Fireworks

When Jon worked at his old work we always had a Social Club Guy Fawkes get together, however now that he no longer works there we were at a loss what to do. We didn't want to just let off a few in our backyard, and there was nothing happening in Matamata, so after talking with a friend she told us about the event in Morrinsville, so we headed over there for the night.

It was a good one, probably a little more expensive than I would have liked, however because I had been to our Monthly Scrapbooking crop I wasn't organised with things to take.
















We let the kids have a turn on the jeep rides, and then settled down with friends for some late dinner, nibbles, and fun, listening to the entertainment (including an interesting Freddie Mercury!)

At 9, they let the fireworks start, some really neat ones. They had also lit the bonfire about half an hour before hand, but it wasn't until we were leaving at 10 that it really got going.

When we got out to the carpark we went off to the side and let the kids finish off our sparklers from last year, and we finally got home at 11pm

That week went fast........

...... I guess that's what happens when there is a long weekend.

I had an appointment with a specialist on Tuesday (anyone want to share their stories about prolapses, feel free to email me)....... mmmm........ really don't know what I want to be doing regarding that, so it's all up in the air at the moment.

The rest of the week just went quite fast, nothing exciting happened.

Athletics started. Enough said about that at the moment, I have a very miserable 8 year old, who is getting very despondent about his results.

The fine weather finally graced us with it's presence, so yay for getting in the garden, spraying for prickle weed, etc.

Sunday it was Jon's grandmothers birthday, so we all met for lunch, and for a long time, just about everyone was there, 1 daughter in the States wasn't there, and 1 grand-daughter in Christchurch, so we got some cool photos. Pleased to get this one, 4 generations.

Anyway, those lovely goodies that I ordered turned up, and I had plans to work with them tonight, but as it's 9.30, I doubt I'll get much done tonight (had a crappy sleep last night, and ended up on the couch for a bit), as I'll head off to bed soon.

Jon lets me know he may be off to Fiji on Wednesday, 'Sorry I say, I can't get organised that quickly', LOL. It will only be a couple of days, more of an emergency trip, so will be back for the weekend, where we hope to go to BayPark speedway. In the past we have enjoyed a Guy Fawkes get together with the Social Club at Jon's work, but his new place of employment doesn't have much of a social club, so we thought we'd go to BayPark for their fireworks.

I was about to say I'm off to organise getting some photos printed, but have to say, I don't like DigitalMax new site for uploading. Anyone else had a try, there seems to be lots of steps, backtracking, all for so called improvements.

North of Auckland Harbour Bridge

OK, so this week we decided to head over the Harbour Bridge (because we always stay on this side) for a day out.

We had intended to go to Snow Planet, but were unsure if it was going to be suitable, especially at that price. We also intended to have a look at Auckland Luge, and do a bit of shopping. Bendon Outlets had half price of Bendon Sports Bra, and as my favourite fits that criteria, that was always going to be a stop.

We got to Snow Planet, and after going in to have a look, lots of discussion with various people, (and I even rung them the night before) we decided it probably was suitable for just playing around, it seemed a bit serious, all skiers and snowboarders. The kids were a little disappointed, but when we headed to the Luge they were happier. It was absolutely freezing, and unfortunately 1 of the sweatshirts had got wet on the way up there, so after much shuffling of clothes to get everyone warm we headed off for our turn.

A little different set up than Rotorua. You grab your luge, (we each took one kid the first time) get in line, get your ticket 'clicked' and head up the Travelator. This was seriously the most uncomfortableist thing I have been on! Get to the top, and choose 1 of 3 tracks, so we went with the Scenic route first, pretty good. You stay in your luge if you are going again, so we joined the queue again, Cameron jumped in one of his own this time, and we went again. We had 3 turns, then I let the others go again, while I took some video/photos.

Comparisons between the 2? A lot cheaper at Auckland, as you don't have to pay to go in the Gondola aswell, but price per ride is the same (actually cheaper inAuckland if you become a member). Tracks, probably about the same...... I felt the tracks in Rotorua were possibly a little steeper and more thrilling. Auckland has only been open a few weeks, so has some cosmetic work to be done, and could be great when finished. The ride back up, the points definately go to Rotorua on that one, sorry Auckland, very uncomfortable.

