Flu!

Yes - we have it in our house! Ross asked for a ride home today (something he never does) as he said his body was aching and he had a headache. He's been in bed all afternoon and has been drinking blackcurrant juice which is all he feels like. We are doing nursing shifts tomorrow: Adrian will do the morning shift and I'll come home at lunch time. We had a 60% absentee rate at school today so lots of our kids are sick.

Ross had better be better tomorrow night as we have tickets for Starlight Express! I am so looking forward to that. I was doing some reading about the show and one of the characters in SE is based on one of the engines from the Thomas series! Just the ticket for us.

And right now my SIL is sitting at Johannesburg airport waiting to board her 1pm flight!!

Not much to say

Only one week to go to holidays! So I suppose that is something to say.

Only two weeks until my SIL arrives in Wellington (but she gets to NZ in less than one week)

Boys reports arrive next week so that should be interesting. We are currently making a Turkish outfit as Ross is in the Year 10s UN activity next Friday. About 80 kids are taking part and the will each be representing a different country.

On Wednesday we went to fetch our godson from his daycare - he was so pleased to see us! The muffin he was eating was forgotten in the excitement of Aunty Jenny and Ross and "Tolin" arriving to fetch him. This was in case we ever do need to fetch him and it all went really well.

Tomorrow we will have 8 teenagers here: first they're off to see the new Transformers movie and then back here for pizza and a sleepover. All in lieu of a birthday party in August. I'm going out and leaving ALL the boys to themselves!

It is so wet and there are so many sick kids that I hope that soccer is cancelled tomorrow. We had a 21% absentee rate on Thursday but other schools have been much higher. I notice that rugby is already cancelled but we have to wait until tomorrow morning for the powers that be at Capital Football to "let the secret out".

Hopefully I will have some time over the weekend to do some UFOs - the pile is growing! Have a good weekend

Senz, this week and Innovations

The Senz classes went on sale on Monday for three day pass holders - that's me woo hoo! I stayed home on Monday as I've got a dreadful cold (the second in three weeks) so I could quickly phone to book my niece, my SIL and her niece into Nic Howard's three l/os class. I left the others until I heard from my SIL as she had gone away fro a long weekend. By Tuesday night I discovered that a couple of classes were full already. That meant a quick call to my SIL on my BIL's cell phone and then she phoned me back so I could get us booked into the other classes. I got three of us into seven classes and then my SIL's niece decided she wanted to join us at Rachel Tucker's Colours of Summer class - no space :-(. Anyway, we're booked and some of those classes are full already so we're happy to be in the classes we're in. What has caused huge enjoyment is having to give all our names and as some of you know, my SIL and I share the same name so every time I book I have say we are two different people! When I email Fiona at Senz I always sign my name as "the NZ one" - she thinks it's very funny the two of us.

This week has been even busier than usual: Monday and Tuesday nights were parents' night at school so even though I stayed home on Monday (sleeping and resting), I went into school in the evening. Junior reports were due today. There was a water polo play-off yesterday (they didn't win and we're all happy as they stay in the more comfortable league) and June Tunes last night. June Tunes is the annual showcase of the choral groups at school and it was lovely. Tomorrow is teacher only day and we have to go into Wellington (leaving at 7.30am to miss the traffic) as the Maths group is there.

Last weekend we went to National Park to the Lions Club meeting and I joined Lions! Too funny. I mentioned on Friday night that I thought it would work and on Saturday night I got my badge. We had such fun on Friday - five adults who've known each other for a long time, a few bottles of wine and no one needing to drive. We laughed, we joked, we ate, we drank wine. Such "comfortableness". Saturday we went up the mountain to the Top o' the Bruce where it was rainy and cold. Couldn't see the mountain at all. Saturday night twelve adults from National Park got into the school van and went to Ohakune for the Lions change over night. Another fun evening. Sunday morning we went to Out of the Fog for breakfast which is a tradition for us and then headed home. We went in the Suzuki and it was great - traveled well and all our luggage fitted in. If we'd had to take a chilly bin and food we wouldn't have fitted in though.

And when I got home tonight the second issue of Innovations was waiting for me! It looks good so I am looking forward to reading it later.

Keep warm and keep away from those with "the" flu!

New Car

Doesn't it look smart?

And look at the odometer reading!

