Another sock finished!

I am feeling a bit better today - think I have the drug taking under control!!! Still another week or so off work to go though!

I finished a sock tonight! This one was knitted with BFL wool - new wool to me. BFL is wool from a blue faced Leicester sheep (oh I remember red Leicester cheese in England - yum - might even see if I can track some down in NZ!). It is a long wool breed of sheep originally from Northumberland and has curly threadlike wool , which is considerably much lighter wool than other breeds. The sheep has no wool on its head or neck!
It does apparently have less spring and elasticity than merino wool.

I bought this wool from "Happy Go Knitty" at Crafternoon tea , a monthly handmade market held in the Methodist Church in Kingsland. Loved knitting it - it is a self striping wool too, which I have never knitted before and is quite groovy to watch as you knit along.

I think I have decided that I like just knitting plain socks - this is number 4 sock since the beginning of December! See what long school summer holidays and getting your tonsils out can achieve? So I just need to knit the other matching one and the matching one of another one too. T least Kieran has a pair! He has been wearing them to bed - it is summer!!! He loves them!!

Any sock knitters out there? I am a wee bit addicted to sock wool ..... Love seeing how it all knits up!

Stationery Hoarder

I am self confessed stationery - more in particular writing paper/ card note sets / hoarder!
I am a huge letter writer and have had many of my penfriends for years.
(I am always on the look out for more penfriends too, so if interested get in touch! :)

I have the largest stationery collection of anyone I know. Want to have a look? Yes I can see the stunned look on your face! :) quite surprising in some ways as New Zealand is utter RUBBISH when it comes to gorgeous stationery . Yes I will buy notepaper even from the $2 shop, but find it very hard to get gorgeous stuff anywhere for a price that I am prepared to pay! There are a couple of divine stationery shops round town (Paper Passion in Parnell anyone just off High Street in the city) , but they want absolute daylight robbery for imported stationery and I refuse to buy to pay inflated prices. (much like everything in this country really but that is another story...)
Kikki- K had for years lovely sets and I still have the collection of them. At the moment they have quite sweet notepads which I do use for letter writing and some around the $50 mark....
I can find the odd gem in Typo too, but writing sets can be rare there. They do masses of gorgeous notebooks and Smiggle too.

Let's have a look shall we? In my bedroom, I have my sitting corner with my lovely birthday chair.
Next to that is the writing paper bookcase with all sorts of goodies. On the other side are two boxes with a lot of note sets and paper in (I didn't open those for a pic though) and over on the other side we have the current basket of what I go for t the moment! I adore Phoenix Stationery from England too and now have a friend selling it- I think I virtually have nearly every postcard set of there's going... My sister in law, when she lived in England, used to sell it too, so I have a collection going back many many years!

Then we walk out into the lounge and under my writing desk (which I rarely sit at) is another box of the stuff....

I have so many favourites - love the USA Crane stuff and Smythson of Bond Street in London too.

And yes - I am always thrilled to get more stationery as gifts!!! The husband doesn't quite get it though - hee hee.... When travelling I usually always bring back one or two sets from overseas too - England is amazing and David Jones in Australia and even Target sometimes too!

So there you go - my hidden obsession! I must say that I have to written a lot in the past week - have been knitting and cross stitching more!

What is your hidden stash? I have a wool one too- adore, adore, adore sock wool t the moment !

Giveaway

A small giveaway from me to celebrate my 100th post. (a few posts back :) ).

A dishcloth knitted by me (lovely English organic cotton), my favourite Eco Store vanilla soap (great New Zealand household cleaning products company), some Typo washi tape and a cute Nut and Bee notebook.

Please follow me and add a comment and I will draw some time next week!

(still feeling pain ....)

Post Op Day 5

Not good. Not good at all! I would do my 3 caesarians again over this! Thank goodness for drugs but when they wear off...hmmm. I hate waking up first thing in the morning.

I do have a gorgeous new jersey that is finally finished - this took forever to knit due to buying the wool man years ago and of course children grow and then you don't have enough wool and can not find a match. So then you undo it and knit with stripes, only to run out of the 2 nd colour!
But we got there! It nearly fits me! But is for the boy scout and his winter camps and tramps.
Thanks to my mum who sewed it up.

I have past 100 posts , so will do a giveaway in the next few days!

My favourite things

Some of my favourite things:

Family
Knitting
Cross stitch
Sewing
Writing
Writing paper and card sets
Stationery
Typo
Kikki K
L'Occitane
Target
A good cup of tea
tea mugs
Cath Kidston
Postcards
Books
Libraries
Gardening
Wool
Bags
Linen
Stripes and spots
Travel
Photography
Blogs
Re-usable bags
Organising anything and everything
Homes with books
Scrapbooking
Slippers
Pjs
My school library job
Small towns
Big cities
Music
Kid learning the trumpet
Magazines (Mollie Makes/ The Simple Things/Your Home and Garden/ Frankie/ Good)
Baking
Making jam and chutneys
Sunhats
Organic skincare
Soaps
Body lotions
Sock wool
Having sunglasses for the first time In many years
Homemade biscuits
Veges from the garden
Op shops
School galas
Children in their own bedrooms

Slowly

I woke up this,morning with tears running down my face - ye-ow! I think first thing in the morning might be the hardest. Okay later in day and I think because I am taking my drugs bang on the time like hospital said too - even if no pain , just take them to build up pain tolerance , as they say pain will get worse over the next few days before it gets better!!! I laughed at the volume of drugs I received at first, but now I think it will be easy to get through all the bottles!
I do feel exhausted and think I am exhausted because I am spending too much time sitting around, but no, my body IS exhausted! Rest!! It is hard and days and days to go.

