I love finding quick and easy experiments I can do with the kids. I saw this one on a blog, Making Boys Men and knew it would be just the right combination of quick to make, with materials I could find around the house, and just the right amount of messy play for the kids to love it.
Materials:
2 paper plates
6-7 plastic cups
1 x wooden skewer
Sellotape (or other tape)
1. Start by taping your plates back to back. Ideally try and use thick cardboard plates rather than flimsy paper ones.
2. Push the wooden skewer through the middle of the plates. You may need to cut a tiny hole first if your skewer isn't very sharp.
Reality hit home to me on Friday as I walked out the door of my current work for the last time. I've spent the past 3 years working with over 100 other people, some of whom I now know very well, others a little, and still others not at all. There was a morning tea farewell for me on Friday morning, which about 30 people came to. My boss said some kind words, as did one of the lovely girls who I manage in my team - talking about my blogging and creative streak and how I wasn't just a typical accountant. The HR Manager who is now a good friend also said a few lovely words - I'd held it together pretty well until she, standing in close proximity to me, spoke with tears in her eyes, which made the same well up in mine.
I managed to pull myself together, and in return spoke some words from the heart about the difficult times we as a company have been in, and are still facing now. Words that I hoped right for the times we have found ourselves in, and hopefully words of encouragement for those who will be continuing on there in the months and years to come.
Afterwards, I had a number of people come up to me throughout the course of the day and tell me that it was a really good speech.
In my final handover with my boss that afternoon, we talked through a variety of things. Things that still needed to be done and who would do it. And at the end he thanked me, told me how much he had enjoyed working with me and said that I was 'one of the best Finance people he's ever worked with'. Which brought me nearly to tears...again.
I then came across the CEO later on in the kitchen while I was stacking my dishes for the last time in the dishwasher and he also told me that he thought it was a really good speech, hugged me and told me I'd been 'a model employee and a star' which, to be honest, was a complete surprise to hear. Other people wrote really kind words in my farewell card, words which I'd never heard them utter to my face.
And it got me to thinking...why is it that I only heard people's real opinions as I was walking out the door on my last day? Lovely though it was to hear, it feels a bit like it was all a little too late.
And yet I think it happens all the time, and not just at work. We only tell people how great we think they are when they're going, or worse, when they're gone. How many funerals have you been to where you hear amazing things said about the departed and realise that you never knew that about them, or that you never realised that person felt that way about them.
Here in NZ, I think we are particularly bad at giving praise, which I'm sure is part of the whole 'tall poppy' syndrome. Not wanting to be seen to give people a big head when they have done something really well, instead we say nothing, and just assume people know how we feel about them and their achievements, when in reality they are probably crying out for a 'well done on that piece of work' or 'hey that was an awesome thing you did there'. It takes so little to do, but it means so much to the recipient.
I guess because I believe one of the God-given gifts I have been given is that of encouragement that I probably notice more than most when recognition is given, and when it is not. I try really hard with my team members to let them know regularly that I appreciate their efforts, and with specific examples, but I know I still could do more. At home, I try really hard to encourage the boys in their daily lives, in their small successes as they grow and learn, and to encourage them through their disappointments too. But I know I could do so much more.
Is there someone in your life who you have thought about thanking or rewarding or recognising or encouraging but you just haven't done it yet? Please don't hold back. Tell the people that you love all the reasons, big and small, why you love them. Tell the people you come across in your daily interactions how you feel about them - whether it's their positive attitudes or the quality of the work they do. Don't assume they know. Because all they really want to do is to hear you actually say the words. It will mean more to them than you can ever know.
I'm sure all of us can can recount some interesting stories from our youth. I have a few memories from my last year at Waikato University that flooded back into my mind randomly one night and so you too get the pleasure of reliving them along with me. Lucky you huh!
My very own horror movie
So there was this one time when me and my 2 girl flatmates (there were 2 boys who lived in the flat too but they must have been out) decided to sit down and re-watch Scream one night. Asking for trouble right there for a start.
