SHISH.... I'M SLEEPING IN!

Daylight saving has started.

So the clocks went forward in the middle of the night. Not impressed that it comes around so fast now days.

Basically we have 6 months of daylight saving.

And just when you are totally used to it... the clocks go back again.  Which is nice cos ya get an extra hour in bed. 

Today though, they go forward, which means I should be out of bed by now... but I'm not.

I'm sleeping in.  I don't have to be up for any reason,  so why not.

Stew had to get up early to get Griffin to work... bet that was horrible, particularly for Griffin, who finds it hard to get up in the morning anyway.

Oh well... if ya want pocket money... you have to work for it.  And get outta bed.  *smiles*

It's school holidays for the next two weeks... I don't have any plans as the kids still have their 'after school' jobs to go to.  
But maybe a couple of day trips would be nice.
I shall give it some thought and see what we can get up to.

But for now... it's Sunday and we are going to have a relaxing day.  No gardening or housework.  There might be some sewing for me and watching sport on TV for Stew.  

ONWARD...

QUIET DAY TODAY!

No one seems to read my drivel on the weekends much... so maybe I shall only blog Mon - Fri?
It's a thought.

But for now... 

 ABOVE:  Coco has a sore eye... so she's in a cone and I'm waiting for some saline solution to cool down before I wash her face/eye.  Hopefully that fixes it.
She had what I thought was water all over her face the other day, but now I think it was probably something else.
No idea what though, but it has clearly annoyed her eye.

 ABOVE:  We bought a Swiss Ball from the Warehouse yesterday.  I want to use it for squats.
My leg strength is utter crap, particularly getting up from the ground or stepping up onto a chair etc.

ABOVE:  Production line of Robots.  

And now.. I'm going back to it.

8 pm:  Well it's been a very productive day, but I'm done for the day. Time to just relax and do nothing.
I don't feel any negative effects from the Daylight Saving starting, maybe I will in a few days?

At least we don't have small children who DO inevitably get a bit mucked up by it.

AFTER THREE ATTEMPTS

After adjusting the new soft toy pattern twice, and making three Aliens, I finally got it right:

 ABOVE:  I am so happy with this one!  All the dimensions are right now ... I think.

ABOVE:  From left to right are my attempts at this toy yesterday.

Now today, well for the first time in EVER... well a very, very long time, we ran out of cheese!  Unheard of in this house I assure you.  So we are going into Hamilton to do a grocery shop.
Obviously we need more than cheese, but it's top of the list.

I should have done the grocery shopping about..... ummmm... 2 weeks ago!  Whoops!  I hate grocery shopping eh?

After that we shall come home, put it all away and then?

I'm going to titivate me hair and face, cos we are going out to a friend's birthday party tonight.  It should be a good party.  We went to their pre-wedding party and it was lots of fun, with fantastic food!

Oh dang, FOOD!  *sigh*  I hope they have some healthy, tasty, low carb/no sugar food.  Yeah right.  It's bound to all be evil.  I'm SO CLOSE to a mini goal I can taste it... so I am going to be GOOD.

I am.

I am.

I BLOODY AM.

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  OH... I whipped up this little cutie late last night too.  He's rather cute!

Stew got up nice and early to get Griffin to work, and he put a load of washing on too.
Then he brought me a hot chocolate in bed, which was lovely.
Next thing I hear is him coming down the hallway chuckling to himself.

I'm like, what's so funny?

And he told me the drain pipe from the washing machine had slipped out and there was water all over the garage floor!

I leap outta bed to check it out (as ya do)...

ABOVE: So slight exaggeration... but there was a fair amount of water over 1/4 of the floor.
I left him to it, he was doing a good job of cleaning it up... even if that meant a dozen towels now need washing!  lol

So, even though I was nice and warm in bed, I got up and started the day.

 Grocery shopping - DONE
Groceries put away - DONE
Lunch - DONE
Cat Nap - I wish!

I made us a surimi/shrimp salad for lunch, with lettuce, tomato and carrot.  Was really yum.