A snapshot of my week

Monday: Leave school at 4.20pm to pick Ross up to take him to gym. Stop at Woolworths to get anything urgent (bread etc). Get home cook dinner have it ready to eat by 6.10pm when Adrian gets home having fetched Ross on the way. Pack up my sewing stuff and leave by 6.45pm to go to sewing and Adrian and Colin leave at the same time to go to water-polo. Home round 9.30pm

Tuesday: A reasonably quiet day as the only after school activities is Ross' music and he walks to that. I get home round 4pm

Wednesday; Depending on what time Colin's waterpolo match is depends on what time I get home. We usually have to leave by 4.45pm so as not to be in the thick of the peak hour traffic. Leave Nae Nae by 6.15pm to get back to teach my scrapbook class. Home around 9.15pm

Thursday: Usually stay at school until 4.30pm when I fetch Colin to take him to soccer practice. Home to quickly get a meal started, fetch Colin at 5.45pm

Friday: Take Ross' badminton team to wherever it is they are playing. Wait for them, drop them at their homes, pick Colin up, home to cook dinner.

Saturday morning: Colin's soccer match and then whatever chores I have to do - grocery shopping etc

Saturday night: sometimes the boys go out or have friends over

That's winter. In summer both boys play bowls so that is on a Tuesday and a Thursday after school. In between there's school work to be done. Housework? We've employed a cleaner. Time to organise things? A little bit. Catch up with friends? Thank goodness for emails and phones. Scrapping? Once a month at my crop day

The above is why I often choose not to go out on a Sunday as I need time at home to recover and rest and prepare for the next week.

This past weekend I had designated "UFO weekend" Unfinished Objects as I have a lot of l/os that need finishing. I managed two as I was out car shopping with hubby. He's made his decision and will take delivery of a Suzuki .... something or other either tomorrow or Tuesday - he's very excited. (Jenny - if you read this first, please wait for him to tell you)

Adult and Community Education

The Government this week announced that it was cutting funding to Adult & Community Education (ACE), in other words, night schools.

• There are approximately 220,000 students attending Adult & Community Education (ACE) classes in New Zealand each year and around 2000 tutors.
• There are about 212 schools providing this kind of learning opportunity
• Many schools support local community groups who run courses for adults by allocating around 10% of the school’s funding to them
• There are more students enrolled in adult learning classes (night school) in secondary schools than there are enrolled in the day school classes
• If school funding is cut and schools decide to go on the “self-funded” path, course fees will rise significantly and tutor pay rates may fall
• NZ is unique in providing accessible ACE programmes for all people, regardless of age, gender or ethnicity. Countries that no longer provide these opportunities to their communities are regretting the loss of these accessible learning opportunities

The government has refocused ACE to align with its priorities in literacy, numeracy and foundation levels of education, and will make a small pool of funds available for ACE courses that address those priorities

This means that any "hobby" courses , sewing, computer courses, scrapbooking, jewelery making, cooking etc etc will no longer be funded. This is a tragedy as many, many people get much more out of their course than just learning a skill.

What you can do: email your MP; Anne Tolley, the Minister of Education; Bill English, the Minister of Finance (who in 2005 spoke strongly in favour of ACE in schools); Trevor Mallard, Opposition Spokesman for Education and tell them why you think this funding should not be cut. If you have been to any night school classes tell them what you got out of the class and why it's important that these classes continue. It is FREE to write to any MP. You just have to send it to FREEPOST Parliament, PO Box 18888, Wellington. If you want to e-mail or phone any of the above you will find their contact details at http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/Contact/4/c/0/00HOOOCMPPMPsContact1-Contact-list.htm. You can also download a pdf list for easy reference.

Let's not lose this very beneficial service to the community

Queens' Birthday

Queen's Birthday this past weekend so a long weekend for us.

I went away with a couple of friends to scrap ........ I can quite understand why going away with a few friends is such fun - there's not as much pressure for one and it's a whole lot more relaxed for another. When these friends suggested it, I wondered how it would work but it was fantastic. We went to a place in Paremata - that's about 20 minutes away from here and we had the run of the house. I managed 27 l/os and I know that I had 28 page kits but some of those page kits had more than one l/o in. For example, our trip to the US in 2002 had ten l/os in it.

On Sunday it was so cold that there was snow - even where we were down near the beach. At home there was more but not enough to make a layer on the ground. On Monday I went to the Warehouse near the airport and the waves were crashing at Lyall Bay which is a popular surfing beach. I wondered why there was no one surfing and read today that a surfer had died in the wild surf at about 3.30pm in the afternoon - how sad for his family.

This coming weekend I am making a UFO weekend - I have l/os from ages ago that don't have journalling, or titles, or need to be put away. And on Sunday we'll probably see our godson.

And we are on the downhill slide to the end of term and my SIL visiting

Where is all the decent Bazzill?

