The theme today is boys brushes and buses

WOW. Thanks for all the cool email regarding the class from scrapcamp. Was really nerve racking but after 11 groups sure I've got that baby down pat!! Ok so some of the comments I got were regarding boy brushes and if I had many as of course like paper and embellishments the girl theme is huge! Well am please to say that since Saturday night I have found a gazzillion bijjillion boy brushes so if you would like a few send me a comment or an email (miche11etw@hotmail.com) and I'll forward them on. Had a few email regarding actions and filters also and in all honest I love em! Will post some photos up with examples of these as well and again self taught so dont be too hard on me!

Oh yeah forgot to mention I'm in a badder mood with my sons bus driver. Son 8 bus driver 40 plus! Scenario in short .. ball in bus... driver annoyed ... bus stops ... ball belongs to son ... bus driver throws ball (literally) and boy (my son) out of the bus 1.5km from his normal bus stop by himself... refuses my other son 7 too get off with his brother thennnnnnnn waves and smiles to him as she drives off ... result two sad distraught sons and two mighty *&$#! parents. Great glad I got that off my chest. Anyway rang the school made a complaint rang the company made a complaint wrote a letter of complaint about the chucked off the bus bit! Re the ball, yip if kids are naughty and dont listen sweet tell the school tell the parents get it sorted with us in the room and son suffer consquences and/ or deal with the discipline .... drop my son off at 4.30pm that far away, in an unsafe area... I dont think so!! . So waiting now for the result however dont think she was made aware of our complaint as when son got off the bus she asked my son if he had learnt his lesson I'm thinking I would like to know if she has learnt her lesson ............ unfortunately for my son the ball was his but it was the intermediate boys throwing it around on the bus teasing him (as told by his older cousin and not his one eyed mother:) and when the driver turned he had finally just got the ball back off the bigger kids... ok lifes like that!! and yip driving that many kids would be hard! struggle just with four of them in the family car so again its the dropping the kid off bit i dont like!! well better get some work done...

Return to normality

Yeah got some sleep. Should rename the weekend sleepless scrapcamp, cause its about the only thing I didnt get a lot of. OK so some highlights for me. Well meeting some amazing people is a great start. When you kinda lurk in corners of blogspots and admire the work of some of the amazing talent, actually meeting the talent is something else.. so that rocked especially moving out of blog world and into real world!! Enjoyed the work with the tutors and the classes rocked, and so looking forward to finishing the album that Faye taught. That kinda thing is right up my alley. Plus have been thinking about a couple of albums that I'm working on at the moment, so her class gave me another angle by which to approach it. Nics class was cool and why?? Well its because after the last year have discovered that despite me buying lots and lots (did I mention lots) of product when it comes down to it I'm loving pictures, chipboard, paper and photos. I'm not so good with the rest of the embellishment world so I love the simplicity, the lines and the detail her class gave. And as for Wendy, didnt get a chance to do the actual class but got to sit with her and wathcing her work was a buzz and I found doodling rocked!! So looking forward to CC and if I could find my cord to upload my photos I'd be doing that now!! Stay posted more photos to come............

Other than that Yolande and Lianne, awesome weekend ladies!! Hats off to you both for a massive job that is and can only get bigger and Eileen way to share my love of McDonalds, chocolate, food in general and of course copius amounts of laughter and singing.. You go girl!!

Tuesday and I missed the point........

heres my version of the conversation... if my mother could blog it would be different but yes mum I do know your reading this so I'm gonna try and make it as true and correct as a wronged daughter can.....
" Michelle, do you write that stuff on the net"
"What stuff mum?"
"That to be pacific, thing. Whats that for?"

In my mind. umm thats rather specific detail for my mum...

"Yip mums thats my on line journal"
"What and people read it? From where"
"Anyone can but mainly just a few friends mainly...."
"Is that where Witeri was on mothers day. ?"
"yes mum, saw his aunty and he had to borrow her car to get a some sparks going"
"oa... about mothers day. you didnt put anything about me. i think you missed the point"

and you know what I think shes right.... Mum you rock and here is a list of why...

