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!