I see BlogWorld is abuzz with Christmas preparations.

I have been musing over what I will do this year, once again looking for a few homemade ideas that the children can be a part of also.

I have a few ideas and have started on some baskets and weaving them. I got them from Teacher Direct. I have been given a quick recipe to fill the baskets with sweets.

Here tis.

1 egg

2 cups of icing sugar.

Mix it. It should end up feeling like play dough.

You add your own essences or food colouring to make whatever you want.

A couple of  examples,

Add red food colouring to make candy canes.

Add peppermint, and green food colouring. Roll into balls and dip in choclate.

Place on baking paper and allow to air dry.

I haven’t tried this yet, but will post pictures when I do in a couple of weeks.

A blog I visit has started the 12 Days of Christmas J, the blog owner has some brilliant ideas for Christmas, ones that I will be doing.

When people first started talking about Christmas, I thought “Hang on !!!! It’s only the start of November!!”  The reality is however, if you are thinking of making gifts, the time to start is now.

As I have mentioned before, I am the Overseas Missions Motivator.

Our church has introduced a new structure also, and I am also part of a Missions team, which is really exciting, because I have a few ideas for our local community and meeting their needs.

Back to Overseas Missions.

At the start of each year, I choose a project or in Christian speak, I pray and ask God to lead me to a project our church needs to support. I love the practical causes. Last year we raised funds to open a Women’s Refuge Centre in Fiji. We were one of 4 churches to take on the project and we hit our target !! The year before, we raised funds for medical books.

This year, we are supporting our church in Papua New Guinea. People from NZ have visited and have put a 5 year plan intop place that will see the church as self sustaining. We are helping raise funds to build a Day Care Facility for AIDS sufferers.

Did you know:

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, PNG remains one of the least developed nations on earth and the UN’s 2006 Human Development Index ranked it 139th of 177 countries surveyed, lower than any other country in the Pacific. Life expectancy in PNG is 55.3 years, the infant mortality rate is 69 per 1,000 live births, and maternal mortality is 300 per 100,000 live births. Only 57.3% of adults are literate, and 40% of the population is aged 16 years and under which has placed additional stress on the already stretched Health and Education services.

According to the Australian Overseas Aid Programme, PNG has the highest incidence of HIV and AIDS in the Pacific region and is the fourth country in the Asia Pacific region to fit the criteria for a generalised HIV/AIDS epidemic.

I am currently doing a fundraiser by selling Christmas cards. We have an extremely talented artist in our church who designed 4 amazing cards. On Friday, I picked up 3000 cards and proceeded to fold and pack them for sale. The boys helped. Their homeschool lesson for Friday was “Serving”.

I had already pre sold some, and am very happy to report that when I handed over the cheque for printing costs, had pre sold enough to cover the cost !!

I have talked at every service for the last 2 weeks and people have been very supportive. If we sell all the cards, we will have raised NZD$3000.

Bringing our total for the year to $5,500.

My aim was $6000.

We haven’t even had our Christmas services which have collections for Missions.

This is exciting !!!

Celtic Lad and Celtic Dingo made a very simple bird feeder the other day.

All that is needed is the following:

A plastic disposable cup

A length of string

Wild bird seed

Animal fat (we used beef)

 

Pour the seed into the bottom of the plastic cup

Add string, hanging the end over the side of the cup

Melt the fat and pour into the plastic cup. (make sure it’s not TOO hot)

Let it set

Once it’s set, ease out of plastic container and hang it out for the birds to enjoy. We didn’t have enough string, so I knotted the two together and hung it on a nail.

 

 

If you try it let me know !!!

 

 

So yesterday, we went out and bought plants for the Planter box.

I got the dirt in on the weekend.

We went to California Garden Centre for the plants. I normally wouldn’t be inclinced to name them, but these guys are great. I am a wanna be green thumb, and rarely manage to keep the plants alive. We spoke to R there, who took the time to not only show me what would be suitable, but also took the time to talk with Celtic Dingo who was HUGELY interested in the whole plant growing shenanigans. The gentleman took the time to explain how and where to trim the plants and talked about dense foliage etc. Celtic Dingo listened intently and took it all in, and in the ride home proceeded to explain to me how I needed to trim the plants. So a great learning or ‘homeschool’ experience.

These are the plants we chose

Here they are planted. We put stones in so the wind can’t blow away the dirt. (Yes, it’s THAT windy)

The 2 yellow shrubs are creepers and will spread, the other 4 are small bush type flowering plants. All are native to NZ, which makes them quite hardy for where they are.

I also have 2 copper pots which were for Celtic Lad and Finbar. We have always had matching plants. When I explained this to Celtic Lad, he helped choose two plants/shrubs suitable. We chose 2 conifers. Celtic Lad was thrilled to have them at the front door, welcoming people in. I like the way they are green and gold, to reflect our Irish ancestry.

