Merrill July 05 019

Merrill July 05 019
Originally uploaded by zela.

This is Sharon, the MIL and FIL's next door neighbour at the river...she's been married to Joe for 50 years and they were one of the first people to welcome MIL to the river when she had just married FIL...by rustling up a group of friends, grabbing their pots and pans and clanging them together as they walked over the meet the new bride and groom...being a sweet Georgia peach and not used to the wild ways of Wisconsin..I think the MIL freaked out a bit, but became freinds and now counts Sharon as one of her nearest and dearest.
Sharon and Joe didn't want to have a fancy dinner so Dawn (the daughter) and Judi and Jerry (she's the pretty redhead in the pictures) and others cooked up a surprise.
At 3pm on Saturday we all met at the top of the drive, turned on the siren on someones golf cart and walked down the hill banging all the muffin tins and saucepans we could find.
The extended family had managed to make excuses to be there already, we loaded the 3 pontoon boats with booze and food and carefully (with generally comedic results) tied all 3 boats together and sailed on down the river enmasse. Sharon and Joe had a great time (she was pretty shickered by 9pm) and we eventually moored for a bbq to finish things off.
Just the perfect way to celebrate 50 and a fun way to introduce my sister to life on the river.
Try not to look to hard at how much the cake is leaning...she insisted on 4 layer banana cake with whipped cream and choc icing on top.
Click on the photo if you want to see more of the party.

Parking...what parking?

I think Americans might be a bit 'afeared' of parking...maybe it;s the big ass cars, maybe its easier to park in first gear (instead of trying to figure out what the automatic gears might do), maybe it a genetic lack of a parking gene, but I for one, am grateful. When I pull into the underground car part a little late (like this morning), spaces near pillars and beams....oooooooh...scaaary pillars and beams...are usually free...and closer to the building - yay for that.
However, I have learnt that it not a good idea to park in the spaces next to the trolley returns (where there is usually a gap at the supermarket). Maybe it has something to do with winter and a desperate need to get into the car before you turn into an icicle, or possibly the overwhelming influence of Nascar, but I've seen a lot of trolleys shoved in the general direction of the returns section by people looking the other way, and once one go careering past (not downhill...there are no hills in Illinois) with no one watching but me...and yes, i did stop it crashing into a car. Not sure why they don't push them neatly into the lines every time....maybe some people just can't park!

so it's back to work

Can't beleive that I only have one more week of my sister staying with me...it's been fun (I think our relationship has gotten much better since we've gotten older) and she seems to be having a good time. I was really liking this working part-time thing last week...wonder if I can keep doing that and still get the same pay!

Been on blogging holiday....

once you are out of your normal routine, normally routine things become much harder to fit in. I've got photo's to post, but they have to wait a day or two (though I'm about to figure out how to send them to Walmart to print out via the internet), but in the meantime, here's the FRIDAY FEAST (on Saturday or Sunday if you read in NZ!)

Appetizer
Briefly describe your living room.
It's a wonderful large 1.5 height room with an enormous stone fireplace in the middle and one of the main reasons why we bought the house. At the moment it contains a boob height pile of unpacked packing paper, a matching pile of flattened boxes, all our pictures stacked on one wall and all our 'good' china neatly lined up on the floor around the walls like a car boot sale thanks to the unpacking skills of my little sister...maybe we should just open the door and see what we can sell...the papers all there to wrap it up!

Soup
List 3 things you'd like to accomplish before the end of 2005.
Find a home for everything in the house
Start the garden
Go to Patagonia
I figure the last one might be the most feasible!

Salad
When you're online, what do you spend the most time reading/playing/doing? Suggest a site for us to visit.
Writing my blog and reading others...and shopping for blinds or travel deals! If Strayed into this blog the other day...very funny and quite an interesting perspective to

Main Course
What would the title of your autobiography be?
Kiwi's can fly!

Dessert
What time do you usually go to bed?
Going to bed and going to sleep are two different things...heheheheheh...somewhere between 9:30 (bad day!) to 10:30 usually...the sleeping thing can occur 15 to 4 hours later...depending on the book I'm reading (minds out of the gutter children!)

