Brain Welfare

The child welfare people may not be happy with us over the next 2 weeks as we are encouraging a hell of a  lot of television watching. This as we all know, goes well against everything that is ever told about how much we should be encouraging our children to watch and also what is good for their welfare and development.
BUT the Olympics only comes around ever 2 years (with the fact that they have now separated the summer and winter to different years) and we are loving how much the boys are wanting to know about different sports that up until now they have never watched.

Ok it only started 3-4 days ago but we have seen some awesome stuff in that time.
We have cheered at the Judo, encouraged the rowers, watched in awe at the diving and consoled with the cyclists as they all crashed in the first 4 mins.
We have had amazing fun watching high level judo whilst watching them do such basic moves that the boys can see how important it is to know the basics.

We have watched the dressage, of course not something to have been seen before and judged the synchronised diving to see how in time together they really are?

The opening ceremony was not the greatest, I can honestly say I have seen better over the years, it is my favourite part after all. But it had some great moments in it. The boys just loved Mr Bean aka Rowan Atkinson playing the keyboard, very well done.

So like the rest of the world, the world has stopped for 2 weeks. Many people I know have already confessed to having had some very late nights, as the time difference means that it is all on during the night here if you want to watch it live! 1 friend also said that church was very empty on Sunday morning, obviously as everyone was just getting their sleep ready for another hard day of tv watching!

For us, we are just glad that New Zealand has been so kind as to show a lot of judo (especially as there is no one from NZ in that sport this year) as the boys are enjoying it as much as Steve is.

For me, I love the cross country and show jumping.

So I wish you all well, hope you find a sport you love to watch and get to enjoy all it has to offer.
I look forward to catching up with you in a few weeks time if you happen to go missing at any stage during the next few weeks!

Expensive "Oh Ooops"

Just read this on a website news paper.....

"A Sunday drive has ended in a $3.5 million nightmare, with eight Ferraris, three Mercedes-Benzes and a Lamborghini involved in a 14-car pile-up in Japan.

Police said the pile-up happened on the Chugoku Expressway in Yamaguchi Prefecture about 10.15am yesterday, with 10 people hospitalised with minor injuries.

Japan's largest English language newspaper, The Daily Yomiuri, reported the crash happened on a curve of the road and one Mercedes-Benz was driving in the oncoming lane.

ANN news video of the crash aftermath shows the sportscars lying mangled on the road, a mess of ripped metal, broken glass and snapped alloy wheels, with several cars wedged up against metal barriers.
About $3.5 million worth of supercars and luxury coupes from the 1980s to today - and a Toyota Prius - were damaged in the crash.
According to a translated report from the Asahi Shimbun the smash occurred when one of the Ferraris hit a median strip.

The report said there was then a series of crashes over 400 metres as the drivers went around the bend, with car parts flying through the air.

The group of drivers was made up of self-employed "car enthusiasts", who were travelling from Kyushu to Hiroshima.
A 36-year-old self-employed man from Kanzaki, Saga Prefecture, said he was driving in the opposite lane at the time of the accident.
"Cars were making a tremendous noise," he said.

The pile-up made headlines around the world, with the UK's Mirror reporting "it could be the most expensive car crash ever".

The cars involved included at least two Ferrari F430s (one was the race-ready Scuderia, these days worth more than $400,000), two Ferrari 360 Modenas (each worth almost $200,000), two Ferrari F355s (each worth about $150,000) and a Lamborghini Diablo (one of the most expensive supercars of the 1990s and still likely worth upwards of $200,000). There was also a Nissan GT-R - the only current Japanese supercar - while the cheapest invovled in the crash was a Toyota Prius hybrid, worth closer to $20,000. "

I think my baby brother would cry hearing this story, just about every car he loves was involved!

Quality of Living

Did you know that Mercer, a world leading insurance broker and risk management advisor, management consulting and human resource consulting company, do a survey each year on the Worldwide Quality of Living Rankings?

Mercer conducts the survey to help governments and multi-national companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments. Mercer’s Quality of Living reports provide valuable information and hardship premium recommendations for major cities throughout the world. Mercer’s Quality of Living index list covers 221 cities, ranked against New York as the base city.



