The Monday with working from home and a run after work

 Hi,

Well, it turns out I could show you a photo of our grocery list as that was pretty much the only pic I took yesterday.  But that seems excessively boring, even for my blog.  Hahahah.

Mike and I had a day working from home.  Busy.  And then a run after work.  Please do not tell Kara I did that.  It was on grass and was only 3km.  But in good news - my foot did not hurt.  So now I want to go again after work today for more of the same.

We also went to the supermarket after the run.  We decided against Thorndon New World because of its proximity to the protesters at parliament.  We instead went to Khandallah New World.  I admit to thinking we'd not get everything on our list (we are also buying for our weekend river trip on the Whanganui).  But in a huge surprise, we got everything on our list.  Except for dishwasher powder.  Which we did not need for the river trip.   :-p

Back home by 8pm and put away the groceries before bed.  

Up for online PT session this morning.  Arms, chest.  I feel like a T-Rex right about now.  Hahahah.  About to jump on a chat with Maryanne and Dave from my last work as it is our birthday month!  Woot!  Looking forward to that.

Other than that - not a lot happening on our Tuesday.

Have a good one where you are.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with wet weather from cyclone Dovi

 Hi,

What a great idea to nip out to a cafe on Friday for lunch.  Mike and I met up with a friend of Mike's from a previous workplace at Maranui.  It is still one of my fave cafes to visit.  Thank you for the pep talk, Phil!

Lunch at Maranui on Friday to meet up with Phil

The weekend was so wet.  Cyclone Dovi has veered this way and dragged down warm, wet air and dumped it all over New Zealand.  Wellington has surface flooding and slips all over the place.  So - be careful out there.

We were up Saturday for the first boot camp for ages.  Quentin was there - I think it is the first time I have seen him face to face since his surgery on his shoulder.  Great fun (although Sunday and today have me experiencing tight hamstrings from the exercises we did!).

Grabbed lunch stuff from Thorndon New World as we drove by afterwards.

Then off to Mitre10 Mega after that to get Expol.  Dropped off 5 slabs of it at Polly's unit.  Three fit perfectly in the trailer and 2 in the boot of the Subaru.

Popped in for lunch with Sally and Andrew.  Caught up on their news.  Headed home and chilled out.

I made banana loaf

I made banana loaf on Saturday afternoon.  Tessa sent me the recipe she uses and this must be about the 4th time I tried it.  Still trying to get it nailed!  But it was pretty yummy.

Smudge using me for warmth

Moxley under the covers with me

Sunday saw the rain really set in.  I made home made granola (okay - next time a little less honey as it was a tad sweeter than I would like) and we tried it out.  Also went to Mitre10 Crofton Downs to get a new screw and nut for the toilet seats.  Mike got a woman in the shop that knew all about it (what a niche specialty!) and now he has been fully trained in how it works.  As he fitted it at home, he passed on his knowledge to me.

We are now fully trained on maintenance on our toilet seats.

:-o

I try my home made granola

Another day, another smooch from Smudge

Up on Monday morning to some clearer weather.  I can actually see the other side of the valley today.  And the hilltops.

Busy day with meetings today.  We also need to go grocery shopping as we are running out of stuff.  Have a great week ahead.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with driving Mike to his brewing session

 Hi,

After a busy day at work where I did manage to escape to a cafe for an iced latte, I got out for a drive!  

Chillax cafe - quite a nice iced latte.  Good presentation.  Nice strength.

Cats lounging around with us

Mike had his brewing session with Andrew (the one that got interrupted by covid app notifications two weeks back) so I drove him into Newtown and dropped him off.

Headed home via Juliet's house where I dropped off my tramping jacket as she has an awesome weekend planned with a farm walk in behind Kaikoura.  It might be a tad wet - hence the decent jacket need.

Chilled out at home and went to bed nice and early.  Read in bed for a bit and Mike got home from his session.  Andrew did get away from work to join him for the last brewing part - so that was good.

Mike is concentrating hard on the brewing process

Up for WFH again today (Friday).  In some quirk, I have next to no meetings today.  Weird.  

