The Thursday with another migraine for Mike

Hi,


Mike is having a bad run of migraines at the moment.  This must be his third in less than two weeks.  He went home in the late afternoon from work to head straight to bed.

Toby's exam seemed to go ok.  Stats.  He said it was easier than he thought it would be.  We shall see.

Sorted out tea for the boys and made myself salad.  Mmmm.  And I was in bed and asleep by 7.30pm.  I think perhaps I am fighting off something.  Maybe just tiredness.  Hahahah. 

Walked in this morning.  About to go to the gym.  Oosshh.

Toby has today off - mid-term break. 

Pink this weekend.  Excited, much?  Totally!  Dunedin - here we come.

Lots of love,
Angela

The Wednesday with Celia's fantastic lunch

Hi,

After walking in and going to Spin, I ran at lunch time with Mary.  Such a good exercise day.  And what's more, Celia brought in a superb lunch to share with me.  All vegetarian.  And soooooo good.

Iced latte in my takeaway cup with Victor

Celia's scrumptious lunch

Got home and sorted tea for Toby - who promptly turned up his nose.  But Mike was just getting in, so he ate it.

Guess that is a win.

And a busy day today.  The new normal, as we're calling it.

Have an awesome day.  Toby has his stats exam today - a mock one that only counts if we fails to sit the end of year exam for whatever reason.  I hope he does well.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday that felt like Thursday

Hi,

If only it was Thursday already.  I'd be that much closer to seeing Pink in concert in Dunedin!  Woot!  Yep - Saturday will see us there.  Forsyth Barr stadium.  Oosshh!

Iced latte with Andrew.  His thing is showing the number of our order from now on.

Met Mike for lunch - with Chenda and Celia.  We had ramen down on Victoria St.  Pretty good too.

Had my haircut after work - and headed home.  Toby was trying to get our printer to work.  And he did so in the end through sheer persistence.  Copied files to a USB and then plugged that into the printer.  Good on him.

Mike was working late and I was asleep by the time he got home. 

He also got a migraine this morning at 4.30am.  Poor guy.

Hope your day is a good one.

Love,
Angela

The Monday back at work

Hi,

Oh - the painters came.  We didn't expect that.  And what's more - they have started on the exterior.  Ooohhhh!  So exciting.  It's entirely possible the inside is finished.

Painting inside looks done

Anyway, Toby had more mock exams.  They possibly shouldn't call them that as if the final exams are disrupted for any reason, these exams are used to determine his grade.  They should be called "back-up" exams.

I got home and cooked tea for Toby.  He fancied tacos.  Which is a change from the request for mashed potatoes lately.

Mike worked late but got home and chatted to me and Toby before bed.  Had a good sleep, although what possessed Mike and Toby to shout at each other (in joy!) really late so I woke with a huge fright escapes me.  Ok.  Possibly it wasn't super late.  But that's not the point.  I was asleep!

Toby has a day off.  Hope yours is a good one too.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with a family birthday - Ron's 90th

Hi,

We had a lovely weekend in Wellington (me and Toby) while Mike went to Whakapapa with the Snow Crew and Jase went to Auckland (on Sunday morning).

Iced latte with Andrew on Friday - turned into lunch.

Moxley checking out the deck

Model cat

Our other model cat

And they do like each other - sometimes.

I was supposed to get a photo with Col - but she got called away to the real photo shoot.

The wee cat was lounging into Smudge because the suitcase dipped down where they were.  And eventually, Moxley was lying on top of Smudge, her eyes finally shut in sunshine, sleepy bliss.  And Smudge decided that was a little too familiar and threw her leg around Moxley's neck.  It was amusing to watch.  Moxley decided that was a little too uncomfortable, and they eventually separated.


Mike had a migraine on Saturday up at the snow.  Probably too dehydrated again - he needs to sort that out and pre-empt it with a lot of water.


Saturday saw frantic tidying from us - laundry mountains and carpet cleaning.  Smudge had decided Toby wasn't keeping her dirt box clean enough and that spot of carpet looked way better.  And what's more - she could use those handy tracksuit pants lying there to cover it all up.

Hahahah.  Hopefully it teaches Toby a few things. 

I went out with the boys and got groceries to sort things out.  Dropped Jase at work and generally chilled out after the cleaning chaos. 

Toby and I headed to Tawa for the Bichan family birthday - Ron's 90th birthday. Technically on Sunday (same as Jase) but the party was Saturday night.  And what a great time it was.  Food, speeches, lots of memories talked about.  Yep - it was fun.  Toby said he loved it too.

