When did my boys grow up?

Today is Fortnum and Mason's 9 month birthday. It's hard to believe that they've been part of our household for over 6 months now. I can hardly remember what life was like before the bassets came along.

A quick review of the basset pics shows just how much they've grow from those cute bundles of mischief into the lolloping hounds who lounge around the house creating havoc and upset.

It's fair to say it's been a learning curve, some of which I'd rather consign to my memory banks not to be resurrected again.

One thing is for sure, they've gone through beds like children go through shoes. Just when you think they've got the size to fit they wake up the next morning and don't fit any more. They started on a small cushion that fitted them both then progressed gradually to their enormous size day bed that they love to curl up in. That's of course when their not blowing hot air onto my ankles under desk in Domestic Executive HQ.

As they've grown they've kept their cheeky faces but their habits get more disgusting all the time. Can't wait till they start slobbering as mature boys. It's bad enough at the moment when they've had a quick drink and then want to share the excess by shaking their heads.

Still every day they make my heart melt in some way. Today it was Fortnum bounding across the grass at Tunnel Gulley when we were out for their walk. Also when Mason stuck out his lizard like basset tongue to since he'd obviously decided it was time my face needed another wash. Oh gross. I know where he puts that tongue!!

I wish they hadn't grown up so much it would be so handy just to scoop them up like we could when they first arrive. I'm afraid I'm not that strong to lift dead weights of over 30kg - regardless of the waratah bashing training done this weekend!

Tale of two slippers (part two)

After the arm aching efforts in the garden I was pleased to have some comfort on my feet this weekend. On Saturday my lovely slippers finally arrived from their long journey from the USA.

Regular bloggers will recall how the Tale of Two Slippers started. New readers can catch up here.

It's fair to say that online shopping in the US and shipping to NZ was a bit of an experiment to see if the system worked. I'm pleased to say it does but takes rather longer than you might imagine and doesn't necessarily save you hoards of money.

Fortuantly the slippers themselves were a bargain and it was free shipping in the US. When you add the shipping costs they came out about the same cost if I'd had someone buy them for me in the UK and post them out. At least this way it saved my family and friends from slipper shopping.

Now I have my new Acorns I'm seriously thinking of starting NZ import. I can't believe there aren't kiwis out there who'd like a lovely pair of stylish feet warmers for these winter days and nights.

Fortnum and Mason think that they are really cool. Well actually nice and soft and warm. Idea for them to rest their heads on under the DE desk and snooze a litte. Since Fortnum dribbled on one when sleeping I'm keeping the bassets off my cosy slippers in future!



Would I do it again? Where slippers are concerned, oh yes indeedee! A girl must have her creature comforts! And, I'm sure for those other specialist items you either can't get or are so expensive here in New Zealand.

All for this!

Today was quite a big day - our residency approval in principle came through. All we need now is a new stamp in our passports and pay our migrant levy and we are home and dry.

We're celebrating with fush n chups and champagne. Hmm.. what a combination!

I took this picture from one of the walks with the dogs this week. It's Kaitoke looking towards the Rimutakas. Not a bad view and probably sums up for me what coming to New Zealand is all about. Being able to walk my bassets in the middle of the day in the middle of nowhere.

It's not everyone's cuppa but you need a compelling reason to live 12,000 miles away from family and friends and this is it for me.

It's been an Executive Day today and theme today has been "stress". I'm relieved to tell you this has been other people's not mine - although it was a bit of a stretch getting back in time to get the bassets from their pet angel!

I've got a "hotspot" about stress. This is coaching jargon for a subject matter that you have deep experience of and you can be prone to not being objective about. Stress is one of those things that I have to take care that I maintain a healthy objectivity about for my coaching clients since occupational stress is something I know a bit about.

That awful knot in your neck that won't go away. The annoying boss that says - let's look at your priorities or what else can I do to help. That screaming feeling in your head that shouts Ahhhhhhhhh! And then you feel better, for about five seconds.

Some people say that stress is a modern phenomena and in the old days people just got on with things and didn't get stressed. I'm not sure about that. I reckon that there are higher expectations upon people to do more and more and more and this brings with it pressure to achieve and perform that didn't exist previously. Or maybe we just expect more of ourselves than we used.

