Assorted Business

It has been a varied day today. Miss Dog and I went for a walk first thing. She was pleased that I let her paddle in the stream (more like a water race) that we found. I had to go on a mercy mission for Mr B to get him some devil's liquor (Coca Cola) as he couldn't continue his work on the deck without a liquid incentive. Fortunately it gave him the energy to go from this:

To this:

Miss Dog approves of the new development. She has that expression on her face because I cleaned out her ears moments before. One of them is quite gungy inside. She hates Mummy performing health related acts on her. Most health manoeuvres can be disguised as loves, but poking a finger with a baby wipe on it into her ears isn't exactly subtle. By the way, this deck is outside the master bedroom.

Poor Mr B has some yucky blisters, even though he taped up his hammering hand. He needs to wear protective gloves on his dainty deputy principal hands.

I got into a wee bit of gardening. I planted some more radishes after I decided that this lot were on the brink of going to seed. Aren't they a festive lot? Shame most of them are smaller than marbles. I'm fond of radishes. Jo Seagar has a recipe for roasted radishes in her cook school recipe book. Just roast them as you would any other root vege. Must try it sometime.

I'm rather proud of these babies. I put in two more rows today. They are little coriander plants. I am curry mad, and love coriander. Apparently some people have a taste aversion to it due to an enzyme or some genetic thing. They taste it very differently than other people. I think coriander is a bit of an acquired taste in plant form.

I also planted some more lettuce seeds. You can never have too many lettuces, especially with school starting again in a couple of weeks. Many salads required for lunches.

Monty had a busy time helping me to piece together the Kaffe Fassett quilt.

Shortly after this photo was taken he decided to leave my craft room when I popped out for a minute. When I got back I couldn't find two of the strips because he "wore" them down the hall to the bedroom. I got all of the central panel finished. Now I've got to decide on a border. I'm thinking of a plain fabric strip with a binding made of the leftover bits of fabric. Not sure if I will have enough because I used most of it on squares.

The Adventures of Hunca Munca

Here's the birthday boy, doing just what he wants to do on his special day. He is building a deck. Not really my cup of tea, but he is happy as a pig in mud out there working on his latest creation.
The ground is full of stones, which causes some challenges when digging.

We went to Thyme Cafe for brunch and will be off to Barbara's house for tea soon. I haven't been wasting time either today. I wrestled with the Christmas tree (yes, yes, I know I should have taken it down ages ago). Now the lounge looks very bare. Maybe I need to work on a display for the Chinese New Year.

I had a bit of a dig and tidy up in my vege garden. Now remember that this is a pioneer woman's garden. I'm making do with what I can find. My raised beds are wide fence palings screwed onto pegs. I'm putting one more in tomorrow. I attacked the "lawn" with the weedeater today. I love slashing things off with that. I put in Mr Cucumber and my black passionfruit today, as both were eager to start taking over the world. That's the spirit! I took the precaution of making a rabbit proof fence around them both, in case someone wants to be a vandal.

Someone else was making the most of the day. I felt guilty after waking her up when I was vacuuming, so I took Miss Hunca Munca out to play in the garden.

Here she is admiring the place where I just planted lettuce seeds. As she is rather fond of her greens, she is making sure everything is as it should be. The metal frame is part of a dear little seed raising house, minus the glass. I'm using it to stop Miss Dog from lying on the garden where the seeds have been planted.

Hunca thinks the compost bin smells very interesting.

And here she is checking out my second bin. Nosy little lady, isn't she!

So after such a fun time exploring she will be wanting a play outside every day!

Happy birthday to my darling Mr B. You are the best husband ever!!!! XXXXX

Return from Who Knows Where

Here I am, after a very long absence. My excuse? Building a house, selling a house, moving house and working. But now I'm back, and better than ever. The new house is fantastic- more of that to come as things change around here. But a sneak peek of Miss Dog on the deck. Mr. B built that with his own two hands, and help from me, his trusty sidekick.