Why do none of the shops here keep Bazzill anymore? All that's left locally are the yucky colours - nothing bright at all. From my online shop there's not much either. Why? Aren't people buying it anymore and am I the last to know this? And if people aren't buying Bazzill, what are they using?

I am going away this weekend and I have 28 page kits packed! Go me. And one of them is all our Orlando 2002 photos so more than one l/o in that one. The weather forecast is miserable so I just hope that for those landing at the airport tomorrow it's not windy. I also hope that we have good heating.

Happy Queen's Birthday everyone - have a good break.

End of Week 4

What an original title!

Another busy week because reports had to be completed. Then I was very cross with someone at work, who in my opinion, said some very unprofessional things to me. (I asked for an hour off to take hubby to the airport and this person suggested that he catch the airport flyer ..... which doesn't come anywhere near our suburb. Then he suggested that hubby catch the train and then the airport flyer ..... Perhaps I should just have phoned in sick on the morning)

Wednesdays are very busy at the moment as Colin has water polo across at NaeNae (about 35minutes drive away) and I teach my beginners s/b class. We have found a great take away place there called A1 Roasts - take away carvery with veges and gravy - yum.

Hubby has gone to Auckland until Sunday night and the boys and I are home alone - not to bad because we can chill on the food front - fish and chips tonight, Noodle Canteen tomorrow.

It is so cold here at the moment and the wind is howling a gale. I'm dreading soccer tomorrow morning because we have to go to the other side of Wellington and to be there at 8.30am. The weather site I look at is saying that four layers of clothes are necessary to be comfortable at these temperatures - hope it rains all night then soccer will be cancelled.

I have to buy some groceries and then get some photos printed. Then I need to pack some page kits for my weekend away. Yay! So looking forward to that.

Tomorrow night, Ross' barbershop group is singing in the regional competition so we will go to watch that. Here he is on Wednesday morning ready to go into Wellington to sing at the Victoria University graduation. I think he looks so smart and grown-up! I was so proud this morning - the director of the barbershop choir that he is in, told me that he is wonderful to have in the choir and gives it his all.
Sunday we will just hibernate at home!

Oh and the good news is that we will be Godparents again in November! Our lovely Jacob will be getting a brother or a sister - so exciting .... now I need to make a quilt or a jersey or more.

Busy Day

After school finished, I had to go to the uniform shop to buy Ross' Dress uniform - blazer, tie, grey longs and a white shirt. Since when did so many people turn up with the same idea? I stood in the queue for nearly 30 minutes. On the way home I bought fish and chips for the boys' dinner and that was at 4.15pm. I was too stressed to eat (hard day) so didn't bother for myself. Colin helped me get my s/b teaching things into the car and then we headed to NaeNae pool (usually 20 minutes away but because it was peak hour traffic closer to 35 minutes away) where he was playing in his first water polo match. I was so enjoying it that I forgot the time and had to rush off at 6.25pm so I could be back at school to teach my s/b class. Mats is what we did tonight and variations on mats - tearing, distressing, inking etc.

It's wonderful to see everyone starting out slowly and getting into it as the time goes.

And then I did my random number draw on my calculator and the winner is Julie! Please email me your snail address and I will get a parcel off to you soon

Happy Mother's Day

to all Mother's out there!


I have had coffee in bed, got given some lovely hand made gifts, and Ross has served me breakfast ... not in bed as I don't like eating in bed, but minus a knife and fork! It was delicious nevertheless. Colin is making lunch and my mom and dad, and our friend Karen and Jacob are coming along too. (Karen's husband is working today.) Here are my gifts: a wooden box painted pink and lined with polar fleece for my "treasures" and a water spray bottle painted in the colours of my cat Sally!

All in all, it will be a very busy day and what I'd really like is a quiet day by myself!

So, I will share some of my sale bargains with you - tell me what you're doing on Mother's Day or what you'd like to do :-). Post a comment by Wednesday night 9pm (NZST) and I will use my random number generator to choose a lucky winner after I get home from my s/b class. I don't know yet what you'll get - but it will all be new and I will post overseas

Have a great day.

