I had arranged to meet up with Janet in Sumner at 10am for coffee.

I gave myself plenty of time to get there but forgot about the commuter traffic heading up Lincoln Road.

I took the chance to veer off onto Hendersons Road and take the back route but got stopped by road works.

Just as my iPhone maps were re-routing I got a phone call so pulled over and had a lovely catch up with my friend from 1975 Secretarial School days!!

She was in the midst of earthquake repair stress on their house so we chatted on phone rather than try and catch up this time.

She had to return to work so I carried on to Sumner.

Got there in time to have a peek through the windows of the L'Estrange Art Gallery and see a few of Bethany's paintings.

Her exhibition was finishing but the gallery wasn't yet open for the day.

I found a park and met Janet at Joe's Garage.

Enjoyed a Killer Smoothie and cheese roll and a lovely hour with Janet.

We decided we had enough time to pop around to the gallery and have a look at the exhibition.

It was great to see Beth's paintings up close and in the 'flesh' after watching her progress over the years.

We had a chat with Brian L'Estrange - really loved his paintings but haven't walls large enough to display them nor a wallet full enough to purchase them at this point!

I had to run at 11:30am to give me enough time to get to The Colombo to meet Robyn at midday.

We had lunch together there at Underground Coffee Company.

Food was delicious and it was great to spend the time with Robyn.

The day was disappearing into greyness.

By the time I got across town to Papanui it was raining quite hard.

I was very grateful to find a park right at the door of Fabric Vision.

I spent some time there sussing out fabric for a special dress.

Was thrilled to find something really cool.

Then I went shopping for the rest of the wedding present.

Got rather frustrated cuz I didn't have time to go visit an old friend I wanted to catch up with.

Navigating the streets of Christchurch takes so long these days.

The traffic is heavier along the routes on that side of the city

Instead, I whizzed into the mall and grabbed a much needed frappe from Gloria Jeans and then I headed around the corner to Louisa's.

Caught Oliver and home and borrowed some scissors and tape and wrapped up the wedding present and left it there to be delivered after the happy couple return from their honeymoon.

It was still raining and I had about half an hour before Sarah was due home from work.

So I parked up outside her place with the heater on and had a short shut eye!

It was lovely to spend a couple of hours with Sarah, James and their girls.

Their house had just been repaired after the earthquake damage, but it was horrendous to see the slipshod workmanship and to hear of other stories of really bad work done by some contractors around the city.

It is such a shame when folk rip others off when they are down and out just to make a quick buck.

I headed off back to Alvin & Vonnie's, stopping in at Riccarton Mall to pick up a coupe of items on the way.

Then it was off to bed as I had a big day ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had been in text contact with an old friend and we arranged to meet up at The Vicarage as it was quite close to us both.

Jennie had to be at work just after midday so we met up at 10am and spent a lovely couple of hours reminiscing.

It was probably about 20 odd years since we had actually caught up so we had lots to talk about.

We parted with serious promises of meeting up again real soon

 

I then headed off to Riccarton Mall to do a wee bit of shopping.

But just as I got there I was checking my emails on my phone and found one from my darling cuzzie.

I grabbed some lunch and whizzed off to visit her.

Corrine and I always have heaps to talk about and never enough time to spent together.

We went down to the local Mcdonalds so we could both use the wifi there.

I had to be over in Papanui at 6pm and crossing the city at that time of day is rather slow these days so I dropped Corrinne back home and made my way across the city following my trusty iPhone maps.

The traffic was crawling along but it was actually quite pleasant just to meander somewhat.

 

When I arrived at the North City Church where the curriculum fair was being held the railway barriers nearby were down and the bells were dinging loudly and there was traffic beginning to queue.

I saw a 4WD cautiously drive around them and I was like 'what the heck!!'

Then a lady who had gotten there before me came over and said it appeared the barrier arms were malfunctioning and there was buses blocking the way so the traffic couldn't get around them.

She was concerned because there were a lot of other people due at the church at 6pm and a lot were blocked on the other side of the rail tracks.

It was quite cold and windy so I sat in the Terrano and listened to the radio and rested a while.

Finally the lady with the key arrived and we were all able to go in and set up.

