I HAVE NOTHING TO DO!

 It's the weirdest feeling... having NOTHING to do!

Particularly at this time of year.

I think it's the first time I've ever been in this position. Usually I'm frantically wrapping presents, sorting out food, and basically getting stressed out.

But not this year.

I'm on top of everything!

I think I'm doing damn well at keeping stress at bay.

My hair has stopped falling out so alarmingly too.  So something is working.

ABOVE: I am so sure Marley enjoyed herself in the pool, and at the poolside yesterday.

Might do it again today, and even try Coco in it too.

OR.... I could go and buy them a paddle pool?

Maybe yes, that's what I'll do.  If they can touch the bottom they might enjoy it more.

ABOVE:  Another sunset ... just one of thousands posted on social media every day probably!  But, it's so pretty!  It was super bright shining in the windows last night.

So, maybe I'll go out and look for a pool for the girls this morning.

Then come home and sew a couple more Trees?

I've been using them as gifts for Christmas events, so need a few more as back ups.  Plus I really do love making them.

SUCCESS!  I found a pool....

Well! A successful morning.  I went to the Base, found a paddle pool for the girls, and some Christmas treats for them as well.

I can't even imagine how many paddle pools we have bought over the years, it's got to be 10+!!!  We always seem to get rid of them.  Derrrr.

After picking up the paddle pool, I went to collect the bathroom tiles, but the shop was closed for Christmas.

So, we will get them early January now.

Not a biggie.

Now... I'm home and thinking, like HELL am I wrapping that pool!  

It's staying in the gym room till Christmas morning.  I will wrap their treats though.

After lunch.

You're not going to believe this!

Look who turned up in the letterbox:

ABOVE: Three more cute little Christmas Friends, all the way from Christchurch.

Thank you Paula for adding to our glorious collection!

And THANK GOD you named them!!!   I was getting low on ideas I can tell you.

DAMN.  GOT A MASSIVE HEADACHE.  Off to have a nap and hope it goes away.

A nap?   Ha ha ha!  Not a chance.  I jumped in the pool to cool off, and Marley joined me reluctantly.

It was wonderful, and just as I was getting out we got a visitor.

Martyn from Tauranga called in on his way home from Auckland.

ABOVE:  It was really lovely to catch up with him and all his comings and goings.  He ended up staying for dinner.

Steve, Bex and the boys come over for dinner as well.  So nice sharing dinner with a dear friend, and family.

ABOVE:  Martyn on his 800cc BMW bike.  

Very nice bike I must say.

It sounded very smooth.

So, all is quiet here again, just Stew and I and the girls.

I still have a headache, so won't be up too late tonight.

I'm pretty sure my headache is just from the heat.  It's been a really hot day.

WOW!

 Bonsai Forest by Masahiko Kimura...

ABOVE:  It's amazing!  (I nicked it off Facebook.)

I feel like I had a rather lazy day yesterday.

Might repeat it.

Sewing has gone off the boil.  Will pick it up again after Christmas I think.

Right now I just want to get Christmas and New Year over, and all of January really!

I am hoping like hell the driveway issue is resolved by the end of January too.  Miracles do happen right?

I picked up my Christmas present from Stew yesterday.  I need to wrap it now.  And a couple of straggler presents that crept into the house these past few days.  

9am:  And I've already seen Steve today.  He came over to borrow something.

I was asked recently: Why do we only see Steve, Bex and the boys on the blog?

Don't you have a big family?  

The answer is simple.  We see those who actually care enough to visit ALL THE TIME.  Lacy, Brylee and Griffin pop in fairly regularly.

Amanda works full time, I'm sure she would be here more if she could.

Mike and Joyce live 4.5 hours away, but for sure we would see more of them if they lived closer.

I hope that answered your question.

ABOVE: The sad pile of presents for people who won't be here on Christmas Day.  

I will try not to mention the DRIVEWAY anymore.

If there is any news, you will find out!

But for now, I'm shelving it. 

 

Moving on and looking forward to Christmas in a few days.

I've just been fluffing around this morning.  Getting a few things ready for Christmas and January.

Stew and I hope to go away for a few little trips.  We have lined up Lacy and her friend Tarsh to be here to look after the house/dogs/goldfish etc while we are away.

We are also hoping to do a 2 week South Island trip sometime in February or March, but that will be totally dependant on how COVID is tracking through the country.

We don't want to risk getting locked down at the bottom of the South Island, with no way home.

ABOVE: Look what Bex made for me!  Well, I did give her a very big hint that it would be lovely if she made Rudolf for me!

Bex and the boys came over late afternoon for a swim.  I put Marley in as well... but kept a hold of her the entire time as I really think she would have sunk.

She seemed to actually enjoy it.  

ABOVE:  Marley having a swim.  I hope it cooled her down.

Coco ran off and hid.  I took the hint she did not want to be dunked in the pool. 😂😊

7.40 pm:  OMG those Kumera Poppas were amazing!  We had them with a lettuce salad.  And we will definitely be having them again.

Wind down time ... catch ya tomorrow.

BLUE ONES!

 Right.

What's the haps today people?

I dyed two more pairs of leggings late yesterday, they are drying right now...

ABOVE:   They are both a 'Periwinkle Blue'.

On one pair I sprinkled some darker blue dye on at the end, so hopefully they look slightly different to the other blue pair.

Time will tell.

They should be dry in a couple of hours or so.

I have one more pair to dye.  They will be a darker blue.

I will do the last pair this morning.  

Yesterday when Steve, Bex and the boys came around for a swim, Steve pointed out something I had not noticed before.

It's black tar, tyre marks on the road outside our driveway.

It's from the asphalt melting on our driveway.

I'm really worried now that it's going to run all over the place when it gets even hotter.

Also, Steve's ute left another tyre indentation in the asphalt yesterday afternoon.  Not as bad as the first one, but still noticeable.

As a friend's husband said, it looks like the asphalt has not 'set'.  I'd say that is 100% correct.

Could this driveway fiasco get any worse I wonder?

Now... on to the rest of today.  I've got a HUGE pile of washing to fold and put away, and an equally HUGE pile to wash.

I have no idea how just two people can produce so much friggin washing!

Then I'll dye that last pair of leggings. And after that,  maybe I'll get back into the sewing room!

First up, it's a much cooler day today, so I doubt we will have any hot tar issues today.

Second.  I went to the supermarket at 8.30 am to order salads for Christmas Day.  I'm NOT cooking this time, nor is anyone else.

It's gunna be a chill day for EVERYONE.

Third. I only went in to order salads.  

ABOVE: Yeah.  $360+ later.  At least we now have all the snacks and loo paper we will need over the festive season, right?

Four.  The blue leggings have dried a much lighter shade of blue. Still OK.

ABOVE: Still a lovely shade of blue.

Five. My new favourite treat: 

ABOVE:  STOLLEN bread!  OMG amazing.  Totally BAD AS F*#K  for me, but dammit.  You only live once.  It's taken me 63 years to discover STOLLEN bread, I'm going to enjoy it for the next 20+ hopefully.

Six. I bought some frozen vege balls a few months ago.  Kumera balls no less.  I hate Kumera.  But these?  I loved them.  But do you think I could find them again?   I couldn't remember where I got them, so have been hunting for them ever since.

ABOVE:  Found them!  So happy.  That's tomorrow night's dinner sorted.

What was the SINGLE most pressing reason I got the driveway re-sealed???

STONES coming inside, both in the garage, and in the house.

And loose stones underfoot, so you couldn't actually walk barefoot on the driveway.  

Right?

ABOVE:  In my garage, we now have loose stones AND tar.  Wonderful.

BLONDIE:  considering the time of year, there is NO WAY they are going to fix our driveway any time soon.

AND I know they are booked up with work for at least 3-4 months out.  So yeah.  This isn't going to be fixed in a week!

Right.   The washing is done, so I shall go and hang that out I think.

back later...

12.30 pm:

1.  The amount of money we are talking is too much for 'Small Claims' court.

We would have to hire a lawyer and go to great expense to get compensation.

2.  I just had another driveway firm here.  He said the asphalt is clearly defective, and the job they did is dreadful!

 

He does concrete driveways.

And the cost for a concrete driveway would be double what we were quoted for the asphalt driveway.

So now we just have to wait to see what the asphalt company will do. 

Because it's cloudy, I decided to clean my car.  Stew's car got a clean a couple of weeks ago. Mine hadn't been cleaned in months and months. Just sayin'.

Was a good day to do it, and I parked her under the carport so she wouldn't dry too quickly too.

