Just Do It

We had the first game of hockey for Nick and Tommy tonight.  They are both playing in the same team this year, which makes juggling practices and games a heck of a lot easier on us even though the team is a huge jump for Tommy.  We are hoping he will lift his game to meet the rest of the team, we will see how that goes though.  Today's game was against the top team in the competition and had a lot of the boys that Alistair played with last year.  It was great to catch up with those Mums and Dads again. 

Halftime saw us down by 2 goals to zero, but the defensive skills displayed by the boys were outstanding.  They had just started the second half and Nick was in the thick of a tackling battle defending our goal when suddenly a stick came up and hit him just below the eye.  I was talking to Tommy who was sitting on the sideline at that stage and never saw what happened, only that a kid was being brought off dripping blood everywhere.  Someone said it was Nick and then panic sets in as I rush onto the field with Andy to help our boy.  A huge gash sees us leaving the game and heading to the emergency room for some stitches.  One hour, a heck of a lot of tummy turning on my part, and 4 stitches later we head home.

Nick is doing pretty well at the moment and loving being the centre of attention, I am sure the local anasthetic and the pain killers we have loaded into him have something to do with that.  He, of course, can't wait until tomorrow when he can take off the dressing and check out his war wounds for himself.

Yup, I finally got zapped and couldn't find an excuse to get out of it this time either.  Its a bit hard when you don't work and DH is at home too so you can't even cite childcare hassles as an excuse.  Anyway I had to turn up at the court yesterday morning to go through the whole thing.  Can't believe how nervous I was to be doing this and the tenseness I felt turning up at the courthouse as though I was guilty or something.  Heaps of security too going through the airport type metal detectors and guards actually searching through my handbag.  Talk about feeling like a criminal.

Anyway into the actual courtroom along with about 80 other people and they run us through the process explaining all the ins and outs.  Hardly any seating and I was sent along to the jury box to sit in through this - good view from there.  The jury is finally called out and my name wasn't called at all - whew that is a relief, kind of, although after all the dramas up till then I was kind of disappointed not to be selected.

I managed to escape this morning and left the boys at the Lakes while I zapped back to replenish the groceries and get Alistair's bike repaired.  Boy has their skiing come along a treat with the little system we have working with another family at the moment.  Andy drives the boat, John coaches and the kids all get off their butts and do what they are told.  My 3 respond really well to John and his coaching tips and with Andy in the boat Taylor and Jake really seem to be listening to their Dad and acting on this instructions.  We will end up with quite a decent squad out of all this.  The star at the moment has to be Tommy though who just decided that he was going to drop a ski and ski on one.  All the encouragement in the world wasn't going to convince him to do that until he was ready. 

Time to head back to the Lake now, catch you again in a few more days.

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy Easter and enjoyable school holidays.  We are heading off to the Lakes this afternoon, and although we will popping home over that time I am not sure whether my blog will get an update.

Ciao!

It is one year today that Dad passed away.  My thoughts have been with him pretty much all day today.  It is amazing how quickly one year can go and yet drag at the same time.

I miss my Dad and all the comments that really used to piss me off big time.

I miss his laugh.

I miss the way he interacted with the boys and how much they loved to talk with him.

I miss his viewpoint, that a lot of the time I didn't agree with.

I miss how the conversation never died with Dad, he always had something to talk about.

I miss the cuddles we used to share when we arrived and left after a visit.

Yep, cheated is how I feel.  I managed to get into the mystery shopping loop and today I had to go shopping for a cardigan or jumper for winter.  Awesome, nothing like a little bit of retail therapy to get ones happy levels up a bit more. 

Had a wonderful time in the store sorting through all the new winter stock and checking out the different colours etc.  Went and tried on 8 different styles and picked the one I like the best.  Brought it home and showed DH and he was very impressed with my selection.  Then I completed my survey and packed it along with my newly purchased cardigan and sent it away to my boss - bummer!

I think I need to go and find that very same cardigan or maybe one of the other styles that I tried on and purchase it just for me!!  I do love shopping.

Picked up Nick from guitar lessons after school today and part of the conversation revolved around what he had for homework. 

N: Light Revision

L:  OK

N: Yeah we have a light test on Wednesday

L: Ohhhh, right

N: I think I might settle for a "B" though

L: Huh?

N: Yeah before we started the study we had a test and I got 39 out of 42 so I don't think I will waste all that time reading over everything just to get an "A"

L: Silence (I couldn't believe what I was hearing)

I finally came to my senses and launched into a big speech on effort being what counts.  I don't know if he bought it or not, but I did convince (make) him sit down and revise his light work.

I mentioned to DH the other day that I wanted to fix up the electric towel rails in the boys bathroom.  One has been out of commission since Tommy decided it would make a good ladder and pulled it out of the wall a couple of years ago, and the other one is a portable one that I figured we should hang.  

I went down to our local Bunnings (new to town, woohoo Whangarei is moving up!) and purchased some brackets to hold the rails to the wall.  I have been waiting for DH to give me some advice on placement because where the screws had to go was right in line with light switch above and the electric socket for the rail at the bottom and I was worried about screwing through a wire and electrocuting myself.

Took too long, so while he was out today (maybe I should mention he was out buying groceries for dinner), I went ane raided his man cave and found the drill so I could do it myself.  By the time he got home the broken one was up and working again and the portable one had its legs removed and he was able to hold it in place for me while I drilled the holes.  Awesome, now the boys have no excuse for leaving towels lying on the bathroom floor - yeah right!

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink - well so the saying goes anyway.  We seem to have so much rain lately which has to be a good thing seen as we rely on that to fill our water tank so we can actually drink the stuff.

I am trying to be good and keeping my water intake up where it is supposed to be.  To help I keep my trusty water bottle by my side pretty much all day.  So much easier in the summer months to keep the consumption up at 4 x 750ml bottles. 

I went for a haircut the other day and was offered a drink, I asked for water which I was given, all nicely served in a crystal glass with ice and on a tray with a cute doily.  Took a sip and all I could taste was the chlorine etc.  I know I am very spoiled with our water where the only additives are bird poop and pine needles.  Oh well, at least it goes through a filter!

Oh yeah, my first scrapping efforts since taking Evana's class.  I just love these papers from Three Bugs in a Rug, and feel so proud of myself using patterned papers which is always a challenge for me.  Another couple of layouts and I will have scrapped all the Aussie pics and then I can make a start on the American ones - woohoo can't wait.

CC2006 is still 4 months away but I have my airfares booked and paid for, my accommodation booked and paid for, and today I got word that all the classes I want are confirmed too!  Wow, I can't believe I can be this organised this far out.  I mean we are talking about people who normally decide to do things on a whim and not plan months out.