BOXING DAY... LET'S ALL RELAX!

I'm hoping like hell today is much quieter than yesterday!   Everyone is tired.  Archer has not been feeling well for a couple of days, probably the mild tummy bug that's doing the rounds.

So, a quiet day would be good for him.

If the shops are open, we can return our new Soda Stream bottles.  They have an expired 'use by date' on them!  We only bought them the day before Christmas.  A bit slack if you ask me.

Luckily I still had the receipt!  

ABOVE:  The 4 big kids last night.  Ange's two :  Kaleb and Taylor and our two: Brylee and Griffin.  They are all lovely kids.

As you can see, Kaleb and Griffin are the same height (like TALL), and they are both younger than their sisters.  

My plans for the day are to potter around doing housework!  The house is a tip.
I am ITCHING to put away all the Christmas decorations and tree!  I know it's only Boxing Day, but I'm a bit OCD when it comes to how things look in the house!  Christmas is over as far as I'm concerned!

But maybe I will wait a few days, let the kids enjoy them a bit longer.

ONWARD...

3.26 pm:  And has it been quieter?  Yeah NAH! lol

What with Dante, Archer and Keera here, then visitors one after the other, it's not been quiet at all!

Steve and Bex DID take their 3 kids out for a few hours late morning ... visiting friends in Hamilton... but while they were gone we had an Uncle and Aunt of mine call in.  That was lovely, it's always nice to see family.

Then after they left we had more family arrive, Martyn and Jacqui and their two kids, Joel and Sophia.

So it's been just lovely having people in and out all day.

I was very remiss and didn't take photos of our visitors... but I did get a hysterical video of Sophia playing with Denim ... waiting for it to upload, then I can post it.

There was a short 'gap' between visitors, so Stew and I popped out and managed to get our Soda Stream bottles swapped for non-expired ones, and I also bought a smaller trestle table for the sewing room, so I could put one of the bigger ones in the 'Fabric Room'.  Things needed to be re-arranged in the Fabric Room to fit it in, but it still all fits well in there. 

We are now all relaxing before thinking about dinner.   Which will be whatever STEW wants to cook! lol 

4.30 - ish... and I'm on the phone with my Mum who's in Australia.  And some bloke rides up to our front door in high vis greens. ???   
Turns out it's one of my cousins who lives in a little town about 30 kms away!
So we haul him inside for a natter, and while he's here Keera stands on a bee.

OMG talk about SCREAM AND SCREAM!  We bring her inside and leave the 'doctoring' up to the visiting Vet!  Yep, Philip is a vet and he sorted her out for us.  LOL

The poor man left fairly quickly after that... too much noise I bet!  *smiles*

ABOVE:  And that will teach her to stand on a bee DELIBERATELY!  Bet she never does that again.  Seriously, she screamed so loudly and badly, and hobbled like she had broken her ankle, we were sure she had!  Thank god it WAS only a bee sting.

The video of Sophia and Denim didn't record!  My card was full... so I had to do another one with Archer instead.

Time to wind up for the day...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU, MAY YOU HAVE THE MOST ENJOYABLE DAY WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

We will be!  First up it's "What's under the tree"? with Steve, Bex, the 3 little kids, Brylee, Griffin and Stew.

Then we will be going into Hamilton to have Christmas lunch with Amanda and her family, hosted by her Mother-In-Law, Pauline.
Kelly and Rena will be there too, so we will catch up with them there.

After that, home to relax for a while, before Steve and Bex cook Christmas 'dinner'... which will be a BBQ.  We are hoping Russ and Ange come out for the BBQ too.

Sadly ... Lacy could not make it down for this Christmas. Just how it is.  We will talk to her at some point during the day, and of course, Keera will talk with her Mum too.

Same with Mike and Joyce, who couldn't come up either.  We hope to chat with them during the day too.

As planned, I will NOT be cooking at all!  First time in 38 years I won't be chief cook and bottle washer!  I'm so looking forward to that, you have NO idea how much.  *lol*

I will do my best to update during the day.... just quick little photos probably.

AGAIN... HAVE A FABULOUS, FATTENING DAY!
You only live once... so why not enjoy it!

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  Santa came!  Now it's time for the kids to get stuck in...

 ABOVE:  Happy teenagers, tickets to Flochella, a music event in Rotorua.

