You have got to be kidding me!!

Front page of a Samoan paper today read "Faamagalo e Brian Lima lona Toalua" - really??  Well how noble of him indeed...

and how many times did SHE faamagalo HIM every time he physically ABUSED HER??  ASSHOLE.

*breath....breath*

Nawwww...riding in the back of a pick up (in Samoa)

It's Illegal 
who doesn't LOVE to do that - as a child at least?? lol.

That's something my kids look forward to when they think of Samoa.  So today I read in the Samoan Observer that it's illegal :(  Boo Hoo.  Has it always been illegal and the police have never bothered to police it?  Or is it a new thing?

Too many chiefs, no Indians?

I think so.  
Bit of a joke really.  
My cousins had matai titles given out on their mothers side last year. (I'm related to their dad).  Anyway, their mother was the only person alive who held this high chief title.  So it was time to pass it on.  She didn't only give the title to one of her daughters, she also gave the same title to her son.  And it didn't stop there.  The title was also given to 6 other direct nephews and nieces (some of them were brothers and sister too!!). 

So out of a possible 15 first cousins, 8 of them were given this Ali'i title.  Not to mention how many 'second' cousins got the same title.

I am no expert in this area...far from it!!   But I know enough to know that this is just ridiculous!!  Who is going to serve who?  And to make it worse imo, Half of them couldn't speak Samoan to save themselves.  Most of them wouldn't have a clue what holding such a high title involves and they sure as hell won't be contributing to anything they should be.  So what exactly is the point??

Girl Power!! 
I agree!!  Samoa needs more women in parliament.  Women or people at least!! who give a shite about the little people!  Enough of Tuilaepa and his Merry Men!! 


What a mess!
Good luck to sorting this one out *sigh*  Sad for the family involved.  I hope they can prove what they are claiming.  Otherwise...kailo :(

 

Kidlets are healing *YAY* and a Trademe vent

Worst of the chicken poxs are over and out of the way :)  My lil sister who I was supposed to go back to Samoa this Saturday only ended up with about 10 spots which have dried up already bloody pa'u fefeu hahaha!!  So there goes $100 to cancel her bloody flight - up in the thin air - *sigh*  Will prolly look at booking her flight back for next Saturday...her (she is 12) and my mr 9 are ready to eat each other alive!


Right, so a few weeks ago I blogged about how much I luuuurved Trademe - well I am hating it at the moment!!  I've been ripped off!! I bought baby some clothes before Christmas, on the 18th of Dec, paid $10 just for postage - nothing has arrived, seller's TM account has been disabled.


I emailed them a few times to ask for postage details, tracking number etc...each time I got blunt replies.  Actually - in case ya'll have time...here is a run down of the emails...

Me:25th DEC

Hi Lisa,
just wondering if you managed to send my items out yet?  Payment would have been showing on Tuesday in your account.  Nothing has arrived yet.  Can you please let me know what day the items were sent and the tracking number, had hoped to have had the items  by yesterdays mail as we are going away for a couple of weeks today.
Thanks.

HER: 25th Dec

"Everything has been sent"

ME: 29th Dec

"When was everything sent?  Should have arrived by now.  Can you at least email me the tracking number so I can try and locate the parcel.

Then she emailed me back asking for auction numbers and my address again...*sigh*

HER: 29th Dec

"I wills ort out and get back to you later i have a lot of clothes here that need to be sorted but i am sure yours was already sent."

She never did get back to me...so I emailed her again.

ME: 9th Jan

"I still haven't received any of the baby items that I bought off you despite paying $10 just for postage after you said the items had already been packaged ready for postage.  I don't know what's going on, so can you just refund the $30 I paid please.  My account details are:

xxxxxx

Thank you"

HER: 10th Jan

"Please send auction numbers so i can see if they ahve been posted i dont have any details and tm have temp suspened my account."

ME: 10th Jan

"If you scroll down you will see that I have already sent you the auction numbers and my address details and you have told me that there are items that have been sent and items that haven't been sent, though you didn't get back to me and tell if the items I paid for were amongst the things not sent yet. 

I appreciate that selling lots of things on Tm can get confusing but this is just dragging on and on and I'd just appreciate these trades finally being sorted and completed this week with either the goods sent out asap or my money refunded please so I can buy my baby  some clothes somewhere else.