I'm going to paint the table and chairs a pretty blue, I think. When I sit on the chairs I am rather concerned that the flimsy folding action is going to fail brutally and send me to the ground in a heap. I'll have to get Mr. B to cast his eye over them.

This is my nemesis. Dirt Mountain. Actually it is the source of lovely soil for my garden. It is much bigger than it looks in this photo. It looks quite tame and petite compared to the enormous pile that greets me when I look into the back yard. I moved two wheelbarrows full today to cover my spuds. They are growing well, even though I put them in late.

Things were fine in the vege patch in my two week absence while on holiday. All thanks to my water timer. These are fine looking examples of my vege growing skills.

I decided to make use of leftover building materials to give my purple king beans something to climb.

These are my pride and joy. Civilised and orderly tomato plants doing what they should. I have 6 Moneymakers and 6 cherry tomatoes. Who wouldn't be thrilled to come back from holiday to find these wee beauties?

Today I happily purchased a new electic mixer and a mini vac sucker with my Christmas vouchers. By the way Nanny, no problem with the voucher. I got the most powerful beasts that I could afford. My new mixer has a stand and bowl so I'm looking forward to making a pavlova. Maybe I will tomorrow. I blew up my old ones making lemon curd cupcakes. Who would have thought the dear cupcakes could have caused blue sparks and voluminous puffs of electrical smoke? Mr. B got busy in the kitchen and made his first batch of cheese while I weeded the veges- mozzarella - utterly delicious. Very creamy and sweet. Not too much of a kerfuffle, except for gathering the items required. He might start his own foody blog, so I won't steal his photos yet, just in case.

I'm off to work on my current embroidery project.

Destruction!

So, so sorry! I've been uninspired about reporting on life lately, but today Dad said something that really reminded me of the power of a great sentence. He is here helping Mr B to replace our crappy old shower so that our bathroom may be appealing to potential buyers. He said "Bloody silicone sticks like shit to a blanket." And indeed it does. There are all sorts of destructive noises which set my teeth on edge coming from the bathroom. The men sound bright and happy, so that's good.

I've got darling Hunca tucked up under my scarf around the back of my neck. Monty is curled up on my knee. Both are a bit disturbed by the noise too. I am overwhelmed by the spending, and decisions of building a house. But when we visit it is all very exciting.

Look, most of the windows are in.

I'm going to love having a verandah area.

Unfortunately we have to excavate Stonehenge before we can make a garden. At least I made a start.

My room is on the left, and our bedroom on the right. Since this photo was taken Monty's cat door went into my room. Very expensive in a double glazed window.

I've got granite samples lying around. Each time I pass them I've got to stop and think hard. At the moment I'm drawn towards one called Butterfly Blue, which is very unusual looking. It has a dark green background with blue and reddy stones through it. Hard to describe. I should see if I can get a photo, but I imagine the samples won't photograph particularly well. Don't even mention flooring.

Bye for now. XXX

Everest Attempt Begins

It really does feel like an attempt to climb Everest, getting our house ready to sell, and moving to a new house. It looks like we are dressed for Everest too, in our winter gear. That jacket makes me look like an enormous tomato. Warm though, and it kept me dry in the parts of the house that don't have a roof. We took the first load of excess stuff out to the lockup today. The best part about delivering stuff to the lockup is saying hello to the gorgeous donkey that lives there. So when we got home today I started working on filling a box of kitchen items that I won't be needing for a while. Plus I filled another box of books. The second of many, many book boxes. It feels a bit strange tucking my special things away in boxes, but I'm sure I'll enjoy getting them out again and finding places for them in my new home.

Miss Hunca Munca was very pleased to hear from her mummy and daddy. She supervised closely while I gave her house a clean. She was probably casting a suspicious eye over the disposal of a few hoarded food items. She was very pleased to have minestrone soup for tea. She did a bit more exploring today because Miss Dog was outside while I sorted a few things out. Miss Dog doesn't pay much attention to her now she has got used to the idea of a ratty travelling on shoulders. Monty completely ignores her. Hopeless hunter, thank goodness.

