Aroha of a Kindergarten Teacher

Te Tau Hou Hari.. xo.

And a new year it is at that, and I must admit that 2013 sure did run me a little ragged and saw my "101 Mihana's in 1001 Days" looking rather neglected... but..... in my defence, I bought a homely home, leapt on stage for the Bad Girls Musical, polished off my teaching degree upgrade and buried my Nan and rubbed a mama's feet while she gave birth to a wee lass...

And to strike off a few Mihana's on the list:

No:2 Learn to draw peoples faces - In the summer I had a quick fire lesson, learnt the ins and outs and decided to concentrate on one aspect of the face until I mastered it, beginning with the eyeballs..

No: 5 Complete a "Photo of the Year" trick which I started on the first week of January 2013, and completed in the last week of December 2013.. Do click below to view grand pikitia from all whom were involved..

SILVERFAIRY 2013 Photo of the week

No: 11 Plant an orchard full of fruit trees - Although I have not quite accomplished this, the grand piece of land I purchased in 2013 already has the beginnings of an orchard.. Plums, two types of apples, peach, and blackcurrants, and today I discovered an apricot tree with one lonesome apricot...

No: 13 Clear out the Storage Unit - Done and dusted, and now EVERYTHING that I own is on the half acre of land that I own..... Still bewilders me on a daily basis!

No: 26 Graduate with a Bachelor of Education ECE - Truly done and dusted!

No: 37 Make a hanging clothes dryer frame - No need too... The homely home has a grand one hanging above the fire place....

No: 40 Read all of George R.R. Martin's books - Done and dusted!

No: 48 Master Cider Making - Hmmmmm....... After picking apples from a tree that was planted when I was a wee one and fermenting them for a fair while with sugar and ginger, the taste was parfait... except the bottling technique was a failure - loosing 3/4 of the bottle in fizzy mess that was known to strip the colour from a cardigan, when first opened... yet delicious!

No: 58 and 59 Keep my office space under control/Recycle all paper from my office space - Before the 2013 teaching year finished, I rehashed my desk and the tamariki made loads of recycled paper, pots and seed bombs with the mountain of paper collected.. I even bought a wee filing system to manage important papers!?

No: 66 Buy a pasta machine and make beetroot pasta - I am now a proud owner of a red stainless steel pasta machine.. Next step: Beetroot pasta!

No: 68 Wear lipstick for a whole day - Do four nights in a row count? and once for a whole afternoon? I was led astray in an act of rehearsing for four months and then performing the Bad Girls Musical in the Taihape Town Hall with a grand cast under the direction of Wendy Revell.. Never in my whole life have I worn soooooo much makeup at once!

No: 76 Visit my Nan once a month - now this I was accomplishing until I was very blessed to spend her last 5 days with my Nan in June 2013.. These days were full of stories, laughter, tears and grand whaanau, and on the 26th of June she left us for a new journey, the same time that a mama's waters broke... and coincidentally enough that mama had been my Nan's nurse leading up to her maternity leave... I was asked to deliver Nan's eulogy, a blessing in its own sense but trying to write down everything that made my Nan sooo beautifully unique, was like trying to catch the wind - near done impossible... Miss her face dearly xo.