Another Proud Day

This time it is the boys who had a day to be proud of.
Today they both competed in the Weetbix Try-athlon (TRY being the main part of this event)
It is not a competition, you are not racing against people or a clock, you are there to give it a go and have as much fun as possible.
It consists of a 50 or 100m swim, depending on your age.
A 1.5km bike ride and a 1.5km run/walk

This year was Alex's first ever time. For the last 2 years he has stood by and watched his big brother do the event, because he was not old enough to enter! But not this year, this year he was there, he was ready and he was primed ready to race.

My little Try-man

Waiting for the quick 50m swim

Swim over now on to transition and start that bike ride (you can just make him out in the middle of the picture!)

Dry shirt and then we will be off

pedal, pedal, almost there

Bike complete now onto the run

The finish line is in sight

Cold drink just what I need after that event



Well done: One very happy Try-man

 This year was Ben's 3rd try-athlon, he just loves doing it.
Unfortunately due to it being Alex's first event, then I got to watch all of Alex's parts but Ben's swim started whilst Alex was coming home from the bike ride and switching to the run. This will be a continuing problem from now on with them both competing, but we will deal with it each year and just alternate between who watches which child.
Alex and I were however at the finish line as Ben came home, so I did get some pictures of him.

My big Try-man

Finish line is in sight

Well done, #3 completed, roll on next year.

Well done both of you, very proud of my try-men for giving it a go. Especially as running is not Ben's strong point. Let's do it all again next year.

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.

Invaded

Last year we purchased 2 swan plants, 1 each for the boys. Thought it might be fun to hatch a few monarch butterflies in the garden.

Unfortunately it looked like a bug had got at the plants and they didn't seem to developed into much at all. However we left them where they were and ignored them for a while.
Well both plants grew and grew and still no monarchs came anywhere near our garden.
Then this summer, whilst the swan plants are now both over 1.5m high (!) we suddenly have butterflies for Africa!

A few have successfully laid eggs and we have had a few caterpillars, unfortunately the wasps have been out in force and not many have survived to growing to full stage to be able to turn into butterflies.
Several however have for some reason took to hanging off the garage wall rather than the plant itself, so we have had full view of the chrysalis doing its thing.

2 of the butterflies appeared on the same day. 1 minute they were in chrysalis and the next we looked...all of 10 mins later, the butterfly had appeared and the chrysalis was empty.

The boys have enjoyed having something happening in the garden and we have had lots of monarchs fluttering around all summer.

However with the summer weather comes other bugs and sadly we have managed, without trying I may add, to grow a nice amount of pantry moth in funnily enough of all places ..... the pantry!! Yes we have weevils in all the rice, oats, seeds etc
I can tell you, not what I wanted to do on a weekend...empty the whole pantry, throw away all dried food that is riddled with bugs web etc and start again with dried food in the pantry.
Last night we had chicken curry for dinner, I didn't realise at the time that they had successfully invaded the rice bucket as well and when it was finally cooked I found 2 dead maggots in amongst the cooked rice. Let's just say I had chicken curry without rice last night as for some strange reason I had gone off rice last night!!

A Good Laugh

Every now and then you read something on the internet and it makes you laugh out loud.
Sometimes it is so good you laugh so much you have tears running down your face.

This particular piece did just that for me, enjoy.......

These are complaints a travel agent received from some of their clients.....:


1. "I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts."

2. "It's lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time -- this should be banned."

3. "On my holiday to Goa in India, I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food at all."

4. "We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels."

5. "The beach was too sandy."

6. "We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white."

7. "Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined as my husband spent all day looking at other women."

8. "No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled."

9. "There was no egg-slicer in the apartment."

10. "We went on holiday to Spain and had a problem with the taxi drivers as they were all Spanish."

11. "The roads were uneven.."

12. "It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home."

13. "I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends' three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller."

14. "The brochure stated: 'No hairdressers at the accommodation'. We're trainee hairdressers -- will we be OK staying there?"

15. "There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners now live abroad."

16. "We had to queue outside with no air-conditioning."

17. "It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel."

18. "I was bitten by a mosquito. No-one said they could bite."

19. "My fiancé and I booked a twin-bedded room but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked."

Have a great week :)

Desktop Layouts

I am still pretty new when it comes to scrap booking.
I have stored up quite a collection of papers and embellishments from the internet.
Did you know there are some amazing places to get free items for your library?

