Update

** Sold the car on Trade Me - we are now down to just the van. Two less bills to pay :)

** Ricki had his school formal last Friday night. He had a great time. Went with a group of mates and then they went to the after party later. Stumbled home at 4am the next morning.
**Had Joshuas parent teacher meetings. I came home with LOTS of things to chase him up about. Hasn't done the majority of his homework . . . talks too much in class (that isn't a surprise!) . . . doesn't focus on his school work in general. Quite a bit of work needs doing with him. He has caught up with most things now, so it's just a case of keeping on top of it, and trying to get him to be more organised.

**Karl has had a change of work days. Is now doing Monday to Friday and straight away has joined up with a soccer team so he can start playing again. He goes for his drivers licence at the end of the month - finally.

** Mothers Day was celebrated in Picton having lunch with MIL, SIL and our niece Carlene. Worked out quite well, because it was Carlenes birthday the next day, so it was a double celebration.

**Tomorrow after school I have Liam and Rickis parent teacher meetings. Hopefully they will be a bit more positive than Joshs!!

**Tomorrow night we are going out to Rickis Chef Training evening. After seeing the menu, it should be a really nice night.

**Friday night Dallas and I are going out to the Ferrymans Restaurant. We won a voucher on the radio for our last anniversary. Might get to watch the Hurricanes win the semi-final on the big screen while we're there :)

**This is our house as of today . . .
The guttering is up and hopefully tomorrow the roofing will start.

03 May 2006


















26 April 2006


















04 April 2006

Not a happy weekend!

This post is from last week, but somehow didn't get posted properly. So here we go again . . .

Not a happy weekend!

Hardrive has imploded! The decision has been made to get a new one . . . well at least an ex-lease second hand but new to us one. Hoping that some of the info can be got off the old machine, but no guarantee.

To top that off . . . woke up on Saturday morning to find that someone had put paint stripper all over my car! Called the police, but of course there isn't much they can do but take photos and write it up as a complaint. The car was really bought to teach the boys to drive in, and as a run around for us. A new paint job will cost more than the car is actually worth, so not too sure what we are going to do with it.

At least the van passed it's warrant this morning. One little bit of good news out of a weekend of bad.

Not a happy weekend!

Hardrive has imploded! The decision has been made to get a new one . . . well at least an ex-lease second hand but new to us one. Hoping that some of the info can be got off the old machine, but no guarantee.

To top that off . . . woke up on Saturday morning to find that someone had put paint stripper all over my car! Called the police, but of course there isn't much they can do but take photos and write it up as a complaint. The car was really bought to teach the boys to drive in, and as a run around for us. A new paint job will cost more than the car is actually worth, so not too sure what we are going to do with it.

At least the van passed it's warrant this morning. One little bit of good news out of a weekend of bad.

The house . . . the house . . .

IT'S STARTED!! Finally :)

The old shed and concrete base have gone. The ground has been scraped and the outline has been dug out. We are so excited about it.

Will be back with photos later.

Wonders will never cease ~

Liam has a job! Nothing fancy, mind, but a wage paying after school job! He comes into BOS and does the cleaning up. Told you it was nothing fancy LOL. Started after school yesterday - needless to say he's VERY tired, because we haven't had a clean up boy for a week or so, and things had gotten pretty bad. I hope he sticks with it.

My sister Anne is currently living with us. She arrived last Monday - she has moved back from Australia, and is looking for somewhere in Blenheim to rent. Has to find a job, too.

The car failed its WOF this week :( Needs a new seatbelt and some rust in the boot hinges sorted. Have no idea how much that will cost. Van goes for a warrant next month, and I know that needs some stuff doing to it first.

House plans are still at the Council. **sigh** There is no way a February start will happen now. Probably won't be till half way through March! Gives us a bit more time to save some money, I guess.

Tra la la

Late again . . . such is life.

This week has been big.

Started last Friday when my big bro, SIL and I left Blenheim to drive to Winton for our nieces wedding. For those who don't know . . . Winton is at the bottom of the South Island - about 20 minutes north of Invercargill. And then the wedding was actually in Dipton - another 15 or so minutes north again.

We got as far as Milton on Friday night - it was pouring down, getting dark and we hadn't booked anywhere to stay. Stopped in Dunedin first - rang five or six motels but Dunedin was fully booked out. What we didn't know - all the oldies were there for the national Masters Games! Now I know, I know, Masters start at 30 or 35 in some disciplines - but seeing that I'm younger than that anyway - they are OLD! ;-D

So we left Dunedin central, tried Mosgiel, but no go there either. Next stop - Milton. Rang the ONE motel in Milton while we were parked up in Mosgiel - phone booked the very last unit. Panic averted!

