A WET DAY

 After a couple of nice days, today is supposed to be wet.  So, a perfect day to stay inside and sew eh?

ABOVE:  This is the next runner on the go.  I would like to get about 4 more of this style done before my next market, which is hopefully in about 2 weeks.

I might have to go out sometime in a day or so to get more border fabric for them though.  

I have masses of fabric, but most of it is patterned, and what I need more of is plain fabric, suitable for borders.

ABOVE:  Do you do that too?  I am very tempted to visit the supermarket today... cos well... there's bugger all in the cupboard that is tempting me right now.  

And that is me for now... looking to be a normal day around here.

It has been 5 days.

Has no one noticed the new 'ONWARD'???

HANGRY

It is a real thing.   I don't think I've ever truly experienced it until today.

Missing dinner last night made me damn hungry this morning.  

And I went grocery shopping in the pouring rain.

And although I was tempted, I didn't buy too much crap food!

Coming home, unpacking it all, untangling bag handles etc... and I kept saying to myself...

" DON'T GET ANGRY, DON'T GET ANGRY!"... COS omg I was crabby as hell.

But it's all done and put away, and I'm sitting here calming down.   I can't believe how angry I got at NOTHING!

Lucky no one annoyed me in the supermarket!  I might have been a bit... mean.  😂😅😖

I'm cooking my main meal right now... a mince and bacon pie.  Stew will be getting the same thing for his dinner, with veges on the side.

Me, yeah nah to the veges.

After my lunch I shall go into the sewing room and work on that runner I started yesterday.

Are  you having a better Monday/Sunday, depending where ya live?  Ever had the HANGRY thing happen to you?

I've been an utter lazy tart!

After lunch I decided to watch a movie on Netflix.  I watched 'An Eye For An Eye', starring Sally Field.  It was damn good!  Highly recommend it.

Her last two words?  The best ones.

Now, I'm busting for a wee, so better go do that before I'm sitting in a wet patch.  

Then I might just go into the sewing room!

6.30 pm:  I got all the 'waves' stitched on that runner this afternoon.  Now I have to go out and get some border fabric.  I should have gone out today, but after the grocery run, I just didn't want to get wet again.

It's rained ALL DAY LONG.... and it's really cold with it.

Stew is home now, so his pie is in the oven.  I'm sure he will love it.  I put mashed potato with cheese on top of it.  Mine was the same and so yum.

Well... it's not stopped raining!  And to think I watered our new plants into the garden on Sunday!  lol

I think we are in for another couple of days rain too... what fun.

Never mind, it is what it is.  I just hope there's no more flooding and slips around the country.

Off to bed soon... just waiting until I'm tired enough to actually get to sleep in a decent period of time.

I don't know about you, but if I'm not bloody tired I can lie there awake for hours.  NOT FUN.

WHAT DICKS!

 When we were at the plant nursery yesterday, we spied a bunch of Cherry Trees, in bloom.

So bought one.

ABOVE: So there's our new Cherry Tree.  

Only it's not.

We actually read the label as we put it in the ground... and we now have a PEACH TREE in our grass verge/footpath garden!  Whoops.

Oh well... it might not even bear fruit as the Waikato is a bit cold for them.  I wonder why we can buy them here if it's too cold for them?

Never mind, it's filled a gap.

ABOVE:  The other two plants we bought are two differing lavender bushes.  I stuck some succulent cuttings in front of them as well... so that gap is filled now.

It's FATHER'S DAY today (in New Zealand at least).  I got Stew a new toilet bag, our old one was, to say the least, DONE.

ABOVE:  Stew showing us the old toilet bag.  It is AT LEAST 25 years old!  Certainly time to be thrown out.  It was pretty manky inside.

Later on today we have family coming over for lunch.  I'm not going to any effort with the food for a change, we are having fish 'n' chips!

2.50 pm:  I'm making no apologies for not updating sooner.

We have had a wonderful time with family here.

I spent the morning just fluffing around in the house, and even got a runner started for tomorrow.

The family started arriving around 11.30 am, and by 12.15 everyone was here who could be.

Sadly young Liam had a cold, so had to stay home.

ABOVE:  4/5th of the girls...

ABOVE:  It wasn't a flash lunch, but it was quick and easy, and everyone enjoyed it.

ABOVE:  Marley getting a rump scratch.  Both dogs got spoilt rotten with loves from everyone.

ABOVE: The three kids about to play 'Hot and Cold'...

ABOVE: They all found a little present...

ABOVE:  Liam didn't miss out entirely, he was given his present when Amanda and Emily got home.

ABOVE: This was my favourite part of the day.  I made them all answer questions about Stew.  A "How well do you know Dad" quizz.  It was a huge success, I was so happy how it went.

