Saturday 31 August 2013

RIP Roxy

 
Oh dear...what a terrible start to Fathers Day!
 
We got a knock at the door and found the builder, working on the house next door, holding Roxy. As he put her on the ground we could see her back legs weren't working. He had found her under the house but didn't know what was wrong.
She was a brave wee  kitty and tried crawling around the house. She didn't seem to be in a lot of pain but something was definitely wrong! I rang the vet and arranged to meet her at the surgery in 10mins.
A quick examination found she had a previously unknown heart murmur which in turn had caused a blood clot to lodge at the base of her spine causing the paralysis to her back legs.
There was nothing that could be done for her so the heart-breaking decision was made to have her put to sleep. (I had warned the girls that this might be the case before I took her to the vet)
I stayed with our beautiful wee girl right to the end and she was so calm. I brought her home and she joins our other deceased pets in our (ever-growing!) pet cemetery.
 
Roxy, you were a wonderful "first" cat for our girls-very patient with them as they learnt how to treat animals and look after you. Thank you for all your cuddles and love-we will miss you!
 
 
 
 
ROXY 
2007-2013

Friday 23 August 2013

Powerless!

 
 
 
 
Last weekend saw us get the final bit of trenching dug and the stormwater pipes put underground. A trenching machine made quick work of the job...
 
even though it made a mess of my lovely lawn!
 However, it had to be done and all was going so well.
 
 
 
 
Until...my oven stopped working! And the kids yelled out "Who turned the power off. The computer's not working!!" Uh oh...


 
sure enough, the trencher had nicked the power cable!! :(
Bugger! We had invited friends over for a roast dinner and I had only just put it on to cook. Help! Luckily, Olivia had the bright suggestion of cooking it in the pizza oven so we lit that and eventually ended up cooking the whole meal in it...roast meat, vegetables and Yorkshire puddings. It was fun and games keeping the temperature constant but everything turned out well and by the time we ate, it sure tasted delicious!
 
 We had a quiet afternoon with no power and old-fashioned fun and games with the girls playing cards and board games instead of being in front of the computer! Lighting candles at dusk was also exciting and caused a few laughs when our friends turned up, looking very surprised to being treated to a 'candlelit dinner'!! Jeff organised the resumption of power and it came back on about 7:30pm.
So what was supposed to have been a couple of hours job turned into a whole afternoon/evening of excitement but at least it is done now.
 

Tuesday 20 August 2013

Snail mail!

I love writing letters and sending them out in ways to make the recipient smile, whether that is by decorating the envelope or making the letter itself more interesting.

I found some 'make-it-yourself' jigsaw puzzles in the $2 shop recently and decided they would make great letters.  :)

 
So, after writing the above letter I broke up the puzzle, popped it in an envelope and sent it on its way.
 
Let's hope the recipient can put it together and actually read it!
 
 
 
 
 
Of course, when you send a letter you then usually receive a letter! My girls keep asking me why I get so much mail and I tell them it is because I write lots!
 
The above is a colourful assortment that arrived in my letterbox recently. Yay!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finally...I have been participating in a couple of swaps lately on Swap-bot and these photos show one of the swaps - Mail Art for Your Country. The envelope had to be decorated front and back with icons/famous landmarks from your country along with the name of the country on the front. This is my effort...on its way to Finland.
 
 
So, feeling great about the mail I am sending and receiving although I do still have a lot of penpals to reply to...luckily, they seem patient and willing to wait.  I'm slowly catching up and look forward to hearing back from them to start the process all over again!
 
Have you sent any mail lately??

Wednesday 14 August 2013

Cooking up a storm

As part of a badge Olivia is working towards for Girl Guides, she has to bake a cake and make some sweets from scratch. So, a few days ago she chased me out of the kitchen and set to work!

 
Banana Cake was the chosen recipe...


and she followed the recipe thoroughly. Here it is ready to go in the oven.


 
And here is the cooked cake...
 
 
which had to be decorated!
 
 
The proud cook!
 Well done, Olivia-the cake was delicious!!
 

This doesn't look as exciting but it was equally delicious - hokey pokey - YUM!
 
You did a great job, Olivia and I look forward to you doing lots more baking for me in the future.
 

Monday 12 August 2013

Spring is nearly here

Well, we are nearly at the end of Winter...soon Spring will be here. And we have our first sign of Spring...our first lamb!



 
 
He is such a little cutie...a Suffolk X with black markings.
Hopefully in the next day or so we will have another to add to the flock.
 
 
 
In other 'farmyard' news...we have had a sick bantam! Our little white silkie suddenly developed a droopy neck and was generally very miserable. After consultation with 'Google' (every lifestyler's 'Bible'!)  I decided her diet was lacking some vitamins and minerals. It was either that or she was suffering a head injury and I couldn't treat that so went with the diet option!
 
 
The above is the concoction of vitamins and minerals that I purchased and have been adding to a cooked egg. She has been given this for a few days now and is already showing a remarked improvement. (I hope I haven't just jinxed her!!)
For the record, I crush up a half a Vitamin B tablet, half a Selenium tablet and add the Vitamin E oil to the mix. It is added to the scrambled egg you can see in the background. Apparently we need to keep feeding this to her for a fortnight-even if she improves sooner. Lets hope it is successful.

Sunday 11 August 2013

Cross country

It's that time of year - children all over NZ are training for their school cross country events. Tokoroa Intermediate held their annual cross country last week and, of course, Olivia took part.

 
Here are the Year 7 girls getting ready to run.
 
 
 
 
And they're off! (Olivia is in the "WeetBix" t-shirt)
 
 
She had a great run, coming 6th overall. This means she made the school team to travel to the Inter-school Cross country event held at Porritt Stadium in Hamilton later this week.
 
Good luck, Olivia!
 
P.S  Olivia competed successfully in the Inter-school cross country today (13.8.13) and came a credible 29th (2nd Tokoroa Intermediate girl to finish) Yay-well done!