CHOCOLATE

 

I'm eating chocolate today, and I don't care.

ABOVE:  Last night we bought chocolate for the kids, and adults.

That Whittaker's Choc Cross Bun', Limited Edition is amazing!  Yeah, we might have tried it last night.

*burp*

Expecting family today, we are NOT eating all that shit on our own!

And if it's not all eaten, it will be taken home with the kids.  I don't want any left here, that's for sure.

A couple of days of self indulgence is quite enough.

A quarter of the year is already gone!  April tomorrow, and truly heading into winter soon.

The temperatures are dropping by the day, and the winds are getting up.

LOVE IT!   I can go walking almost any time of the day now.  

In three days I should get confirmation of our site at the Kinloch Market, which will be so good.  At that market we will get to meet lots of people that we never see at our Waikato markets... a whole lot of people who have never seen our products.  It's going to be fun!

So, while we don't have any family here yet, I will get into the sewing room and continue getting my fabrics ready for sewing.

I want them all cut out, so once I sit down at the sewing machine, it will just be sew, sew, sew.

ABOVE:  We laid the new memory foam topper pad on the front bedroom's bed, and left it for a few hours yesterday.  It poofed up beautifully.

I'm really happy with it, it's gunna make that bed so much more comfortable for visitors.

And... guess what?

That's all I have for now.

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  Keera helping make morning tea.

ABOVE:  Stew checking out the chocolate...

He finished the Whittakers Hot Cross Bun Chocolate!  What a shit, I loved that one.

ABOVE: Lessons in nail care.

I showed Keera how the water came out of the spout in the bath.  And somehow...

ABOVE:  Miss Muppet ended up having a bubble bath!  Too cute.  She loved it.

Yep, Lacy jumped in for a photo too.

ABOVE:  I gave Steve some eggs. lol  😖😠 

ABOVE:  A nice shot of Lacy today. 

ABOVE:  Today's visitors.  

It's now early afternoon, and we are back to just the two of us.  I shall go and do some sewing soon I think.

ABOVE:  Lucky last for now... just me and our darling Keera.

 7.55pm:  It's done.  I have 146 bowl cosy inner and outer squares cut out!  I only needed 104, but got a bit carried away.  Never a problem as I'll need the extra ones eventually.

We have had an awesome day, love having family visit... and love a lazy afternoon too.

Time to sign off for the day.  Catch ya tomorrow.

WHO KNOWS?

 

I think we are staying around home again today.

We are going to Spotlight to get a memory foam topper pad for the queen bed in the spare double bedroom.  They are on sale for a damn good price, so best to get it now, before we get visitors who have to sleep on that bed.

That bed is really FIRM, and I don't know how anyone can sleep on it!  I slept on it when Stew had Covid recently, and it was AWFUL!

Steve 'n' Bex will probably be getting a topper pad for their bed as well.

Yesterday afternoon I cut out the cotton wadding for the next run of bowl cosy's.

ABOVE: There's 208 squares there, enough to make 104 bowl cosy's!

DON'T WORRY, I won't show you all 104 as I make them!   

That would be mean right?  lol

I haven't mentioned it yet... Stew's hernia operation is in TEN DAYS.  April the 9th in fact.

We were not expecting him to get in that fast.  His operation will take place at a private hospital, funded by the public health system.  They do that to get the wait lists down.  So, he must have been fairly high on the wait list.

His recovery time is fairly long in relation to what he will be able to do.  But, as he has a fairly sedentary job, he will probably be back to that in a week or two. 

Just no physical stuff for a few months.

So, we are on the countdown now.

And that's about it from me for now. 

2.30 pm.   

Stew has done his 'weekend' shop.

We bought the topper pad for the front bedroom.

We had hot cross buns and a toasted sandwich for lunch.

And I've done this:

ABOVE:  I'm pretty sure I've cut out at least 104 outer and inner squares for bowl cosy's!

And... I'm done.

My back is KILLING ME.

Time to stop and do something else.  And that won't involve fabric, or rulers, or rotary cutters.

ABOVE:  We ended up at The Base, where Stew got a new phone case and screen saver for his new phone.  (just a company phone, boring as).

Then we had an ice cream before coming home.

I had to re-apply for the Kinloch Market at Labour Weekend, as they hadn't received my application back at the beginning of the month!

I'm assured I will get in, so am breathing a sigh of relief over that!  

We are now going to the supermarket to get an Easter Egg or two.  Decided 'why not'?  Ya only live once.

Left our chocolate run a bit late!  There wasn't that much left to choose from, but we did manage to get something for the kids tomorrow.

Now, I've gotta cook our dinner.

We are having a lamb chop, roast potato and veges tonight.

Our dinner was lovely.  Stew is now watching RUGBY, and I'm watching a Netflix movie.

