FIRST COUNTDOWN BEGINS

 

Once the purchase is UNCONDITIONAL, we start the last countdown, which will be:  

Moving OUT, and MOVING IN DAY.  Won't that be fun!  lol

ABOVE:  18 months ago we bought this Peach/Apricot hybrid fruit tree.  It's first season it produced NOTHING.  Kinda to be expected of a very young tree.  

ABOVE:  This season?  Not a huge amount of fruit, but some.   I'm happy we get to taste them before we move.

This morning I am picking Lacy up, then going over to Bex's.  From there we are going off together so I can show them around the OUTSIDE of our new home.

Neither has been there before, so it's going to be fun showing them around.

At this point in time, I will not be sharing any photos, not until it is ours legally.  At the end of May.

When we get back home again, I will come home and do some sewing.  No major jobs today.

12.31 pm:   Well you will be happy with me.  I've done bugger all today!

Bex, Lily, Coco, Marley and I went out to look around the new home.

Lacy couldn't make it after all.

We enjoyed ourselves, and even had a couple of lovely chats with ladies who will eventually become my neighbours.

It seems to be a very friendly village I must say.

I am so looking forward to moving there.

PETA:  We have an area out the back that can easily be contained for the dogs.   We just need to put up a gate.

ABOVE:  Vietnamese Spring Roll ingredients...

ABOVE:  Lunch is made.   And it was delicious.

I shall be making some for Stew's dinner later on.  They are best eaten very fresh.

ABOVE:  Well our coffee table runner is done.  I agonised over what to bind it with... black, multi coloured strip or pinkish.  In the end I stayed safe with black.  It looks great.

I shall make some coasters tomorrow.  edit:  no I won't, I'll be at market!

I'm holding off making chair arm covers for now.

JUST.  IN.  CASE.  I decide to do something else in the lounge in the 'new to us' house.

Today has been very cruisy for me, no rushing around getting some job done.  

When Stew gets home we have to pack the car for market tomorrow.

It is going to be our very first time at the Morrinsville Market. 

ABOVE:  It's in Canada Street, which is off the main shopping street.  Easy to find.   I am hoping it goes well, because we would like to find one more market to do on a regular monthly basis.

7.27 pm:  Stew arrived home and we immediately loaded the car for tomorrow.

Then we had something to eat, and have now settled down for the evening.

We won't be up late considering we have to get up goddam early tomorrow.

And with that said, I'm outta here.

Catch ya tomorrow.

SLOW DOWN!

 

My mind and body are telling me to SLOW DOWN.

We have three months until we move.  And I need to stop racing around like a mad thing, trying to get everything done NOW.

ABOVE:  I need to heed those words.

This afternoon we will be making an offer on the home we saw on Monday.   If all goes well, and our offer is accepted, it will go UNCONDITIONAL in a couple of weeks.

It's all a waiting game right now.  I hate waiting games! 

With those words (above) in mind, I'm actually not going to do much today.  

First up, I will paint the last two walls.  I have been procrastinating over them, they should have been done yesterday, but I just couldn't face yet more painting.     

Once that is done I will have some enjoyable sewing time.  I was going to buy some fabric that would suit the lounge suite we will be taking with us, but I might not need to.

ABOVE:  I have decided to use one of the Dragonfly Panels instead.  I shall have to cut it down a bit so it's not too big, but I reckon it works.

It certainly 'tones' in with the Patchwork Chair!  lol

ABOVE:  The other thing I need to make is fabric covers for the  arms of these chairs.  Stew is a bit of a piglet, the arms of his chair will be filthy before we know it.

IN FACT, last night he dripped Soya Sauce on one of the arms!  So yeah, I will be making quite a few, so I can switch them out as he messes them up!  😂😁😅

A conversation with Stew the other night.

He looked at me and said "I'm worried about this move."

I was like "Why?  This was your idea!"

And he replied:

"I am never gunna know where I'm sitting in this new house when I come home, because you will be able to move our lounge chairs around all over the place!"

One 'downside' of not having the big Blue Leather Lounge Suite!!!!  Or is it an UPSIDE??? LOL

I'm going to LOVE moving shit around.  😂😅😁

ABOVE:   8.25 am and the second to last wall is painted.  And the skirting boards are cleaned, one less job on moving day.  Ignore the weird lights on the wall, they are from the kitchen lights reflecting on wet paint.

One more wall and I can put the goddam paint shit away.  

10.22 am and all the painting I intend doing is DONE.  Paint tray, brushes, roller etc all cleaned and put away.

I had a shower to get all the paint off ME.  

