Back from my duties....

So here I am back home after my "Sitting duties " Oh!  how lovely to sleep in your own bed ... that is not to say that Kathryn's beds are uncomfortable.
I had a great 3 days with the "Boys" we broke all the rules and Grandma did all the chores that they normally do ... it is called " how to score Brownie points with your grandkids " or because Mum and Dad are away  having a bit of a break  ... you can have one also.
We went out  to a restaurant on Monday evening to a Mongolian BBQ one where you collect your food from a buffet and then they cook it for you .... the boys love this place.

But I had one very interesting conversation with Ben 9 one evening as he was  getting into bed it went like this ....

  "Grandma do you have a Christmas tree at your house ?"    ... " Yes I do Ben "   
"Grandma do you have lights on your tree?"      ... "Yes I do"  
" Grandma do you cook Christmas Dinner ?"    ... Yes I do that also " 
" Well do you think I could come to your house for Christmas ?"  ...  What could I say other than of course.  

I think this young man  is going to go far and will be just the right material for the Diplomatic Corp When he grows up ......

Off to Hamilton ...holiday ...no such luck

I am off to Hamilton tomorrow to take care of the grandsons for 3 days ... while Mum and Dad go to Auckland for a conference ... well Dad is,  Mum is going to swan around Auckland and shop, visit with friends and generally enjoy the hotel for  a while.

Mean while Ben, Alex and I will carry on the day to day living, sleeping and going to school and Grandma gets to do the neat stuff like school runs, judo run, sports afternoon at school , cooking, washing, feeding the cats  and generally keeping the home fires burning ...
and she is going to love every minute of it  !!!!

On the subject of kids .......

Please take time to read this blog ... have a box of tissues if you are a Mum or Grandma
This woman is an  amazing  mother and deserves a certificate herself    ......

http://10minutes2breathe.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/moment-in-sun-for-my-son.html

28 ..7 / 8 year olds

Harvey ( here with his Dad Iain)  is 8 years old and   just look at that cheeky face

Today at Harvey's school their class  had " meet the grand parents day"  ... basically they wanted to ask questions of us,  about all manner of things to do with our own schooling especially our primary school..

There was some very well thought out questions  ... and some very basic ones ....  like did we get to use computers etc .. they could just not get the concept that there were so few things in our day even down to school activities in the class room ... very little art or inside games played  we were there to learn not play was the attitude of the day .
They were amazed that we sat at desks all day no carpet on the floor ... had the cane or the slipper for naughtiness, called teachers by Miss, Mrs or Sir  ...  none of this christian name  stuff.
 
I wonder why I could only remember the naughty things I did ... what does that tell you  ... may be that the punishment stayed in my mind rather than the  learning we did at primary school ... but I am talking about the late 1940"s and  early 1950's here...

I remember that we had a coke pile ( coal to heat school)  in a corner of the play ground it was like a magnet to kids ... I think I got caught at least a dozen times in  3 years of primary.
Climbing on it  was a game to see who could get to the top before your were caught by the teacher on play ground duty  ... this misdemeanor  had  corporal punishment each time ... either the ruler or the cane on the back of the hand or legs ... may be I was thick and it did not sink in that it was a No No and to stay away.
 By the way ...   you did not go home and complain to Mum for all you got for that was another clip  around the ear  for not behaving  at school.... so you were in a  no win situation  ... my god life was hard in those days .

I remember standing outside the head's room for not eating my school dinner, also for losing my pencil,  the worst time was for saying shut up to another child while I pushed him over in the assembly hall he hit the deck and cut his lip which I remember bled  and bled ... gee I must have been a bit of a brat when I first started school  ... but then again the other Grandma's there today related the same kind of things how we had to look after ourselves ... none of this running to the teacher etc moaning that this one or that one hit me ... we soon learnt what not to do  in the hierarchy of kids  and soon learnt your place.

I think I must have grown out of all of this by the time I hit junior school at 8 yrs old for I don't remember getting into trouble there.

It was a great  time remembering with the other Grandma's and swapping stories from our past.

Saga of the newsletter

There is no reason for this picture other than it is my Grandson Ellis
Mountain biking in Rotorua Red Woods last weekend .

I have been reading everyone's blog and keeping up with all the goings on .... but life has been a little fraught of late

Things have been a little hectic of late so much to do ....  three committee meetings, Arthritis Exercise classes,  local Inner Wheel  and this weekend  the District Meeting and the AGM for  Inner Wheel which covers  Friday and Saturday ......  I am feeling "a bit rung out"  That is a saying my Mother used to use.  Never really understood it as a child but I do now.

I am on the District Executive as  Editor for Inner Wheel and it has been the end of year Newsletter time ...just 16 pages this time ... this appears twice a year not an onerous job ....  but I rely on the clubs to send me their news etc...... and sometimes it is like getting blood from a stone.

Finally last Monday week I had it at the printers ... 2 days later I went to collect the finished 400 booklets  ...UMmmmmph!!!!!  can not think of the right word here ....But

They had made the most awful hash of it ...  the photographs were just like the photographer had moved while snapping them and the words looked like the machine had run out of ink and things had moved on the pages and were out of focus  ..... my heart sank .... I was envisaging redoing the whole lot again ( 3 weeks of work in 5 days )  .... they had printed it off of a memory stick and  I was imagining that things had gone seriously wrong with my copy..

So I refused them and they said they would redo them ... I inquired why had this happened and they told me it was their machine that had had a fit .... not my copy. Phewwww!!

If they knew this why did they think I would accept them in this state .... are there really people out there who would have ?   .....  because they seemed  amazed when I refused them.

So I finally picked them up on Wednesday this week ...  they are Okay .... but they have printed them better in the past ... I will may be have to look for different printer  in 6 months time when next copy is due out.  
So here it is 10pm and I have just finally finished bundling them up into clubs ready to go with me first thing tomorrow morning ..
Gee I do  hate doing things at the last minute this is not my way of doing things.
Roll on Sunday and it can all be put behind me just like a bad dream.