Hippety Hop....Shop 'til you DROP!

I'm preoccupied.

You see, for those that don't know i'm heading back home to Scotland for a visit with my family in September. For a month! The exclamation mark is there for a couple of reasons.

1. I am going to be free from my current home and daily grind for....a month!

2. I am going to be away from my cosy wee home here for....a month!

3. I am going to be back living with my wonderful parents and spending quality time with them for....a month!

4. I am going to be back living with my parents for....a month! (note to mum who's an avid reader - do not take offence, simply put yourself in the same situation with two small children and you'll get the point *mwah*. Humour Mum, humour - blame dad.)

5. I am going back to Scotland, the United Kingdom, and a Shopping Mecca......FOR A MONTH!(New Zealand is great, but you cannot compare the shopping unfortunately).

I am SO excited about all of these things, but I am super excited about shopping.

I think I may have even forgotten how to do it. I haven't done it well, um, gosh for such a long time. Shopping folks!

I've started making lists, mental lists of how much extra luggage will be required to bring my loot back.

Shoes, tops, jeans, boots, cardi's, trainers, underwear - OOOH! Marks and Spencer Lingerie Department, I've missed you so much! And Tesco for food shopping - oh, the variety. What am I going to do with myself, I think I may just be overwhelmed by it all.

Only 4 months and counting.

We've been invaded!

...by some of these.

Euch! Mice. I still can't believe there's (how many?) up in our loft/ ceiling cavity.

Of course they are quite hospitable guests through the day. Quiet, hardly a squeak (sorry), but when darkness falls those little fellows think that our house is one massive playground.

Bait has been laid, but the darling things aren't biting. Hmm. What do we do? Wait for them to leave of their own accord or evict them forcefully?

Little Miss E has been awake at 5:30am for the last 3 mornings because of the scratching above her room. We've had numerous conversations about getting rid of the mice. She gets very concerned that we're going to kill the little tikes and as every mother of a 3 nearly 4 year old will know, many, many, MANY questions later, we're no further forward with her concerns. It literally is like a vortex of interrogation. I'll stress my point again that children of this age should be used as interrogators by the armed forces. Not that I condone war or indeed that kind of interrogation, but hey they would be good at it!

So, here we are 3 days later and how many mice? How long is the gestation period for mice? If the poison doesn't work, then in 7 more days, how many mice will there be? STOP. NO. I can't handle this, I'll be having nightmares of the world being overtaken by vermin if I just don't stop thinking about it...

If the poison works then who will collect the mice? How will we know we've gotten them all? We don't know how many there were to start off with. There's a lot of space up there. Nooks. Crannies. *holds hand to head in dismay*

Before I do, here's the first verse to one of my very favourite poems by Robert Burns (famous Scottish Poet) called To A Mouse.


Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous beastie,
Oh what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hastie,
Wi' bickering brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an chase thee,
Wi murd'ring prattle!


You can read the rest of it here.

This is too much for me, I'm off to lie down.

Lack of Inspiration

I haven't been on here for a while as I found having no camera means that I can't capture my inspirational moments and write about them. I should be able to write without photos, but I can't. Here's a bit of what I've been up to or am planning to get up to.

Home

Some landscaping of a small area around our sandpit for the kids. This sandpit (which I would show you if I had a camera - argh!) has a wooden lid on it which Ella just loves to stand on and watch herself in the glass windows. She dances and sings and can while away many moments. Its so cute to watch, but don't get caught looking at her or you'll get two barrels! So now it doubles as a stage and a sandpit, two uses for the price of one.

Crafting

Had an awesome day with my recession busters/ Right at home group. We did scrapbooking which I've never done before. I started a little keepsake photo album for Ella and Leo and I'm inspired to get moving and do more now.

Kitchen

Still baking bread, although it's been a wee bit erratic the past couple of weeks. So some store bought staples are helping to get us by.

