today is all about books!

I heard about a Penguin/Random House book sale late last night and whizzed across the other side of town today. I came home with a HUGE pile - all $2-3 each! I've saved hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars. My future classroom might possibly be better than the school library.....

I've bought a ton of books this year. Uni has been really good for me to save money otherwise (well other than the $18,000 2 of us have spent on fess this year. I am so grateful for the 20 year old who pays his own fees from his job and who will come out totally debt free at the end of next year !)

 A batch of peanut brownies made last night.

 There must be little food in the house as one teen bought me his list... I go through weeks of doing zero food shopping - luckily the husband shops!

 More books bought last weekend....

 And the piles bought 5 weeks ago in Melbourne and Hobart in Australia....

I love my books! I'm so excited about sharing my love of reading with children next year!

Spring is on it's way...

My gosh the days are flying by! I've been enjoying watching my daffodils and tulips pop up - I planted these 2 days after Mum died.

Lots has been happening - I am VERY happy with my 5 day break from attending university starting tomorrow. But , boy oh boy, have I got A LOT of essays etc to write! We are down to our final 4 weeks on campus - it is scary to think how close the end of the year is! Then we have a final practicum  in a school.

BUT i've got a massive maths test coming up too, which gives me major anxiety - I am getting extra help at university - it is adding another huge layer of work on top of the normal work load and I am being pushed waaaaaay out of my comfort and happy zone, but it has to be done! Still learning is a great thing!

Hopefully I'll try and get back into a decent blogging thing! 

 A daily sight at university - it is stunning!

Supermarket goals met!

Well... it is mighty obvious that I have done little university work this past week, as I have knitted 3 fruit/vege bags since Tuesday night. That includes knitting my way through a lecture (under the bench! to keep myself awake... two entire rows in front of me were working on their cvs.....)

And I did the shop this morning and was feeling stupidly proud using them for my onions, potatoes and mandarins.

I've the fourth on the needles right now and am making myself finish an assignment due this Monday, before I sit down and knit some more..... I think about 6-8 of the bags will be a good number. And I'm pretty sure a few friends would like some - they'd make a perfect birthday gift I think too (well in my books anyway!). It is good to use cotton from the stash too.

Rather addictive little things, but totally useful !!!

Knitting re-useable fruit/vege bags

Impulse knitting tonight. My cousin sent me this link and 5 minutes later I was fossicking around in my stash to find cotton and cast one on....

It's pretty cool. We decided we'd both be gutted if we lost said bag once we finish one... it's not a fast process... but it looks great and is easy knitting... I'd rather like half a dozen or so of them...

http://www.simplynotable.com/2017/knit-produce-bag-pattern/

Monday

It's Monday morning. It's a rather cold and overcast day, but I've still hung the laundry outside. I hang it outside year round - it eventually gets dry or dryish. I usually hang it outside at 10pm at night - even if we are a damp city and regularly get fog - it's outside for the promised sunny weather the next day. I've a clothes drier which i use maybe once a week at that...

I rather like my university schedule. I don't have to be at uni until 1pm Monday and Thursdays and then it si only for 1.5 hours! Wednesday is my one 8.30 am start, but then i finish lectures at 4.30pm (it's a long day sitting and listening). Friday I start at 10.30 (also pretty civilised) and finish at 4.30pm too, but it's a workshop day, so a bit more of using the brain, talking etc.

It has taken me about two weeks to *kind of* get back into the swing of uni. The study schedule is 3 papers less that last semester, so the study/rest of life stuff should be a lot easier!  I still feel like I'm on holiday, but then this year has been anything but ordinary and I'm not sure what ordinary is really like anymore anyway! It'll take a lot of time i guess.

I'm living the simple life, doing what I have to do and doing it to how I want to do it. We're not being very social, just laying low, living day to to day and it rather suits me. The teens are all pretty low key too - few disagreements, as long as they have some money and do the odd thing with mates over weekends etc, all seems to just plod along. No dramas. Just a smooth daily life really. I think I've had enough events for the year really.....

And I'm sick. Ba humbug. Pretty good I guess getting to August and having my first sick day of the year really!

Photos from the weekend -

Best city in the world - Melbourne, Australia

We'd talked for months, even before we knew Mum was sick, about going somewhere in the July school hols, after my intense 6 months at university without a break. Nothing was actually booked though as when Mum got sick, we knew no time frames for doing anything and I wasn't leaving the city.

But then, Mum died a lot quicker than any of us imagined and we found ourselves booking a trip a couple of weeks before the July hols. It was a trip to my favourite city in the world - to Melbourne, Australia. The place that i dearly, dearly love - the one that 15 years on from living there, I still think, why did we return back to NZ...

It does not matter how many times I go, there is always some thing new to see, The feel of the place. The vibrancy. The food. The art. The alleyways. The volume of people to tiny little Auckland. The incredible bookshops. The Museums. The just walking and walking and walking. The neighbourhoods.

Um... Aldi, Readings, Muji, Uniqlo ( ha!!!). Big W for books..............

We hired a bike down at the Docklands and zipped around for a few hours - a rather neat way of seeing a part of the city I was not really that familiar with - standing under the Bolte Bridge is something else!

We met with an old mate of mine on a rooftop bar on the Friday night - fabulous fun, then went into the wrong restaurant and never clicked until we looked at the menu... quite funny.

The rest of the weekend was just spent exploring - not really leaving the city proper as there is so much to see... waiting for the eldest to arrive.

We left two teens behind as Australia is not cool enough for them it seems ... the only kids I know who turn down a trip to Oz (well they inform me they aren't really interested in their own country either anymore... they are pretty well travelled really...!). I find that bizarre overall, but hey, it is a lot cheaper travelling with 3 than 5...

Here's the city... photo overload....

We then spent a few days over in Tasmania too - it was so fabulous as well.

I've actually had the husband mutter a few times this week... "maybe we should move back...."