Have felt really cranky and annoyed since last weekend.  

And the dreaded 'T' hasn't helped either... I'm hoping that in the next couple of days it will clear up totally.

I'm now watching Coronation Street, it's a 2 hour session tonight. BLISS.

"HAPPY EASTER...AND..." I MADE A BOO BOO

I posted a video of Brylee opening mail this morning.
I have had to delete the post as I unintentionally showed our address!

I will re-do the video... and update in the next hour or two.  

Sorry about that!


ABOVE:  She did it! Finally, Brylee has her license to LEARN TO DRIVE.  About time I say.

It's Easter, and Stew is at work.  He's drowning in work... so is putting a few hours in this morning, and maybe on Monday too.

I will be doing housework as per usual, then maybe some sewing.  I still have to make those cushions!  So slack.


ONWARD...

Bugger.... I don't think the Canesten cream is working on the dreaded 'T'.
There is no improvement at all.  And of course, now it's Easter and if I were to go to the Dr it would cost me at least double the usual cost.  Grrrr.
So, I will give it the third day and see how it is tomorrow.  I don't want to waste money on more over the counter treatments in case it's NOT the dreaded 'T'?
Though, who can mistake THOSE symptoms!

I lay in bed today till 10!  Listening to YouTube videos, music, reading emails and just chillaxing!   I felt really guilty knowing poor Stew was at work on Easter Friday!

But, I will pull me finger out now and blast through some housework. 

 ABOVE:  We got visitors mid afternoon, which was just lovely.  A welcome distraction!
Even better, when they left they took one of our's with them!
Brylee is going to enjoy spending a couple of days with them in the beautiful Bay of Plenty. (Tauranga)

Thanks for offering to have her Martyn and Jacqui!

Once they left, I took the advice of many of you and went into Hamilton and bought this:

ABOVE:  One very expensive pill!  Fingers crossed it works, cos seriously, I am now beyond over the dreaded 'T'!

Watching an old movie on TV tonight, Calendar Girls.  Thoroughly enjoying it too.
Fingers crossed by tomorrow night I will be feeling 100% better.

EWWWWW

Did I tell you I ordered some 'raw wool' on Trademe a few days ago?
I think I did.

Well it arrived this morning.  In a black sack:

ABOVE:  And, it SURE IS RAW!  OMG it stinks so bad.
I swear the sheep wasn't even dagged before they clipped that wool off it.  There's dags, twigs, you name it all through it.
Disgusting.

I'm not impressed.  The person could have made an attempt at sending wool without friggin dags!  

So now I have to go through it all, pull off all the dags and then wash it.  I knew I'd need to wash it of course, but not de-dag it too!

I have to head down to the supermarket to get more laundry detergent... we have run out.  Can't clean it without detergent.  It's going to take me a few days to get it all washed and dry, so I'm going to be busy!

I slept in this morning, hence this late post.  I had a yukky night.  Dealing with the 'T' is a messy business.  Wish I'd asked about the pill option, but didn't know to ask.  Sadly.

It's 8.39 am, and I'm still in me nightie!  I better get my act together.

DOGSTARS:  LOL!  'Dags' are sheep shit stuck to the wool!

Some lovely news, one of my blogger friends just got a new baby granddaughter.  Congratulations Jen and family!

I will certainly try and find some of that Ural Jo, thanks.  I always wear cotton knickers!  Never anything else.  And that was TMI too!  lol

It's rather weird how having a sore ho-ha can slow you down!  I've felt totally 'off' all day.  Still nowhere near all better, that's for sure.

I did get some vacuming done this afternoon, just concentrating on all the edges, behind doors and furniture, you know, all the places kids don't do.

Kills my back though.  But someone has to do it.

Dinner tonight is a humble mince stew, mashed potatoes with cheese, cabbage par cooked, and mixed veges 'n' peas.  Should be nice.  Dinner doesn't have to be fancy to be nice eh?

Well, dinner WAS delicious.  Super tasty mince stew.  The family loved it.
It's now 'wind down' time.  Watching TV.  Mucking around on the computer at the same time... I never do just one thing at a time!

SEVERAL DAYS WITH NO PLANS!

This is bloody rare!

I have literally NOTHING on my calendar for days on end now.  
NOTHING!

That feels really weird.

But ... I should be happy, cos it means no stress.

I can do what I want, when I want.

So, this morning I have my Scentsy girlfriend coming around so I can get a few more scentsy bars.

I use them every single day in the house.

Mostly, I have one on in the garage to mask the doggy smells.  I can't stand dog smell in the house.  Weird, seeing as I have three dogs!

I also have one by the front door and the vaporiser in the bathroom... they get turned on when we have visitors.  

After Roxy has been, I am going to do some hosework, then some craft.  Earrings or sewing.
Not sure which yet, depends on my mood.

And yeah, I have to go into town (Cambridge) at some point too.  A visit to the chemist is necessary.  For the 3rd time ever in my life ... I have the dreaded thrush 'down there'.  Friggin awful.
Last time was about 20 odd years ago!
So I suppose I shouldn't complain.  I know some women get it fairly often!

At least nowdays you can get something over the counter to fix it, instead of having to go to the Dr.

While there, I might just get my blood tests done... they are overdue again.  NOT my fault.  I couldn't get them done while I was having dental treatment... I only have ONE vein that is accessible in my arms, so had to 'save' it for the intravenous sedation.

Shame I won't be able to do the piddle sample though!  It would be 'contaminated' I reckon!

And on that score... TMI?... I am off to start me day.

ONWARD...

11.31 am:  Roxy and her adorable wee baby boy have just been and gone... I've ordered half a dozen more scentsy bars.  

Now it's time to head off and get the freakin' blood tests done, then visit the chemist.  So need to get rid of this hot, burning bloody itch!

11.55 am:  fastest trip out in a while!  Got to the chemist, had a yak and the penny dropped.  I've been on anitbiotics on/off for over 6 weeks with the dental work!  BOOM.  That explains why I got the dreaded 'T' word.

Went to go into the Med Lab for me blood tests, saw EVERY SINGLE CHAIR was full, and left again.  I'm not going to sit and wait for goodness knows how long!

I will go back at the end of the day, when it is bound to be quieter.

So now it's lunchtime and I might just get something to eat.  Russell (son) might be popping in shortly too, which is always nice.  I love that he just pops in.  *smiles*

And just like that... it's now dinnertime and I've just put a bacon and egg pie in the oven.
Should be nice.  Not made one of those in forever.

Not done much today... totally distracted by the 'T'... bloody sore.  Making me crabby.  Doesn't take much nowdays.  Forgot to go back to the lab for blood tests, will have to do it tomorrow now.

slightly frustrated to find there's a pill you can get to fix the dreaded 'T'!  Wish I'd shopped around now.  But, off to bed in a minute and will start the treatment.  Three days ... I can live with that.

TRIM FOR THE DOGS

Today the fluff buckets get a groom.  Both the little girls certainly need it, whereas Coco, not so much.  But ... I booked her in weeks ago, so she's going too.

I get a really good discount for taking all three dogs at the same time, so it is worth it, even when Coco doesn't really need a trim.

We were supposed to be having a SKY technician coming today to 'fix' our Sky ... but rather typically, since ringing on Friday night, our SKY connection has been going fine!  Derrrr.  Makes me wonder if they fixed it remotely?  Either way, it's going ... for now.

I'm going to investigate what we would lose/gain by dropping SKY and picking up Netflix?

Stew HAS TO be able to watch the sport!  I on the other hand, don't really care about the SKY channels anymore, there is bugger all I really watch now.

I will ask Steve next time I see him, he will know all about it.

Now, what else is on today?  NOTHING!
I am hoping most of my felt balls are 100% dry now, so I might have a go at actually linking some together as earrings.
I've been putting it off until I had enough balls made.  

There's enough made to do 3 pairs of earrings I think.  

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  CLEARLY... I have too much time on my hands!
See what I did?  lol

I just got called a Crazy Woman!  Brylee came home and said 'Who puts a skirt on a Tea Pot?"

Well ... obviously me.  I had thought of it ages ago, so an glad I finally did it.

So the dogs look gorgeous.  Coco actually looks no different. The little girls though... nice and short again.

They have been sleeping off the truama of it all since they came home.

They go back in 6 weeks, but not Coco.  Even the groomer agreed she didn't need to.  I'm still getting the 'multi dog' discount though, so that's great.

