xans

20 weeks today. Anatomy scan tomorrow. It's difficult to feel elated about it at all, because the owner of our house has decided to put it on the market.

When the landlady called saying that a real estate agent would be coming by to do a valuation, we got nervous. The owner told the landlady that he wasn't planning to put it on sale, just wanted to know its market worth. I started looking at rentals anyway. Then the owners came by with another real estate agent to do a second valuation a few days ago. And now it's going on the market. :(

We've been living at this place for four years. It's not perfect, but it suits us well. We don't want to move if we don't have to. But there's no guarantee that new owners would purchase this as an investment property, so we are looking more closely at what rentals are out there. The hard part is finding something that will store all our stuff and also accept that we come with a cat.

If we do move, it means Joe & Kayla will also have to find their own place. Of course, they're going to struggle because they don't want flatmates, but they may not have a choice. Joe also thinks they need a minimum 2 bedroom place for "all their stuff" but I think they could fit into a 1 bedroom. Although Kayla could use a place with a 2nd bedroom for her business (she does some massage stuff on the side).

Bloody inconvenient having to look at moving while 5 months pregnant. Also having to work out what of our stuff we can get rid of, so we don't have to shift it all over again. Gah!

So we are looking to negotiate an early release from our contract for renting this place. It's only by three weeks, so I think we have a good chance. Everything has sounded positive so far. The reason being? Well, besides the fact the house is on the market and we don't have that security that we will be able to stay there, we were browsing through trademe and found this place and it's awesome. Even Joe and Heaven can live with us there and I shan't whine (much). Also, they'll not only pay board but buy their own food, which they don't do here. But, seriously? Ocean views from one side and mountain views from the other? Awesome.

Went up to Levin today with Alan to deliver a new outdoor table to Chris and Tarns. The old one we gave them was a glass top and got smashed when the umbrella fell on it once. And heading in to bbq season (we're having one tonight) it helps to have a table to eat out on.

And the weather was so nice that we headed down to Peka Peka for a bit of sunbathing. With any luck, I have managed to get a little tanned and not burned. I did bring sunscreen so I wouldn't get burned badly, but I was still flirting with it happeneing anyway. My skin really needs to sunning, though.

Anyhow... FOOD!

Fin.

Three or more large earthquakes in the Pacific in the last week, along with ensuing tsunamis... a typhoon to boot... get the feeling Mother Nature's a bit pissy right now.

Also, think with all the shake-ups happening, we're likely to get a few closer to home ourselves. I think, anyhow.

Heard from our landlady that the owners of this house are putting it on the market. Which means we may have to move, depending on if the buyers are in it for the investment or a home. So, back on to trademe to check out potential houses, just in case. Funnily enough, one listed is just a street away (and closer to the beach, and slightly more expensive, but hey).

I hate moving, but... at least it's not like the move from the farm, and at least that means Joe will HAVE to find his own place.

He's been slacking off on his chores a bit lately. And stuff. Will not rant about it now.

I need a job. :(

Fin.

It's becoming more real as we went to Paraparaumu on Friday to look at places. We've settled on one that is about two blocks from the beach and is $330 p/w but also gotta remember to get power sorted and then phoneline+broadband is in around the $100 p/m range so maybe hang on that until Alan is getting paid. His first salary (monthly) doesn't come until the beginning of January so my savings are going to get us through the month of December before we work out a repayment plan that doesn't leave us flat ass broke to meet costs. Also, need to know if my job/transfer is secure or I gotta hype up my CV yet again.

Will post new address and other contact details for those interested at some stage, because everyone will want to visit and hang out in our sleepout. Which reminds me, pandoras_evil_t I don't mind paying the train fare for you to come visit for a week as a b-day pressy or some such, if you can scrape up some spending money and we hit up Welly and other touristy attractions. We can work out details when I'm up in Hamilton.

Gratch is not happy about the boxes, although she thinks they are a wonderfuly set of stepping blocks. She is addicted to achieving high perches. Thankfully she's only got stuck once. But she also tries to attack the bubble wrap because she likes the popping noises. Will not adore us for shutting her up on moving day and then caging her to travel down. But the new place has a cat door so she can be an inside/outside cat... until we go up to Hams and she's in a cattery.

