Tuesday:
Nothing much today. I realised I forgot to weigh myself yesterday, again, but I do every couple of days so I know my weight has continued to creep up. 82.9 kg today I think.
Today should have been my book club. I missed it for the third month in a row (after going once). This time it was a book I wanted to read but they didn't seem to have it for me at the library and none were available. Except today I picked up the book for next month and it was behind the counter instead of in the "reserved books" under my name like it was previously... so they probably did have it last month after all! Anyway, not having read Go Set a Watchman I decided not to go. I don't think it really matters, people turn up or they don't, it's not like it really inconveniences the other people either way. Although it's nice to have a robust reliable group. I will make an effort to go next month.
One of the other pool contractors called this afternoon to follow up and I told him we'd decided not to go with his company, Iguana. He asked which one we had chosen and I hesitated because it's none of his business but then told him Mirage because why not? He gave an odd sort of laugh and we said goodbye. I've been worrying about that laugh! But I think it was because people from Mirage went on to found Iguana - probably this guy and his son. So I chose his old employer instead of him. This guy was nice but at the end of the interview when he was here, he went into a bit of a tirade about a different company (Blue Haven) and how terrible they were. Maybe it was just a friendly warning but it seemed unprofessional and was one of the reasons we didn't go with him. He went on and on, and kept coming back to the subject. It made Tim and I a bit uneasy.
I was feeling quite unwell last night but am fine today, I think it likely was the radioactive stuff. Presumably it's all flushed out now.
We have been in this house about nine months now, I realised today that there is no place on the property to sit in the winter sun in the afternoon. It is all shaded. We plan to get rid of a couple of trees in the backyard so hopefully that will clear a spot. Of course we want lots of shade in summer, but it would be nice to have a corner somewhere to sit outside on clear winter days.
Last night a dreamed about the house I grew up in, and realised this morning that I left there 30 years ago, when I was 16. Thirty years! My goodness that is a long time.
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Monday, November 16, 2015
Photos
Tuesday:
We finally got internet last night! So I'm spending some time this morning catching up on Facebook and blogs and emails - in my own home! I find I haven't taken a lot of photos of the house as such, particularly since it is still pretty chaotic with full and empty boxes everywhere, but here is some of our friendly wildlife.
This is one of the two kookaburras (Australia's famous laughing bird, a type of kingfisher, its call really does sound a lot like a laugh and also like its name: koo-koo-ka-ka-ka-ka) that visits regularly. The previous owners put out meat for them and apple coated in sugar for the parrot types (not sure how healthy that is!), I hadn't planned to feed the birds but how can I resist when they come and ask?
A magpie, very common bird which can get a bit aggressive in breeding season. Tim often gets swooped at when on his bike. I do like this one because it will take food right from my hand.
Sulphur-crested cockatoos just outside my back door.
A butcher bird, another meat-eater who comes to the window and calls me.
My children ready for their new schools. They are going to different schools, for the first week I drove/walked them but from yesterday they rode their bikes alone. Aiden's school is only one long block away so I shouldn't worry, Jasmine has my old phone and texts me when she gets to school. I still had a nightmare Sunday night about it though! I dreamed Aiden was only five (he is nine now) and separated from me in a crowd and I couldn't follow into the lecture theatre because I wasn't registered... woke feeling very anxious!
We spent most of Sunday furniture shopping. We came home with a couple of very bright fluffy rugs.
We were actually looking for a new kitchen table. Ours only seats four and is looks very small in the big room. We will be hosting Sunday dinner for Tim's family every second week, alternating with Nick and Ping (grandpa gets free food every week!) which means eight people plus a toddler in a high chair - and she is growing up fast. So we need an eight seat table minimum. Ten is huge but maybe an extendable one? I really liked this table:
but it's too French Provincial for Tim. It's my favourite style, but I agree it's a bit girly. Most other tables that we didn't hate were more solid respectable things. Nice enough, but not exactly exciting. We really need one before Christmas so it will have to be next weekend.
We went to Nick and Ping's this past Sunday for dinner. Lovely to have family so close.
Another thing we want is a pool! I need to get someone to come out and assess our backyard. I'm worried that it is expensively rocky, with lots of trees to clear (and I think there are laws about planting new ones when you remove native trees) and difficult access up the narrow side of the house. Have to see what they quote.
The previous owners left lots of the quirky little elements they had in their garden, which I love. I'm surprised they left this one, which apparently represented their four grandchildren:
There are lots of others, like this chicken.
I've been for a couple of walks around the neighbourhood. There are some very impressive houses. Like this one:
But think of all the cleaning! No, wait, if you had a house like that you would have a maid or something. Anyway, I'm happy with our house.
My desk looks out into that courtyard next to the kitchen (the same angle as that first photo), so I just went out to feed to kookaburra who came and sat on the roof and laughed at me. I hope it's not a problem that I am giving them cooked meat - leftover roast beef with various spices. They don't seem to be complaining. It is a lovely spot here at my desk.
I am still a tiny bit unnerved here alone sometimes when all is quiet and there are little noises around the house or outside. I've planned my escape route for it a homicidal maniac breaks in.
Well I do have other things to do today, so I'd better get on with it. More unpacking awaits!
We finally got internet last night! So I'm spending some time this morning catching up on Facebook and blogs and emails - in my own home! I find I haven't taken a lot of photos of the house as such, particularly since it is still pretty chaotic with full and empty boxes everywhere, but here is some of our friendly wildlife.
We spent most of Sunday furniture shopping. We came home with a couple of very bright fluffy rugs.
We were actually looking for a new kitchen table. Ours only seats four and is looks very small in the big room. We will be hosting Sunday dinner for Tim's family every second week, alternating with Nick and Ping (grandpa gets free food every week!) which means eight people plus a toddler in a high chair - and she is growing up fast. So we need an eight seat table minimum. Ten is huge but maybe an extendable one? I really liked this table:
We went to Nick and Ping's this past Sunday for dinner. Lovely to have family so close.
Another thing we want is a pool! I need to get someone to come out and assess our backyard. I'm worried that it is expensively rocky, with lots of trees to clear (and I think there are laws about planting new ones when you remove native trees) and difficult access up the narrow side of the house. Have to see what they quote.
The previous owners left lots of the quirky little elements they had in their garden, which I love. I'm surprised they left this one, which apparently represented their four grandchildren:
There are lots of others, like this chicken.
I've been for a couple of walks around the neighbourhood. There are some very impressive houses. Like this one:
My desk looks out into that courtyard next to the kitchen (the same angle as that first photo), so I just went out to feed to kookaburra who came and sat on the roof and laughed at me. I hope it's not a problem that I am giving them cooked meat - leftover roast beef with various spices. They don't seem to be complaining. It is a lovely spot here at my desk.
I am still a tiny bit unnerved here alone sometimes when all is quiet and there are little noises around the house or outside. I've planned my escape route for it a homicidal maniac breaks in.
Well I do have other things to do today, so I'd better get on with it. More unpacking awaits!
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Less tidy
Saturday:
I told the children yesterday that we didn't have to keep the house spotless anymore; Aiden's response was to joyously trash his sister's room. I did make him clean it up a bit, but it's been hard on them to live in a sterile house all holidays. We definitely relaxed a bit; piles of clothes folded on the bed, a few dirty dishes, toys on the floor.
Then we were having dinner last night. And I saw the people who bought the house coming down the driveway! They knocked and asked if they could look around outside again, and inside at the ensuite bathroom. They had their friend who is builder with them, and wanted some advice (the ensuite is a bit of a problem and I assume they are going to renovate it). I said that was fine, and it was fine really I guess, but it seemed a bit odd just turning up. Most people go through the agent and give notice of wanting to see a house someone else is still living in! I picked up a few clothes off the floor but didn't worry about it too much and went back to eating dinner. I am a bit sick of not being able to relax in my own house.
Weeks ago, when we were preparing the house for showing, we packed up personal photos. We have a lot of Chinese artwork from when we visited there and I thought we should put some of the wall hangings away, I worried just a little that people might find the house "too Asian" but Tim thought we should leave it out so we did. Well the people that bought the house are Chinese! And when we met them after the auction they mentioned the art. So it seems like it influenced them in a good way.
I wanted some time to myself today so Tim took the kids to the flower festival Floriade in the morning. I really didn't want to go again anyway, it wasn't inspiring this year.
I went over to the auction of our neighbour's house two doors down - we had to change our auction time because it clashed with theirs. Their house is a bit smaller than ours but is fully renovated and absolutely immaculate and beautiful instead of slightly shabby. The bidding started just below what we ended up getting but then didn't go much higher and didn't get to their reserve so was passed in (not sold). It certainly makes me more appreciative that we got a price we were happy with. They did have a sold sticker up a bit later so they must have negotiated with the highest bidder.
I used my CPAP last night, four hours. I'll increase tonight. I'm still working on my blood glucose, a bit of rice tonight was enough to send the numbers too high. Seems I can't eat much carb at all.
I told the children yesterday that we didn't have to keep the house spotless anymore; Aiden's response was to joyously trash his sister's room. I did make him clean it up a bit, but it's been hard on them to live in a sterile house all holidays. We definitely relaxed a bit; piles of clothes folded on the bed, a few dirty dishes, toys on the floor.
Then we were having dinner last night. And I saw the people who bought the house coming down the driveway! They knocked and asked if they could look around outside again, and inside at the ensuite bathroom. They had their friend who is builder with them, and wanted some advice (the ensuite is a bit of a problem and I assume they are going to renovate it). I said that was fine, and it was fine really I guess, but it seemed a bit odd just turning up. Most people go through the agent and give notice of wanting to see a house someone else is still living in! I picked up a few clothes off the floor but didn't worry about it too much and went back to eating dinner. I am a bit sick of not being able to relax in my own house.
Weeks ago, when we were preparing the house for showing, we packed up personal photos. We have a lot of Chinese artwork from when we visited there and I thought we should put some of the wall hangings away, I worried just a little that people might find the house "too Asian" but Tim thought we should leave it out so we did. Well the people that bought the house are Chinese! And when we met them after the auction they mentioned the art. So it seems like it influenced them in a good way.
I wanted some time to myself today so Tim took the kids to the flower festival Floriade in the morning. I really didn't want to go again anyway, it wasn't inspiring this year.
I went over to the auction of our neighbour's house two doors down - we had to change our auction time because it clashed with theirs. Their house is a bit smaller than ours but is fully renovated and absolutely immaculate and beautiful instead of slightly shabby. The bidding started just below what we ended up getting but then didn't go much higher and didn't get to their reserve so was passed in (not sold). It certainly makes me more appreciative that we got a price we were happy with. They did have a sold sticker up a bit later so they must have negotiated with the highest bidder.
I used my CPAP last night, four hours. I'll increase tonight. I'm still working on my blood glucose, a bit of rice tonight was enough to send the numbers too high. Seems I can't eat much carb at all.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Stress
Tuesday:
I'm having a really hard time with stress. I feel anxious and a bit nauseous a lot of the time. Only 48 hours to go now before we auction our house. I'm scared it won't sell, or not for a good price. We have timed it with impeccable bad luck. We bought right at the peak of an 18 month housing bubble, and now a couple of weeks later things have slowed down as a million people have chosen Spring to put their house on the market. It's gone from over 90% clearance rate (how many sell) to under 70%. So I'm feeling very worried and my body is reacting to the constant stress.
Today was another hot day, we're actually having a heat wave here that is supposed to end tomorrow, so I chose the indoor activity of going to see a movie, something we hadn't done yet these holidays. We saw "Oddball" which is the true story of a naughty dog who ends up a hero protecting endangered fairy penguins (the littlest penguins) from foxes on a tiny island off the coast of Australia. It is a kid's movie, and mine loved it. I am always surprised when they enjoy happy little films like this rather than big budget animation (which they also like).
Another house-cleaning session (did I mention I am over it?) that ended in a bit of disaster. The kids had helped clean but were having a short computer session before we were kicked out of our own home again. Aiden was watching something he found so hilarious and distracting on YouTube that he wet his pants laughing so hard. Did I say wet his pants? More accurately, wet the carpet like a un-trained puppy. Big puddle. Ten minutes before people were coming to look over our house again. So that was fun.
We went to the library which had just shut for the day so we sat in the park. It was nice in the shade, late in the day. The kids rolled down grassy hills and only later remembered that this always made them both horribly itchy. So they did a bit of tree-climbing. I couldn't face cooking so I picked up a couple of pizzas (proper ones) and came home.
Only four people through the house tonight, with three having been through before. A good sign, that they were interested enough to come back. I think quite a few people are coming to the auction, whether they bid or not (or bid high enough) remains to be seen.
I'm having a really hard time with stress. I feel anxious and a bit nauseous a lot of the time. Only 48 hours to go now before we auction our house. I'm scared it won't sell, or not for a good price. We have timed it with impeccable bad luck. We bought right at the peak of an 18 month housing bubble, and now a couple of weeks later things have slowed down as a million people have chosen Spring to put their house on the market. It's gone from over 90% clearance rate (how many sell) to under 70%. So I'm feeling very worried and my body is reacting to the constant stress.
Today was another hot day, we're actually having a heat wave here that is supposed to end tomorrow, so I chose the indoor activity of going to see a movie, something we hadn't done yet these holidays. We saw "Oddball" which is the true story of a naughty dog who ends up a hero protecting endangered fairy penguins (the littlest penguins) from foxes on a tiny island off the coast of Australia. It is a kid's movie, and mine loved it. I am always surprised when they enjoy happy little films like this rather than big budget animation (which they also like).
Another house-cleaning session (did I mention I am over it?) that ended in a bit of disaster. The kids had helped clean but were having a short computer session before we were kicked out of our own home again. Aiden was watching something he found so hilarious and distracting on YouTube that he wet his pants laughing so hard. Did I say wet his pants? More accurately, wet the carpet like a un-trained puppy. Big puddle. Ten minutes before people were coming to look over our house again. So that was fun.
We went to the library which had just shut for the day so we sat in the park. It was nice in the shade, late in the day. The kids rolled down grassy hills and only later remembered that this always made them both horribly itchy. So they did a bit of tree-climbing. I couldn't face cooking so I picked up a couple of pizzas (proper ones) and came home.
Only four people through the house tonight, with three having been through before. A good sign, that they were interested enough to come back. I think quite a few people are coming to the auction, whether they bid or not (or bid high enough) remains to be seen.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
More outside
Saturday:
Yesterday was not very exciting. We did the grocery shopping and walked to pick up the old car Nugget in the afternoon. The engine is sounding much better.
This morning we cleaned house for two hours ready for yet another weekend of inspections - the auction is on Thursday! Then we went out to another park on another sunny day.
We started by the lake (that is a pelican in the background, there were also lots of ducks)
Aiden wanted to show the others the lovely creek so we walked back to the start where it bubbled out of the ground and played "Pooh Sticks". For those of you whose childhood didn't include the books about Winnie the Pooh (a teddy bear) and his friends in 100-Acre Wood, Pooh Sticks is where you each put a stick (or leaf, or piece of bark, or whatever you find) in a fast-moving stream and then run along beside shouting in excitement and dislodging it when it gets stuck in an eddy and then see who wins.
It was lunchtime so we had pizza by the lake at a place we hadn't tried before but was really good. Sriracha pulled beef! Yummy. By then everyone would have finished looking at our house so we went home. To find big black marks all over the kitchen floor lino!? Someone dragging a freshly polished shoe? A kid in roller skates? Luckily the marks came off easily enough. I'll have to ask the real estate agent.
In the afternoon Jasmine went to a birthday party at SkyZone (trampoline place) and then both children went to their irregular semi-weekly kids' Dungeons and Dragons session at a friend's house.
I had the silliest conversation with the real estate agent. While chatting, I mentioned that I was born in the city of Melbourne. He asked which part, and I said "Geelong". He immediately said his family was from there and launched into talking about the suburb, its pros and cons, and which bit his ancestors were from and how they moved there in 1933 etc. Now firstly, we moved away from Melbourne when I was one year old and I have rarely visited any part of that city since then. And secondly I am not from Geelong. I have no idea why that name fell out of my mouth. I have no association with that suburb at all, and don't know why it was even in my brain. So I sat there wondering why I had instantly said Geelong, and listened to him talk about it. There didn't seem to be any point I could break in and say "Actually I'm not from there, I don't know why I said that," without embarrassment, so I kept silent. Completely unimportant, but I felt a bit silly.
Yesterday was not very exciting. We did the grocery shopping and walked to pick up the old car Nugget in the afternoon. The engine is sounding much better.
This morning we cleaned house for two hours ready for yet another weekend of inspections - the auction is on Thursday! Then we went out to another park on another sunny day.
We started by the lake (that is a pelican in the background, there were also lots of ducks)
then Aiden and I followed the creek upstream to its source. I suppose it was only a few hundred metres but it twisted and turned and was interrupted by little ponds and miniature waterfalls and we hopped over stepping stones and it was very nice. Then we met up with Tim and Jasmine again and the kids played on the flying fox thing.
It was lunchtime so we had pizza by the lake at a place we hadn't tried before but was really good. Sriracha pulled beef! Yummy. By then everyone would have finished looking at our house so we went home. To find big black marks all over the kitchen floor lino!? Someone dragging a freshly polished shoe? A kid in roller skates? Luckily the marks came off easily enough. I'll have to ask the real estate agent.
In the afternoon Jasmine went to a birthday party at SkyZone (trampoline place) and then both children went to their irregular semi-weekly kids' Dungeons and Dragons session at a friend's house.
I had the silliest conversation with the real estate agent. While chatting, I mentioned that I was born in the city of Melbourne. He asked which part, and I said "Geelong". He immediately said his family was from there and launched into talking about the suburb, its pros and cons, and which bit his ancestors were from and how they moved there in 1933 etc. Now firstly, we moved away from Melbourne when I was one year old and I have rarely visited any part of that city since then. And secondly I am not from Geelong. I have no idea why that name fell out of my mouth. I have no association with that suburb at all, and don't know why it was even in my brain. So I sat there wondering why I had instantly said Geelong, and listened to him talk about it. There didn't seem to be any point I could break in and say "Actually I'm not from there, I don't know why I said that," without embarrassment, so I kept silent. Completely unimportant, but I felt a bit silly.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Contract
Thursday:
What a frustrating morning. I was waiting for final, very important documents before we sign and exchange contracts on this house and pay a deposit (after that, they can't sell it to someone else even if they make a better offer). No internet access until 11:20 - and then it still hadn't arrived! Also I was trying to print out the 35 page contract and my printer got all stubborn. You know what that can be like. Chewed pages, running out of ink, anything it could think of piss me off. I ended up feeding in one sheet of paper at a time.
My stress levels are just so high at the moment. I had a look at that chart that ranks stressful life events, and what with both my parents dying and moving house and a few other things my score was approaching the dangerous level that is shown to cause illness. Ah well, all I can do is push on with things.
Jasmine is feeling a bit sad because her classmates are organising the Yr 6 graduation and she won't be here. A few people are surprised we are moving so close to the end of the school year (I think there will be 7 weeks left when we go) but I don't want to split the household and have Tim in Sydney by himself. Three months was the longest we could stretch to organise this move. I hope she makes friends quickly in the new school and feels part of that when she graduates. I must say, the whole "graduation from primary school" seems a bit odd to me, I'm sure they didn't have that when I was at school, or not such a big thing. It's not like anyone fails primary school.
We had our first open house last night. The information wasn't up on the internet's real estate pages yet, but the agent knew some people who were looking in this area and invited them along. We were out at Jasmine's dance lesson (the agent always recommends the owner isn't there) but I felt nervous the whole time. I've had dreams about frantically trying to tidy a filthy house while people crowd outside waiting to come in!
Two doors down from us are coincidentally also selling their house, and my daughter noticed their ad. on the internet yesterday afternoon. Their auction was exactly the same date and time as ours! I quickly called my agent and he has changed ours. We don't want people to have to choose which one to come to! Only one person can buy each house, so you want the rest to come to the other auction. Ours will be first. Their house is a little smaller but recently renovated. I am really happy with the pictures of ours, it looks great.
Funny thing happened today. I had a plumber here for a minor job and he mentioned that it was a nice-looking house. I jokingly said it was on the market if he was interested - and he was! I showed him around a bit and he might be back for an open house, he seemed to think it suited his family. Or he might have been just being polite.
Our agent called and someone who saw the house at the pre-showing last night wants to bring her husband to see it but they can't come on the weekend, so we organised a time. That sounds promising. We wouldn't be averse to an offer before auction - but we don't really want to leave this house before having somewhere to move to!
In the end, got those important documents just after 4pm. Signed the contract for the house and dropped it, plus the deposit, off at the solicitor. It's not final until the contracts have been "exchanged" and our lawyer has their signed copy, I doubt that will be before Monday. So still a bit more stressful waiting. Oh, and I can stress that our bank will suddenly decide not to lend us the money, and we'll lose our deposit. Not likely, but it's another thing to keep me awake at night.
Lets have a report card check.
Diet: Terrible. This is possibly the worst I've eaten in my life. Take-away several times a week and junk snacks in between.
Exercise: Terrible. No time to exercise. Or too stressed to make time. And I hurt my knee two weekends ago trudging up and down the driveway with things for the skip bin, and it's still a bit sore.
Water: Terrible. Yesterday I had three glasses of water and two cups of tea. Pretty standard at the moment.
Sleep: Terrible. I wake very early every morning and can't get back to sleep.
Mental health: Poor. I'm not absolutely unhappy, just very stressed.
So, my life is a bit topsy-turvy at the moment.
I had a blood test yesterday and there was that sign on the wall "Dance like no one is watching, love like you've never been hurt, sing like no one is listening, live like it's your last day on earth." Sounds pretty, but I disagree with most of it! I prefer to dance and sing like I'm performing to a huge (adoring) audience. And if I knew it was my last day on earth I certainly wouldn't be "wasting" my time cleaning my house, waiting around for a plumber, or spending half the day on phone and email organising this home purchase. Planning for the future is just as important as living in the now. Well, I think so, anyway. If you didn't, you'd quickly run out of clean clothes for a start! How about "Live as if you're going to live for a thousand years." Therefore plan for the future, be careful with money and your relationships, but enjoy each day as well. Am I overthinking this?
What a frustrating morning. I was waiting for final, very important documents before we sign and exchange contracts on this house and pay a deposit (after that, they can't sell it to someone else even if they make a better offer). No internet access until 11:20 - and then it still hadn't arrived! Also I was trying to print out the 35 page contract and my printer got all stubborn. You know what that can be like. Chewed pages, running out of ink, anything it could think of piss me off. I ended up feeding in one sheet of paper at a time.
My stress levels are just so high at the moment. I had a look at that chart that ranks stressful life events, and what with both my parents dying and moving house and a few other things my score was approaching the dangerous level that is shown to cause illness. Ah well, all I can do is push on with things.
Jasmine is feeling a bit sad because her classmates are organising the Yr 6 graduation and she won't be here. A few people are surprised we are moving so close to the end of the school year (I think there will be 7 weeks left when we go) but I don't want to split the household and have Tim in Sydney by himself. Three months was the longest we could stretch to organise this move. I hope she makes friends quickly in the new school and feels part of that when she graduates. I must say, the whole "graduation from primary school" seems a bit odd to me, I'm sure they didn't have that when I was at school, or not such a big thing. It's not like anyone fails primary school.
We had our first open house last night. The information wasn't up on the internet's real estate pages yet, but the agent knew some people who were looking in this area and invited them along. We were out at Jasmine's dance lesson (the agent always recommends the owner isn't there) but I felt nervous the whole time. I've had dreams about frantically trying to tidy a filthy house while people crowd outside waiting to come in!
Two doors down from us are coincidentally also selling their house, and my daughter noticed their ad. on the internet yesterday afternoon. Their auction was exactly the same date and time as ours! I quickly called my agent and he has changed ours. We don't want people to have to choose which one to come to! Only one person can buy each house, so you want the rest to come to the other auction. Ours will be first. Their house is a little smaller but recently renovated. I am really happy with the pictures of ours, it looks great.
Funny thing happened today. I had a plumber here for a minor job and he mentioned that it was a nice-looking house. I jokingly said it was on the market if he was interested - and he was! I showed him around a bit and he might be back for an open house, he seemed to think it suited his family. Or he might have been just being polite.
Our agent called and someone who saw the house at the pre-showing last night wants to bring her husband to see it but they can't come on the weekend, so we organised a time. That sounds promising. We wouldn't be averse to an offer before auction - but we don't really want to leave this house before having somewhere to move to!
In the end, got those important documents just after 4pm. Signed the contract for the house and dropped it, plus the deposit, off at the solicitor. It's not final until the contracts have been "exchanged" and our lawyer has their signed copy, I doubt that will be before Monday. So still a bit more stressful waiting. Oh, and I can stress that our bank will suddenly decide not to lend us the money, and we'll lose our deposit. Not likely, but it's another thing to keep me awake at night.
Lets have a report card check.
Diet: Terrible. This is possibly the worst I've eaten in my life. Take-away several times a week and junk snacks in between.
Exercise: Terrible. No time to exercise. Or too stressed to make time. And I hurt my knee two weekends ago trudging up and down the driveway with things for the skip bin, and it's still a bit sore.
Water: Terrible. Yesterday I had three glasses of water and two cups of tea. Pretty standard at the moment.
Sleep: Terrible. I wake very early every morning and can't get back to sleep.
Mental health: Poor. I'm not absolutely unhappy, just very stressed.
So, my life is a bit topsy-turvy at the moment.
I had a blood test yesterday and there was that sign on the wall "Dance like no one is watching, love like you've never been hurt, sing like no one is listening, live like it's your last day on earth." Sounds pretty, but I disagree with most of it! I prefer to dance and sing like I'm performing to a huge (adoring) audience. And if I knew it was my last day on earth I certainly wouldn't be "wasting" my time cleaning my house, waiting around for a plumber, or spending half the day on phone and email organising this home purchase. Planning for the future is just as important as living in the now. Well, I think so, anyway. If you didn't, you'd quickly run out of clean clothes for a start! How about "Live as if you're going to live for a thousand years." Therefore plan for the future, be careful with money and your relationships, but enjoy each day as well. Am I overthinking this?
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
What an exciting day
Tuesday:
We had professional photos taken of the house this morning, so we did our best to remove all traces of human habitation. Not so much real cleaning or packing, more stashing stuff we actually use away in drawers. Hide that shampoo! The buyers must not know we have hair! Get rid of the dish drainer, there must be no evidence that we wash dishes in this house! Etc. It does look nice with everything hidden away, not an easy way to live though.
Then it was time to switch into home-buying mode. Tim made an offer on the house we want. They called back with a counter offer. After discussing it with me, Tim accepted their counter-offer! So exciting! Our purchase is contingent on an acceptable building and pest inspection report, which will be available on Thursday. Assuming that is all good, we have a house!
As I have said, the home's flaw is that it is smaller than others we were looking at. Actually most of the rooms are a good size but it is missing one room so I won't get a study. Since I work from home, that is a fault. But hopefully in a couple of years we can build on another room at the back for Aiden so he will get a bigger bedroom before he's a teenager, and I will get the study then. In the meantime, my desk will be in a nice corner looking out into the garden.
Aside from that one flaw, which perhaps I have harped on too much, the house is really lovely. It has the best bathrooms of any house we have seen and a nice big kitchen. The whole house felt very welcoming. I felt it even from the pictures on the internet, and Tim agreed as soon as we walked in. Very well maintained. The garden doesn't have much lawn, it is mainly native trees and shrubs and flowers in chaotic profusion, fun to explore, like a tiny bit of natural bushland. The previous owners (who are retiring to a country town, I guess they are moderately elderly) were obviously keen on wildlife, they had feeders out for the birds and even cubes of meat for the kookaburras (which usually eat snakes). We saw a beautiful rainbow lorikeet in a flowering grevillea tree out the front as we were leaving. It is in a quiet dead-end street, walking distance to shops and the library and possibly to the schools. Lovely!
Tim and I are both utterly exhausted emotionally. Time to collapse. But it was a very exciting and productive day.
.. And extra bit of exciting news, Tim's cousin has just purchased land near where we are moving to. He was previously an hour away. Lovely family gathering.
We had professional photos taken of the house this morning, so we did our best to remove all traces of human habitation. Not so much real cleaning or packing, more stashing stuff we actually use away in drawers. Hide that shampoo! The buyers must not know we have hair! Get rid of the dish drainer, there must be no evidence that we wash dishes in this house! Etc. It does look nice with everything hidden away, not an easy way to live though.
Then it was time to switch into home-buying mode. Tim made an offer on the house we want. They called back with a counter offer. After discussing it with me, Tim accepted their counter-offer! So exciting! Our purchase is contingent on an acceptable building and pest inspection report, which will be available on Thursday. Assuming that is all good, we have a house!
As I have said, the home's flaw is that it is smaller than others we were looking at. Actually most of the rooms are a good size but it is missing one room so I won't get a study. Since I work from home, that is a fault. But hopefully in a couple of years we can build on another room at the back for Aiden so he will get a bigger bedroom before he's a teenager, and I will get the study then. In the meantime, my desk will be in a nice corner looking out into the garden.
