A Funny Couple of Days

School starts back on Monday, and as per normal the last couple of days have been busiest days of the holidays, it will be nice to get back into the swing of work, but I've enjoyed the past two weeks of school holidays even more than normal.  Often by the end of the first week I'm starting to feel bored, but not so this time, too much to do, and not enough time to do any of it.

Thursday I had dedicated to trying to organising another project that I need to start/complete, but it was a stop start kind of day.  And not much of other said project got done. 

Pak n Save called to tell me they had a hamper ready to be collected, and oh my gosh what a hamper it is, they have been so generous, this will be a great auction item I'm sure.  Soon after this my contact at Mega Mitre10 phoned and asked if he could drop some donations off.  He arrived with a variety of goodies, suddenly my garage is starting to really fill up.  And to top it all off, the photographer who is donating two of her photos on canvas sent me a message inviting me to come to her place and select the two prints I would like.  Things are starting to take shape, I just really need to get the venue and the speaker sorted, it's worrying me a little that I have no clear answer on those two, as that is what everybody asks me about when I talk "Kenya" to them.

Friday morning, I trotted along to a breakfast event the Mega Mitre10 contact invited me to, I arrived, and to be honest felt a little like I was taking advantage, this was most definitely for builders and tradies to catch up and talk shop, not the place for a random to come in and try and fundraise.  But so nice that he even thought about an opportunity for me.  

Friday is one of three Western Leader (free local paper) days and just as I was heading out the door to go and select the prints for the auction I saw it in my letterbox, a quick flick through and there it was, the article about me.  Now except for a picture of me aged 3 holding my easter egg, I've never been in print, and I'm no hurry to make it a regular occurrence, but what is it  they say "No publicity is bad publicity" time will tell... and yes I agree it's a shocker of a photo. 

The HC came through....

I've said it before, and no doubt I'll say it again and again before I get to Kenya,

"I know pretty some amazing people"

The Head Cheerleader (HC) and I chatted this morning as we often do, and again he asked if the proceeds from the sale of a domain name he sold and pledged to me, had shown up yet... and again I said "not yet" 


Then only an hour or two later, checking my banking and wooohoooooo my Getting to Kenya account is $1325.06 healthier than it had been at 06:00 this morning.  What can I say, "Thank you" just doesn't seem enough.  There is no way to describe this person he is just a genuine, good guy, and I'm lucky enough to call him my friend.  Not only had the Domain name money shown up, but a colleague had pledged to sponsor me and the money from her was there too, and more than I expected.... again "Thanks" just doesn't seem enough.  This day certainly had all the hallmarks of a good day.  

I had already planned to take a trip along to the local supermarket - Pac n Save today and chat with the manager, and thats what I did.  He was pretty welcoming, and immediately agreed to provide a gift hamper for the auction, that can be collected on Friday.  Thanks again Pac n Save Lincoln Road.  

Whilst the good buzz was on my side I also detoured off and popped into The Warehouse, I know one of the senior staff members here, a great lady, our girls went to school together and she had kindly sponsored me on the mudrun, so time to pick up that $20:00.  My plan had been to chat with the manager of The Warehouse Lincoln Road, but he wasn't onsite, but my sponsor took my information sheets and letter and said she would had it to him personally tomorrow, I'll take a trip back there and see if I can touch base with him in the next day or so.  

The beauty of having the school holidays off is all the time I've had over the years to spend with my amazing girls... Sadly as the girls get older (nearly 19 & 21) that time is diminishing especially with my eldest, she is in her final year at Uni, she is working weekends, Nannying three days a week, and doing her internship at an inner-city advertising agency.. phew just typing all that makes me exhausted... she really is a hard working, brilliant young woman.  

My youngest is in her first year at Uni, studying teaching, she too is another hard working young woman, who works both days on the weekend, but with the holidays it does give us time to do stuff during the week.  So today we grabbed the opportunity of a glorious sunny but cold day and headed north of Auckland to Orewa.  We got ourselves some hot chips and sat overlooking the beach eating them.  It was great chatting and watching the world go by, but not before discovering the best little 2nd hand bookshop with a very enthusiastic owner.   

All in all... a GREAT DAY.....