nishatalitha

Sister and hubby and baby nephew have been over here today - parents had cabin fever, so left the house for the first time for two weeks today - and have just gone. Baby was passed around all the relatives except when feeding and parents got a break. Apparently if I want baby photos, I'm going to have to join Facebook. Reasonably enough, sister will not be sending out lots of emails with pictures, and since she's not on LJ...

Nephew is very cute (and I have more photos).

I leave tomorrow afternoon and should get home about 7pm (assuming co-operative weather). I'm getting peopled out and since my brother and his wife are here from Oz and Gran is here from Raglan (and there is no unsecured wireless around), I really feel I should be downstairs and being social. Maybe I will bring my laptop down again and read more Cherryh in ebook format. Or something. I am looking forward to getting home and more or less have since I was peopled out at the family Christmas on Boxing day.

Went fishing this morning. Caught three starfish and some weed - not what you need for dinner! Was up at the ridiculously early hour of 6.30am and was awake reading too late last night, so am a bit tired. Lots of coffee today.

Also, I am the boozy daughter/granddaughter, due to the facts that I am willing to a) drink; b) talk about drinking cocktails; c) volunteered to take Gran's liqueur and sherry glasses off her hands before I found out that she gave them to the op-shop; and d) I have opinions about what I'm drinking. That being said, I have drank more with dinner since I got up here than I do usually in a month. It's still a novelty being offered alcohol by Dad. Haven't managed to convince him to open his bottle of laphroaig yet, though.

Guillotine seems to be reasonably popular and we have played several games of Settlers. I even managed to win one (mostly by accident). Bought Nation by Terry Pratchet from a sale store, read it, and have been leaving it around in the hopes that Dad or brother will pick it up and read it. I think they'd enjoy it. Read one of the other books I brought up with me (a new one by Violette Malan), but have failed once more on the Joe Abercrombie one I borrowed months ago. I think I will return it half read.

Weather has been mixed - a couple of sunny days, a couple of overcast days, and one rainy day. I'm very glad there's an electric fan in my room as I've slept without it going once so far.

I've done a little bit of work on the dragon, finished sketching one page of the book and started another, showed off the Maidens to the relevantly interested people, carted it up and downstairs a few times, and finished refiling A-L of the ebook library lastname, firstname, and made a start on M-Z. I think I need an ebook management system so I can tag them with multiple genres and other comments. Any recommendations, please let me know. I have heard of calibre, but haven't looked into it at all.

Wellington is gorgeous today, bright and breezy - and sunny. Town is mad. I had to go out at lunchtime today, and defying a fellow bus-passenger's predictions, it was worse than the last few days.

I was successful, though. I have picked up a soft and fuzzy sheep for the nephew (tamarillow reckons it looks like a cross between a sheep and a monkey). I think it's cute. And, importantly, it's machine-washable.

I actually finished work early today! I managed to leave shortly after 4pm (decided not to stay for the drinks and nibbles at 4.30pm) and was home by 5.00pm. So much better than last year. I even managed to post out the bills! It feels very good to be done for the year; I am so ready for this break. Although, scarily it is my mobile number on my out-of-office for urgent work. Hopefully, nothing comes up - there's nothing I can do anyway.

Tomorrow, I have to get up even earlier than I did today for a 7am flight to Tauranga. I will try to start packing before 10.00pm today...

Exciting news - I'm an aunty! My sister gave birth to my nephew around 8am this morning. He's two weeks early, but already 8lb8oz. Both parents and child are doing well. I haven't received any photos yet, but this is very cool. This is the first nephew/grandchild/great-grandchild in the family.

Today, tamarillow and I were on pre-service coffee at church, so after the service we wandered to the Te Aro Community Centre and bought a tree, which was delivered this afternoon. maudlinrose has photos of it here. It's in our usual Christmas tree style of decorating, which is to say all the ornaments and tinsel. I also put all my Christmas music on a USB, so the stereo is currently working its way through 1.66GB of Christmas music.

Seeing as I'm out or home late all next week, I volunteered to cook tonight as well. I made a mushroom and red wine sauce to go on the steak (it was yummy), barbequed the steak and the onions, and also made a spicy bean salad (who would have thought that sweet chilli sauce and cumin went together?). The dressing on the salad was a bit to vinegary for me, but tamarillow liked it. I think there are plans to turn the salad into quesadilas for dinner tomorrow night.

Dessert was flambeed stone fruit with clove mascapone cream. It was very nice, and it's fun setting things on fire. The fire was cool.

After a not particularly brilliant week, weather-wise, it's been nice to have a day of lots of sunshine. I have left my windows open and the lights off, and it's about the right temperature at the moment.

