Art for Heart's Sake

Happy Easter!

Hi and happy easter everyone.  It's 11am on Easter Sunday and I have just finished giving the bedroom a really good dust and vacuum.  Crikey there is so much dust in this house and I think it's contributing to the feeling of asthma I've had lately.  Hmmm there was no putting it off any longer, housework calls me today.  I know it seems like a strange thing to do at on Easter Sunday which traditionally is a family day.  As you know my sister and Mum live in New Plymouth (two plane rides away) and my stepson is busy with the wine harvest in Blenheim so it's just me and John.  Hehe, actually it's just me because John is helping a friend move house today.

Yesterday was the last afternoon at the Sales Store, thank heavens.  It is now closed permanently and I will be working in the main store and the outlet store now.  I am in the middle of a bit of a spin because after saying he would do his best to make sure I have Mondays and Thursdays off (as per what he promised when he offered me the job, which hasn't happened yet) he has me rostered on the next two Thursdays from 9-3 when my nursery is advertised as being open  on that day from 10-4.  When I queried him about it rather forcefully he muttered that he couldn't change it for the next two weeks but would try after that.  After a lot of thought and talking to John too I am going to tell Gareth on Tuesday that if he can't sort out the roster so I can have those days off as he promised, I will have to resign.  I hope it doesn't come to that because the extra money is the exact amount we need and I DO love selling such beautiful products, but I have to stick to my guns because it will only take a couple of people to say ''well she wasn't open when she said she was'' and my little business will go down the drain totally!

Today I am going to do the rest of the housework and then I have a couple of punnets of vegetables to plant - more rainbow chard and some spring onions.  We woke to rain this morning - brief but heavy, yay!!  Back to the vacuum cleaner I must go!!  Smiles... chocolate ones...

Easter Eggs!

Hi, here we are on Easter Saturday and I haven't made our easter eggs yet!!  I have a feeling I will be making them tomorrow, giggle.  I thought I'd post a few photos of the easter egg making process just for fun.  I love making the marshmallow - there's something magical about watching a mix of homemade sugar syrup, soaked gelatine and vanilla essence turn into fluffy white perfection. 

I'm off to work in about 2.5 hours so I don't think I'll get much accomplished this morning.  Maybe I'll dust and vacuum the main part of the house so I don't need to do it tomorrow.  Hmmmm now there's a thought!  I could garden but it's hard to get stuck into anything when you know you have to leave in a couple of hours.    Here are the photos, enjoy.  Big Easter smiles

A Poltergeist??

Hi there, it's lunchtime on Good Friday and I've only just found the time to start this.  We've moved Lizzie (Bertie's remaining girl.. ermm chook (giggle)) to a new site where she has fresh grass and will also get some sun through the winter.  She's been looking so chilly and lonely in her other spot so I'm hoping this might perk her up a bit!  We tried to move the other chook house but the wood has started to rot so Gertrude, Sophie and Matilda have to stay put which is a bit sad.  They can still see each other though (not that I think chooks really worry about that, just me!! Giggle).  What can I say I adore animals and nothing about that is ever going to change, it's just who I am.

Today both John and I are feeling very frustrated with the roadworks going on across the road from our property.  They are using extremely heavy equipment - yes even on Good Friday.  I have to admit we contacted the council re noise control and the security guard has been out twice - once to issue them with a warning and again when I phoned again 2 hours later.  He also had a walk about on our property up near our house but not right where the noise is the worst and he doesn't think it's any worse than the traffic noise.  This is a load of rot because the huge diesel thingamewhatsit (can't remember what John called it) is a constant rumble with loads of other noise on top and it is mind boggling how loud and irritating it is.  More to the point they just shouldn't be doing it on a public holiday.  Apparently he will be working tomorrow and Easter Sunday too (WHAT???!!) so the guard told us.  This whole thing is made worse because we actually know the man that is responsible, he's a neighbour and we bought this house from him.  Little enough said, he is not easy to deal with and is very pig-headed (I won't say more except he has lots of people who dislike him intensely). 

Aside from that racket it is a beautiful day!  My work day was really icky yesterday for future 2 week roster reasons but I won't go into that now.  It's too depressing and I'm trying not to think about it!  Much love and smiles.... until tomorrow..

Gardening is So Good for my Soul!

