OUT LOOKING FOR THINGS

 

We are having a much slower day today.

Stew's knee is giving him hell.

And I'm just cold and tired all the time right now.

I would like to find a new electric throw blanket... it might be a bit late in the season though.  But I'll look around.

We are also starting to think of summer, and we would like to get some chair pads for the outdoor chairs.  I looked online last night, and there doesn't seem to be much of a choice around right now.  We may have to wait until the summer stock comes in.

I am looking for 5 different coloured chair pads, in nice bright colours.  If I can't find any, I will probably end up making my own.

The water fountain pump did not arrive yesterday, which means it won't arrive now until Monday.  New Zealand Post, you damn well suck!  It was supposed to be an 'overnight' delivery.  

ABOVE: Steve was given a bottle of Bourbon from his boss the other day.  It's in an AMAZING bottle.  Bex has 'dibs' on it... and my name is on the next one, if there is a next one.  😊😉

And that's about all I have to blither on about right now.

Catch ya later.

1.10 pm.  Stupid, stupid weather today!  Rain, wind, sunshine, hot, cold... you got it all.

I was freezing all morning.

First up we checked out Farmers, then The Warehouse for a heated throw. Neither had any.

ABOVE: Stew saw this new brand of power tools, gardening equipment in The Warehouse.  He said "Look, they have your name brand!"  Smart arse.

ABOVE:  I was so cold I went out in my leg warmers (thanks Bex) and a hot pod on my lap.

ABOVE:  Next stop on our mission to find a heated throw was Bed, Bath and Beyond.  They had two left... at an amazing SALE price!!!   I saved $175 on it.  

ABOVE:  I have it on now, and waiting to see how it is.

It is likely to be a quiet afternoon now.  I have three episodes of Coronation Street to catch up on, and Stew?  Well he can go into the front room and watch... sport.  We'll both be happy.

I am happy to report that the heated throw is LOVELY.  Keeping me nice and warm all over.  

I may never move again.

lol

Stew made us a yummy pork wrap for our lunch.  It was pork I'd cooked in the slow cooker a couple of days ago.  Nice, but not as nice as doing it in the oven ... it was pork belly.  We chopped all the fat off it, in case anyone thinks we ate that too.  

I've got people who read my blog just to criticise what I eat seemingly.  I refuse to give them the time of day now.  

8.10 pm, and as I predicted, we have enjoyed a very quiet, relaxing afternoon/evening.

We are both looking forward to bed.

And with that, I will sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

MORE OF THE SAME TODAY

 

The weather is a bit iffy today, which is a bugger as we are helping the kids move all of the bigger items from their current home, to their new home.

So, hopefully we don't get too much rain.

I think they are hoping to get everything moved today. 

My plan is to again, watch Lily and Marley, keep them occupied and out of harms way.  

The water fountain's new pump did not turn up yesterday, which is bloody frustrating.  I could have driven down to the store and picked it up yesterday easy peasy.  But no, it's with a courier 'in transit'.  Goodness knows how long it will take to get here.  The shop is literally 5 minutes drive away from here ffs. I might have words with the courier if he doesn't arrive today.

11.20 am, and 98% of the move is done. Just some timber from the garage to take over, then a final clean.  They had plenty of help today, with three blokes and Lacy coming over to help.  It sure cut the work load down.

I didn't go over to the new house, just pottered around, helping where I could at the 'old' house.

Stew and I are now home, and will stay here until dinner time.  Then we are going over to Steve and Bex's for pizza dinner. 

Just checked under the vanity again... NO LEAKS.  Yaaaa.

ABOVE:  Steve and Lily positioning furniture. 

Lily wasn't much help, but ten outta ten for effort. 

ABOVE: He had some lovely chicken wings after his calamari and prawns. But he had to take the chicken home cos I couldn't eat all my calamari etc. My appetite is non existant right now. Thanks Trulicity.

ABOVE: We ordered far too much food!

Won't need dinner that's for sure.

Just home from Steve and Bex's, where we all enjoyed dinner and some laughs.  Lacy joined us which was neat.

I couldn't have any dinner, such a shame as pizza is one of my favourite meals.  Next time I'll time it better.

We are home in time for Stew to watch the rugby, our All Blacks vs South Africa's Springboks.  He will love watching that.

As for me, I'll put my earphones on and watch something on my computer.

Have a nice evening... catch ya tomorrow.

SPRUNG A LEAK

 

Last night when we arrived home from the pub, I had reason to go into the garage to find my year planner.

It was leaning up against the internal wall, down by the back door.

And it was wet.  I was like, what the hell?  Why is that wet?

So I pulled the other things out from the wall, and lifted the mat. 