It's gotten stinking hot this afternoon, I'm sitting in semi darkness in the family room... all the curtains are closed.  It keeps the heat out a little.

DOGSTARS:  just for you:

ABOVE:  All looking gorgeous.  And tired.  *smiles*

Time to start dinner.  Tonight we are having Teriyaki Chicken and rice.

Dinner was so good!  It's been ages since I cooked Teriyaki chicken... it's a family favourite for sure.

I've enjoyed watching some good TV tonight, while doing a jigsaw on my computer.
Nice to chill out after a hot, sticky day.

LET'S LOOK AT BORING PLANTS!

The seasons are changing.  Thank goodness!
The leaves are starting to turn brown/red/gold.

ABOVE: Our grapevines... we planted two, and expect fruit in another couple of years.  How amazing do the leaves look!

ABOVE:  The crazy thing is.. while the fully grown leaves are dying off as it's coming into Autumn (Fall), there's still new shoots creeping along the fence.  The weather has been nuts, so hot and wet for so long.  
It's been great for the grass, this year we didn't get any die off at all.

ABOVE:  I am so happy that I planted flowers, they are just so pretty.  I'm going to be putting more in, come spring.

Our big Atlantis Pot was getting crowded out by plants in the corner garden by our bedroom, so I asked Stew to move it for me yesterday.

ABOVE:  I felt really mean, as that pot weighs a tonne!  It took all their strength to move it.

ABOVE:  The glaze on the pot is quite jagged, and poor Stew got a bit 'damaged' moving it!  His arms got scratched... and his face.  

ABOVE:  As it's HUGE, I am a bit scared it might fall over if knocked, so I AM starting to reconsider where it is!  If it were to fall on a small child it would be fatal... for the child.
So... I will do a wander around the property and see if I can find a safer place for it.
Sorry Stew!

GUESS WHAT?  There ISN'T a BIRTHDAY in this family today!

lol... about time we had a break.  The next one is our son Steve, in April.

Today I'm going out for morning tea with Robyn P and Johanna.  IF Johanna is still in one piece that is!  Her baby is due ANY DAY NOW.  
So... if she's still pregnant, we will meet up.

After that, I will come home and do something constructive.  Housework.  Sewing.  Felting.  Just the usual sorta day really.

So... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

1.36 pm:  Well, Johanna turned up in one piece still.  She's now a week overdue, so there should be a baby in the next week for sure.
She doesn't took too uncomfortable, but she assures me she is, depending on what day you ask her.

I decided to have 'breakfast' at the cafe, so ordered a bacon and egg croissant.   Disappointed.  It was actually tasteless.  It needed a good dollop of relish or similar.

I feel ripped off when something I've paid good money for is below par.

Home again, and I made a couple of sets of small felt balls... watched some TV and now... I'm having some crackers for lunch.  Cheese crackers, so at least they are tasty.  

I will probably make a couple more sets of small balls soon.  It's a stunning day out there, but without the stinking hot temperatures. 

Well... I got more balls made.  And that's about it for the day!
Dinner was chicken steaks, lettuce salad and roast potatoes.  Was yum.

I went to the supermarket to get some things I ran out of... nearly ran into a van on the roundabout!  Simply didn't see it!  so glad my car has good brakes.  Then ... cos I was rattled, I ran over the curbing at the supermarket.  Grrrr.
As we were standing at the checkout, some guy ran in, grabbed a ladies handbag and ran off with it.  He got away, but not before the staff got his number plate number! 

So, that was three things in 15 minutes. Not bad for a quick outing to the supermarket!

And that is it for today.  Catch ya tomorrow.

HAPPY 36TH KELLY.... AND SUE'S 60TH

And here we go again... ANOTHER Birthday!

ABOVE: Happy 36th Birthday Kelly, have a lovely day. 

One of my FBG girlfriends is celebrating her 60th in a few days, so today she's hosting an afternoon tea at a local cafe.

I'm going to it of course!  I will be 60 myself this year, so let's call it a warm up to mine!

ABOVE:  The FOUR Sue's at the Relay For Life a couple of weekends ago.  And 'J' got carried on every lap too.  It's Sue T's birthday.

I feel so very lucky to have made so many really lovely friends through the Fat Bottomed Girls walking group.

Oh yeah, talking of the FBG's... things are changing!  When we start up the 2018 Urban Challenge, we are going to be called:

The Fat Bottomed Girls and Guys!