Music Man is an avid peanut butter fan and I just realised recently that its really easy to make. Simply peanuts and a little oil. So that's my next project. Just need to work out how to store it and how long it will keep.

Family

Still keeping up with family back home in Scotland and can't wait to see them all in Sept. Got some great news that my sister is expecting again. Not due until end Nov and I'm looking forward to it already. Mum finished her Chemo and has started on Radiotherapy and almost at the end of her short term treatment for BC; long term will be hormone therapy.

Me

Tired, stressed only occasionally and watching the weeks pass so quickly at the moment. Honestly, I'm starting to think about Christmas already, but its mid-April for goodness sake! Where has the year gone.

We're lucky that the weather here is still quite Summery most days and i'm quite happy about that, long may it continue.

For now, its over and out. Don't know when I'll be back, maybe later, maybe tomorrow, but soon hopefully.

Happy days everyone!

The Kaiapoi Women's Institute

A couple of months ago I spoke to my friend, lets give her a blog name...Martha (you know who you are!), about getting together with a bunch of like minded ladies, generally Mums. The purpose was to share homemaking/crafting/gardening ideas with each other. This went down a treat as Martha had been thinking the same, and in fact her sister had set up a group where she lives. So we set about getting our little club together, and hey presto, the Kaiapoi Women's Institute (youth division) was born.

Here's the current KWI members (must think of a better name!)

Mrs T - Friend, Working Mum, 1 son, 1 Husband, 1 Golden Labrador puppy soon to be received. Look forward to meeting you Bessie!

P4Perfect (formerly P-Lala) - Friend, Sister in Law, Domestic Engineer, 2 sons, 1 Husband and soon to be new home owners at the wonderful Pegasus Town development. Why can't you stay living in the VM Commune?? What's wrong with us?

Martha - Founding Friend, Working Mum, 2 sons, 1 husband, 1 doggie called Morris, 1 insatiable appetite for anything gardening/crafty/baking etc etc etc. Do you get the name connection? Here's her blog; http://fromplot2plate.blogspot.com/

And last, but most certainly not least...

Miss MoneyP - Newest friend and a great find! - Working Mum (2 jobs), 2 daughters, 1 Husband, hidden craft talent, Netball/Athletics Extrordinaire.

Last week we met for the second time. We shared recipes, ate a wonderful frozen cheesecake made by this months host, Mrs T. Quaffed some wine (the painting took some concentration, so not a huge amount was quaffed). It was simply wonderful! Our purpose is to cover some of these topics on a monthly basis;

• In the Garden
• In the Kitchen
• In the Cleaning Cupboard
• In the Craft Basket
• In my Mind

Of course in a fun, non serious/but deadly serious kind of way.

Most of the subjects are self explanatory and In my Mind I feel is the opportunity for us to have a moan and groan or chat about anything that might be bothering us. Which I reckon I could probably hold court with for most of our meet up.

We decided on our first night to do Miss MoneyP's kids paintings. Boy did I think it would be a challenge. However, it was surprisingly easy. I haven't yet finished my cow painting for Master L's bedroom, but here's a picture of our wee group and our achievements. Aren't they fab??


Suggestions on a name other than Kaiapio Women's Institute are all welcome. In fact they are invited!

Auld Davie

My Papa (Mum's Dad) passed away on Thu 11th March. It was his 84th birthday. For those of you that may not know, my family are all in Ayrshire in Scotland and I live in New Zealand with my husband and kids. I haven't felt the distance between my family and I as much as I do right at this moment.

I'd give anything to be with my family to help them mourn and join in their grief. But I can't be there. My kids need me and I need my kids right now. On Friday, I spent most of the day writing a little poem that I'm hoping will be able to be read at his funeral on Thursday.

A Tribute to Auld Davie

Shaking your false teeth, making gurning faces,
Grabbing my knee, tickling me in different places
You’d continue until I’d squeal in defeat,
Then stand me up and dance whilst I stood on your feet.

