Labour Day

This weekend was Labour Day weekend which              normally signals Summer here in NZ... and it appeared right on time the weather was glorious and I have my first bit of colour, not looking quite so pale and pastie now, the 3/4 pants have come out of the wardrobe and also short sleeve tops, it is also lovely to be barefoot.

I spent most of the time with my Daughter and her family at their caravan doing absolutely nothing, well I did do a few bits of stitching. Oh!  and we did take a half hour walk along the beach so the boys could paddle which of course ended up being a complete soaking in their clothes.

Now today I have to catch up at home, you know washing and cleaning and the sun has bought out the weeds in the garden so have managed a couple of hours trying to get rid of them.

I also deserve an award  as I went swimming this morning at 8am, then treated myself to breakfast at a lovely French Cafe we have in Rotorua, they cook poached eggs like no one else.

Saturday early morning

I managed a good nights sleep and awoke at 5.15am today, still a little early to wake but that is great by me...So what did I do at this early hour. Normally I would do a little stitching, but today I made some tea and sat in bed with my laptop and spent time looking at what you can do with your blog,  new settings etc. Also some interesting information in blogger help.  So what next ... I then looked back through my blog ... I have been reading posts I made 3 and 4 yrs ago
I recommend this if you have a spare couple of hours for that is how long I have been reading my own blog ... it has been quite an eye opener, how life has changed even in that relatively short span of time. It bought back memories of places and people .. it is just like reading your old diary's
It was lovely to see the pictures of the grand sons as babies and how they have grown and developed...that is one of the sad things about digital pictures versus the printed photo's you can not just pick up an album and thumb through it, you have to sit at the computer and some times you have only a couple of minutes, so pictures are not looked at so often.
Our travels and living in Dubai and Bahrain .. amazing how you forget little snippets of life and interesting items.. even though it was only a couple of years ago.
So I would encourage you to give this a try at sometime.

Middle of the night

I am sure you all have had nights like this one...it is now 2.45am.

Polynesian Spa Pools Rotorua

So what is going on.

Well I went to the hot pools this evening at 7pm and had 20 minutes swim and  then a lovely 10 minute soak in a  pool of 40 degrees, back home by 8 o'clock ... all going great when at around
9 o'clock I could no longer keep the eyes open,   so a early night was called for ... all well until 1.30am and  PING up went the eye lids and I don't seem to have another wink of sleep in me,  

so have finally got out of bed made some tea and a slice of toast ... as my mother used to say " night starvation" can often be the reason you wake in the middle of the night.  Not sure if this is the reason but the toast is tasting good and the tea will go down well.

Polynesian  swimming pool

So another few minutes and I will return to bed and hopefully some more sleep.

This is really not my year

I am beginning to wonder why I tried to  arrange holidays for this year, So far I have had to postpone  three trips away so far... now I have to give going to Australia away for this year.... A few family commitments and cash flow have gotten in the way this time .. things needed doing here at home and the bill has turned out to be larger than I expected, in fact double what I expected ... the bill I don't mind but it has used up what I was going to use for my Australia trip... OH WELL!! there is always next year. 
So sorry to all those people who invited me to visit for a cup of tea, may be next time .. I am determined to get across the ditch so don't give up on me.

Look what arrived in the post

I belong to a few swap groups, all small things,  nothing large or expensive.
This last swap for October was a "pin-keeper"

Here is what arrived from Lynne in Minnesota USA, to add to my collection.
A lovely pumpkin pin-keeper, as it is fall in USA, of course it is spring here so it makes it a bit difficult when you are doing seasonal things in conjunction with the Northern hemisphere, it often works out that I am working out of season ... but I manage and just love making the items.

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All Finished

  All finished with in a week of the class finishing must be a record for me.

My Schwalm Needlebook... now I need another needlecase like a hole in the head, but I do love making them.

I actually use just one that holds all I need, but I would guess it is almost like someone who loves shoes ...

"you can only wear one pair at once" but have another 30 or so pairs in the wardrobe.

So the class is finished

 

Saturday saw me at the final Schwalm class and I had managed to get best part of the homework done ( even with the swollen finger) during the week but the final makeup of the piece is still in progress so here are some pictures of the ladies all deep in concentration etc

 

Update on the finger

I have had quite a few comments and emails about my poorly finger.. so though I needed to give an update.
The saga was not a nice one it swelled for 2 days .... on day two I did not know where to put my hand, which was quite depressing,  and I got warmer and warmer as the day went on and my face was that red it looked like I had been on the hard stuff for days, with a head ache and  feeling a bit anxious with a few shaky periods by the end of day 3  I was beginning to get a little concerned... so I looked up the  adverse reactions to cortisone injections on the net.... and yes! I was having all the symptoms... by the third night I had total insomnia.  I realised from my past employment in the  medical profession that it would just take time to wear off so I managed  to relax a bit ...... as I was not taking any more steroids so it was just a matter of time for the effects to subside
By Saturday it had worn off and I cooled down but the insomnia is still around and also the not so good dreams that come with the small amount of sleep I am managing to snatch ... this is another  unfortunate side effect of steroids... hopefully in a day or two  I will get some decent sleep.

Also the swelling has subsided ..thank goodness. Lets hope this is all in a good cause and the consultant will be able to detect what is wrong with the top joint of my finger... I didn't realise such a little bit of my anatomy could cause so much pain .