Been back in NZ for almost a month...

and I haven't had the chance to blog about anything :(

I hate falling behind.  But I have.  Don't even know where to start, but have bitten the bullet and thought I'd better just post this at least...it's a start right?

atm the moment 4 of my 5 kids are SICK!  Sick with a wretched tummy bug of yeah, and I'm sick too...but cos I have to wipe up their shite and spew - I don't have time to be sick, so never mind me! So the poor kidlettes are not well.  Funny how they all cope.  And how badly, or not each one has been affected.  Miss 16 mths and 'both ends' flowing like a tap.  tbh honest, I can handle the 'pooh' it's the spewing part I can't stand, cos there is no warning and most of the time it just shoots out like a scence fromt he exorcist! 

I hate to think what my power bill will be next month...for the past 2 days I have been doing more laundry than usual and all in HOT water *sigh*

At the same time, when I can back from Samoa, we came back with my dad who is a #1 ol' school 'Handyman' and so we have been making the most of his time with us and have completely renovated our toilet and bathroom...which were like time warps from the 70's!

We have managed to save hundreds  on labour (thanks dad:)  Hubby (who lacks any 'handyman gene' has picked up some great skills too :)  I bought the tiles from a clearance centre, bathrub and pedestal basin from Trademe, tap fittings all new from bunnings.  We aren't going for anything flash...just clean and new :)  I have been most proud of my Trademe Bargains...but of course nothing ever goes smoothly right?  Right.  I asked Mr 14 to take some tiles out of Miss 17's room and take them to where the other tiles were...nek minnit...crash boom bang...he accidentally bumped something that lead to a domino effect and hello...my beautiful ceramic pedstal basin was cracked beyond use *sigh*  Great.  Managed to only let the F-Bomb slip out a couple of times....and left it at that...not gonna sweat the 'small' stuff.  Can't get everything for next to nothing right?  Right.  Thank you Mr 14 for reminding me. not 

I have also discovered that I am an awesome 'tiler'!!  Yes Sir.  Hubby 'cut' them, and I threw them babies up, quicker, tidier and straighter than anyone who tried - thank you :)

In between the tiles, sick kids, baby, I have been able to sew up a few orders for people.  Relisting stock on Trademe.  My dad goes back on Sunday.  Our bathroom and toilet shold be completed by mid next week (if hubby had taken a couple of days off work we might have had this done over a week ago, but nevr mind, no one listens to me *sigh*) 

Good to be back in blogland :)

Butterflies in my magava...ae oka se magava LOL

Today is a good day :)

Miss 17 went to the Bay of Islands on Wednesday for a History trip to study Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  She comes back today.

Mr Hubby-guy went to Christchurch on Wednesday for work.  He comes back today.

I miss them both and I ame xcited as heck to see them safely back home :)

I have butterflies in my tummy for my trip to Samoa tomorrow!!

I called my mum this morning, she has NO IDEA we are going over!!  I called to make sure she wasn't planning on going kua with my dad today.  She stays in Apia 98% of the time, whilst dad runs the shop in 'the village' - mum goes back now and then, like last week for Fathers Day...otherwise she's happy to stay well away from the headaches of 'the village' :)

Anyway, she's staying in town, so that's good, we won't turn up to an empty house.

So yeah...slowly getting packed...so much to take ae le kaikai lava pauga...*rolls eyes*

Oh Emmm Geeee I'm sooo excited!!

See you all in a couple of weeks people all 3 of you hehehe Take care...see you all back here safe and sound :)

Baby steps on Facebook...

I leave for Samoa in just under a week.  When I get back, I'm gonna start me a Facebook page to sell my Plus Sized Women's clothes on...

I don't really 'like' Facebook.  Well...I DIDN'T really like it.  I can't remember when I opened my personal page there, but it was mostly unused and then finally deactivated over 6 months ago...I didn't miss a thing :)

Then when Miss 17 went to the US, I reactivated it so I could keep in contact with her...and that was fantastic!  Then I made contact with my extended family there in the US and decided I'd keep the page open...and of course I always had in the back of my mind opening my 'selling' page.

