photostory friday - the jumping pillow

i'd never seen one of these before, and when it wasn't too hot to jump on, it was a tonne of fun

for young and old!!!

i miss camping...



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

bloggy giveaway quarterly carnival - AGAIN!!!

it's that time again!

i'm offering this very comfy new zealand silver fern t-shirt. 100% cotton and i'll ship anywhere! i'll draw a winner this weekend and post details on monday (NZDST)

wordful wednesday - i laugh when people fall down

i have a physical defect. i laugh when people fall down. or when they get hurt.

not because i LIKE seeing people get it. it's just a physical reaction. i can't help it.

and now it seems i have passed this 'affliction' onto my family.

example: an after-dinner/sunset game of volleyball at camping last week.

tara serves, and instead of punting the ball OVER the net, she accidentally (truly) bounces it off the back of her husband's head (ala freaky friday, except that was totally on purpose!)

this is my husband and first born falling to their knees in hysterical laughter, and this is me being rendered completely useless as i try to catch my breath while laughing hysterically.
you will also note tara's hubs rubbing his chin in bemusement at my family's inability to stand while laughing.

for more wordful wednesday, visit angie over at

boobs and laundry - the ultimate combo

did i get your attention?

most of our holiday pics are on the hubs' laptop (which is now at work). i just uploaded 300 photos from my 'point and shoot' and then had to decide which of my MANY wonderful holiday snaps to share with you - my choice?

what my laundry looks like right now (MINUS the washing of at least TWO family members) and some boobage.

and it was good.

happy birthday honey!

5o years young today

i would do that whole' 50 reasons why i love you' thing, but i don't want anyone to hit their head on the keyboard when they get bored around #37

LOVE YA!!!

i shouldn't be, but i am (and remember to enter my blogoversary giveaway)

being online while camping isn'tactually something i like to do. it just seems wrong to be sitting under canvas in the middle of a camp ground all wired up to the outside world. yes, we take care of ourselves luxury-wise while camping (powered up, waffles, fresh bread, cold wine and beers etc etc), but i'd actually prefer to be totally cut off from the outside world.

i was very disappointed to discover there was '5 bars of coverage' when we got here. (at our last campground, you had to stand on one foot on one particular sand dune to send a text) - and that's the way i liked it. i hated it when anyone brought a paper from the store and started reading the news out loud). i was happy just to CAMP.

anyhoo - we're having a fabby time. this connection is laboriously slow which is why i haven't been online (hubs has only been using this laptop to upload pics and check the weather). it's been sunny and hot; i've biked 72 km (over 4 trips) and this new campground has wonderful amenities; and i've already taken over 300 photos!

miss 10 turns 11 tomorrow. tara is making french toast, and i'm making waffles. hubs and i are taking the birthday girl out for lunch, then it's a combined birthday dinner with cake and a bonfire on the beach. bliss.

blogger doesn't seem to have picked up on my blogoversary post, so check it out below and enter away!!!

IT'S HERE! my blogoversary giveaway!

...and what a year!

so - there are TWO prize packs up for grabs. to be in with a chance to win PRIZE PACK #1:

• leave me a comment for ONE entry into the draw
• "follow" me and/or sign up for my RSS feed (whatever that means) for TWO entries into the draw
• linkback here/blog about this/spread the word for THREE entries.
  

(make sure you tell me which of the above you've done)

To be in with a chance to win PRIZE PACK #2, EMAIL me the answers to the scavenger hunt questions. every correct entry goes into the draw. YES, you can enter to win BOTH prize packs.

here's the scavenger hunt questions:

1) In 'thoughts on motherhood', name the school miss 19 attended when we lived in atlanta.
2) In ‘sue and clive’s big adventure...continued', how many days were left until the 2008 Beijing Olympics?
3) how many years in a row has miss 17 won the girls hockey MVP?
4) in may’s, ‘this and that’ post - who’d i give a black eye to?
5) in ‘my almost 365’ – what’s the caption with march 8's photo

(Hint: use the search engine (right top side bar). NOW, HERE'S THE LOOT!

PRIZE PACK #1

chocolate mints, handcream, groovy coasters, more chocolates, an 80s CD (and why not?), more chocolate, bling-bling nail file, clear stamps, photo holder and, oh yeah - more chocolate.

