Musings...

Done a bit of musing today, and things just seemed to make sense more than sometimes they do so thought would enlighten you all, cos I'm that nice of a person 😊

Realised, while listening to Dave the Dinosaur (host of the awesome kids morning show on Radio Kidnappers) this morning, that fairytales teach kids bad bad things. Take the stories Dave shared this morning that had witches in them, the only basis in the stories that the person was a witch was that she lived alone and was a bit weird/eccentric. And because she was a witch the kids in the stories were mean to her. Now I don't think that's called for at all! And although it's a different reason than the whole 'oh look you have red hair you must be a witch' that people had all those years ago its still targeting me (oh look a post about me, how strange 😛 lol) and that's just rude. Instead I think we should be teaching kids that the crazy single red headed lady that lives down the street is actually the most awesomest person ever and you're super lucky she lives so close so you should thank her in the form of chocolate and jellybeans 😊 now that would make a good lesson of a story for kids 😃

Another revelation I had today was that husbands are like handbags, they can be rather useful and can make life easier but a girl can live without one quite easily and still have an awesome as time 😆

Radio Kidnappers

For those of you that view this on the blog site not just the email subscription you might have been sent, you may have noticed that there are now a few things btwn the posts and the title of the blog.  Yup I have added a bunch of links, if you click on any of them they will take you to the Radio Kidnappers website where you can check out the shows and stream our awesome station if you do not live in Hawke's Bay :)

Go on, click one, you know you wanna...… :)

Spose I'm due another update, so here you go :)

So prob about time I gave you an update about stuff. I don't feel like I've done much or been that busy but spose some of you might be wondering how my new job is going...

It's going good, thanks for asking 😊 am really enjoying it and am getting the day to day stuff down. Its the random stuff that could prove to be more stressful especially as most of it Chris (who is training me and retiring) can't cause or create to test me. Am sure I'll figure it out with time, and he has said even he gets stumped sometimes and he's been there for over 13 years. Last week I did the weather for the first time, and got it wrong, silly metservice 🤦🏻‍♀️ lol I listened to me and hung my wash out, cos weather lady said it was gonna be fine, and then it drizzled and made my almost dry wash damp again, boo lol. Have also done some editing and ystdy I panelled my first show. Panelling is recording a show and keeping the levels even and not distorting and keeping it to time, this is not as easy as it may sound as people have a tendacy to be louder when excited or passionate so you have to keep a constant eye on the levels. Some people also have a tendacy to rock back and forth so sometimes are quieter than others. And as we start recording before what will be the start of the show we have to know what recorded time will be the end of the show so can give the 5min warning and 2min warning. While doing all this you are also making notes of what times any coughs, umms, stumbles, long pauses etc are so when you edit you don't have to listen to the whole thing again. Lots of fun 😊

Got to visit the transmitters last week, and even got to climb the FM one 😄 (the AM one ain't up a hill so it's not as exciting). Climbing it was super fun, even tho it was very windy and I thought I was gonna be blown off. Its on Mt Threave, Hylton (he's one of the experts we can call and he owns the transmitters and areas around them) drove us up, it's a decent distance over/up farmland, I wouldn't want to walk it if didn't have to. When we got up there Hylton explained how everything worked and what did what, and also which receiver was ours. Then he asked if we wanted to climb it, I totally said yes, of course 😊

Mt Threave pics

These huts contain all the stuff that is needed to get stations on the air

Just chilling up the transmitter :) 

Looking up from the very bottom

Next time I wanna be born a dad

Now that might sound weird or strange to those of you who haven't yet worked out how my brain works so I'll explain...

Everything dad does looks way more simple than when I try to do it, so I figure if I was just born a dad then I'd be able to do stuff way easier than now 😊

Of course I'd have to learn to 'compliment' myself, like he does. Currently I just abuse whatever it is that is making life hard, like the lemon tree or the saw. Hmmm maybe that's the problem, not the not being a dad part... 🤔

Things I've learnt over the last couple weeks

I don't mind bugs and critters:
Spiders I've always let live in my room, they are cool, but in the past I've killed or forced outside all other bugs and critters. Living alone though, for some reason, I seem to be letting more live than before. Flies still die, and cockroaches if they are in the wrong place but otherwise I seem to let them live. I currently have, sharing my house, a grasshopper missing one of his hoppy legs, a couple of centapeds, many spiders, and a butterfly. Not sure how a butterfly came to be inside but it did so it stays.

I possibly shouldn't be left alone with paint test pots when I have no canvases to paint on and I'm bored:
Tho I think it looks cool 😊

It is harder work unbuilding one bed and then building two when Doffy is not around:
Not impossible just harder, though it is also summer now not winter so it's hotter which could be what made it harder... So hard to tell with no Doffy around to help so no comparison can be made. Oh the hard things in life lol. Anyhow reason had to unbuild one bed and then build two was I moved my bed to the smaller room which is cooler and has my purple curtains which I've missed, and then reassembled the single bed in the bigger room which is now craft and spare room. Also means I don't lose access to my sewing machine when I have visitors 😊 mega bonus. And it's so much nicer sleeping in the cooler of the two rooms. About the only one not super happy with the new arrangement is E.J. and that's cos he used to be in charge of the spare room but now it's my room so Glenny is in charge and E.J. is in charge of just the shelves. Am sure he'll get used to it and decide having more me is way better though so I'm not worried 😊

I do not want a hedgehog as a pet:
Laura and Ted visited this wknd which was real nice, we just chilled and caught up, with a bit of shopping and a brunch. They brought Eddie with them who is their pet hedgehog and although he is cool I don't think I want one as a pet. So that's one off the list... Many on it but would put money on me not getting one for ages cos overall like not having one. Tho there is a new cat who likes my property, this is the third but I ain't seen the original two for ages so maybe this one is the new one, anyhow this one is less scared of me so it might stick around more. Or the ginger one could come back, think he's my fav lol

Also for those unaware of the passage of time ystdy was my half bday 😛 am now 33 and a half 😊 what a old lady aye 🤣

Long wknd and RDO #2

I feel like my wknd was rather uneventful but am sure there are those of you out there that would disagree, especially as for starters it was a long wknd, 5 days to be exact, well 5 and a bit cos I finished early on Wednesday.  So here is a day by day summary and you can decide if you think it was uneventful or not :)

 

Wednesday I finished work early so bro and I could go watch the Blackcaps at McLean Park.  They were playing India and they came a solid second lol.  It was far too hot and we both decided that we don’t really like live sport in practice, only in theory.

 

Thursday had the day off and we went to watch the White Ferns play India at McLean Park.  Again we came second but the girls put up a better fight than the boys did.  It was also overcast and cooler, and less crowded so I didn’t mind watching it live.

 

Friday we headed home to see mum and dad and to swap cars for me.  Long drive but that’s a given these days, boo to this small country having crap roads and long routes anywhere.

 

Saturday dad and I headed into Stachurski Motors to trade Spartz in for Cleo.  Cleo is my new car that mum and dad chose out of the few that they test drove and using a list of things I wanted.  Sad to say goodbye to Spartz but me and him had a blast while it lasted, sadly my body just won’t drive a manual no more and he was starting to cost a bit.  Cleo is a Nissan Teana, automatic.  She is a great girl and I think me and her are gonna have lots of fun together.  Picture will come when I have one of her somewhere cool, she doesn’t want a just boring pic as her first one lol.

 

Sunday bro and I drove back to mine.  Went to Three Wise Birds for a cider with Samara and David, then out to dinner at a pizza place in Havelock North which was real nice.  Bro was nice and got a gf base as well so we could share pizzas.

 

Monday was my second and last RDO.  Bro headed home in the morning and I headed down to Radio Kidnappers where I will be working from the 18^th February as their Broadcast Technician.  I went down just to see them and hang a bit, get a bit of an orientation as well.  Was surprising how quickly the time went, I was there for almost 3 hours but it didn’t feel like it.  I know you are probably wondering what I will be doing there as work and the answer is a bit of everything, but mostly the technical stuff like putting shows together and getting them in the system to go on air and ensuring that the music playlists are updated semi regularly as well as training new broadcasters on how to work the equipment.  I am not going to be on air, except when interviewing people.

 

So yeah that was my long wknd, not very eventful was it :p lol

 

RDO #1

My first rostered day off (RDO) was very chilled and semi productive.

I continued my French history lessons. A few interesting things I've learnt from these lessons so far:
1: speaking French is only a recent-ish thing, they used to speak English with English, Scottish and Irish accents.
2: Paris has moved, you used to be able to ride (on a horse) to the Spanish border to have a fight or rescue someone or such like, and return in less than a day, quick enough to still have time to have a fight or do some business on your return to Paris.
3: never be a Red Guard for the king, always be a musketeer. Red Guards die at a huge rate, musketeers don't die at all. Not quite sure how the Red Guards keep filling up their ranks, maybe this will be explained later in my lessons though.

I signed up to a doctors, finally I know but there haven't been any openings in Hastings since I moved here in either of the two practices I wanted to join. This I was glad I had a day off during the week to do, so score one for this trial hehe.

Inbtwn the rain I managed to get rid of two bucket loads of dirt, I sprinkled the dirt on the lawn as per dad's suggestion. Only got rained on a bit while doing it.

Did some sewing after lunch. Finish the maxi skirt I started ystdy, plan A and B were ystdy and plan C was today. Luckily today's plan worked out all good. Plan B didn't work cos someone, not naming names, didn't measure properly or check measurements that she did take so cut wrong. Silly rookie mistake I know. Atlst plan C worked out well, skirt looks very cool I think.
I also turned 2 dresses into tops. One I cut shorter and added splits up the sides and the other I shrunk in hot water, it's kinda fun deliberately shrinking something.

I've also continued my Swedish camping research. Not sure I'd recommend camping in Sweden if this source is accurate, though I am only half way through so anything could happen yet. Just have to stop reading it before bed cos it does not aid peaceful sleep....

French lessons

Swedish camping research

My new skirt :) 

Wknd fun

Last wknd ma, pa and bro came to visit. Dad was only a slave for a bit of his time here, rest he was a visitor 😊 he even got out for dinner and to see a couple waterfalls hehe.

Ma and pa drove over on the Saturday as did brudda. Bro stayed Saturday night only while ma and pa stayed till Tuesday. Didn't do much on the Saturday afternoon but dad did some stuff for the house or yard, kept himself busy I think. We all went out for tea on Saturday night which was real nice. We went to Lone Star, always good food and lots of it there.

Sunday morning bro and pa and I went for a couple walks that I wanted to do but hadn't yet. The first was at White Pine Bush, very nice and not at all challenging. Some lovely nice photo areas though, and some annoyingly big trees that were rather difficult to get all of in a photo. The second walk was Tangoio Walkway to check out the two waterfalls. The first waterfall, Te Ana Falls, was pretty cool 😊 I even braved the not even close to warm water to get nearer the falls for a photo, so worth it once I could feel my feet again lol. The second falls, Tangoio Falls, was not worth the extra walk in my opinion (and dad and bros), super not cool. Maybe it would be better after some rain but then the track woulda been so muddy it wouldn't have been worth it anyhow.
The rest of Sunday was just chill and hanging out really, dad prob did more work cos he seems to like keeping busy, nothing at all to do with a maybe demanding dorta...

Not much happened for the rest of the week after mum and dad went home and this weekend has been a nice chilled out place to myself wknd. Today is my 6 month as a home owner anniversary and to celebrate Samara and her mum came for dinner. It was a very lovely evening. I also got bored earlier today and made myself a tablecloth 😊 Me, Missie and the boys tested it to make sure it worked. The boys think it works marvellously as Glenny finished first followed by Fishy while Missie and I seemed to keep finding every snake and took our time finishing. Think it's cos the snakes are purple and you know how much we like purple hehe.

Tomorrow I have a rostered day off, my team is trialling a 9 day fortnight at work to see if it will work as a possible option for the whole organisation. Next week is the first week of it. I get Monday off, then work 7.30-5 Tuesday-Friday, next Monday I work 7.30-4 then same as previous week for the rest of the week. And repeat. Explaining it to you guys cos the team decided (one day when I was not in the room) that I would do a blog about my days off, so instead of starting a new one gonna just add to this one, if I remember. Cannot guarantee anything interesting will be done on my days off but will be nice having 3 day wknds every second week 😊

White Pine Bush

Had never seen mushrooms growing on a tree branch before 

Te Ana Falls

Tangoio Falls

Sunrise from craft room other morning

Ensuring tablecloth works

Visitors for New Years

Meant to get this up a few days ago but what can I say, I'm on holiday and feeling a bit lazy hehe. My friends Bridie and Alice came to stay over New Year's. We had lots of fun and did quite a bit of stuff really. This is the abridged version 😊

We went up Te Mata Peak, yes I know I go there lots but I like it so why not. Also it has nice tracks that are shaded if you don't want to go to the top and it's also close by. So yup I'll keep going and keep taking ppl there.
We also did a winery bike tour, I liked the biking and the wine tastings but personally prefer to not mix the two. Biking is exercise and fun, wine should be drunk while chilling lol. In saying that would recommend doing one if over here cos really is quite fun.
For New Year's evening we went to a free concert at the Sound Shell and the family fireworks cos they were earlier in the evening and meant we could wake up for the sunrise on New Years Day. Although there were a few more clouds than I would have liked we still got a good sunrise.
We went to the Open Air Cinema to see Mamma Mia 2 one of the nights, good movie, great venue.
Along with general exploring, sightseeing and some shopping the time flew by. Bridie and Alice also did Cape Kidnappers and went to see the gannets, I didn't go as my body doesn't walk on sand for the amount of time required without some loud protesting and brokenness. They really enjoyed it tho and one day I'll do the tractor ride version of it hehe.
Ps all the above may not be listed in the order we did it 😛

Open Air Cinema

Te Mata Peak

Winery Bike Tour

Sunrise 1st January 2019

Friends made while shopping lol