Thank you"

HER: 10th Jan

"Hi there,

it's not a matter of having a lot of things on tm, I was diagnosed with cancer two months ago and it has knocked me around the last month and my husband has no idea about tm ect other wise they would have been done and sent ages ago so now i am trying to figurer out who paid and what was sent, Also my account has been suspended as police are investigating as my partner bought me a 1200 dollar iphone for when i was in hospital and the wanker took our money and never sent the phone.
I have you items in  the post on fast post.

So sorry for the mix up.
Thanks"

ME: TODAY :)

"Hi,
Sorry to hear about what you have been going through.
Mail man has been and gone and parcel still has not turned up.  Fast post def should have had it here by now if sent on Tuesday.
Can you email me the tracking number so I can call NZ Post and track this parcel.
Thank you"

HER:

"Was not track n trace was normal fastpost"

ME:

"If it doesn't turn up by Saturdays post then you need to refund my $30.00 I paid please.  My account details are:

xxxxxxx

I have been more than patient with this trade.

As the seller, you can call NZ Post and file a missing parcel report - I can't do it as I didn't send it, I don't know any of the details, time place etc.  They will reimburse you."

HER:

"Um no they wont has it was not track n trace and as it states i dont take resonserbilty for lost items not tracked as u dont get ur money back so its a oss to the seller and the buyer, I know i sent it as i have my partner to say so as he was there."

ME:
"I have been selling on Tm for many years and know for a fact that you can make a claim with NZ Post on ANY item that goes missing in the post - regardless of tracking or not, if you cared enough to call them you'd find that out.



You win.  I hope you enjoyed spending my hard earned cash - what goes around comes around and you obviously needed it more than I did."

HER:

"U paid i sent if it hasnt turned up ring nz post it not my prob i done what i was ment to and sent it and ur hard earned cash means shit to me i have more to wprry about than a lost parcel right now and i do know for a fact no matter if you make a claim 9 times out of 10 the parcel never gets found and the dont pay out for parcels that are not tracked so i have rung them so get your facts right if you wernt so rude i might have cared a bit more but right now my sick daughter needs me more.
 
Have a good night"

ME:
"If I wasn't so rude?  I have been nothing but patient to put up with excuse after excuse from you.  It's obvious from your emails right from the start  that you have never given a shit.  I hope at the very least you bought your daughter something nice with my money - see as a gift from mine :)

As for replying to my emails...you have better things to do, so don't bother."

Ia ga...that's the story.  Honestly, I know it's 'only' $30 - but that's not the point aye.  99% of the time I do love Trademe.  It's just the once in a blue moon you end up having to deal with tossers like this *sigh*

I have blocked her from my email.  She honestly pisses me off - how the hell I managed to tolerate her crap and remain as polite as I did I don't know!

 

Happy New Year???

not in this house *sigh* and here is the reason why...Chicken Pox

Second thoughts - decided to blank out my poor darlings' eyes in this shot.

It actually started on Dec the 27th...last day of our family camp.  Mr 9 breaks out in spots...then a week later lil miss 8mths breaks out in spots...then a few days ago, miss 10 breaks out.  Then yesterday...my sister visiting from Samoa has a couple of spots *sigh*.

She was booked to go back to Samoa on Saturday - but I've had to cancel that.  First of all she'll be covered in spots - so no way in hell I'd let her go on the plane like that and secondly - she'd be eaten alive by the flies!!

It's been hard work looking after these kids!!  Baby has been pretty good considering!  The first 2-3 days she was VERY grizzly...I don't know how I coped, but I did.  The past day she has been 'ok'.  Still a little grizzly, but she'll sleep more than an hour in her own cot again...but I tell ya...the worst by far are the older kids!!


They are makagaga as hell!! and I'll just leave it at that lol They are being pampered and taken care of. I. AM. TIRED.


Also my monitor died on me a week ago.  Finally got around to replacing it yesterday.  Amazing what gets done around the house when there is no working PC!!


I'd love a laptop!!  Imagine all the blogging complaining on my blog I could do ;)


Anyway, kids are ok, healthy and happy otherwise...


WISHING everyone well...stay safe and keep blogging people - can't wait to catch up and see what everyone has been and is upto :)


Hmmm...after publishing the above...I thought I'd add a couple of pics of lil miss from just before her chicken pox...it's such an adorable age!! 

She has perfected her 'ta-ta' wave.  She'll do it randomly and on request :)  She has been crawling for a month now.  And is standing herself up on things then of course she falls down and usually starts crying :(.

 

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!!