Caravans - Thursday 19 March

As part of the Festival of Flowers there are strange art works in the Botannic Gardens. It was a beautiful afternoon & I was meeting mum, Jo & Clare for lunch at the Art Centre before heading to the genetic testing centre at the hospital. I decided to park in the Botannic Gardens & take a walk through it & see what was on display.

I was quite surprised to come across this small display of miniture caravans. They even had the little tables & built in benches inside the caravans. The scxulpture is by Hannah Kidd & is made of steel rod, corrugated iron, galvanised & powder coated.

Lemon Blossom

My lemon tree is still putting out it's flowers. I just love the scent of them. I do think it will be getting time to cover it with frost cloth soon though.

Night time Chore

Each night I pack the boys lunch box for the next day. This is just a photo of their typical lunch box items.

Brent's is the grey lunch box. He always has ham sandwiches in Freyas Soya & Linseed bread & a salmi stick. The fruit varies a bit & sometimes he will have a biscuit but not very often.

James has the red box. His sandwiches have to be on white bread & has to have something other than ham. Not that it really matters because half the time he doesn't eat his sandwiches anyway. He always has a piece of fruit but his protein changes a lot. At the moment he is on a yoghurt kick, for a while he was on a cheese segment binge instead. He really doesn't like the salami stick though. He always has a biscuit & my bet is that it is the first thing that gets eaten. Like Brent he always has a peice of fruit too.

The Story of the Blocked Drains

I think it starts out around Friday 6 March when I tried to take a nice long shower, do my hair, tart myself up for the weekend ahead. Things quickly turned to custard when my shower started looking a lot like I could actually take a bath in it. I turned off the water & got the plunger & attempted to unblock it. The water went away so I proceeded to jump back in the shower & lather up my head in conditioner & start shaving my legs. Next thing I know the water is building up again. I jumped out of the shower again & tried the plunger again. This time it didn't work. I got back in the shower, quickly rinsed off the conditioner & finished my legs & got out.

I rang Scott at work & told him that he'll have to add plunging the shower to his list of things to do in the weekend. He came home & didn't bother plunging, he just looked at the drains & sure enough they were running high. So he called the plumbers. Oh the plumbers couldn't come until Saturday so I had to stay home on Saturday morning while the boys went off to tennis. The plumber came & water blasted down the drains & said it's fixed but he suggested we get a camera to look down the drains next time it happens. I was just handing over my cheque when Scott & the boys arrive home. All fixed I cheerfully say.

Everything was going well until Monday 16 March when I was experiencing that deja vu thing in the shower. Yes I was having a bath again! I called Scott at work who called the plumber. This time the plumber couldn't come until Tuesday. So Scott then tells us we are not allowed to use the bathroom, laundry, dishwasher, anything that uses the drains until the plumber has been on Tuesday. That's all very well for him, he's at work with all his ammenities operating, try being at home with no such ammenities & it's freezing cold to boot. Eventually the plumber comes back. This time he brings a cutting device & sticks that down the drain, he pulls it out & says it's done. Great! Then I tell him that it had better be because I have the camera due to come & check it out. Oh yes it is done! Fine.

The boys come home & so does Scott & the camera man arrives. The boys are fascinated. There's a camera at the end of a cable that is put down the drain & a tv screen so we can see what is happening in the drain. We get to the first inspection plate & it looks like cabbage tree roots were growing through it. Not much we can do about inspection plate problems, lining the drain won't fix it. We carry on down the drain until we come to another inspection plate, & lo & behold you can actually see the roots. The camera man says that he thought we had had a cutter down the drain & I said yes we had. It would appear the cutter didn't get put all the way down the drain after all. The camera gets to the end of the drain & then it's brought back. We get a nice little dvd of our drain & the camera man proceeds to call the plumbers to tell them to come back again because they haven't unblocked the drain at all. The plumbers can't make it until Wednesday. Luckily in the meantime I am allowed to use facilities again. Aren't I privileged, but you know what I would have felt a whole lot better if the plumbers did it right the first time & not on the 3rd!

Sunday 15 March - Another appliance failure!

I don't know, our luck hasn't really been very good recently. What with the fire, blocked drains & then the next thing that happened was my washing machine went kaput. It went kaput on Saturday afternoon so once Phyllis & Robin had left on Sunday we had to go out washing machine shopping.

