BEING LAZY... AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY RUSSELL

Well... I've decided to be lazy and get the dogs grooomed at Takanini Animates today.  I have been doing their grooming myself for about a year now, and while I can do it, it takes me hours to do each dog.

So, I'm taking a break this time and paying to have them done.  I won't be doing that every time of course, but once in a while I will.  That way they get their nails clipped too, which is something I can't do myself.

Tallulah goes at 8 am and Coco at 2 pm.
So I'll be back and forth dropping off and picking up all day!

Never mind, it's worth it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my first born son. Russ, I hope you have an awesome day. 

Last night I learnt how to do Paper Piecing/Foundation Piecing, it's quite a technique to learn, but means you can get fairly complicated patterns stitched, and PERFECT POINTS.

In the 2 hours I was at class I got this much done:

ABOVE:  that is two little sections joined together.  I've still got to make two more to have a complete block.  I was super SLOW last night... obviously!

 ABOVE: this technique involves using Freezer Paper, and pressing and stitching on the paper.  I thought it was fairly complicated, but thoroughly enjoyed giving it a go.
Hopefully in between ferrying dogs to and from the groomers today I will get those other two sections made, then I can show a finished block by the end of the day.

So that's my day pretty much mapped out.

ONWARD...

So, Tallulah is at the groomers, and it's bloody freezing outside!  It's a while since I was outdoors before 9 am I can tell you.  Brrrr.

Thinking of Kelly and family today as they send their beloved dog Bruzar off to sleep forever.  His health has been very bad for a while now and it was time to end his misery.  I hope you get some comfort from knowing you are doing what is best for him.

Shame we can't do that for our human family members when they are enduring unimaginable pain and suffering and have to linger until 'nature' takes is bloody course. (just MY opinion of course, you are entitled to yours too)

Well that didn't take too long this morning:

ABOVE:  Finished it.  Not 100% happy with it, the two halves joined about 1/8th of an inch 'off' and I might unpick it to get it better.

But, I get how to do paper piecing now and it's not that bad.  I have another block pattern the tutor gave us and shall do that one next.

ABOVE: Tallulah after her first 'professional' groom.  I must say she looks awesome, way better than I could ever do.  
Coco is now getting her groom done, and I shall pick her up later on this afternoon.

I forgot to ask how Tallulah behaved when I picked her up, so asked when I went back for Coco.  Apparantly Tallulah was perfectly well behaved and didn't misbehave at all.

BUT COCO?  OMG, the groomer said she was an utter BITCH!  She SCREAMED non-stop while being bathed and dried, and it drove them demented.  Seems she can be super shrill when she wants to be!  I've never heard her scream before.  I wonder why she did that?  
She's never done it before.

*sigh*   hopefully next time she doesn't do that.

ABOVE:  at least she looks beautiful!

Time to get dinner on.  Roast Pork with veges.

End of Day:  dinner turned out lovely, roasted in one of me new roasting dishes.
A quiet evening... I'd planned on doing some more sewing, but I chickened out, it's too cold in the garage.
nite nite

PROBABLY MY LAST MONDAY NIGHT PATCHWORK CLASS

I've pretty much made up my mind to make tonight my last attendance at the Ribbon Rose patchwork night class.
I really dislike going out (on my own) at night, night driving gives me the willies.
Also, my reason for going to class is to be around other like minded ladies, and in this class there's usually only 2-3 other ladies there.
So... instead of dragging me sewing machine and all the bits 'n' bobs I need to take with me, out to class TWICE a WEEK, I will only be doing it once again.

It's a good decision, one I've been thinking about all week.

The only other thing on today's agenda is to print out the appropriate paperwork so Steve and Bex can register Archer's birth.  It has to be done soon or they will get in strife.
The Department of Internal Affairs  has ALREADY sent them a letter reminding them of their obligations.  
I thought you had two months to register a baby here in New Zealand, and Archer isn't 5 weeks old till Tuesday.  Oh well... it will get done in time I'm sure.

So... I shall bugger off and do some housework, get my sewing bag ready for tonight, bla bla bla.

ONWARD...

Well... I've done all the housework I wanna do for now.  It's a lovely  fine day, but still cold.  I've just had my lunch and am now warming up with a blankie while watching some midday tv.
What a life eh?

What are you up to?

ABOVE:  Is it just me, or does anyone else also think my rolled up batting looks like I've got a body hanging from the ceiling?

On that note, I'm almost outta here, heading off to class...

Well... class was more interesting tonight, our tutor taught us how to do Paper Piecing/Foundation Piecing, and I found it really interesting.  Enough so that I'm going to stay with the class till the end of the term.  It's only 2-3 more evenings I think.  Then I'll just go to my Friday morning class.

I shall show you the pathetic amount of sewing I got done tonight,  tomorrow.
I need something to put on for tomorrow!
lol

End of Day:  a lovely day, not too cold so I didn't get too crabby.  *smiles*
nite nite

AFTER YESTERDAY, TODAY IS GOING TO BE HO HUMM!

I know yesterday wasn't riveting by any means, but I had a really lovely day.
So, today is just going to be 'normal' I reckon.

At some point we have to do the grocery shopping... but this time we are expecting a much, much smaller 'haul'.

Last time our total was OVER $900!
Then we got home and realised we had bought a whole shit load of stuff we already had.  Derrrr.

So, I'm checking the cupboards, fridges and freezers this time BEFORE we go, and only getting what we need! 

As mentioned yesterday, I'm hoping Steve can fix our bar stools today too.  They only need shortening, so not a big job really?

Right, that's  about all for now... catch ya later.

ONWARD... 

Now that I have a design wall, and with my blocks up on it... I can see how they will look.
And I'm not that thrilled with them.  I had planned on turning them into a king size quilt for my bed, now it's gunna be a single I think.
I suppose it will depend on what colour sashing/borders I use, as to it's end look.

But for now, a couple of those blocks are coming out of the equation... cos they suck.

Everyone has been slow getting moving today.  We stayed in bed till 9.30.   I've just seen Steve emerge from the bedroom (10.15 am), and Brylee is still in bed.
Griffin and JJ are downstairs on the XBox.

Grocery shopping soon.  Ikkk.

GROCERY SHOPPING DONE... and $300 less than last time, which is a huge relief.
It is obvious MEAT is the biggest expense in this house!  We only had to top up the freezer with 4 days worth of meat instead of the usual 10-12. Sheesh, makes me want to have a couple of beef and sheep in the back yard.

Maybe one day we will own a small block and can grow our own meat.  And chickens/eggs.  That would be so cool.
Dreams eh?

"Never Stop Dreaming" 

Well... a fairly quiet afternoon/evening here.
Dante was delightful today, such a darling wee boy, so articulate and clever.  Takes after his Daddy with his vocabulary and whit.

End of Day: poor Stew, went to bed grumbling about it being work again tomorrow, with a full week ahead of him.  I've just got ... housework, screaming baby, toddler and small dogs under me feet all day.  Though, thankfully, the baby and toddler are not my 'job' to look after. 
Time for bed.
nite nite

IT'S OUR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

28 YEARS TODAY!

MARRIED 28 YEARS, together almost 30.  We are doing well Darling.  I Love you just as much today as I did all those years ago.  ♥♥♥

ABOVE:  Ya know what that means eh?  PEPSI updated of course.  

I am the meanest mother... I have done something nasty to Tallulah!...


ABOVE:  poor puppy.

Today?  Not sure.  Might stay home and get some jobs done... get the kids and Stew to do a few too.
Steve's at work, but once he gets home I am hoping he will do a couple of jobs for me too...like cut the bar stools down in height and put the plywood on my back garage wall.  Then I can make it into a 'proper' design wall.

That's gunna be awesome.

Right, catch ya later...

ONWARD...

New noise....  And it starts:

ABOVE:  there is a digger working on the bare section over our fence.  I went up there, and the lovely guy on the digger turned it off to have a yak with me.  
His job?  "Mow the lawn, digger style".  lol
He has to remove all of the grass.

I wonder how much longer it will be before actual building starts?  We are almost 100% sure it will be a 2 level house... but I'm really hoping it's only one level of course, for privacy reasons.

I hope my magnolia trees grow fast.

I just booked to see SPY at the movies tonight, just Stew and I.  It's a late movie (8.50 pm) so I think we shall have dinner out as well.  I'm sure we  shall enjoy that.

Just had an awesome afternoon.  Steve put plywood on my garage wall...

 ABOVE: he used ply that we had left over from our fencing, and some he had in his work van.

 ABOVE:  Once the ply was up it was my turn... I was given a TOOL to use!

 ABOVE:  The stapler came in very handy to attach batting to the ply...

ABOVE: Then I joined 3 strips of calico together and hung them from the top.... and BOOM!
A perfect design wall.
I'm so thrilled with it!  
I doubt I will ever need a design wall bigger than that, do you?  *smiles*

Tomorrow Steve is going to cut our bar stool legs down a bit, the stools are about 3 inches too tall for comfortable sitting at the kitchen breakfast bar.  I'm rather lucky to have such a handy son.  