It was dusk, so we drew the curtains across the ranch slider to get all cosy and settled down for the night.
We'd gotten just a few minutes into the film, not far past the bit where Drew Barrymore answers the phone and the voice says 'Do you like scary movies little girl' and then she gets killed.
The phone rang in the flat, and without pausing the film I picked up the receiver and said distractedly 'hello?'
A voice on the other end of the line uttered the voice 'Do you like scary movies little girl?'. I screamed and dropped the phone and was just about to try and tell the girls what had happened when all of a sudden there was a huge banging on the ranch slider as if someone was trying to burst right in.
Oh my goodness, the adrenalin. The chills. We were totally freaking out!
Turns out one of the girls boyfriends who lived a few houses down the road had heard that we were going to watch Scream and had decided to play a joke on us and had co-ordinated that one of them would make the phone call and the other would wait outside the ranch slider door and as soon as he heard the phone ring he'd then start the banging on the door.
Mean much?! It took us a while to calm down after that!
Hallway rumba
Student flats aren't usually known for their cleanliness. And despite my best efforts to get a cleaning roster going, I'm sure I ended up doing more than my fair share of the toilet and bathroom because I just couldn't bear to live in a complete hovel. We were probably a pretty clean flat compared to some I'd have visited back then. And to be fair, we did pretty well out of making our grocery money stretch further than it should have. I remember many a late-night trip to Pak n Save where we'd stock up on $5 meal deals and make $100 feed 5 of us for a week! So this one time, I was sitting on the floor in the hallway talking on the phone. It was back in the days when a phone was actually physically connected to the wall and you could only move as far from the wall as the cord would reach. Whilst talking, out of the corner of my I saw something moving along the hallway wall.
Actually more than one something moving, it was a lot of somethings moving in rumba-like fashion steadily along the wall.
Ah yep, a whole lot of maggots, making their merry way through the house. I was so grossed out that we had maggots crawling in the hallway that I promptly called a flat meeting and demanded to know how on earth it could have happened. Turns out someone had left the lid off the outside bin after throwing out some meat, the flies had got in and the maggots had hatched and made themselves at home, all in the space of a few days. Blergh!
House meets car
One of my flatmates Jackie was very kind at letting others in the flat borrow her car, and she would always park her car in the driveway right in front of the bedroom you can see on the right with the wooden walls.
Bevan, upon borrowing the car one day, instead of putting the car into reverse, put it into gear and drove straight through the wall of another flatmate Rachel's bedroom.
OK so not quite as impressive as this accident below, but you get the drift.
There was most certainly a hole in the wall that you could see daylight through and poor old Bevan's parents had to cough up to help get the wall fixed and Rachel had to move out of the bedroom for a few weeks till it was livable again.
Calf-poo car
Meanwhile I was just happy to have a car at all having inherited my Nan's old 1974 Toyota Corolla as my first car that year. After 23 years on the road it was still going strong, it did feel weird knowing I was driving a car around older than me! It must have been one of the first automatic cars made in NZ, and it looked just like this one, right down to the beautiful calf-poo colour!
It was very handy for getting me to and from work (at Burger King) and weekend trips to Auckland to see my then boyfriend. I have fond memories of de-icing the car at 5am on a Saturday for the drive up to Auckland and having to go super slow through all the back roads covered in famous Waikato fog until I reached the Bombay Hills. After I bought my first car, this one got handed down to my youngest brother, who from memory rolled into into a ditch somewhere outside of Morrinsville and that was the end of that!
Would you like fries with that?
While I was at uni I spent 2 years living at College Hall before going flatting in my last year, and during my 2nd year I had the awesomely privileged job of taking the rubbish bags that the cleaners emptied on a Wednesday morning, collecting them in a big rickshaw type trolley and carting them around the back of the hostel and emptying them into the commercial skip. It was a pretty unglamorous job, especially when 200 odd-students your age would see you 'taking out their rubbish'. Needless to say though, any shame was worth the fact that it paid my bills and paved the way for 2 trips to Japan during my degree.
