a wet & wild weekend

Posted in me by

I must be the first to admit – I was really hoping for league to be rained out this weekend. And it was! I just had so much to do, and not enough time as it was…
* clean out study (Si did the first of his filing cabinet drawers, yay, and I think found stuff going back to 1986!)
* list the books/items I no longer want (got about 1/4 way thru, so at least some progress!)
* make up the cot (nope, not done)
* help Si plumb in the bath taps and handbasin upstairs (done! just waiting on the sealant to cure and I won’t have to share my bathroom with the boys anymore!)
* exchange the library books & Cds (done, small fine, oops)
* feed the ducks at Western Springs (done, and there were heaps of eels too. Even crawling over the rocks under the double arch bridge – gross)

* take the boys into work for a photo with Ben 10 (done, they thought it very cool and wanted to bring him home. Ah, no!)
* clean up the garage (frankly, was never going to happen)
* scrap a digital layout (nope, but found my photoshop guide so some small progress)
* eat breakfast in bed (sadly, not one of my elder three made me any food or cups of tea this weekend! MIL made roast lamb on Friday as a belated birthday dinner and it was yummy)
* cleaned out and organised about half my stash (listed quite a bit)
* thought out the weeks meals in advance. Takes care of that 5pm panic!

So all in all, pretty sucessful. Plus had finished going thru all my years worth of Creating Keepsakes, ripped out the bits I use/want and filed these in clear slips. The rest are going to my midwife next week for her and her daughter to take what they want, then I guess to a kindy. Lots and lots of colour and use for a kindy collage!

Down to 9 weeks of work left as of today. Starting to get a bit scary! At least Si is enjoying his new job…we are a lot luckier than some other families. I just need to work on not being so grumpy. The family would be nodding their heads right about now…LOL

catching up

Posted in family, me by

It seems lately that all I seem to be doing is playing catch-up. At work, home, league – it’s really hard to get ahead. This coming weekend is going to have to be disciplined work – I have the lounge, kitchen, study & part of the garage to sort through, ad the cot to assemble and get used to (we brought a new-to-us one, as we’d given away the other years ago).

But I am looking forward to:
* looking at my baby’s new bed
* knowing where my stash is at (all over the place is not conducive to scrapbooking or even journalling!)
* selling some or as much as I can of the overload. Si would be shocked, but I can actually say “goodbye” to a huge volume of my books
* planning things, like meals, in advance. I’ve been sort-of doing this as I look thru the supermarket brochures each week, and there is a fantastic download on Becky Higgin’s blog on the 5/5 which I shall adopt
* having a place for the baby’s things – need to get the other set of drawers from the MIL’s garage

What are you looking forward to?

Oh, and by the way – it’s a boy. “Dangly bits” and all.

weekend update

Posted in family, friends, league by

Saturday – one of those rare fine days in league where only one of the boys played – this time it was Bran, up at Hibiscus Coast Raiders. Very relaxing knowing that all I had to do was get him there! We watched the tail end of the Lion Stars play the U7/8 (oh dear, we’ll be coming up against them soon enough) and settled in for the big match.
Bran played very well (and he’s happy with his effort – bonus) – spent the first half on the far wing (converted Blake’s first try) then came off for 10. But when he went back on and scored from one of Louis’ corner kicks on the forth. He had such a big grin on his face as he turned to the sideline to give his coach Calvin two thumbs up. Absolutely priceless.
At the “aftermatch” I got to tell the parents that due to their efforts as well as the boys, the team had been selected to play at Mt Smart on Sunday, between the U20’s and the Warriors. It’s great being able to give positive feedback.
Then spent half an hour with the HBC team management, as they hadn’t been handed the ARL email listing them as playing at Mt Smart on the Sunday. I’m glad we did, as it would have been awful for our boys to get there and not have an opposition.
Quiet afternoon (grouting tiles and napping). Then off to the club for the monthly prize giving which Lynne had mostly organised. Awesome effort and 8 of the eleven junior teams represented, not bad for the first time we’d attempted to have a get-together. Acka had organised Warriors posters and One Tribe drink bottles for prizes and all I had to do was write the certificates and hand everything to Bill to present – neither Lynne nor I wanted to be speaking and sort of pushed him into it. Whoops. But parents should know who the president is, right?!! Sat around after talking to various people then went to collect Louise. Hmm – no answer to phone or text so she hasn’t come home. Again. I wish I could have said it was a surprise but sadly it’s not!

Sunday – had a bit of a sleep in (rough night) then painted sealant on some of the tile grout while Si worked on the other wall. The boys disgraced themselves and ended up having nana naps. Zac & I took Si & Bran to Mt Smart (couldn’t all afford to go, dammit) then went home to get some boring stuff done. Bran played well (no stage fright, although it was his third time playing in front of the crowd). We tried to watch at home but the stats boards kept coming up on the TV. Could hear the crowd cheering so knew it was a good match! Found out later they won 12 tries to 6.

