Hi,
What a lovely day here in Wellington. It is so nice to finally get summery weather after the chaotic patterns in Nov, Dec and Jan. I hope it stays like this into April. Yes - I am an optimist.
Congratulations to my sister, Shona! She passed her hardest exam yesterday with her best mark ever! She's a legend and deserves praise for her hard work and sacrifices. I hope it gives her even more confidence that she can suceed at anything she does.
Yes - as Mike pointed out Toby had a good first day yesterday. It ended with me collecting him from school and taking him to Microsoft in town for a meeting I had. The Microsoft chap set Toby up with pizza and drink in front of Cartoon Network and we never heard a peep from Toby for the next hour. In fact, when the meeting was over and I went to collect him from the "hub" where he'd been set up, he said he didn't want to leave.
I have a release tonight and had Toby drop-off duty (so Mike can leave early to pick up Toby). I went in to see Toby's new classroom. It is very airy with a lovely view down over the other classrooms into the Otari-Wilton bush in the valley. Beautiful. The ride in was good afterwards although my cough made me labour a bit on the tougher sections. I think of it as an extra early warning system to let people know I am coming.
Tyler has her first Bright Stars drama class today. I do hope I get to hear all about that. I wonder if I should investigate something similar for Toby here? Let's wait and see what Karen reports back.
Ma and Pa arrive back on Saturday night, near midnight. I can't wait as I have missed them. I think we'll leave them to sort themselves out on Sunday and we'll head off to Waikanae to visit the Tabors. Hopefully we can get more swimming in!
Love,
Angela
Thursday, February 4, 2010
First day at school
... it was mayhem yesterday morning, Toby's first day at school for the year. Everyone had clearly decided to drive, and parking was backed up all the way to our house. It was quite festive when we got there, with parents and children milling around and trying to find their classrooms and each other.
Toby took us straight to his new classroom, and we found his desk with his name on it nice and easily. He's got Mrs Mahoney again - she was his Year 1 teacher but she's moved to the main school and is teaching Year 3 now. He's caught up with his friends, and there are new kids in his class that he doesn't know. All good. He seems pretty happy with things.
I've got a sore back at the moment - no dramas but I'm risk averse when it comes to backs so I've gone to see Kara about it. She's put two big strips of tape up my back to make me sit and stand properly, and it's quite amusing. I can't do up my shoelaces! And riding my bike is quite strange, I have to stay quite upright as I hurtle down the hill. It definitely sucks power going up the hill, unless I get off the seat and honk. Hopefully my body will be re-trained by the time the tape falls off. I'm also supposed to lie on the ground with a piece of closed-cell foam between my shoulder blades, when I'm vegging with TV or a book - but it's very awkward and uncomfortable. I'm not 100% sure what it's supposed to achieve. So I ended up with the foam under my head as a pillow instead.
The house extension is proceeding apace - well, the prep for it is. Surveyors were running all over the place on Tuesday when Angela and Toby were at home. Now there's little lead tabs and orange dots and other markers all over our section!
Toby took us straight to his new classroom, and we found his desk with his name on it nice and easily. He's got Mrs Mahoney again - she was his Year 1 teacher but she's moved to the main school and is teaching Year 3 now. He's caught up with his friends, and there are new kids in his class that he doesn't know. All good. He seems pretty happy with things.
I've got a sore back at the moment - no dramas but I'm risk averse when it comes to backs so I've gone to see Kara about it. She's put two big strips of tape up my back to make me sit and stand properly, and it's quite amusing. I can't do up my shoelaces! And riding my bike is quite strange, I have to stay quite upright as I hurtle down the hill. It definitely sucks power going up the hill, unless I get off the seat and honk. Hopefully my body will be re-trained by the time the tape falls off. I'm also supposed to lie on the ground with a piece of closed-cell foam between my shoulder blades, when I'm vegging with TV or a book - but it's very awkward and uncomfortable. I'm not 100% sure what it's supposed to achieve. So I ended up with the foam under my head as a pillow instead.
The house extension is proceeding apace - well, the prep for it is. Surveyors were running all over the place on Tuesday when Angela and Toby were at home. Now there's little lead tabs and orange dots and other markers all over our section!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Good morning on Wed, Feb 3
Hi,
Toby's first day back at school today. We were busy last night covering Toby's school books with contact adhesive stuff and getting his backpack ready.