I was really excited to find a book of 101 simple building projects. In it, it had an idea which gave me an idea, lol. The next planter box I make is going to be 2 planks high instead of 3 and I am going to make window frame type lids and either have wire mesh, so the animals can’t get to it if they escape or some perspex that we have, kind of making a mini hot house. This will serve as a vege patch. Now to get measuring!!

So, now that I have been dumped by my husband am a single parent, everything is up to me around here.

At first, the task seemed really overwhelming.  There have been sleepless nights (Thank God there is a time delay, so I can call people overseas and they are still up and awake) and alot of tears. The ex geeky toy boy lover and I have held negotiations. Not everything is 100% final. It will take time. A plan is being formed slowly.

Each step has hurt. Each strand that connected us together is being cut. It has been painful. Small things like opening my own bank account in my own name has hurt. A reminder that there is no ‘us’, there is just me.

And while this is all going on, we have to live life. We can’t just get off the merry go round for a bit and get back on when we are ready. I have busied myself with ‘distractions’ ,  video nights for the kids, letting them sleep upstairs with me on the odd night. I have a couch that folds out into a bed and it is always folded out right now, just in case.

I have been saying goodbye to a dream.

While I have been saying goodbye to that dream, new dreams are emerging. While I have been feeling such grief, new empowerment is forming.

I have low days where I give myself permission to be kind to myself.  I ordain the day a “can’t be arsed’ day. It’s a quiet day where we just chill.  I will not tell myself I am letting down the kids or myself or anyone on those days. It is simply the kind of day that is needed.

With my new found energy, I am throwing myself into what energises me. The children, Supernatural, the animals, Supernatural, Fundraising, Supernatural, and persuing my goals and dreams. Oh and Supernatural….lol

I need to be realistic about the animals. I simply can not keep them all, it is no longer financially viable.  Another painful decision that I have had to make, but make it I have.

I have used a chain saw !!!! I cut up some firewood that has been sitting there for yonks. It was so cool. I have no idea why I thought it would be so hard.

On fine days, I get the kids outside with me and we clean pens, feed kids, collect eggs and tidy around the place. One of the things we I had wanted to do outside was planter boxes. We were I was going to build them ourselves myself with the help of Celtic Dingo of course, as he LOVES to work with his hands.

So on Tuesday, I went and bought the wood needed for a simple planter box.

I used 100×100 posts and had them cut at 0.5m long We needed 10.

I then got 8 planks that were 1.8 m in length. I had 2 of them cut into 0.6m lengths.

I have to say, the lads at Bunnings were really helpful !!!

I also bought some black polythene to line the box.

On Wednesday morning, we got outside and set to work.

Being the scrapbooker that I am **rolls eyes** (soon, I keep telling myself, one step at a time) I had to document the event, much to Celtic Dingo’s joy.

Celtic Dingo just wanted to get on with it.

WGO was in charge of handing out the nails, as you can see Celtic Dingo was in his element and Celtic Lad shared in hammering the nails in as did I.  These are the short ends.

When I did the long ends, a strange thing happened. When Celtic Dingo knelt on the plank and I hammered, the sound of the hammer hitting the nail further and further in to the plank and post, did a scale. We honestly heard it Doe, rae, me, so, far, la, tee, doe. Though sometimes the last tee, doe sounded a little off key.

When Celtic Dingo got off the plank, we heard nothing. This obviously just wowed the kids, (Ok, I was wowed too) and we discussed how the vibrations could be creating sound.  All of a sudden, I felt like Miss Frizzle in the Magic School Bus.

So WGO and Celtic Lad sat on each end of the planks while Celtic Dingo hammered out a tune !!!

Here is the almost final product !!

Is it just me, or does it look incredibly like a pine box coffin?? **snigger snigger** I did suggest to the Coven, that if Jock goes missing in the next wee while, they know nothing.

Another good thing about building this myself is the cost: approx NZD$75.  So once I finish this one, I will be making more to put around the place.

 

 

 

The human kids are loving having to feed the animal kids.

We are feeding the kids 3 times a day, and this is one ‘chore’ I do not have to ask more than once for the human kids to respond to. In fact, they are usually out the door before I can blink !!!

This morning it was windy, wet and wild. STILL the boys went out to feed the kids. Now that’s dedication.

The boy drinks faster than an alcoholic and I have nicknamed him Guzzler. The girl is more delicate so we have nicknamed her Lady. Lady has the temperament and looks of her mother, Kim, so I am really hoping to maybe keep her and move one of the other goats on.  We’ll see.

In the meantime, we have a broody chook sitting on a clutch of eggs. So MORE baby chicks soon.

