Time to resume training

Well, considering it has been around 20 months since the Coast to Coast, and I have done exactly no exercise since then, I think the time is nigh to get restarted. I have been trying to work out when exactly I can get any training in, and I have figured out this. Days I work - days 1-3 I plan to work with one of the horses, so anything exercisey is out (since I work a 12 hour day, have a half hour commute each way - get to horses at 6.30pm, ride or whatever until 8.00pm, home by 8.20pm, bed by 8.30-9.00pm). On day four I will try to get out for a run after tea, from say 7.30-8.30pm. On days off I will do house work 7.00-8.00am. Help hose out etc til 9.00am, have breakie, then run, cycle or kayak from 10.00-12.00 noon (include drive time to where ever I wanna train that day). 12.00noon is lunch. 12.30 head to horses and hopefully ride all 3. Home by 5.00pm. Make dinner. Then run or cycle or kayak from 6.00-8.00 (include drive time) and then bed. I need to do most running and mountain biking in dog friendly places so I can run around the farm most days, and I think it should be ok to bike on one of the unsealed roads up the way - depends on what affect this may have on Stellas poor wee feet. I really really hope I can get started on this. Starting is so hard, especially when I now weigh 80kgs and I am totally paranoid of what other people think of me. Fingers crossed. And thank heavens for daylight savings so I do actually have a bit more time in my day!

Tweedle dee

Toi toi plants, Aoere Rd, Eltham, South Taranaki

I was very good today. I actually managed to get our bedroom tidy, and it has not been tidy since I moved in 8 or 9 months ago! Shocking I know, and it's still not perfect, but it is so so so much better than it was. Aparently to be able to fit all clothes into drawers and closet one had to throw out all the clothes that for the past few years I have been say, yeah I will wear that again someday, and just haven't. I feel good about it now. Such a difference without the clutter. I do have to tidy up one dressing table though, and put half the stuff into the bathroom cabinet instead of being on the dresser. But there you go. Im rapt, I even painted my nails today in celebration.

Trent James laughing his head off at me, again!

Trent and I went for a wee drive up the road today to see if we could find the rich English ladies place with the horse arena's etc, and as there were floats and trucks heading that way we thought that we may as well. Well we thought that we found it but couldn't get all the way down as there were quite a few sheep on the road and it was going to be a slow journey so we turned around. Now I'm not so sure that we did find it as we couldn't see any floats etc parked down there, and no sign of any horses, so we may have to ask the boss again where exactly it is. I did take a few photos on the trip though. I love my lil digital camera, so much more portable than my big SLR one, but I love my big SLR for events - totally kicking myself that I left it behind at my sisters on my last visit. And I would love to have it here for a dressage comp next weekend. Oh well, serves me right I guess. Wonder how much it would cost to get it couriered over as who knows when I am next visiting, and Ma n Pa are sure taking their time about visiting us, but then again it is my dog that is holding them up with her lumps and bumps and vet visits.

Bush clad gully, so pretty!

I got a great ride on the two horses today as well. I procrastinate about heading out there, as it seems such a mission, but once I am finally up and riding all is great. I have such a great time, pity I'm so allergic. I must remember to take my tablets BEFORE heading out for a ride instead of taking them when I get home, as it's just a wee bit too late by then and I have a wee stretch of uncomfortableness until the antihistamine kicks in.

Trent with Chanelle, he loves her really!

Feeling run down

Our beloved Yoki cat got hit by a vehicle and died a couple of days ago. I'm still crying.

Farewell my beloved Yoki cat. I miss you terribly and wish you could have been with us for longer. Will love you always.

