CAMBRIDGE... HERE WE COME!!!

ABOVE:  Yep, a full year after learning we had to move... we are!

This morning we have to pick up the dogs and all the 'last minute' stuff at the house, then meet with our Real Estate Agent (Auckland one) and hand over the keys to this home.

Then jump (OK.. I won't be jumping!), get in our cars and take off for our NEW HOME.

A new chapter in our lives.  Hopefully our LAST move till we are old and doddery.

I will try to do an update from my phone during the day...  CAN anyone be more EXCITED than me???  (well, apart from Stew and the kids)  *smiles*

ONWARD...

1 pm. Standing outside our new house.
Cant go in cos the legal settlement process hasnt gone through yet.
Trucks are not here yet.
It pissing down with heavy drizzle.
My car has suddenly decided to have a flat battery... so the AA have just arrived to give it a charge up. 
WHY today of all days!!!

Make that TORRENTIAL RAIN NOW...DAMMIT.

Yaaa... we got the keys at 2.30... and now the guys are unloading.

Its a BIG JOB!

Cant connect to the internet... so I will have to use my phone for the next few days.

We are having our first meal in our new home.  Chicken 'n' cheese on buns.

It's utter chaos in the house right now... so we are going to take it slow and steady.

Tomorrow the guys bring back everything from storage in Hamilton.

Then we will be even busier.

We fell into bed exhausted last night, I even forgot to sign off here.

Oh well... I'm sure ya all understand.  *smiles*

CRAZY BUSY DAY TODAY

For sure, it's going to be a busy day today!
The packers come back, finish the packing, then the truck(s) arrive to be loaded.

THEN we can get working on the cleaning.  It's not going to take too long as the house is pretty clean anyway.  Places like in the wardrobes and under the beds are areas that haven't been cleaned in ages.

Bex is coming over to help, so that's neat.  Steve will come over after work too.

IT HARDLY NEEDS SAYING EH?

!!!!! ONE SLEEP TO GO !!!!!

We have a couple of last minute jobs to do today, aside from cleaning.

Withdraw the kids from their current school (the school was closed yesterday), and sign all the legal stuff for the purchase of our new home.  

Keeping our fingers crossed for fair weather!  It's forecast to be wet on/off all day today and tomorrow.  As I said before though, who cares?  

WE ARE MOVING!  

Doing a happy dance...

ONWARD...

8.19 am:  we are back at the house bright and early.
When I woke up this morning my back didn't feel too bad, a little twinge when I leaned over the bed... but not bad.

Get to the house, and I'm standing at the kitchen bench... not doing anything in particular when BOOM!  OMG OMG OMG, my back goes into spasm, red hot shooting pains up and down the right hand side of my back!

Right now I can hardly even breathe, the pain is that bad.  I've taken 2 tramadol, shit they better kick in fast!

There is SO MUCH to do today.  I can't be laid up.  

12.41 pm:  

The legal documents are signed.  After that Stew dropped me off at the Dr's.  They fitted me in.

I've now got muscle relaxants and more Tramadol.  That should see me able to do a bit.

Stew dropped the kids off at the movies... no point having them hanging around here, they can't help with the cleaning until everything is out of the house.

The movers are making huge progress with packing the truck.

ABOVE:  SEE?  Soooo exciting.

7.46 pm:  and we are almost done.  Steve is doing a little bit of painting for us, then we will be heading back to the motel for the night.
Coming back to the house first thing in the morning to hand over the keys and pick up the dogs.
Nite nite our Auckland home.... see you for the last time in the morning.

You have been a lovely home to live in.

NOW IT REALLY STARTS!

This morning the moving company guys arrive to start sorting out the house, packing what we haven't done and generally getting everything ready to load onto the trucks tomorrow.

I have to go down to the kid's college and formally withdraw them from that school, and get their records forwarded to their new school.

I'm also going to donate to the school their uniforms, to be given to any kid/s who need them.

Then I will be taking what's left of our frozen food over to Bex and Steve's.

On my way home after that, I will be stopping in at the motel to pick up the keys, so we can get in later tonight.

Tick tock, tick tock!

ICE!  I must get some to use in the chilly bins (Eskys) to keep all our fridge food from spoiling.  

Ummm.... I think that's all for now!

  SUPER EXCITED!

ONWARD...

It had to happen.
I've done my back in.  Lower back, both sides.  Can't bend or twist... even walking is painful.
I've taken some heavy duty pain killers.  Hope it helps.

