Winter

The first big, pounding, can't-see-through-your-window rain storm passed through yesterday afternoon.  I walked home in sunshine at noon (I have a cold and decided to work from home the rest of the day), and before I knew it, it was blustery and pouring rain!  Ah...winter is upon us.

I feel like it's ghost season...the leaves are changing, it is definitely colder, and it's dark out quite early.  I wish there were good holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas during the winter months in NZ.  I was thinking of checking out a ghost tour to satisfy my craving, but they are $50!  Crazy...that might be a little too much to satisfy a nostalgic urge.

Lesson #1 in 'Cars Are Expensive'

My coworker will be in another country doing fieldwork for the next few months.  She agreed to allow me and my officemate to borrow her car while she is away, at minimal cost.  Our agreement is that we pay for any damages; if we go over 100 km, we pay a wear and tear cost; and if we use the car for any work trips, we get reimbursed for the mileage from work and hand it over to her.  Great deal, right?!

Hmmph.  Not if you are me.   I used the car for the first time last Sunday and it sat in my garage for the rest of the week.  I missed work today due to illness, and I wanted to use the car to get some cough syrup so I could sleep tonight.  I went to get the key from the pocket I had placed it in my backpack, and it was...gone.  I'm a person that puts things in their proper and designated place, EVERY TIME, so I knew that I was in big trouble when it wasn't where I thought it would be.  Nevertheless, I turned the house, all of my pockets, and the garage upside down trying to find it.

It must have fallen out of the pocket of my backpack sometime since Sunday.  My backpack goes everywhere with me--to work, movies, grocery shopping, etc.  There is no telling where that key fell out!  I've looked and asked around everywhere it could reasonably be, with no luck.  There is no spare key.

So, first car expense:

Getting a car rekeyed Monday morning:  $125.

Ugh.

Calling All Contract Workers--Question!

I just checked my leave balance, and I have 16 sick days (8 from last year, 8 for this year).  I can earn up to 40 sick days over the course of my employment.  I currently have a 2 year contract, ending August 2011.  This is typical in NZ--most workers are on contract, and this is mainly for the employee's benefit, but it is foreign (haha) to me.  While it is apparently VERY hard to fire employees on contracts and so offers a lot of job protection, I've seen numerous occasions where the contract wasn't renewed, or it was renewed at the last second (I'm thinking of myself, and how they got the contract done the DAY BEFORE I was supposed to leave for a month-long vacation, with the original contract expiring while I was due to be away...I could very well have come back to no job!), making for some hairy and very stressful days/weeks in job limbo.

Anyway, my question goes out to all you Kiwis out there--or even others that normally work on contract--are any unused sick days paid out when your contract is up?  I would think that they should be, since I could easily just take the sick days now (I actually am sick but I've been working from home) and still get paid.

16 days...I could do a lot with 16 days' worth of pay!  And I'd add 8 more next year...24 days worth of pay would make for a very happy 2012 Southern Hemisphere summer, traveling around until the weather turns cold Down Under, and then skipping off to the N. Hemisphere in time for spring!

If not...I'm going to have to start actually taking my sick days.  Seems like a waste, though--I have lots to do and I love my job!

Yuck

I woke up a few days ago with a lump in my throat, and it has gotten progressively worse--I now have a major sore throat and a bad cough.  I originally thought it was due to mold from the flood last week, but the 'moldy' smell has pretty much dissipated from my apartment, aside from the worst-hit area.  And I've done a lot of work to dehumidify and kill any smells with vinegar and baking soda on the carpet in my room.  So it looks like I've just caught a virus or something!  Ugh.

I'm tired, coughing, and have a mild fever, so I worked from home today.  Thank goodness my work is flexible like this!  I want to save all of my time off for my vacation later this year.  I HAVE to go into work tomorrow for an important all-day meeting, so I'm resting up with easy tasks, tea, soup and lots of naps today.  And if they ever post the latest episode of America's Next Top Model on Sidereel, maybe a little TV therapy, too.  :)

Emotional Non-Spending

Sometimes when people get upset, they go out and spend as an emotional salve.  I'm having the opposite problem--I have been putting off buying something for emotional reasons.  I have only just figured it out by thinking about it last night and today...