ABOVE:  WATER.  Not a huge amount of water, but still water where it was not supposed to be.

Damn.  I immediately emailed the guy who did the bathroom renovation, as it is fairly obvious that's the only place a leak could have come from.

He's coming this morning to suss it out.

Stew is home today, he's taking a long weekend.

We have some plans, but nothing too riveting.

I might even convince Stew to take a tiki tour out to the beach, or up to Auckland on Monday.

I am expecting a new fountain pump to arrive via courier today from Mitre 10.  If it works, we might have some friends who can give us a hand to do the lifting of the big pot, and getting it set up this weekend.  

...

Well our reno guy turned up and found the problem really quickly. Seems the pipe work under the vanity had loosened up due to Thermal 'something '. So he's tightened it all up. Now we hope it doesn't leak again.

We are now helping family with a job.

Then we will go out for lunch. 

ABOVE: Miss Lily's enjoying a pouch of food.  

Stew and I went to the Kebab shop for lunch, again it was really good.

ABOVE: Our 'Princess Maud' has gone nuts! I am so pleased we  dug her up and took her with us.

Stews leg. Most of the swelling has gone down,  but his knee itself is no better. He's seeing our family Dr next week, to try and get some answers as to what is actually wrong with it.  It's been paining him for a very long time now, with no definitive diagnosis. Or if anything can be done to fix it.

ABOVE:  Well, it's been a very busy day for Steve, Bex and Stew!  The kids moved house.  My primary job was to look after Lily (and Marley) while everyone else did van/car/trailer loads from one house to the other.

It's now 4.36 pm, and Stew and I are back home.

Steve and Bex will be doing one more load before calling it a day.

The big stuff will be moved tomorrow, with the help of several other friends.

Stew just checked under the vanity, and it's all good!  Thank god.  I couldn't bear the thought of ripping things out to fix a potential pipe leak.

I don't really have any other plans for the day, I might get online and suss out some travel plans.  We are thinking of going overseas for a week or two soon.  Destination is still up in the air. 

I have felt cold all day long, which is horrible.  I'm now wrapped up in a blanket, and had the heat pump on for a while.  But Stew got all red in the face, too hot for him.

I'm a pussy.  I will be going to bed early, just to get warm.

I've also got a headache... no idea why.

I think it's time to sign off for the day.

You don't need to listen to me moaning any longer.

One last thing, my Trulicity injection stung like be-jezzus tonight.  Wasn't nice at all.  I think the wipe we use to get the numbing cream off might be the problem?  Will try using a cloth and just water next time.

OFF TO CAMBRIDGE

 

First up, how about some Coco snaps from yesterday...

ABOVE:  WHY?   Mexican standoff.  She does this ALL.  THE.  TIME.  She was right at the full extension of the lead, so I just stood and waited until she went around the pole the RIGHT WAY.

ABOVE: And this stance?  It's called I'm not coming back.  I don't want to go home.  I'm going this way and I'm NOT moving, I'm digging my heels in.  All four of them.  So there.

And lastly for Coco news:

ABOVE:  SPOT.  THE.  DOG.   She blends in so well. Love you Coco. 💗💜💙

Today I am off to Cambridge, to Mosaic Group.  But I am not going to do mosaics anymore.  I am gunna KNIT !  lol  I hope I don't get kicked out of the group.

When I get home... I will take a photo of the hearts on our bedroom wall.  It was too dark last night to get a decent photo.

1 pm:  And, I didn't get kicked out of Mosaic Group.  They don't care if I sit there and knit, or just yak.  It's a social group, there to support each other and have a nice morning together. 

I got half a teddy knitted.

Then came home and immediately went outside to tweak.

ABOVE:  I had thought about the fountains position overnight, and knew it wasn't in the right place.  And I knew where I wanted it.

RIGHT THERE, in that garden, under the kitchen window.  

I am going to screen off the satellite dish somehow too... it's ugly.

ABOVE:  It wasn't that hard to drag the base over to there either.

Two of my neighbours (ladies) saw me dragging it and were worried about my back.  They even offered to help!  But I said no, I couldn't ask them to help!  It wasn't that hard really.

I'd certainly NOT try lifting the big pot though.  That will have to be done by a couple of strong men.

ABOVE:  I had to drag this freakin' pot to this spot too... it wasn't fun I can tell you.  I tried to get it on the hand truck, but didn't have the strength to tip and roll it.  So, dragged it was.

ABOVE: Once the bottom part was in place, I filled it with water, as I wanted to make sure the pump was working.

IT ISN'T!  I have rung Mitre 10 and let them know, as they will have to replace it.  Grrrrr.

It has to be going before we lift the pot on top.  I'm now waiting to hear back from them.  

