HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDRA

 

5.19 am. Just had an Earthquake! Not a big one but enough to make the house creak. Nice one Palmy!

Happy 60th Birthday Sandra.

I hope you have a wonderful day.  

I'm looking forward to spending the day with you  😊😉

We are off to a "High Tea" this morning. Playing ladies. There will be Sandra, Chris D, Anne R and myself. I even brought a dress 👗  to wear!

CATCH YA LATER...

3.05 pm:   UPDATE coming in about an hour and a half....

ABOVE: High tea was very, very lovely. Delicious food. Bubbles too! It was so nice to sit and natter with me girlfriends. 

Lots of laughs.

After High Tea I went to the fabric shop in Foxton (of course I did!)... and bought this lot.

ABOVE: Some very luscious fabrics, and some thread I hadn't been able to get up my way in a while. So I left there very happy with my lot.

On the way back I decided to go to the beach, Foxton Beach in fact.

ABOVE: For a west coast beach, its not half bad. Not too much of the nasty black sand that burns ya feet in summer.

I'm now back at Sandra's for a couple of hours before heading over to Mike and Joyce's for a while.

Well I have some photos from this evening with the kids... but will keep them for tomorrow.  Plenty on here today.

I've had a really awesome day.  Time to sign off.

ROAD TRIP!

 

Well as you all know, I'm heading off to Palmerston North today.  This time, I'm not leaving before the birds wake up.

I can take all day to get there, and I might do that.

I know I want to stop in Taupo and check out a shop there, it's very much like Spotlight.  Called Lincraft.  I might find some interesting (?) fabric there, who knows.

With any luck the weather will be nice and I'll get to see the mountain tops.  

ABOVE: Lily is at the age where she changes BY. THE. DAY.   I hope I don't miss too much being away.  😓😒

I'm probably going to leave around 7.30 - 8 am.  So, catch ya on the road.

...

I left home at around 7.15 am.

Truly shocked at the amount of roadworks between Hamilton and Taupo!

Got here, then off for a walk. While the sun is out... there was a nice breeze, so I didn't feel too hot until about the last 500 meters.

Now I'm about to head off to Lincraft.  

ABOVE: Of course those photos loaded in reverse order! 🤣😅🤣

3 pm and I'm finally here. My arse is KILLING ME!  THAT CARS SEAT IS NOT COMFORTABLE for that length of time I tell ya.

So many roadworks..

ABOVE: between Taupo and Turangi... I had to sit and wait 17 minutes for the "GO"! Some of the truckies actually got out of their trucks to stretch their legs and have a walk around.

ABOVE: So here I am, getting licked to death by Dee Dee, Sandra's wee dog. I'm all sweaty...  she likes me saltiness 🤣😅🤣.

So now I'm just gunna relax till I meet up with Mike and Joyce for dinner.

Before I  forget... Lincraft had very little patchwork fabric. That surprised me. They did have HEAPS  of other craft type things though. I bought more basic black fabric as it was heavily reduced in price, a couple of bucks cheaper than Spotlights 'sales' price.

NO, I didn't see the mountain tops because it was raining all through the desert road.  But not cold at all.

Well dinner with the kids was really good. We went to the same Indian place we visited last time I was down here. 

I'm back at Sandra's now and won't be up late. Its been a long day. 

CATCH YA TOMORROW. 

FAILING

 

I'm gunna start the day on a low.

I feel like I am utterly failing with my weight loss so far this year.

I had a massive sugar fix yesterday.  I know it was because I'm a bit stressed.  

Nothing in particular either, just EVERYTHING culminating into a cesspool of shittyness.

And the stupid thing is, most of my shittyness is down to me and my poor eating of late.

I'm like ... what the fuck am I doing?

I don't know how to pull myself out of it right now.

But ... I will keep trying, cos I know how happy I am when I am 'on track' and losing some weight.

I get SO CLOSE to my ultimate goal, then just fall off the bloody wagon.

WHY?

I will go to the Weight Watcher meeting tonight. NOT weighing in cos I don't want to self harm (joking), but my mental health is just as important right?  I know where I am on the goddam scale anyway.