Yesterday I had the day off with Toby, intending it to be a relaxing day for his last day so he wasn't too tired today. However, we scheduled in a trip to the zoo and I tidied the house and Jack (from Toby's class) came over to play in the afternoon. So it was pretty busy. But we had good fun.
In the morning we picked up Chelsea from her house and went straight to the zoo. We saw quite a bit of the animals, paying attention to the ones we liked the most. Toby was very keen to take photos to send to Tyler. The kids had the camera so I have no idea what the photos look like. I'll see if I can send them to Tyler very soon (not tonight as we're busy tonight, and I have a release tomorrow night).
After the zoo I popped in to get the contact covering and then we dropped off Chelsea and got home in time for Jack's arrival. The surveyors were there checking our property boundaries. They are all over the place! The boundaries, not the surveyors. Well, the surveyors too, really.
The weather is wonderful. Yesterday was lovely. My ride in was good except for my cold making me cough on the steeper bits. The ride home should be interesting - I'll take it even easier than usual. I'm off at 1630 to get Toby and back into town for a meeting. The organiser has said Toby can watch Cartoon Network while we listen to the meeting. Heheheheh. I'm going to be involved in running the Dynamics User Group in Wellington (a Microsfot suite of tools) and this is the first one for the year. At the moment I am just attending as a regular developer, waiting for the right timing to step up.
Anyhow. Enough waffle. Have a marvellous day wherever you are.
Love,
Angela
Toby's first day back at school today. We were busy last night covering Toby's school books with contact adhesive stuff and getting his backpack ready.
Yesterday I had the day off with Toby, intending it to be a relaxing day for his last day so he wasn't too tired today. However, we scheduled in a trip to the zoo and I tidied the house and Jack (from Toby's class) came over to play in the afternoon. So it was pretty busy. But we had good fun.
In the morning we picked up Chelsea from her house and went straight to the zoo. We saw quite a bit of the animals, paying attention to the ones we liked the most. Toby was very keen to take photos to send to Tyler. The kids had the camera so I have no idea what the photos look like. I'll see if I can send them to Tyler very soon (not tonight as we're busy tonight, and I have a release tomorrow night).
After the zoo I popped in to get the contact covering and then we dropped off Chelsea and got home in time for Jack's arrival. The surveyors were there checking our property boundaries. They are all over the place! The boundaries, not the surveyors. Well, the surveyors too, really.
The weather is wonderful. Yesterday was lovely. My ride in was good except for my cold making me cough on the steeper bits. The ride home should be interesting - I'll take it even easier than usual. I'm off at 1630 to get Toby and back into town for a meeting. The organiser has said Toby can watch Cartoon Network while we listen to the meeting. Heheheheh. I'm going to be involved in running the Dynamics User Group in Wellington (a Microsfot suite of tools) and this is the first one for the year. At the moment I am just attending as a regular developer, waiting for the right timing to step up.
Anyhow. Enough waffle. Have a marvellous day wherever you are.
Love,
Angela
Monday, February 1, 2010
Good morning on Mon, Feb 1
Hi,
And the beautiful month of February starts. Well, normally it is beautiful but that is hard to fathom at this point because there is a southerly with rain and has been since yesterday morning. Never mind. It is bound to improve this month, of that I am certain!
The weekend was fantastic fun! Woo hoo! Friday night I went to the movies with Sally, Vivienne and Vicki. We saw "It's Complicated" and it was quite simple. Made me laugh when it should and Meryl Streep was perfection as usual. Mike and Toby picked me and Vivienne up and Mike got his house keys back (Vivienne had them for feeding Merlot on anniversary weekend). So everything was right with the world. I hope the trains were fine for Sally and Vicki's journey home.
Saturday morning dawned even more brilliant than Friday. The best day so far of the summer. Mike got ready for his day tramp and headed off and Toby and I started to walk to the hairdressers. We got about 5m. When Toby realised my intention was to walk all the way there (Thorndon - so not too far) he sat down in the gutter and pouted. I told him I would drive to the library and we'd walk from there. He perked up and told me he was good at compromising. Really?
So, we walked in. And we had a wonderful time walking in. The weather was so nice - no wind, blue skies. We were a little early when we got there and they took Toby immediately. So we were leaving by 9.40am. Toby looked great with his short hair, ready for school.
