Saturday 29 August - Last day of Football

It was the last game of football for the season so I decided to take my camera & watch both games. It was a lovely sunny day, warm with hardly any wind, one of those magical spring days that Christchurch can turn on. I did take photos of Brent but I really think the shot of the day is actually one of James.


This photo is one of those instances where things can be decieving. No James really wasn't ready to head the ball, no he hadn't even just done that. James spent a lot of his game running around watching the ball & even though it looks like he actually may make contact with the ball in this photo, he never did. At least he looks good while running after that ball!

Friday 28 August - More from the Garden

In a shady part of the garden these little violets are starting to come out.

Thursday 27 August - Another Spring like day

The weather this week has been very spring like, northwesterlies & warm. I decided to take a wander around the garden, while waiting for the CCC building inspector to come in the morning, & take some photos of what's in flower at this time.

One of the most obvious flowers out is all the camelias. I have a lot of pink ones but my favourite is this white one. It doesn't stay this white for long because they tend to go brown very quickly.

Wednesday 26 August - Mental Health Day

James & I both took a mental health day yesterday. What that means for James was that he just stayed in his room zoning out (no tv), playing with Lego & in the afternoon he even had a sleep. What it means for me is taking things slowly, not worrying if the laundry is running 2 days behind schedule, the dishes aren't washed & dinner isn't in the crock pot. It also meant time to just wander around the garden on a nice sunny day & take stock of what is good in life & what makes me happy in the garden.

At the moment the Daphne bush is in full bloom & the scent always puts a smile on my dile.

Monday 24th August - James in Charge

On a Monday afternoon Brent has fencing until 4:30 & then we go & pick Scott up from work. This week I let the boys be in charge of taking photos that they like along the route. We were sitting at traffic lights when I saw this mini bus pull up behind us. James loved the penguin on the front, so he took this photo.

Tuesday 25 August - The Christmas Pudding

I spend my Tuesdays up at mum's house decluttering. I can't say that I have got very far, but yesterday I went into the pantry. I did manage to clear out 3 shelves of the pantry & right at the back of one of the shelves there was this find!



There is actually a story to this pudding. Mum has made the christmas pudding ever since Grandpa died. Last year she made two puddings for Christmas Day. When Christmas Day rolled around she couldn't find one of her puddings & she was quite upset about it at the time because she felt she wasn't pulling her weight in providing the pudding section of the christmas meal. She did make her pudding & in her way she "put it away in a safe place" only to find that it was such a tricky place to hide it that she couldn't find it.



Jo & I found it yesterday & as Jo & family will be in Australia for Christmas she said that I could have it. I am thinking that we will take it down to Invercargill & we can all enjoy her last gift to us on Christmas Day.

Sunday 23 August - New Coffee Maker

When my grandmother died we bought ourselves a new coffee maker, so why muck around with tradition. We bought ourselves this nice slimline coffee maker that also grinds the coffee beans if we want. I like that it can be programmed to go in the morning so when I wake up my coffee is hot & ready & waiting for me.

Nana - Missed but not forgotten

Last night on the way back from La Porchetta Brent looked up out of the window & saw a star.

Brent: Nana's star is there!

James: Nana isn't a star

Brent: I think she is.

James: Well I think Nana is the sun so she's not here.

Brent: The sun?

James: Yes the sun, because nana was bright.

Today after football my tired littlest man saw a spot of sun on the carpet & lay in it sucking his thumb & said "Nana's here now."

Friday 21st August - Family Fun

It was Brent's turn to take a draw out of the Family Fun jar & he drew out "dinner at La Porchetta". After we had registered the boys for tennis at Te Kura we went to La Porchetta. The place was just humming but luckily Scott had booked us a table. La Porchetta is an family oriented Italian restaurant. The menu consisted of pizza, pasta & seafood.

The boys shared a bowl of wedges & then Brent had a small pineapple pizza & James had an entree sized spagetti bolognaise. Neither boy was able to finish his meal. Scott & I shared a garlic bread & a medium salmon pizza. The dinners were delicious & while eating it I think we nutted out a plan for Brent's 10th birthday this year.

Creating - A Wiper Card

I made a wiper card yesterday.

Here's a sneek peak...




Take a closer look at it here.

