Employment

It seems that the whole time we have been in this town I have been trying to find my fit in the employment world.
In Auckland I was working in the Operating Theatres and it was my niche. I have actually been doing it for about 16 years. It is what I love to do.
When we moved to Hamilton the boys were still little and with some changes the Government had just made to childcare, there was quite a waiting list if you found somewhere you wanted them to attend.
So for the first few months I didn't look for a job, but when I did I never really found anything great. The local public hospital does have a large Operating Theatre department but how it is run does not fit with my family or life, so I have never gone to work there. I did manage to find work (private hospital) but it was very part time, I got bored and after a year I moved on.
The position I moved on to was actually a position that only had a years contract so I knew it would end eventually. From there I secured a position at the hospital but after 18 months I realised that this department (Cardiology) was not for me, the work was ok but just not my speciality.
A secondment came up for a change management position and I managed to get one of the 4 positions available, however like a lot of things in the last few years, it was only for a set amount of time!
That time is now ending.....and so I am once again in that wonderful (!) position of looking for some more work.
I have the ability to go back to the department I came from, but I don't want to. I didn't enjoy it and I am now big enough and ugly enough to know that there is more to a pay check than just getting fed up and miserable.
It affects everything.....my life, my family even my mood, so why not be happy.
Although I am well aware of the fact that I do need to work, sadly we are not in a position to be able to only have 1 pay check coming in, plus I know I would go stark raving nutty if I had to stay home all day every day!

So I am now one of those people who spends each day checking the situation vacant pages online. I would be happy to stay at the hospital if I could find a suitable position.
I also currently work 4 days a week and most of the positions I am seeing advertised are for full time! Looks like I finally have to bite the bullet and get back into the real world and finally go back to full time work, although I so don't want to, I love being able to collect the boys from school 1 afternoon a week, it makes me feel like I am still apart of their world and they are only 7 & 9 years old.
We never had the boys for someone else to always look after them, I want them to enjoy school, not have to be constantly tired from being out of the house each day by 7.30am and not getting home until after 5pm each evening.
However I do have a job interview tomorrow afternoon. In a position that I would like, well apart from the fact that it is full time!
It would be a good position to have, I think. The hours are very suitable with my family, so I can work out, no afternoons or nights at least.
So at 2pm on Monday I will be smiling sweetly and answering questions to the best of my ability.

Wish me luck

Look What I Got?

When Steve came into this relationship, he came with several good assets!
Of the electrical type (dirty minded readers!).
A nice size television, a good little stereo, a huge fridge and a brand new washing machine.

The tv was a box type one and his lasted until about 2006 when a power surge went through it and we got a replacement on insurance. We eventually changed it for a flat screen last year.
The stereo is still going strong, although we don't blast it to pieces often so should do us for several more years.
The fridge was nice, but way too big and in 2002 when we moved into our first home together it didn't fit so we got a new one, however the one we replaced it with is still in use and going well.
The washing machine was a huge top loader that he had had for about 12 months when we got together in 1999.
It has seen us through the worst part of 2 babies, and young boys. It is still going and the only problem with it is it doesn't have the greatest time keeping. You can set it for a 40 min wash and it will take about 45 mins!

However at the beginning of this year I did warn him that if there was anything that would probably need replacing during this year then it would be that.
We buy all our electrical goods through Harvey Norman because they have a great money card. They are always offering 36 to 50 months interest free as special offers. So we don't shop there at any other time!
In fact we must be their worst customer because we always use the interest free part but always have it paid when it ends.
They always ask for 3% per month to be paid back, which I happily do, however I also work out what we have to pay each month to pay the balance off in the set amount of months. If it turns out to be more than they are asking for then we will pay the higher amount. Then when the 50 months is up we have paid for the goods and don't get hit with something like 26% interest!!

So this weekend they had their usually special on, spend over $1100 and get 50 months interest free.
So we did....

and I got this cardboard box!

Oh hang on this was inside....

My new washing machine

fits in right at home

I haven't had a front loader machine since I moved to New Zealand 14 yrs ago.
The man in the store was trying his hardest to convince me about them and I had to put him out of his misery eventually and tell him I grew up with them and that there was nothing I didn't already know about them!
Just to clarify, we didn't spend $1100 on this alone, we did but something else as well.

So now I have had to go out and buy new washing powder as my powder was for a top loader and would flood the garage with suds in 2 seconds if I used that. In fact, anyone know of someone looking for 3 2kg boxes of powder, my store cupboard was well stocked so now I have got some going cheap!!

Blogs of Note

Do you ever take the time to visit the 'Blogs of Note' on the dashboard?
Occassionally I do, although I have to admit to having not looked for the last year or so!
A few weeks ago I actually took another look and I found some great blogs to read.

How about this one 366 Random Acts of Kindness. A guy based in Chicago, US who is taking a journey to give back through random acts of kindness every day of the year.
Some of the things he has done are so simple, others are a little bigger and only special to the city he lives in, but it sure does make you think about all the little things we could be doing to help others just because we can not because we have to. Almost like a pay it forward situation although in this instance the payment is just that feel good factor of having helped others in some way.

Do you have chickens or are you considering having chickens, then maybe you might want to check out Tilly's Nest a blog a Cap Cod family of four have put together to detail their journey as they keep backyard chickens. They offer creative solutions, handy tips, helpful information, recipes (yes even recipes for chicken) and just plain chicken talk. There are 8 chickens in the family and they all have names from Tilly (Head hen), Feathers, Autumn, Dolly, Sunshine and many others.

The last blog I came across was a challenge, a challenge that runs just through April, so actually still time for you all to consider whether you would be interested in joining in. The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is about writing a post for 26 of the days in April (every day except Sunday give or take) but following the letters of the alphabet as you post. So start with A and head towards Z.
This looks interesting and I have already starting thnking about my posts for April. What am I going to write about, am I doing a picture post, am I following a theme? So many options and so little time.

So there you have it, my take on the blogs of note that I have found interesting. I do so like it when people recommend blogs to check out. The blogging world is so wide and wonderful and I am always looking for new things to read and check out.

New Design?

Are you happy with the new blogger interface?
Do you use the new design?

By accident a few weeks ago I changed over to the new blogger interface and I am not sure about it. It has taken time to get use to, I do like the layout of the new post page, having everything across the top of the page is working but the rest of the website I am finding difficult to use.

It won't work at work anymore because it doesn't mix with basic google nor does my lap top seem to like the new interface.
However last night I found a button that allowed me to revert back to the old blogger interface and suddenly I feel like I am home again.

I want to keep moving with the times but at the same time I wish the move wasn't so drastic.
Am I the only one struggling with this change, is it something I will have to bite the bullet on sooner or later as it will be the only interface available?
Honestly Blogger.com I am trying, really hard, I just wish all my computers were accepting of it!

How are you finding it?

New Perks

Blogger have added some new perks to blogging.
I have read the information about most of them but that still doesn't explain why I am having so much trouble uploading pictures to my blog.

We have had an awesome day in the garden and I had lots to tell you, but now I have to sort out how to use the picture up load first!!

Catch you soon

Doctor's

We are very luck in the fact that we have a wonderful Doctor's surgery not too far from us.
Although sadly we are leaving them and moving somewhere else!

As you know Steve has Diabetes, and with this comes the need to have a good family Doctor.
Steve had a great one in Auckland, had been with him for 18 years. Several times the Doc felt he had failed Steve and would tell him so, informing him that he needed to find a new Doc because he was unable to maintain Steve's Diabetes, really this was just his way of telling Steve that "hey I am doing my part here, now you have to get on board as well to maintain your diabetes at a good level!"
When Ben arrived, I too joined this Doctor's practice and it became our family practice. It was lovely. We all loved the Doc and he was a wonderful person to have in our family, I think he even treated mum on occassion.
Him and his wife came to our wedding here in Hamilton 2 yrs ago, that is how well we knew him.

