Too... hot... to... think...

Today it got to 45.6 degrees people! That's 114 degrees F.

And some parts of the state got to 47.5 (117.5F)!!!

What is going on?

The a/c at work did a beautiful job - it's always too cold in there but today - perfection! Chickie's school, on the other hand, isn't coping so well. Here they are, 2 days into the new school year and they're being advised to either stay home the next few days or only come in the mornings, as their a/c isn't coping. Luckily J has tomorrow off anyway and I'll have my usual Friday off, so that won't be too difficult to manage.

Anyone in the North Hemisphere want some heat? Would be more than happy to pass some on to you!

OK

I'm no longer the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. I am now greater than that :)

For those of you who like lolcats...

This from roflrazzi.com cracks me up:


PS: Zazzy, if you're thinking of getting a Roomba - go for it. Frogdancer's comment on that post was pretty close to how I feel about it!

Oh and Stomper - it appears the Lego-less floor means I now have Lego-full lounge... but at least there's no stepping on it in the middle of the night - sounds like Phos has done his fair share of that!

Another year...

Happy new year everyone. Hope you all had a lovely holiday season.

Ours was nice and quiet - a good thing after Christmas 2007's busy one with all my family here (way too hectic for me). New year's was pretty quiet too - I had to work at 7am new year's day.

I received some lovely pressies too - one big surprise from J and Chickie was a robot vacuum cleaner - a Roomba (looks like the third generation one shown in the link there). Normally I am not the person to appreciate whitegoods or household items as personal gifts. This however is like the best thing evah!! It cleans the floors - without me doing a thing (I don't even have to press the button since J and Chickie will be setting it off when they leave in the morning. So I can come home to a nice clean floor!

An added benefit is that all Lego has to be off the floor before they leave (cos it won't care what it picks up!). So not only do I get clean floors but I get Lego-less floors - bonus!

It's almost here...

I swear the pre-Christmas period gets crazier and crazier! I feel like I've been going flat out, but I don't think I've been doing very much.

The last week and a half I've had annual leave and basically I've been spending the time with Chickie and trying to get my Christmas shopping done. I finally got the shopping done, but I have a sinking feeling I didn't post things away in time. I'm not game to inquire with my family just in case they didn't make it in time. I'll just sit here, cross my fingers and hope like crazy they made it!

Christmas, for us this year, will be relatively quiet - J's family for lunch. Boxing day we're going for a picnic in the Botanical Gardens and then the day after we'll visit J's Grandmother. Next year I'll have to be more organised as we're most likely going to spend Christmas with my Mum and Dad (3 states away!). I hope I can manage it hehehe.

Well, at the moment all is sorted and Chickie is in bed awaiting a visit from a certain jolly fat fellow. Oh and by awaiting, I mean he's laying in bed staring out the window into the sky. I can't seem to convince him that the quicker he falls asleep, the quicker Santa (and Christmas day) will be here. I'd guess this is happening all over though!

I hope you and yours have a very happy Christmas and holiday season. May 2009 bring all the joy and happiness you could wish for.

I'm an aunty again!!

I just got a phone call - J's sister (A) has had her little baby girl!

Apparently A was swearing enough to make a trooper blush but mum and baby (P) are just fine.

Stats from J's dad are:

Weight: 7 pounds, 12 ounces
Length: 50 cm
Head circumference: 35 cm

I wonder why we still give out birth weight in imperial but go metric for the other measurements? The doctors and nurses normally give out weight in metric but every time I've heard people ask for details, they give out (and ask for) weight in pounds etc.

Oh and as for details regarding the last post...

Yes, J's mum is still talking to us (we're supposed to go out to dinner tonight - will have to see how that goes now), no we didn't have enough to share (normally we make just enough for us without leftovers) but J's mum refused all offers of anything. She also told me how she did a very similar thing to her own mum years ago so had a good laugh about it!

Ok, I'm terrible!

J's dad is currently away on a business trip so we thought it would be nice if we took J's mum out to dinner. Chickie's been asking to go out to a restaurant for a few weeks too (he loves eating out).

Arrangements were made for last night - J's mum would come round at 6 and we'd all head down to the restaurant.

Well, J's mum came around, but we were just sitting down to dinner - we totally forgot! I felt so bad about it (still do!). Seriously I have a mind like swiss cheese sometimes.

How embarrassing...

Grrrr!

I am so angry right now.

On my way to work today, I heard that Chickie's school has had a fire in a storage shed. The police suspect arson. This is the second fire in less than a month. A few weeks ago their art room and adjoining classrooms were destroyed.

The fire a few weeks ago caused so much heartache for the staff and teachers. There were irreplaceable personal items lost, as well as a heap of school equipment. Then there's the loss of the rooms themselves. Thousands and thousands of dollars worth of damage - and Chickie's teacher says they don't know if they can use the buildings again. Last I heard they'd probably have to be demolished.

Now another building - this time a storage shed. I've no idea what's in it but I can't imagine there'd be too many empty storage sheds around. They'll have lost stuff I'm sure.

Now Chickie's school is not a big one. In fact enrollments are shrinking in this particular school. It's just a local junior primary/primary school, tucked into a well established family area. It's not rich but it's a lovely school. With the exception of stupid vandals who think it's funny to break windows, spray paint on the buildings and smash glass on the oval (what a mean thing that is to do to a school - the kids couldn't use it for ages), it's well cared for and the school itself has a lovely community feel.

Why do people do this?

It's amazing...

what a bit of exercise and achievement will do for you.

Lately I've been up and down a bit but right now I feel like I'm on the top of the world. The reason? Well, today was the grading for karate. J, Chickie and I have been going for a while now and probably should have gone to grading months ago - but tournaments, New Zealand trips and various other things got in the way. So, today was it.

I was so nervous yesterday and today (well ok I've been a little nervous about it for ages). I was positive I wasn't going to make it - but guess what? I DID!! J and I officially have our yellow belts in GKR Karate.

Chickie didn't want to do the grading so we didn't push him, but we'd still like him to go to the classes. I don't really blame him to be honest, it was quite tough. Usually we'd have a lesson for about an hour but grading was for two hours. Talk about exhausting too! At one stage I thought I'd have to excuse myself to go throw up! Luckily I got that under control though.

So, right now I'm tired and my feet are a bit sore but I'm over the moon!

You know those times when all you want to do is crawl back into bed and pull the blanket over your head - and then stay there a few years? Yeah, that's me at the moment.

I don't know why exactly, there's no real reason for it. I've had some interesting experiences I could have written about (meeting up with a couple of friends from World of Warcraft, attending a wedding of a friend where one of the groom's family tried to sabotage things, completely forgetting daylight saving started on the weekend when I start at 7am on a Sunday etc) but I don't know... I just don't feel inspired to write about them.

I feel... deflated (?) I guess. Flat and uninspired. Sorry...

Thanks!

Ok, your 'boring week' vibes have obviously helped. Thanks!

It didn't start out so well, but the majority was relatively quiet and peaceful. I started off by banging my car door on the side of the car parked next to me - there was a huge gust of wind as I opened the door and it ripped the handle out of my fingers. I felt so bad about it but they haven't called (I left my number) so perhaps it wasn't too bad.

The major 'highlights' for the rest of the week included lots of hayfever (bad this year, probably because it's been so windy) and Chickie drawing a picture, of the two of us, with a broken heart between us. He wasn't very happy that day. He rarely eats his sandwich at school and J and I have said he can have a snack after school - as long as his lunch has been eaten first (either at school or at home afterwards). He didn't want it that day so chucked a small tanty when I wouldn't give in.

I can handle that though - and he apologised later and said he shouldn't have drawn it. Then he drew a picture of us with a couple of unbroken hearts in between us. That's got pride of place here at my desk now!

What a week...

Ok, so last week Chickie chips his tooth - massive self-inflicted guilt trips over that.

I forget to ring my nephew on his birthday and then forget to call dad on father's day. I suck at being a daughter and an aunt.

Early this week he gets a virus. Fever and then starts complaining of a sore neck and sore eyes. Massive (internal) freak outs because you're always told to watch out for symptoms like that. 24 hour health line advises us of what to look out for and to take Chickie to the doctor's in the morning. Doctor says it's a virus and that he should be fine but tells us what to watch out for if it gets worse. Massive amounts of relief after that!

Today J's sister called. She's pregnant and had the 1 hour test for gestational diabetes this week. Unfortunately it came back high (8.5 for those in the know) - so massive reassurances over the phone for her. She's terrified of needles and the only person she knows who's had GD was me - who had to have insulin injections twice a day. She'll be fine I'm sure, but she'll need some emotional support to get there, I think. She goes in for the 2 hour test this week. Please send vibes that if she definitely does have GD, that it's mild and she can control it with diet and exercise.

