The Good News & The Bad News

The good news...We found the perfect house! 4 bedrooms, 1 huge family room and a small office to get the computer out of our bedroom. It needs a bit of work but not major reconstruction. It is habitable from the start just needs some TLC as it was run down. We loved it.


Yeah that's right loved it. We put 2 offers in and I think you can pretty much know what the bad news is now...we lost it. By only a few thousand dollars too. We just couldn't find the rest of the cash anywhere.

It's no mansion by any means and it's not in "THE" nicest part of town but we still cannot afford it. Brendon is really starting to get depressed. He makes a very nice salary and in New Zealand he still cannot buy a house. He's getting to the point of not wanting to look for anything anymore. I'm finding it harder and harder to keep the positive momentum going for him too. The glass is starting to trickle to the 1/2 empty bit for me too, this sucks!

12:39pm

This just seemed appropriate to add with this post as I just found it as a top news story on our homepage.


Research by AC Nielsen for Wizard Home Loans shows a 12 percent drop in home ownership in the year to March

31 July 2006 Owning a home is becoming the impossible dream for an increasing number of New Zealanders.Research by AC Nielsen for Wizard Home Loans shows a 12 percent drop in home ownership in the year to March. It is even more difficult in Auckland where home ownership has fallen by 26 percent.Wizard's national director John Grant says his company be looking at introducing new initiatives such as shared equity and investment properties to make home ownership more affordable. He says soaring house prices and low incomes are putting home ownership out of the reach of many people. © 2006 NZCity, NewsTalkZB

Missing the desert heat....

Oh how I miss the desert! Yes, I do mean desert and not dessert!

Right now back home, it's sunny and hotter than hell. Mom said it was in the high 90's over the weekend. (That is in Fahrenheit not Celsius) and the humidity is about 20%. Which means no mold and mildew!!

Coming from an area that never had to worry about cleaning the mold and mildew off things this is one of my least favorite things of New Zealand.

This is what I found behind my stove yesterday. It had started to creep around the walls so I noticed it. Of course to make things even harder is the fact that it is on wallpaper. I'm convinced Kiwi's have some sick fascination about wallpaper. They have it everywhere, I don't understand why! It's so damp and humid it just comes off the walls so it looks terrible.

After scrubbing this mess for about an hour I only got most of it off. That was using a 50/50 bleach and water mix. I'd use higher but I get pretty sick from it. It's a pretty miserable thing when you have this in every room of the house and in every window sill.
YUCKO!!

Mr. Busy Boy

I'd always heard that boys were into everything. I have two adorable nephews with a very colorful childhood, but I didn't really think it was just the fact they were boys. I just figured it had more to do with who they were a by-product of.

I had my first child who I thought was quite "busy" and you could never take your eyes off her. I was wondering how could anyone one little person be so busy...then Aidan came along. Holy cow this boy is just so full of it!! Yesterday I kept tabs on what he did

7:45 am--Wake up

8:00 am--Told to get down from the computer and get out of Mommy's room for about the 3rd time.

8:05 am--Rummage though the kitchen pantry and chatter away while Mommy makes breakfast

8:08 am--Bang on the bathroom door with something heavy and noise while Daddy is taking a shower. Daddy opens the door says "Thank you Little Man"

8:09 am--Rummaging in pantry once again and toddles off to Daddy.

8:11 am--back again and I notice what he's actually been up to. He's taking cans of beer to Daddy while in the shower.

8:15 am-- Breakfast

8:30 am-- Breakfast over and plays with a few toys

8:45 am--watches Blue's Clues

8:49 am--comes to Mommy to whine as wants to play with phone or the computer

8:55 am--figures out how climb up on Mommy's bed and gets stuck in the small side table on the bed. It's put there to stop him from using it to climb the bed.

