The weekend with cleaning and moving out and Michelle and Tim arriving

 Hi,

So much has happened since my last post. Raf the builder came on Friday along with Sally and Andrew. Raf fixed a lot of the wee jobs around the house while Sally and Andrew packed up the rest of the house.

Sally did all the extraneous things still in the house. Andrew got the big pieces ready for moving. Raf did his thing.

Raf got the trim on the bathroom and now it looks nice and finished.

New trim on

Looks nice

He went out and got a new door and fashioned it into the wardrobe door for Mike's wardrobe. How cool is that?

Wardrobe door on

Kitchen cleared out

My last night alone

Tom came to help and Andrew and Sally got a trailer and they all got the last big things out. The bed went to Tom and Elly's place with the couches. And after Tom left, we got the bookcase onto the trailer for Sally and Andrew to take to their place.

That left me in the empty house. I decided to stay the night on the outdoor furniture squabs as my mattress. Worked great. Got Uber Eats. Went to sleep.

All gone

Bedroom upstairs

My sleeping bag in the lounge

Next morning

Chillax iced latte

Went to Chillax for brekkie. Read my book. Back to meet James the house washer. What a charming man. He even gave me a Mars bar. 

Reading with my iced latte

James the house cleaner was amazing

Looks so good

Front door

Never seen this part so clean

Steps

When James finished the front door area, the cleaning team arrived. I said hello to them and pointed out some possible issues. The new shower install. The new trim. The recent plastering. They were all good. Assessed it at maybe 5 hours of work. Wow. They were not wrong.

Top bedroom after the cleaners inside

Penny, Gloria and Tatiana were amazing cleaners. 4.5 hours - and they called in a 4th person 2 hours in. Good on them.

The place looked incredible after they left. The drawer on the downstairs bathroom was broken as was a drawer int he kitchen. But I supposed vigorous cleaning might do that to old drawers. We can sort those out.

Walls are so clean

Floor is so clean

Kitchen is so clean

Clean

Splashback looks like new

I went out to Juliet's birthday at Ortega Fish Shack for 6pm. What a lovely evening. So many people into the upstairs to celebrate her milestone. Juliet is a wonderful person to know. A lot of work people turned up and I sat opposite Barb. Michael was next to me and a very talkative dinner party guest. I learned lots about wine and food.

The food served was superb. Yum! Best gnocchi ever. Mike arrived and managed to get two courses of the food. Yay!

Then at 23:00 I took Barb and him home. We could not get Tom on our messages so we stayed the night in our house. Sleeping bags on the squabs. One last night together in the house. 

Shelley Bay Baker for brekkie

New fence at 40

Picked up Michelle and Tim from the airport at 3pm

Dinner at Seashore Cabaret

Mt Vic view

Mike worked in the garage all day and James came back to finish the outside. Less wind meant he could do the chemical part.

I went to see Sally and Andrew and got a wash on. Helped with their fence a bit. And then headed back to collect Mike and go to the airport to see Michelle and Tim arrive.

We ate a bagel and went to international arrivals and only just sat down when they came through. Whisked them to Sofitel in Bolton St and they stayed to shower. We went home to sort out our move to Elly and Tom's house. Elly made us feel very welcome.

Then off to pick up Michelle and Tim for tea. Seashore Cabaret for a decent meal with a lovely view. And a quick drive to Mt Vic to see Wellington at night. The brisk wind meant we did not stay too long up there.

So nice to see them both. I hope they have fun during the day this week. We will see them in the evenings.

Have a great week.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with no cats and no Mike

 Hi,

The cats have arrived in Chc and had their first sleep there. Mike and Toby and Tessa have reported an easy transition for them.

Meanwhile, we had the carpet laid downstairs and it looks so good. Awesome work.

New carpet going down

In the spare room

In our old bedroom

Mike removes the old curtains

Cats in crates

In the back of Sally's car

Sally kindly took Mike and the cats to the airport. They both took a pill that Mike gave them and it zonked out Smudge. Apparently she slept all the way and then some.

About to check in

Carpet done

Looks very nice

Old bedroom

Spare room

Old bedroom

Nicely done

My old wardrobe

Moxley out in the car in Chc

The cats hid by our old bed in the new house and so Mike, Toby and Tessa took off to let them explore on their own. I heard Mike and Toby sung up a storm at karaoke at The Foundry. Hahahah.

I had my skin check up. With crazy dates coming up for me, I just booked in next Wednesday to get some biopsy work done. Will mean I have stitches for Spring Challenge. But it should be ok. The following week is crazy work week and it gets too close to Nepal.

Oh well.

What else? Weird sleeping at home with no cats. They have always been here. Sometimes we are not. But they are always here.

I woke up to roll over in the night so I did not disturb the cat. Didn't need to worry.

Hahahah.

Take care. Have a wonderful day.

Love,

Angela

The Monday with plumbers

 Hi,

What a day, what a week. Tasman Plumbers came and took out the old cracked vanity and replaced it with a shiny new one.

Old vanity out

New one ready

New vanity in place

Busy at work. A late meeting got cancelled at short notice so did not have to work late. Phew. Made some tea (leftovers and scrambled eggs - we do not have a lot available).

Then painted skirting board in our old bedroom downstairs. Took a few hours. Did my wardrobe door too. Needs a second coat or more still.

Finally into bed. Up for my first PT session in weeks. But it was tough. Deads. Tried 80kg. Did 1 set of 4 reps. But on my second set I tweaked my back on the right on my third lift. And game over. Did some massage and then went to brekkie with Quentin.

Reimer was there and Mike joined us. Good chats. Then into work to drop off some pie substitute for pi minute this afternoon (3.14pm today - 3.14 15/9/26 makes the first 8 digits of pi) and a parcel from Quentin for his previous house owner. 

Post gym brekkie

Stashed

Bolt Bins came to take away our skip

Shiny truck

Home with Mike to see our skip getting taken away. New skip arrived to fill up. City Mission come today to take away some stuff (we hope).

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with family stepping up and the movers taking almost everything

 Hi,

What a huge huge weekend. Massive thanks to Sally for coming all day Friday and getting us ahead of the movers in a big way. Andrew came after work and also pitched in. We would have been in a far worse position without them.

We worked Friday (as did Andrew) so Sally came over and started packing the kitchen. She was a machine. We tried to help in breaks but the bulk of it was done by the time we finished work.

Sally in progress

Moxley chilling

Smudge hiding

Moxpley exploring

Toby's hand

Hello young Mike

Sally has packed even more

Still packing

Saturday saw us up early to continue and Sally and Andrew turned up to help. The movers arrived at about 10.30am or so. Paul and VJ were also machines. Very capable. That truck was so well packed. Wow.

And now the movers have taken a lot away

Lunch break

Careful truck packing

Sideboard goes out

Very well done

Not much left

Gap where the sideboard used to be

Fern looks good

We had a cracker day

For a 2 seater couch, this thing is heavy

Paul and his truck

All in!

The movers left at about 3.30pm having finished around 2.30pm. Bit of admin and then they were off. Sunday around 5pm they would be delivering to Toby and Tessa in Christchurch.

All loaded with no breakages or anything damaged. Well done to everyone.

Andrew and Mike worked on the lighting in the laundry but efficient packing meant a cable was missing. So Sunday had a task for us - go get more cables. Hahah.

Next job - getting the lighting and fan in the laundry

Moxley eyes the access hole

Strip lighting ...

... and working fan. It's only been on the to-do list for two years.

Playing with Moxley

Brunch with Sally and Andrew at La Cloche Sunday. Nice start to the day. Then Mike got his cables and light bulbs and he fitted everything. Laundry looks amazing.

La Cloche brekkie

Yummy options

Cleared path in Otari bush

New path up to Ian Galloway Park

Been here

I went for a run in the Otari bush. Thank you Mike and Toby for encouraging me to get out amongst it. I saw a new path from the end of the track up to Ian Galloway Park. And the pine tree that had threatened the path was chopped up and made safe. Good work!

Went to Sarah and Hamish's for dinner. Ryan enjoyed the pizza. And we booked BTS tickets for Feb in Sydney for us and my mother. Hahaha. Sarah is on a tour - 4 concerts and 2 cities. So we will see her in Sydney.

Working week ahead. Have a good week.

Love,

Angela