Thursday, December 23, 2010

Happy Christmas!! Merry New Year!

Yup this is me today. 

We went and hung out at a friends house for the middle chunk of the day, knowing that the kids would be in water and that I wasn't gonna be doing a lot, I dressed down. I had jandals on for driving and walking in, but that was about how long they lasted.

Let's be honest here for a second, given how this week has been going I don't know if I'm gonna be blogging much over the next coupla weeks. I will try. But as Captain is off work for 2 weeks, MIL is coming up to visit for a week, and kids are home so we may be catching up with friends who it's tricky to see during term time (you know - fitting them in around school/Playcentre drop offs & pick ups and nap time. ergh. too hard.)  I'm not sure I will have energy come end of day to write. 

But I will try. Yeah shut up Yoda I hear ya. ok, let's make a deal I will write at least once a week. If I get crazy and manage more than that, then let's call it bonus! Gravy. Awesome. (For those who know me, then you know I like to keep my word, but also love just slacking off)  :OD

My baby-who-is-no-longer-a-baby brother came round (he's taller than me. Yeah I know, it's not hard. pffft) and he's really awesome at origami things, so was folding paper cranes (the bird type) and boats and such for all our tribe. I suggested that he would be good at making these  we have a couple of slightly Stars Wars keen kids and I knew they would like these, but I hadn't found the umph to make them.  

Me: Hey J, you're good at origami you could make the snowflakes
J: Um, it's more cutting than origami.
Me: pfft, it's paper. origami is paper. same thing.


We had success!! Well *ahem* by we I mean Him and Captain. Of course.


And after looking at the completed snowflake, Captain started to crtique it, saying well it doesn't look right for a clone trooper.

Sheesh.


Therein followed a conversation about why it wasn't looking right. Because he followed the instructions. But they weren't right, why didn't you make it right. I was following the instructions bitch! The instructions are wrong. Well let's fix them.  (that was Captain and J. I wasn't involved. just watching and laughing....)

The darth vader looks better, altho is kinda flimsy and may well be broken before the sun rises.  The other side of the paper is black, and this is the side we have showing on the tree (coz Darth is black. duh.) but it didn't show up in the pic so well.   Not bad for first try of each I thought. 

Needless to say they were so fiddly the boys gave up after one. I'm not sure how it is expected that kids make these....but *shrug* maybe like the childproof cap it is easier for younger hands?  ;O)


This evening I sat down to write a little something something for ya, thinking I should at least write a little Christmassy thingy, wish you all well and such.  I got sidetracked.  

There are blogs I follow that I read every day. Almost religiously. The select few. Then there are a few that I read when I'm having a slow day, with no tv to catch up on. Or I'm vegging out. Tonight this was what sidetracked me. And as I'm not there often, I read shall we just say a number of posts?  


read this one first  coz it splains some of the terms used. Then I liked this one we've all been there.... and then oh do I have days when my brain feels like this!  


you know what? look. just go to http://www.rantsfrommommyland.com and have a laugh. Coz they are amazingly down to earth women, Kate and Lydia, and I dunno how they make their lives so funny but they do.  I aspire to be this awesome a blogger. And IRL.  


One day. One day.  But for now, I'm off to drink my wine in the bath while watching more episodes of The West Wing. Yay for laptops. 

If I can find an extension cord.  Wish me luck!  

Tree & lights look SOOO much better at night don't they? I think so.
Oh! and have a happy and safe holiday time. If you go away (crazy folk) or just hang round home. May it not be too stressful, may you enjoy the people you are with, and not end up spending time at the docs.  :OD

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

oh yeah, this writing thingy

Ok, so sorry. I haven't forgotten you all my lovelies. Don't feel bereft. I am still here. 

It's just the summer holidays started, all the kids are out. Yes. All 6 of them are home all day. It ain't pretty.  Not aided by the rain. 

In truth that hasn't slowed them down too much. By the afternoon they are still running outside to play with the hose (monkey & SirTalksALot), in the paddling pool (Darling Girl & Dude & Padawan) and on the swing set, or just running round crazy gettting fresh air. And wet in the rain. Which is all good with me, coz by afternoon I'm done with the constant asking for shit. If it's not one of them it's another.  Did I mention I had six (count them - 1,2,3,4,5,6) kids. 

And that was yesterday. The first day of 6 weeks of holidays.  

This does not bode well.  (check out those fancy words would ya?  bereft. bode.)

This of course was all compounded yesterday when the drier died. For the second time in 6 months.  Did I mention the rain? and the 6 kids? do you know how much washing 6 kids can produce??  And I'm not that fussy about them running round in slightly dirty clothing. But not peed on clothes. Sadly The Dynamic Duo are still working on the "fully toilet trained" concept so we still have a fair amount washing thanks to them *sigh* 

But in all honesty none of that is why I haven't managed to post in the last few days. Even spending all day with good friends - which was sooo wonderful!! Thanks for visiting us M clan! - wasn't enough to stop me.  I was perplexed by a puzzle that came up over the weekend....

