Christmas at our place...

Christmas Eve at our place was pretty cruisy - got to catch up with my good friend Ange and her fiance Andy again before they headed back to Kuwait.  They had been out for her sister's wedding (which I mentioned in earlier posts).  They came and had a few drinks, and we had F&C for tea.  I got a really cool silver pendant necklace from Ange that has my name engraved into it in Arabic.  Totally awesome! D got beer (always a popular present!) and J got a way cool K'Nex set that you make into a big rig truck, which can drive!  Fantastic.  Talk about spoilt!  

Then our friends Heather, Darran and Oliver came round so that the kids could exchange presents.  I finally got J into bed about half nine.  Before he went to bed though, he'd written a note for Santa, and left him a piece of cake and a Steiny Pure -  'we can't forget the bottle opener Mummy, otherwise he won't be able to drink it'.  Seriously.  Wonder where he learnt that????!!!

And THIS is what he found on Christmas morning.  Seriously spoilt.  

Under all that paper is his little two-wheeled motorbike and all the appropriate safety gear - helmet, neck nut, elbow and knee guards, body armour, gloves etc.  It is a lot, we know, but if he was into ski-ing for example, we'd be buying him all the ski gear, etc.  Just the luck of the draw that what he loves is one of the expensive sports.  

HUGE props to Scotty at Riders HQ for doing us a sweet deal on all the gear, and hooking us up with some stickers and stuff too.  Need cool gear?  Go to Riders!  Seriously, GO THERE!

Fairly early Christmas morning, trying out the bike for size

About half nine at night, on Christmas Day, having 'just one more go before I go to bed'

My son the poser - only a mother could love this face (and even then...?  Ha ha ha)

'Once more Dad?'

He is still a little cautious and wary about the bike, but that's a good way to start out.  If in doubt while on the bike, he hits the kill switch, another good habit to have.  It will take a little bit to build his confidence on the bike, but once he's happy, the only thing stopping him will be perhaps when he runs out of fuel! :)

More laters, Toodles, B x

What DOES 'TT' stand for anyways?

Around mid-November, D entered in his first TT event, just out of Methven.  Actually, I think Clayton talked him into it!  And don't ask me what the TT stands for - I have no idea.  I'm more of a cars'n trucks girl myself, but I'm going to have to get used to this motorbike jargon huh?  It was a LOOOONG drive to get to the event, but he seemed to enjoy himself, although did complain that his bike just wasn't fast enough - are they ever tho?!  Ha ha.  Anyhoo, here's some shots of the action.  It was helluva dusty when they started each race...

Ready...

Steady...

And they're OFF!  Holy crap batman!

Look at my man go!  Yeah!

Where is he?  Look for the '125' near the middle of the pic.

Clayton in action - on the Kawasaki (#905)

J was pretty well behaved considering how long he was stuck in the car for to get to and from the event.  To be honest, I think he enjoyed the food he got to eat that I used to stop him from whinging!  (What an awful mother I am - oops!).  No really, he did enjoy it.  Especially seeing the wee fellas having a go.  It won't be long and that'll be him I spose.  

Righto - am off to have a cold shower cos this girl is overheating.  Back soon with more updates from the past!

Toodles, B x

I DID IT!

Yup, I passed my exams.  The results arrived at work on Monday 22nd December - when they said it'd be a couple days before Christmas, they weren't kidding!  Anyhoo - YEEEEHAAA!!!

I am planning on enjoying the time to blog-post and blog-surf freely before study starts again in March.  Look at it this way - I'm now one-third of the way there!!!

Creating Keepsakes Xmas Decoration Drop

I regularly receive emails from Creating Keepsakes, one of my favourite magazines to sit and pore through.  Before Christmas they sent out an email about a Christmas Ornament/Decoration Drop, and they were keen to see it go worldwide... So I thought, why not?!  The idea is brilliant - make your own ornament or decoration, print off a tag supplied by Creating Keepsakes to attach to it, and leave it in a public place.  The idea being that people who found them would hopefully read the tag and post a note on the decoration drop-off blog that CK had set up.  Bloody brilliant!

I made a couple of extra christmas crackers and the boys and I dropped them off at two appropriate places for us - the Hospice and the Hospital.  These two places were in our thoughts as Nan had only passed away a few days beforehand, at the Hospice.  As a complete aside, the new wing of the Hospice is FANTASTIC, and the people who work there are amazing - I don't know how they do it, but they are incredible.   Anyhoo, waffle aside, here are the pics of our drop off...

My christmas crackers

J leaving a cracker outside the Hospice

Our second cracker in the Medical Ward lounge at the Hospital.

Hopefully the 'finder' was someone who appreciated our gift.  I hope it brightened their day.  I plan to do this again next year, a little bit of kindness towards others is good for the soul :)

B x

Back track a little...

