Now isn't that a sobering thought?!
Can't believe how the second half of this year has just flown by. Admitedly I have been super busy with the new house - with it's enormous garden - and just the whole process of getting the house into a state worth living in. Not that there was anything wrong with the place, per se, but there are a hundred and one things that needed doing to get it just right.
This week I had the task of putting up the sun-shade-sails on the deck to cut down the glare through the Clearlite roofing. Fixing 5m triangles to the beams was a mission as we didn't want them to sag, so they had to be screwed to the cross beams, no mean feat when perched on a step stool, Dad acting as hammer hand!! But now you can sit on the deck and enjoy the heat (25deg on Saturday) without the blazing brightness. Mary finished putting the glass in the ends of the deck, so we were able to finally move the outdoor furniture into their final positions, as well as liberate a set of table and chairs into the garden for use on those really, really hot days - afternoon tea on the lawn, no less!!
Tomorrow we have the guys round to assemble our newest bit of garden furniture - a seat with planter boxes at each end and a pergola roof - being put into the newly cleared teardrop bed at the center of our driveway (lots of shoveling of red scoria down to the bottom end to clear the top for the seat, a fountain and new pathway plus three new flower beds). At least I'm getting a good work out - shifting seven 600x600mm pebble dash pavers into position!! *Phew*
So, the garden it taking all my time and energy with little left over for writing, more's the pity. My websites are similarly taking a back seat to our building projects, so nothing new there either.
It all will end before too much longer. As stated in the heading -it's only seven weeks to Christmas - and a new year will roll around before it all starts again. By then I hope to be back writing and my websites will be back on track, so here's hoping.
Thank goodness I have a patient muse.
2 comments | post a comment
for anyone who's wondering why I haven't got all my websites (all 6) up and functioning normally by now.......it's been a week, after all.........well, I just spent over two hours renewing all the broken image links on just one, yes ONE page of my JM website - the Offscreen gallery - mostly replacing lost thumbnails, plus added four images, via ftp - it takes FOREVER!!!
gawd I wish I was able to use a file manager.........*sigh*
probably wouldn't have been any quicker, but I'm so much more comfortable using one........
ah well........only a couple of dozen more pages to get sorted and it's all done!!!
*sigh*
1 comment | post a comment
| Date: | 2009-09-24 21:44 |
| Subject: | New Addition |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  contemplative | | Music: | advert break |
Our newest addition to the family. Cloe, from the Whangarei SPCA, an Egyptian Maus cross, small, stripey and spotty, an
indoor cat, five years old.
Cloe has bonded well with my youngest and Cloe has proved to be an indoor cat, hardly moving off my armchair while
Zoe was away at school camp for three days. She's much smaller than my two remaining cats, and has a permanently
startled look which is part of her breed, but for all that she is very affectionate and has a very whippy tail which she wags
like a dog!! Despite the similar colouring to our beloved Kipper, Cloe is quite different in more ways than I can list.
We hope she'll like living with us.
4 comments | post a comment
At the moment none of my websites are accessible. Sucks, but that's the way it is.
Everything has been done to try and make the transition as smooth as possible, but despite every best effort, information hasn't been updated, and the move still waiting to happen.
So.....until they are back up and running, I now have to learn how to maintain a website via ftp, rather than via a file manager, which is how I've usually done the updates - nice and easy.
*sigh*
never a dull moment.....
post a comment
 Kipper. Born sometime in January, bought from the SPCA in March, died 9th September 2009. Just nine months old and very precious to my youngest and the whole family. An excellent mouser, even caught a wild rabbit, as well as having a partiality for bugs, flies and gheckos. She always went with Mum to collect the morning paper, and often came to say goodbye to my youngest when Zoe caught the school bus in the morning. Her young life was taken by a car last night. She is buried in the garden with her favourite mouse, the only cat I've known to fetch back a toy when it was thrown for her.
She brought such joy and love with her, she will be sorely missed and lovingly remembered.
5 comments | post a comment
I may have mentioned sometime in the past few months that I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes back in March of this year. Since then I have been doing all the right(dietary)things for a change and keeping my blood sugar levels within the required parameters. It has meant a radical alteration to my way of eating, what I eat, how much of it I eat - all the usual suspects. The pay off has been, to put it mildly, spectacular.
