We're Back!

Okay, after a few month's hiatus I've decided to start up again. This is mainly due to the (sad?) fact that I really missed blogging, and while Facebook is great, I don't always want to post everything on it.

I promise not to keep rattling on about the bloody house - we're in it, it's great. I'll post some pictures.

Here's a quick run-down of what we've been up since I last posted:

1. I had minor foot surgery. This thrilling undertaking was 500x better than the same surgery I had on my other foot back in 2003. Incredible -- either they've made huge medical breakthroughs in bunion surgery (doubtful) or the first guy I had in Philly was crap (likely). I got to work from home for a week which was great!



2. Iain got promoted! (I can't remember if that was mentioned before). I'm still working for the same folks and am enjoying it a hell of lot more than I used to. Karma can be a good thing.

3. Iain's parents visited for 9 days in May. They were our first official houseguests! We spent the week eating way too much. It was a really good time and (hopefully) nice and relaxing for them. I think Blue had the best deal: he received twice the number of belly rubs and pats. Tama was still skittish but not totally freaking out, so that's progress.







More posts to come!

Week

This week was much less hectic than last week. With my workload being back to normal, we were able to tag team the house chores: I'm responsible for hiring a carpet cleaner for our rental, arranging internet and satellite hook-up, and managing the upstairs closet build. Not too onerous. Iain took over the kitchen sink install, plumbers, screens, and our builder.

We're both taking off the week of March 8. Iain doesn't have enough vacation days to take the FULL week. So I'm handling the move on Monday the 8th, just like Iain handled our move into the rental back in October. I'd hoped to have the internet and TV hooked up in time to watch the Oscars but it won't happen. Damn!

There's a huge sale on at Smith + Caughey this week, so I spent numerous lunch breaks looking at sheets, towels, shoes (not house-related but c'mon...), housewares, etc. I got us some fantastic orange towels for the upstairs bathroom. I might go back next week and look for towels for the downstairs, too.

Here are pictures of the rangehood and - finally! - the correct kitchen sink: 500mm X 400mm X 200mm (19.6" X 14.74" X 7.87"). The kitchen company agreed to reimburse us for 50% of the value of the handles, since they're wrong and we couldn't agree on an adequate replacement. This is a pretty good deal since they originally threw the handles in for free.

Lastly: the backsplash. Or is it splashback?

Tired.

My partner at work is on vacation so I enjoyed a 50+ hour week (that's not a complaint -- I just heard of another local ad agency doing poorly in this economy so I'm feeling lucky. Tired and cranky, but lucky. Ok, yeah, it's kind of a complaint.)

Iain handled all house-related chores, going down almost daily for frustrating meetings with our infuriatingly (sic) non-communicative builder. While I've been at work from 7.30am to 6pm, he's been dealing with the logistics of scheduling the carpet guys to come back and flatten the carpet that the radiator guys disrupted, calling the screen guys, emailing the kitchen chick to find out when the new sink arrives, and trying to find out why the hell we have no exhaust fans in the bathrooms! We are tired.

It's Friday night and Iain is watching a rubgy game. I'm catching up on Facebook and just wasted 15 minutes of my life watching The 30 Most Important Cats of 2009.

Here are some pictures of the radiators and carpet. What's weird is that these things, more than the kitchen install or the bathrooms, have made it all seem like a real house. Seeing the house almost finished gave me that little knot in my stomach - the first real feeling of excitement.

I confessed to Iain that I've felt negative towards the house lately, and wasn't nearly as psyched by the completed bathroom or almost-completed kitchen as I thought I'd be. I said, "This sounds awful, but I'm just sick of it." He nodded and said, "I've hated this house since June." And then we just started laughing.

Here's something strange: one of the biggest thrills has been seeing the carpeted closets. I did a quick mental search through every house and apartment I've ever lived in and realized that only two had carpeted closets. But so what, right? It never occurred to me to care about such an unimportant, arbitrary feature, but yet here I am, fantasizing about hanging my clothes in these brand new carpeted closets. Weird.

Auckland Anniversary Day!

Monday is Auckland Anniversary and the whole city gets a public holiday. This is absolutely perfect timing since we both had rough weeks. I had a positively vile 5 days in the office, followed up by two tiring nights of house meetings (builder, electrician, closet guy, tiler). Our electrician doesn't get along with our builder or Iain, so he's taken to calling me direct at work for all things lighting-related. So, we definitely could use a break.

The weather is stunning today -- I've done 4 loads of laundry and they dry on the line within an hour! (I always feel like I should be in a Jerry Bruckheimer film as I'm hanging stuff on the line -- I keep expecting to see planes flying overhead and an American flag somewhere. Maybe some Aerosmith music....)

I spent the morning cleaning our grody house - Iain is finishing up the job with a good vacuum, and then we're off for sushi and a swim! Oh, and we bought a rangehood for the new kitchen! Yay! Final days... we're almost there!

Movies:
Avatar - incredible
Drag Me To Hell - awful
The Lovely Bones - yawn
Rachel Getting Married - annoying filming but great acting
District 9 - good, original

Monday

Today was frustrating for two reasons:

1. The Golden Globes are on and I missed them because I have a j-o-b. It was agony all day!!! But I do have sick days and holiday time, so next year I'll plan better! Skype call anyone?

2. The kitchen install is actually a two day process: delivery on day one, installation on day two. So I have to wait until tomorrow to see it all. Damn it!