The packers are here.... packing... lol!
We've done all we have to do, so I can sit and relax for a little while.

'RELAX' HA HA HA!

AS IF

ABOVE:  there's two guys packing and wrapping, and WOW,  they are really getting through it FAST!

ABOVE:  All the stuff we are taking in the car, plus all the cleaning stuff to clean the house tomorrow night.

Asked the kids to take the dogs for a walk.  They didn't get too far before Coco decided she didn't want to walk!  So Griffin brought her home.  Sadly, that means in her 'bedroom'.  Can't have the dogs underfoot while all this is going on.

3.23 pm:  And the packers have gone, coming back bright and early tomorrow to finish off the packing, then load the trucks.
Feeling so CALM right now!  Usually I would be a screaming bitch by now, stressing out over EVERY TINY THING!

But I'm not *shaking me head*.  Maybe that's because I really have organised the shit out of this move?  Everything really IS going like clockwork!  I'm thrilled.

Pain relief for my back is WONDERFUL.  I could hardly move after I stuffed it.  I love Tramadol.  *smiles*

Dinner tonight will be some sort of takeaway, then we will stay here until after we have watched the final of 'Happy Valley'.
Then it will simply be a matter of feeding the dogs, putting them to bed in their crates, then taking off to the motel.

So... I'll sign off now and catch ya tomorrow.

BACK TO CAMBRIDGE

Today we are heading back to Cambridge to meet with the school Deans.

We have afternoon appointments with both Deans, so will be leaving mid-morning.

We are taking down the gas cylinders from the BBQ, some paint and the lawn mower.  They are things that moving companies do not handle.  Fair enough too.

So we are putting them into our storage units for a few days, until Stew, Steve and Griffin can get them and everything else out of storage on Saturday.

TICK TOCK....everything is STILL going like clockwork!  I hope it continues.
Expecting rain by end of the week, and even that isn't upsetting me.  So what if it rains.  We are MOVING! 

Tonight is our LAST night sleeping here!  Tomorrow night we will be in a motel, as everything in the house will be packed up ready to be picked up on Thursday.

ONWARD...

All is going well... been to the school and got them enrolled...  had a little tour around etc.

Now checking out a few shops... *smiles*

TIRED, but happy.
We arrived home to find we had forgotten to lock the house!  Nothing missing luckily.
I've done that once or twice before, this time it was Stew's fault.  ha ha

Since we got home, we have packed up our wardrobes/bedroom stuff.
Tomorrow it will be bathrooms, last of the kitchen stuff and so on.

Packers arrive tomorrow to sort out everything else.

Stew has gone to get some dinner for us, as there is no food in the house now.  Only what's left in the fridge and freezer... and frozen veges ain't quite cutting it for dinner.  *smiles*

Hope to have a fairly quiet evening now that 90% of the packing we are doing is done.

LAST. SLEEP. IN. THIS. HOUSE. TONIGHT!

ANNIVERSARY

It's our 29th Wedding Anniversary today.  The BIG 30 next year!  I'm planning a trip away for Stew and I next year.  It will be our 2nd 'real' holiday for just the two of us, lasting more than 2 days!  I'm really looking forward to that.

NOW ...

Today is going to be a day to do all the odd jobs we have had to leave till the last week.

Weather permitting, Stew will mow these lawns for the last time.
Then he has to sort out his garden shed and the store room under the house.

Once that is done, all we have to do is pack our bags/food etc on Tuesday night and wait for the packers to arrive on Wednesday!

WOW WOW WOW.... it is getting really close now. 

We will probably pop down to Bunnings to pick up the netting to keep the dogs in the new yard too.  And price the drop down garage attic door too.  We didn't get to do that the other day.

I'm sure there are a few other jobs I've forgotten.  But as I remember them, I will write them down and get to them eventually.

OH shit.  I just remembered one.  CLEAN. THE. OVEN.

Months ago I got it cleaned by a cleaning company.  Not doing that again, I shall just do it myself.  I've tried not to do too much in it over the past few months so it shouldn't be too dirty.  (fingers crossed)

NOT. LONG. NOW !

Two more sleeps in this house, then two sleeps in a motel... then we will be sleeping in OUR NEW HOME!  

ONWARD...

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK.... so much to do!  And so much has to be left till tomorrow night.  Frustrating.  Want it over.

We just bought the wire netting for the fence, to keep the dogs in.  It's one big job waiting to be done asap once we get to Cambridge.

Luckily it is fine today, Stew will be able to get the lawns mown.  Big relief as they are long enough to make hay!

You know when you have a job to do... but you really DON'T want to do it?  So you do every other job you can find to put it off?  Yeah.
Been doing that all day.

But.  I am going to pat myself on the back... cos I JUST CLEANED THE FRIGGIN OVEN.

Massive hate to do it job.

I looked in the oven at our new home yesterday.  It looked like it had never been used!  SCORE!

 ABOVE:  Brylee and I have packed up 90% of what was left in the kitchen this afternoon!  I'm thrilled how much we got done.

ABOVE: Everywhere you look.... boxes, boxes.


Something tells me I'm going to be seeing boxes for quite some time.

Stew's finally getting the lawns done.  I've got a pot of beef stew simmering, it's got all the veges in it too... a one pot dinner tonight.

Well... we got a heck of a lot accomplished today.  Both Stew and I are knackered now!
Stew's just gone to bed and I won't be too long hitting the sack either.  

CAMBRIDGE TODAY!

Today we are off to visit the owners of our new home in Cambridge.

It's our 'final' inspection, and a chance to ask them questions about the house... alarm, heating and so on.  
I want to find out what sort of fruit trees are on the property too.  There's quite a few.  3 are figs... 2 of which might be getting the chop!

IT ONLY TAKES ONE HAND

TO COUNT THE SLEEPS NOW!

It's getting so close...  We are sooooo looking forward to having this over with.

I'm mega excited to be visiting the house again today, it will be our 3rd time through the front door. 

Hopefully I can take a few more photos of the house/yard too.  

Last night my head felt a bit sore... so I ran my fingers over my scalp.  DANG!!!!!   I've been burnt by the hair bleach!  Luckily it's 'just' over about 1|4 of my head.  On the side they started on, so the area that had the bleach on the longest.
CLEARLY I will never be doing that again!

*sigh* this means I will have to wait a while till I can get something done to tone down the barbie blonde.  Bugger.

ONWARD... 

5.18 pm:  And we've had an awesome, productive day.

It was lovely to meet the owners of our new home... and their 3 cute little kids.  
We got all our questions answered and so on.  We have 3 plum trees, 3 fig trees, a lemon tree, a lime tree, 2 olive trees, a feijoa tree and a rhubarb patch.

We mentioned how we probably wouldn't be keeping two of the fig trees, so they asked if they could get them professionally removed and replanted on their new property?  We said 'HELL YES'... so they will be going with them.  Yaaaa, we don't have to get them removed.

I couldn't possibly take any photos today as the house was in total chaos, with them packing to move on Tuesday.  Only everything she packed up in a box, one of the kids came along and unpacked it for her!  It was a case of "Where's the floor?" in every room!  
Poor guys, I know how hard it is to move and juggle little kids. 

At least for us, this time, our household only consists of two teenagers, who can help.

While in Hamilton, we bought the mattress for the new bed (half price), an electric blanket for it (it's bloody cold in the Waikato!),  and we also got this:

ABOVE:  we wanted a sofa bed for the lounge, and ended up getting this suite.  It will fit in the new lounge nicely.  We didn't get the Ottoman, as we have a lovely coffee table to use in the lounge.  
It's been in storage for almost 8 years!  I can't wait to use it again.

So, a very good day.  We are getting the new bed and lounge suite delivered to our new house after we move in.  

It's all coming together so well.

Having dinner shortly, then settling down to relax for the evening.

SHOPPING TODAY

I've got a little list of things to get today.

First and foremost, netting to affix to the post and rail fencing at our new home, to keep the dogs in.
That will be one of the very first jobs we do once we get there.

We are going to price attic drop down doors, a queen size mattress for the spare bed and a clothes line too.

AND I am going to try and find a lovely matching BLUE jug and toaster for the kitchen.

Hopefully it stays fine all weekend and the lawns dry out a bit.  They are far too wet to be mown right now.  

I know we don't need to be reminded... but... 6 DAYS TO GO!!
I can't help but put it up there.  *squeals*

I've looked at the photos of the house over and over again... so excited.  Placing furniture in me head, pictures on the walls... tick, tock...

ONWARD...

I won't be posting a photo of me hair. I don't like it at all.  It's TOO blonde.  I'm thinking of going back and getting them to streak it with light brown to tone it down.  