So anyway...over the weekend I became curious of these 'buying/selling' pages and discovered a link to one and joined my very first plus size buy/sell group :)  I then asked other members to direct me to more...I now belong to 6 'buy/sell' groups :)  my kids think it's hilarious that I  talk about this, they think I'm a complete idiot 

Some of these groups are purely for Pre-Loved items...the others though allow business listing...new items...anything you like :)  And so I jumped in and created me an album on two different groups...and within an hour I had a sale.  I have since sold two more items via FB...and I am THRILLED lol.

Scared that I might have bitten off more than I can chew at the moment...as I also have a few things sold on Trademe and I have a wonderful lady at my son's league club who has trouble finding anything that fits at a shop that doesn't cost less that $200!! so I have sat down with her and I will be making a few items for her :)  So yeah, have stopped relisting on Trademe for now, so I don't have 'those' buyers who take weeks to finally pay for their items, giving ME badfeedback - cos THEY were slow to make payment *sigh*, will relist items while I'm in Samoa so the auctions close the day I arrive back :)

But thoroughly excited by the ease of selling on Facebook.  Can NOT wait till I return from Samoa and start my own dedicated page for my label :)

Minnie Mouse and the Owl

An OWL beanie I crocheted as part of a birthday gift last week :)

This is my little princess in her Minnie Mouse costume I made (black leggings, red stretch velvet top with cute puff sleeves and the poofy red polka-dot skirt, the Minnie Mouse ears are courtesy of Miss 17 from her trip to Disneyland)

She won 1st prize for Best Dressed Girl :)

The big reveal...lol.

Who am I?  Where am I?  

This is me.  Here I am.

My PLUS SIZE Women's clothes I've been tell ya'll about...finally a link so you can check me out :)

Yeah...so that's it.  That is me.  ia ua lava loa...poetry is NOT my strong point LMFAO

So it's not much...but it's enough to keep me busy :)  I do it all myself...design, pattern drafting/grading, cutting, sewing...and finally listing on Trademe.

At the moment I only sell on Trademe as I don't have enough time to sew the number of garments I'd need to sell else where.  I am also kept busy by the steady stream of customers who want items made in different colours/fabrics.

While I'm in Samoa, I hope to play around with an idea I have for a bolero/shrug - something to cover the ol' upper arms when ya wearing my tunics and strapless maxi dresses :)  I'll draft the pattern and grade it up in size while I'm in Samoa and when I get back I'll start making them up :)

NZ's slackest blogger??  Quite possibly :/

Oh well...no point going on about how slack I have been to update here...jsut get on with it right?

So here I am.  

I have found a bit of time here and there to be able to sew again...plus size clothes remember?  So yeah, have been doing a bit of that and selling slow and steady on Trademe...enough sales for the amount of time I actually have to sew the garments up, so that is good :) 

My eldest daughter had a school trip to the U.S.A - that's been and done...she is back home safe.  "al qaeda" did not attempt to blow up Times Square on the 4th of July while my daughter was there - a fear I had in the back of my mind when they said that's where they would be that day...I didn't tell anyone my fears until she returned lol.

She had a ball...who wouldn't - lucky girl.  She even got to meet my extended family from California on the one free evening she had a couple of nights before her return.  They SPOILT her and treated her with so much love I was blown away and overwhlemed that I sat in my lounge, on facebook, looking at the picktures they were updating of their evening, with tears in my eyes, that these people (yes we are related) but they have only ever met me once nearly 20yrs ago!!  and I was older and they were LITTLE KIDS then!!  But they are all grown up now with their own lil families and they went out of their way, over and beyond anything I expected...amazing.

My 'baby' is now nearly 15 months old!  Gorgeous, happy - still super clingy *sigh* Healthy and keeping me busy :)

I have been missing my mum like crazy (both my parents live in Samoa).  My brother and I went halves on our dads fare here for a holiday in Sept.  And even though we are recovering from the financial hit we took (lol) to get our daughter to the US, I decided to do something nice for me (THANK YOU TO MY HONEY) and booked flights for me, baby and my 14yr old son to go to Samoa and SURPRISE MUM and dad lol.