And now, Chickie and I are just back from the Dentist's. The dentist said we could just even it up if the chip was smaller, but we'd lose about 2mm in size and it would be quite noticeable. So, a filling of sorts was added. Chickie was afraid they'd give him robot teeth (amalgam fillings) but the dentist reassured him it would be the same colour as his teeth. Chickie didn't do too badly - didn't really want to open his mouth most of the time and then trying to talk through it the rest of the time (I'm sure this kid could talk underwater sometimes). He looked a bit shaky at the end, but then he's never had more than just a normal checkup before, so I expected it. I'm just glad he didn't need to have a needle to numb anything. I have no idea how he'd react to that.

Next week, will be calm, peaceful and dare I say it - boring. It will, I tell you! (If it knows what's good for it...)

Accidents happen...

but geez, I wish they'd leave poor Chickie's teeth alone!

When he was little and just learning to walk, he lost his balance a little and banged his chin on a chair. We think this was the cause of one of his baby teeth turning grey. The dentist said he might lose it if the tooth had been too traumatised, but we were lucky and it went back to mainly whitish and it stuck around. This was one of the two big top front teeth.

Later just before losing his other big tooth at the front, he managed to chip it. Not badly and we weren't too concerned as it was loose anyway.

Now, he has his two top front adult teeth and yesterday managed to chip one. I feel terrible about it as I couldn't catch him in time to stop it.

I took him to the small playground a block from our house and he started playing on the flying fox there. He loved that thing, so it was always the first thing he'd head for. This time was no different. Unfortunately on one go he fell or let go and went head first into the metal step on one end. There was a little bit of blood as he'd also hit his lip and there it was - the adult tooth chipped.

I've been mentally beating myself up about it because I just wasn't able to catch him in time. Hopefully the dentist will be able to cap it or something so I can assuage myself of this awful guilt!

Home again

Sad for the holiday to be over as it was a lot of fun, but it's good to be home.

The last couple of days were pretty good. J had caught a cold though so we took it pretty easy. He managed skiing on Thursday (lots of fun going up and down the carpet rides - which is so much easier than walking sideways up the hill to ski down) and Friday was a day of rest and luxury. It was raining in the morning so J took the opportunity to get some much needed rest. I read and watched a movie on tv. Then we walked down to the town to get some lunch and then came back to let J go back to bed. Unfortunately the walk to the town was downhill and back was up a quite steep hill and just the walk tired him out a fair bit.

Late in the afternoon he was feeling a lot better so we went off for a 30 minute float in a floatation tank and then had a 60 minute massage. That massage felt so good! Just what I needed to get rid of the last aches from the skiing (my calves and knees were killing me from the stance you need to use wearing the ski boots).

After some home-made pizzas for dinner with the rest of the group, J and I, as well as two others headed to a place that had lovely hot tubs. They messed up our booking but were still able to squeeze us in after a bit of a wait. These hot tubs were just the perfect way to finish off the holiday. They were big wooden ones (can hold 4 people but we had one to ourselves) and the private room you're in has a retractable wall and ceiling. During the day you get a gorgeous view of the Remarkables mountain range. At night it was mainly the stars with a little of the mountains in there as well. It was just beautiful! And even though there was snow on the ground just outside, you were warm because of the water and steam from the tub. So relaxing.

Saturday we had an afternoon bus ride back to Christchurch, so in the morning J and I saw a movie. Some of the other guys spent the morning walking through the area or having fun on the luge up on Bob's Peak, but J was still quite tired from his cold so we thought it best to take it easy (and stay warm - was still very cold outside!).

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast in the hotel we stayed at (delicious!) and then most of us headed to the Antarctic Centre just next door. Unfortunately Steve, we didn't get to go on the Haaglund ride, though it looked like fun. There was 10 of us (the other 5 went off sightseeing) and the centre said they'd give us a discount if we all did the same thing and most of the others didn't want to go on the ride. It was a good way to spend the morning though. The penguins were cute (though rather smelly) and the Antarctic storm was an experience. This was a room of snow and ice - kept at -8 C (17.6 F) and then after a 'radio warning' of a storm, they turned on the wind machines so we could experience the wind chill temperature you'd get at the Antarctic. 45 km winds (28 mph) which gave us a wind chill temperature of -18 C (0.4 F). Brrr!

