Scrapping

I have even done some scrapping these holidays! This one is the story of the revolting cocktail we had and uses one of the l/os from Nic Howard's Senz class. This one has the umbrellas, the next one doesn't. Question - with or wothout umbrellas?
Photos of the three of us - Adrian lying on a lounger; Colin with the revolting fishbowl and me with the beautiful lei around my neck. I love this one!

Another one from Nic H's class

And the buses!

I'm very pleased with what I've done and would hope to get some more done but groceries, laundry and marking will get in the way!

There's a light at the end of the tunnel

There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel

There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel

The inside might be as black as the night

But at the end of the tunnel, there's a light

That's how I'm feeling - I suddenly can see a bit of light and it's not so black out there. Last term it was all I could do to think and scavenge something to put on the table at night to eat; today I'm planning meals for next week, next term.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that all the bad/hard things I've had to suffer this year so far seem to be coming right.

Adrian has issues but is working them through. I can get divorced now or I can hope that he can sort himself out and come back to me. I love him and want him back so I'll wait.

I was supposed to see a lawyer yesterday but she postponed until Monday so hopefully that "little" issue can get sorted out.

And today we interred my Dad's ashes at Whenua Tapu in the Ashes Plots. I am so pleased with the plaque that we had made at Glover's Memorials! It is so shiny you can see my reflection in it.

This is the view looking south from his plot. it is such a beautiful peaceful place

And just next to where he is is the train track! I tried to get this photo but the train went by too quickly. That's my Mom looking at the train. We chose plot #87 as that's how old he was and he was so pleased to be the oldest Woods.

We played " Amazing Grace" and I read out:

When God saw you getting tired
And a cure was not to be
He put his arms around you
And whispered come to me
He didn't like what you went through
And he gave you rest
His garden must be beautiful
He only takes the best
And when we saw you sleeping
So peaceful and free from pain
We wouldn't wish you back
To suffer that again
Today we say goodbye
And as you take your final rest
That garden must be beautiful
Because you are one of the best.

So little steps in that tunnel and it won't be long before I'm out in the sunshine

There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel

There's a Light at the End of the Tunnel

The inside might be as black as the night

But at the end of the tunnel, there's a light

Last week of the holidays

So what have I (we done)? Ross has recovered from his bad cold/infection and Colin has played PS3. Oh and he and I tidied the Tupperware cupboard! What a huge job that was, but now it's neat and tidy and I've got a big plastic box full of stuff to get rid of. I couldn't believe how many ice-cream containers we found either. I've always kept some as it's very convenient to send shared lunch food in because no one has to worry about the good Tupperware coming home; but so many!

I also did a bit of scrapping. I had my Raro photo printed on Monday when the special was still on at Harvey Norman and today I got out my incomplete Nic Howard Senz l/os and started using them. The colours work well and the 20 layouts class is just ideal for me and my lots of photos on a l/o.

Monday was so cold here - most of NZ had snow and particularly the South Island. There was snow on the hills just north of us. By contrast, today is beautiful! Bright sunshine and no wind. I even have the windows open letting in the lovely sunshiney fresh air. I suppose I should have put some washing on the line today.

Last day of holidays tomorrow and I still have lots of marking to do - I suppose I'll do it on Sunday!

Rarotonga

22°S and 159°W lie the Cook Islands of which Rarotonga is the largest. 32 km in diameter and with a population of 9,000 people and 100,000 visitors per year. What a wonderful five days we had! The weather was great - around 25°C per day made it very pleasant. On arrival we were each given these beautiful very sweet smelling leis.

We stayed at the Edgewater which was not elaborate but very pleasant nonetheless. The reef was fairly close in where we were so Adrian and Colin could snorkel quite easily. The first few days the visibility wasn't too good as it was a spring tide which churned up the water and created a bit of a current.

On the second day we saw two whales just beyond the reef. They spent at least an hour out there - it was a great sight!

Colin feeding the fish at the water's edge. You can see how close the reef was so the whales were not too far away

The mountains were just as beautiful to look at

Sunset was beautiful!

