CAKE POP GOBBLER...

Someone in this house keeps popping cake pops into their mouth... hmmm... wonder who that could be?

ABOVE:  I bet all of you thought it was ME eh???   Well... it's not...our cake pop gobbler is none other that BEX.  Now I know why she wanted to make more.  *smiles*

 ABOVE:  I got some nice photos of Miss Muppet in the tin yesterday...

ABOVE:  I just wish I'd done something with her hair... it really does have a mind of it's own.

ABOVE:  Teddy lying on his back... he looks so funny when he's like that.
We love him to bits.... even with the damn cone on his head.

Today... hopefully the second builder arrives at 9 am and gets his quote in ... I want some action.  Not knowing when the repair work is to be done is a bit of a bugger.
I'm not the most patient person.  

ONWARD...

Well the builder bloke arrived on time, did his evaluation and will submit their quote next week.  Now we just wait.  I hope it's not too long.

I decided in my infinite wisdom to do the grocery shopping... it was hard work on my own,  but do-able.  Even lugging most of it inside myself... Brylee and Griffin helped a bit too, so that was nice.

NOW I have to put it all away. 

Feeling a bit crabby now.  I should have waited for Stew to help I think.  He would have remembered a few things I forgot... like his frozen berries for a start!  

RIGHT.  I'm going to have a cat nap I think...  

I didn't end up having a nap.  And now, I'm cooking dinner.
Bex suggested Macaroni Cheese, so that's what we are having, with onion/bacon and chopped up cheese kransky's thrown in (they are a sausage with cheese in, very tasty).

ABOVE:  clearly I have not learnt how to cook smaller amounts!  Too used to feeding the masses... there is enough Mac Cheese here for everyone's dinner tonight, and everyone's lunch tomorrow too.  Yaaaa.  It's not gunna be wasted.

End of Day:  well it's been a nice day, as long as ya don't mention grocery shopping!
nite nite.

1..2..3..4...

TODAY... in this order...

1.  9 am, Second Building Company is sending a man around to peruse the damage so they can submit a quote to our Insurance Company.  Yaaaa.... might have some news on WHEN it is all going to get fixed in a week or so?

2.  Lacy and Keera are arriving around 10am... they are coming on the bus.  Lacy is going to do some housework for me.  AWESOME. ♪♪la ♪la ♪la ♪la♪♪, happy about that.

3.  Deb the midwife is coming for her last visit, we thought last week was her final visit, but we were wrong!  Lacy is thrilled as she can see Deb and show her how well Keera is doing.

4.  After our visitors have been and gone, we are going down to Spotlight, we didn't get there yesterday ... Dante needed to be feed and well... there are no 'Mother/Baby' rooms at Spotlight, so we went home.


While I remember:

- Brylee's curls fell out after only 1 day.

- I saw some GORGEOUS anchor earrings at Shellshock yesterday... I was soooo tempted to buy them... *sniff* ... but big expense coming up with the kids starting school again.  Griffin needs an entire new uniform as he's stepping up to the 'Intermediate' part of the school. 

 And then there is the 'Stationery' costs, and all the other 'got to pay for' shit on top of that.
We get charged for paper, photocopying, newsletters, Maths programme on the computer... which my kids don't even do... bla bla bla.  AND let's not forget the 'School Donation' of almost $400.  *snort*... it's not a bloody DONATION, you HAVE TO pay it. 

OK... I better shut up now or I will get myself crabby....

ONWARD... and nope, got no photos for today... YET...

Grrrrr.... I got up extra early this morning to make sure the house was ship shape and I had me face on before the bloke arrived at 9 am to do the assessment/quote on our flood damage. He just rang up and cancelled cos he's sick.  NOW he's coming tomorrow.  *sigh*
I got up early for nothing.  
OH well.. at least I look decent early for a change.

Right, here's another video:



Above:  this was like the 4th attempt to do one this morning!  And I still hardly ever actually looked at the webcam!  Bex was in front of my computer, so I was kinda talking to her... it was much easier to do a video with someone to 'talk to'... so... what do ya think of me video attempts?

