The Update

I can't believe it is October now and the last posting was in July! Life has take a turn onto busy street as you can imagine. I have a new job - actually I have been doing it now for 7 weeks already! I am working as a funeral assistant and as morbid as it sounds - I am actually enjoying it. Some parts of the job are really sad - very sad funeral for a 13 year old boy who had been sick all his life and died after a failed bone marrow transplant. Must have been over 500 people at his funeral - crazy sad. I have been learning the art of embalming where I spend most of my day in the mortuary. Has been extremely busy since I started but Friday just gone was the first day that we had no one to embalm so we cleaned all day. Kelly (my trainer) is really funny and we get on like a house on fire. The others who work there are also very supportive and all have great sense of humour, I guess we need it to survive. I just need to harden up as I have cried at every funeral I have been on!
Shannon and I have decided to postpone our trip to Europe until the July break as it will be summer up in the northern hemisphere and much nicer for tripping around. I don't know what we were thinking going up in winter! It will cost a bit more being peak season but that's OK as we will have longer to save. We are also looking at going to Croatia instead of Switzerland. She had one of her workmates come back from Europe with photo's and stories of where she had been so plans have changed. It is a good thing as I was worried that I would miss out on our Carol coming back to NZ for a visit!
I am off to take some photo's to put on the blog site to show everyone how beautiful it is here in Orewa!! Be happy....

The final curtain...

Gee... it was fairly hard to walk away but I know that I will still be able to go back and visit the wonderful people that I have worked alongside for the past few years.
Lorraine Rimmer and Des Johnston are two of the most amazing Aquarians I could ever have met! When I was told that I could move into the office they shared (I worked out of a shoe box at the time!) I thought - Oh hell! I really didn't know much about either of them - Lorraine had always scared me (she doesn't put up with crap) and I didn't know much about Des at all. Well I couldn't have been more wrong about Lorraine. Far from being the 'Dragon' I was told she was, I think if it wasn't for her and Des I would have left sooner. I shall miss the company of these two but will take with me all the memories.
Then there are the processing staff - what can I say! Some of the kindest people - Francis, Paula, Alice, Ma - the backbone of the place and such laughter (Paula!!). I shall even miss the guys - Julian 'scare the hell out of me' Verran. Then there is Richard and Anup - my clinical wizzards, Matt - my QSA safety net, Colleen - the best boss I ever had in the Blood Bank. I am not going to bleet about the bad stuff because at the end of the day it will not change anything. The end of the story has not yet been written - I am just left with a sense of sadness for what could have been if not for the actions of a few bad apples. Still - to thrash the old saying - When one door closes another one opens. If not another door then a window and I am also fond of saying that to take a step forward sometimes you need to take a step backwards.
To other news: I am flying out to Rarotonga for 8 days to help out my Dad. He lives alone and at the age of 71 does not really look after himself very well. The house is falling down around him and he needs a bit of help. I shall also be taking the opportunity to chill out and sort out my head now that I am at a cross road in my career. I shall be posting a few photo's when I update the blog next so watch this space!
I am also really really excited!! Shannon booked our Europe tickets a couple of days ago!! Oh boy I am really looking forward to the trip. I had better get a job quick smart as I still have a mortgage to pay! Aunty Mary has insisted on replacing the roof as the recent storms have caused a few leaks. That lady is an amazing person - Mum and Antione are so lucky to be right next door. As soon as I come back from Raro I shall go up for a visit. It will be great to be able to take off for a few days and not have the responsibility of running a Tissue Bank to hold me back!
Well - sorry it has been a bit boring but I promise that the next blog will be dotted with tropical photos and loads of exciting news! I am going out to buy an underwater camera to take some fish photo's.
Until next time - live life like it was your last day!

The Long Weekend

Well yay for the Queen!! Thank you for having a birthday and giving us a much needed long weekend. I don't know why but I REALLY feel tired and in need of a bit of time off. Hence it is now 10.30 on Saturday morning and I am still in bed. The housework can wait but I will get my carcass out of bed soon as I don't want to waste too much of this time off.
Shan and I are going to see Pirates of the Caribean 3 at Worlds End either today or tomorrow. I can't wait!! I just love Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom - total venture into the fantasy! I am going to do a bit more planning for the Europe trip this weekend as well.
I seriously need to get out of my job. I don't want this blog to be a winge fest as I do believe that it is important to look on the bright side but I feel so trapped at work at the moment. I am the only one fully competent to do all of the job elements and it is a particulary sensitive time and I would feel intensly guilty if I walked away now but I do feel like breaking down the door in my efforts to escape! Still - must just keep breathing through it. Found out on Friday that I have will not be getting a pay rise as I am supposidly at the top of my scale. Bollocks I am. I shall get a second opinion and if it turns out that I have been screwed for the past two years then I am going to yell at someone. It is partly my fault for being such a door mat but that doesn't mean someone has the right to treat you like one! Anyway - enough of the blues!!
On the bright side - the sale of Aunty Mary's house finally goes through next Wednesday and Steve and I will be the proud owners of a 120 year old bach in Mill Bay!! Aunty Mary is the most beautiful soul and the world is a much better place with her in it.
Shan is studying really hard for exams at the moment - this time next week it will all be over for another semester and I can relax a bit - she is pretty stressy at the moment. Caitlin is off with her Craig again - ah young love. Michaela is at her dads for the weekend and Steve is at work. Sweet! What the hell am I doing still in bed??? Bye darlings... more later!! Time to play when the sun is up!!

