The importance of paying the phone bill.

Well I survived my first day, just lol , we arrived this morning to discover the phones had been cut off !!!! This happens when you don't pay the bill! So I managed to arrange to have them reconnected and we were back in bussiness.I had never actually spoken to the lady who owns the company before so it was a pretty funny introduction ,to have to ring her in America to explain what was going on.Apart from that the day went pretty well with nothing else going wrong.
As you might imagine I haven't managed any stitching this evening but I was pleased to see an email from Stitching Bits and Bobs to say my order has been posted, so it should be here soon yay.
Well I think I might go see whats on TV ,I really feel in the mood to blob out.Take care .

Looking for inspiration.

Its been a few days since my last post mostly because I have not managed to do any stitching this week, I hope this is not a sign of things to come! I have of course been busy preparing for my new (hopefully temporary ,I don't really want two jobs and a household to look after) job ,I did of course feel the need to rush out and buy something new to wear on Monday lol.On top of this my DD1 and I are due to start a night class this week as well ,it is a short course on the accounting package we will be using , I actually already use this software for our foundry accounts so I'm pretty well up too speed with it but the payroll package that it comes with is a real pain and I've never managed to get all the bugs ironed out of it so hopefully I can get this sorted out ,and as if that isn't enough DD1 decided we would also like to take a one day course on Saturday entitled "Less stress, less mess"!!! now this actually had me rolling on the floor laughing as DD1 is very possibly the most untidy person you could ever meet ,so this should be interesting ( I suggested she should have enrolled her siblings for this not me).So as you might gather I'm not holding out much hope of getting very much stitching done in the next week either,I think I'm alrady going through withdrawals lol.
Yesterday I did manage to spend a little time out in the garden which was lovely and as a treat I bought the New Zealand Gardener magazine while I was out shopping to inspire me, which it did but now I have to find the time to visit the garden center and then time to be in the garden argh, really this 24 hour a day thing just isn't working for me!
Oh well I better be off to load the washing and put the bread maker on.I forgot to mention I also received my copy of Inspirations magazine yesterday (I have been buying this magazine since issue 1) it is as always beautiful ,if you haven't checked this magazine out it is well worth look ,while it isn't a cross stitch magazine ,it has really clear instructions for finishing projects as well as an interesting range of projects ,I've made many things from this magazine and I'm always pleased with them.Take care and enjoy the week end.

Another week slips by.

Its been an exhausting week here with no stitching to speak of been completed, I have been caught up all week in making arrangements to work with my DD for the next 4-6 weeks ,this is a long and involved story tht I wont bore you all with, I'll just say that her boss here quit and so she has been left alone in the office , the bussiness is owned by an American and is run form America, however this is where things get weird for me to work there ,one of the people who set up the bussiness here and who works as marketing manager there used to be married to DH's neice (sister of neice with darling little boys), we are on friendly terms with each other but I of course have knowledge about him that you wouldn't normally have about someone you work with.Anyway this probably means I'll get alot less stitching done in the next few weeks , but on the upside DH suggested I might look at it as an incease in embroidery spending money lol .
Apart from all that I have spent time water blasting the deck , I love waterblasting I think this goes back to a childhood love of water play lol.And after reading other blogs I have been trying out some new receipes this week, I love to cook but must admit I have become quite boring in what I cook lately, so yesterday I made bagels ,I have a breadmaker so this takes all the dough work away and left me to finish them off ,unfortunately I had just put them in the oven when DD's boss rang too talk about working for him ,so the bagels got a little too brown but the kids said they were great and since they ate them all I'm thinking they must have been ok lol, I may make some more today.
Well thats about all for now so take care.

More great mail.

Look what I received in the post today ! this lovely pendibule was made for me by Namuelle it has lavender in it,and it smells divine ,the little bear also has lavender in it and the wee box contains Burberry perfume, I feel so spoilt.The pendibule I will hang on my sewing room door and the little bear will have a good home among the bears I have made.
My other good news this week is that my Neice and her family have finally found a house to rent , it is one street below our own and there is a walk way three doors down from my house that joins the two streets , they move in in two weeks, I can hardly wait! the joke in our family is that Lauras children are my practice grandchildren ,I love them to bits and can hardly wait for number three to arrive.
I spent last night unpicking the mistake I had made in the Quaker mystery sampler (which of course is no longer a mystery lol) I had managed to stitch two large motifs in the wrong place due to not counting correctly and then became discouraged and put it aside ,but now I think I'm back on track so I will probably stitch this ,this week .
And since I have nothing much else to add I will leave you with a quote I received today as part of the wise words postcard exchange over on swap bot.
"Always do the things you fear the most.Courage is an acquired taste like caviar' Erica Jong

