BIT OF THIS, BIT OF THAT

Lots to do today.

Hang a monster load of washing outside, well... what I didn't get hung out last night that is.

Then off to Hamilton to get a few bits 'n' bobs.

Then once home I shall be make Keera's pillow cases, two at least.

And also a curtain for the garage windows... cos I haven't done that yet. 

There's always something to do eh? Sometimes I say I'm going to do a specific thing TODAY, but it actually doesn't get done for a week!

Life and 'stuff' can be so distracting.

Never mind, it's all good.  I love being busy, having stuff lined up to do.  

One thing I find myself doing... like last night... DE-CLUTTERING!

Since we de-cluttered our Auckland house SO MUCH, I've come to like the less cluttered look!

Last night I cleared the kitchen bench a bit, cos it was starting to look cluttered.

Funny how your tastes and other things change over time.  I still hate pumpkin though.

lol

ABOVE:  There's a small kid and a dog under there.  Tallulah just LOVES playing with Keera... it is so weird how much that dog likes her.

Before they hung out under the couch, there were running around and around the kitchen island with a cuddly blanket... Tallulah was either sitting on it getting a free ride, or they were playing tug of war with it!  So.  Bloody. Cute.

Right, I'm off to get that friggin washing out.  Hope it doesn't rain.

ONWARD...

1.01 pm:  finally back from town.  Blistering hot out there today.  

 ABOVE:  'Stuff' I got this morning.  New bathroom set for our ensuite.  Curtain wire (finally!), candles, flowers and some new fabric.

ABOVE:  I will be making a small quilt for some little girl's bed.  For a birthday next year.  Won't say who, let it be a surprise.

What else did I get up to?  I got about 8 inches cut off my hair!  Well overdue for a good 'trim'.
Feels great too.

Well, I'm glad you asked for a hair photo... cos I wouldn't have seen how UN-straight it is otherwise.

ABOVE:  Clearly not straight across the bottom.  I'm quite pissed off about that.  As you can see, the pink and purple streaks turned green when I put a brown dye in my hair.
Not that I care much about that.

Just spent ages at the Doctors (won't say why), but it was so stuffy and hot in there I almost threw up!  Tired now... drained by the heat.

So we had takeaways for dinner, there was no way I felt like cooking!   I had the air con on for a few hours and it certainly helped.

Now it's time to wrap up for the day.

PLUMS

I'm feeling a bit dejected about my dreams of making plum jam this summer.

Our trees have very little fruit on them.  Not sure if they were pruned too harshly, or the winter winds stopped the flowers getting pollinated?  

One tree has maybe 5 plums on it!  

ABOVE:  And this tree has maybe two or three branches that seem to have quite a few fruit growing on them, but most of the tree has none.  Boo hoo.

ABOVE:  I was looking at the plant in front of the tall Atlantis pot, trying to think what it was?
Then it came to me... it was a bloody weed!

Stew came along and must have agreed, cos he pulled it out of the garden.  Then he carried on replacing the sand with concrete between the new pavers.  

Today I'm going into Hamilton for my Patchwork group at Donna's Quilt Studio.  I'm going to continue doing the hand stitching on Keera's quilt, I should have it finished by the end of the day.

I can't wait to see it on her bed all finished.

Right, that's all for now.

ONWARD...

Stupid weather!  It's been like an early summer for weeks now, but today?  OMG it's freezing!
I've put long tights and socks/sneakers back on.  

Off to patchwork soon... made Brylee get out of bed early.  I've given her a small list of jobs to do, just two things.  I wonder if they will be done by the time I get home?

Miracles do happen right?
Now that I've sat down, all my energy has gone.
Derrrr.  
Weight watchers last night, I gained 3 kilos over the past 2 months.  It could have been worse.

I'm going to try a different strategy, small and often.  I've never actually done that before.  It's worth a go.

One of my biggest problems is over eating, portion sizes and bad choices.  So, I shall work on one 'problem' at a time.  Portion sizes.  If I go 'small and often' I won't get to the point of being starving, and then over eat.

STARTING TODAY. Oh and I suppose a small biscuit every couple of hours isn't going to cut it eh? lol   I shall be investing in some nice snacks, fruit, nuts and so on.
Any suggestions happily accepted.

ALMOST finished Keera's quilt!  I've got half a side left to stitch down.  It will be on her bed tonight.
And I found some of the purple fabric (in Keera's quilt), at Donna's Quilt Studio, so I will be making her a pillow case in purple now.  Yaaa.

Lunch time.  I'm going to have a sandwich I think.

Lunch was a sandwich, and nothing else. 

The afternoon became very hot and ikky... to the point where I felt quite ill.  Heat and I do not mix.

Dinner was pasta with chicken and bacon, I had a very MODEST amount.  And it was enough.

I am going to hit 'repeat' for tomorrow!  I feel much better with less in the belly.

Time to sign off for today... last thing... I got the quilt finished.  It's going on Miss Muppet's bed tomorrow. 

PINK PINK PINK

*** DISCLAIMER:  the content of today's post was posted with Lacy's PERMISSION. ***

Lacy called in to see Keera on her way home from Tauranga yesterday afternoon.

She had been to a Guy Fawkes party.

She had a little story:

She got pulled up by a cop on her way down the Kaimai's.  Apparently the cop had done a check of her car on his computer.  It showed her car wasn't registered, so he pulled her over.

And yeah, he did a bit of a check of her car... and found a 'few' issues with it.

The BIGGEST issue was her 'fuel tank'.

Or rather, her 'jerry rigged' fuel tank.

A while ago a bad lot of petrol went into her fuel tank, and rendered it useless.

So Lacy, being the 'handy' person she is, decided to make her car a new fuel tank.

It looks like this:

ABOVE:  It worked, but it was HIGHLY ILLEGAL.

The cop took one look and was literally struck dumb!  He was IMPRESSED with what a good job Lacy had made of her very illegal fuel tank....

ABOVE:  Clearly it had SOME features that were OK-ish (if it was a real fuel tank!), but at the end of the day, the car was a ticking time bomb!!!

The car got PINK STICKERED immediately, and the officer took the number plates off the car.

He DID allow her to drive it back to Hamilton... which was AMAZING, as usually Pink Ticketed cars have to stay where they are and be picked up by a tow truck.

So, Lacy's car is officially off the road.  
I can't say I'm sad about that, as I was worried sick that if someone ran into the back of her car it would have exploded!

So, that's the start of my day!  Blog fodder... gotta love it.

School/Kindy run first thing today.  Then I'm going to do some sewing... join strips of fabric for the binding for Keera's quilt.  Then I will have some 'hand work' to do at Patchwork Group tonight.  

Brylee is home now, she's on 'study leave' and has exams starting soon.  Griffin still has a few weeks left before the school year ends for him.  I'm not sure when Kindy finishes, I will check at kindy this morning.

So, that's all for now... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

I've made some great progress on Keera's quilt this morning.  I made the binding and sewed it onto the quilt.  Now all I have to do is hand stitch it down, and make a label for it.  

I almost always forget to add the label, which has the date it was made and by who.  So, I might just do that now.

*sigh*  The car saga continues.
Stew was driving into Hamilton this morning, and what did he see parked on the side of the expressway?

Lacy's car.

We wondered if she had been pulled over again, or broken down?

Seems it was the latter, the car died.

So, I get a text from her at 12.30 this afternoon.   She wanted me to tow her car into Hamilton.  

I rang the Police to make sure it was legal for me to tow it?  It was, so I went into Hamilton.

Stew met me at Lacy's and he went out in my car and towed her back to her flat.  I didn't want to do it, knowing my luck she would have crashed into the back of my car!

So, hopefully we never have to do that again, I'm over her car.

I'm now home again, and in less than an hour I have to go and pick up Keera and Griffin.  Oh well... I will watch some mindless TV till then I think.

9.36 pm:  Since the afternoon, I've cooked a delicious veal roast with veges, gone to Weight Watchers meeting (first time in 2 months!) and then gone to Monday night Patchwork Group.  

I've had a lovely evening, and got about a third of the binding hand stitched on Keera's quilt.

Time to sign off for the day.

CHICKENS

When we first moved here, and we got the neighbour's chickens visiting, I thought it was awesome!

Chickens!   How gorgeous.

ABOVE:  Now?  I'd like to shoot them.
Can I?  

Probably not, as their owner is a Cop.

But still, they are really pissing me off now.

My neighbour over the fence said she hated them chickens a while ago, and I really didn't understand why?

Now I do.  Those little buggers come over here and rake all the bark off my gardens and onto the lawns and paths.  I presume they are looking for food.

But... they sure don't put the bark back once they have made a fine mess of my gardens!

I'm getting ready to have a word with the neighbours about their lovely chickens.

*** Just for you Anne K, I have changed the colour.  ***

Maybe Stew can, he's way more diplomatic than me.  *smiles*

Today?  Hmmm... not too much planned until this afternoon.  I'm off to a Scentsy (sp?) party organised by Kelly.  I wouldn't mind getting a few more blocks of waxy, smelly stuff.  I'm getting sick of the one I have already!

So... that's it for now.   Don't worry, I won't shoot the chooks... for now.  

ONWARD...

4.03 pm:  HI!  We all ended up going to the Scentsy party, except Stew.  He had to go and 'man' his company's stand at the Women's Expo in Rotorua.  Poor man.

The Scentsy party was nice, just a few ladies there today.

ABOVE:  I got to cuddle a 4 week old baby girl, the child of the consultant.  Very cute bubba.  Kelly is holding her here.

Did I get clucky?  HELL NO!

There were heaps of 'scents' to smell, I came away with a badly abused nose!  Some of those scents were friggin awful!   But I did manage to buy some more wax smelly's for the burner Kelly gave me and this:

ABOVE:  It's a diffuser, and it's really lovely. I love how it changes colour, reminded me of our spa pool lights in Auckland.

 ABOVE:  Kelly has a new-to-her car.  It's her run around town car.  Nice, but not something I would find handy.  I love my big car.

ABOVE:  This is Dexter.   He belongs to Amanda C, Kelly's friend.  The smelly party was at her home.  Dexter used to be a nice bird, but he escaped, and was lost for 6 weeks.  When they finally found him, he had undergone a personality change, and now he's HORRIBLE.  You dare not put your finger near him or he will bite you apparently.

He talks.  Bad words. 

So, a nice afternoon on a whole.
I'm cooking Bacon and Corn fritters for dinner.  Fingers crossed they are nice.

ABOVE:  Bacon and Corn fritters... were LOVELY!  

And that is all for today.

HA !

My plan yesterday was to get SOME of the quilting done on Keera's quilt.

Yeah right.

I stayed up until well after 1 am last night, and got the darn thing DONE.  Now ALL I have to do is stitch in the threads and add the binding.  

Oh, and make a couple of matching pillow cases.

That will be fun, I love making matching pillow cases.... *smiles*.

ABOVE:  You can't really see the quilting so much in this photo...

ABOVE:  In this one you can.  The detailed stitching on the blue border took AGES!  But it was worth it.  The rest was simply quilted using the ever so handy wavy lines, and yeah, some flowers too.

I really didn't expect to get all the quilting done yesterday/last night, but I'm glad I did.  Now I have to work on what to use to bind it.  And make the pillow cases.  FUN!

Might not happen today though.  This morning we are doing the grocery shopping, then this afternoon Stew is going to work on the pavers he put in a couple of weekends ago.  The sand isn't working for me... it's getting traipsed inside and all over the concrete.  I hate it!

So he's going to put concrete in the gaps instead.

ONWARD...

3.50 pm:  And we have had a fairly lazy day so far.  I stayed in bed till 10 am!  

We went into Hamilton to get a couple of things for outside (concrete, paver), then had lunch at The Base.  I spent my $50 voucher from K & K, and managed to spend an extra $200 there.  Whoops.

Home now, and sorting a few things out in relation to our trip down to Palmerston North in a couple of weeks time.

Motels, transport, and so on.

Stew's cooking dinner tonight.  Yaaaa.  He's doing healthy shit. lol

Times 2 if ya ain't read it in the last week or so.

