The Thursday with lockdown level 2 and trying to fit the car back in the garage

 Hi,

The Thursday was a big day for me as I drove the car for the first time since lockdown started.  Headed into town for my haircut.  Parked in Clifton Tec as I didn't know what street parking would be like.  The car park was well under utilised for that time on a weekday.  But the street parking was full - so - good call there.

Headed to the hairdresser.  Masked up.  Hand sanitiser on my way in.  I kept my mask on through the entire thing - shampoo and haircut.  As did all the staff.  They just got on with it - no fuss.  Most of the customers were masked up too.

At Buoy for a haircut

Sarah did exceedingly well, as she usually does.  I popped into New World and got a few things (mainly milk as we are away this weekend and don't need much).

Got some Lewis Road iced coffee to bring home

The pic below was of the cats seeing off the cat we call "Socks".  Smudge is very territorial and fluffs up and huffs and prowls.  Moxley typically sits back and either flirts with the other cat or looks bored.

Here she was on the bed above all the action and decided to attack Smudge by dropping in on her from above.  Smudge was horrified to be under friendly fire and set off a salvo of her own to put Moxley under no illusions as to what she thought of this double cross movement.

Socks wandered off, oblivious to the mayhem.

Cats causing chaos

After work we headed up to the garage to see if we can finally get the second car in.  It was soooo close! But not quite - just a few cm off.  

Now we are testing putting the motorbikes on boxes to straighten them up and see if that gains what we need. We also need to sell a few bits of gib as I think that will free up the last cm or two we need to do this.

Headed to bed and had a good sleep.

Friday morning iced latte

Up for brekkie and starting the day.  Big day at work - Celia starts on Monday and I am beyond excited by this.

Have a lovely weekend.  Take care and tackle something that makes you happy/keeps you busy.  Especially if you are doing the hard yards in AKL.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday in level 2

 Hi,

Level 2 came and made no difference to me and Mike for our daily routine.  But it does mean our trip south is likely to be okay - even if I need to bring my work machine in case of snap lockdowns and getting stuck somewhere.  :-o

Work was busy.  Mike finished a little before me and made tofu scramble which was put inside wraps.  It was delicious.

Tofu scramble for tea

Then Mike went into the basement to finish off the plastic. Which is now finished and moved to DONE on the Trello board.  He also cut into the wall behind our bed in preparation for the heat pump going in there once the heat pump people can accommodate us.

Moxley could hear all the thumping and scraping in the wall and was convinced a giant mouse was in there and she could eat it if it ever showed itself.

She can hear Mike working on the wall behind me in the basement

I went to bed while Mike did all that.  And he came to bed very pleased with his projects all sorted now.  Yay!

Good sleep.  Up to a sunny day.  Home made iced lattes. MMmmm.

Iced latte

I am actually going out today.  My haircut was during level 4 - so they rang me and I am going in this morning for it. Ooohhh.  Masks to be worn.  Let's see how that goes.  Could be the covid equivalent of a bowl cut.  They have to cut around my mask?  Hahah.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday and the last day in lockdown for us

 Hi,

Tuesday was the last day for level 3 lockdown for us south of Auckland.  Now we're at Level 2 - free to move about but with restrictions like mask use and limited numbers in bars and restaurants. It leaves Auckland still in level 4, our hardest lockdown, for another 1-2 weeks probably - and sad news about potential for spreading in Middlemore hospital.  Here's hoping the PPE processes have kept the majority of them as safe as possible.  But it is going to be hard for a while when you have so many staff self isolating.

Wellington opens up more today - albeit with those tighter restrictions on crowd sizes and mask-wearing.  All good moves however much harder it makes operational matters.  We are not quite home free despite it looking like it is contained in Auckland.

Yesterday was busy at work (in the home office).  But we had a lovely dinner at Ange's house after work.  I finally got out of my shorts and gym gear for the first time in a week or more.  Hahahah.  Jeans and a t-shirt - the height of fashion.

We walked around in the strong winds, but missed all the lashing rain.  Ange made a lovely dinner - scrumptious salads for me and baked kumara (mmmmm) and a bacon-wrapped steak for her and Mike.  Good music, great company.  It was...  normal!  :-)

Home and to bed for me.  Mike stayed up for a bit before he also came to bed.  Had a good sleep for the first time in ages.

Up to make brekkie for Mike.  Mmmm.  And an iced latte for me.

Wednesday brekkie

Entirely too manic

I filled my water bottle and the cat was intrigued at the water running in the bath.  I think she likes to investigate that.

What are you doing in the bath?

Keeping an eye on things

She is so cute!

Right.  Another busy day at work - but I hope to get out between meetings later on and go for a run.  Our dirt duathlon has been rescheduled to Sept 18 - yikes!  Better try to get fit despite no lead time.

Have an awesome day.  Kia kaha my Auckland buddies.  You know we are thinking of you.

Love,

Angela

The Monday working from home in lockdown

 Hi,

Well, in some good news we are going to move to level 2 tomorrow, outside of Auckland.  Auckland remains in level 4 and seem to be sitting at around 20 cases a day at the moment.  I hope this can stamp it out as Auckland really needs to get back to as normal as possible for the country to fully function.  It is such a hub of industry for the country.  

Gardeners came and mulched our vege patch

We were working at home and were surprised to see our gardeners come for their monthly maintenance.  They worked away and after they left I noticed they had mulched our potato bed.  Cool.  Mike bought a chillie plant so we're going  to try and nurture that and plant it out in October.  

Tui in the kowhai

Tucked up so tight

Thai green curry - with tofu

I made a scrumptious Thai green curry with zucchini and mushrooms - and tofu.  It was so good.  I had a late meeting at work so I attended that before signing off for the day.