Then..... to soften the blow from missing out on Snow Planet we went to the GoCarts/Bumper Boats next door. Unfortunately the kids were too little to go by themselves, and too big to go with us, so we headed back towards town, intending to go shopping in Albany, but got completely lost, and after driving for a bit ended up at Wairau Park. We had a game of 10 Pin (and I won this time, for a change, we are big on 10 Pin, my hubby plays quite well), and I had a nosey at Spotlight.

We then headed to Botany, and we going to let the kids have a turn on the Bungy Tramp, but it wasn't operating that day, and they were a few minutes too late to make a Sand Picture at the Sand Wizard place, so we went to get some dinner, and tried Nando's for the first time. Cameron refused to order anything, Braden had a wrap, which was too hot for him, although he ate quite a bit of it. I thought it was OK there, but probably wouldn't go back, although if I did, I wouldn't order the burger with double chicken, the 'normal' would have been fine. It was quite expensive with what we got, but I think it was the sides that made it expensive ($3.70 for 2 half corn on cobs!!!)

After a wander around the Warehouse (which would have to be one of the messiest I've ever seen) we headed home, with 2 tired very kids (and 2 adults!) sleeping in late this morning!

I is for investment..........

............

OK. First I was going to mow the lawn, and it starts raining, so I thought I'd come and post here.

Secondly, we are going to Auckland tomorrow, and the 2 shops I wanted to go to are not going to be open, so I did a bit of online shopping, bought some of this in 4 styles, plus some new BG papers and more chipboard letters to add to my 'collection.'

I'll have to make the most of this, as we are going to have to watch spending a bit more, now that we've.......

......... invested. Yep, we've bought a rental property in Hamilton, these aren't the exact pictures, but they come from another unit the same. This is also a 'single' unit, ours is a 'double', so there is a double garage, and the lounge/master bedroom are a little bigger. The only problem is, now I've seen it, I don't want to rent it out, I wanna live there!!!




























Anyway, had a great cyber crop at SBD last night, had a good run of luck, winning a couple of games, so I am looking forward to lots of mail this week.

Layouts

As I have decided not enter the SBD Design Team Call, it means I can now share a couple of layouts that I was thinking of using.
I haven't done much scrapping lately, but looking back over my blog entries for this year, I've seen quite a few photos that I uploaded here, but haven't had printed, so will have to get onto that.

Well, it's turned quite cold and yucky here, so I've just lit the fire, will turn it down just to keep the chill away, and better go find something for dinner.

Thanks to Trina, here is a funny for you!

H is for holidays.........

........ and where did they go?

I had all these great intentions to do catch up housework, you know 1 room a day, completely tidy it..... what did I do? Nothing, none, zip, zilch, nada...... and worst of all, I didn't do anything else. I really don't know where the days went. We went on 2 day trips, and you can't really count one of them because it was the first weekend. In the second week we went to Auckland for the day, just to Chipmunks, and Mini Putt, and then dinner...... Cock and Bull at Botany, it was absolutely packed, but the boys were actually reasonably well behaved. We also went to my nephews birthday, and one day I had to go and pick up my boys so I spent the day at my sisters, but that was about it.

G is for grill.....

..... Stone Grill to be exact.

We headed up to Auckland for a day out on Sunday, don't really know why, 'cause there are movies in Hamilton, (and Tauranga, Rotorua, several places closer than Auckland). We saw Evan Almighty, took the kids, it was a good fun family movie.

By the time we got out from there it was 4pm (we didn't leave home till 11.30am), so we had a wander around Botany Downs. We had to buy the boys new shirts at Farmers, 'cause Braden had had M&M's at the movies, and had a lovely rainbow coloured t-shirt.

Then Jon said we were going somewhere special for dinner. We went here, which was something different.

I was very unsure, but pleasantly surprised how effective the stone grill was for cooking. The basalt grill is heated to 400 degree farenheit and is slow to cool so don’t think cooking time is against you. Either deftly turn the quicker cooking items onto a side place while you attend to longer cooking items or vice versa – deal with the quick cook items first then take time to slice away pieces from longer cooking cuts and cook them one or two at a time. (Not my words, from the review I found)

The kids weren't too keen to try it, but chicken kebabs were an option, so next time we are just going to get them for the kids, give them an experience.

I'm in love....

.... OK, I'm not a materialistic person, but I am so in love with this, our very own DVD recorder.




When the other staff were leaving at Jons work, they received luggage. We went to them and said "we seriously do not need luggage, if you want ideas then........." so we were very fortunate to receive a voucher towards this baby. The best part, the chase and play feature. Let's say you're going to miss the start of a movie/programme by a little bit, you can start recording it at the start time, and when you get in from 'work/shopping' 10 minutes later, you can start watching the movie from the start, while it continues to record, isn't that just the greatest.

Anyway, while I'm on the topic of tv, etc, who has been watching America's Got Talent? We only started watching it about 5 weeks ago, so missed a few of the previous talents, but wow, what a variety. Tonight is the finale, and seriously they could all win (although I have reservations about the rapping granny, LOL.)

(By the way, I will be back with my ABC's, just need to find some photos to do the E post!)

F is for ........

........ family.

Yes, I know, I've skipped E, but I'll have to come back to that, partly 'cause I can't think of anything else, and I want to share our family photo.

This is my immediate family, my husband and I, (together for 15 years at the end of this month), my eldest who, as you know if you are following this, is 9 at the end of the year, and my youngest just turned 7, (aha, I just had a lightbulb moment for E, will do that tomorrow),

These were the fundraising photos you get done, you know, pay $10, get the photo, go back and look, and get sucked into buying more. Cameron was not in a good mood, and refused to co-operate, although the pose after this one he did give a little smirk, but unfortunately this was the one for the freebie. I hope we can laugh about it in 10 years time.

D is for.......

...Dad

This is my Dad, the first was taken at what used to be called the Hilldale Zoo, now Hamilton Zoo, and I was 15 months old.

The second photo is taken at a place called Bulmers Landing, (out the back of Arapuni way) somewhere we used to spend quite a bit of time as a family, and with extended family. I was 23 months in that photo.

Growing up my Dad used to work at a timber yard, and would do shift work, starting early in the morning, one week, finishing at 2, (and the alternate week he would start at 2 and work through to 11ish) and then would go mow lawns. When we got old enough we were allowed to go help him, often the little old ladies whose lawn we mowed would have little treats for us.

(PS, I wanted to add more to this, and probably come back to it, but felt it appropriate to post it today, and not that my father would see it, he doesn't even know how to turn a computer on, but Happy Fathers Day Dad!)

C is for Cameron......

..... my first born, nearly 9.

Cameron has an obsession with dinosaurs. The whole world revolves around dinosaurs, he can tell you which is which, probably about 30 different ones, and what characteristics they each have.

Cameron does very well at school, excells in spelling, reading is well above average, enjoys maths, and does well across the board!

He does not enjoy sports, although will happily participate at school, but he does tell me he wants to do athletics this coming summer (because he saw the fun they had on the last night, don't know if he realises he needs to participate on the other nights too).

He also follows in his fathers footsteps, and has trouble sleeping, he will often still be awake at 11pm, although we have since got some sleeping tablets, and he has them a couple of nights a week to make sure he gets his 'quota' of sleep for the week, otherwise he is like a bear with a sore head.

Speaking of him and sleeping, I'd best go see him to bed, and it shouldn't be too long before he's asleep.

It's been a busy week.....

...... and I'm absolutely knackered.

I've been busy learning the new job, which has been really hard as there is quite a tight schedule to follow, which hasn't left the time to learn things, find out, ask questions, etc. On the whole the job has been going quite well, but I forget what little kids are like, you have to be careful what you say, or they take it so literally. The staff have been really good, I feel like I've always been there!