1 I am a mother of 4 yet 3 out of 7 nights I have only two
2 You continue to lend me money without to much hassle and limited word lectures
3 you love my children and spend time with them because you can and want too
4 you offer to do my house work when you see the days are long and nights are short
5 that we have tea with you and dad twice a week usually
6 that you are the same size as me so i can borrow your clothes
7 the gap that nan left when she died you have filled
8 you lent me your out of the box car for a year and i gave it back to you with heaps of kms
9 as you have common sense and are practical so too am I
10 you come to my netball games every night as you did when i was a child

Ok so thats 10 mum... its like an update of the mothers day letter i wrote you 2 years ago that ended up being three typed pages :)

See you at dinner mum......... ummmm whats for tea..

Tuesday

Did mothers day get better I hear you ask?? In short yes and no... because hubby came home and explained that he got a flat battery in town.... and because the day was gone and ended up having to go my mums which was lovely except her being my mum had to do the dishes and cook... so the cycle is complete!!

Got my basic grey hardware and chipboard bits today so am stoked and my hs florals should be here any day soon. looking forward to camp next week so am planning to make the most of my time then and get back into it... have even manage to get my supplies down to a minimum, in preparation for it. havent had a chance to look at the tarisota comp but if i get some time will definantly give it a go.... being unpublished and all:)

photo montage yip well washing is the theme of my life especially with six of us in the house and now my machine has died.... it aint fun........which i might add in the same week the vacumm died and now the tv has also decided to become insanely tempremental and needs to be spoken to gently and rubbed before it turns on. i did try and kick it but the response from hubby and the tv wasnt nice LOL:) haha you think but oh noooo it doesnt end there, my cell phone then became jealous of all the brokenness ( is that a word) hid itself under the washing and while trying to look for it my son stood on it and broke it!!

What else ummm....... these are the toys that my daughter puts to bed everynight, my baby running around the house with his bottle dripping on the carpet floor thinking its funny and my daughter ignoring me trying to get her to the table for brekkie while she pretends she cant hear me and carries on reading...........

I am actually a mother of 4 and you could be forgiven for thinking only 2 but my two big boys wake up at 6 and get there own lunches, breakfast, do the dishes, do more homework and have their showers when I am still opening my eyes just in time for me to take them to the bus stop at 7.30.... they are in short awesome!!! Did I mention there only 8 and 7!!

Oh yeah just found out that hubby reads everyones blog and was asking me in passing (if you please) if they had posted up Carries wedding photos yet, did I get a chance to check out Delys new LO, am I ready for camp cause its only 10 days aways (ask Lianne he rekons), and who took that photo of me eileen and yolande and chur babe (his words) that chick (again his word) Nic does some awesome LO .... what a cheek... i consider this to be like reading my diary....... now he wants to find a martial arts blogging community............. yes please so he can stay away from my blog... eitherwise he'll know how much goodies i get and that are stack in the cupboard waiting for me to slowly introduce to the house and then say..."no honey (important to add the honey bit) those arent new, I've had them for ages..."

Mothers Days so far

Every day moments........ this is my challenge to have a photoblog that post this for a one month period......... if nothing else just because I want to remember those small moments that pass so easily and the ones that have become so ingrained that we forget that life was anything more or less........ enough talking............ more photos.........
So this is mothers day..... what makes it memorable is that is it is unmemorable... i woke and feed the kids while hubby stayed in bed with a hang over then dropped my son of for to his training for tkd at 8am.... helped my sister in law write her cv, hubby made lunch it was yummy but then left tme at home with the kids and the dishes and four hours later still at home with kids dishes and now a bad mood... its not fathers day is my thinking!!!! .... the evening better get better....... will let you know..... :)

another week gone...

well going quickly at least. Have determined that tara whitney is my photographer idol!! I so love her work so am waiting on my PS actions so I too can have photos like tara... well the action bit... pity about the actual taking of photos!

Had a busy couple of days with a noho marae with my students, a first aid course and then some contract work and to top it off a couple of fab presentations to give to Manukau DHB... fun fun fun I tell yah. Ok so my body was superfically sore after the game, the real pain occured a couple of days later after I went horseriding . Cant tell yah what possesed me in the first place to undertake two physical activity after years of dormancy but I can tell yah my bodys yelling loud and clear... get up of your a!%$

again still no scrapbooking but did get to take a class again of about 12 adults so that was cool. found it was a good way to get rid of some of the things i brought when i first started out and didnt know what my style was.... so now I'm not using them i.e poem stones, heart shaped paper clips I at least know they are being out to good use:) Have though just bought me a heap of HS florals via trade me and am now trying to think of what word to buy of the trademe letter guy... was thinking eidos the greek meaning for form but not quite ummm creating spaces... umm nope.....ummm well not sure...