Aside from that one flaw, which perhaps I have harped on too much, the house is really lovely. It has the best bathrooms of any house we have seen and a nice big kitchen. The whole house felt very welcoming. I felt it even from the pictures on the internet, and Tim agreed as soon as we walked in. Very well maintained. The garden doesn't have much lawn, it is mainly native trees and shrubs and flowers in chaotic profusion, fun to explore, like a tiny bit of natural bushland. The previous owners (who are retiring to a country town, I guess they are moderately elderly) were obviously keen on wildlife, they had feeders out for the birds and even cubes of meat for the kookaburras (which usually eat snakes). We saw a beautiful rainbow lorikeet in a flowering grevillea tree out the front as we were leaving. It is in a quiet dead-end street, walking distance to shops and the library and possibly to the schools. Lovely!
Tim and I are both utterly exhausted emotionally. Time to collapse. But it was a very exciting and productive day.
.. And extra bit of exciting news, Tim's cousin has just purchased land near where we are moving to. He was previously an hour away. Lovely family gathering.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Another busy day
Monday:
Another busy day project managing this move. I continue to wake very early every morning, this morning it was 4:30, and it didn't feel like I got back to sleep at all. Apparently often insomniacs feel like they haven't slept when testing shows they drift in and out of sleep, so I can't say for sure I was awake the whole time, but it felt like it. After a couple of hours of lying there thinking - mainly about houses - I got up. Strangely, considering about five hours sleep, I felt quite alert and happy most of the day (crashed later). Stressed, but excited-stressed. We are having the professional photos taken of our house tomorrow morning and the first open house Wednesday night (by invitation, the pictures won't be on the net yet), and although I keep thinking we are almost ready, there is always something else to do!
We've returned to reasonable surety about smaller house/bigger backyard being our first choice to buy in Sydney. We haven't seen the perfect house, if it exists, but this one suits us best. We are going to make an offer and see what happens. All the real estate agents (and used car salesmen, for that matter) got my phone number on the weekend so I've had a lot of calls about whether I liked various houses (and cars). The phone has hardly stopped ringing all day.
I continue to eat unhealthy food. Maybe that's how I'm keeping my energy levels artificially high. And I didn't have time/make time for a walk. Floriade, Canberra's spring flower festival, is on and I would love to go. I'll have to make time to stroll around the tulips soon. It was lovely outside today. I didn't get out into it much, but at least I was able to turn the heater off at home! It's back on again now for the evening.
I've got a whole weight-gain synergy going between stress, poor sleep, and poor eating. Eating is the only one I can really control, but it's hard when I'm stressed and tired! Not giving up, I'll keep working on it.
Another busy day project managing this move. I continue to wake very early every morning, this morning it was 4:30, and it didn't feel like I got back to sleep at all. Apparently often insomniacs feel like they haven't slept when testing shows they drift in and out of sleep, so I can't say for sure I was awake the whole time, but it felt like it. After a couple of hours of lying there thinking - mainly about houses - I got up. Strangely, considering about five hours sleep, I felt quite alert and happy most of the day (crashed later). Stressed, but excited-stressed. We are having the professional photos taken of our house tomorrow morning and the first open house Wednesday night (by invitation, the pictures won't be on the net yet), and although I keep thinking we are almost ready, there is always something else to do!
We've returned to reasonable surety about smaller house/bigger backyard being our first choice to buy in Sydney. We haven't seen the perfect house, if it exists, but this one suits us best. We are going to make an offer and see what happens. All the real estate agents (and used car salesmen, for that matter) got my phone number on the weekend so I've had a lot of calls about whether I liked various houses (and cars). The phone has hardly stopped ringing all day.
I continue to eat unhealthy food. Maybe that's how I'm keeping my energy levels artificially high. And I didn't have time/make time for a walk. Floriade, Canberra's spring flower festival, is on and I would love to go. I'll have to make time to stroll around the tulips soon. It was lovely outside today. I didn't get out into it much, but at least I was able to turn the heater off at home! It's back on again now for the evening.
I've got a whole weight-gain synergy going between stress, poor sleep, and poor eating. Eating is the only one I can really control, but it's hard when I'm stressed and tired! Not giving up, I'll keep working on it.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Biggest Loser
Sunday:
morning
Ok, we've essentially decided to initially pursue the smallest house with a nice backyard for the kids in a good area near a school. At least that is what we are thinking this morning! Our primary issue with this house is that the third bedroom is really quite small (currently furnished as a study). It would be Aiden's and I don't want him to be too cramped. We've decided on a couple of ways to ameliorate this problem: firstly we could get him one of those beds that is like a top bunk with a desk or drawers underneath which maximises space - his best friend has a bed like that and he loves it. And secondly with a very minor renovation we could remove a linen cupboard on the other side of the wall that pushes into his bedroom, giving him a bit more room.
One day in the future when he is a teenager and we have lots of spare money (sure, it will happen), we can build another room for him on the back of the house. And a pool. One day.
Another good thing about it is they are not auctioning, they have an asking price. It's right at the top of our budget but we think it is a little overpriced and will make a lower offer. I'm sure that is what they would expect anyway, haggling a bit is normal. Of course there may be other people interested, but at least we don't have to go to auction!
The second house in the right area is bigger and just lovely, but no backyard is a real problem for us. There is just a tiny paved area. It's such a small block the house takes up the whole block. And no park or anything right nearby either. Our kids love playing outside. So we've moved that to our second choice. And the third house (with the pool) is just too far from schools as well as some other minor flaws.
Ok, back to the healthy living!
I actually got a nice surprise when I weighed myself this morning, something I haven't been doing much lately. I was fearfully expecting a big increase, but my weight has only been creeping up very slowly. It may seem odd being happy about any increase, but I know what I've been eating lately! It is how I respond to stress. So I was relieved. But I know I need to stop the upward trend and turn it around right now. I have a lot of health issues and they are basically all caused by my weight.
I am have some plans.
I will start tracking again. I've downloaded Myfitnesspal because a lot of people seem to like it and it syncs with Fitbit. I'm trying wearing my Fitbit again, but if it irritates my skin again I'll use my phone to track activity. I'm limiting calories but not any particular foods. Eating more fruit and vegetables. I will drink all my water. I will start walking again.
My other idea is to use Biggest Loser to motivate me. A new series starts here tonight and it is one of my favourite shows. I know this is very controversial! In its defence, the Australian version is relatively mild and supportive. I've seen the US version and was a bit horrified at how the trainers treat the contestants. The Australian trainers are nice, tough without being abusive. Anyway, I enjoy watching it.
My plan is to find something on every episode to use in my own weight loss, whether that is an exercise or a tip on diet or something about dealing with the psychological side of weight issues. As I watch, I will think "how can this help me?"
Evening
We spent the day working hard, quite a bit outside. No formal exercise, but another good housework workout! Food was not great. Food was pretty poor, actually. And we're no longer sure which house! Arg!!!!!!!!!!
I watched the first episode of Biggest Loser, the four trainers met their teams (families of four). They spent a few days having to eat what the families were eating - and not allowed to exercise. The trainers all felt completely sick, nauseated, headachy, Tiffany broke out in acne, Michelle was crying, Shannon looked like he wanted to punch someone, the Commando was the only reasonably stoic one and even he said he couldn't wait for it to be over. For them, a few days of unrestricted eating was NOT fun, they knew what it was like to feel healthy and this wasn't it!
morning
Ok, we've essentially decided to initially pursue the smallest house with a nice backyard for the kids in a good area near a school. At least that is what we are thinking this morning! Our primary issue with this house is that the third bedroom is really quite small (currently furnished as a study). It would be Aiden's and I don't want him to be too cramped. We've decided on a couple of ways to ameliorate this problem: firstly we could get him one of those beds that is like a top bunk with a desk or drawers underneath which maximises space - his best friend has a bed like that and he loves it. And secondly with a very minor renovation we could remove a linen cupboard on the other side of the wall that pushes into his bedroom, giving him a bit more room.
One day in the future when he is a teenager and we have lots of spare money (sure, it will happen), we can build another room for him on the back of the house. And a pool. One day.
Another good thing about it is they are not auctioning, they have an asking price. It's right at the top of our budget but we think it is a little overpriced and will make a lower offer. I'm sure that is what they would expect anyway, haggling a bit is normal. Of course there may be other people interested, but at least we don't have to go to auction!
The second house in the right area is bigger and just lovely, but no backyard is a real problem for us. There is just a tiny paved area. It's such a small block the house takes up the whole block. And no park or anything right nearby either. Our kids love playing outside. So we've moved that to our second choice. And the third house (with the pool) is just too far from schools as well as some other minor flaws.
Ok, back to the healthy living!
I actually got a nice surprise when I weighed myself this morning, something I haven't been doing much lately. I was fearfully expecting a big increase, but my weight has only been creeping up very slowly. It may seem odd being happy about any increase, but I know what I've been eating lately! It is how I respond to stress. So I was relieved. But I know I need to stop the upward trend and turn it around right now. I have a lot of health issues and they are basically all caused by my weight.
I am have some plans.
I will start tracking again. I've downloaded Myfitnesspal because a lot of people seem to like it and it syncs with Fitbit. I'm trying wearing my Fitbit again, but if it irritates my skin again I'll use my phone to track activity. I'm limiting calories but not any particular foods. Eating more fruit and vegetables. I will drink all my water. I will start walking again.
My other idea is to use Biggest Loser to motivate me. A new series starts here tonight and it is one of my favourite shows. I know this is very controversial! In its defence, the Australian version is relatively mild and supportive. I've seen the US version and was a bit horrified at how the trainers treat the contestants. The Australian trainers are nice, tough without being abusive. Anyway, I enjoy watching it.
My plan is to find something on every episode to use in my own weight loss, whether that is an exercise or a tip on diet or something about dealing with the psychological side of weight issues. As I watch, I will think "how can this help me?"
