Stew has taken today off so he can take his car down to the mechanics for some brake work. Can't have ya breaks fail eh? After he gets home, I expect the builder to arrive to do his inspection of our home for the 2nd potential buyers. Then we are going out somewhere nice for lunch. NOT A FOODCOURT. Maybe a nice restaurant somewhere. We don't do that very often, so while the kids are at school... we will feast! lol Feast... well not really of course! Just enjoy a nice meal and each other's company. We had thought of going to a movie, but because the builder isn't arriving until late morning, we will run out of time before the kids get home from school. Drat. So, that's our plans for today... I'll be back later with an update of what we got up to. Oh, before I forget, here's a lovely collage of baby Archer from last night:
ABOVE: Such a delightfully happy wee man. We love him to bits and can't believe he's already 3 months old. ONWARD... 11.45 am: and the builder has been and left, so have the 3 Real Estate agents who turned up in support! They know how stressed out I am and didn't know Stew would be here with me too. It was nice of them to come though. Now Stew and I are off to Newmarket, we are going to have Yum Cha for lunch, if we can get into the restaurant. Sometimes it's full and you have to book, we are winging it today. ABOVE: a cute wee video of Stew and the bubs last night. 12.03 am: ummm...forgot to update again! Lunch was lovely, we went to Newmarket and indeed did have Yum Cha. Though, the way I'm feeling, everything tastes like cardboard really. After lunch we came home and spent a quiet afternoon doing bugger all. My mind keeps wandering to the scenario: The 2nd buyers back out on Monday and we are back at square one again. I just can't stop doing it. It makes me feel physically sick every time and my stomach churns non stop. Not nice. I wish I could stop thinking about it. End of Day: a so-so day, lots of stress. Time to go to bed... and cos it's nice and late, I should get to sleep fairly easily. One hopes. nite nite
After the 2nd 'back up' buyers popped in yesterday, I expected them to come back on Sunday when we have the next Open Home, for another look. But no. They want to come back tonight, at dinnertime no less. So, today I go through the motions of getting the house all 'viewing ready' again. *sigh* And tomorrow there is ANOTHER builder coming to do an inspection for them too. Stress. It never ends. I'm not sure what I will do for the majority of the day... maybe get back to reading blogs... something I didn't get to yesterday, despite my best intentions. I got carried away with cleaning fridges, getting the washing all done/folded and put away, and just general housework. Ya know, it doesn't get done on it's own eh? So that's me for today... nothing riveting. ONWARD... 11.20 am: got a call from our Estate Agent, the buyers can't make it tonight afterall, so Yaaa! I can stop stressing and so on all day.
Their builder is still coming tomorrow, so it's still all 'on'. And of course, we still have that dreadful Monday long wait to go through. I've been busy all morning changing linens, making beds all pretty. Time to relax and just enjoy this gorgeous mild winter's day. 5.30 pm: I had put a lovely pea and bacon soup on in the crockpot this morning, in anticipation of us having it after the viewing. So, because that's not happening, I invited Steve and Bex over for dinner. Bex and the boys arrived mid afternoon, and Bex taught me how to do nail stamping. WHAT FUN. I ordered some stamp plates off the internet, and some of them arrived this week.
