Holidays

I took Monday and Tuesday off work to spend some time with Tyler, and recover from singing comps. Luckily the weather was pretty good, so we got to run around outside playing ball-tag and laughing ourselves silly. Chris rang from Sydney on Tuesday - they won their first game so all good. Home-boy that he is, he is already looking forward to coming home :)

I finally organised for the piano-tuner to come and sort out the piano. And there goes my prize-winnings from the weekend! (and then some). Currently it is a mere shell, with all it's innards in his workshop and not likely to be back for about 2 weeks. However when it is all done, it will be restored to it's not inconsiderable former glory. He tells me that it is a very very good quality piano and in original condition in the sense that no-one has mucked about with it and added unwarranted bits and pieces. Once he's finished I'll get it professionally polished and the old girl will be a sight to behold and hear. Yay - no more sticking B clashing with B flats.:)

Tyler spent the day at the OSCAR holiday programme and had a great time. He's also there tomorrow. I think he's missing his Daddy as all his drawings are of or about him. Friday I have another day off work and we are heading up to Dunedin for the night and to visit my friend who has a new addition to the family who we have not yet met. We are staying at a Holiday Park that Tyler loves because it has an indoor swimming pool. He doesn't know that yet, so it will a lovely wee surprise for him.

The stoopid photo thingy is still not working, sorry. I'm going to go and have a whinge at the Blogspot people.

Baa Baa Black Sheep Tyler Styles

Tyler (singing):

Baa baa black sheep

Any any wool?

Bless you, bless you,

Never wanna fall

Me: What are those words?

Tyler: Duh! Those are the words of the song!

Me: Ohhkaaay.

I was going to put some photos here but the photo uploader has been changed and now isn't working, grrr.

Singing competitions

Competitions day - morning session complete. Two wins from 2 classes! Operatic Aria and French Art Song. With a special thanks for 'such a beautiful Clair de Lune' from the adjudicator.

Four classes this afternoon - 2 of which have a high potential for disaster :) Updates to come.

UPDATE 5pm: No results yet as they were running late and I had to nip home to feed the kiddies. However, Oratorio was so-so (with one glaring error), Comic was great so hoping to place in that, own Selection was a disaster and Duet was ok, despite some probs with the piano accommpaniment. Voice is very ragged, so I may not do Lieder class and just give up the remains of my vocal chords to the Scholarship class. Back later......

UPDATE 10am Sunday: Didn't update last night, too tired and quite frankly I was bummed out. Came second in the scholarship, basically because I made some errors in the timing of a couple of entries in the test piece. Technically it was fine. And 'Let the Bright Seraphim' rocked! But thems the breaks. It's what happens on the day. I even pulled out of the Lieder class so I could give it everything in the scholarship. I did end up with a first in the Comic, so I'm very happy with that. And despite what I felt was a disastrous 'Rejoice Greatly' in the Own Selection class, I came 3rd. Haven't seen the adjuicator's report on that yet, and I'm curious to know what it says!

So summing up: 3x 1st, 2x 2nd, 1x 3rd and 1x 3=  Not too bad an effort. Not to mention about $600 in prize money - having said that, the money is totally not what motivates me when it comes to singing.

Feeling a bit jaded this morning, which is the norm. There are a couple of classes this afternoon which I'm not in, so I can go along and just relax and enjoy other people's singing. Not to mention I can listen to CD's other than those of the songs I've been rehearsing!

Sorry it's been all me me me meeeee! Normal Tyler and family updates will resume shortly :)

More snow........

After the last lot of pictures it snowed steadily and heavily for another couple of hours. We stayed snug and warm inside (although of course no SKY) until it stopped snowing and the sun burst out. Tyler made his first snowman, all his own work except for the mouth which I made with a small piece of rhubarab from the garden.

Nobody knows (tiddlypom), how cold my toes (tiddlypom)...

...how cold my toes (tiddlypom) are growing. Yes and other bits of me too as soon as I step outside the door. The snow is falling thick and fast.  It's a winter wonderland out there - in Spring. Here are a couple of pics from earlier this morning when the snow was only light. I'm about to pop outside to take some more - you'll see the difference and hour of snowing makes.