I want to know what happened to the society of leisure that was predicted in the 1980's that led me to take my undergraduate degree in leisure studies (aka a degree in throwing, running and catching). Back then we were suposed to start to have more free time and start enjoying life more. That certainly wouldn't have been a stressful life!

Now I am a Domestic Executive I count my blessings each day. Yes I too have pressure to meet my own expectations (and those others I share a home with) but it's nothing like having to deal with the consequences of other people's actions day in and day out, feeling the pressure build and have no way out.

My secret for dealing with stress is quite simple - come home to two basset hounds who wag their tails and smile their basset smile to show they are pleased to see you. Regardless of what may have been happening before you see this it melts away in moments and you can see that life can be sweet. I wonder whether I should be taking Fortnum and Mason to my coaching sessions as my secret weapon against stress?

It work's!

Today was a ceremonial milestone for MT. The Telecom Chief Executive had a photocall to prove to the world that the new network is working

"loud and clear!"

It will be good when the darn thing is up and running proper as it will then mean MT can then relax a little more. Aside from building new networks there are other things to be doing at DE hq. Painting the new fence for instance.

Talking of paint, I had to take out a second mortgage today to pay for the fence paint. I paid $100 for 4 litres which seemed really extreme. This is one of many things that the size and remoteness of New Zealand increases the costs of things that you otherwise take for granted. Cheese is the other thing that I find expensive which is surprising for a country with an economy driven by the dairy industry.

Domestic Executive Wardrobe

Becoming a domestic executive has been a reality I've dreamed about for a very long time. It was the house in the country, the bassets, chickens, home grown veg and some useful paid work to keep me in the domestic executive lifestyle.

What I didn't contemplate too hard in this scenario was what a Domestic Executive wardrobe would consist of. Clearly I don't need my executive suits (well only occasionally) and stuff to wear around home needed to be practical and basset proof. So what does the well dressed domestic executive wear?

Well to be honest whatever I've been wearing lately I do a pretty good impression of a bag lady that carries her chattels in a supermarket trolley. It's not that I don't have nice stuff to wear it's just that it's about 3 sizes too big. Over time this has got me more depressed than the time when my clothes got too small for me.

At first I thought this was OK because I was just at home with the dogs and the chickens but just lately I've realised that this physical appearance was starting to bug me, in short I just didn't feel good. Since I'm no longer the "big bird" MT so affectionately calls me I thought it was time to take things in hand and transform my DE wardrobe.

So armed with my trusty friend to steer me through the Wellington shopping experience we prioritised the domestic look today. After a few false starts I'm now re-equipped with new jeans, tees and woolies to last me for some time to come.

I think I must be getting old though, I just don't have the patience for shopping any more. When I saw something I liked, it fitted and wasn't going to break the bank, I had these urges to buy it in all available colours.

Anyway, don't tell MT, it's one of those shopping trips when you need to bring things out over time and when asked "is that new?" you can mutter "oh no, something I've had for a while" which will of course be true (well almost!).

I won't trouble you with a picture of me modeling my new look. Let's just say I'm a mousy brown version of this girl and dazzling the bassets and the chickens with my new look!

Yeah right!

Domestic Executive Hands

One of the down sides of being a Domestic Executive is that it plays havoc with your hands. Despite intensive treatments - Burt's Bees Intensive Cream (thanks Tara), Vaseline Intensive Care Cream (thanks Boots!) and Nivea cream - I've still got hands like sandpaper.

I know you're suposed to wear rubber gloves for housework, and I do, but it's just not practical all the time and they are not that comfortable. Combine housework with handwashing after dogs, chickens, gardening and DIY and it makes for a constant battering to my poor mitts.

When you add a bit of gorse harvesting to the mix it's fair to say that handshaking a domestic executive is not a pleasant thing (for the clients that is!).

With sore hands and pesistent rain I'm staying indoors for some gentle domestic executive duties today. The gorse, fencing, compost boxes and shovelling the top soil is just going to have to wait for another day.

