ONE MORE DAY OF RELATIVE PEACE

Today I AM  going to do some sewing!  I did NONE yesterday after thinking I would.  I did housework instead. 

I need a medal.  I've already got the chest to pin it on.

Tomorrow our Grandson Joshua and his brother Damien arrive from Whitianga.  Then any semblance of peace will be gone.
But I don't mind so much this visit as I have Steve to help entertain them all.

And I've got a really, really big bag of hand me down clothes for the boys too.... Griffin outgrows things so quickly!  It's good having kids to give them to and I know their Mum needs all the help she can get to clothe her 5 kids...4 of which are boys.

So... fingers crossed I get to have a nice day sewing....

ONWARD...

It has turned out to be a really blah day... cloudy and trying to rain.  I have done a bit of sewing, took up hems on 4 pairs of school trousers for the kids...sewed a few of my blue blocks... but really don't feel like doing much of anything at all.

AND I can't even go shopping as all the shops are closed.  Rats.

Stew is out doing the gardening, like probably 1.2 million other Kiwis!  It's kind of an Easter tradition... gardening!  lol
Anyway, as he was weeding he found a wee frog... so now we have a pet frog:

ABOVE: He/She is rather cute... it's a Golden Bell Frog... now we have to find food for 'it'.  Thankfully NO ONE has said "lets give it a name" yet....  and also... I'm wondering how long it will live in this house full of kids!

End of Day:  I've been sewing steadily all afternoon right into early evening... and have done about 15 blocks.  Thats good eh? 
DIET: bad
nite nite.

BACK TO IT...

ABOVE:  even when he's tired and grumpy Teddy just looks adorable!  And he is a grumpy boy... he hates having his photo taken! lol

I'm hoping to get back into my sewing today.... I'd love to get more of the 'flowers' sewn onto the white backing blocks.  I think it's going to take a long time though.  No whizz bang it's finished with this one.

Bla... I think I need to do some blasted housework too... hmmm... maybe I can entice Steve to do some??

ONWARD...

Holy crap!  Just spent an hour or so going through all of Brylee's clothes... and I have a huge black sack full of stuff that is too small for her now!

Her drawers look a bit empty... but in fact she has plenty of stuff to wear still... except pyjamas.  Yaaa... more to buy.

AS I type... Steve is folding the washing!  AND he hung some out... AND he's vacumed too!  OMG what a lovely boy!

ABOVE:  just when Steve thought he was finished helping me... I found another job for him to do, taking down Griffin's curtains and putting up a blind...

ABOVE:  Steve showing Griffin the differences between screws... phillips and flat heads...

ABOVE:  nearly done...

ABOVE:  taaa daaa.  DONE.  And I'm really happy with how his room looks now...

End of Day:  had a totally lazy evening doing diddly squat!  Cooked roast pork for dinner... was yum as per usual.
DIET:  ok.. as long as ya don't count the Easter Eggs I ate!
nite nite

STILL GOING TO HOSPICE TODAY

I don't usually go to the Hospice Shop during the school holidays... but as Steve is here I can.

So... Hospice first thing.. then I want to do a couple of jobs at the mall...

Hopefully the kids will not trash me house while I'm out...

UNTIL I GET BACK....  a cute baby for you to drool over...lol!

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  soft toys I bought at the Hospice Shop today... so cute!

I had a blast at the shop today... everyone was chatty and nice... we sure do get some interesting people come through the door! 
Totals titillation was two GIRLS... dressed like they were going to a strip joint... only they were not 'girls' at all... they were 'boys of the night'....   and I almost got punched by one of them!

...I was serving an asian guy who was wanting a warm jacket and he was complaining about being cold... I called him a 'pussy' and the two 'boys/girls' thought I was calling them pussy's!    Well did they get all stroppy!  Luckily they believed me when I said I was calling the asian dude a pussy for being cold!  lol  As I said... very interesting people here in South Auckland! 

AS the kids have been very good I'm taking them out for an ice cream now...

Well the kids got their ice cream... I was good and had none... I also bought some winter clothes for Brylee... and OMG!  She's getting da boobies!!!  MY God, my first grandchild and she's entering puberty... I feel VERY OLD all of a sudden!  *sob sob*....

End of Day: and Stew brought home chinese for dinner... I was not feeling like cooking... so yaaa all round.
Going to spend the evening quietly... might even finally get back into the sewing.
DIET: so so
nite nite

EXPECTING A MASS EXODUS TODAY

Our visiting family go home today... probably after lunch.
Then we won't see wee Emily for about 2 and a half weeks... booo hooo.

