Alternative Clothing

Just had to share these photos of Emily coming home from Creche with some interesting choices for clothing accessories........

No Mum I will not put my proper shoes on.

I have a tissue box for one shoe, a muesli bar box for another and a toothpaste box for my glove...

This kid will go far in the Wearable Recycled items clothing range.

Needless to say she was really upset when she discovered that the concrete had worn holes in the soles of her shoes......

Weekend Away - Cafes

So more about my weekend away.

This weekend was totally about rest and relaxation. And I have to admit that it was needed. But I also have to admit a bit a guilt at leaving my family behind and going it alone....

My train was 1 hour last leaving Upper Hutt for half of that time I was sitting on the train waiting for it to leave.... They had to get a new engine from Wellington or something because the one attached to the train was not working properly... A great start to a relaxing weekend I must say.

I arrived at Masterton and Katherine was waiting for me and our first port of call was a local cafe where we spent the next 1/2 hour drinking Hot Chocolates and talking..... This started the weekend pretty much in the way it was intended to go for the rest of the time I was away.... The second place to visit was a local patchwork fabric shop. This to support my growing addition to patchwork quilting....

That night was spent patch working and talking some more. The next morning (after a most enjoyable sleep in I must say.... if you call 8am a sleep in but for me anything beyond 7am without a three year old jumping on me is a sleep in) Katherine decided that we needed to go to the local farmers market and we took with us a member of her Corps with us.... The effort of going to the market was so tough that we just had to visit another cafe on the way home and the three of us sat there for the next hour and a half drinking Hot Chocolates and Coffees and eating yummy stuff and talking.....

The next day just before I was ready to leave. The thought of coming home was just so daunting (I don't really mean it I was looking forward to coming home) that it necessitated a visit to yet another cafe for Hot Chocolate and Coffee.

I have to say it was a perfect weekend and I really enjoyed my time just chilling and doing whatever it was that I wanted to do without interruptions..

I do have to say that I had seriously thought about using some of the time constructively... Assignments, bringing the laptop or even just getting readings done for the following week, just so I didn't feel so guilty for being so selfish as to have time to myself .... However these plans were totally anticipated by Perry who confiscated anything from me that even remotely looked like work.... Going to the extreme of taking my class stuff off me and putting it somewhere I could not find it..... Bother......

Train talk for the railway challenged person

This past weekend I was off for a well deserved weekend away from everything. Me myself and I were going to Carterton to spend the weekend with Katherine Sonntag (Wairarapa Corps Officer). More about the actual visit in another post.........

My first hurdle was the train to actually get to Carterton. I do not travel very much by train nor do I have a very good knowledge of anything to do with trains or train travel.

I arrived at Upper Hutt station and very quickly crossed my first hurdle. I found the ticket office and paid for my fare. My next question to the ticket agent person was..... "How do I know the difference between the train I want and any other train that comes to the station.....?" The answer was the only difference is that the trains for the Wairarapa have a diesel engine on the front....... Like I actually know the difference between a diesel engine and any other train that might come down the track......

At this point I decided that this person was purposely being less than helpful and left the office just hoping that somebody else might clue me into actually how to tell the difference.....

I need not have worried. The train was actually announced by an loud speaker system as it arrived to the station.... Like I was supposed to know that........

Time flys

It is hard to believe that we are already half way through August and that the end of the year is fast approaching. Before we know it Perry and I will be Commissioned Officers of The Salvation Army ready and armed to do damage in the community out there somewhere. I have to admit to all who read my blog that I am starting to get a little bit anxious about where we will end up.

Deep down I know that I know that God has everything in hand but it still that whole thing of not knowing... And I have to admitt that now I WANT TO KNOW......

It is so hard to make plans for the future without knowing even vaguely where we are going to be put.

And I guess that a part of the frustration is that I am now over being 'at school' in training and doing most stuff just in theory. I now want to start putting some effort into something that actually means something, something that will be an ongoing type of ministry instead of just showing up on a Sunday and preaching or leading and then that is it.

I am so looking forward to knowing where we are going, which hopefully will be in the next month or so. Sorry to you out there who are also interested but it will not be made official until mid October.

Although on second thoughts the knowledge of where we are heading might be more frightening than the not knowing.... hehehehe

Daddy Ruined My Day

For you parents out there have you ever had those heart breaking times when a child will say something like "Daddy ruined my day" .... "you don't listen to me" .... "you don't love me" or even the classic "I don't love you anymore"...

Well yesturday I had Patrick in tears around dinner time (having myself been out of the house for most of the afternooon) He was supposed to be folding the washing but taking all year to do it. Patrick had been grounded by his father for certain indiscretions unbecoming an 11 year old..... In short he had blown it.

I asked him what was wrong and he answered that Daddy had ruined his entire day because he had been unable to go out and play (a huge punishment when you have a campus of children your own age to play with) and that he had had to do all the 'jobs' (this meant tidy his room, take out the rubbish, fold the washing and no doubt knowing his father as I do the making of a cup of tea or two).

I spent the next 10 minutes talking to him about the rules of our house. It went kind of like this.
"Do you remember what you are supposed to do when you get home and we are somewhere else on campus?" a sullen reply "Yes" "Do you remember " another sullen "Yes". This went on for another 3 or 4 questions and then I explained to him that he was being punished for not doing what he knew was right......... Then I asked him "Who ruined your day?" a very long pause and then a very very sullen "I did" .

At this point while feeling very sorry for him on the inside I declared victory to myself and congratulated myself on a job well done..... Until about 1/2 an hour later when Patrick came to me and said "Mum how old were you when you left home?"

Now I wonder where this came from........ I am pleased to report that this was just an interest question rather than a response to Daddy ruining his day.