Having to stop myself from buying dvds, particularly ones on special at the Warehouse or Whitcoulls. Having to keep myself from spending much, period, especially 'til after we move.

Anywho... have I mentioned enough that packing sucks?

Fin.

As much as I love that Alan has got this new job, part of me is sad to be leaving our home. I love our little two bedroom farmhouse and the killer view we have of the valley with the river running through it. I love the privacy and freedom (dude, hot days, nekkid, no neighbors to get offending, 'tis a sweet thing). But, move we must.

Packing is gonna be a real bitch.

Also? All that's gotta be done in two weeks. Because today he handed in his notice, and I'm handing in mine (and asking for transfer). The old manager was supposed to work 'til the beginning of the new year, and we were hopefully going to move in a couple of weeks if we find a place, and they would work together. But the old manager is leaving next week. So it's really on to us to land a place and move.

Fuck.

Don't stress, don't stress, no pressure...

Also, my headphones on my mp3 player died.

Fin.

Okay, since I have all the time in the world at the moment, I'm going to make an attempt to cover the ups and downs of my life over the past two months. That I haven't really said much about in here.

So, back in June, I'd moved into this temporary women's accommodation place, while I job and flat-hunted. Landed two part time jobs, one at a supermarket as a checkout chick, and one at Mitre 10 mega in the service aquad. One of my coworkers at said Mega was looking for a female flatmate to move in with him and this other guy, and rent was about 90 a week. So I moved in with Ben and Clayton in August sometime.

It was okay, had a lot of fun when Ben was over in Aus and Clayton had this friend Lauren visiting. We went out on the town and stuff, got pissed several times and I discovered red wine makes me nauseous. So boo to that.

Ben came back from Aus, two weeks later than planned, and we fought a lot. His little peculiarities got on my nerves, I felt he was behaving like a child as he tried to treat me and Clayton like errant children in "his" house. And it was revealed that he would be moving back to Australia to be near his estranged wife and their three four kids. (I got to find out from the landlord's wife that Sam had had their fourth in September when he was over there. I lived with him and he didn't fucking tell me that.)

I was quite angry about the shit Ben left behind. He owed me money, which was factored into the price I paid for his fridge. I couldn't afford his washing machine straight away, but I had plans to buy that too. But he'd also left a bunch of other furniture and rubbish for me and Clayton to deal with--Clayton busy with his own plans to go an an OE. And Ben owed him money, too.

Anyway, I ended up with the fridge, washing machine, microwave, and kitchen table along with all my stuff. But I had no flatmates and couldn't afford the rent on my own. Not even til too possible other flatmates could be found. So it was back to the women's accommodation place, and time to start flat-hunting again. On the upside, Nga still lived there so I had at least one friend to get along with to begin with. But the other girl Christy was not bad, either.

Gladys, who used to live there, got to hold on to my bottle of scotch as the place was alcohol free, and it gave me an excuse to visit her (although I got so busy with work that I didn't get much of a chance to).

We had another girl move in, who had lived there before as well, by the name of Bella. And alternative-lifestyler, she and I got along very well given our like of kink. She more than I, but the other girls were quite vanilla compared to us. Still, another fine friend in my life with her.

Flat hunting was hard. My time was consumed between working, sleeping, and making sure I got my chores done... not to mention being social, and any bits of shopping or whatever I needed done, that sometimes, yeah, the flat-hunting got put on the back burner. And that was not a good thing because the house closed down from the 22nd of Dec to the 21st of Jan, and I really didn't want to up and move my shit all over again.

Being expected to cook a meal or two a week was also inconvenient, given my working, not to mention the fact we were rarely all home together at the same time. The rules of the house almost go by the assumption the residents have no lives outside of the house, which just ain't so.

