"We looked! Then we saw him Step in on the mat! We looked! And we saw him!..."

One day I was sitting on the lounge floor doing some scrapbooking. I heard a tinkle (not that tinkle). I turned around and there, in my house was Max.  

Meet Max. Max is a cat. He is not our cat. He lives down the road from us, but he likes to hang at our place. On my first meeting with Max I called the number on his collar, and his owner informed me that he likes to go on adventures.

He comes in through the front door, or open windows and rubs around all the furniture. We give him a little ear scratch and he makes himself comfortable. Sometimes he just cruises round all the rooms, checking everything out. This is not so much an adventure for Max as it is a ritual.

We don't mind having him visit, he is so sweet and so strange.

"Up"

Context:

A fair few weeks ago, my Mum started making Chemotherapy beanies. At first she made them with funky patterns and in bright colours just for herself. Then the madness began. People had to have them. One woman wanted to see pictures of other designs. Mum didn't want to model them, so we put them on a Balloon.



On seeing a Balloon for the first time, the Dog went ape - or seal, rather. She wanted the balloon so much. Shiya's desire for balloons grew and grew until I gave in, and blew one up and gave it to her. Now every night after dinner, someone will retrieve a Balloon from the kitchen draw and blow it up. The dog then proceeds to run around like a crazy hound/seal volleying the balloon with her nose. Until it pops.





Well....the other night, Shiya was sitting near the kitchen (open plan living) staring back and fourth at the draw then at me with those big puppy eyes. I grabbed a Balloon. I blew it up. I volleyed it in the air. Shiya was so excited. Then this happened...

Through the powers of static electricity the Balloon went up, and stayed up. And boy did it stay. It was up there for about ten minutes. It would have stayed much, much longer but...

...she started to whimper and cry, so we got it down.







Any who, since taking those first Balloon Beanie photos, J'Beanies has gone in to mass production. We no longer use balloons to photograph the beanies. If you know anyone who is in need of a Chemotherapy beanie, or if you just want to be nosey, check out the website by clicking here.

My Mum, wearing 'Berry Smoothie' Beanie.

"And they called it Puppy love"

I took this picture of Miss Shiya tonight. You can see in the background that she is wearing a nappy. She is in heat. Oh joy. She hates it as much as we do. Poor puppy, being a woman is hard. X

"The Fossa are attacking!"

When I was growing up, I was known to be a tad accident prone. My Mum used to laugh my little incidents off by saying "Oh Nicole, you could hurt yourself playing tiddlywinks!"

This seemed to suffice her spirit, until one day I actually did hurt myself playing tiddlywinks.

I took an air born counter to the eye.

It was my own counter.



As I grew older, I seemed to shake my clumsy tendencies. Today I would not call myself accident prone. However, every now and again I stumble back across my accident prone curse. It usually lasts for a week or so. After watching a certain Children's (really?) Animated Film, I decided to dub this unusual phenomenon the Fossa. In case you haven't seen this particular Movie delight, the Fossa are a breed of carnivorous mammal.



This week the Fossa have been attacking.



We started the weekend off by heading to the Wairarapa to try once again to use the voucher Brad had given me for my Birthday way back in January. We couldn't. So we came home late Sunday night. I wish now that we had stayed the night anyway.

Monday saw us pack a few bags to go and stay at Brad's Parent' house for a few days. This was fine until Tuesday morning. Kelsey, my sister, had sent e a text message to say her face now looked like that of a cabbage patch doll, due to her immensely painful wisdom teeth. She was unsure of what to do, or how she would be able to pay for treatment. So I made a few appointments for her, and left the house in the freezing cold and rain to get to her in Wellington City.



I left the house on time, to see a bus heading in the opposite direction that I was headed. The bus stopped and the driver asked me if I wanted to go on his bus instead. I declined. Stupid Fossa on the brain. Fifteen minutes after my bus was due to arrive I rang the phone number on the bus stop to be told, that the timetable I was looking at was actually out of date. I was told to walk down to Raumati Beach to try and catch another bus from there. At Raumati I crossed the road and in a boots meet wet-pavement scenario, I slipped. I slipped backwards, and wobbled round like a crazy person ("You didn't see anything".)

I managed to stop myself from falling, and put my back out. I could still walk slowly, but when I arrived at the Bus Stop I was unable to sit down. That's when the real pain set in. I couldn't take a deep breathe without going weak at the knees.



With the help of my cellphone, ice, Panadol and my entire household family, I managed to get to Kelsey. We went to the Dentist, a found out she would have to have all four wisdom teeth surgically removed. Perhaps the Fossa effect is spreading?



Last night we packed our bags to come home. We arrived home and I got out of the Ute. I went to open the door to get my bags, and smacked myself in the head with the door. The next thing I knew, I was face down on the front lawn, with a really sore head.



Then, minutes before I sat to write this post, I was curling my eyelashes, when I pulled the device away without opening it properly. Eyelash curler or remover?



Please tell me that the Fossa attack you too? Please tell me I'm not all alone in this..

Apple Bottom 'Genes'

It's a raining, cold day today. I am snuggled up inside with the fire roaring. Days like these remind me of my pre-school childhood. Today I'm counting down my Top Five Childhood Toys.

5. Knitted Toys. My Nan made us every knitted toy under the sun. Seriously. They were so cute, just like the ones (if not the same as) on this website. I wonder where they all are now?

4. My Little Pony. I had a magic-message Earth Pony, called Windy. She was special. She was purple with dark pink hair with chartreuse streak and has a tree symbol. Her Tree symbol was the magic-message, as when you pressed your thumb against it the heat would turn it in to a kite. It was literally magic! On the other side of her bottom she had an apples symbol. She had a small pink bow on her right cheek & green eyes and curly hair. I played with her so much that she got worn really quickly. I also might have given her a hair cut.

3. Costume Ball Barbie. It wasn't the doll that I enjoyed the most. It was the clothes. My Mum was a dressmaker, and would buy small pieces of beautiful fabrics to make unique clothes for us. When she did dressmaking for clients she would often use the scraps to make replica's of the outfits she had sewn, for our Barbie's. She even made a replica of her Wedding dress. We had a large picnic hamper full of Barbie clothes.

2. Popple. I had an Orange Popple. He was so cute! I love how they rolled up in to their own pouch.

1. Patrick. This Goodluck Bear Carebear, was made for me by my Grandad's sister. He was always with me. I still have him today. This is where my adoration for Carebears began.

Did you have any of these toys as a Child?

"How could I forget? Mama said 'Think before speaking' "

Top Five Friday is back! Whether you like it or not.



Today's topic is....



The worst things you could say to me at work.





Before I get started I do need to point out a few things. I Love my job. I Love helping customers. It is my main priority at work & one of the main reasons I have stayed in this line of work for so long. These little quirky moments happen to all people, in all lines of work. As this is a blog about my life, I deem it appropriate to share these moments of mine with you.







5. "Oh it doesn't scan - must be free then?"



Fancy yourself to be a bit of a comedian do you? If I had a dollar for every single time I have heard this I would be seriously rich. Sometimes I am just so tempted to say "Yeah OK you can have it for free" just to see what reaction I would get. If you say this - please stop. It isn't anywhere near as funny as it sounds in your own head.







4. "I opened this, (destroyed the packaging), then realised it's the wrong one. I want a refund"



If you bought a Car, dinged it, then decided you didn't like it, could you return that for a refund? Probs not.









3. "I need an ink cartridge"

          "OK, which one?/OK, what printer do you have?"

    "Oh I don't know! It's just a Canon....I think."



A) I do love to help customers - it's what I'm paid for after all.

B) I do love a challenge

C) There are about thirty different consumables for each brand.

D) I am neither a clairvoyant nor a miracle worker. Please come prepared.









2. "Oh you're out of stock, well will [Insert Competitors name] have them in stock?"



When this situation arises, which granted, isn't often, I feel really bad for the customer. They have come to my place of work, and we have been unable to provide them with what they need. I can of course suggest other retailers that possibly carry the product. But it makes me feel strange when I get asked this question above. Sometimes I'm not even sure if similar retailers carry a certain product let alone if they have it in stock. Once when I was asked this, I stood with a blank look, blinking frequently. Whilst I was blinking all I could think was "I. Don't. Know. I work here. Obviously."









1. "I would like to return this...but I don't have a receipt...but you know I bought it here because it's in one of your plastic bags."



Since when, in the history of modern retail has anybody been able to return anything without proof of purchase? Pretty much never. Why? Two words: Refund Fraud. Obviously I don't think that every person who does not have a receipt is actually trying to commit refund fraud. If we can trace it we are more than happy to do that, when provided with a date & time. We know that it can be frustrating - but it is hardly a surprise. The policy is in place at pretty much every single retail store in New Zealand.

In reference to the second part: The last time I checked plastic bag technology had not evolved in to a by-species of a product. Plastic shopping bags aren't like Ikran, those Bird-like creatures in Avatar, that can only have one 'passenger'. It's not as if the plastic shopping bag chooses to carry a particular product, pledging its loyalty for all eternity to that product and that product only. In case you weren't aware they actually are re-usable.

P.S  Are you one of a small minority who actually clicks on the 'full-stop' link to listen to the song lyrics, which the title is taken from? If you answered yes, then you will notice that, yes indeed I am still very much in my 'concert-coma' - and loving every second.

'See, I made a space for you now...welcome home'

Last week Brad & I moved back to my Parental home. It was semi-sad to be leaving the first little house that Brad & I had co-habitated in, just the two of us. But all in all I was happy to be moving home.



Things that I am enjoying the most about being home:

Awwww. Pets. Tinkerbell our beautiful Cat & Shiya Manaia crazy puppy extraordinaire.