In other news; had a girls night out on Saturday night, that was good fun, nothing planned, just drinks at a friends house for her birthday, sat around talking, some music, home at 2am. Then on Sunday we went to Hamilton, not that I had wanted to, after working 6 days in a row, plus Saturday night, the last thing I felt like was going out, but we were still struggling to find the thing we wanted for Bradens birthday, so off we went to Hamilton. Had a late lunch, went to several shops and still came away with nothing.

Today was Braden's birthday, so he just opened our present, and then Grandma came to visit with a cake for afternoon tea. She bought him a recipe book, and some ingredients and equipment, which he thinks is pretty cool, 'cause he wants to make muffins to sell, to use the money to buy a toy he has been after. It's quite funny, 'cause he mentioned this last week, even before he got his present, so it worked out well. Keep an eye out for the entrepreneur coming to a town near you!

This Friday after school he is having a party, red party to be exact, so if you have any ideas for food etc, or cool red things I can do, let me know.

I've also, at the very last minute, like an hour ago, managed to upload my layout for the SE Challenge. Now, I'm normally not one for competitions, but if this gets me back into it, then good, however, if it gets too much I have no qualms about pulling out either.

And on that note, I need to catch up on some sleep, so will continue with the ABC's next post, and will post about the party.

It appears I've been tagged....

about a month ago, by Kirsten, but, upon actually reading it properly, I've already done this one, go here and check it out if you haven't already!

B is for Braden

Braden is my youngest, turns 7 next week.

• He is a list writer, it's his birthday party next weekend, and he has been planning it for 2 months. Lists, food, people, games, things to buy.
• He loves drawing and making things, I'm forever finding things he's made floating around, and scissors, paper, tape, etc, left behind.
  
• We had interviews last night, and the teacher is very impressed, as are we, with his progress. He is reading at a 10 - 10 1/2 year level, although not with complete understanding, partly because books at that level are geared for children with a more mature mind, therefore covers topics not relevant to a 6/7 year old.
• He is a very social bunny, has a huge pool of friends, always someone new coming home, imagine the difficulty in narrowing his birthday list down to 7.
• Entertains himself well, enjoys a wide range of activities.
• It's not all good, he has a huge temper. He's a bit like that girl with the curl. When he's good, he's very good, and is very even tempered, but when he loses the plot, boy, does he let go!
  

ABC's

I've been doing some blog hopping, and found this and thought it would be fun to do, and would give me some journalling at the end. Some days it may be a list, some days it may be a total post around 1 word. Feel free to join in, leave me a note if you do, I'd love to read more about you.

So, today I'll start with A.... (really, hah, who would have guessed???)

A is for Angela, that's me, surprise, surprise!
A is for Abba, some music I love
A = ache, I have one in my hand
and for afternoon, when I seem to get a burst of energy, and for Aunty, of which I am to 6 nieces and nephews.

That's all I can think of for A, (I may add to it later) but I have already started some of the others, for future posts.

The Week that was....

Thank you so much for all the congrats and well wishes for my new job.

I will be working at the primary school, the same one my children attend, in town. A large part of my day is working with a young boy who requires assistance, and with the junior classes in general, wherever a teacher may need help, be it testing, reading groups, games, supervision of a group activity, resources, etc. Plus, I will also be running the school lunch system, so my day starts at 8.30 doing lunches, and I work through till 12.30, 5 days a week, plus Monday afternoon doing some admin stuff for the lunches.

It's going to be a week of changes, with my job, and Jon's new job, everything will be up in the air while we get into a routine. I've spent the last couple of days catching up, tidying, cleaning, etc, in the hope that I can stay ahead of things.

A while ago I was moaning about my washing machine, we have had nothing but trouble with it. I had the guy out here 3 weeks ago, and already something else is wrong, so I rung him up today and said he could "just take the damn thing". I have to say, I'm not sorry to see it gone, and we already have a new one in it's place.














What is ScrapPink? Keep this weekend free in your diary - 28-30th September. More info coming soon!

