Thanksgivanukah

It is the holiday time of year! This week it was Mike's 35 th day on Monday. The first night of Hanukkah was last night, and the kids were super excited. Tonight is our Thanksgiving, and second night of Hanukkah. We have been cleaning a ton, because our housing inspection is on Monday morning. So, I expect 13 guests for dinner tonight at 6:15. Should be awesome! I made a roast chicken ( size 30), and three pumpkin pies. Making pie in NZ takes a while, since you need to roast the pumpkins first. In America, there is canned pumpkin. In NZ, you get to scoop out seeds and cook your own pumpkin. The American Club of Christchurch called me this week to ask me to cook their super expensive 9 kg (20 lb) turkey for the Sat luncheon party. Sure! So now my plan is to cook that turkey all day Friday - 9 hours. Hopefully, I won't get called in to be a reliever Friday. Otherwise, I will have to cook it after school til midnight. Super beast of a bird! I am also excited to be going to Hamner Springs this weekend with Marie, Vicky, and Anna for a girls' spa weekend. Fun times at the Fried household.

My Thanksgiving Chicken

Last year, I missed MA terribly, so I went all out to search for a NZ turkey for Thanksgiving. I was successful, but at a cost of $85 for a 12 lb bird. Here it is! This year, my Thanksgiving will feature a local NZ raised chicken, size 20 or 30, for dinner to share with friends. I have seen these on sale for 17-20 dollars. However, I did go to the international grocer in the Restart mall and get 3 boxes of stuffing mix. Traditional box mix is the way to go. No chance for cranberry sauce, alas. My MA friends back in the states will have to eat an extra gelping for those of us that live far from the cranberry bogs of the east coast.

Rental House Inspection Woes

We have been living in our rental house for three months, so yesterday the property manager came by to inspect the property. She emailed me 3 days prior, so I vacuumed, mowed the lawn, did some dishes, and pulled a few weeds. This is howI would get ready for guests to come to the house to visit.Passable, I thought. Wrong! I failed my house inspection. My yard and house have been declared too untidy, so I now have 2 weeks to bring in a crew to hedge the lawns, steam clean the carpet, and deep clean the house. "I don't need it to be immaculate like the Queen is visiting, but I expect it to be way more tidy than this. I am not impressed." This was the follow up call from the rental manager. Sigh... Things like this make me frustrated. I have seen many houses before that would also qualify as "Untidy"to this high standard. Hopefully the incoming lawn and home cleaners can bring it up to Kiwi standards of sparkling clean and tidy. I need some professional lawn care and home care people to help me in this domestic department. Kiwis are just a bit better domestically than I am. I have hit my limit of cleaning and lawn care. This American living in NZ needs to call in the pros to get it sparkling clean. Clean enough for the Queen to visit. Otherwise, we will have to go to the Tenancy Tribunal. Yikes! I simply cannot move another time this year. I am all burned out from moving.