 ABOVE:  So, Dante woke up all through the night, wanting to go open presents! He even came into our room at 5.30 am, but Stew told him to go annoy his parents, which he did.

We had an agreement that we would get up at 7 am, so they all had to wait till then.

Which was fine, the little kids had their breakfast then it was present time.

ABOVE:  I put together this yesterday, a pretty little table decoration for the 'new' coffee table.

It's now 9.15 am and I feel knackered!  I stayed up pretty late last night making the Ambrosia desserts. Think a 'nana nap' will feature in my afternoon.   *smiles*

Lunch at Amanda's MIL's went really well.  Lovely company and super nice food!

 ABOVE:  There were 18 of us for lunch!  Pauline, Amanda's MIL did really well feeding all of us!  (she did have help of course, but still, a huge job)!

 ABOVE:  Amanda, Joel, Griffin, Huston, Rena and Emily.

 ABOVE:  MORE present unwrapping going on!  My word, there's been a lot of presents dolled out today.

 ABOVE:  Emily and her 'Hatchimal'.  Waiting for it to hatch.

 ABOVE: Self explanatory really!  Me and the girls.  Shame Lacy wasn't here. 

ABOVE:  Me man and girls.

It's now 7.23 and we have just finished dinner with Steve, Bex, Russell, Ange, and Ange's mostly grown 2 kids (Taylor and Kaleb), Brylee, Griffin and the 3 little kids.

We did MORE present unwrapping when Russ and Ange arrived!  Our little kids have been spoilt rotten!

And now... we are watching The Wilderpeople on the telly.  After that we will do some tidying up and go. to. bed.
Long day, but lovely.

CHRISTMAS EVE DAY

What's on today?

Well... we need to make up beds for Steve, Bex and the three kids today.

So funny, Keera has only been 'gone' for two days, and she will be back as a visitor today!

It's neat really.  It will be good to see her so soon after her move, see how she's feeling about everything.

I've changed things around in her 'old' room, so now her and Dante will be sleeping in there tonight, on mattresses on the floor.  I hope that goes well!

Steve, Bex and Archer will be in Brylee's room (she has a queen size bed), and Brylee will be on a couch in the lounge.

I've arranged them all like that so the lounge doesn't have the little kids in it on Christmas Eve, they might see 'Santa' bringing in their presents if they were in there!  Can't have that.

So the only jobs today will be bed making!

I finished doing all the presents last night, which was an awesome feeling.

I didn't think I would get it all done in one night.

MEH, just remembered.  Stew and I have to do some grocery shopping.  Just a few things for Christmas Day.  Not a big shop thankfully.

I think most people have to do some degree of grocery shopping today surely?  Fresh stuff mostly.

Well... that's about it from me for now... catch ya later!

ONWARD...

Well it's been a busy morning... just fluffing around the house mostly.  And getting the groceries.  We went down early, which was great cos now it's a mad house down there!

 ABOVE:  My Fabric Room... I used the 'Panorama' feature on Steve 'n' Bex's camera... quite a nifty feature!

 ABOVE:  Fabric room, with the brown couch return in there.  It fits in so well!  Now I have a comfy place to sit in there.

We decided after many, many years of not using it, to get my Dad's 'Hong Kong' coffee table out of storage and use it.  

ABOVE:  it looks good there.  It took a lot of furniture polish to get it looking good again, I had to use a small paintbrush to get in all the tiny crevices.

ABOVE:  My Dad visited Hong Kong on his way home from America over 30 years ago, and bought this there.  It came home on a ship some months later.
My Mum gave it to me after my Dad died.

Steve 'n' Bex and kids arrived in time for lunch, so that's what we are all doing now...eating.

And after lunch we babysat the kids so Steve and Bex could go do something without kids in tow.  Then dinner... Stew made salads and sausages on the BBQ.

Now?  Kids are getting readied for bed, then we can all relax for the evening, before 'Santa' arrives and clutters up the lounge!  *smiles*

Catch ya tomorrow.

I SLEPT IN ... BIG TIME!

SLEEPING IN... COME BACK LATER!

10.30 am:  And I have been up an hour!
I woke earlier, like normal time, but stayed in bed and fell asleep again.  Yaaa!

Stew was up very early, he's struggling to sleep at the moment, so he got up REALLY early and sat in the lounge watching sport.  Then he napped on and off.
He went down to the local Farmer's Market for some avocados.  There was a HUGE queue of people all the way down the street waiting to buy fresh strawberries!   I would never queue for friggin strawberries!

They don't really appeal to me that much.  Lathered in ice cream and icing sugar... yeah I will eat them, but not normally.

 ABOVE:  Keera's bed on the roof of the car... Stew thought it would fit inside, but nah, it didn't.  I spent half the trip up to Auckland yesterday staring at it through the wing mirror, worried sick it would fly off.
It didn't.  Crick in neck for nothing.

ABOVE:  The little rug rats this morning, hoping to get a tidbit from me.  They stare at me constantly when I'm having something to eat, hoping for a scrap.  They can both jump up on the chairs now.

Plans for today?  Sewing mug rugs, then wrapping, putting in Christmas bags, all the presents!  I've done NOTHING yet!  Talk about leave it to the last minute.

Stew was so tired he took himself off to bed for a nap, so while he was doing that, I went out and hand delivered all the mug rugs to my friends.
That took me about 2 and a half hours!  No such thing as drop and run!  I got to have a nice catch up with most of the girls, so lovely.

I'm now home, and Stew is up and cooking dinner... shit I'm a lucky tart!
I will be sleeping well tonight for sure, I'm knackered!

But, for now, it's dinner, then Brylee and I will spend a couple of hours wrapping and sorting out presents.

Maybe I will get them all done tonight?  That would be awesome.

IT'S DONE!  I got it all sorted, wrapped, bagged and put away again in just over 2 hours!
A...mazing.  And I didn't end up crying.  I have done THAT before, I loathe present wrapping THAT much!

Another year's presents finished.  Thank God.

And on that note, I'm off to relax and watch Coronation Street... bliss.

BIG DAY FOR EVERYONE

I really didn't expect this day to happen for at least another couple of months!

But, it's here now, we are moving Miss Muppet up to Auckland TODAY.

Steve, Bex, Dante and Archer are moving into their new home today too... so a very exciting day ahead.

We are hoping to get away fairly early, as Stew is helping Steve with moving all their furniture and effects.

Steve has hired a moving truck for the day, so the sooner we can get up there the  better.

ABOVE:  For a kid who arrived with virtually nothing, she's taking a lot away with her!  Her bed is still in her room, Stew and Griffin will have to load that into the car soon.  Then we can fit all this stuff in around the bed.

So ... that's about it for now.  We will be fairly busy during the day, so I'm not sure if I will be doing an update during the day or not.  I will try to, but not promising.

Catch ya later!

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  Well...we are in the new house. In fact I'm sitting on the dining room floor. No chairs to sit on yet! We are waiting for the guys to arrive with the first big load.

It's rather exciting. And stinkin hot. AND it's drizzling on and off.... so muggy and humid as hell.

But never mind...  its all good. *smiles*

ABOVE: First truck load.... probably only one more to go.

ABOVE: First load is in.... pit stop for lunch. Gotta love their dining room 'table'... *smiles*

ABOVE: kids playing in the lounge.  A lovely wood burner for winter.

6 pm... crazy crazy traffic situation ... There is NONE. NO traffic jams anywhere!!! We are cruising through Takanini, where we expected massive delays... and there is hardly any traffic! It's just amazing!

ABOVE: Crazy Christmas traffic....non event!

Safely home again.  
I didn't do much today apart from watch children.   I woke up feeling massively sick to my stomach, so wasn't up to doing much.
Had horrible stabbing pains in my stomach midday and figured I'd caught Brylee's tummy bug.

But, I have slowly come right over the afternoon, so managed to have some dinner before we left for home.

Since getting home I've re-arranged a few things in both sewing/craft rooms, and just fluffed around a bit.
Now it's time to relax and do NOTHING.
Well... except watch Coronation Street!

PACKING!

WOW... it's come around fast... I have to pack up all of Keera's stuff today, so we can pack the car tonight, ready for an early start on Friday.

It's surprising how much 'stuff' she has scattered around the house.

I also need to hunt out some bedding/linen so Bex doesn't have to buy much for her.

I'm feeling happy, but apprehensive as well.  Happy that the day to day care of a 5 year old is ending, but also apprehensive about her coping with yet another HUGE change in her life.

I know she will be so much happier with Steve and Bex, but it still feels WRONG to be moving her on from here. She has been so settled here, and happy on a whole.

But, it is time we put ourselves first, even though that feels so selfish.

