MISS MUPPET

Today Lacy and Keera are arriving on a bus.
Miss Muppet is going to be staying with us for a few days or so while Lacy gets a few things sorted.
I am sure we shall thoroughly enjoy having Keera here... we all pull together and share the load.

OH... here's the Treasure I got from the Hospice shop yesterday:

 ABOVE:  See those AMAZING copper fish?  Three of them... OOOO I love them so much.  

ABOVE:  The cutest little metal fishing scene, on it's own little easel. 

ABOVE: This 'magazine' basket.. perfect to keep our dinner trays in.  

Today I am going to mount those fish on one of my painted beams and have it 'somewhere' in the dining room I think.

Right, that's me for now... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

***  PEPSI EDITED  ***  PEPSI EDITED  ***  PEPSI EDITED  ***

I went out, bought some rope to hang me fish board from... picked up the white bar stool from Sylvia Park, drove past 33,000 hot bread shops/eateries and didn't buy a thing.  Even though I really, really wanted to.

My mood is filthy today.  Just so frustrated over so many things.  I don't know what to be more crabby about.  

But.  Eating shit won't solve any of them, so I shall NOT binge.

MARLENE:  Lacy's foot is slowly healing.  It's itchy, a very good sign.  Still uncertain if she will need skin grafts.  She's not been able to get back to the hospital in a week for a check up.  I will try and advise her to do that while she is kid-free this week.

Well I've had a very busy afternoon.  I had to go to the Hospice Shop and help look for some stuff that was missing... we didn't find it.   But because they were busy and short staffed, I ended up staying till 4 pm. 

Then I nipped home, grabbed the car seat for Keera, then back to Manukau to pick up Keera.

Finally home, threw some chicken in the oven, put some rice in the rice cooker... and am now breathing a sigh of relief.  Time to relax!

And relax I did!
End of Day:  it was a busy day ... not the sort of day I was expecting, that's for sure.
nite nite

TALLULAH AND OUR GIRLS

Photos from yesterday's visit:

 ABOVE:  Pink hair, yep, she's going back to blonde any day now.
Tallulah is thinking... "What the hell, scary?"

 ABOVE:  "Stop blowing on me face ya silly tart."

 ABOVE:  "Oh hell... how do I get outta this, she's a mad tart.  Let go of me ears!"

 ABOVE:  "Seriously, it's just NOT A GOOD LOOK."

 ABOVE:  Hee hee... just got kissed on the moosh by the puppy.

 ABOVE:  But... they are lovely kisses.

 ABOVE:  "My, what a long tongue you have."

ABOVE:  "Pay back...  nibbling HER ears now."

ABOVE:  "Kids, so over them!  I think I'll just stay up here on Dad's lap."

Tallulah loved all the attention, she had a blast.

Today, I've got a couple of little jobs to do down 'town' first thing this morning.  Then I'll come home and do some housework.

After lunch, Hospice Shop duty... where I will finally give Bernadette the little dragon wall hanging for her newborn granddaughter, Sarah Bernadette.

ONWARD...

Well... a semi-busy day at the shop this afternoon.  A few lulls here and there, but all good.
I got some treasure, will show you tomorrow as there's quite enough photos on for today.

Suffering from a stress headache right now... some things just set me off instantly.
Stuff going on at school that is making me bloody angry, but I'm trying not to let it get me too mad.
Stew can sort it out I hope, cos if I try I might just throttle a certain person.  SO OVER BLOODY KIDS.

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

Forgot to mention, YES, Bernadette did indeed love the wall hanging, she cried AGAIN. So cute.  Nice to know my work is appreciated.

End of Day:  well... another "day in the life"... some ups, some downs.  Tis just how it is.
nite nite

ON THE HUNT

We rearranged the furniture in the family room yesterday, after ripping up the laminate.

And now we can access the breakfast bar again.  So... we are going out today to hunt for durable bar stools.

The last lot we got, at considerable expense I might add, did not stand up to vigorous use by kids (read Griffin)!  They were too high spec, with gas lift etc.

This time around we want rugged, simple and durable.

I did some 'homework' on the 'net last night and have narrowed it down to just a few.

They vary in price in a big way... from about $88 right up to $299.   Something tells me we won't be spending $299 per stool though, even though I absolutely LOVE the $299 one!

Can you guess which one above is the $299 one? 

