Monday, November 30, 2009

Alphabet tag


I took the kids back to school last Friday afternoon for a run around. We made up a game called Alphabet tag: the person who was "it" had to try and tag another - pretty basic; players had to run from circle to circle; "bar" was the circle with the initial of your name; you could only stay on bar for 3 seconds. Simple but we had lots of fun.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

My place, my space


The house is starting to feel like home. Not quite the 'home' feeling you get when you've lived somewhere for 10 years but nonetheless it's home. I wish I could say that all the boxes are unpacked, but sadly there are still a few begging to see the light of day. The problem is there nowhere to put the stuff inside them.
It may not seem like much, but to tidy things up a bit I need:
  • book shelf
  • cupboard for general storage
  • chest of drawers for my bedroom.

My 'hanging' clothes are in the wardrobe in Ava's room as she doesn't really have much to hang. The rest of my stuff is still in a suitcase on the floor in my room. I'm really over it but can't seem to summons the energy to drive all over town to hunt down the 'right' piece. It's much easier to look on Trade Me (NZ's own eBay) but then you run the risk of being out-bid at the last minute which happened to me recently. That really *issed me off!

Anyway, when I look at the mantle above the fireplace, I feel calm. Like this is my place.


My space (above), however, is where is seem to spend a lot of time. I don't know where the day goes. I sit here, send a few emails; search Trade Me; pay a few bills; enter a few online competitions (ask Sarah-next-door to explain); look at a few blogs for inspiration and before I know it I have to race out the door to pick up the kids from school. I just don't get it. How I ever managed to fit in (paid) work I'll never know.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Do you have a namesake?

When I was growing up I hated my name. I got teased; got called Tomato. And I always had to spell it. It's not exactly love, but over the years I have grown to like it. I still have to spell it. I like Mara even better although I do find it a bit weird when I get called Mara by people I don't know very well (or worse still, people I don't like much). Then of course, there is my middle name: Heidi. I think it's a nice name. I have a cousin called Heidi. She's stunning and Heidi really suits her. Heidi is younger than me so I wasn't named after her. I don't have a namesake. And I don't think Heidi suits me.

When I had my first daughter I knew immediately that she was a Ruby. Those who know Ruby will agree the name suits her. Steve wanted to be sure before making it official though so we trialled it first (about four weeks) - that drove people crazy! We didn't give Ruby a middle name; thought Ruby Stevens was enough. But over time it niggled away at me. I'm not a Stevens, I'm a Tesolin and I'd given birth to this child and we didn't share a name. It didn't seem right. So I got the necessary papers to change her name to Ruby Tesolin Stevens. The only problem was I didn't fill out the papers and send them off. By the time I got around to it the fee had changed from something like $30 to $250!

By the time I had Eadie, who is named after Steve's maternal grandmother, I knew I wanted to include Tesolin as a middle name. And when Ava came along I didn't give it a second thought. I don't use their full names very often. I don't feel the need to include Tesolin on forms (except for the bloody passport applications). It's more about us having a linked identity which I know is obvious. It's also about them knowing where they come from.

I guess that's what drive people research their family tree. To find out more about identity, heritage and missing links. What a great idea.

Mahem and Malarkey


In the days leading up to Halloween a few people had mentioned to me that this festivity was becoming popular over here.

Early Halloween afternoon the girls and I headed down to the Mayhem and Malarkey event in the village. There was puppet making, face painting, fortune telling and spell casting. It was expertly organised by a local theatre group, the props were fantastic and it was all free! It was the spell casting that got me laughing. Resembling Beetlejuice, this guy encouraged the kids to pull the limbs off a Barbie (cheap version) and throw them into a smoking cauldron. He then took to her golden mane with a pair of scissors, snipping away till he revealed her bald spot! He then feed the final ingredient (her head) to his pet rat who ate it then spewed it into the cauldron. Very entertaining!



With kids' faces painted, we headed home. The girls sorted their costumes out and I made some eye ball treats. Being the sort of person who usually over caters in the lolly department when it comes to birthdays and that sort of thing, I felt quietly confident for the onslaught of trick or treat-ers.


After leaving Steve at home with a bowlful of lollies and the location of the hidden stash, I took to the streets of our neighbourhood; my Vampire, Devil and Angel leading the way. It was low-key to begin with. The girls got a few treats and I got to meet a few neighbours. As we continued we crossed paths with other groups of ghastly kids. In no time at all there were groups of kids everywhere, escorted by spirited parents.

I had totally underestimated the popularity of Halloween in NZ - well at least here in Mt Eden. My "hidden stash" was drained completely. Long after the girls and I returned home the trick or treat-ers continued. Everyone really got into the spirit of it all - the costumes were great, and every kid who came to the door was well-mannered.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Happy Birthday!


My big sister is now a member of the Forties Club! Wacky Aunty Cory will be forever young-at-heart though. m, xox