The week before Christmas

 Hi,

Oh - I have not been blogging, have I? Oops. Shows you how busy and out of routines things are. Let's recap.

18 December

My parents arrived Wednesday as scheduled. Toby and I spent the day shopping and enjoying brekkie at Seashore Cabaret before heading to the airport to pick them up off their afternoon flight.

Broccoli all grown up

Seashore

Seeing off Tenzing

Toby and Zoltan

Selfie time

When Mike got home from work we all went to the Khandallah pub for tea. Nice food. Caught up on lots of news. Toby got his Christmas present - noise cancelling airpods. And even with them not connected, as soon as you put them in, you could hardly hear anything in the pub. Wow.

At the pub Wednesday night

Watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation on Wednesday evening, as we have to do. 

19 December

Toby and Mike were up early to head to the airport. Toby's flying visit was over already. We miss him!

The weather was terrible. Rain and driving southerlies. Mike and I worked at home. 

20 December

Friday saw Mike collect Polly from the airport and then work from home. I took my parents out shopping to Queensgate. It was frenetic 'Christmas Crazy' there.

Shopping

Is this the... final Countdown?

Iced latte. 4 out of 10. :-(

Our next door neighbour is away her Chrismas holidays so we are feeding her cat, Lion. Mike fully trained me in feeding duties - I was disappointed to find out I did not need a chair and a whip. Lion is a beautiful wee cat. A torti - with splashes of ginger like Moxley. Oddly though, Lion's tail sticks straight up like Smudge's one.

Lion training

Our cats are expectant

21 December

Saturday saw me and Dad head to the cricket while Mike did the Ōtaki park run with Janine. Crazy - an hour and a half's drive each way just to run 5k. They are collecting Parkruns for some unknown reason.

Stunning weather out there

Mike finishes strong

Home iced latte

Basin - White Ferns v Aus

So ready for it

Loved the cricket. It was free entry! Was supposed to be $20 but I reckon the complete wash out yesterday and the impending doom of rain in the forecast meant they were hoping to get more punters coming along if it was free.

I loved it. Such good cricket. Aussies batted first and were anchored by a century by Annabel Sutherland. Good run rate. 291 total. Big ask for the White Ferns chasing that down.

Dad and I were either baking in the sunshine, or scurrying under a tree from the light rain. But mostly it was hot sunshine.

There was an awesome coffee cart there

We left at around the 15th over in the NZ chase. They only had a few more overs before thunder and rain stopped play. So we saw the best of the match.

Dad and I got off the bus in Willis St and walked down Lambton Quay, hoping to find Mum doing some shopping and wandering.

We did! Saw her waiting for the #4 bus at the end of Lambton Quay. We all went home together. And it started raining heavily then. As we walked from the bus stop to our house the thunder started. But we got home dry and safe.

Wholegrain sourdough

Washed the top cupboards

22 December

Got a few jobs done around the house. Mike mulched the garden and it looks so good now. I washed the top cupboards and they came up fabulous too.

Mike mulched the garden - here is the lower one done

And now both done

The catnip is thriving

Merry Christmas Neil

Mum and I went to visit Kara. As we got there and got cups of tea underway, Ange and Danita arrived for a chat. We all caught up on all the news. Then Neil got home with Rasta and then he and Danita and Ange left. Mum and I chatted for a bit longer. Then we headed home via a quick supermarket stop for milk.

Hey Lion

Fed Lion. She likes Whiskas shredded chicken. Tucked into that straight away.  Fed our cats. Fed ourselves. 

Mike went to meet some of his tramping friends for dinner at some Gordon's Barbecue in Johnsonville. He said it was delicious but he had burger envy. He might make me go and eat the jackfruit burger which is the only vegetarian option (other than chips). 

The slow cooked mānuka smoked wagyu brisket was pretty good though, apparently

Off to bed. A day and a half of work left. Then Christmas. And holidays. Yay!

Have a great day!

Love,

Angela