Monday 6th June

I had been awake since about 6am and had been working on my laptop in bed, catching up on my blog and mail etc.
Mahalia & Azzan were up bright an early.
They wanted to get their chores done so they could socialise later.
I stayed in bed a bit longer and was presented with a delicious smoothie for breakfast.
I was planning on spending my day in the office getting paperwork scanned and filed online.
But!
There is always a but
Just before 9:30am my computer crashed.
I did a few restarts but there was nobody home.
Oh Bother said Pooh!
Contacted Ross to get some advice.
Most probably a dead hard drive.
Not the news I really wanted to hear this morning 😦
That threw my day into a tailspin.
I drew Hazuki a map of the area, made sure she was ok, the kids were sorted,  gathered up my laptop and backup HD. Yes!! I actually did have a backup hard drive.
Took Caspian down the street to play with Frankie.
Renata made me a mocha to cheer me up.
Then I left Caspian to play and zipped on out to Richmond.
Had a tour of the new house with Andrea and then Ross got me set up with a loan laptop while he sorts mine out.
I ended up staying longer than anticipated and hanging out with Andrea.
It was 2pm by the time I left so raced back to collect Caspian.
Everyone was out when I got back.
Lovely!
Not for too long though.
The students arrived in from a walk.
Hazuki needed to get her phone connected to a NZ server so I zipped her off to try an get that done later in the day.
Mahalia was just returning from the movies as we left.
Discovered that shops were shut because of the Queen’s Birthday holiday today so came straight back home.
Mahalia made pizza and roast potato for dinner with stir fry.
I got the fire going and brought in a barrow load of firewood.
Emptied all the clothes out of the garage just as Azzan was returning home so he took them to sort out.
Dinner was delicious.
Quiet night in for everyone.
Have been feeling rather fragile today.
Been managing to contain it, but a few times I felt like I was about to get swamped by waves again.
Just keeping my head above them so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 5th June

While I was having my breakfast I painted this quirky bird and made a card for a special cousin.
It is his bday today 🙂
It was Mahalia’s idea to put the moustache on to imitate his one 🙂

The kids decided to stay home this morning so I left them to finish the cleaning up.
I headed out to Richmond.
Stopped in to wish David a Happy Birthday.
Had a quick catch up with him, Sasha & Arielle and then headed off out to Ruby Bay.

I arrived at Jester House at midday,  Claire and crew pulled in a moment later.
She had Beverley visiting her for the weekend.
The three of us are all involved in LifeBook 2016 so Claire had invited me to join them today for the annual Ruby Bay Art Trail. All the tables were reserved but they found one we could use for a quick morning tea.

Afterwards we wandered the grounds.
Riley & Bree had fun climbing the new ‘tree hut’.
It was a bit of a challenge to get up and down from it but the two of them managed it with the tenacity and fearlessness that kids have.
Riley had age and length on his side so was able to jump down and was soon heading up again to figure out a different exit strategy.
Beverley lent her shoulders to assist Bree on her way down 🙂

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A lovely day and a very creative setting for family and group photos.

I wanted to visit Jane Smith’s studio so we zipped back up the  road.
She was away but her lovely husband welcomed us.
I have loved her paintings for years and would so love to own one.
I was very restrained and just bought a card with a print that I liked which will suffice – for now 😉
We popped into JointWorks Studio which is just down the road and had a lovely time admiring & being tempted by Jane Clark’s delicious weavings and being entertained by Tony Clark.
Didn’t have too much time to dally so need to return to check out his furniture.
We then zipped over to Kina Peninsula to Playing With Fire.
Darryl Frost was just opening his kiln.
He has been enduring very cold nights and wet days and a flood throughout the process so was very happy to finally start the cooling process.
We had fun exploring his sculpture garden before leaving.

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Had to get one last photo of the three of us before leaving.
Claire, myself and Beverley.

