LET'S LOOK AT BORING PLANTS!

The seasons are changing.  Thank goodness!
The leaves are starting to turn brown/red/gold.

ABOVE: Our grapevines... we planted two, and expect fruit in another couple of years.  How amazing do the leaves look!

ABOVE:  The crazy thing is.. while the fully grown leaves are dying off as it's coming into Autumn (Fall), there's still new shoots creeping along the fence.  The weather has been nuts, so hot and wet for so long.  
It's been great for the grass, this year we didn't get any die off at all.

ABOVE:  I am so happy that I planted flowers, they are just so pretty.  I'm going to be putting more in, come spring.

Our big Atlantis Pot was getting crowded out by plants in the corner garden by our bedroom, so I asked Stew to move it for me yesterday.

ABOVE:  I felt really mean, as that pot weighs a tonne!  It took all their strength to move it.

ABOVE:  The glaze on the pot is quite jagged, and poor Stew got a bit 'damaged' moving it!  His arms got scratched... and his face.  

ABOVE:  As it's HUGE, I am a bit scared it might fall over if knocked, so I AM starting to reconsider where it is!  If it were to fall on a small child it would be fatal... for the child.
So... I will do a wander around the property and see if I can find a safer place for it.
Sorry Stew!

GUESS WHAT?  There ISN'T a BIRTHDAY in this family today!

lol... about time we had a break.  The next one is our son Steve, in April.

Today I'm going out for morning tea with Robyn P and Johanna.  IF Johanna is still in one piece that is!  Her baby is due ANY DAY NOW.  
So... if she's still pregnant, we will meet up.

After that, I will come home and do something constructive.  Housework.  Sewing.  Felting.  Just the usual sorta day really.

So... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

1.36 pm:  Well, Johanna turned up in one piece still.  She's now a week overdue, so there should be a baby in the next week for sure.
She doesn't took too uncomfortable, but she assures me she is, depending on what day you ask her.

I decided to have 'breakfast' at the cafe, so ordered a bacon and egg croissant.   Disappointed.  It was actually tasteless.  It needed a good dollop of relish or similar.

I feel ripped off when something I've paid good money for is below par.

Home again, and I made a couple of sets of small felt balls... watched some TV and now... I'm having some crackers for lunch.  Cheese crackers, so at least they are tasty.  

I will probably make a couple more sets of small balls soon.  It's a stunning day out there, but without the stinking hot temperatures. 

Well... I got more balls made.  And that's about it for the day!
Dinner was chicken steaks, lettuce salad and roast potatoes.  Was yum.

I went to the supermarket to get some things I ran out of... nearly ran into a van on the roundabout!  Simply didn't see it!  so glad my car has good brakes.  Then ... cos I was rattled, I ran over the curbing at the supermarket.  Grrrr.
As we were standing at the checkout, some guy ran in, grabbed a ladies handbag and ran off with it.  He got away, but not before the staff got his number plate number! 

So, that was three things in 15 minutes. Not bad for a quick outing to the supermarket!

And that is it for today.  Catch ya tomorrow.

HAPPY 36TH KELLY.... AND SUE'S 60TH

And here we go again... ANOTHER Birthday!

ABOVE: Happy 36th Birthday Kelly, have a lovely day. 

One of my FBG girlfriends is celebrating her 60th in a few days, so today she's hosting an afternoon tea at a local cafe.

I'm going to it of course!  I will be 60 myself this year, so let's call it a warm up to mine!

ABOVE:  The FOUR Sue's at the Relay For Life a couple of weekends ago.  And 'J' got carried on every lap too.  It's Sue T's birthday.

I feel so very lucky to have made so many really lovely friends through the Fat Bottomed Girls walking group.

Oh yeah, talking of the FBG's... things are changing!  When we start up the 2018 Urban Challenge, we are going to be called:

The Fat Bottomed Girls and Guys!

Yep, the group is now going to include men.  This means if our husbands or any 'random' bloke wants to join, they can.

I don't know how I feel about it... it's going to be different for sure.  But, it will be nice for Stew to be able to join me on walks now.

We are probably going to be walking in the evenings, it works best for both of us. 

Right, I'm off to check how dry me little balls are... *snigger*... that sounds ever so rude!  Well... only if you have a dirty mind that is.  *smiles*

ONWARD...

Wow.... days like this!

QUIET...everyone busy?

Me too.

Both teenagers are out and about, so Stew and I decided to pop out to Lake Karapiro for a lunch time snack.  
Just had some of their lovely hot chips and a chocolate milkshake to share.

There was some sort of regatta on, water skiing racing by the look of it.

 ABOVE:  When we arrived the lake was like a mill pond, dead calm.
When we left.. not so much.  
It was interesting watching them racing... I wouldn't want to be a skier and come off at the speeds they were going.

 ABOVE:  The Podium Cafe was very busy!  