Tale of two slippers

As the floors get colder this Domestic Executive needs her slippers to keep her tootsies warm and toastie. My preferred slipper is an Acorn Moc, just like the one in the picture. Now Acorn slippers are not just any slipper but famous because they've been worn by astronauts in space and also Tenzing Norgay has worn them on Everest. Acorn has a mission to creat Comfort on Earth. It's true these slippers are the most comfortable I've ever worn.

I am wearing my second pair bought just before I left the UK. As you can imagine that after all this time they are starting to look to retirement to the home for worn out comfy slippers. Simple I thought just go and buy a new pair. Yeah, right!

My normal supplier of Acorn slippers is a small shop in Oxford covered market. Now clearly a trip back for slippers is not feasible (although an attractive prospect if I could pick up some gob burner and oxford blue cheese and perhaps a steak and blue cheese pasty too). In this age of global shopping I though bound to be able to get them on-line. Yeah, right!

Seems that UK on-line retailers don't stock my beloved Acorns so I turned to suppliers in the US who unsurprisingly seem to shut their borders to sending things overseas to New Zealand. After getting thoroughly depressed at the thought of never replacing my Acorns I came upon a new idea www.buyusa.co.nz. This is a mail forwarding company that allows you to set up a mail box in the US - Idaho in fact. They will then receive any goods you've purchased and forward them to you in New Zealand. For a fee of course.

It all sounds slightly dodgy but it's a bone fide system. There are other companies that use a similar mail forwarding approach - www.accessusa.com is another. So I've registered, got my mail box and ordered my slippers. I know that they've been shipped from the supplier just now waiting for their delivery and onward forwarding.

If this actually works I'll be the proud owner of a new pair of slippers in time for full blown winter. It also opens up all sorts of retail opportunities on-line previously prevented. As long as we can get around the second barrier of US e-retailing in that lots of companies won't accept a non US addressed credit card. Can you believe it, they won't take my money! Still, you can use paypal or just shop with sensible retailers.

I'll keep you posted about the tale of my two slippers. I know you're dying to know the end of this story!

The land and house that never was

Loyal blogger readers will remember that our house building dreams haven't entirely run a smooth course. For new readers, here's the crux of our story.

Anyway, we were out yesterday with the bassets walking the Rimutaka Incline Trail which is a recreational path that follows the line of the old Rimutaka Train Line. Lo and behold as we doodled along and opening in the hedge gave us full sight of the land we were going to buy but never did.

Little did we know at the time that there was a perfect viewing point straight onto the land (and possibly our bathroom) had we proceeded with our intended plans. It was interesting to see how the land has developed.

Funny how life turns out - although this is still a beautiful spot I reckon we did get some luck with the land we now have and the home we've built.

Access road to flat land (plot 7, we were going to buy)

The bridge that has been the cause of much environmental strife

Dead ahead is the building platform that never was with the paddocks on the low lying area

How can I stop feeling like a murderer?

You'll remember we've been having a few mouse problems. I followed the advice available from friends and the internet and my mouse catching tally has increased to 4.

You'd think I'd be pleased. But every time I pick up a shut mouse trap with a little nose or tail sticking out I feel terrible.

It also turns out that the nasty smell in Domestic Executive HQ was not some naughty puppy but a mouse that decided to die behind my pencil drawer.

All this reminds me of the mice we used to have living in our house in the UK. They used to run in the roof space over the ceiling in our bedroom stopping only to climb up and down the roof joists. It was quite comical when I think about it now but those nocturnal gymnastics didn't seem so funny at the time. Those playful mice were also responsible for chewing through our house wiring which resulted in a lot of hassle and expense to fix the damage from their chewing.

I really do feel bad but can't find any of those humane mouse traps that we could release back into the field. But even if we could I realise that we're putting at risk our highly sensitive indoor wiring that has become a lifeline to the rest of the world though the internet.

So what can I do to feel less like a murderer? All suggestions gratefully received.

Where has the autumn gone?

I know that my blog readers believe all I say but today I felt it was important to supplement with some evidence just incase there was any chance of confusion, doubt or ambiguity.

It is officially cold!

Minus one when I got up this morning at 6am, two degrees colder than when I went to bed. This is the solar thermometer showing the roof temperature. It was not an altogether pleasant experience.