Our Estate Agent just rang, she's working with the other agent to get our Contract to Buy ready for us to sign.  She just has to get a couple of points sorted out.

So that is ticking along in the background.

I have sat down for a rest.  YES.  Rest.

It may not last long, but I am taking breaks when I feel I need to.

Seriously, there isn't too much more I can do around here now.

1.47 pm:  I went out at lunchtime, picked up Stew and we headed over to the Real Estate Office.

ABOVE:  We have signed a contract to buy.  Now we have to wait for the agent to present it to the current owner.

Hopefully they don't want to haggle, cos I'm really not in the mood to haggle YET AGAIN over a house.

I tell ya, the paperwork on this deal seems bigger than the darn house!

I don't know if I've mentioned it on here, but the house we are buying is a TEENY, TINY place, and will be only just big enough for us.

Next thing.

I know I'm going to upset a few people (obviously), but NO, we will not be replacing our La Z Boy Lounge Suite.

WE like it.

It is very comfortable.

It is practical for the space in our new home.

And YES, we will have arm rest cloths, cos they are easy to clean.  I don't freakin well care if it looks like an old folks home.

ONE day ... we will be old folks.

We only have to please ourselves at the end of the day.

I'm now having a rather late lunch of crackers and salmon dip.  Really YUM.

AND ... my feet shall stay up for at least the next couple of hours.  See?  Taking it easy.

VERY QUICKLY... I do have some news, but am out right now so will fill you in later.  

House purchase negotiations went on for two hours... and by 5 pm we had a result we were all happy with... and our contract was signed by all involved, dated and sent off to the solicitors.

DONE.

We have a two week wait for that contract to become UNCONDITIONAL.  Our conditions of purchase are standard, and should not hinder the purchase.

Stew went to the pub as per usual for a Thursday night, I visited the kids then joined Stew for an hour or so.

Home now.

Knackered.

Feel wrung out.

I detest 'house negotiations', but this time we came out much happier than in previous negotiations.

Time to sign off for the day, it's been A LONG DAY!

Catch ya tomorrow.

LOSING TRACK OF TIME

 

I'm exhausted.

Some days I wake up and I have NO IDEA what freakin' day it is.

I know I have a big list of things to do, and I am slowly getting through them.  But not necessarily in the right order.

I start one thing, walk down the hallway and see something else I need to do, and do it.  Then wonder why that other job isn't already done?

Derrrr.

Yesterday I didn't get our bed made until almost 5 pm!  I took the headboard off our bed, to clean the wall and skirtings behind the bed.... so that delayed making the bed.  Then,  halfway through doing that job, I started doing something else, and so the bed didn't get made.  See?  So distractable. 

ABOVE:  Our Estate Agents gave us this lovely gift, to celebrate selling our home.  How nice is that.  Those two little blue pottery dishes for the relish's are delightful.

ABOVE: As I mentioned yesterday, I'm giving Steve and Bex the blue Leather Lounge Suite. It's already in the other lounge awaiting the weekend, when it will go over to the kid's house.

We will be left with the cream La Z Boy Suite, and the Patchwork furniture.

With that in mind... the teal/blue table runner I made for that coffee table, and the matching smaller one for the small coffee table between our lounge chairs are now not the right colour.  They do not 'go' with that furniture at all.

So they are going back into my market stash.

And I will need to make something else for the coffee table.

YAAA, something to sew!  I might even need to buy some fabric that will suit... such a shame (but not really).  As ya all know, most of my fabrics are in storage.  😖😕😂

Well... I better get up and start the day.  I wonder what I will get done today?  

- take a load over to the storage unit.

- finish the painting.

Dunno what else yet.

Ooooh, I just remembered something.  I'm going to Cambridge this evening to catch up with some friends.  Something lovely to look forward to.

11.22 am:  Well a good morning so far.

I took a load over to the storage unit.

I bought more vacuum bags.

Grocery shopping for fruit etc for this evening.

And once home, Lacy visited me for a while.

Now... I am going to tidy up the sewing room, as it's a bloody tip right now.  Boxes/stuff to wrap etc all over the place.

3.03 pm:  The batteries died again.   I'm just SO DAMN TIRED!

And my legs hurt.  I did lots of 'squats' yesterday painting the lower half of the walls.  I don't like doing bloody squats!

So, not doing much else for the remainder of the day, just making a plate up to take to my friends this evening.

9.59 pm and I'm home from Cambridge.  It was a really lovely catch up with my friends, lots of laughs and yakking.  My friend 'D' made us some Vietnamese Rice Paper Spring Rolls, and they were so delicious. I'm going out tomorrow to get the ingredients to make us some in the next few days.

