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Deb in NZ

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Everything posted by Deb in NZ

  1. Ds#2's school uniform was a polo shirt, shorts, & socks for Y9-Y12. I liked to roll one complete outfit together for ease of use, less chance of losing the socks, & minimal wrinkles. This made it easy for him to grab a uniform to throw in his bag to put on after early hockey practice.
  2. I think I have a couple tubs of Crisco from when we moved here in 1997 :o I guess I don't really need them anymore & could let them go.
  3. Thanks for all the input everyone. I had another look at the Surface Pro 3 today in the local tech shop & the pen was working so I had a play around. I, also, had a good look at other options, such as ultrabooks, etc. For what DH is doing I am convinced that the Surface Pro 3 would be just right. It is on the higher end cost-wise when compared with other options, but as the versatility & portability is much greater, I think the extra $$ is worth it. Now just waiting to see if the job comes through. Blessings,
  4. DH may need a new laptop & we're considering the MS Surface Pro 3. He needs something that uses Internet Explorer, so Apple won't work. What he'll use it for is writing up insurance assessments in a MS Word template on the company's website, attaching photos (these will need to be downloaded from an SD card), emails, & surfing the 'net. He wants something with good battery life, easy to use, portable, has SSD memory, & not too expensive. We had bought a MacbookAir when he did this a few months back, but with no option to access Internet Explorer, the job quickly turned into a nightmare. DH isn't very comfortable with technology, so keeping it simple is best. Ds#2 is VERY happy to make use of the Macbook Air as it is replacing his 7 yo Acer netbook.
  5. I read the book a few months back after learning about it on this board. Pulling everything out in one category before sorting it made sense. I decided to start with the linen closet that was overflowing with stuff, while we were using the same few towels each week & those were in horrible shape. I pulled out everything & made piles one the couches in the lounge. As my dc are older, I decided to make up a bag of basics (sheets, towels, etc.) for them to take with them when they begin flatting. Then I put back in the linen cupboard just the items that I "loved" & could see us using in this season of our lives. I'm embarrassed to say the the remaining items sat on the couch for way too many weeks before I finally bagged them up to give away in a local Pay It Forward FB group. I'm glad that this thread has kept the topic alive as I finally decided to attack the piles of my clothes that have taken over our bedroom. I really hate the dressers that I have to use. DH bought them at a garage sale when we moved here from overseas 17 years ago & I have always hated them as they are too shallow for modern clothing. Instead I would pile up what I regularly wore on top of my hope chest that sits next to my bed. I don't have any chance of getting a new bureau while we are in the middle of renovations, so I needed to find a way to make what I have currently work. I pulled out all my clothing & piled it up on the bed. Then I started to fold them KonMari style to fit into the drawers. I put anything I really did not love into a bag to PIF tomorrow. Amazingly everything in now fits into the dressers & I even have one empty drawer! I most likely will need a few more days of work to get the room into a nice place to relax, but this weekend I accomplished more than I had for the past 5 years. Standing up the clothes makes a huge visual impact & reassures me that I do have enough. This makes giving away excess items a lot easier.
  6. I went back to teaching (PS) when ds#2 enrolled in PS for high school 5 years ago. I HSed for the previous ten years. Over the past 5 years I have had days when I wondered if I could / should have done a better job at HS/ing my 3 dc. Other days I see the benefits they gained by being home during that decade. I should have put more focus on penmanship as both my boys have terrible penmanship. I wish I had put together a "yearbook" of sorts for each dc each year to show the highlights of what they learned that year. We didn't get as far in maths as I'd hoped, but all 3 dc have been able to achieve &/or excel in the higher maths they have taken since finishing HS/ing. In history & geography we covered way, way more than what is taught in any PS here in NZ, but we covered no Te Reo or Tikanga, putting all 3 dc a bit behind their PS peers. Our eclectic Classical / Literature-based approach helped to inspire a love of stories & learning in general. None of my 3dc like to read junk, but prefer quality literature. Ds#2 was disgusted to find that Goosebumps was required reading in his Y9 English class :huh: The best things my dc gained from our HS/ing years aren't really curriculum or grade based, but instead are attitudes & habits. Dd was given the support & freedom to follow her passions during her HS/ing years, leading to her choosing a life at sea. She found her years at uni to be challenging, but she loved the learning & thrived on the discussion & debate part. Ds#1 is so much farther ahead than his PS peers, as he was not pressured into aiming for uni (something he isn't suited for & has no desire) He will finish his engineering apprenticeship by the end of the year & will be a qualified tradesman in a trade with job options all over the world. Ds#2 has taken the skills he learned in his early years HS/ing to excel at PS high school. He is disciplined, organised, & has a strong desire to learn. He accepts that his success or failure depends on him alone. He has been able to juggle his high performance sports demands with Y13 studies & has surprised us with outstanding results so far. All this while going to school 10 hours south of here on hockey scholarship. Changing schools for your final year of high school is never easy & he has done this with ease. And don't forget the non-academic skills (cooking, laundry, budgeting, working, etc.) Those skills are very important & not likely covered enough, if at all, in PS. HS/ing gives us the time to focus on what is important to us. Yes, there is always something we could have / should have done better, but what we did do was right for our family at that time. Blessings,
  7. 2-3 times a week we have salads for dinner. This started when I changed how I was eating & everyone seemed to want what I was eating. It isn't less work for me as it takes me just as much time to fix salads for everyone as it does to make a "meat & 5 veg" meal, but it is a nice way to get in plenty of fresh veg & use up those odd & sodds in the fridge. I find that the more expensive foods (like meat & cheese) is stretched painlessly without any feeling of having less. Tonight we'll have taco salads as I want the pot of chili-con-carne to last a few days. By making tortilla bowls & using those for taco salads for dinner tonight, there will be plenty of chili left for wraps, nachos, etc. over the next few days.
