The Tuesday with work

 Hi,

I didn't mention Monday night to you. Well, we were ready to go to bed, so I was checking the front door was locked before heading down the stairs. And for some reason I just checked out the window by the door. And there was Smudge. Locked outside since Mike did the bins. She snuck out when he didn't notice. She looked at me and just opened her mouth and did her (supposedly silent) mew at me.  So I unlocked the door and in she bounded.

Hahah.

Let's see. How was Tuesday.  After PT session I did shower at work and grabbed a French Kiss cart iced latte.

French Kiss cart iced latte

Rode home after work and got to one blinking battery bar. So needed to charge the bike up. And forgot. Made tea with Mike and then assembled his cake.

Prepping the magnificent cake for TOGAF

Assembly was fairly easy

And done

Remembered I had forgotten to charge the bike so reminded myself and Mike to do it when we took his cake into town.

We did that.  Cake secured at work in location. And forgot to charge the bike.

Sourdough

Made sourdough. And went to bed. Woke up - got ready to ride in. And then remembered I hadn't charged the bike at all.

Groan. Ended up making Mike catch the bus with me (he has my Snapper) and he went for a run while I went to the gym.  Bench.  42.5 kg.  3 reps for my first set. Then 2 reps for the next 4 sets. My arms are a bit noodly.

Will have to bus home with Mike after work today. And then pack for my weekend away to Rotorua.

Have a great day!

Love,

Angela

The weekend that was long and in Wellington

 Hi,

Mike ended up not going to Carkeek hut due to the atrocious weather. And it really was atrocious off and on over the weekend.

Instead, we concentrated on the stairwell. But the sanding and polyurethane took ages. The varnish needs 24 hours between coats. In the end I only got one coat on. Something to do tonight. And the cats can't wander around when we're doing it. So they get to stay downstairs while it dries.

Run in Otari bush

We got a run in Saturday morning in the bush before it started to pour down. Lovely. Mike did 10k and I did 4.5 - with a walk added in.

Walk up to flax clearing

Main aim was to get the stairs done. And there is a lot of work, so it is still not done. But I did get one coat of polyurethane on them all. Looks ok so we will persevere.

Time to start the varnishing

We met Sally at the gym and got a brunch with Andrew after it. And funnily enough, in the gym I spotted a PT that looked familiar. Then I remembered I sat next to her on my flight back from Aus in May 2022. My first post covid visit to Aus. She was a founder of Cryptid Women's Society in NZ and had been looking for ghosts in Ballarat. And she was also a PT. So my brain connected the dots and I said hello. Said I knew her from cryptid and the plane flight. And she was chuffed. Lisa. Funny.

First iced latte after gym

Second iced latte after gym

Derpy cat

Wally and Jason came over for a garage gym session. But I was gymed out already. We did have a cup of tea afterwards then Wally joined me on a bike ride up to the Skyline and down through the cemetery. Great fun. Hard for me.

Eyes

Bike ride with Wally

Started the varnish

Then it was all about the stairs. Got a coat on. Takes 24 hours to cure and needs 3 coats. So I know what I am doing this week after work.

What will it look like?

The floorboards under the wall

First coat done

From the top

Made bread

And biscuits

Elly popped in to say hello and pick up some overtrousers. Then it was time for tea. And we were in bed early.

Hope you all have a great week. Short one for me. I have Thursday off and I am flying to Blenheim at 1800.

Take care.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with big work changes

 Hi,

I took hardly any pics. Work was quite full on. Restructure announcements. I get a job title change, a reporting line change (waaaahhh) and I will get two squads. Hmmmm. Better than some though - some of the people I work closely with have no certainty. Mike is good.

I went for a run with Mike after work. But I was not feeling it. Did the 5k though. And he caught up with mates to dissect the news while I went home.

Smudge has decided the first cat food is now the best

Smudge has been off her food. So I switched back to the original pate she turned her nose up at a year ago. And she has decided this is the best food ever. I watched as she tucked in and scoffed the lot. Moxley came to check and crouched at the door until Smudge was done.

I went upstairs to have some tea and bake some banana bread. Hahah. Had two old bananas that needed some love in the shape of a batter and cake tin. These bananas were donated to us from Debbie and Shoshana's pantry from their stay here in Wellington a couple of weeks back. Thanks Debbie and Shoshana!

