Christmas House Tour

Welcome, come in, so nice to see you.....

Now before we start, I have to apologize for the mess, I know the walls need painting, the back yard needs landscaping and the carpet is not the greatest, but this house is a work in progress.

This is our first Christmas in this house, so am still finding my feet as to where to place the decorations.

I have put out a few items to get us in the mood, but it has also given me the chance to get an idea as to what we need to aim to buy in future years.....more fairy lights, garland for the stairs, other little ornaments etc

We have our tree up, I don't actually have a colour theme for it, although red and gold seem to be the favorite, but I do have a few special decorations on there. I finished decorating it late at night, so the boys hadn't seen it with lights on. I was lucky the morning after to be able to get downstairs before them and switch the lights on.........Ben thought it was so special to come down the stairs and find the tree all a glow, it was lovely to see his reaction.

When you come to the front door I have my lovely santa signs showing you the way. They just give a little flavour to the front of the house. We are going to our caravan for Christmas and I will be taking these with us to decorate outside the caravan.

Of course from last year I have my reindeer and santa door hangers that the boys love to take down for me daily!

The boys each have an advent calendar that was given to them by Grandma, unfortunately I didn't get round to filling them this year, but luckily for me they do not understand or realise what should be in there, so they are just interested in knowing which one belongs to whom!

The kitchen doesn't even miss out, as I have special Christmas magnets to place on the fridge. I would love to get a Christmas Dinner Set to use through out December, I think this would be a lovely holiday starting tradition to get in to. One day I will have to watch the January Sales to see what I can find, unfortunately I have not found anything that I like, and seeing as I would like a setting for 8, then I have to make sure I like it!

I got these lovely decoupaged decorations from someone I use to work with in Auckland. This is the first year I have put them out and I think I have found the right spot for them on the bookcase, shows them off really well.

I love my flying santa over the door, although I had a few problems finding a home for this as all the door frames faced the wrong way against the wall to fit him on, but he looks great in the living room above the tv area.

For this year at least, until we maybe knock it out, we have a fireplace, so I had the pleasure of hanging the stockings in the fireplace. As it is summer here then there is no fire risk, but it was just so cool hanging the stockings up.

Now I decided to go and do something special for the boys and us this year, and so I put fairy lights in our bedrooms, sadly the pictures didn't come out too well, but it gives you the general idea. The boys love going to sleep at night with just the lights on and our room is so cosy and romantic with our fairy lights. We switch them off at night, but I think they may stay up for a little longer than Christmas.

Well that is us for this year, give you a little touch of what we have around us. So nice of you to stop by. I have some cold juice in the fridge if you need a glass as it is getting quite warm here now and if you are still here at dinnertime then you may be lucky enough to get a sausage off the BBQ or even some steak and salad.

Oh, yea, just one more little thing.......back in January I set myself a little challenge, I wanted to post 366 post for the year, it didn't have to be one a day, as I knew I wouldn't manage that, but I would aim for 366.

Well, this post is my 366th of the year.

On Thursday I realised that my next post was the winning one and so I decided to wait until you could all join me in my little celebration, so pull up a seat, get a cold juice and lets see if we can't get this party rolling.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Lunch

Here at the hospital I work at, they supply pretty good food, mainly because they are a small private hospital and they have personal chefs who work onsite, so no contracting out to other sources.


The staff can purchase the food at a very reasonable rate.
Lunch will cost you $3.50 and I think dinner is about the same or a little more.


Now you get a choice each day from about 4 things.
For example todays menu is as follows:

1. Pumpkin, Kumara and Bacon Quiche
2. Ham & Potato Salad
3. Roast Beef Meal
4. Surprise Item (Chef wasn't sure what it would be when I asked?!)

Now the protion size is fabulous and well worth the $3.50 you pay. I have brought lunch once or twice when I have forgotten to bring something for lunch, last week I had a chicken filo parcel, and there was more chicken than I would ever have imagined for the price I paid. Today I am having the roast beef dinner and I could never buy a lunch of that size at a restaurant anywhere in New Zealand

Hand Me Downs

My sister in law and I got together several years ago and decided we would have 2 boys each and we would mix them in with the ages and then hand me downs would work well.....yea right!

My sister in law and I are very lucky in that we do have 2 boys each and their ages mix together quite nicely. She has Ellis who is 8, I have Ben who is 5, then she has Harvey who is 41/2 and I have Alex who is 31/2.
It also means that when Ellis is turning 21, the same year we will have an 18 yr old, a 17 yr old and a 16 yr old! Imagine those 4 together in the same house for the weekend!
Not that we planned any of it, but hey, that is life.

I have a friend who has a 10 yr old boy and she is wonderful in passing on old clothes to me, I have happily kept them in the cupboard until Ben fits them, but then decided that in fact Claire could get more use out of them with Ellis, so they now go there and because Harvey is slightly bigger than Ben, even though he is younger, as long as they are still in good condition when they have finished with them, then my two still get to see them as well.

So hand me downs are doing the long run with all of us.

Cost Saving

All over the world people are talking money, how are you saving? What are you cutting back on? etc etc.

But Mary over at Owlhaven has written a pretty good post about it all which really puts it into perspective, go check out what she has to say....

School Update

Ben is loving school, that simple.
Me, well not so sure, more I wish they would share information with us??

Last week I collected Ben from After School Care and he annouced to me 'tomorrow I need to bring my swim suit!'
I was like 'oh really, says who, where is the note??'

So I decided to go and see if his teacher was still in her room, bearing in mind that it was 5pm!
She was there and I verified with her what Ben had told me...
Her answer......'you need to believe you son!'

Now to me swimming is a big deal. I had questions...

1. When were they going swimming?
2. What did they need to bring?
3. Who was taking the lessons, seeing as there are 19 in the class?
4. How often are they going?