I've never managed to 'surprise' her before, cos I get too excited and end up telling her a week or so before going over, but this time I will make sure to keep my mouth shut :)  Main reason being that my mum goes to so much trouble to get 'things' ready for us before we go over... from the smallest things like changing her curtains to getting Dad to finish building whatever it was she got him to start building...but it puts so much stress on my dad...see mum is a 'strong' Samoan woman...Dad is a quiet, 'do as he's told or put up with mum being pissed off at him for the next two weeks' Palagi man LMFAO.  So yeah...our lil trip is gonna be a SURPRISE :)

I'm so excited I can't stand it!!  I don't even care if I don't see a beach or a night club!! while I'm there...if all I do is sit at home and stare at my mum all day and night, I will be the HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD :)

The one thing I am NOT looking forward to however is the never ending "Oka...ua e koe lapo'a"  Oh really?  STUFF YOU.  A simple "Hello, how are you?" would be nice....but ok...thanks NOT.

On that note though, I am looking forward to the food :)  It will be early Mango season right?  The fresh niu.  Pawpaw.  Oka...LOVE it.  Fresh sashimi.  Mmmm.

So I have been thinking, what can I do while I'm there?  Something useful.  My 14yr old hasn't been there since he was 8/9yrs old?   Decided that we are def gonna be spending one morning at the plant nursery 'Nafanua? or do I have my names wrong lol...and we're gonna buy fruiting plants...avocado, orange, low growing Niu (any other suggestions please?)...and we're gonna plant them stragicaly on our land at Vaitele.  It will be good to show my son where the land is and explain to him that this son, is one of the reasons why we can't buy that flat screen tv, or that big 4x4 truck that your friends have  cos your mum and dad are putting money into things that will last forever!! and one day when we win Lotto hahaha we will come back and build a beautiful home here where he will be able to bring his friends for a winter escape etc... 

So yep.  Can't wait to go to Samoa. 


  

Refreshed and ready to roll...again...

I've been absent from blog world...have been battling some 'issues'.  As a mother it's so hard to juggle everything sometimes...and for me the demands I placed on myself were unrealistic...I realise that now - and I have realised that I'm not REALLY doing the kids a favour (in the long term) by doing EVERYTHING for them.  YES I'm a stay at home mum - I take that very seriously - but to the point where I do everything??  NO MORE...those days are over...well...I'm working on it...baby steps.  Anyway,  I'm back for now so nuff said bout that *sigh*

On a positive note, am feeling refreshed and ready to get the ball rolling again with my sewing.  have had a major shuffle around with the bedrooms so that I could be in the room nearest the sewing room, and create a safe space in there for lil miss 11mths to hang out in if I'm going to be in there working :)

Slowly but surely, I WILL GET TO WHERE I want to be.  No pressure to be Mrs Perfect - no pressure to prove anything to anyone...I'll do things my way, when it suits me :)

Am motivated by some awesome PI women I read about, hear about, rarely see on TV...even the awesome PI women in Blogville (godess...lilydonna...Lani to name a few!!)  And of course, I only need to remember/think of my mum, the most awesome PI woman in my life...her struggles and achievements...even now as a blind woman, still, she blows me away with the things she still does!!

xOx to you all...

You have got to be kidding me!!

Front page of a Samoan paper today read "Faamagalo e Brian Lima lona Toalua" - really??  Well how noble of him indeed...

and how many times did SHE faamagalo HIM every time he physically ABUSED HER??  ASSHOLE.

*breath....breath*

Nawwww...riding in the back of a pick up (in Samoa)

It's Illegal 
who doesn't LOVE to do that - as a child at least?? lol.

That's something my kids look forward to when they think of Samoa.  So today I read in the Samoan Observer that it's illegal :(  Boo Hoo.  Has it always been illegal and the police have never bothered to police it?  Or is it a new thing?

Too many chiefs, no Indians?

