Is it just my kids or is it common?

As long as I am upright and moving around, my kids are in general happy to play/potter around and do their own thing. It doesn't matter if I'm sorting washing, doing gardening, cleaning or cooking. BUT...the moment I sit down still to do something or lie down for a bit of a rest, they are climbing all over me, whinging and bugging me (well Joanna more so than Ben these days).

Balloons balloons balloons...

Ben wanted to post about this, so here's his contribution:
fhhhhhhhhhhh hhhh hhhh hhhhhhh hhhhh hhhhhhhh hhhhh hhhhh hhhhhh hhhhh hhhh hhhhh hhhhh ggggg
bbbbd ddd ddddd ddd dddd ddd ddddddd ssss ssss ssss ssstt ttt tttttttt tttttttt

We went to see some hot-air balloons yesterday morning. It was the second-last day of the Balloons over Waikato festival - 5 days of hot air! The weather here is generally most stable at this time of year - cool and clear mornings, hence the timing of it.
Mel wanted some kid-free time, so I woke them up slightly early and we headed down to Innes Common next to the lake to watch the cake-grab competition. The idea is that the balloonists attempt to grab a piece of cake from the top of a pole (or get as close as they can to the pole). A few of them got reasonably close (which is fairly impressive considering they don't have any steering!), but 2 metres was the closest.
The kids had lots of fun watching many balloons of different shapes - the special birthday cake balloon, a turtle and a lady beetle, along with all the more "regular" balloons. This morning was supposed to be the final morning of ballooning... but it was very foggy, so I suspect that may have thrown their plans out - just as well we went yesterday!

I've just finished reading...

'The 10pm question' by Kate De Goldi. It's a young adult fiction book, so the story line is pretty straight forward - doesn't require any thinking/analysing. It's about the life of a tweenage boy (he's 12), family/home life and friends/school life - with a sub theme of dealing with mental health issues. The author is a New Zealander and it's on the shortlist for the NZ post children book awards.

Ben's first day at kindy

The first day went well - he was already off doing his own thing while the teacher was telling me how everything works. He was quite happy for me to leave him there for the afternoon. But we had tears when I came to pick him up, as he didn't want to leave - he was having too much fun. He cheered up when I said he could come back tomorrow afternoon.

My first born is off to kindy...

Well I've dropped Ben off at Kindy for his first day (afternoon). He was pretty comfortable with it all and not bothered when I said it was time for me to leave (Joanna was having a pretty good time cruising around by herself too). I'm sure he is having lots of fun and will be really tired this evening.

Cricket...

As I posted last week, we went to the cricket on Saturday. I had been worried that the game would be over pretty quickly - NZ had no hope of winning and might have collapsed within an hour or two. As it turned out, they lasted most of the day, leaving the Indians with just 39 runs to get, which they knocked off with ease.

I borrowed a monopod and teleconverter from Tony, which was useful to get some nice-ish photos (well, the monopod at least - the teleconverter results in rather poor quality... Tony did warn me!).

The kids came with and enjoyed the day as well - Ben said that his favourite thing about the day was getting to watch the cricketers. He did watch it a bit (never for all that long at one time though - he is 3 after all!). We had a spot on some level grass, so there was plenty of space

behind us for him to run around and play with his cricket bat and tennis ball - and watch some slightly bigger kids playing cricket as well. During the lunch break, we got to go onto the playing surface (when last could you do that in Australia?), which was lots of fun - we played "cricket" there and went and had a look at the pitch (which was roped off, obviously).

Joanna had a bit of a nap in the afternoon in my arms and generally wandered around having a bit of fun - it wasn't until right near the end of the day that she was getting a bit whingy (probably as much because she was tired as anything else).

We decided that some takeaway Indian curry was an appropriate way to end the day, but Ben didn't want Indian curry - he just wanted "normal" curry! We gave him some Indian curry which he pronounced as being normal, so it was all good.

It was a pretty tiring day, but we all had lots of fun!

There's lots more photos at flickr- check them out!

mmm yum...

we had yummy freshly made basil pesto for dinner tonight. I know I've mentioned how good it tastes before, but it is REALLY good, so I thought I'd tell you all again. Again it is thanks to basil supplied by our back neighbour (this time she pulled the whole plant out and gave it to me!).

Ben's friend

Ben's best friend from creche at the gym won a veggie gardening competition and got a segment on the current affair program this week.

I don't like packing

whether it is for a day-out or a weekend holiday or a longer holiday. There's the pressure of not forgetting anything that is needed (which is possible even when you write a list, as it is easy to forget to write something on the list), combined with the pressure of keeping the amount of stuff to a minimum (ie. not taking everything including the kitchen sink). It's even more pressure with having to pack for kids who get dirty, messy, have accidents, get hungry etc. But I do like going on holidays etc., so I just have to plow through and try and get it over as quickly as possible.

2009 Queensland State General Election

I received a letter in the mail today from the Electoral Commission Queensland advising me that there is to be a Queensland State Election this Saturday (21st March 2009). This is the first I've heard about there being an election! Anyway so in the letter it informs me that if I want to apply for a postal vote (which I obviously do, as I live in a different country), I need to submit my application for a postal vote by 6pm the Thursday before voting day - which was yesterday! Needless to say I haven't applied for a postal vote in time (seeing as the letter telling me about the election didn't arrive until after the deadline) and therefore won't be able to vote in the election (it is not compulsory for me to vote as I'm not currently an Australian resident).

What has got me annoyed is, why it took them so long to send me the letter advising me of the election? My voting details were changed on the 18/2/09, the election wasn't announced until the 23/2/09, and the electoral roll closed on the 28/2/09. The postage mark on the envelope is the 13/3/09 - 2 weeks after the roll closed. Considering postage to NZ from AUS is about the quickest of any international destination, I can only assume that most overseas voters will not get the notice I got today until well after the election.

Gym showers...

Why does every single shower in a gym have to be different? If they were all installed at the same time, with the same shower head, same taps etc. why don't they all spurt out the same amount of water at the same pressure?

My reason for these ponderings is because both mornings I've been to they gym this week, my favourite shower has been in use and I have had to use a different one. I've tried out a different one each time and I now think that I have now had at least 1 shower in each one, since I joined the gym last year. My favourite one has great water pressure (which is important when I'm trying to quickly wash my hair before having to pick up the kids before the creche finishes), good lighting and good water temperature. The one I was in today had rather weak water pressure (which is a problem with most of the other showers), and the water temperature was shocking - I was nearly halfway through my shower before the water warmed up to an acceptable temperature (I didn't have enough time to stand around waiting for it to warm up before I got in). The one I used on Monday also had a very short timer on it (they have push timer tap things (along the concept of what basins have in some public toilets), to help save water, which I think is a great idea, but only if you don't have to keep pushing it so frequently that it becomes annoying).

So I'm hoping that tomorrow my favourite shower is not in use when I need it.

South African brain/stomach washing...

Went to the South African butcher today to get more steak (not because they are South African, but because it is the best rump steak, at the best price we have been able to find - only $16.95/kg and it's nice and thickly cut and tender). But I ended up exiting the store with a bag of Nik Naks (SA equivalent of Twisties, only better), which Ben had picked up and requested, and some Koeksisters, which I saw and wanted (Peter and I used to make them every now and then, but it is quite time consuming, so we haven't done it since we've had kids).

I washed the car today...

... and when I started it felt really foreign and I had to think about what I was doing. It then got me thinking about when was the last time I had washed the car...I can't remember it has been so long. With the water restrictions on washing cars in Brisbane for so long, we only used to wash our car every few months at Peter's parents (they had a water tank so we could use a hose to do it). Then if you take out the times when I was too pregnant to do it or had a young baby attached to me, it hasn't left me with many opportunities to do it - Peter usually does it. Anyway our car is nice and clean and shiny now - it was all dusty like we had been off-road, which we hadn't, we've just been on some dirt roads.

We're going to the cricket!

India are currently touring NZ, and they're playing a Test here in Hamilton, starting on Wednesday.  So, we're heading to the cricket on Saturday... assuming the game lasts that long.  We'll see how Ben likes live cricket!  And how Joanna enjoys sitting around for a whole day...

I'm sick of tomatoes...

After buying the big box of them last week at the markets and then spending all week drying them, chopping them, making sauce with them, and freezing them whole. I couldn't even think of buying any today when I went to the markets. Instead I bought blueberries and boysenberries which are much easier to preserve - just chuck them in the freezer whole!

