Tree or not to tree?

That's what I've been asking my self for almost a month. 


I read Goddess's post about parents making an effort at Christmas time and creating their kids Christmas memories.  I was inspired more a case of the guilts I think hahaha and swore that as soon as the kids were home from school, the tree would go UP.

But they came home, and the tree never went up. maybe I was side tracked by the usual chaos that happens in this house like clockwork between 4-8pm or maybe I was just super lazy?

Since school has been out, the middle two (9 and 10yrs) have been at the inlaws place so I haven't had to think to much about it.

I picked them up yesterday and as soon as we got home, I got the decorations down from the cupboard, and the tree (fake cos I can't be bothered with the cleanup that comes with having a real one - and the decorations never seem to stay on 'just right' out from storage.  I rounded up the kids and told miss 16 to help the younger two put the tree up.  I didn't want to have any part of it after reading Lani's post about Christmas decorating when she was growing up...because I am that controlling mother...who would have told them where to put each ball, each bead, each tinsel hahaha!!!  SO I BACKED OFF :)


Mr 9 took off down the road to his mates house, mr 13 was too busy doing his own thing, so it was just left to miss 16 and miss 10 and my 12yr old sister, who is here from Samoa on Holiday and staying with us :)


They did a fabulous job!! The tree is up and looking lovely :)  Our house is way too small but we found a spot for it but there is no room to put the gifts underneath it lol. 


I'm pleased.  The little buggers can't complain now 10 yrs from now and say "Man, my mum didn't even bother putting a tree up!!" lol.


BTW - mr 9 came home...I'm sitting at the computer in the dining room.  I hear the vacuum turn on.  Then I hear it make a strange sound, as though it was being turned on and off quickly...turn around and can't see anyone but I see the Christmas tree shaking...next minute mr 9 peers out from behind the couch and I ask him what the hell he's doing...with the cheekiest look ever on his face and cracks up and says "Look how many Christmas balls I can get off the tree with the vacuum!"  I snap.  "OMG!  Turn the vacuum off!  If you even break one of those balls I'm gonna break your ball!"  He thinks that hilarious but takes the warning seriously and turns off the vacuum and places each ball back on the tree ever so gently lol.


MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone...and happy living :)

Grrr @ hubby!

We have finally bit the bullet and bought a van to cart the tribe around in, after spending my younger days swearing black and blue there was no way in hell I'd even buy a van!!  So we bought one.  And I. LOVE. IT.  It's my new big baby - miss 16 and mr 13 are NOT impressed and are saying they will not be caught dead in it - fine WALK YOU BUGGERS!!! *evil laugh*  Mr 9 thinks it's AWESOME and is very excited hahaha....miss 10 couldn't careless.

So anyway, we bought it off Trademe - awesome price.and now we are well and truly BROKE!!  But it means we'll be able to go out together in ONE car as a family *yay*.  Doesn't take much to excite me anymore obvisouly hehehe.

Anyway...the 'grrr hubby' part comes in here...because we bought it off TM secondhand, off a young guy, the interior was disgusting!!  GROTTY and GRUBBY!  So much so that I did not want any of the kids to touch the seats until it was cleaned.

I weighed up the cost of cleaning it myself by hiring a Rug Doctor...but it would have worked out only slightly cheaper than getting it done professionally..and so I did.  BEST money I have ever spent - the seats look practically NEW again - I am not exaggerating. And now hubby tells me that he will be using the van on Friday to take who ever can fit in it, to their works' fishing trip!!  Are you farking kidding me??  I just paid good money to clean the damn interior just to have grown men, all stinking and fish smelling sit in it with their fishing gear??!!  I am sooo pissed off!

I am sooo annoyed.  What a bloody 'save the world' kinda guy!  I have told him that if I get my van back and I can smell even one single fish ball I will NOT BE HAPPY and he will NOT have a Merry Christmas.

Overly dramatic - maybe - do I care?  No.  

Who knew I would be so protective of a bloody Van hahahaha - I must be getting O L D!

Got the camping bug!!

Since mr 13 went on his school camp a month or so ago, I have been super keen to take my family camping!

I have been meaning to blog about this, but just have not had the time.  It's been so hectic around here.

Bascially when we got back from visiting Mr 13 at his school camp, I jumped on Trademe and started looking for a tent.  Since then I have scored some wonderful bargains!! 


hubby was in OZ when mr 13 went to his camp, so by the time he had returned, I had already bought a tent and various other camping items AND booked us a spot at the same place Mr 13 had his camp :)


So last Sunday (11th Dec), we were packed and off we went :)  We were there for 3 nights.  Arrived back on Wednesday.


Although the experience was awesome - I mean, hey, the kids and hubby were out fishing each day ALL day!!  I on the other hand, was stuck in the tent with lil miss 7 months cos the weather was CRAP!  Absolute crap *sigh*  The first day we were there, it was windy and drizzling...thank goodness it wasn't raining the moment we arrived, we managed to put the tent up and set everything up in dry weather...but of course as soon as we had everything set up - it. rained. hard.


We were planning on spending wednesday lunch there after packing up, but due to the horrible weather, we woke up, had breakfast, packed up and came straight home!


What a mission!


EVERYTHING was WET.  Clothes, blankets, sheets, gear *sigh*  Wet from the rain, wet from the sea!!  Sand everywhere!  Of course, just cos you get home doesn't mean the camping experience is over - no siree!!  You have to UNPACK!!  And when everything is bloody soaked - it's a friggan hassle!


First off...the tents had to be set up again and allowed to dry!  Well...of course it didn't stop raining until this morning!! nearly a whole week since returning, we finally got the tents dried and packed away!!


I gave in to trying to do all the laundry at home...and took the last of it to the laundr-o-mat this afternoon to wash and bring home to dry.


Here are some pics from our first family camping trip :)

The first day we were there, it was WINDY and didn't rain too often.

Day 2 onwards, the weather went down hill...

Of course this lil girl didn't mind :)

Neither did mr 9 who spent and LOVED every moment he could out fishing.

And when the tide came in and they couldn't stand on the rocks...they just fished off the beach!!

Look what I'm making now!!

just a quickie post cos I've got a mega headache from lack of sleep:(

Just wanted to show off these adorable handmade crochet headbands I've been making for lil Miss :)

I've already made a million and one different coloured flowers and headbands...it's so easy to get carried away and I'm enjoying it so much cos yanno how clingy lil miss has been lately...well this is something I can practically be doing while still sitting next to her highness *sigh*  It's hard being soooo loved by her lol.


Oooh nearly forgot to mention...what makes these even more super dooper...is that the flowers are interchangeable!!  YES - that's right.  You can take one flower off and pop another one over the button which is affixed to the headband...heck you could even wear it with just the button!!

Random Weekend Pics...

So we had the NZ Elections this weekend just gone...I hope all you NZders voted!! :)  It's just sooo easy to do, there were bugger all people there when I went in at lunch time...I was in and out of there in 5mins! I just can't understand why so many people don't 'bother' to vote :/

So this is where I went to cast my vote...a local Mormon Temple up the road...it's a couple of years old, I'm not Mormon, so not sure about other Temples, but this one is HUGE and really gorgeous...the buildings, the landscape...but most of all - the view!!  

On my way through Manukau, at the busiest intersection in NZ (It's a fact I read it in a newspaper lol) what do you think I saw??  

Neat huh? lol.  There was a guy at each corner with a sandwich board :)  I went to see their show about 7 years ago (I think it was 7 years...my brain has gone to mush since having baby *sigh*)  I thought it was really neat!!  

Then driving through Papatoetoe I saw this...

Now call me 'Nana' but I don't think that is legal!  At least put the kid in front of you if ya gonna drive around busy streets!!  I did think it was awfully cute - maybe it was just the paranoid mum in me that could just see the kid letting go to wipe his nose and whoops...anyway, I bet the kid had a blast!!  