Bake that bread!

Off to bed and sleep. Mike got home late. No idea what time but I did wake up. Could not rouse myself enough to look at the time. Hahah.

Up for my ride in and PT cardio session with Quentin and Mike. OMG. It was so hard. I know I say that every cardio session. But - oohhh. I think I had 95kg on the sled push at one stage.

Lewis Road goodness

Back to work. Dougal came to chat about how the digital changes landed. I will snaffle him for a coffee at some stage soon. He is lovely. A few busines people have asked after things. Maureen especially. Debbie and Shoshana have my back - and plans for an all-woman terminal team in Oamaru as a backup career plan for us all. That has a certain amount of appeal. I rock a hardhat, as you all know. Okay - I think I rock a hardhat and have let you all know.

Right. Enjoy your day!

Love,

Angela

The weekend in Wellington

 Hi,

Thursday evening saw us meet Wally and Lesley in their new house. It was settlement day and they keys to the house were theirs. And we got a tour and everything. What a lovely, big house. I can see them making themselves very at-home there.  Lesley's mum and her partner came too. And Chelsea came after her work was finished. Lovely evening chatting about the next steps.

Fish n chips in the new house!

Made biscuits

Friday saw me fairly chilled at home. Mike had multiple clashing meetings Friday morning. So he was a busy chap. I made biscuits though! And Mike enjoyed them - even before I finished icing them.

Moxley does eat this kibble

Up Saturday morning to collect Janine and do park run at Waitangi Park in town. Bit misty - but that did burn off. I did under 35 mins! And it was my 8th park run altogether.

Park run start

Smudge in the sun

Model cat

Me running

Yeah - that is me running. Honest

I look a bit tired.

Back home to sort out the dashboard in the Forester.  As we pulled into the garage, steam wafted up from the engine. Hmmm. We think it is the new aircon part. While Mike got ready by watching the disassembly videos I cleaned all the bits and pieces. I am impressed with Mike getting the necessary pieces back in. We can now use our dashboard. But we left a lot unassembled in case the aircon people still need access.

Prepping the dashboard bits to go back in

will they fit? Will any bits be left over afterwards?

We jumped in the car to go to the Hutt to get a few bits and pieces for the car too. So that was a nice excursion. Found the clicking wheel issue. A nail is embedded in the tyre. Need to sort that.

Then back home to get ready for a BBQ. Yeah - I was surprised too. But Elly and Tom came. Janine and her dog-sitting dog Freddie. Kara came - without Rasta. And Ange came! So good to see everyone.

BBQ out and ready

Kara and Ange stayed for a bit longer. And chatted about all the things. Even got the Stuff quiz done. Hahah.

Off to bed quite late for me. Up for brekkie and a lazy day. Mike had real work to get done. Waaah. On A Sunday.

Sunday morning brekkie

Derpy cat

Mike had another BBQ - at a mate's house. Then he came collected me at 7.30pm and we dropped in to see our friend Grant. He has been very sick after surgery on his kidney. Infections. Not good. So we dropped off a present and chatted to him in his backyard - we kept our masks on. Do not want to pass any germs on. His mum has been looking after him - so we said hello to her too.

I hope he gets better soon. No need for this sort of delay from such scary surgery. Sending him all our good wishes.

Up for an online session with Quentin. Mike took the car in (to get the aircon finally sorted - I hope).

Monday morning sunrise

Gym sesh in the garage

I had leg day in the garage with Quentin watching from our phone. Squats. Lunges. Hip thrusts. Calf raises. Clam shells. All the things.

Big week at work. And Easter is coming. We're off to Dunedin Wed evening. And Toby is also coming down. Yay! We will work from home on Thursday. Having 4 days with Mike's mother should be a good break. We will do park run again. And some walks. And help Polly around the house. 

Hope your week is a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Monday back at work

 Hi,

Okay - this post has one of the most adorable cat content pics ever! Yes, that is me, not building things up at all.

Anyway - I made kiwi crisps yesterday during my lunch break. They turned out okay. Mike found them when he got home and now there are far fewer biscuits. At least they fit in the container easily now.

Made kiwi crisps

Smudge found Mike in my meeting

I was in a meeting with Mike at the end of the day and Smudge came down to my desk to see what I was doing. She couldn't hear Mike because I had headphones on. But she certainly saw him. She has never expressed any interest in my computer monitors. But having his face on there certainly caught her attention. She was stretching up to lovingly caress his face with her paws just before I fished out my phone and took her pic.

