FEELING A LITTLE DOWN

We got a phone call to say a friend had committed suicide. He had been having problems with his wife, and as far as we knew, though they were living apart, they were working on it.

We saw him Sunday afternoon, first time I'd seen him for a couple of months, and I was so impressed at how good he was looking, he had cleaned himself up, lost a lot of weight, had given up smoking and drinking, in an attempt to settle things with his wife. The scary thing is, we may have been the last to see him. The worse bit is, now I think back, he didn't seem himself, I just put it down to stress with his wife, but he just wasn't his jovial self.

I went to bed last night, and flicked through a little book (that my youngest had 'flogged' from Grandmas garage sale last weekend). It's called First Aid for a Woman's Soul. It has little verses of wisdom in it. The second verse hit me.

Looking forward beats looking back. Any time. (Frances Weaver)

While I don't profess to know what goes through the mind of someone considering suicide, I thought this verse was something worth keeping in mind, always. It is so relevant. It is so true. Looking back only brings back regrets and bad memories.

Life is precious, please let your loved ones know that you care.

Pinched this from a blog I visit it, thought it would be fun on this yucky day, sitting here not feeling well. The trick is, everything has to be a three word answer.

1. Where is your cell phone? On the bench
2. Boyfriend? I married him
3. Hair? needs a cut
4. Your mother? Lives in Te Awamutu
5. Your father? Lives in Hamilton
6. Your favorite item(s)? George Foreman Grill
7. Your dream last night? Boss got shot
8. Your favorite drink? Anything wet/cold
9. Your dream guy? Funny, relaxed, helpful
10. The room you are in? Computer/scraproom/office
11. Your fear? Losing my family
12. What do you want to be in 10 years? Happy, healthy, comfortable
13. Who did you hang out with last night? Just my hubby
14. What are you not? Losing this weight!!!!
15. Are you in love? Nearly 15 years
16. One of your wish list items? A bigger house
17. What time is it? Half past eleven
18. The last thing you did? Gargled salt water
19. What are you wearing? 3/4 pants and t-shirt
20. Your favorite book? Probably prefer magazines
21. The last thing you ate? pancakes and pizza
22. Your life? Currently in limbo
23. Your mood? Right now? Blah
24. Your friends? Too far away
25. What are you thinking about right now? What's for lunch?
26. Your car? Dark blue Honda
27. What are you doing at this moment? Tidying my house
28. Your summer? Where was it!!!
29. Your relationship status? Very happily married.
30. What is on your TV screen? Kids watching DVD
31. When is the last time you laughed? At this website
32. Last time you cried? My husbands redundancy
33. School? Pleased I've finished!

ETA:- Sorry about the hard to read writing, I didn't realise how hard it would be to read, I changed it once, and I can not be bothered going back to change it again.

A BUSY WEEK

But not much to show for it.

I ended up working for basically 6 days in a row, and having not worked for the previous 3 weeks it was a bit of a shock to the body, I'm still getting over it now.

Cricket, athletics, (Junior got a red ribbon, and also received the free drink for sportsmanship, so he was beaming from ear to ear) helping at the op shop, school athletics (which was cancelled after I got down there) moving my mother in law into her new unit ...... all amongst the usual things.

Then today, we headed off to Auckland, for my cousins baby shower. Baby wasn't due till mid April, and was born 2 weeks ago, with another 4 in hospital before she can come home, so it was nice to catch up with my cousin, although it would have been nicer if baby (no, she still does not have a name!) could have been there .

On our way up we stopped for lunch at the Autobahn Cafe. We had just sat down when a very friendly face was waving coming closer to me. Karen was on her way to the wedding out Waitakere way, so hopefully the weather fine for her.

This week is not much better, just found out that Jon has to work tomorrow, then off to Hamilton on Monday for an eye appointment for him, I have to chauffeur as he gets his eyes dilated and can't drive. Drop him off at the airport on the way home, for a South Island visit, back to extra hours at work, Trivial Pursuits night at his work (yay, love trivial pursuits), deliver our old bedroom suite to Hamilton........ ummmmmmmm....... that should take us through to the weekend, where I hope we can relax and just spend some time at home!

And..... I don't even have 1 single photo to share,........ just 'cause I love photos in my posts.

Edited to add:- This is a photo of Mr 6, not long after he went to sleep, but obviously soooo tired, he doesn't even feel that he is about to fall out of bed!

Hellooooo..... anyone there??

Not much happening here. I've been called into work quite a bit this last week, which is why I am also up at the strange hour.

