Yay! and a bit of a ramble...

Short blog today people - my mum is home! And already she is bored. Like mother, like daughter - she doesn't know how to slow down either.
In sad news, PCock and PCoppa split up so we're doing a girly vacay this weekend down to the Mount. Going to soak in the hot salt water pools and walk along the beach and then meet up with my cousin Mr. Survey to explore some of the town's hot spots. I am so excited! Last time I was down this way was with Ex-S and he so was not the dancing, pub-crawling type (majority of time was spent sleeping... yawn... and no, that isn't a euphemism LOL) so this is my opportunity to explore the town the way I want!
Does anyone know of anywhere that does a loose-fit black cardi? I've got a couple of voluminous dresses that I'd like to make use of in spring as well as summer, but they don't look right with the tight, streamlined cardis that seem to be available in most of the chain stores. And unfortunately my knitting prowess only extends to blankies and scarves at the moment. Been trying the op shops (thrifting) but to no avail.
LOL well got to go possums... mum and I are talking about my first love and how that was eight years ago that we got together and six years since we broke up (awesome that he's one of my mates now!) and she insists on tormenting me with "You're getting oooooooold" over and over again - hospital obviously made her far too well!

Headlines: "Space Chimps" funnier than expected!

In a discussion on whether Ham III (the hero of our story) is a true astronaut:

Titan: Are you in alumimum clothes?
Ham III: Yes.
Titan: Are you in a rocket?
Ham III: Yes
Titan: In outer space?
Ham III: Yes.
Titan: Are you David Bowie?
Ham III: Uh... no

Classic! Get along, watch the film!

Saturday of lurve....

Photo Credit : Negra
No boy love, I wish LOL...
Finally got underway with that assignment - I've gone a little outside the scope of what was asked for, style-wise a little more like a business case study than a literature essay but I really think that this is what the assignment calls for, in order to address all the points that they require. Once I altered the layout of what I wanted to do to suit me, it just started flowing. I'd probably pin myself at about half way through so I'm soooooo happy!
I've borrowed my mum's jeans to wear out tonight - I threw away my fat jeans and we're both a size 14 in pants, with the pants seeming to fit the both of us although we're completely different shapes (she's an apple, I'm an hourglass) . Anyway, these jeans are AMAZING. Ironically called "Not your daughter's jeans" they have totally flattened out my love handles - I am seriously in love with them! I also love the tag inside that reads "For real women with real curves"... what disappoints me about most jeans are that those that fit my butt are loose around the waist and vice versa. It makes me feel negative about myself, when having curves shouldn't. I'm not as toned as I'd like to be, but even if I was there would still be a huge difference between my waist and hips. So I get to go out tonight looking and feeling amazing while rocking the jeans look - how awesome is that?
Also loving the beautiful bouquet of flowers I managed to find for mum at a local school gala for a piddly $7, my hardy ankle boots, catching up with old friends, walks in brisk and overcast weather (really blows the cobwebs out!), planning holidays away (in the line up so far, Miranda, Whitianga, Christchurch and Sydney within the next year!), going to the fire station tonight (feel like a little kid!) and online friends. That means you!!!!

I don't usually cut and paste but this story was tooo cute not to share!

From the New Zealand Herald today:

Hapless romantic gets picnic after all

4:00AM Friday Sep 26, 2008

Paul Fowler says he forgot about the picnic after Emily Bartlett postponed it. Photo / Daily Post

Paul Fowler is unlikely to forget the result of his efforts to create a memorable occasion for a special lady - but his story does have a fairytale ending.

Mr Fowler, 22, was mortified when he saw his abandoned picnic on the front page of a local paper and read that police, wanting to rule out any foul play, were considering searching Rotorua's Blue Lake.

The abandoned picnic has been the talk of the town since the story broke on Monday, as locals pondered the mysterious find of a laid-out picnic on a lakeside beach.

Mr Fowler arrived at the Rotorua police station just an hour before a search of the lake was to begin on Wednesday.

