Bed For Sale! Make us an offer!!

Zed and I have a queen size bed that we need to get rid of so we can convert the downstairs bedroom back to a useable space for the teenage boys.

I'm afraid I cant give this bed away (as much as I would love to!) as I have to recoup costs from having zeds parents stay.

So its a queen size slat bed with very comfy pillowtop mattress. This bed is probably medium to soft. Solid wood frame.

This bed cost $1455 new as we upgraded to a high quality mattress.

Only used as a guest bed for 3 months so its still in tip top condition.

So make us an offer! or it goes on trademe! Horrors!

Malls

The Glenfield mall really is quite dismal. All malls are to some extent, but Glenfield mall really is depressing. A huge monolith painted industrial non yellow-yellow that could almost be a colour if you squinted. At least it was appropriate to my mood, after a dismal day at work where better to go and console oneself with blatant consumerism than the soul sucking edifice of the mall. Inside is no better, beige, bland, beige lack of light and full of people just as sad looking as me. A multitude of stores selling nothing I need or want inducing an hour long search for something to buy to make working for a living seem all worthwhile.
But alas, I leave with only chocolate in hand and head off home to eat my feelings. I must have an awful lot of feelings.

I'll put that down to being a passionate person.

more on the old days....

People were not just frugal during the depression, it carried on a lot longer. My mum was a child of the sixties and she emailed me a few memories of the lifestyle they had growing up. It bought a smile to my face so I had to post it ;-)

I read your blog the other day and what a great discussion Harley and I had....we were remembering how our parents saved paper, strings, rubber bands, butter wrappers were reused to line cake tins, jars, bottles, no jersey was given away it was passed on to the next kid and after that the jersey was unpicked wound into a balls till they had enough to knit up something else, all clothes were recycled....had no spray and wipe, oven cleaners etc just good ole vinegar and baking soda...the local tip to the men was the equivalent of Bunning's..the paper was saved for sending parcels, the string to wrap them up in..sellotape was far to expensive......knitting is now a persons hobby and why bother when u can go to the warehouse and buy something for under 40 dollars. Sewing is a hobby, but so glad I have those skills under my belt. Of course gardening was a main stay and alot of bartering went on. there was also alot of sharing,.....just thinking about those times brings a smile to my face, I remember grandma, mum and I driving out to taheke to pick blackberries and wild apples, next day would be pie, jam,jelly applesauce making, wonderful times, and if you are doing it with people you love its so not a chore.....the freezer was your friend, mum and grandma always grew enough for the table and enough to freeze till next season....

Marathon Madness

My co-workers are all signing up to run the Auckland marthon, well half of it anyway. The thought of running 21kms scares me. But the thrill of running over the harbour bridge might be worth it.
I've done running before, but the best I ever did was a steady 5km.

There are more than 20 weeks to train in, so they might yet twist my arm. HA!

all your bases are belong to us

We don't know how to live in a recession.

My generation is more likely to rack up $6000 in credit card debt rather than live frugally during a recession. Acess to credit is easy and ubiquitous. So why go with out when you can just put it on the credit card.
The skills of living within your means and thrift have long gone. We grew up in times of plenty. We got all the gadgets that we wanted and now expect to have the latest HD widescreen LCD home theatre HD DVD when we want it and all on store credit (but interest free for the first twelve months!).
I imagine most of them live paycheck to paycheck and don't know where all there money goes. Low levels of savings and investment are probably the norm.
If we are really going to be hit with a recession, some of us will get into big trouble. Young people, quick, find an old person who has lived through a recession!!! Old people, educate the youngins!
Not that I think we are heading towards a major recession anyway. There are still plenty of jobs, sure things cost more and we will be seeing a lot more mortgage stress but it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Getting dumber all the time

Recent articles have suggested that having a mundane job makes you stupid.

Every week, I feel a bit dumber. I find myself unable to construct sentences and struggle to find words that I swear were in my vocabulary a few years ago.

It really hit home when I was cleaning out my CV folder. Man, I used to write the most erudite application letters ever! I was like some kind of job applying genius. This was of course in the first month or so after finishing university. Studying really made me smart.

Now boring conferences and B.S. 3 day "quality management" courses (that do little more than teach jargon and blame) have left me a shell of my former educated self.