My niece turned 1 during the week so we had a little family get together for her.

And thats about it!

No really, I don't think I can think of anything else.

A BORN LEADER

Just had to share this photo of my 6 year old. All these kids you see, from around the neighbourhood, are older than him, 2 7 year olds, and 2 10 year olds, and he is completely under control. He is organising mini putt in our backyard, hopefully it will be a trait that will see him through.

ON A HUNT

What albums do you use? I've used these, and to be honest, have no idea of the brand. I used to get them from KMart, but they don't have them anymore, inapparently they went on clearance. Does anyone know where to get them, or something similar?

ANOTHER ONE

I'm on a roll.

CHALLENGES

Been doing a little bit of challenges lately, more to just give me a kick in the right direction. NZ Dares latest one was Black & White with a colour pop. I had lots of ideas for this, and will probably do another couple as I like the way these look, but this is the one I've finished.

MY AREA

Janine challenged us to show pics of our scrap area.

I'm very lucky as I have a 'nook', off the side of the lounge. It's out of the way enough that most people don't know it's there, but it's close enough for me to supervise the children, hear the phone, and..... watch TV.
Lets me just say, I'm forever moving things around, changing storage, etc, so in a month it might be all different.

On the left is the official scrap area. I have large shelves which we made (it's just out of sight in these photos), but they tend to get junk put on them, but there is also photo paper, magazines, stationary tools that the kids are allowed to touch (stapler, etc)
I have a sewing cabinet that I had planned to actually work on, (but more often use the computer table) which has storage. I use the pizza boxes and concertina files down the bottom for papers, and current albums. In the drawers are my tools, and chipboard letters, (which when I pulled the drawer out for the photo I found some stuff I didn't even know I had)

My sewing machine stays out (notice the clothes that need mending, they have been there for 6 months despite me having used the machine several time for scrapbooking)

In the door is my paints.
On the little shelves up the top is rubons, HS chipboard letters, foam stamps, and tools.

On the right, is the computer desk. It has the compulsory pile of junk on it, everything gets put to the side, and every couple of weeks I have a tidy up.
Now believe it or not, amongst all that we run our own little business from home. At the moment it is low key, but last week we got some news that may change that. Jon is probably going to get made redundant, so we may take the business up a notch and it will be our sole income. Therefore, you will see the shelf above the computer is being cleared because we are going to have to have a more area for all the business stuff (which is currently in the filing cabinet behind the paint door)

Points to note:

- the Pringle containers have been saved over several/many months, they are for a friend, and for some reason behind the screen is a nice spot to keep them until I see her

- the layout on the wall, (there were a couple, but one fell done,) is there, because it needs something more, but I just don't know what

- the little bags pinned on the corkboard, that is my way of reminding me of the product I have, if I don't it gets put away and I never know what I have

BETTER

This morning was the first morning when I was able to just get up and get moving. The actual cuts are still a little tender, but the stomach itself feels a lot better.

Jon is away this week, yes, I know, but at least it wasn't last week like originally planned. The boys have been so good for me, and who said bribery doesn't work??? LOL

But....... I can't have been too bad. We did go to Rotorua on the weekend. Jon's work was supposed to have a conference which was cancelled, but the accomodation couldn't be cancelled, so they offered it to staff. When they first offered it, I said no, under the circumstances, and we also didn't have a babysitter, but when they rung us back and said there were so many rooms free that the boys could have their own room, we thought we might aswell go, and just take it slowly. We had dinner, and the boys had a swim, and a wander around the shops. On our way home I went to Spotlight, which has so much more stuff than the Hamilton store. I got some American Craft letter stickers, but I was so distracted by them I forgot to look at the papers, oh, well, have to go back!

This is another page I have done with the product from Lisa at SBD. I have to admit it is a sketch from Basic Grey because I have been a bit quiet since the op, and needed something to get me moving.

I'M BACK

A little worse for wear, but I'm here in 1 piece. Thank you all for your well wishes and messages, much appreciated to know you were thinking of me.

After the huge muck up with the times, we decided it was better to arrive earlier, than later, so checked in at 12. After discussion with the nurse, she informed us that I wouldn't go into surgery until at least 5, maybe 6pm, so I sent Jon home. I had really wanted him to be there with me up until I went in, but it was ridiculous him waiting for 5 hours. I spent the afternoon dozing, doing sudoku (my latest obsession) and watched a bit of TV.

