My dessert

Another test

Trying to send and upload photos from my phone
Jenny :-)
Sent from my iPhone

Test post

Well, I worked out adding text but now to work out adding photos!

External Exam 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.

Look at this photo of Ross' results - I know it's not easy to read, but there it is Achievement (Level 1) with excellence

I am so proud of him! He got 52 Excellence credits, 36 merits and a total of 179 credits with not one failed!!

Wishing I had a friend I could really, really talk to ................

What do you think?

Dreadful photos but old and new glasses

Old

New

I look half asleep! I probably am - didn't have a good night last night

More scrapping

More lovely holiday days and more scrapping done! I have almost completed all the photos from 2010 - just waiting for a couple of pieces of paper to arrive and then I can get finished. Then I have to file all of them and it is looking like a two-album year!

So November - it passed in a blur but the kids did sit exams and we got our Apple gadgets

December

And Colin's birthday - to portray paint ball, I used red, green and blue glimmermist and lots of circles of different coloured card. I'm pleased with it!

Today I bumped into Mandy and we had a coffee together before I headed to Spotlight where I bought three pieces of fabric to make some trousers for myself. Another day off for most people tomorrow so maybe I can get a bit more scrapping done!

2011

Happy New Year to everyone! I love this time of the year because it's so laid back. I usually don't cook too much as there is heaps of leftovers. We eat when we're hungry. Last night, it was just Adrian, Colin and I at home. We had crackers, cheese and dips at about 6pm. Around 7.30pm they made a fire and cooked the meat which we ate with salads around 10pm. We came inside and had dessert at 11.30pm and watched the fireworks from the Sky Tower on TV.

I have done lots of scrapping! I completed 14 UFOs and did more:

Fifty 6x6 l/o for Southern Cross Kids Camp - this is only 16 of them

A letter to my boys telling them that nothing is that bad and I'll always love them

P12 June

P12 July (there is a photo missing bottom right)

P12 August

Tawa Music festival with Adrian's own journalling

P12 September

Apia Airport after we were bumped off the AirNZ flight

A l/o I did with Trina at Creative Wonderland

Motat (after Devonport) in Auckland after Samoa

Devonport - cut the scroll work on the right and stuck it down with foam tape

P12 October

Christmas 2010 (and I apologise for the skew photo!)

Ross' 16th birthday

I love this time of year - no stress! I wonder how much more scrapping I can get done before the holidays are over? That's three days but I do need more glue

Long weekend

My Mom and Dad on Christmas Day

The boys cuddling on Christmas Day

Here in NZ we have had a four day weekend - it's been lovely even though the weather hasn't been great. A storm started during the night and early this morning I was constantly aware of rain against the windows. The wind was so strong - at times was gusting up to 120 km/h. Finally the rain stopped about 2pm and the sun came out around 4pm

I have spent much of the weekend crafting - I completed 12 UFOs (unfinished objects - l/os); completed a new one which is a lot of journalling to my sons about nothing ever being that bad and that parents will always love them. Then I started my BasicGrey calendar. it took me about 6 hours all up and we had to go out today so that I could get some photos for it.

We went out about 1.30pm after the rain abated and I also got photos to finish my Project 12 l/os .... which sadly are only up to May! We also bought new sheets and a towel at 25% off.

I love relaxed weekends like this - we eat when we are hungry and go out if we want to - in fact, today was the first time that we went to the shops since Christmas Eve!

My Dad is still about the same, but the decline is faster now. My Mom is taking strain as she virtually has to do everything for him. I'm pleased that we have Hospice involved so that the support is there. I hope that tomorrow is a nice day so that I can take them out for a drive and some tea/coffee somewhere.

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas everyone! Here's our tree with our presents underneath. We all got iPads so there isn't much under the tree this year. In previous years, I would wrap the presents at night when the boys went to bed; this year I wrapped them in the morning before they woke up!
Last night we had "Christmas in the cul-de-sac": our current very enterprising Head Boy asked me if he could organise a choir, a sausage sizzle and a raffle to happen in our cul-de-sac to raise money for the Salvation Army. The other residents were happy so he went ahead and organised everything. What a great evening it was! He had the help of quite a few other prefects, the Head of Music and the choir and they raised $707.30 for the Sallies! he was so pleased and rightfully so. Here are some members of the choir singing in our driveway. I have already told him if he wants a reference for anything to give my name - I will sing his praises!

My Dad is declining and we have Hospice nursing help now. My Mom is going to get home help and will also get some respite care early in the New Year. We are taking Christmas lunch to their house tomorrow as my Dad will not be able to walk from our driveway to the rumpus where we were planning on setting up the dining room. And if I'm carrying everything downstairs, I might as well put it in my car.

Have a wonderful day tomorrow and hug your family close.

