We have an 8.30am meeting this morning so Mike is not riding in – otherwise he ’d miss the start of the meeting and arrive in sweaty bike shorts. But he has done two days in a row up the hill so it ’s probably a good time for a rest for a day (apparently his nether regions need some relief!).


Last night we put Toby to bed (although he did call out for an hour or so about various things) and sanded back the hallway walls. The undercoat we painted on by brush has lifted in an odd way. Mike sanded it back and re-applied paint (from a new can) with a new brush and we may be lucky to get away with it. It looks much better this morning.

Tonight we ’ll undercoat by the new stained glass window and wash down the foyer walls ready for their undercoat. Maybe we can also start the skirting boards in the TV room.

All good fun. This morning is glorious out there – the ride was very pleasant.

Well, it is the end of the week. I never rode in this morning because the wind and rain were lashing the windows and Mike is driving from door to door. I ’m not mad. Just soft.
The weekend holds a DIY special in store. Sunday is supposed to be nice http://home.nzcity.co.nz/weather/weatherdetail.aspx?wla=32 so I can drop off Toby somewhere and ride in to work with Mike to show him the way. But apart from that, it is DIY murder.

We are going to:
Strip the wallpaper in the stairwell, and prepare the stairwell/foyer for plastering
Fit scotias to foyer
After Peter has plastered TV Room, hallway, foyer ceiling , we need to
Undercoat TV room, hallway, foyer ceiling
Topcoat TV room, hallway, foyer ceiling

After peter has plastered the foyer & stairwell , we need to
Paint the foyer and stairwell
Paint the skirtings in Toby ’s room

And after next weekend we need to:
Empty Toby ’s room to green room and downstairs bathroom
Prepare all the floors (clear and sweep)

Because we need to get the carpet people in to carpet the room downstairs on the day after the weekend of July 27. And then it ’ll be all done bar the furniture. Depending on the budget we may need to borrow a bed for a while from someone. Yikes!

So, not too bad a weekend. Lots to do but stuff you can do easily.

It was a beautiful morning to ride in – no wind and no clouds. I could see Orion halfway up the eastern horizon and felt sure summer was on its way! Heheheheh. I left the boys fast asleep this morning so I hope they are on schedule.


By the way, we don ’t have a land line phone at the moment. If you ring it ’ll just ring off the hook. We had some DIY issues which meant we also don ’t have any cable TV. The end of our coaxial cable is now part of the wall linings in the stairwell. I told Mike it looked like it might fit through the gib crack at the end and it might just need a sharp tug. Well, the cable came through but the end stayed where it was wedged into the gib.

I need some Weetbix and a cup of tea.

Mike and Toby enjoyed their McDonalds dinner last night while I did the release (which went well apart from Los Angeles which still hasn ’t picked up the new data – I sense a major hassle with that today). Toby is also sleeping very well now. Although Mike did his best to ruin my sleep last night. I was almost asleep when he came to bed (after creating a bigger hole in the stairwell gib where the TV and phone cables are located!) and he said we should watched the first 30 mins or so of this movie called Cloverfield. We had no idea what it was about. After the first 20 mins or so I was ready to turn it off. It was like Blair Witch Project in it was all amateur video footage of a party, but then the fun kicked in and I was scared stiff by the time the movie finished. So I lay there for a few more minutes that necessary when I should have been asleep 80 minutes before!

I ’m hungry!

Ok – I admit it. I am soft. I did not ride my bike because the weather forecast at 6.02 this morning said it was 2 C and a high of 8C with southerly gales. So I hopped up and watched the end of the Wimbledon men ’s singles final instead, and made lunches between games. When I pulled back the curtains at about 7.30, I was astonished to see a calm beautiful morning. I was really wondering why I wasn ’t on my bike.

Toby was very pleased to be going to KidsCo for his school holidays. He was the first child there at 8am, and was pretty chuffed. Mike and I drove into work (uh oh) and we were there by 8.20. So it all went ok. We even drove past Josh at the bus stop so he hopped in and we took him in too.

The weekend went well. Friday night was a pleasant time for me at the Tabor household. Aidan and I chatted for ages. Duncan and Emerson collapsed into bed at 7.30pm and were asleep in two seconds. Toby watched kids videos till I went home. Mike got home quite early from his leaving drinks.

Saturday was fun. Andrew came round to help Mike with DIY stuff. Toby and I mucked around all day (I have planted my compost bin in a nice sunny corner so I have started making compost for my vege patch) with Toby mainly playing his DS Lite. The rugby was on that evening so we watched that. It was a good game. Andre rode his bike home in the southerly gale (he ’s mad and not a bit soft).

Sunday was more DIY stuff (the plasterer is at our house today – we ’re under pressure to get the room done for visitors in August!) and a Sunday lunch at Sally and Andrew ’s house. We need to buy Andrew ’s present today at lunch time (at least we know what to get now).

Back at work. Mike is off looking at the servers in the server room. How exciting for him!

Good morning on Thurs, Oct 11, 2007 (from the archives)

Well, Mike is working from home today in an effort to get some new work off the ground. So, I left the boys having a leisurely breakfast to catch my bus. Last night Toby was superb. Mike went out at 1900 to a tramping club meeting (without Kara who had cooked up dinner and didn ’t want it ruined!) so I put Toby to bed. He was no bother, and slept all night. Ah – it is nice having uninterrupted sleep.

Tonight we ’re off to Lower Hutt to go shopping. Toby needs some shoes and we have a shoebox for children who might not get any presents somewhere in the world at Christmas, to fill up with new toys. The sheet that comes with the shoebox is very useful. You have to choose one thing from each category (something a child can love (teddy), something to play with (cars), something for hygiene (toothbrush), something else I can ’t remember) and cram it in the box. We have chosen to get something for a 2 – 4 year old boy. You can also put in a note or a photo but I think we will not get around to that. It is due back at work tomorrow. You put in $7 for postage. I ’m looking forward to shopping with Toby for it.

The weather is wet, wet, wet. But no wind. Very grey.

I love Alison Holst

Good morning on Wed, 5 Sep (archive)

 Hi there,

 

A wonderful morning.  But freezing cold.  Bit of a cold snap here, with southerlies and a bit of fresh wind.  It might even dump a bit of snow on the hills!

 

Mike dropped me and Toby off at Mojos, and we both had hot chocolates to keep us warm.  We brushed our teeth and then took a long walk to Toby's kindy.  We went through the park, with the "Dinosaur Cave" and the "Ghost Cave" at the start of the adventure, and a lovely pond for picnics at the other end.  A nice place for eating after we collect Toby in the summer, on the way home.

 

When I dropped him off, he showed me the new batch of books the kindy has got in recently.  So I promised to read him one tonight when I collect him.  I'm looking forward to it already.

 

Lots of love,

Angela