Anyway wanted to also say thanks to all those you visit but also those who comment. Like Michelle have noticed I'm getting increased traffic so if your stopping in say hello honestly its what keeps me doing this!!

Some photos of my son that he like of him self which isnt often the case................... so liking the idea of tell me which one you like the best to help me in my decision making process let me know as I am gonna print one for his room. option t/left b/left t/right b/right... will draw a name from one with the most votes at the end of the week and post of some floral cause I brought a whole damn heap! .

Thanks

Ohh the pain!!

I can feel pain in parts of my body that a) I forgot I had and b) didnt know I had. Regardless I'm thinking that to be an effective GS, ones object is to get the ball in the goal... someone needed to tell the ball that because despite my many attempts, it preferred to bounce back of the ring!! So right now reserve and GK are an option for next week.... netball and me I think are past friends but like anything, for this friendship to work I will be spending quality time with the ball ,the post and the little goal circle. So our first game as a team, well back in the old days the majority of us were NZ development squad players for netball, volleyball, rowing, and tennis. Now days we prefer the company of Jim, Jack and personally Bombay however they have lead to our demise, which has lead to the numerous spare tyres that disguise themselves as our stomachs!! So tonight took a photo of myself in my uniform (arrrghh) and weight myself so I'd better have some improvement at the end of these 14weeks or by crikey Bombay and I will be snuggling up to each other for life!!

Ok cant sit here any longer, but hurts, back aches and my toes nails are sore!!

PS we are in the B grade and we won 44-27

what the hell

You know how you dream about what you might do... then you talk it up and about how good you use to be..... and how you wish you could go there again... well hit me with a stick... I'm now playing netball.... should have kept my mouth shut. Was up at the club and mentioned the old glory days where one was slim attractive and active, wishing I could play netball again reliving the old rep days and hello lots of the girls I drink with all thought the same... that was until one smart cookie decided to go ahead turn the talk into a reality and now I have to get in a skirt and throw a ball.......... oh man!! Thats so not cool.......... and really where will I find the time???...... oh man..... none to impress... it was like a long term goal... not a right lets get it on now goal... hello... never gonna drink with that women again (yes she will never be called her name again and referred to only as that women)

Other than that just putting together my bits for scrapcamp which I might add I am so looking forward too!!! SO not doing a lot of scrapbooking at the mo. I guess thats the go when you do several in a 24hours space. So need to do that again... as for tomorrow havent even been able to find a friend to scrapbook with everyone so busy...

Heres a layout I did that weekend with Yolande and Eileen but didnt complete till later. Am actually going to change it though and but the journalling above the title and a picture of the bling where the text is now... this is a paper layout but i added the text using PSE.. .. and as per usual some photos.

Found this cool action for PS that creates a frame and gets you to determine the level of the shadows and then the text so this is my fav photo at the moment of Parekotuku said as Pare-caw-too-koo (say it fast though it sounds much prettier) translated it means plume (pare) of the white heron (kotuku) and named her after my grandmother who raised me.

Top photo is of my baby Joseph who on this day had fallen asleep in the window box. No cushion on it just the hard wood and yet he slept (and looks) like an angle. Of course I moved him but took a whole heaps of photos first.

Second photo of Wiremu who has been in a bad mood most of the week because of the whether and he does blame me for it. Apparently its my fault, I'm a mum I should be able to fix everything.... kids!??!!

A great weekend had

mainly because it just flowed. My brother's partner had her 21st in the weekend ( I know your reading this Leanne) and it was lovely.. Ok I guess to some that sounds weak but in all honesty it was a lovely relaxed enjoyable evening that reflect's Leanne(stop blushing Leanne). SO heres our photos and no prizes for guessing which one is the birthday girl and yes Carol that is my brother and thanks for pointing out how spunky he is............. yuck!! But hard luck taken LOL

I guess I'm used to huge 21st ( I have something like 100+ first cousins, mum has 16 brothers and sisters and dad has 9) with speeches that go on for hours and drinking that last for days and family feud that both end and start at such occasions. This on the other hand was small intimate with three speeches and a lovely supper... Need to convince hubby that this will be the way to go with 4 kids and better still would be to have none.

