My day today

Sorry Paul, stealing your idea for a blog entry today.

My day started early this morning.  It was sort of back to routines as it was the first day back to daycare after the Christmas break.  Caitlyn probably only has another 20 days left of daycare (she goes 3 days a week).  So it was up early, got Caitlyn ready and then Caitlyn and I headed off first for my physio appointment and then to drop Caitlyn off.  I expected tears, but she was all happy to be back.

And then I went to Paul's house.

Last year I came up with an idea of something I wanted to give Paul to say thank you because he was such a great teacher for Bianca and he became a really good friend.  And so I started planning.  Now one thing about me is that the longer I think of something and plan something, the bigger my ideas grow (just look at Funrazor) and so I needed Paul's help with the second part of my idea.  The first part is finished, but I can't share it yet because it will give away what the second part is.

Paul has been writing songs for about 12 years now.  I really like many of the songs he has written.  And so when I got the idea for the second part I decided that I needed to get all his songs.  He told me there were about 150 songs (and we finally figured out he actually wrote nearly 300 songs in total).  I managed to type up many of the lyrics, but finally needed Paul's help with the rest and this is what we did today.  We went through his old tapes and I typed out the ones I still needed.  And that was about 40 songs.

I'm very excited that I am nearly done with this project.  So now instead of just a thank you present it will now become a birthday present as well.  Although I did say to Paul that maybe I should give him a box of dots for his birthday ;-)

I must say that it has been a wonderful experience working with Paul on his songs.  To hear some of the stories and to hear so many of the recordings he made of his songs and I have to say that a number of his songs are my absolute favourite.  And I'm very grateful because Paul has been teaching me a little bit about the world of music (of which I know absolutely nothing).  Things like beat, when he would use major and minor chords and so on.  It has been a great journey so far!

An award!

Susan @ Maas Journal gave me an award!

Thank you so much! 

Maas Journal is one of my favourite blogs that I follow.  I love reading Susan's adventures and life over in Aus.  When Susan read that Bianca put a times tables poster on her Santa list, she immediately organised with Mrs Clause and sent this to us along with a few other goodies (as well as the most gorgeous bookmark for me). 

The rules are that I have to nominate five other blogs with less than 200 followers each.  This is a tricky one because I follow a number of really good blogs.

• Paul at The World According to Paul.  Paul is a wonderful story teller and a huge inspiration to me.  Paul is an amazing athlete and cyclist and has given me loads of support as I'm trying to become fit.  Paul was also my daughter's teacher and I can honestly say the very best she's ever had.  And I simply love Paul's music.  I have been working with Paul to go through all his songs and he has written so many amazing songs like this one and this one.  Paul's blog is well worth a visit!

• Marcia at 1,2,3 blog. I simply love reading about the adventures that Marcia gets up to.  Such a positive lady sharing honestly about things that are happening.  And she always gives food for thought.  I love how she asks questions to get some interaction going.  She has twins and they keep her very busy!

• Sue at Living the Good Life.  Sue writes wonderfully and sometimes I find myself laughing at some of the funny and witty things she writes. She is very entertaining and you will love following her blog!

• Buttons - simply love her blog.  Stunning photos and amazing at telling stories.  Her stories come alive when she tells it and I find myself completely drawn in each time she writes a blog entry.

• Maria at The next stage is a new blog I'm following.  I love her trips down memory lane.  I love her photos.   Paul, you actually have something in common with Maria in that she was a teacher before :-).

And that's my five.  I follow loads of other great blogs (just look on my sidebar).

* Just copy the pic to your computer to use on your blog. Then link back to me and nominate five others with under 200 followers.

Finding blogs

Yesterday when I was going through some blogs and doing my own blog entry I read Blackhuff's entry where she was asking the question how people go about finding new blogs.

Ever since I started blogging in 2007 I have found hundreds of blogs.  It doesn't mean that right at this moment in time I'm following hundreds.

Right when Bianca was diagnosed and I entered the world of blogging, I remember thinking that each time I did a Google search I would come across some or the other medical paper.  It wasn't what I wanted or needed.  I wanted real stories of real people with real feelings.

I can't remember how I came across the very first blog (or even what the first blog was that I found), but when I found that first blog I started going through the comments and so started a journey of finding more blogs.  After a while I had so many blogs that they were simply too many for the side of my blog and so I created a new blog called Bravefighters.  It was a blog entirely consisting of blog links.  And I sorted it by type.  So if you were looking for blogs where people were fighting leukemia or brain cancer or neuroblastoma or whatever, you'd be able to find the relevant category.  I was very proud of this blog and it became a little bit popular where I actually started getting some requests from people to add extra links.  I did delete the blog after a while because it became too much work for me, but for a while that was a resource where others found blogs.

