On this cold Saturday morning...

So it's been a while. I've had writer's block, I guess. Or maybe it's that I haven't had anything interesting to say.

I just had a good little Facebook messenger chat with my lovely friend Colleen. Colleen remembers me when I was a crazy scary angry hippy in high school, and still loves me. Now she is going to design the flowers for my wedding! I love Colleen! She reminded me that sometimes I am funny and when I write blogs, she enjoys them. So here's to you, Colleen!

It's winter here in New Zealand and I would be flat out lying if I said I was okay with that. I hate NZ winters, especially in Auckland. It is cold and wet. No snow, no fun things that go along with snow (snow men, snow angels, snow FORTS!!!! Snow forts are the BEST EVER!!!! Especially when Dad builds them. My dear old dad has a tremendous ability when it comes to constructing snow forts). Along with winter comes sickness, and I have been afflicted far moreso than usual this year. First, it was a nasty head cold about a month ago, and now it's bronchitis. I've been in this house since Wednesday night and I'm OVER IT. Also I'm feeling better, so I'm ready to go do something other than wear my jammies, read books in bed and drink tea. When I am well, nothing sounds better than to do these things...but somehow, coughing, sneezing, wheezing and having to get up every few hours to take more medicine and go to the loo doesn't make it all that much fun. Now my dearly beloved Bob is sick as well, and so is Mr. Isaac. Nothing on this earth is more miserable than a man with Man Flu. I'm blessed enough to have two such creatures in my home at the moment, which is why I've renamed my house "The Wheturangi Ward."

To make winter all the more unbearable, the neighbor's cat has taken a liking to us. He is a beautiful kitty with soft white and gray fur, big blue eyes, and an intoxicating purr. He sits at the top of our driveway and follows us to our front door, hoping to sneak in. He sits on our back porch and looks up at us with his enchanting eyes and bids us to pick him up and take him inside. He purrs and rubs up against our legs. Why, you may ask, does this make winter more unbearable? Because I think there would be nothing better than to be curled up on the couch with a nice warm kitty in my lap on a cold day. I miss having pets. We have two lovely fish, Pirate and Wench, but they are not exactly cuddly. Holding a cold goldfish in your lap while watching TV on a rainy Auckland Saturday just doesn't have the same appeal as cuddling a kitty. No, not at all. Plus, were I to try that, I would kill the fish, and then I would have guilt. Not cool.

The other thing that has been occupying my mind at present is, of course, the weddings. My battle at the moment is with gift registries. Because the cost of shipping things from the US to NZ is quite prohibitive, we will not be registering at Target. Yes, this makes me infinitely sad, but alas. We had plans to register at Briscoes here in NZ. Briscoes is kind of like...um...Bed, Bath and Beyond? Sort of. It has everything you need for your home, at reasonable prices. To my horror and dismay, they don't offer an online registry! You actually have to go instore to buy gifts. This is all well and good for the NZers because there are Briscoes stores scattered everywhere across the country. But what about the US guests? So, I went to the websites for some other shops and found that they had online registries. The trouble is that these shops are very expensive. I'm not kidding...$499 for a toaster! It had better be a magic, intuitive toaster that can accurately predict when I am likely to want toast, will go to the shop to get bread, butter and jam, and will have the toast all buttered and jammed for me exactly when I want it. Now we do need a toaster, but I can't imagine asking someone to fork out $499 for one as a wedding gift. That's just plain crazy if you ask me! NZ is a great place, but sometimes compared to the States, it lags behind a bit. I know, I moved to another country and I need to accept that it is not going to be the same as my homeland, but seriously...NZ has internet! NZers have the ability to purchase things online! NZers have weddings! How hard is it to set up an online wedding gift registry?????

That's about all I have to rant about at the moment. Winter, Cats, Wedding Registries. Random enough for you?