COUNTDOWN

 

Right, I'm now doing weekly countdowns.

Seven weeks sounds so much better than 49 days.

I'm going to start packing a few more things we hopefully won't need over the next 7 weeks.

All the baking products, except maybe flour, baking power and the absolute basics.  Also a lot of the stuff that's in the pantry that we don't need/use on the daily, though I have been trying to run the pantry contents down.  

Believe it or not, I'm REALLY looking forward to doing a massive grocery shop once we have moved!  I will be able to fill my pantry, fridge and freezer up again.

This morning I am going to pull out the clothes dryer and clean behind it.  Anything I can move and clean behind NOW is one less thing to do on moving day.

ABOVE:  Marley got groomed yesterday afternoon.... the groomers always put bows and stickers on her (and Coco).  They last about 1 minute, then they are off.  Marley was a bit stressed out after her groom, as you can probably tell.

Alright, time to get a move on... I have a few things I really want to get done today.

Oh and we have a market in Morrinsville tomorrow, so I shall get all the market stuff ready for loading into the car later on as well. 

ABOVE:   😖 I have my latest jigsaw all over our dining table ... and I've got someone coming to look at the dining suite tomorrow afternoon.   Far out, I now have to move it all off the damn table.  I better get a trestle out...  

FIFTY DAYS TO GO!

 

OR... Seven weeks and one day.  Perhaps I'll switch my countdown to weeks?  It might make the time go faster??? (fat chance, but oh well)

Today I'm going down to a tattoo shop, provided my leg feels up to it.  

Stew and I have seen a cute little tattoo ...

ABOVE:  It reminds us of Coco so much.  I was keen on getting it on my forearm, as is Stew.

  

But upon reflection, I don't want any more tattoos.  Two is enough for me.

  

Stew can get it, and also my initials, (LOGO), on his chest.

He's been wanting that for ages, but I've been hesitant about it.

But he wants it, so we will probably do that at the same time. 

While out, IF I go out ... depending on me leg, I will also suss out those security camera options.

10.20 am:  I got up this morning and was still in a lot of pain from the calf strain.

But after two hours of fluffing around in the house, it's starting to feel a bit better.  Awesome.

I can't believe how much I can find to do some days.  I've spent most of today in the garage, just rearranging stuff that's packed ready to go.  

And emptying bins, washing bins, deciding which one has to go, cos we have too many rubbish bins.

Sorted that out.

Now on to the next thing.

Vacuum up all the little bits of dog biscuits that Coco misses when she's munching on them around and under the dining table.

Most annoying stepping on them I can tell ya.

Talking of Coco, she seems to be back to her 'old' self.  Bouncing around the house like a two year old again.  Thank goodness I took her to the Vet.

I went out and accomplished nothing!

I couldn't find the waterproof sealer I need for mosaics.

I couldn't make up my mind what camera to get.

And I thought there was a Tattooist just up the road from us... wrong.

*sigh*.

So I came home feeling frustrated.  But oh well, shit happens.

On to the next thing.

Which is having some lunch and then ???

ABOVE: Well I had a quiet afternoon, pottering around the house, doing little jobs here and there. 

Stew arrived home and I took him to the pub, then spent a couple of hours with Steve, Bex and the kids.  

We are home now, and about to blob out in front of the telly until bedtime.  

Catch ya tomorrow.

CAMERAS

 

I've had this blog on my mind for the past few days.

Trying to decide in what direction I take it now.

Things change.  People change.  Attitudes change.

There will be NO MORE FAMILY involved in the blog unless they specifically want to be.  

So that probably means you will see :  Lacy.  Steve, Bex and their family.  Mike and Joyce. And us.

And as for our upcoming move?  I'm not sure how much I will share about our new home.  A little or a lot?  I have not settled on that yet.

The village is deemed PRIVATE PROPERTY, and anyone coming on the property has to have a valid reason, otherwise they can and will be TRESPASSED.

I have decided to get security cameras installed, that way I will have peace of mind.  When working in the garage, I will not be able to see if anyone comes to my front door.  So the cameras will be like eyes in the back of my head.  lol 

I might just get the cameras and set them up here, so I know how they work.  That will be another DUCK getting in the row.  😊🦆🦆

Perhaps Lacy can help me with that, she had some at her home.

I would like ones that connect to my phone, and record as well, so I can keep any eye on our property even when we are not home.

There is bound to be countless choices.  I don't like having so much choice!  It is confusing.  

