Monday 29th November 2010

What a fabulous weekend we have just had - I even got a little colour on my shoulders - YAY!
I LOVE the sun, and can't wait until we go to Sydney in just 24 more sleeps!  WOOHOO!

Our plans for the end of our holiday have been thrown in to disarray a little.....
Our holiday runs from Dec 23rd through until Jan 10th.  19 days away.
We had planned on flying in to Sydney, spending most of the time at Steph's place, then flying up to Brisbane for a few days and flying home from there.
Jeremy's best mate (James) and his family moved there at the beginning of this year, and we were going to be staying with them.
Well..... that was when we thought we wouldn't be seeing them at all for a year or two!
When we booked our tickets, they gave us the go ahead, said everything was hunky dory.
Now I know that things happen, and that at times we have no control over these things, and that has certainly happened here....
James' mum got sick a few months ago, so he came over for a week.
Then just last week she passed away, so they are back again, staying for a couple of weeks.
Totally understandable - I can 100% accept that.
BUT........ the thing that annoys me, is the fact that they are also coming back to NZ in early February for a wedding (and they have only just decided to do that)
Plus, James's Mother In Law is going to stay for a month (starting 15th December) with them, and will be there when we are supposed to be there.
OK, so no issues really, apart from the fact that they have ONE spare room, with ONE spare bed!!!
AND..... I also found out that part of the reason for her going to stay, is because Jo (James's wife) is going away with her church group for a few days - WHEN WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE STAYING WITH THEM!!!!!
Does anyone else find that really really rude??
To organise to have people stay, then invite others, and also go away at the same time??

Another bummer is, the fact that when we booked our tickets (what seems like a hundred years ago), Jeremy was still working at his old job, and the leave was not an issue.
It's not really an issue with his new job either, except that he is expected to be back at work on Tuesday the 11th at 7am.  
Our flight only gets in to Wellington airport at Midnight on Monday, so by the time we get through customs and get home, it will be at least 2am!
then he has to get up and go to work a few hours later.

Anyway...... once we found out all of this, we decided to not bother going to Brisbane at all, and change our tickets to fly out of Sydney a couple of days earlier, so that we could get home and have a day or two to relax before Jeremy heads back to work.
BUT..... to do that is going to cost an EXTRA $770.10!  
The tickets were already close to $2000 as it is!
I was amazed to find out how much it would cost to change the tickets, so now we are pretty much back to square one!
The only option we have, is to either spend the extra money on changing flights (which will cut a big chunk of our holiday spending money out), or to fly up to Brisbane on the afternoon of the 10th, hang around the airport for a few hours, and then catch our original flight back home.
Which will "only" cost around $400AUD.
But of course it means that we still get in to Wellington at midnight on Monday, and Jeremy still has to go to work at 7am on Tuesday!
And of course $400AUD is still a big chunk of our spending money!
ARGH!!!!
Stupid Air New Zealand i say :(
OK enough of that now....

Rhian has been with her dad all week, so she comes back to our place today - I can't wait!
I've missed her like crazy and can't wait to see her!
I know I say this all the time, but she is such a cool wee kid, and she is just so loving and kind!
It's great to know that she is growing up in to such a well mannered and conscientious child.
I love her to bits and I just know that she is going to be a brilliant big sister to Baby Bob!

My eyes are struggling to stay open today already!
It's been a busy weekend, and a few late nights with definitely not enough sleep!
Friday night we didn't get in until 3am!!!
After James's mums funeral, we both had to go back to work, then had a dinner and quiz night previously organised that we couldn't get out of, so couldn't catch up with James and the family until after that - which turned out to be about 10pm!
Of course, they were all still going, and after a few hours of talking and catching up, the boys decided that they would head out to a bar.
I didn't go, instead I offered to "sober drive" some people home, then go back to the bar and collect the others.
So, like I said, by the time we got home and in to bed, it was 3am!
Far far far too late for this Nana!
Got a bit of a sleep in on Saturday morning, but the weather was so brilliant I didn't want to waste any time, so was up and out by 9am.
Finally got home at about 3pm, and then just pottered around for the rest of the day.
Then, at about 7pm, we realised there was music coming from BOTH sides of our house, and it turns out that both sets of our immediate neighbours were having parties!
The young kids on one side were out on the deck which is just a few metres away from our bedroom window, and man oh man were they loud!!!
Lots of laughing and swearing and singing and yelling......  I had to turn the TV up just to hear over the noise.
Jeremy managed to get to sleep, but then again, he can sleep through anything!
They finally gave up and headed off in to town to hit the clubs (I know this cos they were yelling about it at the tops of their lungs, then revving the crap out of their cars when they left!!)
YAY - peace............
NOT!!!
The neighbours on the other side were still going, and we got to hear their "doof doof doof" music once the young kids on the other side had gone!
I finally managed to get to doze off, only to be woken again at 3.20am when Bella started barking,  to find them and their terrible music STILL going!
No idea what time they finally gave up, but when we got up at 9am, there was no sign of movement on either side of our fences!
I managed to have a wee bit of a nap on Sunday afternoon for about an hour, but that didn't really do much at all.....
Then do you think I could sleep last night??
Bella found lots of things to bark at, and pretty much drove us both mental all night.....
I think it was because I left some of the small windows open through the house due to the heat, and of course that meant you could hear more noise from outside.
Pretty sure that was probably what she was barking at, cos each time one of us got up, there was nothing there at all!
FRUSTRATING!!!
So, this morning, I am feeling very very much worse for wear, and all I want to do is close my eyes and go to sleep!
Doesn't help that I don't have much to do today, and am already struggling to find stuff to keep me busy.

Hmmmmm..... I ramble on and on don't I?

I'll sign off now, cos I've probably bored everyone to tears!