Week's End

Winter blankets out for the boys-  crocheted ones and quilts both made by my mum.

Loving new magazine (3 hours pay for these! Did get the husband a computer one too.) Outrageous cost in NZ!

Loving tulips .

It is bucketing down ! We go from the worst drought in 70 years to rain, rain, rain and decent rain! I need to get my winter vege garden planted too as it is also still quite warm!

Dinners this week - orzo salad and chickpea, feta and spinach parcels - neither eaten by the boys who got themselves something else! This bugs me when they will not eat it!!

Goodness this new layout for blogging on the I- pad is doing my head in but practice will make perfect!

Giveaway and Penfriend hunt

I have a " Mollie Makes" issue 23 and a "Making" issue 32 to give away- I have ended up with duplicates of both.

(they both are an issue or two behind what is available in England as being down under we are behind with things anyway! :)

Comment and I will pick two lucky winners to post them to!

I would also love some new penfriends worldwide - comment below or send an e -mail to me -

Kimberley@atkinson.org.nz

I could even organise a penfriend swap if people are interested. Please pass around to other bloggers you know!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the gorgeous women out there.
And lots of thoughts to those who are unable to be mothers.

A quiet day here - my own mother is down south and the husband's mother we saw last weekend.
I have been knitting and over the road to a cafe for afternoon tea. And shopping with the husband - a very rare treat! He hates shopping but I managed to get him some new shoes.

Treats for me - gorgeous tulips in a sweet bucket (from the supermarket no less!!), stationery from Kikki K and a WHS Smith box of stationery too, a gorgeous bag from www.emmamakes.com (gorgeous items - lots of stationery too! This basis made from a vintage NZ made woollen blanket - I adore it!!) and L'Occitane bubble bath. (how hard is it to find bubble bath in the country.)
And NZ made socks and tights. My favourite little things!!

The best part of the day? Boys who have not had one fight and boys who have out away the pile of clean washing in their bedrooms! Clean bedrooms would be great , but I am grateful for little things!

The roses bought on Friday are gorgeous in the sunlight. Love bacon and eggs for breakfast too!

Planning to

Fold up lots of laundry
Another 4 loads on clothesline
Get a kid to clean this room up (he was so good until he started the next school and voompf! His life is crazy!!!)
Roses. Gorgeous $12.99 roses from The Warehouse. Went up to buy kindling - we have lots of fire wood but no kindling and too lazy to chop some... Came home with roses , mugs for school at $1.29 each, NZ made at $1.50/2.50 (great for swaps - might grab a few more), Halloween items sooooo cheap (swap items) and the Adele cd.
Beautiful Saturday.
Apple mac and other e- waste disposed of and collecting items for our forthcoming inorganic collection. (every year or two the council collects everything from old fridges, couches, bbqs etc!)
Loving my new NZ made tights.

Off now to shop for me for Mother's Day!

Bits and Pieces

A new school term. Walking around my library looking at it and moving things around. Looking at some fiction which sits for months on shelves with no issues and wandering how to promote.

Making won tons - were so-so.

Cousins reading together.

Messy kitchen. (yes - keeping it very real!!!)

To much laundry to catch up on already!

First fire of the winter season a freezing yesterday and 23 degrees today!

Chocolate self saucing pudding which I (surprise) seem to have no taste for any longer.

Bam! Gone!

There go the school holidays! quiet ones with not huge amounts done but I am happy with the cleanish house, new hallway etc mats made, op shop visits etc

At least we got an excellent game of soccer in this morning against the top team in division one before the rain came and we beat them 4-2! First time any other team had scored against them too. A pity that, quite accidentally , one of their goals was scored by my son.... It this happens with top players too...
So we should be second on the table now! Yippee.

Raining. Really really really good rain! For hours!! I have knitted and knitted and yes knitted. Husband sorting out food. :)

I frogged the other pattern and have started a "Miss Jane" by Tikki. This has made me think and I am thrilled with it so far , but think , for the first time in my life I should have gone up a size.....
Yes I should have listened to the pattern but am a loose knitter, so figured I would do it how I normally do it... We will see.

Plus have started A dishcloth or pot mitt from the "30 minute knits " book.

And a gorgeous mat and bag of wool found in an op shop opposite the soccer ground this morning!

Back to school on Monday - not much planned for that yet...

Wool love and op shop trawl

Yesterday I spent the day traipsing around West Auckland visiting op shops with a friend. (and I dropped off another 3 boxes of stuff to the first one:) )

There wasn't a lot anywhere much in my opinion and although I came across buckets of knitting needles , few seemed to be pairs! There was virtually no wool or gorgeous linen or woollen blankets at any. ( we want woollen blankets to make things for the school gala.)
I found a H and M cord skirt, some DMC wool, one dressing table mat and 2 pairs of knitting needles. And a ok which I started and finished last night!
It also showed me how many struggling people we do have out there - many, many Maori and Pasifika families buying lots.

I did some impulse wool buying at Knit World on Great North Road in Henderson - lots of lovely stuff there and some gorgeous English wool and re- cycled cotton too. I will start knitting a pot holder from the new "30 minutes knits" I got yesterday. One ball will go to England eventually for a swap. Not that I needed any of this wool, but it must start to get colder soon... Today I am in a mini skirt and t- shirt...

Love the morning autumn light...
Is anyone knitting anything ?

Off to Kelly Tarltons Aquarium - we have not been there for many years....