I have been holding back on buying flight tickets to go home this summer for weeks.  I have a family reunion and a wedding to go to in August, so that is controlling most of the timing about when I go back, and I have committed and really want to go to those events.  My tentative itinerary is as follows:

Auckland -->  Midwest (family reunion)

Midwest -->  Mid-Atlantic East Coast (parents' house)

M-A EC -->  northeast (wedding) -->  M-A EC (parents)

M-A EC -->  California (visit friends from when I lived there 2 years ago)

California -->  road trip to Utah with coworker, and back to Ca

California -->  Auckland

*tickets already confirmed for these flights

Part of me is hesitant to follow through with my plan, though.  I was trying to figure it out last night, and could only come up with one reason:  I don't want to see my old co-workers, specifically the people that I associate with my ex-boyfriend.  Most are closer to him than they were to me, and took 'his side' and will want gossip from me about what happened.  I know how to side-step gossip conversations, but the thought of doing that on vacation just drains me.  

I DO want to see several people in the area, but they are all tangled up, socially.  There's no way that I could see the people I wanted to see without seeing the people I don't want to see!  :)  I am probably overreacting--maybe they won't want to talk about that at all?--but that is unlikely, given what I know about them.

Another part of me is hesitant because I would be visiting a guy from my past with some romantic interest in me in California.  I don't know what I want from him, and I probably shouldn't open that can of worms.  (especially with the tangled social web).  I think I would be opening that can if I went.  Oy.  On the other hand, it could just be plain platonic fun.  I won't know til I get there.

The other problem is that I am supposed to leave from the very city that I'd be visiting my friends in if I went on the Utah road trip with my NZ coworker.  She is from that area, so I'd have to be there to start off the trip.  As a reminder, I REALLY want to visit Utah's national parks, and my coworker's family is offering up their car to use plus to pay for gas for our entire trip.  That is really hard to turn down, if my bosses let me take that much time off (7 weeks; 4.5 paid; 2.5 unpaid leave).

It really comes down to three options:

1) forego the entire stop in CA.  Fly straight from the East Coast to Auckland (I'd been trying to avoid that 24 hour flight by stopping in CA).  I guess I could also stop in another city, but CA is the only logical place to stop where I'd have couch-surfing options.  Pros:  I wouldn't have to take off any unpaid leave.  I wouldn't have to see the coworkers.  Cons:  I wouldn't see the friends I really want to see, I'd go back to cold dreary wintry Auckland that much sooner, and I'd miss the Utah trip.

2)  Stop in CA for a weekend, fly to Auckland (ie, don't go on the Utah trip).  Pros:  No unpaid leave.  Could see friends. will break up the jet lag and 24 hr flight by a bit.  Cons:  Wouldn't get to go on Utah trip.  Uncomfortable questions and gossip.  

3)  Go as originally planned.  Stop in CA for a weekend, then leave for Utah road trip for two weeks.  We've covered all the pros and cons in the above paragraphs!  

It may actually be REALLY good for me to go, as in options 2 and 3, in terms of closure.  Confronting these old co-workers, getting through the situation, and possibly even getting into some new drama with a new guy may help me start to get over my irrational fear of bumping into the ex and Cheaterette in my workplace.  I still violently dread and avoid potential interaction with either of them.  It is kind of exhausting...

If you have read this this far...what do you think?

I forgot to mention...

...any increases I see due to my raise will be banked into one of my goals.  It isn't enough money to increase my monthly budget, despite the fact that I haven't stayed within the limits of the Misc category for two months running (though May should even it out some, I think.).  This raise is to go purely to savings.  I may tweak my long-term monthly savings goals a teeny bit, but we'll see how much it comes to after taxes.

Raise!

