confessions (of a middle aged drama queen)

well, my admission is that during the first two weeks of last semester, in the middle of the night, i had an hysterical meltdown, and insisted between sobs to Bulldog that i could pull out of my studies and still get my money back. cos i was thinking that it is a huge waste of money to do a course and then fail miserably. but as the weeks progressed and i slid further down inside the rabbit hole, i found myself so glad that i'd started this year, reeducating katie.

funnily enough, i really really enjoyed two of my papers, and came out of my third with my nostrils above water and breathing freely. finally, a wonderful holiday month arrived - yay - i've nearly finished making my hippie quilt, i've read two books recommended to me by woozie, made loads of food to keep troops' tummies happy, reconnected with the worlds of blogland and facebook, had oooks of convos with danny, and lovely long snuggles with my babies, and i've even had the swine flu for the last week and a half.

and now it's groundhog day. back to the beginning. i find myself hyperventilating in the middle of lectures, as huge books of readings are dispersed, big fat words are bandied about, concepts which everyone else seems au fait with and i have had to come home with the videos (yep, videos) to catch up... and the world of relief teaching in 2010 is hugely appealing when compared to an interview interrogating my philosophies of education, literacy, numeracy, assessment, curriculum integration... it all seems so hard again... how on earth am i gonna relearn the "teaching" part of teaching when i've just let kids "be" for so many years? now i'm thinking i did my own kiddos a disservice by not "doing" literacy with them, cos we just focussed on "being" literate.....

i need a little perspective. or a slap. ('cept i don't believe in slaps.)

the good news is that i think i have nearly made peace with my butterfly lecturer. she is hilariously just like me. it turns out that she loves doing art with children, and so we did art in her curriculum & assessment lecture today - we drew the back view of the person in front of us - and i found myself instantly absorbed and completely forgetting the success criteria we'd just been given. and that's completely okay, she says, that's to be expected when you get an able student or someone who feels confident in their ability.
which was a far cry from my first art lesson, just last semester. and a far cry from her butterfly comment in my last paper with her. maybe there's hope for katie?

there are twelve weeks left of this semester, and a ton of work to be produced in that time. i wonder if the rabbit hole is big enough? and if the slippery slide will just shoot me off the bottom? perhaps it's just that overwhelmed first-two-weeks-feeling. i hope so. cos i don't fancy the impending hysterics.

feedback

the morning after: Dr Mal Practice, Lucy Lady, Justin Time, and the lawyers... in the lounge, with the singstar...

whodunnit?

the house was filled with whodunnit wannabes this evening for woozie's belated birthday. yeah, Bulldog had written a How To Host A Murder game and the suspects reconvened at our place to discover who murdered "Mayor Mortal" (bah dah BOOM!)...
was it:

Ewen Busturde, the illegitimate son of the mayor?

Anne Bagg, the mayor's personal assistante?

Lucy Lady, the mayor's bit on the side?
Justin Thyme, his ex-business partner?

Ginny Tonnick, the alcoholic sister?

Morty Mortal, the mayor's twin brother?
or Dr Mal Practice, who has his eye on the mayor's wife?

(or one of the others whose photos i need to recover lol?)
at the end of the evening of hilarity and frivolity and a couple of games of mafia thrown in for good measure... all was revealed...

but i cannot say whodunnit,
or i'll have to shoot myself.

trash to fashion

a friend invited me
to "teach some art"
with his class this week,
the last week of
the school term.
the kids have been
studying the 1950s,
and had recently done
a unit on recycling.
perfect.
we spent three days
refashioning
recyclable materials
into wearable art,
chatting with fleur in cambodia,
and generally having a ball.
it was totally fabulous.

which Harry Potter character are you?

nope, this is *not* another silly facebook quiz. i'm actually h'officially on holiday this month, but i've skived off to a friend's classroom for three days this week - i'm swanning about with a great bunch of ten/eleven year olds doing TRASH TO FASHION - vewy exciting pics to follow. but first, a little funny moment:

one of the lads, during a breather from making stuff, popped over and asked me if i had acted in a Harry Potter movie. like, who? i grinned... Professor McGonagall? ummmm, yes, he insisted, have you? i nearly fell into my pile of rubbish, but LOOKIT...
*ahem* there does seem to be a FAINT resemblance:

watch it, kid. talk that way to me again and i'll turn ya into a frog.

where's woozie?

woozie's skool show had its final night on saturday - we took the brothers to see it and we were all blown away - it was BRILLIANT!!! these photos are from the programme - just dress ups, no hair or make up. although the whole cast was fabulously talented, the Major General stole the show with some hilarious ad libbing. we found ourselves singing along and tapping our toes and laughing and standingly ovating, and there was even a cannon blast at the end with sparkly stuff which shot out everywhere!

here they are -
the cast of *Poirates*

rehearsal -
holding imaginary umbrellas

aha - props

the daughters -
jeez you girls can sing!

see that Pirate King's costume
(with the shiny purple pants)?

it was made by woozie.

what is it with my Nigella muse at the weekends?

so, it's saturday, and it's raining, and i think danny has brought The Big Smoke weather with him because i swear it's been sunny here for *weeks*.

i might need to take my temperature though cos since getting back from the gym four hours ago, i have been swanning around the kitchen making five six seven thousand stuffs:

1. a gigantic pot of veggie soup with alphabet letters in it for dinner tonight

2. a nearly-as-gigantic pot of roasted pumpkin soup for dinner tomorrow

3. eleventy billion wholemeal buns which are actually still rising in the oven and i even remembered to put an egg in the dough otherwise they don't rise so well

4. roasted garlic and lemon hummus from dried chick peas which i pressure cooked and which will be awesome to nosh on instead of those evil white carbs that have been stodging up my gym scales

5. two poached eggies on burgen bread cos it's my turn to keep Bulldog alive while he is in essay-writing mode

6. twelve delish boysenberry muffins for whenever the kids find them

7. two little espressos. don't forget the espressos.

and it's all so weird, cos it's not like there is anything to procrastinate. and here i am *writing* about it. ah yes, i spy a BS bloggeur award. i think i shall go off and find my quilt. i'm sure the whole world will be ecstatic to know that i have made friends with it again - probably because i can sniff the finish line. it's started to veer away from the rules though - i am going to put some words on it. except i have this gigantic headache which is probably caused by the two thirty morning last night which wasn't even for partying reasons.

simultaneous equation

hi mum, (kiss, grin, wink) can i please borrow the car?


hi danny, (kiss, grin, wink) can you please babysit tonight?

it's very quiet around here

so - how is life in The Sunny Bay?
Danny Boy's last exam was yesterday and he arrives tomorrow afternoon: WOOP WOOP! we are all hanging out to see him. Woozie's school show opens tonight: she is gonna break her leg alright! All singing, all dancing. Charlie got his first skool report this arvo and is seriously rocking the world: egads, these kids just bounce. Sammy played three different instruments in his school literature evening yesterday (yeah, the music was an interlude between all the words lol) and is off on interschool basketball tourny tomorrow. Mousey had a wee go cutting his own hair and so he's currently going by the nickname "hedge" (add a hog and you'll get it - yeah, we ended up giving him a rescue number three all over). Katie is divvying her time between making this blimmin' quilt (which is beginning to give her a headache now that she's nearly got it all together - not absolutely sure she luffs it - might change her mind once she frames it with a border or two) and playing babies and eating too many pies and driving herself mental speaking in the third person. Bulldog is about to write three essays - easy peasy. oh and we had our Māori class this morning and BD's group cheated won chocolate fishies. and - rather excitingly - the shortest day has passed so it's summer again. very soon.

summer swap

anyone fancy swapping a little bit of winter for some *summer sunshine*?
go here
it's actually a fabulously fun fabric swap, hosted my my fabby friend sarah of le original petit sac who i'm procrastinating sewing an apron for!!!!!

while this might sound a bit "nana", it's actually a riot - i'm currently sewing last year's swappage into my quilt. and i even splashed out on a "darning foot" today cos am about to attempt my first *free form quilting* - blah blah sewing blah blah - maybe i am turning into a nana after all.
(it's saturday night, and i'm excited about staying in and watching a chick flick)

*sneaky peep* at quilt piecing in progress -
(it's one of those Love It Or Hate It eclectic mixes. i absolutely adore its craziness)

i am needing *suggestions* for a good name for it - it's currently dubbed "my in-between quilt" (cos i'm sewing it between semesters) which is hardly poetic..... maybe inspired by a song title... or a movie line...?

tettie ah tettie

it's the newest hip phrase,
coined by one of my fave linguists,
from the original tête-à-tête.
although to be fair,
there were no hyphens or circumflexes
on the flower pot when we glanced at it.
HILARIOUS!!!!!

it's been a week of birthday parties,
one of which was with my fave poppies
(minus one - my evil twin
who's flown the country for her FORTIETH -
we are saying that word out loud, nik)
at The Posh Restaurant On The Water for lunch.

(ah, diggin' the rugby-socks-under-the-summer-skirt look)

can you say, "POH-sh"???
"blue vein and onion jam
hot pastries" sort of posh.

(c-h-e-e-s-e)

"glazed pork ribs and teensy weensy
salad leaves" sort of posh.

"two and a half glasses of maimai
sauvignon blanc" sort of posh. hic.