Tawa Union Church was the venue - and the dinner was catered.  I got vege options - eggplant and kofta.  And salad.  Yum.  The cake was amazing - but full of fruit and ginger. 

Everyone was there - so it was good to catch up with people I don't see a lot.

Black hole cake!

Iona did the talk for the first generation of kids, and a few of the grandchildren also talked about their memories of Ron.  Ron's brother in law also talked.  And there was an awesome song.  To the tune of the "Do ron ron".  Or whatever that song is called.  What great fun.

Mike's mother was also there - up especially for the event.  We'll see her next weekend too.  Yay!

Toby and I dropped off Mike's mother and I may have grabbed some Maccas for Toby on our way home.

Next morning I was up early to take Jase to the airport.  Then back home and taking Toby to some games shop.

Board games - what...?

We chilled until Mike got home super late.  I was dead to the world already - poor guy.  He wanted a lift and I was asleep.

But he had a great weekend.  Best snow conditions he's seen up there.

Hope your weekend was good too.  Toby has exams today - fingers crossed.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with social club night burgers

Hi,

I got to see Iona for lunch yesterday!  Yay!  We went to Machete and had iced lattes and mushroom tacos.  Mmmmm.  She's in town for Ron's birthday party this weekend - prepping the last minute things to organise the event.

Lunch at Machete with Iona

I went out with workmates after work for a social club evening.  We tried WOAP - The Tasting Room.  I ate a falafel burger.  Mike did their beef burger paired with Garage Project beer.  And we all thought it was pretty good.  Serge maybe didn't enjoy his pineapple soaked in rum for dessert.  And when I tried some, I agreed with him.  Yuck!

Towel shaming - and see how one side of the bed is made?  Hahah

Celia took a pic of excited Gilberts riding one of the new double decker buses

We caught a double decker bus to the end of Lambton Quay with Celia - just because we wanted to try them.  And Celia got off earlier than us - and took our pic.  We were way too excited.  Maybe she didn't need to get off early at all - just didn't want to spend more time with us.

Mike wants to get a plastic kids steering wheel for that seat on the top level.

Home and into bed.  Up early for my walk into work and Spin.  Mike has his gear in town - he's off skiing.

It's all go, go, go!

Jase turns 19 this weekend too.  He's off to see his other family for his birthday.  :-)

Enjoy your weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with date night

Hi,

Had my first outdoor lunchtime run (a #runch I have discovered) for months and months yesterday.  The weather was stunning so I ran in a t-shirt and shorts.  End of August and beautiful.

Run - not sure I believe these stats

Mind you, today we're back to winter grey. 

After work I nipped out to get some dinner from New World and went to visit Jo.  She ate chicken salad with gusto - so I guess I chose quite well.  Then back to Courtney Place to meet Mike for date night movie.  We had Gold Lounge for The Meg. 

Ummmm.

Mike called it possibly the worst movie he has ever seen.

Oops.

Anyway, the bus came as we stepped out so we were home early enough.  Slept well.  Can't believe my weekend isn't yet upon me.  This week is dragging.  Come on already!

Have an awesome day!

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with not a lot

Hi,

Work was work.  But I did get to Spin afterwards.  Yay.  That made up for the debacle of a morning with half drowned kitten and bemused painters.

I caught the same bus home as Mike.  Again.  We're good at the sync up now.  Cooked tea for the boys (chicken schnitzel and mash - with broccoli) and I ate my favourite salad.  Mmmmm.

By the time we finished that, it was late.  Mike did homework for the lodge.  I got distracted by my phone.  And before you knew it, it was so past my sleep time.  The alarm at 5am was a bit of a shock and a momentary thought passed through my brain to just turn it off and stay in bed.  But that was fleeting.  Up and at them.  Walked into work at 5.20 and went to Spin. 

Oosshh.

Hope your day is a good one.  Halfway through the working week.  Or hump day, as it is known.

Love,
Angela

The Monday back at work

Hi,

The cold wet weather has arrived.  Brrrr.  But I did see Andrew mid morning for a coffee catch up.  Iced latte even in the cold.

Iced latte with Andrew - yes, it was cold and wet outside.  Hence the jacket.

Highlight of my day.

My yoga in the morning was slightly ruined by some dude in skin tight shorts right in front of me.  His updog was kinda in my face with his lumpy shorts.  Now I understand the public distaste of men in lycra.  Hahahah.

Anyway, I guess I also enjoyed Spin after work.  Had to fit it in somewhere.  Came home on the bus - Mike got on the same one.  Heated up lentil pie for me and Jase.  And Toby had a migraine in the afternoon, so he was home sick and I made him toast.  He kept that down.