Last night we said we'd eat somewhere cheap and do a normal grocery shop. I figured we would probably be home early, and I could make a start on the cleaning/tidying desired for my mother's visit this weekend. Instead, we ended up at 3C Bar, had a very good leisurely dinner, experimented with drinking wine rather than cocktails, and didn't get home until after 9.00pm, whereupon I felt no desire to do any cleaning whatsoever.

Tonight, I got home, put the dishwasher through again, and cooked dinner: lemon oven baked fish on a lime and chilli risotto (with homemade chicken stock). It was excellent, but risotto always takes forever to cook, and this was no exception. Wasn't helped by the fact that I ended up using a mixture of risotto, basmati and brown rice, as we didn't have enough risotto rice...

I have also:

• made sweet-short pastry to go with the kaffir lime pie;
  
• made kaffir lime pie for dessert tomorrow;
  
• cleaned the bathroom;
  
• tidied by room;
  
• with maudlinrose and tamarillow cleaned and tidied the spare room;
  
• made another batch of hot chocolate mix;
  
• put the dishwasher through again;
  
• made coffee for the morning;
  
• got meat out for dinner tomorrow;
  
• cleaned up the kitchen

Now my legs are tired and I am glad to be sitting down at my computer, with a cup of raspberry peach tea. My bridesmaid's flowers have lasted fairly well, and are pink and champagne coloured on my dressing table. They mostly opened without too much bruising.

I aim to finish work around 3.00pm tomorrow, and so I have told my authors (and why). This should be doable; Mum is supposed to arrive in Wellington at 4.10pm, and that should give me enough time to get to the airport.

On holiday, and I'm actually feeling like I'm on holiday. I am generally remembering what date it is, but not what day of the week. This is partly because my last day of work was a Wednesday.

The bus trip up was pleasant, and until Taupo (where we changed buses) was also both on time and in a comfortable bus. The bus from Taupo was a lot older, slower and the driver clearly knew he was on time-and-a-half as he took ages loading things on and off at the stops. Still, we arrived only three-quarters of an hour late, which isn't too bad.

Wandered around the salt marshes for a bit on the 29th. Took lots of photos, some of which I will upload when I get around to it and/or are back home again. Was most bemused by the rusting barbed wire fences in the marsh grass and eventually decided it was for the sharks.

Callie and I went over to Mt Maunganui on the 30th, which required a bus into Tauranga City and another one over to the Mount(my brother had a stag do and my parents a funeral or we would have got a lift). We had what was meant to be a late morning tea but turned into an early lunch at one of the cafes there. We'd ordered breads and dip for under $10 and the bread was about the size of a large pizza. Then we wandered around the shops, lay on the grass by the beach for a bit and walked around the base of the Mount. After, we had an ice-cream from the highly recommended Copenhagen Cones (which has nothing to do with the Copenhagen ice-cream places in Wellington) and soaked in the salt-water hot pools for a while, before going to the sushi place for a snack and catching two buses back to my parents place.

Yesterday, my mother kindly dropped us over at Callie's friend's place in Papamoa, saving us the cost of two buses. It was a lovely afternoon/evening of drinking and good company. We went over to their local bar for the New Year's Eve celebrations. For $15 we got a free lei, a drink, meat from a spit roast and a live band. The band was okay, although all the music was slightly too fast. Because tickets were limited, it wasn't over-crowded, which was really good. I was crashing by the time the band finished at 1.00am and we went back to their place. I understand some people stayed up drinking til about 4.00am, but I didn't feel like being hungover in the same house as Mum and Dad and went to bed when Callie did. First new year's I've ever spent in a pub. It's not something I would object to doing in the future.

Also: black sambucca is horrible (even in shots), but the midori and baileys shots weren't too bad.

I cooked breakfast (bacon & scrambled eggs on bread - and I couldn't stomach the bacon) and Dad picked me up around noon. So I got back about the same time as I would have otherwise, but without the hassle of catching two buses.

Also took the opportunity to catch up on lj a bit - I've been checking email daily, but not much more. Have now caught up to skip-280 on lj and think I will take a break and go read Devil's Cub and do some more handwork on the third floor balcony, which will catch the breeze. I can catch up much more tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I have the house to myself for the afternoon/evening, so my plan is internet internet internet (and some handwork and reading no doubt). My cousin is getting married, I don't have to go to the wedding (too many cousins, so only the ones they are close to are invited, which is standard family practice for us), but Mum and Dad are going, and my brother is the best man. It will be lovely. I will catch up properly then.

I am yet to wear a jersey or slippers since I arrived here. It has finally cooled down enough to sleep under more than just a sheet.