ABOVE: As you can see... nautical inspired. And I love them. End of Day: well dinner was lovely, and seeing the bubs was too. I can't stop yawning, so tired tonight. So, I'm off to bed. nite nite
I'm getting my life back to 'normal'... which means today is weigh in day at Weight Watchers. I've been eating out of control lately, but I've also been much busier and more active, so I think it's balanced out a bit. My scales say I've lost about a kilo? I know that's not a lot since the last time I weighed in, but hey... it's not a gain! I am nearly at the 10 kgs lost... which means I get to wear my new boots soon! Maybe that will be next week. After Weight Watchers I am coming home to read some blogs, then maybe do some sewing. As I said, get back to normal. Stop living one day to the next in anticipation... expectation... and living on the very edge of my nerves. It's not healthy. I'm kinda sick of it all already. So, that's me for now. I'll be back later with the amount LOST. And I hope, never to be found again! ONWARD... 22 MARBLES. That's how many go into the 'LOST' jar. I lost 2.2 kilos in the past 3 weeks, so I'm happy as hell. I am only .600 grams away from 10 kgs lost AND then I can wear my new boots! Next week.... I will be in them. After Weight Watchers I did a small grocery shop, enough to last a week or so. I'm over buying meat day by day. We could be here for ages yet, so back to normal shopping too. I'm now going to put the groceries away and then sit down a read some blogs. 12.42 pm: Well THAT was nerve racking! I was in the garage cleaning the 2nd fridge when I heard someone knocking on my house wall... so I opened the door and found our buyers in my driveway. So, said hello, and invited them in for an impromptu look again. They jumped at the chance... and they seemed to ask lots of questions, which I was happy to answer. We exchanged phone numbers too. NOT GETTING EXCITED...NOT NOT NOT. 9.35 PM: Well we had my Aunt and Uncle visit us after dinner tonight, which was lovely. I made beef nachos for dinner, Stew was very happy when he got home and found that out. I don't make it that often. End of Day: an interesting day... and a good day with the positive weight loss. nite nite
This morning I'm going to the mall to wander, immerse myself in company and hopefully, find something to buy. Cos, it might help with my mood. Cos I'm in a seriously foul mood. Hopefully this morning our Estate Agent will make contact with our 2nd 'back up' buyers, and it will be 'all go' again. I shall try very hard to NOT get excited all over again, that's for sure. We won't know if it goes ahead until NEXT MONDAY, 5 friggin pm. This time, I'm making sure it's not ME who gets the phone calls during the day from the Real Estate Agents/Solicitors. I just can't take it again. Stew can let me know the outcome, when it happens. Next Monday, I'm going to make sure I'm super busy/occupied/distracted by SOMETHING amazing, so I'm not stressing out all day like I was yesterday. So, that's the plan. Now, I'm going to get the housework done and go out and about. I need to be home around lunchtime in case Bex and the boys drop in after Playcenter. It's their last day at their current Playcenter and they are having a 'leaving' morning tea there. I hope it is nice. ONWARD... 12.05 pm: and I'm home again. I went to Playcenter instead of waiting for Bex to visit on her way home, that way Dante wasn't asleep in the car when she got here. It was lovely to see them, Archer was being held by another lady, and he was starting to cry, but when he saw me he smiled. Awwww... that was just so lovely. Dante did his usual "Grandma! you here!" He's so cute. I stayed for about an hour then went down to the mall. Where I took full advantage of the Winter Sales. In K+K they were having a 'Buy 2 Sale Items, get a 3rd FREE'. So, I did just that.
ABOVE: I got the blue jacket, Black Jacket and Black and Grey striped top from K+K, and the other three items from Emma Rose. So... if I'd paid FULL PRICE for the 3 K+K items I would have paid $419.70. I paid $133.91 ! How can you pass up a sale as good as that? The three items from Emma Rose were all on sale too... But not as much as the stuff from K+K. See the black/white/reddish colour coat? It's funky, I quite like it. Not a colour (reddish) I'd usually buy, but it just appealed. And it's lovely on, warm and cosy. I think I did pretty well! And I feel a bit happy about having more nice clothes to wear, instead of rotating the 3 tops I already have for winter. I'm going to Weight Watchers tomorrow morning. I am going to have a loss. Not a HUGE loss, but a loss. THAT makes me happy too. All the hard work in the house has paid off in ONE WAY at least. *smiles*
ABOVE: Dante didn't want morning tea at Playcenter... UNTIL his Mummy was given two cupcakes. Then... he ate all the chocolate icing off one, and half ate the other one! Little shit. But... a cute little shit. Tracy the K+K sale lasts until tomorrow. After having lunch, I was still feeling bla, so went back to the mall and got these:
