Signing in from Singapore

The travelling tart is on the move again and I'm writing this in the Skyview Lounge in Changi Airport in Singapore. It's not quite the Qantas Club which is where I usually hang out, but since I'm travelling Singapore Airways and KLM on this trip and I'm not a member of either of their lounges, I did a bit of research and discovered LoungePass.com who for about $50 a pop, will let you use selected lounges in various airports around the world. so figured I'd try it for this leg of the trip (since I've got a 7 hour stopover here) and see if it's worth it. The answer is yes - sitting here in a peaceful lounge, in a comfy chair in front of a huge TV screen, with free WiFi, a glass of sauvy blanc and some sushi on the little table beside me with the prospect of some coffee (and cake if I want to be naughty) in a little while. Christmas was lovely for us but relatively quiet - and just a wee bit of badness in the eating as opposed to wholesale slaughter! Boxing Day was even quieter, then back to work for me for one day. It was a fairly significant day for me as I've been working with and supporting someone for a long time now (who will shortly be my new boss I think) to put together a programme which will centralise our training systems across site. I had a chat with him yesterday as the roll out of this new training model will begin while I'm on leave and he wanted to bring me up to speed on where it was at. So exciting times ahead for me in the months to come - with a new boss, no longer have people reporting to me (and I'm ready for a break from that) and the opportunity to increase my generalist knowledge and experience in Learning and Development. So that's a quick update - will try and update a couple of times from Bonnie Scotland. Meantime sweet ones - take care and happy new year when it comes. Love Z xx

Doggone!

Well today we've had a bit of angst and excitement that I could well have done without. I went to leave for work this morning at 7am, Bloss had come downstairs with me and opened the door to the shed to let Zanna out - and she was nowhere to be seen.

We searched the garden, I drove up and down the nearby streets but couldn't find her. We apparently had a severe thunderstorm last night - I didn't hear the thunder as we had the aircon on. Zanna is pertified of thunder and normally finds a dark corner to hide in. If we're home and I hear thunder I usually bring her up to lie beside our bed. It was still bucketing down this morning making trying to see her difficult. We then discovered that she had somehow managed to squeeze through this really small space where the fence meets the wall of the house and there's a tap there - she'd managed to turn the whole tap fitting round 90 degrees in her efforts to escape.

I had to go off to work but Bloss spent the morning walking up and down the bike track by the river opposite our house and driving around and around the nieghbourhood but couldn't see any signs.

By this time I'm sick with worry - and have phoned the local vet, the pound, the shire council dog catcher, placed an ad in the paper for Boxing day, and had an announcement made on the local radio. While at work I made up some posters and on the way home at lunchtime put them up in some of the local shops, service station etc. We live in an area which is like two towns divided by the river so I concentrated on our side of the river, thinking she wouldn't have got on to the bridge and crossed the river.

About half an hour after I got home I got a phone call from a lady who had just seen my ad in the local shopping centre. She told me that around 9.30 this morning she and a friend had been in the town over the river right down on the beach looking across at an island there which is accessible at low tide. She saw what she thought was a dingo running up and down the beach on the island as if it wanted to get off the island but couldn't as the tide was too high. She had binoculars with her and then realised it had a dark collar on and when she saw my poster of Zanna she thought it was her.

So Bloss and I hightailed it over there - and on our way down to the beach to try and get a close look over to the island we asked a young couple we passed if they had seen a big dog go past. Turns out they and and when we showed them Zanna's picture they confirmed it was her and she had passed them about 20 mins earlier (by this time it's around 2pm). So I set off walking along the beach and Bloss went by the road and we agreed to meet at the point a bit further round.

Imagine the joy and relief when I'm almost at the point when I see him and her coming along the beach towards me. He'd found her walking along the road quite unconcerned and none the worse for her experience.

So for us the difference between a happy and a sad Christmas day. I had taken the phone number of the lady who called and rung her back to express my deepest thanks for taking the trouble to call me - she didn't actually live locally - about 30 kms away.

And here she is now - just took this picture - she's absolutely knackered after wandering round the countryside for half the night and half the day. Just so thankful to have her back safe and sound.

Love Z xx

Nearly Ready

Well I'm sitting here thinking through what I've done and what I still have to do and I think I'm just about right.

Presents for everyone here - tick
Presents for everyone there - tick
Christmas cards sent - tick
Ham in the fridge - tick
Desserts organised - tick
Fruit and vegies bought - tick
Prawns ordered - tick
Suitcase packed - tick
Booze bought - tick

So no last minute rushes to the shops for me - I'm working tomorrow but should get away around lunchtime so will pick up the prawns then and that should be it. We always have a cold Christmas meal - sometimes it's at lunchtime, sometimes in the evening - with family who are shift workers you learn to move it around depending on shifts. However this year No 1 son is filling in for his boss so he's on standard day work hours - otherwise he would have been doing nightshift Christmas night so that was a bit of a bonus. Bloss is already on holiday - lucky sod, but as well as tomorrow I work Thursday before flying out first thing Friday morning.