A very tiny one, but I am not complaining.  Out of the blue, my admin handed me an envelope today.  Without me even nagging anyone about getting a salary review, I was given a $1,000 raise!  My first thoughts:  

a)  this means that the 2% employer contribution to my Kiwisaver will increase, too!

b)  this should almost cover the cost of my Kiwisaver contributions!

Fabulous.

Budgets are very, very tight right now, so I wasn't expecting anything.  At most, a token 100 dollars or something...I am blessed to get as much as I did. As a Type-A personality, I like structure, order, and rules, and since my contract says that I have a review every February, I wanted that to happen.  Even if it was a 2 minute sit-down to say that there is no room in the budget for raises this year, I just needed the semblance of effort and fulfilling their duties as described in my contract.  I got that and more.  Yay!

It says that it is effective January 1, 2010, and that payment will be made on April 30, 2010.  Does that mean this is actually a bonus?  Or that my salary overage since January will be back-paid on April 30 and then my take-home will increase afterward?  I guess I will find out this Friday!

Also, my boss came into my office today to give me a field shirt that she was going to give away.  It is in perfect condition, and fits me just right.  Hurrah!

I love my job so, so much.  It is going to be incredibly hard to leave in 2012.

More Travel

I went to a place I'd never gone before (but this time stayed close to home!) again this weekend.  Life is exciting and fun (but very expensive!) when you do this...

I spent Saturday exploring Waiheke Island, a gorgeous piece of land about a half an hour ferry ride from Auckland.  Waiheke is famous for its vineyards, olive oil, and high real estate prices.  The skies were perfectly clear, and the temperatures were very warm by Auckland fall standards.  One of our party even wore shorts the whole day!   We took the Explorer Tour for $48 for the return ferry ride, 1 1/2 hour tour, and all day bus pass.  (The tour was really awful--I don't recommend it at all.)  We got off of the tour early, had lunch, and did some hiking to Mudbrick Vineyard, where we partook in a wine tasting for $5.  I hate wines (white and roses aren't as bad as reds, probably due to the tannins/sulfites), but it was fun to pretend with my group that we knew what we were doing.  We then hiked back to the ferry and caught a ride home as the sun set behind Auckland.

I had a headache from about an hour after drinking the wine to about 4 am in the morning, when I downed several extra strength Advil and a Tylenol PM to put me out of my misery.  I normally don't take anything for pain relief; at most, one advil if the headache persists, but this called for major treatment.

(Wine always has bad effects on me, so I'm not sure what I was thinking...but I was hoping that I'd wake up one day and love wine.  That is never going to happen!)

Anyway, the vineyards were turning fall colors and the scenery was just perfection on the rolling hills.  Our guide told us that the geography was similar to Catalina Island, if you've been there.  :)

April: An Expensive Month

Yup, well, I've spent nearly $450 on groceries and another $150 on eating out this month already, and it's not even over!

The good news?  I still have several hundos to save this month (not counting automatic long-term savings, that's already in the bank), even if it were a two paycheck month.  Since it isn't (it's a THREE paycheck month!), I will have lots more!  So even if it is a particularly spendy month, I will still make good headway on my goals.  Yay!

Whoops

Well, we rented a carpet shampooer yesterday, and sucked up as much water as possible.  We had all of our fans and heaters running yesterday, and we tripped a power breaker!  I was really worried that we had ruined the wiring for about a half hour, before I found the main power switch downstairs had flipped off.  

The carpet is starting to dry a little bit, but for the most part, it is still very damp and slightly squishy underfoot.  I've read about diatomaceous earth to dry it out even more, and I've borrowed a dehumidifier from a coworker to boot.  The dehumidifier is on its highest setting in the hall at the moment.  

My carpet was starting to smell a little bit over last night, so I spread some baking soda on it, and will leave it there to soak for a few days before vacuuming it up. 

I'll also try the cat sand, or diatomaceous earth, once I can find it in NZ.

More worrisome than our apartment is the downstairs damage.  No one lives downstairs at the moment, and it STINKS in the stairwell connecting our two apartments.  We sucked up as much water as possible from the hallway outside of the locked downstairs apartment, but I'm really afraid of what it smells/looks like in there--the water definitely goes underneath the apartment door.  Also, I opened the garage door today (which is directly below the downstairs apartment) and there was a huge puddle.  

