Dilemma

Yes I have a small dilemma on my hands, well not exactly this moment but as of next Friday I will have.......

Ben came home from school a little while ago and asked if he could play cricket?
Seeing as the only extra thing he does was swimming, then we thought why not.
Do him good to actually do something that is school based and nice that he is showing interest in something other than swimming, although he does still love swimming.
So I completed the form, and even put Steve down as a parent helper and sent it back to school.

All good so far, we know his games are on a Friday evening somewhere around Hamilton at one of the schools to be annouced on a Wednesday.
Today, well last night at 3am, I realised that I am not sure how we are actually going to make this work??

I work on a Friday, so Ben goes to After School Care and Alex to Daycare.
Cricket starts at 5.15pm onwards, so we are going to have to collect Alex and Ben from respective cares and then collect Steve from work and go to the cricket field, where ever that may be.
2 problems immediately spring to mind??

1. How do we do dinner
2. We only have one car

So this is the dilemma.......
Because I am working I therefore have to organise some dinner for Ben and Steve, but it has to be something that can be sorted that morning and taken with us, and I then have to bear in mind that wherever the game is, there will probably be no kitchen facilties, so it has to be something simple! Steve said he would be fine until they got home at about 7.45pm, but when I questioned him further about what he would have eaten since lunch, he said lunch would have been his last meal and that he would be ok until he got home! I don't think so. I am not having him go nearly 8 hours having not eaten anything and also running after 8 5 yr olds! Talk about major hypo alert!
I could organise sandwiches for them, but that seems a very poor meal every Friday night (especially as that is what they would have had for lunch, you can only survive so long on chocoalte spread sandwiches!).
The other small problem is the one car thing, they would either have to drop Alex and I at home before they go or we go with them, which I have no problem doing because it would be fun to watch Ben play have a go but then I have to sort dinner for 4 on a Friday morning at 7am!

So does anyone have any ideas as to the sorts of things I could try for dinner?
Anything I could possibly leave at home in the fridge ready to go and that I just have to throw in the bag on the way out?
If Alex and I stay home, then dinner is not too bad as I can make something and they can get by on a sandwich or two until they come home.
But it is just all that running about at 5.30 /6pm when my family are beginning to loose it because it is the end of the day and dinner time that is going to take a little of getting use too.

Cat Update

I decided today to go and check up on the SPCA.

Thought I would go over and see if 1) the 2 little ones I liked had gone for their surgery and 2) to see if there were any others available?

Good job I did.

Turns out the 2 little ones I liked had been sorted the day before and were now immediately available.

And the lady had even felt sorry for me so she placed the little tabby one as Not Available, hoping that I would return soon, even though I wasn't planning on returning until Friday at 1pm when I thought they would be ready!

The tortoise one had just been adopted as I got there but our little tabby was waiting for me.

I didn't actually know what to say to her, especially after the conversation on Tuesday!

So we have a new member to our family. We really want 2 new members but they had nothing else available at the time. Maybe next week.

She is about 10 weeks old and very snuggly.

She doesn't have a name yet, we are working on that one, although Alex has taken to calling her 'Barnie'!

Cats

Almost four years ago we had to sadly put our cat down. He had got very old and became very sick. His name was Ferris and he was at least 18 yrs old.
I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time with baby #2 and we decided that we didn't want another cat then and there, especially with the baby about to arrive.
We thought about it and decided that maybe we would look at getting one when the boys were big enough to enjoy having a cat. I don't actually think that Ben has ever realised that there was a cat in his house for his first 20 months of life!

During last year we had a cat adopt us!
Walked right in one Saturday afternoon and never left. After a while we got him checked out and sorted out. And then sadly about 8 weeks after he adopted us he dissappeared. The boys know that Tigger (what we called him because he bounced a lot) went away but they were never really sad about it. Tigger just wasn't here when we came back from a night away one time.

We again discussed about getting a cat because Alex was totally taken with it. He cared for it, snuggled it and generally was all soppy about the cat. It was so cute, but again we decided that time was not the right time to get one.

So last weekend we had the subject come up again and we decided that maybe now was a good time to look at getting another cat. After the discussion I had managed to swing it so we looked at getting 2 cats, they can keep each other company!
We checked out the local SPCA and found out they had visiting times during the day.
Today I went and checked them out, see if they have any kittens that might suit us?
They didn't have many, one ginger and white, one tabby and one tortoise colour one.
Unfortunately this is then where the fun began.

We don't actually want to get a cat before Thursday, because I then have 5 days with no work and that will allow someone to be here most of the time whilst they get settled in. So I was checking out if they had anything that I could look at getting on Thursday?

