Before & After

Cats and toilets -- yeah, we're really scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point.

Life is settling in, and we'll end our blog soon. Iain's back to work and my web classes begin in the next 3 weeks. Until that time, here are some earth shattering before and after shots of our toilet room and bathroom. Brace yourself!

(shots are in chronological order)

Cat Fight!

Watch fascinating footage of Blue trying to make friends with the neighborhood cat who loves our backyard.

Blue went outside, oblivious to the cat hanging out on the lawn, but as soon as he saw him, Blue ran over to say hi. It didn't go very well.

Unfortunately, I had to stop filming in case they started fighting. We're getting a quote for an Invisible Fence soon, so get ready for a turf war!

Happy Birthday Wayne!!

Local Architecture

Here are some of the local homes in our area. It's really varied: lots of traditional mixed in with really swank modern homes. I especially love the traditional Kiwi villas - they actually remind me of the Buffalo NY neighborhood I grew up in. Although I could be very happy in the green and charcoal house pictured first.









"I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" ended last night -- vile Janice Dickinson did not win, thank god. We'll miss our favorite show but the 7:30pm air time was really screwing up our schedule.

It's been a very tame week -- we're eating healthy again, exercising regularly (yawn), and working. Iain's in his office all day, and I'm stripping the dining room and painting the bathroom and toilet room. We bought a big mirror last night for the bathroom -- I'm very excited.

Speaking of healthy, we tried to buy real cranberry juice last night for making Cosmos but couldn't find any, so we got pomegranate juice instead.

Driving is still a challenge -- I feel 15 again but with less patience. Iain still has to tell me how to get everywhere which I'm sure is frustrating - Danielle suggested we get a GPS for the car which isn't such a bad idea.... if only they weren't $400-$500.

You say tomato

In addition to driving on the other side of the road AND dealing with the metric system, I'm also adjusting to the different words and pronunciations for things. This has always been an interesting part of our marriage - trying to figure out what the hell the other person means when they say a word that the person has never heard of. Thankfully, I was familiar with most of these before we got here.

serviette = disposable napkin ("May I have a few more serviettes to go with my meat & cheese pie?")
courgette = zucchini
silver beet = swiss chard
capsicum = green pepper (does it also apply to red and yellow peppers?)
bench = kitchen counter ("I left the vodka on the bench.")
tyre = tire
kerb = curb
bush = woods/forest
tramping = hiking ("Let's go tramping in the bush this weekend.")
lounge = living room
entree = appetizer
starter = appetizer
main = entree

Then there's the funky pronunciation of certain things, like Subaru is "su-BAR-u" instead of "SU-baru", and cervical is "cer-VY-kal" instead of "CER-vical". Good times. I'll ask Iain, "How come you guys say suBARu?" and he'll say, "How come you guys say SU-baru?"

I can't remember any more right now, so I'll have to come back to this topic. We're heading out for a swim before dinner at Mr. BBQ.

House Shots

The house decorating is a slow process. I'm overwhelmed by the big expanses of blank walls and the amount of pictures we have. I'm also at a loss for what to do with the wall behind the TV - hang something? Leave it blank? I'm trying to be more minimalist but I don't want to go overboard. On Saturday after staring at the wall for about 45 minutes, terrified to hang anything, I decided instead to paint the toilet room. It's the smallest room in the house, so I chose a really funky blue color. The guy at the paint store sold me a liter, claiming it would be plenty. It wasn't, and now the color is on back order until later this week. I got one coat finished, and am now forced to resume the daunting task of picture hanging. For those of you who saw our apartment in Philly, you can credit my mom and sister for that. Left on my own, I am useless.

I bought 2 plants, though, so that's a start!

Yesterday we did housework for a few hours (Iain also watched cricket) and then went for a swim. It was gorgeous and a nice reminder of why we're here.

I Can't Drive 55! Or 5... or at all, really.

I am a HORRIBLE driver, and that's in the U.S. Now I have to relearn everything in the opposite and it's hell. I try to turn my left indicator on, and turn on the windshield wipers instead. I even reach to my left to grab the seat belt, before realizing it's on my right, and oh yeah, I'm sitting on the right, too.

To make things really fun, New Zealand has a unique right-of-way rule that takes a lot of getting used to. It basically goes against everything I know about right-of-way. Iain is patient, but has occasional outbursts when I veer inches within sideswiping an entire row of parked cars. Some guy honked at me yesterday and I almost started crying.

We're hoping that in the next few days I'll be able to drive all by myself!

Porky & Porkies!

One of our favorite restaurants in Philly was an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue place called Porky & Porkies. Stupid name, but it was dirt cheap ($16.95 each) and they even gave you free beer while they waited for their liquor license to come through. It was fantastic. We went almost every week. Then it closed. We never found its equal, until Friday night.

Mr. BBQ is an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ a few miles away from our house and it's our new favorite restaurant. For the same price as Porky & Porkies, you get a huge selection of various kimchi, vegies, scallion pancakes, jap chae, and of course meat for barbecuing. I meant to take a picture but I was too busy eating.

Mojito? Margarita? Or vodka & club?

Check out this tree in our backyard - we can't figure out if it's a lemon or a lime tree. Iain thinks it's a lemon tree, and he's probably right but I'm really hoping it's a lime tree. Think of the drinks we could make!