This Weekend

Colin's birthday today - he's 15! Where did that time go? He had a party on Friday and went to Paint Ball. here they are getting ready In the tower looking for "the enemy"

All over


We came home and they played PS3, PS2 and watched movies. Homemade mini-pizza for dinner and this was the second round - the first round was twice as much as this! 22 mini-pizzas between five boys!!

Today they have gone to see Tron and getting Noodle Canteen for dinner. I made Christmas crackers following the design we were taught at Creative Wonderland by Rachel Tucker. I made six for us all and another four for our friends the Matthews.

I have now finished all my work and I am so glad! Yesterday I went scrapping and was in no mood to scrap at all. After one l/o, which is not stunning, I decided to do some 6x6 pages fro the Southern Cross Kids Camps - more details here. I have made 16 and hopefully I'll be able to make some more. It was quite satisfying doing something for someone else just before Christmas

It's the final countdown now and we have decided to take Christmas lunch to my parent's house as my Dad won't manage any of the stairs now. He is so depressed about his foot and my Mom and I are seriously considering having the half leg amputation in January. It's so hard - I just had to get up and give him a hug today

Nearly Christmas

Well, my parents had their 59th wedding anniversary on Wednesday! We celebrated by picking up a wheelchair for my Dad and then went to Palmer's Garden Centre for a light lunch. In the evening we got Chines takeaways and had sparkly wine with it.

Thursday my Dad had his 87th birthday. In the morning a few friends went round for tea and cake and in the evening we went to The Fisherman's Table for dinner. he enjoyed it but I thought that the service was very poor. In fact, I started clearing the table at one point as the staff were standing around holding up the walls. He asked me a couple of times how old he was. His mind is fading fast. It's just so sad - from such a powerful man responsible for so many people and so much to what he is today. He spoke to some friends from South Africa and a few minutes later couldn't remember it.

Both my doctor and his doctor have been fantastic in their support for him. My doctor made a house call and has phoned me to see how things are going. Don't get many doctors like that nowadays. Their doctor has also been great, but has been on extended sick leave. Both doctors are from the same mould, I think, kind, compassionate and caring.

Colin is 15 on Sunday - where have those 15 years gone? I remember just yesterday the discussion as to what Adrian and toddler Ross would do on Christmas Day as it was possible I would still be in hospital. I remember asking the doctor to discharge me on Christmas Eve and going straight to the baby shop to buy a double pram!

So today he and four friends went to PaintBall and are now playing PS etc downstairs. They finished off 22 mini pizzas for dinner!

Adrian has his office party tonight and I will fetch him and drop the friends off at the same time.

Hopefully I will be going scrapping tomorrow - not that I have anything prepared to actually scrapped. Well, I'll go for a couple of hours and then come back to finish working.

Negleted

And no photos either

So my five year "blog-aversary" came and went and I forgot!

School is busier than ever and you'd think with the seniors gone it would be a cruisey time - NO. So much to get ready for next year, not to mention I'm moving classrooms so all my junk has to move. One would think it would be a good time to go through all my resources and recycle what I'll never use again; however, that is not the case - I've just sent the boxes across as they are. At the moment I have no cupboards or shelves there either so everything is just on the floor. Then there's end-of-year reports etc and I can't wait to come home to do my part-time NZQA work!

Colin went to the Marlborough Sounds last week for a three day camp: tramping, kayaking and cycling and he had a wonderful time ........ until he came off his bike and grazed one elbow badly and sprained and strained bones and ligaments in the other. At least he didn't have to go back to school for the rest of the week so has been able to rest/ice/stretch his arm.

Adrian's birthday today and we went to Monsoon Poon for dinner - always a treat!

My Dad continues to slowly decline. I arranged to have the District nurses come in to dress his foot. Today's one talked him into having an amputation ... next week! She only sees his foot and knows nothing about his heart, lungs, kidneys, state of mind etc. I'm going to say No as I'm not prepared to send him for such a big op and an anaesthetic 12 or fewer days before his 87th birthday. He is so looking forward to turning 87 as he will then be the "oldest Woods".

We also put up the Christmas lights today along with most of the neighbourhood and already we have "tourists" driving around. I love to hear the children's voice and the wonder and excitement that they get.

Summer has arrived here and the weather for the past week has been simply glorious - long may it last!

I will get around to a family letter this year .... I hope!

New toys

So glad to have hubby home and also very pleased with the toys he brought. I got an iPad and an iPhone! And two pairs of pearl earrings. Photo to come

What a week!

Hubby has been gone since last Thursday.

Monday: Buy some basic groceries, pick Colin up. get home put some pies in the oven, back at school by 6.30pm for Prizegiving. What a lovely event this is! Always good to see students honoured and ther proud parents

Tuesday: first bowls practice ans I finally got given a lesson! I'm the teacher in charge and I don't know how to play! Pies again Back to school for Maths tutorial. For years we offered free lessons during lunchtimes and at best we may have had tow or three arrive. Now we offer them at night and charge $5 and have over 100 arrive. Huh?

