Wow.......

...... what a day. I am so pleased it's over, I have been in and out more times than I care to consider.

First, just after 8, I whizzed to the supermarket, before the hoards, although I had nearly 3 year old niece with me, which makes it a whole new experience.

Then, just before 10 I picked up a friend of Bradens, and dropped them at Craft and Creations, went back and picked up hubby, and Cameron, stopping in a the Post Office, (big mistake) for Cameron to price up a parcel for something he sold on Trade Me, and then dropped hubby home.

Right, back home, to the first of 6 loads of washing........

Back out just after 12 to pick up the boys, with a stop into the park, because I wasn't going to go home, and out again at 1pm for Bradens haircut, so after hair is done, we head home, where we wolf down a mouthful of lunch......

Right, ....... track down mother of said visiting child..... drop off niece at home, and head to the osteopath to get my neck looked at, fortunately he was able to squeeze me in......

Home. For an hour. Down to pick up hubby, and back home to swap cars, as he had the only set of keys to his car, and then off to Tokoroa (about an hour drive for those who aren't local) to visit MIL who has ended up in hospital with a chest infection. Nip out to the Warehouse the get a little fan for her, because it is roasting in the hospital ward........ and finally back home, where we stopped into the local Indian for some dinner.

Whew! What a day. I am so ready for tomorrow, hopefully no where to go...... just some tidying, and plans to alter, now that MIL is ill we will have any extra people at our house, instead of hers.......... that should be easy after today.

I haven't done my Christmas cards, I'm a bit gutted, as I've made them all, but they won't get out in time, so will save them for next year, see, one step ahead already, and will send out some New Year greetings instead, as I have time to do that between Christmas and New Year.

Now, if the kids would only go to sleep I might attempt to wrap some presents, although I might wait for hubby to come home, as I find the neck doesn't take kindly to looking down too much.

I hope you all have a great Christmas, with your family and friends, in whatever setting you do have it, and that the New Year is kind to you.

Having a whinge

I wanted to whinge and whine yesterday, but didn't want to spoil the whole 'whoo hoo Wednesday' thing...... so I'm back today to do it, LOL.

I'm just sick and tired of people moaning, about everything. For goodness sake, if you have an issue then deal with it, do what you can to change it, and if it is not something that can be changed for goodness sake, shut up. Things in the past are in the past, and unless you have learned anything from it, then don't keep going on about it.

Don't blame others for the situation you are in, (I know there are some exceptions there), you are the creator of your own destiny. Just do it.

Funny, as I sit here, I just stretched, (I've got a sore neck, which is now heading now my shoulder and back) and as I stretched I saw a poem that one of the kids got given on a bookmark.

What is life?

Life is a challenge - meet it.
Life is a gift - accept it.
Life is an adventure - dare it.
Life is a sorrow - overcome it.
Life is a tragedy - face it.
Life is a duty - perform it.
Life is a game - play it.
Life is a mystery - unfold it.
Life is a song - sing it.
Life is an opportunity - take it.
Life is a journey - complete it.
Life is a promise - fulfill it.
Life is a beauty - praise it.
Life is a struggle - fight it.
Life is a goal - achieve it.
Life is a puzzle - solve it.
Life is eternal - believe it.

And on that note......... I'm outta here :)

Whoo hoot Wednesday

The smell wafting from the kitchen table, due to a visit here on the weekend, stocking up for pressies.

Finally finishing the lights....... well....... I still really want to put some down the end of the drive, but the logistics of getting power down there is the problem. It's taken a few nights over the last week or two, but we're pretty happy now. Will have to try to get photos!

Only 7 more days of work........ yay.......... although I then have 3 kids home for 3 weeks. What's that you say? I thought you only had 2 boys?!?!? Yes, thats right, I do only have 2 children, but the biggest kid finishes on the 19th aswell. Normally he would have worked through till at least Wednesday, sometimes half of Thursday, but the company he now works for has a close down for 3 weeks, I think it's going to be a long 3 weeks.

Having some time out on Saturday with our local scrapbooking group, I didn't do much, sorted the pages that I had pulled out of my albums, and just generally chatted really. I have been very emotionally drained due to some personal stuff happening, and needed some time away. Whew, that was great!