I have been feeling very run down of late. Well its hard to say really. I have good days, and then I have not so good days. Days where I just feel flat, or a bit sick, or blah, and up and down days. I have had this nagging cough for ages now too. Comes and goes as well. Getting a wee bit sick of it all, and I just want to feel good, normal, great. So what is the problem? Allergy to the horses? I think that may be part of it. Reflux? Well thats what the doc said, which leads onto diet. Diet? Yep I unfortunately think that diet may be the key. I eat way too much chocolate, like a bar a day or so. Drink way too much fizz, like maybe 600mL a day or less. And lately we have not been eating very well for tea at all. Hardly any veges, and I don't eat a heck of a lot of fruit, if any. So diet is going to have to change, again! What is the key to sticking with it, that is my problem. I can start eating well, and feeling well, and then I will stop and wonder why I'm not feeling so great again. Don't seem to learn from my diet mistakes that easily. Another key indicator that it is mostly diet is that my skin is shocking. Zitty, and just generally unhealthy looking. I think I need to do a few labels up with the simple word DIET on it and really focus on what it is I am eating. Even if I continue to eat a few chocolates and drink a few fizzys, as long as I up the veges and water I can only get better. Sounds simple ah! Previous behaviours indicate that this is not so.

Stella looking a bit 'Ewok' like. She did manage to 'sit' and 'stay' for once though.

Tonight Trent has gone to Wanganui to race 'The Slug'. I wasn't feeling particularly well today and decided at about 4pm, after an afternoon nap, that I wouldn't go. It worked out well as it meant that I could finish washing out the milking shed etc so Trent could get out of here, otherwise he would have been really late. I wish I had gone to see him, but then again I am glad that I didn't because I think the drive would make me feel worse. Its a swing day today. Feel ok one minute then just plain blah the next. I have had a heap of veges for tea, silverbeet, tomatoes and carrots, plus a small steak, so that is a good start on my journey to healthy eating.

Trent hosing out the other day, with a lil' black Stella dog in the background.

Only other thing that we did today was go and watch a Kaponga v Coastal rugby game. Trent thinks he might play again this year, which is great as I always did want me a rugby player.

Herd pregnancy testing, and more

The vets 3 cutie patootie dogs

We had to pregnancy test the herd this morning. Was quite good. Started at 9am, and was all finished by 11am, including shed clean up etc. The vet had 3 cute dogs, as evidenced by the photo. Trent wouldn't let me have one though. Such a meanie. We have 13% empty, which is way up on the 5% last year so Trent is a little disappointed. However it seems to be about the average for the season, so its not too bad.

Trent rolling his sleeves up, about to get dirty

After PTing we then had a quick wash and heading into Hawera to get some groceries, and I got lunch too, for being such a great helper. Pity I was not aware I was getting a cafe lunch because I had two pieces of slice and a marshmellow easter egg before going to town and so was pretty full already. I still ordered Chicken Fettachine (sp?) and ate half of it. Trent ate a quarter, so we didn't leave too much behind. Supermarket shopping. Yeah yeah. No exciting tales there.

The vet and Trent testing the cows

I also went to Paper Plus, my favourite store. Ok one of my favourite stores. I got 20 L shaped folders, well you know the ones, joined on two sides only so you can slip papers into them. I also got a box of envelopes, and a NZ House and Garden magazine, which Trent didn't spot until he saw me reading it while he went into the bank. Considering he slipped in a couple of packets of marshmellow eggs into the trolley at the supermarket, alls fair in love and spending.

Crazy Trent and the upside down dog Stella

I also rode my horses, see my other blog for details ... lol. And now I'm cooking tea and waiting for Trent to return so we can eat it. Unfortunately I have had a major pigout on the roast lamb already ... oooops

All alone

for a few hours tonight anyway ... yay! I do so love me some alone time.

Yoki playing under the local rag

Today is day 2 off. Yesterday I had another interview with the South Taranaki District Council. It is for a job at the contact centre, which is mostly phonecalls, with one day out of every six on the front counter. It looked quite fun when I was there yesterday, scarey too as there is quite a system to work out, plus over 170 staff (I think) to know who to transfer calls to. If I get it good, as then I will be, once again, a regular Mon to Fri worker. If I don't, well the job hunt continues. And there are not that many jobs around at the moment. Luckily if I do get stuck we can survive on Trent's income, at least for a while. I will have to curb my spending though.

