Need Title Ideas lol

We're almost two weeks through July and I still haven't eaten any chocolate! I haven't cured my sweet tooth, but I have successfully sorted a part of it out!

It is so cold here, according to the weather app on my phone it is about 11 degrees in town, but it feels like 7 degrees. It's overcast and breezy, you wouldn't think it is cold but it really isn't the warmest. I'm sitting here on the couch with the hood on my sweatshirt pulled up (commonly called a "hoodie" but I've never been part of that lingo...), wrapped in my blankie and my living ''hot water bottle" snuggled in beside me...A.K.A., Tessa.

Yesterday was even colder, the heatpump was going all day but it made little difference. Having an open plan type house is frustrating, because you can't shut rooms up to keep them warm. For instance, our kitchen and lounge/living room thing are both quite small, but they're basically open to eachother due to the big breakfast bar window thing we put in, which actually just currently serves as a window, not a breakfast bar, but the point is there.
The kitchen is open to the laundry because for some silly reason we didn't put any form of door in between them, a cavity slider would've been perfect but...
Then the lounge leads straight upstairs in one direction, and underneath the staircase is the opening of the hallway to the rest of the house.  Obviously you can't really put a doorway over the staircase, we can shut the bathroom doors (thank goodness for that!) as well as the office and spare bedroom downstairs. But the hallway leads to some small french doors which open into the conservatory - which is basically an ice box at the moment, and the french doors don't completely restrict airflow. I reckon investing in some floor to ceiling curtains for them would be ideal - but it's just one of those "things" that we think about, but never actually getting around to sorting.

So yeah, the heatpump in the lounge warms the house a little bit, but in all honesty with it having access to three doorways that lead outside, it's no wonder that it never gets as warm as it could. So sit here and freeze, I do! It's actually not too bad, to be completely honest. Just bad design of the house...

And I'm a wuss, but we won't get into that!

Last weekend was worse though, with two frosts on Saturday and Sunday. That meant getting up a little earlier and warming my car while I melted the ice on the windscreen...and the rest of the car. You know it is pretty cold when the doors freeze shut, a good yank on the handle is quite necessary to break the ice. Poor Ali wasn't too impressed about the weather - although neither would I be if I was a car, lol












Last week was filled with a little bit of fencing and only a couple of milkings for me. I got to help out with a few different things, and then got into the battening with Dad on one job. It was kinda good actually as I got to test out my fencing skills with a few things, like doing a crimp. Usually if Nick is there I wouldn't be able to do too much, but as it was just Mum, Dad and I, I was able to do it myself. Oh yeah, if you don't know what a crimp is, I've added a photo of my one. It's just for joining wire together, you can either use a crimp or make a figure 8 knot... it probably seems pretty random but I did a tidy job of it, considering I'd only ever done it once - perhaps the left side isn't too great but hey it works, no?. It had to be okay, especially with it being right on a driveway where everyone would see it....No pressure, right?







Then on Friday we finished up a short post and rail fenceline in one of the gated communities that we work in quite often. With all the rain we've had, the rails were absolutely soaked through. There were 48 of them at 4.8 metres long and Nick and I were in charge of laying them out in the gaps while we waited for Dad to arrive with all of the gear. Nick was insistent on carrying three rails at a time, up the hill to their spots. We did about seven sections like that, one of us at each end of the rails, until I said - no way, this is not gonna carry on.
My poor arms were killing me, so we carried two from then on and then eventually towards the end we swapped to carrying one each, or one between the both of us. Believe me, those single rails seemed just as heavy as the three together! It's a pain because I get RSI in my arms in general, just from milking. But all I've done this time is pull all the muscles in my arms and hands - which seems ridiculous, but in all honesty I'm so worried about dropping things at the moment because my hands just aren't gripping things very well. Which isn't particularly handy, truth be told.
These days my arms are just throbbing - it isn't pleasant, so fingers crossed they get over themselves.

On Saturday night I actually went out. Two friends, Chantelle, Shannon and I went to the movies and saw Me Before You. It is a lovely movie, I'd definitely recommend it.

This week is going to semi-busy but quiet. Mum and Dad made a very snap decision last week to take a week long holiday, the idea would be so Dad could have some time off work and they could have a general break before the calves start next week sometime (or possibly this week, it depends when the farmer rings us...). So they're out in the Tauranga area at the moment, I'm not too sure where abouts - I've never been there myself. But they've been there since Friday night and don't come back until Friday this week.
They haven't completely gone "work free", as they are using the quiet time to do a tonne of paperwork and manuals, health and safety plans and website stuff. Which in regards to the latter, isn't completely stress free either. But I'm hoping they're enjoying their break away from home for a bit.

