Life Today

Initial Heart Swap

2012-02-16T19:53:00.000+13:00

Over here at Gone Stitchin Cheryll hosted a lovely little Valentines Day Swap.
Like all normal swaps, you signed up and then received your swap partners details.

For this swap we had to create a heart inspired things for our swap person with their initial on it.
I was lucky enough to receive Cat from Catalina's Cottage as my recipient.

So I got my stitching mojo on and created a lovely little ornament for her with the letter 'C' on it.

I backed it in some cute little chocolate inspired material that I brought, I thought it was all very valentines inspired.

I also wrapped up a nice little box of Hersheys Mint Kisses and sent them all off to her.

Luckily for me they all arrived on Valentine's Day, not sure I could get it to arrive on the day again if I tried!

In fact I got so inspired whilst making the one for Cat that I even managed to get a 2nd one stitched for a friend who requested one for his wife as a surprise.

So after 2 little stitchin projects I now need to find another one to complete?
Sure it won't take me too long...!

Unfortunately at the time of writing this post, I still haven't received my swap gift yet, but I am sure it is on its way.

Easter

2012-02-15T10:22:00.000+13:00

Yes I know, it is not there yet. I also know that we have at least 7-8 weeks to go.
However you may have noticed that Hot Cross Buns are already out and about.
They are in the supermarkets and the bakeries.

Luckily for me, I do not like dried fruit, so hot cross buns can come and go as far as I am concerned.
Sadly for me Bakers Delight do Chocolate Hot Cross Buns with oodles of chocolate chips in them and zero dried fruit in them!!

And yes as it sounds they are devine.
Just out from under the grill with butter melting on them....oh gosh my mouth is watering already and I only just finished some for breakfast this morning!

There are more chocolate chips in them than you can count and they are not too sweet.

So if you want to try a Hot Cross Bun that has no fruit in it, then check them out.

P.S. I wasn't asked to try these out. I am just telling you about them because I love them.

Valentines Day

2012-02-14T08:09:00.000+13:00

Happy Love Day to you all.

If you have someone special in your life, then I hope, if you follow this day, that they have made you feel special.

Valentines Day is not something my husband and I do. I told him in no uncertain words years ago that I did not want flowers on Valentines Day! Because how much it would cost to buy them I would rather he spent that money and bought me flowers at other times of the year. It would still cost the same and I would get flowers more often instead of once
(Sadly don't get flowers at other times either, so that plan went wrong somewhere!)

However this day is special to me for other reasons.

Firstly, Happy Birthday to my Sister In Law Karen. We may not see you often but we still think of you all the time.

Secondly, today is my anniversary, no I did not get married on Valentines Day, I arrived in New Zealand on this day instead. Not intentionally I might add, just how it happened.
I arrived to start the rest of my life on this day in 1998, so today is my 14th anniversary.

Weetbix TRYathlon

2012-02-13T10:13:00.000+13:00

This weekend Ben once again completed the Weetbix Tryathlon.
Once again it was an awesome fun event that everyone enjoyed and got behind.

1500 bikes in transition area

If you have never had the pleasure then now is the time to take note and look out for next years events for your kids.

The kids have to be 7 yrs old to participate and they can do it every year until they are 15.

And like the name suggests it is a Tryathlon, yes there are 3 events to complete, swimming, biking and running (or walking if that is what you do) but the main focus is on TRY athlon as in "give it a go, try it out."
And yesterday that is just what 1500 kids did at Waikato University and they were awesome, every single last one of them ( and I know a little something about the last one too)

The first event, the swimming, is done in age groups, so you enter the pool when your group is called. Due to the distances that are swum (7yrs - 50m, 8-11yrs - 100m and the rest 200m) this will decide on when your age group swims. Yesterday Ben's age group (8yr yellow caps) were the very last group to swim, in fact by the time they had even entered the water most of the older bigger kids had finished their whole tryathlon! But at the end of the day it is not a competition it is a 'fun give it a go day'.

Waiting with mates from school

However, for some reason Ben hit the water and stopped. He got given a float board to use but he didn't seem to go very fast with it, consequently the 2 or 3 little groups of boys left to swim all passed him and he was one of the very last people to leave the pool area and transition onto the bikes.

Waiting to get in the water

When he was at his bike he seemed to take forever. He had a little trouble with his helmet and we assisted over the fence. However whilst he was getting ready to go on his bike an official came up and asked him if he was alright for his run? Ben told him he was just going out on his bike and you saw the official whisper something into his little mic, obviously letting someone know they still had one left to go out on the bike!
My heart sank!! In fact my heart is sinking writing this (but only a mother will understand where I am coming from)

I soon realised that Ben was the very very last person on the biking field. The very last contestant of all 1500 kids! (Ben however knew absolutely nothing of this and just kept going with a huge smile on his face)

I also knew that from last year he didn't like the running part and walked, so my heart and brain very quickly put 2 & 2 together and yes I got that horrible answer of "oh my gosh he is going to be the very last kid to cross the finish line!

Sole rider getting sorted for the ride

I raced round to where he came out of the bike area and told him where to go, however I could see the 'tailend charlie official' ahead of Ben, so I ran like mad next to Ben telling him he had to catch up with the 2 men in the yellow jackets ahead of him. About 100m later a marshall saw Ben and stopped the officals and they waited for him. So there I stood on the large University field watch my lone 8yr old cycle round the path with not another person insight!

I am not sure whether I wanted to cry or scream, a few profanities came out of my mouth but then I realised we had to make the best of the whole situation. So I raced back to the school tent and found all his mates and their siblings and quickly explained that Ben was the very very last person. It sank in with them very quickly and then we sprung into action.
We all waited at the bike arrival area and cheered like mad for him when he came in on his own, we cheered for him while he parked his bike and set out on his run, the kids ran with him for about 200m and then they raced to the finish area. I ran with him about half of the run, but the thing that amazed me was him, he just jogged along and over took 6 people, I then realised that he wasn't going to come in dead last, he was going to be one of the last ones home but not THE last.
Half way round the course all his mates were on the side again with Steve and Alex and another parent and they all cheered him on again. We cut through the trees to where he was going to come out after going round the lake and we cheered him on again.
The last bend and some of the straight and everyone was running with him, then they all stopped and cheered as he ran the last bit himself straight across the finish.

Because it was the end of the day, and 1493 other kids had already come home, the finish straight was empty, there was hardly anyone standing along it cheering the kids. Of course not, because everyone else had their kids home so they had already moved over to the prize giving area which was happening about 10 mins after the last kid got home!
So after cheering like mad for Ben I stayed on the finish line and cheered like mad for the last few kids to come in. Really supported them, made them feel like someone was still there for them.

Ben is still totally oblivious to where he was in the race, doesn't understand what I saw but then why should he, he did the swim, he did the bike and he did the run. He knows his age group were the last to do everything and next year his age group will be before this group. And the year after his age group will be earlier again.
Although I know that in 2 years time we will go through it all again with someone at the end as Alex will be 8 by then and he will be in that dreaded group that has to go at the very end of the day.

Cleaning

2012-02-11T07:14:00.000+13:00

I can always sit and watch someone else do the cleaning

Can't you??

Red

2012-02-10T18:59:00.000+13:00

18 months ago I discovered the colour red.

Yes I know it has been around for ever but I always found it a very striking colour and very strong.

Not sure if because I turned 40 (18 months ago) I wanted to become striking and strong but suddenly I am in love with red.

No I haven't gone out and changed my whole wardrobe nor when I think about it do I actually own any red clothes! But I do own red accessories.

Since my first son was born I had a little pair of red slip on shoes and I always got compliments about them.
When I turned 40 I had highlights put in my hair, the hairdresser and I had put red ones in before but they always faded so quickly, so we tried a different colour and brand and holy smoke, I had bright red highlights for several weeks, it made for a fabulous 40th birthday as I got compliments from strangers in the street for nearly 5 weeks!

Highlights are 5 weeks old at this stage

My aunty brought me a lovely big red bag for my 40th birthday, I purchased myself a lovely little red bag a few months ago.
I even found a nice little pair of court shoes for work too.

However my greatest buy has to be my new red shoes.
I found them at the Warehouse the other day and decided I could afford the $30 for them, happy for them to only last this summer.
Imagine my surprise when at the checkout they scanned to be only $15! It was so meant to be.

So for the last 2 days they are all I have worn and I love them
They also remind me of the shoes I use to get as a treat when I was younger and we visited the Greek Islands.

My youngest son thinks they are my ballet shoes, which is so cute.

Party Time

2012-02-04T10:15:00.000+13:00

Last weekend was a holiday weekend here in New Zealand.
For some reason we are lucky enough to sometimes, due to when certain days fall, to gain 2 long weekends 1 after the other.

So we, as always, went to the caravan.
There we had a big joint dinner with the other permanent campers, but to add some fun to it we classed it as a Toga Party.
All the food was in that theme as well.
We had hummus and feta cheese, moussaka, a lovely chicken casserole with tomatoes and olives, beautiful salads etc and wonderful chicken kebabs and mince meatballs. Everyone worked hard on preparing the food.

However everyone worked just as hard on their costumes.....yes that is right we all dressed in Togas for the evening.

As you can see, everyone got in on the action, even though we had had a very hot sunny day.
My shoulders are pink and so are Alex's cheeks!
But for just a little while we had a warm evening, sadly by 7pm we were all dressed in jeans and jackets as the temperature dropped.
A good night was had by all.

Our next joint party is at Easter time and we are having a "mad hat party"

Excuse Me....!

2012-02-03T08:10:00.000+13:00

When school finished at the end of last year, all the artwork for the year came home.
We usually go through it all and decide on the good pieces and this then gets pride of place on the notice board in the dining room for all to see.

However this year I didn't manage to get through the bag of art until we came back from holiday.
Alex had created a star in the classroom which was obviously the childrens way of saying that they are awesome little stars in their own right and these are some of the wonderful things I can do.

Alex's was very well done and looks so cute.
I read all the sayings on the back with eager enthusiasm.

I am good at playing soccer
I like reading
I am good at Judo
I like playing on my playstation....... excuse me...!

Back the bus up a little.....I enjoy playing on my playstation....
Playstation, what playstation? We don't own a playstation!!

Is this his way of informing us that he would like one? Or did he just follow what others were writing in the class?
The powerful mind of a 6 yr old. I will never try to understand it.

Schooltime

2012-02-02T20:05:00.000+13:00

Yes that time of year has fast approached and the boys are back at school.

6 1/2 weeks have gone by very quickly (but then so has January!) and I can not believe that they were actually eager to get back!
New bags have been purchased, new lunch bags too. All new stationery has been covered and named where necessary. Uniform has been checked and new brought if needed.

Today they practically ran into school and were eager for me to go as they had friends to catch up with and play with. Neither of them were too worried about mum standing there watching them, they were very happy to just yell 'Bye Mum' and be away.

The holidays have been fun this year. We have managed a very desent time away at the caravan, they have spent time at home with me, they have spent time at the holiday programme and they have spent time at home with my cousin. So time has been spent doing all manner of activities and outings which they seem to have revelled in.

One last holiday weekend to get through this weekend and then life gets back to normal for a few weeks until Easter!

Sneaky Peek

2012-02-01T20:08:00.000+13:00

Here it is, a quick little sneaky peek at my Valentine Swap project.

Cross stitching all complete just need to now make it up.

Really excited that I have got things completed with lots of time to spare.

Enthusiasm

2012-01-25T16:12:00.001+13:00

This is a word that seems to be affecting my life at the moment.
Don't worry it is all positive enthusiasm, getting my sewing mojo back, being positive about a piece of work at work, having happy meetings at work.

It is amazing how enthusiasm rubs off from one to another.
How one person can bring you down but then the next can lift you up higher than you were before.
Yesterday I got paid a huge compliment and it made my day, it gave me enthusiasm to keep going as it made me feel good. Someone told me I looked "scrumptious" it made my day and I walked around with my head held high, smiling to all and everyone.
Today I have had several meetings, 1 was hard work and deflated me a little but the next suddenly renewed me and got me thinking again, all about the same subject. Funny how one person brings you down and the other lifts you up.

In my mind we need more people around us who lift us up, it is more productive, more positive and leads to more creativity.

Blogs are the same, I think we follow certain blogs as they show us creativity and enthuse us. We see a picture of something someone has made, completed or that we just like and suddenly creative juices are flowing and we want to partake of said activity.
Life runs on enthusiasm, people like to be excited, delighted and inspired.

So the next time you get inspired by something, let us know, you just never know who will read it and get enthusiasm from you.

Waihi

2012-01-24T17:04:00.002+13:00

Near our caravan is 2 gorgeous little townships.
Waihi in one direction and Katikati in the other.
They are both about the same distance away and depending on what we need will depend on which one we go to for supplies.