Hi, wow it's Thursday already and tomorrow is Good Friday.  Ermmm I've just realised I haven't bought an easter egg for John yet, eeeeek!  I love making our own dark chocolate marshmallow easter eggs but somehow I don't think I have it in me to do it this year.  I make my own vanilla marshmallow and melt down beautiful rich, dark chocolate to make the base of the large 1/2 easter egg moulds I have and let it set.  Then I make the vanilla marshmallow (such fun to make) and pour it in the chocolate 1/2 shell.  Once it's set I put a layer of chocolate over that again.  YUM is the end result.  Oh boy now I really want to make them!  Bother!

Yesterday I spent lots of time in the main perennial garden weeding like a mad woman and cutting back some of my perennials that needed it.  I had such fun and truly realise how gardening soothes my soul.  I am a totally different person when I've been gardening.  I also spent a tiny amount of time in my studio playing with paint! 

I have promised you some photos and I feel terrible that I haven't put any on here in over a week!  I will rectify that this Easter, definitely!  In the meantime here is a photo you'll recognise of our darling Sabah.  I can't believe we had him put to sleep a year ago today - where has the time gone??!! 

Love you Sabah honey and thank you so much for sending us our gorgeous Monty.. he's helped fill the big empty space in my heart!  Big smiles to a very very unique and dear pussycat (ahem, make the two unique and dear pussycats!!)...

Eeeeeeeek and Happily Gardening!

Hi, it's a beautiful Wednesday morning and I'm about to launch myself out into the garden for the day, complete with sunblock and mosquito repellent.  We have had lots of mosquitos this year - the nasty white striped leg variety!  Mosquitos don't tend to carry nasty diseases here in NZ thank heavens and long may that last.  Our pond doesn't tend to move a lot when there is a lack of rain which is the perfect breeding ground for the little devils.  There's not a lot we can do about it and I guess all the greenery around provides them with safe havens too.  Phoop, giggle.

Yesterday I had a fairly nice day at the outlet store.   I have to say there are times when I feel completely out of my depth, especially when someone asks for advice - for instance ''will this stretchy material be okay for a skirt and how much will I need''.  Oh my goodness, talk about totally freaking me out because I don't sew (I have in the past very briefly but I don't feel confident doing it at all) so I had to go out the back and ask the question.  Needless to say I am going to pick the brains of my neighbour who was a home-ec teacher many years ago.  I just need a few simple guidelines so I don't sound like a complete pillock (naive twit).  I want to give my customers the best service I possibly can without having to bother the machinists out the back all the time (they are frantically busy).  I came away feeling a bit demoralised but I will get it sorted in my head before next Tuesday morning.  Apart from that it was good and there were quite a lot of people coming through the door which is wonderful.

I don't work again until 3pm tomorrow (Thursday) so I'm going to make the most of my time at home.  More tomorrow my lovely blog readers.  Smiles...

Off to the Outlet Store!

Hi, this is just a quick post this morning because I am about to head out the door to the Jellicoe Outlet Store.  This is my favourite time of the week - spending 5 hours in this amazing place.  There are numerous bolts of fabric, beautiful trims, buttons and other ephemera and I also get to be in the fashion environment because they make all of the Jellicoe clothes there two.  There are two machinists (one also is a pattern cutter) and everywhere in their workshop there are scraps of the most beautiful fabrics littering the floor!  These scraps end up in ''grab bags'' for NZ$5 (a wonderful deal) along with the odd bit of ephemera etc for people to have fun with.  As I've probably told you, I don't really sew, but I have at least 4 bags of these scraps in the spare room wardrobe!!

One thing that freaks me out a little is cutting fabric for people.  I'm petrified I won't cut the fabric straight, especially when it's stretchy!  Eeeeek!  I'll write more later honeys.  Smiles...

Morning...!!!

.....she shrieked with gusto trying to make herself wake up and smell the roses.  Giggle.  I didn't sleep terribly well last night so I need some oooomphhh to get me going!! 

I managed to get some more weeding done out in the kitchen garden yesterday pm, until it got far too hot in the sun at around 3.30pm, crikey it was HOT!  I came back up to the house and managed to find a shady spot in the main garden to weed.  Buttercup (ugh) tends to plague various areas of this garden so isn't it lucky I love getting it out!  There is something so satisfying about wrenching it up. 

Today I'm off to work at 1pm and I think I am going to try to spend some time in my studio this morning.  Oooh I did manage to get the cabochon out of the pendant tray (with paper attached) so I will be able to re-use the pendant tray.  Now to find just the right piece of paper to make another pendant.  I have so many beautiful 12x12 papers and the cabochons are fairly small so it's a matter of finding JUST the right colour, image etc.

