wordful wednesday - "it's just a phase"

tara's miss 12 and my miss 20 are so very similar.

both are TYPE A personalities, and when they got to a 'certain age', they underwent a [shall we call it] personality transition

my miss 20 was less than pleasant to live with [read: totally in my face, criticised everything i said, DISAGREED with everything i said, made no room for the possibility that her mother might know something etc etc etc)

she wore a towelling bucket hat that totally covered her eyes
i think there was a period there of about 18 months where there was minimal eye contact...

YOU know, she was a normal teenager

tara's miss 12 is in the same place

luckily for tara, has the benefit of way more patience than me
she can look at my miss 20 and KNOW that's just a phase, and of course she has me to sympathise with

while i would NEVER take any joy from other's pain or frustration, a TINY part of me is grateful for tara's experience...

...because i know she's gonna turn out just fine

for more wordful wednesday, visit angie over @ seven clown circus

wooo hooooot wednesday

the kau kau challenge fun and food fiesta was held on sunday in brilliant sunshine and i won this basket of goodies in the silent auction. it's full of wine and infused oil and chocolate and olives (yuck) and spiced peppers (yum) and chocolate. did i say chocolate? kau kau is the mountain that tara and i are always walking up. scrapped this last week:

we now have TWO restricted drivers in the house. miss 19 sat and passed on monday. with any luck, my days of dashing to the supermarket for ONE THING are OVER!!!
was awarded this by mean moody middle-aged mom (she isn't really. she's lovely!) she tagged me too, but that's a whole other post. i've been tagged this week, almost as many times as i've been awarded stuff!
i got boo-ed! (in a good way) by one of my PSF friends alisha. cute isn't it?

and this from elizabeth, another PSFer

thanks ladies!

nothing like a little bloggy love to get a gal through the middle of the week!

went to pub quiz fundraiser on sunday night and won! going to another pub quiz THIS sunday too! - for miss 10's school. (did i ever mention i love quizzes?)

we have a billet this week (through miss 12's school). we went to the zoo yesterday. it was very blustery but still fun. i got some great shots of the giraffe!

i'm going on an event management course today.

going to another quiz this sunday. did i mention i love quizzes?

happy wednesday!

sasha's new friend

because miss 16 has 169 hours worth of activities in a 168 hour week;
because the small car isn't always available when she needs it;
because we're environmentally conscious, frustrated at the price of petrol, and because 'bonnie' is a one man bike, we decided to buy a scooter for miss 16 (well, she's offered us $700 towards the purchase price and we're pretty sure we will take her up on it!)

so, it finally arrived from auckland yesterday, and we had one very excited 16 year old around here this morning as she rode it to school for the first time.

the children of scrapbookers and photographers are the most patient children in the world!

heading down the drive

heading off down the street. her first stop will be the petrol station where she will wave an oily rag near it...

my heart was in my mouth when i heard screeching brakes and smashing glass, before i realized it was the rubbish truck. sheesh! that kinda timing is bad for a mother's heart!

J.D.: Hey, uh, you need to move your car - it's my day to have the parking spot

Elliot: J.D., you have a scooter! Why do you even need a parking spot?

J.D.: Mmmm, it sends a message.

Teenagers

FYI - resemblance to any of the characters featured in the above video by this blog's author or any of her family members is purely coincidental. they're aussies and we're kiwis. to confuse the two would be to mistake an american for a canadian (or vv) - you get my drift. either way enjoy...