MOSAICS, AND IT'S NOT US!

 

First up, I'm off to Mosaics in Cambridge today.  I will be bringing home me ROCK today.  And grouting a pot that was gifted to me by SD.  

I'm trying to decide what my next project will be.  Another paving stone, or something else.

I managed to run into the co-ordinator (Oz) of our 'section' of the village.  I asked him about the little old lady who avoids us like the plague.  And was SO RELIEVED to hear she does that to EVERYONE!  She is apparently, very much a loner, and does not get on with most people in the village.  Oz went on to say she has, in the past, HARASSED one neighbour, telling her to go to bed earlier!  She's even put notes in letterboxes telling people off!

OK, might avoid her myself now.  I'll still smile and say hello... but that's about it.

I'm just happy it's not US that's the problem.

Ok,  I think I'll read the news, then get a move on.  

Right, I'm up.

I've been down the road and brought my car up to the house, ready for me to drive to Cambridge in about 40 minutes.

ABOVE: We have a super duper thick fog this morning. It's come down even more since I took that photo!  I can hardly see my neighbours houses now.

Ikkk to fog.  I better rug up good for mosaics.  It's held in a garage.  Luckily, S does have heaters on to keep up comfortable.

ABOVE:  The new Samsung Vacuum is now in it's permanent home. The Front Bedroom.

For ages I was calling it 'Stews Room', as his clothes are in that wardrobe, but last night we settled on calling it 'The Front Room'.

It is going to be a multi purpose room.  Watching TV.  Visitors room. Dressing room for Stew.  And so on.

ABOVE: All that needs doing in there now is to hang the new, lightweight TV on the wall and it's done.

I listed our 14 year old, heavy as hell old TV on Marketplace last night.  And it sold in minutes.

The lady is coming to pick it up this afternoon.

That was an easy sell, and I was quite surprised by that.  Maybe I 'gave it away'? I sure didn't list it for much.  But I'd rather see it gone than sitting in my garage getting in my way.

OK, I better get off here and put the clothes rack in the car... you know, that big new one I bought?  I sold it too.  It was simply TOO BIG for me to find a space for it, unless I left it outside.  That would have ruined it.  So yeah, I sold that on to a friend of mine.  Lots of juggling still going on in this house of ours.

But we are so close to having it exactly how we want it.  SO CLOSE!

ABOVE:  The rock is finished.  I had a good time at Mosaics.

Then a situation started unfolding, and I've been busy on the phone arranging a few things in a hurry.

More later.

4.20 pm and the lady who was picking up the TV has not turned up yet.  *sigh*  Maybe she will, and maybe she won't.  Either way, she's only got about an hour before I take the listing down.  I don't have time for this right now.

I'm going out soon to the kids for a little while, then joining Stew at the pub.

8 pm, and it's been the usual Thursday night.  Spent some quality time with the kids, then to the pub for a catch up with the regulars.  Always enjoy that.

Now.. home and about to put me feet up.

It's been a long day today.

Catch ya tomorrow.

MID WEEK HUMP

 

It rained a lot yesterday... and it's not looking that promising today.

I am not sure a walk is on the cards this morning, unless Lacy doesn't mind doing a mall walk?  I'll ask her a bit later on.

Right now, I'm not inclined to do much.

Later on I will go to Spotlight for some strapping and clips, we need to do some repairs to our gazebo.  Well not exactly the gazebo itself, more the straps we use to hang the runners on.  After 6 years, some are breaking.  This weekend we plan on putting up the gazebo and doing the necessary repairs, before our next market.

That will be a good job done for sure.

I do not need to do any more sewing for markets, having not sold much over the past couple of months.  Fairly normal for winter of course.  It will pick up in a couple of months I'm sure.

Though... I am tempted to make a few more Scrappy Dolls.  Mainly because they are fun to do, and don't take very long.

Maybe I'll get on to them soon.

So yesterday I talked about one of my neighbors and her strange behaviour.  Sorry about that. I hadn't meant that for that to go on DIET COKE ROCKS..  but once it was done, too late to take it down.    *** I have now taken it down ***

There will not be any more posts about that on here. UNLESS things improve. 

I have now got a thumping headache and feel like shit. So not going for a walk. 

