Back to work 
Sunday, January 24, 2010, 03:43 PM
Had a reasonable week at work, but didn't get a lot of planned work done. Spent most of the time sorting out the new hardware that Dave, our product manager / ageing surf dude had bought, plus fixing a number of issues from all the teachers that have recently emerged from hibernation (or is that aestivation?) Might not get much done next week either; it'll be the last week of the holidays for most schools, and the teachers will be panicking.

Plus I'll have Friday off to go down to Parachute. We've got a meeting tonight to go over all the details for the coffee bar. I've also got the offer to stay at a friend's place for the day. The weather is looking rather iffy, so I might take them up on that.

[ add comment ] ( 1802 views )   |  permalink  |  $star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image ( 3 / 2253 )
Camp 
Sunday, January 17, 2010, 09:09 PM
I'm on my fourth load of washing, and there's still more in the bag. I just decided to wash the lot! We had a great time up near Whangarei last week. It was a small campsite but just the right mix of people, and everyone got on really well, especially the children. Bronwyn kept them all entertained with play dough, cornflour, balloons, and glowsticks. Our tennis pole got used so much we went through three tennis balls. They all fell to bits.

On the Friday two of the others came back with a bucket full of snapper. A big bucket. There must have been about 15, and the largest would have been about 4kg. They cooked them up in egg, flour and butter. Best fish I've ever tasted. So we all had a shared dinner, and because it was my birthday the day after, Bronwyn brought out the cake as well. It really was a great evening. No idea when we all got to bed!

Another guy was a talented juggler, and could do 7 balls at once. He gave quite a few displays. It was really impressive. I understand he ranks third in the country.

Back to work tomorrow. No petrol, and not a lot of money. But apparently the kindergarten owes us quite a bit. I think they haven't checked for a while, and it's been accumulating. At least I hope it has. Otherwise we've got quite a bill to pay!

[ add comment ] ( 1716 views )   |  permalink  |  $star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image ( 3 / 2371 )
And a happy new year to you too 
Sunday, January 3, 2010, 08:00 AM
Quiet. Too quiet. I guess I did so much last weekend that I'm running low on things to do this weekend. I'm sure I'll find something. The spare room is now tidy, the loft is now full, the lounge is in a mess again (but that's normal) and I'm beginning to work on the garden for once. We'll be going camping in a week, so Bronwyn's been making a big list of things to take. We always seem to forget something. Last year we took two solar heated showers but forgot the washing up brush. Not easy cleaning saucepans with your fingers.

Bronwyn wanted to go to visit the same waterfall that I took Rachael to last year, but I pointed out that Sarah was going to find a 90 minute hike rather hard going. So we walked up the bush on the farm. Except that there was a hay paddock in the way, with grass three feet tall. Again, not easy for Sarah. So Bronwyn drove the car up through the paddock, and then we walked up the rest of the way. Must be the first time in years that we've all gone on a walk together on the farm. The girls are still more interested in dressing up and drawing pictures.



[ add comment ] ( 1889 views )   |  permalink  |  $star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image ( 3 / 1406 )
Christmas! 
Sunday, December 27, 2009, 06:38 PM
Bronwyn bought a mini water slide. It has a tube with holes along one side, so you get sprayed as you slide along. Rachael, Sarah and Bronwyn all tried it. I hung up the grass and mud stained swimming togs to dry...

Several people were away for Christmas day, so we had a big dinner round at Claire's on Christmas Eve. Followed by a smaller dinner on Christmas day. Today, we had lunch in the shade of my in-law's garden.

The lounge is looking tidier than usual for this time of year. I spent a lot of time tidying up and washing loads of clothes. I spent Boxing Day sorting out the spare room, and came across a huge boxful of 5 year old clothes, so Sarah will be pleased. I've put a lot of stuff up in the loft, but there's plenty more that could go up, and I think I might need more boards up there to put it on. I washed a foam mattress yesterday. I put it in the bath and squelched it with my feet. I then put it on the washing line and hosed it down. It's still damp.

Finished covering our arm chair. Now it has arms again. Or at least more than fraying foam and bare wood.

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon looking up funding sources, primarily for the youth project. I had to go into the city library, because they have an account with the directory of funding. Otherwise I'd have to pay by the hour, and it's not cheap. Now I have a long list of websites to look up and sort out.

It's hot and sunny, and likely to get humid. But there's a little rain on the way. I've been watering the garden. We have two taps in the garden. One comes from our tank. The other comes from the lake. I prefer to use the lake. It's smelly, but bigger.

[ add comment ] ( 1751 views )   |  permalink  |  $star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image ( 3 / 2214 )
Slime 
Sunday, December 20, 2009, 10:02 PM
Yesterday, I gathered up five towels and hung them back up in the bathroom. When I got home in the afternoon, two towels were in Rachael's room, one was in the lounge and slightly damp, and two more were rolled up and arranged in a ring on the front deck. The ring was lined with a plastic sheet and filled with some sort of slimy substance of Bronwyn's concoction. Well, it was initially. The slime had migrated and was making its way around the deck. I gather the girls enjoyed the slime bath immensely.

Meanwhile, I've planned a few projects for Christmas. I've repaired the electrics on the Youth Group's trailer (the one they use to transport the ever-present doughnut machine), I've bought some tough cloth to repair one of our chairs, some boards to put up in the loft for storage space, and some cement. We're considering taking on a lodger to pay the bills, but first we need to clear the room (hence the storage space in the loft), sell the old junior bed and redecorate the room. The cement is to fill a number of holes in the concrete outside. Plus I'm planning to do some research to find funding for the youth worker that the church is supporting in the local school, and probably for the brass band too, since it's going to cost us a lot of money to shift the new building even if the building itself is free. Plus one of my plum cuttings has finally sprouted, and I need to collect seeds from the trees for next year's planting.

So I won't be idle. But at least the rest of Auckland will be on holiday, so I'll be relatively undisturbed.

Provided there aren't too many incidents with the towels. And the slime.

[ 2 comments ] ( 5533 views )   |  permalink  |  $star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image$star_image ( 3.1 / 2081 )

<<First <Back | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | Next> Last>>