BLOG... OR IS IT A VLOG?

I quite enjoyed doing the little video yesterday, and I even made another one.
It probably won't happen too often ... cos if you add videos it kinda becomes a 'VLOG' eh?

And they get done via YouTube, not blogger.

Anyway, I'm blithering, here's the other one I did yesterday:



ABOVE:  it really does freak me out looking at how much my fabric stash has gone down.
Scary!

Today I'm going to concentrate on finishing the table runner, then getting all the Christmas wrapping done.

This afternoon I am joining a few of the FGB girlfriends and going to the movies!  I've never been to the little movie theatre here in Cambridge.  We are going to see 'A Star is Born'... which I am dying to see.

We are expecting visitors tonight.  Jacqui and her son Joel are staying for the weekend.  Joel is rowing out at Lake Karapiro all weekend with his school.

It will be nice having them here.  Lacy will have to share the room with Jacqui, while Joel will be in the lounge on the bed settee. 

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

ONWARD...

11.45 am.... and the runner is finished and delivered into Hamilton.
AND I forgot to take a photo of it! So I will get Stew to take a photo of it before he leaves work. 

We are now going to meet Stew for lunch before heading out to Para Rubber for a leaf scoop and water testing strips.

Then home in time for the movie. *smiles*

2.45 pm:  Home in time to bind the little bit of the Red and Silver runner that wasn't needed. (I had made it too long)...

ABOVE: Last minute thought, so I added some snow drops!  I think it's really cute.  Probably going to keep it for myself, hang it on the wall at Christmas time?  

Not long till I leave for the movies... so looking forward to it.

A Star Is Born:  Lovely movie.  Awesome music.  Wonderful acting.  Wish there had been more music!  We had a neat time, a few tears at the end!  Certainly going to do that again, so nice going to a movie with friends in the daytime!

Got home at the same time as Stew, so that was good.
I think it will be a silly bugger dinner tonight though, no time to do anything 'proper'! lol

Well our visitors arrived and are now safe in bed, they have an early start in the morning... poor buggers.

Time to sign off for the day.

MEH....

Last night I should have sorted out the backing fabric for the table runner I'm working on.
But I just could not be arsed.

I really felt ikkk.  Serve me right really, I'd not eaten properly yesterday.  Should have known better.  Grrrrr.

So, when I get outta bed (like SOON), I will see if I have anything suitable to use as the backing fabric ... if not I will be going into Hamilton (AGAIN) to get some.

ABOVE: This was last night's walk photo.  I was already starting to feel really sick... and HOT as hell!
The symptoms of a blood sugar low are so horrible!  I am going to do my best to never  have any more!

If I need to go into Hamilton, it won't be until the pool guy has been again.  He better turn up!  The hose is leaking even worse now than before he 'fixed it' yesterday!

I am hoping that the weather turns and it gets warm enough to go swimming soon!
The kids are dying to jump in... but NOT BEFORE ME! 

The first swimmer is going to be ME. lol

So... it's sewing for me again today.  And eating properly.  No more skipping meals and living off peanuts!  Yeah, I've been a bit naughty lately.

Now... I have a funny little story:

Last night, when Lacy and I got in my car after the FBG walk, I was still quite hot and shaky from the blood sugar low, right?

I started driving, and said to Lacy "Wow my hair is all wet at the back"  (from sweating badly right?)

And I flipped my ponytail forward to show Lacy how wet it was...

ABOVE:  Yep, just like that!

ONLY... I quickly realised that covering your face with your hair while DRIVING isn't actually a good idea eh?

LOL... Lacy called it my 'blonde moment'... and it really was.  In my defense though, I was still in the middle of a blood sugar low and wasn't thinking straight, it wasn't JUST a blonde moment!  REALLY.

So anyway .... maybe I won't do that again.  *smiles*

ONWARD...


Testing...
Right, that worked.

We are in for a storm!

ABOVE:  I just took these photos (8.45 pm) tonight.  Shame I filled the pool to the max today, I think it's going to be overflowing by morning.

AND we are supposed to have bad weather for the next few days too.

Lacy is acting like she's never seen a stormy sky before, such a twit.

And on that score, I'm signing off for the day.
Got heaps done today...  and am happy with my day.

WALK, SEWING ...

Today's plans go like this:

Get off me butt and go for a walk with the FBG's.  Followed by morning tea with the girls afterwards.

Then home to continue working on that Red and Silver Tree Table Runner.
I don't expect to get it finished today, but who knows?
I am making excellent progress on it, that's for sure.

IF Lacy is awake early enough, I might drag her out on the FBG walk too.  I have no idea what her plans are, nor do I care really.
She's her own boss.

OH (just remembered)!  
We have been trying to talk to the Manager at Para Rubber since last week about the leaking  pool filter hose.
He's never in the shop!  So today I am going to bombard them with phone calls until I get to talk to the manager.  It's just not good enough!

We've paid thousands of dollars for a pool that has an issue.  And we feel like the Manager is ignoring us.  OR he simply hasn't been told?

Either way, not good enough.

Stew turned the filter on last night.  I fully expected it to not work or cause the leak to become a flood.  LUCKILY, that did not happen.
It worked. 

I put the floating chlorine dispenser in the pool last night too.  One step closer to actually SWIMMING IN IT.

It's rather exciting people!  *smiles*

Now... I am going to get ready for the walk.  It's only a short walk this morning which is good as I'm still so tired!  It really took the stuffing out of me, sewing for hours on end yesterday!

ONWARD...

Before I headed out for my walk, I rang Para Rubber.  And the Manager is going to call in this morning and have a look at the pool problem.

So of course, he came while I was out walking.  But, he sorted it out apparently.
When I got home I went out to look at the 'problem' area... and BUGGER ME!!!!

STILL LEAKING.  So I rang them again.  Seems it wasn't leaking when he left here.  So now, he's coming back AGAIN tomorrow morning.

I am praying we have not got the LEMON.  Why does this keep happening to us?  Are we jinxed?

I'm now sewing.  Up to the quilting part.  Then I need to make more binding.  Bla bla bla.

ABOVE:  Today's walk photo.  Sorry you guys have to keep seeing walk photos, but it's more for ME,  MY record of them.
OMG!  I was looking at my lower right leg in this photo thinking ... shit my leg is ENORMOUS!  But upon zooming in I realised that Pip is behind me (bending down) and it's her leg behind mine!  Phew!  Didn't think my legs were quite that big!  lol

Been sewing, just made a dumb rookie mistake... probably because I'm tired.  *sigh*
So I'm taking a break.
And luckily, the mistake is fairly easily fixed.
Just adds time to the project.

Stew took a little video of what I'd got done yesterday and showed the woman who's ordered this runner... and she LOVES IT.  Phew, thank goodness.

ABOVE:  Thank goodness all the stitching is done!  Now I need to put the backing fabric on... Yeah.  That was the 'mistake'... I forgot to add the backing fabric before doing the quilting!  Really dumb mistake. 
Now I will have to do another row of quilting around all the trees to hold the backing fabric on!

Then make and attach the binding.  This time, I will be machine stitching on the binding!  No more spending hours hand stitching!

So, this morning's walk was quite short, so as it's a nice cool evening, I'm now off on another one... this time it's a 5 km walk.  Lacy is coming too.

And... that kinda backfired on me!
As it was a total spur of the moment walk, I forgot that I'd not had anything to eat for hours.... and well... 3/4's of the way through the walk I had a massive blood sugar low.

OMG it was pretty bad.  Possibly one of my worst so far.  All I wanted to do was lie down and die, but if I had sat down I doubt I would have been able to get back up for a long time!
So I had two glucose tablets and trudged on.

Now that I'm home, I've had some dinner and am just chilling in me chair for a while.

Signing off now... catch  ya tomorrow.

WELL I WASN'T BUSY

Funny how I've gone from being every so slightly bored and having not much to do... to being really busy!

I've got that really LONG table runner to get made asap, all the Christmas presents to wrap, the Christmas Tree and Decorations to put up... and now, on top of all that?

