My Quilt

Well, here it is. It still needs a binding around the edge but it is quilted which I had done professionally and I'm so glad that I did. Every piece of fabric is representative of something in my life either current or in the past. I love it and I'm thrilled with it, but it is the last one I will do.

Third from left: a piece of fabric from my wedding dress
Second and fourth from left: Photos of the boys when they were little from a T-Shirt - I cut the T-shirt up

The crocodiles represent both a trip to Florida and the place at which we got engaged Ngwenya (meaning crocodile)

Nemo - my three boys love watching that movie and know many lines from it ...which they repeat during the movie

Tui - sings outside our bedroom window

Blue Guinea fowl and orange giraffes - tea towels that Adrian bought me at the Kruger National Park specially for me to cut up

Belle - when Ross was small his favourite story was Beauty and the Beast. When we went to Disneyland, he and I queued for quite a while to see her. She bent down to him and said, "Are you a prince?" He was five at the time

Frnagipani - our trip to Fiji and the flowers on my wedding cake

Just to the right of Belle - piece of fabric from a skirt I used to wear

Two cheetahs representing my cheetah encounter
Green spots - the dress I made and wore for the boys' christenings

Electric trains - my Dad's employment

Black and white cats paws for all the cats we've had

Dolphins - Colin's love of nature

Sports balls - sports the boys have played

Little blue penguins - the dressing gown I made Colin

Emperor penguins - our trip backstage to see the penguins at SeaWorld LA

The tartan - Colin at six months old had a cute pair of trousers I made from this fabric

The white waffle weave at the bottom right - the three dressing gowns I have made

Lots to represent South Africa and New Zealand and the green border represents the sea we crossed to get here.

There! I think I've given you all of it - if not - feel free to ask

Oh ... and if you're going to ScrapCamp I'll have it with me

Daylight Saving

That's it - no "s" on the end! Also I can't believe how many people did not know when Daylight Saving ended and we went back to NZ Standard Time. Also how many people kept asking when Daylight Saving started - um ... that will be on Sunday 28th September.

So NZ DST ended and for my lovely SIL in SA we are now back to ten hours ahead of you - see the clock on the side bar

My Dilemma

I ordered a new camera from DSE on Monday and then discovered it for $99 cheaper elsewhere. I cancelled the DSE order (and have the cancellation notification) and ordered the camera from the other place. Both places said cameras only arriving 11th April. Today a camera arrived from DSE - do I send it back or keep it?

My camera

is an Olympus SP500 Ultra Zoom. It is 6mp and 10x optical zoom and has great features eg "use available lighting". I want to sell it for $300 - if you know of anyone who may be interested, please send them my way

Here is a good review: http://www.cameras.co.uk/details/olympus-sp-500.cfm

Catch up

So the brats got caught - they have to replace the lollies and apologise. Their parents were contacted. The one who stole the calculator has to return it and his misdemeanor has been referred higher up. There was also money stolen but no one is owning up to that.

Ross played in the second bowls team and did really well - played better than some of the regulars!

We had parent-teacher meetings this week - exhausting for me, but really good comments from Ross' teachers

Colin goes on school camp next week and is sooo looking forward to it - I hope that he is not disappointed

My quilt is slowly growing and I am now pleased with it

Soccer season hasn't started yet and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of whinging parents and kids who won't play because of this, that and the next silly reason. I'm sick of precious committee members who want to stick to the age group rules at all costs .... to the detriment of kids who just want to play soccer. I've been Age Group Co-ordinator for seven years and this is the first year that I'm really hating the job

Roll on ScrapCamp! Four weeks to go and it's over ANZAC weekend so is three days long - YAY

Wonderful Weekend

and it's not over yet! Yay - the boys and I still have tomorrow off. I sewed Ross' dressing gown - he was so pleased he showered so he could put it on straight away. I sewed another pair of sleeping shorts for Adrian (cream so now he matches with the sheets and duvet cover lol). I cut out and sewed the border to my "postcards" for my quilt. Now I have 48 squares which will need to be sewn together. I also used a very old T-shirt of Adrian's that had photos on of very young boys. I found lots of fabric in my sewing cabinet so I will use one of them for the backing of my quilt and I think I must sell the rest on TradeMe. I am feeling a lot happier about my quilt as I was ready to give up on Tuesday last week.

We relaxed and just had a great weekend. I made Hot Cross buns and turned the leftovers into a very yummy Hot Cross Bun & Butter pudding that we had for breakfast. I made butter chicken from scratch and it was yummy. We had a wonderful brunch yesterday and super blue cod for dinner. Tonight my Mom and Dad came over and we had a bbq.

We also did a bit of shopping today and I got a typist's chair for my sewing. It beats the uncomfortable little stool I have been sitting on!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone and I hope that the Easter Bunny was kind to you all. Boys are happy - they got good chocolate rather than lots of cheap stuff; Adrian got red wine and chilli bites (biltong/beef jerkey) and I got small bottles of Lindauer Fraise and Cote d'Or bouchees (chocolate elephants)

The "Easter Bunny" also found this really cute font to make labels!

Bl**dy Brats at School!

On Tuesday, 9 or 10 Yr 10s (Form 4) broke into my classroom at lunch time by opening the door from the inside. They put their arm in through the window next to the door. They moved many of my posters and work kids had done and then opened up my cupboard. In my cupboard they moved glue sticks all over, took a personalised stamp and stamped desks. I had half a bag of sweets for rewards - they ate all of them. A Graphics caculator is also missing.

I was so angry about it because I care so much about my classroom. It's one thing to go into a classroom, but completly another to go through the teacher's personal things and steal/eat hat's there. The last time I felt like this was in South Africa when our house was broken into.

I have calmed down about it now, but on Tuesday I felt as though I needed a stiff drink when I got home.

Edited to add that someone recognised one of them and told me - I just passed that name on to the Dean and she found the rest. Don't know yet what punishment they'll get, but at the least I expect a contribution to replacing the sweets and an apology - I'm not holding my breath though.

Anyway, five lovely days off ahead of me and I have lots to do - sewing, quilting, scrapping

Yum!

Look what a courier brought for me today:

Penny is making this yummy fig jam from all the figs on her tree and selling it in aid of her son's kindy. I think a fresh loaf of bread and some fig jam will be in order this weekend

While surfing I found this on A Civil Conversation and I have to agree :

It is a cold, icy, snowy morning. I am sipping my coffee and pondering the words of Cathy Zielske, who works for Simple Scrapbooks magazine. Cathy is a wonderful soul whose simple but eye-catching designs have always caught my eye. I also appreciate her candor and very funny sense of humor.She recently wrote something on her blog that grabbed me and, dare I say -- released me. Yes, released. For quite some time, I have felt that awful pressure to scrap one-photo layouts because they're so much more artistic. Or powerful. Or whatever you want to ascribe to what has now become the plat du jour in Scrap Happy Land.I've been scrapbooking for as long as Cathy. In the beginning (thus saith me...), it was all about laying down at least five or six photos of the same event and telling the story of said event. Writing has always been an integral part of my scrapbooks and that really hasn't changed. But somehow, after reading the magazines to learn more about the hobby, I got the impression that scrapping a page meant to place one perfect photo on a 12x12 piece of cardstock, (with the coordinating patterned papers), a few embellishments and a dreamy one or two word title.It drove me nuts in a way because I wasn't seeing names, dates -- anything that would be able to identify that photograph to great-grandchildren years later when those photos were most likely aged as well as a fine bottle of Chardonnay. I started to think that the page really wasn't as much about memories as it was about product placement.Thank goodness for Cathy.She recently wrote this on her blog, Bits & Pieces:
Sometimes I feel nostalgic where scrapbooking is concerned. As if I’ve really earned that right—to wax philosophic ‘bout ‘dem good ol’ days. I mean come on… I’ve only been scrapbooking since 2001. That hardly qualifies me as an old timer. Yet I really do remember the giddiness of finally figuring out that I could do a hobby and still maintain my personal sense of design integrity and overall coolness factor. The novelty of it all can still be recalled, and the freshness of it rings so sweetly in my memory. And when you reach the point where you see trends come and pass, and even come back for a second round, well… that’s when all of a sudden you do realize you’ve been around the block more than one time.Ah, Cathy. I couldn't have said it any better myself.What struck me so powerfully was seeing Cathy's layout of a day in her life. Just very simple stuff. And then her collection of photos showing her husband was endearingly sweet and tender. As I read her journaling, I realized once again why scrapbooking is so important to me.Scrapbooking is important because it is my memories of my life. It is important because it celebrates the people I love. It is important because when I'm dead and gone, people will have another opportunity to see through my eyes the family that I cherish so much.In so many ways, I am a secret journalist, writing stories about my loved ones. Twenty years in the future, no one will care about whether I nailed that "shabby" look or if I used too many overlays. They won't care if the ribbon doesn't match perfectly or ask why didn't I use three brads in the upper right-hand corner instead of two.But I know they'll care about the photographs and the words. Thanks for the reminder, Cathy. I really needed it. :)

Playing Bowls

Ross joined the College Bowls and has had three practices. He and a friend were asked to join the 3rd team on Thursday as they were going to be short. In the College Bowls league they were drawn to play against the 1st team and two of the players play every weekend, and both of them have played at National level. In fact, one of them is a NZ national champion. Earlier on Thursday he had told me that their aim was to win by 40 points! I felt really sorry for the three young boys in the 3rd team.

