Good days

Weekend -

Paul Kelly concert (Australian singer ) - awesome. And with Neil Finn too. They both have actual admiration for each other. Have seen both many times now.
St Peters College gala - really good. Love my new cushion made from a vintage NZ blanket and my new NZ ornament.
Ryan loved the paint ball there.
Poached eggs for breakfast. Glorious eating on the deck.
Still summer! In a sun frock late March! Crazy!
And a goo decent sort out of all the little things boys collect in their drawers! A good chuck out and some precious collections of things to be kept in the attic. The amount of things boys seem to collect is staggering to me! They are growing out of toys though.
Trying to down size all sorts of stuff and not spend dollars on stuff we do not need! Big clear out of books not read from their bookcases too which will go to one of their schools.
And winter wardrobes sorted with hardly any dollars spent - yippee. Might just need to sew some more pj pants for them.

Small things

Today -

A rose on my one rose bush which was a cutting from my grandmother's rose. This rose is named after her. My twin brother went and dug the whole plant out of her garden after she had died and gave me a cutting.
Shopping love - buttons, fabric, felt, thread and a quilting ruler too. Some of this stuff will be for my Autumn Swap.
Carrot muffins and a good cup of tea.

In New Zealand today...

It is all about this! MARMITE! The yeasty toast spread that the country ran out of months and months ago after the poor factory was damaged beyond repair in the Christchurch earthquake.
We have all waited months and months and months for it to re - appear on the shop shelves.
The kids would be quite happy with marmite and toast for dinner. Half a loaf of bread has been eaten for afternoon tea. (maybe they will not need dinner at all???)

English marmite is a different kettle of fish! And vegemite is DISGUSTING ! :)

I saw a photo of a grey cardigan in the latest Frankie that had little bobbles on it. I went up to the attic and scratched around in my boxes and bins of stuff and came back down with this jersey- made by my mother around 1984-1986. Everyone tells me all the rage again is 1980 fashion and they all want my jersey!!!! Is this true??? Do I wear it nearly 30 years later ????????
My mother will find this so hilarious!!!!

And one of my favourite NZ websites is having a sale today and tomorrow - 40% off.

Www.thelittlecraftstore.co.nz


I have just done an order - thinking about a future blog swap I want to do (autumn themed),
I have ordered some stuff for it....

Wait another month while I get my kitchen swap out of the way but start making an autumn craft item if you wish ... :)

Happy marmite scoffing kiwis.

Easter collections and a Pumpkin!

Easter is not at all big in NZ. I know no-one else who decorates for Easter.
Only around 16% of our population attend church regularly too. Of course we sell chocolate and Easter eggs and hot cross buns. I know one or two shops that sell Easter paraphernalia - Spotlight and Bed, Bath and Table but that is it. I guess that because we are heading into autumn now too, the spring- ness of Easter and new life does not really happen here.
I was amazed when in Sydney 2 weekends ago how commercialised Easter was - all the shops had items for sale whether declarations, craft, the speciality chocolate shops (I wish now I had bought an Easter bilby!), books (both religious and rabbit picture books) etc.
We always makes our own hot cross buns on Good Friday and the boys get one chocolate thing each and that is it. I know of many overseas children who get baskets full of things , much like Christmas.
I'm not really into chocolate still ...:(

I decorate a wee bit and do have some gorgeous Easter mugs from Bed, Bath and Table. The boys really ignore all these things. In my past life as a cub scout leader, one year all the boys made terracotta plant pot Easter pots. These are on our dining room table along with a gorgeous table cloth that my mum embroidered. I love it .

Sweet carrots from Tracy at Mad About Bags - I need to style these a b it better too! I have lots of eggs which I usually hang from a branch - I just need to grab a branch!



Here's the pumpkin I knitted on the weekend too. I'd love to do an autumn/ fall swap too ( I know being on the opposite side of the world can be tricky. Would people partake if they are coming into Spring now????? ). I think this would be cute in a swap....

And I have started my next knitting - a shawl - easy knitting for the moment! I love how this German wool feels when knitting.

Why? ( Warning - heavy post talking about suicide / anxiety issues)

I have sat here all night contemplating. Our young 30 year old neighbour committed suicide in his house a few days ago. We thought his sick elderly mother had died until chatting to the other neighbour tonight.

(I'm sorry if I upset anyone talking about this.)

This seems to be happening more and more in New Zealand. This is the fourth person in a year i know of to go this way.

We are obviously doing something wrong.

Three years ago I sat in on a group of very messed up 10 -13 year olds going through counselling for major issues like anxiety, suicidal tendencies etc - sessions for several long months once a week. ( I struggled and struggled with these sessions.) Kids that were refusing to go to school, who had harmed themselves intentionally etc.

