Beet Goes On…

Our new home

CJ enjoying cooking in a spacious kitchen with every mod con

TJ relaxing with a game of pool on the table our landlord generously left here

Oh, and our new, reliable wheels thanks to my bestie who sold us her old car and is letting us pay it off

Now excuse me while I go soak my feet in the pool.

I don’t have a pic of our new house yet… because it was dark when we arrived for PSLS and TJ to have a looksee, but I do have pics from a place that makes me feel like I am home.

Love it!

It’s been an interesting weekend here. The storms that came through on Friday night flooded our garage. We lost a few things that were in boxes waiting for us to replace bookcases and cupboards, but thankfully most of the important stuff was in plastic storage containers, while the rest will wash and dry later.

Luckily for the craptacular amateur photographer in me, we happened to have a vehicle this weekend as hub’s workmate had lent us his car for a couple of days so I was able to take a sticky beak around town at the swollen creeks and snap some pics.

Near the duck pond at Felltimber Community Centre

CJ loves her some duckies

Water covered paths at Sumison Gardens

Water nearly up to the bridge at Les Stone Park

Playground boats no longer on dryland

Carparks, BBQ’s and playgrounds underwater oh my!

From the footbridge at the back of Willow Park

Willow Park (TJ was shocked to see where he played Kanga cricket underwater! :O )

I think there is usually a fishing pier somewhere here behind TJ’s school

From the bridge on Elgin

And the other side

And me trying to be artsy with my shot!

(which I’m secretly quite pleased with)

PS – we are quite safe where we are, there is no danger of our house being flooded. The garage flooded simply because of the sheer volume of rain that we had in a few short hours. So far we’ve had 170mm this weekend. We count ourselves very fortunate at a time when others have lost so much in other parts of the country.

PPS – pics were taken either with my iPhone or my Fuji Finepix S1800 for those who want to know about such things. No DSLRs here yet

PPPS – I’ll be back to update my challenge stuff tomorrow along with next week’s goals.

I don’t know what I’m doing anymore.

I seem to have lost my blogging way….

And I know what the problem is – the problem is me. The problem is that I’m a damn people pleaser and when I started linking my blog to my facebook and all sorts of other things I toned it differently so as to not upset or offend some people who *may* come across it and to keep others at a bit of a distance. In doing so I then lost my platform to be honest with myself.

And what for? Everyone who really knows me knows I can swear like a firefighter. Everyone who really knows me knows I can be blunt. Everyone who doesn’t live in the land of denial knows that life has good days and bad ones and that change is hard.

So fuck it.

It’s my blog and I’ll swear if I want to,  be wildly inappropriate if I want to, bitch if I want to, cry if I want to.

The past few months have been hard for me. Sure there is lots of good stuff here and I’m glad we moved but I MISS MY MOTHERFUCKING CAR!!!!

There is no such thing as a quick trip down the street. Trips down the street take 2 hours usually – cos that’s how often the buses come past in the middle of the day. The last bus run is at 6.20 in the evening so there is no doing anything for anyone after that. With my health issues I can’t be walking 3 kilometres each way to take the young fella to scouts of an evening. And I certainly can’t do 5kms each way to go to one of the art groups or support groups or parent groups at the school or anything else I am interested in checking out. Saturday buses don’t cover as much area and only run till mid afternoon…… makes it difficult to get the kids into sport. And there are no buses at all on Sundays, so no church, no exploring the various things that run on Sundays, no nothing. It’s very limiting and given that most things for mums that run during school hours are for mum’s with toddlers not teens or they cost money that I don’t have right now….. I haven’t really had the chance to meet anyone or make any friends yet.

Speaking of money, not being able to shop around is not helping our budget which is already stretched as we try to keep on top of the bills in the new house while we finalise the bills from the old one. Oh and I don’t think we can afford Christmas. Fucking yay. At this point going ‘home’ for Christmas will involve a hire car and with three long legged teens/tweens it needs to be bigger than a shoe box. Hmm let me see… Hire car or presents for the kids? So now everyone is upset over not going home.

Oh and I have I mentioned that we have no motherfucking phones or internet at present because money is that tight?

The local library has free wifi and we make good use of that, but sheesh. Carting laptops all over town on the bus to check our email or update blogs or to simply find a new doctor is a PITA

And don’t get me started on doctors. I need to find one. I’m due for B12 shots, a cancer check up and need scripts. Two problems  here – 1) that I haven’t spotted any doctors on my way round town on the bus which tells me that I’m either going to have a bit of a hike or have to stuff around with switching buses and 2) the doctors are so full up with patients that it’s really hard to get in to see one. Trying to find a doctor when we were still looking for a house was near impossible. I rang all the local surgeries only to be told that none of them were taking new patients right now. *shrugs* My only option is to go to an after hours clinic at Lavington which is just not possible to do using the buses and too far away to take a cab.

Oh and not knowing anyone I have no one to ask which doctors might be good, which hairdressers are the best value, which washing machine repair people are the most reliable and won’t rip me off.

Not that I can afford to fix my washing machine right now. And without a car I can’t take my washing to the laundromat either. So we wash everyfuckingthing by hand. PSLS’s work clothes, sheets, towels, the lot. It is NOT fucking fun!

Neither is having hubs home late all the time because he’s reliant on other people for lifts to and from work and works with a heap of young blokes who like to go to the pub most afternoons after work.

Sigh.

I’m still glad we moved, but this just isn’t working how I pictured it in my head!

Edit – I’m fine, truly. I just realised that I was self censuring on my blog and I shouldn’t be. This is my blog dammit and if I can’t post this crap here then what’s the point?

Oh well, at least it will be healthy once we are finished with it and that gives me extra time to plan what shrubs and flowers to put in it.

We’ve been doing a lot of walking since the move. Walking to and from the local store, the bus stops, and attempting to tire our the norti puppies. We pass a lot of other walkers, and we also see them constantly through our front windows because there are a LOT of walkers here. People walking dogs, people with groceries, people getting on and off buses, determined exercisers with their walking shoes and handweights, runners, bicycle riders too. Walkers and people using footpaths all over the place.

It’s a great way to get to know the neighbourhood. Most people are friendly enough and will nod or say hello as you or they pass. Some stop and have a quick chat over the dogs. Walking has helped us scope out the local bus stops and get a feel for our neighbourhood. We even found a street around the corner with PSLS’s name that we now call ‘Dad’s street’ lol

The kids were walking the norti puppies the other day and decided to explore ‘Dad’s street’ on their way home. It was all good, they knew where they were, they were feeling quite comfortable and thought they knew what to expect.

What they weren’t expecting was a streaker, dressed in only a shirt, firmly holding his family jewels to come running around the corner past them. The fella slowed down to apologise and explain that he ‘had to do it’ because he’d lost a bet. Poor CJ said she was standing there trying not to look at him and telling him to just not worry about it and keep going.

She was absolutely mortified explaining all this when they got home! lol

She has also decreed that ‘Dad’s street’ is now a no go area! lmao

I might have to go for a walk on my own next time we can hear someone having a party in the area…

Aside from the car blowing up there have been many other challenges the past few weeks.

Like the washing machine decided that it didn’t like being moved and blew up too.

We somehow keep managing to leave the iron and the electric frying pan in the old house.

Tyres on trailers have gone flat after being loaded.

Dogs have escaped from yards, cats from houses and the guinea pig from it’s makeshift home.

Crows have stolen eggs and put the hens off laying.

Buses have been missed as we sorted out the timetables.

Then one of the teens blew up.

People have not showed up to do things that were organised or pick up items, carpet cleaning people have been snarky at us after they asked to be paid by online bank transfer because they didn’t understand that it wasn’t instant, garbage tips have closed early, people haven’t shown up to look at items they were meant to be buying so money hasn’t come in that should have and the cost of hiring a car to get too and fro to finish up cleaning out the old house has put us under a lot of extra financial pressure.

And we’ve had an extra teen this week – a German exchange student who has made friends with Lou – to add to the chaos and mayhem.

But we’ve learnt a lot too.

Like, you can buy alcohol at 16 in Germany; there are three different buses that stop close to our house that will get us to the main street, local library, two different shopping plazas, TAFE, the hospital or over to Albury; bus fares are only a dollar for children and concession holders and are valid to take you anywhere on as many buses as you need for two hours;  it costs $10 to get a taxi home with the groceries from the rank; you can borrow up to 50 items (books, magazines, dvd’s, talking books, children’s books) on one library card; there is an after hours doctors clinic for emergencies up at Lavington; Savlon cream works just as well on cats as on people (don’t ask); washing by hand is a bitch; there are miles and miles of walking and bike tracks all over Albury and Wodonga that are well worth exploring; bread is really damn easy to make without a breadmaker and frankly the end result is a more usable size loaf; we don’t seem to be able to pick up a standard digital tv signal so have had to rig up a system through one of our pc’s to watch telly; the XPT is a great way to travel when it runs on time; and our puppy dogs are absolute mischief to leave on their own…

After one day without us in the house while hubs was at work last week, we came home to find teddy bears stolen from every bedroom in the house scattered throughout the hallway, living room and everyone else’s bedrooms, socks littering the hallway, pieces of soggy tissue in the hall, various shoes and socks in the living room, one dinosaur missing all of the stuffing from his neck and two legs,  screws from TJ’s trundle bed scattered from one end of the hallway to the other, and pieces of al foil in the living room and hallway.

After an hour of the absence of people the other day while we foraged for food, I came home to find the pom pom from a beanie shredded in one doorway, pens chewed up in the living room, teddy bears and other stuffed toys once again stolen and stashed in the wrong rooms, the biscuit box chewed to bits and crumbs on the lounge, an empty tin in my bedroom as well as the dressing gowns and towels dragged from the end of my bed to the floor, and the dog leads in the hallway.

I cannot begin to express how much I am looking forward to the landlord fixing the fence so we can secure our yard and put the norti puppies outside where they belong! Meantime they are being walked a couple of times a day to try to burn off some energy.

Walking the dogs on my own a few days ago was an experience. Lucy(far) is eager to explore so pulls on her lead the whole way. Lilly also pulls on her lead – but with her mouth, playing tug-o-war the entire way. So I’m walking along with one arm yanked forward and another being tugged to my side and trying not to notice the people laughing at me as they drive past lol

But it’s all good.

We might be occasionally frustrated, and overtired from travelling or dealing with new situations, but the house will gradually be unpacked, the old house will be finished with cleaning next week, the bills will eventually get paid, we’ll eventually get a new car and a HD telly, we’ll eventually get the dogs back outside, the challenges will pass and the mischief will cease.  We are happy. Happy with the house, happy with PSLS’s work,  happy with the things we are finding here, happy with the move… and in the end, that’s all that matters.

Well, not really – they just don’t like going outside yet.

They love the house. They love that there are lots of windows for them to sit and sun themselves in. They love that our bedroom is right out of the way of all foot traffic and the most peaceful room in the house.

Not liking outside doesn’t stop them wanting to be outside but despite their determination to escape to the great outdoors… when we actually took the kitty cats outside (yes on leashes) they were not at all impressed. The new sights, sounds and smells made for very nervous puddy tats who tried to bolt for the back door at any sound.

Socks (my baby)

(Coal the demon spawn rabbit hunter – PSLS’s baby)

The look on Sock’s face here just says it all really!

Sweet talking her back out from behind the shrubs.

Ah well, they’ll settle in soon. I think the biggest adjustment will be getting Coal inside for the cat curfew every night by 7pm. I’m sure they’ll both have their confidence back up in another few days though and we’ll be able to let them explore without putting them on leads.

PSLS has been in the new house for a week so it’s old hat to him, however the kids and I have only been in for a couple of days, so have plenty of first impressions to share.

Firstly, our new home has a nice feel to it. Yeah okay, it’s a little run down and neglected, but that just means that we get to personalise it a little more as we fix up the gardens and whatnot. It’s still a nice house, it has a good layout and quite reasonably sized rooms.

There are lots of nice big windows and therefore lots of natural light. Always a plus in my book.

There are spaces for things. We actually have a space for our dishwasher in the actual kitchen in this house! lol The upright freezer fits in the kitchen too.

Our piano fits nicely in the foyer.

There are lots of built in’s in all four bedrooms and a huge linen press.

The bathtub, shower and toilet are all in separate rooms meaning that all three can be in use at once. There’s a bathtub! I’ve missed having baths. I called first dibs on it yesterday and soaked until I was pruned and needed to reheat the water! Oh and the hot water is gas. We don’t like to waste water with long showers, but at the old house we all had to be ultra quick or someone would miss out, at least no one will miss out here even if everyone washes their hair or shaves their legs on the same day.

There are lots of powerpoints in every room and outside powerpoints which are always really handy.

The living areas can be shut off from the rest of the house which will make them much easier to heat in winter. For summer the house has ducted air con through every room.

There are no cupboards in areas of the house I would commonly walk past that are big enough for people to hide in, jump out of and scare me.

The clothes line gets a reasonable amount  of sun.

Now… we just have to figure out what to do about the crow that nests a few doors down that is stealing our chook eggs!

I am being so damn good with this move!

I have thrown out bags and bags of junk, there are piles of things stting all round the house to be returned, sold, donated or passed on, I have gotten rid of all the “Stuff it! This will do” clothes that don’t make me feel good to wear, I’ve culled my massive book collection by about a third. My paperwork is sorted and all filed in the damn filing box instead of sitting in piles in a dozen different spots. I’ve shredded old records, sold half my furniture, and organised what remains to within an inch of it’s life… but I must admit. There are a few things I’m having problems letting go of.

Like the kids favourite rattles from when they were babies, or the outfits they wore for their first baby photos, or the quilt that I made for Lou’s cot when I was a very young, naive, expectant mum.

And there are other things too like the books that we used to help TJ learn to interact with his world.

I can’t begin to even count how many hours were spent pouring over his books, naming everything again and again until he was confident with the new names/words.

I look at my children now, one of whom has now overtaken me height wise, and their baby days seem like they were eons ago… and then it hits me that I have a sixteen year old! I was only five years older than she is now when I gave birth to her. I could have grandchildren in five years time! (thought it had better be a bit longer than that girl. You hear me?)

So I have an excuse to keep all this stuff. Well, a modest boxful of it anyhow. I’ll need it for my future grandchildren lol