'stlab gige realtek won't work' and the randomness

if there was ever a shadow of a doubt i married a geek...i found the above arrangement of letters in a google search box when i sat back down to my computer recently;

but then he thought that occam's razor was a spam filter, so maybe there's hope...

thanks to mamageek for my 'fewest hypothesis assumptions' lesson of the day...(oh yes, i know science. i went to princeton remember)...

my top favourite songs (in no particular order) are:

- bad case of loving you, robert palmer
- last resort, the eagles
- open arms, journey
- waiting for a girl like you, foreigner

yes, i'm a hopeless romantic
yes, i'm old

if you don't exercise for two weeks straight then run down the side of a mountain, your legs are going to hurt like H E double L the next day.

i miss amanda. she hasn't updated her blog since january 30.

213 sleeps until we leave for italy. god, i'm such a freak - i surprise myself sometimes.

3 of my children are going on camp next week, yet somehow we don't get the house to ourselves for even one night.

my husband is cooking me dinner right now. i luff him very much.

i signed up for a cupcake making class.

i can't wait to turn 50.

actually, i can't wait to PLAN the party for when i turn 50.

how many people noticed that my top 5 song list only contains 4 songs?

today's the last day of summer and it's miserable. well, wet and warm to be specific.

i love all my blog friends.

i'm going to stop talking now.

photostory friday - mini album show and tell

i've never done a mini album like this before.

i totally set it all up for tara and i. i laid out all the stuff on the table so we could quickly get to work. tara comes along and starts casually putting pages together, while i spent about THREE hours agonising over how to even PUT one together - grrrrrrrrrrr...

i must have started about 5 pages and not finished any of them
in the end, i realised i was over-thinking it and i just went with it

most of the pages are giant playing cards from the $2 shop!

i worked on it for the next 2 nights after dinner and in the end completed a TWENTY page album - that i'm VERY happy with! (only 12 shown here tho)

i can't wait to make another one!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

wordful wednesday - tennis anyone?

miss 17 is in her final year of college (high school). we call it YEAR 13, or 7th form. at miss 17's college, each 3rd form class (ie the juniors) have six PEER SUPPORTERS (3 guys, 3 gals) as mentors. peer supporters spend the beginning of each day with their 3rd form class; one 'spell' (time period) during the week; go on camp with them; feature in their official class photos and all kinds of other fun stuff.

it's like your very own hero worship.

the junior athletics day happens quite early in the school year and each class dresses in their chosen theme. miss 17's class decided to go in 'tennis whites'.

how much does this girl fancy herself? i love it!

there was even a peer support relay race
(against the teachers i think!)
miss 17's team came a creditable third which she thought was pretty cool

imagine how UNCOOL she felt when she took off that crisp white headband to discover she was sporting a GIANT white FOREHEAD because she'd got sunburnt during the day!

(and no, she wouldn't let me take a pic, but you can imagine how it looked!)

big weekend

saturday night was the hubs' long awaited 50th birthday celebrations. i organised it all before we went camping, ie early january, so it felt like it was a long time coming!

i even wrote a speech! i talked about our family and friends, and how these relationships and friendships have spanned the hub's life thusfar. miss 17 then spoke, referring briefly to the crumpled paper towel she'd written on; the result of a burst of inspiration during her lunch break that day!

i bought the candles "oh no, it's the big 5-0" at a party store in quincy, illinois. we called in there after lunch at ruby tuesday's. were on our way to the local scrapbook store when we got a call from school saying 'come get your son, he's sick!'

remember that kristi?

i wasn't sure that the fancy carrot cake baked that day by the restaurant chef could carry off a set of cheesy candles, but i think it worked well alongside the edible rose petals, don't you?

look closely - hubs cut the cake, but forgot to blow out the candles!!! (senile already maybe?)

me and the gorgeous tara

my speech! i must have said something funnyeven if you add their two ages together, i'm STLL older than them!
but how cute is my dress? even if i didn't manage to get it on sale!can we just go HOME now?

schmoozing with his guests

then on sunday i had 'high tea' with a group of scrapbook friends. we stretched our pinkies, ate cucumber sandwiches, and generally had a fine time.

how cute is this food?

thanks to kris for these awesome pics!

my high tea was actually a very strong latte, as i was feeling a little 'jaded' from the night before!

i think i'm going to take my mum to high tea when she's here next month - FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!! the slippery slope to 50 - can't wait!!!

photostory friday - jet boating down the rangitaiki

while we were camping, the hubs organised a 'family mystery tour' one afternoon. we gave the girls no details, which turned out to be the recipe for a MILLION AND ONE questions! sheesh!

kids know so much these days; it just makes you realise how we're ALL about the details...so when we DON'T give them any - they are rudderless!

we are we going?
how long will be there?
how long will we be gone?
how long will it take to get there?
what do we wear?

this is where we ended up. at a jetboat ramp, awaiting our driver, the very dry-witted bill, who is also an ex-WORLD jet boat driving CHAMP. [translated: he knows how to fast. SAFELY]

i'm not so sure about this!

bill starts off by driving at break neck speed DIRECTLY AT this rock face.
he pulls up sharp about a foot before it and executes a perfect 360 (that's the bit where everyone squeals in delight AND gets wet)

'twas a bit blowy

for anyone with hair

it was exhilariting too! i loved seeing the 'track we cut'.
i suppose 'wake' is the correct termthe river was narrow in parts, and full of rocks, and in others - large wide areas
the landscape changed so much in the 50km we covered
apart from not knowing when bill was serious or not - "if things get a bit scary further up the track, just follow my instructions; but if i'm not here, just jump out. it's probably shallow enough to walk to the edge"

he was a hoot - anyway, they loved it
the 'end of the line' - the anawhenua dam

and another well-executed 360 to finish

and bill wasn't a bad photographer either...

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

WAHOO! TOOT TOOT! - I ROCK - YEH YEH!!!

follow the link

THIS link...

wordful wednesday - the working girl's work/walk wardrobe

no, i'm not going to turn into one of those women that talk ONLY about their awesomely new fantastic job (which it is, by the way...)

if you ride the train into the city, you'll see a lot of women dressed like this...

a well turned out 'top half'

and a terribly practical 'look' from the knees below

but remember i live in a hill
this big hill here!

i'm a working girl again

(in the non-prostitute-type-way)...

watch the word search go mad NOW!!!

so i have successfully navigated my way through my FIRST day back in the paid workforce since 1989; back in the day when there was no INTERNET, no EMAIL, no desktop computers...

AND IT WAS GREAT!!!!!

i have read before that women in my position initially feel like they were 'faking' it. i mentioned this to tara today (who happened to be in town and drove me home after work!)
she said 'yep - fake it 'til you make it! and that sounds about right.

everyone was very welcoming and relaxed, and my FIRST order of business is to ORGANISE A CONFERENCE - like the WHOLE CONFERENCE!!!

there are actually four major conferences during the year; TWO that i organise entirely, and i attend three of them. they're all three days and two nights and the first one is in my home town, so i'll be able to stay with my parents the weekend following the conference!

it's like my DREAM JOB!!!

the girls are due home any minute
i cooked tonight's dinner last night

so all that's left to do is keep this buzz going for another few hours!!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

photostory friday - bonus day

because of the torrential rain we're experiencing right now (if only we could send it to victoria), miss 11 and 12's planned class 'bonding-get-to-know-you-day-out has been put off for a week.

i have therefore found myself (on my last free day before returning to the workforce) with a BONUS DAY!!!

SO WHAT' TO DO???

first i had my morning coffee with the hubs and read the paper

of course no bonus day would be complete without a little blogging. (deb, i'm on your site!)

where there's blogging, there's scrapping!

it felt really good to scrap TWO layouts all about MEEEE!!! (they were challenges that HAD to be about me, but STILL!!!)

this one's for the #8 wired nz dares blog. their first challenge of the year is scrap about what we learned in 2008. that was a no brainer. i've left the image large so you can read the journalling.
the second one, called 'the queen's challenge' for stampin'scrap needed to include a tiara or crown, some pink and some bling. check. check. check.

while i was scrappin' the courier hooned up the drive and delivered these! i was under no illusion that they were from the hubs, which had me wondering just who they WERE from! we met some wonderful people while camping, including a dutch rural vet husband and wife team with 4 boys (under 6!) they not only left their camera on the kitchen counter at home, they were also ROBBED while camping (they pretty much got everything back tho).

i sent them a CD of over 100 photos (including their son's 6th birthday). the card with the flowers thanked us for 'bringing their holiday back to life'. (awwwww)

this is the card i've made for my dad's birthday. his birthday is march 2nd, and MAN - it always creeps up so fast!and one for my valentine. lovin' those stampin' up papers

then it was time for some lunch and little
will and grace re-run heaven

1 o'clock in the afternoon and still in my pjs. what a rebel. we are the family who will stay in their pjs all day given half a chance.

it's a knee jerk reaction to my childhood. my mother is perpetually organised, even if there's nothing happening. this extended to sleepy teenagers (me), whose curtains were thrust open on a sunday morning, because i was 'wasting the day'.

love my mother (who'd you think i get all my organisation skills from?) but if we have no plans, PJs it is...

then i hit the exercycle

then, i obamiconned myself (coz i can).

"find' is my 'one little word' for 2009, (and i'm meant to be looking cute here not freaked)
thanks 'p'! if you want to play along at home, go here.

the day will be rounded out by a wine with hubs after work, then a stampin' up demo at the local community centre. tomorrow i'm heading out of town to stay with a friend, and sunday - well, the only thing left to do before THE BIG DAY is pick out my clothes

can i also just say how heartwarming it has been to know that so many of my friends (both virtual and actual) have been rootin' for me in my quest to FIND a job.

i got more comments on that post than ANY other (where i wasn't giving something away!)

it really means a lot :)

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek