SLEEPING IN

 

If you are reading this and think I'm up early, you'd be wrong!

I typed this up, rolled over and went back to sleep.

Both Stew and I woke at 2.25 on Saturday morning, then had market all day.  So we are knackered.

Sleeping in today is top of our 'To Do' list!

When we do surface, we shall do the few odd jobs around the house that need doing.

At some point today, Steve (and probably the family) will come over, to suss out what needs doing to get both the new oven and cooktop to fit in the existing gaps.  And also, work out when to call in the electrician. 

It's all timing, and when he can do the work for us.

We are so lucky to have such a bloody handy son. 💚💙💜

Yesterday afternoon, while at Steve 'n' Bex's, Bex asked me if I'd tried the tea she was drinking?

It was a Bell Tea, but flavoured to taste a bit like Apple Pie!

APPLE PIE flavoured tea?  I never knew you could get such a thing.

She asked me to taste it, and I rather liked it.   So on our way home:

ABOVE: We bought two of the 'Dessert Flavoured' teas.

I am really struggling to drink enough at the moment, it's so cold I'm not even having enough Diet Coke.  And I'm getting cramps from being a bit dehydrated.

So, hopefully I can boost my fluid consumption with the teas.  And they are nice and warm, just what ya want on a cold day.

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  And... it's not half bad!  I can still tell it's TEA, but it's not revolting. 😂😅😉

We stayed in bed until 9 am!  It was wonderful.

We are now off to the mall as Stew has an eye appointment.  Just a regular check up hopefully.

LOL... I'm clearly a MONTH ahead of myself. I'll edit the photo once I'm home. Derrr.

12.20pm:  And we are home again.  Stew's eye test went very well, he does not need a new prescription.  Excellent.

They also tested his hearing, and that's 100% as well.  He has NO excuse for not hearing me!  lol

We had lunch at the mall, kebab meat over some chips.  I was shocked at how much I COULDN'T eat!  I think I managed to eat about a third of what was served.

Clearly the Trulicity is working on my appetite.  WINNING.

I'm now going to just relax for a little while.  Stew is going to do a couple of outside jobs, then he will be chilling out as well.

BTW:  I lost .5 kgs this week, which is exactly what I want to be losing each week. 

3 pm:  We were not long home from the mall when Steve, Bex and the kids arrived.

Steve had come around to suss out what needed doing to get the new cooktop and oven fitted.

ABOVE: This is all I thought he would be doing today.  Pulling the oven out 'a little bit' to measure the gap for the new oven.  Same with the cooktop.

ABOVE: The next thing I know, he's pulling it all the way out, and sitting it on a chair in the middle of the kitchen!

ABOVE: So, I'm thinking I will have the old oven sitting in the middle of the kitchen for a week or so.

ABOVE:  But no!  He disconnected and removed both the old appliances, and put the new ones in place (for now).

ABOVE: The new Induction Cooktop fitted in the existing gap perfectly!

And it won't take too much for Steve to craft a new panel for the oven to sit in, and have a new shelf above it for all the oven trays etc, (where me finger is pointing).

The new oven is AMAZING... it has way more features than I realised.  I'm going to love using it.

I'm not sure how long I will be without an oven or cooktop, but as I said to Steve, I have two microwaves, a slow cooker and an electric frying pan I can use in the interim.  It's not a problem.

ABOVE:  Little Lily was in a delightful mood this afternoon.  So smiley and happy.

She is a whopping 7.5 kgs now, such a bonny 4 month old.

ABOVE: The boys enjoyed playing with balloons again today.  It is so nice and warm in our sunroom, such a perfect playing space for the kids.

ABOVE: Archer and Lily hangin' on the couch.

ABOVE: Dante trying to smile... always a mission to get him looking unlike a chipmunk!  lol

So the family have gone home now, and it's back to us just chilling out.  It's a beautiful afternoon here, quite warm for Autumn.

TAMAHERE IN MAY

 

It's too damn early to be getting up!

AND it's freezing.  I'm gunna have so many layers on ... in an attempt to keep warm today.

And for the first time I'll be wearing me thermal socks and gumboots.  At least this time I won't have wet feet all day long.

The weather is looking really good, so at least we won't have to contend with rain this time.

