Oh god, has it really been this long. So sorry dear blog.
Well, 3 days ago myself and the two daughters arrived back home after 26 days abroad. Mostly in London but also 2 days in Paris, 3 days in Hong Kong and one day spent with relatives in Cambridge.
The main plan was to catch up with the Awol husband and try to remember what he looked like once more. Secondary motives were art galleries and fun and adventure although the adventure was hard to get when travelling with 2 young madams. Still, fantastic holiday and am feeling quite recharged after it and ready for 2008 part deux.
Pity that New Zealand is so damn wet at the moment, it is not helping with the 'ole get into it feeling I had when I was flying home. And I'm very happy for all the farmers who needed rain and very happy for our reservoirs which desperately needed rain but a couple of days of fine a week is surely not too much to ask? Huh, huh?
Anyway, despite the soggy country, it is good to be home and when the fine periods do sneak on through, I have been thoroughly enjoying getting reaquainted with my beautiful sea vista and my little beach town. There is no place like home.
And I even continued to be a good girl on holiday and watched what I ate and came back slightly lighter for the effort so the project of turning me into a healthy machine is ticking along nicely as well.
There are of course a few things that are crying out to be blogged about and these will be dealt with in due course. Parisiens for example, oh there is a lot to be said about them, especially the few who tried to swindle money out of us. The locals in Hong Kong and their very bad habit of queue jumping at every opportunity and photographing every single thing that has a pair of eyes or moves. How many photos of the many tanks of jellyfish do you really need for your family albums?
The Marks and Spencer food supermarkets in London. Okay, I now know these are not meant to be real supermarkets but when there is nowhere else to go for your weekly shopping needs in the district, you would think they would stock toilet paper and soap for chrissakes! And the english summer. Hmm. To be fair it was lovely and hot when we arrived but a few days later the rain came in and then after that the sky just seemed too scared to be truly fine or nicely hot again.
Okay, but it was a great holiday and my most exciting thing is all the major artworks we saw. I think I can safely say that out of the top 20 most famous paintings in the world, we have probably seen about 2/3 of them now. That is very cool. And even the girls appreciate the fact that they have viewed some very famous stuff.
Right then, there's a taster of the long awaited holiday but I will be back to write more. I've got lots to write about now so it would be rude not to.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Qwertyuiop
Hoorah! Looks like its Obama afterall, thank you jebus, now he's just gotta beat that other guy...
Anyway, wanted a different post here so this is my favourite piece of prose from when I was a kid written by that allstar of literature: Anonymous.
Upon a hill I saw a horse,
I looked again - it was gone;
It must have moved.
Anyway, wanted a different post here so this is my favourite piece of prose from when I was a kid written by that allstar of literature: Anonymous.
Upon a hill I saw a horse,
I looked again - it was gone;
It must have moved.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Obama please.
This is a dicey subject for anyone not from the United States but I'm going to throw my opinion out there anyway.
The big question on many peoples lips at the moment is Obama or Clinton? And for us foreigners it isn't particularly that US politics interests us, it really is a genuine concern to see Bush gone and someone, anyone better please (read democrat), get elected in.
In fact I think that the US people owe this much to themselves, not to mention the rest of the world, after enduring Bush and his bumbling foreign policy for 8 years. And given how rarely the US media reports fairly and without bias on world affairs, perhaps it is us in the rest of the world that have had more to suffer.
A harsh observation? Maybe, but I honestly believe there is more than an element of truth in there as well. I mean, have you guys actually watched Fox or NBC news recently? Scary stuff.
A friend of mine regularly hosts clients from all across America in their home here in Whangaparaoa and we were discussing world opinions recently when the topic of their houseguests came up.
The most recent guests were shocked at our lack of reports on the Iraq 'war' and couldn't believe that no-one was mentioning it. They were quoted as saying "Don't you people know there's a war going on?" Actually, no there isn't but that's more a matter of semantics.
