A problem in the house...

As night draws near to an end, I find myself once again banished to the spare room to catch a decent nights sleep.

You see in this household there appears to be a little problem that rears it's (or his) ugly head as the summer nights get hotter and hotter. It comes in the form of some rather loud noises ommiting from his nose and mouth, which become more obvious in the deep of night, or even worse when it is holiday time and a sleep in would be a nice thing.

So off I go down to my little room in the back of the house, but wait what is that hanging on the door entering into what used to be fondly called our bedroom..... what is that I see swinging on the door.... would it be a door hanger..... I think it is, but what does it say. So I peer closer to see if I can read that fantastic work of art...Oh my god that is just priceless, who would have thought to put that wonderful piece of artwork on the door? Who Would have spent hours coming up with the idea, and then carrying it out, making it look just so fantastic? More to the point who would put it there without the cave monster seeing it?

A genius is what I think!!!

What the......

I think Ralf has decided I am mad - I mean I am not 21 anymore and I have now got roller blades! Wait for another week and I will have my way cool skaters helmet, flames up the side and all!!!! Ralf is worried I am going to break this old body!

Jade is not worried I am going to embarrass her - YET! I am sure within a year she will be embarrassed by me!!!

What is wrong...

Hell I just realised that I posted twice within one week!!!! Now it is three times!!!

Yay a Garden

A while coming I know, but it is here. We have done right down one length of the fence in new garden. We planted, we weed matted, Ralf concreted in garden edging, and he barked, all while on nightshift this week, so pleased it is finally done.

So this is looking down the line back towards the driveway.

Then this is looking back the other way, you can see we are still going around the corner, so will be continuing on with the garden edging, weed matting etc around there.

Then this one is showing you the plants - my mum wants to know what we are planting of course! So off the plant tag Mum this is a Escallonia "field's scarlet" which we had growing at our other house right along the back fence. So quick growing which is good.

And inbetween each of those plants we have these ones. Which are Leptospernum Coppersheen, not as fas a growning plant, but still look quiet nice.

We will have to be good with this one, trimming as we go, so that it does not be come a massive woody edge, but instead some nice shrubs.

Fabulous - one down!

Ralf is at golf today for the whole day, he had better win me another ham :-) Jade is going out soon for a sleepover, and I am just going to do not much at all!

I love bubbles!! I brought a bubble machine that pumps out squillions of bubbles at a time, it is fantastic. So then I decided to try and take some different photos of them, using the different settings on the camera. I have no idea what I was doing, but I love the way the light is caught on the bubbles, very cool!
Last weekend I went to play with Jo, which was great fun, I managed to do get three layouts done which is very much unheard of by me. This first layout would have to be my all time favourite layout at the moment, helps that the picture is a big favourite with me.

This next layout is very much a well overdue one. Of course it is when What Now came to Ohakea, a very cool weekend was had, Jade who never used to watch What Now very quickly became an avid fan of the program. Halloween! Did I tell you how it escalated from a wee bit of trick or treating with one friend, to two friends coming to stay the night, and the full noise. They all had a blast.

2 weeks and 2 days left before it is Xmas holidays. I am hanging out to have some time off, and do nothing. I always love Xmas time, but hate the last couple of weeks at work, as it seems to drag on, and then of course everyone gets so busy and stressed, so it is a bit of a mixture of loving it and hating it!

I have changed my cellphone ring tone to "Jingle Bell Rock" - fabulous! I am wearing a different pair of Xmas earrings to work every day! The Xmas tree is up, the presents are wrapped, we are just waiting! Roll on Xmas!

Oh yeah and then even more exciting, I brought the plane tickets for our trip to Australia next week, I can't wait!!

Christmas Has Begun.........

Yes it has.....

I always wait for December before i put up the tree, only because Ralf would get shitty with me for getting too keen. But he brought down the tree for me tonight, so that Jade and I could do the tree this weekend, but while I was cooking tea the tree was suddenly up, so I made Ralf and Jade dress the tree this year, which was quite funny!! Ralf did not understand that you do not stand back and throw it at the tree!!!

Then Jade took off to the bedroom and appeared back dressed as a fairy to dress the tree, she did not think it was a good idea to be put on top of the tree!!

Love this shot, might have to make her pose for it again without the couch and the crap on it in the way of the photo!!!
So I have scrapped as well between last post in now. Did a challenge for sketchbook, which is this one.Then I did a double layout, for our last weekend away with the 10d's. The challenge was to do a layout based on the mastercard "priceless" adverts. Was quiet funny and very easy to do when you started to think about it. When Mel and Jase came down a few months ago, we took our usual photo, love it! They were trying to look normal and well we were unable to contain ourselves from being totally stupid!!! On that note time to go and watch Outrageous Fortune!

