All going to plan, I am currently buried in my own bed, having landed around midnight. But that’s my plan – in actuality I am probably stumbling around in a coffee fog trying to get three kids ready for school with only a few hours sleep. Wish me luck!

Today’s words are: GUM WIND PLUG HAM KID HATCH FORM

GUM we’ve been advised to allow B to chew gum during school – studies showed the physical activity of chewing helps concussion victims to focus. Must be working as his grades are awesome. Better than what they were before!

WIND not a fan unless I’m sailing. A reason why I would never live in Wellington.

PLUG or advertise. We spend a lot of time in advertising or marketing meetings. The odd weather patterns this year aren’t helping retail.

HAM looking forward already to Christmas dinner. I have had the cob in the freezer for months already.

KID I have a few of these!

HATCH plans. Craft plans, house plans, gardening plans – everything except where I would hide a body. Watching Bones has turned me off that big time.

FORM these are gone! I still have to translate “year” to “standard” or “form” for the oldies, much like a baby’s weight from pounds and ounces.

And that’s all, folks! Hope you enjoyed playing along.

Today’s plan is Gosford and anything historic that we missed by going the other road, and then back to Sydney to fly home. Blah to Auckland weather, yay to seeing the kids again.

Today’s words are: MAROON VOLUME EXPRESS REFUSE NOTE FLAG

MAROON State of Origin! Not that I am an Aussie by any stretch of the imagination but we are Queenslanders for three nights a year.

VOLUME my hair has none whatsoever. My children don’t decrease theirs either.

EXPRESS I used to snigger at the Ritchies idea of an express bus from town – save a whole ten minutes if I was lucky!

REFUSE no-one in my house likes dealing with the rubbish. And something I find hard to do when I’m asked to add another chore/task on my already busy day.

NOTE I write a lot of Notes To Self. How else am I supposed to remember everything?

FLAG totally over John Key’s desire to change our flag. So what if it looks like the Aussie one? More accurately, theirs looks like ours as we have the older! It reflects our colonial heritage with the Union Jack of Great Britain and the Southern Cross stars that the early Maoris followed, sailing down from Hawaiaki. Plus my grandfathers fought under this flag. I won’t be voting to change it, but pessimistically I think it’s a personal agenda item for the PM.

Today we’re heading up to Port Macquarie & thru a bit of the Hunter Valley. Hopefully dinner out on the waterfront.

Today’s words are: HAIL JAM CURRY GRAIN SEASON DOUGH

HAIL saying hello far too loudly?

JAM I made jam once! Need to go berry picking so I have the ingredients but I make a mean marmalade.

CURRY I can’t stand the smell as I’m always ill when I eat Indian curries. My tongue swells up and B is the same, which is awkward given one of his besties is part Indian. Quite like green curry tho.

GRAIN the lines in a piece of timber. Quite beautiful.

SEASON I love summer the best. Plenty of daylight when I get home from work. Flowers, bees, butterflies, walks, beach, PLAY.

DOUGH show me the money! Or what I can’t make well in winter now, as we don’t have a hot water cylinder.

On the plan today is to head to Newcastle & catch up with some people Si used to work with. We’re again travelling the long way around by the coastal roads. Looking forward to some great scenery.

Today’s words are: DRILL BANK STICK ANGLE WOUND ENTERANCE

DRILL Best tool ever. We have a couple of Makita battery powered ones so one has the drill bit and the other has a driver bit. Saves so much time when working on building projects.

BANK we had to create a softly graduated bank when we built a retaining wall. So much easier to mow than the previous bumpy stretch!

STICK driftwood? We don’t have a fire so I don’t encourage the kids to bring anything home from rambles but there is a small place in the garden, by the front door, that has one of M’s driftwood finds along with a volcanic rock B brought home from a geography trip to Mt St Johns. He got an Excellence on that project.

ANGLE preferably 90 degrees, especially when concreting in fence posts J

WOUND something M has to have covered, even if it’s a papercut! Frequently frustrating, but like his dad, he doesn’t do well seeing any blood. Most especially his own.

ENTERANCE I love our front door. It’s dark and solid. We need to re-set the pavers in tho – they were a temporary fix to the original owners putting down wall tile. The slightest bit of wet and it becomes a skating rink.

As you read this I am scheduled to be taking off to Sydney for shopping, then a drive down the coastal road to Wollongong & Kiama – very excited to have a few days to ourselves and to explore.

Now – the idea here is that each word has more than one meaning, so you’re to immediately scribble about the meaning that you first consider, no censor!

Today’s words are: DATE AIR SHED FLAKE INTEREST MIGHT

DATE infrequent activity! Si prefers movie dates, I prefer dinner + a walk. All too often he’s already seen the movie I want to see. Also involves a favour juggle to get L to babysit.

AIR need it to breathe! Or it’s an attitude that I have to put on, a confidence layer during interviews or assessments.

SHED ugly corrugated building that holds garden tools. I’m hoping to reinforce ours internally so I can grow Aleberic de Barbier over it, but will have to be a bit sneaky as this is a rose Si truly hates, as it’s thorny. But it has beautiful flowers for 6-8 months of the year so worth it.

FLAKE the personality type that I don’t have any time for. Or a crumbly chocolate bar, particularly good with pavlova, cream and strawberries.

INTEREST some things I can flirt with and others I have a keen interest and focus on. Also what I enjoy seeing in my Kiwisaver (retirement) account.

MIGHT in the context of the book I recently finished about Alfred the Great – it’s a strength of both opinion and power and the size of the army.