Week in the Life: Monday Words & Photos

...and so it begins

week in the life 2015

as i write this, ali posts in our fb group that #weekinthelife is a trending hashtag
how do we even know this stuff?  i don't know, but it's pretty bloody cool!

this is me - i did NOT sleep well last night
i had witl blog posts swirling around in my head and my brain would not switch off
then there was the usual pee break in the middle of the night and i couldn't get back to sleep.

my mother is always full of doom and gloom when it comes to 'getting older' and the apparent lack of sleep that ensues. "just you wait!" she exclaims.  i beg to differ.  i get 8 hours most nights.  i love it and i NEED it.

a tired sue is a crabby sue and no-one wants that ;)

i don't usually have my phone in the bedroom but i did to capture the first day of witl.

7:14am | i get a text from #4 daughter (down the hall in her bed)

she's slept badly, been awake since 5 and has a thumping headache, and can i please bring her some nurofen.

Tash too, has had lots of things on her mind: it's her final year of school and her portfolio subjects (graphics and fashion) are a lot of work, however she will admit that she needs to work on her time management.

the 'complex' garments (her current assignment) have indeed been complex. i feel like Tash has a real flair for fashion. her wardrobe is full of re-purposed clothing that she's taken the scissors to in order to make them her own.  they're being taught pattern making which i think is an EXCELLENT skill.  in some ways though, i hope she keeps this as a hobby, rather than pursuing it at university.  entry into the degree isn't automatic and there's a lot of competition for places.

studying fashion at university is something she's thought about, but at this point, she has decided to take a GAP YEAR.  she has our full blessing.  year 13 (7th form/last year of high school) students are under ALL KINDS of pressure to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives.  i don't remember it being such a stress for Zoe and Katelin, but then again, they probably knew what they wanted to do ahead of time.

Tash knows that she can do whatever she wants.  we've alway said that as long as you're moving forward and you're happy, that's good enough for us!

so, she goes back to sleep and we make a plan for me to pop back after zumba and drop her off at school prior to lunch, which will give her time to work on her fashion.

here's my guy making my morning coffee

that's my kinda routine 

his and hers breakfast, featuring sue's homemade granola, cathedral cove dairy free coconut yoghurt, cream and fruit (yeah - did you know milk actually has quite a bit of sugar in it?!)

having recently eschewed sugar and most carbs, i've been a demon in the kitchen.

i've mostly had successes and my family are being super supportive

when pressed, some will even admit to feeling a little better!!!

not having bread in the house is a pretty big deal i think

i mean, that cupboard where you can see the bananas peaking through?

that's the 'breakfast' cupboard.  it used to have toast, spreads and cereals in it

now it has eggs, and porridge

Tash still opens it as a force of habit, but when there's no bread to toast, the entire focus of that cupboard shifts.

8:43 | a snap from katelin in san jose with a weather update

yep - it's that's hot

dishwasher half-emptied

i'm hoping that when i get home, the 'fairies' will have been and tidied 

(mikaela being the fairy)

she now works full time at a call centre from midday until 8.30pm.

I've usually gone out by the time she comes up in the morning, but she always clears the counter before she goes.

love that.

9:10 | sid takes up his spot for the day

9:43 | Tash is up

'fashion central'.  we don't eat at the dining room table as often as we used to [read: hardly ever], so i'm happy for Tash to spread out and use it as a workspace.

NB: don't ever come in here with bare feet.  she has 2 magnetised pin receptacles, but most of them still end up on the floor.  go figure...

meal-in-a-biscuit crackers

why i decided to make these now, i don't know

they take an hour and now i'm running late..

still - they turned out brilliantly

i pop my head in Mikaela's room before i head out

so strange that a teenage girl wouldn't want to be photographed the SECOND she wakes up :P

this is my "i'm going to be late and i'm driving behind someone doing 20K LESS than the speed limit" face...

there's me

front row - all those zumba memes?  pretty sure they were written for me

our regular instructor is sick in bed and our sub Nat uses a lot of original zumba reggaton, so it's a real trip down memory lane for me.  man, zumba has changed a lot in 5 years!

aaaaaah - post zumba eggs in the sun

it feels like months since we've been able to sit outside

#ihatewinter

another weather update from Katelin in San Jose

i can only assume she's inside a wardrobe

the source of this insane heat was never confirmed

my eldest (who will be 26 next week) started a new job today.

she moved to Auckland back in June with Callum, (her boyfriend of 5 years) and she'd been looking for work since then.  i'm so happy she's found something, and by all accounts she's having a great first day.

