Playing with colour

This is cool. Using the Multicolr Search Lab you can create a mosaic of photos from Flickr containing up to 10 colours. I did some Christmas colours.

Just a weekend sew and sew

Been trying to get some sewing done.

Some time ago, Nichol Magouirk posted a card to demonstrate dry embossing which I loved. I'm "in to" trees right now. I had this idea that they would be cool on a skirt. I made some for a couple of eco-bags and then decided to add some to a skirt.

I had some material I'd been given that was quite old but seemed fine and I sewed it up, wore it once and the material ripped on me. Obviously it was rotten! To say I was gutted is putting it mildly. So last weekend I finally got the enthusiasm to remake it with some new fabric!





















I went into Spotlight looking for something (a zip I think) and naturally gravitated to the fabric section (as you do) to discover they had their summer cottons out to tempt me. So this one lept into my arms along with a pattern.













Not sure now about the length... might be too short for a 30-something-on-the-downward-slide-to-40 to wear to work ya think? Or am I too self-conscious?

Then I couldn't let my daughter miss out so she got a skirt from this cupcake fabric using this free pattern, and I have plans for one like the green polka dots from the apple fabric.















I would have made up the apple fabric this weekend but I discovered a few things:
a) I'd cut the wrong size out (too big)
b) I ran out of interfacing and Spotlight (who have the worst customer service) didn't have the right type so I had to go to the Fabric Barn
c) Fabric Barn in Henderson are closing down (and all fabric is half price so another 2 metres of fabric lept into my arms there)
d) so frustrating to reduce the size having already done the over-locking that I only managed to do one skirt instead of two!
e) being grateful for small mercies that I cut it too big and not too small
f) I need blinkers when I visit fabric stores otherwise I end up seeing things that want to come home with me
g) I {heart} fruit prints

A tag

My friend Jenny tagged me to tell you 10 of my husband's favorite things. After censoring the less family-friendly answers, this is what I got out of him. *snort* I asked why his family wasn't on the list and he said, "Well you said favourite things."

1. Photography - well this one was obvious. He's a landscape/wildlife person. Doesn't do people or street photography type stuff. Tends to the more traditional end of the spectrum in terms of style and doesn't think too much of overworked Photoshopped-to-the-nth-degree type stuff. Which makes it interesting because it seems like the PSNZ is tending towards that sort of stuff when it gives out awards these days. He would love to have more time to explore this hobby. *aside* It amuses me that the 3 guys I had relationships with (and married one of them), all were into photography. In fact one of them now owns a glamour photography business.
   
2. Big white lens - a lust after item! He does have one BWL, but he'd like a bigger one to get up close and personal to birds with.
   
3. Computers/ gadgets - he's really good at electronics stuff (it's his job) so luckily for me he can do some useful things when the computer dies.
   
4. Music - he plays the piano, the piano accordion and is teaching himself the guitar. He listens to music regularly.
   
5. Food - his tastes have expanded as he has got older and upon leaving home.
   
6. Birds (the feathered kind) - particularly natives.
   
7. The bush - this is his happy place. Whereas I'm a beach/water person, he prefers the bush.
   
8. Trains - where do you think DS got his obsession from!? He's planning to build a model train one day.
   
9. Chocolate - dark of course, like me ;)
   
10. Coffee - he makes a really good flat white, as good as any barista. He scorns these machines that do all the work for you and has one that requires his input. It really spoils me for anything else! LOL!
    

Mindset

I mentioned in my reading round up post that I wanted to write more about this book:

Mindset: the psychology of success / Carol S Dweck

This writer believes people have a tendency to a particular mindset, and this affects how successful they are.

A person with the Fixed Mindset thinks that:

• Your intelligence/artistic talent/sports ability/business skill is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much.
• You can learn new things but you can’t really change how intelligent etc you are.
• You are a certain kind of person and there is not much that can be done to really change that.
• You can do things differently but the important parts of who you are can’t really be changed.

This person is:

• supersensitive about making mistakes and being wrong
• always trying to prove themselves
• trying to confirm their superiority
• concerned how you will be judged

A person with the Growth Mindset thinks that:

• No matter how much intelligence/artistic talent/sports ability/business skill you have you can always change quite a bit.
• You can always change substantially how intelligent etc you are.
• No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially
• You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.

This person:

• is concerned with improving
• thinks important qualities can be cultivated
• will confront obstacles and stretch themselves

It is possible for people to have a mix of mindsets for particular areas of their lives.