I was running out of time so zipped down the coast road to Mapua and had a few minutes at Michael Potter’s place.
I bought a lovely black bowl from him,  said my farewells to the crew and raced off to the airport.
Typical that when you leave the leaving to the last minute you get stuck behind Sunday drivers that truck along at barely 80km!
I made it to the airport 5 minutes after the landing time so raced in and found our Japanese student Hazuki waiting for me.
I was in and out of the terminal in a flash!
For the first time since the new parking restrictions have been implemented I was able to make use of the free 15min parking 🙂
We came straight home and I got Hazuki settled in.
Later on I took her with me to the supermarket and showed her around the city.
Got back in time to light the fire before my cousin Joel popped in for a visit.
Had a good catch up with him and then after he departed all of the household were back home so we had dinner.
My slow cookers were doing a great job so dinner was pretty easy 🙂

Saturday 4th June

I woke at 6am and put a log on the fire.
Heard Raphael leaving around 7am.
He and his friend were heading to Able Tasman for the day.
Mahalia was up before me and getting washing start etc.
Sue came by and took Caspian for a walk.
It was heading towards mid morning by the time I was up but I made up for lost time.
After breakfast I went out to the back garden.
Cleaned off all the rubbish, harvested silver beet and rhubarb, shovelled up three wheelbarrow loads of mulch and spread it around.
Then planted out the spinach and parsley I bought about a week ago.
I was pretty exhausted by the time I’d finished.
Just as I was putting all the tools away Sasha & Arielle arrived.
I was glad to stop for a cuppa.
We chatted until Arielle was ready to sleep.
Then we sampled the Malai Kofta for lunch and then I sent Sasha off to sleep too.
Mahalia zipped up the road to the book fair.
Tommy, Kate & Grace walked past after they had spent up large there too so we had a quick tiki tour of the garden before they carried on home.
It feels like we have a new bathroom.
Not only have I introduced some colour but it is now sparkly clean.
Love it!
Thanks Halia xxx

Sasha took Arielle home around 3pm.
I had been battling a headache which was getting worse so I retreated to my bed and had a doze for a while.
Mahalia came in later and gave me a back massage.
It was lovely.
I haven’t had a headache in absolutely ages.
I think I overdid it in the garden because my neck and shoulders are really tight – the typical area for my headaches to begin from.
I was glad that dinner was all ready in the slow cookers.
Couldn’t really think tonight.
After dinner I did a bit of artwork – had some fun creating these two pages.

I went to bed and started watching a TV series Shanni had lent me called ‘Suburgatory’.
It is really funny.
A good bit of light relief tonight.

Friday 3rd June

Teachers only day at NCG today so Mahalia was very happy to sleep in.
Azzan however had school and was not at all happy about getting up.
I woke him at 7am.
At 8am he was still in bed.
A 8:20am he was up and asking for a ride to school but I was still in bed so instead wrote him a note just in case he was late.
After he and Raphael were gone Mahalia and I hit the showers.
I barely had time to eat my breakfast before she was telling me we had to leave.
And telling me it was warm enough outdoors to not worry about my jacket.
Yeah right!
There was definitely a chill to the air in spite of the sunshine.
So without my windproof vest and her in her shorts and only 2 layers on top we sped up the road endeavouring to get warm!
We ran and walked fast.
Caspian was enjoying our manic behaviour 🙂
Got to Gay’s and while Mahalia enjoyed some bioptron treatment we chatted and warmed up.
We zipped back home again for lunch cuz a certain person had chosen not to eat breakfast and she was now hungry ;-/
I had my lunch in the sunroom and watched the end of Broadchurch.
Mahalia cleaned the bathroom – she did a wonderful job.
Took her all afternoon but it is now spotless.
I did some meal prep for tomorrow.
Made a slow cooker full of Malai Kofta from The Revive Cafe Cookbook, and a chicken casserole in my smaller slow cooker.
Mahalia made pizza for tonights dinner.
They were immense!
Phoebe, Seb, Sapphie & Shanni stopped by on their way home.
Sapphie is such an entertainment 🙂
They got pizza & chips and joined us for dinner.
Azzan arrived in before dark from his Friday afternoon youth group.
After dinner he started putting his clothes away and tidying his room.
I never took the car out and apart from our morning walk I stayed put all day.
Really good to go nowhere sometimes.
It was actually a good day.
The tidal wave has passed and today I was recovering on the beach.

