Our week :0)

Days whizzing by so fast ,and I keep forgetting (or running out of time) to write in here.

I cna;t even remember what we've been doing, lol, but somehow it keeps us busy.

I'll work backward and see if I can remember...

In the weekend we had our cousins J13 and M11 to stay...that was a lot of fun. They mostly monopolised the computers, but J13 spent a lot of time playing board games with Princess, and also drawing and making Christmas cards with her. It was very sweet.

The boys didn't want to go out on Saturday night, so we stayed home and had takeaways, treats and a movie together. It was very nice, and so good to just relax with them.

Grandma and Poppy came over for a bit on Sunday before heading of to meet friends and see Billy Joel in concert. Tombliboo has always had a bit of a thing for Poppy, and this visit was no exception. He hovered about his Poppy the whole time, and asked "Where'd Poppy go?" whenever he seemed to disappear (however briefly).

During the week, I made russian fudge (yum!) and did ordinary house and garden things.

We got a lot of shopping done on Friday night (first time we've attempted some Christmas shopping), and dn a bit more done on Saturday. We also went to the dentist- I had a toohache like nothing I've had before, and thought it was time :0(

Actualyl, now that I've been and there is no hole (though I can see a shadow), I wonder if it is a crack. Anyway, I was determined not to get fillings before I am not happy with any of the materials (with the possible exception of gold, which is out of the question anyway).

I was really pleased to learn that the hole I had 3 years ago, and opted for ozone treatment instead of a filling had in fact remineralised. I had two other teeth ozone treated, and expect the same result.

Princess has been counting down the days until Christmas, she is very excited. She reminds me regularly through the day of all the thinggns I ought to eb doign to get ready for Christmas.

Tombliboo is exctied by some Christmas lights down our street...he calls it "Ki-mas shirework"...which translated is "Christmas Firework", and it's not a firework, but I can see how he would think so.

I'm hoping J-Man will put up our Christmas lights in the next couple of days. He used to be *very* in to Christmas lights, even requesting them for his birthday, but the interest has waned somewhat. I might have to put them up myself :0)

We haven't got a tree yet...J-Man asked if we could please have a real tree this year, and we agreed. We agreed last year, but somehow there is always something we would rather spend $30-40 (for a small tree) on.

Tombliboo surprised us last night by correctly counting 5 little tokens in Spanish. It was terribly sweet. He is doing wonderfully with peeing on the potty. The only trouble is not knowing he has been and someone kicking it over before it's been emptied....only really a problem when we have visitors, since we're so used to having a potty around, and avoiding it"just in case".

I read an interesting article by Naomi Aldor about night weaning. She said that a co-sleeping toddler has no primal need for night feeds in to the 3rd year. I'm mulling that over and considering the possibility of night-weaning Tombliboo (who currently feeds every 2 hrs all night).

I'm reading a book called The Gabriel Method about weightloss. It appeals to me because it is a weightloss-without-dieting book, but it also makes some good points about how stresses and "lacks" in our lives translate (for our bodies) as reaosns to get fat, to stay safe.

It's a lot more complicated than that, but I feel it makes sense...that it doens;t matter how many calories you count, or how regularly you exercise- when there is some emotional worry in the mix, your efforts amount to nought.

Well, that's my story- and I'm sticking to it (for now) :0)

Photos (Dec 14 2008)

Our family :0)
My handsome husband :0)
My gorgeous J-Man (nearly 10) :0)
My beautiful Princess (aged 6) :0)
My scrumptious Tombliboo (aged 2, and not liking staying still for photos) :0)

Me, not normally keen on photos, but ah well :0)

Our week...

We've been busy as usual, doing not a lot that I can remember off-hand (I can't even remember when my last post was)...so I'll bulletpoint a few bits and pieces, and add some photos.

* Tombliboo ran to the potty to poop last night...hooray! He has been wonderful with pee for a while now- I finally learned to back off, and not mention the potty...hey presto! He just uses it without comment. When we're going out, I tell him ,"Keep those pants dry- tell Mama if you need the potty." And he does.

*We took the kids fishing! It was a Kids Gone Fishin' day at Mangere, and it was a tonne of fun...well, the kids weren't particularly interested in fishing- we were using (free!) handlines, where they have only ever fished off Grandma and Poppy's yacht with fancy rods. We also (inadvertently) picked the wrong spot, where I think (judging by more experienced fishermans' experiences) it was impossible to catch anything.


*I took Tombliboo and Princess for a swim while dh stayed home to watch Rugby, and J-Man played Maplestory (he's taking a voluntary break from WoW atm). I told myself I probably wouldn't take just the two of them again for a while...Tombliboo kept disappearing, and while I chased him I had no choice but to leave Princess alone...it was fairly hard-going. (never worse than whilst changing).

*We visited N and B (23 months) briefly), but it was a lot of fun. Their chicks have grown soooo much!

*We went to a Christmas show with our friends A and J11...that was a blast, and went so quickly. We saw more friends (E and M9) on the way out, which was a bonus.

*J and J22 months came to visit and that was a blast as well...so nice to just sit and natter...with a million interruptions from our toddlers, but still- just so nice.



*We're gearing up for Christmas, but I feel woefully behind on (even just the) basics of ordinary life atm. I really want to get a reusable advent calendar for the kids, where I can give them little treats that are beter than the piddly chocolate you normally get (which is no use for our lactose-intolerant children anyway) and no plastic...or if there is plastic, at least it is not of the "buy every December" variety.

*Tombliboo finally got "a monkey book" like he's been asking for...we live a minute from the library- why is it hard to get there some days??



*N and A5 came to play for the day...it was wonderful. Princess and A5 get on famously, and I thoroughly enjoy N's company. We cooked together, and watched Zeitgeist which is the most important thing I have seen in a while...one of those movies (like Who Killed the Electric Car?) which everyone should see.

*Princess made a robot costume out of a big box, which Tombliboo models here...



*We've painted, and drawn pictures, and made pizzas with playdough...we've planted seeds, and watered the garden, weeded her and there and attempted to trim the edges (I can't cut a straight line to save my life). We've read books, watched movies, and danced to cd's, made cookies, and plenty of popcorn. We've had a good week, full of joy.

The Long Emergency

I finally finished reading The Long Emergency and it was a very worthwhile read. It is a very detailed book, and blew my mind regularly.

The most important point (I thought) was that there is less than 40 years of oil left in the ground...that's the good news.

The bad news is that we have already passed the "peak"...meaning, that half the world's oil is already gone. At that point, I breathed a bit of a sigh of relief- yay- there's still plenty left. BUt actually, that was the half that was easy to get, cheap to remove, and the rest is not. There is plenty there that will never be recovered. This is because of the cost of recovering oil. As he described, if it costs a barrel to get a barrel, you engaged in futile activity...but if it costs 2 barrels to get one, you engaed in an act of madness.

He also describes the other "calamities of the 21st century", and they were alarming too...natural gas depletion, wars over oil, infectious diseases, and many more.

It's a very scary book (to quote Shrek), but an important one.

I would love all my fmaily and friends to start to really consider what our lives will be like when the oil runs out, and from now on- as it is running out (because it is already having a big impact...think about the price of cheese!). It's not just about how much petrol costs for zipping about in cars.



I was glad to finally get started on Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, but alas- it seems the world is against me reading that book, lol...my friend N from down south gave me another excellent book, which I think is more pertinent reading for me right now....The Gabriel Method.

I'm fairly sceptical about these sorts of things, but hey! I've tried everything else, so why not...and I love the basic premise...losing weight without dieting.