So does anybody still do the big 21st thing??? I opted for the cash and household furniture and proceeded to hold my own birthday party where images of kegs, yard glasses, loud music and new friends at our Knighton road flat in Hamilton while I was at Uni. Then went home to good old Te Puke and had dinner with my family at Valentines... no yardy, little alcohol (still dont like to get drunck infront of my parents now... drunck????... maybe I've had a few to many gins this evening already.. helps when watching Desperate Housewives)....... My sister on the other hand had a hugh party that started at 5 and finished three days later and cost my parents a heap!!!
Photos of my daughter again!! Seem to be in a Parekotuku over load!! Plus this is a cool action I found for PS.... She has got attitude chronic... could that be a title me thinks

Ok heres the big cool news on tarisota after reading Nics Blog. This is cool and open to NZ... yeah for NZ... go on girls gotta have a go! Also thanks to Ngaire blog have found a blog which takes the micky out of the two peas not scrapbooking related topics. It was funny to start with and has gotten quiet out of hand but there are some humourous description of human nature.. okay better sleep.. just watched an Orlando Bloom movie so should have great dreams.. what a honey!!

How quickly they grow

and though its not a birthday my oldest son seems to be maturing infront of my very eyes over the past five days. So is this puberty??? Looking at my nieces of the same age, I'm thinking yes, looking at my son... ummm not sure, physically hes not so much developing just getting bigger...thinking for boys it starts a little later... but took this photo of him and I cant see 'that' child anymore maybe I should put him on more vitamin to counteract the up and coming hormones...

On the scrapbooking front I haven't brought my gears home from the batch so havent done anymore than what I did in the weekend. Although I have finished my journalling but need my cardstock so I can cut it up ink it and then add it on.... but my picture mate has arrived so feeling stoked about that!!

Well end of my holidays to so thats something to mourn but dont lecturer till Tuesday and the folloing week I have Monday and Tuesday off so thats a great consalition prize :) Okay better go and clean my house................... boring............

Creativity Overflow

As per last post these are the photos for the hugh amount of space we occupied without a care

A night with friends

was exactly what I needed and inspiration flowed... Had a fab night with Yolande and Eileen and as per Yolandes Blog... it rocked.. although there were a couple of other action activities that were done that had us in massive fits most of the night....

Took heaps of photos and the amount of creativity being generated could be measured by the amount of dishes, food and fun had. so just had to take photos of those too.. (will post again cause could get it on the blog...)

But managed to do 7 LO (granted I carried on till 7 when the girls left at 3.30) so was stoked. As usual do have some journalling to do but am stoked. Also so want, no correction need a Epson Picture Mate and since the lovely Yolande brought hers hubby was able to view it, so my birthday next month so heres hoping (fingers crossed sending good thoughts out into the world) , shy of that I'll just by it for myself LOL

Am of course loving Keisha styled layouts and they seem to suit me and I love them and must haves included the heidi swapp floral (ps these were the small ones and yes this is a 12x12 LO) and scenic route papers I'm loving, ribbon ribbon and more ribbon, white cardstock and black cardstock..........

So looking forward to scrapcamp but also CC2006. Finally manged to get our accomodation sorted and decided to go thru ibis as the cost for three nights was about 380.00 and is only about 40 - 50m from the conference so hey if I have to drink a little more wine to make the walk seem shorter I'm sure that can be arranged! For scrapcamp am just putting together the demos and making sure I have some hand outs for the class and helping out Yolande and Lianne where possible.

On the home fromt havent had much of a chance to work anymore on my scrap space but will work at it once the kids are back at school, which is Tuesday so that will make for an extra two days for myself. M

yeah a layout........

Actually I have done a fewbut they were a couple were pretty much scraplifted just to get me past my rut but this one was not... a little late but it is our xmas 05 and this is one of six pages as we had xmas in three houses. our house, my parents his mums.....

On the class front............did the class of the kids and I can honestly say.................. never $@#?$% again. All good maybe 6 kids at once of the same age but twenty aged 5 to 11, wasnt so great... it wasnt terrible but it wasnt great.... adults classes that size sweet but yip not kids... also from that experience can confirm I so NOT suppose to be a school teacher so my hats of too you in this profession......

thats about it. off to complete some more layout that need journalling and touching up...

another class tomorrow and i have

just finished putting together the last bits of the packs. My friend Tina from Scrapbook Magik kindly order in the papers and made it look pretty, so all i needed to do was add the chipboard tags that I made (what a mission getting the holes thru), cut the ribbon up and choose two different paints as I have a girl and boy set... oophs forgot to mention its for an altered clipboard class with our holiday program which thankfully is only about 20 kids... otherwise I mighthave gone stark raving mad with more (thats is of course still a possibility). Thinking however that I may be a little ummmmm... whats the word I'm looking for.......... anal.... yip I'll go with that............... everytime I have a class I sketch out the layout of the room, what different 'posts' i need (ie paint, stamping) , a set of instructions and guides and a couple of games and prizes to go with it.... and it is delivered as what I could describe as an organised chaios (??? certainly no spelling bee winner) but hey thats my style and I enjoy doing that as well!!

