Welcoming Autumn

Monday last week I had my first netball trial, the second one is this Thursday night and after then I should have a better idea of what's going to be happening. We started off with a warm up, after which I almost could have died. I'm fit, but I'm not that fit! They had us doing all sorts of maneuvers across the length of the court; jogging, sprinting, fast walk, lunges, squats, running with knees high, running with feet high, and she was constantly changing the movement.
We'd just get used to jogging then suddenly we're sprinting, or fast walking or something! It was mental, I think we spent about ten minutes doing a warm up, I was surprised that they didn't get us to do the typical stretches and whatnot before the warm up (I've always thought you were meant to) but we did them afterwards. I'm glad I wasn't the slowest in the group, I thought if I could almost keep up with Chantelle, I'd be doing well - and I did, most of the time!
Unfortunately I'm one of those people who's face goes nice and red when I get hot from silly exercise...it doesn't matter if I'm quite fit, which I usually am, when heat can't escape through my feet, it goes to my face instead, rather annoying if I'm honest!!

After the warm up we got into corners and moved onto another warm up/game thing where we were catching, throwing, running, catching then throwing the ball to different people from different corners as we ran through to the opposite corner. It was, straight out, confusing. It didn't help that the first time the ball was thrown to me it hit me square on the face, quite hard. Everyone seemed to get the idea rather quickly (most of the women there had been playing in the team for quite a few years...) but typically I didn't. It's rather awkward being the one who had to be guided through each pass, meaning it had to be slowed down a tad when I went through. I'm rather nervous about the trial on Thursday because they'll likely do it again and I really can't quite remember exactly how it goes...

Once that was finished they put people into places and teams, four of us including myself were stood out for the first game. At first I was thinking, aw man I must be bad! But I've actually never seen a game of netball played before - so I got to watch it and got a bit of an idea instead of being thrown into the deep end!
The second game I was called in for Wing attack (Wing Defense and Attack I had put myself down for), and once my opponent Wing Defense knew I didn't know how to play she was helping me out, as well as one of the umpires. They were telling me where I should be and what I could do which was helpful.
The third game I went into wing defense, which I found not as good as my previous attack role. The girl I was paired with was a really good player, who was flying around the court at high speeds. I had to be blocking her but I just couldn't keep up and kept losing sight of her. So if I get one of those places I really hope to get Attack, it's much easier!
It was good once Chantelle and I left, because one of the coaches came up to us and thanked us for coming and giving it a good go, and asked us to definitely come back for the next trial. We'll get places, for sure. They don't have enough players to turn people away. Last week they only had enough for two teams and two subs each. Where I've read online that in most netball games, players are only allowed on for no more than half the game, so surely that should mean they need 14 players to a team to account for that common rule? It was fun, nonetheless and I'm looking forward to trying it again tomorrow night - if only for a slight physical hiccup that I have at the moment! Will come to this soon...


I had the weekend off, which was great. Tay also had the weekend off so I got to spend it with him - even better. I went out there Friday night after work, then basically stayed til last night when I came home again. We didn't do too much Saturday, apart from stopping in at home for me to grab a few things and going into town for him to get his hair cut - it was weird being in a proper "barber" rather than the usual hairdressing salon that I'm used to being in!
He was going to get his beard trimmed down but didn't. He's said to me, "I'll keep it cut down over summer but I'll be growing it back for winter" - especially for the hunting trip he's going on in June to the South Island. However he hasn't particularly stuck to his word and hasn't really cut it since Christmas! Argh, now it's turning a bit red, obviously he's stoked and is determined to keep growing it to see what happens. Argh, males! lol
That afternoon Nate His Mate came over and we went out to one of the paddocks to test out Taylor's new rifle on some cans and clay birds. He had bought a new one on Friday for when he goes Tahr hunting in June and it needed the scope setting up - what better excuse to go do some shooting? Not really my cup of tea,  but I don't mind watching. I was going to have a go, we were lining up the sights for me (he has a bipod, so got to just lay on the ground and aim it). But when I realised the kickback it had I decided to flag the idea. Having a gun kick back into my bad shoulder would leave me somewhat crippled for a few days with that arm. Even Tay and Nate His Mate were saying it was quite sore - and they're quite used to it, it needs a rubber padding on the butt to fix it.

Nate stayed for dinner and then came back the next morning with another friend of his and our friend Luke, did I mention this weekend was Paradise Duck Shooting weekend?! Yeah, it was. I was going to tag along but I was super tired and managed to get out of it! That and I didn't have any dark, camo clothing which was apparently necessary for the job. So the four guys went out shooting that morning and I got to sleep in til - wait for it - 9am. Them arriving back woke me up, then they did the dishes and made breakfast while I just cruised, it made a nice change!
Taylor and I went out after that as we had an appointment - for a professional thai massage. Yeah, crazy right?! Tay's Dad is a trained massage therapist so he's always wanted to try a Thai massage to see what it's like.
Hmm. They were Thai women, it was difficult figuring what they were saying and the room was heavily perfumed with a very peaceful music playing. They cleaned our feet first (ever had someone else clean your feet!?!?) then got to work. Just as a heads up, if anyone reading this wants to try it. When you book in a full body massage, it is pretty much exactly that...I thought it'd be like, back, shoulders and feet lol
I've got a bad habit of laughing in situations where I probably shouldn't. I was giggling away about the whole thing before she started, laying face down on a table with my face sticking through the hole in the table, staring at a flower of some sorts in a bowl. I do believe it was fake, so it got me wondering if they could possibly have a camera in there watching the expression on my face. From times when her pushing muscles around on my back hurt quite a bit, to when my feet were feeling a bit ticklish! At some stage Tay started snoring! Really!?

Taylors' boss was happy to have Monday off work, so he paid me to stick around and milk for him Monday morning and help Taylor do things during the day, I was already booked in to work there Tuesday anyway so it wasn't a big deal hanging around for an extra day. Working with Tay is pretty cool, doing proper farm work and that makes a nice change in my routine. :)

Today though I got back to normal work, fencing for our neighbour, getting soaked when the rain suddenly arrived. Autumn has definitely arrived - I thought since our summer started late that it would last a fair bit longer but apparently not. It's still hot, don't get me wrong. But a couple weeks ago we had about 50+mm of rain and ever since then we get random bursts of rain whenever the weather man feels to deliver. It's incredible how things have greened up!

One thing that's on our minds at the moment is the new motorway that is being built - connecting Auckland to Northland. Our house isn't effected by the developments, however a big interchange is going to be about 200-250 metres up the road from us, and it means that we'll get all of the through-traffic going past us again. As we're right next to the road - it's not good. The motorway is set to be up and go by 2025, but all the years prior we're going to have to deal with the noise disturbance from the developing. And then the traffic noise from the road itself - I can't imagine long weekends! So what to do? Sound proof the property, planting thick trees to grow around the entire boundary. Installing double glazing etc. And just deal with it. Or set up the place to sell? It'll be worth a fair bit to the right buyer, being right next to the motorway. I dunno it's a scary thought to consider what will happen as this is home to us, what to do? At least we don't have the issue of the house needing to be removed because it sits on the developing land - like many a house around here. Then our decision would be made for us - but the council will only buy for a cheap price. We'll see, we have few years up our sleeves here.

Oh that's right - my slight physical quandary I have....so on Monday my legs basically collapsed from underneath me. I ran to open a gate for Taylor so he could get through with the tractor before the herd blocked the gateway, I was walking up the hill ok and thought I'd better get up there quick smart so started running. Next thing I knew I was bent over in pain, all the muscles in the front of both thighs were on fire! They were hurting so much I could barely move. I did manage to get up there in the end but it was slow going, for the rest of the day I was somewhat stumbling along trying to get everywhere I needed to go. They haven't done it again thank goodness, but silly movements hurt, like today I went to run to grab some tools when it was raining and I still felt it. I think it was simply severe cramp, it just seemed odd that both legs did it but all we could think was that the massage must've pulled some muscles, which makes me a little dubious to go back again. It's never happened before, hopefully doesn't happen again and all I can think is I hope like heck they cope with netball tomorrow! It's going to be a tad difficult, but at least I know what to expect.

Boxing Day

Christmas Day has been and gone - you wouldn't even have thought we'd just celebrated it, as all the decorations and the tree have been removed and the lounge is back to the way it was again. Apart from the fact that both fridges are still full (yes, we have two fridges!) of food and drink, and there is so much stuff lying around - chocolates and biscuits that we've either bought or been given, that nobody is interested in eating. We're going to be eating this stuff for weeks!

On Tuesday I caught up with Sam and Chantelle, for our yearly tradition of going to the beach and seeing the Christmas lights prior to the big day - typically our last catch up for the year. That was nice, we had ourselves some dinner then bundled into my car and drove to the beach for a wander around. Then went up to one of the local towns to see the light display at a particular house...

All in all though, Christmas was good. Nana drove up from Rotorua on Christmas Eve, then that night Mum, Nana and I went down to the Church service/Carols. Not quite as good as last year, I thought. Christmas Day came around, I was up again nice and early - 4:45am, a slight sleep in! Milking was good that morning, and I wore my merry christmas hat that has antlers and popped it on a couple cows! Introducing; Manuka!

 My sister and brother-in-law arrived that morning, we had pancakes for breakfast thanks to Nick then opened some pressies. I actually really liked Christmas this year, it was basic and easy and the presents this year that everyone got and gave were pretty neat! For once there was no gizmos or gadgets, the gifts were quite practical and what the person needed or would definitely have a use for, which was nice for a change :) I was given a fair bit of house related items, for when I move out one day. I've got a nice collection of towels building up now, a lovely cutlery set among other things and two gorgeous cook books. I'm talking, 200 chocolate recipes and 200 baking recipes - what more could a girl want?!
Alesha and Chris have finally printed out a heap of their wedding photos from February - we've been wondering when they would get that done, so we got a few of them as gifts too. A beautiful canvas and some photos that have been framed. Finally, we've got some nice family photos up on the walls! And I know that my rule for blogging is to not post any pictures of myself, the last two I posted didn't matter because it was that long ago, but I figured it couldn't hurt to break the rule, if only once. So, here's what I got from them. I really love this picture of me, it's amazing what some makeup, correct lighting and a professional photographer can catch on a lens. If you knew me now, not even a year later I look nothing the same, I'm sure!

Later on we decided we needed to give the dog a bath - wait! You guys don't know! We now have a puppy, an inside puppy. A ShihTzu called Jackson, he's the cutest little ratbag I've ever seen, but man he's naughty. He arrived on a plane from Christchurch on Tuesday night, along with a little toy lion. Bought for Mum's birthday back in November...He's got a bit of a habit of sleeping on his back and he gets really hot, really easily. But behind the adorable-ness is a little puppy who misses his litter. Every night since Tuesday he cries and cries and cries. REALLY LOUD! Tuesday I think I got about 2-3 hours sleep with an early start, Mum ended up sitting up with him to keep him company.

Wednesday night he was eventually put on the outside porch in his play pen, and at about midnight Mum wondered downstairs to tell him to be quiet - didn't work. Then I went down, sat outside in the chilly air and managed to coax him into falling asleep, I felt so stink for him, gave him lots of cuddles and a pep-talk until he fell asleep. Ten minutes later he was bawling again. Another early start for me.
Then on Christmas eve he didn't make a sound, but when I went to work on Christmas morning I found Mum asleep on the couch with him on the floor beside her -  happy as larry!

Then last night, Dad had a word to him and he was quiet all night, we're not quite sure what he said to him but it worked! Either that or we were all so tired that we didn't hear him!
So yeah, he needed a bath, he hated that but it was hilarious! Him in a kids paddling pool, in the shower looking like a drowned rat. Then we dried him with a hair drier on low heat, hehe

 

He's a definite trouble maker, he's learned that chasing the cats is a glorious exercise to take part in. He never used to move very far with his tiny little legs, but when it comes to chasing the cats, man he can move. The great thing is that he can't climb the step into the kitchen so it keeps him somewhat confined! Now he's stealing the cats toys and Pippa has stolen his lion. He eats the cat biscuits whenever he gets the chance and Frodo eats his food. Soon we'll have a meowing dog and a barking cat. Sheesh!

But today has been cruisey, I'm having my first "weekend" off since the start of the season, we've watched a movie - Flowers In the Attic, based on a novel series I read when I was younger. Dad and Nick have been doing some fence work around our place - lots of changes are happening here! Now I've just got to figure what we're doing tomorrow, apparently when one turns 20 you need to have plan in place for how you are to celebrate it! Me, well, I'm just sitting here kinda sad knowing that I'm getting so blimmen old! Hmm..

Hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas!