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