To get around the Island, you hire a scooter, a car or a bike ... or catch one of two busses: the anti-clockwise one or the clockwise one! Depending on where you want to go; the busses run every hour.

Even the Houses of Parliament are simple!

We all enjoy a cocktail when we are on holiday and on our last night, I said we could have a "fish bowl" - 1.8litres of cocktail! We looked forward to it and it was revolting!

One day we went out on a lagoon cruise and beach bbq which was such fun. The crew caught a turtle in the lagoon (most of the lagoon area is protected) which they put into the boat so that the marine wildlife department could come and tag it

We could go back to Rarotonga for a winter break any time and self catering is very easy there. it was a bit of a shock to get back to the miserable Wellington weather and it was raining so much I thought we'd skid off the end of the runway!

Oh, and we were seven hours late leaving Auckland airport (technical problems - as always!) so only got to Raro in the very early hours of the morning

Now I feel bad ....

the sunrise/set is not mine

End of Term

Thank goodness only two days to go! An eleven week term followed by two weeks in China with students and another eleven week term makes 24 weeks and I'm tired! Not to mention everything else that went wrong this year.

Last Saturday, I did some scrapping in the morning at home! I usually never get a chance to do that but Ross was at a friend's house, Colin was at football and I had three loads of washing done and outside. I did another four China l/os and I am coming to the end of my China photos now.

On Sunday, I headed to Havelock North along with some other teachers and 150 kids including Ross for the annual sports exchange. We adults stayed in a motel and the kids were at billets. It was a good sports day: we won ten, lost four and drew one so came away the winners of the exchange. We went up to play bowls and played at the Heretaunga Bowls club in Hastings and a very nice facility that was too. All indoors. We won 6-2 so were pleased with that.

No photos this time but will hopefully have more soon. I'm playing with my blog look because I get bored with it!

Some photos

None of them are the greatest photos but they should give you an idea!

My photos from China: I have used black with red and yellow and some patterned paper. This is the Chinese Lions - needs journalling!

Riding bikes on Xi'an city wall - I was so pleased when I found this bike paper!

Happy Valley theme park on our last day in Beijing

The 12 hour train trip from beijing to Xi'an

All about the hats that Colin bought

I found this photo of the boys when they were about 3 and 4 - so cute! I scanned the negative and printed the photo. Journalling left to do!
Senz:

I did two Nic H classes ao five l/os in total - none of them finished though! But they will be. I like Nic's classes: good clear instructions, lots of product, lots of fun, and extra kits to buy.

The photo of my bass guitarist was perfect for this (unfinished) l/o!

The Flip folder front - the page protector opens in the middle to reveal a 6x12 flap on each side and a centre 12x12. Very clever because you get the equivalent of three 12x12s on one page protector. However, did they have extra stock of these to sell? Of course not - order them and pay for the postage, please! And no extra kits - and I, as well as others, would have bought them ... if they'd been available

Opened up

Putting on the Ritz - very 3D and I'm not sure that I'll ever have photo to use on this one! Neither of them finished as they also needed some hand made, rolled flowers(!)

And if I haven't had enough to cope with, yesterday I got a letter saying I have been on the wrong pay scale and my salary was going DOWN by $10,000 per year - that's $384 per fortnight! What's going to go? And I believe they are going to write to me to ask me to pay back 7.5 years of overpay - I said they can "f-off"! The school is being very supportive and are doing all in their power to help ot. If needs be, I will go to an employment laywer

Senz 2011

I got up at 5.15am to catch my 7am flight to Auckland on Saturday. Tracy was there to meet me and we went to pick up Hilary from Scrap it Simple. They could get in the back door, but the paying public had to stand in the cold for 20 minutes while the "door-keepers" looked at us. When they finally opened up, the woman's comment was, "You should have stayed in bed an extra 15 minutes"! I muttered loudly that my plane wouldn't wait 15 minutes for me.

I had a look around but nothing much jumped out at me.

My first class was a Nic Howard class: 20 photos scrapped - two singles and a double. As usual, the instructions were clear and Nic is always generous with product. Half-an-hour break and I was back with Nic doing two single boy l/os - again the same comments. Even her in-class prize draws are great. Oh, and there are always extra kits to buy ... which I did!

Negatives about the day was standing outside in the cold for 20 minutes and the cafe running out of food by 2.30pm.

Tracy, Hilary and I went out for dinner - two drinks each and an Indian meal in an Irish pub! It was filling and delicious though. Then we went back to the crop and sat at a table with two very naughty ladies. As a result, we laughed and laughed all night. We left at about 10pm after winning rubbish prizes - six or seven year old Scrapworks stickers! On to McD's for a hot chocolate and finally into bed around midnight.

Sunday morning we were up at 7am and back to pick up Hilary. This time I went inside pretending to be part of the workers. My first class was an enjoyable class but only took me 45 minutes. Having said that, I didn't have photos but I didn't think that it would have taken me another hour-and-fifteen minutes to put seven photos in! Instructions were a bit haphazard, had grammar/spelling mistakes in it and measurements were only given in centimetres. No spare product and we were given half sheets for some of the papers. Lots of people wanted to buy extra kits and there were none to buy. We were told to go down to the shop part and just buy the separate bits, much of which had already been sold. Not professional.

The last class was very full on and once I was in the class, really not my style. No instructions whatsoever - we were all to work at the same pace. Well, that didn't happen! Fairly generous with the product though. I stopped at the hand-made, rolled flowers!

Back downstairs to help Hilary sell her product. She didn't want to pack it up to take it back so she marked it down! Lots of people bought as she was the only one who marked down product. At 4pm we started packing up. We worked so hard! It took us 55 minutes to pack her shop up and then we went to the airport. Me for my 6pm flight to land in a bumpy and wet Wellington and Hilary for her 7pm flight to Chch.

I am tired and heading to bed soon. Will post some photos when I can get decent daylight to take the photos.

Met lots of people and caught up with lots of friends.

Christchurch

As many of you are aware (and this is mainly for my non-NZ friends) Chch has suffered very badly since September 2010 with large earthquakes and thousands (really) of after shocks.

Here is a bit of light relief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlfLjz0PUDU&feature=player_embedded

"Munted" became a term for everything damaged beyond repair in Chch. SOme people will lose their houses

Here are some photos:










It's so very sad - sometimes they have 12 or so shakes per day!

How many times have you "plonked"?

I am really into this new craze – called “plonking”.

( Not to be confused with Planking)

You plonk yourself down in a chair – with a glass of plonk and get someone to take your photograph!

So I am contemplating my second "plonk" tonight

I am flying to Auckland on Saturday morning at 7am (which means I have to get up at 5.15am) for Senz (Scrapbook Expo). I am staying at a friend's aunt's house and I have four classes booked. Then home again on the 6pm flight on Sunday.

I'm already exhausted from the last two terms now I'm putting in a really busy weekend - how will I cope on Monday?

5.16am Wednesday 22nd June

That's when the NZ Winter Solstice will be .... then the days start getting longer - yay! So by the time I wake up on Wednesday morning the Earth will be turning closer to the Sun for us in the Southern hemisphere

Seal Coast Safari

In March I bought half price tickets for Seal Coast Safaris and with every thing that happened, I forgot about them. I realised last week that they were due to expire very soon. I tried to go last Sunday but they were full so booked for today and took my Mom. It poured down all morning but started clearing this afternoon. The trip goes through Long Gully Farm. Here are some Kaimanawa "horses in the mist" - bought by the owners and there are about 18 that run wild on the farm

Looking up the Wellington fault line - a bit scary to think we were that close

An old ship's anchor with a dedication to I think one of the owners who passed away

Psalm 93:4 Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! Amen!

The seals! Lots of them but of course hard to see until they move

My Mom with the "walking stick" we found for her. This is where we had our afternoon tea break. We opted to have Manuka tea which was very interesting; not a horrible taste, but not something I'd have again in a rush

The Kaitaki (ferry) coming in with the South Island on the horizon

We had a really interesting afternoon and would recommend it to tourists and residents alike