BIG FAT HOOKS

Last night, I thought... FINALLY!
Stew went to hang our big mirror in the entrance way...

 ABOVE:  But not before the hussies got in on the act and wanted loves.

ABOVE:  He had everything ready to hang it, then changed his mind.  He wasn't too sure about the anchors he had bought.

I have to go down to Bunnings sometime this morning to try and find different anchors to use.  The last thing we want is for it to come crashing down off the wall!

I might have some company later on today.  Lacy said she might visit for a couple of days.
So, I will wait and see if she turns up or not.


What else can I get up to today?  I'm sure I can find SOMETHING to do around here.  I might plant my succulents in the gardens, hopefully they don't die!

They are not too happy right now, I think they went into shock when we got our first frost!
I might have to buy more, ones that are already acclimatised to the cold Waikato.  

OH and before I forget, I am going to email the agent who sold us this home, and ask her to contact the previous owners.  I want them to remove the fig trees asap.  Now is the best time to move them, while they are dormant.

And camelia's.  They put in HEAPS of small camelia's all around the edges of the gardens out the back, and I don't want them!

If they don't want them, I will probably just pull them out.  I'm over trying to sell stuff on TradeMe.

ONWARD...

DOGSTARS:  MAP of house below.  There is a 'formal' lounge, which the kids use to watch TV, and for visitors to stay in overnight on the bed settee... if the spare bedroom is already in use.

ABOVE:  it is a long  house!  It takes me 54 steps to get from one end to the other.  There's only a few days since we moved in that I haven't clocked up over 10,000 steps.  *smiles*

Right, enough sitting here, it gets bloody cold if ya don't keep moving!

DEE: why don't I like camellias?  Well I'm not too sure there is a good answer to that.
Why do some people like figs, and others don't?

We all have different tastes, be it food or plants, style of furnishings etc.

Every single camellia in the gardens is white.  I don't mind white flowers, I just don't like camellias.

SIMPLE.  *smiles*

9.50 am:  Well, I just had my first shitty experience in Cambridge.
I went to Bunnings, and walked down the aisle that has wall hangers/anchors.  I passed a Bunnings employee talking to a sales rep about padlocks.

I pass them... look at the anchors, get bamboozled as to what I needed, so I go up to the information desk and ask for help with my purchase.

The lady behind the desk pages the person who I just passed ... as he's the one I need to talk to.

He's yakking to the sales rep.  I wait.  And I wait.  And after about 5 minutes the lady pages him again. All this time, I can SEE HIM.  

Meanwhile at least 5 Bunnings employees stroll past me.

I wait another 5 minutes, then someone walks past me and says "Oh you are waiting for G***?"... and I say yes.

She said... oh he's busy right now, just wait.

So I toss the anchors I had in my hand on the counter and tell the lady behind the counter I'm off to Mitre 10 in HAMILTON now. 

She said sorry. 

Crap service, who is more important? The sales rep, or a customer?  Must be the sales rep.  

I'm now going to just do stuff around the house.  Maybe not gardening.  It's really cold out there.

OH MY GIDDY AUNT!

I got the quote from the 1st electrical firm who visited, to put lights above our kitchen sink and add a few power points in the house... $2,637.15.  I thought that was a bit high!

Today I got the quote from the electrical firm who came out yesterday... $1,012.66.
I thought there must be some mistake?
So I rang them and NO, that is the fixed quote.

Now I am left wondering... did the first company think I was a rich Aucklander who could be ripped off?   WTF?

Needless to say, we have accepted the 2nd company's quote!

LUNCHTIME!  Lacy is due here within the hour.  I better make sure the spare bed is all honky dory for her.  

Lacy arrived.  Tallulah does not like her. She's snapped at her twice and growls at her if she comes too near.  Hee hee.  Clever dog.

4.45 pm:  Lacy just got back from picking Keera up.  Keera is staying until after dinner, then Stew and Lacy will return her to Amanda's.

