Candle Design

Miss 12 and I designed and decorated these candles today as gifts for her ballet and contemporary dance teachers.

Her ballet teacher's candle reads, "Life without Ballet would be pointeless". We were going to make it in pink and black but as her teacher is an older lady we thought red more appropriate.

Her contemporary teacher is a lot younger, and so we made it a little more modern. It reads "A dance teacher helps their students find the song in their heart (pic) the beat in their feet and a passion for life".

On the back of the candles, in small writing towards the bottom, like on the back of greeting cards are the words, "Thank you, her name and 2014". She is really thrilled with the result and hopes her teachers like them.

Side note:  Teachers were thrilled with their gifts and even showed them to other teachers who were quite envious. We had to explain over and over again how we made them ... lol

Scared Witless

I often suffer with stomach "issues", but recently my menstrual cycle has been playing up; very heavy and going for weeks at a time. The Dr's standard reply has been "peri-menopause". This time he put me on the contraceptive pill for a few months to try and regulate it (4 weeks out of 5 is not pleasant and I have been so darn tired because of it!) but also referred me for an ultra sound along with a few blood tests.

Sadly the blood tests show that I have "diabetes" so I received a call from the nurse to say the Dr said to QUIT SUGAR NOW!  They will retest me again in a while, once they have given me a chance to get it under control as the Dr feels I should be able to return to an acceptable sugar level if I do what he suggested and stay off sugar. So I have done what I have been told. Surprisingly it hasn't been that hard, but the thought of never having a doughnut again is just plain sad people!

I also went off for my ultrasound and the radiologist there was just lovely. She did a really extensive check and for some reason towards the end I felt that she had picked something up as she was really persistent in wanting to get some shots of my ovaries and uterus but of course she didn't say much.

So today I went in to see the Dr to get the results as he wanted to see me.  It appears I have a 3cm gall stone and fatty liver disease (not the kind from alcohol!). So now I have to give up all fatty foods too ... goodbye bacon and roast pork and hot chips and burgers and OMG basically everything I quite enjoy! They will leave my gall bladder there unless it keeps giving me pain ... and oh boy, it has been. Hopefully a good diet will alleviate the pain.

Unfortunately, like all that hasn't been enough, they also detected a pile of fibroids, an enlarged and thickly lined uterus and a cyst on my ovary that is 7 x 8cm. Scarily the cyst has walls which is not a good thing but it doesn't have blood vessels which is a good thing. There is a concern that it could be cancer so they have referred me to a gynaecologist and surgeon. 

Anyway as soon as the Dr explained this to me, my heart just about sunk through to the floor. I don't think I have been so scared ... not for myself but for the Papa and the girls. I realise that it just as easily may not be C as it could be, but it has been hard to put it out of my mind. It is the last thing I think of before heading off to sleep and the first thing I think of when waking up. It has been hard making decision over things involving the future as we simply do not what may or may not be required next year.

Fortunately because we have private health insurance (OMG what a blessing!) I was able to get into see a gynaecologist within 2 days, it was a Wednesday, but I was in a little bit of shock when he told me that he would operate on me the following Monday!

Holy crap ... unexpected and unprepared ... wish me luck!

Family Fantasy Night

The local primary school PTA organised a FAMILY FANTASY NIGHT (pirates, mermaids, gypsies, etc.) as their yearly fundraiser last night.

The PTA had organised lots of games, demonstration, raffles, stalls and food stations set up but the big draw card was the FREE outdoor cinema set up for later in the evening.

As we have lived in this small town for so many years and we know so many people I was able to drop the girls there early to meet some friends, hand them my mobile and some cash and then head home (2 mins away) until it was nearly time for the movie to start.

Big blow Up Screen on the school field, taken before it got dark.

We grabbed some $2 burgers from the PTA's food stall and with the thermos of hot chocolate and snacks I had, we settled on our picnic rug with sleeping bags and pillows. I have got to say despite the rather cold weather (summer has been late arriving in NZ this year!) and the fact that the movie showing was The Princess Bride it was a fun evening.

 

Seriously The Princess Bride is supposed to be a bit of a cult movie but The Fashionista and I simply cannot understand the attraction to it.

 

 

 

Taken just before the movie started, as you can see excited much!

 

Coffee anyone?

We went to the Waikato Home Show recently especially to visit the home builders stands as we have been considering building rather than buying an already established home. It was exhausting day and the weather was appalling. Thankfully most of it was indoors.

We entered lots of competitions and today I received a call from Lockwood Homes telling me that I won an espresso machine!




Delonghi Dolce Gusto - Circolo

Yeah ... now if I only drank coffee.

High School or Not?

As mentioned in a previous posting, The Fashionista has asked if she can go to High School next year.

I had always said that the kids could attend school if they really wanted to but when it came to the crunch I confess I have found it really difficult to let go. But she really wants to give it a go, and to be totally honest her Papa thinks it would be a good idea as she gets older.  She is a very mature and responsible girl, so I think it might be nice for her to have a bit of fun with some crazy teens her age. It would be her first year along with everybody else's, so she would start off at the same time as everyone else. She also expressed a desire to attend an all girls school.

So the Papa and I (mostly I really) set about investigating lots of High Schools (girls and co-ed). They all suck; yup that's my findings. Actually some of the schools offer some great opportunities and unfortunately the ones we really liked were private, in the middle of Auckland and cost about $22,000 a year. We did contemplate it but sensibly settled on applying at a public girls high school in a town nearby which we had been considering moving to anyway.

What was funny is that every person I spoke to had good and bad storied about the schools. No people ever agreed on one school, so in the end it's a bit of a gamble I think.

We ended up on the ballot as we are out of the area and actually did not make it in on the first intake. We had already discussed that this might happen and would hold out for the following year but a week or two late we received a week later saying that she was accepted after all. I tell you, it was pretty nail biting stuff! She is over the moon; she has a good dancing friend who attends there which has made her excited about going also.

I still have my reservations about her attending school, part of me hopes it will fail and she comes back to home education but most of me wants really wants her to succeed and have a jolly good time. It is a very, very large school, with a school uniform that has a blazer, tie, etc ... which she is pretty excited about wearing.

 

 

We thought that Agent Smelly might want to go to school also (she would be in her last year of primary next year with two years of intermediate before High School) as she has asked before about going to school. After some to-ing and fro-ing she has since decided that she wishes to stay home and the Papa and I have agreed that a year just concentrating on her would be good for her. She also needs to build her confidence up as she is one of those kids that goes along with whatever the rest of the group wants to do just to keep the peace. She gets taken advantage of by her friends quite a bit, who just walk all over her, it's not necessarily their fault as she never complains except to us later! She may even wait until High School too, so we are going to play it by ear.

As long as they are happy where ever they are and both learning then we are happy.


(The photos were taken when the girls were playing with make up and clothes and having a fashion shoot in their bathroom; they don't actually wear make up out!)