Yep, the group is now going to include men.  This means if our husbands or any 'random' bloke wants to join, they can.

I don't know how I feel about it... it's going to be different for sure.  But, it will be nice for Stew to be able to join me on walks now.

We are probably going to be walking in the evenings, it works best for both of us. 

Right, I'm off to check how dry me little balls are... *snigger*... that sounds ever so rude!  Well... only if you have a dirty mind that is.  *smiles*

ONWARD...

Wow.... days like this!

QUIET...everyone busy?

Me too.

Both teenagers are out and about, so Stew and I decided to pop out to Lake Karapiro for a lunch time snack.  
Just had some of their lovely hot chips and a chocolate milkshake to share.

There was some sort of regatta on, water skiing racing by the look of it.

 ABOVE:  When we arrived the lake was like a mill pond, dead calm.
When we left.. not so much.  
It was interesting watching them racing... I wouldn't want to be a skier and come off at the speeds they were going.

 ABOVE:  The Podium Cafe was very busy!  

Home and quickly put me face on, ready to head out again to Sue's afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea with Sue T and about 12 other lovely FBG's was just lovely.
Lots of laughs.

ABOVE:  I think I got most of us in!
Sue looked gorgeous... such a happy chick.

And the rest of the day/evening has gone par for course.  Stew cooked lovely pork steaks with veges for dinner, they were really good.
Watching the finale of Trauma, it's riveting.

TINY BALLS

Today I am going to make tiny balls.
Of various sizes and colours, and see if I can make them into earrings.

I've also got sewing to do... 
and housework...
and grocery shopping.

So, it's going to be a normal day around here I expect.

This is what I did at 1 am last night (I couldn't wait!) :

ABOVE:  These 4 balls could be my first pair of earrings!  I just have to work out how to MAKE them into earrings now!
I'm sure there will be a YouTube Tutorial to show me how.

These ones have to dry completely first though, they are water loaded still.
I have them on the windowsill... that seems to be the best way to get them dry.

So... later on I will make some more, and watch some tutorials... but for now... let's get the latest load of washing on then go get the groceries... cos I just LOVE grocery shopping eh?  *sigh*

ONWARD...

4.45 pm:  Well today has gone to plan!
We went into Hamilton and got a few things done.  Grocery shopping was a pain in the arse... OMG I hate it so much.  I get like 'road rage' when I'm in there.  There's just so many people dawdling along when all I want to do is race around and GET IT DONE!

 ABOVE:  he's running out of lap room!

 ABOVE:  Shock horror!  The kid came out of his bedroom!  He came with Stew and I into Hamilton.  He got a haircut then helped with the groceries.

ABOVE:  I got the earring things, and I hauled out of my craft room wardrobe all the beads 'n' bits and bobs.  Some of them might come in handy?

It's almost time to think about dinner.  I am so not interested in food right now. We had a VERY late lunch ... around 3 pm, once we got home from Hamilton.

I think dinner will be : 'get it yourself'.

End of Day:  can hardly stay awake, and Coronation Street hasn't even been on yet!
It's been a quiet evening, done bugger all.
I hope I feel more energetic tomorrow.

2048+

Have you ever started playing a game on your phone or computer, and got 'hooked' on getting the highest score you can get?

I'm sure I'm not the only one!

When we moved here from Auckland, I started playing a new game of 2048+ on my phone,  about a month after we were settled in.

Now, I'd played it before, but had never amassed a really high score, I think my BEST score before moving here was around 52,000.

Now the object of the game is to build your score using 2's and 4's, and joining them together, slowly building up bigger number tiles.

You are supposed to try and make a tile with the number 2048.  Yep, plenty of people get to that and stop, thinking they have 'WON'. ha ha ha!

Not me, and no doubt not thousands of other people too.

So... I've been playing this particular game for 20 months now... and I have got to this number (so far):

ABOVE:  One hundred and ten MILLION, eight hundred odd thousand!!!

I'm now starting to stress out, what if my phone dies?  OMG, I would be gutted!
So, I wanted to record my highest score to date, JUST. IN. CASE.

I probably play this game for about half an hour every day!  Some days not at all.

So, who else is addicted to a game???

Plans for today?  Go into town to buy a dog grooming brush, one that I can use to card wool easier.
I bought some raw wool on TradeMe last night, it is going to be SO MUCH CHEAPER to wash, dye and card my own wool!

I love trying something new, and something I can sell on my stall.

DOGSTARS:  Thanks for the rock/doorstop idea!  I'm going to (hopefully) have some lovely doorstops for my stall next month.

Rocks.  Where to get them from?
Well, Brylee and I went rock-napping yesterday afternoon!

In a new area of town, the council has put gazillions of rocks down the middle of the roads:

ABOVE:  See?  Millions of them.  The Fat Bottomed Girls have often taken some and painted them, then hid them on our walks, to be found by others.  So, I took half a dozen. Don't think they will be missed somehow.

If I actually sell some, I will go source my own after this lot.  There's plenty of rivers around here.

ABOVE:  I got Brylee to do the 'dirty work' ... ha ha ha!

So, now I just have to make a few.

Lunchtime I am going into Hamilton with Anna, one of my FBG girlfriends.  We are visiting 'J' in the Hospice.  Then, depending on the weather, I will be having lunch with Stew then spending the afternoon at the Hamilton Gardens taking some photos, then I will walk into town and get a ride home with Stew at the end of the day. 

And if it's wet, I will just come home with my friend Anna. 

So, that's sorta my day's plan.

LASTLY for now... HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY TO TEDDY!  We love and miss you little buddy... we have not forgotten you. 

ONWARD... 

NOT FEELING WELL. BE BACK LATER.

4.53 pm:  My plans kept changing today!
I drove myself into Hamilton instead of getting a lift with Anna.
That way I could get a few things done quicker.

I saw 'J' briefly at the Hospice.  She was needing to sleep after spending a couple of hours in the craft room with another friend.  She's half the girl she used to be physically. Sad.

Then I met Stew in town for lunch.  I had butter chicken... BAD MOVE.

Cos it went straight through me... not fun.

Spotlight... was only in there for 10 minutes when I felt sick as a dog... had to spend half an hour in the bathroom... again, not fun.

After that I had planned on doing the grocery shopping.  Ha ha!  That sure in hell didn't happen.

I came home and lay on the couch, went to the bathroom, lay on the couch, went to the bathroom... repeat.  NOT FUN.

So, a mucked up day.

Stew's car is playing up.  He took it into the garage this morning.  Now he's car-less till they get some part for it.  So I have to go back into Hamilton in an hour or so to pick him up.

Not a problem... unless you have an upset tummy!  Here's hoping I make it in there without 'incident'!

ABOVE:  I felted a BIG rock this morning.  It took probably $40 worth of wool to do... so clearly I won't be doing any more big ones!  NO ONE is going to pay $40 for a rock!
I will be keeping that one (the large one in the photo) for myself.
Instead, I am going to try making some really little ones and turning them into earrings.  

It's all a learning process eh?  But fun.  I love being creative.  I think there's still so much to try in the creative field.  

*SIGH*  it's nearly time to pick up Stewy... I better go.

We've been having trouble with our SKY ... almost every night for a month it's gone 'off' due to atmospheric conditions... so we have to disconnect the Sky Box several times before it goes again.
Tonight... even that didn't work... so I rang SKY.

Was on hold for 36 minutes, then finally got to talk to a woman.  She talked Stew through several steps to re-boot the box.  It didn't work, so she said she would schedule a Sky technician to come out... the earliest time was next Tuesday morning!

OK... if that's the best they can do... I took the appointment.
Then the STUPID BITCH tried selling me MORE Sky products!!!

I actually said to her, "Are you bloody joking?  You are trying to sell me MORE sky products when we don't even have Sky right now?  Are you crazy?"

I have to give it to her, she remained cool, calm and collected!  She must be so used to irate people yelling at her!

But... after telling her I didn't want any more shit from them, she tried to get me to enter their competition to 'WIN' being able to watch Joseph Parker fight!  I told her where to shove THAT  too.  OMG.   She's lucky Stew took most of her call... I would have lost it way sooner otherwise.  

And just to cap off our evening... Stew went into the lounge and mucked around with that TV... and now we have SKY again!   Don't know for how long... but for now we have TV again, till we don't.  I'd smile, but I just don't have the energy.

I'm going to sign off for the day now... I'm done with today.