Ummmmm, I think that is about it, 2 more functions this weekend, and then that's us, apart from the odd school activity, until the big day..... so until then...... I should go do cards, when I say do, I had these great plans of making them, but I think I might just start writing in store cards, at least they're done!

I've done something silly......

..... maybe. About a week ago I found the young fellas bike helmet lying on the floor. Now, I've got to the stage (more soon) about stuff lying around, so I think, (and thats where it gets difficult)
I picked it up and put it away, like in a cupboard. The tricky part is, now I can't find it. I'm not 100% thats what I did, or if I only thought about it, but now the helmet is nowhere to be found. And, until it's found, he's not allowed to ride his bike, which is really hurting him. I'm taking the stance at the moment, that he should have looked after it, but if I had put it away it would have only been for a couple of days, however it's been over a week now, and I'm feeling bad!

When we lived in a smaller house, there were limited places for stuff to be kept. Now we have extra rooms, cupboards, space, garaging etc, things seem more spread out. Like, some computer stuff is in the office, and some in the cupboard in the lounge, letters and bills, etc are sometimes by the computer, because thats where I do online banking, or on the bench as you walk in the kitchen, or in the office......... get the drift?!?! This weekend is free, so I'm going to try to put some procedures in place, label things, define homes, etc. (and hopefully in the process find this blimmen helmet!)

Christmas is around the corner, and I've already had enough of this whole present thing. My husbands family is big on presents, but now everyone has started saying, oh, I don't know what I want, just get me a voucher, well, if we are all exchanging voucher for same or similar amounts, then why bother. Theres not much thought happening these days!

We went to Hamilton for a work function last Saturday night, and stayed over, so when we got up Sunday morning we had breakfast downtown, and then did a bit of Christmas/birthday shopping, without the kids!

The kids at school had the opportunity for a golf day today, so I popped out in my break to watch, although by the time I got out there, and allowed for time back, I only saw Braden have a couple of shots. He had a great time though, must be running in his blood from his father and grandmother!

Finally, this was something I saw a while ago, and just saw it again on Hannahs blog, so here's my contribution. You have to go to your photos file, or flickr album or whatever you use, go to the sixth folder, and choose the sixth photo. This was taken on Camerons first day of school, he turns 10 in a month, so it's 5 years ago. Man he looked so tiny! The other 2 include a nicer photo of him posing, and one of him in the junior playground. While looking at it, the kids we looking over my shoulder, and we went back and had a look at a few other photos from around that time, they thought it was great, must get my albums back out into the lounge, now that we have that space I was talking about!

Whoo hoot Wednesday

Can't really think of anything exciting to Whoo hoot about.... just lots of bits and pieces happening.

Christmas is looming, gee how hard it is to organise families. I put my foot down this year, and said we are staying home, (because every year we have spent it on one side of the family,) but opened our house to both sides of the family and all other related and non related strays, and it doesn't seem to be working. Anyway, I've come up with the theory that those that come will have a great day, those that don't will miss out!, and we won't be making any other trips to have 'catch up Christmases'. We have 2 birthdays in the 5 days after Christmas so want to keep things simple.

Christmas lights....... have pulled them out to check them out and plan, bought another couple of sets now that this house has a 'longer' front, therefore more lights needed.

Getting back into exercise. Just made a point of doing it, ahead of other stuff. I'd always thought, 'oh, this needs doing, or I have to be here or there', now I just do it. Ever since we got the bike and home gym I've been hesitant about the gym, not sure if we were doing it right, but a friend put me onto a 'freelance trainer' who will come to your place, and help you out, to what ever level you want, just the basics, or he will keep tabs on you, and do things like kick-boxing with you. It will be good to get the basics under control, will make it all seem worthwhile. (and, as I have absolutely no self control, there is no temptations in the house, which has made it alot easier)

Getting further help for emotional and social issues with our eldest, nothing is set in place yet, but we have finally found an avenue that will work for us. More to come later.

Finally making an appointment for the youngest to see an orthodontist......eeeek, hear the dollars sigh ch-chinging! He seems to have my problem, small mouth not enough room for teeth, so hopefully some teeth out, like they did to me, might help. I was lucky they got in early, and I didn't need braces, or a plate, all I had to do was sit with an iceblock stick (and the dentist said I was allowed to watch TV, yay for the dentist) for half an hour(?) and gently prod my two front teeth forward. It worked! (Now, isn't that a journalling spark if I ever heard one!)