I have to find/make an outfit to wear to the ABBA concert on the 15th of December!

A small group of us FBG's are going to this:

ABOVE:  It's supposed to be VERY GOOD.  I am sure we are going to have a blast!

There is talk of flared trousers... but I'm thinking it might to too hot to wear anything long?  So I need to get my thinking cap on and sort out something to wear... and soon!

But for now... I'm gunna get outta bed and start me day.

ONWARD...

*sigh*.... been sewing for over 6 hours... 

ABOVE:  And I'm about half way through edging the trees.  It's one part of the process I really love, choosing what stitches to use and watching the trees 'come alive' sorta.  Yes, I'm a bit weird.

Meanwhile, in the background, this is happening:

 ABOVE:  There's a different car in the driveway.

ABOVE:  And FAaaark.... LOOK WHO'S MOVING BACK IN!!!

Yep, things have not worked out at the house she was living in in Hamilton.  NOT her fault for a change either!!!

It was a large house, with many people living there, and lots of them were doing shift work... so coming and going at all times of the day and night.  Lacy's bedroom was right beside the kitchen, and she was getting NEXT TO NO sleep every night.   Slamming doors, people cooking at 2 am, talking and so on.

So, Lacy's been trying to find another place to live, but until she finds somewhere, she's back here.

Lucky for her we never say NO FUCKING WAY to her coming back.  In fact, I hope all my kids know that.  Our door is always open.  

She ain't getting a free ride though, I am collecting board, and she will be expected to do a few jobs around here.  Might as well make use of her while she's here... it will give her an added incentive to find a new place quicker.  lol

ABOVE:  This lazy little arse didn't get outta bed until ONE THIRTY this afternoon!  
Like, what the hell?

So, I've given him some jobs to do... cos when he's not in bed, he's out and about with his mates or 'at work'.  

And now that I've had a bitch... I'm gunna go sew again.

I remembered at 6.30 pm that I had Cards on tonight!  AND that I'd not done anything about feeding the family!

So I quickly put some chicken steaks in the oven and asked Stew to heat up some Spaghetti to go with them!

And then I shot out the door!

ABOVE: And for about the fourth time IN A ROW... I 'won' the LOSER'S TROPHY!

It's the luck of the cards people... I'm not a bad player, really I'm not!

Tired as now.  Got a walk in the morning, so will be going to bed early tonight. 

I ended up getting 3/4's of the stitching done around the trees on that runner, so not bad for one day's work!  

Signing off now... catch ya tomorrow.

PROUD OF MY GROUP

Just cos I can, I have a couple more photos from yesterday's FBG gathering:

 ABOVE:  lol, in this photo it looks like 'B' and I got all the presents!
But no... everyone got something.   I got some lovely hand and body cream and a little 2019 notebook, perfect for tracking my walks next year.

ABOVE: Aside from the girl taking the photo, this was all of us FBG's who could make it to the Christmas event.  So, about half of us.  I'm so proud of this group of girls!  We walk, we talk and we SUPPORT one another.

ABOVE:  Just remembered these too.  Anyone who had finished the Urban Challenge as of last Friday got a certificate (on left), and some of us got a little certificate for various things.  I got the one on the right.
A nice little touch and much appreciated by everyone who received one.

Today I'm going to Patchwork again.  I will work on my little hexagons... that's just simple handwork while I'm there.  No lugging my sewing machine out and about.

When I get home again I'm going to make a couple of hanging owls (or 6)... I've only got one left.  So... maybe I need more?

Tonight I have an FBG walk... this week and next will probably be the last weeks for walks involving the Urban Challenge.  Then we will switch to 'summer mode' and only be doing social walks.
I hope there are a few organised, cos LAST summer there were virtually none and I slipped right off the exercise wagon and gained 8 kgs!

I sure in hell don't intend for that to happen again!  I'm going to walk, and swim around in little circles in me pool, do some aquafit exercise in the pool... ANYTHING to keep moving.

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

ONWARD...

lol... best laid plans and all that!!!

