A Houseful of Bugs . . . . . . . . & A January Recap

Greetings lovely friends & readers & 

Welcome to February  💗

I did not mean to be gone for so long but we have had a houseful of bugs these past weeks  (the 🤮🤢 kind & not the 🐜🐞 kind)   In the midst of this The Mr came down with Covid !!  But we are all well again now.   

I decided to do a short January recap ... school has returned here in New Zealand after more than 6 weeks break & I, along with the parents, breathed a sigh of relief.  As Alec went back earlier than Sid I drove to Taupo during the last week to spend a bit more time with him.

 Our flowers today are a bunch that I took to my daughter in law, picked from my garden, mainly dahlias & hydrangeas.

As I had no potatoes left I made mashed kumara for the Cottage Pie topping.

Alec & my son requested my homemade Cottage Pie so I made two, one for The Mr while I was away.  I also made fruity chocolate cereal bars which makes up in a large meat dish so you get a good quantity out of it.  You can find the recipe at the bottom of * this * post. (its an old recipe of my Mums)

Alec requested we go mini putt golfing again as he enjoyed it so much last time & I was happy to oblige.  It is such a gorgeous Putting Green with stunning lake views at every angle.  Alec beat me by 9 points but I am sure there was cheating score adjustment going on 😉

We went to our favorite cafe for lunch, Baked With Love.  We even had the same food we ate last time & now we call this cafe "our regular".

Right next door is a huge wonderful kitchen store & I wanted to hunt for a new mug as mine had cracked.  I found this lovely Jamie Oliver mug which I really love & it's so nice to drink out of. 

 I took Alec for a haircut & parked right outside the Salvation Army Op-shop.  I told him I had a moral obligation to go inside - he chose to wait in the car.  My only purchase was this heavy crystal bud vase for $5.  It's just perfect for a few rose buds & I'm delighted with it.

Two days after I got home the craft girls invited me to go with them to Tauranga to Paint Me Vintage.  It's many years since I've visited this gorgeous store & it was just as impressive as I remembered.  So much loveliness in every nook & cranny.

I'll share my purchases in my next post as I have (hopefully) done something with them by then. We had a wonderful day out & stopped in at the huge Tauranga Crossing Shopping Centre for lunch & a wander.  This was the first time I had been here & it was most impressive.  

The lights have 8 different settings but I prefer them just On, not flickering.

I purchased (from Temu) some plug in fairy lights - I'd wanted some for my kitchen for a very long time but could only get a 12 metre length so I ended up affixing them a lot further around my kitchen than I'd anticipated.

  I just LoVe them - as my kitchen can be on the darker side, I turn them on frequently.  I purchased the proper clips to attach them & then ended up giving all my enamel-ware, shelves etc a full on clean, which took me two entire days but everything just sparkled afterwards.  It's funny how this simple $14 purchase can bring me so much Joy.  

I'd left two baskets on my sewing room floor when I went to Taupo & upon my return The Mr had lifted them onto my bench for a certain two furry beings to sleep in.  They started out in separate baskets but after Day 1 Miss Pippi climbed in with Blackie.  

Also note they have both moved to the square shaped basket which is slightly larger

Day two was a nasty-weather-day & they were still in the same basket even though there was very little room (!!)

Day 3 they'd both moved back to the round shaped basket

Day Three she had managed to secure herself a bit more room.  Willie this might be a good one for your Cat Folder.  By Day 4 the Mother here (Yours Truly) had removed both baskets, cleaned the bench & banned furry beings from sewing room (they are taking no notice) 😉

Thank you so much for your visits today dear friends & for listening to my waffle,

Wishing you a wonderful rest-of-the-week,

Sending much love & friendship to you all,