Author Archives: paulainauckland

Feeling – what?

Posted in music, OLW, Saturday Share, Smalls SAL, Uncategorized by

Monday morning & I’m feeling a little off. Today is the day R came back to work & according to the boss, she’s a little unhappy that I am still here & have taken some of her roll. But then the work focus has changed, and it’s def more than one person can handle. A lot more. I’ve just seen her and she seems OK – so maybe I allowed myself to be caught in someone else’s drama. Bad, bad Paula. Don’t think I’ll include that little bit in my first card to my new OLW penpal – I haven’t had an old-fashioned snail mail penpal in how long? – I must stop fluffing around with blogging and working and WRITE. I’m on a deadline – it’s nearly time for my lunchtime walk with Sarah. Yay for having stamps in my folder.

Yesterday was so slow in the household & not what I expected it to be. My rhythm & routine disappeared right from that moment I slept in & I didn’t get my groove back until late afternoon. Finished another ornie (will share on Saturday) and got rid of the mending pile that B created. So domestic. Then to blow out the cobwebs I went for a drive up to the SIL’s to drop her back off at hers with the toy car’s top down & on the way back, blasting music. Sorry Swanson peeps. Hope you liked some Ministry of Sound. If not, well, at least it wasn’t One Direction, right?

Tonight I plan a binge watch of Nashville & some stitching. Or maybe a swim and an early night. I don’t know about you, but I am more than ready for the school term routine to start. Only two more weeks to go! That noise you just heard? My wonderful MIL sighing in relief.

school

Sunday, Gorgeous Sunday

Posted in family, Mirabilia, OLW by

It’s beautiful here in Auckland today. Well, the West is! Yesterday the cricket was on at Eden Park, so of course it rained. Great for my fruit trees, they could have done with the soak (stupid hose doesn’t reach to this side of the house, so I bucket around). Not great for the cricket – it was rained off. I think the next Eden Park game is v Australia in the ICC World Cup – I want to go to that one.

Si is sick so yesterday was super quiet. M & Z went to Grandma’s quite late in the afternoon, then around nine I got a phone call to say that they were going to stay the night. AWESOME! B got a lesson in consequences; he’s on kitchen this week and has been mostly on strike. So after multiple warnings, I followed thru (& felt like the worst parent in the world) – no dinner was served. Mind you, he’d had two ham croissants not an hour earlier but Ah Ma Gord the circus erupted. Newsflash – the world is not fair to the Screaming Teen. But we’re adamant that he must learn consequences – better now at home than in the workforce. This is safer.

I stitched. And stitched. So excited when I look at the height growing in my thread jar, and the growing yellow on my working copy (I don’t often colour but I find it easier to pick up a stored WIP if I do) then I look at her skirts & groan. Seems like I’m getting nowhere fast! There is so much still to do – and I still need more beads.

But the upside of having God throw patience lessons at me all day yesterday is this: I know what I want to invite into my One Little Word life. And that’s patience. It’s OK to not respond immediately. It’s OK to count to ten. It’s OK to have consequences for my actions or inactions. It’s OK to walk away. It’s OK to say “I am not involved in your story”.

And that feels good.

Saturday Share

Posted in OLW, Saturday Share by

Planning is very important to me. Without it, I’d have a snowballs chance of maintaining my One Little Word or even the slightest resemblance to sanity. If you want to laugh, it’s okay. My family will be too. Sanity? Ha.
image

Anyway, I have a work planner and a personal.  Filofax week per page, that I added some tabs to do I can find the month easily. Bit of washi, some thumbnail images and I’m good. I pick up other stuff here and there (yay Pintrest) & this site is one of my favs.

Organizing Planner: The Harmonized House Project

Take a peek, there might be stuff for your house too. Or Pintrest, on my Printables list. Link is up the top of my page.

Ooh look

Posted in Smalls SAL, stitching patterns by

wpid-wp-1421312240970.jpg

Blah. I’d love to share my second finish for 2015 but just remembered it’s my Smalls finish too. Hope you can wait a fortnight! M says if I had green thread and brown beads this could be a Christmas tree…

 

Do please share my Travelling Bunny post. I’d love to see a few more entries! Thanks!

EDIT: It would possibly help if I posted the Travelling Bunny link again, right?

https://sewscrapmuse.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/travelling-bunny-a-finish-a-giveaway/

 

Travel Recap + WIP Wednesday

Posted in books, family, Mirabilia, stitching patterns, travel by

Just for Chiara! Here’s a small sampling of our photos from the long weekend.

This is a boutique hotel in Cambridge. I’m thinking it could be the perfect spot for a stitching retreat – altho it would be a pricy one!

20150109_070504

This is B – if you’re on my FB, sorry, as you would have seen this already. From our stop in Taupo. Plus the sundial that is in the Rose Garden next to the play park, on State Highway one as you drive through town.

20150109_090546  20150109_093241

Junk shops – we probably stopped at about 50% of those we saw, so Z can look for vintage Commando comics. One of my bosses collects old gramophones – this was in an ugly shop in Havelock North.

20150109_125101

Also in Havelock – Duart House. As soon as I saw it I recognized the resemblance to the family home in Scotland. http://duarthouse.org.nz/ sadly it was shut when we discovered it, so it’s on the diary for the next time we visit Hawkes Bay.

20150109_132104

Day two was in Wellington. We went to Te Papa, the museum where Z started his Lord of the Rings/Hobbit costume search. This is the Elven Lieutenant – love the detail.

20150110_160806  20150110_160827

M as a pilot! He’s got his “oh grow up Dad!” face on.

20150110_163931

B designed a plan in the AirNZ exhibit.

20150110_164055

We had drinks then walked around with one of my brothers. We don’t spend much time together and I’m so sorry R – B & M combined can make anyone’s ears bleed! R helped Z find more costumes. Here’s Gloin – one of the dwarves. His costume was sumptuous yet sturdy. Those boots! Huge.

20150110_192150

Day 3 was more Wellington then the drive to New Plymouth. This is one of the houses along the Wellington ocean coast. I have a thing for lighthouses!

20150111_100141

Hawera – the water tower. Again, closed – but had we been 30 minutes earlier we could have climbed to the top. Apparently only takes 10 minutes! Yeah, right. Chiara, I’m sitting on the ground about 300m away from the base to take this. Any further away and I would have been on the road! The oaks surrounding it are planted to commemorate Armistice Day in 1918 by the local dignitaries and a VC winner.

20150111_163945

And the War Memorial in Hawera.

20150111_164946

We didn’t take many photos from New Plymouth to home. Unfortunately we’d done too much in too few hours and everyone was grumpy and ready for their own beds. It was fantastic to get home.

I did get quite a bit of Stargazer done, given that most of this was in the car on the long straights (don’t try to stich thru the Manawatu Gorge. It’s too windy and too beautiful to miss). All that dark yellow was the trip & I’ve pretty much made up my mind to rip the face/hands and re-do it with 2 over 1 tent, to give more detail. One more week of work then I’ll rotate to a small plus some finishing.

20150114_062812

Reading – Monica Ferris’ Needlecraft Mysteries. Gentle (Betsy’s no Miss Marple) & I like the stitching references. I also like the way the author is experimenting with the genre. Luckily there’s a few books so far in the series! Next will be a re-read of Unbroken before I see the movie (it’s been a few years since I read an advanced copy).