APPOINTMENTS

ABOVE:  24th April, 1987.  Steve entered the world weighing 10 pounds, 12 ounces.  Red headed, battered and bruised.  I took one look at him and said " Shit he's ugly, give him to his father"!   lol

He did pretty up fairly quickly I'm happy to say.

ABOVE: And here he is now, 38 years old today, and a dad to three of his own.  Have a lovely day Steve, see ya this evening.

NOW....What am I doing today?  

First up:

Making the appointments for my ultrasound and visit to a physiotherapist.  I'm gunna try and see  the same physiotherapist that Stew is going to. 

I also have to get a blood test, and pick up some medications, but that will be this afternoon, as I have Mosaics in Cambridge this morning.

Once I've done all that, I have a runner to make for a customer. 

So, I'll not be idle.  I have already done some work on the runner.  It's another Dragonfly panel, with extensions to make it longer.  'C' is going to put it on the end of her queen size bed.  So it's another fairly long one.  But NOT 3 metres thank god.

I am going to religiously wear my compression stocking today, and see how my calf feels afterwards.  Last time I wore it all day, it made no difference. 

12.23 pm:  And what a good day it is so far.

I've accomplished all I wanted to, so far.

Been to Mosaics:

ABOVE:  I'm tarting up a rock for my new garden.  I painted it first thing this morning, then started work on it at mosaics.

While there I got my ultrasound appointment organised (it's this afternoon), and my physio session (Next Monday).

The only things I've not gotten done yet is my blood test and picking up medications.   I'll do them later on today all going well.

While in Cambridge, 'S' told me our previous house there was on the market.

ABOVE: Apart from the starkness of the front, they have done some lovely improvements to it.  I looked online... I'm really impressed at what they have done. 

Right, I am going to get some lunch, then ?

3.53 pm:

ULTRASOUND:   NOT a DVT.  A muscle tear.  Not a BIG one, so should be on the mend soon?  Seeing the physiotherapist on Monday, so hopefully he/she will help.

If I'd KNOWN I'd have to take me tights off, I'd have worn cuter knickers.  Just saying.

Went to the Base to get my prescription.  The drive home from The Base usually takes 8 minutes, give or take a couple of minutes depending on traffic.

THIS AFTERNOON?   40 minutes!  Talk about gridlock.  

Worst part?  I needed to pee, and thought, yeah, I can hold on till I get home.  Didn't know home was gunna be 40 minutes away did I.  I got home and RAN/HOBBLED to the loo JUST.  IN.  TIME.   What fun.   

Coco nearly got kicked cos she got in me way too.  Never seen her move so fast.  😂😅

Try screaming  "MOVE" to a damn deaf dog.

8.42 pm:  Stew arrived home, and we promptly left for the pub.  I didn't stay with Stew or even join him later at the pub this evening, I just wanted to sit and blob out.  Which I did while chatting with Bex and the kids, and Steve once he arrived home.

I spent a lovely couple of hours with them, then Stew wandered in at around 8 pm, and we came home.

I am now going to blob out some more, watch Coronation Street when it comes on, then go to bed.  

It's been a good day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

  

CAMBRIDGE TODAY

 

Alright, I feel like I need an FBG fix 😊.  So I'm going over to Cambridge this morning to meet up with my usual walking group (the 9am lot).  I shall meet them after they have done the walk, so I can still partake in the morning tea yak.

I miss them all very much.  So, while I can't walk, I will just do the morning teas.  

ABOVE:  My little job once I get home is to turn these scraps into coasters.  They are cut from the ends of my bedside drawer runners.  Quick and easy.

After that I'm not sure what I'll get up to.  Not a lot needs doing obviously.  😏

ABOVE: She really only moves to stay in the sun.  So cute.

Got another sewing job... an order from a very good, repeat customer.  So I shall be working on that when I get home.

12.07 pm. I had a lovely visit with my FBG friends this morning.  Then I came back into Hamilton and decided to go to the Doctor's.  So I'm standing outside the clinic, waiting for it to open at 1 pm. Been here for 20 minutes already.  🥱😫

I finally got through the doors at 1.30.   Then I was seen fairly quickly. I have to get an ultrasound, and see a physiotherapist. But right now... I am waiting for them to give me a compression sleeve for my leg.

It is now 2.25 pm, and I'm still WAITING!

WHOSE idea was it for me to go to the bloody Dr??? 

I got home from the Doctor's at 2.50 pm!  So that visit took 3 hours all up.  I have their compression sleeve on my leg, plus my own.  

Let's see if that helps.  I still have to book the ultrasound and physio.

