Friday, June 12, 2009

Bring on the snow!

The past few weeks have been pretty busy. The weather has been cold and a little bit miserable although this week there have been some sunny days which have allowed washing to be dried on the line... outside. You know how exciting that is at this time of year!
Claire has been busy doing her assignments which seem to be going well so far. The first assignment came back with a pass WITH merit which was very exciting. She just posted off her second assignment yesterday and we have our fingers crossed for a pass with DISTINCTION. Ooh err.

Mark ran the Christchurch Marathon on the Sunday of Queens Birthday weekend. His time was 3 hours 37 minutes which was a little more than he had hoped for but still an amazing effort none the less. He said he was at the start line when it started sleeting and hailing and briefly wondered what on earth he was doing. Claire was his number one supporter meeting him at each checkpoint with water and words of encouragement.

Paula and I went to Queenstown this weekend just past. It was the first time that Great Aunty Paula (GAP for short) had met Annabelle AND the first time in about 20 years that she had been to Qtown. We left Chch on Saturday with our standard boot load of vegetables and got to Hensman Road just after 4.30pm. It was a great trip down - I had grabbed a few of the 'Ave's Beats' CD's to listen to on the drive but we didn't need them as we chatted for the first 5 hours of the drive. I learnt some family history I didn't already know.
Annabelle was as cute as ever and had lots of big smiles for us. Although everytime I tried to take a photo she would stop smiling and then start up again as soon as the photo was taken! I did manage to get a couple of good ones though. Bless her.

Gavin and Catkin are well and happy and healthy. It was a great weekend.
Paula and I both had Monday off so we left the Southern Bartlett's house on Monday morning for our journey back to Chch. The weather was perfect - sunny but crisp. There was a sprinkling of snow over The Remarkables which looked spectacular as the sun was setting.

Last week David Bain was found NOT GUILTY of murdering his family. A verdict met with mixed emotions by the public. This week some new evidence has come to light which was not allowed during the trial. It was the 111 call made by David when he found his family dead. Some 'experts' believe he is saying 'I shot the prick' amongst laboured breathing. It was on the news last night and when Hilary Barry suggested that he actually says 'I'm out of breath' it sounded more like that to me. I think it would sound like a lot of different things if you are told what to listen for before listening to it. Anyway, Joe Caram is still his biggest supporter and tends to answer all questions directed at David. Kind of like an agent.

I was so fed up with Woman's Day last week that I wrote a letter to the Editor. I turn a blind eye to their spelling, gramatical, and factual errors but when they published a full page and a half Nivea ad of the winner of NZ's Next Top Model BEFORE the final show had aired I was LIVID!
I also mentioned that they should change their cover 'stars' occasionally as they tend to rotate between 'Brangelina', 'TomKat', Jennifer Anniston, and Posh. Every week it's one of those on the cover. Boring. I may have also had a dig at the Editor's letter the week earlier about having to have a cold shower due to running out of gas. She rang her gas company and was told there was a 4 day delay due to their work load. The way she wrote it sounded to me like she expected everyone to drop tools and cater to her needs because the world revolves around her. I got a little volcano in my tummy! Pretty certain I will switch to Woman's Weekly now for my gossip/crossword fix.

We won our netball again last night. Whoop whoop! We played against a team we hadn't played before. Final score was 25-19. Claire and I have decided that Richard Hampton is our lucky charm as both games he has brought Ashley to have been successful. We're currently trying to persuade him to come to EVERY game but he's not having any of it. I'm sure I'll find something to bribe him with. He likes carrot cake muffins and I make a mean carrot cake WITH cream cheese icing. Mmmmm..

This weekend will be pretty quiet. Claire has a workshop for her registering teachers at ours tomorrow morning so I thought it would be a good time to book in for a wax. Ouch. Might go and check out the new mezzanine floor at Riccarton Mall afterwards (if I can walk). The weather forecast is for cold Southerlies and sleet which is a shame as I was planning to get into the vege garden and clean it all up and put compost over it so it would be all ready for planting in Spring.
Still waiting for a decent snow fall so I can legitimately take a 'Snow Day' off work. Come On!!

Min and Toby say 'Feed me Meow, hiss nip'