Broken Telepathy...

When I said ‘I do’ to husband I am absolutely positive there was no “I promise to obey and/or have you enter me into triathlons” in those vows at all…  Brendon and two friends he works with enrolled themselves for triathlon.  For the last three weeks I have heard “you may need to be our third person, the runner”, my response was simple “ok let me know”.  It was not a hard request, if the other chick decided to pull out I would be asked to step in and be the runner.  Husband and Matt would do the other two codes.  If anyone knows my beloved they know he can be a little ‘vague’ at times, hence the nickname.  Well over those three weeks it was always a maybe, the other chick, from what I understood was still possibly doing the run.  February 26^th, Friday I visited husband at work and I was asked if I was ready?  I believe I muddled my way through answering.  When we were having dinner that night I was asking the obvious questions; what time does it start? How far do I have to run?... will that is where it got sticky, the night before the triathlon ‘he’ tells me I am doing all three codes, swim, bike, run!  Aaaha well I have not swum like I was going to need to do since my Navy days.  You can only imagine the conversation we had… Did he not think to inform, oh no ‘husband’ thought I knew what was happening.  I guess telepathy is not my strong point! 

Saturday came and I was a nervous wreck, husband was up first, followed by myself and then Matt.  My goodness, the transition from swim to bike was fine but the bike to run I didn’t think my legs where even connected to my brain.  After finishing and having the down time I must say was a fantastic feeling!  Our team came 34^th out of the forty and took us just over 2 hours.  Not a bad result considering I did no training and the heat at 2pm is incredible, 35 degrees plus!  You could feel the heat coming off the concrete as you cycle.  Following the race we found out we won a prize for coming 3^rd out of the government departments.  But the best prize was the simple fact that I did not ache on Sunday, as I presumed I would!  I have been asked if I am willing to participate in the all female race, which is coming up and another lady asked if I am going to join the triathlon club???  I did suggest to husband it would be a great idea…

I was told it is an addictive sport I was a pessimist, but I understand now and although husband still owes me pearl earrings and he also understands there will be a lot of mileage (flogging a dead horse) due to not informing me until the night before, of the part I was to play in the team, BUT I may just join up to the club!  The question is do I tell him when I put his name down too??? 

A somber week...

Wow what a week, the sadness of what has happened to Christchurch has stricken all the expats that joined me for coffee group yesterday.  Fortunately one lady within our group, who happens to be from Christchurch, found out her family and friends were all ‘physically’ unscathed. I am sure the ramifications of enduring such a destructive and horrendous disaster as Christchurch has suffered will take a long time to recover from and so my thoughts and prayers go out to all at this time.  We have watched daily coverage here as and when it goes on and it is saddening to see the images that I am sure people are dealing with in reality.  God bless xox

A lot of our TV viewing comes from Australia, although on Monday (our time) when the earthquake hit we received 3 News coverage from New Zealand.  Yesterday we had New Zealand TVNZ one news; today we have the Australian Breakfast crew.  The lady needs to listen to the people she is interviewing or being reported on.  There was a report on HNZS Canterbury supplying food and a lady was interviewed as to what had brought her down to the soup kitchen, I guess other then the dirty big earthquake that had just taken her home! The ladies response was ‘we have been offered food and a place to stay with friends, but they are: lactose, dairy, vegetarians, I need MEAT!’  The Australian news host then goes on to say; ‘well I guess an earthquake would lead you back to eating meat!’  *WTF* were you listening lady?  She was not the vegetarian… At least you look pretty love!  This was not her only oops through the news coverage and I eventually had to turn the TV off!  The lady the next day was not much better as she struggled to form sentences!