We're going out for dinner tonight, but we decided to go out really early so we can be back in time for the 7:30 showing of "I'm a Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here!" We are pitiful.

Crack Den?

Here is a section of the hallway that I started stripping, then lost all motivation. The dining room has a similar appearance.

Total Chaos

Right now, our house smells like a thousand Magic Markers because of the varnish. Blue is hiding under the covers because of the floor sander/varnish guy. Tama is under the bed.

Ok, so here are a few shots in the house. I'll post the dining room, kitchen, and living room later. As you can see, every room is a work in progress.

Here are pictures of:

1. Iain’s office (notice high quality duct taped office rug)
2. the bathroom (thank you Shelb, for the shower curtain!)
3. our bedroom
4. Blue
5. the view of the street from our bedroom
6. the mess that is our guest room. The big boxes lining the walls of the guest room are our Ikea wardrobes.

Settling in... or trying to

Attached is a picture of my sister and my nephew from Thanks- giving last year (we get the camera today so I'll finally be able to post some updated pictures!)

This is really lame but one of the first things I found in our 600 billion boxes was our bathroom scale. We both weighed ourselves and are pleased to report that we’ve lost most of the weight we gained on the trip. I have no idea how, but I’m not complaining.

Iain is still assembling his office, but it’s been slow going since he’s working full time again. I’m putting together the rest of the house.

Our internet is screwy again, and only one of us can be online, so I get access in the early morning or evenings, when Iain isn't working.

The cats are in heaven – lots of new, fun stuff to explore… and it all smells like them! They’re having a blast.

I’ve managed to fit everything in our kitchen - this is incredible since the storage space is nothing like what we had in Philly.

The dining room floor is being sanded and varnished today, so all of our dining room furniture (table, chairs, bar cart, etc.) is in the living room. It's a mess and I can’t wait until it’s finished!

The Movers

Our furniture arrived 2 days ago – it took up an entire container (a medium sized one, not those huge containers you see on 18-wheelers). The two guys who moved us in (Rick and Ryan) were awesome.

A few thoughts on our stuff:

1. My god we have a lot of stuff!
2. Who needs this many votives??
3. Our kitchenware will NEVER fit.
4. Our glassware will NEVER fit.
5. The silverware doesn’t fit in the silverware drawer – now what?
6. Why do we have so many pillows?
7. Did the movers really need to put bubble wrap around a bunch of envelopes?
8. … or towels?
9. … or cat toys?
10. Is anything broken?
11. Why did I bring my high school yearbooks? (then spent 2 hours pouring over high school yearbooks)
12. Holy crap – more votives!!!
13. Man, we have a lot of chairs.
14. Where in god’s name will we find room for all of these pictures? (but I love my pictures!)
15. The movers wrapped all of our shoes in paper – kinda nice but a little weird
16. Why do I have so many socks?
17. Thank god – nothing is broken.
18. Jeez – another chair?!
19. We really need to buy a vacuum!
20. No one needs this many plates. Or wine glasses. Or bowls.

In the end, I elected to get rid of exactly 10 votives, one saucepan, 4 pillows and 5 t-shirts.

The movers put our bed together. That night, I dug out our sheets and made up the bed. The cats assumed their positions and we all had a good night’s sleep.

Furniture!

Here's a picture of the downstairs of our apartment in Philly, the day the movers left. This is only a fraction of what we have arriving tomorrow. It's going to be challenging trying to find room for everything, but I can't wait!

Iain and I have assumed the traditional gender roles: he's going to stay out the way while I tell the movers where to put everything. Supposedly they have to unpack for us, which I'm really not thrilled about. I guess it's for their own protection (in case I break something and try to blame the moving company). I'm not sure yet if this means they have to unpack literally EVERYTHING, right down to every book, knickknack, and fork.

I enjoy unpacking and rediscovering my stuff, so if I have to endure watching someone else unpack everything, I think I'm going to need a few drinks.

The cats will enjoy a day locked up in Iain's office, along with our aerobed (good riddance!), our luggage, and camping chairs.

The house next door to ours is for sale, so we went to the open house and checked it out. Our house is much more spacious (it's a better layout, not necessarily a larger house) but their walls look WAY better than ours.

The Home Stretch

Well, we're almost finished. We put a second coat on all of the ceilings today and put the first coat of paint on all of the walls except the bedroom, hallway, and dining room (we'll do those later.... which probably means never after this ordeal!)

We decided to be environmentally responsible (after 2 weeks of paint thinner, primer, and buying numerous styrofoam-encased appliances..) and asked for Low V.O.C. paint. They had it, but only in flat. I hate flat paint, but went ahead and bought it anyway.

Tonight we're heading out for Indian food -- one of my audiobooks mentioned palak paneer and I've been craving it ever since. Tomorrow all we have to do is put the second coat on the walls, and we're DONE. Iain's hoping for some time in from of the TV, watching the rugby game. I'm looking forward to watching last night's episode of Lost on my laptop and maybe getting some deck time, assuming it's sunny. I started to get a tan a few weeks ago, but it's already begun to fade.

The cats are doing well -- they come out at night mainly. They've steered clear of us during the day, probably because of all of the paint fumes.

Last night we watched a British reality show called "Dirty Cows". It's like The Bachelor, only the women are friendlier and have more wit.

Attached are some pictures of our old 'hood in South Philly.

The furniture arrives on Monday -- can't wait!