So from that, it was a bit of a step up in the world when I actually scored a job at Burger King in my last year. I used to work the pre-close shift 4.30pm- 12.30am on a Monday night, mostly working on the till and keeping the lobby clean. I only ever stayed to do the full close shift (till 2.30am) a couple of times, but one night after I'd left at 12.30am my work mates were the victims of an armed robbery when 2 guys managed to get access through the back door which had been accidentally left unlocked for a short time while emptying some rubbish.
I will be forever thankful that I didn't go through that experience as the 3 who were on duty were pretty traumatised by the whole thing for a long while after.
Keeping up appearances
The only downside to working that shift at BK on a Monday night was that I would be super tired the next morning. I always had Japanese language class first thing on Tuesday morning, and it was such an interactive class where you were constantly in conversation and being asked questions that I never struggled to stay awake.
Not so my Chinese history class which followed straight after. I'd sit at the back of the tiny lecture (of 20-odd students), put my book down, put my pen in one hand poised on the paper and rest my head down onto my other elbow - something like the shot below. I never made it through more than about 15 minutes before nodding off and dozing for the rest of the hour. Thankfully my lecturer was gracious enough NOT to pull me up on my lack of attention, and how I still managed to get an A+ for that class I'll never know, perhaps I was subconsciously taking it in whilst off in la-la land.
Lightning crashes
I have vivid memories of the music of this day and age, it was the days where any song by the Spice Girls, Ironic by Alanis Morrissette, and the song most played at College Hall (where I lived my first two years) by Live could be heard blaring out at full volume.
Can you remember this song and the era of your life when you remember hearing it?
To be honest I can't believe this time in my life is nearly 20 years ago, way to make me feel old!
I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something you can be thankful for..no matter how simple it is.
Mama and sons date
After having worked two loooooooong weeks and extra hours over the holidays, it was so lush to finish a little earlier on the last Friday of the holidays and take these two cherubs out for a bagel and hot chocolate before their long overdue mop chop. Sometimes it's the little things hey.
Punch Buggy Madness
If you've known our family in real life or on this blog for a while you'll have known that we absolutely LOVE Punch Buggies (a.k.a. VW Beetles). I've posted about the game we play spotting them here and here before.
So you can imagine my squeals of excitement when I spotted 2 T-shirts in Cotton On just perfect for 2 punch buggy mad kids. I could not resist at 2 for $25.
Perfecto treats from friends
Look how amazing this gorgeous crocheted scarf goes with my favourite outfit - good work Nikki! This selfie comes courtesy of the mirrored lifts at work - whatever works right?!
Piggy backing people
Someone has mastered the art of piggy backing his little brother - it's now the new preferred mode of transport at our place.
E.T. Phone Home
A couple of weeks ago, we had Jar Jar Binks (aka someone's pyjama bottoms upside down on his head). This week though it's definitely ET don't you think?!
Star Wars Humour
Ha ha ha.
Music through the ages
And to end this week....I'm loving this cool acapella mix of music from the 1100's right through till today.
Here's how you can join in this week:
Link up below with your blog post telling us what you're loving, and grab the Things I'm Loving button below for your post too. Don't forget to share the love by visiting all the other lovelies who have joined in - the linky is open till same time next week!
This morning I was a hot favourite for the 'Worst Daughter in the World' award.
I forgot my mother's 60th birthday yesterday. Who does that?!
The only reason I might miss out on the award is because I got a text from my Dad this morning saying: Mum a bit sad she didn't get a text from you yesterday, and my fingers have never dialled their number so quick, and I was bawling my eyes out before I got out an 'I'm so sorry....' to her.
I do know how it happened.
The boys and I had made special Mothers Day cards and sent them off super early last week to make sure they got there on time. Mum's birthday is always a couple of days either side of Mothers Day and most years we combine the celebration sending cards and a present off to cover both. Good daughter.