There was a write up in the paper the last week about what Members of Parliament should wear to work.  There was banter in cartoon form of different shaped parliamentarians wearing ill fitted suits.  The general consensus is a nice shirt (of flower design) and black dress pants.  Suits to be saved when visiting New Zealand on business.  Which is understandable due to the heat here, 30+ degrees you would be ruffled before getting to work!  After reading this interesting article I had to chuckle to myself as I drove into town I saw ‘the boys’ out peddling their religion.  Yes, yes it seems that there are doorknockers here too! And they, I am sure, dress better; in their shirts, ties and dress pants, then the parliamentarians.  Along with riding their bikes, as I mentioned the heat is well up their 30 degrees and above, these lads must simply ‘melt’ in the heat!  What it takes to get a good seat upstairs I suppose. (This comment is not intended as an insult to either parliamentarians or religious person or persons)  

Wednesday it seems, is rain day.  Every Wednesday since we have been here it has rained.  Today is particularly bad we are flooded at the back of the house and the Taro patch has risen almost to the top of the bank.  It does mean the day is much cooler then normal and it is nice to have some relief from the heat to be honest.  A day like this also allows for a ‘slump hump’ day.  George is sitting on the couch watching a movie, dressed in his undies and a pink hair clip in his hair!  The fashion here is very different and I am unsure it will reach the shores of New Zealand??!

Talking of fashion, my baby girl has a shoe fetish!  I have no idea (cough) where she would (cough, cough) get a passion for shoes! (cough, cough).  Some would say it is from me….  The issue is she gets up in the morning, shoes in hand and asks for them to be “on, on”.  After putting them on she may leave the same ones on all day or change 2-3 times throughout the day.  But now being the clever little thing that she is she has established you can skip the morning part of having to ask for shoes on, and wears them to bed!  Last night lady-girl went to bed wearing her best black shoes!  I know some of you out there are thinking ‘poo smelly feet’, but if you saw the drama that came with trying to remove those shoes you too would have caved! 

This week is National Language Week.  Josh came home on Monday needing a floral shirt, shorts, lay, coconut and fruit to take to school on Tuesday.  He was in quite a flap, declaring he simply would just stay home, as we had none of the requested items.  He hadn’t eve let me reply to his ‘hello’ after walking in the door.  After calming him down and understanding what he needed I went and bought a shirt and lay the shorts I figured were a non-plus item.  Thinking about the false lay I decided I should try to make a fresh one.  So after dinner Josh and I went on a flower raid.  We drove around looking for flowers in public areas that we could ‘borrow’.  The end product was not too bad and it smelt beautiful.  The little bugger gave it to Brendon on the way to school and left the false one at home, so you can imagine how that went down with me!

This week I have learnt:

·      Rice bubbles can spread very far

·      Husband can put your name forward for all sorts e.g. triathlons

·      I have to run in a triathlon tomorrow

·      Red ants hurt

·      12 year old can not keep a room clean

·      1 year old like to share showers, fully clothed!

·      1950’s cartoons are hilarious, some would be deemed racist these days

·      I won a job working with children needing extra reading and writing help and this has extended to a half-day release position too.

And lastly

·      Don’t take loved ones for granted, anything can happen!

As the week draws to a close and there is still much sadness with so many people still missing I do wish all strength and love.  I am amazed at the strength of the people in Canterbury.  From what we see on TV here the job Bob Parker is doing is outstanding.  If his leadership is truly what is being portrayed through the media he is to be commended.  To friends and family in the region suffering at this time I do wish you well and thoughts and prayers are with you.  If you are ever in a need of an island get away, free accommodation with us.

 Xox Much Love all.

A serious one

We spent Saturday morning at the markets buying fruit and vege; Melons, passion fruit, bananas and corn (not as good as the Gisborne stuff), taro leaves and fresh herbs.


Taro leaves have now been cooked off and husband was the guinea pig to taste test if there was any 'itch' that comes with not preparing them correctly.  First lot he said; 'no, no it's fine'.  He came back five minutes later complaining of an itchy throat... oops!  Second patch was better and he is still walking and talking okay.  A five dollar bunch cooks up to a fare amount, so the idea is to make cannelloni and lasagna. Also a couple of banana breads have also been made as we had so many frozen bananas!  


I decided to make Rukau (Taro leaves) and cream cheese cannelloni and a lasagna with rukau and mince.  What a crazy idea that was as I made the pasta from scratch and although the end product was divine the 30+ degree heat was hard going. There was no itchy throat so I managed to get the taro leaves right!