Stella watching hawks fly, and wondering how to catch them

I had a great ride on the horses today. I had an absolute ball. I am going to attempt to do the winter dressage series at Stratford, provided I get the horses all trained up, and I can get some transport. I think I will pop onto Trade-me after this and see if there are any floats for sale at the moment. Of course, I can't actually afford one at the moment, but at least I can get some kind of focus towards one.

Trent and Rog spraying the drains so they don't get blocked

Which actually reminds me that I had better get onto my bank accounts and swap some money around before I spend it. Plus pay a bit more off to Ma n Pa.



Tomorrow we are off to see the heffiers, and Trents sisters family, and to the scrapbook shop in Inglewood, that Trent doesn't want to go to, and says we aren't going to, but I know he will let me go to! He's just cheeky like that.



Friday we have to pregnancy test the herd, and I better go to the supermarket and top up lots of stuff, before resuming work on Saturday. Never ending circle of life ah!

Owning a dog is awesome because

I would not have gone for 1 walk, let alone 2 walks today, the weather was awful. However, because of the dog I got all dressed up in my wet weather garb, twice, and braved the wet and windy day. Thanks Stella dog!

Tuesday

A walk we did ages ago up Mt Egmont/Taranaki

Last night we had T's sister and bro in law, plus the kidlets over for tea. I did a giant roast pork, with carrots, potatoes and corn on the cob all from our garden, and peas, pumpkin and kumara from the store. I also made a blackberry and apple crumble for dessert. The blackberries came from some bushes at the back of the farm that missed out on being sprayed this year. I plan to use them a lot as no doubt they will not be there again next year - being a noxious weed they need to be sprayed out, but they are oh so yummy.

The kidlets were fun as per usual. Full on screaming at times, but generally good fun. C wanted to do a puzzle that we had, G and J had great fun hammering down some pegs, and playing with the cat and dog balls that were lying around the house. Actually since Stella is an outside dog someone must have bought her balls inside! Then we attempted to have a game of Hairy McLeary, however you are supposed to play by C's madeup rules, and it wasn't all that fun, but hey, she's four, whadda ya gonna do? Unfortunately the game had a dice and throw-cup, which proceeded to get fought over for the remainder of the night!

Today T and I zoomed into NP so I could get some interview clothes for tomorrow. I spent way too much money, and ended up buying $100 worth of bra's and knickers as well. I got one pair of dress pants, which look pretty good, and 4 shirts. 1 shirt I really like a lot and will be suitable for going out to dinner with the voucher T got from the farm owner for Christmas - YAY! I shall look forward to going out for dinner now I actually have something nice to wear.

After spending copious amounts on clothes we cruised home, where I watched the end of Oprah, and then cruised into Hawera to have a quick rece of the Library before tomorrows interview. I haven't been nervous up until now, but now I'm feeling a few butterflies. I really hope it goes well tomorrow as I feel like it could be the start of a career for me, finally. I can see where it could go. Library assistant, to librarian, to managing a section, to managing the whole library. I do need to get the job first though!

Only other thing I did today was hopefully de-flea the cat. There is a huge outbreak of fleas, apparently, at the moment, and our wee Yoki has not gone unscathed. Damn awful things. I wonder what a fleas purpose in life is? I mean like flies help dead animals break down by laying their eggs, which turn into maggots and help the body decompose, so what is the purpose of the flea?

Yoki having a wee sleep in the sun, not today, there was not much sun today

Motor racing in the background

It's been 7 months since I moved to Eltham and began living with the Naki boy, and I am finally beginning to get settled in and feel in control of my life. Over the last month we have rescued 1 kitten, named Yoko, and 1 dog, named Stella. Yoko was discovered in the house paddock, right next to a giant cow pat, yowling her head off - hence the name Yoko (Ono). The yowling was a result of her being pretty much blinded by cat flu, her eyes were pussed shut, it was oooky. She is all good now though, as the picture below shows.