This morning I had to stay back to meet the painter.  Mike went in early to get his first gym session in after his wee op.  That really knocked him for six.  Anyway, chaos was how I would describe it.  The downstairs is cat territory, but I had to show the painter the bathroom as Mike wants the same colour in the upstairs bathroom.

I took the painter through Toby's messy room - and into the bathroom.  Moxley had filled the litter box - it was so smelly.  And she made a bold bid for freedom as I opened the door.  I scooped her up only to discover she was soaking wet and bedraggled looking.  The painter was in the middle of the Gilbert maelstrom about then.

I got Toby to sort things out downstairs - and he said Moxley had fallen into the toilet - hence her soaked appearance.

All just totally gross.

I also fled the house.  The painters must be thinking they don't get paid enough to handle this sort of household.  Either that, or our place makes their house look like heaven.

Right.  Time for the day to start.  Again.

Have a great day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Wellington

Hi,

What a lovely Wellington weekend we had.  Friday I was shattered though so I went home and crawled into bed basically.

But Saturday I felt much better.  Jo came over for brekkie and a movie (we watched Pride, which was an excellent British movie about Lesbian and Gay groups supporting the miner's strike in 1984/85) and then went out with Mike to enjoy (hah!) a board game afternoon.

Gilbert logistics meant tricky juggling ensued.  Toby had mates over for their own board game afternoon.  So I couldn't go out to my thing until either they left or Mike got back.

They mostly left and Mike got back.  So off I went - with perfect timing as I had to be in Lower Hutt by 6.45pm.  But as I left, I met one of Toby's mates (Isaac) at the bus stop, so I asked if he wanted a left into town.  That made me a tad later than I wanted.

But I got to Sreejith and Anjali's house at 6.40 and we left there and went to the hall where the Indian church was putting on a feast for a festival - and raising money for the Kerala floods.

An Indian feast 

Matt and Leanne about to tuck in

A bunch of us at the Indian feast

Saturday afternoon

Back to Sreejith's house for a chat before the call of my bed proved too strong.  I collected Jase from work on the way home and into bed as soon as I was there.  Mike was already well asleep.

Up Sunday to prep for the day.  Grocery shopping and then off to the rugby!  Otago v Wellington at Westpac Stadium.  Oosshh!

Otaaagggoooo!!!

At the rugby!  With these traitorous friends - Jo and Momo

Yes, well...  Two mins into the game and Otago were behind by two tries.  Aarrgghhhh!   It kinda stayed a bit like that all match.  But it was lovely weather and Prasad, Anooj, Vidya and Siva seemed to enjoy their day out.  James and Celia were behind us with Eva and Charlie - and they were both pretty good at entertaining themselves.

And we were on the TV.  One of Mike's friends posted it as he was watching the match at home.

On Tosh's TV!

Alas Mike got another migraine just as the game wrapped up. Poor Mike. They do come in clusters. But a few Neurophen and half an hour in a dark room seemed to sort him out okay.

Jo and Momo took over our kitchen again and cooked up lentil Shepherd's Pie.  Yum!  And we chatted to Jo's mother too.  Via Skype.

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

Cheesy goodness on top of lentil shepherd's pie

Jo and Jase boogie in the kitchen.  Ok - Jase stopped when I got my phone out.

Smudge chilling on my lap

Moxley in the sun

Cat under my duvet

Iced latte time @ Machete

After tea, we chatted for a while before Mike fell asleep (pretty much) and then Jo and Momo headed off.

Another week looms.  A good weekend coming up - Ron turns 90.  Oosshh.  And it is Jase's birthday too.  He's heading up to AKL to see his other family.  :-)

Right.  Time to start the day.  Have a good one.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with not a lot

Hi,

Someone at work celebrated 20 years yesterday!  Wow.  That is so cool.  We had cake.  And other things.  Nom, nom.

The rest of the day tootled on by and I was on a 14 bus not long after 5.30pm.  It was crowded and I heard Mike's voice near his stop, which was unexpected.  He was supposed to have a lot of after-work things on.  He didn't see me for ages as I was sitting down and it was busy.

He had a migraine.  Sad face.  But after we got home, he perked up and I fed him and Toby and he came right.  Jo and Momo popped in for a chat and a cup of tea - and he hit his stride.

Anyway, got to bed just after 9pm and I slept like a log until 5am.  Oosshh!  It's nearly the weekend.  Bring it on!  We're off to see Otago v Wellington in the rugby. 


Have a great weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday that felt like Tuesday

Hi,

Oddly, it does mean that Friday will feel like it gets here a lot sooner than usual.  Woot!

Tyrone finally figures out my phone and takes a pic

Aroha - plant-based cuisine.  Yum!

Had a busy day at work, but got away early (ish) and met Mike at the New World next to my work.  He was shattered.  We got home, and we ate something and he warmed up and felt slightly better.

But, it turns out I was pretty exhausted.  I steered Mike to bed around 8pm and I was asleep in minutes.  Zzzzzzzz.

Up early and into the day.  I am hoping to get to Spin after work today at the Evans Bay gym.  Oh!  No.  I forgot a bike lock.  Gah!

Anyway - have a great day! 

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with unexpected dinner guest

Hi,

With Mike still knocked about by the op, he asked me to come home early instead of larking about at the gym.  So I bought spag bol stuff and headed home on the bus at a decent hour.

Jo was finished her work too and so in a flurry of texts I had invited her to join us for tea.  Toby was happy to get spag bol for the first time in a while.  Yay.

Neighbour's daffoldils

Umm - maybe our daffodils?

We chatted after dinner with Jo and I think her presence cheered Mike up nicely for the evening.  I went to sleep pretty early and slept my best sleep in ages.  Woke at 5am and stumbled out of the house at 5.25 (5 mins behind my schedule) and walked into work.  Got a spin class in (only time I could squash it into my day) and now at work.

Phew!

Hope your day is a good one.  I think Toby is off sick this morning.  Wonder what is wrong there.  Surely it's not my spag bol!

Love,
Angela

The Monday back at work

Hi,


After a busy launch into the week, I managed to get a Spin class squeezed into the portion of my day between work and home.  Yay!

Mike was exhausted and when I got home, he went to bed.  Toby had cooked tea for himself and Jase.  Ummm.  If you can call chicken nuggets "cooking".

Before long, I followed Mike to bed.  I did tidy up a wee bit.  But I have some more to do tonight to get the house vaguely tidy.  Laundry.  There is a mountain of laundry.

Mike is still all blocked up - and so tired.  He was asleep by 8pm.  He slept like he had a head cold - lots of breathing through his mouth.  I hope it all clears up soon and he feels better.

Anyway - another day.  It's lightly raining here today.  But hardly cold.

Have a good day wherever you are.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with me skiing and Mike recovering

Hi,

Mike had his operation on Friday and I got updates during the day.  He was recovering by 10.30am Friday and by all accounts it had gone well.  I suspect I was stressed, as about 15 minutes after he told me he was ok and out of surgery, i got a migraine.  And I hardly ever get those anymore.  Doh!

My weekend was a different story to Mike's - all go for me.  Road trip.  Skiing.  I dropped Mike at the hospital at 7am and then drove into town with the car and all my ski gear (and others' gear too).  I couldn't park at Clifton Terrace with the roofbox on - I clanged the height restriction sign as I approached and had to back out and figure out another car park to use for the day.  One without a height restriction.  Behind the Beehive on Bowen was it.  $22 later.  Ouch.

Anyway, after sorting out the logistics around meeting the road trip punters, I left work on time at 4pm and walked to the car.  I met Momo there and drove to the Z on Taranki (just down from Toby's school ) to meet Jo, Denny and Melissa.  They were all on time and we squashed in the remaining gear.  Luckily Melissa had decided to rent on the mountain.  Woot!

We were off.  We hit the usual SH1 traffic on the urban motorway and read on the road signs about a traffic incident at Paremata.  So, over Paekakariki Hill Road we went - and possibly not a bad option.  Not sure it saved much time, but given Melissa's exclamation of joy as she saw the view from the top of the hill, it was worth it for that.

Stopped at Bulls for tea.  I had a sandwich from the BP - and it wasn't bad.  We got back on the road and someone suggested listening to a podcast.  The podcast was "My Dad wrote a porno" and it was the funniest thing I have heard in ages.  I had to get them to stop the podcast at one point as I could barely drive.  My eyes were watering and my abs were working hard with all the laughing.   We got up to the lodge lateish.  We got our gear up and realised we also had to get the food up from the storage place with the others in our group.  It didn't take too long, and after Momo's lodge welcome talk, I was ready for bed around midnight.  However, someone was in my bed and had left me the bottom double bunk.  I was supposed to be in a single bunk.  Weird.  Ok.  I didn't mind getting a bigger bed.

Saturday morning

Sunrise looking at Mt Taranaki

Saturday was the best day ever.  Good snow and not a breath of wind.  I skied all day with Jo, Momo, Melissa, Anna and Daniel.  Jo taught me the finer points of queue jumping without actually annoying anymore.  It helps that she is small.  She especially figured out how to cut the first queue at 9am down from a 40 min wait to just 15 mins.  Skills!  As soon as we got up Waterfall, we headed west.  Skied all day out Far West - but the queues were so long.  The longest I spent in a queue was 23 minutes.  Which in the scheme of things, isn't long.  I mean, I have regular work meetings that last far longer than that.  But when the run only takes 3 minutes to do, it is a ratio that is a tad frustrating.  But it is what it is.  Busiest day of the year for them.  And the skiing was just grand.

I didn't take my skis off all day.  Such a good day.  At 3pm we wandered over to the Valley T and there was no queue.  I didn't want the day to end.

And sunset - with drinks on the deck

Sunset

Almost gone!

Sunday was a rinse and repeat.  I have never skied in such primo conditions for two days in a row at Whakapapa.  Amazing.  Makes me think my life pass was a fine idea.

The hard packed icy snow wasn't great on my skis - the new ones don't do ice that well.  They chatter.  I think I need to be super aggressive on ice to make them work - and ice makes me cautious.  Oops.  But, by 10.30am the snow was soft and you could ski anywhere.  And I did.

In the heavy off-piste snow my skis are great.  And I ski much faster.  I think that extra momentum helps me absorb bumps too - I never fell over the entire weekend.  Yet I skied much faster than normal.  I did catch bumps every now and then, but caught my balance as I flew over the bumps and kept going.

Ok.  Maybe this weekend really was my most favourite time skiing.  Except - I say that a lot after my ski days.

Sunday selfie

Where is Melissa?

Lift queue before the hordes also got up here

Something isn't right here.  Lyndsey was staying at the lodge and we finally skied with her Sunday

Jo and Melissa enjoy the day!

As we finished the day (I also didn't want to stop skiing), I walked back to the car (which was down the hill a little ways) in my ski gear.  Jo's feet were killing her, so I took her snowboard too.  She went back to the lodge with Momo.

I walked happily down to the car in my gear, carrying my skis on my shoulder and Jo's board in my other arm.  This random young chap talked to me and said I had a lot of gear and did I do both?  Hahahah.  I said I was carrying it for a friend that had sore feet.  And that I had a great day.  And how was his day.  He said I must have been the strongest person in my group.  And I don't know about that, but he kinda made my day with his throw away comment to a stranger.  So thank you to the unknown young man.

I stashed the gear in the car and switched to my walking boots and went back to the lodge.  Got my bag and came back.  Momo helped get the gear stored in the roofbox (ok - that was tricky.  The gear jammed the mechanism - it needs to be closed and free from anything to close properly).

The drive back was good fun.  More podcast and laughter all the way back.  We were in Wellington just after 8.30pm.  I dropped people off and got home around 9.15pm.  Saw Mike - he looks absolutely fine. But his nose is all snuffly.  Like he has a cold.

He hurts my heart.  I big piece of me wishes I had been home to look after him.  But I am sure he will be fine soon.

The week beckons - here's hoping it is a good one.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday at home sick

Hi,

Yep - I was off sick yesterday.  I am not going to blame the awesome dinner on Wednesday night though.  I was just not well.

But, back to Wednesday.  Ran to Jo's work (she works near the hospital).  At Toby's school, it started to pour down rain.  And when I found Jo's street (hahahah - that's funny - for another reason) where her work is, I spent ages stoating about in the rain trying to find it.  I was dripping wet by the time I slunk into her car.

Feet in Ugg Boots

Awesome dinner

Stunning morning view

Smudge keeping me company in bed when I'm sick

The Yorkshire Pudding get assessed

But, Momo and Jo cooked up a storm.  We met Mike at the supermarket and bought the stuff for tea.  Cooked it (Momo and Jo did - including Pfitzauf - or Yorkshire Pudding) and watched Fantastic beasts.

What a lovely evening.

Next day though - off sick.  Never mind.  Smudge snuggled.  Toby was also sick and came home from school.

At least I did get through the laundry pile and pack for the weekend.

And - Thursday evening I found out that Mike's operation today (Friday) is not so wee.  He is actually staying overnight tonight!

Now I am slightly worried.  Ignorance was bliss.  Wish I wasn't skiing now.  Sigh.  I should be staying home to look after him.

Toby has to do it now.  And send me updates.

Toby and I also took the cats to the vet for their checkup.  And we saw Vivienne and Ramble while we were there.  It was good to see her. 

Have a great weekend. 

Love,
Angela