WALKING GROUP

Today I go on my first walk with the Fat Bottomed Girl's Group.

 ABOVE:  The Fat Bottomed Girls 'logo'.
So... the aim of the walking group is to complete an  'Urban Challenge'.

Everyone who joins commits to walking EVERY SINGLE street/road/avenue etc here in Cambridge.

The entire town is broken down into Sections, and you have to walk every section to complete the challenge.
I'm joining half way through the challenge, so have some catching up to do.
Hopefully they have enough 'catch up walks' to enable me to do that.

You have to walk with a group to make your walk 'count' in the challenge.  

I'm joining as I need the company to spur me on with walking.  It actually sucks doing it all on ya own.

ABOVE:  I saw this photo on Facebook a day or so ago...  the caption was something like... ' A misshapen tree, or do you see a teddy bear?'

So... anyway, I go on the first walk at 5.30 tonight. It is actually going to cover 2 sections of the Challenge... so I shall be out walking for about one and a half hours.
And it's supposed to piss down with rain all day!

Freakin' ya.   I finally commit to starting walking again, and the weather gods may be totally against me.  Umbrella.  I've got a good one!  I wonder if the walks are postponed/cancelled if it rains?

Better find out.

ONWARD...

So I've not done much this morning.  Popped into the supermarket down the road to get a couple of things I forgot yesterday... AND THEN FORGOT one of the things top of the list!  Stew... get some cornflour would ya?  *smiles*

Been checking out where we are walking tonight... quite a good distance by the look of it.

I've committed to doing two more walks next Thursday, and might even add another one before then too.

Keera is home from Kindy, so I don't have to go out again at 3.20.  
Right now though, I better get dinner sorted out, it will need to be cooked and ready before I head off on my walk.

EXHAUSTED!  By knocking off two sections of the Urban Challenge tonight, I walked 7.2 kms and my step total for the day is ... 15,320!  Best step total for a very, very long time!

Time to sign off... bet I sleep well tonight!

TALLULAH

Not really ready to discuss this, but it's been commented on so...

Three strikes, bite, draw blood, you are out.  

1.  Bit a girlfriend, totally unprovoked.

2.  Bit Archer on the face.  Was going to have her put down there and then, but was talked out of it by his parents.

3.  Bit a woman outside Animates after her groom back at the end of March.

3 strikes.  3 times that should have NEVER happened.

Not to forget the many, many times she had nipped people and the kids, rushed strangers on the street, and generally been a very naughty girl.

We tried Behaviour Modification, under the guidance of an Animal Behaviour Expert.

We tried locking her in the garage whenever the kids/visitors were here.  Not fair on either dog.

We tried EVERYTHING we could to de-sensitise her to strangers.

After she bit the woman on the footpath in March, I took her to the Vets.  One way trip.

There was no way we could re-home her.  I talked to the Vet about that option, and she assured me I was making the ONLY decision that was right.

Tallulah was a hyper sensitive, over protective (of me), dominant dog.  

I did the only thing I could in the circumstances.

I felt GUILTY as hell that I'd allowed her to get away with biting TWICE already, when she bit for the 3rd time, I had to do what I did.

I knew that by talking about this I was opening myself up to all the trolls and haters out there... and I have dreaded doing this post for that reason.

If you have anything to say about this, please TRY to be kind.  This was NOT an easy decision for Stew and I ... we LOVED Tallulah.  We knew that at the end of the day we did the right thing for everyone.

It took a long time to feel 'right' about what I had to do ... I still feel dreadful though.  

Oh and before someone says it... I don't think Tallulah would have had a happy life being locked up inside, or in the garage, kept away from family and friends forever. Not trusted to go for walks, to the groomers, and so on.  She was getting worse with her behaviour, not better.

ABOVE:  Sadly, even the rapport between Tallulah and Keera ended... it got to the point where we couldn't trust Tallulah with Keera either.  She nipped her every chance she got, even chasing her and biting her on the feet.  It wasn't good.

COCO:   She's shown no signs of missing her sister.  In fact, she seems happier.  Tallulah used to terrorise her, dominate her, bite her, steal her food and generally cause her to slink around the house trying to keep away from her most of the time.  Sad.