Now I really should do some sewing, or wash me hair.  Hmmmm... which to do?

 ABOVE: Yeah, I made another Alien.  

ABOVE:  I'm getting quite a stash of soft toys now... just need to double that number, then I'll be happy.
And if I don't sell any at market, I will have Christmas and Birthday presents for a LONG time eh!

Off to have me shower, wash 'n' dry the hair, put the face on... bla bla bla.  Takes time to get ready when ya nearly 60!

Still find that hard to believe.  60!!!  I don't feel that old.

Well I'm ready to go out.  I'm not wearing what I thought I'd wear, and my hair is not how I thought I'd have it either.
Funny how you 2nd guess yourself, and decide that you will just go with what you know you will be comfortable in!

I also have very little choice right now on what to wear.. most of my clothes are too big, or too old or just IKKK.  And I really don't have 'Going Out Clothes' cos well hell, we hardly ever go out do we?  *sigh*

So... I'm in black leggings, a long sleeved top like a t-shirt (but not) and a plain black, thin jacket... and my white skechers.   And my hair is up in a pony tail, which I plaited, flat ironed then unplaited, so its all kinky.  

Time to go soon.  Stew is still in the shower, Mr Last Minute get ready man.

10 pm:  home after a really lovely evening with good company.  We didn't stay too long as Stew has to get up bright and early tomorrow morning to get Griffin to work... and the clocks go FORWARD an hour tonight!
So an even EARLIER start for them.
Poor buggers, I will be sleeping in!

I'm freezing, it's a really cold night... right back to winter temperatures.  Brrrr.
Rugged up in me electric throw, keeping warm while watching some tv.

33 YEARS

33 years ago TODAY... I went out with a girlfriend to her Netball End of Year function.
And she introduced me to her team's Coach.

That was Stew.  

The first thing I EVER said to him was:

"Don't get interested, I'm a solo mother with 4 kids!"

But he did, and we spent the entire evening together.

Then we met again three days after that ... and well, he moved in with me 10 days later!

We have never looked back.

I firmly believe in FATE...  for whatever reason, I was meant to meet him after having 4 kids with the wrong man.  I never in my wildest dreams thought I would meet the RIGHT man after walking away from a bad marriage with 4 kids in tow!

Life eh?  You never know what's in store for you... some good, some bad... all I can say is, you grow from every situation.  And learn. 

I know I love my Stewy more as time goes on.  He's my HERO and my hunk.  

Right... before this gets any more soppy... I'm moving on!  *smiles*

I didn't get any sewing done at all yesterday! First day in a while that's happened.  So, I will be sewing today.  The sore fingers are feeling a bit better, so I should be able to get some work done.

ONWARD...


11.15 am: EDITED part of today's post OUT. Cos really, it's just not worth the drama.  And it just makes me upset after a while.

When that happens, I seriously start thinking about deleting my blog ... or at least STOPPING blogging.  

And that wouldn't be fun would it?  So, I try hard to keep it drama free, but sometimes my mood gets the better of me.

So sorry I upset some people... and now it's deleted.

MOVING ON.

My day is going rather well!  I'm cutting out my next project, another soft toy.  Feeling excited!

The sun is shining, and later on I might just take myself and a couple of dogs for a walk.

I'm at the sewing up stage of the next soft toy.

ABOVE:  The latest toy... again I think the head is a bit too small... so will be making the next one bigger in the head.

Stopped for lunch... then back to it.

Second attempt at that soft toy:

ABOVE:  NOW I feel like the body is too short!  So I shall be making ONE more to get it right, before making something else.  I'm going to be making a few more different ones over the next few days... this one I'm calling an Alien.

And as it's Friday night, it's a 'Silly Bugger' dinner.  Tonight's is left overs, as we have heaps of left overs in the fridge.

And that's me for the day... it's been a good day overall... I got lots of sewing done, and a new pattern made after three attempts!

MUNTED FINGERS

Well my poor squished fingers kept me awake a bit last night, but not too bad.

