L is for Lemon & Lime

For my 40th birthday nearly 2 years ago someone actually brought me a lemon and a lime tree for a present.
I thought it was one of the best gifts I received.

They have both since been planted in the garden and we have watched them grow so well over the last 18 months.
The lemon tree is in full bloom with fruit.

Not sure if they will ever turn yellow but if they do I will have more lemons than I can handle. Will have to find plenty of recipes for lemons!

The lime tree is growing but has not fruit. Not sure whether this is normal and that they take longer to get fruit on first time round or not. But it is growing well, is still nice and green and seems very happy, so will not panic that it has no fruit as of yet.

K is for Kuwait

In 1977 my family moved to Kuwait.

Yes that is correct, Kuwait, the place of the Gulf War in 1991.

We actually flew there 2 days before my 7th birthday, I sort of remember some of it and other parts I don't.
My father worked for a British Cable Company and we had the ultimate pleasure of living there for 4 years.
I actually went to school there for the whole time we lived there. It was a British School set up there. I even went to Brownies and Guides as well.

I visited these towers very often.
They are actually water towers although the largest ball with the windows round it is actually a restaurant.
It was gold if you managed to go there for dinner. The floor rotated inside so throughout dinner you got a full view of Kuwait City and then a full view out over the Gulf. It was awesome.

I can even count from 1 to 10 in Arabic and can read arabic numbers.
I know thank you and hello in Arabic.
Not bad for someone who was 11 years old when she left!

J is for Jaffa Cakes & Judo

I have lived in New Zealand for over 14 years now and I have managed to survive without many things that I enjoyed from England.

1. Certain drinks
2. Sweets & Lollies of certain types
3. Ice cream of certain brands
4. & Jaffa Cakes

Well in fact I have not managed to live without Jaffa Cakes

These are the thing I can crave. I can dream of,  I can imagine eating and know just how they will taste! YUM
I have missed Jaffa Cakes for too long now.
Thank goodness some of the supermarkets have started stocking these thanks to an English Shop in Auckland.
However I can never justify buying them as they are so expensive here after all the travel involved in getting them to New Zealand.

So Jaffa Cakes....I love you...but alas you are still a dream to me.

Judo

Judo is something that is big in this house. Bigger than soccer or cricket, bigger than any other sport come to think about it.
It is undertaken all year round (it is an inside sport) and both the boys love doing it as well as Steve.

although they both have yellow belts now

So I am officially a Judo Mum, one day I will get a t-shirt with that written on in nice letters!
And I wouldn't have it any other way.
I love watching them all enjoy this sport.

What sport is played in your house?

I is for Information about I

Yes this post is going to be all about me.
Here is some useless information that I am sure you were just dying to know about.
And seeing as 'I' is the 9th letter of the alphabet then I will post 9 things about me only......

1. I love finding spelling and grammer mistakes in books. Makes me wonder what the Proof Reader was getting paid for if they managed to miss it?
2. I love going to the movies and wish I had more time and money to be able to go and watch all the ones I want to see.
3. I have only ever found 2 nail polish colours that look good on my fingernails, so I prefer them natural instead. My toes however are always painted and am happy with blue, black, purple, red or pink. In fact any colour of the rainbow as long as it is on my toe nails!
4. I always wanted 4 children. In fact I would have happily gone for 6 but I accept the reasons why I only have 2 but that still doesn't make the want of more go away.
5. I wish I was able to throw food together like my brother and husband. They have the nack with flavour and know just what to add to make it taste just yum. They can turn mince beef and potatoes into something gourmet!
6. I love socialising but am no good at small talk, I never know what to talk about.
7. I don't drink alcohol, tea or coffee.
8. I love sugar, well as long as it is in the form of cakes, puddings etc
9. If you brought me the biggest bar of choclate you could find, it would still be there a year later, unless my husband found it then it would be gone in a week! Same with Easter Eggs. I don't like solid thick chocolate!

Information about me.