ABOVE: A full set of Acrylic nails and gel polish. Looks pretty, and should last a while. It's been LONG TIME since I got false nails. I went for a very natural shape and length, I don't like very long nails, I can't type with them. And that sure would bugger up blogging! End of Day: well Stew got home from Hamilton safe and sound tonight. I had missed him, going through that long wait yesterday, on my own... was awful. Hopefully next time we will be together. nite nite
First up for the day, I've got an appointment at the Manukau Super Centre for my bi-annual mammogram. Oh what fun, you can bet I'm looking forward to that! NOT. At least the machines they use now are not as horrible as 10 years ago, when they bloody hurt! The last mammogram I had didn't hurt as such, it was just uncomfortable. I'll be glad when it's over for sure. And it will kill the morning for me. Give me something else to think about. Because as you all know by now, it's D Day. Will our house sale go unconditional or not? My stomach is churning just thinking about it... I really hate how I'm feeling right now. I know there's no good reason for it to fall over, but you just NEVER KNOW, until the last minute. And our 'last minute' is 5 pm tonight. Though, we might find out sooner if it does fall through. God I hope it doesn't. We do have a back up offer on the table, but if we have to fall back on that, we have to go through the waiting process all over again. My nerves and stomach might not last the distance! And of course, we would no doubt lose the next 'favourite' house we have fallen in love with too. So. It's a BIG day. Perhaps I can have a nana nap this afternoon... make the day go faster? ONWARD... 8.45 am: Just got a phone call from the Super Clinic. My appointment has been postponed till August 10th due to one of their machines breaking down and one radiographer being away sick. So... the boobies are safe for another day! lol So... now I just have to sit around the house and wait... and wait...for a good phone call or a bad one. OH JOY. 10.35 am: Heard from the Real Estate Agent. So far so good. One new condition has been added. There's 2 cracked tiles on the roof and the purchasers have asked that we get them replaced before settlement because: 1. He hates heights 2. He's terrified of heights 3. He simple DOES NOT DO HEIGHTS ! So funny. And, as we have spare roof tiles here already, we certainly can replace the 2 cracked ones. There is a small hitch with some wording on the Title too... which can no doubt be rectified, and should NOT hold up the sale going Unconditional... but as we all know, nothing is certain until 5 pm. I'm feeling a little bit less nervous and sick. Our sale fell through. I'm beyond gutted. Now we fall back on our back up offer and see what happens there. That's all for now. I'm just gutted and want to go cry. WHY? Because their LAWYER doesn't like plaster houses and talked them out of it. FULL. STOP. END. OF. STORY. Note: there is NOTHING wrong with our home, it is totally sound and the builder who did the inspection is shocked they used that as an excuse. So. They have lost out on my gorgeous home, and it will go to a family who really, really love it. I'm still really upset, but will get over it. It will happen... and if we lose the home in Hamilton, it wasn't meant to be either. *sigh* End of Day: I'm going to bed tonight miserable. But... it's another day tomorrow and I will try and make it better than today. Hell! That won't be hard. nite nite
Ah, yep. I'm feeling a bit seedy after indulging in 'a few' wines over dinner last night. I'm a one glass wonder when it comes to wine, and I had about 4 glasses of wine. Whoops! Not feeling the best right now. Silly me. We have another, and hopefully last, Open Home this afternoon. So, it's back to getting the house all tidy and ready for that. Not much else to blabber on about right now... must get the washing on, make beds bla bla bla. Catch ya later. ONWARD... 10.20 am: It's getting easier and faster to get the house ready for Open Homes. I didn't even make a start on tidying etc until after 9 and I'm already mostly done. I'm also not letting myself get all hot and bothered ... and crabby. Last weekend I was literally yelling at the kids to stay still and not mess anything up! Poor buggers. While our Open Home is on we are going to visit Steve, Bex and the boys. The dogs will come with us in their travelling crates. So, everything is all sorted in my befuzzled brain. *smiles* 1.05 pm: all ready to go. Just waiting for the Real Estate guy to turn up then we can leave the house up to him. We are looking forward to spending some time with the kids in Mt Wellington. 4.30 pm: just got home from Steve and Bex's. We had a really lovely visit with them. Dante was ever so entertaining, and Archer? That baby is a dream ... and so very happy. His whole face lights up with smiles... though he doesn't like me with my glasses on! So.. I take them off of course. *smiles*
ABOVE: See the evil smile on Bex's face? She had just pinched Steve's chest... he probably had it coming. ha ha.