She was very laid back about the whole thing, but to me as a first time school mum, I expected more. I expected a note explaining that the class was going to start swimming, when it was going to happen, what they needed to wear and bring with them, what they couldn't wear (girls are not allowed to wear bikinis), how often this would take place and whether there was anything we needed to let the school know about our child.

Unfortunately I do not have the luxury of visiting the school everyday that Ben goes because I work, but luckily I was there today, with swimming stuff just in case, due to the fact I didn't know if he had swimming today?

There on the white board at the front of the class was a schedule for swimming, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Nice to finally know, but would have been so much nicer and easier if they had actually communicated with the parents so we all know what is going on, we are new to this after all.

Shopping

Went Christmas shopping with Alex today.
Still slightly easy to do because he hasn't quite picked up on what I am buying and if he does then I just tell him that item is for Harvey or Ellis (his cousins).
He accepts this and carries on.
Poor kid must be convinced that all mummy does is buy presents for Harvey and Ellis!

Anyway, we were in one shop and it was getting hotter and hotter in there, when we came out the door there was a lovely cool breeze.
So I annouced to Alex 'that this was a lovely cool breeze' and he promptly replied 'why did I want strawberries?'

I was a little confused as to what he was talking about until I realised that 'cool breeze' and 'strawberries' sound so a like.

Clever boy

Christmas Get Together

Steve had his works Christmas do last night.
It was actually quite pleasant, no drunken party, very calm.
We all met at a bar for a pre night drink and nibbles, which was lovely standing outside in the evening sun.
Then we wandered round to a local theatre that was holding a comedy fest for a few nights.
We were entertained by 3 wonderful comedians, ok a little crude and rude through the evening, but hey we were all adults at this event, so no worries.

It was a very pleasant enjoyable evening, which finished at a nice time too.

The funny thing is that Hamilton is so small the plumber we use was at the party, because he is married to someone Steve works with, although we didn't actually know this at the time, but we do know. Geez how the world turns!

Volunteering

Today is International Volunteers Day

There are literally hundreds of thousands of kind hearted folk who volunteer for all sorts of different things all over the world and today is the day to recognise what they do.

So if you volunteer for anything, well done and thank you.

You are very kind to think of others and give of your time.

Commenting v Stalking

I follow several blogs, and some of them I could never tell you how I found them, I just start checking out one I follow regularly, then click on something else to read and then end up flowing on to something else and then come across something I like and decide to follow it!

So I had a smile on my face when I found the following on one of the blogs I check out The Pipers, I totally agree with what she has written and do hope she doesn't mind that I am putting some of it out there for others to view, because I feel it is really appropriate. If you would like to read the full version then please go here, oh and remember to check out what else The Pipers have to say..
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Your Not A Stalker.....

I’ve noticed a tentativeness among women in the blogosphere that I want to come against right now–you are (probably) not a stalker.

I know there are more people who read this blog than people who comment, and that is totally fine. But I’ve noticed that when a stranger or visitor does get up the gumption to comment, it’s usually laced with all kinds of insecure apology-like statements, like, “I don’t know you at all…”, “I just happened upon your blog…” or something to that effect.

I have noticed that men don’t feel the same compulsion to apologize profusely for reading another man’s blog, as though they accidentally stumbled upon his secret diary.

Let me assure you of a few things, and hopefully that will make the commenting flow more smoothly and eliminate the need for explanation:

1. This is a public blog. I fully expect and hope for people who I don’t know to read here and comment. If I wanted comments only from people I know, I would publish a private blog.


2. I really, really like meeting new people. It energizes me.


3. You have probably found this blog through a couple different avenues, all of which are perfectly legitimate, and thus not stalker-like: 1) clicking through from one of my friends’ blogs where I’ve commented or where I’m listed on their blogroll; 2) random googling; 3) clicking from a relatives blog.


4. I blog to connect with people that I wouldn’t normally get to connect with on a regular basis.


5. Often times, I find myself on someone’s blog after a series of random click-throughs, and I can’t even remember how I got there. Does that make me a stalker? I don’t think so. At least I hope not.

This is by no means meant to be some heavy-handed bullying tactic to get you lurkers out there to comment. I just want you to know that you’re free to if you’d like to.

Of course the possibility still remains that you are, in fact, a stalker, but that is something you will need to deal with on your own time, probably with the aid of a professional counselor. Nevertheless, I’m banking on the probability that you are just another normal man or woman like me, who likes to read blogs, and found mine.

Welcome to Life Today.

Remember to go over to The Pipers to check out the full version.

Town Icons

New Zealand occassionally does 'First Day Covers' (postage stamps) with a theme. Now I am not a stamp collector, but this set was put out in 1998, just after I arrived in NZ and I thought they were really good. It also gave me something to aspire too. Because the Town Icons are all over New Zealand, I decided that I would make it my mission to visit all these places and get my picture taken by them all.

In 1999 my parents came for a holiday here and we travelled around a little bit, and during that time, without realising it I managed to get my picture taken with 3 of the icons.

The Carrot, the L&P Bottle and the Sheep Shearer.

Unfortunately this holiday was back in the day before digital camera's so I only have hard copies of the pictures, oh and no scanner, so one day I will get them on the computer.

What made me remember about this mission is the fact that we pass the L&P Bottle everytime we go to the caravan. The Kiwi Fruit is also about an hours drive from the caravan, very close to where we have relatives, so we get over that way occassionally. I have mentioned to the boys several times on our way to the caravan that we will stop one time and take their picture. Well when we left this last weekend I remembered and so we stopped. Alex sadly was a sleep in the car (another post for later!) and so we managed to get a picture of Ben with the Bottle.
So maybe my mission has changed slightly and now I have to aim to get pictures of all my family with the icons instead of just me?

Here is a little bit about the Icons:

The true essence of New Zealand is captured in the initiative and friendliness of the country's many small towns. Many communities are fiercely proud of their identity, and have gone to quite extraordinary lengths to keep their spirit alive and to put themselves on the map with powerful visual statements that signal to passers-by just who they are.