House photos

Finally some house photos. A lovely day today here in Invervegas. Chris has done a heap of work on the garden - unfortunately we didn't take any 'before' photos. Anyway here are a few:

This is my equivalent of Chris' 'man-cave'. It has the computer, piano and finally a bookshelf to hold all my music.

This is the main lounge

The dining room

Tyler's room

Our room, featuring our new Superking bed

Our room again, looking towards the ensuite

The towel stand. I'm showing this because it makes me feel flash :)

Outside facing the lounge, Tyler and Pedro enjoying the sun

Some of Chris' handiwork  - this time with Tigger enjoying the sun

Outside the kitchen/dining area - Chris is digging out the stony bit by the three short bushes

And here is Tyler reading in bed

Surfacing

Yes, it's been 3 weeks since my last confession post. I have not yet taken photos of the new house, but finally I have a relatively free weekend ahead and so I promise I will! Especially as Chris has been buried in the garden (no I haven't bumped him off for the insurance) and has been weeding, digging up, tearing down, and beautifying.

The house is pretty much set up now, and we are revelling in the leg/arm/body room of a new Superking-size bed. I no longer end up shaped like a pretzel if the wee dude pops in for a snuggle in the mornings. 

The A Capella concert last Sunday went very well. It was great having the power of 70ish voices for the massed items (March of the Hebrew Slaves and Hail Gladdening Light). I was a busy wee bee as not only was I singing the normal choir stuff, but played a flute obligato for one item and then had a solo item of my own. I performed the Flanders & Swan song 'A Word on My Ear' about a tone-deaf soprano and the audience response was all a performer could wish for. At one point I lost the plot with the words but handled it in a such a way that the audience thought it was actually part of the performance. Not often that will work :) 

Tyler continues to do well at school, and his reading is coming along really well, even though he declares "I hate reading!" (usually because instead of doing his reading homework he'd rather be kicking a ball around or playing with his toys). He is a very snuggly/huggy/kissy wee lad and I fervantly hope this will always be so.

Countdown

Electricity? Check. Phone? Check. Newspaper? Check. .........

Only 2 more sleeps till we own the Wallacetown house! We're getting pretty excited now and Chris and I find ourselves lying awake at night planning where certain things will go, what new furniture we need etc etc. It will so good to have a big kitchen again, and warmth all through the house and a wardrobe in our bedroom. No more loud traffic early in the morning waking Tyler up. No more dicing with death getting out of the drive and into the traffic flow at peak hours. And as an added bonus, more singing practice time in the car :)

Once we get Tyler's new bike, we will be able to go down the road to the local school for him to learn to ride it.

Musically busy from here on in too. 31 August is the Music Circle tea meeting, then on 5 September is the A Capella concert where we combine with the Central Otago Singers and I have a solo item. Speaking of A Capella, I have created a website for them - very fledgling, but take a look here A Capella Singers.  At the end of September are the Southland Competitions vocal section. I'm in 8 classes, with 9 songs to prepare as the scholarship class has a test piece and an own selection. I have 4 new pieces to learn, 3 in other languages, but they are all lovely. I'm especially enjoying Blute Nur from Bach's St Matthew Passion. And I even have a Christmas singing engagement already - an aria from the Christmas Oratorio.

Now I must stop avoiding packing *girds loins* 

Birthday!

The last little party-goer has left and now I can relax and enjoy a bit of fairy bread :)

The day started at Sparrow's fart with Tyler demanding to see 'The List'. This is the list I had to make up at his request with clues of where to find his presents. We tried to get him to cuddle up in bed with us and doze off and though he did try, I gave up at 6:30am when he started to sing 'Happy Birthday to me' rather loudly. Once the initial oohing and aahing over the various presents was completed I was able to leave him to it and crawl back into bed for another snooze :)

1pm we were invaded by his little friends and the fun began. Firstly the present-opening followed by 'Pass the Parcel' and the Chocolate Game. At 2pm Wayne McEwan, the Magic Guy presented his show complete with live rabbit and the kids absolutely loved it. We threw rugs down on the lounge floor and the kids hoed into the birthday food - all the usual suspects: cheerios and tomato sauce, savouries, lollies, chips and I even made some fairy bread. All washed down with fizz. Good luck to the parents trying to get their kids to sleep tonight ;)

Here are some photos:

Almost 6

Our wee man is 6 tomorrow - can you believe it? Tonight we are having a birthday tea with local family. Fish 'n' chips followed by icecream cake, Tyler's choice. Tomorrow is the kid's party. Loot bags have been filled. Knick knacks ready to be wrapped for 'pass the parcel'. Photos galore tomorrow :) 

We're on the countdown to Tyler's 6th birthday on the 15th. The night before, we are having a family birthday tea for which his food choices are fish 'n' chips with an icecream cake. The next day is the party with his friends and he doesn't know it, but I've arranged for a magic show complete with live rabbit :)  Can't wait to see his face, especially as being the birthday boy, he gets to help the magician.

Tomorrow I start singing lessons again - hooray!! I have really missed them while Rebecca has been overseas. There's a lot to rehearse, what with an A Capella concert at the beginning of September and then Competitions at the end of September.

The days are starting to get longer and it is so nice to be travelling to and from work in daylight now.

Third Time Lucky

By now most of you will know that the owners of the Wallacetown house with whom we had two separate lots of negotiations a while back, suddenly popped back up again and we were able to negotiate a price which was $15K lower than our pervious offer! Which is good because with size of the place we will need a bit of extra furniture. Settlement is on 20 August and because we are renting this place, we can move in over the following week, meaning we can do it ourselves again.

Tyler has settled in very well for the third term of school, he is now one of the oldest in his class and some of the new entrants look really tiddly beside him. We are in the planning stages of his birthday party which we having at our place - how shall I keep 8 hyped-up children entertained for 3 hours, especially if it's wet, eep! There is no particular theme to the party - the invitations are 'Cars' and the cake has been requested to be 'Spongebob Squarepants' so maybe we will just call it a My Favourites Characters party.

Fabulous day here today in the South, quite mild with clear blue skies and sunshine, quite lovely. Spent a good part of the day tidying and cleaning the house and then taking photos so that it can be listed on Trade Me.

Car Rally

A couple of weekeneds ago, Tyler's school organised a car rally on the Sunday afternoon and the three of us, collectively known for the purposes of the rally as 'The Hurtling Hydrangeas' had a great time following clues, making up silly poems, collecting weird things and finally returning to the school hall for a fish and chip tea with everyone else. And we came 4th!

Along the way we had to take photos of various things and activities including:

Doing a haka outside the meeting house at Anderson's Park

Imitating the statue near the aviary in Queen's Park,

and making a tableau in front of the Sea Scout Hall.

Recently T-man and I did some baking. Tyler is getting very helpful and stirs as much as he eats.

He still loves drawing and writing at home .

Road Trip

The boys are off on their road trip to Christchurch. First stop, Leona and Dave's in Oamaru.

Tyler had a bit of a grumbly tummy this morning and I got a txt from Chris hen they got to Oamaru to say that the poor wee man had had a big chuck shortly before arrival. A bath and some food and he was feeling a lot better. Hopefully it was just something he ate as neither Chris or I are feeling any symptoms.

I am making the most of the 'me' time and had my singing girls round for the afternoon, then went to see 'Eclipse' this evening. (Team Edward in case anyone's wondering).

I had my first go at cycling round the Veldrome last Wednesday night. The bikes have no brakes as such and they are perpetual so you can't stop peddling or you will imitate a novice rider on a trotting horse. The tyres have no tread either. By the end I was riding the whole circuit between the black and red lines (the racing lines) and it was great! Don't think I am likely to be the next Sarah Ulmer though :)

I've been given the opportunity to sing 'Let the Bright Seraphim' again, this time at a concert being given by a visiting violin tutor from the Nelson School of music. Ruth and I are also going to sing 'Laudamus Te' from Vivaldi's Gloria.

Back soon to post some more photos.

SKY at last!

We have finally got SKY tv and I have spent the last half hour surfing channels (hooray for UK TV!). We got a deal for half price for 6 months and with the Tri-Nations about to start it was perfect timing.

