Making Lemonade February 10, 2010

A saying that I’ve picked up from books and movies and TV is about when life throws you lemonade; make lemonade. It’s not a saying that I grew up hearing but it’s one that always made me smile once I did start hearing it. Right now, I’m making lemonade.

As we headed back into school last week and the Mr’s started back into their routines, we appeared to be settleing into  our groove. I felt refreshed and ready to really get stuck into the dual role of home and work.

Then my manager called at home on Sunday evening.

She had been called into a meeting on Friday and it was one that had I worked those hours, I would also have been called into. She was told that her role had been disestablished – and therefore so was mine. It’s in relation to the legal aid review that came out last year. Although we were both expecting that particular boot to drop, it was a shock to have it  happen now. Because of various communications , we thought it was more like to be towards the end of the year. Her role and mine are the only two immediately affected in such a direct manner. It’s a little hard to swallow.

Monday was the most surreal working day of my life: I knew what was about to be announced but was to continue to work until all staff were informed a little later in the morning. I think I pulled off keeping it together through that day. Yesterday was a little tougher as the news really sinks in…. the dream job that I have loved since starting there only in November is about to go.

Thanks to a lot of deep breathing on my part and an amazing amount of support being given to me, I’m feeling a little stronger. No doubt there will be up days and down days as I go through this particular ride. But I am finding the ability to see the positive in this news.

Three months ago I didn’t have any recent experience of being employed. Now I have and I will get a great reference to boot. I now have a lot more confidence in my abilities to actually work in this environment; whereas before I thought I probably could do it, I now know that I absolutely can do it.  Before I kind of-sort of knew what direction I want to take, now I have two equally good options to work with and in doing so, increase my chances of finding something in either admin or legal exec. Before I was mounting my quest for a job on my own, now I have the support and advice from several respected people to try and help open doors. While I thought this role was just the most perfect one there was, maybe something even better is going to come up.

All of those things are the lemonade that is coming from the huge lemon that came my way. It’s going to be a little rough until I know how things are going to play out, but I know I have the support of some really wonderful people and that I am unspeakingly grateful for that. Another piece of advice given to me just after the news came out was to look after myself. I’m taking that to heart – and have given myself permission to feel sad and angry and all those things. But I’m determined to see this through and get to the other side. You’ll still see me laughing and making the usual lame jokes!

So yeah, that’s the curve ball I’m dealing with at the moment. I’ll keep you posted. Keep me in your thoughts or prayers for the moment – I might need them!

Beginning the year as I mean to go on January 4, 2010

Throughout the year last year, I knew I wasn’t doing as much scrapping for myself as I wanted. There are lots of stories and lots of photos that I really want to get in and play with. When Hubby asked me the other day “what did I want to do before going back to work?” my first thought was – “Something crafty!”. Luckily for me, the weather conjured up some great indoor weather – how else can you look at wind and rain in what is meant to be fantastically gorgeous summer time days???

I gave my space a bit of a shuffle (I can’t say “tidy” cos that would be lying! That is another job for another day!!) and created some space at my little table. The first thing I did was get a card out of the way which has been in my head – I don’t know any babies about to be born as yet, but this will come in handy once I do!

Then I headed to Harvey Norman / Norman Ross (side bar: why do both stores exist in the same building and attempt to compete?? I know they are owned by the same people so I just don’t get it!!) Norman bet out Harvey’s VIP price on enlargements, so I did my printing at Norman’s for a change. I needed some 8 x 10s for the school photos as I decided finally, I really needed to get started on the Becky Higgins School Years kits that have been waiting for me to do something with for at least 18 months if not longer! I’ve been collecting items from the Mr’s from their pre-school activities and popping them into the provided pockets but hadn’t actually scrapped any photos. I have now! They might be basic (very basic), but as a first dip of the toe back into scrapping, the pages were just what I needed.

The kits are definitely American with “Grades” instead of years, but I figured I can make this work with a bit of good old Dymo.

Mr 8 in Year 3,

Mr 5 in Year 1.

A little planning on what I need to do for the other pages is needed but they will get done before the end of this month. Then I just need to catch up on the rest of the pre-school items like kindy and the like and I’m up to date on these albums! Great because that will keep me motivated for the upcoming years. Despite being stung on the shipping price (the kits themselves were awesome value – plus it was even better at the time because the $NZ was really good!), I’m still pleased I got these kits. It’s going to be fun to have something simple, cohesive and all-encompassing of the Mr’s school lives at the end of however many years I’m looking at!