Husband is dropped Josh into town for a 'date' on Saturday, he-he cute!  He was asking Brendon to drop him a little way away from the 'meeting' place so as he wouldn't be embarrassed, of dear.  The rugby is on again at our field so looking forward to those showers!  The date lasted eight hours as the movie did not start until 6pm! The date started at 12.30pm... They went swimming with a group of friends first and eat their way through a combined $50! As long as he had fun....


A bit of an eek moment was a millipede that was in a shop today is was 10cm long and about 1cm thick! Wiggling and worming looking like it was dying.  Gross, what is it with husband moving me to places that have gross bugs!  Josh was also husking a coconut on Sunday arvo when another one of these gross bugs wiggled its way out of the husk.  The coconut went over the fence!


Our excitement for the week was to head down to the 'jet blast' area and watch the Sunday 4.15pm plane come in from New Zealand.  You stand on the side walk of the main road next to the sea wall and it is quite spectacular to watch this great big piece of machinery fly above your head as it comes in to land!  I am not a plane enthusiast at all but the force which is involved is mind blowing!


A bit of a book(s) review:
This week I am going to join the library as I am having to resort to reading some of Joshies books; Diary of the Wimpy kid series.  If you want a couple of good biographies to read both Micheal Caine and Gordan Ramsey's are very interesting.  Micheal Caine is very much 'dropping' in the names of people, but when you are a SIR and you know and are friends with the names he mentions I guess you can.  Gordan Ramsey's leaves you liking and understanding him more then what you did before you read it.  He comes from an interesting background and is another success story from a crappy father figure.  Another book I have finished is Ali Williams book of tall tales, which is written as I presume he would speak.  It is a bit of a laugh and a easy afternoon read.  With all his injuries I am surprised he was back out on the paddock last night helping to secure the win against the Crusaders.  Husband and I did have a bit of a wager going as to whether Williams' was going to last the first half??... (Surprisingly enough he did).  Another read is Amber, written by a New Zealand author and historian.  The books setting is based around the Waitangi signing, Hone Heke etc.  So it brings back some of the Social Study lessons in high school...


Well I do hope everyone is well, I have my interview today so fingers crossed with that.  I have written this over a period of a couple of days so I do hope it is not reading like a jumbled mess??!


Here is hoping we have a funnier week this week as this blog is a bit drier then normal, I am sorry for that! 


Much love to all

Incey not so wincey......

What a laugh I almost slipped a back disk last night when a gecko decided to share my bed!  I was trying to chase the little fellow out and the bugger jumped at me.  I had no idea they could do it!  It leaped at me like 'ooooh I'm gona get cha!'  Scared the crap out of me and I am not ashamed to admit it!!!!  But it was a ninja gecko.  Then tonight I there was another spider and on my side of the bed again.  It took a broom, a brush and shovel, a container and half an hour to get rid o the bloody huge man eating thing!  George kept cooing and saying 'incey spider mum' and getting in far to close to where we were trying to assist it back outside.

In the end the spider went out the window along with my Bachelor's certificate it rested on and no geckos have been injured in any martial arts moves.  I on the other hand almost broke my little toe as I kicked the bed to get out of the way and a very sore back.  Husband did move out of my way as I came crashing down in a heap so he suffered no injuries! haha

Hope you are all well, much love xox

Some pics...

Leaving Morning

Ready and rearing to go...

hot, hot, hot!

Wow!

Spotty wotty!

Setting sun

Moving Day! eeek

Start of the black eye....

Just playing

four monkeys jumping on the bed!

'I'm very intelligent, yo know'

'Why does mum make me model all this stuff she makes?'

Our house

Florist??

A picture I have produced

My life in a ‘nut’ shell….

What a weekend the heavy rain and thunderous weather has held off until now, Sunday night.  We spent Saturday at the beach with all the other families who came over at the same time as us.  A daughter of one of the teachers turned two and it was decided we would have the party as a ‘bring a plate’ to a picnic area beside the sea! (What a way to celebrate)  It was the first Saturday since we have been here that it has not rained.  The kids spent three and a half hours swimming and eating and he eating part came more when the packing up began.  The lagoon was a beautiful aqua and crystal clear and the temperature was just like a warm bath.  What a blessed life.

