Thursday, May 31, 2007

Family Doings

Not much to report really.


The boys brought home their effort cards in the weekend & James has improved while Brent has slipped back.


Both boys played soccer in the weekend & brent had a good first half playing in goal. He had Scott standing behind him telling the defense to move up or fall back which might have been a good help. They were playing a team that had also never won a game & unfortunately Brent's team lost 1-0. James had fun running up down the field in his game, he did touch the ball a bit & twice he managed to get it going back in the right direction. He actually showed some good skills in doing that & therefore won player of the day.


Scott flew off to Wellington for Martinborough on Sunday night. The boys thought that by bed time Sunday they were already missing him. I guess that's because I had to be the task master & the bad person who told them to go to bed. Scott was up there until Tuesday night & really he found the whole thing a waste of time. He didn't want to go anyway & then to sit through 2 days of stuff said exactly the same way as about a year or so ago was just rubbing salt into the wound. He was not the only person who thought that. It would appear that the ANZ employees had all sat through it before & really it was new for the ex National Bank employees. It was supposedly getting them to think in a different way. Meanwhile on those same two days there was an ACI course in Wellington that would have been far more beneficial for Scott. Needless to say that Scott is really disgruntled at the moment.

Not much else to add so have a great weekend everyone.

Childhood Returned?

Blog Prompt: If you could be child for one day, how old would you be and what would you do?

I have thought about this & I really don't think I would want to be a child again. Yes there were no adult worries but I really prefer the life I have now. I have been a child, had some fun but I just prefer what I have now.

I have the best man in the world by my side everyday, can't have that as a child. That man is my best friend & I didn't meet him as a child, I meet him as a late teen early 20's. Why would I want to spend a day as a child when the best days of my life have been the ones spent with Scott.

No I wouldn't want to be a child again that is asking a butterfly to become a caterpillar, why would a butterfly do that when it can spread it's wings & go to new places, be independent & have the world at its feet.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Patience

Blog Prompt: I wish I could learn..... because.....

I wish I could learn how to be more patient. Really at the moment my patience levels seem to be at rock bottom. I really think what I need is a holiday for a few weeks away from the boys, absence makes the heart fonder right? I seem to be always telling the boys the same thing over & over again, usually only 15 minutes after I have already told them. It is wearing me down. I don't know if it is a cunning plan by the boys to wear me down till I say "to heck with it, walk out in the traffic I don't care" or whether they just are not listening, or maybe they are & just don't care.

I was never a patient person to start with but I did manage to get some when the boys were born but I think they are now sucking it all back out of me. I would like to be the kind of mum who doesn't need to yell at her children, but at the moment I am doing that more often than not. I don't know if there is a mother out there who hasn't yelled at her children but if there is please send her my way & she can teach me how to have an infinite amount of patience.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Military things

Blog Prompt: Today is Memorial Day in the US but I realize that other countries don't have this or may have this but on a different day. Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.
How does your city celebrate this day or do you do anything special? Do you know anyone who has served in the military? If so, let us know so that we can honor all of those who serve their country.

I think that the equivalent day here in NZ is ANZAC day, April 25th. It's always April 25th no matter what day of the week it is because it commemerates the day that the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli in WW1.

Most cities & towns in New Zealand do a dawn parade where wreaths are laid in tribute to those who have fought for their country. I have not yet been to a dawn parade but one of these years I would really like to.

I know of one man who is in the army now but some of my ancestors were in the Royal Navy. These would be great great & great great great grandfathers. My great grandfather was in the Army & had a posting to Samoa in 1915. I am very lucky to have in my possession his photographs that he had taken oven there. I have to say I am not really sure what to do with them but they still seem in good nick all these years later so maybe they are best left alone.

Monday, May 28, 2007

A view to the future

Blog Prompt: I wish I could see...... because.....

I wish I could see into the future because then I might be able to see what the true consequences of my actions might be. It would be nice to see if I persue course A whether this would have the positive impact I want for my children or whether maybe course B would work better. I am trying to work out how to get James to want to learn to read & therefore want to learn is letters & the sounds they make. At the moment I feel the more I push, the more he pushes back in a negastive way. But what would happen if I sat back & didn't push at all? This is where I would like to be able to look into the future & work out which plan of attack works best.