There is a tenant on the first floor behind the garage, but we haven't heard any complaints from him/her.  It looks like the water drained toward the garage, anyway.

The lighting in the hallway has also decided not to work in the downstairs portion.  As I said, water was POURING out of the light fixture hole in the downstairs hallway onto the landing to the downstairs neighbor's apartment...that light stopped working during the flood, but the other three still worked up until this evening.  I am afraid that we fried the electrics somehow.  Everything on the 3rd floor (where we are) works fine, though.

I've let my landlord know about all of this, so it is out of my hands and into home insurance, right?  She doesn't seem too worried, but I kind of am nervous that this is somehow going to cost me out of pocket...

Flood!

If I didn't have a reason for renter's insurance before...I surely do now.

My roommate is kind of a mess.  Last December she nearly burned down our place while boiling eggs, and today I came home to see water pouring through the light fixture in the stairwell I take to get up to our 3rd floor apartment.  "UH-OH,"  I thought, before she yells down the stairs, "You're not gonna like this..."

I get up to our apartment, half expecting to see a river carrying our stuff out to the balcony and onto the sidewalk below.  She's futilely soaking up a mop sponge full of water from the drenched carpet, and then wringing the dripping mop out in the bathtub.  There is a half inch of water underneath the carpet.  Puddles form under each footstep I take.  The water spans a probably 30 foot diameter patch of carpet, emptying from the bathroom, out through the hallway up to the front stairs, from the bathroom to the middle of the living room, and from the bathroom into our two bedrooms.  Here, I drew a map:

Um...yeah.  WOW.

So, what happened was, my roommate turned on the washing machine and left to do some errands or whatnot.  The washing machine empties into a washing tub (yeah, don't ask me why they didn't just hook it up to a pipe (?)), which then drains the rinse water out.  Only, for some reason, my roommate had accidentally left a towel in the washing tub...which then stopped up the drain, which then caused my house to flood.

The water was pouring out of the ceiling light fixture hole in the stairwell...I am scared about what all that water did to the electricals and carpet in the 2nd floor apartment downstairs!

I immediately want to call my landlord, but my roommate doesn't want me to.  I'm not sure why she didn't call me to warn me right away, either--it's not like she could have mopped this up before I got home!!  I call my landlord anyway.  No way am I being evicted because I didn't tell my landlord what was going on...this was too big of a mess to hide, and she's visiting us in a week!  Plus, what if the downstairs landlords or property managers call my landlord?  Luckily, no one lives downstairs at the moment (the old tenants got evicted), but still, what if they show the property tomorrow?  Nuh-uh.  I like the better safe than sorry route.

My landlord is typical Kiwi and totally laidback.  She's totally cool about it, just says to squeegee as much water into the non-carpeted kitchen and bathrooms, which each have drains in the floor.  Then she goes, "I don't envy you.  Good luck!"  Whew.  I mention that the downstairs may be flooded, too, and she says that she will just let them figure it out, hopefully it'll dry before they notice...ha!

Also luckily, nothing is damaged.  Tomorrow my roommate's friend, who is staying with us, is renting a Rug Doctor and they'll suck up as much water as possible using that.  It's the only thing I can think of to do...we spent hours upon hours soaking up towels and blankets full of water, running them in the spin cycle in the washing machine, and then repeating the process...it hasn't even touched the wetness, I still squish, squish, squish through the house.

I've escaped twice in 6 months with nothing burned or electrocuted or flooded.  Next time I may not be so lucky.  I was going to buy RI when I bought my health insurance policy, but Southern Cross doesn't offer them.  Time to get serious about buying that renter's insurance!

That reminds me...we should really replace the fire extinguisher before my landlord gets here and asks what happened to empty the old one...