We specially skyped Nana on Sunday morning and wished her a Happy Mothers Day. Good daughter.
We're all driving up to Hamilton in 2 weeks time to share in a big special 60th birthday weekend for Nana with my brothers and their partners as well and I'd been focusing on that in terms of getting a card and a present ready to give to Mum in person then. Good daughter.
Somewhere amongst all those goings on and the fact this is my last frenetic week at work working all kinds of crazy hours till late at night, and that my birthday app did NOT remind me like it usually does (how much do I want to throw my phone from a great height right now!) I dropped the ball.
Reasons, but not excuses.
Today Nana got a bunch of flowers delivered to her at work, a small token of our love and apologies for dropping the birthday ball.
Needless to say, I spent half an hour at work today adding every single family birthday into Google Calendar (way more reliant than some stoooooooooopid free app!) with an invite to Mark so it's also in his calendar, with an email reminder 2 weeks before the day AND a Pop-up reminder at 7am on the day.
Mark said to me today 'you are the glue that holds this family together', and up until now the only way family birthdays have been remembered is if I do it. So he was happy to take some responsibility for what happened too. If I'm honest enough to admit, we very nearly missed our nephew's 7th birthday last week (sorry guys the truth's out there now!) and it was only because I remembered about 4 days before and said to Mark 'you ARE onto Jack's birthday aren't you' that we managed to pull that one out of the bag and got something delivered that happened to get there on the actual day.
This time, no such luck. Sadly, there is no button to rewind to yesterday and re-write the course of that day.
Having to admit you're way less than perfect.....not the nicest of feeling.
Having to walk around work with red-rimmed eyes all morning....not the nicest either.
Having a mum who understood and forgave...priceless.
Happy belated 60th to a lady who doesn't look a day over 50, who is a more fanatic rugby, netball, cricket fan than most men I know, who encourages and supports her family near and far, who is a bit of a crazy cat lady, who can knit and sew up a storm, who loves her quiet life in the country, and whom we love so, so much.
K...blubbering mess over here right now. I'll leave it at that.
We were inspired this week by a post over at All For The Boys showing a popsicle stick chain reaction.
I thought to myself, now here's something we could easily do - us with 1,000 popsicle sticks sitting in the cupboard - don't ask, it was way cheaper to buy them in bulk!
What I didn't quite appreciate was that the popsicle sticks used in this cool trick were a lot bendier and fatter than your average popsicle stick.
So after a few goes and getting quite frustrated when they just wouldn't work - the sticks were too thin, small and inflexible, I suddenly remembered we had some bigger coloured craft sticks in the cupboard.
And then we were away laughing!
It was rather hard to actually catch the popsicles in action, so I ended up having to make it about half a dozen times just to catch a good photo!
And so you can see exactly what it looks like, here's ours in real-life action!
And if you could find yourself enough popsicle sticks and had the patience and time on your hands, just look at the fun you could have!
It started just like any other morning. The alarm went off at 5.30am like it does every other week day. I dragged myself out of bed to go pump my legs on the stationery bike in the garage for half an hour while listening to a podcast from Gateway Church in Hamilton - Don Barry being one of my favourite speakers. Then I was changed and out the door, parking up in my usual spot outside daycare ready for a quick getaway that afternoon to get to school pick-up by 3pm.
I walked swiftly through town on my ten minute walk to work, flicking through my morning blog reads as I walked. Just like any other morning.
Except it wasn't.
I came up the steps that form a bridge between the waterfront and Civic Square.
To this.
In the three years I've been walking this route, I have never seen a sunrise anything like it.
I literally stopped dead in my tracks. And immediately decided that work could wait for a few extra minutes, and instead made the detour right down to the waterfront.
Walking past the fountain in Frank Kitts Park which was bathed in the most glowing backdrop.
The water in the harbour looked like it was on fire, so intense was the reflection of the sunrise.
