CAMBRIDGE MARKET

 

It's too damn early to be up, but here I am.

We are off to Cambridge in about half an hour to do the last Cambridge Church Market for the year.

This is our third Saturday in a row that we have had a market, and we have ANOTHER one next Saturday!

The weather forecast changed all week, right now it is supposed to be raining all day, so this market could be a bust.

Nothing we can do about it, so we just have to make the best of it.

...

ABOVE: Persistent rain. Oh yaaaa. 

ABOVE: Looking for the positives... it's not blowing a gale!   Just light rain.  And it's not cold.  And now I have to get off here and help Stew put up the runners. 

ABOVE: Wearing funky new earrings for the first time. They pick up different colours depending on the light.  The little fish are cute. 

It's now 8.51 am and it's still very quiet down here.

The rain is on/off, but not heavy. Counting every small blessing today.

3.15 pm, home, unpacked and feet UP.

Today wasn't a total bust, but it wasn't spectacular.  An 'average' day turnover wise.

So relieved to be home, I am utterly knackered.  

Stew is going out again shortly to do the weekend Diet Coke and grocery grab.  I am probably going to lie down and grab 40 winks.

I'm feeling 'sick tired'.

We are STILL in negotiations for the sale of our home... with no end in sight right now.

We are still having an Open Home tomorrow, hoping for an elusive cash buyer.  

6.39 pm:  We just had our dinner, I have not had an afternoon nap, so am hanging out till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

NOPE

 

I'm crabby.

I have no interest in yakking today.

If you want me, I'll be in my sewing room.

That is all.

ABOVE:  Today's two finished.

And that's it for now.

I will pull my head out of the dumps and start doing some housework, vacuum the sewing room cos it's got threads all over the floor.

Then I might visit that Christmas Shop after all.

JUST a little add on

I went to town, had a good walk around, sat in the mall and people watched for about an hour.  Had a long conversation with a dear friend.

Got a call from our Estate Agent at midday.

ABOVE:  The contract that was on the table is now A DEAD DUCK.

We refused to cave in on the price after negotiations, and they refused to pay a fair price, so bye bye.

Moving on, we have a few things to consider moving forward after our next Open Home.

But that shall remain between Stew and I right now.

I have just had my lunch, baked beans... poor Stew!  I'm gunna be popping off all evening.

Now I'm going to relax for a little while, before heading off to get everything ready for loading into the car tonight, in readiness for tomorrow's market.

Tomorrow's weather forecast is totally up in the air, according to one site it's going to rain, another it's just cloudy.

It will be what it is on the day, and we will go with the flow.  😖😕😒

Grrrrr....  BACK IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH THOSE PEOPLE. 

And again, we are waiting for a response from 'them'.  Probably won't be until tomorrow now.

Stew and I are off to bed shortly, as we have a very early start in the morning.

Catch ya tomorrow.

NO NEWS

 

I didn't sleep well last night, even though I went to bed exhausted.

My mind kept going around and around in circles, wondering if we will get an offer on the house soon?

It's doing my head in.

So today I'm going to keep myself busy in the sewing room, I've got three runners on the go right now.  With any luck I'll get them all finished today.

I shall watch/listen to something on Netflix while I sew... that's a good distraction.

The weather forecast for this coming Saturday is rain, which is annoying.   We have another market in Cambridge, and it's usually a good market.  But not if it rains.  Grrrr.

I cannot believe how many markets have been spoilt by rain this year!

Meanwhile, here I am busily making more runners for said markets!  😕😖

Right, I'm going to try getting a bit more sleep before I get up.  No rush today, after my super busy day yesterday.   

11.20 am:  And I'm slowly getting some work done in the sewing room.

I've decided after I get to a certain point, I'm going to stop and go into town.

I really want to visit the Christmas Shop now!

I could have gone with the FBG girls yesterday, but knew I had to get home and get the house ready for the viewing last night.

So, that's my plans for now.  I might even meet up with Stew for lunch.... let's see how we go.

Well those plans fell through, so I'm home and making my own lunch.  And then I'll continue sewing.

It's pub night, which I am rather looking forward to.  Time to let some stress go.

I'm trying the Air Fryer option in my oven right now... here's hoping it works.  I've never air fried a thing.

I am feeling drained.  Utterly wrung out. 

So I had a Nana nap!

The runners will have to wait until tomorrow now.  I just ain't got it in me to go back there and sew right now.

My lunch went straight through me as well... which hasn't helped how I'm feeling.

Stomach churning times.

Our oven does conventional cooking, Air Frying and Grilling.  I think only the top oven can do Air Frying.  It really is an amazing oven though.

It takes just a few minutes to reach temperature, and if you are only heating one half of the oven, you are saving power.

I love it so much.

You can also use it as a 'larger' oven by taking the centre divider out.  

Right, I'm now heading into a full blown headache, so better take something so I can function this evening.

Well... we have been in negotiations with a potential house buyer all day/evening, with no resolution in sight right now.  

Maybe we will sort something out tomorrow, or not.

Either way, I'm a nervous wreck and just want to go to bed.

Stew is still at the pub, and will be walking home as I've come home early.

That is it for today.

Catch ya tomorrow.

OFF TO THE LAKE

 

Here's a nice change... this morning I'm off to meet up with some FBG ladies, who are coming over on the bus to walk around the Hamilton Lake.

How cool.  It's been a while since I walked around the lake, and I'm sure I will really enjoy it.

After the walk, there will of course be a coffee stop.  Time to yak 😊.

After that, the girls are going to visit the Christmas Shop in town, but I won't be.

I do not need anything from that shop!  Or rather, I don't want to see anything I MUST GET!

So I shall come home and work ...

ABOVE: My five runner bags!  I hope we don't need any more.

That's quite enough to be lugging from one market to the next if ya ask me.

ABOVE:  I have one Red/Green runner just started at the machine...

ABOVE: And two more half done.

I'd like to get all three finished either today or tomorrow.

ABOVE: How cute is this?  Coco, she wasn't moving, no matter what Stew was putting on top of her. 

Right, I'm off to do a couple of jobs before I am meeting up with the FBG'ers at the lake.

It is 1.33 pm.  And oh my, I've had a busy morning!

First up, walkies with the FBG's:

ABOVE: There were a few baby birds, but not an abundance yet.

ABOVE:  One of the girls having a swing...

ABOVE:  People feeding the ducks bread... even though there's quite a few signs asking people NOT to feed them bread.  😖😕

ABOVE: The lake was stunning today, and I thoroughly enjoyed my walk and chat afterwards.

ABOVE: Walk stats.  Seems my new phone has decided to add a few hundred meters to the distance around the lake!  Never mind.

On my way home from the lake, I got a text from our Real Estate Agent, asking if the family who have viewed the house twice already could come back again this evening?  The husband couldn't come last night, so he wanted a chance for another viewing. 

Of course I said yes.

ABOVE: I popped into Backstreet Bargains, on the off chance they had any of the Pohutukawa  fabric???  And they had 11 meters left, so I bought it all!  Best thing, it was on sale, I paid $19 a meter, while it is usually $35 a meter at Spotlight.  It is a discontinued fabric, so I doubt I will be able to find/get any more.  Makes it a bit precious.

NOW, I need to grab something to eat, and get the house ready.

I will be baking some more cookies!

I also have a beef/bacon and tomato casserole in the oven... the house is gunna smell lovely by the time they get here.  😊

And I'm going to be a bit knackered.

ABOVE:  Today is the first time I have both ovens on, at different temperatures, and different time frames.

ABOVE:  Tonight's casserole is in the top, and cookies are in the bottom.

I love this oven.

When we move I shall probably look at getting another one just like it.

6.15 pm:  home.  The viewers stayed in the house for half an hour, and are still very keen.  Now they have to work out their numbers, and perhaps make an offer, pursuant to selling their current home.

