Saw this the other day and just loved it.....
When I was about eight or nine, my mom liked to cook food and every now and then I remember she used to cook for us.
One night that stood out in my mind is when she had made dinner for us after a very long and rough day at work, She placed a plate of jam and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. Not slightly burnt but completely blackened toast.
I was just waiting to see if anyone noticed the burnt toast and say anything. But Dad just ate his toast and asked me if I did my homework and how my day was. I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember I hearing my mom apologizing to dad for burning the toast. And I’ll never forget what he said:
“Sweetie, I love burned toast.”
Later that night, I went to tell my dad good night and ask him if he really liked his toast burned. He put his arm on my shoulder and said,
“Your momma put in a very long day at work today and she was very tired. And besides, A burnt toast never hurts anyone but you know what does? Harsh words!”
The he continued to say “You know, life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people I’m not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like every other human. What I've learned over the years, is that learning to accept each others faults and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences, is one of the most important keys for creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
Love the people who treat you right and have compassion for the ones who don’t.”
ENJOY LIFE NOW.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Why do you Blog?
I am still ever conscious of the fact that I haven't really blogged much this whole year!
Does it bother me? Yes a little.
If so then why aren't I blogging much? I really don't know!
Seems I went off line after my op last year and when I finally found my feet again it was just as our world came crashing back down with news of my husbands imminent operation.
Blogging is always in the back of my head but just not as much as it use to be.
I have been looking at all the blogs I follow and looking to see what they blog about. News, current affairs, life, pictures, children, craft to name a few.
It made me take a look back through my blog to see what I had been blogging about?
Turns out it was all about family, mainly because I started my blog to keep my parents and extended relatives in foreign lands (or was that that I was in the foreign land and they were at home?) informed of how the boys were growing and what we had been up to.
I then realised that because of blogging I always had the camera with me. I was always taking pictures. I captured everything we were doing just on the off chance there might be something I wanted to blog about.
So with taking time out in the last almost a year, I have come to realise 1 major thing......?
I don't have my camera with me nearly as much and I think I am missing out on capturing what is going on in my boys life!
I have come to realise also that maybe I was blogging as a way to keep my boys childhood as a vivid memory, something that they can look back on and remember.
Maybe I need to change my focus on why I am blogging and look at it from a different angle.
Maybe I have to remember that I am not only blogging for me, I am blogging for the memories it will give my boys when they are older.
With that said, I need to take the camera with me more, I need to be capturing all of our life more just in case there is something worth blogging about!
Does it bother me? Yes a little.
If so then why aren't I blogging much? I really don't know!
Seems I went off line after my op last year and when I finally found my feet again it was just as our world came crashing back down with news of my husbands imminent operation.
Blogging is always in the back of my head but just not as much as it use to be.
I have been looking at all the blogs I follow and looking to see what they blog about. News, current affairs, life, pictures, children, craft to name a few.
It made me take a look back through my blog to see what I had been blogging about?
Turns out it was all about family, mainly because I started my blog to keep my parents and extended relatives in foreign lands (or was that that I was in the foreign land and they were at home?) informed of how the boys were growing and what we had been up to.
I then realised that because of blogging I always had the camera with me. I was always taking pictures. I captured everything we were doing just on the off chance there might be something I wanted to blog about.
So with taking time out in the last almost a year, I have come to realise 1 major thing......?
I don't have my camera with me nearly as much and I think I am missing out on capturing what is going on in my boys life!
I have come to realise also that maybe I was blogging as a way to keep my boys childhood as a vivid memory, something that they can look back on and remember.
Maybe I need to change my focus on why I am blogging and look at it from a different angle.
Maybe I have to remember that I am not only blogging for me, I am blogging for the memories it will give my boys when they are older.
With that said, I need to take the camera with me more, I need to be capturing all of our life more just in case there is something worth blogging about!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Family Time
We are still Geocaching and are now onto about our 15th find.
In fact all the family are enjoying it.
