The Wednesday with an unexpected dinner out - and no Mike

Hi,

I forgot I had said yes a few weeks back to dinner out with work last night.  It was someone's leaving dinner and we went to Caliente (on the corner of Manners and Willis St).  I quite like the Mexican food there.  Anyhow - the chicken quesadilla was very good.  But it did mean I had to get Benjamin in at short notice (and he did! - thanks!) and arrange pizzas delivered and car craziness.  Ange wanted to drink and had her car in town, so I said I'd drive her home.  But she doesn't pick up on my "I want to go home now" cues the same way Mike does.  So we were a bit late getting back home.  And I had to drop her off, swap cars at the library and then take Benjamin home.  But Toby and I fell asleep pretty fast and had a good sleep.

Toby had cross country yesterday and by all accounts he did ok.  Aiming for a better placing next year.  Mike and Toby will start running together in the evenings.  Awesome.

This morning is glorious here.  And I had to take the bus in.  Hahahah.  Hopefully it stays like that for my ride home.

Have a lovely day.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with no Mike

Hi,

After a hard day at work I rode home and collected Toby on the way.  We had tea and then chilled for a bit before I went around to talk to the neighbour about the landscaping quote on our boundary.  We got that sorted and then I went back home and relaxed reading before bed.

Toby and I read for a bit, and then he turned out the light, so I did too.  I thought after my hard day at work, I might lie awake pondering things a bit.  But I have great sleeping powers, and I was asleep in seconds.  Maybe work wasn't such a big issue after all?  Hahahah.

This morning was a good run in dry but windy conditions.  With just Toby at home I am running a slightly shorter route than usual.  The ride in wasn't too bad either.  The roads were mainly dry.

Mike and his parents are good.  Mike went out for dinner with Richard and Theresa last night.  I hope they all had a chance to catch up.

Have a marvellous day.
Love,
Angela

The Monday with no Mike

Hi,

I rode to the library and collected Toby and went home.  He dashed off to perform his job at the neighbour's house and then we were into the cook tea and do homework routine.  It went really well.

We chatted to Mike - he had a successful day at the Dunedin office.  It sounds like his parents are ok - his Dad is home leading up to the surgery on Thursday.  That's a good thing!  At least the food isn't horrible.

Toby and I had a good morning.  He was up early and showered.  He did get to the bus stop early because I had a breakfast with work colleagues.

Another sunny day here in Wellington - although there may have been overnight rain because the roads were pretty wet on my ride in.  Not too sure though.

I need a cup of tea.  Desperately.

Have a lovely day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with no Mike

Hi,

What a lovely weekend with just me and Toby.  We did miss Mike lots though.  Friday night I rode to the library and collected Toby and went to Johnsonville to get Nandos.  Toby has declared it his new favourite takeaways.  Back home to eat it and snuggle up to watch a movie.  Toby chose Twilight.  Yes - we have had a Twilight movie fest this weekend.  Seen three of them.  And the second one was a bit dire.  I wanted someone to eat the lead actress already!  Enough moaning and feeling pathetic.  Move on!  Even Toby said at one point "She's a bit emotionless isn't she?"

I did manage to head out to feed Ange's cats while she was away.  They were happy to see me.  Or was it the food?  Hahahah.

Anyhow, a lazy Saturday morning where I tidied and then we drove into town to meet Hayley for lunch.  We lurked outside the Bangalore Polo Club before it opened and Toby said he didn't fancy it.  So we adjourned to Joe's Garage.  Yum!  You know what that means!

Iced coffee - best in town

After lunch Toby and I went to see Godzilla in 3D.  It was great!  Godzilla rampaged through Honolulu and then Las Vegas (Look, Toby, there's Caesar's Palace where you got lost!! Amongst the rubble.) and finally San Francisco (Look, we've been there.  Oh.  It's gone!).

Toby is.... awesome!

Back home for the second Twilight movie (after feeding the cats again).  Ho hum - that second one is pretty bad.  Next morning I checked out the chair on the deck.  I need a nice chair, so I can sit in the sun and read and drink my cup of tea.

Deck, chair, grass, book!

 Sunday we had a few messages to run.  I sorted out our gas tanks.  And we went grocery shopping.  I tried the new Countdown at Crofton Downs for the first time since it re-opened.  It was pretty good.  I found the British section and then discovered the American section.  Oooohhh yeah.  I found canned pumpkin.  Aidan reassures me this is a necessary ingredient in pumpkin pie and ever since I tasted Christine's pumpkin pie, I have been hankering to try it again.  I will gently nag (persuade) Aidan that we need to try making it.  She seemed oddly keen on the idea when I suggested it and admonished me when I said I never bought any.  I now need to go back and buy up cans of pumpkin.  They are going in her pantry!

Canned pumpkin.  Good for pies, apparently.

Home for a lazy afternoon.  Made dinner and watched the third Twilight movie.

I dropped Toby off at the bus stop this morning and as he left the car he noticed the time.  7.20am!  He was horrified that his mother was dropping him off that early for his bus.  I told him I hate being late and that I hoped he had a great day!  Poor kid.  Hahahah.

Lucky it is a gorgeous morning here.  My morning run was in the stillest of mornings.  Not a breath of wind.  And clear as a bell.  But by the time Toby and I left the house for school/work, it was foggy!  Funny place.

Have a fantastic week!
Love,
Angela

The Thursday with Mike flying to Dunedin

Hi,

Well, when Mike got in he told me he was flying down to Dunedin a day earlier to make sure his Dad was okay in hospital.  And Mike reports back that although surgery is booked for next week, his Dad is pretty chipper.  Even with hospital food!  Mike is staying on for another week, and due back on Sunday 25th now.
Yes!  It's the Toby and Angela morning show.  This show has a different routine to the Mike and Toby morning show.  Toby gets poked until he's out of bed and showered, dressed, fed and out the door at 7.20am.  I rode my bike from the library and was at my desk at 7.45am.  Only 15 minutes behind my early morning routine.  It might just work, for a week. Not that I can get by without Mike.  I'll be hopeless.  Honest.  Pining away.

Last night Toby and I went to the Carter Observatory.  We wandered around the exhibit for a while before finding seats in the theatre and listening to the talk. Click here to see more:  Mars  And this is the woman's website:  Hari  It was a great talk, although Toby thought it ended a bit abruptly.  She is certainly passionate and enthusiastic.  Unfortunately the pelting rain meant the telescope wasn't opened for viewing.  Stink for us because Saturn would look brilliant at the moment.  I would have loved Toby to see that.

It's the weekend soon!  Toby and I have plans for Nandos for dinner.  We haven't had that for ages.  Then back home for a movie, snuggled up together.  And I think a long sleep in tomorrow morning.  Breakfast in bed, while reading.  We have lunch with Hayley planned.  But I think that's it.  Housework.  Not much else.

This morning is a stunning morning in Wellington.  The sort that makes you happy you live here.  My ride in was good!  My run this morning was also good (but shorter than usual, because I didn't want to leave Toby alone in the house too long).

Have a lovely weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday with user group

Hi,

Happy birthday to Benjamin!  Woot!

Makes for a long day.  I wandered over to the Microsoft office nice and early to help the presenter setup.  Only to find that Microsoft were upgrading their wifi and the internet was not available.  When the internet was the crux of the presentation (online instances!).  We had the admin staff in a flurry and they were running around like mad to try and get us a workaround, when, mysteriously, the wifi came back up.  The rest of the evening went without a hitch.

Mike came in just after 7pm and I grabbed the car off him.  He had kindly put my bike on already.  I drove Ange home and found Toby at our place, a little distraught at being home by himself and wondering where we were.  Not sure why as we were probably only away from home for thirty minutes.  Maybe something spooked him.  Anyhow, after a few minutes of consoling him and me thinking how much bigger he is now compared to when he was a baby and quite enjoying the hugs, he came right.

I did some washing (my running gear got rather soaked Wednesday morning) and we chilled out for a bit before bed.  Mike got home after solving all the problems of the world with Adam.  Good to hear.

This morning my ride in was ok.  The roads were damp but no rain.  I bumped into Aidan and chatted briefly to her.  She had a panic last night because Josh drove to Waikanae (Scouts) and two policeman came and knocked on her door at 8pm!  Yep - we all know what must have gone through her mind.  It's a shame for her and her momentary panic.  But they were just community police commenting on her locks on her garage and how they needed to be even more secure.  Wow - awesome service!

Mike has pulled his flight to Dunedin forward and is packed and ready to go today.  His Dad is sick and in hospital.  I hope he gets better really soon.  This does mean that Toby and I have a spare ticket for Living on Mars at the Carter Observatory tonight.  We might ask Duncan given he missed the other Mars presentation.  Failing that, John is probably up for a session at the Carter observatory.  The cloud cover means we won't get to see anything through their big telescope.  Shame.

Have a good day!
Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with Aidan's graduation parade

Hi,

Tuesday was a little tough - goodness knows what I'll be like by the time Friday rolls around.  Hahahah.  Thankful for the weekend, I imagine.

But the highlight of yesterday would have to be not seeing Aidan in her graduation parade.  Yeah, "not".  I missed her in the sea of faces.  But at least I saw her before and after, so I do know what she looked like in her PhD regalia.  Awesome, is the answer.  Pleased as punch.  Me, that is.  Aidan just took it in her stride like everything.

Dr. Aidan

I rode home and wondered if Toby remembered the "walk home and I'll see you there" message.  I rode past the library and on to our house, thinking I could get home, find him missing and drive back to collect him.  It wasn't raining, but it had been.  But, as I came along Mairangi Road, I found him walking home.  He had forgotten to walk home, then remembered late, and couldn't text me because his phone was flat.  Meanwhile I had texted him to say I was late.  It all worked out great!

I got home and Toby did his job patrolling the neighbour's house while they are on holiday.  Then his homework.  I mucked around, aimlessly for a while before deciding what to cook Toby for tea.  He got two awesome omelettes, with grated cheese and lashings of bacon and tomato.

I sent a grocery list to Mike and went to collect him from the bottom of the hill.  Then we ate tea and fluffed around before bed.  Mike did tramping club things while Toby and I waited for him to come free.  Then Mike fixed Toby's minecraft server and we all went to bed happy.  I was happy because it means I don't need to fix it this weekend!

This morning's run was really good again.  I ran even further this morning, in the drizzly rain.  The ride in wasn't quite so much fun coming down the wet hill, but I got to work not completely wet!  Hahahah.

Have a wonderful day.
Love,
Angela