Catch up

Last Saturday was my monthly scrapping day and I got a few of our holiday photos done

Coromandel Town

Waiau Water Park - colour is not that great though

A kauri grove near Coromandel Town - we all stood around it and our fingers barely touched each others

Waitangi
Kawa Kawa Train - it goes down the middle of SH1!


I didn't do my P12 l/o for February because I didn't have any photos but I got some today so will have to do February one, one weekend or next month.

I have a group of 12 ladies and we have bought into the BasicGrey page kit classes for the year. Each month we will get a class pack with sufficient (and more) and then at the end of the year we each get an exclusive BG 3-Ring album. I have seen the completed l/os for March and April and I am really looking forward to seeing them IRL. However, I think the May and June ones will be fantastic because they are designed by Kelly Goree and Nic Howard. I hope the packs arrive late this week because I have a small foor operation on 8th March and I have two days sick leave.

And a few of you may know that I have started with WW again (at home though). I got on the scale when we came home from aour holiday and along with seeing some of the photos of myself I was jolted into realising that I had to do something. So six weeks and 7.1kgs down :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, I know I'm 24 hours late! Anyway, we don't do Valentine's Day because I'd rather not have flowers that have gone up in price by 500% for one day. Nicer to be nice to each other on other days during the year. However, we did decide to invite our "god-family" (is that what you call your god-children and their parents?) to a yummy afternoon tea. I found a red table cloth and Ross cut out some red and pink hearts. We all wore red or pink and the food was all heart shaped.

The table set for afternoon tea

Tuna Puffs

A delicious Black Forest cake

Nigella's chocolate biscuits

Sparkling Savignon Blanc with edible hibiscus flowers in them

We had a lovely afternoon!

It's school

...... not a prison sentence! And they do actually like school

Scrapping yesterday

As I drove away from home, I felt a real lift in my spirits. Don't get me wrong, I love my boys and my home, but I just need a break once a month!

So yesterday I finished hubby's Greek Islands holiday album (apart from a few titles this morning on my WishBlade). It represents about 30 hours effort and I am so pleased with it - so is he! I kept it plain and just used co-ordinating c/s and theme pattern paper (LYB Traveller).

I also completed my January Project 12 l/o:

It was very hot yesterday and even though the fans blew paper around, we still had them going. Today however, is different - wet and quite a lot cooler. I quite like it actually.

Tomorrow the kids come in at staggered times to find out the form class and get their timetables. Teaching starts on Tuesday. This year is important for Ross (NCEA Level 1) and Colin (Yr 10) as he has to come to grips with working hard all the time

Happy 30th Aniversary to a wonderful couple

Jenny and Alan

They've had their ups (lots), downs (a few) and they have been married for 30 years today. In a society where it's very easy to walk out when it gets tough, these two have stuck together. Congratulations and lots of love from us. Feel free to go here and add your best wishes :-)

Project Greece

I have again been working on hubby's Greek holiday photos but realised I would need more patterned paper. I have using the LYB Fresh Traveller series and the co-ordinating Bazzill c/s. This is a really good place to find the co-ordinating c/s So once I had all my supplies, and I'm keeping it simple, I got started in early January and did some more on Saturday when the summer weather here was 14°C and raining.Here are just two of the l/os that I've done.

This one is a 12x12 and a 6x12

I was so happy to find paper with these bicycles on it as it picked up the theme of the bicycle that hubby hired on holiday

He is really pleased with it so far!

Employment

Some of you have been aware of some of the ongoing sagas of my employment at my current school and that I have been part-time for the last six years with extra fixed term contracts thrown in ad hoc each year. I am very pleased to tell you that today I received a letter giving me full time permanent employment!!!

Colin's Fishing Trip

Colin has taken a liking to fishing and neither of us can be of any help at all. Late last year he went on a surf fishing trio with Pete Lamb Fishing and today he went on an all day boat fishing trip (cjristmas present from his grandparents.). He and I were up at 6am to be out at the marina before 7am. Off they set - about 14 people. They headed out and spent the whole day fishing. Just after 10am I got a phone call from a very excited Colin - he had caught a big enough fish so we could all eat some! At lunchtime they were given a nice bbq (just meat and bread) but lots of it. Some of them elected to just share their catch which was cleaned and filleted on board for them. Colin brought home around 2kgs of terakihi, sea pearch, groper, warehou and red cod. He actually caught two terakihi and two sea perch.

