More images of NZ

Because I can't share too many pictures of my progress on the SSCS I thought I'd share some more images of New Zealand.

First up, another image taken at Benmore.

The view through the kitchen window at Tonys folks house. I could wash dishes all day long!!
And two views of the back gardens.

A veggie patch and a Christmas tree!

It's been a few years since we were there, so I guess the gardens will have changed a little, bushes and trees will be bigger and I know some are gone, damaged by the heavy snows in 2006. I love gardens and like to potter around pulling weeds etc, but I just can't imagine maintaining a garden that big.

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My day off work today, boy do I need it. These two weeks are pretty intensive, with late shifts and days off seemingly few and far between. I plan to do a lot of what I want and very little of anything else! So that will include some sewing on the swap goodies, the main gift is virtually finished, then perhaps I'll find a movie to watch this afternoon and sit with a stitchery project or (Gasp in surprise) my cross stitch! It's been a while.

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Gratitude's

1) A quiet empty house.

2) A day off.

3) A morning kiss from Hunney.

Homework is complete.

Yep! It's all done for now. I have one final session in Warrington on 21st October, just a couple of days before we leave for our holiday and wedding! I'll have 4 more hours of facilitated learning, I have to do a short presentation and an exam. I'll also collect the last batch of homework! I'm hoping the course facilitator will send at least the reading part to me before that, so that I can make a start. I don't actually have to have the final piece of homework completed until the beginning of December, but it would be nice to get it all out of the way before we go and not have to come back to anything. We'll see how that goes.

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So, homework completed, that means I have time for the nicer things in life again. Today is a late shift, so I have a couple of hours to play now and tomorrow is a day off. More than enough time to put the finishing touches onto my SSCS gift.

I also have a couple of ornaments made and plan to play about with them a little so that I'll have a choice of things to send when the time comes. :-)

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That's all I have to say today.

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Gratitude's

1) The countdowns are getting shorter......all of them!

2) Sunshine.

3) Less pressure, more time to play.

No Homework Today.

I was hoping to get the last of my homework completed today, so that any days off work between now and Saturday 24th would be mine, to use up as I chose, you know, completing my secret Santa gifts and sewing and just hanging out! But you know what they say about plans!! There are joiners in the building! They are checking all the doors, adding smoke seals and doing some general maintenance. They are busy bashing and drilling in the apartment down stairs at the moment, they'll be up here soon! Our intumescing strips, brushes and other fire precautions are fine, but some of the doors don't close correctly or fit poorly so need a little adjusting. Anyway, all this noise is just not conducive to getting study done and assignments completed! (Sigh) What's a girl to do? Well, look at old photos and dream of course............

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In less than three weeks I'll be able to see this for real. This is the front garden at Tony's parents home, the back garden is almost as big. See why we want to have the wedding in the garden?

Here is a picture of the Lake, behind Benmore damn. Not the greenest of photos, I do have better images of this place, but this particular image gives me an inner peace I have found nowhere else. The day I took that image there wasn't a vesper of a breeze, the water and the air were still, there was a silence. No traffic was on the road and for a moment even the birds were quiet and I felt such peace.
I loved visiting that place and long to be there again.Not long now. Just 18 days.........

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Just so that there is a little stitchy content! A quick image of the box I have packaged up for Emily of em's scrapbag she recently won my 401 post give away!
I'm hoping to get out to the post office today and get this in the mail. There are one or two surprises nestled under that little blue bag, I'll show them another day.

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No study because of the noise, maybe I'll do some baking and a little sewing today.

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Gratitude's

1) I slept all night long

2) Then I slept in as well!

3) A rainy day is a good excuse to stay home and sew.

Only One Left.

I wish I was still here.....

It's blowing a hoolie and threatening rain. But some of us have to work.

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Yesterday I managed to get almost all of my homework done, only one assignment left to complete. Phew! I didn't get to do any sewing though, I was writing right up to the last minute before I went out the door to work. If I rattle off that last piece over the next couple of days I'll have a week or two to relax before I have to hand it all in and collect the last block, oh yes, I have one more block to get before we go! Eek!

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Speaking of going.....

21 days till we leave.

35 days until we get married. (VBS)

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But

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16 days till Hunneys exam and

17 until mine!

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Time I got my act together and headed out the door.

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Lou xx

And the winner is........

A week ago I posted a picture of a pretty bag I had made, I offered it as a give away, my way of celebrating 400 posts here on my blog. I promised to do a draw last night, but simply didn't get a chance, so this morning I grabbed the random number generator..........

as he headed out the door for work and asked him to pick a number, any number between 1 and 24.

He chose number 17 which is Em, from em's scrapbag. So Em if you would get in touch please and let me have your snail mail address I'll get your prize away to you.

Thank you everyone who left me a comment, I wish I could have done prizes for all.

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I think you all know by now what it is that is keeping me so busy.......
Nearly done. I plan to write an assignment this morning and prepare a short interview which I will hold with some of my service users, hopefully over the weekend, this will enable me to write another assignment.

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I have found a few moments for sewing over the last couple of days, and plan to reward myself with more sewing today once I complete some of my homework. I'm almost finished with the stitchery part of the SSCS gift and it will be back to the sewing machine in no time. Yippie!

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Gratitude's

1) A squeeze and kiss from my random number generator.

2) I can see the end of the course.

3) only 22 days to go.

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