I am alive

Yes I am! I have not been sucked into this horrible black hole. Is there an answer why I have not blogged, well who knows why, other than life itself!

So I have cracked open the diary so that I can recap what has happened since September!

Well the last time I wrote it was coming up to school holidays. Jade spent the first week at Highland Home Christian Camp, which is up Pohongina Valley. She loved it! It was a camp for 9-11 year olds, boy and girls. She did glow worming, caving, mountain biking, tramping, absailing and just lots of good wholesome things for kids.

Second week of the holidays my Mum came to stay with her two international students, one is from Japan and the other from Germany. We took them up to the Hawkes Bay to stay for two nights with Mum's very close friend Margaret and Dick. That was just fantastic. While Mum and Margaret spent the day together on Saturday catching up, I took the kids (yes students too) to Napier and we did the behind the scenes tour at the Aquarium. I have to say this was well worth the money. I am sure we were with the guide for about 3 hours, I think they highlight for Jade was getting to hold a turtle.

We also went for a trip up to the lookout to see the fantastic view and of the ice cream truck just happened to be up there!!!!

Well Mum and the students had barely left when Mel and Jase arrived to visit for the weekend. Well before they arrived I went down for a speed shop at SENZ!!! Fantastic! Well I am not sure to be honest if I would call it fantastic. Yes I got some great bargains, but SENZ was the smallest I think I have ever seen it. Good to catch up with some faces that i have seen on the net etc, but nice all the same.

Mel & Jase staying was very cool. Mel and I shopped and mucked around and shopped some more. We had great fun at Baby City which was very cool, looking at the great nursery stuff that Mel has already scored on Trade Me and what she still needs to get, never thought I would say I would ever get clucky, but by god and I clucky about Mel and Jase's wee baby!! I can't wait!!!

Alright span forward a couple of weeks and I scrapped, I know I can here you saying it now, what you did one layout!!! No your wrong I did 2 layouts!!!!!

So first up is a layout for when Jade's room did a duathalon, was quiet cool I even went to watch. Jade as you can imagine was completely nackered after it all, but she did enjoy it, they had to run, bike then run again.

Then I thought 13 years of marriage I had better do one about Ralf and I, 13 years married, wow that does just seem so insane! Anyway I do love this layout.So Ralf has been doing his resettlement training, working with the builder next door building the house beside ours. He did it for 9 weeks which he really enjoyed for something different. So Ralf has been back at work again for the last couple of weeks, doing real work back on 3 Sqn again. He seems to be enjoying that again.

School Cross Country last week, and our girl got 2nd in her age group, she was so happy! So happy, as was I, it was very cool that she did so well, and who came first but Nyah, which is pretty cool too!!

Right caught up, apart from this weekend just done.

Friday night was halloween and Jade has been so good every time when I have said no to Halloween, I mean it is not a NZ thing, but I thought why not this year. So it all started with Nyah coming to stay the night, then it escalated so that Papara (spelt her name wrong I am sure) also coming for the night. I collected them after work and they came home to make goodie bags, then off the went out trick or treating which they thought was very cool.

After that they came back home where I cooked them eye balls and worms for tea.

This was then followed by jelly cocktails with sour worms and dinasaurs in it. God what a great Mum!! Spooky programs and off to bed and sleep around 11.30pm!!! All three of the lined up along Jade's bed sleeping! Up early in the morning again waiting for pancakes to be cooked!

Then we went down to Chris and Yvonne's for tea and to stay the night. Sunday over to upper hutt to check out Matt and Strodie's new house, which was very cool, sat in the sun having a BBQ getting a little tanned. Amazing roll on summer!!

Anyway guys sorry for the longest post in history!

Fantastic Weekend

Had the best weekend away with Kris, Lou and Jo. The 10D's always have a fantastic time together. We scrapped, we ate, we talked and we slept. What else could you ask for. Kris took some fantastic photos of us, we did a bit of a photoshoot, which I will show you later.

So look I was away from Friday at 8.30am until Sunday at about 5pm, and I only managed to get 6 pages done LOL!!!!!!! What was I doing procrastinating on it for so long!!!!

First one is a nice one of our girl, first picture I took with the new camera.
The next one is of Jade's soccer team this year. The got through to the finals of the knockout competition for their grade, and then they won!!!!! Fantastic!!!