The afternoon and evening was spent in airports and the air. The only disappointment I have with that is that New Zealand doesn't stamp your passport (not sure if that's only because we're from Australia), so my passport pages are still empty. Ah well - will just have to make sure we fill them in someday!

It was too late to pick up Chickie last night so we'll pick him up from school today. I cannot wait to see my little boy! We missed him so much, but it sounded like he had a great time at his grandparent's place, so that's a bit of a relief.

The last few days in Queenstown

The Lord of the Rings tour was pretty cool. We saw lots of places where scenes were shot and it's amazing how much was re-used and altered. Many scenes from the movies used pieces of scenery from one area, added to another and then had digitally added bits and pieces. A lot of the scenery was flipped so they could use the same area more than once and also to give the impression of a long journey. Apparently that also meant the actors had to often use their other hand to hold swords, axes, bows etc (so use their left hand if they're right-handed etc). It was all quite interesting.

Part of the tour was a bit of a trek through the snow on top of this mountain. Some of the snow came halfway up to my knee so the new boots I bought were very handy! Got some great scenery shots though.

Yesterday J and I went skiing again. We went to Coronet Peak again, instead of Cardrona. Some of the other guys went to Cardrona and said for the long drive to get there it wasn't really worth it. Mind you a lot of them are snow-boarding rather than skiing and it sounds like Cardrona is more suited for skiiers (though for us it doesn't matter since we'd only use the beginner slopes anyway). So we went to Coronet Peak again and J and I went up and down the beginner areas using the carpet ride. So much easier than trekking up the hill on your own and skiing back down.

I crashed into a few people but got better as the day went on. A couple of collisions weren't really my fault at least. One of them was with a girl who got off the carpet ride and just stopped to pick up snow. At the end of the carpet, there's really a bit of a deep sort of trail (from so many people coming off the end) so I wasn't physically able to just go around her. The guys running the carpet kept telling people to make sure they moved away so I figure it happened a lot.

Main thing is - I didn't get hurt and I didn't hurt anyone either (beginners all go pretty slow so crashes almost seem graceful!).

Last night we had dinner in the Skyline Gondola restaurant. Buffet and the food was amazing! The views over Queenstown were great too.

Today is our last day here and it's raining. Plus J's caught a cold. Time for a relaxing day I think. We're thinking of going to a spa in town and have a half hour in a floatation tank and then a massage. We still have a ski pass we can use and this is one of the places we can hand it in to. Hopefully they'll have an open spot for us.

A nice relaxed day

Today most of the rest of the group went skiing again (Coronet Peak again). One guy went skydiving, J and I went up the gondolas to the top of Bob's Peak (that's the name of the mountain we can see from our window). We had a good look around and took lots of photos - particularly of the people paragliding from the top of the mountain. I'll bet the views are awesome during the paragliding trip, they were fantastic just from the top where we were.

While up there, we had a go at the Luge track. So much fun!! We only did one ride for now but I'd love to go back again. J didn't bring his gloves though and his fingers were freezing after one go.

While up there we had a look at the restaurant we'll be dining at on Thursday night. It's called the Skyline Gondola Restaurant and it sounds so nice. Eating with the views over the mountains and the town should be lovely. Apparently there's also an option to see a Haka before dinner. I think we'll have to see that, if we can.

Tomorrow is the Lord of the Rings tour. It sounds pretty comprehensive - 20 locations and props from the actual movies. It goes for 7 hours too! Hopefully I'll have some nice photos from that. Some of the rest of the group are thinking of doing a horse riding tour tomorrow, while the others would like to try Cardrona for more skiing. Thursday will probably be at Cardrona for the rest of us and Friday, who knows - though it sounds like it might involve hot tubs!

I'm no ski bunny

Ok, first day of skiing down.

It turns out that I'm as good at skiing, as I am at other sports (which is to say... not very good!). J, me and one other of our group (call her C) were all newbies to skiing, having never skied before, so we got a private lesson. I was the first to fall over - sliding backwards, having no idea how to stop (hadn't got to that part yet). It was quite funny really.

We were taught the basics - particularly how to stop and then we had a go by ourselves. J and C were ok'd to go on the rope tow (to take them to the top of the beginner's slope) but the instructor suggested I practice from about halfway for a bit more yet.

J's first stack was one of the times he went up the rope tow. Apparently it jerks your arm quite a bit so I figure it will take me a bit to get used to it too! C seemed to get the hang of it quite quickly and 'graduated' to the carpet ride. I think J would have no problems on that as well, but he very chivalrously stayed with me.