Drove from Milton to Winton via Invercargill on Saturday. Do you know Invercargill doesn't even have a Mall!!! It's a city for crying out loud! Didn't get to see Mr Shadbolt while we were there - maybe next time.






We took a quick trip down to Bluff. Lovely views down there.
This is taken from one of the lookouts - looking Northwest.





Made it to Winton during the afternoon, family BBQ dinner that evening. The wedding was on Sunday - the day turned out beautiful. The bride and groom looked beautiful - the cars were awesome, the meal was awesome too. And the dancing - now that was a whole lot of fun!

Monday morning dawned (Waitangi Day). We left Winton at 8.30am and drove, only stopping for lunch and comfort, solidly till we got home that evening around 8.30pm. What a long, tiring trip, but so, so worth it



Tuesday - my baby started college! Those people in the Masters games suddenly aren't looking so old!
The College has a new uniform this year for the turds - uh, third formers. They have changed the shorts and shirt. It was going to be a blazer, trousers and tie until parents caused a fuss. Can you imagine all those boys out on the footy field in their blazers getting all dirty and muddy! This mum certainly wasn't happy with the proposed changes.

Liam and Ricki started on Wednesday. Bought school books today. Still need an art kit for Josh. These things don't come cheap!

And of course, now that kids are back at school, I am back at work normal hours. A real paycheck for a change. The small ones I was getting for just working a couple of hours in the afternoons were going absolutely nowhere!

The House - plans are at the Council for permitting and whatever else happens there. We spent this afternoon going around looking at roof colours, window/door frame colours, house colours, fence styles, front door styles, outside light styles . . . so much to think about. Don't know what people thought of this strange woman taking photos of their homes, but nobody came out and tackled me, so I got away with it quite nicely. We have found colours that we both agree on . . .TYG!!!

Off to watch the taped first episode of Desperate Housewives before tomorrows episode. Managed to watch the first one of Lost. WOW!!! is all I can say!

Some lists ~

A List of Petty Things I Love:

Books that tell me how to get organised
New bras
MudHouse Sauv
Jack Johnson
The colour purple
My bed
House plans
Walking in the morning
The smell of the sea
A clothesline full of washing



A List of Petty Things I Hate:

Cabbage
Kids arguing
Having to call someone on the phone
Mispronounciation of words
Deciding on meals
Bad grammar



A List of Petty Things that are Depressing me Right Now:

Finances
My body
Extended family issues
It's February already
A definate lack of motivation
Cooler mornings

Of things heaven and earth

One day during the week we had thunder and lightening and a lot of rain. Very much needed, but it brought on some interesting conversations in our household about the Gods - Greek, Roman and Norse gods of thunder in particular. Zeus, Jupiter and Thor. They were gods of the sky and would throw lightning bolts if they became angry. Something I wish I could do some days. Just a little lightning bolt; just enough to stop the arguing . . . ya know?

I am going to get up to date if it kills me!!!

Have had a couple of birthdays in the family . . . Dals was Friday and mine yesterday.
Dallas got some mags for the van, a voucher for dinner, voucher for the movies - both vouchers for two people ;-) - CDs, some home brew, a neat doorbell that sounds like a Ford racing car and some $$$$.
Lucky me - I got a new phone - much needed; a scrapbooking voucher; a 'Motherhood' book, a Resene CD that I can sort out paint colours for the house, a voucher for another tattoo - yay - some $$$ and the most exquisite card from Dallas.

Can you say "spoilt"???

Today we had a bit of a tidy up after the festivities, then this afternoon we went down to the Taylor River and bombed Ricki and his mates that were competing in the raft race. What a laugh that was - but these boys, so young, so fit - couldn't cope. They built this elaborate raft and kept getting passed by people on bits of board and in tyre tubes! I think the lesson for next year is K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple, Silly :)

Well we're ready!!

We've mowed the lawn for the very first time :-)

Our full working plans are in the process of being drawn up, then they go to the Council for permitting.

In the mean time - decisions need to be made. Roof colour, joinery colour, outside plaster colour so we can pick the roof and joinery colour!!!

Sigh - it's not going to be easy.

Promised photo ~

Of Josh . . .





















and Josh and Liam (who of course never wants his photo taken these days, especially with his little brother.)

What's your summer ride??

This little beauty is mine :)

Click on "What's your summer ride?" below the pic to find out what yours is.

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro. You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

What's Your Summer Ride?