I have the same kind of problem with Brent & his writing. Am I (& the teacher) expecting too much from him to have neat handwriting & know how to write his letters when only 2 years ago he didn't even know which hand to write with? I do I go about getting him to want to practise his printing so that printing a letter becomes second nature & you don't have to think "how do I draw a B?" I wish I could see into the future & work out a good plan of attack. he has been bringing home printing cards to practise most nights but on top of his hour long homework it is taking a toll & he really is losing all interest. I really don't know what to say because he brought home an effort card this weekend with 2 yellow baxes (needs a lot more effort) for handwriting & work presentation. I believe once we have the handwriting sussed the other will come too but how hard do I have to push? I know it is not easy to learn to print but sometimes I really think he doesn't care. It will be interesting to see if those 2 yellow boxes buck up his attitude or whether he is going to go the other way. It is going to be a testing time for him & maybe this is when I will see what his true colours are.

Oh I wish I could see into the future, it might help solve my parenting dilemmas. Maybe sometime in the future someone will create a computer program that will let us do that, maybe I'll see if Scott wants to work on it in his spare time HAHAHA.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Best teachers

Blog Prompt: Describe the best teacher you ever had.

This is an interesting prompt.

There are 2 teachers that really stick in my mind & they both taught maths (which I hated) & they were both at my secondary school.

Mrs Andre was my calculus teacher & she really pushed us. I think it was probably that that I appreciated most about her. She wouldn't let us take the easy option of giving up. She would keep going over the subject until we really got it. She was strict but fair, so you always knew when you had crossed the line.

Mrs Jones was my statistics tacher. I really had problems with probability but yet again this teacher was very happy to go over the same thing time & time again until you got it. She didn't seem as strict as Mrs A on the outside, a nice friendly teacher, but there were also lines you couldn't cross with her either. In fact she could yell louder than Mrs A but she didn't do it all that often.

I think both teachers really taught me something else other than maths. They taught me to never give up & not to take the easy route. You have to work hard if you want to succeed. Maybe they were good teachers for me because I wasn't crash hot at maths, that being said I suppose I wouldn't have taken calculus if I was a doofus at it. I was pretty good at English but none of the English teachers made any impact on me, not even the one that was the deputy principal. I absolutely sucked at Physics but that teacher didn't any impact on me either, so it can't have been just because maths was a tough subject for me. It must have boiled down to those two great teachers.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Icky Foods

Blog Prompt: I wish I didn't have to eat...... I don't like this food because.....

Parsnip, ick! My mumn loves parsnip & every time we had a roast there would be the white carrot like things that certainly don't taste like carrots. I'm sorry there is just something about the strong flavour of parsnip that I really don't like.

I am getting better with pumpkin or sqaush. I really only tolerate butternut pumpkin/squash & then it has to be mashed. Scott loves pumpkin so I think he is quite pleased that he now at least sometimes gets pumpkin even if it is only mashed & only the butternut variety.

Another ick is kumara (i think Americans call it sweet potato). Anyway I just don't like the flavour of those either.

The interesting thing is that all three of the vegetables were always included in the roast meals that mum would cook. It meant that I had to load my plate with roasted carrots & potato & of course meat.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Sleepless Nights

Blog Prompt: What do you think about when you can't fall asleep?

I have a problem with falling asleep. I like to be asleep before Scott otherwise his breathing can really annoy me, it makes me angry that he can just drop off to sleep when I have so much happening in my head that I can't switch off.

I start by shutting out the sound of Scott breathing & then look back at my day & see if it is something that happened that is keeping me awake. If it is something I think I can fix I lie there thinking of ways to try & fix it. Sometimes once I have found a solution it will be all i need to get it off my mind to be able to go to sleep.

The next thing I try is to think of the next layout I could create or journalling for the layout I am doing. For me scrapbooking is mainly about the journalling so I try to get some journalling done in my head.

If it's not that easy I try to switch that right off & picture myself back at Church Bay, the smell of the sea, the gentle lapping of the waves on the beach & that ting, ting of the riggings knocking against the masts of the yachts moored in the bay. I really try to get there in my head to try & calm myself down & fall asleep.

If that doesn't work it is time to resort to getting out of bed, taking a book with me & getting into the spare bed & reading. That way I can try & read myself to sleep. Eventually that works, even if it is at 4 in the morning.


The good thing is that for the last two nights,I haven't had this problem & we haven't been woken up by the boys. I am sleeping soundly so I'm starting to feel refreshed again. That's got to be a good thing!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Cheap entertainment

Blog Prompt: Tell about something you do for entertainment that doesn't cost any money.

I think the cheapest form of entertainment for me is to read. I get books out of the library so it is free of charge. I also like to play solataire on the computer but of course originally the computer would have cost money. I love to scrapbook but most of that costs money, paying for the photos to be printed & even free digi stuff still costs something, the internet connection & the computer. I'm not sure there really are too many forms of absolutely free entertainment, even getting library books out costs petrol money really. Sometimes I think I look at things too deeply.

Thanks for the concern over the mammogram. I went in yesterday & had the mammogram & then an ultrasound over the area in question. It would appear that yes I do have a thickening & I should get it looked at again in 2 months but they really think it is nothing at all. There was nothing they could recommend for the pain, so I will keep popping the Evening Primrose Oil & hope that fluid retention will disappear & the pain with it. I suppose really my body must be getting old & there must come a time in your life when you have to accept the fact that there will be pain & niggles you just have to learn to live with it. You could say that was $180 down the drain. It's really been a bad week financially for spending money with health professionals who can't do anything to help. Then again my peace of mind is definitely worth the $180.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Fame!

If you DID want to be famous, what would you like to be famous for doing?

This is a hard prompt. I always thought I wanted to be famous when I was a little girl but I don't have anything that I really excell at to be famous for. I wouldn't want to be famous for making a lot of money which is what I wanted to be famous for when I was younger. I think that would just open me up for all sorts of bad people in my life.

L & P (a drink made in New Zealand) has a wonderful slogan "World famous in New Zealand." I think that I would want to have the slogan "World famous in the Criglington family." I would want to be famous for being the best mother I could be. Of course no one is really famous for that in real life so I would just have to be famous to my children. Really that wouldn't be a bad legacy to leave behind.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Family Update

I haven't been blogging for a while simply because I have had a house full of sick people & have been sick myself.

It all started on Thursday 10th when I had both boys at home with sore throats & feeling lethargic. I thought if I kept them at home on Thursday they may have had a chance to go to school on Friday as they were having a visit from Ronald McDonald for road safety.

Unfortunately neither boy was better on Friday so they didn't go to school. We didn't go to swimming lessons or football that weekend but Brent was better on Sunday so he was able to go to a friend's birthday party.

Brent was able to go to school on monday but James had totally lost his voice so he was still home sick.

On tuesday I didn't help out at PMP & took James to the doctor instead. I was second guessing myself by this stage. I thought it was just a cold & that he would get over it, but mum & another Medbury mum had me second guessing. So for $12 I got told that James had had laryngitis but there was nothing we could do but keep him from talking. There was medicine we could give him or anything. What a waste of $12 & how on earth are you supposed to keep a 5 year old child from talking. James even talks to himself. I tried to tell him to talk to himself inside his head but he didn't understand & would keep talking.

By Wednesday I had had enough of James' high energy & obvious lack of sickness except for a lack of voice so I sent him to school. Mrs W was fine with it especially as he wasn't contagious. He still hasn't got his full voice back today but he has enjoyed being back at school. I've been pleased to have him back at school too, so that I can get a chance to recover from the same thing (except I didn't get the laryngitis).

I haven't been doing any exercise this week but really hope to next week. At the moment I am trying to calm myself down about having a mammogram tomorrow morning. As it isn't a routine one I have to have a diagnostic one which means the appointment will be 2 hours long. I am trying to keep in mind what the docotor said & that was breast pain is not normally an indicator of breast cancer, only in advanced cases. This is just to ease our minds, however it has to be said that right now my mind isn't at ease. As I said I haven't done any exercise & i have lost 1 kg of weight, you would think I would be happy but it just makes me more worried that maybe there is something sinister happening to me. I just have to keep calm & take my mind of this by working & scrapping.

Scott is flying up to Wellington for the day again this coming week. I have looked at the calendar & for the 5 weeks of May he will have flown to Wellington on 4 of them, so much for once a month flights to Wellington.

James has PMP on Tuesday so I will be helping at that & then Brent will have football pratice on Wednesday night. Both boys have swimming on Friday night & hopefully football on saturday. Scott flies out to Wellington for a conference in Martinborough on Sunday & won't be back until the following Tuesday night.

All in all another busy week looming. I hope you have a great one.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

The Week

The boys are back at school & into the routine of term time.

I have signed on to being parent help for Perceptual Motor Programme for the year 1 and 2 boys. It happens every Tuesday from 8:20 through until 10. PMP is a bit like gymbaroo. There are about 5 or 6 stations with different equipment for the boys to different things. There is an eye tracking station, memory station & it looks like an obstacle course each week. Other stations this week were bouncing balls in a hoop & then throwing the ball at a rebounder & catching it. A seesaw thing that the boys had to try & stand on & balance & throwing bags through a hoop. The boys all enjoyed it.

Brent had a really good game on Saturday & was awarded "player of the day." Brent's team lost but at least the whole team turned up this time & there was times when they really worked well as a team. Brent's team now has a practice during the week, Wednesday's at 4pm at Jellie Park. James just enjoyed running up & down the field chasing the ball. His team had 2 players too many so there was a rolling substitution in operation. Their team won again.