The one I really liked and she seemed to like me is being desexed on Thursday, so is not available for adoption until 1pm on Friday, but they do not do holds! So if you want the cat you have to be there at 1pm to get it. The other cat in the same pen as her was not one that immediately jumped at me as one I wanted, although thinking about it for all of the afternoon I think she might be a good cat to have as well. So we will see on Friday when I go.
There was also the ginger one in the other pen. I enquired about when he/she (not sure) was available and the answer I got was....

'it hasn't been desexed yet!'
So I asked when it was getting done?
'Not sure as the vet is very busy! but could possible be on Friday?'
So that means it would be available on Saturday at 1pm?
'Maybe?'

Now this conversation went round in circles several times whilst I was stood there and at the end of it I really got the impression that they were in no hurry what so ever to get these darling little kittens adopted out!
Yet 10 minutes before when I had been looking at the cats, the lady had told me that they always have lots of new cats coming in and that they even have a waiting list for cats to go in the currently full pens!

So now I am very confused and not sure if there will be any cats there at 1pm on Friday when I go there?
You are not able to pay any money to hold the cat for you. I would have quite happily paid for the tabby one so it was ours on Friday but no, not allowed.
The lady even went so far as to say 'if it is meant to be, it will be!'

I walked away thinking that with her help they would never be with anyone because she doesn't seem to want them to be with anyone! With how unhelpful she was I am surprised they ever have any new cats in because I think everyone walks away more confused than when they first arrived!

Anyway, I will be there at 12.50 on Friday to see if I can get the tabby one. As for the 2nd cat, well we will see when I am there, we may even have to go back at 1pm on Saturday to secure the other one. If not I will check it out next week sometime.

Do You Have a Goal?

One of my all time favorite movies is 'Pretty Woman' with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
I am not sure what it is about this movie but when it was in the cinemas I saw it 9 times, yes that is right 9 times!

One of my favorite lines in it, for some strange reason, is 'Do you have a goal?'

I have now started my new job, I have 2 weeks of education to complete and that is a little boring, but hey it is what you have to do sometimes.
Unfortunately the most boring day has been today! I had to sit through the District health Boards Orientation Day for new staff. My latest Danielle Steele got well read!

Anyway, one of the speakers was a man talking about disability and ways to help.
What struck me about him was him talking about how he always discusses with his clients and patients about the importance of them having goals.
Now I know everyone has goals and I think I had just plain forgot that disabled people will also have goals, more than just gaining use of their limb, being able to write or even read again etc.
What amazed me about this man, in his wheelchair, was his goal was to do the New York Marathon in under 3 hours!
His first attempt took him just over 6 hours and his 4th attempt took him just over 3 hours!

It definitely put my life into perspective, here I am with one of my only goals at present is to get everyone out of the house on time each morning!
I know they say to start small, but I think I need to reassess my goals and aim for something a little bigger...!

Proud of Him

I have often wondered what Ben would do if I wasn't at school at 2.55pm to meet him?
Now there are days when he has 'after school care' and he knows exactly what to do on those days.
So only twice a week do I actually get to go and collect him when he has finished.

Today was one of those days to collect him.
It has been raining here all day, traffic was horrendous and I got caught up and arrived at school at about 3.02pm. For some strange reason this school empties very quickly and there is hardly anyone around within 5 minutes of the bell going!
As I walked into the school, I was wondering to myself where I might actually find him.....

a) Could he have thought I wasn't there because he had after school care?
b) Had he stayed at his classroom, waiting for me?
c) Was he wandering around in the rain in the playground looking for me?

I decided to go straight to the classroom seeing as this is where I was meant to meet him.

And that is exactly where he was!
I was very proud of him and I sure let him know it.
I gave him a big hug and kiss. Told him exactly how proud I was of him and why.
He was very happy with himself.
I was amazed actually because Friday is usually an 'after school care' day, but he had remembered me saying there was no 'after school care' today because I was going to be finished at work early enough to collect him.

As we came out of his classroom, I explained to him why I was carrying my shoes, I had very wet feet from walking in all the puddles and rain. So he took off his sandels as well and we puddle jumped our way out of the playground, laughing all the way.

New Family Member

Extended family that is....

At the weekend we had the wonderful pleasure of catching up with some of Steve's family for a Christening.

His brother's oldest son's daughter got christened.

In other words, his nephew's daughter!

Or to be more precise, our great niece.

OMG, I have a great niece and I am so young!

But she is so cute, so I can't really complain.

Her name is Kayla and she was born last October. She lives in Nelson, South Island, so we won't see her very much (about 10 hours to drive, with a 4 hr ferry crosing thrown in the middle!) so it was awesome to attend the Christening that was held up this way because her grandparents live up this way.