ABOVE: Griffin and Dante hanging out together. We have not heard from the Estate Agent on how today's Open Home went yet. I hope we had a decent amount of people through after my efforts to make the house perfectly presented, warm and cosy. It's a dreary winter's day today, showers and cool. ONE MORE SLEEP until we find out if our house sale becomes unconditional! Then, and only then, can we make a move on our preferred home in Hamilton. Stew is cooking dinner tonight. We are having sausages, mashed spuds and salad... only I'm having PEAS and hot gravy... cos I love peas and gravy! Me mouth is watering just thinking about it. lol End of Day: heard from the Estate Agent, it was fairly slow at the Open Home today, only 4 groups through. But it was a miserablel afternoon, so not to worry. Off to bed soon, hope I can sleep! nite nite
Today we are again heading down to Hamilton, this time we have about 4 'new' houses to view and we are also having a 2nd viewing of a house we have seen before as well. These are a few of the 'new' ones we will be looking at:
ABOVE: some of the new ones on the list to view today... and
ABOVE: the one we are having a 2nd viewing of. So, another exciting day ahead of us. I'm starting to get confused with all the houses we have seen! It takes a bit of concentration to remember what each one was like. Luckily most of them have decent photos on the internet so I can go back later and have another look. I hope YOU have a nice day planned? No one tells me a bloody thing! Pfffft. Maybe I should be reading the blogs more, now that I'm not so busy in the house I might just make that a priority tomorrow. ONWARD... Update: we have viewed 4 homes so far today. Stopped for lunch now. Of those 4 houses... I've fallen in love with one of them! Stew isn't quite as keen on it as me... but I will 'work' on him. *smiles'😆 UPDATE: ALl houses on today's list have been seen... and we are now visiting Kelly, Gordon and Rena. We are staying in Hamilton till dinnertime. .. then we are going for a second viewing of one of the 'new' houses we saw today. It has amazing views, so we want to see what it's like at night. I am VERY excited about this house. UPDATE: well... our 2nd viewing of the third house (above) went very well. The night view is just as gorgeous as the day view and we are going to make a pre-auction offer on it ... after our house goes unconditional... on MONDAY all going well. We stayed in Hamilton for dinner with some friends of ours, then came home, arriving back in Auckland at around 10.30 pm. I had about a bottle of wine during the evening, so am feeling just a bit tiddly... I shall have a hang over tomorrow for sure! End of Day: a very exciting day, so pleased that we found an alternative 'dream home' after losing the first one I set my heart on. Time to wrap up the day and head to bed. I'm knackered, as is Stew I'm sure. nite nite
Today: I've got a builder coming first thing this morning, with our Real Estate Agent. He is doing an inspection for the purchasers. OMG it's a nerve racking process. You always worry yourself sick they will find something 'wrong' with your home! Fingers crossed if he finds anything, it's minor and does not put the purchasers off our home. I will be gutted if that happens. MONDAY 5 pm is when we find out if they pull out of the sale or go UNCONDITIONAL. It's lucky I don't chew my fingernails, cos if I did I'd have gnawed down to me knuckles by now! 3 more sleeps till we find out if it's a definite 'GO'. In the meantime, we have another Open Home on Sunday... JUST IN CASE. WEIGHT: I've not been to Weight Watchers for 3 weeks now. I've been eating like there's a famine coming! And... I've gained 1 kilo. I am very surprised by that, but am happy too. All the extra 'exercise' must be holding off the gains. I will go back to Weight Watchers next Wednesday, no excuses now. I've got nothing to stop me now. All the work is done! Once the builder leaves, I am going out to my Patchwork class for a yak and catch up with the ladies. Catch ya later... ONWARD... TOTALLY GUTTED. The ONE house I utterly LOVED in Hamilton sold yesterday, and for $70,00 less than it's asking price too. It was gorgeous and we were going to have a 2nd viewing of it on Saturday with a view to putting an offer on it. I actually feel like crying. But. All along I've said if it sold before we could make an offer on it, it wasn't meant to be. So... ONWARD. There will be the perfect house out there just waiting for us to find it. *sniff* Tallulah is in trouble. She kept running outside last night... ALL NIGHT LONG. I could have killed her. So, maybe they get put in the garage overnight? It's worth thinking about. I'm sure they can 'hold on' till the morning? Hmmm.... I will try it I think. The builder should be here in a few minutes. NERVES are making my tummy do flip flops. We won't even get told the result of the building report either, which makes it worse. UPDATE: The builder was a lovely chap. Funnily enough he lived in the house opposite ours, when our house was being built! He knew the house very well already. Surprisingly, he talked to me about the house, and a couple of little things he found that will be in his report. They were 'small' issues, but nothing major. He feels our house is very sound and in good condition. So, all going well Monday night will see us go UNCONDITIONAL here. Now, instead of going to Patchwork, I'm going down to the mall to get a new mobile. My existing one keeps dying. The battery only lasts half a day, if that, from fully charged. Time to update the phone. I was going to in October anyway, what's a few months? *smiles* It will give me something to play with today. UPDATE: well I got a new phone and have been, as expected, playing with it ever since. *smiles* Cos I just know someone will ask what phone I got: it's a Samsung S6, but not the 'Edge' one, I've not heard good things about that model.