The place I obtained my layout for this blog also has some desktop pictures for you to download and use to make the computer look pretty. In December and January I downloaded and used the ones they had. They were cute but they had the date on them, well the calendar dates anyway.
Whilst checking out the February layout I suddenly realised that there was no reason why I couldn't make my own, I mean I do have a scrap book programme on the computer!

So that is what I did, I sat and designed my own desktop layout.

This one was my first layout and whilst I love the delicate detail of the lace and flowers, the spotty paper was not the best to use with desktop icons. Difficult to view them with all the spots!

This one I went for a more solid colour paper so the icons would show better, mainly because my husband complains if he can't see the icons too well, but I must admit a really light colour on the background does make for a difficult screen to view, however this grey works really well.

Now I will get creative and come up with something for March.

This Is Me

It has been great fun catching up with new friends via Vicki's (2 Bags Full) blog party she held the other week.
I have been to visit some great blogs and found many interesting things and people along the way.
If you are looking for some more blogs to follow and catch up with...then please don't hesitate to go visit Vicki and visit some of the blogs on her site.

I wrote a nice little speal about me and who I am, why I blogged etc etc and what I blog about.
Looking back on that post however it made me realize that I didn't actually put up a picture of me. I put one up of the boys but forgot myself.

So here are the latest pictures I can find. These were taken on Christmas Day.

This is me with all the members of my family. There now you know what I look like!

Useful Tip

With this hot weather we are having then everyone wants cold drinks.
No problem there, that is what the fridge is for.
However, when trying to be nice and cool the wine for your husband, it is a good idea not to forget it is in the freezer, cause we kinda found out that wine will freeze!

Who would have known! Oh and just out of interest...according to the husband it tasted alright too!

Friend Making Monday

I sometimes wonder where the weeks go? I can not believe it is Monday again already and it is in fact almost the end of January! I can't believe we are already racing through the year. Time to slow down, smell the roses (as they say) and make sure we keep up with the pace of life.

Kenlie, over at All The Weigh, likes to make friends every Monday. She puts up questions and you then answer them on your own blog and link back to hers so others can come by and get to know you more.

Anyone is welcome to join in the fun at Friend Makin Monday, whenever they feel like answering the questions, some weeks I don't get round to joining in, but most weeks I do.

 Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Getting To Know Each Other

1. What is your favorite color? I guess I could say a dark red, maroon colour

2. Share one or more of your talents.  At the moment my talent is that I make a mean brownie

3. If you were spending the day getting to know someone new, where would you want to go?  Hamilton Gardens for a picnic, so much to see and do and plenty of time to chat.

4. What is your favorite meal?  I love a great Chinese meal but sadly all the ones in NZ are mainly take away buffets that I always find cold and stodgy.

5.  Do you prefer to text or talk?  Talk, definitely

6. Share something about yourself that might surprise someone that you’re getting to know.  My current address is my 39th in 42 years!

7. Do you color your hair? Yes.

8. Do you wear glasses or contacts?  I don't wear or require glasses.

9. What is your favorite breakfast food?  Either bananas on toast, lemon curd on toast or muesli with bananas and greek yoghurt.

10. Would your friends say that you’re sarcastic?  No, well maybe a little

11. Do you prefer salty or sweet?  Sweet…totally.

12. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?  Friendly eyes

13. What is the last movie you watched?  Rock of Ages. Finally rented it the other night.

14.  Are you religious?  I believe in God, but I can’t really call myself religious.

15. Are you a neat freak, a slob, or somewhere in between? Somewhere in between however I feel like I only have to turn my back and the place is a mess again. We have been home 2 weeks, the boys have not been upstairs (apart from to sleep) in all that time, yet you can not see their bedroom floor and I don't know why!

16. Share something from your bucket list that you hope to do someday.  I would love to climb up a large crane to see the view from the top

17. Are you a risk taker, or do you prefer to play it safe?  I tend to over think things sometimes however other times I can be impulsive and just go for it

18. Have you ever worn braces?  No.

19. Would you rather spend an evening at a theater or at a club?  Oh, definitely the theater.

20. If you could have three wishes, what would one of them be?  Wealth but not masses of it. Every time we discuss the Lottery and what we would do if we won, I always say how at present I would just be perfectly happy with enough to pay off the mortgage and be able to take a nice holiday. Sure I would love to win a million but $250,000 would be happily received as I would still quite like to feel like I have to work a day or too as I know I would be very bored at home all the time not seeing people.

Thanks for stopping by, hope this gave you a little more insight into my world.

Leave me a message if you take part as I would love to swing by and catch up on more about you too.

