James' friends birthday party - 9/9/07

This is the invite that we sent out to James' classmates. We were very surprised to have nearly every boy in the class turn up. It meant that there were 14 boys at Science Alive. It was a wonderful place for a party because there was a lot of hands on interactive things for the boys to do. A big favourite was the "vertical slide". A lot of boys enjoyed going down that including James.

This was James after he came down the slide. They also had a climbing wall & Brent & Scott both decided to go up it.

Science Alive work in conjunction with Burger King & Divine Cakes for the catering of the parties. At 3:30 it was food time & that was the time that the boys really started getting a bit rowdy. James wanted a chocolate cake so he had a beautiful chocolate cake from Divine Cakes for his birthday cake.

It was a wonderful party & having these sort of parties is definitely more relaxing than having everyone over to our house to play.

Where do I start?

Maybe I'll start by listing what we have done since the last blog update.

We have had James' party with his friends.
We have had the school junior cross country.
We have had R & P up to stay to celebrate James' birthday the weekend before his birthday.
We have had the boys break up from school.
We have received their effort cards which both look good. They have been doing hard work through the term.
We have had James' birthday.
We have been to Australia where we stayed with my dad & saw Australia Zoo & Seaworld.
We are back home now & it is still school holidays.

Hopefully I can update each of those events one by one in the next entries.

I'm beginning to think that the daily cards were a good idea because at least I could keep track of what I was up to each day.

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Becky, http://mindofalinemanswife.blogspot.com ! So I guess that means, I have to tell you 6 interesting facts about myself, and then tag 6 new people! I can't wait to tag YOU!!!

1. I just love chocolate
2. Not any kind of chocolate though, only the dark variety.
3. I don't like pumpkin
4. But I will eat mashed butternut squash
5. However I won't eat just a hunk of butternut squash, it has to be mashed
6. I've just been on a clothes shopping spree!

So with that I will tag Glenda, Jenn, Rosemary, Dee, Jenny & Roo.

Stuck in a rut?

Self-motivation. Ever get in a rut and didn't feel like you would ever get out? What did you do to pull yourself up and out?

Yes, that happened to me just a few weeks ago. I felt stuck in a rut & wanted to just pull back from life. I did pull back. I didn't read my emails, I didn't answer the phone, I didn't log on to the internet, I took the time to just relax, do the things that I love doing. I slowed down on the housework, only did the required stuff, & then sat down & read. I needed a break, some silence, some peace.

Sometimes I just need a break, I really do like being alone sometimes, I like my own company. I like to have a hole to hide in when I feel that everything is getting on top of me.

I have learnt that I am allowed to just back out sometimes & that really I need to. It's not very often, it happens a lot around September/October & I haven't worked out why. Maybe it is because we are finally coming out of winter, new life is bursting everywhere & I need to take stock of my own life before I can burst on with my new life. It has always been a tough term with the children, it is a 10 week school term with no public holidays to break it up. They have been sick, cold, cranky & it just builds up in me until I need to recuperate my soul before the 3 week holiday, which BTW starts tomorrow.

So that was a long winded way of saying, yes I get stuck in ruts & usually I pull back from life a bit & take time to do the things that I enjoy doing.

Real Finds

Real Finds. Have you ever bought anything on the spur of the moment, something you weren't sure you would ever use, then realized you came home with a gem?

I have to say that I really don't buy much on the spur of the moment except maybe scrapbooking supplies. I have a few lanterns around the house, because I like the look of them but so far I haven't really needed them. They will turn out to be gems if we have a power cut though.

Attention to Detail

Attention to Detail. When people come to your home what is the first thing you want them to see and why?

I would like them to see that the house is generally tidy. There are a few things lying around but the house really isn't grubby. When people arrive at my front door they are actually stepping straight into the dining/living/kitchen area of the house. It is the main living area so it is hard to keep it spotless, but I try my best to keep it looking at least partially tidy.

Before they get to my front door they have walked up a path past some gardens & on to a patio. I try to keep these gardens well weeded & looking nice. The patio needs a bit of tidying at the moment but soon I will be out there sweeping it off & cleaning it all up ready for summer.

Sports Bras

Fashion Facts. Over the centuries, fashions have taken dramatic changes. Do you know of any obscure fashion facts to add to our knowledge?

Have you ever wondered what you must look like while jogging? I have been tooted at & it makes me feel very self conscious. When it is such nice weather why can't I just run around the block without feeling self conscious, why do I start thinking that maybe I should just resort to a treadmill indoors at a gym. At least at a gym everyone is doing much the same thing & really don't care how high breasts might be rising & falling. Which brings me to the blog prompt.