Yoko, 'I'm so cute'

Stella was in the local paper as one of two dogs about to be put to sleep. I originally went to get the other dog as he was a huntaway type and would have been great for the farm. I just missed him however, yet poor wee Stella was still there. A quick phonecall to Trent, with a large amount of badgering, meant that I came home with a Black Lab X Kelpie who has more energy than the energiser bunny!

Stella. Don't I just look like I could run all day!

My job at Fonterra is ok. I really enjoy the people that I work with, but the work itself is not as much as I thought it would be. Some days I have been finished by lunch, which then means I have 6 hours to kill in the afternoon. This is very, very hard as there is nothing to kill it with, unless I want to wash windows or some other such task, which I don't. No offence, but I am not employed as a cleaner. I do all the dishes, and wipe down my bench, and clean out the fume cupboard that I use, I have no problem with that, but too much else, yeah, Nah! I have gotten better at spreading my work out over the day, but I am dreading winter as they other staff members tell me it is pretty much dead!

Because of this I have been job hunting again. Not only because there is not much work to keep me occupied, but also because my contract runs out in August and there has been no mention of either extending my contract, or taking me on permanently. So I have an interview on Wednesday with the South Taranaki District Council for a position as a library assistant. I am heading into this job proposition with the idea that I am going to really strive to get somewhere. Beginning as an assistant, moving onto a qualified librarian, and then managing a section of the library, then onto library management. I think this is actually a job that I could see myself doing long term. I have to get the job first of course, so I am very, very hopeful that I will. Time will tell, hopefully not too much time after the interview on Wednesday that is!

T in 'The Tank' - thank heavens he has a fun hobby!

Relationship is going very well. We haven't even had a fight yet! And thats in almost a year and a half! I get the odd sulks of course, and he has his moments, but we have not had a screaming, arguing row at all. Very impressive for me! Maybe I'm growing up. Nahh that will never happen. So I am very happy at this stage in my life. I did have a couple of weeks, maybe a month, of feeling really down, and tired, and blue, but I seem to have popped out of that now. Not sure if I have worked myself out of it or whether it is just cyclical, I guess time will tell. I think that I worked out that the key for me was that by watching too much TV to escape the reality of my life, meant that I was not working on aspects of my life that would make me happy with my life, if that makes sense.

Time to head out and walk the dog!

Sick day

So I wanted a couple of days off this week, due to the fact it rained all weekend and I didn't get any of my stuff shifted down to the folks. Problem is that I just feel way too guilty to be able to pull a sick day when I'm not sick so yesterday I was a good girl and headed off to work. Then it turns out I was getting sick. Not 'I can't possibly work' sick, just the good ol' 'bugger I'm getting a cold' sick. One benefit of working in customer services is if you get very sniffly, to the point you are sneezing the entire time whilst trying to serve customers, you get sent home. YAY! Woke up this morning still feeling a bit under the weather so I called in sick, which meant I got to take a couple of loads of stuff to the parents, and I got to go and see my neices swimming lesson.

Isn't she, pretty in pink!

I have not seen my neice swim for over a year now, aside from summer time in their pool. She used to have swim lessons on a Monday, and I used to work Tues-Sat, so I was a regular viewer of her lessons. Since we have all shifted around she now has lessons on Tues, and I work Mon-Fri, so there just has not been the opportunity, until today. My goodness she is a great swimmer now. Dolphin diving, backstroke, freestyle, all coming together - fantastic for a 4 year old. Well in a few months she will be 5, but still, WOW! Its unfortunate that I will be moving so far away, but with a work schedule of 4 days on, 4 days off I will make the effort to visit regularly to catch up with all the fam-damn-ly. The cool thing about shifting so far away is I now have someone I can go away and stay with (the biggest downer of having my entire immediate family living in the same tiny town is I had nowhere else to go ... lol).