"I was so embarrassed ... I didn't want to be sent a bill of $100,000 for the search," he said.

Rotorua police were called last Thursday after someone found the laid-out picnic, complete with blanket and food, on the beach of Tikitapu (Blue Lake).

Despite a search of the tracks around the lake and inquiries made at the holiday park on the other side of the lake, police found nothing.

They contacted Rotorua's Daily Post on Monday, hoping some publicity might lead them to who had left the picnic.

Mr Fowler, who works for Coca-Cola, had taken 18-year-old Emily Bartlett out a few times and had set up the picnic at the lake last Tuesday after she hinted it was something she would like to do. He planned to use the picnic to officially ask her to go out with him.

"I definitely wanted to make it memorable," he said.

But there were a few problems, not the least of which was that Miss Bartlett didn't turn up.

Mr Fowler set up the picnic about 2pm and drove back into town to pick up his prospective girlfriend.

However, she sent him a text asking if they could meet later because she was meeting friends.

The couple didn't meet up until later in the day, by which time it was too dark to head out for the romantic lakeside picnic.

Mr Fowler returned to the lake the next day to pick up the picnic but found the road closed off for logging in the area.

"Then I just forgot about it until I saw it in the paper."

Mr Fowler set up another picnic near the top of Mt Ngongotaha on Saturday, where he asked her to go out with him. She said yes.

- DAILY POST

What a story to tell the grandkids, huh?

Picture if you will...

A Guy Fawkes night at my house (or Fourth of July if you aren't a former English colony LOL)... Dad is lighting the firework out on the lawn... we see the wick of the firework fizz away, getting closer and closer to the gun powder cache that will explode in an array of exciting and beautiful colours. You can hear the hiss as the flame rushes closer to the goal...

Shhhhh-shhhhh-shhhhh-shhhhhhhh...

and as the wick comes to the end, there is a moment of perfect silence and you wait, holding your breath...

*Cough*

Nothing's happening. What seemed five seconds ago so full of promise has turned out to be a dud. Do you get up and walk away, or do you sit and wait just a while longer to see if it goes off?

This is an incredibly long winded way of saying that I have complete and utter writer's block when it comes to one of my assignments right now. I will wake up in the morning and feel a buzzing of inspiration in the back of my brain but by the time I have made my coffee and sat down at my computer - NOTHING. It's clearly not a total inspiration issue, as this blog post makes evident... there's just something about using Toulmin's rhetoric theory in application to mission statements (which yes, is about as dry as it sounds) that is just not wanting to click at all. I'm waiting for divine inspiration to come and slap me across the face with a cold fish. I have until Monday to get this silly thing done... but I have a busy weekend ahead. If inspiration could come in the next couple of days that would be awesome :)

Mum has been hospitalised for that infection that she's obtained so that they can put her on IV antibiotics as a precaution - prayers, good thoughts, positive vibes all accepted; hopefully they'll be able to do the job her white blood cells can't right now.

"If there's anything I can do for you, let me know..."

I had a text from HealthyBunny this afternoon saying exactly this. I'd just sent her a text saying that my mum was having a chemo-related complication - it's most likely to be an infection of her portacath site (further info here - ignore that its on a testicular cancer website LOL) and so that was a bit worrying but I was off my crutches *Yay* and life was chugging along. That's when she replied with "If there's anything..." and really, there isn't much.

One of the things I am struggling with at the moment is that there's barely anything I can do either. Mum's sick at the moment (and with no white blood cells to fight it off - awesome) and apart from taking up a bit of extra slack around the house there isn't a damn thing I can do apart from pray and hope that she gets better. I feel so useless... that this is one thing I can't fix. None of my "real life" friends read this, but I guess the one thing they can do for me is forgive me being a little brittle and vague right now, appreciating that this is the one time that I can't be there for them 100%.

On brighter topics, I'm going on a trip to the fire station this weekend! How fun is that? I feel like a little kid again and maybe I'll meet a hunky fire fighter LOL.

Guess where I'm going on my next BIG holiday??

