Christmas Tour

For the last 2 years Boo Mama has done a Christmas House Tour.

How it works is that you take pictures of your decorations in your house, put up a post about them, maybe even share a special recipe along the way, because after all, as she says, you are inviting people over to view your house.
Then on the day, Dec 15 this year, you pop on over to BooMama, place a link to your tour and sit back and look at all the other links and see how others have decorated their home.

It doesn't have to be extravegant, plain and simple is fine. If you have a cute little scene you want to show off then take a picture. If you have a special wall hanging, then take a picture, anything you want to show.

Me, well I had better start thinking about where I actually want to put the decorations seeing as this is our first year in this house!

Christmas Presents

K-Mart have a sale on at the moment, where you buy 1 toy and get 50% of the 2nd. Not the most originally discount but better than nothing when you have things to buy.

I didn't actually have a particular thing to buy, but I still don't have anything for the boys, so in my lunch break, thought I would take a little stroll down the hill from work and check it out.

Now their toy dept is not a big place, only a few rows, but I expected to found maybe one or 2 somethings I could possible get for them....

Nothing, nada, niltch, a big fat O.

There were one or two things, like a jigsaw puzzle or a game, but it would only be suitable for Ben and even then it was maybe a little adventurous for now, maybe better next Christmas.

Alex is only 3 1/2 but I expected there to be something, they have enough cars, they do not need any more Thomas Train stuff, they have no idea who 'Ben 10' is so would not appreciate an alien or anything from that range. Ben is just at the point of being too big for Duplo Lego, but not quite into the smaller size lego. Ben doesn't play with the Magnetix box he currently has so no reason to buy him more of that just yet. And so it goes on....

I can honestly admit I do not know what to buy my children for a christmas present, how sad is that?

Although it is Alex I feel sorry for because Ben is bigger and therefore there will be the odd new thing that he will be growing into, Alex has everything in the house and therefore there is nothing left to buy. I know, a typical thing when you have 2 children of the same sex, but annoying when trying to sort out presents.

This will also be the first Christmas that Ben really knows what is going on and is excited about it even today and I can't come up with anything to get them to make it exciting!

I am beginning to think I might just buy the whole family a new BBQ for the caravan for $149 and stick everyones name on it and say 'Merry Christmas'. That is is, that is all I could come up with!

Book Review

Mum left some books at my house that she had finished with and thought I might like to read them.

One she left was 'Wife in The North' by Judith O'Reilly

This is written in a diary form, just like 'Bridget Jone's Diary' was, and it is about herself and her three children and their life in Northumberland, the place her husband wanted the family to live. Only thing being is that her husband still goes to London regularly for business so she is in fact more or less living up north on her own!

Some of the entries are funny and all mother's can recognise and understand what she is writing about, although for me, that is where it ends.

I am finding it very difficult to read and in fact am finding it boring! I am slowly perservering because I wanted to see how it ends, does her husband finally give up his London job to concentrate on living up north properly? Does she leave her husband? Those sort of questions....

Unfortunately, in one of the entries, she tells you about her blog she keeps, now I wasn't sure if this was a fictional blog or what because this was a fictional book for all I knew, so I had a quick turn to the back cover and realise that in fact the blog is real and to make matters worse this whole book is just her blog made in to a book!

I went and checked out her blog and realised that the book will never end, there will be no answers to my questions because if I feel like it I can continue reading the blog and it will be like the book never ends.

So know I have decided that I do not need to read anymore of the book. I didn't enjoy what I had read so far, so the book can be passed on to the next person...who ever that may be?

Bathroom Competition

We didn't win...but I had a lovely breakfast at the restaurant the radio station invited us all to.

We had to be there at 7am and as you arrived they asked you to turn off your phones.

We then procedded to sit there and have a lovely cooked breakfast with all the drinks you wanted for the next hour and a half whilst they kept making up half cocked excuses as to why Bunty, radio dj was not there yet.

Finally at about 8.15am, just as people where beginning to get fidgety, he arrived.

Talked to us all there, ask how breakfast was etc and then asked us all to come outside.