She really thought Mike was inside that monitor.

Anyway, I went to Spin after work. Met Mike just as he got home. 1 hour of spin. Then home.

I got to Spin

We enjoyed asparagus rolls for tea - with haloumi. Mmmmm. Then watched some YouTube and then into bed. Mike got the heat pump on the WiFi yesterday and this evening he got it working with Alexa! We live in the future!

Woke up with a scratchy throat. So texted Quentin to do online. He'd had the worst sleep so asked if we could both get a lie in and do our session later today. Done!

I actually did a covid test - just in case. Seems fine so far. I am fine. But I do have the scratchy throat, a slight headache if I think about it and generally just have this malaise.

Woke with a scratchy throat - but not covid

Will WFH again today. See how it goes today. I am not snotty or anything. I will just check if my scratchy throat is a passing dryness. Maybe I slept like I was catching flies all night. Hahahah.

Have a beaut day. Wherever you are.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with Wellington things

 Hi,

My goodness, there is a lot to catch you all up on. Thursday was busy for me. I got away to catch up with Maureen (finally!) and only now realised I never saw her holiday pics. Gah! Enjoyed an iced latte at Margies with her.

Thursday work iced latte

Thursday iced latte at Margies with Maureen

Then a spontaneous text from Sally M saying she was at the Barbie exhibition for her lunch break at Wellington museum and did I want to meet her there sent me flying out of the workplace to meet her.

Except I walked quickly to Civic Square and stood on the bridge overlooking the Wellington gallery and thought: this is not the museum.

Realised Sally was basically outside my work. So walked back and found her there. We saw all the Barbie's this woman had collected. Even mine! See me pointing to Jane?

Spontaneous lunch time Barbie exhibition with Sally M

One of my heroes

I'd play with this Barbie.  :-)

And a friendly looking Barbie

We had drinks at work to connect and I did chat to someone for ages. Gave her a laugh about how Mike and I met. Turns out she lives in Wadestown too and is friends with our neighbours through the local school.

Rode home. Relaxed.

Up Friday to take photos of model cats. And then off to Dunshea's deli to meet Jo and Rex. It had been ages since I saw them last! I do not even know how long. Maybe after they got back from Africa same sort of time last year? I dunno. But so good to see them.

Smudge the model cat

So close!

Oh, hello my friends!

Then home via Countdown and off again to meet Andrew and go for an easy bike ride. We went up the river, across at Avalon and back down to Seashore cabaret for lunch.

A ride with Andrew on Friday

Lunch at Seashore Cabaret

Toby's fave at Seashore Cabaret

Saturday saw Mike off to do Park Run and me watching the opening All Blacks game of the men's rugby world cup in France. France smashed them. Let's see if the All Blacks can dig themselves out of this hole.

Mike got home and we cleared our traps. Rodents #23 and #24. A rat in the one by the office door and a mouse in the one at the back.

Rat catch #23

Moxley is interested, despite this pic

Mouse #24

Moxley in the garden sans leash

Smudge exploring too

Moxley and Smudge wandered around the garden while we did too. 

Sunday saw Mike get ready for his Peak to Pub race next weekend. Yay! Everything ready and packed. Woot!

I made chocolate chip biscuits - from the recipe Chelsea made last time we were all up in AKL. Mike pronounced them delicious.

I made chocolate chip biscuits

Mike fixed the hole in the eaves

He also fixed the hole in the eaves where birds nest in spring. I reckon he just got it in time.

Then we were off to Lower Hutt and Avalon Hall to a memorial service for Yosan. So sad. The place was packed. Yosan just had this spark about her and that was evident in the words and actions on show. Good to see some old friends - Ben gave an eulogy (we used to work with him too). Although I had not see Yosan for years (since leaving my last workplace), I feel so sad at the thought that the world is now missing her flame and special brand of energy and fun.

I think we need a happy reason to get a whole bunch of us together.

Back to Sally and Andrew's place and our somber mood meant we didn't want to go listen to the trapline audit, but just sit with Sally and Andrew and have some tea.

Back home and tidied up, ready for the week ahead.

Hope your week is good fun.

Love,

Angela