Why am I up at 7am on a Sunday morning? Netball!!! Not only did Alice play yesterday morning but she has a tournament today and has to be in Morrinsville at 8.30am!!!! On a Sunday!!!!! I know the locals are usually up at 4.30am to milk etc but this is the dry season (not refering to lack of rain but cows are 'dry' for a few months before giving birth) and even the dairy farmers lay in til 6am. I have to confess I have ducked out of my managerial responsibilities and Alice is being deposited at neighbours to collect a lift (Thank you Abby's mom!). My excuse is that we have 'guests' staying this weekend - well Juliet and Kev anyway, and I deserted them yesterday it would be unreasonable to do so a second day. Alice is playing at least 6 matches, more if they do well. I reckon she should be home by suppertime. Yesterday we left home in glorious sunshine and headed to the courts. I turned out of our road and saw an enormous rain cloud over Matamata - bugger, no coats or brolly. Phoned Eric, please send rain gear. By the time Alice played it was hosing down. Harri, Emma and I huddled under Bryce's (Richard's dad) brolly. Kev turned up 20 seconds before the final whistle!! Thank you anyway Kev. He had been walking around the 7 courts looking for us for ages.
Juliet and Kev are flushed with their new found status, ie out of the WINZ system (sorry work and Income NZ - 'the dole'). Kev is loving it, even if he does leave the house at 6.30am - he's a morning person. They are off to the UK in 2 weeks for Juliets brothers wedding. I am quite excited for them. They have an itinery worthy of a state visit it is so organised, however I pointed out to Juliet last night she has omitted a visit to IKEA. With Mom and Daddy potentially bringing out a container within the year I would have thought that essential!!
BIG rugby time here! Obviously the Lions are in town (firtst match in Rotorua next weekend against Bay of Plenty) but the Super 12 has just finished and the Crusaders (a South Island team that comprises a lot of A.B's), beat the Warratahs (from Auz). We thrashed them and were 35-6 up until the last 15 mins when the Warratahs played brilliantly and scored 2 tries. We watched last night on our little colour TV but it broadcasts on TV3 and our reception is less than perfect on 3. I suggested to Eric that we hire TV for the Lions tour. Richard has said we can watch at theirs but although we will go up there for the bigger matches, 12 trips to their living room is a big ask (well we wouldn't). I am, sort of, regretting not getting Eric a ticket to one of the matches but they were only obtainable by ballot initially, then sales were open to the public when they didn't sell them all. The tickets however are hundreds of dollars. On the other hand Eric and Richard were sounding very old the other day both saying that actually they prefered to watch on TV as they got to see all the action (and it was warm, and they had unlimited supplies of beer etc etc!!). Juliet said last night, as we watched the game, 'I'm very impressed Michelle, you are taking this very seriously and are very focused'. I'm not sure what she means, but for heavens sake this is rugby in NZ, who wouldn't be serious!!
Took the girls to the dentist this week. Kids here see dentists in the school health system but is has had a lot of critisism lately and I have been worried about the positioning of a couple of Alice's teeth so thought I'd get them checked out by Joanna. Also Harri needed a talking to about the importance of twice daily tooth brushing. Well she certainly got that!! Anyway, it turns out that Alice's adult teeth are growing in the gums and pushing on her visable teeth causing them to point out slightly. Apparently this is caused 'Ugly Duckling syndrome' which of course Harriette found highly amusing. In defense of Alice I keep reminding H what ugly ducklings turn into!!!
I booked the girls in for their flu jas this week on the same day Alice had her 2nd MeNZB injection. The MeNZB is certainly leaving them with very sore arms and the person giving the flu jab's technique left a lot to be desired (I will be clinically assessing her in the future so it will be dealt with). Alice was in tears at the practice while we waited the required 20 mins afterwards and when we got home was feeling very sorry for herself. To cap it all she erupted badly in hives (something she does quite spontaneously and for no apparent reason) and so I spent the evening curled up cuddling her (which is the Alice being poorly referred to in previous posts comments). She was fine the next day but said 'that lady's not giving me my flu jab next time' - that's fine by me Alice.
Well I guess I best go and do something. Have good weeks everybody.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
A blog in less than 1700 words!!!!
OK - I get the hint. Telling you at the beginning that a blog entry is the size of a mini essay is obviously off-putting. No-one read it (except Stan). At times like this I remind myself that the prime reason for blogging is to provide my family with a journal of our life. I romantically think of the girls reading it again in their old age!!
Stan, Cassie Williams is one of the latest stars of the Silver Ferns squad (don't anyone dare say 'the who'). On top of that she went to the same 3 schools the girls are going to ie Hinuera Primary, and Matamata's Intermediate and College so is a local hero.