As we poured out on to the pavement, so a truck arrived in front of us.

They lifted the side up to reveal an old bathroom in pieces on the back of the truck, well it was old, until one of the ladies gasped and screamed because she realised that in fact it was her bathroom that was in pieces on the truck!

Turns out, her husband knew about this, because he was the one who let them in at 7.05am this morning so they could rip out the bathroom and bring it to her at the restaurant. Turns out the visit we had earlier in the month was to see who was the person with the most desperate bathroom in need of a make over. We couldn't have our phones on in case a neighbour tried to call to find out what was going on etc and the restaurant couldn't have the radio on because the whole time, everyone else listening, knew that someone in Hamilton was having their bathroom ripped out!

Looking at the state of the stuff on the back of the truck, she needed it.

Yes our bathroom is a mess, but it is actually still very liveable, well ok, we can't get hot water in the basin, and the bath takes 30 minutes to fill, I can't stand the black tiles round the basin or the black wallpaper, but it is still clean looking.

Her shower base was a mess, the cupboard doors were peeling and missing handles, she definitely needed it.

So I had a fun morning at someone elses expense at a nice restaurant, what better way to start the weekend, oh apart from the fact I then had to come on up to work afterwards!

What Gives?

This coming Sunday is the Santa Parade up in Auckland.

Now I can hear you asking why I care when I live in Hamilton? Bit like living in Columbus, Ohio and caring about Detroit's Parade.

Well, on the radio yesterday I heard that a court case had been bought about against the organisers of the Santa Parade by the religious group Falun Gong.

They had been declined the right to have a part in the Parade and they felt it was worth taking it to the court and to get an injunction against the parade.

The parade has its rules set out clearly, so they have their line where they draw to stop the already huge parade getting out of hand. This parade is organised over 12 months, as soon as this year is over they will already be planning for next year. They actually employe people to maintain the costumes etc throughout the year. This is not you local casual parade thrown together by a volunteer organisation in the last 3 months leading up to it!

Today the judge awarded it to the parade, saying that they had done everything legally when declining the group access to the parade.

I ask you...is this what life has come to?

We can't get into what we want so we sue, or go to court?

I just can not believe that this even had to go to court, just to be part of a Santa Parade!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my US based friends.

It is indeed that special time of year for them to go and have large dinners with all their families, give thanks to what ever they are grateful for and then to go mental mad Christmas shopping tomorrow morning if their hearts desire it at some unearthly hour just to get that one rip roaring special.

One day maybe I will get the pleasure of spending this lovely holiday in the US.

Happy Thanksgiving to You All

Computer Update

We are all alive and well again and up and running nicely.

In fact Steve thinks the computer is now running more efficiently.

So when we come back from our weekend at the caravan then I will try and go through all the pictures I need to up load and tell you about and catch you up with what we have been doing for the last few weeks.

Anniversary

I am not sure if I am allowed to celebrate this anymore.....given the fact that I do now have a new anniversary date, but this is still a special date to me.

Today Steve and I have been together for 9 years.

So despite the fact I will now be celebrating Sept 20, each year, I will still remember this date as it passes.

Bathroom

The bathroom is one of the rooms in the hosue that I would love to see sorted next, ok, not that many of the rooms have been sorted yet, but that is the one I would like to do next. Mainly because it is like the kitchen in that it is a big job, but also because it is a busy room and used all the time.

The layout of the bathroom is more or less fine, just can't stand the black vinel wallpaper, black tiles round the vanity and pink & peach bathroom furniture!

A few months ago we heard about a competition to win a new bathroom at one of the local bathroom shops, so I went along to check it out. Turns out that all you had to do was enter your name on a piece of paper and be prepared for someone from the shop to come view your bathroom.

So what did I have to lose from entering, so I did.

At the beginning of November someone from the shop called to say we had been drawn as one of the top 20 finalists. Could they please organise a date and time for someone to visit and have a look. Get a feel for what we wanted to do etc etc. The finalist would be drawn at the end of the month.