If we have different names for different sizes of water craft: yachts, dingys, boats, RIBs, canoes and cruise ships; why are all sizes of craft used in space travel called ships? Rocket ships. Space ships. 


Why is that?  :O.

Good luck with sleep!!  Nighty night.  ;O) 

 

Friday, December 17, 2010

This Week....

I dunno about you, but I am buggered! 

It's either the end of the week, the end of the term, end of the year, or a horrible combination of them all that's done it.  We've been busy this week, but not really that much more than we usually are. 

We have been staying up late (read 1030pm) but really? How can that be so bad? Monkey sleeps thru more often than not now, so we actually get some sleep at night.  And as for feeding, I have managed to inadvertantly cut down how many times he feeds in a day so that shouldn't be draining me. He's happy to drink some milk during the day from a bottle, and when I was out during the week, he had some in the evening too. So YAY!!

We  did have the wood delivered.  And I did the majority of the work moving it from here....


To here.  Altho I did it over the week, little bit each day.


Maybe I'm just knackered from having so many children. Yeah. That's it. That's what we'll blame.  But I love them all. Most days. :O/  


I'm gonna go have another glass of wine and a lie down in front of the tv, watch Glee, Graham Norton, and maybe if I'm still awake by then 7 days. Have a giggle at all that.  That always helps, having a giggle at something, or someone. Captain Awesome helps in that department too. 


Then it's an early night for us. Altho not if we wait up to watch 7 days....
Hope you all have a nice relaxing weekend, that the rush down to Christmas doesn't drive you batshit crazy. It's just not worth it.  :OD

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Mischief and Trouble

Here's some of the trouble that the Dynamic Duo and Monkey has got up to in the last week.....

Lovingly reorganising my toilet paper filing system.... 

I thought we were past the stage when we had to keep the toilet door shut at all costs - I learnt this lesson years ago when I found Dude cleaning the vacuum for me. With the toilet brush. Nice.

After a wee sleep in on saturday morning I was woken by Captain showing me these picks.  Apparently Monkey had found something to entertain himself. Cool. 


Awesome Independant Play there Little Fella. :O/







And oh Bless! Look the Dynamic Duo (when they were younger I called them Trouble and Mischief) found some Craft Herpes glitter and spread it round. I can only imagine they were trying to make the house look festive. 

Hoping to lift my day by making the house Spaaaarkly! 

Sad to say it didn't work. 

Altho, points for building a wall with the couch cushions to keep the herpes glitter contained. Pity that you found some mysterious red stuff that dyed your feet, the floor, the couch and anything else you touched, oh yeah WITH YOUR FEET so as you walked a nice pink colour too.

All I can say is thank goodness it's mostly all on the tiled floor, and came off real easy. Yay also for vacuum cleaners.  Except I couldn't be bothered vacuuming the WHOLE couch, so it's still a little twinkly.   Who'da thought that fairy lights just wouldn't be enough sparkly??

This is kinda cool. Darling Girl has been asking for an ipod. And for various reasons we weren't gonna be getting her one. She came to me the other day, and said "Don't worry mum. You don't need to buy me an ipod, I made one myself!"  

Please to be noting the ear phones (that's the thing sticking out the top).


And so she can listen to it in her room, she made a freakin Docking Station as well!!

She rocks. It's all I can say.  SO Cool!  :OD

  

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Food For Thought

This was posted on twitter by someone I follow, @alronberg

well, actually it's his  page  but it's the easiest way for me to share it with you. And I'm sure he won't mind the visitors....

Sorry I can only give you the link. One day I will have the time to learn how to imbed vids....One day.  ;O)

We recieved the kids reports the other day and I was baffled. Even with an extra piece of paper accompanying the report explaining what all the different letters and marks mean, I was confused. I show the Husband. He repeated my sentiments.  It takes a degree to understand a primary school report nowadays. 

I managed to gather enough to understand that none of our older 3 are really sucking at school. They seem to be keeping up. But keeping up with what?  The Reading level or 'Asttle'is described as "the National Mean (average).  The Mean is generated based on what the average New Zealand student achieved in the data collected when Asttle was created." 


Wait. Am I reading that right? The grade is based on what the students were achieving? Not what level they should be at, but what they WERE achieving.  


That can't be right. 


So, my kid, based on this criteria, could be keeping up with the Asttle. But if the average student when they gathered the data wasn't able to read, does that mean my child can't read either? Even though they are meeting the criteria.   I'm hoping to God that I'm missing something here!

The thing that struck me was that we got detailed info on how the kids were doing in reading, writing and maths. Not just their marks but effort and such too.  But for all the artsy things they do, they got a mark based on Effort alone.  How does that really reflect how my child is doing at school?  

They could be trying their poor little heart out and still be behind the grade curve. Putting in Effort for Africa, and yet still failing.  That sucks. 

