Project List

I just read back over my old posts, and I think I need to make another project list:

• Knitting - still on the Pixie Hoods as I have loads of wool! My midwife gave me some tougher carpet wool, so that may get made into slippers instead.
• Sewing - Reusable gift wrap is the main focus ready for selling on the stall. I've cut up all the spare fabric I had that was big enough, and now need to iron it and sew it up. I'll try and get that done before the first stall, so I think I'll be getting the old sewing machine out tonight.
• Greetings cards - I've made a big batch of Christmas cards, and have envelopes and plastic bags for all of them, just need to finish off the Christmas tree ones with a little star and I'm all set. Once these are sold, I'll get more materials for another batch.

• Scrapping - I've been given some lovely girly papers and embellishments by a fellow scrapper for my birthday, so I'm going to print out a big copy of this picture of the girls and put that in their scrapbook.

• Mainly Music - this term's theme is Body and Beat and I'm using an old program so everyone knows it! It's designed to get everyone up and moving a bit more.
• Toy Library - I am no longer on the committee, but I haven't been down to hire toys or do a voluntary duty for ages, so I'm popping in on Saturday to rectify this.

That's everything now, the rest of my time is filled by coffee groups, playgroups, swimming lessons, storytime at the library and housework. What an exciting life I lead!

Life with 4 children?

Yesterday my darling friend Jude was sick, so I looked after her 2 kids for the morning. Cheyenne is 3, and Kiowa is 1, so with my two being 2 and 7 weeks, I had quite a brood! I borrowed Jude's van as there was no way they would all fit in my car, and bless them, they were little angels. We went to music (where I danced around at the front as usual), then went home and played in the garden til lunch time.

I learned a lot about negotiation, and as long as Mapera was copying Cheyenne she was happy. Kiowa had a great time just pushing a trolley around the garden, and he danced all the way through lunch! I don't think I could cope with 4 so close together in age, but it got me thinking about the idea of having another 2 later on. Maybe once Mapera is at Kindy. I think I'd cope, but it means I'd have to go through childbirth twice more...argh! Anyone got any tips on increasing the chance of having twins? If I had twins, I could have a c-section and get Tareka to stay home while I recover from the operation - woo!

Mind you, while Mapera still has an afternoon sleep, I do get a few hours a day when they are both sleeping, so that probably wouldn't happen if I had more kids!

Ask me again in about 12 months...

Projects:
Christmas cards are just about done, I just have to add a star to the ones with Christmas trees on. I have a few Pixie hoods to sell, but I don't have enough fabric to make bonnets yet, and to be honest the patterns look a bit confusing, so I may rope Mum into helping me with the first one to see how hard they are.
Liz has a load of stuff to sell, apparently. We still have more re-usable gift wrap to make, and I need to print out some posters and price lists with our new logo on! Will probably post again once we've done our first market, wish me luck!

Sunday 21st October

I'M 30!!! Wooo!

Up and at 'em

Well it's been a fairly productive week. Liz and I got together over the weekend and made a start on the reusable gift wrap for our first stall. We're booked into a local market on the first Saturday in November, so I need to get on with finishing my Christmas cards, and Pixie hoods. I also got a letter published in the local paper! I'll copy and paste it at the end of this post for anyone wanting to read it.
Finally, I joined a boxing club in an effort to get fit. A local fella has opened a free boxing club just literally at the end of my street, so I've joined to do the training twice a week. I'm not going to be sparring, but he's keen for people to join up for fitness reasons, so me and my buddy Jude are going on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for an hour. We went for the first time this week, and we're both suffering now!! We did skipping, crunches, squats and lunges, cardio-boxing and various other "shadow-boxing" techniques. I surprised myself with how much I COULD do, but man I'm sore today, and it's on again tonight!
We're also going to make the effort to get the kids out to a local park on a Saturday or Sunday (depending on the weather) to have a game of footy or frisbee.

Roll on weight loss!

Here's the letter I wrote in response to an article about the little estate I live on:

Dear Sir/Madam

Following the article in the Franklin County News on October 4^th about Brian Davis and his work in setting up a gym in Hamilton Estate, I felt compelled to write in.

Not, as you may think, to applaud Mr. Davis on his fantastic commitment to youth (which I do), but to voice my objection to the first 2 paragraphs describing Hamilton Estate as

“…a gang hang-out…an area where kids ape the American slums.

The streets are covered in litter and graffiti dots every available surface – fences, power boxes, even homes.”

I object most strongly to the area being compared to “American slums”, the area is green and bright, and dotted with small reserves, the houses still have decent sized gardens and the residents tend them most proudly.

The kids I have met have been polite, friendly and happy. I know all my neighbors well, and our children play together regularly. I have always been greeted by friendly faces when I walk around the area, and even given a few bags of peaches by one lovely lady.

I have seen graffiti I admit, but it has only ever been on unoccupied buildings, and is quickly painted over by owners as soon as it is noticed. The local rugby club building that Mr. Davis is making use of was only vandalized as no one was using it, and I honestly believe this will now change.

As for the “streets covered in litter” I have seen more litter in the stretch of Kitchener Road outside the netball courts than I have along my street.

In short, labeling Hamilton Estate as the “bad area” of town will only make the people who live there feel undervalued as citizens of Waiuku, and serve to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. This little slice of heaven won awards as a model village when it was first built by the steel mill, and I for one am proud to be a resident of Hamilton Estate.

Yours faithfully
Louise Ratcliffe

Tummy bugs

Phew, what a week. Mapera got a nasty puking bug from her friends last week, poor little mite. She spent the day lying on the sofa drinking water and throwing up. I eventually got some coca cola and gave her 1/2 a cup of it flat and she stopped puking straight away, then was fine after that!! Good stuff that coke!
We all seemed fine after that, then I made the mistake of visiting the same friends on Sunday, and although all the kids were fine, Dad had the runs, so surprise surprise, Monday morning I wake up with the same thing.
Coke didn't kill it this time, so poor Tareka had to take 2 days off work to look after me and the girls til I got it out of my system (basically by not eating for 2 days and just drinking rehydration sports drinks).
I'm all better now, thank goodness, and the bonus is I've lost 3kg! I really shouldn't be so happy to have lost weight by being violently ill for 2 days, but hey, that's what happens when you have body image "issues".

Projects are still mainly knitting pixie hoods for the stall (though they won't sell well over summer, so I may save them until the weather cools off again).













I've also managed to complete the first page of Mapera and Kaitereo's scrapbook.
I went and spent some cash on the materials to make some nice Christmas cards too, so I'll be getting together with my craft-buddy soon in order to get them underway.