Another Project Completed

About this time last year, maybe longer, I decided to make an advent calendar. Well, needless to say, I didn't finish it last year, and since I didn't get it done in December, I just folded it away... out of sight, out of mind.
This time I decided now that Mr 2 is allowed chocolate and treats, I'd finish it. And over that last 3 weeks I have! I just need to print out the numbers and fill it up with treats, and buy a fancy rope to hang it up with.
So hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to go to Spotlight for the finishing touches.

Sick of Rugby?

I'm not a rugby fan. however, I am excited that NZ is hosting the big event this year. I have a NZ flag, and an Irish flag attached to my car. So I'm gutted that Ireland just lost :(
I have watched a few games (or snippets of games) as my husband has to watch all the games. Tonight though, 2 games in a row, it's just too much. So I thought I'd see what else was on:
TV1 - Rugby
TV2 - Pirates Of The Caribbean - I'm not a fan, although Johnny is not too bad
TV3 - Rugby
TV4 - Paddle Pop Begins - Don't even know what that is
Maori TV - Rugby!
Early night tonight I think.

DAY 29 - A Parent/Grandparent AND DAY 30 - A self portrait

I decided to do a 2-for-1 post. I'm a parent, and I'm me :) This is taken today while I was waiting in the car with the kids, while mum popped into the shop.

DAY 28 - Todays outfit

DAY 27 - Eyes

My big boys beautiful eyes.

DAY 26 - The shoes you have on today

My comfy $15 KMart slippers.

DAY 25 - Your latest purchase

I actually had a chance to go shopping today, for groceries, not luxury items like clothes! pfft, that was years ago when I had time to do that.
This is the last thing I put in the trolley, I left the kids with Nan, and Isaac cried (aww, poor him, but so sweet that he didn't want me to go, he's never been like that before for me)... so I decided I had enough money to go back to the confectionery aisle and get him a choc fish, which I then decided to not give him. It can sit there as a bribe for eating his veges at dinner tonight.

DAY 24 - Favourite food or favourite recipe

I LOVE CHEESE! Sliced, grated, melted, plastic Cheese, Mac Cheese, Cheese on toast, Cheese in a fresh bread sandwich, Cheese with Apple, Cheese on veges.

DAY 23 - Something random/quirky

Oops, been getting a bit behind again! But here we go... This is where Isaac likes to put his phone sometimes.

DAY 22 - Close up

Everyone in our house loves this! This is the control to fun times, whether it's cartoons, movies or gaming.

DAY 21 - Your letterbox

This is my letterbox, can you tell I forgot to take a photo until just now!? That's why it's dark :)

DAY 20 - Your hometown

My hometown - AUCKLAND! The best city in the world. hehe :)

DAY 19 - Happiness

I was going to skip today's one, as I feel depressed. But while I was writing my post I came up with an idea for a photo.
I've done 4 loads of washing, and hung out 3 of them so far. I took Mr Two to Mainly Music, where he cried and screamed the whole time, then Mr Baby decided to cry too! So I left early, and was all defeated. So I feel far from happy today. I'll feel better after coffee with the girls tomorrow morning.

DAY 18 - Grass

DAY 17 - Sand

Today I raced to the beach on my way home from the hospital (visiting my dad), jumped out the car, left the kids in the car and took a quick 'sand' photo!

DAY 16 - Childhood Memory

I don't remember this exact moment, but this was the closest photo I could find to my memory... I was in the paddling pool, and there was a bee in the water, and it stung me :( That's just a split second memory I have, I don't remember much at all from my childhood.

DAY 14 - A hobby of yours

Oops, I missed Day 14! Here we go:
After I'd finished laughing so hard at the thought of having a hobby, I decided to look up its definition:
hob·by/ˈhäbē/
1. An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.
Then I laughed some more... how do I, a mother of two, a wife, a home owner, a daughter, a daughter in law, have time for hobbies!?!
This is my photo, these bags are just the start of my scrapbooking, I also have 2-3 40/60L full storage boxes out in the shed. I LOVE scrapbooking, and I can't wait to have a dedicated space set up for it. I am one year behind in the boys scrap books, but I hope to get up to date before they turn 21.

DAY 15 - Before & After

This is my 'area' in the lounge, this is it before I live in it. And after about 24hours it looks like the 'after' shot. It's a total mess! But it's all my stuff to do, people to ring, reference stuff. Boy, oh boy, do we need an office in this house!! :)

DAY 13 - Your favourite colour

I don't really have a fave colour. But today, and for the rest of the RWC I'll go with green for Ireland (unless the ABs are playing, then it's black).