Lake Tekapo's Border Collie: The area around Lake Tekapo was, in part, made viable as a farming area by the wonderful sheep-herding abilities of border collies. This bronze sheepdog, on the lookout near the Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo, is often referred to as Friday - a border collie famous in local mythology.

Riverton's Paua Shell: This giant shellfish on the roadside at Riverton was originally intended to draw attention to a local family's souvenir shop, which specialises in paua products. Since then, the four metre high shell has taken on a new status, and is now seen by many to represent the entire town.

Hawera's Cow: Hawera's 'Big Cow' can be found two kilometres south of the township, on the corner of Whareroa Road and State Highway 3. The 'Big Cow' also draws attention to the Dairyland Visitors Centre and Cafe, and Kiwi Dairies' manufacturing site.

Te Puke's Kiwifruit: This gigantic slice of kiwifruit was one of the country's earliest big roadside icons and can be found in Te Puke - the self-appointed 'Kiwifruit Capital of the World'.

Gore's Brown Trout: Gore's giant brown trout leaps from giant rocks at the northernmost entrance to the town's main shopping area. It is 6.5 metres tall and weighs one tonne.

Kaikoura's Crayfish: Kaikoura has long been associated with crayfish. In fact the word translates as 'eat crayfish'. Determined to remind everyone that the cray was the town's traditional icon, Annette Paterson, the proprietor of the Suntrap Restaurant and Takeaways, built this massive seven metre-long crustacean over the entrance.

Te Kuiti's Shearer: Having produced more than its fair share of Golden Shears Open and New Zealand Shearing Championships winners over the years, Te Kuiti claims to be 'The Shearing Capital of New Zealand'. This 6 metre tall roadside shearer celebrates that status.

Napier's Pania: Napier's Pania of the Reef was inspired by a Maori legend. Pania was a member of the Sea People but met a human named Karitoki and left the waters to live on land with her lover. Her people lured her back to their world, and would not let her return to the land and the man she loved.

Ohakune's Carrot: The Ohakune region produces two-thirds of all the carrots grown in the North Island. Local carrot growers were determined to celebrate this achievement. They did so by rescuing and relocating a 9 metre tall carrot built as a prop for a television commercial.

Paeroa's L&P Bottle: Paeroa spring water was first sold in the late 1880s by the Paeroa Natural Mineral Water Company. Later owners added lemon essence to make Lemon and Paeroa. Today those entering the town are greeted by a seven metre tall L & P bottle.

So maybe you now need to start planning your vacation to New Zealand and see if you can't get around the whole of this lovely country and get your own pictures with the New Zealand Town Icons.
Oh by the way, there are many more large statues around New Zealand that were not officially mentioned by New Zealand Post so loads to see and do here in New Zealand.

Photo Update

Have several pictures that I want to share with you, so have put them all in this post with a little bit by each as to what it is about.


Think this picture is so cool of all my guys. When you are relaxing and chilling out at the caravan, what better way to do it than to sit on Dad!

When you are allowed access to the paints at Daycare, I am sure they should stay on the paper, but unfortunately in Alex's case that never happens! His face, his hair and his clothes are always better canvas's to use! Unfortunately sometimes it takes a day or two for the green to come off his skin, so he wanders around the next day with a green hue to his skin!


They went upstairs and brought down all their 'Little People Toys', and then proceeded to sit there together and play so well for about 20 minutes. It was so cute to see and to listen to what they were saying. With Ben now being at school most of the play was about school and some of what he was saying was exactly what they do at school. It was definitely one of those cute moments. I had to get a picture because they played together so nicely.

Tool Kit

It has taken a while, but here is the picture of my nice PINK Tool Kit I won at the Women's Evening at our local hardware store the other day.

Nice Pink Bag to keep it all in

Box listing all the lovely equipement I have gained

The Pink Kit itself!

And yes I have even used some of it since I got it. How cool is that. Steve and I were in the garden doing some measuring and planning and I suddenly asked him if he had a tape measure on him, which he said no too, but then I realised it didn't matter, as I had my own to use. So I reaced inside and grabbed it and happily measured the garden with my own tool.

Jobs, jobs and more jobs

I have posted several times now about how I am looking for a new job.
Well back in November I spent a day at home on my own and really looked into it.

I contacted another Private Hospital here in Hamilton and expressed my interest in obtaining work. This lead to a meeting with the Manager, which in turn lead to an interview, which nicely in turn lead to an offer of employment this week.

I also checked out jobs on offer at the local Public Hospital and found 1 that might be different. Not in Theatres like I usually do, but in the Pre Admit Clinic, sort of one step before theatre. So all my theatre knowledge would come in handy when giving information to patients prior to surgery.
Anyway, I had a call today to say that I have been shortlisted and can I make an interview next week? Of course I can.

Steve also met a lady a few weeks ago who is running a vaccination programme next year and is looking for nurses. I have spoken to her and quite like the sound of the job. Ok this one has a few small draw backs like it is only through to November next year, but it is a position in the community working with schools and so therefore I would get school holidays off. Yea.
So I have applied for that position too, but the closing date was only Dec 1, so not expecting to hear if I have been short listed until next week possibly.

So there you go, when it rains it pours.
I will keep you posted, but hopefully when this little project finishes at the end of January next year, I will have a new job to move onto.
Oh and just to give you a heads up, I am turning down the job at the Private Hospital, because I really fancy one of the other 2 jobs.

Daycare

Alex has this adversion to daycare at present!

We are not sure if it is just him being 3 or whether there is actually something going on.
He has been the same with lots of things he is doing.
He goes to swimming, has a fabulous time in the water, full of smiles, laughter and total fun. I know because I am sat there watching him, but then when he gets out, in the changing room he will tell me he doesn't like swimming and can we go home now?
But then the next week he is all eager and raring to go...!