Well my aim of getting to bed earlier hasn't happened yet.  *sigh*
Off to bed ... it's 12.25 am.  Slightly earlier than last night!

4 YR OLD

Today little Miss Muppet is off to Kindy for the morning, then once she gets home it will be lunch, then off to the Doctor's for her 4 year old Pre-School check up and immunisations.

Somewhere along the line, she didn't get her immunisations when she turned 4.  Oh well... better late than never.

She must have them so I can get her enrolled into Primary School.  And that has to be done asap too. I better not forget to get Stew's prescription while I'm at the Doctor's too... I've managed to forget for over a week now.  WHOOPS!

While Keera's at Kindy today, I am going to make a start on the quilting of her quilt.  I keep saying I'm going to do it, then get distracted by something else.  

So that's me day... 

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  I think Santa needs to bring Keera a TENT.  A small, inside tent.  Yes? lol

ABOVE:  I have sewn all morning, and there is some progress.  I've probably done a sixth of it.

KEERA'S IMMUNISATIONS:  Got to the Dr's bang on time, answered all the questions, then it was time for her 2 injections.

I sat on a chair with Keera on my lap, facing out.  I held both of her arms down while Nurse #1 blew bubbles in front of Keera.
Meanwhile, Nurse #2 and Nurse #3 gave her an injection in each arm.

Keera didn't even FLINCH!  She didn't cry or anything, she just acted like they had done nothing!!!!  What an amazing kid.  Very proud of her.

We are are home now, and hopefully the rest of the day goes like a breeze too.  

The rest of the afternoon and evening have gone well.  Keera is fine too.  No reactions to her injections thank goodness.

It is now (holy hell!) after 1 am in the morning.  That's what happens when I get stuck into sewing!

GARDENS

I have NEVER gotten excited about a garden as much as this home's garden has excited me.

We have done some new plantings, and now have:

10 strawberry plants (new)
3 plum trees
3 grape vines (new)
3 feijoa trees (2 new)
2 blueberry plants (new)
1 tangelo tree (new)
1 mandarin tree (new)
1 fig tree
1 lemon tree.... 

and lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower, spring onions, parsley and chives (all new)!

I'm thrilled with our horticultural efforts.  *smiles*

Now hopefully everything comes to fruition and we can enjoy our fruit and veges.

I asked Stew if I had missed anything?  He said what about the 2 olive trees?   Well yes, we do have them, but will they fruit?  Don't know... plus we don't like olives!  

Griffin dug the holes for the grapevines yesterday afternoon, and Stew planted them after dinner last night.  So all our plantings are done.

Today I'm going into town to get some curtain wire.  I want to make a curtain for the garage door windows.  The glare when I'm sorting out the washing is driving me nuts, so a curtain is in order.   I made one for our garage in Palmerston North, so I know it will work.

Keera only has half a day at Kindy today, so I will be picking her up at lunchtime.  My ears will be bleeding by the end of the day!  That child can TALK... and TALK... and then talk some more! lol

With any luck she will be tired and fall asleep... lol!

Right, I'm off to get said talkative pre-schooler ready for kindy....

ONWARD...

11.18 am:  And I've not managed to get into town yet.
I've been fluffing around at home.  Watered the new grape plants, moved a few items on walls, and finally hung the bunting in Keera's room.

ABOVE:  And I put up her 'Name' Wall Hanging too.  Funny how that Rhino's colouring matches the wall perfectly!  Must have meant to be there.

Now I just have to quilt her bed quilt, then her 'bedroom' stuff will be done.

It's been a very long and hot afternoon.  The kitchen/dining/family room gets the sun ALL DAY, so it gets pretty hot in here.  Keera did her best to drive me nuts today... it was "Grandma, Grandma, Grandma" for hours on end.

So, I laid her down on a couch, with me on the other and insisted she have a rest.  I fell asleep.  I have no idea if she did!  I woke up an hour later and she was off playing with the big kids.

The lounge was a tip.  She had laid blankets over the flipped out lazy boys and cushions all over the place.  I think she had made tents!

I'm trying to get to bed by 10.30 tonight.  Let's see how that goes.

DIABETES CHECK UP

Things are very different at our new Medical Centre, compared to where we went in South Auckland.