I went to Patchwork to cut out ... DUCKS!

And half way through doing that Stew contacts me with an order for a 2.5 metre long Tree Table Runner!

Seems one of the ladies in his office saw the Red and Gold one I made for our friend Jacqui and she wants one too.

Only, her's is to be in Red and Silver.  So, I'm now going into Hamilton to get some Silver fabric.  Cos, OF COURSE, I don't have any! 

Well... Brylee and I went into Hamilton where I bought some silver fabrics, then we had lunch and came home.

Lacy popped out for a visit too.

She helped cut out trees with me, which was nice.

She's left now, and I am about to get the dinner started.

I've got an FBG walk on at 7 pm... as long as it doesn't pour down with rain!
We ran into a pretty heavy thunderstorm while in Hamilton! 

ABOVE:  A sneek peek at the new runner... that's not even half it's length!

I got bloody hot on tonight's walk!  Damn summer is coming and I'm going to melt.

ABOVE:  We found a really cute painted camper to pose in front of.  I was glad when this walk was over I can tell you.
I'm still roasting, and I've been home half an hour already.

Getting late, been a quiet evening.  Signing off for the day.

LET IT RAIN.... AND RAIN

Today's forecast is for rain.  LOTS and LOTS of rain.
And that will suit us perfectly.

Our pool is 2/3rds full and if it rains heaps it will save us a bit of money filling it.

It will be interesting to see what our next water bill will be, that's for sure.  At least we only really need to fill it once!

I doubt we will empty it over winter, just keep it covered and filtered so it doesn't go green.

So today.... Griffin is out all day.  So it's just Stew, Brylee and I home.

Not sure what we will get up to today.  It's a bit weird not having masses of sewing to do!
What did I do all day before I sewed all the time eh?

Maybe we can go into Hamilton and post my parcels?  Have a nice lunch.  Wander around the shops.  Let's wait and see.

ONWARD...

Just remembered... I've got the FBG Christmas get together this afternoon too.  I'm getting picked up at around 3pm by my friend Sue.  I'm talking my trestle tables out to the 'venue', which is one of the FBG's home out in the country.  We need the tables for the food.

I'm sure we are going to have a lovely time.  It's only an afternoon thing, so I expect to be home by dinner time.

ABOVE: Yeah.... still in bed. Can now see a pool from me bed. A pool with a dripping hose connection.... dammit. Stew has to sort that out today.

Well I did get outta bed... and then we went into Hamilton and got me parcels posted off to Australia.
Then lunch at the foodcourt and came home.

Got me face on, a 15 year old dress and I'm ready to  head off to the FBG Christmas 'do'.
More of an afternoon tea really.

NO COMMENTS!  Really does make me think I should just post Mon - Fri, everyone is too busy to read stoopid blogs on the weekend.
I know I don't read any!  

The pool filter hose is still leaking badly.  Hoping the Para Rubber manager can sort it out for us... we called in and asked about it this afternoon, but the girl in the shop couldn't help.
So fingers crossed that issue gets sorted this coming week.

Right I better go, I'm picking up Sue now, as the trestle tables fit better in our station wagon.

7.30 pm:   And our FBG Christmas 'do' was just lovely!
Heaps of girls turned up, and we had a really neat time.  Played some games/quiz's, and pass the parcel.  Lots of fun.

 ABOVE: The main room at our Hostess's home.  She runs a BnB out at Bruntwood, an amazingly beautiful home.  STUNNING in fact.

 ABOVE:  We couldn't have an FBG event without a PURPLE cake!

 ABOVE:  My neighbour and fellow FBG Hayley and I... trying to get a nice 'selfie'.  

ABOVE:  Me enjoying a quiet moment on the outside swing seat.  My 'dress'... more of a tunic I suppose.  I love it of course cos it's blue.  *smiles*

So thankful I didn't get rid of all my smaller clothes, cos I'd be wearing the same two outfits  right now if I had.

ABOVE: before I go for the night... this is the outfit I wore to the FBG christmas party.  It's the same as a black and white one I have worn recently.  Got them both in Palmerston North over 15 years ago!