So there ya go.  That's the story of Tallulah. That's why she is no longer with us.

If you are inclined to be horrible in comments, I will simply delete them ASAP.  OK?  Unless you are/have been, in the exact same position, you have NO IDEA how it feels.

ONWARD...

I mentioned last night that I'd started knitting.  Well... I had to go out first thing this morning and get MORE wool... cos OMG, giant knitting takes a lot of wool.

AND it's a massive arm workout knitting with huge needles.  But, I'm making some progress:

ABOVE: that is like, 4 rows!   I need to do probably 30+ rows, so the throw is a decent size.  Each row takes me about half an hour!  Maybe I shall aim for 4 a day?  My arms might thank me for that.   *smiles*

I'm expecting a flying visit from Sharon from Taupo mid-afternoon.  She's en route back from Auckland to Taupo.  It's always nice to see her.

Well... Sharon duly arrived and got to show off her new (to her), car... lucky girl.  Very swish looking car.   

The house smells so yum!  I've got crumbed lamb chops cooking in mint sauce in the oven, with onions and potatoes thrown in with them.
Mixed veges on the side... drooling already.

It's certainly chilling down now!  And pitch black. Isn't it the shortest day today?  Not sure... but it has to been soon!

Just had a call from our son Steve, he misses us.  Awwww.  So, they are coming down for a visit this weekend.  I shall look forward to that.

Signing off now... busy time of the day.  Getting dinner ready and so on.

P.S.:  Thank you for all the lovely, supportive comments today.  

MEH

I had a headache all day yesterday.
Not sure why, but maybe the new pillow had something to do with it.

Still have a bit of a headache actually, but a couple of pills will knock that on the head hopefully.

I'm going to head into Hamilton today, I need to do a mini grocery shop, and also try and find some fabric to make a tablecloth for my Mum.

She bought some fabric while she was over here, and wants it made into a tablecloth, but it needs borders ... so guess who gets to do it?  Yep.


I was quite happy with my weigh in last night, but know that I need to be careful this week... as sometimes bad eating can catch up with you!
I'm going to track the shit outta what I eat, that always helps.
And get back into some active exercise.

I heard about a walking group at WW last night, so am going to investigate that today.  It organised by a group called (get this) :  The Fat Bottomed Girls!
Sounds like my sorta group  *smiles*.

ONWARD...

I joined the group!  My first walk will be on Thursday, early evening.  I will talk about it more later.  For now... off to get some groceries.

2.11 pm:  Well I have done the grocery shopping, and it wasn't that bad today.  Getting less than a 'normal' shop sure helped.

 ABOVE:  This is the fabric Mum bought.  I went to Spotlight to get some matching border fabric, but I didn't end up getting any today... I got, ummm.... sidetracked:

ABOVE:  I bought WOOL!
Pretty, pretty wool.  Let's see if what I have in mind for it works.

So it has been a quiet afternoon and evening.  I started knitting, it took me over an hour to cast on 50 stitches and do ONE row!
I will show you how it's going once I've done a few more rows.

Signing off for the day now... nervous about tomorrow.
I'm posting something I really didn't want to post about.

NEW WEEK

I feel like this is the first week that will be 'normal' in bloody ages.

For quite a while there has been 'something' going on... either getting ready for Mum's party, the party week, the two weeks afterwards, when my Mum was not well... and then our holiday.

So... today is a new week of normality.  I'm sure I'll be bored shitless!  lol

Nah, I'm going to enjoy it.  Especially the quiet.  OH GOSH... peace and quiet!
I forgot for just a moment how much noise there is in the house with kids at home... and TV's going non stop!

Keera has 'her' programmes on all day!
Stew has friggin sport on all day!
And I do in the weekends too!

During the day when everyone is out at school and work, I never have the TV on.  It's QUIET.

Noise is a form of torture, I'm sure.

And that's what I'm looking forward to the most today.
That, and just getting the house ship shape again.  
I'm weird like that, I like nothing more than having a clean and tidy house! I simply can't relax unless it's tidy!
Ask Stew... he will agree 100%.  *smiles*

So, that's me for now... nothing really riveting to yabber on about...

