The time has come.

Officially signing off - no time or energy to keep this blog updated. And Facebook seems to be doing the trick quite nicely.  It will be nice not to have this sitting on my shoulder . . .

Adios Amigos - take care and look after yourselves.

A word (or two) from the boys . .

I don't have many, but ~

here are a couple of flowers from the garden  :)

Cherry Blossom

Red Red Rose Camelia

Tulip

Camelia

The day has dawned

bright and breezy.  A nice change from the rain.

But my clothesline is still broken.  I have sheets, towels and clothes for six people waiting in the wings.  Clothes airers can only hold so much.

:-((

Marty - please, please find a clip to fix it . . .

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

The Kinks - Lazy Sunday Afternoon . . .

Well it's Sunday afternoon, but not a lazy one.

Have business stuff to sort;

Dinner is in the crockpot - silverside - yummmm

Pie is in the oven for tomorrows dinner

Washing is being recycled through the machine, the clothes airer and the dryer.

And here is Sunday afternoon in the garden:

Pukekohe Onions and Beetroot

Clockwise from top left: Great Lakes lettuce, Peas, Bright Lights Silverbeet and more peas

Onions, carrots & hen-pecked silverbeet

Lettuce leaves ready for sandwiches, but not much else

Nectarine

 

 

 

 

Apricot

Cherry

Also looking good in the garden, but not on the camera:

Strawberries

Blueberries

A couple of  potato plants

Peach

Joshs Quilt

Finally finished!  Feels good to have it done - and he LOVES it.

For someone who is pretty much a non-sewer - I'm really pleased with the final result.

Two weeks ago I . . .

Planted seeds

Made a strawberry garden

Had an audience

Also, after reading Sue's blog Living the Good Life where she was doing some decluttering I decided I had at least one hallway cupboard in particular that I needed to declutter, too.

Before:

During:

After:

Don't ask me where the rest of the cr@p has gone - got rid of a huge bag of rubbish, but am now waiting to buy a cupboard for the photos albums and board games.

Those pics I promised . .

There were SO many seals, just having the most wonderful of times.

And what a perfect setting.

Busy weekend!

Well another weekend has come and gone - HUMP day already - and the next weekend is just around the corner.

We spent Sunday through to Tuesday in Christchurch, visiting with the boys and checking out some blocks of land for sale.  I think we have decided that Oxford is too close to the Alps - I can imagine it being VERY cold! 

Ricki has his very first car - a Nissan Primera . . . looks good, too. Black, with a sunroof and spoiler.

We went out for a meal on Monday night.  If you are ever in Christchurch and are starving, go to Sequoia 88 - they do a smorgasboard menu and it's amazing.  I have never seen so much food!

On our way home yesterday we stopped off at the most magical place - it's just north of Kaikoura.  A few minutes along a walking track is this little pool with a waterfall and it is absolutely full of seals playing. It is an incredible place, and one I will definately stop at again. Photos will follow when our internet has sped up a bit!

Sundays

Sundays are normally spent thinking about all the things I need to do before going back to work on Monday . . but today I know I have an extra day up my sleeve.  Having a day off paid work tomorrow as we have the heat pump men coming to put a heat pump in the hallway in the morning and the dishwasher man coming in the afternoon to hopefully sort my dishwasher out.

Made yummy lemon drink this morning - so easy:

6 lemons
1.5kg sugar
50g Citric Acid
Boiling Water.


Peel the rind of 2 of the lemons being careful to get just the outer skin; no white pith.  Place the peel and 2 cups of the sugar in food processor and run the processor until the rind is really ground up and the sugar is yellow and oily looking.
Squeeze all 6 lemons and mix the juice with the lemon sugar, the remaining sugar and citric acid.  Add the boiling water to make up to 3 litres - stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Cool and store in the fridge.  Dilute cordial with cold water, fizz, soda, or hot water.

Easy peasy.  I have a jar of it at work - hot lemon drinks are perfect on cold mornings!

Have spent an hour this afternoon cuddling with a brand new baby - Oliver Carl - such a wee sweetie, but I forgot to take my camera!!

I think I want to come back as a cat.

The demon threesome waiting for their dinner.

Murphy

Joshs quilt - nearly finished

Home made clochey thing - also protection from the chooks and dogs LOL

Mustard growing alongside.

