Escaping the volume...

...of Rock Band that is. We have my nephew staying and between Taryn, Mike and Matt (my nephew), Rock Band has been playing on average 6+ hours a day. Mostly songs we don't really know, mostly sung a little out of key and some of it a little too heavy on the metal side for my liking. So I have escaped momentarily to the sanctuary of the studio.

Despite us saying they would never have a Playstation, Mike and I finally caved in when we saw it in the Flybuys catalogue and had enough points for it. It surely would have been a pretty 'lean on presents' Christmas without it. So anyway, we discussed it thoroughly beforehand and made a decision, they could have a Playstation, but only have party games, music games, puzzles etc and even perhaps driving games, but no violent games. The other rule was 1/2 hour screen time per day for games with the controller. As they don't have any of those types of games yet, not something we need to worry about yet, but the rules are in place for when that occurs.

It has been great. We got them Rock Band and the instrument pack (bundle) and it has been loads of fun. We popped into Warehouse during the boxing day sale and picked up Beetles Rock band too, which makes it even more fun for us oldies. Good family fun.

Totally Cut Off

Well, not exactly, but that is what it feels like at the moment. My PC has died (last week)- mainly power supply we think (hope), but it has all my email and all my website files on it and so without access, I cannot reply to my emails. I can go through my laptop to new emails, but as I have been using Thunderbird on my office computer, once you log in, all emails are downloaded, so going directly to Xtra mail, I have no address book and no copy of the emails awaiting reply - of which I know there are a few! Very frustrating to say the least!

Other than that, the holidays have been good so far, with plenty of sleep ins thanks to late rising kids (because so late to bed).

Will post more on Christmas, (events, goodies and food) this week. In the meantime, trying desperately to get the PC back up and running.

Got Green Day Tickets

Last Thursday we had one very happy young lady in our house. Courtesy of Lisa, we had tickets to Green Day!

Taryn had asked back in July, actually let me rephrase that - she had begged for tickets. There was of course no way that was going to happen with Mike's ACC finished, finances were at an all time low.

Then came the offer of tickets from Lisa, as she had moved to Australia and couldn't make it back for the concert. It took all that I had not to let the cat out of the bag too early. We had decided to wait till the day before the concert, as we thought she'd drive us nuts otherwise. We told her we had something to talk to her about and she came and sat down on the floor in the lounge. She was wary when she saw my camera, but still as shocked as ever when she opened the envelope and saw the tickets. Straight after the first photo, she jumped up screaming 'Oh My God, Oh My God' I Love You Mummy, I Love you Daddy, then I tried to calm her down a little and told her they had come from Lisa and she said -looking into the air "I Love You Lisa- wherever you are" - Australia I replied. I seriously thought she was going to cry at one point!

So thank you Lisa - the concert was AWESOME to say the least. Taryn took heaps of photos on her phone, so I'll get some of those and see if they are good enough to post, then get her to do a guest blog post about the concert - that she is still talking about - her first ever concert! yeah Rock On!

Yummy Flowers

Last Wednesday we had the Camp Maynard Christmas Dinner. Usually we go out to a restaurant, but this year, given tight financial times and the fact that we are having to spend a small fortune on a new septic system, we decided to have a low key BBQ at the camp.

Clive and I did the grocery shopping on the Tuesday, then I went up Wednesday afternoon and cooked a pasta salad, potato bake, made a green salad and couscous salad and mini lemon meringue tarts for pudding.

Just before dinner, Adrian (chairperson of the committee) gave a small speech, then had me step forward as he proceeded to tell everyone how I was hardly ever home because I was always up at the camp (to which my husband was nodding) and how I did so much work for the camp and had organised and prepared the majority of the BBQ food etc. I was quite embarrassed. I like to work away in the background, not be put in the spotlight like that. I also do the work because I enjoy it, love Camp Maynard and have and will probably always, do more than my fair share of community based work, because it just simply needs to be done, not for rewards of any kind. However, I must say, the flowers were yummy and the words and thoughts were nice and it really does make you feel good when someone recognises you, even if it's a little more public than you'd like.

Thanks for the yummy flowers!

Whacky Wheeled Whatsit!

Jayden was given some Kinex a while ago and although he played with them a little, he seemed to be spending more time on the computer. So when we seriously enforced limited screen time, he started re-discovering some old toys, as well as the Kinex.