I have made them before, but forgot just how lovely they are. 

And well, that's me for the day. 

Catch ya tomorrow.

NOW WE HAVE TO WAIT

 

Well, I thought all the stress was over.

But, it probably isn't.

We have to wait a few days before we can make an offer on the home we viewed yesterday.  

When you are dealing with rather elderly owners, you can't rush them.  

So... there's a few days before we can put something on paper.

Meantime, I'm stressed out... AGAIN.  

Today I shall continue packing stuff.  I still have the Britto to pack up.

And I will probably make a start on sanding all the little spots on walls that need sanding, then painting.

I have a load I can take over to our storage unit as well.  So see?  Plenty to do.

Stew is back at work today, it was nice having him home yesterday I must say.  Nice to have company on a Monday.

OMG, 10 minutes is all it took for me to sand all the little spots on the walls that needed it.  I can now get the painting done.  

I shall work on that today before anything else I think.  Get it off my bloody mind.

ABOVE: Lunch and dinner cooked for the next few days.  I'm going to have a chicken wrap for my lunch.  It smells SOOOO GOOD.

ABOVE:  I should have the entry way walls finished in about half an hour.  Making good progress, but heaps more to do.

I can't just spot paint, the entire wall has to be done or it looks Ikkkkk.

12.15 pm:  And I've had me lunch, it was delicious.

And... I can't believe it.  I reckon I will have all the painting finished by this evening, if not sooner.

ABOVE: This corner in the kitchen/family room is the worst of the lot, and I've got it prepped for painting.  It won't even take long.

Then I have to do two more biggish walls and I'm done!  

DOGSTARS:  I have the right paint because when we had the entire interior of the house painted about 4 years ago, we bought enough paint for just this sort of thing.  Touch ups.  And you always have to do touch ups along the way, even if you are not moving.

In order to access the family room wall, behind the blue lounge suite... I had to move that lounge suite.

OMG what a job.

But.  Triple blessings.

1.  I can get to the wall to paint it.

2.  I can try and remove all the furniture dents IN THE CARPET now.

AND the third blessing... we are gifting that lounge suite to S 'n' B.  It is too big for our potential new home.

It would have been massively cramped in the new lounge with that suite, PLUS my new Patchwork Chair and Ottoman.

Something I really shouldn't have bought in hindsight.  But it is what it is, and I have them now.

3.44 pm.  And I've ground to a  halt.  Totally spent.  Moved furniture.  Vacuumed.  Cleaned the last walls ready to paint.

Didn't paint them.  Just too tired.  They can wait until tomorrow.

I'm very, very happy with what I got accomplished today.  3/4's of the walls are done.  

Our Estate Agent rang to talk to me.  She was gobsmacked I was painting walls!

But I couldn't not do it.  I would hate to move into a new home and find shitty looking walls.

In fact,  the last house we previously made an offer on had shitty walls.   It looked to be a really bad, rushed job by someone who didn't even bother prepping.  Even the ceiling was botched!  Note to self, never wash or paint just one small section of the ceiling, it makes the rest look hideously dirty!

So, I'm just sitting here now... looking at a basket full of washing that needs folding.  I might just keep looking at it for a while.  😃😂

5 pm:  I got a 2nd, or was it a 3rd wind?  And finally got all the Britto wrapped up and into boxes.  That is a big job done.    NOW I am going to stop for the day, cos I am now seriously DONE.

A funny for the end of the day:

"We must all do our part for the planet.  

The other day I unplugged a row of electric cars nobody was using".

Stew and I thought it was rather funny.

FAIR DINK, HOUSE HUNTING!

 

Stew has taken time off work today so we can go house hunting.

After lunch we are meeting up with our Real Estate Agent.  That's a bit exciting.

So, a fairly busy day ahead of us.

Not counting any chickens, as all the houses lined up for today are really SMALL.  Possibly too small.

But we shall see.

We had made offers on two homes earlier on in this process, but we cancelled both of them when those contracts expired. 

We realised neither was the right home for us, and one in particular would have been a very bad choice.  We had a lucky escape with that one!  

Lesson learnt?  DON'T RUSH.  What's meant to be, will be.

As I said yesterday, I am not prepared to 'settle'... we have time on our side.

And there is the option of renting something until the right house comes on the market.

Before we go out and about looking at homes, we have a few jobs we can keep ourselves busy with.

ABOVE:  There's a 'sticky' door that needs attention. Stew had a go at fixing it yesterday to no avail.  So he will try something different today.

