Sometimes I think that I should keep a daily track of what I do that way I don't forget to tell you all that I've been doing. I've always had poor memory with my daily activities but I have excellent clarity on all the little things. Last week was the last week of classes for water aerobics until the New Year so I went to three classes instead of two. The Tuesday and Thursday classes are actually deep water aerobics so I got to wear this little life belt around my waist and workout in the dive pool on Thursday. It was a little bit tough because it was really windy and cold outside. I think that I caught a bit of a cold from it because I wasn't feeling too super on Friday but I'm feeling lots better now.
On Tuesday, I went to go and do what I planned to do last Friday. See my first movie in a long time! This sounds horrible but I actually went and saw "High School Musical 3". I couldn't resist a movie that had dancing and songs and "Mamma Mia" was already out of the theatres. So, there I was among all these parents and teenagers. It made me feel a bit foolish but I liked the movie, it had some great songs. You never realize that you've grown-up until your surronded by teeny-boppers talking about how cute Zac Efron is and your thinking that he's just a nice kid. Wednesday was my day at home so nothing exciting there and Thursday and Friday was spent at water aerobics. Friday's class was taught by two people. One of them used the water noodles and the other used those arm dumb bells. My arms were sore by the end of that workout!
Oh, on Wednesday Gordon and I had somewhat of a night out. I was tired of cooking and we still had to go to the pool to workout. We ended-up going to Dominos and taking our pizza to the Esplanade, a garden center, to eat them. It was quite delicious and yummy. We walked around the area for a bit because Gordon had to use the toilets and he saw an aviary. We found an albino male peacock trying to get friendly with a female in the next cage. It was some nice time spent together. He's told me numerous times that he would like to build an aviary one day. Gordon has been starting to want to go to the base pool with me now. He likes water exercise as well and it gives me a bit of motivation to do extra well while he is there.
Thursday was a big day for Gordon. They had all of the RNZAF helicopters in New Zealand for once and wanted to fly them together. Sort of a benchmark for the RNZAF and a history marker for Gordon. It seems they were able to get all 19 of them up in the air and in formation without any breakdowns. Gordon said there was one helicopter that was giving them trouble but they finally managed to get it going. He took lots of pictures of the choppers as they were heading out. I heard them and looked out of one of our windows and saw them flying past Bulls. It was pretty awesome to hear the thrum and roar of 19 helicopters in the air. Gordon was really excited that they were able to achieve the goal they set out.
Friday was Gordon's last day of work. They got out around noon and I was home when he made it back on his bike. We ended-up having a nap because I wasn't feeling good and the stress of the week had finally caught up to Gordon. Afterwards we went to the base practice field so Gordon could hit some golf balls and I read. Then we went to the pool and ran into one of the guys that participated in the golf tournament a couple of months back. He was with his kids and wife and they were enjoying the kiddie pool while Gordon and me enjoyed the big pool. I was able to make dinner ahead of time and not worry about it until we got back home.
Saturday was shopping day! It was more shopping for Gordon than for me because he still had to get my Christmas present! We started off at Mitre 10 to see their prices on table saws which were okay and Gordon would have gotten a discount for being in the military. I was able to get a water noodle so I could do some of my exercises that I learned in water aerobics at the base pool. We then went to Bunnings and found that their table saws were even cheaper than if we went with Mitre 10 and the discount. So my parents gift for Gordon was sorted and we also ended up getting a little metal table for the hallway so we could put our keys and stuff on it. Then we were naughty and went to Dick Smith and Noel Lemming, electronics stores. I had kept telling myself that I didn't need one but when I saw the price of the XBox I couldn't resist the urge and we bought one with a couple of games. I told Gordon that was the last time we were going to be fiscally irresponsible for a long time. Don't worry though, we had sufficient funds for the Xbox and it didn't put us anymore into debt than we were. We actually paid down the credit card a lot this month, yeah! We were then off to the Plaza mall so I could go to Kmart. I was able to find a shirt for Xmas day for $6! I was so happy and then we had our usual fare at the Plaza mall, curry.
We only had two stores left to take care of, The Warehouse and Spotlight. We had to get some candies for the family to go with their Christmas cards and for Kylie and Roger. We also bought some Christmas crackers that were on sale and a Christmas CD so we could hear some songs on the way home. We went to Spotlight real quickly to get my scrapbook tote, Gordon's gift for me, and to check out the price of area rugs because they are cheap. We found a blue oriental design that we liked and are planning to save up for. We then had to get gas because the gas light was on. Then we picked-up my creative memories order, my Mom's birthday gift for me, and headed for home. It was very rainy on Saturday so it was a good day for shopping. We even ran into John and Arinah at Dick Smith and caught up with them for a bit. Gordon also told me of a New Year's Eve Party so we may get to go somewhere for that evening.
Sunday service was a bit tough for me for some odd reason. The pastor was talking about the holiday season and how it can be a joyous time but for some it may not be all they dreamed of. He must have struck a chord with me because when we got up to sing I was trying to stop crying amidst "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "What Child is This" and getting so upset that I couldn't stop. Gordon was a bit worried but I told him that I would be fine. Carols, hold a special place for me, because we would always go to my grandparents house on Christmas Eve and sing carols. I told Gordon that I would probably be weepy until Christmas day and then there would be nothing. There's no way getting around being homesick on a holiday that holds special significance to me. I just have to try to work through it and hope that there aren't too many weepy moments.
I also did something out of my box at Church. The pastor wanted people to sign-up to give mini-sermons during the month of January. I decided that I could offer a different perspective being someone new and from a different country. So, we'll see what happens. We're given a bible passage and then we talk for about 3-5 minutes. There should be about 5 people each Sunday. Something told me to sign-up. Later that day we went to a fundraiser movie for one of the ladies bible studies. It was called "The Christmas Cottage" about Thomas Kinkade and based on actual events. It was a really good Christmas movie and Gordon ended-up crying at it. We also met some new people from the church we've been attending. It had a great message about the light that illuminates our lives. It made me think how special Christmas is and how it can illuminate a dark time in our lives or during the season. It's a little hard to picture it in such a sunny place as New Zealand right now but when I think back to New Mexico I can see it.
I've included a couple of pictures of our garden. We're going to be gone for 5 days so I'm a bit worried that everything is going to dry out because we have no one to water it for us. My bulbs have also started to sprout and I'm worried that they'll die as well. The only thing that I can pray for is rain during our vacation. The zucchini has flowered and so has the cucumbered. I can see the little zucchini beneath the big leaves and soon there will be some cucumber to go with them. No green beans yet but I suspect that we'll have some good pumpkin and watermelon. We also have some potatoes sprouting. Enjoy your holidays everyone filled with laughter, joy and love. When you hear "Silent Night", think of me, that's one of my favorite carols. I'll try to write before the New Year and I may have some Xmas pictures for everyone to look at.
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