But that can wait.  I'm starving and am going to have some lunch.  Is it lunch at 3 pm I wonder.

ABOVE:  Today's FBG morning tea gang.  It was so nice to sit and chat with them all.

Lacy called in for a visit this afternoon, quite late.  I wouldn't let her ride her bike home in the pitch dark, so Stew took her home in his car.

My leg was not that happy in the VERY tight compression stocking from the doctors, so I took it off.  I will wear my one tomorrow, it's not as tight.

Time to bugger off for the day, I'm going to bed fairly early tonight.  

Catch ya tomorrow.

LOTS OF COLOUR...

 First up for the day, how about my new end of bed runner?

ABOVE:  There ya go.  It ties in beautifully with the large pillowcase, and our colourful Ottoman. While it was a nightmare to make, I am so happy I went with my gut and made it extra long.

Today I am going to make matching bedside table 'runners'.  They will only be the size of the top of the bedside tables.  It's going to be so 'matchy matchy' !  😂😅😉

ABOVE:  Stew finally took our Pig Weather Vane off the carport.  It will be mounted on our new garden shed, once we get it.

This piggy has been in our family for about 27 years, if not longer.  He's been all over the North Island, like us.

He's been at the last 5 of our homes, and will go to our 8th in just over a month. 

Funny ... I have never named him!

ABOVE: This cute little Toyota was parked across the road yesterday.  I thought the colour was amazing.  So vibrant.  You would never lose that car in the carpark would ya?  It was more psychedelic green in 'real life'.

Alright, that's me for now.  Stew is off to work soon, and I will get up and do the usual 'start of the week' jobs.  Even though it's Tuesday.  

11.11 am.  I just got home from doing a couple of jobs out and about.

I have booked a parking spot for our trailer at the storage facility.  That means we can use it to unload our storage unit for a couple of months after we move.  Once we no longer need it, I shall sell it.

I also took advantage of the 'Easter Sales' and bought a few items of clothes to tide me over winter.  My older winter clothes are ... in storage!  Of course.  Though I think I did purge my wardrobe rather harshly when I was packing up last September.  

It is going to be a bit like Christmas once I start unpacking everything that is in storage. 😊😏  I simply cannot wait!

I had planned on visiting the Doctor this afternoon with my sore calf, but this morning it is again feeling quite a bit better.  So I will wait and see how it is in the next couple of days.  Maybe it just needs time.... and a bit more REST.

ABOVE:  And there ya go.  Two bedside drawer 'runners' finished.  I've decided to use the smaller dragonfly runner in my stash for the top of my drawers once we move.  It's so neat that I can make all my own pretties for our home.

I have been resting my leg this afternoon as well.  I'm doing everything I can to make it heal, so I can get back to my walking regime sooner rather than later.

Thanks for all the lovely comments about the Bed Runner.  I think it's gorgeous too.

Funny Fact:  I had the smaller Dragonfly Runner on my coffee table for a little while and DID NOT LIKE IT.  It was not right for my family room obviously, but perfect for my bedroom.

 

8.42 pm:  Well it's the end of the day, it's been a nice cruisy day.  Gave my leg lots of rest... and it paid off by not being too sore by the end of the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

JUNK

 

I got a comment a while ago, and while it was most likely kindly intended, it did kinda upset me too.

The person said:  " You will be so happy that you got rid of your junk and went small as you age. I am thinking that you will start junking up the new house . Don’t do it".

Now there are two parts to this.  

1.  I don't consider anything in my house JUNK.

2. If I decide to put said JUNK back in my house, that's my prerogative surely?

I have a lot of what I consider precious 'stuff' in storage.  Once we move,  I will slowly bring it all back from the storage unit.

I will be sorting it into 'Keep' and 'Donate' piles. Anything really precious will be staying in our new home, even if we end up being a bit 'CLUTTERED'.  Which is bound to happen considering how small the new home is.

Remember, Stew and I are the ones who will be living there, not anyone else.  I don't have to worry about anyone else, or them having to live in my clutter.  So, thanks for your input, but wait for it.... there will be JUNK reappearing in 6+ weeks.

That was not a RANT, I just had that niggling in the back of my mind, and wanted to address it.

Easter Monday... Stew is still home.  The shops are open, and I need to visit Spotlight for a couple of things.  So we will go out and about this morning I reckon.

OOoo something else I just thought of.  There's a few brand new gardens around our next home, so I get to choose the plants to put in them.  I guess I'm buying more hydrangeas then!  lol  And of course I shall be putting some 'rusty bits' in those gardens too.

  

Is that 'junking them up' too?

YEP.

Did you know that most of my rusty bits (that I've kept) are from my Dad's workshop?  He was a logger and had heaps of old rusty bits.  I got a few after he died (25 years ago).  Those 'bits' of junk are PRECIOUS to me.  I knew I couldn't keep most of the bigger bits, and they have gone.  But I do have a few much smaller pieces to put in my garden.  I simply cannot wait to get them back.  Right now Steve and Bex are looking after them for us.  

 

GUESS WHAT?

ABOVE is a photo of our new garage, and that far end is going to be my sewing space.  The partition wall will be coming down.  It is not needed or wanted there.  That is called a 'sneak peek'. 😂😉😊

ABOVE:  We woke to a super foggy day, but the sun is now burning through it.  It will probably end up being a nice day.  It's certainly not cold.

We went over to our storage unit, as I had to retrieve my batting.  I decided that was a better option than going to Spotlight and buying more.  

I'm now going to carry on working on our bed runner...

***  Right, before any more comments are made.... the person who left that comment did not intend to offend me, of that I am sure!  It was just a comment that was possibly fired off without thinking how it may be taken.  I'm NOT OFFENDED.  I was just a bit like... hmmm.  Let me think about that for a while, then respond.

ABOVE:  Eeee gads!  I just measured the length of the bed runner.  It is over 3 metres long.  No wonder I'm just looking at it right now thinking.... yeah, might do that a bit later on.  😂😏
 I'm getting our lunch right now, then I will get back to it.

6.15 pm:  I got back to it... for the entire afternoon.

I NEVER want to make a 3 metre long runner again!!!

It was murder on my upper arms and lower back.

AND that Dragonfly fabric is a loose weave, so it played up something rotten.  It puckered and moved like no other fabric I've worked with before.

But I managed to do a half decent job of our runner.

I will show you tomorrow.

I cooked pork belly for our dinner.  We are having it with mashed potatoes, gravy and veges.

It looks amazing.  I bet it tastes amazing too.

Dinner was lovely, thought the pork belly was a bit chewy.  Still nice though.  I am having left overs of it tomorrow for my lunch.

Time to sign off, I'm knackered.

Catch ya tomorrow.

PURCHASERS COMING BACK

 

The people who are purchasing our home are coming back today.

The husband only got to look through the house once, before he left the country for a while.

So we said we were happy for them to come back this morning for another look around.

I know the feeling, I want to go 'look around' our new place all the time!  Three months is a long time to wait to move in, and start making it your own home.

So this morning, before they arrive, we need to make sure the house is as tidy and presentable as possible.  It isn't going to look as lovely as when all our stuff was in it during the selling process... but good enough.

We have no other plans for the remainder of the day ... yet.

11.44 am:  And the purchasers have been and gone again.

All went well, no problems at all.

After they left I made us Brunch.  

And now all I want to do is take a nap!

I woke at around 5.30 this morning, and didn't get back to sleep at all.

So tired... I feel like I'm always tired at the moment.

ABOVE:  I've laid out my next project.  It is for the end of our bed. Something nice for us.

Question:   Who starts watching a movie on Netflix, and nine times outta ten gets about half an hour into it and loses interest?   I have a huge queue of movies only partly watched on my List.

I just can't be bothered with most of them... the story line is so predictable, or the ending.  Boring. DELETE... DELETE.

BTW, we have gorgeous weather today.  So typical.  We might go for a walk a bit later on, just to freakin' wake up.

ABOVE:  3 pm, and we are home after having a lovely LITTLE walk around some gardens.  It was too hot, and walking up a slope hurt my calf heaps.  Stew had to go and bring the car to me, I could not walk any more.  Grrrr.

After that we did a little drive around aimlessly, and ended up at Steve and Bex's.  We spent a bit of time there, and then came home.

Now we are just blobbing out in the family room... 

6.10 pm:  I'm cooking us a light dinner.  After that it will be blob out in front of the telly till bedtime.

Catch ya tomorrow.

TAMAHERE IN APRIL

 

Well... we are up and getting ready to leave for market.  The weather ?

Have not even bothered to look outside yet.  We had some good rain overnight, and the forecast is for showers/thunder/lightening etc.

Are we mad or what? 

We are planning on setting up totally inside the gazebo, keeping it tight and away from the front.

That way if it does piss down, we hope to not get anything wet.

And of course, if it does piss down, we do not expect many people either.  We go, bad weather or not, to keep our spot. 

And it's an outing!  We get to catch up with the other marketeers, which we enjoy.

