Thanks .... I think

Last weekend (14th) we were having lunch at the Kilbirnie Corps Officers home after church. Cheryl was at the Women's conference and Peter was left to play host..... At the end of the meal I asked Emily if she had enjoyed her lunch and she said that she had and so I asked her 'What do you say to Peter?" and she looked at me then turned to Peter, raised one eyebrow and with a most serious face said "Coffee?" Now that was not the words that I was looking for but it did make us laugh.

Appointments

Well it is finally official. The appointments are out and Perry and I have been appointed as Corps Officers Westport Corps...... Westport is a small town on the west coast of the South Island. We are really looking forward to the new challenge and putting to use all the things that we have been learning for the past two years at college and all the things that we learned before that at East City Corps.

Holiday Antics

We had an amusing day during the school holidays where I was at home on my own while Perry was at the main building doing some study or something and the three 3year old girls from campus (all blonde might I add) where in Emily’s bedroom playing and they were just playing so nicely. I could here them discussing who was being what part of their mum’s and dad’s role play and I was doing some of the required reading that we must do for each class.

The girls had spent the better part of the day changing clothes and wearing all sorts of different outfits including pj’s, swimming togs and normal clothes…. Perry walks in and wants to know what the strong smell was. Well I couldn’t initially smell it but when we opened the bedroom door we discovered three little naked girls who had got into Christina’s girly drawer and found an unopened talc bottle and had proceeded to empty the whole thing on the floor and themselves. They had rubbed it on their bodies, the floor and even each others back. They were covered from head to toe in talcum powder and on closer inspection it seemed that at least one of them had turned up at our house naked… Maybe…..

I phoned the respective parents who happened to be all in the one house and they came over to have a good laugh at our three little princesses. Needless to say it was all three in the bath to wash off the lovely smell….. We did find each child’s respective clothing in the end but it took a while to sort it all out.

Sue did make a quick trip home to see what damage they had done at their home as it was unlocked and an open invitation to destroy or otherwise rearrange. Lucky for her other than some relocation of clothes from drawers to the floor there was no permanent damage done.

Cunning Christina

As most people who have been in or around the college lately are aware there has been this craze of pegging people when they don't know it going around.

This craze has finally filtered down to the children. A few days ago on their way home from school Patrick, Christina and Ethan were pegging one another and on arrival at our house decided to try it on Perry and I this lead to 15 minutes of the three of them trying to peg us and each other. I decided to join in as well. I have to say that a fair amount of wrestling was included in this activity.

It was then time for me to go and get Emily from creche and Christina who had possession of the peg at the time decided to come with me thinking that she might be able to get me too. Then she saw Suzanne in the distance....... Plan changed. She went running up to Suzanne to give her a big hug and then as Suzanne walked away I realised that Christina had managed to peg her.

When did she get so sly? And who has she been learning off?........ Corryn.

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........