CrockPot Experiment FAIL

Crockpot experiment #1 involved pasta, carrots, canned peas, a 'creamy chicken and veggie' sauce mix, and chicken soup made from boiling a roast chicken.  It was a FAIL, it tasted terrible, bland and boring.  I now have about two gallons of this concoction in my freezer.  Lord knows what I'm going to do with it!

Next up, I'm going to try crockpot chili.  Any tips?

Today Is Saturday

And I was swipe-happy today.  My debit card got quite a work out!

However, I feel like I got a lot done.  I returned two books to the library, checked out another one, and tried to find two more that I really want to read ('Official Book Club Selection' by Kathy Griffin, and 'The Happiness Project' by Gretchen Rubin [check out her website if you haven't already...I love it]); they were both checked out but 1 out of 3 ain't bad.

Then I tried to return this lotion with SPF 15 that I found--Palmer's Cocoa Butter.  It smells and feels AWFUL, but they wouldn't let me return it.  I just gave it to them so that they could let other people use it as a tester, and so no one else has to go through that crap of buying it just to see what it's like.  $12 down the tubes.  But really, I was never going to use it and it was taking up space and cluttering my room.  Eh.  Back to the drawing board for lotions with SPF, I guess--it was the only one I've ever found here in NZ, and after months of searching for one.

I then tried to go to both branches of Revive, a restaurant/take-out place that serves vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, etc. foods.  I have several coupons for them that I've been saving up to use.  It's supposed to be amazing, healthy, and cheap, and I really want to see what the fuss is about and plan to go gluten-free in the near future.

Winter is coming, and that ache-y, tired, very sore throat feeling is coming back again.  Every time it is cold, I get this relapse of mono-like symptoms.  Basically, anything below 18 to 19 C will trigger a reaction.  I'm allergic to the cold?  I'm hoping that I can manage this with a better diet--gluten-free is my first trial.

Anyway, they were both closed, but at least I know where they are now!  I went to the cookie shop instead.  I've been craving a good chocolate chip cookie--with vanilla icing in between!  Back home we call these 'double doozies' and I used to be obsessed with them.  They didn't have any double doozies, but I figure I can always buy vanilla icing and put it on the cookies myself.

I then went to Kathmandu, the outdoors shop (kind of like an even more overpriced REI or A16) and tried on some awesome shorts marked down to $20 from $80.  They would have been perfect for the beach or lake this (U.S.) summer on my vacation...but they were too big at size 10 (NZ sizes).  They just don't make outdoor clothes in my size--I need an NZ size 6 but it apparently just doesn't exist.  I'm petite, but I'm not anorexic skinny--I have a good belly on me and my thighs are thick-ish from running and gymnastics as a kid (and genetics), so I'm not sure what the deal is there.  This problem exists in the US, too, so I can't blame NZ for this one.  Haha.  Apparently petite girls are just not supposed to like or go hiking or tramping at all.  Or go naked instead.

I found a replacement for both my zip up hoodie (broken zipper; 5 years old) and my fleece (6 years old; VERY worn from wearing it almost every day; still has my old company's logo on it) in one zip up hoodie fleece jacket (I got a blue colored one).  It was $50, marked down from $150, and is really cozy and warm.  It is actually a boys' jacket, but what the hey!  It fit me comfortably.  I should have gone a size smaller to get the one that looks sleek and fitted, but I prefer to cuddle up in my jackets (especially on airplanes) and pull the sleeves down over my hands a bit, so I opted for the bigger one.  It really has everything I was looking for in a replacement for each jacket individually, so I'm happy to replace 2 with 1.

I tried on some new hiking boots (50% off!!) at $125 a pair, but for some reason, the size issue came up again.  I'm an 8, 8.5 in shoes in the US, and they measured me and I'm still an 8, 8.5, but the 8's I tried on were WAY TOO BIG.  The 7's?  still WAY TOO BIG, even with two pairs of socks.  I just don't understand...I would absolutely have bought those hiking boots, too.  That was a great deal, and my old boots are coming apart at the seams and cause me to lose toenails on 15+ km hikes.  I also think I'm becoming accustomed to NZ prices, to think $125 for hiking boots is CHEAP.

Later on, I visited the Scarf Queen and bought two scarves for $35.  I'm not sure what came over me there, since I never wear scarves, but I guess I thought that I should start...they are really cute scarves, so I think I'll make an effort to start wearing them now.

Last but not least, I went to the Warehouse and picked up some goodies--$21.65.  Just snacks for work, like cashews and chips.  They introduced Doritos to NZ a few weeks ago, and they've taken over the shelves.  The only place I can find my fave brand of NZ corn chips is in the Warehouse now.  Ha!  It figures that the one brand that I really like in NZ is pushed out by a US brand that I don't want to eat anymore (Doritos have MSG...).

Ok, that was a detailed rendition of my day, but it was good.  I realized today that April is a 3 paycheck month, so I'm even more fine with the spending.  Right now, I'm cuddled up in my new jacket, eating my Ms Higgin's cookies for dessert, and wondering how to tie a scarf like the NZ'ers do.

Cooking Time

With my brand-new frying pan and a newly-acquired slow cooker, as well as Mark Bittmann's 'How to Cook Everything' checked out from the library, I should be in cook mode.

I'm not.  I'm really, really trying, but the closest I get to that is, "Hmmmm....I kind of want to bake ____ (insert:  banana bread, cookies, cake)!" but only because desserts in NZ FAIL.  The ones I've had aren't very good--they are sweet and fatty in an entirely unappetizing way and make my stomach hurt for hours after eating them (see:  melting moments, a overwhelmingly sweet concoction of ill-tasting fat cookie sandwiching nasty fatty icing).  What I wouldn't give for a plain ol' fudge round or an oatmeal cream pie instead!  (Little Debbie is the shiz!)

Anyway, baking aside, my extent of kitchen time in my head this week has, at most, extended to the microwave for 3 minutes per side of potato.  I've eaten roast chicken (bought from the grocery store already cooked), one or two potatoes, and a salad every night for dinner for the past week and a half.  Lunch is a ham or tuna sandwich, cheese, and an apple.  Breakfast is a smoothie and a banana.  Snacks are anywhere from fruit to nuts to chocolate to chips.  EVERY DAY.  And I'm not bored at all by that menu.  At all--even after 10 days running, it is really yummy!  That's probably what bothers me the most--that I can do and eat the EXACT SAME THING every day, and not get bored.  Aren't people supposed to crave change, especially in their nutritional intake?

I am not inspired at all by the recipes that I keep trying to research.  Sure, they all sound good and really yummy, but in a very abstract way.  When I actually think about getting up and slicing or dicing or sauteing or searing, I balk.  I bought that slow cooker so I wouldn't have to cook--I thought things could just be thrown in there and taken out 5 hours later, 'instantly' made and ready when I got home.  The recipes that I've been looking at, however, require 'pre-cooking' and all sorts of intricate adjusting up to an hour before the meal is ready.  Who wants to eat a full 30-60 minutes AFTER you get home?  I would go crazy--I usually come home at the last second, to cram as much work in as possible.  The only reason that I leave work is because I'm starving!  I eat ten minutes after I get home, every time.

My roast chicken is already cooked to perfection and ready to be plated at that time.  My goal is to eat when I cook, nothing else.  What is wrong with me??  And, as my dad asks, how is anyone going to want to marry me if I am not motivated to make him fat and happy every evening?!

Ah, well.  I know myself pretty well.  When I am ready, I will know, and I will act.  I will be ready, armed with a slow cooker, some recipes, and a frying pan.

The Incredible Shrinking Paycheck

My monthly paycheck is shrinking slowly, but it doesn't bother me one bit.  I'm still spending less than I earn, and  my saving for long-term is on track.  My check decreased because of the following:

1. I now have independent health insurance--this costs ~$90/mo for full dental, optical, prescription, and Dr coverage, above and beyond what the NZ government normally pays for because I'm a resident now (yeah!).  This is automagically deducted from my paycheck.  I have not noticed the difference.  (Note:  I still pay taxes on this amount.)
2. Kiwisaver contributions take up 2% of my pay, $39.46 for each paycheck ($78.92/mo or so).  My employer matches this.  (Yeah!)
3. Every month, in the first week of the month, $340 is taken from my checking to my long-term savings account.  See sidebar for the breakdown of that money.

The excess amount left over goes toward my short-term goals (see sidebar).  

Cape Reinga Trip Costs

Over the Easter holiday, from April 2 - 6, I took a road trip up to Cape Reinga.  The car cost $334 to rent, and the passengers paid for all of the gas, so that was my only travel expense.  

Car:  $334

Food (Eating out/alcohol/grocery foods):  $60.96

Gas:  $0

Lodging (all camping):  $47.50

Souvenirs/Activities:  $59.99

Total:  $502.45

It is way more than it should be, because I didn't do the math (blame alcohol)--the passengers didn't do the math either, but they each owe me another $55 for the car rental.  I can ask for the money from my officemate, who was a part of this trip, too, but the guys are gone already.  They were poor, starving students, so I'm covering it with this month and next month's charity.  I'm angry with myself--I'm nice, but I'm not that nice!  Ah well.  I hope they had a good time!

For some reason, it made sense at the time that the passengers would pay for all of the gas and somehow that would even out what they owed me.  But the gas should be split 4 ways, too--so even though they each paid ~$115 for gas, they only covered $28 of their debt to me with gas.  My real total should be about $340.  Agh!  The loopholes of shared travel.  :)

Best Year Ever

Thus far this year, I've been all over the South Island, several places on the North Island that I had never been to, a South Pacific island, met several new friends and had a blast with them (including securing couchsurfing spots in several European countries!), and have many more plans to continue this ride.

As far as continuing the traveling goes, I've carefully budgeted to go home later this winter (US summer) for a family reunion in Michigan, a few weeks at my parents' place, a wedding in Rhode Island (with several days' stopover in Boston to visit two other good friends), and a stop in SoCal to visit friends from when I lived there.  My budget of $3,500 can JUST barely cover this.

So, yeah--this year has already been pretty epic, and I think it's only going to get better!

Now, I've been offered kind of a once in a lifetime kind of deal--a friend of mine wants to do a two week road trip around the Southwest US, to see two national parks that I've been dying to visit (Zion and Bryce).  Her parents don't want her wandering around Europe by herself, so they offered her their car and to pay for gas for the entire duration.  She needs someone to go with, and is starting from the exact city in SoCal that I will be visiting, at exactly the same time I will be there.  Airfare-wise, it costs the same to stop in SoCal for a weekend as it costs to stop there for a few weeks.  Hmmmm.  The only costs will be campground fees (we're both big on camping) and food.  How can I pass this up, if my boss will let me take 7 weeks straight off?  (I have 4 weeks vacation coming to me, so I will have to take the other 3 weeks unpaid, unless I put in time beforehand.)

Ant Infestation!

I'm spending money like I drink water these days--lots.  It is ok, though--I usually have very brief stints of super-socialness like this, and then it's back to my normal life where I don't spend much on alcohol or entertainment.  True to form, our guests leave tomorrow, and it is going to be a sad day.  It is especially OK because I never spend more than I make in a month, and I automatically save for my long-term goals each month.  I think perhaps it is time to make my short-term savings automatic, too, but I usually just save whatever is left over at the end of the month for those...maybe I need to institute a minimum contribution?

Last Friday marked the start of super-social time.  First, a 5 day road trip with a friend and 3 of her friends.   The backpacker guys stayed with me until Friday afternoon, when my roommate got back from her road trip around the South Island.  It worked out perfectly, because my house was available when my officemate's house was occupied by her landlords (her roommate's parents own the place so they stay there from time to time).  Then, when my roommate came back, they moved to my officemate's place, whose landlords had since moved on.  Good stuff.

I would come home to them, eat breakfast with them, and occasionally meet them somewhere for lunch.  It was really great!  Also, during the day Wed-Friday, I was stationed in a lab in another building, and so had a lot of contact with people I see only occasionally through work.  It was good to catch up with lots of people.  I also found out that the annoying fieldwork partner is not getting her contract renewed.  While this is awful for her, this has made things so much easier for me in terms of getting along with her.  Now that I don't have to spend 24/7 with her (or even close to that), I can appreciate what she brings to the table.  Too bad that happened because she is leaving...

Friday, the guests and a few friends all went out on the town and had a blast.  One of the bars we went to was the Minus 5 Ice Bar.  That's right, everything is made of ice, even the cups you drink out of!!  They give you jackets and gloves to wear, but my toes were almost numb by the time we left anyway.  It was $35 for two drinks and admission to the bar.  I've been wanting to go for a while now, and they were the perfect group to go with.  Today, I went out with a coworker for dinner and drinks (I just had water...all I could handle after last night!), and then watched a movie with the guys.  Very nice.  After observing my attitude for the past week or two, I think that all that is missing here for me in NZ is a good social network like the one I've had for the past 7 days.  Despite the hangover(s), I'm a pretty happy girl.  The past week has easily been the happiest and most comfortable I've been in NZ.  It's been a long time coming to get back to this place since being with and then breaking up with the X.

In other news, our house has suddenly gotten infested with ants!  Where are they all coming from?!  And how do we get rid of them?!

When Delayed Gratification Doesn't Make Sense

I've been wanting a new frying pan for over 6 months now (see Want List over on the side bar).  My current one is the cheapest I could find from the Warehouse back when I first moved to NZ a year and a half ago, and is scratched all to heck somehow.  The black flakes of teflon or whatever 'non-stick' coating is on it ends up in the food I am cooking all the time.  Hello, cancer!

Anyway, the frying pan slid out of the drying rack while the random backpacker guys were washing my dishes after cooking my meal yesterday, landed on the floor smack dab on the handle, and the handle broke into 5 pieces.  My unwanted cheap frying pan is kaput--no handle whatsoever.

I'm calling that a gimme.  Guess who's going shopping for a new, not cheap frying pan this weekend?!  (Right after I do my taxes!).

Do you love it?

Yay!  I finally have a dryer and I'm back from all my travels with much dirty laundry, so I definitely have a use for it!

Some random backpacker guys are staying at my apartment right now.  We met them on the way around the Northland and they needed somewhere to stay for a few days.  My roommate is gone until Friday, so I offered them my place, and on Friday, they'll go stay with one of my coworkers.  Last night, the two Austrian guys cooked me dinner while a German guy serenaded me on his guitar, set the table, and did the dishes after the meal.  Not a bad way to end a trip!  If this is what couchsurfers do, count me in as a host!

Last Saturday night was crazy--we almost got kicked out of our campground in Kerikeri due to excessive noise.  The group of 5 I was traveling with met up with another group of 12 or so Irish and Brazilians.  It was too bad that we were making such a racket, but we were having such a good time!  Yup, just this once, I was one of THOSE PEOPLE.  Oops.

I didn't get to do and see as much as I wanted in the Northland and up to Cape Reinga, but it was a great time nonetheless.  Spending to come...

Off Again

Tomorrow I leave for 5 days on a trip to see a part of NZ I haven't seen before.  After this trip, there will only be a few pockets of NZ I won't have been to.  The main ones that I want to get to are Taranaki, the northern half of the Coromandel, Gisbourne, and I want to go snowboarding and partying in Queenstown at some point.

After those are conquered, I'll have to move on to exploring more South Pacific islands, Antarctica, and Australia.  I can't believe that I've lived here for almost 2 years and I haven't been to Australia!!  Sydney is only a 3 hour plane ride away!

So, for 5 days, my officemate T and I and another coworker are going on a road trip to try to cover some of the areas I haven't been to yet!  My officemate knows a few guys who wanted to go as well, and apparently they are super hot.  Sounds good to me!

I am meant for this kind of traveling lifestyle...I really love it.  As long as I can still save a little bit of money each month, I would be happy doing this all the time!