And of course my I can't add random pics on my blog without putting one up of my lil side kick!!  So here she is, she's just moved out of her baby capsule and into her big girl carseat.  I hate this bloody carseat.  There were only two options to choose from as I didn't want the kind of seat that needs to have the bolt clip thingy...the other carseat I could have chosen, needed a longer seat belt!!  So i was left with this stupid car seat!!  Man, things have changed since I had my other kiddies...threading the belt through this was almost as bad as threading my flippin overlocker!  She sits so darn high in it - it's as if she's riding an elephant! lol.  It JUST fits in the back of the car...it doesn't fit in the front - I'm gutted cos I LOVE having her next to me!  But  I had this yellow dragon mirror, and it's great I can see her through my rear view mirror *BIG SMILE!!*  And most of the time, she is always looking back at me...she LOVES me!!

 
 Tomorrow fingers crossed I have the time to I have LOTS of PICS to share of a trip the kids and I took to one of the local beaches!!

Hubby went to Australia on Sunday morning with his brothers and Mr 13 went to a school camp.  This was his very first school camp ever and he was REALLY excited to go.  There were only 10 boys selected to attend...and the teacher taking them encouraged the families to go up with them if they wanted...either to sleep or just for the day.

So I decided to take the kids for a drive...much to Mr 13's horror - he said I was "Embarrassing"  How rude!!  Embarrassing parents don't fork out money for a camp mr!!

Anyway, we HARDLY EVER go out and do things as a family and we sure as heck don't go for long drives and take in what this beautiful country has to offer...so I thought, bugger you Mr 13 - I'm coming up whether you like it or not!


And so we did.  

I dropped him off to school on Sunday morning...told his teacher we would see them later in the day :)  Came back home and packed our lil car and off we went :)

1 hour out of Auckland and here is a sneak peak and where we went :)

Hope everyone else had a lovely weekend and a fantastic start to their week!!

The garden...

About 2 weeks ago (can't quite remember) we made a start on our vege garden.  We always start late, with promises that NEXT year we'll start earlier...never happens.

Our SMALL vege plot is just that - small (approx 1m x 2m).  But you'd be surprised how much you can actually grow in such a small space - and!! IF we actually knew what we were doing, I'm sure we'd do even better LOL.

Anyway, here are some progress pics...

2 weeks ago, hubby had already gotten rid of most of the weeds from out small raised garden by the time I found the camera :)

I finally got around to planting a few seedlings out a couple of evenings ago.  These pics were taken this morning :)

 Not the best pics (thanks to mr 13's lack of interest in the subject!) and I suppose he's just not into being asked at 7am to come out and take photos lol.  We have Runner Beans, Spinach, Silverbeet, Pak Choy, Basil and Tomatoes.  I'd like to put some beetroot in too but you can't grow them close to beans...so will have to find another spot to put them in.


And this year Mr 9 and I are having another go at growing a watermelon!  Last we 'tried' and hello - ended up growing a cucumber instead - some bugger at the garden store must have changed the labels around!!  


This year, we HOPE that we are in fact growing watermelon (Sugar Baby variety), we are also having a go at growing a Rockmelon.  YUM.  We arent' going to let it sprawl though, I am going to build me a cheap bamboo frame and train it up that...I'll support the growing fruit in individual hammocks made out of Miss 16s old school stockings lol.  That is am idea I stumbled across on the internet...so will give that a go :)

See how small the seedlings are - I hope we haven't left it too late!!  They need a LONG growing season.  I've got a coke bottle cut in half over the two smaller Sugar Baby seedlings, to protect it from snails, birds, wind, sun...will remove it once they're much bigger :)


Now, about three weeks ago, I organised most of the pots and plants that I had stored over winter at the back and side of the house.  In one of the pots I put in rhubarb, and silverbeet.  In another I already had Mint growing, so I popped 3 Cos Lettuce plants in...and hello...the lettuce is ready for harvest and the silverbeet is not far off - perfect to add to miss 6mths home cooked meals :)  How easy is that??  Right by my back door :)

LOL! Sorry - but I just had to giggle at this....

Vodafone employee sacked for Samoan slurs

I'm on a roll - not enough hours in the day!!

