HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRIFFIN!

Well.... our 'youngest' boy hits 15 today!

And we are busy getting ready to leave for Palmerston North.

The house is humming, heaps going on.

Thank goodness my car is fit for driving all that way!

Yesterday was a nightmare for me.  I felt sick that I had damaged our car AGAIN!  Third time.  Hopefully the last time.

So, while outside yesterday afternoon, I checked on my broccoli.  It was looking pretty good last weekend...

ABOVE:  Can you believe it!   WOW, I'm thrilled to bit with how big they are getting.
Clearly having a vege garden in the Waikato is GREAT!
Last time I grew veges this well was WAY, WAY back when we lived in Te Awamutu!  That was 29 years ago.

Right, I better go... heaps to do.

I will TRY to do an update or two during the day, let ya know how our trip is going.

ONWARD...

...well... on the desert road. 8 degrees so fairly cold. new snow on the mountains.... quite a lot too! 

We will be stopping at Taihape for lunch. glad I bought  warm sweater!

Taihape...and I'm busting for a piddle. so we park and start walking towards the toilets....and OH... THERE'S A FABRIC SHOP!!!!

All urges to pee leave the building... and we divert into the fabric shop!   I did a quick grab then left Stew to pay and took off to the loo. 😊😊😊

We are now going to have lunch in the Soul Cafe before checking out the other shops.


Safely in Palmy. done some shopping.... the 15 yr olf forgot undies! 

Can you imagine the stench in our car if he had 3 day old undies on when we were travelling home on sunday!!!  OH HELL NO...I bought him more.

Well we have spent the evening at my friend Sandra's. Mike and Joyce visited us T Sandra's too. that was neat.

Time for bed.

NITE NITE

FAMILY VISITING

Looking forward to today.
My Mum arrives here again.  This time she is being brought down by her youngest sister, Ethel, and Ethel's hubby Frank.

We used to live just around the corner from Frank and Ethel in Auckland.

They just bought a new car, and wanted to take it for a drive, and also see our new home.

I expect them late morning, which will give me plenty of time to get the house all pretty and tidy.

Wish I'd got the kids to vacum yesterday!  It was on the list to do, but somehow they managed to get to bed without doing it.

*sigh*

So, that's me for now, I'm off to plump cushions, vacum and so on.

ONWARD...

I don't even want to talk about it:

ABOVE:  I misjudged the angle coming out of the turning bay in my car.  The brick and concrete letterbox defended itself.  The letterbox won.

Insurance sorted, excess paid, panelbeaters taped up rear panel.  It's roadworthy.

We can still go to Palmerston North tomorrow.

THAT. IS. ALL.   

I am now going to sit in the naughty corner.

Well... my Mum arrived with Frank and Ethel. We had a nice visit... then Frank and Ethel left.

Since then we have been yakking and so on.  Bex and the boys have arrived so now it's a mad house here.

Now as most of you know, if my Mum is here with us, I can't 'blog' much.
She does not approve.  So ... my updates will be sparse for a while.

I will be away for the next three days (Fri - Sun) so posts will be done on my phone, so even more sparse ... sorry.

Photos will probably have to wait until I get home again.

I don't think I will even be taking my laptop with me.  Too much hassle.

So, bear with me, I'll be back on Monday with a proper post.

NITE NITE.

SWIMMING?

Well... if I can get my butt moving this morning, I would like to go and check out the aqua exercise session here in Cambridge.

That's if I can find me togs!  They are around her somewhere?

I've also got heaps of housework to get done, get the washing up to date etc.
My Mum is due here tomorrow, she's being brought down by my Aunt and Uncle (Ethel and Frank), who have been entertaining her for the past few days.

They have not been here before, so it will be nice to show them our new home.

OMGosh!  Just saw this new option on the line up above!!!!  🔻🔻🔻

🔻⧪➽💗💆💜😲👩👸😌🍑🌼🌸🐀🐙🍷👜👗☎📥♐☃⛲⛔🚔🚗  OK!!!!

Since when have we had these options????  OH no, now I'm going to be spending ages seeing what's on offer!