Home and quickly put me face on, ready to head out again to Sue's afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea with Sue T and about 12 other lovely FBG's was just lovely.
Lots of laughs.

ABOVE:  I think I got most of us in!
Sue looked gorgeous... such a happy chick.

And the rest of the day/evening has gone par for course.  Stew cooked lovely pork steaks with veges for dinner, they were really good.
Watching the finale of Trauma, it's riveting.

TINY BALLS

Today I am going to make tiny balls.
Of various sizes and colours, and see if I can make them into earrings.

I've also got sewing to do... 
and housework...
and grocery shopping.

So, it's going to be a normal day around here I expect.

This is what I did at 1 am last night (I couldn't wait!) :

ABOVE:  These 4 balls could be my first pair of earrings!  I just have to work out how to MAKE them into earrings now!
I'm sure there will be a YouTube Tutorial to show me how.

These ones have to dry completely first though, they are water loaded still.
I have them on the windowsill... that seems to be the best way to get them dry.

So... later on I will make some more, and watch some tutorials... but for now... let's get the latest load of washing on then go get the groceries... cos I just LOVE grocery shopping eh?  *sigh*

ONWARD...

4.45 pm:  Well today has gone to plan!
We went into Hamilton and got a few things done.  Grocery shopping was a pain in the arse... OMG I hate it so much.  I get like 'road rage' when I'm in there.  There's just so many people dawdling along when all I want to do is race around and GET IT DONE!

 ABOVE:  he's running out of lap room!

 ABOVE:  Shock horror!  The kid came out of his bedroom!  He came with Stew and I into Hamilton.  He got a haircut then helped with the groceries.

ABOVE:  I got the earring things, and I hauled out of my craft room wardrobe all the beads 'n' bits and bobs.  Some of them might come in handy?

It's almost time to think about dinner.  I am so not interested in food right now. We had a VERY late lunch ... around 3 pm, once we got home from Hamilton.

I think dinner will be : 'get it yourself'.

End of Day:  can hardly stay awake, and Coronation Street hasn't even been on yet!
It's been a quiet evening, done bugger all.
I hope I feel more energetic tomorrow.

2048+

Have you ever started playing a game on your phone or computer, and got 'hooked' on getting the highest score you can get?

I'm sure I'm not the only one!

When we moved here from Auckland, I started playing a new game of 2048+ on my phone,  about a month after we were settled in.

Now, I'd played it before, but had never amassed a really high score, I think my BEST score before moving here was around 52,000.

Now the object of the game is to build your score using 2's and 4's, and joining them together, slowly building up bigger number tiles.

You are supposed to try and make a tile with the number 2048.  Yep, plenty of people get to that and stop, thinking they have 'WON'. ha ha ha!

Not me, and no doubt not thousands of other people too.

So... I've been playing this particular game for 20 months now... and I have got to this number (so far):

ABOVE:  One hundred and ten MILLION, eight hundred odd thousand!!!

I'm now starting to stress out, what if my phone dies?  OMG, I would be gutted!
So, I wanted to record my highest score to date, JUST. IN. CASE.

I probably play this game for about half an hour every day!  Some days not at all.

So, who else is addicted to a game???

Plans for today?  Go into town to buy a dog grooming brush, one that I can use to card wool easier.
I bought some raw wool on TradeMe last night, it is going to be SO MUCH CHEAPER to wash, dye and card my own wool!

I love trying something new, and something I can sell on my stall.

DOGSTARS:  Thanks for the rock/doorstop idea!  I'm going to (hopefully) have some lovely doorstops for my stall next month.

Rocks.  Where to get them from?
Well, Brylee and I went rock-napping yesterday afternoon!

In a new area of town, the council has put gazillions of rocks down the middle of the roads:

ABOVE:  See?  Millions of them.  The Fat Bottomed Girls have often taken some and painted them, then hid them on our walks, to be found by others.  So, I took half a dozen. Don't think they will be missed somehow.

If I actually sell some, I will go source my own after this lot.  There's plenty of rivers around here.

ABOVE:  I got Brylee to do the 'dirty work' ... ha ha ha!

So, now I just have to make a few.

Lunchtime I am going into Hamilton with Anna, one of my FBG girlfriends.  We are visiting 'J' in the Hospice.  Then, depending on the weather, I will be having lunch with Stew then spending the afternoon at the Hamilton Gardens taking some photos, then I will walk into town and get a ride home with Stew at the end of the day. 

And if it's wet, I will just come home with my friend Anna. 

So, that's sorta my day's plan.

LASTLY for now... HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY TO TEDDY!  We love and miss you little buddy... we have not forgotten you. 

ONWARD... 

NOT FEELING WELL. BE BACK LATER.

4.53 pm:  My plans kept changing today!
I drove myself into Hamilton instead of getting a lift with Anna.
That way I could get a few things done quicker.

