1. Target! I really, really, really miss Target. You would think that not having a Target basically blocks from your home (like I had in Texas) would save one money. However, when you have to drive all over creation to try and find what you are looking for and then pay a whole lot more for it, even though you are shopping less frequently you aren't necessarily saving money.
2. Having good friends. These aren't in order by the way! Dugald was out of town the other night and we were having quite a storm and I was worried about all sorts of things (the alarm going off again, leaks, floods, etc) that I shouldn't have been worried about, but it hit me that I don't know who I would call here in the middle of the night if I did need help.
3. Insulated housing. I mentioned one of my favorite things is fresh air, but one of my least favorite things is being freezing on those cold days because even though you have central heat it is blowing right out the windows while the cold air blows right in. Oh yeah - and the windows are dripping wet, with puddles beneath them, in the mornings when the heat has been on. Crazy.
4. Central Vacuum Cleaners. They have them here I'm told, but I don't have one and it would be nice, especially since, like my grandmother before me, I am vacuuming every 15 minutes.
5. Chick-Fil-A - the place where Moms with pre-schoolers (and homeschoolers) go for a break on a rainy day.
6. Amazon.com - I can still order from Amazon but I have to be prepared to pay an absolute ton for the shipping. Boo.
7. Customer Service - The good news - nobody tips. The bad news - because nobody tips customer service varies wildly from place to place and sometimes just doesn't exist. We went to a restaurant for dinner one night and waited an hour for our food, I am so not used to that!
8. Just knowing where things are, how to find them, what to expect to pay for them, how to get there, etc. I am on a steep learning curve and at times it can be exhausting.
9. My favorite TV shows - if they do have them here they are several seasons behind. In a way this is a blessing because I fall asleep if we try to watch T.V. after 9 pm anyway, but there are days I long for the American version of "What Not To Wear" or to know what is currently happening on "Grey's Anatomy".
10. Lastly I miss the bigness of America. Living in a small country has benefits (no waiting lists for activities for the kids; the vet, grocery clerk, baker, librarian etc all know us; no traffic, at least not very often) but there are times when it is just a bummer, like when you want selection and variety when shopping, or when you want one-stop shopping, or when you want services online or in person that are easily accessible and customer-service oriented, etc.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Wellington Top Ten
Here, in no particular order, are my top ten favorite things about living in Wellington:
1. Very few traffic lights and stop signs! I love how easy it is to get from here to there with only round-abouts to contend with!!! Since I hardly ever travel during peak traffic times it makes getting around town fast and easy, I so love it.
2. Sunrise over Wellington Harbour. I threw the "u" into harbor since I am in NZ, I'm now very schizophrenic with my spelling. This morning I saw the most glorious sunrise as I was walking the dog - if I ever remember to bring my camera that early in the morning I'll post a pic, it's truly beautiful.
3. Smaller house to clean - I can get the entire house vacuumed from two outlets. And it's a lot easier to clean one bathroom than three!
4. We can walk to just about everything we need. People here walk everywhere - there are plenty of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings so that it is safe for me to walk to the vet with four small children, one young dog and a cat in a cage.
5. Fresh air - I do love the days we have with the windows open and the breeze blowing through. Not having a/c has been both a blessing and a challenge, but in this case I am looking on the bright side!
6. Cafes - lots of them, great ones, easily accessible and almost all make a fantastic cup of coffee.
7. More casual attire among my fellow moms - I never dress up for the girls' activities and I don't look that out of place. I'm usually clean, but that's about it. Makeup is totally optional.
8. Food, glorious food! There are so many choices here - you want Indian? Check. Malaysian? Check. French? Check. Pizza? Check. Turkish? Check. Mexican? Yes! Even Mexican!! You want a yummy bistro? Not 5 minutes away! Fish and Chips? Of course, check! I can't even think of all the different kinds of cuisine, but if you want it, there's a VERY good chance you can get it here and that it will be good.
9. Buses, Trains and the like - public transportation is fantastic so if you can't be bothered to drive, or only want to own one car, or don't want the hassle of parking downtown, you can ride the bus! Easy peasy and not too expensive, it's a great thing.
10. Tons of new places to explore - we've been using our weekends to discover the different beaches, museums, restaurants, sanctuaries, etc all in our city. Soon we will actually venture further out of Wellington and try snow skiing, camping, tramping and whatever else sounds adventurous. It really is "a whole new world".
