Searching and Planning

I have a plan.

But, I'm not whispering a word just yet in case I jinx it, and anyway I cant put it into action until I find a blinking source of steady income.

I seem to spend my days trawling through listings on seek, applying for jobs, fielding calls from recruitment agencies, giving phone interviews and thinking that maybe this one will lead to the end goal.

There have been a few interviews, and to be honest to have got that far has been great for confidence - but brutal when of two candidates in a holding pattern at the point of final decision, I am not THE one.

Everything happens for a reason I believe (even when I might sound grumpy and despondent to my friends) so it will all fall into place when the RIGHT opportunity is offered. I just wish it would happen soon - this side of Christmas would be beneficial :o)

I've also been making a nuisance of myself highlighting "issues" with our rental property to the property manager, with mixed results. So we still have an oven that has two temperatures; stone cold and searingly fiery (is that too much superlative ?) and now we appear to have little bugs which live in timber. Oh yay. But we do have clear drains and smoke alarms fitted - although with the state of the oven, I'm always anxious I will set them off while cooking dinner each night. 

For a couple of baking fanatics like us, the unsatisfactory kitchen facilities have been a real gripe. We feel grumpy that we felt slightly pressured to take this place when offered as we had seen others (better) but people kept telling us how terrible the rental market was, and how competitive etc. Then the property manager wasn't as upfront as she could have been either. Grrr. And to top it off we have a stupid fixed term tenancy...at the moment.

Never mind though, I've become quite adept with "managing" the stove and haven't killed us yet with uncooked dinners, or set the place on fire. I even baked yesterday - and was quite successful.

I've started planning and making for Christmas too, since it is my favourite time of year.

And I have been spending an untoward amount of time contacting potential DNA matches since receiving our test results and updating and expanding my family tree database.

Aside from all this, I'm finding my way around - sometimes without the help of my TomTom, the traffic is just traffic, I'm enjoying the rain - such a novelty after 12 months in Christchurch !

Miaow

Since hearing about these cafes overseas I have pondered jumping into the business - but someone beat me to it !! 

The Cat Lounge opened today in Glenfield, so we had to go. You need to book, and you get an hour to spend with your new feline friends for just $10.

Remember to share the love though and don't hog all the kitty limelight - there are a maximum of 20 people per session and they don't just go to look - they want to play and cuddle too.

Today was opening day and the kittens especially seemed pretty tuckered out from all the adoration and attention. 

We'll be going back again, and also to BaristaCats when they open in the CBD. So, anyone interested in exploring this business venture with me ?

Sunsets and Fireworks

So it was Guy Fawkes last night - actually you would be forgiven for thinking it was Guy Fawkes week though. I don't understand why we still "celebrate" this. It is an English thing - we weren't even a colony when Mr Fawkes decided to try to blow up Parliament. 

In Australia, sales of fireworks to the public Cracker Night ended 29 years ago, Big organised professional displays are the best and safest way to experience pyrotechnics - but not in New Zealand. we still have people selling them from the back of vans, and poky little corner stores. 

Admittedly you can only get them for a few days now, but that doesn't stop people spending far too much money buying them up and then letting them off for nights on end and saving them for Christmas, New Year and whatever else. Kids still get hurt, and animals too, and scrub fires take up precious time for our fire-ys.

Aside from all this, it was an experience to be able to see them all across the suburb on a gorgeous evening, with no wind last night. That was a bit of a novelty.

So here are some pics - plus some of a couple of pretty cool sunsets we've had in the last week or so.

Rewiring the neural pathways in my mind

Forty or so years of living in Wellington, and then in Christchurch has subliminally trained my mind to be ever on the alert.

Now, I have to keep reminding myself that every time the house creaks or I hear a low rumble in the distance from a truck or train that I don't need to be on full alert for the inevitable. Earthquakes don't happen in Auckland - or if they are felt they will have been centred far away, and much more devastating for those near the epicentre.

Tsunami could be a risk here, although the Gulf Islands may act to dissipate some of the effects. Tornadoes too seem to be a weather related risk in some parts of the greater city, infrequently.

Volcanoes though...the entire city is built on them. Extinct they say, and definitely dormant since some time before the arrival of european settlers. But the evidence is everywhere. Mt Eden, Mt Wellington, Mt Roskill, Mt Albert, One Tree Hill, Rangitoto, Lake Pupuke, Orakei Basin...

So, forgive me if I'm jumpy - but I still forget