Unfortunate timing means that Callum is back in Wellington with a sick relative and Zoe can't be with him.

i had previously issued instructions to all family members to send pictures of their workspace etc so i can include it in my album.  just because they don't live with me, doesn't mean they're not part of my WEEK.

whether it was subconscious or not, my beautiful Zoe has sent me a photo FULL of WHITE SPACE which i will be journalling on later!

#childofascrapbooker

many of the photos i took today were with the self-timer/remote. 

i ended up with a lot of photos on the camera, but in the end went with the very first one i took

i'm participating in heidi swapp's 30 day #hscapture life initiative and you can see today's prompt.

the caption that went with it was "where will we be this time next year? dreaming about the next phase".

this is something that is definitely on my mind.  when mikaela leaves for london next january, we will have one child at home [in this 6 bedroom house].  she will have left school and there will be no ties to the suburb.  in 3 weeks we will have been in this house 20 years, and i'm ready to move on.  

Clive concedes that we will move 'at some point' but i'm ready now.

i think about it all the time and i know he doesn't want to think about it at all

once i get an idea in my head, it's like i have a bit between my teeth

Clive's more of a thinker

it IS the next phase.  some run headlong towards it; others resist

it's frustrating, but i also know that it's something we'll work through.

dishes and laundry

dishes and laundry

dishes and laundry 

3:26 | Tash has a netball game at 630 tonight so i'm prepping dinner now

did i mention that i love MY FOOD BAG?

oh yeah - only like EVERY TIME i post a pic of my dinner!

we will have been using this service for TWO YEARS next month!

5:51 | car selfie on the way to netball 

it's our week for carpool

so - NETBALL: #1 sport played by females in New Zealand

7 per team

kinda like basketball but WITHOUT THE STEPPING (travelling),

and it's supposedly a non-contact sport - HA!

Tash is GOAL KEEP (GK).  her job is to stop the GOAL SHOOT (GS) from getting a goal

here Tash is employing the correct 'outside arm' to do just that.

see the look on her opponent's face?  she looked like that the entire game. 

Tash thought it was hilarious

Tash absolutely loves this shot

she calls it 'the dream team'

she and Hana have successfully blocked the Goal Attack, forcing the GS to make a long shot

missed it by THAT MUCH...

gosh i'm going to miss this

in my photo library, i literally have HUNDREDS of netball photos dating back to 1999 when Zoe started playing.

3 of my 4 girls have played and in those 16 years i've coached, managed and umpired numerous teams for 3 schools.  we've got up on the weekend when it's still dark, stood shivering on the sidelines during countless winters and cheered our girls on. of course i wouldn't change a thing, but it'd be a lie to say i'll miss getting up at 645am some Saturdays!

week night netball is a relatively new concept for us, but Saturday netball has been institution for our family, and i can't believe i didn't even realise it was our last Saturday game until someone mentioned it in passing.  usually i'm all over these MILESTONES!

i guess when your last child leaves school, there's a lot of 'lasts'...

8:43 | back at home, it's Fennel Dusted Fish with Roast Cauliflower Gremolata Salad and Orange Yoghurt for dinner

- oh yeah... 

9:25 | Mikaela is home from work

1 sale today, and she hasn't heard whether she's been successful with the 2IC job application

we're all on tenderhooks!

9:45 | the one with the race car bed

re-run heaven.  it drives Clive crazy, but he's a tolerant man!

Clive gets home from squash shortly after Mikaela (having won in 3 straight sets against a guy half his age - YEAH!)

it does mean however, that it's almost 1030 before the kitchen gets cleaned up

at least they're having fun doing it

i intended to have an early night, but who can turn down a 'snuggle'?

not me!

precious moments
they're playing TRIVIA CRACK again and obviously got a 'curly' question

wow - so many STORIES today

138 photos
66 on my canon 60D
72 on my iPhone 6

possibly got carried away on my first day, but who cares!
plenty taken with the remote/self timer at home and many more at Tash's netball game.


...and that was monday.