1. Very few traffic lights and stop signs! I love how easy it is to get from here to there with only round-abouts to contend with!!! Since I hardly ever travel during peak traffic times it makes getting around town fast and easy, I so love it.
2. Sunrise over Wellington Harbour. I threw the "u" into harbor since I am in NZ, I'm now very schizophrenic with my spelling. This morning I saw the most glorious sunrise as I was walking the dog - if I ever remember to bring my camera that early in the morning I'll post a pic, it's truly beautiful.
3. Smaller house to clean - I can get the entire house vacuumed from two outlets. And it's a lot easier to clean one bathroom than three!
4. We can walk to just about everything we need. People here walk everywhere - there are plenty of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings so that it is safe for me to walk to the vet with four small children, one young dog and a cat in a cage.
5. Fresh air - I do love the days we have with the windows open and the breeze blowing through. Not having a/c has been both a blessing and a challenge, but in this case I am looking on the bright side!
6. Cafes - lots of them, great ones, easily accessible and almost all make a fantastic cup of coffee.
7. More casual attire among my fellow moms - I never dress up for the girls' activities and I don't look that out of place. I'm usually clean, but that's about it. Makeup is totally optional.
8. Food, glorious food! There are so many choices here - you want Indian? Check. Malaysian? Check. French? Check. Pizza? Check. Turkish? Check. Mexican? Yes! Even Mexican!! You want a yummy bistro? Not 5 minutes away! Fish and Chips? Of course, check! I can't even think of all the different kinds of cuisine, but if you want it, there's a VERY good chance you can get it here and that it will be good.
9. Buses, Trains and the like - public transportation is fantastic so if you can't be bothered to drive, or only want to own one car, or don't want the hassle of parking downtown, you can ride the bus! Easy peasy and not too expensive, it's a great thing.
10. Tons of new places to explore - we've been using our weekends to discover the different beaches, museums, restaurants, sanctuaries, etc all in our city. Soon we will actually venture further out of Wellington and try snow skiing, camping, tramping and whatever else sounds adventurous. It really is "a whole new world".
Monday, May 5, 2008
The Men of the House
Another birthday came and went at our house, this time it was Dugald's!!! Since he was traveling on his birthday, as well as the days leading up to it, he wasn't really wanting a big party so we celebrated at home as a family. The girls made signs and blew up balloons to decorate the kitchen -
and each girl made her own card for daddy -
and, finally, after all that, the moment they have been waiting for for days, presents!!! The girls were so excited because we got daddy a Nintendo DS like theirs so he can now play Mario Carts with them. The excitement was overwhelming -
I think Dugs liked the present too :).
And of course, this being New Zealand, we finished the meal with homemade cake.
and each girl made her own card for daddy -
and, finally, after all that, the moment they have been waiting for for days, presents!!! The girls were so excited because we got daddy a Nintendo DS like theirs so he can now play Mario Carts with them. The excitement was overwhelming -
I think Dugs liked the present too :).
And of course, this being New Zealand, we finished the meal with homemade cake.
The other "man" of the house is sweet Rico, though in people years he's actually just a teenager. We took him to the beach for the first time this weekend. We went to Evans Bay on Saturday because it was blowing a gale and that beach was a bit protected. On Sunday we decided to take him swimming again because he loved it so much so this time we went back to Makara and he of course thought he was the luckiest dog in the world.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Earthquakes Rock!
I've felt my first earthquake here! I was sleeping soundly in my bed this morning when all of a sudden both Dugs and I were awoken by a loud rumble, then a jolt. Still in my sleep-induced fog, and never having felt an earthquake before, I had no idea what it was - in fact it kind of reminded me of when we lived in Texas and felt the sonic boom of the space shuttle Challenger exploding. Dugald told me he thought it was an earthquake so this morning we checked and sure enough it was! It was a 4 on the scale and about 20 km's away (12 miles).
Being the worrier that I am I spent the rest of the night wondering what we would do if we were ever in a big quake - I had images of the bunk beds collapsing on the children, the bookshelves toppling and squishing them, being out in the car - or, worst of all, being separated from each other when it happened. It didn't help my fearful heart at all that the recent headline on the front of the "Wellingtonian" paper was about the city's lack of preparedness for a tsunami which, since we are situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, is a distinct possibility. I had to keep reminding myself that my God is Sovereign and He is in control of our lives, so I spent the next few hours going over Scriptures to that effect in my head. I don't imagine we'll get through this life without suffering, but I hope I remember the comfort of my Savior when in the midst of it. As with anything, I think the anticipation of the "what could happens" and the unknown brings far more fear and lack of peace than anything I may walk through with the Lord. I don't want to be tested on that though.