Off I go to walk the dog.  Have a fabulous day/night wherever you are.  Love to you all and I PROMISE to share a photo or two soon.  Crikey!  Smiles..

Gardening at Last!!

Hi, yay and yippee, I've spent quite a bit of time weeding in the kitchen garden this morning - talk about therapeutic for my soul.  This pm I am going to try to work the soil into a fit state for carrot seed and I also want to get some weeding done in the main garden if possible. 

Yesterday pm went very slowly at the sales store but thankfully I only have another three afternoons there (including a late night) before that store closes.   I sold a few things but it really wasn't very busy which made the time drag horribly.  I have to stop thinking of all the things I could be doing at home when I'm not busy at work - it's most demoralising, giggle.

Oh the pendant I made the other day is slightly discoloured because I did a silly thing (in hindsight).  I used Ranger Glossy Accents (a stupendously good glue and sealant) to glue the glass cabochon to the paper but when I went to glue the cabochon into the metal pendant tray I decided to use special scrapbooking metal glue, thinking it would be better.  WRONG!!  When I put it on on Friday I realised there was a darker ''stain'' in the centre of the pendant image because the metal glue had obviously reacted with the unsealed paper surface under the cabochon.  It goes to show one should always listen to one's gut because I was going to and fro ''will I use glossy accents or metal glue?'' several times.  Hmmmmm, giggle.  I'm a bit sad because the paper was gorgeous and I won't be able to recycle the cabochon either.  Hey ho, it's a learning curve and I now know that glossy accents is the way to go with the next one I make.  I won't take a photograph of this one now because it doesn't look wonderful anymore, boo hoo!

My garden is calling me again.  More tomorrow before I go to work for the afternoon.  Big smiles xxx

Hi Honeys I'm Late Because...

My daft computer decided to throw a hissy fit (and still is even though I've restored it) this morning.. Hummppphhhh, I definitely didn't need the hassle.  I have a feeling this dear laptop needs a very good clean out.  I get rid of temp files etc regularly but I think something gnarly is happening in the hard drive!

I went to work this pm after a lovely morning spent mainly in the kitchen garden.  I sowed some parsnip seed (hmm bit late) and white turnip seed (don't turn up your nose, roasted they are DIVINE!).  I also watered the vegies I planted on Wednesday and they are looking pretty good.

Work was a bit ho hum and I ended up with customers staying well after closing time (a little frustrating.. I bent down under the desk and mouthed to myself ''can you please just leave''..Giggle) so I was late getting home.  Yesterday pm went really slowly and I honestly had quite a few moments when I really didn't want to be there.  I managed to smile and chat to the customers but oh dear I definitely wasn't very happy.  At least the sale store (like a horrid dungeon with no natural light) will be closed this time next week, phew, so any hours I do will be in a shop with natural light! 

I need to go and make our salad for dinner.. more tomorrow.. yay I have 1.5 days at home.. pure bliss!!!  Smiles...

Chimney Sweep!

Hi there, it's Friday morning and yay we are getting our chimney swept today.  I always love it when it gets done.  We used to have a coal range and a big open fire in the house I grew up in.  I used to love watching the chimney sweep do his work.  In those days it was done with big fat brushes (they are slimmer these days) and the soot used to fall down the chimney all over the newspapers he put down on our large hearth (and sometimes onto the rug in front of the fire which luckily was always covered too).  There was something about the whole process that fascinated me and it still does.  Of course our ''chimney'' isn't a REAL one, just a metal tube that goes through the ceiling and they use big vacuum cleaners to suck up all of the soot these days.  We have a wetback on our wood and coal burner and this makes the sweep's job a little more tricky.  We also have a hole in the top plate of the fire which we need to get fixed, hopefully before this winter.  Squeeee yes I'm loving talking about winter, how sad is that??!!  Giggle.

Yesterday I started a new canvas and also created something VERY exciting!  I made a new pendant and I must take a photo of it for you.  I will be making a few more over the next few days too.  I went to work at 3pm and it seemed to take forever to get to 8pm and home.  John cooked the most gorgeous tasting stirfry which we dived into when I got home.  I was starving!

Today I am working 1-5.30pm and I just hope it goes fairly quickly. I'm in the sales store which is only open until 30 March, then I'll be permanently doing hours in the main shop and a few hours in the outlet store.  It will be nice to hopefully have a more settled roster, but who knows!

Time to make a cup of tea before the chimney sweep arrives.  Smiles..