STEW is handy too of course, but Steve now has heaps more knowledge of building/woodwork and so on.  Might as well take advantage of that!

Looking forward to going out soon for dinner and that movie.  Happy as.

So, dinner was lovely, we shared a pizza at some joint outside the mall, then into the movies.
SPY was so funny, and while there was 'action' it was not just shoot 'em up, bang bang and lots of car chases.  I would recommend it to anyone.

End of Day:  an EXCELLENT day, we had a lovely wedding anniversary.
nite nite

END OF ANOTHER SHORT WEEK

Sadly, Queen's Birthday weekend was the last long weekend for us ... time to knuckle down to a long and wet winter I suppose.

Next long weekend won't be until Labour Day, which is not till mid October.

I'm undecided on if I'm going to patchwork class today.  If it's wet and miserable I think I'll stay home.
Time will tell on that one... as it's not time to even think about going yet.

I do have a block cut out ready to sew, so if I stay home I shall just do it here.

As I don't have much to yabber on about today.... I shall just have to plaster the blog with baby photos I took last night!

 ABOVE:  Steve being a dick... and Dante trying to ignore him.  

ABOVE: Cuddles with Granddad.

Right, I'm off to see what the day looks like.

ONWARD...

Well... I didn't go to patchwork.  The day looked like it was going to be lovely, but it didn't last long.  It's freezing and wet again.
Just in, a new photo of Chico, a puppy from our first litter, she will be 4 in August!

ABOVE: isn't she beautiful!  

ABOVE:  Chico as a puppy, she is still gorgeous.

I can't wait until Tallulah has puppies! 

OMGosh, I've got PORK BELLY in the oven.  You should smell my house.  Mmmmm.

Having a quiet day, totally blissed out doing NOTHING.  *smiles*

Well dinner was awesome, and as it's Friday night, I'm watching Coronation Street.  In the background is my youngest grandson screaming his lungs out!  How typical of a baby to time it perfectly to drown out me tv programme.  Poor bubba is getting really wound up.  I'm sure he will sleep well later after his screaming bout.

End of Day:  another lovely day.  Looking forward to a nice weekend.
nite nite

A QUIET DAY? YA NEVER KNOW

Today the kids go back to school after a 6 day break, and Stew goes back to work.
So, it's back to normal for me.

I've got to do some washing... I'm almost out of clothes, and I really can't wander around the house in me pyjamas all day... but then again... WHY NOT?

It could be a first?  Nah, I'm sure I've stayed in me jamies all day once or twice in the past.  Who hasn't?

But... I will get moving.
I am planning on doing some sewing today too... it would be great to get another block or two done.  I had wanted to make these blocks into a King Size quilt, but have changed my mind.
It's going to be a quilt for the queen size bed in our spare bedroom... it should be done by the time we actually have a spare bedroom again.

Stew and I looked at a new bed for Brylee while we were in Hamilton.  We are thinking of getting her a King Single, that has a trundle bed underneath that comes up and pops up to full height.  They are pretty handy.

ABOVE:  crap photo off the 'net, but that's the bed we plan on getting for Brylee's room.

Right, I shall go and make a start on me day.

ONWARD...

I am in a very quiet house, it feels like old times when I was all alone all day!
Bex and the boys have gone to a meeting for the morning, and I am finally down in the garage doing some sewing.  I'm not planning on doing too much as it's quite cold down there!

EDITED OUT....

Right, back to me sewing...

ABOVE: I got this block finally finished today, and cut out the next one.
Then it got too cold in the garage, so I came upstairs and had lunch, then watched a few taped programmes on the TV.

Dinner tonight is supposed to be Takeaways, but I'm doing something 'easy' instead.
Stew, the kids and I have had takeaways for lunch for several days in a row now, and I simply want to get back on track with my diet!

I've been stress eating again.
Stew's company did ANOTHER restructure, and things have been up in the air AGAIN.
Stew was always fairly certain he would retain a job, but I hate the whole situation and get so stressed out over it all.

Fingers crossed things settle down soon and we can relax.

End of Day:  a semi-nice day.  I missed having Stew around after he was home for 6 days in a row.
Oh well... the weekend is just around the corner!
nite nite

NEW RUG?

Well... I've seen a rug (or 3) that I really like in Hamilton... so today Stew, Brylee, Griffin and I are going to Hamilton.

We haven't been down there for a while, so, as it's back to work for Stew tomorrow, we thought it would be nice to go down today, get out of the city and have a nice day trip away.

I'm hoping to find a rug in a cream/taupe colour that will go in the lounge in place of the RUG FROM HELL...'The Never Ending Shedder'.

lol

Last night's pie:

ABOVE: I cooked in it the bottom half on one of the new Roasting Dishes and it was perfect again.  And well... I did use left over mince so that's how it got it's name... *smiles*

I still haven't found a place for them in the kitchen.  I'll have to figure that out soon I suppose, they can't live on the bench forever.

Right, I better go and see if we are ready to leave for Hamilton soon or not.  No hurry I suppose.

We don't expect to catch up with any family members while in Hamilton, though I might text Russell and see if he's still not at work... he broke his wrist a while ago.  We might be able to see him?

Kelly will be working and Amanda... well we don't see her anymore.  Her choice.

ONWARD...

Having fun in Hams!

Got TWO new rugs... had lunch with Russ and Ange and Taylor. Found new boots to DIE FOR!!!   Now Stew is choosing shoes cos second pair are half price.  Gotta love bargains!

YAAA... home after a lovely day out and about in Hamilton.

ABOVE:  The boys picking up fluff for the last time this morning.

ABOVE: Our TWO new rugs, a matching pair.  The rug from hell is gunna be going in my bedroom, once we move back into it at the end of the year.
The other lounge rug will be going into the family room at the end of the year as well.

 ABOVE:  a happy snap at the  mall after lunch with  Russell and Ange...

 ABOVE: Ange and her very lovely daughter Taylor.  

 ABOVE:  the weather on the way home was ABYSMAL!  And we saw lightening too.  Second day in a row we've had a lightening storm.

ABOVE:  I couldn't resist these two melamine trays ... to add to my collection.  The Fantails are just gorgeous, and so are the Kiwi.

I saw an advert in a magazine two weeks ago, advertising ankle boots.  I saw some I utterly loved, but could not find them anywhere here in Auckland, and had given up on finding any.

Then, while we were at Chartwell Square, we passed Hannahs and Stew said we should look in there, as the shoes were advertised as being at Hannahs.  So ... we went in, and they had them!
I fully expected them to be uncomfortable ... cos I loved them so much... but they were not.  So, I got a pair, and as they had a sale on, where you could get a 2nd pair of shoes for half price, Stew got a new pair of casual shoes too.

 ABOVE:  what do ya think of them?  The detail is stitched on, so can't fall off had it been beads.  
I will not be wearing them yet.  I have decided I shall NOT wear them until I have lost 10 kilos.
They shall be my 'reward'.

CHICKEN AND FLUFF

I was chuffed last night when my dinner came out PERFECT.  Not only was I trying a new recipe, but I was cooking it in the new Roasting Dishes, so there was a double chance of stuffing it up!

But...

 ABOVE:  they came out so good!  And cooked to perfection, and really tasty too.  We have enough left over for lunch today, which is excellent.

Remember me washing the pure wool floor rug in the bath, in VERY HOT water?  I wanted to try and stop it dropping fluff...

ABOVE: IT. DIDN'T. BLOODY. WORK.  I give up.  We have had that freakin rug for over 8 years, and it's STILL fluffing up.  It is going in the blasted loft and STAYING THERE FOREVER.  Damn thing.

Now I will have to look for another rug to put in it's place.  Oh NO!  I have to go shopping!  *sigh*

hee hee.

Today? 
Housework this morning.  Then lunch.  Then we are going to the movies.  We shall be picking up Andrew, Brylee's boyfriend, so he can tag along too.
We are going to see San Andreas in 3D. 
That will kill half the afternoon.

We have left over mince stew in the fridge, so we shall be having mince pie, mashed spuds and veges for dinner. 

So the day is sorted.  

ONWARD...

If you leave comments on my blog just to promote your own, or a particular diet, I will remove them... OK?

We are getting ready to head out to the movies soon.  I am looking forward to an ice cream at least.  Maybe a frozen coke too.  And popcorn?  Nah, that shit gets stuck in ya teeth and it's freakin' annoying as. lol

LORI: you are a pain in the butt!  I am sure your blog is working just fine... it's the twits who leave comments who are not fine.  Oh shit, that would be ME then!
I hope you can actually GET ON your own blog now!

Chicken Bake:

Pre-heat oven to around 200 degrees Celsius.