Lovely post

No stitching to report on but look at the great mail I received the other day , this was from Marie and was a paper goods swap over on swap bot , she included two antique style postcards which dont really show up in the photo but are really lovely I intend to frame them and hang them in my work room.
In the never ending saga of my gates the first insurance guy who was suppose to come on Friday never showed up!!!!More ringing and complaining finaly saw a very nice gentleman turn up Saturday morning ,so now we have to wait to hear back from him ( I wont hold my breath)
Well nothing more to add really ,hope everyones enjoying the weekend.

Feeling Angry

Sorry no stitching too show tonight, I'm too angry to stitch anything ,I spent this afternoon cutting up and putting through the chipper the tree that was pulled out by the drunk driver ,then picking up a half a rubbish sack full of glass that is tiny finger nail sized pieces , and all this to work off the anger I feel at the fact that tomorrow this idiot will be sentenced and will probably loose his license but not much else , mean while tomorrow i have yet another insurance guy ( turns out we are insured with could be,maybe and might be ) comming out because he cant believe our gates are worth so much!! Why does he think we have insurance ????I dont get angry often but right now I just cant believe how unfair it is that i have spent hours cleaning up this mess and they (the Insurance company) treat us like it is our fault. Actually just writting this makes me feel better and I should add that I received a lovely postcard today from the Swapbot postcard exchange I took part in and tomorrow when I am hopefully feeling better I will share the wise words on it with you, but for now Take care.

Visiting the Neurologist

Yesterdays visit to the Neurologist went well ,he has given DD1 another medication to try ,again it is one she has to take daily ,but fingers crossed this will be more successful than all the others she has tried, he was asked alot of question and did strengh tests on both sides of her body as well as a scan of her brain ,he go back in a month to see how the medication is working and to try something else if needed.The photo is of what I managed to stitch while we waited to see the Doctor it is a Freebie called Eliza's Pyn Pillow ( I cant remember where I got it from) I stitched it on Glenshee Linen with Waterlilies silk (umbria is the name of the colour).
After our hospital visit we had lunch at a nice little cafe which had very good coffee ,which by then I really needed ,and I splashed out and bought DD1 a new mop lol.
Well its off too work for me now ,so take care.

Back to school

Its Monday again and the kids start back at school today after thier two week holiday .
The weekend was a busy one Saturday was taken up with the usual visit of my Neice and her DH but only one little boy ,as the older one had gone to the movies with his Nana.They looked at a house that is on the same road I live on (to rent) and they will hear back today ,so fingers crossed they get it ,then I can see more of my little darlings.
Yesterday morning was taken up with baking goodies to take to my Grandmothers, then after lunch we went to DD1 house and did some gardening ,then we all went to visit my Grandmother ,she is truely amazing ,and it was so nice to spend a sunny afternoon with her.
Of course Sunday evening was filled up with more baking (muffins) ,so my little darlings would have something in thier lunch boxes and generally making sure uniforms were ready etc. so no stitching done ,although I did knit a little on a jumper I'm making for the Sweater Project.
Today DD1 and I are off to the Hospital to see a Neurologist in the hope that he maybe able to offer some help with her migraines.Who knows I might manage to get a bit of stitching done while we are waiting lol.
Well thats it for my weekend round up Take care.

Another finish

Heres my finished Home of a Needleworker ,so on to a new project yay ,I did start my LNH Coffee Menu yesterday ,I'm trying to not let all the new charts get backlogged lol ,this is another very quick stitch so I've also start looking for fabric for CHS Matters choice which is not that big and since its stitched all in one colour should also be pretty quick to stitch.
I don't know who took this photo of Kippy asleep in the office but it shows he is a dog who likes his comforts, you can always find him curled up in a pile of cushions somewhere, yesterday I was water blasting the bricks at the front door and he stood in doorway and watched but was not brave enough to come outside lol.
Well I better get going I want to do some baking done to take to my Nana's house tomorrow and get the house tidied up so Take Care.