Magazine, sales and teaching

I see Memory Makers Magazine is to cease publication after the Sept/Oct. I am very sad about this as it's a magazine I really enjoy. The reader submissions are different and show many styles; not just the same old, same old. Then I have to wonder with two US magazines going/gone and a third on very shaky ground how TWO NZ magazines will survive. On the other hand this may be good news for those magazines as people will possibly buy them

Spotlight has been having a sale of craft items and our local one has 50% more off all sale items. I got BasicGrey papers for 10 cents a piece! Thickers were $2 each and there was so much more on sale! I spent a fortune

My scrapbook teaching classes started last Wednesday and they have been so lucky as I got lots of bargains at Spotlight to give them. I have six ladies and that is a nice sized class with which to work

And we have a new family member! His name is Speckles and he is a six week old pied cockatiel! He's actually Colin's bird who has been saving his pocket money for a while now. I will take a photo in the morning ....... after I've made a Mother's Day card for my mother

More Praise

If you've been reading my blog you will know of my quest for a paper kit. I bought four from Scrapbook Dreams and I am very impressed with them. They arrived wrapped in tissue paper (in a box of course) but even better is that each kit had a contents description - Make and name of each patterned paper; make and colour of the c/s.

I will be purchasing again and even better I can purchase a number at time and save on postage

Innovations

I have one in my hand! And I have to say it is fantastic! Love the size and the way the l/os are one to a page. And I love the variety of articles eg Double your Scrapping - How to go from a single page to a double page. I love the "Top Tip" that is printed in brackes on pages. And given all the comments that people have made I think that if you haven't seen one of these magazines RUN to your nearest shop to buy one

Thanks for all your comments on the other s/b magazine

NZ Scrapbook Magazines

For the last five years, Up2Scrap has been the only NZ magazine published. Up until now, they have published a magazine four times a year, but it is now bi-monthly. Personally, I am a bit tired of all the articles being a Step 1. Cut your green paper 11" x 5" type of article. I want more than that. Maybe some articles about Using a Word document. I also like to see lots of l/os. In the last issue received yesterday, out of 24 reader submissions, 13 of them were from NZers and the rest were Aussie. Now that's okay, but I really don't think that the Aussie magazines have 46% of the reader submission from NZers! I know that NZ scrappers submit and are rejected. I must say that I get a bit tired of seeing the same style of l/o published. And I have given them my opinion for what it's worth. I am also probably their longest subscriber.

Enter Innovations to be published monthly. I am desperately awaiting my copy so that I can compare.

I am really enjoying Memory Makers Magazine at the moment - lots of different articles and lots of different style l/os

I know there are a couple of discussions going on elsewhere about the two magazines, but tell me your opinion

First week back, (inter)National Scrapbooking Day and more

Well, one week down, nine to go! Mostly it's been great except for four Year 13s who really should no longer be at school. No matter, I have four weeks to go until my weekend away with a few scrappy friends and less than ten weeks to go until my SIL gets here! The Year 10s did a common test at the end of term 1 and we're waiting for all the results to come in. So far Ross is first (out of over 250) and likely to remain there. He also got an E on his animation in ICT and his teacher invited me specially to go to view it. I was impressed.

My plan today was to cut out my dressing gown (done), get some more page kits done (not done) and to prepare for this term's Beginner's Scrapping class (sort of done). The boys had friends over - five teenage boys playing PSP etc so for lunch I made bacon, cheese and corn scones. I was going to do macaroni-cheese but there was not enough pasta of any kind. Got to fill those stomachs and legs with something substantial! And I need to do the grocery shopping too!

Onto scrappy things ...... it is always National Scrapping Day on the first Saturday in May in the US and down under we follow suit. At SBO there have been challenges all day so that's what I've been doing.

9am challenge: Easy as counting to 5 recipe challenge 1:Get together 1 half circle, 2 swirls, 3 rectangles (photo can count as 1), 4 flowers, and 5 buttons. Mix well and create!!
Didn't manage this one

10am challenge: no right angle cornered photos! circles, stars or even the old corner rounder...just don't have any photos with 90 degree corners on! p.s. your page can still be a square or oblong!
This one I used some old photos of the boys that have been calling me for a week now

11am challenge: create a page using the title 'Wish Granted'
I used a photo of the boys' favourite treats from SA - I love the colours, don't like the photo or the l/o! Doesn't matter - it's scrapped!
midday challenge: Using the classic Tupperware Shape-O-Toy as inspiration I wanna see you use at least one of all these shapes somewhere on a page... a circle, a triangle, a star, a square, a cross and a hexagon
Not for me thanks :-)