Here is the Top 10 list for 2011

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Auckland, New Zealand
4. Munich, Germany
5. Dusseldorf, Germany
6. Vancouver, Canada
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. Copenhagen, Denmark

13th  Wellington, New Zealand.

I was impressed that New Zealand had 2 towns in the top 15 and even more impressed, or was that let down that none of the United Kingdom were in there! Nor any of America?

26th  Dublin, Ireland
29th  Honolulu, USA
30th= San Fran, USA; Adelaide, Australia; Paris, France
38th  London, United Kingdom!

They also, this year, did a survey that separately identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based on internal stability, crime levels, law enforcement effectiveness and the host country’s international relations.
So in other words, which city they felt was the safest to live in.

1. Luxemborg
2. Bern
3. Helsinki
4. Zurich
5. Vienna
6. Geneva
7. Stockholm
8. Singapore
9. Auckland
10. Wellington

Aberdeen and Glasgow both rank 44 and are the highest ranking UK cities on the personal safety list. Birmingham (53) and Belfast (63) both rank higher than London (68)
However, Baghdad (221) is the world’s least safe city, followed by N’Djamena, Chad (220), Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (219), Bangui, Central African Republic (218), and Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo (217).


The link to their page gives a lot more information. It was really quite interesting reading.
Go over there and have a little check of your favourite countries, see where they positioned!!

When Can You Not be Guilty?

How on earth can anyone who has been stopped and breathalised then go on to plead "Not Guilty" in court?

Surely if you have been stopped and blow a high reading then you are pretty much guilty!

Don't worry I know of no one who this has happened too but I heard it on the radio that someone pleaded "Not Guilty" to a DUI charge even after being stopped and caught!!

Yippee

Some people get excited over the silliest little things in life and I am no exception.
I am all happy and excited because ...........wait for it.........?

My followers has gone from 6 to 9 in the last 24 hours.
Yea for me.

Hello to you all, you are most welcome and I do hope I blog about something that interests you and that you don't get too bored.

Leave a comment everynow and then, love to hear from you.

Now I feel all cosy and warm that I have some new friends.

Blog Surfing

Due to Blogtoberfest I am blog surfing my way around the world.
It is addictive sometimes.
You go to one blog, they mention something about another blog, you are interested so open that blog in another tab, then you follow something they mentioned that was to do with the first blog you went to and suddenly you are 4 blogs down and can't quite remember what it was you were looking at that was so interesting!

I have just been checking out this blog Rocking Chair Reflections and came across this post she wrote about life after her husband had passed (he passed 4 yrs prior to her writing this post). It is not sad in fact it had me laughing so much I had to read it out to my husband.
If you want a giggle for 2 minutes then click on over to here and read for yourself.

I can well imagine that sadly anyone who has lost someone obviously goes through this at one time or another. Even 4-5 yrs later!

Snail Mail

Snail mail what ever is she on about, I can hear you thinking?
Do we really remember what this is? Because I was seriously thinking this art had disappeared, poff vanished!

Do any of you ever really send any snail mail anymore? Come on now be honest, when was the last time you visited a mail box in the street to send something to someone? Ok so I can now hear some of you asking if the boxes are still on the side of the street? And I will sadly grace your question with a full answer of 'Yes' they are still there somewhere if you know the right places to look!

Now by snail mail I am not just leaning towards bills and cheques for paying someone, I mean fully fledged snail mail to a friend or relative, telling them about your family, an exciting thing that just happened or even god forbid a birthday card, welcome baby card or even if anyone remebers them a get well soon card.

Go check you address book now, ok yes the one on your computer, do you actually have address's for all the important people in your life? Do you even have the postcode for that address? Most postal services are pushing for postcodes nowadays!

Did you, big step here now folks, even send any Christmas Cards this year?

I can admit to sending out Christmas Cards and no I don't do it just to see how many I receive back but I was quite shocked at only receiving 3 this last Christmas! Have people just stopped communicating?

I am currently taking part in Blogtoberfest, where you blog 31 times in 31 days throughout October, in other words 1 a day for the whole month.