They both have their own quirky little bits about them.
Waihi is a gold mining town with apopulation of about 4500 and Katikati (pop 3500) is known for its many murals painted on walls of commercial buildings, started in the 1990s as a project to regenerate tourist interest in the town and district, indeed the effort was recognised with the bestowal of New Zealand's 'Most Beautiful Small Town' award for towns of less than 8,000 population in 2005 by the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Society.

I have yet to take any pictures of the beautiful art work throughout Katikati town but I have taken pictures of the fun statues throughout Waihi.
In fact I will invite anyone to go to Waihi with kids and not have a good time for 10 minutes looking at all the statues around the town.

All around the town there are several beautiful statues depicting the old days.

I think everyone who goes to Waihi with kids has a picture exactly like this!

Bath time

I'll just rinse my feet thanks

There are more statues than this but I only have pictures of these ones, next time we are at the caravan then I think we need another day out to Waihi and some more pictures of the fun around Waihi

Ben's Baby

2012-01-23T17:00:00.001+13:00

This post is something I have been meaning to write for a long time, but it is only after I went searching for the link to it that I realised just how long I have been planning it!

Heidi over here at Homemade by Heidi once told the story about her then 6 yr old son, who I guess is now 8, and how when he was little he had a baby doll. Apparently, sadly, the doll and himself parted company rather dramatically at the time of her post that I have linked to above. (I sometimes wonder what had happened at the time for the sudden and dramatic exit, maybe some kids had said something at school?)

However this made me immediately think of my son, who is exactly the same age. He too has a baby doll, although unlike Heidi's son, our baby doll is still around on the scene.
Our baby doll is simply known as "Baby".

Ben wanted a baby doll after several education baby dolls had been delivered to our house for an Antenatal class that I was facilitating. They were in our house for about a week and when they left he informed us that he wanted them back because they were now his babies. We asked if he wanted a baby and he said yes, so we went to the store and he choose the one, (think it cost all of $7.99) he must have been about 2 or 3yrs old at the time.

This baby doll has been around for at least the last 5-6 yrs.

Ben is not into teddy bears or fluffy toys he just has baby.

Unlike his little brother, who sometimes has to clear a space to just be able to lie down in his own bed, because he has so many other people in his bed! Ben does not sleep with anything. Never has. In fact neither of my boys were blanket / snuggly baby's, neither had anything that had to be taken with them wherever they went, we never had major panics because we had lost 'xyz', or bedtimes wouldn't work because 'xyz' was in the washing or lost!

All soft squiggy toys tended to stay at home during the day and found for nighttime.

Alex has had his moments of wanting to take someone with him, but it has never been a major effort or caused major hassle. At the time of leaving then we have to make sure we have everyone with us, but sometimes they have gone to bed in the foreign place without said toy and only found them the next morning when looking for something else.

However after reading Heidi's post I realised just how lucky we have been.

Baby is in our house, sometimes she can go missing for 3-4 weeks and not a word is said, but then suddenly Ben will be under his bed for some reason, will discover her and there are big crys of joy and hugs etc and she gets pride of place back in his bed and hugged to death when he goes to bed.

If we go away, then we always ask if Baby is coming too, she always does but if she is not in the bed at bedtime, there are no tantrums etc.

I am not sure if people (friends) know about Baby? He has her with us at the caravan and I must admit that when one or 2 of the little girls have started playing with her, the boys have mentioned that that is Ben's Baby and it just seems to have been accepted in everyones stride, like it is common place for little boys to have baby dolls (Alex does have one too, although he has baby bear and a Barney who are more important to him, although he is likely to give anyone a home, including a giraffe on a keyring who is now called Tessa and who has even managed a solo trip through the New Zealand postal service after she got left at Grandma's house!)

So luckily for us, our Baby is still alive and well, still living in their room. I hope we don't have a bad break up like Heidi did, although I think I would be inclined to do exactly what Heidi did and rescue her and give her a home until that magic time to reveal her back to her beloved owner when he leasts expects it!

Upclose and Personal

2012-01-23T08:29:00.001+13:00

As previously mentioned, that lovely cargo ship "The Rena" caused a little bit of disruption to peoples holidays this summer by chucking a little bit more cargo overboard prior to sinking!!

We managed to get to see one or 2 of the containers in person on the beach.

The boys were fascinated by it all.

Friday Night Sew In Update

2012-01-22T20:32:00.000+13:00

Friday night has been and gone and as I write this the weekend seems to have done the same as well.
But man have I had a productive weekend, thanks to FNSI I seem to have managed to do some stitchin all weekend.

I spent Friday night sorting and planning.
I first sorted all the new DMC threads I had been lucky enough to acquire from Christmas. So I had to cross them off my DMC thread list and then rearrange my thread box to accomodate all the new ones.

Then I spent the rest of the evening designing my heart for the swap I am taking part in for Valentines Day. My cross stitch design programme works wonders and I have it all ready to go now.

And then in between other little errands that needed doing around the house this weekend, I have managed to cut out and stitch together a fleece blanket for Ben.

Alex already has one that he received for his 5th birthday 2 years ago from a friend. I liked it very much, as does he, and decided that Ben needed one too as they are very useful. I brought the material to make his about 8 months ago and it has sat there untouched since, but thanks to FNSI I got going with projects and hey presto one finished blanket.

It is a blanket that is sewed the wrong way round and then all the seams are snipped to give it a raggy look. Needs to go through the washing machine now to get it looking really soft and raggy but for now Ben is happy with it.

I also came across the beginnings of a sampler that I obviously designed many years ago for someones wedding.

Sadly I have lost touch with them since then and also I had only stitched about 4 lines of it. The more I looked at it the more I realised that I would be able to adapt it to suit someone else...like me.

So with a little unpicking of stitches I have been able to adapt the date to suit my own wedding date and now I just have to finish it, maybe adding a little more to it to make it bigger.

So for me a very productive FNSI and weekend.

How was yours?

Stitching Bug

2012-01-21T20:30:00.000+13:00

So the stitching bug has finally caught up with me.

This pattern is one I have had for more than 15 yrs and I think I have had it on the go for that long as well.

It is all set on my nice wooden frame that conveniently sits on my floor standing frame. So it is already to be completed.

Now I just have to remember where the floor frame is and decide which corner of the house is going to be mine to stitch in....!

Swap Time

2012-01-21T08:48:00.001+13:00

One of the big things I see a lot of on the blogging network is 'swapping'.
Sign up, do some work, send it off and see what wonders you receive back.
Everyone always has some lovely things to show that they are sending and then even more lovely things to show when a bundle arrived at their door.

I have participated in one or 2 swaps up till now, ok not for over a year I must admit, a bag swap a few years ago, a secret santa swap 2 years ago.
So when I saw this swap over at Gone Stitchin' I decided that seeing as I had my stitchin mojo back then I would particpate.

I left my comment on the post, answered an email when it arrived and hey presto I have my swap details.

I have been shopping and found some very cute material to use for it, although found 3 different ones, so in good true stitchin mode, I brought all 3 and will keep the ones I don't use this time for something else.

I have sorted what I am going to stitch, I have finished designing it on the computer programme I have and now I just have to sit down and start it now.
Maybe a sneaky peek will arrive on here in a few days time....watch this space

Friday Night Sew In

2012-01-20T16:33:00.000+13:00

Now I know that many of you are fans of this because I have seen your posts popping up telling me about your latest achievement on a Friday night.
Because I have not been sewing etc then I have never felt the urge to participate or show any interest, but with my stitching mojo returning, and the fact that I am planning on doing some stitching tonight, then I decided that for once I would join in the fun and maybe have some results to show you all afterwards.

However at this stage I am sure my evening will be filled with planning rather than actually sewing, but hey, we all know that you can't stitch anything unless you have some planning.

It may also be filled with coming to grips with the new computer programme I have just purchased PCStitch which is a cross stitch design programme for the computer.
I use to have one, many moons ago, and last month I decided to get it out and think about loading it onto the computer to be used again, however what I didn't count on was the fact it had been so many years since I had last looked at it that I had forgottten that it was all on hard disks rather than the usual round CD disks of today.
I have quite a little chuckle to myself at the time wondering where I was going to load these 6 black disks, also realising just how much we have moved forward in the last 10 years with the computer etc

So happy stitching for tonight, lots hope you get some stitches stitched on something.

Summertime

2012-01-20T09:05:00.001+13:00

Christmas is over, the New Year has begun and the sun is finally shining.
So my blog needs to reflect that so a new design to keep it bright and alive.

Now I just need to start planning a new background and title banner for Autumn / winter.
It is never ending!

Also last night we took the boys to see the local national cricket 20/20 game that was being played between our local team and one from the South Island.
The weather cooperated and we had an awesome evening, although sadly our team lost (which Ben found devestating! Such a sentimental old fool, he shead a few tears!)

However as the game was packing up I saw someone walking through the grounds whom seemed rather familiar to me. I soon realised that in fact it was Dee from dee*construction I have never met her before but decided I couldn't miss the oppotunity to meet a fellow blog so raced over and introduced myself.
So to Dee, it was lovely to put a face to the blog and meet you, if only for 2 mins.
Have a great weekend

Have We Always Been Green??

2012-01-19T15:55:00.000+13:00

This was posted on Facebook, and I loved it so much I wanted to share with all of you.....

Checking out at the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. I apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days“.

The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations“.

She was right about one thing–our generation didn’t have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then? After some reflection and soul-searching on “Our” day, here’s what I remembered we did have….

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby’s nappies because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Wales. In the kitchen, we blended & stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right. We didn’t have the green thing back then.

We drank from a water fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Sunflowers

2012-01-18T20:02:00.000+13:00

I mentioned in a previous post about having to sort out the sunflowers that needed tying up so they didn't fall over in the wind and rain we have been having.
I also mentioned that I would show you a picture of the 1 or 2 that have been successful in growing...

Did I Tell You.....

2012-01-17T20:18:00.002+13:00

About the wee little bit of rain we have had during the summer holiday so far?

Sure I did, but just in case you forgot......here are some pictures to show you just what it was like.
All I can say is just keep watching the water on the driveway...!

I was sat in the gazebo at the caravan at the time of this downpour and it lasted for all of about 5 minutes.
It then took about another 30 mins before all the water had drained away from the driveway!

Toilet Training

2012-01-17T16:47:00.001+13:00

I know, I know you are wondering why I am discussing such a topic when I have school age boys who are both toilet trained...?
Well they are both daytime trained but we still have issues with night time.
I am one who has never been worried about night time training, I know it is a process we have to go through but I also know that their body has to have the ability to wake them in order for them to know they need to go when a sleep.
If their body doesn't wake them then how can you growl and scream at them for yet another accident or even how can you run a rewards chart for every morning they are dry and then punish them for the mornings they are not??

Ben was close to 6 when he was stopped wearing pullups, Grandma noticed that when staying with her he would immediately use the toilet when waking and his pullup was dry. So off came the pull up and no worries since. We have had the odd accident but nothing to write home about. In fact it was an amazing feeling when he appeared at the bottom of the stairs one night over a year ago and annouced he needed to wee.
I sat there thinking "thank you, at least now he wakes when needing to go, problem solved"

Alex on the other hand, well he is the child that announced when 3 that he was no longer wearing nappies during the day, 2 weeks later he was dry (took us 5 months with Ben). He would also have loved to have gone nappyless at night but I wasn't ready for that just then.
Several times he announced that he was no longer wearing pullups at night and several times after trying for 5 nights and having been wet for 3 of them then we have said no, we will wait a little longer.
He was always wet at different times as well, sometimes I would find him in a wet bed at 10.30pm sound asleep, very difficult to night train someone who manages to sleep through it all.
Othertimes it would be 3am or 5am that he would wake us to say he was wet.

About 2 months ago we noticed that just about every morning his pullup was dry, so we instigated a no pull up rule and away we went. I expected a few accidents along the way but every 5-6 days is hard work.
Again it is always at different times, 11pm, 3am, 4am, 5.30am.
I am not sure if he wakes because he is wetting or if he is waking because he is wet?

We have tried limiting his fluid intake after a certain time.
We ensure he wees prior to going to bed.
But so far we can find no rhyme or reason for this continual wetting that seems to be happening apart from the fact he is on school holidays and getting a lot of fresh air and obviously is just so tired each night that he is sleeping so soundly!

However we are now at the stage where we have to perserve and just go with it.
The lucky part of it all at present is that we are in the middle of summer and getting the washing done each time is easy.

If you have any suggestions or tips then we would love to hear them.....?

Inspiration has Returned

2012-01-16T20:32:00.000+13:00

My mother is a crafter, she can turn her hand to just about any craft (with a needle or thread) if she tries, so it is no surprise that by the time I was 8yrs old I had started to stitch.
I gained my first sewing box filled with threads and material at this age and I have never looked back!
Of course when first starting out I didn't do much sewing but in my 20's sewing took over and everyone got presents for weddings etc cross stitched and personalised.
Go check out my quilting page to see pictures of my first stitchings and more about my story of stitching.

