You can never have enough...

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

Looks like it will be another hot one.. Only the second night I've slept with the fan on I think. And normally its on 24/7 all summer.

Off to see MrP today. He admitted what had upset him, didn't apologise of course cos he never does. But I knew something had upset him.

I haven't repaired the picture yet. Ill do that on Sunday.

I went to cook some chips in the fryer last night and the first time Ever the dam thing bubbled over, down the front of the drawers to the floor. Could have been worse but I have it sitting on paper, a large placemat and a baking try with shallow sides on it. I've cleaned but I will wash the floor later. And the bonus only one tint spot burn.

The mark has lightened on the Duvet, I think you would have to know it was there to see it. It should be completely dry, well enough to put in the hot water cupboard anyway and then Ill do the sheet, which I think is single.

I like the idea of using the duvet to make pillow slips, and it all works with my red and white themes.

OMG the recipes in the book I got yesterday are wonderful.. The Crepe section had me Yummying from the start lol.. Have to look for a cou0ple of NZ equivalents tho. Its American.

Ive decided to charge a pound of butter for the 2 dozen shortbread. Cos Ill end up with some for MrP as well.

Have a fab day everyone

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies Another stunner of a day once the clouds have gone. I was up early with the mist to mow the lawn and put the hose on the garden. I have even squeezed in a bit of housework Go me! lol

MrK and I were only saying the other day how tired the PM looked and we wondered if she could manage another term either as PM or leader of the Labour Party. I agree, all those mockers should be careful what they wish for. The recession is global but of course it's all 'Jacinda's' fault. That's a lot to take on one's shoulders. And the vitriol that has been thrown her way has been disgusting. I hope she finds happiness with her family and with whatever path life takes her.

I found some cherries at Pak 'n Save for a reasonable price. They are my favourite summer fruit so was quite chuffed to find them. But apricots were over $12 a kilo. I'll miss the stone fruit but just can't afford to buy them fresh. I'll get my apricot fix from tins. Pak 'n Save also had tins of apricots for $1.19 (Value brand) and they were verrry nice. Not sweet and sickly, nice and tart, just like me

Kettle's boiled so time for a cuppa and to move the hose.

happy crafting

[Venetian1]

Hot and sunny again.

Hope your baby and dog sittings go well Mica and Roma.

Finished a bit of housework before it gets too hot. Now off to see if the fruit shop is open - it’s just an open shed with bins of fruit everything is $6 a kilo, so you can mix and match. Haven’t seen any apricots there this year. They also have sweetcorn which is lovely and fresh.

[Lilith7]

Good luck with babysitting Mica.
Hot as here - 27. Very glad I took Madame Le Dog for an early walk before it got too hot. And did a bit more weeding. And then two strudels for the freezer, a bit more painting & generally mucking about & the day's almost gone.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Last night was so sticky I missed out on lots of sleep till 5am when I could open all the doors and windows and get some air through.

I got a power bill yesterday, it's up, well up, on my usual summer accounts.  I assume it is the death of the low user discount, unless these new healthy home electrical things I rarely use are sucking up the wattage, but either way I'm going to have to add a chunk on to the fortnightly contributions. Which on top of the increased grocery budget is a bit of a worry.

Might have to cut back on the cheap wine. Or drink more...

[kiwimade64]

OHH, our son works for a power company, and he said the low user charges have gone. They will slowly increase the charges over the next few years so us low users will be paying the same as everyone else. He's the one on the phone handling all the complaints for his company and explaining it to customers. If you have a fixed contract, then the new charges will apply when the contract expires. Some parts of the country pay a $2 a day user charge due to the power companies having difficulty maintaining the wires (rough terrain etc). So, their fee will come down and ours will go up. It makes it tough for those of us who are low users though.

[JanW]

Very warm day here in the bay - losing the power rebates really didn’t make any sense because it just increased the power companies profits and they didn’t need it - all our food manufacturers and the supermarkets lost their prompt payment discounts - once again it just added to all the food costs and more in the power country pockets - Robies power account increased by $70,000 a month losing his rebate so imagine how much the total cost was across the board - supposedly the rebates were unfair -when you read on the govt website one of the reasons we lost the low user charge was it might influence us from buying an EV - makes no sense to me - but it makes a real difference when you are on a fixed income .Its all the hidden costs like having to replace all the machinery that produces the bread tags from plastic to paper all adds up
Cherries are much cheaper and better this year because once again cancelled export orders to China - they are my favourite fruit as well Kiwimade - very good for the health as well
I am pleased for Neeve that Jacinda has quit - imagine when she goes to school if Jacinda was still in the headlines some parents would delight in telling their children something nasty to say -

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies A lovely cool start to the day so I'm going out to tame the salvias. They are going nuts and are loving the dry conditions. They grow beautifully under the trees where it's difficult to plant others plants thanks to the root systems of the trees. But they are being a tad bossy and the sage and roses are being smothered. Time to do a wee cut back. The lavender also needs haircuts to encourage the next round of flowers.

MrK has our friend's dogs and cats to feed again this weekend while they are away at the beach. Hopefully this time they can actually enjoy their time away with some fine weather.

My embroidery piece is still sitting there waiting for me to make a start. I'll get onto that as soon as I can.

happy crafting

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I adore salvias. At one stage in my gardening life I had dozens of different forms, and became quite obsessive about finding rare ones, they are amazing plants. These days I only have a few, but I did pick up a dark leafed deep pink one just this past week from the bargain bin at the local hardware/garden shop. I had been eyeing it for a couple of weeks and finally gave into temptation. Now I just have to find somewhere to put it, lol...

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

Looks like another stunner of a day is awakening.

Part of the reasons they stopped the prompt payment, and to me the Most rediculous reason yet, is that it made it Unfair to the low income earners who couldn't afford to pay their bill on time.
Simple thing, put it on automatic payment and try and cut your usage back. You see so many tv shows, adverts etc with people sitting there in a T Shirt with a heater on. Put some clothes on.. Its not that difficult.

My power bill has dropped nearly by half since MrP went into the home. Although I am using my fan now. But Im very pleased with it. And although some would not agree with me, I haven't dropped my automatic payment. So I have a nice credit build up for December, which means the money is there for my Car rego and extra spending at Christmas.

If I had it in the bank I know it wouldn't be there when I needed it. And as we get the Annual rebate in December as well I consider that tops what little bit if interest I would get in a bank.

Friends coming around today to pick up the Dolly cart and to go through my wool. Both avid crocheters. Mother and Daughter.
Hopefully if they buy some I will be buying some bulk lollies. MrP loves his lollies and the small pascal bags are $3 a pop now. So Ill get some from trade me. And drip feed them.

Two nights ago I was going to cook some hot chips, before I cleaned out the fryer.. Must have been a lot of condensation on them cos the dam thing bubbled over.. Ohh well everything got a dam good clean. And I managed to jump out of the way fast. Only one tiny spot of burn on my thumb.. Never had that happen before.

I couldnt stay awake for the end of the cricket last night. Keirin Reed did soo well.. Mens games on at 11 am too.

Think I will colour in later while watching the game.

Have a fab day everyone

[Roma]

Good morning.

Another hot day looming ... we got to 27 deg yesterday, I see expecting 28 deg today !

I like the blue salvias ... this season I have them growing in my half wine barrels, underplanted with blue lobelia .... a nice show and will use them again as they have stayed upright.

Pottering around home today and out for a bbq this evening. My cross stitch is also sitting there waiting for me to pick it up .... it's all ready to go!

Washing machine has chimed, time to move.

Enjoy the day all.

[kiwimade64]

Time for a cuppa, MrK is back from feeding and watering our friend's menagerie. The salvias I have are the lovely tall, deep blue ones. The bees love them and are busy working them today. Sage is part of the salvia family too, but this is a new sage plant and needs to get a good foothold. I read the other day that rosemary has been moved to the salvia family too. DNA tests showed it was catergorised wrong. The things we read lol. I smell of lavender and rosemary I just love working around both plants and the compost is going to smell lovely with the lavender prunings in it. The compost never smells so this will make a change.

Kettle has boiled, will make this cuppa. I have a small hebe to plant later too, it's more of a ground cover than the usual hebe. I'm hoping it will spread in the garden along the roadside and smother weeds.

[Venetian1]

Washing out and ready to bring in - it’s already 26 here -lovely day.

Just made a batch of soft tacos to use for wraps. I made some the other day and they turned out well so experimented with making cheese ones and they are great. Next time I have the oven on I’ll cut some up and see how they go in making crisps. Do it yourself salad wraps are my go to when family visit, the kids can add what they like which keeps everyone happy   

Using left over cotton to knit dishcloths which are ‘no-think’ and light for hot days. I made quite a lot for adding to Christmas presents but none for myself so making multi coloured basic ones with the scraps. 

Happy day all 

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Oven baked wrap pieces make great snacks, and we get to add our own flavourings. I have a recipe for soft flatbreads that uses yoghurt, and those make fabulous cracker type nibbles that go rather well with my evening wine. Rather too well in fact, so I try not to make a batch too often! 

[Lilith7]

I think that, all things considered the prices charged by power companies is easily explained in two words - greedy bastards.

For sure, Jan; there would be some people who'd not balk at causing hurt to a small child because they disagree with her parents politics. I think she's well out of it & think it was only ever going to get far nastier. Some people have huge problems with women in any position of power.

Much cooler here today thankfully might get a bit more of the dreaded weeding done later. Or not.

[kiwimade64]

The sad thing is Lilith, it's women too who are nasty about her.

I see Chris Hipkins is going to be our PM and there is an announcement being made shortly.

[JanW]

Just did something I shouldn’t have done but did it anyway - there are 3houses next door to my neighbours on one section - I can see the beautiful veggie garden at the back house from my house - they are very private people - we were supposed to have rain off and on for days - they have evidently gone away on holiday probably thinking the rain would come - their corn was up to the top of the fence but it is dying plus tomatoes and capsicums desperate for water - spoke to the people in the front house they weren’t interested so I trespassed and turned their watering system on - hope I don’t get a visit from the police they complained to the police about a teenage neighbour rollerblading in the shared drive

[Mica]

Afternoon all
Very warm here in Taranaki.

DGD having a nap so DH and I also resting  you forget how full on toddlers are
When she wakes we will take her to her parents who are attending postweddi BBQ.

We enjoying our time here back home tomorrow hopefully, collecting some tired k9s after their stay doggy spa

JanW you are a good neighbour hopefully they appreciate you.

Enjoy your day

[Lilith7]

True KM, there's no shortage of them sadly,

Well done Jan, if your neighbours have any sense they'll thank you when they get back.

[popeye333]

Id have done the same thing Jan.

Several times Ive taken washing in too, especially if its for ones with kids.

I would be greatful you had done that.

Chris Hipkins showed he can do things during Covid.. Times are changing I hope he gets a fair chance