Not a lot to report as it has been very cold and we have just been hunkering down by the fire and keeping warm. School holidays start today for T-man. He is very tired, so quite ready for a decent break. In the second week he and Chris are heading up Christchurch way to catch up with rellies. Which, while I will miss my boys dreadfully, will also give me an opportunity for some girlie time :)  On the agenda: drooling over vampires and werewolves (Eclipse movie), several uninterrupted baths and a visit to the velodrome for a WoW session (Women on Wheels).

Must get the camera out again - I had to laugh earlier this evening at Tyler pretending to be a Ninja and stopping every now and again to adjust his undies. Not such a good thing when fending of an assassin with a sharp sword!

Settling in

We are more or less settled into the new house and Chris spent today attacking the overgrown garden. The Howards came over for afternoon tea (pikelets with jam and cream, mmmm!) and we handed the little blue car over to Stephen for his use. So now I get to drive my beloved Holden again - woohoo!

Finally got the email sorted - campbell.mcleod@xtra.co.nz for anyone I missed advising- and we shouted ourselves a new, bigger monitor for the PC. We are also looking at a new TV - Chris has his heart set on a 55" LED, only problem is the latest model won't be here for another 7 weeks. We promised Tyler when we got a new TV we would also get a Wii so he is very excited about that.

In honour of the Soccer World Cup....

Tyler playing around with my scarf

Tyler took this photo - his shoes and some artwork

Re-housed, re-connected

We are now in our rental house and unpacked (everything except the stuff we don't need right now). Getting used to a Yunca again after the convenience of a heat pump but admittedly it is nice to cosy up by the fire. And Tyler and I get to leave 10 minutes later in the mornings :)  It's even better for Chris - he just walks around the corner to catch the bus.

Broadband took a while to get connected and I still haven't got the email going but our old email addresses still work so no worries there.

We survived the dusting of snow on Saturday and managed to finally get Chris' cat (after two abortive and scratch-producing attempts) into the truck and tranferred to her new home. The dog didn't even blink about the change in surroundings, he was all "Dude -  my humans are here, there's my food bowl, oooh a nice warm fire, what's not to like?"

Amongst all the packing and shifting and unpacking, I performed at the Womens Club Lunch Hour Concert. It would have to be one of the worst venues in Invercargill for singers. Dry as a bone and carpeted, curtained and peopled to the nth degree. But somehow I got through Let the Bright Seraphim, and the runs ran all the way to where they should with no un-scored detours and I even remembered to do some ornamentation in the repeat!

Tyler says

This morning playing Candyland, I won the first game we played. Tyler dropped his lip a bit and I said "Don't worry, you might win the next one, but it's all just luck". "No it's not" he shot back, "it's BAD luck".

Later I asked him if he wanted to come with me to do something and he said "No I've got some business to take care of".

Chris is at work today so T and I had a look at a couple of open homes in town and then visited the Wallacetown school Gala Day where he proceeded to cram as much sugar into his system as he could before Mum's money ran out. They had a lot of arts and crafts stalls there and Tyler asked if we could buy something for Anton's birthday (18th) which is coming up soon. This was proving something of a challenge as 18 y.o. boys don't generally go for crocheted doilies or hand-painted vases but fortunately there was a stall with schoolkids selling chocolate so that solved that one!

Apart from that, we just keep packing.

Here's Tyler and Blueberry, his current favourite toy:

Tyler had school Mass today so that took care of the morning, then I went to a meeting this afternoon to discuss the state of church music in Invercargill. As it is elsewhere, traditional music is being taken over by contemporary music, some of it excellent, but much of it trite and repetitive. We all believe there is still a place for cantors, Pslams, Magnificats etc.

I have been asked to adjudicate a school music festival at a local high school next month. Very nice to be asked but a bit nerve-wracking.

Packing is under way - Chris is much more enthusiastic than I! His idea of packing clothes is to simply upend the contents of his drawers into boxes and then throw the wardrobe contents into another box. Effective but he better not think I'll be ironing the crumpled results!

    

A big week. Chris' Uncle Ron died last Friday and the funeral was in Arrowtown on Thursday. The night before, Chris' cousin Leanne asked if I would sing. I was coming down with a cold but agreed to do it. We chose 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' as there had been a big rainbow over Lake Hayes the morning of Ron's passing. It was definitely a sub-standard performance by my standards, but I got some nice feedback so it wasn't too dreadful.