I was having only a very few hot flushes a day lately.  Today?  One an hour.  Hmmmm.

We have had a nice, if noisy evening.  Lacy took Keera back to Amanda's after dinner.  We will get Keera again tomorrow after Kindy.

DID I SHOW YOU THESE?

A while ago now, my Mum sent me three cute little placemats... which I hung on my sewing room wall last night:

 ABOVE:  Far too cute to use as placemats!  
And they are so 'me'!

When I was at the fabric shop yesterday, I showed the owner a photo (off me blog) of my sewing room.  She literally squealed!  She said it looked amazing!  She said I obviously collected fabric!

How true!  My thinking is, buy it now while I still can, cos one day we won't have the money for me to just buy whatever takes my fancy!
And by then, I will have a really good 'stash' to keep using.  *smiles*

 ABOVE:  Next... see that little pile of things?  That's all I have left to find a place for!
And maybe I won't, and they can go into storage and come out in a year or two when I'm sick of something already on a wall.  
Though I'm pretty sure I want to put the anchor SOMEWHERE now.

 ABOVE:  I found the perfect place for the tea wagon.  It's not cluttering up the TV corner now.

ABOVE:  The TV corner now.  Not too cluttered.
I moved the cow painting down and to the right a bit last night (after I had taken this photo).  See, it's the small things that I am doing now!

It's called TITIVATING.  I love titivating!  hee hee.

Right, I'm off to do more stuff around here.
Stew's been in Auckland for two days, he is due home late this afternoon.

ONWARD...

11 am:  And I've been doing bits 'n' bobs around the house.
I'm not sure if you have seen the 'entire' Kitchen/Dining/Family room yet... so I took some more photos so you can get an idea of the size...

ABOVE:  as you can see, there's quite a lot of furniture in this big room, and that is why I'm trying not to clutter it up.

The only other thing to go in here will be the carpet rug under the family room end.

Another 'finish'...

ABOVE:  I got the painting up above our bed.  It used to be in Brylee's room, but it kinda 'goes' where it is now.

ABOVE:  I spent some time putting flowers in this corner.  I need to find a shell to put in the corner, somewhere along the line it lost one.

ABOVE:  I finally found the 'right' place to hang my scarves.  Between our walk-in-wardrobe and our ensuite.

It's time to take a break... and contemplate the next job.  

1.58 pm:  I've just had another electrician come in to price up putting more power points in and lights above the kitchen sink.

He was lovely, and we spent a good half an hour yakking about the area, our home and so on.

Now that I've sat down, I'm cold!  So I've got me blankie over my knees!  But I will be on the move again shortly, I want to get a rail up in the family bathroom and there's a few other little jobs I can get on with.

COLLEEN:  I will take it down and put it where you suggested, and see what I think of it. 

Well... Stew got home safely from Auckland.  And he likes the Giraffe painting right where it is, so there it stays!

He's now gone out with Brylee to 'Career Evening' at the college.  

Once they get home we will have dinner, I've got beef brisket slabs baking in the oven...  with spare rib marinade.  OMGosh, it smells delicious.

Time to wind down for a quiet evening in.

FUN? REALLY?

At Weight Watchers last night the topic was FUN AND GAMES.

Like... we have to make our weight loss journey FUN, and for the life of me I couldn't get that concept!

HOW IS BEING ON A DIET for basically the rest of your life supposed to be bloody FUN???

OK... let's not say DIET.

Let's say 'Lifestyle change', and make it sound anything but a bloody diet.  Pfffft.

The only fun I have when being on a diet is actually going to the meeting, and having a laugh with the other ladies there.  That's FUN.

So... my result for the past week's efforts?

I lost 1.5kgs this week.  Not bad considering all the shit we had over the weekend!
I keep thinking, if I really TRIED, man I'd get a good result!

AND now, let's move on from that topic.

I have NO plans for today!  Seriously, I will probably wander around the house doing odd jobs, move a few things, hang a few things, get some washing done... you know... all the usual stuff.

