Tuesday, 18 November 2008

RIP Betsy

video

Video is of Betsy at 4months of age in Blenheim before moving to Christchurch a month later.
COPYRIGHT 2007 Bronwyn Theresa Bell and Robert James Denham


One year, one month and one week - that is how long it has been since our gorgous girl Betsy left us and walked over the rainbow bridge.....

Daddy gave you the bestest life ever, he promised you that he would, and Mummy took on that promise too.....you were our baby....our little girl....Daddy's best friend, he worked so hard with you to get you to listen and to train you. You loved him to bits and he loved you. No matter what happened you would go crawlling back with your tail tucked between your legs to him after being told off for doing something naughty....like drinking coffee out of a cup! You were watch set the spark off in my love for your breed...your sister Abby reminds me everyday of you...! Though you were more behaved because Daddy was so much more tough on your than Mummy is on Abby.


Betsy was a puppy that Rob's friend got from a pet store and due to a lost in her family and moving back home she was unable to take Betsy with her, Rob took her on and promised to give her the bestest life ever. And he did just that....Rob has always loved his Dogs.....in the years Ive known him Ive watch how he is with his family pets....both Rolly and Dee-Dee...and also with Betsy....and though he has yet to meet Abby I know the two of them will hit it off.

It ripped my heart apart when he had to make the choice to have her PTS - it is not a good life letting a animal live a life in a pain....no matter how much it costs to fix...it is ethically wrong in my view....and I actaully cry as I write this thinking back to that day.....and I know that Rob still hurts deep down....though as time has gone on we have dealth with that - but she will always hold a soft spot in our hearts...



What brought this blog on?? And email from Purina for Rob lol - with an offer in it for a book - Im sure if I look in my other email account there will be one there for me....however its one per house hold and mum has already entered it for Abby so I cant enter it! What I dont understand is that this is the first email they have sent for Rob in almost a year..! They know that Betsy passed away - I have the card they sent saying they were sorry for our lose. I have it on my cork board in my room...


Anyway...

RIP Betsy.....I hope you are having fun up there running through the feilds with Gummi Bear...

My Job is never done...

*slips on Simply Red - Would I lie (to you baby)*



Wellll now like Ive said when I thought I had time to myself it turns out not to be so true! My week is filling up with lots of appointments and stuff along with work too..

Tonight is the Sex in the City Theme party at work - sooo guttered that Im not working tonight, I was looking forward to see what our parties are like at work - I get the please of going into work at 9am in the morning tomorrow how ever to put all the tables and chairs back into the restaurant...! Yay!! hahaha - bonus of 9am starts Staff Breakie! Hehehe.

Meanwhile...

This morning Villa Maria Vineyard had a recruitment open day - that I completely forgot about till I saw an ad on TV for Matua Valley Wineries (go do their Tastes of the Nation and find our your Palate Profile - mines is Chardonnay) when i went rushing to my email account and sent an email through asking what time it finished and letting them know I was going to be late due to a doctors appointment for a follow up for my hospital visit (only to find out that was on Monday - Yaz dont feel bad for not reminding me about my appointment being yesturday...)

Went through to the vineyard, I missed the tour and most of the team building exercises, however was there for the last one - where we had to design a new label for a wine bottle - first thing I thought about was see through labels - Ok so if you dont know what Im talking about go out to a bottle store and look at the wines and their labels!! We had to design it and state in our presentation why we did our design and all - the girl who lead the group I was in clearly didnt know much about marketing lol - Im sorry its not my fault I have just finished writing my marketing plan and have seen my results online for that paper...however when they came to asking why we had a see through label she didnt know how to answer that so I steped in saying because we want the focus to be on the wine - when you hold the bottle up to the light you can see through it and see the colour of the wine....regardless of it being red or white...and I actaully have noticed this lately at work I have noticed the colour different between some wines now! feeling proud of that! Pinot Gris is a more orange gold colour than chardonnay which is a more pale yellow - and then you have Syrah being a more purple red to a Pinot Noir being a dark brownie red....anyway my group won - the snobby chick how ever took the prizes all for herself (I did actaully wine some binoculars but couldnt be bothered in getting them) this chick had already won prizes from the other team building exercises - as she walked out the door she was going Im going to give this to my mum she is going to be so proud of me...blah blah I rolled my eyes at that....the whole lot of them (yes they were from my Uni) were really snobby and yes....and all I could was man Im so different....I am a GPK girl....we are snobs like this...

From the Vineyard I went through to Prego - an Italian Restaurant in Ponsonby which is just down the road from my work's head office. Filled in my application form and handed it over - Big J's been working hard in getting me something good....and I really appreciate how much he looks out for me, right from the moment I started at my job Ive always gotten on with him - I have never had him yell at me ever he's yelled at others but never at me...Ive been warned not to get on the wrong side of him and all but I have never been on it...probably because he knows howsmart I am and I dont take shit from anyone when it comes to work...he can see the potential in me...and all...hmmmm.

Had a phone call from him not long after I was leaving Prego asking me what i was doing and if I had been in, I said yes I did and would come in after work...(Latin Lader is so my hang out these days lol) - not long after coming home I went and layed down in bed for some time to myself - and had a phone call from Heritage Hotels asking me to come in for an interview - so that is Friday's task....!

Just in the process of writing out my Resignation letter now...and finding the forms I need to fill in for Uni for my 300 hours work expereince requirement for my Diploma - I have done over that since starting Uni!

Off to sort something out for dinner - and sort the dog out who is going to town outside...

Monday, 17 November 2008

Boats and Battleships



Having a million sister is not a miracle. The miracle is to have a sister who will stand by you when a million are against you. I WILL GLADLY BE THAT SISTER! Send to all your beautiful sisters who mean the world to you!




I was sent this in a text from my lovely sister Maxine Easthope! I always know when a texts is from her, she sends alot of forward texts to me...minus the whole send this so many blah blah stuff - they always are such meaningful texts some of them....and such beautiful ones too...

This text suits this blog entry - it also makes me think of when I have friends supporting me when I have had some friends or well people whom I thought were friends but I misjudged in giving them such a title attacking me. Friends in my view and opinion do not make up lies and spread nasty shit about you, they dont talk badly about you behind your back, nor do they ditch you because you cant be there for them, be it because you have to work, or have to go into hopsital or something because your sick, or because you have been dignosed with somethng, or even because you are moving to another city or country! That reminds me of when Rob moved to Australia, all the people who said they wouldnt have anything to do with him because he was moving, and here was little old me - his bestest friend in the whole wide world - of all people you would think would be upset and begging him not to go - turning around and saying F Them! You go and you have fun and you have learn from the experience and if it doesnt work out you know home is always here - Robbie did just that...and one thing I have taken on from Rob in the time ive known him, people can just get F'ked if they cant accept me for who I am..I change for no one but myself (and perhaps I will tweak and fix a few things where I have gone off the tracks for Rob and a few other friends...but only because I know they care about me).
Speaking of Friends....
Friday night I went out to Westhaven Marina - dressed in my little black dress I brought last year for my Graduation from my Cert in Tourism Customer Service (TCS) the graduation that Robbie couldnt make it to due to limited money to get a flight up...but I know he was thinking of me, however having BOTH my parents there that night met alot...(even having my step mom there meant something too) - anyway this dress I wear to every fancy do, Regan's funeral last year, Bex's exhibition on the Wave's of Grief (her journey through Reg's death) and Stacey's farwell to Australia (before she moved back again lol) and well the list goes on...you see..

However I have learnt I need to buy me a new dress - as due to my drastic weight loss, it is now not has hot and sexy as it use to be, my boobs done spew out of it, due to shrinkage!! OMG!! And the whole thing just falls off me!! I use to struggle getting the zip up on this dress! Now its falling off me with the zip up!! So feeling semi ugly in this dress now (not to mention the fact that the dog had a good old munch on it one day when she pulled it off the washing line and I saw her asleep in the back yard with it...all snuggled up nicely...lol)

Anyway - the boat cruise was fab! Girls night out, and I can say not only do Samoans know how to party, they are loving and caring, the whole night they were asking me if I was ok, if i wanted something to drink or eat..I said no - partly because I wasnt feeling very well and kept thinking how I wanted to go to the hospital and wanted to ask Max is she would take me there on the way home....but I didnt want to ruin her party, she kept telling me to socialise, and there was the odd time where she would shove her drink in my hand to make it look like I was drinking lol...But it was great - half my old work was there, some of them I havent seen since July last year when I last worked there before I went on sick leave, some since my 21st party, and some since I last went into the hotel to see Max before she left....I had a few ask me how i was and where I was working now - I pointed out to the other side of the harbour going TAKAPUNA!!! GPK BABY!!! I had a few ask me to come back to which I replied that I tried but I couldnt go back (and plus going back now wouldnt be the same with out Max there...somethings just arent the same you know...sure if Max was still there I would be gagging to go back and as much as I miss them all minus two people - its just not the same).

I was so guttered I forgot all about taking Max's present and I had it all engraved and all!! I was sooo looking forward to giving it to her and seeing her face - instead I had to say Im an idiot! I forgot it! I gave it to her sister when they dropped me off home...soooo hopefully Max got it...haha I felt sooo stink man! I worked sooo hard trying to get the correct spelling and all of Happy 30th Birthday in Samoan to engrave on the back - and the girl who did it - it was her first time engraving shell.


Sooooo many photos!! I took I think about 40 - Tasi took probably near to 300...and there were more people taking photos...though I look shit in most of the ones I can see me in from Tasi...probably why I ended up in hospital the next day...

Which brings me to conclude with that yes I was in Hospital...4.5 hours...talk about taking ages to do everything...the last time I was in hospital for my miscarraige it took them an hour! And I was out...It was funny though when I went in and they were going through my details and my emergancy contacts....and they were like Robert....your partner...Im like yea does it really matter?? Everythings is important there you know and yea get on with it...stop fluff arsing around! I got put into a room that had no bed in it, they had to bring one in, and it was still dirty from the last patient, stains on the floor from the last use and all...it was grosse! And the clearners had gone home in the morning! How stupid is that!?? This is a hospital you would think they would have them on hand all the time!

Bloods, urine, xrays later - they all came back clear and discharged me into my GP's care...saying it was probably muscular...grrrrr...! The whole time I was walking up to ED my mind is going through so much, first it was thinking wow last time I came here it was for my miscarraige, and then it flicked into anxiety attack mode of OMG what if I have to have surgery I have never had surgery before (I was lucky as a child being borderline with my Kidneys that I didnt need a transplant or anything and outgrew my reflux and only had to have scans and xrays done for 10 yrs) I was also texting Cameron going I have a fear of Hospitals and Sick People hospitals are full of sick people you know that dont you...and he was like yes I know you do but this is important....so Big hugs and thank you though to my friend Cameron Burton who is in Med School (and was in my 7th Form Biology class -- as embarrasing as it was for my high school crush to ask me personal questions relating to cycles and pregnacy and stuff lol he did a great job for an hour talking to me before concluding that he wanted me to get checked out at the hospital incase it was my appendix) - a big one finger salute to the reception lady at Middlemore Hospital...coz your a bitch who treated me like a dumb shit and told me to go to a GP...and a big thank you to my doctor at the hospital who worked over time just for me...before handing me over to be discharged by another consultant when she went home....(she's a regular at my work well out head office branch but yea...lol) And a big thank you to my friends who texted me and checked how I was while in hospital - especially Justin who rang all worried...lol...I swear if you had visible hair still you'd be grey by now!! (Though GPK isnt the same with out you, its ok coz we have Latin Larder to hang out at now!) A big thank you to my boss your fantastic and thanks for making work go smoothly yesturday morning...sorry I couldnt make it for my shift on Saturday (guttered there goes one of my sick days for this year! Lol)
Bronnie still has her Appendix - but does have some bruising now from being poked and proded by doctors - but is going to the doctors tomorrow for further more investigation into the mystery pain...one interesting thing though is I discovered my biocarbonate levels are high and my potassium levels too! Alone with my Beliruben still being isolated...
And for my sister Maxine!!! Happy 30th!! I hope you enjoy your dirty 30's lol and thank you for a great night...Im so greatful to have you in my life, and all the things you have done for me since I met you at Jet Park Hotel....you have gotten me through some of the hard times....and i know I can stress you out sometimes...your a great friend and an awesome mum to your two babies.Im so glad I could be there to Celebrate your 30th just like you were there for my 21st....MWAH!!!




Saturday, 15 November 2008

100 things..

I saw this on fellow Fiskateers Michelle's blog...Im sure Rob will be able to highlight WAY more than me on this list!! :o)

A list of 100 things... the ones I've done are bolded...

Play along...

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band and in orchestras and string quartets
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (ok it was from my front door looking out to the beach by my house!)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (hey I taught myself scrapbooking!)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (any dork knows you dont serve the same cooked chicken a week later!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (they are called "Mental Health" Days)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (my childhood best friend had a lamb and i remember feeding it :p)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (ok so it was only a few hours on the harbour last night but still!!)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (French in high school though not good now, and Rob tries to teach me French, Italian and Spanish hehehe)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke (Singstar baby!!! lol)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (my first date with Rob in Mission Bay, though cant remember if the moon was out that much)
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (Christchurch Airport with Rob awww lol and a few other places with him)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Girl Guide Biscuits actually...)
62. Gone whale watching (We saw more Dolphins than Whales)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (When my niece was born I donated Blood, cant now due to low platelets and prolonged bleeding time - stupid blood disorder!)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (have ALL of my childhood toys still)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (Had my hours cut to nothing for no reason...)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (its NZ NEW!!! Lol...)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (twice once in primary school once during high school)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Sir Roger Moore stayed at the hotel I worked for, Sam from Sticky TV, Hillary Barry from TV3 News and More FM, Helen Clarke, Jim Bolger, Jonathan Hunt (NZ politicians/Prime Ministers and Im also related to a Gold Medal Olympic Runner John Walker)
92. Joined a book club (Little Sitters Book Club...yea it was in Primary school it only went to a certain number though in the series)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (In heavan with my Poppa to soon before I got to meet him)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone ( I have TWO cell phones!)
99. Been stung by a bee (Bumble Bee, Wasp and Bee!)
100. Read an entire book in one day

Thursday, 13 November 2008

November Baker's Dozen Challenge - DONE



I present to you ONE November Bakers Dozen!!

I have been sooo busy with Uni I havent been able to complete the last two - but better late than never I will get them done!! Yuh!! How ever this is Novembers one...


I really love this Challenge that Deborah sets on Fiskateers...!! It is a true Challenge and its fun seeing how we all fit everything in off the list - even the weird wakky things!! how ever this time round didnt have anything overly bizare on it....




November Bakers Dozen Challenge

1. Black and White Photo - My niece and nephew
2. 5 Brads - four silver stars and a big blue star
3. Flowers - On the photo and also in the ribbon!
4. Chipboard - W A O and the snow flake are chip board
5. Ribbon - The flower ribbon on the paper
6. Hiedi Grace/Cloud 9 PP - The main background and the snowflake and dot paper are all from HG Frost Blvd.
7. Shape Eyelets - Star one by the date under photo
8. Stickles/Bling/Glitter - On the snowflake, around the border and the star in WINTER
9. Stickers - Annual and Outfits are sticker letters
10. Date - Under the photos says Winter 2007
11. Stamping - very faint but there are silver stars stamped around the place
12. Embossing - under the journalling I was sent a whole pile of pre cut paper that was embossed using the Cuttlebug from a friend in Christchurch
13. Foamdots - I didnt have dots but i used foam tape on the chipboard letters and snowflake

Scraplifting

Scraplifting (skrap-lift-ing) – The act of copying ideas and designs from another person’s scrapbook page to use in your own pages. Designs or ideas can be copied in whole or in part and is largely subjective. - Source: scrapjazz.com








A while ago, my best friend Jade had taken a gorgous photo of her son Rhiley, I loved the colours in the photo, she also had changed it to black and white - thats it down on my profile... :p


For a while I had been wating to make a scrapbook page of him, and I asked if I could and Jade said yes - on the terms I did one for him, so what better way to make a duplicate layout, that way there wouldnt be the whole ok which one do I keep and which one do I give if we both liked one layout more than the other and stuff..

I was trawlling through the gallery on Scrapbook.com and fell upon a layout that I liked, and decided to scraplift it. You can see it HERE - thank you to the original artist who did this layout - your work is really awesome!

My main thing was to match the colours in the photo - to pull out the bright colour from Rhi's bandana....and to make it pretty boyish...people say they struggle scrapping boys...I semi agree, its a process of using the right colours, and I have done a few layouts with boys in them.


It took me only a day or two to finish my layouts, thats both of them...and I shared little sneak previews with Jade...lol who was loving every bit of it...! And does love the finished layout. I can not wait to deliver it personally at the end of the month..



MY FINISHED PRODUCT






I uploaded my layout onto Fiskateers and it was only yesturday that I was going through my gallery on there that I noticed Donna (aka Beach Girl Donna) had commented some time ago that she was lifting my lift...! I searched in returnt through her gallery to find her layout and I found it!! Her and her twin (or do I say Triplet??) sister Deborah (aka Groovy Deborah - my luffly friend) have been doing a big scraplifting challenge together for some months now....and I was picked for their Letter B....! These are Donna's and Deborah's layouts.


DONNA'S LAYOUT


Deborah is checking to see if she actaully did this lift or not :p



Isnt it fun to see the difference???

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Woot!! Two Layouts completed

Friday I went to Crop night - it was strange - there wasnt many there, a few new faces I hadnt seen one was Karen's mother, and two other new ladies, though one I think I may have seen at the last one or so.....Ive been gone for so long! But it was fun....being able to catch up again.....I have finished two layouts I had started at the last crop night I went to in July...


Im sooo proud of myself for that....One of them I pulled apart and started again and then I completely butchered the new version but have managed to fix it....just wasnt thinking with my bored on that one! This one was also based on a challenge I had been doing last year I think it was - but didnt have the photos...thanks to Luke for pxting me this photo from his place to enable me to use it on this layout.. :o)


So here they are to share...


PS - new name has been christianed to me by Yaz...haha!! I dont understand the whole meister name thing she has going on with another best mate of hers - but heck if known Yaz for 8 yrs now, she was the first person I met at the gate on our first day of high school - us Palagi had to stick together you know! Lol - Wikipedia is your friend if you want to know the whole meaning of Palagi btw...

Anyway - Yaz has Christenied or Knighted me??


Scrapmeister-Bee - Scrapmeister for Short also more commonly known widely as Bee for Short...!!







Hahaha.


Chur Bro!! hahahaha




Here are the pages anyway - they will also be put into the slides later...








I have PMS and I will use it.




Seasons.