I still do it.  If I am looking for new blogs, I tend to look at their blog list on the side of the blogs I follow.  See if anything interests me.  I might visit some of the blogs, have a bit of a look around and if it is the kind of blog I think I would enjoy following then I'll add it to my bloglist (although in saying that sometimes I'm lazy to update my bloglist and I simply bookmark some of the blogs I like reading).  A number of the blogs I'm currently following have been found this way like Blackhuff and 123Blog.  Sometimes I stumble upon a blog because I was doing some or the other Google search like with Sharon.  Or I manipulate make innocent suggestions to people to start their own blogs like with Paul ;-).  Other times people find me because I left a comment on somebody's blog.  I think this is how Maria found me.


The main thing I think for me was to find a blog, go through the comments, visit some of the people who left comments, leave some comments there and slowly but surely I built my "family" of bloggers.

The other aspect that Blackhuff discusses is comments.  I have to admit there are a few blogs I follow where I don't ever comment because they literally have hundreds or thousands of comments already and there is no way they'll probably pay attention to what I have to say.  But I read them because maybe they are quite uplifting to read or funny or positive.

I do try and comment regularly on most of the blogs I follow.

It is nice getting comments, although with me I have a few loyal followers who leave regular comments and most of my readers don't.  Certainly I can see that I have way more readers than people who comment.  So if you are reading here today "Hi! Lovely to have you visit me and don't be shy!".


So how do you go about finding new blogs?  
How did you find me?

Running, swimming and an afternoon spent with friends

Yesterday was mostly just a quiet relaxing day.  A good thing because it was very wet.

Emerson, our friend, who stayed the night left after breakfast and then later in the afternoon we had our friends Paul and his family visiting us for afternoon tea.  We had a lovely catch up and we really enjoy their company.  If you want to see some photos, click here.

This morning I took advantage of the better weather and thought that I'd go out for my bike ride.  So got all dressed and ready and put my helmet on and then found that the bike seat needed tightening and I needed to wait for Terence to help me with it. And so I went out for my run instead.  Usually I wait until early evening, but since I was already dressed, decided to go out anyway.  It was hard work! I'm wondering at which point it actually does become easier. But I did manage 20 minutes.

Then later on we went to the Levin pools with our friends Mike, Rose and their two kids.  The boys watched the kids while Rose and I did a few lengths in the pool.  We managed to do about 20 lengths in total.  There is actually quite a bit of work I need to do on the technique side.  Terence took some photos of me while I was swimming and in a number of them I can see that I do some things wrong.  I think Val is definitely going to have something to say about that when lessons start again.

All ready to swim lengths with my friend Rose

Rose is in the front, I'm in the middle and the guy in the back was just so fast!

Having a ball (with a ball) in the pool :-)

Bianca enjoyed playing on the inflatables.

And afterwards Mike, Rose and their kids came back to our house.  The older kids were playing Wii games, the younger ones played in Caitlyn's room.  And Rose and I were chatting about the possible Harry Potter birthday party Marcus might want this year (thanks to Bianca he is really into Harry Potter now), and our exercise attempts. 

And this was pretty much our second day of 2012.  How was your day?  Did you get up to anything special?

Hello 2012!

Did you hear this song? (Click here).  I really like it.  And since it is the start of a new year it is rather appropriate.

A brand new year.  A brand new start.  With dreams of what this year might bring, hopes that it will be a good one.  Determination to achieve certain things.  Do you make new years resolutions?  I don't really do.  A few things that will be happening that we are looking forward to though.

• I'm looking forward to the Roxette concert in Auckland in February.  Growing up they were my favourite group.
• Caitlyn turns 5 on the 22nd of February which means big school.  It's come along way too soon I think.  She's ready.  I'm not.
• Now in January my swim lessons will continue.  At least for a few more weeks.  Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything Val taught us in December.  I will also continue with my cycling and running.  The running is my big problem at the moment.  It is hard work and right now I have no idea how I will ever manage to go faster or further.
• My mum will arrive some time now in 2012.  According to her visa conditions she has to be here no later than 16 December 2012, but I think she'll be here long before then.
• Once my mum comes I will probably start the process to look at my work options again.  It's been a while and I'll have to put some work into updating my CV.
• And we'll likely be looking for a new rental home again.  This one is really nice, but it only has 3 bedrooms and with my mum coming we would like to try and get a 4 bedroom if possible so the girls can still have their own rooms.  We won't be looking too far away from here, because we really enjoy living on the Kapiti Coast and we're happy with the way things are going at school for Bianca. 
• A number of other things that I'm sure will be happening but since it is past midnight can't really think of them now.

How was your New Years Eve celebrations?  We just had a quiet evening spent with a few friends.  Both girls stayed up to see in the new year. 

Here are some photos:

The Kapiti Coast put on a lovely day...if you were a duck!  Yes, it was rather wet.

But that didn't stop the girls jumping on the trampoline.  Last weekend Suret and Wikus brought a trampoline (one they weren't using anymore) for the girls as a Christmas surprise and what a big surprise.  We don't really have much space for it, but since we are going to be looking at moving it should be fine.  Last weekend they forgot to bring the legs and today they quickly stopped by to bring the legs.

 Playing Dominion and Puerto Rico. 

Serious discussions.

Yum, a chocolate fountain for dessert. 

And waiting for 2012 to arrive...

Happy New Year!