That's all I have on today's agenda.  Kelly and Rena are due here around lunchtime, hopefully we are home by then!

ONWARD...

We bought the ones I had my eye on. Will show you when we get home. 

By the way, the one that was $299 is the wood and metal one, top left with the green metal band and winding up mechanism.  It wasn't comfortable at all, and we just could not justify the cost.  The other three did not appeal when seen in person.

We bought 4 of the stools at the very top, we ordered a red one, blue one, green one and white one.

They only had the white and red ones still 'in the box', so we have to wait for the other two.... BUT HOLD ON.

We got home and opened the two boxes :

And the white one had a massive wobble on it, so I had to turn around and drive back to Sylvia Park to return it.  So bloody annoying.

And the other white one in the shop had a big chip on one of the legs... so now we are waiting on three of them.  *sigh*.

Not my day again.

Kelly and Rena are here... and this happened:

ABOVE:  she got her surprise.  I'm uploading the video...

ABOVE:  Kelly sitting on our solitary bar stool.


ABOVE:  the video of Brylee getting her surprise.  So funny.

End of Day:   It was nice to see Kelly and Rena and for Brylee to get such a nice surprise.  Time to head off to bed.
nite nite

THE FUN BEGINS

Because we have opted to take up the laminate on the floor, Steve decided to make a start on the stairs last night.

He didn't get much done as it was rather hard going.  

ABOVE:  There is a DOUBLE layer of laminate on the stairs, because when they were done two years ago they stuffed it up the first time, and rather than take off the first layer and do it right, they just laid a new lot on top.

So, we have to rip up two layers of the bloody stuff.  Well... I say 'we' ... but I really mean the men!

I expect to help upstairs as it won't be hard at all once we get the first planks up.

Getting rid of it all is going to be a right pain though.  We will probably have to hire a trailer and take it all to the tip.

One thing I noticed walking down the stairs last night was how much 'deeper' the steps were that had no laminate on them.  Two layers sure made them shallower.   I can't wait for the carpet, no more dust on the stairs staring me in the face all the time.  Yaaaa!
And no massive dust bunnies under the furniture either. 

I really don't get why people like wooden floors.  I know I will never have them again if I can help it.

I'm dragging Stew out this morning...  looking at fence materials.  I've gone off the aluminium panels and now want something more funky.  The guys will have to build the fence from scratch now.  Poor buggers.

We are expecting Kelly and Rena after lunch. Kelly has a little surprise to give someone in the house.  I won't say more than that right now... just know for that person it will be HUGE, and I will have my camera handy to catch the reaction!  *smiles*  It should be good.

ONWARD...

*squeals*... I just bought an old wrought iron gate for our fence.  Off Trademe.

ABOVE:  funky!

Plans change.  Kelly isn't coming up till tomorrow now, so no surprises today after all.

ABOVE:  Stew and Griffin toiled for a few hours today and got all the laminate up.

We formed a human chain and got all of it downstairs and into my car (it fitted!), and then Stew started working on the stairs.  Steve got about 3 steps done last night.

Stew worked on those stairs for about 2 hours, and got 3 more steps done... then Steve got home and ripped up the last few in 35 minutes flat!  

He just WENT FOR IT!

ABOVE:  That's it, the last one off!  What an amazingly crap job.  BUT, we saved ourselves almost $2,000 by doing it ourselves.

SCORE! 

I have thought about what to do with our naughty little Tallulah in relation to our rugs.

This is what I came up with:

ABOVE:  If she's in the lounge/family room, she's in the pen.  It's all I can do to stop her from chewing the rugs, short of locking her out of the family rooms.  

I can't put a muzzle on her, it's too cruel.  The repellent spray didn't work... she loved the stuff!  So, until she outgrows the chew everything in sight stage, this is it for her.  

Dante liked being in there too obviously.

Talking of Dante.  It shall be a quiet evening/Sunday for us as Steve, Bex and Dante have gone to Hamilton till tomorrow night.

End of Day:  a big day ... got heaps done.
Now we just have to wait a week or so until we have to move all the furniture again so the carpet and vinyl can be laid.
Time for bed.  
nite nite

SARAH'S WALLHANGING FINISHED

Well, today is the last day to see the little Wall hanging I made for my friend's grandbaby Sarah.
I didn't get around to adding the hanging loops, so will do that in patchwork class this morning, before I hand it over to Bernadette after class.