We've still not got the programming right (or perhaps I should really say, he hasn't got it quite right) so it was a very swift dressing experience into layers and my trusty "smurf" hat which the bassets bought me for my birthday. Glamourous it may not be but warm and cosy it is.

The boys weren't lingering with their morning business heading back to bed at the earlist opportunity. We also had to defrost the car to do the commuter run. I lit the wonderful wood burner to make sure that the poor heat pump had some help.

But can you believe it ..... the sun is out and it's almost like a summer's day. I say "almost" because there is still a chill in the air but the temperature on the roof has climbed to a balmy 63 degrees! Honest - the camera battery is on recharge so you'll have to take my word for it.

I was talking to someone yesterday who was desparate it has turned cold. He reckons we've slipped from summer to winter and skipped autumn altogether. Hope not. Still need to get my trees in the ground. Oh the pressures of country living for this domestic executive!

A quick round up for new readers

For new and returning visitors to Domestic Executive, here's a quick link round up for you to enjoy.

We've been living in New Zealand now for over two years. Don't ask me where the time has gone as it hardly seems like yesterday since I was loading my chattels into a container in Oxfordshire. The goal for moving 12,000 miles away from family and friends was to find some peace and quiet in the country and cut loose from the corporate life. I've certainly done that and now the hard bit comes to enjoying what we've got. Even in New Zealand it's easy to get into the work rhythm when being a Domestic Executive requires new habits and passions that revolve more around the demands of nature than shareholders or stakeholders. I ponder on life as a Domestic Executive from time to time - click here to read Domestic Executive Musings.

Our house is a fulfilment of a long held dream to have a house with a Walton's porch and turrets. The build process last year was a roller coaster ride of highs and lows. It's only with the benefit of hindsight that I can now see how lucky we were to get our build completed in the time we did and with relatively little problem. Our neighbours have suffered much more. Doug, our country living hunter next door, has had a lengthy delay with his architectural plans after his architect became seriously ill. He missed the opportunity to build last year (he's building his own place) so will have to wait till the end of next year now to start his own build. His parents (neighbours closest to the main road), bought Doug's house and have rennovated it with the idea of making some extra money - they've now been hit with the propertly slump and it's still on the market after a couple of months of showing. Mike and Andrea (our neighbours on the hill) are due to get handover on their place at the end of June. It's been a painful process of mishaps and mistakes with the biggest one being a budget blow out that has meant that they've got to finish the house by decorating it themselves. Today we've got the painters and builders back to complete the work they they should have done within 2 weeks of moving in - since it's six months now it only goes to prove that builders have their own time zone where 1 week=1 month. You can see our housebuilding adventures through my houseblogging reports.

Part of the Domestic Executive picture has always been to have two basset hounds to love. Fortnum and Mason have certainly brought bundles of activity to our lives and I can't imagine life without them now. If I'd known what I was letting myself in for when we brought them home I am sure I wouldn't have done it but am pleased I did. They are unruly, boisterous boys with limited hearing capability for basic commands. They eat, sleep and hoon around living a life of pure pleasure and fun. They are a constant worry and expense but they are now part of our family and give me hours of entertainment and unconditional love that is hard to adore. You can read about our Basset Boys in my bassetblogging posts.

When you have 6 acres of land and grand plans for growing and a menagerie of animals there is always something to do. There's no Ground Force transformation taking place here just backbreaking digging, weeding, strimming and mowing that seems to have a marginal effect. We have at least established a garden around the house and immediate plans for a second go at growing a lawn and planting trees before the winter sets in. My winter project is going to be planning in detail my kitchen garden. I'm getting inspiration at the moment from Geoff Hamilton through some vintage episodes of his on DVD. Geoff makes it all look so easy so as long as I stick to his advice and that of Alan and Monty I'm sure that it will all come right in the end. The biggest drawback at the moment is my lack of carpentry skills to do some basic chores such as built my compost, border protection from basset fencing and a chicken house. Still you've got to start somewhere so my goal this week is to get the necessary ingredients (I mean materials) and follow my plans. After all how difficult can it be to build a box to put garden rubbish in? You can follow our gardening and country living exploits.