One step, two step, tick-i-ley under there

Little neice was having a good time too. She wasn't keen on hopping into their pool over summer, unless the temp was over 24 deg C or something. However this pool is nicely heated so she was in like Flynn, whoever Flynn was. She had a great time, hanging off my sister, swimming around. She is even quite happy to get dunked under water, all-be-it briefly, but hey, she is only 20 months. She is such a cheeky wee thing, loves having her photo taken, but then again don't they all. Methinks it helps having digital so they can see the picture instantly, absolutely no concept of having to wait for film processing. Ahh the age of INSTANT, they all want it NOW.

Splish splash

So I think my sister is a great Mum. I am so jealous, but hey, dems the breaks. Maybe oneday my day will come, maybe not. I shall just have to focus on my farmer boy, my horses, and finally my science career, and enjoy all my neices and nephew, and be thankful that when they are tired and grizzly and have a stinky bum, its not my problem. Hehehe

Five days of work to go

... well after this weekend anyway. YAY! So I opened a new bank account today. I thought it was going to be simple, then when I was there I thought I wasn't going to be able to at all, but luckily the bank staff were being nice and they let me open one. Apparently their policy is to not open any personal cheque account unless you open it with $2300.00 or something similar. Ummmm, really? Nope, don't have that. And to open a savings account you need $5000.00. Ok I will check my other pocket. Ummmm, nope, don't have that either. Fortunately they asked me why I was opening the account, and when they learned that I was planning on having my new jobs wages being direct credited into it they were fine with it. So YAY, I have a new bank, and account. And in a week's time, well in a little over a weeks time, plus two weeks until my first pay comes through, I will be able to use it.

Hmmmm, food for yesterday. I didn't get a chance to enter it yesterday because I had a wee visitor last night, only briefly, but enough so as I could not be bothered coming online to enter it. Two toast, butter and jam for breakie. Grapes for morning tea. Half a can cream styled corn for lunch. Grapes, dried nectarine, bagel chips, fruit and nuts for afternoon tea. Macaroni cheese, mushrooms and tomato, 2 small pieces of chicken for dinner. And plenty of water.

Food today. Porridge, milk and brown sugar for breakie. Dried nectarine, nuts and dried fruit, bagel chip for morning tea. Half a can cream styled corn for lunch. Dried nectarine, bagel chips, and fruit and nuts for afternoon tea. Macaroni cheese, mushrooms and tomato, pork slice. Not enough water by a long shot today. I think it's because it was cold. Better go and get myself a glass right now!

Quick food post

So 2 x toast, butter and jam for breakfast. Half a carrot for morning tea. Half a can of spaghetti for lunch. Half a carrot and nuts and raisins for afternoon tea. Three pieces of chicken, a carrot, and peas for dinner. Also drank plenty of water. Happy with my food today.

Spent exactly no money (exactly no money to spend) but its payday tonight so Wheeeeee!

And my lovely DFHHBF phoned me tonight, I haven't told him but I love him *giggle*. Don't want to freak him out, even though I am moving across country to live with him in a week and a half .... lol Oh and DFHHBF stands for dairy farming horse hating boyfriend

Time for a quick blog

Its gotta be quick as I have a LOT of tidying to do due to the fact the Real Estate agent is coming over tomorrow to see the place to rent it out. And my place is an absolute tip .... arghhhhh. Of course procrastinating on here is not helping a heck of a lot!

So food wise today I was again fairly good. I had porridge, milk and brown sugar for breakfast. Half a carrot for morning tea. 2 slices of pizza for lunch. Half a carrot, nuts and raisins for afternoon tea. And 3 slices of pizza, a large bowl of rice and gravy (didn't need such a large bowl but it was left overs ... hows THAT for an excuse!) for dinner.

Money wise I was excellent. I did not spend a single cent (not that I have a cent to spend). There is a book I am keen to buy, but I figure if I can get this book once I have $100.00 in savings in an account as a reward. Its not a large sum, but it will be a start, and it is far better to do it this way than my usual, I will buy this book and replace the money next pay ... never happens!

Work was ok, fairly quiet, but only 8 days to go .... hooray!

So how am I doing today?

I had a good day today. Filled up the vehicle, so I have enough gas until payday. Great. I did wake-up to the wee surprise of my monthly. Not so great, but these things happen (well monthly anyway ... lol). It's been surprisingly heavy this time as well. Bah.

I ate fairly well today. Breakfast; 2 x toast, butter and jam. Morning tea; half a carrot. Lunch; half a can of spaghetti. Afternoon tea; half a carrot, nuts and raisins (didn't measure how many). Dinner; pork chop, mashed potato, carrot. Very good indeed if I do say so myself. And I drank quite a bit of water for once, so again that was good. Im a very good girl today.

Financially I was pretty good today. Diesel for the ute, tampons, packing tape, and nuts and raisins. I spent $90 total today. Plus Mum thinks its a good idea that I open new bank accounts at a new bank, so YAY, I'm on the right track!

I worked this sunday

So I worked today. No big deal, except I don't usually work Sundays. Well I haven't for a long time, however with the new job I will be, but heck, really, I was just stuck for a title!

My parents at my sisters. My mother HATES photos so you have to snap when you can.

Went to the big sisters for dinner last night. Roast pork for dinner, and Mum made a cheesecake for dessert. Was totally delicious! I ate way too much. Story of my life, well my past life as I am, once again, resolving to lose weight! This is probably resolution 9,486,215 but you gotta start somewhere. I got my Fonterra job by utilising 'The Secret', so I am now going to apply it to my weight, and my finances.

My little neice. She was a bit grubby yesterday, but still the life and soul of the party.

My two neices. The older one didn't want any photos taken last night, so this was all I got. Yes that is a singing santa dog, six months early but I'm off-loading stuff.

I achieved my food goals today. I was STARVING hungy, moreso than usual. I wanted chocolate. I wanted a coke. I wanted ANYTHING bad. But I didn't succombe. I waited until I got home and had a couple of pieces of toast with marmite, before dinner. Todays food list is thus - Breakfast; 2 pieces of toast with butter and jam. Morning tea; half a carrot (raw) and a piece of banana cake (my co-worker brought it in and I didn't want to be rude. Wasn't a large piece). Lunch; left over macaroni and cheese with mushrooms. Afternoon tea; half a carrot (raw) and 3 krispie biscuits, two pieces of toast with butter and marmite. Tea; 3 pieces of chicken, rice, 1 x carrot, peas, and gravy. No WONDER I'm rather large at the moment. Cut down on portion size MichaJ!

And financial goals all good today too. I have decided to close two of my current accounts at my current bank (2 savings accounts with NO money in them), and retain my current account and my Visa. This current account will become my house account - rent will go in, mortgage will go out. And I need to get both of these accounts paid off and if I don't use them as my main accounts this WILL happen. Balance of these accounts are - current account -$1200.00; visa account - -$1500.00. I then plan to open 2 new accounts with another bank. A current account and a savings account. I will use these new accounts with my new job, and automatically transfer money over to my old accounts to get them paid off (if I can get this done through my salary that would be GREAT). So the idea behind this plan is basically so I start off from scratch. Set up a debt repayment plan and then focus on building wealth. I shall do this on Thursday, which is payday. Rock on my new life. Wheeeeeeee

Dang weather

Well the awesome news is that I got the job with Fonterra at Whareroa, so in two weeks time I am moving to Eltham to live with my Naki boy. Now I'm scared, new job and the whole moving in thing sounded fantastic when talking about it, but now its all happening I'm a lot nervous. Which is a good thing, and totally normal! I go from 'I can't wait' to 'Can I do it all in time?' ... lol

Winter flowers under one of my trees

So, yeah, I have two weeks to pack and tidy and clean my house, and get it rented so I can then shift all of my stuff and start my new life. The garden needs a serious makeover, and it's bloody raining, so that is off the cards today. Bit gutting but I did manage to deadhead the Agapanthus and a few rose bushes. I got interrupted deadheading the roses, first by a neighbour (which was cool) and then my folks (which was also cool), at which point it then began to rain so I had to come inside. Now I would be able to pack up inside, if I had anymore boxes, but I don't, so I'm hanging out online, watching TV and waiting for quick breaks in the weather so I can head outside and finish the roses I started, and maybe get a quick bit of weeding done. The cool thing is my Mum said that she was going to get in a load of bark, which is what I wanted to get my gardens finished. Plus Mum and Dad are going to spend next week here working on the gardens, so that is very cool of them, and greatly appreciated. As a big thank you to them I am going to SAVE money from now on. Be very careful about putting a sum away for a rainly day. I will also pay them back of course, that goes without saying for me. But the best gift I can give them is to get real with my cash handling skills. I wonder what it is about me that means I spend more than I earn. I know that this is a society problem, ie I'm not the only person like that, but I wonder what it is specifically about me that needs to spend money on 'stuff' that I don't need.

Before deadheading Hydrangas

I had Thursday off work so I can work for Carly on Sunday (so Carly can go and race) so Thursday I decided to tackle my Hydrangas. The above is the before picture. My house roof needs painting (saving object number 1!) and the shot looks a little dark, but I think that it may be mostly my computer. Anyway they look quite bushy with LOTS of dead flower heads, now ...

After deadheading Hydrangas

this is how the garden finished up. I deadheaded both Hydranga bushes (I'm pretty sure I am not spelling that correctly) and I weeded the garden on the right hand side. I got hit by rain on this day as well, but hey, a bit at a time will get it all done, ay?!

So tonight I'm off to my sisters for tea. Mumsie and Dadsie are going to pick me up on their way past. Wonder what shes got cookin .....

The afternoon was fine

If anyone out there is a garden purist you may not want to see any images or read any notes. You have been warned ... lol. So I did manage to haul my ass out and do a wee bit of gardening. Bear in mind they are only half completed as I do plan to bark them to try and stop the weeds, once I can afford to get some bark. My photos are not brilliant photos as the sun appeared then disappeared then appeared etc. This is just feeble excuses, my photography is just not up to scratch these days and I really really need to work on it. So one of the gardens that I worked on is a 'rose garden' on the corner of my house. I currently have a layer of horse poop on it, which grows weeds really well. I have yet to horse poop any other garden, and I can do that easily as I have A LOT of horse poop, time is not always on my side however. The other garden is an oval shaped rose garden that had a couple of ground cover plants on it. One ground cover is nice in summer, the other I didn't like so much. I have dug both of them out in Micha style. This involves a dig and flip technique and we shall see if that works. They only took me about an hour of work, so thats not so bad. Got a bit of a sting off of some stinging nettle, but it wasn't a major. Im glad that I did manage a bit of gardening, finally. Will depend on my mothers reaction of course ... I did dig out quite a few bulbs, which are pretty, but also annoying for people who garden with forks, such as myself. I might get in big trouble for this. I can hide. I can hide very
well ... lol






Aside from my wee bit of gardening I did not achieve a heck of a lot else. I have done 4 loads of washing and did a bit of tidying. Fed the horses, and ate fairly healthy so YAY! But I am so hating my weight right now. I was quite bad last week food wise, which is not good after having a really good week the week before. Time to jump back onto the wagon I guess. And its time to get some kind of exercise regime going. If I am serious about losing 10kg I need to get serious with my food choices and my exercise. It is NOT that hard, just a bit of determination and control. That is all.

One day off and its wet and nasty

I only have sunday off this week, and typically its wet and nasty. It had to come since the rest of the country has had really bad weather and we haven't, but still, booooooo! Great excuse for lazing inside but I did want to do some gardening and take some photos, but never mind.

Went to Liz and Jamies last night for Uncle B's birthday. It was great fun, though both of my neices (aren't they so cute) ended up in tears, both from falling off of me being a donkey (well I thought I was a horse, Kayla said I was a donkey, gee, thanks .... lol). As per usual I spent more time with the three kidlets rather than with the adults, but I tend to find in a room full of 7 adults one never gets much of a chance to say anything anyway ... lol

The coat I bought Docs is way too big, so hopefully I can get it swapped at Saddlery Warehouse when I am next in Taranaki.

I have another job interview, this time with Fonterra, so rock on. I really want to work for them as they are such a big company, and thus will have lots of opportunities for me to progress through the ranks, I hope.

Well the fire is roaring, and I have about 5 loads of washing to get done today, thank heaven's for owning a dryer ... the ONE thing I can take to Trents when I shift as he doesn't have one, everything else we have two of ... lol

I can not wait to shift over there .... bring it on!

I didnt get the job

In fact I got three rejections today. How bad is that? Its starting to get me down, obviously. Ive been hunting for 2.5 months already and its totally sucking. Rejection after rejection. Don't know what the hell I am supposed to do. I know, stay positive, the right one will turn up, keep focused. But ahhhh, its just depressing! "Insert expletive here"

Did I achieve my latest goals

HEALTH AND FITNESS AND BEAUTY
Eat healthy food only Pass, and I lost 1kg as well. Hooray!!
Drink water or hot lemon drinks (1 x milo per day) only Pass!
5km run x 4 Fail, big time, no exercise what-so-ever, aside from walking down to feed horses
20km or 1hr indoor bike trainer x 3 Fail
Wash face x 2 a day Pass
Blowdry hair and make-up for work and going out Pass
Vitamins every day Pass
Book in for a cut and colour Pass! And I had it done!
Research aerobics classes in Hastings and Waipuk Fail but I decided I couldn't afford it so it was a calculated fail

FINANCES
Work out exact debt total Fail
Budget for 12 June 2008 Pass
Stick to budget Fail, would have done but had to go to Taranaki for job interview

CAREER
Apply for jobs in Taranaki Daily News Pass
Fonterra website Pass
Agriquality website Pass
Search agri-science websites/companies in Taranaki Pass
Taranaki jobs Pass
DoC Pass
Be positive, happy and helpful in current job Pass

PERSONAL
Group email everyone on Hotmail and Xtra Pass
Update blogs at least once, with photos Pass
Bebo, Myspace and Facebook at least once Pass

HOUSE AND GARDEN
Box up books for sale Fail
Tidy up ringbinders and photo albums Fail
Mow lawn Fail
Dig up vege garden Fail
Weed rose gardens Fail

Could have been better, could have been worse. The garden plans were for this weekend just gone but since I had to get to the Naki, they got shelved. Onward and upward next week ah!

My long weekend

I had a fantastic time in Taranaki over the weekend. T played footy on Saturday, and we went to the aftermatch for a bit, then the pub, then got Indian takeaways and ate them at T's mothers place and watched the rugby. Sunday we just mucked around a bit. T's family came over for dinner (that would be Mum, Sis, Bro in law and 3 kidlets under 4) - chaos. It was good fun though and my roast dinner and dessert all turned out great (well the pumpkin didn't cook that well and my custard had lumps, but it was mostly good).

Monday was the big interview day. It went well I felt, but it all comes down to the other candidates and their experience so fingers are crossed thats for sure. I also had a quick 15 minute phone interview with Fonterra on Friday. It is an interview to see if they want to interview me face to face. They rang D at Napier yesterday apparently, and confusion reigned as Fonterra thought that I still worked their so D played along. Hopefully its not a major. The Zelam job would be fantastic for the interest factor, Fonterra would be great for the money, hours, and proximity to home ... time will tell as they say. I have so many things crossed

Im one giant knot