The boys just loved her, Alex especially, he loves babies. I think he would have made an awesome big brother if he had ever been given the oppotunity.

So here are some pictures of the gorgeous family.

Alex and Kayla getting to know one another

Mummy, can we keep her?

Alex and Kayla, friends forever

Olga, Gareth and Kayla (aka, parents)

Ken (Steve's brother), Olga, Gareth, Gail (Ken's wife)

Olga's Mum, Ken, Olga, Gareth, Gail & Olga's Dad, oh yea and little Kayla in the middle

Growing Your Own

We are still majorly in the throws of redoing the garden, well more the point, actually doing something with the garden. It hasn't been landscaped and we have been in the house for nearly a year. Not that we planned on landscaping in that time, we actually wanted to live here a while and get the feel of the place to see what we wanted to do with it and when.

Anyway, Steve decided we would at least attempt to grow something.

So he planted tomatoes and pumpkin.

Well it is a little late, because this actually happened a while ago, but here is the picture of the first tomato that turned red for us...

We eventually got a lot of them off the plant, we ate loads of them at the BBQ we held on Feb 14 for our family and friends. They went down real nice.

So maybe we are able to grow something, more tomatoes next year I guess!

Big Boys

2 recent pictures of my boys.

Ben's picture is of his first day of school for the new year (a little tradition I am going to try and keep). In New Zealand their school year is from February to December, so an actually calendar year. So Christmas is the summer holidays. We also have 4 terms in the year with 2 weeks break between each term. A little confusing to a Northern Hemisphere person like me!

So this is Ben starting in his new class with a new teacher.

Alex's picture is of him catching up on the latest gossip at the local Barbers shop. He has been attending a barbers to get his hair cut for at least 2 years now, so is very good at sitting in the chair all by himself and having his hair cut.

Just a little off the sides please, with the back shaven!

Anniversary

NO not my wedding anniversary, that is in September.
Today is actually the anniversary of when I arrived in New Zealand.
I arrived here 11 years ago today, all on my little own at 11am on a glorious sunny February morning.

I arrived on a Singapore Air flight #285. I remember that I had woken up at about 5am (NZ time) as we flew over Australia.
I was an organised girl at the time and had taken some clean clothes in my carry on luggage, so was able to freshen up before landing.
At 11am we touched down in Auckland, New Zealand to a beautiful day and the start of a wonderful new adventure for me.
I had come all this way on my own, on a no going back one way ticket, which had cost me 432 British Pounds.
I had never been to New Zealand before and all I knew was that I had an Aunty and Uncle here who had been here for just under 30 years, with 2 of my cousins.

Why NZ I can hear you all asking???

Well I had travelled lots up till then in 1998 and knew I was never going to stay in England for ever. I wanted to live in the Ohio, in the States, but was having big difficulty in getting my NCLEX exam (Nursing Exam). I took it twice and never quite managed to pass! Maybe it wasn't meant to be??

Someone I worked with at the time ask if I had thought of New Zealand, seeing as you didn't need to take an exam to work here? I never had and she must have got me on a magic day because within 24 hours of talking to her I had emailed, faxed and posted correspondences to all the relevant places to set the ball rolling.

That was in the September of 97 and just under 5 months later I arrived.

So 11 years later I can look back and be amazed at all I have achieved in the time.

I am now married with 2 charming little boys and a beautiful husband.

Add to this the fact that my Mum and Dad live here now and so does my brother and his family.

My dad's brother was the uncle who already lived here and then their sister and family moved here as well.

So 11 years later all of one side of my family lives in New Zealand.

WOW how live changes.

The Classics

I enjoy a good book as much as the next gal or guy, although, I never go for anything too heavy.
Anything with a good romantic story line is fine, even a little family drama. No one better than Danielle Steele, Lavyrle Spencer, Barbara Delinsky to name a few. I find I can read books set in America better than I can books set in England, never understood that, maybe something about how they write the story!
But would you believe I have never read the 'Classics'. The likes of Jane Austin.....

• Pride and Prejudice
• Emma
• Sense and Sensibility

Even E M Fosters's 'Room with a View"

Don't get me wrong, I studied the basic literature in High School, the likes of 'Macbeth' by Shakespear and 'Silas Marner' by George Elliott.
But I have never had the urge to read anything deeper and at the moment with the boys being so young I find that my only reading time is at bedtime and by then I am too tired to concentrate on a heavy novel, I just need something light and simple.
Now I love a good movie, so like many others I have seen all adaptations of most of the books I have mentioned. I have even seen at least 3 versions of Pride and Prejudice (1 I will write about another time) but never once in all the years I havebeen watching these adaptation have I ever had the fancy to want to read the good old classics.

Well that time has come. I have decided 2009 is to be the year and if I struggle take my time with them, then my goal is to extend it into next year, but not past Nov 2010, when I will turn 40! My mission will be to have read them before I am 40.

So I will start with Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Room with A View, although not sure which one I will actually read first although Pride and Prejudice may be the one as I remember the movie so well!

So if you can think of any other Classics that would be great to aim for then let me know what they are and I will add them to my list of books to read in the next 21 months!

P.S I started reading Pride and Prejudice about 2 weeks ago and haven't even got past page 3 yet!

Music and Lyrics

Song always amaze me.
People get so much from a song and mostly they always get different things from it.

I heard on the radio the other day that girls will hear the lyrics whilst boys will hear the music.
Girls will try to figure out what the song is about and boys will sort out the beat and rythme.

If you turn your volume on now, you will hear a song on my blog.
It is 'Grace Kelly' by Mika
I love this song, have done since the first day I ever heard it on the radio.
I think it is catchy and fun.
I also had no idea what it was about but always presumed it was about love.
So imagine my surprise when I find out it is actually about him trying to secure a job, worrying about the job interviews and what is wrong with him, that he is unable to get a job and what he would be prepared to do to enable him to get a job.

Now that I know this about the song, I still love it, but it makes me sing along listen differently!

Kids

We all love them and at times we all hate them. But what ever it is they can always make us smile.

Kids Are Quick

TEACHER: Maria, go to the map and find North America.
MARIA: Here it is.
TEACHER: Correct. Now class, who discovered America?
CLASS: Maria...

TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?
JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.

TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?'
GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'
TEACHER: No, that's wrong
GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
(I Love this kid)

TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?
DONALD: H I J K L M N O.
TEACHER: What are you talking about?
DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.

TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago.
WINNIE: Me!

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.

TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with 'I.'
MILLIE: I is..
TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'
MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'

TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father didn't punish him?
LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.

TEACHER: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.

TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as your brother's. Did you copy his?
CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog.

TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
HAROLD: A teacher

Who Am I??

Whilst checking out the many blogs I follow, I came across the following quiz that Walking Butterfly had recently taken part in.

Decided to check it out myself and find out who I am??

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Marilyn!

You are a Marilyn -- "I am affectionate and skeptical."

Marilyns are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Be direct and clear


• * Listen to me carefully


• * Don't judge me for my anxiety


• * Work things through with me


• * Reassure me that everything is OK between us


• * Laugh and make jokes with me


• * Gently push me toward new experiences


• * Try not to overreact to my overreacting.
  
  What I Like About Being a Marilyn
  


• * being committed and faithful to family and friends


• * being responsible and hardworking


• * being compassionate toward others


• * having intellect and wit


• * being a nonconformist


• * confronting danger bravely


• * being direct and assertive
  

What's Hard About Being a Marilyn

• * the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind


• * procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself


• * fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of


• * exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger


• * wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right


• * being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations
  
  Marilyns as Children Often
  


• * are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn


• * are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger


• * form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent


• * look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel


• * are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent

Marilyns as Parents

• * are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty


• * are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence


• * worry more than most that their children will get hurt


• * sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries


Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Go check out the quiz yourself and find out who you are??

Good Mornings

This morning I went into the boys room and Alex was still in bed. This is nothing unusual as he is very like me, in that he doesn't wake up well and doesn't like getting out of bed!
He was laid there all sleepy with his eyes open, watching me get their clothes out.
I then climbed on the bed with him and snuggled.
After a few seconds he said to me....

"Mummy, I stayed in my bed all night?"

That was it, that was the most important thing to Alex at 7am today.
I thought it was so cute.

Waitangi Day

Today is Waitangi Day, it is a very important day in the history of New Zealand.
To most people it is just another day off work and the chance to occassionally make it into a long weekend.
Waitangi Day always falls on Feb 6, so sometimes we are lucky enough to gain a long weekend from it, other times it turns out to be in the middle of the week and so we gain a day off mid week.

For more indepth information about what Waitangi Day means, then slip on over to my mum's blog where she has put up a post about it.

He is Here

My blogging friends over here have been awaiting the arrival of baby number 2.

Well he is here......

No name yet, just that he was born on Tuesday 3rd February.

Congrats to Kent, Leisy and little Zeb on the arrival of the newest member of their family.

Not Mummy Love

Yesterday went wrong!
Well some of it didn't, but the usual hour from 4pm onwards went wrong, so very wrong.

Let's just say that I actually allowed myself to have a few minutes where I hated my eldest son!