Eating chocolate with gay abandon.  

Catch ya tomorrow.

SHE CAN ROLL!

 

HAPPY EASTER!

If you are gunna 

eat chocolate, 

do it with abandon 

and JOY.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but our little Lily has been able to roll for quite some time from her tummy to her back, now, she can go back to front as well!

ABOVE:  Clever little poppet.  She's just a pure joy to all of us.  

Now, back to our day.

I don't know if we shall go on a day trip or not, it will depend on the weather, and how long we sleep in!

I'm in no hurry to get up to be honest.  And Stew certainly wants to stay in bed this morning.

He so rarely gets to sleep in, who am I to rush him into getting up.

ABOVE: I think this is STEW'S idea of bliss!  UNLESS he's watching sport on TV.  lol

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  Bex has just started making these funky winter hats.  I'm modelling one for her.  I don't know if she is going to start doing markets again in the near future, probably not.  But when she does, I'm sure her hats will fly out the door.

Stew and I have not decided on what to do today, so it might end up being a stay at home day.  Which means we might get some housework done! Oh yaa.

ABOVE:  Lunch. 

Delicious.  Really good service for a public holiday too.

Home now and contemplating a nap.  Cos ... why not?

What are YOU doing today?  Are you at home, on holiday, visiting peeps???  Working.  Crafting?  Weeding?  It's too quiet on here!  

 I'm cooking Lamb Shanks for dinner, roasted in the oven with roast veges.  Steve, Bex and kids are coming over to join us. 

6.36 pm:  Well we just had our dinner, which was bloody amazing.  The Lamb Shanks came out PERFECT.  

Everyone is now blobbing out and just relaxing.

 

ABOVE:  Yes Marley, Steve CAN touch his baby!

And.... that's a wrap on today.  It's been a nice day, with good food and good company.

Catch ya tomorrow.

SHORT WEEK

 

Well, I'm pretty sure I'm going to bore the pants off you today!

I'm not going out.

I'm going to sew all day long.

Bowl Cosy's till they are coming out me ears in fact.

I am determined to have masses of them in my stash!  Yesterday I got 16 made.

I am loving making them right now.  When I get bored of them, I'll go back to making runners.

Before I start sewing this morning though, I MUST tidy up the sewing room floor.  It's a bloody tip!  Threads and scraps of fabric EVERYWHERE.  I kid you not, it's really bad.

I've been traipsing threads and little bits of fabric all through the house stuck on the bottom of me socks, which is rather annoying.

Tomorrow is Easter.  Stew is thrilled to bits, as I'm sure are millions of other people.

A lovely long weekend stretches ahead.

We are planning a couple of day trips out of Hamilton.  Nothing is finalised yet, we are just gunna wing it.  Probably Tauranga tomorrow and ? Saturday.

Sunday we will be staying home.

Awww ya know you are loved when your kid messages you cos you forgot to hit 'PUBLISH' on your post for the day!  Thanks for the heads up Mike.  Love you too.

Did no one else miss me then????

1 pm:  And I've only managed to make 7 bowl cosy's so far today.

Got distracted with other stuff, like HOUSEWORK.

ABOVE: This is the first one I've made in a long time that I really don't like.

It's probably just the colour, not my taste at all.

But I bet someone will love it.  

ABOVE:  Finished for the day on 13.  Only cos I've run outta cotton wadding!

I might just go and get some more, seeing as it's on sale for half price.

ANON:  I'm sure you said "Only 7"😏 tongue in cheek right?  

A quick trip to Spotlight, and I now have more cotton wadding, so I can make more bowl cosy's.

I'm gunna have such a stash soon!

Once Stew arrived home from work, we popped over to visit Steve, Bex and their kids.

Steve had a surgical procedure today and was feeling quite good considering.  

Lily was so cute, till she started screaming.  Luckily, Bex knows how to settle her down fairly fast.

ABOVE: This feijoa tree in their back yard has so much fruit on it, it's falling down!  I'm surprised that huge branch has not snapped off yet.

We came home with some feijoas, yummy.

And ... that's me for the day.  I'm tired and ready to just sit and relax until bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.  

LAKE WALK

 

It's looking good for a nice, cool walk this morning.

I'm going to 'do' the lake today.  I might even have company.  

Once I get home from my walk, I shall turn around and head out again to do a grocery shop.

For a change, I've got quite a list of stuff to get.

Funny how ya don't need much for ages, then BOOM!  Everything runs out.

At least with just the two of us in the house now, the grocery shop isn't HUGE like it used to be years ago.

I can remember dragging two BIG trolley's around the supermarket and filling them both up!

Imagine how much that would cost ya now! I hate to think how larger families manage. 