The Travel Calendar

Alright! I have made some fairly firm dates for our trip. I have started doing the accommodation pricing and so far it all looks great! So, all there is to do now is make a few bookings, a whole heap more google searches and save some spending money! Oh and learn a few languages - ha ha. So take care folks. More later..... xx

Oh sod - only the first page came out. Well enough for now.

Exciting trip to Europe!

Oh my goodness!! My good Irish friend Clare has decided to return to Ireland after living in NZ for 7 years. My other good friend Carol disappeared from our shores to London a year ago and I have had enough!! This can mean only one thing. I shall have to go and see what the fuss is all about!
Once I decided to take the trip I had no trouble convincing Shannon to come with me. I did the whole geek thing and did a publisher calendar showing dates and things to do during the trip. I did a costing and the trip crashed from 6 weeks to 5 as it was going to cost a fortune!
We are going to spend 6 nights in London, 6 nights in Ireland, 4 nights in Paris, 2 nights in Cannes, 2 nights in Venice, 4 nights in Rome, off to Interlarken for 2 nights then a stop over of 5 nights in Thailand on the way back to NZ. WOW! I am exhausted just thinking about it.
I jumped on Trade Me and won an auction to buy a tramping back pack as we will have to travel light. Now that we have dates I shall start booking the smaller flights as they are really cheap this far in advance.
Well it is late and I need sleep. More details to be posted on the weekend.

21st Pics

From left: Craig, Shannon, Me, Caitlin and Michaela

This is a group shot of the extended family. One or two missing but you get the picture (excuse the pun!)

We really did have a good time!

Shannon's 21st

Well - what a weekend!! My lovely daughter (pictured with my Mum) had her 21st birthday on Saturday - Easter weekend of all things! We hired a venue at the Seddon Fields rugby club and the place was just fantastic! All the kitchen facilities we could ask for as well as two bar staff to run the place.
My sister came over from Australia to celebrate with us and to give me a hand as we were catering everything ourselves. We decided to do a bit of dress up the day before as it was an 80's theme party. Kathy (sister) hired a really strange outfit - punk style with lots of leather and fishnet stuff. I had a black dress with a black and metallic blue jacket. I will post a photo as soon as I can get access to the pics.
In the middle of catering I get a phone call from my father - oh God he is in the country (from Rarotonga) and wants to see us. I told him about Shan's party so he decided to come along for the ride - hell knows what will happen as my Mum is also coming with her husband. My parents have been apart for over 40 years but there is still bad tidings between them. Well it wasn't too bad at the party - they both behaved themselves! My dad is looking really old an frail and he isn't that old either - a lifetime of booze I guess.
The party was a blast! Shan's Dad turned up dressed as Father Ted in a priests frock! God I laughed! His fiance Judith was dressed in leather and looked amazing and everyone else were dressed to kill as well. I had a fab time - even when I had to give a speech half way through the night. When Shan was little she had a ride on pink elephant that she used to come racing down our driveway on - well her Dad tried to ride it once and broke it. She never let him forget it so in the middle of the speeches - they brought out a present and in it was a pink ride on plastic bike and a stuffed pink elephant teddy! It was sooo funny!
Shan has grown into an amazing person - she has done so much more than I had at the same age and it is exciting to see the developments from a mothers perspective. I can't wait to see how the future unfolds - not just with her but also with her two sisters.
Well - must go. We have our Union members on strike for two days so I guess it is all hands on deck to fill in the gaps. I shall just change my name to "Polly- Filla" for the next two days!
Take care and keep the sun at your back.

