Well it has got to that time of the summer school holidays where parents everywhere are saying I just can't wait for school to go back. And I am no exception. It is not that I do not enjoy having the children at home. It is just that it gets to now and every 3rd or 4th sentence that comes out of their mouths is one of the following.....
Mum, I'm bored
Mum, I'm hungry
Mum, what can I do now......
Then there is the constant arguing, fighting and just downright not getting on with each other for the older two of my children..... And for the younger it is I am so used to having Mum around all the time that I want to now sit on her knee constantly no matter where she is or what she is doing. All that independence that Creche gave her has gone out the window.... No matter how many times she corrects me when I call her little girl or baby by saying 'me not baby me big girl'. This makes life difficult when you are trying to work writing sermons, archiving accounts and even when one is up a ladder trying to tidy out cupboards....
So all I can say is roll on Wednesday the 7th of February.....
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Our mission should we choose to accept it
Well we have just completed our first week at Kilbirnie Corps... And our brief for the first few days from the incoming new officers (who by the way were on holiday until Thursday and then were unpacking for a couple of days) was to tidy up in a big way. While the building was clean there was a lot of STUFF just hanging around... Including an office that had not been used properly as an office for the past 3 years. So it had become the collection point for just about anything that did not have a proper home or the person did not know where the appropriate home was.
I have to say that this has been a huge undertaking... We have found financial records going back past the 7 year need to keep stuff.... Going back even past the 10 year mark. We found a box of 1 & 2c pieces that probably amount to $100.00 or so... Although I am told that they will be worth more as scrap than the money we would get from the reserve bank..
Around the hall we have found lots and lots of empty box that appear to have been kept 'just in case we may need them"
We have already made some changes that we thought would really rock the boat (with Peter and Cheryl's blessings.. (like moving the holiness table) but much to our surprise it appears that it was not as much of a big deal as we thought it would be. But then again there is still the Corps Council Meeting tonight......
Our two fold mission was also to start a letterbox drop to the community and this has been a lot of fun with 3 children in tow... Predictably the older two just loved it, putting things into peoples letterboxes has held a certain amount of appeal for them.. For the first two days Emily was content to sit in her pushchair and be pushed around but by the 3rd day she felt that she was good enough to push her own chair, with scary and almost dangerous results. Then she discovered that some of the letterboxes were about her height and that she could 'help' too. Well I think that in the end I was almost at the end of my tether after she had drop numerous brochures in the windy conditions (do not fear I did collect them all up - looking slightly silly running around the streets jumping on these silly things), her running over my toes with the pushchair, and then the arguments from her about which letterbox was hers to post into and which Christina could post.
We are really enjoying doing some practical things for a change and are definately looking forward to the next 3 months helping Peter and Cheryl settle into their new appointment.
I have to say that this has been a huge undertaking... We have found financial records going back past the 7 year need to keep stuff.... Going back even past the 10 year mark. We found a box of 1 & 2c pieces that probably amount to $100.00 or so... Although I am told that they will be worth more as scrap than the money we would get from the reserve bank..
Around the hall we have found lots and lots of empty box that appear to have been kept 'just in case we may need them"
We have already made some changes that we thought would really rock the boat (with Peter and Cheryl's blessings.. (like moving the holiness table) but much to our surprise it appears that it was not as much of a big deal as we thought it would be. But then again there is still the Corps Council Meeting tonight......
Our two fold mission was also to start a letterbox drop to the community and this has been a lot of fun with 3 children in tow... Predictably the older two just loved it, putting things into peoples letterboxes has held a certain amount of appeal for them.. For the first two days Emily was content to sit in her pushchair and be pushed around but by the 3rd day she felt that she was good enough to push her own chair, with scary and almost dangerous results. Then she discovered that some of the letterboxes were about her height and that she could 'help' too. Well I think that in the end I was almost at the end of my tether after she had drop numerous brochures in the windy conditions (do not fear I did collect them all up - looking slightly silly running around the streets jumping on these silly things), her running over my toes with the pushchair, and then the arguments from her about which letterbox was hers to post into and which Christina could post.