Photo Credit to Bernardoh
If you read back in my blog you'll know exactly how much I loved my holiday in Christchurch earlier this year and I've been trying to think of something similar to do in my winter holidays next year... le result - Sydney here I come! I know it's like nine months away, but it never hurts to plan in advance :)
I'm so excited... I organised my passport last year for a trip with Ex-S that never eventuated so it will be a great chance to dust the cobwebs off that as well as it being a great destination for my first foray into Australia (not my first trip overseas, but that's a whole other post!)
So possums, I extend the floor to you. Where are your must sees/must stays/must do-s in Sydney? How long should I be looking at staying? Look forward to hearing your advice!

Why I've been a little quiet recently...

Assignments and a mall-related injury (no wet floor sign!) that put me on crutches... no broken bones, thank god! Soon to resume my regular posting schedule :) N.B. Please ignore the messy nature of my room...it's a bit hard to clean on crutches!

P.S. Gilda, those are my penguin shoes... close up in upcoming post.

Nose back to grindstone...

My lovely mid-semester break is over and I'm back at university. My attendance last semester was somewhat... shall we say "sporadic"?... as we dealt with everything that was going on at home with Mum and so I've assigned myself the task for the latter half of the year of making sure I go to all my classes. I didn't do as well in a couple of the assignments as I'd hoped, so there's definitely improvement that can happen there!

It's somewhat depressing when you receive your living costs from your student loan and pay out about $80 of the $150 on transport alone in the first day... and this is what students are meant to live on. I drive to the train station nearest my work (otherwise I would struggle to make it to work on time a couple of days a week) and then catch the train the rest of the way to the city (45mins still, only in AKL!) In my teaching school interview the woman administering the language comprehension tests told us that ideally we wouldn't work outside of our placements for the year... now considering I pay my parents $125 rent (which would be more - and has been - if I was living with people who didn't feel obliged to keep me LOL) and transport may be even worse next year (multiple transfers or driving my car) I'm not exactly sure how this is meant to work for students who aren't being funded by a partner or kind parents :) Sorry lady, I'm going to have to work! Luckily I have a cruisy job that will let me either take care of my social admin - like you special darlings! - or knuckle down and study if that's what I really need.

And in random little Scribble-ness... I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, and sometimes it's obvious :) I have two pairs of pants that fit well at the moment and I've worn them to the point this winter that they are starting to wear out. I happened to sit down cross-legged in the hallway while waiting for a class yesterday and the middle of my thigh started to feel a bit of a breeze.... sure enough, I look down and there's a hole in the seam about the girth of my index finger. So what does tired old Scribbles do? Sits there looking at the hole and poking her leg jelly through it until it's time to go to class. You can tell I'm tired when something as tiny as this distracts me LOL

Week starting 14th Sept

How did I do?

• Get at least 10 more squares of the blanket for FarmBub done - DONE! So close to being finished now!
• Pick up some polarfleece - Delayed. Ms Bee is a former fabric store employee and she advised me to wait a couple of weeks to go on sale
  
• Get to the gym three times next week - Failed... kind of. I've been really active, just haven't managed to make it to the gym.
  
• Finish one assignment - I decided to work on both ones due within the next fortnight, so I have two partially completed.
  
• File that paperwork - Done.

Goals for next week:

• Keep my room as perfect as it looks now - so easy to relax in
• Write in my gratitude journal every day
• Use my train commute time constructively
• Celebrate my gorgeous friends who are there for me :)
  

Note in brief

We had mum's Shave Head party yesterday! It was already starting to thin and fall out quite dramatically so it was timed really well. We had it done at one of the local hairdressers where my dad and sister get their hair cut and it was soooooo good. They let us sit and have a few wines beforehand and they're saving mum's ponytail for later just in case she wants it - my mum, before the shave, had long ringlety hair down to the middle of her back. The great thing is that she thought that she would be really devastated about losing all that long hair but she's really impressed with her new look! And so are we - she makes a No. 3 shave look good :) Now if only she could get everyone to stop fondling her head LOL

Awww.... so cute but so not ready for one of my own!