I fill a small trolley up and it costs hundreds of dollars now.

OK, I better get a move on if I want to be on time for my walk.

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  A lovely view of the sun peeking through the clouds this morning.  It was a neat walk, a few sprinkles of rain to make it extra special.  I love it when it rains on a walk, it keeps me cool.

ABOVE: This tart joined me today.  I wonder if she's remembered there's a little purple critter in her hoodie yet?  

LOL, she found it on the path.  

She's keen to re-instigate our Mon/Wed/Friday walks now it's cooler.  So we shall see how that goes.

ABOVE:  I get a 'bonus' rabbit for the week.  He was just hanging out with the ducks on our walk this morning.

ABOVE: This was my grocery list.

ABOVE: Seems I went 'over' that list.  By several hundred dollars.  *sigh*  😖😕😓

But, at least the price of our cheese has gone down!

It was $12 a block 4 years ago, then it went up to $21.99.  NOW it's down to $16 !  I was really surprised by that, and thankful, cos we do love our cheese.

And now it's 11.33 am, and time for me to get back to me sewing.

ABOVE:  I forgot the walk stats.  We did the circumference of the lake, then added a bit more on, so we are walking just that bit longer and further now.

ABOVE:  How my day is going.  How's about you ?  I am probably going to make about 6 more then call it a day and go make our dinner.

9.40 pm:  just the usual sort of evening here.  Dinner.  TV. bla bla bla.  Time to sign off ... catch ya tomorrow.

GRRR.... A SOLUTION THOUGH

 

OVERTHINKING... overthinking is something I do ALL THE TIME.

On my mind?

Those bloody bags of rice sitting inside each and every bowl cosy.

I don't want to have to explain what they are there for to everyone.

So, I've thought of a solution.

Little fabric bags to put the damn things in.  So the twats, I mean shoppers, don't think the bowl cosy's are for cooking freakin' rice in!

*sigh*, so today I will set to and make some bags.

And I've already thought of the NEXT thing I'll have to do!

Put something ON the bags, to explain what they are for, and they are NOT FOR SALE.

As for the painted rocks idea?  Been there, done that.  Do you have any idea how HEAVY a box of rocks is to lug around?  Yeah. 

ONWARD...

Allow me to clear up a few things, as clearly not all of you have been following along the bowl cosy 'saga'.

ABOVE:  On my stand I have this sign which clearly states what a bowl cosy is for.

ABOVE: I also clip this little note on quite a few bowl cosy's, to reiterate what they are for.

I wanted to stop using breakable bowls inside the bowl cosy's, cos they were heavy and quite a few shoppers thought the bowl CAME WITH THE COSY.  I was using the heavy bowls to hold the bowl cosy's down in windy conditions primarily.

I had tried using painted rocks, but bloody hell!  They were heavy to transport.  AND some people did not understand that they were being used as WEIGHTS, and wanted to know why they were in the bowl cosy.  All frustrating.

So, I decided to just use some plastic bowls in the cosy's, to lessen the transporting and packing hassles with breakable, heavy bowls.

But I was still left with the problem of wind blowing the bowl cosy's off the table and down the road....

So I decided to put small bags of rice in the bottom of the bowl cosy's.

THEN I just knew there would be some people who would think the cosy's were for cooking rice!

Yes, it WOULD HAPPEN.

That gets me to my decision to put the rice bags inside little fabric bags.

NO.  I do not intend to make them to sell for whatever reason.

There are others at markets who make those type of things, and I will never make something that is already being sold at markets, thus taking sales away from someone else.

I will stick with my products, which no one else is selling (right now) at the markets I attend.

ABOVE:  On my stall, I will have about 5-6 bags with this explanation written on them.

Hopefully people understand that the bags are just weights, and not for sale.

ABOVE:  SO... some bowl cosy's will have a plastic bowl and weight bag inside them, some will just have the weight bag, and some will also have the little note clipped on them.

I cannot believe it takes so much thought to get a simple concept across, and displayed in a way that stops them getting blown away in a wind gust!

But here we are.  And hopefully I have thought of EVERYTHING now.

And NOW.... I'm going to go and get dressed, do me morning jobs, and then get into the sewing room and do some work.

12 noon.  And here I am, sewing bowl cosy's, when it hits me.

There is a HUGE gap in my variety of cosy's!

While you ponder what it is... I'll get on with filling that gap.  After lunch.

4 pm:  Well I've not gotten much done the past few hours.  I had a friend pop in for a visit, so I was just sitting gasbagging!

But, now I'm back to it, and will show you what the 'gap' was:

ABOVE:  Black 'n' Whites.  

Vickie, I don't know if you would call them 'neutrals', but maybe?  I don't see me doing greys 'n' whites, but YOU NEVER KNOW!