"manuka honey crème brûlée with pistachio biscotti
(which i gave away, cos nuts are savoury
and crème brûlée is sweet.
can't eat nuts in my chocolate either. ick.)
and kiwifruit sorbet" sort of posh.


cos ya know how we
love being Ladies Who Lunch.

you'll be pleased to see that
i have resisted posting the
inevitable dodgy photos here.

oh alright then, hope you
took your heart pill this morning.



yeah, there's a limit to
the number of photos
a birthday girl
can pose sensibly for.

happiness-making

(which is a family word from my childhood, referring to any thought or activity that makes you feel happy, as in, "that's very happiness-making.")

i am all about happiness-making this month, this space in between.

my amazing mother has made us a quilt for our bed to celebrate our year, this year of us reaching twenty years married and me reaching forty, and us having an oasis to mark it.

(ha! just kidding, but isn't this a retro beauty!!!)

the celebration quilt is machine pieced, hand quilted,
and there are stars all over it
and a very speshal message is on the back.
it looks very goldy brown in the photos,
but it's creamy irl.
and warm.

today i went off in search of happiness:
baby cuddles: and breathing in that warm new baby scent.
syrupy lemon muffins: with lemons from our tree.
a gym class: i know all the jackie chan moves, you know.
a sunshine beach moment and surf in my hair: no i didn't swim, but i saw three crazy girlies shrieking in the waves!
chicken soup: three bowls full, but no vino cos i have a weigh in on monday lol.
and a lovely play with a rather eclectic fabric mix: which is swiftly turning itself into another celebratory quilt...

sweet sixteen

beautiful woozie, i am blown away by you.
in the last month, you've:
sung a choral solo in front of two hundred.
repeated the performance at the interschool competition.
spent hours and hours rehearsing for your part in the school production.
sewn the costume for the lead actor.
got an "excellence" for another french oral exam.

you emerged from me with lungs already at full blast - i should've known then that you have talent.

i love the connection we have, the creativity that we share.
i love the way you see the world, the sunshine you radiate.
i love your beautiful alto, and i love the bounce that you bring to our lives.

joyeux anniversaire, ma chérie .

i fink i'm ready to say the F word

egads, i'm finally emerging from down inside the rabbit hole - my last assignment (which has morphed into a hundred and fifty page BOOK, complete with photos, maps, documents and anecdotes) on The Social History of Tauranga Primary School is printed and bound and destined for my lecturer on monday.

it's five o'clock somewhere in the world (bottoms up!) and tomorrow is my *FORTIETH* birthday. for which i'm strangely excited all of a sudden.

i'm immensely thankful for my beautiful life, for sunshine, for rain, for my hair which has finally reached my derrière, and for the blessing of fabulous people, all around the world, who continue to inspire me.
*waves hi and blows a kiss*
the hippie happy month starts now X

the light at the end of the tunnel

the brain is fried
the bum is numb
the back is munted
the fingers are froze
the eyes are sand
the hair is straw
but there are fifteen thousand words awaiting their last edit,
printing and binding into a definitive book.
and then it'll be party girl mode.

random text

is it just me, or is everyone noticing how the english language is doing a huge metamorphosis? for example. the word "okay" - in my teenage kids' texts has gone from "ok" to "kk" to "k" to "ohk" and today i got "awk"...
and the other thing is that there's a lot of switcheroos going on with adjectives and verbs and nouns - like "text" and "random" -
teen: "oh, mum, it was just some random texting me."
katie: "you mean a random PERSON sending you a TEXT?"
teen: *raises eyebrow*
(oh, and people don't know the correct use of capital letters any more either lol)
i think we need to listen to Eats, Shoots & Leaves in the kitchen while we're cooking dinner... love that idea!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, and not being the fabulous Ralph, but someone rather more verbose, i filled in the word gaps on yesterday's post - more of my usual thinking aloud and self analysis etc, cos i'm a navel gazer like that. thanks for the feedback, you gorgeous people - oh and Hay, you'll be relieved to know that each "printed" (other) supermarket bag is sandwiched between two "unprinted" countdown bags - now will ya gimme an A plus?
hahahahahahahahaha
*vizzini falls off his perch* X

an apple for the teacher

hi, i'm katie. i make stuff.
the truth is, this art paper
has saved my life this semester.
as much as i have a love affair with words,
there is something so organic about talking in pictures.
i have really struggled with my perfectionism
over the last three months -
what a journey... an A- for an essay just won't do.
and i really hope this is not osmosising
to my kiddos' consciousnesses.
because what i believe
and what i find myself doing are in obvious conflict.
we are supposed to make art in response to an issue:
and i cannot get off my usual soap box -
in skool it still seems that
"education is something we do to a child"
and like it or not, there is a conveyor belt
along which beautiful individuals travel and
get a rubber stamp on our foreheads at the end of it.
i am all about starting with the child.
i hate that "national standards" are being mooted
at a SEVEN YEAR OLD level.
why the hell is NZ looking at adopting something
that's tried and failed globally?
maybe this is why i've been so angsty this semester?

cos i'm so anti-system, yet here at uni i'm
playing the rubber stamp game too.
conflict, much?

anyway - snapshots of my last art project -
i have layered three supermarket bags
and heat-fused them together to make each page
and raided my button stash and added printed stuff.
it's the printmaking journal - my usual
loads-of-creativity-but-not-much-actual-ability style.
but hey, handed in today -
completed a week early.
seems i'm not last-minute-katie any more.
i do worry myself a little.

and oh gosh i am loving my first time connection
with so many New Zealand artists though -
i've now studied six. a drop in the pacific ocean,
but what amazing inspiration, right here:
Ralph -
look at his essence:
and Marilynn
yeah - i had to get all teachery with it.
check this one out - seven artists got together and
made art in response to our own Hone's poetry.
and Robin


who's in love? i am.

sneaky peep

here comes another one
just like the other one
nah nah nah nah nah naaaaaaaahhhhhhh
pfffffffffffttttttttttt!!!

it's the title page of my printmaking journal, due on my brother's birthday.
that would be in nine days and counting.
i'd better post his birthday card.

one fine day

of course, as soon as the camera is produced,
Bulldog turns into a goonie:

i think it's actually time for tattoo number two

yippee zippee it's queen's birthday weekend, which means that it's two weeks until my Big Birthday - but i am thinking i'll swear it off this year - weird cos i thought i'd made peace with it. *not* having a big parteeee then. planning one at the end of the year to sillybrate the end of the next beginning. the transition. the rebirth of the new katie. if there is one. am looking at some new glasses instead. have just made sushi for six and am turning off study for the weekend cos the kids have just turned on a family movie - and that is froiday noight in The Sunny Bay. thank you and hippie happy weekend. memo to self - don't blog after beer o'clock.

home stretch

woah nellie!
i just realised yesterday that this semester is nearly all over, rover!

there are two weeks left of lectures and then one more week after that to get four assignments completed - one of which i have already finished!!! (the one about teaching painting lol worth 35% - it was *so* cool - yesterday this gorgeous little feller with the paint-moustacheexcitedly announced to me that he thinks he'd like to be an artist one day - my number one goal is to make people feel special so i am ecstatic.)

so then i have
#1 small history task due this thurs worth 8% - which is actually a bit tricky (tric-tric-tric-tric-tricky)
# 2 another art journal worth 30% - printmaking - i have started making the pages. i need to make some prints to stick in it then lol.
#3 the 35% history assignment - which is a research project on one NZ school from the year dot until now - needs a fair bit of work.

i am so glad i've survived - there will be a whole month holiday and then there is one more rinse and repeat.
and then - i'll be eduKATEd.
(it's an oldie but a goodie) X

sunday morning, rain is falling...

oops, i got my weekend weather forecast a bit mixed up - i should've gone to the beach *yesterday* and finished the essay *today*.

never mind - fun found:

sammy's little meaty pies!!
and

woozie's little bracelets.

am off in search of a chick flick and the rest of my chateau countdown:
bouquet of a wet dog, hits the palate like a razor blade, gives you a blinding headache in the morning... and there's no telling what a second sip might do. (movie line)

jazzing it up

um, yeah, i'm posting youtube videos instead of writing the next essay. i have decided that "B is for Balance", though at this rate, i'm in danger of "D is for Dimwit".

but hey, this is what we sprinted back from The Big Smoke at Easter to see - Sammy's talented guitar teacher, mainstage at The Sunny Bay's Jazz Fest.



uh, c'est moi, the blonde one, 1:37 mins into the clip - trying to figure out the best place to take a pxt - that's a whole seven seconds of fame, but who's counting? X

painting by numbers

we-e-e-e-ll, i am rather
surprised to report

that it's just like
riding a bike:
loads of fun and
incredibly energy sapping -
where oh where
is my chocolate stash?
seriously though -
i had a whole morning
with beautiful,
enthusiastic, responsive,
creative six year olds -
and i loved it.
uh, the eleventy
billion photos are 'cos
it's an assignment and
i am a girlyswot *cough*

backchat

Katie [upon surveying the carnage]: wow, remember when we were first married and i was teaching and you were a student and life was mental and we used to spend three hours every saturday morning folding washing?
Bulldog: mmm, we seem to have come full circle.

the big news is that i also cleaned the showers today - but am wondering why it's called "Sugar Soap" - does it have sugar in it? and also wondering why they're called "scotchbrite scouring pads" - uh, they don't seem to contain any scotch - but i have the cleanest showers (and feet) in The Sunny Bay. can't remember the last time i cleaned the showers so am feeling pretty righteous.

lesson plan

tips? hints?
cos i'm being let loose on a class of six year olds over the next two mondays to teach painting. ha!
and the last lesson plan i wrote was - oh - about twenty years ago.
so the one i conjured up last night on 10cm square paper looks like this:

*ahem* not very h'official-looking.

get this though - when i were a lad i lived in cardboard box i' middle o'road - when i was last teaching a class of six year olds, there were 36 of the little dahlings. this class has 21 - and the beautiful teacher has offered to do a switcheroo - she teaches half of them maths while ten kiddos and i throw paint around the classroom and then we do a swapsie.
looks like i won't be needing my arnie moves then.

dinky pinky

well, i think the internets are about to crash under the weight of me announcing my happy happy joy joy everyfreakingwhere, but .....
(drum roll).....
i just got my first A+!!!!!!!!!
yep. for this. i can't remember the last time i got an A+. well, i used to top all the spelling tests at skool.

so instead of crashing the library after art class in search of stuff for my next NZ history assignment, i came home and ripped off this. the ultimate garment. it's a top.
for free, gratis.
cos i scored this sexy organza fabric from nik who got it from the sallies:
(sorry, nighttime photo - hence no pics of moi modelling the top - but sherry looks gorgeouser anyways)

i only wish kim'd consulted moi before adding that errant acute on the last "e". (sorry, can't help myself mentioning that. my excuse is that i've imbibed half a bottle of vino to make up for last night's glass that i threw on the carpet without even a sip. upset, much?). i am totally saving to get kim to make me some black linen pants though - they are amazing. hopefully that'll make up for the ripped-off-top. (and the next one i'm gonna whip up in charcoal satin.)

and the other news from today is that i handed in the essay - my lecturer even got an extra 600 words for his trouble because i simply could not edit them out. i am really rather glad another essay is all over rover. i got myself so constipated over it. hmmmmm. chill pill needed.

another little procrastinatory moment

i had an epiphany this morning.
i am finding essay writing such a struggle because i am not a linear thinker - you know - that and that and that and that and that equals that.
i am a swirling thoughts person - you know - that and that and oh! hop hop hop and this over here and ohmygosh that's fascinating and that and that and far out, whaddya think about this? and that and that and oh! where was i?
it's like putting seventeen books into a washing machine, adding water, and expecting to get five flat pieces of legible paper out of it when the machine beeps.

this is the latest scoop of cold water surf (yeah, i may buy happy eggies, but i am not yet an organic washing powder chick) that's been making bubbles in my head:
it's discussing the topic of the home environment of working class children compared to middle class children (like it or not, there are definitely the "haves" and "have nots" even here in Godzone) :

Diane Reay, for example, has noted the significance of family life/background as a "primary site of social reproduction". She argues that, in class terms, there's little evidence to suggest that different social classes view the importance of education differently. On the contrary, she argues, educational success tends to be seen by all classes as one of the keys to social mobility and success. Reay uses the concept of "emotional labour" to describe what she sees as the crucial role played by mothers in the educational life chances of their children. Reay argues that middle class mothers, for example, are "better-placed" (that is, they have greater reserves of cultural capital) than their working class peers to provide the support required by children throughout their school career.

This "emotional investment" works on a number of levels, from being better-placed to provide their children with "compensatory education" (help with school work, for example), having more time to spend on their children's education (middle class women, for example, are less-likely to spend large parts of their working day in paid employment) to having the status (and confidence) to confront teachers when they feel their children are not being pushed hard enough or taught well enough (Reay notes that middle class parents, for example, are better-placed to exert pressure on schools to dismiss/discipline teachers who do not, in the view of such parents, come up with the educational goods for their children).

read more here

cos i've seen this "compensatory education" happening in my life - in my own education experience, in my brief teaching career and in my mothering/educating years, especially since the kiddos have started skool; and Bulldog said yes, it's primarily the mothers who phone/email him to chat about joe and josephine - and now i'm wondering how to equalise this for our nation's children who have less cultural capital - because i'm all about mothering, and this and that and hop hop hop over there and *slaps self, closes window and fishes around in the washing machine, trying to rescue all those books*

eduspeak

i have another essay due in four days, so my head is full of social dynamics and accessibility and the deprivation index and decile funding, and various socioeconomic factors which directly affect educational opportunity, and choice or lack of it, and Beeby and Dewey and Thrupp, and even Pierre Bourdieu - but it occured to me as i sat in my social issues lecture this arvo/evening (yeah, four hour lecture, oh joy) that this culture shock is slowly starting to ebb and i am finding the readings far less dense and frightening and mystical than i initially did, and i am finally beginning to assimilate all these Big Words into my consciousness.

the weight that i continue to lose is kinda shocking though - i'm now a kilo less than i was at a rather slender nineteen - although the chub seems to have been redistributed to different places lol. memo to self - e.a.t.

when Bulldog came to pick me up after my lecture tonight, he played me this song, and held my hand as we drove along the expressway, and i blinked back tears as our journey flashed past like the blinking lights from warm lounges and street corners and the words echoed around and around as i thought about the new *coming alive* for us this year - connecting in the sphere of academia - i am loving tripping inside all this history and politics and thinking deeply about the world of our nation's children, and sharing all of it with the person i love as much as any in the world.

still i try to find my way, spending hours, endin' days, burnin' like a flame behind my eyes. drown it out, drink it in. i lay there in the dark, i close my eyes.
you saved me the day you came alive.

tap on my window, knock on my door, i wanna make ya feel beautiful.

am having a bit of a maroon 5 blast on the stereo today – Bulldog has taken the kiddos to skool and he is staying to analyse data. I’ve been up 'til 2.30am analysing great bundles of data of my own. not being the consummate statistician, my head hurted a bit – but land sakes, i never thought census stats could be so fascinating – i have been comparing lower decile areas (poorer peeps) to higher decile areas (richer peeps) in The Sunny Bay in terms of educational and employment opportunity. it’s the same stuff we all know – middle class people send their kids to middle class schools and push the poorer people out – and it’s slogged me in the guts again.

there have been two speshal deliveries arrive yesterday and today – both all the way from Canada! so there was snow and french writing on the front of the parcels...

oh, what was *inside*??

Sarah of the petit sac français sent both Woozie'n'me a handmade *fabulous* sparkly top each! and a delish bundle of fabric which i am gonna fashion into an apron for her (perhaps in june in my take-a-breath-space between semesters) – cos her daughter is going to skool this year – apron strings, you know.

and Anna, aka Beach Mama posted me a box full of pinkness. a *chanel* bag, and photo, and soap, and desk calendar – all handmade – as part of the Pay It Forward thing a wee while ago. ah yes - life is good at the beach.

on the topic of french, here's a sound bite of my wee Woozie doing her speech in front of the class. just listen to this gorgeous effort -
woozie.mp3
(click the words lol. nope still not working. i have tried all manner of upload sites. but nuffin' is workin' and i've run outta time and energy for it. so if ya know me and you wanna hear woozie, email me and i'll attach the file specially for ya.)

it's le petit français speech all memorised and delivered fluently - i have told her that when she travels overseas and arrives in Paris and decides to stay awhile, she needs to make sure she earns enough euros to shout me an annual plane ticket.

mystery landmark tour

ha! how we love skool trips. today sam's cool teacher loaded the keedz onto the bus and Bulldog and i piled on too - yep - we hogged the back seat lol. we went on a *mystery landmark tour* which was kid-exciting-speak for discovering two war memorials. the day started out so grey, but as we neared the beach, skies turned blue and beautiful.

i love it when life is like that.

walking on sunshine

finally, katie's painting journal is finished.
ideally, it is a resource for teachers -
to journal the painting process


and to perhaps get ideas for teaching painting with kids.

that would equal five weeks of katie learning to

draw
stress herself out
drink coffee
freak out
procrastinate
get wonderful help from distant artistes

paint.

and eleventy billion hours of
compiling the ultimate resource -

because - on the one hand, i hate being graded -

but on the other hand - if i'm gonna be graded,
i'm gonna give it my all.


so if i was my art lecturer grading my drawing/painting,
i'd give myself an A+ for effort. lol.

and if i was eight,
i'd be pretty impressed with my offerings.
lol again.


and if i was grading my love of arranging stuff/sewing stuff/refashioning stuff/researching stuff/making stuff i'd be really happy with the result.


let's hope my art lecturer is too.

so - katie's painting journal is completed a week early.

that is spelled
o-b-s-e-s-s-i-v-e a-d-u-l-t s-t-u-d-e-n-t.


PS this sounds rather up-myself, but it looks amazing irl - all the textures and layers make it really interactive, like one of those toddlers' books with the zips and buttons, you know? i always wanted to make one of those lol.
PPS yeah, i think i got my macro button foncused with my unmacro button on the camera - blondie again.

blame it on the boogie

"i think eddie van halen is my favourite guitarist at the mo, mum. listen to this awesome solo, mum. mum! quick! come and listen to this... far out mum, these guys ROCK!"

yep - it's none other than eddie's old 1984 hit Jump - fantastic bit of tapping in there. oh, and the other thing that is currently on rinse-and-repeat at our place is a seven-year-old michael jackson chirping "rockin' robin". sam has a bit of a karaoke set up and is tweedly-deeing along with the jacksons.
so - eddie is the guitar guru, and michael is the style guru - yep, sam dresses like this nearly every day - he has finally got himself his own skinnyjeans (that didn't previously belong to his sister) and teams them with button-up shirt, old earlyeighties tie and new pinstriped hat - which he grabbed at the same time as the jeans.

oh, and last night we found five pairs of cheep cheep fingerless gloves - ...i'm gonna moonwalk outta here (guess the movie line).

"Let us see how Squirt does, flying solo..."

(oh how we adore Crush)
i am not cut out for this solo mum lark.
BD drove six hours across the island on sunday for a uni contact course and we are not seeing him 'til froiday - three sleeps down, two to go.

my uni lectures are still on this week and i have two and a half assignments due - but it's clashing with the kids' second week of school hols - can you spell r-e-m-o-t-e-c-o-n-t-r-o-l-l-e-d-p-a-r-e-n-t-i-n-g?

i'm not very good at it, this solo juggling act. there is no one to say "SHOTGUN NOT!" to - i am the one locking the doors and remembering that it's rubbish day and saying yes or no (mostly trying to say yes) to every kid request - while trying to research three different artists and produce the A+ art journal.

why so conscienscious/conscientious?
even my spelling is taking a dive. egads.
am now thinking: can we please just go with the first essay result and flag writing any others?
oh and i have a new theory about weight loss and studying - i think it's because my heart is permanently beating faster than normal.

i am finding myself longing for the daze when my biggest concerns were getting the washing dry and what's for dinner and which beach shall we hang out on this froiday.

"Dude? Dude? Focus dude... Dude?"
i fink i needa hug. or the EAC.

je suis une rockstar!

it turns out that all that running on adrenalin, espressos, mints, two minute noodles, and vino (oh, didn't i already mention the vino?) is freaking worth every angsty minute:

i just got my first essay back, and i got an A- !!!!!

of course i shrieked oh! my! gosh! and burst into tears, and the kiddos all rushed over, ignoring their movie, and gave me big squeezy hugs. Bulldog is eleventy billion miles away at his own uni course, so he hasn't dispensed any congratulations yet. never mind, i am toasting myself.

fix

i've been having such a KHB (Katie Hold Back) Vibe with Making Stuff since starting uni and i was nearly shrivelling up. needed a fix. woozie got this book outta the library a month or so ago and *ideas* have been shoved under the carpet ever since, but TODAY Sammy generously donated a black punk-looking teesh, Bulldog donated an "old" shirt and i put my uni stuff back in the box for half an hour.

(can you read that? my eyes are going squiffy.)

and lookit!

it totally looks as good as the one in the book.
i'd prove it if my camera would focus.
i sewed lines of white and red and black stitching
down the placket and frayed the edges.
the collar is under her hair lol.

woozie dibsed it today and i dibsed it for monday -
i fink we need some black docs to match.
and we'll definitely need to make another one pronto...

maybe i could do one assignment,
one teesh fix, etcetera...

and that, said katie, is that.

these freaking perfectionist genes.
i woke up at five thirty this morning

and had another go at it.

it's still juvenile-looking to me,
but i need to draw the line somewhere.

which is why i'm not a world famous artiste -

Mauao is the sacred mountain at

the entrance to Tauranga Harbour.

Its name, meaning ‘caught in the

light of the day’, comes from the

legend in which Mauao was once

a nameless mountain, spurned

in love by the beautiful mountain

Puwhenua. One night he begged the

fairy-like creatures of the forest

to drag him to the ocean and end

his misery. But the creatures fled as

the morning sun’s rays struck,

and he was transfixed on the spot.

I had this idea in my head - for my painting journal, I'd paint after the style of Nicolas de Stael. Mostly because he doesn't bovver with faces or minutiae. I'd use limited hues (which is art-speak for colours) and paint with a piece of card instead of a brush. I'd put Puwhenua inside the mountain -

she who will always be in the heart of Mauao,

even though she did not love him.

The idea looked really awesome in my head.

And then I painted it.

Um, I don't think I'll become a Specialist Art Teacher then.

you've loved me for more than half of your life.

two decades of ineloquent surreality,
our first kiss memoryfresh
in the summerlight bicycling.

two decades of children's choruses,
kitschkitchen sunset dancing,
somebody to lean on singing.

two decades of heart symphony,
dreamfloating, journeymaking,
same way on the rope pulling.

two decades of symbiotic existence,
richer, poorer, sickness and health
in fingercircled gold entwining.

well that was good and that was great,
how about a word from kate...
let's pop the bubbly.

The Big Weekend

while Charlie and his Daddy
went on a boyz weekend - doin' freaky boyz stuff -
uuurgh uuuurgh -

the rest of us stayed home for a beachy day
and a Charlie's Angels fest -
and i wrote my second ethics assignment
until the wee wee wee small hours.
well - i mostly stayed up that late because
i find it hard to sleep
without Bulldog's heartbeat next to mine.

today i started finding my mojo for my art journal -
oh how i love food colouring.

it's supposed to turn out like an altered book -
with *ahem* all of our *ahem* paintings in it.

well, as we all know,
i am NOT the scrapbooking queen,
so this is as far as i've got -
(recognise that piltdown man photo? c'est moi)
it's the front cover -
which still needs a little *jhushj* -
some fancy paper and some string.
or some glue would be a good start.
i followed this tutorial
to use up some of the overflowing
plastic shopping bags that've been
accumulating in my pantry -
to back the letters on.
because i'm insisting on doing
this project on the cheep cheep.

the tute shows ya how to make
a fabulous recycled bag.
and they use waxed paper to iron on, but i used
"white newspaper" and it worked fine.
try it, you'll love it.
you can even use up all your spare
seat belts for the bag straps.
i know. g-r-e-e-n.

so yesterday - i "Collected Images".
that's an Art Phrase, don'tcha know?

tomorrow i need to rush the drawings and paintings then.
i think i'll be needing Miracle Max.

essayez vous?

so - what've we been doing for the last nine days?
well, firstly, Bulldog and i've managed to keep the house tidy and the clothes clean and have even been feeding us all real dinner every night - which is no mean feat with our Crazy Student Lifestyle.

secondly, i have just about whittled fifteen thousand words of my essay on Ethical Decision Making to the prescribed twelve hundred word limit. i am rather dismayed that i can't crank out my usual b*llsh*t and chuck in a movie line and call it quits.

thirdly, Sammy is the *try guy* of the month.

yep, he's following in the family tradition.

well, actually he did the
Weetbix Tryathlon a week ago,
so all this news is backwards lol.

but at least i thought of a rocking good title - "essayez vous" is a pun on the essay thing, and its literal translation is "try you" (and it might have a hyphen between the "essayez" and the "vous" but i can't remember and google isn't being very helpful).
and now i've killed that hilariousness by explaining it lol. but at least we're all on the same page and hopefully i've used up some extra words that will now not appear in my essay.
peace out, chicken X

i'm gonna become famous

cos of two things:
1. i have unwittingly discovered a weight loss programme that works!!!
it's called "Send Your Kids To School And Become A Student"
yep - it turns out that i've lost 5 1/2 kg in the last 8 weeks - and was told in no uncertain terms by my personal trainer (she's really my lovely gym instructor who did my measure-and-weigh at the gym this morning, but "personal trainer" makes me sound like a celebrity to myself lol) to ingest more than two minute noodles, muesli, coffee and smints.

2. i've found the cure for insomnia!!!
it's even easier than losing weight - read eleventy billion articles written by Academic Professionals - you'll find yourself nodding off every ten minutes.

famous, i tell ya.

PS would people PLEASE stop talking about autumn?? it's gonna be summer until at least mid-june.

cookieee monstah

me eat perfickly round
chewy chocklit COOkies.

sticky notes

i invented post-its...
(guess the movie line)

i know what i said, but there are suddenly all these successes to be celebrated - life is cyclic like that - so thought i'd write a few sticky notes to self.

i handed in my first wee assignment - and i hope i got all the dates unfoncused. it even made sense although i had to change the font size to 9-point to fit it all on one side of the page - i hope the lecturer lets me off this first time - and i did my first APA referencing all the way through it - big learning curve there - so i'm feeling good about that. today i'm sitting down with Betty (after kick boxing class) and compiling my art scrapbook.
get this from Betty - these are before and after self portraits, drawn by real people at the beginning and end of a five-day-class she teaches - learning to SEE. so i am looking forward to finding my drawing mojo.

BD made The World's Most Divine shepherd's pie for dinner while i was at lectures last night - so we've all voted on *Shepherd's Pie Thursday* for the rest of this semester. and i've never seen More Frequently Mown Lawns. oh, and he got his Letter to the Editor published in last night's Bay of Plenty Times - congratulating the city on a wonderful weekend of athletics - the editor even highlighted it and posted a photo above it - coolness bro-ness.

Sambo had regional athletics yesterday - with two lovely little schools from Whakatane and Rotorua joining our wee school. He came third in the 100m sprints, second in the high jump, and BD and i watched him cross the finish line FIRST in the cross country.
freaking streaking awesome. oh, and his guitar teacher taught him the intro to stairway to heaven last night - oooh, it makes me wonder...

Mikey came third in his cross country race too!!! he had a wonderful day playing all sorts of games with sunshiney children and would you believe it - my handwriting panic was unfounded - he can now write between the lines. yep - he comes home every day and prints screeds of words in his scrapbook - so his mouth is open and the marshmallows are flying right in there. alrighty.

Charlie has memorised his sixteen-line whakapapa in two days flat - that boy has a photographic memory like his big brother. he and Woozie are currently auditioning for the school production - lovely experience there.

Woozie is still making bags and bags and is about to graduate to altered tshirts - she has IDEAS, baby. she's also been drawing sketch after sketch for the costume she's designing for The Pirate King in the school production. way to go chick.

by all accounts, DannyBoyTheSuperHero is easing himself back into the uni lifestyle with a barrage of "basic tests" (muhaha) and debating nights and general socialisation. and we all miss him like the flower misses the sun... (guess the other movie line). i haven't got time for much apron-making though - maybe in the holidays...

and that is how the end of our week is shaping up.
i feel a weekend beach visit coming on...

think or thwim

boy oh boy i am really missing this creative space. now i know why "two minute noodles" is the Classic Student Food - there is no time or inclination to create anything else. i am actually existing on caffeine, blind panic, and eclipse mints... and the odd bowl of muesli.

i even heard the silence of birdies sleeping at three o'clock this morning while filling in gaps for my first assignment - and posting three days late to my online forum because i am struggling to relate "teaching professionality" to my sixteen years' home educating experiences. i'm just a mum with a crazy hat.

not sure when i'll be back - probably shortly after i learn to draw. i'm not holding my breath...

The YAHOO Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

roight then - this YAHOO triathlon -
angie, katie, heather

400m swim - was absolutely feral - panic stations all around.
people were grabbing my legs and kicking me in the head and my kids were running along the beach yelling, "Go, Mum!" and i got the hysterical giggles and took on some water.
i confess i put my feet down - got a glass cut for my trouble. but my arms were still swimming so i think that cancels out the legs.
say after me: SHOOTING THROUGH THE WATER LIKE A SILVER ARROW.
8.5km ride - loved wendy's bike - rode like the wind, bullseye! (oh lookit that, a movie line)
i passed three cyclists... and eleventy billion serious cyclists passed me lol.

twice around the block, massive head wind.

3km run - ouch! i pinged my calf 1/4 of the way into it.
i ran and ran and ran and ran. i passed two runners. around the drinks station and back into the tail wind - stalked by the paparazzi again - aka The Fab Famdamily.
*superkatie* crossed the finish line at 47:55
AH SO, the sub-48... YEAH!!!!! freaking exhausted but ROCKING. THE. BAY.

fabulously extra good YAHOO news -
(pre race rub down by the cuzzies aka Sam and Jon)

Bulldog knocked FIFTEEN SECONDS OFF his previous 1500 metre race time.
so he came fourth in New Zealand, just like his last race at FIFTEEN years old.
talk about ROCKING THE BAY!!!!!
(better photos to come)

oh and i sent the sunshine vibes into the universe to win prizes at the post-race-finale

but must've got my frequencies crossed. lol.
next time then...

Berry Berry Delish Ice Cream

ever since Charlie made *brown bread ice cream* at skool two weeks ago, he's been wanting to make ice cream at home. last night, while we were waiting for BD's bro Andy and our cuzzie-bro Jon to arrive from The Big Smoke (there is The National Running Meet in The Sunny Bay this weekend - new adidas shoes, tick. speshal rehydrating powdered drinks, tick. much brotherly hilarity and comparing of training schedules over the past three months, tick. little pre-race reconnoitre and pick up the goodie bag two hours before the first event, tick...) Charlie got out eleventy billion bowls and saucepans and nonchalantly threw around phrases like "whisk the egg yolks and sugar in the bain-marie" and "i'll make the sabayon" and "please beat the meringue to stiff peaks" and "keep the knife point facing towards the centre of the bench, otherwise people passing by can cut themselves..." and i am feeling surprisingly defunct cos whoosh!! there goes Olly-The-Chef's newest protégée.



and lookit what's been created - the lads are currently taste testing it - ooo!!! here's a wee spoonful for Katie - delightfully sweet yet tarty - that's a reference to the icecream you ningnong - of course the real dessert will be consumed post-1500m race tonight, which is pre-800m race tomorrow. so we'll call it Carb-Loading, ohk? cos my triathlon is at the crack of dawn tomorrow too.
got all that? wowsers i am addicted to dashes.
and can you spell F-a-m-i-l-y o-f A-t-h-l-e-t-e-s??
bwahahahahaha X

Ecstatically Proud Mummy Announcement

Samuel won the School High Jump today!
reckons the bar he's jumping's up to his neck -
Fosbury Flop styles, of course.
not bad for a first-timer.
ROCKS. THE. UNIVERSE.

now i'm off to bed with my uni reading and its Big Words -
epistemology, pedagogy, boggly-eye-ology... and the dictionary. cos peeps are already commenting in the forum and i have... oh... about a third of an idea of what's going on.
it's a bit scary.
making stuff is far easier.

good news - am on target for the triathlon on sunday. did a bike ride and a swim today (and a kick boxing class - my newest addiction) but i really need to beg/borrow/scrounge a bike WITH GEARS for the race - samuel's kid bike is knees-around-the-ears crazeeee stuff. know anyone in The Sunny Bay whose bike would like to ride around the block with me on sunday?

gooder news - if ya think unschooling is fun, you should try three days Study Leave with Bulldog. apart from the heady uni stuff, i am *so* sold on this lifestyle.

oodles and squoodles of moodles newsels

to be honest, i’m so glad to see the tail end of last month's e-m-o-t-i-o-n-a-l r-o-l-l-e-r-c-o-a-s-t-e-r. cos i am useless at being on my own - i hate all those voices echoing in my head. at least they have company.

i have fabulous news - school has turned out to be a goodie, not a baddie - the kiddos are so settled and so happy and in such a wonderful space and i am r-e-l-i-e-v-e-d. the mahvellous thing is that there is all this wonderful stuff going on every day and i don't have to organise any of it! which means we have huge energy for the weekends.

that's a damn good thing, cos it was raining cats'n'dogs on saturday - a quick trip to the dvd rental store - problem solved. Big Family Day playing Buzz and James Bond and eating soup - our favourite comfort food. and i sneaked off to sew a skirt with this adorable fabric that i had found on Friday -

'twas a bit more pricey than a sheet from the sallies but OH! so worth it. turns out it's stretch lycra, but i sewed s-l-o-w-l-y and c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y and IT WORKED!!! it falls so beautifully, it's very swishy and a dream to wear.

Jaimee had her baby boy and i have nearly finished her pressie - here's a sneaky peep -

it needs threads trimming and buttons and a final tittivation... that looks like too many Ts.

today the sun came out and we ventured to a friend's resort this arvo - a palm trees by the pool sorta resort - clare and i ended up a little fuzzy headed on malibu and pineapple - photo proof.

now i'm off to bed "...to do my university reading..." (i have been listening to Bulldog say that sentence for YEARS!!! and now i can say it my very self lol) before my moodle convo tomorrow (thank God i've been a Web Wife for all these years, it turns out that moodle is as easy as holding a mouse), which will be squeezed in around my ART CLASS!!! yes, i have chosen a paper on Teaching Art Through Painting and Printing. o-a-r-s-o-m-e.

and i think, on Tuesday, Bulldog and i will take our university reading and our little oasis to the beach.

t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r. all on our onesies.

last rites, bits and bites

i have had a recurring dream throughout my life. i'm wandering aimlessly around my high school looking for, but not finding my classroom. every time i turn the corner and look up the stairs the view is the same as the last corner and staircase i just turned and climbed. 'tis like something out of David Bowie's Labyrinth -
you remind me of the babe. what babe? the babe with power. what power? the power of voodoo. who do? you do? do what? remind me of the babe...
and round and round in ever-increasing nightmarish circles.

so this afternoon i popped into town to negotiate the university campus. egads. i'm so thankful for lovely smiling peeps who greeted me at all the info desks and gently decoded fine print for this blondie. and i start classes on monday - in the correct lecture theatre.

so today was Bulldog's last day at skool. he sent me an email on wednesday to ask if i'd make a Big Fat Chocolate Cake for his speshal morning tea shout for all the teechahs. but i couldna make a Big Fat Chocolate Cake big enough for fifty peeps. thank God for my cupcake angel who spent three hours yesterday, helping me to bake and ice eleventy billion divine cupKATEs -

lime and chocolate, and passionfruit and cream cheese.

everyone absolutely adored them - i am quite the celebrity!!!

of course ya can't have just one Leaving Party - there's another plan hatching for the after-school-drinkies. Bulldog's partner-in-crime was gonna dash out at lunchtime to get his hair cut and dyed blonde and his ear pierced (like BD's summer manoeuvre) and get them matching tshirts. uh - serious *cringe* factor. i do hope someone takes a photo...

bikini babes

today at the beach you leaned over and grabbed my hand as we lay in the sand and we were leetle girls again, sharing souls and sunshine and poetry and petit paris snapshots and all our guts and garters and i found myself unbelieveably thankful for all the history and family memories and sisterness that we share.

more fabriKATEd handmade goodness and other stuff

other stuff first - we had a blast rockin' out to Dave et al last night. DannyBoy and Bulldog scored a job crewing for the concert - sweet. free tickets then!!! and Bulldog souvenired Sam some guitar picks during the after show stage pack down - guitar picks held by Dave, the Oppers and Anika. totally awesome - Sam is in muso heaven today.

roight then - photographic evidence - and captions... ya want captions? ohk - just the photos then.




(alright - if ya are desperate for captions, get thee on facebook lol. i can't be in two places at once. anyway, facebook is the new blog. closely followed by twitter. yep.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

handmade goodness - rather a catch up. Woozie's newest thing to do with jeans is stuff 'em with beans. self-embroidered jeansy beansy goodness right there. (oh i still need to take photos - will do that in daylight lol)

i am still stuck in a timewarp making jeans into bags - here's the latest cutie for our luffly girlfriend Laura - pinky goodness right there.
and some baby handmade goodness - my auntie made me a stack of these when i was preggie with DannyBoy - washable baby wipes - made from deliciously soft baby muslin - they are definitely in The Organic Mummy Category. these little cuties are for my lovely friend Jaimee - who's ready to pop any day...

is it a bird? is is a plane?

nope, it's a Flying Sambo - complete with Gandalf cape.
but i'm thinking it could be a bird or a plane at that altitude.
(photo credits - Granny)

i just got my first uni instalment today. my eyes have already glazed over.

what to do? what to do?
too easy. choose the Second Hardest Thing in my head- and procrastinate negotiating moodle (yeah - wtf?) for the virginth time.

yep, i spent all afternoon with mum helping me to arrange these completely gorgeous fabrics
and cut out the templates for them (plus eleventy billion others) for Katie'sCrazyFebruaryQuilt.
it's her birthday today - and still she willingly does maths for me.
that's love X

nutting off

just a wee head-empty. i nearly hit the wall this morning at the gym, metaphorically. i have been there too many days in a row, pushing too many weights. and lots of negative things are now going around in my head re: not enough swimming/running training for the triathlon - countdown - a little over two weeks. i tried all the head tricks this morning but ended up not completing all the sets. and my body hurts.

so here is a beautiful thing to fill up my head with.
it was part of my first evah global swap, original artwork by lizard who lives in america - it talks of adopting her daughter into her family tree. for me it symbolises A New Life, and so i have hung it over the dining table, in the heart of our home -
one day this year i hope to make a huge canvas to hang there. my muse is simmering, just like the morrocan pumpkin soup and chocolate birthday cake in my kitchen cos - countdown - a few minutes - Danny and Mum and Dad are arriving for a six day weekend! and then we'll wave Danny off to uni for another slashing year. it's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since i started my apron-strings obsession. i think that this year i'll graduate to apron-skirts.

refabriKATEd

my wardrobe is full of jeans and singlet tops and a few tshirts and two hoodies. which is probably why mick's teacher looked aghast/aghastly/whatever at me yesterday when i 'fessed i am heading for forty - she thought i was thirty. *grin*

maybe my wardrobe needs to grow up? not my katie-is-a-mummy wardrobe, or my katie-is-a-student wardrobe: my katie-is-a-teacher wardrobe. cos i'll be needing one of those soon enough, and there is currently a sum total of one seventies hippie dress and one sunflower skirt, both of which fit me in odd places and not in even places, if ya know what i mean.

enter last night's 90-minute-skirt moment. yep, that's an hour and a half from go to woah. i started with my favourite vintage sheet.
i cut out a semi-circle and a dropped waistband sash thing and two ties. kind of like an apron then. actually i cut a pattern off this skirt that nik had bought recently.
i'll say that again - *i* cut a pattern off something!!!
and i didn't faff it up. i even managed to ninja the circular hem. all by my onesies. ohk, with a late-night-text to my sewing fairy.

but wait, there's more!!!!!
(oh how i LOVE *two for the price of one* deals)
not only is this a skirt, it's about eleventy billion dresses too!
talk about yer instant wardrobe.

sunshine all weekend

surely there cannot be a three word phrase any more beautiful than "sunshine all weekend"? oh, well, "i love you" and "you've won lotto" are pretty cool too, although the third has never been heard by me. i found my muse with louise's necklace late on friday night. it was one of those moments when i threaded up everything perfectly first time.
usually there is alot of rethreading to get things perfickly perfect, but not with this necklace. fifty brilliant turquoise (louise's fave colour) fire-polished glass beads are interspersed with "twos" glass seed beads which symbolise her two children and/or louise and hubby.
wouldn't you know it, the first thing that louise did when we arrived at her party was to put her new necklace on!!! ya can't see it, but the clasp has two deliKATE hearts on it, cos the birthday party was on valentine's day.
yep, i took the kids camping and left Bulldog home to write another essay. how romantic is that? oops.

Week Two - Pile Up Who?

ha! it rhymes.

KNOCK KNOCK
who's there?
PILE UP.
pile up who?

hahahahahahahaha - it cracks me up every time.

i've been having a TGIF moment all day.
so it must be time for a celebration of The Good Things In Our Life.
hi, i'm Katie. i'm a school mum.
t-o-d-a-y.....
i awoke at six and decided to fold the Three Day Washing Pile Up.
cleaned up last night's dinner too.
2 loads of washing done and out.
kiddos rooms sorted.
lounge and living area squaaaaared away.
folded clothes put away.
vacuuming done.
(everyone else is far too exhausted to do housework - BD is teaching 34 hours a week plus running around like a Blue Arsed Fly all his other responsibilities)
kids dressed and lunchboxes filled and happily on their way with a few sweet words about How To Handle The Spelling Test.
i am still so quizzical about The Constant Evaluation Inside The Classroom.
b-r-e-a-t-h-e.

300m swim with Triathlon Buddies - swam all the way.
mostly breast stroke, little freestyle, but feet did not touch the sand.
or the sharks/stingrays/jellyfish.
because there aren't any.
i had My Margot's Magic Wetsuit On for protection, just in case.
home for tin of tuna, wash and comb the dreadlocks outta my hair.
back in the car with espresso and pear.
to the pool to teach some of Mick's classmates to swim.

off for a run.
forty minutes WITHOUT STOPPING, her morning elegance in my head.
(ninja comments, anyone? ha. it's my longest run to date. must be over 5 km. bit slow but made it all the way without dying in the midday sun. what's that about Mad Dogs and Englishmen..?)
banana and stretching. loads of water.
back at pools to teach some of Sam's classmates. they are all so gorgeous and fabulous.
home again home again jiggety jig.
five minute breather and back for school pick up.
newspaper deliveries to do and then....
have bribed some of the girls/home ed kiddos to meet us at the beach for hot chippies.

am rather wasted. i need a nana nap.
this week's thanks-es:
BD - got another A for uni essay.
Danny - in The Big Smoke digging up Uncle's lawn.
Woozie - got 33 outta 34 for latest french test.
Charlie - thinks he's made it into school choir.
Sambo - has sorted the homework situation.
Mick - aced the spelling/times tables test without melting down.
Katie - still remembers her name.

every day has pretty much looked like that and i am still wondering how Working Mummies do the juggle? any tips???

cos i still haven't got around to
*making a baby present for two weeks ago
*threading a necklace for a birthday tomorrow
*making an Art Work for our dining room
*photo arrangement for the lounge wall
*sewing a quilt before uni starts in march
(i have cut out a skirt tho!!! squeeeee!)

oh - but i have just been presented with this love letter -

which is really for tomorrow
but i just couldn't wait.

jeez and crackers. how many words was that blog post? maybe i'll have no prob's writing an essay at uni at all then? i wonder what the lucidity requirement is?

Danny and i just shared a beautiful morning wiz coffee and croissants (movie line snippet) and a movie, which was aptly named Chaos Theory. Santa had popped the movie in Danny's stocking for Christmas and this was my first viewing. i loved it - the whole moment - and this quote too:

You know, Frank, if you're gonna go nuts,
you should really have a god or a dog talking to you.
Index cards are not that sexy!

cos, yeah, there've been a few nutsville/making lists moments in my head lately. and i cannot find my muse with The Artsy February That Was Gonna Be.

there was a photo arrangement in the movie which captured my imagination though. on the wall of the lounge was a series of facial portraits, like the ones ya take in a photo booth, all different expressions. they were mounted in rows of fives, and i am thinking of repliKATEing them on the blue wall in our lounge - i'll definitely include this one:
cos it speaks to me of summer and Danny putting his arms around my neck yesterday and looking down at me and saying, "Mum, do you know how much I love you?"
yep.

heat wave - self portrait

i love this girl to the beach and back
(eleventy billion times) X

identifiKATEd

over this beautifully long, hot, three day weekend, while the kids've been splashing in the pool, Bulldog and i've been cleaning out our room. last year's homeskool books have made their way into a box and i've chucked out half of my clothes. the old, yukky, non-student ones. and *bonus* i found two dresses that'll be great for The Classroom. short and sweet, and hippie looking.

a-n-y-w-a-y i came across this -

which is nineteen year old Katie at the beginning of my third year at Teacher's College - that would be twenty years ago! pre kids! (well, actually i did have a wee bun in the oven when the camera clicked)
i used to have to perm my hair to get it to look like that, you know. and it looks like i put on mascara and lippy especially for the photo moment. i had contact lenses back then, too. but these days i am way too impatient to weather the discomfort of a piece of plastic scratching my eyeball with every blink, hence the glasses for this week's new student ID card

the hair is getting wilder
and the grin is getting cheesier.

school report

i am so thankful that this first school week's a four day week. i think i'm more exhausted than the kiddos! everything is new and there's a thing called We All Get Outta Bed When The Alarm Goes Off At Seven and another thing called Being On Time (which i've never been good at) and yet another thing called I Can't Find My School Uniform Shorts And Who Ate All The Muesli Bars? and this crazy other thing called Four People Come Home With Homework And All Need Help At The Same Time That Mummy's Trying To Conjure Up Last Minute Dinner...

i can hear the chanting, "Welcome To My World..."
and my hat is off, waaaay off to all the school mums who've been doing this for all those years i've been generally faffing about, having pyjama days and reading stories to little people while still lying in bed. i miss it already! roll on the weekend.

it's actually been a marvellous week. everyone has already found their feet and Charlie has grown up about three years. the two littlest lads are in Social Butterfly Heaven and are negotiating handwriting fine oh fine. i am still getting my head around The Morning Rush - yep - we have The Big List - just like all the other mummies have dreamed up from the beginning of time.
The Evening Rush is really not my favourite. I am all about The Dinner Hour, which is being rather interrupted by Homework Zeal and Virtuosity...

Danny is so gorgeous about it all. He's so intuitive. Maybe he could feel our slightly angsty vibes as I was flying between the kitchen and everyone's daily news, little apostrophe and capital letters chats with Sam during his epic composition while simultaneously listening to Mick read from his first evah Junior Journal (that takes me back), finding baby photos for Charlie, and helping Woozie with un petit français meltdown cos someone has eaten the french dictionary. All of a sudden a booming voice appeared from the direction of the futon - behind his laptop Danny was plugging into songs.....

Are you all feeling chillaxed?
Well you shouldn't be!
It's time for The Rock Hour!
That's Non-Stop Rock on Radio Dan.
All music. No ads.
Get ready to chillax to
About A Girl by Nirrrrrvannnnnaaaaa.....

ha! how fabulous is that? the evening continued with its Much More Chilled Homework Virtuosity as Danny continued our amusement with the intro to Play That Funky Music, White Boy.....

Is it a bird? No!
Is it a plane? No!
It's a blast from the past.
Olllld skool music
ONLY on Radio Dan.

yeah, freaking awesome Radio Dan. i'm rushing off now to meet My Triathlon Buddy for a training swim in the sea - my first - hopefully i can get over my fear of The Wharf - think i've watched too many Titanic movies. it's ohk, the washing is out, I've iced the Big Fat Chocolate Cake (in lieu of buying more muesli bars lol), the dinner's in the crockpot, and i've been to the gym. there's an upside to these early mornings, ya know.
oh... post script: here we are - The Little Mermaids aka Angie and Katie.....

take your protein pills and put your helmet on...

there was a real Commencing Countdown, Engines On... moment here this morning. mick was absolutely breathless and running in circles by quarter to eight - with three quarters of an hour to go before ETA at school.
bed made and bedroom tidy - check.
bag packed - check.
lunch made (by self!) - check.
school uniform and shoes on - check.
(katie's temperature checked - check.)
so we put the oven timer on. and pretty much got the minute by minute countdown. at six minutes to go, we could bear it no longer, so whizzed outside with the camera.
and then mummy AND DADDY! took the little lads up the road to their new classrooms. fabulous. it was so lovely having The Dawg there to hold our hands - well, my hand.
at eight thirty, we left the lads ecstatically exploring their new environment and whizzed off to the pool. Bulldog is my personal trainer - i'm going to attempt my second triathlon - i need to learn to swim more than 50 metres without gasping for air. this morning i managed to thrash about 24 lengths - freestyle, gasp, breaststroke, gasp, freestyle, gasp, gasp, freestyle, gasp, backstroke kick only, choke on water, gasp, freestyle.... but 24 lengths is twice the triathlon distance of 300 metres (yep, it's only a Pretend Triathlon - and it's in four weeks. and it's in the sea. so i will have to keep my mouth shutter. or really choke.)

... and they're off...

like a streak of
greased weasel's water...

(it's a family saying)

hippie happy place

it's a funny thing, but when ya write about yer meltdown, it kind of minimises it. perhaps the very act of writing it sort of takes its power away?

late afternoon today, woozie asked me to braid her hair up. i used to do it all the time when she were a' wee girlie. but wee girlies grow up and mostly do their own hair. 'cept for tonight.

so we went to our happy place, in front of a movie or twosie, and braided and braided and watched and chatted and braided and snuggled and watched and braided. and we nipped outside for a photo or twenty three.

making people happy always makes me happy. and making stuff is such wonderful therapy, dontcha think? (i'm still not taking up knitting, though.)

it's impossible to capture her vibrancy in two dimensions, especially in the fading light. but i think, especially tonight, at sunset, with her hair newly braided, that she is the most beautiful woozie in the world.

and i think that everything is gonna be alright. and maybe even very, very happy. especially if i make stuff. so i have plans hatching for *FREEFALL FEBRUARY* - The One Hot Month (bwahaha, guess the movie half-line) When Katie Makes Eleventy Billion Stuffs So She Doesn't Go Crazy At Home All On Her Onesies...

i clutch in my outstretched palm
these three remaining droplets of me
each about to be caught up
on his own gust of breeze
and sprinkled into the river

i remind myself that each is of me
yet is mine to release
on his own white water
journey towards the sea

i open my fingers
and begin to stretch forward
over the flowing ribbon
through raining tears
and simultaneous optimism
and joy for this wonderful drift
into ever increasing circles
outwards from the whirlpool
which has held each close until now

and i press down my apprehension
which threatens to drown
and tilt my face upwards towards the light
and i breathe.

and i nearly slap myself
because this agony is ridiculous
yet so real
and my words won't flow.
these children whom i adore
need space and light and love
and they will be getting it from someone else.
will they feel unloved?
and why do i have this idiot notion
that home ed mommies luff
their children more than schooly mommies?
how pathetic.
i am so mad at myself.
and spent.
spent pouring myself out
for all these years.
and frightened.
because i'm only half way.
and my skin looks like it's
at least three quarters way.
way
way way.
anchors aweigh,
away aweigh.

The Masked Crusader To The Rescue

"...whenever

a helpless vegetable
calls out,
I WILL ANSWER!!!!!"
(guess the movie line)

yep - we were rescued by The Bulldawg
(who actually prefers Dressing Up to Tidying Up).
B-U-T.......
Kids rooms = all done.
Kids = happy.
Grown Ups = happier.
Headless Dragon = happiest.

(thanks so much everyone for all your sweet encouragement yesterday, we loved and laughed - and it really made the job easier.)
mwah X

Oooh NO-O-O-O!!! Not My Headless Dragon!

(warning, absolute rubbishy twaddle ahead - and a faintly pathetic/pathetically faint cry for help lol)

(oh, and sorry about the Bloglines/Google Reader/RSS feed stuff up, hopefully it's fixed now cos I have retweaked my template settings. I originally tweaked them cos anonymous peeps keep googling their anonymous way here looking for anonymous help in "how to make a grass skirt", but unfortunately that effed up the RSS feed settings so I've set Katie The Techno Geek loose on the fix-up.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is the part I like least about Being A Mummy - The "Bad Cop" part. Over the years, I've tried various sorts of incentives and, quite frankly, bribes; and turned many blind eyes. ("...one eye lookin' atcha, one eye lookin' FOR ya...") I've cajoled and sometimes threatened and even sneaked up on The Kids' Bedrooms a.k.a. I'm Not Jinxing It, But You're Gonna Break Your Leg In There.

It's just that I wanna be able to rescue my babies if there's a fire in the night, without breaking my own leg. But I also respect their space. And there's the small matter of The Disappearing Socks, and the fast-appearing Need To Find The School Uniforms daze.

For the last few weeks I've had my head buried in the sand and surf while the kiddos (for probably the only time in their lives) have been blithely Counting Down The Sleeps Until School Starts. At the excuse of purging The Bad Cop from my persona, I've been ignoring all sorts of pile-ups. Starting with my wardrobe, which is still seven inches deep with last year's homeschooling paraphernalia unstacked all over the floor. Talk about a potential hospital trip. Also talk about subconsciously not wanting to adios my previous life just yet.

But the time has come for a massive clean out. Yessir, it's out with procrastination, and in with School Uniforms neatly folded in the drawers.

This afternoon, armed with a Big Fat Chocolate Bar (as incentive) and Katie's biceps (which have expanded by 0.5cm in the last six weeks, oh yes. But oh dear, so has her waistline - that's another story) and a big bottle of water for rehydration cos it's soooo hot here we began The Excavation of The Boys' Room.

EGADS - instantly the level of emotion has risen - and I am pendulum-swinging between non-conflict and desperation as The Two Dollar Headless Dragon is in the throes of being rescued from the rubbish bag and reinstated on the bookshelf. But his head is nowhere to be seen. The chocolate bar is already half eaten and for miles around all we can see are boxes of stuff. And there is shrieking. So here I am - escaping.

*little conflicting voices in my head*
Harden Up Katie. Oh Vizzini, you really are a meanie. Bring It On. Find The Cop Hat. Many Hands Make Light Work. Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth. Just Leave It. Just Do It. Gently Now. Let's All Have A Square Of Chocolate. Let's Ask Daddy To Help. Absolutely Positively Tidyton. Rinse And Repeat.

Oh, Charlie has just told me this joke:
Q: What do you call a man who hides in the letterbox?
A: Bill.

Oh, and Sam is serenading me with his beautiful rendition of Donavon Frankenreiter's Whatcha Know About - which is now in the sidebar.

Oh, and Mick and Raych have now turned on James and the Giant Peach audio book from the library.

Oh, and Danny is on a Long Weekend Road Trip with Bob who is in search of some 3,000,000 volt speakers or something.

Oh, and Bulldog has zipped in to skool to do a little jobbie and nip to the gym, cos his hammy (which he pulled during speed training a week ago) is still on the light duties.

Maybe I'll put on my fairy wings and throw the kids in the pool and then I can sneak in and suck everything up the vacuum cleaner? Oh, except The Headless Dragon.

I need advice. Yes I do. Hello out there.....?

a middle-of-the-night
surprise skype call
is worth waking up for -

this fabulous webcam convo
with my sister in law was
from her brother's place
in freezing Blighty
while playing babies with
beautiful Jemima Charlotte.

Bon appétit!

I was mistaken. I thought that Gold Mela is an Italian ristorante. Bien sûr, it is a Français restaurant. I was expecting pizzas and pastas, instead we drank our first pastis, and ate escargots, as a tribute to our Parisian holiday. Funny thing about escargots, though: it seems they're correctly pronounced es-car-GOH (oui, the em-PHA-sis is on the second third syl-LAH-ble - not at all ES-car-goh, which has been my historical pronunciation) and we were rather glad that we gave them a second chance. Our declaration of escargots in Paris was "...they taste like a rubber chicken!" but here, in this adorably kitschly decorated place, they were tender and tasty, albeit drowned in garlic butter, but we assume that's par for the course.

The ambience at Gold Mela is rather like a scene from Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are: the ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around. That's right, there is a veritable jungle in the ceiling and le garçon kept us amused by continually dodging a certain tendril until finally it got the better of him, whence he precariously threaded it up again. All over the walls is an electic collection of paintings, wine corks, garden implements, baubles and bric-a-brac from a bygone era, and more plants: which could have been off-putting, except that with our first sip of pastis, we truly felt like we were sitting in a little village in Provence. Le garçon was unobtrusively attentive. As the fiery aniseed liquid coarsed down my throat, he rushed back to our table and explained, rather endearingly (what is it about an English sentence tinged with French that turns my heart to candy floss with every word?) that many people prefer the glass topped up with water, which he kindly did for us. Ah! We toasted the coming year and deeply inhaled the balmy provincial air.

Sir had ordered the salmon, oven baked in lemon butter and adorned with a selection of perfectly roasted vegetables. He chose a French pinot gris, which we uninitiated hedonists pronounced a perfect wine match for the fish. I requested the Filet de Boeuf aux Champignons, a delicious eye fillet steak with a delicately creamy mushroom sauce, which came with the most amazing ratatouille I have ever tasted. It seems that Le Chef had chargrilled strips of courgettes and bound them in the tender thickness of tomatoes and sweet onions. (We made instant plans for its velvety replication at home!) The French Syrah was my wine of choice: which proved to be irresistibly curranty with a predictably oaky finish.

At the end of our main course, dessert was offered, at which point we looked at each other, simultaneously grinning and groaning; so the waitress left us contentedly sighing. But quelle surprise! a few minutes later La Propriétaire arrived with two complimentary glasses of limoncello! Yes, it turns out that Sir taught her son at school last year. The limoncello was light and intensely lemony, a perfect end to our dinner, we thought. Mais, non! It must've contained something magical, because suddenly we could fit in dessert! An espresso was poured over vanilla ice cream for me, and Sir had caramelised bananas flambé with rum: again pronounced très délicieux by us both. (Of course we have a habit of passing food to each other by fork and spoon across the table - don't you?)

There is a lovely line in one of my favourite movies, A Good Year. Uncle Henry is asked, "What is the secret to good comedy?" and his cheeky reply, interjected just before the question ends is, "Timing!", of which this restaurant is the master. The service is unfaultable, and the food excellent. Not that we're food critics, but if we were, this evening would receive five gold stars, make no mistake.

if this man asked me on a weekend rendezvous in Barcelona, i'd say yes!

cos i'm frivolous and impulsive like that, and i've had a few mojitos. it's still summer holidays here, and we're having beachy days and nights, but egads! the kiddos have started counting sleeps until school starts. i'm not counting those, but i'm aware that the day approacheth. so we are buying up skool uniforms and roman sandals (puke) left right and centre - we still have a trailer load of skool stationery to purchase (but i refuse to get the prescribed THREE pencil sharpeners for mick). raych and joel are hatching a plan for Big Weekend Bake Offs where they stack the freezer with Delectable Lunchbox Fillers. then they all (including BD) have four weeks at school (i'll be a lady of leisure - hopefully hopping in and out of friends' sunny classrooms to get my head back in the game)... and at the beginning of march...uni starts... and Bulldog and i'll have that year's oasis. i can't wait. the whole package is pretty tempting, really. once i get over my little people being absent.

(photo taken by Margot, at Beck's mojito Garden Party last night)

ooo, look, something shiny...

today i hit upon a great plan, Batman. i'll have the kiddos tomorrow (uh, we'll go to the beach) while Bulldog reads/writes his summer school uni paper, and he has the kiddos today (they went to the beach) while i have a Big Day Out (no, not The Big Day Out - that's tomorrow anyway). MY DAY. MY RULES. which today equalled one bikini and one christmas dress, and a whole lot of sparkle. yep, i found The Perfect Beads - five petals, five flowers! and a bit of organza ribbon, and VOILA!

a perfect memory of today.

oh - and have a brimming Full Love Tank - cos everywhere i went, peeps told me how gorgeous this dress is. so i feel very pretty today. oh, and we're going to the cinema tonight - how i love love love paydays. we'll be on the lentils again next week, but this week is *fun*!!!
now there's an admission X

Hello My Dad.
for as long as i remember,
you've always been cagey
about having your photo taken -

see? i wasn't quick enough.

there is still something
between you and the camera.

and that's the stern daddy look.

today is your birthday - it's time for family speeches, time for special remembering. i love it that a lot of the culture you and mum created for me during my childhood still lives on in my own little family - our closeness, funny sayings, wisdom from the uncles, walking and talking, do-it-yourself-fix-its, inhaling a glass of wine before drinking it. i love it that you insist on us making our own way in the world, but whenever i send up the smoke signals, you and mum are quick to respond, to listen, sometimes to advise.
i love your bravery, your adventuring, your taking the road less travelled. i love it that you are so involved in our life, i love the easy chats each of our children have with you and mum, your lively interest in their worlds. i love it that you made a beautiful childhood for me, and that's inspired me in creating beauty for my own children. you taught me that words are powerful and family is paramount, that a day in the surf makes a memory, that food is more than nourishment for the body - it delights the soul. i love your realism - yet you are emotional like me - and for all of our similarity, our cat-and-dogged-ness, i feel how you think.

I love you, My Dad.

it’s very late and you’ve been tucked into bed by daddy and i pop my head into your room and feel your unsettledness and so i lie down next to you, and you tell me that sometimes you feel scared at night and you ask for sam who is still watching a movie with daddy and so i ask shall i stay with you while you fall asleep? and i reassure you that sam will come to bed soon and for now claudie-audie-the-super-undie-man is with you, and you explain that he isn’t really real and i say that i think that he’s rather special with his super undies and i giggle about his tail at the back of him and you get the joke and say the p-word as i laugh and try to pop my hand over your mouth so that the word comes out all squishy, and we lie side by side in our happiness and i rub your back in gentle circles and tell you that i love you so much and you say that you love me more and i say that i know. so we lie there, and i breathe you in and stroke your back and all of a sudden your whole body relaxes as you tuck claudie into the crook of your elbow and wrap up in the cotton sheet that came from granny’s place and your breathing lengthens and your face sweetens and i brush the wisps from your forehead, the same blonde wisps that you wanted to cut off tonight, and i nip out and grab the camera and sneak back in to flash a quick snap

and you have already slipped into slumbering depths and don’t even stir, and i think about tomorrow morning which will be welcomed by your vigour and bounce cos you’re always the first one to arise and you'll come and lie side by side with me and daddy in our bed and you'll talk us awake just as i talked you to sleep tonight.

Katie's OOEY GOOEY Double Chockie Absolutely Delish Pancakes

(or, How To Make A Houseful Of Teenagers' Tummies Happy)

this is another easy peasy counting to five recipe, 'cept today i counted to six, mostly.

so ya need: half a tin o' cocoa, two tin o' jam, oamaru, timaru, waipukurau. (childhood family joke)

ya really need:
6 c flour
6 tsp baking powder
6 happy eggies
5 c milk
1 c cocoa
big pile of dark chocolate buttons (i found a 375g bag lurking in my cupboard)
butter for cooking the pancakes in
a happy teenager for doin' the whizzin'

now then: fling the first five ingreeeedients into a big bowl and whizz. leave for half an hour to soften the flour. stir in the chocolate buttons. melt butter on two ancient griddles and make six at a time, pausing to flip.

there is a teeny secret to great pancakes - low heat - take your time - so as not to burn the OOEY GOOEY chocolate mouthfuls. pile on plates, drizzle with yoghurt and/or maple/golden syrup.

instantly start chatting a mile a minute and generally larking about, due to huge sugar infusion.

have a little sugar crash.

luffly friends from The Tron
(ack!! here's narcissus katie in the photo again.
and would ya believe it?
i forgot to take a *self portrait* of lauz'n'me. blondie.)
brought their three
delish little lads
to The Sunny Bay
to go surfin' today.

so it was cuddles city.

it never ceases to amaze me
how the little people
delight the big people
and vice versa.

A Leeriness Runty Woo