Do I talk too fast, or too loud, or move too much??? FEEDBACK please!

Sadly, Deb arrived for the last visit... it was lovely to see her again.

 ABOVE: Dante is now 360 grams heavier than Steve was a birth.  He's doing well.

 ABOVE:  Deb holding Keera and Dante... so cute.

ABOVE:  Gorgeous photo... Lacy and Bex told her that they would 'help' deliver HER first baby... I seriously doubt Deb will even tell them if/when she has a baby... cos I'm sure the girls would try and attend the birth!  

Gotta go!... I've got scones in the oven.. I can smell them, they must be ready...

Lacy, Bex and the kids went down to the dairy to get cream for the scones.. and arrived home half an hour later with cream that was rotten... expiry  was 12th January.  DOH.  So I had to go back in the car for FRESH cream.  The woman in the dairy had a bit of an argument with me about the cream ... she reckoned it was not rotten... but I pointed out to her the date and the state of the cream.  You could clearly see it had curdled inside the bottle.
Ikkkk.
The 'freshest' cream she had was only 4 days off it's expiry date, so I got that.

The scones were lovely.

After lunch Lacy and Keera went home on the bus.  She forgot to do any housework... so will come back another day.

Then Bex, the kids and I went to Spotlight ... we got some more fabric to make bassinet and cot sheets. And some paper/pencils etc for Griffin to draw with.
Brylee has not got the 'sharing bone' in her body at all... so Griffin needed his own stuff.
It is good to see him using pencils/paper/rulers etc... which he usually avoids as he simply cannot write at all.  But, he's enjoying tracing pictures and letters.

ABOVE:  Griffin all set to enjoy some drawing.

ABOVE: I found two cute stamps too.  I am starting to miss being creative. 

End of Day:  well it's been a nice day, it always is when there is a little retail therapy thrown in.
nite nite.

IN THE TIN....

This was Dante in the tin at 12 days old:

 ABOVE:  12 days old... still got a bit of jaundice... but oh so cute!

ABOVE:  here he is... at 5 weeks and 1 day old.... almost too big for the tin!  Still OH so gorgeous.

ABOVE: posing for Grandma....   Then his Daddy got in on the act:

 ABOVE: a rather interesting way to take a photo!  Neat though.

ABOVE:  he goes cross-eyed when he's trying to focus on something!  Can he be any more adorable?  NAH.  Impossible.

Today:  well I intend to take us all out.  I'm sure there is a reason why I want to go out... but right this minute I can't remember ... it WILL come to me I'm sure.

ONWARD...

So... I just remembered we have a builder coming at lunchtime to peruse the 'damage',  so they can give our insurance company a quote on how much it will cost to fix it.  Therefore we won't be going out until this afternoon... which is fine I suppose.

Just means I get to do the housework eh?  Yeah, yaaaa...  I am THRILLED to bits about that.

SPOTLILGHT... is having yet another SALE.  The only thing that caught my eye was the 30% off ALL QUILTING FABRICS!  Might just have to go there....

MARYH:  yep, I think I can see a bit of the ginger creeping in too!  We will have to wait and see... I'm picking he will be a strawberry blonde by the time he's 2.  *smiles*



ABOVE:  a video.  It is very short... cos it was damn hard to find anything to talk about without feeling like a right dick! 

TORTURE, THAT'S WHAT IT IS.

If you know me at all... you will know I can't stand a mess in my house.
So having my garage all higgily piggily is doing my head it.
It's like torture.

I went down there yesterday afternoon full of resolve to try and sort it out, and get a space up and running so I can sew again.

ABOVE: while we did manage to put a lot of stuff in the container box, heaps was still left.  *sigh*
I started looking around for one of my UFO's... because I really want to get it finished this year.  It is the Dresden Plate blue/white quilt for our bed.  But I couldn't find it.

