Monday Adventures

Today we took the class to the Cathedral to see the Christmas tree. I have to say, the one outside was very uninspiring. I couldn't get it all into my shot, so you can't see the full effect, but it is rather tragic. The poor thing has unruly branches sprouting everywhere, and the decorations look like they got dragged from an old cardboard box stored under a crypt. The inside one is prettier. I think the Cathedral needs to have a creative decoration drive and invite craftspeople from around the city to contribute an oversized creation. The tree really is massive, so needs some over-the-top decorations. We were all impressed with the size of the pile of presents for needy children. I was most impressed with the stunning stained glass window that was above the tree. Sorry, couldn't get a good shot. Mr. B has replaced the zoom lens that I dropped with a prime lens. I'm learning how to use it, so you will have to excuse any dud photos.

I was a lucky girl today. My brilliant sister (the best in the world) sent me a new charm and such a cute card. I you can tell in the photo, the charm is a four leaf clover, which is kind of my trademark. I have been collecting them since I was little. I've got a whole lot in a Harry Potter book pressing at the moment. I've got several sources, once of which is a goldmine. I had some ideas about setting them in resin. I put the clover charm on a silver chain, and then decided it needs some friends. So I've got my animal charm bracelet, and now a charm necklace to fill.

I am feeling pretty good today. My doctor didn't growl, but she did say "Now you know" and I surely do. Have to admit, loading up on my medication has made me a bit silly. When I had to write the reason for our visit to the Cathedral, instead of writing something terribly sensible about social skills, I wrote "visiting God". I wonder if one of the PC brigade are going to hunt me down for a grilling. I'll have to get them to tell me why else I would be visiting a church.

Hope your week is going well so far. We have our market day at school tomorrow. Plus prizegiving. I am so proud of my students getting certificates for their ASDAN work. ASDAN is an internationally recognised programme for students with special educational needs. I hope the weather is good.
Bye for now. XXXX

More Photos from the house of Canterbury Tales

A Canterbury Tales Evening

Feeling much better tonight. Still a bit weak and pathetic, but full of Christmas enthusiasm. I've just visited So Tread Softly (yes I will learn to link once my brain stops being addled), and Al has been busy making her living room into a very stylish Christmas  nest. Take a look! I love her elegant, simple use of colours.

I have been out visiting Mr and Mrs Canterbury Tales tonight. I took a few photos around their house on the hill. Mrs CT cooked a yummy roast lamb leg. Sadly, wasn't my usual gluttonous self, but enjoyed it anyway. 

Disaster

Well, were you waiting for it? Got so sick today I had to restart my medicine. Thanks to Sister Black for getting me through, and Leah and Mrs Canterbury Tales for phone calls at the right time. The only time I have ever felt so nauseous was the unfortunate whale watching trip in Kaikoura when I got so seasick I had a panic attack. Coming right now. So now I know. At least I tried.

On a brighter note, here is my tiny little Christmas tree. It is about 40 cm high and stands on my blanket box in the living room. Barbara made the gorgous Christmas stockings. She is such an amazing needlewoman. I love the Father Christmas as his colours are so beautiful, and Barbara popped in Miss Dog, Merlin and a dear little bird. She knows I am mad about animals. I knew I was in trouble this morning when I couldn't stand the feeling of Monty pressing up against me, or Miss Dog's tail tapping me as she wagged. I'm going to give it another go in the New Year very, very slowly, with someone watching over me.

Did anyone else see the gorgeous 12 year old at Starship Hospital who has cancer and was given a Playstation, but donated it to the hospital because she wanted the other children to be able to have it too? Now that is the spirit of giving. Of course she got given masses of treats, which is just lovely. I wonder who I could launch a bit of Christmas spirit on to. I'll have to think about it.