Weekend is nigh.  Got some messages around Wellington.  Boot camp kicks off its summer only season tomorrow too.  That might kill me.

Have a good one! 

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with a haircut

 Hi,

I finally ventured out of the house for my haircut.  Woot!  Wore the KN95 mask the entire time.  Although when I sent a selfie to Iona, she indicated I needed to wear it better.  Oh.

Moxley in her pumpkin

The only pic I took all day was for Barb when I noticed Moxley sleeping next to me and Mike in her pumpkin.  Toby was onto a good thing when he said we needed to buy that for the cats.

No PT session this morning (Thurs).  Quentin cancelled on us as he had a poor night's sleep.  With warm weather and his shoulder still out of commission, I can imagine him being restless at night.  Poor guy.

Weather has turned misty again.  Not sure the roof will be generating a lot of power with these overcast conditions.  :-)

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday that was the first day back at work and felt like a Monday and now I am confused

 Hi,

Yeah, so with Monday being a holiday and the first day at work being a Tuesday - I am now so confused about what day it is.  Hahah.

And I spelled "confused" as "confudded" in the previous sentence and I think I like that word!  Confudded.

After work Ange came around with Danita and we went to Otari bush for a walk.  Mike decided to try and beat us to the car park by running down our street, across the park, through the bush, across the road and into the car park.  Oddly, we only beat him by about a minute.

Walk with Ange, Mike and Danita

Dappled sunshine

At the flax clearing

Lovely walk in the gorgeous evening weather.  Good to catch up with Danita too.  

Back home for tea and we ate the leftovers from Kara's dinner.  Yummy today too.  

Kara's leftovers for tea

Sorted out the evening with some tasks and then off to bed.  Slept well.  Mike had bread on, so a lovely brekkie this morning.

Got to go to town today for a haircut.  Hope I do not meet any of the people protesting at the Beehive.  They have even pitched tents there.  I think the govt needs to exercise some tyranny and actually move them along.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend of Waitangi

 Hi,

What a busy weekend we had.  Social interaction - but for me at least, it was with small amounts of people.  Mike though - might be still frequenting cafes and bars.  :-p

Friday saw Toby and Tessa get the keys to their flat.  We had a video call to get a good look at their tiny room, and mouldy ceilings.  I hope they have done a lot of cleaning now so it is more pleasant for them all.  Concrete breeze block buildings are always going to be a bit damp.  I hope they run the dehumidifier a lot!

Friday evening saw us head to Titahi Bay to visit Elly.  She cooked up some delicious fresh basil pesto with spaghetti for us.  Yum!  Tom arrived a bit later and we chatted into the night.  Headed home and fell into bed.

Saturday saw Mike up to meet Janine for some social interaction at Foxglove before I drove into town and met them at Te Papa for the Destination Mars event.

Destination Mars

The event is less than 100 people and you had to keep a mask on.  But it was something I would have preferred to keep away from as covid omicron numbers start to increase.  Anyway - we went.  And I did enjoy it.  Had no idea what to expect.  It was an interactive 45 mins scenario-based session where the audience were part of the crew on Mars.  Not sure I learned a lot of science, but it was fun.

Arty (okay - accidental) shot of my leg as I make the bed

We went to visit Sally and Andrew for tea on Saturday night.  Got uber eats - Sopranos.  It was very tasty.  Watched about 5 different movies while Mike and Andrew tasted whiskies.  I say we watched 5, but it was really starting 4 of them and realising no one but me was watching them.  And finding something else.  Two rom com Christmas movies.  The Saint remake.  Something else.  Then we watched the Pink documentary on her Beautiful trauma tour to Wembley.  By then Andrew had fallen asleep - but the rest of us watched that.

Off home and a sleep in Sunday.  We went to continue installing the Expol underfloor insulation at Mike's mother's place.  Used up all the rest of what we'd bought so far - nearly half the floor is finished. Mike has ordered what's needed to finish it off next time.  But we need to collect it first.

Around to see Sally and Andrew to watch Zoi Sadowski-Synnott win gold in the snowboarding.  But we had to go visit Kara and Neil just before she did her second run.  Mike drove while I refreshed the text page on Stuff to find out what was happening.  She fell on her second run.  And just before her 3rd run, we got a call from a colleague about an ex-colleague who had just passed away after fighting off cancer.  So sad - upsetting.  Rang Wally as he knew him - they both went to school together.  Chatted to Wally - sombre chat - but also good to hear his voice.  Read we won the gold with a booming run from Zoi - smashed the competition.

And her fellow podium medallists were so happy that she had nailed her last run that they ran over and jumped on her.  That right there?  That is the sort of sporting content I am after.  Wow!  

Went to Kara and Neil's and had a superb dinner.  Thai with tofu for me.  With chicken for others.  And it was delicious.  Watched a movie or two with them (Blades for Glory for old times sake, and Taken 2).

Cheese board at Kara and Neil's place

Introduced Neil to Mersey Valley cheese and he was also... taken.  :-p

Back home and off to bed.

Moxley totally relaxed

Mike went to the gym for a session with Quentin and then he went for a run in the Hutt with Andrew and Janine while I started on the downstairs wardrobe and building a shelf in the garage for the telescope.

Moxley helps me clear out the wardrobe

Moxley helps me find a bath mat

Built a wee rack for the surfboard to sit on and a bungee to hold it vertical.  Put my road bike up on a hook.  

Surfboard up.  Shelf 3/4 done

My beautiful road bike is now out of the way

Screwed ply to the wall behind the workbench and started hanging up tools.  We have 3 (yes - 3!!) adjustable groove wrenches.  And who knows if I will find more by the time we have tidied.

Start of the tools being organised

Mike inspection

When Mike did his final inspection of my shelf, we added a bit of webbing to take some weight and provide sideways displacement barriers in the event of an earthquake.  Mike would not trust it to do chin ups on.  But the telescope should be safe enough.

First winter gold medal for NZ.

Up for my online PT session with Quentin and work.  Busy day.  Sigh.  

The gardeners are here today dealing to our garden.  Woot!

Have a good day.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with a walk with Ange after work

 Hi,

More warm, wet weather.  It's like Singapore - but 10 degrees cooler.  I did discover the first flower on our chili plant.  Pretty happy about that.  Come on you wee beauty!

Also discovered greet caterpillars devouring my broccoli.  I need to research deterrents so they stop doing that.  They are perfectly camouflaged.  Gah!

Chili plant finally flowering

Found the broccoli eating culprit - green caterpillars

Nipped into town to visit Kara for my physio appointment for that lump on my foot.  Still there but way less in size and less sore to touch.  She peered at my x-rays again because to her it does not feel like a soft tissue injury.  

I have exercises to do.  She also massaged it.  And seriously?  I was in 7th heaven.  Usually she has hands of steel and it is equal pleasure and pain when she does her physio thing.  But this was lovely.  Hahah.  I suspect because it is still sore she couldn't exert her usual torturous pressure.  Shame I had to go back to work - as did she with further patients.  Hahah. 

Mmm.  Feet getting tickled.

My feet at the physio

We view my x-rays.  Feet gorgeous even on the inside!

After work Ange popped around and we did a walk in Otari bush again.  This time Mike joined us.  Lovely. 

Mike and Ange and me on a walk

Off to bed after tea.  Mike did some work in the garden.  Warm night again.  Up for working from home on Friday.  Made home made iced latte.

Friday home made iced latte to start the day

Moxley hunkered down outside

Long weekend for us here.  Online events for Waitangi this year.  I will attend, virtually.  The weather is patchy.  Some areas of the West Coast have flooding!  Might be a wet one here too.  I hope the preparations mean it has less impact for the people down there.  It is becoming quite common.  :-(

Our weekend involves many wee messages and projects.  Seeing Elly and Tom tonight at Elly's place.  And Sally and Andrew at some stage.  As well as Kara and Neil.  Plus building shelves in the garage.

Woot!

Enjoy your weekend.

Love,

Angela