I had wanted a front loader like I had previously because it judged how much water it needed itself & also because there is no rotor like thing in the middle for clothes to get caught around. We went into Noel Leemings & saw a top loader that acted like a front loader from Fisher & Paykell. It takes duvets in it & has a 8kg weight limit, which is plenty big enough for us. So we went & picked it up from their warehouse & had it installed & going by mid afternoon. Here's the new washing machine.

Saturday 14 March - Drexels for Breakfast

We all went out to Drexels for breakfast. Drexels serve American breakfasts from 7am until about 2pm most days of the week. This time Robin & Phyllis came along too, thanks Robin!

The boys took a photo each of us so I then merged them together slightly so we are all in one photo.

Did you see The Race?

Head on over to SBO & take part in the race. Here's a direct link to the forum section that has all the rules & of course the daily challenges. All you need to do is take on a challenge & post it in the gallery at Scrapbook Outlet & you are given a ticket in the raffle.

Don't miss out on your chance to win a $600 pass to Autumn Escape.

What's Happening at SBO?

Come over to Scrapbook Outlet & find out what the competition is.

It starts tonight at 5pm, you don't wan to miss it!

Here's a link to the forum. Click it & see what's happening!

Friday 13 March

I took some time out to go & visit the Ellerslie Flower Show. Really I didn't take enough time, I spent 2 hours there but I only got inside one marquee & it was only selling jewellery & quilts. I was quite shocked to see the length of the queues to get into all the other marquees. There were queues everywhere & then there were people standing in them & they didn't even know what marquee they were queuing for. The floral art marquee had a huge queue that had some people standing in it for 2 hours. There was no way I was going to waste my precious 2 hours standing in a queue.

So what did I see? I saw a few theme gardens & the national flowerbed competition. This photo is of the flowerbed put together for Akaroa. I loved the use of the boat & the wonderful sail with the picture of the native pigeons on it.

Thursday 12 March

The Ellerslie International Flower Show opened in freezing cold conditions on Wednesday 11. For at least the last week or so there has been a huge area of Hagley Park all bordered off with this signage.

Swimming Sports - Wednesday 11 March

We had the school swimming sports on 11 March.

I was very proud to see that Brent was swimming in the championship backstroke race. He had told me that he wasn't able to swim in championship races because he couldn't do butterfly so I was absolutely blown away to find his name under the championship backstroke. He swam a great race & came in 6th. He was in the first heat for freestyle & swam a good race as well.

James was in the backstroke width & with that being his favourite stroke I was not at all surprised that he came first in that race. He was also in the freestyle width & I think the greatest surprise of all was that he swam the whole width without putting his feet down. At his swimming lessons he always puts his feet down so I was absolutely astounded to see him not only swim the whole width but also actaully place in the race.

It's a bit hard to find just one photo of the day when it was about both boys so there will have to be two.

Monarch - Tues 10 March

James found this dozy monarch on our lawn. It was a pretty cold day so I think it might have been suffering a bit. We moved it into the garden where it wouldn't be so obvious but it looks like it died the next day.

New arrivals - Mon 9 March

Yes my order of new product from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue arrived.

Working Bee - Sunday 8 March

Sunday was a lovely sunny day, which was lucky because we had a working bee up at mum's to clean up her garden. In the end we cleared away at least 5 trailer loads of garden rubbish & a whole wheely bin full of pots.

Preserving - Saturday 7 March

I found out from a friend that Raeward Fresh had a special on apricots, 10kg for $20 so we went & had a look. Sure enough there were lots of boxes so we bought one.

Earlier in the year mum had given us her big Agee Preserver so I thought it was a good chance to put it to use. We ended up with about 14 jars of preserved apricots although one of them did explode once it came out of the preserver.

Autumn's arriving - Friday 6 March

Unfortunately with the colder days we've been having all of a sudden I look up & see that the first of my trees are starting to lose it's leaves. This particular tree seems to always be the first to turn on the autumn colour.

BBQ Offerings - Thursday 5 March

It's that time of the year when each class has a BBQ at school as a way to meet the teacher & the other parents of the children in the class. This green herb & rice salad is a firm favourite with my family & it went down really well at the year 3 BBQ.

Sunlover - Wednesday 4th March

I just love how cats, especially Mo, always know the best place to sit to catch up the warmth of the sun. It's been rather cold & grey lately but still Mo knows where to go to catch the sun's rays, even if it is in the middle of the hallway.

