Update and some photo's

Hi all, it's been some great weather lately. Even washed and hung out sheets and they were dry to remake that afternoon!

Enough about housework.

We are onto our last window today. David and Terry are working hard and I am so pleased all the windows are in!

Christmas! I'm hoping to actually send out the cards this year. I found some that I had written out a year or two ago! We are looking forward to having lunch at Terry's sister's (Sue) house. Mmm all that lovely food. We are proud to say that we will be providing the potatoes from our vege garden this year. The corn has come through and we are waiting for the rest of our vege's to show themselves.

Tank is growing bigger by the day, we have to keep reminding ourselves he is only 14 weeks old! Here are some photo's.

As you can see (if you crane your head) Tank is very helpful. Terry cut down an overgrown bush and Tank wanted to help take the branches round to the back.

When we first got Tank he was only the size of Sarah-Jane's lower leg (height wise) now he is just about up to her hips!
I took him down the river bank the other day so I could chat with Jimmy about his whitebait, Tank was very excited about the water but got too close to the edge and took an unexpected swim, both of us got a surprise. As he scrambled to get up the bank I was trying to pull him out without falling in myself! So that was Tank's first experience of swimming in the river!

Sarah-Jane is in her barbie dress given to her by the 6yr old girl next door. She's living up to her name - Sarah means princess.

Well the girls have just got hom so I better go, it will be "Mum I'm hungry", "Mum I'm hot", "Mum I'm hungry", and so on.

Books I'm reading

Books that I’m reading
My best mate Rach told me about this idea to blog the books that I’m reading at the moment, giving a brief review. So here is my first entry.
At the moment I’m trying to read four books at once—not an easy task!!

The first one is “Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English”, written by John Bunyan retold by James H. Thomas.
I tried to read this book a number of years ago. I didn’t get very far when I gave up, the way it was written with the old English language was too hard to understand. I am really enjoying this version. Of course I haven’t finished it, but I do look forward to get back in to it. This copy I have borrowed from a friend at church who is a person after my own heart. They (Ian & Debbi) have a hallway full of books! I could spend a long time just looking at them all let alone reading them! I very much appreciate them opening up their book collection for me to read.

Book number two is “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Golden Retrievers”, written by Margaret H. Bonham.
Again I haven’t read this from cover to cover, but I find this kind of book one that I can flick through to find the topic I want to read about. It’s helpful to get the gist of how to train Tank. I used it to teach him to stay and it has worked well. Some of the techniques I wouldn’t use or wouldn’t be bothered to use, but all in all, it’s good for someone like me—new to owning a dog.

Book three is “The Dog Listener” by Jan Fennell
This book was recommended by Rachael, it is a book that is about learning the language that dogs speak. Recognising that they will never learn our language but we can learn theirs and be able to understand what our dog is trying to tell us. This lady has been on U.K. television with her techniques. I have used a couple of techniques and it has already made a difference in the relationship between me and Tank. He now understands that I am the ‘Alpha’ the leader of his pack.
I haven’t finished it yet but it is making interesting reading and I would recommend this book to anyone thinking about getting a dog or already has one.

Book four – “Seduced by Success” by Ann Kiemel Anderson
This is one I found in the church library. It caught my eye due to the front cover blurb ‘No longer addicted to pills, performance, and praise’.
People who know me very well will know my past errors. This woman had it all with being a successful teacher, writer, speaker, wife, and mother to four boys. What caught my eye was the fact that for years this woman lived behind a mask of happiness. In the end she snapped and God met with her at the bottom of her ‘pit’. There are similarities between her and I; not the four boys or the speaker, teacher etc; but the hitting rock bottom thing is very familiar. Once again I haven’t finished reading it but I do believe I will get a lot out of this book.

I hope you enjoy this part of my blog. Feel free to leave comments on books you’re reading. I find it very interesting finding out what others are reading. It shows a bit about the type of person they are. Of course I hope that doesn’t mean I’m a fragmented character because I read four books at a time!

Just a family update

I took Tank to the vet today for his vaccination, micro-chipping, and worming tablet. I also learnt how to trim his nails. He weighed 7.5 kg when we first got him. He now weighs a whopping 11.5kg!! That my friend’s, is only three weeks worth of growth. Wow! He’s gonna be a big boy! We already knew he was going to be big so it’s not really a surprise for us. He’s so beautiful. The vet goes all soppy over him. She told me to drop in any time as they would love to see him. She’s not the only one that goes soppy. He’s very popular at school with both children and parents/teachers.
I taught him to ‘stay’ today. He’s already cottoned on to it and I only spent two lots of 10 minute sessions with him. He has already recognised a few other commands without me doing anything.
He has found a new toy—the watering can. As you can see from the photos he is a very entertaining animal! I am however getting sick of rotten rags, bones, and other things that he keeps digging up and ‘retrieving’ for me. I found one of my socks on the front lawn today. Much to say he knew he had done a naughty. I was playing baseball with Emily on the front lawn this evening and he started to ‘retrieve’ the ball, it was great until he decided he wanted to keep it. We gave him his favourite toy in a trade off—his pine-cone. Yep, he has a thing for pine-cones. He has one out front and two out back. Oh and I have given up on the toilet mat. It’s my fault really as it is very close in texture to his sheep skin. Who needs a toilet mat anyway?!
Anyway enough bragging!
Emily and I had a very intense girl talk today. It was about the fine art of friendships. It was so good to spend that time with her. It was only about 15 – 20 minutes, but it was precious. I could have shrugged her off and carried on with the hundred and one other things I had to do, but I made the choice to stop and talk to her. I have felt guilty for a long time about not spending one-on-one time with the girls. Now that I’ve made the first step, I will make an effort to carry on. I think Em is up to the ‘pre-teen’ age and stage. Where relationships get more complex, awareness of yourself and how others see you, and the silly giggly age. I certainly need help on the silly giggly thing. Em has a great sense of humour but some of is just plain silly!! In fact I think she’s the only one to find something in particular funny, then, she’s laughing too hard to tell us why she’s laughing! I’m sure I wasn’t this way at her age! Don’t comment on that one mum.
I’m still not sure what to do with Sarah-Jane. She is – hmm, what is she? I know, a bright star that shines through the clouds at night. Her personality is one of vitality mixed with stubbornness (she gets that from Terry) and determination. But she is such a girly girl. She came back from Megan’s house (neighbour) with a beautiful princess dress-up dress on. Megan had given it to her and I think SJ would have slept in it if I didn’t have to sow up a couple of tears in it (which I haven’t done yet). She lines all her teddies and dolls along her bed, there’s hardly room for her! Yes, I know mum, I use to do that as well. Even have the photo’s to prove it. Sometimes I think that Sarah-Jane and I are so alike that we end up clashing heads.
Aimee, she’s a wee minx! Her teacher informed me this morning that yesterday Aimee refused to do her work. Absolutely refused! In the end Amber (Mrs Wing) had to put her in a separate part of the class room and she had to stay in there till she did her work. But Aimee didn’t budge and ended up being in there from morning right through to lunch. It’s the first (and hopefully last) time that she has behaved like that in fact she is the first of all three that has played up at school! Oh dear, what is in store for us! I do think that if we stomp on it now it won’t become an issue. I have made an agreement with her that if she behaves at school then she can have a reward when she comes home. But if she has played up then Amber will write in her notebook and Aimee will have to go to bed 10 minutes early. Here’s hoping. I will reward each day for a few days then take it to every two and then three etc.
Well I better finish now as it is midnight and I must get up in the morning to the girls as Terry is off to golf at 8:30am. I hope he is still well enough to play. He’s very blocked up and is rather miserable. Now I can hear him snoring – very loudly! Maybe I’ll sleep on the couch. Nah, I’ll just shove him every now and then. Gotta have my comfy bed. Any way Tank is sleeping on the floor beside me and He is snoring as well! Men!

Surprise, Surprise!!

Ok Mum, here goes your story...
It happened on a fine thursday afternoon. I was at home with the girls after school when I get a txt from my big sister asking if they can pop over as they are out my way, (Deanna & Jess live in ChCh). So of course I txt back "yep".
I heard the girls say "Jess! Jess is here!"
Then I hear "Gran!! Gran!!"
I thought that was a strange thing for the girls to say so I came out to the lounge. And lo and behold, there is my Mum standing in my lounge! The strangeness with this is that mum lives in Brisbane, Australia.
She was not meant to be here!
I stood for a while with my mouth open and my eyes popping.
"Well don't I get a hug?" Mum said in a nonchalant voice.
"I... uh... I... uh... What are you doing here?!" Obviously my brain was having one of those moments where a brain-cell explodes. Of course I did hug her, lots!
From there I found out that she had surprised Deanna too. Mum and Dad had asked Deanna to pick up some 'friends' from the airport. Deanna and Jess were trying to spot these 'friends' when Mum appeared in front of them.
It's amazing how the mind works. Because they weren't expecting mum they didn't actually recognise her at first. Of course once they did it was all on with hugs.
When Deanna had txt me I had the fleeting thought of, 'oh, I should clean up a bit. Nah, it's only Deanna'. I wish I had now!
Anyway, Mum ended up staying a couple of weeks. She had to come and sort out the stuff they'd left here. We got to spend some time with her when she stayed with us a few nights. It was such a nice time for both Mum and myself. We shopped (thanks Mum for that), and we blobbed, had coffee and lunch. I even got to show her off at the Coffee group at Church. It was very good that she also got to see and stay with Nana. We had a farewell dinner at Sequoia 88 restaurant. It was a lovely time but hard to say goodbye once again.
Dad, you did so well over there while mum was living it up here. It would have been nice if you were able to come too, next time eh.

So there ends the saga of the surprise!

Warmth!

Definately noticing the difference for warmth. I'm getting a bit worried about how hot it's going to get if summer actually arrives!

News on a more personal note. I have lost 4kg in 7 wks! Gives me the motivation to carry on.

Terry and I celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary next friday. Been good times and bad times but more good. I'm not sure what we are going to do if anything.

Ray, your house is looking so good. I think I would very much like living in it. Maybe I'll settle for a holiday some time.
I'm looking into starting some proofreading. I'm half way through my course but they are encouraging us to start getting our C.V. ready and maybe do some volunteer proofreading to gain experience. So on that note if anyone has any proofreading to be done just email it to me as an attachment (so long as it is compliant with microsoft office.