The Thursday with lots of work

 Hi,

This bout of weather is so bad. Another day of wind and rain - only now the wind has moved around to the south and we have a high of 9C.

9C.

Mike saw our old house yesterday with its new "Sold" sign out front. So it is all done and dusted. 

Sign is up

All done

Huge day at work. Too big. So much work and I ended up saying yes to being on a panel at the last minute. Someone couldn't make it.  I said yes. Then panicked a bit when I realised I had barely any prep time. But at 1pm I jumped on. My friend Anne was another panellist so that was good. And Patricia was great facilitating it all. Got through it. Not sure what I said. Got a few messages so I think I did ok.

More huge mahi after that and eventually I stumbled upstairs to sort out tea and met Elly, thinking the same thing. She said takeaways and I was on my phone so fast it was uncanny.

Ordered from the local Indian takeaways. Went to grab it. Mike got home around the same time as us. And we ate and chatted about our day.

Tom got home later. He also ate. And then Mike and I went to bed. Had the best sleep all week. Up for working from home. Again. But as the wind howls and rain and hail lash the house, I am good with staying in the warm house.

Home made iced latte

Put a wash on because Mike said he had no clean clothes left. Good luck getting them dry today. Hahah. Elly and Tom have the "party room" - a huge area out their back door that is under clearlite panels. So some will go there and some inside on a clothes horse.

Weekend beckons (not fast enough - I just had a panic that it was only Thursday!) and we have parkrun lined up tomorrow. And packing. Packing our stuff away here so it does not annoy Elly and Tom while we are away. And packing for our trip away.

Have a great day. Hope your weather is much nicer than my weather.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with working from home

 Hi,

It was a good old-fashioned dreary Wednesday in Wellington. Wind and rain all day. And today (Thursday) is a rinse and repeat.

I took no photos. My day was a bit crazy. But the highlight was Ange coming for a cup of tea at 4pm. Yay! Chatted to her before my next meeting. She did get a decent chat to Mike.

Then finished work late. Had leftovers with Elly and Tom. Watched some of the debates for the election. And then off to bed. Slept much better last night. Yay!

The wind howls around this house and I love it. When I stayed in Orkney (7 months pregnant with Toby) with Helen and Ron at Kate's house, it sounded so similar. The wind there came off the sea and smacked into the farmhouse. It really feels very nostalgic.

Up for a PT session at home here. Using our gym gear which is set up. And I managed to crank out a 40kg bench press session. Was very surprised. 2 reps x 5 sets. 

I have not really done a decent bench in ages. First, we were away so couldn't go to the gym. Then Quentin was away. Then I hurt my back. Then I was tapering for Spring Challenge. Then I got stitches in my back. So it has been a long hot second since some good bench work. The first rep felt very good each set. The second a bit less so, but I got the 2nd rep done for all my sets, and with noone spotting me too so failure was not an option.

Mike also had his session with Quentin, but he went into town for his. And Quentin will come grab a crate or 3 when he gets a free moment today. That makes less for me to tidy away after work. We need to be ready for Nepal with no mess here or upstairs.

Have a brilliant day! Enjoy it.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with a quiz win

 Hi,

After a hard day in the office, it was certainly nice to get over to the Green Man pub for the quiz. We were met by Elly, Ange, Lisa, Barb and Hamish and Jon. Well, and me and Mike.

Winners

The quizmaster had trouble with his tech and about halfway through none of the videos played. So some of the questions were just a question like: how old is Tatum O'Neal here? With a blank screen. No sound.

I got that question right. Hahah. Guessed it was when she won the Oscar for Paper Moon. Said she was 9. Everyone looked at me. Then said it might be 10 because it might be when she actually won the Oscar - not the age she was in the film.

I was right.

My best achievement of the night. And knowing the name of the Fleetwood Mac song Silver Springs. Thanks to The Beaches version on my playlist.

My underwhelming pirate scars

Ange dropped us home and we chatted to Tom for a bit then went to bed. I had a poor sleep. 2am was awake and listening to the wind and rain.

But once we got up this morning we realised it really was terrible weather. A fierce wind and rain. We are in the clouds here.

Working from home. Ange coming to visit later today. And I do have a coffee date in town to see Fiona Horrell and Barb.

Hope your day is a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Monday with stitches out and a lot of vaccinations

 Hi,

What a big day Monday ended up being. Mike had his vaccinations and doctor checkup and managed to secure me a 3pm appointment with our doctor for the same.

It meant I had to cancel my stitches out with the dermatologist and book into the GP nurse practice to get everything done at once. 

Mike and I both got vaccinated for: typhoid, rabies, and shingles (this one because shingles is bad, not because it was needed for Nepal).

My bill for the doctor visit was $820. Ouch. Lucky we sold the house.

Our tetanus was still good. My last one was 2019 - so it is getting towards the end of its effective life. But only if I get a particularly bad gash do I need to do anything.

Hep A and B are good. 

I need a follow up rabies one next Monday (booked appointment for 9am). And a follow up shingles one in 2 - 6 months.

Stitches got taken out. The nurse said it looked good. One was firmly stitched and the other was loosely stitched. No idea what that really means. But I have a plaster over each one on my back. Don't really need them she said. So next shower I will take them off.

Got home and back to work. And then went to make tea. Mike made quorn spag bol and afterwards, Tom fed the two dogs a piece of spaghetti. The visiting dog is a cocker spaniel, so Tom re-enacted that famous scene from The Lady and the Tramp.

The first time was the best but we never got a pic of that one.

Lady and the Tramp re-enacted

Spaghetti

There we go!

The jabs must have battered me around because I was in bed and asleep by 21:00. Up for bus ride in the rain to the gym. PT session. Leg day. Leg press and leg extensions. Then glutes. And finished with core.