DAY 12 - Wheels

This is the wheel on my car. It's scratched and dirty, but that's life.

DAY 11 - Water

I am trying to drink 8 glasses of water a day... today this is my 5th glass. I'm doing pretty well today, previously I was lucky to be having 3 day!
Water is good for making breast milk, which I need to make at the moment, and great for losing weight, which I also need to do. :)

DAY 10 - A nice view

Some beach in Hawaii. Went here for our honeymoon 7 years ago. I don't remember the name of it, all i remember is that it is down a steep hil, it was 50c to get the bus down, and $1 to get it back up haha. A nice view from the top though.

DAY 9 - You with some of your favourite things

This is me with a few of my favourite things....
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things....
I love that song, but I can never remember the lyrics, I digress... It was a quick photo, with the things I use everyday, that usually always sit next to me on my couch, so they were all handy: laptop, facebook, camera, ipod, cellphone, gina fords baby book, my hoodie, and my trackpants & slippers (although not shown in this photo).

DAY 8 - Sunshine

I had pre-written a few of these photo-a-day blogs, until now! woopsy! Now they are getting away from me.
It was last night when I looked to see that the next photo was "sunshine" and where was I going to find sunshine at 10pm?! Nowhere. And our photo harddrive was turned off because we had been away, so I couldn't even look for an old photo.
I did think about taking a photo of my husband and said he was the sunshine in my life... but I didn't want to get all sappy.
So today, it's been raining on and off all day. Finally the sun is shining and my clothes are outside, undercover, on the clothes horses in case it rains and gets windy so I can bring them inside in a weather type emergency.

DAY 7 - Flowers

This is a weedy flower growing next to a tree I have. I'm not really a flower person, and I hate gardening. However, if my husband decided to get me flowers I'd LOVE it!

DAY 6 - Clouds

DAY 5 - A Pet (past or present)

This is our Nala cat. I wanted to photograph Cola, but he didn't want to show up for the photo shoot, he's such a Diva. Nala is far more professional. We have had Cola & Nala for about 11 years now.
However, a few days after I took this photo, Cola decided he did want to be on my blog, and showed up to the next photo shoot:

DAY 4 - Black & white

I love how I managed to capture the love these two have for each other without them noticing. It was so sweet to catch that special and private moment on camera.

DAY 3 - A creative project

First, let me start by saying "Happy 7 yr Wedding Anniversary to ME! (& my hubby)".
Now, back to the blog at hand...
I have actually completed a few crafty projects recently, this is not one of them. Here is one, and this is the other.
I saw a blog on how to make a card wallet, went and bought the fabric, and that's all so far. I had more fun setting up the photo than I will making the wallet.

DAY 2 - Your favourite place

I have lots of favourite places, so it depends how you define 'favourite' and 'place'. But my everyday favourite place is here, in bed, nice and warm, and asleep with peace and quiet, the best time to enjoy this place is when its morning, and you you are awake enough to enjoy it, but still asleep enough to be resting. Since I never get that, it's one thing i miss the most, and look forward to having back one day, in about 3 years time; when we finish having kids and I don't need to breast feed them. Oh, it would be nice to have a hangover in my bed one morning.

DAY 1 - You with someone you love

Since I have a busy week next week, I am giving myself a head start on this challenge, it will mean I can skip a day or two, and not get behind :)
This is my hubby. I told him to pose for the photo and smile... He decides to pull this face, and I say "You know this is going on my blog"
Hubby "HUH? WHAT?!"
"HAHAHAHA, too late now buddy, I've taken the photo and I told you to smile"
SHAME! But I do love him really.

Photo a day for September

So myself and 2 good friends ( Kiwi Kellz and Nikki ) felt that our blogging updates were severely lacking. We needed something to get us back into the land of blog.

We have seen many other challenges like this and thought we would come up with our own one. So. Starting on Monday we will each post a photo a day with a quick blurb about it, in the hopes we will get back into it.

Wanna join us? The photo topics are below, feel free to put links to your posts on the bottom of our ones if you want to join in, the more the merrier!!!

30 DAY PHOTO CHALLENGE
DAY 1 - You with someone you love
DAY 2 - Your favourite place
DAY 3 - A creative project
DAY 4 - Black & white
DAY 5 - A Pet (past or present)
DAY 6 - Clouds
DAY 7 - Flowers
DAY 8 - Sunshine
DAY 9 - You with some of your favourite things
DAY 10 - A nice view
DAY 11 - Water
DAY 12 - Wheels
DAY 13 - Your favourite colour
DAY 14 - A hobby of yours
DAY 15 - Before & After
DAY 16 - Childhood Memory
DAY 17 - Sand
DAY 18 - Grass
DAY 19 - Happiness
DAY 20 - Your hometown
DAY 21 - Your letterbox
DAY 22 - Close up
DAY 23 - Something random/quirky
DAY 24 - Favourite food or favourite recipe
DAY 25 - Your latest purchase
DAY 26 - The shoes you have on today
DAY 27 - Eyes
DAY 28 - Todays outfit (yours or the kids)
DAY 29 - A Parent/Grandparent
DAY 30 - A self portrait

Nappy Wallet Project

On Tuesday I went to the big Spotlight sale to get some fabric (more fabric than I already have stockpiled!) for making a nappy wallet.
What is most amazing is that I finished them tonight! That's less than a week to buy fabric AND make them!
I am so pleased with myself :) And these will be great for using when on the plane, or going out for a quick coffee etc etc.
And this is my favourite feature - the popper/snap things. I bought them at Spotlight, not knowing how well they would work out, but they worked a treat! I'll definitely be using them again in future projects.

One down, a lot more to go!

So, at the beginning of March, nearly 6 months ago, I posted this about doing and finishing some crafty projects... I have had these felt memory cards started and unfinished for about 3 months, and yesterday, after 2 days of constant work (in between being a mum and wife) I finished them, it didn't really take that long to finish them off!
As you can see, they are a hit! I just hope they last long enough for my other kids to enjoy too.
I have already started my next project, so watch this space!

Cats, Rubbish & Property

We have two lovely old annoying cats. They think we don't feed them enough and they let us know by leaving things around the property, this is what I found YESTERDAY (one day only): Subway wrapper, Wendy's wrapper, Hot Chips pottle, Bakery bag, Bakery gladwrap! IN ONE DAY!
We always have food wrappers around our lawn and driveway, it's really gross, and I'm getting sick of it!
So when our 11yr cats die, that's it! no more pets!

Planting Stuff

I can't remember when I got these, maybe Christmas, maybe my birthday?
Anyway, I got them from my step-mother-in-law, who always seems to buy cool presents for us all! She has a real gift of not buying heaps of crap for the sake of buying presents.
And the awesome thing about these, are that they are herbs in a can, so I can 'plant' them when I'm ready. It's taken me months and months, but I was ready on 21 July!
You just open the can, add water, and keep them watered, but when I opened them up they had a bag marked "extra seed".
I wasn't sure if that meant EXTRA seed, or if it meant I had to put the seeds in, with the instructions in Chinese Engrish. But I thought I'd keep the extra seed and just wait and see if anything grew. So naturally I was a bit hesitant as to whether anything would grow. Plus the fact they had been sitting in the cupboard since I got them.

But less than 2 weeks later, and lots of water later, a sprout popped up on my chives! One of the most exciting days I've had in a while.


and then the other morning the parsley has just popped up too! YAY! Fresh herbs coming up for dinners soon :)

They are slowly growing, not nearly enough for a meal yet, but hopefully soon I'll have a thriving bunch of Chives & Parsley :) I'm considering putting the extra seeds in too, but I'm not sure how that will work out... I'll keep you updated.

Ready to Burst

It's been a while my blogger friends. Thought I'd get a post in before this alleged baby arrives. I'm due in 4 days, on Wednesday. But so far there have been no signs of it wanting to join us out in the real world.
Actually, that's not completely true, this afternoon I got a few pains, and I was hoping it was a sign, but they stopped, and I think it was just more the fact I was up and 'running' (aka waddling) around the garden with Isaac.
I had medium spiced butter chicken for dinner last night, it was kinda hot, but didn't burn for long enough, so maybe I need to get HOT butter chicken. We are going to get Thai for dinner tonight, so I'll spice that up a bit. And hopefully I'll try a few other old wives tales tonight.

I am still working my way thru my fabric memory cards. I realised yesterday that I don't have enough black felt to finish them (unless I've lost some somewhere?!) I actually think I doubled the amount I needed, instead of Quadrupling it. oopsy! preggy brain strikes again.

I'll be sure to post a blog once I've had the baby and show you pics, although, I think all of my followers are friends anyway, and you'll all see on facebook or in person! haha.

Wish me luck :)

Maybe Kids are 'easy'

So, Yesterday I was thinking, lying on the bed, with my feet above my heart. You only ever seem to hear, or maybe you only remember, the really horrifying stories about kids/babies.
Example One: Childbirth.
I've been reading a blog that a friend of mine has, and recently a few people have sent in their birth stories (Maybe I should have sent mine in, it would have been half the size!) And it's so sad, how so many people seem to have horrific birth experiences, and some have trouble getting over those experiences.
My labour was 'easy' and quick, 8 hours from the first signs of any labour to the birth of Isaac.
Example Two: Toddlers transitioning to beds.
I need the cot 'soon' for baby #2, we have a bassinet for the first few months, but thought we'd get Isaac into a bed before baby comes, we didn't expect to leave it this late (2-3weeks prior to my due date), but we are a lazy family and that's just how it is. I know of some people who's kids don't stay in bed after they've been in a bed for MONTHS! Part of me thinks "why don't they just be consistent and hardarse about about it!" but then part of me knows how hard that actually is.



We have been so lucky, First night in his Big Boy Bed, Isaac LOVED IT! sure, he chatted away for a while, and ended up upside down to fall asleep, but he was in his bed and did go to sleep. We were prepared for a long night ahead... next thing you know, it's 6.45am and he's happy playing with his toys. We went in to get him at 7am, and he's still sitting up in his bed waiting for us to get him up. My angel child :) And the 3 nights and 2 day sleeps he's had so far in his bed have been really good. No dramas; it did take him an hour to go to sleep yesterday afternoon, but a few silent trips down to his room to lie him down again worked a treat eventually.

I think the areas we'll have trouble in are toilet training and speech! But I won't be posting on that for at least 6 months. With a baby coming, it isn't a good time to be toilet training, plus, pregnant me can't be bothered chasing Isaac around the house and physically putting him on the potty.

I had some preggy photos taken over the weekend, and I've seen 5 of them via facebook, I was worried about how I'd look, being a fatty, but they actually look really good :) I'm happy with them. I am looking forward to being not pregnant, but happy to have just one child still.

Hormones, Tokyo, Birthday & Craftyness

WHAT A WEEK OR TWO!
It started brilliantly, I got into making my felt memory cards, I haven't worked on them for a few days, but I will today when Isaac is having his sleep. They are coming along VERY nicely, and I can't wait to show you all the finished product, hopefully before the end of the month. Then on Saturday I had my 30th family brunch (my family and the in-laws). It was really good, we went to The Library Cafe in Onehunga, it was good food, and the kids had a playground, as well as a little play area for really little ones. I will definitely be going back there for kiddie outings in the future.


How sad is this photo

Then on Friday night (the night before my brunch) my brother let us know that he had felt the massive earthquake in Tokyo. Which was fine, we weren't too worried, Tokyo is pretty earthquake proof, and wasn't in any tsunami danger. BUT then a few days later we find out that the nuclear power plant is on fire, they are evacuating areas, power plant workers are evacuated etc etc, then another fire, high levels of radiation detected around the place, everyone in Tokyo is moving south or going back to their home countries. My brothers guest house (like a boarding house) is like a ghost town, pretty much everyone has left. His boss is sending his own kids to USA! My bro is exhausted, from aftershocks, people evacuating, lack of food around the place. Me & Mum want him to come home, which he agreed to last night! YAY! But then at 3am this morning he had a Skype chat with the parents and he's decided to stay in Tokyo :( And of course there are a few extra complications with his passports and visas, but that's too much to go into! So we just hope since he's staying that he sorts those problems out NOW so if he does have to leave he'll have no problems.

So I'm really upset, I love my brother, and we get on really well. I miss him so much. And with this situation in Japan, I'm not sure if it's all preggy hormones, or if I'd actually feel this upset anyway. It's so hard to let him stay there, especially knowing he's exhausted and all his friends are leaving.

And on top of all this, I know the preggy hormones are starting to make me a bitch and I'm getting mad and angry at the husband! He's not helping out that much (in my 37 week pregnant opinion), and my 'cankles' are bigger than cankles! I can't keep my feet up all day, and husband expects food in the house, so I need to leave the house to the shops, he won't let me online grocery shop yet!