Funnily enough I had been hearing road reports for the past half and hour or so and nothing was said about the malfunctioning barriers until several minutes after they were fixed.

Then I heard the radio reporting that there was a traffic hold up there!!

 

There were quite a few other home educators setting up tables but I think I had the most stuff to sell!!

I covered my tables and then just piled stuff up.

People came and went for the next 3 hours.

I met a few lovely folk.

I was really pleased as I managed to sell over $200 worth of my 2nd hand curriculum.

Also caught up with a few ladies - some I knew ages ago and others I had only heard of.

Funny thing was, towards the end of the evening the lady I had been standing next to all night, who I have known for about 17 years turned to me and asked me what my name was!

Since I last saw here I have had my hair cut and now wear glasses

She hadn't recognised me.

Once we established who I was we spent the rest of the evening having a great old chat

Finally was able to pack up and leave soon after 9.

I got home in time to see Vonnie before they headed off to bed.

I spent a couple of hours downloading some online art courses I had recently bought but hadn't been able to download yet.

I was really pleased to have gotten that job done so went off to bed around midnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Mahalia and I had another early start as we had to be at the orthopedic surgeon's office at 8am.

Hence the reason for leaving Azzan with Phoebe.

It was the first time we had been to the new 'The Doctors'  so it was fun to have a wee look around as we arrived.

We were soon in the office chatting with Perry.

Mahalia broke both her arms last year and they are still causing her pain hence our referral and today's visit.

He examined Mahalia's wrists and then sent us off down the corridor for x-rays.

We were told that the radiologists don't start until 8:45am.

I got a bit anxious then and told them I had an appointment at 9:30am and I was also sposed to be driving Mahalia out to drop her at Sasha's work beforehand.

They were really great and went off to see if they could find someone who might have come in early.

We waited a wee while - there were some inviting seats to rest on.

 

I could see the morning disappearing so I quickly reformulated our plans.

A radiologist appeared and we were soon ushered into the x-ray room where she did a very thorough job of recording what was happening in her wrists.

When she finished we went out to pay, but a few minutes later while we waited for the receptionist to get the account sorted the radiologist came back out and asked us to come back in so she could take some more.

That done we then went back to the doctors office, found the waiting room full.

My heart sank seeing everyone there as I imagined having to wait in line to get back into his office.

However we never had a chance to sit down!

He came out and got us straight away.

He said that it was very obvious Mahalia had suffered extreme trauma to her arms.

He showed us the bone chips floating around in her wrist above the radius, they are doing no harm there at present so no need to do anything surgical about them.

Then he explained that when she fell the tendons had all torn off the bones and because she is growing so fast right now they are not getting a chance to heal as quickly as they normally would.

He said that she will continue to get pain until she has stopped growing and the tendon regrowth can catch up.

The rest of our appointment was taken up by him telling Mahalia that she had a fantastic athletic build and that she should get involved in sport cuz he could see her as NZ's next Irene van Dyke and that she had a lot going for her

 

Time was flying and I didn't have enough time to drive her, so once we left I made arrangements for her to take a taxi out to Sasha's work where she was volunteering for the rest of the day.

I had a haircut booked for 9:30.

I was wearing my favourite town sandals and discovered the soles were coming off so I zipped into Mr Minit and he glued them up while I went off to do some other things.

Then it was up the road to Leeanne to try on the dresses she was making.

I then realised I had left my phone charger out in Richmond the previous night.

I was really annoyed cuz I was wanting to get on the road - had a long drive ahead of us to Chch.

But as I needed to do two things out there I zoomed out quickly and did them, which gave Leeanne time to finish the dress.

I picked it up and then my sandals, and then I was off out of town.

Picked up Azzan from Phoebe's and we were off over the hill to Blenheim soon after midday.

I had promised Azzan some time at the Blenheim library so I dropped him off while I went to Noel Leeming and Countdown.

When I caught up with him he was giving the new children's librarian a long list of books to search for.

She wasn't being a great help.

I soon whisked him downstairs and got his pile of books and cds put through and we were out the door and on the road again!

We were much later leaving Blenheim than I had hoped so we didn't stop much along the way.

Had a brief fuel and comfort stop in Kaikoura.

 

Olivia's kitchen tea party had begun at 6pm and I was trying to get down in time to join the fun.