Thursday 2nd June

I don’t even know how to write about today.
Such an emotional roller coaster.
We have had some discussions about depression and grief over past days.
I feel like all my emotional energy drains from me and flows into a big black hole.
It’s exhausting.
I just don’t have the mental capacity to concentrate or to give to anyone or anything extra.
It is so hard because no one can see inside of you to know what’s going on.
It is also an incredibly lonely place to be.
I carry on as best as I can.
Periodically another tidal wave comes out of nowhere and hits, knocking you down, and you drown….
until eventually you get tossed up on to the beach and you start to catch your breath again.
Today was a tidal wave day.

It was a cold start but I had answered a plea on a local FB group from someone needing to borrow a fire screen.
I went out to the garage to measure the one I had taken down last winter.
It was lovely to see the sun rising over the eastern hills as I walked back to the kitchen.
9am and the sun is just hitting the house now.
Winter has really set in.
But it is good here because at least after the cold starts to the day we do get gorgeously sunny days.

I had planned to spend today doing accounts.
Well, at least this morning anyway.
Well, I made a start but then lost the plot.
Fell totally down the rabbit hole and landed in the big pile of black depressive crap at the bottom.
Was sitting her crying, thinking I really need to walk the dog.
Then Sue text to see if he needed a walk.
Oh yes please.
She took him after giving me an encouraging hug.
Then back to the desk but couldn’t concentrate.

The lady came to pick up the screen around 11:30am.
She was so lovely and we ended up talking for absolutely ages.
I love that meeting one person can turn things right round.

Had a long phone call with a lovely friend and then Caspian returned.
I had to go to a 3:30pm meeting so decided to leave a tad early and walk into town first.
I have been doing so well with my dietary changes over the past month or so.
I’ve been trying to walk more, cut out snacks and avoiding sugary processed foods.
Am pleased to report that I have lost around 3kilos.
I have not been anywhere near Starbucks for months but today I had a hankering.
My friend tells me that there is nothing wrong in giving ourselves treats occasionally.
But I’m very aware that when I am down treats are more self sacrificial than beneficial so I have been keeping pretty strong in this area for over a month now.
After my walk into the city I did decided to have a Burnt Caramel frappaccino.
And it was actually good and no I didn’t feel in the slightest bit guilty.
I arrived for the meeting at the appointed time to find it was actually a non event and that I really had wasted my time and energy on the whole thing.
I was pretty pi**ed off to put it bluntly.
I guess my mood was such that I reacted more strongly that I would’ve done on a better day.

I walked back enjoying the late afternoon warmth and the winter colours reflecting from the Centre of NZ hill.

Thankfully I had already made a vegetarian dinner so it was all ready to feed to the boarder.
There was no kindling for the fire.
Mahalia cut some when she arrived back but decided that it actually wasn’t cold enough to light the fire tonight.
We had some time to talk.
Had to chuckle, Caspian obviously thought our talk was pretty boring as he went into a bit of a doze coma at our feet.

Azzan had gotten side tracked again so didn’t have a lot of time in between getting home and going out again.
Things hurriedly turned into a slight state of mayhem.
I made a hasty decision and whisked the kids out the door around 6pm.
We dropped Azzan off at Maccas so he could meet his friends and walk on up to Youth Group.
Then, at Mahalia’s request, we went to East Street Cafe and we happy to find an empty table.
We ordered a pizza and a plate of polenta & camera balls to snack on along with a Gooseberry & soda drink to share.
They all went down a treat.

We had barely ordered when my phone flicked me a message telling me that I had 20mins to get to the show.
Oh my goodness!
I had completely forgotten that I had booked the ticket.
We had time to eat, I then paid and left.
The girls were happy to walk home and have some time together.
I got to my seat with 4 minutes to spare and was SO glad my memory cells had been prompted because the show was great.
It was the Lake Rotoiti school’s biannual musical theatre production.
This year is was ‘Archibald’s War’.
I had not been aware of their previous play history, had just seen this advertised and thought it was cool to support a small school.
Wow!
They sure know how to put on a production.
Aboki Hair supported them too by doing all the hair cuts and styling for free.
The introduction to the play went like this…
Wartime in London – children wave goodbye to their parents with trepidation and excitement. A new home in the countryside safe from the bombs awaits! When Maggie is evacuated, her teddy bear goes with her. But somehow Archibald gets left on the train…
It finished at 8pm so I decided to take some time out and go have a cuppa at Cafe Affair.

The waiter was new to me and talked me into having some desert.
I hesitantly ordered the creme brûlée which he thoroughly recommended, after the first spoonful I wished I hadn’t succumbed.
After being off sweet foods for so long it made me feel really ill.
So I left it and messaged Azzan around 9pm to come straight from youth group and finish it for me.
That was no hardship to him 😉
In fact he was so hyped and hungry he talked me into doing a drive through at Maccas on the way home.
I did have some vouchers for a two for one deal so he did very well.
He was a happy lad as I tucked him in, he was still munching his way through the second one 😉
I spent the rest of the evening tucked up in my bed enjoying a ‘Broadchurch Series 2′ marathon.

Wednesday 1st June

It was a bit of a rush out the door today.
It was a really cold morning.
Was very glad of my hand warmers!
I took Caspian with me this morning.
Mahalia walked him for a block then I picked them up.
She was very glad to hop onto the heated seat 😉
Dropped her off at school and then called into visit Bryce to check over the set of drawers he is restoring for me.
He has done a brilliant job, almost finished.
Got to my 9am counselling appointment just in time.
Caspian spent the time exploring the room, I think he could smell her kittens who had visited recently.
Afterwards I came back home to finish up a few things.
Left Caspian here this time and went to post some mail and pick up something from Farmers.
I stopped off to see Phillipa at work for a couple of minutes and whilst nearby zipped into The Bakers and got a delicious beetroot, blue cheese & spinach quiche for lunch.
Devoured that in the car before heading to SASH to join with the rest of the collective in farewelling our service co-ordinator.
There was a good turn out, a few speeches and then afternoon tea.
Afterwards I went to Nelson Beauty Therapy to pick up Mahalia.
Had a catch up chat with Bedelia.
The day had turned really chilly so we didn’t muck about getting to the car afterwards.
Home to light the fire and get dinner sorted.

Tuesday 31st May

Kids slept late again.
I made porridge and then left them to sort their lunches.
Cooked up the last of the muffins from the fridge mixture.
Went to move the cars and discovered the Nissan had a flat battery.
I was just about to call the AA when Martin called so he came to my rescue

Had some good walks today.
Took Caspian for a 2km walk around several blocks.
Loving the autumn colours, the full busy river rattling loudly over the rocks, the northern sky as I walked back home.

Sabina from Garden Affairs arrived at 10am to tackle my garden.
My shoulder has been too painful to do a lot so I bit the bullet and employed some help.
I left her weeding and spreading mulch.
I took Caspian and walked to the Sprig to meet Penelope.
The sunshine was a bit watery, but warm enough to sit outdoors on the deck.
We had a good catch up, had a lot to discuss.
I headed on back home around midday to do a few things before heading out for another walk at 1pm.
I had bought some towel rails which suction on to the wall so put them up on the outside of the shower.
There is a stupid wasted space between the shower and bath so I wanted to make the most of if it.
I’m really pleased with the results.
Removing the standalone wrought iron towel stand has made so much extra room int eh bathroom now.
Pat hung the mirror yesterday so here is a slideshow of the painting progress of the mirror and the tiles.
The mirror went from shabby chic white to Kitsch.
The tiles went from white and blue to Clotted Cream and Blaze.
No that is all done I am thinking of more creative ways to extend the colours into the room – watch this space 😉

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I walked to meet Bedelia at 7010 Your Local.
We sat outside and caught up over lunch.
Passersby stopped to chat with us, and talk to Caspian.
Cant get away from seeing folk you know in a place like Nelson unless you hide in a dark corner 😉
Afterwards I walked to the Women’s Centre to do some paperwork at work.
Then walked partway back with a lady I met there, stopped off to chat with Glynnie, and then Martin rode past so I hightailed back home to meet him.
He was coming to check on the battery.
The Nissan was starting but he wanted to be sure the battery was fully charged so I parked it close to the house and left it on trickle over night.
Sabina was just leaving as I arrived back.
The garden looks so good now.
Am so grateful for the help today as it was really getting me down.
I have an appointment for my shoulder on 13th June so am really hoping the treatment will help immeasurably and I will be back to gardening without pain again soon.

