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

Job interview

Yay! I have a job interview in Bell Block, Taranaki on Monday. It is for Zelam, an agricultural chemical company for a research technician, which would be fantastic for me. Well at least it will get me heading in the direction that I want to be heading into. They guy on the phone sounded good so Im feeling pretty positive about it. It is while a lady is on maternity leave so it is only temporary, but its a start. Fingers crossed for Monday then ah.

Too much TV, not enough chores

I slacked off a bit, well alot, today. Watched a wee bit too much tv, thus didn't achieve the completion of many chores. I did get three loads of washing washed and dried, well mostly dried, I have it sitting in front of the fire to ensure it gets totally dried before I fold it up and put it away. I also fed and groomed the horses, supermarket shopped, tidied up my dining table, cleaned the toilet, and tidied up my rubbish as something had gotten into it and it was all over the floor of the outdoor shed.



I wish I had tidied up the clothes in my bedroom and done some gardening, but I will get the bedroom done during the week, and heck, the garden has waited 12 months already, 2 more weeks won't matter.



I have made a decision with my garden however, and that is to put wet newspaper down and cover with bark chips to stop the weeds. This should be a nice and easy way to tidy them up quickly and easily without weeding beforehand. It will also tie all of the gardens together by having the common theme of bark. Once it is done it will then mean that it is an easy maintainance garden as the weeds will be supressed, and ones that do come through should be fairly weak and easy to pull. I shall do an online search shortly to see how much bark costs exactly, so I can get some and then get stuck into it. Doesn't all have to be done at once, but sooner rather than later would be good so I can get this place rented out!



I have been eating very well all this week, thats 7 DAYS! I actually enjoyed my supermarket shop today. I did a brief shop yesterday and was sooooo tempted by chocolate but didn't buy any. Today I was so focused on the prices of everything and getting what I needed to get I didn't even look at the candy at the entrance to the checkout. Fantastic progress!


Since I was taking photos of the horses today I decided to snap a shot of my wee staffy dog Docs. She's nearly 12 years old now, and deaf, but she is still a cutie. She lives with the folks, cause they are far more stable in their living arrangements that I am.

And now off to find the cost of bark .....

Just when you have a whinge ...

... 'life' does something to put your life totally in perspective.

So I was at my folks place last night, having an argument that ended in tears because I am quite stressed out at the moment, with trying to find a new job and a lack of funds thanks to the high cost of diesel amongst other things. I said 'I hate my life' ... which I don't really, I just wasn't happy in that moment. So I went home, watched TV, felt sorry for myself, and went to bed.

Got a phone call at 7.20am and was told that my sisters garage and office had burnt 'down' over night. My sister and her family were not home, and it didn't spread to their house and they have insurance but they still lost a lot of stuff. Turns out it was arson, some punk-ass, chickenshit, piece of crap, no doubt about it. Police have leads so I'm pretty sure they will get them. Fortunately, or not, the dumb-asses stole a shotgun meaning that the cops will take it extremely seriously and they were working very hard today at locating the ass-wipe that they suspect did it. No friggen excuses, and if they come anywhere near me Im going to kick their arse, no hesitation! Selfish little bastards. The picture is of my 4 year old neices bike. Apparently she was upset but was told that no lives were lost, the house wasn't touched, and she can get a new bike, and by the end of the day she was quite over the excitement of it all.

On the upside I had my haircut today. I really like it. Im going to stick a picture up. I am working very hard at improving myself with wearing make-up, jewellery, a new haircut, and a more intensive beauty cleaning regime, plus a healthy eating plan that I have actually stuck to for 6 days so far! I usually cheat, you know, 1 cookie here, 1 slice there, coke zero, now THAT doesn't count ... Well it does because for the first 2 weeks I lost nothing, this week I have lost a kilo, so YAY ME! And each time I get tempted I tell myself I have gone 6 days eating healthy, don't ruin it NOW!

2nd in line for job

Well I got the phonecall from Agriculture ITO today, and Im second in line for the position. It depends on how well the number 1 candidate did on their isometric test as to whether I get a chance or not. Pity they didn't test both of us to see who was better, but oh well, life goes on.

Applied for job at Fonterra this week, and Im getting the PER1 form and the job description for a job at DOC as well. There is also a job at Dow AgroSciences in the paper to apply for, I just have to phone and see if they are happy for me to email my application through, or whether I need to physically post it.

Wish I had some milk as I would quite like a milo, I will just have to have a hot lemon drink instead. And now to sort out my budget for the next two weeks .....

Goals 10 June - 18 June

HEALTH AND FITNESS AND BEAUTY
Eat healthy food only
Drink water or hot lemon drinks (1 x milo per day) only
5km run x 4
20km or 1hr indoor bike trainer x 3
Wash face x 2 a day
Blowdry hair and make-up for work and going out
Vitamins every day
Book in for a cut and colour
Research aerobics classes in Hastings and Waipuk

FINANCES
Work out exact debt total
Budget for 12 June 2008
Stick to budget

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

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

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

So what did I get up to lately

Just got back from Taranaki, and I'm off work sick today - which sux! I don't enjoy being ill. Its only a cold, but enough to make me feel miserable and not very happy.

I had an interview with Agriculture ITO on Friday. I had to take a couple of days off of work to attend the interview. I so don't know whether to tell my current boss Im searching for a new job in Taranaki so I can live with Trent. Most people have told me to not say anything but I feel like such a lier, arghhhh, its totally stressing me out. The interview itself went 'mixed' as I tell everyone. I felt I was good with the questions about myself, but terrible on the questions about the company. I knew I should have researched them! And Im not too sure where the role could take me, where I wanted the role to take me. I will find out whether I got the job on Wednesday, but Im not holding my breath.

Trent played rugger on Saturday, and I had my better lens so they turned out better than the last ones I took. This is just a brief shot of him waiting for some action. I adore him, which is rather weird for me as Im usually quite independent and weary. He just thinks Im crazy ...

So I spent the weekend with my man, helping feed out, milk, and we got a couple of pigs too. Ok so he does the majority of the work and I do my best to learn what it is I need to do. The pigs are very cool. We have called them Rosco and Enos after the cops on Dukes of Hazzard. One is for Rog and June (Trent's bosses) and one is for us. I was so excited! We also bought and 'built' an office desk and rollaway and chair, so now he has a nice little set-up office. So I cried when I left - big girl that I am. Trent just thinks Im crazy ... hahaha

Pass/Fail

Things got busyish and I got sidetracked (very easy to do in my case) so I don't think I have done so well on my last goals, and I have missed a week so bah anyway here is my pass/fail listings .... Methinks I need to print my weekly goals OUT so I have a constant reminder, not just a list in my head, and confirmation if I go onto the computer. I am doing well in the career area though, so thats good.

HEALTH AND FITNESS AND BEAUTY
5km run x 3 Fail
20km or 1hr indoor bike trainer x 2 Fail
Wash face x 2 Fail
Blowdry hair and make-up for work and going out Pass - HOORAY!!!!
Vitamins every day Fail

FINANCES
Work out exact debt total Fail
Budget for 11 June 2008 Fail

CAREER
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 Basic pass

PERSONAL
Group email everyone on Hotmail and Xtra Fail
Update blogs at least once, with photos Ooops Fail
Bebo, Myspace and Facebook at least once Pass
Take divorce papers into courthouse Pass!! Hooray!!

HOUSE AND GARDEN
Box up books for sale Fail
Tidy up ringbinders and photo albums Fail