Jumping Beans is the same, to an extent, one day he decided during Jumping Beans that he had had enough and wanted to go home. So I told him to put his shoes on and we would go. So he did, ran to his shoes, put them on, waved good bye and was out the door. As we pulled away he told me he didn't like Jumping Beans.
The next week he wanted to know when we were going to Jumping Beans and when we got there he had fun for 10 minutes and then sadly hurt himself. So we went home, but as we left he told me he didn't like Jumping Beans and didn't want to go again!

Now we constantly have it with Daycare. They have asked me to work all week this week so Alex is at daycare everyday, but because somethings changed at work and they didn't need me for what they thought, I was able to negotiate that I still take the boys to swimming lessons. With Alex that meant going during work and with Ben it just means I finish earlier on Mon & Wed.
So I collected Alex yesterday and right from the moment I had him he told me he didn't want to go to Daycare, he wanted to go home. When swimming had finished, which he enjoyed BTW, he again went on about not going back to Daycare and that we could just go home!
I tried, without putting ideas in his head, to ascertain if there was a reason for not wanting to go?
This is the conversation I had with him:

Alex: I don't want to go to daycare
Mum: Why not?
Alex: I don't like daycare
Mum: Why?
Alex: I just don't like it
Mum: Is there something you don't like about Daycare?
Alex: I just don't like it! I like swimming, Jumping Beans(!), home, Countdown (we were just driving past at the time) juice.
Mum: But you like the sandpit, painting, lunch, morning tea, reading the books etc
Alex: Yes, but I don't want to go to Daycare.

Although when we got to Daycare after swimming, he had no trouble going in the building and I had no trouble leaving him.

Then this morning it all started again. I don't like Daycare, I don't want to go to Daycare, although this time he didn't want to get out of the car with Daddy to walk through the hospital. We actually had some tears, all the while it is tugging at my heart strings to listen to him, but we managed to get him to go with Daddy and I haven't heard that there have been any problems, although as I write this I may find when I call Steve in a moment, that Alex is still sat with him in his office helping him with his work!

We think this may have something to do with school?
As in Ben is going to school, it looks like lots of fun and therefore I want to do that instead?

We are trying not to tell him that everything is ok and not to worry because you are leaving that Daycare in 3 weeks and won't have to go back again, because I don't want this to be a thing about going to Daycare, he still has to go to Daycare because I am still working, but in January he is starting at a new one close to home.

So my heart will just have to be tugged everyday for the next 3 weeks as we listen to Alex complain every morning, although he does still go through the door happily, so the tugging doesn't last for too long!

Girly Bits

As normal, we utilised the pool at the campsite the whole weekend.
Alex however decided on our first trip there that, after he had swallowed water within 20 minutes of being in, this was enough and now was the time to get out!

I was happy to get out with him, so took him into the changing room with me to get dressed.
This is the conversation I had with him whilst there.....

Alex: Why do you have boobies?

Mum: Because I am a girl.

Alex: Oh, ok.

Pause for thought

Alex: Why do you have big ones?

Mum: (having a quick check because I don't remember them being that big) Because I am a very lucky person.

Alex: Oh, ok.

All is right again in the head of a 3 yr old!

Blood

We had our first taste of blood with little boys this weekend.
First Ben came over, crying in his panic state to show me he had cut his finger. With the noise you would have expected to find his finger hanging off! But no, just a little surface cut, but of course we had to have a bandaid.

Then Alex got hit in the face with a swing ball racket, didn't actually see this one happen, just saw him running to me with blood coming from his nose. All dealt with quite calmly, and that one got fixed with a cold cloth and an ice block from the store!

Then just as we were leaving, Ben, Alex and their friend Michael were playing jungle in the bush and Ben caught his toe on something. Again you would have thought the world had ended the way Ben went on! But no, just a small scrap by his toe, lots of blood and one little boy who panics at anything and everything!

So a fun time, Alex even managed to get blood drips on the deck, so now the caravan has been stained with the first childhood memories of fun in the sun.

Caravan

We just got to spend the best weekend ever at the caravan so far this year.
The weather was on our side and I could so have stayed there forever and not left.

We went over late on Friday evening and then have done nothing all weekend. We did some swimming, general lazing around and it was the best.
It gave me a taster of what the time over Christmas may be like when we are there.

Nothing was a hassle, or a both.
The boys made friends with some of the other children who are going to be there at Christmas time, one of the little boys comes with his parents to their caravan, so we know he will be back, not just visiting Grandparents. He is 6 yrs old and lives in hamilton.
Think him and Ben are going to have a fab time at Chrsitmas.

The boys are so use to the place now that we are able to let them go and play away from the caravan and know that they know where we are if they need us. Ok they don't go out of the park but are free to take themselves off to the trampoline by themselves if they so wish. The trampoline is 150m away from the caravan and I can look straight down the park and see them bouncing, but it is freedom to them and you have to give them a small amount for them to learn any.
It was so cute though, because they came and asked if they could go down there and then promptly walked down hand in hand to the trampoline. Wish I had run and got the camera and snuck up behind them to capture the moment, definitely one of those 'ah so cute times'

They are unable to get into the pool without us due to the gate, so no worries about them disappearing that way. They know to look out for slow moving cars around the campsite, although people realise that this is a campsite and therefore are very good at going slow due to children! Actually the traffic around the site is minimal, so probably one of the reasons I am happy to let them wander already. There is a playground across the road, but they have not shown any interest in going there yet without us, and hopefully they won't for a while because that is a definite NO.

So roll on Christmas when we get to spend lots of summer days at the caravan, chilling, cruising and relaxing. I have better go to the library and stock up on books.

Christmas Tour

For the last 2 years Boo Mama has done a Christmas House Tour.

How it works is that you take pictures of your decorations in your house, put up a post about them, maybe even share a special recipe along the way, because after all, as she says, you are inviting people over to view your house.
Then on the day, Dec 15 this year, you pop on over to BooMama, place a link to your tour and sit back and look at all the other links and see how others have decorated their home.

