Introducing 10 tonne Betty

Yes we bought a bus. She is an old school bus converted to a motorhome and is the newest member of our family.

We are looking forward to lots of adventures. In fact they have already begun as Doug had to drive her home all the way from NSW in a record breaking heatwave without air conditioning.  About 1700kms of hard work and discomfort for both of them (and Ryan who went along for the trip), but I think they became well acquainted during that and are possibly even slowly forming a firm friendship. I love her already.

The children likewise are enjoying getting to know her.

Even Sam seems to like her even though they had a little disagreement on the first day. He fell out, the step being a little higher that he thought and his two footed jump down to the gutter went awry.

I can’t wait to hit the road.

Getting ready for a new year

There is something about January that feels fresh. I love the feeling of starting over at the beginning of a new year.

The kids pens and pencils were in such a mess. Lots of broken pencils and felts missing lids all in the bottom of a box in a jumbly mess. So uninspiring. It’s not surprising no one wanted to draw.

So today I made these  new pencil tins out of leftover scrapbooking papers my cousin gave me and some recycled food cans.

A fresh new pile of secondhand books is also new yearish. And considering my current reading rate this lot will probably keep me going for at least 6 months.

I am already reading The Hobbit, and a friend and fellow bibliophile has lent me her virgin copy of The Messenger by Markus Zusak, (which just proves how much she loves me), so I have more than enough reading material for a while.

Naaawwww This Makes Me A Bit Homesick

I really love all yous Kiwi’s.

Handedness and brainness.

These are some of the things I’ve been thinking while hanging out the washing, cleaning the bathroom and vaccuuming the house.

• Handed-ness. I’ve been thinking about our Left-brain dominant society. Concrete thinking, logic, mathematics and science. Facts. These are the things emphasised in our education systems. Thinking creatively, or doing things in different ways is not actively encouraged. So we end up from childhood with people Left-brain dominant. Is this why most people are right handed? And what are the implications of education that encourages both left and right brain functions more equally? Would there after a generation or two be more left handed people? What is the history of this right hand dominant society? Thinking, thinking. Maybe I shall encourage my 16 month old to use a pencil in both hands. And my four year old is just starting to learn to write…..if I allow both hands, does it exercise opposite sides of the brain. Can you be right brain dominant and still be right handed? So many questions. Probably not time or inclination to find out. So if you know all this please tell me.

 

• Oh yes and on that note… I think everyone has seen this image all over the internet. The dancer can be seen twirling in either direction depending on your brain. Clockwise = right brain, and vise versa. I tend to see her spinning clockwise, but can make her turn the other way with a bit of concentration. I kind of will her to do it. But the real point of this is really that she’s stark naked and has perky breasts. I don’t think it matters which side of your brain you are using. You should still be able to see them.

 

Well stone the flamin’ crows!

There was talk about orphans in church today. About bloody time.

The 11th thing I love about New Zealand

So, a while ago I wrote about 10 Things I love About New Zealand.

Well…I have to add one more. Without further ado…

11. Guy Fawkes

Ok, so I know it’s not uniquely New Zealand, but I love it, and we never did the Guy Fawkes thing back in Australia. I love how excited the kids get that they can’t sleep and how as it gets dark they start looking out the windows to see the fireworks around the neighbourhood.  We lit a few ourselves in the front garden last night and the kids screamed and ran around like maniacs. Fun!

Image by Brenda Anderson via Flickr

Things to do before I die

Sometimes called a bucket list, here’s my list of things I want to do before I die.  I’m sure there are more than 53 things I’d like to do. It’s a work in progress.

1. Witness/support someone giving birth
2. Feed a hungry child (I feed mine everyday, but I mean a starving child)
3. Take my kids on an international holiday
4. Drive the Great Ocean Road
5. Stay on a Marae
6. Write a book whether or not it’s published
7. Visit London
8. Sleep under the stars in the Australian outback
9. Teach someone to read (other than my children)
10. Plant a garden and have it actually survive
11. Drive across the Nullabor
12. Travel the South Island
13. See my daughter walk down the aisle
14. Stand in falling snow
15. Swim with dolphins
16. Take my kids to the town where I was born
17. Spend a night at a really nice hotel
18. See my sons turn into men
19. Own a house outright
20. Camp in the Flinders Ranges
21. Go on a long train journey
22. Create a photo album for each of my children
23. Get running fit again
24. Camp in the front yard with the kids
25. Surprise my husband with a really excellent present
26. Throw a Christmas Eve cocktail party and serve egg nog and mulled wine
27. Participate in a micro-finance loan to help someone out of poverty
28. Go to the ballet
29. Get back into enjoying live music
30. Go ice skating
31. Make damper over a camp fire
32. Do some volunteer work with World Vision
33. Hang out with my brother and his family
34. Spend a whole day on the beach reading a book
35. Spend a whole day in bed reading a book
36. Build my kids a tree house
37. Go on a camping holiday with another family
38. Enjoy regular hand written letters to and from a friend
39. Read To Kill a Mockingbird & One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
40. Start AND finish a knitting project
41. Have a picnic and fall asleep under a tree
42. Read Tolstoy
43. Have a weekend with my hubby in the Bay of Islands
44. Eat a Cornish Pasty and drink Farmers Union Iced Coffee at Wallaroo
45. Watch a sunset at Seacliff with my feet in the sand
46. Make a quilt
47. Make ice cream
48. Have a cup of tea with an old friend
49. Show my kids where I went to school
50. Makeover my house
51. Own a teapot and drink loose leaf tea
52. Learn to get up early
53. Teach my daughter my best recipes

My Sweet Little Boy

Samuel at just over three months. What a lovely little boy he is. I am so enjoying him. He loves his brothers and sister, and smiles when they talk to him. He loves looking at the mirror. The other day he laughed out loud when Emma sneezed. What a sweetie.

Love you my little one xoxo

Updated Armistice day post

For those of you who use a feed reader and might have missed it, I have updated the last post with some family history if you’re at all interested.

How much does a kindy weigh?

I know I’m not the first to post about this. You know, the stats page where it shows what terms people have used in search engines when they found your blog? Based on these terms, I know for certain that hardly anyone sets out looking for my blog. Most people who come from search engines to my blog are searching for ‘funny kids’, ‘home birth’, or ”home schooling’. A surprising number have come my way searching for ‘eye excema’ (huh?) but people have also found my blog when searching for the following:

ugly dresses for kids to wear

all i do all day is drink

did you know stuff about marijuana

husband + mess

exercise for flappy butt

fat transfer breast

inside a spray bottle photos

broken stereo jokes

naked helicopter pilots

I found god at the bottom of my handbag

funny and random things to say in a letter

Thinking, It’s too hard

why is my bathroom ceiling soggy?

ways to unblock toilets

curly hair replanting treatment cost

macadamia husking machine

unblocking kitchen roll from toilet

spy picture person on earth

how much does an average kindy weigh?

Strange, strange people. If you have a blog, what’s the strangest thing in you’ve seen on your stats?