FOUND SOME

When I was at the Hamilton gardens a while ago, I kinda nicked a dead head from the thistle plants in one of the gardens.

Yep.  I did.

AND I nicked a seed head from that funny fern in the Domain in Auckland last week too.  

Shit I'm so bad.

But never mind, they would have just been wasted otherwise, right?

Anyway... what I'm getting to is that I've potted the seeds.

Because I was using Potting Mix, I had to hunt down a face mask, cos I am well aware of the dangers of catching Legionnaires Disease from Potting mix.  An FBG girlfriend caught if from potting mix and was in a coma for 3 months and nearly died just 3 years ago!

So, I was pretty sure I had a good one left over from my pottery making days...

ABOVE:  YES!  I found the good one (in green), and a few more simple, cheap ones too.

ABOVE: So there they are... all snug in the potting mix, parked in the sun in the dining area. 

NOW you can bet your bottom dollar you are gunna get shown every step of the way, how they are doing!

Cos ... this country is in lock down and not much is going on around here!

Shit I hope they grow... or you are gunna be staring at ... DIRT.  ha ha ha!

And here's a funny for today: 

*WARNING*, SHIELD THIS FROM CHILDREN !

ABOVE:  this was shared on our FAT BOTTOMED GIRLS Facebook page!  Just a bit funny, and kinda appropriate at this time, when no one is going on holiday.  *smiles*

Here's a little video of our gardening yesterday:


ABOVE: I'm glad that's done... now we just have to hope that palm survives being uprooted so violently!

Today's plans?  Not sure yet.  

ONWARD... 

Right.  We went out early (8am) to the supermarket.  It wasn't TOO busy, there was a queue outside, as they were limiting the number of people inside the shop, but it was still OK.
We managed to get most things on our list, so that was good.

NO shortages of anything except flour and yeast!

Nevermind, we can make scones if necessary.

We are home now, and will be staying here until we run out of stuff.

LACY:  Is staying in Whangarei by the look of it.  I don't know why right now.

STEVE: Not heard from him yet today.


https://www.facebook.com/peter.j.gibbons1/videos/10222750280720710/
ABOVE: I can't copy and paste this video from Facebook, but if you click on the link it might work for you?  It's just so funny!

NEWS.  Stew is going 'back to work'.  From Home.  His remaining holiday time (10 days) is going to be held until we can go on holiday.
His business is being classed as 'essential' ... so they need to keep working.

I have checked on all our kids and those that have replied are OK.  Just waiting to hear from a couple more then I'll be happy.

edit: re Lacy.  Where she is people have set up road blocks, stopping travellers going NORTH, unless they live up there.  I think people travelling home and south can still travel.  Lacy is opting, by the look of it, to stay there.

We are going out shortly, JUST to Stew's work office to pick up what he needs to work from home.  We will be safe, no one is there right now at all.  And case files are going to be picked up and dropped off to everyone by ONE nominated person going forward.


ABOVE: Done and now home.  Hopefully to stay, and not go out again unless it's absolutely necessary.

11.59 pm

*LEVEL 4*

New Zealand is in

total 

LOCK DOWN

MAKE SOMEONE SMILE

I had a lady comment on the blog yesterday "Minerva"... and I've since been in contact with her.

She's formed a small 'Yarn bombing' Facebook group, and I've joined it.

Cos, well... I decided that I will yarn bomb our roadside curb tree.

The object being to do something different with some of my time, AND hopefully make someone smile?

So, yesterday afternoon I stitched my first piece on this tree:

 ABOVE: Naked as a jaybird.

ABOVE:  The first section is on.  *smiles*

Best thing?  As I was stitching it on, a neighbour walked past (on the other side of the road) and she laughed and smiled.  She knew what I was doing (Yarn bombing the tree).
Mission accomplished for yesterday.

 ABOVE:  Brylee had work today, but due to the lock down, she's not going in.  In fact, she will most likely be made redundant.

ABOVE: And this bloke?  Happy to be home.  So is Coco, his lap is her NUMBER 1 place to be.

I heard that taping of Coronation Street has been shut down due to Covid-19!  SHOCK! HORROR!
But... as we are currently a few months behind, I will still get to watch it through this horrible time.  Such a relief!  lol

You have to look for positives eh?  

I mean, poor Stew has no rugby or current/live sport to watch!  He's having to watch old stuff.