I meant to talk last time about the devasting landslips and flooding to hit some areas of the Western bay of Plenty last week. The first flooding occurred near Tauranga in a suburb called Otomotai (? spelling), just over the Kaimais, and caused havoc there. Rain over the next 24 hours affected Matata further along the coast. The newsreel showed houses slipping down hillsides into the houses below. It was quite scary. States of Emergency were declared in both areas. Some of the areas flooded in Tauranga had barely recovered from flooding 2 weeks ago. It is tragic for the families involved, some of whom cannot even get into their homes to recover personal items. The volume of mud and rocks deposited is unbelievable, and even the civil defence co-ordinators were saying at first they had no idea where they were going to dump it all. These weather induced disasters seem to be becoming very regular occurrences here these days.
Regular Saturday running around here. Netball in the morning. Wonderful, Alice only had one game so I could come away after less that an hour and let Eric do Harriette's matches. Got a bit miffed though. Now I am the first to say I don't know about netball but I am beginning to get the little comments from other mum's. 'You didn't change positions at 1/4 time, and you did last week' and 'Your team changed directions at 1/4 time and mine didn't' (funny I thought the ref was in charge of that!) etc etc. I feel like saying 'Well if you can do better why didn't you volunteer for this?'. But I bite my tongue and smile sweetly saying 'I'm just doing as I was told'
After netball I went to the supermarket, did a moderately large shop then didn't have my purse!!! Luckily Eric was coming in later so picked it up for me. I quite like the idea of just going round the store picking what I want then calling in some man to pay, fetch and carry. One how may times I could do this before they put a stop to it? At home I made a huge lasagne, salad and tirimasu as Mandy and the 3 Scott-Mackie 'children' (2 of them are strapping teenage boys) were here overnight. We dug out lots of photo's of the children when they were young in Whitstable, bathing and sleeping together aged 3 etc and Harriette declaring on video that she was going to marry Oliver! I think I mentioned that Eric pulled out video recordings of the girls. Well I spent Sunday afternoon going through the tapes labeling them and watching 2 VERY cute little girls be sweet and kind to each other etc. All very tear jerking stuff. The SM's left after breakfast on Sunday (about 1.30pm!!). They are a very energetic family, exhausting but huge fun. Mandy and David's divorce has been traumatic for them all and it is wonderful to see them so together. I had planned to garden but the torential rain Sunday pm put paid to that and we lit the fire and had a cosy afternoon in.
Today another new colleague, Ruth came over for some teaching. Spent the day sorting out her database, files and folders. Don't laugh Stan, it was an organising exercise not one requiring great computer expertise.
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult is brilliant and I am off to continue with this. night night.
PS Eric poorly with a cold, suffering more because he had an exam today (or rather a test as he keeps reminding me. This makes it seem less important and therefore he panics less!!)
Stan, Cassie Williams is one of the latest stars of the Silver Ferns squad (don't anyone dare say 'the who'). On top of that she went to the same 3 schools the girls are going to ie Hinuera Primary, and Matamata's Intermediate and College so is a local hero.
I meant to talk last time about the devasting landslips and flooding to hit some areas of the Western bay of Plenty last week. The first flooding occurred near Tauranga in a suburb called Otomotai (? spelling), just over the Kaimais, and caused havoc there. Rain over the next 24 hours affected Matata further along the coast. The newsreel showed houses slipping down hillsides into the houses below. It was quite scary. States of Emergency were declared in both areas. Some of the areas flooded in Tauranga had barely recovered from flooding 2 weeks ago. It is tragic for the families involved, some of whom cannot even get into their homes to recover personal items. The volume of mud and rocks deposited is unbelievable, and even the civil defence co-ordinators were saying at first they had no idea where they were going to dump it all. These weather induced disasters seem to be becoming very regular occurrences here these days.
Regular Saturday running around here. Netball in the morning. Wonderful, Alice only had one game so I could come away after less that an hour and let Eric do Harriette's matches. Got a bit miffed though. Now I am the first to say I don't know about netball but I am beginning to get the little comments from other mum's. 'You didn't change positions at 1/4 time, and you did last week' and 'Your team changed directions at 1/4 time and mine didn't' (funny I thought the ref was in charge of that!) etc etc. I feel like saying 'Well if you can do better why didn't you volunteer for this?'. But I bite my tongue and smile sweetly saying 'I'm just doing as I was told'
After netball I went to the supermarket, did a moderately large shop then didn't have my purse!!! Luckily Eric was coming in later so picked it up for me. I quite like the idea of just going round the store picking what I want then calling in some man to pay, fetch and carry. One how may times I could do this before they put a stop to it? At home I made a huge lasagne, salad and tirimasu as Mandy and the 3 Scott-Mackie 'children' (2 of them are strapping teenage boys) were here overnight. We dug out lots of photo's of the children when they were young in Whitstable, bathing and sleeping together aged 3 etc and Harriette declaring on video that she was going to marry Oliver! I think I mentioned that Eric pulled out video recordings of the girls. Well I spent Sunday afternoon going through the tapes labeling them and watching 2 VERY cute little girls be sweet and kind to each other etc. All very tear jerking stuff. The SM's left after breakfast on Sunday (about 1.30pm!!). They are a very energetic family, exhausting but huge fun. Mandy and David's divorce has been traumatic for them all and it is wonderful to see them so together. I had planned to garden but the torential rain Sunday pm put paid to that and we lit the fire and had a cosy afternoon in.
Today another new colleague, Ruth came over for some teaching. Spent the day sorting out her database, files and folders. Don't laugh Stan, it was an organising exercise not one requiring great computer expertise.
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult is brilliant and I am off to continue with this. night night.
PS Eric poorly with a cold, suffering more because he had an exam today (or rather a test as he keeps reminding me. This makes it seem less important and therefore he panics less!!)
Friday, May 20, 2005
A week in 1700 words (you've been warned!)
I'm improving I think. It's only a week since I last blogged.
We've had an exhausting week. Saturday we survived the netball but as I had 4 and 1/2 hours on the courts (not playing you'll apreciate!) in the morning and I took the girls to Mystery Creek to watch a National Bank cup game in the evening (our local Magic vs. Flames - we won) I'd had enough by the end of the day. The morning went OK. Harriette helped with the warm ups and Robyn was on hand to offer advice on what to try next. Alice's team lost both games and Harriette's team won both theirs.
Alice after getting Cassie Williams signature
Sunday Eric and I had a lazy morning. Richard and Robyn came over with the girls for morning tea (at lunchtime - well it was Sunday!) which we had on the deck. The weather is still incredibly mild, and we were all bemoaning the lack of rain. Needless say the girls spent most of the time shooting goals (new goalpost arrived Friday remember). We had moved the netball goal about 3 times. Finding somewhere suitable was a problem as we lack anywhere flat near the house that isn't driveway. Finally opted for outside the kitchen window!!! and had to move my planters. I actually managed a few hours in the veg plot in the afternoon. I spread the manure I had collected on the previous day and started preparing strawberry rows. I tried to pace myself on the shovelling front and watch my back more carefully than I usually do. It paid off as I was able to move when I got up on Monday moving.
Monday I went into Hamilton to do a clinical assessment on a nurse. She was so bad I had to call a halt to the whole thing. Afterwards I popped into a $2 shop to continue my ongoing search for a particular childrens puzzle that we use for a game for the vaccine composition session when I'm teaching. I found some awhile ago and contacted my boss to ask if we needed to purchase anymore. When she said Yes I went back, and of course they'd all been sold and they weren't planning to get more in. Well my pursuit began in earnest and I dive into $2 type shops constantly. This must have been the 15th one I tried. For a change the shop keeper could speak English and was able to understand what I was looking for, yes he had had them in but no he didn't have any left. As I left he called out to me, I went back to find him on his knees on the floor rumaging through a box at the back of the shop. He had 3! I was thrilled. Now I can build some MeNZB vaccines!
Tuesday we had horse riding. When the girls came home from school they announced we had no cold water. I left Harriette with instructions to check the troughs on the back paddocks as I whizzed off to drop Alice at the stables. The longed for rain had arrived and I told Alice 3 times before horse riding to make sure she had a rain coat. As I was going up the road it occured to me that she had got into the car with just her riding hat. On checking not only did she not have a rain coat but she also didn't have a jumper. She was planning to ride, in the rain, just before dark, in a T-shirt! Luckily when we arrived her teacher had a lumber shirt in the stable. I got home and had Harriette declare the back paddocks were fine and that Claire (our neighbour had found the leak in the top paddock just inside the gate. The cows had kicked apart a connection there. Harriette had walked passed the flood on her way to the troughs!!! All these brains she is supposed to have but she doesn't see a flood when she walks past it! Anyway after dashing down to the woolshed to turn of the water pump, rushing back to fix the disconnection, dashing down to restart the pump it was tipping down and dark. We went to bed that night listening to torrential rain. It rained ALL night. I was surprised that we did not have the lake in the front paddock in the morning. Then Harriette called from the bathroom to say the hot water was freezing. We checked the hot water tank and, not only was it cold but there was water running in through the ceiling. Alice then called and asked us to listen in her bedroom, that wasn't rain, that was water pouring onto one spot on the roof!!!! Going outside and looking up we find that, in fact it isn't raining very hard but the hot water overflow pipe is shooting water, under pressure into the air. The ajax valve had gone on the hot water tank and cold water was pouring in from the cold water supply and pouring out through the overflow. We hadn't been listening to rain all night but water from the bore washing our roof. So..., Eric being rushed off his feet, I called in a plumber.