So today I might go out and start looking.

BUT FIRST... I am joining the FBG's for a walk around the Hamilton Gardens.  That should be nice.

1.07 pm and I am just in from my walk with the FBG's.

It was a really lovely walk along the riverbank, and around the rose gardens etc here in Hamilton.

ABOVE: The company was lovely and the weather was perfect.  Very overcast and not too hot.

On our way back I could feel my left calf muscle tweaking a bit and then 'PING'  it went.  Very sore, no idea what caused it or how long it's going to be sore.  I had to hobble for the last part of the walk.  And I even had to walk backwards up the last hill!  

Most annoying.

It meant I have not gone looking at cameras, as I thought it prudent to come home and rest my stupid leg.  I will let my fingers do the walking for now, and do some research as well.

5.39 pm, and I've rested my leg all afternoon, and it's still bloody sore.  I rubbed Voltarin Emulgel onto my calf as well... no difference.  Clearly it's going to take longer than an afternoon to come right.

ABOVE:  I got asked to 'doctor' one of the walk photos from this morning.  I doubt they will expect THAT.  lol

What fun.

Todays walk was about 6 km, I stuffed up my walking app so didn't get the accurate distance.  I walked 10,829 steps though. 

9.45 pm:  Well it's been an awesome day, apart from the calf being a pain.  I hope like hell its a lot better tomorrow.

Watching Coronation Street now... then off to bed I go.

CAMBRIDGE TODAY?

 

GOOD MORNING

I'm off to do an FBG Walk in Cambridge this morning.  It's not till 7.30, so I don't have to get up TOO early.

I really need to do something positive for me today. Yesterday I literally wallowed.

In an utter foul mood.

Time to snap out of it, and not let people upset me anymore.

After my walk, I am going to attend the Tuesday morning Mosaic group meeting.   I might even get my first ever sizable mosaic finished.   

I always thought I'd try and do two things on the same day when going over to Cambridge, so a walk followed by mosaics is a good start.

Today is April the 1st, so NOW I can actually say "Next month we move"!  lol  It is still 53 days to go, but who's counting right?  lol

10.31 am. 

I've had my FBG Walk, which was nice. Got to watch the sun rise.

ABOVE: Best thing, it was not hot. 

After the walk I went to the coffee shop for a yak. Then on to Mosaics.

ABOVE: Today I put the grout on my project.  Scary moment! 

ABOVE: But some vigorous rubbing sorted that out. Now it has to dry for a few days.

ABOVE:  I don't know if I've shown you the finished paver or not.  So here it is.  I had planned on putting a little letterbox or flower to the left of the house, but got impatient to finish it, so didn't.  edit:  I just realised I put the wrong photo up.  That one is without the grout on.   Derrr.

I think it's come out OK for my 2nd go at mosaics.   My next paver is going to have a bumble bee on it.  I bought a 'kit' with a bumble bee already cut out.  So it shouldn't be too hard to do.

I've had a lazy afternoon, just trolling through my blog looking at various things.  Reminding myself why I do this thing called blogging.

Every now and then I find myself in a funk, and consider deleting the blog, but I simply cannot.  It's such a neat way to record MY LIFE.  Like a diary, with pictures.

I do it for ME.  For Stew.  And those who still enjoy reading about our days/lives.  I think complete strangers/blog readers enjoy it more than most of my so called family!!!

I think that shows me who cares, and who does not. 

Sad to know who does not.

UPDATE on Coco:  She is doing so much better now!  No more breathing difficulties. This is such a relief to us.  It was horrible seeing her so distressed.

ABOVE: Today's walk photo... it's been a long time since I posted one of them!  

Right, time to sign off for the day, we are not doing anything much this evening, as per usual.

Catch ya tomorrow.

LAST DAY OF THE MONTH

 

It's the last day of March.  And I for one am damn happy to see the end of one of the hottest months of the year.

Hot and dry.  I don't mind the dry of course, even though it's bad for the farmers.

I'm praying we don't have a really wet winter this year.  Last year was too damn wet, like almost every single market over winter was a wet day for us.

It totally did my head in.  

Our second Morrinsville market is this coming Saturday, fingers crossed it is a fine day. 

Right, what shall I do today?  I really have no idea to be honest.  I don't feel like sewing.  Or walking.  Or anything much in fact.

So, I suppose I will report back here later on with whatever I do get up to.  😐

11.50 am.  

I got up late.

