We've put another bell on Tui so she makes a lot of noise now when she walks. She hasn't given us another present since we put it on her, so we're both hoping it's because it gives the birds enough warning, not because there's no birds left!

We could have got her a Cat Bib but I think there's a point where you're just being cruel to your cat. And I don't think I could have faced the neighbours anymore.

I made Pad Thai for dinner last night. Usually Sarah makes it and it takes her about 10 minutes. I made it and it took about an hour. I only missed one step, which was to presoak the noodles for 10 minutes.
So it was sort of a crunch-your-way-through-it meal. Wasn't terrible though, I'll know next time!

I got the ol' push mower out last night to do the lawns...

It was Halloween last night and as much as I think it's a stupid commercialism tacky American tradition, the kiddies seem to like it so we might as well play along. I picked a couple of the large Orange/Grapefruit things out of the tree and drew some faces on them, lit a couple of tealight candles and put a lantern on as well. Not much but it looked cool and we got about 7-8 doorknocks during the evening. To which I handed out a few candies each.

Meanwhile I had the BBQ going out the back cooking a half of chicken. It's like having Nandos but at home, I love it!

Sarah finished the curtains in the spare room and they look really awesome. Another litte job finished.

Mother arrives this Friday! Looking forward to that, even if it is just for a short stopover.

Tim

We went to the boxing last night. Sarah's trainer was in a 8 person last-man-standing match so we went along to support. We got all nice and dressed up (well, I tried) which I was a little dubious about. It's boxing, right? It attracts fiends.
As we were driving to the event Sarah said to me "Some of the tables cost $2,000, I don't think they're going to have hotdogs!", after I'd suggested that's probably what the available food would be.

Hotdogs were pretty much the main menu item. There were bogans everywhere, we felt a bit overdressed.

It was great fun, but damn it dragged on! Turner, the guy we'd come to see, won his first fight. His next was about two hours later which he won too, meaning he was in the final!

By the time we arrived to the time we left, 5 hours had gone by...

Sarah came and picked me up from the train station last night and on the drive home mentioned we had some lovely new artwork at home. Strange, I thought, I don't remember us discussing buying any artwork.

Once we were nearly home it twigged, we'd been the victim of graffiti! The little shits!

When the house was for sale we remember seeing graffiti on the sign. This time it'd be sprayed on the front fence in quite large letters. So we got out there with the turps, the scrubbers and the water blaster and removed it all. There was a bit of a shadow left over, but after logging a job with the Auckland council they arrived promptly this morning to remove that.
So the fence is back to nice and clean again, at least it was. Here's hoping the little shits haven't had another go at it today.

We'll...

Woo! What a great long weekend. Lots of sun and no rain. That's an achievement for a long weekend in Auckland.
Saturday we went to Mitre 10 (pretty much a weekend ritual now) and bought a bunch of stuff. The best purchases were some Tomato plants and some courgettes. They're now in the veggie garden out the back growing nicely, I better make sure I remember to put some more snail bait out. I love snails (well, don't LOVE them, but they're cool) and I hate to see them all dead and shriveled, but I also love our fresh veggies more. So sorry in advance, snails.

We also got the BBQ that Holly, Adrian, Peter and Mary got us for our wedding out. We assembled it a couple of weeks back after a bit of swearing and bitching. The instructions missing huge sections out and bits were plain wrong etc...

Long weekend coming up this weekend which is good, I'm looking forward to that. Be nice to sleep in and have a bludge!

Last Thursday night I picked up Sarah's parents from the airport as they got back from their holiday. The plane was supposed to get in at 12:15am and it really got in about 2am! Stupid planes, stupid flights. We all got back home quite late and I got a few hours of sleep before I was back up and at 'em for work. No worries though, Friday is always a Friday.

Friday night we had a lovely meal in that the girls cooked. Super tasty fondue to start with and lovely lamb for the main. It was also the official first time we'd used our new table, even though we'd purchased it a month or so earlier. But we didn't need to worry, it did a fantastic...

Woah another ages with no updates. Things are going well, Peter and Mary came up on Friday night, so Peter and I zoomed off to get curry for dinner. Yummo.

Saturday we all went to the French Markets in Parnell. It was a lovely sunny morning and a perfect day to visit. We had to wait around for 15 minutes for the French Sausages in bread to be ready, but as far as I'm concerned it's well worth the wait. I'm not sure Peter agreed as I had to finish his as well.

Saturday afternoon we drove Peter and Mary to the airport, they've gone away for 5 days to enjoy Cairns. I hope the weather hasn't been too bad for them.

The neat thing Peter brought up with his was his water blaster. This means I've been able to get out and clean the driveway. You don't realise just...