Once these were done, I had the need to break out my new Circle Scissors (new in the Stampin Up Summer mini… there’ll be more about those over on my SU blog: Kelly’s Stampin Spot if you want to take a look over there in the next few days and weeks ). There was also a challenge on Scrappin Patch’s forum (to use a frame of some sort) so I ended up the day with this next page.

I felt like this was a pretty good haul for someone that hasn’t touched her scrapping supplies for many (too many!) months. It certainly made me want to keep up with the urge to scrap so I have a feeling there is likely to be more pages being done over the remainder of the year! I’m determined to get more of our stories told as well as keep up with the other crafty urges I’ve unleashed through ‘09!  Plus, it felt oh-so-good to dive back into my underloved stash of scrapping goodness.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed that little tour of scrappy goodness. I’m off to fold some washing so that maybe I can get another little project started before I go back to work tomorrow morning!

PS – for those of you that are interested in Stampin Up goodies, there is an Inventory Clearance Sale on at the moment – until 24 January, in fact. Click over to my SU blog, and check out the Current Specials image. Click on that and it will take you to the file with all the goodies in the sale – some of the sets are up to 50% off. There’s some great Alpha sets perfect for layout titles at just $46 (half-price) and then there is the awesome value “Wonderful favourites” set – 23 stamps for just over $35. (This set in my view was way under-priced to begin with, and now at the sale price, it’s incredible value.) This last set is a great one for all kinds of family members on your layouts and helps make great cards.

I am, of course!, happy to place an order for you if you are interested in any of the items. Just send me an email and let me know. I’m looking to place an order for this sale 14th January, and then any last minutes orders on the 24th.

Some pics as promised and another new beginning January 1, 2010

Happy New Year!!

Another new Year, and another new decade. I’m constantly amazed at how fast the time just zooms by. At the BBQ/party we were at last night, we were comparing tales from a decade ago – almost all of us sans kiddos.  And being a big night (you remember….. a new Millenium!) we all had tales to tell. Awesome stuff. I hope you and yours celebrated in good ways

As promised in my last post, I downloaded my pics. All 858 of them. Uh-huh…. 858 in one month alone! Wow…. I wonder if it was the influence of the new toy or not?!

Anyway, I couldn’t possibly inflict all 858 photos on you. Besides, I don’t think I would be finished even now if I had decided to do just that! So here is a taster from our week in Ohope. And guess what? It barely scratches the surface of even those pictures!! Anyway, I’m sure you’ll get the idea!

You’ll see lots of surf and sand… the gorgeous Pohutakawas, our Christmas hats, cousins, berry picking, gingerbread house building (YUM!!) and playing in the sprinklers at Creel Lodge (Turangi).

Having put all of these photos from December I’ve realised that I have a TON of material to scrap. Plus all the items I’ve not done through the year. I was a slacker scrapper in ‘09! But I’m really itching to get back into some good creative messes. Having spent quite a number of minutes (…hours?!) taking the photos from camera to PC, I have also completed a couple of digi pages a la Jessica Sprague’s Holidays in Hand class. Great templates and papers were given away in the free class.

The plan is to get December’s activities into a photo book. Shutterfly or Snapfish for printing? Any thoughts?

Right – having spent a good number of hours on the PC today, I’m being told to get down and cook dinner. The cheek!! Actually, I think the late night last night meant they were all happy to let me play while the Mr’s all chilled out in one form or another.

So happy 2010 to you all – see you soon!

The Bit in the Middle December 29, 2009

The week in between Christmas and New Year is usually one spent relaxing, having spent the energy on the Christmas festivities and lead up and reviewing the year just about done, while looking forward to the new beginnings that New Year always presents.

This year is a little different.

While we’re still relaxing, we’re also in Post-Holiday mode. We did our Christmas getaway the week before Christmas this year – which is just one of the reasons I was juggling a few extra balls in the air while the Hubster was away! Trying to finish school, get pressies, sort stuff, get ready for holiday all prior to 17th December…. was…. interesting!!

Well, I did it. I determined that this year, Christmas away would mean that the very barest of traditions would be brought with us to Ohope. That meant we got our family Christmas, but in a relaxed fashion. It was a good plan: the Mr’s declared the day as being “… the best Christmas, EVER!”

I’m pretty pleased with that statement!

