Family

Here's my son Tim with his baby daughter Yana. Lovely pic isn't it! I did manage to get to see them on Saturday. Baby was still jaundiced and very sleepy so is spending a couple of nights back in hospital to get rehydrated, as she would fall asleep without getting a full feed. She's very cute, just like a little doll, and Tim and Sarah are managing very well. Sarah's parents are staying with them to help out.

on call again

Well it's Wednesday night and I'm on call again.... I'm sure getting a bit tired of having the cell phone and diary, although it's been quiet. I had a technician on the road dealing to a flooded house but he called in at 7.30pm, and then someone phoned at 9pm wanting to book a carpet cleaning quote. Hello people!! We're a 24 hr EMERGENCY service- who else rings at 9pm to organise a QUOTE?? I got phoned at 8am on Monday (a Public Holiday) by someone wanting to book a carpet clean... I was asleep when she phoned... it was a PUBLIC HOLIDAY. Maybe she forgot what day it was???

(Mind you I have been known to use telephone banking and speak to customer service at 2am before now!)

Anyone else have jobs where you're on call and people call for odd things?

sunny day

Well, we still didn't get to see the baby yesterday, it looks like it'll be next weekend now. Tim and Sarah had had a rough night with the baby being wakeful and wanted to catch up on sleep. It'll be a bit of a shame as it was the last chance that Kath and I would have been able to go over together to see all 3 of them. Tim starts back at work next Sunday, and Kathryn works every Saturday!

So instead yesterday Kath andI took the girls to a large adventure park in a town about 40 kms from here. It has several playgrounds, trampolines, confidence course, basketball court, bbqs etc. Also a littl train that they had a ride on. It was good fun!

Being on call Sunday and MOnday meant that Kath had to do the driving, it was quite busy and I was on the cell phone a lot! It was a relief to hand the cell phone and diary back to the boss last night. I did have today off to compensate.

The weather was lovely aagin today so I went down and saw my mum at the Rest Home and to my surprise she wanted to go out! For the first time in 6 months I was able to take her out- we just went to a park about 1/2km from the rest home and I bought fish and chips, her favourite. Then I took her for a short drive. She had a great time. Then I went for a half hour walk along the edge of the airport and along the street that runs parallel to the beach. Then came home and completely 'laxed out! I WILL do my housework sometime, honest lol!

Visit to the beach

Sunday and the weather was great! Sarah was coming home with baby from the maternity hospital today so Kathryn and I weren't able to go and visit her. Instaead we took the girls to the beach. Anahera and I climbed this rock - it wasn't very high, maybe only about 5-6 metres. Had a lot of fun though!
We scrambled around the rocks looking in all the rock pools. We collected shells, saw seaweed and a few cockabullies.

However we were after these- crabs! I showed the girls how to catch them without being nipped! I caught 4 so they could have a good look at them, before we put them back in the rock pools.

Then we went back to their place and the girls showed off their talent with SingStar - oops picture loaded at the top- I have yet to figure how to move them!!

I was on call the whole time and was trying to deal with sorting out a major sewage/drainage flood affecting 3 flats. It was a little tricky as every few minutes I was answering the cell phone or calling out. I'm still on call tonight and tomorrow. We're hoping to see baby Yana tomorrow...

Yana

Here's a couple more pxts. They're not great. I'd forgotten that delivery room lighting is muted for a newborn, and my pxt phone doesn't cope with low light. I hadn't taken my camera as Kathryn and I weren't expecting Sarah to deliver while we were there! Tim (eldest son) hadn't been very good at keeping us updated after Sarah was induced on Tuesday morning. Tuesday night I hardly slept as I was expecting the phone to ring. I did get a couple of brief updates after phoning Sarah's parents, but then NOTHING after Wednesday 11am.

Kathryn and I decided after we'd finished work and had tea on Wednesday evening to go over to the Maternity Hospital anyway. It's an hour's drive and I did text Tim to say we were on the way. We'd just pulled up near the hospital when he phoned to say Sarah was ready to push! We got up to the ward and found the waiting lounge, and had a coffee, and at last Sarah's dad found us and we got to go in. Little Yana had been born just 20 minutes before. She weighed in at 6lbs 7ozs and she looks SO much like Tim did when he was born. I'm pretty sure she will have ginger hair and grey eyes like him. Sarah looked pretty good although sh'e had to have an epidural. It was a long labour! Sarah's parents had been in for the delivery, and her brother came up a bit later. I gave Sarah and Tim the little baby cardy I'd knitted, the colour will suit her. It was so exciting to see her and hold her. We stayed for an hour and a half. Yana is a Hebrew name I think it means God Hears. Sarah and Tim had had 3 miscarriages before this. Yana's middle name is Asher. Unusual aye!

So yay, I'm grandma again. Sarah can stay in hospital for a few days to help establish breast feeding. Kath and I will go over and see her on Sunday. It's a nuisance that I'm working tomorrow (Saturday) and on call the whole weekend, it will be difficult to travel there if I get many calls.

This evening on call has been busy, we've had several flood emergencies so far. I work for a carpet cleaning company and we are 24/7 so I have to man the phone and liaise with technicians, clients, insurance companies etc while I'm on call. Sometimes it can be quiet, other times pretty busy. At least, apart from tomorrow, I can be at home.

Baby

Baby Yana was born at 8.20pm last night weighing in at 6lbs 7ozs. Both mother and baby well. I got to see her when she was about 20 minutes old. More later!

waiting...

Sarah is definitely being induced tomorrow (tuesday at about 8.30am NZ time) so I hope to have photos of the new grandbaby in the next post!

Long week coming up!

Here's another photo of Anahera taken on the walk yesterday. She's 8 yrs old. Anahera's dad is part Maori part European, and Kathryn (my daughter) is part Japanese part Rarotongan. We adopted Kathryn when she was two. She's got a great smile aye! I found out a possible reason why Kaya didn't like the flight yesterday- she's not well! Today she has a cold and a fever. I went down to see Kathryn and the girls for an hour or two this afternoon and did a bit of shopping for her.

I also did go back to the Aero Club and went through a lot of the early flight briefings I'd mostly forgotten and sat in the cockpit with the instructor trying to remember answers to all the questions he was asking. It was two hours of using the old brain matter, but good value. I've succumbed to temptation and booked a revision lesson for 3 weeks time, which is my birthday. It'll be the first lesson in 9 1/2 months.

This week is going to be very busy at work. Kelly is away, so there will be only Steph who works part time. From 2pm each day it'll only be me answering the phones. I'm also on call Wednesday night, working Saturday, on call Friday night, Saturday night, all day Sunday, Sunday night, and all day Monday (which is Labour Day Public holiday in NZ). I only get one day off- Tuesday. It will be a problem if I want to go over and visit Sarah and Tim.

Oh, the Maternity Hospital is busy tomorrow, so now they are inducing Sarah on Tuesday!

Grandkids

Anahera and I went for a bushwalk this afternoon. She wanted to go for a bush walk to spend some time with just me, so I took her for a walk up Hemi Matenga, the scenic reserve on the hill behind my town. I got a nice photo of her sitting on a seat about half way up the hill. Nice pxt aye! For my photo she wanted me down by the stream, holding a leaf.... The walk took us almost an hour- a few months ago I managed to jog most of it and did it in 40 minutes. It goes through bush, full of native NZ trees and ferns, only at the end do you get a view over my town to the sea. It's not too steep, a lot of ups and downs and a few bridged streams.

This morning I paid for Tahi (her dad) and Kaya (her sister) to go for a flight. Matt, one of the new instructors from the Aero club flew us in a 4 seater Cessna 172. Tahi got to sit in the front and have a go at flying, and I got to sit in the back with Kaya. Remind me not to take Kaya flying again for a looong time lol! She didn't like it and it took quite a bit of distraction to keep her happy. I don't think she was airsick, but it was pretty noisy with the headphones on. Tahi had a lot of fun, it was not so fun for me. But that's OK, it was her first time. Sigh, I SO can't wait until I can afford to have lessons again. My lovely mum let me have the money for the flight today.

Two more bits of news- Tim and Sarah's baby is to be induced on Monday, and Phil and Magenta are officially engaged! Yay!

Scarf

Well, I'm almost half way through the first of the three scarves I'm knitting for the rellies overseas for Christmas. This one is for Win, my mum's cousin. Win is 91 and in a rest home in England. Hopefully she'll like the colour, it's made with feathers wool. My sister's scarf will be the next one, I'll be doing it probably with black feathers wool. I do have blue, but I bought the wool from the $2 shop and I have a feeling the colours will run. Then My sister's husband's scarf is the last one, it'll be done in Naturally, which is NZ 8ply wool- dark green with burgundy flecks in it. I have to have them done by the second week of November, to catch the economy post mail for Christmas. Being half way round the earth means the mail closes early lol!

You can also see a pic of my little house which I rent. To the left you can just see the ranchsliders to the sleepout/garage. We've got 2 bedrooms and the rest of the house is open plan. Ok in size for Andrew and me but drives me nuts when his mates come round. I only have 2 armchairs and no couch so I get annoyed when they take the armchairs and I have to sit on a plastic garden chair. I get them off my armchairs pretty pronto but teenage males can be slow to respond sometimes lol.

It's been busy at work this week as Steph (the part timer ) has been on leave. Next week will be busier as Kelly (the other full timer)will be away. Last night our boss, who is a Rotarian, gave all of us tickets to one of the NZ premiers of the movie "The Worlds Fastest Indian". It's about a NZ man who rebuilt and designed an Indian motorbike and set some world speed records with it in Utah- at the age of 67! It's a grest movie and a real human interest story, not just about the motorbike at all. Kathryn came with me and we both really enjoyed it. Put a search in google for either Bert Munro or The Worlds Fastest Indian for more info, the overseas premier is January 2006.

password verification

Has anyone else had trouble trying to post comments to blogs that have word verification? I was trying to post to someone's blog but blogger kept saying I wasn't typing in the letters right, and then kept dropping my user name...

At Last a flight!!

At last after 9 months I had a flight- in a Piper Super Cub like this one. It's a lovely plane. The one at our Aero Club is the same age as me- "born" in 1953 lol. Simon, who was my instructor when I was having lessons, flew me.

It's the last flight with Simon as he moves in a week or two, and possibly I won't get to fly in the Cub again either. We had a magic flight! Simon sneaked in the second control stick into the back and once we were at about 1800ft he gave me control. It was hard to fly from the back, as I had to keep looking around Simon's head! He had it trimmed exactly though and the Cub is so well balanced it practically flies itself.

We flew over a low range of hills, and over the picturesque Reikorangi valley at the back of the town where I live, then over another valley which is completely bush covered and has no road access apart from the odd 4WD track. Simon pointed out a cabin in the bush to me, and took control, next I knew we were circling around it at about a 60 degree angle- great fun! The wing was pointing straight down at the ground! He did a couple of wingovers as well. Then I flew it again until we passed the valley and were back to cultivated land when Simon again took control and we did a low pass along a small grass airstrip. Then I had another fly, he made me do a 360 degree turn (not a sharp one) and I flew back until the beginning of downwind when Simon again took over because there was a lot of traffic with gliders, helicopters and other small aircraft about. I had a big smile on my face for a while after!

I will miss Simon, as he was the one who took me not only for lessons but for other flights like this as well. There's no one I know of who will now do that for me.

Then I went to Kathryn's and took Anahera to one of the local churches for their Youth Service as Ben Lummis, NZ Idol winner from last year, was visiting. He had a band called the Pacifics also playing and they were GOOD! Hip Hop, Reggae, Rap etc. Really talented. Ben Lummis sang the song that won him N Z Idol, and talked a bit. Anahera loved it, she met up with one of her friends there and they were down the front with heaps of others to dance! The Church was packed, standing room only. I've only been to that Church a couple of times before but it always is pretty full and alive. I used to go to Church every week but haven't for a few years now.

I got most of the things done last night and this morning I needed to do- cleaning, washing, ironing etc- except the lounge floor still needs vacuuming!

Hope your week is a good one!