It got everyone interacting, talking and laughing.

And all the adults got a 'participation' gift at the end too.

ABOVE:  Don't ask me how, but conversation got around to weight issues... in particular Lacy's guts!

So here we have Amanda and Lacy forcing their bellies out... then sucking it in!!!

ABOVE:  THIS FACE!!!  I'm sure she had no idea her mum and aunty could do that.  Gosh it was so funny.

Today's get together couldn't have gone better.

And now everyone has left, and I do believe Stew is asleep in his chair, 'watching' rugby.  And I'm going to probably lie down and have a friggin Nana nap too.  😂😊  

7.50 pm:  again, I did not get a nap.  Stew did, lucky bugger.

We didn't have any dinner tonight, we are both too full from lunch.

Now we are clock watching, is it too early to go to bed?

YEAH.  Just a bit.  If I went to bed before 9 pm I'd be awake again at 2 am.  Not worth it.

Just sitting here watching the telly till we do go to bed now.  Catch ya tomorrow.

THE GARDEN, AND AN OUTING

 A few photos of the garden:

ABOVE:  This little corner had two hydrangeas transplanted there last summer, and I thought they had both died.

But one has come away again, so that's neat.  But there needs to be more there, so I'm tossing up between another hydrangea or some succulents.  Hmmmm?

ABOVE:  I am so proud of this area, to think just a year ago it was just a bloody mess!  A pergola with grapevine, masses of rocks and a rubbish dump site.

It is so much easier to keep nice and tidy now that it's just lawn.

ABOVE:  The succulents in this pot have quadrupled in size in just a year too.

ABOVE: What a difference a concrete driveway makes to our entrance.  And no pond is a huge improvement too.

Now all we have to do is add the gate, and a few plants in gaps and it's DONE.

Well... famous last words probably, cos I can always find something needing doing! 😂😊😉

AN OUTING:  there's an FBG get together at lunch time today.  I'm going ... all going well.

Right... time to get a move on and do the washing, bla bla bla.

10.47 am:  We went out this morning and spent a small fortune on soaker hoses for the gardens!

It means I won't have to spend so much time out there watering the gardens over summer now.

And any new plants will get plenty of water and not DIE.

Talking of new plants, we also went here:

ABOVE:  Wairere Nursery, and bought a cherry tree and two lavender bushes to fill the gaps in the front gardens.

I will probably put the hydrangeas I'm cultivating into other spots in the front gardens too.

It's certainly starting to feel more like spring. There were heaps of people at the plant nursery getting stocked up with spring plantings.

There is NO sign of the predicted thunderstorm!  That's nice.  It will probably arrive tomorrow... when we want to be out in the garden again. 😕

I'm now going to get myself ready for the FBG Spring Get Together.  I'm expecting to see lots of happy faces.

4.40 pm:  The FBG get together was very nice.  I left early as they were about to do a scrapbooking exercise, not something I wanted to do.

Got home in time to 'help' Stew plant our new shrubs and tree.  More on that tomorrow.

Steve, Bex and the boys arrived mid afternoon and they are providing dinner.  Pizzas.  Yum.

7.15 pm:  Dinner is done, it was very nice.

I've had some wine... now all I feel like doing is sleeping!  

The guys are watching rugby... I hope the All Blacks win and regain some dignity.

Signing off... catch ya tomorrow.

BIG DAY IN THE GARDEN

 What's our weather forecast... lemme check...

ok, it looks like we are gunna be lucky with 'mostly cloudy, cool with light winds'.

Tomorrow we are in for thunder storms.  Lovely.

But today is perfect for gardening.

And that is what's on the agenda.

Stew is home and he's determined to get all the gardens weeded and the lawns mown.

So, I've roped in some help.  Lacy and Bex are coming around this morning to help us get it all done.

NOT that we have a huge garden, but the weeds really have gotten a bit out of control.

What with all the wet weather, and then Stew getting Covid, they have not been done in weeks.

With the girls help, I'm hoping we can get it all done by around lunchtime or early afternoon at least.

Next up, what was the 'mystery' project I was working on yesterday?  

Well... it was this:

ABOVE:  A BIG fabric 'bag' to hold my market runners.

I have not been able to find a large enough plastic box for them, so I decided to do this instead.

ABOVE:  When packing and unpacking the bag, it slides over a trestle table and I can stack the runners into, and out of it so easily!

Then I just pull the bag's sides up and tie it up.

ABOVE:  I put a sheet of ply in the bottom, to hold it's shape and the weight of the runners.

It's brilliant, and is going to make transporting the runners so much easier than several plastic boxes.  AND I don't have to fold the runners up any more, thus no more wrinkles.