Back to reality

Well, after almost two weeks off, it's back to work tomorrow for us. I guess it's a good thing... we've started sleeping in until 9am!

Today we've got a last hurrah brunch and then it's home for dinner and early bed!

New Year's Day!

Yesterday was gorgeous outside, so after a morning of catching up on emails, Facebook, and bills we headed into the city to meet our friend Toni for brunch at Northern Steamship. There, we enjoyed fries, mussels, and wings and exchanged work horror stories. There's something both depressing yet comforting knowing that everyone suffers the same irritations in their job, regardless of company or title.

After that we headed back to Toni and Max's for further wine and conversation. Iain regaled us with a half hour lecture on why he hates ad agencies while I oggled their gorgeous vegetable garden, full of Swiss chard, basil, arugula, tomatoes, and parsley. Throughout the garden are dozens of little wooden spikes to prevent Stella and Stanley from using it as their litterbox.

We ended the day with a delish ham and mac + cheese dinner while watching episodes of Glee. Actually, the mac was a little dull -- Iain is worried he's losing his touch. I may have to take over cooking duties! If so, it's pasta every night!

Today we're back on house duty and it's off to the stores for tile and carpet shopping.

All work and no play

Please be patient with the lack of blog posts -- my job is getting in the way of my blogging, Facebooking, and emailing!
I hope to catch up soon.

Coworkers

I met my coworkers yesterday!

Here's what I was afraid of:

1. There'd only be 2 of them, or 200. You don't want a TINY office, but you also don't want to be surrounded by strangers.

2. They'd be my classmates all over again. Young or just weird.

3. They'd be ridiculously well-dressed and professional looking.

4. There'd be no cubicles or offices - just a big open-plan.

I was elated that Fears 1-3 were totally unfounded. Yeah, it's a big open plan, but I can get a set of headphones if I need to. And have I mentioned that we're all on Macs? Yeah. That was seriously my BIGGEST fear -- working in an office on a PC.

The creative department houses about 7-8 people, and everyone looked to be my age. And in jeans. I'm glad I went shopping for new clothes but relieved that I didn't go TOO nuts. It looks like a few of my more casual items will work just fine.

I was only there for a few minutes, so while everyone SEEMS friendly and glad to have me on-board, I'm sure more interesting personalities will emerge.

Preparation

1. Bought new clothes -- check.
2. Timed how long it takes me to blow dry and do my hair in the morning -- check.
3. Rearranged wardrobe to separate old crap from work clothes -- check.
4. Driven to work in rush hour to determine whether the bus is faster - check.
5. Attempted to get in as much slacker sleeping in / watching TV / hanging out with the cats time as possible before re-entering the workforce grind -- not really.

Employment

The contract and benefits package for my new job was couriered over last week. Good god! I've never had this much paperwork for a job in my entire life.

Perks include discounts for family and friends, cheap parking, and a staff cafeteria. The last time I ate in a staff cafeteria was back in 1995 when I was working for Wolf Advertising and would sneak into the Marine Midland staff cafeteria with my coworkers.

The one benefit I won't get anymore is having a small kitty next to me as I work. Oh well.

HIRED!

I got a job!

House hunting, interviews, trips home!

This week, I have two job interviews, a flight home to Buffalo, and 5 houses to see. Talk about packing it all in! We spent another weekend driving all over, checking out different neighborhoods and homes. It's incredible how a house can look awesome in pictures, but you get a completely different vibe up close.

Here are some pics.






Tomorrow is our 3rd wedding anniversary, to be spent with a job interview in the morning followed by 3 or 4 homes to see in the afternoon. Then we'll crack open the bubbly and settle in for a nice romantic meal at home.

Job Search

Every Wednesday I apply for jobs -- it's a pretty routine process which so far has yielded a whole lot of nothing. Last week, I applied for a job as a Postie (a Kiwi mailman). Some of you may already know that I have always wanted to be a mailman - mainly because there are no clients, no office politics, it's good exercise, and you get to wear a really cool uniform (no, I'm not being ironic).

My application for a Postie was rejected within minutes of its submission, no doubt an email auto-reply. I'm not surprised. That a job like this is generally gained only through knowing someone is not news. But I'll keep trying. I can't imagine a cooler job than tooling around NZ on a bike every day, getting paid.

I'm a published author! Or just a crazy unemployed cat lady...

I wrote a letter to the editor and it got published! I'd attach a link to the article, but the magazine doesn't have a website! Ah, New Zealand!

Working...

With our four day weekend, we decided to have two days of fun, and two days of work. Work for Iain involves painting the windows and (hopefully!) putting up the blinds in the bedroom and guest room. Tama kept his dad company (sort of) while he worked outside.

April 7, 2008

A year ago today was my first day of school! Yuck! I'm so glad to be finished, working at home on part time freelance. I've even purchased a mouse and wireless keyboard to be ergonomically correct!

Iain and I have set up a few rules for working from home together: emails are allowed but no wandering into the other person's office unannounced. We even take separate lunches. This makes the end of day more interesting - it gives us that "Hi, honey! How was your day!" time together.

Ok, back to work!

M.I.A.

I have been working full time at my internship while applying for jobs, so I haven't been able to post anything new.

But stay tuned! Lots has happened: Birthdays! Fences! Crappy movies!

Ok, maybe not a LOT has happened...

In the meantime, here's a picture of the weta we found on our drainpipe (seen also on Facebook).