LET'S HAVE A POSITIVE DAY!

There is only one thing on our agenda today, and that is to go over to Albany and meet up with a fellow blogger for lunch.

I've 'known' Vic for a long time, but never had the opportunity to meet her before.
So, today is the day.

Quite excited really!  She seems to be a lovely young woman, old enough to be one of my own kids in fact.  I've given her some advice and hugs over the years (and visa versa), so it will be neat to finally meet her.

Of course I will be dragging Stew and the kids along too... so she will get to meet all of us in one foul hit.  ha ha ha.
Poor girl, I hope we don't intimidate her!

After that I think we shall be coming home and doing some housework... and maybe some blog reading too?  Time will tell.
The weather is supposed to be iffy again today... so no walking in the park, which would have been nice for Keera and the dogs I'm sure.

NO TALLULAH!  Not the curtains!

AND NOT THE DARN CHAIR CUSHIONS EITHER!

Keera in the background.  Lying in the sunshine after having just played with that pesky little puppy.

ONWARD...

Well. .. I got the day wrong and ended up going out to the airport first thing this morning to catch up with Anne from Palmerston North! 

After an hour I had to race back home and get the family so we could then go have lunch with Vic fron Albany!  

AND I forgot to take any photos! What a piss poor blogger am I?  

Kerra managed to piddle through all her clothes so now we are buying her new, dry ones in the mall! Derrr.

I've been rather quiet eh?  That's because we've done bugger all this afternoon.
On our way home from lunch with Vic, we stopped in at Kings Storage in Botany and reserved a storage space for us.

Next weekend we shall be taking over, and putting into storage, all the furniture and what-nots we simply are not using right now, that way de-cluttering the house and the limited storage we have in this house.

In a year or so we will be able to reassess what we do still want, and then we will get rid of everything else.

I'm sick to death of the clutter in the house, and so is Stew.

We use the spare bedroom for our clothes etc, and it's so cluttered in there now we can hardly move.

Dinner tonight was takeaways, no one felt like cooking.  The guys have been watching their TV shows in the Family room and I've been watching mine in the lounge.

Keera had a very late nap, so she went to bed quite late.  Here's hoping she sleeps in a little bit.

This last week of the holidays was the time Stew and I were looking forward to actually having a sleep in, and just relaxing! Best laid plans eh?

Tomorrow we return Keera to Lacy in Tauranga, then spend the night at our friends home there.  Time out!  A few drinkies!  A sleep in?  Fingers crossed.

End of Day:  it was a lovely day seeing Anne, and then Vic!  And doing something positive about de-cluttering this house for a while.  Awesome.
nite nite

HAIR & MOVIE

Today we do have some plans.

I'm getting my hair done in the morning, and Stew will look after the kids and Keera while I'm out.

Then when I get home, he's taking Brylee and Griffin to a movie, while I look after Keera at home.
She's too young to sit through an entire movie without getting restless.

I'm looking forward to getting my hair done again, it's been 9 months since I had me colours done!!!  That's a long time.  But, I simply didn't want to spend money on me hair when I could buy fabric, or get the dog's groomed instead!

So, it's my turn to get groomed!  lol

 ABOVE:  puppy... she likes shoes.  My slippers are very yummy it would appear.

ABOVE: I forgot this... they walked the elephant around a bit... and let people stand and look at it.  No different from when it was behind a fence really.  I'm not keen on this sort of thing, too much can go wrong if that big animal decides to pack a wobbly!

But, it seemed to be very calm so I wasn't overly concerned.  

I still find it hard to forget the scary experience we had at the zoo a few years ago when there was a full scale alarm when the keepers thought an orangutan had escaped, and we all had to be rushed into the old elephant house for safety!  That terrified me.  I still keep waiting to run for it!  *smiles*

Right ... I shall bugger off and get myself ready to go out to the hair salon... feed the puppy, the toddler, bla bla bla.

ONWARD...

I can already tell this hair colour is going to be a fail. .. Dammit. 

The colourist doing it isn't going close enough to the scalp, so I'm gunna have massive regrowth showing in a week. So annoyed and I've not even had it washed off yet!  totally bummed.