ONWARD...

Housework ... mostly done.  There's a few jobs that I could be doing... like WINDOWS... but I'm actually frozen to the bone!  Don't know why, but I can't seem to get warm since my shower.
Maybe having wet hair and bloody cold feet isn't helping?
Sitting wrapped up in my electric throw right now... Coco is enjoying me being a lazy tart!  
She's curled up on my lap of course.

So... I'm off to Weight Watchers soon.  Not looking forward to that... I checked the scales on Friday and they showed a massive gain.
So, I have been trying to do some damage control over the weekend.... let's see if it has helped?

SHEESH... I'm constantly surprising myself!  I lost 1.1 kgs this week!  Didn't expect that... but when I think about it... I wasn't THAT bad on holiday.  

So... winding down for the evening now... I'm still freakin' cold!  Remember me bitching about being too hot over summer?

Now I am gunna bitch about being cold.  Can't win. *lol*

ODDS 'N' ENDS... BIT OF THIS 'N' THAT

Have you ever picked up your glasses (if you wear them), taken one look and freaked out, thinking your lens was broken?

ABOVE:  Yep, I did!  Totally freaked out.  Then did a double take.  Cos.  My glasses are ones that go dark in the sun, and they had been lying on the bed, in partial sunshine.  Hence the crazy, broken looking pattern!

Man was I relieved when I realised they were NOT broken!  I rely on my glasses for driving.

Crisis over.  Felt a bit of a dick though.  lol

ABOVE: I got this old, funky fencing from Lacy's place.  I need ideas on what to do with it?
I had thought of making a couple of bird houses... what else?  There's not too much of it, maybe twice as much as what you can see here.

 ABOVE:  I am utterly in love with the wave photos from Cape Reinga.  Just had to show a couple more.  
Cos... well I can!  lol

ABOVE:  Another lighthouse!  This one was out by The Hole in the Rock, Bay of Islands. I love the rugged landscape too.

Today, well this morning I'm doing some housework, then this afternoon we have Kelly and Rena visiting.
So, a fairly normal Sunday.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.  The kids will be back at school and kindy, and poor Stewy will be back at work, and it will be just me at home.  In silence.  *smiles*

ONWARD...

Well, after SO MANY ideas for that funky, rustic fencing... (not)... we came up with this idea:

ABOVE:  we are going to put it around the front garden!  So, birdhouses/planter boxes will have to wait!

After having no joy in finding the perfect new pillow for me yesterday, Stew and I popped down to the local Briscoes and found the perfect one... and even better?
60% OFF!  Amazing... got it for a song.  And Stew got himself a new pillow too.

Fingers crossed I get a better nights sleep tonight, cos the last two nights have been awful.

3.40 pm:   And Kelly and Rena have been, visited and left again.

 ABOVE: The girls playing with Snapchat.
Lots of laughs.



ABOVE:  The little girls playing happily outside... luckily the weather held off.  It feels like rain.

 ABOVE:  Granddad's little helper. 

 ABOVE:  I managed to prise Griffin out of his room long enough to help with pruning the plum trees.
We only lightly pruned them as we really don't know what we are doing!
We don't want to kill them, or end up with no plums this summer.

ABOVE:  Three plum trees, one nest.  *smiles*
I wonder if it will have chicks in it next spring?

Looking forward to a new mini series tonight.  Apple Tree Yard.  Looks good.  Then bed... to try out our new pillows.  Hoping for a good nights sleep.

33.65 kms this week

MAKE UP TRIALS

Last night I took Brylee through the very basic application of makeup.
Obviously, I'm no expert, but hopefully I've shown her how to put on eyeliner/eyeshadow/mascara and lippy.

I did one eye, and she did the other.

ABOVE:  She was very happy with the results, and will no doubt have fun trying to do it all by herself today.

The next step for her will be getting her eyebrows shaped properly.  I've told her to get them done by a professional... cos she doesn't want to fuck them up like I did to mine 40+ years ago.

Mine didn't grow back, so I was stuck with the over plucked mess I made when I was about 15!

