What's been happening?

Not much really. So much for my birthday month though. The biggest thing that happened (apart from my awesome birthday) was moving my mother from her small house to a retirement apartment. She went from two bedrooms, a large living area, big storage cupboard and a garage to an en-suite bedroom and kitchenette/living area.

This meant lots and lots of trips to the Hospice op shop and Trash Palace (a shop at the dump). She moved in on 16th January and even after that we spent a fair amount of time cleaning and getting rid of stuff at her old house. Two weeks later and she is almost settled and unpacked and is even joining in some of the activities there!

For me - my employment issues are still ongoing and I have a meeting with my lawyer on Monday. I have been struggling with my vision for a while now (read a few years) and finally I have a diagnosis - cataracts! The left eye one is quite bad, reducing my vision to -8 so I have a cataract operation on 9th February. This is all in addition to everything else that is going on!

I'm looking forward to school going back and getting into a routine where my mind will be occupied and busy

2011 NCEA Results

In NZ, students sit external exams at the end of Yr 11, Yr 12 and Yr 13 ie the last three years of school. Not all assessments are external, there are a number that are internally assessed. There are three levels of "passing" Achieved, Achieved with Merit and Achieved with Excellence. To Achieve, a student must get 80 credits including some Literacy and Numeracy. To get Merit, 50 of those credits must be at the Merit level and the same for Excellence.

Further, a student can gain an Endorsed Subject

So results for 2011:

Colin: Achieved Level 1, Merit Endorsement in Maths

Ross: Achieved with Merit level 2. Merit Endorsement in Economics and Chemistry and Excellence Endorsement for Maths (in fact third overall in Maths)

So proud of both of them given the c**p year they had! Roll on 2012 and even better results

Birthday!

What a day! Two friends invited me for high tea ..... and then we just carried on!

The presents I got from Tracy and Jo

We started at Sweet Pea and had high tea - it was so delicious. Lovely tea (and I am so not a tea drinker!) and super cakes and savouries And our colour co-ordination was totally unplanned!

Then we moved on to cocktails! We got two free - one for my birthday and the last one because we had tried every one on the menu! (There were only ten in total - so not so bad!!)

And then a movie - The First Grader - a bit heavy for the day, but still very enjoyable

Then dinner and a bottle of wine

Then we headed back for a few more cocktails and finished our evening just after 11.30pm. I had a wonderful evening supported by two awesome friends!

Day 4, 5, 6

So, BD Month Day 4 - not too much exciting other than dropping a huge Honda boot load of stuff at Hospice. Then I think my big treat was going to the gym. I have not been in a gym for many, many years and was very concerned it would be populated by young tanned blondes in fluorescent pink lycra! That is not the case at all and so I am really enjoying what I'm doing.

BD Month Day 5 - again a drop off day - this time to the SPCA and Ronald MacDonald house. This was quite a big trip as it was on the other side of town. Then my friend Lynley is back from her holiday so we had a lovely long walk at 5pm. She said to me that she thought I was not as unfit as I think I am!

BD Month Day 6 - my friend Karen arrived this morning with a lovely card and this:

We took four boxes to Summerset Village for my mom. Then we went and had coffee ...a treat! I got home and there was a birthday card in the mail box from Mandy and a big box at the door:

One of the great parts was the note that said "Happy, happy birthday to our Jen" - I just had a little cry when I read that! This is from my wonderful in-laws in Durban! My SIL Jenny is one of the most wonderful people in the world and if it was not for her I would have gone insane last year. She was at the end of Skype for me and even at the end of the phone when I needed her. And then not to forget when her hubby (my BIL) came to visit us in November. I love them all so much!

Update - And there I was sitting having a good chat to my friend Mels in the US and another parcel arrived! Again from my ILs in South Africa! What a great birthday it's starting out as!

The box as I was unwrapping it

And the chocolates inside

Day 3

So yesterday was not a very good day: a man was supposed to come to give me a quote for laying lawn and he forgot. I did go down to my mom and gave her a hand sorting some photos. Some of them we just threw away because we had absolutely no idea who was in the photos!

Then in the afternoon/evening I just lost the plot completely! I was so emotional and upset that all I could think of was getting two pieces of fish and chips for the boys for dinner! I didn't even care about myself! And nowhere could I see anything that was a "birthday month treat" either.

Today has dawned better: I went to Spotlight (didn't buy anything) and came home to finish my Christmas l/o.I am going to do a ham for supper because then we will have leftovers for lunches/dinners this coming week.

My Christmas 2011 l/o

Here's my "coffee pot" l/o - the best present I can remember for a long time

2012

Happy New Year everyone! My hope is that this year is much much better than last year for me especially.

Anyway, it my birthday soon and like other people I'm having a birthday month. So what did I do today for my birthday month treat? I made pancakes for the boys and the friends for breakfast! Now I can hear you wondering why that was a treat for ME! Here's why:

Ross asked if he could have some friends over for a bbq and I was said okay. The problem was that the weather was so bad, but they decided to carry on. I got some breadrolls, made a huge potato bake and bought some meat. It ended up being Ross, five friends and Ross invited Colin to join them.

As they arrived, they all said hello. They were downstairs all night I was upstairs. They opened my wine, said thank you for what I'd provided (they all brought stuff too) and thanked me for having them there - all before they ate. When it was time to serve, they called me. One of the boys had done the cooking and they were sharing out the meat and were so kind to me giving me some of the nicer food. All evening they checked to see that I had enough to eat

Just before midnight, Ross got some glasses out and then called me to join them. They had some sparkling wine, I had my own. Both my boys hugged and kissed me and two of the visiting boys did too

I was so proud of my boys! I had a great evening even though it was the first time in 21 years I had been apart from Adrian on New Year's Eve

So this morning I got up and made pancakes for them! They had all slept over last night and I decided that I would treat them. Only problem is I didn't get any photos! I was sitting in my bed when they were leaving and they would oh so politely knock on the door to say good bye and thank you.

Now to plan a birthday treat for myself every day AND remember to take photos