Stealth movement is required at some sites as you do not want 'muggles' (none geocaching people) to know what you are doing.
This is important as you do not want people tampering with caches and stealing or destroying them!
Sometimes you need to just act normal, well as best as is humanly possible......
Waiting for people to pay more attention to the planes than what we are doing!
In fact all the family are enjoying it.
Stealth movement is required at some sites as you do not want 'muggles' (none geocaching people) to know what you are doing.
This is important as you do not want people tampering with caches and stealing or destroying them!
Sometimes you need to just act normal, well as best as is humanly possible......
 |
| just chillaxing in the sun and wind |
 |
| Just watching the planes come in! |
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Work Reunion
10 years, oh my, is it really 10 years?
Must be we have a 10 year old!
10 years ago Auckland Hospital moved to a new building and we were there, well I was on maternity leave but I knew it was happening!
So much has happened since then.
A reunion was called for and we gladly attended this past weekend.
Lovely to catch up with people you knew and find out what everyone is doing.
Amusing to hear people comment on how big the boys have got! Like they still expected them to be babes in arms!
Quick tour of the operating theatres was called for even though we have been there many times and I did actually work there for a few weeks at one stage!
But the boys enjoyed dressing up in protective clothing so we could go inside the theatres.
They enjoyed seeing inside a theatre, talking non stop about what took place in there etc.
Although think we may have sparked some career ideas for them....?
Better start that college fund really soon!
Must be we have a 10 year old!
10 years ago Auckland Hospital moved to a new building and we were there, well I was on maternity leave but I knew it was happening!
So much has happened since then.
A reunion was called for and we gladly attended this past weekend.
Lovely to catch up with people you knew and find out what everyone is doing.
Amusing to hear people comment on how big the boys have got! Like they still expected them to be babes in arms!
Quick tour of the operating theatres was called for even though we have been there many times and I did actually work there for a few weeks at one stage!
But the boys enjoyed dressing up in protective clothing so we could go inside the theatres.
 |
| well maybe not everyone was impressed with getting dressed up! |
 |
| but others made up for it with their enthusiasm! |
Although think we may have sparked some career ideas for them....?
 |
| budding surgeons in the making? |
Friday, October 18, 2013
Hide and Seek
I thought this would be a great game to play with the boys.
However as you all know the boys are now 8 & 10 years old so even though they play this game well I thought they might like it if I upp'd the anti a little?
Maybe in the form of us trying to seek something that was already hidden?
Of course in this day and age of technology then there has to be some techno part to it and so that is why I decided it was time for us to get into Geocaching.
What is that I hear you cry....?
It is in simple terms a game of hide and seek that you use a GPS to find an item hidden by someone else in the town/country/world using coordinates.
There is a whole website dedicated to Geocaching and once you get started it is addictive!!
You can download an app onto your mobile phone and Bob's your uncle you are off!
You look at the map of where you are, locate a cache (item) to find and using the coordinates go off and try to find it.
It is usually a canister of some description that can range in size from a small pill box up to a 10 litre bucket!
However the whole purpose is to do it as discretely as possible so no one knows what you are doing as the cache needs to be found and then left as discovered ready for the next person to find.
You do however log on the paper inside the canister that you were there and also log it on the website so you can keep track of ones you have discovered already.
When you first look at the map on the website, it is enough to make you fall off your seat, there are hidden caches everywhere and I literally mean everywhere, all over the world to be more precise!
There are 12 that I can find that are within 2 miles walking distance of our house!
Stuck in a bush, up a tree, under a board walk even magnitised to a chair in a public place.
The boys have already been checking out if there are any near Grandma's House, near the beach where we spend a lot of our summer time and near their school, although I have told them that they can not search for them without me as they need the coordinates and the GPS on my phone to assist them, however give it a few years and I can probably send them off for the afternoon with a phone and a list and they would happily entertain themselves around the city!