SHOPPING:  

 ABOVE:  New wooden boards for the kitchen...

 ABOVE:  We found the new jug and toaster!  Love love love the colour.

ABOVE: Dog doors for the new house.

We have Russell and Ange here for the evening... they were going to 'Spookers' but have changed their plans and are going home after dinner.

DINNER!  Pizza yum!

ABOVE:  Happy guests.  

I WAS going to book a glazier to come to the new house to install the dog door ... mentioned it tonight and ummm.... I forgot Russell is A GLAZIER!

Derrrr.  Upshot.  He's coming over on Saturday after we move in to install the dog door for us.  Cool! 

Right, Coronation Street is on tonight, so I'll bugger off now and relax for the remainder of the evening.

ONLY ONE MORE

Stew only has one more big commute to go TODAY.... then in two weeks he will be living so much closer to his work!

He's got two weeks off work after today.

Which will be awesome as he will be here for the move,  and then in Cambridge to help with the settling in.

We are both hanging out for it to be over, so we can stop living in limbo.

Now... today I've got a hair appointment.  Going totally blonde.  No tin foil frostings this time, that takes 3 hours.  I'm going for a 'block' dye.  I've only ever done that once before and I did it myself and came out kinda YELLOW.  But I'm hoping having a block dye job cuts down on the time I'm stuck in the chair.

Hopefully the hairdresser gets it right and I come out 'ash blonde'.  Time will tell eh?

After the hair appointment, I'm going to have a browse around Harvey Norman's, looking at mattresses for the spare bed.  Oh and Stew said I can 'probably' get a new matching toaster and jug.  I would LOVE a blue set for the new kitchen. 

NEED I SAY IT?...

MOVING DAY IS IN

ONE WEEK!

It is really, really starting to get real. 7 sleeps to go.

ONWARD...

I had a totally new experience this morning.
It was about 5 am and I was dreaming.  In the dream something funny happened and I started laughing.  So much so that Stew woke up!
It took me ages to stop laughing, it was really  hard to get the funny dream out of my mind so I could go back to sleep!

I'm pretty sure I have never had that happen before!  Anyone else woken themselves up by laughing in your sleep? 

It really was funny and weird.  I don't think I've laughed like that in years.  It felt good.

2.00 pm:  Well what can I say about having a 'block' dye job?  Going totally blonde BURNS.  And STINGS.   And I doubt I will ever do it again!
Seriously, I was sure I was getting burnt and totally expected to see blisters on me head.

But no, seems to be OK.  Bit too blonde too I think.  If I get a moment I will show you.  Later.

Right now I'm expecting a man to arrive to pick up the chest freezer I sold on Trade Me.  And later on tonight the fridge is going too.  Really glad they have both sold... there's so many on the market ... I didn't expect them to go!

But they did sell, and I will be putting the cash into something for our new home.

10.27 pm:  Coronation Street is interesting tonight.  Will Peter die?  Will Tyrone find out about the shonky floor?  Looking forward to tomorrow night's episode.

FRIDGE AND PAINT

Only two things on my agenda today!

1. Buy more paint so we have enough to do the 'touch ups' just before we leave this home.
I want every mark, scrape etc painted over so the new owners come into a home that's spic 'n' span.

2. Empty and clean the fridge, as it gets picked up tomorrow night, and I don't want to leave that job till the last minute.

OH while I'm out I will get some groceries for the next few days too.
We are only buying what we need from now on... and by next Tuesday we will be having takeaways/hot bread shop/supermarket salads etc.  

Then I can clean the oven and microwave (there is a built in microwave here).  

Clockwork... tick tock... doing great!

Just in case ya lost count!

8 sleeps to go!

ABOVE:  Poor girls!

Tallulah has been a very naughty girl lately. She ATE the front door mat.  I've had to put it away.

She KNOWS something is going on.  I'm sure of it.  She's far too clever is Tallulah.  

Coco?  She's just a laid back girl.  Barks like crazy when she hears something, but otherwise she just sleeps her days away.

ONWARD...

Paint - DONE
Groceries - DONE
Clean out the fridge - DOING.  What a shit job.

Dropped a full bottle of mayo on the floor.  Glass and mayo everywhere.  Grrrrr.

Coughing has stepped up a notch lately too.  Driving me nuts. Another grrrr.