One of the kids was my own. He was the least affected and we had just found out he had aspergers (a very mild version.).

Several months before this when out in a park he took off in a real panic in tears. This was totally out of the blue. We then found out he had been having major panic attacks in new places and was petrified that he may not know where a toilet was if he needed one. We found out he had been getting off the school bus suburbs away and going to find out where a toilet was (even if not needing to go) but he just needed to know where one was.
We then went through a phase of the kid not leaving the house at all apart from school.
This made school holidays etc very very hard and the husband more than once having to come home from work to watch him while the others and I had some time out of the house.

We are thankfully all over this and you would have no idea he even has aspergers and just goes on with life in a normal way. His school has been amazing (lots of quirky kids ) and I am forever in debt to his primary school principal who told us to go to this highly regarded private school as he would have sunk in the all boys catholic school most boys went on to.
It makes me realise what we as parents have been through and I often think of how the other children in his counselling group are doing.
So much seems to be affecting our children these days, with anxiety and bullying issues affecting far more children than we realise.
And I constantly think of all the poor families in Christchurch still heavily affected by those awful earthquakes. And the mental health issues they face. I wonder if they are getting the help they all need?

My school has a social worker and a counsellor which is an absolute god send. I think all students at all schools should have access to someone to talk to.

It is good for adults to talk and talk too.

RIP neighbour.

Rain and earthquakes!

It has rained steadily all day but apparently not enough to break the drought. Good to see though!
Auckland apparently had an earthquake too at around 4 pm - first I knew was when a friend rang and said "did I fell that?". Nope. The husband said he heard a rumble...

So it has been a day of making tomato sauce and I am delighted at how the batch has turned out - it smelt delicious! Will be great for those spur of the moments dinners during winter.
We are amassing quite a collection of homemade preserves/ chutneys/ jams/ sauces!
(the jam is sitting there due to my non - exsistent sweet tooth! No one else is a big jam eater or they prefer Vegemite on their toast. OH! 3 more sleeps and marmite is back on the shop shelves in NZ! I think I will be at the supermarket before I get to school on Wednesday!)

Finished my shawlette and love it! I am looking for the wool tag as a reader Julie wanted to know what it is.. I just need to climb into the attic Julie and will let you know!

Next on the needles - these little pumpkins look adorable and the worsted wool is in the attic - a big bag of scraps from my aunt - which will be perfect. Autumn is on its way here. These would be fab for a blog swap item too I think!
And I think I might use one of the balls of wool I bought in Sydney for this gorgeous Oakley shawl - i had bought the wool for socks and then realised it has no nylon in it...

Bargains of the weekend from Typo - a $5 laptop bag and a $6 apple pen holder. (so sweet!!!) Goodness I think I am addicted to that shop and you can find quite the bargains on their clearance tables which are added to week to week!

Book love

I am a school librarian - the best job in the world. (not the best pay in the world but unless you are a teacher in a NZ school , your pay is rubbish! I am professionally registered too and have a library qualification through the old Wellington Teachers College - few primary school librarians have either! But school is good and the job rocks. And I do like having the school hols off - even if unpaid!)

It is NZ Book Month , so $5 vouchers are everywhere - buy a book worth more than $10 and get $5 off it. Whitcoulls let me pile up a pile and get $5 off every title :)

Jake Maddox is fab for reluctant readers! Lots of sporting titles.
Bloodlines are based around wars with a bit of graphic novel (cartoon) and the boys love these.
Tony Hawk skateboarding novels - boy heavy this time as trying to get more for them - they usually are the less likely to read ones!

A fab new series on inspirational kiwis - I really hope these keep on coming out!

Read Me Another One, Please is a compilation of every NZ author like Mahy, Cowley. Gavin Bishop,Dorothy Butler,Melanie Drewery, Tessa Duder, Fifi Colston etc. gorgeous. If you need an NZ book to send to NZers overseas or anyone overseas - Make it this one! Poems and stories.

Two new ANZAC books - love the Anzac Biscuits one - flicks between the kitchen and then a soldier in war. Anzac Day, The New Zealand Story is fabulous - I might even buy this for home too. All the facts in one place - the best book ever on ANZAC and much needed.

Kiwi is beautiful too . Another top gift.

I love A Year With Marmalade - beaut illustrations and font and a story about friendship and change.

The Millennium Tree (NZ book) is amazing for older kids teaching them about the settlement and development of NZ alongside a tree and world events over 2000 years. It is fabulous - might be buying another copy for home too.