Whitcoull's Top 100

I've read the ones in bold; the ones with an asterisk I can't remember

1. Lord of the rings / JRR Tolkien
2. My sister's keeper / Jodi Picoult
3. Pride and prejudice / Jane Austen (a favourite)
4. Cross stitch / Diana Gabaldon
5. Harry Potter & the dealthy hallows / JK Rowling
6. The bronze horseman / Paullina Simons
7. The Da Vinci code / Dan Brown
8. The power of one / Bryce Courtenay
9. The pillars of the earth / Ken Follet
10. The other Boleyn girl / Phillipa Gregory
11. The lovely bones: a novel / Alice Sebold
12. To kill a mocking bird / Harper Lee
13. The kite runner / Khaled Hosseini
14. The time traveler's wife / Audrey Niffenegger
15. Holy Bible (Quite a bit)
16. The hobbit / J R R Tolkien
17. Magician / Raymond Feist
18. The clan of the cave bear / Jean M Auel *
19. Nineteen minutes / Jodi Piccoult
20. Gone with the wind / Margaret Mitchell (think Scarlett is a whinging female dog)
21. Angels and Demons / Dan Brown
22. Harry Potter and the half-blood prince / J K Rowling
23. The Poisonwood bible / Barbara Kingsolver
24. Into the wilderness / Sara Donati
25. A thousand splendid suns / Khaled Hosseini
26. Life of Pi / Yann Martel
27. Memoirs of a geisha / Arthur Golden
28. Jessica / Bryce Courtenay
29. Birdsong / Sebastian Faulks
30. Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone / J K Rowling
31. Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix / J K Rowling
32. A fine balance / Rohinton Mistry
33. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe / C S Lewis
34. Jane Eyre / Charlotte Bronte
35. Rachel's holiday / Marian Keyes *
36. The memory keeper's daughter / Kim Edwards
37. Shantaram: a novel / Gregory Roberts
38. Pact: a love story / Jodi Picoult
39. Tea Rose / Jennifer Donnelly
40. Change of heart / Jodi Picoult *
41. Angela's ashes / Frank McCourt
42. Mister Pip / Lloyd Jones
43. The girl in Times Square / Paullina Simons
44. Twilight / Stephanie Meyer
45. This charming man / Marian Keyes*
46. Wuthering heights / Emily Bronte

47. River God / Wilbur Smith
48. The Persimmon Tree / Bryce Courtenay
49. World without end / Ken Follet
50. Dune / Frank Herbert
51. Wild Swans: three daughters of China / Jung Chang
52. April Fools Day / Bryce Courtenay
53. Atonement / Ian McEwan
54. The bone garden / Tess Gerritsen
55. The alchemist / Paulo Coelho
56. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire / J K Rowling
57. Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban / J K Rowling
58. Sushi for beginners / Marian Keyes
59. The curious incident of the don in the night-time / Mark Haddon
60. Catcher in the rye / J D Salinger
61. I know this much is true / Wally Lamb
62. Eragon / Christopher Paolini
63. Tomorrow with the war began / John Marsden
65. Northern lights / Philip Pullman
65. Captain Corelli's mandolin / Louis De Bernieres
66. Kane and Abel / Jeffrey Archer
67. Tully / Paullina Simons
68. Catch -22 / Joseph Heller
69. No. 1 ladies detective agency / Alexander McCall Smith
70. Watermelon / Marian Keyes *
71. We need to talk about Kevin / Lionel Shriver
72. Anybody out there / Marian Keyes
73. Chocolat / Joanne Harris
74. Winter Rose / Jennifer Donnelly
75. Denniston Rose / Jenny Pattrick
76. Killing Floor / Lee Child
77. A really short history of nearly everything / Bill Bryson
78. Anne of Green Gables / L M Montgomery
79. Nothing to lose / Lee Child
80. The secret / Rhonda Byrne
81. The book thief/ Markus Zusak
82. Galaxy / Douglas Adams
83. The stand / Stephen King
84. Edmonds Cookery Book / Edmonds
85. The potato factory / Bryce Courtenay
86. Lucy Sullivan is getting married / Marian Keyes
87. The vinter's luck / Elizabeth Knox
88. The red tent / Anita Diamant
89. Bridget Jone's diary: a novel / Helen Fielding
90. The Penguin history of New Zealand / Michael King (It's on my bookshelf!)
91. London / Edward Rutherford
92. The god of small things / Arundhati Roy
93. The shipping news / Annie E Proulx
94. Four fires / Bryce Courtenay *
95. Mao's last dancer / Li Gunxin
96. Last chance saloon / Marian Keyes
97. Plain truth / Jodi Picoult *
98. Perfume: the story of a murderer / Patrick Suskind
99. The Thorn birds / Colleen McCullough
100. The notebook / Nicholas Spark

