Breakfast Talk

This morning whilst having breakfast, the conversation with the boys got on to how we could travel to the moon.

Yep that is right the moon.

Ben is going when he is 5, but then Ben is apparently doing everything when he is 5.

He knows you have to wear a helmet and a suit and that you have to go in a space ship. His will have number 1 on it and I think he is hoping to get there first.

Alex is going in his own space ship and his will have number 5 on it, his favorite number at the mo.

Apparently Daddy is going with Alex and I am going with Ben.

Alex says he needs a map to get there as he knows it is high in the sky but not actually sure which direction to take.

This is not the first time we have had this conversation, we have even talked about what food we would have to take with us and how long we would be gone for.

It is such fun having these silly but very serious talks with the boys.

Camera

On Friday morning we heard Ben and Alex having a little disagreement.
Steve got up to investigate only to find Alex leaning on the lens of the camera trying to close it!
Of course that meant 1 jammed camera.
So at 8am I am on the phone to the Insurance company to get a claim logged so we can start the ball rolling to see if it is replaceable or repairable and whether the insurance company will help us do this.
So now we are without a digital camera.
Yes there are pictures on the card in the camera, so the first thing when it goes to the shop on Monday is to get the pictures taken off the card and put onto a disc.

So now we wait and see what the damage report says when it comes back!

Wedding Update

The dress material is now back in the country and has been delivered to the dress maker.

I haven't actually seen it so apart from the small square I have on my desk I have no idea what it all actually looks like.

Not too bothered, not much I can do about it now, just have to let Jodie work her magic and create the lovely dress for me.

Life

Life has been busy this last week or so and getting close to the computer to do any sort of blogging has not been high on the list.
I have been working full time, which has not been too bad. A little boring with what I was actually doing, but different and fun.
Steve went to Australia for 4 days and so it was just me and the boys.
Was fairly easy just the 3 of us, had a good routine sorted and the days went along quite nicely.
In fact the first day we were really late out of the house was Friday when Steve was home!
If I hadn't been working then I think it might have been a long 4 days but hey we would have survived!
Good to have him home though.
The boys helped me make a sign that said "Welcome home daddy" on it, we put it on the wall at the bottom of the stairs so he would see it when he got home late on Thursday evening. It is actually still there at the moment, but will take it down today.

Would take a picture of it, but unfortunately the camera is not working, what happened you ask? That is another post and I will fill you in on it in a while...........let's just say Alex was involved!

Grease

Grease is the Word

Would you believe that on Monday just gone, 16th June, it was 30 years since Grease was released in the cinemas.

As the guy on the radio said, to explain it to the kids, who think there is nothing better than High School Musical, then Grease is mum and dad's HSM but with sex!

Everyone knows a song or 2 from Grease and everyone is still quite happy to watch John Travolta dance!

I was in Kuwait when this came to the movies, I was not quite 8 years old and no I didn't see it then, in fact I think I was about 16 or 17 when I finally got to watch this movie.

Do you know that Sandy and Danny only kiss once in the whole movie!.......and that is at the beginning on the beach.

But then if you got to watch it in Kuwait, nobody actually got to kiss because they weren't allowed to show those scenes, so they got cut!

Oh how life goes on.

Joke Time

My father is always sending through jokes.
Some are funny, others are not, some are just down right obscene!
But this one really made me laugh.....

Driving to work this morning on the SZR, I looked over to my right and there was a woman in a brand new BMW doing 80 miles per hour with her face up close to the mirror putting on her eyeliner!!!!
Shocked, I looked away for a couple of seconds and when I looked back she was still putting on the makeup but drifting halfway into my lane!!
It scared me so much (and this coming from a bloke....) that I dropped my electric shaver, which knocked the bacon roll out of my other hand.
In all the confusion of trying to straighten up the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it knocked my mobile from my ear, which fell into the coffee between my legs, causing it to splash and burn BIG JIM AND THE TWINS, causing me to scream, which made me drop the cigarette out of my mouth, ruined my shirt and DISCONNECTED AN IMPORTANT CALL.
Bloody Women Drivers!!!!!!!

Next Child!

This morning Alex decided that he didn't want to wear a nappy!
So we put little undies on him and told him he had to use the toilet.
We took him straight there and he did good.
A little while later he told us he needed to go and so off we trotted and did good again.
Unfortunately half hour later we had an accident.
Oh well part of the progress.

So here we are, 11.30am, 2 hours after we started and we are going well.
He has just gone when asked and I think we are in for a long day!

Unfortunately this week is not good for this type of training as Steve is off to Australia on business tomorrow for 4 days and I am working full time this coming week.
So unless daycare are prepared to keep it up right from the early stages and I can put up with all the wet washing each evening then we might be on the home ward bound of having 2 toilet trained children!

My babies are growing up, where did the time go??

Friday 13th

Yes folks that is correct, it is that special time again when everyone runs round in circles trying to decided if they are suspicious or not.

It is Friday the 13th.

Me, I actually think it is quite a cool day, but then I think my dad had something to do with that because many years ago he started a Friday 13th Club. Got the idea from the US when we lived there.

Now this club could only have 13 people attend the event, there were more registered, and they tried to have a lot of fun. They were all pretty close friends so it did help, although they lived all over England.

Now they did simple things like going out to dinner, where they got the restaurant to produce a menu where the price of everything was $13 or added to 13. To the very wild like spending 26 hours in Amsterdam or going brewery hopping in Edinborough in tuxedos and having to sample 13 different drinks.

The guys all paid $13 a month towards these days so when it came to the day it didn't cost as much, and as they don't happen very often it was simple to get the day off work.

So they embraced the day and had fun with it which I think was great.

I actually went to the first dinner, although in the rules no girls were allowed, but I think a special rule was passed just for that evening as I was the sober driver or something like that.

Wedding Ettiquette

Sadly I can't wait for Shannon to do a 'backwards' WFMW as this question is burning inside me and I want to have an answer.

So I am sorry that I am doing a backwards one on a normal WFMW.

Now as you are all aware I am getting married in September.

Everything is going fine and all bookings are coming together really well.

Who ever said that organising a wedding was a stressful time? What were they talking about, although ask me that at the beginning of September!

Anyway, my question at present is this......

"Even though we have placed an RSVP on the invitation, do you chase people to get a reply or do you automatically assume they are attending and count them in the numbers for the reception. Or do you assume because they haven't RSVP'd that they are not coming so therefore don't include them in the numbers and then have the embarassment of them turning up on the day and not having a seat for them?!"

What is the right thing to do?

People have until Aug 18 to RSVP and we have informed the restaurant that we will give them finally numbers at the beginning of September.

Do I follow up with people closer to the time or do I just leave alone??

Goodbye my Friend

Sadly today Steve and I were informed of the death of a friend.
This lady was someone we had both worked with in the past at Auckland Hospital in the Operating Theatres and she in fact was the person that took over Steve's position in Auckland when he left last year.
We didn't know her closely, but we knew her enough to say hi if meeting and to catch up on what everyone had been up to.

She was a wonderful person, full of life and character.
She will be sadly missed.
She leaves behind her partner Tina and their 3 children.

So to Kirsten, you were a bright star so full of life.
We will miss you here.
Take care

Kathryn and Steve x x

Alex

Alex has taken to whinging.
Man can he be very stubborn at times!
Although Steve and I are still not sure where he gets it all from....???
Yea right...!

We are trying our hardest to ignore it and not react to it, so that hopefully he will get the message that it doesn't get him anything.

Full Time Work

So this week I have started my full time work for a fortnight.
So far it is going alright, although a little boring.
Monday was my first day of teaching the nurses in Waikato Hospital about the extra software that is being updated on their IV Infusion Pumps.
I had 6 sessions to teach. No one turned up to the first session, I had 1 person at the 2nd and 2 at the 3rd. The afternoon sessions were not much better, with only about 2 people per session and no one for the last session at 4pm!
Yesterday was slightly better, I now felt more comfortable teaching the information so I think that made the day more fun.
Again no one turned up to the first session and then after that I has a steady stream. I even had 6 people in one session at one time, that was fun.

So what do I do in between sessions and when no one turns up?
I sit and read a magazine and catch up on some very long over due sewing.
Yes that is right, I am being paid $47 an hour to embroider my quilting squares!
Yesterday I managed to use the over head projector as a light box to put some designs on some material that I need to stitch. Now I just have to put the backing on to allow me to stitch it.
So for the first time in a year I am actually getting some stitching time in, also I have a long over due quilt to finish for a present that was due last November!

So maybe this working full time is not all that bad!

School for Ben

There are plenty of schools within Hamilton. Several quite close to us.
But of course we like the one close to Steve's work.
Ben has passed this school on many occassions and quite happily tells us that this is where he wants to go.
As this school is an area that we are not zoned for, then we have had to make an "out of zone" application.
Ben came with me when I filled in the paperwork and that has convinced him even more that he is going to the 'blue and white school' (colour of the buildings!) as he calls it. Their uniform is actually red and black.
We have had to wait several weeks for the ballot to take place and finally we got the call today....
Yes, Ben got in and so he is going to the school we wanted, that is a great school, has a good reputation and is located in a great place for us with our morning set up getting everyone to their relevant places at the right time.
Everything just seems to be happening right for us this year.

Breathing

Ben is a mouth breather!
He holds his breath as he is eating and makes the most horrendous noises!
He knows how to breath through his nose but just doesn't seem to want to or it maybe that he can't, not sure which actually.
I have checked out on line about Adenoids, as sometimes it makes me think that maybe Ben's are enlarged!
But he doesn't have any of the infection symptoms that they tend to talk about.

If you or your child's adenoids are enlarged, it may help be hard to breathe through the nose. Other signs of constant enlargement are:
- breathing through the mouth instead of the nose most of the time
- nose sounding blocked when the person speaks
- noisy breathing during the day
- recurrent ear infections
- snoring at night
- breathing stops for a few seconds at night during snoring or loud breathing(sleep apnoea)

Yes he has difficulty breathing through his nose, but none of the others.