9:15 am--Has figured out how to climb on the edge of the couch while hugging the wall to reach the light switch. Turns it on and off until I catch him and have to move the couch

9:20 am--finds play hammer and bangs on the glass windows. Hammer is confiscated

9:30 am--Manages to tear packing tape off the refriderator and climb in. He hangs on to door and swings back. Mommy gets new tape and closes door again.

9:35 am-- Gets busted trying to remove the tape from the oven door.

10:00 am--climbs into toy box to have a play and gives Mommy a break from chasing him.

10:20 am--climbs out of toybox and manages to get head stuck in the cat door

11:00 am--gets into the tv/vcr/dvd cabinet and starts unplugging stuff so Madelynn cannot watch Pocoyo

11:15 am--gets told off for turning tv on and off to annoy Madelynn

11:30 am--lunch

12:00 pm--lunch is over watch The Wiggles to calm down before nap time

12:25 pm--nap time!

2:45 pm--up from nap

3:00 pm--cat wakes up from nap and decides to chase cat and pull her tail. Luckily escapes another scratch as cat bolts out the cat door.

3:10 pm--helps himself to an apple in the cupboard and walks around biting it and spitting it out. Leaves trail of where he has been like breadcrumbs!

3:20 pm--gets caught after climbing the edge of the couch and trying to pull Mommy & Daddy's wedding portrait off the wall.

3:25 pm--finds way to bathroom and tastes the soap that Madelynn left out after washing hands.

3:45 pm--decides to vacumm so turns it on and is happy for about 10 mins.

4:15 pm-- getting grumpy

4:20 pm--gets caught playing with the heater (again)

4:30 pm-- put in they toy box by Mommy so she can get dinner ready.

4:45 pm--dinner time

5:20 pm--Daddy is home

5:30 pm-- play time with Daddy

6:00 pm-- bath time.

7:00 pm-- BED TIME!

If it weren't for good tv last night. Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. Mommy would have gone to bed too. He is just exhausting trying to keep up with him. Ugh!

Boobs

Isn't she lovely
Isn't she wonderful
Isn't she precious
Less than one minute old
I never thought through love we'd be
Making one as lovely as she
But isn't she lovely made from love

Isn't she pretty
Truly the angel's best
Boy, I'm so happy
We have been heaven blessed
I can't believe what God has done
Through us he's given life to one
But isn't she lovely made from love


Madelynn is like her father, she lives a lot of her life inside her head.

Snapping these couple of photos were pretty rare as I was able to capture a moment
on film that most people don't see. Madelynn is a thinker. If she has half the genius IQ of her father she'll do alright in this world!

She is just so funny and her little personality is just blossoming. That is so fun to watch. At the moment she has a fascination with "boobs" Don't ask me where or why though! Tonight at dinner she lifts her shirt and says "Look Mommy, no boobs! NO BOOBS!" I just about died laughing.

Don't you worry my dear Madelynn Rose, soon enough, soon enough! Don't be in such a hurry to grow up.

No Time to Blog

It has been so busy around here! So I thought I'd just give a recap.

(8th July) Last Saturday we had a wonderful get together with some of our friends from the American-Kiwi message board. We had a Mexican pot luck lunch. It was just the best Mexican food I've had in such a long time. I was lucky to get to catch up with some old and new friends including the wild and crazy Christi where we had this camera show down. ha!

Brendon and I had a good time too. Madelynn on the other hand didn't. She was having a good one right up to the point where she got bit on the finger by a horse. The horse only grazed it but you would have thought he took her whole hand off.

All week long, several times a day, Madelynn reminds me "A horse bite me!" She then demands a new band-aid to aid in the healing.

(9th July) We got shot down on the house we put an offer in for. Someone else put in a bid 32 thousand more than we did. So we continue to search. Neither one of us hopeful that we will get anything soon. Sure we can afford a house but it's nothing that we would consider "habitable" It's just disheartening to know that on Brendon's decent salary and our sizeable deposit of about 25% we still cannot afford a house.