 ABOVE:  DONE, except for the loops and dowel.
I love her so much I shall most likely make another one just like it... for me.

I'm sort of happy to say the Archgola is DONE too.
Paul came back and fixed a couple of things, some holes he'd made in one part and added another piece of plastic to stop rain getting in on one corner.

ABOVE: Sadly we still have a couple of issues, like one of the blinds is very hard to roll up or down as it's too close to another blind (on the left there) and there is still a gap all along the front edge.  Time will tell if the rain comes in there.

We are paying up the balance and moving on.  If we have any problems later on, it does have a warranty thank goodness.

I think the Archgola and blinds are AWESOME, I just wish it hadn't taken as long as it did, after being told back in NOVEMBER that it would be  done by mid January. Hello, it's March now!  And communication was utter CRAP from the installer.  That is, I think, my main annoyance over this project.  But, we are moving on. 

I'm off to Patchwork class as I mentioned earlier.  Then after dropping off the Wall hanging I will come home and do bugger all I reckon!  *smiles*

ONWARD...

I've just popped home, forgot my camera to take a photo of Bernadette holding her wall haning.  
I also grabbed this stuff from Animates this morning

ABOVE:  I'm hoping like hell it will stop Tallulah chewing the rugs in the house.  Fingers crossed.   Otherwise she will be in a play pen!

It hasn't been my day.

Bernadette must have forgotten we were meeting at lunchtime today.  I went down to Hospice Manukau and she wasn't there.

Then I came home and tried out that repellent spray on one of Tallulah's favourite soft toys.  She loved it.. licked it up and carried on chewing her toy.  Fricken typical.

Now what?   Putting her in a play pen is about all I can think of now.

And another day of NO COMMENTS!  Pfffft.

End of Day: lost the plot tonight and stuffed my face with biscuits.  Not sure why.  Crabby I suppose.  *sigh*
It's another day tomorrow... and let the fun begin.
nite nite

FENCE OPTIONS

I'm wanting to put a low fence along the outside edge of the 'dining room'... so I can have the side curtains up but still keep the dogs off that side of the lawn/house.

I like that lawn to be poop free, for toddlers and kids.

So.  I want a little decorative fence, half wall type of thing there.  So, I'm going down to Bunnings and Mitre 10 to see what they have.

That should kill a couple of hours this morning.

Once I'm home again I've got a little sewing to do, and some housework too.

Just the usual, washing, vacuming, dusting, bla bla bla.

I will also pop into Medlab and get me blood test done.  The 3 monthly tests sure pop up fast.

I am really interested to see how my bloods are this time around, bearing in mind I've been rather 'good' with me diet all year!  'All year'... ha ha ha!  

Cos there were no photos yesterday, I will just have a few of 'the kid':

 ABOVE:  Pretending to be a dog.  Coco was not impressed.

ABOVE:  Just being a hoon... show off.

ABOVE:  Butter wouldn't melt in is mouth.  Yeah right!  He's a holy terror sometimes.

ABOVE:  This is how good MY Zucchini fritters looked the other night!  Just as good as the original I believe.

Right, I'm outta here, stuff to do.

ONWARD...  

Well... I've seen a few options for our little fence.  I've bought a wee piece of driftwood for my 'birdcage' and I've just cooked some more of those zucchini fritters for Bex and my lunch.

They were delicious too.  

After lunch has settled, I'm off to get my damn blood test done.  Ikkkk.

I thought going late in the day would mean no big wait. WRONG.  There were plenty of people waiting, so plenty of time for me to get nervous.  AND the don't have a Supervisor there right now, so I had to get my test done by a 'regular' technician.  Luckily, she found my one 'good' vein and managed to draw blood.  Phew!  So relieved.  Sometimes it takes 2-3 attempts before they find my vein.

Thank god it's only once every 3 months I have to do that.

Home now.  Don't cook on a Thursday night.  Yaaaa.   

End of Day:  Well I didn't get much else done for the day.  Sat and watched mindless Tv and did a crossword on me laptop.  
Now I better get off to bed, it will be Friday in half an hour!
nite nite

LET'S CONFIRM THAT SHALL WE?

First thing this morning I am going down to Carpet Court to confirm their quote, pay the deposit and get the ball rolling on the new flooring.

I can't wait for it to be done and dusted, and no longer annoying the shit outta me.  I'm so over flooring issues!

After that, I shall come home, do some housework, finish the wall hanging for Sarah and roll up our rugs and put them away for a year or so.

WHY?  Well Tallulah has taken to EATING the corners off the rugs.  She's done in two so far, and there's three more she can ruin if she gets the chance.

So.  I'm not giving her the chance.  I love the rugs in our lounge and the really fluffy wool one that's now in the dining room, no way is she going to eat the corners off them too.

I hope she out grows this particularly destructive behaviour in the next year as she matures.

So, that's my morning planned.  This afternoon Griffin has his 2nd dental appointment to do his root canal treatment.  

ONWARD...

I'm thinking of spay painting that little birdcage thingee from the Hospice shop white, and putting some shells/driftwood/bit of net in it.

Killing time now.  I don't need to go down to Carpet Court till after lunch as the sales rep I'm working with is out till then.  That will work out good, as I have to go down with Griffin later anyway.  Just means one trip to Manukau instead of two today.

Well as you can see, it's been a quiet, uneventful day.
I paid for the flooring, Griffin's tooth is fixed, and the Archgola man turned up and installed a piece of plastic to stop the rain getting in on one corner.  
Fingers crossed it is water tight-ish now.

I've got Rice Risotto cooking, Chicken flavour with bacon and onions.  

After dinner I shall be doing bugger all.   Maybe I should finish the loops for the wall hanging!

Felt 'flat' all day today.  Just not in a good mood really.  Luckily there's no chocolate in the house is all I can say!

End of Day:  just spent ages looking on Pinterest at fences/gates.  Grrrr... it can take up so much time.
Off to bed, it's another day tomorrow.
nite nite

TREASURE AND EYES

Well... here's the treasure I found in the Hospice Shop yesterday:

 ABOVE:  I don't know what it's original use was... but I'm going to hang it from one of the beams in the dining room.  Not sure what I shall put in it, if anything.  But Popeye comes to mind.  Not that I have a Popeye of course!
lol

ABOVE:  I bought that little ceramic box a few weeks ago, and yesterday as I was leaving the shop,  I rummaged through a few paintings lying against a wall and lo and behold... I saw this!  I knew it was part of a set... with me already having the little box.  Both are not 'flat', but three dimensional, so really interesting.

Anyway... of course I grabbed it!  It's like a shallow ceramic platter set into a frame.  It's stunning and I just love it. 

 ABOVE:  a few odds 'n' ends.  

ABOVE:  the biggest bargin and something we've wanted for ages, another big wooden board for in the kitchen.  It is huge and really heavy.

So, there ya go.  HEAPS of Treasure.  I love op shops, I really do!

Today I have an eye examination, it's a free yearly thing for diabetics.  One of the 'perks' I suppose.  It's actually really neat, at least we find out early if there's any problems with our eyes.

Besides that, the day is all mine.  I shall no doubt get on with that hand sewing.

ONWARD...

I went out first thing this morning, got some blue fabric for the backing of A Named Cot Bumper for Bex's and Steve's new baby, and also a new presser foot for my machine.  One that makes it easier to see where you are going while doing applique.
I confirmed a few minor things with the flooring people, hopefully can get that moving tomorrow.  

Now I'm killing time till my eye appointment.

DIET:  Going well.  Now lost 6.75 kilos since the start of the year, so on track and doing well.  Had an up 'n' down patch these past couple of weeks, but all in all... good.  
One of the ladies I work with yesterday said "Are you losing weight?", so it must be showing a little bit.

Eye test result?  Me eyes are 100% A.. OK.
Don't need to be seen again for 2 years.


I stopped in at the supermarket and bought a bunch of veges for dinner.  I'm making Broccoli, Feta and Pine Nut Fritters, Zucchini, Feta and Basil Fritters and pork rissoles.
Fingers crossed the fritters turn out, I've not made either before.

ABOVE:  They are supposed to turn out like that.  Time will tell if I do them right or not.

It took me exactly 1 hour to make the fritters ... up to, but not including, to the point of forming the patties and frying them that is.  I have both mixtures in the fridge for now. 
I will make the fritter shapes and fry them right before dinner time. 
Very keen to see how they taste.

Fritter critique:  The zucchini ones were amazing.  The broccoli ones... tasteless!
So... I will be making the zucchini ones again for sure, everyone loved them.

I've just finished hand stitching the binding on the little dragon wall hanging, and will do the hanging loops tomorrow sometime.

End of Day:  well it was fairly busy today, so a good day.
nite nite

HAND STITCHING

This morning I'm going to make a start on hand stitching down the binding on the dragon wall hanging.

I'm also going to be sorting out the insurance stuff for the flooring.  We have been given an excellent quote from Carpet Court, so now I need to go back to the insurance company with our decision to 'cash out' and get the floor repaired ourselves.

We shall be pulling up the old laminate ourselves to save some money.  Quite a bit of money in fact!  That will be next weekend's job I think.

There were a few other things I wanted to do this morning... but buggered if I can remember what they are right now!  My mind has just had a massive brain fade.  Hopefully it comes back to me eventually.

On my way to Hospice duty after lunch, I'm dropping back that vinyl tile to Carpet Court, they were very nice to let me bring it home to see how it looked.

Other than that... OOOhh now I remember something else!   I need to get more printer ink.  My printer has completely run out, and it's a right pain in the butt not being able to print anything out.  

See.... stuff comes back to me slowly but surely!

lol

ABOVE:  This is what Bex has been working on for a while now.  A cot blanket for the new baby.  She just has to do a couple of rows around the edge and then it's done.

Very sweet little blanket for baby.

Right, I'm off to do some housework, then do some of that hand stitching.

ONWARD...

No hand stitching has been done.  I almost never end up doing things in the order I planned on.
I've been out and got new ink for the printer, dropped back the tile, spoken to the insurance company... all good there.

We will be able to confirm and order our new floor coverings by mid-week, with an expected ETA for installation in two weeks or so.  That's fast!

Now it's time to get ready for my shift at the hospice shop.  

Boo boo... so hard to update on phone. I've found some amazing things at hospice shop today. .. can't wait to show you what when I get home.

Home... and my camera battery is D.E.A.D... so I can't show you my treasure right now.  So sorry... I'll come back once the battery is charged.  Not sure how long it takes, probably a couple of hours at least.  *sigh*

Bex has cooked dinner, I have no idea what it is, but it smells divine. 

Dinner was lamb chops and veges.  Very nice.

Sorry, my camera battery is still not 100% charged, so today's treasure will have to be on tomorrow's post.

End of Day:  a super hot, sticky day... summer is hanging in there with a vengence.  
nite nite

PROGRESS ON LITTLE DRAGON

After sewing for several solid hours last night, this is how much of the stitching I got done on that little dragon wall hanging:

ABOVE:  it's coming along nicely.  

The basting spay glue was a fail by the way.  It didn't stop the fabric puckering.  I'm starting to think I need to find some really GOOD QUALITY white fabric to use for my wall hangings instead of the cheap Spotlight stuff.  Maybe that will make a difference?

QUESTION:  So many people who see it think it's a boy dragon.  I think it looks like a girl dragon!  Pink nails, horns, fins.  Lilac/purple  body.  Blue under belly is all.     What do you think?  If everyone thinks it looks like a boy, how can I add something to make her look like a girl???

It's for a baby girl after all.  *sigh*

Today we plan on going out for lunch, then doing the grocery shopping.

I'm not dreading it so much.  It's a chore that just has to be done.  It's better than cleaning the bathrooms I suppose.  *smiles*

IT'S MARCH!  Shaking me head.  

So, that's me for now.  Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

Lunch.. done.

Grocery shopping.... done.

Unpack groceries and put away... almost done.

Beat my smart arse husband ... about to do.

So... I've spent the last couple of hours adding bits to Miss Dragon, and finishing off the stitching.  
I've almost finished!  Just got to do the whites of the eyes, sew the binding on and then it's pretty much done.

ABOVE:  So... does 'she' look more like a girl with eyelashes and a necklace?

ABOVE:  a close up.  I think she's GORGEOUS.  And of course I'm not biased or anything!  lol

Dinner tonight was pork belly and veges, so yum.
Watched the final of Broadchurch, excellent resolution.  Now just glued to The Missing.  No hints and nothing about what's going to happen PLEASE!

End of Day:  an good day, end of a lovely weekend. Thanks for all the lovely comments about my little dragon.  
nite nite