While I was sitting at my computer at work today, having my coffee and gazing out the window, I had a wee ‘moment’.  Everyday I see certain things during my workday that tend to repeat themselves over the weeks and months….  here’s a taste of what some of them are for me:

• The guy who walks past my window at round 10-11am every day on his way to Baker Boys to get a pie or some such bakery thing, wearing trackpants that are too short, sneakers, and more often then not a skivvy that is tucked into his trackpants (which are pulled up way too high) so I have dubbed him “Trackpant Guy Who Needs To Go Grocery Shopping Instead Of Living Off Baker Boys”.
• The woman who comes into our office, I think maybe twice a week, to collect the stamps from our mail – I think she uses them for a crafty class or something but over the past 18months that I’ve worked where I do the number of stamps have majorly declined – way to go pre-pay envelopes/DX Mail etc! I have dubbed her “Stamp Lady Who Will Soon Be Out Of A Job”
• The older gentleman who walks past sporadically with his mate the black dog (who looks like he’s actually pulling the old man along haha). I have dubbed him “Old Man With Dog”
• The young guy who walks past with a backpack over one shoulder, until he gets to the lamp-post in front of my window and then he starts running.  Until the next driveway – then he starts walking again. This happens exactly like this EVERY day. I have dubbed him “Young Guy Who Has A Strict Routine When It Comes To Running And Walking”
• The lady with the 4-door Rav4 who parks outside my window on the street (too close to our driveway I might add) at round 8.45am and walks down the street to god-knows-where. “Rav4 Lady Who Parks In Dumbass Places”.
• NZ Couriers asian guy who comes in everyday and swaps our full DXMail bag for an empty one.  He comes in between 3.30 – 4pm and heads straight for our cupboard, where the bag is, and swaps them over. No ‘hello’. No ‘hey how’s your day going?’.  GlitterGirl says ‘Thanks’ as he’s walking out which is as far as we’ve got with that guy. I have dubbed him “Asian NZ Couriers Guy Who Doesn’t Speak Much”

Now I have more…. but I think this post is long enough!  but my thoughts today wandered to the possibility of me being the same kinda person in someone elses life?  Like maybe I’m…

• “That Girl Sitting At Her Desk In That Office Looking Really Intelligent” to some guy who rides past on the bus everyday?
• “Girl With Glasses Who Gets A Frozen Coke Every Friday” to the drive-thru girl at Maccas?
• “Funny Looking Girl Who Always Drives Too Fast Up Our Driveway” to the snobby neighbours who don’t talk to anybody else on the street.

Something to think about…..

hahaha I found this site when I was Stumbling and it had me cracking up!!!

The Top 10 True Mum Confessions….
By Amber Scott

http://www.capessa.com/members/blogactions.aspx?g=187335&m=108696

Forgive me child, for I have sinned… on several occasions.

We all have our little parenting secrets — the things we did that we’re not proud of, but that we did or felt because we are, after all, only human.

• Today, we spent an hour outside planting the left over popcorn kernels to see if a popcorn tree would grow. Damn, I wish I could tell my kids there is such thing as a popcorn tree.

• My son threw up on the carpet last night and I left it there hoping the dog would eat it.

• I cheat at Candyland so I don’t have to play as long.

• I love my kids more than anything but I really LOVED my body before kids. I want my kids to go to private school….but I really want a tummy tuck more.

• Oops. I left a purple, circular stain from my wine glass on my son’s school application.

• I go back to work tomorrow after being a stay at home mom for 4 years. I’m so excited to have something of my own and be away from them for awhile. I feel so damn guilty about it.

• I laughed today when my neighbor’s bratty kid fell and skinned his knee.

• I gave my daughter an androgynous name so she’d have an advantage on job applications.

• I donate blood just so I can have half an hour of peace and my own juice and cookies!

• I tailored my son’s spiderman mask for is Halloween costume using a patch cut from an old red polyester g-string.

Today marks the day I welcomed a new member of my family into the madness…. my new travel buddy Paddington Bear!  Now he had a bit of a rough start when I introduced him to Bailey……

But it turned out Bails was just protecting her milo!

Ok here’s the scene…. it’s 1.39pm on a dreary Saturday arvo and I’m sitting on the couch upstairs at home looking out into the port waiting in anticipation of my birth family’s arrival at 2pm; when all of a sudden Bailey goes nuts barking the house down and I realise “oh shit…. this is it!” and walk out to the front door to meet my birth mother for the first time ever!

First to come up the stairs was Nick (my cousin) who i’ve met a few times (he’s the genius who created “The Daily Rossco” site) and next in line coming up the stairs was my sister Bianca and we smiled nervously at each other before I gave her a big hug (I could see the nervous 17yr old-ness coming through and her thinking “Ok this is weird, do I hug her or what?” haha) so I made the first move.  Next up the stairs was Debbie… now I’ll never forget this moment – we made eye contact and then hugged for like a whole minute while Debbie cried a wee bit and hugged me even harder.  Kind of a surreal moment but I was expecting that.  Next up the stairs was Debbies sister Viv so I gave her a hug and then everyone was introduced to Mum (whilst she was still holding the growling Bailey in her arms haha) 

Ok so that was the first wave of people haha – the next carload came in the front door up the top and first through the door was Debbie’s brother and we had a bit of a moment where he went on one side of the landing round the stairs that go down to my flat, and i went on the other side haha but we sorted it and met up at the end and hugged.  Next was my other cousin (Nick’s sister) Beki who I hugged and she said “Hi I’m Beki” and I replied “Hi I’m Amanda” (Uh duh I think she kinda new that one haha) and then I was facing my brother Jamie and gave him a big hug – and promptly tried to get round my nervousness and awkwardness at being the centre of attention by saying “Shimmer shimmer who’s next…” haha and last but not least was Debbie’s mother (my Grandmother) who gave me a huge hug and then we all went into the lounge.  I promptly sat down in the first chair I could find and tried to position my legs and hands in a way that weren’t showing how badly I was shaking!  (don’t think I did a very good job of it to be honest!)

At that point Mum disappeared downstairs to find my Dad who was in the garage working on my car – so I was left alone with all these people staring at me haha…. awkwardness!  After a few mins it all became more comfortable and we were chatting, asking questions and sharing photos which made it into a really awesome experience and they ended up staying til just after 4pm.

Well this Saturday is the day…. the day I will meet the woman who is responsible for me being on this planet at all! – My birth mum Debbie. 

She’s in town with other members of the family too for a 60th birthday… 

It’s kind of a different situation really tho because I actually have two FULL biological siblings as well! ie. not just half siblings – this is because at the time I was born my birth parents (aged 17 and 20) didn’t think they were going to stay together long term etc so made the decision to give me up.  This turned out not to be the case haha cos they eventually ended up getting married and having another two sprogs! Jamie – 20 yrs and Bianca – 17 yrs. Unfortunately they did end up getting divorced later on apparently, and I haven’t had any contact with my birth father as yet.

I’ve known I was adopted pretty much since I was old enough to know what it meant, but can’t actually remember a specific “day” that I was told tho which is a bit annoying sometimes.  I got a letter from a social worker a few years ago asking me in for a meeting about a ‘personal matter’ so I knew exactly what it was about. I went in and met with this social worker and she basically said that Debbie had made a request to contact me and how did I feel about that.  The way the adoption was set up at the time, back in 1981, was that Debbie had to request contact with me through a social worker – she couldn’t just find out from them where I lived and rock on up etc.  So yeah at the meeting with the social worker I was given a letter written by Debbie which I took and went for a drive to my favourite place overlooking the harbour and read. Not just once but like 30 times. It was quite emotional to be honest and I cried for a bit and then went home and told mum and dad all about it.  Because I had no clue that I had any siblings at all it was quite a shock to find out I had two full biological ones!   I think at that stage I sent Debbie an email to reply and say hello, and we just started corresponding from there.

This meeting’s been a few years in the making – mostly because I’ve been too scared to do it I think.  I had to sort it out in my head first because I don’t think I would ever have tried to look for my birth parents to be honest, because I was happy with my life as it was and didn’t need to find them.  Plus I kinda feel like a meeting is more for Debbie and my Mum and Dad, rather than me, cos it’s an experience that they went through 27 years ago, whereas my life is all I’ve ever known and as far as I’m concerned Mum is my Mum and Dad is my Dad.

But now with heading overseas I think it would be good for me to meet them all and see where I get things from etc like my looks and certain things that I do and stuff.  So the people coming this weekend are:-

• Debbie = mother
• Jamie = brother
• Bianca = sister
• Debbie’s mother = Grandma
• Debbie’s brother = Uncle
• Debbie’s sister = Auntie
• Nick = cousin
• Beki = cousin

Hmmmm so yeah I will nervously await Saturday arvo  – I’ve talked about it with Mum and Dad and they want to meet them all too so I’ve invited them all round for arvo tea.  My brother won’t be down for the weekend, from Blenheim, which is kind of unfortunate cos it would’ve been nice to have the whole family there but twas not to be I guess.

Well I’ve found a possible traveling buddy! I was randomly looking online for toys for inspiration and came across this wee fella and was immediately taken back to the stories Mum and Dad used to tell me about his adventures!    PLUS after investigating him further just now I was amazed to find out that he has the same birthday as me!! 25th June haha so I mean that kinda clinched it for me!

Who is Paddington Bear???

Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children’s literature. He first appeared in 1958 and was subsequently featured in several books written by Michael Bond and first illustrated by Peggy Fortnum. The polite immigrant bear from Darkest Peru, with his old bush hat, battered suitcase and marmalade sandwiches has become a classic English children’s literature icon. Paddington books have been translated into thirty languages across seventy titles and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Over 265 licensees, making thousands of different products across the UK, Europe, USA, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia and South Africa all benefit from the universal recognition of Paddington Bear. 

Paddington Bear

 Paddington is an anthropomorphised bear. He is always polite (always addressing people as “Mr.”, “Mrs.” and “Miss” and very rarely by first names) and well-meaning (though he inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval), likes marmalade sandwiches and cocoa, and has an endless capacity for getting into trouble. However, he is known to “try so hard to get things right”.

Although Paddington now lives in London, England, he originally came from Darkest Peru where he was brought up by his Aunt Lucy after he was orphaned following an earthquake when he was just a few weeks old.

When Aunt Lucy went to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima, she decided to send him to England to live. After teaching him to speak English she arranged for him to stow away in a ship’s lifeboat.

Eventually, Paddington arrived on Paddington Station in London which is where the very first story begins with the words:

“Mr. and Mrs. Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform. In fact, that was how he came to have such an unusual name for a bear for Paddington was the name of the station.”

The Browns were at the station to meet their daughter Judy when Mr. Brown spotted a bear sitting all alone on a suitcase, behind a pile of mail bags, close to the lost property office. The bear was wearing nothing but a hat and he had a label round his neck bearing the words “Please Look After This Bear. Thank You.”

Unable to resist such a simple request, Mr. and Mrs. Brown took Paddington home to live with them at 32 Windsor Gardens with their two children, Jonathan and Judy and their housekeeper, Mrs. Bird.

The Browns decided to name their new member of the family Paddington, after the place where he was found, although we later learn that in Peru his name was Pastuso.

When he was found, Paddington wasn’t too sure how old he was so the Browns decided to start again at one. They also decided that he should have two birthdays a year (just like the Queen!) and so he celebrates these on 25th June and 25th December.

10 million Zimbabwean Dollars = US$4

If you think the American economy is bad, take heart that it’s nowhere near the ultra-super-hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, once one of the richest countries in Africa. The country’s central bank has recently issued a Z$100 billion note (yes, Z$100,000,000,000). So, what would a Z$100 billion note buy you? About two loaves of bread (it won’t even get you lunch – you’d need at least Z$250 billion for lunch).

So far this year, the country ravaged by hyperinflation has been forced to print 100-million, 250-million and 500-million notes in rapid succession. All of them are now almost worthless. has become common now for Zimbabweans to talk of their daily expenses in trillions (one trillion is 12 zeros).

To see more go to: http://www.oddee.com/item_96464.aspx

Today I went for a wee look-see at the mall for possible “gnome-inspired” travel buddies to take on my journey to the UK.  I accumulated a great number of weird looks as I got my trusty digicam out to take photos of possible candidates…. including actually being asked to stop taking photos by one ponsy old stupid woman! Apparently it’s “not appreciated” hahaha which I thought was hilarious!  I did get the following pics but the search is still on!

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I’ve been meaning to do a post on this ever since I saw the first episode like a month ago but never seem to get round to it haha.  Honestly this show had me cracking up all the way through, it was so funny! 

Kiwi comedy at it’s best I reckon….  Quite a few ‘in-jokes’ that you have to be up-to-date on current affairs to get but oh so witty.

“A grandmother’s garden gnome has been returned to her after seven months – together with a photo album showing he has been on a world-wide tour.”

 

This article was in The Daily Telegraph in the UK and I’m thinking it’s a pretty fabulous idea!! I may have to do something along the same lines…. obviously I won’t go as far as stealing something off someone else and then returning it haha but the general idea of photographing something random like a gnome against say the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben etc is wildly hilarious to me! 

hmmmmm but I don’t want to take a gnome so the dilemma I’m faced with is finding something to take with me on my travels that fits the below criteria….

1. Is small enough to fit in my bag – preferably my carry-on luggage so I can take advantage of every possible photo opportunity along my journey…
2. Has to be able to stand up on it’s own without props to lean against etc…
3. Must be funny and random so that it looks appropriately out of place in the photo…
4. Has to be significant to my personality/life so that it will be treasured for life…
5. Has to be able to get through customs…
6. Must be hardy and tough (both personality-wise and build-wise) as there’s a long journey ahead…

Yes so those are the criteria…. now the search begins for something to fill it!

I have 180 days til I leave so I’ve got plenty of time but don’t want to be complacent and leave it til the last minute so I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears and hands open for anything that looks suitable! 

Donations of anything that fits the above criteria is welcome – please forward a pic to amanda@getupmaria for consideration (and possible ridicule!).