The house is definitely quiet here, and I believe the dogs are slightly confused on Mum and Dad's whereabouts - however they're not too worried...it's weird for me though. See, if Nick or I go on holiday, nothing changes here. Life goes on, work carries on and you're not really noticed as missing in action. But Mum and Dad going away has completely changed the atmosphere here.
I'm having to stay up later than I usually would because if I try to put the dogs to bed at 7:30 they would go nuts, but it's so boring sitting up. I usually wouldn't stay up watching the TV...I could read, but I'm not really in the mood to. But there's nobody to talk to, so you know, it's not horrible but not great either? It's odd!

Nikolai has all the work this week, I was originally going to be only working the weekends - simply because B2 needs the hours and it's better for me to sit around than for him to sit around and be paid to do it. Mum and Dad reckon I could just have a nice quiet break myself, chill out at home with the dogs and this could be one week of my holiday pay or something like that - I'm not too sure. Little do they know that sitting around home on my own drives me absolutely mental. I'm not an extroverted person, I don't need to be surrounded by people to get through my day but I sort of do at the same time? But I just sit here, staring into oblivion while I while away the hours, not doing really anything. Seems crazy but sitting around is exceptionally tiring, so all I want to do is sleep during the day.

However, after last night's milking I was booked in to continue there until Thursday. Cameron asked me to cover for Hamish as he and his family had to close shop and race down to Napier for an urgent family matter. Which worked out fine for me, giving me four hours of work a day, worked out for Cam as now he has me to help him. Although in Hamish's case, I think he'd rather be at home working than having to deal with what is happening in Napier.

So at least I'll have some form of requirements for the next few days to get me moving. Thursday Nick is going to his girlfriend's for the night, (that seems to be getting pretty serious...) so I reckon it'll be party central here that night. It'll be just like it's out of a movie, big party at my parents' house the night before my parents arrive home. What could go wrong? Friday morning they arrive to find a trashed house, empty alcohol bottles everywhere, food on the ceilings, a noise control fine and me probably in jail for doing something mental. That is putting some seriously amusing images in my mind! Mum and Dad should be jolly thankful about how decent a daughter I am, knowing full well I would never do anything like that.

Finally, a joke that was mentioned at the end of the News last night was funny:

What did the 0 say to the 8?
"Nice belt"

Nick didn't get it, I had to explain it to him which was exceptionally satisfying.

Everything Has Changed

Hello and welcome to June, and alas, winter. Hello winter...The first day of winter here was freezing! 5 degrees! For the winterless north, it was cold. I don't usually mind my earlier milking starts because the earlier it is the warmer it usually is. Typically around 6am it starts to get quite chilly and the good old fingers start going numb, which isn't the most handiest thing (see what I did there?) when you're using those fingers for work related reasons. But oh well, life goes on. Anyway, this first day of winter didn't follow instructions, it was freezing when I left for work at 4:40am, and when I got there at 5 it hadn't warmed up in the slightest. Not fun at all.
I realised with great sadness that morning that I'd need to start wearing woolly hats soon, which is a pain because I wear my hear up in a clip and you just can't get a hat over it. So that will mean I need to start plaiting my hair, which takes up more time. Thus I'd have to get up five minutes earlier in the mornings and my hair doesn't behave very much when I put it up like that. First world problems, I know! It's just frustrating. But then I thought, it's only my ears that are cold, so all I need to invest in is some fluffy earmuffs! Hehe in the winterless north, I might just get a bit of stick for doing that.


Today is OK though, you can sit in the sun and be warm but the wind has a bite to it. Made me glad for my sleep in this morning. It seems with the current work schedule, for the next couple weeks I should be able to squeeze in every Thursday morning off work, which makes a nice change from those early starts. Until the calf rearing starts up again in about six weeks time that is.

Life here at the moment is going well, as of yesterday we've been living in good old Northland for 14 years and we left Waipu and came back home three years ago. So we've been here doing what we're doing now for three years, it's such a relief to still be going so well!

I still haven't gotten back into studying, think I'll just flag the idea and come back to it next year, if I still want to do it, great. If not, oh well. I'm not really fussed, all I know is that I'm full out enjoying not having deadlines to meet with assignments and not needing to study up on things that may or may not be helpful in the future. Who knows, I may discover something else worth studying in the next six months, so it gives me time to plan if that was the case.
I quit being part of the young farmers' regional committee last week and it feels great to be well, set free, if that is the best way to describe it. I think I'm walking away from the club itself as well now, as are a couple other members - which surprised me. Yes, it means the club will die a cruel and lonely death, but hey, not my problem anymore. Maybe in a couple years I might go back, but right at the moment I'm not very keen.

