Phew we made it

At the middle of last week I was in complete panic.  Nearly everything still needed doing.  My stitchy day to finish Nat’s cushion got hi-jacked by my husband and instead of a 10 minute stop at a friends house I rolled him out 6 hours later, him with a very happy glow.

The reality was that I just was not going to get everything done.  The girls were due up on Saturday and I needed at least another 12 hours to get just their stuff done.  I was so stressed I was near crying and totally freaking out.

I know, I know.  Christmas is supposed to be about family and not gifts but I hate disappointing people and love spoiling them and with half the family having great presents, the other half couldn’t be doing without.

So I took the day off work . . . and thank F%#k I did.  I was just getting out of the shower at around 9ish when my husband rang.  Turns out that during the drama of how long we would get them from their mother for (always a drama and always multiple changes in time and date) he had missed her changing the start date and they had just left Stratford.  Panicked phone calls to my darling Dad resulted in him dropping everything doing the emergency pick up for us as I was an hour further away than everyone else and they would have been stranded waiting for me for at least 1.5 hours.  Gotta love my Dad 🙂

I had thought that I would have both that day and most of Saturday to get this all done but now I had 8 hours and that was all.

I got dressed and started stitching.

and I stitched and I stitched and I stitched.

I managed to get Natalie’s cushion mostly done.  I had gotten about halfway through the pulling of the waste canvas when then arrived home so I stashed it in the wardrobe.

This was Thursday last week 🙂

Meanwhile I had finally come up with an Alice in Wonderland idea for Ronnie.  I didn’t get a chance to start it.

Ralph and I had a chat and we decided he would take the girls out on Saturday morning so I could get it all done.

As you can imagine, stress levels are now through the roof.

So Saturday dawned beautiful and sunny.  I got up and went for a run along the beach. It was so beautiful and warm that I yanked my shoes off and dived into the ocean.  Instant hyperthermia and minor frost bite to the extremities.  Its still not warm out here hahahaha

Back home and I strip my leggings off on the deck and wrap a towel around myself.  Poured a coffee and started sorting my days agenda.  As the girls were having breakfast I started making the first of my sauces, the Jack Daniels BBQ sauce.  As I’m cooking away dressed in a soggy singlet and underwear wrapped in a towel my daughter wandered in and asked why I was dressed this way, so I told her.  She then left with her cup of coffee muttering about her mother being ‘bat shit crazy’ 😀 Gotta love that kid.

Jack Daniels BBQ sauce is delicious! http://www.food.com/recipe/jack-daniels-bbq-sauce-278367

Ralph took the girls out and I finished the cushion! 🙂

I then climbed into Ronnie’s Alice in Wonderland and got that taken care of.

Then, after texting Ralph that it was safe to return, I climbed into Jordyn’s dream catcher.

Sunday dawned with a flurry of mixing as I climbed into the rest of the BBQ box stuff.

First up was the Jim Beam BBQ sauce.  Completely different from the Jack one but bloody nice even if I do say so myself http://www.food.com/recipe/jim-beams-bbq-sauce-243869

Then we made some Bacon Salt.  Tastes like salt.  Nothing to rave about but looks good 🙂 http://www.notquitenigella.com/2012/02/16/bacon-salt/

Then we made Bobby Flays Dry Rub http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/marinade/bobby-flays-dry-rub.html

And we finished it all off with The Mansion Spice Rub http://eliotseats.com/2013/12/20/christmas-2013-seasonings-for-the-season/

And I boxed it all up into the 3 boxes

I then boxed up the memory stick gifts and the girls candle boxes then sat down with an extremely large glass of Chardonnay

Forgot to get a photo of the candles for the housekeepers though whoops

I then discovered that our neighbours are all going to be away for Christmas so don’t need to bake them any cookies! Phew.

So I did it.  With some blood, lots of swearing and an almost complete mental breakdown we have made the all.  Remind me next year that this was a stupid idea because I am notorious for doing this to myself.