Her other Grandmother is visiting from Nelson soon so Amanda is staying home so Emily can see her other Grandma... which is nice for them.

ABOVE:  it's amazing what you can buy at the Supermarket nowdays... yesterday I bought Brylee some slippers... she loves them.. they are PINK.  Her fav colour.

ABOVE:  Emily snug as a bug in a rug....

ABOVE:  Stew and the dogs last night... both dogs are a bit wary of me at the moment!  lol... I don't blame them either... I took ages grooming them and they didn't think much of it.

I think we will stay home today and just get the house all ship shape again before our next lot of visitors arrive!  Joshua and his brother Damien will be here come the weekend...
No rest for the wicked... shit I must be very wicked!

ONWARD...

Can someone tell me how to NOT throttle grizzly, whining kids???  Venting..... fuck I am over grizzly kids.   

OK...over me hissy fit now.... caught up with all the washing, tidied up the house, had a relaxing afternoon.  Wondering what I will do for dinner now...

End of Day:  dinner was easy... meatloaf sandwiches!  No cooking tonight... yaaaa.
DIET: so-so
nite nite

PILLS... NEED PILLS...

I've had a headache for over two days... so been taking nurophen but it ain't helping much.

I'm sure it's from the heat and humidity getting to me too much... so hopefully as you read this I will still be in bed.

Steve is going to take care of B and G for me until I get up.

Sadly I do not have a photo for you  this morning... yet... gimme time!
There is only so much one can do while still in bed!

I do plan on grooming Teddy today... shush don't tell him!  He might go hide on me.

AND I must stop feeding the masses... they been farting something rotten around here... I swear to god this house is full of gas!   Last night was diabolical!    And it ain't no 'green house gases' either!

*Yawn*... I'm up!   I've groomed Teddy and done some more on Coco too... they are really good with the shaver!  Thank Goodness.
Made a hooah of a mess with dog hair everywhere, so done some vacuming too.

Headach is still there, but only mild.  It's lovely and cool today, lots of wind and rain... dare I say BLISS!

Amanda, Emily, Kelly and Rena are still here... so still got a full house.   Tonight the girls are cooking dinner... I told them they had to!    So I wonder what we will have?

ABOVE:  being a Grandma is so neat... you get special moments like this.  Doesn't it make ya heart just MELT?  (don't even look at me, no makeup even!) IKKKK.  But Emily.... So, so adorable.

I took pity on the girls and told them they would be making meatloaf... with me standing over them telling them how to do it!  LOL



ABOVE:  Making the meatloaf became a full family affair!  lol.... I even chucked stuff in the bowl. 

ABOVE: YES it's a big bowl!  I like to make several at the same time, saves time later if you can just get one out of the freezer eh?  So, this afternoon we made 4 meatloaves.  YUM.

End of Day:  the meatloaf came out super yummy.  Got three more to put in the freezer.  Emily has been very fractious today... she's quite a 'windy' baby... so hard to settle quite often.  Today she's been a pain in the butt!  But still gorgeous.... lol.
DIET: not bad...
nite nite.

CARDS ANYONE?

Last night we played cards...

ABOVE:  the one holding the baby could do this with their card:

ABOVE:  she didn't seem to mind!  In reality he only did it once.. so dont' worry!  Baby was not being hurt... a dab of spit held the card there!

ABOVE:  her participation is becoming a regular thing in our games! 

ABOVE:  the only thing we don't let her do is get tiddly on tipple!  Breastmilk does not count as tipple.. more like ummm... nipple!  lol

Hopefully it's going to become a better day today... as it's still wet and super... like... 100% humid.  We are all over the humidity.

ONWARD...

We bought a Dog Grooming set yesterday, and this morning I spent over 3 hours de-knoting, bathing, blow drying and shaving Coco... I still have to do Teddy!

ABOVE:  the grooming set...

ABOVE:  see how good she looks!

ABOVE:  only thing is... she's not that happy with me right now!  She won't come near me.. lol... and Teddy keeps looking at me from the corner of his eyes... trying to be invisible I reckon.... ha ha ha...

We have more visitors arriving shortly.... The 'other' Grandparents of our Grandson Joshua.  Joshua lives in Whitianga with his Mum and siblings.   These Grandparents live here in Auckland, and we have not seen them in a couple of years.

Apparently Ross... the Grandfather, has been fishing and he's bringing us fresh fish... oooo that will be lovely.

We have know Ross and Judith for years, they once lived in Whitianga too.  So they are not strangers at all.

End of Day:  well our visitors stayed for 4 hours... so that was a lovely visit and afternoon.
AND the fresh snapper was really delicious for dinner with home made wedges with sour cream! 
DIET: totally blew it.
nite nite.

FEET FROM HELL

LAST NIGHT.  Feet from hell.  HOT.  ITCHY.  SWOLLEN.

My bad.  I forgot to take me piddle pills for three days.

AND I ain't shaved me legs in a while either... ikkkkk.

TODAY:  well we hope to do SOMETHING today... even if it's just visiting the Ice Cream shop at Mission Bay!

Suppose I will take me piddle pills today and spend the morning sittin' on the loo piddling... oh yaaaaa.....

ONWARD....
It's pissing down with rain today...

ABOVE:  and my friggin garage door is STILL leaking, even though they came a 'fixed' it a few weeks ago... after me waiting over 3 months for them to do it.  Not happy Jan.... just sent them another email... so we wait again.



ABOVE:  Rena in a pretty wee dress and her Grandma's bling...

ABOVE:  yesterday I watered the dirt patch where the kid's splash pool was... Stew put grass seed on last sunday.  Overnight....we have grass! Very happy about that.

We all piled into cars and had lunch at Sylvia Park today.. it was a mad house there, so many people all with the same idea.

Home now and just thinking about either having a nana nap or sewing some more.... hmmmm.... decisions, decisions...

End of Day:  well Rena and I had a nap!  For about 2 hours!  We have spent the evening playing cards... lots of fun.
DIET:  ooo very bad today.
nite nite.

WE FIGHT OVER HER!

ABOVE:  this little Darling only has to whimper and someone jumps up to cluck over her!  Seriously, Steve and I almost fight over her... who gets to her first gets the cuddles...  She is one of most happy babies I've ever come across.

ABOVE:  Teddy and Coco have checked her out... Teddy is not in the least bit interested, Coco thinks she's pretty neat to sleep beside.  So damn cute.

TODAY:  last day of school for two weeks.  The kids will be at home with me and Steve for the first week... then we are having our Grandson Joshua and his brother Damien to stay for the second week as well.  At least Steve can help me entertain them this time!  Yaaaa for small mercies. 

What else... oh yes... Kelly and Rena are arriving this evening for the weekend too... so a full house again. 

And I have decided that the quilt will have med/dark blue sashings!  I got some gorgeous fabric that really goes well with the blues... not too dark.  I will show you all later...

ONWARD...
Well as you can probably guess... I've been a busy Tart today... what with doing the washing, vacuming, washing the floors and  clucking over this wee one:

 ABOVE:  Would you believe she slept all night!  10 pm till about 5am.  What a good wee girl.

ABOVE: the other thing I got done today:  I finished sewing all the blades together into their 'flowers'... and now I'm just washing the last lot before appliqueing them to the white blocks.  I want to start on THAT tonight!   It's so exciting seeing a gorgeous quilt coming together.
AND see the blue fabric I found for the sashings?  What do ya think?  It's not a total dark blue, it has variations in the dye and I love it.. it's VIBRANT!  *smiles*

End of Day:  well Kelly and Rena arrived  and now all I can say is "let the fun begin".
DIET: good
nite nite.

LOVING THE WEATHER!

I am loving our weather right now... it's not too hot and not too cold!  But to be truthful I am even looking forward to winter... at least in winter if ya get cold you can put more on... where as in summer we can't strip off much eh?

I'd like to come back as a man... at least then I could walk around without a top on!

Today:  taking Griffin to his Speld lesson then once I'm home I expect Amanda and Emily to arrive.  I am soooo loving seeing so much of our newest Grandbaby... I'm hoping she will continue to see heaps of us .... I love how her eyes light up when we talk to her... melts me heart.

PURE LOVE for that wee baby.

Yep, I'm a soppy old tart I know  ... lol.

I might even spend some time later on reading a few blogs.... I've been so busy doing my sewing I have kinda forgotten everything else!

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  Coco loves her brother Teddy so much she will perch on the edge of the sofa just to be near him... isn't that adorable?  I must 'prune' them again soon....they can hardly see for hair most days!   lol

I laid some of my blue blocks on my bed to see how the quilt might look... (ignore the red, that's from the duvet cover underneath)

ABOVE:  So... now I'm not sure if I want the very dark blue for the sashings (in between the blocks).  My Aunt up the road has made a Dresden Plate quilt, she used white for the sashings and it looks lovely... so now I'm not sure what to use... white/dark blue or something else!  (Like light blue?)  Anyone got an idea what might look best?  I had intended to use the dark blue, but I don't want the quilt to be too dark...

It's been an eventful morning.... on my way home after dropping Griffin off at his Speld Lesson I witnessed a two car accident on the motorway just 3 cars ahead of me... it was rather scary... but it looked like no one was badly injured... just shocked.  

Then when I picked Griffin up he had a surprise for me.  Every week he can earn 'points' from his Speld Teacher and once he's earned a certain amount of points he can choose a gift for himself.   Well unbeknown  to me he has been saving up his 'points' to get ME a gift!

ABOVE:  the gift was a necklace for me.  He was really proud of himself for being able to give me such a lovely gift!  That boy's heart is in the right place... he really is a lovely boy.  (well 90% of the time, he does have his 'moments' like most kids).

Amanda and Emily have arrived so I'm off to spend some time with Emily both of them...

End of Day:  we've had a lovely afternoon.. lots of kisses and cuddles with the baby... I can't think of a better way to spend my day.
Dinner is done and dusted, happily watching Coronation Street now!
DIET:  errrrrr
nite nite.

HUGE CHOP, WEIRD PHOTO

We had huge pork chops last night... they were so damn big I must show you:

ABOVE:  that was just ONE pork chop... there was hardly any room left on the plate for the veges!

 ABOVE:  Lacy last night... that is her 'signature' pose.. I'm sure she has her tongue hanging out in 90% of every photo I've seen of her lately!
She's weird.

ABOVE: Lacy and me... taken last night... it's the best one of about 40 I took!  It is SO HARD to get a decent photo when you are taking it yourself  !    Oh well... it's OK-ish I suppose.

So today I am off to Hospice again... don't know what Lacy is doing, all I know is she is heading back to her home up North sometime today.

ONWARD...

Super hectic at the Hospice Shop today... I was alone on the counter 90% of the time, so busy as.  OMG did I get some bargins today!

ABOVE:  a watch that is perfect for Griffin ($6), and cute necklace for me and some seahorse earrings for Brylee.  The kids will be wrapt with them.
I also bought myself 5  tops (2 of which are from TS14+) for about $16 !!!  A...MAZING.

When I got home Lacy had already left... so back to just us till Thursday, when Amanda and Emily are due to arrive again for a couple of days. 

CHRISTY:  yes, Amanda does have two boys... but she can't bring them up here to visit us at the moment.  Will explain details on PEPSI soon.

End of Day: finally finished ironing all the quilt blades... made dinner... watched some TV... now time to hit the sack.
DIET: *sigh*
nite nite.

PRECIOUS WEE FROG....

Our wee granddaughter is doing so well... when she was here last night she was 'crabby' in the extreme... she was not a happy wee girl at all.  She had an injection in each thigh and had an ultrasound done too... so a very unsettling day  for her.

But she did settle after a feed.... and I decided to try her on her tummy for a while... as she is almost always on her bum.... due to the harness she's in to help her hips align properly....

ABOVE:  I do believe she was comfy on her tummy, she went to sleep.  I sat beside her all the time to make sure she didn't turn her head into the pillows....

ABOVE: Emily and Uncle Steve... so darn cute... the BABY..... not YOU Steve!  lol
OK. ... sometimes you are cute... SOMETIMES.

SPARKLINGMERLOT asked me for the pattern for my Dresden Plate quilt... so here's a link to a very good tutorial:  LINK....  it's up to you how you finish off your quilt... with block backgrounds, colours, sashings etc, this tutorial just shows you how to make the plates .... it's really good too.

Today:  off to find some good quality white fabric for my quilt....

Yes I found some ... really lovely pure white 100% cotton... and such good quality too!  It 'only' cost 3 times more than the fabric from Spotlight!  Yikes... that blew the budget.

Nevermind, I want this quilt to last forever... so I can pass it on to one of my Grandkids one day.  NO Amanda, not for you!
lol

End of Day:  I spent most of today making 'blades' for my quilt!  Hours and hours just sewing teeny tiny little seams.  And tonight I'm pressing them out into the blade pointed shape.  When you have 540 of them buggers to make it does take time... but I'm happy to be doing it cos I can visualise the finished product... and it's going to be really lovely.
Lacy is here tonight on her way back up North after spending a few days in Tauranga.
DIET: yep... ok.
nite nite.