NOW.   WE.   WAIT.

Stew just got home, and ... he's eating a cookie.

They didn't get scoffed today.  

The casserole I had on all afternoon was yummy.  And now we are doing what we always do in the evening.... TV, then bed.

Catch ya tomorrow.

BACK TO IT

 

Hi Ho.  Today I'm just going to be pottering around the house.

I want to rearrange the runners in the market bags.  That will be job #1.

Then I have a pile of washing to fold and put away.  #2.

After that I'm going to make more cookie dough and freeze it.  #3.

And then I shall get into the sewing room and work on making a few more Red/Green Braid Runners.

I want to keep myself busy over the next few days, hoping my mind doesn't dwell on the 'what if's'.  Our Estate Agent said we probably won't hear anything for a few days... so I just have to hang in there right?

*Amended first job.  I had to pop into the supermarket for more baking supplies.

And string for the market.

Once home,  I sorted out the market bags - TICK.

I have realised that I will have to make yet another Market Bag for runners.  Grrrrr.  But it's that, or have one bag seriously overloaded and very heavy to lift.

After that job,  I folded up the washing and put it away - TICK.

And I have just finished making the cookie dough, and it's now in the fridge settling and cooling so I can roll the cookies out in about an hour.  They will then go in the freezer. -TICK.

It is now 10.50 am, and I'm taking a break before heading into the sewing room.

My finger feels ok today, thank goodness. And I don't have a headache... YET.  So it's a good day so far.

11.45 am: And I now have two dozen cookies in the freezer.  And two in the oven... making sure the recipe comes out right.  I changed it slightly from last time, added Molasses instead of Golden Syrup.  I'm sure they will be just as amazing.  

One for me, and one for Stew when he gets home.  It's called 'taste testing'.  😂

I just spent half an hour going through all my 'MADE' folders, taking out all the runners that are sold.  There's certainly heaps more SOLD than unSOLD now!

I like to keep track of what I have in stock, and what is selling well.  I presume that is called 'STOCK TAKING'.

It coming up to that time of year where it gets very quiet on the blogs.. well comments at least.  I try not to take it personally!  lol

I will keep blogging until no one gives a shit anymore I suppose.

ABOVE: Well they came out just fine... a bit bigger than one would have liked, but still OK.

Tasted half of one.  It's nice, but I think I preferred the ones I made using Golden Syrup.

And I will put more raisins in the next lot as well.

I might even try adding mixed fruit to half a batch as well. Might as well seeing as I have half a kilo of mixed fruit leftover from my Fruit Cake endeavours. 

Experiment time:  I got two cookies out of the freezer, defrosted them then:

1.  Got a square of cooking chocolate (chopped up) added to it.

2.  Got more raisins and a drizzle of Golden Syrup added to it.

They are both now in the oven, and will be cooled down and ready to taste test in about an hour.

6.55 pm.  Verdict on the doctored cookies?

Chocolate added... yeah nah.  

Extra raisins and Golden Syrup... really good.

This means when I take the cookies out of the freezer, I will have to defrost them and add the extra raisins and golden syrup to all of them and re-roll them before cooking them.  It will be worth it to have them tasting extra lovely.

The Molasses is going in the bin.

I got some sewing done this afternoon, AND I made another Runner bag.  So hopefully I am set with the five runner bags I have now.

Stew is home now, so it's time to just settle down for the evening.  Catch ya tomorrow.

BANK AGAIN

 

I went to use my new EFTPOS card yesterday, and the bloody thing didn't work.  Most frustrating.  I've had no end of hassles since I changed my bank account.

Clearly, I will have to visit the bank this morning to get that sorted out.

After that, I will be going into my Doctor's office to check out an email I received from 'them'.  I'm thinking it's a scam, so I need to sort that out as well.

Once both of those issues are seen to, I will be coming home to get sewing.  I have 4 Red/Green Braid Runners to make.  

...

I cannot believe how long my little jobs took this morning.

I got the bank issue sorted out, then on to the Doctor's, where I found out it was a mistake by them, not a scam.

Then I went Christmas shopping for kids overseas, came home and packaged it all up.

Back to the post office, where I had to unpack one of the gifts as it had 'forbidden' items in it.

Nail polish etc! 

So then I had to go and buy more wrapping paper and cellotape to redo that parcel.

By the time I finally got those parcels posted, it was 11.30 am!

And I was feeling damn frazzled.

Home.  Decided to cut a slice of our bread for lunch.  I lay it down horizontally, and wasn't being careful enough...

ABOVE:  And I managed to cut the top of my finger vertically, quite a good cut too.  It hurt really bad, and bled like hell!

It's  still hurting.  Dammit.

So, I'll have some lunch then see how I feel about doing some sewing a bit later on.

I have spent the afternoon sewing,  then baking some cookies, AND THEN getting the house ready for a second viewing by the people who spent ages looking at it yesterday. 

ABOVE: My finger has been a right pain all day. Sore as ...but I'm sure it will settle down soon.

6.11 pm, and another good long look by the viewers.  

I baked cookies, and left them out on the bench with a note saying 'Help Yourself'.

ABOVE: And they did!

Stew had one, which leaves one for me tomorrow.

And now we wait again.  We might have some more news towards the end of the week.

We are now just going to enjoy a quiet evening, so I'll say "nite nite" a bit early.

MIGHT GET ONE

 

Sleeping in! 

It's bliss not having to jump out of bed at 5.30 in the morning.

When we do eventually get up, we will potter around getting the house ready for today's Open Home.

Not that it takes us long, cos the house never really gets messed up now.

I will put a loaf on in the Bread Maker again, only this time I'll be doing a SMALL loaf, not the Extra Large one.  No way do I want to have burning bread again.

ABOVE: While at market yesterday we were talking to a fellow stall holder.  She was saying she isn't looking forward to summer as she over heats.  Same as me.  She showed me what she uses to keep cool.  A portable fan, which runs on either electricity, or it's own rechargeable battery.

My brain cogs started churning over, and I was like, shit I need one of those!

So at some point today we shall go to Bunnings and have a look for one.  

Stew said he will get me one for my Christmas Present.   How nice of him.

And that is all I have for now... catch ya later.

1.48 pm. All is ready for Open Home.

We spent the morning doing the usual jobs, then headed off to Gilmours. A wholesale shop.

Steve had a business card allowing him to shop there, so we went as well.

It's very much like Costco, but on a smaller scale.

We all ended up buying some stuff.

ABOVE: Stew being a dick in the chiller.

ABOVE: Shopping...

ABOVE: DANTE.... sigh.

ABOVE: Let's not even wonder where he gets it from.  

We are now parked up down the road waiting for the Open Home to start.  We go home once it's over.

Hoping for a few viewers.

Well.. we had a group through today that are VERY interested.  So now we wait to see what happens next. 

They have to sell their current home... so it might take a while to progress.

Dummy dee doooo.

We are going out again soon, to look at portable fans. 

We had a visitor arrive after our Open Home, so the shopping had to wait.  

Once he had left we took off to Mitre 10 and Bunnings to look at portable fans.

First up we looked at a Stanley fan, as we already  have a couple of Stanley tools that run on batteries.  But the Stanley fan was gutless.

So off to Bunnings we went, to check out the one I was shown on the weekend. (the Ryobi).

It was perfect, a good gutsy one.

ABOVE:  It is going to be very nice to use on a bloody hot day, when we are out and about... like at a park, the beach or a market.  Or even just out on our patio.  The battery lasts a long time too, so that's neat.

After that bit of shopping, we went to the supermarket for the 'essential' supply of Diet Coke and a few other things, and are now home.

We have a cooked chook, coleslaw and bread for our dinner this evening.  Yummm.

8.45 pm: Well our dinner was lovely.  And now we are just doing the usual, tv and relaxing till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.