Anyways.  watch the vid. Be inspired to help our kids find their creativity again.  Think about ways we can help schools to see creativity as important. Failing that, or maybe as well as that, find ways to support your child's creativity - be it dancing anytime all the time; dressing as they want regardless of fashions; allowing them time to complete drawings; or just listening to their crazy stories.  


Children are creative. They come to us that way. We need to cherish it, not crush it.  :OD

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Dancing Queen

I spent most of saturday racing around like a headless chicken....first trying, and failing, to achieve Christmas shopping with Captain Awesome Pants.  We have 6 kids to buy for, plus nieces and nephews on his side (altho there is a system where we only buy for 3 of them), as well as a little something for his sisters, and then there's my family....yeah it's a bit of a mission even though we try and keep it simple.

But that's the thing isn't it? How to really keep it simple, when everywhere there are influences inviting us to complicate the hell out of the occasion. pffftt. Getaway with ya.  *fingers in ears* I'm not listening! 

That wasn't my point and it's too muggy here today for me to have the energy to rant, so you are safe. Another blathering blog post coming up!!

After the semi-successful present shopping, we raced home so I could go to rehearsal. Then whipped home for to feed the Monkey, throw down some dinner and race back again for the concert. Actually I did it at a reasonable pace, I'm just trying to make it sound exciting for ya!

On saturday mornings I do an adult jazz class, it's mostly fun, some pain, some hard work. We've been learning a contemporary piece that I found quite airy fairy, floaty wishy washy. Once we learnt the piece tho, it was cool to be able to complete it without mistakes, and I managed to learn it even though I didn't attend every class this term, and without practicing much at home either - only at the last minute!!


This is us ---> 
Before we danced, looking all nervous.  During rehearsal we ran onstage too far so we were off centre, and there wasn't time to try again. Not even to walk onstage and find our place. So we were fairly winging it. Then when we were waiting in the wings to go onstage for our one and only 90 second performance, some in the group were walking the dance thru again....this went thru my mind (I tried to find a vid but failed so will just have to describe)  In the movie Bring It On there's a scene where it's the night before the big playoff, in a hotel room the two main characters hear others outside practicing.... Missy gets up to yell out window 
"Give it up already! If you haven't got it by now, you're never gonna get it!!"

We went on. We danced. No one fell over. No one fucked up majorly. We even kept mostly in time. We came off happy! We have low expectations, but hey, at least they were met, exceeded even  *grin* 


Later in the weekend we decorated the Christmas tree....or maybe it was earlier. I have taken a bunch of photos over the last couple days to share with you all, and the timeline is getting a little blurry....  

Anyhow, this is how it was after the kids helped me to decorate it.


Just a little in defence of our poor wee sad tree - it looks much better at night when it's dark and you can see all the lovely twinkly lights :O)
Even so, I decided it needed a little more something something....so I bought some stuff. The little kids helped me put the things on, then Monkey ran away with the beads. So they didn't make it onto the tree but here's how it looks. Better I think.  Altho, there are more lights I bought, (blue lights. I decided looking at the tree last night, that I like the blue lights the bestest)  but there are 2 sets on the tree already, so I may find somewhere else to put them. Stay tuned for twinkly light pics  :OD

  So, now there are a bunch of things that went wrong, well, mischief that the littlier boys got into over the weekend and yesterday. I think I will save these for a post all of their own. 


Darling Boys.  How we love them.  :O/


For now, the wood arrived last night. Finally.  Captain Awesome and I shifted it inside the gate, as it landed all over the foot path, and onto the road.  It only took us a little over half an hour.  Then we collapsed! 




And that be my job for the rest of today. In the drizzley rain. Shifting wood. oh, yeah as well as washing sheets, and making yummy cinnamon swirls - they is DEFINITELY having choc chips in them!!   :OD

Friday, December 10, 2010

Falling asleep Friday

Hmm, so um, yeah. This blogging thing. It's hard to find time to write, but I try.  And I sturggle to find things interesting to write about, altho I think I hit the middle ground, gave up on that a while back deciding that I would write whatever happens and if people wanna read it then, cool.

It's an odd thing, as I want to be interesting. But most days are the same. Or similar at least. Drag my arse out of bed; wrangle the kidlets thru breakfast, getting dressed and the get to school melee; take the littlier ones to Playcentre, where sometimes I stay and sometimes I don't; then it's make myself some lunchtime; nap time for Monkey; get lost online time for me while eating some leftover crap - like now when I am lost in theoatmeal.com instead of writing this, or I dunno, watching the kids....they is awfully quiet. Aw crap! Get out that is NOT your room!! Sigh.

Then there is school pickup, corralling kids to stop them killing each other, dinner and bedtimes. All good fun to be had by all.   You know what though, actually our kids are pretty well behaved really. In the grand scheme. They do bicker and argue over nothing issues, pedantic little shits sometimes, but they get that from me (thanks Dad) - but they also make us laugh with silly things, comments and such.  Case in point - the other day I was saying hello to Captain Awesome when he got home from work. We were fully dressed in the dining room, kissing. Then as I do often I followed him into our room to chat while he gets changed from work.  Darling Girl yelled after us "watch out! they're gonna do it!!"   nice. 