Ok, so I need y'all to back track a little for me now...  with all the other things going on prior to Christmas, I never got any blogging done, and there is SO MUCH you need to catch up on (even if it IS old news!).

This year, J sent a gorgeous letter to Santa.  Being the good scrapbooking mother that I am, I captured the moment with my camera (of course!).  He really put a lot of effort and concentration into his effort:

I just LOVE that Santa apparently lives at the 'Morth Pole' now!  Ba ha ha ha.  How totally cute is that?!  Love. It.

So after happily crafting his letter, he tucked it into the envelope and entrusted it to me to send to Santa with the mail at work the next day.  Amazingly, Santa even wrote back - who knew?!  Ha ha ha ha.  I love that honest, unconditional, belief in magic.  It's a shame we lose that as we get older.  It's definitely something you can't replicate again in your life.  And definitely something as a parent you can really enjoy in your child.

Well, this post should've been about mid-December.... more to come to bring you up to date, by going backwards!  How irish is that? Mwah-ha-haaaaaaaaa!!!

Toodles, B x

Blog Candy

Here's a heads up for those who don't already know, go visit Rach (not my dealer, another Rach!) and check out her blog candy - lots of yummy candy goodness there to be won - go on, check it out NOW!  

Well, am just home from Rachel's (yes, my dealer!) where she, Bo and I made cute little make-nd-take things that hold hot chocolate and marshmallows....  They look SOOO cute, but I am not going to post a pic, because I think it will spoil the surprise for the recipient!  Ha ha ha.  Sorry, you'll just have to wait and see if it's YOU that gets it in the mail :D

D went back to work today, so we have all been up since 6am.  Yawn yawn yawn.  I went to the gym this morning, but had to take J with me.  Luckily he played happily with his lego and dinosaurs while I had my workout and shower.  It was nice to get back to the gym as I haven't been since before Christmas, but I am SO tired now!  I think it'll be early to bed for moi tonight!!!!!! Snore Snore Snore!  In fact, I have a shocker of a headache - I think I need to drink a whole lot of water, perhaps a little bit of dehydration from all this mornings efforts? The things we do huh?

J is hassling me for some food "what do we have for afternoon tea, Muuuuum" (imagine the whiny tone that goes with that phrase), so I'd best get something for the poor boy before he fades away...NOT! 

Righto, toodles peeps, catch ya laters, B x

Friday funny, and quick update...

My Living Will...

Last night my sister and I were sitting in the lounge and I said to her, "I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle to keep me alive.  That would be no quality of life at all.  If that ever happens, promise me you'll pull the plug"

So she got up, unplugged my computer and threw out my wine.  She's such a bitch.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!  Yep, I'm baaaack!  

Hasn't it been HOT lately?  Too hot for this kiwi.  

We are not long back from caravan-ing out at the river with Gina and her family.  What a blast.  We had lots of fun, just chillin in the shade, playing in the river, and having lots of food and drink.  We all came back home feeling nice and relaxed.  Well, mostly.  

Did you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year?  Ours was a bit quieter this year... didn't exactly feel 'merry' if ya know what I mean.  Still managed to squeeze in brekkie at Nan and Grandad Kingans, lunch at D's sister Bronwyn's, and tea at my Mum and Dad's.  Phew!

I was spoilt with lots of baking/cupcake goodness for Christmas, as well as Mamma Mia on DVD from J and the set of nestabilities I got D to buy for me before Christmas and hide away.  D was pleased with his new taillights, CD and DVD, and J was excited about his motorbike, although he hasn't ridden it a lot yet, mostly due to a lack of confidence, but I am sure that will soon change! Once he's off, there'll be no stopping him (except of course maybe running out of fuel!  Ha ha ha)

For now we have J's 5th birthday to sort out... at this very moment he's sitting on the floor reeling off an unbelievably HUGE list of names of people he wants to invite to a party.... oh dear!  I think I might have my work cut out for me this year!!!

On that note, I must dash, as I am being asked to "build sumfing wif the lego, mum"

Toodles, B x

My Nan....

Unfortunately in the early hours of this morning my Nan passed away.

She had been successfully on dialysis for several years to combat kidney failure, but early stages of dementia and an infection received through her dialysis meant she was transferred to a Christchurch Hospital, then a Christchurch Rest Home (as no Timaru one could administer dialysis for her - RIDICULOUS) only a few weeks ago.

Last weekend the infection came back with a vengeance, and there was nothing more that the doctors in Christchurch could do for her. We were told on Monday morning that she wasn't expected to see out the week, and arrangements were made for her to be transferred to the Hospice here in Timaru, because being back here was all she wanted the whole time she was away. She arrived and was settled in at the Hospice by 3 o'clock Tuesday, and she was gone just after midnight.

Dad had told me on Monday that he thought once she got back to Timaru that she'd probably give up, and he was so right. It was sooner than we were ready for, but the best thing for her really. And lets face it, we were never going to be ready. How could you be?

I took this photo of her just before Christmas last year (under duress I might add as Nan doesn't like getting her photo taken), so that I could make memory books for myself and my sisters.

I got Nan to write on a card which I put with the photo in a pocket of the book, along with photos and messages from our other grandparents, our parents and each other. I am so pleased now that I did that. Now I will always have a little piece of my Nan when I need it, and so will my sisters. Incredibly at my age, up until today I still had three of my four grandparents left. I only wish I had scrapbooked when Grandad Scott was around. He had the most beautiful handwriting, and probably many a story to tell too.

At least now, after 14 years of patiently waiting, she is with Grandad again, where she should be.

Elizabeth Evelyn Scott (Betty)
6 June 1924 - 17 December 2008

Our weekend...

Our weekend was crazy (again!)... my best friend Ange's little sister Ness got married, and I was photographer AND guest!

The ceremony was in the Raincliff Outdoor Chapel (on the Scout Camp grounds), and the reception was at the Youth Camp, which worked well because all the guests that wanted to could stay the night in the bunkrooms :) Because we could, D towed the in-law's caravan out while I was sorting out pre-ceremony stuff with the wedding party, so that we could sleep in a double bed, rather than the bunks. Fab!

The wedding was beautiful, and because I have known the bride's big sister for nearly 25 years, it was almost like being at a family wedding, so that was cool. I was (and still am if I am totally honest) completely stuffed yesterday, after taking the photos all afternoon, then dancing the night away until about half one in the morning - something I haven't done in a LONG time! We had a yummy brunch the morning after the wedding - bacon, eggs, hash browns, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, toast etc. Mmm mmm!

Anyhoo, here's a wee taste of the photos I got on the day... Ladies and Gentlemen, Jonno and Ness Hines (nee Morrison):

Righto, that's it for me for now, best get away and make lunch for J before we need to head off.

Toodles, B x

HaHaHa

Nice one Rachel, yes I can type and since you enjoyed my blog so much I'll start a regular blog on Becks site just for you!!!! ENJOY

Blog Takeover....

This is Daz here, I finally thought it was about time that there was something on this blog for the husbands, so here goes.

It was late February 2008 and I had a bike that needed a freshen up in the motor department, so why not freshen up the rest of the bike at the same time? This is how the bike looked before it went in for a make over.

And so the strip down begun, who would've thought that this would be the start of 8 long months? That is correct, from initial strip down to final assembly and coming out the other end looking and sounding 100% better it was 8 months.



After the bike was stripped of its parts I then started attacking it with a stripping disc on all the accessible parts of the frame, when this was completed it was taken down to the sodium blasting dude in redruth (payment for the sodium blasting was made in the way of 24 pack), it had to be blasted around all the welds, nooks and crannies where I couldn't get in with the strip disc. When I got the frame back I then had to sand the whole frame to smooth out the profile that the blasting left, all up I probably spent about 16 hours stripping and sanding.



So now it's time for painting. First the frame had a couple of coats of undercoat then countless coats of a two pack paint which Stu at Resene matched for me off a brand new 2008 KDX at Motorcycle World, thanks Stu. I figured that if I was going to all the trouble of stripping and painting the frame I might as well give it a coat of the latest colour (so now I have a silver KDX which looks much smarter than the old green model). But it didn't stop there, since changing the frame colour I also had to change the colour of the tank, this was hand sanded to give the paint something to etch to, this also had a couple of coats of undercoat and then 3 or 4 coats of a 2 pack gloss black, this now ties in with the frame. When spraying the frame I used a state of the art spraying jig!! (It's amazing how many uses you can get out of a common broom and wheelie bin) The rear swing arm got stripped right back and had a couple of grooves welded up by the good lads at Andar and then sanded and sprayed in the same silver as the rest of the frame.




Now that the frame is looking good as new it's time to start assembly, or as much assembly as I could do without the motor. This is how the bike spent the next few months while I had a friend rebuild the motor which included the following: new conrod, piston, rings, every bearing in the motor, gasket sets and I also had to get the bore re-chromed (not a cheap rebuild but had to be done)





The rest of the bike had the following replaced: new gripper seat cover, new alloy bash guard for the rear brake master cylinder, new headstock bearings top and bottom, new bearings in all suspension joints/pivots, new front pads, new air filter, new alloy gear lever, new fork gators and I've also added an hour meter to keep up with maintenance based on hours running.

My KDX is now re-born, a project that took 8 months but was worth the wait.



Tune in for the next instalment soon... Daz.