I scrapped heaps over a period of 2 days last week, did 5 pages, couldn't believe it, but haven't done anything since. (just need to take photos)

Mmmmmmm, thats about it..... just stuff happening, but yet nothing exciting!

Labour Weekend

Not much happening here! What about your place?

I had my sisters kids stay Friday night, and we just mucked around yesterday, bit of TV, playstation, bikes, etc, and then our kids stayed at her place, while we went to the movies. There wasn't much on, so we saw Burn after reading, not really worth it, IMO, but I guess you don't know these things till you watch them.

Today was much of the same, although the house was quite quiet with the kids gone, I got up and made some muffins, mmmmmmmm, Pumpkin muffins. I probably went a bit over the top, too much cream cheese frosting, but I was trying to make them look good. The new piping bag split it's seam, so I resorted to the good 'ole Glad Snaplock bag, but ended up sticking my nail through it, so the last few were just iced with a knife (not that it changed the taste, LOL)

What about the weather today? Crazy! It was beautiful when I got up, so put my washing out, yet half an hour later it rained, I ran and got it in as I didn't want to spin it again before putting in the dryer, only for it to clear up again. We contemplated washing the cars, before it hosed down, and hailed and got cold. We lit the fire, and went to pick the kids up, and it cleared up and got really warm, so were expecting it to be quite hot in the lounge when we got home, but never mind, it rained again....... I give up!

Anyway, here is a page I did a few weeks ago, might even do another to match it, with more photos that we have of the individual family groups..... and now I might go work on our Australia pages some more.

Hope you weekend has been all you wanted, whether you are busy, or just chilling!

Time waster

OK, so I have so many better things I should be doing, but this is lots of fun

If you go here, you can do lots of cool things with your photos (click on them will give you a much better idea of what I'm on about)





Not like you needed anymore ideas on how to waste time, aye???!??!?

school holidays........

.... are neither here nor there for me, KWIM, I like having some time off, but having the kids around is a drag (LOL, damn those kids). Braden is fine, he can entertain himself, wanders off, gets busy, finds friends, and if no friends are around he's just as happy, but Cameron gets bored easily. He doesn't cope well with no routine, finds it hard to do things by himself, and likes to annoy everyone. They haven't been too bad, we've made sure we got out for walks, park, library, and also had a couple of days out. They have had their cousins stay last night, and now all 4 have gone to the local church for Craft and Creations.

The first Saturday we were in Hamilton anyway, so took them to see Journey to the Centre of the Earth. I wasn't too keen, but it was the kids choice, and the best one for us all to see, and was pleasantly surprised, it was quite good.

On Friday Jon was working in Rotorua in the morning, so the kids and I went over mid morning, went for a wander around the shops, had lunch at the lake, and then met up with Jon and went to the luge. We went about a year ago, but they are doing lots of work at the moment. There is a new 'launch' point, new helmets and another set of chairlifts, as well as photo points (quite reasonably priced). It's the first time Braden has been able to go by himself, which has been good in one way, but it's getting really expensive with all 4 of us loving it, and wanting more and more!

We've done some activities around home, made sushi, that was fun, and coincidently I found this cool game, really gets your mind thinking, (lots of fun for the kids too, LOL)

I haven't done much scrapbooking, despite spending Saturday at an all day crop (but that was just time out for me) I did do this page on Saturday, probably the first time I've started and finished a page in a day. It is a sketch Trina's that I've had stashed away to use, for ages, so was pleased to use it for these photos which had been around for a bit too.

Right, better go sort these boys out, I'm swapping for some girls this afternoon, that should be interesting.

So........

....... last weekend, we finished work midday on Friday and jumped on a plane to Christchurch for the weekend.

We didn't really have any firm plans, except to catch up with SIL, and to catch our plan home!

We had a good ride down, and got to our hotel, before deciding to head out for early dinner, as we'd hardly had any lunch to due flight times. After a really nice meal, (with some interesting entertainment, some sort of party meeting place, pirates, and all sorts of costumes, a P party we think) we went for a wander, and ended up at the casino. We had some luck on the roulette table, so left while we were ahead, and watched the last half of the Warriors game over a drink.

We were lucky to snap a great deal for accomodation at the Grand Chancellor, including breakfast, so we enjoyed breakfast in the hotel, and then wandered downtown. We went to the Arts Market, (didn't buy much,) and then down to Scrapbook Art, again, didn't buy much, and then wandered back into town. We found TimeZone, and spent awhile there, just chilling, it was lots of fun.We then met SIL for a late lunch, and then back to the hotel for a snooze. We walked down (up???) town, and bought movie tickets, to see Stepbrothers. I was a little hesitant to see it, as the last movie that Jon had chosen (Tropic Thunder,) really bombed, but it was OK, not the funniest, but watchable. We had a little to eat, remember we were still full from late lunch. I was quite keen to go out, in town, but Jon was feeling a bit grandpa-ish so we had an early night (well, it was about 12 by the time we walked home)

In the morning we had breakfast again at the hotel, and then caught a bus out to Riccarton Mall, and met up with Vicki for coffee. It was nice to see you again Vicki, we really got to stop meeting like this (she bumped into Jon while I was in a shop).

We went down to check out Punting, but had a wait for a while, so someone had a nana nap by the river, I couldn't sleep, bit paranoid, but Jon was not worried at all obviously.
We caught our 'boat', with a great guide, young fella on a working holiday, a few snapshots, nothing exciting.
We then wandered back through town, cashed in our tickets at TimeZone, and picked up our bags from the hotel. We were in a predicament, too early to head out to the airport, yet not enough time to do anything else. We ended up heading out to the airport, grabbing a magazine, and just chilling for an hour.

Our flight home was quite horrible, lots of turbulence, our attendant said in her 6 years of travelling it was the worst she had experienced. The take off and landing were fine, and there was nothing the pilot could do, but it gave me grief with my ears, and was quite uncomfortable for a couple of hours. We got home about 11pm, and crashed quite quickly.

We were so tired, but put it down to all the walking we did, it didn't seem like much at the time, (it must have been the good company, LOL) but when we looked at the map, and put it in perspective, it was quite a bit, (and we were quite tired before we even got there, it had been a busy few weeks)

Anyway, we had a great weekend, even though we were tired, would still do it again.

OK, Ok, I'm still here

...... after a not so gentle hint from a secret lurker, I'm here to say I'm still around.

Not too much happening.

A full day of 5 aside soccer, on Fathers Day of all days. Very tiring, especially as we had to drive nearly an hour there, and then we stayed and took my Dad out for dinner, and home again. Our team didn't do very well, not for want of trying though, I thought they'd done so well.A couple of weekends ago we had soccer prizegiving. Before the actual prizegiving, there is a parents vs child game, which Dad participated in. The day before we had helped do the fertilizer drive with the Lions, as fundraising for the soccer club, and I had hurt my back, so I was out of soccer.We were very proud to see (and.... the bloody batteries died right at the wrong time) Braden receive 'Most Improved Player'. We'd just had a conversation the night before, prepping him for the fact that not everyone would get a medal, etc, so you should have seen his face when he heard his name.

Last weekend I got out into the vege garden, had prepped it earlier, so planted some seeds, and they've come away well, in fact I was quite surprised to see how well. My niece was also staying, so we planted some sunflower seeds too, and then she can have some at home.

I'll be back to write about our weekend away!

Wow, what a weekend...........

....... and it's only 3/4 of the way gone, some time for me this afternoon I feel!

So far already we have:

- Entertained family who stayed Friday night and Saturday morning.

- Washing

- Braden had his final game of soccer for the season. Their team won their division, in fact, they won it even before yesterdays game. They played so well, yesterday in particular, and have really come together as a team. I had a proud Mother moment yesterday, when standing on the sideline, I overhead 2 ladies talking, one knew my son, one didn't. The one who didn't commented to the other, while watching Braden "Gee, that Braden's a really good player" I couldn't help but smirk to myself, with my back turned, made my heart swell! After the game we gave a little gift to the coach, and all the kids went back to her place for lunch and to watch the video of their games.

- Been for a family walk, just wandered up town, and came home the long way, nice to get out in the fresh air for a change.

