YOU JUST KNOW TODAY IS GOING TO MAKE ME SMILE!

I can't believe the new replacement lounge suite is arriving today!
I am so relieved this saga is going to be over... and kind of apprehensive too, because the new suite is quite dark in colour.  I am hoping it doesn't make the room look too 'closed in'?


Apart from waiting for that to arrive, my day is empty!  So I should be able to catch up on my blog reading ... commenting... and maybe even some sewing!


Crikey dick,  I have done very little sewing lately... Christmas is around the corner and I AM NOT READY!  I want to make everyone something for Christmas that I have sewn.   I hope I manage it.


So, until I can show you photos of the new lounge suite...


ONWARD...

ABOVE:  *sigh*.... try washing the floors with one of these in your hands!  NOT easy.  Kiba just would not settle down and sleep after breakfast this morning... he kept howling!  So I carried him around with me until he was asleep then put him with the rest of the pups.  

It reminded me so much of when I had babies... and had to do the exact same thing!  

I just got a phone call from the delivery company, the new lounge suite is arriving this afternoon between 1 and 3.... AWESOME.   Quite excited now....

Washing out, floors washed, prepared family room and lounge for new furniture... lots of vacuming involved... now going to have an early lunch as I'm knackered!

The delivery guys arrived early!  So, they took the old suite away and brought up the new... and left without unpacking any of it!  So, I had to... well I couldn't wait for my guys to get home could I???

 ABOVE:  bye bye old suite...

ABOVE:  I have to admit I was a bit miffed that the men did not do the unpacking... it was not that easy for me to lift that friggin couch up to get the wrapping off.

ABOVE:  the new lounge suite.. viewed from both ends of the lounge.  Well... what do ya think?  It's going to take me a while to adjust to the dark colour that's for sure.

ABOVE:   I haven't mentioned this have I?  That's because personally I don't give a shit about rugby... but Stew and the boys do... so they will be glued to the TV from now on... I think the World Cup lasts for 6? or 7 weeks.  OH YA.

End of Day:  well after saying I had NO interest in the Rugby World Cup I found myself watching the Opening Ceremony, which was Fantastic!   And now I'm amazing myself by watching the freakin game too!  So far we are leading by 29 to 3. 

nite nite.

STEVE'S FIRST DAY AT WORK

So... big excitement today as No' 5 (Steve) finally heads off to work.
I hope his day goes well and he enjoys being out working again.  I know I will enjoy it!  I get my main computer back!


Remember me saying I had found two items of 'treasure' yesterday, one of them being the muffin pan for feeding the pups?  Well here is the other treasure:

ABOVE:  if I can't call the car 'Kermit' then I will have Kermit IN IT !  lol

ABOVE:  The other night I ordered two fern decals for the Viva.  Our ferns will be black, and the silver paintwork on the car will show under them.  Most apt, considering so many of our sporting teams have the 'Silver Fern' as an emblem.
The decals are coming from Australia, so I have to wait a wee while for them.  DEBBIE: the decals will go on the body of the car somewhere... the photo above is just from the site that sells the decals.


Off to Pukekohe today, Griffin has his Speld lesson and I shall have a look around the shops in Pukekohe to kill time.  Such a chore having to shop.... lol!
ONWARD...
CRANKY:  re: your comment on yesterday's post.... I wanted to buy him a big bottle of spirits, but when I asked him what he drank, he said he does not drink AT ALL.  So I thought I'd give him some nice cards instead.  I am NO tight arse mate.


Busy morning!  I had done heaps of washing and  hung it out, vacumed, re-arranged a bedroom to fit the green bedsetee in, because when the new suite arrives tomorrow one of the 2.5 seater couches has to go in the family room.  So no room left for the bedsette.  And I don't want to get rid of it as it belonged to my brother Vern and I was given it when he died.


Time to head off to pick up Griffin ....


I dropped Griffin at his Speld Tutor's home and headed into Pukekohe, where I found the most gorgeous metal/copper shallow bowl and some gorgeous shell paper napkins, which I thought would be nice to add to the gift for Fred at Harvey Norman's.


I got home from there in the nick of time... as it was about to PISS DOWN with rain... huge ominous clouds above my house I tell ya!