It doesn't have to be extravegant, plain and simple is fine. If you have a cute little scene you want to show off then take a picture. If you have a special wall hanging, then take a picture, anything you want to show.

Me, well I had better start thinking about where I actually want to put the decorations seeing as this is our first year in this house!

Christmas Presents

K-Mart have a sale on at the moment, where you buy 1 toy and get 50% of the 2nd. Not the most originally discount but better than nothing when you have things to buy.

I didn't actually have a particular thing to buy, but I still don't have anything for the boys, so in my lunch break, thought I would take a little stroll down the hill from work and check it out.

Now their toy dept is not a big place, only a few rows, but I expected to found maybe one or 2 somethings I could possible get for them....

Nothing, nada, niltch, a big fat O.

There were one or two things, like a jigsaw puzzle or a game, but it would only be suitable for Ben and even then it was maybe a little adventurous for now, maybe better next Christmas.

Alex is only 3 1/2 but I expected there to be something, they have enough cars, they do not need any more Thomas Train stuff, they have no idea who 'Ben 10' is so would not appreciate an alien or anything from that range. Ben is just at the point of being too big for Duplo Lego, but not quite into the smaller size lego. Ben doesn't play with the Magnetix box he currently has so no reason to buy him more of that just yet. And so it goes on....

I can honestly admit I do not know what to buy my children for a christmas present, how sad is that?

Although it is Alex I feel sorry for because Ben is bigger and therefore there will be the odd new thing that he will be growing into, Alex has everything in the house and therefore there is nothing left to buy. I know, a typical thing when you have 2 children of the same sex, but annoying when trying to sort out presents.

This will also be the first Christmas that Ben really knows what is going on and is excited about it even today and I can't come up with anything to get them to make it exciting!

I am beginning to think I might just buy the whole family a new BBQ for the caravan for $149 and stick everyones name on it and say 'Merry Christmas'. That is is, that is all I could come up with!

Book Review

Mum left some books at my house that she had finished with and thought I might like to read them.

One she left was 'Wife in The North' by Judith O'Reilly

This is written in a diary form, just like 'Bridget Jone's Diary' was, and it is about herself and her three children and their life in Northumberland, the place her husband wanted the family to live. Only thing being is that her husband still goes to London regularly for business so she is in fact more or less living up north on her own!

Some of the entries are funny and all mother's can recognise and understand what she is writing about, although for me, that is where it ends.

I am finding it very difficult to read and in fact am finding it boring! I am slowly perservering because I wanted to see how it ends, does her husband finally give up his London job to concentrate on living up north properly? Does she leave her husband? Those sort of questions....

Unfortunately, in one of the entries, she tells you about her blog she keeps, now I wasn't sure if this was a fictional blog or what because this was a fictional book for all I knew, so I had a quick turn to the back cover and realise that in fact the blog is real and to make matters worse this whole book is just her blog made in to a book!

I went and checked out her blog and realised that the book will never end, there will be no answers to my questions because if I feel like it I can continue reading the blog and it will be like the book never ends.

So know I have decided that I do not need to read anymore of the book. I didn't enjoy what I had read so far, so the book can be passed on to the next person...who ever that may be?

Bathroom Competition

We didn't win...but I had a lovely breakfast at the restaurant the radio station invited us all to.

We had to be there at 7am and as you arrived they asked you to turn off your phones.

We then procedded to sit there and have a lovely cooked breakfast with all the drinks you wanted for the next hour and a half whilst they kept making up half cocked excuses as to why Bunty, radio dj was not there yet.

Finally at about 8.15am, just as people where beginning to get fidgety, he arrived.

Talked to us all there, ask how breakfast was etc and then asked us all to come outside.

As we poured out on to the pavement, so a truck arrived in front of us.

They lifted the side up to reveal an old bathroom in pieces on the back of the truck, well it was old, until one of the ladies gasped and screamed because she realised that in fact it was her bathroom that was in pieces on the truck!

Turns out, her husband knew about this, because he was the one who let them in at 7.05am this morning so they could rip out the bathroom and bring it to her at the restaurant. Turns out the visit we had earlier in the month was to see who was the person with the most desperate bathroom in need of a make over. We couldn't have our phones on in case a neighbour tried to call to find out what was going on etc and the restaurant couldn't have the radio on because the whole time, everyone else listening, knew that someone in Hamilton was having their bathroom ripped out!

Looking at the state of the stuff on the back of the truck, she needed it.

Yes our bathroom is a mess, but it is actually still very liveable, well ok, we can't get hot water in the basin, and the bath takes 30 minutes to fill, I can't stand the black tiles round the basin or the black wallpaper, but it is still clean looking.

Her shower base was a mess, the cupboard doors were peeling and missing handles, she definitely needed it.

So I had a fun morning at someone elses expense at a nice restaurant, what better way to start the weekend, oh apart from the fact I then had to come on up to work afterwards!

What Gives?

This coming Sunday is the Santa Parade up in Auckland.

Now I can hear you asking why I care when I live in Hamilton? Bit like living in Columbus, Ohio and caring about Detroit's Parade.

Well, on the radio yesterday I heard that a court case had been bought about against the organisers of the Santa Parade by the religious group Falun Gong.

They had been declined the right to have a part in the Parade and they felt it was worth taking it to the court and to get an injunction against the parade.

The parade has its rules set out clearly, so they have their line where they draw to stop the already huge parade getting out of hand. This parade is organised over 12 months, as soon as this year is over they will already be planning for next year. They actually employe people to maintain the costumes etc throughout the year. This is not you local casual parade thrown together by a volunteer organisation in the last 3 months leading up to it!

Today the judge awarded it to the parade, saying that they had done everything legally when declining the group access to the parade.

I ask you...is this what life has come to?

We can't get into what we want so we sue, or go to court?

I just can not believe that this even had to go to court, just to be part of a Santa Parade!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US based friends.