It was as if a volcano might bubble up with lava from underneath at any moment.
I stood, iPhone in hand (and desperately wishing I had my DSLR with me), in silent awe for quite some minutes.
In particular, with an overwhelming feeling of being blessed and grateful to be in the right place at the right time for an encounter with the Creator such as this.
Next week I'm starting a new job which will see me driving out to the Hutt Valley every day on the motorway, and there will be no opportunity to just pull over and take photos.
Which is why this particular morning was such a rare gift, a painting in incredible technicolour just for me.
I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something you can be thankful for..no matter how simple it is.
This week's Loving post comes to you from one of my favourite places in the world right now, Zealandia.
Last weekend, when most of the country above and beneath us was being lashed with torrential rain and flooding, Wellington was bathed in warmth and sunshine the entire weekend. Go figure, that never happens. Well we were bathed in good weather until 5pm Sunday when the rain finally came, but who's quibbling? Not me.
The annual passes we bought for Zealandia ($100 for a family for the year) have already paid off - this was our 3rd visit this year, and one trip alone for a family would usually be $70!
The boys were excited to see the little electric boat humming along the reservoir and were desperate for the chance to have a turn on the way back. We promised to try - if it was still running by then.
The sunny afternoon meant there was plenty of wildlife on offer - the birdsong was incredible, and along tuatara alley there were a few tuatara out of their nests proving easy to spot, and surprisingly I was even happy to take a photo of these big beauties happily ferreting around their wooden home - happy to get close because of the safety of glass between them and me.
I must make a mental note for next year that mid-autumn sunlight is insanely good for sunflare and light dancing on water shots. Seriously.
The walk up to the dam at the top of the valley is more than worth the uphill slog to get there.
Nestled right between two valleys, we might as well be in Gondwanaland or Jurassic Park country it really does feel so ancient here. Apart from the man-made dam of course....pfft but we can ignore that for the sake of a good story though can't we!
On the journey back down the valley, you also walk over an impressive suspension bridge which simply hangs in midair as if connecting the ancient and modern worlds.
After walking across it, with just the right amount of bounce to get the whole bridge swinging a little, the trail winds back underneath, and looking up to see just how high up we've been is a little mind-blowing.
The dappled light filtering through the trees turns funghi into heavenly lampshades.
And then, the piece de resistance of the afternoon - hey the boat Mum, the boat, the boat is here. Can we ride back on it? Please, please can we, can we? It's actually the first time this year that the boat has been ready and waiting at the dock on our way past and of course there was only one response needed.
It's a short wee trip from here to the little turret you can see in the distance, but along the way you do get up close and personal with the colony of shags otherwise known as a 'shaggery' - hey if it can be a rookery, surely a shaggery is also not out of the question?!
The return to civilisation is swift and yet it will always seem so out of place to be among houses again while you are yet to leave these borders. It is almost unimaginable to be still in the middle of the city and yet also here, where time has somehow rewound a few thousand years. .
There is often much to complain about with with the weather extremes we experience here - no-one I know welcomes the roaring southerlies and the horizontal rain that come with the crazy wind. But really, truly all we need is a day like this spent here now and again and the rest is immediately forgiven.
This place, this protected piece of paradise holds the key.
How about you? What is there to love about where you live? Do you go exploring locally and do you truly appreciate all there is to love right on your own doorstep?
It's so easy to see a photo of a deserted tropical island or the hustle and bustle of a great world city and wistfully wish to transport ourselves elsewhere, far away from here.
But really, there is as much beauty to offer in our own backyards.
If we would only have eyes to see it.
I'm also loving that despite my DSLR having to go in for repair for a few weeks, I could still embrace the gorgeous afternoon and capture beauty with my old pocket camera!
Here's how you can join in this week:
Link up below with your blog post telling us what you're loving, and grab the Things I'm Loving button below for your post too. Don't forget to share the love by visiting all the other lovelies who have joined in - the linky is open till same time next week!
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