So I have been doing some cross stitch, sock knitting (oh how I love this "Happy Go Knitty" self stripe wool!), making blueberry muffins because they are soft to eat and have started making some vege/ pork hock soup! Soup does seem crazy in this heat, but I love soup!
I just don't know what I want to eat and I feel starving but don't feel like eating! Jelly is good too, but icecream has no taste. Maybe my taste buds have changed slightly?

My mum and dad are coming to visit - I started this wrap skirt in the lime green fabric/ co-ordinating flowering , which I love, but have gotten a bit stuck on the pattern. Maybe mum can help?

And I ADORE "The Simple Things" magazine - wish I had bought the first issue when I saw it. I told myself I did not need it... Sigh!

Just done a feeling sorry for myself Book Depository order too...

Coromandel township

On the way home from Whitianga , we drove home through Coromandel township. Apparently this road is windier than the Taipa way, but I hadn't been here since 2003 and we wanted to show the boys too what a classic kiwi road trip on isolated roads (to us!) was like. A beautiful trip! I love little towns and Coromandel is that and has wonderful history too being an old gold mining town.
We didn't hang out there long - just time to buy lunch from a real kiwi bakery - goodness I had not had a real meat pie for sooooo long! - and a few postcards! (still need to write and post those cards! Do you write / send postcards from trips? I blu tack all of mine on our kitchen pantry doors!).
But such a pretty pretty drive around all the bays back to Thames and then back to the big smoke.

Love going away, but love coming home!

Recovering

The tonsillectomy is over! I am at home starting my regime of drugs for days! Had low blood pressure when I left the hospital today but feel a lot better tonight! Very little sleep last night.
A few tips for room mates of mine - close the bathroom door while you inside it and please don't make a million cellphone calls at MIDNIGHT! You are lucky I didn't yell at you (at least!).

So I guess it is days of knitting and cross stitching and reading coming up! All I have been doing for the past 6 weeks of our school summer holidays but anyhow.... Apparently I will be feeling the full brunt of my throat in a few days and will quite possibly want to sleep!

School has started for two of the boys - ones is loving the new school but is quite shocked by this thing called homework! Our primary school is a no homework school - which really love! It makes a mother's life so much easier! There is more and ore data and research coming out that says homework is a waste of time. They always do reading and basic facts as a matter of course but that was it. I hate teachers who give a homework sheet with photocopied stuff where the mother usually ends up doing most of the work or helping the kid do it - I won't! If they haven't been shown how to research at school , then as far as I am concerned the child cannot do their own homework!
So going to a school that is very academically based is always going to be a challenge coming from doing not much - luckily Kieran is a go getter and motivated and a perfectionist (which does create its own problems sometimes I think!). He should do really well!
He loves the pretty easy going uniform of any shoes! And ran rings around everyone at PE today too apparently ! One fit kid.
Joshua just settled back in normally! Realises year 10 has a lot of work involved. Ryan does not start for another 2 weeks - the joys of the NZ education system where each school runs itself and decides it owns policies / start dates/ uniforms/ curriculum etc!
Education is a funny thing. We have a new payroll - I am owed money from last year under the Novopay system. It will eventually get sorted, but they will possibly muck up my sick leave next...??? Hopefully not!

The diet

The big day is here - this will be my diet for how ever many days ! I have been told over and over - the op is fine - it is day 4-5-6/ second week where it is hell........... And that I will feel exhausted.
Let the fun and games begin!
( I think this may be my 100th post!)

Surf and a SPA on the beach at Hot Water Beach

A lazy day today - interviews for goal setting for the 2 that started school yesterday! All tied in its the "habits of the mind" - something I think I need to learn about! The 3rd child does not start school for another 2 long weeks....
I am not sure how I will go with me recovering from the tonsillectomy and him being here - we will see!
Have spent hours yesterday and today making class library cards - a bit of a nightmare using 2012 barcodes in 2012 classes and then being matched up to 2013 new class lists... No library system working yesterday nor photocopier at school, so this was a long winded way to do it, so teachers can use library without me being there. Well that is if someone sorts out my computer....
Might make for a tidy library when I return if it gets little use......

Photos today from Hot Water Beach. A must do for every kiwi and tourist!!!!
2 hours either side of a tide you can go and dig a hole in a particular part of the beach and the water will be HOT! Pretty crazy seeing it - a beautiful beach and all these people crowded into one part of it with their spades digging, digging, digging( and taking photos!!!!). Quite an amazing experience - the boys did not believe us until they experienced us. Always a race to build the walls to keep water in and then the waves coming along and crashing it all over and then more wall building, a bit of a sit down. Lots of people dancing around and going hot, hot, moving over a bit, digging some more. A real community thing! The local store has spades you can borrow to dig - we got ours off someone who had finished their digging, and then passed it along to another family when we had finished. A very very cool thing!

Cathedral Cove

New Zealand really is stunning. We spent a few days on the Coromandel Peninsula about 3 hours drive from Auckland. Oh how I had forgotten those roads! Even the drive between Thames and Whitianga had me car sick!
It was a long time since Stephen and I had been to the Coromandel - we were horrified that the boys had no idea what Hot Water Beach was (photos next round.)
To get to Catheral Cove we parked in a paddock and caught the bus down to the cove carpark which fills up earlier in the day - I have never seen so many tourists in one place in a long time in NZ! All clicking away on cameras.
You walk about 40 minutes on a track to get down the the cove. It's absolutely stunning but my goodness - the water was freezing, hence few people in the sea! Lots of little boats and sea kayakers arriving to have a look. I had no idea the cove was in a marine reserve - Ryan loved snorkelling around. It was so beautiful and the sea was cooling after the trek!
This place really is a must see in any New Zealander's eyes. Coromandel has plenty of amazing beaches and even in the height of the summer they can be pretty empty!