I think so.  
Bit of a joke really.  
My cousins had matai titles given out on their mothers side last year. (I'm related to their dad).  Anyway, their mother was the only person alive who held this high chief title.  So it was time to pass it on.  She didn't only give the title to one of her daughters, she also gave the same title to her son.  And it didn't stop there.  The title was also given to 6 other direct nephews and nieces (some of them were brothers and sister too!!). 

So out of a possible 15 first cousins, 8 of them were given this Ali'i title.  Not to mention how many 'second' cousins got the same title.

I am no expert in this area...far from it!!   But I know enough to know that this is just ridiculous!!  Who is going to serve who?  And to make it worse imo, Half of them couldn't speak Samoan to save themselves.  Most of them wouldn't have a clue what holding such a high title involves and they sure as hell won't be contributing to anything they should be.  So what exactly is the point??

Girl Power!! 
I agree!!  Samoa needs more women in parliament.  Women or people at least!! who give a shite about the little people!  Enough of Tuilaepa and his Merry Men!! 


What a mess!
Good luck to sorting this one out *sigh*  Sad for the family involved.  I hope they can prove what they are claiming.  Otherwise...kailo :(

 

Kidlets are healing *YAY* and a Trademe vent

Worst of the chicken poxs are over and out of the way :)  My lil sister who I was supposed to go back to Samoa this Saturday only ended up with about 10 spots which have dried up already bloody pa'u fefeu hahaha!!  So there goes $100 to cancel her bloody flight - up in the thin air - *sigh*  Will prolly look at booking her flight back for next Saturday...her (she is 12) and my mr 9 are ready to eat each other alive!


Right, so a few weeks ago I blogged about how much I luuuurved Trademe - well I am hating it at the moment!!  I've been ripped off!! I bought baby some clothes before Christmas, on the 18th of Dec, paid $10 just for postage - nothing has arrived, seller's TM account has been disabled.


I emailed them a few times to ask for postage details, tracking number etc...each time I got blunt replies.  Actually - in case ya'll have time...here is a run down of the emails...

Me:25th DEC

Hi Lisa,
just wondering if you managed to send my items out yet?  Payment would have been showing on Tuesday in your account.  Nothing has arrived yet.  Can you please let me know what day the items were sent and the tracking number, had hoped to have had the items  by yesterdays mail as we are going away for a couple of weeks today.
Thanks.

HER: 25th Dec

"Everything has been sent"

ME: 29th Dec

"When was everything sent?  Should have arrived by now.  Can you at least email me the tracking number so I can try and locate the parcel.

Then she emailed me back asking for auction numbers and my address again...*sigh*

HER: 29th Dec

"I wills ort out and get back to you later i have a lot of clothes here that need to be sorted but i am sure yours was already sent."

She never did get back to me...so I emailed her again.

ME: 9th Jan

"I still haven't received any of the baby items that I bought off you despite paying $10 just for postage after you said the items had already been packaged ready for postage.  I don't know what's going on, so can you just refund the $30 I paid please.  My account details are:

xxxxxx

Thank you"

HER: 10th Jan

"Please send auction numbers so i can see if they ahve been posted i dont have any details and tm have temp suspened my account."

ME: 10th Jan

"If you scroll down you will see that I have already sent you the auction numbers and my address details and you have told me that there are items that have been sent and items that haven't been sent, though you didn't get back to me and tell if the items I paid for were amongst the things not sent yet. 

I appreciate that selling lots of things on Tm can get confusing but this is just dragging on and on and I'd just appreciate these trades finally being sorted and completed this week with either the goods sent out asap or my money refunded please so I can buy my baby  some clothes somewhere else.

Thank you"

HER: 10th Jan

"Hi there,

it's not a matter of having a lot of things on tm, I was diagnosed with cancer two months ago and it has knocked me around the last month and my husband has no idea about tm ect other wise they would have been done and sent ages ago so now i am trying to figurer out who paid and what was sent, Also my account has been suspended as police are investigating as my partner bought me a 1200 dollar iphone for when i was in hospital and the wanker took our money and never sent the phone.
I have you items in  the post on fast post.