Thanks to Penny for this list

The Bossy Scrapper

This is the second one I did. I think that the title is a bit small, but that's too bad now. And look at those ancient vellum stars I dragged out!

A delivery

On Friday Andrea asked me if she could redirect 20 boxes of stuff for SENZ to my address. Actually she had no option - it was an address in Wellington or returned to Aus. Of course I said yes but I did wonder how to break the news to Adrian.

Well, this morning just before we got up, I casually mentioned "a few boxes - maybe ten". I got up showered and dressed so I was ready.

Just before 8.30am a huge Road Star truck pulled up and a very grumpy driver got out and asked where I wanted the pallet.

"Pallet? I said "It was supposed to be broken down into boxes". And the voice from inside "PALLET???!!! was not good either. He wanted to know exactly how many boxes were coming.

Grumpy told me he would put the pallet on the driveway or on the pavement. No, I said, neither was convenient especially as Adrian still had to go to work. After a bit of discussion (including how Pak 'n' Save get their deliveries ..... but I'm not Pak 'n' Save) Grumpy left. He wouldn't even wait for me to phone DHL

I phoned Andrea in a state and she was extremely concerned that Grumpy would drive back to Auckland without leaving the boxes behind. I was not happy at that point

After a nail-biting few hours Grumpy returned; actually I think it was his way more pleasant twin brother. He unloaded all the boxes, discussed with me the damaged boxes and even helped me write the correct wording on the delivery note.

The boxes are now safely stored inside. In hindsight it was very funny, but not at the time

Roll on Thursday

My scrapping yesterday

Here are the new ones I did; the UFOs are further down in another post

House of Cards: I am so pleased with the mini playing cards I found!

Wellington: the photos are all post cards

I have wanted to do one about Wellington for a long time.

The next one will be the Ruapehu one

The Bossy Scrapper

Scrapbook by Design have a Sunday night challenge called "The Bossy Scrapper". "The Boss" is appointed each week and it's her responsibility to issue instructions to everyone on the night in order to create a layout unseen. Well, I'm The Boss on Sunday night! So turn up to the chat room, and be prepared to scrap with me.

Updated with a sneak peak of mine

And here is the full version

SENZ

YAY!! All sorted out - I'm a helper now which is exactly what I wanted to be. If you post a comment here, I'll email you and tell where you can find me :-)

Fiskars Circle punch

I bought one of these on Saturday morning for my friend at National Park. When I got there, we started to play with it. First we needed something with which to draw a circle and finally we found a 400g tin of fruit that was almost 4". Then we started to punch - it's not as easy as it seems. After about 20 messes each we finally managed a decent circle and it was time to pack up for dinner. Then we found .......... a template to cut circles! We laughed at ourselves

Sketches

For those of you who like sketches, this is one of my favourites. I like the idea but to be honest, I have yet to use any of them. My excuse is that I have had no time!

How are you doing getting photos ready to upload to Snapfish? I have 42 ready and I know I will go over the 50 limit but it makes no difference as I had planned on getting them printed these holidays so their special offer is a bonus

SENZ

Post deleted and edited further up

Holidays!

What are YOU going to be doing?

Resize photos and send them to DM to be printed.

I am going to finish all the UFOs I have and that includes the skirt I'm making

I am going to re-arrange my albums. I have decided to go ith D-Ring albums as they are sturdier and soooo much easier to organise. It does mean that I will have to buy some more albums though

I was supposed to be helping out at SENZ, but I've heard nothing and I have no accommodation (I thought I did) so I'm probably not going any more. :-(

Make a loaf of gluten free bread for hubby done

Do some laundry done one load

Wash the kitchen floor

Do the grocery shopping and go to the butcher (the downside of travelling so much was that I didn't really get a chance to keep the grocery cupboard or the freezer stocked)

Tidy up the dining room/lounge

I've updated this with my holiday chores list in the hopes that I can get motivated! I have done almost nothing today and feel so lazy! My bed and my book are calling me but I'd better get some of that damp laundry into the dryer

Home again!

Colin that is! he's so pleased to be home, but at the same time couldn't sleep last night because he was thinking about what he was leaving behind.

I drove up to National Park on Saturday and it was such an easy drive (hubby and my mom were worried about me driving by myself). We went to Owhango which is about 30 kms north of NP where our friends have a house. Yesterday, Colin and I went photo shooting and then had some lunch at the Station Cafe (yummy food!)

Colin with Mt Ruapehu in the background

The Chateau is to the left

Me

Colin walking to a patch of snow with Ruapehu in the back

From the Tongariro Crossing road

Just after 7pm on Sunday night

I was hoping for a "pink" mountain but it wasn't to be

Today we headed home but not before Colin had to say, "Goodbye bedroom, goodbye house, goodbye school" etc. And then there were tears when we said goodbye to our friends both from her and Colin (and me too).

Colin has had the most wonderful time there and grown so much and not only physically. He has loved being at school there and the quiet, calm atmosphere that exists; he has loved the challenges of skiing and managed on the last day to do parallel skiing (both skis right next to each other) and has therefore been invited back to join the three day skiing programme next year! I am concerned about how he will fit back into a noisy class with twice as many kids. We are both aware that we will have to do lots of school work after school in order to keep him at the level at which he should be.

We have just finished eating our dinner and he has come upstairs to tell me he's homesick!

Parents' Evening

Tonight we had parents' evening for the senior students. Reports from the mock exams were sent home last week and this was a follow up. I was at school at 8am this morning and didn't get home until just after 7pm. Ross was by himself with no dinner prepared.

So what's the point of this ramble? Well, I had kids say to me theri parents couldn't get there early as they had to work and then go home and cook etc etc. What??!! I, of course, don't have a family that need to be fed. This is important - it's about your child's (lack of) progress at school. Surely you leave your job early or you get take aways (like we did) so that you can talk to your child's teacher? Or am I of the minority? And then some don't even bother to turn up even with an appointment.

And then they'll blame us because their little darling didn't pass/get enough credits. Roll on Friday!!

My Blog List

I saw this when I went to create a new post yesterday and had fun adding a few to my side bar .... makes it very easy to see who has updated! Scroll down and have a look and if I haven't got your blog there let me know and I'll add you

Must add another photo

Here's my boy lying on the couch in the house at National Park. He's wearing his school uniform and the cushion he's lying on is what he made at sewing at Taumaruni High School! He's so proud of it.

Ships that Pass in the Night

That's what we are at the moment - both of us have so much on. There's the bi-annual Tawa Music Festival and all the practices, Parents night at school, then I'm going to fetch Colin next weekend which all makes for a very busy couple of weeks where we will barely get to see each other.

Yesterday I went scrapping and managed to do four l/os in a very short time and mostly using SBO kits ..... actually the paper add-ons. I love these as I get eight pieces of cardstock and usually two pieces of patterned paper that all co-ordinate and I don't have to do the thinking. There's a bit of a joke going on at SBO (yes Vicki and Lainie) right now about me using the kits to wall paper the house as I certainly don't use it for scrapping!! No time, no time. Most of them need journalling and/or titles but I'll get to that in the holidays

Well, here they are:

These two old photos of the boys sitting in the dishwasher?!

Paper is from an SBO kit

c/s is core'dinations with a light green core (looks white in the photo)

Ross making towers out of playing cards -

I am hoping to win a TM auction for miniture cards to use on this

Little Yellow Bicycle paper

Red "corrugated" c/s

Ross playing bowls this year

SBO kit

I liked the patterned paper as it looked a bit like the coloured bowls they use

I am also going to put this into the NZ Dares extremes of scale challenge because when I cut the word "Bowls" I was surprised at how big it was but I think it looks good with the smaller photos on the left and also the little circles on the patterned paper

Colin in 2006 when he was the bell ringer at school

SBO kit

I used my WishBlade to cut the titles but still feel as though I'm learning what to do with it.

