just a bit of brain drool...

HOLY!!! (it's our saying of excitement in the house at the moment--- something that Chantelle started and we all copied!)
November nearly finished and i haven't told all you fans and folks anything!! what is that all about?? GEEEEZ!!

Well---- where to start-- oh yes. We had our family trip to Taupo and that was eeeeever so lovely. Wasn't all that impressed with the place we had booked with tho coz when we got there they only had one double bed and there were 4 of us. The paperwork had said that there was a double bed and a fold out couch but there were just two lame looking chairs in the TV area for the girls to sleep in -- We offered them to sleep in a cupboard but they didn't like that for some strange reason! So we kicked up a stink about it with the lady who looks after the place and booked in with another place down the road (much nicer) and made the other company pay for it! ;) RESULT! Then we spent the 3 days there looking around, swimming, watching movies, playing, eating good food and just spazzing around as you do when on holiday. Lots of fun.

Since then there hasn't been much happening really.. just the normal November build up for x-mas where i get all the presents ready early so that they make it to Iceland on time, day dream about the day when work stops and beach time starts and get ready for that mixed feeling of happiness over how good i have it in New Zealand and and how sad i feel about missing my family and friends over in good ol Iceland (and other places) and how frustrating it is that i can't have it all ! Heavy Siiiigh! But as we say where i am from SVONA ER BARA LIFID! (such is life)
Right after X-mas Matt is doing a 3 day motorcycle trip with his besty Alan. They have both got the map all marked out, the bikes ready, are getting gear together and i know they are super excited. It will be a mini version of what Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor did in their Long way Round trip. (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about.. http://www.longwayround.com/lwr.php)
When he gets back we will be packing up the car to take the girls to Whangamata and spend new years with Matt's Sister and husband and their lil girl Molly.

We have been pretty active with going out lately. We went to a couple of quiz nights and managed to win one of them. It was only by one point but it turns out that I made all the difference there (YAY ME) coz there was a song where you were suppose to guess one of the lyrics and The quiz master asked if anybody could sing it and just change the lyric. Matt shouted out- "what does the person get that sings- will it give us one extra point?" and he said yes!! So i put my hand up and sang about how Sausages are such a lonely word but mostly what i need from you...... Good ol Billy Joel song. :)
Oh and speaking of- we are going to see him in concert on the 13th of december. Can't wait- will be awsum me thinks. We also went to Def Leppard a couple of weeks ago and i wasn't expecting to enjoy that - but i totally did and danced around while Matt sang.
Matt grew a beard for some insane dudes and dudes with cancer balls (Men's health foundation and Cancer Society). He has been sponsored by a few of our mates which is good. Actually- he has been very amazing when it comes to all that charity stuff. Swam in the Ocean race across the harbour .. full 2.8 k swim and it took him and hour and 15 minutes- where i would have drowned in the first 5 minutes! I'm so proud of him !! :) and that was only 2 weeks after he ran the Auckland half marathon across the bridge and twisted his ankle on the 18th kilometre (and kept running silly boy)- what the hell is that guy made of !?!

bored with my boring blog now- not really very entertaining and my brain is having a recession at the mo so when i think of something funny or exciting to say - I'll say it !
:)
pís át

Moley moley moley moley!!

A month ago i wrote a blog about how Karen was coming over and Matt and i were going away with work- well, The work doo was awsum and we got all dressed up, merry and rode some quad bikes which was soooo much fun. And Karen came and went (to Australia to work on a horse farm for 2 months) and we had a bunch of fun. Even went out to a slumber party and sang sing star and played eye toy the whole night with Hayley and Kylie- OMG there was so much laughing i can't even explain it- definitely a night to remember.

I have been very slack with the gym thing lately and should really give my self a big kick up my behind for not going as much as before i went to Iceland. I do have a legit reason not to go for a week now (the moles) but then that is it- and i am going to start going as much as possible with Lauren and Candice from work. Matt is nearly out-doing me at the mo with all his training for the Auckland marathon he is running on the 2nd on Nov.

Speaking of MO- Matt has signed himself up to grow one for Movember- the month formerly known as November. I will be helping his as much as i can as his MO sistah and then hopefully we will do the amazing MO race like last year when Hrefna was over.
... And Speaking of Hrefna, I started doing her paperwork last week and took some stuff over to a JP to get it signed and sent off to her. It's just the beginning of the process to get her a working visa should she want to come over to NZ and work and see what it is like living here for a couple of years.
:) I really hope she does !! wink wink ( hehehe- i know you are reading this Fluff monster!) xxxx

Chantelle and Becky keep entertaining me endlessly. Becky with her "learning to say things right" and Chantelle with her little statements about life and everything she observes.
Matt hurt his finger at netball the other day and so Becky has been talking about his "hurt thinger" a lot. Hee hee!! She also likes to eat "Basgetty" (spaghetti) !! ;)
Chantelle is a little learn-a-holic and pays attention to everything that is going on around her. She even told me a story the other day about some lady who had her husband leave her and her kid was taking drugs but she was writing a book or something like that... not too sure whet she meant but i was blown away by all the info that came out of her. When i asked her if she knew what drugs were i just got a blank look ! ;-D hahaha Later on i found out that she had been listening in on her mum talking about some lady she knew. A good reminder for me to not think that she is still too little to know what is going on around her. She is reading better and faster then i can and she has a ton of activity books that she loves to do at home and i must say that Matt and I are both rather proud of her.