I have thought about getting them tattooed into a better, thicker shape, but am scared someone will mess that up too, and I'll look even worse.
So... maybe not.

I keep forgetting what day it is... totally out of sync and routine.  But as it IS Saturday?.... we will probably be going out somewhere with the kids.
While we have been away and having fun, they have been stuck at home doing their usual routine... school/home/bla bla bla.
So, an outing for them is well in order.


ABOVE:  First up... TURN OFF THE SOUND!  You will only hear wind... loud wind.  This is a little video of the view at Cape Reinga... so beautiful.


ABOVE:  Same again, turn your sound OFF.  Dolphins... lots of them... just keep watching!
You will see the gannets diving for fish, then DOLPHINS.  

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

ONWARD...

I'm a tardy tart today... no update till now!  (5.08 pm)
But we have been out and about, then I crashed in the afternoon... so tired!

We had visitors this morning.  Amanda and Liam came for the morning while Joel played soccer up the road.  Stew went and watched his game, which thrilled Joel to bits.

 ABOVE:  A happy Joel, and two of his team mates, who Amanda ferried to the game.

 ABOVE:  And ... off they went again.

 ABOVE:  The huge roadworks at Tamahere, where the new expressway will reconnect with the Hamilton-Cambridge expressway.  It's supposed to take 4 years to complete.
There's so much going on out of view, roads being made from Te Kauwhata to here... it will be awesome when it's opened.

Mostly, all we seem to see is dirt being moved from one pile to another!

ABOVE: It was a stunning winter's day, lots of sports being played.
We had lunch at Chartwell Square, then a bit of a wander around trying to find a new pillow for me.  But I couldn't find one.  

After that... home and a nana nap!   I had a bit of a headache and seriously, just tired!

Now I'm looking around thinking... hmmm gotta cook dinner.  And I have no idea what to cook...

Hee hee... Stew cooked!
Silly bugger dinner.  Cheerio sausages, spagetti and baked beans on toast.  Totally easy.

Coronation Street isn't on till freakin' almost 10 pm tonight! WTF?  It seems to be getting later and later.  I don't always want to stay up that late.  Grrrr.

Catch ya tomorrow.

HOME AND BACK TO NORMAL

So sometime today Bex and the boys are heading home.

We can't thank Bex enough for taking such good care of the kids and our home for us.  She has just had a taste of things to come (more kids)! lol

I was so impressed to arrive home to an immaculate home, well fed kids, dinner on the table, and no washing to be done!  *smiles*

Not to forget Steve, who drove down and attended a special meeting he had called at Griffin's school.  Griffin was being bullied, and Steve sorted it out for us in our absence.

We hope that issue will die down now and Griffin can carry on at his school without any more problems.

I will be spending this morning getting our personal washing done, then just relaxing probably.  We have had some really tiring days away... but we thoroughly enjoyed our time away.

Here's a few photos of the stuff we got while away, not much this trip away!

 ABOVE:  We got Brylee her first make up... just the basics but a good start for her.  She SQUEALED with delight!  That made me smile.  Now I have to show her how to apply it.

 ABOVE:  we got Griffin an 'adult' watch, something he wanted.

Both big kids got a special gift as a 'Thank You' for helping Bex with the little kids and doing jobs for her too.

AND they are just lovely kids, 'almost' all the time. *smiles*

 ABOVE: Poor Bex just got some wool!  lol

 ABOVE:  I found these wooden things in a random shop in Wellsford.  Perfect for holding almost empty bottles upside down, so you can drain the last of the contents out.  Rather nifty!

 ABOVE: I fell in love with this pottery Tuatara in a shop in Paihia.  

 ABOVE: Some cute fabric, to make a bag... from Whangarei.  The only fabric I bought the entire trip away!

 ABOVE:  I ummmm.... added to my melamine tray collection!  I think these four make my total over 40?  I really must add them up... later.

ABOVE:  This was the first thing I bought on our trip up north.  It's already in the garden.

OK... I'm off to get my washing on and make a start on our day.

ONWARD...

Awesome!  Bex kept the little kids down the other end of the house this morning, so Stew and I got to lie in bed late again.  Love it.