However I'm not going to sit around at home doing nothing in between work hours. I'm taking up scrapbooking again. One of my favourite hobbies that I sort of lost interest in for the last few years. I just need to go and get a whole heap of photos printed and set myself to work. It'll be nice spending my money on things that I enjoy for a change, which is essentially what life is about, right? I dunno, at the moment it feels like everything is changing. For the good, for the better, just because it has to, I'm not sure. But I heard Taylor Swift's song "Everything Has Changed" on the radio one morning on my way to work this week and I guess a lightbulb flicked on in my head and I sorta just - realised. It's hard to describe, but it's good.
I'm ditching a whole heap of things and taking up some better things instead. What a better time to do it than with the change of season?


The puppies are up to absolutely no good these days. Actually, sorry, I meant Tessa the Terrier is up to absolutely no good these days. See, the other week I caught her on the lounge coffee table sniffing at a packet of wrapped up Gingernut biscuits. She got a yelling at from me for being on the table (what the heck?!) and I carried on with my day. Anyway later on I came back inside to hear Jackson barking pitifully about something. Ok, I thought, that doesn't sound right. I discovered Tessa on the beanbag and Jackson looking really sad - watching Tessa eating a Gingernut biscuit because she wasn't sharing with him! I honestly couldn't believe it, threw away the next couple biscuits in the packet that may have been contaminated by doggy breath and put said packet on the bench instead.

Fast forward a couple days, I discover the dogs - on two different occasions - have gotten into the bathroom and helped themselves to some absolutely delicious and extremely appetising toilet paper. Of course they were told off by me again. Later in the week, half of a Moro bar was left on the coffee table again, nobody thought much of it.
Mum found Miss Tessa chewing on something - part of the wrapper it seemed. Moro is missing in action but my detective skills showed some caramel on her jersey so the culprit seems obvious. What I want to know though, is what the heck is the dog doing helping herself to chocolate, and if we as people find Moro's chewy and difficult to eat - how did she do it so well!? Don't worry, the dog is okay, the chocolate didn't seem to harm her thank goodness.
Later on Mum and Dad went to work, and (for some unknown reason) Mum took a half bag of winegum lollies out of one of the vehicles and left them inside, out of dog reach, on the wall unit. That was fine, except that I came back into the room about ten minutes later to see Tessa chewing on something hard out whilst trying to act innocent. And poor Jackson was chewing on a pen that Tessa must have thrown at him to shut him up while she climbed up there. The bag was ripped open and a few winegums were laying around, so. That was thrown in the bin - no way were we having any more of those!

But alas, it doesn't stop there! That very same day before Mum left, she had gotten some sweet, short crust pastry out of the freezer to defrost. The intention was that I would cook it during the day and she would make custard for the pie later. Tessa got there first. She must have climbed onto the back of the couch - which is just below the bench, and helped herself to at least a quarter of the raw pastry. It was only because I went to cook it, that I realised a fair chunk was missing...I think she felt kinda sick later on that day. Possibly. The issue is that you really, really want to yell and scream at her. But you can't stop laughing that she wouldn't take it seriously anyway.
Today Mum saw Tessa go into the bathroom, grab a hold of the toilet paper - and ran with it, a long length flying around in the air behind her as it unrolled at high speed. She is so darn comical, but so darn naughty. We can't leave the room without her doing something troublesome.

ANZAC Day: 101 Years - Lest We Forget

Today marks a couple things, 22 years since one of my Great Grandfathers died - on Anzac day, sad as he was a veteran. 23 years since Mum and Dad got engaged - yep, on Anzac day. And 100 years since Anzac day began, while I also can't believe it's been a whole year since the Anzac memorial thing at Te Papa was unveiled.
Only five days left of April 2016 - this year has gone incredibly fast and it's concerning!

They're saying it's getting more and more important for our younger generation to remember our ancestors who were part of the war/s, to know their stories and pass them on. But I only ever met one out of my three Great Grandfathers as the other two had already passed before I was born. I hear the odd story now and again but I can never remember the finer details or who they belong to, which is sad.
The only story I know, although I'm not too sure who it belongs to on Mum's side of the family, is the bath theft. I'm not sure whether it was normal back then, or just in this battalion, but the lower ranked soldiers weren't allowed to bath - only the head honcho's, so to speak, were entitled to have one. I'm not sure how often or why. Could you imagine lugging a bath around in battle? Probably cast iron, and not even being able to use it?
So, they stole it. My Great Grandad among them, took it, hid it and they all got a bath. lol if it was my Grandad's Dad, then I can actually imagine it, as my Grandad was a bit of a comedian himself!