I’m  sure you all  know River and have seen her around the blogisphere. She has no blog to call her own, but a while ago I offered my blog to her to use.

Here is a wee peek into her world.

A while ago, while I was at work one day, L did a little shopping. I came home to find a 1kg bag of blue whiting fillets in the freezer. We don’t eat fish much. Fish’n'chips from the take-away. An occasional tuna mornay, (tuna from a can).

I have no idea when it comes to fish cookery. So the fish sat in the freezer for a couple of weeks.

Until today.

Out came 4 fillets and sat in thr fridge thawing out while I thought about them. A lot.

Finally I placed them on pieces of foil greased with a butter/olive oil mix, sprinkled them with lemon juice and tarragon, then baked them in a hot oven for a few minutes. Fish cooks quickly, right? Served with baked potato and broccoli on the side. And you know what? The fish was nice.

Prince-not-so-charming wasn’t happy. He likes his food fried. I have very strict orders for the rest of the fish. I’m to fry it, batter is optional, while he goes out and buys chips. I was tempted to make a snarky comment about just buying fish while he’s at the chip shop, but what the heck. I like my peace and quiet.

FAR from it.

It’s been a full on couple of days here on Tir na NOg.

Monday was going so well.We had hand fed our goat Kim, who is mother to the twins (one boy and one girl) the animals were all let out of their pen.

Monday afternoon, I could hear Peter Porker grunting outside the front door. I looked outside and he was humping Kim the goat. She was making no attempt to move or shoo him away. He was getting quite forceful and was biting her.

We ran outside, and I forced him off her. We led him with food to a pen and locked him inside. We then went to look at Kim. She was not in good nick (though it had nothing to do with being humped by a pig)

My inital thoughts were parasites or bloating. She was due a drench. Also, I had just emptied a barrel of fermenting fruit that I had found into the compost and wondered if she had eaten some. Too much of anything is bad for a goat, and fruit ferments in their stomach, releasing toxic gases, causing bloat. A bloated stomach pushes on the goat’s organs, especially the heart, causing a heart attack.

Her gums were pale, indicating possible aenemia or toxicity.  Her ears were cold indicating a temperature.

So I rang my mate, the Vickmeister, who was Kim’s previous owner. We discussed options. I drenched her. I also gave her tea to drink as tea has tannin which can counter act the toxins. I also gave her a few tonics and electrolytes.  Another goat owner suggested it was a Vitmain B deficiency. I rang the vet to organise a shot.

Now, we live in a city. It’s regarded as urban. There are very few large animal vets about.  After getting all these animals, we found out there was no large animal vet in our area. No one wanted to take us on as clients. We finally found a vet that is a 30 minute drive away. They took us on, on the proviso that any sick animal is taken to them. They will not do a call out.  I drove Kim up there, got a Multivitamin shot and administered it myself. There was no vet available to see her. The earliest appointment I got was 7.30pm.

By the time we went back to the vet, she had badly deteriorated. The young vet examined her and drew blood. He explained how and why a full set of diagnostics were not able to be done.  Kim’s blood work showed all her blood levels to be normal, and no aenemia present.  By this stage she was burping, and the vet agreed, toxicity and bloat seemed to be a possibility.

He gave me some medicine to ease the bloating, an animal ‘quick eeze’ and a needle in case the bloating got so severe that I needed to puncture the stomach to release the gas. He also gave me a 70% chance she would not make it through the night.

I drove her home, gave her her medicine, gave her another cup of tea. I gave her some liquid parafin to help move things. I checked on her and massaged her regularly, which helped release the gas, but didn’t seem to do much else.

When I checked on her at 6am on Tuesday morning, she had crossed the rainbow bridge.

Kim was my favourite goat. She thought she was human and had personality plus. She was a nosey thing, pushing in on whatever I was doing outside. She just HAD to have a gander. She often had a “HUH” surprised kind of look on her face.

We are now hand feeding the babies. They are 8 weeks old and at first refused a bottle.

So Tuesday, I drove them up the Coast to the Vick meister and she got them feeding for me. They are eating well too. The day up the Coast was just what I needed. It was full of love and laughter. I met Vicki through a Lifestyle block forum, and she gave me Kath and Kim when I was looking for a girlfriend for Snowflake.

On a GOOD note, we have 9 chicks and Gawd knows how many more to come !!!

Last night, we had the priviledge of babysitting a friend’s wee daughter, C.

C’s parents were going out to dinner to celebrate C’s grandmother’s birthday.

Now I don’t know about you, but when going out for an evening, I want to relax. I found alot of times, I would have one eye on the time always getting ready to leave, and as a consequence not fully enjoying the night.