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The afternoon all of a sudden took a charge for the worse.
It came in very dark and the heavens opened.
It bucketed down for quite a while.
Azzan had gone to the library so was caught there without a raincoat.
I had dinner ready so left the guys to eat and took Mahalia to NMIT so she could have her hair done by one of the students.
I went and picked up a few groceries.
Didn’t have much time remaining so sat in the car, enjoying the warmth and quiet while I waited for her.
Mahalia was pretty rapt with her hair and to spend time with her friends from last year.
We came home and had some dinner.
Mahalia did her homework and I headed to bed.
Not sleeping terribly well, took ages to get to sleep

 

Monday 30th May

I had a rather late night last night so thankfully slept through till nearly 7am.
Woke the kids soon after, made porridge and then left them all to sort themselves out.
I took Caspian for a walk.
Ended up at Renata’s.
The dogs went mental with each other while we had a good talk.
Both of us needed to unload so it was good.
After dampening her shoulder I left her to get ready for work.
Thankfully everyone was gone when I returned home.
I had time to have some breakfast before heading out again.
Called into the Theatre Royal to book some tickets.

Sent a Happy Birthday message to Eden.
My eldest granddaughter is turning 3 today!!
She is celebrating with Marah’s West Coast family so we will catch up and have another party time soon.

Then made my way across town to Woman Day Spa.
Jesika & Evan had recently given me a wonderful surprise gift.
A voucher for a Woman Signature Treatment.
I had no idea what that really entailed so I showed up this morning for 90mins of pampering.
It was amazing.
It was basically a full body facial – it consisted of a full body sugar scrub, then a marine clay cleanser followed by being encapsulated in a steam bath.
While the steam was doing its thing I was then given a mini facial.
I was then hosed clean, dried off, and moved to the massage table.
The full body massage that followed was bliss.
Afterwards I was invited to continue relaxing in another quiet room on reclining couches with herbal tea.
Oh my goodness!
I could so get used to this.
It was wonderful.
I was wishing I hadn’t made arrangements so soon afterwards as all I wanted to do was sleep.
I couldn’t stay too long so dressed and floated out of there feeling so amazing.
Thank you SO SO much Jesika & Even.
I really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

I drove home trying to retain the stress freeness for as long as possible.
I had promised to help one of my darlings with some paperwork so made some lunch and ate that whilst we got it all done.
Then afterwards Pat arrived to hang the mirrors.
I helped him get them into the right positions.
We had quite a long talk together before he left.
Raphael arrived home and then took Caspian for a walk to the sea.
It was getting really chilly so I carried in a heap of wood and got the fire lit.
Dinner was bubbling away on the slow cooker so nothing much to do there.
The kids arrived back from school quite late as they had things on.
Mahalia had brought Sam home with her so they could do some homework together.
We had a quick dinner and then I dropped Sam home and took Azzan out for an evening class.
Back home and I then helped him get some homework done.
He kept a close eye on me for most of the time 🙂

Rain set in again just after 10pm.
Definitely time for bed!!

Sunday 29th May

I slept in til 7am!!
Wow!
Thought I might just stay in bed for a while but then got invited out for morning tea so roused myself and hopped through the shower.
Azzan woke late too and disappeared off to church just before 10am.
I had time to quickly through a casserole into the slow cooker before Martin & Sylvia arrived.
We walked up to the Sprig & Fern and enjoyed several hours chatting over coffee and scones.
It was great to catch up on their time away and here about their travels.
Mahalia walked by on her way home so popped in and joined us for scones.
Then questioned eating it by remembering that she and I had planned to fast on Sundays.
Oops!
Oh well, we can always start a bit later in the day 😉
She went on home to get some things done.
We wandered back a bit later.
After they left I decided to go out to Mitre 10 and Bunnings and see if either place had the towel rails I was wanting.
Really pleased to finally find them in Mitre 10.
Then on the way home I stopped off at the hospital and had a visit with Jane & Archie.
Isn’t this little hand just so beautiful?

