Even though the inspectors that are coming to school are not at all interested in my home life, I felt like I had to tidy up the place a bit extra today - because of the inspectors! I must be going crazy.
The husband left at about 1 this morning to go up to Auckland for a funeral, and then may be on a course for the rest of the week. A damn shame, as I would have liked to have someone to download to at night, and the six year old just doesn't understand what I am talking about. Though he is really funny when he tries to...
I went to Wellington in the weekend for the ballet, Trinity with RNZB. I enjoyed the night out, the dancing was good. I felt the middle dance was too long, and that the dancers were either bored themselves, or just too exhausted by the end. The other two were good, and the first one very funny and witty in parts. I particularly liked the last part of it, where the males turned into puppet masters and Ctrolled the dancing of the girls.
On the Sunday I went to the Cstable exhibition, which was the same thing an awful lot of other people decided to do as well. I still don't like his paintings, they are very painterly but I don't think he has a lot to say. Lovely technique no message. I also happen to think he spent a lot of time painting sky because the landscape is not very dramatic. But I had no idea he was such a Csumate draughtsman, the pencil drawings were inspirational, and much less mannered than the paintings.
Fortunately today was much less stressful. The kids were lovely and co-operative, though I did have to yell at the yr 9's today now I think about it, but they were a lot better after that.
Watched rippa rugby this afternoon with the eldest playing and the youngest cheering for him. Certainly the eldest is much more involved in the sport this year and is not lying down on the job. He sure gets muddy, even though he isn't lying down.
Got a hilarious Maori phrase book today - useful family phrases. "Look, you've sicked up all over daddy!" "Have you farted?" "Did all that come out of you?" A real picture of family life.
And palimpsest is the unusual word I saw twice on Monday. Wierd ay?
A fellow teacher described the kids today as feral. Quite frankly, I thought the descriptor perfect.
And then the kiln in the tech block caught on fire, and the school was evacuated.
Went away down the coast with a another family who have similar aged kids in the weekend. It is good going with other people that have kids, cos then when we lose the plot and start yelling, they don't think we are horrible. After all, it may not be five more minutes and they will be yelling themselves. Childless people don't really understand or sympathise properly...
Would you believe my son ran into the sea up to his waist in the first five minutes at the beach WITH HIS ONLY PAIR OF SHOES STILL ON HIS FEET. Nor did he have a change of clothes actually with him, so he had to wear girls clothes for the rest of the day.
Its also much nicer than going away just by ourselves, because there are new people to talk to, that we don't know as well as we know each other. And the kids feel the same way about going away with other kids.
We went on the zany trams at QEII park. They travel over paddocks to the beach, which for trams is very very peculiar. Trams are a city method of transport, and country trams look funny. The other day we went to the petting zoo. The kids loved that.
Now I have a week to get my act together before the school inspectors get here.
Think Lord of the Rings drums: "DOOM, DOOM, DOOM, DOOM..."
I promised yesterday that I would pick H up from his caregivers Nice and Early, as she had a lot of other places to be all at once.
After my final class on Wednesday's I usually skive off quickly and go to the library on my own and by myself. This as any mother will know is a great and very cheap way to get some books for me, rather that the latest hit by Bob the builder. Today I actually cleaned the lab and then picked up some photocopying, dropped off some adminy things, and then went to the library. I wasn't there long, but it was long enough. When I got in the car it was already the time that I had agreed to pick H up by.
I hate it when I let people down like this and also make stress in their life. I didn't mean to, but that is neither a reason or an excuse. Having a watch or actually carrying my cell phone so I know the time would be a good start to prevent this kind of situation. Ah well, I'll just have to miss out on the library next time.
Oh, and I'm trying to remember to only leave the last entry open for comments. I don't often get comments on old entries, and I'm hoping to cut spam that way. If you have a desperate urge to comment on an older entry which is closed, comment on the last entry and note where you want it and I'll move it to where it belongs...
I've been making a quilt for C and I am now doing the very last part - hand sewing on the borders. Its going pretty well, I'm half way round. Watching well know movies while I sew is good, I only look at the screen when my favourite parts of the movie are on, the rest of the time it is more like a book tape.
Another teacher at school also quilts and has a pile of perhaps 10 unfinished quilts in her hall. The bit they need - binding. Today she was sewing at lunch doing the binding on a lap quilt for her mother, and I found a better stitch to do it in. She is getting a bit of a hard time about the number of quilts she has that need binding - its hard to believe anyone spends that much time making something then won't spend an hour or two to finish the whole project, which may have taken months of hours here and there to make.
Anyway, I'm half way round, and am going to aim to get about another side done tonight - 3/4 done!
I've been making a quilt for C and I am now doing the very last part - hand sewing on the borders. Its going pretty well, I'm half way round. Watching well know movies while I sew is good, I only look at the screen when my favourite parts of the movie are on, the rest of the time it is more like a book tape.
Another teacher at school also quilts and has a pile of perhaps 10 unfinished quilts in her hall. The bit they need - binding. Today she was sewing at lunch doing the binding on a lap quilt for her mother, and I found a better stitch to do it in. She is getting a bit of a hard time about the number of quilts she has that need binding - its hard to believe anyone spends that much time making something then won't spend an hour or two to finish the whole project, which may have taken months of hours here and there to make.