1pm challenge: Colour Combo - Create a layout using the following colour combo as the dominant colours in the layout. Charcoal Grey and Hot Pink"
Well, my version of hot pink anyway! I love this one: photos from my second Beginner's class back in 2006 - and it's a lot "pinker" IRL
2pm challenge: Easy as counting to 5 recipe challenge 2:Step 1: Create a layout with only Black and White Step 2: add a TINY splash of colour, Step 3: Embellish with hearts and diamonds Step 4: Include the word LOVE in the title Step 5: Add Sparkles - i.e glitter, bling, sparkly ribbon etc
I didn't think I'd manage this but I found these photos from 2002 and they were so dark that the touch of colour was there
3pm challenge: "Frame it! - create a page or a couple of cards with a 'frame' or three! Frame your journalling, your whole page or your photo...try a paper frame, a paint frame or even some brads & ribbon..."
Messy and so not me! I should have put the photo on the right. But it is a tribute to a special sister
4pm challenge: A journalling Challenge. The prompt (thanks to Oprah) is 'what I know for sure'. Your challenge is to complete a layout which contains journalling of some sort that answers this prompt. The prompt can be interpreted anyway you want.
Hmmmmm ... now this is hard!

5pm challenge: Grab it and stamp it... grab some paint or ink and anything (that's not a traditional stamp) you can lay your mits on to use as a stamp on your layout A stamper I am not and finding something different ... hmmm not for me

I'll see how many more I get done - I've had a lovely day today so far; tomorrow our precious Jacob is coming to visit so I must make a cake in the morning

And another post for today

We stayed home all day - it was lovely! I did a bit of scrapping and packed some more page kits.

Mini Me I scrapped because I love the photo ... and it also fits one of the challenges at SBO

Peace - I love those photos and it's for the April sketch challenge at SBBD. I rotated the sketch 90 degrees because my photos were landscape

This morning I bought a slide scanner - I found a few places yesterday and all of them were out of stock and only expecting new supplies in mid-May. I had been watching two on TradeMe and this morning I decided just to buy it now. I am looking forward to looking at some of the slides. I'm almost tempted to keep all of them now just to have a look slowly over the next year or so.

The three boys fixed the family room couch - one of the sides had come off and so they had to sit downhill. Now it's fixed and they can sit properly - so can any guests who are here!

Tomorrow we have soccer in the morning and I will have to get school lunch ingredients. Maybe I'll have more time to scrap in the afternoon

We will remember them

Australia New Zealand Army Corps

Anzac Day - the day we remember all soldiers and in particular the Anzacs at Anzac Cove Gallipoli, Turkey.

My grandfather fought in WW1. He wasn't accepted by the South African army so went to England and joined up with the British Royal Sevice Corps as a lorry driver. He was wounded and sent back to England to recover where he met my grandmother

We remember all of them

Last day of the Holidays

So what am I doing? Marking. I have two Year 10 tests to mark as well as a couple of Level 1 Unit Standards. The US will be quick so I'll leave them to last.

I have also been doing some investigations regarding those slides. To send them away will cost around NZ$300 but I have been doing some investigation and have found a machine that I can buy for about $250. That will be the way to go. Now I just need some more school holidays to do it in! Can't do it next holidays as this lovely lady is coming to visit! As my bloogy friend Helen says, this is mess that I have had to deal with is why it is so important to get our memories scrapped.

Talking about Helen, this is what she gave me:
Now I just need to pass it on to five other bloggy friends (and I'm happy to pass it on to anyone who asks for it)

Better get back to the marking so I can enjoy what's left of today. So much for my holiday to do list - I didn't sew but got a little of the other items done and sorted the slides!

Holiday catch up

So what have we done? Of course organising last week's crop took up some time and that's all reported further down.


While I was scrapping on Saturday hubby and #2 son spent the day on a friend's yacht on Wellington harbour. It was perfect weather and they were lucky enough to see dolphins too. They both came home exhausted because it's hard work on a yacht Oh I think I am so clever! I've used a wonderful program called Photosheet that I got from here. It allows me to make collages so when I go to print I can get small photos on on 6x4 print

Doj went to the vet on Tuesday for his last visit (I hope) to have his stitches out. He's been fine but has a limp. I did notice last night that his limp seemed to be more pronounce so we'll have to keep an eye on that.

After we got home, my friend Bronwyn came over. She came to sort photos and get photos out of those yukky magnetic albums and I went through my dad's slides. What a job! We estimated that there were about 8000 slides many of them steam engines which was his life's passion. What do I want with soooo many photos of steam engines? Unfortunately, I don't so they're all going in the bin. I kept about 700 which I want to have put on a DVD so I can see them properly and perhaps have some printed. This is what it looked like at about 600 slides left to sort:

In the foreground are seven rotary trays - that's what I'm keeping. In the plastic bag are some of the ones that are being thrown away. These are the two boxes that were full. The box in the foreground has empty plastic containers (going to plastic recycling) and the box at the back has the rest of the slides that are going in the bin.

Oh and the flowers were from hubby at Easter!