They came and got me at 5.15, and the next thing I knew it was 7.05 and I was in the recovery room. I felt fine, hubby, kids and my sister were waiting in my room by the time I got back to it about 7.30. They stayed about half an hour, and then I just dozed off and on through the night, still feeling OK, still a bit dopey from the drugs, and had a decent sleep from 12 -4, and then dozed again, waking about 5 and not able to get back to sleep. The worst bit was I was right outside some of the 'staff rooms' and because I am such a light sleeper every noise jolted me awake.

By 7.30am, I was starving, as I hadn't eaten for 24 hours, so was looking forward to brekkie. Had breakfast, a shower, and was discharged, still feeling not too bad.

24 hours later, I'm quite sore, the rest of me is OK, although I didn't sleep too well last night, so am a bit tired.

Because I like to have photos in my post I'll show you the beautiful flowers I got from my hubbys work, a nice treat, even though I'm not a flower person, these are just what I love.

Anyway, peace is about to be shattered, hubby will be picking the kids up soon, so I'll go and get myself settled in my chair.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ME!!!

No, nothing exciting here, we don't really do Valentines, once you've been together for 15 years it's just another day.

But, what is happening, is my operation. This time tomorrow I will be recovering from a cholecystectomy. It's just keyhole surgery, overnight stay, and if everything has gone OK, discharged 10am on Thursday, and a week or so recovery. I've taken 3 weeks off, lots of holidays up my sleeve, so want to make the most of it.

I'm really not looking forward to it, although I will be pleased it will be all over and done with, but I do NOT like coming out of anesthetic, so am hoping it goes better tomorrow. I tried to get a more accurate time of my surgery, so I can organise my hubby and kids, what a laugh. I rang the hospital (private), they said 'Oh, I can't tell you that, you'll need to ring the Surgeons office," so I ring them, "Oh, you would be best to speak to the hospital", Heeeeellllo?!?!? Never mind, I called on my faithful sister to come be with the kids, then I don't need to worry about timing.

Camerons birthday at the pools went quite well, will post some photos when I get back.

Anyway, I'd better go finish a couple of jobs so the house is tidy for my sister, and get a good night sleep.

SCRAPBOOKING BY DESIGN

I was lucky to be chosen to be a 'guest designer' over at Scrapbooking By Design and got sent a box of goodies.

Got to admit, when I saw all the pink I freaked, but I suppose if you treat it like anything else then you're away.

This is the page I did last night, and I have heaps left to do another, with enough to use the 'scraps' for a card or something.

Climbing up on my soapbox........

Where have people's manners and common courtesy gone?

It is Cameron's party today, and I still had not heard definately from one of the mums, despite putting an RSVP on the invitations. When I delivered the invitation the Mum talked as if the child was coming, so today I rang to confirm (and to check which house she would be at for a pick up) the reply was "Oh yeah, no, she's not coming, she's at her Dad's, oh, and their dog has had puppies, so she wants to see them".

How hard would it have been for her to ring, she needn't have given me a reason, but a quick phonecall to say, "sorry, C can't come to the party, but thanks for the invite" would have gone a long way in my books.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day, we are just about to have some lunch, and will go pick up those kids that are coming, so thankfully the weather is beautiful, and the rest of us should have a great afternoon.

YAY, LAST DAY OF HOLIDAYS

Ok, shouldn't really complain too much, the kids haven't been too bad, but I am looking forward to have a bit more routine around here.

We've passed time the last couple of weeks by keeping busy, pools, golf, went on a 'tramp'.

Now Cameron is old enough, he is able to stay at the pools by himself, which is great, as Braden tends to swim for half an hour and want to go home. This last week we all went up, but left Cameron there for a while to enjoy it, and boy, he had great fun. He also enjoyed the dive pool, which he hasn't been in before, so loved the slide and the mini tramp.We bought the boys a golf set, so they can follow in the family footsteps. Not mine though (can't play golf to save myself) These photos aren't very good, it was after dinner and there are too many shadows. We took them up again today, to show Grandma, but I didn't have my camera, so will have to get some better photos next time.

We decided to do something with the kids, rather than go somewhere, know what I mean, spend time rather than money (ie, movies, or rides, etc) so decided to go walk the Karangahake Gorge, through the tunnel. The problem was we went to the wrong place. We went into Waihi, and caught the train out, thinking the place to leave from was the Waikino Cafe, only we needed to leave from further up the road. Never mind, we got off the train, and went for a walk to the waterfall, and back and had some lunch at the cafe, and then back into town, and a wander around.

A FUN LIST

I got this in an email, but thought I'd put it on here.........

