The Chili Lullaby

The best thing ever! Our baby likes to hump-de-bump to the funk of the chili peppers

One song in particular, Road Trippin' is the one that gets our baby rockin' - whether it be heard as Anthony K's harmony, or my monotonous disharmony.

Any way, if you haven't heard this song, get a copy and listen... its an all-time classic rock ballad.

For your perusal (and so I can quickly refer to it in a hurry) here are the lyrics from the RHCP official site

Road trippin' with my two favorite allies
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies
It's time to leave this town It's time to steal away
Let's go get lost Anywhere in the U.S.A.
Let's go get lost Let's go get lost

Chorus:

Blue you sit so pretty
West of the one
Sparkles light with yellow icing
Just a mirror for the sun
Just a mirror for the sun
Just a mirror for the sun

These Smiling eyes are just a mirror for
So much as come before those battles lost and won
This life is shining more forever in the sun
Now let us check our heads
And let us check the surf
Staying high and dry's
More trouble than it's worth
In the sun
Just a mirror for the sun
Just a mirror for the sun
Just a mirror for the sun
These Smiling eyes are just a mirror for

In Big Sur we take some time to linger on
We three hunky dory's got our snakefinger on
Now let us drink the stars It's time to steal away
Let's go get lost Right here in the U.S.A

Chorus

These smiling eyes are just a mirror for
These smiling eyes are just a mirror for
Your smiling eyes are just a mirror for

"The Weekend that Was" Part 2. - The Visiting

Saturday 22nd

We were still awake at 12.30am after "reshuffling" the furniture. Thanks to Stella who turned on the heaters we had a good sleep.

The day didnt officially start until 9.30am or so when we finally were up and about. After getting a nice bouquet of flowers for Mum from Fiona, we visited the gravesite to say hello. The weather had not packed a sad ever since we left the ferry, so it was great to be able to appreciate a nice sunny day.

We didnt get to see Nana Mac until 3pm, but she was happy to see us. We were happy to see she had adjusted well to the new abode. We stayed until at least 5pm, but knew that we could come again tomorrow without much fuss.

Sunday 23rd

A day to try and catch up on lost time. My annual tradition of finding a brooch for the grave was gracefully achieved thanks to some ingredients found at Hands in Papanui. A little monarch butterfly is now floating on the bottom left hand corner. Fiona's flowers looked like a bit of jackfrost had hit them, so that may be something to consider for future years.

We were able to get to the Middlepark retirement home just after lunch, so it meant we could spend a little more time with Nana Mac. Enjoying a nice cuppa and brownie biscuit, we were able to look at some old footage of Mum, and go through some old pictures.

Around 5.00pm, with the sun setting in the west, we said our goodbyes, and made our way back to Hoon Hay via the cemetry.

With just enough time to have a short rest, we were then off galavanting at the Christchurch Casino with the Hoon Hay Moriori Gambling Association for tea and a bit of a play on the pokies.

Monday 24th

We were packed up and ready to go quite quickly. In order to be able to get to the ferry on time, and see Sandra, we were on the road by 11am.

With a reasonably straight through run, we had lunch at the Paddock Cafe in Cheviot, before arriving in Renwick. As well as a big package of linen and clothing for Kathryn, Sandra had also packed in a Nana-Mitchell-made blanket, which looks really choice, and is special as I didnt have anything to remember her by.

A short coffee and chat later, we were on our way past all the wineries to our chariot of the strait.

All in all, a good break, just a shame about the extremes we had to put up with to arrive in the south island.

"The Weekend that Was" Part 1 - The Travelling

It's been a while since a new post has been added. This one is in retrospect of the weekend break we took to visit Nana Mac and Waimarie Cemetery.

Thursday 20th

We finished work in due course, Meeting at 4.45 by the anti-abortionist corner. The following warning had been given to us:

See advisory from the Met Service below, and be sure to wrap yourselves up warmly and pack your snowshoes tomorrow.......

SPECIAL WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHLAND OTAGO CANTERBURY EASTERN MARLBOROUGH WELLINGTON WAIRARAPA MANAWATU WANGANUI TAIHAPE TARANAKI HAWKES BAY GISBORNE
ISSUED BY METSERVICE AT 11:05am Thursday 20-Jul-2006
POLAR BLAST EXPECTED TO HIT THE COUNTRY ON FRIDAY
A front is forecast to rapidly sweep over the South Island overnight and early Friday and then cross the North Island during the afternoon. The front is followed by bitterly cold air with snow showers expected to near sea level over eastern parts of the South Island and to unusually low levels over the south and east of the North Island.
At this stage, snowfall amounts are not expected to be large, with 5cm possible in some places. However, the combination of snow, bitterly cold air and strong southerly winds is likely to put extreme stress on newly born lambs and calves as well as recently shorn sheep. Farmers may want to consider holding off any shearing at this time and relocating livestock to areas sheltered from strong southerly winds. Also, with snow likely to such low levels, many roads could be affected, not just the usual high country ones. Hence, people considering travelling in
these areas tomorrow may want to reconsider their plans and/or take necessary measures to help safeguard themselves during their journey.

I wasn't too concerned... I had made the ferry trip down south quite comfortably during winter in 2002 and 2004, with out a hitch...

Friday 21st

We got up at 5.40am, so we had plenty of time to make sure all arrangements for the weekend were going to schedule. We were out of the house and on the road by 6.40am.

As we were approaching the Porirua Mall roundabout, Dick Shavers (can't remember his real name) had a traffic announcement. The announcement we had been dreading... "The Interislander sailing for 8.25am will now depart at 12.00pm.

Given this advice, we still went to the ferry terminal, where we were given two options - to park, or to come back at 10.30am. We parked up in the queue already building, and left the car to seek out breakfast.

Catching the Ferry Shuttle to Wellington, we were having breakfast at Trax by 8.00am.

Being still quite early, we decided to walk back to the terminal, as the sun had come out by then. We were able to walk down Thorndon Quay without much hassle, even stopping off in the Kiwiscraps shop. That's when we heard the taste of something nasty. Hail had struck! We were inside, so it wasn't too much of a concern. We left the shop after the weather had improved, and thought it would be a clear run walking back. Wrong. We were caught in the second wave of hail on the Aotea overbridge, which felt like we were being stoned (even though saying His name was because of what was happening)

Having survived that, we made our way to the car, and it wasnt long before the ferry had made an appearance in the harbour. We were on the ferry by 11.30am (about the same time that we should have already been in Picton!)

From 11.30am through to the next few hours, we were given updates as to when our expected departure was to be. The harbour looked fine to me, so I was a bit miffed that they couldnt attempt to brave the strait. It wasn't until 2.30pm that we finally left!

The interislander had been on the news a few months back, because of it setting off with high swells, 7 metres... I believe... It felt like we had hit the same perfect storm!

Dee was absolutely fine, third trimester and all, and even though I was green behind the gills we both survived without painting the hallways. We had found a comfortable couch around the halfway point of the boat, so the rocking wasnt too bad.

The boat finally arrived in Picton at 6.15pm, and being a 'man' decided to drive the rest of the way.

We arrived in Christchurch at midnight... so all together that was 18 hours of travel. This is why we have both decided to refer to Friday 21 July 2006 from now on as 'That F****n Friday!'

Week 26

Half a year/6 months/26 weeks... no matter how you put it, it's a milestone that we are happy and excited about reaching.

To commemorate this, here is a time capsule of what is happening right here right now.

Favourite Songs - Crazy by Gnarls Barkley and Forever Young by Youth Group
Favourite TV Programmes - Prison Break and Desperate Housewives
Favourite Pasttime - Lying in bed (we've recently moved the TV into the bedroom!)

Least Favourite Songs - Anything by Shania Twain or Crazy Frog
Least Favourite TV Programmes - Survivor or The Apprentice
Least Favourite Pasttime - Stripping wallpaper in the nursery.

Recent news events include
- Landslides and Flooding in the lower North Island
- One year anniversary of the 7/7 attack on London
- July 4th launch of a space shuttle Discovery

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Did you do a Mummy search??

You know that old saying that always got your goat, but you knew was right... When you're Mum pulled out the "Did you do a Mummy search, or did you do a [enter your name here] search?" card. Well... even though my Mum is not around anymore to taunt me with those words of wisdom, I'm feeling like I need some divine intervention from her!

My mission for the last couple of weeks is to find the electric cord to recharge an electric shaver I got in my "Oooh, that looks useful - I'll buy it" days. It's been 6 weeks since the battery died on it... I didnt think much of it at the time to go searching for the cord, and only started 'looking' in the last two weeks.

So what do you think I have found instead of the electric cord?? How about 9 different remote controls that I had given up searching for ages ago! 2 x stereo, 2 x tv tuner cards, 2 x video camera, 1 x car stereo, 1 x video machine and 1 x universal remote. Can you guess that I bought the universal one because I couldnt find the other ones?! Never got the silly thing to work, and funnily enough, 3 years later, I still have the instruction book intact and waiting to be read!

Anywhoo... thought I'd top this post with a classic picture... (one of many splashed on the net) The one and only universal remote I should have bought ages ago.
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Movin' on up!

I moved to the 9th floor of public trust today, while Dee moved up one floor of enza house. I got's me a window seat! I'm the envy of those pleb's down on the 7th. (yeah... you know who you are!)

Both of us are now working with 'management' ... the only difference being that they've bolted my window to prevent me from escaping :-P
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Preparing Nursery

Here we are stripping the wallpaper in the nursery. So far we've found 8 different wallpaper patterns, some scary... some tragic.
Can you see the steam?! It caused it to rain inside, and our phone to not accept incoming calls :-)
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