When we picked them up we headed out south – we’d arranged to spend time at Murray & Emma’s house as she’s now moved in. Pretty cool to see things as how Muz described in November (laughing still at the size of the TV) and the kids as usual got on like a house on fire. Went to Jolly Roger in Pine Harbour for tea (the builders forgot to run the gas line, so Emma still doesn’t have a cooktop!) then back to the house. Z won at Buzz (much crowing) and I would like to think that I won the ball fight! Got home very late but happy.

Happy Easter!

Posted in family by

I hope everyone out there is having a fabulous weekend – ours has so far been productive (nearly completed the upstairs bathroom tiling) and relaxing (I fell asleep while Si was watching Deed) and we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure – a day trip to Taupo, Waiouru & the Army Museum.
Photos tomorrow!
And quick baby update – all well, still a surprise but I am enjoying getting the basics together. It’s amazing how much we still have. Very grateful for that.

Updating

Posted in family, me by

It’s been a while since I posted here (altho I have been reasonably good on the forum at Oh Baby!). Things are OK, better with bubs than me, but ONE MORE SLEEP and I get to see bubs again. Tomorrow is the anatomy scan. I’ve been up since about 3.30 (it’s now 7.30) with a stupid cold and obsessing about the scan. Sigh. Hopefully tomorrow night or the weekend I’ll have pics for you.

I See…the start of an album

Posted in I See (scrapbook album) by

I took this idea from Ali Edwards some time ago (blogged about it too – click the label link) but am finally getting my act together to create. I fuss a lot about the process and in the end it’s terribly simple! Just point, shoot, print, stick in and write. Nothing special at all, except to me. But I do recommend that you start one too!
This is the first photo – it’s of Bran, about 20 months (he’s nine tomorrow!). His favourite character for a few years was Bear, from Jim Henson’s Bear in the Big Blue House. We still have Bear, and the DVDs, jacket and other clothes… I hope this baby is as enamoured!

Altho I am a little unsure why the top of the lemon looks green, I love this shot. Produce from my garden, the mint is perfectly focused – I paid attention to the detail.


Si and Zac. I suspect they were plotting something – probably how to get out of the dishes! – but I love that Zac has his father’s eyes.

I’ll post more as they are created but it is truely simple. One wirebound, interleafed A5 album, a tape runner, corner rounder and a silver pen.

a baby update

Posted in family by

here’s a photo from the latest scan. Only people who have done this before will show any real interest! But his/her back is turned towards us, head to the right.

I was thinking the other day how real this is for Simon, in comparison to my grandfather. Sure, they knew that Gran was likely pregnant, but it must have been a buzz for him to finally be able to feel my father, but so much time would have past. I should write and ask.

Projects and progress

Posted in stitching patterns by

Here’s Tapestry Cat. A Teresa Wentzler kit that I brought for myself two Christmases ago and have yet to finish. If you haven’t worked it out by now, I flit from project to project. Part of this is (currently) due to preggy brain, and some of it is because this is what I do. Things rarely get completed in one sitting, as I get bored. And when you’re renovating houses, working full time, parenting and being a partner, and always involved in things outside of the home as wel, there’s the time thing.

But since Murray died I have spent more time on this. I would like to finish it this year; it’s been a cathartic tool in that my hands are busy, I am creating something beautiful, and I can clear my head of the worries.And if that sounds wierd, well, we all grieve in different ways.

my day…

Posted in family, friends by

I have had the most stressful day. I really don’t want to live thru this again.I had some belly pains last night and a lot of gas. At work today it only got worse, really uncomfortable and I went to the doctors. Could be UTI, kidney stones and we’ll just check on baby’s heartbeat. Oops. Can’t find baby.

Right about now I AM FREAKING OUT. Not only pain, but thinking this is the end? I only just got to the point I knew I was really, really having a baby! So had to wait until midday, absolutely busting (they were good, got me squeezed in for a scan) and boom. There he is. The relief was the best thing.

But now I rattle – codeine for the pain, maxalon for the nausea, augmentum (sp) in case there is an infection, and some other stuff which tastes gross to counter the constipation that the codeine will apparently give me. And I still don’t know what’s causing the pain!

It must have been just as bad for Si. He can’t feel the pain (has to put up with the gas, but that’s really all just in competition!) but watching me wig out can’t be fun.

And the well-meaning but annoying questions about Murray again. I can handle them from people I know who are truely concerned, but the gossip ones I could kick.

CK project 365

Posted in project 365, scrapping challenges by

This is something that has me so excited! I was about to go onto Becky Higgins’ blog and complain that my email to the CS still hadn’t been answered when I saw this post – they are offering free downloads to people who couldn’t purchase the kit before it sold out! Yay!
Download zip file here (Mac and PC):http://beckyhiggins.com/blog/
and it has jpg elements that you can open in Photoshop, type over, save again as jpegs and print like normal photographs – I like that! Her post is Jan 10th.
All I need now is a 12*12 binder, some divided page protectors and I’m all go. But thinking of waiting this until Surprise is born as it would be kinda cool looking back over his/her first year.