almost free

we got home 2 weeks ago yesterday. it’s pretty good to be home, except for one large thing, that would be my brother (read here: my child intolerant, remote hogging, fridge raiding, veiled insult making, born again maori brother) He house sat for us while we were away and now, 2 weeks later, he is still here. he has just managed to find a house to rent and moves out this weekend (read here a very loud YES!!) and everyone else in the house is breathing a big sigh of relief!

If I have to listen to how important his new job is and how he talked to so and so politician or how the mayor hangs on his every word once more I will scream!!!

We had such a great time in Aussie, I didn’t want to come home, for the first time in 3 years I managed a whole month with minimal amount of meds and barely any pain. I swam nearly everyday and walked a lot and was more relaxed than I have ever been.

The trip home was not much fun, first we ordered a limo to take us to the airport (it cost as much as it would have to catch the train) and ended up with a mini van. then at the airport Mum and Dad where over the baggage limit and ended up at a counter with a guy on his first day who insisted that they were travelling in a party of 10 no matter how much we told him there was 5 of us not 10, we even showed him our tickets but that didn’t convince him! the kids and I cruised through checkin while Mum and Dad had to run all over the airport paying over weight baggage fees and trying to get boarding passes.

then going through customs, the kids and I cruised through (honestly it pays to travel with a small child, people just smile and let you walk through) Mum  and Dad got caught up because of some tools Dad brought back with him. why he didn’t put them in his check through luggage i don’t know.

finally we got that organised then had to do a mad dash to our gate only to find we had another 25 minutes before boarding. not even enough time for any duty-free shopping.

then we got on the plane, only to find it was one of the older style Air New Zealand planes…no leg room, all squashed in like sardines. after flying over Emirates it was a real let down to see this. and the meal was AWEFUL. Emirates had special meals for kids but not so with Air NZ, one over cooked soggy bacon and egg pie and some dry chocolate cake was it. luckily we had taken the time to eat at the airport but still it made me feel ill and poor Katie could barely eat a bite. Never again will I fly Air NZ…Emirates is pure luxury in comparison, it was bliss…hot towels when u board, a lovely gift set for Katie with toys and colouring in books and all sorts, nice meals and great staff. Air NZ staff was rude and ill equipped, I asked for an orange juice and they had run out! seriously! plenty of wine and beer but no orange juice? what was that about.

needless to say that by the time we got home on Wednesday afternoon it was so good to be in our own beds again. though the motel we stayed at on Tuesday night was lovely, if your ever after a nice, clean, basic motel in Christchurch go to 219 Johns Road, its lovely and the staff are so nice and so very helpful.

to top off such a terrible trip I lost my backpack containing my camera, video camera and brand new ipod touch!!! thank god for travel insurance….and luckily i had downloaded all my photos the night before, so I only lost the ones I had taken that day. as for my video camera, well I have the films from most of the trip but now I cant get them on my laptop, no camera.

anyway better go fold the washing. have a great day all

hugz

V xxx

Australia

We’ve been in Aussie for almost a month and I am looking forward to getting home next week and sleeping in my own bed again. We have had a fantastic time, totally relaxing, no timetable, no hassles, just chillin by the pool or going shopping, a little sightseeing and a lot of rain lol. I couldn’t believe it when we had 10 straight days of rainy, overcast days. for Christmas day till this Monday the weather was cool and wet but still liveable. And since we had nothing major to do it didn’t really worry us. got a little stir crazy a few times so we would head for one of the malls or go out for lunch. One day we just jumped in the car and went to Newcastle for fish and chips on the waterfront and did a wee tiki tour around that area. another day we went to the Hunter Valley Gardens for lunch and went to see the mine where my brother works, then just a drive around before picking up one of the nieces from work.

My niece Chanay is a beauty therapist and so Mum and I have been pampered like never before, yesterday I got a lovely facial, my eyebrows waxed and a foot massage…it was bliss! we are having a family photo day on Sunday and she has promised me a total make over before hand lol…talk about spoilt!

I have brought heaps of scrapbook stuff lol. Finally got to the local scrapbook shop Scrappin Diva’s today, saved that for last lol. its a good wee shop, not long opened I don’t think but I got chatting to the lovely lady who owns it and she gave me a card and said if I wanted to order anything to just email her and she would send it over. On the whole I found everyone in the shops around here really friendly and helpful even over xmas when it was crazy!

well better go take Katie for a swim before dinner. she got bitten by some ants yesterday and is all itchy.