George Carlin said it best about MARTHA STEWART.

"Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's behind bars. O.J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the one woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and haul her ass off to jail."

Thanks for sending this Lorraine.

Sisters take on San Fran

San Fran July 05 034
Originally uploaded by zela.

I've just about reached my upload limit for the month so will probably have to subscribe to a bit more...in the meantime, here are some of my best shots of picking F up in San Fran and just generally hanging out and having a great time. I spent Saturday pottering around getting the lay of the land, and Sunday, popped down to the farmers market at the ferry terminal (after getting in a quick ride on the cable car before the hordes of other tourists got there). Frances and I went out when she got back on the 'go-cars' as we wanted to get around and see the city, without hoofing it or from a bus. Best money ever spent on a tour. They are built from motorcycles and sound like lawn mowers but you can drive them on the road and the tour bit comes courtesy of the sat nav guidance. We had a hoot, featured in many tourist photo's along the way and were laughed at by big men in trucks...and got to see all over the town, to the bridge (not allowed to go over), down the windiest street and made it back just in time for closing (despite being stopped by the cops for running a light - didn't mean to officer) along the way.
On Monday we rented bikes and rode over the bridge and down to Sulsalito, took the ferry back and handed over the bikes and hiked our way home, to our rather grotty hotel.
Seemed to spend most of yesterday getting to the plane, on the plane and then stuck in traffic on the way home.
Still, she's here and I've still got the rest of the week off...hooray.
More photo's can be found here.
We're off to town to get hair and nails done (playing ladies) and then to see 'Wicked'
Catch you all later...and Jeff, if you are reading this...the 2 packets of Tim Tams with your name on made it through customs OK

this post is brought to you by the letter 'S'

S is for for snoring.
Yup, combination of too much garlic on the lamb from the 'taste' (as the locals call it) and the 'snorisaurous' sleeping in our bed have rendered me yawning but awake. I'll be trying some milo, usually my cure-all and put-to-sleep potion soon, but in the meantime, perhaps some net activity whilst the jug is boiling is might help.
Its 3:01, have to be up at 5:30 to leave at 6 to go to the airport...might have to be an extra-large M-I-L-O, milo.
and G & L, the taste is small but tasty!

it seems like all I've done this week is answer questions...

but anyway it's Friday feast time so here goes:
Appetizer
What kind of car do you drive? If you could make an even trade for any other car, what would you want to drive?
It's a highlander and I love it...big enough to play with the big boys on the road, fast enough to not get sneered at by the sports cars. My only regret is that I had to buy it before the hybrids came out...oh well, next time.
Wouldn't trade it for anything else equivalent

Soup
Take your phone number and add each number together separately (example: 8+6+7+5+3+0+9=38) - what's the total?
41...which comes back with Island Records when you google the number

Salad
When were you last outside, and what were you doing?
This morning, reluctantly making my way to the car at 6:20am...last day at work for a week as my sister comes over from NZ on Sunday...YIPPEE

Main Course
What is your favorite restaurant, and what do you usually order there?
At the moment it's Bob Chins Crabhouse (number 4 in the whole of the US apparently), just down Milwaukee Ave. The 'tacky Tiki' decor complete with 'I caught my crabs at Bob Chins' always amuses me and they really do have FRESH seafood (not bad for an inland city) including NZ Green Lipped mussel's (which I never have cos I know they taste better in NZ)
I usually have giant crab legs and try not to think about the poor septaplegic crustacean toodling around in it's wheelchair wondering who ate it's legs.
Took MIL and FIL there on Monday night (reward for waterblasting the patio and many other jobs) and MIL thought the crab was even better than the stuff they had in Alaska.