Bear with me, we come back to this point. I think I may have said before (I can't check Alice has pinched the broadband cable for the desktop), that we had a conflict this week. Alice had her guides swearing in (in Matamata) and Harriette was representing her school in a team in the regional heats of a national literature quiz, in Hamilton (45 mins away). Well I had gone to great lengths to arrange that Alice would be sworn in at the beginning of her meeting so I could then dash to Hamilton and watch the last hour of Harriette's competition. On Tuesday night Alice finally produces her newsletter from guides and we find out that her swearing in is NEXT week!!!!! So, Wednesday evening, Harriette has to be in Hamilton at 6.10pm, at 4.55pm Eric get's a callout to Tahuna (and hours drive away) and the plumber hasn't arrived at 5.30pm (they said they would be late). Dilemma, do we wait for Eric and go, and risk the plumber coming out with no-one here or does Eric stay behind and we risk the plumber not coming and he missing out on seeing Harriette performance? It takes me 15 minutes to get through to the plumber to be told they won't be out now (they had assured me at mid-day that they would definately come today!!) and as Eric has arrived home we fly out the door at 5.45pm. We then wait for Alice who is still preening herself in the bedroom. She had emerged fully dressed but then changed her mind on what to wear. We finally throw Harriette out at the school in Hamilton as the teams were walking up onto the stage while we go and park. I think her poor coach must have been having kittens as in a team of 4 another girl arrived after us!!
The literature quiz went well.... until the last 2 rounds. Until then they had been in 5th place (out of 43 teams) then they dropped back to finish 14th!! In between the rounds they asked the adults spot questions and the winner got to go and pick a book. Eric answered the first question and bought me back the latest Jodi Picoult (it's brilliant and I had to force myself to blog before picking it up this evening),and he was one of only 2 parents to get 2 questions right and got himself a book to. Harriette's team got the highest score in one round and she won a spot $5 prize (for knowing who Dana Sculley was), so all-in-all it was a profitable night. Alice has ambitions to be in next years team. We got a take away for supper and got home around 11pm.
Thursday I had to be away by 7am as I was running a course in Hamilton. I cannot tell you how exhausted I was by the evening (I find running these course stressful if very enjoyable). The plumber had come at 7.30am so we had hot water in the house and didn't have to keep diving out to the cottage to shower etc. We struggled through supper (the girls were as tired as us) and dropped into bed with relief at about 9pm. I started on my book and within 2 pages knew I wouldn't put it down in a hurry and read for 2 hours!!!!
Today, day 2 of the course, went well again and we had some excellent feedback at the end. I was particularly chuffed as a particular session that always gets the thumbs down on evaluation did not get one negative comment, and in fact had some positive comments for a change. Why was I chuffed? It was the first time I had taught it!!! Harriette had her second MeNZB at school so keep complaining her arm hurts (when she remembers!)
This weekend is netball (obviously), a trip to the dump (this place is looking like Steptoe's yard), towing the Mistral back to the garage, delivering Harriette to a birthday party (her friend lives at Totatara Springs, that place they had camp with the fabulous hydroslide, and they get to use it tomorrow), and Mandy and the kids come over in the evening for the night. I have bought a heap of seedlings today so hope to get an hour for gardening tomorrow afternoon.
I've just word counted this (no of course I didn't actually 'count' them, I used Word) and have written 1700 words. Why was writing a 3000 word assignment for uni a hundred times harder???! I'm off to loose myself in my book for another few hours.
"Oi, they're my glasses!"
We've had an exhausting week. Saturday we survived the netball but as I had 4 and 1/2 hours on the courts (not playing you'll apreciate!) in the morning and I took the girls to Mystery Creek to watch a National Bank cup game in the evening (our local Magic vs. Flames - we won) I'd had enough by the end of the day. The morning went OK. Harriette helped with the warm ups and Robyn was on hand to offer advice on what to try next. Alice's team lost both games and Harriette's team won both theirs.
Alice after getting Cassie Williams signature
Sunday Eric and I had a lazy morning. Richard and Robyn came over with the girls for morning tea (at lunchtime - well it was Sunday!) which we had on the deck. The weather is still incredibly mild, and we were all bemoaning the lack of rain. Needless say the girls spent most of the time shooting goals (new goalpost arrived Friday remember). We had moved the netball goal about 3 times. Finding somewhere suitable was a problem as we lack anywhere flat near the house that isn't driveway. Finally opted for outside the kitchen window!!! and had to move my planters. I actually managed a few hours in the veg plot in the afternoon. I spread the manure I had collected on the previous day and started preparing strawberry rows. I tried to pace myself on the shovelling front and watch my back more carefully than I usually do. It paid off as I was able to move when I got up on Monday moving.
Monday I went into Hamilton to do a clinical assessment on a nurse. She was so bad I had to call a halt to the whole thing. Afterwards I popped into a $2 shop to continue my ongoing search for a particular childrens puzzle that we use for a game for the vaccine composition session when I'm teaching. I found some awhile ago and contacted my boss to ask if we needed to purchase anymore. When she said Yes I went back, and of course they'd all been sold and they weren't planning to get more in. Well my pursuit began in earnest and I dive into $2 type shops constantly. This must have been the 15th one I tried. For a change the shop keeper could speak English and was able to understand what I was looking for, yes he had had them in but no he didn't have any left. As I left he called out to me, I went back to find him on his knees on the floor rumaging through a box at the back of the shop. He had 3! I was thrilled. Now I can build some MeNZB vaccines!