One more week of the term. I've got a pretty chilled out week planned. Then the big push to Everest begins. XXX

Gazing at the floor while the Heavens open.

Wet, wet and more wet around here today! Look at my lovely roof. It is going up bit by bit. The colour is called New Denim Blue and it is made of Coloursteel, which looks just like traditional corrugated iron. Today when we popped (glopped) in there was so much water inside as only half of the roofing is up. Plus the area you can see above in front of the house is thick with goopy mud. But I did get very excited standing in my lounge and looking at all of the lovely space. The verandah has a ceiling now, which Miss Dog is going to love on cold days. Me too!

We went flooring shopping today. I've discovered that I like the carpets that are a shade of chocolate. We've got some samples home from Mckenzie and Willis. Mr B couldn't face the curtain department today, so I'm going to have to go in on my own. We are having a flooring product which is a vinyl but comes in planks that look like real wood. It really does. It is commercial grade so it will last well and should cope with the clitter clatter of animal claws. We had some samples home and it is amazingly easy to clean. That will go in the entrance way, kitchen and bathrooms.

I have to admit I'm a bit panicked that my ability to decorate this fabulous creation is going to be sadly lacking. My taste is very much Country Living, but I find it hard to work with neutrals. I've never really had reason to choose fabulous curtains. I do have a mad passion for fabrics but there are so many horrid ones available, and so many divine EXPENSIVE ones. In the main living area, which will have a mass of curtains along one wall, and five Roman blinds, I don't want anything heavily patterned, but then I think something one flat colour would be completely boring. I think that sometimes a heavy pattern with lots of colours can take over the whole room when the curtains are across. I don't want anything that looks like a budget buy, but I am conscious of the cost. Any ideas?

On the current home front, Miss Hunca Munca Ratty has settled in beautifully. She has very quickly realised that Mr B is a cosy nest of warmth, and loves snuggling up in his polarfleece jumpers. She also knows I am the main source of food, and gets very excited when I bring her a plate (jar lid) of dinner. She eats what we eat, although I'm not usually inclined to grab a huge chunk of food off my plate in my teeth and then scurry off to my bedroom to enjoy it at my leisure like she is. She is the cutest little ratty in the whole world. She sleeps quite a lot, and when she wakes up she has squinty eyes for a bit, and she often has a big stretch and a yawn. Just a dear wee darling. We are so lucky to have custody of her. I'd put some pictures in but it has been really cold and Hunca burrows as much as possible in this weather. The moment I pick her up she is heading for my shoulder to gain access to some part of my clothing.

Tomorrow we start moving things out to the lockup where we will store excess stuff until the big move. We'll meet up with Mr and Mrs CT, who not only own the lockup, but also love a hot coffee or chocolate on a wet day. A great excuse for a gathering. I'm looking forward to it.

Well, I think I've got my blogging mojo back. I'm pleased about that. XXX

Yellow

I decided to share a few yellow things from school. I've actually got quite a bit of yellow around the house because we painting a lot of our rooms yellow. Not bright yellow like these things. A buttery colour.

This is a closeup of one of the crowns we made for the Queen for Queen's Birthday. The glue was a bit useless so I had to get the glue gun out and reattach the buttons. I always manage to burn my fingers using a glue gun, but I'm awfully fond of them.

We have been talking about colour. When I was working with individuals on another arty activity anyone spare was working on this rainbow. I have dangled the colour names off the bottom. I wanted the darker blue to be indigo, but someone didn't listen.


For your future reference, the Maori colours. Kowhai is a New Zealand native tree with beautiful yellow flowers. Kowhai is both a colour and a plant. So are tawa and karaka.

Here is the sun I drew. Most of the class helped to colour and dye it. I stapled it together with another big circle of paper, with cellophane sandwiched between. Three of my students helped to screw up newspaper to stuff it with.

Here is Ducky. It is a miracle that he still looks so good because most things get sucked or chewed eventually. The kids' cushions are on display behind. Fabric paints are awesome!

Here is the Rainbow Lorikeet that visited on Friday. His/her name is Kaz. We were all totally enchanted by it. It even poos on command so you can hold it over a bucket so that it can go to the toilet. Then you don't get crap down your back. It is only a baby and will grow bigger. A perfect end to colour week, I think!

Today I had a mad rampage in the garden, plus I rescued my Christmas lily bulbs so that I can take them to my new garden. They are expensive, so I decided they need to come with me. Plus they were all given to me by a friend. One of them always has a huge head of flowers every year. I found out why. The bulb is utterly enormous. I put them in a bucket with some soil and covered them with a damp newspaper. They don't like to dry out.

We have decided to spend Sunday mornings working on the garden at the new place, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons sorting out our world here. I really got a lot done this weekend at our current house. I hacked and slashed the boysenberries and grapes back. I pruned roses with the ruthless attitude of an expert. I weeded and snipped. I had great intentions to rake up lots of stones at our new place, but we had seven (yes, seven!!!) visitors while we were there, and didn't get much done apart from guided tours. I told Mr B we will need a big new coffee machine with all of the visitors we are getting. His current one just does two little cups at a time. So we've had a fun, very busy weekend. I'm looking forward to the next one already. XXX

Black

Today I have just one colour picture. This is all the black a girl would ever need. Darling Miss Dog. Loyal helper in the garden (cat turd disposal expert). Carpet cleaner tester. Ever willing plate cleaner. This is not the best photo of her, but this is the result of a few hours helping in the garden. Today the major ransacking began. The building is going to take around 3 1/2 months to finish and we are getting stuck in so that we can put this house on the market at the end of August or early September. Help!!!!



This is the reason for the sudden flurry of activity. It looks like a house!!!!

Here I am "on" my verandah. What a great space for hanging out.

Another favourite part of the house. The sliding door to outside from my craft and music room.


Today we went out the see our lovely builder and discuss a few details. We took our friend Barbara out for a look and she thinks it looks much bigger than it did in foundation form. I'm dying to get started on the garden, but have more than enough to do around here first. It has got really out of hand, so I was hacking and slashing until my arms couldn't take it any more. I've always been overly ambitious about gardening here, and made masses of gardens that I couldn't handle due to the weeds and invasive plants that were already hiding here when we came. Ivy, incredibly thorny berries, twitch, and perennial sweetpeas (which I'd never plant in my new garden, horrid things). Even the grape vines are out of control. I think I'll have to be very careful not to take anything with me with dirt from this garden. I'll have to rinse the roots clean, and buy new plants to replace ones I really love that I can't do that to. I don't want twitch to come with me because it is really dreadful. The hostas I'm taking will have to go in pots so that I can quarantine them.

I'm a bit sad because Mr B is going away for a few days on a bus trip with other boss teachers to look at other schools. I'm in charge of the building while he is away. I bet our builder doesn't ring to ask me any questions. Well, I really hope he doesn't! There's more work to do on the frames, an inspection on Thursday and, all going well, frame wrap will go on on Friday. Then roofing begins. No wonder the flurry of activity has begun around here.

Happy birthday to Miss M. Wish I was there enjoying DVDs, tasty food and family company. XXX

What a view!

Today we drove out for our weekly inspection of the building site. We met one of our lovely friends out there, with her darling wee doggy. Mr B was able to have a catch-up with Richard and his amazingly tall brother (very useful for putting up frames and doing ceilings apparently). They were marking out where our frames are to go with blue chalk. We weren't allowed to walk on the blue lines, so we pretended to walk into the rooms. By next week we will be able to use the doorways. The frames were all delivered on Friday, almost safe and sound. Richard had to repair a couple that went splat off the truck. Oops. Richard said they are stronger than ever. And here they are:


How strange looking at the skeleton of our house lying on the ground. The earth was incredibly boggy after the snow, and I was scared I would slip and land on my bottom in the mud.