When we moved to Hamilton we chose the local practice, little larger than our old 2 Doc practice, this one had about 12 Docs, but still we were happy with them.
We got assigned a Doc and all was great until last year, when sadly the Doc had to leave for personal reasons and dissappeared overseas.
Since then we have not had the same Doc twice.
Now for most people this would be ok but for Steve this is no good.
He needs consistency, he needs someone who knows him, knows what he is like and knows when to kick him up the backside when he is being so so about his diabetes.
The Doc we got assigned dropped her hours and suddenly she was only working 2 mornings a week, the other Doc sharing with her has since left and now there is someone new. We feel like we are always repeating ourselves to the latest Doc when ever we visit.

The other day I mentioned to Steve that there was another Family Practice in the other direction, ok this new one is 2ks away instead of 600m, but hey we are not fussy.
He liked the idea, so today I checked them out.
They have 6-7 Docs, several of them working fulltime. They have all the other necessary facilities that go with the practice and low and behold they also have our old Doc (the one who left last year)
Turns out he only went overseas for 6 months and hoped to come back to the old practice when he returned, but they sadly were unable to accomodate him on his return.
So he is now working permanently fulltime at the new practice and that suits us just fine.

4 lots of enrolment forms completed and hey presto we now have a new Family Doctor.
Looks like it is one we all like and now know is going to be around for a while. Ok it is a little further to go when needing to collect a perscription but still just round the corner, so not too much hassle.

Kitchen Update

Well the kitchen has had some small work done on it in the last week.
I finally got the back splash surround for the stove area.

When we changed over to a gas stove last year, the builder put up a fire sheet for us, because by law we had to have something.

So we went from nothing to this

Now there is only the painting to do and the kitchen will be finished.
Yea, 1 room down, many more to go!

Goodbye

Goodbye to the shower and the vanity with the black tile surround.

Goodbye to the pink bath.

Goodbye to the sink that had no working hot water tap.

Goodbye to the black lino on the floor and the black vinyl wallpaper with little pink flowers.

Hello to the nice builders, plumber and electrician who are now installing our new bathroom.

Latest Addition

Here is the latest edition to our family.
She doesn't have a name yet, although it is now Ben's turn to choose one, think it might turn out to be 'Prenzel' but will confirm that when we know.


Of course Barnie and her are getting along like a house on fire.....not!
But hey give them chance and maybe oneday the will end up loving tolerating each other!

He is Here

My blogging friends over here have been awaiting the arrival of baby number 2.

Well he is here......

No name yet, just that he was born on Tuesday 3rd February.

Congrats to Kent, Leisy and little Zeb on the arrival of the newest member of their family.

Photo Blogs

I love discovering blogs that are mainly pictures.

Usually ones that are taken by the author.

So I love this new blog I have found called Behind My Lens.
He has only just started his blog, so very new, but already some amazing shots.

Well worth a visit if you like beatiful pictures

Here are 2 examples of the pictures you can find over at this site....

Camera Update

As you will remember Alex succeeded in breaking our last camera.

So thankfully our nice insurance company have helped us out with a new one.

Quite smart too.

It is actually the next grade up from the one we had, but considering ours was 2 years old we never expected to get the same thing.

It is smarter and more up to date, oh and thinner, yes that is right, our new camera is almost like a credit card than a camera.

The picture at the top of the post shows you the front and back of the camera and the other picture shows you just how thin it is!

Buttons all do the same as the last one as it is the same make, but I don't like the flash so much and the movies are not so good when you record them, you can't hear anything!

New Kitchen Pictures

You may remember this post about the kitchen in our new house.

Well here are the pictures of the new kitchen just before we moved in.....

New Kitchen

Last week these nice 2 men came and built my new kitchen.

It took them all day but I have a lovely new kitchen.

I will take a picture of the completed kitchen and show you before and after soon, just waiting for the oven and dishwasher to be finished so you get the real good effect.