Sitting down to many Sunday dinners that Gran used to cook
You’d distract me and point out the window to “look!”
Then season my Sunday lunch with pepper, your favourite,
Get the meat on your plate, cos you knew that I hated it.

My Papa, My friend… A big torment!

Holidays, parties, family times, a lot to remember
As I write this my heart is like a burning ember
Funny songs, silly nicknames, Dirty Agnes was one,
I remember we used to have so much fun,
Planes, steam trains and pipe band music,
Playing on your keyboard, and teaching me how to use it.

Tales of the good old days and photographs to ponder,
I’d look into your face with a huge sense of wonder,
Sitting on your knee, never to old for a cuddle,
Then you got older and your mind started to get in a guddle.

You’d get confused with our names, never find the right one,
You reverted to calling everyone “Lass” or “Son”
Too many to remember I used to say,
You just continued to do it your way

Today I give thanks, for the time that we had.
My memories they simply make me so glad,
That I knew you, I love you and I’ll always have,
The best parts of you with me, here in my heart.

Goodbye Papa. xx

**NEWSFLASH**

Numbers 1 and 7 from the previous post are now struck off the list. Can I get a "hell-yeah!"?

Here are some other events that require recognition.

Today = bad day. As in one of those Mummy days where you shout at your kids for doing kid stuff and then you feel guilty for shouting at them. Then you feel mad at them for feeling guilty for shouting at them, cos if they hadn't been awake between 1:30am and 4am then you wouldn't be feeling so god-damned crabbit and cranky to shout at them in the first place.

Cue tears at playgroup this morning. Thanks Auntie P-la-la (your new blog name) for the hug.

However, I can confirm that today is almost over and I've survived.

Music Man in Auckland overnight on business. Kids fed, bathed and in bed asleep before 7pm with no tears and mummy shouting. Cue *fanfare*

Today was a contradiction of emotions. Nothing a glass of fine red didn't sort out.

Now, where's my to-do list....?

I've been busy, busy, busy....

...procrastinating!

Yes, its been one of those weeks already. Here's the stuff I haven't done.

1. Haven't paid the speeding fine I got travelling to our holiday home. There's something about Murchison (place) and me. Last year in the same town, travelling to the same place, I reversed Music Man's car into a parked 4 wheel drive. This year a cop with his blues and two's howling pulled me over for speeding in a 100kph zone. I'll tell you I was clocked at 113kph. I am sorry, truly sorry, but I was having a debate with Ella in the back seat. Just like the year before. Thankfully this year, Music Man and I didn't have to argue about it!!

2. Paid car insurance, i've still got another week to get onto that one. Can you see a common theme?

3. Organised a meal planner for the week, so we're just having a "what shall we pull out of the freezer today" week.

4. Tidied the computer desk.

5. Applied for Kiwi and UK passports for Master L.

6. Tidied out my car.

7. Cleaned my car.

8. Looked at places to go for a holiday in Scotland.

9. Ironed Music Man's shirts.

10. Cleaned out the fridge.

11. Blogged about our Holiday.

There are innumerable (word?) other things I haven't included above that are boring and mundane, but still need to be done.

On the upside I have achieved a few things this week.

1. Spoken to Mum and Sister on the phone.

2. Spoken to Emirates on the phone to do various bits like confirming seats, meals and accommodation for our trip.

3. Watered houseplants.

4. Had my sis-in-law over for lunch yesterday.

5. Did a load of washing.

6. Procrastinated.

7. Procrastinated some more.

8. Blogged on here, which is probably classed as procrastination too.

Well, the way I look at it, some weeks you win and achieve a helluva lot. Other weeks, it starts badly and you've just got to do as much damage limitation possible.

My damage limitation last night involved eating too many chocolate biscuits whilst folding a pile of washing and watching Greys Anatomy and Private Practice.

What? You didn't know I've got no self-control?

At least I can multi-task.