What's been happening?

Not much really. So much for my birthday month though. The biggest thing that happened (apart from my awesome birthday) was moving my mother from her small house to a retirement apartment. She went from two bedrooms, a large living area, big storage cupboard and a garage to an en-suite bedroom and kitchenette/living area.

This meant lots and lots of trips to the Hospice op shop and Trash Palace (a shop at the dump). She moved in on 16th January and even after that we spent a fair amount of time cleaning and getting rid of stuff at her old house. Two weeks later and she is almost settled and unpacked and is even joining in some of the activities there!

For me - my employment issues are still ongoing and I have a meeting with my lawyer on Monday. I have been struggling with my vision for a while now (read a few years) and finally I have a diagnosis - cataracts! The left eye one is quite bad, reducing my vision to -8 so I have a cataract operation on 9th February. This is all in addition to everything else that is going on!

I'm looking forward to school going back and getting into a routine where my mind will be occupied and busy

2011 NCEA Results

In NZ, students sit external exams at the end of Yr 11, Yr 12 and Yr 13 ie the last three years of school. Not all assessments are external, there are a number that are internally assessed. There are three levels of "passing" Achieved, Achieved with Merit and Achieved with Excellence. To Achieve, a student must get 80 credits including some Literacy and Numeracy. To get Merit, 50 of those credits must be at the Merit level and the same for Excellence.

Further, a student can gain an Endorsed Subject

So results for 2011:

Colin: Achieved Level 1, Merit Endorsement in Maths

Ross: Achieved with Merit level 2. Merit Endorsement in Economics and Chemistry and Excellence Endorsement for Maths (in fact third overall in Maths)

So proud of both of them given the c**p year they had! Roll on 2012 and even better results

Birthday!

What a day! Two friends invited me for high tea ..... and then we just carried on!

The presents I got from Tracy and Jo

We started at Sweet Pea and had high tea - it was so delicious. Lovely tea (and I am so not a tea drinker!) and super cakes and savouries And our colour co-ordination was totally unplanned!

Then we moved on to cocktails! We got two free - one for my birthday and the last one because we had tried every one on the menu! (There were only ten in total - so not so bad!!)

And then a movie - The First Grader - a bit heavy for the day, but still very enjoyable

Then dinner and a bottle of wine

Then we headed back for a few more cocktails and finished our evening just after 11.30pm. I had a wonderful evening supported by two awesome friends!

Day 4, 5, 6

So, BD Month Day 4 - not too much exciting other than dropping a huge Honda boot load of stuff at Hospice. Then I think my big treat was going to the gym. I have not been in a gym for many, many years and was very concerned it would be populated by young tanned blondes in fluorescent pink lycra! That is not the case at all and so I am really enjoying what I'm doing.

BD Month Day 5 - again a drop off day - this time to the SPCA and Ronald MacDonald house. This was quite a big trip as it was on the other side of town. Then my friend Lynley is back from her holiday so we had a lovely long walk at 5pm. She said to me that she thought I was not as unfit as I think I am!

BD Month Day 6 - my friend Karen arrived this morning with a lovely card and this:

We took four boxes to Summerset Village for my mom. Then we went and had coffee ...a treat! I got home and there was a birthday card in the mail box from Mandy and a big box at the door:

One of the great parts was the note that said "Happy, happy birthday to our Jen" - I just had a little cry when I read that! This is from my wonderful in-laws in Durban! My SIL Jenny is one of the most wonderful people in the world and if it was not for her I would have gone insane last year. She was at the end of Skype for me and even at the end of the phone when I needed her. And then not to forget when her hubby (my BIL) came to visit us in November. I love them all so much!

Update - And there I was sitting having a good chat to my friend Mels in the US and another parcel arrived! Again from my ILs in South Africa! What a great birthday it's starting out as!

The box as I was unwrapping it

And the chocolates inside

Day 3

So yesterday was not a very good day: a man was supposed to come to give me a quote for laying lawn and he forgot. I did go down to my mom and gave her a hand sorting some photos. Some of them we just threw away because we had absolutely no idea who was in the photos!

Then in the afternoon/evening I just lost the plot completely! I was so emotional and upset that all I could think of was getting two pieces of fish and chips for the boys for dinner! I didn't even care about myself! And nowhere could I see anything that was a "birthday month treat" either.

Today has dawned better: I went to Spotlight (didn't buy anything) and came home to finish my Christmas l/o.I am going to do a ham for supper because then we will have leftovers for lunches/dinners this coming week.

My Christmas 2011 l/o

Here's my "coffee pot" l/o - the best present I can remember for a long time

2012

Happy New Year everyone! My hope is that this year is much much better than last year for me especially.