Lil miss 6mths is so clever!  Her latest 'thing' is to spit and blow raspberries blimmin near ALL the time - even when I am feeding her, I am almost starting to think I need to wear a pair of overalls to feed her lol.  If she's not doing that then she is sucking on her lower lip...haven't got a clue how to effectively stop her doing either of these things *sigh*  She'll just have to grow out of it. 

Here she is mid-way through a raspberry!!

Anyway as a result she is REALLY dribbing now (plus the reflux!)! See..

  And yanno how I had trouble finding good quality baby bibs, and decided to make some...well I've started selling them :)

Honestly, they are way better than any bib I can find in a shop atm.  They are soft and super absorbent and if you give a hoot - they actually LOOK really neat on!

The ladies I have sold them to so far are really happy and have gone on to buy more...one even suggested I try selling them on FB - now I am NOT a fb freak...don't know my way around it enough to save myself, so I got Miss 16 to help me out...and I now have a FB to promote my goodies...bit of a joke really as I would really have a clue how to promote it and get people looking at it yet hahaha!! But I'll get there - I'm sure. 

At the moment there are not nearly enough hours in the day!  My creative juices are flowing, I lay awake at night thinking of what else I can sew/make/create to sell...I spend any moment I can browsing the Internet (with baby bouncing on my lap lol) looking for ideas!!

Anyway...apart from the bibs I am making these really cute travel pouches that carry two disposable nappies and a travel pack of wet wipes AND look GOOD!!


In the pipeline I am just working perfecting the sizing for a 'Bib with Sleeves' pattern...it will be so handy for when baby is starting to feed herself in a month or two, cos we all know what a mess that can be!! 

 And as you can tell by the photos, I have invested in a Snap Press machine (no more Velcro) - it's my fav toy atm and I always find myself thinking what else I can use it for oh how exciting my life is lol  I have already had to lay down the law on Mr 13, the bugger lol.  He thinks it's a hoot to put snaps on various items laying around - like my tea towels!!

Gorgeous day out with the kiddies...

Spent the day watching mr 13's Waka Ama Sprint comps at Orakei Basin today...weather was overcast - but perfect...not too hot, not too cold.  

Not much to say for once!! just lots of pics to share :)

I love my baby's feet...lil faddy!!

This photo does NOT do this place justice - the scene  was really gorgeous!!

Mr 13 giving lil sister a kiss before he went out on the water...he truly adores her!! (Miss 16 holding lil sister :)

.And another lil squeeze of the cheeks before he went out *nawwww*

My big girl and lil girl :)

Completely random pic of the houses directly on the waterfront...lucky farkers!!

Out they go...

Yeah, so 'scuse the smiley face...mr 13 absolutely forbade me from putting his mug shot up here, so to protect his identity (fefe ia ki'o) here is the compromise!

Mr 9 just itching to jump in!

It's all good fun for some!!

 
And that's it folks!!  A lovely day out in Akarana!!

I love FREEBIES!!! I hate LOST shoes!!

about a month ago a friend sent me a link to a website promoting Family Health...I filled out the details and forgot all about it.  Then this morning, the courier turns up with...

And inside the box...

 Full sized cleaning spray, sugar free lollies and a small bottle (travel size) hand sanitizer lotion.  Single serve of cereal YUM couple of vouchers for discounts off various baby products...great start to my morning indeed ruined by teenage son realising this morning that he left his school shoes at waka ama training yesterday *deep breath*!

All the kids have gone to school breaths a sigh of relief! I just got back from dropping miss 16 off to the bus stop.  She has the first of her NCEA exams this afternoon - English.  Have wished her well...and given her the pep-talk lol.  She passed NCEA level 1 last year with merit, so we expect the same if not better this time around for level 2 so no pressure love, I believe in YOU!!

Seriously though...she's an angel and the perfect daughter/student compared to me at her age hahaha.  I'm sure karma will hit me in the arse with Miss 10 though..heck mr 13 is already sending some my way with all the things he's putting me through lately *sigh*

Did I tell you about mr 13 and Guy Fawkes?  No I didn't did I...sit back and relax, I'll try and keep it short lol.

So, Mr 13 is a very inquisitive child - always has been.  Loves to know how things work every since he's known how to hold a screw driver, he's managed to take a lot of things apart...putting them back together is another thing! 

Guy Fawkes is one of his most favourite times of the year.  It used to be cos he just loved lighting them, standing back and watching them explode into glorious colours and patterns...now though, it's not enough.

Nope...for the past couple of years he's been buying them and dismantling them and making them up again...this year though with the help of bloody youtube!! I must admit, he has re-made some pretty spectacular ones!  BUT...a few days ago, while I stood in my kitchen holding the baby...preparing diner..I HEARD an almighty explosion and FELT the vibration through my feet!! from the back of our house followed by the smell of gunpowder!

I ran as fast as I could through the house, where I also met up with miss 16 who was also running out to the backyard to see what was going on!

We have a small backyard, but when we got there there was no Mr 13 - just a huge puff of white smoke!!

I yelled son's name...once...twice...third time lucky I get a reply from around the other side of the house "Yes mum?"

Me "What the HELL did you let off this time??"

Son (pops his head around from the corner of the house "Ummm...just my fireworks..."

Next door neighbour (pops their head from over the fence) "He did the same thing yesterday - and both times whatever the hell it is has smashed into the side of my house!"

Me "Oh my GOD...you did this yesterday too??"

anyway...blah blah blah...I look at neighbour...apologise, make mr 13 give a full apology, the kind where he promises never to do it again (yeah right - I remember giving those apologies to my mum a few times too...this is payback!)  I take son into the house and proceed to tell him that it's great that he's interested in how things work, and that he is clever enough to make his own BUT enough IS enough!!  He's gone too far now with his BOMB making - cos that's basically what it is!  He's either gonna blow a hole in someones house or worse blow himself up!!

  

Anyway...here are a couple of pics that I took while driving lol from my 'hood' this morning, when I went to drop miss 16 off at the bus stop:

 

OK...so as you can see it's a miserable day out there.  I'm hoping to get out with baby today, just wanting to go to the local fabric store and see what I 'NEED'.  Did I tell you about my addiction to buying fabric??  Ia, I'll save it for another day lol.

Grrrr teenage boys!!

Finally gave in and bought my son a brand new Snap Back hat for what I consider a small fortune for a friggan cap!!) and less that one week after getting in the post, it's been STOLEN.

All last week I told him - "don't wear it to schoolwhere else is the guy supposed to wear it too?  Bed for all I care! " - but did he listen??  Nope - cos I don't know shite. 

Then when I picked him up from his waka ama training this evening, I asked him where it was, his reply "Someone stole it from my bag at waka ama last Friday"

FARK me.  Fark that and fark the lil farker that stole it!!


Then low and behold, he's on facebook and guess who is wearing an identical cap and yeah I KNOW his cap isn't the only one in the entire world, but our 'world' isn't very big and I know this boy VERY WELL, same school, same friggan family and I just KNOW it's my son's hat!!....*sigh* who's wearing it, hubby's nephew...
Grrr I'm just friggan venting right now...sick of kids that can't afford to buy their own shite, have to steal off others, pass it around, sell it off, whatever the hell else they do at that school!  I hope he gets nits and his balls fall off!

Good morning world :)

So I HAD been harbouring ill feelings towards ONE particular person...and when I came across this on the internet it pretty much leapt out to me as the reason WHY I had ill feelings (note past tense!).     

Like that other saying...There comes a time in your life when you realize who will always matter, who does matter, and who never did. 

Now I'd like to know if anyone has a saying about NOT expecting so much from others in future?? lol.

Manu Samoa...he said she said...

it's just getting juicier and jucier...if you can be bothered reading it all, and yes this bored/excited housewife is :)  OK, so I haven't read all of Harry's letter...after the first two paragraphs I just saw "blah blah blah..."

Mahonri said...

Then Harry said...

and now Mahonri is saying...