I will take a photo of the subtle changes I made yesterday by moving things a bit.

Catch ya later...

ONWARD...

11.15 am:  And I've just finished vacuming the entire house and generally tidying up.
Next on the list is to unpack THE LAST box, which has been sitting in the hallway for 3 weeks.  I think it's stuff out of my wardrobe.

 ABOVE:  I thought I would have to sell the big marble top unit, but no!  It fits there perfectly!

ABOVE:  I've put the little tea wagon in the family room, but I think it looks a bit cluttered there now, so I may have to move it again.
Not sure where though.  

Now I better get onto that last box! 

*** If someone asks a question on my blog, and it's about YOU, or something you make, like Bex's Mermaid Tails, you have my permission to answer in the comments section.  As Bex did yesterday.
If someone asks ME a question, it is up to ME to answer it.  OK? ***

4.40 pm:  After I had all the housework done, I decided to pop down to the local Bunnings/Briscoes to find a laundry trolley.  The big handtruck isn't really practical... except for the groceries!

Neither of the local shops had any laundry trolleys, so I went into Hamilton and got one there.

As I was there, I decided to get some fabric to make another Dresden Plate Quilt for my bed, only in a pretty peppermint colour.

ABOVE:  I can't wait to get started on it.

Now... I'm going to teach Brylee how to cook Rice Risotto.  She loves it now, after refusing to eat it for YEARS!  

*** You know what that means! 

Finally, all is quiet.  Kids are in bed.  Dogs are fed. I've hung a few more things on walls, moved a painting a few inches down and over... just fluffing around now!
It's been a lovely day.  I feel I accomplished quite a bit.  Small, subtle adjustments, but I'm happy.

STUFF TO DO, OUT 'N' ABOUT

Yesterday Stew managed to stop at the perfect time, so we could take a photo of our car's odometer:

 ABOVE:  my Highlander finally cracked the 100,000.  We've had it for about 7 years, when we bought it the odometer was at around 30,000.

Next:  photos of the family from yesterday...

 ABOVE:  every single time I point the camera at this baby, he 'smiles' like that!  An utter crack up face Archer!
He is recovering from Hand Foot N Mouth virus, so has a lot of soreness around his mouth poor boy.

 ABOVE:  It took a while to get a nice photo of him!

 ABOVE: Brylee and the little boys had lots of fun rolling around on the floor.

 ABOVE:  The boys totally loved it too.

ABOVE: more cuteness.  At one point, Dante started crying and our darling little Archer went over to him, lay down beside him and stroked his hair!  And he tried to comfort him by lying on him too.  It was UTTERLY gorgeous, I almost cried.  
It's adorable that a 13 month old baby can show such empathy!  He loves his big brother.

 ABOVE:  Steve is a very doting, loving Daddy.
Those boys as very lucky to have him as their Dad.

 ABOVE: Griffin getting some little boy time too.

ABOVE: Bex has been very busy lately crocheting mermaid tails.  It's like a sleeping bag that you can sit in to keep warm.
She's been making them to order, and has now made quite a few.  
It's neat that she can make some pocket money doing something she loves.

Now... today.

I am going to the local carpet place to get a refund on the rug they can't get me.
Then I am going into Hamilton to return the carpet samples we got on Saturday.

I shall be ordering our rug from Carpet Court in Hamilton.  I hope it doesn't take too long to get made.

After that I shall come home and do some housework.  The washing is starting to pile up, after all the rain we've had in the past 3 weeks.

I've kept on top of it mostly.  But the old family room curtains need to be washed as I am going to use them in the kid's rooms.

The curtains from the lounge are going into storage, just in case a kid needs them in the future.

OK... that's all for now.

Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

1.02 pm:  Those few jobs took me all morning!
I have now ordered the new carpet to make into a rug for the family room.
I've dropped off our registration forms at the Doctor's up the road too. 

Oh and I also got a few groceries and ordered more Lamb Patties that we tried the other night.  They were delicious.  I hope they come in soon cos we all want more.