Now the shop is not your basic bathroom design place, the stuff is well out of our normal price range and not exactly the style I would have choosen, Contemporary European Design, but then if we win, I am sure I will find something that we will approve of.

The man came and measured the bathroom, asked me a few questions. Asked if I would be interested in a quote from the building people even if we didn't win, which of course I said yes to. You see when they say you win a new bathroom, they mean a new bathroom, not just the units to go in it, but the building work, plumbing and painting, in fact your bathroom would be totally made over.

So last week I got a call from the radio station covering the competition to tell me that there is a breakfast this coming Friday ay 7am, and could I please come along to it because this is where the winner will be annouced.

So on friday at 7, I will be all dressed ready for work, because I will have to skip off to work after breakfast, and I will sit and patiently wait to see if we win a new bathroom.

Would be so cool to win, one less thing to pay for.

Will keep you posted....

Computers

Unfortunately our computer has decided it does not want to play nicely.
In fact it does not want to play with us at all.
On Sunday evening it put its foot down and said 'no sorry not now!'

So it has gone to the doctor and he wants to keep it for about 3 days, or more to the point he is so busy, it could be up to 3 days before they get to look at our machine!

So we are computerless.
I can still add posts from work, but I can not add pictures because I do not want to start downloading pictures at work from the camera, so all the pictures I have to share with you will have to wait till next week.

So please bear with me whilst I have limited access and hopefully I will see you all on the flip side....

Boys Toys

This evening, our local Placemakers had a Ladies Night.
Yep that is right, you could go along and play with tools and learn some basic things.
I registered for it, but wasn't sure if I was in the mood for it......turns out it was the best thing I did.
I made a christmas ornamant, a coaster, won a box of 20 pegs on the hanging washing game and even managed to bang a nail into a piece of wood in 4 bangs!

The nail banging game was another competition, where the person who banged the nail in in the least amount of hits won a prize. Well I got 5, which was the lead and then another lady got 4, so I then kept trying until I got 4 too.
Then we had to have a 'nail off"! The fastest one to hit in 5 nails won the prize.
It was a fast and furious game and I was the runner up...the other lady beat me fair and square.
She won the 9 piece pink tool kit.
The manager of the store had given me tips throughout the evening on how to use a hammer, thus the reason I got a 4.
I found him after the game and said that I had lost, but gained a bruised finger where I did actually hit my hand with the hammer, he laughed and said good try.

Although about 10 minutes later he came and found me and gave me a 9 Piece Pink Tool Kit, he said as a runner up prize, but hey I fought hard for that tool kit.
So now I have my own tool kit in a bag (comes with its own carry bag) and I will take a picture and post it later so you can see what I got.

Only thing is though, Steve was kinda hoping I would learn how to paint on this evening, because painting is not my strong point, but unfortunately I still don't know the correct techniques for painting and we have a lot to do around this house!!

Life

Do you ever go through a faze where things are all below the line, you have no enthusiasm for things and you feel totally overwhelmed?

That is me at the moment.
Life is good, I have just got married, Ben is very happy at school and the summer is coming, but other than that life is in a slump!
I need to tidy the house, but can't see a window to do it until Saturday. There seems to always be something else more important to do in any of my free time at the moment and I am beginning to feel totally swamped.

Work is not great, I am on my 3rd day of the project, which is going ok and will be interesting for the next 12 weeks, but I am not sure what I will be doing when it ends as I do not want to go back to what I was doing before, and I think this is effecting everything at present.
I didn't realise how much my part time job did effect me until you are feeling negative about it and then everything is effected.

I volunteer for a Not for Profit Organisation, which I am very passionate about, but at present I feel that it is taking over everything, so am backing down from some of this as it is overwhelming me. Things are still getiing achieved but I feel my family are suffering because of this. But then my committee have noticed a change in me, so something has to give.

I also seem to have to stopped coming up with posts for my blog, so I know things are not good. I have posted about 11 posts in November and usually by now I am up to at least 1 or 2 ahead of where I should be. I have things to post about, but no effort to want to sit at the computer and load them, luckily on that score, I was so a head in my little challenge that taking time out means I won't not achieve the challenge I set myself.

