HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE. PATCHWORK GROUP TODAY

Today is Mike's birthday.

He's 34.  Scary how fast time goes.

ABOVE: This is one of the very first photos I have of Mike on this blog, taken way back in 2006.  He has been ON THE BLOG for half his life! 

He looks lovely.

Those curtains though?

What the hell?   Why didn't I take them down?  They are hideous.  😂😅😊

ABOVE: A much more recent photo of him.

No one is safe from my camera.  lol

Mike, Dad and I hope you have an awesome day, and get spoilt.

I got it wrong last week.  It wasn't Patchwork Group last Tuesday, it's today.

And I really don't think I want to go.

It is just a lot of effort to pack everything up and haul it over there, to sit and sew with a group of ladies I don't know.

Yes, if I kept going I would get to know the ladies better.

But right now, I'm just not into it.

I don't have anything I want to work on right now either.

I am shelving the idea of making up that Blue Quilt Kit I got from Tis The Season.

NOT INTO THAT EITHER.

There's just a lot coming up that I want to concentrate on.

Christmas and markets.

We just decided to add another market onto our roster!

As we are fairly sure next months Woodland Market will be our last there, we are going to give the monthly Matamata market a go.

We have heard some good reports from other marketeers about it, so why not?

It's just under an hour to get there from here, so that is fine.  Any further afield and we don't go, as it means we have to leave in the dead of the night!

ABOVE:  I bought these lovely serviettes at Steven's (a part of Farmers) yesterday. I particularly love the crab ones.  

There was a crab plate the same but well... sadly I don't need another serving plate.

I shall be using the new serviettes over summer.... cos they are so cute.

SUMMER IS COMING... still not quite here yet.

Not sure what I will get up to today.

I might get on the treadmill and cross trainer.  I've been really bad in the eating department lately.  Need to reign it in.

I'm not going to let anyone derail my efforts by fucking with my emotions for too long.

I'm stronger than that.

Catch ya later.

10 am. Been out and about this morning.  Its been awesome. 

ABOVE: I now have heaps of reading to do. 

More updates later.

I'm visiting Lacy right now.

11.52 am, and I'm home after a really lovely morning out.

As I was driving into town to the Transport Centre to get my BEE CARD, I had a spur of the moment thought.

WHY let silly reasons stop me from walking in my NUMBER ONE favourite place?

I won't let that happen.

So I went to ...

ABOVE:  My HAPPY PLACE outside of my sewing room and home.

Lacy would have joined me, but her shoulder is still giving her grief.  Hopefully she will be better soon and can join me again.

COOT SAGA of the day.  I spy a teeny tiny baby Coot, it's peeping and peeping, so I walk over to say 'Hello'.  The parent birds were out of the water, on the grass quite a distance from baby.

In fact, there were three babies.

ABOVE: As I'm chatting to the baby, one of the adult birds rushes over and leaps into the water, all protective like.

ABOVE: Mummy Coot splash landing.   The other adult bird comes up and pecks me on the leg!  Didn't hurt, nah na na na.  😂😉😅 

ABOVE:  Mother bird and her babies, safe from ME.

ABOVE:  I got 'THE LOOK'.  Like, too funny!

Aren't those babies so adorable though!

ABOVE: The Pukeko babies are so used to humans now, they no longer run away.

ABOVE:  Road cone of the day.  *snort*

ABOVE:  Selfie of the day.

ABOVE:  How can I forget the ducks?  Not many ducklings around anymore.  I hope they have survived, and just grown up and moved on.

Right, it's about time to have some lunch, then meh, don't know what I'll get up to.

ABOVE:  Almost forgot my Walk Stats photo!  Not a super fast time, and in fact, there won't be any more of those. I am walking at MY PACE from now on, and I know I will enjoy my walks more this way.  It's not about how fast I go, it's about just getting out there, walking and enjoying the exercise.

The plant nursery got back to me this morning.  Explained that ALL fruit trees get Leaf Curl, and told me how to treat it.  

I say BULLSHIT to that.

I have several other fruit trees (from that nursery),  that are 100% healthy, no sign of leaf curl at all.

We have spent WELL in excess of $2,000 at that nursery over the last few years.  Sadly, they just lost a customer.  I'm really disappointed in them. 

So not much else happened today.  I pottered around doing odd jobs, even some gardening!

Then I went to Weight Watchers, where I did a 'no weigh'.   I wanted to attend the meeting if nothing else.

Maybe I'll weigh in next week, we will see.

Time to sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

LOOK AT THAT!

 I know it's not UTTERLY AMAZING... but still.

We have our first little cucumber growing...