Have a great week

Catch Up Time

Even though there has been the odd post I really haven't got totally back into blogging since the holiday time. Hopefully I can get this sorted as the pictures are mounting up in my file waiting to be loaded into a post.

Grow Your Blog Party

Firstly, welcome to all my new followers. It is so great to have you here and thank you for stopping by. You are most welcome whenever you feel like it, please don't think you need an invitation to drop on by, the door is always open.
It is lovely to meet new people and see how the other half are doing things, with this in mind I still have a lot of blogs to go and visit (something like 400 in total) so I may be busy for a little while jumping around the place saying Hi to people.
If any of you are interested in meeting some new people, then pop on over to Vicki's Place and go on a little blog hop to meet some new friends.

Work

My first week is going well and the people are making me feel right at home.
They are trusting me from the word go and so each new day I go in I am being allowed to do a little bit more. This is helpful as it is making me feel like I am there rather than spending a whole week just standing around observing and getting very bored and frustrated because I am not allowed to touch anything or anyone (patient that is)

Garden

Our garden, as I am sure you will see throughout this year is a work in progress. At some stage I will do a rather long post about our back garden and where it was when we got the house 5 years ago and where it is now.
It is easy to just say that at one point the far end was 1m lower than the top end and there were no steps to get you there, just a nice slope down.
So over the last year we have been shipping in soil on a slow basis and leveling it off. As this is a work in progress then we have also been making sure other areas of the garden are kept looking nice.
This past weekend we tackled an area that I had always wanted to get tidy but just never did anything about,
The succulents sat outside the garage.
The next 2 pictures show you the area in the distance and the mess it looked. Please note these pictures were not taken with the succulents in mind, I forgot to take a before picture at the weekend, so I went back through my files to find something that showed you the area, sort of.

There were several of them, all sat around in pots. We had had lots of succulents when we lived in Auckland 5 years ago. When we left we took little pieces of the ones we liked and potted them when we got here in Hamilton, however that is all we have done with them so they have become right at home in their pots and nothing else has happened to them, well apart from living outside the garage door that we don't use. Many of them had out grown their pot and 1 or 2 had even become root bound in the pot!

I wanted to build a wooden flower box to house the succulents in just where they were but when we started looking at it the price was slowly creeping upwards and I only wanted to keep it simple.
So I discussed with hubby what I wanted and he made a few suggestions and suddenly away we went.

As we took the chimney down a few years ago then we still have several hundred bricks in a pile around the place, so he suggested we use them. Glad we did in the end as it is now in keeping with the other flower areas around the garden.

We culled a lot of the plants as some of them had become just too big for what we required. Even though we separated them to smaller pieces we just didn't need so many of the same thing around the garden.

I got given the Pukekos as a leaving present when we moved from Auckland. I was telling the boys how I would like some garden ornaments (maybe a frog) to place round the succulent area and hubby remembered we had these. So he found them in the garage and I think they look great in their new home.

Really happy to have finally cleaned up an area that we see and pass every single day. Lets just hope the succulents are as happy in their new bed as they were in their pots.

Grow Your Blog Party

Today I am taking part in a "Grow Your Blog Party"

Vicki over at 2 Bags Full knows many people via her blog and has some wonderful friendships because of this, well electronic friendships anyway, and they are sometimes great ones to have.
So she is holding a party to enable others to find some new friends and followers, maybe even some new interests in crafts, books, places and even tips on how to blog and what to blog about etc.
The main purpose being to Meet-Greet-Grow your blog.

So today is party day and welcome to my place.
Please don't worry about your shoes as you come through the door, I am not fussy, although I have just been redecorated however the carpet is old!
I like to keep my blog background up to date with the time of year, although here in New Zealand it is summertime so I have just changed from my Christmas background to something a little more suitable.
If you like this background then you can check out more free ones over at Leelou Blogs, she is always happy to share a few freebies with friends.

If it smells nice that is because I am cooking some chocolate brownies to take with us tonight to a dinner date with some friends.
I can offer you some tea or coffee however due to the gorgeous weather we are having I thought maybe some peach ice tea with ice cubes would be better suited to the day....help yourself.

So who am I?
I am a wife and mother, oh and in my spare time I get to play nurse at the hospital.
I have been married for 4 years although we have actually been together for 13 years.
We are very lucky to have 2 adorable sons who are 7 & 9 years old.

I am English and moved to New Zealand just under 15 years ago, on my own on a one way ticket!
I decided that I had a one year visa and if I didn't like it here then I had to work hard at my nursing job to raise the money for the ticket home.
15 years later and I am still considering raising the money to go home!