SKY have given us free Movies for three months, so we can watch movies, Netflix and so on.  We won't go nuts with nothing to watch.

Lacy went up to Whangarei for the weekend, and is now on her way home.  
We are going to take some precautions with her re-entering our house.

- She must go directly to the bathroom and have a shower, disinfect herself and her hands, and put all her clothes in the wash.

- She must wear a face mask for a week when she is around us, until we are sure she hasn't come home sick.

-  She must NOT leave the property unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary, until we are sure she is well.

We are not taking any chances.  We are also not accepting any visitors to our home for any reason.

I think we will be visiting the supermarket today, just to get a few more essentials... like DIET COKE.  But it will be a quick trip, just in and out, then home to hunker down again.
I hope there isn't too long a queue at the supermarket!

ONWARD...

VICKI:  Lacy didn't leave the country, so is technically not required to self isolate due to travelling.  We are just taking a few precautions for our own peace of mind.  She has only been in contact with a couple of girlfriends while away, and they are well.

We are at a much higher risk of catching 'it' by going to the freakin' supermarket, where there's thousands of people touching things every day.

Let's not get paranoid over this, it is what it is, and we will all do our part to try and slow it down until it burns out.

FROM STEVE:

He's had another good night with little pain.

Homeschooling:

ABOVE: Seems to be going well.

Dante usually has swimming at school on Tuesdays, so he's getting hosed down outside later on.

Archer gets to hold the hose, cos he usually gets to do some water play at Kindy.

Not going to change their 'routines'.  lol

10.48 am:  And we have decided NOT to go to the supermarket today.  It's crazy out there, people are panic buying and the queues are huge.  So we will just stay home and wait until it settles down a bit.

Now... off to get some brunch. 

3.20 pm:  And we have heard from Lacy.  It would appear she is trapped in Whangarei!
She can't get petrol.  There are road blocks? to her leaving.  So it's a weird situation.
She may have to stay there for a month!

But what I'm hearing on the news right now is that all New Zealanders are being allowed to travel to their place of residence in NZ.  So I don't see how she can be 'detained' in friggin Whangarei?

I added more to my tree:

ABOVE:  And like yesterday, I got quite a few smiles from people driving and walking by!  One man driving by looked at me all the way up the road... looking very perplexed!  ha ha ha!

COLLEEN:  I am doing it my way *smiles*.  And it's lovely to see the passers by smiling.  

Stew finally got off the chair and we did a little gardening late this afternoon.  It was lovely to get outside I must say.

ABOVE: We finally got the plants we brought over from Cambridge into the garden.  They had grown HUGE compared to how little they were when I took cuttings back in December.

I pulled all the ivy out of that garden by the chairs too... I really didn't want it taking hold and choking everything.

Now?  Have to sort out something for dinner.

Well we did KFC for dinner... Stew did the drive through.  That won't be an option after tomorrow night when pretty much all fast food outlets will close for 4 weeks (minimum).

I'm signing off for the day... tired after doing very little today!  

p.s. I've heard from Lacy tonight.  She is staying out of Whangarei at the moment. Whoever was giving her information re:  Travel restrictions was obviously wrong.
Where she's staying the petrol station and shops were closed today.
Hence her being unable to gas up and leave.

She is going into Whangarei tomorrow morning to gas up and try to get home.

BIT OF THIS, BIT OF THAT...

Well... it's the start of Stew's 2nd week on 'holiday', but he has to take a conference call at 9 am.

We think it will be about closing the office, well all the offices throughout the country in fact.
He works for a Government company, so it won't come as a surprise if it is that.

I'll let ya know once we know.  It won't affect him too much right now, as he is ON HOLIDAY. Once he's back to work they can do a lot of their work from home, so life will go on.

ABOVE:  Unlike Wally, who has nowhere to hide now that the crowds have gone home!  It was too funny not to share.

My pie from last night came out just lovely:

ABOVE:  Pulled pork and tomato, delicious.

ABOVE:  This would be our view this morning ... if we had managed to get to my Mum's house in Coffs Harbour.  Fantastic day there yesterday.  I hear talk that Australia is going to close the Victoria and New South Wales borders... kinda glad we didn't get there now!
We would be stuck there for sure.

And now... I will leave you with the latest photo of Steve, taken yesterday after he had a shave:

ABOVE: Without the bushy facial hair, you can see very clearly his weight loss.  I hope he gains back the weight soon... and is back to being his normal smart arse self ... fast.