The discovery of just how spectacular came about when I unpacked my rather ancient bathroom scales yesterday. The last time I stood on the poor thing, I was off the scale - literally - because at that time I weight in at around 134 kilos, and it only went up to 120!!
So, end of March, I was officially diagnosed, not surprisingly, with Type 2 Diabetes. Out the window went all the chocolate, sweets, biscuits, cake, Pringles, dip, cheesecake, KFC, icecream and other delicious, but diabolical regulars on the menu. The replacements included cottage cheese, hummus, fat free anything, wholegrain everything, fruit by the bushel load, yoghurt, and veges with any-and-all meals.
The point to all this rambling is.......I've lost nearly 20 kilos since the end of March. I've gone from 134 kilos to 115 kilos...a bloody miracle if you ask me.
I'm back on the scales again, something I've not been since several years past now.
Damn, it feels good to be able to look down and see that figure again. It will feel even better if I cab look at it at the end of the year and that figure is into double digits.
Amazing what you can achieve when mortality - death by morbid obesity - is staring you in the face.
Just goes to show that even the most die hard chocoholic, middle aged sloth can change. Now I just have to keep up the good work and I might even be able to look at myself in the mirror again and like what I see - one day.
4 comments | post a comment
| Date: | 2009-07-15 21:01 |
| Subject: | All Moved In At Last |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  aggravated | | Music: | freaky music |
Phew....that took some doing.
Been offline for a week, and not all entirely due to the moving home capers.
( read more )
2 comments | post a comment
Well, it's now a week before we move............EEEK!!!
Yup, seven days and counting. Been heaving boxes and transporting them, via my wonderful little Mazda Demio, back and forth to the new house, and now the garage at the old place is looking nicely empty!! *yay*
( read more, plus pics )
4 comments | post a comment
| Date: | 2009-06-08 15:01 |
| Subject: | A Red Letter Day |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  bouncy | | Music: | me hyperventilating |
some of you will know that over the past couple of months we, my family and I, have been involved in a protracted wrangle over the sale of two houses - one in Wellington, one in Whangarei.
The one in Whangarei had been hardly any trouble at all to organise in the way of contracts etc.
But the one in Wellington has been more stressful than any house has a right to be.
All that aside.....as of two minutes ago when my sister rang, its all been resolved - the contracts are now unconditional and we have a move in date of the 9th July to work towards.
*meep*
which is five weeks away.........*blinks*
good grief.
better get cracking then............bye.
5 comments | post a comment
it's been a funny old week. Started off Monday with a trip to the Doctors and a, not entirely surprising, diagnosis of Type2 Diabetes. After absorbing that blow, it was off to get a new gizmo for recording blood glucose levels, a nifty finger pranger, and a large bottle of pills.
I seemed to have struck gold with my doctor not only being a woman around my own age, but one who has type2 diabetes, and recently went through gastric bypass surgery to deal with her morbid obesity at the same level as my own. So I can talk to her and know that she understands, with acute intensity, everything I'm going through, and have gone through most of my adult life.
so I've been recording every bite of what I'm eating, took my measurments, *faints* and did the finger pricky thing twice during the week. I'm sure there'll be a ton of adjustment when I finally get the call to visit the Diabetes Clinic, but in the meantime I contacted a local support group and look forward to monthly meetings to answer questions and get the latest information on my condition.
I also made contact with Lesley Marshall of the New Zealand Society of Authors, with a view to becoming a member, and attending their monthly meetings. I feel a bit of a fraud, as I haven't written anything 'original' in over eighteen months, and my manuscript is still waiting to be 'accepted' or 'rejected' for publication in the UK, but maybe if I surround myself with those that are quite a bit more successful and dedicated to the whole process of writing than I am, right now, then it will ginger up my muse to return and pick up where we left off.
might even allow me to finish all those outstanding stories waiting in vain to be completed.
all that will have to wait until I can throw off the most disgusting head cold that developed yesterday...haven't had one of these in awhile, and it sucks donkey balls!!
S3 of Primeval will be starting in the UK soon.....am I excited?.......not even remotely. It will be fun reading what other fans think of it, but I've pretty much jumped the shark on that series - dinosaurs notwithstanding.
in fact tv at the moment is one big yawn. I have enjoyed rewatching the x-files late at night, and I find time to watch Desperate Housewives and Lost on mondays and wednesday, but once you count them out, the rest is totally naff. I've even been going to bed around midnight, which is almost heresy, given before I left Wellington I was regularly staying up to 2 or 3am, but still not achieving very much.......now I'm getting up at 7.30am *shock horror* but still not finding my groove.
I think I just need to give myself some more time to adapt to the new environment......how much, I have no idea.
2 comments | post a comment
yes folks...we are now domiciled in the sunny, and hot, far North of the North Island of New Zealand.
Took off by car on Friday, completely stuffed to bursting with belongings, and drove to Hamilton to stay overnight, then drove the remaining few hours on Saturday up to Whangarei, arriving early afternoon to a rapturous welcome from Mum.
only one little fly in the blissful ointment. The blasted movers didn't deliver our few remaining bits of furniture on Saturday as expected. The items included my bed, zoe's mattress and bed frame, our tv and her bicycle.
the tv and the bicycle we could do without...the other items we couldn't!! I ended up sleeping on the floor, something I've not done since youthful folly twenty years ago. Ouch.
next night was spent on a narrow chaise lounge,(deck furniture) little better than a camp bed, and yet another night of less-than-ideal sleep. Ouch.
tonight, monday, I have the spare mattress off mum's bed, zoe is on the borrowed mattress from a kind neighbour, and my goods aren't due to arrive until thursday.....Help!!
on a slightly less whiney note, my computer is up and running, we have a new addition to the family - Kipper - freshly caught from the SPCA this afternoon, and supposed to be sleeping in Zoe's room, but currently sitting snoring behind me. (didn't see that coming much!!)
post a comment
Squeezynz is blacked out because :-
Stand up against "Guilt Upon Accusation" new law for New Zealand GO HERE TO READ MORE
This has major implications to all net users if it is adopted at the end of February.
Get onboard and support the protest.
post a comment
*sings*
Happy Birthday to you.........
Happy Birthday to yooooou.....
Happy Birthday dearest Kateeeeeee
Happy Birthday to yooooo.......
Hip hip! Hooray
Hip hip! Hooray
Hip hip! Hooray
Hope you have a wonderful day dearest girl.......*hugs*
x x x x x x x x x
post a comment
it's all true, my dear, unlamented ex husband has finally sunk to an all time low.
three days out from moving house up to Whangarei and he slaps a "without notice" order preventing the removal of my youngest from the Paraparaumu area. Never mind that the house is on the market and I have to move sometime in the near future or become homeless, never mind that this all comes down to money and not remotely anything to do with what's best for Zoe....the two faced, hypocritical snake.
bastard
I'll find out tomorrow if I have any chance of redress - otherwise if I take Zoe up to whangarei, to our rental and her new school, I could be slapped in jail for 3 months, or fined $2500 and Zoe returned to Paraparaumu in the custody of the police or an officer of the court.
bastard.
Zoe was incensed and so angry at him. How he thinks this is going to promote his relationship with his youngest daughter is beyond my ability to understand. It's not as if I'm taking her out of the country....we're simply moving UP country....and I advised him of all our new details, including phone numbers, and we now have skype, email, text and phone to continue contact....stupid honest person that I am.
bastard
luckily Emma, my eldest was visiting at the time and was able to help her younger sister deal with her rage at her father's duplicity. Emma also took the opportunity to send her father a pithy text on her sisters phone that left him in no doubt how she, Emma, feels about his unwarranted actions.
bastard
later, Glenn finally sent a reply to Zoe's email sent to him on the 23rd - asking him not to stop her moving up to Whangarei - the mealy mouthed ratbag fobbed her off with platitudes, insulted her intelligence and signed off telling her he loved her.
bastard
Zoe was incensed all over again and wrote him another email, expressing her feelings in no uncertain terms. I imagine he'll ignore that, or think I wrote it - which I didn't - but that's not surprising from a man who doesn't know the first thing about what is mean to 'love' someone, in any shape or form.
bastard
okay, done venting for the night. Roll on Wednesday.
post a comment
the good news is...our trip to Whangarei to sign up for a rental was accomplished in record time (2 days) and we're back home already starting the rigmarole of moving house. We move in on the 30th Jan and Zoe will start school on the 2nd Feb..talk about 'get ya skates on!'