It is indeed that special time of year for them to go and have large dinners with all their families, give thanks to what ever they are grateful for and then to go mental mad Christmas shopping tomorrow morning if their hearts desire it at some unearthly hour just to get that one rip roaring special.

One day maybe I will get the pleasure of spending this lovely holiday in the US.

Happy Thanksgiving to You All

Computer Update

We are all alive and well again and up and running nicely.

In fact Steve thinks the computer is now running more efficiently.

So when we come back from our weekend at the caravan then I will try and go through all the pictures I need to up load and tell you about and catch you up with what we have been doing for the last few weeks.

Anniversary

I am not sure if I am allowed to celebrate this anymore.....given the fact that I do now have a new anniversary date, but this is still a special date to me.

Today Steve and I have been together for 9 years.

So despite the fact I will now be celebrating Sept 20, each year, I will still remember this date as it passes.

Bathroom

The bathroom is one of the rooms in the hosue that I would love to see sorted next, ok, not that many of the rooms have been sorted yet, but that is the one I would like to do next. Mainly because it is like the kitchen in that it is a big job, but also because it is a busy room and used all the time.

The layout of the bathroom is more or less fine, just can't stand the black vinel wallpaper, black tiles round the vanity and pink & peach bathroom furniture!

A few months ago we heard about a competition to win a new bathroom at one of the local bathroom shops, so I went along to check it out. Turns out that all you had to do was enter your name on a piece of paper and be prepared for someone from the shop to come view your bathroom.

So what did I have to lose from entering, so I did.

At the beginning of November someone from the shop called to say we had been drawn as one of the top 20 finalists. Could they please organise a date and time for someone to visit and have a look. Get a feel for what we wanted to do etc etc. The finalist would be drawn at the end of the month.

Now the shop is not your basic bathroom design place, the stuff is well out of our normal price range and not exactly the style I would have choosen, Contemporary European Design, but then if we win, I am sure I will find something that we will approve of.

The man came and measured the bathroom, asked me a few questions. Asked if I would be interested in a quote from the building people even if we didn't win, which of course I said yes to. You see when they say you win a new bathroom, they mean a new bathroom, not just the units to go in it, but the building work, plumbing and painting, in fact your bathroom would be totally made over.

So last week I got a call from the radio station covering the competition to tell me that there is a breakfast this coming Friday ay 7am, and could I please come along to it because this is where the winner will be annouced.

So on friday at 7, I will be all dressed ready for work, because I will have to skip off to work after breakfast, and I will sit and patiently wait to see if we win a new bathroom.

Would be so cool to win, one less thing to pay for.

Will keep you posted....

Computers

Unfortunately our computer has decided it does not want to play nicely.
In fact it does not want to play with us at all.
On Sunday evening it put its foot down and said 'no sorry not now!'

So it has gone to the doctor and he wants to keep it for about 3 days, or more to the point he is so busy, it could be up to 3 days before they get to look at our machine!

So we are computerless.
I can still add posts from work, but I can not add pictures because I do not want to start downloading pictures at work from the camera, so all the pictures I have to share with you will have to wait till next week.

So please bear with me whilst I have limited access and hopefully I will see you all on the flip side....

Boys Toys

This evening, our local Placemakers had a Ladies Night.
Yep that is right, you could go along and play with tools and learn some basic things.
I registered for it, but wasn't sure if I was in the mood for it......turns out it was the best thing I did.
I made a christmas ornamant, a coaster, won a box of 20 pegs on the hanging washing game and even managed to bang a nail into a piece of wood in 4 bangs!

The nail banging game was another competition, where the person who banged the nail in in the least amount of hits won a prize. Well I got 5, which was the lead and then another lady got 4, so I then kept trying until I got 4 too.
Then we had to have a 'nail off"! The fastest one to hit in 5 nails won the prize.
It was a fast and furious game and I was the runner up...the other lady beat me fair and square.
She won the 9 piece pink tool kit.
The manager of the store had given me tips throughout the evening on how to use a hammer, thus the reason I got a 4.
I found him after the game and said that I had lost, but gained a bruised finger where I did actually hit my hand with the hammer, he laughed and said good try.

Although about 10 minutes later he came and found me and gave me a 9 Piece Pink Tool Kit, he said as a runner up prize, but hey I fought hard for that tool kit.
So now I have my own tool kit in a bag (comes with its own carry bag) and I will take a picture and post it later so you can see what I got.

Only thing is though, Steve was kinda hoping I would learn how to paint on this evening, because painting is not my strong point, but unfortunately I still don't know the correct techniques for painting and we have a lot to do around this house!!

Life

Do you ever go through a faze where things are all below the line, you have no enthusiasm for things and you feel totally overwhelmed?

That is me at the moment.
Life is good, I have just got married, Ben is very happy at school and the summer is coming, but other than that life is in a slump!
I need to tidy the house, but can't see a window to do it until Saturday. There seems to always be something else more important to do in any of my free time at the moment and I am beginning to feel totally swamped.

Work is not great, I am on my 3rd day of the project, which is going ok and will be interesting for the next 12 weeks, but I am not sure what I will be doing when it ends as I do not want to go back to what I was doing before, and I think this is effecting everything at present.
I didn't realise how much my part time job did effect me until you are feeling negative about it and then everything is effected.

I volunteer for a Not for Profit Organisation, which I am very passionate about, but at present I feel that it is taking over everything, so am backing down from some of this as it is overwhelming me. Things are still getiing achieved but I feel my family are suffering because of this. But then my committee have noticed a change in me, so something has to give.

I also seem to have to stopped coming up with posts for my blog, so I know things are not good. I have posted about 11 posts in November and usually by now I am up to at least 1 or 2 ahead of where I should be. I have things to post about, but no effort to want to sit at the computer and load them, luckily on that score, I was so a head in my little challenge that taking time out means I won't not achieve the challenge I set myself.