We are really enjoying doing some practical things for a change and are definately looking forward to the next 3 months helping Peter and Cheryl settle into their new appointment.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Out-training......
Well we are one day into out-training and I must admit that I was really looking forward to getting started and accomplishing something..... But Yesterday was a bit of a non event really we just spent time talking to the CSM (Corps Sergeant Major) and having a look around the building and then looking around the community and so on. So in fact we didn't really DO anything..... Today we are having a preparation day for the service on Sunday as Perry will be preaching.
Next week we actually start to do other things and the officers will arrive on Thursday so we will really be able to get stuck into some stuff then.....
Next week we actually start to do other things and the officers will arrive on Thursday so we will really be able to get stuck into some stuff then.....
Monday, January 8, 2007
4:30AM Drama
You know how I was discussing beds and good night sleeps ... Well Saturday night saw us saying goodbye to the last of our session of cadets (God's Fellow Workers) who are training to be Salvation Army Officers.....
Sue, Simon, Kendal and Monique Stevens, and Corryn Smith were to be heading off to the ferry at 4:30 am on Sunday morning so that they could head to their respective appointments for their outtraining..
On Saturday night we had Corryn over for dinner and Sue and Simon brought the girls over to say goodbye to our kids..... That was it we said our goodbyes and everybody went to their own homes for the night.. And I settled in to bed for a well deserved nights sleep after my mammoth drive north. And I would have had a great sleep too but .................
4:30am Corryn scares the living daylights out of me and wakes me from a really deep sleep by knocking on our bedroom window...... what was she thinking..... who knocks on a bedroom window at that time of night....
She has lost her wallet and thinks she left it at our place...... Perry and I get up and frantically search the house.... (remember she and the Stevens have to be at the ferry at 5am) we cannot find the wallet anywhere..... Then we remember she took Karen Hill's car down the road for hot chips to compliment the meal the night before.... We have the key as we have been charged with keeping its battery charged..... (hehe no pun really intended) sure enough the wallet was left in the car.....
As they leave we crawl back into bed just a little grumpy with adrenaline running high.... Man it took me ages to get back to sleep.....
I think for next Christmas I will buy Corryn a really useful gift something that will tie her house key and her wallet to her on a permanent basis.... Yes Corryn you will even have to shower with them...... (If the house key bit confuses you just visit Corryn's blog and you will be enlightened... a link is on my page somewhere - unless Corryn lost it for me...)
Sue, Simon, Kendal and Monique Stevens, and Corryn Smith were to be heading off to the ferry at 4:30 am on Sunday morning so that they could head to their respective appointments for their outtraining..
On Saturday night we had Corryn over for dinner and Sue and Simon brought the girls over to say goodbye to our kids..... That was it we said our goodbyes and everybody went to their own homes for the night.. And I settled in to bed for a well deserved nights sleep after my mammoth drive north. And I would have had a great sleep too but .................
4:30am Corryn scares the living daylights out of me and wakes me from a really deep sleep by knocking on our bedroom window...... what was she thinking..... who knocks on a bedroom window at that time of night....
She has lost her wallet and thinks she left it at our place...... Perry and I get up and frantically search the house.... (remember she and the Stevens have to be at the ferry at 5am) we cannot find the wallet anywhere..... Then we remember she took Karen Hill's car down the road for hot chips to compliment the meal the night before.... We have the key as we have been charged with keeping its battery charged..... (hehe no pun really intended) sure enough the wallet was left in the car.....
As they leave we crawl back into bed just a little grumpy with adrenaline running high.... Man it took me ages to get back to sleep.....
I think for next Christmas I will buy Corryn a really useful gift something that will tie her house key and her wallet to her on a permanent basis.... Yes Corryn you will even have to shower with them...... (If the house key bit confuses you just visit Corryn's blog and you will be enlightened... a link is on my page somewhere - unless Corryn lost it for me...)
Teenage Toilet & Food Stops
Well it seems that I am making up for lost time with my blogging but there is so much to say.....
It goes like this....
Saturday was the day for the driving favour that I had been talked into, the drive to Raurimu (for those who don't know this is up by Mount Ruapehu. The Salvation Army's Blue Mountain Adventure Camp is located here. a 4 - 5 hour drive from Wellington)
Picture this:- me driving a 12 seater van loaded with 10 teenagers (aged 14 - 16) and 1 21 year old, we start travelling at 8:30am ish on a Saturday morning. The first conversation I hear from the back of the van 20 minutes into the trip ends with a young lady saying that the thing that she misses is the fact that she is normally asleep at this time of the day..... I wish.....
Because I am not totally sure of the turnoffs that we need to take at the end of our journey I am following Katherine all the way to our destination.... The van I am driving is a gutless wonder and 3rd gear is required for getting the revs up enough to overtake or go up steep hills.
We are trucking along quite nicely with my co-pilot (Cameron) systematically changing the radio stations on the radio as we lose reception of one he finds another... Totally skipping the stations that I would preferred to listen to (I did begin to feel like I was a bit of a music Nana/snob) and tuning into a talk-back type program at one point as there was nothing else to find, or very much up to the minute music stations complete with mind numbing rap stuff. (or am I just getting too old and totally out of touch... just remember I have 10 years old before you answer that).
Anyhoo back to the trucking along when the car I am following take the sudden move of pulling over in Levin as a couple of people in her car desperately needed a toilet stop...... Stupid place to stop really, outside McDonalds so not only does this turn into a toilet stop that takes forever but it also becomes a breakfast stop, almost fastfood style but it takes quite a while as there are about 6-7 individuals from our collective cars getting food at 9:30 am on a Saturday morning (and a some of them wanted cheeseburgers which are not avaliable at that time). We finally get going realising just before we leave that we had arranged with the other cars also going that we would meet at the Mobil station at Bulls (only another 40 or so minutes away from where we are) before continuing... Oh No another McDonalds........ So this turned into another long toilet and food stop... I must admit these kids (most of them in my van girls) can certainly put away a lot of food.
Next stop (or so I thought) Raurimu... I wanted to offload this lot as soon as possible and head back because just remember I had to make the return journey too. And these teenagers are getting noisier and noiser and they are just itching to get up to mischief. At one point one guy in the back asked me if he could do something and to this minute I still have not worked out the term he used. I nearly said yes but decided that maybe that it might not be a good idea so I suggested that he wait until we got to Bulls and the rest of us were out of the van. He responded that it needed to be done while the van was moving and again I almost said yes.... Thank God I didn't. I learned a few minutes later from my co-pilot that the young man was planning to moon passing cars.... An experience that I feel we and the other cars could well do without.
Towards the end of the trip just when I thought we were doing well, we only had 40 minutes or so to go and we were beating the 2 other cars that we heading to Raurimu with us the cry came for another toilet stop..... What was this !!!! 3 toilet stops for teenagers in a 4 and a half hour car ride...... That is worse than my own children..... one who is nearly 3 (she is toilet trained by the way, no nappies for this kid) and two 10 year olds..... I know that our bladders get weaker as we get older but that is ridiculous.
The only other thing to report was the slight panic I felt when Katherine decided without too much warning to overtake and with the gutless wonder full of teenagers there was no way I was going to make too.... I must say the gutless did get quite a bit more grunty when I had offloaded the teenagers......
Although the trip back was quite a bit quicker and very very quiet ... It was almost too quiet and it was just a little bit lonely .... So much so that I almost picked up a hitchhiker or too to break the boredom but I could only find male ones so my better judgement prevailed and I left them where they were and just enjoyed the quiet time and used the solitude to talk to God and to find a radio station much more to my liking......
It goes like this....
Saturday was the day for the driving favour that I had been talked into, the drive to Raurimu (for those who don't know this is up by Mount Ruapehu. The Salvation Army's Blue Mountain Adventure Camp is located here. a 4 - 5 hour drive from Wellington)
Picture this:- me driving a 12 seater van loaded with 10 teenagers (aged 14 - 16) and 1 21 year old, we start travelling at 8:30am ish on a Saturday morning. The first conversation I hear from the back of the van 20 minutes into the trip ends with a young lady saying that the thing that she misses is the fact that she is normally asleep at this time of the day..... I wish.....
Because I am not totally sure of the turnoffs that we need to take at the end of our journey I am following Katherine all the way to our destination.... The van I am driving is a gutless wonder and 3rd gear is required for getting the revs up enough to overtake or go up steep hills.
We are trucking along quite nicely with my co-pilot (Cameron) systematically changing the radio stations on the radio as we lose reception of one he finds another... Totally skipping the stations that I would preferred to listen to (I did begin to feel like I was a bit of a music Nana/snob) and tuning into a talk-back type program at one point as there was nothing else to find, or very much up to the minute music stations complete with mind numbing rap stuff. (or am I just getting too old and totally out of touch... just remember I have 10 years old before you answer that).
Anyhoo back to the trucking along when the car I am following take the sudden move of pulling over in Levin as a couple of people in her car desperately needed a toilet stop...... Stupid place to stop really, outside McDonalds so not only does this turn into a toilet stop that takes forever but it also becomes a breakfast stop, almost fastfood style but it takes quite a while as there are about 6-7 individuals from our collective cars getting food at 9:30 am on a Saturday morning (and a some of them wanted cheeseburgers which are not avaliable at that time). We finally get going realising just before we leave that we had arranged with the other cars also going that we would meet at the Mobil station at Bulls (only another 40 or so minutes away from where we are) before continuing... Oh No another McDonalds........ So this turned into another long toilet and food stop... I must admit these kids (most of them in my van girls) can certainly put away a lot of food.
Next stop (or so I thought) Raurimu... I wanted to offload this lot as soon as possible and head back because just remember I had to make the return journey too. And these teenagers are getting noisier and noiser and they are just itching to get up to mischief. At one point one guy in the back asked me if he could do something and to this minute I still have not worked out the term he used. I nearly said yes but decided that maybe that it might not be a good idea so I suggested that he wait until we got to Bulls and the rest of us were out of the van. He responded that it needed to be done while the van was moving and again I almost said yes.... Thank God I didn't. I learned a few minutes later from my co-pilot that the young man was planning to moon passing cars.... An experience that I feel we and the other cars could well do without.
Towards the end of the trip just when I thought we were doing well, we only had 40 minutes or so to go and we were beating the 2 other cars that we heading to Raurimu with us the cry came for another toilet stop..... What was this !!!! 3 toilet stops for teenagers in a 4 and a half hour car ride...... That is worse than my own children..... one who is nearly 3 (she is toilet trained by the way, no nappies for this kid) and two 10 year olds..... I know that our bladders get weaker as we get older but that is ridiculous.
The only other thing to report was the slight panic I felt when Katherine decided without too much warning to overtake and with the gutless wonder full of teenagers there was no way I was going to make too.... I must say the gutless did get quite a bit more grunty when I had offloaded the teenagers......
Although the trip back was quite a bit quicker and very very quiet ... It was almost too quiet and it was just a little bit lonely .... So much so that I almost picked up a hitchhiker or too to break the boredom but I could only find male ones so my better judgement prevailed and I left them where they were and just enjoyed the quiet time and used the solitude to talk to God and to find a radio station much more to my liking......
The great bed debate
I have been thinking over the last couple of days about the whole Goldilocks thing and the problems that one has finding the perfect bed. This has been brought about through discussions with Corryn recently about the quality of beds when one is on holiday, particularly with family.
Goldilocks was particularly lucky when she went looking for a perfect place to sleep after eating and sitting her way around the house of the 3 bears because she had the choice. Unfortunately when one travels between family and friends over a Christmas holiday one does not have much choice.
We were away from home a total of 13 sleeps (? this is a hard thing to define really sleeps would actually indicate that you got some sleep and there were nights when I wondered where the sleep part came in..... yes I dozed but does that actually count as sleep .... anyway back to the topic at hand) and during that time I slept on a total of six different beds and I have to say that there was only really one night that I was totally comfortable, (don't forget for every bed there is always the first night that it takes to get used to something different to what one is used to). I think the worst place for getting comfortable had to be my mothers house...... Sorry Mum and Dad but it is true.
The first two night we were staying in their holiday unit that they rent out occasionally. That was not too bad but it is quite old, double (we are used to Queen) and has a bad case of roll together.... Then they had people using the unit so we graduated to a sofa bed, you know those trampoline types..... Well it has been used a reasonable amount the springs are not as strong as they once were and so we found ourselves sleeping with our backs at about mid shoulder blade level on the wooden bit that holds up the sofa cushions when it is doing the job that it was more obviously built for.... But then at the other end where the first fold is for putting the bed away we find the small of our backs or thighs/bottoms/knees (depending on how tall one is or how far
down the bed we have traveled to aviod the afore mentioned wooden bit) are sitting on the metal bar that stretches the width of the bed.....This resulted in a very uncomfortable and sleepless night.
So the next night we decided that an airbed on the floor may be a perfect sleep - except we probably put far too much air in it and it was as hard as a rock... Knowing that airbeds tend to have air sepage over any given night we just left it alone figuring if we took any air out we would possible find ourselves on the hard wooden floor..... but not this airbed it did not get any softer the whole night...... So the next night we took some air out and had a perfect night sleep .... apart from the fact we were in the lounge room and our nearly 3 year old was up at the crack of dawn... Then we packed up and travelled off to the next port of call .... just when we had the perfect bed...... boo hoo.
Incidentally the next place the bed is almost brand new and is almost as hard as the airbed with too much air..... only at least this was smooth not all bumpy and lumpy as the square cell bits in an airbed. It was a bit easier to get used too......... By this stage Emily had decided that she was sick of travelling around and was up almost every night at 2 or 3pm.
Go Figure... Obviously we came home for a rest......and a bed that we are used too..... being a training college bed it has its issues too but at least we are used to them....
Goldilocks was particularly lucky when she went looking for a perfect place to sleep after eating and sitting her way around the house of the 3 bears because she had the choice. Unfortunately when one travels between family and friends over a Christmas holiday one does not have much choice.
We were away from home a total of 13 sleeps (? this is a hard thing to define really sleeps would actually indicate that you got some sleep and there were nights when I wondered where the sleep part came in..... yes I dozed but does that actually count as sleep .... anyway back to the topic at hand) and during that time I slept on a total of six different beds and I have to say that there was only really one night that I was totally comfortable, (don't forget for every bed there is always the first night that it takes to get used to something different to what one is used to). I think the worst place for getting comfortable had to be my mothers house...... Sorry Mum and Dad but it is true.
The first two night we were staying in their holiday unit that they rent out occasionally. That was not too bad but it is quite old, double (we are used to Queen) and has a bad case of roll together.... Then they had people using the unit so we graduated to a sofa bed, you know those trampoline types..... Well it has been used a reasonable amount the springs are not as strong as they once were and so we found ourselves sleeping with our backs at about mid shoulder blade level on the wooden bit that holds up the sofa cushions when it is doing the job that it was more obviously built for.... But then at the other end where the first fold is for putting the bed away we find the small of our backs or thighs/bottoms/knees (depending on how tall one is or how far
down the bed we have traveled to aviod the afore mentioned wooden bit) are sitting on the metal bar that stretches the width of the bed.....This resulted in a very uncomfortable and sleepless night.
So the next night we decided that an airbed on the floor may be a perfect sleep - except we probably put far too much air in it and it was as hard as a rock... Knowing that airbeds tend to have air sepage over any given night we just left it alone figuring if we took any air out we would possible find ourselves on the hard wooden floor..... but not this airbed it did not get any softer the whole night...... So the next night we took some air out and had a perfect night sleep .... apart from the fact we were in the lounge room and our nearly 3 year old was up at the crack of dawn... Then we packed up and travelled off to the next port of call .... just when we had the perfect bed...... boo hoo.
Incidentally the next place the bed is almost brand new and is almost as hard as the airbed with too much air..... only at least this was smooth not all bumpy and lumpy as the square cell bits in an airbed. It was a bit easier to get used too......... By this stage Emily had decided that she was sick of travelling around and was up almost every night at 2 or 3pm.
Go Figure... Obviously we came home for a rest......and a bed that we are used too..... being a training college bed it has its issues too but at least we are used to them....
Friday, January 5, 2007
Christmas break?!?
Well despite my well intentioned ideas and my self confessed addition to blogging (which didn't last long) I have not added any posts to this blog over the Christmas time. My only excuse is that internet speed at my parents place on the Coromandel is something that just cannot be discussed in polite company. And being the impatient person that I am I just could not be bothered waiting.......
I have come to think that the whole Christmas "holiday" or rest time has become an urban myth... Just looking at the time that we have had since the 22nd of December that was supposed to be a time to relax and recharge I have come to the conclusion that we do too much and try to fit in too much.
Now I am not saying that I didn't enjoy my Christmas because it was a great time of catching up with people that we have not seen for 6 months or longer. But now I find myself trying to catch up with all sorts of other things including, sleep, washing, (no matter how hard you try to keep up with this it is always there threatening to swamp you), shopping and other miscellaneous things.
We spent our time off travelling..... To Auckland then Ngatea, then Papa Aroha (for those who do not recognise this destination it is a little place 14 kms north of Coromandel township - so far up the Coromandel penisula that you can see the back of Waiheke Island from the front window of my parents house there) then back to Ngatea. While in Ngatea we drove to such wonderful tourist spots(?) as Te Awamutu, Hamilton, Waihe, Waihe beach and of course back to Auckland to catch up with those we didn't the first time around.. Then Yesterday we drove back home to Wellington. Man I was so please just to be home... and not living out of a suitcase.
So to say I am sick of being in a car is a small understatement...... I do not know what I was thinking before going away to volunteer to help the Divisional Youth Secretary in the deep South to drive to Raurimu (Blue Mountain Lodge) and back in one day tomorrow.... I think that I will get back from there and totally not want to see the inside of another car again .... for at least a week anyway.
I am now looking forward to a few days of real rest (after my trip tomorrow of course) doing more or less nothing while we prepare for Thursday when we start our outtraining at Kilbirnie Corps of The Salvation Army. I must say I am really looking forward to getting stuck into some real work.... Not that we have not been working really hard this past year but that has mostly been theory and classes etc. Now we get to practise on real live people all week not just the odd prison service, Religious Education in schools and weekends.......... I am really looking forward to it....
I have come to think that the whole Christmas "holiday" or rest time has become an urban myth... Just looking at the time that we have had since the 22nd of December that was supposed to be a time to relax and recharge I have come to the conclusion that we do too much and try to fit in too much.
Now I am not saying that I didn't enjoy my Christmas because it was a great time of catching up with people that we have not seen for 6 months or longer. But now I find myself trying to catch up with all sorts of other things including, sleep, washing, (no matter how hard you try to keep up with this it is always there threatening to swamp you), shopping and other miscellaneous things.
We spent our time off travelling..... To Auckland then Ngatea, then Papa Aroha (for those who do not recognise this destination it is a little place 14 kms north of Coromandel township - so far up the Coromandel penisula that you can see the back of Waiheke Island from the front window of my parents house there) then back to Ngatea. While in Ngatea we drove to such wonderful tourist spots(?) as Te Awamutu, Hamilton, Waihe, Waihe beach and of course back to Auckland to catch up with those we didn't the first time around.. Then Yesterday we drove back home to Wellington. Man I was so please just to be home... and not living out of a suitcase.
So to say I am sick of being in a car is a small understatement...... I do not know what I was thinking before going away to volunteer to help the Divisional Youth Secretary in the deep South to drive to Raurimu (Blue Mountain Lodge) and back in one day tomorrow.... I think that I will get back from there and totally not want to see the inside of another car again .... for at least a week anyway.
I am now looking forward to a few days of real rest (after my trip tomorrow of course) doing more or less nothing while we prepare for Thursday when we start our outtraining at Kilbirnie Corps of The Salvation Army. I must say I am really looking forward to getting stuck into some real work.... Not that we have not been working really hard this past year but that has mostly been theory and classes etc. Now we get to practise on real live people all week not just the odd prison service, Religious Education in schools and weekends.......... I am really looking forward to it....
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