I do listen to others sometimes.  lol

Right, back to it.

ABOVE:  So I just laid out the table and stand with the bowl cosy's on it (again), only this time I added in some of the new black 'n' white ones.

I think it looks awesome.   I will also have some out the very front of my stall on the small wood and metal shelving unit, so there will be bowl cosy's on two sides of me stall.  You won't be able to miss them.  😂😅

At our last market I did the same thing, and we sold WAY MORE bowl cosy's than usual.  Cos they were more visible, I'm quite sure of it.

Stew just arrived home from work, so that's my cue to stop working now.

8.37 pm:  Time to sign off for the day.  It's been a mixed bag sorta day.  Nothing stellar.  Got a bit done in the sewing room, but not as much as usual.

Feeling so-so.

Catch ya tomorrow.

PLASTIC BOWLS

 

IF THE SHOE FITS.

First up for today... off on a walk.  Not sure yet if I will 'do' the lake, or go over to Cambridge for an FBG walk.

But one or other will happen.

While at The Base yesterday, Stew and I had a good look around for some cheap plastic bowls to put in some of the bowl cosy's... so people could actually SEE what they were used for.

Cos quite honestly, some people have no idea, and with the bags of rice in them to hold them down, my mind boggles at what people might think they are used for!

We did not have any luck finding any bowls that were A) The right size, and B) not too expensive.

So once we were home again, I went on the hunt.

ABOVE: And I found 5 'bowls' of varying size and type to use.  SCORE.  No expense, and all plastic.

Problem solved.   I am still worried people are going to look at the rice and ponder.... but meh.

Time to get a move on... off walking.

ONWARD...

12.25 pm:  Hi ho!  I've had a lovely morning I must say.

First up... over to Cambridge nice and early, where I did a 2 km 'warm up' walk on my own, then I joined the FBG's for a 5 km walk.

After the walk, about 12 of us went to a coffee shop for a coffee and more yakking.

ABOVE:  They didn't have Diet Coke, so I tried a Pepsi Max, NO SUGAR.  It wasn't half bad, in fact it was perfectly acceptable.

Everyone else had a coffee, so many options for coffees nowdays!  I just don't get it.  Once upon a time, when I had a coffee, it was a teaspoon full of instant coffee in a cup, hot water, sugar and milk.

I doubt anyone does that anymore.

ABOVE: The Cambridge Town clock is getting refurbished.  I wonder how long it will be out of commission?  It's an iconic thing hearing it ding dong every hour.

On my way home I went to Briscoes.  They are having a 50% off sale today.

So, I paid full price for my electric can opener 10 days ago, so knew I qualified for a refund of the price difference between what I paid, and the sale price today.

SCORE.  Got some money back on that.

Then I went and blew it, plus some more, on these:

ABOVE: After talking to more people (FBG'ers) today about cook top options, ALL OF THEM said 'GO INDUCTION'.

So... induction is the way I'm now going.

I got these induction pots 'n' pans cos they were down by half price, so a damn good saving.

ABOVE:  I shall just have to use my little, single element, portable induction cook top for now.

I've not been using it cos I only had one tiny little pot suitable for induction cooking.  NOW I have plenty.  (for now)

As it is now lunchtime, I'll put me feet up and have some food, before I go into the sewing room this afternoon.

ABOVE: Today's walk photo.  I really must start asking everyone, individually, if they object to having their faces on my blog?  Then maybe, I won't have to bleep out everyone!

In light of the fact that I am now 100% leaning towards an induction cooktop, I am thinking...

ABOVE:  The Belling Mini Richmond Oven is the way to go.  I love that you can get it in white, so it will tone in with all the other appliances in our kitchen.  And it will fit perfectly where our existing cooktop is.  

The cupboards under our existing cooktop can then just be transferred to where the existing wall oven is.

Might work... Steve will make it work!

So now it's just a case of getting an electrician in to give us a quote on hard wiring it in, once we get it.

Which will be several months from now.

Working on one thing at a time... as most people have to do.

Our new family room, exterior sliding doors come first.

ABOVE:  Be.... fore ya ask.  That's a mock up of how the Belling Induction Cooktop Oven would look in my kitchen.

I'm thinking we might need to change the countertop on that side of the kitchen too.  And get a splashback.

*sigh*, it all adds up!

Thanks for thinking about my poor old back.  I'm sure I can manage to bend down once in a while to get shit out of the oven(s). 

It's prolonged bending that does my back in the most... like with vacuuming the entire house.

And don't forget, I have Stew!  He can always get shit out of the oven for me too.

Right, it's the end of the day.  We are settled down for the evening, not that there's much on the telly on a Monday.  But at least I've got me feet up and I'm comfy.

Catch ya tomorrow.