Around the Bays 2007

Oh my aching joints!! The day began extremely well - daylight savings meant we could all sleep in a little (1 hour) which was great but still had to leave the house a 7 to meet up at work by 8 am. From our little family there was me, youngest daughter Michaela, next daughter Caitlin and her boyfriend Craig. We managed to get there in plenty of time and all piled onto the bus bound for the start line.
We waited for around an hour at the start line listening to various announcements etc until the first wheelchair racers started off. For those who don't know about our famous 'Around the Bays" fun run - it is an annual event where half of Auckland turns up and as many from outlining districts as well. There must be at least 30,000 people all running from the bottom of the city to the very last distant bay around the east coast. This is an 8.5 kilometer distance and extremely pretty with the beach and harbour on one side and some rather fabulous real estate on the other.
Anyway - I decided this year I would try and run the whole way so I have been in training since Feb (not long I know but at least it was something). I wanted to do it in around an hour which for my age and level of fitness was quite within my reach. Caitlin and Craig wanted to be young lovers and walk the distance hand in hand -how sweet! So that left me and Michaela to run as best as possible. The cannon blasted and we were off!!
The sights along the way were pretty hilarious - I saw a guy running with an empty carton of beer on his head, another guy in a pink bonnet, one green and one purple sock and a sports jacket. And no end of people in strange hats! Mexican hats to bunny ears! Well Michaela and I did indeed run for most of the way with a couple of stops for the potty (must have wasted at least 10 minutes!). She was feeling pretty sick at one stage so we walked for a kilometer or so she could catch herself again.
I didn't see any distance markers for ages and I had no idea how far through we were until we came across a sign that said we had come 5.5 kms and had 2.9 to go! Well - that made me feel a whole lot better! Gave me a burst of renewed vigor!
We made it to the finish line - Michaela in 1 hour and 45 seconds and me in 1 hour and 55 seconds. So I guess if we had not stopped to pee then we would have made it in under and hour! The plan for next year would have to be wearing some sort of incontinence pad or something!! Perhaps we will have to run faster! All in all - I was soooo happy to have finished at the time I wanted - am very sore at the moment though.
The Blood Service and a BBQ and drinks for us back on the farm so we chilled out for a while before taking off back to the donor centre then off home. On the way I stopped at Real Groovy Records and finally found a copy of the Rocky Horror Picture Show! oh be still my beating heart! I have some very fond memories of going to the original cinema all dressed up in stilettos and fish net stockings and completely trashing the theatre along with all the other movie goers. So much fun and way better than the movies today! you can't even throw a jaffa down the isle any more. People get a bit cranky about that. Well - I am off to get a very nice rub after my long run today - I am left pondering - did I lose any weight today??

Symphony in the Park

Had a fantastic night last night at the Symphony in the park. Clare and I were volunteering as collectors selling light sticks at $5 each. We could only get 20 light sticks at a time so were majorly rushed off our feet running back and forth re-stocking as we were selling them so quickly. We ventured into the corporate tents and people were throwing money at us. One lovely guy gave $100 for 2 light sticks! Really restored my faith in human nature. We were raising money for the Starship Childrens Hospital so purchase insulin injection machines for type I diabetic children. Very worthwhile cause.
We were knackered by 9.30 pm and we gave in all our remaining stock and flaked out on the grass to watch the last of the show. The lazer lights were absolutely amazing!! all done to the star wars theme music and they were reflecting off the trees lining the park. Fantastic! Then there was the fire works all done to the 1912 overture. WOW! Just mind blowing! I thought the big balloons of sparks just filled the entire sky - and REAL cannons going off as well. A really great night. Clare and I must have pulled in over $1,000 in donations - our collection leaders were so happy with us we got actual hugs and an extra chocolate bar each! didn't really need the choc as we had stopped at a pizza place for dinner and wine before we even got to the event. Dripping with cheese, chicken and cranberrys!
Well - next day and my feet are still swollen from all the walking we did. Off to give them a rub. Take care.....

The weekend...

Had a fab weekend as it was my birthday on Sunday. Steve and the girls bought me a beautiful wooden jewellery box - have needed one for ages! It was my father-in-laws birthday on the same day so had a good 2 hours with the family before trucking off to the gym.
Last week at work was really strange - lots of 'keep you in the dark' kind of stuff going on. A really good friend of mine has resigned and I am really sad about it but also happy that she is moving on as it is the best thing for her. She was told not to tell anyone about leaving and I think it was because they needed to approach me to take on some of her work before it became public knowledge. Hmmm... I feel a little hood-winked! Unfortunately I very trustingly said not a problem! Oh well - I guess at the end of the day it doesn't really matter. Just a little matter of honesty and trust! It will be sad seeing her go as she is also probably leaving the country. Gee this posting sounds a little depressive! Well - I shall go and cheer up with a large cup of coffee and a slice of chocolate cake!!

....and so it begins!!

Well I am so new at this I feel positively newborn! At my age that is a good thing. I am really stumbling in the dark at the moment but I promise that this blog site will get more interesting.
Life is a constant source of wonder for me and I am lucky that each new day is different from the previous one. Today we had a massive BBQ at work (Blood Service) hosted by me and two of my work mates who also have birthdays in Feb. We decided to buy a stack of meat, sausages and drinks and everyone else could bring a salad or a dessert. Well we ended up with enough food to feed a small African country! The day was superb - lots of sun and a gentle breeze.
Well this is really just an intro and I need to get on and learn how to add things to my page etc. I also want to nosey through everyone else's blogs to get an idea as to what I can put on this to make it more interesting!
Well thanks and wherever you are - keep a smile on your face! your brain will eventually get the message!