Wednesday was almost a free afternoon although I was tired so didn't do much and we ordered in pizza. Ross got a certificate for Second in Geography! He also did well in Maths, Science and Economics. He has 30 Excellence level credits and 112 credits in total with another 70 odd to come in externals

Thursday: first day of junior exams and the Yr 10s who were supposed to be rostered home had to go to school. Only 11 present in Colin's class so I signed him out and we went shopping and preparing for the prizegiving we catered at on Thursday evening. We were ready to serve just after 5pm and I must say it looked great. As usual, I had too much food. Dropped Colin home at 6.58pm and went straight back to school for the last of our tutorials. We all went out for a drink afterwards, and even though I had had a long busy day I went anyway. And I didn't take any photos!

Friday: I woke up feeling not very well. I have been so pleased that I went right through winter without getting a cold, but now I have one. Yr 9 exams to mark.

Today I am taking it easy and I'm not even sure that I want to do any laundry! I am marking, so I might just do the urgent stuff and leave the rest for hubby for Tuesday!

So, Water polo Junior Sportsman of the Year! Not bad. here he is on stage with the other prize winners in his group. My batteries died and this was taken on Adrian's cell phone

At home with his medal on and holding his certificate - very proud of himself!

My Dad is declining. The doctor said we have probably got a matter of months with him. He sometimes doesn't get dressed and just stays in his pyjamas and dressing gown all day. He was such a strong man .... so sad.

I managed to lose hundreds of photos last night backing them up to the external hard drive. I was deleting some folders and deleted the photos by mistake. The pop-up window said there was no space in the recycle bin and did I want to delete them permanently? Of course, I clicked YES. Oh well, most are printed and or scrapped so it's just too bad

Supermarkets here give discount voucher for the petrol stations. When that happens, my Mom and I always try to get as many vouchers as we can. The checkout operator knows what we do and today she was just laughing at us because we had to run quickly to find another $20 worth of groceries. She probably sees us coming and thinks, "Oh no, not those two nutty women again!" Actually, she doesn't mind us because we are not grumpy - can't be when we're laughing so much about our groceries!

Good and Bad

Bad first: my Dad is not so great - up one day and down the next. He had a blood transfusion last Friday and that appears to have helped his breathing. However, his foot is not great and it seems that the other one is on the same path. If he has an amputation at nearly 87 it will kill him, however the gangrene is also likely to kill him. Such a hard place to be in! The renal specialist said we'd made the right choice about keeping his foot

Good: We got a letter from College inviting us to attend Sports Prizegiving next week as Colin is getting an award! We don't know what it is but we're very proud of him!

Earthquake Crop

Along with ladies in Christchurch at Scrappin' Patch and in Invercargill at Scrapbook Outlet, we had a charity crop yesterday at Craft House. Although it was poorly supported by the Wellington community we still had a wonderful day.

Mandy Blake supplied some prizes as did Beverly Warwick who also created a great BYO mini-class: people brought their own supplies and Bev provided stamps, CuttleBug folders etc

Making Memories sent a Slice that we raffled across NZ as well; Up2Scrap sent a great prize pack that we used for our layout prize. Trina McClune did a great sketch that was used around the country; however, I'm hoping she will accept my sketch l/o on her blog because I didn't enter mine at the Wellington crop because I didn't want to win my own prize! Mandy Blake won the prize for our sketch.

The entries for Trina's sketch

My take on Trina's sketch

Mandy who won the sketch prize receiving her prize from Beverly


Carmel who won the Slice receiving her prize from me

The mini class l/os

One of the other three l/os that I did that I'll enter at Scrapbook Dreams

It was a great day and any one who'll be in Wellington on 6th November, I would encourage you to buy a ticket for Trina's Creative Experience day at the Newlands Community Centre (info on Trina's blog)

Holiday part 2

We checked into our hotel at 5.30am after our dreadful flight. We had a shower and a cup of tea and then went to bed. I can't remember when last I went to bed at 6am in the morning! I woke up around 9.30am and we had coffee and checked our emails. I woke the boys up around 11am - they wanted breakfast! We met my friend Tracy Palmer for lunch. Then she and I and her lovely children walked around. I took this photo of the Sky Tower (standing at the base looking up) that I've wanted to take for a long time.

Friday morning we got up and headed for Devonport on the ferry to have brunch

The first building walking up from the ferry

After breakfast, the boys went to the library to use the free internet and I walked up and down and looked in all the shops. What a wonderful morning I had! This photo is looking down from the top of the street

On the ferry on the way back

On the waterfront is the count down to the Rugby World Cup 2011
Then we went to MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology)

Trains ..... of course

The tram that travelled from Motat to the Aviation building

At the Aviation building

On the way back from the Aviation building, the tram was really full. At the Zoo, a mom and two young children got in. Straight away Ross stood up so that she could sit. I was so proud of him!