So there you have it...my negative moments at present. I can't actually put my finger on it totally but the days are just rolling into each other at present and there seems to be no room to breath. I am a do'er and I think all my doing has clashed and all hit a head at the same time. Considering I had my birthday yesterday it is not the greatest feeling to feel so crap.

So how is your week going? Any better than mine?

My Day

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to me,

Happy Birthday to.........oh yea, me

Happy Birthday to.......ME

Tis my birthday and I am at work. I try never to work on my birthday, but unfortunately this year just didn't actually flow right.
Oh well will still try and have a good day whilst at a training session!

What Do I Want?

It is my birthday on Tuesday.
Steve is aware, but suddenly asked again today...'when is your birthday?'
Oh yea...'what do you want?'

Sad thing is, I can't think of anything I actually want. There are things I would like, but they are either too expensive or things that I don't actually need but could quite happily buy just because!
We stopped off to get ice cream this afternoon after having been to the garden centre shop. Steve suddenly said, lets look in K-Mart, they might have that hotplate we have been looking for?
Well worth a try seeing as we can't find one anywhere.

Turns out they don't have hotplates but they did have a 120L bar fridge that is the perfect size for our caravan and at only $150 brand new it was too good to pass up on....so the ever resourceful person that I am said 'but I have always wanted a fridge for my birthday!'
Steve just looked at me and laughed, ok so I did then convince him of why it was just what we needed and we brought it anyway, as for my birthday, well I will just wait and see for Tuesday.....

Parenting

I have just heard on the radio that Jennifer Lopez would love to have more kids.
Already, even though her twins are only about 6-8 months old. Apparently she is loving having kids and would therefore love to have more, especially more twins!
Of course she is loving having twins, she has help.
I would love more kids but not without that proverbial 'Village' everyone tells you you need to raise kids with!

It really bugs me when you hear famous people going on about how life is so grand with the kids and how it is so easy! Yea, give up the nanny, and all help and see how long you last before you realise that life with kids is awesome but sometimes it is far from grand!

Work

I am writing this to you from my new desk at the project I was talking about several weeks ago.
Yes they have finally got themselves sorted and let me move on to the project.
So here I will be until the end of January.

I am however in the throws of checking out some new jobs. I had an interview the other day at another Private Hospital. Very hopefully, all went well and I think she wanted to offer me a job on the spot, although she has to go through all the usual procesess.
I also have an application in for another job and I spoke to a lady yesterday that will be advertising a community job next week.
Really interested in the community job, would be great fun for the year, as it is only a fixed term thing through to next October, but I think it would be fun.

So my options are open at present and I am open to options.
Will keep you posted as to what comes of it all....

Alex

Alex spent yesterday having ups and downs. One minute he was the happiest little boy around and then he would crumble and become a monster.

We had Jumping Beans in the morning and just as we were leaving home to go, he raced upstairs and arrived back down with 2 Barneys and yellow teddy. Turns out he had remembered that it was Teddy Bear Picnic Day at Jumping Beans! I was amazed, I had forgotten until he appeared with his toys. I was quite shocked that he remembered.

Although 3/4 of the way through Jumping Beans he suddenly decided that he ahd had enough, he was miserable and promptly got stroppy. I asked him if he wanted to go home and he promptly said yes, got his stuff together and walked out! He was not in a good mood.

When we had finished lunch I explained that I needed to make some cookies for a meeting I was hosting that night. Next thing I heard was this noise in the kitchen. I thought maybe he was gettign stuff together to make a sandwich. Suddenly he arrived at the door to inform me that he had been 'Cleaning!' and could I please help him put the toast machine away.
When I got into the kitchen, everythin g that was on the bench was now gone!
I found the left over apple core in the pantry, the jam and butter was back in the fridge and the knives were in the sink. I couldn't however find the dirty chopping board? Opened a few cupboards but nothing came to light. However later when makign the cookies I mentioned something about rolling them out and placing them on a board, with this he promptly opened one of the draws where we keep the utensils and aksed if this was the board I wanted? Yes you guessed it, the dirty board I couldn't find.
He had me in stitches as I told him he was so cute and adorable.

But then later in the day Ben had a swimming lesson and by the time we left I was ready to sell both of them!

The joys of parenting. One minute you are up and the next down.
Guess it keeps life amusing

More Change

Man how things can change in one night.

We woke this morning to learn that yes we definitely have a new Prime Minister.
The old PM has conceded defeat and has actually resigned as the leader of the opposition party. So that will be an interesting few months to see who stands forward as an interested party in the job of leading the other party. They say we should know by Christmas.
Another strong leader, of another party, within politics has also called it all a day after neither his party or any of the MP's from it gained a seat in parliament.

It will be like central station in parliament when they next go back, because all you will hear is the station master going "All change please!"

Our Turn

Today is election day in New Zealand.

Time for us to choose who we want as Prime Minister for the next 3 years.

Not quite as dramatic as the US elections, but could be very significant for NZ over the next year.

As mentioned the other day, we have had the same Prime Minister in office now for 3 terms (9yrs) do NZ feel it is time for a change? Do they feel there is still something left in the old lady?

Time will tell, should know sometime later tonight...

Me, I am not into politics in any shape or form. I never really know who to vote for. It can all get very confusing at times and I can totally understand why some people just stay away and hide under the covers until it is all over. The tv and radio ads seem to go on forever and some of them gets sillier the closer we get to election day. Tv will go back to being reasonable now as no more ads are allowed! Yea..

Never fear, I did vote, but sometimes I feel it is a case of eeny meeny miny moo and tick where ever the pen lands.

Highs and Lows

As I have posted before Steve has diabetes. He has Type 1, which yes, means he injects himself with Insulin up to 4 times a day. He has had it for the last 24 odd years, so this is nothing new.

Yesterday he came home from work and went outside to finish clearing some of the garden. After dinner he spent another hour and a half out there with the boys.
The boys finally went to bed late about 8.30 and him and I sat down to watch a movie. We finally watched 'St Trinians' with Colin Firth and Rupert Everett, it was a good laugh.
In the evenings Steve will sometimes have a snack, keeps him going, and last night was no different although he ony had a snack size packet of chips.
I went to bed about 11.15 and I think he followed a little while later.

At 2.10am I got woken up by Steve as his arm jerked across the bed. I thought Ben was with him and had maybe kicked him, which he is good at doing when he is sleeping with you, but 2 minutes later Steve did it again.
This time I leaned over to check for Ben and realised that he wasn't there, and that got my brain ticking because Steve didn't ask me what I was doing!
I quickly got the light on and there is Steve laid there staring having these jerky movements. Of course the first thing I did was ask him if he was ok and of course all I got back was this glassy eyed stare.
Now you have to remember that it is 2am and I have just woken out of a deep sleep, so the brain doesn't work as fast as normal at that time. So of course it took me more than a second to realise that he was having a hypo.
So I quickly got a chocolate bar from the box by his bed and then had to ask him to eat it!
It is very weird asking someone who is not communicating with you, who doesn't have any idea what is going on, who probably at that moment thinks the world is a triangle and that green men do exsist! to eat a chocolate bar. Infact after this time Steve asked me why I had woken him up? Because they have no idea this has happened until they come out of it when they go very low.
Luckily for me this time he happily opened his mouth and chewed the bar down, in fact he happily chewed down 4 mini choc bars and a whole glass of juice. The problem I have is that I don't want to give him too much because otherwise then you make him feel like crap because his blood sugar goes so high, but you need enough to get him out of the hypo. The other problem is there is not an instant reaction, in fact last night it took 20 minutes before he was actually talking sensible to me. In hind sight I should have jabbed him with the small glucose injection I have, but as he was able to eat for me then I went down that route instead, but I suppose I could have done both, but hey, there is no manual for this sort of thing, it is a feel as you go situation at 2am all on your own! If I can get him to eat for me then I can get him out of it on my own, but if he is unable to eat then I jab him at the same time as calling for an ambulance. They don't ever have to take him to hospital, but when you have an uncooperative semi consious man help is always nice.

Is it scary? Well my heart is racing the whole time, it is a pain having to race down the stairs to get stuff from the kitchen.
Am I scared of him? Sometimes, unfortunately they get snappy when having a hypo and you are never sure what they will do, although when they go as low as Steve did last night I kinda had no worries as he was never going to be able to physically move off the bed so I knew he was in no harm. You have to use humour during the episode beacuse otherwise you get annoyed with them and they can't help it.
Last night I couldn't work out how to use the blood sampling kit, couldn't get the stabbing pen to work, so there I am trying to test his blood, but I was actually unable to get any. I finally got some with his help after he had come round enough to assist me.
That is the other problem, this is not a regular occurance so 18 months can go by and in that time I kinda forget the silly little things or more to the point I don't forget them but your brain is not thinking straight at 2am when you are suddenly woken out of a deep sleep!

What happened last night....well he informed me that he had forgotten to have his drugs after dinner, so he took them before he came to bed. No problem with that but he forgot a few vital things to take into consideration at the time...

1. He didn't test his blood to see what it was so he could adjust the amount to take
2. He forgot to take into consideration that he had used a lot of energy in the garden after dinner, thus burning off a lot of what he had eaten and therefore not needing as much insulin.
3. He hadn't eaten much during the evening
4. He took his drugs so close to going to bed that due to points 2 & 3 when the insulin took his blood sugar so low he was in a very deep sleep so he didn't wake up when it started to go low, thus the reason his body woke him, sort of, when it got very low and he was now past the point of being able to help himself.

It is difficult to get annoyed with him, you can't at 2am and then at 7am it doesn't have as much kick to the annoyance. But this is what does scare me.....

We have 2 gorgeous boys, who are a little too young to know what is going on. If I wasn't there last night what would have happened? The boys wouldn't have found him until 6/7am.

My best friend thought it was weird when she realised that I had never had a night away from Steve and the boys on my own. But when I explained to her that I have 3 people to think about at night she kinda saw my point. My first ever night away was at my Hen's Party, it crossed my mind several times and Steve told me to go away one of the times I called home, but it was too bad, I had to call so I knew all was ok at home.

He did spend 3 weeks on his own last year when we moved to Hamilton, so I know he is a big boy and can look after himself, and I have to keep remembering that when I go away, but it still doesn't make it any easier, because I think about the boys.

Oh well, that is a big look into what I live with. Don't get me wrong, this is a rare happening. As I mentioned this was the first time for 18 months that has happened in the night and I have had to assist with. So life is pretty normal to us, just every now and then it has some drama!

Time for Change

Life has changed, probably more than we know it.

He has done it....Barack Obama is the new President of the United States, the first black man to achieve such an office holding.

Way to go for him.....It is a proud moment to know I was here when history was made in such a significant way.

I think he will be good, I hope he comes forth on his promises and is given a chance to do what he has set out to do.

I haven't posted for a few days and I have so much to tell. Hopefully I will get some time in the next few days to tell everything that has been going on. Got lots of pictures to share.

Catch you soon.

Election

Tis the time for all to change.....

Is a history making day for all my fellow American friends. The last hours of the polls are now counting down. Is there going to be a women as Vice President or a new start with who becomes President. Back in the 60's and 70's did anyone every dream this day may be here?

Life will change, and life does keep changing, change is something that we unfortunately can not avoid.

Good luck to both candidates, may you stand true behind what you have campaigned with.

Is maybe the time to change here in New Zealand as well.

We go to the polls on Saturday to elect our Prime Minister. Will we keep the same person as we have had for the last 9 years? Or will we bite the bullet and finally get a fresh face in the seat?

3 years ago I think maybe people were prepared for a change but I don't feel the candidate was the right person to lead us there and so things stayed the same. This time round there is a fresh face on the other party and who knows, maybe New Zealand will decide to make the change.

It is a week for change all over the world