The best bit about our visit today was the view of the Port Hills with a dusting of icing sugar snow. This is the view from our future kitchen window. I don't think the house across the way will block too much of the view. We met another one of our future neighbours today and he was really friendly. See the wee tree on the right side- that's his piece of land.


I was mucking around taking self-portraits of myself today, and after several amazingly weird looking photos (how do I manage to look OK posing in the mirror, and like a total lush in a photo trying to make the same face?), Mr B snapped a few for me. This was the best one.

I love the purple scarf with the green jersey. Pretty colours together. I'm really self-conscious about how I look. I've always been bothered by my teeth, and my really small bottom jaw. That's why I've got braces now. I could have opted for facial reconstructive surgery to break my bottom jaw and move it forward so my teeth lined up, but it was ridiculously expensive and nasty. So I'll live with the jaw, and have photos from the front, because you really can't tell except from the side. I must get the henna out again to brighten up my hair. I love red hair, and wish I had bright, sparking goldy red tresses. Or gleaming coppery locks. Unfortunately I can't use artificial dyes because my scalp gets so itchy I feel like ripping it off my skull. So I use henna, which is a bit variable in results, but gives me a chestnut gleam, especially in the sun. I'm one woman battling the horrible discrimination people have against people with red or ginger colour hair. Go Ginger People! You lucky things!

Drainlayers and More from Hunka Munka

Thank-you for all of the lovely comments about dear Hunka Munka. Even those of you who would rather not face a ratty in person managed to say nice things about her. She is sitting on my shoulders across the back of my neck at the moment. Miss Dog is quite interested in her, but Monty Cat hasn't noticed that she is here. Either that or he doesn't care. He has never hunted in his life. He is as soft as a marshmallow. Still, I wouldn't leave Hunka in harm's way just in case. Now I've got Monty on my knee as well as Hunka on my shoulders. Luckily Miss Dog is busy napping.

"Let me out for a play." Look at those wee hands.

Ratty supermodel showing her best angles.

Onto other pressing matters. It is remarkable how much mess a drainlayer can do in only three days.

Mr B assures me that by Saturday everything will be filled in and flat again. Otherwise I'm not sure that I want to make my weekly visit. The framing is being delivered tomorrow afternoon.

Bye for now. Time for relaxing. XXX

Making a Mess

This little beauty is an Eton Mess. I made this for pudding tonight, but used tinned boysenberries instead of the traditional strawberries. I didn't take a picture, so good old Delia had one that I borrowed to show you. This would have to be the easiest dessert ever. Well, apart from a piece of fruit. I daren't display this on Taming the Chocolate Baby due to an unfortunate upswing in the weight department. Barbara came over for tea. I make tortellini in a mushroom, tomato cream (oops) sauce, and a salad. Then served the Eton Mess. All you do for this is mix meringues (crunched up- I bought some el cheapo meringue nests and smooged them into rough chunks), whipped cream and tinned boysenberries with a little of their juice. I didn't stir too hard because I wanted ripples of the purple boysenberries through the cream. Utterly delicious. Oh, I forgot to say that I sprinkled a few chocolate buttons over the top.

I'm feeling a bit better in the anxiety department. I had a big talk to Mr B, and we took Miss Dog for a lovely walk. Then we visited our neighbours. I had a cup of tea. We also popped out to visit our giant concrete floor and I stood on my kitchen and looked out at my view. I will be able to see the Port Hills from my kitchen window. We thought the floor level would be a lot lower than it is, so we are very pleased. It is more traditional up high. Plus we will have a deck instead of a patio outside the big stacking doors. That will make it like a wee verandah. We will have a paved area at ground level where we will eventually have a big table and chairs.

Don't you hate it when you go to the doctor and get a prescription and the medicine is either wrong for the condition, or makes it worse? You've still got to pay for it, and for the next lot that you have to get because the other stuff didn't work right. I've got dermatitis on my eyelid. A terrible thing for a girl who feels like a ghost without some eye makeup. I got some hydrocortisone cream from the doctor and now I've not just got nasty looking dermatitis on my eyelid, it has flared up to the side of my eye and it really hurts. Very disagreeable. I think it might be related to the perioral dermatitis I have had twice before. Called periocular dermatitis around eyes. That was cured with antibiotics. Maybe I need those again.

I'm watching Everest-Beyond the Limit. Such a great programme about climbing Everest (of course). It does make me wish to do something amazing that no one would expect that I could do. Climbing Everest would not be it. Ideas, anyone? XXX

Sorry to be so long!

Sorry everyone. I haven't been very well this week. The dreaded anxiety disorder has been playing up, so I've basically come home from school and made tea, then curled up in a ball on the couch until bedtime. Don't worry, I've been to the doctor. Mr B has prescribed lots of sun over the Queen's Birthday weekend, and we had a wonderful walk out at our new territory today. I even found a handful of windfall feijoas and ten cents. Good omens, I think. The air was fresh and I saw sheep, pigs and a donkey.

I'm going to bore you all with more photos of the progress on the house. I must get working on some other things to take photos of. I haven't done any sewing apart from some stuff for school.

Today the foundation men poured our slab. It is all shiny because it is wet still.

The buckets are where the showers will be. Richard, our builder, says the framing arrives next Friday, and by then the drainlayer will be finished. In three weeks we will have a roof. It is going so fast. I'm going to make a little garden bed to heel in some roses and other things. I've started pillaging my garden. Richard didn't bat an eyelid when I told him where Merlin's (Mr Bunny) house would be built, and said there should be a bit of leftover timber for compost heap creating. I need untreated stuff though. I'm going to have 3 wooden bins in a row so I can turn it properly, and have the compost curing while I make a new pile. I've got a fat plastic bin, but it is hopeless for turning. I'll still use it, but it takes a long time to make compost. I'm going to have a worm farm too.

We are off out to Di and Al's place for dessert and to watch the rugby final. Di and I will probably watch a DVD. She usually has a good supply. I've got soup bubbling away. Just my usual minestrone recipe, but I had a bok choy to use instead of the usual cabbage. Should be fine. I put lots of celery leaves in too because I love the flavour of celery. I should be making all sorts of soup recipes, but why mess with perfection? My minestrone is like therapy. Delicious and full of vegetables. Yum, I'm off to have some. XXX

Saturday

Mountain climbing on my new house!

New coat looking fabulous! Weightwatchers starts again tonight. Good hair though.

New gumboots. These are really cute. I got them at The Warehouse, which I must say is up marketing itself quite successfully. My old ones are all split (plus I stood in a dog mine and haven't scrubbed them yet). These are for visiting the building site as it is rather muddy.

Tonight is the pudding-off challenge at Mrs CT's house. I have made a pavlova from the Weightwatchers cookbook. It has a meringue pavlova (rather than the recipe I usually use which has items in addition to the meringue egg white and sugar). Mum will know what I mean. Plus it has a ricotta and yoghurt whipped up topping (with icing sugar to sweeten), then it is topped with fruit. In my case boysenberries. Apparently we are having pizza, but because we are having puddings I am going to make myself a big salad to eat instead. See, told you I'm back on the Weightwatchers. Not going to the meetings though. Too many miserable looking plump people paying over cash to stand on scales and buy the overpriced, underflavoured Weightwatcher's food. My jeans are digging into my tummy and I've decided to make a stand. So Taming the Chocolate Baby will explore my lower calorie cooking experiments. Shame I'm so greedy. I'll set myself some goals tomorrow, and any fatties who want to join me confessing their sins and offering support will be most welcome.