I just need the support of the WW Leader and the ladies there to yak to.  They might help with my motivation.

And I want to get back into my walking regularly again, that helps me tremendously, even though I FRIGGIN' HATE WALKING!

Alright, enough bitching.

Back to today.

I'm going to sew a bit.

Then I'm gunna pack a bit.

PACK???

Yeah.  I'm going to take a little trip down to Palmerston North tomorrow.

For Sandra C's 60th Birthday.  

I hadn't planned on going right now, but plans change.   

It will be lovely to catch up with the girlfriends, and see Mike 'n' Joyce again.

So, I will get me ducks in a row, get shit ready to throw in me suitcase and then I can relax.

Going now.... got stuff to dooooooo.....

LATE last night, I was lying in bed, no able to sleep.

Because my PANTRY was bugging me!  Yep, stranger things have kept me awake, but last night it was the bloody pantry.

I was annoyed at how cluttered it was, how things were 'out of place', and also several other cupboards in the kitchen.

So... I snuck outta bed, closed the doors so I didn't wake Stew, and got to it.

Now of course, to move anything out of the pantry and cluttered cupboards meant moving heaps of other things.

But, I got half of it done last night, and when I arose this morning, I did the rest of it.  All up it took me four hours.  Four hours well spent.

ABOVE:  I now have a spic 'n' span pantry again.  And it's so much less cluttered.

CLUTTERED is a word I shall use often today.

ABOVE: Next up was all the containers I had in one of the cupboards in the kitchen.  They went into this cupboard in the garage.  If I need any, I can just get them from here, right?

ABOVE: Taking those containers out of this cupboard meant I could put all the baking ingredients there instead.

And of course, that also gave me more room in the pantry.

So it was less CLUTTERED.

Gosh I'm right into decluttering at the moment!

ABOVE: The next eviction was all these from the day to day cupboard of plates, serving dishes etc.

ABOVE:  75% of them went in the credenza.  They all get used occasionally, but they sure in hell don't need to be in the kitchen full time.

ABOVE: Same applied to these large serving dishes.  They get used on occasions, but not all the time.

And they were on the top shelf in the day to day cupboard, and damned if I could reach up and get one down, particularly if it was under several others.

That used to piss me off.  No more.  That shittyness is over.

And YES, I'm sure I'm spelling 'Shittyness' wrong, but I don't care. Is there even such a word?  If not, I made it up.

ABOVE: The day to day cupboard, all tidy, organised and not CLUTTERED ... finally I'm happy.

AND DONE.

Well, by done I mean that job.

I've now got the washing to hang out, the bed to make, some dishes to do, then I can get into the sewing room.

LUCKY I LIKE BEING BUSY RIGHT?

What are you up to today?  Have I inspired anyone to get decluttering yet???

3.33 pm, and I'm finished in the sewing room for the next few days.

ABOVE:  Funky Bird Runners numbers 5 & 6 done.

I'm happy to now take a break from sewing.

I've made 12 runners in the past 8 days.  Not a bad effort.

I am now going to make a start on sorting out what I need to pack....

9.50 pm:  Well I went to WW, enjoyed the meeting and then came home.  

Stew and I did a quick trip to Lacy's and Steve 'n' Bex's as well, just giving them some food I'd bought but didn't want after all.

It was chocolate, lollies, biscuits etc.  I had a mad moment yesterday.  But it's all out of the house now.

Then we gassed up my car in readiness for tomorrow's road trip.

Now... I'm watching Coronation Street before heading off to bed.

CATCH YA TOMORROW.

SEWING, AND HOSPITAL

 

Another week rolls around, and it's the end of February midweek.

My friend Sandra from Palmerston North gets to celebrate her ACTUAL BIRTHDAY this week, first time in 4 years.

Yep, she's a Leap Year Baby.  This will be the 15th time she's had her birthday ON HER BIRTHDAY.  29th February.

She will be 60 years old.  Sadly, I missed her birthday party.  I hope to pop down there again in the next couple of months, to see her and my other girlfriends.  Before winter sets in and the roads are dicey.