And that's made me rather happy.  Sometimes I do think of some clever ideas!  lol

Right, back to today.  I'm off to do the housework before we head out into the garden to do the weeding.

12.20 pm:  And it's done!

Between the four of us it took just over 2 hours, though in saying that, Stew and I started weeding around 9 am.  Stew is just finishing up the lawn mowing, then we shall have some lunch and relax for a while.

ABOVE:  One shrub that was given a death sentence.

ABOVE:   A rather large wasp nest was in that shrub!

ABOVE:  I am slowly adding succulents to my gardens.

ABOVE:  Stew and Bex deciding on who is going to chop down that spindly, half arse yellow tree.

ABOVE:  It really is a miserable tree... 

ABOVE:  In the end Stew did it.  Not like me, he chopped it down in small pieces.   I would have just gone to the base and done in it one foul swoop.  His method was better I must admit.

ABOVE:  That was deliberate, and a sure way to avoid getting your photo taken.  😂😅😉

ABOVE:  Girls at work.  With a saw no less.

5.30 pm:  I tried to have a nana nap this afternoon, cos I was knackered.  I think I got about half an hour, which is better than nothing.

My arms are aching now... not used to hauling weeds for hours!

But I am so very happy with how our gardens are looking now.  So tidy.  There's a few gaps, so a trip to the nursery might be on the cards this weekend.

7.34 pm:  OMlord, we just had dinner at Hello India in Cambridge.  For the first time we decided to have an Entree.

Yeah... we are now overly full and about to both sink into food comas!

ABOVE:  While delicious, we won't be doing an entrée again (we shared it), as it was just too much food!

Now that we are home again, it's a quiet night in front of the telly before an early bedtime.  Gotta sleep off all that food!

WHO KNEW?

 While I was outside yesterday afternoon, I wandered around the gardens.

And noticed something for the first time!

ABOVE: We have a Variegated Hydrangea!  I have never noticed it before, though Stew said he had. I am amazed to see a pure white leaf! 🍃 I'm rather hopeful it will have flowers this summer.  But I'm not holding my breath as they can go years with no flowers from what I've read about them.

Also, we probably need to chop the 'normal' half of it out after summer, to encourage the variegated half to prosper.  Look at me, getting all knowledgeable on plants!  😂😅😊🍃

Oh and talking about 'chopping' ... I'm going to attack one of our camellia trees today and tomorrow!

It's GOING.  I hate it.  It's not that pretty, it drops it's flower petals all over the lawn and is killing it, and it's too tall and ruins my sunset photos!

So it's going.  We can put a Pittosporum (rapid growing evergreen) in it's place.

I might make a start on it today, and tomorrow it will get the full chop.  Stew has tomorrow off work, so we are going to spend our day in the garden, getting all the weeding etc done.  Bex is going to help us too, which is great.

Oh and before I forget:

ABOVE:  The  little plum tree we bought recently is doing very well too!  It even has flowers, which means we MIGHT get some plums this season!  I will be very surprised if we do, as it's just a baby tree.

This morning I will do my last chair cover, then get out in the garden.  I hate gardening, but chopping trees down runs in me blood!  My Dad was a logger for 40 + years.  I love chopping down trees. 😂😉😜

9.04 am:  And the tree has had a reprieve of sorts!

ABOVE: This was the tree 'before' I had a go at it.

ABOVE:  And after I took some of the lower branches out.  I quickly realised that if we took the entire tree out we would lose a huge amount of our backyard privacy.

And it would take at least three new trees to fill the gap.

I'm now thinking if Stew takes the top out I get my sunset views back, and we keep our privacy.

By pruning it back it will have less flowers to litter the lawn too.

While out there I found ANOTHER hydrangea hiding behind that camellia tree.  And I think it's another variegated plant.  I will now have to wait until next winter to move it out of there to a better spot.

Now that the pruning is done (for today), I am going back into me sewing room to do the last chair pad cover.

ABOVE:  11 am:  Another good project done.  I will be making another cover as a 'spare'... but not today.

I now need to do a bit of fluffing around in the house.

Fluffing done.  Nana nap done.  Started next project.

ABOVE:  This project has been in me dreams for a very long time.

And I will tell you what it is ... tomorrow.

And don't even try guessing what it is cos you ain't gunna get it right, I assure you!

We are having a very simple dinner this evening, sausages, potatoes and ????  Maybe not veges.  

Baked beans/spaghetti and an egg?  We will see what Stew feels like.

Talking of Stew, he's obviously done a full day at work cos it's now 6 pm and he's not home yet.  He will be stuck in traffic for sure.

Stew got home not long after 6 and we had a really lovely silly bugger dinner. 

I'm now watching Coronation Street then heading off to bed.