ABOVE:  Another little video I took yesterday, might as well share it.


ONWARD...

10.19 am: And ... Stew's business has closed it's doors to the public, and most of them will be working from home. As we expected.  Of course, Stew is still on holiday, so he isn't really affected until he gets back after April 14th.

For now, I think he will do 'some' work from home, just keeping up with emails, and anything that he really has to have a hand in.

Lacy is away right now, up north visiting friends.  I've told her if/when she comes back she has to be prepared to stay home and not go out unless absolutely necessary.  It's going to be tough... cos she likes to get out and about, and also, she risks death by MOTHER.

LOL... I'm sure she can find a way to not annoy the f#*k out of me every 5 minutes.

OH yeah... there's always the windows.  Every single window in this house needs cleaning.  We held off doing them when we moved in because of all the dust we created with putting the pool in ... but now?  No reason not to get on to them.

10.45 am: UPDATE ON STEVE:  Another good night!  So relieved.  Gosh it will be awesome if he is truly on the road to recovery.

ABOVE: And there ya go... washing done and hung in the sun room.  We have a wet day again, which is wonderful.  So nice and cool.

Happy to report Steve and Bex are pulling the kids out of school and kindy to safeguard all of them, but in particular Steve, who's immunity is severely compromised due to the medication he is on, and his current health status.

Our country is awaiting a broadcast from our Prime Minister right now... quite possible they will be closing down all schools anyway.

And there ya go.  The country as a whole is going into lockdown.  Everything is closing in 48 hours.

Everyone must self isolate.  EVERYONE.

This is a scary new world we are living in right now.

All our FBG walks are cancelled for the foreseeable future.
That doesn't mean we can't go for a walk, it just has to be on our own.

4.29 pm:  And for the first time ever?  Stew has gone to bed with a headache!  Not sure why, but I think it could be down to him not sleeping well.

I know we both toss and turn on our bed... but I simply don't want to buy a new one right now.  
As I said the other day, we don't want to run up any debt now that we actually have NONE, except our mortgage.

That was the whole reason for moving here, drop our mortgage and clear all debt.  Which we did. 

7.35 pm:  Dinner tonight was chicken drumsticks on top of rice.  It was just OK.  I don't have any sauces to add to the baking dish.  I'll try and get some next time we venture out to the supermarket.

ABOVE:  I'm knitting.  More on that ... tomorrow.

Signing off now... it's going to be a very quiet evening.

SOCIAL DISTANCING

Well... we have totally canned any idea of traveling down south, or visiting family in Palmerston North and Wanganui.

We are going to be sensible and stick around here, maybe taking some day trips to places that are deemed 'safe', like a walk on the beach or along the riverbank/neighbourhood etc.

It's called Social Distancing.

ABOVE:  Seems this is the best way of keeping the spread of Covid-19 under control... and giving the hospitals and medical staff a chance to keep up with any outbreaks, should New Zealand get inundated with cases.

I don't know about you but I'm sick to DEATH of hearing about it... but there is no point putting your head in the sand.  It's here.  It's deadly.  It's not going away in a hurry.

And we all need to do our bit to contain it's spread.

I'm going to be positive and do heaps around here.  Today I shall carry on sorting out my clothes.  And then... there's some weeding to do, and some succulents to get out of pots and put in the ground.  That's a good start for the day.

I'm sure I can find something for Stewy to do too.  

While I was really adamant he was not to do any 'work' while on holiday, now I think he might as well, cos while it's his 'holiday', what else is he to do?  It means he will have that much LESS to catch up on when he does go back to work in April.

At some point during the day we might go for a drive... get a break from the house.  But not anywhere there's lots of people.

ONWARD...


9.30 am: I've had a good report from Steve this morning concerning his health status. He had a decent night's sleep with very little pain. So that's excellent news.


I can sort of/maybe relax a bit now. Though, anything could happen at this point. His pancreas is still inflammed from the medication he's taking for the Pancolitis, but hopefully that will settle down.

And here we sit, eating Pringles for morning tea. I'm slowly working through my drawers and wardrobe... no hurry.

ANON:  WOW... you really needed to vent didn't ya?   You are just a bit sad I think.

I did a little video... it's really boring... but today is just that. SLOW.


ABOVE:  Seriously lazy day.

Stew got some pulled pork that I'd cooked a couple of months ago out of the freezer, and I'm turning it into a pie.  Cos I felt like a pie... it's like the best comfort food.  Well pie... and chocolate Movenpik ice cream!  

Luckily we have no ice cream, or NONE of me knickers would fit me.  

Oh talking of knickers... They are all sorted into sizes and back in me drawers.  I have quite a few more that fit me bum, which is awesome.
And I threw out 9 pairs, and have 8 brand new, never worn ones that I will donate to the Hospice shop.

All my clothes are now sorted, all summer stuff is now in the spare bedroom wardrobe and drawers, and all the winter stuff is in me bedroom and wardrobe.  A good job DONE.

I'm sure I will be wearing both season's clothes for a while as it's not too cold yet.  I'm loving the cooler days I can tell ya!

We have had lots of rain today, I love it!

11.15 pm:  And it's time to go to bed.  While we did a bit today, it's still been a quiet day.  

NEW IDEAS

In light of the craziness that is our world right now... we will probably stay home for a while.

No holiday as such.  Maybe some short day trips?

Not too sure right now.  But we certainly don't want to fly in the face of all that is being advised:  Social Distancing, keeping ourselves and others safe etc.

It's a chance to get all those little jobs done around here, and also... to save money towards a longer trip over to Australia later on in the year.

So first up for today, I am going to go through all my clothes and sort them out, and get out some of my winter clothes because we are getting some cooler days now. 

I would like to pop out and get some new headphones for the computer too.  The 'new' ones I bought a few months ago are simply not working. 

The other thing we can do today is go on the hunt for an outdoor tub/cleaning station... so I don't have to clean the paint brushes, rollers and paint tray in the laundry tub, which makes a hooah of a mess in the laundry.

The other day I spent over an hour just cleaning the freaking paint equipment, and the subsequent mess I made.

Obviously we will be painting the studio exterior walls in the near future.  I'm not doing any more till I've got something sorted for the clean up after.

I will wait a couple of hours before ringing Steve and Bex to see how he is feeling today. He's probably getting sick of me asking!  But I need to know or I shall worry.

ONWARD...

STEVE UPDATE: He had a horrible night, lots of pain.  But  he thinks it might be linked to what he's eating as well as the medication he's on.
So, he's going to change his diet and see if it helps.  Praying he doesn't have to go back to hospital.

Stew and I went out and got a few things from the shops.  Also this:


ABOVE:  So later on today or even tomorrow we will find the right place for it outside.

Our country has just gone to  LEVEL 2 on Coronavirus Alert.

Which means all 70 year olds have to self isolate, and all non essential domestic  travel is discouraged, along with a host of other restrictions.

Man did we ever choose the wrong month to take a holiday!  Totally can't be helped, and we will just make the most of the time together, even if it's hanging around home.

9.30 pm:  And it's been a very quiet afternoon and evening.  Stew cooked a delicious roast pork dinner for us.
And that's a wrap for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

MAYBE WAIHEKE TODAY?

Today Stew and I are taking the boys to school and kindy, as Steve and Bex have an early morning appointment. 

Then I think we will investigate the possibility of going over to Waiheke Island on the ferry.

 ABOVE: some of the artwork on the hospital walls. I really liked these three. 

ABOVE: Surprisingly... Steve cooked lasagna last night!  He wanted lasagna really bad lol.  It was freaking yum too.

He's feeling so much better. Being home has done him a world of good.

And that's it for now. 
Catch ya later. 

ONWARD..  8.55 am and we have delivered both boys to school and kindy.
Archer did the usual and cried, trying to get out of staying but I didn't give in. 

Griffin used to cry and vomit EVERY SINGLE DAY and I still left him there. He always stop once I'd gone, as I'm sure Archer will too.

We have canceled the Waiheke trip as it's raining and probably will be on and off all day.

We might even head home... then Steve and Bex can have their bed back.

BED. Yeah... they have our old bed and OMG it's more comfy than our current bed!

I think when we get home we will be going bed shopping.

2.15 pm: we are home. 
Done a grocery shop. Now having a very late lunch.

Lunch done.  Visited Brylee at her new work place... which she hates.  She wants to resign, but we keep telling her No!  It's a job and just because it's tough right now, it might get better.

Bought a dozen donuts, cos I was feeling incredibly crabby.  Still am.

Decided not to go bed shopping and run up a debt when it's not necessary.
The whole idea of moving was to drop our expenses... so we will stick with the bed we have until I've saved up to buy a new one.