Bloody hell, something else to take up my time.

But awesome too!  💙😕💧💦🙌💩🍅🍏🍩🐧🐠🐋  Oh hell.... you better get used to them!

Geez that has brightened up me day!

ONWARD ➽ ➥ ➼

💩 DAMMIT. Swimming starts in 25 minutes and I can't find me togs, or anything that fits well enough to go out in public in.

I was probably being a bit too hopeful that I'd be up and ready today anyway.  Mind you, I could have looked for me togs last night eh?  Derrr.

As I actually have lots to do today anyway, it's probably a good thing I'm not heading out.
I want everything to be up to date by tonight, so that we can pack our bags tomorrow night, ready to leave first thing Friday morning.

I'm too organised I think.  But if I'm not ... I get me tits in a knot.  Ask Stew!  He will verify that little snippet of information.

As it's another wet day, most of the washing will have to go in the dryer.  That's fine by me.
Right, off to make beds, and get Brylee up.  She's got an exam tomorrow and should be studying her books, not the insides of her eyelids.

1.10 pm:  Well... after not finding me togs, I decided to go into town and find something to swim in.
I had an EXCELLENT time!  Found:

 ABOVE:  Top and bottoms for swimming in (they are in swimming fabric), and two new summer tops and lots of cards.  Cos we have 2 birthdays and a wedding this weekend.

ABOVE:  Keera's quilt is done, so is a matching pillow case.  I'm really happy with it, and so is she.


I had to cut an inch off the length and width of her mattress so I could tuck in the bedding! Got that done this morning too.

Today has been the best day I've had (so far) in a few weeks.
I've not been feeling very well at all... excessively tired mostly.

Hopefully by going to bed a bit earlier AND dropping my Amitriptyline by 75% has helped.  I've got my Doctor's permission to drop the dose by the way.

Today is the first day I've felt clear in the head.  This must be a good thing  🙌  yaaaa!

Well it's mid evening... and I shall be heading off to bed by 10.30 pm all going well.  Slowly going to bed earlier!

HAMILTON PATCHWORK GROUP?

Well, after yesterday's strange day, I'm hoping today is a normal one.

After getting the kids off to school/kindy I will be coming home and packing my sewing stuff up, ready to head into Hamilton for patchwork group.

Maybe this time I will actually get there.

When I get home I will start making a list of things I need to get done/do before we head down to Palmerston North on Friday.

All going well that is.  Who knows, we might have more earthquakes and end up not being able to go?  Many roads in the South Island are badly damaged from Sunday night's earthquakes, so who knows what can happen before Friday.

But for now... I'm off to get started on today.

ONWARD...

2.38 pm:  Well today's gone to plan so far.
Patchwork was nice, lots of talk about the earthquake, as anticipated.
Then I went to Amanda's for a bathroom stop and quick catch up.

Then I went to Bunnings in Hamilton and picked up the hedge trimmer Stew ordered.  We need one here!

Then home for lunch and then I went to my appointment at Sport Waikato.
I shall be starting Aqua aerobics tomorrow I think.

Now it's time to catch up on Home and Away, before heading out to pick up the kids.

9.37 pm:  Well it has been a very quiet afternoon and evening.  I'm going to do my best to get to bed early tonight, because I have this overwhelming tiredness.  Most likely caused by going to bed too late, and not getting a good sleep.

WOW, SCARY

Last night, just as I was about to head off to bed, our country was hit with a BIG earthquake. It was measured at M7.5.  

I felt it quite strongly!  Our house started to rock and roll, and I was rather scared.  I got up and it felt like I was drunk!

I wanted to wake Stew and just not be alone during it.  Walking down the hallway was weird, I had to hold on to the walls, the house was rolling around!

As far as I know right now, no one has died.  But there has been damage to buildings etc.
Until I can check the news, I don't have any more to report right now.

Now ... back to my normal post:

Well... dare I say it?   I think we have finished all we want to do on the outside of this new home of ours... FOR NOW.

ABOVE:  From this...

 ABOVE:  To this.  Much nicer.  Might not stop the kids, but we will work around that somehow.

ABOVE:  More revelations in the garden.  Obviously the previous owners of our home liked blue flowers!  How lucky am I?  *smiles*

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!***  See you at the end of the week.  Totally looking forward to that.

Today I'm off to Patchwork group here in Cambridge.  I shall be working on finishing at least one pillow case for Keera's bed.

ONWARD...

Earthquake:  So far two deaths reported, lots of damage done in various parts of the country, mostly in upper South Island and Wellington.

I didn't get to bed till 2.30, so am about to go back to bed... shattered.  No patchwork group for me this morning.

5.45 pm:  I literally did NOTHING all day until mid afternoon!  I was just drained.

Once I found some energy, I decided to switch over the light bulbs in the house.  I have to do them room by room as the new bulbs are fairly expensive.

I bought 17 today, so the hallways and kitchen/dining/family room  are done.

We went from Warm White to BRIGHT WHITE, there is such a huge difference!  The room feels so much lighter now.

Tomorrow Stew is going to get a few more.  We need 20 more!  Luckily the bathrooms don't have 'normal' light bulbs, so we don't have to change them.

 ABOVE:  Luckily the kids were home to help do it for me.  Knowing my luck, I would have fallen off the bloody ladder.  Me and heights just don't mix.

ABOVE:  Gavin here is a photo of the new fan.  It's really good!  Totally recommend it.

Long day, time to sign off.  Hope nothing happens tonight!

THIS 'N' THAT SUNDAY

ABOVE:   "Grandma, is my hair pretty?"

"Yes Keera, you are gorgeous, just so beautiful, but ya talk too much!"

Seriously, by the end of the day I'm totally over it.  She NEVER SHUTS UP!  Even the others in the house are starting to notice.  Lacy, trust you to produce a child with no OFF switch!

I think the trick to getting some relief is to just keep feeding her!  lol

 ABOVE:  Progress on this corner.  Stew ran out of bark, so he's gettting more today.   I am loving it.  We are sure making some nice changes around here.
I just hope the tree survives the move.

 ABOVE:  Stew also moved the lemon tree to where the maple was, so now all our fruit trees are in the same area.
This tree WAS already looking a bit 'off', so if it dies I won't be surprised.

ABOVE:  Last night, I asked Brylee to smooth my feet with that gizmo (Scholl Velvet Smooth Express Pedi), Keera was very intrigued, then she 'helped' Brylee.

My feet were in a horrid state, so rough and dry.  Now they feel so much better.  I hadn't done them for ages.  Thanks girls, you did a good job. ♥

Right, as for today?  Not sure, there is a market on down in Cambridge I could go to.  Might go, might not.   I really don't need anything.

Stew will be finishing that area in the dog's run.  We don't think having the tree there will stop the kids from annoying the dogs, so we will think on it a bit more.  

Stew reckons we should just talk to the neighbours if/when the kids do it again.

My Mum arrived back in the country late last night, she's here for my nephew's wedding next weekend, down in Palmerston North.  For the next few days she will be staying with one of her sister's in Auckland, visiting family there.

We will be going down to Palmy next Friday, taking Mum with us.  Looking forward to that.

ONWARD...

Well my morning didn't go to 'plan'.  Stew (the Darling) reminded me that we really needed to go grocery shopping.

So that's what we did.  We took our own JJ with us (Jabba Jaws), Keera.  And she lived up to her new name.

Home, all the groceries away, and now Stew's gone down to the hot bread shop for some lunch.  It's 1.35 pm, a late lunch for everyone.

After lunch he will get on with finishing off the dog's area, add more bark etc.

I don't know what I will do.  Thankfully, my back is holding up today.

Well... I ended up going with Stew to Mitre 10... and that meant only one thing.

We bought more than anticipated!

ABOVE:  We got the bark, and potash for the lemon tree (thanks for the tip Dee), and we also got a new fan for our bedroom.

It's got a remote, so I can turn it on/off, faster or slower and oscillate or not.  And it's 'whisper' quiet.  Neat.

Oh and then I spied this :

ABOVE:  a lovely Atlantis pot to put under the maple tree.  Cos, while it is the dog's area, it can still look nice eh?  

Well... it's been a good day!  Stew got all the outside jobs done, and I did very little really!

Time to sign off for the day.

Somewhere in New Zealand there has been a BIG EARTHQUAKE!

12.05 pm approximately I felt our home start to rock, and rock!

The walls were moving, the doors were swaying, and I actually got scared.

It lasted for what seemed like 1-2 minutes.

I woke Stew up, I was that scared.

update:

IT WAS NEAR HANMER SPRINGS IN THE SOUTH ISLAND! 

THAT IS A VERY LONG WAY AWAY FROM HERE!

OMG, I HOPE EVERYONE DOWN THERE IS OK.   IT MUST HAVE BEEN HUGE DOWN THERE.

Update: 

7.5 MAGNITUDE Earthquake centred not far from Hanmer Springs in the South Island.

No other news yet.

OFF TO TOWN

This morning we are heading into town... Griffin is attending a friend's birthday party in Hamilton.  We will drop  him off then do our own thing till it's time to pick him up again.

At some point we will have to do a grocery shop.  Maybe this afternoon I will do it and then the family can help put it all away.

The weather is supposed to pack it in and be wet, so we might not get the one job done outside that's on me list.

I want to move the maple tree that's outside the kitchen window, to over in the dog's area.  It will provide summer shade for them, AND stop the neighbours little kids from sitting on the back brick fence over by the dogs.  They sit on the brick wall and dangle and wave their feet at the dogs and I am scared stiff Tallulah will bite them in frustration.

They are teasing her a lot.  I've asked them to stop, but hey, they are kids! Since when do kids do as they are told?  Well, these ones don't, that's for sure.

I don't want to complain to their parents and end up off-side with our neighbours.  So maybe putting the tree right in front of the brick fence will stop them?  I hope so anyway.

ONWARD...

4.52: And we have been out and come home again.
Griffin had a nice time with his mates at 'Jump' and McDonald's.

Stew, Brylee, Keera and I went and bought this:

ABOVE:  The beach shelter was just too big! Heather:  we had the same idea  *smiles*
We had a lovely lunch at Chartwell Square, then Griffin met up with us and we went home.

My upper back, between my shoulder blades started to hurt while we were out, so I went to bed with some hot wheat packs.

Woke up around 4 and went to see what Stew had been up to:

ABOVE:  I was in time to see him wrestling with the maple tree... but eventually he and Griffin managed to move it into it's new position.

 ABOVE:  We realise now that it probably won't stop the neighbour's kids from harassing the dogs.  

It's a work in progress.  I will find a way, hopefully before they get bitten.

Twice in the past couple of years, my back has gone into spasm, OH MY GOD so painful!
Did it again just before... but this time, unlike the last two times, in a totally different area of my back.

I can't move or even breath without pain.  It's so frustrating!  And I have no idea WHY it's happened.

Luckily, I have a couple of Tramadol left over from the last time.  I've taken one and now await the relief.

Thank goodness for drugs!  The tramadol has been working for several hours now.  Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow and the pain will be gone.  I live in hope.

Time to call it a day.  Stew did well today, he's such a hard worker.  I did bugger all and feel stink about that, but back pain cannot be ignored.

NEW PAINTINGS

After finding two gorgeous paintings at MedLab yesterday, I found the perfect places for them.

Well... One had it's 'place' already, so it was only one that I had to find a place for.

I have said before, every place we have lived as a couple, we have bought a painting of the town/city/area.

Well, I saw this painting behind the reception desk at MedLab and it just screamed 'CAMBRIDGE'... and I loved it... so I got it.

ABOVE:  The White Church is just up the road from our home, and Lake Karapiro is only a 10 minute drive away, and I'm sure we will be spending a good amount of time there over summer.  I couldn't believe how neat this painting was, perfect as our Cambridge painting. 

Usually it takes me a few years to find 'the' painting.  *smiles*

 ABOVE:  It is now on our 'We have lived here' wall... left to right is where we have lived in the last 30 years.

Now for the 2nd painting.
I couldn't take my eyes off it... it just had to be mine.

ABOVE:  It is called 'Waiting Together'.

ABOVE:  I put it here, as it then catches your eye as soon as you walk into the room.

So, what do you think of them?

Today?  Sewing.  Getting more housework done, cos that never ends.
And that's it for now.

ONWARD...

*sigh*... well maybe I shall move the boat painting?  I like it there though.
But, I sure don't want to have it get wrecked... so I will try to find it another 'prefect place'.

It's been a quiet morning, I have started making pillow cases for Keera's bed.  It's slow going as I keep making mistakes.

I've got a killer headache.  I've taken some pain killers, and had a quick nap, but I still have the headache.  Annoying.

 ABOVE:  I took this yesterday afternoon.  Tallulah ... guarding her person, who was asleep.

Because Keera just loves making 'tents' in the house, I was looking on TradeMe for a kiddy tent, then I remembered something we already had...

ABOVE:  Taa daa!  Her own 'tent'.  We bought that years ago for using on the beach.  Now, it's her inside tent.  She wants to sleep in it.  Yaaa.... not gunna happen of course.  Unless Brylee fancies sleeping in it with her... lol.

After some frustration and juggling around, I found a different place for the boat painting:

ABOVE:  It's now in the front door 'foyer', and the big snapper is now...

 ABOVE:  Under the heat pump.  I'm sure it will be fine there.

Well... long, hot evening.  We had chickens on buns for dinner, something nice and easy.
Everyone is in bed, and I'm off to join them.

MESSY

Well, thanks to the friggin stinking hotness that was yesterday afternoon, the sewing room became the 'dumping room'.

So, once I get the kids off to kindy and school, I will be home sorting out that stuff.

Once that room is tidy again, I hope to make the curtain for the garage door windows.  Then who knows?  I might make those pillow cases for Keera's bed.

I will get a photo of her quilt, on her bed, once I've got a matching pillow case done.

I did a bit of Christmas shopping yesterday on top of the other stuff.  I think I've pretty much done all my Christmas shopping now, and it's all paid for... which is bloody neat.  

I vowed a few years ago to never end up having to pay off Christmas presents till half way through the next year again, and I've managed to do that!  It's such a good feeling.

How are all of YOU doing with the Christmas shopping?  Done it, half done, not at all?  
There's only 6 and a half weeks left to go!

And on that note, I shall bugger off and get moving... breakfast for the small kid, make her lunch, get her dressed and all that jazz.

ONWARD...

OH!  And just a thought... I  know diddly squat about USA's politics, but I do know one thing.  BUILD A WALL... good luck with that one Donald, I will look forward to seeing you build it, it's going to do so much good for your country ... YEAH RIGHT. Sure, millions of people in the USA wanted CHANGE, but DONALD TRUMP???  How many other people in the world cannot BELIEVE yesterday's result?  Nuts.  (My opinion only, of course)

WOW..... I've had the BEST day already... I'll be back shortly to tell you all about it.

Yesterday, when I was leaving the Doctors, I had to hand in some swabs for testing at the MedLab, which is in the same building as the Doctor's.

Because I was all hot and bothered and felt ill, I somehow managed to put the wrong vials in the MedLab's after hours chilly bin.  

I didn't realise my mistake until today, so I had to go back to the Doctor's today.

All good, the tests were done again, and I had to sit and wait at MedLab for a while.

And well... I was admiring some paintings on their walls.  Then I realised they were actually for sale.  I really wanted them!

So I checked it out with Stew first, and he said "YES",  after seeing the photos of them I sent him.

I talked to one of the lab technicians, and she said she would talk to the artist and find out if she could get me a discount for BOTH of them.

Yep, I fell in love with two paintings in their waiting room!

Well... can you believe the artist said I could buy them for HALF PRICE!   I was thrilled to bits, as you can imagine.

So now, I just have to find the perfect place for them!

I will show you them tomorrow, once they have homes on me walls.  *smiles*

Well I've hung the new paintings and am really thrilled with them.  They will be on tomorrow's blog post.