Welcome to the very beginning of 2012, where New Zealand is "meant to be" in the throws of a long, hot Summer, filled with barbeques, picnics, all day swims at the beach, and sand filled jandals. Well, folks, we have just experienced NZ's Wild, Wacky Wind!! Yesterday, the trampoline lurched halfway up the neighbour's fence, washing was flung about from the washing line; some of it landing on tree branches, followed by sonic booms of thunder and flash lightening, illuminating the dark sky! The children hovered in the sunroom, peering out through the window at their bedraggled Dad, who had ventured out to rescue the trampoline. It all looked very surreal, like we were a family lost at sea!
In the first photo is a picture of New Zealand's very own "Christmas Tree". The famed Pohutakawa tree. It flowers in full red bloom each Summer, which usually coincides around Christmas time. The Pohutakawa tree brings promises of warm weather, hope and colour after a long Winter. Down our street, there are plenty of these trees in bloom. It reminds me that the beginning of the new year also brings promise and new beginnings.
Our children are currently on their Summer holiday break. We are into Week 3 out of 6 and so far, we have filled our days with many fun adventures. Without the usual rush to get the Cherubs out the door before 8.45am, and with no medical appointments scheduled for any of the children until mid February, it is a very welcome time of the year for Prince Charming and I to catch up on those "small but necessary" things to do around the house. The one I am working on at the moment, is doing a massive clean-out and reorgansing the toy space in the sunroom/rumpus room. Our Cherubs got spoilt over Christmas and received many gifts, so over the last two weeks since Christmas day, I have boxed old toys to be donated to charities, I have kept "double ups" in toys we have, for birthday presents (of friends' children who have birthdays coming up) and I have sorted a pile of old, good quality books for donation for local 2nd hand bookstores. My rule of thumb is to use two big storage shelves in the rumpus room, for toys, and to clear out toys in each of the Cherub's bedrooms, so the main "Toystation" remains only in one designated place. This system works very well and is expecially useful on rainy days when we need to locate a certain toy and we know exactly where it is! My label-gun has been particularly useful for this project! I have braved my camera to take a few more photos of the massive declutter job, and I filled x2 rubbish bags full of "junk" which has already gone to our mini-bin outside! I will be sharing those photos in my next blog post, so you can see what the results are. You'll be amazed! I find that blogging helps me to keep my house tidy, as I enjoy taking "before and after" photos and having an incentive to keep it all tidy, after my spring cleaning efforts - which by the way, is not easy, when you have x4 very small children!
The Sun is peeping from the clouds now and the sky is looking blue. Washing has been rescued from yesterday's storm, and now there are x4 loads of laundry to be caught up on!
Happy Reading!
Yours Truly
"Queen Daisy"! :0)
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