Once I've got all that done, I am going to make more Mug Rugs for my FBG  friends.  I'm on a mission to give one to all the girls I have spent lots of time with on our walks, and at various social events. I'm so happy that I've made so many friends!

ABOVE:  This fabric is rather apt for the Fat Bottomed Girls mug rugs!  I have heaps of it too, which is just as well as I want to make 20 more!  

  ABOVE:  I keep forgetting to turn this cute little Christmas tree on.  Note to self... have it on tonight!

And that's about all for now... there's lots to do and I'm off to get started.

ONWARD...

Well the packing didn't take long at all!  I had already done some, and had in my mind where everything was.  It will be a simple process tomorrow ... just her bed/bedding and toiletries left to go in the car.

She's so excited!  Yabbering away non-stop about her new home, and helping me get it all done.  

I'm off into Hamilton shortly to return that cake and get another set of plastic 'drawers' for Keera's overflow stuff.  Then I will be done and can get on with some sewing.

So, I get to Pak N Save and they give me my money back, AND another bloody cake!
And it's pretty much exactly the same as the first one!  It was made and packed on the 6th of December, good till the 5th of January.  
The only way to make it reasonable edible is to smother it with custard!

After Pak N Save I got another storage thingee for Keera's clothes, swung by Spotlight and got some more batting then home.

It's super hot outside today, I'm keeping Keera inside.  She got too hot yesterday and had a meltdown in the afternoon.

I've not done any sewing yet, I really feel lazy today!

Winding down for the day, it's been a lovely lazy day really.  As tomorrow is going to be a busy one, maybe a quiet day was just what I needed.  *smiles*

RUNNER, CAKE... WALK

RUNNER:  I only have to stitch the binding on this now:

ABOVE:  I am really happy with how it's come out... simple design, but cheerful and bright.

I've also got 4 mug rugs on the 'go' in the  same 'vein'.  Should get them done today too.

CAKE:  It's going back today sometime.  Pak N Save are going to give me my money back.  Quite happy about that.

WALK:  I'm going on a FBG walk tonight.  It's a LONG one, so I will be taking it slow.  It starts at 7, so it will probably still be quite hot and muggy... hence me planning on going slow-ish.

Today on a whole... sewing mostly.  It's Brylee's 'turn' to get up to Keera... so maybe I will get to stay in bed till 8?  That would be nice.

Though in saying that, once I'm awake it is rather hard to stay in bed... my mind keeps thinking of all the things I could be doing and then I get cross and have to get up!


ABOVE:  A little video I took yesterday.  

And that's about it for now... so I will update later on...

ONWARD...

A very good morning so far.  I've been sewing in my room, WITHOUT company!
Griffin has just left with is mates for Hamilton.  They are going to 'JUMP', so place with lots of trampolines and so on.

Brylee is playing SIMS in her room and Keera is happily eating her lunch, and playing outside on her scooter.  

So all is good!

I have had to back out of the walk tonight.  It's a sweltering hot day, and it only gets worse as the day draws to a close.  I simply can't walk in this heat.   So, as I've made a few mug rugs for some of my FBG girlfriends, I will be going to the start point to give them to a couple tonight.

Then home to relax in the slightly less hot house.  

Brylee is cooking dinner tonight, under my supervision.  It's Spag Bol.  A family favourite.

ANON:  YEAH NAH.... That comment is sure in hell NOT getting published!  You are a bitch, through and through.  You THINK you know what goes on in MY house?  You know nothing.
You PRESUME too much.

It's been an interesting evening, I did not do anything I thought I would be doing.  But, my time was needed elsewhere, and that's how it goes.  Family comes first, and I was only to happy to sit and listen when someone needed a friendly ear.

And now... it's time to just sit and relax for a while, spend some time with Stew.

FRUIT CAKE?

I bought a Christmas Fruit Cake from Pak N Save on Sunday.   Decided to have a piece yesterday and was utterly disgusted!

FRUIT CAKE?  Yeah NAH.  More like dry madeira cake (without the nice taste) ... and a tiny bit of fruit thrown in, and icing that was so miserable it slid off the cake.

ABOVE:  Don't buy a 'Christmas Fruit Cake' from Mill Street Pak N Save, cos this is what you will get!
Of course, you can't see how miserable it really is until you get it home and cut into it.   $22 wasted.

I left a message on their Facebook page last night, but haven't got a reply.  Funny that.

