The test between New Zealand and Pakistan was very evenly poised going into the last day, so we spent another afternoon in the sun at the Oval.
Cricket has gone into a decline in New Zealand during my years
overseas. Watching New Zealand play recently has required a special
kind of masochism. Until yesterday, they hadn't won a test match for a
year. The poor results have led to a huge drop in attendance at
matches. I used to go to Carisbrook along with 10 to 20 thousand
others. Yesterday, we were at the University Oval (a much smaller
ground) as part of a crowd of just over 2200. It was fun and
atmospheric even so - but the reduced crowds are a bit alarming.
The past week has been BUSY! Last weekend my little brother came to visit. We very much enjoyed having him out to hang with us for a few days. Rock Band got a lot of air time :) When we dropped him off at the airport and drove off, Stephan kept asking, “Where’s uncle Eilert?” and then we talked some about him, and I, being sad that uncle Eilert had to go home. He’s such a sweet little boy, already planning uncle’s next trip out!
I also made the apple pie for our mini "Turkey" feast.
After Eilert left, I endured my one and only workday of the week, rushing home to get down to the Pepsi Center so we could shoot some hoops before the Nuggets game. Unfortunately, we only ended up with five minutes because we got there so late and they booted us off the court earlier than I’d expected. We then walked across the parking lot for dinner and went back for the game. At halftime Stephan was part of the “High Five Squad” and got the chance to high five some very tall NBAers. Due to a mix up, he did not get to see the Nuggets up close, and some of the other kids parents were jerks, but he did get one Nets player to come up and give him a high five, which I tried to play up for his sake. He was disappointed to only high five one player, but that’s more than some people ever get so it was still pretty darn cool!
That afternoon I’d called my OB’s office and found out the preeclampsia labs she did all were fine. Still going to check my BP on Tuesday and see if I’ll need to start meds, but what a relief to know that it’s not preeclampsia, just the high blood pressure right now.
Wednesday Andy and I took Stephan to daycare and spent the day together. We went to see Pirate Radio (not a bad flick, but not the comedy I’d expected from the previews) and he took me to Red Robin for lunch. Also stopped at Sam’s for tp, but otherwise an official date mid week, something that doesn’t often happen.
Turkey day we went to Mimi’s Café for lunch with my in-laws. I’m not a huge turkey fan, so I just got a breakfast frittata that was pretty good and shared Andy’s pumpkin pie. Even though it was a pretty small meal, I didn’t eat much the rest of the day. We sent Stephan off with nana & papa and had another afternoon to ourselves before heading to the Bronco game. So glad they actually won again. A little chillier than I like, too bad the game wasn’t played in the afternoon when it was 60 and sunny out. On the way home we drove by Best Buy and Ultimate Electronics to see where we might have the most luck getting Andy his PS3 deal. I decided to ask him if he wanted that as his Cmas/Bday/Anniv gift this year and after combing the ads, those two stores were the only ones with deals. Best Buy looked NUTS already at 9:30pm so we decided to skip that and go for Ultimate since there were only about 15 people waiting there. After going home and getting a few hours of sleep, we got up at 3am to head out for …
Black Friday. This is only the second year we’ve done the BF thing. When we got to Ultimate, there were about 40-50 people in front of us and we plopped down in our camp chairs and bundled up in our blankies for a couple hours. When the store employees finally started walking down the line with vouchers we luckily got one for the PS3, 7 of 10! The deal there was that they were going to sell 10 PS3s with a bonus $100 gift card. With that bonus we were able to get the BluRay remote and a game for Andy and I got a game for my DS too since they were already sold out of my Mario game. Oh well, it’s on my Christmas list along with Wii Fit Plus! After the hour long wait to check out, we drove over to Target to see if they still had a couple toys in the ad for Stephan. They did. Andy was unsuccessful at finding his Psych season, but got a season of Monk instead. So far a pretty good morning. We stopped at McD’s and then went to Kohl’s to see what was left there after them being open for 3 hours or so. There was a toy I wanted to get for Stephan, something to hang on to and give him from the baby in the hospital, and some frames, and Andy said he’d wanted to have me pick out some earrings for my Christmas gift. We found everything and while the cheaper earrings that were in the ad were all gone, they probably looked kinda crappy anyway, and I found some pretty diamond earrings to coordinate with the necklace he and Stephan got me a couple years ago for Mother’s Day.
We went home and got everything inside. I decided that while Andy was setting up his PS3 I’d pull out Stephan’s presents and get them all unboxed and ready to go and then wrapped them so he wouldn’t discover them AND know what they were like he did this year before his birthday. Took a while, but now his gifts are not only purchased, but wrapped and ready to go under the tree and in his stocking. Good thing too, cause he’s already found them and asked about them and wanted them. Sheesh.
After waking up a little with showers, we headed up to nana & papa’s to get the kid and stopped along the way at Dick’s to see if we’d get lucky there too. While they did not have the plum Crocs I wanted (don't even think they stock that color), they did have my size in the cute emu ugg boots so I snagged those. I’ve been wanting a pair but holding out since so many are made in China and not Australia. I did not want to spend a ton of money on a pair of boots that are probably made for ¼ the cost or less. These were 60% off and have a cute button accent so I decided to give them a try and see if I like them enough to maybe order some that are really made in Australia.
I crashed with Stephan when we got home and had a lovely nap that got me through dinner and more Rock Band with some friends we haven’t seen in years, not since just after Stephan was born. We enjoyed catching up with them and just hanging out.
This morning Andy woke up feeling crummy after so little sleep yesterday. After he drank some water and ate some he started feeling better and we were off on our last errand of the weekend. Went to the mall and the Christian bookstore. Their deals were good for three days and not just three hours so I didn’t want to stress or feel like I needed to rush there yesterday. We got a couple Veggie Tales DVDs and CDs for Andy and I, Stephan picked out a Veggie ornament for his tree ... and we picked up a DVD and doll for my youngest niece.
