fantastic service

I just had to take another pic of the gorgeous flowers given to me by my dear friends Kate & Sconey. The lilies in the bunch have now opened up and they look beautiful! I love the bright colours.

Today I received the most fantastic service EVER! After feeling quite annoyed at my recent attempt to get my service machine serviced (see yesterdays post) I took it to Wellington Sewing Services who have a fancy new store in the Kilbirnie Plaza.

The very helpful team tested my machine and told me there was nothing wrong with it and even took the time to show me how to clean it properly. The BEST news is that they are planning to run 'learn to sew' evenings! I told them that Sconey and I would be VERY keen. So if you are in the Wellington area I HIGHLY recommend Wellington Sewing Services for all your sewing/repair needs. They've definitely got my business!! (One day when I can justify buying a new machine.....)

This means I can finally cross Item 53 off my 101 list. Sewing machine has been serviced! Yay!

AND.. you'll also notice by looking at my header that I have also completed Item 88 - make cupcakes and decorate them. D and I had great fun decorating these today today to make my new header:

They didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped - we had to rush a bit to make sure we still had sunlight hours to photograph them. :) But I'm sure we'll give them another go. Sconey gave us a fantastic cupcake recipe that D has pronounced delicious.


M

birthday cake bonanza

I've been flicking through the "Australian Women's Weekly: Children's Birthday Cake Book" and found sooo many cakes I want to decorate! D's mum has nominated me the birthday cake maker for the family now so I'm sure we'll get LOTS of opportunity to make some.

In fact, I was so taken with the old book - I purchased the new version:

Its not quite as good as the old school one, but its pretty good and has some new designs that are cool. I'd still be very keen to pick up a copy of the old one if I find one!

D's sister Angela has her birthday next weekend so we're planning a cake for her. I'm also going to make and decorate some cupcakes this weekend so we went on a mission to find the necessary lollies to decorate. We cannot find Liquorice Straps! We've been EVERYWHERE! I hope they still make them! Cupcakes is on my list - so hopefully I can cross another thing of my list.

Speaking of crossing another thing off my list - GRRRRRRRR
I dropped my sewing machine in to be serviced a couple of weeks ago and finally made it in to pick it up today, only to find that NOTHING had been done. The repair/service guy had apparently ignored the instructions to give it a service and had instead "assessed" the machine and noted that the "hook" was broken and needed replacing. I had left it with instructions to fix anything that was wrong, but to call me if it exceeded a certain amount. Well I got no call an no fix!~! Boy was I grumpy. Especially as I'd already paid the $27 deposit! The lady in the shop said they'd had a lot of problems with the repair man lately and perhaps I should take it to someone else?!!

The other repair guy in Welly is open tomorrow I think so I'll take it down and see what he thinks. A new sewing machine is NOT in the budget right now!

In much happier news - eeep I'm engaged! Its so exciting. I didn't think that much would change but it kinda has and I get really excited looking at my ring! I love D so much and can't wait to marry him. We are going to find out about dates for the registry office on Monday!

M

red sky in the morning, shepherds warning...

I took these pictures the other morning when we were walking to work. And sure enough, it rained later that day. The sky looked incredible, almost angry!.

Its been 1 week since my 101 things project started and I haven't completed anything!! That said, I do have a few work in progress and a pretty good excuse! I managed to pull some kind of muscle/thing in my neck/back and I've hardly been able to move my head for the last four days. I haven't been able to sit at the computer (so no blog) and haven't been able to do much else. D has been getting a bit frustrated with me I think. I've needed lots of massages with anti-flam and my wheat bag constantly needs reheating.


Items 53 + 16:
I did manage to drop my sewing machine in to be serviced yesterday however! I haven't crossed it off as it won't come back for another week or so. This gives me some time to work on my crochet! I have bought yarn and crochet needles and borrowed "Stitch'nBitch -Happy Hooker" from S so now I just have to find (make?) the time to sit down and practice!!

Items 100 + 96
I made a quick trip to the library yesterday and picked up a few of the books and films on my 101 list. So far I've watched '12 monkeys' and ' the godfather', and read 'mrs frisby and the rats of nimh' and the 'birth of the firebringer'. Both books were from the children's section and as such were quick light reads. I read a lot of fantasy novels when I was younger and this element appealed to me in 'the birth of the firebringer'. It was an enjoyable read, but I wouldn't rate it as one of my favourite books.

'mrs frisby and the rats of nimh' was a gorgeous rattie story and I think I will read the other 'rats of nimh' books. Many of my rattie friends have named their furkids after characters from these books and I've never had any idea what they were referring to! It was also a light quick read but a pleasant deterrent from the sharp pains in my back.

'the godfather' was exactly as I thought it would be. You hear some much about this and that from the godfather movies and so many movies and TV shows have taken elements from them. Despite the violence, I find the italian mafia setting really interesting.

I am still trying to decide if I've seen '12 monkeys' before or not. I seemed to remember bits of it but not all. I was really disappointed with the end, I'm one of those people who likes the story to be more complete! As far as I know, there was no sequel made.

I also got out 'I, Claudius' (book), 'Animal Farm' (book), 'The Godfather II' (DVD), 'Reservoir Dogs' (DVD), and 'Elephant Man' (DVD). If I aim to get out three or four books and movies a week, I'll be through that element of my list in no time!

I haven't discovered anything I absolutely love in these books/films but I think it is going to be a great adventure working my way through the list!

Yesterday was D's niece's 6th birthday! We had a birthday party at D's parents house today. D and were in charge of the birthday cake and had a few disasters but all was OK in the end. We baked an orange + choc melt cake with plans to do fancy decorating. However we realised that the cake was slightly overcooked and not all that nice. We decided to ice up a plain sponge instead. What dramas! D and I learnt not to leave such things to the last minute! The cake was far from perfect, but it had Abby's name and fancy candles!

Its got me thinking about D's birthday and Item 83 on my 101 list. D's birthday is in November and I want to make him a really funky cake. I've been trying to track down a copy of the Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book:

There are a couple on Trademe but they seem to be a bit like gold and I'm not prepared to pay megabucks. The library's copies are on loan or lost. I rang mum to borrow her copy but she is also looking for a copy as hers has gone missing! I'll have to keep looking...

Anyway, off to reheat the wheatbag and then bedtime I think!

M