So, after rescuing all the washing and bringing it in to air.. I wrapped up the gift and took it down to Fred ... he was so cute!  He gave me a REALLY BIG HUG!  Isn't it just the nicest feeling to make someone's day?


Home now and just relaxing for a wee while, I've been on the go all day...


End of Day:  YES, Steve did enjoy his day thanks.      He certainly has a bit of pep in his step now.  so happy for him.
nite nite.

PUPPY'S TODAY...GETTING SO BIG!

and PAINFUL!
They have freaking teeth now...

ABOVE:  I sit in the pen with them often, and they use my toes as teething bones!

ABOVE:  now that they have baby teeth coming through, it's not that much fun for me!    But they are all so damn adorable I really don't mind... too much.

ABOVE:  Chico, (formerly Pinky) is just so sociable!   The minute I get in the pen she is in my face.... and wee Tulip, behind her is a friendly wee girl too.

ABOVE: Chico getting a tummy rub.  They all love a good tummy rub.

ABOVE:  Up close and personal with Chico.  She has such soulful eyes.

TODAY:  off to work at the Hospice Shop.
Stew is back to work... and today is Steve's last day as an unemployed guy!  He starts work tomorrow!
WOO HOO.

ONWARD...
It was wonderful at work today!  Mrs Smelly Pants was away sick.  So I worked the counter by myself, which was lovely!
I found only two treasures at the shop today:

ABOVE:   one treasure was this shallow muffin pan, perfect for feeding the pups!  The other thing I won't put on the blog right now as I want Stew to see if first.

ABOVE:  this is where both Coco and Teddy sit and watch the puppy's all day!  
Last night the puppy's were making a lot of noise playing with each other and Teddy growled at them... so I'm not too sure how he will be once they are all running around in his 'territory'.... I think we will have to keep a very close eye on him.


Right, off to make some lunch for Steve and I...


Too funny!  When we took our vacum cleaner down for repair, the technician (a Korean Man) came out and said in very bad english " Maybee it bwoke?  I fix tomorrow"... 
So, Steve went down this afternoon to get it as it was ready ... and the same man came out from the back with our machine and said "It not bwoke now, gorbye"... Steve could hardly contain his laughter apparently.


I just heard from Fred at Harvey Norman's ... after ONLY 5 days he has our new lounge suite!!!    He is going to deliver it on Friday... I am gobsmacked!  Talk about excellent service. That Fred is a miracle worker.  I am going to give him a gift pack of my cards as a 'Thank You' from me. He deserves to be thanked for all he's done for us.  AND having to put up with me!  lol


End of Day:  another day done and dusted. Looking forward to a spa soon, then bed.
nite nite.

NOW... ANOTHER GRANDDAUGHTER TO SHOW OFF!

As I mentioned the other day, I had a Skype conversation with Russell (eldest Son) and Tess his partner the other night, and got lots of snapshots of Sienna, our youngest grandchild...

I just have to share!  She is just so beautiful...

ABOVE:  sorry for posting so many, but I simply could not narrow it down to just two or three nice ones!

TODAY:  definitely picking up the Holden Viva for Stew today.
Then we are heading over to Onehunga Dressmart to find shorts for Stew and Black work pants for Steve.
No doubt have lunch over there too...

ONWARD...

ABOVE: we are now the proud owners of a Holden Viva.  NOT named Kermit.  *sigh*... no one wants that name but me... so we have to choose another one.  Maybe it will just be called 'The Viva'.. how bloody original.  pfffffft.

Anyway, after buying the car we went over to Onehunga, where I got some summer clothes and Stew got some shorts.  Steve found only one pair of good black pants for work, so we stopped in at Farmers in Manukau on the way home for another pair.
Oh, and we had the most AWESOME lunch at a restaurant in Mission Bay....

ABOVE:  from Masala Restaurant, a Tandoor platter.  We shared a platter (OMG it was delicious) then we all had Butter Chicken... the guys had medium and I had mild.  AND that was fantastic too!    Totally stuffed for the rest of the afternoon now... but it was worth it!

Off now to toss the chicken that is marinating in a Teriyaki marinade for dinner.  NOT that I can even contemplate dinner right now.

ABOVE:  there is nothing like dinner by candlelight... no power sucks, at least the dinner was cooked before we lost power.  I missed the start of Coronation Street!  

ABOVE:  see the big black area?  That's where WE live. 

Luckily it wasn't out for too long,  as neither kid likes going to sleep in the dark. 

End of Day: a really neat day in all.  
nite nite.

GORGEOUS RENA...

Kelly visited yesterday with our Granddaughter, Rena.
Now usually when they visit it's a bit of a 'trial' for us,  as prior to yesterday Rena really didn't want anything to do with us... and would cry when we even looked at her!

BUT... yesterday she was a changed wee girl!
We had kisses and cuddles without tears, it was so nice.

Now of course I took a 'few' photos, so here we go!...








ABOVE:  CLEARLY... she takes after her Grandma in the looks department!   ha ha ha!




ABOVE:  she wasn't that keen on sitting next to Steve, but she let him lie down on her lap... and she scratched his face for him!  So Cute.


 ABOVE:  Checking out my jewellery... she ended up with my ear rings on her ears (see above photo) ... just hanging on inside her ears as she does not have pierced ears yet.


ABOVE:  we said "Where is your smile?"... trying to get a nice photo of her and Stew.   So with a child's logic... she pointed to her smile!   lol


 ABOVE: Stew got a lovely kiss goodbye... and I caught it!  Must say yesterdays visit was such a nice change from the past.

TODAY: Stew and I are doing the grocery shopping, and finalising the finance for the car.  All going well TOMORROW we can pick it up.

ONWARD...

*sigh*.... so while I had it easy yesterday...I am not today.  The guys are still asleep, and I've washed and hung out 4 loads of washing, got the kids off to school and totally rearranged the pups pen so they have more room.

Once upon a time I could fit all 6 puppy's in one laundry basket, but not now.  I have to use two... and this morning Coco did this:

 ABOVE:  She got in the smaller basket with two of the pups!  It was so sweet.  The other 4 pups are in the white basket, Coco couldn't fit in there.  *smiles*

ABOVE:  here we have the enlarged puppy pen.  Now when we approach their pen the pups don't have to walk through the 'toilet area' to get to us.

ABOVE: I've been looking for a while for a nice towelling robe to put on when I come out of the spa.. I found one yesterday.  I'm very happy cos it ain't BLACK.  Hideous photo... got me hair up ready to get in the spa. 

End of Day:  it's been a nice day in all... hopefully all goes well tomorrow with getting the car!
nite nite.

 

ANOTHER INTERESTING DAY AHEAD...

First off, Kelly and Rena are visiting.  We haven't had them here for a while as we didn't want an inquisitive 3 year old near the pups....it would have been too stressful for Coco.
As it is we will have to 'fence off' the pups from Rena,  as I'm sure she will try to touch them!  We can't have that as they are still too little.

Then after lunch we are expecting Jaxx from Rotorua to visit ... she is picking her girl puppy!  I am so happy she is going to adopt one of our pups... at least I will be able to see how she (the pup) is doing on Jaxx's blog!

I wonder which girl she will pick???
Quite exciting.... and I know Jaxx is very excited too.  

And that's all we are expecting to happen today!

As promised yesterday, here is an up-to-date photo of the puppy's Dad, Mac:

ABOVE: this is Mac.  He's a fine specimen of a boy!  And he has a really lovely nature... very friendly.

ABOVE:  here we have Rhino (Grey boy) thinking about how to get out of the box!  It won't be long before we have to shut that door!

I am going to start referring to the puppy's by their 'colour' again.... the breeder yesterday said it makes it harder to sell them if they 'seem' to already have a name!  So, back to colours when referring to them.  (in our home they will still be called by the names we gave them)

ONWARD...

I got out of bed (finally) just as Kelly arrived!  hee hee.
It's Father's Day here today, so because it's so hard to buy ANYTHING for Stew we went down to the Mall so he could choose something.
But... Steve rang and said Jackie was due to arrive so we headed back home ...

Jackie and her Husband David arrived and after much discussion chose Pinky as their new dog.
I'm sure if they could have, they would have taken her home right there and then!

ABOVE:  Jackie with Pinky (no new name yet)...