ABOVE: new phone. I also got it a cute new pale blue cover. It's very pretty. And totally cool ... much bigger screen, so much easier on me freakin eyes. And the alphabet 'buttons' are bigger for texting too, that also makes life easier. I remembered something from when the builder was here: he was checking out the gas hob in the kitchen, and the front right burner would not ignite. So he wrote it on his report. While he was outside, Paul, the Estate Agent grabbed a dishcloth and gave it a rub... BOOM! Bloody thing worked! So, the builder bloke crossed that off! Yaaaa. *smiles* I'm feeling so much more confident about Monday night after this morning's visit from the builder. 10.42: Stew got home safe and sound from Rotorua this evening, just in time for dinner. Off to bed now, as we have to go look at houses again tomorrow. End of Day: a good day I think. Hoping for a better night's sleep tonight. nite nite
OH... and Bex of course. *smiles* After yesterday, I expect today to be quiet and peaceful. I didn't sleep that well last night, to be expected though. I won't rest easy until Monday night, when, all going well... our sale will go unconditional. Then, and only then I shall whip out a bottle of bubbly and CELEBRATE! We have decided to have a 2nd Open Home on Sunday. We are not counting our chickens until it is a sure thing, so having another Open Home is a given. So... more of the same till Monday night! I decided to go out today just to try and get some distraction. And Dante is certainly that! I might even take him to the mall for an outing. Bex has a cold apparently, so could do with a break from him I'm sure. So, that's me for now. Catch ya later. ONWARD... Well I've had a lovely morning visiting with Bex and the boys. I took Dante to the mall... he screamed the entire way as his Mummy didn't come too! We bought some lunch and went back to his Mummy's house and had it there. Next time he might be better... now that he realises that we are going to go back to his Mummy! I've not taken him out on his own much before, hence the hissy fit. Now that I'm home, I'm just relaxing... letting the past few days excitement settle down. I'm still buzzing about last night! I've had an excellent afternoon. Checking out houses online, making lists, tee'ing up our Estate Agent down in Hamilton for this Saturday and just generally being lazy. My right arm is starting to feel a bit better, thank goodness. I was scared it would ache for months. Now it only aches is I use it too much. No more hours and hours of scrubbing for this Chick I can tell you! Next big job will be packing more stuff once the house goes unconditional. MONDAY, after 5pm... all going well. I'm expecting it to be a quiet evening for us. Stew is in Hamilton, he goes to Rotorua tomorrow, then home tomorrow night. So, the kids and I are having a 'get your own' dinner. Griffin is cooking himself bacon and eggs on toast... it's so neat that they can cook for themselves now. They are still doing fairly basic stuff, but it's a start. Hopefully I will be able to sleep tonight. I jump at every single little noise when Stew's not home! I think I shall keep the dogs in the house and not the laundry tonight... they make excellent 'alarm' dogs, they bark at any dodgy noise during the night! *smiles* LOL... I forgot 'End of Day'! It got late, I went to bed, I didn't sleep well. Tallulah kept running outside barking ALL NIGHT LONG. I wanted to kill her. I still might. But not really.
