BUSY DAY

 It's going to be a busy day today.

First up, I AM going for a walk.

I didn't think I would have time, but I will make time.

Then I have to return the huge container of Chlorine I bought yesterday.

I couldn't get it open, and neither could Stew.

So it has to go back to the shop, for them to get open.  IF they can.

I'm not leaving the shop until I have an opened container, that's for sure.

At lunch time, I'm off to the Weight Watchers Meeting.  I have gained a bit of weight the past couple of weeks... emotional eating is my major downfall.

It would have been HEAPS MORE, if it were not for my walking keeping the damage less than it could have been!

That is why walking is so very important!  Not just for fitness and mental well being, but damage control!  lol 😂😅😖

ABOVE:  I whipped this bowl cosy up last night, cos I had half an hour to kill before RFDS came on the telly!  I LOVE IT (the cosy).

So pretty.

I have one more like it, cut out ready for sewing, so I shall get that done today.

After WW, I am going to the bank for cash, followed by a visit with Lacy for a while, then I'll  come home.

Once home, I'll pack our day bags, get our clothes laid out for market, etc etc.

Tomorrow's market is literally JUST up the road, but we still need to be there by 6 am to avoid the congestion and chaos.  Well hopefully we do.

While there was heaps of cloud around this morning, while Lacy and I did our walk, the freakin' sun was out.  So typical.

But, it was a good walk.

I took along bird food...

ABOVE: While all the birds came up to us and took the bird seeds, this duck!  He was extra bolshy and pushy.

Did you know that being pecked by a duck does not hurt!  

We now know this.

ABOVE: Today's stats.  Lacy has lost some of her fitness since not walking much over the past two weeks.  But she kept up with a couple of stops here and there.

DUCK, DUCK... GOOSE.  😂😊😉

ABOVE:  I picked our first three lettuces this morning.  We shall be having lettuce/ham/egg salads for our lunch tomorrow at the market.

ABOVE: The girl at the pool shop managed to get the top off the chlorine container, using a huge crescent type tool.  I reckon it's not the first time this has happened.

I bought a new 'tap' lid for the container, so I could transfer smaller quantities to a smaller bottle.  Works perfectly.

Now that is done... time to make sure everything is in the van for tomorrow.  

2.35 pm:  Gosh it's been a bit hectic from 10-2.  But I got everything done.

Weight Watchers Meeting:  I went up by 1 kg.  Hugely relieved as I realise it could have been so much worse, and I expected worse.

After WW, I did a very quick grocery shop and grabbed cash for tomorrow's market.

Then over to Lacy's... then back home.

Now... I've just had some lunch, a ham/cheese and pineapple toasted sandwich.   I was starving!

Next on my list is to sort out the salads we shall have for our lunch tomorrow.  I ended up buying a cooked chook.  Which will be lovely with a nice salad.

Oh and somewhere along the line I managed to sew up two more bowl cosy's!  Not bad going.

SPARROWS FART

 Had planned on walking really early today. But I've got a thumping  headache...so that plan just went out the window.

ABOVE:  Today's bowl cosys to be sewn up.  Once I've got them done I know I won't need to make any more for a while.

It's neat how I've gotten on a roll, and am churning them out so fast.

Right,  ...

10.20 am.  Bit of  a late start today.  Once up, I went and bought liquid chlorine for the pool, got it home and damned if I can get the lid off!

I will have to wait for Stew to get home and open it now.  Grrrr.

And now... I'm finally about to start sewing for the day.

1.40 pm:  And I'm pretty much done for the day in the sewing room.

ABOVE:  Today's crop of cosys.  

I'm now taking a break. Probably have some lunch.

Then I want to get all the cosy's already made weeks/months ago, and re-press them and freshen them up.

I'm reading that quite a few people have to jump through hurdles to leave a comment.

So I've taken comment moderation off ... FOR NOW.  Please let me know if that makes a difference ok?

COMFY?

YEAH.