My cat had a bit of a messy couple of days last week.
On Thursday when i came home she was acting rather strange and was quiet and slept all day and didn't want to eat. For those of you who know my Kisa know that she is NEVER quiet and ALWAYS hungry, so when she didn't come to the kitchen to meow at me constantly while i was cooking i knew something was up. I had a wee look over her and found that she had ripped her paws and all her claws were split on all 4 legs. :( very sad. The Vet (who i took her to on the Saturday morning) said she had most probably got stuck in a hole somewhere and tried to get out and had such a shock that she wanted to hide and was probably too scared to eat. Poor baby!! She had to have a whole bunch of shots and medicine and also the dreaded paw rinse that stings a bit- I had to do that every day for 4 days and she was .. well- lets just say she wasn't really into that!
She is fine now tho and happy and eating again so that makes me happy.
Me- I'm just fine despite the 2 plaster on my face and the stitches in my back. I went to see a mole doctor a couple of weeks ago and he made me come in yesterday to get rid of 4 moles. It was terrible leading up to it coz i was a bit nervous. ( this is me- the person that voluntarily went and got tattoos in two different places on my body!!)
When i got there the doctor was super nice and made it feel more just like a mate was helping you out. Then he stabbed me with a couple of needles (OUUUCH!!) and started cutting- couldn't feel a thing and it was easy peasy! I'm a wee bit broken today tho- just feel itchy on my chin and sore in the 3 stitches on my back but i am sure that it was worth it.

We are off on a family trip to Taupo this weekend so i might have something to say again soon.

xxxxx
Mole Queen.

Sick and sorry for it's self.

Yuck! I'm crook and at home and my body feels like it's been kicked all over and i have sore head- pooooooor me! Kisa is looking after me and making sure i have lots of attention, a licked nose, head buts and that my neck is warm. (she likes to drape herself around it)
I just got a message from a friend of mine who has family here in NZ and she has informed me that there are actually more people here that speak my gobelty gook language. It seems to be that there is a whole club here called the Icelandic Society http://www.icelandnz.blogspot.com/ and i might try to find out if they meet or do stuff or what it is all about. I might not want to live in Iceland but i do love most things Icelandic and always feel at home when i can listen to music from home- watch movies from there or speak in my own tounge. My brother recons that i am more Icelandic then most of the people he knows back home coz of the huge Icelandic memorabilia i have here in NZ. Books, Cd's, DVDs and foods i like to make. But i think most people get like that if they move from a place they still like. I know that my sister would kill a small animal for Icelandic lollies, My best friend in New York is the biggest Icelandic book slut i have ever known of and My cousin in Washington would never say no to anything Icelandic. So there you have it- I'm not the only one with a bit of an obsession for Icelandic things.
:)
Things that have been happening lately .... I went to a mates B-day party and he put on a show with a band and we sang for the crowd. Lots of fun and i managed to release a few of my built up performance demons since it's been aaaaages since I've been on stage doing anything.
Matt and I also went to a wedding on Friday that was very lovely and romantical. We didn't know anybody but with us it never seems to matter coz we just don't seem to run out of nonsense to talk about. :)
This week we are off on a work offsite with the whole team (all 100 of us) and we will be staying at a beautiful place near Wellington. There will be some work but mostly it will be all about having fun and getting to know the people we work with so I'm looking forward to this.
Until next time.

I'm home!!!

...and I have actually been home for a week but my head has been in 15 different time zones for the last week and there has been no end to my extreeme tiredness and UBER head spinny-ness.
It was so nice to come home to my lovely Matt and he had made the house all sparkly clean (i know i know.. i don't need much in life-- just a clean house and a made bed to keep me happy) and i got flowers and a big welcome sign (from the girls and Matt-- oh and Balloons) and endless yummyu hugs and sloppy kisses from the whole tribe- that includes Kisa.
:)
The Sif and Matt travel agenda is pretty empty now on the adventure front but we are planning things like going away with work to Wellington in about 2 weeks, going on some mini trips with the girls to just hang and play somewhere in the country (nothing like playing tourist in your own back yard) and getting a visitor in October- yes - Karen is coming over again to make some noise in NZ. ;)
That is all i have to say for now people... and i wish somebody would leave me a comment.. pleaaase!!!! comment.
luv.

Only 3 more days... :(

Good grief- i can't believe it's almost finished. EEEEEEEEKKKKK My holiday i had been waiting for, for such a long time is nearly finished and i will have to go home to normal life and work.

