Happy New Year !!!!

Happy New Year Everybuddy!!!  We wish you all lots of good things for the year ahead.  Lots of friends, family, love, adventure, smiles, good food, fresh air, sunshine, flowers, good books, great movies, sleep, exercise, treats and most of all fun.

Thanks for joining us on our years adventures in 2013!

Love
Mumster and Poppy Q
xxx

Hot, Humid, Cloudy + Wet

It was one of those days here in the capital city.  It rained, the sun came out, clouds came over, a bit more rain, cool then hot and now humid as me and mum put our tootsies up to watch the tele.  Mum and I slept in, then she did some gardening and then went for a walk into town to meet a bestie.  They had average pizza from a proper pizzeria for dinner  and then went and saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which was sweet and life affirming, and mum didn't find old Ben Stiller as annoying as she normally does.

She stopped off at the supermarket to stock up on fruit and veg for the coming days as well as a supply of cat biscuits for me.  It was 9pm as she strolled up the street to our little house, the neighbours were in the garden weeding at that late hour.  So after feeding me my feast, mum is now going to serve up some yoghurt and fresh strawberries and watch the news.

Hope you are all relaxing too!!

Rainy Days

You wouldn't think it was mid summer here in kiwiland.  We got us a nice and sunny day at Christmas, but since we have had buckets of rain.  Luckily mum has a couple of good umbrellas and a pile of books.  She feels a bit of a blob today cos she slept in, read her book, watched a couple of movies ( My House in Umbria and  You've Got Mail).  The pile of dishes has been attacked, and mum is feeling that she has finally beginning to catch up on her sleep.

It is nice to be lazy on these holiday days, and I am happy to join her.

Happy Christmas Present To My Mumster

Dear Mumster, while you were out watching the latest Hobbit movie, I bought your Christmas present.  I didn't wrap it, but I left it where you would find it in the middle of the rug in the living room.  You are welcome.  Aren't you glad I didn't leave it in the middle of the bed?  Hope you had a nice night out, but I glad you home now.

Sleepless

After two horrid sleepless nights of working, the mumster finally was able to get more than a couple of ours  of rest last night.  That was good cos she was going crazy from two busy nights.  Now mum has a holiday break with me - yippeee!!!!

We have had coolness and rain for the past two days, so mums book reading has increased and she is sitting in her towel at 10am watching the end of Sleepless in Seattle.  Weren't the nineties fashions horrid - big ill fitting suits in muddy colours, that make everyone look middle aged and frumpy?  We do love young Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, they are cute.  Home decor was a bit muddy and dull too, the computers were a bit budget and even the cars look boring.  It's perfect weather to curl up on the couch, eat some leftovers and watch twenty year old movies while nibbling on chocolates (for her) or temptations (for me).

Hope you are all relaxing too!!

Santa Came

 From our little houses to your house, we thank you for all the kind Christmas wishes.  The mumster had a quiet evening at work.  She got home on time just after 10:30pm and then went into work just after midnight, home at 2.30am, and back to work at 3.30pm til 7.30am.  She she was a bit tired this morning.  She had a few hours sleep and then got up to ring all the family and chat to them.

She and I lay down for a little cat nap this afternoon.  Our day which was forecast for stormyness was hot and sunny, although the clouds are gathering this evening.  Never mind, mum will take her raincoat along if she is called in tonight.

We had lots of yummy food, mum cooked up a chicken with lots of vegetables, and some yummy pudding.  Santa claus left me a turkey feast for dinner, and lots of temptations.   The mumster got some awesome gifts from kind friends and I got her some little earrings.

So have a very Merry Christmas everybuddy.  Keep warm and toasty if you live in the colder regions and we hope you get lots of treats and have full tummies.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of my sweet friends.  It is Christmas Eve here, and mum has to work late tonight, and is on call tomorrow morning into Christmas Day.  It has turned cool and wet here, hardly mid summer weather, but we can't complain cos we have seen the ice and snow that many of our friends are getting.