My brother and I have now discussed things and I now know what is expected of me in relation to my sister-in-law's birthday (a phone call, by preference and a card/gift if not or for special occasions). I still have to speak to my sister and find out if the same applies to my brother-in-law, given that I haven't exactly done anything for the last two or three years... Frankly, I think their wedding anniversary is more important, but I didn't say that to him.

Ended up coming home from work early on Monday with a nasty headache; took yesterday off for the same reason. Back at work today, but my eyes still hurt and my head generally aches. I'm eating panadol on the four hours. Given that the last time this happened, I started getting migraines and ended up needing glasses, I have made an appointment with the optomitrist on Monday.

Already tired of having sore eyes.

Bought the pattern for Dad's Christmas present (or possibly birthday present next year) today - Transportation Classics for Counted Crossstitch. I'm only going to use the good pattern of a Sopwith Camel and the only one of a Fokker Triplane. They look pretty easy and I'll probably do them on blue remaining from the Maidens of the Seasons, when they're done... that means it may be Christmas next year. Oh well.

I passed my Business terms test with 81%, which is acceptable. I lost two marks in the drafting by deliberately not putting in something because that's not how we do it at work. It's fine losing the marks in the terms tests for that, but I suppose I should do it by the book in the final exam in October, that being what really counts.

Part A of Litigation terms tests marks have been adjusted to range from 1.75 - 14 out of 20. I got 12.5, which is a pass at least. I didn't go to class last night, but I imagine my lecturer was not happy with us. I'm not happy with me for that. Hope the drafting was a lot better.

The GURPS Vorkosigan pdf is out finally and the hardback comes in October. I am currently debating whether I have enough time (and mental energy) to be in an online fortnightly or so game. Not sure about the mental energy - it looks like it would be a fun game - but I'm fairly certain the time zones and availability won't work out.

Also, purplesparkler, you should get bl9_knt to look at this.

My parents, brother and sister-in-law are visiting this weekend. As such, some things need doing before I go to meet people at the airport on Saturday morning:

• Ironing
  
• Homework
  
• Clean bathroom
  
• Vaccum
  
• Create Guest account on Annabelle
  
• Tidy room
  
• Call Te Papa and check the maximum size of bags they'll store in the bag-check room
  
• check bus timetables for getting to the airport by 9.30am
  
• Wash double sheets used last weekend on the foldout couch
  
• Put money on my cellphone
  
• My laundry - mostly done

I'm sure there's more, as that seems an awfully short list. The plan is to meet my brother and his wife and go from the airport to the Monet exhibition at Te Papa, buy a roast chicken from the nearby supermarket and head home for lunch. Stuff will happen.

List is courtesy of the handy-dandy link maudlinrose posted recently. I thought I'd experiment.

While doing the ironing tonight (this is a habit I gained when living with my parents doing the ironing while watching Star Trek during high school), I watched the anime for FAKE which is an adaptation of a manga series I own about two cops in New York and their romance. It was the most accurate adapation I've seen - there were about four noticeable changes from the plot of Volume 2. It was as though the manga was their storyboard and they stuck to it!

I suddenly have the urge to reread the series...

Merry Christmas everyone!

The rain has stopped, probably temporarily, presents have been opened and appreciated, chocolate has been consumed, sister and hubby have departed and it's nearly lunchtime. Lunch is going to be rotisserie chicken cooked on the BBQ.

After lunch we're off to have Christmas with my mum's side of the family.

Every year, it seems I put off packing until after 10.00pm the night before I go. This year, it's not on purpose.

I got out of work about 4.30pm, after the secret santa giveaway - and whoever did mine either knows me or guessed really well because I have a magnet with a quote from Madeline Astor on it - and went down to Borders to await tamarillow so we could go shopping to find her a bikini. Which we did and it was fun. It just entailed starting off in Amazon, going via Kirks and every other store we could find which sold togs before ending up in Colorado and returning to Kirks, whereupon she bought a bikini that looks absolutely awesome on her.

I ended up buying a matching pair of bikini bottoms to go with the one I got last week from Kirks, as the partners in our team gave the secretaries a $30 gift card for Kirks and I put it towards that. So now I have a matching set and feel very pleased.

We got home, I finished my book (Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, sequal to Wildwood Dancing, made tea and then we did the dishes. It's amazing how much can accumulate in a bit over a day! I feel very strongly that my house should be clean when I go away, particularly if we're all going away.

This is why I am currently sitting at my computer listening to Emma Shapplin, putting off going into the lounge to collect the Christmas presents to take to Tauranga with me. I also have to work out what I'm going to wear on the way up; hopefully it will be a fine day and then I won't be too hot when I arrive.