ABOVE:  I can't get over how quickly that grew.  Now I have to hope the birds don't get to it before we can eat it.

ABOVE:  We don't have any tomatoes yet, but some of our lettuces are almost ready for eating.  Bring on the salad days.

ABOVE:  Our little plum tree has a few fruit, so neat!

ABOVE:  We bought this Peach/Apricot hybrid tree not quite a year ago.  Sadly, it is heavily diseased with leaf curl.  I  have written to the nursery we bought it from asking for a replacement, as it was obviously diseased well before we bought it.

I await their reply.

Today I'm not sure if I will go for a walk or not.  I'm bloody tired.

Might wait and see how I feel a bit later in the morning.

For now, I'm going to stay in bed till I actually feel like getting up.

9.26 am. I'm off in an adventure. 

ABOVE: Off to The Base in a bus! I'm  old, so get to travel for free!

ABOVE: There it is.  The first ever Orbiter bus I travelled on.

The first bus driver saw my Gold Card and said "Hop on".  No charge.  

Nice man.

ABOVE: The Bus/Train terminal at The Base.  It took 15 minutes to get there from where I got on the bus.  Not a bad time at all.  It can take that long in the car some days.

ABOVE:  You see heaps more on a bus!  I really enjoyed my little outing.

Well.  There was one minor glitch.

When I boarded the second bus to come back home, the driver said "NO.  You can't use your Gold Card to travel on the bus.  You have to get a BEE CARD".

I was like, "I did not know that.  The bus driver earlier this morning did not tell me that.  Today is the first time I've caught the bus. So can't I travel home on this bus now?"

He said "That's right you can't, you have to go into the CBD, to the Bus Centre and get a Bee Card."

I said to him "So do I have to now walk into town to get that Bee Card?  I don't think I can do that. It's too far and too hot for me."

(Bearing in mind it is about 8 kms to town.)

He realised the pickle I was in, and finally let me on the bus... but reminded me to go and get a bloody Bee Card.

I thought he was a horrid man.  Yes, he finally let me on the bus, but he wasn't nice about it at all.

While at the Base, I bought a couple more summer T-Shirts and a cotton t-shirt type nightie.  I think I'm set for summer now.

Scrolling through Instagram just now, and I come across an advert for incontinence underwear.  The 'model' is an overweight, very old lady.  In her underwear.  Sitting in an incredibly unflattering position.  And I'm sorry, but my mouth got carried away with me and I said out loud "What the HELL were you thinking?"  Like why do we need to see that?  Who thought that would be a great way to advertise underwear?

I'm all for inclusivity across the board, but come on! That was just not nice.  That poor woman probably has no idea just how awful that photo is.

And well... I'm clearly not feeling nice today.

Moving on... I'm cold.  I'm gunna curl up with a blankie and watch a freakin' movie.

My neighbour is out.

Her little dog is in it's crate.

Barking.

Barking.

Barking.

It's not that loud from where I'm sitting.

BUT.  I.  WANT.  TO.  KILL.  IT.

Seriously, today is not my day.

I just went out the back door.  And noticed that their exterior door is open.  That means she IS HOME.  And has her dog in the crate.  As she's DEAF, she can't hear him barking.  Just everyone else in the immediate vicinity can.

He will have food and water in his crate, of that I'm sure.

He just doesn't want to be in the crate.

ABOVE:  A very short snippet of what I have to listen to, sometimes for HOURS on end.  At least every other day.

VICKIE:  The noise from a barking dog, or anything really, has to be over a certain decibel before you can complain.  He isn't LOUD enough to be deemed a nuisance.  

And I also don't want to cause disharmony between us and our neighbours.

But I can bitch about it right?  It helps to let it out and vent.

Yaaa.   It's now quiet in the 'hood.

Time to take a Panadol for the never ending headache, and relax till it settles.

ABOVE: Quite a few cars use our street to get to their homes.

We have a small group, probably 3-4 who think it's FUN to do burnouts ... starting right outside our home.

Just now... they did it again.

HUGE amount of noise, smoke and marks on the road.

IF ONLY one was out there at the time to take a damn photo of their number plate.

It's  turning into a right bitch fest of a day.

Right.  Lots to think about in relation to my neighbours dog.  He's not in the crate every day.  Just some days, and not always all day.  I am going to give it some more time, as he is still just a puppy, and he may outgrow needing to be put in the crate when she's not home?  Or just stop barking so much?

I do not want to make a formal complaint and upset them if possible.  

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Time to wind down for the day.  Still got an annoying headache.  Just too much on the brain I suppose.

WOODLANDS MARKET

 Today we are in Gordonton, at the Woodlands Estate.  This is a fairly new market, still getting off the ground.