So, a week in Ohope – across the road from one of the nicest beaches I know. Warm, sunny days every day. Swimming in the surf. Running along the beach in the balmy evenings (well, for me that would be one of those evenings!) Pick Your Own berries for Christmas. Santa Stockings and way too many presents. Mini roast lamb and pavlova with lashing of berries, cream and coulis. And then topped off with a trip up the road for an hour to Paengaroa and spending the day unexpectedly with my Brother and his fiance at her parents property.

Just Awesome!

I’m now in post-vacation mode – washing, grocery shopping and tidying away. One of my chores on the To Do list is to down load pictorial evidence of the above activities.

I’m in the “Bit in the Middle” now so I’ll hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, are enjoying your own Bits in the Middles and will catch up again soon.

Burning at both ends December 15, 2009

I’ve come straight to the posting page without checking to see how long it’s been since the last time I was here. Too long is the answer.

I’ve gotten good at juggling things in the air – remembering who needs to be where and at what time and for how long and who I’ve arranged to be somewhere in my place because I’m actually somewhere different. Notice the lack of pausing there? It’s kind of like real life right now.

Hubby has been away again. This time, the trip he left on back in mid-November for a week turned into a month while he was over there. Not much to say or do (especially as I had condoned the potential for the extention prior to him leaving!! In my defence, I thought the extention would go to an extra week and a half or so …NOT a whole month!!!)

Put that among being in the second week of a new job, and the school wind down, and the looming festivities. Yeah. Busy doesn’t really cover what life has been like. Thankfully I’ve had friends around me that were able to help me keep burning the candle at both ends without actually burning out. The ones that let me share a drink or two and their company so I didn’t go mad, the ones who kindly sent their husband over to babysit so I could see them in person, the ones who helped me ensure one child got between places while I was getting either myself or the other child between two different places. I really, really, really wouldn’t know what to do without the support of my amazing friends. During the whole month, I only dropped one ball – and that was on Friday, and while a pain in the bum, it wasn’t life and death urgent so it’s been rescheduled. Not bad is the summary there!

I didn’t like to say Hubby was away online while he was actually away. While I assume it’s all people with kind thoughts and vibes that pop on here and look for updates, you never can be so sure. And while he was away, I had many a late night as I attempted to keep some of those balls in the air, but strangely, I didn’t have too many chances to get on the computer. How does that work??!

So that’s the reason for the lengthy blog-holiday.

And wouldn’t you know it…. the school holidays are upon us – school broke up today at midday. I now have monsters to juggle, seriously delayed festivity activities to still get around to, shopping to attend to, post to post and….

Those balls being juggled haven’t seemed to get smaller in number – just a change of colour! Sheesh! And I’ve been very, very surprised at the fact the bottle of Vanilla Vodka brought through duty-free is still almost unopened.

Sunshine words November 18, 2009

Mr 5 has always been my little sunshine boy. When you are around him, you know he’s just a piece of sunshine – his nature truly is sunny, and when you get one of his smiles, it sure lights up your day.

So last night I was tucking him into bed. For a change it was me, and there was no Mr 8 to interupt as he was at cubs. And we had this wee conversation as I was kissing him goodnight:

Mr 5: Muuummm……
Me: Yes..?
Mr5: I wish I was still at kindy.
Me – a little puzzled, as he just LOVES school: Why is that?
Mr 5: Because then I could spend more time with you and just me.

He’ll always be my Sunshine.

So far so good. November 15, 2009

I’ve just completed my first full week of work. I have my first payday next week – can I even begin to tell you how exciting that is??

The commute into the city has been very easy so far each morning. The fact I travel in right at the end of peak hour in the morning sure helps. I’m loving the environment I’m working in – people that work very hard but still know how to have a good laugh. I think I’m a good fit into the role and I’m loving the fact I’m just getting stuck into some of the work now. There is still a whole LOT to learn about the job, but it’s definitely a case of so far so good.

I still have a lot to do as well in terms of establishing new routines. Trying to fit the necessities of life such as groceries, after school activities and that ever present To Do item – housework, into the new working week is not happening easily so far. But everyone is adjusting little by little and I’m sure it won’t be long before there are patterns and routines back in place.

One thing that I might have to change a little is my usual Christmas card production. Time might not actually allow me to complete all the Christmas cards that I normally do. However, I’m working through the list and you just never know! But I came across a little help in the form of digi-cards from Becky Higgins yesterday. I think I may well be making use of them in some form! Here’s a link if you too would like a little ease in your Christmas card production: http://www.beckyhiggins.com/projectlife/. You might have to scroll down – and there are instructions too. Easy-peasy!