The boat heading out

Colin holding one of his terakihi

Holding a shark someone else caught.

Back home with his share in a bag

It was really delicious and we have lots of leftovers

Summer is here!

And it is hot, hot, hot!

I have been at school in the mornings mainly tutoring a friend of mine's son who didn't do too well last year, but also doing a bit of preparation for this year.

I have also had lots of photos printed from our lovely holiday and have even used some of them to complete most of my my Senz l/os. I have also finished a few more UFOs that have been lurking round here!

Colin at around 12 months old

Adrian's mother Ivy

1945 (the original photos were hand coloured)

Wedding Day
From our trip to SA in 2001 (the day we had to find the emergency dentist)

Senz l/os with 2010 photos

Photo at Cape Reinga

Photos at Bay of Islands and Hauraki Gulf (Auckland)

Photos at a couple of bird parks

I was reading Lara's blog where she talks about being a "flat scrapper" and I think I am too. Basically, Lara doesn't like having to trim her 12x12 pages is order to fit them into a page protector - I agree and I also don't like squashed embellishments. So I'll stick to "flat scrapping"!

And now I'd better cook some dinner!

Twisted teeth and twisted toe

Ross went to the orthodontist today to get his first set of wires on his teeth. He wouldn't let me take a photo today, "tomorrow" but I did get the cast of his teeth. The pencil marks are where the wires have been stuck on in his mouth. He wanted red wires, however, there weren't any left so he's chosen metallic blue!

I went to the dermatologist earlier as I have a toe that's been bothering me for ages (read "years"). Yes, I have a fungal infection in my nail, but I also have "hammer toe" and I have to see an orthopaedic specialist in February for that!

The sun came out today and it's really hot and was especially hot for all those down in Wellington waiting for Prince William.

I also collected my photos today so will see what else I can get completed this week

Where's Summer?

Today's temperature is 13°C and it's raining! This is mid-January and is supposed to be summer! At least we went up north and got some sun . Today we have spent most of the day on our laptops mainly rearranging, resizing and saving photos. Harvey Norman has a special on at the moment - 12cents a print is not bad.

I did a number of UFOs this week - mainly needing a title and/or journalling

These photos are from June 1998

Photos from our trip to SA in 2001

South African scenery

and Singapore on our way home

We went back for my MIL's funeral and this l/o relates to that

June 2009 and the new car

July 2009 and our road trip: Ruapehu
Photos of my SIL and I: 2002 and 2009

Ross and his driver's license

I still have eleven UFOs to complete but I got some ideas from my lovely SIL so will have suitable photos printed.

Home again

We spent two nights with friends just north of National Park and really needed Saturday to just relax and do nothing. In the late afternoon, I started the project that I took to do on holiday - Adrian's Greek Islands holiday photos from about 1989! I bought some Little Yellow Bicycle paper and matching Bazzill C/S and just worked with that - no matting - just photos and a bit of patterned paper. I'm really pleased at how it's coming together and Adrian is too - so that's the important part! We arrived home today with four wash loads and not-so-nice weather. It was very hard coming home and not hearing, "meow, meow, meow" as we got out the car.

Here are some photos (just 21 of the hundreds I have):

Driving from Thames into Coromandel Town

The boys at wonderful Waiau Waterpark

Us with our arms stretched out round a very old Kauri tree

Cathedral Cove and the beautiful white sand

Hot Water Beach

Then onto Kerikeri ......

The Stone Store

Cape Reinga (simply magical)

Manogonui fish and chip shop :-(

Hole-in-the-Rock ... yes boats sail through there

The drive-on-drive off ferry from Opua (Paihia) to Russell

Pompallier (original Catholic printing house in Russell)

The original (and still used) police station in Russell

Okiato - the original capital of NZ just outside Russell

The train that goes down the centre of State Highway !1 through Kawakawa and yes, all the cars have to wait!
The Hundtwasser toilets

A view of the Hokianga harbour mouth

Tane Mahuta (God of the Forest - a 2000 year old kauri tree)
Waitangi - the flagstaff where the Treaty was first signed

The Governor's House at Waitangi

The Marae on the Waitangi Treaty grounds

One of the caves at Waitomo

And here she is .... Sally! She loved to sit on my desk on my tool bag. I miss her sooo much