So I told C’s Mum, that if she wanted me to babysit, it would have to be an overnighter, which would ensure a good night out and a nice wee lie in the next morning.

C came over around 6.  C comes to Playgroup and the kids just fall over themselves to look after her. C’s Mum fed her, settled her with the toys the kids had brought out for her and then left.

That’s when it started.  WGO had been happily playing with Baby C when Celtic Dingo decided to join in. WGO was up like a shot “NNNooooo, I’m watching Baby C, not you. Go away.”

Miss Four decided she was the babysitter and wouldn’t let any of us near without making a big fuss. I finally got through to her that she needed to share. She was ok with that. That’s when CD got in there while he could and picked her up and took her away from WGO.

CD : “Mum, Baby C is looking at me.”

WGO: “NO,  *I* am watching Baby C.”

(Baby C makes a noise) WGO: Baby C is saying my name

CL: No WGO, she is not saying your name, she can’t talk.

WGO: Yes she can. She said my name. I am watching Baby C.

I could see this was going to be a long evening. (Just a wee note, WGO’s name can barely be pronounced by adults correctly, so LAWD knows how a tot would say it, but however….. lol)

Baby C is just over a year and just walking. She is still a bit wobbly on her feet and teeters and totters around the place. Every now and then she face plants herself on the floor. It was Celtic Lad’s ‘turn’ to look after Baby C and she face planted herself 3 times within the space of 10 minutes. I took her to church this morning with a couple of bruises, but some were brusies on the bruises she has got from previous face plants. Luckily, Baby C’s mother didn’t see it as a sign of our neglect. Quite the opposite in face, CL was all over her like a hot rash and without meaning to, CAUSED two of the accidents.

WGO insisted on sleeping beside Baby C’s bed, so pulled out the cot mattress and slept by her. When Baby C woke at 6 this morning, WGO was up like a shot and giving her toys etc and entertaining her. It was really sweet.

This is the wee poppet that has our family agush.  Now before you think, oh Widdle has taken a photo and this child has a wee tear glistening to the side of her eye, um yes and that was because her and WGO banged into each other.

WGO was HEART BROKEN she had made Baby C cry and proceeded to burst into tears herself.  So I was consoling 2 widdle girls on my knees. Just as one would calm down, they would look at the other crying and start up all over again !! It really was quite comical.

Yes, it took 3 children to help Baby C ride the boat.

We packed her into the car. WGO was NOT happy she had to sit in the front as the two carseats in the back would have left no room for the 3rd person. So CD got to sit beside Baby C and commented “Baby C keeps looking at me.” WGO retorts “NO she is looking at me, not you.”

The car ride to church takes 15 minutes. 

We loved having Baby C visit. It is only the 2nd time we have babysat her, and hope it isn’t the last.

Thank you everyone for your comments, emails, texts, and calls.

One thing I have really appreciated is that 99% of people who I have shared our separation news with have not tried to blame either party. That is not helpful or supportive to hear people’s opinions on my marriage. Or how they perceive what has happened in our marriage.

This is the place we have come to and as sad as it is to say, there is no going back. I know that I can honestly say that in my mind, I have given my all. I know that Jock can honestly say that in his mind, he has given his all.

It seems our all just hasn’t been enough.

I went to the doctor this morning. I do not want to fall apart and have the ambulance at the bottom of the hill have to fix me up. We talked. I got more out of the 15 minute chat then I did with the marriage counselling we did.  I was honest with her, totally honest. She wants me to check in again in two weeks and is arranging counselling. She said I do not need to be on anything, that the waves of emotions are my body’s reaction to what is happening and perfectly normal.

I am wavering between calm, relief, and wanting to go stabbity fuck and cry. Ok, so I didn’t tell her I wanted to go stabbity fuck, I used the word anger.

Today, I was told that if the pressure of a Fundraising venture is too much, then that is ok. My reply is that I welcome the distraction.

Life goes on. Our life must go on. The normal, routine is really important right now, while we adjust to the change.

A few changes already have been made on my part to separate myself and disentangle myself from the ‘us’ that Jock and I were. It is a necessary part of no longer being together and operating as individuals. Yet I feel like I am amputating a part of my life.

Amputating or Pruning?

Amputation has such a negative after effect image. Something is removed and nothing is left in its’ place.  Pruning gives the sense of cutting off in order for something else to grow.

Is that what this is? Will we be better people without each other?

The children are ok.

I won’t say ‘doing great’ but they are happy enough.

There has been ALOT of questions from them. Celtic Lad wanted to know if I am going to change my name to my maiden name, as his name doesn’t suit my maiden name.  So Celtic Dingo said he would use my birth name surname as it suited his name better, and Celtic Lad agreed that it ‘was styling.’

Alot of things to get my head around.

We’ll get there.