Off to bed early while Mike finished off the basement and then did some work at our home office.  Up for a run - that I did not do.  I rolled over and went back to sleep for 40 mins before waking up again for my online PT session.

Tuesday morning iced latte

Tuesday tui in the kowhai

Today is a bit cold and windy - and maybe even a bit of rain for good measure.  Work is busy.  But after work we're going to try to fit the cars in the garage.  And at 6.30pm we're off for dinner to Ange's place (she lives just around the corner and is in our bubble now).

Five years ago this week Iona, Col and I were finishing our cycling holiday around Japan with a few more days in Tokyo after that.  Five years!  Wow.  Take me back!

Have a fantastic day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend still in lockdown

 Hi,

Happy birthday to Abby for yesterday - she turned 16.  Wow.  I am missing my family in Australia a lot - especially when it is a birthday or Father's Day.  Happy Father's Day for yesterday to all the Dads out there.  My package for Dad got delivered on Saturday with some of the wine he likes.  And some treats.  :-)

Our weekend in level 3 lockdown revolved around food, cats and projects.  Friday night saw us team up with our AKL quiz buddies from way back, Lesley and Wally (and luckily some input from Jason and Hannah!), Ange who popped in to see us and help us, and Iona from the Blenheim whanau.

Readers - it was a tough quiz.  :-o

But it was a lot of fun.  Which is totally the name of the game.

Off to bed not long after that.  And maybe I stayed up reading for a tad too long.  Oops.

Dinner - using up the eggplant

Banana bread - using up the bananas

Hokey pokey biscuits

Smudge loves the sun

Mike made lentil soup, spurred on by Sally's suggestion.  And it was so delicious.  HE chopped up lots of our vegetables and popped them in too.

We have soup for the next few days sorted.

Lentil soup courtesy of Mike - it was delicious

We started our projects again on Saturday.  Mike in the basement and me in the garage.  I finally finished the shelving project.  Used 4x2 and some chipboard and ply for the front of the shelf.   It is bomb-proof.

Mike's plastic wrapping is so close to being done

My shelving is finally done

Me sawing some 4x2

Look at that - purely functional

Janine picked up her bed that was stored in our loft (contactless) and we can now attempt to get the two cars back in the garages after work today.

Another day, another lounge around in the sun for Smudge

Google decided to spotlight Toby

Sunday saw Toby call Mike for Father's Day.  We spent ages talking to him.  He took us on a tour of Steph and Sam's house. They have an absolutely lovely home.  Tessa's room is in a wee flat below - without a kitchen though.  Has a toilet.  And it is a huge room.

Great views over Chc.  You can see the snowcapped Southern Alps too.  Admittedly in the far distance.

Pinned by Smudge

Ange's jacket was really comfy

We got a run in late on Sunday.  I have started a 5km challenge for the month with some friends.  Woot!

Home made Monday morning iced latte

Mike's brekkie Monday morning

Monday saw me up for a session with Quentin and then a superb iced latte and brekkie from Mike.  Mmmm.  Who needs a cafe open when I have this?

Week looks busy.  We may hear about going down levels in today's govt update.  But AKL is likely to remain at 4, I reckon.

My call is SI goes to 2.  We stay 3.  Only because it seems an easier enforcement of the level boundaries.  But - let's see what they say.

Have a fantastic day.

Love,

Angela

The Friday where I am really confused about my blog title

 Hi,

I know I have this weird routine where my blog each morning is titled from the day before.  But my confusion around missing a day this week means that yesterday I titled my blog for Thursday when it was actually Thursday.  So today, it should be titled for Thursday.  But - that would be weird.  So now it is a Friday title.  And I never have those.

Discombobulated .  That's me.

Moxley loafing about

What is she chasing?

The big news of Thursday was we expanded our bubble to Ange.  Ange is by herself and not far away and has been isolated the entire time.  And it was our first takeaways night.  What better way to enjoy our first takeaways than sharing with Ange.

:-)

Mike headed into town to pick up our pre-ordered Yoshi sushi.  Mmmm.  We might even have leftovers for today's lunch.

The cats enjoyed the attention too.

Yoshi sushi

Drinking out of Ange's glass

She's just cute!

We both slept well and up for Mike's first Toastmasters with Khemry.  Online, obvs.  He enjoyed it but it does clash with his usual Friday routine.  That was also online so he went from one online meeting to another and caught up with his mates for his "potato cakes Friday".

Mike's Friday potato cakes brekkie

Friday is a stunner

Friday is stunning looking.  Got a day of work to get through before we can enjoy the weekend.  So keen to finish my shelving.  Woot!

Have a good one.

Abby's birthday over the weekend.  16.  Wow!

Love,

Angela

Covid diary:

Mike collected Yoshi @ Lambton Quay 1830.

Ange visited for dinner.  

The Thursday in slightly less lockdown

 Hi,

We have gone down a level - we're now in level 3.  Which is the same as level 4, tbh.  But with the option of takeaways.  Except for Auckland - they are still getting loads of cases and in level 4.  Kia kaha Auckland.

Meanwhile, I am so busy that I forgot to blog yesterday.  And not off to a great start this morning as I only just remembered now too.

Moxley enjoying a YouTube video of birds and squirrels

Moxley exploring boxes

Smudge modelling on the deck

We went for a walk yesterday at lunchtime to Mitre10 to click and collect. They did not expect us to walk there.  Was all about being in your car except for wee Mike, wandering around the car park, trying to get in a queue of cars.  Hahahah.  He did it.

And BONUS! They had contactless coffee too.

Now we can get stuck into our projects again.

Have an awesome day.

Love,

Angela