December

I honestly have no idea where December went.  I know I was there, but it seems to have slipped me by completely.

It has been ridiculously busy here.  It began rather promising with a job interview, and I was convinced they were going to offer me the job until -- they didn't.  They declined to give a reason.  Then all of New Zealand shut down for Christmas.

Which honestly was just as well, because we decided to move.  Without getting into specifics, we decided that rather than trying to sell this house and buy another one in town, we'd rent for a year.  Of course, that was before we realised how expensive it would be to rent a four bedroom house in town...

Whenever the kids were with their dad, we went into the city and looked at homes.  Quite a few were just depressing.  We did see one we liked -- it had just been completely refurbished -- but the "fourth bedroom" wasn't large enough to hold a bed.  We spent a week trying to figure out how to make it work, but finally had to abandon it.  Then we saw a large five bedroom house in an ideal location that was completely out of our price range, but many people in New Zealand "host" international students (i.e. rent a room for the term) which would have made the house affordable.  We immediately submitted an application, and five days later were told...someone else had pipped us to the post.

Christmas was also in December, but if I had trouble getting into the "winter spirit" in Los Angeles, you can imagine what it's like south of the equator, when you spend the day at the beach and the sun sets at 9pm.  In addition, most of the people I know here are Jewish, so it wasn't a big deal.  On Christmas eve we were supposed to have Chinese food with members of the synagogue, but I wrote down the wrong time and so we completely missed it.  The kids were with their dad on Christmas so we got together with family on Boxing Day...and had a picnic outside.  (We also took advantage of the after-Christmas sales to buy new furnishings for the house we don't have.)

We also emptied the garage and loft, which has been tricky because kids are natural hoarders, and if they saw anything -- particularly something they haven't played with for years -- they still want to keep it.  I sold a dozen DVDs and when I went to ship them, there were only 10 -- the fourteen-year-old had made off with the Barbie and Bratz videos!  While the kids were in school this wasn't an issue but when they were home on holidays, we were like drug dealers -- cars would pull up in the driveway, there would be a furtive exchange of cash and goods, and they would pull away.  For larger items, one of us would distract the kids whilst the other completed the sale.  However, we managed to get rid of seven bicycles, a rabbit hutch, a swing set, a piano, a TV and a refrigerator without them noticing.

But there is no rest for the weary, I'm afraid.  House hunting is starting over, again, and I should mention we need to move by the end of January so the kids can enrol in their new schools!  I will have to remind all the agencies that I'm still looking for work, and hopefully will have a few more interviews.  And of course as soon as we move, we need to get the old house ready for sale, so it will be mid-February before we get a break...and by then I hope to be working!

I wish everyone a belated Christmas and New year, and a happy 2015.