There is an American offensive in Iraq going on which has followed on from an American invasion but nowhere there is the definition of a war which is essentially a 'contest carried on by a force of arms'. I think when one side has all the arms, and the other side is made up of extremists with secondhand weapons and a broken defeated populace, it is hardly a fair contest in anyone's book.
But I digress, and apologise if anyone disagrees with my simplified view of things. Back to the race at hand.
I back Obama. Very simple and I hope he wins this thing and becomes president because he offers such a breath of fresh air that America hasn't seen since possibly Lincoln.
It's a shame that the first genuine opportunity for a woman president happens to be running against him and being a woman, I am sad at this lost chance for another female world leader but that's just the way it is.
He is the better candidate, better person, advocates fairer policies and let's face it, he is very charismatic and captures the public in a way that Clinton simply fails to do.
She has all the charisma of a bulldog tied to the fence with a big juicy steak just out of reach. Chomping at the bit to get closer, and snarling at anyone who comes too near. Personal candidate attacks have been very one-sided in her favour and her policies are quite old school and outdated.
This is all of course my personal assessment of the democrat race but the possibility of having an American president like Barack Obama really excites me and must do something similar for the American people surely.
To raise US standing in world opinion once more has to be desirable and Obama is just the man for the job. He has the personality to banish the currently popular pasttime of America bashing and in general, he has the goods to restore approval for USA once more.
I like americans quite a bit and the only ones I cringe at are usually on reality TV and not really a fair indication of the country as a whole. Politicians tend to be in a group all by themselves (true of every country) so they don't count but US citizens are pretty cool people and deserve a pretty cool president.
I'll keep my fingers crossed and how good would it be to appeal to everyone and run an Obama/Clinton ticket with Obama for president and Clinton for vice? Oh, I hope so.
Now I should read up on local policies as we also have an election this year and I am hoping for a long needed change here as well. Australia and Britain have changed leaders recently, perhaps it is a new world trend. Fingers crossed.
The big question on many peoples lips at the moment is Obama or Clinton? And for us foreigners it isn't particularly that US politics interests us, it really is a genuine concern to see Bush gone and someone, anyone better please (read democrat), get elected in.
In fact I think that the US people owe this much to themselves, not to mention the rest of the world, after enduring Bush and his bumbling foreign policy for 8 years. And given how rarely the US media reports fairly and without bias on world affairs, perhaps it is us in the rest of the world that have had more to suffer.
A harsh observation? Maybe, but I honestly believe there is more than an element of truth in there as well. I mean, have you guys actually watched Fox or NBC news recently? Scary stuff.
A friend of mine regularly hosts clients from all across America in their home here in Whangaparaoa and we were discussing world opinions recently when the topic of their houseguests came up.
The most recent guests were shocked at our lack of reports on the Iraq 'war' and couldn't believe that no-one was mentioning it. They were quoted as saying "Don't you people know there's a war going on?" Actually, no there isn't but that's more a matter of semantics.
There is an American offensive in Iraq going on which has followed on from an American invasion but nowhere there is the definition of a war which is essentially a 'contest carried on by a force of arms'. I think when one side has all the arms, and the other side is made up of extremists with secondhand weapons and a broken defeated populace, it is hardly a fair contest in anyone's book.
But I digress, and apologise if anyone disagrees with my simplified view of things. Back to the race at hand.
I back Obama. Very simple and I hope he wins this thing and becomes president because he offers such a breath of fresh air that America hasn't seen since possibly Lincoln.
It's a shame that the first genuine opportunity for a woman president happens to be running against him and being a woman, I am sad at this lost chance for another female world leader but that's just the way it is.
He is the better candidate, better person, advocates fairer policies and let's face it, he is very charismatic and captures the public in a way that Clinton simply fails to do.
She has all the charisma of a bulldog tied to the fence with a big juicy steak just out of reach. Chomping at the bit to get closer, and snarling at anyone who comes too near. Personal candidate attacks have been very one-sided in her favour and her policies are quite old school and outdated.