Wet morning at the bus stop

Margies iced latte

Mike's coffee

Had brekkie at Margies. Mike joined me for a coffee. Then off to work. Big day (end of sprint) and then quiz night at Green Man.

Bring it on.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend where our house sold

 Hi,

Guess what? I could call myself homeless. Although Karen points out, technically I have somewhere to live. It is just already occupied. Hahahah.

YEs. Late Friday afternoon (maybe 4pm) the real estate agent rings to say we had an offer. At 430pm Mike was free so we chatted to Chris Day - our agent. He said the offer - and it was unconditional.

It was above the figure we would have been chuffed to get (only just - perfect placement by the buyer) so we decided to accept it. But that means that we had to bring the deadline forward from the 15th to the 10th (Saturday) at 2pm.

Chris rang around anyone interested and said the deadline was now 2pm Saturday and did anyone want to make an offer too.

Turns out someone did. So 2pm Saturday we had the original offer and another offer that was a tiny bit more - but subject to finance.

So - we accepted the original offer. Signed the paperwork. And settlement is Friday 13th Nov. So - open home was cancelled. And now we are homeless. Well - not really.

Chicken

Maranui iced latte

We had to be within phone reach Saturday so could not go into the bush for trapline as intended. To distract me, Mike took me to Maranui for brekkie. And a walk on the beach.

What a view

Walk on the beach

Rock pool

He sees wee fish and hermit crabs

Then Elly called and we met her at the cake tim to watch the Championship women's final. Pride v Kauri.

I had no skin in the game and was equally excited whenever anyone made a decent run with the ball. Alice was behind us - with Tamatha. And I pointed them out to Mike and got spotted by Alice. She waved. I waved.

Awks.

Hahahah.

With Elly at the women's rugby final

Go rugby! I did not mind who won

Us - with Alice behind

Pride smashed Kauri in the end. Good game. I enjoyed seeing Krystal Murray back on the field for Kauri. She played a huge game.

And as we walked out of the stadium, Chris called with the two offers. I mentioned all that. So by the time we got back to the car opposite Freedom Furniture, we had sold our house.

Back home to chill. Up Sunday and Mike was keen to get some projects done. He changed the batteries on his hair clippers. Such a good job. Took about an hour. Lots of fiddling and soldering. And we used a hot knife to cut away some of the internal plastic so the slightly bigger batteries could fit. All worked a treat.

Sunday project

Last time at our house - maybe

Garage is empty

Grabbed the last things of ours from our old house. Saw Shane's 3D printed car charger holder in the garage and took a last pic. It was so useful. Thank you Shane.

Got a trailer from G.A.S in Ngaio and headed to Sally and Andrew's to help them take more stuff to the tip.

Getting a trailer

Filling the trailer

That's what 580kg looks like

Had lunch with them. And then a few hours later headed back to our house to get the outdoor furniture. Got that back to Elly and Tom's place and Mike took the trailer back and I reassembled the table. We had to take the legs off to get it out of the house.

One of the captive bolts had expanded and come out. So I got 3 legs back on but needed Mike's brain to help with the captive bolt. Wood glue and a hammer was not working.

He put a different shorter bolt into the captive bolt and screwed it back into the leg. And that worked a treat.

Got it all back together and it is so much more stable than when we were using it. Hahahah.

Drizzly rain continued off and on all day. But it never caused us any bother.

Up for PT session for Mike - and jabs for Nepal for him. And I get my stitches out today. Yay!

Have a good day.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with an aborted walk home

 Hi,

After a busy day at work, Mike and I were finally ready to walk home. Stepped outside into a light drizzle. And being the soft humans we are, decided to catch a bus home.

The scheduled #13 disappeared off the board so we walked over to catch a #4. But the disappeared #13 ended up coming so we jumped on. Hahah. Just running late.

Got home just before 18:00 and cooked some tea. Tom was still a bit sick and ate in the lounge. But the rest of us had some gnocchi in a tomato sauce. I wanted canned tomatoes, but only found canned tomato soup. It was surprisingly good.

Helped Mike a bit tidy up the downstairs. Rationalising crates and cartons. But I wanted a shower and a bandage change before bed. So Mike helped me. Then he went back to continue and I went to bed to read.

Woke up Friday to a stunning day. Clothes washed and out. Towels in now. Sheets about to go in. Let's do this!

Trapline tomorrow. Our last one. Waaahhh. What a great activity this has been for us over the years. So pleased Elly suggested it to us.

Eyebrows tonight after work. And shopping. Hope you have a good day! And an even better weekend. Next open home is scheduled for Sunday - in some heavy rain. Oh well.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with a great walk home

 Hi,

What huge days. Yesterday (Wed) saw a big day at work. Then Barb and Mike and I walked home. Up St Mary's St, up the Northern Walkway, up Stellin track, then Paehuia to the top. 1 hour almost bang on from door to door. Barb went off to her house just before the top. Good fun.

Tom is sick - Mike and I hope we do not pick up any germs from him. He did stay in his room last night. And Elly slept downstairs. Hahah. She also does not want to get sick.

Mike cooked tea. Leftovers and some curry on rice. Ed by Mike: it was not a good dinner. I was trying to use up leftovers but there was not enough for 4 people so we ate degustation style with a small first main and then a second main 20 min later. And my rice was terrible - wet and gluggy. Don't know whether it was the different rice, the different microwave or just bad technique. Oh well. I will prep better for dinner on demand next time, and better judge how much 4 people eat too. 

Off to bed not long after that. Good sleep. Up for the bus to town. Gym session. Leg day.

Work iced latte

Walk home

Love this view

Prancing through the bush

Brekkie time

Brekkie at Smith the Grocer. Then off to work. Might try and walk home again. Have a great day!

Love,

Angela