We walked into town and caught a bus to Courtney Place and walked to Oriental Bay beach to catch up with Carrie and her sister Penny. Carrie was entered in the 2.8km ocean swim. Toby was very impressed and the whole 2 hour thing seemed to keep him pretty interested. The elite swimmers finished in 30-35 minutes. Amazing. Carrie was about 1 hour 24 min, but we were suitably impressed with that. Well done. Toby has declared he wants to do it one day. So, his first swimming goal!
After that we drove to Waikanae (via McDonalds for lunch, which I botched up because I never order McDs so Toby was disppointed) and Toby had a ball. We bought presents for Duncan and Emerson (it was their birthday a few weekends back) and they went down very well. Then we piled into Moby (their car) and went to the beach. Well, the mouth of the Waikanae River really. Toby spent 3 hours in the water. The boys had a log of wood and they used that as a boat to swim across the river to the other side and back. Josh went to get pizza for tea and we ate that on the beach and headed home.
It was my best day of the summer! How life should be. Under a sunshade, watching Toby swimming well, eating yummy food and chatting away. Summer days should always be on a beach.
We drove home late (for Toby anyway) and he slept like a log until 8.45am on Sunday morning! Cool!
Sunday was different. For a start it was raining and a southerly. Mike's tramp was good but he has hurt his back and it got worse during the day. However, Toby was happy as Mike got the cable TV working. Hooray! Mike also hired a carpet cleaner and we cleaned the carpets in the lounge (our hand was forced because Merlot pooed all over the carpets during the week one night - please note the previous post in the blog for my understanding of how Merlot's brain works) and also cleaned the car. The car looks great - we luxed and use the upholstery attachment to clean the car carpets and seats. Nice!
That was the weekend. Toby is at the Sampson's place being looked after by Hannah. I get the feeling 8am was a little early for her to be called upon! But Hannah is marvellous and got dressed immediately and Toby will be in good hands!
Tomorrow I have the day off for Toby's last day of the summer holidays. We're off to the zoo (with Chelsea).
I hope your weekend was as much fun!
Love,
Angela
And the beautiful month of February starts. Well, normally it is beautiful but that is hard to fathom at this point because there is a southerly with rain and has been since yesterday morning. Never mind. It is bound to improve this month, of that I am certain!
The weekend was fantastic fun! Woo hoo! Friday night I went to the movies with Sally, Vivienne and Vicki. We saw "It's Complicated" and it was quite simple. Made me laugh when it should and Meryl Streep was perfection as usual. Mike and Toby picked me and Vivienne up and Mike got his house keys back (Vivienne had them for feeding Merlot on anniversary weekend). So everything was right with the world. I hope the trains were fine for Sally and Vicki's journey home.
Saturday morning dawned even more brilliant than Friday. The best day so far of the summer. Mike got ready for his day tramp and headed off and Toby and I started to walk to the hairdressers. We got about 5m. When Toby realised my intention was to walk all the way there (Thorndon - so not too far) he sat down in the gutter and pouted. I told him I would drive to the library and we'd walk from there. He perked up and told me he was good at compromising. Really?
So, we walked in. And we had a wonderful time walking in. The weather was so nice - no wind, blue skies. We were a little early when we got there and they took Toby immediately. So we were leaving by 9.40am. Toby looked great with his short hair, ready for school.
We walked into town and caught a bus to Courtney Place and walked to Oriental Bay beach to catch up with Carrie and her sister Penny. Carrie was entered in the 2.8km ocean swim. Toby was very impressed and the whole 2 hour thing seemed to keep him pretty interested. The elite swimmers finished in 30-35 minutes. Amazing. Carrie was about 1 hour 24 min, but we were suitably impressed with that. Well done. Toby has declared he wants to do it one day. So, his first swimming goal!
After that we drove to Waikanae (via McDonalds for lunch, which I botched up because I never order McDs so Toby was disppointed) and Toby had a ball. We bought presents for Duncan and Emerson (it was their birthday a few weekends back) and they went down very well. Then we piled into Moby (their car) and went to the beach. Well, the mouth of the Waikanae River really. Toby spent 3 hours in the water. The boys had a log of wood and they used that as a boat to swim across the river to the other side and back. Josh went to get pizza for tea and we ate that on the beach and headed home.
It was my best day of the summer! How life should be. Under a sunshade, watching Toby swimming well, eating yummy food and chatting away. Summer days should always be on a beach.
We drove home late (for Toby anyway) and he slept like a log until 8.45am on Sunday morning! Cool!
Sunday was different. For a start it was raining and a southerly. Mike's tramp was good but he has hurt his back and it got worse during the day. However, Toby was happy as Mike got the cable TV working. Hooray! Mike also hired a carpet cleaner and we cleaned the carpets in the lounge (our hand was forced because Merlot pooed all over the carpets during the week one night - please note the previous post in the blog for my understanding of how Merlot's brain works) and also cleaned the car. The car looks great - we luxed and use the upholstery attachment to clean the car carpets and seats. Nice!
That was the weekend. Toby is at the Sampson's place being looked after by Hannah. I get the feeling 8am was a little early for her to be called upon! But Hannah is marvellous and got dressed immediately and Toby will be in good hands!
Tomorrow I have the day off for Toby's last day of the summer holidays. We're off to the zoo (with Chelsea).
I hope your weekend was as much fun!
Love,
Angela
Friday, January 29, 2010
Our cat Merlot - what goes on in her pea-sized brain
From: Ants have sex in your beer by David Shrigley.
Angela says this is what Merlot thinks. How uncharitable!
Good morning on Fri, Jan 29
Hi,
What another great morning in Wellington. No sign of the sun yet as we're blanketed by fog yet again. However, there is not a breath of wind. Toby and I slept in bed with the two windows open, and the curtains never moved at all. Well, apart from when the cat climbed in underneath them. Oh, and when Mike got home he never had the keys so he came around to the window and said he could climb in to stop me getting out of bed to open the door. But I said no to that slightly silly suggestion. However, it may have made the curtains move a little as well.
I think we might be experiencing summer! It is usually a little longer than a week but this year most people seem to be in agreement that a week might be all we get here. My parents might have missed summer in Wellington by being in Sydney when we got the nice weather. Heheheh.
Tonight I'm off to the movies with Sally, Vivienne and Vicki (friend of Sally and Andrew's) to see "It's Complicated" with Meryl Streep. Should be entertaining enough.
Mike got home late after the AC/DC concert and although I'd love to make up some guff about how awful it was, I went back to sleep when he got home last night and haven't heard anything about it. I got a muffled "It was good" this morning when I kissed them both goodbye. That is the extent of my review on it thus far. Apparently the Dom Post is full of it. So the radio told me anyway.
The weekend approaches. Mike is off tramping tomorrow. I think we might try and get Toby a haircut and watch Carrie (work colleague) swim around the lighthouse in the harbour and then head off to Waikanae. Unless my cold get worse, which it might. Then I might just take it easy instead. How I can have a cold in the middle of "summer" is beyond me!
Hopefully we get the television hooked up this weekend. Toby is having withdrawals. We went around to check on Ngaio last night (well, not the entire suburb, just Ma and Pa's house) and Toby saw the TV and his eyes lit up. "Can I watch Cartoon Network?" So he did. And had a bath. It was hot, remember?
Ok. Time to get stuck in.
Have a great weekend.
Love,
Angela
What another great morning in Wellington. No sign of the sun yet as we're blanketed by fog yet again. However, there is not a breath of wind. Toby and I slept in bed with the two windows open, and the curtains never moved at all. Well, apart from when the cat climbed in underneath them. Oh, and when Mike got home he never had the keys so he came around to the window and said he could climb in to stop me getting out of bed to open the door. But I said no to that slightly silly suggestion. However, it may have made the curtains move a little as well.
I think we might be experiencing summer! It is usually a little longer than a week but this year most people seem to be in agreement that a week might be all we get here. My parents might have missed summer in Wellington by being in Sydney when we got the nice weather. Heheheh.
Tonight I'm off to the movies with Sally, Vivienne and Vicki (friend of Sally and Andrew's) to see "It's Complicated" with Meryl Streep. Should be entertaining enough.
Mike got home late after the AC/DC concert and although I'd love to make up some guff about how awful it was, I went back to sleep when he got home last night and haven't heard anything about it. I got a muffled "It was good" this morning when I kissed them both goodbye. That is the extent of my review on it thus far. Apparently the Dom Post is full of it. So the radio told me anyway.