This is all of course my personal assessment of the democrat race but the possibility of having an American president like Barack Obama really excites me and must do something similar for the American people surely.
To raise US standing in world opinion once more has to be desirable and Obama is just the man for the job. He has the personality to banish the currently popular pasttime of America bashing and in general, he has the goods to restore approval for USA once more.
I like americans quite a bit and the only ones I cringe at are usually on reality TV and not really a fair indication of the country as a whole. Politicians tend to be in a group all by themselves (true of every country) so they don't count but US citizens are pretty cool people and deserve a pretty cool president.
I'll keep my fingers crossed and how good would it be to appeal to everyone and run an Obama/Clinton ticket with Obama for president and Clinton for vice? Oh, I hope so.
Now I should read up on local policies as we also have an election this year and I am hoping for a long needed change here as well. Australia and Britain have changed leaders recently, perhaps it is a new world trend. Fingers crossed.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Now that was a while and a half..
..wasn't it?
I wasn't intending to not blog for that long but I reorganised my priorities recently and top of the list is now yours truly and this health kick I'm doing. Not much time left after that. Not many stories either as the life of a healthnut is as dull as a sloth on sleeping pills.
Oh well, moving on. I've lost 10 kilos now (or 22 pounds for those not in the know) and have toned up considerably thanks to a newfound motivation to go to a gym.
This exercise thing is quite weird, not really me but I've gotta say that I'm enjoying it at the moment so we won't rock the boat at this stage by saying anything we'll regret. It took me 2 months to get to this point of going to the gym by myself so a long road travelled already.
My nutrition surprises me daily as I still remember what crap I was eating only 3 months ago and can't quite believe that I've taken to these new food ideas so easily or so diligently. That has been a huge part of the 10 kilo loss as the exercise is relatively new to the scene.
But enough of that boring stuff.
I'm also involved with the school's Stage Challenge show again this year and I am making a Dalek outfit and the 9 planets as dresses, and a couple of other smaller things. Again, I've taken on a big job and have started to panic slightly but that is just the way we do things in my family. The old 'she'll be right' attitude and the 'leave it to the last minute' mentality.
Gawd. Help me Jebus.
I also have a fully functioning art studio and I might even get the rest of the furniture moved into it this weekend so it will really look finished.
The hubby did a fantastic job on converting the garage and this room is quite beautiful - I would post pictures but I'm getting my computer fixed at the moment so you'll have to wait and just imagine the awesomeness of my new room.
Speaking of the hubby, I am hubbyless once more as he left our sunny shores for Asia about 2 weeks ago. He's got another week and a half there and then will be heading on to London for a week before he jumps the Atlantic to the US (and a quick jaunt to Canada for the Grand Prix as you do) and back to London again.
The good part is that end of June we will be joining him in London for our very long awaited Europe holiday and we are getting very excited. 5 1/2 weeks to go!
I still have these two daughters of mine floating around the place although they are growing up and are very forgetful and self involved. Normal tween stuff I expect. That's all right, I'm just being forgetful and self involved right back at them.
When in Rome...
Righto then, the cooking hour is here and I'd better feed the creatures before they shrivel up.
Have a lovely weekend all.
I wasn't intending to not blog for that long but I reorganised my priorities recently and top of the list is now yours truly and this health kick I'm doing. Not much time left after that. Not many stories either as the life of a healthnut is as dull as a sloth on sleeping pills.
Oh well, moving on. I've lost 10 kilos now (or 22 pounds for those not in the know) and have toned up considerably thanks to a newfound motivation to go to a gym.
This exercise thing is quite weird, not really me but I've gotta say that I'm enjoying it at the moment so we won't rock the boat at this stage by saying anything we'll regret. It took me 2 months to get to this point of going to the gym by myself so a long road travelled already.
My nutrition surprises me daily as I still remember what crap I was eating only 3 months ago and can't quite believe that I've taken to these new food ideas so easily or so diligently. That has been a huge part of the 10 kilo loss as the exercise is relatively new to the scene.