Avon Lady - Tuesday March 3

I went with mum to her Avon lady today. All of mum's grandchildren have been to the Avon lady but her children haven't. So it was quite interesting to go to the Avon lady & what was more interesting is this lady is the same lady who used to come around to our house when we lived in Swithland Place & she remembers seeing me in my school uniform. That was a few (a lot) of years ago now. No wonder she has mum down on her list as one of her "oldest" clients.

Monday 2nd March - Retirees

The retiring list from Stampin' Up! came out so I went through all my stamps & put aside the ones that are retiring. I'm losing 12 stamp sets, some buttons & eyelets.

Sunday Ritual - 1st March

Sunday is the night when we wash the boys' hair. After the hairwash it is time for the ears to be cleaned & then Scott cuts their fingernails & toenails.

Rainy Saturday 28 February

Another rainy day in what seems like a string of grey miserable days. The house is cold & of course with no curtains or insulation we are waiting for sun shine. Brent had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon so James spent the time watching is current favourite DVD.

Dinner at Mum's - Friday 27th February

An important & enjoyable part of my week is having dinner at mum's. It is always on a Friday night & usually mum does the cooking. It is the one time in the week when I actually get to see my mother in person. We have dinner on our laps, the boys have a table set up, in front of the tv. We usually stay until 8:30, that's when America's Next Top Model finishes, & then we go home.



Mum hates having her photo taken at the best of times but I think she is relenting a bit now, but I bet she won't be pleased to see this post. Then again mum, if you see this, go back a post & see my ugly mug shot & have a laugh & call us even OK.

Thursday 26 February

My picture of the day was very boring. It was actually taken by James & is of me, first thing in the morning before even the first sip of coffee, so I'm a wreck.

Just Organic - Wednesday 25th February

Every Wednesday the "vege man" comes & delivers us a box of organic fruit & vegetables. The boys love to see him & come running to me & say "the vege man's here." He overheard them saying that to me one week & said he loves it because he feels like some sort of super hero. Super Vege Man! The website for them is http://www.justorganic.co.nz/





The box has a selection of fruit & veges & the selection depends on the season. The box this time had - kohlrabi, mushrooms, potatoes, corn, carrots, red cabbage, pears, nashi pears & plums.

Scott's Shadow - Tuesday 24 February

Mo just loves Scott. She used to be all over me but then Brent came along & ever since she has got a stronger bonding with Scott. For a couple of mornings after the fire she would go down to our bedroom & cry at the door waiting for Scott to open it. She soon realised that we aren't sleeping there anymore. Instead once she comes in from her morning walkabout she goes into the bathroom where Scott is doing his morning ablutions. She just sits up on the windowsill & watches him as he takes his shower & shave.

Triathlon - Monday 23 February

Really my photo of the day should have been of me in my car. My day was almost spent in it.

It started with a 7:25am trip to school to drop James off at tennis lessons, & then I drove back home.

Went back to school at about 8am to drop Brent & his bike off for his triathlon, went to the gym & then back home.

Went back to school again at 10am to watch Brent compete in the triathlon.

He was one of only 5 year 5 boys that competed it as an individual. Nearly everyone else in year 5 was in a tag team (only doing either a swim, a bike or a run). Brent came out of the swim quite near the top of the field. He then had to put on his pe shirt (first trick learnt for next year is to let him wear a rash top & then he doesn't need to put on his pe shirt). Then he slipped his feet into his shoes (scuff style) & jumped on his bike. He finished his bike leg a bit lower down the pack (2nd lesson learnt, get a bigger bike for him). Then came the run. The transition for this didn't go well, he forgot to take his helmet off & then he had problems lifting his bike on the rack (3rd lesson learnt, just stand the bike up on it's stand under the rack). He ran past me with his shoes on as scuffs I suggested he stop & do them up properly which he did but he really lost time doing it (4th lesson learnt buy those shoes that have laces that you just pull & they somehow just tighten). He finished strongly & looked like he had more gas in his tank if required. He came in 24th which I thought was fantastic!

Went back home again & had lunch. Then went back to school at 3pm to pick up James, back home again.

Then went back to school again to pick up Brent at 4:30 because he had had fencing from 3:30 to 4:30, back home again.

Needless to say not a stitch of housework got done & we needed to fill the car up with petrol this weekend.