When I moved to New Zealand 14 yrs ago I actually started quilting and the cross stitch got put a side. Then 9 yrs ago I gained the first of the 2 reasons that everything went away. The boys!
Stitching on a regular basis more or less disappeared out of the window. I neither had the inspiration or the time but I decided that the pay off was 2 wonderfully growing boys who had lots of attention and loads of loving as they grew.

Well I can honestly announce that this Christmas my inspiration returned.
My interest in stitching suddenly appeared and showed some interest.
I have done some stitching, I have finally put needle to thread.

And I loved it!

Steve brought me some DMC threads for Christmas, I now have more than I realise I actually need but then everyone always needs every shade of pink or blue that is available because you just never know when you might need a shade just 1 tone darker or lighter than the one you were previously using!
My inspiration has come for only cross stitching at present not quilting but I am happy to start with one and know that eventually other types of stitching will hopefully show through.
So for now I am checking out stitchings I would love to complete, I am happily reading stitching blogs and finding even more inspiration and I am getting some stitches on the fabric of a pattern I started many years ago. It is a large pattern but every stitch helps. I will blog more about it an little later.

So for now, happy to stitching to all

Real News

2012-01-10T09:46:00.003+13:00

Last October I mentioned the fact that the ‘lovely’ large cargo ship “The Rena” had run a ground just off the coast of Tauranga.

Tauranga is just under 2 hours drive away from us, plus we don’t have any coastline in Hamilton so not effected by it. However we do have coastline at the caravan.

When the first containers went overboard they stayed around the Tauranga area and went a little south, luckily they never went north. Our caravan is by the beach north of Tauranga (60kms), probably about 20-30 mins by water (it takes us 40 mins to drive)

The Rena has been slowly breaking up over the last 4 months, they in turn have been slowly removing all the remaining oil and also attempting to remove some of the 1200 containers before they go overboard. They have placed transponders on all the remaining containers, so if they go over they can be locate them, as some have been sinking.

This weekend, after all the horrid weather we have been having over the last 2 weeks, The Rena has broken in 2 and containers that are remaining on her are falling into the water, and they have made it north this time!

So yesterday we drove to the beach and showed the boys the mess. They could see 3 or 4 containers bobbing out in the sea, they could see the bags of milk powder that were littering the beach from where one of the containers has broken and they also got to see the 5 containers that had actually washed up on the beach.

Ben discussed the Rena at school last year, so knows all about disaster and how it can effect lives, but not living near it had no idea what was involved, now that has changed. We were able to show them what was happening and also discuss how this affected everyone. What it means now the beach is closed and how long it may be before it opens.

So we have managed to show them real news up close and personal and discuss how this effects everyone, which I think is really important because you see so much on the news and sometimes it is very difficult to explain it all to them and get them to understand the seriousness of it and the consequences.

Finally Beaten!

2012-01-08T09:43:00.000+13:00

By the rain that is not my favourite sports team.

Here in New Zealand it is the start of summer.
The schools have broken up for their summer break of 6-7 weeks.
The weather is finally turning nice.
Everyone has gone camping.

We too went camping over Christmas, we left on Christmas Eve and we have had an awesome time.
The first 5-6 days were beautiful, just how you hope to spend a summer Christmas if you are by the beach. The sun was out, the boys loved playing with friends and everyone had a relaxing time.
New Year was slightly different in that it rained and rained and oh yea just for good measure it rained some more! The poor people in tents, got flooded and a lot went home many days earlier than they had planned too.
Then the sun came out again and it has been nice, the odd day of rain but nothing you can't survive.
That is until yesterday when it rained a lot more, continuously all day.

The forcast for today is for much of the same and I finally made the decision that I did not want to spend another day couped in the caravan. So we came home.
We were not wet, we were not flooded, we had plenty of food, plenty of things to do but we had had enough of spending quality family time in an 8x4m space in the rain.
We had washing to do and so I decided we needed a change of scenery.

So here we are at home, sleeping in our own bed, even though the caravan is comfortable to sleep in, with more space to wander around in, the ability to use the toilet without getting wet feet on the way.
We have got a few things to get done.
The courgettes have managed to go wild and we have 2 that are like baseball bats, I think we have marrows! Will get pictures and show you later. (left the camera at the caravan, so the boys will collect it when they go back next week)
The sunflowers are reaching the roof and need tying so they don't fall over, again will show you later in a picture.
The roses need trimming, the tomatoes need tying, the garlic needs pulling.
So just a few jobs that need to be looked at so we don't loose the whole garden in the weather.

We will go back, just going to let the worst of the rain pass before we do!

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T07:18:00.001+13:00

May all your hopes and dreams come closer in 2012.
May your world be settled, may your family be closer, may you have the love around you you so desire.
May you achieve your dreams and goals.

Happy New Year

End of Year for School

2011-12-29T09:05:00.001+13:00

This year has been a fabulous one for my 2 boys at school.
Even though they are both just 6 & 8 yrs old, they have worked hard and made us very proud.
Not sure if this is a good thing to be happening so early because then it leaves a lasting impression of what they need to continue to achieve in the following years to come!!

However we are very proud and have had an awesome year at school with them.
In the week before the end of term Alex had a Grandparent's Day and Flower Show. So mum kindly came over for lunch at the school with Alex and to view all the pretty flower displays they had been working hard on for the day or so before the presentation.
We also got treated to a lovely little singing show as well.
So here are some pictures of the wonderful displays that Alex created this year.

Ben this year has had a young male teacher (22 yrs old) and he has been fabulous. He has created a wonderful class of children who have all been very eager to learn and participate.
This has shown in all the testing the children were put through throughout the year and the wonderful results everyone got.
So sadly we had to say goodbye this term as Ben is moving to another class. The teacher is still going to remain at the school but end of year so next year new grade, class and teacher.
The kids wanted to do something for their teacher to say "Thank you for an awesome year" so a few of the mothers came into the class one day when the teacher was away and asked the children what made him such a great teacher?
Then all their answers were put together on a poster and this was given to him at a class morning tea in the last week of term.

Well, how to make a young male teacher cry, thank him for being awesome and tell him the kids will miss him.
He was so overcome, you could see his heart growing with care and proudness.
He has been an amazing teacher and it has been a privilege to have him as our son's teacher this last year.

The mother's were so impressed with his teaching style and wanted to encourage him to stay with it, that they nominated him for the "New Zealand Impressive Teacher's Award". There was 1 overall winner and 29 others recognised. He was awarded one of the 29 recognised.
I was there in assembly when it got announced and to say he was shell shocked was an understatement. He was speechless, gobsmacked and generally unable to comprehend or understand exactly what he had just been nominated for?
He, as most people do, couldn't understand what he had done so differently from anyone else to deserve being awarded something like this?
But let me tell you, he got quiet ones to come out of their shell, he got noisy ones to calm and listen, he got inactive ones to have a go and he got ones with wariness to believe in themselves and realise they can conquer the world if their hearts desire it.

He shall be missed as our class teacher this next year, but here's hoping he is still around when Alex gets to that school grade.

Happy Birthday

2011-12-26T09:17:00.002+13:00

In 1961 a child was born, well in fact many were born, but for me I am only worried about one of them.
The one that was born that year today, my husband.

He turns 50 today.

So to my darling husband and father of our 2 gorgeous boys.

Happy Birthday

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:17:00.006+13:00

All the very best to you and your family on this Christmas Day.
May you have food, fun and laughter to see you through the holiday.

Merry Christmas to all

Quick Christmas Treat

2011-12-24T09:29:00.003+13:00

At this time of year there are numerous morning teas, lunches and afternoon teas to attend.
And of course you are always asked to bring a small plate of some description or other!

Now I mentioned about some cool little recipes I discovered on Paisley Jade the other day.
This time I have discovered one of my own and will happily share it with you.

You require:

1 pkt Mallow Puffs

100g white choc buttons or melts

enough red or green smarties, M&M's, pebbles, Jaffas etc for 1 per mallow puff

Method:

Place the Mallow Puffs on a tray.

Melt the white choc buttons

Swirl white choc on top of Mallow Puff and add a coloured M&M.

Place on plate and continue with next one.

There you have it, simple little Chocolate Christmas Puddings.

What I Miss at Christmas

2011-12-23T09:00:00.002+13:00

I have been here in New Zealand for the past 13 odd years, would I ever leave, depends where we are going, but would I move back to England...never!!

Even if it has taken me all this time to get use to having Christmas in the sun, I still miss loads to do with Christmas.
As much as we celebrate everything here, it definitely has a different feel to it.
I love the warmth of the sun but miss the warm snuggled houses with the fires roaring and everyone wearing their latest christmas inspire sweater!
I love the fact that people do decorate their houses with lights etc but hate that you have to go out at 10pm to be able to view them in their full shinnest gleam.
I miss the lights glowing in all the shop windows as you race round town late one evening for the last few gifts you desperately need or desire.
I miss the whole atmosphere that takes over in the whole month of December as you count down to Christmas with the lights, the music, the cold nights and the food. Here December wanders in and suddenly you are more concerned with the fact that the school year is closing, what are you doing with the kids over the summer break, are we going to have sunshine whilst we camp at Christmas and has summer actually started or not!
There never seems to be any real lead up to Christmas, just suddenly one day you remember and then think Holy s%#t, we only have xyz weeks to go and I have got nothing done!

I also, ultimately, miss Christmas carols.
Yes I can play a CD at home but it just does not have the same effect as standing in the cold listening to a beautiful choir fill the air with the round crisp tones of a full choir.
I miss hearing a soloist sing "Once in Royal David's City" and then the effect when the full choir comes in with verse 2.
I miss going to a carol concert leading up to Christmas, where everyone is in a jolly mood, happy to see everyone, enjoying the atmosphere and the music and munching on their christmas faire of cake and mince pies (although I will never miss either of those as I can't stand dried fruit, although never fear, we may be in full sun shine on Christmas Day but people do still insist on Christmas pudding, brandy cream / custard, Christmas cake and mince pies)

I also miss snowmen, seems a silly thing to miss but I have found that all decorations here have Santa on them, nothing seems to be snowmen orientated.
Mainly I think because we don't have snow!
So nowadays if I see something with snowmen on it and it is cute, then I snap it up really quick.

Overal, I do love Christmas here, it is very different to a winter Christmas but definitely something I would recommend everyone tries.

Merry Chrsitmas

Pays to Check

2011-12-22T13:24:00.000+13:00

Sometimes I can be really pedantic about checking accounts and invoices and other times I trust the company involved.
The boys go to after school care and the amount of times they manage to screw up the inputting of the data is ridiculous.

Sometimes they will have Alex down for 2 hours but only charge us for 1 hour for Ben, like we leave one child there longer than the other!
Other times they have Ben starting morning care 15 minutes earlier than Alex, again like we would drop one child off before the other!

When it is something that benifits us, then I can honestly say that occassionally I omit to correct them, but when they do something that takes heaps more money from us then I am there with bells on correcting it.

This morning I received an invoice for the last week of term.
The boys attended just 1 session with them. An afternoon for 2 hours. Very simple and straight forward, 2 hour session = $12.40 for each child therefore total cost = $24.80.
However somehow someone had managed to put the wrong time in for Ben and it looked like he had attended the session for 14 hours!
How can someone have not noticed this?
That meant we actually got charged $12.40 for Alex and $86.80 for Ben.
If I had not read the invoice I would have missed this until they had complained further to me that I owed them $53.20 for last terms services, when I knew that we should actually be in credit!

They happily sorted this out for me but makes me realise that next year I will be checking the invoices every 2 weeks when they come through.

Movie Premier

2011-12-22T10:11:00.000+13:00

At the end of last week I was lucky enough to secure 4 tickets to a premier of the up coming movie "Tin Tin's Adventures".

The boys heard me win them on the radio, so there was no deciding to take anyone else instead of them!

Now I remember Tin Tin from when I was a little girl and I can honestly say that it was not something I was into. My brother on the other hand had one or two of the comic books.
So having an understanding of the concept of the story I was a little worried about how the boys would take it, Ben I thought would do fine, but Alex I thought might get a little bored or scared. Me, well I really wasn't that interested in seeing the movie anyway, but was prepared to sit through it like any good mother does, because it was something for my children, but I would have snuck into any number of other movies if I could have!
Yes Alex did get a little bored, Ben did enjoy it and as for me, well I watched the whole damn thing from start to finish and would even go and see the 2nd one when it is made. It was actually good, I actually enjoyed it.

The movie is made in animation but not cartoon animation, the animation that they made "Polar Express" (Tom Hanks Movie) with, where they got the actors to do the actions and captured them in animation.

It was effective and very well done.
Would I recommend it as a movie to get to this Christmas time, yes.
Take your sons, your nephews and your grandsons, even your husbands and while your at it, take all you female relatives too.
It was just your good old young boy adventure story with goodies and badies, adventure and fun.