News from Mum is finally coming good - it was all a bit worrying there for a few days. The anti coagulant they gave her before her op. worked a bit too well and when they started to operate she lost a lot of blood and her blood pressure dropped dramatically. They had to bring her up to minimum anaesthesia which in fact meant that she came to and had a quick confab with the nurses while on the operating table - rather bizarre! But she also had an epidural so no pain. She ended up having to have 6 units of blood so it's kind of knocked her around a bit. The actual op on her hip has been highly successful and she's coming good now and got home yesterday - it's still night time there so will ring in a few hours and see how she is. But there were a lot of calls back and forward from my brother and sister to me and from me to the hospital for a few days last week. I'm trying to prepare myself for a bit of a shock when I see her - it's 3 years since I last saw her and my brother and sister had warned me that she'd aged a lot in the last six months with the pain of her hip. But my sister's last email warned me that Mum had become a 'wee old lady' and that was never how you would have described Mum - so a bit of mental realigning for me!

D in L has started a new family tradition this year and is having us all round on Christmas Eve and the theme is Mexican - think No 1 son is making tacos and DiL is doing the margaritas - sound like a good fun night. Christmas morning we're having breakfast with a friend and former neighbour - been doing that for the last probably 12 years but a bit different this year since unfortunately they parted company earlier this year. However she is adamant that the tradition will continue but I think it's going to be quite tough on her. One of her sons will be home for Christmas but the other one is in London working. We'll have a lazy sort of day after that - always a bit sleepy after champagne at breakfast time! Then at night No1 son and family will come down for dinner.

I had thought that I'd need to spend Boxing day getting my packing finalised so hadn't made any plans. However as I said I'm pretty right with only a couple of last minute things to go in so who knows what we'll do - just thinking that we've a couple of movie passes we got from work so might do a movie. It's bloody hot here today - currently 32C and very humid so I'm sitting in the lounge wearing bathers and a sarong with the aircon going. Bloss has just brought the coloured fairy lights up from the pergola downstairs and draped them all around the balustrade of the deck - so they should be pretty when it gets dark.

Eating has been really quite good these past few weeks - not losing but holding steady. I've been quite good this year and decided that the calendar turning over into December wasn't an excuse to eat like a horse for the next month so have been exercising a fair bit of restraint when the Christmas goodies and treats come out.

Tarted the tart up yesterday - hairdressers first up - a fairy scissors trim since I'm growing it (my hairdresser's term), a few light foils and a colour - lovely sort of creamy blonde - really liking this colour now. Then in the afternoon visit to the beautician for waxing - legs, underarms, brazilian, lip, eyebrow. Got a new beautician as my last one has moved to Brisbane. Thought the last one was good but this one is amazing - she's got a real magical touch with the wax - she oils you first and the wax seems to come off so much easier. Then I had a quick spell in the solarium - lovely golden brown colour now - but 3 weeks of cover up in the wintry wilds of Scotland will see that disappear pretty quick.

Oh well this has all been a bit of ramble - kind of just emptied my head out to you guys - sorry it's not very exciting. Next post will be from Bonnie Scotland - unless I think of anything exciting to tell you during my 7 hour stopover in Hong Kong.

Have popped in a few photos just to make it a less boring post.


Josh complete with the goggles he wear to do his swimming lessons, and Curtis in our pool

Curtis in pensive mode


Josh helping 'Porter' (his name for Bloss) I'll tell you the story behind it sometime - with the BBQ

No 1 son and beautiful DiL - heading out to a work function

Ho Ho Ho - Merry Christmas to you all
Love Z xx

Merry Christmas Everyone

To all my Blogging Besties, their Blogger Companions and their little Budding Bloggers and also to all those who just pop in briefly for a read

Wishing you all a wonderful Happy Christmas and hoping that 2008 has many magical things in store for you all.

Love and hugs

Zanna

xx

Counting down!