Anyone who signs up for this at Tinniegirl's Place can go and check out the blogs of others taking part too.

So this morning I have sat in bed and whiled away my time visiting blogs from all over the world.

One I visited was Staring at the Sea and she had a post on there about having just taken part in a Mail Art Exchange. Along the lines of decorating a card and envelope and sending it to someone who you have been given the address of. Like a swap I guess.

However she enjoyed this project so much that when she discovered this next project she thought 'why not?'

It is a project where, starting today Oct 9, you plan to send 1 piece of snail mail each week for a year. To find out more about it check out their Facebook Page or read more about it here.

You do not sign up to a list, you do not get given anyone special you have to send too, you just do this because you want to, because you want to send something to people you know, you want to try and remember to send birthday cards throughout one whole year.

If you are a creator then why not buy a bunch of blank postcards and decorate the front and send 1 to a friend or relative. Maybe you have some fun paper and can get creative making the envelope instead.

If you find a photo of someone and you think they would appreciate a copy then copy it and send it to them, via snail mail, not as an attachment!

See a poem you know someone would like, then print it out and send it to them telling them it made you think of them. Or even just put pen to paper and write something to someone...!

The mail man, he does still exsist, he still comes round to your house 5 or 6 days a week. Ok like mentioned previously, he may only drop off bills and fliers advertising things, but how much more fun it would be if there was something bright and colourful and personal in amongst those bills?

Also remember, you may have not been to a post office shop for a while but they too still exsist, they even still sell those stamp thingys that you require to send snail mail. they even have pretty ones with special pictures on occasionally to commemorate a special time or promote something special that is happening. Maybe you can try and send things with pretty stamps on rather than the boring generic everyday ones.

 When I was younger, ok who am I kidding here I still love it now, I loved receiving things that had interesting stamps on. Special ones that were only for that week or month.

So have fun with this, run with it, create more work for the post people. If you want someone to send something to, then leave me a message. Always happy to receive things, even if it is just a note saying "hope your day was good?" surrounded by an exoticly created envelope.

Have fun.

Sign of the Times

This big old world has definitely moved forward 20 paces!
Steve and I were talking about getting a new television and Ben's solution to the old one was to put it in their room! I don't think so.

I told Ben that I had to earn the money for my first tv set in my bedroom when I was 18.
Later Steve and I were talking and I mentioned about how many computers we would one day have in the house when the boys required one for school etc in their rooms, he laughed, and reminded me that I had said no to a tv set but was saying yes to a computer!

However, the sign of the times is showing, when as a family in the car we were discussing mini golf. The conversation went like this:

Ben: Mummy when are we going to play mini golf?
Me: Not sure baby, why?
Ben: Well there use to be a golf course on this road didn't there?
Me: Yes, but they removed it. But don't worry mummy will find out where there is another in Hamilton.
Ben: Well just go to minigolf.com.co.nz and look it up!
Me: Speechless!!!

Shame the address is all wrong, but he obviously has the gist of this internet thing down fine, but then every ad on tv does usually promote the company website, so only a matter of time before they use that more than telephones and yellow pages!

Ok world you can slow down a little now please, my babies are still only babies and I want to keep it that way for a couple of years more thanks.

Advent Swap

Ok, so I know Christmas still feels so far away, and I have to agree, it is.

In fact if you look at my side bar on the right, you will see a little Christmas countdown, quite frightening actually when you look and see how many days it tells you.

Anyway, my mum told me about an Advent Swap that she is getting involved with, so I went and checked it all out.

Looks like a little bit of fun, and the more I read about it, then the more I decided that in fact I think I might be able to manage this.

So I signed myself up. Maybe I need a little challenge in my life at the moment.

You do not need to be an addict on sewing etc to join in this swap, if you read the rules correctly then you can put anything in as the little advent presents, ok sewing related does help, but a few fun things and niks and naks will make the giving all so much more fun.

So if you fancy having a little bit of fun over the next couple of months either making some little gifts (25 of them) or just collecting little gifts to swap with someone somewhere in the world, then this is the fun for you. And just think......at the end of it you too will recieve a little gift box of 25 gifts ready for the countdown to Christmas at the end of November.

Swine Flu

As we are all fully aware now, Swine Flu is out there in the world.

Unfortunately I sometimes feel it has been taken a little too far!

People die from Influenza every year, or at least they die from complications due to Influenza.
Influenza is catching, you can get the flu from someone who has it, yes, if at work someone is coughing and sneezing, you can catch it, they may have the flu, and bingo, so could you have it a few days later.
This is how it has been for many years now. Medical professions are aware of this and that is one reason why they try so hard to have an active Flu Injection available each year. Because they know that Flu can kill. Or at least people who develope the flu are susceptable to further compications.
If next year everyone who had the flu was to report it to the Ministry of Health, there would be a major out cry, but we no longer really keep a tally on the amount of people who die each year from the flu.

Suddenly we have people panicking over Swine Flu, when at present it is showing no more symptoms in people than the ordinary everyday flu. And the other funny thing about it....it is exactly like the flu.

Alex's daycare has just sent a message home about Swine Flu. Seems that they will turn people away who have any flu like symptoms.
Such as:

1. fever
2. cough
3. sore throat
4. runny nose
5. stuffy nose
6. headache

Alex is home today as it is not a day he goes to daycare, he has a snuffy nose. A typical childhood cold that he no doubt caught from one of the other little kids at daycare, or even from his brother, who caught it from school. I have a snuffly nose too, have had for about 2 weeks now, again typical thing I have in the winter months.

So does this mean that suddenly we should stay home till the symptoms disappear? So far I would have been off work for 2 weeks.

Yes we need to stop this spreading, but how do you stop a cold spreading?

There has been, apparently, 1 death in England. But what they don't tell you, is that even though the person was H1N1 positive, they haven't actually said that that is what they died of! They may have died from Pnuemonia, which could have been a complication of having the flu, but because they were positive then it must make the media.

As you may be able to tell, this bugs me a little. I don't want anyone to die from Swine Flu, yes I will do all I can to assist in it not spreading, but to start telling people that if you have a cold to stay home until the symptoms have disappeared, well then New Zealand may as well shut up shop for 7 days, everyone stay home, do not socialise with family and friends, do not pass go, do not get $200 and don't dream of breathing!

A vaccine is required, and yes I know they are working on one. There will be pandomonia when it is released. They had better have enough because I think the uptake on it will be huge and it will not go down well to have the medical company come forward and say 'sorry, we just don't have enough!' People will want it when it is available, so lets hope there is enough.

How Big is the World?

This is a question a class in Winsconsin are currently asking in their computer class. How far will an email go if you send it to 3 people you know and then they send it to 3 people they know?

With the wonders of the computer and internet people now know and communicate with people all over the world.

I remember when having a friend in a different country was a very special thing indeed because you had to really know someone to know them. People nowadays have friends all over the world, who are just as special as my friends from when I was younger, but it is a lot easier to keep in touch with them now. You can communicate with them everyday, whereas we had to wait for letters to get delivered and then for the letters to be replied too.

Man this makes me sound very old, like I am talking about pre war time, but I was only born in 1970. Man how life changes in such a short space of time.

The class have sent out a very short email:


SUBJECT: For our school

To whom it may concern: Starting on Monday, February 25, 2008, the Computer Literacy Classes at Cuba City High School, Cuba City, Wisconsin, are going to pass on this letter to see how far across the world we reach.

Please write to our teacher, Mrs. Cohen, with your city, state/province and country.
The email address is:MrsCohensClass@gmail.com
We ask that you forward this piece of mail on to at least 3 people.
It would be better for our experiment if you send this message to people who are not local to your area.

Thank you for participating in our experiment.
PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THIS MESSAGE ANY LATER THAN MAY 1ST, 2008.

Yes I kindly replied telling them where I live.
This is what I got back:

Thanks for sending us your name and location.
This activity shows the students how easy it is to connect in our global world.

Mrs. Cohen
Cuba City HS
Cuba City, WI
USA

I hope their map of the world on the wall of their classroom has a button / pin in just about every place on there.