I found this book interesting on several levels. Firstly, as a teacher/learner I'm always interested in learning about how to be a better teacher/learner. Secondly, as a parent I'd like to be someone who is able to encourage certain traits in my kids, and learn how I can be a better parent. Thirdly, I'd like to understand better the whole artistic/creative thing for myself - how to get the best out of it.

I recognise myself in both mindsets. When it comes to thinking about intelligence and learning, I'm more in the growth mindset point of view. But when it comes to my artistic creative side I tend towards the fixed mindset. When I think about my interest in creative writing I definitely am a fixed mindset person!

Artistic ability - is it a gift? Many people would agree with these statements.

“…some people seem to naturally draw well or poorly.”

“... view drawing as a magical ability that only a select few will possess, and that only a select few will ever possess.”

I found the author's response to these statements interesting. She writes that some of the famous artists e.g. Jackson Pollack early work was hardly inspiring. She says,

“... people don’t understand the components - the learning components - of drawing. Actually… they are not drawing skills at all but seeing skills. They are the ability to perceive edges, spaces. Relationships, lights and shadows and the whole. .. Some people simply pick up these skills in the natural course of their lives, whereas others have to work to learn them and put them together.”

She refers to the book Drawing on the right side of the brain by Betty Edwards. This author has shown that people who take her drawing class will dramatically improve their drawing skills through their learning of how to see. My Dad worked through this book, and I have to say I agree.

Edwards states,

“Just because some people can do something with little or no training, it doesn’t mean that others can’t do it (and sometimes do it even better) with training.”

I was also interested in her chapter on teachers and parents, particularly this section.

Praising children’s intelligence or talent … sends a fixed mindset message. It makes their confidence and motivation more fragile. Instead, try to focus on the processes they used - their strategies, efforts or choices.

I had read somewhere that it is good to praise a child's efforts, and had been attempting to do that but this reaffirmed why I want to continue doing so.

From a teaching standpoint, I found this paragraph food for thought.

Lowering standards doesn’t raise student’s self-esteem. But neither does raising standards without giving students ways of reaching them. The growth mindset gives you a way to set high standards and have students reach them. Try presenting topics in a growth framework and giving students process feedback.

It's so easy to spoon feed our students. Many of them come with so little patience for and knowledge of good, efficient information seeking habits. I'd like to learn how to inculcate a little "growth mindset" into them!

On a personal level, I was interested in the section on relationships. Some of this stuff I've had to learn the hard way. I sure wish I'd known it earlier.

The fixed mindset thinks if you have to work at it, it wasn’t meant to be. A fixed mindset person expects everything good to happen automatically, to magically occur through their love like in a fairy tale. John Gottman [relationship researcher] says, that one of the most destructive beliefs for a relationship is

“If we need to work at it, there’s something seriously wrong with our relationship.”

He says

“Every marriage demands an effort to keep it on the right track; there is a constant tension… between the forces that hold you together and those that can tear you apart.”

A no-effort relationship is a doomed relationship. It takes work to communicate accurately and it takes work to expose and resolve conflicting hopes and beliefs. It doesn’t mean there is no “they lived happily ever after”, but it’s more like “they worked happily ever after.”

The book is US-centric and got annoying in places with the focus on story telling, but there is a chapter about how to change your mindset. I found it thought provoking.

How is this for a personal library?

This. Is. So. Cool.

Jay Walkers Geek Library

Take me there now.

Video of a TED presentation about the library.

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Can hardly believe the evidence!

But I actually did some scrapbooking. And card making on International Card Making Day (Sat 4th Oct).

Tried to do some tricky modge podging + stencilly dots + glitter on this one but it didn't turn out exactly as I planned.



















Used some funky stickers that Sandra kindly RAKed me with and some rub ons that Mel kindly RAKed me with too. :-)














Forgot to add the title before I took this photo. The blank space is for a larger photo I've got of him sitting at the front of the class with his special crown on. It's on the computer but I've run out of matte paper to print on. (DH has the matte black cartridge in the printer at present. Our next printer will have both matte and gloss because it's so annoying for both of us!).

Whitcoulls Top 100 List

CW blogged about Angus & Robertson's top 100 list, I thought I'd do Whitcoulls...
The ones in bold I have read.