ABOVE:  And I will continue packing up what we don't need/use.  Like the remainder of the Britto and the above ornaments.

In the past few months, I have taken car loads of stuff to the Hospice Shops, gifted furniture etc to friends and family, and sold furniture as well.  I imagine after we move I will be getting 'rid' of even more.

It is not lost on me that I've spent all my life accumulating 'stuff', and now I'm getting rid of 70% of it!

I will only be keeping those things that I really, really, REALLY LOVE, or need.

At the end of the day, it's just STUFF.  

What matters more than anything else is the people you love, and who love you. 

11.30 am:  And it's so strange!  I have very little left to actually pack.  Most that's left here we will need until we move, either rent/or buy.

I'm about to cook our lunch, which is lamb chops and veges.  Then we will be going out and about.

Stew has fixed the sticky door.  He had to sand it back, so I have to re-paint it now. That will be a job I do when I'm re-painting a few walls.  God damn, I hate painting so much!  I'll be so relieved once it's all done and I can relax.

3.20 pm:  And the house hunting has gone surprisingly well.

We MAY have found 'the house' for us.  We are going back for another look this evening.

Steve will come with us, as we value his opinion.

This is quite unexpected I must say.

I was not sold on any of today's homes prior to looking at them.

They are very small.

And not in my preferred area of the complex, but I am quite excited that one is ticking most of the boxes.

Do I feel like I'm rushing in again?  NOPE.  We looked at EVERYTHING available in our preferred area, and have chosen something that will work for us.

YES, there will be compromises, but we can work around them.  

And if I'm happy, Stew is happy.

And this cute wee place gets lots of sunshine, which is most important to me.

9.31 pm:  It's been a nice evening, just sitting watching the TV.  Having chats about 'the house' and so on.  Lots to consider, do, plan and so on.

But for now, it's time to sign off from here.

Catch ya tomorrow.

IT IS GETTING COOLER ...

 

Last Friday morning, when we went to pick up my car, it was quite brisk outside.

As I drove home, I went past our local park, and saw this:

ABOVE; There was a light mist coating the field, and it looks so lovely.  I had to stop and take a photo.

The sun was just peeping through the trees, so beautiful.

But what got me excited was how nice and COOL it was.  I know it's still February, and we have at least another month or two of summer, but I can feel the coolness coming.

Stew and I are both totally over the heat.  Stew has been sweating so much (TMI?), he's now suffering agonies with cramps at night.  I've told him to drink salty water, and he's taking Magnesium as well... but so far, to no avail.

Poor bugger.  I get cramps as well, but maybe not as bad as he's getting right now.

So.  Bring on the cooler weather PLEASE.

Today Stew and I are going out around 9 am for a walk along the river.  It shouldn't be too hot at that time, we hope.

When we get home, we shall be pottering around the house, packing more of our stuff.  I am going to get Stew to work on his corner of the garage, he can pack up some of that shit for sure.  

Then we can take a load or two over to our storage unit later on in the day.

Hmmm... I really thought it would be a bit cooler at 9am today for our walk.  I was wrong.

It was freakin' hot.

But we did it anyway.

Not a long walk, but it certainly had a couple of damn MEAN AS hills!

One was in three sections, I thought I was gunna die, so did me butt ... I mean glutes.

ABOVE:  It is so very pretty down by the river, even though our Waikato river is a dirty greeny colour.  

Now we are home, taking a little break before we take another couple of loads over to our storage unit.

11.19 am:  And another two loads are safely installed in our storage unit.

And we bought some Sugar Soap solution for cleaning... it's a really excellent cleaner.

I have taken on board all the comments about picture hooks.

With them in mind, I have now removed 90% of them.  Some of the holes are so miniscule I won't need to fill and paint them, and some I will need to do that to.

So, a bit more work, but I've GOT TIME to do it.

Lucky me.  😟😖😥

Stew's having a cuppa tea (ikkk), then he's taking me out to lunch at Fergus.  

1 pm:  Lunch is done.  It was DELICIOUS as per usual.  Stew called it our 'Celebration for selling lunch'.  Fair enough.  We certainly deserved it.

That selling shit is so damn stressful.  

This is our first weekend (bar two weeks over Christmas), that we have not had an open home, or two, in almost SIX MONTHS!   It is such a wonderful feeling knowing no one is going to be coming into our home.

And we don't have to get it perfect, then get out.

DONE DONE DONE.

NOW we just have to find our next home, and that might not be straight forward either.