2.45 pm:   And I just had a good, brisk walk on our treadmill.  With two fans on, and my spray bottle as well.   I spray water on me face and the fans do the rest.  It helps a bit to keep me cool.

ABOVE:  I have no idea if that distance is 3 miles, or 3 kilometres!   If it's kilometres, then I was certainly NOT going very fast!  If it was recording in miles, then I did 4.8 kms.  I can't believe either of them really.  *sigh*

Time to just relax for a while.

So the treadmill reads in Kms.  So I wasn't going as fast as I thought the entire time.  Pfffft.  Must do better!  Or not.  It's all exercise, and that's what matters.

Dammit!  I had a huge spiel typed up, and lost it somehow.

Grrr.

It's been a quiet evening, much like usual really.

It's never too late to learn lessons, just wish I didn't have to sometimes.  I should know by now when to just shut the fuck up.

Bite my tongue and let it go.  

It's just NOT WORTH IT.

And on that shitty note, I'm outta here.

WALK, THEN SEWING

 First up for the day, an early walk.

Got company again today.

Lacy needs to keep her arm in a sling when she's walking... but at least she can walk again.

I've missed her craziness.

I'm gunna have to take some Panadol before I go walking, as my lower back is so sore!  Sewing for long periods of time always does that to me.  Well that, and bending over the cutting table.  And weeding.  And cleaning the pool.

Totally overdid it yesterday, for sure.

And that's it for now... catch ya later.

ABOVE: Walk was lovely today, but OMG it's starting to get too hot!  It was fine for the first 2/3rds of the walk, but the last stretch?  HOT.

I can see us having to leave even earlier to beat the heat soon.

And I loathe getting up that early.  *sigh*  😞😢😩

Home now, and about to get stuck into the sewing.  

The weather forecast for Saturday keeps changing.  WAS going to be HEAVY RAIN, now it's saying Cloudy.  It will be what it will be eh?

Right.... back to me sewing.

11.07 am:  And I've done 4 cosy's so far.

ABOVE:  I made a totally different one!  I love the more natural colours of this one ... might make another one.   

The other three were in reds.  Cos I actually had no red ones at all.

ABOVE: Today's effort.  13 Bowl Cosy's.  I could make more, but I'm done.

I will now cut out a few to sew up tomorrow.

Then stop work for the day.

8.30 pm:  I'm very happy with my day.  Got heaps done.  And now we are just happily watching the telly till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

TWISTED POLE #2

 Like the Braid Runners before them, the Twisted Pole Runners can have endless colour combinations.

This is the second one:

ABOVE:  Very effective adding a third primary colour into it.

I am looking forward to trying a few other colour combinations later on.

But for now, I have two jobs lined up for today.

ABOVE:  I doubt I'll iron all of them.  Cos I'd rather scrub toilets all day than iron shirts!

I will probably do 3-4, then go and make a Bowl Cosy.  Then do a few more... and repeat.

Bowl Cosys will be made today as I need to build up my stock on them before all the pre-Christmas markets.

I don't know about you, but I have a favourite set of kitchen 'tongs', that I use all the time.

I have 2-3 others that are much larger, that I don't like using at all.

So I asked Stew to pop into a shop next door to his office, and get us some more of the little ones that I prefer.

He came home with these:

ABOVE:  Three lovely small tongs, and two others that you can use to hold and flip stuff with.  Brilliant idea!  Love them.

I find the small tongs are perfect for putting in salad bowls etc when you have company.

And yes, Marley just loves investigating everything that comes into the house, no matter what it is.  And Photo Bombing of course.  Such a tart.

1.40 pm:

Sorry!  I've been working in the sewing room for the past 5 and a half hours.

Lacy went for a lake walk on her own today, as I wanted to get to work on the bowl cosy's.  I'll join her tomorrow.

When she left, I gave her a container with several pieces of the slice:

ABOVE: Rest assured, it's amazing!

I want Bex to come over and take the rest home... we certainly don't want to eat it all.

ABOVE:  I have made 9 Bowl Cosy's so far today.

I hope to get a few more made after I've taken a lunch break.

ALL THOSE SHIRTS got ironed this morning too!  Only 13, which was good as I thought there were more than that.

4.53 pm:  I cut out 8 more Bowl cosy's to sew up tomorrow.  My back was KILLING ME after that, so I decided to call a halt to any more work in the sewing room.

And then I went outside and pulled some weeds and scrubbed the bottom of the pool instead!

Yeah.

Not exactly relaxing.

Bex and the boys called in to pick up the Slice, I'm sure they will enjoy it.

I've just had a relaxing hot shower, washed me hair, put on me face and in about an hour I will go to me WW meeting.  NOT TO WEIGH IN THOUGH.

I am going to attend the Friday meeting and weigh in then.  

I allowed my emotions to dictate my eating over the past couple of weeks... no one to blame but me.

Moving on.  There's always going to be up's and down's in a weight loss endeavour, I know this only too well.

I can do better.   It is not all lost in two weeks!

Now that I'm sitting down actually doing NOTHING, I realise how tired I am.  I could go to bed right now and would no doubt fall asleep right away.

And wake up at 2 am bright as a button, rearing to go.

I think I better not lie down any time soon.  2 am is not an attractive time of the day. 😂😊😉

Right.  Been out to dinner to the Indian restaurant.  I think I'm over it now!

Might give it a miss for a month.

Catch ya tomorrow.

I LOVE THIS ONE

 I'm always saying "I LOVE THIS ONE" eh?

LOL

I'm gunna do it again.

ABOVE: There ya go.  My first ever Twisted Pole Runner.

I wonder how many I will make over time?

Late, late last night I plotted my next one...

ABOVE:  I drew this one up at around 11 pm last night, then I cut out the fabrics.

Today I will sew it up.  

After this one is completed, I'll do what I should be doing, and make more Bowl Cosys.

Though as the weather is looking like utter CRAP this coming Saturday, I'm not expecting it to be a good market to be honest.

Which is a shame, as it's quite a big market, with around 188 stalls.  All out on a field, exposed to the elements.  😞💩💩💩

Right, enough bitching.   I'm off for my morning walk.  

The weather is lovely for walking... cloudy, even  possibly raining at some point.  Crazy how I don't mind rain at all, except when it's a market day!  Well, OK, it's not crazy actually.  Derrr.  

9.30 am:  As I needed to do some banking today, I decided today's walk would be down to the bank at Rototuna.  As it was quite cloudy, I left in a sweatshirt, not thinking I would overheat.

I did.

Soooo bloody stupid of me.  I should know by now that I should NEVER walk in a sweatshirt, no matter what the weather.

ABOVE:  By the time I got to the shops, the sun was coming out, and as it had been raining, it was like walking in a sauna!

ABOVE: On my way home, my only respite from the heat was under these trees.  I was so thankful to stop for a while.

ABOVE:  My walk stats reflect how uncomfortable I was.  A bit slow, but at the end of the day, it was exercise.  And that's what matters to me.

Now... it's time to get a few household jobs done, then I can get back to sewing.

ABOVE:  Quilting.

ABOVE:  Ominous .... just waiting for the downpour.

Well after all those dark, ominous clouds moving to the right across my sewing room, about 2 hours later then wandered back!  But didn't burst.  Just a few spits so far.  And some thunder.

There's a Thunderstorm warning out... so maybe we will get a storm yet?

I LOVE storms.

Stew arrrived home as per... and then I decided to do some baking.

You know that Chocolate Brownie/Cornflake Caramel slice we bought at the Tamahere Market on Saturday?

Well I found several recipes for it... so I'm trying to make it myself.

I'll let ya know how that goes... once it's done and set.

Probably won't be ready till midnight! lol

Stew is like, bugger.  😕🍰

8.51 pm:  Well the slice is in the fridge.

Let's see if we can leave it alone long enough to set!  lol

Photo tomorrow.

Catch ya then.