- Did a huge tidy up in the garden, cleaned up some areas that hadn't been done for a while. There is an area that has been a garden of some sort, but has been let go. It is level with the grass, so I just gave it a good weed, roughed it up, and will grass it. It won't be flash looking, but thats OK, it's around a corner and at least we will be able to mow it.

- Put together our gym and the bike, and tidied up all the packaging that came with that!

- Mowed the lawns. Met the neighbours. Made scones for lunch. Supervised children. And all done with 2 extras, man, I forget how hard it is to look after a 2 year old. She just wants to be my shadow and talk to me non stop!

- Now I'm off to pick up Juniors bike, which got left on the farm weeks ago, and with this fine weather he is missing it, hoping the littlie will sleep, then drop them off home, and have that time to myself for an hour or two before the week starts.

ETA Oooops, I hit the wrong button and it never posted, so now I've got the bike, let the little one have a roam around the farm and see all the animals, got some cool photos that I'll make into a little laminated book for her, and have picked up the grass seed!!! Just a few more hours left, I think I'll do some baking.

Wahoo.......

.. tried to post this yesterday, but hubby was on the computer. I guess it was a bit rude to kick him off, considering I'd had all day to do it, while he was at work.

Anyway, I am just so happy to have so fine weather, and having just pulled my curtains, it looks to be another cracker today, yay!
....

Whoo Hoot Wednesday

OK, so this afternoon I didn't really have anything to post. The Playstation broke last night, I was annoyed as it was just out of warranty....... we have a property inspection tomorrow (which didn't really bother me), the young fella was sick, you know, one of those days.

Then Cameron came home and said he was receiving a Principals Award at Friday Assembly, he was beaming from ear to ear, so that certainly brightened my day.

After finding the paperwork for the Playstation I realised the extended warranty meant we were covered, so that is good news too.

And, some reasonably good weather today rounds off my Wednesday 'whoo hoots' for this week.

Sunday night

OK, so if you aren't watching it, you need to! (Provided you feel comfortable laughing at others misfortunes!). TV 3, 7.30pm, has to be the best thing since Funniest Home Videos.

Right, now we have finished laughing at others, what else this weekend? Not much! The weather hit again, I can't believe in the last 4 weekends since we have been in the new house it was been wet all the time, and the 1 weekend it was fine was the weekend we were both busy and out of town.

I spent some of Saturday afternoon, after we had dodged the rain to go for a walk, finishing up the garage, most of the stuff in the garage actually belongs there now, just a couple of boxes, and some decisions about stuff to get rid of, and then I guess you could say we are all moved in.

this afternoon we went to Hamilton to have a look at gym equipment. We are lucky to have a back room which we can use as a gym area, so rather than spending $1200 for a year long gym membership for us, we bought some gear for ourselves, and have set some goals together to get serious, (eeeek, that sounds so serious!!!)

On that note, I'm off to laugh at some more competitors, and then to do my warm-up for the Olympics.

Well, I really thought I should make an appearance around here, so I guess Whoo Hoot Wednesday is as good as day as any.

Nothing terribly exciting to Whoo hoot about

- Yay for haircuts, cut and colour today, much needed!

- A definate yay that while I was contemplating mopping the kitchen floor, I didn't get around to it, fortunately as Junior was clearing the table, and dropped the tub of coleslaw, which broke and spilled on the floor

- School interviews that went well, both teachers were very happy, although Junior tends to get a bit silly with a mate, but that's not major.

-More yays for this house. Braden had his birthday party on Sunday. Now, normally I would have been freaking because of the wet weather, but knowing we had plenty of space, plus the double garage if we needed it, I wasn't worried. As it turned out, the weather was great, the kids opened the presents, played one game I set up, had lunch, and then I never saw them again, they spent over an hour at the College field, and tennis courts, entertaining themselves!

So, anyway, as I said, it was Bradens party on the weekend, his birthday is actually tomorrow, and this time 8 years ago, I was completely unaware of what was to change overnight. You see, Braden wasn't actually due until mid September, so when I woke at 5ish in the morning to a little bit of action, I did not expect him to be born that day. We went to the local delivery suite/hospital to check out what was happening, to be told they would send me through to Waikato. Soon the ambulance had backed up, they had a lure in, and my doctor decided to check how far along I was, discovering bubs was nearly here. He broke my waters and he was born about 20mins later. Eeeek!