ABOVE:  me and Jackie and Pinky (asleep, bless her heart) ... Coco never left Jackie alone while she had her puppy!  Super protective she is, such a good mummy dog.

Now that our visitors have left I really should do a bit of housework... Steve and Stew have gone down to Rebel Sports, Stew thinks he will get some shorts for summer and Steve needs a couple more black trousers for work.  WORK!... he starts this Thursday!   I can't wait.... he is going to be so much happier having a job.

ABOVE:  so ....it's Fathers Day... and Stew got up and fed the kids breakfast, then he put a curry on in the crock pot and hung out the washing.... and now?  He just bought ME flowers!  What a man eh?

End of Day:  Stew's curry was WONDERFUL!  What a treat not having to cook on the weekends.
Our son Russell and his partner Tess were on Skype tonight so we got to have a chat and see our youngest Granddaughter Sienna too.  She is the most adorable, cute, smiley little baby!
I took lots of 'snapshots' and will post some of them in a couple of days. 
nite nite.

FINGERS CROSSED

Hopefully we can go and pick up our new little car today.... we have the finances in place ... just need it to go in the bank!  So, once Stew is outta bed he can check...

so... fingers crossed the money is in so we can go get KERMIT. Otherwise it will have to wait until Monday.  I am not that good at waiting!

ABOVE:  Kermit.  I hope we can get him today.

The other nice thing to be happening today is a visit from Paula, the owner of Mac.  Mac is the 'Baby Daddy' of Coco's puppy's.
I wonder how he will be with them?
I bet Coco will be all  over him!  She really liked him.

No smutty thoughts either!  She really loved playing with him when he wasn't trying to bonk her!

OH... Stew has got Monday and Tuesday off work too... he hasn't had a break from work since January and desperately needs a rest.
His job is very stressful... lots of targets and responsibility.

I managed to get lots of washing done yesterday, aired it and folded it up on the couch.  It's still there....  have you heard of the children's story 'The Princess and the Pea'?
Well in this house...

ABOVE:  we have 'Teddy and the Pea' ... lol.

ABOVE: this was so funny!  All the pups curled up in a ball and went to sleep, except Pink. She wanted to play... she tried chewing on Grey's legs... but he was sound asleep, so she reluctantly lay down in a huff!    She has such an expressive little face and is full of spunk.

DAMN... no car buying today afterall.  It will have to be Tuesday at the earliest now.  Grrrr, off to think of something else to do this morning now.

We went down to Harvey Norman's so Stew could see the lounge suite I have chosen.. luckily he likes it!
Then we headed over to St Lukes for lunch and a look around. 
Now home and waiting for Paula to arrive with Mac to see the puppy's.

 *** PEPSI UPDATED *** PEPSI UPDATED *** PEPSI UPDATED ***

PEPSI is my PRIVATE Blog.  It's where I go to rant and rave.  Usually about someone in the family who has upset me.  It doesn't happen too often.  I am not adding anyone else to the reading list right now as it is full.  You can only have 100 readers on a Private Blog.  Sorry.

The owners of Mac  (pup's Dad),  arrived and thought our pups were just gorgeous!  Well.. no surprise there really!  lol
I took photos of Mac again, will put them up on the blog tomorrow.

End of Day:  wasn't such a nice day towards the end of it... but Stew cooking dinner WAS nice.  He followed dinner up with dessert (a Magnum Ice cream)... YUM!
nite nite

MAYBE THE NEW VIVA IS NUMBER 3?

I told you all the other day about needing to buy another car for Stew (Husband) to get him to and from work eh?
Well we have been working on getting the finance in place so we could do that.  It's looking good!  So maybe that is our three in a row of good luck?

Shame really, cos I would have much rather won LOTTO as our number three.  But still... at least we don't have to worry about how the man will get to work now. 

We still have the company car for another month or two, so I'm thinking Steve will be able to use Kermit the Viva in the meantime?  Will have to look into getting him listed as a driver on our insurance me thinks.  He already uses my Highlander on and off...

TODAY?  Well.. I'm not sure!
Perhaps I could have a go at putting those darts in the apron I made the other day to make it fit better?
Then maybe start on a wee girl's dress!  Now there's an idea...

ONWARD...

I just spent 40 MINUTES on the phone organising insurance for the new car!  OMG... 40 bloody minutes!  AND it's going to cost an arm and a leg to insure it.... As Stew just said ... we need to look around and get prices on an alternative insurer as the one we are with now is SO EXPENSIVE!  It's going to cost over $100 A WEEK to cover our home/contents/and two cars.  *sigh*
I know it's a necessary evil... but still... 0ver $100 a week is daylight robbery!

ABOVE:  There is just NO WAY all the pups can fit along Coco's body now to feed.... so this is what they do!  That is Bruiser lying over Coco to feed!  Too funny.  I'm going to start trying them on Pro Plan Puppy food in a day or two... they will probably need it very soon as Coco is feeding them less often.

JAXX:  yes Coco will have another litter, but not for a year or so.  She will need to build up her condition again before we think about making her go through all that again.  It takes a lot out of the Mother dog to grow,  then feed pups.

As we have thoroughly enjoyed breeding (so far) I don't see why we wouldn't do it again!  It's been magical really... a really neat experience for the whole family.

Teddy still does not have much to do with the pups, he sniffs them but when they try to interact with him he backs away.  I think he's scared of getting 'told off' by Coco!  lol   Once the pups are running around in the family room I think we will have to monitor how he takes to them... he can be a bit stroppy ... so better safe than sorry.

Stew's use of the Company Car was not 'free'.. he had a large chunk of money taken out of his salary every year to cover the costs to the company.  Now we will be getting that money 'back' in the form of an increase in his pay. (that will cover the cost of purchasing the car and running it)

The car we are buying will be our own, not just for getting him to and from work... so we do not expect to 'charge' the company for his using it to get to work.

We will certainly investigate other insurance companies... Tracy thanks for that info.
It certainly is NOT the right time to be switching insurer's, but we will be looking into it to make sure we are not paying more than we need to.

TINA: Hindsight is a wonderful thing eh?  We got Teddy 18 months before we got Coco, and we had him NEUTERED as we did not want a 'humpy' boy dog as we had babies/toddlers in our house often.   Ikkk... humpy dogs and babies?  I think not.

End of Day:  Spare ribs marinated in Sticky Rib Marinade for 24 hours.  DELICIOUS.  That is all.
nite nite.

PUKEKOHE TODAY

So, it's Speld day for Griffin....  so I'm going to drop him off at his Tutor's home then I'm going into Pukekohe to have a good look around their Harvey Norman store.

ABOVE:  a couple of cute wee videos of the puppy's ...  Jaxx as requested, the 2nd video is of Bee Bee standing up having a piddle!  lol

ABOVE:  AND I'll follow the videos up with a few photos of the pups interacting with us last night.  In the last photo Rhino is trying to bite Tulip's face off!  So cute.  (they have NO teeth yet)

ONWARD...

Harvey Norman's in Pukekohe did not have anything different so it was kind of a waste of time going there.  But nevermind.
I am looking forward to going back to the Manukau store in the weekend and finalising our new purchase. 
It's a weird day today... really sunny one minute then torrential rain the next.  I'm not impressed.  I've got masses of washing on the line... grrrrr.  It will all have to be put through the washing machine again and hung on racks in the garage by the look of it.

BELLA: Yes, when we take delivery of the new lounge suite they will take away our other one.

I rang Godfrey's to see if our vacum cleaner was fixed and ready to be picked up.  The lady said 'YES' so we jumped in the car and went down to get it.  She brought it out from the back... WRONG VACUM.. Right brand, but not ours.  Seems she stuffed up the numbers on the docket.  Grrrrrr.  I was MAD... so just said: "So I drove all the way down here for NOTHING then?" and walked out.

As Harvey Norman's is very close to the vacum shop I popped in to talk to Fred to see if I could have the lounge suite I chose yesterday AND another 2.5 seater recliner couch the same as the other new one... and he said 'YES'... so that's what I am now getting instead of a bed for Griffin.  And I don't have to pay any 'difference' in price either, so I'm very happy.

Time to get me butt into the kitchen and start dinner now... beef stew and veges.

End of Day:  dinner was lovely... been watching tv and now... off to have a spa before heading off to bed.
nite nite.