I feel like I might have broken the top of my index finger, it's that sore.  Obviously there's nothing that can be done if that's the case, so I will just have to wait for it to get better.

 ABOVE:   I have no feeling at the tip of the index finger, but the rest of it is bloody sore as.  I can't even bend it much.  Oh well... teach me to be more careful closing the sliding door that's for sure!

ABOVE:  This is why I'd gone out that door... I wanted to photograph my grapevine... it's bursting into leaf.  It's so neat watching everything growing.   

I have high hopes of us getting some grapes this year.  I love home grown grapes.  Our grapevines in Auckland had just started to produce grapes, and we moved!  Typical.

ABOVE: I took a photo of these flowers just the other day, and they have already doubled in height.  They are so very pretty.  

I love our gardens, and appreciate all the work Stew puts in to keep them looking so lovely.  
He's such a hard working, good man.

Stew left freakin' early this morning, he's gone to Auckland for a meeting.  But he had to pick up colleagues from Auckland airport first, hence the super early start to his day. I hope he gets there in time... Auckland traffic is the pits!

I'm going into Hamilton this morning for ????  Shit right this minute I can't remember! But it will come back to me at some point.... until then I will get some washing on, then maybe draw up a new soft toy pattern.

I want to have a few more options ... maybe another 2-3 I think.

There is an FBG walk on tonight, bang on dinner time... so I better have dinner sorted and ready before I head out to that.  Hmmm... what shall I cook?  Stew will be home late, so it better be some sort of casserole me thinks.  

ONWARD...

LOL... finally remembered what I needed in Hamilton, so went in and got it.
Black felt.
Oh and I ended up having lunch with Lacy and Kelly... and I did a little retail therapy too.

 ABOVE:  I took advantaged of the Sale Lovisa were having and got some new earrings.  I wanted some white ones to wear on Saturday night.  We have a party to attend.

ABOVE:  Farmers were having a sale too, so I got a new top to wear on Saturday night as well.  It looks nice on, and is nice and lightweight, perfect for summer.  Shame it's black, blue would have been better!  *smiles*

Home now, and I'm going to relax for a little while, before getting dinner made for the family.

Me fingers are feeling a bit better, unless I bump the index finger, then I yelp a bit!  It's really sore and turning purple all over the top now.

7.56 pm:  And I didn't go on the FBG walk tonight.  I am just feeling a bit flat tonight.  Like everything is too much effort?
Tired.
Won't add any more tonight, so signing off for the day.

SEWING/LUNCH OUT/SEWING

Today I'm going to be making more soft toy dogs all morning, then I'm off to meet up with some girlfriends for lunch out at the Avantidome coffee shop.

It's temping to actually walk out there on the riverside pathway.  Just not sure if it's safe on me own?  Or perhaps I could walk out there on the main road?  Hmmmm... it might just depend on the weather, I'm not going to walk out to lunch in the rain!

I've not been to the Avantidome cafe for lunch before, so it will be good to see what it's like.  I hope they have something I can eat that isn't carb loaded or full of sugar.

After lunch I shall be coming back home and doing more sewing.  
Or maybe some housework, cos that shit never sleeps.

I got these two owls finished late last night:

 ABOVE:  I'm getting a nice supply of these owls now.  *smiles*
They are super cute and fun to make.

ABOVE: Even though I was really tired last night, I stayed up and cut out two more soft toy dogs.  I will sew them up today.  It takes a while to cut them out, so I'm a step ahead already today.

ONWARD...

After Stew left for work... I dozed off again, to wake up at 8.45 am!!!  I was shocked.  I didn't even hear the kids get up and leave for school.
Man, I must have been tired.

So... I got stuck into me sewing, then went out for lunch.

 ABOVE: The cafe is called ' The Bikery', rather apt as it's attached to a huge Avantidome.
Very nicely decorated.

 ABOVE: By the time everyone arrived we had commandeered another table, as we ended up being a group of about 14.

ABOVE: The menu is fairly limited, but nice.  I had a sausage roll and side salad.  I think I would have been very happy with just the salad.  The roll was average.