But enough of that boring stuff.
I'm also involved with the school's Stage Challenge show again this year and I am making a Dalek outfit and the 9 planets as dresses, and a couple of other smaller things. Again, I've taken on a big job and have started to panic slightly but that is just the way we do things in my family. The old 'she'll be right' attitude and the 'leave it to the last minute' mentality.
Gawd. Help me Jebus.
I also have a fully functioning art studio and I might even get the rest of the furniture moved into it this weekend so it will really look finished.
The hubby did a fantastic job on converting the garage and this room is quite beautiful - I would post pictures but I'm getting my computer fixed at the moment so you'll have to wait and just imagine the awesomeness of my new room.
Speaking of the hubby, I am hubbyless once more as he left our sunny shores for Asia about 2 weeks ago. He's got another week and a half there and then will be heading on to London for a week before he jumps the Atlantic to the US (and a quick jaunt to Canada for the Grand Prix as you do) and back to London again.
The good part is that end of June we will be joining him in London for our very long awaited Europe holiday and we are getting very excited. 5 1/2 weeks to go!
I still have these two daughters of mine floating around the place although they are growing up and are very forgetful and self involved. Normal tween stuff I expect. That's all right, I'm just being forgetful and self involved right back at them.
When in Rome...
Righto then, the cooking hour is here and I'd better feed the creatures before they shrivel up.
Have a lovely weekend all.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Chainsaw Massacre anyone?
I am painting one of these up to resemble a robot for a school production but first I had to bring it home.
Little Miss 9 sat in the front seat and wore it all the way, twisting her head in funny ways whenever we passed people - it was freaking hilarious!
The looks we got were priceless.
If you're ever feeling down just put one of these masks on a small child and drive about town with them. Never fails.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Still here.
Yep, I am indeed, although 6.25 kilos less of me than when I last wrote.
Overall, we've just been enjoying having the husband and daddy back, enjoying the still glorious weather that is persisting in holding Autumn at bay, and enjoying the beach life that this part of the world offers.
And yes, I'm still keeping to my revised and healthier diet and it is doing wonders for everything, my hair, my skin, my sanity and well-being. I even like going out places a bit now.
Not so much painting unfortunately but the lovely husband has almost got my new art studio to the painting walls stage so watch this space.
I even went to a Pump class at the gym on monday although my muscles still haven't recovered and hurt so bad. Little Miss 9 and the husband are taking an evil delight in poking my legs in the sorest spots.
I think I had more to write but I have to go and relieve my car from the jungle growing within otherwise I will never fit any children in the thing to take them home from school today.
Plant shop trip this morning.
Hope you are all well.
Overall, we've just been enjoying having the husband and daddy back, enjoying the still glorious weather that is persisting in holding Autumn at bay, and enjoying the beach life that this part of the world offers.
And yes, I'm still keeping to my revised and healthier diet and it is doing wonders for everything, my hair, my skin, my sanity and well-being. I even like going out places a bit now.
Not so much painting unfortunately but the lovely husband has almost got my new art studio to the painting walls stage so watch this space.
I even went to a Pump class at the gym on monday although my muscles still haven't recovered and hurt so bad. Little Miss 9 and the husband are taking an evil delight in poking my legs in the sorest spots.
I think I had more to write but I have to go and relieve my car from the jungle growing within otherwise I will never fit any children in the thing to take them home from school today.
Plant shop trip this morning.
Hope you are all well.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Milestones.
With daughters so much older than everyone else's and so independent, it had completely slipped my mind that we still have a few milestones to achieve before I relinquish all parenting duties and send them on their merry way into the big bad world.Yesterday I bought my eldest daughter training bras.
The younger one giggled a bit then told me what kind she wants when its her turn.
My babies are growing up.
I have tried a couple of times to convince my daughter that the time is right but she just blew me off. Thank god for best friends though because her one has just started wearing bras and suddenly it didn't seem so silly anymore.
Quite momentous this really.
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