The only thing is then I checked my emails and the follow had just come through from my Sister in Law......

Can I Borrow $15?

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.
SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'
DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.
SON: 'Daddy, how much money do you get paid an hour?'
DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.
SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'
DAD: 'If you must know, I make $30 an hour.'
SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $15?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions.
How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think: Maybe there was something he really! needed to buy with that $15.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often.

The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.
'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.
'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.
'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man.
'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $15 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled.
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up notes.
The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.
The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.
'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.
'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $30 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life.
We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.
Do remember to share that $30 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours.
But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

-------------------------------------------

So of course, then I was all chocked uip and kicking myself for even thinking about hating him, even if it was just for 5 minutes!

I.C.E

This concept is not anything new to me, infact I have known about it for many years.

I am sure that most of you know about it as well, but just in case, for the few that haven't heard about it, I thought I would share.

I C E – In Case Of Emergency

We all carry our mobile phones with names and numbers stored in its memory. If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn’t know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this ‘ICE’ (In Case of Emergency) Campaign.

The concept of ‘ICE’ is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As mobile phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name ‘ICE’ (In Case of Emergency). The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents there were always mobile phones with patients but they didn’t know which number to call.

He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognised name for this purpose.

In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialling the number you have stored as ‘ICE’.
For more than one contact name, simply enter ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc

______________________________________

I have about 4 ICE's in my phone, my husband's mobile and home number and my best friend.

That way if anything ever happened to me, they should be able to get in touch with someone!

Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day.

As this is not a day celebrated much outside of the United States, then I googled it to see what was said about it...

"Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated in United States and Canada on February 2.
In weather lore, if a groundhog, also known as a woodchuck, or marmot emerges from its burrow on this day and fails to see its shadow because the weather is cloudy, winter will soon end. If on the other hand, it is sunny and the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for 6 more weeks.
Candlemas is usually the same day, and has similar beliefs about the coming weather.
Since the release in 1993 of the film of the same name, Groundhog Day, the phrase is sometimes used in English to mean "the same thing over and over again" particularly in reference to unpleasant repeating cycles."

So Happy Groundhog Day to you all

She Died

I do not know this little girl, I don't even know her parents but that is blogging for you.

One of the blogs I follow, in fact several of them, all had a post last Thursday about this charming little girl called Tuesday, who sadly had cancer.

She has been fighting it for most of her 2 years of life, I went on over there on Thursday to see what they were all talking about.

Turns out the cancer was now not responding to the chemo and had doubled in size!

So they were now taking her home to be with her family, she had several brothers and sisters.

So I was very shocked to read on one of the blogs that sadly she died on Friday!

So quick, she couldn't have been home more than 24 hours.

My thoughts are with the family.

I may not know them but no one wants to think about loosing one of their children

Food Storage

When I trained to be a nurse back in 1992-5, I was in Wolverhampton.
My best friend at the time on my course was a girl called Rachel. Sadly she never finished the course, got pregnant and married, as some people do. She is still married, has 4 kids and I have just got back in touch with her via Facebook!
Anyway, her religon is LDS (Mormons) and she had loads of friends all our age in the town. Seeing as I do not smoke or drink I fitted in with this group very well.
In fact I am still in touch with some of them to this day. So my time in Wolverhampton was extremely enjoyable with a lot of people my age with roughly the same out look on life.

I never became a Mormon, but I attended church very regularly (I decided that even though I wasn't a member of the church I was sure he didn't worry where you went to church, just the nice fact that you did go to church), in fact I probably became their most active non member they had ever had! In fact it got to the point where I was teaching the Missionaries a thing or too, but I drove each new greenie mad with frustration because each one would get to know me and you could see it in their eyes that they thought they would be the one who would manage to convince me to become baptised!
I attended a lot of functions, I went to about 15 weddings in 4 years, I joined a lot of Firesides on a Sunday evening and I regularly went to Home Group on a Thursday evening.
Here I learnt a lot of home making tips, food storage was one of the many, in fact it was the one thing that has stuck with me.
It now means that my pantry is always a little bit more stocked than it should be, but you can always find something to more or less make something with. I always seem to have that extra can of tomatoes, extra can of beans etc.

So I came across this wonderful sites the other day, whilst checking out WFMW, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.





Read a few posts and decided that I was going to have to a) blog about them b) place it on my favorites list and c) maybe even place a link on my side bar.
So go over and check out what they have to say. Lots of talk about using slow cookers, tinned food that keeps, which you can usually find on cheap specials in the grocery store, and other ways to help keep the grocery budget down.
If I ever come across any really great ideas from there then I will let you know about them.