Kimmie poos and I went to see Twilight/New Moon on Wednesday night.

The cinema was full. I was surprised at the number of young males I saw there. And they didn’t appear to have been dragged there by their TwiHard girlfriends.

Kimmie hadn’t read the books or got into any of the hype, so I introduced her to fellow TwiHards as a Twilight virgin. And people smiled knowingly.

Prior to the screening, one of the ushers came out and tried to get everyone screaming. I just don’t think kiwis are like that. We’re not a reserved bunch, we just don’t get overly hysterical. Unless it’s rugby of course.

What was lovely about the atmosphere is how everyone smiled and talked to each other. It really didn’t feel like we were sitting among strangers.

I impressed Kimmie with my ability to quote Twilight lines (Or maybe I showed her just how obsessed I really am. No,  I am sure it was an impressed look)

Then there was a short intermission for people to strech and get refreshments. New Moon was starting at 12.01am. I have no idea why it had to be at that time. Maybe because New Zealand is the first in the world to see the new day ???

Anyway, it was a bit surreal, as I had read the books umpteen times and knew what I was seeing.

I enjoyed the new look that Chris Weitz brought to the movie. The movie just about parallelled the book perfectly, so those critics of the first movie should be pleased. I did think the meeting with the Voltauri was a bit ‘light’. I expected more. Though more of what, I do not know.

I loved seeing Jasper have a few lines as opposed to just ‘being there.’ He is quite a humourous character even though he tried to attack and eat Bella. I would like to see more interaction from the Cullens, and felt they could have done that, while staying true to the storyline.

Of course, there was the introduction of werewolves too. Taylor Lautner worked out like crazy to keep his role as “Jacob” and it paid off. In the book he rapidly buffs up as he becomes a werewolf.  I warmed to the Wolves. When I read the books, I never took to them.

There was alot more humour and less intensity than Twilight. I can’t say I was as enthralled as I was with Twilight, but then as I mentioned, I have read the books alot and possibly, if I hadn’t and the storyline was all new to me, I would feel different.The movie stopped very abruptly, and it felt as though it needed to continue. I do wonder the merits of perhaps combing the 3 books into 2 movies. I don’t know if the storylines warrent 3 movies to be honest.

Kimmie poos converted to being a TwiHard and said she can see the appeal.

I bought a few bits and pieces of merchandise. For the kids of course. Not for me.

There were popcorn buckets and each had both pictures on them.

They came with cups, one of vampires and one of the werewolves.

Celtic Lad is Team Edward

Celtic Dingo is Team Jacob

The Wee Green One loves Bella and I also was given 4 free posters. We were only meant to be given one, but I told the gentlemen, I had 4 kids who were fans.

The New Moon Board game may have fallen into my shopping bag as well. 

It’s going under the tree for Christmas.

It’s been a busy week.

One of the things I forced myself to do when Jock left was get busy. It would have been all too easy and preferable for me to shut down and isolate. It took a bit of energy, but I really think it has saved me from falling into a pit of depression.

Another thing I did was get a counsellor. I had my first session with her last week and it was good. I came away with a little more clarity on the situation. She suggested I blog more to get everything out of my head. I haven’t blogged since !!! Only because it’s been busy though.

Last week saw me have a 2nd 21st !!!! I turned 42. A girlfriend ‘V’ organised a ’surprise party’ for me.    Well, what transpired is she asked me if I was doing anything for my birthday and I said crawling under a rock. I don’t do birthdays at the best of time (well mine anyway) and just wasn’t in a festive mood.  A week later, she mentioned she had decided to throw me a surprise party, but was unsure how I coped with surprises.  I don’t, unless it’s for someone else.  So 8 of us hit Buzz Cafe in Lower Hutt. YUM YUM !!! I usually go with the Scotch Fillet as it is to die for. However, I branched out and ordered the most yummy chicken breast filled with some kind of garlic/cream sauce. My tastebuds went into overtime !!!

On Saturday I catered a wedding for 200 ish people. Well, it was a light afternoon tea for everyone. It was fantastic. It was lovely to see everyone all dressed up. The young men wore suits. Even the boys wore suits and ties. During the afternoon, this one lad kept looking at me. I knew I knew him, and when they thanked me during the speeches, he must have realised who I was, and came over to say Hi. It was Jock’s cousin who I haven’t seen in around 4 or 5 years. Jock’s cousin and Celtic Dingo are both named after the same family member. It was good to catch up.

So now, to change gears and slow down a bit. YEAH RIGHT as the Tui ad says.

Yesterday, Gertie appeared to have delivered a kid. However, there was no kid to be found or afterbirth. She wouldn’t let me near her. So, it was an emergency trip to the vet, where it as decided that she is self aborting her kid. She has been dosed up on penicillan, been given a shot of progesterone to start labour and now I am playing the all fun ‘wait and see’ game. I was up at 6 this morning to check on her, and nothing, nada, zip. So I think it will be another trip to the vet. AND it’s pouring down with rain.

Something bright to look forward to is NEW MOON !!!!!!!

SQUOOT !!!!! I have 2 tickets to a Twilight/New Moon screening and am taking Kimmie poos tonight. We will grab a bite to eat before we hit the cinemas. There is a new 60’s style diner just opened up in the Hutt which we want to check out.

So after tonight, maybe I can change gears and take it a bit slower in the build up to Christmas.

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 !!!