Merry Christmas, my lovelies XXX

Ps. You should see the report I got from my amazing cello teacher! Even a 36 year old likes a great report. Thanks Jenny XXX

Tough Day

What a day! In my infinite wisdom I decided to have a roast dinner at school, with all of the trimmings. What I underestimated was the enormous stress and effort that would result. Thank goodness the students all enjoyed it. As you can see it was pavlova for pudding. That went down so well I had one student prancing around the room grinning and flapping his hands for about 20 minutes when he had finished his serve. I won't show you the first course because we only took photos of the food chopped into easy to eat bite-sized pieces. In case you have forgotten, my students have severe intellectual disabilities. By the way, fortunately I decided a shop bought pav was the sensible solution to my limited energy and time. Note the perfect roundness. Actually it was pretty good!
I'm not really sure if I am writing to myself, having NO comments. I guess I could put a counter on to see if there are any lurkers out there, but why worry. Actually I do have some news on the anxiety disorder front. I decided (possibly rashly) that after about 6 years on paroxetine to control my still rampant anxiety disorder, it was time to see if going it alone was worse than being drugged to the gunnals constantly. So I am detoxing. The intense headache lasted several days. The crazy dreams are rather exciting. Today I've got the waves of nausea, sudden rushes to the toilet, and weird kind of sudden head feelings. Having read up on all of this I am quite typical. The head feelings are described by some people as electric shocks. I would call them tiny faints. I'm taking a day off school tomorrow because I'm exhausted and am not sure what is in store for me next. I do feel happy and positive though. A bit scared that I will cave in and be back to square one. Apparently paroxetine does not meet the definition for an addictive drug. Something to so with rats not wanting to keep chomping the stuff. The problem with it is that the withdrawal mimics the anxiety disorder, so all of the hard fought wellness feels like it has been taken away. People love to bring out the "you need the drug like diabetics need insulin" argument. Maybe that is because people can't resist killing themselves when they are going off the drug. Sorry to be a bit morbid, but I am utterly sick of being at the mercy of drugs, and would never have started on it if I hadn't been persuaded (despite my concerns about sideeffects and addiction). Mind you, without the drug I wasn't well at all. So wish me luck! Tomorrow I've got a hard day of sewing planned, if I can be bothered getting up. I might even show you some Christmas treasures. Lots of love, my phantom readers XXX
Ps. If blogger cuts off the side of some of my post I am not going to smash my computer, but I may be a tad infuriated. You are all clever enough to work out the missing bits, I'm sure!

Show day

I have realised that I forgot to post any pictures of the A and P show which we attended in November with my sister and brother-in-law. I just found the pictures and thought you might like to see a few. 

Visiting the Estate

Today we went out to the estate to have a look at the new back fence. I can't wait for the side fences to go in so I can see how it is going to look. You can see the entrance to the private right of way, the end of the right of way, plus a look across our land. They have sown grass seed, but we haven't had decent rainfall to get it going.

My lovely Canterbury Tales friend has been shopping again at So Tread Softly. She is giving me one of Al's lovely doorstops for Christmas, but I had to choose which one I wanted and I couldn't! Al, you must be thinking about tranferring your production to a factory in China based on 
the amount of items travelling to the South Island (believe me, Al would never do that!!!!). Go handmade all the way! By the way, if you are into handmaking things take a look at Victoria's fantastic tutorials at her Cupboard Love blog. I bet she has an amazing Christmas tree!

Ps. I figured we could plant about 15 climbing roses along the back fence. And clematis to grow through them.

Yay! Friday!

I'm excited! It is Friday, and we have two whole days in front of us to enjoy. The house is a mess, so that needs some attention, but it is nearly Christmas, so I am happy. I love Christmas because it means fun with the family, delicious food, decorations and presents. Plus the school holidays start just before Christmas, and we have weeks of freedom. We have to do some Christmas shopping over the weekend. I wanted to make lots of presents this year, but school is really busy, so I am tired by the end of the day. So far I have two pretty presents purchased. I'm popping in some photos from Christmas 2002 to get the family in the spirit. Believe me, these are the good ones! We are a strange lot when we all get together.

The Wedding of the Year!