Mum has all the shopping done, the presents are wrapped, so imbetween work there will be lots of relaxing for us ladies.  Keep warm and safe everybuddy, and we hope you get to share some treats with your friends and family.

Love
Julie and Poppy Q
xxx

Mega Cat Scratcher

Mum thought about getting me a new scratcher for Christmas, but why bother when I have a whole bunch of them outside!!  Can you see me, having a scratch - see how high I am up the palm tree?

Sorry about the slightly blurry photo, mum only had a second or two to grab the camera and shoot!!

Hope you are having a fab day - two more sleeps til Santa!!

Sunnyday

This morning started off a bit cool and windy.  The mumster whizzed around with the vacuum cleaner and did a load of dishes.  The visitors came around and took mum out for a tasty lunch. The cafe is probably the most popular in town, and customers were waiting down the stairs and out onto the street.  A quick trip around the shops and mum came home with a couple of candles.  She went and got some groceries and then came home in time to sit in the sun and read her book.  Making the most of a  perfect summer afternoon.

Salmon with potatoes and broccoli for dinner with a bit of rock melon for supper for her.  Just biscuits for me so far, no feast today.  The garden had a quick tidy, and the sprinklers were turned on for a bit a watering.  Now time for relaxing before a busy old week.

Enjoy your Sunday everybuddy.

Caturday

Mum gotted home last night and dropped all of her bags and work shoes, which I dived on again.  She got her relaxation on, but Cautrday has been all business.  The washing machine was wurring and mum filled some rubbish bags with rubbish, and some with stuff to go off to the second hand shop.  Laundry has been folded and put away.

Now for the fun part.  Mum is heading off to meet a bestie and see a movie, Catching Fire and then they will eat some cheap noodles.  A good Caturday night out.  After working the past four weekends, mum is glad of two days off together.  Sunday she will see some other good friends - lovely.

We hope you have nice things planned for your Caturday too!!

Last Lunch

The Mumster was pleased with herself today.  She promised herself that she would take lunch to work each day this years, instead of buying lunch.  It was getting pricey, and she needed to stick to a budget, rather than buying pricey sandwiches ($6, a diet coke for $3.50 or a meal at the hospital cafe for $10).  She could make her own for at least half that.  Well today was the last day shift of the 2013 year, and mum lasted  all year.  She is rather proud of herself for that.

She was glad to have a quiet night at home as she only got four hours sleep the night before.  A nice weekend off to relax and get some jobs done before another busy Christmas week.

Hope  you are all getting some relaxing done too.

Sitting and Waiting

I have been sitting and waiting for mum to come home from work.  Her shoes sure are cosy and smelly, a perfect perch to wait.

Wordless Wednesday - Turn Off the Flash

Green Garden

We have been lots of lovely sunshine, with little bits of rain, so our garden is still looking green and lush for this time of year.  The garden man came and did a tidy up today, that scared me so I hid under the deck for a while.

Brave

Look how close I am lying next to the sucky monster!!!  Lucky it isn't on.

Sunday Smiles

Lots of things made the mumster smile today:

• A day out in the sun to pull some weeds out.  I follow her around the garden and inspect what she is doing, just in case she pulls out anything important.
• A sleep in could be had, which was good cos mum had to go to work at early o'clock this morning.  She was coming home at 4am and noticed the birds were singing their morning songs real early.
• The yummiest dinner of the week.  Steak, tasty taties and lots of greens. 
• A working phone meant she could catch up with Gdad.  He is enjoying the big screen tv the family got him for his birthday.   Now he can see the text on the programming a bit better.
• Gdad drives down to the park every day to eat his lunch.  He has been feeding the duck some bread and bits and bobs every day.  Today he realised that he forgot to bring something, so when he went to the shop he bought chockie biscuits.  So yes, he will be responsible for the obese one legged duck at the park.  It made mum laugh when she heard that story.
• Gdad has also been enjoying his computer soooo much.  He only got his computer this year, and now he spends hours on  it each day.  He told mum he has been exploring cities on Google Earth.  He has walked around Paris and London, and toured the canals of Venice.  Now he is looking forward to travelling around Rome.  You go Gdad - all from your kitchen chair!!
• Fresh sheets are on the bed and mum has a good book to read.  She is reading The Paris Architect and enjoying it.  She has a great supply of books to get her through Christmas.  So many great books out there.