Winter.

Yes winter is here - well and truly.  And with winter comes the usual winter coughs, colds and flu bugs.  I am off work today - have a terrible chesty cough and sniffles.  Josh has had it for a while now, too.

I don't mind winter - as long as the days are bright and clear and the sun is shining.  It's the cold, grey, miserable days that get to me.  And we've had a few of those lately.  Lots of rain, rivers up, both clothes airers covered with washing all day, all night, all week!!  More rain coming tonight . . . along with a big number of teenage boys coming for a LAN - ugh!  The joy of school holidays . . .

Tickets have been booked for the December Bon Jovi concert in Wellington - cannot wait!!  Haven't seen them in concert before, so I'm really looking forward to it.

And some more ~

This is the quilt I am currently working on . . .

I would have thought it would be too cold for these guys now, but they are still about!

Pics . . .

The saga of the phone.

So my cell phone went through the washing machine.  A full cycle. I wondered why I couldn’t find it.

Took the battery out; sat it all in the sun, wide open to dry. One day. Two days. Three days.   Put it all back together again.  Charged it. It buzzed. It moaned. It buzzed some more.  Took it off the charger.  It died. 

Put it on charger again.  It buzzed again. Continuously.

Ended up with a phone that would hold the charge, and couldn’t be switched on if it wasn’t connected to a bolt of electricity.

Two weeks of this and yesterday I finally caved in and got a new phone.  I’m hoping that this one doesn’t go through the washing machine too.

This was written back in March . .

Things seem to have been difficult lately. I’ve been tired. I’ve had no enthusiasm. No get up and go. This is difficult when you want to live simply! I’m amazed at the energy you have to expend when you are just getting started. The garden needs digging, the house needs decluttering, a tighter rein needs to be held over finances, need to use a vehicle less and walk/bike more, make more things from scratch . . .

Still, by taking one step at a time, and making the most of times when the energy is there, it can be done. Slowly, for sure, but it can be done. Starting a course of Centrum multi vitamins has helped, too. I was taking Res V Plus, but at $99 for three months worth it got a bit expensive (especially when that was at one capsule day, and I was taking 2-3 per day !) They are great, though.

I’ve been trying not to push myself, and after a weekend of almost solid sleeping a few weeks ago I know that if I do push myself, that will happen again. I’m not doing anything in any particular order, just doing things as I feel. It’s a nice feeling to just potter.

I’ve redone household rosters. Some websites will tell you to clean a room a day, others offer guidance for a room per week all whilst doing the everyday basics. I’ve decided to list everything that needs doing in a particular room and doing it over 3-4 days. What doesn’t get done gets moved to the top of the list for the next time that room comes around. And no guilty feelings about not getting it all done!!

I have a decluttering list – started a couple of months ago – that I will continue on with. Starting in the bedroom . . . I’ve managed to keep my dressing table fairly junk free for the past month! This is a first for me.

The vege garden is still a work in progress for the winter season. Silverbeet has been planted – more for the chooks than anyone else. We still have buttercup pumpkins growing (they were bought as cucumbers!!!) and two watermelons will hopefully get to full size before it gets too cold. I’ve taken seeds from my heirloom tomato – Brandywine Pink – that will hopefully be able to be used next season. I would like to create a couple more gardens as well – we have found that we didn’t plant enough this year – especially the peas and beans - only enough to eat whilst working in the garden – certainly none left for dinner LOL. But it was a learning curve year so well worthwhile.

So we will continue to plod along. Not sure whether this blog will continue – writing on it is so sporadic and I wonder why I do it. I have so many photos sitting on the camera and computer that never get posted or printed or put in albums . . .

End of April Update:  Everything mentioned still needs doing LOL  Have had MIL in and out of hospital over the past six weeks, she has become quite dependant and stress levels have been reasonably high for everyone concerned.  But we are getting there, and so is she. 

Walking the dogs

The two 'must haves' for any hyperactive dog.

Arsha

Murphy

Grape vines starting to change colour

We are in much need of rain - the dry river bed.

We saw some army members stringing up flying foxes and cables across the dry river bed.

Slowly changing . . .

Peeked over the river bank to see if my sister was home . . and yes she was!!

My favourite part of the track.

Yes, autumn is definately here.

Two tired puppies - home time!