Wednesday 19 August - Cloudless Day

Yahooo! Yesterday was the first day in nearly a week that we have had a cloudless day all day! I thought my photo would look odd as just an expanse of blue so I decided to take a photo of the forsythia that's just coming into flower.

Tuesday 18th August - Rubbish

Jo & I went up to mum's yesterday to start clearing out her house. I took up some old brown rubbish bags & a chilly bin. I thought we could start with the less personal stuff, the chest freezer. Typically mum's chest freezer was packed & we found food dated back to 2001! I remember her commenting to me how one of my great aunts kept little pottles of food in her freezer & that she would make sure she didn't do it. I'll give it to mum that the pottles weren't quite as small as my great aunt's but there were lots of small containers holding small amounts of left over food.

We have an extra wheelie bin that we pay to get emptied twice a month so I came back home with a car load of black plastic bags filled with food to throw out. I was very surprised when I tried to get them into the wheelie bin to find that the bin was totally full. It certainly weighed a lot to move to the curb. I only hope that the truck's lifting mechanism can lift it today.

James' Effort Card

Here's what James' card looked like, not too bad considering the uproar that this house has been in all this term.

Saturday 16 August - It's True!

I had a dream on Thursday night that I was being told that mum was alive. I woke up with quite a start but in my head I know she is dead. I saw her dead body at the hospital. Yesterday, as next of kin, I got the death certificate in the mail. So it is true, my mum has died & now even the country acknowledges her death.

August 14 - Tapespec

This amazing plastic stuff is what all our walls & furniture get covered in while the painters paint the ceiling. At the moment it is all rolled up around our walls of both the living areas of the house. This is what it looks like when it is hanging down over closets.

Thursday 13th August - Repainted Hallway

The painters were in today, in force. We had about 5 of them on the job, as opposed to the 1 that we had last week. They really want to get the job done. So they finished off the hallway which looks so much brighter in this shade of yellow, called Lemon Delicious.

They also started in James' room which was a surprise. We came home to find James' bed all covered up in clingfilmy type of plastic that is to protect furniture from getting paint dropped on it. We got them to move James' mattress into the spare bedroom so now James is sleeping on a mattress on the floor. He thinks it is fun, so that is good because quite honestly I am so over this whole fire fiasco, I can't wait for this all to be over & done with.

Brent's Effort Card

I have finally learnt that I can open a PDF file in Photoshop elements & turn it into a jpeg. What that means is that I can now post Brent's emailed effort card on to my blog. The effort card has just been sent out & I am thrilled at how much effort he has put in this term despite all the horrible things that we've had to put up with.

Remember to click on the picture to see it slightly larger.

Wednesday 12 August - HRV

The HRV got reinstalled on Tuesday. Unfortunately one of the installers stood on the ceiling & a large crack formed. I pointed it out to them so they put some plaster on it. They came back yesterday to sand it off. At least that particular ceiling still needed to be repainted so it will be covered over when the painters get to it tomorrow.

Tuesday 11 August - Tuesday's at 5

Tuesday's at 5pm is a Medbury School Music Department soiree. It gives all the music pupils the chance to show to family & friends what they are learning. I suppose if Brent was learning a guitar, violin, flute, nearly any instrument except drums I would know what he is learning. We haven't invested in a drum kit for him yet because there's no point spending all that money for him to give it up at the end of the year. At the moment he loves playing the drums so maybe it is a Christmas & birthday present option.




I have a hard time trying to understand what he is doing when his practice is just tapping his drumsticks on a table & chair. My eyes were opened last night as he got the chance to show us what it sounds like behind a drum kit. He played really well.

One week ago mum died & this was the first school outing since her death & I was doing so well until the music director asked if there were any other grandparents in the audience that had missed hearing their grandson play. It is sad that mum didn't quite make it to hear Brent play on the drums but I am sure she was with him in spirit & watching down on him.

Monday 10 August - Crocus

I really feel as if I have hardly been home in the last two weeks, so it was quite a surprise to see this lovely crocus in flower.

Sunday 9th August - Amy's Party

Yesterday was Amy's 7th birthday party. It was held at the Christchurch School of Gymnastics. The children got to go on beams, bars, rings & trampolines. It was a lot of fun for them all. After that there was food & drink including a icecream cake as the birthday cake.