Jade's portrait photo from a couple of years ago, needed to do something with it as it has been replaced on the wall with a new one. The saying is what Jade and I say to each other, so now I will always win as I have put it in writing!!!

Then Kris came up with this crazy idea of doing a page in 15 minutes. We were allowed to select the photo and paper etc that we were going to use, then it was into it, so below is my 15 minute layout. Did I moan about it.... yes I did!!!!

Well then we move onto the next layout which needs no explaining, well maybe it does. Daffodil day came around and it was a fantastic excuse for us at work to dress up. Yellow of course, then guess what Kate said I should borrow her Big Bird outfit!! I drove to work in it, sat in it all morning, through a meeting with a supplier who dropped into visit, and then it was too warm!

Well on, on, Shortland Street is calling ........

Oscar's New Friend

The builder next door's dog came to visit Oscar.

I scrapped

Your not going to believe how long it took me to do this layout..... 3 weeks, I know what is that all about, but I started, then I wanted to use my red stamp pad, but Jo had it, so of course it is her fault, threw me, so I then got to procrastinate on it. Got the stamp pad back, but lost the flow, so fluffed and fluffed some more. Then 3 weeks went on and then just what I needed to finish this layout arrived in the post from the states. My friend Mel had been over there, and I had shopped and sent her a parcel. Can you see what I needed..... the stamp of bubbles. Wait till you see it in person, very cool stamp, going to use it a bit more I think!!! The funniest thing about the layout taking 3 weeks is that we are about to go on our 10d's retreat soon and Kris has come up with the idea of doing a 15 minute challenge, now how am I going to do a layout in 15 minutes if it took me 3 weeks! I can sense a wee tantrum coming!!

Busy weekend had. Soccer, went well 5 nil to us - yay!! Then Jade and I did a little shopping. Sunday was father's day, and we took Oscar cat to the pet company in town for a wee shave!!! Getting too matted, so she had a shave, we were expecting a whole body shave, but no they shaved all of her tummy and a couple of bits on her leg, heaps better!

Busy week ahead for me, we are stocktaking at work - boo!

What Now

What Now.... What a long day. Up at 6am, so I could make pancakes for the little cherubs, to make sure they were not hungry before we got home!

Jade, Nyah and Tumehe from What Now -yes we stood around for ages after it finished to get this photo and of course his signature.

What a great day, they kept them all entertained from 7am right through till 10am, even when they were not live on tv. Did you see us on TV, yes us, they made me get on tv as well, when they were filming the soccer yesterday, I had to stand there and have a ball thrown at my head!!!!

They threw loads and loads of buckets of gunge out into the crowd, thank god we were not anywhere near!!!!

Then we got back home, and Jade and Nyah wanted to have a stall at the end of the driveway, as on Sunday it is Market Day in Sanson, so lots of people drive past our house. So they got out the paints, painted the pots Jade made at art school in Dunedin at Xmas time, and lots of rocks from the driveway. I set them up on the grass right in front of the pensioner flats. Kept them busy for 3 hours!!! They had lots of people stop to look and chat (people from pensioner flats) and they sold 2 rocks, $2 made! Lots of fun though.

Anyway time to do other things - sleep!

Even Hairier!!!

Well here he is another week on - and even more hair, it is not going to be a 9 week growth now, as he has to go to base next week to be given his medal's from Tmor, so he will have to shave next Friday morning.

Week 2

Well today we decided that we should all dress in yellow for daffidol day, can you see me.....
Then this afternoon the first part of the "What Now" filming that will be shown on Sunday morning. The kids loved it, if Jade is not on TV I will be very surprised!!!
Long Weekend ahead, we have soccer tomorrow morning as normal, but What Now is coming to film some of Jade's Team's game so that is cool. Then Nyah is coming to stay the night, and then Sunday morning we are up early to go to base for What Now live filming, they are very excited, so that should be cool!!

Hairy.....

Ralf is on resettlement training for the next 9 weeks, and that means...... no shaving for 9 weeks, how feral will he get.....

week 1

And finally uploaded some pictures of Jade in her new bed, not the new bedding on it, she now has some nice bedding that she selected and goes with her room, looks good! Was funny going to the shop and getting to to pick out what colour sheets she wanted, god knows why she needed to have one that was black.... a bit early for that sort of obsession!!! Then selecting the duvet covers as well, she loved doing that, although was a bit gutted that you could not get a queen size sponge bob cover!!!
A great weekend - we (Jade) played soccer on Saturday in the rain, was not cold, but it was very wet, I think it was worse that the field was very very very wet! Then today we had a family portrait taken, hope they turn out okay, we shall see.