However as you all know the boys are now 8 & 10 years old so even though they play this game well I thought they might like it if I upp'd the anti a little?
Maybe in the form of us trying to seek something that was already hidden?
Of course in this day and age of technology then there has to be some techno part to it and so that is why I decided it was time for us to get into Geocaching.
What is that I hear you cry....?
It is in simple terms a game of hide and seek that you use a GPS to find an item hidden by someone else in the town/country/world using coordinates.
There is a whole website dedicated to Geocaching and once you get started it is addictive!!
You can download an app onto your mobile phone and Bob's your uncle you are off!
You look at the map of where you are, locate a cache (item) to find and using the coordinates go off and try to find it.
It is usually a canister of some description that can range in size from a small pill box up to a 10 litre bucket!
However the whole purpose is to do it as discretely as possible so no one knows what you are doing as the cache needs to be found and then left as discovered ready for the next person to find.
You do however log on the paper inside the canister that you were there and also log it on the website so you can keep track of ones you have discovered already.
When you first look at the map on the website, it is enough to make you fall off your seat, there are hidden caches everywhere and I literally mean everywhere, all over the world to be more precise!
There are 12 that I can find that are within 2 miles walking distance of our house!
Stuck in a bush, up a tree, under a board walk even magnitised to a chair in a public place.
 |
| But it is just a fence? |
 |
| Wrong! There's a geocache |
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Game Time
When we have a weekend at home you can guarantee there will be some arguments over who's turn it is on the Xbox or the Wii or even the computer!
Sometimes it is my husband that joins in the fun and I observe and cringe from the side-lines. I have even been known to be the mean mummy and simply press that ultimate button....you know the one I am talking about.....the ON/OFF switch on the side of the tv!
Occasionally I manage to distract the whole family with something simple like a board game and then suddenly the music goes on the stereo and we enjoy some peaceful family time playing a game.
This is what happened one Saturday evening and it was a great time.
Everyone had a drink and all was right in the world for a time.
So much so that it extended on into Sunday and we all sat round the table eating our sandwiches at lunchtime having another game of Rummikub.
The boys are slowly getting the hand on how to manipulate the tiles on the table and we are also trying to teach them strategy!
We have been known to help them with some moves to hopefully show them some ways to do things that will benefit them, sometimes it sinks in and sometimes not so much, but they have both managed to win a few games so sometimes we leave them to their own devices and they do just fine whipping mum and dad!
Sometimes it is my husband that joins in the fun and I observe and cringe from the side-lines. I have even been known to be the mean mummy and simply press that ultimate button....you know the one I am talking about.....the ON/OFF switch on the side of the tv!
Occasionally I manage to distract the whole family with something simple like a board game and then suddenly the music goes on the stereo and we enjoy some peaceful family time playing a game.
This is what happened one Saturday evening and it was a great time.
Everyone had a drink and all was right in the world for a time.
So much so that it extended on into Sunday and we all sat round the table eating our sandwiches at lunchtime having another game of Rummikub.
The boys are slowly getting the hand on how to manipulate the tiles on the table and we are also trying to teach them strategy!
We have been known to help them with some moves to hopefully show them some ways to do things that will benefit them, sometimes it sinks in and sometimes not so much, but they have both managed to win a few games so sometimes we leave them to their own devices and they do just fine whipping mum and dad!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Love My Blog
I do love my blog, well I may not be showing it at present as I am AWOL more than I am present but hey who is counting or checking?
Anyway, why I love my blog?
I am currently going through my picture storage programme on the computer. This programme allows me to store my pictures in date order, I can tag the picture with when it was taken and also who is in the picture.
This means when I have a folder for 'Ben May 2006', I can click on this folder and it will show me all pictures that have Ben in it taken in May 2006.
Ok this means some of the pictures have multiple tags if all of us are in the picture but it makes scrap booking much easier when looking for pictures of people around the same time frame.
However, when we changed programmes we had some pictures that had the wrong date on them, we remember having a period of time when the camera was saying the wrong date and we couldn't get it to change to the correct one, I think this might have been just before we replaced it.
This means that we have pictures of Alex that say they were taken on Jan 6, 2005.
No worries there you may say....apart from the fact Alex was not born until June 2005! So looks really weird when viewing in date order to suddenly have Jan 2005 come up with Alex walking along the street in a picture and him as a newborn in the next one!
This is where the "I love my blog" part comes in....I noticed that some of the pictures I was trying to redate had had the name altered, thus meaning I must have labelled them to upload to the blog, so I skipped back through the archives and there are the pictures in a blog post at the correct date.
So my life has just been made easier, as it is easy to relabel pictures when the proof is right in front of you on the computer screen.
Man I love my blog sometimes!
Anyway, why I love my blog?
I am currently going through my picture storage programme on the computer. This programme allows me to store my pictures in date order, I can tag the picture with when it was taken and also who is in the picture.
This means when I have a folder for 'Ben May 2006', I can click on this folder and it will show me all pictures that have Ben in it taken in May 2006.
Ok this means some of the pictures have multiple tags if all of us are in the picture but it makes scrap booking much easier when looking for pictures of people around the same time frame.
However, when we changed programmes we had some pictures that had the wrong date on them, we remember having a period of time when the camera was saying the wrong date and we couldn't get it to change to the correct one, I think this might have been just before we replaced it.
This means that we have pictures of Alex that say they were taken on Jan 6, 2005.
No worries there you may say....apart from the fact Alex was not born until June 2005! So looks really weird when viewing in date order to suddenly have Jan 2005 come up with Alex walking along the street in a picture and him as a newborn in the next one!
This is where the "I love my blog" part comes in....I noticed that some of the pictures I was trying to redate had had the name altered, thus meaning I must have labelled them to upload to the blog, so I skipped back through the archives and there are the pictures in a blog post at the correct date.
So my life has just been made easier, as it is easy to relabel pictures when the proof is right in front of you on the computer screen.
Man I love my blog sometimes!
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Proud Moment
Yesterday was a very proud day in our family.
I had my capping ceremony to receive my Bachelors Degree in Nursing.
It was an amazingly long day but such a lot of fun.
I had my capping ceremony to receive my Bachelors Degree in Nursing.
It was an amazingly long day but such a lot of fun.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Christmas Day
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Merry Christmas to one and all
May you have a joyous family day
May you have a day to remember
May your family and friends be as close as you want them
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Life Goes On....
It sure does folks, life has just been racing by and I feel like I haven't been here for a while?
A quick check of the last post and it was over 10 days ago, so not really that bad at all.
So where have you been I can hear you all wondering?
Living life I will answer, but there are a few things I will share with you.
Study
As you are all aware I have been completing my Bachelors of Nursing over the last 2 years. Only had 4 papers to complete. Not too bad...1 paper every 6 months, which mainly consisted of 2 essays.
Well I can finally announce that paper #4 is complete.
Yep, 2nd essay got placed in the mail last night.
Done, finito, finished, end of story....I have done it and survived.
I just have to wait the next 3 weeks for the mark to be available and then it is official but I am quietly confident in myself, so I have no doubts that I have just achieved my Bachelors Degree!
Labour Weekend
New Zealand has just had Labour Weekend this past weekend. The weather was not the greatest nor was it the worst we have had. It didn't stop us as a family going to our caravan and having a great time.
The boys got to play with friends they have known for a while but were able to cement the relationships a little further. 1 of the nights they both got invited to sleepovers in some else's caravan so we even managed a night without them. Bonus!
We managed to get the plants cleared from behind the caravan with the help of my mum who came to spend a night with us, luckily we managed to get this achieved on the 1 sunny day we had, so we were very lucky. It looks great now, all we have to do is get some form of platform down to keep it level and it will be awesome in time for the Christmas break
School Holidays
The school holidays only finished the week before Labour Weekend, so I feel like we had only just got over having a lovely 2 weeks with the boys and then everything was due at this time. The holidays were fun and I had a lovely relaxed time with the boys. It was the best holidays I have had with them for a long time.