I guess the funniest bit is that she wasn't far wrong.  ;O)

So, the monotony of my everyday life as a Stay At Home Mum. Yeah, maybe I'm in a funk. Coz I just ran out of words to describe my life. Took to tweeting instead about the 2 cats (not ours!) growling and stretching at each other on our front yard.  I'm tempted to go outside and watch them, see what happens. I thought they were fighting initially but then it looked more like courting.......

Snazzy new hair colour FTW :O)
Fuck I need to get out more. 


I was gonna give you pics of the mammoth wood pile that will need shifting in the next few days so it's outta the rain. But it's not here yet. The delivery man said "After 1pm"  I guess he didn't technically lie but as of 3:40pm we have no wood. 


I have a rehearsal at 5pm for my dance concert tomorrow night, so it's gonna be a crazy couple of days. Altho on the bright side, this gives me something to write about.  Tired cranky boy who didn't sleep for long enough is singing my song tho, so I shall sign off.


Thanks for reading, have a nice weekend. And please for the love of all things Holy, DON'T let the Christmas Crazy get to ya!!   :O)

Finding The Happy

Yeah, so, the not getting sleep sucks.  Today has been ok, but as Thursday is the one day a week I have only one child for a few hours I usually run around like a mutant headless chicken doing stuff.

This results in that by lunchtime I'm ready for a nap.  And it seems totally capable of good english too.

Sadly the Dynamic (Disastarous?) Duo can't really be  left unattended for long. So I am out of the habit of Nana Napping during the day. And OH how I miss them.  *sigh*

I forgot where I was going for a sec there.  But I have remembered *kicks my brain* Finding My Happy.  I was reading a cool post about this today.... well, more it's about someone (who I think is awesome) trying to find her happy when life seems to be overwhelming "I think you can in Europe"  Check her out here   For me this was cool as much as the concept of seeing the Silver Lining were the cool music links she had in there.  Awesome. Just what I've needed.

I've been listening to this   today, and altho it's not the happiest  of lyrics the tune is upbeat and that is I think what I've enjoyed.

And now for The Award for the Stupidest. Um, The Dumbest Criminal? ah fuckit, I can't think of a funny title.....just click the link and read the article. And laugh at the Stupidity of Some People.

:OD

Thursday, December 9, 2010

A coupla things





Sweeeeeet!  Is getting my pic in the local paper from santa parade on weekend. In my fairy tutu - not that you can really see it. Waving my arm around like a loony. Bubbles floating over my head.






Not so cool.  The boys deciding that instead of watching tv they needed to turn everything off and rearrange the christmas tree lights. *sigh* I wanted to threaten them with taking all the lights away. For the rest of christmas. But then what do I have to look forward to?! Twinkly lights are the best bit about christmas. Last year I managed to leave ours up till this september. Sans the tree. Naturally. That would be lame.  But lights?  *happy sigh*  Spaarkly!





Noice.  My new baby. Ukulele. Isn't she gorgeous? *happy sigh*  *bliss*  Now to just learn more than 3 chords and memorise some songs to play with the kids, at home and at Playcentre. Oh! I know. I'll do it in my spare time! Yeah. Totally. That'll work. ;O)







Crappy is not getting to sleep till 1am, coz I had a meeting, then a child decided 1030pm is the time to feed for an HOUR AND A HALF.  :O{  By which time another child woke coz his bed was wet and wanted cuddles.  Not cool. 

I have too many children. 

Hopefully today is better, coz the sun is shining. :O/

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Verbose I think is the word I'm looking for

Tuesdays are my Do As Little As Possible Day.  Today I think we achieved this.

<-- This is my To Do list.  I have made biscuits, washed the nappies and one other load, made lunches for 3 boys, cleaned the toilet, and hung out online.  *When* I get dressed I will clean the shower at the same time.  Which is possibly why I'm not dressed yet.  Avoidance of Work.

At 1:10pm.

I have to pick the kids up from school, so it'll happen.  You can all breathe again now   :OP

What have I been doing online all day you ask? yeah I know you didn't ask, but Ima gonna tell ya anyways....  I have been chatting to Twitterkin, reserving books at the library, reading random items posted by folk - although not many too be fair, as I have a headache and can't be bothered so much today - I have also been checking out christmas gift ideas for a certain SirTalksALot on trademe.   Oh yeah, and listening to this little ditty  which I couldn't get out of my head after seeing it  here  yesterday.  Well, I couldn't get one line of it out of my head.  See how you go.

The Monkey has awoken from his nap, and I'm still not dressed so I will less you in peace to attend to that now.  Have fun!!   :OD

Wow! actually managed to keep it short today! *amazed* 

Monday, December 6, 2010

Monday - washing, making bread and hooning round on a skateboard

I have 6 kids, I may have mentioned this before, but in case you missed it - I have 6 kids. So to manage to get the bare minimum of housework achieved, but not feel like I am doing it constantly I have a few systems in place.  One of these is that I was sheets on mondays. Well, the youngest three's sheets. That's enough really.  It takes two loads of our giant arse machine (7.5kg) to wash them. 

And on days like today, when the clouds insist on hovering menacingly all day, threatening rain, but not actually delivering I am on a knife edge whether to hang it out on the line to dry - and it's hot and windy too, so it's not like it won't dry! - or just give up and whack it all in the dryer. (oh! and I asked my editor friend: Dryer can be spelled (?spelt?) either way and be correct. So I can put washing in the dryer, then later empty the drier. *wicked grin* like life wasn't confusing enough huh?!

In summer, sitting here in as little clothing as I can without being indecent, melting into a pool on the floor it just seems plain wrong to use the drier.  


Nappies, delicates, and everything else!
It's weird I can handle dirty washing piling up in the rubbish bin (that's what we use, an old rubbish bin! it's just big enough!!) well, not too high piled up. And I can handle clean washing hanging out in the mountain waiting to be folded. And oh my we hit the JACKPOT earlier this year when Pandawan wanted to change jobs and offered to fold the washing! *victory dance*  *ahem* Captain and I looked at each other trying not to grin and said "sure, that would be a good job for you"   *giggle*  He did complain a bit after a week or so, when he realised how BIG a job it really is. But to his credit, he has continued to fold all the washing. He even gets a little grumpy when we tell him to leave it coz he has to go to bed, or have dinner "but I need to fold the washing!"  Gorgeous!


The other thing I do on mondays is baking bread. We decided a while back that we would start making all our own bread. Captain Awesome used to do this - kneading and all that jazz by hand - a few years back, then it just got a little to hard. We of the hundreds of offspring eat about a loaf of bread a day. Give or take....  But recently we decided to give it another go. And good fortune would have it that my parents had a breadmaker we could steal *ahem* borrow as they weren't using it. So we uplifted that and voila!  


Somehow making the bread became my job, when it had always been Captain's domain. Just to make life even harder for myself, I bake it in the oven.  The size the loaf comes out of the machine is hard to slice, and too big for lunchboxes.  That's my reasoning anyways!  But I have always been a lazy kneader, so I use the machine for that. On a good day, I can kick out 4 loaves.  Today it will be slightly less as I was out at a Playcentre trip this morning, and will be out this evening. 4 loaves is enough, mostly to keep us going all week. Yeah I hear ya, there are more than 4 days in a week - check your maths LTF!!  In fairness, there is usually some leftovers from one week to the next, and also I will often make other types of bread midweek.  yummy things like Cinnamon Swirls. with chocolate instead of raisins. Coz, honestly, who eats raisins??? 


Except weirdos and children.  And the odd housewife.  oh, sorry, you like raisins too Captain Awesome? *sigh* O.K. I will put raisins in the next batch.  *eyeroll*  sheesh. 


Cool thing that happened today that doesn't happen every monday, like the sheet washing and bread making, we went to a park that has a bike track for little kids, all painted like roads with stop signs and all.  I took a skateboard along for me, coz it's easier to catch up with kids halfway round that way than walking (see the lazy theme again!). I took Monkey for a spin on it - me kneeling him sitting inbetween my arms - and he was grinning the whoel way round. Sadly I forgot my camera, so we don't have any pics.  We later went down a big slide together and he was laughing and giggling bout that too. So I have a Speed Demon for a little one.  This should make life interesting. 


Well, more interesting than it already is. His other current love is keys. He will happily wander around with a set of keys trying to find things to put them in. Although he has as I write this my nail clippers that are on a key chain thingy, and he's loving them!!


I will leave you with the pics of our drunk paddling pool with the kids boogy boards in them. YEs my special kids try to boogy board in a paddling pool.  *facepalm*  none of them has cracked their heads open yet - so adventure on I say!!   :OD



 They do it 3 at a time sometimes too..... 


Oh yeah, and this is me the Idiot who made sure all the kids were sunscreened and forgot herself  *facepalm*   


One day I'll get my shit together.


But please, for your health, please don't hold ya breath!! ;OD

Friday, December 3, 2010

U2, me too, Monkey and Captain Awesome

This time last week I was struggling with being awake after staying out late the night before to see my favourite band. *thinks* yeah I think that's an accurate description. I like a lot of different bands; some a little, a song or two from some, some musicians I come back to often, but beneath behind beyond them all I always seem to come back to U2

I know there are those out there who think Bono is a pretentious posturing wanker and would-he-for-fucks-sake-take-those-shades-off! But to me, he sings from his heart, about things that are important to him, and he can laugh at himself. He knows that his image is not who he is as a man. He knows that fame is not all it's cracked up to be. He knows that it's not entirely healthy to love what he does the way he does, but at least he knows this. In his words - "I can't sing but I got soul" Also their music is the soundtrack of my life....it is intrinsically linked to my memories of growing up.