Right, back to today.  I am going to go for a walk (I hope I can drag my sorry butt outta bed!), then I will start the stitching on these two funky bird runners:

ABOVE:  Nothing like keeping ones self busy eh?  The rate I'm going I'll have plenty of new stock to take to market in March.

I can work until 1 pm, then I have to stop and go do something else entirely.

I'm picking Lacy up as I need her to drop Stew and I off at the hospital, then pick us up again after 2-3 hours.

WHY?

Meh.  Cos Stew has two new hernias in his belly.

Must run in the family eh?  😂😕😖

Stew had a big umbilical hernia repair done way back when we lived in Palmerston North, about 17 years ago.

Since he lost weight, he found a big 'lump' in his lower belly (read very low)... and another bulge well above his belly button.

So, today we go to see the team at the hospital for detailed assessment, and a possible surgery prognosis on one or both hernias.

I'm going with him cos I want to hear what they have to say.  And to, (obviously), support him.

So that's my day planned out.

CATCH YA LATER.

11.30 am:  The morning is going well.  I'm 3/4 of the way through all the applique' stitching.  But i have to stop soon so I can get me face on, and go pick up Lacy, then Stew a bit later.

ABOVE:  I love how I did his eyelashes.  So 'funky' eh?

Right, better get off here.  Got shit to do.

ABOVE: Stew looking all professional while sitting waiting.  We didn't actually have to wait long at all, only 5 minutes over our appointment time!  

I was shocked to be honest, I thought we would be waiting for an hour at least.

ABOVE:  I couldn't help it!  I had to sit in the BIG CHAIR... so I would look smaller.   lol

So, we saw the surgeon, and Stew is now on the waiting list to get his lower hernia repaired.

The one higher up is not a worry to the surgeon, it's very common in men to get that one and it's not likely to cause any problems.

So, now we wait for a surgery date, which could take months, or god help us, years.

Lacy dropped us off and picked us up, which was awesome.  It was raining so we didn't end up wet from walking any distance.

Now, Stew is back at work, Lacy is home and I'm home.

I might do an hours sewing now, before Stew gets home.

8 pm:  Well I did get a bit of work done before Stew got home.  Then we had dinner and just sat and watched the telly.  Now, I'm gunna sign off for the day, I'm done.

Catch ya tomorrow.

RAIN?

Let's start the day with some baby spam shall we?

ABOVE:  I got some really lovely cuddles yesterday.  Lily was so damn cute, lots of big smiles, and she's trying so hard to talk.  Definitely coos are happening.

So this morning I will finish the 2nd funky bird runner.  I just have to add a backing, then bind it.

Should only take an hour.  Then hmmm.... not sure what I will do next.  I have enjoyed making the birds, so I might even do a couple more.  They are fun.

We are supposed to get rain today, that would be lovely!  It's been quite a dry summer compared to last year!

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

We have rain, and it's lovely.

I'm sitting in the sewing room, you know... sewing.  And I glance outside.  It's pissing down, and I have this BRILLIANT IDEA!

Let's go for a walk.

I suggested it to Stew, who was about to step into the shower... and he was like... OK.

So off we went for a walk around the lake.

ABOVE: Very overcast with light rain here and there, but it was just beautiful.

ABOVE: There are still baby Pukekos!  I was surprised to see baby birds this late in the season.

ABOVE: This end of the lake is often like a mill pond, so still.

ABOVE:  He's havin' fish for lunch I reckon.

ABOVE: It had been 16 days since I had a decent walk.  I was KNACKERED.  But so happy we did it.

ABOVE:  I was super  happy with our time too... I had expected to be closer to 40 minutes.

Though, I did have to push myself to do a 'decent' time today.

It's now 11.30 am, and I'm going back to finish that runner.  Then we shall have some lunch.

ABOVE:  And there's another funky bird runner.

After finishing that, I skipped lunch and just laid out two more funky bird runners.

They are ready for stitching tomorrow.

It's now 4.30 pm, and I might go sort out some dinner for Stew and I.

YES LYNDA: I will make an appointment for the Shingles jabs.  Ikkkk.  I had not forgotten, just got distracted by LIFE in general.  It was on my 'To Do List'.

Right, it's the end of the day.  I am happy with how our day went.

Catch ya Tomorrow.