And here's my other gorgeous boy

He plays in one of the school bands and they did a lunchtime concert two weeks ago. You will note that he is growing his hair because he's in a band!

For a band who have only been playing together since the beginning of the year, they did really well

Formal 2011

Tonight was Ross' Formal. I took him down so my Mom could see him all dressed up. Then we came home for a pre-Formal party

Adrian, Ross and I

Ross and his date - note the flowers!

I tried to get some photos of them dancing but it was really hard

Ross was so looking forward to this! All day today he was getting excited. I think he had a great evening and judging by how often he was dancing (and we are talking real dancing here), I think he must have enjoyed himself

Queen's Birthday weekend

This past weekend was QB weekend so we had Monday off. It is also my annual girls' scrapping weekend away. We went to a beach house in Waikanae and it really was a beach house. From my bed I could see the sea and Kapiti island. This is what I saw one morning at 7.45am. I did get up quickly (still in my pjs) to go outside to take a few photos.

Looking towards the south-west to Kapiti island
Looking towards the north
We had a lovely house with a nice work area. This is what the scrapping table looked like with five of us.
This was the view looking out the window towards the sea. Unfortunately when I took this photo is was rainy and miserable out, so the view is not really clear.

It rained most of the weekend but that didn't bother us - we were warm inside and were surrounded by all our scrappy pleasures. My aim was to get quite a way into my China photos. I decided to keep the theme colours to black, white, red and yellow. I completed two doubles, 12 singles and six half size (6x12). I then got a bit tired of them and did three other l/os. I planned the rest of the China l/os (another 19) so that I could get additional photos when I come home. And Yay! Harvey Norman have a 9 cent special starting today. I will carry on with those China l/os at our monthly crop and also when I go to Senz at the end of June. What a great weekend I had!

Saturday night is Ross' Formal and I will have more photos to scrap from that - thank goodness for the special on printing! Check back Sunday as I will hopefully be able to load some Formal photos then

So tired

Today we had another garage sale - this time to try to get rid of all my Dad's tools and other assorted treasures. Neither my Mom or I could believe how much he had - some of it brand new in the packets that he'd never opened. Amazing what some "shoppers" do: four early on the morning wanted lots of stuff for next-to-nothing. I wasn't going to let that happen. They picked up a torch, dropped it on the concrete and of course it broke. They put it back on the table! I told them that in the real world people pay for what they damage and that would be $5. They didn't buy anything but I did get my $5 from them! Another man was so great - he wanted lots of stuff and made really reasonable offers for it all. Most people are honest and will offer a fair price. So we did well - I was pleased but we have another whole garage sale worth of stuff to go!

I am tired to my bones - I'm so tired of being everything to everyone at the moment and no time left for me. I go to school, come home cook, go to bed, can't sleep and then it all starts again. "Please will you"; "Can you take me"; "Can you do"; Can you phone" is all I seem to hear at the moment. There is not enough time during the weekend to do the laundry, the groceries and everything else as well as just have a rest. Actually I need to stop now because I'm making myself sad! I really admire single parents.

On a sad note, I had to take my mom and her cat to the vet on Tuesday and the cat was put to sleep. My mom is really sad about that.

Queen's Birthday weekend

I know I said no more challenges, but sometimes I will do them. No more where the "best" is chosen unless it's a specific competition with big prizes etc. If shops/forums want people to take part, then they should accept that "winner by lucky draw" is the way to get people contributing. Scrappers want to know that it is a level playing in which they are competing.

One such shop that usually has "winner by draw" is Scrappin Patch and they have a great scrappy long weekend planned. Go along here to see what's happening .... and take part!

Scrapping yesterday

Yesterday I went scrapping - haven't been for two months and yesterday I didn't have to consider anyone except myself! It was fantastic - for eight hours I didn't need to check on anyone, take anyone, show anyone, phone anyone - just look after me and do what I wanted to do. I didn't realise how much I had been giving everyone else until yesterday. And the world kept on turning (lol given that an idiot in the US was predicting the end of the world!)

This is from two fundraising events I was involved in for the Christchurch Earthquake appeal, Again, I have done more journalling on the back. Hopefully this will count for the ScrapBox c/s only competition .... although why I'm entering I don't know - they only choose "the best" and "the best" I am not; however, it's MY photos with MY stories that I'm telling

This photo is of Ross and Colin before we left SA taken at a play park of which I've forgotten the name.

Then the two annual "school photos and reports" l/o - the pockets came from Scrappin Patch and while I thought they were too brown, I'm not unhappy with them. The photos are blurred and I' ve tried to get rid of any names for privacy reasons

Today I have five loads of washing on the line (I hope the sun shines all day) and then I have to go and help my mom get sorted for a garage sale we're planning on having next week.

I am feeling happier and my husband wants us to do some counselling sessions through the Family Courts. Thank you to all of you who have written messages of love and hope here, sent me emails or messages on FB, sent me flowers, prayed for me and given me hope - I love all of you. Not sure what the outcome will be, but at least I can start thinking of a future now.

Up and Down

That's me - I've been up and down over the last couple of weeks. Doesn't help that we've had to write reports at school and proofread someone else's. With no extra time - just do it in your spare time. Lots of "cut-and-paste" went on.

Today a piece of stone arrived to fill the gap next to my stove - the gap has been there for two years! I must say that it looks very nice and so I decided to polish the stove quickly to match the new piece of stone. The extra piece of stone is on the right and I'm amazed at the reflection I'm getting

Buddy, the rainbow lorikeet arrived just after we got back from China but we have decided to give him back. He is a lot of work and needs lots of attention and we just can't do that for him right now.

Today I feel as though I've been in a washing machine - soaked, spun around and wrung put.

Next week Ross resits his restricted driver's license test - I hope he gets it this time!

An early night and hopefully I will sleep well

For today

I will turn my face to the sun so the shadows will fall behind me

Things will get better and I will cope with what's going on

Food

We had all meals booked and paid for before we left NZ which meant we didn't have to run around looking for somewhere to eat. Only some restaurants/hotels are licensed to serve western tourists. We only had Chinese meals but different from Chinese here. We sat at large round tables seating 8 - 10 people. Jasmine tea was always on the table first and then around 8 - 10 dishes and rice and soup arrived. Some dishes were nicer than others!

At a seafood lunch one day, we had lots of these little shrimps. They were supposed to be eaten whole but were very crunchy that way!

I can't remember where or when, but these little food nests were indeed tasty and served in a lettuce leaf.
One night in Si'an, we had a dumpling meal. Just little dumplings but more varieties than you can imagine and all so intricately made. All very tasty too

Celery dumplings

Duck

The second night in Si'an, we ate in "BBQ Street" - lots of BBQ restaurants. Again very tasty but soooo much food!

An example of the food we got

And more

We did get a bit sick of it and all headed to Burger King at Shanghai Airport yesterday for a burger!

A few more photos

And because Blogger now does funny things with photos they are not in order!

At the University in Beijing we saw an army platoon training - their hats were even left in straight lines!

Peach blossom everywhere

Delivery vehicle

The Great Wall marching its way through the mountains surrounding Beijing

Interesting glass building in Beijing

Outside the Bird's Nest - an awesome stadium

Inside the Water Cube at one part of the water park

On the train to Si'an - this held four of us and at least we were four women who knew each other. Others were not so lucky!

Rows and rows of restored Terracotta Warriors

On the 100th floor of the third tallest building in the world - feet on the glass floor looking down to the ground

The old and the new in Shanghai

Not quite the top speed of the Maglev train!

Shanghai business centre at night

The largest abacus in the world made of rosewood - great nerdy fun! My favourite abacus was the little necklace with tiny pearls for the beads

The same abacus reflected in Colin's sunglasses

So my impressions - China was awesome! So different.

Lots of smog and made good photos quite hard

Beijing definitely had a feel of "police; army" about it

Shanghai is a place where I could live

The drivers drive like maniacs - just hoot and push in

Mathematically way ahead of the West in early discoveries

Was it worth it? YES!

Shanghai Business Centre

Across the river from the third tallest building in the world. One hundred floors and we went to the top and walked on the glass floor. It was scary!

Xi'an Wall

While the others went cycling round the top of the city wall, I waited at the top. This lady wanted her photo taken with me - a regular occurrence but more for the blondes in our group. I was quite pleased also to be asked

Awesome Architecture

The Water Cube with the IBM dragon building behind it

Bird's Nest

Such a great place and to be honest the Mathematics was great

Beijing Games symbol

Colin and I outside The Birds Nest - so cool!

Great Wall

Well, here we are at The Great Wall and it was wonderful! Colin walked to one of the top stations but I didn't get very far. No matter - I had an awesome experience anyway

New hat

So proud oh his hat he bought!

Giant Panda

He/she was really enjoying the bamboo!

Forbidden City

Here is Colin and I outside the entrance to the Forbidden City. We are having a wonderful time - very busy. It was rather windy and a bit cold

Boys

In amongst all I had to do yesterday, it was Academic Assembly at school. Of course my mom and I went. here is Ross receiving his academic tie and certificate for Achieving NCEA Level 1 with Excellence

From nowhere, Colin decided he wanted to play bass guitar. he bought one on TradeMe and joined a rock band at school. He also changed courses to music and is having private music lessons. here he is in the Start me Up rock bands concert last week

RIP

Jack Woods: born 16 December 1923 Died 13 April 2011

He was very peaceful and my mom was with him at the end - she was talking to me on the phone.

Not a great photo but this is him as I want to remember him - vibrant and very involved with his grandchildren

So much

I have so much going on in my life right now:

My Dad declines by day. He doesn't know us or that we're even there and is not eating. What happens if he dies while I'm in China? I have a plan - what would you do?

My Mom needs help as she doesn't drive and can't do much organising of the big picture things.

My knee at least is almost at 100%

I have so much to do packing and getting things organised at home over the next few days. I have left Ross with a freezer full of frozen meals - does that make me a bad mother?

I have a 14 hour flight on Saturday night and I HATE flying!

I am single parenting two teenage boys and that's not easy

There is some other stuff that I am barely thinking about let alone talking about

I would like to see 12 months ahead and see where I'm at

As I said on Vicki P's blog: Find something good in every day and focus on that.

So today the sun shone and I got my Chinese money