Our chillies are turning red!!

Finally after much waiting (and doubting) our chillies are starting to turn red. So we should be able to have a nice supply of red chillies which will last us through the winter.

Trip to the Donkey Farm...

Last week was the playgroup outing for the term. It was to the Awapuni Donkey Stud, where the kids were able to take a ride on a donkey, feed the chickens and ducks, play on large ride-on tractors and diggers, bounce on a trampoline, and have a swing.

Joanna wanted a donkey ride when we first arrived, but Ben was a bit more hesitant and only decided quite a while later that he wanted a ride. They both thought the donkey ride was pretty cool, although Joanna was quite happy to go for her ride solo (happily holding onto the saddle to stay on), whereas Ben insisted that I hold onto him the whole way - which is just a difference in personalities that we are starting to notice more and more.

Ben really liked the big ride-ons and played on them for quite a while, they were a bit big for Joanna although she still liked sitting on them. Feeding some dried corn to the chickens and ducks was really enjoyed by both of them.I forgot to take my camera with me, so I had to borrow one off one of the other mums because I knew you would all like to see photos of the kids playing there.

Yummy Playgroup craft!

Last week's craft at playgroup was icing and decorating biscuits. The kids enjoyed making them, but I think they found eating them even more fun. And the bonus for me was that Joanna ate her whole sandwich for lunch (the deal was that if they finished their sandwich at lunch they could then eat one of their biscuits) - she hasn't done that in a long time.

Bible study peeve...

People who use a commentary to get all their answers and then proceed to quote sections of the commentary to the rest of the group. Especially when the answer the commentary gives isn't what the passage is actually saying - but because they haven't taken the time to work out the meaning for themselves or be willing to admit they don't understand it, they don't even realise this.

Ben is starting kindy...

on the 24th of March!!! We are all excited about it. But it now means I need to get off my butt and get stuff organised in the next week - labelling all his stuff etc. (It also proves it pays to keep ringing up and checking where he is on the waiting list - he actually got to skip a couple of places up the waiting list because I'd rung to check and they hadn't heard back from the kids ahead of him that they had offered places to)

Yummy semi dried tomatoes...

With their being a stack of tomatoes around at the moment and the tomato season coming to a end, I've been starting to do stuff to preserve some of them so we can enjoy the taste of tomatoes in the cooler months (without it coming out of a can).

So I've been making a few batches of semi-dried tomatoes in the oven (cut into 8ths, put on baking tray, sprinkle with a little salt and caster sugar, put in oven at 100 degrees C for 4hrs). So far I've been storing them in jars I've collected (filling the space around them with olive oil) and putting them in the fridge - they will apparently be good for 3 months this way. As I'm running out of jars I'm going to also try putting them in a snap lock bag in the freezer - where (according to the diagram on the inside of my freezer door) they will be good for 1 months.

They taste very yummy (better than the ones you buy at the supermarket) and the kids love them too.

Predestined?

How much of what I do in daily life was I predestined to do and what stuff i free will (if anything)? Is the reason I turned up to Bible study this morning because God had predestined me to be there this particular week? Or was it because by my free will I chose to make the effort to go because I know reading and studying the Bible is how God speaks to me?
Just a discussion that came up at Bible study that has got me thinking. Feel free to comment with your thoughts.

It's hard work...

setting up a ministry in a church that you are fairly new at. So many questions. Who do I ask to get answers? Is there actually an answer to my question? Getting used to not having email contact for everyone involved (phone calls are a lot more difficult with young children).
This is definitely a new experience/learning curve for me. Most ministries I've been involved with in the past, I have not been the person to start it up. I have a greater respect/appreciation for those people who did start up the ministries I've been involved in. I think I need to get praying.

It's done.

I've entered the Rotorua Marathon. I haven't managed to get in a whole lot of long runs - hopefully I'll get a few more in over the next few weeks.
But I'm doing it anyway!

Duplo camera...

Last weekend it was pouring down with rain, so I suggested that Ben get his Duplo out and play with Dad. Joanna and I then quickly popped out to the shops and by the time we got back, there was a plane, helicopter and a camera made. Over the weekend a couple of different models of the camera were made and Ben and Joanna had lots of fun playing with them.

It feels cold today...

and it's very breezy. My plants are getting dehydrated by all the wind.

Mum and Ben's weekend...

This weekend was the reverse of the girl's and guy's weekend the other week. Peter took Joanna overnight bushwalking (which he's already blogged about) and Ben and I stayed in Hamilton. Ben and I went into the city for the morning and Ben had his first movie experience - Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. We then went to a cafe and had a nice lunch together. I was feeling a bit weary by then and wanted to go home and have a rest and Ben was starting to get a bit grouchy tired too, although because he was having so much fun he didn't want to leave the city. But wise mum won and so we came home and had a bit of a rest before getting up and playing with his train set. I was going to let him keep it up until Sunday afternoon (seeing as Joanna wasn't going to be around to wreck it), but after playing for a bit he decided he wanted to pack it up. Ben and I watched a bit of a DVD together while dinner 'cooked' (latina pasta with sauce). It was then time for bath, stories and bed.

To prove how worn out we were from Saturday, we slept in until 8:15am on Sunday morning! After getting dressed we headed off to the Hamilton Farmer's Markets for breakfast and to do the weekly fruit and veggie shopping. Breakfast was from Zingara Artisan Bread and Pastry stall, they have the yummiest pastries - Ben had a chocolate croissant for breakfast! It was then a rush to get the fruit and vegies home and then off to church and then straight afterwards we went to pick up Joanna and Peter.

Mt Pirongia. Take 2.

Very soon after we arrived in NZ, I ventured up Mt Pirongia. It was a pleasant walk, with a nice hut at the top, so I've been planning on heading back for an overnight trip at some point. Last weekend had been an option, but heavy rain warnings put me off (OK, so call me soft!). This weekend they were just predicting showers, so I figured I may as well go - with Joanna. Ben had had his weekend tramping trip with Dad, now it was Joanna's turn. Ben was telling Joanna that going tramping with Dad was lots of fun, so she was pretty excited!
It was raining on the drive up there, but not very much by the time we got started - just a little bit of drizzle. The walk up was a lot tougher than I remembered it being - probably something to do with having 25kg on my back. I felt about as agile as an elephant on stilts. The track is rather slippery, steep and muddy in places. But we got up to the hut eventually - without getting too wet. By that time, we'd had some lunch, so Joanna had an afternoon snooze. During which it rained. Once she'd woken up, the clouds were gone and the sky was blue for a while - very pleasant timing!
Dinner was very yummy risotto, much appreciated by both of us. And as a special treat, we shared a block of blue cheese afterwards - it turns out the whole family are fans of stinky cheese! Bed time went pretty uneventfully, until about 11:30pm, when Joanna woke up and decided that she would rather cry than sleep. Just as well we were the only occupants of the hut. Between sleeping and crying, we got some rest until about 7am - when we got up to find that were enveloped in cloud. Which makes everything very quiet and peaceful. And the forest up the top very beautiful.
3 bowls of porridge helped Joanna's mood, but didn't leave enough breakfast for me. So I had some leftover peanut butter sandwich as well. The trip down was a whole lot easier than the way up, even if it was even slipperier and harder to stay upright.
All up, I only managed to fall over completely twice - once on the way up and once on the way down. That's if you don't count slipping off the track and chest deep into the bush. None of which came close to injuring either of us, so it was all OK!
We met Mel and Ben at the bottom and had a picnic lunch - Joanna claims to have enjoyed it, and I claim to be rather tired now (and I did enjoy it!).
(More photos at flickr...)

My new jumper...

Joanna received a package during the week which contained a jumper knitted by Granny W. She tried it on straight away and here are a couple of pics.

Pots and pans dream has come true...

For a while the non-stick coating on our large pot (the one we use to cook pasta, risotto, soups in) has been slowly dying. In the past few weeks it has actually become a health hazard with little black bits of the coating lifting off and getting mixed in with our food while cooking (it is just over 6yrs old - it was a wedding present). So for a while I have been aware that we would have to replace it and so when I saw that Farmers (the closest equivelant to Myer or DJs) was having a one day sale, which included 20% of all pots, I thought this might be a good time to get a replacement.

I got Peter to check out their range a couple of days ago (the city store is on the ground floor of his building), but it was disappointing as they didn't have any non-stick pots, only frying pans. So he looked in the kitchenware store (also on the ground floor of his building), which have a reasonable range of non-stick pots (Circulon, Jamie Oliver, KitchenAid, Scanpan). But their prices weren't very encouraging (I should say that I was really wanting Scanpan stuff, which is a bit expensive, but if you know where to buy it you can save a lot off RRP - which in Australia was Peter's of Kensington). Anyway as Peter was on his normal ride home from work he noticed another kitchenware store on the main street, The Scullery, which had a 4 piece Scanpan set in the window, with a bit 'last one in stock' sign, for as cheap as it was going to be to get 2 pots from the other shop (and as cheap as we would be able to get the same set in Australia).

That night I managed to drop our large pot on the floor which flattened the edge on one side so that the lid didn't fit anymore. So that finalised the decision and Peter went back first thing in the morning and purchased the set (I also liked that 'The Scullery' is a local business). I now have 3 beautiful pots (milk pot, medium and large) and a small frying pan (which will come in handy as our other one is very large). And hopefully we now won't have to buy new pots for a very long time!

New blog...

I've started a 2nd blog...it's called 'Sustainable Hamilton NZ'. The basic aim is to provide a readily accessible source of information for people living in Hamilton about how they can recycle various things and more environmentally sustainable options that available in Hamilton. So most of you who read this blog will have no interest at all in this (as you don't live in Hamilton). The reason I started it is because I have found it very difficult to find information on recycling options etc. (the council collects very little as part of kerbside recycling) and so it takes a lot of time just to find out about one thing (such as recycling plastic bags).

Bokashi

It's a way of composting all food waste. All it requires is a Bokashi bucket and some compost zing. These are the reasons I love it:

• It takes more types of food waste than you can put in your normal compost bin. All leftover food (raw or cooked), meat and fish (raw or cooked), bread products, dairy products (except milk).
  
• The bucket is small enough to fit in the kitchen so it solves the problem I had with traditional composting - I'm great at collecting the scraps in the kitchen, but hopeless at getting the scraps from the kitchen out to the compost bin in the backyard. I just collect it all in the little container I used to and then chuck it all into the bokashi bucket at night after dinner.
• It is quicker than traditional compost technique - only has to sit for 7-10 days after filling it, until it is ready to dig into the garden.
• The liquid byproduct is a natural drain cleaner (just pour it straight down) and liquid fertiliser for my veggie garden (when diluted). So I get to save money not just on compost, but on fertiliser and cleaning products.

Big Kev...no longer Big for me

Just found out that I'm not entitled to the latest hand-out (due to start in April) because I didn't have to pay any tax last financial year. Oh well, at least Peter will get it. Although it seems like another case of single income families being disadvantaged.

It must be going to be a good week...

It's only Monday and I've already crossed 4 out of 12 thing off my 'to do' list! And that doesn't include all the things I did yesterday that weren't on it or I haven't fully completed, so can't cross off yet.

Garden update

Just thought I'd give you an update on what is happening in our veggie garden (now that summer has officially ended).

Zucchini and squash: The zucchini and squash plants have been going good all summer, giving us lots to eat. Well actually there were a couple of plants that didn't really produce anything, so I've pulled them out to make room to start planting winter veggies. The remaining ones are still going strong. We have really enjoyed having lots of yellow zucchini for a change (as you would know these are a lot more expensive than the green ones when you buy them from the supermarket)

Lettuce: Our lettuce surprised us, our first crop we planted in november has lasted us the whole summer. It only started going to seed last week, so we have now pulled them out (most info we read gave the indication that it would start to flower a lot quicker and we would have to have at least 3 subsequent plantings to last the summer). We do have a second crop that is at the nice baby leaf stage, so we will still be able to have salad until it gets too cold.

Spring onions: We only have 0 bunches of spring onions left - we planted 11 bunches and have eaten them all (Peter used the last tonight to make thai green curry paste).

Spinach: After a good first crop before christmas, the second crop we planted (when we got back) is still too small to eat.

Rocket: The first crop went great, but it went to seed towards the start of January. I planted more, but when I planted out the seedlings they all got munched by something. I didn't bother planting anymore, so I guess we'll just have to look forward to having more next summer.

Pak Choy: The first crop I planted before christmas was massive when Peter go back, but by the time I arrived home it had been eaten to pieces by white cabbage butterfly catapillars (tiny little things that can eat lots of holes in the leaves), so there wasn't really anything left for us to eat. So it got pulled out and put in the compost. I then planted a second crop, but it seems like it has taken ages to get growing, not to mention also being attacked by the white cabbage butterfly catapillars (although not as much this time as I'm more vigilant and squishing them, now I know what to do). It looks like the first couple of plants will be big enough to eat in the next week.

Sugar snap peas: The first 3 plants grew well and gave us a nice supply of pods, which the kids enjoyed munching on when we went out to water the plants after dinner. But they surcummed to powdery mildue (actually it's a type of fungus) and so we had to pull the plants out and bin them, so it didn't spread to our other veggie plants. I did plant a replacement crop, which are growing nicely, I just don't know if we'll get any pods on them before they get hit by frost.

Dwarf beans: If you remember the kids planted these in little pots at story time at the library last year and we planted them out into our garden. Well they have given us 2 crops of beans, although with only 2 plants it is barely enough to have with a meal for the 4 of us.

Sage: Has grown wildly and we now have 2 big bushes and 2 smaller bushes. We really only need 1 bush (I'd planted so many as insurance against any losses), as although we like it and it is expensive to buy from the shop if you need some, we don't use that much.

Basil: Grew well, got a bit taken over by the lettuce that it was planted inbetween. We managed to get enough leaves in one go to make a batch of basil pesto, but they haven't recovered enough to do it again.

Coriander: Grew well and I really enjoyed being able to have it to garnish my indian curry with (can't justify buying a bunch from the shop just to use as garnish). It went to seed in January. I planted some more, but it seems to be going very slowly.

Carrots: Only planted them about 3 weeks ago in that metal trunk I picked up. They have sprouted and I assume they are growing well (can't really see when the main action is under the soil).

Leeks: I planted these in the metal trunk at the same time as the carrots. They have sprouted, but I'm unsure how well they will go as I planted them directly in the soil and all the stuff I've been reading lately has talked about transplanting them and making sure they have lots of room when you do this, so they fatten up. So we will see what happens.

Chilli: We have a stack of chillis on the chilli plant, we are just waiting (and waiting and waiting) for them to turn red. In the meantime, we have been using some of the green ones in our cooking. One has started turning red, none of the others have even a hint of red on them.

Gem squash: Only planted them a couple of weeks ago, so don't know if I'll get any squash before we get some frost. We'll just have to wait and see.

Passionfruit: It's the only recognised fruit that I'm growing (as opposed to Zucchini and tomatoes, which are fruit even though we usually think of them as veggies). I bought the plant from the farmers market about a month ago. I'm looking forward to it fruiting next summer.

Cherry tomatoes: After our first plant dying due to watering neglect while we were away at christmas, the second plant I bought from the garden centre (including hanging basket and complete with fruit just waiting to ripen) has done very well. We are eating tomatoes at least once a week for dinner. Although next year I plan on having 2 plants as we could easily eat more if we had more.

Chives: I know I planted these late - only started in January, but they are growing really slow. I doubt they will get big enough to use before it gets too cold for them.

Sweet potato/kumera: I planted a tubar of the orange flesh variety that I'd just bought at the supermarket and had started to sprout. It's just planted in plastic rubbish bin (specifically bought for the purpose) and the first leaves poked through the soil on Friday.

Now I think that is all the various fruit and vegies we have grown this summer. I didn't realise there was so many until I sat down and wrote this. We are going to ask the landlord, this week, if we can turn a useless piece of grass between the driveway and the house into another garden bed, so we can grow more!

Mmmm... chillis!

I made some Thai green curry for dinner tonight. We have most of the ingredients growing in our garden (coriander, chillis, spring onions), or in the pantry (garlic and ginger), so the only thing we needed to get was lemongrass. Our chillis have been a little on the weak side, so I thought what the heck, I'll throw in 8 rather than the 6 the recipe says. Well, our chillies aren't quite as weak as I thought. The curry had a kick. A very pleasant kick :) Ben had seconds!