ABOVE:  I did find all the other UFO's, they are in those cute boxes.  Now I am left wondering... did the Dresden Plate quilt go into storage? Or is it somewhere amongst all that shit?  Well.. I started to look... and immediately got all hot and bothered... so I gave up.  Maybe on a day that is not quite so HOT I can have another look.  

***(a UFO means an = UnFinished Object, another way of saying it:  PHD = Project Half Done) 

Poor Stew has gone back to work.  He had a whole month off work... and is going back no more refreshed than he was 4 weeks ago.  SAD.

I bet he is going back to a veritable MOUNTAIN of work too.  I cannot even imagine how much work has piled up in his absence.  I might ring him later on and see how he is.

Meanwhile, I shall have another tentative look at that garage, maybe Brylee and Griffin can help me make some sense out of it.  I know it's only going to be temporary... but still... at least I will not feel so stressed out by the damn mess?

ONWARD... 

Dante is SMILING!!!  5 weeks old and he focuses on your face and smiles!  It's so darling.

Next cuteness:

 ABOVE:  a photo sent from The Owens ... Peppa @ 4 months... she's the pup on the RIGHT.... she's in bed with her buddy Molly.  She just had her first 'professional' groom.

ABOVE:  here we have POPPY (on the right) ... with her friend Misha, who is her half sister. 

Isn't it lovely how I am kept up to date with most of the pups!   I love seeing how they are doing.  Thanks girls.

I've done NOTHING so far today.  I woke with a thumping headache... so now I'm waiting for the panadol to kick in. 

ABOVE: I curled Brylee's hair this morning... she loves it.

ABOVE: Bex and the kids have been baking.  Banana flavoured Cake Pops are on the menu later on.  Yum.

ABOVE:  Yes LYNDA, I also love this.   

Busy day on the computer!  Been fielding emails from lawyer all afternoon.  Trying to get stuff sorted out before next 'stage' happens in relation to Keera's access visits.  *sigh*

Also had to pop out and get written quote for computer desk and send it off to AA Insurance.  This is going to be a long process.  Only heard from ONE building company so far... need two quotes for insurance work to proceed.

Dumm deeee doooo... still got me headache.  Blah.

I just took some new photos of Dante in the blue tin... can't wait to show tomorrow.  BIG difference!

Dinner tonight was chicken drumsticks baked in a Teriyake Marinade, seved over vegetarian fried rice with cripsy noodles.  Was lovely... and enough left overs for Stew and Steve for their lunches tomorrow.

End of Day:  a fairly quiet day in the end, which was nice.  Totally over all the flies and bugs we have at the moment.  Mosquitoes by the dozen too... and they really, really like me.
nite nite.

CAPTION THIS:......

Right, here's some fun for today:

 ABOVE:  OK.... how about you give us a 'caption' for this photo of Dante.  He was just fed... and chillin out.  Steve likes "Oh, so you didn't know?"... what can you come up with?

ABOVE:  he was really grumpy yesterday.... his poor bottom was suffering in this heat... and he WILL poop every single nappy!  So, we are trying a few things to see what will work for him and keep him comfy.  
I'm hoping it's nice enough later on (not too hot) to 'air' his bum in the sun for a while.

I'm sitting in the lounge last night and Steve and Bex are on the couch, already planning baby #2.  Apparently it is going to be a girl.... !

They are both nuts.  I think I heard the words "marriage license' come up too.  Now that would be nice... I'd like MORE of my grandchildren to be 'legitimate' after all.  

At the moment we have 11 Grandchildren, and of them, only two were born to parents that were married to each other! 

I can dream of another wedding... can't I?  *smiles*

ONWARD...

NOT impressed with Keera this morning.  She woke three - four times in the night... so I had hardly any sleep at all.  
I'm up now getting her breakfast, and everyone else is still sound asleep.

Looks like it might be a crappy, overcast day, so definitely not a beach day.  *sigh*  Edit:  it's raining.  Heavy mist type rain.  Yaaaaa.  Will be good for the grass if nothing else.