Finished unpacking.  
Now ... I'm going to relax for a little while before sorting out dinner.  Which will be LATE tonight cos I'm no longer HANGRY (Hungry/Angry). 

8 pm:  Well I just talked with Bex and she said although Steve was feeling awful around midday today, he perked up this afternoon.
So that's a relief.
Now all he has to do it stay home and get better, and stay away from people.  He's now classed as a 'vulnerable person' due to the medications he's on for his Pancolitis and Pancreatitis.

And that's it for today.  I'm gunna sit back and watch Coronation Street in 90 minutes, then go to bed.

NEWMARKET ?

Today's plan: take the boys to school and kindy, then visit Steve up at the hospital. 

After that we are going down into Newmarket to have a wander through the new Westfield mall there.

After that... who knows? We are hoping like hell Steve will get out of hospital!  
But that is still up in the air.

ONWARD...

ABOVE: so relieved... Steve is looking so much better! He finally got a good night's sleep and his pain is under control.

There is talk of him coming home, but that will depend on his blood test results later on today.

Archer is home from kindy today because he just wouldn't stop crying when Bex and Stew tried to drop him off this morning. 

Oh well.. it's kinda understandable. 

AND... 12.21 pm and hes OUT. Hopefully never to return. 

Hes got to stay home for 2 weeks then all going well back to work on light duties till he's fully recovered.

ABOVE: Well we have been to the new Newmarket mall.
We are underwhelmed to be honest.
These lovely trees were in the lower level, where no shops were open yet.
It was just like any other Westfield mall to be honest.

We are now going to Sylvia Park... our old stomping ground.

5 pm : back from the mall. Got some new walking sneakers at Sylvia  Park... and we had a really good walk up and down it's length a few times.

We wanted to get some diet coke from the supermarket... but there was a long queue out the door, so we canned that idea.

Seems there's a new government regulation just put in place banning gatherings of 100 or more in any public place. So they must be restricting how many people can be inside the supermarket!

NOT. Just read the latest news... supermarkets are exempt from the 100 only restriction. Same with workplaces, schools and public transport.

So... pray tell, what's the point in banning large gatherings when you can have hundreds of people in schools, at work etc?  I don't get it.


CRAZY CRAZY situation. 

And... I'm about falling asleep in me chair. Time to sign off for the day.

BOYS

Today Stew and I will be taking Dante and Archer up to the hospital to visit Steve, that way Bex can get a few things done without them in tow.

We are all hoping Steve will get out of hospital today. It's not a given that will happen... but there's a chance he will.

If he does get out Stew and I will move to a motel in the city center... and spend a couple of days doing 'tourist' type things. *smiles*

We would like to catch a ferry over to Waiheke Island. We have never been there... so it's high on the list while here.

We would also love to catch up with YOU : TRACY! 
I will give you a call in the next couple of days, perhaps we could do dinner?

Right... that's me for now... catch ya later.

ONWARD...

ABOVE: visiting their Dad...who had an awful night with pain which took hours to get under control. 
He's a bit better right now thankfully. 

The team of specialists just came around... lovely people, they were happy to answer our questions.

So as I said the other day, his medication is what's aggravating his pancreas... and the specialist said it's a catch 22 situation. He must stay on the medication, so he has to stay in hospital so they can monitor and manage his symptoms and pain levels.

We are going to take the boys for a walk in the Domain, which is next to the hospital now, then come back to see Steve again before taking the boys to lunch.

PHOTOS...

ABOVE: so we had a wonderful time in the Domain's Winter Garden Fernery and down by a pond with a huge tree that was growing along the ground.

The boys had a lovely and unintentionally educational time. They learnt quite a bit about some very interesting plants.

ABOVE: some of the bird statues in the fernery in the Domain. 

We are now back at the house after having lunch. I think we shall have a quiet afternoon before going back to visit Steve after dinner.

 ABOVE: Dogstars... the name of that funky fern is ABOVE.

ABOVE: EVEN MORE photos from today. Bex just showed me how to make collages on my phone, and I worked out how to change the border colours etc on my phone. This is FUN!

8.50 pm: tonight Stew, Bex and the boys visited Steve after dinner.  Steve was ok, pain is being managed. Hes just bored shitless. Sick of being in hospital. 

Let's hope he gets out tomorrow.  

I stayed back at the house tonight, I'm just feeling a bit tired and rung out.  Catch ya tomorrow.