And now... it's off to bed for me.  
Catch ya tomorrow.

POOL COMPLETED TODAY?

Well, today Stew is hell bent and determined to get the pool construction completed.

I will be very surprised if he does get it done to be honest!

I've looked at the instructions and OMG talk about complicated!  Just getting the filter put together and fitted to the pool is several pages long!!!

Then of course, there's the hard sides to put on too.

So, let's see how he goes with that.


While he's doing that job, I will do some washing.  There's a big pile of linen waiting to be washed and hung out.  Been looking at it in the garage for the past few days.  *sigh*

Griffin is at work today, and I'm pretty sure Brylee has work today too... from lunchtime till tonight anyway.

A new girl started at Brylee's work last night, and after her FIRST 4 hour shift, she resigned!
Said she was not working somewhere that treated her so badly!?
Brylee is always bitching about the place too... and I kinda thought she was just being a misery guts.  Maybe it really is a shocking place to work!

So anyway, Brylee is looking for another job, and as soon as she finds one she will be leaving her current place of employment.

(I won't say where Brylee works on here, as that is her business.)

Not much else to talk about right now... I suppose I should get outta bed?
Or curl up and doze some more.... hmmmm....

What to do .. what to do?

ONWARD...

Hee hee... I stayed in bed for AGES.  Just enjoying the warmth, cos it's wet and cold again today.

 ABOVE:  Meanwhile... poor Stewy is out there in the pouring rain!

ABOVE:  There is a 'silver lining' to the rain though!   FREE WATER in the pool!  Yep, it may not amount for much, but it will certainly help.  We have to pay for water, so might as well be thankful for the free stuff coming from the sky.  *smiles*

I'm going into town at midday to drop Brylee off at work, then post some parcels to Australia.   I gave one to Stew to post a couple of weeks ago and just found it in his car!  The bugger forgot to post it!  Freaking men!

*slightly miffed*   I got to the Post Office ate 12.00.33 seconds... and it was closed.  They close at 12.00.00 ... so I was exactly 33 seconds too late!
Grrrrr.   Now my parcels will have to wait until Monday or Tuesday.

Stew is still out there in the rain, slaving away.  I feel so guilty... but he really is determined to get it done today.  

Finally got our Christmas plans sorted out ... we are having Christmas Day/Boxing Day up in Auckland with Steve, Bex and their kids.
I want to 'do' the Boxing Day Sales at Sylvia Park!

CRAZY I know.  Boxing Day is CRAAAAAZY at Sylvia Park!  But, it's all part of the Christmas vibe, and the kids will want to spend their Christmas money no doubt.

So, glad that's sorted now.  And it means I don't have to cook Christmas lunch.  EVEN BETTER.

JUST HEARD: the father of all our puppies, MAC, has passed away.

ABOVE:  Fly high sweet Mac, you were a darling boy.  Condolences to Paula and Kevin. ♥

 ABOVE:  Starting to put the side panels together...

 ABOVE:  Side panels on...

 ABOVE:  Reading up on the next step...

 ABOVE: Banging the LAST little screw cap on!

ABOVE:  AND.... it's done!  And it's only 3.30 pm.
The pool is still filling.... so we still have to test the filter and it's connections, but it SHOULD all work!

I'm thrilled with it, and can't wait to jump in and start enjoying it.  Just as soon as it's warmed up again!   Far too cold right now, and it's half empty.  *smiles*

ABOVE: Another photo, I wanted to show just how high the sides are, and how difficult it would be for a small child to 'fall' into it, or climb into it too for that matter. 
AND it's going to be a really good depth for most of us!  Maybe a little shallow for Stew and Griffin, but oh well... at least it will be awesome for cooling off in.

Whelp... the pool has been filling for most of the day, and it's about 2/3rds full.  So, turning the hose off for the day.

Been watching movies on Netflix... well kinda.
We have started watching three, but didn't like the first two.  Onto 'Hope Floats' now... more of a chick flick.  So I expect Stew to head off to bed shortly, it's not his cuppa tea.