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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Time off - empty nesting

Rosie is here and I've got some time off! It's already Wednesday (two days left until I get back to Mrs. P) and it's been such a busy week!

The girls are away for the school holidays - so we have a quiet house. It's really nice, but we're also a bit lost. It takes Brian and I a couple of days to adjust to being childless - we have no one to boss around so we tend to try to boss each other around! It doesn't work very well.

Today's been a great day though - Brian had the day off and we went out for breakfast at our favourite cafe called "Jett". They serve BAGELS! It reminds me so much of home. Bagels aren't a main breakfast or snack here like they are in North America. As we were walking home we stopped at a local jeweller to check out wedding bands for Brian. He didn't want a ring at first... but changed his mind. We found him a ring today! I'm so excited!!

We've spent the remainder of our day over at our dear friends, Rob & Sharyn's. Brian is building them a veggie garden. They're thrilled and we're having a great afternoon doing it. Sharyn, Sophie (their daughter) and I went out to pick the veggies while the guys got the timber and the soil. It's just about finished now. How exciting.

Brian's a great gardener and he's put in an awesome garden at our place. We'll have lots of stuff for salads at Christmas.

Bubba's been at the vet for the past couple of nights. His diabetes is back and they are trying to adjust the insulin dosage. It'll be managable and luckily we discovered it before he got really sick like last year. He'll be fine - just need to stick him twice a day.


Hmmm, what else can I say? Well the weather has been great this week. It's like summer and we all hope it will continue! The Mount is getting busy... it's quite different from winter.

Tomorrow Brian's Aunt Chris arrives. I am going to make some final decisions on my wedding dress this week. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Dress Shopping Blues

Trying to find the right wedding dress is much like finding the right man... you try some on... sometimes you try dozens on at a time. Some of them are really nice, some would do just fine with a few minor alterations, some look great but are they appropriate?

I'm totally stressed out. I feel under the weather and I have a bladder infection. This is what dress shopping is doing to me! Yesterday I decided to stop looking until the summer season dresses come out... but today I took my neighbour Raewyn to have a look at what I've already been "thinking about". Big mistake. I found even MORE! So now I'm even more confused than before.

Just like men - when do you stop and just choose one? Or do you wait until next season? There are just so many choices.

Luckily I am fairly certain that I don't want another man... for now. The one I've got will do. We've been through the hard bits of a relationship - I've got him to succumb to my molding without much fight anymore. He's a smart man - just succumb Honey, otherwise I'll try on some more dresses!

As you can tell, I'm feeling a bit grumbly. I'm tired and have a lot on my mind. I haven't had a day off in 12 days and I feel badly because I've been so busy running the girls to their after school activities and Mrs. P is feeling neglected. I need a clone. She can find my dress and drive the children everywhere. I'd love to just sit and have a cuppa tea.

I wish my sisters were here. This is exactly why God gave us sisters - to talk about boys and to help find a dress.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Gardens and Celebrants


It's a very blustery day. Frank and Natalie are here and Natalie is putting in her new miniature Pohutukawa bushes on their new deck. Mrs. Peacocke and I have just finished our morning cuppa tea and we were debating on whether to brave the wind and run a few errands... we've decided not. Tomorrow's another day.

I've booked an appointment for Mrs. P to meet with a dietition this week. Perhaps we'll get some ideas on what she would be best to eat. She gets so fed up with food and it's difficult finding things that are palatable.

I am on the search for a Marriage Celebrant. I've looked in the yellow pages but how do you know who to call? I'd much rather have someone I know - or someone who knows someone we know. You know?

Other than that, it's a pretty ordinary day. We are looking forward to the warmer weather. Brian just put in a nice vegetable garden in the back. We've planted lots of lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, celery, carrots, spring onions, radishes, strawberries, courgettes and cucumbers. We'll be eating well this summer!

Friday, September 15, 2006

Welcome to our Blog!

I can't believe it's taken me so long to start one of these! This would have saved me so much time (and lost emails). But better late than never. I've already done all of my major travelling... I'm not the transient I once was... but once a traveller, always a traveller. I am temporarily "grounded" by this job but I needed some grounding! It gives me a chance to embrace my new role in life - full time Mummy and Wife (almost)! Life is going quite well. I have been living here in Mount Maunganui for almost 10 months (and that's a LONG time for this girl!) still caring for dear Mrs. P. I have recently set a date to get married to my partner Brian on December 30th 2006. His two girls (Natalya age 9 and Chantelle age 8) are going to be my little bridesmaids. I should say "our" two girls... because they are.

I love living here at the Mount. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else right now. Life is simpler and I couldn't be more grateful. This is how it's all meant to be. I'm so over the hustle and bustle of busy life. I can't believe it once used to fuel me. I was addicted to it. I was also addicted to consumerism. I'm such a different person today.



As I write this I am looking out of our picture window upstairs (at Mrs. P's place) overlooking the harbour. There's a great big palm tree in the centre of my view and sailboats are swaying in the breeze. There's a fishing boat heading out to sea to catch it's quota for the day. It's overcast today but it doesn't distract from the view. It's lovely no matter what the weather.

I will now keep everyone up to date on my new experiences at being a "mum" to an 8 year old and 9 year old. Brian and I were watching Super Nanny last night and we realize just how lucky we are to have two well behaved girls. But we often wonder if we are too strict. Both of us have similar parenting styles (thank goodness!) and we run a pretty tight ship around here. We notice that other kids seem to have less rules - but then again they are little brats! On the other hand, we want the girls to have a lot of freedom. So when other parents are driving their kids to school everyday or taking them to the park or beach (which is across the street), we have our girls ride their bikes all by themselves and go on their own. Some of our friends think we're mad. But we want the girls to be independent. Sure there are a lot of crazy people out there - but who wants to live in fear? I certainly don't. I think we're raising a lot of fearful children who won't have the courage to leave home or travel around the world! I want these girls to have the same kind of life experiences that I've had. Freedom is such a necessity. We are all claiming that we live in a free country - yet we're chained up by fear. It's ruling our lives and how is that going to affect the next generation?


And I also thought it would be fun to write about all that happens here with Mrs. P. She's a box of birds and shares so many stories with me and I really feel like I should share them. She's just gotten her first laptop (at age 94) and I am trying to teach her how to use it and explain to her how the internet works (she can't understand why I'm using her computer when I have my own... and I am trying to explain how the internet works and how it doesn't matter who's computer I use). This will be good for her... good for us. It can get a bit boring sitting up here all day. I hope one day she'll write a blog entry herself!

I hope you all enjoy our stories.