The master piece ....

This is Alex's master piece ... I traced a picture from a colouring book of  Lightening McQueen from Cars movie ... (now come on own up I bet  you have all seen it at some time).
He actually stitched it using a frame hows that for good training from the word go he also had good tension and stitch length.

Well he has finished it and here it is all framed ready to take home

I have a companion for a few days....

My Grandson Alex 6yrs old...
We think he has had enough of Holiday Care for a bit ...seems he gets tummy ache each morning and gives lots of reasons why he should not go.

So Grandma to the rescue again.... I suggested he came and stayed with me for the rest of the week ... to give him a bit of one on one with just me and the cat. This will be the first time he has been away by himself and he was excited about doing it

We had dinner tonight at the coffee table watching DVD of Nanny McPhee, he asked if that was okay that we were not sat at the table I assured him it was okay as it was a special time with Grandma.

This was all arranged so fast ... that I had things to do in my diary already so I decided he could just accompany me to everything.
So this evening he came with me .... and wowed the ladies of evening Embroidery Guild with his grown up conversation and stitched himself for an hour or so. A picture of this at another time.


After only being here for a few hours he has learnt to make a pot of tea and drink 2 cups himself ...seems he is a boy after my own heart, he also managed a cup at Guild along with a couple of biscuits.

So here he is all tucked up in bed and sound asleep, as tomorrow is going to be another busy day.

Somethings confuse and annoy me !!!

I do hope you will not end up as confused as me by the end of this post.... I have to confess I am not up on cars and engines etc.... so here goes I will do my best to explain..

Two years ago I had a new car a Hyundai Tucson City .... nice,  white and just a  big enough engine to get me out of trouble when I  need the speed  also  carries enough people for my needs...
Lucky girl I was ... and most likely the last brand new car I will have  so it has to last me.

So what is there to gripe about I can hear you say... well I today booked it in for a service it will be it's second one ... I have done the correct mileage etc .... So off to the Hyundai Garage I go ..... when I asked for the service I decided to have the Gold one the top price at  $180 advertised  behind the receptionists desk.....  I thought I was being really generous to my car thinking  only the best will be good enough.

To my surprise the receptionist told me it will be $345 ... a little taken back I asked why it was so much considering their top service was only $180 ....  She said " because my car was only 2 yrs old and still under warranty" , now may be I am just a mere female but for the life of me I could not grasp why this made a halfpence of difference. Surely they will give it the best service with the Gold one as that was their top service.
 NO !!  I was wrong that price was only for cars older than mine or out of warranty or not a Hyundai ... so because my car is still under Warranty it will cost double the price. 

When I asked what I will get for the extra charge ... it was not very much more than the Gold Service  BUT it will make my warranty continue for another  year as I will have had it serviced at the  Hyundai Garage.

  I hope you are still with me and  I have not lost you !!!

So it seems to continue the warranty I have to pay more for my service for 3 yrs, there seemed to be no argument that worked with the girl she just stuck to her practised spiel.  It also seems that if I don't have the $345 service my warranty will be null and void from this day forth

For some reason it is still bugging me ... but you have guessed it I had to relent and book it in.
So really the warranty on the car is not given to you at all when you pay mega bucks for the new car  ... you have to pay for it in the long run of things... sometimes companies get you which ever way you turn.
Hopefully by tomorrow I will have calmed down a bit and will see sense.... may be!!!

Some good ones here..... Paraprosdokians

PARAPROSDOKIANS:

Definition: "Figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or
phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently used in a humorous
situation." i.e. "Where there's a will, I want to be in it."


OK, now enjoy.

1. Do not argue with an idiot.
He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

3. Light travels faster than sound.
 This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong..

5. War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

6. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

7. Evening news is where they begin with 'Good Evening,'
 and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism.
 To steal from many is research.

9. A bus station is where a bus stops.
A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

GO ON SMILE YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO........................

Santa Sack Swap

I can not believe that I am bang up to date with my swaps....

This Santa sack and pressies are off on their way to my swap partner in Australia
 ( I did say I was going to post last weekend but my life got in the way)
They are going to arrive very early ... we were suppose to send 2 parcels a month but my partners  family life was interrupted and she had to take a long trip overseas ..... so I have not sent for the first  few months as I was supposed to have done.

Now my making and purchasing is complete so they can all  wing their way to their new home to be stored in time for Christmas  .... I just hope Cheryl remembers where she puts it "oh so safely" when December arrives.

NO PEEKING .. just a little feeling and shaking is permitted  Cheryl.

Amazing how you see yourself in your children

A picture of scones that has nothing to do with this post other than it is food .... and makes the mouth water, think I may make some.

Now my Daughter is going to get fed up with me nicking her posts ...but I just have to show you this one...   Sometimes we see our self in our children, sometimes good sometimes bad ... this one I had a good laugh at ... things that you think do not make an enormous impression on your children at the time show they do when they come back in later life.

Now I grew up the eldest with 3 siblings and my mother was very hard on us in all sorts of ways and she ran a very tight ship, my Father was away at sea so she was in sole charge so to speak  ... but the one thing she did do was run a cafe in the kitchen not only for us kids but my Dad as well....

 I sometimes watched her cook 3 or 4 different meals at once pandering to all our likes and dislikes ... I vowed when I had kids this would not happen and it did not with in reason just as DD says in her blog ... Read on all will be revealed.

 NOT  A CAFE 

When I was little I always remember my mum saying at dinner time "this is it, I do not run a cafe"
Whatever was served for dinner was it, she was not making 26 different meals for 4 people just because 1 person didn't like/want/fancy whatever she had decided to cook for dinner.

Now I am a mum I am sticking to the same rule. After having to decide what is for dinner for the last 8 years, believe me when I say, I am not mucking around with dinner, this is it, like it or don't eat!

So we have stuck to the same rule, we cook one dinner and that is that.
However I am prepared to adapt what I am cooking, if it is simple, so everyone will eat this one dinner.

When the boys were younger they didn't like the chilli as hot as we did, so I cooked the chilli basic, took theirs out and then added more heat to ours. No worries there as we all still had the same thing just adapted slightly.

I have found 2 pasta bake sauces in the supermarket which we like. However Ben does not like them, so instead of not having this dinner anymore because of that, then I have adapted.
I cook the pasta and fry the chicken.
Then I serve his pasta into a bowl and place chicken on top. Then I tip the sauce into the remaining pasta along with the chicken and everyone else has pasta with chicken with sauce.

Both bowls then get baked in the oven and hey presto we have a dinner that everyone will eat and everyone is happy when going to bed as they are full and satisfied.
To me this is not bowing to their every whim, just adapting slightly to have a pleasant family dinner that everyone will eat which leads to a happy home environment.

Now if they said they didn't want it all together and wanted a totally different dinner then ........tough, this is dinner, eat it or starve!

From Kathryn @ Life Today

Gee it makes you proud as a Mum that something has made an impression on their life
What is they say ... if a guy wants to see his wife in 20 years time ...look at her Mother !!!

How did I name my blog

Over at Sweet cinnamon Dawn has been wondering how people named their blogs.....

So here goes ..... here is mine.

It was about 7 yrs ago I had started to read a few blogs and was also about to go to Middle East again for 3 years ( Husbands work) my daughter has started a blog and I thought if she can do it so can I....
So in Bahrain where we started this period of time I started documenting our travels
so ER & LJ Travels   ( Eric and Laurie) was born, I started with our doings and travels with pictures .... We then moved to Dubai  and after a bit it became a diary for my Quilting and Embroidery and from there it has evolved I have often thought about changing the name ... but have not thought of one yet that I especially like ....

A request .. There must be one

Good morning from a wet and very windy Rotorua ...

I have a request I need a pattern for a machine cover.

I know you are all going to say that's easy no problem ...  there are hundreds of them on the market or even,     Hey! come on design your own.

Well ! my dilemma is I have a Brother QC 2000 sewing and quilting machine  ( as above) and it has the extended table ... it is far larger than all the patterns I have ever seen and I would just like to put out a feeler to see if there is one that is in existence before I have to get down to the drawing board myself... getting lazy in my old age..Ha Ha!    Now the machine cover is no problem  ... that only comes when I try to design the extension for the table part on how to support it. So if someone out there has or knows of someone else who has over come this dilemma I would love to hear from them.

I really can not believe that such a expensive machine comes with a silly flimsy plastic cover and it does not even cover the table as well..... which by the way is in situ all the time. My machine has now been waiting almost 2 yrs with no cover except a piece of fabric draped over it when I remember to put it on .. but if I had a really NICE machine cover which I am willing to make ..... I know I would use it..... I have even aked Brother if they have a cover or design and they said they are not in the market for covers just manufacturing the machines ... sorry.