Gender Predictor - Take a Guess!

Hello all!  It's been a long couple of weeks here.  A very nice man I went to high school with past away.  He wasn't someone that I had ever been close to but quite oddly, I had more interaction with him since moving overseas than most from my hometown.  He was a traveler by trade himself so he took an interest in the things we get to see and do.  This is the third friend I've lost since we moved here.  In addition, two friends lost parents over the weekend, one old, one new, after long battles with illness.   It's all reminding me to count my blessings constantly.  The thing is, holy moly, have I been blessed!  Take a second if you haven't recently and think about all you have!

I have lots to tell you about, as always, and we did some VERY New Zealand things this last week and I got some great photos but I will share all that with you later this week (promise).  We went to Sheepworld, made it through a tsunami warning, had a really nice time with friends over from the states and I missed Thee Oh Sees concert at the Whammy Bar and was totally and completely disappointed! The boys and I were REALLY sick last week and I thought we were well enough to get out of the house this weekend but silly mommy never seems to learn that we really needed a bit more rest so everyone is currently back in bed!!

Therefore, I just wanted to take a minute to put this out there.  JJ may decide on Friday that he doesn't want to know the gender of the baby.  If he does I will not be making it total public knowledge.  I will not be posting it to Facebook and he reads this blog (occasionally) so I won't be talking about it on here either...

So, I thought either way I would do something a little fun.  If you would like to take a guess at the gender of the baby I will send a post card to the first fifty people that are right.  I don't know that fifty people will actually guess but that would cost me a little more than $100 NZ and that's the limit I am putting on my post card spend!  Here's the one rule...

1.  You have to leave your comment on this blog which means you have to become a bona fide follower.  You cannot make your guess on Facebook.  That's it.

Your guess is probably better than mine as I have been wrong EVERY.SINGLE.TIME!

Best of luck!

Cheers!

Boom Goes the Dynamite

I had a rough week.

I really thought I would have the kitchen done this week and I could show you my really, fantastic amazing kitchen and maybe my awesome courtyard as well.

Not so much!  I never made it to the framing store to have my "Children Inspire Design" prints framed and I haven't found the things I want to complete the official center piece for the dining table!

My kitchen is really awesome though.  I've been cooking and maybe replenishing my utensils and stock in such a way that I know that I shouldn't.  It might be possible that I have even been baking on occasion!  I never dreamed how hard it would be for me to adjust my culinary skills to a foreign grocery! Since I will be without my amazing C-ville friends who bring dinner for six weeks post baby I am trying out recipes to freeze in advance.

But, that's not my point today.  I want to show you the house and the garden and maybe even take you on a little tour of my amazingly awesome new neighborhood soon, but not yet.

Not right now.

What I have found this week is that I have been so very blessed.  I have the perfect little family for me!  I have a husband who although he doesn't always understand me, is there for me and boys who think I hung the moon!

I'm not too good at family.  In all honesty, when it goes outside of my closest, most intimate small group I get pretty awkward   I have high expectations and don't see a lot of grey.  Loyalty is so, very important to me and that is really hard to come by!

Sooo, I had this bad week when it came to family and all I could think of was Brian Collins and "Boom Goes the Dynamite".

If you aren't from Muncie, Indiana (or surrounding areas), didn't go to Ball State University or aren't married to a man like JJ who seems to know all things sports and pop culture (or well, maybe just generally, all things!) you might not have ever seen this totally awkward, almost four minutes of history.

I figure Brian Collins' life changed after this broadcast.  He either changed his course of profession or used it as a building block to hone his skills -- I hope he didn't continue down this same path!  I sure don't plan to!

Today I vow to be the absolute best for my boys that I can be.  Boom went my dynamite this week and I'll probably fumble again but right now I have a strong sense of what family is, was and will always be, at least for me!  I will continue to have high standards and seek love that is loyal and unconditional, continuing to fumble through my naivety when I find those expectations unfounded.

Here it is for your viewing pleasure...Boom Goes the Dynamite.

The holidays are over here (yeah, I think it's always a holiday too) and we have been entertaining a lot of guests from the states, the south island, locally etc.  Some of our closest friends picked up and moved to Australia last week.  PlayCentre starts back after the summer vacation on Monday -- life goes on...

I'll be back to full force soon with that tour, maybe a plea for help on the recipe end of things and hopefully a day in the life if I can find one interesting enough to share!

Last but not least, I have finally begun to enjoy hearing my name here, where I have always been A-me in my past, I have begun to expect to hear Aye-May when being addressed.  I bet I miss that in the end!

Cheers!