• Why it is that no matter how many times you remind a certain 9.10 year old, the concept of remembering to do a daily chore (ie empty dishwasher/feed starving whining dog/make disaster-area-of-a-bed/open curtains because it’s morning/close curtains ‘cos it’s dark and bloody freezing outside) never seems to permeate said 9 year old’s brain?
• Why, that after being reminded by parental unit about said chores, the response is “Ok-ok-ok! I’m doing it, now!” like now, is, like, just the most totally inconvenient time in the WHOLE wide world, like, ever?
• That an octopus can predict the result of the World Cup, but not the numbers for the Euromillions Lottery (first prize 40 million euros! Huzzah!)
• Who killed my indoor Yucca plant? And do I really care?
• What it might be like to live in Mackay (Queensland, Australia), where my cousin boasts on Facebook of balmy 21°C temperatures in the middle of winter and feels sorry for all her freezing-cold Kiwi relatives and friends?
• If I would really, really miss winter?
• If vuvuzela players are called vuvuzulus?
• Where on earth Rodney the cat has been? He suddenly reappeared on the side of our road this afternoon (discovered by Miss 9.10 and Niece G) after being missing in action for the past eight months – with a very nasty infected eye, but otherwise intact. Sweetheart Rodney Pusscat!
• Why a certain work colleague feels the need to slip acronyms – and completely unfamiliar ones at that – into conversation. “Errr, what’s the TF on the TB from the FTE?” WTF?
• At what point do carrot seedlings stop being tiddly little roots and start being baby carrots? And am I *that* patient…
• That as two long-time blog buddies have recently started blogging again
  after a long absence, this is a sign that there are more to come? If so, yay!

Oooh, it’s nice to be indoors on a day like today: bleak, grey and damp with the sort of cold that seeps into your bones.

I’ve got my big Timberland fleece on and a beanie, and still the end of nose and fingers are numb. Brrrr, better crank up that fire. First, better find somebody who can actually start a fire, ‘cos I suck at starting fires. I start smoke, not fire.

Yesterday, in contrast, was sunny and clear, and I spent the whole day in the garden, unwinding kikuyu (some of which had nasty rose branches lurking amongst it, waiting to spike me mid-pull, just plain evil!) and generally tidying up some rather weedy beds with the helpful supervision of our hens, who seem to think because I’m pulling something out of the garden, so should they.

Consequently I am more than a little bit achy today, with a particularly grouchy lower back (kikuyu-pulling does it to me everytime) so I just had to loll in bed all morning reading my new book (Mother’s Day by Laurence Fearnley), just to recover.

By the way, I can completely recommend both Shrek Forever and Toy Story 3, but unlike Miss 9.10 (‘I liked them both. Both exactly the same.”) I have a clear favourite: Toy Story 3 – a great conclusion to a wonderful, funny, fabulous trio of movies that are just as much for the grownups as they are for the kids.

It’s kind of sad knowing that that’s it, there’s not going to be any further instalments of the adventures of Woody, Buzz and co.

*Sniff*….

I’ve taken three days leave, and Miss 9.10 and I are off to Auckland to see Shrek Forever After, Toy Story 3, shop till we drop (all mutual choices), visit the Auckland Museum (Miss 9.10′s choice) and the Wintergarden (my choice – gorgeous tropical greenhouses in the Auckland Domain – load of photos will be taken!)
Squeeee!

Oooh, it’s been a chilly, wild and woolly day here, and the rain and the wind are still lashing the trees and shaking and shuddering the house – a complete contrast to the gorgeous, sunny, mild day we had yesterday.

It could not have been more of a weekend of weather opposites for my lovely cousin Stu and his wife Tina who visited us from Auckland, and have only just left as the roads round our way have been closed all day due to the International Rally of Whangarei which always holds a stage of the race round our neighbourhood over the winter.

Rally weekend usually involves the residents gathering up the end of the 5km long gravel road we live on, high on a hill, with barbecues, booze and campchairs to to watch, but this just was not going to happen today.

Unless you were a) daft in the head, b) extremely keen on watching rallying, c) kitted out head to toe in thermal waterproofs or d) all of the above.

I leave you with Saturday night’s sunset….just bewdiful….