They held their heads high and were determined to do their best and have fun. The 1st team fell apart a little when the score was 4 - 3 to the 3rds! Unfortunately, experience took over and the 3rd team was beaten 15 - 5. But a very creditable 5 points those were, of which Ross scored 2 points. The 3rd team was very happy with their efforts even though they didn't win. Their coach was so pleased with them, she gave them all a hug. Ross loves playing lawn bowls.

I really liked this quote!

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~Donald D. Quinn

Two pupil councillors

At the Intermediate where the boys go/have gone, they have pupil councillors. One boy and one girl per class and the class vote for their councillors. Last year Ross was pupil councillor and today Colin was announced as pupil councillor! Colin was sooo happy. And that means two brothers have been pupil councillors in the same teacher's class two years in a row.

Why?

Why do people say "Oh my god? or "Christ!" etc as a term of swearing or simply just as a word to use in the same manner as teenagers use "like"? I personally find it offensive as do many others. In my religion (Christianity) that is blasphemy. Why don't these same people say "oh my Allah" or "Mohhamed!" or "Buddah!"?

I wrote to TV One and asked them the same question; they replied and said they would pass the feedback onto the newsroom etc. I have noticed that there is not quite so much blasphemy as there was. Now I wish other people would do the same

Scrapping on Saturday

I did quite a few l/os and then yesterday I cut the titles on my WB and did the journalling. What I like most about the WB is having the ability to make the title the same font as my journalling. I know that I'm not as creative or as artistic as many people out there, but I feel that my story is told too, so that's what's important. A few of these I'm going to enter at the NZ Dares for their dare to use at least ten photos

This one is from Mt Maunganui -

all I did was add the title

This is in Queenston up the Gondola for NZ Dares - 10 photos

This is also from QT

The Caitlins north of Invercargill - also for NZ Dares - 11 photos (it's just the wrong ay round)

Woo Hoo!!!!

I am such a happy person today! I got a text message from my Head of Department telling me I have a classroom. So why is that so exciting I hear you ask. Well, for four years I have had to teach in other people's classrooms - no storage space of my own, always having to drag my preparation and folders in and out of classrooms, not being as organised because I am busy getting sorted whilst the kids are coming in, not being able to have the desks arranged as I want them, never being able to put my students' work on the walls ............ I can't wait for tomorrow to start moving in!

Edited to say: because I am a part-timer, in a big school such as ours, there are no classrooms for us p-ts to have our own, hence my excitement at finally getting a classroom

For Alan

My BIL in South Africa has his 50th birthday in two weeks time. My SIL decided to do an album for him but chose a 12x12! Each relative has been asked to do a l/o for the album - this is our contribution.





Once I decided what to do it didn't take too long, but I really wasn't inspired earlier this week. I have used Bazzill c/s and scalloped c/s; a piece of vellum from Up2Scrap called "Koha - the gift" firstly because I liked the pohutakawa blossom and secondly because I am sending him a "gift" (he doesn't know about it yet though :-) I also used my WishBlade to cut the title and the dates (the dates were a bit fiddly because they are quite small) and then lastly I added the little kiwi brad

Conversation with a teenager

I hope that when they are a few years older, our converstions are not like this Enjoy!

Two good looking boys

Well, I think so! All dressed in their school uniforms

New Year

The boys start school on Monday:

Colin in Yr 8 at Intermediate and he will be with Mrs Smith who taught Ross for two years! Woo hoo! We are so pleased about that! [Problem - what do we buy for the teacher to whom we have already given Christmas presents two years in a row? Answer - Bottles of Lindauer Fraise (her favourite) and a champagne stopper]

Ross in Yr 9 at College (first year) and he is in a streamed class! Another woo hoo! He is also with Josh (one of his friends) and Changling with whom he had many maths discussions last year

I hope they both have a great year ahead of them

And me? I have a weak Yr 12, a weak Yr 11, a weak to ordinary Yr 10 and an ordinary Yr 9. Don't feel sorry for me with tthe weak classes, as I like them and one can make more of a difference with weak kids than the brighter ones. Bright kids are easy to teach; weak kids present a challenge so I'm looking forward to it