Tuesday we had horse riding. When the girls came home from school they announced we had no cold water. I left Harriette with instructions to check the troughs on the back paddocks as I whizzed off to drop Alice at the stables. The longed for rain had arrived and I told Alice 3 times before horse riding to make sure she had a rain coat. As I was going up the road it occured to me that she had got into the car with just her riding hat. On checking not only did she not have a rain coat but she also didn't have a jumper. She was planning to ride, in the rain, just before dark, in a T-shirt! Luckily when we arrived her teacher had a lumber shirt in the stable. I got home and had Harriette declare the back paddocks were fine and that Claire (our neighbour had found the leak in the top paddock just inside the gate. The cows had kicked apart a connection there. Harriette had walked passed the flood on her way to the troughs!!! All these brains she is supposed to have but she doesn't see a flood when she walks past it! Anyway after dashing down to the woolshed to turn of the water pump, rushing back to fix the disconnection, dashing down to restart the pump it was tipping down and dark. We went to bed that night listening to torrential rain. It rained ALL night. I was surprised that we did not have the lake in the front paddock in the morning. Then Harriette called from the bathroom to say the hot water was freezing. We checked the hot water tank and, not only was it cold but there was water running in through the ceiling. Alice then called and asked us to listen in her bedroom, that wasn't rain, that was water pouring onto one spot on the roof!!!! Going outside and looking up we find that, in fact it isn't raining very hard but the hot water overflow pipe is shooting water, under pressure into the air. The ajax valve had gone on the hot water tank and cold water was pouring in from the cold water supply and pouring out through the overflow. We hadn't been listening to rain all night but water from the bore washing our roof. So..., Eric being rushed off his feet, I called in a plumber.
Bear with me, we come back to this point. I think I may have said before (I can't check Alice has pinched the broadband cable for the desktop), that we had a conflict this week. Alice had her guides swearing in (in Matamata) and Harriette was representing her school in a team in the regional heats of a national literature quiz, in Hamilton (45 mins away). Well I had gone to great lengths to arrange that Alice would be sworn in at the beginning of her meeting so I could then dash to Hamilton and watch the last hour of Harriette's competition. On Tuesday night Alice finally produces her newsletter from guides and we find out that her swearing in is NEXT week!!!!! So, Wednesday evening, Harriette has to be in Hamilton at 6.10pm, at 4.55pm Eric get's a callout to Tahuna (and hours drive away) and the plumber hasn't arrived at 5.30pm (they said they would be late). Dilemma, do we wait for Eric and go, and risk the plumber coming out with no-one here or does Eric stay behind and we risk the plumber not coming and he missing out on seeing Harriette performance? It takes me 15 minutes to get through to the plumber to be told they won't be out now (they had assured me at mid-day that they would definately come today!!) and as Eric has arrived home we fly out the door at 5.45pm. We then wait for Alice who is still preening herself in the bedroom. She had emerged fully dressed but then changed her mind on what to wear. We finally throw Harriette out at the school in Hamilton as the teams were walking up onto the stage while we go and park. I think her poor coach must have been having kittens as in a team of 4 another girl arrived after us!!
The literature quiz went well.... until the last 2 rounds. Until then they had been in 5th place (out of 43 teams) then they dropped back to finish 14th!! In between the rounds they asked the adults spot questions and the winner got to go and pick a book. Eric answered the first question and bought me back the latest Jodi Picoult (it's brilliant and I had to force myself to blog before picking it up this evening),and he was one of only 2 parents to get 2 questions right and got himself a book to. Harriette's team got the highest score in one round and she won a spot $5 prize (for knowing who Dana Sculley was), so all-in-all it was a profitable night. Alice has ambitions to be in next years team. We got a take away for supper and got home around 11pm.
Thursday I had to be away by 7am as I was running a course in Hamilton. I cannot tell you how exhausted I was by the evening (I find running these course stressful if very enjoyable). The plumber had come at 7.30am so we had hot water in the house and didn't have to keep diving out to the cottage to shower etc. We struggled through supper (the girls were as tired as us) and dropped into bed with relief at about 9pm. I started on my book and within 2 pages knew I wouldn't put it down in a hurry and read for 2 hours!!!!
Today, day 2 of the course, went well again and we had some excellent feedback at the end. I was particularly chuffed as a particular session that always gets the thumbs down on evaluation did not get one negative comment, and in fact had some positive comments for a change. Why was I chuffed? It was the first time I had taught it!!! Harriette had her second MeNZB at school so keep complaining her arm hurts (when she remembers!)
This weekend is netball (obviously), a trip to the dump (this place is looking like Steptoe's yard), towing the Mistral back to the garage, delivering Harriette to a birthday party (her friend lives at Totatara Springs, that place they had camp with the fabulous hydroslide, and they get to use it tomorrow), and Mandy and the kids come over in the evening for the night. I have bought a heap of seedlings today so hope to get an hour for gardening tomorrow afternoon.
I've just word counted this (no of course I didn't actually 'count' them, I used Word) and have written 1700 words. Why was writing a 3000 word assignment for uni a hundred times harder???! I'm off to loose myself in my book for another few hours.
"Oi, they're my glasses!"