YEAH... NAH.... CHANGED MY MIND

 I was going to carry on working with that new, colourful table runner today.

But, Yeah nah, I saw another one I wanted to do even more.  

ABOVE:  It's called a 'Twisted Pole' Runner.  I drew up my colourway last night, and today I will make a start on it.

But all accounts, it's very easy to put together. We shall see.

I will work on it until mid morning, then I'll take a break as we have family coming for lunch.

I'm doing my 'usual', and making scones for lunch.  Strawberry jam and cream.  And cocktail sausages for the kids.

We should have a nice, cruisy, family type day I reckon. With some sewing thrown in for fun along the way.  😌😊😉

ABOVE:  Progress!  LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  Not stitched any of the squares together yet.  That will happen later on today, or tomorrow.

edit:  YES I know the bottom two blocks (left and right) are laid down incorrectly!  I will fix it later.

ABOVE: Lacy came over with Onyx, so the little boys could see him. 

Coco wants to breastfeed him.

Marley wants him for lunch.

ABOVE: This dick got hold of my phone.  AGAIN.

Lunch is served, hot scones and cocktail sausages.

ABOVE:  And there's the belly... oh and Bex of course.  Third Trimester ... January can't come soon enough.

5.16 pm:  I've been sewing since the family went home after lunch.  And I finished the runner!

I will show it to you tomorrow... cos it gives me something to show you first up for the day eh?  😃😊

Stew and I are now just going to be relaxing for the remainder of the evening.  Telly. Dinner.  All the usual stuff.

Catch ya tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIFFIN ... TAMAHERE MARKET

Today is Griffin's birthday.

ABOVE: The very first photo of Griffin (and Brylee) on this blog... way back in October, 2006!  He was almost 5 years old.

ABOVE: And there he is this year.  Changed a bit eh?  lol

HAPPY 22ND BIRTHDAY GIFFIN.  Dad and I wish you a very happy day.

Well... the weather looks like shit.

So, we head off to market knowing it's going to be a slow day most likely.

But we go because we do enjoy them usually, and at least at the Tamahere Market, we know the 'regulars' will come.

We don't have much to do before we leave, just get dressed, face on, food and drinks in our day bags, then off we go.

So, until we are all set up and can relax a bit... catch ya later.

... well I can't say it's been fun setting up in the rain... it took quite a bit  longer and was a pain in the arse.

But it's done now and we are finally sitting down having a bite to eat.

ABOVE: We had to set up slightly different this time to avoid stuff getting rained on.  No extra rack out the side today.

ABOVE: This lovely young couple sell delectable slices and earrings.

Above: We clearly didn't buy earrings.

10 am. Steady persistent rain. Cold. Wish I could lie and say it's going well.... but no. Slow trickle of shoppers/browsers. Eating shit to take the edge off the boredom. Hoping it picks up soon. It MIGHT.

ABOVE: Can smile a bit. While it's still raining, our day is going relatively well. 

2 pm:  Home.  Market wrap up:   Average attendance by shoppers.  We eventually did an 'average' days trade.  So not a disaster like last weekend.

The rain never stopped at all... and I did end up getting really cold, as I didn't have all my winter warmers with me.  I seriously didn't think I'd need them.

Lesson learnt there.

Take ya warm shit... cos you never know if it's going to be cold or not.

Luckily Stew did have a short sleeved thermal in his day bag, so I put that on under my hoodie top.

ABOVE: One of the downsides of a wet market, you end up having to dry everything out.  At least my products didn't get wet.

We set the stall up in such a way that nothing got wet.  We couldn't put out as much stock, but that didn't matter.

My job over the next week is to make more Bowl Cosys.  I sold quite a few today, so need to build the numbers back up.

Right now though, I'm in me lazy boy, feet up, blankie on, warming up again.  Listening to the freakin' rain outside, glad I'm not out in it.

LOL... I ended up having an hour long nana nap!  Then we had dinner and watched the telly.  After that I  did some prep work on what I shall work on tomorrow in the sewing room.  

Catch ya tomorrow.