Being a Domestic Executive has opened up a new interest for me - blogging. I've loved writing my daily snippets and enjoyed the feedback from people. Another winter project is brewing of the publishing kind. I won't say more about it now but hopefully Domestic Executive fans will enjoy a new look and approach to blogging by Spring. Also, inspired by reading other people's blogs I've got a new blogging idea developing that I'm hoping will bring inspiration, insight and laughter to a new cyberspace audience. Mum's the word at the moment but don't be surprised if I tap your shoulder by email to be part of my new blogging venture.

In the meantime, I hope you continue to enjoy my Domestic Executive adventures!

Birthday excitement

It's going to be a lazy today in honour of my birthday. It will be minimal chores and hopefully time doing things that I wouldn't normally do.

Although our morning routine didn't change that much I did manage to open my pressies before having to get the boys up for their ablusions and breakfast. It was a bit of a struggle though as they were rather enjoying playing with the paper from the present they'd bought me - a striking possum beanie hat and pair of gloves.

It's never easy basset photoblogging but here's my best efforts!

Opphs, not quick enough to get both in shot!

Hmm, at least two boys in shot although Mason was heading for closer look at the camera!

Morning chills

We've been getting lots of dew for weeks but gradually it's been getting chillier and chillier overnight and it's only a matter of time before we a ground frost to contend with.

With the dip in temperature and torrential rain this weekend we've been making use of our central heating and also got the wood burner on the go. The beauty of burning the wood is that as well as heating the house we are also heating the water and have had lashings of boiling water as a free bi-product. It's this winter water heating feature that when combined with the solar for the sunny days it makes you feel much better about how you're using the planet's resources.

The mornings are full of mist and mellow light. It's quite something to see the changing weather as I do the commuter run or simply pottering around outside with the dogs.

They were dead pleased it was 2 degrees on the roof today as this set the tone for whether I'd make them go out in the pen or whether they were allowed back in the house for their post breakfast snooze. As you might imagined our spoiled bassets are now snoozing in their duvet beds in the utlity rooom!

Baking mania

This weekend we're having a social fest - we've got two sets of friends visiting. Not only is this momentus because this indicates we have a kiwi social life but it marks another moment of baking mania to provide for our guests.

So tonight I've been baking and preparing for tomorrow's brunch that will follow a walk with my girl friends and afternoon tea for a friend of MT's. I'm relying on Nigella to see me through so fingers crossed the catering will be stressfree.

It was a real joy to be pottering in the kitchen with a podcast playing on our magic radio and a glass of wine on hand to add to the evening pleasure. For such a long time I'd be imagining me baking in my big kitchen designed to please me and there I was actually doing it. How cool is that!

Now to complete the evening, I'm going to settle into the last episode of Cranford to see if anyone else is going to die or whether there might at last be a happy ending!

Nocturnal residents

For the last two nights I've had to swerve in the lane driving up to the house. This was to avoid squashing one of our country residents - a hedgehog. Fortunately it moves pretty quickly across the road so doesn't cause delay but it's still a worry to know that one day it might not be so lucky.

It's nice to know we've got new neighbours but not sure what Fortnum and Mason would make of this spiky little creature. Might be nice to coax him or her down to our land and make them an official part of the Treanor menagerie.

You can read all about hedgehogs and their habits here.

Away from almost running over a hedgehog it's been a busy week with work in town in the afternoons and preparation in the mornings to be done. Not to mention the usual round of domestic routines. I am at least getting into more of a rhythm although I don't think it's a routine that the puppies like much - early lunches and late dinners. I'm meeting with a Pet Angel soon as I there are a few full day gigs coming up which mean that I'll need to have someone to come and make lunch for the boys and make sure that they aren't fighting too much.

It's clear that if you leave them for too long on their own they start to turn feral and ignor you completely which isn't a good thing. So, it's back to puppy boot camp from tomorrow as I've got a home day planned and then we can continue to ramp up the training over the weekend.

Personal reflection - is it all it's cracked up to be?

I'm half way through my first major coaching assigment, coaching to members of a senior board on the results of their 360 degree appraisal. Its been a real eye opener to see how people have approached the session - body language has been fun to see how it evolves and what happens when I start asking them questions which challenge their thinking.