When the movie finished, we decided that seeing as we were already out, then we would go along to the Mormon Temple to view the thousands of Christmas Lights they put up each year around the temple grounds.
Check out this post for pictures of the glorious event.
Unfortunately what we didn't count on was the weather, that turned to custard on the way to the temple, however as we were already on our way then I decided that we were going to continue as a little rain never harmed anyone. It also meant that we could cross it off the list of things to get done before Christmas. Now gives me an evening at home tonight to get the presents wrapped!
So we stood with the few others, under the umbrella, in the pouring rain and watched the lights get turned on. Then we walked the steps up to the temple door and walked back down again, now with very wet feet, and then decided that we had achieved that one and went home to bed.

Once again though, I stood looking at the lights and had the same thought that I do every year...."really must get Grandma to come over and see the lights!"
So Grandma, please place this in your diary for 2012, sometime after Dec 12, you have to come and stay the night with us and go out to the Temple and see the pretty lights.

Interesting Figures About Christmas

2011-12-20T11:04:00.000+13:00

The following survey was display in the newspaper.
Makes for some interesting reading.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Christmas is as much a time for checking work emails as it is for going to church, a survey has revealed.

23% of 1060 people who completed a Colmar Brunton online survey said they would check their work emails on Christmas Day.
That is nearly as much as the 25% who will go to a church service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Spokeswoman for the Auckland Catholic Diocese, Lyndsay Freer, said she thought people would "need to be a bit compulsive" to check work emails on Christmas Day.
But she said the statistics were a reflection of the fact a large number of people were not Christian, and of the increasing popularity of computers and smartphones.

Tradition also takes a battering when it comes to the Christmas tree, with 71% of those putting up a tree shunning the smell of pine in favour of a fake tree.

Santa Claus will go hungry during his dash around the country, with only 29% of households planning to leave out food or a present for him.

The survey also showed the average age people stopped believing in Santa Claus was 8 years old. (This I can believe as I am sure this year Ben is already wondering secretly in his head, by next year he is going to be questioning this in more detail, although I know he would never let on because of his little brother!)

But there is some comfort for those fearing the disintegration of society, with 84% of people saying for them Christmas meant getting together with family and friends.

34% of people said it was most about the birth of Christ, and 5% of people said the day only meant time off work.
Christmas will be spent with relatives for 53% of Kiwis this year.

And despite the tensions that can come with family reunions, 61% of those surveyed said they would be spending Christmas Day where they wanted to be.

Just 11% admitted they would rather be somewhere else!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So where do you fall in these numbers?
Will you be checking work emails on Christmas day?

Vegetables

2011-12-18T14:44:00.003+13:00

Each year we plant some vegetables in the garden.
Usually tomatoes, courgette, pepper and lettuce.
This year we managed potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, pepper and courgettes.
Due to rearranging and flattening the garden then out normal veggie patch has had to be moved, so all the vegetables are growing in mishap places around the garden.
Although the courgette seems to be loving its new position.

Here it is after having been growing for about 2 weeks

Dec 4th

2 weeks later this is what it looks like...

Dec 18th

Can you spot the courgettes? There are 4 of them, they all have flowers on the end of them.

We have had so many courgette off this plant so far that I have had to take some to Judo to give away, cause we just can't keep up! It obviously loves its new position and has found some growth hormones from somewhere.
You only have to look at it to see it growing! Some of them are doubling in size in 2 days, you see one growing , think ok will pick it in a day or 2 cause it is just not quite big enough, you go back 36 hours later and suddenly you have a marrow instead of a courgette!
Man you have to be quick around here to get nice size ones!

This also means I have managed to achieve another of the challenges I set myself last year. Even though I didn't manage to achieve all the challenges throughout the year, I am still going to work away at them and slowly complete them.
So this post shows I have managed Challenge #43 - have a veggie patch and give something away from it.

But while we are on the sublect of Challenges, I did also complete #37 - pick some lavendar and place in your bathroom. I will take a picture for proof when I remember.
So 2 more completed.

Busy Busy

2011-12-18T12:43:00.000+13:00

We all know that at this time of year it can get very busy, we all seem to manage to find 50 things that must be done by the end of the week.
I am trying to get things sorted and also remember to mail out birthday cards, christmas cards and postcards for Postcrossings.

However it shows that things are a little busy when you receive this from the mail....

Yes, that is correct, I sent a birthday card out in such a hurry I forgot to put a stamp on it, so they sent it back to me letting me know that if I still wanted to send this item then I needed to put a stamp on it!

My Little Brother

2011-12-15T12:00:00.003+13:00

My little brother, who actually is not so little anymore! lives with his family in Rotorua.

When he moved here 4 years ago he decided to join the volunteer firefighters.
He successfully went through all his training and has been an active fire fighter since then.

I sometimes just take it for granted that he does this special job on top of his normal everyday job.
I know he gets called out everynow and then. I am aware that he gets called to car crashes and fires but because I am not in the same town talking to him daily it is not part of my everyday thought process.

However when they tell you (on the news) of a large fire in Rotorua that is using all resources they have available there plus a few appliances from neighbouring towns, then you know he will probably be there.

Quick check with his wife and our mum and yes it is confirmed, my baby brother is out there in his uniform, fighting that fire in the town centre. Has been since 6 this morning.

When you then see the following picture on the news it makes you realise just what he does, as a volunteer, because he wants to....

He has a very understanding boss. If he gets 'called out' outside of work hours and he is late for work then his boss is fine, his boss would prefer he didn't answer the call during work hours and that is fair enough, as a volunteer you only attend the station during the hours that you are available.
However on a day like today, when you answer the call at 6am and you are still not at work by 10.30am then you have to have a very understanding boss who understands that once you are at a fire or crash you can't leave and that you will be there when available.

So to my little brother...I am very proud of you, I regularly forget what you go up against when you are called out, but when it is shown on the news, then it hits home just what a special job you do, because you want to, not because anyone is paying you to.

Way to go little brother.

Other times he is just down right disgusting!!

Hope for Everyone

2011-12-13T10:06:00.000+13:00

As many of you know, I am currently, very slowly, gaining my Bachelors Degree in Nursing.
This is coming 16 years after I qualified as a Nurse, but when I qualified, degrees were not the normal to have.

It is actually amazing how many people you will find nowadays who are working towards getting a qualification many years after they have left school.

I saw this news article today about one such man, who after 40 years has finally completed his Degree in Law.

So there is hope and inspiration to us all, if you want it bad enough then you will make it happen.

Burning Energy

2011-12-11T13:19:00.001+13:00

A crematorium in England wants to install turbines in two of its burners which would use the heat generated during cremation to provide enough electricity to power 1500 televisions.

I was quite shocked when I first read this article in the newspaper, but on further reading I could actually see the sense of it.

As they said, they have all this energy being produced that could be better used elsewhere and for them to conserve energy.
Apparently it is the burner itself that creates the energy not the body, so don't suddenly think it is the human body they are powering off of!
According to the article, this one crematorium has up to 2100 cremations per year, and further more about 75% of the dead are cremated

Apparently one of the biggest problems with cremation is the amount of mercury, from fillings in teeth, that accumalates in the air. About 16% of mercury in the air comes from crematoriums, so they are all trying to sort out their burners so they half such emissions by next year and eliminate it totally by the end of the decade.
Some have already fitted systems which use the heat from the burners to heat their offices, nearby offices and also a swimming pool.

It seems a morbid thing to talk about, but at the end of the day it is a business and they need to conserve energy just like all other business's, it is just that it is a sensitive area for all to consider.

Gardening

2011-12-10T20:08:00.001+13:00

I am still working my way through all the pictures of our garden to be able to show you what we have been up to out there.
However one thing that has not changed is the Ivy Hedge we have!

This is boardering one of the neighbours and they tell us they love having the green wall!
We on the other hand do not like it so much! Although what we would put there in its place I do not know, so at present it will be staying!!

It can at times look really nice, glowing in the sunlight, although at other times it is a pain, always needing trimming etc
The biggest pain of it all is the fact that when it first needed trimming after we moved into the house, it soon became apparent that Steve would not be touching the hedge ever again due to coming out in welts and itching! Yes turns out my husband is allergic to the ivy!
Shame we had to discover this 6 weeks prior to our wedding, when his hands were swollen and red raw! Lots of soothing cream later and his hands looked great on our wedding day!

So he is banned from touching the ivy, so muggins here now has a permanent job in the garden, I am the ivy trimmer.
I am the only one who can trim it, tidy it and even clear up afterwards because he is not allowed to touch anything to do with it!
It is a little high for my liking, and everynow and then I do try to trim it, and I mean really trim it! Not just a measly 2 inches, I try for 6-8.
The next time I trim it I will try to give the top a really good cut that way it will be a little more manageable.

So the ivy hedge remains and will continue to be the bain of my exsistence in our garden.

Do you have something in your garden that annoys you but just can't go at present?

Downfall of New Clothes

2011-12-09T15:21:00.000+13:00

By having a new job it means I need new clothes, well not exactly new clothes, I just need to think more about what I wear to work each day.
Previously I just rocked on up in jeans and a shirt because as soon as I got there I got changed into scrubs.

I have quite a decent wardrobe of clothes at home but it has taken me a few months to get use to having to think each morning about exactly what I am going to wear.
My shoes have all been fine and as summer is now upon us I have been able to utilise all my pretty sandels.
All my pretty dresses are also getting a nice airing out in the world.

However that is where the problem lies, I am wearing stuff that I am not use to wearing. I am not use to wearing skirts and dresses all day. I am not use to wearing shoes with any type of heel on them all day.
And the heels have been my down fall. I don't wear high heels, just little ones, enough to give me a little lift and look really nice.

Yesterday I wore a pretty dress with a nice pair of sandels that had a heel, I got compliments all day about how great I looked.

Today I am wearing trainers on my right foot and a moonboot on my left foot and downing painkillers and anti-inflamatories and getting compliments / questions about "what did you do?"

"Yes what did I do?"
I wore heels all day, walked a lot and managed to roll my ankle a little at some stage during the day. It didn't hurt at the time, but by last night it was a little tender. I decided that rest was all I needed and so did none of the Rest. Ice. Compress. Elevate treatment as I didn't feel I had done anything.
This morning it was uncomfortable so brought a tubigrip bandage on my way to work and wore that. However by mid morning I decided that it was too painful to totally ignore and got an appointment at the Physiotherapists.
I have strained a ligament in my ankle and they are painful. She wants me to get my foot in a neutral position, so leg and foot in a 90 degree angle, however mine won't go there, so she has placed me in a moonboot for 4 days to keep it in a good position and allow it to rest!

Rest with your foot in a fixed position? Hum yea how? It is more uncomfortable in this than it was previously, however this moonboot is of course keeping it in the right position while it fixes, heals and recovers. Previously I was letting it rest, painfree in the wrong position, thereby doing more damage.
So now I am hobbling round ever so elegantly with this black monstrosity on my foot.

My pretty dresses will look lovely on Monday at work with one foot strapped up!
Maybe I need to fight to wear jeans to work everyday?

Earthquakes

2011-12-09T14:28:00.001+13:00

Here in New Zealand we are pretty well known for our shakes, rattles and rolls.
Poor Christchurch have been rolling with them for the past 10 months.

Wellington, our capital, is also well known for the odd rattle and shake. They have been having them for much longer than Christchurch.
Yesterday they had another little rumble, in the line of 4.2 magnitude.
People said that after Christchurch they are now more aware of them, they tend to move to somewhere safer nowadays because they just don't know what to expect anymore.
The website I read this on, had the ability for you to comment at the bottom of the news item, what was interesting was the messages of support and advice the people from Christchurch were offering.

Especially in this new modern technology age, we tend to take things for granted and forget that most of what we do daily now may not work when there is no electricty.
So here are some little tips I read that are usefull for all to remember:

Think twice before ever considering getting rid of your land line telephone. Christchurch people said that having a mobile phone was of no use to them at all, they were unable to use them as the cell towers were down and the network, if it was working, got overloaded. Also ensure that your landline at home is a plug in the wall telephone, not one of these ones that you can walk around with, as you need electricity to power those and therefore do not work in a power outage, however, if you do not want a plain basic telephone in the house, consider storing one somewhere in the house so that when you have a power outage, you have a phone handy to plug in and use.
Do you have any cash in your house? When you need cash where do you get it from? If the power was out would you still have cash on you? Bet your answer to all of that was No and from the cash machine! Well have you ever considered the fact that if the power goes out you can not get cash out? Probably not, I hadn't. The people of Christchurch recommend that you keep maybe $50-100 in cash in the house somewhere so you have the ability to purchase things if the power is out.
Do you cook with gas? Do you light your stove / oven using the automatic starter button? Do you have matches in the house? Maybe you might need to store some somewhere, because if the electricity is out you won't be able to boil the water without them to start the gas.