Friend Making Monday

Whilst undertaking the A to Z Challenge I have made some new friends along the way, already, I know it is great.
1 of those friends holds a getting to know you session every Monday entitled "Friend Making Monday".
Generally every Monday she will list several questions and you answer them on your blog and people come and get to know you by reading your answers. I guess a sort of Meme (if any of you remember those?)

Thought I might join in this when I can, cause I love finding out about the person behind the blog that I am reading.
So if you are interested in finding out more or reading the blog where this came from then slip on over to All The Weigh and check it out yourself.

Friend Makin’ Mondays: Trigger Foods

Are there foods in your life that always seem to trigger overeating? Yes…definitely.

If so, what are they? Milk bottles (candy) and Jaffa Cakes (Biscuit)

When are you most likely to give into strong cravings? When I am tired and frustrated
Are you more likely to be triggered by salty foods or sugary foods? Sugar..definitely.

How do you get back on track after overeating? I just decide that 1 day off the rails is not bad and get back on track again the next day. I try not to feel guilty otherwise I crave the food more because I can't have it. Although I have found out that 4 Milk Bottles is 2 WW Points, so I then just factor this all in.
Are there any foods that you allow yourself to eat without limits? Fruit
Do you notice a change in your emotions while eating trigger foods? No just afterwards I ahve a huge sugar hit and then realise that I gained nothing from eating it all apart from eating a load of sugar!
Do you have a strategy to keep yourself from overeating trigger foods? I just don't buy them and also try to ensure that I have eaten before going to the supermarket and then I am not hungry so don't fancy them so don't buy them. Sometimes it takes strong will, but I am always pleased with myself if I come home without them.
So that is all my answers about food.
 
Catch you all tomorrow

H is for How Are You Doing and Hunting

Are you still with the challenge?
Have you managed to keep up?
Are you struggling with your posts and what to write?

I seem to go in fits and starts with writing posts. When I first found the challenge I immediately came up with a few ideas of what to write with some of the letters. In fact before I had even signed up to participate I had set up my days and titled several of the posts ready to write when I had 5 minutes to spare. If I needed to get a picture taken of the subject then I had already got that sorted too.

This sort of gave me inspiration for the other posts. I am constantly thinking about what to write and whether I can make it fit into one of the letters in the month. Some are flowing easily others not quite so smoothly.
I tried, and succeeded, to not use Easter for the letter 'E'. I decided that that was too easy and was glad to see many others I checked out had not either.
I came up with 'Z' more or less as one of my first completed posts, shame I have to wait until the end to see it!
'W' was also quite an easy one to complete but 'J'and 'K' were a little harder but never fear I have something so there will be a post on the next few days (better be, don't want to get unlinked from the challenge!)

So keep going, we are all doing well nearly a third of the month completed and I am loving getting to know so many new people.

Hunt

Every year at Easter time we always do a little hunt with the boys. I have a jigsaw that has clues written on it, in fact I have 2 now, but anyway you give them the first pieces and they have to put the jigsaw together to get the place of the next clues etc.

They love doing this around the campsite where the caravan is.

However this year I was not there and I knew Steve wouldn't get up at 7am to lay it all out, just not his style!

So I told him I would organise something for Easter Sunday at home when they returned from the caravan.

 My original plan was to just do a plain simple treasure hunt.....here is the clue which leads to the next clue etc. But over the weekend I came across a sheet of paper from school where Ben had had to work out a code using numbers and alphabet.

This got me thinking and suddenly I realised that the boys were not doing a simple treasure hunt when they got home, they were going to solve codes to find the clues.
I decided that if I was spending the month of April going through the alphabet then there was no reason why they couldn't use the alphabet too.
So I wrote out the code, keeping it very basic. A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 etc
And then I had the fun of making up 8 clues each in number form for them to decipher.

When they got home and found an envelope with their name on it they were quite excited.
They happily sat at the table and worked out the clue and then raced off to find the next one.

All in all it went down very well with them, they had a lot of fun and it was so nice to see them move on to the next stage of hunting, where they had to actually do some work for each clue not just get given it.

Do you do treasure hunts with your kids?
What type do you do?
Any great ideas for future hunts?

Tears at Easter

My 2 gorgeous little boys woke up this morning at the caravan.
Apparently they were very lucky in that the bunny left them some chocolate on their beds.

Grandma also gave them some chocolate but they had to work for this by doing a treasure hunt, more on that tomorrow.
However when the hunt had finished they proudly showed me what they had got this morning from the bunny, then they raced upstairs to my bed.
I followed questionably as I had no idea what they were going up to find?
They were pulling my bed to pieces apparently wanting to know where my egg was that the bunny had left me this morning?

It broke my heart to have to stand there and tell them "The Easter Bunny didn't leave mummy an egg this morning!"
Ben was quite shocked "But mummy he left ours at the end of our bed and daddy's too, didn't he leave you one too?"
"No I answered"

Then I came downstairs and tried to explain to Steve that they were upstairs trying to find my easter egg from the bunny, that had not arrived!

It broke my heart them having to realise that I didn't receive anything this year from the Bunny.
Such a shame they didn't realise that I didn't get an egg last year either or the year before that either!

So nice of them to think about me anyway?

Update Post

If you have missed it I am currently taking part in a blogging challenge....A to Z Challenge where you blog from A to Z throughout the month of April. It is such fun and I am enjoying it, have met some super great blogs along the way and made some wonderful new friends.

It is just what I need actually because I have been sick and we are not just talking a few days in bed or on the couch we are talking that I am on day 10 now and things are about 60% better.
As mentioned here and then again here I thought I was getting dizzy due to my blood pressure being low, turns out that was maybe just a little cover for the real problem.
I saw the doctor and my bloods were all back and good, no worries there. However he did not like the extra fluid in my ears so decided that I had a balance problem due to too much fluid so put me on decongestants to help dry up the fluid. These did nothing, with the exception of making me realise that I was allergic to the drug!
So 2 days later, when I finally succuumbed to the illness and gave in and lay on the couch and just didn't move, I went back to the doctor. Saw a different one this time, just coincidence, but he decided that I had Vestibular Neuritis, a viral infection that effects the inner ear and makes your balance go totally out of whack.

I have no energy, I can't concentrate, things keep swimming in my peripheral vision and the rooms spins regularly.

My father has told me that he too has suffered from this in his time and so has his sister, my aunt. So is it hereditory? Or just chance?
At the moment I hope it is just chance because another attack of this, that could knock me out of action for 4-5 days, would be my worst nightmare come true.
All websites I read talk about recovery being anything from 1-3 weeks!
Good job, to an extent, that I am on holiday next week with the boys due to school holidays, but not so good a job because this is not how I wanted to spend my week off, sitting on a couch half the day resting!

So thank you to all my new blogging friends I have made over the last week. It is fun to read what you are writing about. I have laughed, I have learnt and I have agreed with you on many things.
I look forward to catching up more during the month of April and then on throughout 2012.

G is for Garden

Even though our garden is a continuous work in progress we do still try and make the parts that are sorted look good.
We seem to have mastered a few spring / summer veggies to grow and these are part of our annual plan now.
Last year we planted some potatoes, first time of growing them, we were really successful and although we didn't plant too many, we enjoyed the fruits of our labour, although like all things we are already trying to better enhance the system to make it better.

Steve actually did as someone recommended and cut the plants when they died back and left the pots in the ground, we dug them up and they were still perfect, this has now given me loads of ideas as to what I could do with potatoes!

We have never been big on autumn / winter growing veggies, although each year we do try to find something to grow. This year we are getting sorted with plenty of time so we have planted leeks, onions (brown and red), spring onions and carrots, oh and a little spinach to add to the mix.
Not sure how it will all go but if we don't try we can't learn from it.
Will keep you posted on how we are doing and the fruits of our labour in a few months time.

We have one flower bed out the front that is the first thing you see when you come on to our property, so for me this needs to always look nice as otherwise the place looks so bare!
In the spring / summer time we plant sunflowers. these have done so very well in the last 2 years. This last summer we grew tall ones and at one stage they were up to the roof. It gave us a lovely natural curtain to block the road view from the living room. In fact at one stage we opened the french window in the living room and watched the world go by but no one could see us!

When these came down it left the bed looking very bare, so we planted some winter colour.
I also slipped in a few daffodil bulbs so as the colour is dying back we will get the odd shoot coming through giving us more colour until we plant some more sunflowers.

The boys also wanted a swan plant each, so we have to work out where to place these and then maybe we will see some lovely butterflies in the garden after we have watched the caterpillars change.

F is for Favourite Sites

Do you have any favourite sites you are visiting at present.
Sites that are not part of the A to Z Challenge?
Sites that you are following and love catching up with everyday?

I think all fellow bloggers will admit to one or 2 sites that they regularly check up on, it is after all the nature of blogging.

Over the years my sites have changed. I guess we move with the times.
I do have a page on my blog especially for my Blogging Buddies and I was quite surprised the other day when I took a look to see how up to date it is to realise that there are some on there that I have actuially stopped following!

Owlhaven - she writes about the sane woman's guide to raising a large family. Her 10 children, 4 natural and 6 adopted. She writes about money saving tips etc and what the family are up to.

McNulty Quads - Welcome to quadville, how life is going with 4 at once

365 Photos - she gives out a word each day and you show a picture of your interpretation of it. I have to admit that I am not taking place in this, but it is fun to see what words are coming up each day!

A few others I am following are all to do with cross stitching, them showing what they have currently made. I am trying to get back into my stitching so love gaining inspiration from these lovely ladies when they do a show and tell session.

I love following blogs, especially when you take a random moment to check out people that site is following to see what other wonders you can find to view.

Happy Blog Surfing all.

E is for Enid Blyton

When I was a little girl, I read lots of books by Enid Blyton.
She did simple basic stories for children of all ages, ok I will agree they are aged. When you read them nowadays some of the stuff makes you laugh as they were definitely books of their time but they are still pleasant enough to read for young children today.

I have started to see many of her books in local bookshops here in New Zealand recently, I get the feeling they are reproducing them and releasing them again.
Things like The Enchanted Wood which houses the Faraway Tree, written and first released in 1939, The Wishing Chair and many books that hold lots of little one off stories. All written and released in the 1940's.

I have been collecting the books and we have started to read them to the boys at night.

She is also famous for writing the "Famous Five" and the "Secret Seven"
I never actually read these when I was little as I always thought they were for boys, but I will definitely show my 2 boys these books and see if they are interested in reading them.

Did you ever read any of these books or any of the other hundreds of books Enid Blyton wrote?

D is for Describing Decoration and Dizzy

As our house is a work in progress then there is not much decoration on the walls yet. Mainly because we still need to paint and then work out what we want in each room.
Until that happens I am decorating with words in the areas I can add interest.

In the kitchen I have words on the fridge.

In the family area I have words with my pictures.

And 1 or 2 other little plaques with funny sayings

In the living room I will eventually have some little words to add to my ornaments but they are still wrapped away with the ornaments whilst we are sorting walls out etc. They are the words "love" and "family". I also have some more words for the living room wall as well, things like 'play' 'relax' 'friends' & 'love'

The only piece of art we have decorating the walls is a set of 3 tiles we got given as a wedding present. They represent nature in a New Zealand setting and I love them.

What decorations do you have around your house?

Dizzy.....

Last Thursday I got out of bed and had a nice meeting with the wardrobe and the bed!
Luckily they worked together and I ended up sitting on the bed and not the floor!
After it happened again on Friday morning I decided to see the doctor.
Full bloods done and sent home to wait.
After a long, long weekend, where I spent a lot of time lying down trying to stop the world from spinning, we have finally discovered that I have fluid build up in my inner ear.
I feel fit and healthy, wish I had a cold or ache to go with this illness but alas nothing, all I have is dizziness!!

