Because Peter and I are attempting to keep an eye on our weight, we don't usually have puddings. We both like cooking puddings and eating puddings. So we have come up with a cunning plan. We are going to have only pudding one night a week, nothing before the pudding, just pudding. I caved in a bit this week and we had pumpkin soup first before our bread and butter pudding. Maybe next week we will manage it. My mouth is watering already thinking of Apple Crumble.
The kitchen makeover is still going on. Very slowly, but still moving. We bought the two cabinets below, secondhand very cheaply, flipped them sideways, added some shelves and they will form the basis of the units. The bench top is recycled from the old kitchen cupboard shelves. I like the fact that our new kitchen is made up almost totally from recycled bits of other kitchens. All we need now are the doors and the drawer unit in between and we are almost finished. Horray, I will be able to clear out the spare room at last. Three months later, and I thought it would take a weekend to get the new kitchen in.
You will be glad to know I now have a new washing machine. It was cheap and is very ugly. But it does the job I need it for very well and it is out in the garage so it does not really matter what it looks like. No fancy dials, just a basic few buttons. And when it is finished it plays a tune.
When I am not working, running around after kids, washing and ironing, cutting the grass, sanding doors, painting walls, blogging - I like to spend the odd 30 minutes swimming up and down, and up and down, and up and down. Opposite the place where I work is this lovely swimming pool which I visit after work, forget everything and just swim. Another few weeks and it will be Winter here, I don't know how much longer an outdoor swimming pool is going to be feasible. But as long as I can cope with the cold getting to and getting out of the pool (the pool is heated) I will be there, three times a week, swimming up and down.
The kitchen makeover is still going on. Very slowly, but still moving. We bought the two cabinets below, secondhand very cheaply, flipped them sideways, added some shelves and they will form the basis of the units. The bench top is recycled from the old kitchen cupboard shelves. I like the fact that our new kitchen is made up almost totally from recycled bits of other kitchens. All we need now are the doors and the drawer unit in between and we are almost finished. Horray, I will be able to clear out the spare room at last. Three months later, and I thought it would take a weekend to get the new kitchen in.
The pumpin harvest was a bit small, on the other hand there were so many apples some of the branches on the apple tree snapped. The fejoas are starting to drop from the tree.
And the leaves are about to change colour on the Liquid Amber tree.
You will be glad to know I now have a new washing machine. It was cheap and is very ugly. But it does the job I need it for very well and it is out in the garage so it does not really matter what it looks like. No fancy dials, just a basic few buttons. And when it is finished it plays a tune.
When I am not working, running around after kids, washing and ironing, cutting the grass, sanding doors, painting walls, blogging - I like to spend the odd 30 minutes swimming up and down, and up and down, and up and down. Opposite the place where I work is this lovely swimming pool which I visit after work, forget everything and just swim. Another few weeks and it will be Winter here, I don't know how much longer an outdoor swimming pool is going to be feasible. But as long as I can cope with the cold getting to and getting out of the pool (the pool is heated) I will be there, three times a week, swimming up and down.
I have used one of my collection of doors at last. This used to be a very ugly door with horrible green glass. Now it is a beautiful kitchen door. Unfortunatly while installing it Peter dropped it and made a hole in the larder door. Horray, said I, I really want to get rid of the larder door. I have filled the hole for now, but I am keeping my eyes out for a nicer one without a large hole in it.
I have another two doors, one for the lounge and one for the shower room, sanded and ready for installation. Then next doors to go in will be the french doors for the kitchen. It will look amazing once they are in place. I can't wait. So far I have sanded them down and filled all the holes. The glass is badly scratched, so we are going to replace it with laminated safety glass, which also will reduce the heat loss. I will post pictures as work goes on. 
I am also going to attempt to sell off all the other doors I have aquired over the years, or maybe do a swap at the re-cycling yard.
On the way to New Plymouth we drove through the town of Bulls. Some clever person has come up with an amusing idea. Lots of the local businesses have signs that advertise the town. I think you can get the idea from the sign above outside the used house and house removals yard, Moove-a-bull. I did not manage to catch all the signs, here are a few I would like to share. Restack-a-bull outside the local dairy (corner shop to non-kiwi's). Comfort-a-bull outside the local B&B.
Forgive-a-bull on the local church.
And my favourite Knowledge-a-bull on the local school. Whoever came up with this idea was inspired, I loved it.
Last weekend we had another trip over to New Plymouth and the beautiful mount Taranaki.
visiting the local museum.
Watching the waves
and the sunset.
Just as we were leaving we caught another glimpse of Taranaki through the clouds.
