Michelle's weekly blog challenge
"List 5 qualities you admire in others"
1. Calmness and
2. Patience (role modeled to me amazingly by Darryn - I try to follow his example but it's not always easy!)
3. Wise counsel (again it comes in abundance from my husband - how did he get to be such a wise old sage?)
4. Encouragement
5. A peaceful heart


THEN list 5 qualities that you think others admire about YOU! "
OK This is much harder -
1.Generosity (mostly with time - offering to help people)
2. Random acts of praise - lately I have really tried to praise people (my kids, friends, strangers in shop - telling them I love their skirt or their kids are cute - just random acts to brighten a day)
3. As I age I no longer care what other people think - I am comfortable with who I am - I hope this is a trait that inspires others.
4. This is a strange one but I always answer the phone sounding very happy - think good PR skills. I think it's important!
This is so hard - I will have to complete it later!

I had a lovely day at Kiwiscraps today. Look what I made!

It's a blackboard canvas for my kitchen.

Michelle's weekly blog challenge 21-27 November

Name 5 things you would do if you had a magic wand and explain why:

Hmmm...
1. Ensure that for their entire lives my kids love and know they are loved
2.Take away hurts in the world
3.Take all my family and friends to Rarotonga
4. Fix up all the things that I want renovated on our house/section (is that a money wish?)
5. Help my family to find and live their passions

Isn't this the best thank you letter ever?
Following our 'random act" we got this lovely letter in the mail yesterday:

"What a surprise we got finding someone at our front doorstep with a cheque for us?

We are constantly amazed at how these things occur always when we have the most need. It gives us strength knowing people within our community do value what we do. Sometimes we can feel overwhelmed by the demands of our chosen vocation as we try to make a difference in our little corner of the world.

The children and young people whom we support constantly remind us of the joy and fragility of life. They are our wisest teachers and greatest heroes.

Your gift is greatly appreciated."

Isn't that one of the loveliest thank you letters you could ever receive? It really touched me.

RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS

I've always loved the idea of random acts of kindness (did I see that on Oprah many moons ago? I don't care what anyone thinks - I LOVE OPRAH!)

Anyway yesterday the kids came with me to deliver our own random act. Darryn's company has been doing really well and this year they decided to give a few thousand dollars to a charity at Christmas.ohey decided that each of the many shareholders could give $625 to a charity/person of their choice. Darryn decided to give his to KARAHANDS. They are an amazing group of 3 women who share a home in the Hutt Valley. They provide respite care for seriously disabled children/young adults. This means the parents are able to take a break for a couple of days or for a week. Some children come very regularly, some just once a year. There is no set fee - they will take you even if you can't pay. One of the women works fulltime as a nurse to support the household. Best thing is the kids adore being at KARAHANDS. It is such a treat for them and they make special friends and feel special staying there. The house is lovely with a gorgeous country garden with chooks and rabbits.

When we delivered the cheque we could see why kids love to go there. I had explained to the kids about what sort of place it was before we went. My own kids were treated to a tour of the garden and animals and it was such a friendly homely place. We know our little cheque helped them a little but I think we got more out of it than KARAHANDS did. These women are aewsome!

Michelle's weekly blog challenge November 14

"I ask each of you to choose a letter of the alphabet and answer each of the following with a word/group of words that begins with the letter you've chosen... ie say I chose the letter "M"... a color would be MAGENTA, a song would be MONY MONY by Billy Idol and so on Get it?"

LETTER "R"

1. Name one color. RED - every room should have a hint of it according to Tricia Guild
2. Name one song. REALLY GOOD TIME - Bryan Ferry
3. Name one movie. RAIN MAN - Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman
4. Name one vehicle. ROVER (OK Landrover - our family vehicle - the best 4x4xfar!)
5. Name one food. RAW ANYTHING! I am on a health kick - I love fresh spring veges!
6. Name one household item. RED COLANDER- my latest purchase from the Ruth Pretty Shop!
7. Name one book. REBECCA - by Daphne du Maurier, a classic I've read about 6 times
8. Name one scrapbook related tool - REBECCA SOWER - anything by her!
9. Name one animal. RED PANDA - Caitlin's favourite animal
10. Name one country/place RAROTONGA - Our favourite family holiday destination

Parts of this were really hard!

First time published!





I've never really bothered submitting my scrapbooking to magazines for publishing. I think I'd always been too busy when I was running a scrapbooking business to find the time. But now that I am a domestic goddess I figured I might as well have a go. (Actually Caitlin bet me to being published a couple of years ago in the kids section of Scrapbook Creations.)

Anyway, page 46 in the latest issue (Spring 05) of Up2Scrap is my 'first publish'. It's an album I made for my sister, Janine. Inspired by a class I did with Heidi Swapp at Kiwiscraps.

Lovely to see Michelle and Lara (fellow scrapping bloggers) published in the same issue as well as lots of the girls from KS.

Here are my photos of it. (I hate the pink background they used to photograph it for the magazine- I think my leather settee makes a much better background!)