  

ABOVE: Stew last night, hanging our hearts.

ABOVE:  No more holes all over the wall.  Just one to hang it from.  I've not quite finished with that installation yet.  I'm going to make a black 'frame' that sits out from the main board.  It will tie it into the black light fitting in the room.

But, it can wait for now.  

Now... lunchtime.  Take a break time.  Catch ya later.

Well it is much later.  I had a quiet afternoon, then took Stew to the pub.  Then I visited with the kids, before joining Stew.

We are now home, and looking forward to a couple of hours watching the telly till bedtime.

WATER FEATURE

Our water feature/fountain is arriving this morning.  I'm rather excited to see it in place, and going.

I didn't even know I wanted one, until I saw Lacy had one.  Then I couldn't get my mind off it.  I have always liked having water in the garden, but not fish.  I seem to always kill fish. So, there won't be any cute little fish in my water feature.  Maybe some plastic ducks for Lily to play with? lol 

After that has arrived and put in place, I'm going to fill up the bowl, then turn it on.  Hopefully it goes perfectly.

I might do some grocery shopping this morning as well.  I want to get more salad stuff, and my new favourite salad topping.

ABOVE:  I am loving this stuff, and also Snow Peas.  Just blanched and chopped up a bit.  So yum!  

Just as well I got up bright and early this morning... cos Mitre 10 delivered our water feature really early.

ABOVE:  They were such nice guys too... so helpful.  

ABOVE:  Sadly, they were not responsible for setting it up.  That is up to us.  So at some point we'll have to enlist the help of a couple of strong guys, and get it set up.  It will happen.... 

Now, I'm off to the supermarket.

DOGSTARS:  I feel much the same way about salads, but when you add yummy shit like crispy onions, snow peas, croutons etc... it becomes palatable.

11.45 am: Groceries duly done.  And I just had an early lunch of a salad and left over sausage from last night.  Very yummy with the crispy onions, bacon bits etc.

Now I'm going to take a little break, before moving on to my next job.  Which is something that I've been working on for a few days now.

HEARTS...

ABOVE:  Hey Marie, if ya think my water feature is too big, what do ya think of those? Maybe I should get me some of those?  They would surely fit in just fine eh?  😂😅😂

This afternoon I finished getting my hearts ready to go up on our bedroom wall.  I'm hoping Stew will hang them for me tonight.

Coco and I went for a lovely little walk early evening.  Had a yak with a couple of our neighbours.  Everyone is so nice.

And that's me for the day, nothing else is gunna happen around here.  TV. Farts. Bed.

LORRAINE'S BRISBANE FUNERAL

 

My Sister Lorraine's funeral is today, in Brisbane.  As I was there twice this month already, I'm not attending.  I got to say my 'Goodbyes' to her in person.  Twice.   There is a 'Live Stream' of her funeral, so I shall watch at home.

The plumber couldn't make it yesterday to install the insinkerator, so maybe he will make it today?

I'll have to message him to make sure, as there is nothing worse than sitting around all day, waiting for someone who 'might' turn up, and might not as well.

ABOVE:  I went and bought some wool and needles yesterday, cos I gave all mine away when we downsized.   I am going to start making little teddy bears.  Our village craft group make them, and donate them to the Hospital for sick children.  I might as well do that during craft days, rather than haul my sewing machine down there.  I got some 'happy colours'.  Let's see what I can do with it.

Oh, one more thing I remembered I wanted to tell you.  I'm going to be doing the Trulicity jab on Tuesday and Friday nights.  It works out better that way... I'm not having to take a jab on the weekend.  So tonight will be my first jab in a long time.  I hope it goes well.  

...

11.30 am:  I've been hard out, working in the garage since 8 am.

I got this idea in my head to try and re-jig things in there so I could fit my car in there SOMEHOW.

But after a few tweaks, I realised it simply was not going to happen.

But that got me into reorganise the garage mode, and OMG I've given myself room to swing a bloody cat, or TWO!

ABOVE: The first thing I did was take everything out of this cabinet, and put it in other places around the house.   A lot of it went in the laundry and the cabinet in the bathroom.  All kitchen stuff.

Then I rang the village Maintenance man and asked if the village could use it?  And yep, he was thrilled to take it away for me.  It will probably end up in the Craft Room!  LOL, so I'll still get to use it in a round about way.

ABOVE:  LOOK at all that room!  I don't have to squeeze down two narrow aisles now!

ABOVE:  With some 'squishing', most of my larger pieces of fabric fitted in the fabric shelving.

ABOVE: The rest is in boxes... Fat Quarters, scraps, Pre-cuts,  UFO's, PHD's and so on.