After a mad morning of baking I went out to see FarmGirl and FarmBaby for lunch (FarmBoy was also there, but things are a little awkward with him because he's really good mates with Ex-S and being a male he feels like he has to pick sides LOL). FarmBaby is sooooooo cute, but at less then three weeks old is SO much work. It makes me even more sure in my own mind that having kids is something that I'm not ready for yet.
A bit of a reveal, and maybe TMI (esp. if you are one of my largely unspoken male readers)...
At the end of last year, at the same time that Ex-S and I broke up, I had what is classified as a missed miscarriage - basically I didn't know that I was pregnant until I wasn't anymore. I saw a counsellor to help me through it as well as all the other turmoil in my life and I'm truly in a place where I'm at peace with it. I have polycystic ovaries, so it's a blessing to know that I could get pregnant at all; but also that little soul just wandered away to come back at a far better time, when I'm ready and have the love of a good strong solid man in my life. Like that good old refrain from the Spice Girls "I need a man, not a boy who thinks he can!"... I look forward to sometime in the future meeting that soul and bringing it up in a peaceful, loving family. Until then, I'm glad to enjoy my freedom!

Hey, even the interwebs thinks I'm on the right track!

I just took the Colour Career Counsellor test at careerpath.com... spookily accurate, based on my colour choices!

Best Occupational Category
You're a CREATOR

Key Words:

• Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional
  These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

  CREATOR OCCUPATIONS

  Suggested careers are Advertising Executive, Architect, Web Designer, Creative Director, Public Relations, Fine or Commercial Artist, Interior Decorator, Lawyer, Librarian, Musician, Reporter, Art Teacher, Broadcaster, Technical Writer, English Teacher, Architect, Photographer, Medical Illustrator, Corporate Trainer, Author, Editor, Landscape Architect, Exhibit Builder, and Package Designer.

  CREATOR WORKPLACES

  Consider workplaces where you can create and improve beauty and aesthetic qualities. Unstructured, flexible organizations that allow self-expression work best with your free-spirited nature.

  Suggested Creator workplaces are advertising, public relations, and interior decorating firms; artistic studios, theaters and concert halls; institutions that teach crafts, universities, music, and dance schools. Other workplaces to consider are art institutes, museums, libraries, and galleries.

Just call me Special Agent Scribbles...

Driving home tonight, I hop off the motorway and head towards my house. As I'm driving down in the train of cars, I catch something highly suspicious out of the corner of my eye. Three youths running in and out of a house (a darkened house) chucking stuff into the boot of a car that was parked on the same side of the road but in the wrong direction.
Your favourite Scribble wondered as she drove past whether there could be any adequate reason for these people to be doing something crazy like that.... nope, couldn't really think of one.
By this stage I'm at the intersection; I swing a right and pull over and ring the police. I mean, if it was my house, and even if it was me running in and out, I'd have appreciated someone calling the cops. I gave them all the details I could (which weren't a lot, with it being dark and with me not being able to stop and observe) and they sent cops out to look. By the time the cops got there, the guys had already left and they were having trouble locating the property. I got to hop back in my car, make a rendezvous with the police and show them the houses that the guys were running in and out of. When I left they were about to do property searches and interviews with the surrounding houses.
I don't know if it will achieve anything, but I'm glad I called. I don't think I'm the kind of person who can see something like that and just let it slide. And the police thought I did the right thing - GOLD star for Scribbles :D

Week starting Sept 7th

How did I do? For a week full of stretch goals, I think I did okay:

• Do a good solid effort at getting the house tidy before Friday - It took five loads of washing and one FULL rubbish bag of garbage, but definitely achieved!
  
• Get at least 12 more squares of the blanket for FarmBub done - Currently standing at ten - could possibly finish by the end of tonight... at least this is got me motivated to finish it :)
  
• Get to the gym three times next week - Epic Fail! TMI warning but I got the most shocking lady cramps and exercise was not high on my list of things to do.
  