Anyway, early November, I put in an application for leave at Mega for the last weekend of December. If I did that and didn't pick up extra shifts at Woolies, I could have four days up in Hamilton to see family and friends. But I was told the next weekend it couldn't be approved because no one gets leave in December or January, the busiest time of year. Well, I'd already made my plans and bought my (non-refundable) tickets assuming one little weekend off would not make a difference. So I handed in my resignation to finish on the 16th of December. (My manager said to my darlin that it was a shame since I'm such a good worker, but 1: they didn't even wait for me to leave before scraping my name off my cubby hole, and 2: I got replaced by another girl pretty damn easily, really.)

( And my deciding to quit Mega is how I landed my darling. )

This was all happening in the lead-up to Christmas as well, wasn't it? So I'd got mum and dad pestering me for a mailing address and what I want for Christmas (and I'm going, "I don't know where I'm living at Christmas!" and "I don't have any idea what I want, nothing big!"). And of course the customers at (either) work are in a rush, sometimes cranky, and it's a hectic time to be moving and all. Plus I told Dad and Suzy not to get me anything expensive because they bought my bike earlier this year.

Mind you, I came to the startling conclusion that I needn't do my shopping for anyone til Boxing day, because I don't see them til after that. Except for my darling, and I sort of got him two presents. The one before Christmas was some choc body paint and this, um, outfit? (It doesn't hide much) The outfit was for me to wear, 'cause I knew the effect it would have... and that was a good end to my Christmas Eve night. Work was such a bitch on Monday.

Our Christmas day plans were kind of ruined by the weather. The idea had been to hit up the beach and take a stroll before a picnic lunch. So naturally, it rained. Porbably just as well, because my six day work weeks, and adjusting to a schedule of broken sleep (getting up at five to be in town when he starts, then sleeping some more at Bella's since I don't start til afternoon...), I was so tired I took a nap or two, and had an early night. I felt bad because I kind of neglected Alan in favour of playing some Dungeon Siege, but as he told me later, he could tell I needed the mindless game thing to relax, and so he gave me some space even if he would have liked my company (and for me to have been a bit more amourous, but my mind wasn't cooperating).

(lmao I knew this would happen. I haven't signed up for a single extra shift this week, given the being out of town thing, so naturally I got a call from work asking if it would be possible to do a few hours this afternoon/tonight. Georgia said she'd make a note of my unavailability so it doesn't happen again.)

So Boxing day I did my shopping, and spent more money on myself than anyone else. Best I could calculate it was around $400, but then half of that was on the cell phones. I decided it was time I got a new one, just a cheap one, but nice, and then I also bought Alan one because he didn't have a vodafone, just telecom. And if I'm really efficient I'll set up txt2000 and BestMate so it's even cheaper than my current prepay thing.

I also bought a couple sets of lego, which was where I spent around a 100 more of the estimated 400. It cracked Alan up to see me sitting on the floor putting my lego sets together...butt nekkid. And that he felt the chill long before I paid any attention to it because I had my legos. Also, telling me to put my toys away and come eat dinner. It was pretty funny though.

I seem to have done well with my choice of presents for the family though. My step-sisters all got the same type of chocolates, which was easy enough and they were all happy. Savannah quite liked her glow necklaces. Amarah did cuddle with her little stuffed zebra, but Izayah was only slightly interested in his stuffed frog. Suzy does like her scarf and Il Divo cd (that I copied before giving to her) and I got Dad this drill bit set he asked for, plus the Spaceballs dvd (copied that one too).

My presents were quite nice too. From Mum I got the usual mix of clothes and itty bits (vair cute) and $50, from Dad and Suzy I got a set of pjs, the Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz dvds, and lollies. I got a diary from Carla. Oh, and Alan got me one of those stone dragon ornaments, one that's perching on an arch of stain glass.

I suppose... I should go have shower, get dressed, and do more than read the backlog of my f-list. I have read a bit here and there... maybe I'll make an effort to comment later, but for now... shower, clothes, food, coffee.

Still breathing.

Fin.

I don't remember Palmy being this warm EVER. Not that I'm complaining, apart from the fact I am currently drenched in sweat for having the bright idea to wear a black long sleeved top because it was looking to be overcast this morning. I really should look into actual weather reports as well as what the eye sees.