But today is St Pat's Day, and me and Isaac are Irish, so we are all dressed in green, and very festive :) Maybe I'll give Isaac some mouldy green bread for lunch.

Let the craftyness begin!

I was lazying around on the couch this afternoon, and hubby was playing with our son, and I thought, "STEPH GET OFF YOUR ARSE! AND SEW!" I was going to do my felt memory cards, but instead I procrastinated, to make a wrist pin cushion. Although this wasn't on my list from the other day, I have been wanting to make one. And I think it will be a helpful tool for making all the things I need to make :)
I even took photos as proof that I made it. It took me from about 4pm-7.30pm, in between finding elastic/ribbon in the shed, feeding Isaac and stacking the dishwasher etc etc. Not too bad methinks.

crafty blogs & inspiration

I have been following a crafty blog, and every Wednesday she gets 'everyone' to post a link to something crafty they have made that week (or month i suppose).
And every week I look at it and think "That's a good idea - I can do that" the only problem is, I say that to about 5 things each week. And I go out and buy supplies for 5 things a week, and end up with a whole lot of fabric, cotton, buttons, stickers and a lot of unfinished unstarted projects. (Slight exaggeration, but I do have lots of things on my wish list to buy, and have a couple of complete supplies for projects)
And I'll be lucky if I have time to do them in the next 4 weeks, never mind about when I have 2 kids!
So far I want to make:
- ruffle apron for me (I really want to buy fabric, but know I'll never get around to it)
- a painting apron for Isaac
- felt memory cards for the kids (I have EVERYTHING ready for making this, It even took 2 trips to spotlight and a trip to Geoff's Emporium)
- a bag to put my wrapping paper in
- a canvas with buttons spelling names (I have the buttons on my watchlist on trademe)
- a bucket hat for Isaac
I'm sure there are more in my Firefox bookmarks list, but I'm afraid to look for fear I'll end up at spotlight this afternoon!

That reminds me, when I'm rich, or when hubby is rich, I really want a Silhouette machine! Imagine the possibilities! they are endless. :)

Pregnant, Swollen, Depressed and in Denial

This baby is really starting to get in my way now!
AND tonight my feet/ankles are so swollen, and I was resting one foot on top of the other, and it took ages for my skin to pop back again... which concerns me slightly. I'd just better get to bed, with my feet above my heart, but with my neck/head above my stomach so I don't get heartburn... I have no idea how I'm going to manage that.
No one (I really mean my husband) understands how I feel emotionally or physically *sigh*
We did however finally sell our massive giant desk! WOOHOO so that is out of our lives forever and ever and now we have room for a baby which I have to keep forever and ever. I think I want that desk back now! :)
I have about 7 weeks left of this baby in my womb and I have such a busy week or 2, or 3, or 4, or 7 ahead of me. Actually, even after 7 weeks, it's only going to get worse.
Feel free to send me frozen meals, and Green Acres voucher for housekeepers :)
Did I also mention I'm turning 30 in exactly one month!?!

Preggy Blues & General Laziness

So, I went to the midwife on Tuesday, turns out my iron is low, it was low with Isaac too... so that's another tablet I have to remember to take (I'm taking iodine and Pregnancy Gold tablets too). I'm lucky if I take these said tablets 3 times a week, let alone EVERY DAY!
THEN she told me my glucose levels were a little bit on the high side, nothing too serious, but she does want me to have the 2nd glucose test! This takes 2 hours to do, and I need to book it in ASAP. So until then, I have decided to try and get the sugar out of my system in the hopes of passing this second test. But also keeping in mind, I don't want to cheat on the test, because I really don't want to have to have complications with my labour, which is supposed to be even more of a breeze than first time.

I'm finding these days very long and hot and depressing. I want to do stuff to get ready for #2, but I want to sleep or sit on my bum as well. I need someone to come over and move stuff for me, and put up (And buy) a garden shed, and fix our shower which is rotting our wooden floor, tomorrow I'll probably fall thru the floor boards while having my shower! hubby was going to get his dad around to help him with a few things, but then the father-in-law decided to nearly die with a blood clot! What a scare that was, luckily he is home and OK now, but needs to take it easy. So anyway, at least it's left him free to come over and visit and spend actual quality time with us!

I really wish I had some motivation and I wish my hubby had time to spend at home instead of at work. You can tell how much I'm procrastinating... I'd rather blog than do stuff! :)
I'd better go sort something out for dinner now, that's a step in the right direction, I haven't cooked dinner in quite some time!