Evening
We spent the day working hard, quite a bit outside. No formal exercise, but another good housework workout! Food was not great. Food was pretty poor, actually. And we're no longer sure which house! Arg!!!!!!!!!!
I watched the first episode of Biggest Loser, the four trainers met their teams (families of four). They spent a few days having to eat what the families were eating - and not allowed to exercise. The trainers all felt completely sick, nauseated, headachy, Tiffany broke out in acne, Michelle was crying, Shannon looked like he wanted to punch someone, the Commando was the only reasonably stoic one and even he said he couldn't wait for it to be over. For them, a few days of unrestricted eating was NOT fun, they knew what it was like to feel healthy and this wasn't it!
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Three houses
Saturday:
We drove to Sydney today for another round of house-viewing. Long long day with lots of driving, but we ended up finding THREE houses we really liked. Which is awesome, but now we don't know which one to pursue. The big house with the pool which isn't quite in the right area? The medium-size house in the right area but with no backyard? Or the smaller house in the right area with a nice backyard but maybe was just a little too small? All three were lovely with many good points and one bad point. We can't easily chase them all because it can get very expensive with building inspections and stuff. We need to start with one, and take into account that the others might get snapped up while we negotiate and maybe don't get it after all. So we need to decide! And we keep going back and forth, preferring this one then that one. We should be happy to have such wealth of choice, and actually we'd be happy with any of the three. I just hope we get one of them!
In any case, it's really reassuring that there are plenty of good houses out there and missing out on one good one doesn't mean you'll never find one.
Super tired. I'll talk about my new plans for weight loss tomorrow.
We drove to Sydney today for another round of house-viewing. Long long day with lots of driving, but we ended up finding THREE houses we really liked. Which is awesome, but now we don't know which one to pursue. The big house with the pool which isn't quite in the right area? The medium-size house in the right area but with no backyard? Or the smaller house in the right area with a nice backyard but maybe was just a little too small? All three were lovely with many good points and one bad point. We can't easily chase them all because it can get very expensive with building inspections and stuff. We need to start with one, and take into account that the others might get snapped up while we negotiate and maybe don't get it after all. So we need to decide! And we keep going back and forth, preferring this one then that one. We should be happy to have such wealth of choice, and actually we'd be happy with any of the three. I just hope we get one of them!
In any case, it's really reassuring that there are plenty of good houses out there and missing out on one good one doesn't mean you'll never find one.
Super tired. I'll talk about my new plans for weight loss tomorrow.
Friday, September 11, 2015
Test driving cars
Friday:
Tim took the day off work today so we could get stuff done. One thing was looking for a new car. When I say "new", we wanted a decent second-hand car, not too old. We love our current car but it's about 13 years old now and needs repairs more often, and we worry about reliability on our long trips when it makes funny noises and doesn't want to turn sharp corners. We test drove a few and didn't buy anything, the only one I liked was a new new car! A bit more money than we wanted to spend, considering we need all our money to buy a house very soon! But we need something soon. We'll do some more looking, I don't know when we'll find the time though.
In the past I'm sure car salesmen have just let us take out cars by ourselves (after taking photocopies of ID) but this time each one came with us. Odd. The last one was funny, he said he would drive the car first to get to a quieter place then let us drive. Like we were nervous teenage L-platers instead of adults who drive around that area all the time! Canberra isn't exactly a big city with lots of traffic either. He was probably 20 years younger than us. Maybe he just enjoyed the chance to get out and drive a car instead of being at the car yard all day. He drove quite a long way and finally pulled over to let Tim drive - in our own quiet suburban street! He was giving Tim directions about which way to go and I said "that's our house" and he got a bit subdued after that and just let us drive around and swap when we wanted to, and even let me drive it back to the yard although I asked if he wanted to.
We have a lot of houses to see tomorrow, I'm really hoping we see one (or more) that we like enough to make an offer for. We've definitely decided against that land, it's just too small and oddly shaped. If we see any other blocks before buying an existing house, we'll consider it again.
Tim took the day off work today so we could get stuff done. One thing was looking for a new car. When I say "new", we wanted a decent second-hand car, not too old. We love our current car but it's about 13 years old now and needs repairs more often, and we worry about reliability on our long trips when it makes funny noises and doesn't want to turn sharp corners. We test drove a few and didn't buy anything, the only one I liked was a new new car! A bit more money than we wanted to spend, considering we need all our money to buy a house very soon! But we need something soon. We'll do some more looking, I don't know when we'll find the time though.
In the past I'm sure car salesmen have just let us take out cars by ourselves (after taking photocopies of ID) but this time each one came with us. Odd. The last one was funny, he said he would drive the car first to get to a quieter place then let us drive. Like we were nervous teenage L-platers instead of adults who drive around that area all the time! Canberra isn't exactly a big city with lots of traffic either. He was probably 20 years younger than us. Maybe he just enjoyed the chance to get out and drive a car instead of being at the car yard all day. He drove quite a long way and finally pulled over to let Tim drive - in our own quiet suburban street! He was giving Tim directions about which way to go and I said "that's our house" and he got a bit subdued after that and just let us drive around and swap when we wanted to, and even let me drive it back to the yard although I asked if he wanted to.
We have a lot of houses to see tomorrow, I'm really hoping we see one (or more) that we like enough to make an offer for. We've definitely decided against that land, it's just too small and oddly shaped. If we see any other blocks before buying an existing house, we'll consider it again.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
An endless parade of strange men in my house
Wednesday:
Another couple of days of various things getting ready for moving. Today we had a handyman here fixing a final couple of things, then the building and pest inspection man to do his inspection (no major issues there). An endless parade of strange men in my house! That sounds more exciting than it is. I did a bit more housework. I cleaned under the sink, where the bin sits and exudes nastiness, and wiped down all the walls and doors around the inside of the house. Also did a lot of research about houses to potentially build on this empty block we are considering buying.
I don't think that is going to work out. It is quite a small block, and the house I want just won't fit on it. There is a "carriageway" (right of way, presumably in case they later build in what is currently bushland) down the side that you can't build on and that takes up a lot of space, and the block is at the end of a cul-de-sack so it is an odd fan shape, very narrow at the front and wide at the back. I have a copy of the plans for the house that the previous owner planned to build, they obviously had architects work out the optimal floor plan for the space instead of going to one of the big building companies. We would have to get something very similar, and it's not exactly what we want. Do we go to all the trouble (and waiting up to a year) of building for ourselves when it's not perfect, and might be really expensive to organise? If we're going for close-enough, we might as well buy a pre-built house. Still thinking about it.
Luckily I have found about ten houses to look at this weekend. We really need to find and buy in the next couple of weeks if we want to avoid renting for a while. Kinda stressful. But we'll find somewhere eventually. What I find stressful is that it's not just a matter of finding a house we like and can afford, but then we have to go through the whole auction process and probably not get it anyway! Some of those we'll look at this weekend have a listed price instead of going to auction, maybe we'll like one of those.
Another couple of days of various things getting ready for moving. Today we had a handyman here fixing a final couple of things, then the building and pest inspection man to do his inspection (no major issues there). An endless parade of strange men in my house! That sounds more exciting than it is. I did a bit more housework. I cleaned under the sink, where the bin sits and exudes nastiness, and wiped down all the walls and doors around the inside of the house. Also did a lot of research about houses to potentially build on this empty block we are considering buying.
I don't think that is going to work out. It is quite a small block, and the house I want just won't fit on it. There is a "carriageway" (right of way, presumably in case they later build in what is currently bushland) down the side that you can't build on and that takes up a lot of space, and the block is at the end of a cul-de-sack so it is an odd fan shape, very narrow at the front and wide at the back. I have a copy of the plans for the house that the previous owner planned to build, they obviously had architects work out the optimal floor plan for the space instead of going to one of the big building companies. We would have to get something very similar, and it's not exactly what we want. Do we go to all the trouble (and waiting up to a year) of building for ourselves when it's not perfect, and might be really expensive to organise? If we're going for close-enough, we might as well buy a pre-built house. Still thinking about it.
Luckily I have found about ten houses to look at this weekend. We really need to find and buy in the next couple of weeks if we want to avoid renting for a while. Kinda stressful. But we'll find somewhere eventually. What I find stressful is that it's not just a matter of finding a house we like and can afford, but then we have to go through the whole auction process and probably not get it anyway! Some of those we'll look at this weekend have a listed price instead of going to auction, maybe we'll like one of those.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Land
Tuesday:
I wrote this post at three different times during the day. It is clear my mood was different each time!
morning
Not quite so frantic this morning! Although our real estate agent was coming to have a proper look around, things were still pretty good from yesterday. With children (or, indeed, anyone living in the house), nothing stays perfect for long; but I only had to pick up some clothes, make the beds, wipe down the kitchen, stuff like that. It's looking pretty good here. Apart from the dining table, which is covered in stuff we still need to deal with, and a few things like cleaning the outdoor furniture, we're feeling close to ready for our house to go on the market Saturday week.
Also today the window guys came to deal with our bathroom window which needed some work. Another thing done and dusted.
afternoon
I've been dealing with mood swings a bit lately. Probably a combination of stress, not enough sleep, and poor diet. I'll go from feeling confident and relaxed to depressed and overwhelmed for no obvious reason. I know I feel better when I've achieved something in the day and eaten well, but it's hard to do either of those things when I'm feeling low. It's easier to sit around and feel sorry for myself.
evening
I spent a couple of hours at a friend's house after school and we looked at houses online while the kids played. She found a block of land I'd somehow missed, in the area we want to move into and apparently within our price range (taking into account the cost of building a house on the land, which we are still looking into). It is going to be auctioned on Saturday - which means of course the price is only a guide. I have looked at land before, but it was either too expensive or on a sloping rocky difficult block which would make building the house a lot more expensive. This block is relatively flat and has already been cleared - someone bought it a year ago and had housing plans approved but it seems they don't want it any more - it is not a huge block which has its downside of course but also makes it more affordable.