Anyway, it my birthday soon and like other people I'm having a birthday month. So what did I do today for my birthday month treat? I made pancakes for the boys and the friends for breakfast! Now I can hear you wondering why that was a treat for ME! Here's why:

Ross asked if he could have some friends over for a bbq and I was said okay. The problem was that the weather was so bad, but they decided to carry on. I got some breadrolls, made a huge potato bake and bought some meat. It ended up being Ross, five friends and Ross invited Colin to join them.

As they arrived, they all said hello. They were downstairs all night I was upstairs. They opened my wine, said thank you for what I'd provided (they all brought stuff too) and thanked me for having them there - all before they ate. When it was time to serve, they called me. One of the boys had done the cooking and they were sharing out the meat and were so kind to me giving me some of the nicer food. All evening they checked to see that I had enough to eat

Just before midnight, Ross got some glasses out and then called me to join them. They had some sparkling wine, I had my own. Both my boys hugged and kissed me and two of the visiting boys did too

I was so proud of my boys! I had a great evening even though it was the first time in 21 years I had been apart from Adrian on New Year's Eve

So this morning I got up and made pancakes for them! They had all slept over last night and I decided that I would treat them. Only problem is I didn't get any photos! I was sitting in my bed when they were leaving and they would oh so politely knock on the door to say good bye and thank you.

Now to plan a birthday treat for myself every day AND remember to take photos

Christmas Day

I started out the day a bit sad, but Ross put his arms around me and told me to stop crying, smile and make the best of it. So we all did!

I still do a Christmas stocking for my boys and I have been buying little bits and pieces for a few months now - I didn't realise quite how much I had to stuff into their stocking! When they were little, I would buy cheap $2 shop stuff but now they have more expensive tastes, so I tend to buy snack food treats eg Lindt chocolate, or a new range of crackers etc.

I fetched my Mom about midday and then we all opened presents .... and I forgot to take photos! Lunch was a bit late, but it didn't matter because we enjoyed it anyway. And we had a good day too!

Me and my new coffee pot!

Tried to get a good photo of them today!

Today I have taken a boot load of mine and my mom's stuff to the dump and it feels good to have accomplished something. Little steps every day

My son

Can I tell you about my awesome son? Some of you will remember my Christmas stocking dilemma. Someone suggested that I give them money to go shopping. I suggested that and they thought it was a great idea to take $30 each and go and spend it on me

Backtrack to my broken coffee pot - it lost its handle about a year ago and has irritated me every single day! I went looking at new ones and the same size one had gone up nearly $30! But the next size down was $90. I decided not to buy it

Twice my older son has asked me for the $30 to go shopping. I said to him that maybe what I should do is take the $30 each that I would have given each of them to shop and just add in another $30 of my own and I could have my new coffee pot.

He went one better - he said the two of them would each give me $15 towards the coffee pot so "my" $30 would not be necessary. I came home with the pot today and he took it immediately to his bedroom as he said that was for Christmas day!

What a silver lining in all this mess that surrounds my life! Time for me to focus on my awesome sons

Can't wait for Xmas Day!

There we'll sit for the first time ever: my mother without her husband; me without my husband and my two teenage sons without their father or grandfather.

How am I going to put on a smiling face and pretend that it's all going to be okay? I wish I could just magic the day away

Moving forward

Today I joined the gym! Yes, you heard right ... fat, unfit Jenny joined the gym. I will go for a half-hour session every week starting next Wednesday. It's a bit of a different gym in that they have a few people at a time, personal train you, and then move on to the the next person. I am very nervous as I haven't been in a gym for a hundred years. I don't even have any clothes or shoes to wear!

Then, I'm going to take charge of my eating and drinking. Cut back on food, not eat it just because it's there or because it's nice. And cut back on drinking - two or three glasses or a bottle a night is not good for me. There - I've said it - I drink a lot. Except tonight - I may need to drink tonight. I'm scared that I may even want to drink too many sleeping tablets tonight too

Right now, I am praying for an outcome that I want, an outcome that will make me happy, an outcome that will take work, trust, and effort and love. Please pray for that outcome for me

Never

Never have I felt so broken hearted before.

Actually I wish I could die

I never realised that there could be so much pain in my heart; not to mention the anger and hurt and bitterness I feel.

I am torn to pieces and ripped to shreds

How can I love someone yet hate them so much at the same time?

Will the hurt ever go away?

Christmas Cupcakes

I decided I wanted to make red cupcakes with white icing for morning tea at school ..... mainly because I found theses really cute sprinkles: red and white minty tasting candy canes; and red and green trees. I was going to use a red velvet cake recipe but then decided that I could just use our family chocolate cake recipe. The original recipe calls for a whole bottle of red food colouring! The mixture very red and Colin, who tasted it, said that he expected it to taste like strawberries

When they came out the oven they had darkened up a bit ... because of the cocoa

Iced! I bought some icing whitener but ended up having to use all of it for this icing mix. I am going to try another brand next time. Aren't the sprinkles cute?!

Cut open - a rich deep red in a chocolate cupcake

Can't wait to try one!

A while

It's been a while!

Last Saturday Ross and I worked as electoral agents in the General Election. We had to be a at our polling booth at 8am to set up. All the furniture (except the chairs) are cardboard and slot together really well. Then we were set to open at 9am. We had a steady stream of voters all day - just over 400 voted in the 10 hours. Some of those were special votes and that was my job lots of boxes etc to complete and I had to remember to do all of that! At 7pm we closed the door and then started balancing our issues pads. Then we had to count the voted and we had to balance. We finished around 8.30pm and left at 9pm. It was a very interesting day

This morning I was enjoying my usual weekend treat - coffee in bed while I watch the TV and surf the net for a bit when my neighbour knocked on the door to tell me that my Dad's Mitsubishi that Ross drives had been broken into! As had her car. The nuisance kids broke the little triangular window at the back and opened the glove box to see what they could find. Nothing of course! So that's another $150 - $200 on top of the servicing earlier this week that cost me $357

And the cherry on the top - a nice big earthquake tonight! We heard it coming, the house shook, stopped and then started shaking again. The big red star shows where it was. A nice 5.7shake 60km down but was felt up and down both Islands. We are fine: couple of TVs moved, some small things fell off the shelves, and a pot fell off the pot stand. We are fine but got a fright - it's the worst I've felt in 15 years in Wellington

Next year must get better for me!

More Scrapping

Yesterday was our s/b day and I'm very pleased with what I did. I think I am almost finished all my digital photos so now I have the hard job of scrapping baby/toddler photos! Why does that somehow seem so hard for me to do?

Anyway, the first one is about watching the RWC final on TV "with" friends around the world. We commented on FaceBook all the time and this particular "party" got to 335 comments! It was such a fun evening sharing with my watching and friends

Then I have now completed all my Rarotonga photos: this one is about the two whales we saw one morning

This next one is the scenery - both mountains and sea. It's hard to think that Raro has such high mountains though

And the final bits and pieces. I love to scrap postage stamps, moeny etc. This Cook Island $3 note and the shape of the coins is so interesting
I'm not sure how clear this one is; might have to delete it and take another one. It's the photo shoot we did when my BIL was here and I have put lots of journalling on the back
And then of course 11:11am on 11/11/11! Journalling yet to do
Another great day, and my friend Tracy said that I was almost my old self. Onward and upward!

11.11.11.11.11

Eleven minutes past eleven on the eleventh of the eleventh month two thousand and eleven!

It was morning tea time and I was in the staff room so took a photo of my cell phone!

Finished!

My China album, that is. All journalling complete, pages sorted into a reasonable order and it's in its own red album. All it needs is a photo in the little opening on the front cover.

I couldn't make myself get out of bed this morning - too depressed, Finally at 12.30pm I dragged myself out and had a shower. Then I did four loads of laundry, filled a fairly large box of stuff for someone else to love (aka stuff for the garage sale). Then I settled down to scrap.

I started on my China pages and did all the missing journalling. Then I sorted it. I am happy with it and Colin loved looking through it.

I have also filed a few more l/os but have more to do.

I did feel as though it has been a productive day and I feel better for it. Tomorrow I have to do the groceries and help sort garage sale stuff out. Maybe I'll have time to do some more scrapping

Brother-in-law visits

I haven't seen my BiL for nine years so it was wonderful when he said he was coming to visit. This morning we had a photo shoot.

Boys with their uncle

Boys with me

Two boys

Tonight's the Night!

▒▓██ A █ L █ L █ B █ L █ A █ C █ K █ S ██▓▒

Well, the Springboks are out, so now I'm supporting my other team

I am so pleased with my bargains I got today! The cordless phones have been dying so I went looking for new batteries today. To replace the batteries is almost as much as a new set of phones which aren't cheap. I saw some at Harvey Norman marked $69.99 for three handsets. perfect! When I asked for a box they were marked $109 so I said I wanted the $70 ones. The kind salesman gave them to me at $70 with another 15% off as well! I bought two sets so that everyone can have a phone in their bedrooms as I'm sick of looking for phones only to find them in the bedrooms

Then I got 40% off on curtains so now I have new curtains for all my living rooms

New background

I'm trying a new background in honour of the All blacks!

Also a new Blog title :-(

Scrapping on Saturday

I really enjoyed my day scrapping on Saturday - it's the first one in the last three that I have really felt motivated and got something done

This one is the photos from June when my Mom and I went on the Seal Safari - journalling complete too!

This is the RWC game I went to and enjoyed so much. The journalling is written but I want to print it on to a transparency and place it over the flag
These four are from Ross' Formal - I have ordered white glitter Thickers for the title as the red ones I had were more pink than red. I don't know how to do the journalling - white pen onto the black c/s; strips of white c/s; or ?? The strips of c/s are silver and gold and rather glittery IRL which is what I wanted