Work
Even though I have yet to secure a permanent job, I was lucky enough to gain 2 days work with my cousin at the office she works at. They are responsible for the regalia that is used in the graduation ceremony for the local University. So for 2 days I got to celebrate with all the graduates as they collected and returned their regalia for their ceremony. It was the most joyous happy work I have ever completed. Everyone was so proud of themselves and extremely happy it was over. We congratulated everyone when they collected their stuff and they were so full of smiles. It was a great 2 days, plus I got paid to be there, bonus!
I also managed to score a single day job as a patient actor for the nursing school. So I spent a day sat on a bed in a room whilst nursing students got to do a basic assessment on me. Nothing bad just the same thing every 30 minutes. It was interesting and hey it paid some more money so wasn't going to pass on the opportunity. They have even offered me a 2nd day next week which I have accepted.
On the permanent work front, there hasn't really been anything in the last few weeks.
However I did have a meet and greet, which I think turned into more of an interview yesterday at a private ear clinic just round the corner from me.
They were lovely and I feel I related with them amazingly and that I fitted really well. The director of the company was awesome and I feel we gelled really well. I happily joined in with the other staff over morning tea.
I definitely handed back my application form later that day and I know through the sneaky grapevine that they have sent reference checks out to my referees. So fingers crossed for this. I think it would be a great little place to work. Yes it is a small private place but it seems friendly and inviting and I think I will fit in just nicely there.
Hobbies
I have several hobbies...reading, sewing.
Although I have never let myself indulge too much whilst I have been growing the boys. Also as mentioned in a post a while ago I am terrible when I read as I get lost in what I am reading and everything else disappears out the window until the book is finished! Not that we are talking about wild classic novels here, oh no, we are talking Danielle Steel and other family romance novels, the really heavy girl stuff. If I find a series then I am typically screwed as if I find I am enjoying the first then I just have to have the rest of the series and I want to finish them all just as soon as I can!
Well with the study now complete and the boys also leaving me alone for more time nowadays then reading is suddenly taking over again. Roll on summer.
However I have found a new hobbie....one I knew I would eventually get into but to an extent I needed to let the times catch up with this hobbie...as I have finally taken up scrap booking, digital scrap booking too.
Man is it easy to loose yourself for hours doing layouts on the computer?
I will post about this more in a while as I have lots to say and as I am only using a trial edition of my scrap book programme I can't post layouts until the activation key comes through next week. Keep you posted on that one soon.
So there you have it. I have been a little absent but not quiet in any means.
A quick check of the last post and it was over 10 days ago, so not really that bad at all.
So where have you been I can hear you all wondering?
Living life I will answer, but there are a few things I will share with you.
Study
As you are all aware I have been completing my Bachelors of Nursing over the last 2 years. Only had 4 papers to complete. Not too bad...1 paper every 6 months, which mainly consisted of 2 essays.
Well I can finally announce that paper #4 is complete.
Yep, 2nd essay got placed in the mail last night.
Done, finito, finished, end of story....I have done it and survived.
I just have to wait the next 3 weeks for the mark to be available and then it is official but I am quietly confident in myself, so I have no doubts that I have just achieved my Bachelors Degree!
Labour Weekend
New Zealand has just had Labour Weekend this past weekend. The weather was not the greatest nor was it the worst we have had. It didn't stop us as a family going to our caravan and having a great time.
The boys got to play with friends they have known for a while but were able to cement the relationships a little further. 1 of the nights they both got invited to sleepovers in some else's caravan so we even managed a night without them. Bonus!