Saturday

It's been quite busy today. There was no point in doing any housework with one teenager (son) asleep in the middle of the lounge floor and 2 others (his friends) in the sleepout. They'd gone out at midnight last night and came back just before 4am - so as you can guess, I didn't get much sleep!
I went down to Paraparaumu, about 12kms from here to the shopping mall, Coastlands. First of all I went to the wool shop and bought buttons for the baby cardy and another baby jersey I'd finished a month ago, and photocopied a pattern they had of a poncho- next winter's project I reckon. Then I went to the PostShop and registered my car, and hung around the shops until Kathryn had her lunch break. She's a senior hairdresser at Rodney Wayne Hairdressers. We looked at some clothes for me and I've put on layby a nice T shirt and 3/4 length denim pants. Kathryn will finish paying them off for my birthday next month. It's amazing how well we get on now. In the past she and I would fight- probably happens to a lot of daughters and their mums - but now she is a woman of 27 we are best of friends.

Then it was down to the Aero club (couldn't resist it!) and I've booked a flight for next weekend for Kaya, Tahi (and possibly me) to go flying. I may start ground school again to go back over things so I don't forget what I learned last year. Then when I get some money (whenevr that might be) I should be well prepared to catch up on the lessons. I'd got as far as circuit training but hadn't gone solo. My last 2 lessons I had were a disaster so I've lost a bit of confidence in my ability - but I Love it when someone else is doing the flying LOL.

After that I went down to see mum at the Rest Home. She was looking really good today- her short term memory is just the same but now we are used to it we hardly think anything of it. She sewed the buttons on to the cardy and jersey for me and I had to leave her some wool! If I hadn't she would have been upset lol! I know I'll have to buy some more for me. She is sure she will handle knitting the scarf for my brother in law Bernie but I know she will forget, so I'll knit one for him anyway. I've started a scarf using feathers wool for my mum's cousin in England, and when I've finished that I'll do my sister's one. All in all I had a good hour and a half with mum. Then it was back up to the Warehouse ( a bit like Walmart) and got a gift voucher fro a friend who is turning 50, and bought wrapping paper and a card for Tim and Sarah for when the baby is born.

Now I'm finally home. The washing is waiting for me to hang it out, the kitty litter tray needs cleaning, the floors need vacuuming and I must cook dinner!

Catch you later!

P.S. It's 5.40pm and teenage son is still on the floor on the mattress and one of the mates is still here, so the floor vacuuming might not get done just yet....

Baby Cardigan

As promised here is the baby cardigan, all finished except for the buttons. The colours didn't come out too badly, it's a little difficult with just a pxt phone! The neck looks a little small, hope it will be OK. Two weeks till Sarah and Tim's baby's due date.

Friday yay! Weekends are good! The weathers not going to be though.... was hoping to fly with Simon in the Piper Super Cub before he moves to Queenstown but it may not happen.

I finished it!

Yay I have finally finished the baby cardigan I've been knitting, the one made with powder puff and feathers wool. I just finished sewing it up tonight. I do have the buttons to buy, but as far as I'm concerned it's finished! It's taken quite a while, the wool isn't easy to work with and knitting 2 rows from 2 different balls of wool is awkward for a beginner. I'll take a photo of it tomorrow when it's daylight with my cell phone and post it.

Payday tomorrow, which means grocery shopping and bill paying. I'm trying so hard to get my credit card paid down and it's taking an age because of the fees and interest charges. Remind me not to pay for flying lessons with it! That's what I did and that's one of the reasons I haven't had money to fly with since January. But the balance is decreasing and that's the main thing!

Weather forecast isn't good for the next few days, typical spring weather.

Have a good rest of the week!

Daylight Saving

Yay October and so we now have daylight saving. Clocks went forward last night. I wonder how many forgot?? The only disadvantage is losing an hours sleep and getting hungry at the "wrong" times lol. And of course typical with the daylight savings change- the weather deteriorates!! It was OK during the day today but now it's raining and the forecast is not good for the rest of the week! Poor kids (and parents) as it's school holidays. Hard to entertain little ones when it's wet.

I managed to get in another walk today- I've been good this week, been out walking on four days, probably about 3 kms for each walk too. Today's walk was around the boundary of the airfield on the "Kapiti Coast Walkway". I didn't do the whole walk as I had parked my car in a particular spot and knew I had to back track. I watched a few planes taking off and landing and saw a glider as well.

I worked Saturday so I have tomorrow off too.