We are expecting a visit from friends of Bex's today, they are coming up from Hamilton, so that will be lovely for Bex.  I am sure she misses all her friends in Hamilton.

IRENA:  Ummmm... fairly personal ... I will just say she has chosen to be estranged.  And she is well as far as we know.  

Stew has just left to take Keera home.  I am so tired I am feeling really crabby!  I sure couldn't do nights with babies for long now.  Must be me age, cos I didn't find it hard at all when I was having all my babes.  

LYNDA:  I got sick of being treated like shit, so you reap what ya sow.  I wasn't feeling NICE when I put that 'word' on the blog.  Maybe I will just delete her from the list, like she has deleted us from her life???  Now there's a thought.

I am at the end of my TOLERANCE for certain situations within the family.  WE are now going to move on and thoroughly ENJOY AND LOVE being parents/grandparents to everyone who lets us!

Hee hee... some good captions coming through!  

Stew, the two kids and I went down to Mission Bay for an ice cream at Movenpik.  Usually it is so busy the queue is out the door and down the street... but today:

 ABOVE: hardly anyone there!  I have to wonder if the new Kiwiyo just down the road has taken some custom off them!  I think that is highly likely.

Next a few photos of Bex and Steve's visitors cooling off in the spa, we have turned it down to 26 degrees Celsius... lovely!

 ABOVE:  Sam... 

 ABOVE: Nicky... she really loved the cool water. She's 28 weeks along, baby due in April.  Poor thing has to carry over the entire summer.

ABOVE:  Nicky again... not sure what that face was about!  I kept kinda hoping she would fall in... it would have been... funny!  And choice blog fodder.  But, I am also happy to say she didn't!  She is no doubt happy about that too.  *smiles*

As soon as Bex comes out of her room, (she's feeding Dante) I will get a photo of her hair.

ABOVE:  Bodhi's hand is now in a splint overnight for the next 3 months to try and stretch the tendons of his bent finger.  If that is not successful he will have a little operation to fix it.  Hopefully that will not be necessary.

Did I mention the sun decided to come out with a vengence?  It's freaking hot now.  Stinking, muggy... HOT.

I got tired of waiting for Bex to come out of her room so I could take a photo of her hair .... so I fell asleep.... for hmmmm... seems about 2 hours!  I missed dinner even.  Oh well... I WAS a bit tired.  lol

ABOVE:  there ya go!  Bex and her new haircut.  Really, all we both got done was a re-colour!  But it still feels great to be pampered for a little while and have someone else do your hair eh?   *smiles*  She got a bit sunburnt today while sitting outside talking with her visitors.  I am going to try and get a little bit of a tan tomorrow cos I have not been in the sun AT ALL!

FEELING GOOD!  Going to go look at the chaos that is my garage again...

End of Day:  well I think I will leave the garage until tomorrow!  Stew has just gone to bed, poor bugger has work in the morning.

As for me, two more weeks with B & G then they go back to school.  I am ready for that to happen!

nite nite.

UPDATED PHOTOS OF MOLLY

Last night I finally got around to reading and commenting on some blogs.  I will do more tonight... hopefully I will 'touch base' with all my lovely blogger friends over the next few days.  I am dedicating 2 hours a day to it!

I got a lovely e-mail from Tracy down in the 'Naki' (Taranaki) with instructions to go visit her blog... as she had posted heaps of photos of Molly... our littlest puppy from Coco's last litter (We used to call her The Hampster, cos she was so small and compact, and damn cute when she ran):

ABOVE:  Tracy's little girl Bee with her puppy Molly, who is spoilt rotten I think!  lol

If you want to see more, go to: http://www.stampingseasons.blogspot.com.au,Tracy is a Card Maker/Designer and has a really neat blog!  

TODAY:  *sigh*.... I have to pick up Keera and take her to her Father's house ... and sit there for 4.5 hours.  Last time I took Mike and Joyce with me and the time didn't drag so much.  I am NOT looking forward to losing the best part of my Saturday... but needs must I suppose.