So... bring it on.  Time to get ourselves dressed and out of here.

Catch ya once we are all set up, and I have time to update again.  I might even do a little video walk around later on.

ONWARD...

ABOVE: It was foggy first thing... but the sun is burning it off. Very nippy right now. Gumboots are NOT warm. 

Its a pretty full market today,  which is neat. 

ABOVE: All ready.... fingers 'n' toes crossed for a good day.

ABOVE: I was talking to Bex this morning about how cold my feet were... next thing I know... they turn up at the market with some pure merino and possum socks for me!  How awesome.  And they are lovely and warm.

ABOVE: They also brought the dogs out to visit us at market! They loved it here. So much to see. Lots of other dogs to sniff.

2.22 pm: And we are home again.  It was a very good market today, the sun came out, and so did the people.

I finally have some 'gaps' to fill ... which means I will be sewing next week. 😊😌 That makes me so happy.

ABOVE: Stew saw Tamarillos (Tree Tomatoes) on sale and bought us some.  They will go very nicely with my stewed apple and yoghurt for dinners.

Stew has now gone off to do his weekend shopping, and I am waiting for people to arrive.  They bought a china cabinet off me and are picking it up today.

After they have been and gone, Stew and Steve are going to Heathcote's to pick up the Oven and Cooktop.

That way Steve can suss out what needs doing to install them in our kitchen.

So quite a busy day!

Well.... the new kitchen appliances are in our garage, ready for installation in the next couple of weeks all going well.

I stayed with Bex while the guys got them.  

She was drinking TEA.

But not tea as I know it.   I'll yabber on about that... tomorrow.

For now, I'm warming up at home in me heated throw, waiting till dinnertime.

Stew and I are going to 'do' Indian again this evening.  We are too tired to cook.

BACK TO CAMBRIDGE I GO

 

I'm supposed to be going over to Cambridge for an FBG walk this morning.

But as we are forecast to have showers, it might get cancelled.  I will have to keep an eye on the updates, so I don't drive over there only to find it's cancelled at the last minute.  

I might even message the walk leader and make sure it's still on before I go over.

If it's cancelled, I will just head over to the mall and do me own thing.

ABOVE: Can you see her? That's one of her favourite places to sit.  She's literally keeping an eye on our front door, in case someone arrives and she misses it.  Bearing in mind she's very deaf now, she has to SEE what's going on.

She's just a bit cute.

Right, it's probably time I got outta bed and started my day.  Catch ya later.

ONWARD...

Well I needn't have worried about the weather.  Its a glorious day! I'm  already in Cambridge,  waiting for everyone to arrive for the walk. 

ABOVE: What a lovely day for a walk! 23 of us walking this morning... and a good half of us went to coffee afterwards.

I'm now at Stew's office, waiting to go to lunch with him and Jacqui.

Then I'll head home and make sure everything is ready for tomorrow's market. 

ABOVE: Today's walk photo.  I've not got a 'stat' one as I forgot to hit 'RESUME' after we stopped for our photo, so I didn't record our entire walk.

It was 5.1 kms long and took just under an hour.  So average pace and a nice distance.

Lunch was at Centreplace Foodcourt.  Very average would be kind to say.  We got donuts for 'afterwards'.  

Now that I'm home, I'm going to take some time out for a while.  Then check everything is tickety boo for tomorrow.  

7.46 pm:  Well... everything is ready for tomorrow.  

ABOVE:  I did a little tweak to my UCKI PLANTS tonight, so they are ready for market tomorrow.  I'll show you another day what I did... cos they are already back in the van and I can't be arsed getting them out again!

ABOVE:  My steps for the day... not bad.  Not the 10,000 that 'they' used to say we all needed to do.  I think the magic number now days is like... 6,000 isn't it?  I'm not sure.

And that's me for the day.  We will be off to bed earlier than 'usual' tonight.  It will be an early start in the morning.

FIX IT NOW!

 

We have pretty much 'stolen' Steve's work van, to use as our market van.

Bex isn't doing markets at the moment, so the van just stays here.

A couple of weeks ago it got a flat battery.  Lacy and I jump started it and I thought that it would be fine.

But it's flat again.  So today I am ringing the AA to come out and see if it needs a new battery, or just jump starting again.  