It is funny how much I have not been on my blog since Ralf has been back.... do you think I might have missed him just a little bit? Well if that is the case, ssshhhh don't tell him.

Well I hate to be the soccer mum saying this, but when is the season going to finish... it has been so long, why is it that this seems to be the sport with the longest season in the world! I mean it started before Easter I think, and does not finish until half way through September. In saying this my girl's team has done so well this year, they are into the finals which is just amazing and there is such a really good chance of them winning that game.

We went out for dinner on Friday night with Gundi and Deb, went to our favourite the lonestar, yum fantastic, tastes so great. I just love their Kahlua and Moro bar cheesecake mmm one of the all time favourite desserts to be had, well in Palmerston North at least.

Sunday I went to see Mamma Mia with Jo, even though I am a massive ABBA fan, this movie is well and truely recommended. Fantastic. Loved it. Laughed and laughed so hard the whole way through, adn then burst into song with all the music (well in my head), fantastic! So much so I am going to buy the DVD when it comes out.

Did some scrapping on Saturday, a slow page, looking good, but just fiddling away with it here and there, might have finished it by the weekend.

Anyway "The Unit" is starting.... catch you later...

The slackest blogger in the world

God it has been two weeks, time has just flown by. Ralf has been back now for almost a month now. He had a couple of weeks off when he got back, caught up on all the programs I had taped for him, and of course got used to living back at home, and vice versa, Jade and I had to get used to having him home as well. You don't think it would make any difference but it is surprising how strange it is having him home again. I have to consider what he thinks again!!! Which is quiet funny.

He started back at work last week, which was funny. It sounds to me as though he spent the whole time planning his new job and organising his leave, resettlement training etc. So next week he starts working for a builder which is cool, this is for his resettlement traiing, and he will be doing that for the next weeks. Will be quiet good as he will hopefully learn heaps of things, not that he does not already know how to build a fence and a deck etc, but building a house from scratch I am sure he will learn quiet a lot. Even better the house that is being built is right next door, like just over the fence - what a saving on travel!

The he starts back at work in November I think - after a week of golf of course - and then he works until Xmas, then more leave until he starts his new job at the end of February. He is quiet excited about that.

Anyway enough about him ,more all about me! Well alright I will talk about Jade first. Jade now is such a big girl that she is in a big bed, like a queen size bed, man I wish I had a bed that big when I was her age, so much room to move and spread out. And if your Jade of course you would be happy to know that you now had lots of room for your soft toys, they fit all the way accross the bed! So we then had to go and get another bed for the spare room, as some people did not want to come and visit and stay in a single bed, cannot understand why not!!!!

I scrapped again on Sunday, ate lots of lollies and of course sponge fingers - mmmmmm my favourites!

First one is a picture Kris took of Jade and I about 2 months ago I think, quiet a nice picture of us. I forgot to say I scrapped all day on Sunday but achieved not much - maybe I talked to much? This one I think took four hours!!!!

Then this next one is when Jade and I went to Dunedin while Ralf was away in Timor. Larnach's castle, a very cool day we had there.

Anyway that is about all that has been happening in my life. Nothing exciting planned for the next week of so, so do not be surprised if I do not post!

I did some scraping

What a great weekend! Soccer was cancelled due to the weather, so it meant a double sleep in, what more could I want.

So Saturday we finally got out of bed, and some friends arrived for a coffee.

Off to town for breakfast/lunch and then the home show. i would just like to put it out there, that sometimes when it comes to shopping I do have restraint, and do not always impulse buy!!! At the homeshow we were checking out all the cool spa pools, and man some of them were cool, with LED lights and speakers for the music to come through, very cool. was dissappointed that I could not find a spa with a plasma TV that popped up out of a very nifty little cabinet.

Yes okay I really am dreaming, I have not heard of one of those, but how cool would that really be! I wonder whether you could get one like that, man I would not have haad any restraint in purchasing that, oh well I mean other than Ralf dying in the corner at the outrageous cost!

Seriously though I have convinced him a spa pool would be cool, when I got home tonight, he had it marked out where it would go - GOOD BOY!!!

Anyway onto this scapping that I did all day Sunday at Jo's house. I have to say i got there not long after 9am, and we must have not seen each other for 1 whole week, as we talked and talked and talked, so much that we forgot the coffee's I had brought so we had to re-nuke them!!!!