We’ve also been enjoying life around the place – and I have a couple of pics to prove it.

Halloween – this year we had a dog, a cat, a ninja and a jedi knight – plus a wee princess. She had trouble keeping up – at 18 months it is a little harder! There are also truly hideous pics proving that long, curly yellow hair and I are not really a match made in heaven. It was a last minute attempt at a “queen Bee” costume. It was fun – but not so pretty!!

A day picnic-ing with friends. I love that my new camera lets me catch so much detail from afar – I loved being able to just watch and snap while they were completely unaware – and so very much in their element. What is really amazing is that this creek heading out to the sea at Paraparaumu didn’t quite so picturesque in real life, but clearly that doesn’t matter when you are 5 or 8 years old and doing stuff that 5 and 8 year old boys do!  (Del – you and I will clearly have to swap pics! )

Taking Angus for a walk by the river

Boy vs. Dog – Angus is waiting for a stone or a stick to fetch. He then runs after it, realises he’s in a little further and takes off for shallower parts.

See?!

And finally – yes, we saw it! On the TV… but the scrapbooker in me realised that although we weren’t there in person, this was history! So we will know where we were when the All Whites got into the 2010 World Cup. Silly Mummy!

 

“And here’s the news…” November 2, 2009

There are still the formalities, but I can now share my news with you without fear of jinxing anything!

I have a job!!

Wooohooo! I’m really excited about it – and a little nervous too.

It’s PA / Executive Assistant role in a government agency that deals with legal aid. Although at this point in time I won’t be using my newly acquired Legal Exec. qualification, the job ticks so many of the must have boxes for me, it’s pretty near perfect. For a start, it’s 20 hours a week, during school hours, with great flexiblity around school holidays. It is in a legal environment and they love the fact I have the qual, so in time use may be made of that. And best of all… they wanted ME!!

Having not worked (in a PAID capacity…. I am so not saying I’ve not “worked” while being a full-time mum!! LOL) in New Zealand for close on 11 years now, heading back into that environment is definitely a bit surreal. After the interview (which was 1 and a half hours long!) I had a really good feeling about the organisation. It seems to be a really good fit for the likes of me, and definitely has the vibe of being family-friendly. The manager that I’ll be reporting to and at least one of the other managers that will be in the daily mix both seemed to be very nice people. All adding up to a very good impression of the type of work environment I’m heading into.

So THAT’s why I decided that I really needed the reward of a good camera after longing for one for aaaaaages. And speaking of which, I’ve had a great time playing with it! Lots to learn to get the most out of it. I think I’ll be attending a camera club with my good friend and neighbour and awesomely arty photo friend, Liz.

Mr 8 and Uncle R testing out new remote control cars

Mr 5 concentrating on his remote car

I’m so excited! October 22, 2009

There’s a piece of news that is 95%-99% certain – but I’m not actually going to share that with you just yet as that is highly likely to jinx it completely!

But because of this news, Hubby agreed that I could get a little something:

It’s not a full-on SLR but I decided, having admired my friend Liz’ for months and months now, that I’m not really a photographer-photographer. I want a camera that has a lot of features I get to play with, great zoom, will do some things for itself and basically give me crisper pictures than the tough camera I’ve been using. The Mju was always meant to be Hubby’s – to go kayaking and cycling with. But because it had a lot of neat scene settings on it, I had fun using it. I’ve become less and less impressed with some of the photos once printed though as it seemed very susceptible to producing noise. I played with a whole bunch of settings but nothing really seemed to improve it.

Then another friend, Del, lent me her S5 to take some pics. It felt like an SLR, but was smaller. And it took great pics! Great – I couldn’t believe how clever I was – er, the camera was. Well, the s5 has been replaced by the SX10 which in turn is already replaced by the SX20 very recently. Having done a bunch of homework, there are some hiccups in the SX20 which meant a lot of people were preferring the model it replaced. And seeing as there is a significant price differential, I opted for the SX10.

And I did a bunch of homework on that too – Hubby is currently here:

Has been for almost two weeks in fact. We were hoping that he might find the model I wanted a bit cheaper as electronics are often cheaper in Asia. But alas, not really the case in this case. And after hunting out as much info as I could online to pass on to him, I find I can get quite good deals here. Until finally this morning I clinched the best deal of all! Almost $150 off the RRP. Yay – go me!! Hubs gets to collect it on his way to customs as he makes his way home

Anyway, that is why I am so excited – I’ll be getting my hands on my very sought after new toy on Saturday. Wooo-hoooo!!