This is his whacky wheeled invention. Not sure what it's purpose is - if it even has one, but he had fun wheeling it around the house, seeing what it would and wouldn't carry, how fast it could go, how well it cornered (not too well) and how sturdy it was-which was surprisingly sturdy to a degree, because of it's flexibility.

My mum's bought him a whole lot more for Christmas (shh don't tell - it's a secret till the 25th). Can't wait to see what he builds once he has it all together.

Miss Tiny's introduction to Scrapbooking

At our weekend workshop last week, Miss Tiny graced us with her presence and hung out with us for a few hours (in between feeds and sleeps). Yeah for all the yummy cuddles us ladies scored!

As you can see in the photo, she was keen to checkout the latest techniques in one of the magazines. She was very well behaved and is most welcome back at future crops and of course ScrapCamp.

Forrest of Trees

Well not quite, but here are the Xmas Tree plates that my after school ceramic art class completed a couple of weeks ago. They also did Santa boots and a Santa and Rudolph ornament, but I didn't get a chance to photograph them before they took them home.

Everyone did an awesome job this term. I bet some of these will be filled with edible goodies before long.

Perseverance

Jayden asked Taryn if he could do her new puzzle. With his ADHD, Jayden's attention span is obviously quite short and as soon as his hits a tough spot, he usually gives up. I was therefore doubtful that he would last past day 1, as it was a 1000 piece puzzle, but he surprised me and saw it through to completion (minus 1 piece, which we still cannot find). Well done Jayden.Publish Post

Socks pulled way up high!

For the first half of this year, Taryn cruised at school, doing what she needed to get by and little else. Soon enough (with some help from the teacher and her parents ganging up on her), she realised that the learning gap between herself and other students was closing fast, as she was no longer pushing herself. Following her mid year report (which had excellent marks for attainment, but very little for effort), she finally pulled her socks up.

Last week we received a letter from the school, advising that Taryn had been chosen to enter the enrichment program at school and would be placed into the accelerate class for 2010. Yeah! She obviously pulled those socks way up high. We are very proud of her for turning it all around. Now if we could just get her to tidy her room!!!

Chocolate Mousse Cake

This was so easy, I couldn't believe it. Very rich and way too big for just a family. We each had a small piece for 4 days and still had to throw away 1/2 of it in the end. Next time (if making it for the family or for dinner with friends) I would halve the mousse part or layer it with sponge fingers to reduce the richness. Would be great as is at a party though as goes a long way.

600gms chocolate

500mls cream

2 tblspns corn syrup/glucose syrup

3 tblspns brandy or rum

1/2 pkt Gingernut biscuits - crushed

Line a deep cake tine with baking paper and lightly spray it. Sprinkle crushed gingernuts (or biscuits of your choice) on the bottom.

Whip cream till soft peaks form - set aside.

Melt chocolate and corn syrup together (I did this in the microwave on high 1 minute, then burst of 10 seconds till done, stirring after each burst. Add brandy/rum and quickly stir through. Ad 1/2 the whipped cream and fold through gently. Add remaining cream and gently stir through. Pour mixture into tin carefully (so as not to disturb the biscuit crumbs too much). cover with glad wrap and refrigerate overnight. Leave in fridge till ready to serve.

To serve, place plate over tin and invert. Peel off baking paper. The biscuit crumbs will now be the top of the cake. Garnish as you wish. Slice as required - store remaining cake in fridge.

Yum, Yum, Yum!

Another bout of busy!

Another couple hundred tiles and mugs with little ones foot prints, more organising for contract workers at the camp, a final PSG meeting at school with drinks and nibbles, 4 catch up gardening jobs, last kids ceramic class, last lot of trademe auctions to finalise and so now I'm nearly at the end of crazy time. All that is left is the board of trustees dinner tomorrow night (and making dessert for said dinner), the Camp Xmas BBQ next week, for which I am doing the preparations (salads, potato bake and desserts), teachers presents (still undecided) Xmas cards, menu and shopping for this weekend's workshop and then the last bit of shopping for 4 more presents and I'm done! Yeah.

In between that, I have still managed to spring clean the rumpus (although I'm sure I could sneak out another handful of old toys without being noticed), help mum paint her ceiling and take a trailer load of rubbish and junk to the dump today.

It's been busy, but it has felt good. I've actually achieved way more in these past few weeks than in the last few months put together. A feast or a famine, that's how it usually is for me. They do say if you want a job done, give it to the busy person!