For a start, we don't see the Diabetes Nurse every 3 months, here it's once a year.
And you have to pay!  Clearly, living in South Auckland had some benefits.

Not so in Cambridge.  

Oh well... I suppose it's the trade off for living in such a nice little town.

Today I am seeing the Diabetes Nurse for my 'annual' check up.
Not sure what it entails.  Suppose I will find out eh?  *smiles*

Once that is done, I'm coming home to hang out the bloody endless amount of washing we generate.  Then I hope to do some sewing.

 ABOVE:  Archer finally found out what happens when you put your fingers in your ears!  He was very amused for a while doing it too.
Cute little bugger.

ABOVE:  I went into Keera's room yesterday morning to see if she was awake.  Found this.  The dogs really like this kid.

It is SO LOVELY to see her so happy, it really is.

And on that note, I'm outta here.  Got stuff to do.

ONWARD...

12.59 PM: Well my Diabetes check up was ... well... so-so.  Certainly not GOOD.  My HbA1c count was 66... the highest it's ever been.

So.  As we all know, and I DO KNOW, it is totally up to me to turn it around.  I've just got to want to be bothered.  Cos, seriously, I'm NOT bothered.  There is no excuse.  I'm in a rut.  So, what to do?

Well for a start, I'm probably going to join an Aquasize group being held out at St Peter's College twice a week.  And I will make a start on better diet.

Next... booked Keera in for her 4 year old 'Before School' check up, and immunisations.  That's on Friday afternoon.   Something tells me she ain't gunna be a happy girl after the injections!  Time will tell.

I also picked up an Enrollment form from the local Primary School.  She's in zone for Cambridge Primary school, so that's neat.  It would appear to be a lovely school. 

Now that I'm home, I shall have lunch (a lettuce leaf?), then continue with the washing.  It's being rotated through the dryer as it's been raining on/off all day.

ABOVE:  "No I'm not tired Grandma"... said no one in particular.

Quiet evening, some good telly on tonight.
But, heading off to bed soon... trying to kick my habit of staying up till well after midnight.

ANOTHER PATCHWORK DAY

Yaaa, another day I get to go and sew in lovely company.

Today's group is in Hamilton, so once I drop Keera off at Kindy, I will be heading into town.

I will be working on Keera's quilt today, quilting it.  Hopefully I will make some good progress on that.

Now, before I forget them again.... I've got a collage of some photos I took at the craft fair a week or so ago!  I totally forgot them.

There was this older man who was displaying a model he was working on, it was a scale model of the Anglican Church here in Cambridge, it was AMAZING!

ABOVE:  The model had taken over 18 months to get to this stage, and would probably take another year or so to finish!  Once finished, the maker was going to donate it to the community.  Such dedication to his work, it was incredible to see all the detail!

There's some very clever people out there eh?

OK, time to go.  Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

Well I just checked the calendar, and there is NO patchwork group on today.  I got my weeks muddled up.  Donna (the tutor and shop owner) is away until next week.  It's been a funny 4th term as Donna has gone to the USA to attend a 'Fabric Convention'.  So we have 2 weeks on/2 weeks off all the way through this term.  Makes it fairly disjointed, and easy to get the weeks muddled up.

Oh well, I shall still go to Hamilton.  Might have a browse around Grandmother's Garden in Gordonton too.

3.47 pm:  Well I've had a busy day so far.
I did go into Hamilton, and Gordonton.  Found a couple of Christmas presents, but got no fabric!

Bit of a miracle that.  lol

At The Base, I managed to avoid being backed into ... but only just! Silly woman just backed out of her carpark, right into me.  The only reason she missed me was because I could swerve into some empty carparks on my left.  If they'd had cars parked in them, I would have been smashed into!

Gave me a bit of a fright that did. 

Feeling out of sorts this afternoon.  Not sure why.  Just feel bla.  I think the kids are the same, they are all grumpy.  

I'm cooking them an early dinner, Stew won't be home till a bit later than 'normal' as he's in Rotorua today.

I'm going to sign off early today.  I doubt much else will be happening worth noting today.  *smiles*