ABOVE:  The best thing is I'm not cramped in my 'work area' now.  

What a fantastic morning I've had.

I'm now going to have a well earned  break, and get some lunch.

At 4 pm I shall be putting my numbing cream on, and covering it with a sticky ... in readiness for my jab tonight.

Before that... weigh in at bloody WW.  I hope to have a decent loss.  

1.45 pm: I just watched the Live Stream of my sister's funeral.  I wish I'd been there, just to stand up and say a few words.  Lorraine and I were the last of our family ... now it's just me.  By 'family' I mean our immediate family.  Mum, Dad, Peter, Lorraine, Vern and I.  I feel sad about that.  I never expected to be the last one standing.

Luckily there's no sweets/cakes in the house... cos I'd have eaten them by now.  Over in Brisbane, Lorraine's family and friends are going to be enjoying a Hangi... dang I would have loved that too.

Time to get up and do something constructive I think.  Get my mind off the sadness.

No sign of the plumber, or word.  Maybe he will turn up tomorrow?  He's got the flu, so best he stay away until he's all better eh?

So, any guesses on how much I will have lost this week?  Bearing in mind you usually lose a decent amount when you start a 'diet' ..... AGAIN.   I haven't changed much, just portion sizes, and less 'snacks' in the evening.  

We were having far too many snacks.

I weigh in at 6 pm, and will be home around 7 pm with my result.

7.50 pm:  Weigh in went well, I lost 4.7 kgs.

I wasn't wearing the same clothes, which would have made a difference of about .700 grams.  I weighed the clothes I was wearing last week to make sure.  So in reality, I lost 4 kgs.   I'm happy with that, but do not expect that much next week.

Stew did me jab, and I didn't feel a thing... which was such a relief.

I just cooked dinner, and now, time to relax for the remainder of the evening.

Catch ya tomorrow.

DOCTOR VISIT

 

I got a text message from the Doctor's office on Saturday morning.  It was informing me that my Hba1c was HIGH, and to make an appointment to see my GP.

Well luckily for me, I had already booked an appointment, for this morning.

So, I shall go and find out just how bad it is.   I'm picking it's pretty bad.

I've not taken any diabetic medication for about a year.  Not since I went off Trulicity.  I was prescribed Metformin, but refuse to take it.

It gives me terrible diarrhoea, and I suffer for days after just taking ONE of them.  So, today I hope Leo gives me an alternative, one that doesn't upset my stomach so much.  Maybe I should go back on Trulicity, and just toughen up in relation to the injection?

I'll see what Leo thinks.

Edited out... sisters funeral is tomorrow.   So I might try going to craft group after lunch.

Then much later on today I have the plumber coming to instal an insinkerator.  We have really missed not having one here.

I think I'll need to get the electrician here at some point as well, to wire it in, and also put an outdoor power point where we want the water feature.  

10.30 am:   And just like that, I'm back on Trulicity!  Twice a week.

Leo said my Hba1c had DOUBLED since I last had a blood test, it's now at 96.  Whoops.  My lowest ever Hba1c reading was 49, when I was on Trulicity.

So, I have to just suck it up and do the injections.

I've got numbing cream again, and Leo told me to keep it on for FOUR HOURS before the injection, then I shouldn't feel a thing.  Righty ho then.  I will do the first one this evening.

Next... I've got a bloody sore shoulder.  Twisted it when moving shit back in May.  Now I have to get an ultra sound (with a steroid injection), fuck another injection!

Next... I have a bloody sore toe!  Yep, I went to the Doctor's with a LIST of things wrong!

So I now wait for an appointment to see a Podiatrist as well.  It might be a corn?  or an ulcer.  Time will tell.   Edit:  After reading up on CORNS on Toes, yep, that's what I've got for sure. 

NEXT:  Little bump on my face.  It's a mole, not looking nasty AT ALL.  So that's a load off my mind.

I am home now, and Lacy is visiting.  I will be going out again soon though, as I want to get a couple of things from the mall.

2.46 pm:  Home from craft group, where I spent about an hour or so helping make knitted teddy bears.  Something I might have a go at in the next few days.

I'm now going to blob out and scroll through You Tube etc.  The Plumber called off sick, he might come tomorrow.  😖😕

PETA:  NO.  Because I am over 65, most medications are free for me.  Trulicity WOULD come at a cost to me though, if I didn't have several 'high risk factors'.   Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Oedema, Blood Clotting Risk, Bleeding Issues etc etc.  So I am very lucky to get it for free.

10.17 pm, and I've been watching heaps of You Tube musical videos this evening.  Some really good singers out there that ya never hear about here in New Zealand.  Sad really.  

Anyway, it's been a pleasant evening.  Time to sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.