Thursday 24 September - Virgin Earth

I've just finished another book. I just love reading Philippa Gregory books. I seem to get lost in them & have to consciously put the book down to do other things.






Virgin Earth follows on from Earthly Joys, this time following John Tradescant the younger. It is based during the reign of Charles I & the battles between the parliamentrians & the royalists. It was a time when you had to watch what you said & what religion you had, if you didn't like it & you could afford it, you could catch a ship to Virginia & try to be one of the first settlors there. John tried to live his life in both places & determine where his sense of loyalty lay. Of course it took to the end of the book for him to find that out.

As with her other books I was drawn in & found it hard to put down.

Next book I'm reading is Tribute by Nora Roberts.

Tuesday 22 September - Skiing

The boys went skiing yesterday & up the mountain they had someone taking photos. They had several photos taken & this one is the one I liked. They had a wonderful time skiing together & James was very excited about skiing through white out conditions at one stage. The day had very strange weather, sunny one moment & then cold & snowing the next. What it does mean is that the boys will now be very used to skiing in flat visability. It hasn't put them off at all because they are up there again today.

Monday 21st September - Nor west in Wanaka

It's not too surprising that this time when we have come down to Wanaka, we have been hit by nor' wests. The nor'west in Wanaka is very cold & prone to drop rain on us, unlike the lovely warm nor'wests of Christchurch. The 3 boys went skiing despite the weather & at times they were skiing through falling snow. Scott put the boys into kids club so that meant that Scott got to ski by himself all day & got 19 runs, a personal record for him. The boys only got 6 in the 4 hours of ski lessons that they had. They all came home very excited & ready to go up again today.







This photo is the weather that I had. Spatterings of rain & mainly cloudy, windy conditions.

A new layout

I went scrapping in the weekend & although I didn't get much done, this layout did get finished. This is Scott all dressed up for our formal night on the cruise (that was a few years ago now).

Tuesday 15 September - Thrush in the garden

The birds are really starting to make a racket at about 5am. I think most of them are starlings & blackbirds but yesterday I saw this thrush. I kind of like thrushes, they seem like a chubby quiet type of bird. I particularly like their speckled breast.

Thursday 10 September - Hair cut

Yesterday was my regular cut and colour so this time I decided to actually take a photo of the salon. Next time I might even pluck up the courage to get a photo of me with my colour sitting waiting to "take".

I love this time, it's my time to relax & catch up with all the gossip from not only the neighbourhood, it's amazing what the stylists now about the neighbourhood, but also on the celebrities via the likes of Women's Day & Women's Weekly magazines. In my life it's the only time I get to sit & read these sort of magazines.

I have these cuts & colours every 5-6 weeks & I found out it is only 14 weeks to christmas! I have made all my hair appointments up to christmas yesterday, only 3 more to go!

It's amazing how quickly the year has shot by, especially this term, my boys finish school next week for the end of term, I feel as if I have missed it all by being in a strange kind of funk.

I suppose it is part of the grieving process where you kind of live from day to day not realising how fast those days are disappearing, just getting up out of bed, doing what you need to do but not really able to think ahead. I keep feeling like I should just "get with it". I get notes from various teachers saying "parents please get your child to do this..." & end up feeling guilty because I've been letting the boys down. I can barely manage to keep the house clean & tidy & coercing the boys, especially James, to do his homework without having teachers send home notes like "please get your child to hand his spelling homework in daily", "please get your child to learn his 2 times, 5 times, 10 times table" I feel so overwhelmed by it all & then I feel guilty for letting James down, but really can't the teachers just give us a break. I'm trying my hardest to "get a grip" but extra demands from school just don't help.

I just want to get away from all the demands, the house still demands attention & probably will do until after the carpet has been put down & the furniture back in place; Scott's mysterious ailment that has still not been fixed but has now cost us $450 for specialised antibiotics that aren't covered by Pharmac & because of that, not covered by the medical insurance; James' learning difficulties; Brent's horrible, surly attitude; & of course trying to clean out mum's house.

When will it all just stop & let me catch a breath?

I need to breathe, I need to just STOP!

Wednesday 9 September - Organic box

I thought it would be a good time to take a photo of what's in the box at the moment.

This week's contents are:

- potatoes

- pumpkin

- parsnips

- brocolli

- celery

- spinach

- mandarines

- apples

Tuesday 8 September - Happy Laundry Maid?

In an effort to get the boys to help out more around the house I have offered a 10cent reward if the boys hang out the washing before going to school. This is the one job around the house that the boys seem to like doing. Yesterday Brent hung out the clothes & what you can't see in this photo is that he was singing the whole time. I must say that's a nice change to the surly attitude that he has been having recently.

Monday 7th September - Boys Choice

Every Monday afternoon I have to pick Brent up from school at 4:30 because he has had fencing. We then carry on through to town & pick Scott up from work. During this time, the boys have had a lot of fun taking photos along the route. This particular photo was taken by Brent. The flowering cherries along Harper Ave are in full bloom now & look spectacular. Brent wasn't the only one taking photos of them. I think that all the blossom will be gone in the next nor' west but at the moment the avenue looks beautiful.

RIP Mum

It is one day past a month since mum died. I went through my photos today to find the last photo that I took of her. Aptly it was on Mother's Day & when I stop & think about it, it really wasn't too many months before her death. I found a beautiful quickpage from Raspberry Road Designs that I thought was perfect for mum. Funnily enough the quick page came from the Tea for Two kit, mum was always a tea drinker & on Mondays her sister & her would sit down & have tea for the two of them & discuss their lives.

credits: Raspberry Road - Tea for Two quick page; Meryl Bartho, Digital Scrapbook Place - Digital Dates

Saturday 5th September - Creating!!!

Yippee I have finally felt like creating something. Yes it is a very quick & easy quick page from Club Scrap but at least I have sat down & created something.

credits: Gimme a Ring Quick drop layout from Club Scrap digital.

Stampin' Up - Ribbon Promotion

Stampin' Up! have released the details of their September promotion. You can find all the pertinent details on my Stampin' Up! blog.

The basics of it is:
Buy $120 of product during September (excluding shipping)
or
Host a workshop with a sales total of $700

& you get a free ribbon bundle.

Check out the details here:
http://katscraps123.blogspot.com/2009/09/septembers-promotion-ribbon.html


Contact me if you would like to place an order, or even better hold a workshop.

Wednesday 2 September - Nor' west

It was another nor' west day yesterday. This particular wind direction brings the planes into the airport on the "northwest runway". What it means is that all the planes from B767 size downward come flying past our house. The boys used to love it when they were younger going outside when they saw a plane fly by. In Christchurch it is a bit of a cheap pasttime to actually park your car beside this runway & watch the planes come in to land & take off. We've had many takeaway meals out there just watching the planes.

Tuesday 1st September - A good washing Day

It was a nor'west again yesterday so I put a load of laundry on the line to dry before going up to mum's to spend the day decluttering.