urban gypsy...

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

.:. .:.

Time to bid you all Au Revoir... for the time being at least.

The packers are in tomorrow so the computer will be down, taking me with it no doubt. The Hubster is stressed yet I am determined to remain a calm water in the sea of madness that surrounds me.

Goodbye Auckland, New Zealand. I shall see you all on the other side of the Tasman... here's to Melbourne, Victoria. YAY!

- urban gypsy [7:21 am]
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Monday, June 19, 2006

.:. .:.

Mmmm... crisp butties for lunch. Now there's healthy for you. It's like I'm fattening up for the winter. Oh if only I could hibernate. I've ticked lots off my Things To Do List but had to encouter the dreaded Doctor's Receptionist this morning. Explained my urgency in getting the children's imms. all typed up nicely for me to present to their new school but she just had a look in her eye that said, "You'll get them when we're good and ready."
Yesterday we pretended we were tourists and went up to the top of the Sky Tower, the southern hemisphere's tallest building. Now The Hubster and I argued this as we thought the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur would have won that hands down but apparently it isn't in the southern hemisphere... although we reckon it looks like it on the world map but who are we to argue. So yes, we shot the 60 floors up, ooohhed and aahhhed at the 360 degree view (which you can see for yourself via the link above) then went to the Ruan Thai for what is arguably The Best Thai Curry in Auckland. Well in my humble opinion it is and it's in a lovely, if dimly lit, setting, with all sorts of different artifacts shown off in glass cabinets and a large, wooden elephant and rider as you walk in. We were shown to a window seat which in the summer has fantastic views across the harbour but it was dark and raining last night so not much fun for the children. Still, Sproglet A said it was the best meal ever! Says a lot about my cooking, doesn't it?

- urban gypsy [10:10 am]
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Wednesday, June 14, 2006

.:. .:.

I am supposed to be cleaning the dirt and dust off the trampoline which is lying in a non too tidy heap downstairs. I really don't like all this crappy cleaning I have to do now, especially downstairs as it's the middle of June and cold down there, so I pottered around upstairs making food hampers for friends out of the strange odds and sods I have in my store cupboard. 3 bags each of self raising and all purpose flours, treacle, couscous, 2 tins of peaches, Carnation Light and Creamy 97% fat free milk and 3 tins - yes 3 - of Bachelors Mushy Peas. I don't know if I'm too embarrassed to give them to friends! I've exhausted anything else that stops me from doing the dirty jobs downstairs so I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and get them done.
You see, truth be known, they should have been done the other day but due to yet another of Auckland's total 1950's style blackout, the guy coming to collect The Hubster's car decided he wouldn't dice with death at all those traffic lightless junctions and asked if it was OK to leave it until Tuesday. Yes, sure, fine. The Hubster filled it with a wee spot of juice to get him home, zeroed the clock - and the damn thing stopped working. Well the car has decided it's old and doesn't want to clock up the kilometres any longer. Well ain't that just great! We called the buyer and asked if he wanted to sort it out, ie. did he enjoy tinkering with cars as a hobby? He doesn't and he wants it fixing so I was too-ing and fro-ing all day long to drop cars and husbands here, there and everywhere, or so it felt. It's now going to cost $450 to fix and The Hubster is not a happy man.
It was our Wedding Anniversary on Monday too. We celebrated by doing nowt. Didn't even cook anything special. Seven years. Keep scratching.

- urban gypsy [11:05 am]
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Friday, June 09, 2006

.:. .:.

YAY - we've sold the cars! On Trade Me, no less. It cost $50 to advertise them both. The Hubster took a $500 deposit on his and a lady snapped mine up today. Sooo pleased.

We can always organise our move but are usually left trying to get rid of two perfectly fine cars. Car showrooms don't like to take them unless you're taking one off their forecourt to replace it and so you end up practically giving them away on the last minute. Anyway, we priced them to sell and they have - although we had a bit of a scare with mine.

An English lady came to view it at Auckland Airport, which is where The Hubster works, and remarked, "I'd ask you to lift the bonnet but I don't know what I'm looking for anyway so don't bother," which made him laugh because he wouldn't know what to look for either, but didn't want to tell her that, lol. She was happy, she paid with folding stuff and drove on her merry way only to phone The Hubster ten minutes later to ask, "What's that funny noise it keeps making? I'm bringing it back!" Well The Hubster's heart leapt... it was fine this morning. What the bloody hell has happened in the last ten minutes to make her want her money back? It turns out she'd been driving with the handbrake on!!! She appologised to The Hubster for having a blonde moment and said she was highly embarrassed. The poor woman left with her tail between her legs and her face bright red. I really do feel for her... isn't it awful being a woman trying to buy a car? That's one of the reasons I got married. I call it a perk of the job so I hate it when I have to take the cars to the garage, such as today.

This is The Hubster's car.

Now I am a titch at just under 5ft 4 and the roof of that car comes up to my chest! It's lovely and sporty to drive but you can't see a bloody thing in front of you because you're so low down! It had to have it's WOF (MOT) today so I had his then I could take it to the garage and he took mine. Thankfully it only cost $60 to sort out. It'll be someone else's responsibility from Monday!

- urban gypsy [1:42 pm]
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Tuesday, June 06, 2006

.:. .:.

Back to normal again after the long weekend. Yesterday was a public holiday as it was the Queen's birthday (not her real one mind) and it signals the beginning of the ski season here in N.Z. I had a rotten day which started with me chucking up then sleeping until 3pm!!! I have no idea what was wrong but I think Sproglet B picked something up as she felt unwell on the Sunday so all in all, not a fantastic weekend.

We spent Saturday jet washing and scrubbing outdoor stuff in preparation for our Oz shipment. Anything with dirt or grass on needs to be clean in order for it to get into the country. We scrubbed the cars too and went to a car fair on Sunday morning. What a great place!!! If you want to sell your car you just turn up on the day, pay $30 and park it up for all to see. There are booths there offering those reports they do, such as if your car has been in an accident or if finance is outstanding etc. If you're lucky enough to sell you can change the owner documents there and then and get finance approved! We just checked the place out on Sunday but it was raining so we didn't stay long. Also, we'd had dinner with friends the night before and drank too much as usual, so we really weren't in the mood for an early start.

I'd wanted to get out and about with the camera but I haven't had much chance. The Hubster bought a Sony Cyber-shot W30 back from Oz as a gift for me. It's wonderful and does so much more than my previous oh-so-basic digicam. I had been doing my homework between this camera or the Canon Ixus 55 and in the end it came down to the Canon being far more expensive than the Sony and offering just about the same thing. I did like the Ixus 750 but that was just too far out of my budget. So far I love my new camera and I'll try and post a couple of photos soon.

- urban gypsy [1:01 pm]
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Urban Gypsy

30-odd year old mum of two

England - Saudi Arabia - New Zealand

words__

When you run so fast to get somewhere
you miss the fun of getting there. Life is not a race, so take it slower, hear the music before the music is over, take your time and stay happy...

wishes for__

`new house (in Oz)
`less housework
`new shoes
`less bills
`new knickers
`smooth, tanned, glowing skin
`digital camera
`an iPod nano