ABOVE:  So I'm outside, taking the rubbish bin back around to the shed, and I pass that!  I have never seen a more beautiful iris  I stand corrected, it's a gladioli, it's stunning!   I am gunna have to try and find some for our gardens.  That one is in a 'common ground garden', just behind my house.

I have a young lady coming soon to buy our Matai chest of drawers.  I have had masses of enquires about it, but until now, no firm offer.  Best thing? They didn't even quibble about the price.  That was nice.

Looking around our house now, and there is VERY LITTLE furniture left in this house that we had 'originally'.  Most things have been sold/gifted away, and we have bought smaller replacements.  It's what ya have to do when you buy a MUCH smaller home.

But... I am really starting to LOVE our new little home.

We have everything we need, love and cherish, in a smaller space.

As for the 'hiccups' we have encountered within the village itself... they will blow over.  We will adjust.  People will come to know us, and either like us... or not.  That's how life is.

Lacy is here, and we are talking about how people often pull me up when I 'seem' to act/say something mean, horrible, derogatory.

WELL GUESS WHAT?  I am a fucking normal person.  I'm not perfect. I'm not nice all the time.  I'm normal.  I react when provoked, who doesn't?  I can presume too much.  bla fucking bla.

Get over it, I AM NORMAL.  No one is fucking perfect.

Rant over.  Got if off my ample chest. So there.

I got a text from Harvey Normans this morning, saying our vacuum cleaner had arrived.  So Lacy and I drove over and picked it up.

Grabbed some sushi for lunch at The Base, then came home.

ABOVE: As there was some charge on the battery already, I gave it a whirl.  And OMG it does an excellent job!  It picked up all the little bits of crap off the carpet.  I'm so happy.

Now, it's plugged in and charging.

ABOVE:  Lacy scored a vacuum cleaner btw.  😂😊

I am now killing time until the Residents Meeting at 2 pm, which I intend going to.

And then I remembered how goddam long and boring the last resident's meeting was, so I canned it.  I'm just going to potter around the house instead. 

*snort*, I've vacuumed the house TWICE already!  It's now FUN, and I don't get all crabby and annoyed dragging a vacuum behind me.  This new vacuum is BLISS to use.  And it does such a good job.

Sorted for life.  Thanks Samsung.

I took my car back to it's parking space, then Coco and I had a little walk around the village. Ran into a few people, said hi etc.  

It doesn't sound like I missed much at the meeting.  

ABOVE:  Well, I dragged Stew down to our local for dinner this evening.  Most of our mates were there, so we had a very nice hour or so.  And a lovely dinner.

Home now, and we are blobbed out in front of the telly for the remainder of the evening.

So cosy.  

Catch ya tomorrow.

CRAFT ROOM PROJECT IN VILLAGE

 

Today I am joining in with a group of ladies from the village to do a good deed.

Every year the ladies cut out and stitch up sanitary pads for girls/women in third world countries, and poorer nations.

It is an all day affair by the sound of it. 

And today I am going to do it for the first time.

So I need to pack up my sewing machine, get bits 'n' bobs like threads, scissors etc and take it all down to the craft room by 9 am.

Oh and I better not forget my Diet Coke and lunch.

I am hoping its a nice experience, and a chance to get to know more people from here.

I will try to pop back in here a few times during the day to give you all an update.

`

Quickly... cos I'm standing in the rain to get internet access... having a nice time. Getting heaps done.  About 3 hours to go.

3 pm, and I'm home again.  I did have a lovely time today!  There were about 9 ladies all working together for a good cause.  We had a shared morning tea, and took our own lunches.

ABOVE: That is the charity we were making products for.  Not just menstrual pads, but little drawstring bags to put them in as well.

So there were a variety of jobs to do, and we all got to do several, to cut down the boredom of only stitching one thing all day.

I really did enjoy it.

***  previous content removed. ***

Moving on, Coco and I have lovely fresh hot pods and are going to enjoy a couple of hours doing diddly squat.

7 pm.  Stew arrived home and met me down at the clubrooms, so he could carry my sewing machine out, and bring it home.  Job done.  

I'm now contemplating a very early bedtime, I can't believe how tired I am!  It's a long time since I sewed for hours on end, it's done me in.

Signing off for the day, catch ya tomorrow.

WALK, TV AND RUG.

 

Right, first up for the day is a walk.  Either with, or without Lacy, though she has said she's coming.  I'm hoping to rope her into vacuuming me floors for me while she's here.

Stew was going to do it yesterday, but his back was absolutely KILLING HIM.

Next will be me going to The Base to buy a smaller TV for the front bedroom, and a wall bracket to hang it on.  The one we have in there right now is FAR TOO BIG, and cannot be mounted on the wall.  We got it way back in 2011, so time for a replacement.

Once I've done that, I'll come home for me lunch.  Then I have a bloke coming down from Auckland to put a protectant on the new rug.  It's worth the $$'s to do all we can to keep it in good condition.

I have a few happy photos of the kids visit yesterday now:

ABOVE:  I'm not sure of the details, but Dante got 'dared?' to cut off all his hair for $100.  Of course he did it!  I was like... WOW!  Such a change.  It will grow back super fast, and he won't have a cold head for long.

ABOVE: Lily thoroughly enjoyed playing with our three toy boxes.  And their contents.

ABOVE: She was also intrigued by Willy The Waiter.  I made that for Stew way back in 2002, when we lived in Palmerston North. 

Right, that's me for now.  I'm going to get up and do the housework, before we go for our walk.

Hmmmm.... some sad comments overnight and this morning.  Makes me yet again ponder why I do this blog thing?

Perhaps it's time to pull the plug and leave the 'social media' rat race. 

I've felt like this on quite a few other occasions, and the  single reason I haven't done it yet is STEW.  He doesn't want me to stop.  He likes knowing what he's doing on the weekend (lol), and what sort of wife he's coming home to after work! 

But seriously... almost 19 years of this.  Some good, some bad.  What to do?  

In the meantime.  I got a tv and bracket.  The telly is in the back of the car, and the bracket is 6 weeks away.  Pointing out... STEW wanted the new TV.  I did not twist his fucking arm to get it.

OR anything else in this house, or for us.

HE BUYS SHIT TOO.

Anonymous

​You​

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "STILL WORKING ON THE LIST":

You seem to have unlimited money to blow whenever you need to satisfy your need to buy buy buy.poor Stew

WORTH MENTIONING... WHAT WE DO, OR DON'T BUY IS ABSOLUTELY NONE OF YOUR GODDAM BUSINESS!  FUCK OFF EVEN.

I am already over today.

Lacy arrived in time to have some lunch with me.  Then she did the vacuuming, thanks so much tart.

The bloke arrived and sprayed the protectant on the rug, took him all of 5 minutes.  And off he went, and so did Lacy.

Now I get to relax for the afternoon.  

There is nothing pressing on my agenda for the rest of the day.

Sure, I could do a few odd jobs, but MEH.  Can't be arsed right now.

2.13 pm.  I walk out to me car, and see A & S, close neighbours.  Call out "HI", and they come over and ask me if I'm going to the Residents Meeting, as they were heading off there now.  So I tag along with them...nothing else to do.

We get down to the meeting room, no one is there.  Whoops, S got the day wrong.

Never mind.  Walk through the foyer, and there's a big bag of fresh carrots and potatoes, free for the taking.  

ABOVE: Why thanks, don't mind if I do.  Look at that, a bonus to living here.

2.57 pm:  Steve (son) heard we had to wait 6 weeks for the TV bracket.  Said 'HELL NO', and rang around and found one here, that he can lay his hands on in a couple of days!  So I cancelled the bracket I'd ordered, and we shall have the TV on the wall by the weekend.  RESULT.

Stew will be ever so happy.  

7.27 pm:  Coco and I had a snoozy afternoon, curled up together on the sofa bed, sharing a hot pod and blanket.  The lounge reeked of whatever it was the bloke put on the rug, so retiring to the front room was a good idea.  It didn't bother me to begin with (the smell), but certainly got to me after a while.

Stew arrived home, and kindly cooked our dinner.  Sausages and veges.  Very yum.

Now we are looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the telly.

Catch ya tomorrow.

STILL WORKING ON THE LIST

 

We have a much smaller list today.  We might even get it all done!

If so, that means we are done with 'settling in' here!

We have been here for 9 weeks and two days!  It doesn't feel like that long, for sure I thought it was about 6 weeks.

I am going to bite the bullet and get the one job I've been putting off DONE.  Shorten and hang the last set of curtains.  I friggin HATE sewing curtains, and hanging them sucks.  I am sure that's partly why my arms were SO SORE for weeks after our move.

They are finally feeling 100% again, thank goodness.

Steve is coming over today to put the filters in the kitchen extractor fan.  Might get him to have a go at putting a big shelf up in the front bedroom for the TV as well.  He's more likely to find the right place to fix it than Stew.  😊😉

Catch ya later.

I put the drawers on Marketplace, had some interest already.  Then I listed the new clothes airer as well... as it's just too big for anywhere in the house, except slap, bang in the middle of the lounge.

Not a good look.  Well. That sold to a friend of mine in like a few minutes!  BOOM, success.

ABOVE:  We had a yak with our immediate neighbours over the fence, and they were all for us mounting the weather vane on our mutual fence!  So up she went.  Fingers crossed no one complains.

I've now got a pot with no plant in it... so will go out a bit later to find a plant for it. 

Oh yeah, we also have three bags of cement.... with nowhere to go.  Oh well, they may come in handy some day.  

 I am now about to work on those bloody curtains.  Hopefully no one can hear me swear.

Seems lately I live to regret some decisions.  I gave away our stick vacuum to Brylee.

Then I bought a rotating vacuum head for our Hoover vacuum.  It cost A LOT.

It is useless, but as it's now used, I can't take it back.

Today, while out and about, we bought.... ANOTHER STICK VACUUM.  A Samsung, whizz bang thing.  

It's  arriving in about two weeks.

AND get this... it can tell me when my phone gets a call or text.  So now I will have a Samsung phone, oven, cooktop and vacuum.  What next I wonder?

Steve, Bex and the kids arrived for a visit this afternoon, which was lovely.  They have not been over for a visit in quite a while for one reason or another.

I'll post photos tomorrow.

Steve put the filters in the extractor fan, but it's still not working properly.  It needs to reticulate, but isn't.  *sigh*

I was tempted to crack open the bottle of bubbly this afternoon, but as our new lounge suite hasn't arrived yet, I've decided to wait for it.

THEN this home will be as we want it to be, going forward.

Happy to say Stew hung the curtains for me, so my temper did not get the better of me.  That front bedroom is almost finished!  We are going to get a smaller TV that can be mounted on the wall with a bracket.  I shall get that tomorrow all going well.

Time to sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

THE LIST IS LONG

 

FIRST FOR TODAY:  sleep in.

Then we have a fairly long list of things to try and get through.  Some of them have been on a list for a few weeks now.

We are trying to re-jig the spare bedroom, so that the sofa bed can actually be opened up, and used as a full size double bed for visitors.  

That will mean moving the drawers out of that room.  We are going to get a set of open shelves to put inside the wardrobe, therefore making the drawers redundant.

So, we shall go out and about this morning, hoping to find the perfect (size wise) set of shelves.

We are also going to put the TV in that spare bedroom on the wall.  I shall explore brackets for that this weekend as well.

We will work our way though the other minor jobs over the weekend too.  Maybe?  Just maybe we will get more done this weekend.

12.46 pm. We have been out and bought open shelves for the front wardrobes. Then on to Burger Fuel for lunch. I ate to much. Gunna have a nap now! 

I presume Stew will work on putting the shelves together etc.  

I finally finished putting the kitchen handles on this morning.   Glad that's done. 

ABOVE:  While I had a nap, Stew put together the two shelving units.  That's the double one, there is a single one already in the wardrobe.

He's fart arsing around now, sorting out clothes etc.

Soon we will take the drawers out of that room.

I am going to use them, and sell the set I've been using.

We are keeping Stew's ones, as he's had them since he was a kid, so hugely sentimental.

ABOVE: Coco did another 'round' of the garden and declared herself done with being outside.  She's being very precious of late.

ABOVE:  4.28 pm, and Stew's wardrobe is done.  And we have a spare set of drawers to get rid of. 

I think we got TWO jobs on the list done today. Not exactly ticking them off very fast are we?

Maybe tomorrow we will get more done.

ABOVE:  Finally!  For the first time ever, we have been able to put the sofa bed out.  And we quickly realised it is a KING sized bed!  No wonder we struggled to get it in the house in one piece.   

So happy it can now be used for visitors, and isn't a white elephant in the room.

ABOVE:  Ha ha!  Twinning.  We went to the supermarket for some snacks, not wanting a big dinner after lunch.  We now have enough snacks in the house to last a couple of weeks at least.

And that's our day done.

Catch ya tomorrow.