Happy New Year everyone

hugz

V xxx

Sad times

in less than 3 days we lost two very important people from our family. Uncle Alvin, my dads brother, had a massive aneurysm in his brain which exploded on Wednesday causing a massive stroke and leaving him on life support until he passed away on Wednesday night. That was hard enough but then on Saturday Uncle George final succumbed to the cancer he has been fighting for the last 2 years, passing away in his sleep.

my two very favourite uncles, one for each side of the family, both gone in less than a week. Its almost to much to bear. I still cant get my mind around it. I didn’t got to Uncle Alvin’s tangi, thinking it would be to hard on Katie to travel up to Waikane so close to our trip to Australia. Dad, my sister and two of my brothers went up. But Uncle George’s funeral isn’t until Wednesday and we leave for Australia tomorrow. Aunty Shirl wouldn’t let us postpone our trip till after the funeral but we will be taking the funeral in our hearts.

I keep feeling tears well up whenever I take a moment to catch my breath. Mum and I have been keeping ourselves busy packing and cleaning the house and other senseless occupations so we wont have time to think. It will be a relief to get on the plane tomorrow and spend time with the family in Australia.

So this time tomorrow we will be on the plane on the way to Sydney! after 6 months of planning and organising passports and tickets, motels and rental cars, we are finally going…I just cant wait!

so in case I dont get a chance to blog again before Christmas, everyone have a wonderful and safe holiday!

hugz

V xxx

Busy Busy Me

Its been one of those weeks, I have been flat out doing…well stuff…finalising things for our trip to Oz next month (only 23 days to go!) Booking motels in Christchurch for the return trip, and finding a place to leave the car (we decided to drive down after working out it was going to cost over $600 for the 5 of us to fly from Nelson to Christchurch, nearly the same amount it cost to fly to Oz) Booked the hotel in Sydney for the night we arrive (No pool!, bugga) and making sure all was in place here for while we are away, paper cancelled, postie told, and brother staying to look after the animals…he better be nice to my cat lol.

So scarily enough we are all (fingers crossed) organised (touch wood) except I still have to organise travel insurance and my meds. That’s next weeks mission.

I just cant wait to go, I have been showing Katie the video we took last time we went over, when I was preggie with her, it has our trip to the Reptile Park and hanging out with these people. this photo was taken last time we were there, how young were the kids then. Katie wouldn’t believe it was Steve in the video because back then he barely came up to my shoulder lol, now I barely come up to his!

She’s so excited too, telling everyone at preschool she is going on a big plane to see her Uncle Shame lol. and her Totty, which is Tori (the one in the black top) she has called him Totty since she was tiny and he stayed with us, she was only just over a year old then and still remembers him. He made an impression lol.

Besides the planning and organising I have been busy making a special Christmas pressie for Shane and Tray. I will share photos at a later date, dont want to ruin the surprise but for once something came out exactly to plan…dont you just love it when that happens?

anyway, dinner wont cook its self, Mum is up in Wellington with Uncle George who is very very sick. She wanted to see him before we went just in case, if you know what I mean. He’s 84 and has terminal cancer so it doesnt look good.

anyway I better run

hugz

V xx

Been Lazy

I have been as a lazy blogger as I have been a scrapbooker lately. I have done very little of both. There just isn’t much to write about. I have been very quiet and not a 100% well, though I have been ignoring the fact for the last few weeks but today its sort of caught up on me so I am couched up feeling like throwing up or sleeping, or both! not a good day and Mum and Dad are due home tomorrow and I wanted to get organised today…not going to happen but my home help lady has just been so at least the house is tidy. And if I rest today I will feel better tomorrow right? well that’s the theory anyway.

I have done a couple of layouts for the SBO Christmas Challenge which has been great, I enjoyed going back in time for the first one though it was hard to find a photo. (yes that’s me, sitting on the ground, all of 15 years old!

I took these photos at the beginning of Spring, I just love taking photos of these two, they are both so cute! (don’t tell Steve I said that, its not cool to be cute at 17 lol)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this weeks should be fun, making Christmas decorations! I love making Christmas decorations!!!

I have finished all the mini books for the neices and nephews and decided to do a clock for my brother and s.i.l which I ordered from trademe, it hasn’t arrived yet but I have a few ideas already.

but right now, I am going to have a rest and try and concentrate on getting better.

be good

hugz

V xx