First one is about Mum and her obsession with keeping dirty old tea bags!!!

The next one is the yearly one I do of Jade with all her likes etc. Not sure where she got this from, but she wants to be a Puppy pre-school teacher - where did she get that idea from!!!

Then onto the birthday ones.

A two paage one!!!! I don't do these!
Anyway busy bidding on trade me - must away!!

He's Home

Yahoo he is home finally! 3 months done and dusted! Now he has two weeks off at home before going back to work again.

I scrapped. Well it took ages, like a couple of weeks of mucking around to finally complete this one. Nice picture I took of Jade when we were down in Dunedin a couple of months ago.

Hey guess what - it's my birthday tomorrow! How cool and I finally turn 21, it has taken aa while to get to this age, but finally it is there!

Jade's 9th Birthday

Wow our wee girl has turned nine! Wow! She is getting so big, wont belong and she will be living at a flat in town, how scarey!

So Jade wanted to go to the mountain for her birthday this year, so I hired a campervan from base and we were going to drive to Whakapapa Village on Friday night, stay at the campervan park there, go to the mountain on Saturday, then off to Taupo Saturday afternoon, to the hot pools there and drive home again Sunday. Jade invited her friends Nyah and Bradley to come with her. Everyone was very excited.

So Friday rocked around and the weather turned to custard, gale force winds for Friday and Saturday at the mountain and lots of rain and snow!!!! How rude, the weather was supposed to do as I asked it, I mean how hard can itt be for 2 days!!! So in the morning I picked up the campervan, went from driving my wee suzuki hatchback car, to driving this 6 berth campervan!!! It was large!! I collected Bradley and Nyah from their houses, and then we camp back up to load up the camper with everything we needed for the trip.

So because of the weather the kids decided to forgo the mountain and to go direct to Taupo. So off we went, the kids were in heavan! I made these rather large goodie bags, full of all things mothers do not want to give to their children, their eyes were wide when they saw them. Anyway it kept them extremly happy on the drive up there.

As we drove through the desert road there was lots of snow everywhere, we could not see the mountain as it was covered in cloud, doing the the good storm thing. We decided we would stop in the snow to play on the side of the road on the way back on Sunday.

Once we got to Taupo, the nice people at the camping ground park, directed me while I back (yes I backed) the campervan into its slot! Excellant driving by me I must say!!! The park we stayed at had thermal pools there, so off we went down there, I sat in the 40 degree pool for about 3 hours, while the kids ran up and down the hydroslide that was there, and visiting me in the pool.

Pizza for tea, called them up for a delivery, and the delivery man forgot to bring out the mobil eft-pos, how cool, free pizza, yes free, yippee for me. The kids watched a couple of movies on the laptop before going to sleep around 10.

Saturday we got up early as of course it was Jade's birthday, she was wrapped with all her loot, and spent alot of time reading the "SIMS" manual on how it all works, she was dying to get home and load it up and play!

After pancakes, laidened with canned whipped cream and mayple syrup (yes more stuff mothers don't want their children to have), I walked over to the office in the pouring down rain to see what things the kids could do for the morning. The decission was made by the kids to go to the Volcano centre. So we packed up and off went. I think the highlight of this was the earthquake room, where you sat and it shook as though you were in an earthquake, I think they did it at least a dozen times.

Off to burger king for lunch and then to the other thermal pools at Taupo for the afternoon, more playing in the pool and lots of sliding down the hydroslide again.

Back to the campervan park, where I reversed the camper in all by myself, no guidance at all!! Pizza and Pavalova for tea, oh yeah and lots of biscuits and more lollies mmmmmmm! Movies and bed, or was that movies in bed!!

Sunday morning we got up early, well I woke at 5.30am as it was 7 degrees inside the camper, so I cranked up the heater and went back to bed for another hour. Busy morning ahead as we needed to leave by 8am, so that we were not to late back to Sanson.

On the trip back to Sanson, there were a couple of events. First one was all the flooding, yes I know what is up with that. On the road from Taupo to Turangi the creeks on the side of the road had flooded, there was signs up everywhere, and the water was quiet deep over the road in about 6 different spots, so that was exciting!

Then the snow, well the lack of it! So us stopping on the side of the road for a play was a big non-event, the kids were gutted. Never mind.

All and all the birthday was a great event and was so well enjoyed by everyone, in saying that, Jade has now gone to stay with Ralf's parents for the week and I am going to bed to sleep!!!