I started blogging in 2005, although I only managed a few posts. I got back into it in 2006 and I haven't looked back since.
I started blogging to keep all my family overseas up to date with what the 2 little bundles in our life were up too. I didn't want to keep writing out separate emails to relatives with heaps of pictures attached, which in turn would take up time and space on their email (we are talking pre broadband, so most were on dial up at the time!)
Since then, several of my family have moved from England to New Zealand and so now I blog as a memory of life and what the family are doing. Even though my mother only lives 1 hours drive away we still manage to keep up with what the other is doing by checking our blogs!

I like crafts and have been cross stitching since I was 7, however along with most craft things, it has been on hold for a few years whilst I grew the 2 young boys in my life. Although I am suddenly gaining more time for myself and can now get my stitching out for at least an hour before someone interrupts me for something, so hopefully there will be more time for it coming my way soon.
I have also just started getting myself organised to do digital scrap booking.
I am working my way through the pictures on the computer, organizing them and also getting to grips with the scrap booking programme I am using. Layouts are very few and far between at the present moment but I am learning and hopefully more will start appearing as I get better at it all.

So this is me, this is where I can be found and I am so glad that you dropped by.
I would love you to come back and visit anytime you feel like it.
You may find I will be sleeping when you visit due to the time difference (New Zealand is so far from anywhere!) but feel free to look around and make yourself comfortable whenever you feel like it, just remember to turn the light out when you leave.

Falling Into Place

Life is falling into place for me and it feels great.

After 6+ months of unemployment and the frustrations that come with that I really feel that everything is going where I want it to go.
I have a job, got offered it more or less on Christmas Eve. 3 days a week in a department at the hospital.
Then when we returned from a wonderful 3 weeks away at the beach (more to come on this later) there was a message from a company that I had an interview with 5 months ago!
Am I still interested in their position!?
I was shocked to say the least as they had never ever got back to me at all, nada, zero, silence!

So after meeting with them during the week and then having to meet with a manager at the hospital to renegotiate things, which was surprisingly simple and all just fell into place, I have reshuffled all my hours and have the ability to do both jobs, nicely and fitting into my life how I want it to fit.

So as of Monday I start my new life, my life that I want, doing what I want, when I want to do it and believe me......it feels great.

Now I just have to work out who is doing all the cooking and cleaning around here now that I am out of the house full time again!

Friend Making Monday

If you’ve taken part in Friend Making Monday (FMM) then you know the rules.
If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at All The Weigh so we can all see your FMM questions and answers.
Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!


Interesting Things

1. What is the last movie you saw in a theater? I saw the 2nd part of Breaking Dawn just before Christmas with a girlfriend. We both wanted to see it and no one else was interested. I had a movie voucher and we both ended up getting in for free, it was a great night.

2. How old were you when you had your first kiss? I am sure I was in Kuwait at the time, and seeing as we left there when I was a little shy of 11, then it would have been sometime around then. If not definitely before I was 12!

3. Share the coolest thing that you’ve done so far in 2013. As today is the 14th day of the year then I must have done something by now, but seeing as we have been on holiday for the first 12 days, relaxing at the beach, then there is nothing I have done. However I start a new job on the 21st, so think that will be the biggest thing yet this year.

4. What kind of cell phone do you use? Do you love it? I have a plain and simple cheap phone from Vodafone. It does nothing special apart from letting me text and talk! I do like it but don't use it to its full capacity.

5. How many times do you plan to workout this week? As I am still at home with the children this week then I should say everyday, but I know that won't happen so sadly "0".

6. What is your favorite movie from the 80′s? Oh man there are so many, the 80's was my time to watch and fall in love with the movies. Dirty Dancing probably.

7. If you could choose one character from a TV show or a movie to fall head over heels for you, who would it be? This is a tricky one. I have actually checked out others answers to this on Kenlie's blog to see what others were putting. Dirty Dancing characters are pretty high on people's list although so are any characters from period dramas.
I seem to have 56 different movies and tv shows running through my head right now but sadly I can't name one character at present, but be rest assured, at midnight when I can't sleep a character will pop into my head and I will know who it is!

8. If you could eat one food everyday for the rest of your life without gaining any weight as a result, what would you choose? Jaffa Cakes, an English biscuit with sponge and orange jelly covered in chocolate.

9. What is your favorite flower? Carnations are still pretty but I wouldn't say NO to any flowers.

10. Did you watch the Golden Globes last night? No as they are not shown here in New Zealand unless you ahve cable tv, which we don't.

Birthday

Today is my Husband's Birthday

Happy birthday darling, even though it is hard to forget it it is equally hard to find something to buy when Christmas has just past the day before.

