Catch-up at Last!

Finally I am back! The last month has been kinda stressful and fairly busy which is why I haven't posted here since before Christmas.

Our middle child, T, and his partner, S, came, along with the two girl darlings, to stay for three weeks while T was on holiday from work. Because he hasn't worked a full year with the firm he doesn't qualify for the full amount of holiday pay. Plus, as they get paid fortnightly, he wouldn't be getting paid for two weeks once he went back to work. Sucks, eh? So they all came to stay with us to help cut down on expenses.

While they were here T and S worked a couple of days picking strawberries and T worked a full day picking cherries. Also, on the few fine days we had, he started to prepare and paint our house for which we paid him. The house is nowhere near finished but it is started which is definitely an improvement!

Having two young, active little girls in the household was definitely a challenge! H is 2 3/4 and l is 13 months - they are sweet but definitely not perfect! Special bonds and memories have been forged, though. Something that is more difficult when we only see them occasionally for a few hours at a time.

The day they left my DH, D, went to shift our eldest, K, back here for a week before going overseas. We now have all of her things stored here again. This includes all the furniture and appliances from her house, clothes, books etc! Just when it was looking like the car would be able to fit in the garage soon!

Last week has disappeared oh, so quickly, and suddenly it was Sunday - the day K flew out. We drove up to Christchurch airport picking up my Dad on the way and calling in to see her two brothers etc on the way.

After two hours of waiting around after K checked in it was time for her to go to the departure lounge, the last time we will see her for at least six months. I really don't know how parents carry on if a child dies. I am feeling almost as if I will never see my beloved daughter again! Silly, I know, but it is how I feel.

OK, time to get over it! At the moment K will be flying somewhere over Europe. She is due to land at Heathrow in about 4 1/2 hours so I am guessing she will be rather tired by now. 10 1/2 hours to Singapore, 4 1/2 hours in the airport there then 14 hours to Heathrow - enough to make anyone exhausted.


It will also be rather cold for her when she gets off the plane. Coming from somewhere it is supposed to be summer and going directly to another place where it is winter is rather a shock. But she has warm accessories! I finally finished the scarf to go with the fingerless mitts and hat I made her for Christmas! Yay! It may have come down to the wire (I finished it in the car on the way to the airport) but I did finish it. :) (Forgive the poor photo - I had to take it while we were travelling!)

With that finished I will have to get back to some of the other UFOs I have on hand. The decision as to which one will have to wait for another day. There are a few things I really need to get onto in preparation for our little holiday. Yes, we are taking a holiday too! Something that doesn't happen very often but we have decided to take advantage of D's cousin's 50th wedding anniversary (he is a fair bit older than D). We are going to spend 4 nights in Nelson (where D's cousin lives) then cross over to Wellington on the ferry and spend two nights there. I really want to see the Te Papa museum which, I hear, takes at least a day.

After that we will cross back to the South Island via the ferry and drive down to Christchurch and spend a night there. The next day we are going to Akaroa for a short cruise around the Akaroa harbour on the Fox II which is a two-masted ketch. Should be really good! Then it will be home again in time to go to the first spinning meeting of the year the following day. I must say I am really looking forward to it all. The holiday, that is.