I took a wander outside:

 ABOVE:  Stew adjusting the wind whirlygig... it was a bit twisted up.

 ABOVE:  The new flower feature... isn't it pretty?

 ABOVE:  Seriously???  Still got strawberries growing!

I counted my melamine trays...

 ABOVE:  I have.... 48 PLUS one in the garage that Coco uses.    
I also have over half a dozen larger ones, but let's only count these ones eh?  *smiles*

ABOVE:  These two new ones are my new favourites.  The shell one... *drool*.
  
This lot has taken about 10 years to collect, I don't buy every one I have ever seen, just ones that I like ... or are dead cheap in an op shop.
edit:  feeling cheeky... if ya ever see one ya know I'd love... feel free to send it to me!  

 ABOVE:  Apparently I missed including the lipstick in the photo!  So... a new photo was insisted upon by Miss Brylee!

ABOVE:  Not much.. but OMG it sure added up!  She can buy her own from now on  *smiles*

So.... looking at my trays and Oops!  I see we now have two Cape Reinga trays, don't know how that happened.  I bought one in Paihia the other day without realising we already had one obviously.
I've got a few other double ups, but that's OK.

I've spent the afternoon tidying up paperwork, trying to get a system going where I don't end up with papers here, there and bloody everywhere!  I'm sick of it piling up on me coffee tables and computer desk in the family room.  *sigh*

Apart from that, I have been trying to catch up on some of my taped TV programmes.  
Bex and the boys left after lunch, so the noise levels have gone down, *smiles*.

Stew had to pop into Hamilton to do some business for a family member, then he took Griffin out to a local business, with the hope they will give him a part time job on the weekends.

He is looking for work experience in the building sector... so fingers crossed he gets a job soon.

Time to sign off for the day... it's been a nice day at home.

BUGGER IT... HEADING HOME

Sadly, today we have to head home.

This has been the most lovely time away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The kids have been good (mostly) for Bex while we've been away.

There is an issue that has to be dealt with, and Steve is taking today off work, travelling down to Cambridge and dealing with it for us.
I'm not going to elaborate on that, but it's something that has to be sorted out TODAY.  Thank god he's able to go down and sort it for us.

And we can still enjoy our last day away, knowing that he's got it in hand.

I took a few photos last night while out at dinner:

ABOVE:  The lady at the cruise boat business recommended this eatery ... so we went there last night.

 ABOVE:  We both had the seafood chowder... it was AMAZING, can thoroughly recommend it!

This place specialised in ribs... and the platters they kept bringing out to other diners were friggin HUGE!!!

ABOVE:  It was like they kept bringing out half a cow!  I don't know how people could eat all that!   edit: this photo courtesy of Google Images.  But indicative of the rib platters served there.

I couldn't even eat all my seafood chowder... derr.

ABOVE:  The waterfront at night, so darn pretty... and blue.  Gotta love the blue lights.

Right... time to get a move on, pack up and hit the road.
First stop... visit Lacy.

ONWARD...

A dog named Whiskey.

And eating jet planes on da road...
...
....
.....STILL...NOT...HOME.

IT'S A LONG WAY.

Finally home after a long trip... lots of traffic and fairly slow going in some places.

We spent a bit of time with Lacy this morning, meeting her new puppy:

 ABOVE:  This is Whiskey.  She's a pure breed Chihuahua.  Very small and cute.

 ABOVE: Jono's dog Misha loves her!  So adorable.

 ABOVE:  Just  a teeny, tiny handful of puppy.

After that visit, we headed south...stopping here and there for food/piddles and so on.

 ABOVE:  It was a hazy day... GOODBYE FAR NORTH.  It was an amazing, enjoyable holiday and we can't wait to go back one day.

 ABOVE:  I had to climb up a steep, slippery fence line to get that photo... meanwhile, Stew stopped and yakked to an Australian man who was on holiday too.  
He was on his way up north, heading for Cape Reinga.  Stew told him we had just been there.

ABOVE:  I had company on the fence line.  We just love fantails.

It's lovely to be home again.  It's noisy, busy... but HOME.

Time to wind down and relax before heading off to bed.