Hike!

The weather was gorgeous yesterday so we drove out west to the Waitakere (why-tack-ery) Ranges for a long hike. The sign said it was a 4 hour hike, but we did it in 3. We rule!

Then we headed to Dante's Pizza based on a recommend from our friends Pete & Zeke, and ate our pizzas in the car in the parking lot. Dante's does true Italian style pizza, and it was delicious. I still miss American style pizza, however -- perhaps I'll have to make my own!

Pictures of our hike are on on Facebook which you can see (even if you're not on Facebook, Danielle and Shelby) by clicking HERE.

What happens when Iain picks the movie

Random bus pictures

The shirt says "Josh kicks ass! Better than Tama!"

Weird Renaissance-Faire dude at the bus stop
The coat is velvet with big gold buttons and buckles in the front.

MILK!!!!!

The dairy industry is pretty big over here, and there's even commercials trying to lure teens and 20-somethings to join this sweet as business.

Here are three screen shots. Some wacky dudes kidnap their buddy from his boring office job. But where are they taking him? A strip club? Bar? Concert? No, son -- these guys are from the "Get Fresh Rescue Team"! They're taking him to THE DAIRY INDUSTRY!!!! Awesome!

Whoa - like, where are we going?

Dude, MILK!

Get Fresh!

I wash myself with a rag on a stick

Well, the house Iain and I are renting has a shower that closely resembles someone spitting on you or pouring a small glass of water on your head. It's awful. But we don't want to alert our landlord because he'll have to come over, and as soon as he sees the bare walls, empty shelves, and room full of boxes, he'll get suspicious. We also don't want to him to come by during the day when we aren't there - we don't want him to scare the kitties. Paranoid perhaps. The only plus of having this horrendous pipe-with-trickling-water is that it motivates me to go to the gym every morning and use their showers. Iain isn't so lucky.

But the tub faucet works, so we're going to buy one of those plastic hose attachments and "shower" that way. We may even take a page from Shelby and Tim's bathroom renovation book and get a plastic milk crate to sit on in the tub while washing. Klassy!

But the EXCELLENT news is that we may have received the thumbs up from the local council! This means our builder can continue working, and hopefully we'll be moved in by New Year's!

Stairs!

The stairs are almost in! The first time I saw them I stupidly started walking up them until Iain yelled, "WAIT!!! They might not be fully installed!!!" Upon closer inspection, he was right. Accident averted.

Here's a few before-during-after shots. I hope these are interesting - this is basically all I'm going to be posting from now on, since the house is s l o w l y starting to resemble a place in which one could actually live.

Birthday Fun

It was my 38th birthday on Thursday so I milked it for all it was worth.  We celebrated the "Week of Birthday", a term coined by our friend Laura.  The concept of WOB is simple:  from the day of your birthday until the following week, you get to eat and drink whatever you want (within reason) and generally slack off Because It's My Birthday.  This usually involves stuff like the avoidance of washing dishes ("But it's my birthday!") and not being responsible for changing the DVD ("I know I'm closer, but....").  The key to WOB is to not be too annoying about it while still enjoying as many small privileges as possible.

WOB was launched with a fabulous decorating of the rental house by Iain  - a lovely surprise!  Saturday and Sunday was a continuation:  a great weekend of oysters, champagne, walks, fun Skype calls, and lots of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (we're on season 4 right now). Even the weather cooperated somewhat - Saturday was gross out but Sunday was really sunny and allowed us to sit us outside.

I couldn't completely absolve myself from all domestic responsibilities, so there was some laundry done, but that was it.  Oh!  And Blue finally figured out how to use the new cat door!

Here are some pictures.

October Sunday

We've had two weeks of on again/off again crappy weather.  Damp, rainy, with occasional sunshine.  Living in an uninsulated house is a real drag during weather like this.  Clothes take forever to dry, each room is a different temperature, and you don't get a lot of opportunities to air out the house because it's pouring rain.  Yesterday it got nice and sunny in the afternoon so I seized the moment and tossed some towels and pillow cases into the washing machine, but by the time the laundry was ready to be hung out to dry, it was raining again.

I appreciate that line drying is better for your clothes and loads better for the environment, but on days like this, I want nothing more than a humongous, evil, energy-sapping tumble drier.  While we're at it, let's add awesome smelling water-polluting Era detergent with Downy fabric softener to that - I mean yeah, I feel more responsible using the hypoallergenic eco-friendly crap but damn, some days I really miss the good stuff.

Meanwhile, the cats are enjoying the chilly weather, using every opportunity to sleep under the covers or curl up next to us.

Today we're off to Farmer's (a department store) to buy a new duvet cover and hopefully locate some decent pillows.  I am on a lifelong quest for the perfect pillows and have only experienced them twice in my life:  in a Four Seasons hotel and in my parents' guest room (hint, hint!!!)

Then it's back home for episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a seafood dinner using Obrycki's crab house seasoning.

Here are some undecipherable pictures of the house.  They started constructing the interior walls, which is pretty exciting for us.  We "see" our living room and guest bath and the place where the stairs will go, but in pictures it just looks like a bunch of pink wood.  (why pink?!)

Here's a picture of one of the walls of our bedroom -- I couldn't get all the way up here because there's just a ladder and half of a floor.

Outside!

We installed the cat fence and let the boys out last weekend.  Tama loved it, but Blue was a little more reserved...

It's been cold in the mornings, and since this house isn't insulated or heated, we've been taking full advantage of the fireplace.  Here are some more pictures of our new place.  It's modest, but it completely serves our purposes.

Weird bus activity

I've started noticing this guy on the bus who clearly has no respect for personal space.

There are two sets of seats on the bus that face each other, like a booth in a restaurant. The one set of seats faces the front of the bus.  The other seats face the back of the bus, creating a really awkward situation where you're stuck sitting directly across from a complete stranger.  99% of people sit in these seats as a last resort, when there's no other place to sit.

Everyone, that is, except this one guy.

At first I thought it was a sneaky strategy to prevent someone from sitting across from him, ensuring a bus ride unfettered by someone sitting next to you. But no -- he's just nuts.

In fact, a woman got on the bus the other morning and sat in one of the seats, and even though the bus was 85% empty, he actually sat across from her -- this is the bus equivalent of being in a bathroom stall,and someone comes in and takes the stall RIGHT next to yours, even though it's a big public bathroom and there's plenty of empty stalls.

See how it unfolds!

Woman gets on the bus, sits in her seat:

Other people get on the bus and take the next available seats:

But then this guy gets on and where does he sit?  Check it out. What's the deal?!?  He sits in that same seat every single morning, without exception.