I didn't stay long after eating as the acoustics inside were atrocious, I could hardly hear what anyone was saying... in fact even the woman right next to me was impossible to hear!

But on a whole, it was a nice lunch and I'm glad I went.



And now.. back to sewing!

ABOVE: And... now I have three more dogs.  And I'm tired.  Well... my eyes are tired.  Think I'm gunna take a break for an hour or so before getting dinner ready.

Which is going to be Chicken Tika Masala.  The sauce is out of a bottle, cos I'm not that good a cook!

Well ... no more sewing for me today, just jammed two fingers and thumb in sliding door. MEGA PAIN!!!!!  typing one handed kinda sucks too. Owwwww  owwwww owwwww, so painful.

Thank god for painkillers!  I can't believe how much my damn fingers are hurting.  YES, I'm a sook.  I own it.  

And that's my day done.  Off to bed soon... I'm exhausted for some reason.

ANOTHER MAINTAIN

Well, after having a good loss on the scales last week, this week it's.... another stay the same.
Not too unhappy about that.

But I do have a goal... and that's to be at a certain point by my birthday next month.
It's not my 'end point' by any means, but it's a milestone point.  One I am quite sure I can get to.

And it will mean I can face turning friggin 60 with a smile on my face.  

OMG 60!  I can't believe that is happening so soon.  I don't feel 60!  

But it is, so I better just suck it up and accept it eh?

The next birthday in this house is Brylee's, and she's going to be 18!  Next week in fact, 7 days away and she will legally be 'an adult'!  I look at her and think.. NO WAY!  An adult?  I really don't think kids are mature at 18! 

I know I wasn't ready to face the big bad world at 18, it's so easy to stuff up at 18-19-20.  I know I stuffed up big time, got pregnant and married at 20 and lived to regret it.  I hope Brylee and Griffin enjoy being young and carefree for a bloody long time before they settle down to parenthood, cos once you've got them kids, you are stuck with them!

Well hell, that's not the direction I thought this post would take!  Moving right along...

Today I am going to the Warehouse to see if they have any more of the tights I was wearing last night.  They are just so comfy to wear while walking, and not even expensive either.  I will try here in Cambridge first and if they don't have any I will pop into Hamilton.

Petrol just hit $2.23 here!  Bloody daylight robbery.  I bet it's cheaper in Hamilton, it almost always is.  I wonder how much it is in Auckland, they get slammed with a regional 'tax' on petrol now, so their's is even more expensive.
Rather relieved we don't live there now, even though it's more expensive here in Cambridge as opposed to Hamilton.

Once I've been out and about I shall get back to sewing soft toys.  

After yesterday's efforts, I've done enough housework for a couple of days!   The last of the windows can wait a while.

ONWARD...

1.30 pm:  And I've had a very good morning!
I went into town to the Warehouse, but there wasn't much selection here, so I ended up going into Hamilton.

I went to the Warehouse in town and was thrilled to find they had a really BIG selection of tights

 ABOVE:  I can't believe I got three pairs of tights and two pair of shorts for LESS than one pair of tights from Rebel Sports!!!
I'm a Warehouse convert.
I haven't bought many clothes from there before, but OMG there's nothing wrong with them, and they are so cheap!

After that I went over to Chartwell Square in the hope of finding some cheap t-shirts... and found nothing that was a decent price.  I'm damned if I'm paying $50+ for a bloody t-shirt!

I'll look again another day.

Then I went to Spotlight for more felt, and saw this:

ABOVE:  A little lap tray, which will be perfect for me to use when I'm doing hand stitching in me lounge chair.  $11... SCORE!

On my way home I stopped at Countdown and got this stuff:

ABOVE: THE BEST MULTI-PURPOSE cleaner I've ever used.  Love it.

The weather!!!! OMG it's FREEZING... utterly bitter cold wind, blowing a gale in some places too.   I wasn't too keen on parking under the trees at Chartwell Square, there were heaps of small branches being blown off the big trees there.  Glad to be home and into something warmer, I under dressed for going out and really froze.

Now... chill out for a little while, before sorting out dinner.  I've got the FBG Quiz night tonight, looking forward to that.

ABOVE: Three more soft dolls made!    I think I need about 10 more for the October markets though.  So... lots to do still.

Quiz night was fun... I got quite a few questions right, which always feels good.  We didn't win or even come 2nd or 3rd tonight, but it was still fun to get out and socialise.

Rather tired now, so will be going to bed shortly.

JUST RANDOM PHOTOS

Photos from yesterday, in no particular order:

 ABOVE:  Got his hands full.

 ABOVE: Stew found a big box of Nerf guns...

 ABOVE:  Nerf Guns = protect yourself!

 ABOVE: Coco basking in the morning sun.
Like she does most days, she follows the sun around the room all day.

 ABOVE:   Our backyard is looking utterly gorgeous.  Well, in my opinion it does anyway.

 ABOVE: The new lavender plant is doing well here.
So are the two boronia plants.

 ABOVE: A sea of purple... so pretty.  And masses of honey bees, which is neat to see.

The wasps, not so much.
I spent some time walking around killing them with flyspray!
Nasty evil little fuckers are wasps.

ABOVE:  Steve had a fall at work and hurt his back... so Bex was rubbing some pain gel on his back.  Wonder if it helped?  

Today:  not sure!
Probably getting the housework done then sewing.
I've got another FBG walk tonight, another new one for this year, so yaaa, ticking them off.

But for now... I will get some washing on and do some vacuming/wash the floors, bla bla bla.

ONWARD...

Well it's a bit sad.  After such a glorious Spring day yesterday, it's gone back to being a bit nippy and overcast.  But I still hung out the washing.

And now, I'm off to clean more windows.

Lounge - DONE
Front door - OMG!  It's just one window and a door right?  YEAH right... but it's taking me forever. I put double sided tape down the length of the window at some stage to hold netting there... but then I hung the netting on wire... so that double sided tape just sat here getting disgustingly grotty.

It's taken me at least an hour to get the bloody stuff off again.  And doors!  Ewwwww, they get so dirty.  I hope to get that door and window finished in the next half an hour or so... taking that job to close to 2 bloody hours!!!

I'll be ready to take a break by then I think.

Oh and all the linen I hung outside on the line had to be brought back in cos it started to rain.  And now?
Sun-bloody-shine.  Grrrr.

A little ?  about yesterday.

I was really concerned about how Keera would react to seeing Lacy after such a long period of time.
Bearing in mind she now calls Steve and Bex 'Mum and Dad'.

Well it couldn't have gone better really!
Keera was a bit hesitant to begin with, but quickly was all over her 'Mummy'... but then it got a bit strange.

She kept calling Lacy :  Mummy, Aunty Lacy or just Lacy!  

Lacy wants her to call her 'Lacy', like Brylee and Griffin do.  But I suppose it's a bit more confusing for Keera, she has only known Lacy as Mummy.

Weird having two Mums now!  I am sure as she grows older, she will figure it out and settle on one name for Lacy and another for Bex.

The other thing that we were all concerned about was how Keera would be AFTER seeing Lacy.  Keera gets night terrors still... so it's going to be interesting to see if they get worse or stay the same, after seeing Lacy.  You just never know how a kid is going to react eh?

Fingers crossed she's just fine.  She's had so much to adjust to in her little life already and seems to be well adjusted!

BTW, night terrors are VERY common in her age group.  

I've finally finished the front door area, so time to take a break and have lunch.  Seafood I do believe.  *smiles*

6.10 pm:  And it's raining.   So, the FBG walk might get cancelled.  I should know in the next half an hour.  I don't mind walking in the rain, but plenty of others won't.  dumm deee dooo...

ABOVE:  YES!  The walk went ahead, even though it was a little wet at times, but not much.  It was a very dark night, and part of the walk was out on the road to Karapiro lake... no street lights!  I had put new batteries in my walking torch thank goodness!

Home now and cooling down... got me blankie on, watching some mindless TV before bed.