Whoo Hoot Wednesday.....

..... actually on a Wednesday, for a change.

Well, 4 days later, and we are pretty much settled in. There is still a ton of boxes in the garage, that I refuse to bring into the house until the have been sorted, I'm not having boxes of 'stuff' in here.

- Yay for all the cupboards here. That would have to be my biggest wahoo today. I did the kitchen yesterday, and today found a cupboard, and 3 drawers, plus the cupboards that are right up the top (think preserves, or similar, for stuff not used much at all) that haven't been filled yet. When setting up the kids 'lounge/toy area' it was great to be able to stick my jigsaw puzzles up out of the way, leaving cupboard space clear for their sets.

- Can't wait till Saturday. Well, I can, as I haven't sorted out anything, still have to find some bits and pieces, but am really looking forward to a day out, and meeting all the ladies I have spoken with, and know all about, but not met.

- Pleased to have the fire going, we didn't have any wood for a couple of days, but got some today, so nice to be warm, just do not like the cold at all!

That's enough for me, makes me happy, so all is good.

Just about to lose my internet, so will do a quick post.

I was gonna post my whoo hoot's on Wednesday, but forgot.

- extra room at the new house

- 2 toilets, yay, can't wait for that

- that it is the holidays, and I had time to pack, lets hope the wet weather stays away for tomorrow. I have done all the stuff I can in the car, and it's just the big stuff we are doing tomorrow.

- that my sister is back in town, I miss having her around, and my niece and nephew.

That'll do for now, I've got some more tidying to do, before we cave in for the night with fish and chips and a movie!

OMG

It's all on.

We had been trying to find a rental property (we are going to rent ours out, and rent something a bit bigger) last week, and had one lined up, but someone got in before us, so put it on the back burner while we were away.

Then..... this morning I get the call to say it's ours if we still want it, so we are moving. Friday. Right, I have 3 days to pack up, and clean, and thats from scratch, we haven't had a couple of weeks to prepare, and start, and declutter, and clean, etc, it's all go now!

I can't wait, 4 bedrooms, plus an office, double garage with internal access, cul-de-sac, and just over the fence to the intermediate and college (when the kids go in a couple of years).

So..... on that note, I'd better go, get packing, I want to do the kids rooms before they come home, and see what I've thrown out, LOL.

Woo Hoot Wednesday........

......... on a Sunday.

I had this all thought out in my head, while rushing around trying to get ready to go away and never got it done.

- Yay for my cool as sister, who is staying here looking after my kids while Jon and I go away

- Yay, for going away. Jon has the conference in Auckland, so am really going to enjoy the few days away.

- Pleased to be on holiday, thankful, as there is so much happening, and don't think I'd get it all
done if I were working

Will post again about our couple of days away, just want to catch up on a couple of jobs and get some washing on.

Whoo Hoot Wednesday

Right, Whoo Hoot Wednesday seemed a great opportunity to get back into the habit of blogging.

- Every year, the industry that my husband works in, has a NZ Wide Conference. These are great fun, very fancy, dinners, etc, and up until this year, the partners have gone. Because he is now working for a new company, rumour was that partners don't go, and, in fact, until late last week even he didn't think he was going. But, yesterday gossip was that partners were invited. Yay, I thought, although I had nothing organised for the kids, and as such short noticed didn't know if it would all work out. Before confirmation we had toyed with the idea of paying ourselves for me to go, but really didn't know....... now that everything is confirmed we have managed to sort something out for the kids.

- Yay, for a weekend crop. Just out of town there is a 'studio', nothing flash, so half a dozen of us are getting together to scrap this weekend. The best part, we get cooked for, and stay the night, and it's only costing us $50. I can see it's going to be a late night on Saturday, and even more yay, is that it is the holidays so it won't matter if I don't get much sleep. I have been challenged to get 12 pages done, which will definately be a mission for me. I am so much the queen of procrastination, stuffing a half finished page back into the folder to 'finish later'. However, I have sorted and printed my photos from Australia, and have most of the papers I need, so might just have to cut my titles before I go, as we have a printer there,........... and here's hoping to getting finished.

Right, I don't want to shock you all, burbling on, after no posts for so long!

OK, so I haven't been around much, just don't seem to have had anything to say, but I'll start with this..........

As seen on Janine's Blog: The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. Well let’s see. 1)Look at the list and bold those you have read. 2) Reprint this list in your own blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve only read 6 and force books upon them.

01. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
02. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
03. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
04. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (I've read #1, started 2)
05. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
06. The Bible - (A majority of it as a teenager)
07. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
08. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
09. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (teacher read it to us at Intermediate)
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwel
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (was forced upon us in 5th form)
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist- Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet- William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - Love, love, love Roald Dahl.
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Mmmm, I'm definately one of those that you should seek out, and force books upon! Those ones in blue are ones read as a child, while others are more recent, as you can see, not many!

So, here's the challenge! If you recommend something from that list, I will read it. I will wait a few days until I have a few people comment, and will read the most recommended book. Now, be easy on me, while I like to read, I just don't seem to get into books at the moment. I have read Of Mice and Men, admittedly at school, and have read Winnie the Pooh, and Charlottes web, Charlie and the CF, and love love the Faraway Tree, (and don't seem to be able to find copies these days)

Go on, recommend something, and I promise I will read it.

Really tired.....

.... but just wanted to let you know I was still alive.

Here are a couple of funnies that a friend sent me


http://view.break.com/484483 - Watch more free videos

Not much more to say.......

..... than last time, but I thought it best I let you know I'm still alive.

The weather has turned on us, and as our logfire is broken, (and we are not fixing it because we are putting a heat pump in,) it is freezing at the moment. We do have the gas heater, but it just doesn't compare to the log fire.

I haven't done much scrapping, I did my page for the So You Think You Can Scrap competition, so when I can I will share that. I was pleasantly surprised how it came out, a little bit of Monique, but still lots of me..... I just couldn't shake some habits, like wanting colours to match, etc. Madly, I decided to pull all my layouts out of albums, and get tough with myself about finishing them, so I can put them back in, in order, so at the moment, chaos reigns in my little nook. I finally got hold of some Scenic Route, so will start work on my Australia pictures, so looking forward to that. I might actually get them done before we go back, loved it so much, we are planning to go back, hopefully soon, AND without the kids.

Queens birthday didn't bring much here, the weather was too cold to go out and about, and the one time we did we got caught out in the rain.

So........ with that thought, I'm going to go sort my photos for those pages, and put the washing out for tomorrow!

Not much to say.....

except.......

yay............Survivor finale is on this Thursday. Now, we are only just catching up on the 2 episodes that screened while we were away, plus the one just gone, (because we wanted to catch up before we saw that), but I have seen the ads so do know who has gone. What I love is the CBS website does not show the winner on the front page anymore, even though they know in America, it's not spoiled for us. I would often go into the site to check something while watching the series and find out the winner ahead of time. An all girl final, yay for the girls! Do you watch, if so, who do you want to win?

Nope, got nothing to show you as far as layouts from Australia. I really want to use Scenic Route Grafton, so was just waiting for Andrea to catch up, having been not well, and will order that now, and then look at photos.

I love the layouts from this lovely lady, (she was so helpful answering my questions) and am really inspired by her work. After reading her recent blog post I went and bought a CK, which I haven't done for ages, but was quite pleased, both with the magazine itself, but also getting freebies, which included an older magazine, so effectively made them $5 each. I did that last year, waiting till June/July, and bought them, and got all the ones from earlier in the year. Anyway..... in the recent issue is some great articles on layouts with lots of pages, and album ideas, etc, so that got me going.

Other than that, I'm busy washing, washing, washing, and no, not catching up from our trip. We have a lovely visitor, who has decided my drawers make a good home. I have washed all my clothes, but haven't put them back, as the sneaky bu@@er has eluded me. I have used an old wooden style trap, as I like to just throw the whole thing away, but the mouse has been able to eat my peanut butter without setting it off, so I'm just about to set one of the peg style ones, (then hubby can empty it!)

Anyway, back to the washing!

Aaaaargh, just about had them in order, then I tried to fix the last day, and now it has come up first, so read that last!