• Start in on assignments - I didn't get as much achieved as I'd hoped to with these (I need to access information that I can't get until I'm back in uni or at work) but I definitely started so this gets an Achieved as well.
  
• File that paperwork -Incomplete. A good effort made, but I got sidetracked by decluttering the rest of my room... reading stories you've written as a child are hysterical. There's a poem that I read in a collection of poems I wrote that's actually pretty impressive if it's a "me" original... if you're lucky I might just post it :)

Hmmm... if this was a school report, it would probably say "Scribbles is not working to her full potential" LOL. A lot of these goals need some extra work - so they can be somewhat repeated in the week to come:

• Get at least 10 more squares of the blanket for FarmBub done - That will leave me with just ten more to complete the blanket on the week after... Yay!
• Pick up some polarfleece to line the blanket and get FarmBaby's initials embroidered on it!
  
• Get to the gym three times next week - Once the "lady cramps" disappear there is no excuse. No one wants a fat MOH.
  
• Finish one assignment - I just need to get one more piece of info next Wednesday and then there isn't anything to stop me from finishing it (a week and a half early - less stress that way) .
  
• File that paperwork and don't get distracted by childhood memories! You want your computer up in your room, don't you Scribs?

UPDATE: Annie would also like me to make a goal to enjoy myself and be proud of what I have achieved - that's a great goal! Duly added!

Naughty naughty...

I just had a bit of a splurge at the mall.... I finally bought those Lolita sunglasses that I had been dying to get forever :) I also bought some cute little CZ earrings, a really sexy pair of black snakeskin low heels and a petticoat.

Yes, a petticoat. I have a beautiful black broderie anglaise dress that wraps and is total fifties-housewife. I don't wear it as often as I like though, due to the major flashing factor that can occur should there be even the smallest gust of wind. I was lying in bed a couple of nights ago thinking... "Wow, I could so wear that dress more often if I got a black petticoat..." et voila! I have. Sometimes the old-fashioned solutions are the best :)

Lust...

Gah Gala you are a style goddess... after viewing her daily outfit post, I am now lusting over these two tote bags (as well as many others, but these are totally my favourites) from Rootote, an Aussie bag company. Le sigh!

Things I love Thursday - 4th Sept

Much love to Gala Darling for both the concept and the image!

• My gorgeous friend NavyWife who overnight couriered some delicious cupcakes to my mother as a get well present!
• My gorgeous "nieces" - the daughters of Ms Bee. Childlike innocence is awesome and I could sit and listen to them for hours. I think Baby Bee may even have said her first word the other night... I could have sworn I heard "flower"
• Lying on my mum's bed with her, watching "Deep Impact" and bawling my eyes out and the sad parts... I also love Morgan Freeman
• Uni breaks and the chance to just relax and have some peace and quiet
• The beautiful beautiful weather NZ has had for the last couple of days... roll on spring!
  

Panic Stations... or the story of how Scribbles went to work in her pyjamas

Photographic proof of said event - note massive polarfleece jumper, oily hair bound back by pen, decided the grey trackpants were truly too ugly to show you.

I was so excited about what I had learnt yesterday that I forgot to share how... ummmm... exciting my Sunday was.

Your favourite Scribble woke up at around nine in the morning, not hideously late for a Sunday lie in. After pretending to sleep for just a little longer, I gave up my warm bed and trundled down to the lounge. Made my coffee and my breakfast, did some email correspondence, etc and then sat down on the coffee to savour the second coffee. At this stage I'm planning to do some of the housework I've been talking about for the whole of last week - a start is better than no progress at all, right? It'll make a productive morning before heading over to the shore for a christening.

All of a sudden the Scribble-phone starts ringing. Checking the caller ID, I realise that it's my boss calling. After being very tempted to just reject the call, I answer. It is my frantic boss calling - she is about to leave for America (literally, heading out the door to go to the airport) and our weekend person advises that she can't come in to manage the function, her car has broken down about 120kms away on her way to work. She's told my boss that one of the other girls that can cover but that the cover doesn't have keys. My boss can't get hold of the acting manager so is getting hold of me to go and unlock the centre. The time is quarter to eleven. I live about thirteen minutes drive from the centre. The hire starts at eleven am. You do the maths.