Feeling v. unfit as I must cycle about 9kms to and from uni each day. Up and down hills, with and without winds that can have me slowed down to a crawl. There are occasions where I can walk faster.

Saw Craig when I was in Wellington on Sunday. That was grand, as I haven't seen him (or any of the rest of the Rowena's crowd) since either May or June of last year. It happened to be his last day in Welly, too, before he gets back to the whole travelling around thingy. I'd sort of been hoping I'd run into someone I knew in town, but didn't have high hopes given it was Sunday and I wasn't around all day.

Anyway, thought I should mention I'm still alive, and, back in Palmerston North.

Fin.

I just had the nicest drinking fountain water ever. It was all cold, like... icy cold... just been chillin' for the last several hours cold... soooo good and purified cold. Best. Ever. I want more. I want to fill my drink bottle with it, but, yeah, didn't bring my drink bottle with me.

It's pissing down with rain. For the most part, the weather has been quite lovely while I've been here. But not for the last few days. It blows. I don't like walking around in a cold wet city. :( And I can't see anything out of the train windows when it's raining.

Oh, yes. I was staying at the backpackers, but Dad came down last week with a bunch of Iain's stuff and some of my stuff. Some of it is still being stored at Iain's, but some of it is now at dad's friend Catherine's. She lives in Lower Hutt (err, sorta the Petone area if you know anything about there) and she's offered to let me stay with her while I flat hunt. Not only is it cheaper than the backpackers, but I get cooked dinners every night, and she does my washing. (She'd do my ironing too, 'cept I don't iron anything even if it really ought to be.)

It was kinda freaky hanging up three weeks worth of laundry on the line. There were a lot of socks and a lot of panties. Looked kinda strange next to her granny panties (well, she is a granny) I'm sure. I wonder what Aston would have made of all that lace...

Aston has a really big thing for sexy underwear. And my corset. Of course. I'm sure he'd die if I had thigh high stockings as well. *whistles innocently*

St. Paddy's day I guess we weren't quiet enough, 'cause Paul, who has the room next to Aston, heard us. Which meant I got a text from Craig on Saturday night asking me about it. I guess it's a good thing I wasn't at the hostel on Saturday night 'cause Aston was really, really pissed. I heard about it from James (I forgot to mention James--he's another of the group). It was, apparently, amusing as hell, but also getting to the point of annoying them. They were trying to figure out a way to lose him before they went into town. No such luck, though.

I stopped by the hostel yesterday after class. Poor Brian. When I left Saturday morning he and Conor were out on the deck, STILL drinking... he was totally sloshed. Conor couldn't remember seeing me in Seam earlier in the night, in fact, I think Darren and James are probably the only ones who really registered I was there. Even Aston didn't remember me there, and it was only after he lost everyone and was texting to find out were everyone was that we met up... and Paul heard us.

Anyway, Brian drank so much that he got really sick. He started feeling pain, sorta in the vicinity of his liver. That's gotta suck. He's still recovering, by drinking plenty of water. And holding off the alcohol, probably until a while after this weekend.

Canada tried to give Aston a wedgie on Friday night, and ripped the elastic off my boy's pants. Conor wore it as a necklace the rest of the night and all day Saturday at the cricket match. And Canada has taken to calling me Crazy, which isn't all that original, but I've had worse. I don't really like being around him when he's drunk, but he is amusing in small doses.

Who knows what sort of crazy shit we're likely to get up to next Friday... It kinda sucks, though. Darren and Mike have left. Canada's going soon. Aston, Neriss, and a couple others are all leaving in two weeks. I wish I'd got to be with the group for longer. But, hey, I'll remember the good times that we did have, and all that.

Fin.

It's Oh So Quiet Bjiork

( lyrics )

'Cause I like 'em.

Off to Wellington soon. Will be around even less. Oh noes!

Life goes on.

I think, just possibly, I have a lot of books. Fucking heavy.

Speaking of swearing, "cunt" is such a fun word to say. CUNT. (I know you love it when I talk dirty. Ooooh yeah.)

Cut offs are fun, except when there's a bajillion flies around and I can't tell if the tickling on my legs is just the frayed bits, or a fly... There's a multitude of the bastards about, and they're fly spray resistant or something, 'cause they keep not dying in significant numbers.