I'm not prepared to 'settle' for something that isn't quite right.  Which means we may end up renting for a while, who knows?

It's all in the 'might happen, might not' bucket right now.

What I do know is right now I'm gunna go and pack up a few things.  Who knew that?  lol

ABOVE:  Well that's a good job done.  I kept forgetting it was above me head, and would need to come down.

There's a bit more stuff in the sewing room that I can pack up, but not much, as I still want to sew over the next three months.  I'd go nuts having nothing to do!

It's now wind down, do nothing time.

Catch ya tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LACY

 

Well... yet another family birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LACY.

You are a handful.

You are often a pain in the butt.

But somehow or other....

We do love you!

You are a really lovely person, loyal and loving.

We wish you a wonderful day.

We have no definite plans for today.

We'll probably go out to the mall, have a wander around.

Dinner this evening with Lacy and Keera, and perhaps Steve, Bex and their kids too.

I am sure I will continue with my packing as well... Stew is shaking his head at me.  We have THREE MONTHS to get it all sorted.... but I'm a 'want it done NOW' sorta person.

Once it is all done, I can really RELAX.  Until then, my head is buzzing with the 'to do' list.

FIRST WIN OF THE DAY!

I got on the scales, after avoiding them for WEEKS.

And I had NOT gained at least 3 kilos, like I was expecting.

In fact I lost a kilo!  WTF?

I've been eating like a starving pig!  Seriously, overeating in some cases and feeling positively ill.

Yet I lost weight?

I'll take it. 

But I'm totally aware it might still catch up with me, so I now have to be very careful, and get back on track.

NOT DIETING.  Just being mindful of what I put in me gob.

Cutting out sugar and complex carbs as much as I can.

Watch this space... I might surprise myself.

NEXT...

ABOVE: I went around the house and identified anywhere that needed 'work' done on the walls.

To my surprise, only 6 places need minor work done.  What a relief.

I plan on keeping most of the picture hooks ON THE WALLS, so our buyers can use them.  It also means I don't have to fill teeny tiny holes and paint the entire house again!  Fuck that.

So, we will be going out soon to get a few things for dinner this evening.  We will probably have lunch out as well. 

12 noon.  Just home from our little outing.  Got a few supplies.  Had a lovely lunch at Chartwell Square.  Now?

ABOVE:  Robert Harris make amazing club sandwiches.  I was hungry and took a bite before thinking "Might take a photo".  lol

ABOVE: The front bedroom is DONE, apart from taking out my drawers and the plant.

I'm leaving a bedspread and pillows on the bed for the new owners.  They have bought that bed.

Oh and I'm leaving the lamp too.  We don't need it.  I am going to leave as much as I can for them, as they have very little of their own.

Did I tell you they have been living in a furnished apartment for the past SIX YEARS?   So, anything I can leave for them will help.

ABOVE: The other two spare bedrooms are DONE as well, except for us taking the furniture out of them.  I'll probably do that over the next couple of weeks, so I can vacuum thoroughly, and wash all the skirting boards etc.  Then I can close the door on those rooms, knowing they are DONE. 

I have such a big list in my head!  😂😉

ABOVE:  Lacy and Keera arrived, as did Steve, Bex and kids.  Lacy got some lovely gifts.

ABOVE: The ginger ninga is all over the house now, running and getting into everything!  

So I had my lovely double oven on, with both top and bottom cooking our dinner.

It kept pinging, and I had to go and reprogramme it a couple of times.

I was confused because on the screen it said "Connecting to Samsung Networkk".  ?????   WTF was going on?

I knew my phone wasn't trying to connect to it.

Then I heard this shit laughing his head off....

ABOVE: Steve, the shit, was connecting to my oven with HIS PHONE.   

ABOVE:  No wonder my oven kept pinging and refusing to do what I wanted it to do.

The bloody shit.

ABOVE: Another lovely, easy dinner.  Our favourite really.

I have a rather funny story about the birthday cake.

I saw an item wrapped up in the freezer, and I was sure it was meatloaf I'd made and frozen.

So I got it out to add to our dinner this evening.

When it defrosted, it turned out to be Christmas Cake!  

So it became Lacy's birthday cake.  lol

ABOVE:  I used sparkling candles...

ABOVE:  And on cue, they sparkled and gave Lacy a big fright!

ABOVE: Ha ha!

ABOVE:  She got over it, and blew them all out.

ABOVE:  It's been a lovely evening, and everyone is now full.

9 pm and everyone has finally left ... and it's quiet here again.

I doubt we will be up late this evening, we are both tired.

Catch ya tomorrow.