Brent still hasn't lost his tooth & it seems to have stopped wiggling so we are still waiting for that first tooth to come out.

Swimming is going well & Brent is moving through the water really quickly & smoothly. James is enjoying swimming this term & has a lovely grandmotherly type teacher so he seems quite happy.

James has started off the term really well. Mrs Williams told him he was "a real Medbury boy" last week which had him smiling for the rest of the day. What she means is that he is finally motivated to learn & is really trying hard.

It's 2:30 so it's time to pick up the boys. Have a great week everyone.

My Safe Place to Fall

Blog Prompt: What makes you feel safe?

I am fine during the daytime & i do feel safe. Of course I won't run down streets that have bad neighbourhoods, & I won't run down the street just near us that had a person murdered on it. That might be asking for trouble. It is at night that I have a real problem, especially if Scott is away.

When it is just me & the boys at home over night the thing that makes me safe is a little ritual. It's like a "goodnight room" to each room in the house. I do make sure that I take the phone with me & I place it by my bed. I have often wondered about hiding a big stick under the bed for me to use, but then maybe that would be easier to use against me than me use it against anyone.

I really hate being alone with the boys in the house at night. I have a very vivid imagination & any little creak gets my heart rate up. I am also a very light sleeper, all the time whether Scott is there or not, but it is even worse when he is not there. It takes hours to get to sleep & I usually only get about 4 hours sleep when he is away, because if something wakes me up I am awake for ages. I really don't like it when he is away so what really makes me feel secure is having Scott at home with me.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Food!

I love food, the size of my body is a testament to it, so I couldn't resist doing this blog prompt from http://www.scraptown.com

What is your favorite food and your least favorite food and why?

What a difficult question to answer. I just love food & I always find it hard to name my favourite food. I love dark chocolate anything for a dessert. My favourite fruit & veges depend upon the season. In autumn nothing beats a nice crisp apple or fresh corn on the cob so I have really been enjoying those recently. My favourite meal is roast lamb with garlic & rosemary.

I don't like parsnips, pumpkin or kumara. I will try almost anything but off the top of my head I can't think of a meal that I don't like. I have started to dislike milk or white chocolate, there's something about the flavour of them that I don't like.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Bon appetit

Blog Prompt: You have heard that the President and his wife of an obscure country is coming to visit and picked you (and your family if you want) to have dinner with. You can decide to cook for them or order in or take them out. What 5 dishes would you want them to taste? They can be any part of a meal (appetizers, main dish, vegetables, salads, desserts) or all of one type (all desserts for example).

I think that we would go along the seafood theme for most of our meal & team it up with a nice New Zealand sauvignon blanc.

For appetisers it would be a plate of Bluff oysters, some au natural & some kilpatrick. http://www.bluff.co.nz/oystering.html

Starter would be whitebait patties.
http://www.delking.co.nz/print/00000151

Main would be pasta with seafood. The seafood would be steamed mussels & scallops with some crayfish tail. Around the edge of the plate there will be the legs fo those that want to break into those.
http://www.crayfish.co.nz

The dessert would be a decorated pavlova.
http://www.pavlova.co.nz/recipe.htm

Last but not least would be coffee, liquers with some Whitestone cheeses.
http://www.whitestonecheese.co.nz

Bon appetit, Dig in!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Important occupations

Blog Prompt: You have been appointed the head of the Department of Labor and plan to set salaries according to how important an occupation is. What do you think are the top 5 most important occupations?

This is a hard one.
1,2,. I think that doctors, nurses & caregivers should have one of the highest salaries.

3. The police force.

4. Teachers should be up there too, as they have a very important job of educating the next generation.

5. Of course I think that the top pay should go to parents. It does mean though that people who should never be parents would want to be parents just to get the money, so that would be a double edged sword.

Where in the world would we go?

Blog Prompt: You won the travel lotto! You will get an all expense paid trip for you and your family to 5 places anywhere in the world. List the 5 "Must See" places in the world you would go see.

My dream has come true.
1. Disneyland. This is on our list of places to see & we are planning on going there in 2009 but getting there for free would be fantastic.

2. Disneyworld/Epcot. From what I understand Disneyworld is different to Disneyland & I think it would be really interesting to take the boys to Epcot as well.

3. United Kingdom. Brent especially, is showing an interest in other countries & as our relatives come from various parts of the UK I think the boys would be interested in going there.

4. I think that while we are in that part of the world, a trip around Europe, including France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany & maybe Russia would be on the list.

5. The last place I think would be going to South Africa & visiting a game park & seeing the big 5.