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 (ages ago, should read it again)
    
13. The kite runner / Khaled Hosseini
14. The time traveler's wife / Audrey Niffenegger
15. Holy Bible (try to read something everyday)
    
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 (I tried, I really did)
    
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
64. 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 (this woman has made it her mission to cook everything in a 40 year old Edmond's Cookbook during a year)
    
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
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 Sparks

Hmmm... just under half of them I've read. Some I'd like to read some time. Others I am unlikely to even attempt! Like the horror ones. I'm not into that genre.

Future Book of Me content

Me at work. Amazing what you can do with the self timer.

Level 2 Reference Desk - this is the floor where the public library patrons and our students are served by either library's staff. I dislike the way this desk is set up. It's really hard to share anything on the screen while you're helping people. Also you can't adjust the screen to a different height so it's always there in your face.











View out the end of the building on the floor my office is on. More of our buildings are to the right of this picture out of view, as well as the local court house. To the left and out of view is the main street of this suburb, shops and the mall.

































Me in my office on the floor that is a dedicated space for our staff and students. I share this office with a colleague. My desk is remarkably clear of stuff!!

Flickr Goodness

While playing with MPOWs Flickr photostream I noticed that the National Library of New Zealand had added us as a contact.  This surprised me because I confess I see the National Library as a rather "staid" old bird.  So I went looking and I am so delighted to find that they are putting some of their photos on to Flickr!  Check out their photostream. 

I see that on some of their photos they write:

You are welcome to reproduce this photograph on your blog or another website. Please:

1. Maintain the integrity of the photograph (i.e. don't crop, recolour or overprint it)
2. Reproduce the photograph's caption information & link back to it here on Flickr.

We would like to know how you're using these images - send us an email with a link to your site.

If you would like to use this photograph in a different way (e.g. in a print publication) please contact us.

Isn't that way cool?

And one set they have intrigues my crafty side so I'm picking it out since it was International Card Making day on Saturday.  Christmas Cards.

4 cards and other ephemera items from the Turnbull Library's collections, including cards sent from the front during WWI and WWII.

The last 10 images in this set are e-card versions: either attach them to an email as they are, or use a image editor to put in your own message.

Last week and the weekend has flown by:

• I made a few cards and a layout on Saturday but most of the day was busy with other things.  Sunday is never a "free" day for me being involved with church and suchlike but I did visit my grandma for about 10 minutes until she fell asleep on me and I decided to leave! LOL! 
• My Dad had bowel surgery on Thursday but all is well and he is at home recovering.  He had a benign growth that needed removing as it always turns into cancer.  A good reason to have a regular colonoscopy once you reach a certain age group.
• This morning we woke up and found there was no water coming out of the tap.  Actually, "we" means me stumbling into the shower and wrestling with the tap thinking I was going nuts when nothing came out.  We checked the meter and as we were shining the torch on it (in our dressing gowns) our neighbour drove by and said they didn't have any water either and they'd rung "the man".  So we had brekkie and went up to my mum's for our morning ablutions much to the kid's delight!  As I dropped some stuff off at home on the way back to work I noticed "the man" and a digger dealing with a great pool/gush of water outside a house down the street so must have been a main burst I guess.

Here's to a non-stinky day ahead!

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Free handbag?

Anyone want a free handbag? 
Handbag Planet is giving away bags as part of their website launch.  Check it out :-)

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Two fairly average Layouts

but never mind, they are in the album...

September Reading Round Up

A walk across France / Miles Morland
The author quits his high powered job and takes himself and his wife on a walk across France. Interesting travelouge and bit of a voyage of self-discovery too.

Chasing the chimmney sweep / Selwyn Parker
Two couples follow the route of the the first Tour de France on their bicycles. Interesting travelogue from a cyclists perspective!

Koanga Garden Guide / Kay Baxter
Just dipped into this one. It's a very comprehensive guide and I think I'll be buying it.

Swings & roundabouts: poems on parenthood / edited by Emma Neale
Poetry - some good ones in there. I like to read poetry now and again.

Mindset: the new psychology of success / Carol S. Dweck
VERY interesting book - will be writing a separate post about this one I think. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to develop their creativity, leadership or who is wondering how to increase their chances of being successful at what they do. Good one for parents too.

The light in the window / June Goulding
Biography. A newly qualified mid-wife goes to work in an unmarried mother's home run by nuns. It's 1958 so the attitudes and practices are barbaric. I found this one so depressing. She tries to make things easier for her charges but doesn't really manage to do much. I wanted to cry after I read it. It's unbelieveable how little compassion some folks can have - I know it was a different era, but still...