My friend and I looked at some builder's sites and I found a house plan that I love, hopefully they will contact me soon with prices. I know the price can vary a lot depending on a lot of factors but it would be nice to have a general idea so we know how much we could spend on the land.
Having to rent for a while, while the house is built, is a bit of a hassle, but it would solve some problems. It would give us time to sell this house (we'd need some money to buy the land, but not as much upfront as if we bought an existing house), we'd know what area we'd end up in so could settle the kids into the correct school straight away, and we would end up with a house that suited us perfectly! I am quite excited by the prospect. But there are many hurdles to jump yet. I can dream, can't I?
I wrote this post at three different times during the day. It is clear my mood was different each time!
morning
Not quite so frantic this morning! Although our real estate agent was coming to have a proper look around, things were still pretty good from yesterday. With children (or, indeed, anyone living in the house), nothing stays perfect for long; but I only had to pick up some clothes, make the beds, wipe down the kitchen, stuff like that. It's looking pretty good here. Apart from the dining table, which is covered in stuff we still need to deal with, and a few things like cleaning the outdoor furniture, we're feeling close to ready for our house to go on the market Saturday week.
Also today the window guys came to deal with our bathroom window which needed some work. Another thing done and dusted.
afternoon
I've been dealing with mood swings a bit lately. Probably a combination of stress, not enough sleep, and poor diet. I'll go from feeling confident and relaxed to depressed and overwhelmed for no obvious reason. I know I feel better when I've achieved something in the day and eaten well, but it's hard to do either of those things when I'm feeling low. It's easier to sit around and feel sorry for myself.
evening
I spent a couple of hours at a friend's house after school and we looked at houses online while the kids played. She found a block of land I'd somehow missed, in the area we want to move into and apparently within our price range (taking into account the cost of building a house on the land, which we are still looking into). It is going to be auctioned on Saturday - which means of course the price is only a guide. I have looked at land before, but it was either too expensive or on a sloping rocky difficult block which would make building the house a lot more expensive. This block is relatively flat and has already been cleared - someone bought it a year ago and had housing plans approved but it seems they don't want it any more - it is not a huge block which has its downside of course but also makes it more affordable.
My friend and I looked at some builder's sites and I found a house plan that I love, hopefully they will contact me soon with prices. I know the price can vary a lot depending on a lot of factors but it would be nice to have a general idea so we know how much we could spend on the land.
Having to rent for a while, while the house is built, is a bit of a hassle, but it would solve some problems. It would give us time to sell this house (we'd need some money to buy the land, but not as much upfront as if we bought an existing house), we'd know what area we'd end up in so could settle the kids into the correct school straight away, and we would end up with a house that suited us perfectly! I am quite excited by the prospect. But there are many hurdles to jump yet. I can dream, can't I?
Monday, September 7, 2015
Clean carpets
Monday:
When I told Aiden it was time to get up this morning, he asked for a day off school because we'd had such a big weekend. I totally empathised, although I couldn't allow it. Tired though we may be, we all had duties for the day.
The carpets were being cleaned this morning so as much furniture as possible had to be moved into the kitchen and bathrooms. Tim went to work leaving me with that job! I cursed him a few times as I dragged heavy things around by myself. (When he got home tonight he said he thought it was just the normal cleaner coming not the carpet cleaner, so I guess I'll forgive him.) At least the house was pretty tidy and uncluttered already. But I was still tired from the day before, and as usual I'd been awake since about 5am, so it was hard work moving everything around.
The two courses of antibiotics reduced my pelvic pain by a lot, but not entirely. I hoped it would then get completely better on its own but it had remained as a dull ache that bothers me in the early hours of the morning or if I stand too long. I need to get a blood test to see if I've been successfully absorbing the Vitamin B12 tablets that I started three months ago, so I'll be seeing my doctor soon and I'll ask her then about the continuing abdominal pain. I'm still having no other symptoms, which makes it hard to diagnose.
The carpet cleaning guy came and did his work as I sat and looked at houses online. As usual the carpets came up pretty nice. It's only been three months since the last clean. I don't think of myself as much of a house-cleaner, but the various people that come to steam-clean always seem quite relieved at the state of the carpets here and tell me horror stories about soaked-in dog urine and people who don't vacuum for decades. I guess I'm not so bad!
After that I did the grocery shopping, only for three days because I was too tired to plan any further ahead than that! Then I had a bit of a rest before moving all the furniture back. I'd put some chairs outside because I'd run out of non-carpet floor space. They were under cover and not particularly near any flowering trees, but when I went to bring them in they were covered in yellow pollen! So many wattle trees in full flower at the moment.
I seem to be keeping other aspects of my life under control at the moment, but not my diet. Still turning to the wrong sorts of foods to get me through the day.
When I told Aiden it was time to get up this morning, he asked for a day off school because we'd had such a big weekend. I totally empathised, although I couldn't allow it. Tired though we may be, we all had duties for the day.
The carpets were being cleaned this morning so as much furniture as possible had to be moved into the kitchen and bathrooms. Tim went to work leaving me with that job! I cursed him a few times as I dragged heavy things around by myself. (When he got home tonight he said he thought it was just the normal cleaner coming not the carpet cleaner, so I guess I'll forgive him.) At least the house was pretty tidy and uncluttered already. But I was still tired from the day before, and as usual I'd been awake since about 5am, so it was hard work moving everything around.
The two courses of antibiotics reduced my pelvic pain by a lot, but not entirely. I hoped it would then get completely better on its own but it had remained as a dull ache that bothers me in the early hours of the morning or if I stand too long. I need to get a blood test to see if I've been successfully absorbing the Vitamin B12 tablets that I started three months ago, so I'll be seeing my doctor soon and I'll ask her then about the continuing abdominal pain. I'm still having no other symptoms, which makes it hard to diagnose.
The carpet cleaning guy came and did his work as I sat and looked at houses online. As usual the carpets came up pretty nice. It's only been three months since the last clean. I don't think of myself as much of a house-cleaner, but the various people that come to steam-clean always seem quite relieved at the state of the carpets here and tell me horror stories about soaked-in dog urine and people who don't vacuum for decades. I guess I'm not so bad!
After that I did the grocery shopping, only for three days because I was too tired to plan any further ahead than that! Then I had a bit of a rest before moving all the furniture back. I'd put some chairs outside because I'd run out of non-carpet floor space. They were under cover and not particularly near any flowering trees, but when I went to bring them in they were covered in yellow pollen! So many wattle trees in full flower at the moment.
I seem to be keeping other aspects of my life under control at the moment, but not my diet. Still turning to the wrong sorts of foods to get me through the day.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Auctions and Fathers' Day
Sunday:
Well we didn't get either of the houses we wanted :( It was a long, exhausting and exciting - if ultimately a bit disappointing - day.
To start with, on the drive to Sydney I suddenly realised we were nearly out of petrol. I noticed it just before the warning light went on. The problem was we were on the highway in the middle of nowhere. We pushed on and made it to the next petrol station, but the needle was pretty low! That was a bit stressful. Then we looked at one new house, didn't appeal to us, then went to the auction for our favourite house.
We still loved it and I think we nearly got it. Tim went one bid over our maximum, just in case, but the other remaining bidder went higher and we just couldn't. Actually the other guy then tried to bid again, not realising he had it, so I guess he had even more to spend. We were disappointed but know there are more houses coming on the market every week and we'll find one.
We had a quick lunch then saw another new house, nope, then the second auction. This house, we weren't so sure about. We looked around for a long time and only decided to bid at the last minute. But it went way over our limit almost straight away. I'm not upset about that one, it was a lovely house but didn't really suit us perfectly like the other one did.
If we don't find a house to buy very soon, then we'll have to rent for a while in Sydney while we look after Tim starts work there. In some ways that won't be a bad thing, it means we can sell this house first and not have to borrow so much money. But it's tricky not knowing which school to send the kids too. And a pain having to move twice. I guess we'd keep most of our stuff in storage. But it would be so convenient being on the spot to go look at houses, instead of having to drive four hours each way.
One funny thing was that every list of auction hints we saw suggested we dress well, so we did. I think it's supposed to intimidate other bidders into thinking you are rich, so they don't bother to bid against you. But at both houses the winner of the bidding was dressed in ratty dirty clothes. I'm sure it makes no difference at all. It depends on how much money you have to spend on the house, not your clothes!
We dropped in for a quick visit to Tim's brother, then the long drive home. Tim was already exhausted from the stress - he did all the bidding - and I collapsed when we got home. Such a big day. We both still felt pretty tired this morning.
Today was Fathers' Day, but we had a lot to do today as we had a skip bin sitting out the front ready for our final load of rubbish, including the old trampoline that we had to dismantle first! We have to concentrate on getting this house ready for sale.We spent hours clearing all the junk we'd collected. Tim took apart the trampoline and I trudged up and down the driveway with the wheelbarrow full of parts, and other junk from the garage and garden shed. How many plastic pots does one person need? Really physically exhausting.
It turns out that the trampoline, and the posts that held up the safety netting, were a spider condo. Nothing deadly, but none of us are keen on spiders. And this is Australia, so some of them were pretty big!
Tim had mentioned at work that he was throwing away a treadmill on the weekend (they are impossible to sell because so many people buy one and never use it and then try to get rid of it, the world is already full of second hand treadmills for sale) and one woman asked if she could have it. Of course he said yes, so she and her husband came to pick it up today. Hmm, he never mentioned to me he had such an attractive co-worker... She gave us a box of chocolates as thanks which was lovely, but also a bit ironic considering it was a swap for a healthy device! Maybe it should have been a bouquet of kale.