We are now back to stitching Tash’s photo with the aim to have it completed and framed by her birthday at the end of March

After that mammoth effort I now need a nap!

Christmas may now proceed as planned xxx

This weeks planned achievements:

• Work on Tash’s stitch

Last weeks planned achievements:

• Finish Natalies cushion cover Done!
• Jordyns dream catcher Done!
• Make rubs for BBQ boxes.  At least research some sauces for same Completed!
• Figure out what the heck to make, then make, something for Ronnie Done!
• Finish putting together the memory stick gifts Done!

Christmas Homemade List Progression:

1. Kayla: Elephant cushion – Completed
2. Levi: BBQ Basket same as bosses – Completed
3. Jordyn: Dream catcher – Completed
4. Veronica: Stencil Art, Alice in Wonderland – Completed
5. Natalie: Scary Movie cushion – Completed
6. Jamie: Photo with beach boarder – Completed
7. Lunam Family Christmas: Dragon cushion – Completed
8. Dad & Siblings: Memory stick of Great Grandad’s war diary’s and postcards – Completed
9. Tash: Cross stitch photo – Finish it! Not going to happen I feel but worth a shot.
10. Marie & Margaret – Completed
11. Housekeepers – Completed
12. The bosses – BBQ Gift basket – Completed

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Where did all the movies go?

Weekly non stitchy update

I have only watched 2 movies in the past 2 weeks, and none at all this week ~shock~ ~horror~ ~people fainting in the aisles~ Mind you I have caught up on all my programs that I recorded from sky.  That would be way too many episodes of The Walking Dead, Victoria, Lucifer, Chicago Med . . . When you have to stitch you tend to watch way to much TV.  This is why I go to the gym and run, otherwise my butt would be the size of a 1969 Impala.

The 2 movies I did watch are:

Blair Witch (2016): Near Burkittsville, in the Black Hills Forest, on the root of a lightning-struck tree, the couple of Lane and Talia find a DV tape sticking out of the ground. The content of the found tape is mostly footage of static, however, near the end, there is also an intriguing small part where someone is trying to escape from something that is after him, screaming and running in an abandoned house. After accidentally stumbling across the uploaded footage, James, believing that this is his final chance to put an end once and for all in the unresolved mystery of his sister’s Heather disappearance, some twenty years ago in the same woods, he assembles a team of friends in search of answers. Sooner or later, the team will go astray in the heart of a green maze that is riddled with the chilling legend of Elly Kedward, the Blair Witch who relentlessly keeps messing with their sanity, gradually taking them down, one by one. Eventually, James will find himself in the epicentre of the evil activity, … Written by Nick Riganas

This was awful with a capital AWF.  They took the old story and basically made it again but totally forgot how to scare people while doing it.  I got bored and nearly fell asleep. 1/5

Then

Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016): Alice returns to the magical world of Underland, only to find the Hatter in a horrible state. With the help of her friends, Alice must travel through time to save the Mad Hatter and Underland’s fate from the evil clutches of the Red Queen and a clock like creature, known as Time. Written by Ghostface

LOVED IT 😀 but then I really like weird and this definitely was weird 🙂 I love how many shapes Johnny Deep can twist himself into when acting 😀 If I hadn’t have seen it in my younger days I would swear that he can’t act straight. 4/5

Cooking was a little interesting.  I am attempting some vegan/vegetarian stuff. I adore animals and will one day probably own my own zoo. The older I get the more my conscious screams at me about eating animals.  I know it probably sounds silly but I value life, all life (except for a couple of notable exceptions), and its something that I struggle with.  I grew up and adulted farming for most of my life and I have seen cows cry when going to slaughter.  I just don’t believe that dumb animals are really all that dumb.  They love, sometimes problem solve and mourn, just like us.  Not having thumbs does not stop them from attempting to figure out how to open the gate latch.  In this day and age of abundance the need to eat meat with every meal is not necessary for survival so its time for me to see whether I can make it as a vegetarian, or mostly vegetarian (mmmmm bacon mmmmm chorizo I don’t know if I can give you up my tasty morsels of nomminess).  My husband is not impressed but he has been terrified of everything green since he was a wee tot so I am not surprised by this.  I have promised him that he can still have meat 😀 I promise not to become a reformed meater

So I did some research and got the Thug Life cookbooks.  All the swearing in the books makes me laugh while I cook 😀

Baked Spanish Rice is delicious and could be something we do more often.  The Smoked Maple Marinated Tofu was great but my husband won’t eat it.  That’s fine, he can BBQ himself a steak 😀

I don’t usually climb into political stuff.  The thing with political opinions is that everyone has them and won’t be budged.  However this came across my feed this week and had me rolling on the floor.  I think piss dongle might be my new favourite word.

Have a fantastic week everyone xxx

 

Peace on Earth

Weekly craft update

Its 3 weeks till Christmas.

I’m running out of time  and have had to face a couple of realities.

Nobody in the family will get back to me with a photo of Levi with his Nan so I am just going to have to scrap it for now.  I won’t give up on this but reality says its going to be a next year project.  So I am going to do him up a BBQ gift box also.

Ralph and I have agreed to no presents to each other this year as we are a little poor.  I usually agree and then get him something anyway, he very rarely gets me anything.  I have scrapped the idea of making him something for now as I just don’t have enough time left.

I still don’t know what to do for Ronnie but its not going to be a knitted bunny.  I will need to do some googling and come up with a plan.  I’m not going to scrap here present because she will not be the only child without a handmade gift.  Trying to treat them all equal blah blah.  I might make something that uses up some of the left over silk flowers from making this!

Its currently hanging a bit low as I have just popped it on to an existing hock but it looks fantastic 😀 Will add a bit more light and colour to wine time during the summer 😉 Not even close to helping get the Christmas stuff ready and not a part of the decorations but I have been itching to make this for weeks so 😛

Kayla finally left the house on Saturday afternoon! The poor little thing.  She has never lived in Tauranga before so hasn’t any friends locally and hasn’t gotten a steady job yet so can’t really afford the petrol to go visiting.  She’s had a couple visit her but its a busy time of year.  She went and babysat her little cousins so I got her cushion made 🙂

Because I had the machine out I got the one for the Lunam family Christmas made as well 😀

Apart from that there was just a bunch of stitching on a Scary Movie cushion.  1750 stitches to be precise 🙂

Its only 2 more of the big letters then on to the small ones.  After that I have to pull the waste canvas and we are done 🙂

If I knuckle down this week I might just get it all done 🙂

This weeks planned achievements:

• Finish Natalies cushion cover
• Jordyns dream catcher
• Make rubs for BBQ boxes.  At least research some sauces for same
• Figure out what the heck to make, then make, something for Ronnie
• Finish putting together the memory stick gifts

Last weeks planned achievements:

• Turn the elephant and dragon stitches into cushions Achieved!!!!
• Finish Natalies cushion cover Nearly
• Jordyns dream catcher Nope

Christmas Homemade List Progression:

1. Kayla: Elephant cushion – Completed
2. Levi: BBQ Basket same as bosses
3. Jordyn: Dream catcher – Have wrapped first hoop
4. Veronica: Not a clue
5. Natalie: Scary Movie cushion – Nearly finished top row.  She also wants a small stitch for her favourite band – not started.
6. Jamie: Photo with beach boarder – Completed
7. Lunam Family Christmas: Dragon cushion – Completed
8. Dad & Siblings: Memory stick of Great Grandad’s war diary’s and postcards – Found appropriate boxes on the weekend.  Just need a quick note inside to explain what is on the stick and name tags.
9. Tash: Cross stitch photo – Finish it! Not going to happen I feel but worth a shot.
10. Marie & Margaret – Completed
11. Housekeepers – Completed
12. The bosses – BBQ Gift basket – Make the rubs and possibly a couple of sauces? Jack Daniels?
13. Neighbours – Pistachio & lemon shortbread