BEX GETS HOME TODAY

Today... well this morning at least, will be a repeat of yesterday.

Up, feed and dress the kids and get them off to school.

Then Archer and I will pop into Onehunga to check out one fabric shop, before coming home for lunch.

After lunch the little man and I will head out to the airport to pick up Bex. She gets in from Invercargill at 1.15 approximately. 

After we've picked up the kids from school I will be heading home.

It's Card Night... so I'm  hoping to get home in time for that!

Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

8 am... all ready for school.

It's  bloody freezing.

Dante is only in shorts and a t-shirt, so I tell him to get his jumper on.

He looks at me and says "But I'm  not cold!", and I reply "BUT I AM!"

That kid looked at me like I was crazy.

It makes perfect sense to me... right?  *smiles*

10.35 am and the smallest kid and I are home again.
Sewing Machine World in Onehunga doesn't  have that much fabric... but I did manage to find two cute panels to make into cot quilts:

SNORT... one is upside down, so I  will try and flip it before putting it on here!

I'll  be back in a mo...

ABOVE: How cool...that was easier than I thought it would be! 

It's much harder blogging on my phone, and editing photos is very rudimentary. Can't  do that much to them at all. Sad.

BUT... at least I can still  blog eh?

Right, Archer thinks he's  starving again... even though he's  had his breakfast AND lunch, all before 10 am! Little piglet.

ABOVE: She's  in the air... on her way home. I hope she's had a wonderful time. 

She certainly has a stunning day  to be flying.

5.11 pm:  and I just got home from Auckland.
Bex's plane landed BANG on time, so I had her picked up and home by 2 pm. Which meant I could get outta Auckland before the rush hour traffic.

So, I'm home a good two hours earlier than I anticipated.  Cool.
I even managed to stop in Hamilton to shop... only got a new bathmat, was looking for a trolley of some description to use when I'm 'working'.  

Something will turn up eventually.  I really need something to transport all my cleaners, rags, brushes etc from one end of the houses to the other.  Two of the houses are rather LONG.
And at the moment it takes me three trips to get everything from one end to the other!

I know it's all GOOD EXERCISE, but it's time wasting.

Anyway... I can now relax for a little while before unpacking everything and then going to Card Night.

CARD NIGHT:  Well I have to say it.  It was one of the most hysterical evenings we've had in a while.
And all because of my damn POTTY MOUTH!

One of our players kinda wound me up over the first hour or so with being a bit 'slow' playing, and at one point during a conversation, she just made me so ????  frustrated ...  I up and called her a Dumb Fuck.  

Yep. Out loud.  In front of everyone.

And everyone (except her) erupted into hysterics... two girls pretty much choked, they were laughing that much.  Sue T actually stabbed herself in the mouth with her fork, she had been about to take a mouthful of cake!!!!

And of course, from then on, we kept on laughing... it just got worse and worse.  I couldn't look at anyone without them bursting into laughter.

WHOOPS.  I really should try and control my mouth. 

ABOVE:  our hostess tonight was Janet E.  She has 5 dachshunds.  The one on the table is her puppy, her name is Lindt Caramel Surprise!  Puppy sat there all night, she is so cute!

I did not win or lose tonight... though I think playing cards became a bit 'beside the point' after we all lost it over my potty mouth.

I don't get how I don't offend everyone!

And on that score, I'm off to bed.

DOING THE SCHOOL RUN

Well... this should be fun! It's  been over 17 months since I had to take small kids to school.

Today I will be dropping Dante and Keera off to school... then Archer and I are going shopping.

We will be going to a fabric shop in Onehunga Mall... then probably heading over to Sylvia Park as well.

Just me and my youngest  grandchild... bit special. 

 ABOVE: Three happy kids...cos they tidied up the family room for Grandma last night.

ABOVE: They did a good job...I might have to get them something yummy for afternoon tea. *smiles*

And that's me for now... I've got to get three kids fed, dressed, make lunches and then get them to school on time. 

ONWARD...

11.30 am ... and Archer and I are home after a happy morning shopping.

Dante and Keera got to school with no problems at all.  We were actually ready to go by 7.45!  I'm just too organized.

 ABOVE: Archer having his lunch! Whoops... not very healthy.

 ABOVE: Sylvia Park... it's still changing! I went down to the Countdown supermarket to find.... it's GONE!  Dang... we then had to walk all the way back to Pak N Save for stuff for dinner. 

 ABOVE: I found a tiered shelf thingee for our shower and some vacuum bags for linen at Storage Box in Mt Wellington.

Sadly I didn't  get to the sewing shop in Onehunga today. Archer was done shopping after 2 hours.
Plus it is raining and Onehunga Mall isn't  under cover.