Blood red roses / Margaret Lawrence
Interesting murder mystery set in 1800 America. Midwife Hannah Trevor is single handedly bringing up her deaf child Jennet under the critical eyes of her neighbours. When a local man and his family are found murdered, eyes turn to her as the culprit. The way the book is written is slightly different to a "normal" mystery but it makes a refreshing change. I'm getting out the other books in the series.

Mel asked on the last Reading Round Up if I always read books to the end. I usually do, but only if I think it's worth it. Of late there have been a few that I've started and then put down because they haven't gripped me or at least captured my attention enough to continue. I have become much more selective in that respect. Some types of books I only read a chapter or two. These tend to be the non-fiction sort like that Koanga Garden Guide and the Mindset book. On these Reading Round Up lists, I don't list the cook books I get out of the library which are kind of like picture books for me in that I read them for relaxation and ideas.

Shannon asked if I have more time to read now I've got a lunch hour etc at work. I do read a bit at work - I have a half hour lunch so I often read something then. I occasionally will dip into something non-fiction while on the desk but only if it's really quiet and it has to be something I can put away easily. Fiction is no good at the information desk and it's not a good look either. I do try and read professional literature at work rather than take it home with me, because I can't concentrate on it at home. So, my answer is I probably read less fiction than before but more non-fiction now. Reading is one way I relax so I'd love to do more of it at home, but I find other stuff now takes priority.

Scrapbooking
Made several cards
Two 12x12 LOs
Changed my scrapbooking area round a bit in an attempt to make it less cluttered.
I've paid my deposit to go to the Sketchbook retreat! Woo hoo!
I won the coveted Threading Water Fiskars punch from SBO! Woo hoo! Very excited about that, and anxiously waiting for that to come but I've also ordered a few things from the shop so I told Andrea to send it all together. :)

Garden Hopes

Plum Blossoms

I do love this time of year when the garden stuff is getting going and there is so much hope! (Talk to me again mid-summer when the weeds are getting beyond me and I'll have another opinion!)












We're trying something different this year. I've removed all my herbs and put them in a separate garden so we've got 4 beds to deal with. Beans and potatoes will go in one bed, corn and cucurbits in another and the remaining two will have tomatoes, chillies, salad stuff etc etc. That's my bay tree in the pot. Fejoa and fig tree in the background. I'm hoping the companion planting will work well. I've got a mixture of seeds sprouting in the bed on the bottom left - mesculun salad, carrots, parsnips and radishs, plus some red onions. I'm not that successful with seeds because I tend to neglect them, but I'm hoping these will do ok. The radishes are up.












My herb garden. It looks a little "grave" like but I wanted to surround it so DH can use the weed eater etc without getting my stuff! So I found some old tongue and groove flooring bits under the house and used them, plus some pavers we've had left over from the big garden to do the edge with. So far the herbs have survived the replanting but the lemon grass needs to get some growth in soon if I'm to use any this season.

School seems to going well for DS. You know I never even asked how long I could stay the other day!! Oh well, as one of my friends says, it's sometimes better to apologise than ask permission. The teacher didn't seem at all concerned and as I mentioned, she put me to work drawing and cutting out masks for the kids.

His party on Saturday went well and bad scrapbooking mum that I am, I didn't even get out the camera! But fortunately some of my friends took a few photos so I'll get some off them. I was just too busy fluffing around with cakes and stuff.

My preparations for the party were a little curtailed by the fact DH lost his wallet and discovered the fact on Sat morning. So a big panic, lots of frantic hunting, cancelling of cards, driver's licence and so on. We reported the driver's licence to the police and got a temporary one and I had to go along to pay for it since he had no cash. Fortunately the wallet didn't have any cash in it so it's more the inconvenience than anything. Very frustrating. DH is prone to losing things. He needs a locator beacon on his wallet. Something like this perhaps? Or this?

Check out Vicky's cool new Etsy shop :) Such cute hats!

That hat!

hat
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.

Introducing Ms 20s Flapper in her cloche hat made by my friend SW. (She's got in on inside out though). To top off the effect her dress is a low waisted number but you can't see that!

She has a new word - "sossie" = sausage. Apparently they are the best thing. Last night we had hot dogs and there were wails of "Mi'!!" and "Sossie!" when I put them in the pot to heat up.

The first day of school went ok. I stayed until lunchtime to satisfy myself he knew what to do at playtime and lunchtime but he wasn't clingy at all. The only thing he didn't like was the Jump Jam thing again, but hey, even Mummy struggles with those moves! It's funny but so far as I could see it's all girly music with hip swaying and wavy arms thing. Bring on the BOYs music I say - lets have a bit of balance. The "feminising" of our education system is a pet peeve of mine now I have a son... but I shan't get on my soap box right now.

Anyway, they did some reading and DS now can read 2 words - "I" and "am". Yay!!! And his name of course, but he could do that already. They did some writing and he managed okay with that but I need to find a decent pencil grip for him. He struggles with holding a pencil properly. I've looked in Whitters and WS with no luck.

So what did Mummy do at school? She drew kangaroos for the teacher!! LOL! The teacher claimed she couldn't draw so I offered to do some kangaroo faces for some masks she was wanting to make for an assembly item. The kids painted them and we stuck them on headbands.

At lunchtime DS finally got into the BIG sandpit which he'd been eyeing up for ages. I think that clinched the deal for him - he's been wanting to play in there with the big trucks etc. I'm glad he's got a happy place at school. The classroom is also a place where he feels safe - it has several favourite things of his in it. Mobilo, a book about harvesters and even pictures on the wall of Mantids! The other children in the class seem friendly. He knows a couple of them from kindy and there is another new boy who started a few days before him so he's not the only one finding his feet.

Yesterday my mum stayed with him until morning tea, and today she stayed until just after 9am and he was fine.

Phew! I hope he remembers to eat his lunch today. Yesterday he didn't and I don't know why exactly. So this morning I had a little talk to him about that. I worry about him getting hungry or thinking I didn't provide him with lunch. So eat it boyo!

First day of school

Children

Whether by careless accident
or careful plan
we are where they begin

They grow in us
like germs or fictions
and we grow big with them

Red, mewling strangers
they tear our thresholds
and immediately we love them

When people say
they look like us
we smile and blush

We listen for their cries
as if we felt their pain
and hunger deep inside us

and hold them tightly
in our arms as if we'd found
a lost part of ourselves

We want to give them
all the things we never had
to make it up to them

for all the times
when we were hurt or or sad
to start again and put right

our mistakes in them,
to run in front of them
with warning flags.

We who've failed to be
the authors of our lives
write theirs.

We make them heroes,
starts whose happy endings
will scatter light in ours.

We feed them with our dreams
then wait and watch
like gardeners for flowers.

Vicki Feaver (1943-)

Allow me to be a little bit sentimental today. It's the first day of school for my son.

































How can it be five years already?
Only yesterday you were placed hidden by towels, squirming on my deflated belly. Your weight now on the outside. They lifted you up, your limbs grasping for warmth and I saw you. My son. Your poor, mis-shapened head, wide mouth crying out at the new sensations. I gathered you close under my chin, my heart beating to comfort you.

I've watched you growing, your personality unfurling like a koru releasing each tendril. Sometimes it is a gentle, tender revelation. At other times a sharp explosion of force. Your helpless dependence changing into strength and purpose.

Today I gather you in again, to comfort me. To feel again, that pressure from you, the welling up of love inside. To smell your small boy scent, to feel your fingers slipping, worm like into mine.

I know you are ready for this next step. Already your mind is reaching out trying to grasp, to devour new ideas. But for myself, I wish to return just for one sweet moment to that time when your existence could be experienced by me only. Those gentle rolls, rippling the surface of my skin. The pummels of your fists as though you were knocking out a coded message. Cradled under my heart and your weight inside me.

Visit to Bethells | Menu Plan Monday

Spent Saturday evening out at Te Henga (Bethells Beach) with the whanau. DH lent me his Canon 40D to play with and I turned it on Auto and clicked away. But I am afraid I need more practice! Especially in terms of waiting until it focuses before I click. Never mind, it was fun and with digital it is cheap...
Here are some that actually turned out.

Missy Moo posing on a log.

Climbing up the dune banks. Only the angle I turned the camera doesn't tell you how steep it was! Not long after this she face planted and there was much wailing.

DS playing steam rollers in the background, DD coming to see what Mummy is doing.

This is one that DH took as we were walking back to the car. He takes better pictures than me!

But I am quite pleased about this one. I was trying to capture the waves licking DS's ankles and the light was so nice... I think I needed to use the Sports mode to capture things a bit quicker. Missy Moo was all excited about the "wahdoo" until it came up and got her. Then there was more wailing and clinging to the Mummy leg business.