Only one week left of this term and I really won't be sad when it's over. My Year 10 class is so hard because there are a number of really lazy kids in the class who won't work and this has affected the rest of the class. Some of the girls have started being silly and when I spoke to them theysaid "Miss, they diss us if we work". I can see that a number of the other boys' work has steadily gone downhill this year and I really am distressed about it. Any suggestions?

The is not much time left with the seniors - 2o school days with my Year 12s and 21 with my Year 11s - funny but I'm the only one who's worried!

Well, I'd better get on and ice the cake to take down to choir practice for the director who turns 65 today. Have a good last week those of you who are teachers/have children at school

Another weekend at the Mountain

This time we went on Thursday because the plan was to go up the mountain on Friday (before the crowds) to see what Colin could do. Unfortunately on Friday the weather was so bad that we went to Taupo instead. Saturday's forecast wasn't great, but we decided to go anyway. e got up the mountain and there were crowds of people there, but we headed down to Happy Valley. Colin gave Adrian and Ross some instructions, but Adrian really struggled and gave up. Ross, however, took to it like a duck to water. He was off and skiing very quickly. Around lunchtime, the sun was shining so much that we were just in short sleeves. Then it started snowing - thank goodness for the right clothing. We all kept warm and dry.



Today, the weather as beautiful and the sun was glistening off the snow. Colin said that when the sun set tonight the snow was glowing pink. Some of my photos were blurred which is disappointing.

Mt Ruapehu

Tongariro on the left and Ngauruhoe on the right

Just two weeks of term to go and I will be really pleased.

Scrapbook Olympics

At The Sketch Book, an online NZ Forum, the owners are running Scrapbook Olympics. I signed up but had no time/no inspiration (inclination) to do the first two challenges. However, challenge #3 was to use only ten items including the cardstock and photos - now that's an easy one for me. So I kept it simple (as usual) and here's my take:

2 x c/s - blue and beige - it's the new core'dinations range which has a lovely inner core

2 x titles - also blue and beige cut by my WishBlade

2 x chipboard "squiggles"

3 x photos

1 journalling block and there's my ten items!

Mama Mia!

What a fun movie! And even more fun watching it with the words to the songs as sub titles and the audience joining in. That's what we did tonight at The Lighthouse Cinema in Petone

And because Colin is away, Father's Day is postponed to the first Sunday in October

My complaint today

Now most of you know that I am a secondary school Maths teacher. If I was teaching YOUR child I am sure that you would expect me to teach them correctly?

So why are primary school teachers exempt from teaching correctly? I'm talking about the following:
you're not your
you not youse
could have not could of (would have not would of)
they're; there and their used correctly
the difference between bought and brought (bought/ buy and brought/bring)
and don't get me started on the correct use of an apostrophe
and I haven't even started on the Maths!

And let me say at this point that there are some wonderful primary school teachers out there who do all this correctly and a lot more

Just my complaint for the day

This and That

About six weeks ago, I had a recurrence of the inner ear infection and ran out of medication. I went to the doctor for more and whilst I was there, she found a heart murmur so off to the cardiologist for me. After an ECG, an Echo test (ultra sound) and then a consultation, there was no serious problem at all. Just a very expensive waste of three hours! Thanks goodness for medical insurance as it was nearly $1000!

Colin is really growing up in this time while he's away. He is maturing and just becoming his own person. He does enjoy the freedom of small town living. His "family" will really miss him when he comes home. I, however, am looking forward to having him home

Our seniors have been away (well not really away) from school the last week. They have had trial exams so only had the juniors (year 9s and 10s) and it's been quite nice. I did work very hard on my marking and got it all done before the weekend.

Talking of juinors, I'm always very strict on my classes at the beginning of the year and later on it's relatively easy to deal with them as I have set the ground rules and they know what I expect. This is often rather difficult as I "find" the problem kids early on and suffer because others don't have a problem. Later on in the year, however, others start having big problems. This year it is no different - big problems with the Year 9 class I teach - got to have a meeting with their other teachers tomorrow about them. As my HoD says, I am probably having very few problems with them now as I set the standards early on. Oh well, I'll go to the meeting and keep quiet