So sorry for the mix up.
Thanks"

ME: TODAY :)

"Hi,
Sorry to hear about what you have been going through.
Mail man has been and gone and parcel still has not turned up.  Fast post def should have had it here by now if sent on Tuesday.
Can you email me the tracking number so I can call NZ Post and track this parcel.
Thank you"

HER:

"Was not track n trace was normal fastpost"

ME:

"If it doesn't turn up by Saturdays post then you need to refund my $30.00 I paid please.  My account details are:

xxxxxxx

I have been more than patient with this trade.

As the seller, you can call NZ Post and file a missing parcel report - I can't do it as I didn't send it, I don't know any of the details, time place etc.  They will reimburse you."

HER:

"Um no they wont has it was not track n trace and as it states i dont take resonserbilty for lost items not tracked as u dont get ur money back so its a oss to the seller and the buyer, I know i sent it as i have my partner to say so as he was there."

ME:
"I have been selling on Tm for many years and know for a fact that you can make a claim with NZ Post on ANY item that goes missing in the post - regardless of tracking or not, if you cared enough to call them you'd find that out.



You win.  I hope you enjoyed spending my hard earned cash - what goes around comes around and you obviously needed it more than I did."

HER:

"U paid i sent if it hasnt turned up ring nz post it not my prob i done what i was ment to and sent it and ur hard earned cash means shit to me i have more to wprry about than a lost parcel right now and i do know for a fact no matter if you make a claim 9 times out of 10 the parcel never gets found and the dont pay out for parcels that are not tracked so i have rung them so get your facts right if you wernt so rude i might have cared a bit more but right now my sick daughter needs me more.
 
Have a good night"

ME:
"If I wasn't so rude?  I have been nothing but patient to put up with excuse after excuse from you.  It's obvious from your emails right from the start  that you have never given a shit.  I hope at the very least you bought your daughter something nice with my money - see as a gift from mine :)

As for replying to my emails...you have better things to do, so don't bother."

Ia ga...that's the story.  Honestly, I know it's 'only' $30 - but that's not the point aye.  99% of the time I do love Trademe.  It's just the once in a blue moon you end up having to deal with tossers like this *sigh*

I have blocked her from my email.  She honestly pisses me off - how the hell I managed to tolerate her crap and remain as polite as I did I don't know!

 

Happy New Year???

not in this house *sigh* and here is the reason why...Chicken Pox

Second thoughts - decided to blank out my poor darlings' eyes in this shot.

It actually started on Dec the 27th...last day of our family camp.  Mr 9 breaks out in spots...then a week later lil miss 8mths breaks out in spots...then a few days ago, miss 10 breaks out.  Then yesterday...my sister visiting from Samoa has a couple of spots *sigh*.

She was booked to go back to Samoa on Saturday - but I've had to cancel that.  First of all she'll be covered in spots - so no way in hell I'd let her go on the plane like that and secondly - she'd be eaten alive by the flies!!

It's been hard work looking after these kids!!  Baby has been pretty good considering!  The first 2-3 days she was VERY grizzly...I don't know how I coped, but I did.  The past day she has been 'ok'.  Still a little grizzly, but she'll sleep more than an hour in her own cot again...but I tell ya...the worst by far are the older kids!!


They are makagaga as hell!! and I'll just leave it at that lol They are being pampered and taken care of. I. AM. TIRED.


Also my monitor died on me a week ago.  Finally got around to replacing it yesterday.  Amazing what gets done around the house when there is no working PC!!


I'd love a laptop!!  Imagine all the blogging complaining on my blog I could do ;)


Anyway, kids are ok, healthy and happy otherwise...


WISHING everyone well...stay safe and keep blogging people - can't wait to catch up and see what everyone has been and is upto :)


Hmmm...after publishing the above...I thought I'd add a couple of pics of lil miss from just before her chicken pox...it's such an adorable age!! 

She has perfected her 'ta-ta' wave.  She'll do it randomly and on request :)  She has been crawling for a month now.  And is standing herself up on things then of course she falls down and usually starts crying :(.