I'm Awake...it's question time

Our revered guest opened her eyes this morning with the words "Aunty have your waters broken yet?"

It's Been An Exhausting Day

My darling moko (granddaughter) is on holiday with us from Australia. This means a number of things for our previously adult-oriented household including: adjusting to the constant chatter, endless questions and frequent requests.

Smokey the cat has gone into hiding - it's all too much for him. I have however, survived the first day of the holiday (which I am informed by my guest is going to be a VERY LONG holiday), by assisting in a number of activities to keep said guest entertained and amused.

Amongst other things today we have.............

done scrapbooking to keep a record of the exciting events of the holiday



picked Nashi's off the neighbours tree which hangs so conveniently over our fence




practised our large motor skills and balance whilst trying to reach the higher fruit (and narrowly avoided falling over the fence)

done a good deed by collecting all the fermenting fruit off the ground and returning it over the fence to the neighbours from whence it came

cooled off by testing out the baby's bath with a wee spot of simultaneous swimming and sunbathing - with a request for a larger pool for next holidays please

sworn 'Death to all Flies' and then tried to urge Gran to pay for exterminating services

And these are only the documented activities, we haven't included making the Nashis into jelly-jam, grocery shopping, playing several hands of Old Maid, phoning Aunty Justine at work several times- to check whether her waters have broken yet - Our guest is growing impatient waiting for her first real cousin to arrive! And lastly asking Gran even more times 'how do your waters break any way?'

I wonder what tomorrow holds... Oh now I remember we have to go swimming in a real pool, to the library, to watch Aunty Justine's scan (to check her waters are still intact), make cookies, finish making the jelly-jam, do Christmas scrapbooking, clean Smokey's teeth - if we can find where he's hiding.....

And after lunch we'll enjoy each other's company some more.

I've Been Scrapbooking

Callai is my cutie little great-niece. She is shown in these photos with her big brother Baden.

Wish I knew how to rotate this photo of Jade's baptism scrapbook page.

Doesn't time fly, one minute they are new born, next time you blink - she's eight. Luke and Shelley look so young here!

My first ever attempt at scrapbooking, I read a few books and gave it a go, I was so chuffed with it, everybody who came by the house had to view it while I gooed over it with them.

Scrapbooking has proved to be a God send as I've looked for useful ways to wile away the hours between job search efforts. There's something that makes me grin when I look at a newly created page...... perhaps I do have a teeny bit of artistic merit after all.

And what fun I've had scouring the shops for bargain priced stocks for that ever enlarging pile of NECESSARY THINGS! that go with such a past time. I've accumulated card stock and papers, templates and cutting tools, a hammer and some tools I haven't work out the use for yet - but I know they go with scrapbooking - they were in the craft section. I've got embellishments and stickers, labels and metalic pens, glitter pens and scrapbooking pens, ribbons and buttons and all manner of glues and glitter.

I have yet to enjoy the 'cuttlebug' and 'cricut' or work out what die cuts are - I know women who've done them and they're still alive: good. I've enrolled for lessons to get a turn on the aforementioned goodies, so I'll keep you posted......

Confession of a Twilight Freak

Yes, I confess, I'm a 50 something (barely something, mind you) Twilight aficionado.....how was I to know once I was gripped by the intrigue of the story that it was pitched at tweenage girls. Under this well worn exterior, I'm possibly a tweenager in disguise anyway.

Justine passed me the first novel with instructions to try it for size; I read the back cover - Romance, Vampires. I passed it straight back. Not my cup of T, no sireee, not wasting any of my precious time on the likes of this.

She wore me down in the end and I promised I would at least read the first chapter and then pass it back to her. Didn't take long to get into, by the end of that first chapter I was hooked, hook line and sinker as they say. Much to my amazement, I've never devoured a novel quite so quickly and with quite so much relish in years.

Quickly followed the second, third and final books, the housework went undone, I read 'til the wee small hours, like a tweenager possessed in fact. It was most fortunate that when I got caught on the couch in my pyjamas at 3 in the afternoon with my head buried in said book, it was by a fellow Twilight addict! Thank goodness for that - she understood the fever.

Then, the movie arrived.....We had prime seats for the advanced screening, Justine, me and a theatre full of young uns, actually I'm exagerating, there were 6 others of parental age in the full house. The tweenagers swooned, cheered and clapped with gay abandon and I loved every minute of it.

We've already ordered the DVD, its due out ?. Oh, I'm exagerating again, Justine tells me we don't know when it's due out, but rest assured we will be among the first very proud owners of the DVD and I will watch it over and over and not go to sleep while it's playing either.

How Come my Pics are at the top of the post?

Man I wish I could figure this out, feeling ever so pleased with myself yesterday for setting up my blog, how could it be that the photos I carefully selected to put at the END of said ramblings appear at the top? And then there's this GIANT photo of myself - where on earth did that come from??? Hope I get better with practice.

Numero Uno

Hello. Welcome to my very first posting on my very first blog.

As 2008 has just drawn to a close, it seems appropriate to look back on a few of the major events that coloured my life this past 12 months.

I celebrated the arrival of 2008 with a bird's eye view of Sydney Harbour Bridge and all it's spectacular pyrotechnics and flotilla display from a friends apartment in Kings Cross. Now that sure did make a change from sitting around an open fire with smoke billowing into your eyes, instead of up the chimney, at our camp site at Mahia.

I was released as Gospel Doctrine teacher at the Enmore Ward, Hyde Park Stake.

At the end of March I quit my job with Genworth Financial in Sydney and flew home to NZ to give my 18 month old marriage a second try. Didn't make it to the 2 year anniversary.... At least now I'm not wracked with guilt over not trying hard enough.

Upon arrival in NZ I was called as the Teach My Gospel teacher in Welcome Bay Ward Sunday School, Tauranga Stake.

In September I moved to Hamilton where my daughter Justine and I have rented a little place while she awaits the birth of her first child - a son - according to the marvels of science and technology.

The temple is 10 minutes drive from our house and I attend weekly and whenever I can - even more frequently.

I was called as 2nd Counsellor in Pukete Ward Relief Society, Hamilton Stake. It's been a struggle adjusting from education to homemaking but I'm trying hard.

For 9 months I have fruitlessly searched for employment in two cities. The struggle to stay positive has been difficult, but I guess there's something I need to learn from it all.

We celebrated Christmas '08 with a very quiet family dinner - Justine, me and Mike. A little gathering doesn't have to be a dull gathering, we enjoyed all the trimmings and loads of laughter and good food.