Anyway, I'm half way round, and am going to aim to get about another side done tonight - 3/4 done!
When I left my classroom today and took all the stuff to the car to load it up and proceed home, I noticed a very large (presumably gravid) praying mantis on the car. I left it there, thinking it would fly off as the car moved.
But no.
I drove at the regulation 50km down to Woolworths were there is a money machine, and the thing was still there when I stopped the car. So I captured it, and put it in my lunch box, and released her into the vegetable garden here at home. Although the trip home may have been unpleasant, I bet my garden is a better place to live than the Woolworths car park.
But who knew they could hang onto the side of a car travelling at 50km?
I've seen a couple of movies lately - an unusual occurrence, as I often can go months without movies, on more than once in my life it has been years between movies.
Last movie I saw twice, the pirates of the caribbean, as I saw it once with adult company and once with my son. Its a movie that can cope with a couple of viewings.
Tonight I saw RV, which I don't think would be funny twice, but it very funny once. The story line is tissue thin and very badly acted. Its like everyone goes back to drama school and produces these amazingly wooden performances, while the comedy sequences are hilarious and fluid. Now I think about it I wonder if they were actually poking fun at the Hollywood need to have a story line Cnecting the silliness... but that seems too ironic for mainstream hollywood. The comedy involving driving the RV, unloading the sewerage from the RV and the interaction between the two families are funny, stitch in the side funny for my fellow movie goer, though not so much for me. It is good, but very obvious... Nothing surprising.
Term starts again tomorrow and I feel as usual woefully underprepared. But highly unCcerned.
I've noticed I'm a bit bored with my life. Perhaps its to do with the gradual lowering of stress after finishing the thesis, and settling into life here in Wangas. I have plenty to do - there's the quilting, I could dance, I have a full time job, I have two small children. But I'm still bored.
I think this might be the start of my mid-life 'crisis'.
Things are so stable now I'm missing the adrenaline. I'm a stress junkie. Dangnabbit. I'm at the mercy of my metabolism again. So instead of leaving the family and going to work in deepest Africa or some other hare-brained scheme, I'm going to start a couple of new things. I think I am happiest when learning something new, which occupies my overactive grey matter. I was planning to learn to ride horses, but have decided I might be a tad too wimpy for that. So I'm now officially on the hunt for something new.
The parental units rang on Friday to see if we were swimming round the house, or if things were a little better than that. Better. My new drain which had not had much to do since installation was working well, and we were high and dry. No-one could leave the town due to all the roads being closed, but if you were happy to stay in town there was no problem. And as far as i know there was no sign of the Whanganui River topping its 'banks'. The apostrophe things are because I have not seen any flood banks round this river, the sides seem unchanged by bulldozer. So anyway, we nearly didn't know there was a civil emergency on!
What we did was an entirely normal weekend of going out and staying home. I saw Pirates of the Carribean with C who enjoyed it a lot though I don't think understood much of it, and I thought it was great. One of the things I like about these movies is there is no 'deeper message'. Its a total shallow movie, feel good, great fight scene choreography and pretty scenery. Good CG and pretty people to watch.
Have only to binding round C's quilt and it is fully finished. No need to label it as the label is in the quilting... I wrote C's full name round the border and so we know it is his!
Just so you know, damn spam. Bloody damn spam.
I finished sewing in the ditch and doing little diamonds on the quilt I am making, and have now started doing the free pattern stuff. To do that I lower the feed dogs and use a sewing machine foot called a hockey stick. I haven't done much of this before, and today I learnt some very valuable stuff.
Don't let go of the material until the sewing machine has stopped - you will get a big jink in the line if you do.
Don't leave the needle up - you will get a big jink in the line if you do.
Don't do the middle of the quilt while you are learning how to do this stuff - the jinks are so huge they have to be removed.
Yup, there's jinks in this quilt.
The baby ate three large bowls of potato and leek soup tonight, I think he likes it. Husband was sleeping before six, I think he might be tired. Colours of the Mountain by Da Chen is a very good memoir of growing up in China. I'm just off to tidy up and make tomorrows lunches, then I'm off to sleep myself.
Today, the first day of the holidays has started well. I went to the dentist at 8.30 and had a filling replaced FOR FREE. How good is that.
then I went on a shopping mission and was really very efficient, and got lots done in lots of different places. One place I went was M*tre 10 where I got more sandpaper. And a pair of paper overalls, and goggles.
Then I came home and spent an hour sanding. Sanding in goggles, a respirator and ear muffs plus overalls is better. I don't feel so bad afterward. But it is still very noisy, hard on the arms and very VERY dirty and dusty. But the french doors are still much closer to being ready for paint. I have one hell of a lot of sanding to go though, so expect much moaning.
The cat is so loyal she stays by me not only when blogging but also when sanding. In the noise and dirt. Thats very loyal. I'm off to do some quilting now - another powertool, but this one is much nicer to play with.