It wasn't a very healthy day food-wise. I made French Toast for breakfast, Jasmine cooked burgers for lunch, and we had roast lamb for dinner followed by lemon meringue pie. All delicious Father's Day fare, but I hope I burned off all the calories with the work I did!
Well we didn't get either of the houses we wanted :( It was a long, exhausting and exciting - if ultimately a bit disappointing - day.
To start with, on the drive to Sydney I suddenly realised we were nearly out of petrol. I noticed it just before the warning light went on. The problem was we were on the highway in the middle of nowhere. We pushed on and made it to the next petrol station, but the needle was pretty low! That was a bit stressful. Then we looked at one new house, didn't appeal to us, then went to the auction for our favourite house.
We still loved it and I think we nearly got it. Tim went one bid over our maximum, just in case, but the other remaining bidder went higher and we just couldn't. Actually the other guy then tried to bid again, not realising he had it, so I guess he had even more to spend. We were disappointed but know there are more houses coming on the market every week and we'll find one.
We had a quick lunch then saw another new house, nope, then the second auction. This house, we weren't so sure about. We looked around for a long time and only decided to bid at the last minute. But it went way over our limit almost straight away. I'm not upset about that one, it was a lovely house but didn't really suit us perfectly like the other one did.
If we don't find a house to buy very soon, then we'll have to rent for a while in Sydney while we look after Tim starts work there. In some ways that won't be a bad thing, it means we can sell this house first and not have to borrow so much money. But it's tricky not knowing which school to send the kids too. And a pain having to move twice. I guess we'd keep most of our stuff in storage. But it would be so convenient being on the spot to go look at houses, instead of having to drive four hours each way.
One funny thing was that every list of auction hints we saw suggested we dress well, so we did. I think it's supposed to intimidate other bidders into thinking you are rich, so they don't bother to bid against you. But at both houses the winner of the bidding was dressed in ratty dirty clothes. I'm sure it makes no difference at all. It depends on how much money you have to spend on the house, not your clothes!
We dropped in for a quick visit to Tim's brother, then the long drive home. Tim was already exhausted from the stress - he did all the bidding - and I collapsed when we got home. Such a big day. We both still felt pretty tired this morning.
Today was Fathers' Day, but we had a lot to do today as we had a skip bin sitting out the front ready for our final load of rubbish, including the old trampoline that we had to dismantle first! We have to concentrate on getting this house ready for sale.We spent hours clearing all the junk we'd collected. Tim took apart the trampoline and I trudged up and down the driveway with the wheelbarrow full of parts, and other junk from the garage and garden shed. How many plastic pots does one person need? Really physically exhausting.
It turns out that the trampoline, and the posts that held up the safety netting, were a spider condo. Nothing deadly, but none of us are keen on spiders. And this is Australia, so some of them were pretty big!
Tim had mentioned at work that he was throwing away a treadmill on the weekend (they are impossible to sell because so many people buy one and never use it and then try to get rid of it, the world is already full of second hand treadmills for sale) and one woman asked if she could have it. Of course he said yes, so she and her husband came to pick it up today. Hmm, he never mentioned to me he had such an attractive co-worker... She gave us a box of chocolates as thanks which was lovely, but also a bit ironic considering it was a swap for a healthy device! Maybe it should have been a bouquet of kale.
It wasn't a very healthy day food-wise. I made French Toast for breakfast, Jasmine cooked burgers for lunch, and we had roast lamb for dinner followed by lemon meringue pie. All delicious Father's Day fare, but I hope I burned off all the calories with the work I did!
Friday, September 4, 2015
Auction nerves
Friday:
The auction for the house we love is tomorrow. We are really nervous! We are trying to resign ourselves to quite possibly not getting it but it's hard not to hope. Tim's cousin has been looking in the same area for over a year without success, the auctions keep going over his budget. We have a little more to spend so fingers crossed. Last time we saw him we were joking about how we could end up bidding against each other! At least if we saw each other at an auction we could sort it out between us, but it would be very unfortunate if it was a private treaty house and we were each individually competing over the phone and not knowing who the other bidder was! I don't think that will happen though, we are not looking for quite the same thing.
It doesn't help our nerves that our real estate agent for selling this house was talking to us last night about how he will maximise the price paid to us at our auction. Tim and I both couldn't help thinking about how that will be working against us as buyers when the other people's agents are doing the same things!
I did my twice-weekly grocery shopping this morning and was driving home when it occurred to me that I no longer have a small fridge with a broken shelf. I have a medium-size fridge with all its shelves. I could probably fit a whole week's worth of groceries in instead of shopping twice a week! I think I'd run out of fruit before the end of the week though. (I don't put fruit in the fridge, but still have to fit it in the house somehow.) Did you know if a household of four people eat their recommended two pieces of fruit a day each, that is 56 pieces of fruit a week! That is a lot of fruit.
Wish me luck for tomorrow.
The auction for the house we love is tomorrow. We are really nervous! We are trying to resign ourselves to quite possibly not getting it but it's hard not to hope. Tim's cousin has been looking in the same area for over a year without success, the auctions keep going over his budget. We have a little more to spend so fingers crossed. Last time we saw him we were joking about how we could end up bidding against each other! At least if we saw each other at an auction we could sort it out between us, but it would be very unfortunate if it was a private treaty house and we were each individually competing over the phone and not knowing who the other bidder was! I don't think that will happen though, we are not looking for quite the same thing.
It doesn't help our nerves that our real estate agent for selling this house was talking to us last night about how he will maximise the price paid to us at our auction. Tim and I both couldn't help thinking about how that will be working against us as buyers when the other people's agents are doing the same things!
I did my twice-weekly grocery shopping this morning and was driving home when it occurred to me that I no longer have a small fridge with a broken shelf. I have a medium-size fridge with all its shelves. I could probably fit a whole week's worth of groceries in instead of shopping twice a week! I think I'd run out of fruit before the end of the week though. (I don't put fruit in the fridge, but still have to fit it in the house somehow.) Did you know if a household of four people eat their recommended two pieces of fruit a day each, that is 56 pieces of fruit a week! That is a lot of fruit.
Wish me luck for tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
First day of spring
Tuesday:
As you can see, I actually went out for a walk today! The air was full of the scents of wattle and freshly cut grass. Sunny but still a bit cool - but I warmed up enough to take off my jumper. Actually I went for three walks because I also went up to the school in the afternoon, and walked my friend's children home after a play-date here. Total of around an hour today.
That was the only time I spent moving my body, though. I was on the computer the rest of the day; organising a conveyancer (lawyer for house buying and selling), carpet cleaning, real estate agent etc. Not even any packing today!
As you can see, I actually went out for a walk today! The air was full of the scents of wattle and freshly cut grass. Sunny but still a bit cool - but I warmed up enough to take off my jumper. Actually I went for three walks because I also went up to the school in the afternoon, and walked my friend's children home after a play-date here. Total of around an hour today.
That was the only time I spent moving my body, though. I was on the computer the rest of the day; organising a conveyancer (lawyer for house buying and selling), carpet cleaning, real estate agent etc. Not even any packing today!
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Dance concert
Saturday:
The real estate agent got back to us this morning, the seller wants to go to auction which is only a week away now. Which is fine, at least we can be reasonably sure they're not going to sell to someone else in the meantime. So we've got two auctions to go to next Saturday; if we don't win our first choice luckily our second choice is auctioned later in the same day. I want to see that one again before I decide. And we'll also view any suitable new houses.
Most of the day was spent driving Jasmine back and forth for her two concerts today, and of course seeing the evening performance. When I dropped her off for the matinee I had to park a long way away because there was a lot of road works around the theatre blocking access to the main car park (we were warned there would be - I think weekend road work makes sense in most places but not in front of a theatre!!) so I spent some time walking around the area scouting out places to park later in the day. I found a "secret" spot that I think not many parents knew about so it was worth my trouble - we easily found a spot there for the evening performance. It was the most walking I've done in several weeks! And that walking was done during the pleasant daytime rather than late at night in the freezing it's-still-winter-here.
And in the evening we got to see the dance show. It was very good, the older groups were very slick and professional, the younger groups involved my daughter which made them entertaining, and there was one dance (ballet) when tiny little kids came out in the same white tutus as the big girls and danced with them. You should have heard the "awwww" when they came out! We didn't see any other dances with the tiny tots this year because they were only in the daytime show. When everyone came out for bows at the end I did a rough count and my best guess was about 250 students! And I think six of them were boys. No older boys at all.
Jasmine did really well, she was one of the better ones in her classes we (unbiasedly! lol) think. I was especially proud of how well she posed frozen before the music started, some of her classmates couldn't keep still. And she danced well.
There have been complaints this year (which I totally agree with) that the share of stage time was very unfair this year. The older girls studying dance fulltime had many very long routines (too long, if you weren't a parent, even though they were good) whereas for the first time the younger kids didn't even get a full routine. They would dance a bit then run off and another class would run on to continue it. One song might be shared between up to four classes! In the ballet they had a long routine but with every ballet class in the school - Jasmine was on stage for 22 bars of music! That sucked a bit. In past years at least each class had a whole routine. But I suppose the show went on a bit longer then. As it was, we were there until 10:30 which is very late for young children. Aiden drooped all through Act Two.
Complaints aside, it was a good night out and Jasmine loved it and seemed to have no qualms about how much dancing she actually did. And now she can get some much-needed rest.
The real estate agent got back to us this morning, the seller wants to go to auction which is only a week away now. Which is fine, at least we can be reasonably sure they're not going to sell to someone else in the meantime. So we've got two auctions to go to next Saturday; if we don't win our first choice luckily our second choice is auctioned later in the same day. I want to see that one again before I decide. And we'll also view any suitable new houses.
Most of the day was spent driving Jasmine back and forth for her two concerts today, and of course seeing the evening performance. When I dropped her off for the matinee I had to park a long way away because there was a lot of road works around the theatre blocking access to the main car park (we were warned there would be - I think weekend road work makes sense in most places but not in front of a theatre!!) so I spent some time walking around the area scouting out places to park later in the day. I found a "secret" spot that I think not many parents knew about so it was worth my trouble - we easily found a spot there for the evening performance. It was the most walking I've done in several weeks! And that walking was done during the pleasant daytime rather than late at night in the freezing it's-still-winter-here.
And in the evening we got to see the dance show. It was very good, the older groups were very slick and professional, the younger groups involved my daughter which made them entertaining, and there was one dance (ballet) when tiny little kids came out in the same white tutus as the big girls and danced with them. You should have heard the "awwww" when they came out! We didn't see any other dances with the tiny tots this year because they were only in the daytime show. When everyone came out for bows at the end I did a rough count and my best guess was about 250 students! And I think six of them were boys. No older boys at all.
Jasmine did really well, she was one of the better ones in her classes we (unbiasedly! lol) think. I was especially proud of how well she posed frozen before the music started, some of her classmates couldn't keep still. And she danced well.
There have been complaints this year (which I totally agree with) that the share of stage time was very unfair this year. The older girls studying dance fulltime had many very long routines (too long, if you weren't a parent, even though they were good) whereas for the first time the younger kids didn't even get a full routine. They would dance a bit then run off and another class would run on to continue it. One song might be shared between up to four classes! In the ballet they had a long routine but with every ballet class in the school - Jasmine was on stage for 22 bars of music! That sucked a bit. In past years at least each class had a whole routine. But I suppose the show went on a bit longer then. As it was, we were there until 10:30 which is very late for young children. Aiden drooped all through Act Two.
Complaints aside, it was a good night out and Jasmine loved it and seemed to have no qualms about how much dancing she actually did. And now she can get some much-needed rest.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Making an offer
Friday:
I was ashamed of the contents of my shopping trolley today. Some days I look down into the trolley with pride: all fresh foods. Today it contained way too much junk. I know you shouldn't shop when you're hungry and I wasn't - but I was really really thirsty. Can that have an effect? Or was it stress/frustration because the bank loan officer emailed me but said he has to check something so we still can't make an offer. For whatever reason, I just kept tossing tasty unhealthy semi-food treats into the trolley. I started with getting a snack for my daughter to have backstage at her three performances starting from tonight, then I needed something for the rest of us to have while watching the concert, then I just build from there. A snack for the weekend! A snack for this afternoon!
Apart from shopping, my day was again packing and de-cluttering and cleaning each drawer as I empty it. By the afternoon I was tired and cranky.
Jasmine is very excited about her first performance tonight (this is her third year of being involved). It's quite a big deal, at Canberra Theatre, with elaborate (expensive!) costumes. She is in two dances. We aren't seeing tonight, we are going to the final performance tomorrow night. Two very late nights for my girl, and after rehearsals all week. I hope it all goes smoothly.
Just as we were walking out the door to take Jasmine to her dance concert, the bank guy rang and approved the house that we loved. I didn't have time right then, so as soon as Aiden and I got home, after 6pm, I called the real estate agent and made the offer for him to pass on to the owner. Very exciting! The real estate agent seems to be of the opinion that the owner will wait for the auction, which is only a week away, which is fine, but he will pass on the offer. At least we've expressed our intentions and know that they are not going to sell it to someone else without knowing we want it. And you never know, a lot of houses do sell before the auction date.
We saw seven or eight houses last weekend and at every one they took my contact details, so all this week the agents have been calling me to ask if I'm interested in that house, why or why not, maybe some other house they have on their books? I don't mind. Today one sent me details of a nice house that has just come on the market - nice by the internet pictures anyway. Good to have more to look at in case we don't get this one. I am not pinning all my hopes on getting one particular house. We did love this particular one though.
I finished my last antibiotic tablet tonight and I am feeling mostly better. Shopping did not exhaust me today. I no longer hobble along like I've been punched in the ovaries. I don't wake in pain during the night. So hopefully whatever-that-was is pretty much over. I should probably start some gentle exercise again!
I was ashamed of the contents of my shopping trolley today. Some days I look down into the trolley with pride: all fresh foods. Today it contained way too much junk. I know you shouldn't shop when you're hungry and I wasn't - but I was really really thirsty. Can that have an effect? Or was it stress/frustration because the bank loan officer emailed me but said he has to check something so we still can't make an offer. For whatever reason, I just kept tossing tasty unhealthy semi-food treats into the trolley. I started with getting a snack for my daughter to have backstage at her three performances starting from tonight, then I needed something for the rest of us to have while watching the concert, then I just build from there. A snack for the weekend! A snack for this afternoon!
Apart from shopping, my day was again packing and de-cluttering and cleaning each drawer as I empty it. By the afternoon I was tired and cranky.
Jasmine is very excited about her first performance tonight (this is her third year of being involved). It's quite a big deal, at Canberra Theatre, with elaborate (expensive!) costumes. She is in two dances. We aren't seeing tonight, we are going to the final performance tomorrow night. Two very late nights for my girl, and after rehearsals all week. I hope it all goes smoothly.
Just as we were walking out the door to take Jasmine to her dance concert, the bank guy rang and approved the house that we loved. I didn't have time right then, so as soon as Aiden and I got home, after 6pm, I called the real estate agent and made the offer for him to pass on to the owner. Very exciting! The real estate agent seems to be of the opinion that the owner will wait for the auction, which is only a week away, which is fine, but he will pass on the offer. At least we've expressed our intentions and know that they are not going to sell it to someone else without knowing we want it. And you never know, a lot of houses do sell before the auction date.
We saw seven or eight houses last weekend and at every one they took my contact details, so all this week the agents have been calling me to ask if I'm interested in that house, why or why not, maybe some other house they have on their books? I don't mind. Today one sent me details of a nice house that has just come on the market - nice by the internet pictures anyway. Good to have more to look at in case we don't get this one. I am not pinning all my hopes on getting one particular house. We did love this particular one though.
I finished my last antibiotic tablet tonight and I am feeling mostly better. Shopping did not exhaust me today. I no longer hobble along like I've been punched in the ovaries. I don't wake in pain during the night. So hopefully whatever-that-was is pretty much over. I should probably start some gentle exercise again!
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Looking at houses
Sunday:
That was an exciting and exhausting weekend. Firstly, we have a date for Tim starting at his new job: 9 November. So that is more like three months (now 11 weeks) instead of two, giving us a little more time.
We made the long drive to Sydney early Saturday morning and spent the day dashing from house to house. Each one was "open" for 30 minutes and some were 15 minutes drive apart, making it difficult when some were open at the same time! I had cut my list down to eight, and we made it to seven. There were a few surprises, the one I liked the most online didn't end up even in our top three, and one I decided wasn't a priority but we managed to fit in became our second favourite and is still a possibility for us. You just can't tell from photos or glowing descriptions. You have to go and see in person.
We came away with a definite favourite. We walked in and all loved it. Perfect floor plan, beautifully maintained, near Tim's side of the family, and a salt-water pool! It was just ideal. The only thing we didn't like was that it was at our utmost limit of distance from the nearest train station, meaning extra commute time for Tim as he'll have to drive to the station before taking the train to work in the city. I was kind of hoping we wouldn't love this house, because of that, but we did. It is up for auction in two weeks, but I think we are going to put in an offer before then (dependant on the bank's approval, we already have a copy of building and pest inspection reports).
I had expected to have to spend more than one weekend looking, and we still may have to if we don't get this one (or maybe our second choice, which had a couple of flaws and was also more expensive). And if we don't find a house in time we'll have to rent for a while. We're not going to settle for an "ok" house, we plan to live there for the next twenty years or so. It may not be the perfect mansion, but we can find a great house for us at our stage of life. And it's awesome we've found one we love already.
After the long exhausting day (and my abdominal pain was troubling me by the end, I don't know if the antibiotics are helping at all) we went to Tim's brother's house for a family get-together which was lovely. I am going to enjoy living nearer to them. Then we drove home this morning with plans to get some packing done but mostly collapsed. Nevertheless, an enjoyable and productive weekend.
That was an exciting and exhausting weekend. Firstly, we have a date for Tim starting at his new job: 9 November. So that is more like three months (now 11 weeks) instead of two, giving us a little more time.
We made the long drive to Sydney early Saturday morning and spent the day dashing from house to house. Each one was "open" for 30 minutes and some were 15 minutes drive apart, making it difficult when some were open at the same time! I had cut my list down to eight, and we made it to seven. There were a few surprises, the one I liked the most online didn't end up even in our top three, and one I decided wasn't a priority but we managed to fit in became our second favourite and is still a possibility for us. You just can't tell from photos or glowing descriptions. You have to go and see in person.
We came away with a definite favourite. We walked in and all loved it. Perfect floor plan, beautifully maintained, near Tim's side of the family, and a salt-water pool! It was just ideal. The only thing we didn't like was that it was at our utmost limit of distance from the nearest train station, meaning extra commute time for Tim as he'll have to drive to the station before taking the train to work in the city. I was kind of hoping we wouldn't love this house, because of that, but we did. It is up for auction in two weeks, but I think we are going to put in an offer before then (dependant on the bank's approval, we already have a copy of building and pest inspection reports).
I had expected to have to spend more than one weekend looking, and we still may have to if we don't get this one (or maybe our second choice, which had a couple of flaws and was also more expensive). And if we don't find a house in time we'll have to rent for a while. We're not going to settle for an "ok" house, we plan to live there for the next twenty years or so. It may not be the perfect mansion, but we can find a great house for us at our stage of life. And it's awesome we've found one we love already.
After the long exhausting day (and my abdominal pain was troubling me by the end, I don't know if the antibiotics are helping at all) we went to Tim's brother's house for a family get-together which was lovely. I am going to enjoy living nearer to them. Then we drove home this morning with plans to get some packing done but mostly collapsed. Nevertheless, an enjoyable and productive weekend.
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