ONWARD...  

Keera SCREAMED the entire trip over to Henderson... 35 minutes of hell for me.  Then she screamed none stop at their house, so they put her to bed.  Where she screamed some more.  Then fell asleep.  I sat at the kitchen table and played Patience.  And talked with Jody, Keera's Aunty.  

When Keera woke up an hour later she had some food, then her Father said we could go as he didn't want Keera to get too upset on the drive home... ???  She did anyway.

It's been a quiet afternoon.  Stew took B & G to the movies, I stayed home with Keera, Bex and Dante.

Bex is cooking dinner tonight, a pasta salad and Ham.
Should be good.

Tomorrow I hope Stew and I can go out with the kids and enjoy his last day on holiday.  Sad. He has hardly had a holiday.

HAPPY ELF MOM:  Keera is perfectly happy now... she loves being here with us.  She does not like travelling in the car for too long, obviously 35-40 minutes is too long!

*** PEPSI UPDATED ***




End of Day:  trying to think of something really nice we can do tomorrow for Stew's last day on holiday.   Hmmmm....
nite nite.

TESTING UPLOAD OF VIDEO FROM MY WEBCAM

So... today I am giving  you a little video of Steve yakking.
It is a 'test run' ... using the webcam on my computer.  I want to see if I can do a video and post it here.

Here goes:



Now... IF it's there, it worked!  I think it worked?  LET ME KNOW?

Once I know it works, you MIGHT just get a few more little videos... I will make sure I have me makeup on though!  Can't have you all saying I look haggard or some such!  *smiles*

AND... AND...AND... I can post all sorts of stuff... like the kids yakking to ya, Dante coo'ing, and of course... me yakking too!

Awesome.

Now... today. 

BUSY.

FIRST UP... our grandson Bodhi is having a little operation in Perth today ... all going well.  He was born with one of his fingers in a bent position, and it does not flex straight, so it has to be broken and straightened.  As he's been sick with the flu I wonder if he will be operated on today at all?  Time will tell... they are 5 hours BEHIND us so I won't know till much later today.

NEXT: Stew is taking Lacy and Keera to the Super Clinic to have Keera's little lump on her chest checked by a Paediatric Surgeon.  I was going to take her but I was lucky and managed to get a hair appointment for lunchtime today, so Stew gets to go instead.  

One must do what is necessary to look semi-decent eh?

My re-growth is horrific.  Bex is getting her hair done after me, that way I can look after Dante while she's having her hair done.  Yaaaa.

I think that is all we have on today?
My memory is a bit like a sieve right now... so much is going on, so much to try and remember... grrrrr.

Thank god Stew and my kids are so good at 'helping' me remember stuff... well them and notes.  Lots of NOTES.  I'm just so busy keeping all me ducks in a row I forget when something is thrown into the mix unexpectedly!
Oh to not be so busy keeping track of everyone/everything!

 ABOVE:  ya gotta love sticky notes eh?  

ABOVE:  I bought this 'MENTAL BLOCK' cos I thought it was funny, it's not often I have a 'mental block' when it comes to what to put on me blog... hell... I will post about anything!   But, I got Steve to drill some holes in the top so I could put me pens into it... works a treat too.

ONWARD...

And yes, there is something else happening.  The Plunket Nurse is coming today to check how Dante is doing.  When your Midwife stops visiting, the Plunket take over.  
We are very lucky here in New Zealand, Mum's get all the support they need for free.

Plunket Nurse came ... all is EXCELLENT with Dante... he is now 10 pound 8 ounces... not long until he is as big as Steve was at birth! lol

So, I went to the hairdressers, had me hair done ... it took 3 hours, then Bex arrived and I watched over Dante while she had her hair done.  Dante slept the entire time which was great!

5 hours after I got there, I got to leave.
I'm happy with my hair... it is exactly the same as this morning, only with me re-growth sorted and about an inch off the length.  Majda, my hairdresser, wanted to take about 4 inches off!  But I told her if she took off more than I wanted I woudn't pay her.  She took off 1 inch.  Clever woman is Majda!  lol   She knows me well enough to know I meant it too.

 ABOVE:  it's still a bit wet... I never get it totally dried at the salon.  I like it to dry naturally.

It looks like she has made my fringe (bangs) a bit deeper too.  

I am loving the webcam... I took these photos with it.  It gives very 'sympathetic' photos... ya can't see as many of me wrinkles, this is a good thing.  *smiles*

Once Bex has fed Dante I will get a photo of her hair too...

End of Day: been distracted by dinner/American Idol... so have not had a chance to get a photo of Bex yet.... oh and they are in their room watching a movie anyway... best not to DISTURB them!  
nite nite.

MOVIES? MAYBE...

The weather forecast isn't that great for today, so going to a movie might be a darn good idea.
At least we will get out of the house for a little while... and give Bex some peace and quiet for a while too.

She ain't had much of that at all since Dante was born.

I got a few photos of Lacy and Keera yesterday:

 ABOVE:  Uncle Steve blowing on her face, she loved it... Lacy? Not so much.  *smiles*

ABOVE: Steve being an arse, holding Keera over Lacy while baby drooled!  Ikkkk....

ABOVE:  I love this photo of them.  Keera is so gorgeous, doing all you would expect from a 6 month old baby... she can roll both ways now.  And doesn't Lacy look lovely too.  She is really taking care of herself and Keera so well.  Now we just have to try and get Keera's hair to behave itself!

Right, off to see what movie we can go and see...

We ended up at Sylvia Park... Stew and the kids went to some kids movie: 'Wreck It Ralph', and at the same time, I went to 'The Life of Pi'  which I enjoyed.  It had a thin story line, but the cinematography was AMAZING!

Three quarters of the way through my movie I had to listen to some man on my left snoring his head off and to my right some Chick sobbing!  It was.... entertaining?  I don't know how anyone could go to sleep at the movies!  It wasn't that slow!  As for the Chick crying.. well I must admit  I had a couple of tears too!

On our way to Sylvia Park, we found ourselves parked behind a van... and it made us laugh!

 ABOVE:  there was one of those window thingee's that USUALLY SAY "Baby on Board", but not this van....

 ABOVE:  their one said "MY NEXT HUSBAND WILL BE NORMAL" ! !   Then we noticed writing in the dust on the back:

ABOVE:  it said: " I WISH MY WIFE WAS THIS DIRTY".... really funny.  lol

I bought a huge ham yesterday, so tonight's dinner will be ham salad with new potatoes.  YUM....

Just remembered... I knew there was a new, much bigger Hospice Shop that had opened just before Christmas, so we drove down to Takanini to see if we could find it.  And we did!
And .... ummm... I bought some stuff:

 ABOVE:  a t-shirt and cotton shirt for Brylee, a gorgeous blue plate and a cute wee bus toy...

 ABOVE:  it only cost $3!

ABOVE: I'm gunna find some batteries that fit it and see what it does?

While I was there I talked to Dawn (the new Manager there) and said I would be keen to work there this year.  So, I'm going to email the  Manager of Volunteers and get a transfer.
Hopefully I can work there instead of Manurewa.

PINKY:  it is at 198 Great South Road, Takanini.
Travelling along G.S.R. from Manurewa, it used to be a Tile Shop.  It is on the LEFT, sandwiched  between Takanini Truck Sales on it's left  and Marcel Bakery and Papakura Panel and Paint (yellow building)on it's right.  Opposite is a really big industrial building which I think is Tasman Roofing.

Sometimes I regret doing something the second I've hit 'SEND'.  I need to finally outgrow my impulsive nature, and accept stuff and move on.  Last night I sent off an email... and really regret it now.  How many times can I get kicked in the teeth before I get the message???   No more, that's for sure.

ANON:  Lacy?  NO, you can not have me purple bus. so there. nah nah na na.

End of Day: been playing around with me WebCam tonight, might have got it figured out... fun!
nite nite.