Kids are due home soon, which is great cos they can lug all the fridge contents down to the garage so I can put it all in the spare fridge.

Legal and financial side of our move is ticking along nicely.  It's all about timing.  Our purchasers need to have their money in our account before we can pay for our Cambridge house.  And it all needs to be done by around 12 midday next Friday.  Cos that's when the trucks with all our household effects arrive at our new home.

Stressful... but manageable.

Tick -  tock - tick - tock!

ABOVE:  The aftermath of cleaning the fridge.  Ruined nails, wrinkled fingers.  But VERY CLEAN hands!

End of the day and everyone is in bed except me.  I'm about to go though.  It's really cooling down ... and shit it's 12.25 in the wee hours.  How did that happen?  I know.. I watched 'One Born Every Minute' .... derrr.
Best be off to bed RIGHT NOW.

DISAPPOINTED

There was a comment left last night from 'ANON'.  It made me feel sad and annoyed.

Because I am 100% sure I know who it was from.  She has some 'tells' in her language that probably only I would pick up on, but maybe a few others too.  

BRYLEE and GRIFFIN are of course, not thrilled to bits to be moving schools.  BUT.  They have had a year to get used to the idea.  A year to grow up some more and be more 'adult' in their reaction to us moving.

They know it can't be helped, and we all have to make sacrifices now and then for our family.  It's called LIFE, and I am very proud of MY kids for how they are behaving.

They are looking forward to our move, because it means life will be settled again, and their DAD will not have to commute so far every day.

They love our new home.  They love that it means an adventure and a new life experience for them.  Kids adapt.  You can't protect them from every life event that might happen... and moving home/school is one of them.

They were not smiling, their eyes showed they were unhappy?  REALLY?

ABOVE: here's a few more from that same photo session.  What do their EYES 'say' now Anon?  The photo yesterday was the only one where they were not goofing off at each other, or being silly.

I wish nasty minded people would just keep their ignorant comments to themselves.  Cos clearly they don't know ME, or MY KIDS that well... if at all.

And it's worth noting, thousands of kids have to change schools every day in the world.  It's not like I'm sending them down a mine to dig for coal, or to a rubbish dump to find food! 

They are spoilt rotten kids.  They get virtually everything they desire, and more.  Poor darlings have to change schools??? OMG.  OUTRAGEOUS.

And on that note... I will change subjects.

Today I am ordering a Queen size bed for the new spare bedroom.
Usually when we have guests stay over, we make Brylee or Griffin get out of their bedroom so the visitors can have a bigger bed.  (OMG! Poor kids!)

But as we will have some spare cash, we are getting a bed for guests.  I'm looking at a queen size bed that has a base that lifts up, where you can store bedding under.  It's quite neat.

ABOVE:  it looks like I will be able to store quite a lot of spare blankets and duvets under there.  Excellent, as the one thing the new house doesn't have is a lot of storage.  

We will work on that issue once we are there.  Maybe put an attic ladder in the garage and use the roof space.  Not sure yet.  But we have plenty of time to work it out.

WE ARE DOWN TO 

SINGLE DIGITS!!!!!

Whoop!  So excited.  WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!  It's JUNE... the month of our move.

ONWARD...

Well... I let my fingers do the walking... luckily.  Cos not one Harvey Norman Store in the country has the bed I want to buy.  I want to actually SEE it before I buy it. The Hamilton Store is working on it right now, to see if they can get one for us to look at.

Weird that they advertise it, yet don't stock it.
Oh well, I'm sure it will work out eventually.

I had a rude awakening this morning!  A man phoned and asked to see the freezer I'm selling ... and he wanted to come at 7 am!  I'm like "Are you kidding?"  Nope.  He arrived, looked at it, and wanted to buy it right then and there.

I had to say NO, as there are people bidding on it, so the auction has to run it's course.  He wasn't that happy, but the rules with TradeMe are pretty precise.  After he left I crawled back into bed to warm up.

Today it's not raining, but it is freezing!  I turned both the heaters on.  Brrrrr.

Yaaa, just heard from Harvey Norman's in Hamilton, they are getting one of those beds in for us to look at... just after we move into the Cambridge home.  

Things are so falling into place for us... *smiles* (and about bloody time too)

An awesome day today, I got heaps done/accomplished.  I do believe I  have done virtually everything I need to, up till now.

I shall have to do a mail re-direction request ... but I'll do that in the next day or two.