So on we will plod with the very noisy meal times as Ben continues to hold his breath and see if it maybe might just right itself!

Priscilla

At the end of June a group of us have got tickets to see Priscilla Queen of The Desert The Musical in Auckland.

It will be a fabulous night out and I am really looking forward to it.

It has had rave reviews and looks to be a fun and colourful evening of song and bright costumes.

So it was made quite clear to me, after it was discovered that I had never seen the movie, that I needed to see the movie before I went to Auckland.

So Steve and I watched the movie whilst at the caravan this weekend.

Well.......what can I say.......now I knew the story line and had nothing wrong with that but I sure did find the movie very lame!

I found it very bitty, and definitely made on a budget.

It was not as fab as I thought it was going to be?!

Now this has not put me off going to see the musical in a couple of weeks, I know that will be amazing, but I don't think I will be rushing out to watch the movie again anytime soon!

Doors and Heat

We have an old house and a heat problem as I previously mentioned.

We have a doorway between the dining room and the living room and have decided that we need to place a door there as the dining room gets cold. This in turn is making it difficult to heat the living room.

In the garage is 3 old doors that Steve has found and he is sure one of them will fit the doorway.

So he got them down last weekend and proceeded to strip them of all metalware so he could consider sanding them to get rid of the green.

Of course he had little helpers to make the day go smoothly along.

They did lots of work on the doors, but did one little thing backwards.....and that was that they did all this work on the door and then decided to see if it would fit!

Of course 1 of the doors was way too big and the other too small.

So the whole day could have been utilised slightly better, had they measured the doorway first.
So am not actually sure when we will now have a door in the doorway!?

Sanding the House

The previous owners of our house rented it out.

Turns out the previous people to live here liked fire!

So much so that they decided to have a small wee fire one evening and then thought "lets go bigger" and proceeded to place a couch on to burn, apparently the neighbours had to come over and threaten them with the fire fighters because the flames were too high!

Anyway, this meant we ended up with one wall that had the paint all blistered off. Nothing too serious, just needed to be sanded back and painted before the yucky wet winter weather sets in.

Steve got down to sanding this wall with a little help from you know who, that's right, our local helper, Ben.

He had such fun using the sander to assist with the sanding.

Someones Birthday

Happy 40th Birthday to my darling cousin Malcolm.

Man aren't we getting old!

Hope you have a super day.

Birthday

We have had a very busy day today for Alex's 3rd Birthday.

He started the day with an enormous pile of presents which would have happily kept him entertained for the whole day!

He decided that he had to have a Thomas cake today, Thomas the Tank Engine that is....my cake making skills are not that flash!

So in between swimming lessons, that went really well and everyone did so well, we tried to find things to make a Thomas cake. We found some suitable items.

We didn't have a party this year, he is only 3 after all, doubt he will remember this day that well! But we did have some friends round for dinner. So we decorated enough for him to feel like it was a special meal.

The cake turned out better than expected and he had lots of fun getting into the spirit of his birthday and he was all for blowing the candles out. Good old Betty Crocker and Vanilla Frosting!

Alex gained a crane and a construction set for his birthday, which he happily combined to see if he could rebuild the crane!

He also got 2 books for his birthday, my boys are always getting books and they love them, so we had 2 lovely new books to read at the end of the day, although when it was sleep time this little bundle came down the stairs wanting mummy. I gave him a big bear hug and he promptly fell a sleep in my arms.

Just the way I like to end the day, my gorgeous baby a sleep in my arms.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

Happy Birthday Alex

Today my baby turns 3.

Where oh where did the time go?

He is such a delight, a charmer in his own right and oh so cute.

He has received lots of wonderful presents today, some I can see going out with us at every possible moment today because he will just not want to let go of them!

I will post some pictures of him on his special day later when I download the camera.

Have a great day everyone.

Rotorua

Rotorua, as many of you now know, is just over an hours drive from where we live.
As all my family are there then we go that way often, not as often as I would like, but it is easy to go when we have to.
The drive is very pleasant through the Waikato countryside and like any road in New Zealand through the countryside we are not talking of dual carriageways and straight roads. These roads go straight through farming land and so bend at every possible moment.
This can make the trip interesting but also very annoying when you get stuck behind a huge truck with double trailer that is travelling at 50ks an hour!

To get the Rotorua, you have to cross the Mamaku Ranges. Nice big hill with huge sweeping canyon to the side, and of course the road is as close to the edge, apart from the trees as they can get it.
The weather is also very unpredictable crossing the ranges because you go so high. It can be lovely in Hamilton and then you hit low cloud on the ranges.

Yesterday we went to Rotorua for Harvey's 4th Birthday party. It was foggy when we left Hamilton but in fact the ranges were ok.
Had a great time with all the relatives, even got to watch some of the Targa Rally, another story.

