Always remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee

A professor stood before his philosophy class with an empty mayonnaise jar sitting amid other items on his desk.


When the class began, he wordlessly proceeded to fill the mayonnaise jar with golf balls. He then asked the students if they thought the jar was full. They agreed that it was.


He then poured a bag of pebbles into the jar. As he gently shook it, the pebbles rolled into areas the golf balls couldn't fill. He asked the students, again, if they thought the jar was full. They agreed that it was.


Next, he poured in the bag of sand which settled into even more spaces.
Once again, he queried the students and they agreed the jar was full.


Silently, he poured two cups of coffee into the jar. The students laughed.


'Now I will explain this experiment,' the professor said.


The jar is your life.
The golf balls are important things like family, children, health, friends, passions. If you lost everything but these things, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are other things that matter like your job, the car or your house. If you lost these things, you could still go on.
The sand is everything else--the small stuff.


Now, if you put the sand in first, there is no room for anything else. As in life, if you spend all your time on the 'small stuff' there is no room for the really important things.


So, take care of the golf balls first. Set your priorities.

Play with your children.

Get medical checkups. 

Enjoy the garden.

Have a quiet dinner with your partner.

Nap on the couch with your kids in your arms.

The rest is just sand. There will always be time to clean the house or talk to online friends later.'


After a few moments of thoughtful silence, one of the students raised her hand and asked what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled and answered simply, 'It just goes to show that, no matter how full your life may seem, there is always time for a cup or two of coffee with a friend.'

Christmas at our house

We had the kids a few days before Christmas, so we surprised them with our gift-hunt in the yard garden on Christmas Eve morning. [I don't know how they did it, but both managed to miss one present that I found later!]

We had pizza on the beach in New Plymouth on Christmas Eve, where we saw some kite-surfers and kayakers having fun on the water. We then went to Pukekura Park to see the lights that are really fun every year. (See Hubby's The Reluctant Photographer's photos for pictures.)

I thought this sleigh in the Begonia House was adorable, even if Santa looks a bit frightened.

We opened our other gifts on Christmas morning and I made omelets for brunch. Afterwards, we went to Opunake so the kids could swim. There were lots of people having cook-outs and just chilling.

Here's my favorite view of Opunake Beach.

When we got back to the house, Hubby cooked Christmas dinner for us. [What a prince of a guy!] We had turkey, veggies and Connie's Sweet Potato Decadence (which is SOOO aptly named) Thanks, Connie!

All in all, a great time for all of us. And still weird without snow.

Merry Christmas!

May you enjoy love and peace with family and dear friends at these Christmas holidays!

being older than dirt and other stuff

It's very  seldom that I tell anybody my actual age because it's just a number and I really don't want to be judged by it. I have always told the children that I am 'older than dirt'--which makes them titter and satisfied with my answer. Well, before we moved, we took some flowers to our neighbor. On the way back, Otterboy and I were walking down the drive and he looks at his dirty hands. Then he smiles and holds them up for me to see the dirt and says, "Here ya go, Peachy (that's what they call me). I have some of your first friends."

I'm not sure why I never bought brown eggs in the US. I saw them in stores, but never bought them. There is no choice here. All the eggs in the store are brown. I guess they have different colored chickens here.

When I say the number '2500' aloud, I say 'twenty five hundred'. Here it is 'two and a half thousand'.

I still think it's weird that, in the words 'fillet' and 'debris', all the letters are pronounced. And 'cafe' is pronounced 'calf'.


I ordered some earrings from LuShae Jewelry. I can't say which ones because they are for a birthday present but was very pleased when I got them. The quality is something that impressed me (and that's not an easy thing to do!). Everything about them sparkled! The order didn't take long at all, even for being shipped to New Zealand.  Head on over there and check them out! Just click here.

So far,in our town, the water is paid for yearly by the home owner. They are slowly but surely putting in individual meters, but looks like it will be a while before that system is complete.

Funny how brand names are used on the same items. In America, a permanent marker is a 'magic marker'. Here it is a 'vivid'.

Any drink with lemon in it is referred to as 'lemonade' here, whether it's Sprite or the kids' drink Raro (Kool-aid).

I find it confusing when US and BBC programs use both metric and imperial measures. Mostly, it's metric here, but why don't they sell eggs by 10's instead of dozens? And photos are printed in 6X4 or 5X8 or 8X10.

I'm still willing to sacrifice something huge for Italian sausage for a pizza.

Have you ever heard of a 'green prescription'? Well, it's a weird (voluntary) thing set in motion from the nurse in the clinic. On a regular prescription pad, they 'prescribe' that you should exercise for health and weigh loss [this paper you should keep on the fridge]. Then, they turn your name in to a local group who calls to give info on all the activities you should be interested in (but you're not, really) and discuss your limitations and suggest things you can do (but probably won't). Maybe I'll get motivated after everything is put away.