THURSDAY - HOME

We wandered into the shops to spend the last of our Australian money, and to see the Doctor. I had thought I was getting the flu on Tuesday, but that seemed to clear, but now I had an ear ache. I have had problems with eczema in the ear canal in the past, so wasn't sure if it was that, or inner ear infection. After a long wait, and an expensive visit, I found out I had a fungal infection, so had some strong painkillers and more drops. This cause great problems on the flight home, as it is I usually have problems, but with a sore ear it was 5 times as bad. The flight was good, the kids good, and we got in to Auckland a little earlier, and stayed at the hotel again, before arriving home mid Friday afternoon.

Where to start???????

I had intended to update a couple of times while away, but we just didn't get near a computer till the last couple of days. I was going to do it in one big post, but then had lots of problems with photos matching up, so I have done a post for each day, just skim through the photos if you wish, as it is more for my future references.

SUNDAY

We stayed the Saturday night in Auckland, as this meant we were only a step away from the airport, and gave us free car storage, and shuttle to the airport, so our holiday began with a 3.30am start. The hotel bed was hard, and I had only just got to sleep about 1am, so it turned into a very loooooooong day, especially with the time differences aswell.

The kids were great on the plane, and we had no problems getting to our 'apartment', only problem was we were early and they hadn't finished getting it ready, so we were given a spot to store our bags and went for a walk. We had some lunch, which was actually breakfast for everyone there, and had a wander down the beach. We made it back to our 'home' for the next few days, wow. It was nearly if not as big as our house. 3 bedrooms, ensuite, lovely open plan living area, full kitchen including dishwasher, and laundry. After getting sorted out, we jumped on a bus, and headed out to a new stadium to watch the Warriors play the local team. That was interesting being the odd ones out, but it was impressive to see how many Warriors fans there were there. Back to the apartment for fish and chips, and I think I was in bed, asleep at 8.30.

TUESDAY - Movie World

Waiting at the Bus stop when another Matamata family walks up, have a quick chat to them, and then while at Movie World also see another family from Matamata, whose daughter goes to the Primary School with the boys.

MONDAY - White Water World

Not a good start to our day. Our first ride was the Green Room, and I have to admit, it was horrible. Unfortunately we had just put sunblock on, and our hands were slippery, and the ride really required you to hold on tightly. It put Cameron off trying anything even slightly adventurous, although Braden did try a few more different rides

WEDNESDAY - Shopping

We had hoped to head up the Coast to a Factory Outlet we had heard of, but got caught up in traffic due to a burst water pipe, so we jumped off the bus and went to the Wax Museum, which also included a tour of 'A torture chamber'. It covered the history of various tortures, fascinating, although the kids weren't impressed, and we weren't able to take photos. We were able to take photos of the wax models, and the kids liked that part, but I have to admit the rest was a bit too much for them.

THURSDAY - Brisbane

Jon had an appointment up in Brisbane on the Friday, so we had hired a car and were going to head up to Australia Zoo on the Thursday, but by the time we got going and got the car, we knew it was going to be late, so he managed to squeeze an early appointment (7am) out of the guy, and we just took our time heading up the coast. While driving we spotted what looked like a great place to stop, so wandered around there, bought some clothes, and....... bumped into Vicki. Now, I knew Vicki was going to be there, but fancy meeting her there, and on their last day! Lucky she recognised us, 'cause I wouldn't have noticed her. We stopped in the middle of Brisbane somewhere, because we didn't have a map we were just following traffic, which was probably our first mistake, we didn't need to go anywhere near town to get to the airport. Finally found a motel, that was easier said than done, and caught the city cat into town to do some shopping and dinner. We obviously had no idea where we were going as there were no shops to be found, probably further out in the suburbs. We did find a small mall type place where we had some yummy dinner, but not much else. There were no movies on for the kids, so we just jumped back on the ferry and headed back to the motel.

FRIDAY - Australia Zoo

Jon went out for his appointment, and then we headed up the coast to Australia Zoo. Have to say, while it was a pain to drive so far, it was a great experience. The place was beautiful, very, very clean, nice options for lunch, friendly staff, etc. We were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time, and got a sneaky encounter with the koalas. It was right on closing time, so they had taken the signs down to say the koalas were resting (as we were to find out later), and there were no staff around so we just wandered over to them, and had some great interaction. Finally a staff member spotted us, and ushered us to the koala on 'display', who was half asleep, and very boring.