Made the bed, put a load of washing on and did a few other odd jobs around the house.

Then I went to the supermarket for a few things to tide us over for the next few days.

I then watched a documentary on YouTube, before thinking about lunch.  Which will be some left over nacho mince in a Pita Pocket.

Not much else to report on ... 

ABOVE: That pretty much sums up my day so far.

I've just not been in the mood to ANYTHING.

I've tidied up all the thousands of photos stored in my computer editing programme, but that's about all.

It did take me a couple of hours to be fair.  But really, it was easy because I just sat on me bum to do it.

I am feeling rather blah today.

ABOVE: I feel like I've been blindsided by quite a few people lately.  It hurt for a while, but now?

TOTALLY OVER THEM, over the utter disrespect. The outright bullshit.  The gaslighting.  The blaming. The lies.  The one sided attitudes.  Never mind how it makes ME feel, right?

Moving on, less will be shared.  Less will be invited.  Just LESS all round.   There is only so much I am going to take now days.  Actually, I'm not taking anything anymore. 

Signing off for the day.  I've go nothing nice to say, so shall just go.

QUIET DAY AHEAD

 OK, it's going to be a very simple day today.

There's absolutely NO jobs needing doing around here.

So, we have decided to go out to The Trade Depot and look at Vanities and Showers.  We are going to re-do the bathroom in our new home, so we might as well do our 'homework' on what we want now, while we have nothing else to do.

I wouldn't mind looking at lights too, I want a really nice light for hanging over the dining table.  

So, window shopping it is.

This afternoon we are going to a little gathering at our new village, so a chance to meet a few of our new neighbours.  It's bloody neat how they are already including us in the village activities.

I think I forgot to mention we have already been to a function there?  A couple of weeks ago, we went to an evening event.  It was quite nice.... sort of.  

I arrived before Stew, and was happily chatting with the people at our table, but no one else came over to say 'Hi' to me.

THEN STEW ARRIVED.  And OMG!!!! Within seconds, I MEAN SECONDS, there was a steady line of ladies coming over to the table to introduce themselves to STEW!!!!    I sat there absolutely GOBSMACKED at their audacity! Their blatant drooling over MY HUSBAND!  Never mind that I was sitting right beside him!

I sat there saying, quite pointedly "HE'S MINE" ladies.  And thanks for coming over and saying hi to me too.   Pfffft.

I can see I will need to keep those HUSSIES under control.  

It was almost laughable, except for the fact that Stew was lapping it up!!!  What.  A.  Shit.

OH yes, a few men came over and introduced themselves to STEW as well.  I got a couple of 'Hello's' from them.   😖😕😂

Back to today, we won't be spending very long at the village this afternoon, as we have Steve, Bex and the kids coming over for dinner.   

I better find a big stick to beat the hussies off with before we go eh?  lol

Time to go... catch ya later.

Small change of plans for this afternoon.  We won't be going to the village get together.  Stew thinks we should just do one or the other, so we choose our family dinner.  There will be plenty of time to get to know our new neighbors later on.

Contrary to popular belief, we did not buy anything today.  It really was just window shopping.

We have sussed out the shower and vanity we will get.   

We have checked out racks for the garage (for storage purposes), grabbed some groceries for this evening's dinner, and come home.

ABOVE: When we arrived home from our window shopping, Coco did this.  She's never done that before (the excessive sneezing).  We thought it was possibly a reaction to one of the medications?   I was going to take her back to the Vet tomorrow.

BUT JUST NOW... Stew went to give her a love, and he noticed a green bit of grass jutting out of her nose!  He pulled it, and out came this really LOOOOOOOONG piece of grass!

OMG that is why she was sneezing, not because of new medication.  

We both just laughed and laughed.  

And I bet Coco is feeling 100% better already.

Why didn't we think to check her nose?  Derrr.

Brylee and Dom called in for a visit this afternoon, before they took off on a hike up some mountain.  Crazy buggers.

Then Steve, Bex and their kids arrived for dinner.

I cooked nacho mince and we all had it with Pita Pockets and nacho chips, sour cream and grated cheese.  Followed by Ice Creams.

A lovely dinner.   

It's now late and I'm off to bed, just a bit earlier than my 'norm'.

Coco has had no 'episodes' since we sorted out the sneezing problem!  Thank goodness.

Catch ya tomorrow.

SECOND TRY

 

Kinda relieved, kinda not.

It is getting cooler in the mornings.  Fogs.  Damp and cool.