As the day had been progressing somewhat slower than I had hoped it wasn't looking too much like I would make it for the end of the night.

But with Lizzie coming out to meet up with us at the main road as we drove through Woodend to pick up stuff Phoebe had sent down for her, and Bri driving across the city to pick up Azzan I was able to join the party by 7:45pm.

When we arrived everyone was busy 'dressing' one of the young flower girls in toilet paper dresses.

Don't they look great

 

There was loads of food so we tucked in as we hadn't really stopped to eat much along the way.

Bri took Azzan off home.

He spent the next 3 days going to school with Abby to help her with her 5 years olds and then he had a day canyoning with Bri & Cat.

 

I finally made it across town around 10pm to where I was staying and was greeted by Alvin who had waited up for me.

It was great to finally crash out in a comfy bed after the long day and drive!

 

 

 

 

It is now 12 days since I last updated here.

It is not without trying

Life has been pretty busy, I have tried several times to catch up but then had to leave it and then lost it and now today my laptop has decided to die on me.

So I am now resorting to using the children's computer.

Will just have to add photos later once my laptop has come home from hospital!!

I might be able to retrieve some pix from my Facebook site but as I don't load all of them there these posts might be a tad naked!

 

 Monday 26th November

Mahalia, Azzan & I left before 6am and headed off to Nelson.

The sun was just rising as we drove up the Bush Road.

We had to be in town for an 8:50am appointment with Mahalia's orthodontist.

She was having braces put on her teeth.

She adores chewing on mutton bone, in fact sometimes I have to ban her from them until after she has eaten her meal otherwise she spend the whole meal time just chewing on bones and no food gets consumed!

After the braces get put on there is to be no hard chewing for a long time.

So she saved a bone from dinner over the weekend and made the most of her 'last supper' as we drove out.

It was a glorious dawning when we got to the top of the hill.

 

I had a list of things to work through and appointments banked up throughout the day.

I dropped Mahalia of at the orthodontist and went straight to my session at Nelson Beauty Therapy.

Azzan was really good and just hung out with me and read books.

I had to sort out Seb's phone and plan and had it all organised to pick up.

But I was let down by my sales consultant which really frustrated me.

I left my details with one of his work mates and whizzed off to take Mahalia to her harp lesson.

I had organised her to take a taxi from there to her next appointment as I had to take the Terrano over to Tahunanui to have a tie rod end replaced.

I took a courtesy car and zoomed to Monaco so Sandy could cut Azzan's hair
He loves visiting Sandy cuz she is always up for fun when it comes to styling and colours in his hair.

This time there was no time to colour so we have promised it next time!!

Azzan got his library time in about now while I went to do some other things and pick up Mahalia.

I had to find a JP to sign my home ed forms and located one at the library.

In all the years we have been home educating I have managed to get my 6 monthly forms signed on time.

But this time I lost them!

I have no idea where they disappeared to - I searched the study and the trash etc and they have never turned up.

Thankfully I was able to get a replacement copy emailed to me and get them signed and sent!

Such a jolly hassle

 

Mahalia was finding the braces quite painful so we ducked into the pharmacy and got some Panadol for her.

It's quite good that my kids are not used to painkillers cuz when we do have to use them they actually work!!

I hadn't heard back from the Vodafone guys so whizzed in there and raised merry hell!.

Thankfully there was a visiting female consultant there and she got things all sorted for me.

I had to go pick up the new phone from the town store.

Nathan had text me to ask to meet up so I parked in the middle of the two shops.

Picked up phone and then met up with Nathan at Noel Leemings and helped to organise his new laptop with him.

We had to head out to Richmond for piano lessons so I buzzed around and did some jobs for Tim while out that way.

I had to be back in town for some more another appointment at 5pm.

I dropped the two children off at Nathan's work and they hung out with him at 'Hangar 58' for half an hour.

When I arrived we were all hungry so we ordered some food and enjoyed dinner there.

Mahalia couldn't eat much so ended up with some doggy boxes to take away.

I left Mahalia at the house where we were staying and then dropped Azzan off at Phoebe's.

Mahalia was really tired so needed to get to bed.

I got back there later on and bunked down for the night.

It was a rather long day.