Monday 4th January - all ready for visitors tomorrow and a delicious dinner

Wow! That was a busy few days, but we have achieved so much. When things get so messy as they had done it does tend to get you down a bit. I'm by no means a compulsive cleaner but I do like things to be in some kind of order, and I don't think it's too much to ask that if you've used something you put it back where you got it from, and for Pete's sake don't leave things lying around on the floor..oh and one more gripe DON'T get me started on a mans inability to put a new loo roll on the holder when the old one has run out! It should be made a compulsory skill to learn before leaving school!
But we'll leave that there for today, that's a whole new blog post! :D
So we've decluttered, reoganised and cleaned, inside and out. And it feels so good, it's amazing how motivated you can get when you're expecting visitors!! There are just a couple of jobs I need to do tomorrow, I need to do some baking, the Christmas supply has run out, it lasted very well. Once I've finished in the kitchen I need to sweep and mop the floor. The shower in the main bathroom has been sprayed with cleaner and awaits the next person who showers to finish it off. And then I can relax and wait for Joe to come home from work to collect me as I want to go with him to pick our friends up from the bus depot in Hamilton.
It was such a nice surprise when the phone rang a week before Christmas, it was our neighbours from the UK who are back in NZ visiting family and friends, they looked us up and are coming tomorrow for a couple of days. We're really quite excited about it as we have a lot in common, we all like to pull houses apart and put them back together again. So pretty mad, much like us.
It rained in the night and for most of the morning but it cleared in the afternoon and Joe was able to finish cutting the grass, he also tidied the garage. I would think he's looking forward to going back to work tomorrow for a rest!
Dinner tonight was a variation of the spicy kebab recipe here

Potatoes from the garden, diced and tossed in olive oil, finely chopped elephant garlic(also from the garden)sprinkled with dried mixed herbs and some sea salt and roasted in a hot oven

This was served with a fresh pea salad(from the garden, microwaved for a couple of mins) tossed into lettuce leaves, cucumber and tomatoes and a mint balsamic vinegar dressing

And I remembered to put the tabasco sauce on the patties this time!

See you all tomorrow, I've got a big bowl of strawberries and ice-cream to get through now!