All moved in!

Yes indeedy, we are now resident in Green Street! We spent the last 10 days furiously cleaning, sanding, paint stripping and painting in readiness for Jo & her dad to fetch our worldly goods from Waikanae, and managed heroically. The lounge/diner/kitchen are all painted except for the ceiling, and the bedrooms are both done - for those of you wanting a colour guide the lounge etc are biege/brown, the main bedroom dusky pink and the second bedroom is the same as the lounge. The hallway will be pale green, but we thought we'd wait until everything was moved in rather than risk trashing our new paintwork. The last 3 days have been mainly spent trying to fight our way through mountains of boxes, finding things we'd forgotten we owned and things that no longer work (like the TV), and lugging them around the house to their new homes.

We stayed over in the house on Saturday night (after I'd almost fallen asleep on Amy's living room floor and decided the furthest I can walk was into our house 10 feet away) and I woke up in the middle of the night and suffered the most shocking attack of missing my friends/family. It wasn't so much that I was homesick, because I think I am a little in love with our new house & neighbourhood, more that having a new home made me realise that none of you would be popping by for a cuppa or a raucous BBQ on a regular basis. So I went back to bed and had a bit of a cry whilst Jo assured me it would all be okay. God, imagine the mess I'll be when anyone comes to visit and I have to say goodbye...oh it'll be embarrassing. I'll email out our new address & phone number ASAP, and once we are settled we'll get broadband installed so I can email more regularly.

Speaking of embarrassing, on Friday night we joined Jules & Harriet at the extravaganza that was 'Ms Gay Downunder'. Actually, it was really Ms Gay Wellington, but they were getting ideas above their station. After a week of painting/moving, Jo & I were both shattered, and I had just been for my massage so was totally zoned out with bags under my eyes big enough to carry home shopping, but we managed to get a second wind and danced the night away fuelled by beer & tequila. I felt about 98 the next day. I won't go into too much detail about the entrants or winner, suffice to say it takes a certain type/mentality to enter. Harriet managed to convince me to join a team to do the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge (160km around Lake Taupo) in November by using that clever ploy of waiting until I had a couple of drinks in me, but I'm actually quite pleased as it'll give me an excuse to get off my fat arse and do something. As a relay team we only have to do 40km each and I think even in my current state of sloth I should be able to get fit enought to do that in two months.

On the job front Jo has been to a couple of interviews and is being called back for a second interview at one of the telecoms firms over here (which would be a great job as it would give us free phone & internet), and I have been asked to go for psychometric testing by the Ministry of Women's Affairs (right after I finish writing this for it is Monday lunchtime), which I assume means they are thinking of offering me a job. I've also just put in an application for a job working with the NZ World Heritage Team, which I would love but I'm guessing there will be alot of competition so I'm not going to hold my breath. My main priority this week is to try and get rid of the bags under my eyes and get our new home sorted out. Wish us luck. At least our new bed is being delivered today, so I might give that a test run when I get home.

Off for lunch now before I have to go and have my head tested by a computer programme. Great.

love to all

S
xxxxxx