We managed to get the plants cleared from behind the caravan with the help of my mum who came to spend a night with us, luckily we managed to get this achieved on the 1 sunny day we had, so we were very lucky. It looks great now, all we have to do is get some form of platform down to keep it level and it will be awesome in time for the Christmas break
School Holidays
The school holidays only finished the week before Labour Weekend, so I feel like we had only just got over having a lovely 2 weeks with the boys and then everything was due at this time. The holidays were fun and I had a lovely relaxed time with the boys. It was the best holidays I have had with them for a long time.
 |
| Alex being as cheeky as always! |
Work
Even though I have yet to secure a permanent job, I was lucky enough to gain 2 days work with my cousin at the office she works at. They are responsible for the regalia that is used in the graduation ceremony for the local University. So for 2 days I got to celebrate with all the graduates as they collected and returned their regalia for their ceremony. It was the most joyous happy work I have ever completed. Everyone was so proud of themselves and extremely happy it was over. We congratulated everyone when they collected their stuff and they were so full of smiles. It was a great 2 days, plus I got paid to be there, bonus!
I also managed to score a single day job as a patient actor for the nursing school. So I spent a day sat on a bed in a room whilst nursing students got to do a basic assessment on me. Nothing bad just the same thing every 30 minutes. It was interesting and hey it paid some more money so wasn't going to pass on the opportunity. They have even offered me a 2nd day next week which I have accepted.
On the permanent work front, there hasn't really been anything in the last few weeks.
However I did have a meet and greet, which I think turned into more of an interview yesterday at a private ear clinic just round the corner from me.
They were lovely and I feel I related with them amazingly and that I fitted really well. The director of the company was awesome and I feel we gelled really well. I happily joined in with the other staff over morning tea.
I definitely handed back my application form later that day and I know through the sneaky grapevine that they have sent reference checks out to my referees. So fingers crossed for this. I think it would be a great little place to work. Yes it is a small private place but it seems friendly and inviting and I think I will fit in just nicely there.
Hobbies
I have several hobbies...reading, sewing.
Although I have never let myself indulge too much whilst I have been growing the boys. Also as mentioned in a post a while ago I am terrible when I read as I get lost in what I am reading and everything else disappears out the window until the book is finished! Not that we are talking about wild classic novels here, oh no, we are talking Danielle Steel and other family romance novels, the really heavy girl stuff. If I find a series then I am typically screwed as if I find I am enjoying the first then I just have to have the rest of the series and I want to finish them all just as soon as I can!
Well with the study now complete and the boys also leaving me alone for more time nowadays then reading is suddenly taking over again. Roll on summer.
However I have found a new hobbie....one I knew I would eventually get into but to an extent I needed to let the times catch up with this hobbie...as I have finally taken up scrap booking, digital scrap booking too.
Man is it easy to loose yourself for hours doing layouts on the computer?
I will post about this more in a while as I have lots to say and as I am only using a trial edition of my scrap book programme I can't post layouts until the activation key comes through next week. Keep you posted on that one soon.
So there you have it. I have been a little absent but not quiet in any means.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Family Day
I love having family days here.
There is always something that can be done, even if it is a simple walk in the local gardens, and believe me we have lost many an hour there before!
One activity that we do attend each year is the Gallagher Great Race.
It is a rowing regatta that is completed over 3.85km on the Waikato River.
We only really go to see the main 2 races, the men's and women's final (but then so does everyone really)
Last year the boys in the family were all away at the caravan, as they had left me at home to complete my essay. This year we were all able to go.
Despite the weather, umbrellas definitely neeeded, we all had a great time out.
There is always something that can be done, even if it is a simple walk in the local gardens, and believe me we have lost many an hour there before!
One activity that we do attend each year is the Gallagher Great Race.
It is a rowing regatta that is completed over 3.85km on the Waikato River.
We only really go to see the main 2 races, the men's and women's final (but then so does everyone really)
Last year the boys in the family were all away at the caravan, as they had left me at home to complete my essay. This year we were all able to go.
Despite the weather, umbrellas definitely neeeded, we all had a great time out.
 |
| We love it when we bump into friends |
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