The area we picnicked in is a ‘dry’ area, there was a write up in the paper a couple of weeks ago warning people that there would be ‘Maori justice’ if you are caught drinking in this particular area.  With that in mind Brendon and I stayed off the ‘booze’, unlike the others, which if they had paper bags it, would have been less suspicious! Ha-ha.  I had no intention of finding out first hand what their ‘Maori justice’ entailed!

For my 21^st birthday (not that long ago) ma and pa gave me a wonderful wooden clock, which has always hung in the kitchen of any house I have lived.  This clock I found very useful when George came of an age of understanding about bedtime; “oh look it is George bed-o’clock time” is what you will hear when it is time for the young fulla to head to bed.  So as per normal out came the saying and what do you know?  He disagreed with me with; “no mum, no clock mum!”  I have forgotten to bring my clock with me!  The little bugger had worked that out and the microwave clock was not going to cut it for reading time!!!

Brendon ‘Super Saver Container Man’ had his first workshop last Thursday and Friday and he come home very happy with himself.  He said that it all ran very smoothly and all the feedback was of high praise a very positive.  But all of that was over shadowed by his effort of crackin’ his first coconut!  ‘Wife’ needed/wanted to make coconut cream so off husband went cane knife in hand… and what do you know three quarters of an hour later I had coconut! My hunter and gather provides for his wife, bless him!

Josh has girl issues, so much so it was visible in church today.  Girls looking and giggling, then secret squirrel comments as we are leaving.  He has a girly-friend and another fancies him and has her nose out of joint!!! Ah ahaaaa the life of a young teenager.  He is busy making a valentines card as I type! Josh has mentioned how much he is enjoying school and life here so that is a positive result to this move.

 I am still discovering where and when to shop.  It is not like at home where we would normally do a week or fortnight shop and then top up the fresh goods during that period.  The markets are a great source for fresh produce and so much cheaper then the supermarket with a better range.  I have found a butcher that sells fresh meat, that is well priced, and which stocks other items such as frozen vege and seafood although these are still caught pricey.  It is a matter of talking to others to find out where they shop as it takes a lot of stops to stock up.   Also reading signs as you drive as they post signs when fresh fish is in.  I have been made aware to keep up with when the boats come in and shop a couple of days later as then the shelves will be restocked.  It is strange you go into a shop that you think sells what there name suggests e.g. Raro Records; you would think sell records and you are correct, but it also sells school/sports bags and computer parts amongst other things.  I suggested to husband that I purchase un-priced items from the supermarket to find out how much they are and write up signs and then on the next shopping trip stick the labels on the shelves.  Okay I may end up with unwanted items but I am sure I would be doing serve to the community!?

After the markets on Saturday I had to purchase a bigger vase for the big bunch of stunning flowers ‘husband’ bought me.  When I was looking around one of the shop assistants said ‘oh where’s George?’  Yes we are being recognized due to George – our over active and loud two year old, who happened to be waiting in the car (not very quietly) with Brendon. 

Well we are leading into week 5 and the bitter disappointments of week 4 were I found out I did not get an interview for the job I applied for; better luck next time.  Annnnndddd….. There was no rugby at our park, so no boys enjoying outdoor showers this week. 

I do hope all is well in your worlds, much love to all xox 

Tales...

There have been a few requests for our address so here it is as I gave it to the power company the other day:

Raemaru Lodge. 

·      Go along the main road until you get to Manea Foods in Arorangi.  

·      Turn left into the road that goes to Raemaru Park; follow this all the way to the end. 

·      Turn right onto the back road and take the first driveway on the right

·      It’s the grey brick house; can be seen from the park.

Funny thing was the man at the power company commented on the map I had drawn. The house I had drawn was laying in the wrong direction. There are no street names for all roads and no one has a letterbox so no numbering of houses.  So I guess our address is; Raemaru Lodge,  Arorangi, Rarotonga.  I don’t know how this would work??? Don’t post me any money…  I will in fact give a PO Box number via FB messages.

Well this week was much more successful in the bread making arena.   Last week I made bagels for the first time ever and although they tasted like the bought ones, they were flat! About 1.5 cm thick or thin may be the correct term! As soon as I put them in the water they deflated??? If anyone has any ideas…… send them this way.  My conclusion was the mixture was a little moist and/or they were not proved enough.  Anyway hamburger buns and a loaf of bread or now looking beautiful as they cool on the counter.  Bread, plain white is $4.70 and whole meal is $5.  Fresh milk is $14.95!  Glad I packed 33 liter’s of long life milk

Josh came home on Friday stating that next Tuesday was ‘bring a coconut to school day’.  Hehe I did have a chuckle to myself.  We are surrounded by coconuts as you could imagine so when I said to Josh “oh my gosh we don’t have any, what will you do?”  I laughed myself silly as he worked himself up into a tither.  He went on a rant, “what will I do we have to bring a brown coconut to school or we ….” Ha-ha as I am standing at a bunch of brown coconuts which line the driveway, his mouth dropped and a “oh” popped out of his mouth.  It took a couple of hours for him to speak to me again, oops.   Now he tells me it needs to be a husked one, I’m off to buy one!   Tuesday has come and it’s not a husked one at all that is needed; but it is my fault that the coconut is heavy in his bag!!! Teenagers!!??

Milly is a confident little speaker now but her most popular word is ‘fart’ which as a Fiebig is very funny.  She adds it to the end of many sentences such as, ‘baby sleeping – fart’ and then she chuckles to herself.  Such a lady, hubby may need to start saving for finishing school now.

Now I’m not afraid to embarrass myself with a wee ditty about myself so I shall share my shower tale.  You can continue too read it is nothing dirty, and there is no nudity to tell of so those of you who know me too well get your mind out of the gutter! Seven o’clock in our house is crazy time, dinner has been eaten and it is shower time and it was my turn to shower with the kids.  You have to be on your toes, as Milly will head on into the shower eager beaver, fully dressed.  Where as George, boots it, and heads for the hills GONE! So there I am trying to take the remaining clothes off Milly, the shower is running and I pull the curtains closed… ‘OMG WTF!’   All I hear is a hair raising scream, realizing it is me when husband comes running, George in tow.  On the shower rod is the biggest, blackest spider I have ever seen.  Never, ever do I run from a spider or climb on a table due to a mouse, but this ‘things’ shadow was bigger then me!  I’m not kidding it was huge and my scream was followed up with a few ‘French’ words and rapid-fire requests for husband to save me.  He then had the audacity to tell me to “ssshh” and he just had to get a container.  Here I am about to be eaten alive and he just has to get a container!  As if the ‘thing’ would fit into his poxy container…

Ha-ha so I had a girl moment but this thing was hideous.  Hubby saved the day he is now and will be forever known as ‘Super Saver Container MAN’, hear him roar!  xxx My Hero xxx

Sunday morning after church where we only lasted just over half a service due to babies being louder then the priest meant we were able to go to the beach earlier then planned.  As we are swimming in the shallows Josh let out his dramatic scream, honestly that boy needs a tiara.   ‘There’s a long black thing’ he starts to cry out.  He is prone to a few tricks so we never take him seriously, but he was so adamant there was a sea snake that had circled his feet.  The funny part came when he was pointing in the direction as to where the ‘snake’ was I ran my foot along his leg!  Ha-ha with screaming, arms waving and legs flying Josh made a dramatic exit from the sea! Ha-ha I am still holding my sides at the sight of him, my drama queen tough boy!

Did I happen to mention the outside shower of the rugby boys?  As our house backs onto a rugby ground we have a good view of the fields and the games, which is great on a wet Saturday.  The last game of the day is when you need your beer and a pair of sunglasses.  As the game finishes they all hose of outside, shirts off!  Yes, yes I know husband reads this and he has already told me I “should have been a bloke”.  But just like you boys who enjoy watching a bikini shoot like the one husband saw, there is nothing wrong with admiring the best part of a rugby game, the end showers!  You just don’t normally get to see that bit, imagine if you did… *The All Blacks, Dan Carter……….*  aaahhhh daydreaming he-he. Bring your sunnies when you come Dan!