Alas we have also discovered that the pills to assist with drying up the fluid are no good for me, well I didn't particularly like the nausea, restlessness, insomnia or the extra dizziness that came with them, not sure why not, just not feeling like playing the "let's take the pills cause they will help but make me feel like s*#t' game at the moment! Such a spoilsport really aren't I?
So each day is getting a little easier, although still spinning frequently, but I will definitely be happier when the world isn't so dizzy!

C is for Celebrating

Celebrating birthdays that is.
I would love to have done birthdays yesterday but seeing as today is my mum's birthday then we had to go with today and so 'celebrating ' for 'C' it became.

Happy Birthday mum, hope you have a great day.

I am a big one for sending cards. Even though the world has embraced modern technology you still can't beat writing in a card that you have chosen for the person, handwriting the sign off and if you are my 2 little boys adding half a page of 'O' and 'X's'.
I do have several people that I only keep in contact with via electronic systems and so I do have a website I send cards from Jacqui Lawson. They are cute British cards, well drawn and designed.

As with other things on birthdays I do also insist that you must have a cake.
I have been lucky up till now in that my 2 have never asked for a particularly weird and wild design, they have always been happy with plain simple round cakes.
Alex wanted Ben 10 one year, so I did the usual round cake added greeny white icing and 2 figurines of Ben 10 and an alien, he loved it, was so happy with it.

I did however go all out, my choice, last year for Ben's 8th birthday and I made him a cake in the shape of an '8', he loved it but he never asked for it.

Do you do anything special each year for birthdays?

B is for Balloons

Every year in Hamilton they hold the "Balloons over Waikato"
It is spectacular every year and always brings out 'ohs & ahs' from young and old.
It has just been here for the last 5 days and we have been lucky enough to have awesome weather to allow the balloons to fly each day.

On the first day we drove to work only to oh & ah our way there as the skyline in front of us filled with at least 20 balloons of every shape and colour.
Sadly no, pictures of the skyline as no camera with me at the time!

Sadly the only other time we managed to get to see the balloons was at the Night Glow, which is a big huge concert that is put on free of charge on the Saturday night. The balloons are all there and they inflate and then light up whilst music is playing. It looks spectacular.
I managed to get some pictures but they are not the greatest but they give you the idea of the whole evening....

The balloons start to inflate

Part of the 80,000 there

other half of the 80,000

more inflation and up they rise

Iwi the Kiwi rising from the ground

Iwi the Kiwi

The kangaroos going up too

all a glow

everyone a glow

They ended the display with fireworkls as usual. It is awesome to see and such a privilige that we are able to attend free of charge. There is not much nowadays that is still free to attend.

A is for About

About this challenge, about who I am, about what you can expect on this blog.

This challenge, if you are not visiting from there, is about blogging throughout April using all the letters of the alphabet, in order. You have until tomorrow to sign up if you think this is something you would like to take part in. Go over here and check it all out. There are over 1400 people signed up to take part, so if you want some new blogs to check out there is a well prepared list just waiting for you to visit and comment on.

About me.....I am a mother of 2 little boys, well not so little now almost 7 & 9yrs old.
I am British but have lived here for 14 years and I am married to Steve, he is a Kiwi and we have been together for nearly 13 years. We have been married for almost 4! Yes we did everything backwards!
I love to blog, read, sew (quilt, cross stitch, embroider) and generally hang with our adorable 2 boys and have lots of fun.
I am a nurse and I would like to be a Primary School Teacher one day.

Steve and I

Ben (9yr old) and I

Steve and Alex (7yr old)

About this blog...........well I started this blog in 2005/6 so I was able to let all my relatives around the world see how our 2 little boys were growing up. I felt this way I could post what I wanted and if they wanted to check then that was up to them, that way I also didn't keep filling their email in-box with oodles of messages just because 1 of the boys had done something that we thought was really cute! Which was cute to us but not to others!
Over the years it has now developed into a place to continue to write about what our family is up to. What things I want to complain about, talk about, show people and generally comment on.

So come along and follow me for this month as I talk and post about all manner of things, some fun, some serious and some, well maybe just down right ridiculous!