The weekend approaches. Mike is off tramping tomorrow. I think we might try and get Toby a haircut and watch Carrie (work colleague) swim around the lighthouse in the harbour and then head off to Waikanae. Unless my cold get worse, which it might. Then I might just take it easy instead. How I can have a cold in the middle of "summer" is beyond me!
Hopefully we get the television hooked up this weekend. Toby is having withdrawals. We went around to check on Ngaio last night (well, not the entire suburb, just Ma and Pa's house) and Toby saw the TV and his eyes lit up. "Can I watch Cartoon Network?" So he did. And had a bath. It was hot, remember?
Ok. Time to get stuck in.
Have a great weekend.
Love,
Angela
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Good morning on Thurs, Jan 28
Hi,
Another great blat down this hill this morning - long may it continue! The weather forecast is looking pretty good for the next few days. Hooray!
Toby and I arrived home last night to find our groceries delivered on the doorstep. It meant we could cook up some fresh food instead of defrosting ancient chicken from the freezer. We had a yummy dinner of honey and soy chicken kebabs, with rice.
The last book bought at Amazon for Toby's Christmas arrived (it was from a different seller, hence the delay compared to the other books) and Toby promptly read the whole thing. When we went down to his bedroom to put him to bed, he only had three pages left to read. I was astonished and flicked through the book asking him questions about things I saw. He answered them all. I might see if I can find similar books on Amazon again.
I feel very pleased and proud when I see Toby stuck in a book. He's just like I was when I was little. I can't get him to do a thing. But, I'm secretly happy about that. He told me the other evening that cycling was not his sport and that he thinks it is reading! I said reading wasn't a sport. So Toby said it was fishing. Huh?
Today is Wheels Day at Skids. I'm hoping Toby will take his bicycle as well as his scooter. I'd like him to practise a bit more.
Mike has the AC/DC concert on tonight and he seems to be looking forward to it. Something else I don't understand. A work colleague spoke to him and then told me she didn't know Mike was a closet AC/DC fan. I said Mike's so far in that closet that we don't even own a single CD of AC/DCs. So he's off to spend vast amounts of money seeing a bunch of rowdy has-beens. Whatever! I think I can think of one song of theirs. I wonder how well Mike will do with the songlist.
Toby and I will pop over to Ngaio this evening to check on Ma and Pa's house. I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm hoping to find Toby's DS Lite charger over there! Can't find it anywhere! But I did find the cable remote last night which has been missing for three weeks.
That's about it. I'm sure I have forgotten something I was going to mention. Never mind.
Have a marvellous day!
Love,
Angela
Another great blat down this hill this morning - long may it continue! The weather forecast is looking pretty good for the next few days. Hooray!
Toby and I arrived home last night to find our groceries delivered on the doorstep. It meant we could cook up some fresh food instead of defrosting ancient chicken from the freezer. We had a yummy dinner of honey and soy chicken kebabs, with rice.
The last book bought at Amazon for Toby's Christmas arrived (it was from a different seller, hence the delay compared to the other books) and Toby promptly read the whole thing. When we went down to his bedroom to put him to bed, he only had three pages left to read. I was astonished and flicked through the book asking him questions about things I saw. He answered them all. I might see if I can find similar books on Amazon again.
I feel very pleased and proud when I see Toby stuck in a book. He's just like I was when I was little. I can't get him to do a thing. But, I'm secretly happy about that. He told me the other evening that cycling was not his sport and that he thinks it is reading! I said reading wasn't a sport. So Toby said it was fishing. Huh?
Today is Wheels Day at Skids. I'm hoping Toby will take his bicycle as well as his scooter. I'd like him to practise a bit more.
Mike has the AC/DC concert on tonight and he seems to be looking forward to it. Something else I don't understand. A work colleague spoke to him and then told me she didn't know Mike was a closet AC/DC fan. I said Mike's so far in that closet that we don't even own a single CD of AC/DCs. So he's off to spend vast amounts of money seeing a bunch of rowdy has-beens. Whatever! I think I can think of one song of theirs. I wonder how well Mike will do with the songlist.
Toby and I will pop over to Ngaio this evening to check on Ma and Pa's house. I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm hoping to find Toby's DS Lite charger over there! Can't find it anywhere! But I did find the cable remote last night which has been missing for three weeks.
That's about it. I'm sure I have forgotten something I was going to mention. Never mind.
Have a marvellous day!
Love,
Angela
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