The above 3 things are such simple little things that we all take for granted nowadays. We don't even think about how they work and what would happen if they weren't working.
Hope this has helped you in some way/

Roses

2011-12-09T08:33:00.000+13:00

At the beginning of the year, Alex decided that we needed roses in the garden.
At some stage we brought 3 rose bushes and planted them in the front garden.
As mentioned here they took a little time but then suddenly bloomed to all their goodness. He was well chuffed to have pretty things out the front.
Well of course here in New Zealand, November is the month when most roses are in full bloom and looking beautiful. Towns have their local parks rose displays at this time.

Hamilton is no exception, with the Gardens right on our door step, then we couldn't not go to the weekend special for the rose gardens.
The boys loved it, the weather was gorgeous and the roses shone like no other.
We all had our favorite ones, ones that had glorious colour or even weird colour. Ben loved the fact there was one that was close in name to him, well it had the same first name!

So the pictures that follow are the glorious shots we got viewing the beatiful roses at the Hamilton Gardens Roses Day a couple of weekends ago

MAS*H

2011-12-08T10:21:00.001+13:00

I don't think there is anyone who doesn't remember this programme.
You either loved it or hated it.
I remember watching it in the late 80's in the US, at that stage you could, if you really wanted to, watch 5 episodes a day, although the 1 shown at 11pm was a repeated the next day at 10.30am, so really only 4 a day.

However, the reason I am having this little walk down memory lane is because sadly Harry Morgan has passed away today.
"Who was he again?" I hear you say.
He had the wonderful pleasure of playing Col. Sherman T Porter.

He was 96 when he died of pneumonia and he had lead a full life.

I looked up M*A*S*H on the computer and found some useless little facts about the show.

Did you know that all the paintings in Col. Porter's office were actually painted by Harry Morgan.
Ron Howard, Patrick Swazye and John Ritter all had small parts in an episode at some stage throughout the 11 years of the show running.
The dog tags worn by Jamie Farr (Max Klinger) were his own actual tags from when he himself served in the U.S. Army in Korea in the 1950s after the Korean War. Alan Alda also served in the U.S Army in Korea.
The outdoor sets for the show were built in Malibu, California
The last episode aired on Feb 28, 1983 and was apparently watched by over 125 million viewers.

I am lucky enough to have the complete set of M*A*S*H on DVD at home, and still enjoy sitting down and watching a few episodes.
Now it is even funnier to watch as I am a theatre nurse by trade so interesting to see how they did things in the OR during the show.

More Judo

2011-12-08T07:59:00.005+13:00

This past weekend we also, along with the big party, had a Judo Tournament.
I almost died the night the Sensei (Terry) announced that we were having a tournament day on the 4th. I sat there shaking my head thinking 'no, we are away that weekend but I know the boys will want to be here!'

So we reshuffled our weekend plans and raced back from Rotorua, after the birthday party, late on Saturday evening ready for a very early start on Sunday morning. (why they have to start tournaments at 8.30am I will never know?)

Anyway, as per usual, we both got roped into helping on the day, but at this tournament I was working on the mat area, so got to watch all the boys fights, unlike last time when I worked in the kitchen and managed to miss some of the fights!

The boys both fought hard and good. They won some, they lost some and they both had a lot of fun, which at the end of the day is important.
Ben desperately wanted to be part of this because Judo is almost ending for the year and this is when Terry does a lot of the grading. Ben knows he isn't at Orange belt level yet, but he is hoping he might get a notch towards it on his yellow belt. So fingers crossed for next weekend when Judo has their fun day and awards ceremony.

The boys, however, did walk away with a few medals.
Ben got a silver in his class fights and a bronze in the open fight.

Yea for me

Alex managed a bronze in his class fight.

I got another medal, yea

He did enter the open fight, but sadly did not get placed, although we are proud of both of them for the effort they showed on the day.

with their big friend Jarod

End of year party next weekend and then summer holidays off!

Advanced Birthday Celebrations

2011-12-07T08:45:00.001+13:00

If your birthday happens to fall over a major holiday, then what do you do?

Celebrate 6 months in advance? Celebrate the week before? Or even 4 weeks before?

Depending on when it is then I guess you celebrate when convenient.

A friend has a child born on Feb 29, she said they choose which day suits them best Feb 28 or Mar 1, although she says they do try to stick to the same day each year!

Alex is born over a public holiday weekend here in New Zealand. We always celebrate his birthday on the right weekend but when you want to hold a large party then you have to celebrate the week before or after due to everyone going away for the said weekend!

However, the biggest one we have is Steve.....his birthday is Dec 26, Boxing Day.
And this particular year it is important to celebrate due to the fact he is turning........50!

So we discussed it and decided to celebrate his birthday at the beginning of December. Why I hear you ask, well because everyone, including ourselves, are away over the Christmas period (it is our summer holiday after all). We can't celebrate closer to the day because everyone knows this is the manic period of everyones life, what with work functions, school functions and any other organisation function you happen to be involved in.
This week I am out Monday and Wednesday night, the boys have Judo on Tuesday and Thursday and Steve and I both have a work function Friday afternoon/evening. So this is one of our busiest weeks before Christmas.

So this past weekend we had a party to celebrate his 50th Birthday at my mum's house in Rotorua.
Sadly I didn't get pictures of the party in full swing or even of any of the guests having a great time playing pass the parcel! But I did manage a picture of the birthday boy with his birthday cake.

The weather did not cooperate quite how we would have liked it too, but we all had fun anyway.
So thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us this past weekend. Steve had a wonderful time and loved catching up with family and friends.
Thank you to mum, who kindly loaned us her house for the party and also helped us by doing some of the shopping and helping us cook the food.
It was all delicious and nothing was wasted, in fact for once it was the perfect amount required for the amount of people attending.

I think it was a great way to kick start the festive session ahead.

Christmas Yummies

2011-12-06T11:20:00.001+13:00

At this time of year we are always having morning teas and shared lunches.
Doesn't matter how many recipe books you have, when it comes time to make something your mind can often go blank and you race around the kitchen muttering to yourself "what can I make? what is simple and easy? what will keep overnight?"

Why not pop over here to Paisley Jade's place and see all the yummy simple recipes she has just posted about.
I have had a quick drool through them all and already worked out exactly what I am making tomorrow for the shared lunch I have to attend on Thursday at work.

I do love coming across a blog that saves the day.

December 6

2011-12-06T08:02:00.001+13:00

December 6 is the 340th day of the year (341st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 25 days remaining until the end of the year

Events on this day:

1897 – London becomes the world's first city to host licenced taxicabs.
1967 – Adrian Kantrowitz performed the first human heart transplant in the United States.

2001 – The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador.

Births on this day:

There were people born on this day, but Wikipedia only mentioned American Baseball and Football Players, no one of any importance that I could see.

Deaths on this day:

343 – Saint Nicholas (b. 270)

1988 – Roy Orbison, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter (b. 1936)

2001 – Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand sailor and environmentalist (b. 1948)

Due to the death of Saint Nicholas on December 6, this is the reason that many international countries in Europe celebrate Saint Nicholas Day where it is a festival for all the children and little gifts are received.

Expensive "Oh Ooops"

2011-12-05T14:42:00.000+13:00

Just read this on a website news paper.....

"A Sunday drive has ended in a $3.5 million nightmare, with eight Ferraris, three Mercedes-Benzes and a Lamborghini involved in a 14-car pile-up in Japan.

Police said the pile-up happened on the Chugoku Expressway in Yamaguchi Prefecture about 10.15am yesterday, with 10 people hospitalised with minor injuries.

Japan's largest English language newspaper, The Daily Yomiuri, reported the crash happened on a curve of the road and one Mercedes-Benz was driving in the oncoming lane.

ANN news video of the crash aftermath shows the sportscars lying mangled on the road, a mess of ripped metal, broken glass and snapped alloy wheels, with several cars wedged up against metal barriers.
About $3.5 million worth of supercars and luxury coupes from the 1980s to today - and a Toyota Prius - were damaged in the crash.
According to a translated report from the Asahi Shimbun the smash occurred when one of the Ferraris hit a median strip.

The report said there was then a series of crashes over 400 metres as the drivers went around the bend, with car parts flying through the air.

The group of drivers was made up of self-employed "car enthusiasts", who were travelling from Kyushu to Hiroshima.
A 36-year-old self-employed man from Kanzaki, Saga Prefecture, said he was driving in the opposite lane at the time of the accident.
"Cars were making a tremendous noise," he said.

The pile-up made headlines around the world, with the UK's Mirror reporting "it could be the most expensive car crash ever".

The cars involved included at least two Ferrari F430s (one was the race-ready Scuderia, these days worth more than $400,000), two Ferrari 360 Modenas (each worth almost $200,000), two Ferrari F355s (each worth about $150,000) and a Lamborghini Diablo (one of the most expensive supercars of the 1990s and still likely worth upwards of $200,000). There was also a Nissan GT-R - the only current Japanese supercar - while the cheapest invovled in the crash was a Toyota Prius hybrid, worth closer to $20,000. "

I think my baby brother would cry hearing this story, just about every car he loves was involved!

Volunteering

2011-12-05T09:01:00.002+13:00

Have you ever volunteered? I mean actually gone out and worked with an organisation or someone? Been part of a team that runs something for others, looks after something or meets regularly to organise?
If you have .......then you are part of that wonderous group of people who happily give up a small amount of their own time to help others.

Today is International Volunteers Day

This is the day when we can celebrate and say thanks to all those wonderous people who do give up some of their own time to assist and help others, just because they want to.

We are lucky to have such super volunteers in the hospital setting. They give of their time freely each week to ensure patients and visitors do not get lost around our huge campus.

They also give of their time to assist people whilst visiting the emergency department, supporting people in their bad time and just being there to talk or bring that small cup of tea that may be so desperately needed.

I myself, have never volunteered in the hospital setting, but have spent many a year volunteering. When Ben was just 5 weeks old I join Parents Centre, an organisation that ran Antenatal classes and Parenting education classes. The organisation was run by the headoffice in Wellington, but each of the local centres were run by volunteers.

I did this for 5 years, sometimes just a small input, others times well I gave it my all. I was Chairperson of the Hamilton branch at one time, but when it took over my family life then I gave it all away.

Volunteering should be fun and enjoyable. It should be something that you want to do otherwise you don't enjoy it and you don't give and receive the necessaries out of it.

Nowadays I am on the PTA at the school, a smaller committment but still a huge giving back. We have managed to change things at school for the better but at the same time don't feel that it is taking over our family life.

I happily volunteer at Judo too, the club runs itself each week thanks to the couple that own it, but whenever they have tournament days etc then they need help. So this past weekend I just spent 5 hours ensuring the kids doing the fighting had the right coloured belt on each time. May not seem like much, but at the time it assisted in making the tournament day run smoothly as possible.

Previously I have spent the entire time working in the kitchen, cooking more toasted cheese sandwiches than I care to admit too!

I will post about this weekends tournament later this week.

So to all you wonderful people out there who give of their precious time and volunteer.

Thanks you,

Thank you so much,

Thank you for finding it in your heart to be someone prepared to give up a few hours each week, whilst also working and running a family, to do something for someone else because you can.

December 4

2011-12-04T09:00:00.002+13:00

December 4 is the 338th day of the year (339th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 27 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events on this day:

1791 – The first edition of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper, is published.
1881 – The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published.
1954 – The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida, United States

Births on this day:

1930 – Ronnie Corbett, Scottish actor

1949 – Jeff Bridges, American actor

1949 – Pamela Stephenson, New Zealand-born actress

1973 – Tyra Banks, American supermodel

Deaths on this day:

1976 – Benjamin Britten, English composer (b. 1913)

____________________________________________________

December 3

2011-12-03T08:00:00.003+13:00

December 3 is the 337th day of the year (338th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 28 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events on this day:

1976 – An assassination attempt is made on Bob Marley. He is shot twice, but plays a concert two days later.

Births on this day:

1948 – Ozzy Osbourne, English singer

1959 – Eamonn Holmes, Northern Irish TV presenter

1960 – Daryl Hannah, American actress

1960 – Julianne Moore, American actress

1968 – Brendan Fraser, Canadian-American actor

Deaths on this day:

1894 – Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer (b. 1850)

December 2

2011-12-02T08:59:00.004+13:00

December 2 is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 29 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events on this day:

1982 – At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.

Births on this day:

1973 – Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player

1981 – Britney Spears, American singer, dancer and entertainer

Deaths on this day:

On Wikipadia, there was a nice long list of deaths for this day, but no one I recognised or found that famous.

Today, here in New Zealand is National Jandal Day in support of the Surf Life Saving. The wonderful volunteers who patrol our beaches during the summertime to try and help us swim in the safe areas between the flags and attempt to rescue us if we do have trouble in the water.

So whether you call them flip flops, jandals or thongs today is the day to be wearing them out.
Where them to work, the supermarket or the beach, if you are lucky enough to have the day off. Here in Hamilton the weather is very condusive to wearing them, the sun is shining and it is a lovely day for wearing little on your feet.