Hope you all have some things to make you smile this Sunday!!!

It's Caturday - Time to Get Your Relax On!!!!

The telemarketers are rejoicing!!!  We got our phone line back after a 2 week absence.  We didn't have to pay $150, as it wasn't our plugs.  It was the wiring on the telephone pole (we didn't even think they still used overhead wiring).   The man was repair man was polite and tidied up after himself which was good, even though he did arrive early and the mumster had wet hair and had scrambled into some clothes.

I sat outside and hid while the repair man was here, and then rushed back to my sleeping spot once he went.  How else is a girl going to catch up on her 22 hours?

So Steak and veg for her dinner, with the first of the seasons raspberries with yoghurt for pudding.  Me I got up for half an hour and had my fancy feast.  I have gone back to bed to digest my dinner for a few hours now (its 6:45pm  here).

Enjoy your Caturday everybuddy!!.

Advent Calender

Yes this is our advent calender.  No it isn't hanging on the wall.  No the pockets haven't got any treats in them.  Yes it is cosy to sleep on and yes it needs more fur on it.

Hope your planning for the holidays is going well.

Smiling

The mumster rushed out after work, and got herself a few more little presents.  Christmas shopping is almost complete.  The home phone she ordered off the internets arrived and is all plugged in.  Still the home phone isn't working.  It appears to be the phone line that isn't working - grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  So now mum has to get the technician to come out.  They also warn you that if it is something that you have done - they charge you $140.  Oh well - mum doesn't have to eat during Christmas.  All the signs point it towards being a problem with the phone line somewhere.

It did make her feel better that there was a sale on and she got a couple of tops for half price - our shops seldom have such sales, so mum was pleased to get a couple of things.  A couple of new bras too, and so she can throw out the one that only does up with one working hook.  Mum is frightened that it will ping open at an awkward moment, leaving her unsupported.  So that one will get binned tonight.

Then a couple of library books were picked up, so mum has some summer reading for her days off.  That made her smile.

Hope you are all smiling too!!

Wordless Wednesday - Handstand

Tongue Tuesday

It always makes the mumster smile when she gets some pictures of my little pink tongue.   I love to get clean in the garden, a bit of sunshine and fresh air helps gets everything clean and tidy.  We're having a cruisy Tuesday, the mumster had some leftovers for dinner and I had some fancy feast.  The breeze is nice and gentle this evening, so the doors are open and we are doing a few chores between relaxing.

Shopping

Do you like my new apartment?  More of a studio I think - just room for one with a bit of indoor/outdoor flow.

Mum went and got some of her Christmas shopping done yesterday.  She was glad to be able to support some local artists and shop owners over the festive season.  She did get a bit frustrated as she had to buy a new home phone.  We have been having problems with our phone, and even though mum had bought a replacement two months ago, that doesn't seem to be working, and mum can't find the receipt.  So you think buying a new phone would be easy.  The shops mum went to all seemed to have some on display but none in stock, and not too keen to order one.  It was easier for mum to come home and order it online herself, which is what she did.  Mum was surprised though, as so many retailers are complaining about  lost income, you think they would be more onto it.

The last few presents were ordered online too, so only a couple of wee gifts to buy and mum is done.  Yippee!!  Mum did just realised that she has not organised something for me.  Silly mumster, she better get me something to have under the tree real fast.

Have a great Monday everybuddy!!

Oh Noes

Oh Noes, we ran out of time for a Caturday post.  Oh please forgive us!!!  So we will give you this lovely photo to make up for our absence.   It was a busy old Caturday.  Mum went out for lunch with a mate, and did a bit of window shopping.  Then she rushed off to work to work an afternoon shift, then she was on call til 8am this morning, and was there til about 3am.  So a bit of snoozing was in order this morning.  It's a bit windy in the city, but mum is going to venture out for a walk.  She has some things to buy, so she will get that done and will then buy some tasty stuff for dinner.

Hope you all enjoy your Caturday/Sunday!!!

TGIF

Holla furriends, we sure are glad it is Friday.  It was a day for chilling out and getting the feeling of starting the weekend.  It sure was sad to hear about Nelson Mandelas death today, but we are glad that he got to die peacefully with his family at home.  Such a great man.

See all those flowers on the bushes behind me, well they were looking all dedraggled after a night of wind, so mum spent the afternoon cutting them back.  Lots of rain and sunshine has made everything grow lots in the past two weeks, including all the weeds, so mum has lots of weeding to do over the weekend.  Even though it was her intention to have a quiet weekend, one of her colleagues has some family stuff to sort out, so mum is filling in with some on-call work.  It all helps to pay the bills, and mum will get some time off later in the month.

Hope you are all ready for the weekend and have got some fun things planned.

Treasure

Mum took some books back to the library after work yesterday.  She dropped them off, then headed out to get some groceries before realizing that the library was closed and mum had left her favourite bookmark in it.  Her lovely niece Belle made it for mum about ten years ago, and it has graced many a book.

The local library doesn't open til 10:30am and mum knew that she would be busy at work, so she got up very early and headed to the library.  She had made a big note and slid it into the overnight book drop slot that said something like:

Dear Lovely Librarians, yesterday afternoon I dropped some  books back yesterday and sadly left my precious bookmark inside.  I do hope you are able to find it, and I will drop by after 5pm tonight to see, and will bring sweeties.

So when mum got there tonight, the ladies were pleased to see her, and enjoyed the sweeties that mum left for them and mum was glad to get her treasure back.  It is not the expensive things that we treasure most.

What do you treasure?

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Today

What is with mum and her middle aged memory?  She was almost going to post a wordless Wednesday post on Tuesday again.  She liked this photo sooo much she thought she would use it today anyway.  Work was busy, so mum was glad to get home and meet me for an evening rendezvous.  The dining is done and mum has the mount Everest of dishes to conquer.  She is going to put some BBC Desert Island Discs on the ipod in the kitchen and roll up her sleeves.  Me - well I'm napping on her bed.

Hope you have a great Tuesday planned too.

Made it Through Monday

Mum and I made it through Monday.  Mine was spent like this, hers was spent at work.  The day was super lovely and so mum got to spend a few hours in the evening pottering in the garden.  After a wet and stormy week or two, the lawns needed mowing and there were twenty hundred leaves to be picked up.  Dinner was leftovers, and the leftover leftovers were put out for the birdies to eat on the shed roof, and some left on the grass for our hedgehog (he lives at the back of the garden under the bushes).

TV is a mixed bag tonight.  Kiwi news, then a repeat of Nurse Jackie, and new episodes (for us) of  The Big C, and Downton  Abbey will be recorded for a marathon session soon.  We live with a diet of US and UK shows, with some Australian and a few homegrown delights to keep us going.  Then mum will collapse into bed with her book, and I will plonk myself between her knees for an evening of snuggles.

Hope you have grand plans for your Monday.

Hello Summer

Hello Summer - so nice to see you.  Me and my mum are glad you are back, we sure are ready for your sunshiney goodness.  Today mum went off to a nice craft market with the besties, where she got a couple of small treats.  Then off to a show, then dinner at home and time and still a bit of evening light to pop into the garden.

It starts our week off well and who can believe only 24 days until Christmas.