Next time we catch up they will be home and he will be bigger cuz they grow like wee mushrooms when you don’t see them on a daily basis!
I arrived back to find Azzan home doing his chores.
Caspian hadn’t yet been walked so I took him out and we had an evening power walk.
I was nicely warmed up on our return.
I had to get the accounts finished so had left Mahalia to do get the dinner cooked.
I spent the rest of the evening getting the problem sorted.
Finally had them all completed and filed somewhere after 10pm.
Now it is time to head to bed.
It is a new week tomorrow and almost the end of the month.
Where on earth did May get to??

Saturday 28th May

I was woken around 4:30am by a small bouncy critter.
Not too sure what happened as I distinctly call shutting him into his cage last night.
I got up to put him back in but he wasted to go outside.
Thankfully it was wet out there so he didn’t dally long.
I closed him back into his bed and went back to my bed.
The rain had set in last night and it was now very heavy and stormy.
When I eventually pulled back my curtains I was greeted by garden furniture strewn all over the place.

Azzan was up soon after 7am  and took Caspian walking.
He wanted to go walk in the rain so they both put on their raincoats and went off toward the Centre of NZ.
I took my breakfast to the study and started work.
Woke Mahalia at 8:40am and she came and chatted while eating her breakfast.
Then all of a sudden we realised that she was meant to be at rowing at 9am – not 9:30am!
It was already 9:04am so I whizzed her down there in the car.
It was certainly a very bleak morning.

I was glad back to my lukewarm cup of herbal tea and the accounts.
It was much warmer indoors.
Azzan arrived back – he and Caspian had been mud sliding so I helped him to bath Caspian in the washhouse and then he stripped into the washing machine before heading to the shower.
Soon afterwards though he disappeared out the door to meet his mates at the market.
It began pouring down again after he left.
Sasha came with Arielle to spend the day.
Then Mahalia arrived back.
They spent several hours in the kitchen.
Sasha baked in between keeping Arielle entertained and Mahalia made mushroom & courgette soup for lunch which was very tasty.
Arielle had a big sleep in Azzan’s bed.
Sasha joined her a bit later – nice to see them both getting some much needed sleep.
It was really lovely to have them chilling here for the day.
Loved having some interludes with them to break up the monotony of the paperwork!

There was a knock on my front door in the early afternoon.
I was so thrilled to see Inez standing there.
She & Graeme were in Nelson for the weekend so were doing a spot of visiting whilst here.
Such a lovely surprise and one I was only too happy to abandon the accounts for 😉

Finally managed to get most of the gst completed.
Just had one company kept to file and I found something weirdly wrong which I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to fix.
Then about then everything turned to chaos.
Mahalia wanted to go to a sleepover at her friends place.
Sasha & Arielle leaving.
Azzan hadn’t yet returned home.
Dinner wasn’t made let alone thought about.
Student here to feed.
Argghhhh!
So I shut the computer.
Called up the corresponding mother to make sure all was ok for the sleepover.
Said goodbye to Sasha.
Raced out the door with Mahalia whilst calling and texting Azzan to try and locate him.
Then back home to find he was finally home.
He wanted to go to the Giants game with his friends so I got him to quickly throw a stirfry of rice and eggs together with a salad for Raphael.
He only had a 30min turnaround to get him to the stadium in time.
Then we were out the door again.
Got caught in the pre basketball game traffic so dropped Azzan off at Countdown making a post match plan for pick up.
Then I took a big breath, stopped off at New World and picked up a couple of yummy things to take with me to the hospital.
Spent a lovely couple of hours with Jane and wee Archie.
Jane & I slurped our way though some containers of delicious luxury yogurts for dessert.
It was really nice to just escape the outside world for a while and enjoy the wee bundle of new life.
I really got my baby fill today 🙂

I finally pulled myself away around 9:15pm and drove down to pick up Azzan.
We dropped his friend Tom home and then came back here and I collapsed.
Whew!