Handy is that carport. 😊

I washed some leaves off the driveway, got a shit load of loose stones too.  Yeah.

The driveway saga, and why I'm blogging about it most days.  It's for my records.  And proof of progression of the driveway's 'wearing and tearing'.  If there's photographic evidence and a documented timeline, there can be no escaping what is happening here.

All facts, for if we need to take them to court.

ABOVE:  Loose stones coming off the new driveway.

ABOVE:  Tyre tracks in tar, across the public footpath, our concrete driveway from the road, and tar on the road.

I apologise in advance (and in retrospect), for boring you all with my driveway fiasco.  

Move on if you find it friggin boring.

ANON:  NO, we don't 'deserve it'.  You are an utterly despicable person.

Tonight we had left over pork rissoles, mashed potatoes and spaghetti for dinner.  Kinda like a silly bugger dinner really.  I just didn't feel like veges or salad.

Now... watching the telly till bedtime.  

RECYCLE

 When I was dyeing leggings yesterday I remembered these tights that I wore a few years ago... they were buried deep in a drawer I never even open!

ABOVE:  White leggings that I'd doctored for an ABBA Tribute concert.  I am going to take the orange tassels off and shorten them, so I can wear them over summer.

Might as well use them, cos I'm never going to wear them like that again.  😊

I might even use that t-shirt again too.  I can wear it with the white leggings once I take the tassels off.  It's a bit 'out there', but I don't care.

I'm expecting Lacy for a visit today, which will be nice.   She's not been around as much lately.

There's a Hospice Op Shop over in Frankton that I want to visit... so I might drag Lacy along with me this morning.  It's always nicer shopping with company.

Once we get home, if I've not heard from the Asphalt company by then, I will send them a very polite email, asking them what is happening with our driveway?  

I reckon they are going to put their heads in the sand for a couple of months at least. 

I hope I'm wrong.

10.30 am:  We didn't go to the Hospice Shop after all.  Dammit.  Oh well, it's not going anywhere, I can visit it another day.

Lacy stayed for a little while, then left as I had no leftovers for her to eat!

And she had stuff to do apparently. 

OMG... LOOK AT THIS: ......

ABOVE:  I went outside this morning to see this on the driveway !!! 

Steve's vehicle left this huge indentation/mark on the driveway yesterday.  The arrow is pointing to a big bulge on the asphalt.

Bearing in mind, the vehicle was only parked there for about an hour.

So, as I've not heard from the asphalt company today, and it's been a week since 'K' came here to talk about the issues, I suppose I need to send them an email now.

That should be fun.  NOT.

1.30 pm:  before I could even start typing that email... Bex suggested we visit the Hospice shop.

ABOVE:  So we did.  We both found a couple of things to buy.

Bex got some Tupperware.

I got a dinner set for someone.

And this:

ABOVE:  An umbrella stand (or plant stand?).  It's metal, not sure what sort though.  I rather like it.

Now... I suppose I need to compose an email for the asphalt company.  😕😖

It's really hot today, and all I can smell is tar seal (asphalt).  And I reckon it's going to melt and run when it gets even hotter.  Why?  Cos I'm 100%  certain in was a 2nd or 3rd grade batch they used on our driveway, which would account for many of the faults in it.

ABOVE:  I cooked pork rissoles for dinner tonight.  Usually I don't have much success with rissoles (they fall apart and are tasteless), but these ones?   Really YUM!  

Best of all, I have enough to feed Stew and I again tomorrow night.

ABOVE:  the pink leggings have dried, and are awesome!  I'm thrilled to bits with them.

ABOVE:  OMG the pool was so good this afternoon!  It cooled us all down, and made the late afternoon heat bearable.  

Now, it's nearly 8 pm, time to sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

VACCINE PASS

 Here in New Zealand, you have to produce and show your Vaccine Pass to get into large events, restaurants and some shops, to name a few examples.

I have my vaccine pass on my phone, so when asked I can just open my phone and show it (it's my Lock Screen picture).

Several times in the past week or so, I've been asked to show my vaccine pass before I've been allowed in the shop/cafe/restaurant.

BUT here's the thing.  They only glanced at it, and didn't ask for verifying proof of identity at all.

I could have been using anyone's Vaccine Pass!

It could have been a fraudulent Vaccine Pass for all they knew.

WHAT.  IS.  THE.  POINT?

It's a bloody joke.  POINTLESS.

Yesterday at the Base, it was so hot wearing a mask!  I think once summer is truly here I will be staying home!

I stood in a queue at Spotlight, and got so hot and uncomfortable I felt sick.  I am sure I won't be the only one avoiding going out soon.

Heatstroke is a real thing, and I bet there's going to be plenty of people keeling over from it soon.

Today?  I am going to a linen shop to get some white fitted sheets for my bed.  I only have one white one, and it's nearing it's use by date. I also need salt.

For dyeing the tights I bought yesterday.   I forgot ya need salt for that job.

Once I've got the salt, I will come home and dye the tights.  FUN!

...  12 noon.  We went to Chartwell Square this morning.  I am sick of going to The Base and it's just crazy crowded there.

Chartwell was great, not too many people at all.

We found a Pop Up shop that was selling heaps of T-shirts, and we got two more:

ABOVE:  Another jellyfish one, same price.  Horribly expensive for a T-shirt, but hell, ya only live once.

We went to Countdown and grabbed some salt, so now I can dye some leggings.   I might just do one today and see how they turn out before doing the other 3.

Steve, Bex and the boys called in for a swim.

It's so lovely having them pop in all the time.  I wish more of the family did!

ABOVE: There was a tug of war over the toy.  When Steve growled, Marley promptly gave up!  She was really confused, and not impressed I think!

Just a bit funny.

ABOVE: The first pair of leggins I'm dyeing is to wear with this top....

ABOVE: So far so good.  They have about 15 more minutes to go before I rinse and wash them.  Then they have to dry in the shade before I can see the final result.

Next will be some blue ones.

11.47 pm:  And I didn't end up doing any more of the leggings today.  What with visitors here, then dinner and a quiet evening, just didn't happen.

Might do more tomorrow.

But for now... it's bedtime.

Thank god it's been a cooler day today, much less humidity and a nice breeze.

THAT'S MAGIC!

 I saw this 'thingee' online.

ABOVE: It was a spinning thing that you could put a raw egg in and spin.

The concept was to spin the yolk into the white, so once cooked, the yolk was all through the white.

NO dry egg yolk... which a lot of people don't like, me for one.

So, I ordered one, and it arrived.  I tried it out, but did it wrong first try.

Second try?

ABOVE:  BOOM!  A 'Golden Egg'.  It worked.  And according to Keera, Stew and I, it tasted just fine.

Just like eating egg white really.  But you get the goodness of the yolk without the dryness.

I'm never cooking a hard boiled egg without spinning it first from now on.  For sure.

Now, back to today.

Once Keera has gone off with her Mum, Stew and I will head out for some last minute shopping for Christmas.  Not that we need much.  I've done all the gift shopping.  It's more to just get out and about.

Never thought of it like that before.  

So a plan we have.

Stew hasn't had any new t-shirts in YEARS, so once he's ready we will go and find him some.

I've insisted we wrap them and put them under the Christmas tree!  lol

More 'presents' to open.  Who doesn't want more presents, even if ya bought them yourself?

ABOVE: while out... we took a moment  to visit 'our' lounge suite. 🤣😅😊

We've found some nice t shirts for Stew. And I got some cotton legging for $6 each.

I bought white ones which I plan on dyeing to the colours I want.

That could be fun?

ABOVE:  It's a very windy day.  And this is why I wear my hair tied up 99% of the time.

ABOVE:  Stew's new t-shirts.  Two were horribly expensive, and two were fairly cheap.

Can you pick the cheap vs. expensive ones out?

P.S.

                  Ahhhh.... PEPSI.  I love it.

Stew is outside mowing our micro lawn. This crazy wet/dry/hot weather has caused it to grow 2 feet tall!!!  Same with the weeds.

I even went out there and did some weeding!

Unheard of.  

Stew is cooking dinner tonight.  Mock Whitebait Fritters.  I am looking forward to that!   ... and scrap that idea.

We are both still full from lunch (Pizza and wedges at Foundation at the Base).  So it will be just a sandwich for dinner. 

8 pm:  OMG talk about change our minds!!!

Stew is now making Mock Whitebait Fritters.  We got hungry.  😂😅😆

10 pm:  and that's a wrap on the day.  Our dinner was delicious.  We hadn't had MWF in a couple of years at least.  So yum.