As we left, it started to rain and I knew we would be in for a slow ride home.
You may remember me talking about how I got stuck in Rotorua due to floods last month, and the fact I didn't want to drive home at night on my own in rain and fog, too spooky.

Well as we left last night I had that same feeling, although I knew we were fine as Steve was driving.
Visability was quite poor, the rain lashed at the windscreen and we drove at a rather slow speed, just like everyone else, or at least most people.
When we were down from the ranges and through the first town we pass then everything cleared and it was fine driving.
I am just grateful to Steve who drove very carefully and too the conditions and got us all home safely. It makes me feel safe to know he is there caring for us all.

The Cat

I caught the cat snoozing in the sun the other day.

It was the way his head is was just there that got me, not lying on the ground, just held up to catch the rays.

Meme Time

If you knew that every minute of the next 24 hours of your life would be recorded on camera is there anything you would change about your habits?
Get dress sooner in the day. Move the shoes that sit in one place for ever. Clean the bathroom. The list could go on and on....!

If you could take a one-month trip to any single destination in the world and money is not a consideration, where would you go?
Back to Canada and redo the trip I took with my parents when I was 12.
Start at Vancouver and travel across Canada to Calgary. The back across to Victoria.

What is the best example of “perfection” that you can think of?
Quilting and sewing. It always looks so perfect and amazing.

FireFighters

Our boys the firefighters.

They get caving hats of Steve's out of the garage and then they run around the garden answering all the fire calls.

They have their fire car and their hose.

This keeps them happy for ages.

More Swimming

I had the delight yesterday of taking both boys to swimming lessons and my swim suit stayed firmly at home.

Alex was even running to get into the water....yea!

He had his first Octopus class on Monday and it went very well. I was able to sit on the step for a while and then I backed off onto the chairs, half way through the class I went and got changed and sat and watched the class like all the other mum's.

Sadly due to me doing 3 weeks full time work and with next Monday being a Public Holiday, that meant Alex's swimming lessons were over for 4 weeks. So I had a brain wave and managed to get him a make up class yesterday for one he was owed.

He had a ball, the teacher was fabulous, she had him swimming with flutter boards under his arms and blowing bubbles in the water as he did it. I was so proud, especially when I think back to how he was just over a week ago. I never thought we would get to this point of swimming with him.

He was hanging on to the wall and moving along, going into the deep water, but still hanging onto the side like he was asked too. He just took it all in his stride and was such a big boy.

That made me decide to pay for 1 extra lesson next week just so he has continuity with this confidence, otherwise I can see him taking at least 2 steps back in the 4 weeks he doesn't have lessons and that would be a real shame.

To go from a little boy who was clinging to mum anytime we went in the water to one little boy who practically runs to get into the water ready for his lesson within a weeks or so is amazing.

I have no worries about taking them away from lessons for the 3 weeks now as I know they will be fine when we come back to it.

Cold

Winter is on its way and OMG is it chilly.

We have had winter fogs and now we have the frost. I haven't had frost since I lived in England over 10 years ago!
It is amazing what a difference the weather is here in Hamilton, where it is all flat farming land compared to Auckland where the whole city was on top of a volcano surrounded by more volcanos, so very protected.

And of course we live in a house that is so not equipped for cold winters.
I feel like I am living in England but in a house with no central heating.
Oh hang on a minute......that is exactly what I am doing!

Why God made Mums

Answers given by 2nd grade (8 yr old) school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the sticky tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mum just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mum?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's Mums like me.

What kind of little girl was your Mum?
1. My Mum has always been my Mum and none of that other stuff
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did Mum need to know about Dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mum marry your Dad?
1. My Dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mum eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My Grandma says that Mum didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mum doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mum. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mum is, but only because she has a lot more to do than Dad.

What's the difference between Mums & Dads?
1. Mums work at work and work at home and Dads just go to work at work.
2. Mums know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but Mums have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Mums have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your Mum do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.....
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your Mum perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair.. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your Mum, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my Mum smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

They sure do have a habit of telling it like it is!

Wedding Dress

Today I had a dress fitting.
Dress maker had made up a calico version so we could get a feel for the shape and size.
It went well. Size and shape was good. Few alterations on the shape and style.
Calico unfortunately does not have the best hang or shape, but I got the general gist of it.
The whole thing looks very Conservative Jane Austin with a touch of sexy.
It will look better when made up in the silk as it will have some shape and hang, so not worried.

Now my next mission is to buy underware and shoes so I have them for July when I will have a fitting in the dress

Alex and the Cat

The cat has well and truely made himself at home.

We have taken him to the vet and got him checked over. He is fine, about 12-15 months old. No microchip to identify him and they don't recognise him from anyone else bringing him in previously.

So looks like we have a cat.

Not that anyone in the family seems too bothered by this.

The cat has made his place known, as all cats do. One evening this was his favorite spot...

Although when the boys go to bed each night, this is where we find him.

Alex is asleep in this picture but the flash made it light up so clear

He goes up with us at story time and then he snuggles and stayes there for the rest of the night. Usually moving finally about 4.30am.

He is going to the vet on Tuesday to be seen too.

Special People

I was checking out a blog I follow and there was this post on there.
It made me realise that there are really some very wonderful people out there in the world.
Go check it out and read what was written.
Maybe it can put us all on a mission for the rest of the year to try and do somethng like this, maybe not so big, but just a little something for someone.

Ben's Swimming

Ben is still loving his lessons. Such a shame they will have a 4 week break whilst I am working full time, but that is life.

Anyway I couldn't resist this cute picture of the future Olympic swimmer who will represent England or New Zealand, which ever one he chooses.

Swimming for Alex

Swimming lessons have been going so well for Ben.

Alex on the other hand has not been so good.

When I first registered them for lessons, I discovered that until he was 3 I would have to get in with him, no problems.

The problem was that he didn't seem to like the water.

Funny as seeing how much he loves swimming at the caravan!

Anyway, this has been going on for several weeks now. Donna the Teacher (of Seahorse Class) has been fantastic. She has loads of patience with Alex and has gained his confidence.

Sadly this has not helped and Alex has still spent most of the lesson in tears, shaking and clinging to me when ever we are in the water, he is ok if he is stood on the step.

Today Donna had a brain wave, seeing as he is just about 3, and the teacher taking the next class up (Octopus) had no students, she decided to try him out with the new teacher.

The Octopus class is a lot more about them doing everything. So they are in the shallower water and they walk about more getting their own confidence.

They chase after balls, pick up objects from the step under the water, splash each other etc.

Well it was like having a different child in the water for the last 15 minutes.

He was full of smiles, happily doing things, giving me kisses and big hugs and generally having a great time.

He tipped water over his head pretending to be in a shower, he picked up toys from the step, although his face never actually went in the water, but his chin did, so getting there slowly.

They even think that give it a couple of lessons and I won't even have to get in the water with him. This will be a slow process of me getting in, but remaining on the step whilst the lesson takes place. Thus allowing him the chance to feel confident knowing I am there with him but not actually being there with him.

So Alex is now an Octopus.

Maybe in a couple of weeks we will have 2 boys both looking forward to swimming lessons.

Tamahere

'Tamahere' is a word that everyone in Hamilton knows and makes everyone stop and take a breath.
Tamahere is in fact a small suburb/township about 1-2ks south of Hamilton.
Unfortunately it was, until recently, the home of a Cool Storage Place housing cheese, butter etc.
6 weeks ago the local firebrigade answered a routine alarm call at the Cool Store and what happened next brought Hamilton together as a community.

When the 8 crew got there they started to investigate and 5 minutes after they arrived the storage place exploded. 7 of the crew were burnt and injured and sadly 1 of the crew died.
There was a school fete / gala day happening across the road from the explosion, it shook the school and caused a large crowd of the parents to run over the road to help where needed.
The crew were very lucky in that the area is well known as a place for Doctors and Nurses to live, so many of the parents racing to assist were medically trained.

When total choas had carmed to the best that it could, it took fire crews 2 days to put out the blaze.
Crews from as far away as Auckland (1 1/2 hrs away) and Rotorua (1hr away) came to assist with the fire.
Due to a lack of water in the area, water was being tanked in from as far away as 30 miles to assist the fire crew.

6 of the crew are now home recovering, 1 has returned to work. 1 is still under sedation in the burns unit and has a very long road ahead.
The other crew member Derek Lovell, was farewelled by his mates, family, colleagues and all of Hamilton about a week after the event.
The streets of Hamilton were lined with people paying their respects from the CBD to the race course, about 5-10ks.

Tamahere is something that no one in Hamilton will forget in a hurry.

We moved house on that day, April 5, and saw the large cloud of black smoke from the garden. My brother drove home past the blaze and said it was a sight he won't forget.
The smoke stayed in the sky for at least 2 days.

So why am I writing about this now?
My 2 are so into firefighters. They slide down poles, convinced that all stations have poles in them like Fireman Sam does.
They are always putting hard hats on their heads pretending to be firefighters.
It is their game to play at present when ever they are outside.
I know this is just play for little boys, but this is where passion for something starts, if one of them ever grew up to be a fire fighter then I would be so proud of them, I would worry a lot and just hope and pray that they have people like those at Tamahere looking out for them.

God bless them all

Wedding Update

The wedding plans are ticking along quite nicely at present.

We have met with a Celebrant and she is lovely. We have decided to use her to marry us. We have had one meeting with her that went well, we have to have another to go over the whole service in about July time.

My dress is coming along nicely. The dressmaker has informed me that she has done the pattern and it is ready to go for me to try on. I would be rushing over to try it, but it is in Rotorua (hour away)and I want to be able to take my time doing it, so that means going over one day when the boys are not with me, so hopefully in about 2 weeks time.

The invitations have gone out and we are starting to get the rsvp's back.

I have started to check out shoes and underwear, now the dress is coming along I will need these things for some of the fittings.

I have to organise a meeting with the lady doing the flowers and I have to go up to see my cousin to sort out her Bridesmaid Dress.

So everything is coming along really well.

Blog Post Update

I set myself a goal on January 1, 2008 to post 366 posts this year.

So how am I doing?

Well during January and February I struggled a little, at the end of both months I was behind in the number of posts I would have liked to have posted, but that was the reason for aiming for 366 posts rather than 1 a day.
Since then I have managed to catch up a little, or a lot.
I am currently managing to post enough to keep me up to where I should be for the day of the year.
Sometimes I will post lots, like today, and that will put me a head by quite a few, but then I won't get on the computer for several days and I am still in line with where I should be.

So all in all it is going good. If I keep this up all year I will achieve my goal.

Wedding Bands

Yesterday I collected Steve from work early as he needed to get some passport pictures taken.

He is going to Australia with work for a couple of days and he suddenly realised that it would be useful to have a valid passport to go with.

When he had had the pictures taken we had 15 minutes to wait for them, so seeing as we didn't have the boys with us we used the time to check out Wedding bands at the jewellers.

10 minutes later we came away with the 2 we needed.

So we may not have the minor items like flowers and cake but we have the major items like rings.

We have even ended up with matching bands, which actually is really nice.

We are going to get something inscribed on them, just have to decide what we would like written.

Book Review

For Mother's day I received a new book that I wanted.

"Sunday at Tiffany's" by James Patterson.

Yes, that same James Patterson who writes all those thrillers.

He has dabbled in a few romance novels and though they are very light hearted, they are well written and sometime light is all you need.

About the book:

Jane Margaux is a lonely little girl. Her father is basically absent, her mother a high powered Broadway producer. The only time Vivienne (her mother) has for Jane is on Sundays, when they stroll the streets of New York and go admire the lovely things at Tiffany’s. Her best (and only) friend is Michael, who is invisible to everyone but her. Some would call Michael “imaginary”, but he wasn’t to Jane. They shared ice cream on Sundays and he walked her to school each day. Until, that is, her 9th birthday, when the rules stated that Michael had to go away. Children usually forget their imaginary friends as time faded, but Jane swore she never would….

Twenty-three years later, Jane is a successful playwright. She still, however, is more trapped by her overbearing mother. Her fiance, while proclaiming to love her, is pushing her to allow him to star in the movie version of her play. One day, she meets a man who is funny and warm…and his name is Michael. Of all the children Michael has been an imaginary friend to, he never forgot Jane Margeaux and he wonders why their paths crossed again. And how was it that, unlike all the other children, Jane never forgot him? Can the best friend of her past turn out to be the true love of her life?

It didn't take me many nights to finish this book. Infact I only got in on Sunday and I finished it last night. If I had the ability to, then I would have finished it in one sitting.

It was different, I enjoyed it and am glad I read it.

I have also read one of his other romance novels, "Suzannes Diary for Nicholas".

So if you want something light hearted to read then give the couple of romance novels by James Patterson a try.

Volunteering

All of my family (mum, dad and brother) have always been people to join in. Must be a trait for our family.

My dad, when life and work will allow, is a member of Rotary. In the past I remember him being in Wapakoneta Lions, Ohio and also Wapakoneta Optomists, Ohio.
Currently in Dubai he is part of the Hash House Harriers, in fact he holds the top position in the section he is part of!

My mum, is the same, I remember her being part of the Kuwait Players (Amateur Dramatics) A leader in my Brownie pack and any other thing that needed help with.
She played Lawn Bowls at one stage and was on their committee.
Lately she has been in Inner Wheel which is part of Rotary and she has also held high positions, President etc

Myself, I have also joined in with things as my time has come to that stage in life.
I have held committee positions on professional organisations when I was working fulltime.
I have been involved with Parents Centre Inc NZ for the past 5 years, volunteering, and I am currently President of the Hamilton Branch

And now I have noticed that my brother has joined in the family trend. He has taken part in work activities, mountain biking, relay walking etc, he has just become a Volunteer Firefighter where he lives, and he also coaches Soccer for his sons team.

Seems my family are joiners and helpers.

Mother's Day

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,
the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.
Send this to someone who you think is a special Mom. I just did!

Today is Mother's Day in New Zealand.
happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there, you do a fantastic job.

Video on Posts

I have uploaded someone elses video from You-tube before on to my blog but I have never uploaded anything personal.
So this is my first attempt at up loading my own video.

We are house bound today as I am not feeling the greatest and it is pouring with rain, so Steve took the car to work.

A friend came for lunch and after everyone had eaten the kids decided that as it was not raining anymore then they would go outside.
This video clip shows you exactly what they got up too....

And there was me complaining to Steve that the driveway needed to be sorted before it filled with water!

If it will keep them happy for 10 minutes then I am happy to put up with the water.

Instinct

I have just followed my instinct and I think it will pay off this time.
I always see adverts for work etc in the newspaper but never actually follow through with it when I see something that I think would be good.
I do work, I work 3 days a fortnight in a Private Hospital.
Anyway, I saw an ad the other night for a Medical Company that I know and I also know the person who you had to contact.
It is for some short term, casual employment educating medical staff at the local hospital about equipment.

So I actually did what I have always wanted to do and I called and asked questions.
Turns out it is all going to suit me fine.
It will be 3 weeks fulltime work, around my other work, so I would be able to give them 3 or 4 days a week.
The boys would have to go to daycare full time for the 3 weeks, but having checked, there is space so that works.
Steve is fine with it as it is all during the day and he is at work as well.
It would be classed as a second job so my tax payments would be slightly higher, but actually not that much, still works out to be worth doing.
The boys do swimming lessons, but we would have to put them on hold for the 3 weeks. This will cost us, but only a small amount, so it is still all worth doing.

So apart from the fact it would be 3 weeks solid work for me and I haven't worked full time since before Ben was born, almost 5 years ago, I think it will be fun.

I think it was meant to be as everything has worked out great for it, and as I am a firm believer of what is meant to be will be then I am very happy.
Although ask me that again at the end of June when I have finished 3 solid weeks of work and juggled the family!

Poor Alex

Alex came home from Daycare yesterday with a very sore bottom.
Turns out he had had a few dirty nappies and they has made him very sore indeed.
He had a few more during the evening and we plastered him with cream each time, this was of great help as it soothed the redness. We also made sure he kept his fluids up as he wasn't eating much.
At 10.30pm last night he came into our room sobbing his little heart out, uncontrollable and beside himself.
He wouldn't stay still and wouldn't let me hold him, he just wanted to scream and curl up on the floor, the reason.....his bottom.
So we quickly changed his nappy, but this was very difficult to do as he was screaming in pain due to the redness.
Now I know it had to be done, but it is heart breaking when you have to hurt you child for their own good. He screamed the whole time we cleaned him up, he wriggled all across the bed just to get away from the pain.
He was sobbing when we went to give him pamol, although he realised it would help him and he took a breath long enough to take the medicine.
Finally he fell asleep in my arms and slept the rest of the night between us in our bed.

Today his bottom is much better, still very red but not as sore. He is still having dirty nappies but at least we can change them without him hitting the roof.

Doesn't WFMW

I have just gone over to Rocks in my Dryer and discovered that this weeks theme for WFMW is actually 'What doesn't work' rather than what does work.

So having just spent about 20 minutes getting the post all sorted for this weeks carnival I have decided that what doesn't work for me is Time Differences!

Because I am so many hours ahead of the USA I can sometimes write my WFMW in the morning (my morning when the USA is still fast asleep) and then have to wait for the end of my day before I can link it to 'Rocks in my Dryer'. Sometime I don't link it until the next day!

This is great as long as there isn't a particular theme like today.

Oh well, my great tip can wait till next week.

WFMW Again

Yes it is that time of week again for another helpful tip of some kind.

This week I am not sure if it is a tip or just a great way of doing something that everyone probably already knows about.

Anyway, I have discovered a wonderful recipe for making Pizza Dough, curtesy of Sophie Gray, The Destitute Gourmet.

The part of the recipe I love and think you can do with any dough making is how she gets the dough to rise.

When you have finished kneading the dough, place in a greased bowl and cover with greased glad wrap, then place in the microwave on low power for 1 minute. Rest for 10 minutes (in the microwave), then low power for 1 minute and then finally rest for a further 10 minutes.

The dough will now have risen to double its size and be ready to shape.

Here is her recipe for Pizza:

For the base:

2 heaped cups of plain flour

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 satchet instant yeast

1/3 cup milk

2/3 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 200c

In a large bowl combine all base ingredients.

Mix to form a dough then knead on a floured bench for around 5 minutes till smooth, springy and elastic.

Dust the dough with flour as required during kneading.

Place dough in a clean greased bowl and cover with greased glad wrap.

Place in microwave on low power for 1 minute, rest for 10 minutes, low power for 1 minute and rest for another 10 minutes.

Whilst dough is in the microwave prepare your favorite toppings

When the dough is doubled in size, punch it down and roll out to desired shape, either 1 large pizza or several small ones (makes 4 nice small ones) place on a baking tray.

Decorate with your favorite toppings.

Allow dough to rise a little then bake in the pre heated oven for 15 minutes or until the dough is golden and the topping piping hot.

This recipe is wonderful to make with the kids. Check this out to see my 2 helping make the dough. They then decorate the tops themselves before they go in the oven.

Bad Day

On Monday I didn't want to be a mother anymore.

Ok I know I don't get much choice in the matter now, but it was the first time ever that I just didn't want to be anywhere near my kids. They had managed to push me to the final limit.
It was an accumilation of several things that ended with me calling Steve at work and asking him if he was free?
I then told him to meet us downstairs in 10 minutes outside the hospital.
When we arrived, I got out of the car, gave him the keys and told him they were his for 5 minutes, because if I had to speak to them, look at them or listen to them again, then I was going to physically hurt them and then I walked off down the street!

