Week in the Life: Thursday Words & Photos

remember yesterday when i wrote about if i sit down at the computer sid doesn't always get fed right away?

yep - this is what happens

at 6.2kg he won't fade away, but he'd like me to know that he feels like it's a distinct possibility...

there he is, my coffee guy

Tash digs out the protein powder and checks the sugar content

it seems low, but when you add milk, it leaps right up

we need to educate ourselves on what that means

right now we're quite confused

she opts for a smoothie and adds a small amount of the powder

  homemade granola, grapes, banana, cream and yoghurt for me

i wake up this morning with SO MANY stories swirling around in my head dying to be told, but i have a very full day, so make some notes and hope i get time tomorrow morning to get 'em all out

this wall.

i wrote about this wall during my week in the life last year

most of these things don't need to be up here, but i'm hanging onto a busier time:

a time when school notices were sent home on paper - from 4 different schools

nowadays we have the 'parent portal'

not sure how those kids that 'wag' school get on - if you miss a spell the school emails you, they text you, they record it in the portal.

bloody brilliant! 

you can read your child's report on there

you can book parent teacher inteviews

you can see their timetable, which is handy - because after all those years of having 4 girls at multiple schools and knowing all the teachers' names and knowing the class numbers - i've kinda dropped the ball.

having only one school age child [in her last year], i haven't committed her timetable to memory, so when i get home and she's already here, sometimes i'm taken by surprise lol

- Tash's Peer Support Certificate is up there - it could be in a scrapbook

she was so happy to get into the programme.  she worried at the time that she didn't interview well, but her sister and i agreed that her personality alone would see her through.  it did.

- see those 2 notices on the top right?  Stage Challenge - that happened about 4 months ago, but they're probably the LAST paper notices i'll get from a school, so - ya know...

- a photo from our bali trip in feb 2013 - that'll make it into an album - when i make the album

- the green slip?  shows NCEA credits from last year (or even the year before?)

- below that her temporary learners' drivers' licence

(the permanent one arrived months ago)

- middle shows a pic of how our kitchen looked before the renovation - august 2012

i really enjoy looking at it, because i love how much more workable our new kitchen is

- 2 pieces of A4 printed paper - cut and pasted from ali's blog with prompts and inspiration for this week

- a quote i found online that i printed as a photo.  love doing stuff like that

- bottom right: a 'glossary' of the new wrappers and shapes of my favourite chocolates that i used to enjoy.  the manufacturers changed the shape and colour of the wrappers and i needed to 'know'

 (Type A much?)

- that A3 piece of paper

that's been there since Clive's surgery.  the final of many sketches drawn by the surgeon

it shows the 26.5cm of his new aorta made from dacron and where his st. jude's valve sits.

it shows just how close we came and i'll never take it down. EVER.

'friends' rerun before work

early shift today

she asks why i have to take so many photos

i reply that i need to include some 'white space' that i'll journal on later

ugh - these bloody bridge expansion roadworks

already 3 months overdue and my car is SO DIRTY but i'm refusing to clean it until they're done

they started a year ago...

i call into the community centre to empty the KCA (Kiwi Community Assistance) donation bin

it's empty so i guess someone did it on tuesday

these boots: i bought these boots in 2010.  the store near where i worked didn't have the size i needed so i ordered them online and they were delivered to my office.

recently i realised just how shabby they were and that they're not really fit for 'public consumption' anymore!  see that white blob on the right one?  that's paint.  when we replaced our laundry tub, the new one was slightly smaller than the old one and you could see where the painters went around the original, so i found the paint and did a touch up job.

i also completely ruined these boots.

i would've loved to get a FAAAAAB new italian pair in venice when we were there last year, but every time he couldn't find me in the crowd because i ducked inside a store, Clive's heart skipped a beat.

it does that all the time anyway, so i figured i shouldn't make matters any worse

still, they need replacing...

inside the warehouse where i volunteer every thursday morning

when our charity sponsors come to collect orders, if there's time, we meet their representatives and they tell us what their agency does.  we in turn introduce ourselves and tell them what we do.  if they haven't been to the warehouse before, they get a wee tour (it's not that big).

sorting baby boy clothes today

i've been volunteering here since Christmas Eve last year

Mikaela actually inspired me when she was volunteering here to get her Community Service hours for her Queen's Guide.

my favourite part is when i get to put an order together for a family.

they give the gender and the ages of the parents and children and i put together a whole wardrobe for them.

i imagine them receiving them and wearing the clothes.  it's quite an emotional experience for me and i put my heart and soul (and a little creativity) into it.

from the warehouse i collect my friend Sara and we grab a bit to eat at the cafe inside the Mitre 10 Mega in Petone before heading to Scrapbook Central for a layout class.

the haloumi was particularly delicious

the triangle border i was working on here was fiddly but turned out pretty well

Sara and I.  We met at an antenatal class back in June 1989

she has 3 girls.  i have 4.

pics from our 30th wedding anniversary trip last year

go the selfie stick

this girl

i forgot she finishes early on a Thursday (see story further up) and i get a surprise to find her at home before me

the promised selfie from hubby at work (and his business partner)

i love this photo so much

the light. his smile. the composition. all of it.

as i sit down to finish Wednesday's Words and Photos for this blog, i get a Skype call from my Mum:

Mum: "You're not Lyn!" (her sister)

Me: "No Mum i'm not"

Mum: "I didn't call you!"

Mum: "Did you call me?"

Me: "No, Mum i didn't call you"

it's adorable

her screen blacks out every 10 seconds because i imagine her screen saver is set to a really short time out.  i try to get her to 'right click' on her desktop to fix it.

Mum: "What's that?"

 my scraproom/office buddy 

he's only here for the heater, but i like to think he enjoys keeping me company

feed me tiny human!

And we're off out again!

Hubby is getting a little tired of having the camera pointed in his face this week but i persist!

We're off to the Roxy Theatre in suburban Miramar (this theatre lovingly rescued and restored by Sir Peter Jackson)

we're going to "Art of the Cocktail" as part of the Wellington on a Plate Food Festival

Clive, and our neighbours Nigel and Lynda

Clive and Nigel are nerdy boys together

it's very cute

Ray Letoa (on the TV) ran the evening

he's a MOLECULAR MIXOLOGIST and is the 2nd Best at it in New Zealand

it's been a month since i ate any refined sugar, and after the 2nd sip of the "Coco Charisma" [on the left] i'm already feeling squeamish - and yes that's candy (fairy) floss on the right

we pour lemonchello on top of it to make the cocktail.

i can't even finish it.

it's a great night though.  i love seeing people who are passionate about what they do, particularly if what they're doing is revolutionary - like what you see on the above and below.

it's a Table Plated Dessert, and also a cocktail, i.e. everything on the table is alcoholic

dry ice was poured into the jug on the left, then we were instructed to lift the brown votive on the right and drop it from a great height - YES!

it was made entirely of chocolate and a very fancy candy floss was housed inside

everyone was given a spoon and asked to dig in - HA!

back home Tash does an excellent job of cooking dinner for herself and Mikaela (who made 4 sales today!)  she's on target for the week but still behind for the month.

Dinner is Spiced Pork Chops with Caramel Apples and Warm Kumara, Kale and Caper Salad

like her mum, she'll eschew the capers

i ask her for a photo of her dinner and she says she forgot to take one

( which means i guess she's adopted...) :P

94 photos

23 on my canon 60D

71 on my iPhone 6