Friday, May 13, 2005
Gosh, how does one blog after nearly 2 weeks. Life is unbelievable hectic but, at least on the work front, I think I'm coming up for a bit of a lull. By that I mean I won't be rushed off my feet 40 plus hours a week.
Big news here has been the Foot n Mouth scare. It looks like a hoax but someone sent the PM (Helen Clark as you probably won't know that if you live outside NZ) a letter saying they had released FnM on Waihike Island (off Auckland). MAF went into action and if nothing else it will have been a good disaster management practice run. Scared the living daylights out of people here I can tell you, and bought back unpleasant memories for us. Alice goes to a school where 80% of the children come from farms, mainly dairy. Can you imagine the impact FnM would have on this community alone, farms in self imposed isolation, schools almost empty, Eric would probably be called on to slaughter herds (no funny comments Thank you!!), our livestock would probably have to go, especially the pigs etc etc. It was bad enough in the UK but would be 10 times worse here.
I have been roped in to managing Alice's netball team!! They had no volunteers and while I was moaning to the teacher/coach about the dresses being too small for Alice (and 1 or 2 other girls) I somehow ended up agreeing to manage a team! Now I had not volunteered originally for 2 reasons. The first and foremost being that, I know nothing about netball, as opposed to all the local mums who grew up with this stuff, and the second being time. I think I said something along these lines but phrased the time bit saying I had no time in the week. Turns out I'm only needed on Saturday mornings. So, here I am managing the Hinuera Hornets (Harriette's idea for a name after the debacle at camp when heaps of the kids got stung by wasps). Apparently I have to warm the kids up and make sure they are where they're meant to be, when they're meant to be. Now over supper Alice tells me the warm up exercises they do and apparently it involves me throwing and catching a ball. I knew this was a bad idea. I have ball skills of an ox. Ask Eric, he tried to play badminton with me once and spent the whole time laughing at my sheer incompetence. Tomorrow could be interesting!!
This week I have finished a jigsaw puzzle. I started it before Bridget left (no Bridget not the Wally one) and it has been the hardest one I've ever done. I love jigsaws, don't panic I don't think I'm a nerd, I do one each winter on average. This one has me jigsawed out though and it may be some time before I embark on one again!
I've had a bitty day today. I wanted to try and get on top of the paperwork as I have so much to do but had to 1)do sausage sizzle at lunchtime at Alice's school (then turns out I'd got mixed up and didn't need to be there!!!), 2)parcel up some big boxes that have been cluttering up the kitchen and take them to the Post Shop in Matamata for return to Auckland Uni, 3)go to Waharoa (a mainly Maori township outside Matamata) to collect a trailer load of horse poo for the veg plot,4)collect a netball stand I'd had made for the girls (found one for half the price just after I'd ordered this one but don't tell Eric!!) and 5)rush wholemeal flour into school for Harriette as she forgot to take some in and needed it 'next period' for some medieval bread making. Needless to say I was out if the stuff and had to go to the supermarket first. On the subject of supermarkets we have a new one. It is very exciting!!! (I'm sounding very sad aren't I, jigsaws, supermarkets). When I first went to the supermarkets in Matamata (Yes we have 2!) I thought I'd been transported back 30 years. Somehow I got used to this primitive form of shopping but you can see why I am excited over a new one. Anyway, my paperwork didn't get done but I have another 'office day' on Monday and have no distractions planned.
Must make some phone calls. I'm sure I've missed out heaps but can catch up in the next week.
Big news here has been the Foot n Mouth scare. It looks like a hoax but someone sent the PM (Helen Clark as you probably won't know that if you live outside NZ) a letter saying they had released FnM on Waihike Island (off Auckland). MAF went into action and if nothing else it will have been a good disaster management practice run. Scared the living daylights out of people here I can tell you, and bought back unpleasant memories for us. Alice goes to a school where 80% of the children come from farms, mainly dairy. Can you imagine the impact FnM would have on this community alone, farms in self imposed isolation, schools almost empty, Eric would probably be called on to slaughter herds (no funny comments Thank you!!), our livestock would probably have to go, especially the pigs etc etc. It was bad enough in the UK but would be 10 times worse here.
I have been roped in to managing Alice's netball team!! They had no volunteers and while I was moaning to the teacher/coach about the dresses being too small for Alice (and 1 or 2 other girls) I somehow ended up agreeing to manage a team! Now I had not volunteered originally for 2 reasons. The first and foremost being that, I know nothing about netball, as opposed to all the local mums who grew up with this stuff, and the second being time. I think I said something along these lines but phrased the time bit saying I had no time in the week. Turns out I'm only needed on Saturday mornings. So, here I am managing the Hinuera Hornets (Harriette's idea for a name after the debacle at camp when heaps of the kids got stung by wasps). Apparently I have to warm the kids up and make sure they are where they're meant to be, when they're meant to be. Now over supper Alice tells me the warm up exercises they do and apparently it involves me throwing and catching a ball. I knew this was a bad idea. I have ball skills of an ox. Ask Eric, he tried to play badminton with me once and spent the whole time laughing at my sheer incompetence. Tomorrow could be interesting!!
This week I have finished a jigsaw puzzle. I started it before Bridget left (no Bridget not the Wally one) and it has been the hardest one I've ever done. I love jigsaws, don't panic I don't think I'm a nerd, I do one each winter on average. This one has me jigsawed out though and it may be some time before I embark on one again!
I've had a bitty day today. I wanted to try and get on top of the paperwork as I have so much to do but had to 1)do sausage sizzle at lunchtime at Alice's school (then turns out I'd got mixed up and didn't need to be there!!!), 2)parcel up some big boxes that have been cluttering up the kitchen and take them to the Post Shop in Matamata for return to Auckland Uni, 3)go to Waharoa (a mainly Maori township outside Matamata) to collect a trailer load of horse poo for the veg plot,4)collect a netball stand I'd had made for the girls (found one for half the price just after I'd ordered this one but don't tell Eric!!) and 5)rush wholemeal flour into school for Harriette as she forgot to take some in and needed it 'next period' for some medieval bread making. Needless to say I was out if the stuff and had to go to the supermarket first. On the subject of supermarkets we have a new one. It is very exciting!!! (I'm sounding very sad aren't I, jigsaws, supermarkets). When I first went to the supermarkets in Matamata (Yes we have 2!) I thought I'd been transported back 30 years. Somehow I got used to this primitive form of shopping but you can see why I am excited over a new one. Anyway, my paperwork didn't get done but I have another 'office day' on Monday and have no distractions planned.
Must make some phone calls. I'm sure I've missed out heaps but can catch up in the next week.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Time flys.
Richard and Robyn, Katherine and Sarah have just left after coming for a roast pork supper and I HAVE to blog. I know I won't have any time for the next week.
Where to start. It seems like aeons ago that Bridget left and I last put finger to keyboard. The children went back to school after a 2 week break today. Eric was off from uni. so went back to working mornings only. He also put the Mistral back together in the first week after we got a new head and head gasket. Finally assembled he started the engine and - it worked - then....smoke started bellowing out the exhaust. He thought it was the tappets (whatever they are) and we towed it to the garage for Bryce to reset or do, or whatever the term is for fixing them. That was on Friday, Bryce said he'd try and do it on Sat. No call so we phoned on Monday, not done yet. Well this is NZ! We were then busy all week and I phoned again at 4.50pm last Friday, expecting Bryce to say, Yeah, it's been done for days. 'We're having some problems and I think it's internal Michelle'!!!! 'Stop there Bryce, I'll get Eric'. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that a piston has gone and we need a new piston and an engine rebore, oh, and the head gasket (half a weeks salary) will need replacing again. I could have cried. Poor Eric. So it will come back here to be striped down-again, go to the garage to have the engine removed (needs dropping as opposed to lifting and we don't have a pit), engine will go away, be done, come back, be put back in the Mistral then Eric will put it all back together again. The bill is currently sitting at 3 weeks of my salary and will probably double that by the time we've finished. Oh and there's the minor issue of time, none of which Eric has to spare.
On a VERY much happier note, Kevin has a job. Yes I know I've already reported that, but this time it's a real growed up job with lots of international travel and twice the salary of the other job he had been offered. Actually within a day or 2 he got offered 3 growed up jobs. Needless to say we are thrilled for him and so relieved for them that they can all put this last few months well and truely behind them. Well done guys.
Trying to recall 2 weeks of news is really hard. I know the girls have had 2 trips to the pools and 2 to the movies. They also went and stayed with Juliet and Kev for a couple of nights. Eric and I went to see Seducing Dr Lewis while we were childless. It had had a fabulous write up in the paper, but the article failed to mention that it was in French, well Canadian French! Now subtitles I can do but I like a bit of warning beforehand. The movie was OK, pleasant enough but not memorable (apart from the fact it was in French!!). The same evening I also obtained a CD copy of Joni Mitchells 'Blue'. I've been looking for it since before Stan was here and obviously had not looked in the right places as the guy in the shop said it was very popular, they sell 2 a week (this is a 70's album don't forget). I was thrilled and popped into the CD player in the car on the way back. Eric was so insulting about it that I was glad I was only giving him a lift to Hillcrest and could do the rest of the journey home alone (he had driven into Hamilton to meet me after work and left his car on the edge of town). I sang loudly all the way back and was thrilled to see I remembered ALL the words. It must be 15 years since I last listened to it.
On Sunday we took H and A to see Robot's, another amusing, average kids movie. Met R+R, K+S in Gengy's afterwards, which is why we had them for supper tonight. We are in our 'must get the freezer cleared out before anything else is slotted' phase and I told Eric to defrost a large joint. Managed to pursuade the Scott's last night to come and help us eat this huge rolled leg of pork this evening. There's anough left to feed an army! Pork sandwiches all week guys! During the holidays Eric pulled out our video's from when the girls were 2-3 years old, trips to South Africa etc. We have looked at a couple of them and I was so taken aback at a)how cute Alice was, b)Harriette's vocabulary and clarity of speech (contrast with the Kevin-like mumblings that emit from her these days), c) how nice they were to each other, d) how thin I was (!!!!!post serious illness) and did I mention how thoroughly scrummy and gorgeous Alice was? I have laughed and cried so much watching them, and yelled at the girls who laugh so much you can't hear a thing. So much of what we watched I had forgotten and I am so pleased we have these precious moments for posterity.
The next week will fly by in a haze. Today Waahi Beach (1 hr 30 min drive) to do assessments on nurses giving MeNZB in schools, Wednesday and Thursday teaching in Tauranga (long days) Fri-Sun in Hamilton for the Practice Nurses Conference. Marilyn and I are delegates and are manning a stand for IMAC. And Sunday is Mother's Day and I won't be back 'til about 5pm! Monday I hope to have a day off! Busy, busy, busy!!
Where to start. It seems like aeons ago that Bridget left and I last put finger to keyboard. The children went back to school after a 2 week break today. Eric was off from uni. so went back to working mornings only. He also put the Mistral back together in the first week after we got a new head and head gasket. Finally assembled he started the engine and - it worked - then....smoke started bellowing out the exhaust. He thought it was the tappets (whatever they are) and we towed it to the garage for Bryce to reset or do, or whatever the term is for fixing them. That was on Friday, Bryce said he'd try and do it on Sat. No call so we phoned on Monday, not done yet. Well this is NZ! We were then busy all week and I phoned again at 4.50pm last Friday, expecting Bryce to say, Yeah, it's been done for days. 'We're having some problems and I think it's internal Michelle'!!!! 'Stop there Bryce, I'll get Eric'. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that a piston has gone and we need a new piston and an engine rebore, oh, and the head gasket (half a weeks salary) will need replacing again. I could have cried. Poor Eric. So it will come back here to be striped down-again, go to the garage to have the engine removed (needs dropping as opposed to lifting and we don't have a pit), engine will go away, be done, come back, be put back in the Mistral then Eric will put it all back together again. The bill is currently sitting at 3 weeks of my salary and will probably double that by the time we've finished. Oh and there's the minor issue of time, none of which Eric has to spare.
On a VERY much happier note, Kevin has a job. Yes I know I've already reported that, but this time it's a real growed up job with lots of international travel and twice the salary of the other job he had been offered. Actually within a day or 2 he got offered 3 growed up jobs. Needless to say we are thrilled for him and so relieved for them that they can all put this last few months well and truely behind them. Well done guys.
Trying to recall 2 weeks of news is really hard. I know the girls have had 2 trips to the pools and 2 to the movies. They also went and stayed with Juliet and Kev for a couple of nights. Eric and I went to see Seducing Dr Lewis while we were childless. It had had a fabulous write up in the paper, but the article failed to mention that it was in French, well Canadian French! Now subtitles I can do but I like a bit of warning beforehand. The movie was OK, pleasant enough but not memorable (apart from the fact it was in French!!). The same evening I also obtained a CD copy of Joni Mitchells 'Blue'. I've been looking for it since before Stan was here and obviously had not looked in the right places as the guy in the shop said it was very popular, they sell 2 a week (this is a 70's album don't forget). I was thrilled and popped into the CD player in the car on the way back. Eric was so insulting about it that I was glad I was only giving him a lift to Hillcrest and could do the rest of the journey home alone (he had driven into Hamilton to meet me after work and left his car on the edge of town). I sang loudly all the way back and was thrilled to see I remembered ALL the words. It must be 15 years since I last listened to it.
On Sunday we took H and A to see Robot's, another amusing, average kids movie. Met R+R, K+S in Gengy's afterwards, which is why we had them for supper tonight. We are in our 'must get the freezer cleared out before anything else is slotted' phase and I told Eric to defrost a large joint. Managed to pursuade the Scott's last night to come and help us eat this huge rolled leg of pork this evening. There's anough left to feed an army! Pork sandwiches all week guys! During the holidays Eric pulled out our video's from when the girls were 2-3 years old, trips to South Africa etc. We have looked at a couple of them and I was so taken aback at a)how cute Alice was, b)Harriette's vocabulary and clarity of speech (contrast with the Kevin-like mumblings that emit from her these days), c) how nice they were to each other, d) how thin I was (!!!!!post serious illness) and did I mention how thoroughly scrummy and gorgeous Alice was? I have laughed and cried so much watching them, and yelled at the girls who laugh so much you can't hear a thing. So much of what we watched I had forgotten and I am so pleased we have these precious moments for posterity.
The next week will fly by in a haze. Today Waahi Beach (1 hr 30 min drive) to do assessments on nurses giving MeNZB in schools, Wednesday and Thursday teaching in Tauranga (long days) Fri-Sun in Hamilton for the Practice Nurses Conference. Marilyn and I are delegates and are manning a stand for IMAC. And Sunday is Mother's Day and I won't be back 'til about 5pm! Monday I hope to have a day off! Busy, busy, busy!!
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