Oh something to share..... one of the best memories I have being brought up by my nan is going to the library once a week. Got books galore as a kid, but from the little te puke town library I was allowed five books, of which one had to be a cook book ( so I would be a good wife! LOL) and one a junior novel to improve my comprehension skills. Ok fast forward........I'm a book worm no two ways about it.... so today since I'm spending money on scrapbooking now and not books I took my children to the library and we joined.... rewind... back in my day you had a paper library card with a number and your initials. Yah hand over the card it gets entered in the little library card pocket and the old date stamp went in with it. fast forward.... te puke library got rid of this years ago and removed all the little date slips and library pockets with it............present day... I'm in the te puke library and go to the corner where I hung out as a nine year old (some 21 years ago arrrghhhh) I spot one of my favourite books which I remember reading back in the day... hello open it up and low in behold theres the library card pocket with my name and initials on it and a date stamp of 26 June 1984..... how cool is that... so i go across to the librarian and ask if I can have the pocket, the card and the date slip then tell her why and she says, why thats lucky those where suppose to be destroyed years ago, of course you can my dear..... oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah (she does a little dance in her chair) and hello I find one other book and low and behold as if by fluke, chance, luck or whatever you call it I find another one with my name and number dated in 1983. I opened a couple of other ones not familiar to me and there were no cards, all removed and I tried a few more, yip all removed ... scary...LOL........so yip theres a page a brewing and a memory that held so dear to the heart that like a book it had gathered so much dust that it was almost forgotten, so I shall scrap and I shall cry , scrap and cry again and remember my grandmother with a quiet and sad ache that bring both a smile and a tear............ (and then go to the library and offer to buy those old versions of the books!!! LOL)

PS They were my favourite and you can tll becuase I had them issued to me every year, twice a year from 1983 to 1993, which was when I left Te Puke..... they were Heidi and Little Women :)

in an attempt

to contribute to the scrapbooking flavour of my blog just did a digi layout (tool me 20mins) as I havent posted one in a while. Not to say that I havent done one in fact somewhat the opposite, but in the short amount of space and given its after 1am I decided to quickly do one up. So here it is. Borrowed Yolandes book by Cathy Z and decided to try it out. Have now worked out how to make my alphas look like they are chipboard shaped so its one of those practice makes perfect things, but I have to keep doing it like 20 consective times in a row which ends up taking the joy and elation of actually having done the darn thing in the first place.

On the scrapbook front I am waiting for my tarisota, my heidi swapp ghost alphabet (x2), my basic grey baby girl and baby boy papers, my urban lily papers, my 12x12 album, fiskars scissors, sewing machine but just got my maya road chipboard goodies, my heidi swapp chipboard letter (in a pretty box I might add) and yes I managed to get some contract money to pay for this all.... food, rent, clothing all irrelevant........

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!! for my son growing up and being all of the big 16 months that he is.... his cot is being moved out of the room along with his draws and storage shelves and hello waalaa I have a space (albeit 1.9m by 4m) to create a permanent scrapbooking space. am so ecited about having a wall of my own... who knows when I grow uo it might turn into a room LOL. So what to do with the wall space. All ideas appreciated. Looking at rent to own paper racks, dad gonna make me a desk with a hole in it to sweep da rubbish away. getting a new computer desk that sits on a corner angle, just brought some agee jars with metal lids to stall my ribbon and gonna go to gararge sales for other bits and bobs................ am so excited about this little little newly created space...

will keep you posted!

Wednesday night and I just got home

and am thinking i still need time to unwind from the day... however this blog will be subject to a long line of the letter "t" from where my head would hit the keyboard from falling asleep... not making much sense... good exactly how i feel....

.......a photos of my dad. he has stomach cancer and has chosen not to seek medical interventions such as chemo and as his daughter this drives me nuts... however this was diagnosised 2 years ago and he still working being the man of the earth that he is. so a picture of the male role model in my life....

ok so just go thome from teaching a class of twenty five and what a buzz, really enjoyed it was hard work and required a great level of patience (which isnt one of my strong points) but felt great, and good so excellent feedback and have been asked to deliver classes every month so looking foward to that.

had parent interviews on monday night and my two boys are doing so well.. and one received a principles award in his portfolio and the other won the maori speech competition for his year. my daughter continues to be her ' wonderful' self while my baby is still getting used to being dropped off and picked up from homecare but seems to enjoy the hours between those times... i'm told that we always treat our babies differently because they are our last born and whislt i would deny it vermently with my family, here quietly on my blog i cant help but feel sentimental about his milestones and his life. one of the LO I have just done is one that celebrates this little man as he has a wicked sense of humour.... we have ordered him a t-shirt that says 'chocolate coloured moko' cause he is the blackest baby ever on hubbys side and often refer to him as our 'cheeky darky' honestly hes awesome

***Carol asked me if I could repost my journalling of my sons birth(oldest and youngest) so pulled them out again... ***

June 1997 (okay this is my first child and I'm 22. Yeah made it past my 21st!!) ** Personal note. I really wanted to go over this and change the language but it was written by a 22 girl so thought I'd better leave it... ........**

Given that it was winter, the sun was out. I’d been really tired but wanted to clean up. I’d read all the literature given you were our first and accordingly this was referred to as nesting. The midwife Jenny had been in earlier and things were looking great and she had said to me, your baby will be here in three days. So this was the second day and I’m exhausted but healthy.
Headed over to Tauranga. Dad had just arrived home from uni so picked him up from the bus stop. Dads in a good mood and its nice having him home. So back to the orchard where its quiet. Nana and papa are busy… its kiwifruit season so there not a lot of words in the house just the occasional grunt, but the fires blazing so we kick back..
Its been a while since dad home so being a guy he wants to say hello. But I’m uncomfortable and its not happening… not at all… its late and I’m tired. So second best option we kick back in the lounge next to the fire. I’m feeling some twinges…. I’m sitting on the ground with dad on the chair …. We check the clock…. Are these contractions neither of us are sure but we are excited.. this could be it, you who we have waited so long for. So being the first time parents that we are we pull out the note book and start physically recorded the time of the contraction the end of the contraction and the length. First time parents maybe we all do it the same but I’m scared now the reality has kicked in and though I don’t know what perfect looks, it’s what I want.
It’s getting later and the intensity kicking in so we call the midwife with the times. She says wait until there about five six minutes and then call her and come in. Its nerve racking, time and contraction are contradictions. It hurts but don’t come in till it hurts so more. I hear the door open, nans come home, I go to tell her but she’s just done a double shift in the pack house and looks grumpy and tired. But your dad gives me a nudge so I knock on the door… “What” - yip nans tired “Ummm, I think I’m having my contractions’ – I smile and grit my teeth… “ohh… ok…’ – change in tone to a softness that I need “let me finish my bath’ We call the midwife again, no your ok just have a sleep Didn’t happen, could sleep my mind was running a mile a minute, called aunty lah in Waikato. She’s spewing, she stuck with no car and she so want s to be here. She blames nan.
Ready to leave, the pains kicked in and I’m not sure I can do this, but I’ve been praying during my pregnancy for an easy birth and a healthy child so here hoping I can cope. I grab my pack that I packed two months in advance just in case and take a final glance at the room, there the bassinet with the net drape, the port a cot, the nappy holder and the Winnie the pooh pictures and that I've collected over the last six months all in preparation for you. We decide not to ring my nan. It’s late and as a general rule first time births take on average about 16 hours (again I’d read all the literature) so maybe in the morning so she doesn’t fret. Nana and papa come over in the truck and we tell nana Kath and koko on the way over.
The hospital so quiet and I try listen to hear the screams of women giving birth. But I’m not going to be like that, only päkehä scream my nan reckons. But I hear nothing but the footsteps of the nurses and whispers of awaiting dads. We ring nana Margaret and she growls your dad, its too early ring me later when it’s closer to the time.
I’m so nervous, your dads holding one hand, reassuring me were ok, and we get in the ugly hospital jimmies, because I don’t want to get me clothes paru…. I’m allowed into the bath to help soothe the pain (that’s what the literature said) but it doesn’t help but it took so long to fill that my contractions started to advance anyway. So now we're in the dim lit room and I’m pacing and trying to get comfortable but nothing is helping. Dad and papa are trying to help me get the pain of my back so I’m trying to suspend my light self by hanging off them, nana Kath gives me a mirimiri, nan holds my hand, man its intense… cant get comfortable it hurts to much ………
I want to push, you sure… yip I want to push… man I want to push…. So the midwife breaks my water to help me along…. Man I really want to push now……………..the pain is insane and papa is wiping my head with a flannel… and its all a bit much……….the pain………….. 3 minutes later from having my water broken……. The head crowns and the body follows all at once………….. the elation the relief………… the midwife nearly drops you….. you… all I can hear is sobbing……. In a towel your dad bring you to me and whispers ..its a boy……………my son…a beautiful baby boy……….. our son…I cry for that which is and that which wasn’t………. a boy… I always wanted a son first………. It’s a boy nan…………..my son…………. Born 6:07am 6 June 7pd 14oz Dec 2004

7 Dec 2004
(ok now I'm thirty and I want to cry.......) The day you arrived it was a warm morning and we didn’t have a lot of plans other than to await your arrival and we had kinda been waiting since mid November. But still made our midwifes appointment at 11 and on ‘inspection’ not much was happening, so applying a special midwife technique, Juanita hoped for the best. Feeling slightly dishearted and exceedingly ‘heavy’ we picke dup uncle Bernie and went to bayfair. I wasn’t feeling to great so stayed in the car while dad and uncle went and got a feed.
I started experiences twinges but nothing to much more that that and only on an occasional basis, plus I didn’t want to get over excited. So its latter in the day and we are kicking back at home and I realize that the twinges are getting more frequent though not longer and not so sore. Birth hurts so this wasn’t it! I’m laying on Parekotukus bed, reading with her jumping all over me and dad starts massaging my feet, it hurts a little more so we ring the midwife and she says relax we’re ok its not hurting. I explain its more frequent lasting longer but doesn’t feel like a ‘real’ contractions have kicked in! but dad gets the black car ready, opens up the back, puts down the mattress… if nothing else we’re ready to go!
Change in pace, contractions three/four minutes apart lasting two minutes, pain threshold low… umm ring midwife, umm midwife says ok make your way over but its sounds ok. So dad helps me off the bed I get up and whoosshh, my water have broken… that’s never happened before…… go to toilet, ok ‘stuffs’ hanging out….. that’s never happened before….. Change in pace… ring midwife… midwife says oh no… ring ambulance…we ring ambulance.. midwife says assume the position…. I go into the lounge and assume the position… my babies are worried.. Bernie takes kids outsie to play… its 6:30pm.. I’m on the floor.. I’m thinking man not my carpet… ok pain.. I feel pain… lots and lots of pain.. where did that come from… ohhh more pain… ambo arrives… are we going to deliver at home… juct a quick check… umm no.. oh man… ambos a guy, oh man….
Change in pace… lifted into the ambulance…. I’m ok boys (ok that’s a lie) Rangitautini is standing on deck with big tears… look after them Bernie…oh man…outside on stretcher…. Oh man pull my t-shirt down…now in the ambulance.. its cramped… its old, new one getting serviced… oh man…we’re away….
Change in pace.. the pain…why are we driving so slow… safety first… oh man…turn over on the stretcher…the stretchers for small people…oh man…. the pain…I’m looking at dad.. he’s freaked… the pain… we drive past the marae… dads thinking pull over have my baby outside moko… the pain… past uncle rays and the whanau… the pain… in town… parametic says pull over.. what!...
Change in pace… chronic pain… oh man… I wanna push.. keep breathing… its so hot.. its summer… why is he closing the window… starting pushing… oh my god the pain… I’m crying and dads freaked… oh man… its to hot… I’m getting frustrated… whats happening..breath babe breathe… oh man… whats happening… I have to push now… I’m gonna push.. the pain… its hot… oh man…. Pushhhhhhhh….breathe babe breathe……elation and relief… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….. tihei mauri ora…..its a boy…. Is he ok….. a boy…a beautiful bonny, kinda chingy looking boy………a son …our son …….another beautiful son…………Joseph…7:06pm Dec 7 2005 ...end

Scrapbooking wise completed another couple pages got my tarisota, brought my tickets to CC06, booked my flights and just trying to work out the accommodation thing....... well i feel a line of 't' coming on............. good night...

March is nearly over already

If I could pull myself away from my computer long enough I might find that I would get more scrapbooking done. However now that I'm lecturing have found that I need to be a bit more prepared for my class that I have been over the last two weeks. The first couple weeks were cruisy only because it was concentrating on things like oreintation and study skills 101 sort of thing. However lifes changed as today we started our level 4 on human anatomy and physiology so my head hurts MAJOR. Funniliy enough though, I have managed to incorporate scrapbooking into my class so have a session booked for my students next week... hehe cant believed management approved it and then determined to pay it... wicked who knows maybe able to convert somebody.

Attended a midnight scrap on Friday and managed to complete 2 layout of which was scraplifted except changed a few colours added and few elements and waalah DONE. Was having a tutu in photoshop using the photomerge tool, but ended up combining some digitial elements to get a feel of what the page might look like but instead did both... not the plan but worked out ok. As I have gotten so much more confident with Adobe, finding digital layout an excellent way to practice my new skills but happily report I love paper!!



Good to also have a copy of for keeps too. Mate that was becoming a mission trying to get one, not use to the 'new' layout as yet as the last one I brought came out with a completementary "g" from basic grey (I was serious when I said I was hard press to get one) and had converted back to buying Scrapbook Memories which I still enjoy especially for the photo tech info. Congrats to the new DT for Scrapbook Outlet, that must have driven some amazing publicity so great things for Scrapbooking in NZ.

Have been working with our little scrapbook storeowner in Te Puke, so have got four classes booked for April and yeah I get a amount for each student so that converts to product!! I so love product.

Good news on the whanau front, my mother in law was proposed to in the weekend infront of the everyone during a whanau BBQ and my son is competing for the Maori speech awards at his school. Like every parent I soooooo think he should win..... and I sooooooo will go and see the Principle if he doesnt:) Yip I'm one of those parents............ better get to bed........ well maybe soon.......

photos werent a go so rnew post

Bring on Friday

Ok so in theory have five day weekends means rest and relaxtion. Well after two weeks in my new role this is yet to happen. It would seem that even though I'm not working ona Friday or Monday, other people, including my parents believe me to be bored and as a result nominate me for those 'long term' tasks that need only a couple of dedicated hours to be completed... so that means ME. Too busy to scrapbook but cant think of anything else. Did manage to go and introduce myself to a women in Te Puke who has opened a Scrapbooking Shop called Scrapbook Magik (Tina shes lovely) and offered to run some classes for her. Ok I'm not usually this brave and given I have been only doing this for a year, determined that doing that was quiet forward for me... So why did I do that.. I mean I have four busy kids, am on numerous Trust and Boards, work full time and do a lot of community/ iwi work.... oh thats right because I'm an idiot!! Ok as well as the fact that I love sharing scrapbooking and get an especial buzz out of taking a class. So for April I have got four classes fully booked (20 in two fo the classes but thinking thats far too much) so ok taking myself to the next level....... cant wait... still want to open my own store......... umm how to make that happen... not sure one day........... maybe...... please...

Looking forward to Scrapcamp and hear numbers are looking good, so if you havent already booked you'd better hurry

Um photos of my week are... the powhiri for my new students, the graduation for my old students who just completed there Bachelor of Nursing, the Maketu triatholon which my oldest boy Rangitautini (Rangi toe tinny) did and a photo shoot for a teenager with attitude. Also doing part time photography and have got a few shoots lined up for the next months and being as original as I am it called......... wait for it ............tibblewilliams photography ...I know I know..........
** update** I did try and load those photos several times but to no avail. Blogspot/ Xtra whats going on??!! Will try again later tonight.........

I'm so proud of me!!

Have just completed my first digitial job and decided I did a spiffy job of it and couldnt seriously believe how easy it was.... I still love paper based but certainly had a lot of fun and did this layout in about half the time!! The papers are from the morning side collection including all the embellishments and was from the book digitial design for scrapbooking which I got via KS. Thinking I'm gonna be taking up heaps of that Gigage (is that a word?) on my broadband looking for goodies!!

Ok thats it just wanted to share my news. Sorry forgot to mention thanks to those who drop in but especially those who comment. I love getting them and it surely gives me a buzz and keeps blogging. Much appreciated!!!!!