I can't find my shoes anywhere - the only ones I can see are the stilettos I wore out last night. I tear out the door in the sweatshirt and pants that I slept in and my "hori shoes"... i.e. bare feet. I'm running my fingers through my sleep afro on the way to work, speed up the driveway like a rally driver (we're currently having road works at the homestead, resealing driveways and repairing drainage etc) and leap out of the car bang on eleven apologising profusely that the centre isn't open and why... of course once they all see me hot-footing it over the gravel in my bare feet they realise how "dedicated to the cause" I am, and all is forgiven. I open the centre and do start-of-hire liaison with the hirer while waiting for the cover to arrive. I settle down into the office and think "Huh, I would have expected her to be here by now". I ring the girl that I've been told is covering only to have her go "Scribbles, I said I COULDN'T come in".

Scribbles says "What?"

At this stage I start whipping out the admin book to see who I can beg/plead/bribe to stay in over the entirety of the hire... there's no way I can stay until the end. A christening is a once in a lifetime thing. I ring Big Boss to inform her of the situation and tell her what I'm doing. I finally get the Director of our performing arts programme to come in and take over from me - he and I go way back to when we used to attend the same performing arts programme together. He comes in and I have just enough time to shower and get some lunch down my gullet before driving over to the shore (for my foreign friends this was around 40 kms or 25 miles, no small feat on Auckland's motorway system).

The christening/family dedication was beautiful though and I ended up staying at Ms Bee's house far too late, just talking about life, the universe and everything. Ms Bee is like a sister to me and I'm really happy to see her finally having a joyful, positive life (including finding the soon to be Mr. Bee, once all the legal stuff with Mr Aye is finished... long story LOL) with her children. Mr. Bee's constant drunken proclamations that I rocked helped too :P

PS - FarmBub squares knitted since goal set: 2. Ten more until goal completion. Twenty nine more until blanket completion :)

I know how to save a life!

I've almost completed an eleven hour shift today (sounds loooooooong, right?) but the first eight hours of the class I spent at a First Aid class. As part of my "personal development plan" at work, my company is paying for me to get a first aid certificate. I work sole charge in the centre so it is definitely a positive for them if I can deal with emergency situations with some level of knowledge and clarity of mind.

The good:

I learnt how to fix people and save lives! I also met a bunch of awesome people that I get to hang out with all day tomorrow! And finding out what you are meant to do when you come across a massive MVA and there are limbs everywhere (bag 'em and tag 'em... name of owner if you know them, type of limb regardless) or people's guts are spilling out (don't shove them back in, cover with plastic and gently compress, or get them to compress if they can).

The bad:

Being the one who has done almost every form of injury to herself. Who's had bleeding open wounds? I have. Who's had strains and sprains? I have! Who's had concussion/blunt force trauma to the head? Oooooh pick me (and blame my cousin A for trying to "skip" a grapefruit sized rock). Who's been bitten by a poisonous spider and can explain the experience to the class? Ahhhh I'm guessing that would be me again? Yup, sure is. Understatement of the year at afternoon break - "You're a bit accident prone, aren't you?"

The ugly: Having to use these awful glad-wrap and gauze contraptions when practicing resuscitation... it's hard enough to get an air-tight seal on a mannequin face without your shield flopping round. I was joking with J, a guy on the course, that I was going to bring it home and stick in a scrap book. Fugly thing.

I'd been meaning to get first aid certified for YEARS and I'm so glad I finally will be. I probably will have left the company by the time I need to get re-certified but it's something I'm willing to keep up out of my own pocket - it's reassuring to know that come the worst situations, I'm one that can help rather than just observe.

My task to you, dear readers, is to look into getting certified if you aren't already. We can all be superheroes, saving lives. We just need to be taught.