December 1

2011-12-01T17:48:00.000+13:00

Useless information, everyone has a little tucked away in their purse for a rainy day. My mother swears blind she could take a degree course in it and pass with merit, she feels she knows so much useless information!
Me, well the odd bit pops into my head from time to time, usually thanks to my mum.
So for the month of December, I will post some useless info about the date.
You never know, you might actually learn something from it!

December 1 is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar.
There are 30 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events on this day:

In 1960 Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested then deported from Hamburg, Germany, after accusations of attempted arson.
In 1981 the AIDS virus was officially recognized.
In 1990 the Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the seabed.

Births on this day:

1935 – Woody Allen, American film director, actor, and comedian

1940 – Richard Pryor, American comic and actor (d. 2005)

Deaths on this day:

1135 – Henry I of England

2007 – Anton Rodgers, British actor (b. 1933)

Many of you are probably sorting your Christmas tree out so you can decorate the house. So here is some useless information about that too.....

The custom of erecting a Christmas tree is believed to have begun in 15th or 16th century Linovia (present day Estonia and Latvia) and northern Germany.
The first artificial Christmas tree was developed in Germany during the 19th century and were made using goose feathers dyed green.
For every real christmas tree harvested, 1 to 3 seedlings are planted the following spring

Quality of Living

2011-12-01T10:41:00.000+13:00

Did you know that Mercer, a world leading insurance broker and risk management advisor, management consulting and human resource consulting company, do a survey each year on the Worldwide Quality of Living Rankings?

Mercer conducts the survey to help governments and multi-national companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments. Mercer’s Quality of Living reports provide valuable information and hardship premium recommendations for major cities throughout the world. Mercer’s Quality of Living index list covers 221 cities, ranked against New York as the base city.

Here is the Top 10 list for 2011

Vienna, Austria
Zurich, Switzerland
Auckland, New Zealand
Munich, Germany
Dusseldorf, Germany
Vancouver, Canada
Frankfurt, Germany
Geneva, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland
Copenhagen, Denmark

13th Wellington, New Zealand.

I was impressed that New Zealand had 2 towns in the top 15 and even more impressed, or was that let down that none of the United Kingdom were in there! Nor any of America?

26th Dublin, Ireland
29th Honolulu, USA
30th= San Fran, USA; Adelaide, Australia; Paris, France
38th London, United Kingdom!

They also, this year, did a survey that separately identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime levels, law enforcement effectiveness and the host country’s international relations.
So in other words, which city they felt was the safest to live in.

Luxemborg
Bern
Helsinki
Zurich
Vienna
Geneva
Stockholm
Singapore
Auckland
Wellington

Aberdeen and Glasgow both rank 44 and are the highest ranking UK cities on the personal safety list. Birmingham (53) and Belfast (63) both rank higher than London (68)
However, Baghdad (221) is the world’s least safe city, followed by N’Djamena, Chad (220), Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (219), Bangui, Central African Republic (218), and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (217).

The link to their page gives a lot more information. It was really quite interesting reading.
Go over there and have a little check of your favourite countries, see where they positioned!!

Postcards

2011-11-29T09:17:00.001+13:00

As mentioned before, I have joined Postcrossings, a postcard exchange website.
We have been receiving a few cards recently and the boys are loving it when another card arrives from somewhere else in the world. They are just beginning to realise that there are other countries out in the big wide world. For a long time they thought everything was in New Zealand!

These are the ones we have received recently:

From Japan

From China

This is of course helping me in my quest with sending snail mail each week. Sadly I haven't been that creative with what I am sending lately, but I am still managing to send something each week

This week I have just sent out 4 more postcards.
They have gone this time to America, Finland, China and Germany.

I was lucky enough to find some lovely cards of Hamilton and landmarks of New Zealand in a local $2 shop for 50c each. Really do need to keep an eye out for postcards so I have a collection ready for when I need to send more out. Some of the people who you send to have specific requests on the type they would like to receive! None with multi pictures on them, no churches, no animals etc Sometimes I think people should just be grateful for what they receive and enjoy receiving them.

Other Cute Pictures

2011-11-28T10:27:00.000+13:00

There were a lot of pictures taken during our recent weekend away to Nelson.
The boys wanted to take pictures and Steve also learnt some new tricks with the camera.
So here is a collection of very cute pictures taken by all....

You are my new big friend, will you stay with me forever?

And finally, when going to a wedding with kids, it is always sensible to take activity books with you for them to have something to do at the reception.
I scored huge mummy brownie points with this. They were so very well behaved it was easy to forget there were there most of the time. So proud of them and their behaviour, everyone commented on how good they were all weekend.

Playing Around!!

2011-11-28T10:10:00.000+13:00

Please bear with me whilst we are under construction, trying to get an new template design sorted.
Have to blame RCR for this, she just changed her template and it inspired me to sort mine out!

Watch this space.......!

Wordless Post

2011-11-27T08:15:00.002+13:00

Spring and Summer

2011-11-26T16:15:00.000+13:00

I love spring and summer. I love the feeling of relaxation, the lift in spirit and the endless days of warmth and sunshine.

I love the flowers and colours of this time, the start of life and coming together of friends to sit around and enjoy.

I love the cool colourful clothes people wear, not afraid to just throw on a shirt and shorts with flip flops, grab the sunnies and you are ready for the sun.

The lounging by the water, splashing and cooling in the endless summer days.

The colours at this time are glorious, the flowers are out, the trees are blooming and the vibrant pinks, yellows and whites are everywhere.

Wait a little while longer and you gain the darker pinks of summer, the greens and blues, some reds and oranges mixed in too.

Although come to think about it I love all the colours of the seasons, they all have their magical power on you setting the mood for the time of year you are currently in.

Spring and summer to me is open doors and windows, long cool drinks and laundry blowing on the line.

In the winter the laundry has to dry in the house or in the drier, you feel like you are living under a laundry cloud! Everywhere you turn you fall over washing racks, things drying in the warm air of the heating or sending the electricity bill sky high when you need to get the smalls dried in the drier.

At this time of year the laundry finally gets relegated to the garage, where it can hang on the inside line (husband kindly put a line up in the roof of the garage) and dry in the natural heat of the room from the sun, or blow on the line in the gentle breeze with sun shinning. Clothes feel and smell fresh from the air, you can dry things in hours and it is especially nice when you have a 6 year old who is no longer wearing night time nappies but has the odd accident. Sheets and protector washed first thing and dry by lunch ready to go back on the bed, all smelling fresh and warm from the sun.

So summer does it for me, I am a spring summer person and I love to feel warm and relaxed.

News Items

2011-11-25T09:13:00.000+13:00

There are always things happening in the news that catches my eye, interesting little stories that probably are not much, but interesting to read and understand.
This week in New Zealand I have read 3 stories that interested me.

1) Whilst erecting a Christmas tree in Auckland Viaduct this week, the helicopter used to raise it got its rotor blade struck by one of the wires assisting the tree and did a 180 degree flip onto the concret below. The pilot walked away from the wreck and to an extent was lucky he was so low to the ground when it happened. I am sure if you search the internet or check out the New Zealand Herald website you will be able to see video footage of the whole thing, as there were many people video the spectacular sight of this tree going up.

2) 6 girls at a local college (aged between 13-15) got taken to hospital this week after one of the girls brought, what they think were Ecstasy tablets, to school and proceeded to take them along with the other girls. Unfortunately they all had agressive side effects, getting abusive and agressive.
The girls have all been suspended from school and when 2 of them did visit the school gates to see mates they received a lot of verbal abuse from other pupils for their stupidty. They are still waiting for the toxicology reports to come back to knwo exactly what the sunstance was that was taken.
The big question at present is where did the pills come from? The answer tcirculating is that one of the girls obtained them from her parents stash in the house!
Again check out the above link to read more on this.

3) This item is not really a big headline story, but you just feel so sorry for them.
A little 13 month old girl burnt the soles of her feet when she stood on tiles on the balcony that had been heated by the sun. As she had not long learnt to walk, her reactions and ability to move quickly were still not mastered. She stood on the tiles and her little feet got burnt.
The parents did all the correct things for treatment of burns and she is currently in hospital receiving treatment.
Her father, got a thermometer and tested the temp on the tiles in the sun and discovered that they had gone to 69C. the tiles were made of basalt stone. The home was new and the parents had no idea this could happen to the tiles when they laid them, however, they were again reiterating the fact that the child didn't have the reaction ability to move off the tiles fast enough when she discovered them to be so hot.

The helicopter pilot, well he is just so lucky, especially when you see the video, makes you grateful for all littel miracles that come our way.
The girls with the tablets, were just plain stupid, but at the end of the day, they were being teenagers, but think they might have learnt the hard way about trying things out.
The little girl, she will have months of rehab and will have to learn to walk again but makes you realise the power of the sun nowadays.

Whats happening in the news in your country this week?

Today I am Thankful

2011-11-24T08:14:00.007+13:00

I am thankful for…

My children who complain about doing the dishes because it means they are at home and not on the street.

My partner who snores all night because it means they are at home asleep with me and not with someone else.

The mess to clean up after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.

The clothes that fit a little too snugly because it means I have enough to eat.

A floor that needs mopping and windows that need cleaning because it means I have a home.

The spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and have been blessed with transportation.

Too many e-mails because it means I have friends and relatives who are thinking of me.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

This year I am truely thankful for so much, for the lack of stress in my life by having changed jobs, for feeling healthy, that my family and friends are all still with us and healthy too.

I am thankful that I have started to take the time to enjoy what is going on around me. For taking the time to realise that Friday will still arrive at the end of each week but if I enjoy the other 4 days I am even happier by the time Friday does arrive.

I am thankful for the time to be able to stop and smell the roses, and in my case literally as they are still blooming in the front garden.

I am thankful to all of you, for visiting me and making me smile with your wonderful words, not just the ones you leave as comments, but also the ones you write in your blogs that inspire me more often than I care to admit.

Happy Thanksgiving All x x x

Fun in Nelson

2011-11-23T09:02:00.001+13:00

Our weekend in Nelson was a lot of fun.
The boys were very well behaved and made the whole weekend such a breeze.
We saw some wonderful sights and acted like tourists just a little bit whenever we could.

As mentioned before Nelson is situated at the top of the South Island and has lovely large bays. There is a huge mountain range in Nelson so there are many wonderful places to go and look out at the bays and the surrounding gorgeous areas.

Here a some views looking out towards the bays.........

Just an amazing place and some breath taking views and sights to be seen

Babies

2011-11-22T08:10:00.003+13:00

Alex is our nuturing and caring one in the family, well after me that is.
He loves babies.
If we had gone on to have a 3rd child I would have had a mother's helper from day 1, in fact I probably would have had to fight him for the baby sometimes.

He patiently waited 2 days to manage to get a snuggle with Dylan whilst in Nelson!

There was always someone else getting a snuggle before him (not always me) or because Dylan was only 6 weeks old he was tired, grouchy or even hungry and screamed the moment Alex had hold of him.
Finally on the Sunday, there was hardly anyone around, he had had a good sleep followed by a good feed and we managed to catch 15 minutes for Alex to have him

He was in his element snuggled there with Dylan and happily sat for ages snuggling him.

So cute.

New Rules

2011-11-21T13:51:00.000+13:00

Ok, who changed the rules...?
It was instilled in me when I was little that you brushed your teeth with toothpaste and then you spat it out and rinsed.
This is what I have instilled in my children and this is what Grandma still reminds them as well.

Well, hey guys, we need to move with the times....apparently!
It has changed.....you now encourage children to spit only and no rinsing.
The reasoning behind this......that the toothpaste they are using has flouride in it and if they spit only then residuel toothpaste with flouride will stay on their teeth during the night and help strengthen them further.

How do I know this update...by taking my kids to the school dental nurse. Unfortunately I thought I was being a good mother in taking Ben for an appointment outside of his normal school dental appointment schedule when I discovered some plaque build up on his new big teeth, I didn't want him to wait another 5 months until his next scheduled appointment at school, unfortunately what I wasn't prepared for was the Dental Therapist kindly telling me that 3, yes you read right, 3 of his back teeth are showing signs of bugs playing there and that they need to be filled.

I felt disappointed with myself, I thought I had been doing so well with them, they brush for 2 minutes (we have a timer) ever morning and evening, ok we are not fab at flossing, like not at all really and I suppose we have been a little slack in supervising their brushing this year, so even though they may have been brushing for 2 minutes I can't ensure the quality of the brushing. But I have been keeping a small eye on them and they have always had good check ups at the dental nurse who has always been impressed with their cute little purly white nuggets.
My boys do not sit all day long eating sweets and lollies, yes they drink cordial, but do not sit there supping it for hours on end, they drink their drink and then have a break before drinking again, so they are not having sugary food and liquid constantly sitting in their mouth.