Dessert
Name 3 things in which you occasionally indulge.
Dessert
Cigars (in the company of male cigar smoking friends, much to my husbands horror)
New handbags

and interviewed again...blimey

I read Ellisson every day at work, and he's taught me heaps on how to blog. I save him 'til lunchtime as he's always entertaining (funny or thought provoking or both) and occasionally posts about food, which kinda makes whatever I've concocted from the salad bar in the cafeteria much more tasty...oh and he has cute cats to boot.
Anyway, at risk of being thought of as a 'meme-slut', I asked him to interview me as well...Rules once again down the bottom of the post

1) Where have you lived? Of the places where you’ve lived, which one did you like the most, and why?
Richmond Downs, Omokoroa, Katikati, Hamilton, Auckland, London, Epsom, Stoneleigh, Sutton, St Albans, Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire...and I'll let you figure out which ones are NZ, UK or USA!
Since I've moved so much pretty much where I happen to be at the moment is my favourite...I have a sneaking fondness (as do Mands and Annie) for Stoneleigh as that was a 'proper' home in the UK and we had such good times(and parties) together, despite not being as tidy as Mands.

Who are your three favorite music artists? Name a single work that you feel captures the essence of each one.
J S Bach - Cantata & Fugue in D minor...once heard, never forgotten and when you hear it in a cathedral, his true glory comes out.
Lemonheads - Into your arms...perfect indie pop, we couldn't work it into the wedding...but I got it onto the wedding video!
Crowded House - 4 Seasons in one day...I've heard this in the strangest places all over the world (Mongolian restaurant, UK truckstop at 2am) and it always makes me homesick in a way nothing else ever does

Imagine that you are condemned to be executed, presumably for a crime you did not commit. What would you select for your last meal?
hmmmmnnnnn, very tough question...there would definitely be roasties (Roast potatoes) made by my brother...roast kumara and roast pumpkin (imported from NZ where they grow pumpkins to taste yummy, and not to be wasted as pie)...since we seem to be having a roast...roast pork with the crackling on, yorkshire puds(made by my aunt), proper English gravy (the MIL can make it cos I taught her how), yellow butter beans, crunchy raw turnip(laugh if you want but it's MY last supper) and then to top it all off...Auntie Y's mince pies as no one else in the world can make them like that.
And for my release party we're having smoked Marlin...

If you could be a character from TV/Book/Film who would you be, and why?
Granny Weatherwax or Nanny Ogg...all the knowledge or all the sex power....hmmmmmn, failing that, Yoda would work for me, I've always thought a light sabre would come handy, especially if the power goes out!

What is your hometown, and what is special or unique about it?
Lincolnshire (as of 13 days ago)...pop 48,000 by day and 6,000 by night when all the workers in the offices go home...you get great facilities due to the taxes and minimal people to enjoy it with...and the tree's ROCK (though I might be telling a different story in autumn when the leaves fall off)

I'm being interviewed

So was checking in on Gordys blog (congrats on the new golf handicap by the way) and decide to let him interview me via the meme going around at the moment... I will answer the questions shortly, but first, I am contractually obligated to explain the rules to this inquisitive round-robin.

1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying "Interview me." "Blow me" or "Eat me" are not acceptable substitutes.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different. I'll post the questions in the comments section of this post.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

So Gordy says...OK Zela, here you go.

Q1. You moved home recently, what is the one thing that you would have missed most had it been left behind?
Apart from my husband (and there was a good chance he might have got packed if he stayed still long enough around the packers) I think probabley dairies that I have written in since I went to Uni. I'm a fairly infrequent writer (much better at blogging) but still write when i need to think something through, and I have lots of memories of trips I have done that I wouldn't want to lose.

Q2. You have been a while here in the US now, what is the thing that still surprises you to this day?
No roundabouts! Whenever I stop/start at a stop sign, I sigh and think to myself how much easier roundabouts are!

Q3. What is your favorite quote or one liner from a book, play or movie?
"Men!...can't live with'em, can't shoot 'em"...St Elmos fire (I think)...and I always like to subvert the glass half empty thing by saying...'it's half filled with champagne and someone is coming towards me to top it up!'

Q4. Finish this sentence. I wish....
I could lose wait by eating fried/roasted/boiled/mashed potatoes...


Q5. Tell me 3 things you really don't like.
1) being very cold (and wet)
2) being told I have a funny accent
3) being mistaken for an Aussie

The cleaner arrived this morning

and I was expecting Toni (who's from Yugoslavia) and we got Gatunda, also from the eastern bloc. I always have mixed feelings about having a cleaner...on one hand the ghost of my mother scrubbing the floors whilst raising 4 kids on a farm seems to reproach me for 'outsourcing' the work. On the other hand, I hate cleaning, we'd much rather be doing other things and in the grand scheme of things, it seems we can afford this money for marital harmony. I rationalize it by knowing I was grateful for the work when I cleaned, my sister is when she does and paying someone to work is better than saving the money for charity(which I confess we probably wouldn't).
She looked a bit relieved when I indicated that she could hoover around the large piles of cardboard and paper still in the living room, and bit more gloomy contemplating the rather old and grubby looking bathtubs.
I just hope she's as good as Toni, who is definitely channeling the spirit of my mother when she scrubs the floor on her hands and knees!

How do you clean patio door runners?

with a toothbrush of course!
so the weavers had a very busy weekend doing the first steps of what will prob be a 100step plan for 'tidying up the house', aided and abetted by MIL, FIL, SIL and BIL...still so knackered I can hardly move.
Won't bore you with the details, but once again they involved lots of trips to Home Depot, and we now have a kitchen semi painted in stripes, doors that actually move on their runners, clean siding and all our stuff out of storage...and into the garage...sigh...now just got to find somewhere in the house to put it all...I can feel a garage sale coming on :>)
and the toothbrush thing?
So there I was, on my hands and knees having vacuumed 3 years worth of grime and debri from the runners and looking at the gunge still stuck there, and the array of brushes that were just too big. A momentary flash of inspiration (or perhaps a rush of the mold I'd just brushed off) and I raced off to get a toothbrush, from the trusty 'stuff stolen from airlines' drawer. I did contemplate using my electric one...to cut down on the scrubbing you know! but managed to stop myself in time. The toothbrush (and a lot of elbow grease) worked a treat, a quick coat of silicone spray later and now we can open the doors with one hand, instead of the two hand, full body, 'shove the door with you hip or bum' method favored before.
I might not have saved the world this weekend, but I now know there is a certain amount of satisfaction to be gained from doors that work!

so it's 7:23am on a saturday..

and FIL has been up for an hour already sorting out the garage...that man is a machine, and shall be rewarded with scrambled eggs (his favourite).
Me, I've tried to sneak very quietly through the kitchen as MIL is still sleeping in the family room. It worked and the breakfast stuff is now 'good to go'...I think its going to be a long day today :>)
Still, it's 7:30 and 18 degrees and I'm wearing shorts already...can't beat that really!

Friday Feast time

Appetizer
What is your middle name? Would you change any of your names if you could? If so, what would you like to be called?
Jean...after a favorite aunt of my fathers apparently. When I was growing up it seemed very plain so I wanted to change it to Jean-Louise. Grew out of that. Liked having an X in my maiden name, with a Z in my first name and it started with A which meant I was always at the top of a list...good for prizegiving, bad for class presentations. Now I start with W so I've gone to the bottom of the list - sigh - but the world is running out of Weavers, so I'm happy to do my bit to adding to their numbers as they are pretty nice so far.
We have a family tradition on my mothers side of having the first born son take the mothers maiden name, so my brother is Mark Scott and my cousin is Paul Scott. Given I've left the whole baby thing a wee bit late, it might have to be the first born...or possibly the first pet that takes the glorious name of Alexander.


Soup
If you were a fashion designer, which fabrics, colors, and styles would you probably use the most?
Hmmmmmmn, what an odd question. fabrics that cover you, colors that flatter you and styles that make you look skinny I think!


Salad
What is your least favorite chore, and why?
I really really REALLY hate cleaning the fridge, stove is OK but the fridge is just awkward, cold, smelly and full of foods you had no idea you bought!


Main Course
What is something that really frightens you, and can you trace it back to an event in your life?
What a bizarre list of questions so far...losing people I love...perhaps a wee bit scarred by losing both parents by 18.
I'm hoping that since I'm older I'll pop off before they do, but they keep flying frequently, living in places where bombs go off, visiting places when tidal waves occur and getting sick...so the odds aren't good


Dessert
Where are you sitting right now? Name 3 things you can see at this moment.
At work...must get back to the emails.
Pictures of my wedding, family, friends, postcards of Prague and Ocean Beach - Tairua and a cool NZ card Dave and Becs gave us
A rainbow colored slinky to play with when phone conference calls get dull
Lavender handcream
thats the good stuff...everyhing else is work - sigh - and speaking of work....

and the first email in my inbox this morning was...

Your Harry Potter Order Is on Schedule..from Amazon

HOOOOOORAAAAY


We're happy to let you know that we've begun preparing your order for
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" for delivery.

You should have the book(s) in your hands no later than 7:00 p.m. in
your time zone on Saturday, July 16. Most books will be delivered by
U.S. Mail, either with your regular mail delivery or in a separate,
special mail delivery. Some orders may be delivered by UPS.

Because our carriers are delivering hundreds of thousands of books on
that day, we do ask that you wait until 7:00 p.m. before contacting
customer service if you haven't received your order.

Although we're not requiring a signature, we still recommend that
someone be home to accept the package, as the driver may not leave it on
your doorstep if they don't feel it's safe to do so.

You'll receive our usual shipment confirmation e-mail after your package
leaves our fulfillment center.

Thanks for shopping at Amazon.com, and happy reading!

Just as well we are all home on saturday, woouldn't want any of the bad neighbours nicking off with my copy. Perhaps I should have told them to deliver it next door, they have big (but lovable)guard dogs...it might be safer.
Oh Hazel, get a grip...it's only a book!

I am a glamorous Hollywood movie star...

you know how you'd see pictures of Hollywood film stars resting during the day with their eye shades on...well except for the fur trimmed slippers and the fact that I sleep scrunched up on my side...that could be me...really it could.
And all because we have no curtains in the bedroom. I knew there was a reason we'd collected those free eyeshades they hand out on the plane, they're for when people like us move into houses with no blinds.
The master bedroom has unusual windows with a long skinny window on top and two square ones underneath. I'm not sure what the previous owners did, perhaps they didn't care, but I can't find any evidence that there were ever curtains/blinds or even a sheet with drawing pins up there. We suspect that the fact they didn't;t wash the windows or screens for the past 2 years...so you look out through a grey haze might have acted as blinds.
So what are we going to do...start by having a long debate about what sort of curtains/blinds/sheetwithdrawingpins we might want...trek around the stores and prob end up buying on line when we've exhausted both the feet and heated discussions.
M has tested the 'can you see my boobies from the neighbor's' by standing in the driveway' and the answer is no...though my part of the test involved continuing my ironing in the bedroom...not standing nekkid waving my bodacious ta-ta's for the world to see!
Still, might go with the temporary sheet and drawing pins solution for fear of scaring the neighbor's too early on in the day!

so I think we might have unpacked

at least 30 of the 87 boxes...but I'm too afraid to count in case its less than I think it is!
White packing paper anyone!

ahhhh...salsa lizano

ever since tebear introduced me to salsa lizano i've been finding new and interesting ways to use it. It tastes hot but not burny hot and tangy but not sour. The latest includes putting a squirt in the mayonaise for potato salad dressy (mnnnn tangy) and mixing it with frozen green beans and microwaving it for a couple of minutes then letting it marinate for a quick bean salad (mnnn yummy).
I'm not sure what I'm going to do when the bottle runs out, as unlike tebear I didn't buy 6 bottles to bring home...guess I'm just going to have to go back to Costa Rica!

The house in the trees

The house in the trees
Originally uploaded by zela.

I've finally got all the house pictures up on Flickr, so click on the picture link and you can see all the work awaiting us.
All 87 boxes and assorted furniture are in...so its just a wee bit of unpacking (ohmygod) and we'll be ready.

so at 5:30 this morning

we get a call from my sister to say Ross has manage to ring through and he was at work (thank goodness he was on earlies) this morning when the explosions happened.
I just spoke to him (it's 6:55am now our time) and he's not sure how he's going to get home, but I'm just glad he's ok:>)
All other London freinds have been accounted for at this time...knowing that some others family members won't make it home from a normal workday is not a good day.