A fun list:  4 Things about me you may not have known

4 Jobs I have had in my life:
1.   Special Needs Teacher Aide   
2.   Stable hand
3.   Retail
4.    mmmmmmm...... sold Tupperware (?)

4 Places I have lived:
1.  Matamata
2.  Morrinsville
3.  Hamilton
4.  Putaruru (scary part is we nearly moved back to Putaruru when we were going to buy a house, talk about a full circle.

Four TV shows I love to watch:
(whaaaaaaat, only  4, I am a self confessed TVaholic)
1.  Grey's Anatomy
2.  NCIS
3.  ER
4   Lost (but we'll see what happens this season, I think I may be over it)
5  Bones
6  CSI (but really only the original)
7  Desperate Housewives (we got to live out our fantasies somehow)
........ and the list goes on

Four places I've been on vacation
1 Sydney
2 South Island
3 Various North Island destinations
4 Somewhere tropical for our 10th wedding anniversary this year

Four of my favorite foods:
1   chicken anything
2.  cheese anything
3.  chocolate anything, infact anything sweet
4.  Roasts (when we go out I pretty much always get a roast, 'cause I don't do them at home)

Four places I would rather be right now
1.   Anywhere where my kids aren't, (1 more week of school holidays, aaaargh)
2.   The beach
3.   Anywhere with my hubby
4.   Back in bed!


Four friends I think will respond.........

Well, you can all respond if ya want, I know you get sick of these 'tags' but I am looking forward to hearing about you.

HE'S BACK

And he enjoyed himself. And I don't think he starved either. He hasn't said much, although little snippets are coming out in the following days, as he remembers them. His leaders said he was good, I didn't get one of those horrible midnight calls, and........ he's eating porridge for breakfast again. About 6 months - 1 year ago, he used to be such a good eater at breakfast, then all of a sudden stopped, so hopefully, now we will be back on track.

In other news, we went to Tauranga/Mount today, nothing exciting, but just made the most of the weather forecasters bad prediction. Supposedly raining off and on today, ahem, not we were. We enjoyed Memorial Park, and had a game of mini putt, and then let the kids have a play in the Harbour. Cameron got to use his snorkel and mask, although wasn't too impressed, 'can't see anything'.

A DATE

In more ways than one.

My sister stayed Sunday night, so while she was here to look after the kids Jon and I jumped in the car and went for a drive to the Mount. We haven't been since last summer, and there have been quite a few changes. Normally we would have been to the beach several times so far, but the weather just hasn't played the game. We went for a walk around the mountain, had a Danish Cone, mmmmmmmm, and had some dinner. There is this great little place called Zeytins, and there is one in Tauranga too, on the strand. I'd never been, but it was recommended, glad we went. I had a Roast Vege & Chicken salad, so it was kind of like a green vege salad, with roast vege, and chicken, mmmm, that was good. It was very reasonably priced, and the staff were great, good atmosphere, quite casual.

The other 'date', (thankfully, after having another attack last night) is a date for my gallbladder surgery, Valentines Day of all days!!! It will just be an overnight stay, at the Southern Cross Hospital in Hamilton, as it is just keyhole surgery, fairly straight forward if everything goes OK.

Cameron has gone off to camp today. I've spent the last 3 days convincing him it was going to be fun, as he was dead against the idea, however, today he seemed quite keen to go. I hope it all goes well for him, 'cause if it doesn't, I'll never get him to go again. I took these photos as we dropped him off, but I'm gutted 'cause I had it on the lowest setting, so will have to stage some photos on Friday when we pick him up.

FAMILY TIME

We had a post Christmas get together, with my Dad's side of the family, as we didn't see everyone at Christmas time, although, half of them weren't there today either, it's funny how the same people turn up each time!

Anyway, those that were there had a nice afternoon.........and after lunch we went out to an old family friends farm. They played quite a part in our upbringing, it was neat to chat to my sister and Dad about the things we used to do, (and yes, I have jotted down some notes for a future page.) Anyway, their son, has got himself some Clydesdales, and along with some of his acquaintances, had put on a display of 'hay making the old way'. TurningGathering'Haystack'

Baling, using a steam driven tractor to operate the baler, and tying by hand!

NEW TOOL

Well, thanks to Kiwiscraps, my new tool arrived promptly this morning. I've had my eye on it for a while, and always tried to justify it, until the other day, when, spur of the moment, decided to just go ahead. It's nothing exciting, but I hope to put it to use alot. I want to use it for my Christmas album, just to unify it, so that will be the first task. And to make things better, one child has gone to a friends house, and the younger one has a friend here, so maybe I might get something done.