Guess where I have been! Mr Black and I went to Whangamata for my brother's wedding. We flew up to Auckland, then picked up a rental car and drove to Whangamata, arriving about midnight on Friday night. On Saturday we went shopping and found a few goodies. I tried on two lovely pairs of shoes, but sadly my giant hooves didn't look graceful jammed into the pretty things. After lunch we got dressed for the big occasion. I wore red, which coincidentally fitted in beautifully with my brother's kilt. The wedding took place in a garden overlooking the beach, and was a gorgeous spot. The bridesmaids wore black long dresses, and the bride looked stunning in ivory with crystal beading, and delicious crystal buttons.
The reception was at the Whangamata hall, and the tables looked pretty with rose petals, glitter and calla lilies. There were masses of glasses by each place setting, and I thought we would never use them all, but believe me, we did. I discovered a liking for bubbly wine and danced up a storm even when no one else was dancing. The food was fabulous. I feel really hungry thinking about it. There was chicken, beef filet, salmon with a moroccan seasoning, new potatoes, asparagus, salad plus chocolate wedding cake and pavlovas for pudding. The bride and groom both looked so happy, and were really happy with how everything went. I was especially pleased that I made a wise choice of shoes and was still spinning and skipping late into the night. They were bridesmaid shoes from a previous wedding and were comfy even with heels. Mind you, if I had been wearing spiky stilettos the heels would have snapped off under the pressure of all that dancing.
On the Sunday we all staggered out of bed for breakfast at a local cafe. Sorry to admit that I felt rather seedy. I've never had a hangover before. I thought that they involved headaches, but I just needed some good stodgy food. We had a barbeque at the bride and groom's house, which is a great spot perched up high with a view of the sea. We had a great roast potato salad made with jacket potatoes and a yummy creamy dressing. Sadly we had to drive back to Auckland for the flight back to Christchurch after that. I miss my family and can't wait for Christmas!!!!!

Sweetpeas and Roses

How lovely! Look at this divine bouquet of flowers I gathered from the garden to give to a friend when we went to brunch at her house. I was so excited to find the sweetpeas. I'm afraid the garden has been sadly neglected due to hard school work. It was such a hot day here today. My lovely friend N. bought along a big parcel of goodies she got from Alison at So Tread Softly. We were all delighted to see and touch the divine fabrics that she uses. Everyone loved the little raffia and felted wool nests. I should have taken photos but was too busy looking at everything. I can't wait to order doorstops for my new house. By the way, we went out to the plot for a visit and it is all lovely and flat with grass seed scattered liberally over it. They have marked the boundary accurately. Mr Black kept saying how bit it is. The little road is almost finished. Having been inspired by the land we went and bought a 40 inch television. Having had our wee 21 inch for 14 years we thought it was about time we updated. It is spectacular!!!! We watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night. What a treat!

By the way, take a look at who is checking out my flowers. Of course his motives were not pure, he started munching on a sweetpea once this photo was taken. Typical.

Salad Season

We took a drive out to visit our section on Saturday. They have ploughed it up and flattened the huge pile of earth at one end. I guess they will be putting grass in soon. We were excited to see they have planted some lovely big flowering cherry trees along the grass verge around the cul de sac.
I am pleased to say that it is salad season. I am tired of my flabby tum, so am going to try very hard to shrink it somehow. Asparagus is in season now. I like it raw in a salad, or soggy as anything in asparagus rolls. I love sprinkling a few capers into salads too. Yummy, salty little morsels.
I am off now. Feeling a bit yuck. Will write again when it passes.

Dedicating life to the bow

I have just rushed home from my cello lesson inspired to practise. Have been making a disasterous sound but after some intensive bowing instruction from Jenny I am keen to focus my attention on my right hand instead of the left. You do the fingering with the left, but it is the bowing that makes the lovely resonant singing sound. I tend to grip the bow like it is going to escape and strangle me, so I stop everything vibrating nicely. Plus I am going to buy a new bow as mine is warped and getting a bit bald.

On the house front, the road to our section is almost complete. The title is coming through in late January, which gives us an extra month to save money. Excellent.

I can highly recommend running first thing in the morning as a mood booster. I have been getting up at 6am and trotting along with Miss Dog for half an hour. She loves snuffling around, and I love getting a sweat up and spying on other people's gardens. I am ahead of schedule with 2 major end of year jobs at school and have loads more energy. It is a bit nasty getting up so early, but worth the effort.

Back again!

I have had two very busy weeks and am back in blogging action now. I'm not looking my best as I have Lush henna in my hair and my head is wrapped in plastic wrap. I was feeling a bit bland, so wanted a chestnut lift. I love treats from Lush! Mmmm, some of my favourites are Ruby Red Slippers, Happy soap, Lemslip body butter and Rockstar soap. Actually I love so many of the things I would be happy with anything from there as a present. John usually gets me some things for my birthday.
We had the appointment with the colour consultant today. The interior is going to be quite neutral with creams mainly. Mr B is having his office green!!!! We are having the same green above our bedhead. It is called Dried Grass. The exterior is quite a light taupe colour with cream trims and a charcoal/blueish colour (New Denim Blue) roof. It won't look blue, more charcoal. We still have time to change our minds, and have quite a few more decisions to make.
Looking forward to seeing some of our friends at Christmas. Above you can see Oscar, Lily and the sheep. See you soon!

Labouring at Labour Weekend

Well, I did dream I had a baby last night. I think it belonged to my sister, but I seemed to have taken quite a shine to it. The only babies I have are my students and my furry ones. You can see my delicious rabbit Merlin in the photo. He is a fine specimen of a rabbit, although is getting a bit old and shaggy now. I got him as an adult a very long time ago.
About the Labour weekend hard work. We started the massive tidy up in the back yard. Can you believe I have never used the lawn mower before? When John gave me a turn today it stalled after about two metres due to the rampant grass growth. We also went shopping (well, looking) for furniture for our new
 house. We tested out heaps of couches. We discovered only the most expensive couches
 meet the
expectations of our pampered backsides. Actually, long-suffering backsides. Hopefully I will have more to report about weekend activities tomorrow.

Promising Weekend

Two weeks into the fourth term and it is Labour Weekend, so we get Monday off. That makes me a very happy flower. We had tea at K and N's house (salad and lamb) and then popped out to have coffee, hot chocolate and the most delicious custard squares for pudding. I have asked Mr Black to sort out a memory stick for the small camera because my big one is not very subtle for whipping out at cafe tables and pretty shops etc. Tomorrow I am sleeping in! Mr Black tells me as it is a holiday weekend I wont have orchestra, and who am I to argue when I am in desperate need of a sleep-in. I am off to bed shortly. We are watching a bit of the Foo Fighters "Skin and Bones" DVD. I love Dave Grohl. I will sing along to anything, but especially like belting out a bit of Foos. Surely the Foos could use a bit of cello in some of their pieces. I would have to ban them from bringing cigarettes on stage as I have a passionate hatred of the despicable smelly things.
I am looking forward to having a fun weekend with Mr Black. We have decided that we need to have more fun. He started by headlocking me on the way into the supermarket while I giggled hysterically under his fuzzy polarfleece-clad arm. Then he decided our next cat is to be called Shemar. He and I have this thing about saying interesting names or words out loud, and we say them at the same time so often it is like having ESP. Shemar is the name of one of the actors in "Criminal Minds". Shemar will be ginger and will be joined by at least four other ginger gentlemen. Well, that's what I tell Mr Black. On that happy note I will leave you with some very pretty primulas and some veges waiting to be planted. Happy weekends everyone!

Welcome to Poppy's New Nest

Here we are, as promised, photos of the new piece of land. Doesn't look like much yet, but the plans are shaping up. Roses for Christmas 2008 please! In the photos you can see the lovely reserve just across from our place. Then there are the photos of our place. I am happily stomping around my new territory. I am sure I will get to know all of the residents over the back fence, including the enormous gum tree. I hope I will still be able to see the lovely view of the Port Hills once the other houses are built across the road. I am having a huge dilemma about the colours. We got given a sample book of all of the NZ Dulux colours and only liked one colour! Lucky we are using Taubmans.
Have a lovely week!  

Back to school

I had such a lovely holiday but as soon as I got back to school the stress attacked again. Luckily I have super supportive people to help me. I don't think I have said that I teach adolescents with severe intellectual disabilities. The teaching part is not the hard part, although many people would disagree judging by some of the behaviour I have to manage. It is dealing with other staff and managing the paperwork. Fortunately I have some pretty things to show you. At the weekend Miss Dog and I went for a lovely walk in Hagley Park. We found all sorts of treasures but my favourites were the 
lovely blue corydalis (am I right, 
Mum?). Then we found the peony rose. What a surprise! The first picture is of the divine tulip pots I planted with my (then) 2 year old neighbour. They are getting a bit past their best, but still so lovely. I have annual felicias and pansies growing underneath for later. I think I will have tulip pots every year. On the house building front, we have paid the deposit on the house and will start building possibly March next year. We went to visit our little piece of (future) paradise. It looked awesome even if it is just dirt. We had a wee look through the cemetery. I think the people residing there will be very friendly neighbours. The gum trees which are along the fence of the cemetery were not shading our place at all and the biggest one is so beautiful. I promise to take my camera out and try to show you the vast expanse of white trunk.
Bye for now. Have a lovely finish to the week.