After a bite to eat we had a bit more of a go, but we didn't stay out too long as it was starting to snow a bit harder and it was really quite hard to see well. It snowed pretty much the whole time we were there actually. The other reason I wanted to stop earlier than the others was the fact that I was tired and my boots were killing my legs.

Some observations on my skiing fun today...

Coronet Peaks at Queenstown is just lovely. Everyone should try it!

If you have to park in the 3rd carpark down, don't walk up in your ski boots. It might save you time but they are heavy to wear and very hard to walk in (let alone hike up a hill - while you're also wrangling a set of skis and poles).

Speaking of ski boots - my legs and knees are aching from wearing them today.

Chains (for your tyres) can be tricky to fit - it helps to have someone around who's put them on before (particularly if the rental company gives you two lots of dodgy sets).

Snow is wet and cold but LOTS of fun in a snowball fight (J won hehe).

Pictures as promised

Ok, here's some pictures of it snowing. Two are out our front windows - the apartment has a fantastic view of the mountain and the gondolas going up.

There's some not so pretty electricity cables but just ignore those.

The other is the garden/courtyard area. You can just see a little snowman in the corner. I don't know who made it - it was there when we got here. We're going skiing tomorrow so hopefully, at some stage during the day, I'll be able to make my own!

On the helicopter decision front, I'm now leaning towards doing an all day Lord of the Rings tour. The one I'm looking at says you can even handle items from the sets as well as see 20 locations used in the movies.

Decisions, decisions!

snow!

It was snowing when we woke up this morning! So pretty. J's taken a pic from our apartment window so I'll upload it later when we get it off the camera.

J and 3 others have gone for a jetboat ride. When they come back, one of the other three wants to possibly go bungy jumping. I'm not so sure of that myself. I know I've done the skydiving thing before, but the thought of bungy jumping makes me nervous!

What I'd love to do is take a helicopter ride to see a glacier. I think that would just be brilliant. It's about $500 or so dollars though and that's a lot of money. Perhaps I'll compromise and go for the $300 or so flight that does a landing somewhere. It doesn't say where exactly, it just says 'take your photo seemingly on top of the world' in the brochure, so I figure it's one of the mountains around the area (there's plenty here!). How cool would that be!

We're going to go get our ski gear hire today. So hopefully by this time tomorrow, I'll be taking lessons on how not to fall over in a big heap while wearing great big long planks of wood on your feet. Wish me luck!

First glimpses of New Zealand

We're here - and loving it!

The plane ride over was pretty uneventful, with the only real stand-out moment being the first glimpse of New Zealand peeking through the clouds. Just beautiful! Once we sort out all the photos, I'll put them up on Flickr - I'm sure I'll have many many shots of breath-taking scenery to show you.

We landed in Christchurch mid afternoon on Friday and had a quick look around. We didn't get to see very much of the area unfortunately (it was getting dark) but after a quick couple of pics we went and had something to eat. Christchurch actually seems a lot like home - but with a slight accent. Apparently Christchurch was designed by the same person that did Adelaide, so I guess that's why it felt so familiar.

Next up was another early night and early morning, and we caught a bus to Queenstown - arriving at about 2.30 this afternoon. The group we're travelling with has 3 serviced apartments and J and I lucked out and ended up with the only 1 bedroom apartment in the group. It's nice to have a bit of privacy!

Most of our group (there's 15 of us altogether) went to get fitted for boots and snow boards today, but J and I, along with 3 others have decided to do some sight-seeing first and get our boots and skis fitted tomorrow. We're not completely sure what we want to do tomorrow but J and the others may go have a jet boat ride (boats aren't my thing though) and most likely we'll take a drive around the area to see what's about.

The photo here was taken along the way to Queenstown. We could see the alps for most of the trip and the views were just spectactular. I've barely seen snow before so the scenery is just gorgeous. The view from our apartment is spectacular too. It looks out towards one of the mountains (I'm not sure which one) and it looks like it has a restaurant at the top. We're thinking of eating there on our last night here if possible. I'll have to take a pic of the view from our window, so you can see what I mean - it's amazing.

Apparently there's been quite a bit of snow here lately and there's quite a bit of slush around the town. I can't wait to get out into the snow a bit more and build a snowman (not to mention toss a snowball at someone!).