It's not well known yet, so it has been quiet for the few we have attended.

I'm hoping that today it will be a bit better than the previous ones.  

Stew and I have both agreed that we will give this market till Jan-February, and if it doesn't pick up, we will stop attending it.

It's a lot of work setting up for a market, a lot of stress as well.  So, here's hoping it gets better.

Luckily, we don't have to get there at some ungodly hour.  You are not supposed to get there until 7.30 am, which means we can take out time, and leave around 7.15 am.

ABOVE:  I am looking forward to opening this cupboard.  On the 1st of December.

ABOVE:  I often click 'save' on things like this that I see on Facebook etc.  And sometimes I actually post them.... these ones seemed appropriate for now.

There's been a few up's and down's of late... but Stew and I are a strong team.  He is my rock.  I adore him.  He 100% supports me and has kept me from having knee-jerk reactions.  

Moving on.  Let's have an amazing, happy day.

...

9.12 am. Finally all set up. There was a fog first thing this morning,  but its cleared now.

ABOVE: Love this venue. Heaps of room for setting up, and we can put an extra rack way out the front as there's no stalls in front of us.

Now we wait for people to arrive.

ABOVE: FAMILY came to visit. That was lovely as Steve loathes going to markets!

ABOVE: Dante... sprouting hair tufts. 

2 pm:  And we are home, unpacked and feet UP.

Tired, but all good.

The market?

The weather was glorious.  We saw and chatted to a few friends and family.  It was QUIET.  Trying to remain positive about Woodlands market, but if the December market is like today's, we will not be attending it any more.

8.19 pm:   Well Stew and I have spent the rest of today doing odd jobs.

I  made a huge potato salad to last us both a few days over the next week.

Stew did some outdoor jobs, sorted out the rubbish, recycling, tied up tomato plants etc.

We had steak and salad for dinner.  And now we are blobbing out in front of the telly till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

AND THERE SHE SITS

ABOVE:  And there she sits.  All alone and forlorn.  I haven't had the heart to open her yet.

But maybe today I will?

We are planning on a quiet day at home.  Maybe a walk at some stage, but really, no firm plans.

We have a market on Sunday, so don't want to overdo it today.

ABOVE:  I put this together last night.  To have on a table at our markets.

We don't have EFTPOS, as we don't feel we do enough markets to warrant the expense.  So Internet Banking is another good option for people.

I have had that cute little photo frame forever, so I'm happy to finally have a use for it.

ABOVE:  My cousin Debbie took this photo at Papamoa Beach yesterday.  It was just so lovely I had to share.

And... that's it for now.

Catch ya later.

10.52 am:   What a good morning.  Stew and I did our grocery shopping (finally!).

ABOVE:  We went to Pak n Save, and Yaaaa!  The chocolates I buy for Christmas were on sale, best price I've ever seen them.  So I got the remainder of what I needed.  Just a few there, and more in the Christmas cupboard at home.

Once home, Steve, Bex and kids arrived with a plank of wood for my ironing board.

ABOVE: And just like that, I have a bigger ironing board.  I shall be covering the board with an old woollen blanket, and cotton fabric on top.

Thanks so much for the idea Vickie.

Now... we are off to have a browse around some shops, then have lunch.

There is a new shopping area in Hamilton East, called MADE.  Inside is a very good selection of boutique eateries, and a few other interesting shops.  

ABOVE: It only opened a week or so ago, and was clearly very popular today.  There were streams of people there.  We had a look around and then left.

ABOVE: We saw a young lady selling her Kenyan made products at MADE.  She usually does the markets like us, but has taken a spot inside MADE.  I hope she does well there.
  

We had lunch at The Hamilton Gardens.  There's heaps of work going on there, renovations, new paths etc.  It was a bit of a mess really.

But we still enjoyed our lunch, followed by a little wander around the little lake there.

ABOVE:  A Tui having it's lunch just in front of us.

ABOVE:  I seem to have a 'thing' for lakes and ducks/ducklings!

It has been such a lovely day already, and it's still only 2.10 pm.

Now we are home, Stew is watching... rugby.

And I am going to just relax.

I really need to as tomorrow we have another market, and we will be busy.  Well... I hope we will be busy!

At least there is absolutely no worries about the weather.  It's stunning out there.

ABOVE:  Last job of the day is done.  Car is packed ready for tomorrow's market.

Our Day Bags are ready.  Clothes laid out.  

All sorted.

Now... here's hoping we sleep well.

More often than not, we toss and turn all night long, worried about sleeping in!  Even though we have the alarm on.  It's annoying, but it is what it is.

Catch ya tomorrow.