I just left the salon... trying NOT to cry.  It is a shambles.  When I got home the family said they could 'only just tell' I'd had anything done at the front, and at the back (with me hair up) it looks streaky and PURPLE/GREY.  

I have rung the salon and complained, and asked to speak to the Manager.  She's not there right now, so I have to wait for her to call me back.

I KNEW as the stylist was doing my hair it was going to be a disaster!

ABOVE:  Opinions please.  AM I BEING TOO FUSSY?

On the home front, Miss Muppet and Dante are asleep, Tallulah is asleep and everyone else is having lunch.  Suppose I will too then.

Salon Manager just rang, she is going to re-do my hair next Wednesday... I'm so thankful.  There is NOTHING worse than a bad hair colour!

SPARKLING:  I rang them, but the Manager actually saw me leaving the salon and she said she thought it looking pretty bad too!  Why didn't she call me back I wonder?  She must have seen I was really unhappy.  I was struggling not to cry, it must have been pretty obvious!

Oh well... harms done, and will be fixed free of charge next Wednesday morning.  I just wish it didn't mean sitting in there for another 3 hours.

Dinner is in the oven, and it's smelling awesome! Pork Belly and some Slow Roast (Hangi) Pork as well... it will be interesting to see how the Slow Roast pork comes out.  I've never bought that before, but decided to give it a go.  Ya have to give these things a go eh?

Verdict on the Slow Roast Pork?  Not good.  The meat was too dry and the crackling too tough.  We will leave that cut for someone's hangi I think!

End of Day:  didn't go quite as planned, but oh well... tomorrow is another day!

EXPECTING ANOTHER FREEZING COLD DAY

The whole country is freezing!  Talk about a late winter blast.

And to make matters worse, we can't even go to our favourite mall as the power has been out there for the last two days!  I think the power company is hoping to get the power back on there and in the surrounding suburbs today?

Because of the weather, we have been staying home and trying to just keep warm and keep the kids amused.  It's easy with the 'big' kids, they have their electronic games, X Box etc.

Keera and Dante are not too bad either... having each other to play with has been a novelty for them both.  I do think they have missed each other, and are really enjoying playing together.

I'm finding it too darn cold to be sewing in the garage, so I've put it all on hold for now.
I'm not prepared to sew while being freezing!

ABOVE:  Kisses for Uncle Steve, awww.

ABOVE: all settled in on the couch for a couple of hours last night.  Stew and all 3 dogs.  Tallulah can't actually climb on top of Stew YET, neither Teddy or Coco will let her!

Coco even growled her when she tried it!  Poor puppy.  She is well settled in ... no more hysterical screaming or crying... she even sleeps on her own in the lounge now!

I expect she will be able to sleep with Teddy and Coco in the laundry eventually.

Right, I'm off to see what's the haps for today.  Maybe Stew has an idea or two?  I know I don't!  I just want to keep warm.

ONWARD...

So, the weather has done a 380 and now it's sunshine all over!  Typical spring type weather.
Bex has gone out with a girlfriend this morning.  So, I'm thinking we might go out somewhere too.... just don't know where?

As today looks like being the only fine one for the next few days, we are taking this chance to take Keera to the Zoo.  So... catch ya later!

The Zoo.  Weather was wonderful.
Sometimes too hot even!

I'm not going to lie:

Animals:  of the (lets say) 100 animals there, we saw maybe 40.  Of those 40, 20 of them were asleep or partially hidden.  The remaining 20 were either just standing or lying in their enclosures.  NONE were active or engaging or remotely interesting for us or Keera to look at.

The highlight of our visit there was the potato chips.... I can't say 'hot chips' cos they were not hot.

So, a really disappointing visit.  And not something we will be doing again in a hurry, we can think of many other ways to spend that sort of money and get more enjoyment out of it!

I did take some photos:

 ABOVE: Giraffe's, standing around doing NOTHING.

ABOVE: Lions... sleeping. I was mildly amused by how that lion had it's hind leg up.  Mildly.

 ABOVE: one sad, lonely elephant.

ABOVE:  Sleeping Sumatran Tigers.  

 ABOVE:  The one rhino on show.  The other two were in their enclosures, not on show.  So, no fighting over their poo piles... which I once saw years ago and found hysterical.

ABOVE:  Highlight!  Chips.

ABOVE:  A mum and her three little girls, all dressed in the same tops.  So cute.  

So, there ya go.  Could have been better, but it wasn't.   It was NICE to get out for a few hours I suppose, Keera loves going out!  She had fun running around on the grass at the zoo and chasing another little girl too.

She's now having a nap.  And I was going to cook Pork Belly, but looking at the time.. WHOOPS!  No time, dinner would end up being after 9 pm.  So, we shall have corn fritters instead.  Yummo. 

End of Day:  well me corn fritters went down a treat!  Even the littlies ate them ... albeit a bit reluctantly... lol.
Sprinkles of grated cheese helped.

Watched some mindless TV after dinner... and now it's bedtime.
nite nite

DAMMIT

Bex has to have a blood test (pregnancy related) and the bitch reminded me I had to get one too.

Frig.  Last one hurt like bejezzus... so of course I'm not looking forward to  having another one.  But, Bex will only nag me if I don't go... *sigh*

At least we can leave the two toddlers and big kids with Stew!

My plans for the rest of the day?  Spend time with the kids, especially Keera... and my puppy of course.

Then, if Stew's cool watching them, I will get downstairs and do some sewing.

I'm itching to get some work done on Judith's wallhanging!  

I have been interested in taking photos of old derelict buildings/barns/houses etc for ages, and yesterday I finally got my first one:

ABOVE:  I wonder about it's history?  Was is someone's home?  A happy place to be?  I will never know of course.  I really like looking at old places.  Do you? 

ONWARD...

Bex and I have been waiting forever for Stew to get out of bed so we can go get our blood tests done.  He's finally up, so now we are off.
Fingers crossed this time they don't f*#k it up.

Well... we had to wait about 45 minutes... but got through eventually.  My test went well I suppose, at least they found me vein the first time today.

Only bruise so far is from the sticking plaster they put on... and I had to get off.  Forgot my skin sticks to it.  DOH.

I just gave up and put the heat pump on again... it's SO COLD again today!  Freezing cold wind and raindrops that feel like ice.

I'm going to make nice hot scones for lunch... to warm us all up.  Yum can't wait!

Lunch was delicious!  Fresh, hot scones, jam and cream.  Perfect for a cold, miserable day.

ABOVE: Packing a wobbly over something.  Very cute!

ABOVE: Decked out in hand-me-downs from our friend Jacqui's little girl.  Love the tights!

End of Day:  a quiet day in all... Keera and Dante had fun together, which was lovely to see.  And a bonus, they both had a midday nap at the same time. SCORE.
nite nite

SUNDAY SLEEP IN HOPEFULLY

As it's freezing cold, and there is nothing on the agenda for today.. I'm having a sleep in.

Got up early to feed puppy and give her a run around, then back to bed.

So... until I get up again... catch ya later, and I hope you all have a warmer day than here.

How about you tell me what YOU are doing today?  Cos I'm not doing zip... except keeping warm and sewing later on.

ONWARD...

Well.... scrap all that. Seems we are going to Tauranga to get Keera today.  Wasn't the plan... but oh well.   Luckily I'm feeling much better. 

I just hope keera is sleeping through the night now or I'm gunna be pissed off rather fast.  I've only had two nights in the past two months where I've actually slept all night.

Today.  Well it's a long trip over to Tauranga.  Traffic on the way there was OK, but heavy on the way back.  VERY heavy.

We picked up Miss Muppett, had lunch at Bayfair mall (totally boring mall I must say), then after a quick drive around the Mount we headed home.

We did stop at Te Puna to look at the fabric shop, but I really wasn't in the mood for fabric shopping.   

So, didn't get a thing!  Home to dinner waiting ... Steve cooked us a lovely dinner of Chicken Schnitzel and veges.
Keera traveled well, and was happy to see her cousin Dante again.

He wasn't too keen on her to begin with.

 ABOVE:  GET. OFF. MY. MUM'S. KNEE!

 ABOVE: Warming up to each other.

 ABOVE: typical girl, got the boy trapped in the corner, giving him a lecture... with the finger for emphasis.

ABOVE:  having a conversation at the kids table.  Too cute.

Fingers crossed she goes to sleep for us nice and quick.  It's been a long day travelling to and from.  My butt is sore.

TALLULAH is very quiet.  Hasn't eaten anything today.  I was getting worried.... so gave her some fresh dog roll, which she ate thank goodness.
Now she's having a play around, so panic over I think.  I don't think I could bear it if anything happened to her.... she's my little baby.

End of Day: very tired, hopefully we can get to bed soon.  Puppy has perked up ... so thankful.
Fingers crossed Keera sleeps all night!
nite nite

IRON SHOPPING, NOT EXACTLY RIVETING

Am I allowed to be excited about buying a new iron today?

I know.. it's pretty sad really.

Particularly when I HATE ironing. 

I can't remember when I last bought a proper iron.  YEARS ago no doubt.  I hope there's not too much choice, that just does me head in.  How do you decide?  *sigh*

I'd have NO trouble choosing a diamond ring.

Go figure.

As it's Saturday, we will probably have lunch out at a mall... like we do most Saturday's.

ABOVE:  I made another 5-6 of these last night, and I'm so chuffed with how well my points are coming together now.  It just takes a bit more time and effort, and pinning to get them almost perfect.

I'm not aiming for PERFECT, cos I don't think I can get them any better than that!  

I really enjoyed sewing last night, but OMG it's cold in the garage at the moment!  The weather really has backtracked to winter again.  Brrrrr.

Hopefully it passes soon cos I'm not liking being cold that much... though it is a relief when one gets a hot flush!

Right, yakkity yak time over... off to get some washing on... do the usual morning stuff.

ONWARD...

STEVE got up ... and fixed me bloody iron!  So now I don't have to buy a new one. I'm gutted.  I was so looking forward to going out and getting a new one too.

Now I will have to think of something else to get instead!  Cos... once my mind is set on a shopping expedition... it has to happen.  Right?

Well... we decided to go to the Noel Leeming Sale, being held at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane.
After sitting in traffic for about an hour we finally found a carpark and went in. 
To a sea of people.  And we found NOTHING worth buying.  The prices in some instances were only a few dollars less than normal prices.

Felt a bit ripped off.  I suppose if you wanted a computer printer you would be happy, cos there were heaps of them for rock bottom prices!

So, we left and had lunch at St Lukes mall, then stopped in at Bunnings on the way home and got this:

ABOVE:  a cute little picnic table and seats, for the littlies.  It's going to be lovely for summer time.

End of Day:  it's bloody FREEZING today!  Everyone in the house is saying how cold it is tonight.  Even Stew put on a sweatshirt!  
Freakin' weather better hurry up and make up it's mind.  Spring thanks.
nite nite

THERE WAS CAKE, AND PUPPY TIME

Well... we had cake last night, and while it was lovely going down... it caused Bex and I to have rotten heartburn afterwards.
Not so nice.  It was a rather moist, heavy chocolate cake... so maybe we will give it a miss next time.

ABOVE: Our BIG girl Brylee.  I think she had a nice day yesterday.  I look at her and can't quite believe she is 14 now!  The years seem to roll by so fast now.  Before we know it she will be all grown up and leaving home.  Scary in a way.

It's Friday!  First week of the school holidays are almost over, and the 2nd week will be much easier as Stew will be home with us, and hopefully my cold will be over soon too.

We are still thinking of going over to Tauranga next week for a day.  I hope we do... I miss Keera.  Just have to work out which day.

Right, I'm off to check out how the dogs are... and put Miss Tallulah outside for her morning ablutions.

ONWARD...

Who asked me for the Russian Fudge recipe?  Well...  this is the one I used:

Recipe created by Jo Seagar, shared by Chelsea Sugar

Ingredients

• 3 ½ cups sugar
• 125g butter
• 3 Tbsp gollden syrup
• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp salt
• 200g sweetened condensed milk (half a standard tin)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Place all the ingredients except the vanilla, into a medium-heavy saucepan.
2. Warm over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved about 10-15 mins.
3. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for about 5-10 minutes, until it reaches the soft ball stage (120°C).
4. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla.
5. Beat until the fudge is creamy and thick and has lost its gloss.
6. Pour into a greased cake pan. Score the top and break into pieces when cold

Enjoy making it!

PUPPY TIME:
a cute wee video of Dante and Tallulah last night:



Dare I say I'm feeling a teeny, tiny bit better?  I don't want to jinx it, but I do feel like I'm on the improve at last.

I've woken up with a bit of determination to get a few things done today, mostly housework that has been slipping lately.  Thankfully the kids are home and can give me a hand again.

I suppose there are upsides to having bigger kids.

'Thank You' to anyone who offered suggestions on how to get hold of a Sims 3 game for Brylee.
I think Kelly has managed to secure one for us... Brylee should have it in about a week.  That will make her very happy.

I finally have an electrician here fixing me power points and malfunctioning lights.  Yaaa.  AND he's a dishy  nice bloke.  I will show ya later when I download his picture.  lol

ABOVE:  John from Gibbons Electrical.  He's the nicest bloke ever.  He did a good job, he arrived only a couple of hours after I rang, and he did the job in double quick time.  It helped that he had a lovely smile and was pleasant on the eye!  I like a bald man, ask Stew!  

ABOVE:  I killed the iron.  Bugger.  I was going to iron Stew's work shirts today!  Now we have to go shopping for a new iron.  Probably time to replace it anyway.  


BLONDIE:  no I didn't throw it!  I don't throw things.  If I wanted it dead I would have battered it to death, with a hammer!
Instead, I picked it up off the floor ... but me foot was on the cord... and it kinda came to bits.  

Cooking dinner.  Chicken Rice Risotto.  With veges added too.

Well... dinner was lovely, followed by some mindless TV while I did some more sewing.  My points are getting better and better!

AND... my cold is going!  I've felt much better tonight... thank god!

End of Day:  a lovely day, got all the things done that I wanted to, it's neat having working power points again and lights that go too.  
Cost a bomb of course, but worth it.
nite nite

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYLEE!

It's a special day for Brylee!  She turns 14, and in this country it means she's old enough to be left home ALONE... or to babysit someone else.

Soooo... if I ever want to go out to the mall or wherever, and leave her at home, or even her and Griffin... I CAN!

Nice idea.  Doubt I will ever do it.  The thought of leaving her 'in charge' of Griffin is laughable.  Like he would do a thing she said!


But I digress.   We shall visit the mall and she can get her own Birthday Present with our cash!  lol
I kinda 'owe' her two X Box games... so they will be from Stew and I.
And maybe she can pick something else too.

We will see.

She's lucky, it's Takeaway night, so she will get to choose what we all have.  
I've asked Bex to bake a Banana Cake today too... for dessert.

What did I cook yesterday, that Stew would love?

ABOVE:  Russian Fudge.  Only... I got it wrong in thinking Stew loves it!
He doesn't love it... he only just likes it.. and only one piece, thank you very much.
How did I get that wrong?

You would think after living with him for 29 years I would know that eh?

Did I mention last Sunday was the 29th Anniversary of our meeting each other?  I know I didn't, that's why I'm mentioning it now of course!

Derrrr.   OMG I can't believe it's been 29 years already.  Where has the time gone? 

So much water under the bridge.  So many family members died, born, driven us crazy!
29 years of having a handful of weeks where it's just been 'the two of us'.

I think we can honestly say we have spent about ... maybe, 6 weeks of that 29 years together ... without kids!

What will we do when we finally do end up in our home ... just the two of us?
My mind boggles trying to think how that will be.

QUIET.  PEACEFUL.  DECADENT!  Sheesh, we could walk around NAKED even!  

Like that's gunna happen, I'd be scared of tripping over me nipples.   *smiles*

Any... way....  I think that moment is a long way off yet.
Time to start this day... and hopefully Brylee has a lovely birthday.

ONWARD...

Last night I tried putting Tallulah and Coco in the laundry.  Tallulah cried and whined straight away, so Plan B didn't work.

I went to Plan C... put both girls in the puppy pen.  Coco simply jumped out, so... it was back to Plan A.

Both girls in the family room, with the lounge fenced off and all the toys etc up on the couch.  
That worked, so we will stick with that for now.

It's bloody cold this morning.  Spring... one day hot, next day cold.  Not good for a crabby ME... I'm crabby enough right now with the cold from hell.

Anyway... misery or not, we are off to the mall to get some presents.

Mixed results at the mall.  We didn't find the two games we wanted to get, but she did get two new dance games, so she's happy.
Next time I pack a massive hissy fit and decide to chop up X Box games... I should think again!
Sometimes you can't actually replace them!
WHOOPS!

But, I'm about to go on Trade Me and see if we can get them there....

Bummer.  None on Trade me.  Oh well... we will eventually track one down.
Anyone got a Sims 3 for X Box 360????  PLEASE!  lol  Brylee would be ever so grateful.

Tallulah just had her first Brazillian!  She didn't enjoy it.  hee hee.
Has to be done... keep the botty clean and unstuck.

Stew arrived home with the cake... (Bex wasn't feeling well enough to bake).
I took it off the bench to show Dante, and this is what he did:

ABOVE:  Ummmm... he taste tested it, just with his tongue I might add.  No hands/fingers involved!

End of Day:  lots of laughs tonight... cake, puppy, kids... really nice. It was also lovely to have a yak with me Mum tonight, and ANNE in Aussy, who was super excited to have finally gone back to the gym. 

I'm starting to feel slightly better... I hope it continues.
nite nite

HELPING GRANDMA

Yesterday afternoon I piled all the washing on the Family Room floor, ready for folding.

And this is what entailed:

ABOVE:  It appeared to be an open invitation to play in the pile!  BOTH toddlers.  Coco kept a grown up watch on them.

At one point Tallulah was having a tug-of-war with Bex over a bath mat... so...

 ABOVE: Dante decided to do it too!  That kid will copy anything and anyone.   This was TOTALLY unscripted!  So cute.

I am 'forward' posting this... cos I'm hoping to have a bit of a sleep in this morning... as much as the puppy will allow me anyway.

I'm hoping like hell she's been good all night with Coco for company?

I will let you know later, when I get up.
I'm also hoping I'm feeling a bit better today, yesterday was a rough day.

ONWARD...

SUCCESS!!!   Tallulah didn't bark all night.  Coco was a champ ... well she didn't have a choice really.  I made sure she had to stay on the floor with the puppy by putting toys all over the couch and dining chairs!

Tonight I am going to put Coco and Tallulah in the laundry.  Teddy gets to sleep with Griffin or Brylee until he's more tolerant of Tallulah.

While puppy was good, Stew and I both got up at 2.30 am and put her and Coco outside for a toilet break.  So, still broken sleep.

Good news... my cough is almost gone!  So relieved.  
Bad news... snot, snot and more snot.  And sneezing... gigantic sneezes, enough to wake up the neighbourhood!

I'm going to the chemist today to get more pain killers (Panadol), as funnily enough this household has gone through them all.

I'm hoping like hell we are all well by next week as I want to go to Tauranga and see Lacy and Keera.  Stew is taking next week off, so we can go together.  That will be lovely.

And Bex has offered to look after Tallulah for us, yaaa!

Well.. a good trip out and about.  I got a shit load of Panadol of various sorts for our head aches and aches and pains, then posted a little parcel off to a friend... and visited the Hospice Shop.

Where I found the most lovely blue ear rings!
How about a 'selfie'?

ABOVE:  I look stuffed up in the face.. I FEEL stuffed up in the face!  But the ear rings are gorgeous!

I just cooked something I've never cooked before.  Stew is going to love me.

It's very quiet in blogworld today?  I keep wondering if blogging is becoming a dying 'thing'?  Hmmm....

So what did I cook?  No Kelly, it wasn't pumpkin!  If your Dad wants pumpkin he has to buy it, skin it and cook that crap himself!

I will show you tomorrow, so then I've got a photo for the start of the day!

End of Day:  I've done bugger all today, yep, I did a little cooking, I made dinner, but mostly I lay on the couch and felt like shit... with a capital S.  
Off to bed to get all blocked up and shitty.
nite nite