After the event Dugald just rolled over and went back to sleep! He's been raised with such goings-on and was completely unfazed. I will say though that he is a bit wary of moving to Florida, land of the hurricanes, and that he also never had to live through a tornado in Texas. So, we all have our natural disaster issues I suppose. . .
New Zealand Earthquake Report - May 3 2008 at 3:12 am (NZST)
Magnitude 4.0, Saturday, May 3 2008 at 3:12 am (NZST), 10 km west of Porirua.
Quake Details
Information about this earthquake:
Reference Number
2902957/G
Universal Time
May 2 2008 at 15:12
NZ Standard Time
Saturday, May 3 2008 at 3:12 am
Latitude, Longitude
41.12°S, 174.70°E
Focal Depth
30 km
Richter magnitude
4.0
Region
Wellington
Location
10 km west of Porirua
20 km north of Wellington
Felt in and around Wellington.
Being the worrier that I am I spent the rest of the night wondering what we would do if we were ever in a big quake - I had images of the bunk beds collapsing on the children, the bookshelves toppling and squishing them, being out in the car - or, worst of all, being separated from each other when it happened. It didn't help my fearful heart at all that the recent headline on the front of the "Wellingtonian" paper was about the city's lack of preparedness for a tsunami which, since we are situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, is a distinct possibility. I had to keep reminding myself that my God is Sovereign and He is in control of our lives, so I spent the next few hours going over Scriptures to that effect in my head. I don't imagine we'll get through this life without suffering, but I hope I remember the comfort of my Savior when in the midst of it. As with anything, I think the anticipation of the "what could happens" and the unknown brings far more fear and lack of peace than anything I may walk through with the Lord. I don't want to be tested on that though.
After the event Dugald just rolled over and went back to sleep! He's been raised with such goings-on and was completely unfazed. I will say though that he is a bit wary of moving to Florida, land of the hurricanes, and that he also never had to live through a tornado in Texas. So, we all have our natural disaster issues I suppose. . .
New Zealand Earthquake Report - May 3 2008 at 3:12 am (NZST)
Magnitude 4.0, Saturday, May 3 2008 at 3:12 am (NZST), 10 km west of Porirua.
Quake Details
Information about this earthquake:
Reference Number
2902957/G
Universal Time
May 2 2008 at 15:12
NZ Standard Time
Saturday, May 3 2008 at 3:12 am
Latitude, Longitude
41.12°S, 174.70°E
Focal Depth
30 km
Richter magnitude
4.0
Region
Wellington
Location
10 km west of Porirua
20 km north of Wellington
Felt in and around Wellington.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Musical Stars
The girls all participate in an after-school program on Wednesdays called "Musical Stars". It's a great program because it gives them a chance to meet other girls their own age. They spend their time there doing a half an hour of singing, a half an hour of drama, and an hour of dancing. Since it was the end of the term a couple of weeks ago the parents were invited to watch what they have learned so far. . . keeping in mind that since the New Zealand school year starts in February this was only the first few weeks the program has been running this year.
Here is Josie and her friend Hannah with their group. She sang "Going on a Jungle Adventure" and acted out the parts. This is her duet with Hannah. The children came up two by two and did a duet, then they all sang the chorus. I was proud of Josie because she and Hannah were the only ones you could actually hear, which I know comes as no surprise to those of you who know her!
Josie being a monkey.
Katie and her group sang "When I'm 64" and this is a picture of her doing her solo.
There also was a dance by Meggie and Katie's group combined - they danced to music from "Cats" and did a great job!
You can see Katie flying around the circle in the green shirt and blue skirt (they dress themselves these days by the way, I have nothing to do with the outfits:).
Meggie was the main character in their drama -which was somethig the group had actually written themselves. She did an awesome job!
And, finally, Meggie's group sang "Thank you for the music" by Abba and here she is singing her solo.
By the way, I'm sorry for the quality of these photos, I still haven't been able to edit them in photoshop because it is on a different computer. However, if you can't see them well enough you can click on any photo in the blog and then you can see it better.