CSI NY, Bones, Lost, and Invasion tonight. Unfortunately not on the same channel. 'Spose I can tape one channel and watch the other... or Ange will and we'll watch it tomorrow. Yep, going over to pandoras_evil_t's for a wine and movie, so likely we'll watch that too or she'll never get around to it.

Made a CD for my mum with these songs on it:

( I just love using the cut )

Fin.

Edited to add a couple memes, 'cause whiskey tango foxtrot

1) Does my username suit me?
2) Is my journal's title cryptic or descriptive? What do you think it means?
3) Does my journal expand your knowledge of me?
4) Do you think my bio describes me well?
5) Which of my interests surprises you the least?
6) Which of my interests surprises you the most?
7) Which of my interests needs explaining?
8) Which of my userpics suits me best?
9) Which of my userpics suits me least?
10) Which of my userpics needs explaining?

aaaand...

Ask me for "top five" lists of pretty much anything, and I will list you my top five of that thing or things.

Last night...

Last night was totally random. Really fun, but definitely random. *giggles* I got offline rather early, it wasn't even 10 o'clock, and went back to my room. Had a bit of a craving, so I made myself a coffee--and nearly gave myself a fright that my milk was already past its due date when it isn't--and settled down to begin rereading Chamber of Secrets. Did you know I've only read it once before? Yeah, it and PoA... and HBP, but that one's recent enough it's okay I've only read it once.
Anyway, was reading, then at about 10:30 I got a bit antsy, so I decided to take a late night stroll. As I was finishing my circuit, I came across Shan, Rodolfo, and several of their foreign friends all walking, and drinking--they were going to a party up on the hill on the other side of campus, at Atawhai. And I went, "What the hell, why not?" and joined them upon their invitation. And started helping Shan finish his bottle of homemade vodka he bought from some guy very cheaply.
I am sooooooooooooo glad I don't live in Atawhai. Their steps are so much worse than ours. I felt so unfit after getting to the top, though for a while there it seemed like they would never end. Then it was just a case of follow the noise to find the party.
It was cool. They were doing some face painting of maori tattoo designs and stuff. One of these German girls picked out a moko design, and it ended up looking like a goatee--a rather Bulgarian goatee. Wanna know the funniest part? I picked the same design but had Shan paint me instead of the dude who painted her, and it looked much, much different. (and not like a bloody goatee) And better.
I did not, in fact, get drunk. But even then, I was trying to tell Rodolfo that Shan painted me, only I accidentally said 'she' instead of 'he'. Rodolfo was in fits--he's such a lightweight, btw--and Shan was like, "Did you have to say that in front of him? Call me she if you want, but not in front of him!" But then, Shan did get his revenge later in the night on our way home, after Rodolfo had answered a call to nature and said he was done, Shan said (rather quietly I might add), "Good girl."
Haha, some of my conversation topics included macjinx and dragonrider7 because I was talking to a lot of German people. There was one Swiss-German guy as well. But yeah, a little bit about "my friend from Finland" (It's Europe, it's a funny language :P, it's one of my motivations to visit there) and "my friend who's an Au Pair in Germany" as well as a little bit about the German exchange students we had at KSS. *laughs* It was good fun though.
They had some starburst lollipops, and it was kinda funny nursing a beer and eating one of those too. And one point one of Shan's German friends tried to take my lollipop for some reason, but was placated when I handed him an unopened one that I'd had in my pocket. When Shan, Rodolfo and I were walking back to our halls at about two, Shan asked if anyone had a lollipop, and I held up a second one that had been in my pocket--but Shan was too slow and Rodolfo ran off with it.
Heh, I'm glad I didn't have Annalise's night. She had one of the kittens in her room for the night, and for the first three hours it kept waking her up with its meowing. Then she had the kitten on her bed, but it started running around everywhere. It just wouldn't shut up and go to sleep. *shakes head* Some of my worst nights of sleep have been when I've let our new puppy or kitten stay in my room for the night.
I'm going home on Monday night!

Fin.