Something tells me it will be needing a new battery.  *sigh*

One this is for sure, it needs to be sorted out NOW... as our next market is on Saturday, at Tamahere.

I didn't hear from Heathcoats about my new appliances yesterday, here's hoping I do today.  I'd like to think we can pick it up by the weekend.

Today is definitely a 'rest' day from walking.  I've had three days walking in a row... and I have another FBG walk tomorrow.  So, no walking today.

What shall I do?  Well, obviously hang around and wait for the AA to turn up.  Then I have no idea.

Just to clarify something.  I mentioned not knowing what to do with myself yesterday.  I'm not BORED.  I'm just so used to doing my sewing most days and being productive, I find it weird not having anything to do!

I am sure I will come to enjoy watching movies, reading, trying other things over time.  WHEN I'm not sewing that is.

In fact, I might even paint a wall in the middle bedroom soon.  It's got a large painting on it that has a white background, which doesn't look that good on a white wall.  It needs COLOUR on that wall.

See?  I'll come up with shit to do eventually.

Or I'll just sew more runners, and have a huge stockpile!

ONWARD...

9 am:  And the van is fixed.  I had to get a new battery, which the lovely AA man had on board, and he fitted it for me.  Such a neat guy, he's come here about 4 times now for various reasons.  Very talkative, so friendly.  

Next job:  touch up a tiny area in the bathroom that got missed when painting.  You could only see it when you were in the bath... so I could see it. And it was bugging me.  Off to fix it. 😉😊  ONLY been meaning to do it for a couple of months!  Derr.

9.30 am: Next job:  Ring around to see if I'm paying a competitive price for our dogs to be groomed.  The prices just keep going up and up!  Only 4 years ago it cost $69.  Now where I take them it is $81 each. So I rang another place and was told $97!  Holy hell that's steep!  When you have two dogs it sure adds up fast.

I'm now trying a third place, a guy who does it from home.  Fingers crossed for a better price than both those other ones.

10 am:  RESULT!  And an excellent result at that.  I've found a guy who will groom the girls for $50 (each)!  All I have to do is bath and dry them before their appointment... and that brings the cost down.  Gosh that is so good! I'm now off to cancel their next appointments at the 'other' place.

3.50 pm:  Yaaa.   I just sold one of our China Cabinets.  Slowly getting rid of surplus furniture from our home.  Now... what else can I sell? 😊

I'm expecting Stew and our friend home in about half an hour.  Then we are off to visit Steve, Bex and the kids.  And Stew will go to the pub to yak with mates. So it should be a very pleasant evening.

ABOVE: Awwww, how cute are Jacqui and Lily!

ABOVE:  Jacqui still knows how to settle a baby, they are listening to Pink on the phone.

It's been a really nice evening, lots of yakking and enjoying each other's company.

I'm home now, having picked up Stew from the pub.

Jacqui has left for her next destination, so it's just us and the dogs again.

Nice and quiet. 

Time to sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

WILL THEY ARRIVE SOON?

I got a phone call from 'G' at Heathcoat's a couple of days ago.  He told me the new Oven had arrived into Hamilton, and they were just waiting on a small part for the Cooktop to arrive, then we could pick them up!

That is so exciting.

It means I will have to enlist Steve's carpentry skills soon, to make sure they will fit in the existing spaces in the kitchen.

The new oven is actually smaller in size than the old one.  So some tweaking of the space will need to be done.  It might mean I get an extra little shelf above or below the new oven.  That could be handy.

Once Steve has sussed the fit out, I can then call in an electrician to instal them properly.

So, fingers crossed I get the call to pick them up in the next day or two.

This morning I am going on a lake walk.  I might even do 1.5 times around the lake, to make it a bit longer.  I've missed my lake.  I wonder if anything has changed?  

ONWARD...

10.30 am, and I am home from my walk.  I didn't end up at the lake as planned, as the weather was a bit WET.  And I didn't want to walk it on my own after reading on the news yesterday about some bloke sitting down by the lake doing 'ikky things' to himself, while people walked by!

Yeah Nah, not going to put myself in that position.

So the mall it was.

ABOVE: As per usual with walking in the mall, the only accurate stat above is the time!  Even the graphic is wonky as.

