Warm days, gardening and a lovely Mothers day......

...is what has been happening this past week. 

At the weekend I bought some plants for one part of the garden, the sloping border behind the house now enclosed in the dog pen. Below are the selection of plants I bought, some pansies and violas for winter colour, some grasses and phormiums (cabbage trees). In the top right 3 shrubs for the front door garden which I should have planted today but couldn't be arsed :D

Not the best of photos, it might pay to click on the following pic to enlarge it.  Top two pics before and the bottom two after. Some plants I moved, split and replanted then added the cabbage trees and grasses. It will look better in a few months when it's grown and filled in more.

I had also bought a 'lot' of bulbs which are now planted in the 'thing' which serves no other purpose than to be in the way, so I decided it might look better with some colour! It has four recessed seats which is great for four people who don't want to talk to each other! After the bulbs were put in layer by layer, daffodils, soil, tulips, soil, some other bulbs that sounds like carbunkles topped with more soil and compost. They will hopefully look good in the spring, in the meantime I planted the pansies and violas on top for some almost instant colour......give it a few weeks....trust me...

The planting has taken a few days overall and I got the dog pen border almost finished yesterday. Sunday was a glorious day and we decided (once we crawled out of bed) to get out in the garden and be productive. All was going well until the truck of hay turned up......

I was happily planting when Joe turned up with a cold beer.....for himself (well he had just stacked 50 bales or so) and I asked where mine was......in the barn apparently! And that was the end of any more garden jobs .............. a few ice cold glasses of vodka followed......

...even the animals thought it was siesta time

 I nipped in to powder my nose and came back to Jose napping in my deckchair!

I turfed him out and sent him back to the house to bring snacks.

It obviously was all too much for Tiger!

Sunday was actually Mothers day here in NZ and Michael came over for dinner bearing some gifts..

(sorry terrible photos of him, too much light coming in from the window) 

Joe cooked a rather splendid roast chook dinner.

The chocolates didn't last long....neither did the wine....and half the biscuits have been scoffed too!

It was a very relaxing enjoyable day.

Today has been equally relaxing, I've done bugger all but I need to get off the computer now and go pack a weekend bag for a trip the Aussie tomorrow until Tuesday. My good mate Anna-Marie is having a 50th party at the weekend and as she came all the way over for my 50th back in March,
 it's only right I go over there for hers.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing her again and meet her family.

That's it! See you all in a few days 

♥♥♥

Let's do lunch.....

 My friend Liz called me this earlier this week to arrange a lunch date for today and also for me to ask Sue along, well we all know what two Sues make, it makes a Suesday that's what. It seemed only right and proper that we did a bit if Op shopping before lunch!

At Save Mart I found this lovely coloured dress( the photo doesn't do it justice) and the pink top

 

 In the Hospice shop I found a very rare find! Pieces of quilting fabric...and lots of it too along with 2 bags of embroidery cotton total spend $14. Thank you very much!

 

 We had just enough time to call into the Salvation Army shop in town and I found these embroidery hoops with hooks to hang them for just $3..

The 3 rings, top right, were missing the white ring that keeps them rigid, but I'm sure they will be able to be used for something, at $3 for the lot I'm not too worried...

 

 Lunch at Babaganush was lovely, I could get into lunching with the ladies quite easily, we'll have to make it a regular thing...
Photos courtesy of Sue

Sue and Liz

Janine and me

We checked out the op shops in Grey St but I found nothing, although I did spot this sign and got Sue to take a photo..

 our final stop was the Sallies across the road from Sue where I found these two lovely pictures for $20 each, I don't normally spend that kind of money in an Op shop if I can help it but I've been looking for some pictures for our bedroom and these fitted the bill perfectly...

 

Here's what I wore, top, denim jacket, bag and jewellery all op shopped, leggings and boots retail.

Brooch from a very cool wee shop called Zinnia in Hamilton east

 

I'm counting down the days now until I fly over to Melbourne, well Geelong really, to meet up with my mate Anna-Marie who came over for my 50th. I'm going to spend time with her for her 50th, so I'm really looking forward to that. I leave next Thursday and come home the following Tuesday and I'm going on my own! First time on a plane by myself...I hate flying!

That's it! See ya next time ♥

First fire lit this season.....

Before Joe headed off his night shift this evening he lit the fire! The first one, let's hope it's not a bad omen for a nasty winter ahead! Of course it didn't take a little dog long to get settled...

A plate I found op shopping the other day and forgot to share, it matches the colours in my lounge

 Today I had to run out and get a few things and called into a couple of op shops and the dump, well I had to didn't I! I found this large coffee jug in the SPCA shop in Dinsdale for $5

That's it, see ya's ♥

It's been a while....

since we last had a Suesday, what with one with one thing and another. It seems though that I hadn't missed too much in the shops, they keep sneaking their prices up....so I walked out of half of them empty handed today. I did however find a few things, below are a selection of decorative glass plates/platter/dishes and some ice cream sundae dishes. The larger platter and sundae dish came from the dump the other day, the rest were found today.

 I got an idea for a small and simple project from a rather cool present a friend received for her birthday! And I thought how cool it was and said 'I can do that!' Her gift had a sundae dish upturned as a base and then a rather cool china plate was glued on top, made by one of her friends. 

I've gone for the glass plate look here instead

 The large plate and sundae dish

...and some of the smaller ones

I just need to find the right adhesive to hold them together....cool aren't they?

In Save Mart, Frankton I found a couple of tops, I have the one below in red,
I quite like it in this aqua colour too

 At the dump the other day I found this Samsonite toiletry case, hardly used I reckon and for $5
I thought...wot a bargain!

 

That's it! See ya's laters alligators!

Making an entrance.....

...more welcoming.

We have a rather large front door and entrance, bigger than we are used too, it's a bit grand when you arrive but still I thought that it lacked a certain welcoming feel about it. At the moment there are no curtains as we re-used those ( also the ones from the TV room and lounge) up at the rental house, why buy new for there I thought when I can have new here. Someone came to measure up today and I dare say we shall pass out at the price of them when we hear back.

Anyway I felt we needed some greenery, Joe did question why I would sentence some poor innocent plants to death but I assured him it was the central heating that killed my plants in the UK, not me!

So here are a few photos....

 

I was given a voucher for More than Pots where I bought the 'pots' (funnily enough) and the two  plants at the back with it, I had to pay more cos who only spends the voucher total!! :D

We had already chosen the fabric for the TV and Lounge room curtains, but was a bit indecisive on a choice for the hallway, it was narrowed down to the three  lower fabrics. Sue and Liz came for lunch today and after some deliberation and a show of hands we went for the middle one, of course the photo doesn't show the true appearance but it gives you some idea. I wanted the same fabric for all of the curtains but not all the same colour, I thought that might be a tall order but after just 20 mins in one shop I found these and they going to be bloody gorgeous. When I've tidied the outside then I'll be back to show you that, but until then I really don't want to share, muddy gumboots, work boots, paint covered Crocs, things still lingering from my 50th and feathers and poop left behind by one of my chooks! It need some beautification.......I'm working on it!

This is me and Liz enjoying a cuppa and taste testing Sue's cake which was rather yummy, good job that woman. Of course we forget to take one of Sue! Oops! You can find her recipe and rather excellent pictorial here