So I was a little shocked actually today for her to ask if we were happy for her to fix up 1 of his teeth and to come back another time for the other 2.
I was suddenly having flash backs to my younger days of sitting in the dental chair having the same teeth filled.
However he was a fabulous little soldier sitting in that dental chair, he was giggling most of the time, the therapist had the best rapor with him that made everyone feel right at ease.

So this Wednesday coming he is having another little injection and filling done and then another 1 the following Wednesday.
I feel bad that he has to have it done, but at the same time very grateful that I took him today and we didn't find it all out in 5 months time (when it probably would have been a lot worse) at his next scheduled school appointment.

So maybe brushing time has just gone back on our schedule of things to watch over in the evenings when getting bedtimes sorted, no more just sending them to the bathroom, we need to pay a little bit more attention to what they are doing because now we have good practices instilled in them about brushing twice a day we now need to work on how/what exactly they are brushing.

P.S - when we collected Ben from school for his appointment today he proudly informed me that whilst eating his raw carrot at morning tea time he now had another wobbly tooth. (takes the current total to 2!)
Guess I better warn the tooth fairy this time round so she doesn't miss him out!

Little Boys

2011-11-21T09:11:00.002+13:00

Boys will be boys and I love that.
So here is a recipe for little boys to have fun with....

1) Take 1 dirt pile

2) Add 1 little boy

Watch the fun last for hours!

Boys and dirt...they are just drawn together!

Nelson Wedding

2011-11-20T20:42:00.004+13:00

Of course the main reason we went to Nelson last weekend was to attend the marriage of our Niece Sarah to her partner Joni.

Joni and Sarah

It turned into a wonderful family event that was short and sweet but perfect for what they wanted.

They held the wedding service at a local garden within Nelson that had a wonderful lawn and lots of plants. The gardens apparentlly belonged to the local Council but there was a house in the grounds that was part of a trust. It looked very pretty but we didn't venture in, as you needed money to visit with and also we didn't have time, maybe another visit to Nelson is needed!

The service was very short and sweet and to the point, although the celebrant could have done with a ray of sunshine pierced through her body! Just a little lacking in joy and happiness for the joyous occassion.

We had prepared the boys the week before for the fact that this wedding was not like all the others they had attended, that there was not going to be a groom and more likely 2 brides in pretty dresses. This never fazed them at all and no odd comments were ever made. Amazing what kids accept nowadays, but then guess we never made a deal out of it so it wasn't a deal to them either!

It was a very joyous occassion celebrated by all who attended.

I have lots more fun and cute pictures of Nelson so will organise another post of them later on

Nelson Family

2011-11-20T10:28:00.004+13:00

Steve comes from a reasonable size family, he is the youngest of 4.
His sister who is 5 years older than him lives in Wellington, about 6 hours drive away. His next brother, 6 years older, lives up north about 4 hours drive away and then he has his big brother, who is 7 years older!

His big brother lives in Nelson with his wife and they have 3 children. They have lived there for the past 20 odd years, so Nelson is their home.

Steve's brother Ken with granddaughter Kayla and boys

Their 3 children are not little anymore, Sarah the youngest is 28 (one getting married) and she has 2 brothers Craig 30 and Gareth 31.

Craig and the boys

Craig, Gareth and boys

These are of course the boy's cousins, the boys love the fact that they have cousins so much older. It was never planned for there to be so much difference between ages but Steve's brother had his kids when he was in his 20's and then Steve finally had his kids when he was in his early 40's so turned into quite an age gap.
Gareth, the oldest, is actually a father himself and has a 3yr old daughter and a 6week old son, so the boys had fun playing with Kayla for the weekend and looking out for her at the wedding.

Me, well that now means I am an Aunty, a young Aunty I may add, seeing as Gareth is only 10 years younger than me!

But with him now having children it also makes me a Great Aunty and oh how I played on this big time at the weekend, it got me lots of hugs and snuggles with Dylan (6wks old).

Kayla (3yrs old)

Kayla and Alex, her new big friend

Dylan (6 weeks)

It was such fun to laugh along with Sarah, Craig and Gareth and then remind them that I was their Aunty and that they had to behave, we all got on really well and it was a lovely way to develope a relationship with people you are just getting to know. Feel like I have cemented my status with them nicely now, which also cements their relationship with Steve (their Uncle) a little better.

Nelson

2011-11-19T07:18:00.004+13:00

Last weekend we went to a family wedding in Nelson.
Nelson is situated on the top of the South Island in NZ and manages to catch quite a few rays of sunlight during the day.
It is a popular tourist destination and is gorgeous with views over the bays like none I have ever seen before.
It has a huge arts culture and has a lot to showcase.

I have been there a few times in my time in New Zealand, but did just realise that the last time was 7 years ago, so do not remember too much.

The boys were well excited about going on a plane or 2 or 4, seeing as we had to fly from Hamilton to Wellington (1 hour) and then change to take the next little hop skip and a jump to Nelson (30 mins).
It had been 4 years since they last went on a plane, so very intrigued.

Mt Taranaki so clearly seen, which is very unusual, so such a lucky sight

The West coast of New Zealand

The visit for the weekend was for the wedding but also an oppotunity to catch up with Steve's brother and family. Lots of pictures to show so will post more on that side of things in another post.

Happy Birthday

2011-11-18T21:36:00.000+13:00

To me

Party Time

2011-11-17T12:10:00.000+13:00

As I mentioned here, I have finished my study for the year.
The party could start as soon as I received my result......

Let the party begin I got my result....70% which gives me an overall garde of B+ for this paper. Along with the B+ I got on the first paper then I am way happy and quite satisfied with that thank you very much.

Summer here I come.....!

English Language

2011-11-16T18:00:00.000+13:00

The joys of sentences! Yea right.
Steve and I are suddenly having a crash course in the English language and the full use of it....mainly with regards to sentences.
Did you know there are so many different types of sentences?

Simple
Compound
Conjunctioned

And suddenly we have to be able to explain to an 8 yr old what this means again because he can't remember from school!
Luckily for us we have the power of ~~being an English Major~~ being a parent with the internet and Google.

We also have to remember Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives and how they work, what they do and then just to confuse things we, not Ben, start discussing over whether or not the noun we are thinking of is a proper noun or not just to confuse both of us even further!

I last did this type of English work at school and I left there in 1987!

The joys of parenting ........... may it go on for ever!

Couldn't Resist

2011-11-11T11:11:00.001+13:00

Today as this post is posted, as I just couldn't resist, at 11.11am then if you shortened it, it would read like this....

11.11 on 11/11/11

Wonder if somewhere in the world someone now has that as their birthday date and time?

When Can You Not be Guilty?

2011-11-10T16:17:00.000+13:00

How on earth can anyone who has been stopped and breathalised then go on to plead "Not Guilty" in court?

Surely if you have been stopped and blow a high reading then you are pretty much guilty!

Don't worry I know of no one who this has happened too but I heard it on the radio that someone pleaded "Not Guilty" to a DUI charge even after being stopped and caught!!

November 10 Things

2011-11-10T10:00:00.003+13:00

10 things from the last month

The sleeps left until we fly to Nelson for a family wedding
The number of times I have seen the doctor in the last week! Conjunctivitus is not fun!
The hours of overtime I put in at work 2 days ago, although I did get the time back.
Number of postcards I sent this week for postcrossing
x this by 4 to get the Gb we now have per month from our broadband provider! They just keep increasing our amount for no extra charge. We are not complaining.
The age in weeks of our new great nephew who we meet for the first time this upcoming weekend
"Days" is an improvisation show about stuff happening in the news on tv and we are seeing their live national tour at the end of the month.
Sleeps until my birthday
Take this number away from #10
x this by 5, then minus #9 and that is my age next week!

Have a great month

More on Snail Mail

2011-11-09T09:16:00.002+13:00

At the beginning of October I joined in the fun of sending snail mail every week.
I have been good so far and successfully sent something each week. Sometimes it has just been a birthday card to a friend or relative, although I did write a letter the other week and send that off.

Whilst searching the web for something at the end of October I came across this site Postcrossing.
It is a website where you register with them and then they give you an address to send a postcard to. In return your name and address gets given to someone somewhere in the world and a postcard will get sent to you.
Here is what Wikipedia is saying about it.
They even have a Facebook page.

So I joined up, and have even sent my first postcard from New Zealand to China. It took 17 days to arrive and travelled 9,350km to get there. I know cause the website tells me so!
I currently have postcards on their way to:

Finland 16,426km away
Russia 16,512km away
Germany 18,424km away
Korea 9,697km away

When you get given an address you also get given a code, this code is then written on the card and when the card is received the receiver registers the code on the website thus letting you and the website know the card has arrived.
That is how they are able to say how long it took to get there, although this is calculated from the day you request the address to the day when they register it, so if you accidently take 5 days before you send it off, and they then take a couple of days to register it then it will not be an acurate time frame but who's counting!

It is a slow process but if you have kids who want to receive postcards from around the world and you don't mind spending a couple of $$ each week (postcard = 70c or $1 and stamp = $1.90 so about $2.60 for each postcard to currently send) then you could potentially have quite a collection after a while.
Would be great for a class to do for a school year.

These are the postcards I have got to send, nice simple scenes of New Zealand and the surrounding town where I live. This seems to be what people write in their bio about what they want to receive.

I have just written a few lines on the back about New Zealand and anything else I can think to write at the time.
I will let you all know when I receive my first one and where it came from.

Funtimes

2011-11-08T07:50:00.001+13:00

At the weekend when we visited the scarecrows they had a table set up with boards so you could take your own fun pictures.
So my family happily obliged for me.

I am thankful for modern technology that allowed me to have some fun pictures of my wonderful family and to me for having a steady hand whilst doing a close up shot of them getting these great pictures.

Scarecrows

2011-11-07T15:27:00.005+13:00

At this time of year the local gardens does a scarecrow day.
Sometime prior, I must find out when, they make a call for scarecrows to go on display and be judged in several different catagories.
By chance I heard this on the radio so decided we would have a quick visit to view the scarecrows.
What follows is a picture album of some (yes some) of the wonderful scarecrows we saw around the gardens. Some were acting as guides to the main event. The ones for voting on all had numbers.

The one Alex loved

My favorite

My 2nd favorite

The one Ben loved

Unfortunately it rained and so we wandered around with umbrellas looking at them all and voting on our paper to say which one we liked in each catagory and which one should be overal winner.

Unfortunately due to the weather, we didn't stick around for the big unvaling of who won.

This trip around the gardens made me think of harvest time. We sadly do not celebrate harvest thanksgiving here in NZ, well they may in the churches but the school don't, the other thing to consider is the fact that our harvest thanksgiving would fall about April time as summer has ended and autumn is in full bloom then.

So for today I am thankful to all the creative people out there who were prepared to create and showcase their wonderful abilities.

Flexi Time

2011-11-07T14:15:00.000+13:00

In my new position at work I am suddenly sat at a desk with flexi time.
It is easy to get carried away with this but oh how life has just got easier and not so stressed.
I know in my line of work that you do sometimes have to be the person who is told what to do, when to do it and how, that is life as a nurse.
However to suddenly be at a desk and told that generally you give and we will take and we are flexible about when you give and when we take is exciting to get use to. Especially as the boss doesn't really want to know every detail of what you are doing and when, he wants you to use your initiative and show him the result at the end, which usually means he wants to see the job finished!

I have finished (well as long as my result comes through good this weekend coming!) my study for the year, so therefore Wednesday are back to being my days to me and to get things sorted.
However being in a new position there are occassions when a meeting comes up on a Wednesday and I know it is important to be there, so I have planned it with my manager that 'if and I mean if' I have to come to work on a Wednesday then I will take the time back on another day during the week. Saves changing payroll and everything just for an hour or 2.

He is happy with this and in fact it is working to my advantage, even though it is nice to have one day a week to get things done it is also nice to know that I can finish an hour early for something when needed.

For some reason, I seem to have succumbed to 3 hours of work this Wednesday (don't worry I won't make a habit of it but job is so new) but on the other hand I am finishing early tomorrow and getting my hair cut and finishing early on Thursday before weekend away, so in fact all works out very nicely.

Could get very use to this line of work, might have to look at getting contract extended next year!

Roses in Bloom

2011-11-07T07:22:00.002+13:00

Didn't have to wait very long at all before the roses started to come out in bloom

They smell so sweet too. There are several buds waiting for their big moment as well

However yesterday they didn't look quite like this after a day of rain lashed down on them. Heads were drooping but still there. Hopefully they will dry and rise again.

Challenge #19 - Go to a Sunday Market

2011-11-06T16:40:00.001+13:00

Like I promised over here, I finally managed to get everyone out of the door on a Sunday morning to visit the local Farmer's Market.
We were lucky as we managed to visit before the rain set in.
The market smelt great, all these different smells from food cooking and so many people walking around eating.
The many things I saw today were green lettuces or strawberries, there were at least 4 strawberry stalls and they were all bigger and fresher than the next.

carrots anyone, they were so cute

The boys are strawberry mad so we had to come home with some.

big red and so juicy fresh, picked from the field this morning!