The Interview

Aaaargh, I hate interviews. It's the whole lead up, nervousness thing that happens.

Anyway, I had my interview yesterday, a little more casual than I thought it might have been. Half an hour, chatted, answered a few questions, asked a few questions, then I was outta there, with a "we'll be making a decision by the end of the week, if not before, thanks".

I came out of it a little bit confident, but I was unsure who I was up against. I do know there was an older lady going in after me, so felt quietly confident then.

Today I am chatting to a friend, telling her about the interview... when my cellphone rings.

It's the school number, so I think mmmmmmm, what have the kids done now.

Oh yeah, I didn't tell you that it was a teacher aide job at the school my kids go to.

Yep.

You guessed it.

My kids hadn't done anything.

It was the school ringing about my interview.













Yay, I got the job.

OMG, my heart was pounding.

Anyway, sorted that out today, informally inform my current boss about what is happening, just 'cause I didn't want him to hear through the grapevine, before I officially hand in my notice.

Then.... and this is the part about the rain and it pouring, I get a phone call to offer me another job. It is an offshoot job to an informal interview I had a year or so ago.

What to do, what to do?

I politely rung the lady for the second job, and didn't say it in so many words, but seeing they didn't see fit to offer me the job the first time, I didn't feel right accepting this time. It's not really what I would like to be doing anyway, so it was a bit of a no-brainer.

The short of it all, is I start my new job on Monday. Mmmm, that will be interesting. Have to get into a better routine around home, starting 8.30 every morning will be fun. I know others do it, but my children are just not morning kids!

It doesn't rain but it pours

Is that how the saying goes???

(And I don't mean the weather!)

Sunday!

'Jama Day!

Yep, it's been a hard week, worked 6 days this week (considering I'm only rostered for 1), so today is my day off, I don't even intend getting dressed, although I have to take Junior to a birthday party at 1pm, (don't you just pity that mother), so I think I will HAVE to get dressed.

Things are moving along quickly now on the situation with Jon's job, the deal is signed, just need to negotiate his contract, and it should all be over and done with in about a weeks time. The opportunities for him should be good in this company, so let's hope all goes to plan.

Speaking of jobs, keep your finger and toes crossed for me, I have a job interview tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm not happy where I am, but this is something more in my field than what I am doing now.

We finally have an appointment with a counsellor this week, to see if we can come up with some stratagies to deal with Cameron's behaviours.

My washing machine shit itself. Again. We only had the guy out here 3 weeks ago. So, we, or should I say Jon, is off to get a new one today. I shouldn't complain as the one we have is now over 10 years old, but I got told the other day they only make them to last 10 years now. WHAT?!?!? Why can't they last longer than that? Think of all the landfill. I really think we got sold a dud, this machine has cost us so much, in the first 2 and bit years (yep, just out of warranty) we had to have it fixed 3 times. Yes, I did ring them, and complain, and they did come to the party with that 3rd visit. But, we have had it fixed at least another 6 times since then aswell.

(Wow, listen to that wind, have you got it at your place???)

Right, I might go have a quick tidy up of my little area here, and get on to some scrapping, use some of the stuff that I got in Wellington.

(PS, that really was a boring post, wasn't it, no photos, no links, nothing!, so here's a joke.)

Drunk....Again!
		An Irishman had been drinking at a pub all night. The bartender finally said that the bar was closing. So the Irishman stood up to leave and fell flat on his face. He tried to stand one more time; same result. He figured he'll crawl outside and get some fresh air and maybe that will sober him up. Once outside he stood up and fell flat on his face. So he decided to crawl the 4 blocks to his home. When he arrived at the door he stood up and again fell flat on his face. He crawled through the door and into his bedroom. When he reached his bed he tried one more time to stand up. This time he managed to pull himself upright, but he quickly fell right into bed and was sound asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was awakened the next morning to his wife standing over him, shouting, "So, you've been out drinking again!!" "What makes you say that?" he asked, putting on an innocent look. "The pub called -- you left your wheelchair there again."