Today's my 'turn' to get up early for Keera, so I will get the washing on and do a bit of housework.

I'm hosting the last card night of the year tonight.  We are doing a 'Secret Santa', so I better find a box to put the gifts in. And make sure I've got something to contribute to the nibbles we always have.

And that's about all I have for now, so catch ya later.

ONWARD...

8.45 am:  And I just got a phone call from the man who's fixing my Brother Sewing Machine... it's done!  OMG so quick!!!  And ONLY $46 too.
IF I'd taken it to Sewing Machine World in Hamilton it would have been taken up to Auckland and I wouldn't have seen it again for weeks, AND been charged over $200 no doubt.

I'm thrilled to bits, it's been diabolical trying to sew on the little machine, particularly the larger things like the table runner.  I actually gave up yesterday, it was a nightmare trying to twist the fabric around, doing applique on such a small machine.

So I will be going out shortly to pay the lovely man and bring McDreamy home again.  *smiles*

McDreamy is home and working perfectly.  I've done some more sewing today, watching Keera out the front window on her scooter.

I have heard from Pak N Save, and they are happy to take back their cake and give me my money back.  Great.  I shall do that tomorrow.

So, some good results today.  Right, back to the sewing, I might get my Christmas runner finished in a couple of days!

Card night was here today.  I had 9 ladies arrive to play Scum... much fun was had.  We all provided a Secret Santa gift to exchange ...  so that was neat too.  Lots of laughs and good company.  

It's now 11 pm and I'm going to chill out for a while before going to bed.

CHRISTMAS RUNNER AND MUG RUGS

I decided to make a Christmas runner for our dining table yesterday.  It's been on my mind for the past few weeks really, just haven't had the time to do it.

So, I started it yesterday.  These are progress photos:

 ABOVE:  4 Mug Rugs...

ABOVE:  The start of the runner.  There will be a border around the entire thing, it's still a work in progress.

I've got a mad dog:

 ABOVE:  Denim seems to like lying UNDER the dog bed!  Even when it's stinking hot!  Crazy dog.  Marley was getting sick of the camera's flash, hence the cranky face!

ABOVE:  LOL!  Denim is squirming out from under the bed, and Marley is trying to look in the camera!  Such a funny shot!

It's my turn to 'sleep in' today.  But it's hard when it's so hot, and I want to get on with my sewing... so I will be up and at'em soon.

ONWARD...


So. My sleep in didn't happen.


I'm in the bathroom .. it's about 7.45, and I hear some voices outside and the word 'Puppies', then I hear our side gate opening!

I panic, someone is coming on our property to steal our puppies (in my mind anyway)!


So I run (YES I RAN) down the hallway to the first window that will give me a view of the puppy's area, and I see.... THANK GOD.... Stew walking down towards the back of the property with both pups in his arms! ??? What the?


He's showing them to our newest neighbours ... who have been moving into the house behind us and one over, the past couple of days. (their driveway runs down our side boundary)


So, even though I'm in my nightie, I go out and say 'HI'! Lovely people, him, her and a young son... who looks to be about 12?


They have come up from Opotiki, so quite a long haul to here.


We stood and chatted for quite a while actually, me in me nightie, messed up hair, no makeup... YEP.... a really good look for our first meeting! lol


So now I'm up and there is no point going back to bed cos I'm wide awake!


Oh and... His name is Chris, our elderly male neighbour on our left is Chris and I'm Chris! So three of us all together!

Late morning we had a visit from Stew's sister, Khady.   She dropped off presents and had a lovely visit.

ABOVE:  Her dog Max enjoyed playing with the puppy toys.

 ABOVE: While Khady was here we finally had a few spots of rain.  Not enough to help the farmers sadly.  Hoping we get heaps more during the week.
The girls have enjoyed some time out on the driveway today.

ABOVE: This is how I stop the incessant nagging for food.  I put a whole lot of snacks out on the bench for Keera, and she can help herself during the day.
It works a treat!

Yes, she did eat it all, even the dried banana chips, which she told me she hated!

I got my hair coloured last night, I was very lucky the salon chose to stay open and fit me in,  considering I did not expect them to have any appointments left for weeks!  The girl told me it was because of their muck up with me way back in May!  I really appreciated that.

Photo tomorrow in 'natural' light.  *smiles*

Time to end for the day... it's so much cooler tonight, such a relief.