-Pre-cook 4 cups of pasta in boiling water.
-Once cooked, add 1 and a half tins of canned Thick Chicken Soup, I used Continental.
-Pre-cook some bacon and onion (quantity to your taste), add to pasta and soup mix.
-Pour half the pasta/soup/bacon and onion mix into roasting dish.
-Place 6 raw chicken thighs on top of pasta, sprinkle some really tasty grated cheese on top (you don't need much), then add the rest of the pasta mix.
- Add water to the other half of the chicken soup in the can until you have half/half water and soup.  Pour over the dish.
- Cover with lid or tin foil.
- Bake for 1.5 hours.
Serve.  

This is a totally made up by me recipe... but it worked!  How hard can it be anyway?  Simple ingredients, known to work together.  BOOM.

The movie was LOUD, and predictable.  Entertaining if you like disaster/totally unreal movies.  The main characters defy death over and over again and come out with almost no damage at all!
A fine way to entertain the kids on a boring winter's day.   My ears are still ringing.

Well the rest of the day has been quiet.  I made a lovely mince pie for dinner, Stew did the potato to go with it and Bex did the dishes.  Awesome shared jobs.

End of Day:  a  nice day, I'm looking forward to our next movie outing.  Stew and I shall be going to see 'SPY' soon.
nite nite

A DESIGN WALL ...

I finally found a space for a design wall in my sewing 'room'!
It's only taken 6 years!

ABOVE:  See?  We have a sheet of ply left over from the fencing, so I shall get Stew to bring it in and I will cover it so it will sit there on the back wall of the garage as my 'design wall'.
What's there right now is just temporary.

Once Stew and I move out of the garage, I can spread out some more and use the entire back wall, not just the middle part like now.   I'm excited about that prospect.

I mentioned yesterday that my blog is 'censored'.
Well it is.

I have tried not to mention family issues much... or post photos without permission, because I have worn the backlash once too often.

It's one thing to have someone say they don't want me to post a photo, quite another to have three separate people tell me that ON THE SAME DAY!  And they were all family.

So, I am getting the message loud and clear.  Stop blogging about us/me/family.  COOL.  I will.

BUT... I will blog about MY LIFE.  MY issues.  My interests.  

From now on ... if it AFFECTS ME, I am going to blog about it.  I will not be told to shut up/don't talk about this, bla bla bla.  

Too many 'people' talk about me behind my back, tell bullshit stories to make themselves look good, and tell downright LIES, or worse, BELIEVE DOWNRIGHT LIES ABOUT ME.  No more pussy footing about this.

I won't EVER mention names, but if you piss me off, hurt me, lie about me, stab me in the back, I'm gunna SHARE how I feel.

FULL. STOP. END. OF. STORY.

VENT OVER, and now I feel better.

ONWARD...

Brylee is going out with her boyfriend's family today, so I dragged myself out of bed early to make sure she got up.  Usually she sleeps till between 10-11 am on the weekends!

Lucky I was up cos JJ (Joshua) rang and asked to come around.  Griffin is still asleep I tell him... and he's like, "Oh, but can I still come around?".  So I told him to come around after 10 am.  He sounded so sad he had to wait.

Like this is fun house central?  NOT.  But he does seem to love being here.
That's nice.

Yesterday, at the photo shoot, Dante refused to 'pose' with Archer.  Which is rather typical of him.
Today, I went to take some snaps of Archer in a basket, and what did Dante do?

POSE WITH ARCHER!

ABOVE:  he did everything the photographer asked him to do yesterday.  Little shit!

ABOVE:  A freakin' cute one of just Archer... before Dante go in on the act and photo bombed his brother.
Notice the little ginger tinge?  *smiles*

Stew, Griffin, Joshua and I went to St Lukes, for lunch and to look for a smaller, lighter roasting dish (with lid) for me.  I'm finding the big cast iron roasting dish just too heavy to use.

Well, I found the PERFECT one in Farmers, and decided to get two.  One for the meat and one for roasting veges in.  

Before buying them, we checked out Living & Giving too, but they had nothing to match.

We had lunch (KFC) then went back to Farmers to buy the two dishes.  They were $199 EACH, but I hadn't noticed the sign that said "HALF PRICE"!!!

OMG I got them both for the price of one.  I'm so happy, what a bargain!

ABOVE: My new roasting dishes.  The lid and base can also be used on top of the stove too, for making gravy, grilling meat/fish etc.... so multi-useful.
BOOM!  So happy.  Now I just have to find SOMEWHERE to store them when not in use.  

End of Day:  my chicken casserole in the new roasting dishes came out prefect.  I'll show you a photo of them tomorrow.
Time for bed, it's early for me (11.15 pm), but I'm trying to get to bed a bit earlier cos I stay up far too late, too often.
nite nite