The Thursday with not much

Hi,

I got home yesterday and left Mike drinking the winnings from our quiz night a few months back with Sally and Andrew and company.  I suspect he drank far more than we won, as by the time he got home, he was very happy.

He ate the dinner I cooked - Toby and I enjoyed it earlier.  Well, Toby enjoyed the mash.  Said he could live on it!  I'd best cook more then.  The meatloaf balls were less of a hit.  That means not a hit.  At all.

Yummy lamb meatloaf balls with mash

Anyway, Mike got home and had fifty million things to do, but promptly got distracted by food and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Especially after I admitted to him I didn't know some sentence he kept repeating from the movie.  He made me watch it over and over on You Tube.  Ok - I know it now.

He is packing for his weekend away to Ohakune this morning.  Yes, you and I both know how that will go.  I just hope he remembers my skis.  Let me see if I can find a shop in Ohakune that can fit bindings to them.  They have a lodge in Ohakune for this weekend.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, Toby has some new clothes and is off to WoW tonight with his mate Jack.  Jack flies in from Auckland around 5pm and I have a plan of sorts for them.

I hope to get a bike ride in - but if not - at least some Spin classes.  And laundry.  And tidying.  Normal.

Right.  Have a wonderful weekend whatever you get up to. 

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday that went on and on

Hi,

I thought the beauty of "hump day" meant that once you got past midday, it was downhill all the way to Friday and hurtled there at breakneck speed.  No.  Not at all.  More like crawling towards Friday now, with limbs broken and dementors from Happy Potter sucking your life essence from your body. 

Ok.  I may be exaggerating.  Hump day wasn't so bad.  And I can usually avoid the dementors if I wear my cloak of invisibility.  :-p

I wore Toby's Garmin watch yesterday for the first time (I had to order in a charger as it seems to have got lost in the mayhem that is our house).  It is hooked into my phone and my wrist buzzes quite a lot during the day.  At one stage my watch told me "Memory low" and I was confused until I realised it was relaying my phone's woes to me via the watch.  Hahahah.  Day two - let's see how it goes.

And... that is it.  Purple shirt Thursday looms ahead.  Cups of tea will help lots.

Hope your day is free from dementors.  Like mine.

Love,
Angela

The Tuesday with a bit of stuff

Hi,

Highlight of the day was a great catch up with Celia.  Enjoyed an iced coffee at an unexpected place.  A cafe that is old school in the Grand arcade.  It was a good one.  Apart from that weird tendency to put marshmallows in iced coffee, I would give it a solid 8.  The wee chocolate minnow was perfect.

Iced coffee at Lava Cafe in The Grand arcade

Celia even bought me lunch.  I must be doing something right, there.  :-)  She's great!   Thank you.

Mike drove in - and we remembered that.  Met up at the end of the day and drove home together.  Cooked tea.  I think Mike took a photo so he can add it in later.  It was roast chicken on roast veges.  Pretty yummy.

What else happened?  Mike got a lot of tasks done - including putting up smoke detectors.  Yay.  When the house burns down, we should at least get an audible notification of the fact.  Hmmmm.

Anyway - I think I need a cup of tea to help things along today.  It's nearly October.  Madness.

Have a brilliant day.

Love,
Angela

The Monday back at work

Hi,

Ok - I was really dumb yesterday.  I was so excited to be finally at the end of my working day, that I rushed out of work and jumped on a bus.  And I texted/rang Mike to check if he could join me on the bus.

But my bus was so crowded, I told Mike to get on an earlier (emptier) bus.  As we both approached home from different directions, Mike remembered we had driven in!

OMG!  I am an idiot.

He jumped in the car, collected me from the bus stop where I got off and we drove back into town.  I did spot a yellow car as Mike drove me back in and took a photo of it for Toby.  I had been texting him "Spotto" as I saw a lot of yellow cars on my way home in the bus.  Thought if I took a photo as proof, it would show evidence.

Spotto!

Cooked tea when I got home.  Fish.  But forgot the caper dressing so I found it a little bland.  Doh!

And the weather has packed in big time!  Howling gales and pouring rain.  A work colleague just back from Coolum had her sister's flight diverted to Chch late yesterday after two aborted attempts at landing.  3am they got to their hotel there.  Ouch!

Right.  Tea will help.  The day will fly by if I get more tea.

Love,
Angela

The weekend in Wellington with lots of things

Hi,

The weekend was so busy.  I need a holiday.  Right.  Let's see what happened.  Friday night Mike finished off his brewing session with the bottling process.  I think.

Saturday we wandered down to the church in Wadestown to vote.  We popped into Wadestown Kitchen for brekkie but they don't do cooked breakfasts.  So we had a coffee/drink and walked back home.

Toby photo bombs my Wadestown Kitchen iced coffee after voting

Mike and I jumped in the car to get supplies for varnishing the front door.  Back to cook bacon and eggs for Toby's lunch and then start the door work.  And laundry.  Never ending laundry.








In the evening, Andrew came over to watch the election results unfold.  Later, Roger and his girlfriend also came over.  We decided the ACT MP looks just like Rimmer from Red Dwarf.

Act chap looks like Rimmer from Red Dwarf

After a few hours, the result looked fairly settled so I went to bed.  Andrew slept on the couch and our visitors left.

Next morning I was up early - and daylight savings had kicked in, so it was an hour earlier than anticipated.  I stuffed some brekkie in and headed down to the train station to meet Sreejith and James for a decent bike ride.

We left at about 9.50am and rode up SH2, in at Silverstream, and up Blue Mountain Road into Whitemans Valley.  It was the first time I had done it in that direction.  Good grunt up the hill and then a lovely ride around the quieter valley.

Iced coffee at La Cloche after the bike ride

Back into town after James peeled off at Melling.   La Cloche sucked me and Sreejith in for a coffee.  And maybe some scrumptious cakes.  Mmmmm.  Custard squares.

Mike was kind enough to come and get me and I got changed and made my own penny stove with the guys in the garage.  Andrew, Mike, Roger and Julian.  Simon from across the road also turned up to make one.

My penny stove

Garage becomes the workshop

Andrew made me a V penny stove

More laundry.  Cooked tea.  And fell into bed.  Exhausted.  Hahahah.  What a great weekend.

The weather this morning is true equinox stuff.  So windy!  Jeepers!  The hour time change is a bit of a body blow - probably due to the late night Saturday.  The recharge didn't happen like it usually does!  Or it could be the 80km bike ride.  Hahahah.

Anyway - the week should be a good one.  Enjoy yours.

Love,
Angela

The Thursday with spin after work

Hi,

I did manage to get to Spin finally this week.  Had a great 60 min session with Scott after work.  Mike came in after that and collected me - which was very nice.  And then we picked up Sally and Andrew.  Mike dropped me home and Sally and Andrew checked out the renovations before Mike went and collected empty beer bottles for the bottling session tonight.

I got an iced coffee - at Verve.  Always a solid, middle of the table punt

But it's Friday!  Yay!  We have a busy weekend with sorting out the front door (polyeurathane), tidying and the penny stove garage burning session Mike has organised.

Hmmmm.

It's so wet again here in Wellington.  Sigh.

But I just heard we're in for a heatwave.  What?  Apparently we're getting 30C this week coming.  Must be that warm weather Karen mentioned that they are getting.  Weird.  The snow will melt!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Love,
Angela

The Wednesday of chaos and mayhem

Hi,

Well, it was a typical Wednesday, truth be told.  Chaos is the new normal.  I met Mike at 3.20pm outside my work and we hurtled to Toby's school.  As we sat down to the interview with the teacher, Toby rocked up.  Sweet.  Perfect timing.

Toby got a good report - he has done better in the areas he was targeting.  And was exceptional in Media Studies and Drama.  Interesting.

Toby and I dropped Mike off and then I worked from home to make up the time.  Got tea cooked for Toby and before I knew it, Mike needed a lift home.

This morning is looking stunning

And the foyer is shaping up nicely

Our renovations are taking shape.  We have joists now over the old concrete floor of the porch.  The new front door looks great.  However, the expected size increase in the upstairs bathroom has failed to materialise.  Shucks.  We'll just remodel a wee bit in there - but we won't notice much in the way of any more room.  Maybe I can get a heated towel rail in!  And a new vanity (but it will just replace the existing one) - wall hung and maybe with a drawer.  An illusion of space is all I can hope for now.

Right.  Time for the day to continue as it started.  Frantic pace - but with the odd cup of tea to mellow me out.  And aiming for a Spin class after work to take the edge off.

Enjoy your day!  Lots!

Love,
Angela