WE ARE DONE WITH CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!! YAY!!!
One tradition left to go. Andy and I buy stocking suffers
for each other last minute. Have for years. We go to Target and make a game of avoiding each other in the store and seeing how much
we can get for the other person’s stocking for just $25. Fun challenge.
If Andy’s still feeling better he might go down to the garage and dig out the tree and all our other Christmas stuff. Right now of course, he’s shooting up somewhere in Warfare land on his Christmas gift. I’m glad everything worked out.
Tomorrow, we’ll head to church and then probably rest the afternoon away.
I only worked 8 days in Nov + one day at a conference. There are 12 up in Dec, three whole weeks and then Christmas break. I feel a bit spoiled. Hard to believe that come January I’ve only got about 10 more weeks till baby’s here and then I’ll have most of the rest of the year off before summer. This year has been QUICK.
It's been slow coming but summer has finally arrived. I know because the first cricket test of the season started yesterday. We've had a few days of fabulous weather as well. We celebrated by going to the cricket for a couple of hours this afternoon.
While we were picnicking and playing with Petra the Blackcaps' batsmen survived a few nasty blows to the head and body and managed to bat through to the last ball before lunch without losing a wicket. Travis and I only got intermittent looks at the play but I enjoyed the sound of bat on ball and what bowling and shot making I did see.
After reading an article about Google's sprawling influence and the sheer amount of information it gathers, I went to google.com to check my cookie settings (click privacy on the home page, then Ads Preference Manager). Here's the list of ad categories linked to me. Some of their choices are a bit random, but on the whole Google knows me disconcertingly well.
Your interests
Below you can edit the interests that Google has associated with your cookie:
Category
Entertainment - Celebrities
Entertainment - Fashion & Modeling
Entertainment - Music - Alternative-Punk-Metal
Food & Drink - Cooking & Recipes
Home & Garden - Gardening
Local - Regional Content - Oceania - New Zealand
News & Current Events
News & Current Events - Newspapers
News & Current Events - Politics
News & Current Events - Politics - Elections & Campaigns
Photo & Video - Photo & Video Sharing
Shopping - Flowers Gifts & Greetings
Social Networks & Online Communities - Blogging Resources & Services
Social Networks & Online Communities - Social Networks
Society - Government & Regulatory Bodies
Sports - Cricket
Sports - Racquet Sports
Sports - Rugby
We had the first really warm day of spring/summer today. Petra took the chance to get her gear off and run around naked first at our house and then at Nanny's house. She's recently turned into a mini naturist and getting her to keep her clothes on for any length of time is almost impossible - luckily she's chosen the warmest time of year for it.
Before she quit wearing clothes for the day, I managed to take a couple of photos of her in her sunhat and glasses looking like a lady on her way to the races.
So my birthday cake making efforts met with mixed success. The cake itself (banana cake) was really good - nice and light and just right. Unfortunately, the cream cheese icing was too too sickly. We just scraped it off and ate the cake naked. Maybe a chocolate icing would have been nicer. I'll have to do some research before I make the cake again
To Petra. She's two today. And now I have to make cake.....
For the past couple of months, Travis and I have watched "The Seven Ages of Rock", a BBC music documentary in seven parts (oddly enough), every Monday night. It finished up this week with a look at Britain's indie scene and the Brit Pop explosion of the late 90's. While I'm not sure that a scene that boasts Oasis and Blur as its best moments merits a whole episode, I came over all nostalgic at the footage of The Smiths (the godfathers of indie cool) performing This Charming Man on Top of the Pops some time in the early 80's. The quiffs, the droopy unbuttoned shirt, the waving gladioli (Morrisey's protest about having to lipsynch - he held flowers instead of a microphone), Morrisey's voice, Marr's guitar, the seedy sexy lyrics, and the general air of dissipation, - fabulous stuff.
As a teenager, I loved The Smiths for their campy over-the-top angst. Morrisey might be the gloomy king of adolescent loneliness and awkwardness, but he's also knowing and witty and wordy, which is just my thing.
I'd post a video but I can't get at Youtube. Vox is having trouble with its connections it would seem.
I thought that babies changed a lot in their first year, but I think now that the difference from 1 to 2 is even more dramatic. A 1-year-old is still a baby, while a 2-year-old is a little girl. Petra's baby fat has given way to a much more upright and sleek child build. She's beginning to look the way she will for the next few years, until the ravages of puberty hit.
Here she is then - November 2008.
A Petra update because I haven't posted one for a while.
She'll be two on Sunday. Already. This time last year, she was a fat baby who'd just taken her first teetering steps. Now she runs, jumps, balances on one foot, climbs stairs without holding on, climbs up onto everything she can, and yesterday rode her bike down the hill at Nanny's (much to Nanny's consternation). Petra's very poised physically and very confident about her abilities - she's only to happy to give things a go. She might just have some of her father's daredevilry in her.
She's also a big talker. We have long conversations about things like the helicopters that fly over and the house truck that occasionally parks outside our house (she's having a toddler vehicle enthusiasm at the moment). She tosses out her words and phrases - truck, copter, noise, look, etc, etc - and I translate them into whole sentences for her. We then repeat and repeat until we've thoroughly canvassed the subject. She has a few whole sentences at her disposal as well. The things she's figured out how to say give a nice insight into the egocentric workings of the toddler mind - "I will do it." "I don't want it." "I will get it." "Pick up, pick up," said with upraised arms and urgent hand gestures. "Come here" and "in here," used as she leads us round the house.
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