Well I'm counting down the days to Christmas - and they're going too fast - still not quite organised but gradually getting there, and of course counting down the days till I leave for Scotland - two weeks today. Mum has her op. today - spoke to her last night and she was feeling pretty positive about it all - so just hoping everything goes smoothly. I'll ring my brother or sister first thing tomorrow morning which will be tonight there and they'll be able to tell me how it all went. She doesn't want anyone to visit tonight as she doesn't 'do' anaesthetic very well and is likely to still feel pretty crummy. Busy weekend ahead - got a work do tonight for Bloss's (real name Craig!!!) team - champagne and nibbles outdoors at a local artists colony, then tomorrow night a dinner with my team - to welcome a couple of new people to the team and farewell one who has had a promotion. I've had a great week since I got back from New Zealand - have left the grog alone, and been quite sparing with the points and dropped 1.4kgs (though must be totally honest here and say that 1kg of that was the 1kg gained as a result of gadding round NZ). But good to get shot of it so promptly and a little bit more besides. Will try to keep the focus on for the next week and get a few more grammes shifted. Had my work performance review yesterday - first one with this boss - I'd worked with my previous boss for 7 years and we had a bit of a mutual admiration society going! Anyway seems like I've managed to impress this one too - nothing but positive comments and very keen to help me develop further and move up the ladder. There's some work happening at the moment on a company wide basis which will impact on the role I have now and will hopefully result in a slight change of direction which in turn should set me up for a step up in a year or 18 months if I want. So as the saying goes I'll suck it and see - actually quite excited about it all - have been in my present role for almost 5 years and whilst very comfortable doing what I do, I guess I feel I'm starting to become a bit stale and I'm ready to head off into a fresh paddock! So 2008 could be an exciting year for me. I can't see there being too much travel - I need to conserve some holidays - so we'll probably just plan for 10 days or so somewhere around June/July. It's Bloss's turn to pick a destination so we'll see what he comes up with. Other news - have got my trip to London to catch up with my old school friend all booked. Going to fly down Sunday afternoon 6 January and back again Tuesday 8 January. So will catch up with him, but also have the Monday free in London - so might manage a spot of retail therapy - maybe catch up with Amy and wondering if Phil's back in London - and if she'd be interested in meeting. Maybe some of you who are in touch could see if she's interested. I've only ever been a lurker on Phil's earlier blog when it was open, and then an avid reader on her travel blog so she probably has no idea who I am. All right guys that's the news from me this week - should manage a quick post before Christmas. Till then take care Love Z xx

Getting good at this now!

I'm becoming a regular blogger meeter - last night we met up with Lee-Anne and Col while we were in Rotorua. It took me nearly all day to make contact as I had one of those crazy days with my mobile - first up I left it lying on the bed in the motel in Palmerston North (fortunately discovered it was missing before we'd gone more than a kilometer up the road), then when I went to send a thank you text to Chris I discover I've run out of credits - drrrr especially since I had bought $20 credit but for some reason it hadn't been added to my account. So then thought I'd use Bloss's phone but guess what - he had forgotten to charge it and the battery was flat as a bloody pancake! So I ended up finally phoning Lee-Anne from a public phone booth in Taupo. But we triumphed in the end. Lee-Anne and Col came round to our motel armed with a bottle of that delish NZ Sauvy Blanc then we all headed off to a nice restaurant for dinner. Once again we got on like the proverbial house on fire and it was natter, natter, natter all night.

Bloss has now become a fully qualified Blogger Companion. It's lucky he's just as chatty as I am and is happy to meet and chat to both bloggers and their companions.

We're now back in Auckland staying with our friends there and fly home tomorrow early afternoon - but the nice thing is that I don't go back to work till Monday. And then last night when I was doing my usual wideawake thing in the wee small hours, I realised it's only just over 3 weeks till I leave for Scotland. Far out I'm going to have to go like a wee train when I get home to get myself organised for Christmas and then all sorted out and packed plus of course go to work too!!

Anyway must away - have just been handed a large Coke Zero (with just a tiny splash of Bourbon).

Here's a couple of photos from last night:


The Blogger Companions - Col and Craig

Col and Lee-Anne

Bloss and I

Lee-Anne and I

All right kiwis, possums and others - have a good week. I apologise for not commenting much lately - a bit pushed for time so have been doing a quick read to keep up with your news on Bloglines but haven't been taking the time to open up and comment but I"ll try to do better next week.

Take care

Love Z xx

Grown Up Blogger Now

Well folks it's official - I'm no longer one of those people who has never met a fellow blogger in person. Last night I lost my innocence to Chris and Anne!!!! We had a fantastic night although both Chris and I admitted to having had a few nerves during the day - don't know about Anne - I forgot to ask her! But it only took a couple of minutes and we were chattering away non stop. As she says on her post today I caused a bit of confusion with the names - while I admitted that I was really an Anne not a Zanna, I forgot to tell her that Bloss is only my nickname for Craig so we had a bit of a giggle about that. Craig and Peter (Anne's husband)were excellent blogger companions and cooked tea on the BBQ for us - poor Stew missed all the shenanigans as he had to be in Auckland this week. And that tea - oh my gosh - it was awesome and I think Chris's family will be dining like kings for the rest of the week! So thankyou so much to you both Chris and Anne for giving us such a wonderful welcome and hope that we can do the same for each of you in Central Queensland some time.

And now a few photos :


Craig and I at the 60th Birthday party - the real reason for this trip to NZ

Chris, Anne and I


This one is specially for Julie who told me I had to make sure I gave Anne a big hug from her. So like a good girl I did what I was told.

Now some of us have seen photos of Chris's paintings - but did you know that she does pottery creation and painting. Here she is with one of her creations



And look at this lucky lady who got an early Christmas present. Thanks so much Chris.

And now fast forward to tonight, we've not long arrived in Rotorua - just spoken to Lee-Anne (private) and planning to meet up with her and Col in a hour or two for a couple of wee sauvignon blancs. More to come!