ABOVE:  As I had no one to talk to on my walk, I decided to talk ... TO YOU.  lol

I hope you don't get sick of listening to me.  

Now that I'm home, I've certainly started to cool down.  Hmmm.... might get changed out of me walking clothes and into something a bit warmer.

Then I will decide what to do next.

Well next was just pottering around in the house, doing a bit more tidying up in the sewing room, and finding a few more things to take to the Op Shop.

I've also got the front bedroom ready for an unexpected overnight guest.  

So here's a weird question.  What do ya do if you are not sewing, or crafting, or doing housework, and you are at home?

Because, I've not really needed to get anymore stuff made for markets, and am TOTALLY at a loss as to what to do with myself!

I do not want to tie myself down to a job, or even a volunteering one.  I want to be 'free' of commitments and stress.

But I'm like, STRESSED out with nothing to do!

It is a totally weird situation to be in.

I think, in the future, Stew is going to be in the same situation. Though I think once he retires we will do some travelling, and just be old farts together.

Perhaps I need to take up... fucking gardening!  Pull some weeds. Oh god, I can't think of anything worse to be honest.  I like to see my gardens looking nice, but I don't want to tend them.  Ikkk to dirt on me hands! 

It's been raining all day.  And now my house stinks.  I have a horrible feeling Coco has gone 'bathroom' somewhere in the house.  She hates going outside when it's really wet.

Off to look....
 

Well no shit ... so I probably have to blame Marely for farting under my feet!  lol

Our visitor has arrived, so we are just sitting here gas bagging.

Nice to have another chick to yak with in the evening.

Time to sign off for the day.

Catch ya tomorrow.

DO I CONTINUE?

It's one of those days where I reflect on blogging.

Blogging is something I've done EVERY DAY for 17 years and 7 months.  It is something I used to love doing.  

A small change is going to happen.  From now on... I will only be mentioning, posting about, showing photos of, those who have given me EXPRESS PERMISSION to do so.

That is going to look like absolute FAVOURITISM, but it is just how it is evolving, through others choices.

There are no 'favourites'.  But there are people who have chosen to walk away, or who by their own actions have excluded themselves.  

If I stick to safe content, and people who have given me permission to post about them, I will no longer have to second guess everything I put on here.

Will I offend anyone?

Will I upset someone?

I will try not to!  But sometimes I am only human, and I might slip up.  

SHOOT ME NOW!

I got me tits in a knot the other day, and had thought of ending my blogging days.  But now, upon reflection, I am thinking of doing this for about 10 more years!  So hang in there if you don't mind being bored shitless more often than not.  

I am thinking of my Mum right now.  She would have turned 87 today.  She absolutely LOVED my blog.  She looked forward to reading it every single day.  She lived in Australia for 16 years, and she told me my blog meant she could keep in touch with her/my family from afar.

She also LOVED interacting with some of my readers, GM (aka Robyn), and Michelle C to name a couple. 

ABOVE:  Happy Birthday Mum, wherever your soul is.  I feel your presence every day.  You were one of my staunchest supporters.  I lost my Mum and my best friend when you left us.

Now, back to what we will call 'safe content'... I'm off for an FBG walk again this morning.

And that is all I have planned so far.

ONWARD...

ABOVE:  We have a horrible thick fog again this morning.  It's bloody freezing out there.  NOT Northern Hemisphere freezing, but freezing for HERE.

I'm not looking forward to this morning's walk... cos the fog is DAMP, and it seeps into ya bones.

My bath might be getting filled when I get home.

1.53 pm:  Wow, I've been out for much longer than I anticipated today.

My walk was WONDERFUL, if a bit cold to start with.  I even kept my warm jacket on until half way, which is not like me at all.  

ABOVE:  It was a slightly longer walk today, but you hardly notice it when you are yakking.  😌😊

ABOVE:  It's getting much easier, and faster to 'doctor' the walk photos now.  Quite a few of the FBG'ers have seen my doctored photos and think it's hilarious.  That good, glad I'm not offending anyone!

After my walk, I came back into Hamilton and went to the Base.  I had a couple of things to get done there.  Then I got some lunch, ate it, and came home.

Now I'm going to relax, get warm again and think about cooking Stew some Spaghetti Bolognaise for his dinner a bit later on.  I'm sure he will love that.

Oh!  Forgot.

ABOVE:  I stopped in at this Op Shop today, and asked them if they wanted any Patchwork magazines and books.  The lady said "Sure, just pop them here", indicating this little space on a table by the donations door.

*SNORT*... I told her I had quite a few, and perhaps I should just put them on the floor?  

All good by her.

So I hauled in the 9 bags FULL of magazines and books.  Very happy to have divulged myself of them.

One good job done.

5.30 pm:  Hee hee... I got in my pj's this afternoon... so comfy. So warm.

Totally didn't care if anyone arrived or knocked at the door to find me in my pj's either.  It's my house, my space, and I'll dress how I like.

I have done bugger all since lunchtime.  Dinner is simmering in the pan, and I'm about to put the water on to cook the spaghetti.  The house smells so lovely.

Whoop!  My alarm went off at 7pm, to remind me to take my Trulicity injection.  I would have forgotten for sure without it.

Tonight's injection stung quite a bit, but it's a momentary sting... and worth it at the end of the day.

Stew really enjoyed his dinner, so I'm glad I did it for him.  I'd not made Spag Bol for a long time.

And there is enough left for me to have some for my lunch tomorrow, though I don't think I'll bother using the pasta for mine.

And yep, that's me done for the day.  I've had a nice day all round.  

Catch ya tomorrow.

FIRST FOOD

 

*sigh*

Didn't sleep well last night.  Got stuff on my mind that just needs to bugger off!

I need to get up and get moving.  I am going over to Cambridge this morning for an FBG walk.

In fact, I have three booked in this week!

Once I get home, my plan for the remainder of the day is to finish sorting out the front bedroom's wardrobe.  The middle bedroom's one is done.

I'm not going to bust a gut this week, trying to do so much.  I totally overdid it last week and paid for it by the weekend.

Our baby granddaughter, Lily, was given a little stewed apple to try the other day.  It didn't go well.  She hated it.  So last night Steve and Bex decided to try her with some meat 'n' vege baby food.

ABOVE:  That went down much better!  In fact, she seemed to actually like it, after the first taste.

So cute watching the 'firsts' again.

And the boys made me smile with their lovely 'Grandma' comment.

ABOVE:  From last night...  Steve and the boys having a rough and tumble. Note Marley, right there!  She wanted to join in so bad.  So sweet.

Right, that's me for now, I'll catch ya later.

ONWARD...

12.48 pm:  Well... this morning's walk was lovely.  There were about 20 of us walking today!  It was foggy, cloudy and cold.  And it drizzled a bit during the walk as well.

But, I wasn't cold, until we stopped walking.

Quite a few of us went to the nearest coffee shop for morning tea and a natter.

ABOVE:  It was a nice distance, and an easy pace today.

ABOVE:  you don't see many coffee shops that sell 'Dog Treats'!   Cambridge is renown for people taking their dogs with them for walks, and having them outside coffee shops.  Most coffee shops have bowls of water out for the dogs too. It's nice.

Once home, I quickly made myself some lunch as I was a bit hungry.  Now.. I'm going to potter around in the house, get a few jobs done and so on.

Once the walk leader posts our walk photo, I'll do me bit to it, and post it here.  I LOVE putting funny faces on them!

So far, no walk photo.  Might even be tomorrow.

I've not done too much so far this afternoon.  Just sorting through card making stuff, which I fully intend keeping.

I might want to start making a few again one day.  But NOT to sell!   I don't want to add any more stress to my life.  I'm doing all I can to cut stress OUT!

ABOVE: And we have a today photo after all.  Gosh that was a lot of faces to put on there!  Note the dog even got one.

I'm feeling sick as a dog.  Lunch did not agree with me.  I had a home made burger.  The meat pattie has kept repeating on me all afternoon.  And I have acid reflux as well.  Not fun.

Certainly won't be having any dinner.

Stew is cooking some bacon, eggs and kumera chips for his dinner.  The smell of the bacon cooking is turning my stomach!  I can't stand bacon any more. 

So yeah, it's the end of the day, and I'm going to relax till bedtime, and hope like hell this acid reflux doesn't keep me up all night.