I saw 'J' briefly at the Hospice.  She was needing to sleep after spending a couple of hours in the craft room with another friend.  She's half the girl she used to be physically. Sad.

Then I met Stew in town for lunch.  I had butter chicken... BAD MOVE.

Cos it went straight through me... not fun.

Spotlight... was only in there for 10 minutes when I felt sick as a dog... had to spend half an hour in the bathroom... again, not fun.

After that I had planned on doing the grocery shopping.  Ha ha!  That sure in hell didn't happen.

I came home and lay on the couch, went to the bathroom, lay on the couch, went to the bathroom... repeat.  NOT FUN.

So, a mucked up day.

Stew's car is playing up.  He took it into the garage this morning.  Now he's car-less till they get some part for it.  So I have to go back into Hamilton in an hour or so to pick him up.

Not a problem... unless you have an upset tummy!  Here's hoping I make it in there without 'incident'!

ABOVE:  I felted a BIG rock this morning.  It took probably $40 worth of wool to do... so clearly I won't be doing any more big ones!  NO ONE is going to pay $40 for a rock!
I will be keeping that one (the large one in the photo) for myself.
Instead, I am going to try making some really little ones and turning them into earrings.  

It's all a learning process eh?  But fun.  I love being creative.  I think there's still so much to try in the creative field.  

*SIGH*  it's nearly time to pick up Stewy... I better go.

We've been having trouble with our SKY ... almost every night for a month it's gone 'off' due to atmospheric conditions... so we have to disconnect the Sky Box several times before it goes again.
Tonight... even that didn't work... so I rang SKY.

Was on hold for 36 minutes, then finally got to talk to a woman.  She talked Stew through several steps to re-boot the box.  It didn't work, so she said she would schedule a Sky technician to come out... the earliest time was next Tuesday morning!

OK... if that's the best they can do... I took the appointment.
Then the STUPID BITCH tried selling me MORE Sky products!!!

I actually said to her, "Are you bloody joking?  You are trying to sell me MORE sky products when we don't even have Sky right now?  Are you crazy?"

I have to give it to her, she remained cool, calm and collected!  She must be so used to irate people yelling at her!

But... after telling her I didn't want any more shit from them, she tried to get me to enter their competition to 'WIN' being able to watch Joseph Parker fight!  I told her where to shove THAT  too.  OMG.   She's lucky Stew took most of her call... I would have lost it way sooner otherwise.  

And just to cap off our evening... Stew went into the lounge and mucked around with that TV... and now we have SKY again!   Don't know for how long... but for now we have TV again, till we don't.  I'd smile, but I just don't have the energy.

I'm going to sign off for the day now... I'm done with today.

YEP! ON A ROLL!

ABOVE:  Double digits for this little miss!  My god, they grow up so fast.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENA, we hope you have a fabulous day.

Today... well for sure I ain't doing any washing!
OMG yesterday was crazy.  And it's not like we only do the washing once a week either.  We just seem to have made more over the past few days?

So... maybe I will get to do some sewing today?  I'm going to make a few small cushions for my stall.  I haven't decided on the colours/patterns yet... but it will be something pretty and bright!  I don't do dull.

So I went into the sewing room late last night, to see what I could turn into cushions. 

I found these:

 ABOVE:  Three blocks left over from my Dresden Plate quilt. 

ABOVE:  I also have these three Dresden Plate blocks, not finished.  They could also become cushion covers.

So, I might use three of them ... which three though?

 ABOVE: I'm dying to use this little combination of fabrics!  Thinking of making a table runner or two?  I've got enough mug rugs!

While I was in my sewing room hunting around, I was amazed at how few UFO's I have left!  I'm impressed with myself for getting so many of them done!
I've probably got 5-6 left?  Certainly not much more than that.

Right, I better go ... there is sewing to be doing!

ONWARD...

12.43 pm:  Meh... still haven't gone into the sewing room!
Been doing other stuff.

Found more washing... a blanket on Griffin's floor that was FILTHY... so that's in the machine soaking for the next hour or so!

Someone suggested felting rocks?

So, I found the only smallish rock I had in the garden and felted it:

ABOVE:  It's about the size of a tennis ball, maybe slightly larger.  I'm calling it a door stop.

I think I could have 'felted' it a bit longer, but it's OK.

11.21 pm:  We went to McDonalds for dinner... waste of money that was!  Seriously, I had a burger for the first time in forever and it was bloody YUK!  Tasteless. 

Once home we had an Insurance Broker here for a little while... been looking at upping our life insurance.  Can't ... as we both have diabetes, it's far too costly to change from the policy's we already have.

While watching TV tonight, I've been carding some rough wool:

ABOVE:  Left is the rough wool, and right is what I carded.  Carded just means brushed out till it was fine and had no knots.

But now... it's end of the day and I'm going to bed soon.

ANOTHER ONE!

ABOVE:  Yep, another birthday, this time our dearest friend Jacqui.  She's celebrating  a certain number today, and according to her, she ain't changing that number ever again!  lol  (she's ONLY 46!)

JACQUI, have a lovely day!

Today is a totally free day.   I might do some sewing, it's been a few days since I did any.  Withdrawal symptoms are creeping in!

The other thing I want to do is watch some YouTube videos of camera tutorials.  I'm determined to get more out of my camera... use more of it's features and get better at taking photos.  There is so much I want to learn.

And on that score... I will go and start the day.

ONWARD...

Well after a leisurely start to the day, I've deemed it a 'washing' day.  How the hell does it go from nothing to at least three machine loads full in just a few days???

I am puttering around the house doing odd jobs in between loads.  This house has so much needing done!  Everywhere I look I see a job.  *sigh*

And someone asked me what I do all day!  That has stuck with me for days now... clearly that person doesn't live in a big house with grotty teenagers and 3 dogs!  I swear the little girls (dogs) make as much mess as 3 toddlers.

ABOVE:  What slows me down most days!  The girl posse.   Marley's turn in the bark collar, she's been very naughty the past few days.  So on it goes.

Right, back to the housework.



JUST BECAUSE I CAN...  a little video.

It's now 5.50 pm and I am still doing the bloody washing!  I'm onto the last load, been hanging it out, then waiting a few hours and then getting it in ... folding and putting away.

There's some huge clouds forming, so the last two loads might just get rained on.

It's taken all day as I have been doing a long, hot soak with all the linens.  I do that on a monthly basis.  

Can't believe it's taken so long.  Dinner is on.  We are having Spaghetti Bologneise.

I'm ready to just chill out!  I've done heaps today in the house.  Got lots done, feeling really positive about that.

Those dogs are bloody time wasters too!  They insist on being played with, I don't know!  lol

Dinner was lovely, can't really go wrong with Spag Bol.
Had a lovely quiet evening, so nice to relax after seeming to be 'on the go' all day!
Almost time to head off to bed.

9TH FAMILY BIRTHDAY.....BALLS, AND OTHER SHIT!.

ABOVE: Happy Birthday today to Huston.  Have an awesome day!

When Bex was here over the weekend, she showed me how to make felt balls.

It was so much fun...

ABOVE:  making balls.  Lucky I already had some roving/carded wool.

ABOVE:  It's quite a quick and easy process.

ABOVE:  Now I just have to think about what I can use them for!  Any ideas?  I can make tiny ones or bigger ones...

So, I'm standing at my back door, and I can see through my back neighbour's bedroom windows, to the paddocks behind their home.
There's a yellow digger working... so I go down the driveway and down to his back fence and take a few photos.

ABOVE:   I am sure they are clearing the land ready for development!  (that post and rail fence is my neighbour's back fence).

That whole area is pegged for housing in the future.  I think, maybe in the not too distant future by the look of it!

It is certainly going to change my neighbour's outlook!  Such a shame.

Luckily, it won't actually change ours at all.  We have a lovely big section, on a quiet, dead end street.  And our hedges are nice and high, so we don't even see 3/4'ers of our neighbours.
Just waiting for our back hedge to get about half a metre higher and we will be totally private.

Today... I'm doing bloody housework!  There is heaps to do, sweeping, vacuming and washing floors primarily.

I've got Card Night here tonight, so I need to get the house clean!   I've got about 8 or so girls coming, so that should be fun.

Right... off to start the day...

ONWARD...

So far today I've done... bugger all!
I have been sitting outside with the hose, ready to spray my neighbour's dog to stop it barking and howling for hours on end!

I got it ONCE... and it's not barked since!

I have prepared the floors for washing.  

Then I did this:

The sedative the dentist gave me has given me the shits.  Did the last time too.  Not fun, nope, not at all.


Canon have sent my camera back.  I don't even feel excited.
They have tested it ....  ha ha!  Heard that before.

I get to keep their camera until I'm assured mine is working properly.  Hmmm... maybe that will take... let me see... 4.5 months?  lol

I have too much time on my hands today.  I'm sitting here ruminating.  And getting really crabby.  And I can't vent.  Stew won't let me.  Bastard.  *smiles*


Am I boring you today?  It's been very quiet.  I don't like it when it's this quiet.  I feel like I'm failing!
*sigh*... I better go and cook the dinner.  We have card night here in less than 2 hours.
Stew is not even on his way home from Rotorua yet... so goodness knows when he will rock in.

It's just been a shitty day really.

CARDS!  What fun.  It was a small group tonight, but just the right number to be enjoyable.   I didn't end up winning or losing... awesome!  The girls have just left and I'm about to cook myself some dinner and relax till bedtime.

I'm feeling much happier now.