Breakthrough! On Friday night we treated my parents, Darryn's brother who was visiting from Nelson and our kids to dinner at a great restaurant in the Hutt Valley - Ichiban Teppanyaki. Elliot at 5 usually can't handle restaurants for more than half an hour. He can cope with a cafe where he can scoff a hot chocolate and meringue and then play in the play corner but a restaurant at night is another story. OK, he's only 5 and we could get a babysitter but Cait is 10 and loves to go out as a treat and it's just not a family outing if we don't all go.

Anyway for those of you who haven't experienced a teppanyaki restaurant basically you all sit around a big barbecue hotplate and a Japanese chef comes and cooks in front of you. Not only that but they usually do a bit of entertainment such as juggling condiment bottles, setting fire to something they're cooking, throwing raw eggs for you to catch and tossing bowls of rice to you. Elliot was beside himself with glee as he caught 6 bowls of rice "A World Record" the chef told him. Dinner took about 2 hours and he lasted the whole time. OK so he didn't eat the food but they happily cooked him some fries (even though they weren't on the menu) and brought him some icecream and a hot chocolate. Cait tried some of the food (even the prawns which she normally wouldn't touch) and loved some of it.

Elli tells his he wants to "go to that Japanese restaurant again tomorrow".

We had a lovely night - our first no stress night time family outing. Now that is a breakthrough!

Michelle's weekly blog challenge - Nov 7 -
10 CD’s/songs that you just have to have if you got stranded on a desert island

There's only 1 CD I would hope to have with me if I was stranded on a desert island. I'll guarantee no one has heard of it - "The Berlin Tapes" by Iva Davies and Icehouse.

It is the soundtrack to the most amazing live show I've ever been to - The Sydney Dance Company's "Berlin" - choreographed by Graeme Murphy. Darryn and I saw it in Sydney some years ago. It was all about the Berlin Wall. The only dance work that has moved me to tears . Here are Graeme's comments from the programme:

" The city of Berlin has always provoked potent global reactions and strong personal resonances, even from those who have never been there. .. Berlin currently, and historically, evokes images of perpetual rebirth. The dominant physicality is of cranes lifting the spirit of the city towards the future, juxtaposed with streets riddled with deep, dark holes that seem to contain the ghosts of its past".

The songs are all covers delivered amazingly by Iva Davies. They include (with original artists in brackets):

Heaven (Talking Heads)
Complicated Game (XTC)
All the Way (Frank Sinatra)
All Tomorrow's Parties (The Velvet Underground)
Let there be Love (Simple Minds)
Really Good Tie (Roxy Music)
Heroes (David Bowie)

This is a drop dead amazing album. With the exception of Bowie none of the original artists would feature in my top 10 favourite bands list but altogether on this album they are amazing.

"We are not doing that Fox Thing" - so spake Elliot, age 5, a few weeks ago. That what thing? "That Fox Thing". Hmmm.... Ah, yes would that, perchance, be Guy Fawkes. "Yep, when you made me hold that burning sparkling thing and it was too noisy and Daddy nearly made a fire in our garden" Ah, yes, well... Guy Fawkes is not a happening thing in our household tonight. Caitlin is off to a friend's house to pratice camp cooking for a Girl Guide badge next week. I think Elliot may have a visit to the video shop for a special DVD treat instead of fireworks.

Here's a photo of Elliot (in green) with some school friends. They studied medieval times and the whole school had a dress-up day - dozens of knights, princesses, the odd dragon and no peasants!

Michelle's weekly blog challenge: (see side link to Michelle)

1. Name one productive thing you accomplished this past weekend.
Nothing - spent all Saturday watching Caitlin's first karate tournament. Actually it probably could be described as productive family time. She came second in her individual kata event and got a special award for "Spirit and Courage" as she was one of only a handful of white belts (new, ungraded people) competing.

2. Name two things that you look forward to doing.
Using my Day Spa prize and going out for dinner with Darryn on Friday night.

3. Name three things that gross you out.
Dead birds brought in by the cat; live birds brought in by the cat; tripe

4. Name four things that you normally do on a daily basis.
Shower twice (as soon as I get up then about 3 hours later after I've been to the gym); go to the gym (well 5 times a week); brush my teeth four times (OK I'm a fanatic); tell my husband I love him

5. Name five things that you own that you think you could get rid of and not miss.
We have a home filled with nice stuff but I honestly believe there is not one thing I could not give away. I really believe that material possessions (though I love them) are replaceable and therefore I think I could give away everything.


Thanks for the challenge, Michelle!

Don't want to blow my own trumpet but I am pretty proud of myself this morning.

Long story .... in June I turned 40. A couple of weeks before my birthday I got on the scales and realised I needed to lose 40-50 kilos. I joined a gym. In July the gym started a special Midwinter Makeover Challenge which I signed up for. Eating program, heaps of exercise, nutrition seminars, personal trainer - the lot. I really embraced it and have been feeling great about losing weight and being fitter. I'm at the gym 5 times a week. Well last night they had a prizegiving for everyone who particiapted in the Challenge (about 50 people) and I won the top prize! I got a great voucher for a day spa that will be bliss to use and, even better I am 12.5 kilos lighter than 10 weeks ago (and 17.5 kilos lighter than when I turned 40). Still a long way to go - but I am really proud I've come so far already. Watch this space. (And, yes, there were before and after photos but I am so not gonna publish those!)