As I lay writing this piece there is geckos calling, they sound like birds.  Which is what thought was chirping at night when we first arrived, some sort of nocturnal bird?  Gosh were we wrong.  There are about 20 geckos on the roof of the porch each night and two or three seem to make their way into the house over the coarse of the evening.  A smaller one seems to have made our room his nightly base as he is always sitting up in the same place each night.  Or maybe he has taken a fancy to….  ‘Super Saver Container MAN!’

Have a laugh, much love all xox

Ah the joys....

Ah as another working week draws to a close I have one child asleep, truck in one hand and a car in the other.  While the other sleeps holding his Willy!  It has been a wet week, there was two days where just getting out of the house was tricky but a necessity to prevent ‘crazy mum’ disease. 

I don’t know if I have mentioned before the funny sights that you would just not see at home and if you did they would bound to be stopped by police.  The first was a young fellow riding pillion on the back of what could have been his dads bike, one arm holding on to ‘dad’ the other holding onto the golf bag being towed behind.  The next day a similar setting this time it was the lawn mower being towed.  It is amazing no helmets on bikes you just have to travel at the legal limit of 40ks, wearing a helmet or driving a car is 50ks.  Not that you would want to go that much faster anyway. 

I was watching the NZ TV1 news last night and waited to watch the last part where they kept announcing what sounded like an interesting story.  The ads ended and the Rugby Sevens game started!  “WTF” it seems to happen all the time, the week previous the ads finished and the second segment of the news was repeated!  It is very funny as you think you have the timing right for the news to start, which is the only TV we watch, and it has started half an hour earlier….   Also for humor value I have taken to reading all advertising and displays very closely.  In a café the other day there was an advertisement for ‘Friday nights, live music and live buffet’.  What, do you kill to eat? Haha

I went down to our local shop to buy something for dinner the other day and you do not have a set idea as to what it is you want because you will be very disappointed.  What was advertised outside was for fresh NZ vegetables, which sounds great, but at $9 for an iceberg lettuce not so affordable.  They do grow hydroponic lettuces here for a reasonable price so we don’t miss out there.  I do however miss tomatoes.  I have not been able to find any nice ones as yet.  Chicken is very common here and readily available frozen.

Tuesday saw the ladies with children who are not working get together and do a coffee morning.  It was a lovely chance to get the kids out and about to run around and play with other kids.  One mother did mention that my children are the ‘liveliest’ that is a slightly kinder description as to what she said.  The funny thing was that we all left something behind on the mass exodus to get children home to sleep we had to meet up again the next day to collect the forgot belongings.  This time at a coffee shop in town where many of the tourist off a cruise liner had come cover from the rain. 

The cruise liners are amazing to see anchored off the reef, as the port is unable to hold them.  The passengers are then ferried in to the waiting taxis and smaller markets set up dockside.  The size of these ships is quite breath taking when you see it in relation to the island!  Ah maybe one-day husband will take us on a cruise! (Hint hint if you are reading this).

A few things on my list to have either brought over are:

·      Dried apricots

·      Prunes

·      Coat hangers

·      More clothes!

·      Gum boots for me

·      Dry goods; kidney beans etc.

·      Body sprays

I did say to George that we will go to the library and he said ‘Sewa come’ breaks your heart…..  He misses you Sewa (and Ruby) xox.  George also decided he wanted to watch Spiderman with Rara (granddad).  Milly has moved with here her speech and is now mimicking all we say.  I have to be very carefully!  Josh had a wasp sting two days ago and now thinks his arms are different sizes!  He is soooo dramatic!

I applied for a teaching job this week so fingers crossed!

As the coconuts and mangoes fall for the trees, we have to watch our heads as we walk around the property I can say we have settled in well enough to our new home.  Much love to you all this one maybe a little muddled I am a little homesick…. Hugs to all xox