My sister left this morning and that was a bit sad for me. I did put on a brave face for her but when she left i felt a wee bit sad in my eyes.... if you are smart you will know what i mean. But as we are bestest friends we always stay in touch and who knows- maybe she'll be back in the lovely NZ before i know it. :) (crossing my fingers) We have had such an awsum time together going to spend time with our 2 fathers together, picking blueberries in the countryside, doing a late night ice cream mission and just generally hanging and talking about life and the way of the world. Now that she is gone my main focus is to catch up with people like family and friends and then it's off to the airport on Saturday morning for the long trip. This time it wont be so lavish as when Matt and I were able to stop in Dubai, Paris and London... this time it will be 3 hours to London- 10 hours there- 7 hours to Dubai- 3 hours there then about 20 hours to get to Auckland via Melbourne... Siiiigh- I guess since Matt managed to do this and live to tell the tale about it then i should be able to as well. ( and i have had a couple of goes at it before so I should be ok)

As much as i have been loving my holiday i am feeling the need to go home too and am missing Matt, the girls and my Kisa terribly.. as well as my bed, my house, my friends and my creature habits. I guess that is what holidays are for- getting time away lets you appreciate all the things that you end up finding routine-ish in your every day life.

Reykjavík awaits me- must dash.
xxx
Sif.

Too busy to blog...

I believe that i was complaining about nothing happening and not having enuff to blog about a few weeks ago- well now my problem is quite the opposite. I am too busy making stories to even blog about them. And here is something to trip you out completely. I have been in Iceland for a week and it is affecting my English- even my thinking English. Right now as i write this i am thinking in English with a very strong Icelandic accent!!!!!!! hahhahaha Gwad only knows how the brain works.

So far we have been pretty none stop. We spent the Saturday in the Blue Lagoon and floated around in there for a while. Then we caught up with Dísella, Kolla and Stína later that night for some drinks and a giggle. Sunday we went for a drive to a big waterfall with Kolla in her hangover and i have to give her massive credit for actually coming with us as she was not having her shiniest moment. And that night Matt met my Dad and his whoooooole clan- there were 12 of us for dinner and it was loud and crazy but lots of fun too and a real moment for me. ;)

I turned 31 on the Monday and it was a very nice day. My girlfriend Stína had made her way all the way to Iceland for only 3 days so she could spend the day with me as it is her birthday as well. We had a 2 hour lunch together and then did a bit of shopping for a dinner we were having at her mum's that night. Then i was off to hang with my man for the rest of the day and we strolled around Reykjavík a bit before getting ready to go to the dinner where we had a lovely feed and a spa.

Tuesday we started early by getting on the road at 11.30 and making our way to Þingvellir which is the oldest parliament in the world and a very scenic place. After that we headed to Geysir to see some amazing hot springs going loonie speed in the air. And after that we drove to Gullfoss- a very big and beautiful waterfall. After all of those places we had a 4 hour drive to make our way to Skaftafell where we were spending the night in a tent. It was up to my driving to get us there before dark so that the putting up of the tent wouldn't have to happen in the dark- and we made it. The place is right at the base of Europe's biggest glacier so it was a little chilly, 10c degrees actually-but we zipped our sleeping bags together and made it through the night. We were however woken up at 5 the next morning by the biggest thunder storm i have ever experienced in Iceland. That might not mean much to allot of you but we hardly ever get thunder and lightning in Iceland- I think in the 18 years that i lived here i only saw it twice... very odd!

The next morning we were packed and ready to go at 8 and drove to a meeting point where some dudes with big jeeps picked us up and took us up to the glacier Vatnajökull for a ski-doo trip. I kinda wish it could have been sunnier and not so grey but it was still pretty magic to stand on a glacier in the summer time and know that there is an active volcano right under your feet. That tour lasted about 4 hours and our next stop was Jökulsárlón or the Glacier Lagoon where for the last 70 years the glacier has been melting into a pond at the base of the glacier and then running to sea but there is also seawater running inland into the lagoon so the Ice melts very slowly in the lagoon- I would have to say that it is a must see if you ever come to Iceland- totally worth the 5 hour drive from the city. We did a boat ride in one of their amphibious car boat thingies and got to eat some of the 1000 year old ice that was floating around us. We also saw a seal!!!!!! ;)
6 hours later we were back in town (after stopping in a couple of places for photos and dinner) and we had a couple of hours to chill before racing off to the airport to get my sister who was flying in from England. It's so great that all these people have come over to Iceland while i am here since i have so far to go. (Yay for Dísella, Stína, Hrefna and Tolli)

We just got back from spending a night at a summer house with My mum, Barry (stepdad) , Tolli, Karen and Hrefna (my siblings) and we had a lovely time with them eating good food- going for walks, having spa's and playing games. Now it is unfortunately time for Matt to pack his bags and have me take him to the airport tomorrow morning so he can go home and cuddle Chantelle, Becky and Kisa while i do my social thing here in Iceland and in a week it will be my turn to go home.
xxx

The puffin is in the cliff nest.

I have just published my Paris and London blog coz we haven't really had much computer access lately- by choice really coz we've been so busy seeing everything possible in such a short time.
Rachel came and got us from the Eurostar and took us to her place to drop the bags off before taking us out to dinner at her local pub. We didn't make it a late one coz we were all tired and we also wanted to get up early the day after and go touristing. The 2 days we spent walking around were filled with none stop walking, museums, tours, trains, people, things to do, things to see and everything between. We went to Tower of London to see some castle stuff then crossed tower bridge to a pub called Horniman to have some lunch before going to a floating museum from second world war and the Korean war - called the HMS Belfast. Very impressive and when we boarded one of the men working there said to us "if you get lost just find one of us uniformed guys to help you". We didn't really take him seriously ... i mean how lost can you get on a ship, right? But wouldn't you know it- it took us ages to figure out how to get of the thing once we were far far into the belly of the ship. Lots of fun and the whole thing has been set up with wax sailors doing things all around. Very educating. Then on we went to another world war 2 museum and then after that we went to an old surgery where people used to come to watch doctors cut up patients in them olden days. Rachel's tummy was turning a bit at some of the stuff we saw in there. :-/ We also stopped at the Shakespeare Globe theatre but couldn't do the tour coz there was a show going on so we moved on a few meters down the Thames and went to the Tate modern museum. That was the last stop for that day of the touristy stuff. We had some tickets to go see a show called Spamelot that night so we grabbed some Thai food before we went to see it. I swear i have never had hot Thai food like that!!!!! My mouth was on fire and i had to send the food back and beg the staff for a glass of milk.
Spamelot is faaaaantastic and i suggest to anybody who has the oppertunity to see it, to do so- it had me in tears of laughter. Just genius!
Day two was a just as busy and we left the house just before 10 which is late compared to what we were getting used to. We had bought a London pass which got us into 3 main attractions for a small price. We started out at Madame Tussauds and hung out with some famous people- then on to the London eye for a 30 minute ride with a great view and the last one was called The London Dungeon and was a place dedicated to all the horrors that happened in London during the plague, all the serial killers of London, all the torture devises that have been used and so on and so on. Lots of scary moments. After that we found a bar for me and Rachel while Matt went to Forbidden Planet to have a look at some comic books and movie thingies while Rach and I got drunker and drunker.. to the point where we were painfully slurry and found most things very funny... even if they were just faces drawn on our thumbs. ;)
This meant that I was up at 6 this morning getting some panodol and water to ease my sore head before dragging all the suitcases and bags to the train for Stanstead airport. The Flight to Iceland was easy and Mum and Barry were waiting for us on the other side of the sliding door when we got there with big smiles for us. We waited around for my brother to arrive from his flight and then we were off on a mission to find a hot dog... I'm not just talking about any old hot dog here.. i'm talking about the ICELANDIC PULSA the one and only- I have been craving it for aaaages now- 2 years in fact.. or since i was here last time. :)
Matt and i are settled well in now and are having a relaxing time at home tonight for the first time in a week.
Tomorrow we plan on going to the Blue Lagoon! ;)
Later.
xxxx

Paris and London- Bon jour & ‘ello Govenor!

The flight to Paris was sooooo easy compared to the long 20 hours it took to get to Dubai. We had 3 seats for us and the plane was only half full. Matt was glued to the window the whole way, looking at all the landscape that was going by. Unfortunately the sky-map wasn’t working so we never knew what we were flying over.
We arrived in Charles de Goolie goolie airport (excuse the French accent.. hehee) and had to make our way to the train and transfer over to the metro to get to the hotel. It was the smallest and the hottest room in the world but we didn’t really mind as the plan was to only sleep and keep our bags there. And that we did. The first night we spent in a French café eating some delicious food before going back to the room and crashing for the night which was good because we spent all next day walking around Paris. In fact we walked for the crazy amount of 11 hours and saw the Eiffel tower (and went up there) , Seine river (crossed it a few times), Notre Dame (went inside but not up the tower) and much much more- The biggest buzz was to just walk around with no real plan and scope things out as we found them. Our feet were pretty exhausted at 6 so we took a bus back to the hotel and the plan was to have a little rest and then go and see the Eiffel tower at night all lit up—but no.. The last ting I remember was closing my eyes for a minute and then there was no more. I passed out in a serious way and slept like the dead until 4 in the morning while Matt watched some movies til midnight.

The next day was spent walking around some more seeing the Arc de Triumph and climbing up the 277 steps to get to the top and have a look at the view. Pretty amazing stuff and absolutely mind-blowing how they built all these amazing structures. Matt got a text from NZ that day from Ando saying that we should make our way to Versalles to see the HUGE place that Marie Antonette lived at before she lost her head. And so we did. The place was RAMMED with people so we opted to not go in there as we had a train to catch to London later that day but we walked around and found a gate that lead into the castle garden so we made like a king and a queen and had a little picnic in the grass.
Afterwards we slowly made our way back to the hotel to get our bags and leave Paris on the Eurostar.

Camels and sweat

We have made it to camel land after 20 hours on the flight from Auckland. It all went very smooth and we managed to watch a few movies, play some games and even sleep for a little while. We then arrived in Dubai at 6 ish in the morning of the 9th of August ready to see as much as we could- and BOY did we ever. The room wasn't ready when we got to the hotel (which was only a 10 minute ride from the airport) so we went for a little walk to just get the feel of everything. It was mega hot and we didn't find much in the way of shops that were open but we did find a little family of cats that lived under a dumpster. Very cute. The mummy cat told us "meow- welcome to Dubai- have you got some cat food with you?" so we told her no and took a couple of photos of her 4 kittens and left. 2 hours later when we were all settled into the hotel and ready to see some stuff we booked into a city tour that took us to 2 museums- some palaces- the Burj hotel by the sea and we went to see the indoor ski are as well- very trippy stuff and lots to absorb- but also a lot to finish in this town. Most of the new areas have cranes and cones all over the place.

Later on when we had finished the 4 hour tour we went back to the hotel for a quick rest and then we were booked into another tour with the same guide. This time it was time to go out of town a bit and thrash around on the sand dunes in the desert. WHAT A LAUGH!!! There were about 20 jeeps all over the place just going hell for leather all over the dunes and most of the people in our car were cracking up laughing. We stopped a couple of times to take some photos of the sunset and then drove on to the camp where we were to have dinner and some entertainment. The first thing we got to do was to ride on a grumpy old camel called Hiro Hiro then snowboard on the dune- belly dance show and fab food. can't say enuff good things about it but my flight is leaving to go to Paris so we must dash. :) Must finish the Dubai tale later.

xxxx

Less then a week to go ...

I'm in count-down mode- can ya tell? Only 6 more days to figure out what to take with me- wrap up work and look forward to my trip that i have been talking about for the last 6 months... actually.. more.. !!
Lately i have been going to the movies a lot. Went and saw mamma mia last Saturday with Matt and the girls and absolutely loved it. As well as the story and the music being fab, there was nothing cooler then seeing the girls sing a long to all the songs. ;) they call all ABBA songs "mamma mia music" now and have no comprehension of what Abba is.
Then on the Monday 2 of my friends had arranged a charity movie night where you pay a little extra to see the movie and all the money goes to a charity called CureKids. Felt pretty good to sit down with my popcorn and relax knowing that my money was going to help out little kids with life threatening illnesses rather then just go into some rich guys pocket. We saw Miss Pettigrew lives for a day and it was very sweet. It felt a little like a play because the acting was very extreme and over the top and also because there were only really 2 locations in the whole movie. Very lovely story and a nice night out with some girls. :)
THEN the day after (on the Tuesday) Matt and I teamed up with his mate Paul to go and see Batman.. sorry The Dark Knight, at the IMAX cinema and WOW- what a good dark action movie with some crazy moments!!!!! I DO recommend it and all the stuff that has been said about the Joker ( i must admit i was one of those sceptics that thought it was all said because the man was dead and you don't speak ill of the dead) it was all true- HE WAS AMAZING! You wouldn't even know him for the same guy.
Now- just before you guys think that i have set up some sort of a movie review page I would just like to say that ... ahm.. It was the highlight of my week ;0) I just had to mention it but all done.

Another highlight of the week (excuse the pun) was that i went to get highlights for my hair and get it cut... and yes- i actually managed to break from the norm a little and get Francis to do it a bit differently this time. :) I have shorter hair now and a fringe. Very liberating after having the same hair style for the last .. ahm... 7-8 years!!

One of my mates has just put together a band and asked me to sing backup for him. He is the same guy that talked me into doing my first Shakespeare and he has also directed me in one other play after that. That is what I'm doing today so that should be a bit of fun.

Right-- I have big plans to Blog while I'm away so get ready for it! ;) (probably more in Iceland then the first week in Dubai and Paris and London)

Love to all.
xxxxxxx
Sifter.

oh -- and Happy Birthday to my sister

Elsku Hrefnus minn- Til hamingju med daginn - I'll give you your birthday cuddle when i see you next month!
;) and then you can give me mine!
xxxx Loff you little blister!

Krukku Borg - Jar City!

AMAZING- absolutely amazing how a little bit of home can make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside... even if it comes in the form of a cold and dark murder mystery film. ;)
The NZ film festival is on at the moment and i had a quick look the other day to see if Iceland had a movie in there this year. They did and it was a film adaptation of one of my favourite books by Arnaldur Indridason - Myrin, or Jar City as they have named it in English. I don't have a lot of good experience with Icelandic flicks so i was a little bit nervous to take Matt to see this just before i drag him across the world to "the land of depressing movies with no story lines".... But what doyaknow- I did and we both thought IT WAS REALLY GOOD! The story was great and it had a real plot, which i love in movies. The acting was great and i particularly liked the main characters as they were just as i had imagined them in the book. The film they used seemed to be very grainy but I'm not sure if that was to make it seem darker, older or if it was just the quality ... got a bit hard on my poor wee lasered eyes with some of the areal shots that travelled over the country really fast.
The cinema was full of all sorts of people and a few familiar sounding accents. The guy in the seat next to me was Icelandic - i could tell by his accent when he spoke to his Kiwi girlfriend and the way he sang along to "sofdu unga astin min".. and the way he giggled at some of the "Icelandic in-jokes", Like Sigurdur Oli (one of the characters) saying that he was on a "STEIK-AAT" while he is sat alone in a car, in broad daylight, RIGHT outside the house he is watching,, with takeaway coffee and a doughnut!!! ;) Brilliant!
Well done Baltasar Kormákur !! ;)

Now there are only 24 days to go and I'll be getting on a plane to fly away and have a new adventure! Can't wait!! so excited!! must .. wait.. little .. longer- SIGH!
That's enuff pondering for today.
xxx

Sweaty Pig Man

Here's a bit of a funny story. One of many actually but I'd be here all night if i was to share all of them.
Becky was watching the movie Narnia (The Lion, The Witch and the wardrobe) the other night in our bed and we went in to see how she was doing. (Chantelle had fallen asleep already) We were sitting there next to her when a scene came on the screen that had a bunch of monster looking creatures like goblins and people with animal heads. One of them had a pig face and was somewhat of a sweaty fellah and as soon as she saw him she said in a very matter of fact way "euw he is sweaty, he must play netball"!!!!! hahahahahhahaha ;-D it just absolutely killed me and i couldn't stop laughing.
The thing is that Matt and I play netball every Wednesday night and the girls come with us to the games and either watch us play or hang around the courts with the other kids. When we finish the game Matt is usually rather sweaty so she must have related the two.
Such a golden moment.

Actually there are a lot of those lately. Becky has started talking so much more and the stuff she comes out with at times ... I just struggle to keep my composure. Chantelle also has her moments of sheer entertainment with saying things like "ahm Dad- you just don't understand me yet" or "Hey Sif- when did you become a grown-up?" heheheheh Love it ! ;)

Winter is truly here now and we have lots of cold nights where the heater comes on and the hottie bottles get put in the bed by our feet. (I usually have Kisa under my covers as well so that helps) Last weekend we had so much stormy weather we actually had a bit of our roof missing on Saturday when we woke up. It was a big hole made by one of the darned tree branches next door but we got it fixed the same day so that the roof wouldn't fill with water. Then later that Saturday we had more thunder storms and so much hail it looked like it had snowed in our garden. It didn't take us long to grab our cameras and take a few snaps to show the world. Even the girls were out in the garden (totally nudies as they were in a middle of a bath when it all happened) getting hail to eat and to take back to their bath. ;)
That's enuff ranting and raving about the happenings of the last few days. now stop spying on me and leave me a freggin comment.
:) xxx

Never wake an Icelandic woman!

The whole house was snoring and if i remember correctly i was having a dream about my cat spilling some flower vase in my lounge and me not being able to find anything to dry it up with when something broke my sleep. It sounded like an alarm clock that couldn't make up it's mind on whether to peep or not. As my consciousness regained more and more i realized that the sound didn't sound like an alarm clock any more but some sort of a fairy sound. Like the magical harp sound that you get in cartoons when the fairy good mother appears or a spell is cast.
"It's that toy!" I thought as i rolled out of bed and did my best zombie walk into the bathroom to find the evil perpetrator and kill it. You see- McDonald's have decided to give away these little fairy magical wand toys (looks like a star and has a yellow blinking light on it) that have an electrical device inside it but no batteries or off button and the back is screwed pretty tight on so there is no way for you to turn the sucker off. Becky felt that some magic needed to happen in the bathroom the other night and took the toy into the bath. For those that have seen Short Circuit (1986 movie also known in my home town as Radagodi Robottinn)- you will know that electrical devices are fully capable of taking on a life of their own in order to annoy you and i believe that is what happened when the wand hit the water.
My first idea was to take the wand into the garage and deal with it in the morning but i guess the evil little bugger was afraid of the dark coz as soon as i had closed the door and gone back to my warm and cosy bed it went absolutely spaz and made the magical harp sound over and over and over... LIKE IT WAS BEING TORTURED!! I rushed back to the garage to deal with the noise and in my tired state told the thing "YOU NEED TO DIE!!"
The little pink wand (don't let it fool you that it is little and pink- it is not cute- it is evil!) got marched into the kitchen and stuck head first into a glass of water to drown there.
3 seconds into this act i felt a little bad watching the drowning wand as it blinked away in the dark kitchen and gurgled underwater harp sounds but i didn't let it get to me too much. As soon as the blinking stopped and the sound went out of tune i yanked it out of the glass of water and wrapped it up in kitchen roll paper and buried it in our rubbish bin under the sink.
May it rest there in peace and may I sleep undisturbed tonight!

p.s. please comment if you read my blog- I'd love to know who does. :)
P.P.S. Hrefna- I know you animate dead things all the time but rest assured, the wand is not good- it is evil!

The return of the lazy blogger.

The weather is gray- there is no sun and no wind and no rain - just a big fat nothing outside. I have not done much today and nobody has rung me or texted me. Basically- there is not much happening and "why are you bloggin Sif" you might ask? Weeellll (as Becky would say in her cute high pitched voice... )I felt like it and i am ashamed to see how long it is between my blogs. I didn't realize that it was so blimmin hard to discipline yourself to write these things so i guess the time has come for me to apologize profusely to my 2 sisters and Alda, who's blog's i read on a daily basis and frequently harass for not writing often enuff... SORRY GUYS!! I had no idea!!!
I'm pretty certain that i will be the non stop blogger once my trip begins. :) Matt and i are so freggin excited and we are nearly there with booking everything. All accommodation is booked and arranged and all the flights are sorted too. We are waiting on a quote from the travel agent who is giving us some pricing for the Eurostar train between Paris and London. Gosh .. I'm seeing flying dollar bill signs as i talk about this coz it's costing an arm and a leg to go on this trip but it's going to be so worth it.
And.. on top of that we just bought a brand new couch as well. A big family like us needs somewhere to sit and the one we have on loan at the mo is not the biggest around. It's still being made but we should have it in about 4 weeks. It's a 2 x 3 seat, L shape corner suite with brown micro suede, a high back and a recliner on the end on the right hand side (the old man seat) and I can't wait to get it so i can start working on leaving my ass print on it while watching all my favourite programmes like The Office and Battlestar Galactica and Heroes and The Soup. :)

P.s. The other fish died as well so the tank has been empty for 2 weeks now. Matt took the girls to the pet shop today tho and got 3 little orange fellas who are the new inhabitants. They seem to like it fine- now we wait and see if they make it.

A death in our family.. :(

I'm very sad to report that the fish love has ended and sadly our old Alina has passed away. The new fish (who was known as ET and is now Goldie) seems very destroyed over this and actually a bit ill too.. :-/ maybe there is some sort of a version of the bird flu in our fish tank... except it's the fish flu.
We had a late flush funeral the other night ... very emotional.

Not much else to report today .

Sif.

Weekend away.

Naughty naughty me- but hey - at least i know now that it's like to have your blog site staring you in the face every day saying "write about something... just ANYTHING!!!" and then you figure that most of the things you have just done for the last few weeks are so blllaahhh that they are not really worth turning into some groovy story.
But i can and will tell you about the great weekend that i just had in Whangamata (that is a tiny town in NZ where lots of people have batches- translates into Sumar hus- including Matt's mum and dad) We figured that rather then being lazy at home we'd do it somewhere else with other people so we invited a couple of mates to come down and play games with us. We left early on the Friday to get through most of the traffic before it turned into major rush hour. Chad and Peter were right behind us so as soon as they arrived we un boxed the toys and the guys were right into the Trivial Pursuit while i shot down the road to get some petrol for the car and some din din's for us all. By the time i got back they had already moved on to Buzz the movie game and i joined in there. It didn't matter how many times we played- Matt always won, Chad always came second- I third and poor Peter always lost. And the more wine he had the more he would swear at the game and the more he lost the more he wanted to play to see if he could win the next time PRICELESS I TELL YA!! hahahhaha ;)
We played til late hours but still had time to move on to the wii where i played a bit of bowling and tennis. FUN FUN TIMES. The next day was spent playing the loooooongest game in history called Axis and Allies and it's all about the second world war Germans and English, Japan, America and USSR fighting for world domination.... yawn- i lost interest after giving it 2-3 hours at the table but the guys kept going for 9 HOURS! Just crazy!

And that is all that has happened lately....

;) hhahaahaa - well, sort of. I'm in a bit of a state of routine at the mo;
Monday's- work- pick up the girls- dinner - TV - sleep
Tuesday's- work- night in with Matt watching something and dinner- sleep
Wednesday- work- pick up the girls- Netball- dinner - TV - sleep (note the difference here between Mondays and Wednesdays- pretty awsum)
Thursday - work- pick up the girls- dinner - TV - sleep (not that i could easily think that a Thursday is a Monday - difference is that the rubbish goes out on Thursday morning)
Friday -work- pick up the girls (every other Friday) - dinner - TV - sleep

I guess that is what having children in your life is all about and even tho this may look horribly boring in writing- it's not so bad. We do have lots of fun and every now and then Matt and I will go to meet some mates or see a movie and get some lovely friends to baby sit. I mean- we have after all seen both Iron man (good) and the new Indiana Jones (not so good) so we can't be accused of being total hermits. ;)

We have a busy weekend planned with lots of catching up with mates and Chantelle and Becky will no doubt be up for playing some games or having some fun.

That's all for now!
;)
x
Sif.

A family of 7

Our family got bigger yesterday. I went out and bought a new gold fish (it was my pet mothers day present to myself as a pet mother- he he ) and Freyja just didn't understand how i could pay so much attention to some new wet, slimy and (in her opinion) dumb pet when she was there looking all fluffy and sweet. She kept leaping up in front of the fish tank and sticking her head in my face (or rather head butting me) when ever I'd try to talk to the fish! hahahaha so funny ( and cute)
We have had other fish in the tank before (well... before they went into the big flusher that flushes to fish heaven) and they have always just stayed in their own corners minding their own little fish business but yesterday some sort of fish love happened in the tank ( no - not that kind- DON'T BE RUDE!!) and I'm pretty sure i heard music (Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture, by Tchaikovsky) when i pored ET into the tank with Alina (i named the new black fish ET coz of his big goobbie eyes and Chantelle had named the orange fish Alina coz that was the mermaids name in Barbie fairytopia... i think i have this right... )
Now they swim side by side everywhere in the tank and nuzzle each other and stuff. They even played "who can stay in the treasure chest cave longer" for a little while.
;)

I've booked my Iceland tickets for the big trip now. (Iceland Express from Stanstead worked out cheaper then Iceland Air Barry)
All there is left to book now is the Hotels in Dubai and Paris (hoping that Rachel will put us up in London like she said) and then the Euro star train ride from Paris to London. :) Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait Can't wait.
By the way- Hrefna I'll send you the dates and all that malarkey OK.
xx
Over and out.

Only 3 months to go.

Hi dee ho readers. (all 3 of you !!) ;) hehehe
Karen gone.
Mamma and Barry gone.
No kids this weekend.... and Matt's parent leaving the country on Saturday as well, to venture over to Greece and Germany and Canada and Alaska!! ... WOW!! Now there is something i haven't had in a while... only 2 people in the house!
The question is just now "what do we do with all this extra time".. or rather.. what do I do with all this extra time coz i know that Matt will be busy playing with his new toy that i got him for his birthday this morning. The X-Box!!!! (and grand theft auto 4 off course) Maybe I'll skip down the road to do some scrapbooking for a couple of hours on Saturday and leave my wonder boy to work on his gaming tan in the house while i mindlessly cut some photos and old paper into funny, freaky and fabulous shapes.

Yesterday was exactly 3 months until we leave for our super adventure trip and I'm already dreaming up all sorts of things to do in Dubai, Paris and England... not to mention when we get to Iceland. One of the things i want to do when we get to Paris is to find a gallery that sells big posters with fun retro pictures on them or old movie posters and buy some for the walls at home. There is no place in NZ (that i know of) that sells posters like that.
Another thing I'd like to do is to go to the Yann Arthus-Bertrand gallery and buy some of his Earth from Above photo posters. http://www.yannarthusbertrand.org/yann2/accueil.php
I rang around a few places in New Zealand the other week to find out if some of the places that have had his exhibitions on maybe had some left over posters but they had all run out and one of the lady's told me "oh no - i wish you had called a week ago coz i just gave the last ones i had to a school in this area!!"
WHY DID SHE TELL ME THAT !!! bugger ... hahahhaha but i will not despair- i will just go to Paris and get my own poster.
my favourite one is the Kenya one that has the tree in the desert and then i also really like the Heart in Voh from New Caledonia. Actually- i like most of the ones where you have to look twice to figure out what it is.
:)
That is enuff rambling from me today.

Over and out.

MUM- is that you !!???

I thought Matt was acting a bit strange last week but i couldn't quite put my finger on what he was up to or what the deal was. So when my mamma poked her head through my ranch slider on Wednesday you can only imagine how surprised i was. :)
It's only going to be a short stop while Barry is doing some mega business in Australia (where by the way he did the same sort of surprise to Karen ) so they will be here til Tuesday and then it's off again travelling the world - but it's so nice to see them and for Matt to be able to meet them before we go to Iceland this August. Takes the pressure off a bit for when he meets all my crazy viking relatives and friends.

I can't believe how many guests we have had lately- First Stina a year ago- then Hrefnulius over x-mas- Karen shortly after that and then Mamma and Barry straight away after Karen! I'm feeling rather special and spoilt having so many people come see me all this way at the end of the world. I guess they do it for me coz they know I'd do it for them.
:)

It's Matt's Birthday on Friday next week so maybe i can try to give him an equally big surprise then.

Brain drool over.
xx

My second blog (coz the other one died.. the one i called "my first blog)

AAARRRGGGHH- not a good start. I wrote an innocent little blog to post to the world and it.. well- it just went POOOHHFFF! and now it's like i never even wrote it. >:-( STINK.

But I will try to recreate what i wrote to my best ability and try to let go of my anger !! ;-) hahah
I've been giving other bloggers a lot of hard time lately as their brain drool is my entertainment and i get very frustrated when i go to their sites again and again and again and there is nothing new to read- i know i know... most people only have so and so many interesting things to report on from their every day life so i guess i'm being a little bit demanding- so i've decided to start my own blog now to make things a bit even. :)
I suppose i better try to post this and see if it works.....
here goes EEEKKKK!!

xx
Sif

P.S.. I found the other blog... still learning i guess.
:) hahaah

My first Blog

I figured since I'm so demanding on my sisters to keep writing about what they are doing- i should really haul arse and do something about it myself. Most people start these things up when they travel and then stop doing them when they get back to normal life and repetitiveness- but I'm going to try to do my best at writing about .. well.. just what ever.

No promises though.

:)

The highlight of last week was going out with some of my girlfriends and having a good ol boogie- not something i do a lot these days so that makes it even more fun...