I mentioned last night that I had heard from the Real Estate Agent. Well, he rang mid afternoon to let me know there were 2 interested parties in our home. Then he rang again at dinnertime to say one of them were wanting to come back for a 2nd viewing, and they put their home on the market yesterday. Which means they are VERY keen on our home!!! Of course, it follows that they will have to sell their home in order to buy ours, but we are in the same position with what we want to buy down in Hamilton. We have to sell here first. So, while trying not to get too excited... I AM! I have all day to get the house in tip top shape again, which won't take long cos it's already super tidy. lol The viewing isn't until after 5 pm, it's going to be a LONG day for me. The kids and I will take the dogs out to the Botanic Gardens while these people have their 2nd viewing. Now.... I also got some lovely mail yesterday:
ABOVE: how pretty is that? A handpainted parcel all the way from a dear blogger/facebook friend in the U.S.A, thank you so much Kayola!
Kayola does custom 'doodles', so I asked her to do a small one for me. I left it up to her what she painted, this is what she did:
ABOVE: isn't she so clever! It's so ME! I love the words she used, "Here sits the Queen", and "Never Stop Dreaming". And of course she had to show 'me' drinking Diet Coke... at the beach. PERFECT.
ABOVE: Kayola also sent over a lovely Arizona cookbook, postcards and a gift pack of 5 of her beautiful cards too! I was ever so spoilt.
ABOVE: My new painting is already hanging in my bedroom, where I can see it all the time. Right, I'm going to make my house PERFECT again.... nervous, excited, nervous.... and ONLY 11 hours until the people arrive for a 2nd viewing! ... eeekkkkk! ONWARD... I'm hoping for an 'unconditional' offer too! Of course. If it's only 'conditional' on them selling their home first, they might just lose it, as EVERYONE is so certain our home will go super fast. I won't hold my breath ... but I'm hopeful they are going to the bank to get finance NOW! I've woken up and am right into getting all the beds make, bathrooms spic 'n' span... all the usual palaver. My phone is playing up. I might have to pop down to Telecom and see why. I can't LIVE without me mobile! My stupid phone perked up and went again, so I don't have to replace it right now. Yaaaa. I went down to the mall and got a few groceries then came home and had lunch. Now I'm 90% ready. Just have to vacum and put the dogs in the car at the last minute. This was really easy today, having them coming so late in the day means I can just meander through the jobs. After they have been and gone we are going to Karl's Junior for dinner, so I don't even have to worry about cooking dinner. Excellent. Well... the viewers were in the house for over half an hour. And after they left the Real Estate guy rang and said would we be home around 7.30, as he would be calling around. Hmmmm.... sounds promising. It's so... tension filled. The Real Estate guys arrived at 7.30 tonight with not ONE, but TWO offers for our house!!! We accepted the highest one (as ya would) and it should go unconditional by Monday at 5pm! (subject to a Builder's report) We are gobsmacked! On the market for exactly one week, one Open Home and we are virtually sold! We are on cloud nine. Saturday we shall be going to Hamilton to look at a few more houses, and perhaps make an offer on one. So, so excited... how lucky can you be? End of Day: wonder if I will sleep for the next 5 nights? Off to sit and let it sink in. nite nite
Well...it had to happen eventually. I have no plans for the day! There is always washing, but apart from that, I'm at a loss for something to do. I did leave some fabric and my sewing machine here, so maybe I can do some sewing. I've got enough fabric to carry on with my latest quilt. Hard to believe that I've not bought any fabric in well over a month! Maybe longer. And I've not sewn a thing for that long either. OOooo, I just thought of something. I could have a go at making some fabric bags for my vacum cleaner. Yep, that's what I will do. I shall have to pop down to Spotlight for some calico, but that's all I'll need. So, there ya go. Now I've got plans. Yaaa. ONWARD... I only bought calico!... ummm, and some scissors for the kitchen and a couple of containers for Stew to use for his lunch... cos I packed all of our tupperware eh? lol Then I bought a subway and came home and had lunch. Now... THINKING of doing that sewing. I didn't do the sewing, it was way too cold in the garage! So... I watched TV. All afternoon. And felt so guilty. But what else was there to do? lol OH! I did me nails too. ha ha ha I cooked dinner, pasta with a mince/tomato/mushroom sauce on top. Rather delish. Heard from our Real Estate Agent. There's 2 parties VERY interested in our house. More on THAT tomorrow. End of Day: early cos I'm going to bed early tonight, although I've been MEGA lazy today, I'm still tired. Stress eating too. I JUST CAN'T STOP. Nerves. Worry. Anxiety. You name it ... I'm feeling it. nite nite