Did you know that unsupported breast bounce whilst running is 8cm for a ‘B’ cup. A ‘D’ cup’s unsupported breast bounce increases to 9.3cm.

That is why a sports bra was invented but it wasn't invented until 1977.
Who invented the sports bra?In 1977 University of Vermont student Lisa Lindahl was running 30 miles a week — and her bra wasn’t holding up. With the help of two classmates, Lindahl sewed together two jock straps and — presto! — the sports bra was born. The coeds founded the company Jogbra a year later, garnering eternal gratitude from exercise-loving women everywhere. Almost 40,000 sports bras are now sold annually.

Did you also know that sport bras worn cross-back improved bounce reduction over bras worn in the traditional bra setting in both the ‘B’ cup and ‘D’ cup tests.

So although I do wear sports bras I think I might be in need of some cross back ones & then maybe I won't get tooted at.

Shoe Closet

Shoes make the woman. Give us an insight into your closet. Your shoes closet that is.

I have counted my pairs of shoes & I have 14 pairs + 1 pair of gumboots for gardening.

I have
3 pairs black sandals: 1 casual pair & 2 dressy pairs. One of those dressy pairs has a higher heel than the other & hurts my feet to wear for too long.

3 pairs boots: 1 pair is for tramping, 1 pair is casual black & the other pair is high heeled pointy toed black & I found out last night that standing in them for 2 hours can just about maim my feet.

2 pairs running shoes: 1 pair is for running, weights etc, the other pair is for squash (a clear soled shoe that won't leave marks on the court). Not that I have played squash for ages LOL.

2 pairs of slippers: 1 pair is a nice warm sheepskin pair for winter. The other pair are scuffs that I was given for the cruise.

1 pair of croc flip flops that I just love

1 pair of nothingz (like crocs) that I wear everyday around the house.

1 pair of shoes for boating & walking in water.

1 pair of black pumps.

That is the full extent of the shoes that I own.


I would also like it to be noted that I have exactly the same number of shoes as my husband.

Hats

Fashionably Correct. In years past one would not be seen without a hat to complete your ensemble. Not so much these days. When and where do you think it is fashionably correct to wear a hat?

The first thing I think of is the horse races. The Melbourne Cup, in Australia, the New Zealand Trotting Cup, Ascot all seem to have women out in their finery with big hats on. Another time would be at a wedding cerermony, especially if it is an outdoors one.

Here in New Zealand the Cancer Society advise people to wear hats whenever they are outside in the summer months. My children have to wear a sunhat (regulation of course) at school in the 2 summer terms. They are not allowed to go outside if they don't have their sunhats on. I am lucky in that James seems to adore hats so it is fairly easy to get him to wear hat. Brent is not so happy to wear a hat but if it gets him outside he will wear it.

I try to wear a baseball cap when I am outside in summer but I have a horrible heat problem. With my hair being so thick & dark coloured my head seems to get very hot, very quickly under a hat. I have a few straw hats that I sometimes wear to the beach only problem is that they blow away too easily. I suppose a cap should probably come with me on the cruise or maybe they will sell a cheap sun hat in Tahiti so that I don't need to try & fit one in my luggage.

Yay! I've finally done some creating

As you may have noticed those little cards haven't been done for a week. Last week I was really feeling quite down so I pulled myself back from a few things including creating.

Over the last few days I've been trying to get it back together again & the result is this layout.

No this is not usually the size of layout I do but I really enjoyed creating the layout & doing it in a different orientation.

The lifecycle of my dishbrush

Simplify life. We all have them, those household items that we purchase for one thing and then end up using them for another. What items do you have that serve double duty?

This is a hard one for me to answer. I have just read through all the other blog responses to this & it is obviously the little things that serve a double purpose.

My dish brush starts out as dishbrush major. Dishbrush major is the brush that cleans all the pre rinsed pots & pans & things that can't fit in the dishwasher. After about a month it becomes dishbrush minor. Dishbrush minor is the brush that rinses off all the plates & pots, pans & Mo's food dish. It starts to get very mucky & it then graduates to a brush that I use to clean around taps & plug holes. After that it gets it's final use as a brush to really scrub off the stubborn soap scum that is on the floor & walls of the shower cabinets. It then ends it's life in the rubbish.

This month's music clip

This month's music clip is from The Black Seeds. They are a Wellington band that started in 1998. Here's a bigraphy about them
http://www.eminzmusic.co.nz/Biography.aspx?artist=6732

This is their website
http://www.theblackseeds.com/index.html

Take a look at their myspace account to hear more of their music & see their videos
http://www.myspace.com/theblackseeds


I chose this clip (So True) for it's reggae feel which just makes me think of warm days & nights, summer by a beach. I'm dreaming of warm weather & sunshine & according to my counter it is not long to go now.