  8. I began HS/ing after I read WTM in 2000 & joined the board soon after. I don't post much, but I visit this board most days even though I stopped HS/ing almost 5 years ago (when ds#2 went to PS for high school) after a decade of teaching 1, 2, or all 3 of my dc. I now work as a relief teacher (substitute teacher) at our local intermediate school, so am still in the education sector.
  9. Dh has been working overseas for the past month. My goal was to conquer the piles of boxes, etc. that I have moved around the house since we moved into this house 14 years ago. Dh is due home in ten days & I have made significant progress. I have thrown out bags of things that I really wonder why I kept them. Why did I still have ds#2's first phonics workbook???? :confused1: He finishes high school in 6 months, so most likely has no need to review that material. I have a pile of HS/ing books that I have listed for sale on a local 2nd hand FB page & as I fill a bag with things still useful I put it in the boot of the car right away to give to a friend at work to post on a local "Pay It Forward" FB page. I find the quicker I get things out of the house the better. I sorted through our linen closet a couple months back. I put aside a few good towels for each dc for when they go flatting & put just what I though we'd need back in the closet. I bagged up everything else to give away, then dh grabbed the bag to put in the garage as he "might have a use for it." :huh: At least it is out of the house. This is why I am trying to get through the worst of the decluttering while dh is overseas :001_rolleyes:
  10. What format (windows, iOS, or android) does your dh use most? We had to get dh a laptop in a hurry a couple weeks back to take overseas for use on a job. As DH is a tradesman, not a techie, we asked his boss what type laptop we needed to look for. We were just told it must be able to run MS Word & MS Excel. Well, we decided on a macbook air as dh had gotten very comfortable with the iMac we bought a year ago for the family when we up-graded from our ancient XP computer & I had a friend download MS word & excel on it as he did for us on our iMac. This has turned out to be a huge mistake (for this job anyway :-P ) as what he needed to run was Internet Explorer & even though the macbook air has 3 search engines, IE isn't one of them. DH has had to download a parallel program to run windows on the macbook air, adding MUCH frustration to an already difficult job. If we had knew this before he left we would have got the MS Surface Pro 3 that was his 2nd choice. This would have made his learning curve a lot less stressful. The only good thing was the boss's son also got a macbook for the job & was going through the same hassles, so dh had someone a lot more "techie" to help guide him through the transition. One good thing about dh having a macbook is that we can talk on FaceTime for free :-) & as both boys have iPhones, dh can talk with them as well. YMMV,
  11. I changed my way of eating 2 years ago next week. I was very unhappy with how I looked in dd's 21st b-day pictures. I was shocked to find that I weighed 168.5 lbs as I am not quite 5 foot tall. Being in my mid to late 40s I thought i was destined to be big from here on out as I can't ever remember my mother not being overweight. I read somewhere about the new 5:2 "diet" & thought I'd give it a go & if it didn't work for me, nothing was lost. I began to weigh myself each morning to see if the "diet" was working. As the first day fasting (limiting myself to 500 calories) was not as bad as I thought & I lost 4 pounds that day alone, I ended up doing more 4:3 (3 days fasting each week) from there on out. I never fast 2 days in a row & seldom have more than 2 non-fast days in a row. It works for me. I never feel deprived as I can always have what I crave tomorrow. I swap fast days around as needed to work around my social commitments. I now weigh a healthy 120 pounds. This was achieved though changing what I eat alone. Exercise was not a factor. Tomorrow is another fast day & I am looking forward to my huge colourful salad in the evening, a refreshing change from the party foods I had these past 2 days while dd was home to celebrate her 23rd b-day. It works for me.
  12. The end of April will be 2 years of eating this way. I lost 40 pounds the first year & have lost almost another 10 pounds this past year. I do 4:3 or ADF most weeks, but when we've been away on holiday I never fast. I'd like to lose another 5 pounds then I'll transition to 5:2 or 6:1 for maintenance.