So there you have it...my negative moments at present. I can't actually put my finger on it totally but the days are just rolling into each other at present and there seems to be no room to breath. I am a do'er and I think all my doing has clashed and all hit a head at the same time. Considering I had my birthday yesterday it is not the greatest feeling to feel so crap.

So how is your week going? Any better than mine?

My Day

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to.........oh yea, me

Happy Birthday to.......ME

Tis my birthday and I am at work. I try never to work on my birthday, but unfortunately this year just didn't actually flow right.
Oh well will still try and have a good day whilst at a training session!

What Do I Want?

It is my birthday on Tuesday.
Steve is aware, but suddenly asked again today...'when is your birthday?'
Oh yea...'what do you want?'

Sad thing is, I can't think of anything I actually want. There are things I would like, but they are either too expensive or things that I don't actually need but could quite happily buy just because!
We stopped off to get ice cream this afternoon after having been to the garden centre shop. Steve suddenly said, lets look in K-Mart, they might have that hotplate we have been looking for?
Well worth a try seeing as we can't find one anywhere.

Turns out they don't have hotplates but they did have a 120L bar fridge that is the perfect size for our caravan and at only $150 brand new it was too good to pass up on....so the ever resourceful person that I am said 'but I have always wanted a fridge for my birthday!'
Steve just looked at me and laughed, ok so I did then convince him of why it was just what we needed and we brought it anyway, as for my birthday, well I will just wait and see for Tuesday.....

Parenting

I have just heard on the radio that Jennifer Lopez would love to have more kids.
Already, even though her twins are only about 6-8 months old. Apparently she is loving having kids and would therefore love to have more, especially more twins!
Of course she is loving having twins, she has help.
I would love more kids but not without that proverbial 'Village' everyone tells you you need to raise kids with!

It really bugs me when you hear famous people going on about how life is so grand with the kids and how it is so easy! Yea, give up the nanny, and all help and see how long you last before you realise that life with kids is awesome but sometimes it is far from grand!

Work

I am writing this to you from my new desk at the project I was talking about several weeks ago.
Yes they have finally got themselves sorted and let me move on to the project.
So here I will be until the end of January.

I am however in the throws of checking out some new jobs. I had an interview the other day at another Private Hospital. Very hopefully, all went well and I think she wanted to offer me a job on the spot, although she has to go through all the usual procesess.
I also have an application in for another job and I spoke to a lady yesterday that will be advertising a community job next week.
Really interested in the community job, would be great fun for the year, as it is only a fixed term thing through to next October, but I think it would be fun.

So my options are open at present and I am open to options.
Will keep you posted as to what comes of it all....

Alex

Alex spent yesterday having ups and downs. One minute he was the happiest little boy around and then he would crumble and become a monster.

We had Jumping Beans in the morning and just as we were leaving home to go, he raced upstairs and arrived back down with 2 Barneys and yellow teddy. Turns out he had remembered that it was Teddy Bear Picnic Day at Jumping Beans! I was amazed, I had forgotten until he appeared with his toys. I was quite shocked that he remembered.

Although 3/4 of the way through Jumping Beans he suddenly decided that he ahd had enough, he was miserable and promptly got stroppy. I asked him if he wanted to go home and he promptly said yes, got his stuff together and walked out! He was not in a good mood.

When we had finished lunch I explained that I needed to make some cookies for a meeting I was hosting that night. Next thing I heard was this noise in the kitchen. I thought maybe he was gettign stuff together to make a sandwich. Suddenly he arrived at the door to inform me that he had been 'Cleaning!' and could I please help him put the toast machine away.
When I got into the kitchen, everythin g that was on the bench was now gone!
I found the left over apple core in the pantry, the jam and butter was back in the fridge and the knives were in the sink. I couldn't however find the dirty chopping board? Opened a few cupboards but nothing came to light. However later when makign the cookies I mentioned something about rolling them out and placing them on a board, with this he promptly opened one of the draws where we keep the utensils and aksed if this was the board I wanted? Yes you guessed it, the dirty board I couldn't find.
He had me in stitches as I told him he was so cute and adorable.

But then later in the day Ben had a swimming lesson and by the time we left I was ready to sell both of them!

The joys of parenting. One minute you are up and the next down.
Guess it keeps life amusing

More Change

Man how things can change in one night.

We woke this morning to learn that yes we definitely have a new Prime Minister.
The old PM has conceded defeat and has actually resigned as the leader of the opposition party. So that will be an interesting few months to see who stands forward as an interested party in the job of leading the other party. They say we should know by Christmas.
Another strong leader, of another party, within politics has also called it all a day after neither his party or any of the MP's from it gained a seat in parliament.

It will be like central station in parliament when they next go back, because all you will hear is the station master going "All change please!"

Our Turn

Today is election day in New Zealand.

Time for us to choose who we want as Prime Minister for the next 3 years.

Not quite as dramatic as the US elections, but could be very significant for NZ over the next year.

As mentioned the other day, we have had the same Prime Minister in office now for 3 terms (9yrs) do NZ feel it is time for a change? Do they feel there is still something left in the old lady?

Time will tell, should know sometime later tonight...

Me, I am not into politics in any shape or form. I never really know who to vote for. It can all get very confusing at times and I can totally understand why some people just stay away and hide under the covers until it is all over. The tv and radio ads seem to go on forever and some of them gets sillier the closer we get to election day. Tv will go back to being reasonable now as no more ads are allowed! Yea..

Never fear, I did vote, but sometimes I feel it is a case of eeny meeny miny moo and tick where ever the pen lands.

Highs and Lows

As I have posted before Steve has diabetes. He has Type 1, which yes, means he injects himself with Insulin up to 4 times a day. He has had it for the last 24 odd years, so this is nothing new.

Yesterday he came home from work and went outside to finish clearing some of the garden. After dinner he spent another hour and a half out there with the boys.
The boys finally went to bed late about 8.30 and him and I sat down to watch a movie. We finally watched 'St Trinians' with Colin Firth and Rupert Everett, it was a good laugh.
In the evenings Steve will sometimes have a snack, keeps him going, and last night was no different although he ony had a snack size packet of chips.
I went to bed about 11.15 and I think he followed a little while later.