The traveller returns

The cats complained it was unfair that Kip had made an appearance here and they had not so here are two of them(we have three) the top photo is Pie who's real name is Felix ,but my kids love to play with names and so they they used to call him Lixie pixie pie which eventually ended up being shortened to Pie ,he is the full brother of our other cat Maddy (who was unavailable for yesterdays photo shoot) and half brother to Max who is the star of the next photo .Max is an extremely vocal cat and always makes himself the centre of attention, for some reason yesterday both cats decided at different times that my sewing room was the best place to sleep, it is very warm in there as it was originally a sun room.
DD1 arrived home safe and sound from her holiday in Wellington yesterday and was full of her adventures last night when she and BF came for dinner, she had taken some lovely photos while there and enjoyed showing them off.She also bought back lovely gifts for DH and myself ,DH received a lovely leather note book with a quote from Longfellow on it, and I received a lovely cannister with tiny little dragonflies on it , a reproduction early NZ postcard which I will frame and a lovely photo frame in which is a photo I took on DD1's camera the other week of her and her little cousin Ethan (he is three years old and so cute) they look like they could easily be brother and sister.
On the stitching front I didn't manage to stitch much yesterday so hopefully tonight I will finish Home of a Needleworker and post a picture tomorrow, then I need to start my next Quilts 4 kids block which I have everything I need to start on it .
Well thats it for now Take care.

Its Finished

At last !! blogger really does not like adding my photos! I tried last night but it just refused to add them.As you can see I finished my scarf and have been wearing it eeverywhere just to make sure I get pleanty of wear out of it before winter ends lol ( as you can tell I'm an optimist because its only July and the weather here is pretty nasty today so I think winters here for awhile yet )The other photo is of somethings I bought on Trade Me (like ebay) and they arrived yesterday ,sorry the photos not very clear but the camera needed to be charged and I could only get one photo before it died completely.
In other news we have had DD1 boyfriend here for the last three days as we had to rush him off to the doctor and discovered his asthma that he had as a child has raised its ugly head again, on Monday night he has having so much trouble breathing that I thought I was going to have to take him to the hospital but after awhile the ventilin kicked in and he managed to get off to sleep.DD1 arrived home from Wellington this morning (no one will be more pleased to see her than her BF ,he must have told me twenty times last night that she was comming home today lol).She had a great time catching up with friends and enjoying the city.
Yesterday was my Grandmothers birthday she is 94 years old ,she still lives in her own house ,does all her own housework and gardening and shopping she is amazing I hope I have half her energy at that age.We will all go visit her at the weekend and take her a nice afternoon tea which she loves.
Well thats about all for now so I better go and organise my son whos off to work with DHs brother today, he services lifts and during school holidays Joe helps him which is a great job for him and he loves working with his Uncle ,so take care.

Exchanges ,exchanges and a new mail box.

Well it was a busy weekend here ,Saturday as always start with DH going to work and me trying to do at least some housework ,then in the afternoon my Neice and her DH and boys dropped by ,they are looking to rent a house here but are not having much luck, there are not alot of rental properties around here and what there is goes very quickly.I hope they find something soon it will be great to have them living close especially after baby 3 is born. DH took Sarah to see Over the Hedge in the afternoon and bought home dinner ,which was great because it left me to finish of my scarf ,which I did and I do have a photo to show you but blogger would not load it this morning.
Sunday morning I enjoyed a longer than usual lie in before reading emails and catching up on blog reading.in the afternoon I managed to corner DH and drag him to the Hardware store to buy a new mail box (ours was completely smashed in the accident) ,at last I can receive mail , actually thats excatly why I need a mail box ,I took part in some swaps on swap bot and my partner in the first one emailed to say she had posted mine so I sprang into action and had DH put the new letter box up as soon as we got home,it is I have to say in a slightly odd position since we have no fence to ancor it too!
Today I posted off goods for two exchanges I'm taking part in ,the first was a sticker exchange with two partners, and while I'm not into scrap booking both my daughters are so it should be fun to see what they get back, the second exchange was a wise words postcard exchange with three partners ,and I think I will really enjoy receiving some pearls of wisdom in the post.I've also signed up for two more exchanges one is a paper exchange and the last is a ribbon one, ok so I did get a little carried away signing up for four exchanges at once but since I only have to buy things not make them it does seem easy lol.
Well thats about it for now take care.

My little punk

Well it has been a very long week and I'm glad its over.Todays turned grey and cold again here and suited my mood for cleaning the house! while the outside of my house is still the mess it was a week ago ,I've spent the last few days spring cleaning (yes I do know its winter here lol) ,which makes alot of sense to get out of the way while it is school holidays and I dont have to go to work, I also think this may have something to do with trying to control the mess inside if I cant control the mess outside, anyway what ever the reason its nice to get jobs like cleaning the curtains and closets out of the way.
I did take a break from cleaning yesterday and took DD2 (Sarah) in to the city for a girls day out , which actually meant her dragging me around all the skate wear /alternate street wear stores, as you know she recently turned 13 and has decided almost overnight to adopt PUNK as her style ,something I cant complain about as I too was into punk at her age lol.What is so amazing to us (DH,myself and her brother and sister) and all our family and friends is that Sarah who is quite a tiny little thing is the sweetest kid you"d ever hope to meet she loves butterflies and fairies and is always making gifts for other people, she is we always joke "hug powered" as she is always hugging us, so she dosen't really fit the punk image .Anyway we managed to purchase a pair of black jeans, a black vest, a black long sleeve T shirt and studed leather arm bands (they might look cute on Kip!) ,and all I can say is black is the new pink!!!The one good thing is that at least I know whats cool and whats not ,and this is no mean feat for the mother of a 13 year old , and in case your now wondering , no I no longer dress as a punk , and most people would probably never guess this about me, but it suited me then and the non conformist side of me still remains under my Mother of three , wife, accountant exterior !
On the stitching front I have another 40cm to go on my scarf and I should get that done over the weekend ,then its back to Home of a Needleworker which I hope to finish next week .
I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend, I think I'll stay in bed tomorrow morning and catch up on some reading, take care.

Happy Fourth of July

HAPPY 4th OF JULY to all those of you celebrating.I've just been reading through a few blogs it amazing to see what everyone is up to, you all seem to stitch far faster than I do lol.Yesterday I managed to get a bit further on my scarf I'm now 2/3 of the way done , I also machine stitched the edges of my charity square but that was it as far stitching went.
DD1 left for Wellington yesterday afternoon ,her plane was delayed for an hour and it was a pretty bumpy flight ,but thats not unusal for flying into Wellington, so hopefully today she can start to relax and enjoy her holiday.
Now for your crash up date ,still no insurance guy in sight !! we rand yesterday and now they will be sendind a builder out today to look at it, also the police officers who are in charge of the case arrived late last night to say that the driver was been charged with drunk driving and dangerous use of car and will appear in court on July11th ,you would have thought he could have saved everyone some time and effort and pleaded guilty!!!especially since he will have to appear in court again when our insurance company sues him .
Well I hope everyone taking care and that for those of you complaining of the heat ,that a cool wind prevails and that for those of us who are freezing that the sun would shine upon us.

Thanks

Thanks everyone for your comments , its really nice to know your all out there.So far there is nothing to report ,the insurance guy didn't come today but should be here tomorrow.I,ve been through every emotion on this subject now, and tonight I can actually say I feel much better , much to DH's relieve because last night when I told him to put the For Sale sign up I think he was pretty unsure of what to do lol.
So on the stitching front I will be working on my scarf tonight ,as I actually want to get some wear out of it this winter lol, I'm also getting ready to stitch another block for Quilts 4 Kids, it is another car block ,hopefully it wont take me as long as the last one did.
Well thats about it for now , DD1 will be here soon as she is comming to pick up some things for her trip to Wellington tomorrow ,so I better go and make sure I have everything on the list and then I'm going to settle in for some much needed stitching .Take care.

Photos of the mess

Well here they are photos of the wreckage.You actually can't see the damage all that well. He's managed to take out fences on both sides of the driveway as well as the front fences on both sides.
Hopefully tomorrow the insurance guy will be here tomorrow to sort all this out.
In a weekend that hasn't been great every thing I touch seems to go wrong ,it took three atempts to load these photos and for some reason I can't get my email to work ,so I can't get the names and addresses for an exchange I am taking part in.
As you might guess I haven't done any stitching today but I hope to be be back in routine tomorrow.Take care and enjoy whats left of your weekend.

Nothing short of a miracle

In the early hours of this morning a car driven by a drunk driver went through our fence and landed in our front yard.I have many pictures of this extrodinary event however blogger does not want to load them tonight.It was nothing short of a miracle that this gentleman managed to walk away with out a scratch on him, as his car rolled and bounced its way through our fence taking out fence and fence post and a tree it then bounce and became airbourne flying over more trees and landing on its wheels at the bottom of our stairs right by our front door .It took a truck with a crane to remove it.
We have spent the day cleaning up the considerable amount of glass from the driveway and have to wait till Monday or Tuesday for the Insurance people to come and take a look, unfortunately because the driver was drunk his insurance will not may out ,we estimate he has done about $20,000 damage to our property and then there is the damage to his car which actually didn't seem that bad.
So all in all not the best day here , but I am very pleased he wasn't hurt.I'll try to add the photos tomorrow.Now I,m off to bed hopefully for a good nights sleep.