A weekend at home

Friday I had taken the day off work. I had such a productive day doing all sorts of errands and tasks: 1) taking shoes to the cobbler 2) taking the dry cleaning 3) taking clothing for alterations 4) taking old clothing to the sallies 5) some Christmas shopping 6) cutting the lawn, etc. I felt so productive. Little girl arrived on a 4:50pm flight from Auckland. I eagerly waited for the time to arrive and picked her up at the cargo spot. I walked her to my car and started the drive home. She meowed a bit during the short ride from the airport. She was already lonely. Upon arriving home she explored her room- bedroom #2 of my house- very carefully. I showed her some food and water and her litter box and toys. Then I picked her up because she was yawning. She decided to have a nap on my lap- so I couldn't move for a while. When she woked up she did a bit more playing around and then it was bed time. She slept most of the night, although she did wake me up a couple of times for some attention. Sometimes the anticipation is more exciting than the real event, but not in this case. We had the weekend to settle in and she is now quite comfortable roaming through the house. It took her a day and me much worry but she started eating. She sleeps and rests quite a lot but when she's not sleeping she is tearing about playing. She really likes her mouse toys- she has managed to lose all the little ones. In typical cat fashion she also likes things that aren't so pricy as toys- a container of my lip balm, my exercise ball, my yoga mat. Poor girl is now spending her days alone- with a visit at lunch time- due to work. I feel so guilty leaving the little attention seeker alone (despite the fact I know she sleeps away a good part of the day). This is why kitten #2 will be arriving in less than a month so they can keep each other company.

It was difficult to name the wee girl. Her name is Lilac Lady of Grace, and the breeder had called her Chelsey, but I settled for something different- Allie. Not after any Allie in particular- it just seemed to suit her.

Counting down...

Kitten #1 arrives from Auckland on Friday- I'm very much looking forward to it. When I was 17 I decided against vet school but said I would instead be a pet owner. Excepting my office fighting fish that I had for nearly a year- I've taken 13 years to get to my pet ownership goal. My little lilac girl will be flying down from Auckland. A few weeks later I'll go and pick up my little blue girl. Stay tuned for photos...

Mid November

Another week has come and gone. My it was a busy one at work with month end. It's been about 3 years for me working in corporate accounting in industry as opposed to external audit- and I'm still not sure what I think about the cycle of reporting month after month after month. But I certainly don't miss the hours and travel that came with auditing.

I've started running again this week, thinking of possibly gearing up for the Buller half. I haven't done a half marathon since my first one during my first year in NZ back in 2007. At that time I didn't think I'd ever do one again, but I think it might be a good goal to gear up for to stay motivated.

I'm settling into my new home. The rental market in Nelson is rather tough- first there is a lack of reasonably priced rental properties on the market- and secondly they go very quickly when they do appear. I do miss living in my beautiful waterfront apartment which was so wonderfully double glazed and warm- but I'm also very glad I took my new cute wee house, as I've kept an eye out since I moved here and have seen nothing else what would have worked. THis place should be a good home for my new wee kittens- and that was reason enough to move. (And of course, its cheaper than life on the waterfront too!)

The countdown is on...

I've put my deposits down on 2 kittens. Girl #1 is a beautiful lilac girl- she is coming from a breeder in Auckland around the end of the month. Girl #2 is a cute little blue girl- she is coming from a local breeder in the sounds- she's ready to come home on 19th December. So yes- it's been a long time since I looked forward to Christmas as much as I do these Christmas kittens.

In other news, my bed arrived last week so I've been getting decent sleeps! How very exciting. I also found some bedside cabinets on trademe on the weekend and was delighted to see a buy now price- I got them & picked them up- meaning my unpacking is largely complete. Yay.

I also found a workaround to my terrible water pressure. I can't remember if I talked about the trickle of water that comes out of my shower. I was having a real issue getting shampoo out of my hair. Normally I would put my head under the tap- however the bath has those annoying double taps and the hot and cold are too far apart to use that method- I'd either freeze or burn. I recently shelled out about $9 on a bucket- which I now fill from the taps and dump over myself- reminiscent to sauna days. This is so much more effective- and a bit of an arm workout every day that what the bath came with.

I tried cutting my grass with my electric lawnmower for the first time on the weekend. I need to hone my technique- seriously - I kept trying to flip the heavy extension cord to avoid cutting it- and then would let off the safety switch and it would die- again and again. Also- the catcher is rather small- and my lease indicates I have to pick up clippings. I had to empty it about 6 times on my wee lawn. Hopefully next time will be easier...I need to work on technique. :)

I am largely settled into the new flat. I've got an ant problem- only I didn't recognize them as ants. They look different and smaller than the black ants I know of. I must go on the hunt for ant bait. I have no idea what it will look like.

So for the first time since I've been in NZ I actually had trick or treaters. This is not a very celebrated holiday in NZ- at all. I got 5 kids- which almost exhausted the one bag of candy I had bought. However- the strange event celebrated shortly after Halloween down here is Guy Fawkes day- which basically involves setting off a bunch of fireworks. This fellow apparently wanted to blow up the Parliament buildings- so I thought it was strange to be celebrating him. But according to this website: http://www.nzine.co.nz/features/guyfawkes.html?PTPFrom=%2Findex.html what is actually being celebrated is the safety of the king. I'm not sure why Guy gets all the attention then- it should be Kings Day or something, instead.

I bought mandarins today after reading something on someone's facebook about Christmas oranges. I really miss the Canadian boxes of oranges at Christmas. It doesn't feel like that time of year approaching really- in the middle of summer. I'm glad I'm not running up to -30 weather and tax/ busy season these days at this time of year. Instead- bring on summer!

A week in..

So I've been a week + in my new house. I'm still sleeping on the couch, although the furniture place tell me the new bed will be delivered tomorrow. It had better be- I think my back will be happy to try the new one. Hopefully tomorrow- fingers crossed...

It was Halloween yesterday- which isn't nearly as big of a holiday here as it is back home. For the first time in NZ, I've actually had trick or treaters- 5 came to my new house. I'm in a bit of a family area. I had only bought one packet of candy as I didn't expect I'd need it- but thankfully it lasted through the 5.

I went for a big run this am. It seemed very big since I've taken a several week break- and really almost a 6 week break since serious jogging. I'm tired now and I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow- but it felt pretty good out there running along the beach (I'm glad my new house is still close to lovely Tahuna beach).

I'm dangerously close to selecting another kitten. I've been looking and looking and looking and emailing breeder after breeder after breeder. I didn't really want to get 2 from the same local breeder as I was looking for more colour diversity. I may have found the lilac girl I was looking for, stay tuned.

Today I visited my former flattie Jill and her new beautiful 11 week old burmese kitten- "William"- a new brother for Milo & George. He's very, very bold and outgoing- typical to other burmese babies that I've seen. I'm glad Milo was also happy to see me. I've missed the boys- it's been almost a year since I lived with them.

In other news - I bought a couple of tomato plants and herbs to plant at the new place. We'll see if they take off. Last time I tried tomatos was living in the wind at Tua Marina. They didn't grow great.