Here is Josie and her friend Hannah with their group. She sang "Going on a Jungle Adventure" and acted out the parts. This is her duet with Hannah. The children came up two by two and did a duet, then they all sang the chorus. I was proud of Josie because she and Hannah were the only ones you could actually hear, which I know comes as no surprise to those of you who know her!
Josie being a monkey.
Katie and her group sang "When I'm 64" and this is a picture of her doing her solo.
There also was a dance by Meggie and Katie's group combined - they danced to music from "Cats" and did a great job!
You can see Katie flying around the circle in the green shirt and blue skirt (they dress themselves these days by the way, I have nothing to do with the outfits:).
Meggie was the main character in their drama -which was somethig the group had actually written themselves. She did an awesome job!
And, finally, Meggie's group sang "Thank you for the music" by Abba and here she is singing her solo.
By the way, I'm sorry for the quality of these photos, I still haven't been able to edit them in photoshop because it is on a different computer. However, if you can't see them well enough you can click on any photo in the blog and then you can see it better.Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Of Mice and (Wo)Men
So, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, I worked with my friend Alison to clean up our front garden. Yesterday dawned bright and sunny again so the girls and I decided to finish the work of preparing the soil and then plant some winter vegetables. Part of preparing the soil was adding in the compost from our handy dandy compost container in the corner of the yard. As I was reaching in for the fifth or sixth time to get some with my spade suddenly I saw movement. Not being particularly fond of critters I quickly and quietly got the cat and set her in there to do her thing. However, before she could successfully catch the moving prey, my animal-loving children came to see what the fuss was about . . . and here is what they saw:
Ok, Ok, I know he is really tiny and really very cute. In my defense, I wasn't sure what he was when I sent the cat in after him, it was only later discovered that he was a cute, tiny, furry little mouse. . . and he had a friend! Two for the price of one!
Of course everyone wanted a turn holding one of them, so each girl got a chance and we took these lovely photos. The girls named them Melchisedec (after the rat in "A Little Princess") and Mickey. One of them was quite active and kept trying to get away, the other (shown below) kept trying to play dead. He was a believable actor too until he was accidently dropped at which point he did his best to scurry away.
After lots of photos and cuddles I made the girls return the mice to the compost bin and closed it all up, thinking the little wee things would be safe from the cat.
After all, the girls had practically claimed them as pets. They weren't safe however, later that evening while we were eating supper Willow burst through the cat door with the prize in her mouth, so sad. This morning we found, unbeknownest to the girls, that Willow had successfully hunted the other one as well. Sniff.
I don't want to leave you with such a sad tale, so here is a picture of some of the tomatoes we picked. We're going to let the green ones ripen and then make some tomato sauce. We've had a banner crop of tomatoes, we've been eating them in some way, shape or form since we've arrived and still there are more to be had. Yum!
This is the cleaned up garden prior to planting - there is passionfruit growing on the trellis, parsley, still some tomatoes and pumpkin but then we added spinach, carrots, beans, lettuce and cabbage. Hopefully we'll be enjoying the fruits of our labor later this season.
Ok, Ok, I know he is really tiny and really very cute. In my defense, I wasn't sure what he was when I sent the cat in after him, it was only later discovered that he was a cute, tiny, furry little mouse. . . and he had a friend! Two for the price of one!
Of course everyone wanted a turn holding one of them, so each girl got a chance and we took these lovely photos. The girls named them Melchisedec (after the rat in "A Little Princess") and Mickey. One of them was quite active and kept trying to get away, the other (shown below) kept trying to play dead. He was a believable actor too until he was accidently dropped at which point he did his best to scurry away.
After lots of photos and cuddles I made the girls return the mice to the compost bin and closed it all up, thinking the little wee things would be safe from the cat.
After all, the girls had practically claimed them as pets. They weren't safe however, later that evening while we were eating supper Willow burst through the cat door with the prize in her mouth, so sad. This morning we found, unbeknownest to the girls, that Willow had successfully hunted the other one as well. Sniff.
I don't want to leave you with such a sad tale, so here is a picture of some of the tomatoes we picked. We're going to let the green ones ripen and then make some tomato sauce. We've had a banner crop of tomatoes, we've been eating them in some way, shape or form since we've arrived and still there are more to be had. Yum!
This is the cleaned up garden prior to planting - there is passionfruit growing on the trellis, parsley, still some tomatoes and pumpkin but then we added spinach, carrots, beans, lettuce and cabbage. Hopefully we'll be enjoying the fruits of our labor later this season.
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