Thursday was my last singing lesson with Rebecca for almost 2 months as she is off to London to sing in a couple of operas. Imagine being able to say, "Oh I'm just popping off to London to sing in a couple of operas, darling". It'll only ever be imagination for me :) We ran through Let the Bright Seraphim, and even though I was full of a head cold, Rebecca says I am ready to perform it, even with a head cold. Wow, this is scary, because I have now committed to singing it at a Womens Club Lunch Hour Concert on 11 June and I am starting to hperventilate a bit! I just have to trust that I can put into practice what she has taught me and get that bright, ringing sound that I AM capable of, and not revert to the 10 y.o. choir boy sound. The music is slightly easier than Rejoice Greatly (only 1 scary run instead of 3) but the tessitura is high and so it's hard to not tense up.

House-wise - still betwixt and between. The &^^$*! Wallacetown people have suddenly decided that would be happy to accept our last offer of $410 but of course we have mentally moved on from there and have resigned ourselves to renting in the short-term. It's all very unsettling and I want to be an ostrich and put my head in the sand. Which is probably why I am doing this and not packing :)

And now for a random photo -Tyler raided the junk bowl on the table and found a motorcycle badge and a very girly sparkly bracelet which he proceeded to wear with panache.

It's the little moments

This afternoon I was downloading some music to my iPod. I had my earbuds in, checking that it was all there and Tyler came over and asked to listen. So I gave him one earbud and he put it in, looked thoughtful and said "I like that" (Dougie Maclean) then put his arms around me and started bopping away.

Later on, I was in the laundry folding Mt Washmore, when I heard the sort of crash thump thump that makes any mother's heart skip a beat. Sure enough there was a loud wail from the lounge. I raced in to find him huddled on the floor, clutching his shin and crying. As I cuddled him I realised he was wearing his t-shirt with the neck part over the front of his chest, thus constraining his arms. Once he had stopped sobbing, I asked him why he had done that and he said "Because I wanted to be Ben 10". Obviously Ben 10 can fly between couches with his arms pinned to his sides.

Still searching

And still we search. We made a last ditch bid for the Wallacetown property as we were told that the vendors had softened a bit. Ha! Not by enough they hadn't! So....more open-homing and now some serious thought about building. Only 1 month till settlement so we have started packing. Chris' Dad has taken a bunch of farm equipment off our hands, together with the ducks, the chicken, the lamb, the sheep and the goat. I didn't get to say goodbye *sniff*. Only 'Rammy' is left and he is earmarked for the freezer.

Chris made a trip to Dunedin yesterday to visit his Uncle Ron who is sadly nearing the end of his time.

We have been enjoying the days which start with a crisp frost and blossom into blue skies and warmth. Long may they continue.

Happy Mother

My first Mothers Day present from Tyler was a neck rub. Then he presented me with the things he had made at school - a card, a bookmark with a poem about mothers on it and a laminated place mat with his photo and a speech balloon saying "I love you Mum". All beautifully wrapped in hand-decorated paper.

Then he proceeded to beautify me with little sparkly clips. ('scuse the early morning bleary-eyed look)

Once Chris got home from night-shift, they presented me with a funny card and two DVD's - Love Actually and Mamma Mia. Later on we had a Mothers' Lunch at the Howard's.

The Three Mums

The Three Mums and their kids

Still no home to go to. We have advised the real estate agents for the Wallacetown property we are prepared to make an offer of $400K so we will see if that goes anywhere. In the meantime we have been going to open homes here there and everywhere. I have managed to avoid packing so far, but the time is fast approaching. Time to get ruthless! Which reminds me of a little ditty:

Ruth rode on my motorbike,

Directly back of me,

We took a bend at 95,

And rode on ruthlessly.

There's your Friday Funny :)

Tyler's school had a Wacky Hair Day today. Given that Tyler has a No.2 haircut, there wasn't an awful lot we could do short of buying a wig. He decided all he wanted was to spike his hair up with gel and so that's what we did.

