My two cents...

Actually, there is no "two cents" here, as the lowest denomination of coin is 10 cents. My ten cents? twenty? Oh well. I was going to write that if you are waiting impatiently for news, it is because we are waiting impatiently (at least me. Manford is more patient) for Kitchen. Then I see that Manford had posted yesterday, so you know we are still making gradual, very gradual progress toward moving in. We did sleep in the house on Saturday night, so Joseph could sleep in it before he left for camp. But there was no hot water (the new water heater is in, but we didn't realize that the plumber who installed it would not actually hook it up to heat water--that's the electrician's job, and he won't come until after this and that...) and no refrigerator (well, we have that, too, but it's in the living room, and taped shut). There is TV and Joseph set up his video games, so the children are happy.

Manford did not describe the even more surprising commercial for the same product...an older couple arrives at what we presume is his son and daughter-in-law's home; he goes in the bathroom and finds this cologne, which he spritzes on. He walks back to the main room, where his daughter-in-law (or son's girlfriend, or whatever) suddenly begins saying "boom-chicka-wow-wow" and dancing, and his clothes disappear, leaving him in his underwear. He says, in a perhaps Italian accent, "God bless America."

Figure that out.

I hope the next update will be from the new house...
Carrie

Boom, chicka ....

Has this ad hit the states? An attractive lady in a grocery store looks at a pleasant store clerk and begins to dance rather provoctavie manner while intoning what sounds like "Boom, chicka wow wow," much to the clerks amusement; he it turns out is wearing a particular brand of cologne that apparently causes women to act like this (she was pushing an older lady in a wheel chair at the beginning of the ad, and pushes her away before beginning her dance). Well, the tv programming otherwise is a mix like the states. We have just signed up with Sky TV - a satellite service that Emily was thrilled to find has as one of its channels the Disney Channel. The painter has finished his work at our house and the floor guys started working today and will be coating the hardwood floor with three coats of polyurathene and Friday the electrician will finish wiring things like the new hot water cylinder and the hob (ceramic cook top), with plenty of plugs (sockets). Then we have a busy week end devoted to moving in. Joseph is in camp near Christchurch in the South Island all week - comes home Sunday evening. It is sponsored by the Quakers. Emily is in a day camp each day this week, sponsored by the YWCA. It rained really hard yesterday and dad and Emily got soaked on the way to the car. There has been some thunder yesterday and today. Temperature in the 60's. There are magnificent blooming trees all around town. Spring has begun. Thank you for reading this. Manford

Progress

We're still in chaos and flux, but making progress. They started the kitchen six days ago, and tore out the old, and got half-way in with the new, but then the installer got sick on Friday, when he was supposed to finish, so we have a house full of dust and half-done things, and I am trying to ration my patience...The floor will be very nice--it's not Rimu, but some other exotic wood you can't get any more. They did discover that there was not floor, but concrete, under the chip burner (kind of a mini wood-burning stove), so they had to patch that part with wood salvaged from under the cabinets. They've sanded it all (hence the dust), but won't finish it until all the other stuff is finished. There's a dispute between the painter and the floor guy about who gets to be last. They took out the old hot water heater ("cylinder") but did not put in the new one yet. They put in the washer, but not the dryer. The refrigerator is in the living room, and the dishwasher is in the dining room. The dining room (furniture) is in the living room. Fortunately, we have no living room furniture. Except what's in the family room (the new coffee table, which I am trying to prevent the kids from destroying). I hope it will be done by the end of this week, but I'm not sure...what is in looks good, though. Remind me to be very grateful we're not living there.

Confessions: we've been to KFC. Twice. Didn't eat the deep fried mashed potato balls, though. There is a Burger King near our new house but we have NOT been there. Somehow I thought we'd be eating healthy here in the land of green...we do eat kiwis. They are cheap and plentiful. Sometimes tempted by Kumara chips (sweet potato fries). Emily's school is having a PTA fundraiser where they buy Domino's pizza for lunch. The choices are Hawaiian and Vegetarian. We are trying to figure out whether Kiwi kids actually eat vegetarian pizza, or if that is really cheese. Yesterday we discovered that the dairy (convenience store) near our new house is quite nice, at least from an inner child's point of view. It has a wide variety of lollies (candy), kind of like an old fashioned penny candy shop--you can get a gummy worm or two, or a mixed bag. And it has ice cream cones (this has been hard to find--no Baskin Robbins), and also a pretty nice selection of wines, for Mom and Dad. It's next door to a hardware store of the everything-crammed-into-a-small space variety, and there's also a post office, video store, Domino's, bakery, and Chinese takeaway (not terribly appealing, but maybe ok in emergency--chop suey type), all on the lower level below a restaurant called Boston something, and a grocery store that is undergoing major remodeling and will open in November. We are looking forward to that, as we currently have to go across the river for groceries.

Several stores seem to be having Manchester sales this month. We have finally figured out that that is a white sale. I don't suppose it makes any more sense than "white sale."

I went to two garage sales yesterday and bought a dog bed (might come in handy), a DVD rack, and a small shelf for Emily's closet. I did channel my frustration about not being done with the kitchen into organizing Emily's room yesterday; it had gotten a bit out of hand, as we discovered the toy boxes but no system for where to put it all, so her room was filled with boxes and toys and furniture, in no particular order. Now it is better, and she can really play under the bed (which is a kind of chest-high loft) and keep most of the mess under there. I have been trying to figure out where to put all of our books, and have gotten most of them unpacked and either in the family room (kids books, poetry, mythology) the living room (art, essays, interesting books...), the linen closet (reference, buddhist, quaker, novels), and there are shelves in the kitchen for cookbooks, garden books, and maybe our NZ collection, for your tourist information. We got shelves for Joseph's room last weekend, and he filled them mostly with miniature monsters and dragons, but I snuck some science fiction in there. And, of course, Harry Potter. We got the curtains up on his bed, so his room is looking full, but homey. I am hoping we all get to sleep there at least once before he leaves, next Monday, for quaker camp in Christchurch.

The weather yesterday was beautiful--warm and sunny, barefoot weather (of course, for some here it seems to be barefoot weather year round). Unfortunately, Emily stepped on a nail and is now wounded, but recovering. Today is rainy, anyway. Good for the grass.

See new pictures. You can scroll down to see the kitchen before. I hope next week we will be posting "after."

Take Care!
Carrie

My Dance, by Emily

Today is my recital & I am the leeadr of the fountain!

(now mum types)
I am part of the parachute on the first part of the dance. There is four parts to the danced, well, five, actually, because one of them is just one that I think is in Maori, and it just kind of tells about New Zealand,a nd the second is a parchute, and I am the parachute and the others are clouds. And then is something called the V8, and the parachute which me and some of the others are form a V and some of the others form an 8. And the next one from the V and 8 go to the fountain, and after the fountain, because I'm the leader of the fountain, then we roll out and then it's moo-loo, it's a rugby game song and some New Zealanders sing "moo-loo, olealealea..." when they're at a rugby game. & I am the last act in our, we are the last act, so once we're done, we don't have to move, becuase at Mooloo we're spread out, and then we're gonna do the school song, and everybody else will like crowd into us.

I think my dance will be really cool and I can't wait. but the dance is at night, and I think I'm gonna have a lotta fun, and this will be the best day. & I think that everybody else will have really fun because I'm not the only act; there's hip-hop and there's something about the seven whales, and something about the Waikato river, but I'm right after the hip-hop. It's fun to watch the other people, so I think that everybody else is going to have a lot of fun.

Some more names, house work, etc.....

Hello again. Here are some more names of children at Emily's school - Flower Lei, Te Ahuora Macfrarlane, Tessa Impey, Nicola Aldridge, Hilary Sue, Joel Impey, Aven Bufkin, Satveer Logarh, Anna Van Wijk, RaikiWillison, and Tony Wu. An article in the paper indicates that there are 80 ethnic groups represented in Hamilton. It rains often here but with few thunderstorms. There are some flowering trees in bloom, red ones, white ones, pink ones, and some flowers including the hebe, I believe it is spelled. We have been working on the house and have found things we sought, thanks to Carrie's good work, such as video and still cameras, glass shelves for the curio cabinet and the itmes that go in that cabinet (Emily delights in rearranging them). She will have a dance concert this Tuesday at Joseph's school gymnasium. She sings with a kiwi (New Zealand) accent now and calls Carrie "mum." I recently saw The Italian, a Russian movie that I would recommend to anyone, about a six-year old who is in an orphanage and goes on a quest, after travails to get the address, to find his mom. Tomorrow the kitchen work begins, and some plumbing and possibly some floor work, should be an interesting week! Emily had strep throat last week but is ok now. I am pretty much a home body, doing the wash, vacuming, cleaning, by choice - and now have greater appreciation for woman's work never being done! Well, I hope all who read this have a happy and healthy week. Manford