So, when I heard they were coming to Little Ole New Zealand it was a no-brainer that I was going to the concert. The logistics took a little more working out though.... Who would go to the concert with me, do both me and the captain travel up, do I fly away for 24 hours, would Monkey last that long without me??? In the end a friend (she is The AWESOMEST- yes you C!!) offered to watch Monkey for us, and Captain consented to go to the concert with me!!  Yay we had some time away!! Mostly without kids. WIN.


We just had to pack and leave.  I tend to pack with a "pack so I won't need it" philosophy....yay for parents who not only are willing to look after 5 kids, but also have big suitcases I can borrow!  ;OD

Right I have many little stories to share, so this isn't going to be a chronological storytelling thing. "thank fuck!" I hear you sigh.  :OP  

We went out for breakfast one of the mornings....we were only gone 3 nights, but it's already starting to blur together!! We kinds stayed around the Takapuna/Milford area, so things were repeated. ANYWAYS, the thing that made me laugh, was having breakfast of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup I was getting full, Captain said I didn't have to finish it.  I looked at him.  It was bacon.  you can't not finish bacon. weirdo.  So he suggested I could put the rest in my handbag for later.....  sound familiar? maybe I knew this day was coming.  breathe out there mum, I didn't actually pick it up and sneak it away. I just ate it real quick so we could go.  hmmm bacon. *sigh* 

When we arrived in our room Monkey was having an explore and quickly discovered he could get into the bathroom and with some delight the toilet paper....."wheeeeee" it spins off the roll real easy.  *sigh*   Let's just say we locked that door, and thank goodness there was a stiff sliding door access from the bedroom that he couldn't open!  
hmm, I have 10 minutes before I have to do the school pick up, so what else to tell today, and I will tell more later.....
We had a lovely couple of days hanging out with awesome friends, seeing some of the sights round the North Shore, and getting a few Christmas presents for the kids sussed - yay for sales!!  If you get the chance there is an amazing view from atop North Head.  Spectacular!  Totally worth going to Auckland for.  The weather was lovely too :OD


Oh, yeah and the concert.  gah, nearly forgot!!  *eye roll* I didn't really!!  We had hired a car (nice 2010 model - such a treat!!) and found a park near the venue. Pity really it was the wrong entrance so we had to walk pretty much all the way Mt Smart Stadium  before we found our seats.  And then I couldn't read the ticket, so was accusing, NICELY, strangers of being in our seats *facepalm* Good thing we weren't interested in the support act huh??  


U2 was as always AWESOMESAUCE.  They had a real touching tribute to the Pike River Miners - it did seem weird to be going out to party on that night - but I'm sorry I  wasn't NOT going!  They played a different mix of songs from last time (2006) but there were some of my favs in there, so that was cool with me!  Adam finished up in a sparkly shirt, with his sparkly guitar and guitar strap = too awesome, as only Adam can do!  The stage was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G...Captain took some shots on his phone, but they wouldn't do it justice. Let's just leave it at this: I had to stop dancing to watch the light show. The sky was lit up!  And cool cool cool when they first came on, everyone stood up, stamping their feet to the beat - the temporary stands we were on were shaking to the rhythm!! Captain was a little unsure about this and starting making his exit strategy, but to me it was a nice wee memory to store away - all of us there together enjoying the music. Cool. Too cool. 


needless to say that I didn't get this finished in the ten minutes I had.....Thanks tho Darling Girl and Dude for doing Monkey watch so Mama could come back later and finish her ramblin's  :O)

I'll apologise once again for not having the skills to set these across the page to save you having to scroll down through them. I took a "round the world" set of pics from atop North Head with Captain Awesome (obviously). I won't bore you with them all tho...just a select few. Nice tho huh?

Our Amazing Friend stayed in the car with the wee boys (ours and hers) singing and waving her arms around to entertain them....yeah we saw ya!!  ;OD
So, that's pretty much the majority of our trip away, it was for the most part a restful few days. Apart from the crazy impatient Auckland drivers - won't miss them. 

Glad to be back home in our own bed too....it's a niiiiiiiice bed! 










Have a lovely weekend, hope it is what you hope it to be. I will be crazy busy, have volunteered to be on the back on a ute in our local Christmas Parade, or Santa Parade as they are now called, with a bunch of Playcentre kids.  I'll be dressed in my LittleToastFairy tutu....should be, ah, interesting.  :OD


Thursday, December 2, 2010

Thinking of Others

I finally found the camera cord, so was gonna share some pics with y'all from our trip. From my kids trying to boogy board in the paddling pool, 3 at a time. I kid you not.   From the Awesomeness that is my Playcentre Family who decided yesterday to do a "Ruthi" (that's me) Dress Up day. *aw schucks*  
But then online I was reminded of the Pike River Memorial that is being held today.

If you don't live in New Zealand, you may not have heard of the tradgey that happened in our wee nation in the last couple of weeks. We have mines here (I don't know how many, nor where they all are), and sadly in a coal mine on the South Island's West Coast there was an explosion that trapped 29 men; some older - men who have mined most of their lives; some who were new to the industry. While those on the surface banded together to rescue their workmates their friends their family, another explosion happened. Then another. And lastly a fire. Or more. I lost track. There is no longer much hope, if any that these men will be returned to their families, so they can mourn and farwell their loved ones.

So here I sit in my home, hanging out as I do in the afternoon while my baby sleeps, my little boys watching tv, my older children at school learning, I surf the web, chat online and read funny stories.  Today though is different. I am tuned into the Live Stream (thanks TV3) of the Memorial in Greymouth to the 29 men who died.  

You may think that 29 men is not that many. They rescued those 33 miners in Chile - we had hope initially as a nation that a similar story would play out here. But sadly it was not to be.  To give you some perspective read more info here about how big the West Coast is, what the population is, I know if I try to tell you, I will get details wrong. I was never a great student of geography. 29 is a big number to lose all at once, from such a community.  From any community.  This event has had a huge impact on our country as a whole, no matter whether you personally knew any of the miners or their families.  Mining is a hard industry, and these are not, not by far, the first to die in the West Coast Mines, but it is still a hard blow to a strong community. I can only imagine how the people there feel. I am blessed that I do not know this type of grief. 


So I am not going to post my usual stories today, I ask that you would take a moment to pray (or whatever it is you do, and to whomever) for these men and their families.  It will be a long road of grieving and to healing for them all.

Conrad John Adams, 43, Greymouth.
Malcolm Campbell, 25, Scotland
Allan John Dixon, 59, Runanga
Zen Wodin Drew, 21, Greymouth 
Christopher Peter Duggan, 31, Greymouth  
Joseph Ray Dunbar, 17, Greymouth 
Daniel Thomas Herk, 36, Runanga.  
Richard Bennett Holling, 41, Blackball 
Jacobus (Koos) Albertus Jonker, 47, South Africa
William John Joynson, 49, Dunollie (Australia)
Riki Steve Keane, 28, Greymouth 
Terry David Kitchin, 41, Runanga
Michael Nolan Hanmer Monk, 23, Greymouth
Stuart Mudge, 31, Runanga
Peter O'Neill, 55, Runanga
Kane Barry Nieper, 33, Greymouth
Milton John Osborne, 54, Ngahere
Brendan John Palmer, 27, Cobden
Benjamin David Rockhouse, 21, Greymouth
Peter James Rodger, 40, Greymouth
Blair David Sims, 28, Greymouth
Joshua Adam Ufer, 25, Australia
Keith Thomas Valli, 62, Winton
Glen Peter Cruse, 35, Cobden
John Leonard Hale, 45, Runanga
David Mark Hoggart, 33, Foxton
Andrew David Hurren, 32, Hokitika
Samuel Peter Mackie, 26, Greymouth
Francis Skiddy Marden, 41, Runanga

There are also funds that have been opened for the families if you wish to donate  see here  

For me though, I'm going now to hug my children and, when he returns from work as he does everyday, a thing that I usually take for granted, I will hug and kiss my husband Captain Awesome Pants.  I am blessed. So blessed. I don't often see these blessings in the hussle and bustle of everyday life.  

Today I can see them a little clearer. Sad that it takes a tradegy to occur before I can see such things. 

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Drama Drama Drama

So, yeah, yesterday kinda ganged up on me and I didn't get online to write anything.  This seems to be happening a lot lately.

Holy crap, SirTalksALot just asked me "can I have some coffee?" "What?!" "I need a drink of coffee"   I'm hoping we have a different  definition of coffee.... *phew* he's poured himself some milk!

ANYways, we ended up at the hospital yesterday coz Captain Awesome was having weird chest pain. Turns out he's fine. It took four or so hours out of our day, but I'm glad he's ok. Just a hypochondriac. Or just weird.  We'll go with weird. He's a weird guy, but I love him and I am truly glad he is ok. His chest was given the all clear, even his lungs. *phew* So I am thankful for that.  

Coming home at 8pm and then having to settle a grumpy overtired Monkey wasn't how I had planned my evening.

Also? Being left with 6 kids would suck.

I need to rethink my schedule for writing this, I like the coming up with a topic on the day kinda thing, but finding time to write is a struggle. I could wake up at Sparrow's Fart like some bloggers I follow and use that time to write. But really? we all know that ain't gonna happen.  You can stop laughing now.  :OP

I mention the schedule, coz I was writing in the afternoon, but today we went to a friends place so the whole Dynamic Duo could have a playdate - it's a little much to ask someone to take both kids for an afternoon. But it meant that Monkey didn't have his nap.  And I didn't write.  Then the rest of the day went to poos as Monkey was a MESS.  

Oh yeah, and I'm on the desktop again, as the interweb to the laptop is fershnuckered. I also can't find the camera cable, so once again no pics. Not even old ones.....coz they are on the laptop.

It's all WIN here today folks!! 

That's all for today, I have meeting tonight in a while, but have to shop first so we have milk for breakfast.  ARGH....I have cool photos and stories to share. *sigh*  you'll just have to come back tomorrow.  Hopefully by then I will have my shit together.

But no promises. I'm not that Delusional!  :OD

Monday, November 29, 2010

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!

So, yes we survived!  and we returned, and we haven't even killed any of the kids! So all is good.

I had plans to write a wonderful post for you today full of pics and stories from our trip away, but it's hot. ugh muggy hot. I have spent the last 20 minutes chasing a Ninja to put pants on after a bath, and frankly I can't be naffed writing now. Plus there is washing to hang out, y'know make rain while the sun shines. Wait, that can't be right.

Oh look, my brain is melting out my ear in this heat.  I might go wade in the paddling pool.....

Actually, I'ma gonna be a Good Mum and read stories to the Dynamic Duo so that we can return them and they will at least have been opened once!!

I promise to sort the photos and write witty stories for you all over the next few days to tell the tales of our adventures.  Thanks for your patience. 

Ugh. Hot.  too hot.   blergh.   :O/  

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Off the Grid....in more ways than one!

hello my lovelies!!

Hey, so firstly apologies to anyone who was looking for yesterday's post. Um, yeah it didn't happen. I mentioned that we're going away right? That's tomorrow, and yesterday was crazy busy with things I had to do: doc appt for 2 boys; an extra meeting or two (wtf?); and banging my head against my keyboard trying unsuccessfully to get the laptop I usually work on to connect to internet.  ack.

Today's post comes to you in association with the words "grr", "fuckyouyouuselesspieceofshit!", the lilting rhythm of a puter being slammed shut - yet again- and the dulcit tones of Prodigy as I try to type with this retched icky keyboard at the desktop computer and not lose my mind.......   

Yeah good luck with that I hear you say.  :O/

May I just say, the Prodigy is helping.  here see if it doesn't help your day some. 

ooh! and 6 minutes and counting till the water goes off for 4 hours. Yea-up it's all fun and games here. I know you're jealous!  *wink* Whining cildren are certainly helping me focus.  I'm sure I had a purpose, a post idea in mind when I sat down....surely I did?  I wouldn't entertain you with a stream of consciousness dribbling blather about my day? Oh yeah, I might just do that.

But! NO. Today I came, hat in hand to tell you I will be off the grid this week, and not just coz the computer is being a *stretches neck* unhelpful piece of technology.  It is because I am not taking my laptop away with me. I sady wouldn't know how to connect in interweb away from home anyways. Yes I see you Dad and brother(s) rolling your eyes at my incompetence.  Deal with it.  I also have no photos today as they are on the laptop, and the camera has flat batteries, and the shopping hasn't arrived yet.

yup just full of excuses today. that's me. can't even be arsed with capital letters now.....
*looks around* can't find good help anywhere! 

I have packed my notebook and the camera tho, so I promise a lovely few stories of our time away. But I plan to relax with good friends, Captain Awesome and Monkey. It's a much needed break.

Here's to it all going smoothly *raises glass* - the kids left behind at home, and our adventure in The Big City   ;OD

Friday, November 19, 2010

calm before the storm

So we're going away up north next week, just me, Captain Awesome and Monkey.  

But that's not till next week. So altho there is a bunch of stuff I need to do, want to do to get the house ready for us (well, essentially me the Housewifely Extraordinaire) not being here, it's too soon. Things I wanna do so that it's not so hard on my parents looking after The Clan. Things like cleaning the bathroom, washing sheets, vacuuming, getting as much washing done as possible, and to a certain extent packing our stuff can't really be done yet. There are too many days yet to pass.

And so I sit in a fit of limbo. My head swirling with the lists of things I have to remember, looking at the actual lists of things to do making sure I haven't missed anything, adding things to it - even minute things that I know I won't forget but want to write down just in case my brain melts out my ear at the last minute.  *points to self* Dork.  I am poised to strike, to complete tasks and cross them off....but for now, there's nothing much to do.

It's a strange state, and one that I don't particularly enjoy. It makes me cranky (I think that is the term oh Captain, my Captain would use. It's a technical term, doncha know?  *wink*)  I know that in a day or two I will be a whirlwind of activity and then we will be off, leaving our beloved babies (yes we do think of them this way. The Beloved, not the baby. Sometimes!) behind in the safe care of their grand-parentals and we can relax and enjoy the time away.

my washing pile/couch at low tide

 But not yet. For now we have limbo.... today I noticed these things while wandering my house thinking I had much to do, then realising most of it I could not do, and then feeling a little lost I must admit.  It was odd. It is odd.   But I know that this feeling too shall pass.

I'm sorry Googlemaps, which blue line do I follow? fucktard.
A little boy has been busy - a parking attendant in training!

Bring on the plane ride *bounce* 
catching up with a beloved longtimenotseen friend, her family and her wee boy I havenotyetmet *yay* 
and the U2 concert *squeee*  
plus y'know, time with 2 of my fav boys.  :OD