Anyway, all that nonsense and mayhem aside, the last two weeks around the place have been *interesting*.

First two weeks of terms pretty much done. Those two weeks come hand in hand with Term 4 school swimming. Two very, very tired school boys reside in this house at present. It wasn’t helped too much with me getting a touch of tummy bug overnight on Friday/Saturday. It definitely isn’t pleasant, and I had to call in reinforcements to help with the Mr’s. Thank you Donna and Bevan and C and M!!!!

But my tour of solo-duty is pretty much up – Mr 5 has a countdown calendar going so he knows how many sleeps until Daddy is home. Mr 8 has tried very hard to limit the tantrums.

The second car is now warrented again, and I have even started on a couple of large-ish projects I’ve been meaning to get done for a long time now. The Angus-a-fied back lawn has seen some repair work, and hopefully in a couple of weeks I’ll be rewarded with green, grass-like shoots showing. Likewise, my wardrobe no longer has an excess of very old clothes that were never going to see the light of day on me again. Having Hubs absent for a little while has proved beneficial.

But we are definitely looking forward to Saturday and having him home again.

And it’s NOT just because of the package he’ll have picked up on the way through. Although I am looking forward to that as well.

School Holiday time October 5, 2009

I’ve been almost thankful for the rain at the beginning of these holidays. That’s a super rare thing for me to admit. But it gave me and the Mr’s great excuses to not do too much and just hang around the house. Sure it’s been interesting keeping the Mr’s amused, but as life keeps up moving at great pace, it’s been good to just chill out and do very little.

The Mr’s have discovered Moshi Monsters and have had a great time earning Rox, making friend, capturing Moshlings and figuring out puzzles. Strict time limits were put in place for each turn as we all know that giving a centimetre means much more than a kilometre is then expected! And so far the cooped up cabin fever has not shown up in any great way. Yay!

Last Thursday the weather fined up enough to meet with some friends and take part in the annual Spring Festival buggy walk through the Botanic Gardens. Not only are the gardens a great place to go generally, but there is a fantastic playground for kids of all ages. We took a picnic along with us and planned to eat at the playground. Interestingly, we ended up going around the gardens twice. And my legs for sure paid for it the next day – as did my shoulders as the picnic in my backpack got heavier and heavier. The incidental extra distance was due to me not knowing where the best place to park was going to be and ignoring my usual *let’s just see how parking is around the entrance* mantra. I planned this time to try at a car park that would meet up with the cable car – meaning this time we started at the top, to go down to meet the official walk and our friends, only to head up to the top and back down again for the giveaways and then back to the top for the picnic…. whew!

Little legs and voices did start to protest but we made it and considering how much fun we had and how much not-doing-very-much the previous few days, I think it was a good thing for the extra effort in the end. I didn’t take my camera as my bag was already jammed full of picnic stuff, but luckily for me, my friend Del took hers and in all honesty, she’ll have great pics. I’ll be downloading some later this week so will add some then. Seeing as I missed the Tulip Sunday last week for the first time in years (too busy with other stuff!!) I was pleased to see that there were still tonnes of tulips around. They certainly were a little worse for wear thanks to the rough weather in the previous week, but considering that, I was still impressed by the remaining display.

*****

On Saturday I had some time with fellow Stampin Up team members as we had a team day. This turned out to be lots of fun – there was a shoe box swap. Every prepares their swaps and puts everything required into a container. We all take a box to work on, create the project from the box and end up going home with 9 projects that we’ve made ourselves! Great concept.

*****

Donna and I agreed to run a couple of craft sessions for kids at the community centre. Last week it was buttons and all manner of broches, necklaces, rings, flowers and bracelets were created by a group of kids. This week we’re doing puppets on Wednesday – sock puppets, finger puppets, and paper plate puppets. This session is aimed to include slightly younger kids as well so I’m curious as to how many will show up.

*****

Hubby has just got confirmation that he will be going to Malaysia for a couple of weeks worth of work  soon. I’m doing my best to not be all green-jelly. I would love to pack up and head over as well!! I think if he’d been going over longer, I’d definitely arranged for me and the Mr’s to be included!!

And just because I haven’t got any pictures in here yet, here’s one just to pretty things up a bit: