Do What You Gotta Do!!

There is a law in the Le Riche household at 5 Le Roy which says "Do what you gotta do, before you do what you wanna do!!" This goes for homework, flute practice, tidying room, watching TV and pretty much everything else that goes on here. Admittedly, it seems that this law is known only by me - despite the fact that I recite it to my children at least 53 times daily!! I suspect that the people who live at number 3 and number 7 know this law - and it is quite possible that those at number 25 and beyond also do!

Anyway, it would appear that for the last few weeks I have been doing far too much of what I 'wanna' do, and not enough of what I've 'gotta' do! One such thing of course being my blog! And now I have to try to remember what it is that has taken up sooo much time as to make blogging near impossible!

Well, netball features, as usual. Last term were grading games. This term is the proper competition for both Lou and Becs. So far so good and wins have been recorded every week for both of them - actually think Becs may have lost one, but hey! Both are playing really well and more to the point enjoying it enormously. This afternoon they had netball club and Lou's group were doing team building games - which they seemed to enjoy even more than the netball!!

While still on the netball theme, we seem to have morphed into Netball central here - At Christmas, one of Lou's main presents was a proper netball net and ball. In the absence of a suitable wall to mount it on, it was initially taped (yes taped!) to the back deck! DIY had never been one of John's stronger talents and apparently that has not changed since his departure - so that when the rain came and came quite often, eventually the taping gave up and the net fell down! Last weekend I discovered that on occasion, not having a husband is actually no excuse for getting all the maintenance done. Sunday at 10.00am friend Debbie's husband Pete turned up and waterblasted my deck (looks great!) 6 hours later, friend Kerry's husband Malcolm arrived in the drive way and mounted the netball net to the right height in less than 10 minutes!
Since then, the netball hoop has been in almost permanent use! There are pre school one on ones - and post school!

Probably the other main thing going on in the girls life at the moment is their school production. Every two years they do a 'Show'. In 2003 it was Alice in Wonderland. This year they are doing The Wizard of Oz. Rebecca is playing the part of a Poppy (pivotal character in the story!). I'm still smarting at the fact that Louisa, whose alter ego Lulu Le Riche has on more than one occasion been referred to as sounding like a porn star, has landed the equally important role of a masseuse!!!! (No, I don't remember one in the film either!) Anyway, morning school dash is regularly accompanied by a poppy and a masseuse singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow and most of the rest of the musical numbers!

From my side - well, work is work - not very exciting at present and I bailed out of doing my HR course until next semester. Bit pathetic really but couldn't actually figure out where I was going to find an extra 10 hours a week and so am intending on starting some of the reading during this term and the long summer break. Note that I say I am intending, rather than 'I have..'! Will start it next year and hopefully be done by July - then I may see what else I can do!
Also trying to get my derriere into gear and start writing the book I have been meaning to create ever since we got here. Thing is that the longer I put off writing it, the more happens, the more the perspective changes - the more the starting point changes! So far I have 3 first paragraphs and none of them are particularly gripping! Must actually sit down at some point and get on with it - obviously the plan is that I will be the next JK Rowling!

On the more positive and fun side, I have been doing a fair amount of snogging recently!! (sorry, always going to be a snog!) With the same chap, I hasten to add! Met him at a party - friend of a friend. A kiwi (!!!!!!!), called Mark. Very nice man - so far I have been taken out to dinner twice, been treated to wine and fish and chips while watching the sunset from the beach, and have walked and walked along some beautiful beaches in rain and glorious sunshine! And all of that in the space of two weeks!!

Probably most worrying thing about the dating thing is that I start sounding a bit kiwi when I am round Mark. The one vowel which I know I have mutilated since I got here is the 'a' in car and park and dark and Mark - normally they are okish, but over the weekend I was aware that I was actually calling Mark, Maaaaaark as we drove in the caaaaaaaaar - I will have to keep a very strict watch on things or soon I will be finishing sentences with 'eh?' and talking about 'fsh and chups'!!

The girls know that I have had a couple of dates, although they have only met Mark very briefly just once. They both seem to think Mummy dating is incredibly funny and take every opportunity to take the mick out of me mercilessly! Rebecca wants to know if I am in 'lerv' (no!) and last week asked me if I was going to marry him!! Have to confess to feeling quite sorry for Mark, who doesn't have children and will doubtless be grilled fairly extensively by Lou and Becs when he does meet them properly! Louisa has already decided she wants to beat him at Chess - which is highly probable, bearing in mind how quickly she thrashed me this afternoon! That said, I am an appallingly bad Chess player!

Unbelievably, on 22nd October, it will be 1 year since John left. Think the day may have to be marked in some way, if only to stop me dwelling on what might have beens etc...

Oh, and October is also the time that I have to send Christmas cards! This year, I will be sending them again - and for those of you I haven't apologised to, sorry there weren't any last year - wasn't quite sure how to rise above the situation and sound like I wasn't about to throw myself into the Pacific!

As for news on the John front...well that is all rather plentiful!

First off, he and Sharron are getting engaged! Would have liked to have thought he could have waited till we were divorced - and in NZ that won't be till we have been separated for 2 years, so next October. Presumably, soon after that there will be a wedding - although I can't actually work out what the point would actually be - did ask him but was met with a rather stony silence!!

On the same day that John hit me with the "what would you say if I said Sharron and I were getting engaged" thing, he also let slip that he and Sharron are thinking of moving to the South Island sometime in the next two years - which means that he will see next to nothing of the girls and I will probably never see daylight again. Most worried from the girls point of view - not quite sure how John thinks he can explain away the fact that he is leaving them again. Also not sure how he thinks he is going to repair any damage to the relationship on a maximum of 4 weeks a year. Find it all really rather sad as I always thought he had the makings of a good dad - seems to have got lost in the mess a bit for now. Hoping he refinds it before he damages Lou and Becs illusion of him permanently.
Of course the other side of the John possibly buggering off to the South Island thing is my end - on one hand, I confess that if the girls were out of the equation, I could happily never see John again. But they aren't. Plus, if he does head South, the me time that I have only just discovered is going to get completely swamped! But, guess both those thoughts are really just asides to the main issue.

Anyway, rest of the news is not publishable to the www! You will have to mail me and ask for the extra bits!!

Gotta go - as I wanna get some sleep! Love to England xxx