It's been a busy month filled with milkings and fencing and the like. I've just had another cool weekend milking with Hamish and I left on Sunday night with my car boot filled with some amazing produce from their garden. I've given them some feijoa's because we've got so many, and sent a bit of baking their way to the cowshed as well. He said at the end of milking just before he ran off to do more jobs that he'd left a few pumpkins in the back of my car, but I didn't expect to open it to find five pumpkins - a couple I've never seen before or even tasted, as well as a massive basket overflowing with kumera (they're blimmen huge too) and potatoes. It really warms the heart, being surrounded by so many good people.

Our day today has been filled with so many things around home, we're trying to tidy up a few things as well as make some areas a little more dog proof - currently the little munchkins have a few exit points out into the paddocks next door and into the vege garden, therefore the compost bin. Yum, not. So while Dad was playing tractors spreading dirt around and flattening some areas after all his time playing with dirt prior to Christmas (there were just massive mounds of soil...) Mum, Nick and I fixed up the garden gate - changing the hinge system around a bit, adding more rails so Tessa can't just hop through the gaps, and raised the entrance area with dirt and terracotta chips so they can't go under the gate either.
Kills ten birds with one stone really, stops the dogs from getting in, means we can now open the gate in or out, preventing another common mud area into the garden by spreading the terracotta chips, and well spreading the terracotta chips was a job that's been waiting for like, four years lol.

And Dad, playing tractors (haha) spread all the dirt and Nick rode around on the four wheeler towing an old pallet (makeshift harrows) so it's now finally ready to have new grass seed spread. Tidied up all the fencing stock - posts, rails, etc., and pulled up a few old tree stumps along the boundary so we can carry on with the last section of iron fence. Thus stopping the darling munchkins from escaping through another point. Only issue now, Tessa can squeeze her little body between the wires on our post and batten fence - it's like, ten wires, I don't know how she does it. While we did fix up something so they couldn't get into the front yard, darling Tessa is proving her Terrier jumping ability is in perfect condition, so she just leaps over anything in her way.
It's a serious hassle, but they're never outside on their own anyway so it's not too big a deal thus far.



I'm preparing myself for a busy week, although I don't have any work on again until Friday, my social life is suddenly busy! Dinner with Chantelle and Sam tomorrow night, which will be great to catch up with them again. I'm off to the movies with someone else on Wednesday night. Thursday night is our young farmer meeting - although I'm not sure whether I'll go or not yet. While Friday night Mum and I are going to a girls night thing, should be fun. I probably sound like a social butterfly haha, but I haven't been out "socialising" all month!

Oh yeah and bonus, I saved up a massive amount of money to get my car fixed up - ya know, that airbag issue? I was told the part would be anywhere between $400 and $600, plus all the extra costs involved. Anywho, I got a nice surprise from the auto electrician who I don't like seeing all that often but I like him more and more the cheaper the costs are, when he said it was just a bit of faulty wiring - about $150 in total. Completely stoked. Phew!

Tessa

There are a few days, quite often where I just sit at home and get seriously bored out of my mind, to the point where I can stalk through the house, possibly zombie eyed, trying to find something to set my mind to. There are a few things I can do, sure, but they are the sort of things you can only do if you are seriously enthused to do it. So if you aren't enthused, one must go find some job to do that takes no concentration but it needs doing and nothing can be harmed by doing it wrong if your mind isn't set to the task.
That being said, there was one day last week where I was left home alone to watch the dogs and hang out by myself, so I weeded the garden. Quite honestly. I was that bored, I went out there and hacked away at all the deadly nightshade that had taken residence in the potato patch and biffed it all in the compost and also planted some kumara. Some of the sacks of kumara we've bought in the last month or so had started sprouting tubers, so Mum and I thought we'd give it a shot, and put the tubers in some water for a few weeks until I got around to planting them. They're in big pots in the glasshouse now, so at least the cooler weather shouldn't harm them. I'm pretty excited to grow my own kumara, it's like one of the best foods on the planet - just saying.

So now, instead of wandering around bug eyed, looking for something to do, I flick through my new recipe books Mum and Dad gave me at Christmas - 200 chocolate recipes and 200 baking recipes. Sometime last week I made these marbled cupcakes, you know, with real chocolate and a sweet, sweet butter icing. I honestly wasn't too keen on them, but everyone else really enjoyed them. Although I'll skip out on their butter icing recipe (white and chocolate coloured to match the cake) and just do a normal icing next time round. Or perhaps do less icing, something anyway because it was just too sweet./
While yesterday I made a beetroot chocolate cake. Yep, you heard right. I've heard of people doing it before, but scoffed at the idea - eww, beetroot in a chocolate cake, no way. Basically because I hate carrot cakes and that's all I can think of when I imagine vegetables in a cake! But everyone swears by this type of cake, it was in the recipe book, it doesn't need alcohol (why do yummy looking chocolate cakes need alcohol?!?!) so I gave it a shot. I'm impressed.

Apart from looking at the batter with the deep purple colour, and not being game enough to try the batter raw like I would with any other recipe, the cake is perfect. Let me just say that recently I'm not the best at making cakes, the intention is good but no matter how hard I try to get it done quickly without over beating, it always takes far too long to cook and turns out hard on the outside and not quite cooked in the centre. (Our old cake tin died, it makes a difference).
However, this blimmen cake filled with beetroot, so, so good. It is moist, not too sweet, cooked perfectly all the way through, almost 24 hours later it hasn't gone stale and you can't even taste the beets. There is this somewhat after taste in the back of your mouth where you know you've eaten beetroot, but it's not a bad taste. Coming from someone who thinks beetroot is OK but nothing to sing home about, that's a pretty decent result!
So long as we have access to beetroot in the garden, I'll be making it again! And I think I'm going to make it for a few people so they can try it too. I mentioned it to Hamish on the weekend and my neighbour yesterday, but neither of them seemed too convinced. I will convert them! lol


Now you might've noticed above I mentioned the word "dogs". No, I didn't make a typo, we now have two dogs. Puppies, little animals. Whatever you want to call them. Last Wednesday Mum and Dad traveled north to get Dad a puppy, who we'd known about for less than a week. Yes, it might've been an impulse decision, but it certainly wasn't a bad one!
Tessa is a little 10 week old Jack Russell x Foxy, she's gorgeous. If you ever had a "Spot" dog teddy as a kid, she looks almost just like it, with an almost entirely white body with black ears and face, and two large black spots on her back. We all adore her, but she's definitely Dad's dog. The idea is that she will go to work with him to keep him company, such as sit in the spray ute beside him or go fencing with him and Nick. She's gonna need a little hi-viz jacket to look the part, but she's gonna love it. She already happily goes for rides in the vehicles with Dad places and travels really well.

Jackson is absolutely smitten, they have massive play fights where they're both chasing eachother around the house, inside and out. Although she does have that killer instinct already that we're going to need to keep in check. She grabs hold of poor Jackson's floppy ears and does the whole, death shake thing, or latches onto his legs until he yelps in pain. Of course they're just playing, but her jaws are already very strong. With that in mind she respects the cats so now I'm not worried about her harming them, she and Pippa play and chase each other as if they've been mates since birth. Quite seriously, Pippa, Tessa and Jackson all run around outside playing like the crazy animals they are, Pippa with her large psyched eyes filled with unmistakable joy.
Originally we thought that Jackson thought he must be a cat, now we're more inclined to think that Pippa thinks she's a dog, and it's great that after more than a year of her being here she has two best buddies when as a kitten she was constantly traumatised from the other cats beating her up.

I think perhaps the biggest joke is how soft we've gotten. Or, Dad's gotten. Two dogs, in the house, when years ago a dog couldn't step one paw in the house without getting a blasting. The dogs each have their own little pet bed to sleep in, and I got one for Pippa recently too from one of those clearance stores where everything is excessively cheap. Although we think that Tessa snuggles with Jackson at night to keep warm. So at about 9:30 every night, unless I'm already asleep, we all take our little friend to the porch and pop them into their little beds. Kiss them goodnight and they all snuggle down to sleep, it's so cute. The other night Pippa was being so cuddly, she gets like that when she's really tired and it is simply the sweetest thing.
When I was younger the cats were put out at night, no matter what the weather was like, and they were left to their own devices to find somewhere warm and dry to sleep. No matter how much I cried when I was little during those really stormy nights, knowing my poor cat was out there somewhere, Mum and Dad held their ground hard. But nowadays....ha ha! Tessa even sits on Dad's lap at night and watches the TV. Ridiculous.


You have to admit though, she's pretty darned cute.