I'm getting the 'vibe' from Mahonri's latest letter (and Matthew Tuala's first letter of responce) that M. Tuala might have been a 'naughty boy' on tour...Hmmm...stay tuned lol.

I want to see what Tuilaepa has to say about it all...he's lucky his tinky ass didn't go on tour...Although something tells me if he did, the headline on the Observer would have read "Mahonri is STUPID" Says Tuilaepa.

Summer IS here!!

Well...spring at least.  I LOVE this time of year!  This is when I look outside and get all motivated to sort out my garden that I always seem to neglect over winter!

So a couple of days ago, I got outside with the kids and started clearing and sorting out all my pot plants that I stored at the side of the house as last summer we started to paint the deck.  We didn't quite finish painting it...things came up and the weather turned to crap and winter snuck up on us...so this summer we WILL finish painting it.

I got mr 13 to put the plum tree I bought, into the ground.  Fingers crossed it gives us some fruit in the next few years - at the very least it will give us some nice shade from the summer sun!


I have bought some vege seedlings, hubby cleared all the weeds from the vege plot - HE just needs to get in and turn it over, add some compost and then I'l be ready to plant :)

As we aren't going anywhere (overseas) this summer, I am keen to get mr 9 a watermelon plant growing.  We bought a seedling last year...it grew...we watched it with pride and excitement....a couple of months later - we realised it was a cucumber!!  Mr 9 was sooo  gutted!  So this time around we have bought watermelon SEEDS - no chance of someone swapping labels at the garden shop!  


Will try and get some pics of the vege garden in the next few days (before/after and progress pics type pics)  It's nothing much, we only have a REALLY small vege patch and I don't have the best green finger in town, but I do try and fail most of the time but it is something that I ENJOY doing, so I keep at it :)

Samoan Observer...

I can't help but have a giggle.  I read the online version of this paper each day...MOST of the time it's GREAT :)  But every now and then there is an article that leaves me thinking WTHeck!!

http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36387:truth-about-police&catid=52:letters-to-the-editor&Itemid=61

and today..

http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=36454:it-was-not&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

What makes me laugh is this.. "Mata’afa said the Samoa Observer had no reason to question the validity of the letter given that the person said his name was Misi Matamu and the email address belonged to the same name."  HELLO!!  the email was from a gmail account!!  ANYONE can open an email account....how hard would it have been to actually get out of your office and actually talk to the source to confirm the email was legit?  Talk about LAZY reporting.  That is all... lol.

Raggy Quilt and Bandana Bibs...

So over the past week, I have been getting back into my sewing room.  Have really enjoyed it :)

First up is the 'Raggy Quilt' I made for baby.  Had seen them online now and then...then when I went into Spotlight last week, to buy fabric for some bibs, they had a raggy quilt on display...of course I came home, and being the fiapoto that I am...(and I must have been majorly stressed at the time lol) cos I just came home, cut up the squares, sewed it up...few hours later and hey presto - and gorgeous quilt BUT...bit enough to fit a single bed LOL...not exactly the cuddly cot size I had in mind!!  So off to Spotlight, more fabric (and another wee dent in the credit card *sigh*)  I THOUGHT the pattern out and voile!!!

And here she is, the lucky recipient!! She LOVES IT!! She loves to grab the 'raggy' bits! It's bright it's colourful and cos it's made from 3 layers of gorgeous flanelette fabric, it is super SOFT and mega CUDDLY :)

And because she is at the super cute stage, she is also at the super DRIBBLY stage - I've been shopping for bibs and being the tight arse I am and hard to please...I wasn't happy with quality AND price of the bibs available in the shops, so I made her my own :)  'Bandana' style bibs seem to be all the rage at the moment.  They look good and almost part of whatever outfit baby is wearing, but more importantly, they are THICK, ABSORBENT and FIT perfectly!!

So here are just a few of the range I have made her so far - you can't have too many bibs!!  They are made from soft, absorbent flanelette and backed with a water-resistant anti-pill fleece with a rounded Velcro fastening so there are no sharp edges that will irritate baby.  They are PERFECT!! and I'm so glad I made them!!

They are all the same size

and here she is wearing one :)