...it's Christmas Eve!

I've just got done making 'chocolate salami' for the kids as there Christmas day treat.

WFT is chocolate salami I hear you ask.

(Well, at least that's what I said when I was asked to create it.)

It's basically, plain vanilla biscuits crushed up, mixed with butter, orange juice, cocoa powder and Nutella, before being rolled into a salami-sized-log, and put into the fridge to set. Once it's firm, it'll be coated in toasted almond slivers and viola! Chocolate Salami.

Yum.

After lunch, my brother and my nephew are going through to Blenheim (the next big town - approx. 20mins drive) to take the nephew to have his new glasses fitted and to pick a Christmas present for his Mum (my Sister-in-Law).

After that, we will be picking Ross up from Koromiko airport!

Hurrah!

He's currently on the 4hr flight from Melbourne to Wellington.

I just hope he still loves me when he finds out the plane he's booked to fly from Wellington (in the North Island) to Picton (in the South Island) is only a 12 seater.

*makes a face*

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The east coast of the North Island of New Zealand was rattled by a major earthquake a couple of hours ago.

It registered 6.8 on the richter scale, and there are reports of building damage, and in some cases they are saying that at least three buildings have collapsed.

I am in Picton, which is at the southern tip of the South Island and we felt the quake reasonably strongly. It rattled the house and caused Mum's dog to stand up and look at us accusingly as if we had somehow made the house shake.

Earlier in the evening, I proudly attended my 6yr old nephew's end of year concert and prize giving at the very same primary school that I attended ohhh..... 20yrs ago.... it seems a lot smaller now. 

*goes off to feel very old*

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... I've made it to Picton!

The weather in New Zealand has been lousy. Freezing cold. Raining. Blurgh.

I stayed in a great villa right in Wellington City for a couple of nights before making the hop from the North Island to the top of the South Island in a 12 seat plane.

Due to the wind and the rain the landing was a bit rough, but we made it here in one peice and I guess that's the main thing!

Ross doesn't arrive for a few more days... I hope his flights are smoother than mine!

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I wish I could tell you the name of the town TK is currently staying it, it's got the BEST name, however it's a very small town and I wouldn't want to just invite stalkers into the place. LOL.

So, TK is in Ireland. I've spoken to him on the phone twice, he sounds happy and seems to be having a great time. He doesn't seem to be missing me too much, but he does seem to be missing the cats!

"Mumma, what's Maddy doing?"

"Right now, she's chasing moths on the window."

"Awwww... give her a pat and a kiss on the head from me. Are you patting her? Is Ross feeding her well? Does she meow out the window like she's missing me?"

I'm filling my childless hours with making jewellery, I'm making necklaces and earrings for an upcoming wedding. I've come up with a really unique design. Well at least I *think* it's unique. I've not seen anything else like it, and I've been perving at a lot of jewellery recently. I'll post photos after the wedding but until then, it's top secret stuff.

And if you are interested in my jewellery, this weekend is the last chance for you to buy off my Etsy site and receive it in time for Christmas. So if you are interested, here's the link:

Remember I said that Ross and I went to see a live taping of Rockwiz?

Julia Zemiro rocked, as usual, but Brian Nankervis (who you only really see as the score keeper on the show) was surprisingly much funnier than I expected during the pre-show warm-up.

The (famous) guests where:

• The Wolfgramm Sisters (I'd never heard of them before)
• Jade McCrae
• Liam Finn (son of Neil)
• Joe Camilleri
• Tex Perkins
• Clair Bodwitch
  
• Tim Freedman  (lead singer of the Whitlims)
• Paul Kelly

Liam Finn had real star quality, even when he was on stage with some really big personalities you felt really drawn to him.

Tex Perkins was hilarious as usual, and Paul Kelly! PAUL KELLY! How lucky am I? When you book tickets to the Rockwiz show you don't know who that guests are going to be, so I really got lucky.

Joe Camilleri isn't someone I'd heard of before the show, but he's got a really great voice... I'll be seeking him out in the future. Anyways, it was fabulous!

For those of you in Australia, the show will be on the telly on the 22nd of December.

Hurrah!

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Here is TK's first email. I've left it exactly as he sent it -- my only edit is to remove the contact details from it.

hi mumma and ross,

we landed in japan yesterday evening but it was too late to email because we
have a 2 hour time difference.
the flight was great, we got too watch movies and we ate apples and meats.
simcity is great, my city is going great.

(deleted contact details)

we woke up at 8:00 to eat breakfast. we ate bacon and eggs with sausages and
toast. we also ate 2 croisants each and i had a banana. we walked around
tokyo city this morning . and i loved it. almost everything was different.

talk to you soon.


from tk

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My boy flies out at 10am tomorrow morning for a 9 week holiday with his father.

He's going from

November 28 - Melbourne to Tokyo.
December 02 - Tokyo to Amsterdam and then onto Ireland.
December 12 - Ireland to Iceland
December 22 - Iceland to Ireland
January 02 - Ireland to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Lagos, Nigeria.
January 28 - Nigeria to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Singapore, Singapore to Melbourne....
arriving Melbourne at 6.30am on January 30.

PHEW!

I'm sure he's going to have a blast, but I'm gonna miss him!

(And to cheer me up after he leaves, Ross and I are going to a live tapping of RockWiz tomorrow night. That'll be fun!)

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TK and I have just finished packing his bags.

He's going to a mix of cold and warm climates... Japan, Ireland, Iceland, Nigeria... so he's got both warm and cold, but mostly warm clothes, Ade will need to borrow a big jacket for him in Ireland and Iceland.

In Melbourne it is 24° C today (that's 76° F)
In Japan it will get to 18° C today (that's 61° F)
In Ireland it will get to 9° C today (that's 49° F)
In Iceland it will get to 2° C today (that's 37° F)
In Lagos (where thy are going in Nigeria) it will get to 33° C today (that's 92° F)

He's also got 15hrs worth of audiobooks on his iPod and 5 novels for the filights. We don't know if he'll have his DS, Ade has currently got him on ban.

What else do you think he'll need?

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