It's quite something to be independent and feeding back evidence from others. I've certainly go no agenda other than making sure that the message is heard. Some of the messages being sent are hard for some people to hear. This is made worse when they act like they are hard of hearing and I keep having to repeat the message in an an ever more persistent way until they finally get it!

There is no doubt that personal reflection is tough to do when you're being forced through an organisational process. As one of my clients pointed out "All this personal reflection is not all it's cracked up to be. I'm quite happy the way I am, it's other people need to change and get used to it!" Let's just say there was no way that person was leaving the session early for good behaviour!

I've no time for personal reflection this week - I'm motoring on Domestic Executive adrenalin fitting in all the chores, work and home cooking to put me to bed in a state of readiness for sleep!

Domestic Executive tensions

Being a Domestic Executive is not always as simple as people might think. The dream was an idyllic lifestyle pottering around at home, doing a few chores and fitting in a spot of paid work occasionally.

Seems that the pressures to complete both Domestic and the Executive are not that dissimilar from how it's been in my past employed life. There is always more to do than there is time to do it.

Having struggled a bit in the last three weeks to get on top of my massive to do list I've decided I need a new way of tackling things. As you might expect from a list obesssive the key thing is to find a new way of organising the list to make it seem more achievable and enable you to tick more things off.

Has it worked? Partly. I've actually got through more of the list this week so it feels like more progress but it doesn't get away from the fact that the days still pass in a flash and the list gets added to each night making the list the same length as the day before.

So the plan from now is to actually get the chores done as early in the day before I sit down to work through the office work. If I don't it can be lunch time and the day is running out.

I'm also trying out a new routine for catering. Taking a leaf from Nigella's express cooking techniques I'm trying to get ahead of the arrangements so that it doesn't seem like such a rush in the evenings to feed and walk dogs, do commuter run and get a fantastic supper on the table that would be worthy of a TV series.

So bloggers it's a poor excuse for getting behind with my blog posts this week but blogging comes after washing, cleaning, office work but before ironing!

PS - I start the new blogging routine next week!

Perhaps we need some Poles?

It's been one of those frustrating weeks where I spend ages chasing up people who we'd like to pay them to do work for us. Nothing earth shattering just fencers, landscapers and the like. It seems that here in New Zealand there is simply too much work for people of this kind and nailing them down firstly to a price and then a time is proving as difficult as it used to be in the UK to get a plumber or builder, before the Polish immigrants arrived.

I'm being to experience the butt end of the kiwi skills shortage and I can tell you it's frustrating in the extreme. I also feel like I've turned into a bit of a stalker ringing to get hold of people and decided that it's not worth leaving messages as they never return the calls.

I'm going to have to tackle this another way next week if I'm going to have any hope of getting the drive finished, trees order, fencing constructed and keep my sanity. I though that moving to live in the country was going to take away the executive stress. I'm beginning to see that it's not quite as stress free as I'd imagined

Still it's the weekend and hopefully the rain will hold off long enough for us to get the new lawn mover into action.

Snogging for work

Talking to a colleague about the best techniques for winning business we strayed into the merits of snogging for business. Now before you start thinking this is a way of spicing up my blog, I'm talking about metaphorical snogging not the physical type.

It's true to need to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. I've done a bit of that recently by labouring over the dreaded RFP - request for proposals in English - favoured by public bodies that have to be seen to be fair and accountable. These RFPs take an age to read (just imagine the level of Government gobbledegook there is) and when you think you've understood what they want you start to interpret it and put together the world's most fantastic solution to their problem that they are bound to leap at buying from you. Yeah right!

Let's just say you need to be selective about responding to RFPs. They so rarely deliver the rewards that the glitz of their paperwork suggests. Even when you might win the business those curly clauses in the contract always provide for them to back track and scale down the project till profitibility starts to seem away.

I'm pleased to say that I kissed a prince this week. It was a word of mouth referral to the company for leadership coaching for the top tier of a major professional services firm. How cool is that! And not an RFP in sight. Just simple clear request - one page proposal - a quick smackaroo on the cheek - and we're in business.

If only winning business was that simple all the time!