PRIZE PACK #2

all blacks scarf and beanie. the scarf is one of those groovy ones with the hand warmer bits at each end and the beanie is REALLY SOFT, chocolate, a kiwi music CD, an enviro shopping bag, and yep - more chocolate.

fun huh? i can't wait to hear from my regular 'blog family' and to make lots of new blog friends!

giveaway ends on feb 3rd - on my blogoversary - WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

and now for the disclaimer: actual giveaway may cause itching, oozing, weeping and scratching. Despite any other listing of product contents found hereon, the blogger is advised that, in actuality, this product consists of 99.9999999999% empty space. please see your regular blog doctor before entering giveaway. prizes not to scale. (hehe...)

a-glamping we will go...

that's glamorous camping, coz if i'm going to spend 2 weeks living under canvas, i'm gonna make it worthwhile! this was our set-up last year:
the smaller extraneous tents belong to small and not so small children of varying sizes. that big bugger in the middle? the one with THREE rooms (each with electricity), containing his and hers zip-together airbeds, the bread maker, waffle maker, fridge, cold beer, gin, vodka, wine, chocolate, prayer books.....

that's ours. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLL ours.

but hey - i still use a sleeping bag. i'm no sellout. nosiree bob.

note the indoor/outdoor flow

while we're away someone will have a birthday

there'll be some of this

plenty of this

lots of this

and some whale watching (hehe)

see? now, this is how much i love you, my blog family; that i am prepared to show you a picture in my 'should-have-died-in-the-90s' tankini and associated lumpy bits.

also, the reason you only SEE me holding a board, is because i can't catch a wave to safe myself. all the photos of me trying to catch a wave show me with my eyes squeezed shut and my mouth either wide open, or closed resembling a puffer fish. you'd think it's funny, but i ain't sharin'.

(check out miss 17 putting herself back together in the background. now THAT's funny).

NB: THREE new tanks and bikini bottoms bought in hong kong (that have been itching for a day out) are soon to replace that raggedy old blue thing.

back in 2 weeks!
(missing you already)

watch out for my blogoversary giveaway which is scheduled to post jan 20th NZDST

if you build it, they will come

look at that - i've been able to FIND the time to scrap. it always feels so good to create!

i've decided to add journalling after i've photographed the layouts from now on.

this one's for inspired blueprints - a blog/forum i just found. miss 19 took these photos on her last day of college (high school) in november 2007. she's definitely the daughter of a scrapbooker, as i would have taken the exact same photos!

the cups on the floor are the 7th form prank. they filled each one with water and food colouring then locked the doors to the canteen so no-one could get in. oh, and they wrote something not very nice (on the far wall) about the manner and demeanour of the canteen ladies! (kids!!!)
this one is of miss 10 and her cousin taken a couple of weeks ago during our christmas with them. they have a substantial dress-up collection! this was for scrapping koukla who runs a sketch challenge on her blog.
some of you will recognise this famous letterbox! this layout was based on a sketch, but i can't for the life of me remember from where! (i threw away my copy, so i guess i won't be submitting it!)
popsicles are a brand of iceblock - another kiwi icon. miss 17 and some school friends (in their role as members of the school council) were hired to hand out iceblocks dressed AS iceblocks at wellington zoo. these photos were taken back in march - on the day hubs and i left for hong kong!
there's that letterbox again! as i scrap, i will enjoy the memories these pictures envoke. i can't believe that trip was 3 months ago already!

the word

i have decided, after very little thought, that my word for 2009 is "FIND".

..as in find a job.

find more calm
find a way to be more efficient with my downtime
find MORE fun (it ain't like i'm not having any!) i just figure more would be good!

i say 'very little thought', because i note that a lot of fellow bloggers put a LOT of thought into their words, however if it works for me, then it's all good.

i don't plan to weave this word into every aspect of my daily life, i might not even scrap about it, but it'll be there.

in light of this, a strange phenomonen has emerged.

at what is usually a very quiet time of year on the job market, i have THIS WEEK alone, applied for THREE part-time jobs, each one requiring part-time hours and lots of organising and event management!

i'll keep you posted on my progress.

introducing oscar and RJ

miss 12 is probably one of the most responsible kids i know and has had some serious bad luck as the conscientious owner of several goldfish (now deceased).

we really wanted her to have a pet of her own, so yesterday we headed down to the local vet who was having an adopt-a-thon. we only intended to come home with one bunny, but of course came home with two - who just happen to be the brothers of tara's miss 11's 'nibbles'.

RJ.

moe enjoyed herding them. maybe he was a sheep dog in a former life?

check out that tongue! no, we didn't feed bunny to kitty for dinner

RJ (top) and oscar.
we can only tell them apart because of the twink we put on his head

photostory friday - is it too soon to tell you...

we're planning our next trip?

well, we are!

where are we going you may ask?

i shall tell you by way of a picture puzzle.

see if you can figure it out...

...and we might even try and make it here.

there's a prize if you can guess where HERE is.

this giveaway EXCLUDES the person whose blog i stole it from!!!!!

well done mel! being the tight little blog family that we are, you correctly figured that the cutie sitting on this beach belongs to this cute couple

and thanks for playing along sass. leaving the pic on your side bar was a fun idea.

i'm so excited to meet you guys! my reasons are THREE-FOLD:

1) the hour and half train trip to get to their place (me likey train travel)
2) i've always wanted to visit the 'seaside'. ok, i live 10 minutes from the beach, but the english 'seaside' - so quaint!!!
3) recaro has some cool gadgets that might end up in my suitcase...
4) sass is a daring baker
5) peaches is too cute!

(ok - clearly there are LOTS of reasons i can't wait to meet these guys)




Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek