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.