  13. Neither of my boys began their growth spurts until after age 15. Ds#1 has most likely finished his growth spurt, but at age 21 that is to be expected. Ds#1 is only 5'5", but with dh only 5'8" at his tallest & me not quite 5', this is probably to be expected. Ds#1's height has never held him back in work or sport. What he lacks in size, he's more than made up for in strength. Ds#2 is still growing. He's just now barely begun to need to shave (over a year older than ds#1 did) & his hands & feet are bigger than ds#1's. Ds#2 is only 5'5" but has at least 5 more years of growth if he follows the same path as dh & ds#1. He won't ever be 6', but is aiming for 5'9"+. Ds#2 has played rep hockey for our provincial team since age 11 (as goalie since age 12.) Last year he was named on the NZ U18 squad, one of the youngest to be named & definitely the youngest & smallest goalie. Most goalies are much taller than ds#2. What he lacks in size, he more than makes up for in speed, strength, agility, persistence, etc. Ds#2's longer term goal is to play for NZ's national hockey team in the Olympics. He knows that his size works against him, but this only makes him work harder, something that is definitely noticed by coaches & selectors. At the moment he has more problems with his age as he is playing at a level above his age group & hockey politics are again holding him back. Size is only an issue if you let it become one. I would think that your ds's asthma could be more of an issue for sport than his size. JMHO,
  14. Here in NZ we are collecting goods & $ to send to help Vanuatu. Even with help, it will take years to recover & rebuild.
  15. There's a great 5:2 group on Facebook. I've done that WoE (way of eating) for almost 2 years now & it has worked very well for me, not only with weight loss, but generally improving my health as well.
  16. I like this website ( http://www.budgetbytes.com) Every dish I've tried from there has been a big hit with my crew. Tons of flavour without huge cost.
  17. I've always thought they looked like refried beans, just bright green.
  18. Hoki, I think, but it could be something else. I know you can order snapper, gurnard, etc. for extra price. Slang for fish & chips is shark & tatties so our go to fish here in NZ might be the same as yours.
  19. I've followed this way of eating for almost 2 years. I lost over 40 pounds in the first year & have mostly maintained, with a v-e-r-y slow weight loss of about 10 pounds, this past year. I find that I only maintain on 5:2. I need to do 4:3 or ADF to lose weight. Exercise actually halts my weight loss, but I do feel that exercise is good for overall fitness. I am 48, but even when younger exercise never resulted in weight loss for me. Only changes in what I ate (not how much I ate) gave me the weight loss results I was after.
  20. We're in almost that situation at the moment. Ds#1 is still living at home, but is not home much due to working long hours & when he is he is usually in his room. Dd hasn't been home full-time for the past 5 years. When she moved away for uni life actually got a bit less stressful as I only had 2dc to cart around to activities & we still were HS/ing the boys. Over the Christmas holidays this year ds#2 decided to take up a hockey scholarship to a school 10 hours south of here. It was a whirlwind 3 weeks to get things ready & get him settled in his new school. Returning home with dh to an almost empty nest was surprisingly hard. Dh has yet to adjust. We expected ds#2 to move away in 2016 for uni or apprenticeship as he needed to go where the hockey was more competitive to follow his dreams. The fact that it has happened a year early has really thrown us. What I found the hardest was filling in my diary (planner) & our family calendar. For the past 15 years my life has revolved around our dc's activities & I am lost without that framework. Slowly I am finding the joy in rediscovering dh & I as a couple as well as beginning to look at doing things just for me. I'm hoping that things get easier as time goes by.
  21. When my dc were young we worked on the rule of 5's. I've always done a load of laundry most days as we line dry our clothes, so a week's worth laundry just didn't work for us. For my boys we aimed for 5 long pants (sweat pants, jeans, or chinos), 5 shorts, 5 T-shirts, 5 long-sleeve shirts, & 5 fleeces (pull-overs or jackets) or hoodies. For my dd we aimed for 3-4 jumpers, 1-2 long pants, 5 leggings or tights, 2-3 shorts/skorts, 5 T-shirts, 5 long-sleeve tops, & 5 fleeces/hoodies/cardigans. Jumpers were great as they spanned all seasons. In the summer they were worn alone as sundresses. As the weather cooled, dd would add shirts & leggings/tights underneath & layer on a fleece or sweater. For all dc I aimed for about 10 underwear, 5-10 socks (all one style/color for each child), & 5 undershirts. HTH,
  22. Like Laura, we use a ziplock bag for our passports when our children were small. We have 9 passports for the 5 of us. I put our NZ passports in a ziplock bag & our US passports in another ziplock bag. Both bags go in to a 3rd bag that is stored with our tickets, etc. in my boarding bag. I only take out our passports when we need to show them to immigration. I have a card that I keep in my bag with all our passport info on it that I use to fill in immigration documents on the plane. Now that my dc are older, everyone carries their own passports during transit, but they all get returned to our ziplock bags when we return home.
  23. Best to contact the place you're staying as it has been a few years since I've been there in the winter & I was traveling from the Essex area.
  24. It's been a few years since I skied at Smuggs, but I grew up near by & have always liked that mountain. It's a beautiful area of VT. The Trapp Family Lodge is near Smuggler's Notch in Stowe, if you're interested in seeing where the family who the Sound of Music was written about finally settled down. The Trapp Family Lodge has cross country ski trails. HTH
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