Moved in

We are finally home after 14 weeks of pretending to be travelling gypsies.

The original plan was that we would have been back after 11 weeks, but as best laid plans - a few things came unstuck, the painter didn't do a thorough job in the bedrooms, the list then cascaded like dominoes. 

That's all in the past and we're home now.

There are still issues to be sorted out, but that's what the the defect period is for we now have six months  to find every defect in the house and get them fixed!

The heavy rain of the last two days and certainly allowed us to "test the house" out. Unfortunately - a leak was discovered but is now hopefully fixed.

Now the fun (not) part is the unpacking. I so love doing this... the house is still filled with boxes as we work out what we really need and where things should be stored.

So it's a bit of a box city at the moment, though we are moved in. But I really need to get these unpacked!

How long did you take to unpack when you last moved?? Days or months or years?

Wordless Wednesday - Home Sweet Home

Finally - HOME!

Linking with Trish for Wordless Wednesday http://mylittledrummerboys.blogspot.com.au/

Renovations & Decision making

The countdown for when we can move home is on.  We are almost there. I cannot believe how quickly and slow everything has gone at the same time.

To be honest i am ready to move home. We all are! Little Man over the past few weeks had voiced that he wanted to go home - 'to OUR home' I sure know that feeling. 

Our experience with the renovations has been really good, with no massive blowout of the budget thankfully. 

However, one of the frustrating things through out the whole process for me has been the decision making with the interiors. Now as we all know - we have different tastes to our partners. 

To date, we have had multiple disagreements on what colour, what light etc. It is a matter of taste after all, which would  you choose light one or two?

This morning, M surprised me as i broached the subject of the front door. 

Now in previous conversations he had been of a firm opinion that it should not be painted. I on the other hand disagreed, as all of the front of the house was being repainted, and the unpainted door would look strange.

Anyhow the conversation that transpired this morning went something like this.

Me: "now about the door, it's been recommended that we get it painted, as the rest of the front is being painted. it's going to be the same colour as the garage  door."
Him: "ok"

And he continued on doing what he was doing.

I was floored! I was expecting a long discussion on this, an argument even, but not this. Perhaps i have just worn him down to see things my way! 

cohabiting with friends

We've been really blessed thus far with our house renovations. So far the builders are still ahead of schedule - though some things are not finished as yet like the kitchen and the laundry.

But the biggest blessing has been that we've had some where to live in the interim. Just shortly after Christmas, we moved into some dear friends home, whilst they were travelling to see family.

Last Friday our friends flew home and our two families have been living together for the last few days.

Neither of us have ever lived with another family before. So for first timers we are all coping so far. 

M and I are not planning to push our friendship to the limit, or even come close to the edge. They have been so gracious and generous by sharing their home with us. 

Have you ever had to move in with friends? How'd it go? Still friends?

Wanted: 

HousemateS

Relieved

that we finally finished the packing up on the weekend, and today the builders took over the remaining parts of the house that we had been living it.

The evidence seen through our empty bedroom.

Am very excited that we do not have to pack anymore boxes.

Did i say i was relieved... packing is fun at the beginning but by the end of the process it became TEDIOUS! What does one do with those last bits and bobs. We were getting to the stage of just shoving things into boxes...

The upside of the whole exercise was it gave us the opportunity to cull our stuff, even M was ruthless.  We applied the 12 month rule: had we used it in 12 months, and if not, it went into the charity pile or the bin depending on it's age and physical state

The planner in me did allow a small out clause and it was if the object in question was something of sentimental value we could choose to keep despite not being used - something like a Queen Scout shirt... though it has been a long while since M was a Queen Scout

I even parted with my wedding bouquet, but did take some photos of it before it went into the bin To be honest it was really quite satisfying to part with things that are not useful to us

Some things i learnt from this process;  

• things are to be used - if not, give it away someone else can use them, no point it sitting on the shelf and gathering dust.
• i've got to be more diligent with the filing.
• i need to be more considered about the things we bring into our home.

Packing up the house

We are now at the point end of our renovations, I hardly ever imagined that we would get here so quickly. 

Time certainly stops for no man indeed.

With just over a week to Christmas - the reality sets in as we now begin to plan our move out of our home! We have to be out by Jan 13, so a month from today we will be living out of suitcases. 

Maybe i am in denial or i am just purely procrastinating. 

But really i am not looking forward to going through all the paperwork that still surrounds my desk at this stage, let alone packing up the last 8 years of our life into boxes.

Maybe i just need to start with one space, rather than be overwhelmed by the size of the task.

Maybe i could go through my shoe collection first, i do have a few pairs...

Thoughts? Where would you start? or what would you avoid first?