Great for walking.

Not so great for doing markets in.

Soon I'll be bitching about being cold, instead of too hot!  At least I'm consistent.

So, the dining suite.  I have been inundated with enquiries and cheeky offers over the past couple of weeks, all WAY LOWER than my asking price. (which was a reduction on the original price anyway)

So I withdrew the listing, then put it back up again at my original asking price.  I'm hoping that someone offers me less than the (new) asking price, without knowing I am actually prepared to drop the price a bit?   It's worth trying anyway.

ABOVE:  This is the Round Table Topper I got finished late yesterday afternoon.  I took a gamble on putting the floral fabric in the middle, I think it paid off.  

Our new dining suite has arrived into Hamilton, so we shall go out a bit later on and pick it up.  It will be staying in the box until we move into our new home.  No point assembling the table for now right?

Coco had her first dose of her medications last night.  It is going to take at least two weeks before we see any improvement (if any).  I really hope for Coco's sake it works.

10 am: So far this morning Coco has not had an 'episode'.  I know it's way too early for the medications to kick in, so just lucky I guess.

Stew is out getting the weekend groceries (mainly Diet Coke of course).

Then we will go out and pick up the new dining suite.

2.14 pm and we have the new dining suite (in 4 boxes) stacked in the garage.  Very handy being in boxes I must say.

Lunch was a kebab at Chartwell Square, and now we are just hanging out at home.  Stew is going to do some lawns/weeding soon. 

I have started another new jig saw, but it's slow going as I'm not really feeling it today.

7 pm and it's been an incredibly quiet day.  We didn't do much this afternoon at all.

So... I'm gunna bugger off.

This evening is going to be spent in front of the telly.  That is all.

Catch ya tomorrow.

RING AROUND

 

My single job today is to ring around moving companies to get quotes for our move. 

It is one job we can't afford to leave off doing for much longer.  I don't want to end up with no one booked in time!

It's a BIG  DUCK  🦆  that needs to get in line.  😊

I hope to get that nailed down in the next few days.

Coco is starting to scare me! Twice last night she had nasty 'turns', where she stopped in her tracks, went like a stiff statue and wouldn't/couldn't move.  Then she huffed and puffed and struggled to breathe.

She's done this before on many, many occasions, but last night for some reason, she scared me.  It lasted much longer than 'normal' for her.

And she's moving much slower lately, like she's just suddenly aged overnight into a really old dog.  

I will take her to the Vet if she gets worse.  

She's OLD.  She's slowing down.  We will just have to love her for as long as we have her now, because I really don't think she's going to be here for the next 2-3 years as I was expecting.

I'm not sure what else I will get up to today, perhaps I'll make another round runner using some of the fabrics I got on our trip.

10.25 am, and it's been a morning.  I got up and let Coco in at 7.30 this morning, and she immediately started with the shivering, shaking, gasping for air, honking like a goose shit.  And it went on for two hours.  So, she's going to the Vet at midday.

I know they can give her medication to help dilate her airways, maybe that will help in the short term.

I will wait and see what they suggest I suppose.

I have also managed to book a moving company in for the end of May.  It was a bit difficult getting a company to do Saturday morning delivery.  And I'm paying a bit more for that, but hey, we do not want to try and do it all on the Friday.

We've been in the situation of having to wait hours on the side of the road, waiting to get the keys to the house before. 

It's just easier to get our stuff taken out on Friday, held overnight, and delivered in the morning to the new house.

Coco has settled down now, so I'm doing some sewing.  She wouldn't leave my side while she wasn't feeling well, poor girl.

It is now 1.46 pm.  We have been to the Vet.

We have had our throat examined, our ears examined, our heart, lungs and all that in between examined.

And now we have some pills to take for the next month to see if any of it helps.

Long story short, she has a collapsing trachea, and there isn't much they can do about it, as I thought.

I was offered a referral to a specialist (NO THANKS), or x-rays and ultrasounds (NO THANKS), or just pills.

Because of her age, seeing a specialist and other tests will not give us any more answers, we know the cause of her distress.  She is too old for any sort of surgery, which doesn't really help in the long run anyway.

ABOVE: She did not like them much, and rewarded them by pee'ing on their floor.  Good one Coco.

ABOVE:  We have Antibiotics, Bronchial Dilator medication and Steroids.  I now need to get a calendar and put down how much, and when each day!  The steroids are started with two a day, then one a day and finally half a day over a month.  The others are just over two weeks.

Still a lot to remember, so yeah... I will have to write it all down on the calendar.

Got 'the urge' for the bathroom on me way home.  Second time in recent history, I made it home, only to 'LOSE IT BIG TIME' before I got to the bathroom.

NICE/NOT.   

Second shower of the day done... and I'm now feeling like ... that was sorta funny.

Thank god I made it home at least.

Coco is now curled up in a ball in the sunshine, happy as Larry.  I hope she stays that way for the rest of the day.  She had me really worried last night and this morning.

LAURIE:  Yep, the vet said Coco would probably be extra hungry and thirsty.  She also said Coco will probably be on steroids for the rest of her life, as her condition will not change.  It is what it is.

OH I just remembered!  The Vet said Coco is probably having seizures as well as having the collapsing trachea.  That explains the episodes where she goes all stiff and extends her neck, shakes and shivers and just breathes weirdly. Poor girl is having a right time of it.  As we all said today, she is simply getting old.  😒😟😢

6.38 pm.  Coco hasn't been able to move much today without having a 'silent seizure' or a coughing fit.  She's really not well at the moment and I feel so sorry for her.

We have a function to attend this evening, so I better get a move on. 

Catch ya tomorrow.

JUST A BIT OF STUFF

 

Well, it's lovely to be home.

But now I have some serious work to do.

While those 'comparison photos' I posted yesterday look OK, I know I'm not looking 'that' good.

We had no holds barred meals while away, and OMG can I tell I've over eaten.

I had already gained quite a bit of weight in the past 6 months, with stress eating.  But now?  I feel pretty yuk.

So, I am going to make a concentrated effort to lose a few kilos before we move, and also do more exercise to be fitter.

There's a few jobs to do around here today, and I also need to pop out to pay a bill.

Before I forget, I took a reading of our odometer before we left on our trip, and when we arrived home again.

We drove a grand total of 1,319 kilometres on our trip, or 819.5 miles.  Fairly impressive.  My butt only started hurting on our last day travelling! 

Right, I'm off to get the washing on the line, and get on with my day.

10.39 am, and all is done around here.  I'm now literally twiddling my fingers, wondering what the hell I can do for the next 50+ days until we move.

I have our dining suite on Marketplace, and the number of enquiries is huge, but no sale yet.

So many damn cheeky buggers offering way lower than my asking price.

If it doesn't go in the next month I'm giving it to the Hospice shop.  It's so frustrating dealing with time wasters.

First afternoon in months I've got a massive headache.  I've taken some painkillers, so hopefully it's gone by the time I want to drop Stew at the pub and then visit the kids.

ABOVE:  Lacy called in this morning to return the house keys.  She brought her little cat ... who did not like Coco at all.  Coco was not fussed by the cat at all of course, I'm sure she would have happily played with her, but Sylvie was having none of it.  She hissed and tried to whack Coco.  

It was nice to see Lacy and get me house key back.  I went out first thing this morning and when I got home I did wonder how I was going to get into me own house!  Luckily, I had the garage door opener.  

I did a bit of back shed sorting out this morning too, and put a big dog pen out the front for free pickup.  It went pretty quickly.   I've managed to give away quite a lot of smaller things that way.

Either on the roadside, or hospice shop drop offs.

Soon there won't be anything left to get rid of!

Well, except the dining suite.  And I won't just give that away to any old Joe Blogs.

ABOVE: Stew sent me this an hour ago via Messenger.

How did I get so lucky?

We celebrate our first meeting on September 28th this year... it will be FORTY YEARS!!!   40 years of being with him, and I wish we had another 40 to go.  He may get VERY OLD AND WRINKLY, but I'd still love him.  I on the other hand, will stay exactly the way I am now of course! lol  As if.

He cheered me up no end with that little meme.

DOGSTAR is working on a film set in Minnesota, USA. She has to supply all the food/drink for the 'stars'.  One of the main stars only drinks DIET COKE!  So she has it ready to pass over to 'them' when needed.  

Today she handed it to 'M' and 'M' was like "How did you know?"  Cute.

Thanks for the comment telling me about it Christine.

So a wrap up of the evening... Stew arrived home, I dropped him off at the pub, then I visited with Steve and Bex.  Steve joined Stew at the pub for an hour, then I took Stew home.

I wasn't in the mood for the pub, so didn't join the guys.

Home now, watching Coronation Street, before going to bed.  Catch ya tomorrow.