The boys just couldn't keep their hands off the strawberries but then neither could we. I asked them to describe the market and they said the following although I think they were referring to just the strawberries they were eating at the time:

Yummy
Fresh
So Ripe
So Juicy
Country Fresh
Smell delish

There was also one or 2 bread and pastry stalls. One had amazing croisants with fillings and another sold my most favorite bread of all time brioche....!

In fact the brioche is tasting so sweet and fresh as I write this munching on a slice!
Today I am thankful for the world, for giving us the ability to be able to grow our own food. For giving us the sun & the rain, the cold & the warmth needed to grow these wonderful flavoursome goodies. Also for giving us the ability and know how to be able to do it.

Too Much Tv

2011-11-05T16:04:00.000+13:00

Today whilst getting dressed, my 2 boys came into the bedroom.
Now they know our bedroom door is always open and I have no worries getting dressed in front of them.
However this morning the conversation with Ben went like this:

B: Mummy, why do you wear a bra?
M: Because it is what ladies wear to keep their boobies looking nice.
B: Well you should try an 'Ah Bra'!
M: Couldn't speak as I was laughing so much I just about fell over!
B: Mummy, why are you laughing?
M: Because you are so cute and adorable!

An 'Ah Bra' for those of you that don't know, is a bra that is currently advertised on tv as the next best thing! Haha, looks like crap if you ask me but I just had to laugh so much the fact that Ben had watched the ad and taken so much on board!

In normal fashion they always have deals on about 'Buy 1 get 6 Free' To me if they are so wonderful then why doesn't Littlewoods and Farmer's sell them?

Librarys and Memories

2011-11-04T08:15:00.000+13:00

We are lucky enough to have a good public library system within our town.
We have 1 main central library and then 4 smaller suburb locations.
These are all the same company and so we have the pleasure of being able to visit any of the sites to return, order and borrow our books.

We have the normal library charges, you pay to reserve a book, there is a small fine if you are late returning a book, you pay a small charge to borrow DVD's and movies etc and they also have the latest books available on 1 week hire at $5 as they are the most popular ones. There is no charge to borrow the books.

So we use the library a lot, the boys love going there and they have a love of books, well they like the books but I know their love for them is growing and this I am grateful for. I want them to understand the joy books can bring into your life, I want them to know that reading is a great thing to be able to do.

However last week the City Council were discussing how they could save millions of dollars and one area they looked at was the library service.
They wanted to put a charge on all books borrowed, they want to close the libraries on a Monday and they want to reduce the already scant staff to even less.
They feel this would save plenty of money and no one would mind!
I think not, the library is somewhere people can go when they have 30 minutes spare in town, I love the fact people can borrow books free and given this current life at present I like that fact people are still reading books when they can't afford to buy them.

So do I like this idea? Not one little bit.

I am also lucky enough to have a great medical library at the hospital. Now I wasn't sure how important this was going to be to me until I started my study this year when I realised that they had the books that would help me answer my essay questions.
They don't have any charges and even email you when books are due back, in fact they will even email you and let you know that as no one is waiting for the books then they have renewed them and they are now due on the new date. All without you asking them too do this! I am truely thankful for that, because this week they let me know I had books outstanding and I was pretty sure I had returned them 2 weeks ago after finishing my essay, but a little check at home proved this wrong and hey presto I had 4 books of theirs.
Really thank ful to them for checking with me.

My memory of libraries takes me all the way back to when I was about 9 or 10. We lived in Kuwait at the time and I was going to the local (only) English School.
We had a little library at the end of the hall that was seperated by a curtain.
One day I had to go to the library to find a book and at the time I decided that I would just stand on the bottom shelf to reach the book I wanted instead of getting a little chair.
Well unfortunately the shelf collapsed and all the book fell off!
I got sent to the Headmistress who had me retell her what had happened and how it was going to get fixed.
I remember feeling about this big and a little less more in front of Mrs Bird, whilst I stood there and said sorry for breaking the shelf.

So even though I still use libraries, I have learnt that if you can't reach a book, then get a chair or someone else to reach it instead.

Thankfully

2011-11-03T19:54:00.000+13:00

I have just got half way through a post about the local library and memories and then realised that in fact I have something to post about that is more important.
I have just been reading Rocking Chair Reflections and she is doing a month of thanksgivings. Last month she did a month of memories.
I really should have done a month of giving thanks seeing as it is now November (holy crap where did the year go?) but had already said I would do memories, although I think I might mix it over the month.

Anyway, I digress, another Blog I follow, Deb's Doodlings is someone I have met through work, well we met through blogging but then worked out we both work at the hospital so we met a few times, usually in the staff canteen when both buying lunch!
However, when I checked her blog yesterday it was to discover that she had received the call that every parent dreads "Hi, we are calling to let you know there has been an accident, your daughter has been injured!"
For the last week she has been at the hospital with her 11 yr old who is in a bad way, head injury, facial fractures, broken leg and pelvis, more bruises than you want.

Deb is only just resurfacing after having the week from hell, although she still has many weeks to go. Her daughter is non weight bearing for at least the next 6-8 weeks, when she finally manages to sit up for longer than 20 secs.

So suddenly I am thankful that she is going to be ok, I am thankful to everyone that helped them with getting her to hospital, the ambulance, fire brigade and the air ambulance.
I am thankful for my family and that we are all safe tonight in our house together.

Loving Gmail

2011-11-02T08:12:00.000+13:00

Last week I told you how I managed to screw up with my gmail account I set up just for this blog, well all is working well now and I am loving it.
I am loving being able to reply to people when they ask me a question, being able to just comment back on a comment they have left.
It definitely opens up the blogging world to me with the people who are following my blog.

It has been lovely talking to you all and getting know you all more.

Have a great day

Spring Time

2011-11-01T07:48:00.003+13:00

For us here in New Zealand, the clocks have changed and the weather is getting better.
It is having 2 steps forward and 1 step back at the moment, but the sun is shining more and the days are so much more enjoyable.

Yesterday was one of those days when the sun shone and it was glorious.
The garden was showing proof of it too so thought I would share it with you.....

excuse the weeds in between the slabs, these plants are ground cover and they have done nothing until the clocks changed and the sun started getting to them each morning. Wouldn't mind but the tab said 'shade loving ground plants!'

Proof of a great sunny day, full line of washing

strawberries coming along nicely

Lemon tree went in Nov last year, has grown beautifully and even has buds on it

Courgette plant, although may have to move as I think it is too high in this built up area

Steve was convinced this tree in the neightbours garden was dead and then suddenly, hey presto, blossom

Garlic, growing well

Tomatoes starting well

Alex wanted some roses in the garden, yellow one which has grown at least double its height and ready to flower. Will show pictures of flowers when they bloom

Potatoes and more potatoes

Rhodo in bloom

Red rose waiting to burst its colour

Other red rose waiting to burst

Sunflower starting to poke though, need to move that irrigation pipe though!

Sunflower poking through, this seed was taken from flowers grown last year, so wasn't sure if it would grow or not

Hydrangea growing nicely, although not sure on colour, will let you know when flowers appear

Camillea still in full bloom

We have done some major work to the garden and I really should show you all sometime.
Just need to sit and go through all the pictures and work out which ones to show on here.

Worst Parent Award

2011-10-31T08:26:00.000+13:00

Unfortunately it is now official, we are the worst parents in the world and we have just been awarded the trophy for it!

In April, at Easter (yes all that long time ago) Ben had 2 teeth fall out, this made number 3 & 4.
However he was not sure about giving them away and so they have sat on his bedside table in the little pot Grandma gave him.
They have happily sat there for the last 6 months and not a word has been said.

However last night Steve came and asked if I had any coins and then told me that Ben had decided to surrender his teeth.

(Yes I know you can see exactly where this is now leading!)

At 7 O'Clock this morning we were officially awarded the award of worst parent in the universe award.
This was awarded as Ben came into our room with tears running down his face proclaiming "the tooth fairy didn't come!"

Yes folks, that is just about it.....we forgot!

We didn't have to make up any excuses as Ben is very good at justifying things for himself and proceeded to say that the reason she didn't arrive was:

He was too late in putting his teeth out
He is a jiggler when he sleeps and therefore she couldn't get to them
His head is too heavy and she was unable to lift the pillow to get to his teeth

We just looked at each other, went 'Oh woops' and told him that yes the tooth fairy would probably try again tonight and lets maybe put the teeth somewhere where she can get to them!

Art Work

2011-10-30T20:50:00.002+13:00

At the caravan they have started to decorate the surrounding campsite area with some wonderful artwork.
From what I can gather as well it is by a local artist, which I think is a great way to showcase the talent in the area.

The owners of the campsite have just placed all the following artwork up in the hotpool area to spruce the place up.

I liked them and thought you might too.

Memories

2011-10-30T12:31:00.001+13:00

One of my new blog friends, Rocking Chair Reflections, has been doing a memory month during October. It has been fun to read some of her happenings from times before long ago.
I decided that maybe I would try to cover some memories, as they come to mind, during November. I am not aiming for one a day, just more like as they happen.

The other day Ben enquired as to how people use to travel to places long ago?
Now to start with we had to establish exactly what he meant by 'long ago'? As his justification could mean anything!
We weren't sure if he was referring to 30 years ago, 50 years ago or 100 years ago and seeing as the motor car is just entering into 100 years ago, who knows?
It was soon sorted that he meant between 50 and 100 years ago.
First he asked how people got from A to B at sea? Which we informed him was still by boat, just probably a little slower than nowadays.
Then he asked how people got to other towns when visiting someone?
This is where it got tricky, probably because I made it that way, but we told him people use to travel by horse and carriage, although, and this is where I should have just shut up and kept quiet, I told him that people didn't tend to live far apart from family like they do now, or more over, some people did but it was not the norm to have family members all over the country.

This threw him a little, as to him the norm is that people can live anywhere and it is not a problem, so to be told that people never use to leave the town they were born in and tended to stay there all their life was an odd concept, especialy as he now lives in Hamilton but was born 2 hours away in Auckland, and the fact he is still trying to understand that Mummy is from England and has not lived in New Zealand for ever.

This then got me thinking, I have had 39 address's in 41 years, the norm for me is to travel.
The norm for me is to have family all over the world and you see them occassionally (like every 5-10 yrs), you write letters, you send Christmas cards & letters, you remember their birthdays with a card. You move with the times and now catch up on Facebook or emails, you even host a blog so they can catch up with your life on their terms not when you feel like sending them an email.
You definitely don't catch up every Sunday for lunch at Grandma's house and run round the garden with the cousins.

There has been the odd time when this has bothered me, I think more on the level of 'did I miss out on something?', occassionally I do think about what life would have been like if we were a family to stay in one place but then I also remember all the stuff I have done in my life and realise that part of what makes me 'ME' is all the travel I have done.

Do I regret that my parents travelled us around the world? 95% No and about 5% Yes.

I mean come on, how many 15 year olds could get themselves from London, UK to Detroit, Ohio, USA on their own via 2 planes, delays in 3 airports and many other means of transport? And not be registered under "unaccompanied minors"!
To me that was like taking a bus downtown, in fact I probably would have struggled with getting downtown more that getting across countries.
I have lived in Kuwait, Jordan, France, America and England,
I have had visits to Cyprus, Crete, Rome, Canada, USA and many others.

I am an independant, stubborn person who isn't afraid to try things, if I want to do something then I will make it happen, it isn't my fault that other people sometimes don't get to do things for me because they just run at a slower speed than I do.
I often wonder how Steve puts up with my independant, controlling and leading ways, maybe he likes a dominating woman.
I do remember travelling with him over to Europe, I am not one to dawdle in airports, I get off the plane ready and there is no stopping me, can't do with waiting in lines for people to find passports etc when they knew dam well they needed them once leaving the plane. Poor Steve had no chance, he either got off the plane ready to go or he got left behind. Eventually it got to the point where he just gave me his passport and said "here you keep it, I will just keep up with you" we travelled really well with each other.

So out of all of this it will be really important to ensure my kids realise that everyone lives how they want to live and that years ago things were very different to how it is now.

Reunion

2011-10-28T16:07:00.000+13:00

My sons school is coming up for its 150th anniversary.
Quite an achievement really.
They are looking at creating a committee to organise a celebration for this joyous occassion.
I don't think they are trying to find someone from when the school first started, quite an achievement in my eyes! but they will be looking to find old pupils.

My new boss has admitted that that was his Primary school all those many years ago, which is nice to think he know only works down the road from it and still lives in the region.
However I am aware of one parent who attended the school herself and now both her boys are just coming to the end of going through the whole school.
In this day and age where people are known to move a lot, it is lovely to find someone who has that history with a school.
Lets hope we can find more like that.