Renovation Week 12

I had been planning to post a lot more about our renovations. Alas life has gotten in the way - mostly work and i had more interesting things to say about Little Man's antics.

But now back to the house - time has simply flown - and we have seen the it progress weekly.

The new section of the house has a roof, the insulation is in, we have windows in...it's all beginning to take real shape..

Soon we'll have to be packed and move out..

But in the meantime we continue to shop for a fixture, a tap, tiles etc every weekend, and that is beginning to be somewhat tiresome. I never thought i'd ever get sick of shopping..

Ever tried shopping with a two year old and try to decide the color of a tile or a set of taps. Littleman has been a trouper, and some of the stores we have been to have been very tolerant. Particularly when Littleman went through  screaming at the highest pitch in his range. 

You can imagine that it was not very pleasant at all and most embarassing for his parents.

M and I eventually worked out that we were best to get someone to mind him on the weekend whilst we made our selections in a most efficient manner.

Renovation Week 5

5 weeks into the renovation - and we are still on schedule. The concrete was poured on last Tuesday just before the thunderstorm set in - i was really concerned that they would not get to do the pour, but it was completed unfounded.

Then the subfloor bricks were laid, and quickly things are beginning to taking shape.  They've even bricked up wall in our current kitchen - which will become our third bedroom. 

We're at the pointy end of finalising the kitchen design and it's getting very exciting..choosing benchtops, working out the fittings. Convincing M that the integrated rangehood was a smarter choice than the canopy one we had earlier chosen, and to add to it the use of opening shelving was taken on board. 

The timbers arrived over the past two days and some of the wall framing is already up. As i spoke with the foreman Rob today - i expressed to him the speed to which everything was going, so what did he do - he assured me that things will slow down... not sure i was expecting to hear that.

Anyway, as i stood in our to be new lounge room, i see a  view of the neighbours backyard that i had never seen before.. is that a good thing??

Renovation Week 2 - Cooking meals

Into our second week of our renovations; and we are thankful that the work is progressing to schedule so far.

We are adjusting to the changes of living in a smaller space

One of these adjustment is with no oven - cooking meals requires a lot more planning  in a make shift kitchen. We have an electric frypan, an electric wok and a small portable gas burner and the BBQ of course. Not a bad set up at all.  

Some of the meals we've had todate

on the gas burner

Pasta and sausage tomato sauce

on the frypan

steak & sweet potato fries 

Sausages
Rosemary Garlic pork

in the wok

Fried rice

Pretty good in terms of variety and not all one pot cooking! 
My favorite meal to date has been the rosemary garlic pork. Soo easy to do,  just add a clove or two of crushed garlic, some rosemary with  olive oil, place pork cutlets in pan and using the rosemary sprigs brush the marinade onto the cutlet.. cook and voila - dinner is served.


A tip i picked up along the way on using the frypan - is to line it with baking paper when we fry and that's reduced the mess as well as cleaning time! I  now have a 50m roll in the pantry as the benefits are well worth it.

so the dust settles

at least just in terms of our activities. Last weekend our life was filled with one thing.. PACKING. The house was filled with boxes as we emptied out the cupboards in preparation of the renovation. 
Our kitchen bench tops have always been clutter with thing, do it was a bit surreal to see it as it was. Kind of reminiscent of it when we first moved in.

We bid farewell to our old St George oven - it has been so reliable despite being older than i (now that's saying a lot). Wonder if my new oven will be that reliable?

We're thankful for the help we had - for family and friends who came to our aid. Little man was taken out for walks and to the park.

My BIG tip for packing  a house when you have toddlers is to have someone come distract your child whilst you dig into the packing.

We were all packed by 9.30pm on Sunday night, ready for early arrival of the builders to begin on Monday .

It really has been an adjustment for all of us  - as we have now lost access to Little man's play space, a full kitchen, laundry and backyard. Not that i am complaining, we have a great setup a one room -dining area, kitchen and laundry, we can cook most meals just no baking which is quite sad for me.

It's 5 days today since the start - and the rubble of the old space is being removed today, albeit with a little hitch of the skip truck breaking down in the morning. 

Little man is enjoying the plethora of different trucks that are coming to the house, and making friends with the builders working on site. It's so lovely to see his face light up with excitement as he hears the digger working in the background.

Am counting down the weeks to we have the whole space again.

the packing begins

in earnest - as we start our renovations in just under a week.

So much to do, so little time, still sick from last week, and feeling under the weather - but I must push on. The next few weeks are amped up - and i need to ensure that things get done on both my work and personal life.

Am i losing the plot, i hope not..
Am going to list and prioritise on a daily basis..