Somehow I always manage to make it a Birthday themed day and not a Christmas themed day.

Christmas Day

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

Christmas Eve Tradition

I managed to find several Christmas Books over the years and have started a lovely tradition in our family of reading them on this lovely night.

I have the usual great one....
"Twas the night before Christmas...."

Which we all know so well with the stockings hung by the firplace and visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads.

And then I also have the New Zealand flavoured one....
"A Kiwi Night Before Christmas"

Twas the night before Christmas, and all round the bach
Not a possum was stirring; not one could we catch
We’d left on the table a meat pie and beer,
In hopes that Santa Claus soon would be here

We children were snuggled up in our bunk beds,
While dreams of pavlova danced in our head;
And Mum in her nightie, and Dad in his shorts,
Had just settled down to watch TV sports,

When outside the bach such a hoo-ha arose,
I woke up at once from my wonderful doze.
I ran straight to the sliding door, looking about,
Jumped out on the deck, and let out a shout!

The fairy lights Dad had strung up round the door
Let me see everything, down to the shore.
And what did I see, when I took a peep?
But a miniature tractor and eight tiny sheep,

It has a true New Zealand flavour to it and compliments the traditional one so nicely.
By the way, a bach = a holiday house by the beach

So that is how we end Christmas Eve as we try to settle the boys down to sleep on a sunny light evening with the temperature still warm and the humidity still high!
Do you have a tradition that you love to follow on this day?

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Shh It's Christmas

Yes Christmas is coming, well for those that have maybe been asleep for the last month and had forgotten!
We are so close yet I am missing a few things and have found 1 thing.......

Missing

I have the Christmas spirit which is great, just a shame that "The Book Depository" did not quite have the same spirit that I had! They managed to screw up thousands of orders coming down under to New Zealand. Consequently the wonderful new addition to our family, that little mischievious "Elf on The Shelf" didn't arrive until 2 days ago.

Therefore he has sadly had to go into hiding until next year. Never fear, I have welcomed him into the family and shown him round the house, feed and watered him for his long sleep ahead and explained the situation to him. He is perfectly happy to finally be in a new home and not stuck in a shipping container at the immigration warehouse, so is happy to not meet the children until next November/December and has now gone away. He will be back though.

Missing

One thing I like about Christmas is the music. I love Christmas carols and I doubly like singing along to them. However this year I think someone is trying to tell me something......as yesterday I sadly got struck down with Viral Laryngitis! In plain simple terms.....I have lost my voice!

The boys think this is funny and my husband cheered! I hit him.
The boys have been unwell with viral infections since Dec 1 and I knew it was only a matter of time before I gained something. I just wish it had been their cough and cold instead.
Ok I feel really quite well, apart from a little tired and no voice, but that is not helping us get everything completed in time for the up coming holiday.
I was sick last Christmas from Christmas Eve through till just before New Year, so I can't believe I am so close again. Hopefully the cough and cold will never come near me and the voice will have returned before Tuesday!

Found

With everything that is missing at present it is lovely to find something that has been missing.

I have found a job

I have secured a position at the hospital 3 days a week.
It has only taken me 6 months! However when they tell you that they had over 70 applicants, shortlisted to 4 and you get the position then you start to  realise just how hard the job situation is at the present moment.
We have never had a situation like this in nursing for as long as I have been a nurse!
There has never been an abundance of nurses there has always been a shortage of nurses!
The jobs have just been few and far between and when you do find something worth applying for so does 50 other people. I have been shortlisted several times for interviews but sadly there has always been someone just slightly better qualified than myself but this time it was my turn, yea for me.

So on that happy joyful note I will wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful joyous New Year.

End of Year

After nearly 15 years down under in New Zealand I still haven't got use to Christmas being in the heat.
I also, after only 4 years, haven't got use to school finishing for the year in December either.
It is all or nothing here in New Zealand!
But having said that I don't think it really matters when school finishes to receive 2 excellent school reports.
It makes any parents day/night/week/month etc when their child brings home those ultimate words written on official paper telling you how they have achieved throughout the year.

School reports came home today and despite all the struggles we may have had throughout the year there is nothing better than the tingle of pride you have when reading your child's report.

2 awesome school reports arrived in our house today and we are very proud of them both.
Some work to be done in some areas but nothing that can't be overcome throughout their schooling, I mean hey, they are only 7 & 9 years old at present, but I am also aware that the time will vanish faster than we expect.

Well done boys, Mum and Dad are very proud of you both.