It's WW tonight.  Not expecting anything major on the scales... I've not been that good this past week.  *sigh*
It's hard to get back into it eh?

Well... I'm 'there'.
At the 'move it around' stage in the house.
I spent a good hour thinking, then moving a couple of pieces of furniture.
It means now I don't have to sell ANY furniture we moved in with.  SCORE.

Quiet night ahead, just been to WW's. It was FREEZING in the church hall/room... even with a heat pump on.  Next week I'm taking me blankie!

AUCKLAND TODAY

Well... we longed to leave it.  We dreamed of leaving it.  We despaired we ever would leave it.

And then we did.

And today... we are going back as VISITORS.  *huge smiles* 

We are going to visit Steve, Bex and the boys, and just 'do' the mall.
I love Auckland's shopping malls and fabric shops, so plan on going back up on a regular basis.

It will be our first venture away from our new home since we moved in 3 weeks ago.  It actually feels like longer than just 3 weeks!

We need to take a break from the endless jobs that are still to be done around the house and yard, so leaving town is a good way to do that.

I will now show you how the lounge looks with it's new curtains.  I'm thrilled to bits with them.
OK... they are the same as what I hung in the Family room, but they make such a difference!...

BEFORE

AFTER

Now you don't notice the curtains FIRST, you see the painting and pretty cushions.

And now... we are getting ready to go north.

ONWARD...

Well... we left here at about 10 am, and it was a frosty, foggy morning.  The fog was so thick in places you couldn't see 50 metres in front of the car.
We drove through fog all the way to the Bombay hills!  

I heard on the news tonight that the fog didn't lift until 1 pm!  That's the Waikato for ya... and now we live here and have to get used to frost and FOG again.

Once we got to Auckland we picked up some lunch and went and visited with Steve and family.
We had a really lovely visit for a couple of hours, then we went to the mall.

It was packed.  After walking the mall for a while we went over to Botany to look for a door guard.  

I want to keep the dogs inside at night, instead of in the garage.  It's just too cold in the garage for them I think.
So, the door guard will go in our bedroom doorway, so they don't keep us awake at night.  They can sleep with the kids!

Oh we also bought a basketball hoop for the kids.  Griffin is thrilled to bits.  It will be good for them to get outside and play instead of staring at screens all the time.

Over summer I'm going to set up a net across the back yard so we can play volleyball and so on.

Now, as you can imagine, I took heaps of family photos... but will leave them till tomorrow.

For now, how about the view as we left Auckland and entered the Waikato again:

ABOVE:  Yep... FOG again!  By the time we got to Huntly is was back into thick fog, and the temperature dropped markedly.

It's so thick now I can't see my own letterbox.

Just as well this is a lovely warm house or I'd be crying like a baby now!  lol

Looking forward to a quiet, warm evening.

IT'S NOT RAINING!

Well... today we are going into Hamilton to look at carpet again.


I ordered the carpet rug last Monday, and found out last night via email, that the carpet I had chosen is no longer available.


So... back to square one on that. Fancy taking FIVE days to find out they couldn't supply it!


While there we will go out to Wairere Nursery to get a plant for our big square terracotta pot too.


Once we are home again, it will be outside to do some gardening, as it's finally NOT RAINING!


Stew can get the lawns cut, and we will pot some plants. I want to have a really good look around the property.

Since we moved in there hasn't really been much time to have a thorough look around at what's in the gardens.


There's two (or three?) raised garden beds with some veges in them. I have no idea what they are!


And there's one corner that has nothing in it. The previous owners had a pile of railway sleepers stored there. I might put some fruit trees there.


So... that's the plan for today.


What are you getting up to today? I hope you have fun. I'm going to. *smiles*


ONWARD...


3.31 pm: Looks like the lawns won't get mown this weekend!

We went into Hamilton for carpet samples, and it became a bit of a shopping expedition.

 ABOVE: First good frost we have seen since moving here.
More to come of course, and FOG.  Ikky fog.

 ABOVE:  The girls don't think much of the colder mornings!  Coco sure looks comfy under my duvet.

 ABOVE:  Shopping.  We got curtains for the lounge, a door bell so we can hear if anyone's at the front door while we are down the other end of the house, and I got some short, slip on outdoor/gardening shoes.  They are like gumboots, but shorter.

ABOVE: Some of the carpet samples.  I'm leaning towards the one in the middle, or MAYBE the one on the right?

Stew is outside right now potting plants into pots.  We got a nice sized buxus for our big terracotta pot.  I'll show you later, once Stew's potted it.  We also got 3 native grasses/flaxes for the garden.  It's a start on how we want the gardens to be.

We walked on those three carpet samples in our socks, and the one that felt the softest was the one on the right.  The one in the middle would have been my pick, until I stood on it.  It's thin and feels hard underfoot.  So it will probably end up being the one on the right.
It't not as light coloured as it appears in the photo, it's more a fawn, speckled colour.

 ABOVE:  The lovely cone shaped buxus in our big pot.  It looks great there.

 ABOVE: We have broccoli growing in one garden bed...

 ABOVE:  No idea what's growing here! Could be leeks, or onions? And some silverbeet... which Stew loathes!  But you can 'hide' it in a meatloaf and he can't tell.   hee hee.

 ABOVE:  This one is under the family room and Kitchen. It has had strawberries growing in it, plus a few other things.  

ABOVE:  See?  Strawberries.  When do they normally grow, cos I'm sure it isn't in the middle of winter!

And that's all for today!  We are now going to eat dinner and settle down in front of a telly ... Coronation Street is on so I'm happy.

GROCERY SHOPPING

Today I am going to do the grocery shopping.

Yep, on me own!  Why?  So Stew and I  can spend the weekend doing stuff around the yard, hopefully.

The rain is supposed to ease up after today... so keeping our fingers crossed.

Shopping is going to be much easier too.  I can now unload in the garage, and won't have any stairs to lug everything up.

To think some of the earlier houses we tried to buy had heaps of stairs!  How lucky are we that we ended up with NONE.  *smiles*

We don't really like stairs!

The kids told me yesterday that school holidays start at the end of next week!  Bloody hell, where did this term go?  I'm sure we can find something to get up to during their two week break.

Well... can you believe that's all I have for now!
Seriously, my mind is an utterly blank space this morning.

I will be back later...

ONWARD...

2.31 pm:  Finally home from Hamilton.  I sussed out some nice tie-backs for the curtains in the family room, and ordered them.
They should arrive next week.

Then I checked out a fabric shop in the city, I thought it only had curtaining and dress fabrics, wedding fabrics, BUT NO!  Their back wall is full of patchwork fabrics!

Not all fantastic quality fabric, but nice enough for some projects.

After that procrastinating... I did the grocery shopping.

Brought it all home and tried to use my little washing trolley to transport it into the kitchen.
Bad idea, it died on me!

So, I thought about if for a few seconds, then did this:

I used a bungy cord to hold the washing basket on the trolley and BOOM!  Problem solved.
I could take 3 bags of groceries at a time into the kitchen.

Rather happy about that clever idea.

Now all I have to do it put it all away.  Yaaaa.  So enthused about that.  NOT.

I'm sitting looking at it all for now, I've put away the frozens and fridge stuff, so no hurry.

4.47 pm:  Kids home from school.  I enlisted their help to put the rest of the groceries away.
I ended up re-arranging a few of the food shelves/cupboards.  Of course that took an hour!  Rather tired now!

Dinner tonight is lamb patties and veges.  Sounds good.

The lamb patties were AMAZING!  Totally going to buy more of them.
We are expecting the temperature to drop to -3 degrees C tonight (26.6 degrees F).  Brrrr, if it does get that low, we will have our first bumper frost.

Heading off to bed now, quite tired.