Friday night before a rowing regatta...

....means
- a trip to the supermarket to buy supplies
- cooking bacon for bacon and egg baps
- assembling a lunch for everyone including healthy buns for me and DH, B&E baps for DS x2, creamed rice for the rower, meusli bars ++ for snacks, juice, fruit, water bottles, flasks for making coffee at some ungodly hour of the morning when we leave, and maybe I might bake something yummy (or maybe not)
- find the binoculars, fold out chairs, something to read, camera, cap, sunblock, insect repellant, rain jacket, blanket etc, etc
Quickly do some housework coz I'm stuck at Karapiro all weekend.

Dilemma is ... do I spend the petrol and risk missing DS's race and sneak off to Hamilton to visit Create or Scrapbook Inn or Spotlight (and risk spending $$ I don't need to spend but gosh it's fun!!!!) while I am there or do I be the loyal parent and sit on those (very uncomfortable) fold out chairs all day to watch 2 races....I mean ALL DAY here...we will leave at 6am and get back at about 6pm when...on Sat night...I repeat it all again for Sun lol.

Did I mention that I do really love that our kids row. It is a wonderful sport.

:-} I am so glad Monday is Auck anniversary weekend and a public holiday in out neck of the woods.

Caio

Ps: I and A and my lovely mokopuna moved out today.

I'm thrilled they have their own place now but sad as well. I will miss them.

Just a quickie...

...because I've been up since 5 and have to get up at 5 again tomorrow. We had to be at Blue Lakes (Rotorua) at 6.30 this morning....only the wind was so strong they ended up postponing the regatta 2x then at 11 am decided to call it off until tomorrow. We'll try again tomorrow.

DH and I took the opportunity to pop into Rotorua for brekky at the Fat Dog...love that place. Popped into Spotlight too as we don't have one in Tauranga. They have my most favourite American Crafts Thickers (foam letters) for only $5 a packet. I loved them so much last year I ordered them from the states! Might have to pop back tomorrow and get some more. I am waiting on the new Basic Grey Two Scoops (I've ordered some) and some cool clear alpha stamps too.
I was thrilled to get an email from UP2SCRAP to say I had won these cool Queen & Co buttons on their blog.

Thanks Up2Scrap and Queen & Co.

Did 2 whole layouts on Thurs night while the girls were here...was really motivated. Will take pics sometime.
I am off to Auckland....the big little city???....what's with that??? DS has an interview right in the middle of town at 11.30 on Monday so I've taken the day off work to take him. Then he wants to go to the zoo. How cool is that...he's 17. Should be fun.

Anyway...must hit the hay.
Caio

Bliss...

...is a clean self. A long hot shower late this afternoon. Now all DH has to do is sort out the minor leaks with a bit of silicone. Although we have put a new shower in the UPSTAIRS bathroom...we are actually renovating the DOWNSTAIRS bathroom. But because the upstairs shower needed replacing eventually we put a new one in before we put the ceiling in the downstairs..if that makes any sense...because the bathrooms are on top of each other. Next step is gibbing and stopping the downstairs bathroom, laundry and hallway (well half the hallway) Oh, and putting the bath in downstairs. These are all exciting changes seeing as we demolished walls about 5 or 6 years ago and have lived with framing and no function ever since.

Big news is Abby and Izzy move next weekend or the weekend after and we have big 2 day rowing regattas both days. Challenge will be to get them to take all their stuff and not leave their rubbish...but not take any of our stuff. I guess in the big picture I'm not really fussed. Although I will miss them dearly, I know they need their own space and I will feel a little more in control of the house.

Exciting news for DS (17) A Jewish camp 2 hours out of New York is intersted in him and we are heading to Auckland next week for an interview. The place sounds amazing and once he has a definite locality I think it will become all the more real for him. What an exciting adventure he will have.

We have installed the awesome statue (? the right description of it) in the garden. I'm not sure it's in the right place yet but we can move it.


Caio for now

Edited to add...sorry about the blurry photo...nightime photography after a couple of beers...lol!!

Aaarrrgghhh.....

...we still have no shower. Now it looks like this....

Luckily DH has been away for work for a week in a motel in Auck and DS's have beeen at training camp for rowing. I and A have been going to A's mums for a shower and I have alternated with having one at work and one at my Mum's. But I want my bathroom back. DH gets back this afternoon so hopefully will sort it all out. Not a good start to getting sorted this year but never mind.

I've done a bit of scrapping in the last while....mainly of the lovely Taylor. It is such a novelty for me to scrap baby girl pages and buying lots of girly scrapping stuff. I have just ordered some Basic Grey Two Scoops which is divine!!!
I will post more LO's over the next few days but here are 2 I have done in the last 2 days.


I did a bit of tidying up in the garden last week and we have bought a scupture for our garden in honour of Olly. We were given $$ to put towards it 3 years ago and have just managed to bring ourselves to buy something. Will post a pic once it is in my garden. I have found this Christmas/New Year has been hard with the number of drownings...it all just reminds us of what we have been through, how much we miss him etc. If anyone thinks I am a together sort of person, be assured that not far below the surface is a blubbering grieving mess. It only takes one tragedy in another part of the country to 'bring it all back'.

Trust me...I don't believe there is ever such a thing as "over it"!!!

Enough said. Sad to hear about Sir Edmund Hillary's death yesterday. He was a great man and my thoughts are with his family who are grieving the passing of a beloved husband, father and grandfather.

:-{

Ssshhh.....

.....can I whisper a little secret in your ear?? Very quietly now...

.......it's nearly 4pm Sunday and the plumber is here. I can hear banging and drilling and other such sounds. Don't want to say too much too loud in case I spoil it and discover it's not real.....

;-)

Ok..Progress so far....

...or should I say "lack of progress so far". Got the pantry tidy and the study sort of under control. Why is it that piles of paper will always look messy???

Now the plumber saga!! DH organised with DS for his mate (who is a plumber) to come on Thurs to replumb the shower upstairs (currently the only operating bathroom we have).... DH gets up on Thurs and rips out the old shower....

...now it's Saturday and the shower STILL looks like that. The new base is in but we can't do any more until the plumber replumbs it so we can put the new fitting in and the new walls up. And he still hasn't come. We are all off to my mums for a shower this afternoon!! Apparantly said plumber is waiting for someone to get back from holiday coz his tools are in his car. Bad move on our part getting DS's mate to do it. Maybe we've learnt for next time...I hope.

As per the SBO forum I have chosen a word for this year for me. This year my word is

SORTED

Next few posts I will record what I learnt/achieved with last years word which was SPACE.

Lastly a beautiful photo of my darling grandaughter to cheer me up coz I have no shower lol.


Ciao

Happy New Year....

...and welcome to 2008. I have been up for an hour and have started the year with some time on the erg (rowing machine), the ab machine and the home gym. I didn't do a lot but it's a start. I have started walking more about a month ago and now I need to tone as well....watch this space!!

DH and I are in "get sorted and under control around the house mode" We have made a decision to look at putting our house on the market towards the end of this year. Most of you will not realise what a huge mission that will be. I kid you not...it is a very ambitious project.
A brief history of our home. We bought it in 1986. It had 8 bedrooms, 2 lounges/bathrooms/loos and an office and a games room. For the first 10 - 12 years we had many other young people live with us, including a stint fostering teens for the then DSW (now CYF's) About 6 or 7 years ago we decided to make it a little more like a family home and less like an institution lol.
So we started some alterations...knocking out walls etc. We had both architect and interior designer input (low key) BUT WE ONLY EVER STARTED!!! What with job disasters and losing Olly, motivation and funds became very low. In the last few months we have got back into it again and have begun to get somewhere. The idea is it will be a 6 bedroom family home with master ensuite etc. But we haven't done much (any lol) maintenence on it in the 20 years or so really.
It's a BIG JOB!! But we are determined (and on a shoestring budget)

I am going to use this blog to document our progress. I need to scrap it too as I have some photos.

Watch this space.

Today is simply - sort out the study and the pantry day. Baby steps really...but do you realise how much junk you can accumulate when you have lots of rooms and you live there for 21 years.

Will keep you all posted.

Caio for now