In singing news, I am about to launch myself at 'Let the Bright Seraphim' (the aria Kiri sang at Charles and Diana's wedding). Wish me luck!

Cousin Rebecca had a clean out recently and bequeathed this electronic keyboard to Tyler. He's been having a lot of fun with it.

We still haven't found a suitable property to buy (apart from the Wallacetown one grrrr) so it's looking likely that we will end up renting our friend's house for a while.

Mmmm, donuts. And it rained a lot.

Vast swathes of Southland are under water but fortunately it hasn't affected us too much. Tyler was most intrigued to see two black swans swimming in the middle of a paddock where cows would normally be. Part of the main road home has been closed so we had a somewhat circuitous route home.

Tyler's school closed at 12:30pm today to allow the teachers to do parent-teacher review meetings and/or goal-setting meeting with the kids. (Tyler is doing just fine). So after our meeting we went home and decided to make some mini donuts. And after scoffing a significant number, Tyler posed himself artfully on the floor in his new 'jerwy' knitted by Great-Aunt Betty :)

Back to the drawingboard

We made an offer (low, as you do to kick off the negotiation process). They came back slightly lower than the listed price, we came up to the maximum we considered the place is worth, they came back with a tiny drop on their previous counter-offer. The agent offered to drop his commission to get the vendor to budge. He wouldn't. We've walked away. We're cashed up, we offered $20K more than the recent GV. Someone has their head in the sand. We are the only people who have even been to the house let alone made an offer. Chris told the agent that if we were still looking in a month or two and the vendor realised the error of his ways and wanted to resume negotiations, that our final offer will NOT be the previous top offer we made. So off on the house-hunting trail we go again *sigh*

A Bloke Needs a Shed

Yesterday we looked at a house in Wallacetown. 1/2 acre section, house with internal 3 car garage totalling 290m2. Four bedrooms (or three and an office), formal lounge, ensuite (with heated tiles, aaahhhh) and.......wait for it.....A Big Shed. ABS is of course a prime consideration, even if other factors are not ideal. On the big clipboard of  pros and cons, it tips the balance a fair way :) On the other hand, what left the biggest impression with Tyler was....well put it this way, he asked me this evening if I liked the brown house with three toilets. Anyway, it ticked a lot of boxes for us, enough that the fact that it is still a bit out of town is not too much of a drawback. Watch this space.

Build? Buy? Put head in the sand?

Our house sale is confirmed, so we are definitely on the move! Luckily we don't have to panic buy as we have a friend with a house available for rent from early May. We are looking at all sorts of options and if we can't find what we want, we will build. Would be nice to have a brand new house but think of all the stress *shudders theatrically*

Tyler is settled back into school, Chris is off work until tomorrow with his bung knee, and I still can't sing properly.

Mates

Tyler's wee mate from pre-school came over for a play-date. Fortunately the weather was ok and so they were able to be outside a lot on the quad bike, up in the play house and on the trampoline. 

Chris is hobbling around having hurt his knee at rugby yesterday. The joy of rucks. I did some singing at the Basilica this morning and my voice is still slightly hoarse now. Very, very frustrating. I'm worried I won't be right for the 'Armed Man' concert next weekend :(

Happiness is a bouncy castle

Today we did some more open-homing. The first one is a small lifestyle block right on the town boundary which we had already looked at. If we could get it at the right price it would be good. The second place was right in town and was nice, but bathroom too small. The third...well we walked into the first bedroom and the strong perfume didn't quite mask the smell of cat or dog wee. And through the rest of the house, eau de dog. Don't even want to remember let alone describe the smell of the outside shed with the shredded dog couch. Eewwww.

Chris had rugby mid-afternoon so Tyler and I headed off to Chipmunks where he worked up a sweat on the bouncy castle and climbing stuff, and I laxed out with a coffee and book. Bliss for both of us :)  Took a couple of photos but the flash didn't go off for some so had to try and correct the light and colour. Not particularly successfully :/

Na na na na..na..na..Granna-time!

Today Chris was sleeping off his first night shift so T-man and I headed into town and bought a couple of items for his winter uniform. Then we popped in to see Granna and Richard. Tyler drew up a storm while I had took an amble down memory lane with the first couple of Mum's scrapbooks.