A busy week ahead. Tomorrow is DS's last day at kindy and Wednesday is his birthday, and first day at school. I went and got his books etc this morning. The school is bringing in a uniform next year so I had a look at that and will have to order some stuff in the next few months.

I'm nervous for him. The school visit we had wasn't a total success. He was okay in the classroom but once they moved to the hall to do Jump Jam he stood there looking at his feet, put his hands over his ears and got quite tearful. So we went on to kindy. I do hope it will be okay on Wednesday! I'm taking the day off tomorrow and Wednesday so I can spend some time there with him at kindy and at school.

He lost his first tooth last week. At 5!!! But he got his first tooth at 15 weeks so I suppose it is all relative. The Tooth Fairy gave him $1 because that was all she had in her purse. He wasn't concerned at all since money has no real value to him yet.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - Chicken Herby Cobbler a la Janine
Tuesday - Devilled bangers in the crockpot, mashed potatoes plus veges
Wednesday - could be steak, could be Thai beef salad depending on how I feel
Thursday - DH away so we're having hot dogs. With sauerkraut. ;-)
Friday - Thai Meat balls, rice and some sort of vege
Saturday - DS's Pizza Party!!
Sunday - um um um not sure, depends on if the ILs are still here or not

August Reading Round Up

August Reading Round Up

The forbidden frontier / Zana Bell
Convict Charlotte is sent to Australia on a convict ship. Also travelling there is a missionary couple who subsequently offer Charlotte household work. The life of the convicts, settlers and their situations are portrayed realistically and it's not always a pretty sight. Relationships and conflicts make the story more interesting. Charlotte eventually flees Australia and participates in a mutiny that results in her ending up in a Maori village in the Bay of Islands. Sad in parts but an uplifting ending. Feisty heroine will capture your admiration. Great read.

Union Belle / Deborah Challinor
Story of Ellen, her family and community during the strikes of 1951. Her husband Tom is a miner in the Pukemiro coal mines. During this time a new man in town, Jack, shakes up Ellen's feelings and causes her to question her loyalties and role. The story gets a grip on you and even though I started getting mad at Ellen I couldn't stop reading it. :-) Interesting time period, and one that you don't often see in New Zealand fiction I think.

Girl with the pearl earring / Tracey Chevalier
Struck down by misfortune, Greit's family have to do something to help make ends meet, so she goes to be a maid for the Vermeer family (of painterly fame). Fitting into a new household with different religious beliefs, and having to find her feet with the dynamics of each family member, Griet is delighted when Vermeer gives her charge of helping in the studio. Things become difficult when Vermeer develops an obsession with her and his wife begins to realise. Good read.

French Spirits: a house, a village and a love affair in Burgundy / Jeffery Greene
An American poet and his wife transform an old stone presbytery into a home. Renovations and living in a different country make for an interesting story. Heart warming and honest.

Chandlers Run / Denise Muir
Adam and his family emigrate to the South Island of New Zealand in the hopes that the clean, mountain air will help Adam's TB. They discover his Uncle's station burnt to the ground and the Uncle himself mission upon their arrival. They face strenuous hardship to get the station back into order, made worse by Adam's physical weakness, ignorance and isolation. Their neighbour, a grumpy widow and James McKenzie, a shepherd (and NZ folk legend) assist them. Good story even though the ending is a bit "meh" for me!

A small part of history / Peggy Elliot
From the blurb ~ " At the age of 27 Rebecca becomes the third wife of John Springer. Thankfully her four stepsons like and obey her, but Sarah, her step-daughter, is proving to be more difficult. Then John decides to pack up and move to the other side of America. It's a long and arduous journey across plains, mountains and rivers, through blistering heat and blizzards that last for days. Rebecca does her best to feed and care for her new family, despite appalling adversity. At first Rebecca and the 15-year-old Sarah find their fledgling relationship stretched almost to breaking point but, eventually, their bond deepens, and becomes breakable only by death." I really did enjoy this book, but just to warn you, lots of major characters die in it! It's told from several different voices and is well written.

Scrapbooking Layouts
3 (I think)

Cybercrop Challenge Layouts

Some layouts for the Scrapbook Outlet Cybercrop. First one was Lesley's challenge which was to use 5 or more techniques on a layout. I chose borders, hand cutting (the grungeboard title), inking, stamping, and embossing.

Second one is a challenge to use stitching, stamping, an embellishment with at least 3 layers, beading and stamping. I didn't have beads the right colour so I used some jewel things.

This one was a challenge to use white space, doodling, bling and small photos.

Hmmm... these are all about DS! I should do some more for DD.

Hey - check this out. An email went around work about it. TVNZ are looking for a family (or more)

In the spirit of Colonial House and Pioneer House, Te Pa will transport three families back to 1850s New Zealand, to the period immediately after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Two Maori families will live in a traditional Maori Pa and one Pakeha family will live nearby as a missionary or working class family might have done in the 1850s.

A reality show with a bit of educational value perhaps? Makes me wonder how I would manage! It would be hard work.

Thirfty Green Thursday

The Green Baby Guide has begun a blog carnival to celebrate and share ways to save money and be green at the same time. My topic for this Thursday is the miracle cleaner:

Baking Soda & White Vinegar

Photo courtesy of jilldoughtie

I've got so used to this stuff that it wasn't until DH asked me where the toilet cleaner was that I realised that I needed to educate him on my current cleaning procedure.

Some time ago Janine posted about a book called Speed Cleaning by Shannon Lush. Great book! It has some excellent advice, one of which is the use of white vinegar and baking soda as an alternative to other cleaning products.

Now I'd known about white vinegar in particular because it is an excellent solution for neutralizing cat pee (and my mum has too many cats). I had also used baking soda as a cleanser for my pizza stone and clay pot (both of which you cannot use normal detergent on).

So I decided to get more serious about it. I put white vinegar+few drops of lavender oil in an old spray bottle. I went to the Binn Inn and bought a big bag of baking soda which is now stored in a container under the sink with a little scoop recycled from somewhere. I forget how much this cost me but I know it was less than a bottle of spray 'n' wipe.

My modus operandi is this. On the surface of the toilet bowl and seat I spray the white vinegar. Using the scoop I sprinkle over some baking soda which makes a very satisfying fizz when it hits the vinegar. I then use a dedicated toilet sponge to wipe over the seat, and the toilet brush for the bowl.

I also use this process on other surfaces like the bathroom vanity, the bath and the stainless steel bench.

Baking soda is a mild abrasive so is a good option for surfaces like the shower where crud builds up. You could even do it while having a shower!

Baking soda and cider vinegar can also be used as an alternative to shampoo. You can read about that on Amy's blog. I have tried this, and yes it works remarkably well! My hair felt really light after doing this.

One reason I like this way of cleaning is that I'm not washing stuff into our water ways that is going to harm the inhabitants. I'm thinking that when we go camping to the more primitive down to earth camping sites (like the DOC ones) then I'm not going to feel bad about washing my hair in the streams.

Why not give it a go? You might be surprised at how much cheaper (and how effective) this cleaner is.

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Now a plug for a new challenge.





My friend Amy is running a Ditch the Disposables challenge for the next couple of months. Run on over and check it out.

bikies!

For your edification ;-) I came around the fence corner into the drive and discovered DH waiting for me with the camera! LOL!

I have the Centric Safe seat on the bike because I prefer it to the ones that sit at the rear. My balance isn't the most perfect so this way my centre of gravity is localised. If DD wiggles a bit, I don't notice much. Also, I can see what she is doing.

It's hard to believe but DS has actually gone to sleep on the blue sloped bit at the front. He just lay his head down and dozed off. That is what it's for, but I didn't really think it would be used like that until it happened!

Ignore my butt. I hope to have buns of steel soon.

Pleased to see each other home.

The bus just didn't work. I really wanted it to! After all, they go right by the end of our street down to the bus stop outside my work place. But they didn't arrive at the time tabled time, so I was late for work. Then I waited an hour in the evening with no appearance of said time tabled bus - and gave up. DH came and got me.

So pedal power it is. It takes me 15 minutes to get from home to work. Fortunately for me, I can park my bike in the underground staff parking area so no Trevs can fiddle with it. (Not that it's a cool bike or anything but still, it's MINE).

Fortunately for my colleagues, there is a shower available for me to use in one of the buildings...

Yes it looks as if no one has cleaned it for the last 5 years but I'm trying to sort that out with the facilities manager.

And yes, the temperature is about 2 degree off flippin' freezing but it's very refreshing! *sucks in deep breath!*

One step closer to reducing my carbon footprint.