(10th July) 4pm one of the space heaters blew up. It was the one for Madelynn's room. Thank goodness I had moved it to the living room and decided at the last minute to move it to the end by the kitchen while I was doing the dishes so Aidan didn't mess with it. When I turned around it started shooting flames out of the bottom and caught the carpet on fire. Aidan was in the toy room out of the way and Madelynn was next to me. I shoved her back against the cupboard to keep her out of the way while I put out the fire. I wasn't scared until afterward. All I kept thinking about was "what if this had happened in the middle of the night in Madelynn's room?" We were so lucky that it if it were to happen it did it when it did. So now we have a nice scorch mark on the carpet.

(11th July) Migraine! Oh my stars! I started to get a headache around noon. I usually try to take something right away as if I don't I regret it. Today I did take something but it didn't work. I managed to get someone to take Madelynn for a couple of hours but by the time she came home I was starting to feel really awful. I could hardly keep my head up and I had my head on Aidan's tray trying to feed the poor boy dinner. Thank goodness I still had a can of baby food to feed him in a pinch. After getting that down him he was still fussy. So I took him to Madelynn's room. I must of blacked out a couple of times as the next thing I remember is Madelynn calling out from the living room asking for dinner. I fumbled to the kitchen and I threw up in the kitchen sink 4 times. The pain was so intense. I chucked something on a plate for Maddie and headed to the couch. I know I blacked out as I didn't hear anything until Madelynn piped up "Daddy's home". As soon as he walked in I headed to bed and only got up an hour later to tuck in the baby and then back to bed. It finally eased about 9:30pm so I could sleep though the night.

(12th July) I still felt like something in my skull was aching, kind of like a hangover I'd imagine. Wasn't the easiest of days to be mommy but life goes on. Brendon left at 5:30am to catch a plane to Palmerston North. Another night way from us in the life of busy Research Scientist. At least one of us got a good night sleep...it sure wasn't me or the kids!

(13th July) Brendon arrived back today, just in time to see the kids before bath and bedtime. Madelynn really missed him and had a hard time going to sleep. She didn't get to bed until about 10pm. Then of course she was over-tired and up several times a night. Ugh...I just can't win! If Aidan sleep all night she doesn't.

(14th July) Brendon came home sick after lunch. Although how sick I just don't know. He calls ahead of time to request 2 hot water bottles to warm up the bed before he gets there. What does he think this is a hospital service? Good news is he's home so I can take the van and get some much needed groceries. Jedda asked me to make a birthday cake for Matthew and I couldn't do it earlier in the week since the van was in Hamilton, since Brendon was away.

(15th July) Cake making day! What a friggin' nightmare! I lost my beloved grandmother's cake recipe. So I'm hunting tearing up the house looking for it. Thanks to mom I got it again via email. I just can't make a cake without that. It is the best recipe in the world (and before you ask, no I won't share it with anyone)had to head back to the store because the day before they didn't have cocoa. I get home and start making the batter and when I go to pour into the pan, realize I only have 1 round cake pan instead of the needed 2. I cannot find the 2nd one anywhere. I need 4 round cakes for this to work. So I relent and bake one at a time. I finally get my 4th baked and as I am taking it out of the oven at about 5pm....I drop the damn thing! Chocolate cake everywhere! Ugh!! I gave up fixed the family some quick dinner and finally finished the cake about 10:30pm. All for a cake that should have only taken me a couple hours to make.


(16th July) Matthew's party today and I managed to finish decorating the cake just as we walked out the door. I thought it turned out pretty darn cute for all the time and energy I put into it. I liked making it, just didn't like the hassle that I had. All the nieces and nephews liked it, why do I have this feeling I'm gonna get asked to make more cakes? Sometimes it sucks when you're the best cook in the family!

And that is just a QUICK recap of the busy week we've had. Hopefully things have settled down now and I can get back to blogging or sleeping, whichever comes 1st

Rude & Smelly Bookworms

Brendon is an AVID reader. He can be reading 3 or more books at any given time and they don't last long. I love the fact that he reads. I hope my kids read just like him. His weakness is book fairs! Oh my stars, if he knows of one we have to go and he would spend hours (if i would let him) sifting though the boxes and tables looking for books.

Friday there was a book fair in Hamilton and he was so excited he took the morning off work. We dropped the kids off at my sister in laws and picked up my brother in law. He's another bookworm as well. We get there about 10 minutes before it opens and we wait in line. Brendon's complaining because we didn't get there in time to be first.

I don't mind them but I must admit this time I was totally disgusted by the whole event. This was held in a church hall...a SMALL church hall. These people ran like it was a race when they let the doors open. They were vultures, pushing and shoving like it was some super sale at a top notch store. If you put a book down it was quickly grabbed up.

I made my way to the children's books looking for some new books for Madelynn and I just about punched 2 people. I reached down for a book and I had my hand on the corner of it just starting to pick up when someone snatched it out of my hands! I looked at them and they just smirked. I was so dumbfounded I was at a loss for words and that is a rare occasion when I have nothing to say.

Next, I was standing sideways to get to the books and I shifted so that I could reach another book some Asian lady literally pushed me out of the way with her whole body. Not even looking back.

I muttered, "pardon me" and "excuse me" to several people just trying to move though the crowd and the crusty looks I got from the people I said it to were unreal. What happened to a smile on the face? Do book fairs make people lose all manners?

Brendon in the meantime, is happy as a clam. He has found a banana box and is filling it up. It's like Christmas to him. He doesn't even see me as I walk past to the cookbooks. Where I find some more rude bookworms. Only these are old ladies and they have decided to read each book to compare recipes before they add the books to their box. Not only will they not move and share the table but they open up the books on top of the other books so you cannot even see what is on the table. I was getting frustrated and kindly asked if I could have a look at what was under the book they had laid out. One old lady sneered "just wait deary!" I'm sorry, but I've been waiting for about 3 minutes now!!

I have found that the older the people the more rude they were! And the smell on the old men, OH MY GOD! Derek, Brendon and I both commented about one guy, who must have been in his early 50's. He must not have taken a bath in a month.

I can accept that there are smelly and rude people in the world. I however do not understand why older people complain about the lack of manners in today's youth. They complain how they cannot say please, thank you, your welcome, or excuse me. How in good conscience can they complain when I didn't hear it once in that book fair from our so called "elders"

In the end though Brendon is happy he spent $24.00 and walked away with his banana box full of used books. At least he's a cheap date!

Who's The Boss?

When you have a sibling you have to determine who is the boss. I remember bossing my baby brother, Michael around all the time. It lasted for about 5 minutes. He still doesn't listen to me either.

This morning Madelynn learned that little brothers don't always do as they are told....

I had asked Madelynn to get dressed. She went and picked out her pants, shirt and panties. She put it on the floor as she took off her pj top. Aidan (being the ever so helpful guy that he is) picked up her shirt and handed it to her. Trying to reinforce Madelynn's manners I said "Thank you Aidan" He turns to go on his merry little way. Madelynn quickly stomps her foot and yells "PANTS TOO!" Aidan stopped dead in his tracks and came back and picked up her pants and gave them to her. Once again he turned to go off and she screams "NO! Panties too Aidan!"

If looks could kill she would have been a gonner. He gave her the dirtiest look ever as if to say "Listen here girl, you can only push me so far and then I'm gonna snap!" He growled at her and (one of his new tricks) and went to watch tv.

I just about wet myself laughing during the whole scenario. I found it was interesting to watch because they were learning from this little situation. I think that is what I enjoyed most of all. This little development in their social skills etc... These two are both bull-headed a trait I'm afraid they picked up from the Marston side of the family. Oh no...history repeats itself yet again.