At 2.10am I got woken up by Steve as his arm jerked across the bed. I thought Ben was with him and had maybe kicked him, which he is good at doing when he is sleeping with you, but 2 minutes later Steve did it again.
This time I leaned over to check for Ben and realised that he wasn't there, and that got my brain ticking because Steve didn't ask me what I was doing!
I quickly got the light on and there is Steve laid there staring having these jerky movements. Of course the first thing I did was ask him if he was ok and of course all I got back was this glassy eyed stare.
Now you have to remember that it is 2am and I have just woken out of a deep sleep, so the brain doesn't work as fast as normal at that time. So of course it took me more than a second to realise that he was having a hypo.
So I quickly got a chocolate bar from the box by his bed and then had to ask him to eat it!
It is very weird asking someone who is not communicating with you, who doesn't have any idea what is going on, who probably at that moment thinks the world is a triangle and that green men do exsist! to eat a chocolate bar. Infact after this time Steve asked me why I had woken him up? Because they have no idea this has happened until they come out of it when they go very low.
Luckily for me this time he happily opened his mouth and chewed the bar down, in fact he happily chewed down 4 mini choc bars and a whole glass of juice. The problem I have is that I don't want to give him too much because otherwise then you make him feel like crap because his blood sugar goes so high, but you need enough to get him out of the hypo. The other problem is there is not an instant reaction, in fact last night it took 20 minutes before he was actually talking sensible to me. In hind sight I should have jabbed him with the small glucose injection I have, but as he was able to eat for me then I went down that route instead, but I suppose I could have done both, but hey, there is no manual for this sort of thing, it is a feel as you go situation at 2am all on your own! If I can get him to eat for me then I can get him out of it on my own, but if he is unable to eat then I jab him at the same time as calling for an ambulance. They don't ever have to take him to hospital, but when you have an uncooperative semi consious man help is always nice.

Is it scary? Well my heart is racing the whole time, it is a pain having to race down the stairs to get stuff from the kitchen.
Am I scared of him? Sometimes, unfortunately they get snappy when having a hypo and you are never sure what they will do, although when they go as low as Steve did last night I kinda had no worries as he was never going to be able to physically move off the bed so I knew he was in no harm. You have to use humour during the episode beacuse otherwise you get annoyed with them and they can't help it.
Last night I couldn't work out how to use the blood sampling kit, couldn't get the stabbing pen to work, so there I am trying to test his blood, but I was actually unable to get any. I finally got some with his help after he had come round enough to assist me.
That is the other problem, this is not a regular occurance so 18 months can go by and in that time I kinda forget the silly little things or more to the point I don't forget them but your brain is not thinking straight at 2am when you are suddenly woken out of a deep sleep!

What happened last night....well he informed me that he had forgotten to have his drugs after dinner, so he took them before he came to bed. No problem with that but he forgot a few vital things to take into consideration at the time...

1. He didn't test his blood to see what it was so he could adjust the amount to take
2. He forgot to take into consideration that he had used a lot of energy in the garden after dinner, thus burning off a lot of what he had eaten and therefore not needing as much insulin.
3. He hadn't eaten much during the evening
4. He took his drugs so close to going to bed that due to points 2 & 3 when the insulin took his blood sugar so low he was in a very deep sleep so he didn't wake up when it started to go low, thus the reason his body woke him, sort of, when it got very low and he was now past the point of being able to help himself.

It is difficult to get annoyed with him, you can't at 2am and then at 7am it doesn't have as much kick to the annoyance. But this is what does scare me.....

We have 2 gorgeous boys, who are a little too young to know what is going on. If I wasn't there last night what would have happened? The boys wouldn't have found him until 6/7am.

My best friend thought it was weird when she realised that I had never had a night away from Steve and the boys on my own. But when I explained to her that I have 3 people to think about at night she kinda saw my point. My first ever night away was at my Hen's Party, it crossed my mind several times and Steve told me to go away one of the times I called home, but it was too bad, I had to call so I knew all was ok at home.

He did spend 3 weeks on his own last year when we moved to Hamilton, so I know he is a big boy and can look after himself, and I have to keep remembering that when I go away, but it still doesn't make it any easier, because I think about the boys.

Oh well, that is a big look into what I live with. Don't get me wrong, this is a rare happening. As I mentioned this was the first time for 18 months that has happened in the night and I have had to assist with. So life is pretty normal to us, just every now and then it has some drama!

Time for Change

Life has changed, probably more than we know it.

He has done it....Barack Obama is the new President of the United States, the first black man to achieve such an office holding.

Way to go for him.....It is a proud moment to know I was here when history was made in such a significant way.

I think he will be good, I hope he comes forth on his promises and is given a chance to do what he has set out to do.

I haven't posted for a few days and I have so much to tell. Hopefully I will get some time in the next few days to tell everything that has been going on. Got lots of pictures to share.

Catch you soon.

Election

Tis the time for all to change.....

Is a history making day for all my fellow American friends. The last hours of the polls are now counting down. Is there going to be a women as Vice President or a new start with who becomes President. Back in the 60's and 70's did anyone every dream this day may be here?

Life will change, and life does keep changing, change is something that we unfortunately can not avoid.

Good luck to both candidates, may you stand true behind what you have campaigned with.

Is maybe the time to change here in New Zealand as well.

We go to the polls on Saturday to elect our Prime Minister. Will we keep the same person as we have had for the last 9 years? Or will we bite the bullet and finally get a fresh face in the seat?

3 years ago I think maybe people were prepared for a change but I don't feel the candidate was the right person to lead us there and so things stayed the same. This time round there is a fresh face on the other party and who knows, maybe New Zealand will decide to make the change.

It is a week for change all over the world