It was hot up there-very hot, so Mum was in her element....I just glowed...ferociously!!
the bad news is quite heart wrenching for my favourite actor - James Murray, who is married to Sarah Parish - their 8 month old baby girl died last week of complications to do with a heart condition. If you feel moved to donate to their charity, which also happens to be the hospital that supported them throughout their daughters short life, then go here:-
http://www.justgiving.com/ella-jaynemurray
I don't imagine the poor man, who has a birthday(34) this week, is much in the mood for celebrating. I can only wish them both the very best, and say a prayer for their dear EJ.
1 comment | post a comment
Yup....time is flying by, as usual.
The court case got bumped from the 14th of Jan, which sucks. But we're still going up on the 18th to sort out a rental - just hope it doesn't take more than a week to do so.
We have plenty of places lined up, so we should strike it lucky with one of them. This time I go loaded with references and credit checks to satisfy the pickiest of landlords....
My wonderful cousin from the UK, over here for a few weeks, bought me the hardware to enable me to set up Skype on my puter...so...I'm on skype now!!! I have a webcam eyeball looking at me, and a microphone/earphone thingy to handle the talking part. The software was free, (21mb dowloaded from http://www.skype.com) and it means I can talk to my cousin when he gets back to the UK and see his mug up on the screen at the same time.......cool.
I'm sure Skype will become more popular when people realise how easy, and relatively inexpensive it is to set up.....only took me half a hour from opening the box to testing the speakers...piece of cake.
If you are on skype and want me to add you as a contact, send me a message.....
Hope everyone is having a positive start to the new year.
I'm still working on finishing two fics on my 'need to get done' pile......but might take a little longer with this week away up north coming up.
post a comment
I won't be sorry to see the back of 2008, to be truthful. It has been full of heartache and disappointment, upset and upheaval.
With the court case due to be settled on the 14th of January, Emma still shacked up, albeit now in a much nicer home, thank goodness, with Garry and all the shamozle of the move up North, it's been turbulent at best.
Then yesterday I got a piece of news that gave me a real lift and added a touch of bling to what has been a difficult year.
The UK publisher, who I sent my manuscript to, has finally been in touch, apologising for the delay and saying they still want the option to publish in 2009!! I had sent them an email asking for the courtesy of a formal notice of rejection to at least put my hopes to rest, but instead they said they hadn't rejected it, just put it on the back burner due to the current financial uncertainty gripping the world.
So I may yet be a published author......it'll just take a little longer, that's all.
I can wait.
So on that note, I'll wish you all a very peaceful Christmas and a hopeful start to the New Year.
love to all
Louise
1 comment | post a comment
I think I might finally be coming out of my doldrums of late.
This year has to be one of the worst in recent memory, capped off with the looming election, the recent financial disasters in the US and here, the horror of a current housing market, the still unresolved court case....and on it goes. I haven't been able to write, let alone read in the past six months, something unheard off before now.
Then suddenly, just this week, I decided to pick up one of the books that have been accumulating on my shelves, the first of The Steepwood Scandals put out by Quills, part of the Historical series published by Harlequin. So far I'm up to book 4 - having read six of the novel length stories in the past week and weekend.
I'm hoping this means that my long period of severe depression is at an end and that I have some chance of picking up and finishing my outstanding fanfictions and maybe even have another crack at that sequel waiting for me to start.
Or maybe I'm just overdue for a catch up on my reading.
I'll take what I can get.
post a comment
For New Zealand fans, and possibly Australian fans (not sure about that) the Movie starring James Murray and Keeley Hawes is playing on Sky Rialto Channel on those dates below.
Rialto program listings
a gorgeous, romantic movie and a 'Must Have' for any fan of James Murray.
post a comment
If you're curious, go take a look see.
All my sister's hard work with the exterior painting, plus getting the floors done, has really paid off and lifted the quality of the property no end.
of course, getting all my masses of junk out of the basement has sure made that look big and spacious, as does the rest of the house with everything taken away, except the furniture!!
Click the link to go see the listing at Harcourts, NZ
so now we just have to hope the right buyer comes along before we all die of old age!! *LOL*
We were incredibly lucky with the weather for both the photographs and the open home on Sunday - brilliant sunshine on both days - so can't ask for better than that.
The sooner we sell the house, the sooner we can move to warmer climes up north.
cheers for now
Louise
1 comment | post a comment
|
|
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
squeezynz's journal
chipper
gloomy
confused
accomplished
anxious