Some crazy thoughts to ponder ~

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

Why is it that when adults have multiple personalities it's schizophrenia, but when a child has imaginary friends it's cute?

If all the nations in the world are in debt, where did all the money go?

If Practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, then why practice?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink what comes out"?

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken over there ... I'm gonna eat the first thing that comes out if its butt"?

You know that little indestructible black box that is used on planes, why can't they make the whole plane out of the same substance?

Why do they call it your "bottom", when it's really in the middle of your body?

And finally . . .

Isn't it funny how the word 'politics' is made up of the words 'poli' meaning 'many' in Latin, and 'tics' as in 'bloodsucking creatures’?

FORE!!!

New Years Day . . . Happy New Year everyone :)

We decided to get some family time and exercise in - we played golf! Nine holes of mind numbing - errr, mind enhancing - hitting a little white ball around the dry grass. The hardest parts - trying to stop the kids from yelling about every bad hit they did and annoying the other golfers (not that there were many, surprisingly), and walking from one side of the course to the other, chasing the damn balls!
How it's meant to look ~



















How the rest of us did it ~


















Not even going to show you my attempts!!

We played at Picton and it was really lovely there. Just the right temperature, too.

On the way back we stopped at the Spring Creek dairy and got icecreams . . . $2.00 for these absolutely HUGE icecreams . . . will definately be taking a drive out there for ice creams again very soon!

I'm not happy

about the way the photos are reproducing on the blog. Might have to look into that, they aren't very clear at all.

Now - where were we . . .

Christmas is done. Boxing day we cleaned up a bit, relaxed a bit, then went around to a friends for a BBQ.

The boys spent most of the time in the pool - having an awesome time with water guns and balls.

It was just nice to sit back and catch up with life, friends, watch the boys interact with the littler people.




On Tuesday Dallas and I had street receivers to clear. Thankfully we didn't have set times as we normally do, so were able to get out and get it done all in one cycle, instead of the usual three.

So what are you reading?

I've just finished Angels and Demons by Dan Brown - precursor to The Da Vinci Code, which I read last year. What great books! Didn't want to put them down. Of course, Karl didn't - he read both of them in one sitting - starting early afternoon and finishing early next morning.

While reading the The Da Vinci Code, I also spent alot of time Googling alot of the things in the book so I could see what he was talking about. AMAZING!!! If you haven't read them - well, get thee down to the Library today!

Merry Christmas

Christmas was a quiet time at our home, with just us and Dal's family sharing it.

Our little rental had absolutely NO room for a christmas tree, so I decided to decorate the mantlepiece so we felt just a little bit Christmassy.


































Dallas just sitting back and relaxing after a CRAZY couple of months leading up to Christmas.
















Karl and Ricki enjoying a glass of wine (or not LOL) . . . maybe a little TOO much for Ricki - as he's holding TWO glasses.






















Liam parading in his new threads!













You might notice no photos of Josh - am I a bad mum, or what?!? Honestly, that boy moves so fast - he doesn't stay still long enough to take a photo! I promise one to come soon :)

And even further back ~

20 December 1988 Ricki Lee Smith was welcomed into our family. He weighed in at 6lb 13oz, and was 3 1/2 weeks early.

I had been hoping to go full term with this baby - Karl had been early 22 months before and I had thought it would be nice to get it 'right' this time. And I nearly did!

Went into labour in the afternoon and knew that Dallas was due home around 5ish, so I didn't bother letting him know. I waited, and waited. Mum and Dad, along with my sister Lynette, came to pick Karl up and take him for the night. Had called Dals dad, and warned him he might have to come and take me to the hospital in the truck if Dallas didn't get home real soon. Well, he finally got home, we rushed up to the hospital and I ended up have a C-Section. He was breech, wouldn't turn, and was getting into difficulty. And he's been causing problems ever since LOL


Happy 17th birthday, Ricki. Love you heaps :)

Let's go back in time ~

19 December, 1990 Liam Samuel Smith was born, wide eyed and bushy tailed into the world 6 weeks early. I really, really, really didn't want him to come that day - it was Ricki's 2nd birthday the very next day - that wouldn't be fair to either of them!

I had spent the morning trying to ignore labour pains while watching over lots of little children while their mums went swimming, telling all my friends that were there that this couldn't happen, it wouldn't happen, it wasn't going to happen!

But, as history tells us, it did. He was breech - had been the whole pregnancy - and because the last baby was a C-Section, they gave me one for Liam, too.

Happy birthday Liam :) We love you :)

We apologise for this break in transmission ~

Normal programming will resume as soon as possible.


*&%^$!* computers . . . . .