ABOVE: His nibs at the mall. He talks NON STOP...I think my ears are bleeding! Lol
Not really.. he's  delightful.

ABOVE: Archer and I walked up the 'back track' to school this afternoon... what a workout! No wonder Bex doesn't  go that way!

Quiet time now. Watching some TV before getting  dinner ready.

Dinner was chicken steaks and nuggets, garlic bread and spaghetti and baked beans! Silly bugger dinner in other words. *smiles*

Signing off for the day now. 

Catch ya tomorrow. 

SHORT AND SWEET

Let's keep this short and sweet.

I'm sleeping in.

Come back later.

ONWARD...

SLEEP?  Yeah nah, not really.

I woke up at my usual time... then just cat napped for a while.  Then I lay in bed and watched some You Tube videos for a while, till I got rudely interrupted!

An FBG friend (Robyn P) popped in to pick up some toys.  LOL, I was in me nightie, so trotted down the hallway to say 'Hi'!  

Just as well she got me up really, I had no idea it was quite as late as it was! (10 am).

So now, I'm about to get into some old shorts and t-shirt and do something I've been putting off for days.

ABOVE:  Cleaning that bloody shower of mine!
Yep, been procrastinating about that particular job.  But ... it will get done today, then I can have a shower and get ready to leave for Auckland.

Hopefully I don't get caught in 'end of school holiday' traffic?
School starts again tomorrow, so I'm thinking there MIGHT be a lot of traffic, but who knows?  Today is wet, so maybe people went home yesterday?  I hope so.

I've not done any packing yet, but as it's only a couple of days, I won't need to take much.
Should be ready to go after lunch, mid afternoon at the latest.

 ABOVE:  And it's freaking well done.  It took two hours, as I thought it would!  And then I needed a shower, so I had it in the kid's shower, so I didn't mess up mine! 
I want it to look this good for a whole day at least.  *smiles*

Kelly and Rena came out to pick up a playpen, nice to see them.

ABOVE:  Rena decided to have lunch with me, we had spaghetti and cheese toasted sandwiches.  So yum, they keep you going all day!

And now I'm going to pack my bag, and get ready to head off to Auckland in the next couple of hours.

4.33 pm: and I'm  safely in Auckland.  Traffic was perfectly normal! No hold ups anywhere... it was a dream run in fact.

I'm now winding down for the day. Looking forward to a few hours of just relaxing.

Dinner was lovely.. Steve did a chicken, bacon and vege bake. Yummy.

Three kiddos fed, bated and now in bed. Quiet time ... going to watch more of 'Suits'. Yaaaa

Steve and I just watched 5 episodes of Suits... it was wonderful. I haven't been able to watch it lately cos the Netflix wouldn't work down in the new sewing room.

I need to have the connection re-signed to our internet extension.  Must get Griffin to do that when I get home.

But for now... it's  bedtime.

PAY IT FORWARD

Morning!  I have a couple of ladies popping in this morning to pick up stuff I put on Pay It Forward late yesterday afternoon.  So I better get up and get dressed!

We de-cluttered the back shed yesterday, and two items have already gone to new owners,  which is neat.

Today's plans are for Stew and I to de-clutter the attic!  

Of course, Stew won't be that keen to do it, cos getting up into the attic is a right fag, but we are on a mission to get rid of everything we don't need or want any longer.  I'm loving it!

Once that is done, I can do some sewing or painting... though I still need to finish off my drying area.  I've got some thick plastic sheeting to attach to the top of the shelving unit, so dust and insects don't ruin me paintings.

Maybe I'll do that first?

The other thing I do want to get done today is all the washing, general housework and so on because... tomorrow I am going to Auckland for a couple of days.

Steve sent Bex down to Invercargill on a little holiday. She wanted to visit her grandmother and see family, so Steve said "Go, it's your birthday present"... so she has.  It's her first time away from her kids EVER.

I'm going up to look after the kids so Steve can go to work on Monday and Tuesday.  That should be fun... I've not done a 'school run' with those kids ever!  And I'm not sure if I have to take Archer to Kindy or not yet either.

I'm sure I will find out once I'm up there.  *smiles*

So, a busy day planned ... better get on with it!

ONWARD...

1.05 pm:  Well, another day going to plan.  We've been working in the garage most of the morning.  I've taken a car load of 'stuff' to the Hospice shop, and am about to put a few other things on Pay It Forward too.

Upon reflection, I could have taken a lot of the stuff down to the market with me and tried to sell it, but well... chances are it would have all ended up back at my place! 

So no, best to just gift it and have it out of the house.

 ABOVE:  Stew assures me it was still quite HOT up in the attic!  Poor man, he had to spend quite a bit of time up there, sorting, passing things down to me and so on.

ABOVE:  Our garage an hour ago!  Most of it is gone now... some to be taken to the dump, so back up in the attic and some gifted.

8.58 pm:  well, it's been a very quiet afternoon.  Stew and I ran outta steam after doing the attic!
Takeaways for dinner tonight (Chinese), it was nice to not cook.

Time to sign off for the day.

WHY???

You go into the supermarket and see an ENTIRE wall of crackers.
Every sort imaginable right?  And it's easy to just keep on walking, I'm not that into crackers anymore ... right?

WRONG.

SNAX (the bastards) developed a new cracker.
Several flavours.  And OMG I LOVE THEM!!!

Like, really, really love them.

ABOVE: They are SO POPULAR it's hard to find them sometimes.  I've been known to find a supermarket with heaps, and have spent a LOT of money stocking up on them!

Yep, they are that good.

And I have to give them up.

I finished the last box last night.  I'm not buying any more.  

And I could cry.  I've been living on those bloody crackers.  Some days I've only had crackers for lunch, or dinner!  BAD BAD BAD.

I know my diabetes is totally up the whack again.  I've not had a blood test since October?  Something like that.  

My doctor really upset me a few months ago (over Griffin's medication), so I just stopped doing the blood tests, dieting, taking my medication etc.

I know.  DUMB.  Like, what was I thinking?   

Side note: We as a family have changed doctors now. We are not going to someone who totally disregards our concerns, and in fact goes completely in the opposite direction to what she said she WOULD DO! I don't trust her any more.

Anyway *sigh*, I laid out all my medications last night, put them in the DAY/WEEK medication holder and am back taking them all,  LIKE I SHOULD.

And the Metformin is giving me the shits... AGAIN.  Grrrrr.

I've got work this morning, it's the big house ... so 3 hours of solid house cleaning ahead of me.  I will get home exhausted.

So, don't hold ya breath for an update too soon!

ONWARD...



1.07 pm: Well! Here I am, posting right after getting home!

That's cos I sat down and don't plan on getting up for at least an hour... unless I need a piddle.

I'd probably get up for that. lol


Work was great! I love doing this house, it's fairly new and so easy to clean! HUGE, and it certainly takes the full 3 hours, but it's a nice job.


They have a big cat too. He's lovely. Except he likes me, and follows me around the house. The number of times he's almost tripped me up today was crazy!


Anyway, today he decided to go hunting, and I caught him, not once, but TWICE devouring critters in the lounge!!! Guts and 'bits' everywhere! It was disgusting. He got put out and I shut the doors so he couldn't come back in! Eeeewwww.


I ran out of polish half way through the job, so Stew went and bought me some and brought it out. Such a good man.


Talking of Stew, he's not been idle either. I walked into the house and it smelt of baking!

He's got FOUR Feijoa cakes in the oven! Can I have cake for lunch, do ya think?


Probably not. I AM TRYING TO GET BACK ON TRACK EH?


So, that's me for now. More later.

ABOVE:  Happy man!  I think he should do more of that.


4.38 pm:  Great afternoon !!!  Stew and I just cleaned out our back shed... and I've got 6 items listed on Pay It Forward.  Very happy with how that went.

Found a few things I'd been trying to find... which is excellent.

THE CAT:  lives on a farm.  Comes and goes all the time.  Is locked out when family are not home.  I know why!  It brings it's 'food' inside to eat.  Gross.  Cats will do what cats will do... which is eat rodents/rabbits/and so on.  It's nature.

Can't kill all the cats in the world to save mice, and so on.

Talking of mice, looks like our pesky ones are eating the bait.  Awesome.  Less mice for cats to eat.

Dinner tonight is:

ABOVE:  Lamb chops cooked in thick mint sauce, accompanied by veges.  I make a rich gravy with the left over mint sauce juice in the roasting dish.

Forgive me Vegetarians.... for I love meat.

It's the end of the day.  Dinner was wonderful, one of my most favourite home cooked meals.

I'm off to bed soon... catch ya tomorrow.

NO WORK TODAY

Today I don't have any work.... so I shall probably sleep in.

Like right!  I almost always wake up at 6.30, if not earlier.  Grrrrr.  Sometimes I can doze off again, but not that often.

What's on my agenda today?

Probably some sewing, and maybe even a painting or two?

Stew got most of the lawns done yesterday, so if it's not raining he will probably get them finished.

It's a public holiday today (ANZAC DAY), so heaps of people up early to pay their respects.