ABOVE:  We got the munchies last night, so went out looking for Easter Eggs.  Left our run a bit late... most places were either closed, or sold out.  We finally found that lot at a dairy a couple of suburbs away.

I'm taking some to market... cos who knows what food stalls will be there today?  Might be none!

NOT that Easter Eggs are nourishing, but they are comforting.  Works for me.

catch ya later...

...we have both been awake since 4am. A massive BOOM of thunder woke us up. It's now 5.50 am and it's raining 🌧...

ABOVE: setting up in the dark, wet, start of the day.  Virtually no one here at 6.15 am.

ABOVE:  7.40 am... all ready. We have set up small and compact for a wet day. But in saying that, we have plenty on display.

Now we wait... for people,  rain... whatever! 😂🤣😅

ABOVE: I have never seen so few stall holders here!  Gosh it ain't  looking good.

ABOVE: 9.50 am. The sun came out, much to our surprise.  Still not many people... and no sales yet. 

NOT a dead loss!  Just made several GOOD sales. 40 minutes until we can pack up and go home.

ABOVE: THANK GOODNESS we put up the blue wall! It just pelted down, huge fat raindrops too. 

We will be packing up really soon as the rain looks to be setting in to stay a while.

Gosh today has been all about the freaking weather!

We are home and have unpacked the car.

Stew is off to the supermarket shortly.  I'm going to take a break for an hour or so, before doing some housework.

Then we are going out to dinner to our favourite Indian Restaurant.  Seems we have both been thinking of going there again for the past few days.  Great minds think alike and all that.

THE DOLLS:  Were a hit with shoppers...  many people came into the stall after the dolls caught their eye.  I was very pleased with the response to them.  I did not sell any today, but it will happen. 😊

7.38 pm:  Our dinner was fabulous as per usual.  I had a Mango Lassie again, but after eating dinner, couldn't drink much of it.  It's like a meal on it's own really.

Stew managed to squeeze it down. 😋

Now... I'm so, so tired.  I just want to go to bed!  It's a bit early though... so I'll just potter around making the house all tidy.  It needs to be as tidy as possible for tomorrow.   

Catch ya tomorrow.

COUNTDOWN

 

FIVE WEEKS TO GO!

We started at 12 Weeks ... so it is certainly getting closer.

Easter is here, so is the crap weather.  We do not have any plans for today, might go visit the kids.  I don't think any shops are open, which is just as well... cos we all know I'm a shopaholic.  😊😉😅

ABOVE:  Scrappy doll #6.  

Today I'm going to have a go at making 2 much smaller Scrappy Dolls.  It gives people options, big or small.  These dolls are NOT suitable for babies/toddlers as they have buttons and embellishments that could be dangerous.  

Now, as I don't really need to get up and get a move on... I think I'll stay in bed a bit longer.  Stew is still snoring his head off... 

10.53 am:  It's pissing down with rain, but the wind has dropped.  Maybe it will pass by tomorrow?

I made my first smaller Scrappy doll ....

ABOVE:  #7 is a bit psycho!  lol

ABOVE:  Number 7 is cute, but a bit bigger than I anticipated.  Shown with the other three for size comparison.

While I've been sewing, Stew has settled down in front of the telly, watching.... A SHOOT 'EM UP, BANG BANG movie.  What?  No sport on today Darling?  😂😅

I might just make us an early lunch, I'm thinking sausage rolls.  Nice and hot on a miserable day.

2.33 pm:  Lunch was yum.  After that I went back into the sewing room and made this one:

ABOVE:  Number 8, the last one in the run, for now anyway.

I can now clean up the sewing room AGAIN.

Later on we shall pack the car for market, and then have a quiet night I presume.

ABOVE:  I was asked on Facebook for sizes.  Stew is holding a small and large Scrappy doll.  Large measures approx. :  36 cm long by 21 cm wide.  Small approx. :  27 cm long by 14 cm wide.  All measurements exclude hair and legs. 

Late this afternoon our weather cleared and we had blue skies and pretty white clouds.

IT DIDN'T LAST.  Two hours later the storm clouds were gathering again... and the forecast for tomorrow morning is heavy rain.  F it.

BUT, we have packed the car and will be going, rain, hail or CYCLONE.

For now... blobbing out in front of the telly until bedtime.

Today my leg was certainly A BIT BETTER.  I tried not to limp, and walk properly, so my other leg and hip didn't hurt.  As long as I walk slowly and deliberately, it's not too bad.

Maybe it is FINALLY getting better.

Catch ya tomorrow.