Not sure what he said to them during that time and I really am not bothered, but the rest of the day went ok sort of.
Still wasn't too impressed with them for the rest of the day, but at least I got through it all and I never hurt them.
So far the rest of the week has gone good, but difficult to be bad when they spent the day in daycare yesterday!
What is really nice was that a friend called this morning to see how I was and how yesterday had been with the boys? It was so nice to have someone think about me.

A to Z about Me

A - Attached or single: Attached - engaged getting married in September

B - Best Friend: Wendy & Kimmy

C (a)-Cake or Pie: Lemon Meringue Pie

C (b)-Coke or Pepsi: Coke but Diet Pepsi.

D - Day of Choice: Wednesday, half way after the weekend and half way to the weekend

E - Essential Item: Tissues.

F - Favorite Color: Keeps changing! Like pink, but browns and autumn colours are coming through

G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Gummy Bears, if only we could get them so freely here in NZ

H - Hometown: Southampton, UK but haven't live there since 1975 and have had 38 address's in 37 years, so not sure if I have a hometown or if my hometown is where I am at in life.

I - Indulgence(s): sugar

J - January or July: In NZ then January due to it being summer, in Northern Hemisphere then July due to it being summer!

K -Kids: 2 cheeky monkeys called Ben & Alex.

L -Life is incomplete without: Family

M - Marriage Date: Getting married on 20th September 2008

N - Number of Siblings: 1 baby Brother (Although he his actually 35yrs old)

O - Oranges or Apples: apples for sure.

P -Phobias or Fears: Drowning and anything that crawls (Insects)

Q -Quote(s): This is not something I have ever really got into. I have lots of funny little sayings that I like, but not an actual quote.

R - Reason To Smile: Life, there is always something going on that makes me smile. As my blog says, take time to find something to smile about even if you have done it before. If you enjoy it and it makes you smile then enjoy it some more.

S -Season: Summer although each season has something special about it in the way it presents itself. Check this out to understand what I mean.

T -Tag: Anybody that wants to play along.

U -Unknown Fact About Me: I have a tattoo of a rose on my right hip


V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I eat meat


W - Worst Habit: Computer and getting into a good book, everything thing else stops until I have finished it.


X - X-Rays or ultrasound: Depends what you want to see tissue or bone?


Y - Your Favorite Food: A really good steak with no sauce and hot fries, salt & pepper.

Z - Zoo or museum: Zoo, because the boys love going there and we have such fun.

House Guest

We have our first house guest.

Well I don't know if he is a guest or a permanent visitor?

On Saturday he hung around the house all day. He was inside checking everything out, very friendly with the boys and generally just there. No we didn't feed him and we generally ignored him. We threw him out as we sat down to dinner and never saw him again.

Then on Sunday morning I spied him next door with the neighbour. So I went over and checked if he was their's? Nope not their's.

Apparently he had slept on the chair on their porch all night and was now hanging around.

So finally at 4 pm, Steve said if I wanted to feed him then go get him.

So I went to the store and got a flea collar and some food and brought him in.

He has been here ever since. Slept on our bed each night. Comes when you call. Loves the boys and is very friendly.

He is in very good condition which makes us think he belongs to someone somewhere.

If he is still here in 2 weeks then I will take him to the vet and get him checked out.

If he is still here in 4 weeks then I will take him back to the vet and get him sorted out. Sure he won't like us for that!

We have called him 'Tigger' because he bounces like Tigger does. Not sure how old he is but we think maybe just under a year.

We wanted a cat, just not quite yet, but one that is friendly and already trained is always better than a kitten you have to train up.

Movies

A week or so ago I got to see the movie 'Definitely Maybe' when I had an afternoon without the boys, it was a really great one.

Not your usual soppy love story or girly chick flick. Yes it was romantic but also a great story that flowed along nicely and was a joy to sit and watch.

Then last night, Steve and I and 2 friends went out with my work to a fundraiser and watched 'Death at a Funeral'
This is a British movie and I had heard that it was funny but not the greatest. Well I howled through this. It was so funny and I had a wonderful time. It was just so out there that you could so easily imagine everything happening at the next funeral you attend.


I can't say that it will be so great to watch again, as you know everything that will happen, but if you need something to get out and watch shortly, then give this a try.

Jigsaw

Ben is getting so good at doing jigsaw puzzles.

At the caravan last weekend he quite happily did his Postman Pat jigsaw.

It is nice to see him going off and doing something for himself, quietly without Alex bugging him.

Cafe

The other day I walked with the boys up to the post office to post all the invitations for the wedding.

Ben spent the whole time telling me how he wanted a big glass of milk from the cafe!

There was no way I was paying for a cafe to give him a glass when we could go home and have it for free.

So when we got home I told them to sit at the table and that I would serve them like they were in a cafe themselves.

I came and took their order and then delivered 2 glasses of milk with a plate of biscuits to the table.

They thought this was such fun and had a great time playing 'cafe' all afternoon, so much so that when daddy came home they made him sit down and be the customer while they set the table for dinner. They also wanted to look like waiters, so we pegged t-towels round their waists and gave them a pen and paper.

It was so cute.