I hope no one decides to do anything horrific today, taking advantage of people gathered in public places.  

There has been some really scary things happening in the world of late, and of course, here in Christchurch a few weeks ago.

I used to dream of travelling... but not any more!  Seems nowhere is safe from terrorists and friggin lunatics.  It makes me sad to think I'm scared to go travelling in case some maniac blows us up! ... and angry that they achieve what they set out to do.

I took two photos last night at sunset.... one out the front door and one out the back door, within 30 seconds of each other:

ABOVE:  Out the front door....

ABOVE:  ... and out the back door!  Both photos are 'natural', not doctored at all!  Quite cool eh?

And there ya go... the start of another day here in Cambridge, where the 'worst' thing to happen of late is some idiots ram raiding the local Stirling Sports Shop for the FIFTH TIME!

ABOVE:  5th time in 3 years! At least the local council have now installed concrete boulders in front of it for protection!

Meanwhile ... over in Melbourne (Australia):  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my niece Shelley.  I never forget her birthday... being on Anzac Day an' all!  (smiles)

ONWARD...

Well it's 2 PM and I've managed to get some sewing done today!

We have MICE. First time we've seen them in this house. Ikkk. Stew spent some time today laying baits around the house... obviously in places that the dogs can't  access.

We are now in Hamilton... having dropped all of Lacy's stuff off at her sister's place, where she's living right now.

We are doing a big clean up of our back shed. We've kept far too much 'stuff's! 

Time to declutter again.

6 pm:  lunch today, well Stew and I popped into the Hillcrest Haven (a bar/eatery) on our way home.

I don't need dinner now:

ABOVE:  We ordered a pizza and potato wedges to share.  And OMG, as I told Stew, this place gives HUGE portions!  And bloody cheap too.
So as you can see, no dinner is necessary for us tonight!

I did some more sewing this afternoon, even though after that huge lunch all I really wanted to do was sleep it off!!!

And that's about all I have for today, catch ya tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE, AND PUSH REPEAT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SON STEVE TODAY... we hope you have an awesome day.

Today I am working in the morning again.
I doubt Stew will be coming with me today.

He doesn't have to get up early to get Griffin to work, so he will no doubt have a much needed sleep in.

When I get home I am either going to sew, or paint.
I'd love to paint again really, but have got quite a bit to get done in the sewing room.

So.. yeah, probably will sew.

That's all I have for now, sorry it's a boring day.

ONWARD...

1 pm:  Well.. home from work... which was good.  Got heaps done, I always leave feeling like I've made a difference.

I met a new friend today too:


ABOVE:  A little bit of company today!

ABOVE:  I don't even know if horsey was a girl or boy!   It saw me getting the garden hose and neighed it's head off and ran over to me!  So cute.

I read on the box of shower cleaner that you could use an orbital sander to apply it to the shower doors/walls... to make it easier and quicker.

Sooooo.....

ABOVE:  Of course I got out my handy dandy little orbital sander didn't I?

And I used a safety extension cord, so I didn't electrocute myself (YES RON, I ain't no fool)!  *smiles*

And OMG !!!!  It was amazing.

Except, I put the cleaning agent ON the sander pad first ... and guess what happened when I turned it on?

Yep, that shit flew all over the bathroom!  And me.

Lesson learnt, put that shit ON THE DOORS OR WALL, NOT THE SANDER.

 ABOVE:  I am in AWE of how good a job it does!  AWE I tell ya.   I think it will take another going over before I eliminate 100% of the water marks though.

 ABOVE:  I only did one side of the shower walls/door cos seriously, I'm friggin exhausted!
And to do the entire shower, and all the fiddly bits around the edges and taps etc, will take me at least 2-3 hours.  And I'm not up for that today.

I already had a huge mess to clean up after I spun that shit all over the bathroom!

ABOVE:  And yeah, I now need a shower!  I might get around to that shortly.

Brylee and Jordan are at the movies in Hamilton, coming back here for dinner and a SLEEP OVER!  

NOPE, he's not sleeping with Brylee, he's sleeping in the lounge on his Pat Malone.

I wonder how he will feel if I'm in me nightie when they get back?  Like, why would I have a shower and get dressed AGAIN?  lol

ABOVE:  And there ya go! All clean and in me nightie at..... 5 pm.  I hope we don't get any 'other' visitors, or I'll be racing down to me bedroom to actually put some clothes on!  lol

Dinner tonight was a really nice vege and bacon soup I made in the crock pot.  It simmered all day and was just lovely with some fresh bread.

And that's a wrap for the day.  Everyone is safely home from being out and about.